Seen any good films lately? [3]

Watched my first Spider-Man film. Far from home. Was ok. Will I watch it again? Probably not.

For sale 4k Spider-Man, Far from Home.

Also watched Interstellar Very slow, almost boring, but was compelled to watch it to the end. Glad I did. Wouldn't watch it again tho.

I just re-watched two heartbreakingly beautiful French films, My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle. They have subtitles in English.

I've seen My Father's Glory long ago, and have forgotten much of it.

I've seen My Father's Glory- Forest

{{Is that another doublemeaning Ozzie root thing?! }}

I really hope not.

The bloody movie!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is pretty okay.  Thought it would be funnier but they favored the action route. I seem to remember it being mentioned somewhere in these pages.

I read the book long ago and enjoyed it. The movie managed to take out all the nuanced humour from the book and replace it with boring bullshit action. That's my two cents.

yep boring bullshit action.

Started off well with all the young women cleaning guns instead of sewing, but they lost track of that ball.  It's sort of understandable - the current film knowledge base makes it much easier to do action than humor.  

Humor is all in the writing and actors - action is more a technical group project.  I don't know if the industry has much know-how when it comes to this type of sly humor.  Would have to be done by an independent studio and writers/director with a firm impression of exactly what they want.

Watched Starship troopers again. Great film, never get sick of it. Started to watch Starship troopers 3 the other day. Turned it off after 10 mins. Load of crap.

Speaking of Starship Troopers, did anyone ever read the book Armor? The first half of it contains the best description of shock-troops fighting giant alien bugs that you could ever hope for. It's really fantastic stuff.

{{ Dont know that one Forest, Ill have to look it up. I loved Straship Troopers, funny how often the best films about American attitudes and culture are made by those not from America. }}

Yeah check it out, it's by John Steakley.

Unfortunately, Steakley decided that what his story really needed was intercutting scenes from another plot about planetary intrigues. Most of this subpar subplot is in the second half of the book, so you can still enjoy the meat of the bug-crushing before the story starts to meander.

As for movie-making, I'd say that's hit-and-miss Petty. The best films about America are by Americans, as far as I can tell, at least with scripts written by Americans. Take a movie like Three Billboards. The screenwriter and his brother are both excellent when writing in an Irish setting, but Billboards, while entertaining, was pretty clearly a European commentary on being American. Perhaps this would feel like the best take on America if you're European, but not to me.

Lovely film/doco on Irish pubs.

They shouldn't shoot these with such a static camera. There's plenty of know-how out there on how to do these types of shows and these folks are muffing what could have been a great show.

I picked this scene from a Joan Crawford film, "Sudden Fear", because the camera moves with Joan as she hides behind the door as if the camera is a person itself. ( pick it up from 1.31.05, it ends about 1.32.10 ) It looks better on full screen I admit. But it was this little touch with the camera I loved. Im also glad it was filmed in B/W. It gives it more atmosphere. You only have to watch Joan Crawfords eyes as she hides in a cupboard to know all you need. I think she portrayed every feeling & nuance didnt she ? I liked the film & it did rev up the thrill.

{{ love old films they gave scenes and characters room to breath.}}

yep there was such a thing as character development in ye olden days, unlike now when if there isn't an exploding head every 5 minutes people get bored.

I recently watched the Christopher Nolan Batman films again. They are actually really good. Lots of great actors giving really good performances and, for the most part, well written characters and story.

I would actually watch more DC/Marvel related films if they were more like this and not "exploding head every 5 minutes" type films.

I also recently watched 6 underground. Michael Bay film.... it was shit.

I am still waiting for Endgame to come on Sky, I didn't see it at the movies.

chris63 wrote:Watched Starship troopers again. Great film, never get sick of it. Started to watch Starship troopers 3 the other day. Turned it off after 10 mins. Load of crap.

Yeah 2/3 are rather crap, even for straight to dvd, the acting is no better or worse than the original, but the special effects storypacing etc all steeply decline, they even largely seem to lack the satrical edge of the original film feel more like a student film parody rather than continuation. The two animated films they did (Invasion and Traitor Of Mars I think?) were rather better i.m.o, pretty decent animation for the budget and worth a watch (if not necessarily a purchase) if you are in the mood for some brainless action, though again they tone down the satire of the original (and retcon some of the character/visual designs from the original film) and I wouldn't call either particularly good films.

Forest Shepherd wrote:Speaking of Starship Troopers, did anyone ever read the book Armor? The first half of it contains the best description of shock-troops fighting giant alien bugs that you could ever hope for. It's really fantastic stuff.

Yeah I've read it though not for a few years, (I do have a paperback copy laying around somewhere, I've been meaning to re-read it...) as far as pulpy military sci-fi goes it's a good one, the action sequences were definitely a highlight though I also agree that the b-plot felt tacked out.

As far as military science fiction goes, I'd say my personal favourite is The Forever War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forever_War

I'm also a huge fan of Dan Abnett's novels in the Warhammer 40,000 universe (the Gaunts Ghosts series (picture Sharpe in space, the main character even looks a bit like Sean Bean) and the Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies to be precise) though much of the broader literary canon of the 40k universe remains unknown or of little interest to me.

Going back to the subject of films, well I've watched 4 recently:

The Water Diviner:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Water_Diviner

-Fairly generic story, but enjoyable enough. It was Crowe's directorial debut as well, it's a promising enough start behind the camera and he gets good performances out of the cast, but he makes a few odd visual/editorial choices other directors probably wouldn't (though that's probably more noticable to people like me who did A Level film studies...) and looking at the broader historical context of the time, I can see why the portrayal of the Turk/Greek conflict drew controversy. 6/10.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unbroken_(film)

Hmm...I guess I would say it's pretty good but not great? It's overlong and telling an all too familiar kind of story (I'm certainly not knocking the remarkable spirit and courage of the real life man involved, but prisoner of war dramas are almost a genre of their own at this point and this film ticks most of the cliche boxes), but it certainly wasn't badly put together-Jack O'Connell is great in the central role, and Angelina Jolie(!) does a surprisingly good job as Director. 7/10

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mass_(film)

-Other than Johnny Depp's excellent central performance there isn't much in here to reccomend i.m.o. it seemed to have got decent enough reviews on release but I can't quite understand why? It's not a bad film per se...just...meh? and for a gangster film...honestly a bit, well...boring. Less an in depth study of a notorious gangster, rather an oddly bland collection of tropes and swearwords, some of the dialogue and scenes seemed less a tribute and more lifted whole from Goodfellas and The Departed, and this director has little of Scorsese's visual flair. It runs a tad under 2 hours long but apparently had nearly a hour cut out in the edit...which shows-most of the supporting actors are given little to do in the film and it dosen't really build to an ending just suddenly seems to arrive there...I dunno maybe there was studio interference? It's a shame, because as I said Depp hasn't been this good in ages, he dials back his performance from the usual zany eccentrics he plays, menacing and genuinely creepy at points.

I'd stick with something like American Gangster Carlito's Way or City of God if you wanted to watch a lesser known (and good) gangster film.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%2771_(film)

('71 is the title)

Overall an solidly made blend of hard edged realism and pacy thriller, Jack O'Connell stars in this one as well and again gives a great performance in a largely reactionary role with litlte dialogue, good camerawork (it's shot reminiscent of 70's thriller/documenatry films) and naturalistic performances from the cast. The 'troubles' in Northern Ireland were before my time and not something I could ever claim to have much knowledge about despite a small family connection (I do know my great uncle was in the Forces at the time and was deployed to Northern Ireland at least once, though he passed away many years before I was born), '71 does make an attempt to show some of the realities of the conflict and the poltical climate at the time, but it isn't really the focus of the story (and not having much knowledge about the period or Northern Ireland I wouldn't be the best person to judge how accurate those efforts are) and it's only 95(ish)minutes long so pretty short. 7.5/10.

Watched the new Mary Poppins. Thought it was good. The wife thought it was better then the first. Think she was drunk.

Reviewed that one a couple years ago. The music just wasn't as inspired. Dancing was barely there. Wasn't a bad film, but there was nothing to stick with you the way the classic did.

I was more impressed by Saving Mr Banks.