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

Emma. (2020, US iTunes, via Movies Anywhere/Vudu)

Light and frothy, yet fizzing with just enough energy to be utterly charming.

No radical reimagining going on here, Emma is born, raised and lives solely in the midst of massive privilege and the film, rather than ignore or embrace it, just accepts it as the world in which Austen based her character.

Taylor-Joy brings just the right amount of swagger and bravado to convince as the social lynchpin for such a society and Johnny Flynn is perfect as her foil/nemesis/one true love (sod spoilers, you know this even if you ain't seen the film). That a film in 2020 with all that's going on can still make an indelicate jibe about someone who talks too much feel like the most shocking thing you can imagine speaks volumes about the authenticity de Wilde and her crew give to this and its all the better for it.

MVP is of course Bill Nighy who convinces as a hypochondriac geriatric as much as he does a louche ex-rock n roll singer and, frankly, as every role he's ever played.

But this is a joyous blast of frivolous nonsense at a time when what we all need most are joyous blasts of frivolous nonsense at every available opportunity.

Just lovely.
 
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Tangled 3D 4/5

3D Performance: Probably the definitive method of watching this film should be 3D. Reference level 3D throughout the entire film with hardly any cross talk whatsoever. Bright punchy picture and the last 20 minutes shows of scenes which 2D cannot compete with (specifically magic and lanterns looks insane along with some great action sequences). I'll compare it to the 4K/HDR version later. I think the 4K/HDR will overall be better for most scenes but where the 3D shines and enhances the experience near the end, the 2D can't touch because we have magic and lanterns literally popping into your face, entrancing you.


The story is good enough, the character's are charming and to an extent, its quite uncononvential. As a lead, Rapunzel is great. Its a classic love story and the execution is good. The villain is fine but the world does become very predictable early on (spoiler: everyone apart from three characters in the film are nice).

Plot wise its thin enough to be enjoyed by everyone but thick enough to provide some form of meat for 120 minutes. Runtime is good. It tells a complete story within 120 minutes. I would have liked to have seen more of her parents and maybe 10-20 minutes shaved off to provide a stronger emotional attachment to the situation.

Art design is absolutely jaw droppingly beautiful, but its a Disney animated film.. what else do we expect?

The sound design is distinctly average. The use of low end is sparingly used outside of horses charging (which is fantastic). The soundstage created is good but a lack of directional audio is a bit dissapointing. The song selection is also disapointing. It doesn't compete with Frozen's 'Let it Go' or Aladdin's "A Whole new World". Given the first half of the film is fairly song-heavy, I feel it needed a hit-song you'd want to potentially listen to after the credits. It doesn't have that.

So a solid disney film which does little wrong but doesn't quite excel anywhere where I feel it'd ever be in the realm of getting an extremely strong reccomendation.

4/5
 
Heat

An absolute masterpiece. In my top 10 films of all time.

I could write about the superb cast. Seriously how good are De Niro and Pacino in this? Two of the finest actors ever, both on top form. Pacino throws in some superb rants but he never goes too far and absolutely convinces as the work obsessed Cop. The small moments like when he comforts the women with the murdered daughter really give his character depth.

De Niro is perfect as the intelligent but distant Thief - great touches like his beautiful house with no furniture and his lack of family at the meal say so much about him. The romance and his later decisions which contradict his mantra work and don't seem to go against his character. Well written. He plays it perfectly.

Then you have Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Amy Brenneman, Jon Voight, Danny Trejo, Wes Studi, Ashley Judd etc etc etc absolutely everyone in this film is perfectly cast and most of the characters get enough detail to make you care about them and understand their motivations (how sad is it for the chap on parole who is literally in the wrong place at the wrong time)

The highlight of the film has to be the bank shoot out. Not because the rest of the film isn't already excellent but because it is one of the greatest action scenes ever filmed. The gunfire is breathtaking. Absolute edge of the seat stuff. Often action films have guns going off all over the place and it just seems unrealistic and convenient when things happen or people avoid getting hit. Somehow this manages to be realistic and insane at the same time.

The only thing about this film i don't like is the ending but that is because i wanted it to end in a different way. Can we pretend the last 10 minutes don't happen? It isn't because the ending is badly written or contradicts anything earlier but I would have preferred a different outcome.

Nearly 3 hours long and it never seems that long or gets boring. If only all films were this good.
 
Freaks (2019) - Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein
Netflix
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Good performance from Bruce Dern and the child actor but that's about it really for this insipid made-for-tv looking sci-fi thriller. Seen it all before psychic powers malarkey with facial bleeding, and rendered with weak visual effects, and a plot thats initially confusing then boringly predictable. And reference to 'special people' as "freaks"... if thats meant to be some kind of social commentary about a social underclass its one of the most dumb and tone deaf I've ever seen. It has one or two interesting gimmicks and as mentioned the little girl is very good. Intermittently watchable but also incredibly forgettable. Very surprised at its critical praise. 4.5/10
 
Elizabeth Harvest - 5/10 - Drama with a mix of sci-fi and horror, a girl moves in to the high tech house of her new (and much older) husband, when shown round the house there is one room that she's told is out of bounds, you know what happens next, quite an interesting premise but I found the acting a little stilted and it put me off.

From Beyond - 6.5/10 - Based on a H.P Lovecraft short this stars the excellent Jeffrey Combs as part of a scientist duo who have created "The Resonator" a machine which allows them to see into other dimensions with very icky results, yes its cheesy and some of the effects (particularly the flying ones) are a bit dated but its a helluva blast and there's that scene where Barbara Crampton turns from bespectacled geek to leather clad dominatrix thats always worth another watch, good fun.
 
Life of Pi 3D 3.5/5

So I've read this film is meant to be viewed in 3D. My father said its his favorite film of the last decade.

Excited I sat down for a 3D spectacle and the best film of the decade and I got neither. The 3D in this film is great but mostly used for depth. Very rarely if ever did I feel an animal was going to hit me. It was moreso just for the effects of rain, depth and this one fish scene.

The story was okay. Its poetic, in a 'this could be one of those classy short stories' or even a religous short story. But I didn't really enjoy it.

Its beautiful to look at, the animals are amazing. There is a huge degree of mystery I like in relation an island he visits.

But for its 2 hour runtime, I can't help but feel it didn't accomplish a lot. It really does what the title says.. its the Life of Pi. But only the early part of his life. A lot is left blank.

I kind of get why this film would get so many awards.

The ending was clever.. not disturbing as much as a bit clever...

I do get the religous/multi faith aspect.. but it was a bit convoluted. I've read the bible, quran, a few hindu texts such as gita etc. as I had a little interest when I was a kid. But it still didn't relate in my mind.

At the same time, it really didn't resonate or leave me thinking of anyhthing other than I better get to bed for tommorow. And that is not a good sign for me.

3.5/5
 
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A few films watched over the weekend:

Alien 3 Directors Cut (blu ray projected)
It's a long time since I saw this and it was actually a lot better than I expected. Not sure if I had ever got round to the directors cut but the film seemed to flow a lot better and I enjoyed it. I remember at the cinema never getting with the shocking opening and so the film settled a lot better with me this time around.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Mubi, projected)
I loved this. Beautifully shot and acted, mesmerising and moving - I somehow got some "grit" in my eye watching this one...

Train to Busan (AppleTV projected)
Recommended by someone at work in our World Cinema week in the film club. One of the best zombie films I've seen in a while, full of tension, excitement and heart. Oh and more "grit" ...
 
Line Of Duty (2019) Netflix

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The normally decent Aaron Eckhart stars in this absolute turkey of a 'cop thriller'. Not to be confused with the ace BBC series, the premise sees Eckhart's disgraced cop (yawn), chasing down a colleage's kidnapped daughter in real time. In a ridiculous turn of events, he's accompanied by a millennial reporter who's streaming their entire adventure online...Totally laughable, badly timed 'comic relief,a naff score, craptastic villain, and it's best described as End Of Watch meets My Spy - but only if you remove every element that made both of those decent films.
Elkhart seems embarrassed to be there, and Courtney Eaton, who plays the 'would be' reporter is beyond wooden. Breaking Bad's Giancarlo Esposito has a pretty thankless role too. Chuck in a script that should be used for toilet roll and you get the idea - I didn't much like it!
The one positive is an extended early footchase , that seems to be trying to 'out Point Break' Point Break.
Avoid.

3/10

we started this last night and turned it off after around 20mins.... i found the opening chase a proper mess of cuts... the police car was right behind the bad guy and then just nowhere to be found on a few occasions, Echkhart running what feels like 20million miles yet never really getting there. Deciding to fight the bad guy at the start instead of arresting him at gunpoint, the 2 cops trying to arrest the bad guy yet one cop for some reason turns around and ignores the fight behind him... arghh... was really starting to irritate me... police radio going mad and no one can catch the 1 guy running down the middle of a pretty empty street... i was out... :D
 
I am surprised you lasted that long!
 
Return of the Jedi (Disney+) - Probably the one I really first remember vividly watching in the cinema so I have a great fondness for this. Seen it many, many times and even though some of the Ewok parts are a bit cringe-worthy overall it's a great ending to the trilogy.
Very understated for a lot of it and runs at a slow pace until things start to kick off on Endor but that's what makes the great finale so much more exhilarating with the 3 battles going on at once.

It's the culmination of 3 films where lessons have been learnt and techniques perfected by the filmmakers so you have some cracking effects - the space battle is immense and light years ahead of the Episode 4 battle. The costumes and characters are amazing and varied with some incredible examples at the beginning on Tatooine. Finally the light saber battle between Luke & Vader maybe doesn't quite top Empire with regards to spectacle but it has so much emotion and fight in it.

This is a great, great finale and yes the extra CGI, especially the song at the beginning and the final shots after victory are horrendous and really need to be taken out, it ends a spectacular trilogy of movies....if only that was the ending...

9/10

Eurovision Song Contest
(Netflix) - So I did get round to watching it and kind of glad I did. I went in thinking this will be similar to Blades of Glory which I love but it's actually quite different in several ways. Much more a rom-com with the Eurovision backdrop and not really laugh out loud funny for a lot of it, it plays as a parody of the competition but you end up thinking that this might be what it is really like :)
I'm not a Eurovision fan, maybe seen a bit of it every few years and might have watched the whole thing once but this film was very entertaining. Starts off slow with you thinking this might be pretty awful Will Ferrell dirge and not funny but then once the contest starts it ramps up with some great characters and very funny moments with the show itself. As I said it's not laugh out loud funny that often but you have a constant smile on your face and the whole competition part, which is probably just over half the movie, if a great watch. Pierce Brosnan alone is worth the watch as he really hams it up massively with an accent that is from god knows where!

Will it make me watch Eurovision?...hell no but I'd possibly watch this again and think it might build up a cult following similar to the Greatest Showman purely due to it's complete campness and great pop songs.

I probably shouldn't recommend it as I can see some people hating it but if you are currently mildly interested in watching it but unsure then give it a go, you might be surprised :)
7/10
 
@Lancia34 we watched Eurovision too and really enjoyed it, my wife was adamant she didn't want to watch it, but she loved it by the end. I have to say the elves thing was great and no, we will not be watching the actual Eurovision contest in the future, I'd rather re-watch this in a couple of years time :D
 
@Lancia34 we watched Eurovision too and really enjoyed it, my wife was adamant she didn't want to watch it, but she loved it by the end. I have to say the elves thing was great and no, we will not be watching the actual Eurovision contest in the future, I'd rather re-watch this in a couple of years time :D

Same here the wife wasn't too keen but for a rainy Sunday afternoon it was great and she really did enjoy it. It does have some essence of Blades of Glory and the better Will Ferrell films but I kind of liked that it was more of a homage to the contest and not a parody as such as I expect the thing is completely bonkers behind the scenes anyway :)
 
Hugo 3D 3/5

3D is reference material, soundtrack is charming but nothing spectacular technically, the film grading and visuals are extraordinary.

However from a story, character, lore and plot perspective, I found it to feel awfully flat and catered more towards children.

I wasn't very interested in the story, it never really grabbed my attention. Similarly character wise, only the small girl was really entrancing or charsimatic on screen. Everyone else was quite flat and two dimensional with lacking gravitas.

This is only my opinion and the film has so many awards that I'm sure it just didn't hit the spot for me personally.
 
Wow can't believe I forgot our Saturday night movie.. The Exorcist (BD)

I can't decide if this really is a horror film or possibly the perfect supernatural thriller. It definitely has it's horrific moments but the film really shows the path of the priests and the mother and how they are all affected by Regan and the "devil". It's less about Regan herself or her possession, they aren't really the focus of the film as such, but about Father Karras and his doubts as a priest and Father Merrin, the man with experience and nearing the end of his life. As for Regan's mother, that character pretty much goes to Hell and back herself as she is tormented and subjected to the horrific events.

And those events are still perfectly executed. You could say they might look a little basic but there is something so much more real about seeing a "real" head turn round than a CGI one. The make up effects are astonishing and all the practical effects are so well done with their limited means.
As for Linda Blair, well what can you say, it's a mesmerizing performance for her parts (as obviously she didn't do all of it herself), and the film would never have worked without her I think.

I won't go on too much more as I'd recommend the Mark Kermode documentary on it, which is superb. - The Fear of God and should be on iPlayer still I think. I know quite a few people here have watched it recently.


So, horror film or not horror film, the make up, effects, acting, dialogue, set pieces and music are all incredible. Probably the perfect film of it's kind and maybe just the front runner of those amazing "horror"/scary movies of the 70's and 80's

10/10
 
we started this last night and turned it off after around 20mins.... i found the opening chase a proper mess of cuts... the police car was right behind the bad guy and then just nowhere to be found on a few occasions, Echkhart running what feels like 20million miles yet never really getting there. Deciding to fight the bad guy at the start instead of arresting him at gunpoint, the 2 cops trying to arrest the bad guy yet one cop for some reason turns around and ignores the fight behind him... arghh... was really starting to irritate me... police radio going mad and no one can catch the 1 guy running down the middle of a pretty empty street... i was out... :D
Yes, easily the worst film I've seen in ages. Shockingly bad considering the lead. I did say AVOID in my review!
 
Minions 3D 4/5

3D is reference quality and greatly enhances the story.

The actual story and film are extremely charming and I love the minions now. However the film somehow managed to drag, despite only being 90 minutes. Maybe its just a limitation of having your three main characters not speak. Its still very impressive it manages to do that for the entire film but it obviously will eventually lose points against films like Toy Story who have you know.. characters that speak.
 
Minions 3D 4/5

3D is reference quality and greatly enhances the story.

The actual story and film are extremely charming and I love the minions now. However the film somehow managed to drag, despite only being 90 minutes. Maybe its just a limitation of having your three main characters not speak. Its still very impressive it manages to do that for the entire film but it obviously will eventually lose points against films like Toy Story who have you know.. characters that speak.

Definitely lacking compared with the Despicable Me movies which I think almost challenge Pixar and are way funnier.
Minions I thought was ok but just got a bit boring but do wish I had it in 3D if it’s that good :)
 
Wow can't believe I forgot our Saturday night movie.. The Exorcist (BD)

I can't decide if this really is a horror film or possibly the perfect supernatural thriller. It definitely has it's horrific moments but the film really shows the path of the priests and the mother and how they are all affected by Regan and the "devil". It's less about Regan herself or her possession, they aren't really the focus of the film as such, but about Father Karras and his doubts as a priest and Father Merrin, the man with experience and nearing the end of his life. As for Regan's mother, that character pretty much goes to Hell and back herself as she is tormented and subjected to the horrific events.

And those events are still perfectly executed. You could say they might look a little basic but there is something so much more real about seeing a "real" head turn round than a CGI one. The make up effects are astonishing and all the practical effects are so well done with their limited means.
As for Linda Blair, well what can you say, it's a mesmerizing performance for her parts (as obviously she didn't do all of it herself), and the film would never have worked without her I think.

I won't go on too much more as I'd recommend the Mark Kermode documentary on it, which is superb. - The Fear of God and should be on iPlayer still I think. I know quite a few people here have watched it recently.


So, horror film or not horror film, the make up, effects, acting, dialogue, set pieces and music are all incredible. Probably the perfect film of it's kind and maybe just the front runner of those amazing "horror"/scary movies of the 70's and 80's

10/10


It really is an excellent film, the introductory scenes in Iraq are superb, the grim tone of the whole film is what a horror should be and the possessed Regan is a true horror icon.

The Hunted - 6/10 -
Coincidentally I watched a later Friedkin film tonight with his (almost virtual) take on First Blood from 2003, Benacio Del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones play the hunter and the hunted in this pared down action thriller, its a good watch with Lee Jones the better of the tow leads but lacks the ooomph that could have made it great
 
3D is reference quality and greatly enhances the story.

The majority of TV purchasers didn't agree with you. You can't buy the 3D TV's any more as the 3D TV manufactures lost a fortune. Mass wise no one bought them.
 
The majority of TV purchasers didn't agree with you. You can't buy the 3D TV's any more as the 3D TV manufactures lost a fortune. Mass wise no one bought them.

We get it. You don't like 3D.

If you read the critic's reviews of the 3D versions of the films (such as Life of Pi or Gravity which they cite as THE way to watch it), then you'll maybe think differently.

Consumer's sadly didn't have the right tools to make 3D work. 3D works best on a 100 inch projection screen in a light controlled envrionment using £50 3D glasses at a minimum.

Most people can't afford a dedicated room to make that work and are stuck with some crappy LCD TV with whatever 3D glasses that came with it.


But once again, we get it. You don't like 3D.

When I say 3D is reference quality, I mean it is reference quality for 3D.
 
Consumer's sadly didn't have the right tools to make 3D work. 3D works best on a 100 inch projection screen in a light controlled envrionment using £50 3D glasses at a minimum.

That really says it all. By the way, Who's "We"?
 
The majority of TV purchasers didn't agree with you. You can't buy the 3D TV's any more as the 3D TV manufactures lost a fortune. Mass wise no one bought them.

I love my 3D TV. Don’t have many discs so haven’t used it much but glad I have one.
Also have greatly enjoyed watching 3D movies in PSVR which is surprisingly good.
Shame it didn’t kick off because when it’s good it’s really good.
 
We get it. You don't like 3D.



But once again, we get it. You don't like 3D.

When I say 3D is reference quality, I mean it is reference quality for 3D.
They just doesn't like old tech, but seems to likes to start arguments with anyone who does.
 
They just doesn't like old tech, but seems to likes to start arguments with anyone who does.


Its the second time in this thread where I've posted a review of a 3D film where he's come down with this negativity (despite admitting he doesn't own a 3D display). Its very irritating.

I own an OLED 4KHDR, a Valve Index (for VR forms of entertainment), a 3D projector and a 3D LCDTV. I have no bias either way.

They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I've enjoyed and enjoy SDR, HDR, 4k, 720p 4:3 anime, VR films (of the few there are), 3D films... Why people feel the need to bash a technology which is foriegn to them is beyond my understanding. I see this with VR A LOT.

It doesn't take a genius to understand or know that 3D is on a heavy decline. Commercial TVs don't support it and 3D Blu-rays are becoming rarer by the day. The reasons include the glasses, the cost, the early-days experience, the expense of converting the films to 3D, the expense of filming them in 3D etc. its a more expensive, niche format which requires more care, quality and attention to get the best impact... so it not doing well isn't that surprising.

However it doesn't take away from the increased depth, immersion and special effects 3D provides. I've ran through many scenes and films with people, asking them to compare the 3D to the 4KHDR version. In certain films people by far and away think the 3D is superior (som even say clearer!). My mum (who is quite against normal technology) said "why isn't this more popular and normal". I then pointed towards the dedicated room holding a projector, a 100 inch projected image, the expensive 2x 3D glasses, the special edition 3D Bluray I had to buy for an extra cost and that we had to draw the curtains and watch it in a dim/dark envrionment.

Then she understood.

A lot of enthusiast level technologies are expensive or niche. Subwoofers, proper surround sound setups, proper dolby atmos setups... heck even the basics of home cinema like AVRs are very rare! JVC NX9s are rare... but if someone offered me one, I'd take it straight away :D
 
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