[Moo]

I'm still wrestling with banshees, its usually the hallmark of a great film if you can't decide whether you like it or not after the first viewing.

I remember the first time I watched 'there will be blood' it stayed in the back of my mind for a weeks and now I love it.

[lorentz]

It took me a very long time to realize that they probably meant internal doors from rooms you weren't using for shelter purposes.)

I always  understood it as  removing doors was to allow the nuclear blast wave to travel through a building, so that it remained standing rather being fully knocked over as an immovable object. Similar painting widows white was to reflect heat and taping then was to prevent injury from flying glass.

All a bit pointless in my opinion as a young'un. . I read Children of the Dust as a kid growing up and clearly remember thinking as a 10 yr old that it'd be better to be vapourised stood out in the street than trying to survive starvation and radiation sickness. Hard to describe that fear of nuclear annihilation to today's generation, though Putin is doing his best to bring it back into fashion again.

[SA Chris]

Was about to say the same re Putin. I think with modern weaponry it will be a bit more binary though; button pressed most of us will die immediately, not worth worrying about.

[mark20]

Midsommar (Netflix) - fucking hell. Been waiting to watch this and it didn't disappoint. Creepy, weird, horrifying. Left a lingering feeling for a day or so afterwards.

Ha I finally plucked up the courage to watch this week too, what an amazing film! So much depth in terms of set design etc. and the story is so well done.

Have you watched The VVitch? Thought that had a similar vibe.

I've been wanting to watch Midsommar for a while, and finally got round to it the other night after this reminder. The cinematography is excellent, acting is good, and there's a creepy vibe all the way through. Maybe I didn't quite get it, but I think it fell into all the usual horror cliches of poor dialogue, completely unbelievable storyline that felt like it was made up as it went along, and some out of character stupidity "just turn the light on!" moments. Interestingly I've just checked the IMDB website and it divides opinion on there too. Either way, it's engaging and worth a watch.

[TobyD]

I'm still wrestling with banshees, its usually the hallmark of a great film if you can't decide whether you like it or not after the first viewing.

I remember the first time I watched 'there will be blood' it stayed in the back of my mind for a weeks and now I love it.

I'd agree. The best films aren't necessarily the most fun to see straight away. I loved the recent Top Gun movie, or Deadpool, when I saw them but although they're great fun, Banshees of Inisherin and movies like it stick in your mind longer, make you think, and when you walk out of a cinema having seen them, the world looks slightly different for a short while.

[Yossarian]

Has anyone mentioned Men? I found that pretty traumatic. Wasn’t entirely convinced by the ending, but Jessie Buckley is brilliant and Rory Kinnear - well, you have to see it to appreciate what he gets up to.

Also, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Nicholas Cage playing Nicholas Cage, who is tormented by visions of a younger Nicholas Cage. With Pedro Pascal and Sharon Horgan and arms dealing and the CIA. If you don’t like
Nicholas Cage you will hate it, but if you do it’s very funny and original.

[Wellsy]

I thought Men was good but could have been great, it almost got there but not quite. Maybe didn't quite deliver on the trailer, but worth a watch for sure

[steveri]

My thoughts on 'Men' too, unravelled a bit in the last reel. Plus an unfortunate resemblance to one of David Walliams' Little Britain characters. Good atmosphere and she was great.

[Duncan campbell]

Watched “All Quiet on the Western Front” on Netflix last night. I’m no film critic but I enjoyed it, especially the dready sounds that are prevalent throughout.

Does anyone with a better knowledge of history than me know if the final battle has any grounding in historical fact? Pretty mental if so!!

If you haven’t watched it but want to know what I’m on about and aren’t bothered about a spoiler look at the NSFW tab;

NSFW  :

Basically at the end of th film, the Germans have signed the armistice agreeing peace, but some rogue general gathers up a load of men and attacks a French position at 10:45. Is there any foundation of truth in this??

[TobyD]

Watched “All Quiet on the Western Front” on Netflix last night. I’m no film critic but I enjoyed it, especially the dready sounds that are prevalent throughout.

I think you're on safe ground, I haven't seen a single critic who hasn't though it was excellent.
Does a dready sound mean it's got a lot of reggae? Strange choice for a WW1 battlefield....

[Duncan campbell]

Well that’s good then!! I’m often easily pleased by films that friends have thought not that good…

Haha no a sound that makes you feel dread

Though maybe a WW1 film with a reggae score could be what we have to look forward to as film people try and find new interesting ground…

[Wellsy]

Watched “All Quiet on the Western Front” on Netflix last night. I’m no film critic but I enjoyed it, especially the dready sounds that are prevalent throughout.

Does anyone with a better knowledge of history than me know if the final battle has any grounding in historical fact? Pretty mental if so!!

If you haven’t watched it but want to know what I’m on about and aren’t bothered about a spoiler look at the NSFW tab;

NSFW  :

Basically at the end of th film, the Germans have signed the armistice agreeing peace, but some rogue general gathers up a load of men and attacks a French position at 10:45. Is there any foundation of truth in this??

NSFW  :

I don't know about Germans, and especially rogue commanders, but the Entente continued some planned attacks and shelling right up to the minute of the ceasefire coming into effect (the last American shells landed at 11:10am, 11th of November 1918). There was a belief amongst many commanders that they didn't want to lose any military advantages in case the ceasefire failed and they'd just given the German Army time to regroup. Foch himself was pretty bearish on it.

[TobyD]

Living
Just over an hour and a half of quiet, understated brilliance. It is really moving, what could be a very downbeat experience ends up being positive and optimistic. Bill Nighy will probably get an award for his performance, he certainly deserves one. Highly recommended, as long as you don't want any action or special effects.

[TobyD]

The Good Nurse is a decent,  but not exceptional drama.  I felt that the lead performances were, although generally impressive,  a little overwrought.  The tension is deeply unsettling throughout the second half of the run time, and overall,  I think its a good movie and well worth watching.  It probably suffered for me,  in that I watched it in the evening,  having seen Living earlier in the day. The good nurse can't get close to being that good,  but there isn't really anything badly wrong with it. TGN is perhaps an 8/10 as opposed to 10/10 for Living.  The Good Nurse is on Netflix. 

[TobyD]

Zero Dark Thirty I liked this, although I think it lacks the same tension and narrative drive as something like The Hurt Locker. That said, it isn't quite a war movie either so perhaps the comparison is unfair. Jessica Chastain's performance is impressive, and I thought that the almost anticlimactic conclusion was a fitting end to it.

[Bradders]

Zero Dark Thirty I liked this, although I think it lacks the same tension and narrative drive as something like The Hurt Locker. That said, it isn't quite a war movie either so perhaps the comparison is unfair. Jessica Chastain's performance is impressive, and I thought that the almost anticlimactic conclusion was a fitting end to it.

Weird, I recently re-watched The Hurt Locker after it was discussed on here, and couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. I found it entirely lacking in narrative, essentially a series of tense sequences strung together by dint of their involving the same characters, with nothing in the way of plot or storyline.

[Wellsy]

Re-watched Dredd (2012)

Man what a banger. Love it.

[teestub]

Re-watched Dredd (2012)

Man what a banger. Love it.

I watched this again recently and enjoyed it a lot more. When I first watched it, I had only just seen The Raid, which is essentially the same movie but with the benefit of Iko Uwais’s amazing skills.

[Wellsy]

The Raid was amazing and is probably better, shame that Dredd did get overlooked a bit as a result. But it is a great time!

[crzylgs]

Re-watched Dredd (2012)

Man what a banger. Love it.

I watched this again recently and enjoyed it a lot more. When I first watched it, I had only just seen The Raid, which is essentially the same movie but with the benefit of Iko Uwais’s amazing skills.

Mentioned Dredd a couple of pages back - really is an underrated film imo. Hadn't made the mental link to its proximity with The Raid. Good shout. That's a tough time for any other action film to come out because The Raid really is/was astonishing. For me it was the longer term mental damage caused by Sly's version of Judge Dredd that put me off watching Dredd for so long and perhaps watching in this rather mediocre time for cinema meant I was doubly pleasantly surprised!

[teestub]

Man the Stallone one had such potential with Mean Machine and ABC Warriors but was just a mess as I guess a lot of comic book stuff was around then. I guess the Urban one benefits from not trying to do too much with sets and CG. Hopefully they will do some more!

[SA Chris]

Still love a proper ABC Warriors movie. Sly's Dredd was terrible.

And a Ballad of Halo Jones series.

[lorentz]

I watched Ben Wheatley's In the Earth the other night. Really enjoyed it. If you liked A Field in England and Kill List it touches on some similar themes. Science vs Necromancy. Nature vs mankind.

Set somewhere outside Bristol during a pandemic, a scientific researcher and woodland ranger set off to meet a missing scientist who has gone off grid doing research in a vast forest. Reece Shearsmith is terrifying in it. I'll say no more as wouldn't want to spoil it. Worth a watch, especially if you like Ben Wheatley's movies.

[TobyD]

Jackie Brown (Netflix) rewatched this having seen it last when it came out in the cinema in the 90s. It's really worth watching while it's on Netflix, one of the more underrated of Tarantino's films with great use of music and some cracking dialogue.

[sherlock]

Jackie Brown is pure quality.
Don't know if it's been mentioned but 2020 Spike Lee film,Da 5 Bloods is superb. I won't say too much about it to avoid spoilers. Four GIs return to Vietnam. Some great character acting and an interesting plot. Not perfect by any means but a powerful piece of cinema. It's on Netflix.