The Films You Watched Thread VI: The Undiscovered Movie

[Neon Ignition]

Moonfall
Sold mostly as a disaster movie but really it's a bad sci-fi. For some reason the concept of the Moon losing orbit wasn't compelling enough so you get some sort of Halo inspired backstory complete with evil AI and Halo ring world as well as modern day set stupidity involving the Moon being a seed ship in disguise etc. There are a few moments that on a cinema screen look nice such as the Moon scraping the Earth's atmosphere and it's effect on gravity but the majority of it is special level dumb with a range of acting from solid enough (main guy), switched off (Berry) to god awful (GoT guy).

Jackass Forever
A reminder that so much of the joy of these comes from the first time viewing, not knowing moment to moment what comes next. I don't think there's much new here, it's a fair bit of love lettering to the past but as dumb as the stunts are the gangs comradery shines through yet again.

[Atticus]

Last Night in Soho is one of those films you know is going to be great from the opening beat ... as soon as that 60s track kicks in you're on board. There's not a lot I can cay about the story as it would spoil it if you haven't seen the film already but it's a lot of fun, with the spirit of Soho in the 60s, exciting and dangerous, at heart. It's beautifully made with some stunningly recreated 60s interiors and exteriors, brought to life with needle-drops from an perfectly curated soundtrack (the songs, not so much the score which felt more like tv music at times). The two leads were superb but Matt Smith stole the show with a wicked, dazzling performance. I know Wright has his influences but the biggest one for me was Suspiria, intentional or not.

[fuse]

Watched Encanto. There were a few nice/sweet/funny moments, but for the most part I thought it was pretty weak. I felt the songs in particular were trying to do a bit too much of the story telling and that as a result they just felt dense and didn't do much to actually entertain.

[charlesr]

Dune (2022). Not as good as the original. Very far up its own arse. I still enjoyed watching it because I love the Dune worlds. Love the books.

This new one was missing the fun aspects of the books. Yes, tragedy in the story, but this whole film was relentless in it's downhill slope. I expect the next film will go the opposite way though.

Too much slo mo too.

Beautiful soundtrack. Lovely visuals. Acting decent enough. I'll watch it again. GF was pretty bored.

[teddymeow]

The King's Man

Loved the first, found pockets of OTT joy in the sequel. This, this was an unmitigated piling of steaming dog excrement!!

The only shining light in the darkness was Gemma Arterton and even she was criminally underused.

[gordon]

Dune (2022). Not as good as the original. Very far up its own arse. I still enjoyed watching it because I love the Dune worlds. Love the books…

This was pretty much my take too. It looked and sounded spectacular but lacked passion, emotional engagement with the main characters. It’s one of the best SF books I’ve read, but this movie left me cold.

[Atticus]

Ghostbusters Afterlife. I was really looking forward to this but it didn't quite hit the mark. It did some things right but it never felt smart enough (esp some of the handling of the original cast). Happy for it to be an all-out kids film though, there was plenty to enjoy, I just wanted to like it more.

[QualityChimp]

I watched the two Fable films on Netflix, about the world's best assassin who goes into hiding to let the heat die down, but it dragged into action again, when events unfold around him.

They're both pretty similar in structure and story, with excellent action scenes bookending them both, but it has such a strange tone in the middle. I'm guessing there's an element of localised humour I'm missing, but the plot flits from shooting people in the head, to farting, to forced prostitution to pratfalls.

The action, especially in the sequel - Fable: The Killer Who Doesn't Kill, are fantastic and made it to a couple of "Best of 2021" lists:

https://www.polygon.com/22859125/best-action-movie-scenes-2021

https://filmschoolrejects.com/best-action-movies-2021/

[wakka]

For the first time ever, I watched The Shawshank Redemption.

I liked it and I had a blast watching it. I can absolutely see what the fuss is all about, and why this is such a celebrated film and a favourite of so many. It's incredibly well made. It draws you into a superbly coherent and well-crafted world, and has an almost scientific brilliance to its flow between emotional beats.

That said, it's a schmaltz-fest. It's extremely sentimental, and it's ultimately a fantasy more than a drama. There are contrivances that lack credibility, and it's baldly emotionally manipulative. It's not arthouse. But it's kind of anti-arthouse, like the apex of what broad-appeal, popular cinema can be, which is really cool.

It's a deliciously sweet cake of a film. Even if by the end, it feels like you might have crammed down just a little more of it than you should have.

[Atticus]

For the first time ever, I watched The Shawshank Redemption.

I liked it and I had a blast watching it. I can absolutely see what the fuss is all about, and why this is such a celebrated film and a favourite of so many. It's incredibly well made. It draws you into a superbly coherent and well-crafted world, and has an almost scientific brilliance to its flow between emotional beats.

That said, it's a schmaltz-fest. It's extremely sentimental, and it's ultimately a fantasy more than a drama. There are contrivances that lack credibility, and it's baldly emotionally manipulative. It's not arthouse. But it's kind of anti-arthouse, like the apex of what broad-appeal, popular cinema can be, which is really cool.

It's a deliciously sweet cake of a film. Even if by the end, it feels like you might have crammed down just a little more of it than you should have.

Ah, Shawshank was one of those rare cinema visits that comes out of nowhere and over-delivers. Really lovely surprise. And I was so happy I'd never read the short story as the pay-off is one of the finest. But I do have to wonder what anyone going in based of seeing it at the top of the imdb top 100 expects. It's good, really good. But not best film ever good.

[wakka]

Ah, Shawshank was one of those rare cinema visits that comes out of nowhere and over-delivers. Really lovely surprise. And I was so happy I'd never read the short story as the pay-off is one of the finest. But I do have to wonder what anyone going in based of seeing it at the top of the imdb top 100 expects. It's good, really good. But not best film ever good.

That's really interesting. I can imagine, yeah, watching that cold in the cinema, it must've been a 'wow' moment. Because the film is brilliantly paced and pitched. You totally buy it, or at least I did. And that reversal towards the end is just *chef's kiss*. Amazing payoff that it absolutely earns. Your mind is sent reeling back through the film looking for all the clues and evidence that means this makes sense, and it's all there.

It's fascinating, I think, precisely because it's in many ways so conventional. It uses and incorporates pretty much every piece of advice that you will read in a guide to screenwriting. It is determinedly unexperimental. But the execution of that conventionality is just absolutely outstanding. It totally works.

EDIT: And just to add to this, I fully agree it's not 'Best film ever' good. It's far too sentimental and mawkish, and tugs heartstrings in a way I find manipulative and which I resisted during the film. The villain is completely one dimensional in how evil he is. And its portrayal of prison is also bizarrely cosy. So there are numerous issues that I had with it.

But it's one that I struggle to backseat direct because it is so finely tuned as an experience that I think it's quite tricky to say 'Oh, they should've had more of that, and less of that'. And that is a testament to how well the overall experience works.

[Dogg Thang]

I wanted to watch Timecop at the weekend and it's not on any streaming service that I have so I ordered the blu-ray and watched Universal Soldier instead. Got to admit I remember it being better, although it was still pretty enjoyable. Silly 90s action movie with a cool truck. They seriously got their money's worth from that truck. Lungren is pretty bad in the movie, I feel. He looks the part but I struggled with his character. Still, enjoyable.

[wakka]

[MENTION=3144]Dogg Thang[/MENTION] have you seen the alternate ending? It's really quite different.

Here ya go:



It's an incredibly cornball movie but I like it. It's a good Saturday-morning-with-a-hangover movie. The truck is hilarious and yes, they definitely got their money's worth out of it. Wouldn't like to know how much unleaded it'd need to run that whole science lab that's inside it.

[Dogg Thang]

[MENTION=3144]Dogg Thang[/MENTION] have you seen the alternate ending?

I had not seen that! Thanks for sharing it. I can see why they didn't go with it!

[Atticus]

I watched Censor last night. It's about a girl who whose job it is to view video nasties and decide what needs censoring prior to hitting the rental stores. She digests nasty after nasty until one makes a profound connection with her and the lines begin to blur between movie horror and real life horror, dredging up memories and feelings we may have censored from ourselves. Like fellow Brit horror Saint Maud it gives you a pair of eyes you can't always trust ... and also like that film it's no barrel of laughs. The film is set against the cold backdrop of Thatcher's Britain ... a bleak world of concrete subways and dodgy video shops ... thank goodness it features Nathan Barley and Lynn out of Alan Partridge in the supporting cast