Not getting the hate for Glass Onion. It's not as good the first one, but it's enjoyable enough. Perhaps it's another victim of the Superb/"Total dogshit" scoring system that seems so commonly used nowadays.
Finally got around to watching Top Gun. Bang average.
Watching Matilda. It really captures the magic of the musical, but Emma Thompson as the Trunchbull is a dreadful casting choice.
Klaus is fantastic. Best Christmas movie in a long while.
If you want good Netflix watch The Stranger
Fucking brutal but wonderful film. Sean Harris is my favourite Brit actor and he plus Joel Edgerton put in two of their strongest performances.
Based on a real case too.
Not been able to watch much the last few months and got so much on my watch list. Tar, The Menu, Triangle of Sadness, The Eternal Daughter, Moloch, Sick of Myself, The Beasts, Sound of Violence to name some.
Finally watching Resurrection though. Rebecca Hall is incredible.
Last edited by Dark Soldier; 27-12-2022 at 12:58 AM.
Brian and Charles is a bit weird and not very that funny but it's quite charming.
Resurrection
Rebecca Hall gives the best performance ive seen in many a year. Tim Roth is wonderfully nasty and creepy and real.
She is a fairly successful women, daughter who is about to turn 18. Then she spots Roth and anxiety, paranoia, fear set in.
How and why more don't know or speak about this I'm not sure. It's a fantastic film.
Ending ten minutes reminds me of one other horror classic.
What a film. It is horror, but more so for its atmosphere and certain content.
I'll put more detail on why I thought Glass Onion was shit when it isn't 3am, but on this specific point I think the people who accuse others of doing this assume they're doing it with everything and fail to realise that they're not mentioning a whole load of other stuff they've seen or experienced that's average.
For example, I've been watching Homeland over the last fortnight (seasons 4 to 7), but haven't posted about it once as (bar a couple of standout moments) it's just serviceable stuff/24 (a 20 year old show now) with A-Levels, so doesn't fall into the category of being worth posting about, whereas something at either end of that spectrum will naturally generate far more conversation/a feeling of being worth posting about.
Watched Strange World with the kids at the cinema today. Pretty meh. Think they spent a bit too long on ticking all the boxes [mixed race lead couple, gay son/love interest, disabled dog] and not enough on making it an interesting film.
Glass Onion was shit for two reasons:
1. Bad cast and shit characters (deliberately so, almost)
2. A complete lack of awareness of the narrative conventions that make whodunnits good, specifically: a) the detective cannot be hiding things from the audience (you have to be solving the mystery along with him), and b) the clues have to be hidden in plain sight, not just hidden.
Now, if you put this to the producers they'd probably say 'Ah, but gee, we're going for a holistic entertainment experience which subverts the genre' to which I would say fuck off you over-indulged yank pricks.
I think people are just happy to see some pretty colours and people they recognise these days, one mustn't set too high a bar.
I only recognised Daniel Craig and Janelle Monae (who was probably the best actor from the set and isn't even an actor).
Completely with Jim's points, I'd also add:
The whole thing had a knowing nod and a wink to the camera running through it, which has to be done so unbelievably well to get away with or else it just comes across as tragic - Not quite as bad as when Julia Roberts' character in Ocean's 12 realises she looks like Julia Roberts (a nadir for these things), but it wasn't a million miles off either.
As well as the characters being crap, the actors involved were just phoning it in on every level. As if everyone involved knew it was a dreadful story and script but the money was obscene so away we go.
Last edited by Yevrah; 27-12-2022 at 04:48 PM.
That was the perfect moment for a Scooby Do crossover. Have her haunt the place.
I never really bothered with the Indiana Jones films before (I knew the general gist and bits like holy grail, big boulder, whip, nazis, etc), but watching Last Crusade at the minute. Jaysus they’re very slapstick and the Connery character is far too annoying.
Watched a couple of Irish films the last few days. Belfast was the first, decent film about Kenneth Branagh's childhood in late 60s Northern Ireland and the start of the troubles. The kid who plays Kenneth is very good. Second one was The Banshees of Inisherin with Colin Farrell and Brendon Gleason. Actually a very funny film and great to watch something out of the mold of most films today
How does Banshees compare to In Bruges? Similar style?
Just received my imported 4K of Road House in the post, so that is tonight's film
I'm excited for Banshees. The Guard >>>>>> In Bruges
The Banshees of Inisherin is very different to In Bruges, I thought. I didn't find Banshess all that funny but I did like it. It's really not lol funny like In Bruges was. It's quite melancholy. Quite a bit more bleak than I expected it to be.
I'm just watching Contagion - it's impressive how accurate it is in terms of the flow of events, media reaction and general spread.
Watched Knives Out the other day and enjoyed it a lot. Saw Glass Onion last night and I didn't find it offensively bad but it had that air of how so many people came out of lockdown with no idea how to control themselves, which seems to have extended to screenwriting.
White Noise verdict?
Does it have anything to do with the book of the same name? I remember liking the book.
Aftersun is a frighteningly affecting watch. Went into it blind and came out of it as if someone had put a stone in my heart. Amour comes to mind as being on a similar level of leaving me in bits.
I have Aftersun on my list to watch tomorrow. If you want a second gutpunch watch Vortex.
Watched two films today, I'll start posting the reviews in here this year as I've neglected this thread for years seemingly.
As Bestas aka The Beasts (2022)
Spanish film based on a true story.
French couple give up their comfortable life to move to a tiny Spanish village to farm and live off the land while doing up property there.
Company comes with proposition to build a wind farm, the locals agree as they are filthy poor, but the French couple refuse. Tensions slowly escalate and explode.
Denis Menochet and Luis Zahera absolutely rip up the screen with two brooding, powerhouse performances. A suffocating, tense slow burn of fear.
There's a scene in the local 'pub' which is mesmerising.
The two leads, I've already said it, but holy fuck.
Playground (2022)
French film about a seven year old girl who attends her new school, that her older brother is already at, and witnesses her brother being bullied.
It is shot, entirely, from the height level of the seven year old girl. Stunningly shot in places.
Absolutely captures that child like feel, the way in which they communicate and see the world.
Its a gut wrenching thing. It isn't brutal in the 'classic' sense but the themes of alienation, fear, panic, anxiety which many kids feel as they grow (and im sure we felt back then) are portrayed so vividly that it can be a hard watch. Totally nails that naive cruelness children possess, that cinema rarely likes to show.
By far and away the greatest example of child acting I have seen. The girl who plays the seven year old deserves an Oscar and all the world.
Adults are kept at arms length, we only see snippets of their faces and are often off camera
Absolutely astonishing film and only 72 minutes long.
Reminded me of a pre-pubescant, more raw Klass which is an Estonian masterpiece. Only watched two films from there and they're both bangers, the other being November.
Last edited by Dark Soldier; 02-01-2023 at 12:52 AM.
I need to cool off the heavy watches, that shit last night had me having a full meltdown for over an hour whilst trying to sleep. Charlotte Wells, the lesbian cunt director, needs to learn to internalise her trauma like the rest of us rather than inflicting it on the masses with such potency.
It's good to see that even though you're some weird Ali G throwback, mainlining fanny and fragile male ego right into ya fucking chuff, you have a soul somewhere in that hollow, dead heart. Good on ya Taz.
The Stranger is a solid 8/10.
Phenomenal performance.
I thought Glass Onion was alright except for the weird Elon Musk fixation. What's he done to upset the director?
I watched My Dinner with Andre today. Don't ask me how it creeped into my youtube recommendations but I gave it a watch. Andre keeps bringing the Nazis up. Other than that, it's a decent monologue/existential crisis.
I followed it up with Ghostbusters. I mentally airbrush Ernie Hudson out of that film. When it turns up, I'm like, "Oh, there was a fourth one." Aside from bits of the CG, that films holds up damn well.
I watched Pinocchio and absolutely fell in love with it.
Search function doesn't seem to let me look up views of Everything Everywhere All At Once on here which is a shame.
It had some nice moments but it's also absolutely full of shite and at 2hr20m you can fuck right off. I presume it's so incredibly well received due to standards being pummelled so relentlessly with marvel shite. That and the load of lesbian feminist wank.
I really enjoyed it and I am a hardcore gammon sexist who hasn't bothered with Marvel stuff since End Game. I don't mind a long run time if it's merited.
There is a great 90 minute movie in EEAAO, it's just a shame it's bloated to fuck.
Boycott Paramount+
Oh the caption doesn’t show. Workaholics movie has been canned.
I'm a twit