[Fiend]

Apologies if this one has been done before. The Wave 2016 Norwegian disaster movie about a rockslide tsunami  in a fjord.  TomTom, Andi E and Andy R will love the heroic geologist.  Very enjoyable and edge of seat stuff.

Watched this due to your recommendation, thanks, it was indeed good, and a lot less cheesy and OTT than it's Hollywood equivalents.

[Yossarian]

Judas and the Black Messiah; not a biopic, but focused on the last year or so in the life of Fred Hampton, leader of the Black Panthers in Chicago. I thought this was a great film, anchored by superb performances by Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, and Dominique Fishback. Highly recommended.

I watched this the other day. I thought it was really good too. I had a look for Daniel Kaluuya films that I'd not seen and discovered Queen & Slim which I think is the best film I've seen for a while. Poignant and tragic but also funny and with an amazing cast and soundtrack. And very beautifully filmed. Highly recommended.

[Falling Down]

Glad you enjoyed The Wave Fiend.

We watched good documentary on Saturday.  Santoalla.  It’s about an idealistic Dutch couple who go to live in an almost abandoned village in the Galician hills.  They have a falling out with the neighbours and then, well it starts to get weird.  It was filmed whilst some of the events were occurring so it’s very immediate in its impact.

We’ve added Queen and Slim and the Fred Hampton one to the watchlist.

[TobyD]

Empire of the Sun on iPlayer at the moment

[Johnny Brown]

Is it good? I remember them putting up loads of bamboo fencing in Knutsford to make it look (even) more like 1940s Shanghai.

[tomtom]

Is it good? I remember them putting up loads of bamboo fencing in Knutsford to make it look (even) more like 1940s Shanghai.

That thought made me LOL JB :D

[slab_happy]

Wasn't sure if this fit best in here or the TV thread  (or if we need a theatre thread), but anyway --

I've been wallowing in the National Theatre new online archive ( https://www.ntathome.com , you can rent individual productions or get a subscription ), and they've just put up Angels In America, the 2017 production with Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane and Russell Tovey which subsequently went to Broadway and won all the Tonys.

Fucking outstanding, all seven-and-a-half hours of it. Funny and moving and spectacular and beautiful. Not previously been available outside of being broadcast for NT Live.

For anyone not familiar with the play: it's about AIDS in the gay community in New York circa 1985. And about the infamous Roy Cohn (mentor to one Donald Trump, incidentally). And about Mormons. And angels. And the ozone layer. And impromptu visits to Antarctica.

[andy popp]

Supernova - Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci are a long established couple. Tucci's character has early onset dementia. They go on a road trip to the Lakes in a slightly crappy old camper van, see old family and friends, and talk. Doesn't sound like much, but an incredibly moving film driven by what might be career best performances from Tucci and Firth. On Amazon I believe.

[Paul B]

Supernova - Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci are a long established couple. Tucci's character has early onset dementia. They go on a road trip to the Lakes in a slightly crappy old camper van, see old family and friends, and talk. Doesn't sound like much, but an incredibly moving film driven by what might be career best performances from Tucci and Firth. On Amazon I believe.

I can't find it. Has anyone else managed? I saw the trailer actually in a cinema some time ago and took a mental note that I'd return for this.

I watched I Care A Lot yesterday. It seems to be a feature of Amazon movies that some things are a little over done but in general, Rosamund Pike does a good job of acting the role of sociopath, and Dinklage is actually a good 'villain'.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/I-Care-Lot-Rosamund-Pike/dp/B08WHNJVHS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=I+care+a+lot&qid=1614789254&s=instant-video&sr=1-1

[andy popp]

Supernova - Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci are a long established couple. Tucci's character has early onset dementia. They go on a road trip to the Lakes in a slightly crappy old camper van, see old family and friends, and talk. Doesn't sound like much, but an incredibly moving film driven by what might be career best performances from Tucci and Firth. On Amazon I believe.

I can't find it. Has anyone else managed?

I could well be wrong. My wife is typically responsible for finding and cueing up films.

[tomtom]

The Mule (2018 on Amazon Prime at the moment)

Clint eatswood plays a 90 year old man who thinks he has nothing to lose who takes up running drugs across the states for the cartel. eatswood is excellent - more tender and less snarling than in Gran Torino - and the concealed warmth of the character he portrays comes across really well. It’s a bit of a crime story, a bit of a drugs story - but really quite a sweet tale about a man who seemed to have lost everything and then finds it again. Good characters - nice pace. Worth a couple of hours of life.

(Might be based on a true story...)

[SA Chris]

makes a change from two mules...

[Fiend]

A good bit of SciFi schlock on Netflix is “Space Sweepers”.
I say schlock, but quite high production values, not a bad script and funny enough, often enough, to be quite good.

Definite schlock! Quite fun tho, with some entertaining characters and decent background / world-building (no pun!) - which I'd have liked to be explored further, maybe instead of some of the more cliched bits.

[Bradders]

Watched Sully a few days ago; it's been mentioned before but I thought it was brilliant. A really involving / engaging bit of story telling, and has the novelty factor of feeling like a disaster movie with a genuinely happy ending, as opposed to the typical "sort of happy but lots and lots of people have still been killed" type thing.

[tommytwotone]

Don't know why but I happen to have partaken in a couple of Nicolas Cage films on Netflix of late:

Next

High-concept, low execution quality about a guy who can see (a bit) into the future. A good brainless watch and pretty entertaining.

The Frozen Ground

Based on a real life case, Cage as a cop up against John Cusack's creepy serial killer. Polar opposite of Next, very good - absorbing and also features 50 Cent in a hilarious wig playing a pimp.

[tomtom]

A good bit of SciFi schlock on Netflix is “Space Sweepers”.
I say schlock, but quite high production values, not a bad script and funny enough, often enough, to be quite good.

Definite schlock! Quite fun tho, with some entertaining characters and decent background / world-building (no pun!) - which I'd have liked to be explored further, maybe instead of some of the more cliched bits.

I was going to post about this! It’s excellent! Got cult classic written all over it.

[tomtom]

Greyhound 2020 Apple TV

To carry on the theme of Tom Hanks - I watched this last night.... WW2 drama, based on a US Destroyer (Greyhound) with the captain (Hanks) leading the ship on its first combat mission, escorting a convoy across the Atlantic in Jan 1942 at the height of the U boats effectiveness... I had low expectations after the first 5 min - which featured Hanks (1) praying (2) lots of 'patriotic music' and (3) a distant love interest. But - after that - it was a bit like a windswept, rough sea, rain splashed Naval equivalent of 'Gravity'... in that once the convoy entered the zone between US and UK air cover it all started... Not as spectacular as Gravity of course - but the way in which the momentum kept going - the relentlessness of it all - was really effective. And the film was only 1:25 long... Some decent (but not over the top) special effects, and lots of tension, near misses and hits. I was very pleasantly surprised - and recommend it if you have access to it...

(if you like Sub films - looking at you Falling Down - I think this works similarly well..)

[TobyD]

Is it good? I remember them putting up loads of bamboo fencing in Knutsford to make it look (even) more like 1940s Shanghai.

Yes, I'd recommend it. It took me quite a while to realise that the reason the main boy character (the author) is played by Christian Bale, and that's why he looks so familiar.

[TobyD]

Don't know why but I happen to have partaken in a couple of Nicolas Cage films on Netflix of late:

Next

High-concept, low execution quality about a guy who can see (a bit) into the future. A good brainless watch and pretty entertaining.

The Frozen Ground

Based on a real life case, Cage as a cop up against John Cusack's creepy serial killer. Polar opposite of Next, very good - absorbing and also features 50 Cent in a hilarious wig playing a pimp.

I found this funny, he's an extremely entertaining actor though isn't he. I enjoyed Lord of War. Cage movies definitely tend towards being trashy, but I very often really enjoy them,

[SA Chris]

Con Air probably being the most quotable.

[Plattsy]

I've not seen it but apparently he goes full Nick Cage in Mandy.

There were plans in the late 90s for him to play Superman in a film which never happened. Shame.


Saw Nomadland the other day. Thought it was very good.

[Catcheemonkey]

Mandy was amazing - some might not think in a good way, but I loved it.

Nicholas Cage is a complete cypher for much of it - then arbitrarily condenses all his performing into a few scenes. You'll struggle to find a film where you see more acting coming out of a man than in the batshit bathroom scene.

When he started smelting his own weaponry I felt all Nick Cage movies had been building to that moment.

You could tell me it is a masterpiece or the worst film ever made - I think you'd be able to make a plausible argument either way.

[tomtom]

Raising Arizona is superb... (while we're on the Nick Cage theme....)

I think he'd have made an excellent Lex Luthor in Superman....

[Falling Down]

There’s a good Cage/Mandy discussion a few pages back on this thread.

We watched Bladerunner as W had never seen it and then 2049 which we both thought was absolutely brilliant.

Calvary with Brendan Gleeson from 2014 was a good Sunday night movie. A bit grim in parts but still a black comedy.

[cowboyhat]

I've rewatched 2049 a couple of times in the last few months; it is on balance just really watchable, lots of a amazing stuff in there and i've softened my stance since I saw it at the cinema which was confused annoyance at a missed opportunity.

Its free on amazon at the moment.

There are still a couple of really unnecessary scenes/ lines of dialogue that are very clunky, terrible in fact. And as a sequel there is a big existential problem but well, what do I know. Fuck all.

Still looking forward to his go at Dune.