Films You Have Watched

[Atticus]

Stand By Me (Rob Reiner, 1986)

"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"

Still holds up nearly 40 years later.

Reiner's best film as far as I'm concerned. The greatest coming-of-age film of all-time, surely?

Misery just pips it for me. But defo best last line in a film 😢

[Nu-Eclipse]

Misery just pips it for me. But defo best last line in a film 😢

Misery is a banger (need to rewatch that too!) but Stand By Me edges it IMO.

What's clear from both is that Rob Reiner's understanding of Stephen King's work is exceptional.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Beyond Clueless (Charlie Shackleton, 2014)

Watched this last night. A British documentary/video essay about teen movies, with a considerable amount of extract clips from various films in the genre from roughly between 1995 and 2005, narrated by Fairuza Balk (she herself of 1996's The Craft fame).

Not sure that the video essay element of it is as deep and/or clever as it thinks it is (unless one defines deep and/or clever as stating the obvious, which surely doesn't need to be done for describing the high school/teenage experience as portrayed by modern cinema?), but it is well-edited with a lot evocative clips from that late 20th/early 21st century period and the soundtrack (composed by the duo fka Summer Camp) works well with it - clearly a labour of love for all involved in making it.

[QualityChimp]

Warfare (Ray Mendoza; Alex Garland 2025)
Saw this at the cinema, having seen it garner 5* reviews in The Guardian and Empire.
Big fan of Alex Garland over the years, so this was a no-brainer.

Co-Director Ray Mendoza was one of the soldiers the film is based on, who was part of a team of SEALS in the Iraq War in 2006.

Shot primarily in real-time, it tells of a Navy SEAL unit that take over an Iraqi house so that they can report on ground movement in the town in preparation for a Marine operation.

Basically, things don't go to plan and we follow what happens to the unit.

I'm a bit unsure about it. I think I wanted to like it more than I did.
It's an excellently made film, with some amazing shots and sound editing and the early sections, where you're waiting for something to happen just ratchets up the tension brilliantly.

I'll spoiler the next bit about why it didn't quite sit right, as I'd rather you make your own mind up:

->Open Spoiler<-

However, if you're expecting thrilling action, you're going to be disappointed as it relays the events in more of a documentarian way.
Also, I feel Garland is trying to stay objective about the events, but aside from a couple of moments where the SEALS see themselves more important than the Iraqi soldiers aiding them or the families whose house they've taken over, it feels a bit of a puff piece about the bravery of US soldiers in the face of adversity, especially the final 10 minutes.

[QualityChimp]

Oh, I also considered seeing The Accountant 2, seeing to remember liking the first one, so I rewatched The Accountant (NowTV) in preparation.
I barely remembered a single thing about it, surprised at the big name actors in it and all the plot twists.

So yeah, it's a pretty forgettable experience with a bit of an unhelpful description of autism and I didn't bother seeing the sequel.

[Soundwave]

Very, very, very late to the party with this but we finally sat and watched Mitchell's Vs The Machines last weekend & genuinely annoyed it took me so long to watch it as it's frankly brilliant.
Hilarious, well written, fantastic animation & just all round good fun

If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it

Neil

[Neon Ignition]

Thunderbolts*
It's fun, takes a while to get itself really up to speed but it's a decent enough flick. Not the shot in the arm the MCU needs but it at the least finishes Phase 5 on a high and feels a little bit like Marvel are starting to steer a tad bit back toward having films hint at what's next rather than leaving it to the Disney+ shows which works in its favour too.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Parthenope (Paolo Sorrentino, 2024)

Watched this at the cinema last night.

A foreign coming-of-age drama that is beautifully shot in places (I'm a bit of a sucker for films that do brilliant cinematography that place the location front and centre) but is pretty far up its own arse in terms of its arthouse aspirations and pretentiousness to the point of the story and that of the main character being a clumsily-worked metaphor for the location in question being considerably undermined.

Quite the case of style-over-substance IMO, but hey, Gary Oldman is clearly being paid well enough by Apple that he can indulge in idyllic artistic side quests in the South of Italy.

[QualityChimp]

Fall (iPlayer).
One of those high-concept films that are a great idea but don't really sustain it for the full run time.
Pretty vertigo-inducing moments and some fun twists, but pretty disposable.

I thought Man on Wire (in 3D) was the goat for vertigo-inducing thrills, though.

[Neon Ignition]

Poltergeist
The original film, it's a fun watch if a tad soft viewing it as an adult given its rating. I can see why the rumours started about the direction as it reeks of Spielberg's hand.

Poltergeist II
To be honest, I expected worse. It's not as good as the first but it's broadly pretty similar. They under utilise Cain but otherwise it's fine.

[Atticus]

Trap. Father and daughter attend a concert and there’s a serial killer there. Typical M Night … enough to draw you in but not enough to satisfy.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Gladiator (Rowdy Herrington, 1992)

Watched this last night (full movie is up on YouTube). Truth be told, I might've been better off watching the 2000 Ridley Scott film of the same name instead.

Best way to describe this, best way I've seen it described, is "Rocky meets Rebel Without a Cause"...but I don't think that's in a good way.

Teen coming-of-age drama set in gritty urban Chicago with a focus on illegal underground boxing.

If you can get past the sheer awkwardness of a "white saviour" main character dynamic and hammy mob villain performances from the likes of Brian Dennehy and Robert Loggia, then maybe there's something to enjoy here. The in-ring fight scenes are also pretty wild (read: ANYTHING goes!). Ultimately though, it feels like too much was cut in the wrong places from the final film and it suffers from pacing and plot coherence issues.

Not even a suitably early 1990s AOR/New Jack Swing/Hip-Hop soundtrack or musical score composed by Brad Fiedel (!) can really turn it around.

Forgettable.

[QualityChimp]

Not even a musical score composed by Brad Fiedel (!) can really turn it around.

I remember when T2 came out and a mate bought the T2 score.
Maybe he was thinking it would have stuff like Guns 'n' Roses on it, but it was Brad Fiedel's score.

Now, in the context of the film it's amazing and disquieting.
However, I can't imagine you'd ever want to sit down and listen to the sound of nerve-wracking drums and atonal metallic screeches whilst sipping a cognac.

I love seeing an orchestra play along with a movie, but this Terminator tour doesn't seem to fit.
It's just a bunch of dudes on synths, right?

https://musicalsontour.co.uk/the-terminator-live-concert-tour/

[Nu-Eclipse]

QualityChimp I too used to think that "film soundtrack" and "film score" were the same thing!

[QualityChimp]

That's exactly what he did.
To be fair, there are some films where the score is definitely better than the soundtrack.