Reply With QuoteI've just watched a documentary film called Dear Zachary. All I'll say is that there are people in this world that are genuinely evil and those who are so amazing as to be examples of how humans should conduct themselves. A truly appalling case.
Don't know why, after the utter disappointments of The Lighthouse and The Northman, but I went to see Nosferatu and it was awful. Can't really think of anything positive to say about it. Nicholas Hoult was even worse than Keanu Reeves.
The Shallows is on iPlayer right now, probably my third favourite shark movie after Jaws and Deep Blue Sea.
I've just watched a documentary film called Dear Zachary. All I'll say is that there are people in this world that are genuinely evil and those who are so amazing as to be examples of how humans should conduct themselves. A truly appalling case.
I'll put this here even though it's a documentary (it's feature length) - The Last Musician of Auschwitz
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0027g70
I've had the pleasure of meeting Anita Lasker-Wallfisch (and possibly her son but don't quote me) and she's quite a character. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't know at the time how important her role was in the creation of the English Chamber Orchestra - an outfit that featured quite prominently in my teenage music consumption. Equally there are some composers who I've never heard of.
Last edited by Carlton-Browne; 1st February 2025 at 18:34.
I thought The Brutalist was good, Adrian Brody very good. Don’t think the rape scene was necessary to the story.
Also struck me that chunks were right out of Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead but am not aware of any formal crediting. Might be wrong.
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Back in Action on Netflix, not highbrow in the slightest and some shocking holes in the plot, but for a fun film to chill with, we really enjoyed it.
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Originally Posted by Brighty
Harrowing. Still relevant today.
M
“ Ford... you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.” HHGTTG
'71, quite the most gripping film I have seen in ages. Plenty of actors who went on to be well known , not famous, well known as actors.
The Dead Don’t hurt- written and directed by Viggo Mortensen. Hard to describe as it’s a real slow burner and nothing really happens yet it’s really impactful.
Boy kills world - the polar opposite in that everything happens. Really enjoyable and fast paced.
Caught up with a few older films recently
Romeo is bleeding (1993)
Repo Men (2010)
Paris 13th District (2021)
Les Olympiades, Paris 13e (original title)
All worth a watch IMHO (IMDb links above)
z
Went to see Conclave last night. Enjoyable and Well acted but bit slow. Not sure why it has so many accolades.
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Paris 13th is a great film, thanks for the reminder, not available on any of my streaming services currently though.
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My wife and I went to see The Brutalist last Friday. We had read the reviews so we knew it was probably going to be a bit of a marmite film. We weren't wrong.
It is 3 hours and 35 minutes long including the rather odd 15 minute interlude. Thankfully we had the big recliner seats and that avoided a flat arse.
The acting was incredible. The storyline was absolutely bizarre and a bit boring. The film was slow and dark. Both of us were totally perplexed by it. The ending was really bad. It was (sadly for us) a total waste of 3.5 hours of our life.
A trip to the pub and a few OVD's and coke later, we were still in shock but we felt way, way better.
Go and watch it. You may think differently.
I don't think I will be rushing out to see it - thanks for the heads up :)
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It was on BBC iPlayer until this Saturday - hence I watched it before it expired.
Hopefully, they'll get it back available soon.
z
Haha, damn it, so close!
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Went to the cinema today for the first time in a few years. Saw Becoming Led Zeppelin - if you're a fan you should love it!
Left me needing some answers hope there is a part 2.
I bet.
That was more of a dare on my part. :-)
I didn't mention the music score. That was brutal. Maybe not migraine material but it wasn't pleasant.
I watched Atomic Blonde recently. You can let the story go, it's adequate enough and perfectly watchable but for those of us of a certain age it's an 80s fest and lots there to see.
Basically it's Blondie as 007, Boy t shirts and off the shoulder numbers and all. A great cast, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Toby Jones and Charlize T, but loads of 80s stuff, Porsche 964 turbo, Lada Nivas and a Alfa Montreal at the end.
And plenty of 80s music, mainly by Nena, and it's in German.
Worth a watch.
Watched this at the weekend.
Would 100% recommend. We both thoroughly enjoyed it.
Alien Romulus.
On the face of it there's very little to recommend this. It's incredibly derivative. There's literally is nothing here that you haven't seen before. Almost as if it's an hommage. Even the deaths are even by the numbers: Chest burster...tick. Acid...tick...and so on. And as for that can't breathe tension from the first two films...it's utterly absent. You know what's going to happen, and it does.
And yet, it's really quite well done. There is a hero you can root for. There are moments of real cinematic beauty. And there's a robot/human relationship (no, not like that) that's both original and touching (I said no, not like that) and it's made me think there might be life in the old, shiny-headed, drooling mouth-in-mouth dog yet.
I finally got around to watching this one. There are three other reviews in this long thread, all positive, so I feel a bit sheepish admitting I was originally going to put it in the terrible films thread.
It's not terrible. A sci-fi horror flick, with some good ideas presumably taken from the source material, Jeff VanderMeer's Nebula-award winning book.
Where it falls down for me is the locations, which are so jarringly obvious as the English coast and Windsor Great Park. At supposedly tense moments, with the protagonist walking alone across a shallow beach, I half expected a stick to enter the frame closely followed by a keen dog.
Also the love interest subplot, entirely irrelevant, feels like a studio-imposed requirement. "You have a slightly cerebral slow-paced sci-fi movie with a largely female cast? We're going to need bed scenes with Natalie Portman..."
So not terrible, but Alien it is not. Alex Garland has done better.
I thought it was a bit meh tbh. Long drawn out bit followed by some rapid jumps to a quick conclusion
The Last Stop in Yuma County
- worth a viewing IMHO
z
Ooh, a rare bad opinion from Tokyo Tokei, who is usually so reliable! (Esp. concerning old Landmasters.)
It's not perfect - there are some jumpscares that are strongly telegraphed, for example - but I'm a big fan of Annihilation. It's a good adaptation of a difficult book (although it misses out the big reveal from the end of the book...) And I speak as a fan of the book.
I hadn't noticed the locations, I'll admit. I think it's on my list to watch this week before it leaves Netflix. But I like the cast, I like the pace, and the soundtrack is great.
The sex scene is necessary to set up why Kane would undertake such a "suicidal" mission. It's Ballardian, it's an intelligent attempt to film and alien invasion. I like it.
(Would I like it as much with an all-male cast? I don't know.)
“Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead to share with the worms that gather in the darkness and surround the world with the power of their lives while from the dimlit halls of other places forms that never were and never could be writhe for the impatience of the few who never saw what could have been."
I only managed about 30 minutes before being a bit put off that it was 'Alien with teenagers'...main protagonists being Attack the Block/Kingsmen age. I should give it another go to be honest.
Not new, but Ford vs. Ferrari is really ggod, and Christian Bale is mesmerizing in it.
Ah well I may have liked it more had I read the book, and your view is more informed, I think.
But my "bad" view (is it a "bad opinion" or an opinion that the film was "bad"?) was on the film as a standalone piece. The telegraphing started a little early for me: even knowing nothing of the book, it would be a dull dog who didn't grasp the overall situation from the title and the very opening scene.
And then that dog has to sit through what is a very slow but now unclimactic reveal. Still, at least this scene treats us to an early glimpse of muse Sonoya Mizuno (before she reappears later in a different form).
It's not a bad film. The jarring of the location shots really didn't help though: movie says we're in America, but visuals say otherwise. We're clearly in England. Fenton!
The studio (Paramount) was worried about it, and pressured Garland to make it less "intellectual" and the protagonist more sympathetic. He declined, with support from his producer, so Paramount sold it on to Netflix rather than release it in cinemas.
It never seems to resolve this tension. Is it a thoughtful ecological fable, a gender-swapped The Thin Red Line? Or girls-with-guns Commando? I suspect the studio wanted one of these, Garland the other. The result, for me anyway, was an in between, sub-par Alien pastiche.
The credits were lovely though.
Fenton!
We've just given The Accountant a rewatch. In all honesty I couldn't remember a single thing about it from the first time around but it's a good fun action/espionage romp and the trailer for the sequel looks just as good.
Luckily I have had a nice easy going day, so decided to sit down and watch some films on the settee.
Started off with Dead Man’s Shoes, one of the very best of British made films, and not exactly a happy uplifting film, but still superb.
Second K-PAX, another thought provoker Spacey excellent as usual.
Gladiator at the moment, another quality film which is very entertaining.
Not sure if I’ll get a fourth in tonight, but if I do, it will have to be outstanding.
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Last edited by nickyboyo; 7th March 2025 at 23:18.
I agree nothing new, yet I really enjoyed it. It feels more like the original source material and that's no bad thing. Yeah the cast is young but I thought they did a great job. Like you say it looks like life in the old dog yet.
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From the trailer it may be a bit more OTT than the original.
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