What films have you watched recently?

ICBM

A couple of oldies that my daughter wanted to see.

Beetlejuice

Michael Keaton hilariously over the top, all the other characters absolutely perfect, and even funnier than I remember it from thirty years ago. (And Catherine O'Hara extremely hot .) Can't find a thing to dislike about it, maybe not the most serious and meaningful movie ever made, but still a good...

9/10


Sleepy Hollow

Also Tim Burton - the Johnny Depp/Christina Ricci one. A fantastic ensemble cast of great names and cameos and some more brilliant over-the-top acting, especially Miranda Richardson who was clearly having immense fun. Johnny Depp maybe overdid it slightly to less effect, but still better than some of his phoned-in stuff.

The only thing I didn't really like is that when I saw it in the cinema, I don't remember the identity of the Headless Horseman being revealed so early - I seem to remember a big 'wow' near the end when the audience saw who it was. Maybe they've put a bit of cut footage back in... if so that's a shame, it reduces his impact.

8/10

Blueingreen

"Their Finest".  40s Brit period piece about making propaganda films in wartime.   Makes a parade of a satirical knowingness about movie cliches in attempt to excuse its own ("yes, we're using hackneyed tropes, but at least we can poke fun at ourselves".  The problem is they don't do it with enough cynicism or bite.  In the end it still feels formulaic and, one shocking twist notwithstanding, too cosy.

Gemma Arterton is good value as the heroine. Bill Nighy, the narcissistic old luvvie with a big heart under his crusty exterior is an outrageous piece of typecasting but surprisingly still works; Sam Claflin is hopelessly lacking in charisma as the male lead, and has no chemistry with Arterton.  You're obviously supposed to be rooting for them to get together whereas you're actually hoping she gives the colourless, somewhat boorish and self-important dork the bum's rush.

Still it's not about monsters or superheroes, no women get murdered or raped or eviscerated, it looks pretty good and provides solid if unspectacular entertainment. 7/10.

EricTheWeary

MrsTheWeary was watching Alive and Kicking ( 1958) last night and I got very drawn in. Pretty nonsensical British comedy ( and some might take offence at the Irish stereotypes) but lots of lovely lines. There is a great economy to film making like that which seems to be a lost art. 

boogieman

Sausage Party. An “adult comedy” animation, allegedly. More like very laboured sex jokes with lots of added swearing. Utter rubbish. 

Monster. Brilliant stuff. Small wonder Charlize Theron  won an Oscar for this. 

Blaendulais

Captain Marvel.

Not great, reckon Marvel has exhausted its ability to maintain interest.  Not as awful as Black Panther by any means but not great.  I cant see much excitement after the next Avengers movie in the MCU

mikeyrob73

Serenity 
gave up half way though 

matdotcodot

 I rewatched Out of the Furnace recently, bit more brutal than I remembered, but great film and really solid soundtrack with Pearl Jam weaving in and out of several scenes.

ICBM

Testament Of Youth

WWI film based on Vera Brittain's autobiographical book. Maybe not the most sophisticated acting and direction, but well enough done. I actually found it more emotive than They Shall Not Grow Old, even though it's to some extent 'fictionalised' in the sense that the characters are played by actors. I haven't read the book, but MrsICBM has and said the film was if anything more powerful.

9/10

Philly_Q

Hereditary

Not sure quite what to make of it.  It certainly looks good - with only a minimal amount of obvious CGI - and is effectively atmospheric, but it's a bit too long and I'm not sure the plot really hangs together.  Maybe the writer/director had everything worked out in his head but not all of it ended up on screen.  Some of the horror elements are more than a bit cliched but others are quite unusual.  He rarely resorts to cheap jump scares, which is always a good thing.  On the whole, I think I liked it.

guitarfishbay

Ghost in the Shell [Live Action]

Not as terrible as some people had made out.  The anime is better, but it's not a bad film.

Cols

Watched Bohemian Rhapsody yesterday, thoroughly enjoyed it.  Rami Malek may have snagged the Best Actor Academy Award, but the guy playing Brian May totally nailed it.  Uncanny.

Moominpapa

ICBM said:

Testament Of Youth

WWI film based on Vera Brittain's autobiographical book. Maybe not the most sophisticated acting and direction, but well enough done. I actually found it more emotive than They Shall Not Grow Old, even though it's to some extent 'fictionalised' in the sense that the characters are played by actors. I haven't read the book, but MrsICBM has and said the film was if anything more powerful.

9/10

Was this a film version, or the 1979 BBC version with the lovely Cheryl Campbell?

ICBM

Moominpapa said:

Was this a film version, or the 1979 BBC version with the lovely Cheryl Campbell?

The 2014 film version with Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington and Taron Egerton. (And Dominic West, Emily Watson and Miranda Richardson among the support.)

Moominpapa

ICBM said:The 2014 film version with Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington and Taron Egerton. (And Dominic West, Emily Watson and Miranda Richardson among the support.)

Ah, OK, haven't seen that. The BBC series was excellent (in my memory at least) and Cheryl Campbell was terriffic in it.

thumpingrug

La La Land.  Really don't see what the fuss was about or how it won awards.  Found it pretty dull.

HAL9000

thumpingrug said:

La La Land.  Really don't see what the fuss was about or how it won awards.  Found it pretty dull.

I suspect it’s one of those films that you either ‘get it’ or you don’t. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t to Mrs9000’s tastes at all.

DrJazzTap

Captain marvel it was okay not terrible, just more of the same old same old. The film shoves the 90s film score down your throat 

Philly_Q

Ready Player One

There's a lot of visual spectacle and a two and a half hour running time hiding a pretty insubstantial plot, and it took me a long time to feel any connection with it (the sequence set within The Shining helped!) but Steven Spielberg is good at this kind of thing... ultimately I enjoyed it, although I'm not sure I'll remember it in a week's time.

(By the way, is Ben Mendelsohn fast becoming the new Alan Rickman?)

failed_astronaut

DrJazzTap said:

Captain marvel it was okay not terrible, just more of the same old same old. The film shoves the 90s film score down your throat 

We went to see it yesterday afternoon and likewise, I thought it was OK but it's basically an stop gap until Avengers:Endgame. One review I read pointed out that she starts the film as basically an indestructible super soldier and ends the film even more powerful so there's not a lot of peril to get invested in. The more interesting film would've been the intervening years between discovering her powers, helping the Krull, defying the Kree and then returning to Earth post Infinity War fully jacked up ready to take on Thanos.

guitartango

Hangman with Al Pacino, normally i really enjoy his film's but this was crap. The acting was appalling and the story line a weak version of 7even..