The Films You Watched Thread VI: The Undiscovered Movie

[charlesr]

The Beaster Bunny. Prime. Have a few drinks and laugh your arse off.

[charlesr]

Then watched Damn Sea Vampires, but it wasn't nearly as good.

[Brad]

Wakanda Forever:

We didn’t enjoy this really, but we didn’t rate the first one that much but at least that had a somewhat interesting story. Shame that

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Submariner

couldn’t debut in a better movie. I reckon we’ll like the new ant man movie more.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Watched Top Gun Maverick last night.
That's how you make a film!

[Atticus]

Watched Game Night last night … which shares some minor dna with David Fincher’s The Game in that the lines are blurred between what’s real and what isn’t. It’s really good fun. Reminds me of the kind of silly caper you’d rent on VHS 30 odd years ago but with 21st century polish. Cast are generally great but Jesse Plemmons is the standout as the hard-to-get-along-with neighbour nobody wants to hang out with. The end credits are amazing too.

Watched Top Gun Maverick last night.
That's how you make a film!

Absolutely. I watched it over Christmas and I’m still feeling the feels.

[wakka]

I watched Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. This is a mockumentary about a filmmaker who temporarily moves into an Airbnb while in the midst of a separation, and finds an anthropomorphic shell (named Marcel) living there with his grandmother (also a shell).

He decides to make a documentary about their lives and before long, Marcel is a YouTube celebrity. But will it help bring his missing family back?

This is a pleasant, touching film. It runs some well worn narrative furrows but the combination of stop motion and mockumentary helps to give a really fresh and distinctive feel. There is some physical comedy as we see how Marcel has adapted to life as a shell in a human world, and some genuine emotion, too, which feels earned. It also benefits from a great soundtrack, by Disasterpeace, which is perfectly pitched. I really liked it.

[QualityChimp]

Put the gamepad down and managed to watch a few films this weekend.

The Long Good Friday (1980 via All4) is one I've been meaning to watch for ages, but it threw me a bit because I thought it was a bank heist movie, but I think I was confusing it with Dog Day Afternoon, so it took a minute for me to adjust!
Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren are sublime in this. I don't normally cheer for the bad guys, but Hoskins' portrayal of Harold Shand is just brilliant as we see him descend from chirpy gang boss with the world at his feet to seeing it all unravel over a couple of days.

Funny seeing this after other films, but you can see echoes of this work in the likes of Gangs of London and The Raid 2, so Gareth Evans must be influenced by it.

It was a 1979 film, but the release got delayed to the following year, so it's classed as an 80s film.
So, it's like a snapshot of a bygone era. London was fugly in places and some of the script is painfully anachronous, but I also suspect your modern gang boss wouldn't have an HR department warning against the use of homophobic and racist language, either.

Oh and top marks for the amazing sleazy, jazzy score by Francis Monkman:

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I finished off Jojo Rabbit (2019 via D+) after it left All4.
I was a bit torn with this. It's fun and funny in places but neither consistently funny enough to be a comedy, but too silly to be a proper drama. I cared about the characters and what happened to them.
I also felt a little uncomfortable with the theme of humanising Nazis. Hitler (famously played by Waititi himself) is a crazy and funny cool guy in Jojo's imagination. Most of the other Nazis are sympathetic to the resistance or played for laughs.
Argh, I dunno. I guess if you watched Jojo Rabbit straight after a visit to Auschwitz, you'd think it was too whimsical a take for such a dark part of our past that needs to be remembered for the right reasons (so we don't do it again) rather than sugarcoat it and think it wasn't all bad.

Anyhoo, on a different note, we had a family movie afternoon yesterday and we watched Ron's Gone Wrong (2021 via D+).
I'm always on the lookout for films that both the kids and adults will enjoy, stuff like Wreck-it Ralph or The Mitchells vs. the Machines, and this fit the bill perfectly. It actually plays out a bit like a Black Mirror Jr., touching on themes of identity, friendship and lonliness. There's a message in there about online representation that I think my daughter will have to revisit.
However, this was a really fun adventure with a lot of heart and some decent lough out loud moments.

We then pushed on with the final two films of the current batch of Mission: Impossible films, starting with Rogue Nation (2015 via Prime). I bought all the DVDs from CEX last November, but they're currently on Prime and the disc has a short featurette and that's it, so went for the higher res version.

Yeah, this is just brilliant cinematic fun. It's got elements of prime Bond gadgets like a sniper rifle disguised as a flute and some top-tier action sequences.
The plane takeoff opener.
The car chase through tight alleys (some of those drifts :0 ) followed by the bike chase.
The opera sequence.
The underwater sequence.
I struggle with that last one, physically holding my breath! Apparently Cruise held his breath for 6 minutes IRL for the sequence and it's only just been beaten by Kate Winslet on Avatar 2, who held it for 7!
Just top-tier action and just the right amount of comedy. Brilliant.

You wouldn't think they could keep that momentum up after the last 3 films being great, but along comes Fallout (2018 via Prime/DVD) and proves you wrong! Wowee!
I love that they've got returning characters to reward investment in the series, it just feels like you're spending less time establishing the characters and more on the story and action.
Again, with the action!
The Paris sequence.
The London rooftops.
The nuclear newsreader.
The toilet fight.
The HaLo jump.
The good old-fashioned helicopter fight.
Props to Cruise on that London rooftops chase. He jumped, broke his ankle, pulled himself up and finished the shot, limping out of frame. On the plane jumps, he actually did it for real, over and over until they had the right footage.

Disc was completely barren, but there's a making-of documentary out there. Maybe on the Blu-Ray discs?
Bit sad that the discs have got increasingly barren after a strong start with featurettes and commentary tracks, ironically the films I want to know more about are vanilla.
Just watched the trailers and it looks like some stuff was cut from Fallout including the helicopter nearly hitting a truck, entering a base and the team finding some bodies during the finale sequence.

Can't wait for the next one at the cinema, now!
I've definitely NOT watched the trailer as you can only see those stunts for the first time once, and I want them in the context of the movie, please.

[QualityChimp]

Watched Game Night last night … which shares some minor dna with David Fincher’s The Game in that the lines are blurred between what’s real and what isn’t. It’s really good fun. Reminds me of the kind of silly caper you’d rent on VHS 30 odd years ago but with 21st century polish. Cast are generally great but Jesse Plemmons is the standout as the hard-to-get-along-with neighbour nobody wants to hang out with. The end credits are amazing too.


Absolutely. I watched it (TOP GUN: Maverick) over Christmas and I’m still feeling the feels.

We'll probably watch Maverick together after loving the M:I films, but I'm not sure if my son will be able to separate Ethan Hunt from Maverick!

I said before that I thought Game Night was brilliant too. It's just a great romp that feels like a more fun version of The Game, like you say, but I also thought it was really interesting to look at. Things like using "tilt-shift" to make it look like they're on a game board, or the high angle of the behind-car camera making it feel like GTA and the brilliant one-take sequence that deserves rewinding and watching again!

[wakka]

The Long Good Friday is a great film. You're right that it's a fascinating time capsule of London in the 70s, and particularly the Docklands area that of course became Canary Wharf with its skyscrapers. I like watching that one with my Dad - he's a Londoner who's now nearly 70 so it's his London, really, that grimy scuzzy 70s one.

Must get round to Mona Lisa. Still haven't seen it.

We'll probably watch Maverick together after loving the M:I films, but I'm not sure if my son will be able to separate Ethan Hunt from Maverick!

Don't worry...no one else can either

[Atticus]

Things like using "tilt-shift" to make it look like they're on a game board, or the high angle of the behind-car camera making it feel like GTA

Yeah, I clocked those. Nice touches indeed.

Don't worry...no one else can either

Haha, very good

[QualityChimp]

Love how my movie bros - [MENTION=4034]Atticus[/MENTION] and [MENTION=5490]wakka[/MENTION] join in with me in this thread!
Love hearing what you've been watching too.

[wakka]

Deffo need to watch Game Night. Really like the sound of that, and you guys aren't the first I've seen recommend it.

Love how my movie bros - @Atticus and @wakka join in with me in this thread!

I agree it's great!

[Lebowski]

I finished off Jojo Rabbit (2019 via D+) after it left All4.
I was a bit torn with this. It's fun and funny in places but neither consistently funny enough to be a comedy, but too silly to be a proper drama. I cared about the characters and what happened to them.
I also felt a little uncomfortable with the theme of humanising Nazis. Hitler (famously played by Waititi himself) is a crazy and funny cool guy in Jojo's imagination. Most of the other Nazis are sympathetic to the resistance or played for laughs.
Argh, I dunno. I guess if you watched Jojo Rabbit straight after a visit to Auschwitz, you'd think it was too whimsical a take for such a dark part of our past that needs to be remembered for the right reasons (so we don't do it again) rather than sugarcoat it and think it wasn't all bad.

I wouldn't say its all played for laughs, the scene where jojo walks into the town square to try to find his mum is defiantly not played for laughs it brings home how desperate and horrible the situation is, spoiler warning --- here is a woman who was trying to hide and save a young jewish girl from being sent to a concentration camp hung in the town square as a warning for everyone else, jojo hugging her feet is heartbreaking. It's not humanising Nazis but showing the power of propaganda and xenophobia and how a country could come to a position where they voted someone like Hitler into power.

[Atticus]

Love how my movie bros - @Atticus and @wakka join in with me in this thread!
Love hearing what you've been watching too.

Yeah, I enjoy it too ... probably my most used thread on the forum

Reading through your MI posts has made me consider watching them in sequence. I went from really liking the first to not liking the second and therefore losing interest in the series, to then hearing how great they'd got and diving back in but watching the recent ones in any old order

Can't wait for the next one at the cinema, now!
I've definitely NOT watched the trailer as you can only see those stunts for the first time once, and I want them in the context of the movie, please.

Yeah, I kind of went against my own code with that when a mate a work said I should watch the stunt from the next film. Incredible as it is to see the Cruiser doing his thing I wish I hadn't gone there.

[QualityChimp]

I wouldn't say its all played for laughs, the scene where jojo walks into the town square to try to find his mum is defiantly not played for laughs it brings home how desperate and horrible the situation is, spoiler warning --- here is a woman who was trying to hide and save a young jewish girl from being sent to a concentration camp hung in the town square as a warning for everyone else, jojo hugging her feet is heartbreaking. It's not humanising Nazis but showing the power of propaganda and xenophobia and how a country could come to a position where they voted someone like Hitler into power.

Whereas I agree that the shoelaces scene was incredibly moving and a real shock, it just felt like a blip amongst the whimsy and other characters that wouldn't be out of place on Allo Allo.
There are some serious points being made, but they get lost in the generally lighter tone of the movie, IMHO.