The Films You Watched Thread VI: The Undiscovered Movie

[Atticus]

I agree with you [MENTION=3144]Dogg Thang[/MENTION]. There are tentpoles of fact holding up large amounts of speculation. But it remains fascinating simply because of what they aren't telling us. Following the release of some documents Oliver Stone is diving back in and is about the premier his new documentary JFK Revisited. It's interesting that the article mentions Trump decided to delay the release of more documents in the interest of national security.

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/oliver-stone-revisits-jfk-assassination-documentary-78798056

[wakka]

The Quiet Earth

Some time back in this thread I remember QC and Dogg discussing this, no idea when, but it's been in the back of my mind as something to watch ever since.

So, I watched it. It's pretty cool, although I didn't absolutely love it. The premise is Twilight Zone esque in its tantalising simplicity. A man (in New Zealand, for this is a Kiwi film) wakes up, and everyone else in the world has completely vanished. So have all the animals, although everything else is completely untouched - cars and electronics and so on still work.

It's the sort of story which generally works best if you go into it pretty cold. My spoiler-free view is that this is a film which only partially delivers. We're given the promise of the premise - act one focuses on how you might spend your days if you were the last person on Earth, which is pretty cool - but as the film goes on you might find your attention wavering.

This is mainly down to the fact that I thought the dialogue and acting were of quite a poor standard, and that the film failed to continuously build tension. It ends up more as a series of interludes, and just when it feels like there is a real dramatic conflict building, it downplays it and backs away.

So, a qualified recommendation from me. It is worth a watch, but in my view you are best setting expectations/phasers to 'mildly entertain' rather than 'stun'.

I watched it via Prime Video where I rented it for £1.99, or free if you pay for the £4.99 Arrow channel sub. And they did a disc of it, too.

[Atticus]

I loved Otto Preminger's Anatony of a Murder and Laura but I really didn't like Bunny Lake is Missing. It just felt like a trawl and there wasn't enough at the end of the trawl to make it worth sitting through.

Then had a bit of a matinee yesterday with one of my boys (who loves a good monster movie) and watched Cloverfield. Only the second time viewing after the cinema and it's still utterly brilliant. It's so well crafted. The sound on the 4k disc was outstanding too ... gave the sub-woofer a great workout. Going to revisit 10 Cloverfield next, which I absolutely loved first time around.

[Brad]

The Suicide Squad

Possibly the most ridiculous film I've ever seen. Loved it. Good performances all round but Margot Robbie is especially great as Harley again.

[Neon Ignition]

Peter Rabbit 2
Seen the first one a couple of times and it isn't great but is something you can kind of bear with. This, this is just utter ****. Even the kids couldn't hold their attention on it.

The Birth of a Nation
Amidst looking through pre-70's films to try watching this popped up as one of the very first 'films' as we know it. It's... it's quite something. Now 106 years old and a whopping three hours long, it certainly paints a vivid picture...
A rich family who's fortune is built on things like cotton fields, their rich friends, Abraham Lincoln, the assassination, an uprising of black slaves against their masters (majority of who are white people in black face), a battle between black people and soldiers, the family cowering for their safety and then the grand finale - Ride of the Valkyries playing as the KKK ride in to defeat the black uprisers, save the family and be crowned heroes.
So... senses beaten, moving swiftly on to the 30's next time.

The Amytiville Horror
The infamous tale of the family who moves into a haunted house and the father begins his slow progression from being a loving family man to being a Christian Bale on a Movie Set look a like. Despite being so overly familiar a tale it's kind of an okay watch even if there are zero scares or suspense about it. Somehow missed me by that Kidder was in this till she appeared, I literally only know her as Lois Lane.

[wakka]

I love that you sat and watched Birth of a Nation in full I've got nothing but respect for that.

[Neon Ignition]

It was fascinating but probably one of the most uncomfortable watching experiences I've seen in ages. I'd planned on taking a look at a couple more silent film era titles but I've already had my fill. Instead we're halfway through Rocky II instead

[Golgo]

Just got back from The Suicide Squad in the cinema. Basically The Dirty Dozen meets Guardians of the Galaxy but with a ton of gory violence to paper over the deeply unlikeable characters and writing. Excessive and humourless throughout (humourless not for wanting of trying, mind). It was very interesting to see James Gunn could take basically the same ingredients and **** it up so badly, but I guess he did take the directing job after Marvel (temporarily) sacked him, so maybe he was just in a foul mood. Second worse new film I've seen this year after Demon Train.

P.s.: the age rating (15) is completely out of kilter with what goes on on-screen. It was rated R in the US - which Gunn said he was aiming for - but clearly the BBFC wanted a 15 to bolster box office here. There's been criticism of this, with the BBFC responding: "At 15, our Classification Guidelines state that 'violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury'". This is utterly disingenuous, what with scenes glorying in

->Open Spoiler<-

torture, interior slo-mo close-ups of heart chambers being punctured, and all the brains and viscera you could ever want including a methodical survey of close-ups (after the first beach incursion) of the horrific death injuries of each of the attackers.

Animals are also killed - gruesomely and pointlessly. It's pornographic. I'm not squeamish and you may get a kick out of it, but I thought I'd give a warning that it should be an 18.

[Neon Ignition]

Vivo
Netflix's new animated film purchased from out of Sony's arms as the studio looks to recover money for pandemic stricken titles. This one isn't a repeat of their Mitchell's success story. This is a film about an old man and a monkey with the latter ending up on a cross country trek for the former, saddled with a little girl. It's an attempt at capturing some of that Disney/Pixar magic in a way. The story set up is very Up whilst it has the musical numbers etc of Disney. It misses both marks by quite a margin. The songs are well made and delivered but incredibly forgettable, neither lead character that endearing and the ending too obvious. This is the solid but forgettable kind of stuff Sony had been slowly shifting away from.

[QualityChimp]

Boss Level was perfect fodder for me. Videogame references, inventive and violent action scenes, a likeable cast and a strong vein of dark humour throughout.

There are going to be overlaps with other timeloop films (learning something from scratch to become an expert), but still manages to do its own thing.

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[Atticus]

The Irishman - Enjoyed my second viewing of this last night followed by all the special features on disc 2 of the Blu-ray. I thought it was very good on my first watch but it was outstanding on the second. I think it's because I was acclimatised to the look of the characters this time, much less distraction, allowing for all of the film's elements to hit the mark. I still think the de-aging tech is slightly undercooked but if this group were ever going to make the film it had to be when they did and I'm glad they went ahead. Glad they made it on their terms too. Enjoyed every moment of its famously epic run time. What a film. I'd say the extras were pretty good and worth a look. But by Criterion's standards they felt slightly lacking.

[wakka]

I really enjoyed The Irishman. The de-aging tech wasn't amazing but it was fine, I thought. In such a sumptuous roast dinner of a film, it was the slightly overcooked sprouts - not worth getting hung up on!

The Sound of Metal

This film follows Ruben, a professional drummer in a metal band who goes deaf. It's a harrowing watch, but utterly compelling. We see Ruben go, essentially, through the five stages of grief, while his girlfriend and bandmate looks on.

But cleverly, it's not only a film about deafness. It's also about addiction, and very much about identity. And while I loved that layered aspect of it, the film perhaps is trying to do a little bit too much. The pedal is planted firmly to the floor throughout, and there are quite a lot of story, character arcs and epiphanies to get through. A little more room for some elements to breath might've been useful.

But to be honest, I feel churlish saying that, because I was absolutely moved by this film. It's been playing on my mind since I watched it. It's a dark film, a tough watch - Riz Ahmed's lead does things you know won't give him the result he wants and you have to watch him do it anyway, through your fingers - but there is (just) enough light in the darkness. And Ahmed is absolutely brilliant. That guy just gets better and better.

I also felt like I learned a lot about deafness from watching it. It's made me do some research about the subject and give it some thought, which is probably something I've never actually done before - so that's a good thing.

It's on Prime in UHD, where it looks rather delightful, especially the opening scenes of dark clubs where the band are playing against harsh spotlights. Give it a watch.

[QualityChimp]

It's on my list of films to watch, [MENTION=5490]wakka[/MENTION], but I'm never really in the mood to watch it as it sounds monumentally depressing.

[wakka]

It's not a cheery film, that's for sure. But it gets the blood pumping. It's tense and involving, never boring. I know exactly what you mean though, it can be tough to motivate yourself to be in a world like that for two hours, but I normally just switch the lights off, put it on, and get on with it - sometimes even when I don't really want to. I'm (almost) always glad I did.

Side note, there is something cathartic about having that emotional experience with a film that I find weirdly relaxes me, much more than a superficially 'relaxing' thing like messing about on the internet. I guess it's much more escapist.

[Atticus]

a sumptuous roast dinner of a film

Martin Scorsese's The Irishstew