The Films You Watched Thread VI: The Undiscovered Movie

[QualityChimp]

I watched Manhunt (2017 via Netflix) as it was a John Woo film that was streaming for Woovember.

It was pretty rubbish, to be honest.
I think the reasons I didn't like it was that the plot was a bit muddled, but some bits were really obvious.
It was HD, but felt cheap.
The action sequences were good, obviously, but Woo tends to get a bit silly with his sequences in this.

After watching so many great films this month, it was just a bit of a letdown. I wish I'd watched Hard Boiled instead.

[fuse]

Had never heard of Wonder Boys before partner insisted on sticking it on. It's got quite a lot of familiar (if youthful) faces in the cast, and although I liked the characters being the focus rather than the story, the whole thing had this hazy quality about it where nothing and no-one seemed to react to events like I'd expect them to, that really took me out of it. It's built up around Michael Douglas as a troubled creative writing professor, yet I wasn't buying him or his work being as profound as the characters flocking around him are trying to tell you it is. Does a good job avoiding some horrible cliches, but overall just ended up not feeling too much of anything about this, really.

And then Cruella, which opened with an uninspired montage and then a dramatic, formative scene that was so unintentionally ridiculous that I cackled. That we need an 'origins' movie for a character called 'Cruella de Vil' is damning in itself, but it does at least improve (a little) from here. Though it's quite caper-y I didn't find those bits much cop, whereas I can see how if you're into costume design and fashion you might get a kick out of it. It was really just Emma Thompson that kept it watchable for me.

[Brad]

We loved Cruella, and the soundtrack was soopoib!

[Neon Ignition]

Encanto
Decent, it's in no risk of troubling the top tier stuff in Disney's 60 strong animated classics line up but it's likeable. Disney has tried to veer away from 'evil villain' films but it doesn't really pay off here as it largely leaves the plot with the main character trying to work something out the audience clocks incredibly early in the film. The stakes are very low and many of the characters one dimensional so it's the energy of the main character and vibrant visuals doing most of the heavy lifting. Songs wise, one or maybe two were alright but it's also one of the weaker soundtracks too so isn't likely to gain much traction with kids on that front either. We took Jr1 and 2 to see it and Jr 2 got very restless.

[QualityChimp]

Had never heard of Wonder Boys before partner insisted on sticking it on.

Best bit is where they get skateboards and throw axes at snails.

Watched a few over the weekend.
On my 3D Marvel rewatch with my son, we saw Spider-Man: Homecoming, and I stand by everything I thought when I first saw it in that Happy Hogan and Tony Stark are absolute pricks in this. So much so, that it muted my response to the end of Endgame.
Literally, every step of the way, they both ignore him when he needs their help and undermine and patronise him when they do finally respond. Aside from those bits, it's a lot of fun and Peter/Spider-Man/Holland is great and really likeable.

Next up was Thor: Ragnarok, which is a total blast. Tonally, it's quite a big shift to the comedy levels it reaches, especially when you compare it to Thor 2, with its rainy, monochrome London. I did think that as the series deals with Thanos in the subsequent films, it was too boisterous and whimsical, but it all works out in the end and the tone settles back in.
Taken on its own, though, this is one of the best Marvel movies, IMHO, as it's so much fun.
The bit where a recharged Thor jumps into battle in slow-motion to the Rainbow Bridge as "Immigrant Song" cranks up is brilliant.
3D is particularly good in this too, with loads of translucent layers and a lot of it takes part in the day, so there's a lot of depths to the shots.

Finally, last night I watched Shaolin Soccer (2001 via DVD) to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Such a stupid, silly and brilliantly fun film and it still stands as a really enjoyable watch. The scenes during the football matches are the highlight, but there's plenty of craziness along the way.

[Asura]

Following up what [MENTION=16665]Blobcat[/MENTION] said, Fast 9 really was trash.

I unironically love the Fast franchise (maaaaaybe except for 2). The rest of the series is also trash, but a certain kind of very watchable, very fun sort-of trash. Fast Five, in particular, the scene where they're dragging the safe through Rio and it's almost like some kind of Looney Tunes episode, is so mind-numbingly daft that it passes through the event horizon and comes out the other side like a piece of post-modern genius. They're like a big-budget live-action adaptation of a little kid smashing their toy cars together, but with all the fun ideas that entails.

But 9 watched like how I imagine those who hate the movies see them. It just felt really soulless. Nothing in it was particularly interesting or novel; I mean there's a scene where they're driving a truck through Edinburgh with a super-magnet in the back, ripping up shopfronts etc. and it just raises a yawn.

But the worst thing... When Paul Walker died, they did a good job of finishing the last movie he was in, using a combination of old footage, pre-existing footage, footage of his brother and a very small amount of deep-fake stuff. Then the "send-off" they gave his character at the end of that movie was shockingly touching considering the franchise's tendency over-indulgent, bombastic action.

But in Fast 9, they keep mentioning him, and basically he's become like Maris from Frasier. The finale of the movie literally involves him pulling up in a car and the cast turning to see him walk in (it cuts to black before that happens). It's just beyond dreadful and actually kinda ghoulish.

[Brad]

Venom: Let there be Carnage

A fairly enjoyable romp. Much better than the first one (which isn't saying much).

[Atticus]

Watched a documentary film on Friday night called Twas The Fight Before Christmas on Apple TV. It's about a Christmas-mad guy who takes the Griswold approach to the max and then a whole lot more. He goes mad with the lights on his house and then via the internet invites the public to come. And they came in their masses. Thousands. Loads of traffic. Big crowds. It was a pretty major response. His wife says they need a bigger house and go bigger. So they buy a bigger house in a quiet, well-to-do neighbourhood, and a war begins.

One of my boys joined me 25 mins in and I told him the gist. He said, 'right, so who are the bad guys?'. It's an interesting watch, not for the crazy situation but the lengths a man will go to simply not lose. This is a man who admits he became a lawyer because he was bullied and won't have to take any crap ever again.

Then on Saturday morning the pooch woke me up early. I was about to watch something recorded then noticed Groundhog Day was starting at 6.00. Hot cuppa, snow outside, how could I resist. Incredible as always. Biggest laugh this time was Phil's silent prayer before drinking to world peace and his fake-sincere 'amen' before taking a sip

[wakka]

That documentary sounds great. I will watch that, thanks. And Groundhog Day is just a delight every time. 'You drive pretty good for a quadroped.'

[QualityChimp]

I watched Logan again as part of Woovember (nearly there).
Daniel Bernhardt is a go-to henchman actor at the moment, so I was tasked with seeing a film with him in (he doesn't last long! ).

I dunno, man. I'm really torn by this. It is a great film and incredibly emotional, but it kinda strips away everything cool about the X-Men. Wolverine can no longer heal fast, his claws don't always pop and he's dying. Xavier's mind has degenerated and all the others are dead. Okaaaaay. It doesn't help that in the comic series, Old Man Logan, he's still a complete badass.

[prinnysquad]

You’ve always been a complete sap over Logan, QC.

[QualityChimp]

You’ve always been a complete sap over Logan, QC.

I prefer my heroes to be super.

If I wanted to see a sad old man struggling with an epic challenge, I'd watch you trying to pull your trousers back up after your post-Sunday roast dump.

[prinnysquad]

Don’t hide your lameotronic wussiness behind sordid fantasies.

PS - Zoom me, 8.30pm, Sunday.

[monel]

I gave the chimp some amazing films and he lost them down the back of a sofa

Wasn't there an old song called Who's zooming who

[randombs]

Goldeneye

A few months ago I randomly stuck The Living Daylights on to listen to the theme song. It was great but the film was not. However, with the excitement of No Time To Die in the air, my having only ever seen the Brosnan/Craig films and my wife not having seen any, we decided to attempt all of them in order like IT'S MARVEL, BABY!

Naturally, we started with Dr. No. The warning to stop this insane quest was right there in the title but, like that man-hussy Bond himself, we ignored the obvious warning signs and went to town, thinking the films would eventually find their feet and get better:

• Dr. No
• From Russia with Love
• Goldfinger
• You Only Live Twice
• The Living Daylights

They did not.

Goldeneye sealed the deal - we've decided to just skip right ahead to the Craig films. For all the complaints about them being too serious and not Bondy enough, at least they're good in their own right.