What have you watched recently? 3D!

05-05-2023 10:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120554866#Comment_120554866

6/10 is kind on The Popes Exorcist. It had some promise mainly because of Crowe, but descended into total madness, the last 15 minutes was difficult to watch just becoming a fantasy movie.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose was a far better one - these Exorcism films which I do like generally have to have a sense of realism for it to be scary at all and believable. The priest Amorth had a documentary done about him by William Friedkin, which admittedly is not very revealing but Amorth was a real guy doing Exorcisms for a living. So it going into comic book form for the final act is bizarre really.

Hoping Crowe is not going to go the way of Mel!

Tony EH · 06-05-2023 7:55am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120560782#Comment_120560782

Agreed. It descends into outright silliness in its attempts to go large. But for most of its running time, I was pretty entertained. But, as said, a lot of that hinges on Crowe's performance. It's certainly not a great movie by any standards and I wouldn't want anyone to go away thinking that it's a must see, but it is above average within its subgenre. A subgenre which, admittedly, consists of pretty poor fare over all.

I've seen 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' and it's not bad either. It would probably hover around the same result as 'The Pope's Exorcist' for me. But, as I mentioned earlier, the best exorcism movie has already been made, so any subsequent film dealing with that subject is going to come a cropper. That movie, by the way, was based on a much better German film called 'Requiem', which is well worth seeking out. It's much less bombastic than either 'The Pope's Exorcist' or 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' and in that respect it's more believable, for want of a better word.

I've seen Friedkin's documentary on Amorth and that's worth a watch too. Apparently the two became good friends in subsequent years.

HalloweenJack · 06-05-2023 11:25am

As Bestas (The Beasts)

A Spanish film that had great success at the Spanish version of the Oscars this year.

The plot is not unlike The Field. A French couple buy a farmhouse in rural Spain. However, the neighbours turn against them when an energy company offers to buy up the land and the French couple are one of the few who don't want to sell.

The film is very atmospheric. There's an intense and nasty undercurrent right from the first scene. It's a drama but some of the visuals give it a horror aesthetic. There are plenty of great performances and visually it's beautiful.

The pacing and structure are off, though. The film is two hours and twenty minutes long. It doesn't start at the beginning, the first few scenes let us know that a lot has already gone on. The second act is very long while the final one is pretty short.

I won't go into spoilers but a significant event happens an hour in but the character's initial reaction is glossed over and we see the story picking up a few months later and it actually takes a few minutes to verify what has happened.

I enjoyed it and would recommend it but it does drag.

Fysh · 06-05-2023 11:33am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120560458#Comment_120560458

To a certain extent I think that might be a bit of an issue with Oshii's approach to story in general. Case in point - I stuck on Patlabor: The Movie the other night (another one of his) as it's free to stream on ITV, and despite it being about big stompy robots and a plot that has a lot of overlap with GitS, I got bored and turned it off after 20 minutes.

That was partly because the ITV version only has a painful English dub - but also because after a solid cold-open/credit sequence scene, the film dumps so much leaden exposition (required to set up the story at the chosen start point) that you can almost hear the thud of impact. It's even acknowledged in the film by having the characters who are listening to the monologue shown to be dozing through it, which is a cute gag but not enough to pull it back.

I need to rewatch Avalon at some point as I recall enjoying it but suspect it probably has similar issues...

pixelburp · 06-05-2023 1:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120561984#Comment_120561984

Funny been wondering about Patlabor, how that was; also looked gorgeous in that technologically exacting way. And the irony in all this is that this is all visual storytelling we're advocating .., something you'd think would be an automatic reflex for an animated movie. A medium that emphasises its visual palette shouldn't even needed exposition really.

07-05-2023 10:12am

The Last Emperor (1987)

Finally braved the 3h40m runtime to watch this epic saga of the last Emperor of China.

Appointed at the age of three just as the family had abdicated the throne, and China became a republic, the Emperor was allowed to remain in name and privilege but not allowed to leave the Forbidden city and influence the country anymore. The film follows him until his death and documents what is quite an extraordinary life.

Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, it is a sumptuously shot, flawless in production. It feels like its been made by an Italian such is the artistic detail at every turn. Filmed towards the end of the golden age of film when epic movies were still made, and the skill and artistry of film was there to behold. We have lost so much of that if not all of it now because of Cgi. Crowds are not real anymore, extra's are generated images, the challenges of filmmaking are not what they were, and it takes massively away from the end product are our potential to emotionally connect. None of that here with something that must have taken forever to shoot and edit, but got its just rewards with 9 Oscars.

The Emperor is played by 3 different actors as he grows up, and is tutored in his teenage years by Peter O'Toole who commands your respect on the screen with an excellent performance, guiding the Emperor through the devious actions of the eunuch's he was surrounded by.

This is a fascinating history lesson to say the least, how Japan was a completely different animal than it is now and its endeavours for the total domination of East Asia and every country in it. Flooding china with opium, operating prison camps, massacring 100's of thousands of people. China on the other hand fractured, corrupt and weak. How things have changed in that 100 years since then.

The film carries the time well, and only starts to drag a little bit in the final act but it still holds the attention all the way. Highly recommended 9/10.

monkeyactive · 08-05-2023 3:07pm

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

One I had not managed to re watch since its release.

Its just great. Packed with a who's who of British Actors. John Hurt , Stephen Graham, Tom Hardy , Cumber batch and on and on.

It really grabs you by the scruff of the neck this film . the pacing is perfect , your tugged along at a nice clip and the story and investigation flow nicely in well a edited mixture of time line jumping. Very stylish too.

A Spy classic

high marks/ 10

pixelburp · 08-05-2023 3:24pm

Silent Hill (2006)

Scene to scene, I vacillated between thinking this was either some kind of abstracted, demented genius - or total incoherent trash. And I'm honestly not sure where I landed by the film's end; the obvious place to settle is somewhere in the middle ... but even that feels like cheating somewhat. The video-game adaptation has become notable in being an unbroken succession of failures (ignoring TV & The Last of Us), and I think one of the pitfalls has often been the inescapable dissonance between an interactive narrative, often powered by reality-indifferent puzzle boxes - and cinema's fundamentally non-interactive format, formed from emotionality and thematic goals. So scripts sometimes fell over themselves trying to get distance from that "lesser" media, save for a few easter eggs and nods towards the games to placate the fans; with Silent Hill through, it kinda felt the filmmakers really wanted to embrace all those structural eccentricities and tropes of "video game logic" into the cinematic form - but nor am I convinced they actually pulled it off. Was my occasional confusion the point?

Assuming it was I suppose, the execution quite brazenly ran with this sensibility of foggy, dream logic and rarely compromised; the titular town a baffling nowhere place whose two modes were both eerie and disturbing in different ways, the palette of the games translated quite successfully. Both aesthetics were quite striking: the empty town transforming from ash-suffocated decrepitude into a nightmare form, one built entirely of rusty metal panels and barbed wire. It was and remains a fairly unique visual gimmick for a horror film; the latter, industrial variant of Silent Hill looking like Freddy Kruger's summer holiday destination. On the other hand, knowing some of the Silent Hill lore myself, certain iconography just didn't work within the context of this original story. The infamous "Pyramid Head" monster was the most obvious example here: in the original game he had a distinct, psychosexual purpose within the overall theme - yet here he was just a big 'aul monster, stomping around out of an obligation towards brand management. No explanation given for his presence, no hints towards a purpose relative to the town's secrets. Yet again though - was that the point?

ozmo · 08-05-2023 3:38pm

Taking title literally..."What have you watched recently? 3D!"

Going through our collection of 3D BluRays -

Watched Guardians of Galaxy 1 recently + Watched Guardians of Galaxy 2 + Christmas Special this weekend in prep for 3rd film.

Great films - but GoTG1 is probably best film for 3D effects I've seen so far.

nachouser · 09-05-2023 9:36pm

Currently watching "The Covenant" by Guy Ritchie. I'm shaking my head at how unlike a Guy Ritchie film it is. Remarkable, so far.

jj880 · 09-05-2023 10:19pm

Tetris (2023)

Enjoyable true story of how Tetris got released. A lot of twists and turns and people involved you wouldn't expect.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves (2023)

Thought this would be crap but was surprised mostly by the comedy and Hugh Grant plays a weasely snakey character very well. Ignore the cgi overkill.

What Is A Woman? (2022)

Interesting (and controversial) documentary about transgender rights and associated changes in society. Very interesting I thought. Some mad stuff going on in the USA / Canada around this.

jj880 · 09-05-2023 10:56pm

The Night Of (2016)

8 episode whodunnit series from HBO. After the initial episode which was a bit far fetched I thought this was really good. Some great performances and gripping story.

nachouser · 09-05-2023 11:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120577198#Comment_120577198

Yeah, I watched D&D a couple of days ago. Michelle Rodriguez was great in it. It's probably about 20 mins too long, but overall I found it a lot of fun.

jj880 · 09-05-2023 11:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120577481#Comment_120577481

Got Covenant on here now. Never heard of it before seeing your post. Promising start to it. Didnt enjoy Ritchie's last movie Operation Fortune so hopefully this is better.

flasher0030 · 10-05-2023 4:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120577530#Comment_120577530

Did you enjoy Covenant, now that you have seen it in full. I am hoping to throw it on tonight.

jj880 · 10-05-2023 5:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120579952#Comment_120579952

I would say better than average. Although not based on a particular true story it highlights a part of the war in Afghanistan that I wasnt aware of but now definitely makes sense:

The bond between some members of US military and their Afghan interpreters

Worth a watch for sure.

Fysh · 11-05-2023 9:28am

I ended up sticking on Nobody last night, on the basis that it's 90 minutes, has been talked up favourably for good action, and stars Bob Odenkirk.

The positives are that the action is strong - crunchy fights with some inventive choreography, and filmed with some flair while prioritising clarity. Though it managed to undermine itself fairly badly early on by

showing Hutch get stabbed in the side during one fight and literally go jogging the next day, not even bothering with stitches.

I could deal with that if it were the only flaw, but the bigger issue is that any time there aren't fists or bullets flying the writing is absolute arsegravy, and the tone is balanced too far into straightforward/po-faced for that to work in the first half of the film.

The final action set piece fully leans in to the daftness of the premise and is much better for it, but the rest of the film mistakenly thinks it's got anything whatsoever of interest to say about its characters and suffers for it.

FunLover18 · 11-05-2023 12:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120581961#Comment_120581961

I enjoyed it overall but it is a well of toxic masculinity in which a man saves his marriage and earns the respect of his son by killing a bunch of goons.

jj880 · 11-05-2023 12:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120582764#Comment_120582764

Come on toxic masculinity? Really? Its just a movie. I recommend no-one watch Hocus Pocus. Full of toxic femininity 😅

Fysh · 11-05-2023 4:00pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120582864#Comment_120582864

I think it's legitimate comment - right from the start of the film every character talking to Hutch is all but saying "you're a loser for not immediately jumping to violent escalation to protect your family", even one of the cops FFS. It could work if it was tongue in cheek (or e.g. only one character saying it), but instead we're beaten over the head with it repeatedly, and the tone of the film is so damn po-faced for too long that for me it didn't land at all.

Not helped by the wife's absolute lack of significant response to her husband coming home having clearly been in a brawl (with a ****ing stab wound he gets her to half-arsedly patch up, ffs!).

Compare it to something like The Drop or A History Of Violence, which are admittedly very different films to Nobody, but which correctly understand the outcome of someone discovering that their partner or close friend is capable of, and has committed, brutal acts of violence - i.e. terror and flight.

Instead we get a guy whose problems are all his own fault, but who we're apparently supposed to root for, whose main obstacle is himself, and who we're supposed to cheer on as he decides to return to his violent ways. Heck, even the inciting incident is a half-thought-through load of arsewater - the couple who break in are apparently desperate and broke enough that they steal his watch, but then keep it instead of pawning it. The only real way to square it with the film is to assume that "they're willing to resort to violence 'for their family'" is the message (incidentally, that's the two of them leaving the baby home alone to go out and commit burglaries, but sure I'm clearly thinking this further than the writers did so who cares).

The more I think about it, the more I'm actively annoyed at how stupid the writing in this film is 🤬

nachouser · 11-05-2023 6:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120583778#Comment_120583778

"OK, pitch me."

"Uh, the guy from Better Call Saul as a retired hit-man?"

"SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!"

FunLover18 · 11-05-2023 8:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120582864#Comment_120582864

@Fysh put it better than I could ever but the message of the movie is essentially "real men resort to violence" and I agree that when even the cop is basically chastising him for not escalating matters, it's ridiculous. All that said I think I probably enjoyed it more than they did but it was niggling at me throughout.

Tony EH · 11-05-2023 9:12pm

'Dungeons and Dragons'

No...not that one. The 1980's cartoon and my god what a slog. But unfortunately Uncle Tony was trapped by the nephew and nieces and under his own suggestion (duh) I ended up watching the entire series over a couple of days with them last weekend.

It wastes zero time getting to the gist, as within less than a minute our heroes, a guy with a bow and arrow, a guy with a shield, an awful magician, a kid with a club and a couple girls with a magic cloak and a stick are chucked into the crazy world of dungeons and dragons because of an ill advised go on a fairground ride. There they meet a dodgy little geezer called the Dungeon Master and a couple of sods who I can't remember the names of that are the baddies of the show. Plus there's an annoying unicorn that follows them around. They end up getting into all sorts of 20 minute adventures over the course of 20 something episodes.

A favourite of mine as a kid, returning to this as an adult really lets you know that some things are best left in the past. This TV show is no exception. But I will say that it was entertaining to see familiar characters on the screen and very pleasant to get a nostalgic recall of musical beats and stings that I haven't heard since the mid 80's.

The littlest loved it (but thought the bad man was scary), the middle one thought it was good (even if it was "really old") and the eldest lad thought it wasn't great but watched it all anyway. Now they want to see the movie.

My god, what have I done?

jj880 · 11-05-2023 9:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120583778#Comment_120583778

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120584914#Comment_120584914

You both aren't wrong. Im a newcomer to this thread. Was expecting some ideas on stuff worth watching. Didn't think it would be debating toxic masculinity and the message of a movie. Message for who? Is someone gona watch this and think this is how they should behave? Its an action movie. Think I'll head back over to the Netflix recommendations thread.

nachouser · 11-05-2023 9:38pm

Nah, hang around this thread. It's a really good source. Some excellent posters. Now and again someone will post something you don't agree with, but hey ho. Don't get dragged into arguing. Same as any sub.

FunLover18 · 11-05-2023 9:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120585250#Comment_120585250

Sorry I may have diverted the thread off topic. Obviously most people know it's a movie but the likes of Andrew Tate and his followers are the types who would see Hutch as some sort of ideal and they'd also be the types who would criticism him for "not manning up" anyway, as you were.

Fysh · 11-05-2023 10:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120585250#Comment_120585250

Your mileage may vary, but I tend to need context around reviews so I know whether I'd share the same view on a film as the reviewer. There tends to be a lot of chat about the films being watched in this thread, so if that's not what you're after it may not be the right one for you.

One thing I will say about Nobody, despite my gripes above - the bus scene and the climactic warehouse scene are both tremendous, so even if you only skip about and watch those, they are worth watching.

I love a good action movie, but I've learned over time that I can be quite picky about what films have the combination of ingredients that work for me. Personal high-watermark action films are things like The Raid, Crank, District 13, Chocolate, Fury Road - if you haven't seen any of these, I'd strongly recommend them. I can rewatch any of them because whatever flaws they have, their strengths just blow me away, every time.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 11-05-2023 11:05pm

Saw Polite Society in the cinema tonight.

I enjoyed it, it's not perfect and it takes a massive swing in the 3rd act that didn't work for me as well as the rest of the film, but it was still a fun time.

I see a lot of people making the Edgar Wright comparison, specifically to Scott Pilgrim, and I can see why, but also I fully hated that film, so I wouldn't take it as a ringing endorsement in itself, but it probably is the best film to us to try to describe Polite Society.

Honestly it's just kind of refreshing to see some new faces in British film making, both behind and in front of the camera.

pixelburp · 12-05-2023 6:42am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120585250#Comment_120585250

This thread has always had a little debate, it's not just a shopping list of films people watch. Well, it is ostensibly, but sometimes a particular film will spawn a bit of chatter and it'd be a poor film forum if there wasn't a degree of dissection here and there. God knows Boards has got quieter, I'd hate for here to dry up cos people won't or don't debate. Personally I enjoy when people elaborate on a film and what it was made it good or bad in their eyes; reductive "film good, plenty smashy smashy" comments don't really bring much IMO & isn't why I post here.

"Messaging" is just a way of saying that sometimes a theme can sneak through the script that can make it hard to ignore when certain things keep happening in the actual plot. It's not always clear the director/writer ever meant that but many a film has a conclusion or message it wanted to impart to the audience. Good films can make this very subtle that it becomes subtext, but if when viewing a movie you keep feeling like it's hammering you over the head, it's hard to ignore.

Nobody did have a weird vigilante streak that seemed to glory in this idea that Bob Odenkirk was a wimp for not going Violence First; not like there wasn't an easier way to have a Dadbod John Wick film, without having the script constantly tut the lead didn't immediately hulk out. The action was good, especially that bus scene - but the framing around it sometimes whiffed of an armchair Rambo exercising his fantasy of what passed for manliness. All a bit Death Wish sequel really. Wasn't as annoyed as Fysh was mind you, but it wasn't a choice that worked for me either.

budgemook · 12-05-2023 11:13am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120585250#Comment_120585250

Eh, the Netflix thread currently debating whether McGregor should have a documentary or not 😁

What have you watched recently? 3D!

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