What film are you watching tonight/watched last night???

Related to a scene in Midway that just popped up on one of my newsfeeds.R.I.P

 
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Jexi

A "by the numbers" comedy about a smartphone addicted loner (introvert?) played by Adam Devine, who breaks said handset and gets a new one with ground breaking and single minded AI who's goal is to make his life better albeit the AI decides how this will happen and doesn't seem to care about the consequences.

To be fair there were some genuine laugh out loud moments and it's enjoyable enough if a tad predictable.

It's quite short at 1hr 40 and seemed to run out of ideas.

If you like mindless rom coms then worth a view.

6.5/10.
 
Pet Semetary (2019) - 6.5/10 - I only vaguely remember the 1989 and haven't read Stephen Kings book, this has had some bad press but I found it to slightly above the usual American horror movie formula, I would probably give the '89 version the same score.
 
In Bruges - 8.5/10 - I didn't appreciate this on first watch (no idea why), Farrell, Gleeson and Fiennes are superb, the medievel town of the title is almost a character in itself, its foul mouthed, un-PC and fantastic - a must watch.
 
Another random pairing from a rainy half-term with Junior preferring watching ass hats on YouTube...…..

The Fault in Our Stars (Google Play)

Look, the saccharine game of terminal disease Top Trumps our leads play throughout this young adult drama, I can just about take.

"I lost my eyes"
"Well my lungs don't work and I can't walk up stairs"
"But I lost a leg...…"
"Yeah but you're cancer free now and I'm getting sicker, so I win"
"Er........no you don't I'm playing my final smackdown card and BOOM!"

I can even take that they live in this world where no-one works yet everyone seemingly has amazing houses and everything they could possibly want without seemingly having to worry about her never-ending healthcare bills (Friends Syndrome).

And I can even just about stomach the pretentious game of two teenagers loose in Amsterdam and all they want to do is visit Anne Franks House and their favourite grumpy mega-pretentious author to talk about his bloody book.....about cancer..........

.........but when they're on the plane over to Europe and watching the epic finale to James Cameron's second greatest film of all time (bested only by its predecessor in the pantheon of cinematic greatness) on their generic fruit-based device and they're LAUGHING at it.......that I can't take. As the mighty Ms Weaver utters the immortal line "get away from her you BITCH!", these two sniggered at it. That's right, SNIGGERED.

At that point I wished for every known disease and a few unknown ones to strike them down and erase their very existence from the face of our planet. I was praying come the end of the film I'd have multiple funerals instead of the just the one very obvious one to snigger and guffaw through in obvious and very inappropriate retribution.

Bloody teenagers...........terminal disease farms or not, you don't mess with my Aliens.

Bandolero! (UK iTunes)

I miss the Video shop. I mean all I have now to go on is a teeny weeny little thumbnail picture and a few lines of IMDb-lite prose to let me know if the film I've selected from my digital library is worth watching. This one, bought as part of a ten western's pack for £10 from iTunes had a picture of Racquel Welch looking at her most poofy and little else.

How did I know from that that this had a mighty cast behind supporting the lovely Miss Welch (James Stewart, Dean Martin, George Kennedy and a host of famous faces from '80's TV including Uncle Jessie from The Dukes of Hazzard and Steven from V), that Jerry Goldsmith would contribute a very cool, jazzy, modern-sounding score, and that the film would be a decent if not exactly wholly original little western.

Martin and his band are arrested after a botched bank robbery and while awaiting their hanging, Jimmy Stewart breezes into town to help his brother one last time. Cue a chase movie, through bandit country, with Welch as hostage and it ends up a nice little love triangle between Martin, Welch and Kennedy, all set against the backdrop of aging cowboys who know they can't keep up their game for ever and a need for solidarity in the face of a shared enemy.

Every one is great, the film rattles along, and even though it ends up feeling a lot less than the sum of its parts (somehow you expect something......bigger.......grander........greater), its a thoroughy decent watch.
 
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Don't know if its a colloquialism but poofy round her means breaking wind a fair bit.
Racquel Welch looking at her most poofy and little else.
Does she break wind that hard her hair keeps blowing up in the air?:laugh:

Good theme from Jerry although the tune different his use of instruments round that period stamps his hallmark on it.
 
Green Street (2005) - Lexi Alexander
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As football violence films go, this is never going to win any accolades for realism, and the less said about Charlie Hunnam's accent the better. But I'm not going to lie, I still find this really enjoyable. Melodramatic perhaps, but it's got entertaining characters and the fights are surprisingly visceral, bloody and well staged. Elijah Wood's fish-out-of-water American makes for an engaging protagonist and its really cool to see his character harden up in a baptism of fire; and, accent aside, Hunnam is ok too as the West Ham firm's top boy. The dependable Geoff Bell adds some genuine cockney authenticity to proceedings too as the Milwall thug with a score to settle. Lacks the realism and banter of the Football Factory, but in it's own way this is almost as fun. A guilty geezer pleasure. 7.5/10
 
^^ Hunnam would be fine if someone cast him in a silent movie.
The daddy of football violence still has to be Gary Oldman in the unflinching excellence The Firm.
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Panic Room (2002) Directed by David Fincher
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Still remains pretty entertaining for a home invasion movie which mostly comes comes down to the style and some very splendid Hitchcockian shots, the performances also do a good job of holding it together Jodie F is great as is the young Miss Stewart but its Forest Whitaker the criminal with heart who steals it for me, it's not perfect though and does at times feel like an in between side project for Fincher as the film carries more than a few flaws and stupid decisions but does still get some pretty tense moments down.7/10

On another note any foreign films fans remember a film similar to Panic Room, having a hard time tracing it and not sure if it was before or after Fincher's film, carried the same sort of setup think the wife holed up in safe room and pretty sure the end revealed it was her husband back from the dead trying to kill her.

Edit found it
 
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(This is a slightly expanded version of some of my jottings after I first watched the film)


Parasite

In Parasite, director Bong Joon-ho looks again at societal structure, as he did in his more playful but less consistent Snowpiercer, a film whose reputation has rightly grown since its initial underwhelming release. Where that film tackled a rigid social structure with verve, humour and exaggerated broad strokes, his latest piece has a much subtler and more unsettling approach.

The thematic interplay between class, wealth, authenticity and visibility is woven into every strand of the film. It is not just a film about class struggle, the entire picture breathes with tension between haves and have nots (and have nothings). Each image has been carefully infused with some mark of importance, some hint toward the societal strife. The plot and characters are built around the structure of South Korea but the message is universal.

The colour palette, the architecture, the costumes, the photography, all combine to permeate the audience’s awareness of the struggle faced by the characters and the tension they feel when faced with who they are, who they want to be and who society allows them to be. Not a second of film is wasted. Bong creates a figurative work of art of every image, opting sometimes for a style of visual mirroring, a particularly effective way to force subconscious comparison on the audience, other times poking fun at us and himself with meta commentary on his own filmmaking (“it’s so metaphorical” the Kim’s son says whenever he’s trying to sound clever). This is a film that demands multiple viewings to truly appreciate how microscopically detailed it is and a lasting legacy for its appreciation (and almost certainly its use in film school) is assured.

The tone of the film is an interesting one. It’s devilishly fun for the first act, and that never fully goes away despite the turn to more serious and darker notes. The comedy remains but slowly sinks deeper and deeper into darkness. And with every step down into the basement of pitch-black humour comes a harsher truth about the lives of the film’s characters.

Damning of both unequal wealth distribution and of the way in which people on the lower steps of the social staircase fight amongst each other to climb just one step higher, Parasite is powerful social commentary from which no-one escapes unscathed.

Great review. Think you're spot on with that analysis and that's exactly what I took away from the film. I found it quite depressing and dispiriting in that regard, e.g.
Kevin only being able to save his dad from the parasite's underground lair/tomb by fantasising about acquiring wealth and buying the house. The final shot of the Kim's frigid and silent half-basement confirming that Kevin's reverie was only wishful thinking was depressing and almost served as a punctuation mark at the end of a warning to stay in your lane. Same story with the stone and water motifs that show up throughout the film and tie into the dichotomy between making plans to get ahead (the Kims) and going with the flow (the original housekeeper's wild-eyed husband who's accepted his status in society and now only seeks love or something. He even says he was born a cockroach or something along those lines, that he'd always lived below the wealthy - literally and figuratively). The naked conflict and strife between members of the same class was sad and it's same story with the way class warfare is conducted by the have nots against the haves, i.e. through deceit and dissimulation.

Went back to see it at Cineworld on Tuesday afternoon (was surprisingly full given the time of day and the fact it's a foreign-language film) and it's more revealing the second time around.

Still prefer Snowpiercer though. The psychodrama of Parasite is brilliantly realised by Bong Joon-ho thanks to his flair for visual metaphor and the absurd and although it also reflects the adversarial conditions of our economic systems I just prefer the broader and loftier view on show in Snowpiercer re. our nature and how we organise society, not to mention it's high-concept sci-fi scenario allows for a more fun and entertaining setting than the one in Parasite. Loved how each train car served as it's own unique set and housed different threats and revelations to the story's protagonists.

Starting to wonder if director Bong has a solution to capitalism or whether he's an advocate of anarchy! If he makes a third film about class warfare he'll be on the same level of obsessiveness about an idea or concept as your Nolans (time), Tarantinos (feet) and Lynch (dream logic and the dark depths of the mind).
 
a warning to stay in your lane

I don't know that I agree with this specifically. Less a warning and more an observation that social mobility in the world they live in is nothing more than a dream.
BJH blowing up some hard truths.

But yeah, the wood and concrete stuff going on in the house. Reflecting the blend of real and artificial personality traits in both families. Pretty smart stuff.
 
@Malingo Maybe it's an observation and a warning?

Actually, now that I think about it I wonder if director Bong is in favour of
maintaining the status quo. Was just thinking about the ending of Snowpiercer and how overthrowing the system leads to the death of the protag and everybody else save the two children who are freed from its restrictive confines but are now directly in the path of a fricking polar bear!

In Parasite is he in favour of staying in the system and playing by the rules according to your socioeconomic status or of escaping it altogether or destroying it (anarchy)?

The warning as I see it seems to be conveyed through the consequences of attempting to climb the ladder to get closer to the haves. Ultimately if people don't act in good faith within the confines of the capitalist system tragedy befalls all of its members regardless of which class they belong to due to its adversarial framework. Bong is showing us the absurd and dangerous situations that framework fosters but warns us (maybe) that there isn't a viable solution/alternative to the system. Warning: if you wish to buck the system you'll end up like dad, burrowing underground out of reach of the wealthy and poor alike but sustaining your lonely and cut-off existence only by parasitizing off of people still in the system. So there's no escape, just like in Snowpiercer. Maybe. Maybe the kids evaded the bear? Ah! I don't know. Slippery Bong, very slippery.
 
@Malingo Maybe it's an observation and a warning?

Actually, now that I think about it I wonder if director Bong is in favour of
maintaining the status quo. Was just thinking about the ending of Snowpiercer and how overthrowing the system leads to the death of the protag and everybody else save the two children who are freed from its restrictive confines but are now directly in the path of a fricking polar bear!

In Parasite is he in favour of staying in the system and playing by the rules according to your socioeconomic status or of escaping it altogether or destroying it (anarchy)?

The warning as I see it seems to be conveyed through the consequences of attempting to climb the ladder to get closer to the haves. Ultimately if people don't act in good faith within the confines of the capitalist system tragedy befalls all of its members regardless of which class they belong to due to its adversarial framework. Bong is showing us the absurd and dangerous situations that framework fosters but warns us (maybe) that there isn't a viable solution/alternative to the system. Warning: if you wish to buck the system you'll end up like dad, burrowing underground out of reach of the wealthy and poor alike but sustaining your lonely and cut-off existence only by parasitizing off of people still in the system. So there's no escape, just like in Snowpiercer. Maybe. Maybe the kids evaded the bear? Ah! I don't know. Slippery Bong, very slippery.
Super interesting.
Food for thought, anyway.

Also, don't Google 'slippery Bong'.
 
Panic Room (2002) Directed by David Fincher
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Still remains pretty entertaining for a home invasion movie which mostly comes comes down to the style and some very splendid Hitchcockian shots, the performances also do a good job of holding it together Jodie F is great as is the young Miss Stewart but its Forest Whitaker the criminal with heart who steals it for me, it's not perfect though and does at times feel like an in between side project for Fincher as the film carries more than a few flaws and stupid decisions but does still get some pretty tense moments down.7/10

On another note any foreign films fans remember a film similar to Panic Room, having a hard time tracing it and not sure if it was before or after Fincher's film, carried the same sort of setup think the wife holed up in safe room and pretty sure the end revealed it was her husband back from the dead trying to kill her.

Edit found it


The Hidden Face is a great film, some fantastic twists, I don't remember the ending being as you described though.
 
Beats - 7/10 - Being a participant of the rave culture in my younger days I was looking forward to this, its shot in stark black & white and shows a bleak 90's Scotland as the backdrop, it started a little too dry for my liking and the humour doesn't quite hit home, the protagonists of the film are attempting to get to a rave and the film follows their journey, the actual rave scenes are excellent and elevated it from a 5/6 score.
 
The Handmaiden
Having loved Oldboy and enjoyed Stoker I should have got round to this sooner than I have. This was a viewing of the theatrical edition. I don't think I could have mustered the extended cut (unless certain scenes were longer for further examination 🙃), I got everything I could want and more from the standard run time.

Set in 1930's Korea during Japanese occupation, The Handmaiden is told in a three act structure, with each act unveiling new truths that weren't known to the viewer beforehand. Which helps spice up the pacing as I was becoming a little lethargic in the first quarter. There's enough material here for a second viewing through different eyes.

What's amazing about Park Chan-wook's work, is that nothings off limits. If you've seen Oldboy you'll know what's up. Having watched Parasite last night it's interesting to see how these two giant directors of Korean Cinema differ in style. Bong Joon-ho is more subtle in how his film will shift genre halfway through. With Park he flips you on your head with no warning in dramatic fashion waking you up from your own self imposed connotations of what you thought you were watching. I do think Park is a little self indulgent at times, and some scenes turn gratuitous instead of artistic.

That said, as is his trademark now, The Handmaiden isn't a film you'll forget in a hurry.

PS. Just don't watch it with your parents..
 
Hell comes to Frogtown (1988)

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Missed this one on release, when I would have been 14. Seems like the sort of film I'd have lapped up back then, rewatching it numerous times on VHS just like I did with Robocop, Predator, Time Bandits and Big Trouble in Little China (to name a few).

Even now, at a grand old 45 years old, I enjoyed it. As a piece of movie making, it's pretty damn awful if I'm honest. Roddy Piper has to be one of the worst actors ever, obviously got his roles for his wrestler physique and his en-vogue for the era mullet. But that all adds to the movies charm. Have to say, the 'frogs' make up was a lot better than I was expecting, and there's some good humour in this one - it knows what it is, a full on B Movie.

6.5/10.
 
Never heard of it. I just watched the trailer....

:rotfl:
 
Hell comes to Frogtown (1988)

View attachment 1260598

Missed this one on release, when I would have been 14. Seems like the sort of film I'd have lapped up back then, rewatching it numerous times on VHS just like I did with Robocop, Predator, Time Bandits and Big Trouble in Little China (to name a few).

Even now, at a grand old 45 years old, I enjoyed it. As a piece of movie making, it's pretty damn awful if I'm honest. Roddy Piper has to be one of the worst actors ever, obviously got his roles for his wrestler physique and his en-vogue for the era mullet. But that all adds to the movies charm. Have to say, the 'frogs' make up was a lot better than I was expecting, and there's some good humour in this one - it knows what it is, a full on B Movie.

6.5/10.

This looks like the type of film I could easily give a 9/10 too.....
 
Never heard of it. I just watched the trailer....

:rotfl:

It's on Amazon Prime if anyone is tempted.

It's well worth a watch :smashin:

Edit: yes that trailer nails the essence of the film :laugh:
 
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I look forward to hearing the thoughts of all you other Frogtown cherry poppers!
 
I can't believe so few people have seen Hell Comes To Frogtown :laugh:
That was always one of my go-to's when I couldn't find any other vids I wanted to rent. Same with Class Of Nuke-Em High. Haven't seen either in something like 15 years but I would imagine they're still in the fun but crap catergory, for me and my set the bar low tastes anyway
 

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