Films You Have Watched

[Nu-Eclipse]

On paper, I should absolutely love Attack the Block, but I really disliked it.
It spent the opening section making the yoof seem as despisable as possible, then you're supposed to cheer for them once it kicks off, but I was cheering when each of them was offed.

I thought the design of the aliens was brilliant and unique, but I'd stop caring about the cast way before the residents are supposed to stick together.

Excellent points, and I agree. Not one of the characters are likeable and, cynically/deliberately, no effort is made to make them likeable. (Again, I feel like it's a symptom of white middle-class writers and producers trying to tackle a world they know nothing about). Even Boyega's character's "redemption" arc comes off as forced - the whole Block chanting his name as he was led away by the Police at the end was ****ing cringe.

The simplicity/efficiency of the alien designs, obviously forced by the relatively low budget, was inspired and impressive for what it was, I'll grant it that.

I watched The Man From U.N.C.L.E., which I've totally missed. I remember it getting a lukewarm reception and stalling the series but clips keep popping up so thought I'd check it out before it leaves Prime.

I really like the setting and references to the original show, but I think the spy/heist elements have been done before a lot better.
Guy Ritchie is a lot more restrained from his earlier Lock Stock/Snatch entries and I think it missed that flair, if I'm honest.

Passable spy-romp.

Haha! I watched Attack The Block on Amazon Prime for the exact same reason, and the fact that it's a relatively short film. Deffo gonna check some other movies before they go (really, they'll end up on other streaming/rental services so they won't be truly gone, but still).

I watched The Man from UNCLE reboot film years ago. Not sure I care for rewatching it again. It made a tiny profit at the box-office but that obviously didn't meet studio expectations and scuppered any chance of further sequels, and the less said about Armie Hammer's career after that the better, tbh.

[QualityChimp]

I don't know if it's specifically a class/race thing that the writers struggled with or just that balance of writing a good antihero.
Something like Assault on Precinct 13 works because Napoleon is likeable, despite (or because of) being a smartass.
These are just a bunch of antisocial muggers you garner no sympathy for.

I was thinking during UNCLE why I've not seen much of Hammer, then looked him up and understood why.
Pretty sure he wasn't charged with anything, but by that point, his career seems to be over.
I guess you have to decide for yourself if it's a case of "no smoke without fire" or "throw enough mud and some of it will stick."

As for Amazon, I think it's a brilliant streaming service. The selection of films are better than a lot of others, IMHO. There's definitely more than I have time to watch.
Of mutual interest, they have a few of those Eureka/88Films Jackie Chan/Sammo Hung films like Crime Story or Ricky-OH.

[Nu-Eclipse]

I don't know if it's specifically a class/race thing that the writers struggled with or just that balance of writing a good antihero.
Something like Assault on Precinct 13 works because Napoleon is likeable, despite (or because of) being a smartass.
These are just a bunch of antisocial muggers you garner no sympathy for.

Nah. I know where you're coming from and I agree with you about the characters not being likeable, but it's definitely class/race. I'd wager it and the overegging of MLE (a term as dreadful as BAME) slang in Attack the Block's writing (Blud?? Fam?? UGETME???) is a dead giveaway. Where the film and TV industry are concerned, it's more likely about that than not - with the best will in the world, what would private-school educated Joe Cornish possibly know about people who come from inner-city London high-rise council estates? Unless he himself helped to part-gentrify one by living in one??

I was thinking during UNCLE why I've not seen much of Hammer, then looked him up and understood why.
Pretty sure he wasn't charged with anything, but by that point, his career seems to be over.
I guess you have to decide for yourself if it's a case of "no smoke without fire" or "throw enough mud and some of it will stick."

As for Amazon, I think it's a brilliant streaming service. The selection of films are better than a lot of others, IMHO. There's definitely more than I have time to watch.
Of mutual interest, they have a few of those Eureka/88Films Jackie Chan/Sammo Hung films like Crime Story or Ricky-OH.

Fair points, although not being charged doesn't mean not being guilty. The Lone Ranger remake that he was in with Johnny Depp didn't help his leading man career prospects either.

Amazon Prime Video is better than given credit for, but I hate the way that they've basically prostituted the LoveFilm library to extract more money out of customers with sh1t like mini-transactions to access films from different studios like MGM and StudioCANAL - a lot of the movies coming off of Amazon Prime Video's main service are effectively being further paywalled and that is a sh1tty practice, no two ways about it.

[wakka]

I haven't seen Attack the Block since it first came out, and I really liked it at the time. Part of that though was influenced by the fact that it was shot right at the end of my then-road though - I've mentioned before on here whenever it comes up, but I lived right next to the then-derelict, now-demolished Heygate Estate in Elephant & Castle which was used as the estate where the characters live. We were coming back from clubbing one night and watched while they shot the sequence where the aliens are climbing all over the police van.

Honestly I also felt seen (at the time) in a somewhat cringe way in that sequence near the start where the white guy is going to pick up weed and listening to KRS One on the way 🙈

I'm not sure how I'd feel about it if rewatching now. I don't think I want to revisit it because I'd probably agree with you guys and prefer having it as part of my warm memories of university days

[Yakumo]

I watched Moonwalker on BluRay last night.
Ive never seen it before but do remember some sections such as the Speed Demon video from clips on TV back in the day.
Anyway, imagine my surprise when I realised (quite quickly) that Moonwalker is basically nothing more than a load of music videos coupled with a weak 30 minute movie wrapped around the smooth criminal video. And there I was thinking Moonwalker was a proper movie.
I did enjoy the music videos but as a movie experience, yeah, it was bad. The composting on the Speed Demon section is shockingly bad!

[Hirst]

I watched Moonwalker on BluRay last night.
Ive never seen it before but do remember some sections such as the Speed Demon video from clips on TV back in the day.
Anyway, imagine my surprise when I realised (quite quickly) that Moonwalker is basically nothing more than a load of music videos coupled with a weak 30 minute movie wrapped around the smooth criminal video. And there I was thinking Moonwalker was a proper movie.
I did enjoy the music videos but as a movie experience, yeah, it was bad. The composting on the Speed Demon section is shockingly bad!

Funnily enough I got the Bluray off the missus as a gift a while back after mentioning I used to sometimes watch the "Guild Home Video" VHS of it my folks had back in the day. I haven't seen it for a long time but from memory it's utterly baffling as a film, more a combination of music videos mixed in with fever dream imagery that looks like something you'd get in an early FMV game. I can't even really say whether it's truly any good, but the whole thing is strangely mesmerising for just how utterly weird it is and I have a fondness for it.

[Nu-Eclipse]

I watched Moonwalker on BluRay last night.
Ive never seen it before but do remember some sections such as the Speed Demon video from clips on TV back in the day.
Anyway, imagine my surprise when I realised (quite quickly) that Moonwalker is basically nothing more than a load of music videos coupled with a weak 30 minute movie wrapped around the smooth criminal video. And there I was thinking Moonwalker was a proper movie.
I did enjoy the music videos but as a movie experience, yeah, it was bad. The composting on the Speed Demon section is shockingly bad!

Surprise! You'll find that most pop star movies of that early MTV era are exactly like that. It is what it is. I watched Purple Rain earlier this year and I'd argue that it is a worse watch than Moonwalker because you have musicians actually trying to act and being very bad at doing so.

I haven't seen Moonwalker in years but the short animated vignette for it always makes me wish that Human Nature (probably my all-time fave MJ song) would've gotten an actual music video to accompany it.

[QualityChimp]

Plus the Moonwalker film is not as good as the arcade where you collect Bubbles the chimp and turn into a robot or you dance with the zombies in the graveyard.

[Atticus]

I watched Boyhood this week ... famously shot over 12 years so the cast age authentically as the boy of the title goes from (around) 6-18 (I think). I'd have probably watched it sooner but I think I made the lazy assumption it might be a bit of a gimmick. Yet watching it I didn't really think about that at all. The passing of time happens with subtlty ... no title cards or years cropping up to tell you where you're at. Listening to an interview with Richard Linklater afterwards it seems his intention was to create something that feels like memories ... and after watching and reflecting on it that's just how it does feel. Memory milestones. I thought it was great. Never cops out with the kind of drama you might expect situations to lead to ... instead keeping it realistic all the way, almost documentary-like. Cast were class too. It's not just about boyhood but a whole family, and especialy parenthood. I've just bought the Before Triogy on the strength of seeling Boyhood and can't wait to watch them.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Mean Girls (Mark Waters, 2004)

(DISCLAIMER: First time I'd ever watched it. Seemed appropriate to check out in its 20th Anniversary year).

While can I appreciate that the lead performances of Lohan, McAdams, Chabert & Seyfried (Fey and Caplan notable co-star mentions also) still hold up, I can't help but feel like the social and popular culture memes zeitgeist moments that this film helped to generate and encapsulate have well and truly moved on in the two decades since, making it feel quite outdated today. On top of that, I didn't laugh nearly as much as I thought I would.

TL;DR: I guess I should've watched this when it originally dropped in the cinema. Oh well.

[Nu-Eclipse]

The Batman (Matt Reeves, 2022)

- Chalk up another one for "watched before it "leaves" (gets further paywalled by) Amazon Prime Video!"

- Don't actually mind R-Patz as Batman (obvious physical complaints and overdone Goth/Emo-type stylings notwithstanding) and Geoffrey Wright as Lt. Gordon, Colin Farrell unrecognisable as Penguin, can take or leave Zöe Kravitz as Catwoman and Andy Serkis as Alfred. Paul Dano awful as Riddler.

- Yes, this needed to be 30% to 50% shorter for a reboot superhero movie. WAY TOO LONG, even in an era of MCU long cuts and Nolan Batman movies.

- The heavily-emphasised mobster side story really doesn't do much for the story overall. Pretty much shrugging my shoulders throughout all of the predictable reveals. The attempt to tie it all into the classic Wayne family murder/Batman Genesis was also pretty cack-handed.

[wakka]

Mean Girls is very of its time but that's kind of an intrinsic part of it. It's deeply millennial and a real snapshot of a moment in time in the 2000s. I can see why coming to it cold today it would feel dated, but it's kind of a historical document of a particular component of teenage-hood in a specific era - sort of like The Breakfast Club or American Pie for previous decades.

I was 14 when Mean Girls came out and that film and Superbad feel very resonant of the time.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Mean Girls is very of its time but that's kind of an intrinsic part of it. It's deeply millennial and a real snapshot of a moment in time in the 2000s. I can see why coming to it cold today it would feel dated, but it's kind of a historical document of a particular component of teenage-hood in a specific era - sort of like The Breakfast Club or American Pie for previous decades.

I was 14 when Mean Girls came out and that film and Superbad feel very resonant of the time.

I was 22 when Mean Girls came out so fair enough!

Valid points for sure, but I doubt I would've laughed much at it back in 2004. I do feel like The Breakfast Club holds up better than Mean Girls because it's simply written better, but mileage varies and your Gen-X vs. Millennials point holds true.

[Neon Ignition]

I was never a teenage girl but I did see Mean Girls once many moons ago and it missed me also. Came across as a very atypical forgettable comedy as were a dime a dozen back in the day.

[Atticus]

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice - I'm not such a big fan of the original as I used to be but like it enough to want to see this, the long, long awaited sequel. It's enjoyable enough, and good enough, but that's about all I can say. Yeah ... it's alright.

But most things I've watched of late have been blown away but the main event that is Godzilla Minus One. I'm only a year late in seeing it and in that time I've heard and read nothing but great things. And yet watching it it still went above and beyond anything I was expecting. Absolutely amazing. Can't wait to watch it all over again.