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

The Journey - 2016 - Nick Hamm

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Loved the premise of this film and knew immediately that I wanted to see it. It's a simple premise really: two men, Rev. Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, each representing opposing sides of the politico-religious divide that plunged Britain and Ireland into a protracted era of disarray, chaos and strife are forced to share a limo to peace talks in St Andrews, Scotland in 2006.

I went into it expecting a stern and intense study of two implacable foes trying to get their arms around the concept of conceding even an iota of anything - much less peace - to one another. Instead, it's pretty light-hearted and made me laugh on more than one occasion. As you watch it you know that the director and writer have taken huge liberties with the true account of the real journey in crafting their version of the story and its characters, and I'm glad that they did as it made for quite an entertaining road trip rather than a dull one or one propped up by phoney tension. Edit - Actually, some of the tension is contrived but again it works quite well because it's used in a sort of humorous and daft manner that fits the film's tone quite well.

Timothy Spall plays Rev. Paisley and Colm Meaney is Martin McGuinness. Spall is fitted with prosthetic teeth in his depiction of Paisley and at the start of the journey he plays him with a serial killer's menace whereas Colm Meaney's McGuinness is up for a bit of craic and uses humour to jab at his opponent and expose the perceived hypocrisy and stubbornness of his position re. the political aims of both sides of the conflict. The teeth are unsettling and there are moments when you can see Paisley struggling to remain calm and not go gnasher crazy on McGuinness during moments of provocation. I felt sorry for Daniel Portman (Podrick from GoT) during one tense but funny scene near the end when Paisley unleashes his firebrand tongue against him for a customer service inconvenience.

I'd recommend it if you're in the mood for a goofy but entertaining fictitious account of one of the most important moments in the recent histories of both Ireland and Great Britain. John Hurt plays a small but valuable role here too, and Tony Blair is depicted in quite a humourous but accurate light as well, i.e. weasely. Edit - McGuinness is easily the more sympathetic of the two protagonists here.
 
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The Irishman (2019) Directed by Martin Scorsese
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Was 50/50 going into this but yeah Scorsese as pretty much delivered, the performances and I mean everyone involved where really superb, the de-aging didn't pull me out at all which was one of my biggest worries, the dialogue is great and delivers some real class moments, never felt the runtime at all and found it a complete breeze to sit through, it didn't rely solely on heavy handed violence or any big money shots, it did however feel like something was missing to consider it a masterpiece as I don't feel in no real hurry to revisit anytime soon 8/10
 
I watched No Country For Old Man last night. A good movie made by Coen Brothers. But I'm quite confused about the ending part. There's a police officer told his wife about his dreams. I couldn't relate it to the previous plot. I don't know what it is trying to tell me. Anybody knows?
 
The Red Violin - Francois Girard & Don McKellar - 1998

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Caught this just before it leaves Amazon Prime on 1st December. It's a Canadian-produced film and considered one of their best alongside the likes of Last Night (also Don McKellar; good film) and Incendies (Denis Villeneuve) and is about the eponymous violin and its journey through time, from its sorrowful and tragic creation in the 17th century all the way to our modern times with stops in Vienna during the era of Mozart to a sort of Romantic England (starring Jason Flemyng and Greta Scacchi), and more destinations beside.

The violin's journey through time is accompanied by a prophecy from the Tarot by someone reading for the wife of the artisan who originally made it with each card drawn corresponding to a significant story involving the violin in either socially momentous or personally traumatic moments in human history.

It reminded me of Cloud Atlas in the way a piece of music exists beyond the mind of mortal men but is able to come to them through something like divine inspiration. Likewise, The Red Violin uses a single piece of music to reveal the identity of the instrument through time and to enthral and bewitch whoever has the misfortune to cross paths with it.

The other narrative trick used to tell is the story is through the auction that we see at the start of the film and which returns at various parts of the story before bringing it to a satisfying conclusion at the end. It's quite a clever way of telling the story and is one of the two moments in the film when I was genuinely surprised (in a satisfying way) by the story and its 'twists'.

The photography and costuming are also really impressive given the scope and scale of the story. There's a scene inside an antique store that showed the arrow of time through the movement of the camera as it dollied towards the violin in the backdrop of the store. Had to rewatch that scene a few times to appreciate how clever and subtle it was.

Great wee film.

Edit - There's one glaring misstep towards the end with Samuel L Jackson that stood out:
suddenly and jarringly he becomes his character from Pulp Fiction. It was so out of place given the tone set by the film that I presume the director was a fan of his performance in Tarantino's masterpiece and asked him to reprise it for a moment in this film.

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I watched No Country For Old Man last night. A good movie made by Coen Brothers. But I'm quite confused about the ending part. There's a police officer told his wife about his dreams. I couldn't relate it to the previous plot. I don't know what it is trying to tell me. Anybody knows?

One of the best films of this century. Haven't seen it in years so only vaguely remember how to interpret Tommy Lee Jones' monologue at the end. Had to Google an answer to remind myself and these two answers seemed to make sense.

In his dream, he sees his father go on ahead, carrying torch to fight off the darkness. This is the justice Bell knows and understands, the justice of his father, a light to ward off the darkness and to make sense of the world. In the dream, a young Bell sees his father carry this justice forward into the darkness and chaos of the world and he is confident that when he catches up the flame will still have its potency and its warmth. But then he wakes up, back into a world where the torch of his father only sheds the barest amount of light on the changing darkness. He's lived long enough to see his justice die. In this new country, there is no room for old men.

The end of the film forces a reevaluation of expectations. Why did we expect what we expected? Why did we feel the disjointed jolt? The end makes a perfect internal sense. Why should Bell's uneasy and beaten retirement, with the monolog of his dream, cause such surprise? Is it so hard to understand that might makes right?

Both taken from this thread on Reddit

 
The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018) Directed by Fede Alvarez
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Really wasn’t feeling this one at all despite it looking pretty good in its dark Nordic noir settings the main problem this time round for the Salander girl was Clair Foy, right from the off she immediately felt miscast and just didn't suit the role or look of this female revenger at all, along with this it also just goes by the numbers offering very few surprises on the way, the only thing that stood out for me was Sylvia Hoeks and even though it was a very pantomime performance her weirdness is attracting me at the minute especially from watching her in See on the Apple channel.5/10
 
Amityville II: The Possession - 6/10 - Although the alleged true story has long been outed as being bunkum the book really gave the teenage me a real chill, I looked forward to seeing the '79 adaption with James Brolin as homeowner George Lutz but it was ultimately disappointing, the '05 remake was worse, this prequel features the previous owners of the infamous house, its quite effective particularly in the first half, the second descends into sub Exorcist territory and is not quite a good as whats gone before, a better film than both original stories.
 
Hostiles - 8.5/10

I gave a more thorough review of this in the DVD section, and I know the rule on repeating. So I'll just say this is a Western well worth checking out, yet seems to have passed many by. You definitely won't be disappointed.

The Sisters Brothers - 7/10

Another western that has gone under the radar, this was actually quite an enjoyable watch, with a good trio involved of Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal and John C. Reilly.

About the aptly named "Sisters" brothers, it follows their guns for hire as they pursue a chemist during the goldrush of the American West.

By no means great but well worth a look; particularly because I was surprised by the final third of the film. It didn't quite go where I thought it would, nor does it end where I had imagined either.

A pleasant watch though and definitely one for Western fans.
My favourite genre, and yet I still have to catch both of these. Looking forward to Christian Bale's Hostiles in particular.
 
Amazing to think it spawned so many sequels, and the question currently is do I work my way through them now that I've started....

I'm feeling compelled....
If you get that far, I'll be interested in how Part 6 - Jason Lives measures up these days. I remember having a great old time with it on it's initial VHS release.
 
Gerald's Game is great!
Flanagan's best work so far.

Turn it off before the last five minutes.
I found Gerald's Game VERY pedestrian, and even the presence of the lovely Carla Gugino couldn't rescue it for me. Entirely too many scenes of the brilliant Bruce Greenwood prancing around in his underpants too. :D
Mike Flanagan directing left me very concerned for the Shining sequel, but I came away from that hugely impressed and currently rate it as my second favourite film of 2019. The best thing about Gerald's Game was the Moonlight Man, and I was pleased to see actor Carel Struycken (formerly Lurch in the Addams Family movies) carried over into Flanagan's Dr Sleep.
 
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One of the best films of this century. Haven't seen it in years so only vaguely remember how to interpret Tommy Lee Jones' monologue at the end. Had to Google an answer to remind myself and these two answers seemed to make sense.

In his dream, he sees his father go on ahead, carrying torch to fight off the darkness. This is the justice Bell knows and understands, the justice of his father, a light to ward off the darkness and to make sense of the world. In the dream, a young Bell sees his father carry this justice forward into the darkness and chaos of the world and he is confident that when he catches up the flame will still have its potency and its warmth. But then he wakes up, back into a world where the torch of his father only sheds the barest amount of light on the changing darkness. He's lived long enough to see his justice die. In this new country, there is no room for old men.

The end of the film forces a reevaluation of expectations. Why did we expect what we expected? Why did we feel the disjointed jolt? The end makes a perfect internal sense. Why should Bell's uneasy and beaten retirement, with the monolog of his dream, cause such surprise? Is it so hard to understand that might makes right?

Both taken from this thread on Reddit


Thanks a lot. It looks clearer to me now.
 
If you get that far, I'll be interested in how Part 6 - Jason Lives measures up these days. I remember having a great old time with it on it's initial VHS release.

Oh I'll defo be getting that far. Decided I'm watching them all. I did Elm Street not that long ago, so I'm doing this too. Should have done it for Halloween when members were posting about their horror film viewing.
 
If you get that far, I'll be interested in how Part 6 - Jason Lives measures up these days. I remember having a great old time with it on it's initial VHS release.

being my favourite F13 flick, I still watch that one once a year. For me, it's still as entertaining as it was back in the 80's although some of the comedy, like in the paintball scenes, does tend to need a blind eye turning towards it. The rest is solid, though, and it's still got my favourite death of the series when someone gets bent backwards.
Mileage will obviously vary depending on your personal tolerance for 80's slasher films that got gutted by the censors. I still find it fun, though :)
 
The Report (2019) Directed by Scott Z.Burns
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Good performances all round and definitely an interesting set of accounts covering the CIA's post 9/11 torture and waterboarding program and all the backhanded cover-ups that went along with it, but for me these type of heavy political films more often than not just lose my attention no matter how hard I try to keep up, this was no different and I must have zoned out at least 3 times with this but the parts that did manage to grasp and gain my attention where interesting and pretty shocking, I'm sure fans of this type of film will appreciate it's level of detail and history of events a lot more than me. 6/10
 
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Not one I've heard of, but I do have a keen interest in that subject matter, so will certainly check it out.
 
Is Hollywood run by snowflakes?
Yesterday I decided to rent X Men Phoenix from Prime and managed to watch about a third if it.
First I could not work out where in the X Men films timeline this fitted
given that the Xmen were all young and Raven was killed so she could not have been in any other of the films when she was shown as being older.
But what I found most annoying was the unnecessary dialogue which filled miet of the film at least the hut I saw. All to often these days films have pointless and inappropriate dialogue, for instance two people being chased with men with guns will take refuge behind a car door, as if that will stop a bullet, and talk about their hopes and dreams etc etc.
This film as so much snowflake dialogue interspersed with a few minutes of action.
Definitely up there as the most boring film if the year.
 
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I can see it now, attacking the enemy and getting shot because they are looking at their phones.
 
Anna and the Apocalypse (iTunes)

'Tis the season at last and the first Christmas watch of the season is this utterly delightful little British romzomcomusical.

"Shaun of the Dead meets La La Land" screams the lazy marketing guff, when in reality this is much more Submarine meets Sing Street meets Buffy's Once More With Feeling. That has zombies in it. And lots of grue.

Its a very British film, without that hyper stylised gloss that so many US productions seem to have, and yet the musical numbers (and be warned, this is NOT like La La Land where the musical numbers are scattered few and far between, its all the way through) are that brilliant mix of bombastic Steinman-esque rock opera and High School Musical-esque sing-and-dance-alongs and the two elements blend together wonderfully as the typically British small town is engulfed by the undead at Christmas.

The leads are all appealing (including Paul Kaye as the brilliantly sneering Headmaster of the local school), the music is superb, the gore and grue is that lovely mix of stomach churning and witty. And it even manages to homage a number of hardcore zombie movie tropes that cause undead nerds like me to break out in a knowing smile - an antagonist's demise is straight out of Joe Pilato's demise in Day.

And yet through it all is a real heart, with everyone going through real issues - the loss of a parent, the unrequited love for your best friend, the lack of direction as you reach adulthood - that just give the characters a real pathos so that when the not unexpected deaths of some of our leads hit, they do hit hard.

A just utterly charming British film that brings a huge smile to the face and a lovely warm feeling to your cockles. Be prepared to put it on your annual Christmas movie rotation for the rest of your days.
 
Is Hollywood run by snowflakes?
Yesterday I decided to rent X Men Phoenix from Prime and managed to watch about a third if it.
First I could not work out where in the X Men films timeline this fitted
given that the Xmen were all young and Raven was killed so she could not have been in any other of the films when she was shown as being older.
But what I found most annoying was the unnecessary dialogue which filled miet of the film at least the hut I saw. All to often these days films have pointless and inappropriate dialogue, for instance two people being chased with men with guns will take refuge behind a car door, as if that will stop a bullet, and talk about their hopes and dreams etc etc.
This film as so much snowflake dialogue interspersed with a few minutes of action.
Definitely up there as the most boring film if the year.
Spoiler spoilered and I remind you and others of spoilers and this thread Before Posting Here Read This :Spoilers What The Are and How To Hide Them, And Good Etiquette
Also to you spoiler
they altered the timeline with Days of Future Past the old X-Men X1, X2,X3 and the bits with Patrick Stewart Prof X etc existed but that timeline ended and a new one was formed when Raven saved the president and that's why now Jean is alive when Logan wakes, although that had to be resolved between Dark Phoenix and then in films that's not going to me made by Fox.
 
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The 33 (2015) Directed by Patricia Riggen
Based on a true story about the collapse at the mine in San Jose, Chile that left 33 miners isolated underground for 69 days.
Watching the first 10 mins of this and I really didn't think I'd last for the duration especially in the way it ramps up that English delivery to heavy Mexican accents, this carries on for the whole film but once these miners descend into that mine and all hell breaks loose it becomes a pretty gripping series of events and a great tale of survival, definitely not the best in this kind of genre and let down by a hokey midway dream sequence but yeah I still pretty much enjoyed this, good Sunday afternoon viewing.6.5

Widows (2018) Directed by Steve McQueen
Decent enough but honestly expected something a bit more on point and memorable from McQueen, Viola Davis annoyed me the most so nothing new there.6.5
 
Widows (2018) Directed by Steve McQueen
Decent enough but honestly expected something a bit more on point and memorable from McQueen, Viola Davis annoyed me the most so nothing new there.6.5

Daniel Kaluuya was the stand out for me in that film. He should do villains more often.
 
The Sisters Brothers - 4/10 - Was looking forward to this, I love the Western genre and its got some great acting talent in the cast, its looks good but as a film its unengaging and sadly dull.
 
The Sisters Brothers - 4/10 - Was looking forward to this, I love the Western genre and its got some great acting talent in the cast, its looks good but as a film its unengaging and sadly dull.
Despite having paid for this on Sky Store, I bailed out after about 30 minutes. Bored the tits off me.
 

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