Movie Record 2023 Edition - The Bear and Badger

RedDave2

7. The Menu
Solid black comedy... horror type thing? I'm not sure how I'd classify this. There's a good feeling of dread building although maybe I'm just jaded but the horrific reveals were more "aha" than "aaaargh!". Good performances with Ralph Fiennes being an odd mix of Willie Wonka Hannibal Lector and Anya Taylor Joy working great as the unintended hero of sorts. I think it could have pushed things a bit further to increase the shock but overall I really enjoyed the ride and while its quite a light movie it pops a few nice comments about modern socity into the mind [8]

Moot_Geeza

Dollman (1991)

Drink 'n watch with a few friends. Early 90s no budget sci fi action film that reeled us in with an enjoyable trailer and premise (alien policeman gets tough on earth, where everyone's a giant because he's 13 inches tall). Absolute pish, because of course it is, but still fun. [3]

Cos

3. The Lost City
So-so action comedy effort. It's pretty light fare and probably on the slightly better than average end of the scale. Suspect there's a better film in here as it really felt dumbed down - everything is heavily signposted or overly explained by a character so any potential mystery, puzzle solving element or twist is entirely bulldozed. On the plus side, Daniel Radcliffe had a great time hamming it up as the villain and probably should have had more to do. Bullock and Tatum are solid as ever, and there was a fun cameo early on. Some fun but mostly forgettable, YMMV. [5]

4. Suspicion
Mid-range Hitchcok thriller. Not the first time it's been employed but the almost the entire film served as build up, which ratchets the tension but felt like this one took it too far. At a certain point it wasn't really adding anything more and the payoff didn't work for me at all. [5]

5. Lost Bullet
French action movie about a convicted genius mechanic that helps a specialist police unit beef up their cars. I had a good time with this, a swift 90 minutes meant it didn't waste time but still managed to create engaging characters and cut through some of the action with an actual decent plot. The car stuntwork was a bit of a letdown at times given how core it was to the film but probably tricky to match the feats set by the F&F franchise these days. Solid effort, worth a look on Netflix. [7]

djchump

Lost Bullet 2 is better than the first IMHO. Got 2 or 3 really top tier fights in it, and bigger car stunts.

Cos

Cool, definitely up for more. Forgot about the fight scenes but the one in the police station had some great moments.

davyK

Men

Yeah. I was expecting a nice little creepy stalker/gaslighting psychological drama. Not quite - can't say too much as I don't want to spoil other than it isn't quite as straightforward as that. Rather well done with bags of atmosphere and is rather unsettling in a good way.

One could analyse this for quite some time. This plays with analogy re the lead character's trauma. I'll say no more than that. I'd recommend it but this isn't what the trailer created the impression of.

ShabbyMcCrabby

4. Avatar: The Way of Water
Friend I see a lot of films with was gonna go by himself so I thought I'd go again. Just as entertaining the second time and with the same issues. Still an insane technical achievement and the story does a good enough job. Am interested to see where the next one goes.
[6]

ShabbyMcCrabby

Not sure if this link will work Davy but this is a good podcast interview with Garland about it.
https://pca.st/episode/a6ef8fb1-be43-41c4-95a4-eaccd8f3a7fb

davyK

That link works. Cheers.

Gremill

davyK wrote:

Men

Yeah. I was expecting a nice little creepy stalker/gaslighting psychological drama. Not quite - can't say too much as I don't want to spoil other than it isn't quite as straightforward as that. Rather well done with bags of atmosphere and is rather unsettling in a good way.

One could analyse this for quite some time. This plays with analogy re the lead character's trauma. I'll say no more than that. I'd recommend it but this isn't what the trailer created the impression of.

Yeah, it wasn't what I expected at all. That last 30 minutes is incredible.

davyK

Deja Vu Time travel hokum with Denzel Washington and Val Kilmer who elevate it to "worth a watch" status. Gaps and leaps abound but it's fine, neat in places and overall entertaining.

davyK

Gremill wrote:

davyK wrote:

Men Yeah. I was expecting a nice little creepy stalker/gaslighting psychological drama. Not quite - can't say too much as I don't want to spoil other than it isn't quite as straightforward as that. Rather well done with bags of atmosphere and is rather unsettling in a good way. One could analyse this for quite some time. This plays with analogy re the lead character's trauma. I'll say no more than that. I'd recommend it but this isn't what the trailer created the impression of.

Yeah, it wasn't what I expected at all. That last 30 minutes is incredible.

Incredible is definitely a word that could be used to describe that.

davyK

If you want to look at a face of a man who has lived then watch 1944:Hitler's Secret Weapon which tells the tale of Leonid Berenshtein, a Jewish partisan in WW2 who was active in Ukraine and Poland. His operations uncovered secrets about the V2 project and along the way his unit saved hundreds of Jewish village inhabitants from ethnic cleansing.

The story is told in high quality dramatic reconstructions which are interspersed with snatches of interview with Leonid - old and ailing.

This is a high quality piece of work that is worth watching. If to endure with dignity is to be human then perhaps the Russians and Eastern Europeans are the best of us.

davyK

Brian Damage by Basket Case director Frank Henenlotter is about a cock/turd shaped singing brain eater that enslaves its lackies via drug addiction.

Marvellous mad film I last watched on VHS and I feel it's dated rather well. It's a cheap production but the talent on-board made the most of what resources they had access to and it looks a lot better than it should. There's a jet black sense of humour but it's clearly an illustration of addiction and maybe even a Faustian deal story.

If you fancy a walk on the low budget wild side I'd give it a look. This is very much one of my guilty pleasures. There's a BluRay by Arrow with a nice clean picture and a healthy amount of extras for the fans.

davyK

A Quiet Place Tense take on the "aliens with a weakness invade" caper. Enjoyed this. I see there's a part 2 though which might spoil the fun by explaining too much.

DrewMerson

davyK

Oh......goodie.

davyK

Emily is great in so many ways.

hylian_elf

DrewMerson wrote:

Bit of a spoiler there, Davie.

Dark Soldier

Such a bad, bad movie.

hylian_elf

DS nailed it.

(I didn’t actually mind the movie.)

davyK

I appreciated the tightness of A Quiet Place and its focus on the family unit. Seeing something like that with a runtime of 90mins was refreshing too.

bad_hair_day

They’re both solid horror thrillers for all the family. No sex, but you can’t have everything.

ShabbyMcCrabby

I thought both movies were... okay. But then I'm a sucker for monsters so that instantly bumps things up even if there's flaws. Looks like they're making a Quiet Place Day Zero movie which I will be keen for as I do love "the moment civilisation falls apart" type movies and there's solid precedent set there

ShabbyMcCrabby

5. Unbreakable
Been wanting to re-watch this for a while as I remember really liking it back in the day. It's still pretty great and I really like how quiet it is for the most part. You could say the M Night over directs it at times but I like how he is keen to move the camera and try interesting stuff. I think Signs might still be my fave of his
[8]

6. Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Bit of a weird one. I'm not sure if it has enough to really grab kids attentions and I also think the storytelling is a bit too slight and meandering. It's still quite funny and charming and has a lot of heart but I think it needed to be tightened up a smidge.
[6]

GooberTheHat

hylian_elf wrote:

DS nailed it.

(I didn’t actually mind the movie.)

I watched up to the bit where

Spoiler:

And thought, these people are too stupid for me to spend anymore time with.

LivDiv

Ah you missed the really stupid bit where they leave nails pointing upwards out the top of the stairs and Home Alone themselves.

jdanielp

What about the extremely stupid bit where they go near a waterfall to have a conversation (or something along those lines), but for some reason don't live close enough to it to be fairly safe most of the time?

Moot_Geeza

They only ever listen to Neil Young and TLC.

bad_hair_day

GooberTheHat wrote:

hylian_elf wrote:

DS nailed it.

(I didn’t actually mind the movie.)

I watched up to the bit where

Spoiler:

the kid pulls out a flashy bleepy noisy toy and gets got.
And thought, these people are too stupid for me to spend anymore time with.

Ahh…

Spoiler:

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories