[Dingdong]

Not quite a film per se but can be watched as a film… Over The Garden Wall was a 10 part miniseries animation but can be watched in one go as a film, I put on a screening of it once, Cartoon Network even sent me a supercut and was a huge hit at the cinema selling out, it’s in my opinion the greatest autumnal animated show ever created and me and my partner watch it every year around Halloween.

Oh and the voice cast is incredible to boot.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VOBTwb59Fp6T11HevotGwMUhhd5xcqxp/view?usp=drivesdk

[Will Hunt]

Saw Killers of the Flower Moon last night. Brilliant film. I was apprehensive about the length but it didn't feel overly long. It's not fast-paced but there also isn't really any filler in there.

I didn't know anything about the events it covers and there's a couple of terms up front that threw me, so if anybody wants a primer then I've copied this one below:

NSFW  :

Scorsese’s movie assumes that viewers are familiar with a few legal terms and conditions from the 1920s up front. It’s helpful to have a short primer going in, though, particularly to understand the movie’s early scenes, if you haven’t already read the book. Key to the story: The Osage group seen in the movie were repeatedly forced off their land by white settlers expanding westward in the 1800s. While this group of Osage had been deeded land in Kansas by government decree, they were eventually pushed off that property, and they moved to an undesirable area of Oklahoma, where they legally bought the land — and its mineral and oil rights.

The “headrights” repeatedly referenced throughout the film can be a little confusing, since the term more commonly refers to a deed of land granted to a sponsor who brought an immigrant into areas the government was trying to settle. In this case, though, they amount to a share in the financial trust run by the government to manage the oil profits from the Osage lands.

The film notes in passing that the government considers some Osage “competent,” meaning they can receive and manage their headright money allotment without a sponsor or overseer. Other tribe members, like Mollie, are considered “incompetent,” and need permission from a white bank officer to withdraw or use their money, which is handed out like an allowance. What the movie doesn’t state is that this system was effectively a racist way of controlling Native Americans — as the New York Times notes in covering Grann’s book, “incompetent” often meant “full-blooded Native,” while “competent” status went to mixed-race Osage.

[SA Chris]

Reminiscence on Prime. Great sci-fi concept and setting, but story wasn't that great, and some highly improbable events make it a bit hard to completely enjoy (one terrible fight scene particularly). Hugh Jackman is good though, as is Thandie Newton. Rebecca Fergusson underwhelming as usual. 

[Bradders]

'71

On Netflix. Been meaning to watch this for ages. Brilliant film. Tense and nerve-wracking, has an on-foot chase scene as exciting as any car based chase I've ever seen. Seems really grounded and realistic (not that I'd know of course), and seems to give a decent representation of just how awful it must have been to live in Belfast during the Troubles.

[Paul B]

'71

On Netflix. Been meaning to watch this for ages. Brilliant film. Tense and nerve-wracking, has an on-foot chase scene as exciting as any car based chase I've ever seen. Seems really grounded and realistic (not that I'd know of course), and seems to give a decent representation of just how awful it must have been to live in Belfast during the Troubles.

Totally agree. I was surprised when I checked that it was released in 2014 yet I'd not heard of it. Looking at the cast list, there are quite a few actors/actresses that I thought have been great in more recent productions (Fortitude, Happy Valley, Blue Lights etc.) and their quality shone through even in smaller roles (Richard Dormer for instance).

It also reminded me how good I remember 'Starred Up' to be (with the same lead, Jack O'Connell):
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2567712/?ref_=nm_knf_t_3

Massive Talent is on Netflix. We watched last night and it was great fun.

I struggled with this and couldn't work out if that was mainly my mood, the film or the fact that Cage has messed with his face so much it's distracting.

[SA Chris]

It also reminded me how good I remember 'Starred Up' to be (with the same lead, Jack O'Connell):
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2567712/?ref_=nm_knf_t_3

Such a great low profile talent. Been brilliant since Skins.

[Falling Down]

Went to see Napoleon at the massive iMax, fittingly in Waterloo, last night.

It’s awesome. Joaquin Phoenix is fantastic, as is Vanessa Kirby as Josephine.  The battle scenes are totally epic and there are some brilliant supporting roles from Rupert Everett as Wellington and other familiar faces.

It ends a bit abruptly and the aftermath of Waterloo is given short shrift but Scott has already said there’s a 4.5 hr Directors cut for the Blu Ray release. 

It’s brilliant, go see it at a cinema or even better, iMax if you can.

On a completely different note, we watched a lovely little independent British flick called “Scrapper” on Mubi last weekend.  It’s beautiful, funny and very moving about a young girl on an estate in East London whose mum has sadly passed away and she’s somehow managed to swizz the social that she’s not on her own. I won’t give the plot away but it’s well worth watching.

I’ve gone back to getting DVDs rented and delivered (from Cinema Paradiso) because of the lift in prices (and lack of anything very good) on Netflix and the amount of films on prime that you have to rent or buy and the back catalogue of stuff actually available to watch seems to be getting smaller all the time.  Cinema Paradiso have pretty much everything I’d like to watch plus all the series like Succession etc that are on Sky (which we don’t have) for £12 a month and one DVD at a time. Worth looking at if you’re shelling out for multiple streaming platforms and/or paying individual rental fees on top.

https://www.cinemaparadiso.co.uk/catalog-w/

[TobyD]

A couple of films I've enjoyed from Netflix recently:

Our kind of traitor is a nicely paced adaptation of a John Le Carre novel about Russian money laundering in London with a credible cast. A great TV film, although unremarkable in that it doesn't really break any new ground.

Terminator 3, speaks for itself really. It's not as good as the original but I still found it pretty entertaining.

Pan's Labyrinth is a brilliant film, on the other hand, original and affecting fantasy - reality.

[SA Chris]

Terminator 3, speaks for itself really. It's not as good as the original but I still found it pretty entertaining.

You mean not as good as Terminator 2?

[Moo]

Terminator 3, speaks for itself really. It's not as good as the original but I still found it pretty entertaining.

You mean not as good as Terminator 2?

Which in turn is not as good as The Terminator ( This is my hill to die on ).

[Davo]

Terminator 3, speaks for itself really. It's not as good as the original but I still found it pretty entertaining.

You mean not as good as Terminator 2?

Which in turn is not as good as The Terminator ( This is my hill to die on ).

Personally I find Terminator and Terminator 2 equally as good but in different ways.

[teestub]

Like Alien and Aliens innit, both great but different. And similarly the less said about the rest of the franchise the better!

[SA Chris]

Which in turn is not as good as The Terminator ( This is my hill to die on ).

Painful place to die. My son is now of an age where he can appreciate the classic films, so far Aliens got the vote over Alien (hard to believe it was released in 1979), Predator over Predator II, Terminator/2 is next...

[Moo]

Just remember that kyle reese and sarah connor are the heroes of the first film and john connor and sarah connor are the heroes of the second film.

[andy popp]

Watched what I thought was a great film on Saturday - "Minari" (2020) focuses on an immigrant Korean family trying to make it as small farmers in Arkansas in the 1980s: funny, sweet, poignant, and some great characters and acting. Highly recommended if you're looking for something at the gentler end of the spectrum.

[Hoseyb]

Predator over Predator II,

I thought Prey was far superior to the previous predator movies

[Snoops]

Original terminator the best for sure.

Predator is an all time favourite that has aged brilliantly....thx god they haven't done a 'new' remake

Alien/Aliens both superb

Why we in the subject of old classics...Rambo first blood part 1 f awesome

[SA Chris]

I thought Prey was far superior to the previous predator movies

I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting to, but it's still just a different take on the originals.

[SA Chris]

The Covenant.

It may surprise some, but I don’t really go in for “War movies”.
The blurb caught my eye, as the Afghan translator is the “hero” throughout the first half. Then I saw it was a Guy Ritchie flick, so I put it on.
Closest thing to “Apocalypse now” for the 21st century, I think.
On Prime.

Interesting, I started watching it after a recommendation on here and gave up about 45 minutes in. Perhaps I was in the wrong mood, but there were far too many "unerringly accurate heroes gun down uselessly wild-firing nameless minion" type moments. It just felt completely farcical / unrealistic in a way that say Lone Survivor, which is a very similar premise, somehow managed to avoid.

Agree it was a bit overkill, and unnecessary as it added nothing to what is (apparently) a true story. They could have killed half of what they did. That aside, I still enjoyed the film if you don't think too hard.

[TobyD]

Terminator 3, speaks for itself really. It's not as good as the original but I still found it pretty entertaining.

You mean not as good as Terminator 2?

Which in turn is not as good as The Terminator ( This is my hill to die on ).

The first Terminator is the best one, in my opinion. I've actually enjoyed all the subsequent ones that I've seen; I'm not denying that they are total trash but I still got something out of them. As a series, I think they're a bit different to the alien saga, in that those are actually pretty different films from each other (e.g.: alien is essentially a horror - haunted house movie in space, whereas aliens is a war movie in space.)

[TobyD]

I thought Cold Pursuit (Netflix) was considerably better than I was expecting. It's pretty funny in a cartoon violence kind of way. Liam Neeson does a fine job of keeping a straight face as almost everyone else in the film gets shot or a variety of other interesting methods of meeting their demise. It's a really silly self parody, but carried off quite well.

[teestub]

Really enjoyed Leave the World Behind on Netflix from Sam Esmail of Mr Robot fame, adapting a book of the same name (which I haven’t read). Great cast and premise, I’d recommend not reading around it before watching as I think the less you know the better.

[Bradders]

The new Chicken Run is really very good indeed. Far surpassed my expectations of a pointless reboot.

[SA Chris]

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is pretty much what you expect, the kids loved it, I thought it was a bit by the numbers, but I guess a lot of people want that. Some of the CGI looks a bit low quality compared to what is available out there.

[Will Hunt]

The new Chicken Run is really very good indeed. Far surpassed my expectations of a pointless reboot.

Got this lined up for the Christmas break with the kids. Looking forward to it.

I watched Home Alones 1 and 2 with them over the last couple of weekends. Old but gold. I've never seen them laugh so hard, it was almost physically too much for them.