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

Blade Runner

I forget just how good this is. The visuals are superb and the music is even better. The story is exciting but also has plenty to say. The cast (Rutger Hauer is the best of a perfect cast - even Daryl Hannah is good!) do a great job.

The contrast between Deckard and the powerful opponents is great. His detective skills are decent but all the replicants could kill him if it wasn't for some luck on his side or someone helping him out. This adds to the tension, it wouldn't be as good if he just motored through shooting everyone dead. At the end you really fear for him, especially after that bit with the wall (ouch)

Brilliant film. A masterpiece of Sci Fi and cinema. Literally like going to a different place for 2 hours, i was complete immersed.

If anyone has not seen this (surely not??) get it bought on Blu Ray or 4k.
 
I love Bill Paxton - absolute acting legend

I will be watching The Colony (which i have never heard of) on your recommendation!
 
The Colony sounds a lot like the book Dust. I presume there's no actual connection?
 
Moonraker has one of the greatest love stories ever committed to celluloid.

Brings a tear to my eye every time.

Haha I remember, sooo touching lol.
 
Such a classic (Moonraker) that obviously divides opinion somewhat!

Can’t argue about the score though. The usual fantastic Barry offering.

Gonna try The Colony now.
 
It is a very grim, sleazy film isn't it? Though I have to applaud the final death of the bad guy...absolutely fantastic :)


I want to watch this now lol


Right - The Spy Who Loved Me (BD)
Ok, I might have to revisit my Golden Gun score because I actually found this the better film. I have to say so far I do think the Moore films have been consistently decent whereas Connery did have a few stinkers which really were slow, odd and not great.
Moore, into his 3rd film has really made the role his own and this is the Bond I knew and grew up with. He is definitely putting his all into it and there are some great fight scenes and chases. Again loads of classic scenes such as the ski chase at the beginning, the Jaws fight in the Pyramids (and train and evil base at the end), and of course the Lotus chase which felt a lot shorter than I remember but was still fantastic. I think I had the lotus and the black copter toys as a kid.

The idea of submarines going missing, and what actually happens to then is a serviceable plot although we do creep back into some major sexism in this one which made me cringe a few times. Barbarah Bach does well but I don't think they really give her character much substance and for a Russian spy is basically turned into a simple Bond girl in distress a lot of times...nice outfits though :)

Oh and this has the best Bond theme of them all.

Ok, so I am obviously a bit more biased with the Moore films but I'll change my Golden Gun score to an 8/10 and this one gets an 8.5/10

ermmm, Moonraker next....lucky me!

I could have literally written this myself, TSWLM is probably my favourite Bond and the Union Flag/Nobody Does It Better intro is perfection.

I liked Stallone films back in the day but I even thought at the time that Cobra was a stinker.
 
The Colony sounds a lot like the book Dust. I presume there's no actual connection?

I’ve never heard of the book Dust - a quick search brought me to the Silo series of books by Hugh Howey (of which Dust is part of that series). Are you referring to these books? The premise is similar although The Colony is much less ambitious than what it sounds like in those books. The former is the kind of film that’s ideal if you’ve had a rough day, crack open an alcoholic beverage, and just want a relatively undemanding (but still enjoyable) 90 minutes. IMO of course as it’s had more poor reviews than good as far as I’m aware!
 
Maaaaan I have been trying to watch the Hatefull 8 4k for the last 3 nights but either I'm seriously run down and tired at the minute or this is a boring film that's sending me to sleep...!!!

I'm sure I've seen it before, and I do appreciate the cinematography and the score it adds real atmosphere... but I cant keep my eyes open...!!!
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Maaaaan I have been trying to watch the Hatefull 8 4k for the last 3 nights but either I'm seriously run down and tired at the minute or this is a boring film that's sending me to sleep...!!!

I'm sure I've seen it before, and I do appreciate the cinematography and the score it adds real atmosphere... but I cant keep my eyes open...!!!
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I had the same problem with Magnolia.
 
Maaaaan I have been trying to watch the Hatefull 8 4k for the last 3 nights but either I'm seriously run down and tired at the minute or this is a boring film that's sending me to sleep...!!!

I'm sure I've seen it before, and I do appreciate the cinematography and the score it adds real atmosphere... but I cant keep my eyes open...!!!
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Great to look at but bar a few scenes it is very boring.
 
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Gemini Man (2019) - Ang Lee

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High concept but underwhelming Will Smith action drama that feels like an odd choice for Ang Lee to associate himself with. The conceit of having a burnt out, government killer facing off against his younger self has been doing the rounds in Hollywood for years but never got off the ground until now, as the technology wasn’t yet ready to do what they wanted to achieve. Well, unlike Smith’s Captain Hiller victory celebration from Independence Day, they’re still not quite there - (kind of, almost) close, but no cigar. The effects for the younger, cloned Smith vary from looking pretty good during darker scenes, to wildly freaky and “deepfake” distracting in daylight scenes. That’s excusable and kudos for trying to do it. What’s less forgivable is the increasingly lacklustre set pieces as the story progresses, and especially the frankly awful CGI within these scenes that look almost worse than The Matrix Reloaded’s Burly Brawl from almost twenty years ago.

Amidst this is some pseudo-philosophising on the moral/ethical debate of cloning - hey, clones are human too and you can’t just use them as unfeeling, killing machines. Clive Owen goes through the motions on villainous duties. Smith’s Henry Brogan feels like an underwritten character although he infuses the role with his natural charisma. Mary Elizabeth Winstead once again shows she is one of Hollywood’s better actresses as a fellow agent that is no shrinking violet. There are no surprises whatsoever, plot-wise - almost playing out note for note how I expected it to.





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All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006) - Jonathan Levine

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Part goddess-like worship of Amber Heard - like the 90s Aerosmith music promos with Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler; there are plenty of soft focus, lingering shots of the actress - and part teen slasher movie. As the title alludes, the straight laced Mandy Lane is the most desirable girl in her high school although she remains annoyingly elusive for the horny guys in her year group. After a pool party ends in tragedy through no actual fault of her own, Mandy tries to get her life back on track nine months later and accepts an invite to a weekend at a classmate’s ranch. As the party rages on, the revellers begin to dwindle violently one by one.

Movie related spoilers: In possibly a case of life reflecting art - if the allegations/recordings from Johnny Depp’s lawyers are to be believed (although he’s not coming off too well either) - Heard’s Mandy Lane is essentially a siren that exists purely to lure the male of the species to their demise. Aside from possibly the psychological effects of her parent’s dying when she was young, there is no hint of motivation for her actions besides shock value and the scriptor believing it to be a ‘clever’ twist. On the surface, it is a cool premise of combining the high school trope of coveting the most gorgeous girl with a variation on the slasher subgenre. In actuality, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is a slight level below 2nd tier teen slasher/thrillers such as I Know What You Did Last Summer (and it’s sequel), Urban Legend and more recently, perhaps Jennifer Lawrence’s The House At The End of The Street. Mandy Lane was Jonathan Levine’s feature debut; he went on to better things with another (infinitely superior) twist on the horror genre - the part Romeo & Juliet, part Rom-Zom that is Warm Bodies.

 
Greyhound (2020, streaming on Apple TV+)

Much anticipated part WWII naval procedural, part aquatic slasher, this lean exercise in tension delivers thanks to its laser focus and technical structure.

As naval convoys crossed the Atlantic in 1942, there was a window where there was no air cover able to be provided - this film focuses on a single window, where a convoy is ruthlessly hunted by a pack of German U-boats. With nary any character work at all, the focus is purely on the job at hand - depicting command structures, attack protocols and the minutiae of every component of naval battle. From that first surface sonar ping to the final death blow, the film chunks up several encounters, ratcheting up the tension through a combination of hand-held shots that rarely leave the command deck of the titular battleship to some stunning long-shots that help show us and place us in the landscape of the attack.

Dialogue is dense and technical but it never loses us, thanks partly to Hanks - his Captain Krause is no stretch for him, being a combination of previous Captains Miller and Phillips, but he brings that stoic authority to the character than leaves you feeling that even you, the audience, is in safe hands. His screenplay is lean and mean, keeping the Germans offscreen bar the obligatory U-Boat shots (the hunting scenes depict periscopes as shark fins, eerily rising out of the water in sight of its upcoming prey) and taunting radio messages and it works, keeping the focus on those specific battle details that help place you in this particular conflict at this particular time.

Its a thrilling watch that for once, feels far too short - 90 mins in and out - and because of that focus, it never feels like an 'epic' or almost any other recent WWII story due to the lack of any wider context of anything. And yet while no other characters get much of a look in, including Stephen Graham as the XO, when you have Hanks in commanding form as he is here, you don't need anyone or anything else. And this film never wants to be anything other than that short sharp exercise in fear and tension, placing us in the shoes of those brave souls just for 90 minutes. Which believe me is enough.

Almost the anti-Das Boot, this still manages to satisfy those who love their submarine movies even if we never ever get to see the inside of one. Highly recommended.
 
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Greyhound (2020, streaming on Apple TV+)

Much anticipated part WWII naval procedural, part aquatic slasher, this lean exercise in tension delivers thanks to its laser focus and technical structure.

As naval convoys crossed the Atlantic in 1942, there was a window where there was no air cover able to be provided - this film focuses on a single window, where a convoy is ruthlessly hunted by a pack of German U-boats. Dispensing with nary any character work at all, the focus is purely on the job at hand - depicting command structures, attack protocols and the minutiae of every component of naval battle. From that first surface sonar ping to the final death blow, the film chunks up several encounters, ratcheting up the tension through a combination of hand-held shots that rarely leave the command deck of the titular battleship to some stunning long-shots that help show us and place us in the landscape of the attack.

Dialogue is dense and technical but it never loses us, thanks partly to Hanks - his Captain Krause is no stretch for him, being a combination of previous Captains Miller and Phillips, but he brings that stoic authority to the character than leaves you feeling that even you, the audience, is in safe hands. His screenplay is lean and mean, keeping the Germans offscreen bar the obligatory U-Boat shots (the hunting scenes depict periscopes as shark fins, eerily rising out of the water in sight of its upcoming prey) and taunting radio messages and it works, keeping the focus on those specific battle details that help place you in this particular conflict at this particular time.

Its a thrilling watch that for once, feels far too short - 90 mins in and out - and because of that focus, it never feels like an 'epic' or almost any other recent WWII story due to the lack of any wider context of anything. And yet while no other characters get much of a look in, including Stephen Graham as the XO, when you have Hanks in commanding form as he is here, you don't need anyone or anything else. And this film never wants to be anything other than that short sharp exercise in fear and tension, placing us in the shoes of those brave souls just for 90 minutes. Which believe me is enough.

Almost the anti-Das Boot, this still manages to satisfy those who love their submarine movies even if we never ever get to see the inside of one. Highly recommended.
Excellent wordage dude..really up for this, and will be viewed tonight, with or without Mrs N! Lol.
 
Greyhound (2020, streaming on Apple TV+)

Much anticipated part WWII naval procedural, part aquatic slasher, this lean exercise in tension delivers thanks to its laser focus and technical structure.

As naval convoys crossed the Atlantic in 1942, there was a window where there was no air cover able to be provided - this film focuses on a single window, where a convoy is ruthlessly hunted by a pack of German U-boats. With nary any character work at all, the focus is purely on the job at hand - depicting command structures, attack protocols and the minutiae of every component of naval battle. From that first surface sonar ping to the final death blow, the film chunks up several encounters, ratcheting up the tension through a combination of hand-held shots that rarely leave the command deck of the titular battleship to some stunning long-shots that help show us and place us in the landscape of the attack.

Dialogue is dense and technical but it never loses us, thanks partly to Hanks - his Captain Krause is no stretch for him, being a combination of previous Captains Miller and Phillips, but he brings that stoic authority to the character than leaves you feeling that even you, the audience, is in safe hands. His screenplay is lean and mean, keeping the Germans offscreen bar the obligatory U-Boat shots (the hunting scenes depict periscopes as shark fins, eerily rising out of the water in sight of its upcoming prey) and taunting radio messages and it works, keeping the focus on those specific battle details that help place you in this particular conflict at this particular time.

Its a thrilling watch that for once, feels far too short - 90 mins in and out - and because of that focus, it never feels like an 'epic' or almost any other recent WWII story due to the lack of any wider context of anything. And yet while no other characters get much of a look in, including Stephen Graham as the XO, when you have Hanks in commanding form as he is here, you don't need anyone or anything else. And this film never wants to be anything other than that short sharp exercise in fear and tension, placing us in the shoes of those brave souls just for 90 minutes. Which believe me is enough.

Almost the anti-Das Boot, this still manages to satisfy those who love their submarine movies even if we never ever get to see the inside of one. Highly recommended.
Sounds like it'll justify the faff of a free Apple tv trial.
 
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Well thanks to @Drax1

Cobra
I have a soft spot for '80s action films and this is definitely one of those. Yes, perhaps not Stallone's best effort but still enjoyable today as just brain out fun.

I have lusted after a '50s Mercury ever since I first watched this back when I were a lad :) The whine of the supercharger and NOS way back then a decade and a half before The Fast and The Furious did their thing.

Once saw one exiting a multistory in Nottingham after a night out at Rock City, so cool with a very beautiful rock chick sitting on the bench seat next to the driver. I am amazed to this day how he got that barge in a British multistory!

5.5 bikers out of 10 pigs
 
Maaaaan I have been trying to watch the Hatefull 8 4k for the last 3 nights but either I'm seriously run down and tired at the minute or this is a boring film that's sending me to sleep...!!!

I'm sure I've seen it before, and I do appreciate the cinematography and the score it adds real atmosphere... but I cant keep my eyes open...!!!
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It's this virus lockdown housebound nonsense is killing everyone's mojo.
I went to the health store and bought this stuff Maca in powder form. Mixed it into porridge and I'm not joking felt much better, like an infusion of energy. It's fairly expensive but it's good stuff! :thumbsup:
Also there's a Hateful Eight TV edit in 4 parts, might be more your tempo.
 
Relic (2020) Directed by Natalie Erika James
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Excellent psychological horror that takes care of its characters and runs them through some well-done moments of past trauma loss & regret, mostly centred around mental health issues and the effect dementia can have on a family this goes in for that slow burn approach but gently picks up pace in the final 30 for a maze of madness that concludes with a pretty thought-provoking finale, it's also got one of those great eerie feelings especially when it comes to the house with its creaky sounds and the visual trope of was that something watching in the shadows, sure its all been done before but thankfully this pushes itself away from the usual jump-scare loud thumping nonsense and settles for a more under the skin atmosphere. 8/10

Palm Springs (2020) Directed by Max Barbakow
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Not big on modern comedy capers but this was ok with its likeable performances and its few funny gag bits but once again that whole repetition of day in day out just wears a bit thin on me and just drags things down in a frustrating kind of way, just seemed a bit safe and a bit of a missed opportunity especially when you think of the kind of messed up fun they could have gone for.6/10
 
It's this virus lockdown housebound nonsense is killing everyone's mojo.
I went to the health store and bought this stuff Maca in powder form. Mixed it into porridge and I'm not joking felt much better, like an infusion of energy. It's fairly expensive but it's good stuff! :thumbsup:
Also there's a Hateful Eight TV edit in 4 parts, might be more your tempo.
I've got a mate who uses that powder stuff...


He's in jail now...
 
Relic (2020) Directed by Natalie Erika James
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Excellent psychological horror that takes care of its characters and runs them through some well-done moments of past trauma loss & regret, mostly centred around mental health issues and the effect dementia can have on a family this goes in for that slow burn approach but gently picks up pace in the final 30 for a maze of madness that concludes with a pretty thought-provoking finale, it's also got one of those great eerie feelings especially when it comes to the house with its creaky sounds and the visual trope of was that something watching in the shadows, sure its all been done before but thankfully this pushes itself away from the usual jump-scare loud thumping nonsense and settles for a more under the skin atmosphere. 8/10

Palm Springs (2020) Directed by Max Barbakow
View attachment 1332284
Not big on modern comedy capers but this was ok with its likeable performances and its few funny gag bits but once again that whole repetition of day in day out just wears a bit thin on me and just drags things down in a frustrating kind of way, just seemed a bit safe and a bit of a missed opportunity especially when you think of the kind of messed up fun they could have gone for.6/10

Saw some reviews of Palm Springs and it looked quite good but nothing said what streaming service it was on in the UK. What did you watch it on?
 
Greyhound (2020) Directed by Aaron Schneider
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No wonder they wanted to keep this half-assed movie out of the theatres hell I can't think of any war film on this kind of budget that completely bores right from the get-go, starting off with a totally useless worthless flashback it then proceeds to constantly throw in a mass amount of some of the most generic-looking green screen cgi battles of pure nothingness, along with this it's basically a one-room play out where Hanks gets to do all is funny patriotic puppy dog faces with some really nauseating dialogue which he wrote, never once do you feel for or give a flying **** for any of these characters there all underdeveloped and seemed to have just been paid to watch Hanks stare out of windows and spout out repeated military garb or religious crap, and then there is the soundtrack holy **** it never gives up and is used as the perfect filler for all crap that goes onscreen, I know I'm biased when it comes to Hanks but god he really does sink to the lowest of depths here.1/10 for the end footage.
 
Le Mans '66 (or Ford Vs Ferrari) - 8.5/10 - Absolutely loved this, James Mangold's take on the battle and for superiority between the two car giants, Damon and especially Bale are excellent as designer and driver respectively, the cars look amazing and the race scenes and sound quality within them is superb, long at 146mins but a great nights entertainment.
 
The Beach House (2019, streaming on Shudder)

Cheap apocalyptic horror with ideas way above its budget and its own abilities unfortunately.

A millennial couple arrive at their families beach house and proceed to mard about the place for the first act, whinging about dropping out and sponging off their parents or passing cod philosophical prattle on the nature of biology and the universe off as intelligent discussion. The next morning an older couple show up who have also borrowed the house for the weekend and the two couples decide to not only have an awkward dinner, but then eat marijuana lacked cakes at exactly the same time the sea decides to spit out some crazy cloud made up of precisely who knows what that suddenly turns everyone weird.......

The only four characters are thinly drawn and only Jake Weber brings any form of shade or nuance to them. The film then proceeds to try and inject some life with trippy scenes that annoyingly try and introduce a mystery element of their cause - is it the illegal substances or the crazy biological event that's to blame? Well we know exactly what's to blame thanks to the clumsy cod philosophical debate in the first act and some random interludes showing undersea vents spewing forth mysterious clouds of ick.

But after the event and things start to get really odd, the film mistakes randomness for 'the weird' - crazed mutated jellyfish are washed up and never discussed ever again, someone calmly walks to their death into the sea and a mysterious fog turns people into icky zombies that cough up slimy worms.......it all just happens, with no discussion about what or why (which given the propensity for spouting off in the first act you'd have expected at least some questioning of events at this point.....). And of course it all really takes place in a couple of houses with a couple of people, while we're annoyingly told via TV and radio that this is an extinction event and the whole world has ended........

Its a shame as nuggets of good ideas are wasted amongst the reliance on cheap genre tropes, and at 87 minutes it feels long - frankly I'm now ten minutes into the same year's Color Out of Space and its already done more good work than the entirety of this similar genre piece did.

One to avoid unfortunately.
 
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