Films You Have Watched

[cutmymilk]

Godzilla Minus 1. If you have ANY interest, go and see this. Probably the best Godzilla film and FOTY contender.

[Atticus]

Can't wait to see Godzilla ^^

Watched Police Story last night. Not seen any old-school Jackie in ages. Brilliant.

[Neon Ignition]

Got stuck in 4 hours of traffic last night, travelling a grand total of 2 miles in that time. At the end of that 4 hours I was still only halfway home and projections were at least another 2 hours to get home so I sacked it off and figured it was better to use the time (and the toilet) by detouring to the cinema to complete the journey after it cleared given in the morning the entire journey takes me less than 30 minutes. Sadly the cinema is already pulling Godzilla screenings but it was release day for:


Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Depressing to see, bad acting, hard to endure and poorly delivered.
But that's enough about Amber Heard. This year has been, despite the box office, a reasonably decent year for DC movies. It's all too easy and has been far too obvious for a long while now how eager numerous people online are to please themselves by slating anything DC as though Marvel is a sacred cow, something this year has really highlighted given the painful journey the MCU has gone on. The first Aquaman was pretty inoffensive, entertaining enough but nothing to come away from and feel that invested in. The sequel is very much more of the same, picking things up a few years later and is essentially a high paced adventure film. The primary focus is on Aquaman and his brother with other characters getting little space in the film, Heard's sidelining is incredibly obvious in particular given the focus she had in the first film, getting no more than 3-4 lines in this one. The film has zero time for 'The End of the DCEU', there are no wider universe nods and its ending doesn't 'end' things but given it's the last film in the line up it leaves things in a place where the film effectively ties things off for the character enough. It's fine, not the best DCEU film of the year but not the worst sueprhero film of the year either.

[Baseley09]

Cobweb (2023). Fairly straightforward and pleasingly short monster in the walls affair, kept afloat by a couple of excellent creepy performances.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Saw Next Goal Wins on Boxing Day.

Michael Fassbender nailing the look of Thomas Rongen (but sounding like an angry Wish Store Ted Lasso) apart, it's a pretty mediocre film tbh.

Basically a pointless comedy-drama adaption of the acclaimed documentary from 2014. Watch the documentary instead.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Saw The Three Musketeers: Milady last night.

Enjoyable swashbuckling action that carries on where The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan left off earlier this year. Enjoyable drama and action scenes, with Eva Green in irresistible form. On top of that, the plot still manages to surprise with a few twists and turns.

Easily up there as one of the best big-screen Alexandre Dumas adaptations in recent times - easily better than the cheesy US/UK 1970s/80s adaptations we grew up with, although sadly I don't think it will hit the desired box-office numbers for a third film even though the ending hints at it.

(On a separate note, NEVER go to the Peckhamplex to watch films. £6 movie tickets are no excuse for a disgusting and filthy auditorium teeming with rodents. Absolute health hazard.)

[fallenangle]

Love Eva Green - couldn't work out what it was about her I liked, apart from the obvious looks and acting talent. Then I read an interview with her and, being French, she stated that one of her big acting influences was Isabelle Adjani.

Isabelle Adjani was one of my earliest French actress crushes as she use to turn up regularly in the foreign films they used to show on BBC2 late night Friday and Saturdays back in the late 70s and 80s. She often played typically pouty, moody, difficult, angry and often troubled characters but with that underlying, attractive je ne sais quoi of French style and class.

The very stuff Eva Green has too.

[Sam The Man]

I like Eva Green too. I thought her performance in Kingdom Of Heaven (The Directors Cut) was very good. Plus she reminds me of Natalie Portman a bit who i also think is a terrific actor.

[fuse]

Been watching a lot lately! Quick-fire round.

Tampopo was good but I didn't like it as much as I was expecting to based on the high expectation-setting of a "ramen western". Still walked straight out of the cinema straight into the Kanada-Ya opposite, though.

Godzilla Minus One ruled? On here I have one of the least qualified histories with Godzilla to comment on it in a wider context, but in total credit to it, it did make me want to address that and watch some more of them.

Maestro felt like Bradley Cooper the director teeing up Bradley Cooper the actor with little concern for the subject, and yet he still gets outshone by Carey Mulligan. OK but not great.

Leave the World Behind has some good bits and performances, but tries a bit too hard to actively to deceive the watcher with slightly contrived plot points, odd (read: crap) shot choices, and spooky music. Enjoyed the ending more than everyone else I watched it with, though.

The Grinch (2018) was nicely animated, unsurprisingly schmaltzy Christmas stuff. Didn't find it particularly funny, and just felt like I'd much rather have been watching the (INFINITELY BETTER) Muppets Christmas Carol.

Wes Anderson's fairly hit and miss for me, and Asteroid City was definitely a miss. Great grasp on aesthetics and as usual he's got A-listers queueing up for bit parts, but it just did nothing for me. The constant panning got on my nerves, even.

Silent Night I wasn't even aware of before watching, and it definitely benefits from that. Not great by any stretch, might have been a good idea or two at some point but they're not really built upon and instead it bounces about tonally in a really awkward manner.

Then last night, The Boy and the Heron. It's not my favourite of Miyazaki's, but I also don't think I've fully wrapped my head around it yet either. Thought it was one thing at the start and then it very much wasn't that 30 minutes later.​

[Yakumo]

I've been going through a load of Christmas movies such as Gremlins, Die Hard 1 and 2 and finally finished with this late 80s classic. Any guesses what it may be from the closing shot?

[Colin]

National Lampoons Christmas Vacation?

[Yakumo]

National Lampoons Christmas Vacation?

Spot on! 👍. I loved this film as a teenager and still find enjoyment in it now.

[Hirst]

Any guesses what it may be from the closing shot?

Can't miss Cousin Eddie's knackered RV in the background!

Best Christmas film going by miles, I still remember the first time I saw it - December 1991 on a very short-lived satellite channel called The Comedy Channel. My mum had already got me into Vacation/European Vacation so I watched it with my folks with it taping onto VHS in the background - it was the version I watched for years, remember all the old idents on it. Probably still have it somewhere even though I've got the Blu-Ray kicking about.

Sadly when they show it on TV nowadays they seem to inexplicably give it a late morning/early afternoon slot so it gets loads of very noticeable cuts and some scenes get butchered to the point where it's barely worth seeing. I remember seeing it once and he didn't even get to pester the clerk on the lingerie counter. "Can't see the line, can you Russ?" No, can't even see her at all!

[Atticus]

he didn't even get to pester the clerk on the lingerie counter. "Can't see the line, can you Russ?" No, can't even see her at all!

[Brad]

Aquaman and blah blah blah

Jesus Christ. What the actual ****. This film is awful on every level. How did a film this bad get released?