I'm Thinking of Ending Things.
That's the film not a vague suicide note ( but at least I have your attention )
Let me first say it's a Charlie Kaufman movie so I guess I should have known it would be different.
Weird and Wonderful, would be an apt three word review.
It's on Netflix and would be worth at least two viewings to get it but I can wholeheartedly recommend it.
Watched The Lighthouse. Was looking forward to this based on reviews I'd seen and I normally like pretentious artsy fartsy stuff but this didn't grab me. Everything about it is well made, the cinematography, the sets, the sound design etc. but I couldn't get into it and just wanted it to be over.
Forgot to mention Uncut Gems in this thread too. Watched it a good while ago now and thought it was fantastic.
Mark James wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 9:46 pm
Watched The Lighthouse. Was looking forward to this based on reviews I'd seen and I normally like pretentious artsy fartsy stuff but this didn't grab me. Everything about it is well made, the cinematography, the sets, the sound design etc. but I couldn't get into it and just wanted it to be over.
Forgot to mention Uncut Gems in this thread too. Watched it a good while ago now and thought it was fantastic.
Uncut Gems was one of the most stressful films ive seen in a while but all the better for it.
Fun fact Robert Pattinson has a jerk off scene in 4 consecutive films (including the shite Lighthouse)
I thought to cheer myself up this lockdown i would watch Contagion (2011).
In a movie that was made over 10 years ago it is amazing how much this scary fanciful piece of nonsens got right about the world during a pandemic with acts of selfishness coupled with wonder ful acts of selflessness.
How people were (are) makibg money off the backs of fear and misery.
Sone of the things they got wrong I wish was true lije a nasal vaccine and a lottery for a fair distribution ( the same as US conscription during the Vietnam war.)
Also the bracelet you get to indicate youve been vaccinated.
Worth a watch its one of the few movies available on both Prime anf Netflix
Watched Promising Young Woman. It was fine I guess. Nothing special. I can see what people like and don't like about it. I read one really spoiler heavy, negative review of it before watching and while I agree with most of the points I still thought it was OK. Didn't like the Bo Burnham character though. I don't think he suited the part.
Mark James wrote: ↑Mon Apr 26, 2021 8:51 am
Watched Promising Young Woman. It was fine I guess. Nothing special. I can see what people like and don't like about it. I read one really spoiler heavy, negative review of it before watching and while I agree with most of the points I still thought it was OK. Didn't like the Bo Burnham character though. I don't think he suited the part.
Had the last act been more polished it would have been a great movie.
But still very original.
It was my Oscar pick for best original screenplay
Watched Tenet but kind of with it in the background while I was working from home, which is probably the worst way to watch that movie in particular but you know what, I enjoyed it. Probably will have to give it another watch though.
Also watched the Florida Project. Really loved it. Made me laugh out load and cry a bit. Smashing performances all round.
The Sparks Brothers by Edgar Wright.
One of the most innovative and influential bands you may never have heard off.
Very enjoyable and nostalgic.
This Town Aint Big Enough Fo the Both of Us and The No1 Song all Over Heaven sound az fresh today as they did over 40 years ago.
Its a bit long for a documentary nearly 2 and a half hours but worth watching
Mark James wrote: ↑Fri Apr 16, 2021 6:42 am
John Lithgow in Cliffhanger is the most underrated movie villain.
Watched a tweet little movie called Beatriz at Dinner which was on BBC the other night featuring Lithgow as a bad guy I guess. Not as over top as in Cliffhanger but he was good. Overall the movie was OK, nothing amazing.
Did get to see Knives Out last night finally and thought it was superb. Don't care for the Oscars all that much but if you're gonna have them they should really have a best ensemble cast prize.
Mark James wrote: ↑Fri Apr 16, 2021 6:42 am
John Lithgow in Cliffhanger is the most underrated movie villain.
Watched a tweet little movie called Beatriz at Dinner which was on BBC the other night featuring Lithgow as a bad guy I guess. Not as over top as in Cliffhanger but he was good. Overall the movie was OK, nothing amazing.
Did get to see Knives Out last night finally and thought it was superb. Don't care for the Oscars all that much but if you're gonna have them they should really have a best ensemble cast prize.
Speaking of best ensemble cast Magnolia is available on Netflix.
One of best films in arguably the best year for quality films, 1999
Th Green Knight.
Its on Amazon Prime but it is so much better at the cinema.
Visually stunning, Dev Patel is wonderful in this and the CGI is superb
Worth a watch even if you are not familiar with the poem
No Time To Die.
A very fitting end to the Daniel Craig Story arc.
Fantastic first act full of action and excitement.
The second act drags a bit but the ending was great.
Score was good and the cinematography excellent
In my top 5 Bond films
I recently watched Poltergeist and Don't Look Now.
I thought Poltergeist was just a bit weak. Not a lot to say other than that.
I think people like Don't Look Now because it's all poncey and arty farty the way it's filmed, but get over that and really it's just a ridiculous film. And the ending could be from just a cheap slasher film. Really weird.
You won't like Last Night in Soho then which has echoes of Dont look Now but it is a good film though.
Some people (strangely Americans) didn't like the ending as it changes direction in the last act but i liked the ending and Edgar Wright knows how to use music in his films.
Saw Spencer today, very enjoyable fable.
Kristen Stewart was very good and I forget it was the same woman from Twilight.
Watched The Hole in the Ground which was OK. I was watching during the day while "working" from home and had to rewind the last act and pull the curtains so I could actually see what was happening.
Also watched Snowpiercer which was OK as well. Overused slow motion a bit during the fight scenes but worth a watch.
Watched the second half of the Eiger Sanction last night. Not heard of it before, but it's probably the worst Clint Eastwood film I've seen. I hope the first half made up for it. Scenery and stunt work was decent though.
Mark James wrote: ↑Wed Dec 15, 2021 12:13 pm
Another Round. Fantastic. Makes me want to be an alcoholic which is probably not its goal and hardly a ringing endorsement but I thought it was great.
My favourite foreign language film of last year.
Called Druk in Danish ( can't do the umlaits)
I watched Ghostbusters: Afterlife at the cinema today. It was quite good, but I don't think it was as good as the old films. It's weird that it seemed like a sequel to the old films, without reference to the new one the did with women in the main roles, like they're writing that one out of history.
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon Dec 20, 2021 7:50 pm
I watched Ghostbusters: Afterlife at the cinema today. It was quite good, but I don't think it was as good as the old films. It's weird that it seemed like a sequel to the old films, without reference to the new one the did with women in the main roles, like they're writing that one out of history.
They did the sane thing with the Halloween reboot recently
Spiderman No Way Home - full of fan service and nostalgia. fun but a bit nonsensical. can't imagine it being well received by anyone not well versed in comic book movies.
The King's Man - all the individual scenes are good but couldn't help leaving thinking it was a bit of a naff film. no real sense to it, and nowhere near as funny as I was expecting it to be.
tick tick BOOM! - excellent. a handful of scenes that seem a bit off without knowing much about the world of theatre/musicals, but overall it's great.
Mark Deeks wrote:Callum Todd looks like a young Ted Bundy.
Callum Todd wrote: ↑Fri Jan 07, 2022 10:43 pm
Spiderman No Way Home - full of fan service and nostalgia. fun but a bit nonsensical. can't imagine it being well received by anyone not well versed in comic book movies.
The King's Man - all the individual scenes are good but couldn't help leaving thinking it was a bit of a naff film. no real sense to it, and nowhere near as funny as I was expecting it to be.
tick tick BOOM! - excellent. a handful of scenes that seem a bit off without knowing much about the world of theatre/musicals, but overall it's great.
Why didn't Parker ask Dr Strange ask for everyone to forget Mysterio.
Would have made for a shorter film .
Mind you Garfield may be in Morbius on the back of his scene stealing performance
Watched Deadly Cuts as well. More Dublin based stuff with gangland features but a sweet comedy about a hairdressers who fight back against local thugs and politicians while trying to win a hairstyle competition. Good fun.
Continuing with the Irish theme I watched two cracking films recently.
Calm with Horses (your man Smiley is real menacing) and Herself (one of those emotional roller-coaster movies uplifting at times but with some get wrenching scenes)
Mark James wrote: ↑Mon Jan 24, 2022 4:58 pm
Watched Nobody. It's basically John Wick with someone else. Good but formulaic. No doubt they'll ruin it with unnecessary sequels.
Not sure about a sequel given that Bob Odenkirk had a heart attack last year
Mark James wrote: ↑Sun Mar 20, 2022 12:35 am
Reminiscence was pretty good.
Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Ferguson elevated this from an average sci-fi. It had elements of Inception and Bladerunner
I though the whole cast was great. I probably preferred it to both Inception and Bladerunner (the original which I always thought was overrated, the recent sequel was amazing).
Mark James wrote: ↑Sun Mar 20, 2022 12:35 am
Reminiscence was pretty good.
Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Ferguson elevated this from an average sci-fi. It had elements of Inception and Bladerunner
I though the whole cast was great. I probably preferred it to both Inception and Bladerunner (the original which I always thought was overrated, the recent sequel was amazing).
The Original Bladerunner was one of my favourite Sci fis for years because when it came out I was gobsmacked at the fact that all the special effects were practical no CGI (it probably predates CGI)
Almost at the same time The Thing came out also a practical effects movie that also stands the test of time.
Both these movies were box office failures not least because ET was everywhere.
Originally Bladerunner was panned by the critics and only the advent of VHS elevated these films and critics have since been much kinder to Bladerunner.
I do agree that the sequel was stunning
Yeah, there's loads to admire about the original Bladerunner but I just couldn't get into it. Doesn't help that there's all the different versions. Not even sure which one I saw. Do you know which is considered the definitive one? I might have to give it another chance.
Mark James wrote: ↑Sun Mar 20, 2022 10:37 pm
Yeah, there's loads to admire about the original Bladerunner but I just couldn't get into it. Doesn't help that there's all the different versions. Not even sure which one I saw. Do you know which is considered the definitive one? I might have to give it another chance.
The Directors cut with the bleaker ending is supposed to be but as I'm old enough to have seen the original in the cinema I go for that one.
That's the one with the narration by Harrison Ford and the ending where Ford and Young drive off (a scene that uses stock footage from The Shining)
I think there are at least 2 other versions including The Final Cut but I haven't seen those.
Watched The Guard again for Paddy's Day. An excellent little film, silly, funny occasionally quite surprising. The only down sid eis that Don Cheadle doesn't attempt a cockney accent.
Ian Volante wrote: ↑Mon Mar 21, 2022 12:52 pm
Watched The Guard again for Paddy's Day. An excellent little film, silly, funny occasionally quite surprising. The only down sid eis that Don Cheadle doesn't attempt a cockney accent.
I think as long as the acting is good I don't get hung up by poor or even a lack of accent.
Chernobyl, the mini series being a case in point.
Swan Song.
A very well acted Sci-fi.
The moral dilemma of whether you would clone yourself and not tell your family as you have a terminal illness.
Worth checking out.
The opening scene on the train is amazing
Mark James wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 10:32 pm
Triangle. Excellent horror. Would highly recommend.
Is that the time loop one?
Yes. It's brilliant. It was on Horror channel and I actually wrote that post during the last ad break so the finale had still to come and, oh my god it's bloody amazing. Honestly, one of those movies you'll be thinking about for days. Even watched an hour long discussion about it on YouTube afterwards. Which made it even better.
Top Gun : Maverick.
I have a cinema season ticket so I thought I would watch this.
I prepared by watching the original Top Gun.
Which was good apart from the repetitive soundtrack.
Danger Zone played 5 times.
Having watched a few 'Legacy sequels' I wasn't expecting much buch it was a blast, well written plot and the dogfight scenes were the best I've seen
All the actors were in a real aircraft with a camera.
Obviously not flying them but you got the same sensation.
Tom Cruise must have a picture in his attic.
He is the same age as me ffs and he looks in his forties.
If you ever needed an excuse to go back the cinema then this is it
Moon was quite good as I remember it.
Sam Rockwell played his parts well.
Robocop started out really well violent and clever.
It didn't have a great ending
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:05 pm
Moon was quite good as I remember it.
Sam Rockwell played his parts well.
Robocop started out really well violent and clever.
It didn't have a great ending
I wouldn't call Robocop great or anything, but it was OK for a bit of entertainment. Moon I just thought lacked anything of substance and was a little dull. I had an argument with a friend about it. I told him he likes pretentious arty farty things that are essentially hollow (not in those exact words).
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:05 pm
Moon was quite good as I remember it.
Sam Rockwell played his parts well.
Robocop started out really well violent and clever.
It didn't have a great ending
I wouldn't call Robocop great or anything, but it was OK for a bit of entertainment. Moon I just thought lacked anything of substance and was a little dull. I had an argument with a friend about it. I told him he likes pretentious arty farty things that are essentially hollow (not in those exact words).
I think thought provoking films are what I like.
I recently watched Men which was very arty farty and weird but it did make me think about it afterwoods
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2022 5:05 pm
Moon was quite good as I remember it.
Sam Rockwell played his parts well.
Robocop started out really well violent and clever.
It didn't have a great ending
I wouldn't call Robocop great or anything, but it was OK for a bit of entertainment. Moon I just thought lacked anything of substance and was a little dull. I had an argument with a friend about it. I told him he likes pretentious arty farty things that are essentially hollow (not in those exact words).
I think thought provoking films are what I like.
I recently watched Men which was very arty farty and weird but it did make me think about it afterwoods
I suppose I just didn't find Moon particularly thought-provoking.
)
.