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Anyone seen any good films lately - Part the second (Read 1120593 times)

crzylgs

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I couldn't get along with the 'rules' that the A Quiet Place universe creates. Might seem odd coming from someone who will happily watch all manner of weird fantasy, out there sci-fi and the odd far fetched action or comic book adaptation.

I'm very rarely guilty of this as I try to go along with the ride and get immersed in the world that the film is creating but I wasn't drawn in at all. Which then left me doing that lame thing where for every action my mind is stuck thinking 'that's dumb... Why don't you do xyz instead...'

Contender for a 'marmite' film or am I on my own?

Bradders

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Could you give an example?

I don't really understand what you mean. I didn't think anything was beyond the normal realms of fantasy/sci fi horror. Sure there were a couple of "that's stupid" moments but a) surely that's part and parcel of the genre and b) I still thought all of the decisions were understandable in the context of the situation (I.e. they're absolutely terrified and people make stupid decisions when they're scared, a fact that is easy to forget when you're not in the situation yourself).

Spoiler alert

NSFW  :
The only thing I thought perhaps wasn't completely plausible was their discovery that high frequency distortion was the creatures' Achilles heel. This seemed like an obvious thing to try in hindsight and something the military would probably have found out right at the start. But then, we're only seeing the aftermath so who knows what happened. Maybe they did find it out but it was too late and the message didn't filter out to the public.

crzylgs

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Spoilers for A Quiet Place:

NSFW  :
I guess lots of it does fall into 'that's stupid' which I can usually roll with but a film/universe has to earn those rights and it just didn't seem to for me. My memory is a little hazy as I watched it a while back close to it's release but a few main examples:

1) The creatures are attracted to any noises - similar to the worms in Dune. In Dune they use 'thumpers' a mechanical device that people use to deliberately attract the creatures so they can use them, in Dune for transport. (Pretty sure they also did this in Tremors a really bad old film that rips off Dunes worms). In A Quiet Place it seems like it'd be very easy to use any noise making device to trap and ambush them?

2) The scene where he takes the lad to the river/waterfall, an extremely noisy place where the film states enables masks the human noises to they can scream, laugh, etc and not attract the creatures. Would seem like a decent place to live?

3) The high pitch noise to daze/ make them vulnerable my thought at that point was 'Oh dear, they've gone full 'Mars Attacks' where the Tom Jones song kills the aliens :D

I agree with you non of this is at all beyond the realms of fantasy/sci-fi, far from it. Was some good tension building at times and there were some nice touches, think they had carpeted walk ways to make their footsteps quieter or something similar? But because my mind wasn't going with it, instead I was thinking about how noisy that process itself would have been! Basically it just didn't work for me.


Bradders

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All fair points, I could spend some time giving my perspective but sounds like we just took it in different ways. Maybe it helps that I've not seen any of those other films you mentioned; perhaps you've ruined a good film for yourself by watching bad ones? :lol:

Yossarian

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I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned before, but Apollo 11 (which has just appeared on Netflix) is absolutely glorious...

Reading Wikipedia reveals that they had access to all sorts of footage (inc 70mm), plenty of which is previously unseen (some of the launchpad and recovery scenes) which was transported back and forth from the National Archive to the scanning team in climate controlled vans. And the sound was all meticulously cleaned up.

It’s a total visual feast - I kept pausing it to take screenshots - and an amazing snapshot of 60s America. The crowd scenes at the launch especially.

No narration / interviews or anything like that.

I’ve watched it two days in a row and might keep doing so as I keep noticing new things...

Duma

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This is insanely good, thanks for the heads up Yoss. Sure I'll be rewatching it as well.

Will Hunt

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I know I posted about this on the podcasts thread, but if you liked the Apollo 11 film (thanks for the recommendation, I look forward to watching), then you should definitely listen to the 13 Minutes To The Moon podcast. Riveting stuff.

Yossarian

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No, i saw it and immediately added it to my podcast list - thanks.

I hope that First Man (mentioned before, beautiful visually and remarkably more similar in tone to Apollo 11 than most space movies) will emerge as a cult classic - it did a great job of capturing the grainy but ultra futuristic look of that place and period.

I’d meant to add to the Heat debate a few weeks back but have been tied up with work / life. I went through a particularly intense Heat obsession (which jwi will find incomprehensible) in which I watched it daily for about 2 months. I was so totally in to Michael Mann’s urban cinematic vision - the monochrome / fluoro light, and the silhouettes, etc. The action is amazing and compelling, but it was more about becoming immersed in his aesthetic. Manhunter has a lot of the same look / colours, as does the Miami Vice film which I’ve also watched a lot...

tomtom

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I watched Apollo 11 last week by chance and like Yoss marvelled at the colour and characters of 60’s USA. You could almost feel the optimism and happiness rather than today’s mistrust and cynicism.

crzylgs

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I watched Heat daily for about 2 months

Wow. That is dedication! My Michael Mann itch was fairly well satisfied with my Heat+Manhunter+The Insider Triology. Am glad I'm not the only one who loves his aesthetic   8)

duncan

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I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned before, but Apollo 11 (which has just appeared on Netflix) is absolutely glorious...

That was fabulous. I was totally enthralled by the event at the time and acquired a huge collection of moon landing memorabilia  sadly none of which made it through my adolescence. I watched the film with my son who is the age I was when the mission took place. He's not the geek I was but still pronounced "that was actually really cool" which is rare praise. The beehive hairdos and Bruce McCandless' lemon rollneck got approving comments. As you say, it felt like the epitome of 1960s optimism and quite a contrast to the world my son is growing in.

Yossarian

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I finally got around to watching The King last night. Also on Netflix. I hadn’t realised it was directed by David Michôd (of Animal Kingdom fame), and the cast is superb. Timothée Chalamet Is magnificent, and therefore can’t wait to see him in Dune. Robert Pattison ditto as the Dauphin. Plus gravelly Sean Harris, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, etc.

I don’t know what the budget was but, either way, they didn’t try to go full Game of Thrones on the battle scenes, taking a rather more thoughtful approach. And obvs there have been various debates about accuracy as it’s based more on Shakespeare than Wikipedia. But as a piece of historical fiction it’s (I think) a very good film.

(I’ve not watched Kenneth B’s Henry V for a while, but imagine it feels a bit cringe these days...)

remus

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Not sure if it's been mentioned already but I thought The Two Popes (on netflix) was incredible. Enthralling stuff, even (especially?) as a non-christian.

Falling Down

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Some cracking recommendations that should keep us entertained over the next few weeks.

I watched The Endless last night having stumbled across it.  A spooky, unsettling sci-fi about two Californian brothers who return the ufo cult/commune in which they grew up and things turn weird from there.  There's a good review here.  It only cost $20k to make which is remarkable.

teestub

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I finally got around to watching The King last night. Also on Netflix.

Agree with everything here Yoss, I was ready to hate in Chamalamalet because he’s been so hyped up but he won me around very quickly.

I didn’t read anything around it, but I assumed the presence is Falstaff put it firmly toward the fiction end of things.

TobyD

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Not sure if it's been mentioned already but I thought The Two Popes (on netflix) was incredible. Enthralling stuff, even (especially?) as a non-christian.


The acting and dialogue I thought were fantastic. I thought that the endless scenic shots of the Vatican city were a bit excessive and started to detract for me. I thought it could have been a bit shorter and would have been better.

TobyD

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I watched  Marriage Story a week or so ago. Its hardly cheery but not as grim as some had lead me to believe.  It is superbly acted, especially the female lawyer who does a good job of being skin crawlingly irritating.  Actually both lawyers are pretty irritating!

Yossarian

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Watched Bait last night.  Really, really good.  Indie film shot on film in square format.  Set in a small fishing village in Cornwall exploring the fractious relationship between the locals and incomers.  Best thing I’ve seen in ages.

Watched Bait last night, perhaps inspired by a wander down to the fishermen’s huts earlier in the day.

What an amazing film in so many ways. It’s visually completely mesmerising. The story and dialogue is totally captivating. And I’ve just discovered it was shot entirely without sound (on a hand-cranked Bolex 16mm) and then all the speech was dubbed in afterwards, along with the rest of the sound. It’s so other-worldly. So inspiring that, in a world of GoPros and phone cameras that people are still doing this sort of thing. Apparently he hand-processed all the film at home!


spidermonkey09

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Bait is so good isnt it! One of the best films I've seen for ages.

Also Watched The Two Popes on Netflix the other day and enjoyed it.

Falling Down

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Watched Bait last night.  Really, really good.  Indie film shot on film in square format.  Set in a small fishing village in Cornwall exploring the fractious relationship between the locals and incomers.  Best thing I’ve seen in ages.

Watched Bait last night, perhaps inspired by a wander down to the fishermen’s huts earlier in the day.

What an amazing film in so many ways. It’s visually completely mesmerising. The story and dialogue is totally captivating. And I’ve just discovered it was shot entirely without sound (on a hand-cranked Bolex 16mm) and then all the speech was dubbed in afterwards, along with the rest of the sound. It’s so other-worldly. So inspiring that, in a world of GoPros and phone cameras that people are still doing this sort of thing. Apparently he hand-processed all the film at home!

It’s really great isn’t it. I cringed and groaned inside at the scene of the wife filling the fridge when arriving at the cottage.

cowboyhat

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Funny how its turned out but the last movie saw at the cinema was Color Out Of Space which we went to mainly as it had a Q&A with Richard Stanley. He's an interesting bloke.

The film isn't the sort of thing I usually go for but I did enjoy it. The rest of the audience seemed to be much more entrenched in the schlock horror/ Cage oeuvre. Really obvious point being that movies like this get made all the time with a smaller budget and are way more forgettable, this movie probably wouldn't have got made without Cage; and there he is in the film, being Nicolas Cage, dominating the whole thing like a metaphor for the whole plot. After several scenes that he isn't in he pops up again and you realise he's in a different film to the rest of the cast, one that has Nicolas Cage in it. Imagine if Get Out had Cage cast in the catherine keener role.

Interested to know what other people think, especially those into B movie sci-fi type shit, or Cage fans. I've largely avoided since the late 90's when he made fucking awful films like snake eyes, 8mm, Face Off, 60 seconds, etc... the notable exception being Adaptation. I guess I just didn't get him but actually films like Color Out of Space seem like much happier homes for his vibe than these big films. Maybe he's grown into himself.

Yossarian

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And the scene cutting between Martin discovering the cut lobster pot and the lobster close up, lobster on the plate, etc...

Yossarian

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Re Nicholas Cage - I strongly recommend Mandy. Well, you need a strong constitution as it’s rather like setting yourself up for a lurid and deeply troubling bad trip. But as a visual spectacle it’s extremely powerful.

Falling Down

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I was just writing to say the same. I watched Mandy a couple of weeks ago and absolutely loved it. Totally bonkers and could have been crap in the hands of a bad director, but it’s really something unique. Cage is in his element and the cinematography is excellent. I wholeheartedly agree with the strongly recommended.

Colour out of space looks great.  Thanks Cowboyhat.

If anyone’s not seen it, Werner Herzog’s remake of Abel Ferrera’s ‘Bad Lieutenant’ set in post-Katrina New Orleans with Cage playing Harvey Keitel’s fallen cop is fantastic.

Re: Lobsters.  Yes that scene... gut wrenching. 
« Last Edit: April 18, 2020, 03:33:43 pm by Falling Down »

cowboyhat

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Yeah I forgot I've scene Mandy, not my cup of tea. Another example, what would it have been like without Cage? It might have got made but it very much feels like a vehicle movie. The writhing on the cross thing for like fuck knows how long in ECU, no thanks. I'd say its indulgent but I'm not sure as to what.

 

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