What was the last film you watched?

[Biggie]

Fisherman's Friend: All For One.

I didn't know what to expect from this movie. I was kinda thinking that it would be about an RNLI rescue.... the fisherman's "friend"

It's about the ups and downs of a Cornish sea shanty band. Excellent acting, beautiful scenery and a musical score that will have you clapping along with the action on the screen.

Comedy, romance and drama... I walked out happier than I walked in.

 

[Angela Channing]

The Bucket List (2007)

With these actors and a premise that features two men brought together by sharing a hospital room while being treated for cancer I probably shouldn't have been so surprised to find that this film pulled out the emotional rug several times. But I was.

Perhaps because of its relative brevity I was expecting a simpler, broader sillier comedy. It has the laughs - above all this is a buddy comedy - but there are some heavier moments that give the laughs a deeper meaning. It's one of those life affirming, thought-provoking films that I probably wasn't prepared for last night, but loved all the same. Perhaps the reason I found it so powerful was exactly because I was expecting something else.

The performances are great and there's some glorious scenery as the film opens up later on. A beautiful film on so many levels.

Very interested to read your comments. I saw this film on a transatlanic flight about 25 years ago and although I liked it and thought there was great chemistry between Jack and Morgan, I couldn't help being disappointed that the film that brought them together was a light-weight comedy and not something with more substance. Maybe I wasn't reading enough into the film and should have appreciated it more for what is was.

 

[Angela Channing]

The Blind Side (2009)
Sandra Bullock's Oscar-winning role. Funny how the Oscar tends to go to an actor playing against type as if they weren't really acting before.
I knew this had something to do with American football, I just didn't expect there to be so much of it.

I really didn't like her performance in this film, in fact I didn't really like the film that much. Yes, it's a heart warming story but it felt more like it should have been a Hallmark TV movie rather than a big cinematic release. I will never agree that Sandra Bullock's performance was better than Gabourey Sidibe in Precious or even Meryl Streep in Julie and Julia, who were both also up for best actress. She isn't a bad actress (she was great in Crash) but The Blind Side wasn't an Oscar worthy performance.

 

[Angela Channing]

Full Metal Jacket.

Some powerful scenes and themes, and I liked what it had to say and how it went about saying it. However, it just wasn't that engrossing a story. Maybe the fact that I'm not generally a fan of war movies didn't help. Not one of my favourite Kubrick films.

View attachment 40262

I thought the begining of the film with the drill instructor putting the recruits through their paces was absolutely brilliant and totally compelling, but sadly the rest of the film didn't live up to the promising start. I agree it wasn't an engrossing story.

 

[Richard Channing]

 

[Willie Oleson]

It's about the ups and downs of a Cornish sea shanty band

Sounds intriguingly novel.

 

[Biggie]

Full Metal Jacket.

Some powerful scenes and themes, and I liked what it had to say and how it went about saying it. However, it just wasn't that engrossing a story. Maybe the fact that I'm not generally a fan of war movies didn't help. Not one of my favourite Kubrick films.

View attachment 40262

Full Metal Jacket is one of the best war movies I've watched. Some offerings of this genre are, I find, eye rolling incredulous pish.
Full Metal was filmed in the UK, I've not crossed paths with many that have watched FMJ and picked up that fact. Speaks of excellent production design.

I first had an inkling that it was filmed in the UK, maybe second time I watched it when I noticed the road markings are for LH drive roads. That said, very good and endlessly quotable movie....

The Dambusters...total tripe. Thin Red Line... nonsense redefined. The Longest Day.... someone shudda shot Rooster Cogburn pre-production.
FMJ... I find excellent.

 

[Biggie]

Sounds intriguingly novel.

I walked out of the cinema thinking "f*** me, that was highly enjoyable". Everything here just works even though the initial premise sounds dull.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I loved it back in 1999 and I'm happy to report that it holds up very, very well. It's another life imitates art scenario although it becomes more of a mixture without a definitive perspective.
The aliens have copied the classic TV show, thinking it was the real thing, and then the actors find out that it actually works. It's kind of brilliant, really.
The film mocks the sci-fi genre and its fanbase but at the same time it also shows the wholesomeness of it, and it even becomes somewhat epic in its final act.
GALAXY QUEST steers clear of reaching out to its audience, everything is solely thrown at and digested by the characters - and that's the way it should be.
And then it also manages to be a thrilling sci-fi adventure.

 

[Angela Channing]

Top Gun Maverick.

I gotta say... it's pretty good. Not Tom's best cinematic offering, but still a good romp.

Some comedy, some nicely shot action, some romance for our man here, and unlike last time, female fighter pilots get recognition. Yu Xu and Kara Hultergreen anyone?

Beginning to end, just a jolly good lark of a movie, with a hat tip to the late Goose!

I saw Top Gun: Maverick recently and thought it was a very good film. I knew nothing about the original film so all the references to it and the characters from it was lost on me but that didn't matter because it works as a stand alone film.

 

[Angela Channing]

Nope (2022)

I didn't like this as much as Jordan Peele's other 2 films (Get Out and Us) but there was still a lot to like about Nope. I read an article in which it was described it as a horror but it's not, it more of a science fiction film with elements of a thriller.

I don't want to say too much about the plot because it's hard to do it justice without giving away spoilers but it's about a mystery thing seen in the sky that is thought to be sucking up horses and then dropping the waste products from what's left back on earth. There are various subplots, including one about a chimpanzee and a child actorwho both starred in a TV sitcom until the chimp flips and attacks the cast.

There's a lot of subtext, much of which I missed, so I think I would appreciate this film even more on a second viewing. Donna Mills (Abby Cunningham from Knots Landing) appears in one scene near the start of the film but even her role is brief, it's nice to see her still working in her 80s.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I watched Carry On Jack on Saturday night as another tribute to the late Bernard Cribbins.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Another 1990s space classic revisited. but unfortunately not as successful as Galaxy Quest.

The first half is interesting, that monstrous spaceship with its ridiculous gothic set design, like a Haunted Mansion In Space, and they could have done SO much more with it.
While the idea is that the spaceship comes alive it really never does. Characters start to hallucinate and chase ghosts - did they really have to travel into deep space for that?
There's a lot of spectacle and explosions but that never means anything and they only die in the most stupid ways. Well, it complements the horrible, wooden acting.
All the characters are "kick-ass with an attitude" and the black guy gets the obligatory clowny part.

It's an awful movie and I constantly had the feeling there was something funny going with the aspect ratio. Which could have been utilized as an element of disorientating horror, but no, it just looked bad.

Perhaps my memory had remixed it with that other Sam Neill movie, DEAD CALM.

 

[Rove]

​

Awful. I'm thankful this popped up on Disney+ rather than in my shopping basket. I'm of the opinion they now make these movies because they can. While I enjoyed the humour in Thor: Ragnarök the over-the-top camp in this was akin to watching the worst of The CW Dynasty. I'm now of the impression Chris Hemsworth is a one trick pony and when the words, 'Thor will return' popped up in the end credits I could have thrown the last remnants of the popcorn at the television screen.

0/10....enough already.​

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I'm of the opinion they now make these movies because they can.

Agreed. It's become a soulless production line. Phase Four has had the occasional moment of greatness, but I'd say there have been more misses than hits for me. It's nothing like earlier Phases where every film - even if it didn't speak to me as much as others - felt important.

While I enjoyed the humour in Thor: Ragnarök the over-the-top camp in this was akin to watching the worst of The CW Dynasty.

Ragnarok was towards the bottom end of my rankings of the MCU. I think at that point in the release timeline it took the very lowest place. I hated the humour which seemed to mock the very character. Mark Ruffalo's Bruce/Hulk has rarely-to-never worked for me anyway, and as for Chris Hemsworth...

I'm now of the impression Chris Hemsworth is a one trick pony

Yes. I really liked the portrayal in his first few films, but Thor's has become more and more of a cardboard caricature. He plays him like Zapp Branigan, as this send up of masculinity, there to be laughed at by the audience. Any nuance is lost and there's no nobility or dignity to the character at all. I'll be actively avoiding Love & Thunder, and it's the film that swung it for me when deciding to let my D+ subscription lapse a couple of months ago.

when the words, 'Thor will return' popped up in the end credits I could have thrown the last remnants of the popcorn at the television screen.

 

[Willie Oleson]

My first official streaming purchase! (well, a rental, but it's the same idea).
Yes, we're in the thick of bohemia now, Mr. Briggs.

I think Daniel Craig's Southern accent was more fun to him than it was to me because it was impossible not to be aware of it. And maybe that was the point but 2+ hours is a very long point to make.
And then he ends up singing along to a Pet Shop Boys song anyway.
There were moments when the story lost its intensity, and unlike the more "classic" cinema it has very little to fall back on to. But when it works it's great.
The set design is fabulous and extremely detailed (although that's pretty standard these days) and yet it has that strange CGI feel to it, even if it isn't.
What I mean to say is that it never feels as if I'm standing in the room with them and that I could touch any of it. Maybe it's the result of looking too perfect, or the choice of camera technique, I don't know.

I watched it in two parts. No matter how tired I am, if I'm feeling very excited or intrigued by a story I will stop at nothing to finish it.
The final twist during the big reveal was very surprising, and I refuse to believe comments like "I saw it coming".
It was fun (enough) but I don't think it will ever make the re-watch list.

But now I know the whole rental thing works (it didn't when I tried it on UK Prime some time ago, although no specific error was given).

 

[Biggie]

Save The Last Dance.

Maybe the third time I've watched this but still found it engaging and easy to fall into. Julia Stiles paired up with love interest Sean Thomas against a backdrop of the racial divide that seems to permeate through all tiers of American society captured one's attention.

The soundtrack I found excellent. Hip-hop is not to everyone's tastes but if you ever watch Save The Last Dance, I urge you to take note of the set piece nightclub scene when the main protagonists finally bond (for want of a better phrase). The Ice Cube....f*** it, I'm gonna post it.

Ice Cube, Mack 10 and Ms Toi.

 

[Willie Oleson]

A sci-fi tech-noir thriller in German Expressionism style (kinda like THE MATRIX meets METROPOLIS).
The special effects appear to be outdated but personally I don't see it. How real does a fantasy have to look anyway?

It's a zany, fabulous and timeless gem that requires your attention, but don't overthink the convoluted practices.

 

[darkshadows38]

Dark City (1998) i will never get why that movie flopped back than it's f.. Brilliant! i just watched the original Cheaper by the Dozen (1950) holy sh*t did it take me ages to warm up to it's lead not Myrna Loy she was lovely and her character as well but the father played by Clifton Webb he was good in it but him trying to control everything even the kids surgery for their tonsils to what grade they are gonna be in! that's just too much honestly i think the (2003) version is better and that's because it had a more likable lead Steve Martin. his character i mean. apparently they remade it yet again WHY? that's coming out this year as for the film i dunno i'd say 7/10

oh i nearly forgot to add the house that's used well the sets anyways that's used for the big house they move into though dressed differently is the same set that's used for Dark Shadows the 60's tv show how cool is that? you can tell too i was reading up on the trivia

 

[Willie Oleson]

It doesn't matter if you've seen the 1989 version, the story is inherently spoilerish - with an unrelated sub-plot for extra horror effects.
Once the dead cat has returned it's a matter of waiting for the inevitable, and then all that stuff happens.
An eerie procession scene at the beginning of the story proves to be a one-off and there's the father's paranormal/dream experiences that doesn't influence the story in any way what.so.ever.
It seems to me that this remake tasks itself with the cover-up for a lame story. It could have focused on the dilemma: what would you do if you had the choice?
You can find a much more intriguing interpretation in BLACK MIRROR's fourth episode "Be Right Back".