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Anyone seen any good films lately - Part the second (Read 1120317 times)

TobyD

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Thought I'd try watching  Avengers Assemble, thinking that maybe I'm too negative about Marvel movies. It really isn't much good though, even if you're in the mood for a silly film. Just continuous chaotic action scenes, as though they've forgotten that it'd be great if there was some plot, or characters or anything else. Not a classic...

crzylgs

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Saw ' Brawl at cell block 99' last night.

Dodgy title, amazing film. Grindhouse neo-noir with an utterly superb Vince Vaughn (didn't realise he did other roles than comedy).
One those films that builds and builds, and you never want it to finish.

Great recommendation, just watched this and really enjoyed it.

If you want to continue the non-comedy Vince Vaughn film journey I can recommend 'Dragged Across Concrete'. Which is a dark/crime/drama starring him and Mel Gibson. Gibson playing a role he seemed destined for as a bitter, racist, old drunk :D

I re-watched 'Inside Man' recently - prompted by a discussion of it on the superb 'Rewatchables' film review podcast. Had seen it somewhere around it's release in 2006 but enough time had passed for me to forget the majority of twists, turns, hilarious lines of dialogue etc. Well worth a watch or re-watch if your film memory is a blurry as mine is :D

Something to think about: They mention this line of thought on the podcast but these excellent mid-budget (where you tend to have a collection of decent actors, enough budget for some good action scenes and all round high production quality) films of the 90s/00s really don't seem to get made these days. Films are either low budget in the straight to Netflis / Indie flick shot on someones iPhone / art-house Oscar bait where a big actor 'roughs it' or gets dirty, categories. Or a HUGE smashy blockbuster usually featuring Super heroes.

crzylgs

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Thought I'd try watching  Avengers Assemble, thinking that maybe I'm too negative about Marvel movies. It really isn't much good though, even if you're in the mood for a silly film. Just continuous chaotic action scenes, as though they've forgotten that it'd be great if there was some plot, or characters or anything else. Not a classic...

I think Avengers Assemble is meant to be one of the worst of the bunch, so you might have been unlucky with your choice there :/ I'm by no means the biggest Marvel fan but did find myself getting sucked in by the end of the series with Infinity War and Endgame.

If you haven't watched them the Thor films are great - Especially Thor:Ragnarok (Directed by Taika Waititi) is superb and probably the funniest of the entire Marvel bunch.

Also, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - very unique animation style rather than live action and actually made by Sony not Marvel (Disney) Studios is an exceptional film on many levels.

TobyD

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Thought I'd try watching  Avengers Assemble, thinking that maybe I'm too negative about Marvel movies. It really isn't much good though, even if you're in the mood for a silly film. Just continuous chaotic action scenes, as though they've forgotten that it'd be great if there was some plot, or characters or anything else. Not a classic...

I think Avengers Assemble is meant to be one of the worst of the bunch, so you might have been unlucky with your choice there :/ I'm by no means the biggest Marvel fan but did find myself getting sucked in by the end of the series with Infinity War and Endgame.

If you haven't watched them the Thor films are great - Especially Thor:Ragnarok (Directed by Taika Waititi) is superb and probably the funniest of the entire Marvel bunch.

Also, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - very unique animation style rather than live action and actually made by Sony not Marvel (Disney) Studios is an exceptional film on many levels.

Yes I'd actually totally agree with you on several of those, Thor Ragnarok was pretty funny, and I don't think they're all bad, but there are probably far more terrible superhero movie than good ones, in my opinion. Somewhat like romantic comedies perhaps?! Some might argue that's true of any genre, but I still am a bit prejudiced against superhero movies.

Oldmanmatt

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I actually quite enjoyed the Snyder cut.
Despite not being a huge “Superhero” movie fan and almost choking when I saw that it was four hours long...

tomtom

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Just watched “the Gentleman” on Prime. Guy Ritchie film about... standard Guy Ritchie stuff. London based gangsters, drugs etc...

I really quite liked it - despite not being a huge fan of his films. It stars Mathew McConaughey, Hugh Grant and Colin Farrell amongst others. Notably, Hugh Grant is at first a bit annoying - but then actually quite funny playing a camp, aged paparazzi photographer trying to blackmail a gangster, Farrell some sort of boxing trainer (very funny) with a cohort of goons wearing amusingly co-ordinated pisstake designer street wear.

Its Hackneyed stuff - but the characters are decent, the plot is well thought out and it was one of the better films I’ve seen in the past year. 

TobyD

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Anyone who has Hulu is it worth going for the ad free version or not? And has anyone else considered or has got a month trial and cancelled it before you start paying? I think Andy P did but US so not sure if it's the same from the UK. 

Falling Down

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@tomtom we thoroughly enjoyed The Gentlemen too. It’s very funny.

W dug out something called “Once upon a time in Anatolia” last night and wow, what a film. The best thing I’ve watched in a long time. There’s been a murder and the police, a doctor, the prosecutor and the murderer spend a night driving around the steppes to locate the body. It’s brilliant. (It’s Turkish, so subtitled throughout).

SA Chris

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Watched Escape from Pretoria on Prime. Interesting story, easy enough watch, attempts at South African accents ranging from passable to appalling.

I liked that they seemed to have managed to get all the period clothes, cars etc pretty much spot on.

Plattsy

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Palm Springs: a well done rom com groundhog day film.
Promising Young Woman: zeitgeist candy floss rape revenge film with a few twists. Oscar chances.

Snoops

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Saw ' Brawl at cell block 99' last night.

Dodgy title, amazing film. Grindhouse neo-noir with an utterly superb Vince Vaughn (didn't realise he did other roles than comedy).
One those films that builds and builds, and you never want it to finish.

Great recommendation, just watched this and really enjoyed it.

Glad you enjoyed. Makes the forum worthwhile!

Snoops

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Saw ' Brawl at cell block 99' last night.

Dodgy title, amazing film. Grindhouse neo-noir with an utterly superb Vince Vaughn (didn't realise he did other roles than comedy).
One those films that builds and builds, and you never want it to finish.

Great recommendation, just watched this and really enjoyed it.

If you want to continue the non-comedy Vince Vaughn film journey I can recommend 'Dragged Across Concrete'. Which is a dark/crime/drama starring him and Mel Gibson. Gibson playing a role he seemed destined for as a bitter, racist, old drunk :D

I re-watched 'Inside Man' recently - prompted by a discussion of it on the superb 'Rewatchables' film review podcast. Had seen it somewhere around it's release in 2006 but enough time had passed for me to forget the majority of twists, turns, hilarious lines of dialogue etc. Well worth a watch or re-watch if your film memory is a blurry as mine is :D

Something to think about: They mention this line of thought on the podcast but these excellent mid-budget (where you tend to have a collection of decent actors, enough budget for some good action scenes and all round high production quality) films of the 90s/00s really don't seem to get made these days. Films are either low budget in the straight to Netflis / Indie flick shot on someones iPhone / art-house Oscar bait where a big actor 'roughs it' or gets dirty, categories. Or a HUGE smashy blockbuster usually featuring Super heroes.

Checked ‘dragged across concrete’ thanks for recommendation it’s defo a good one

tomtom

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Watched “18 Bridges” on Prime the other night - and thought it was a decent cops n robbers thriller. Kinda nice plot swivel 2/3 way through... some good acting/good characters (the first 2 min is a bit ugh but alright after that)

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I watched Sorcerer last night. Hadn’t seen it for a while - directed by William Friedkin between the Exorcist and Cruising (which I watched a few weeks ago incidentally).

What an absolute masterpiece! Quite a theatrical segmented structure, insane stunts (including the most terrifyingly real terrorist explosion I’ve ever seen in a movie, plus trucks creeping over collapsing bridges), Roy Scheider, and a Tangerine Dream soundtrack. The second half is unbelievably tense. It’s very good.

Bradders

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Promising Young Woman: zeitgeist candy floss rape revenge film with a few twists. Oscar chances.

I thought this was all a bit, well, tame....struggling to think of another way to describe it, but given the subject matter and the awards success it's enjoying so far I was expecting it to be a lot more hard hitting than it is.

I was imagining something along the lines of the scene in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Spoiler
NSFW  :
which in a way it was...except it wasn't at all

Maybe I'm desensitised to violence but the - minor spoiler - almost total lack of any sort of violence for me lessened the film's impact. It ended up feeling like a very average TV / Netflix drama with a couple of easily foreseeable plot twists and fairly average acting.

It just didn't have any weight to it at all. Quite disappointing.

More potential spoilers
NSFW  :
Did we ever find out why some of the marks in her little book were red and the rest were black? I assumed that would be a key part of the story...but if it was revealed it totally passed me by.

Also, considering the whole point of the film was around justice for rape, why did almost none of the men at fault get their comeuppance?! I kept waiting for someone to suffer as a result of their actions, and it just never really happened. Even the one who did was arrested for her murder, and not for the rape (although there was the tape so I guess he didn't get away with it, but still).

Lastly...starting to rant now...what was the point of the scene where she smashes up that pick up truck? And why didn't he just drive off when she started with the tail lights?

I'd give it 3 or 4 stars out of 10 if I were rating it. Tame.

Plattsy

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I was pleasantly surprised by how Promising Young Woman subverted my, similar, expectations

Concrete Cowboy: coming of age story set to a back drop of real urban black cowboys in Phillie. Thought this was decent and engaging.

Mortal Kombat (2021): probably the best video game to film attempt so far. Overall not bad with mediocre acting, pretty good fight scenes, CGI and the usual good vs evil plot. Certainly not a flawless victory but a lot better than the original film.

andy popp

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Concrete Cowboy: coming of age story set to a back drop of real urban black cowboys in Phillie. Thought this was decent and engaging.

We got about half way through this the other night but it got late and we didn't finish. I'm not sure I was engaged enough to return to be honest. As you note, the Fletcher Street Urban Riding club is a real thing. It is always a pleasure to see Philadelphia again though.

SA Chris

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Thunder Force on Netflix. Incredibly low maintenance but very very funny. Kids and I laughed out loud a lot. Bit of swearing (6 drops or so, probably the most sensor will allow for a 12) but otherwise fine.

TobyD

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 War of the Worlds
On iPlayer at the moment, a serviceable version, lots of classic Spielberg set pieces with perhaps too much action to be effective. It is entertaining and unchallengingly enjoyable, but marred by way too much of the annoying kids. Worthwhile though.

SA Chris

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Cruise version?

tomtom

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Another recommendation for the Mauritanian

Superb. Best film I've seen this year.

Make sure you watch the credits too... (well most of them anyway..)

TobyD

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Cruise version?

Yes, sorry, I did mention Speilberg but not TC.

SA Chris

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I was being lazy, just thought there might have been another remake.

TobyD

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On BBC Iplayer for a couple more days only is the worthwhile Sully. Its not incredible,  but is slickly made and tells an interesting story. 

tomtom

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Army of the dead (Netflix)

I really really liked this. After a military accident - Vegas becomes over-run with zombies. They manage to wall of Vegas and contain - and schedule to nuke the site to wipe them out. But - there’s still £200mill in cash in one of the vaults.

So it’s a heist film - and a zombie film. Thought it had some really cool touches - and lots of humour. Good soundtrack - and plenty of nods to Vegas and it’s excesses - especially in zombie form. At times it felt like oceans 11, the A team and World War Z all rolled into one - which wasn’t a bad thing. Loved the zombies (looked like they’d hired loads of dancers for that) and some neat twists in how the dead became organised with leader(s). Some fun characters big guy, Latino YouTube gansta, German safe cracker (cringy but funny). Good scene with using zombies to find booby traps.

I expect it may not be everyone’s cup of tea but I enjoyed it.

 

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