The Films You Watched Thread V: Dead Men Watch No Movies

[Baseley09]

Oh man it's a movie about real men for real men.

[JazzFunk]

^oh god Base, it's not my lucky two nights. I didn't really care for *this*, either!

Two films I thought would be great, barnstorming retro cult bangers yet I was left there, confounded and nonplussed.

As far as I'm concerned, I'll still always associate the title with the 80s Namco coin-op!

[Atticus]

I watched Speedy today. Bit of a blind buy that paid off well because I loved it. Straight away it's like a 1920s postcard of New York come to life. A bustling Times Square, an even more bustling Coney Island, it's simply lovely to look at before any action or comedy kicks in. This was Harold Lloyd's final silent film (1928) and I hadn't seen any of his films since I was a kid when they were always on tv. The set up is pretty basic (HL can't hold a job down, he wants to marry his sweetheart, and her granddad is being strong-armed by a railroad company) ... but it's enough to set up a ton of great comedy and some top quality daredevil action too. It's been a bit of a crap week with one thing and another and this was just the tonic

[charlesr]

Can you write this out? Thank you please. And tag me.

[charlesr]

Watched Skyscaper tonight. Very cool. So much cheese. We were pissing ourselves (me and the kids). We also crapped our pants at one point, so that's cool.

[Blobcat]

We might watch that tonight

Finally got to watch Knives Out last night. Pretty good film with a nice cast. The only thing that messed it about for me is we had watched the film Clue/ Cluedo for the first time a month or so ago which was much more entertaining and the director was a bit of a fan of Wes Anderson perhaps.

Pretty good film overall. Watching Clue then Knives out was like watching The Lego Movie then Lego Batman movie; in the end both really good films, but would have probably rated the 2nd film higher if I hadn't seen the other first.

[Super Grover]

Watched ‘Uncut Gems’ starring Adam Sandler on Netflix.

Wow! The film is a noisy roller coaster that’s exhausting and fascinating at the same time. Not a Sandler fan at all, but goodness me, he’s got some serious acting skills in this.

As for the ending ...

One of the best film I’ve seen this year (56 and counting).

[wakka]

Oh god, I absolutely love that film. I think it might even actually be one of my all time favourites. Definitely joint choice with Shoplifters for favourite film of the last couple of years. Everything about it blew me away.

[Dogg Thang]

I watched Basic Instinct last night. That movie really holds up. Douglas and Stone are great and you really feel her unravelling him. It’s a hot movie too, obviously, in ways that many movies attempt but don’t quite capture. It looks really good too. At the risk of sounding old, there is definitely something special in those pre-digital movies.

[Super Grover]

Oh god, I absolutely love that film. I think it might even actually be one of my all time favourites. Definitely joint choice with Shoplifters for favourite film of the last couple of years. Everything about it blew me away.

Knew you had taste [MENTION=5490]wakka[/MENTION]!

Question - do Netflix/Amazon’s own films ever come out on a media format?

[fallenangle]

Almost wished I had not watched the first showing on ITV of the latest Tomb Raider movie reboot.

Very mediocre and dull for the first half hour. Kristin Scott Thomas might as well have been wearing an evil Auntie hat from the first moment she appeared. It became a bit more tomb-raidery as it went on mixing TR tropes from the past as well as the more recent games. There was a decent action scene involving a NA B25 Mitchell and waterfall I quite enjoyed but would have been more entertaining if it was part of a game.

But so much of the movie and set pieces seemed to be 'inspired' by better and worse movies or the TR games which themselves are often recycled ideas from movies. You could have subbed in Angelina Jolie and you'd think you were watching a contemporary prequel to the now 20 years old TR movies she was in. It just felt stale and second division with only Alicia Vikander's casting being anything worthy of praise.

Worse than the film just being mediocre though was the crass editing in some violent action scenes which I assume was due to some over-sensitive ITV censor. They were some of the crudest examples of that sort of thing I've seen in a long time particularly so when you're noticing cuts in films you've never seen before.

[CAPCOM]

Watching the Keanu sci-fi mild flick that is Replicas. Place this in his tier along with Chain Reaction and Johnny Mnemonic so far. Although I actually enjoy Chain Reaction a lot more than I should for 90s cheese and the nostalgia factor of having seen it at the cinema

I have it on in the background working on two laptops and honestly feel I am not missing any plot.

Seeing the main character from Silicon Valley in a straight-laced role is impossible.

[QualityChimp]

I watched Avengers Assemble in 3D with my son and Game Night with my wife.

Avengers was a lot of fun to watch again and they've obviously thought about the 3D aspects.
Love that sequence that looks like one shot and the camera flies between Avengers in the big battle for New York.

Talking of one-shot sequences, Game Night had a brilliant little sequence which looks like one take as the characters are being chased.
The film itself is a lot of fun and is a perfect couples movie. There's not much talk of boardgames, but plays out like a comedy version of David Fincher's "The Game".
It's all pretty whimsical, but there are plenty of laughs and some fun shots throughout.

Nice Film Stories podcast about the film here:

https://www.filmstories.co.uk/podcast/podcast-game-night-2018-and-disneys-hercules-1997/

[teddymeow]

[MENTION=10111]QualityChimp[/MENTION] Game Night is awesome fun.

We needed a real "brain off, dumb fun" film the other night so watched House Bunny.

It. Is. So. Stupid.

I've never really got Anna Faris. There's no doubt that she is a very attractive woman but she only ever seems to play stupid / clueless characters. Even in something like Lost in Translation she plays an annoying, ditzy character.

[Atticus]

I really like the look of Game Night ... just clocked its appearance on Prime Vid last week but my wife was turned off by the word 'game' thinking it was video game related

I watched The Elephant Man last night. For David Lynch's first major film it's got a surprising amount of his trademark dark surrealism in it, and used to beautiful effect too. There's nowhere near the levels of the films he made after, not counting Straight Story, but still, he must have been given a surprising of freedom. But if any aesthetic dominates the film it's dark industrial London and the seedy carnivals and alleyways ... it's a striking looking film from start to finish, always keeping you rooted in the Victorian atmosphere and setting. If the film has been accused of sentimentality then I'm fine with that ... the cruelty would be unbearable otherwise ... it needs light to balance the shade ... and the ending is so beautifully done I defy anyone not to hold a tear back.