NPR

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 9:22 am It'll look great, but it'll be over-long and probably still have some shoe-horned in musing about androids...

The Martian is the only good film he's directed since American Gangster.

I haven't seen it yet but I thought The Last Duel was supposed to be decent?

robmatic wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 10:53 am

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 9:22 am It'll look great, but it'll be over-long and probably still have some shoe-horned in musing about androids...

The Martian is the only good film he's directed since American Gangster.

I haven't seen it yet but I thought The Last Duel was supposed to be decent?

One of his better recent films, but that's damning with faint praise. Like much of his work it's in need of a damned good edit. I understand why there was repetition, trying to show events from two distinct perspectives, but it's not sufficiently different where it occurs to warrant having been employed and contributes to the bloated 2.5 hour run time. Accents are a bit all over the place too, which is quite distracting. He clearly doesn't care about that sort of stuff, see Russell Crowe in the awful 2010 Robin hood.

Worth saying, though, that I'm very much of the 90 minute movie school and very sceptical of longer films. There aren't many out there that justify 2 hours in my opinion, let alone longer.

Gumboot wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 9:39 am

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 9:22 am It'll look great, but it'll be over-long and probably still have some shoe-horned in musing about androids...

The Martian is the only good film he's directed since American Gangster.

I enjoyed Thelma & Louise. The rest of his stuff... meh.

Prometheus is one of my favourite 21st century comedies, though I'm given to understand it's meant to be a sci-fi/horror

He's 84. Is he ever going to slow down?

Some body of work. Even the failures tend to be interesting at least.

Anne Heche has died.
Decent actress. Career derailed a bit with negative reaction to her relationship with Ellen.

Uncle fester wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 6:47 pm He's 84. Is he ever going to slow down?

Some body of work. Even the failures tend to be interesting at least.

Looks good.

Uncle Colm McCool inspired?

So who is queuing up for tickets to see Blackbird?
Reviews are poisonous.

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 11:15 am

Gumboot wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 9:39 am

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 9:22 am It'll look great, but it'll be over-long and probably still have some shoe-horned in musing about androids...

The Martian is the only good film he's directed since American Gangster.

I enjoyed Thelma & Louise. The rest of his stuff... meh.

Prometheus is one of my favourite 21st century comedies, though I'm given to understand it's meant to be a sci-fi/horror

Actually quite like Prometheus, some over reaching to be sure, and hold Covenant in complete contempt.

Alien tv series coming btw

A few recent viewings:

Near Dark - keep seeing it on best ever lists while I'm doing my annual googling for horror gems. Didn't think much of it when I watched it for the first time nearly 15 years ago as a teenager, thought I'd give it a go. It's fine, still don't get the fuss. Some of the dialogue is truly awful.

Sunshine - another rewatch. Appreciated it much more this time round and I already thought it was pretty great. Proper bit of sci-fi.

Free Guy - meh. FX driven, saccharine blockbuster that wasn't anywhere near as funny as I'd been led to believe.

Black Mountain - no budget horror with delusions of Lovecraftian grandeur. Could've done with an edit to make it a bit more effective.

Scare Me - rather mis-billed as a horror comedy, but an interesting enough watch. A bit more like a play than a film, but the leads were engaging as they made up their stories. Would've liked to see a bit more of the reality bending flashes during their narrations.

Prisoners of a Ghostland - It's rare that I can't finish a film even if I start doing something else while it's on. This absolute trash makes it onto the list of rare exceptions. Thought it might be a bit of late career Nick Cage weird brilliance, but the combo of exploitation and arthouse did not mesh at all.

Free Solo - great doc, interesting insights into the mindset of the people who free climb and how it impacts people in their lives. The end climb had me drenched in my own sweat.

The Batman - Decent, but overlong. Pattinson could probably easy up on the emo-brooding too if he gets another shot at it. They were definitely teasing The Joker to be in the next one and that's a bit disappointing.

Day Shift - Crap. A couple of interesting twists on vampire lore, but that's about it. Absolutely nothing about it was engaging. Stylised action scenes were the best bit, but they didn't compensate for everything else.

The Gray Man - Much better than I expected it to be. As with any action film you have to look beyond protagonists being able to function after taking debilitating amounts of physical punishment, but the fights are crunchy and the carnage in Parague stays just the right side of silly. The whole tone is just right for an action-espionage romp. Even the 'detatched mass killer manages to care for a surrogate daughter figure' was handled as well as that sort of thing can be. Continus Ana de Armas' recent reinvention as an action heroine which has been fun to see.

The Conjuring - first entry of an inexplicably popular series. Zero scares whatsoever. Total waste of time.

Jethro wrote: ↑Sat Sep 03, 2022 10:46 pm

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 11:15 am
Prometheus is one of my favourite 21st century comedies, though I'm given to understand it's meant to be a sci-fi/horror

Actually quite like Prometheus, some over reaching to be sure, and hold Covenant in complete contempt.

Alien tv series coming btw

There is some cool stuff in it, but a lot of the behaviour is comically stupid from supposed experts in their fields and Noomi Rapace's character being cut open and then sprinting full pelt after being stapled back together is absurd. Fassbender should've been in awards contention, though. His performance was outstanding, shame it wasn't in a better film.

The only thing to recommend Covenant is a greater amount of alien action, but it's garbage.

Hopefully the upcoming series has semothing worthwhile about it and that Scott's gotten the android fetish out of his system.

Oh dear god “Thor - Love and Thunder” is dreadful.

I think it’s aimed at under 7’s.

Taika Waititi directs it and plays Korg.

Ymx wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 7:17 pm Oh dear god “Thor - Love and Thunder” is dreadful.

I think it’s aimed at under 7’s.

Taika Waititi directs it and plays Korg.

Quiet, gammon.

Ymx wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 7:17 pm Oh dear god “Thor - Love and Thunder” is dreadful.

I think it’s aimed at under 7’s.

Taika Waititi directs it and plays Korg.

That's disappointing. I've read the God Butcher and Jane Foster/Thor comics and they are actually really good.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness


Dr Crap in the Multiverse of Shite

I enjoyed Thor God of Thunder.

I don't know, the older I get the more I enjoy really stupid stuff.

Even liked the goats.

EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 13, 2022 11:45 am Godard died. Overshadows the Queen tbf

This

Just got back from See How They Run. Pretty decent flick. A meta, lightly comedic whodunnit in the vein of Knives Out, but retaining a slightly gentler, more British sensibility. Saoirse Ronan's a delight and Sam Rockwell does rumpled and world-weary very well. He does pretty well with the accent, better than many Yanks and stays fairly consistent. Goes a bit Cap'n Jack Sparrow at times, but since he's drinking a lot that makes sense.

C69 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 14, 2022 5:13 pm

EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 13, 2022 11:45 am Godard died. Overshadows the Queen tbf

This

Assisted suicide apparently.

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 6:07 pm

Jethro wrote: ↑Sat Sep 03, 2022 10:46 pm

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 11:15 am
Prometheus is one of my favourite 21st century comedies, though I'm given to understand it's meant to be a sci-fi/horror

Actually quite like Prometheus, some over reaching to be sure, and hold Covenant in complete contempt.

Alien tv series coming btw

There is some cool stuff in it, but a lot of the behaviour is comically stupid from supposed experts in their fields and Noomi Rapace's character being cut open and then sprinting full pelt after being stapled back together is absurd. Fassbender should've been in awards contention, though. His performance was outstanding, shame it wasn't in a better film.

The only thing to recommend Covenant is a greater amount of alien action, but it's garbage.

Hopefully the upcoming series has semothing worthwhile about it and that Scott's gotten the android fetish out of his system.

I'm with Jethro, I thought it was cool and doesn't deserve the hate it often gets. Not a classic or anything but rather enjoyable.

Only thing I remember about Covenant is the theatre I saw it in had huge mirrors in the bathrooms and my wife was convinced they were two-way.

Prometheus relies on its characters doing the dumbest thing imaginable for plot reasons over and over, and frequently establishes a motive or direction and then immediately bins it minutes later.

I enjoy the Pitch Meeting videos, and this sums it up nicely:

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 15, 2022 1:45 pm Prometheus relies on its characters doing the dumbest thing imaginable for plot reasons over and over, and frequently establishes a motive or direction and then immediately bins it minutes later.

I enjoy the Pitch Meeting videos, and this sums it up nicely:

Prometheus and it's sequel have barely any thematic relationship to the preceding movies other than ripping off the Giger imagery and using motifs like Weyland Yutani. Alien and Aliens invest a lot in developing the Alien as a viable threat with a defined life cycle, and Ridley's solution to the mystery of it's origin is Space-Albinos with a grudge against humanity because: "Jesus", and an inexplicably psychotic android (which Ash, in the original, wasn't before anyone goes down that road). Thank fuck he was kept away from Bladerunner 2049 in any creative capacity.

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 15, 2022 1:45 pm Prometheus relies on its characters doing the dumbest thing imaginable for plot reasons over and over, and frequently establishes a motive or direction and then immediately bins it minutes later.

Could you perhaps give an example of what you are claiming rather than repeating the same tired arguments youtube trolls have been routinely spouting ever since the movie's release? I will in turn point out how a similar device is used in other movies without attracting the ire of the bandwagon crowd.

A lot of people got upset about there being no Xenomorphs in an Alien movie and base their opinions around that single factor. We all saw how the xenos turned out in Covenant, it wasn't exactly cinematic gold.

Jethro wrote: ↑Thu Sep 15, 2022 7:15 pm

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 15, 2022 1:45 pm Prometheus relies on its characters doing the dumbest thing imaginable for plot reasons over and over, and frequently establishes a motive or direction and then immediately bins it minutes later.

Could you perhaps give an example of what you are claiming rather than repeating the same tired arguments youtube trolls have been routinely spouting ever since the movie's release? I will in turn point out how a similar device is used in other movies without attracting the ire of the bandwagon crowd.

A lot of people got upset about there being no Xenomorphs in an Alien movie and base their opinions around that single factor. We all saw how the xenos turned out in Covenant, it wasn't exactly cinematic gold.

Xenobiologists crapping their pants at discovering new life, running away, then later on playing with unknown alien lifeforms like they were puppies?

I don't give a shit about the lack of Xenomorphs. Every character in Prometheus was a disaster. Embarrassingly written.

There's a big cylindrical object rolling towards me. I'll run away in the direction that it's rolling instead of running 90 degrees the other way. Can't possibly run into trouble doing that

Saw Black Adam last night. Stolid plot, fairly average superhero fayre but in the face of Snyderverse wankathons with the associated deranged fandom that's a blessed relief for the DC stable.

Dr Fate (Pierce Brosnan) and Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) appear to be in a different movie, and I think that's the one I would rather have seen, they were great. Nice to see Hawkman not portrayed as a total sap, which us often his fate in the DC animated universe.

The Banshees of Inisherin

Loved this. Like a lot of McDonagh's filums, it's quite stagey but that's not a bad thing. Performances are excellent. I'm not a fan of Farrell in general but he's really good in this. Gleeson excellent as always. The humour is pitch black and it's a fine portrait of Irish loneliness.

I do wonder how some of the material will work with non-Irish audiences, especially the civil war references.

Loved that little blink-and-you'll-miss-it repainting of the postbox from red to green.

I like the "father Ted directed by Coen brothers" tagline.

Uncle fester wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 11:47 am The Banshees of Inisherin

Loved this. Like a lot of McDonagh's filums, it's quite stagey but that's not a bad thing. Performances are excellent. I'm not a fan of Farrell in general but he's really good in this. Gleeson excellent as always. The humour is pitch black and it's a fine portrait of Irish loneliness.

I do wonder how some of the material will work with non-Irish audiences, especially the civil war references.

I see Pat Shortt is in this. He's got a decent career as an actor. The first time I saw him he was dying an impressive death on stage at the Edinburgh Festival. I reckon there were 10 people in the audience in a venue capable of holding 500. He and his partner were taking it in their stride by being really quite drunk :)

Having heard they're going to give it the pointless English language re-make treatment with Tom Hanks in the lead I decided to give A Man Called Ove a watch. Decent enough slightly comedic drama about a rigid man for whom the loss of the only person who understood him has turned him into an Olympic level grump, but who's slowly softened by a persistent new neighbour.

The Old Ways - acceptable possession horror. Has a somewhat novel twist on this particularly well represented sub-genre by focusing on latin American bruja stuff.

Open 24 Hours - solid stalk and slash with a side order of 'is it real or all in the stalkee's head'.

Choose or Die - completely laclustre attempt at a killer computer game movie.

The Empty Man - over-long and over-ambitious ever so slightly Lovecraftian mystery horror. Squanders an interesting opening act. More of that would have been better than the cult mystery stuff that followed.

X - Ti West delivers a pleasingly throwback slasher. Scrungy businessman has a plan to make an artsy porn film to piggyback on the success of deepthroat and takes his small production of to the barn of a couple of elderly bumpkins withot telling them what it'll be used for. Mistake. Intrigued to see the upcoming prequel and sequel.

Venom 2 - Garbage and not even somewhat funny garbage like the first one.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City - possibly more faithful to the video games as claimed, but a rather pointless reboot that's unlikely to produce any sequels, let alone the number the original film did. Fine, but nothing more.

A Classic Horror Story - what looks to be a trippy alt dimension folk horror winds down into something disappointingly base and unremarkable.

Scare Me - Rather mis-billed as a horror. Two authors tell each other scary stories during a powercut and it's pretty much just that right until the end where one of them gets weird and creepy out of nowhere. There are a few moments while they tell their stories where the telling seems to manifest in reality with them which leads to some cool little flourishes, but those are limited and only serve to hint at how the film could've been more interesting.

Underworld - still a fun action horror romp.
Underworld: Evolution - bigger, worse sequel
Underworld: Awakening - belated, even worse no budget sequel that killed my misplace enthusiasm for doing a full Underworld saga re-watch.

Thoroughbreds - just as good on a re-watch. Pitch black comedy about conniving, psychopathic teen girls.

Do Revenge - wants to be Heathers for Gen Z, but is full of awful, entirely unsympathetic and seemingly irredeemable characters. By the time the end rolled around I felt like I'd missed something and probably did just switch off at some point. Spent most of the run timewishing this was a horror flick and that someone in a mask would come and fillet them all. Bonus chance of feeling super old because Sarah Michelle Gellar is playing the principal of the exclusive boarding school where it mostly takes place. Sophie Turner has an amusing cameo, pretty much the only positive.

Dinsdale Piranha wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 2:31 pm

Uncle fester wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 11:47 am The Banshees of Inisherin

Loved this. Like a lot of McDonagh's filums, it's quite stagey but that's not a bad thing. Performances are excellent. I'm not a fan of Farrell in general but he's really good in this. Gleeson excellent as always. The humour is pitch black and it's a fine portrait of Irish loneliness.

I do wonder how some of the material will work with non-Irish audiences, especially the civil war references.

I see Pat Shortt is in this. He's got a decent career as an actor. The first time I saw him he was dying an impressive death on stage at the Edinburgh Festival. I reckon there were 10 people in the audience in a venue capable of holding 500. He and his partner were taking it in their stride by being really quite drunk :)

Can't stand him to be honest. Killinaskully manages the impressive feat of being even worse than Mrs Brown's Boys.

Underworld - still a fun action horror romp.
Underworld: Evolution - bigger, worse sequel
Underworld: Awakening - belated, even worse no budget sequel that killed my misplace enthusiasm for doing a full Underworld saga re-watch.

How very dare you besmirch films that feature Kate Beckinsale wearing skin tight pvc....possibly the most gorgeous female in existance

ASMO wrote: ↑Mon Oct 31, 2022 5:06 pm

Underworld - still a fun action horror romp.
Underworld: Evolution - bigger, worse sequel
Underworld: Awakening - belated, even worse no budget sequel that killed my misplace enthusiasm for doing a full Underworld saga re-watch.

How very dare you besmirch films that feature Kate Beckinsale wearing skin tight pvc....possibly the most gorgeous female in existance

Even with that considerable upside doing a lot of heavy lifting to increase watchability, all except the first are not very good.

EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 31, 2022 5:35 pm

Uncle fester wrote: ↑Mon Oct 31, 2022 9:53 am

Dinsdale Piranha wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 2:31 pm
I see Pat Shortt is in this. He's got a decent career as an actor. The first time I saw him he was dying an impressive death on stage at the Edinburgh Festival. I reckon there were 10 people in the audience in a venue capable of holding 500. He and his partner were taking it in their stride by being really quite drunk :)

Can't stand him to be honest. Killinaskully manages the impressive feat of being even worse than Mrs Brown's Boys.

Never watched it. Saw it in the background a few times and seemed shite alright. Garage is brilliant. In Banshees he is just playing a version of his comedy self. Garage was acting

My in-laws love it.
Guess where I've been living since August...

I really want to see The Banshees of Inisherin, I like the two main leads, they were terrific in In Bruges - Gleeson is a handy fiddler too, which is always a plus in my book.

I liked his character in Gangs of New York

Knives Out: Glass Onion is fun. The format is slightly less straight forward 'whodunnit' than the first one, but there are still key touchstones like all the characters being gathered into a room for the big reveal. Decent laughs throughout, all of the main characters are recognisable modern cultural archetypes who get their turn being sent up. Ed Norton's character is clearly fairly strongly based on Musk and some fairly hefty swipes are taken, so I'm slightly worried for Rian Johnson now. Musk is incredibly thin skinned and seems to have spent 44 billion on Twitter out of pettiness, who knows what he might do to get revenge.

The original is definitely the stronger film, but this one is definitely worth seeing. It's only in cinemas for a week, presumably so Netflix can get it eligible for awards contention (which I think is misguided, it's not that type of film), so go see it while you can if you liked the first one.

Tenet was on telly over Xmas so recorded it and watched it last night, having seen it in cinema before.
Impossible to follow without subtitles. Lead is wooden as fück. Branagh is phoning it in. Patterson is excellent though, as in so good that he nearly rescues the filum by himself.

Some of the action is great and visually stunning but some of it falls flat. The big action finale looked like it was filmed in a leftover Stargate set.

You expect to have to exercise the noggin for a Nolan filum but this just takes the biscuit. Worse, as you pick through the multiple mysteries, you realise you don't care and that is the biggest problem with Tenet.

Was disappointed with Glass Onion. Fairly big fan of the first Knives Out, thought it was one of the better films of the past few years (though I think that says more about its competition), but the sequel was just meh.

EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 08, 2023 5:39 pm Tenet is amazing. I would expect no less of you and I think you said it was shite previously which means you hadn't even seen it then or was that his other masterpiece Interstellar. I take your point on the lead.

Nolan has a lot of haters for some reason, at least on the internet. I think he shits gold. Still have to see Tenet though, can't help but feel the fact they went with a no-name lead kind of dampened mine (and perhaps others') enthusiasm.

Fonz wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 5:40 am

EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 08, 2023 5:39 pm Tenet is amazing. I would expect no less of you and I think you said it was shite previously which means you hadn't even seen it then or was that his other masterpiece Interstellar. I take your point on the lead.

Nolan has a lot of haters for some reason, at least on the internet. I think he shits gold. Still have to see Tenet though, can't help but feel the fact they went with a no-name lead kind of dampened mine (and perhaps others') enthusiasm.

I watched it recently, long after the furore

It's good