Movie Record 2023 Edition - The Bear and Badger

Moot_Geeza

Dark Soldier wrote:

Loved the bit where they were in the big action scene and as Cruise was flying through the skies a literal goose flew next to the plane and he saluted it crying.

Please say this is true.

davyK

Minkymu wrote:

Manhunter 80s Michael Mann version of Red Dragon. Splendid version with Brian Cox in the Lector role who plays it quite differently and in some ways more sinister because his Lector doesn't show his intelligence off the way Hopkins' does. Very, very 80s. Looks great. Like a Miami Vice episode. This is one of those films I've only ever seen parts of so it was great to view it beginning to end. On iPlayer.

I've probably seen that more than Lambs. And I've seen Lambs a fair few times. I tried to get into podcasts during lockdown so we did a few called 'The Rewatchables' in the car on the way to work. The Manhunter episode was one of the better ones iirc.

The original is bar far the best. Wills character is obviously more troubled by his gift of empathy in the original. Plus the flaming wheelchair is done better. As is the weirdly sexual blind girl tiger stroking. Something about the 80's blurry film grade and the synth music add to the experience. Also i dont know if its just me, but the weird change in frame rate when the tooth fairy bursts through the window at Will always strikes me as odd. seems to be briefly sped up?

The Hannibal TV series plays on Will's ability to super-emphasise with the killer the way this film does. Aye... that frame rate change or frame jump thing is weird - I wasn't sure if it was a tech thing or not....

Gremill

4. Everything Everywhere All At Once
Third viewing of this absolute barnstormer of a film - yes, it's too long but every minute is filled with stuff worth seeing. I really hope Yeoh gets the Oscar and it picks up a few of the big ones. 10

hylian_elf

Amazing film. Best of 2022 with Banshees a close-ish second.

poprock

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Emma Thompson puts in a tour de force here, as a retired teacher who hires a gigolo. It’s understated, sharply scripted, and ends up equal parts sweet and funny. I didn’t know what to expect, but I liked it.

Wookienopants

Bullet train

Whoever it was on here that recommended this and said it's very much my kind of movie was very very right.
An absolute blast, had me grinning from ear to ear throughout. Was just what I needed tonight.
Fuck, it's brilliant

davyK

Pawn Sacrifice Tale of the Spassky v Fischer 1972 world chess championship starring Toby Maguire in the lead with a fine support cast.

Actually quite accurate from what I have read re the shenanigans - although there will be artistic licence when it comes to thoughts and the motivations of the characters. The 70s period is nicely created too.

RedDave2

Annie (2014)
I definitely need to start watching more grown up movies but at the moment free time is family time.

Anyway, this is an extremely 80s style movie despite its smartphone and instagram heavy trappings. Its huge gallons of cheese but the songs are catchy enough, there are one or two funny moments and it has a charm which just about gets you to the end. Daughter loved it, I wont be looking forward to seeing the soundrack clog up my spotify playlist but its not too bad for what its aiming for [6]

davyK

Fuck I hated the older version of that. My sisters had it on VHS. If I ever hear "Tomorrow" again it will be too soon.

tin_robot

davyK wrote:

Fuck I hated the older version of that. My sisters had it on VHS. If I ever hear "Tomorrow" again it will be too soon.

My hatred of Annie is a running gag in my family. (To the point that if my kids want me to stop nagging them, they will start singing "Tomorrow" at me).

b0r1s

We also use Annie to torture my now grown up daughter. When she was younger she had curly hair with hint of ginger. Obviously for her 18th birthday we played Jay-Z’s version of Hard Knock Life in front of all her friends. Think she’s still traumatised.

ShabbyMcCrabby

8. Tàr
I feel annoyed I spent most of this film thinking about how quiet the sound was in the cinema. Could hear the aircon more than the dialogue at times. Even went and asked them to turn it up but I guess the young staff couldn't be effed. A shame as there's a lot of work done with the sound in it. Solid film though. Good performance as expected. Some stuff I'm not sure why was in there and I found the way it ended irked me a little which people here might also feel the same way.
[8]

ShabbyMcCrabby

b0r1s wrote:

We also use Annie to torture my now grown up daughter. When she was younger she had curly hair with hint of ginger. Obviously for her 18th birthday we played Jay-Z’s version of Hard Knock Life in front of all her friends. Think she’s still traumatised.

Excellent

afgavinstan

As a small lad, my hair was super curly, and stayed so as I went to primary school. Around a year before the John Hughes movie Curly Sue came out, so yeah, often called that.

Cos

9. Tár
A prodigious conductor's life starts to unravel as allegations from her past surface. This is definitely Blanchett's film and she's powerful in the lead, mixing strong and focused with a bit of scenery chewing when able, but is also well supported in key roles throughout. It's a slow burn but works all the better for it as turns, both expected and unexpected, take the film in different directions. A fascinating insight into a world I know very little about but there's an 'office politics' element that most can relate to and it avoids going into so much detail that it might affect the story.

Spoiler:

Top effort in all departments (except maybe sound mixing) and Blanchett should rightly be recognised for this performance. [9]

davyK

afgavinstan wrote:

As a small lad, my hair was super curly, and stayed so as I went to primary school. Around a year before the John Hughes movie Curly Sue came out, so yeah, often called that.

There was a guy in our class with tight curly hair and he got Bubble.

hylian_elf

3. Tokyo Drifter - 20/1
60s Japanese Yakuza flick that is very Japanese with a mix of styles.
[6]

4. Predator 2 - 28/1
An utterly stupid and inferior sequel to an all-time great, but can still be fun enough with your brain switched off.
[6]

davyK

Watched The Black Hole purely for nostalgia. I remember the hype and being underwhelmed when I eventually saw it as a teenager.

Its problem is it doesn't know what its audience is but there is plenty to enjoy; not least the John Barry soundtrack. The main theme is very Bond-esque - would fit a volcano base attack scene - but it fits well here too. The opening credits are swish - Disney's animators having fun.

The effects are of course showing their age - they made quite a fuss about the zero G - showing Ernest Borgnine and Anthony Perkins tumbling about it in it

The back projection makes one wince but some shots - there's a real money shot showing an asteroid tumbling down a huge corridor - are great. But they should be - this was 1979 - overall 1977's Star Wars makes it look creaky for the most part. The sets and mattes are a high point though - gorgeous design on show and they would have looked great on the big screen at least. The main ship design is great too and it's impressive in how it is presented to us.

The action is plodding and wooden too - the kids would have liked it then but I don't think they'd be impressed now. Even stormtroopers were more effective that the immobile cannon fodder the enemies are in this.

Overall the acting talent is wasted with creaky exposition and hammy dialogue. There's enough in the plot for a good story but it's badly handled.

The ending is completely baffling and a total cop out - and would have pissed off viewers in the day as there is no pay off. I get the impression this was written on the hoof. They started with the great concept of orbiting a black hole but didn't know what to do with it and didn't know how to avoid the idiotic idea of going into it with no bloody idea of what to do with that concept..

I enjoyed it for the laugh but unless there is strong nostalgia this is little more than a historic cul de sac that Disney took.

ShabbyMcCrabby

Cos wrote:

9. Tár A prodigious conductor's life starts to unravel as allegations from her past surface. This is definitely Blanchett's film and she's powerful in the lead, mixing strong and focused with a bit of scenery chewing when able, but is also well supported in key roles throughout. It's a slow burn but works all the better for it as turns, both expected and unexpected, take the film in different directions. A fascinating insight into a world I know very little about but there's an 'office politics' element that most can relate to and it avoids going into so much detail that it might affect the story.

Spoiler:

Loved the sinister vibe that grows throughout the film, particularly as Tár's world starts to crumble and a question over her psychological state surfaces. It was well balanced alongside the hints about what happened in her past - whether or not the core allegations are true, it's clear there's something to hide. I did have a similar issue as Shabs with the sound in the screen. It was very quiet and I expected that to be balanced with the bombast of the music but it didn't quite work that way. I did wonder if it was due to how sound was used in a few scenes that it needed to be right on the periphery of audible. Surprised the ending didn't work for you! At first I thought she'd gone to work for some despotic regime but that reveal right at that end got a laugh from me and showed just how far she had fallen. On a side note, the 'flat for sale' song also got a full lol.
Top effort in all departments (except maybe sound mixing) and Blanchett should rightly be recognised for this performance. [9]

Spoiler:

Cos

Spoiler:

ShabbyMcCrabby

Spoiler:

hylian_elf

Spoiler:

davyK

The Stranger is a pitch black, sombre undercover cop story set in Australia about solving a cold case. Starring Joel Edgerton and the ever excellent Sean Harris. Don't want to say too much to keep it spoiler free.

There's a real heavy, sombre atmosphere about this , created by the look and sound but also by the gritty performances. Excellent stuff from Netflix.

Cos

hylian_elf wrote:

Spoiler:

Well played

Cos

ShabbyMcCrabby wrote:

Spoiler:

.what do you think the point was of her going to the massage place near the end? Telling her that her life could be worse? Or was it holding a mirror up to her own exploitation of people? I found it interesting how the film took it's time early on and then slowly became almost just snapshot glimpses into her life and why she is who she is. Like the one very brief scene where she went home and you find out that's not her name

Spoiler:

Cos

10. The Duke
Comedy/drama based on the true story of an everyman that stole a Goya painting from the National Gallery in the 60s. Broadbent is excellent as the well meaning, eccentric man who holds principles above almost everything else, often the detriment of himself or his family. Mirren is also great as his long suffering wife and I'd probably watch a film just about that! Thankfully there's more to this one and it clips along at a fair pace, keeping it pretty light but drawing attention to inequalities of the day. There's not much else to shout about, it's a solid film with some good laughs and shares an event I'm sure most people wouldn't be familiar with. A lovely afternoon. [7]

11. Red Rocket
Fuck this film. It's one guy being a predatorial cunt for two hours but with a complete absence of anything interesting about him. The director has this 'naturalistic' style (probably an actual term for it) that involves casting local people who may or may not be able to act. I'm sure that can work where there's some level of improvisation but several times here you just have someone that can't act trying to deliver a scripted line and doing it terribly. Completely takes you out of the film. There are many other issues but honestly not worth my time to rant about them all. It's pretty well shot and some of the minor characters have some actual substance so a few redeeming features but overall it's a wanky borefest and utter waste of time. [2]

b0r1s

4. Closer - top performance from everyone in this. Missus had never watched it and loved it. Real honest view of infidelity.

5. Edge of Tomorrow - Tom playing against type as the cowardly major trying to stay out of a war with aliens but time keeps getting in his way.

6. The Greatest Showman - the feelest of feel good musicals. The opening song that sets the heroes back story is a masterclass in concise story telling.

7. Oblivion - the more I watch this the more I enjoy it. It’s a big old Tom sci-fi vehicle with some decent other characters but it really is all about Tom in this stylish post-apocalyptic action film.

8. Shaun of The Dead - the 2nd best of the ice cream trilogy, a veritable who’s who of British character actors. Still great fun. Pub?

9. My Cousin Vinnie - another new movie for the missus (I’m not doing great with new films myself) and like most people who watch this she just loved it. Pesci and Tomei are just too good as the fiery Italian couple sent to help cousin Ralph Macchio beat a murder charge in the Deep South. Solid performances all around and I forgot how funny it is.

10. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - Cena kicking ass to win the heart of Winstead by fighting her seven evil exes. Video game homage done right (tuts at Ready Player One).

11. The Wedding Singer - early Sandler rom-com that hasn’t aged that well if I’m honest but loads of 80’s pop bangers to bday sing along to while watching elevates it above a lot of his stuff.

12. Men - what did I just watch? Tragedy strikes a troubled couple with the wife deciding to take stock of her situation in a quiet country cottage. Strangeness ensues when an excellent Rory Kinear makes an appearance(s).

Gremill

Edge of Tomorrow Shirley?

b0r1s

Doh!

DrewMerson

Howdy, Stranger!

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