NPR

Films I've seen recently

Oppenheimer - VG, recommended
Maestro - VG, recommended
Poor Things - VG, great staging and photography, recommended

I want to see The Holdovers

Cocaine Bear - couldn't sit through it.
John Wick - VG/G but not up to the earlier ones.
The Beekeeper - He's no John Wick, not even a G for this.

My wife liked Anatomy of a Fall, but I didn't see it.

Nearly three hours is a long time in the cinema, but I may go to see Dune, I liked the first instalment.

RIP Bernard Hill



Age hasn't been kind to the CGI in those movies.

My favourite scene across the three movies.

I watched Back To Black a few weeks ago. A truly gut wrenching film illustrating the downward spiral of an ordinary girl thrust into a world of fame and press intrusion.
I thought the descent into alcoholism and her self desruction was dealt with brilliantly.

Civil War (the recent Alex Garland film, not the Marvel movie) is pretty good. Trailer sells it as more of an action flick than it is, although the last quarter delivers on that front, but it's an interesting road movie the rest of the time. Pontificating on everything from the role of conflict journalism to where a nation's fault lines are and the ingloriousness of war.

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2024 4:24 pm Civil War (the recent Alex Garland film, not the Marvel movie) is pretty good. Trailer sells it as more of an action flick than it is, although the last quarter delivers on that front, but it's an interesting road movie the rest of the time. Pontificating on everything from the role of conflict journalism to where a nation's fault lines are and the ingloriousness of war.

Just saw it. Excellent imo.

Biffer wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2024 10:04 pm

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2024 4:24 pm Civil War (the recent Alex Garland film, not the Marvel movie) is pretty good. Trailer sells it as more of an action flick than it is, although the last quarter delivers on that front, but it's an interesting road movie the rest of the time. Pontificating on everything from the role of conflict journalism to where a nation's fault lines are and the ingloriousness of war.

Just saw it. Excellent imo.

He's "retiring" from directing I hear?

Yup, still going to write and produce.

Godzilla Minus One has just dropped on Netflix

Saw The Crow (1994) at the cinema last night. It was really great to see it on the big screen.

We watched Free Guy last night.

Starring Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Comar, wiki says, "It tells the story of a bank teller who discovers that he is a non-player character in a massively multiplayer online game who then partners with a player to find evidence that a gaming company's CEO stole the player's game's source code."

Stupid, kind of predicable, but very very funny in places and the cast is good.

I'm not a gamer, bar Mario Kart from time to time with the kids, but I liked it.

Speaking of Jodie Comar, who I think can do no wrong, The Bikeriders was very good, I almost always agree with Mark Kermode and he said this is not a bike gang fighting film so it might disappoint some viewers, but it will become a late night cinema cult classic.

Austin Butler and Tom Hardie have screen charisma to burn, but Comar carries the film.

Tichtheid wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2024 10:57 am Speaking of Jodie Comar, who I think can do no wrong, The Bikeriders was very good, I almost always agree with Mark Kermode and he said this is not a bike gang fighting film so it might disappoint some viewers, but it will become a late night cinema cult classic.

Austin Butler and Tom Hardie have screen charisma to burn, but Comar carries the film.

Is Jodie Comar any relation to Jodie Comer?

I am very much looking forward to Deadpool and Wolverine.

I realise I may be disappointed.

Sasquatch Sunset.

A year in the lives of a family of bigfoots (bigfeet?). Not a word of dialogue is spoken. Primitive gross-out behaviour by the bucketload...

With all the 1-star reviews it got, and reports of multiple walk-outs at its Sundance screening, I wasn't expecting much, but imho it's bloody brilliant.

Gumboot wrote: ↑Fri Jul 26, 2024 7:38 am Sasquatch Sunset.

A year in the lives of a family of bigfoots (bigfeet?). Not a word of dialogue is spoken. Primitive gross-out behaviour by the bucketload...

With all the 1-star reviews it got, and reports of multiple walk-outs at its Sundance screening, I wasn't expecting much, but imho it's bloody brilliant.

I think it looks great. I'm sure my wife will walk out after 20 minutes and have an (even) lower opinion of me as I watch the entire thing and love it.

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Sat Jun 01, 2024 1:44 pm Godzilla Minus One has just dropped on Netflix

Saw The Crow (1994) at the cinema last night. It was really great to see it on the big screen.

I saw the trailer for the reboot in the cinema the other day, fuck it looks terrible. It's been in development hell for years and years, seems like they should've just let it die there.

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Fri Jul 26, 2024 8:37 am

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Sat Jun 01, 2024 1:44 pm Godzilla Minus One has just dropped on Netflix

Saw The Crow (1994) at the cinema last night. It was really great to see it on the big screen.

I saw the trailer for the reboot in the cinema the other day, fuck it looks terrible. It's been in development hell for years and years, seems like they should've just let it die there.

Yup, no interest in seeing it, it looks horrible.

Biffer wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2024 4:25 pm I am very much looking forward to Deadpool and Wolverine.

I realise I may be disappointed.

I was not disappointed, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some very funny, laugh out loud stuff.

Just come back from Deadpool amd Wolverine. It was as good as I had hoped and was also an oddly touching farewell to the Fox universe.

Biffer wrote: ↑Sat Jul 27, 2024 12:46 pm

Biffer wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2024 4:25 pm I am very much looking forward to Deadpool and Wolverine.

I realise I may be disappointed.

I was not disappointed, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some very funny, laugh out loud stuff.

Reviews I read are scathing.

Hal Jordan wrote: ↑Sun Jul 28, 2024 6:54 pm Just come back from Deadpool amd Wolverine. It was as good as I had hoped and was also an oddly touching farewell to the Fox universe.

Great, looking forward to it

Uncle fester wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 9:28 pm

Biffer wrote: ↑Sat Jul 27, 2024 12:46 pm

Biffer wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2024 4:25 pm I am very much looking forward to Deadpool and Wolverine.

I realise I may be disappointed.

I was not disappointed, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some very funny, laugh out loud stuff.

Reviews I read are scathing.

You must have been seeking them out, Rotten Tomatoes has 80% of critics reviews as positive, and an audience score of 96%.

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Sat Jun 01, 2024 1:44 pm Godzilla Minus One has just dropped on Netflix

Excellent stuff, a return to the hero's journey rather than the central character Mary Sue-ing through shite. For some strange reason a B&W version has also dropped, not entirely sure we need that but definitely queued up for yours truly.

Guardians of the Tomb - funnelweb spiders in China, seriously solid B-grade stuff from Oz, worth a look if into creature features that know they aren't in the running for an Oscar anytime soon.

For anyone interested my son has built a Jellyfin server for the fam, works like any streaming service, you load up the content. Apparently only limited by disc space, he is talking getting a massive upgrade soon as he is already running out of space on a 2 terabyte drive. From what I can see works off a web browser logging into a linux server. Sorry no idea if this runs on Windoze or Mac OS.

Watched .... The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
Thought it was aTV series on Prime.

A rather good yarn and thoroughly enjoyed it. Easy to watch and no hard thinking required.

vball wrote: ↑Sun Aug 04, 2024 11:37 am Watched .... The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
Thought it was aTV series on Prime.

A rather good yarn and thoroughly enjoyed it. Easy to watch and no hard thinking required.

I was also pleasantly surprised. The only thing that jarred was the actor playing Churchill sounded very South African a few times.

vball wrote: ↑Sun Aug 04, 2024 11:37 am Watched .... The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
Thought it was aTV series on Prime.

A rather good yarn and thoroughly enjoyed it. Easy to watch and no hard thinking required.

Aye me too. As long as you watch it as an action film and not a serious SWW story.

Joyride on Netflix is quite good

With Romulus on the way I decided to re-watch the first and last entries in the Alien series.

Alien is still a phenomenal space horror. Covenant is a muddled mess of interesting yet half-baked ideas, tripping over itself to deliver neither a film of Scott's primary pre-occupation (androids) nor a proper entry in the Alien canon. Captain Oram might be the stupidest character in the series.

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Mon Aug 05, 2024 10:00 pm With Romulus on the way I decided to re-watch the first and last entries in the Alien series.

Alien is still a phenomenal space horror. Covenant is a muddled mess of interesting yet half-baked ideas, tripping over itself to deliver neither a film of Scott's primary pre-occupation (androids) nor a proper entry in the Alien canon. Captain Oram might be the stupidest character in the series.

Got tickets for the Romulus UK premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival

Biffer wrote: ↑Mon Aug 05, 2024 10:27 pm

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Mon Aug 05, 2024 10:00 pm With Romulus on the way I decided to re-watch the first and last entries in the Alien series.

Alien is still a phenomenal space horror. Covenant is a muddled mess of interesting yet half-baked ideas, tripping over itself to deliver neither a film of Scott's primary pre-occupation (androids) nor a proper entry in the Alien canon. Captain Oram might be the stupidest character in the series.

Got tickets for the Romulus UK premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival

That's pretty cool.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up after all the disappointing installments, but I was a big fan of the director's previous films Don't Breathe and Evil Dead (the 2013 reboot) and the trailer looks promising.

If someone was looking to watch a documentary that only appears to be available in the US what sites could they try to download it from?

Jock42 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 13, 2024 9:13 am If someone was looking to watch a documentary that only appears to be available in the US what sites could they try to download it from?

TV doco?

https://eztvx.to/

Or someone may be able to find it on a streaming site like these:

https://hdtodayz.to/home

https://flixtor.to/home

Jock42 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 13, 2024 9:13 am If someone was looking to watch a documentary that only appears to be available in the US what sites could they try to download it from?

If somebody had a VPN then looking on thepiratebay for a torrent would still be a good bet.

Cheers guys. Gumboot, no it's a film called Retrograde.

Could someone stream from their phone to the TV if downloading a VPN?

A friend of mine uses this site and says he found two results for a film called Retrograde. He would like to point out that he's never used the site on a phone, though.

https://seriesonlinehd.net/search/retrograde

Oxbow wrote: ↑Tue Aug 13, 2024 1:07 pm A friend of mine uses this site and says he found two results for a film called Retrograde. He would like to point out that he's never used the site on a phone, though.

https://seriesonlinehd.net/search/retrograde

My friend is very appreciative as that seems to play fine.

I watched Chips last night.

God above, what was I thinking. My Netflix recommendations need shooting.

inactionman wrote: ↑Thu Aug 15, 2024 8:23 am I watched Chips last night.

God above, what was I thinking. My Netflix recommendations need shooting.

Netflix's absolute garbage 'recommendations' system, that I'm convinced had no basis in my actual watching habits, was a big contributor to cancelling my sub.

While this is a low bar to clear, Alien: Romulus is comfortably the best film in the series since the first two.

For the most part it does what it set out to do by providing a back to basics, haunted house in space creature feature combo. Fede Alvarez knows how to do a tense sequence in a confined space, there's a particularly novel and gruesome death scene while the lore on how reprehensible and sociopathically corporate Weyland Yutani are is expanded in an interesting way.

There are a couple of niggles, the uncanny valley-ness of a particular character is oddly dreadful and inexcusable. Seems to have been a victim of the increasing Hollywood trend of not giving VFX artists enough time or money to do what's asked, picking the lowest bidder or a combination thereof. As with so many things you can generally only pick two of the following - cheap, good and quick. Given that the character was basically a talking head I refuse to believe it couldn't have been done better with practical effects. I'm no scientist, but the last few minutes must have thrown literally all of the laws of physics out the bloody window, really strained credulity.

Alien: Romulous - Not as good as some people are making this out to be, no this isn't the second coming of Ripley, but still had a good time. Firstly the positives, the scenery is nigh on brilliant, from grunge look mining colony to high tech scientific installation - that looks directly out of the 70s, this one is good to look at. Backed up amply by the CGI (except in one case), the props and the costumes, the support crew nailed this one. Our lead character is likeable but by the end of the movie is Mary-Sueing far too close to the sun. Sorry, some twenty something chick who looks like she might be 60Kilos in weight soaking wet is able to take on an alien hive, something a detachment of colonial marines failed to do.

The bad could run to over 10k words to be honest. We have the plot of about every alien movie condensed into a single movie, and yes am including <em>Resurrection</em> here. More alien tropes than you could point a face hugger at, seriously that final act! And apparently the chest burster gestation period is down to fifteen minutes or so, or by now whatever time the script demands. Don't get me started on how short a time it took the xeno to reach full size. Remember when everyone was attacking AVP for the short gestation period, apparently we shouldn't worry about that in the new movie, because its the bestest ever; has critical ability completely disappeared in the modern age?

Apparently physics don't apply to modern movies, simply put brain in neutral while watching this one.

While I can find faults galore in this movie I still had a lot of fun during its run time and will definitely watch a few more times at the cinema prior to grabbing the 4K extended you beaut disc version. Director Alvarez at least knows what made the first movie work, haunted house in space, but for god's sake did we need the jump scares (yes one of which made me jump)? End of day Alien franchise fans are going to dig this movie, horror fans are going to be in their element, everyone else is going to be wondering what the hell they are watching.

What do I want for Christmas, decent writers for an Alien movie