What have you watched recently? 3D!

El Duda

Apollo 13 – 7.75/10

It’s quite alarming how far Ron Howards reputation has fallen over the years. Back in 1995 when this came out, everyone was still bewildered and impressed that ‘Ritchie’ from Happy Days was a competent director. Bringing a story as epic as this to the big screen, with an A-list cast, was extremely impressive for a budding filmmaker. Now Howard is considered a vanilla, safe pair of hands and no one rates him as a top director anymore. With the benefit of hindsight, his direction here is a little flat at times by todays standards.

Overall, it’s a great film, with plenty of tension, a well-researched script and committed performances all round. James Horner’s score really stood out to me and elevates the whole thing, especially during those nail biting sequences.


Leave No Trace – 9/10

A stripped back, raw and powerful human story with two astonishingly internalised performances from Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie. The film touches on several themes; homelessness, privacy, misuse of the vast American landscape etc… but the main ones being the fallout of trauma and a daughter coming to terms with the plight of her father.

Apparently the first thing ben Foster and director Devra Granik did when they first started on the project was to strip back a large chunk of the dialogue to give the film a more realistic feel. This approach has worked wonders, this is visual storytelling at its very best. Although it isn’t based on any one true story, this film is as authentic as they come.


Bridget Jones’ Diary – 6.5/10

I like Rom Coms and had never seen this one before. I think I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more at the time of release. Zellwegger is adorable and she has a great cast around her and a great script. I remember a lot of fuss being made about the weight gain at the time, I can only imagine the reaction this film would provoke these days. The early noughties idea of ‘over-weight’ is perhaps slightly anachronistic to say the least.


Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – 7/10

Its full of flaws and the supporting cast range from annoying to very annoying, but this is still a very enjoyable action film. I love how dark these family films used to get, pushing the audience to their limit. Heart grabbing, monkey brain eating, cursed blood drinking… there are so many challenging elements for kids to try and stomach.

The strongest stuff here is Spielberg’s direction and world building. The action set pieces are great and the lighting/cinematography still look fantastic.

Dades

El Duda wrote: »

Apollo 13 – 7.75/10

Watched this when it came on TV a few nights ago, too. Caught it just as it started - a great watch alright.

Ron's purple patch was really in the 90's, though I did enjoy Rush and In the Heart of the Sea a few years back.

cdgalwegian

Mentioned here before; https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=111960540&postcount=535

I'd add that it's in the same stable as Brightburn/Hancock/Chronicle in the 'subversion of standard superpowers genre' sub-genre. Came across it by accident, and I gotta admit, I was contemplating turning it off around the 20 minute mark; it was initally sluggish, and overly concerned with keeping the reveals to a drip-feed. However, once it overcame this inertia, it snowballed to a pretty good ending.
It's a low-budget drama that becomes an all-out fantasy actioner by the end, fueled by really good ideas, where all the acting is commendable, but the star- 7 year old Lexy Kolker- is fantastic.
If you liked the Brightburn/Hancock/Chronicle style, you should love this.

barrymanilow

JOJO Rabbit


Imagine if Wes Anderson directed the boy in the striped pajamas
Moving and poignant , yet hilarious and wacky at the same time. Might be one of the best anti war films ever. Enjoyed it. Sam Rockwell , Alfie Allen and Scarlett Johansen star.



9/10

Del.Monte

"Sniper:Ghost Shooter" (2016)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuyZA-3xvWY

On Netflix. Poor and extremely jingoistic movie about team of American special forces snipers protecting a gas pipeline in Georgia. Plenty of action but doesn't hit the spot. 4/10

loyatemu

For a few dollars more

A while since I've watched one of the "Dollars" movies all the way through as they're always on late at night, but stuck with it this time and it's still a total classic.

Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and assorted dubbed Italian actors along with Ennio Morricone's iconic soundtrack and Sergio Leone's operatic direction creating one of the greatest westerns of all time (though Leone's "The Good, the bad and the ugly" and "Once upon a time in the West" are better still).

When the chimes end, pick up your gun...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JPnR7C8mZQ

chrislad

Watched The Irishman - it was fine. About an hour too long, and the de-aging in part was very unsettling (the gelatinous eyes....) - it's no Goodfellas, or The Departed, or Casino, but it's certainly not a terrible movie, it just could have been better with some editing, and perhaps just using other actors.

ButtersSuki

Revenge 2018.

Haven't been around in a while but finally got around to watching this on a blu ray I bought in October 2018 :rolleyes: In many ways it's like a very stylish B mobie, but with better acting. Plot holes aplenty and more blood than you can imagine it tips its hat to many genres, and movie scenes but is great fun.

It won't be for everyone, but for me it was an 8/10. Great soundtrack too, esp. the electronic instrumentals used to build tension and atmosphere.

El Duda

Looper – 7.75/10

Part Blade Runner, part Edge of Tomorrow. Rian Johnson has succeeded in creating a fresh, original and complex sci-fi film. These types of films are always extremely ambitious as they can be picked apart easily; time travel plots rarely make any logical sense. This film has tonnes of internal logic and lots of careful planning has resulted in a super tight script. Whilst it’s not perfect, this feels like the exact film that they set out to make.

The script is so tight and well written that I can only assume that RJ was either up against the clock with TLJ or was dealing with studio interference. Or more likely a mixture of both. The major flaw for me was the CGI used on Joseph-Gordon Levitt’s face to make him look like Bruce Willis. Very distracting and it made him look transgender in some shots.

Rian Johnson deserves some plaudits for actually getting Bruce Willis to do some acting.

frozenfrozen

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Felt it dragging along somewhere in the middle slightly but a very enjoyable film with probably the most satisfying fight scene I've seen. Despite it dragging on I forgave it as all the suspense / buying into the characters and world of the film it paid off completely.


The jump cuts with the two actors on set discussing not getting picked for previous roles just completely took me out of the film for a minute. Not sure why but it just didn't work for me which was a shame. Felt a bit like when you hear an out of place wilhelm scream

Would still rate it very highly though

Del.Monte

loyatemu wrote: »

For a few dollars more

A while since I've watched one of the "Dollars" movies all the way through as they're always on late at night, but stuck with it this time and it's still a total classic.

Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and assorted dubbed Italian actors along with Ennio Morricone's iconic soundtrack and Sergio Leone's operatic direction creating one of the greatest westerns of all time (though Leone's "The Good, the bad and the ugly" and "Once upon a time in the West" are better still).

When the chimes end, pick up your gun...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JPnR7C8mZQ

Only surpassed by "Unforgiven" (1992) - surely a candidate for the best Western of all time.

johnny_ultimate

Her Smell - Probably the career-best performance from Elisabeth Moss, and she's done some damn good work already. Thankfully the filmmaking keeps up with her for the most part, and was a welcome change of pace for Alex Ross Perry. The film is neatly divided into very distinct chapters, but the progression from mad stream of consciousness to genuinely affecting recovery drama works because it.

Holy Motors - So pleased to get a chance to see this on the big screen again. One of my favourites of the decade just gone - there's the wild, imaginative unpredictability of the individual vignettes, but it's the melancholic undercurrent that gradually but devastatingly rises to the surface that makes this such a masterpiece. Denis Lavant offers up an all-timer of a performance(s), and the accordion interlude is definitely in my top five favourite cinematic moments of the '10s. Still hoping Carax hurries up and makes Annette sooner rather than later :pac:

The Manchurian Candidate (2004) - Digging through the Demme back catalogue and this one I was hesitant about, given it's a remake of a classic. But credit is due here - this has a curiously different texture while still retaining the uneasy paranoia that defined the original. Once again, Demme knows when to go to close-up - he shoves us right up in the face of characters during some of the more uncomfortable moments. One of the stronger remakes of modern times.

Where Is My Friend’s House? - Abbas Kiarostami's early film is a masterpiece of minimalism. The setup is as simple as can be: a young boy in rural Iran accidentally picks up his friend's notebook, and has to travel to a neighbouring town to return it so the friend can do his homework and not get expelled. What emerges is cinema at its most compassionate and joyfully human: Kiarostami observes the people the boy encounters with respect, curiosity and empathy. If the great director's later works were defined by their spatial and structural trickiness (although that simplistic description does them a disservice), this one shows just how adept he was at telling comparatively straightforward stories. Stately but thrillingly unpretentious.

Tony EH

'Shaun the Sheep'

Shaun the sheep longs for a day off of Mossy Bottom Farm because he's bored of the daily routine. He and his fellow animals plan to deceive the farmer, but things go horribly wrong and sees Shaun, the other sheep and Bitzer the dog stuck in the "Big City", hunted by animal control and trying to find the farmer, who has ended up with a bout of amnesia from a knock on the head.

Having never been that big a fan Aardman's Wallace and Gromit outings, which I found charming but unable to hold my full interest for it's running time, 'Shaun the Sheep' only offered a relatively mild curiosity for me. But barely ten minutes in and I was hooked. It's a brilliantly executed and genuinely funny little film that even has nods to the likes of 'Return of the Jedi', 'Night of the Hunter' and, logically I suppose, 'Animal Farm' and 'Silence of the Lambs' that are so subtlety done they blend in so well to the over all story and never cheaply feel stuffed in.

The stop motion, claymation is so lovingly done by people who are obviously dedicated to the craft that it's impossible not to enjoy, with the model design on every character being perfectly thought out and physically rendered. Even the secondary characters, like the pigs on Shaun's farm look brilliant. Even the sets are developed beautifully and everything feels just so well done.

But one of the greatest moves by Aardman Animations was to make the movie - and I presume the TV Series - dialogue free and simply rely on the action telling the story, thus making 'Shaun the Sheep' a film that could, potentially, travel the world and traverse all ages. "Lines" in the form of grunts and other sounds are delivered and the voice acting is handled so well that the point gets across with great ease, and how a given character is feeling at a particular time is still captured and expressed clearly.

'Shaun the Sheep' is a very funny film, funnier than most mainstream comedies on a much larger budget. It's done in a pleasing old fashioned way and goes to great lengths to pursue its visual gags, which it pulls off excellently.

It's very difficult to draw any true criticism from the film because it just charmed the pants off of me But if I had to, I'd say that there was just too much music in the film and it got a little annoying. I'd sink just a touch when a new song would start up and found myself wanting it to be over sharpish so I could get back to the funny stuff.

9/10

shrapnel222

Watched portrait of a lady on fire which is the latest offering from Celine Sciamma (who made girlhood a few years back, which i loved). Stunning period drama, with for all intents and purposes only 4 characters. Shot beautifully on a tiny island in Brittany (i think), it's an incredibly slow burner,very austere yet incredibly warm, but keeps drawing you in and mesmerises with its gentle sensuality.

Absolutely beautiful 9/10 from me. Loved it!

shrapnel222

Animals

Decent film based in Dublin of 2 millenial party girls and best friend's evolution after 10 years of partying. there's certainly an effort to be slightly Withnailesque in the approach, which isn't quite pulled off, but a decent story well put together all in all

6.5/10

budgemook

Holy Motors - I started watching it soon after it came out - pretty sure it was after reading a review on here from johnny_ultimate. Always meant to go back to it because I was really enjoying it but never got around to it. Just looking now and that was probably 7 years ago or more!

Is it still on Netflix? I remember seeing it pop up there a while back.

shrapnel222

bombshell

phenomenal cast yet the film overall doesn't deliver a big enough punch. Very topical, but underwhelming.

4/10

shrapnel222

Parasite

phenomenal!!!

johnny_ultimate

budgemook wrote: »

Holy Motors - I started watching it soon after it came out - pretty sure it was after reading a review on here from johnny_ultimate. Always meant to go back to it because I was really enjoying it but never got around to it. Just looking now and that was probably 7 years ago or more!

Is it still on Netflix? I remember seeing it pop up there a while back.

It was on Netflix a few years ago alright but gone for a while now alas - I’d be pleasantly surprised if it popped up again. It’s available cheap enough on iTunes or Amazon, which is probably the easiest way to watch it these days.

shrapnel222

shrapnel222 wrote: »

bombshell

phenomenal cast yet the film overall doesn't deliver a big enough punch. Very topical, but underwhelming.

4/10

I thought this was great, the perfect after dinner liqueur to The Loudest Voice.

Fysh

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

It was on Netflix a few years ago alright but gone for a while now alas - I’d be pleasantly surprised if it popped up again. It’s available cheap enough on iTunes or Amazon, which is probably the easiest way to watch it these days.

It's on Mubi in the UK at the minute too.

Fysh

John Wick Chapter 2

For a film about a secret society of assassins, this film spends an awful lot of time blathering about the largely tedious Harry Potter bollocks that stands in for world building. And then decides that about 1 in 5 people in NY is a hitman, and the other 4 in 5 don't notice when two guys are clearly shooting at each other in a train station.

I mean, I wouldn't say it was Smokin' Aces bad, because that was a desperately bad film with inexplicable amounts of crying. But I'm also somewhat baffled by the way that passably good but not interestingly choreographed action and momentum killing blather got the kind of positive reviews this franchise generates. Mind you, I had to resort to a fanexit to get through the first film, so maybe I'm not the target audience...

johnny_ultimate

Fysh wrote: »

It's on Mubi in the UK at the minute too.

Not on the Irish one alas - oddly enough the selection across the two countries can be quite different at times!

Jurgen The German

Robocop (1987)

Watched the directors cut last night for the first time. Arrow recently released a lovely blu ray of it so threw it on. It's never looked better, nice crisp sound and the DC while not changing the film adds in some additional violence. I saw this when it was released on video many years ago and loved it. Its funny, extremely violent considering it's more than 30 years old. I never picked up on it before but it's also quite moving in parts, particularly before the penultimate showdown when Murphy talks to Lewis about his family

"I can feel them, but I cant remember them"

It's a bombastic slice of 80s viscera, throwing jabs at consumerism while never getting too caught up in the rhetoric, it is a bona fide classic.

Aside from the Ed209 stop motion and the scene when Jones falls to his death the effects work holds up extremely well with oodles of spatterly goodness.

10/10

Mad_maxx

US

good but not as good as GET OUT

El Duda

Wild Rose – 8/10

Jessie Buckley plays a fresh out of jail Scottish mother who has ambitions to go to Nashville and become a country singer. The movie Co-stars Julie Walters as the Grandmother who has had to raise the kids in the absence of their mother.

I’ve never seen a relationship between mother and children done like this in a film. The children are side-lined for the first half of the film, you almost don’t even notice they exist. They come more into play as the film progresses and the titular ‘Wild Rose’ starts to face up to reality.

Jessie Buckley puts in an incredibly moving performance and shows just how phenomenally talented she is. Her singing is even more impressive than her note perfect Scottish accent. A film that portrays the working class struggles in a tasteful and humane manner whilst also having a strong message about the importance of family and how the grass isn’t always greener.

briany

Bully (2001)

Based on a true story. The story of two 'best' friends, Marty Puccio and Bobby Kent - Bobby is an abusive friend towards Marty, often hitting him and belittling him in front of others. Marty gets a girlfriend who, angered by the abuse she witnesses, encourages Marty to kill Bobby. Together with some other friends and associates, they formulate a plan to do just this.

Quite a nihilistic teen thriller. Gritty, with a few dashes of dark humour, the film really puts across the seriousness of the crime the protagonists are trying to commit, as well as their erratic mindset. Recommended.

Jurgen The German

briany wrote: »

Bully (2001)

Based on a true story. The story of two 'best' friends, Marty Puccio and Bobby Kent - Bobby is an abusive friend towards Marty, often hitting him and belittling him in front of others. Marty gets a girlfriend who, angered by the abuse she witnesses, encourages Marty to kill Bobby. Together with some other friends and associates, they formulate a plan to do just this.

Quite a nihilistic teen thriller, and quite close in tone to Harmony Korine's Kids. Gritty, with a few dashes of dark humour, the film really puts across the seriousness of the crime the protagonists are trying to commit, as well as their erratic mindset. Recommended.

Larry Clarke directed both Bully and Kids.

briany

Jurgen The German wrote: »

Larry Clarke directed both Bully and Kids.

Right you are. Where did I get Harmony Korine from? I'll edit that.

Tony EH

briany wrote: »

Right you are. Where did I get Harmony Korine from? I'll edit that.

Korine wrote 'Kids' and 'Ken Park' for Clark. So a mix up is forgivable.