Movie Record 2021 Edition - The Bear and Badger

Little Franklin

I'm just a poor boy Nobody loves me.

Little Franklin

Having not seen it yet, in my head it's his superhero name. Mr Nobody and his incredible ability to go unnoticed.

hylian_elf

18. Where Is The Friend's House? - 20 Apr
My first taste of Kiarostami and it didn't disappoint. Found myself being reminded of Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali although I can't quite place why - maybe it was the story unfolding about and around a little boy, and the images of rural Iran reminding me of my native Bangladesh. Thumbs up and I'll be watching the next two in the trilogy soon.
[8]

The Daddy

26. Promising Young Woman. Solid can’t-hide-from-the-past sociopathic vengeance piece. Does a good job of not revealing too much detail.[7]

b0r1s

36. When Jeff Tried to Save The World the Sky write up would make you think this is a Dodgeball type film. It’s not. They list it as a comedy. It’s not. It’s more about family and work and what pressure that can put on someone.

Webbins

49. Zombeavers
Self-deprecating, mildly entertaining, low budget horror comedy. A group of unlikeable youths find themselves in the middle of the zombeaver apocalypse during a rural retreat. Notable for the Bill Burr and John Mayer cameos that bookend the film on which presumably the majority of the budget was spent. 6.5

50. The Hitcher
2007 remake of the 1986 cult classic with Sean Bean reprising Rutger Hauer's apeshit highway nutjob role. Bean is mildly menacing but the film is an obvious naughties remake that lacks that 80s chiller style. 6

51. Unhinged
Woman gets on the wrong side of a wronged nutjob Russell Crowe during a road rage incident and a dark and menacing pursuit ensues. Crowe does a decent job, angrily chewing his way through the script but after a promising start the film descends into your average psycho chase thriller. 6.5

Kow

I thought Unhinged was entertaining enough but I keep imagining it was John Goodman in it, not Crowe.

hylian_elf

19. And Life Goes On - 1 May
A beautiful road movie where a director and his son travel from Tehran to Koker amidst the aftermath of the 1990 earthquake which claimed thousands upon thousands of lives. Described as a blend of fact and fiction, and unusual in its ‘plot’/narrative in that the film before this in the trilogy is actually portrayed as a film whose child actors the lead is in search of to make sure they are ok. If ‘Where is the Friend’s House’ wasn’t enough, this has certainly got me interested in watching even more Kiarostami beyond the Koker trilogy.
[9]

poprock

Page Eight
Beautifully paced old fashioned British spy thriller with Bill Nighy and Rachel Weisz on top form.

Turks & Caicos
Bill Nighy’s old school spy goes on the run to a Caribbean tax haven, gets mixed up with Winona Ryder, Christopher Walken … and the conspiracy from Page Eight follows him.

poprock

Salting the Battlefield
Final part of the trilogy. Bill Nighy is with Helena Bonham-Carter and up against Ralph Feinnes. Understated, taut, and beautifully done.

Gremill

36. Rambo
Stallone looks like a half melted Waxwork as he escorts some idiotic missionaries down the river in this monumentally dumb slaughter-fest which is both incredibly violent and somehow a bit bloodless as CG demonstrates once again that it's no substitute for a good old fashioned practical squib. 5

37. Speed
High concept, highly wooden Canoe Reeves and highly hammy Hopper combine with lovely Sandra Bullock, some extremely daft moments and some great stunt work for a film that's still great fun. 8

nick_md

Speed's great, watched it again a few years ago and my memory of it is that it's pretty much non stop thrills from the off. It's a bit long but surprisingly doesn't feel like there's much fat on the film. A highlight of the 90s action genre for me. I'd agree with your 8 probably, maybe an 8.5, but in the context of 90s action it's a 10 for me.

LivDiv

I like the bit where the annoying woman goes under the wheels.

nick_md

That is a good bit, yeah.

LivDiv

I watched Daylight the other day which is of a similar breed. Nowhere near as good as Speed but I do have a certain nostalgia for these types of 90s action/disaster movies.

nick_md

That's the Stallone one right? Went to see it on my bday when it came out so I've a special place for it, was at that age where every new film seemed like it was the biggest event ever. Watched it again last year or so and it's a solid poseidon affair that gets an extra point for being a 90s action/disaster movie, as you say.

LivDiv

Yeah thats the one.
I think it is the practical effects that allow them to still hold up. The huge sound stages with fire and exploding bits and flooded pools all serve to add that cinema magic. The 90s was the end of that era really.

nick_md

Yeah agree with that, and with Grem's take above re. CGI blood. I've said this a few times I think but one of my dreamland wishes is to be riddled with bullets via squibs in a proper 80s/90s style, would love it. Toss in a grenade jump (where a grenade goes off and you summersault in the air off a springboard) and I'd die happy.

Gremill

LivDiv wrote:

Yeah thats the one.
I think it is the practical effects that allow them to still hold up. The huge sound stages with fire and exploding bits and flooded pools all serve to add that cinema magic. The 90s was the end of that era really.

Yeah, you can't beat a good practical explosion. The one at the end of Speed is properly spectacular.

davyK

That modern day Rambo film was outrageous. Daft and stupid but I enjoyed it. That final shoot off was ridonkulous.

b0r1s

37, 38 and 39 - The Lord of The Rings Trilogy in 4K - well that’s a sight and no mistaking. Still a classic. The 4K is a solid rendition that makes it look that little bit better.

40. Page Eight - based on a rec in here. It’s Bill Nighy leading a great cast in a low key British spy drama. Enjoyable stuff, mainly for the sparring between the different characters. Though...

Spoiler:

regmcfly

LivDiv wrote:

I watched Daylight the other day which is of a similar breed. Nowhere near as good as Speed but I do have a certain nostalgia for these types of 90s action/disaster movies.

We watched that a few years ago when staying on Skye in a house that only had VHS tapes.

We both enjoyed it but fuck me it's quite miserable all in all.

LivDiv

Yeah I had actually forgotten that its not all happy clappy Hollywood ending for all the characters.

b0r1s

41. Godzilla (1998) - I recall this being one of the early DVD’s and pretty sure it got bundled with my Samsung DVD player. So I usually put it on to show friends the quality of DVD. It starts well enough but soon descends into a farcical mix of carry on meets Jurassic Park. Emmerich must have been on drugs making this.

davyK

Haven't seen Godzilla 1998 and never will.

b0r1s

Don’t. I mean you could watch it if you are drunk and fancy a laugh. Unfortunately it doesn’t fall into the so bad it’s good category. It’s just bad.

LivDiv

I used to think it wasn't as bad as all that but I watched it relatively recently and it really is a stinker.
You can totally forget about it being even remotely a Godzilla movie but even as an unrelated 90s summer blockbuster it sucks.

The Jamiroquai and Puff Daddy/Jimmy Page tracks are good though.

b0r1s

Yeah I’d forgot about the Puff Daddy track until the credits rolled and even cancelled Netflix doing the next show to listen to it :-)

But yeah it’s not even Day After Tomorrow bad/good.

LivDiv

I was just looking up the Puff Daddy track and found out Tom Morello helped out on the production and played bass on it.

hylian_elf

davyK wrote:

Haven't seen Godzilla 1998 and never will.

Such an unbelievably big pile of shit.

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