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

Sonic the Hedgehog.

Can't believe I'm saying this as had zero interest in watching the movie until my 6 year old (who's normally very anti-cinema) begged us to take him to watch, but this was very enjoyable and a solid 7/10 kids movie.
 
Good to hear,, there should be good films for kids.
 
Patton (1970) Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
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Not seen this for years and the last was a poor picture that I don't think I even got to finish, no such problems this time as the movie looks absolutely stunning in HD complete with a new restoration, the films opening shot is one hell of a cracker and not just visually but in the speech that George C Scott delivers playing this maverick one of a kind General George S Patton it really does set up his whole attitude perfectly, from here we move to the countless battles on and off the battlefield all the time getting into his psyche and the strange beliefs that made him tick, its also not just a one-sided heroic view that we get of the man we also get to see the many flaws that almost finished his military career, its such a superb performance from Scott who brilliantly gets wrapped up in the pure scope of the thing, add in some jaw dropping cinematography and a great score and you pretty much got your self some essential viewing.9/10
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Extras are great as well with an intro by Coppola who wrote the script and how its success stopped him getting fired from The Godfather, and 2 very decent feature length docs that look at Patton and the making of the film.
 
^^BlackKklansman
Not bad beyond wastefully highlighting black people are so cool they can even make line dancing look so.
I found it a bit galling that Flip Zimmerman's life was the real one on the line but he got, at least in this, little recognition for it being so - but to be expected here.
It's a bit heavy handed but shines when it's given the chance to play out as more of a buddy movie sending a necessary message.
The real life tragedy piece at the end carried the most weight to me, where you got to see actual peaceable racial mixing for equality. Whereas Trump's less than guarded clips have become so the norm, it's getting harder to be dismayed and it made me wonder just what would it take for enough people to make a stand and things to change? Watching some American political shows, as I do, where democrats say they need to win big (really?!) but offer little in actually how doesn't help either. And, sadly, this film certainly offers no clear path to any resolution.
 
Patton (1970) Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
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Not seen this for years and the last was a poor picture that I don't think I even got to finish, no such problems this time as the movie looks absolutely stunning in HD complete with a new restoration, the films opening shot is one hell of a cracker and not just visually but in the speech that George C Scott delivers playing this maverick one of a kind General George S Patton it really does set up his whole attitude perfectly, from here we move to the countless battles on and off the battlefield all the time getting into his psyche and the strange beliefs that made him tick, its also not just a one-sided heroic view that we get of the man we also get to see the many flaws that almost finished his military career, its such a superb performance from Scott who brilliantly gets wrapped up in the pure scope of the thing, add in some jaw dropping cinematography and a great score and you pretty much got your self some essential viewing.9/10
View attachment 1258950
Extras are great as well with an intro by Coppola who wrote the script and how its success stopped him getting fired from The Godfather, and 2 very decent feature length docs that look at Patton and the making of the film.
George C Scott is just...amazing.
Incredible actor.
 
Marriage Story Very good movie about the break up of a marriage which is often a difficult topic. Great performances from pretty much everyone in it and easy to see why the two leads and Laura Dern got nominated for awards. Scarlet Johansson looked very raw at times in this and Adam driver delivered another great performance with plenty of emotion from both.

Worth a watch although possibly not if you have just posted in the divorce thread 😁
 
Happy half term y'alls. And we know what that means...…...a desperate struggle to find those handful of hours that will keep junior entertained and you not needing to throw something at the screen in anger/hatred/boredom/all three. So its time to revisit the old collection and see what potential gems are lurking in there...…...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (US iTunes)

Much like the first film, the turtles themselves are surprisingly good, both design, CG and character-wise. Megan Fox is there wholly inappropriately and purely for the dads/older Turtle fans as she steams up the screen in her skin tight outfits every opportunity she gets. And Will Arnett is awesome, yet at the same time awesomely underused.

Some of the setpieces are pretty decent - the mid-air plane to plane jump and subsequent crash into the Amazonian rainforest is really rather good and puts the recent similar one in Terminator: Dark Fate to shame - and even Krang, one of the more ridiculous villains of Turtle lore is realised pretty ickily and niftily.

But everything else, and I do mean EVERYTHING else, is risible. The plot is yet more dimensional-hopping, portal above New York to bring through the world crushing Big Bad, yet this time populated with schoolkid technobabble that feels like its been lifted directly from one of the cartoon episodes. Stephen Amell is hideous as Casey Jones and the less said about BeBop and Rocksteady the better. Even Laura Linney does her best impression of someone who was told she would be acting opposite real humans, and yet ends up talking to thin air, her frustration and anger at having to do so so obvious in her performance, her face, her everything.

Its not terrible - the Turtles do have some nice chemistry (as far as collective groupings of pixels go) and its nice to see superhero's enjoying themselves being, you know, super - and yet at the same time, it really is. Right now, I'm off to relive the film's best and most hideously inappropriate scene by googling 'Megan Fox Schoolgirl Spy scene'...…….try it and you'll see what I mean...…..remember this is supposed to be a KIDS film...…... :eek:

Come back Michael Bay, your brand of toxic sexuality somehow seems innocently charming after that...…...

The Addams Family (2019, US iTunes)

Its the classic Charles Addams' family given the Hotel Transylvania treatment. And while not terrible, it makes one crucial mistake - it sidelines Gomez and Morticia, the best part of any version of the Addams, almost to the point of them being bitpart players in their own movie.

A typical Frankenstein opening (villagers, pitchforks, torches, etc) forces our newlywed couple to relocate somewhere less dangerous - New Jersey - whereby they take over an abandoned asylum and retire to raise Wednesday and Puggsley in relative secret. But one reality TV makeover presenter and her goth wannabe teenage daughter later, its business as usual as the extended Addams' family also descend to watch Puggsley complete his rite of manhood...…...

Again, its not terrible - the vein of dark humour is very much present, with Moretz and Wolfhard amusingly depressing as the two junior members of the family. Pimping out cousin It as a hairy Snoop Dogg is nowhere near as annoying as it sounds and it skewers reality TV royally which is never a bad thing in my book.

But there's just not enough delicious Gomez and Morticia. At all. Isaacs and Theron do sterling work when they're allowed to, but there's too much of the teenagers and the modern world skewering, at the expense of the dark wit of the skewed family dynamic. Fester is almost totally absent and even Bette Midler's Grandma is given far too short thrift. It feels like the family element and dynamic is pushed to one side in favour of broader and more mainstream plotting and gags.

But its passable and a little spikier than the Hotel Transylvania series, so in terms of keeping you entertained as much as Junior, its not bad. Just not...….particularly good.
 
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Happy half term y'alls. And we know what that means...…...a desperate struggle to find those handful of hours that will keep junior entertained and you not needing to throw something at the screen in anger/hatred/boredom/all three. So its time to revisit the old collection and see what potential gems are lurking in there...…...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (US iTunes)

Much like the first film, the turtles themselves are surprisingly good, both design, CG and character-wise. Megan Fox is there wholly inappropriately and purely for the dads/older Turtle fans as she steams up the screen in her skin tight outfits every opportunity she gets. And Will Arnett is awesome, yet at the same time awesomely underused.

Some of the setpieces are pretty decent - the mid-air plane to plane jump and subsequent crash into the Amazonian rainforest is really rather good and puts the recent similar one in Terminator: Dark Fate to shame - and even Krang, one of the more ridiculous villains of Turtle lore is realised pretty ickily and niftily.

But everything else, and I do mean EVERYTHING else, is risible. The plot is yet more dimensional-hopping, portal above New York to bring through the world crushing Big Bad, yet this time populated with schoolkid technobabble that feels like its been lifted directly from one of the cartoon episodes. Stephen Amell is hideous as Casey Jones and the less said about BeBop and Rocksteady the better. Even Laura Linney does her best impression of someone who was told she would be acting opposite real humans, and yet ends up talking to thin air, her frustration and anger at having to do so so obvious in her performance, her face, her everything.

Its not terrible - the Turtles do have some nice chemistry (as far as collective groupings of pixels go) and its nice to see superhero's enjoying themselves being, you know, super - and yet at the same time, it really is. Right now, I'm off to relive the film's best and most hideously inappropriate scene by googling 'Megan Fox Schoolgirl Spy scene'...…….try it and you'll see what I mean...…..remember this is supposed to be a KIDS film...…... :eek:

Come back Michael Bay, your brand of toxic sexuality somehow seems innocently charming after that...…...

The Addams Family (2019, US iTunes)

Its the classic Charles Addams' family given the Hotel Transylvania treatment. And while not terrible, it makes one crucial mistake - it sidelines Gomez and Morticia, the best part of any version of the Addams, almost to the point of them being bitpart players in their own movie.

A typical Frankenstein opening (villagers, pitchforks, torches, etc) forces our newlywed couple to relocate somewhere less dangerous - New Jersey - whereby the take over an abandoned asylum and retire to raise Wednesday and Puggsley in relative secret. But one reality TV makeover presenter and her goth wannabe teenage daughter later, its business as usual as the extended Addams' family also descend to watch Puggsley complete his rite of manhood...…...

Again, its not terrible - the vein of dark humour is very much present, with Moretz and Wolfhard amusingly depressing as the two junior members of the family. Pimping out cousin It as a hairy Snoop Dogg is nowhere near as annoying as it sounds and it skewers reality TV royally which is never a bad thing in my book.

But there's just not enough delicious Gomez and Morticia. At all. Isaacs and Theron do sterling work when they're allowed to, but there's too much of the teenagers and the modern world skewering, to the expense of the dark wit of the skewed family dynamic. Fester is almost totally absent an even Bette Midler's Grandma is given far too short thrift. It feels like the family element and dynamic is pushed to one side in favour of broader and more mainstream plotting and gags.

But its passable and a little spikier than the Hotel Transylvania series, so in terms of keeping you entertained as much as Junior, its not bad. Just not...….particularly good.

I had purposefully steered clear of the new Addams Family assuming it would be a watered down version of the characters with that goofy modern hyper-kinectic animation style where there is always something just...going on. Stuff constantly moving around in the background. Characters zipping around the screen. You mentioned Hotel Transylvania and when I watched that I thought I was going to have an aneurysm. I just felt like screaming "Stop f-ing moving!" at all the characters.

ANYWAY - I might now give it a shot if the younglings show any interest. The cast does sound pretty great.

TMNT2 sounds like... well, I was going to say "the bottom of Michael Bay's barrel" but I'm not stupid enough to think that he can't do worse.
 
Will I be contacted by HR for looking at this during work hours?
Nah - it's about the same level of raunchiness as Britney Spears 1st video.
 
The Best Offer (2013)
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This is probably the best sequence in the entire film - though to not get mod points, I've cropped the lower region. Geoffrey Rush starring drew me into this but it's pretty abysmal - as are Donald Sutherland's appearances.
A lonely, somewhat, crook of an art dealer (aren't they all?) meets (kind of) some mysterious bird in a cage type female at a house collection appraisal who refuses to show herself but talks via phone or behind an art painted wall. She's supposedly agoraphobic and thus ensues the contrived tale of hers. Yawn.
He thinks he's scoring some automaton that's scattered throughout her gaff in parts but ultimately falls for her - even though her screaming child-like demands are seriously grating. She, naturally, is in with Jim Sturgess, his repair guy, and it's a none too smart long con story that doesn't end well. It kind of sets up a finish and then goes, nah, we can't be bothered and fades off.
Don't bother, unless you feel the need for penance.
 
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Human, Space, Time and Human (2018) Directed by Kim Ki-duk

Ki-duk's ship of fools tale throws everything on the table, incest cannibalism, rape, gang rape and a whole host of murderous takedowns, yep you really wouldn't Adam and Eve it at some of the very messed up things that go on in this movie, not his best moment for sure but I still kinda liked it.6.5/10

 
The Best Offer (2013)
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This is probably the best sequence in the entire film - though to not get mod points, I've cropped the lower region. Geoffrey Rush starring drew me into this but it's pretty abysmal - as are Donald Sutherland's appearances.
A lonely, somewhat, crook of an art dealer (aren't they all?) meets (kind of) some mysterious bird in a cage type female at a house collection appraisal who refuses to show herself but talks via phone or behind an art painted wall. She's supposedly agoraphobic and thus ensues the contrived tale of hers. Yawn.
He thinks he's scoring some automaton that's scattered throughout her gaff in parts but ultimately falls for her - even though her screaming child-like demands are seriously grating. She, naturally, is in with Jim Sturgess, his repair guy, and it's a none too smart long con story that doesn't end well. It kind of sets up a finish and then goes, nah, we can't be bothered and fades off.
Don't bother, unless you feel the need for penance.

I'd like to see the uncut version of that screenshot.. did Quentin "I like feet" Tarantino have any involvement in that scene?
 
I'd like to see the uncut version of that screenshot.. did Quentin "I like feet" Tarantino have any involvement in that scene?
Nope, but he'd be getting out his hand lotion fo' sho'. She basic(instinct)ally flashes her beaver whilst giving her cut big toe an up n' down sucking motion. I had to put the section on repeat to make sure I was seeing correctly.
 
Nope, but he'd be getting out his hand lotion fo' sho'. She basic(instinct)ally flashes her beaver whilst giving her cut big toe an up n' down sucking motion. I had to put the section on repeat to make sure I was seeing correctly.

Can I have the exact timestamp of this scene so I don't have to watch the whole film thanks :thumbsup:
 
Can I have the exact timestamp of this scene so I don't have to watch the whole film thanks :thumbsup:
103.14 ish my 15 year old :blush: informs me. It's times like this when you realise exactly why you had kids.
 
Upgrade - 7.5/10 - Low budget but very good sci-fi actioner from Leigh Wannell (Saw) I really enjoyed this, zips by, holds the interest, fairly violent and a good ending, great stuff.
 
The Ravenous (2017) Directed by Robin Aubert

With a name called The Ravenous I thought ere we go another cack-a-bob low budget zombie flick, but surprise surprise I really got into this one thanks to it slow-burn take, its got a handful of great tension shots a bit of great gore and yep best of all these zombies scream like a bastard when they see their prey, it works wonderfully and makes for pretty eerie viewing, its also got some other weird zombie stuff thats going on which is pretty interesting to see but not fully explained but you do get the gist, performances are good all round and some of the imagery on offer looks great.7.5/10
 
The Pianist (2002) - Roman Polanski
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Holocaust films are always a disquieting watch and this is up there with some of the most upsetting. What's effective here is the incremental worsening of the fortunes of the Polish Jews, going from prejudice, to persecution, to ultimately dehumanisation and outright murder. This gradual stripping away of human dignity also plays out in how the main characters journey gets more and more desperate and solitary; before an unlikley turn of events brings him full circle. Adrian Brody really loses himself in the role of pianist Władysław Szpilman, and although I didn't find the last third of the film as gripping as the previous acts, I was quite swept up in his incredible, painful journey. It's still tough to imagine a time when human beings could inflict such unimaginable cruelty on others; yet its also heartening to know compassion could still shine through in the darkest of places. Remarkable film. 8.5/10
 
The Pianist (2002) - Roman Polanski
View attachment 1259424

Holocaust films are always a disquieting watch and this is up there with some of the most upsetting. What's effective here is the incremental worsening of the fortunes of the Polish Jews, going from prejudice, to persecution, to ultimately dehumanisation and outright murder. This gradual stripping away of human dignity also plays out in how the main characters journey gets more and more desperate and solitary; before an unlikley turn of events brings him full circle. Adrian Brody really loses himself in the role of pianist Władysław Szpilman, and although I didn't find the last third of the film as gripping as the previous acts, I was quite swept up in his incredible, painful journey. It's still tough to imagine a time when human beings could inflict such unimaginable cruelty on others; yet its also heartening to know compassion could still shine through in the darkest of places. Remarkable film. 8.5/10
It has some memorable nastiness about this, obviously, due to its setting but I found this overdrawn and frankly dull - like its undeserving Oscar winning lead.
If I were to choose a somewhat out there take based around the subject matter, The Night Porter would be my choice.
BTW, Confronting Holocaust Denial with David Baddiel on B2 was excellent.
 
The Marshes (2018, streaming on Shudder)

Three college students arrive at the titular wetlands in the Australian outback for a weekend of blandly drawn character drama and initially promising but ultimately dull stalk and slash shenanigans.

The opening act hints at some interesting messaging - for once, its the academics accused of harming the environment, shutting off water and diverting it away from much needed farmlands in order to study; similarly the students seemingly harass locals for hunting, something which is either a traditional way of life or cruel bloodsport, depending on your point of view. But once some very odd sub-Wolf Creek stalkings begin, all this is straight out of the window, forgotten in the rush to try and be something it clearly isn't - a decent horror film.

The film drops these little supernatural hints along the way - characters are there and suddenly they're not, disappearing into thin air; our antagonist is given a mythical feel to him by appearing after a camp fire story and whistling 'Waltzing Mathilda' which everyone can hear no matter where he is in relation to the rest of the cast; and the film has these odd little interludes dropped into the narrative, extreme close ups of micro water life, hinting at something natural being the cause of all this...…….but all of these come to absolutely nothing.

The film ends up being another sub-par slasher, with an antagonist as thinly drawn as I've ever seen (he doesn't even get a name, a mask, a face and certainly doesn't speak to give him any form of character at all), the film seemingly content to be wholly reliant on the non-existent mystery around him.

It ends, 80 mercilessly short minutes later, a massive waste of some interesting potential and fodder for just more late night streaming channels when alcohol and tiredness may lower our interesting thresholds...…….avoid.
 
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Sonic the Hedgehog.

Can't believe I'm saying this as had zero interest in watching the movie until my 6 year old (who's normally very anti-cinema) begged us to take him to watch, but this was very enjoyable and a solid 7/10 kids movie.

Good to hear. I'm thinking of taking my 5yr old - he's gets quite bored with films generally unless it's Paw Patrol or Lego movies but he does want to see this.
 
(This is a slightly expanded version of some of my jottings after I first watched the film)


Parasite

When the poverty stricken Kim family find themselves inextricably entwined with the wealthy Park household, they struggle to reconcile the difference between their two lives. To say more about the plot of Parasite is to say too much.

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 casting of Song Kang-ho (reunited with the director after Snowpiercer) and Jang Hye-jin as the father and mother of the Kim family is perfection. The two of them are chameleons who can convincingly switch between drunken rowdiness and respectful deference within the blink of an eye. Their central performances secure the success of Parasite. When the audience is first pulled into their plans and wishes at the start of the film, their convivial one-upmanship on others is so endearing that we are willingly taken through some of their roughest decisions, and sometimes even feel complicit. The other stand out performance is Jo Yeo-jeong as the Park mother, whose histrionic reactions to everything are initially received as funny but become more troubled at the film progresses.

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.


Now swamped in accolades, Parasite is a uniquely globally recognised success. The only non-English language film to win best picture at the Academy Awards, the only film to win four Oscars for the same picture in the same night, the only Korean film to receive a unanimous pick for the Palm D’Or at Cannes and more besides. A TV adaptation (or continuation, or parallel) has been commissioned, alongside the already completed season one of Snowpiercer based on his previous film. Its reach to a wider audience has been assured and the deserving success of Bong Joon-ho guaranteed.


Grade: A

*Correction: Parasite is obviously not the first film to pick up four Oscars in the same night. That's a ridiculous claim. Bong Joon-ho is the first individual to pick up 4 Oscars for the same film in one night.*
 
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Good to hear. I'm thinking of taking my 5yr old - he's gets quite bored with films generally unless it's Paw Patrol or Lego movies but he does want to see this.
My lad (6) is the same - he rarely sits thru a movie and much prefers short sharp shows and rubbish on youtube, but he really loved this one. He is currently obsessed with Super Smash Bros (Wii U) which has Sonic in it so think that also helped.
 

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