The Official Filum Thread

[Uncle fester]

After that review you and the missus need to have a heart to heart about why you have that those stretchy latex thongs in your sock drawer

How many times have you been to see Barbie?

[sockwithaticket]

Godzilla vs. Kong popped up on Netflix. Stuck it on while I practiced scales thinking it might be a bit of dumb fun.

Unfortunately, it's just trash.

[Hal Jordan]

My son enjoyed it. Well, the fights. But he's 9.

[Jethro]

My brother in the US gave me call on Friday to urge me to watch ‘Talk To Me’.
Having had a look at the reviews he may be right!

Teen orientated horror flick, don't expect anything more and you will have a good time.

[Guy Smiley]

Oppenheimer. A few observations.
Negatives:
1. Musk is right about length but for the wrong reasons as he is a massive nob. It does flag in the middle amd I.dont believe the critics when they say it carried well at that stage. I may think differently when I watch again and I could see that happening.
2. It starts with some chapters device and then immediately abandons it. Was it trying to tell me they were at different times? Does Nolan think I don't have eyes? I wondered was it because of some focus group saying they didn't understand the time jumps. It was unnecessary and I waited for another one that never arrived.
3. It's a straight story. I don't know if I am ready for Nolan to do that but considering other people's appetite for it I am not seeing Tenet 2 anytime soon. Thanks Fester you cunt
Positives:
1. Great soundsacpe as you would expect
2. Looks amazingly cinematic though it's so sharp one aspect of Murphys head kept reminding me he was Murphy
3. The acting is universally flawless. For me it's what takes it from the not bad to very good. I will say one of the last scenes where they are having a crack at Strauss thought the actors lines where a bit on the nose though they may have come from the biography.
4. The bomb test scene is good as you get a sense of how small it really was. Hollywood gave us the impression that it was vast but that would be the H rather than A bomb Oppenheimer made.
5. Despite the criticisms the women characters are well rounded or as much as they can be. His wife is everything: angry, sad, brave, drunk. I can't see what more they wanted her to be. Just brave? I think that was probably.it. They didn't want her to be flawed. His girlfriend is more limited but it was a sexual relationship and you get glimpses of her breadth as well. Not sure about the scene in the room with the wife and lawyers though.
6. Liked some of the directorial touches like the time he comes to accept the adulation of the staff in Los Alamos

Like a lot of movies that you are told are amazing you come out a bit deflated. So not getting my world famous Thumb up the Bum but not far off

I've just come in from seeing it.


Absolutely amazing movie, for my money. The cast is incredible. Incredible.

go see it. All of my thumbs up. Best movie I've seen in ages, by some margin.

[Jethro]

Movie night last night, ladies choice - Jesus that can turn up some shite - but they decide on <em>John Wick 4</em>, about what you would expect, leave your brain at the door and settle in for Keenu being Keenu and lots of violence.

[C69]

I've just watched El Conde. What a wonderfully hat stand film.
Eviscerating Pinochet, the Catholic Church and Thatcher in a mad mad comedy horror.
Brilliantly written ànd excellently delivered.
Utterly brilliant and brutally offensive for some.

[David in Gwent]

I watched the first 25 minutes of "Super Intelligence" yesterday whilst preparing some food. Sat here, over 30 hours later I am still enthralled as to how shit it was and still, as previously mentioned, after 30 hours have past I still can't think of a worse film I've sat through 25 minutes of. Nothing has come close.

[sockwithaticket]

Movie night last night, ladies choice - Jesus that can turn up some shite - but they decide on <em>John Wick 4</em>, about what you would expect, leave your brain at the door and settle in for Keenu being Keenu and lots of violence.

I watched it last night. Thought that even by the standards of the franchise it was a pretty stupid. Also overlong. Fuck, but it did not need a run time in excess of two hours.

[Uncle fester]

The Creator was a bit of a disappointment to be honest. Reminded me not to be too harsh on near perfect films like Oppenheimer as this fell far short of that. The critical reception seems to be based on the fact it's an original idea. I am cool with that though original is a stretch. It's Planet of the Apes with robots. Visually it looks great but the story is full of plot holes the size of Katie Prices and at times it's like watching an episode of Stargate or MacGyver- bit cheap. I really am convinced now people are getting jobs in the industry before they are ready due to the wish to broaden the pool of staff. One of the reasons for it felling a bit cheap is Alison Janney as the bad guy is shite. She isn't believable and brings fuck all gravitas. The other soldiers around her are also various shades of shite. I think it's telling that's it's getting lots of lower reviews from the audience as it just doesn't stack up in terms of any good never mind great films.

Very low budget?
Also the director is liked and gets a lot of sympathy for how he got treated by the Lucas factory.

[sockwithaticket]

I don't think it's fair to say Edwards' isn't ready, ER. Monsters and Rogue One were top films, he clearly has talent as a director.

Fester, $86m is kinda low these days for the type of film this seems to be. I know on something of this scale it's not possible for Edwards to singlehandedly do all the effects shots, but he did that for Monsters and it's all seemless there. I remember watching some of the DVD extras (remember those?) that showed where he'd added stuff digitally and being gobsmacked.

A little while back I posted that I found the whole premise dumb. The type of person being sent on a seek and destroy mission like the main character is wouldn't be swayed by the new AI weapon looking (kind of) like a human child.

[Uncle fester]

High Fidelity on TV tonight. Thought that we haven't seen John Cusack in anything in years. Seems his career got killed stone dead in 2013-2014 when he got all political.

[Uncle fester]

Animated Grinch filum on Netflix prompted the young lad to put on the live action one. Christ what a talentless hack Jim Carrey is.

[sockwithaticket]

High Fidelity on TV tonight. Thought that we haven't seen John Cusack in anything in years. Seems his career got killed stone dead in 2013-2014 when he got all political.

I could've sworn I'd seen him in something good much more recently than that, but it turns out that Maps To The Stars is longer ago than I realised. His IMDB page indicates he's still working fairly consistently, but it all looks like what we used to call straight to video/DVD fare.

[sockwithaticket]

In general film news it's worth noting that this is a bad week capping off a fairly poor year for Marvel/Disney. Jonathon Majors, who was being set up to be the new big bad for the MCU, has been convicted of assault and harassment of a girlfriend and could face prison time while The Marvels is flopping insanely hard - $200m taken globally after a month of release vs. a $270m budget. Yikes.

That comes fairly hot on the heels of the latest Indiana Jones film bombing hard, taking just $85m more than its supposed budget. Once the marketing costs are tacked on it's all but definitely a hefty loss. The commonly bandied about phrase for marketing is that it's basically the budget again, though I'm sceptical of it being quite that much when $200 - 300m is being spent making the film. Haunted Mansion wasn't quite so spectacular, but didn't even wash its face as the industry bods say. It had a $150m budget and only took $118m

Even some of their non-flops like Ant-man: Quantumania, Little Mermaid and Elemental are only delivering fairly modest returns against their colossal budgets. Guardians of The Galaxy 3 was the biggest success by a distance, yet even that's not unqualified. It tapped out at around $850m, which is a healthy sum, but probably a little way short of what the studio might have hoped for the concluding film of that franchise which has long been one of the best received elements of the MCU both critically and commericially. It would have been the one they'd likely expect to hit the billion mark. Excluding the pandemic years, 2023 is the first year since 2014 that Disney haven't had a film that grossed a billion dollars.

The signs are there that Marvel fatigue has well and truly set in and Disney don't have much else to their bow at the moment beyond endless Star Wars shows for Disney+ and re-making their classic animations as live action movies. Trying to keep a stream of premium content coming to maintain subscribers on Disney+ is allegedly losing them a ton of money, though figures are hard to come by.

Whatever one might think about the quality of their output, the House of Mouse has been at the top of the movie business for much of the past 15 years. It'll be interesting to see if they can rescue things from here.

[Uncle fester]

Lee Sun-kyun from Parasite has passed away.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67825665

[LenCohen]

Just came a across California Split (Robert Altman) by pure chance on amazon. Had no idea that Mississipi Grind is essentially a remake of it. Both are great

[Gumboot]

The Beasts is terrific.

Reminded me a bit of Jean de Florette.

[sockwithaticket]

The Guardian's best of 2023 list is borderline self-parodic with the sheer amount of foreign and art-house fare on there.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/d ... -in-the-uk

[Blackmac]

The final charge in Zulu is possibly the greatest 10 minutes of a war film ever.

[Uncle fester]

The Guardian's best of 2023 list is borderline self-parodic with the sheer amount of foreign and art-house fare on there.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/d ... -in-the-uk

You were hoping for more Marvel?

[sockwithaticket]

The Guardian's best of 2023 list is borderline self-parodic with the sheer amount of foreign and art-house fare on there.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/d ... -in-the-uk

You were hoping for more Marvel?

Yes, because films most haven't heard of or Marvel are the only options

[Uncle fester]

Did you leave your sense of humour in 2023?

Watching the Indy filums with the young lad. Raiders is mostly fine but Jesus, temple of doom is fairly backward these days. Can see why Indians were pissed at it.

[Margin__Walker]

Not sure what the issue with 'foreign' films is on a film of the year list. It's a broadsheet critic's list at the end of the day.

Not paid a lot of attention this year blockbuster wise. What's missing? Barbie?

[sockwithaticket]

Did you leave your sense of humour in 2023?

Watching the Indy filums with the young lad. Raiders is mostly fine but Jesus, temple of doom is fairly backward these days. Can see why Indians were pissed at it.

Did you leave yours? I wasn't even saying it's a bad list, just that if you asked someone to put together a paroday Guardian list it would look pretty much like the official one

The Marvel jibe is just silly because we've discusssed before how few of them I've seen. The main point of interest around Disney/Marvel these days is watching the decline of a critically and commercially dominant genre. You might have to go back as far as the heyday of the Western to see to see something comparable. Not that I was alive during it, but I get the sense that the 80s slashers and action films weren't really in the same order.

[sockwithaticket]

Comparison with the Box Office top 50 is interesting too.
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/2023/

There are only a handful of films on both lists.

Killers Of The Flower Moon, Oppenheimer, Wonka, Napoleon

Sidenote, Oppenheimer very nearly joining the billion club is incredible given the type of movie it was.

I've seen 4 from the box Office top 50 - Talk To Me, Evil Dead Rise, Scream VI and Dungeons and Dragons.

And 1 from the Graun list - Marcell The Shell With Shoes On.

But then I rarely end up watching things the year they come out as the nearest cinema is expensive and pretty much blockbusters only.

edit - because I'm just killing a bit of time before lunch I compared last year too.

Top Gun: Maverick, The Woman King and RRR were the three films on both lists.

[Gumboot]

Anatomy of a Fall is great if you're prepared to invest a long(ish) time on a slow(ish) court procedural. Fully deserving of all the accolades its received including the Palm d'Or, imho. Probably deserves an Oscar for best foreign fillum as well, even though it's largely in English.

The acting is next level, especially the mother and son characters. Snoop probably won't win any gongs, but what a star turn by the dogg - the best revival scene I've seen since Ulma Thurman's in Pulp Fiction. Outstanding performance... woof!

[LenCohen]

Anatomy of a Fall is great if you're prepared to invest a long(ish) time on a slow(ish) court procedural. Fully deserving of all the accolades its received including the Palm d'Or, imho. Probably deserves an Oscar for best foreign fillum as well, even though it's largely in English.

The acting is next level, especially the mother and son characters. Snoop probably won't win any gongs, but what a star turn by the dogg - the best revival scene I've seen since Ulma Thurman's in Pulp Fiction. Outstanding performance... woof!

Great film, beautifully written, tear in the eye at the end. Two thumbs up.

[Insane_Homer]

Dune part 2 is a cinematic masterpiece.

[Uncle fester]

Does it set up sequels or is it an end?

[Insane_Homer]

Does it set up sequels or is it an end?

setup for Part 3 rather nicely, but it works very well as a stand-alone movie.

[ASMO]

This thread is not complete without......The Velocipastor!!

[inactionman]

Ken Loach's Old Oak is on Netflix.

It's a bit treacly in places, but he's just such a good social commentator. It's well worth a watch.

[Bullet]

Watching Poor Things, not sure if an oscar nominated masterpiece or just mental. Emma Stone repeatedly getting kit off and furiously dancing is keeping me interested but I'm edging towards plain weird

[sockwithaticket]

Lanthimos' films are generally hard work. I enjoyed The Favourite, but that's easily the most normal of his productions.

[Guy Smiley]

Does it set up sequels or is it an end?

setup for Part 3 rather nicely, but it works very well as a stand-alone movie.

I found it visually stunning...

but I was left a little cold with some of the acting performances.

[Gumboot]

Watching Poor Things, not sure if an oscar nominated masterpiece or just mental. Emma Stone repeatedly getting kit off and furiously dancing is keeping me interested but I'm edging towards plain weird

Watched it last night and loved it. Emma Stone is a blast.

[Uncle fester]

I used to sit next to academy award winning actor Cillian Murphy in geography class in school.
The lad has done alright for himself.
#satnexttogreatness

[Jethro]

Did you leave your sense of humour in 2023?

Watching the Indy filums with the young lad. Raiders is mostly fine but Jesus, temple of doom is fairly backward these days. Can see why Indians were pissed at it.

Settle down Short Round

Couple of flicks worth a look I reckon in 2024:

The Convert - trailer is confused, but movie looks very solid Kiwi fare. Reminded me of Utu.

Late Night With the Devil - found footage, but fairly unique take if we forget about that Brit show from a couple of decades back I can't remember the name of.

[sockwithaticket]

I'm looking forward to Drive Away Dolls, Abigail, The First Omen and Seize Them! in the immediate future. Love Lies Bleeding also looks like it could be interesting.

My local cinema recently made the decision to drop it's prices to £5 a ticket, so I'm going to be more likely to take a chance on things now. Case in point I went to see LIsa Frankenstein the other day. I'm a pretty big Diablo Cody Fan, from Jennifer's Body to Tully I think all her films so far have been at bare minimum very watchabl. This one was a little less substantial than I'm used to from her, it was a bit like Jennifer's Body-lite with a touch of Edward Scissor Hands, and suffered from a poorly paced 3rd act. For a fiver, though, it was a solid couple of hours entertainment if you like horror comedies.

Recently I watched on DVD:
Wolf - aimless and pointless George McKay starring drama about a facility for young people who believe they're animals. With both McKay and Paddy Considine in it, I expected better.

Mother! - a dreary chore of a film even during it's explosive finale. Bashes you over the head with obvious allegory while having no point to make. Quite a bold choice for Jennifer Lawrence. Aranofsky hasn't made a decent film since Black Swan.

Emily The Criminal - solid crime thriller starring Aubrey Plaza who shows she's got range beyond sarcastic and weird young person as a desperate, cash-strapped millenial.

Infinity Pool - Another interesting idea that Brandon Cronenburg doesn't manage to wrangle into a compelling narrative. The social commentary isn't subtle and the film's pretty light on narrative.

The Salvation - Decent meat and potatoes modern Western with Mads Mikkelson as soldier turned farmer who's set on a path of vengeance. Not sure he's ever given a bad performance.