What have you watched recently? 3D!

johnny_ultimate · 04-12-2021 1:50am

I would disagree with the suggestion that CODA isn’t overly sentimental - it is 100% sentimental. Thankfully it’s 100% sentimental in a good way, and it is a little ol’ charmer of a movie. It really shouldn’t work, but dammit those third act emotional climaxes hit :)

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 04-12-2021 2:10am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118266977#Comment_118266977

Fair point. 100% the good kind of sentimental.

I've just this minute learned that Emelia Jones is the daughter of Aled Jones. No wonder she can sing like that!

05-12-2021 3:44pm

New Order / Nuevo Orden (2020)

Haut Monde wedding takes place just as societal unrest and power transition reaches a climax and all hell breaks loose. A brutal examination of how things can change almost instantly in such circumstances. Short runtime but hard-hitting.

6.9 / 10

johnny_ultimate · 06-12-2021 10:52am

Lamb - You’d be forgiven for thinking this was going to be another ‘A24 elevated horror’ based on the marketing and indeed opening ten minutes of the film itself. It is not a horror film. But it’s not much of anything else either.

Lamb has one great visual idea - a strange, absurd one well realised with a mix of special and practical effects. But the film around it is altogether less interesting: a film that never quite settles on a tone, and just comes across as a grab bag of different ones. Above all, it’s a rather dour Iceland-set art film that really doesn’t have much to say about the various allegories and themes it dabbles with. Noomi Rapace is good, and as said the central conceit is well realised. But if you want a chilly, slow-paced, Iceland-set art film, last year’s A White, White Day is a far more accomplished film than this.

C’mon C’mon - ah, this one’s pretty great though. Mike Mills has gradually but confidently built himself up to be one of American cinema’s most reliable tellers of warm, charming character studies. Here, a superb Joaquin Phoenix plays a single guy who suddenly finds himself caring for his young nephew (Woody Norman - a properly fresh and convincing child performance). What initially starts as an awkward guardianship soon blossoms into something much deeper. There’s not a whole lot more to the premise than that: it’s just a lovely, kind film that takes its time and rarely puts a foot wrong. It’s all shot in fetching monochrome by Ireland’s own Robbie Ryan. There have been better films released this year, but not many that feel quite so welcoming and relaxed.

NIMAN · 06-12-2021 1:27pm

Got about half way through Spencer last night and stopped.

Not mad on it's style, just wasn't holding my attention either. I have found as I get older, I am more willing to just stop watching a film if it's not got me hooked. In the past I would have always continued in til the end, then slate it.

gmisk · 06-12-2021 9:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118276157#Comment_118276157

I saw lamb as well....it isn't great to be honest. It looks really fantastic and creepy in places. The tone is a bit all over the shop, and ponderous, lots in the cinema laughing when I am not entirely sure that was the aim. Rapace is good though I will say.

johnny_ultimate · 06-12-2021 9:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118279898#Comment_118279898

Some of it's legitimately funny - like when the brother first sees the 'lamb'. But like everything else the film doesn't really commit to being a black comedy, so the laughs are scattered and sometimes verge on 'is this meant to be funny?'

gmisk · 06-12-2021 9:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118279955#Comment_118279955

Oh definitely it kinda falls between two stools....or maybe about five to be honest.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 06-12-2021 11:57pm

Deadly Cuts - The most successful Irish film of 2021, apparently.

Four hairdressers from a working class Dublin salon take on scumbags, politicians, gentrification, and a prestigious hairdressing competition, in order to save their salon, and their community. I enjoyed it. It takes a little while to get going and it has too many plots going on at once, which don't all come together smoothly at the end. It's kind of a dark comedy and I think it works best when it leans Into that rather than the sillier stuff. It's not reinventing the wheel but it's a bit of fun and would properly be a great one to watch with a few friends and a few drinks.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 09-12-2021 12:05am

I watched a documentary on Apple TV+ called 'twas The Fight Before Christmas. I swear I thought it was a mockumentary after I watched the trailer, but apparently its real. I'd recommend going into it as blind as possible, but it's basically about this guy that moves to a new neighbourhood because he wants a bigger house to do his Christmas lights display on, and the local Home Owners Association don't want him to do it. And it's the most American thing I've ever seen.

09-12-2021 5:40pm

Azor (2021)

Drama-thriller set in Argentina in the time of the Junta (year is 1980) where a Swiss private banker has travelled over on a business trip to meet with wealthy clients of the bank in and around Buenos Aires to the background of the bank's previous representative there going AWOL. The period setting is excellently done as is the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty amongst the BA elite along with the pressure the banker is under to perform and where that leads.

7.1/10

11-12-2021 1:28pm

May God save us / Que Dios nos perdone (2016)

Quality Spanish serial-killer investigation / hunt set in Madrid in the backdrop of the fallout from the last recession and an imminent papal visit. The 2 protagonist police detectives being damaged individuals provides an interesting parallel exploration to the main plot. All-in-all a satisfying film even if the nature of the crimes is repulsive.

7.5 / 10

Mr.Nice Guy · 12-12-2021 1:26am

I watched Ad Astra. Visually very impressive but ultimately felt a bit hollow to me. I thought the final act of the film was weak. The action scenes didn't fit smoothly. It has elements of Event Horizon but I thought that film did this so much better.

6/10.

12-12-2021 1:56am

I'm breaking the rules a bit because it's not a film, but Patriot is a series really worth watching. 18 episodes. Michael Dorman and Kurtwood Smith are off the charts. And the sound track...

El Gato De Negocios · 12-12-2021 3:37pm

Body Bags (1993)

Horror Anthology from legends John Carpenter and Tobe Hopper. Three short tales introduced by Carpenter, its good but not great. By far the best of the three was the first segment , The Gas Station. There are horror icon cameos aplenty with Wes Craven, Sam Raimi, David Naughton aswell as Carpenter and Hooper themselves appearing at various stages. Relatively enjoyable but ultimately throwaway.

5/10

Fysh · 13-12-2021 10:22am

I was persuaded ny my better half to stick on The Muppet Christmas Carol, as I've never seen it. It was grand and enjoyable, but as with many things where childhood nostalgia may play a part, I don't think it landed (nor will it stick) for me the way it did for some. Ah well.

loyatemu · 13-12-2021 11:38am

Watched Kick-Ass on BBC the other night. Hadn't planned to, it just came on and I got sucked in. Fun movie, Nicolas Cage is always good value. Very violent though. 7/10

monkeyactive · 13-12-2021 7:09pm

Matchstick Men

A Ridley Scot that I somehow missed. Its very good , a kind of dark comedy / heist / con man movie with a gentle pacing. Sam Rockwell and Nic Cage are great and carry it through. Very unlike anything else of Ridley Scotts. I'd never have guessed he directed it at all.

8/10

Wombatman · 15-12-2021 5:28pm

The Power of the Dog

The sets, shots, and acting are top notch. Some of the landscape shots are truly awesome, evoking a bleak beautiful terrible harshness, that reflects the tone of the film. The main characters respond differently in the face of brutality, some crumbling, others embracing to the point of eroticism.

Unfortunately the story line is super clunky and hardly plausible to the point that you find it hard to care for the characters and become a little bored with it all.

Didn't like the way homosexuality was handled in the movie, like it was another black mark against the villain of the piece. Was concerned by the scoring of some of the homoerotic scenes where a threatening foreboding music was used.

A triumph of style over substance.

6/10

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 15-12-2021 11:45pm

Silent Night

Can't say too much without giving away the plot but it's basically a DARK comedy about a group of old school friends gathering to spend Christmas together before the world ends. It's a decent watch if you're sick of the more standard cheerful Christmas films. The one problem it might have is that although it was written and mostly filmed before the first covid shutdown, some of it seems like it could have been written as a response to Covid, and not necessarily in a good way.

Fysh · 22-12-2021 9:30pm

I caught The Advent Calendar on Shudder the other night, and it was pretty good. It feels a bit heavy handed at first in its presentation of how the protagonist is treated for her disability (but that could also be me being ignorant/unaware of the lived experience of phsyical disability). The central premise is neatly handled, and the direction and effects work are good. It's a well-executed festive variation on your general monkey-paw story.

Tonight I watched Ron's Gone Wrong, and it was a lot of fun - enjoyably anarchic and very silly, with a solid albeit very simplistic emotional core. Most of the film focuses on Barney and his growing friendship with Ron, and the chaotic-good way in which Ron endeavours to be Barney's friend - and this is great. The parts where the film trots out its tepid take on social media let it down a bit, partly because of how simplistic a take it is (because it's an uncomplicated boomertastic "technology and social media are bad, why can't you kids just go and play outside?" take) and partly because The Mitchells Vs The Machines managed a more nuanced interpretation earlier in the year. But there's plenty of scope to be really good while not being quite as excellent as TMVTM. I watched this streaming at home, but I'm confident that I'd have felt it worth my money and time had I been able to catch it at the cinema, and it's definitely one I'll rewatch in future.

flasher0030 · 26-12-2021 12:02pm

Have seen a lot recently

Don't look up

A must see IMO. Witty, clever, entertaining. Great fun for 2.5 hours. 10/10

A Fault in our stars

I thought it would be one of those over the top sentimental americanisms. It is sentimental. But I loved it. Contains my fav 3 minute piece of any movie at the end. I won't give anything away. But M83 song Wait is playing in the background. Would definately recommend this movie 9/10

Paper towns

This is an over the top coming of age film. It's ok. Nothing special 6/10

Now is Good

Dakota Fanning playing a UK teenager with cancer. It's slow. Gets very heartwrenching. But it's well done. 7/10

A Bronx Tale

Poor mans Goodfellows. If looking for something better, The Irishman, Good fellows, The Godfather, Casino are out there. But it's ok. 6/10

The Unforgiveable

Sandra Bullock - New one on netflix. Thought it would be slowmoving. But it's not. It's quite interesting. I heard there was a twist in it, But not really. It's obvious how most of the story is going to pan out. But it's a very good movie - 8/10

Mr.Nice Guy · 26-12-2021 3:49pm

I watched Little Miss Sunshine. Never seen it before. A nice, feel-good film with endearing characters. 8/10

8mv · 26-12-2021 4:14pm

West Side Story in the cinema. Spielberg's version. Excellent. Great choreography and set pieces. I especially liked what they did with "Somewhere" - made it completely different from the original without changing a word of the song...

Fysh · 27-12-2021 11:07am

Viewing over the last couple of days for me has included:

Home Alone - grand half-watching-while-doing-other-things film, although I find it striking that the McAllister clan (except maybe Kevin) are a detestable bunch of arseholes who at no point acknowledge that they are to blame for the whole situation. (There's a consistent lack of "because we forgot about him when flying to another country" every time the parents start telling people that their son is home alone).

Silent Night (2012) - a pretty dull and by-the-numbers Christmas-themed Halloween knockoff. There have been a bunch like this and this is definitely one of the weaker, more rubbish ones. This was a pretty rote copy of Halloween, only set at Christmas. The acting wasn't anything special, the script is forgettable and really all you can take away from it is that the writers really liked Halloween and, 32 years later, didn't have any ideas of their own for how to build on what made that film good. Wikipedia states that this is actually part of the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise (of which I've only seen the first, which is more entertaining than this if not necessarily as competently made) and was supposed to reboot the franchise. I am unsurprised that this leaden effort failed to reinvigorate the franchise.

Anna & The Apocalypse - this is daft, and I really enjoy it. I've seen it several times and haven't tired of it yet - things like the silly Fish Rap in the school Christmas show, or the obliviously upbeat song while a zombie apocalypse unfolds on the street behind the main character just don't seem to wear out their welcome for me.

Tales From The Lodge (2019) - a late-night Horror channel offering, this was a pleasant surprise. It looks like it should be awful, but is a horror-comedy anthology that knows it's a bit ramshackle and leans into that for its humour. Nothing life changing, but it does more with its premise than Silent Night did, and in less time.

Sightseers - first time rewatching this since I saw it at the cinema, and I have softened on my original disappointment. I still think the script doesn't work as well with Wheatley's direction as Amy Jump's work does, but there's some fun to be had with this parochial English variation on Natural Born Killers.

Knives Out - like a cosy jumper this is just a delight to revisit, and everything about it so much fun that it doesn't matter how many times I've seen it. The casting of Chris Evans as foul-mouthed Ransom remains the cherry on top of an already-wonderful slab of entertainment.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 27-12-2021 11:54am

^I rewatched Anna and the Apocalypse this year having seen it a few years ago. I enjoyed it the first time but liked it much more this time round. I forgot that the zombies were a pandemic, so it kind of added a whole new layer to the silly this time. There was even a line about hand sanatiser being your friend.

monkeyactive · 27-12-2021 4:55pm

PREDESTINATION

A 2014 sci- fi . Really enjoyed this . If you like time travel paradox stuff like Looper etc then you should check this out. Done very well on what seems like a very low budget. Ethan Hawke and the daughter in Succession Sarah Snook star.

9/10

briany · 27-12-2021 8:12pm

Marwencol (2010)

Documentary. After suffering a horrendous beating which left him in a coma and suffering brain damage, a man finds solace and a way to recovery, making sense of his drastically-changed life by building a 1/6 scale WW2 era Belgian town using army action figures and barbie dolls in his back garden, which he names 'Marwencol'.

Really interesting film which is in some ways sad and other ways quite uplifting. A look at how brain damage fundamentally alters someone's personality. The subject of the film, Mark Hogencamp, is essentially forced by his ordeal and injuries to look at the world, and express himself, in a completely different way and what we get is a unique, odd, story about an outsider artist.

Mr.Nice Guy · 28-12-2021 7:35pm

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

This movie won the Academy Award for best picture in 1990, beating My Left Foot, Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society, and Field of Dreams. Jessica Tandy won the Oscar for best actress, while it also picked up further gongs for best makeup and best adapted screenplay. Morgan Freeman and Dan Aykroyd earned nominations for best actor and best supporting actor respectively.

It's set in Georgia the late 40s and is about a retired, wealthy white woman (Tandy) who lives with a black housekeeper. When she crashes her car driving, her son (Aykroyd) hires a black chauffeur (Freeman) to drive her around, much to her annoyance early on.

It's a good film, but I'm pretty surprised this won the best picture award. It doesn't pan out the way one would expect. There's a scene early on where we learn Freeman's character can't read, so I'm expecting this will lead to several scenes with Miss Daisy teaching him to read since she's a former teacher, but she just ends up giving him a booklet on how to write properly. There's another scene where they visit Alabama and two cops start asking questions with obvious racial undertones, but while I expected this to lead to a discussion on race relations, it doesn't lead to anything really profound. They touch on the racial stuff rather lightly.

According to Wiki, Roger Ebert said of the film: "It is an immensely subtle film, in which hardly any of the most important information is carried in the dialogue and in which body language, tone of voice or the look in an eye can be the most important thing in a scene. After so many movies in which shallow and violent people deny their humanity and ours, what a lesson to see a film that looks into the heart."

I suppose it was too subtle for my taste. Whereas he found this satisfying, I found it a bit frustrating. The movie really hinges on the friendship of the two leads but I felt this could have been developed better on screen. I think the relatively short length of the movie - 99 minutes - is a factor in leaving me wanting more.

A nice film and well acted but for the praise heaped on it, I expected better. 7/10 for me.

steve_r · 28-12-2021 8:21pm

Watched a few over the last few weeks

King Richard

Fairly by the numbers biopic, lacks a bit of drama/high stakes

Flee

An excellent and very moving documentary about an Afgan refugee

Green Knight

A visually distinctive film - not for everyone though. I'd love to see Dev Patel in a "normal" role - like Andrew Garfield I feel I only see him in extreme scenarios.

Don't look up

Way way way too long for a comedy at 2.5 hours. Has it's moments and I support the theme of the action needed against Global Warming but this film is very smug and knowing.

Would have been a great 90 min film in the hands of someone like Chris Morris.

Petite Mamann

A beautiful film, well worth anyones time. Don't want to say much more.

Belfast

A nice, well-made film - Jamie Dornan isn't great but Ciaran Hinds and Judi Dench are brilliant.

Power of the Dog

A very strong film that builds and builds its atmosphere and tension.

The Card counter

Oscar Issac is amazing, the writing is very strong (at times), and the concept is good - but it loses its way at times and could have been a lot more.

tick, tick Boom

Musicals wouldn't really be my thing but Andrew Garfield is very strong in this - story is a little weak in places

On a side note, I think it's been a really strong year for films - the films tipped for Best Picture all look very strong - looking formward to catching Macbeth, Licorice Pizza, C'mon, C'mon, CODA and a few others which look very good also.

What have you watched recently? 3D!

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