The Films You Watched Thread VI: The Undiscovered Movie

[Finsbury Girl]

Wrath of Man - I'm a sucker for both a) Statham and b) Ritchie so of course I really enjoyed it. 8 JCVD out of 10

[randombs]

Decided to check out some Pixar stuff I’d never seen before:

Brave

This was good fun. It didn’t feel like other Pixar films - more like the Shrek guys - but I’m sure Merida’s wonderful hair had its own dedicated team. The story was pretty standard fare but that’s just fine and I enjoyed myself. I guess the most Pixar thing they did was having the proper Scottish accents. Great stuff.

Soul

This is the difference between Pixar and Disney’s own CG stuff. Of course it’s beautiful to look at and listen to, and the theme of enjoying each moment was made even more powerful because I was holding my sleeping baby. Awwww, bless

[Neon Ignition]

Sonic the Hedgehog 2
It's insane I'm even living in a world where a live action Sonic film was made, let alone worked but here we are with it having a sequel too and... dammit, it worked too. The humans are dialled back somewhat, Robotnik is decent but also not quite as good as the first time out but that is counter balanced by the additions of Tails and Knuckles. Sonic 2 is very much the Hollywood mindset of a sequel, make it bigger and louder. However, it works here because the first film broadly kept things very grounded with a heavy focus on Sonic and Donut Lord. To say this goes bigger is an understatement but at every stage it does so by lifting from the games moving the films ever closer to the source material. We have elements lifted from Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic and Knuckles, Mean Bean Machine and touches of Sonic Adventure. We get a post-credit sequence again that makes it beyond clear which game will be lifted from for Sonic 3 as well. Jr1 is now 6 years old and was hyped to see it and what was nice was that it delivered on every level for him. He was covering his own open mouth at some of the later stuff, in utter awe of seeing some classic 16 bit era moments recreated on a Hollywood blockbuster scale. The better film of the two which as I say, is just nuts.

[Lebowski]

Watched the Adam Project on netflix last night as id heard it was watchable popcorn Sci-fi, i wasn't prepared for it to be like a Saturday morning cartoon with swearing and a few inappropriate jokes, script is awful and theirs very few funny bits.

From the Gi Joe bad guys that are just cannon folder to the evil for the sake of it with little to no character development bad boss lady, who has a stereotypical Asian henchman with a scar on his face (he is good at martial arts too would you believe it). They seem to have cherry picked things from star wars too, including light sabres battles, and a forest of Endor speeder bike car chase with, hover boards!!! it all falls pretty flat though.

This is clearly a kids film that's been given the wrong age rating as its a dumb film with bare bones character development and cliche after cliche with a predictable plot and ending, i reckon kids would love this but wouldn't recommend you watch it with them because its full of bad language and inappropriate jokes, weird weird film.

[Neon Ignition]

The Suicide Squad
Third viewing and it continues to just improve on each viewing, really good fun

[prinnysquad]

The Night Comes For Us on Netflix. A couple of Raid alumni star in this action flick about a triad enforcer who develops a conscience.

It’s utterly absurd. The story is just there to hang the set pieces on, so don’t expect anything profound or particularly tense. Expect brutality. The level of violence is eye-opening. I’m used to this stuff, and even I found myself wincing at times. The punishment these guys take is pure comic-book levels of ridiculousness. Yet, it’s hugely entertaining if you like a heady mix of gunplay, martial arts and hyper violence. It’s definitely not for everyone, though. I can understand why, after the tenth brutal execution, some people might get bored. I’m not one of those people. So I really enjoyed it. It sets a new high for environment-based violent creativity.

8 out of 10 for me. No JCVD, so there’s a mark down.

[Dogg Thang]

That sounds interesting! CG JCVD in there and I'll give it a watch.

[prinnysquad]

If you enjoyed The Raid, you’ll enjoy this. If fights with a ludicrous pain tolerance threshold do your head in, then it might be too cringeworthy to cope with. If you get violence fatigue, you’ll be bored within twenty minutes.

I loved it. You’re right, though. It’s needed some JCVD. Even if just in a cameo.

[Dogg Thang]

I loved The Raid movies, even though I was wincing in places! I'll give this a watch.

[prinnysquad]

Headshot (2016)

Another Iko Uwais vehicle. He suffers from amnesia and tries to piece back his memory and rescue a doctor who looks after him.

Far less violent than the other film I watched. It’s quite well-paced and has some genuinely thrilling scenes, but the lack of visceral brutality compared to the ‘Night’ film felt like a step down. I probably watched them in the wrong order. On its own merits, it’s a very decent action flick.

[Atticus]

I watched Fresh on Disney+ the other night. It's kind of a mid-tier horror thriller about a date that goes somewhere dark. The fun isn't so much where it goes but how she's going to get out of it. It's okay, entertaining here and there.

[Atticus]

Finally watched my Criterion release of Barry Lyndon. Only the second time I've seen it and the 4k resto looks absolutely stunning (the film is famous for basically looking like a painting in motion) ... it's one of the best looking films I've ever seen. In fact it's one of the best films I've ever seen, full stop. Can't wait to dive into that second disc full of special features.

[prinnysquad]

Legacy of Lies (2020)

Scott Adkins actioner. It’s ok. I quite enjoyed its briskness and Adkins makes for an engaging low-budget lead. The story is some fart about espionage, but the main oddness comes from the fact it pits the Russians against a Ukrainian journalist. It left a very unsettling taste that the dynamic between the two nations is being used for entertainment. Still, that’s not the fault of the filmmakers.

I rated it a 5/10 - an average low budget diversion. A couple of reviews I’ve since read are savage. Especially the Grauniad with its 1 star cussfest. It’s not a bad film. It’s just not a good film either.

[fallenangle]

Finally watched my Criterion release of Barry Lyndon. Only the second time I've seen it and the 4k resto looks absolutely stunning (the film is famous for basically looking like a painting in motion) ... it's one of the best looking films I've ever seen. In fact it's one of the best films I've ever seen, full stop. Can't wait to dive into that second disc full of special features.

I saw this in the cinema when it first came out, principally because I was a photographer and it was widely regarded as one of the best photographed films of the time. If my memory is correct Kubrick mostly used an old German pre-WW2 lens which had natural 'bloom' ie. subtle soft-focus effect.

There was graduated filter use too which was new at the time but later became a bit cliched in both stills and film photography. It actually dates the film.

Have to say the film itself never grabbed me. I've seen it a few times since and it is indeed still beautiful to look at and a great classical music soundtrack but i found the story dull, overlong and Ryan O'Neal charmless and unlikeable as the main character.

[Cepp]

Watched Joker since it's just come on Netflix. It was quite uncomfortable to watch tbh but good. The guy playing him did a good job of making everything uneasy, as did the music.