What films have you watched recently?

Offset

The Ghostmaker (2012), Prime

An interesting premise.  A house clearer is asked to dispose of an ancient and mysterious coffin which contains some bizarre mechanical innards.  With some research, the house clearer and two friends soon discover the contraption can induce a temporary state of death and allow the spirit of of the coffin's incumbent to go walkabout for a limited period of time.  Needless to say, all of this freedom comes with a price and soon some worrying incidents start to manifest themselves as the protagonists use the box for nefarious purposes.

On paper, this is my kind of crappy movie.  It starts fairly well but soon sags and becomes all too predictable, descending into a pseudo-stalker/obsessed psycho cliche.  Given that initial promise, this was disappointing.  I didn't like or believe in any of the characters and the ending in particular has been done elsewhere (1990's Ghost most notably).

4/10.  

sinbaadi

robgilmo said:

I thought About Time was really good, its a romatic film rather than a serious time travel film, Bill Nighy as usual is brilliant.

Well the problem with that is that even purely as a rom-com, it's not funny at all, nor is it in any way convincing.  No chemistry between the lead actor and any of the love interests, and the guy is completely wooden with the all-important children too, the only time travel plot device of actual importance.

Nighy is indeed excellent, and a brief respite when on screen, but his character even says "I got diagnosed as soon as possible, but it was too late".  I mean that just doesn't make any sense!  He's able to go in to a cupboard and travel back to any point in his life, and live his life from that point forward should he wish.  He's not going to be upset about getting a bit poorly, and if he decides to inflict his early death on his family like that, then that's entirely his choice, so not exactly endearing.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Le Chant Du Loup (The Call Of The Wolf)

A French Netflix original thriller about modern-day nuclear submarine warfare. Big budget, very slick affair with convincing effects and action set pieces. Has three of the big stars of French TV/cinema in the lead roles - Omar Sy (Lupin), Matthieu Kassovitz (Amélie, La Haine) and Francois Civil (The Three Musketeers) so Netflix have obviously thrown some decent cash at it.

And it worked. I'm generally not a fan of war movies, but there's something about submarine movies that does seem to make them uniquely gripping. Think it must be the intense claustrophobia of the setting. This one is no different; it's a bit silly in terms of the plot but they usually are. It's like a 21st century Crimson Tides or Hunt For Red October. 

Plot holes big enough you could drive a frigate through if you think about it too hard, but it's good switch-your-brain-off entertainment.

7.5/10

goldtop

Twelve Monkeys (iPlayer or NowTV, can't remember). I'd somehow missed this one. Proper full-on Gilliam steampunk approach to time travel, but the plot is fascinating. Improbable, but totally convincing. (Even an annoying Brad Pitt can't spoil it.) Still scratching my head a lot. Will have to watch it again. 8/10 or could be 9/10.

I then watched the 1962 French art-house film on which it's based, La Jetée, which you can watch on YT. Which is even better (although not as fleshed out as Gilliam's homage.) Definite 9.5/10.

Shrews

Capricorn One

For conspiracy theorists everywhere!  I found this on a YT channel



I will try to get through a few of them over the next few weeks, includes The Omen, Ruby, Driller Killer, Hills Have Eyes etc

Overall, this long-before-the-internet movie does a good job of raising doubts about NASA and I suppose the moon landings. I've never subscribed to that, but from memory this was the film that made me think a little when I was a kid about whether we did actually go to the moon (even though this is about Mars). Good story, well acted, keeps the interest throughout.

8/10

Stratavarious

Shrews said:

Capricorn One

For conspiracy theorists everywhere!  I found this on a YT channel



I will try to get through a few of them over the next few weeks, includes The Omen, Ruby, Driller Killer, Hills Have Eyes etc

Overall, this long-before-the-internet movie does a good job of raising doubts about NASA and I suppose the moon landings. I've never subscribed to that, but from memory this was the film that made me think a little when I was a kid about whether we did actually go to the moon (even though this is about Mars). Good story, well acted, keeps the interest throughout.

8/10

Good movie..

I love The Andromeda Strain from around then too.

Grangousier

Went to see Furiosa at the IMAX. I thought it was magnificent. For the last hour or so I got terrible cramps in my knees, and I was telling myself not to be so soft, it's not as if I have to tear my own arm off or anything. Not the constant action of Fury Road (there is plenty of action, but it's not non-stop), but it does fill in all the back story of who Furiosa is and how she came to be working for someone like Immortan Joe. 

CavemanGrogg

Icetastrophe - I think that's whats it was called anyway

Christ knows what this was about, and why the actors even agreed to be part of it - A lot of them are from several brilliant TV series.  Something about gravity changing, mercury colliding with earth, mercury becoming a super new form of magnetism, a magical asteroid splitting in two, a second ice age, hyper global warming, time travel, time dilation, space travel, and the sun.  Though everything works out in the end.  Seriously have no idea what this was about or if it even had a story line, for a 90 odd minute long movie, it felt like sitting through the entire Lord of The Rings saga in one sitting, except for the fact that it was painfully shit.

If ever there was a way that you could add a movie to block list to ever prevent you from being exposed to it, this would be one to add, and close to the top of the list too.

 

boogieman

3000 Years of Longing. Film4. 

Tilda Swinton as a lecturer whose life is totally, professionally absorbed by storytelling and narrative. So much so that she has ended up alone, frustrated and lonely. She unwittingly releases a genie (Idris Elba) who tells her his life history and their lives become gradually more and more entwined. TS is excellent in this, Idris slightly less so, but it’s still an interesting film, in a slightly schmaltzy way, with good production and excellent effects. I liked it. 8/10. 

Philly_Q

Lucky (Shudder)

May, an author of self-help books, goes down to her kitchen late at night and finds a masked man breaking in... she rushes to wake her husband, who seems unsurprised and says "oh, it's the man who breaks in every night and tries to kill us".  From then on, the man does indeed show up every night, and each time May fights him off, knocking him unconscious or apparently killing him... but then he immediately disappears.  The police investigate, but seem more interested in the state of her marriage...

This is an odd film.  The subject matter's potentially quite dark but it's played in a light, breezy way without ever totally veering into "comedy".  It has that Groundhog Day element of being repetitive, which risks becoming boring, but the film is both short and briskly paced.  At the end of the day...

...in the words of writer and star Brea Grant, "obviously the movie is a big metaphor about the normalisation of violence against women".  I've put that as a spoiler, but it seemed so transparently obvious from the beginning that I was hoping there'd be more to it.  It's not bad, but maybe I'm too insensitive to appreciate it.

Offset

Underwater (2020), Prime

I've watched this many times before and probably reviewed it here, but this is one of my favourite films of this genre.  It owes a fair bit to Alien - strong female lead, substitute the sea for space - but there the resemblence ends.  This is my favourite H.P. Lovecraft homage; it's suspenseful, claustrophobic and agoraphobic at the same time, well-acted in the main, there are a few scares along the way and the settings/CGI are brilliant.  If you're an HPL fan, you'll recognise one of the main players :-)

9.5/10.

Philly_Q

@Offset I must watch that again sometime, I wasn't that struck on it but I think maybe I'll like it better knowing roughly where it's headed.

Offset

^^ Kristen Stewart wandering around in her shreds was, I'd like to think, a nod to Sigourney Weaver doing the same 41 years earlier.

TeleMaster

Did anyone see Monkey Man? It was awesome. John Wick meets Bollywood. Very visceral and neurotic.

I'm going to see Planet Of The Apes and Furiosa tomorrow with my mate. Doubled header! 

robgilmo

Atlas,
Ai tries to kill humans, Jennifer Lopez saves the day, CGI looked bad, but good , but bad because it looks very artificial, story is shallow, predictable bollocks really but watchable.

Arcadian.
Nicolas Cage playing himself as usual, not much back story, something happens on earth, monsters end up living underground and try to kill humans, Cage is a main player but doesnt spoil the film too much, the monsters are really very good most of the time, 3 kids are the main players and do a very good job of it. The story is quite shallow but for a post end of the world film its not too shabby, it is kept simple but still keeps you engaged through most of it. Its not 'The Road' and possibly would have benefited from taking a leaf out of its book, it tries though however the same attantion to details just isnt there, clean teeth and clothes for example, but its still very watchable.

Jfingers

Late to to the party but

Dark Waters - Netflix

Mark Ruffalo deserves multiple awards for this film. I was gripped for almost two and a half hours.

I have hated dupont since my teens due to this...

robgilmo

Civil War.

I thought this was going to be pants, Murica Fuck Yeah type film, I was wrong, its really quite good, not exactly 'The Killing Fields' but not bad at all. Its quite realistic in that it didnt screen anything that you might think 'yeah, like that can happen' , instead it kept within the boundries of realism however it also kept me immersed. There is some action and gore however not really anything to get the emotions running, nothing really hits you in the feels. I am not sure why they stuck a kid in the middle of it, seems odd that they did that, perhaps to target a younger audience, who knows, good movie though.

Rabs

robgilmo said:

Atlas,
Ai tries to kill humans, Jennifer Lopez saves the day, CGI looked bad, but good , but bad because it looks very artificial, story is shallow, predictable bollocks really but watchable.

I saw this too.. Much the same as you say, thin obvious story but reminded me of a good old 90s action film.. Watchable rubbish but fun enough. Just a simpler film than you often see these days with no apparent agendas, just turn your mind off and watch.

robgilmo

Rabs said:

robgilmo said:

Atlas,
Ai tries to kill humans, Jennifer Lopez saves the day, CGI looked bad, but good , but bad because it looks very artificial, story is shallow, predictable bollocks really but watchable.

I saw this too.. Much the same as you say, thin obvious story but reminded me of a good old 90s action film.. Watchable rubbish but fun enough. Just a simpler film than you often see these days with no apparent agendas, just turn your mind off and watch.

Thats the one, something to watch while you eat your tea, you dont really need to concentrate and if you get up to put the kettle on you dont have to pause it.

hassleham

Just watched Plane on Amazon Prime. Enjoyed it!