The Warriors
...come out to playyyaaay!
CAN YOU DIG IT!

[8]

Oh, that would be me! I'll check it out

20. The Meg
Needed a dumb movie and this is really dumb but it knows it is and that's why it works. It would be nice if there was more than thrills in the shark stuff but it is what it is. Can't believe Wheatley is doing the sequel
[5]

Gorky Park is a good old 80s murder mystery set in Moscow with William Hurt and Lee Marvin heading a marvellous cast. It's a real treat spotting British actors like Ian McDiarmuid, Michael Elphick, Richard Griffiths and Alexei Sayle among others. Brian Dennehey is there to enjoy too. 

Shot in 80s Moscow - some of the locations are superb, and it looks great seeing the cast drive around in Ladas and sport enormous furry hats. Part of the charm is the English accents sported by all the Russian characters (though Ian Bannen still has his Irish brogue) A good story , based on a book, adapted by Dennis Potter - this should have been a bigger hit than it was. It plays a bit clumsy in parts but is never less than highly enjoyable.  Caught this, ad-free, on Freevee.

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Marcel is a stop motion shell with a googly eye and, yes, shoes.  He was the star of a couple of admittedly sweet Youtube videos a couple of years ago, that focused on gentle humour, and whimsical observations about life that threatened to become painful Facebook memes. Spinning these out into a movie ought not to have worked - yet Marcel does an extraordinary job of dancing right by the line marked "nauseating twee sentimentalism" without ever crossing it. Instead, it's a surprisingly effective and moving little film. Its secret seem to be the utter sincerity with which it approaches its story, there is very little winking to the audience, nor any anxiety about delivering its homely observations. Things that might seem trite coming from humans seems genuinely beautiful when delivered by a tiny stop motion shell.

The themes of the film also sneak up quietly on you. It's ultimately a film about change, and moving on, but manages these familiar themes in new and interesting ways - again with a surprising level of truth for something so obviously unreal. (It's perhaps weirdly helpful that the films makers - Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate - were going through a real life divorce at the time.)

Anyway - it's lovely. There is no irony here, just an incredibly successful attempt to make something sweet, life affirming and kind.  Which also happens to be pretty funny too.


Three Minutes: A Lengthening

For some reason this is tucked away in the Storyville section of iPlayer. It's an extraordinary piece of documentary film making that comes heavily recommended. If that's enough, stop reading and go watch it now, as there's something to be said for knowing as little as possible. For those that want to know a little more though...

The title is pretty much literally true. Barring one very brief segment, the film consists entirely of just under 4 minutes of old cinefilm footage. The film was found by an American when going through his grandfather's things in the attic, and was filmed in Poland in 1938. The documentary plays us this film again and again, stopping, rewinding, zooming in - trying to unpack the mysteries it holds. Where is this? Who are these people? What happened here?

What unfolds is a documentary not just about these people, and the horrors that awaited them round the corner, but also the nature of film, of memory, of history and legacy. Watch it.

LivDiv wrote:

Intinite What better way to top off the dumbest fucking script of the century than with Mark Wahlberg's dumb fuck gormless face. Finally for an extra splash of dull be sure to include some actor your audience will half remember being in Game of Thrones.

Spoiler:

Lem Lemoncloak

Recorded this on the TiVO and then frowned at the 1.5 star rating.

tin_robot wrote:

Three Minutes: A Lengthening For some reason this is tucked away in the Storyville section of iPlayer. It's an extraordinary piece of documentary film making that comes heavily recommended. If that's enough, stop reading and go watch it now, as there's something to be said for knowing as little as possible. For those that want to know a little more though... The title is pretty much literally true. Barring one very brief segment, the film consists entirely of just under 4 minutes of old cinefilm footage. The film was found by an American when going through his grandfather's things in the attic, and was filmed in Poland in 1938. The documentary plays us this film again and again, stopping, rewinding, zooming in - trying to unpack the mysteries it holds. Where is this? Who are these people? What happened here? What unfolds is a documentary not just about these people, and the horrors that awaited them round the corner, but also the nature of film, of memory, of history and legacy. Watch it.

Watched it. Well worth it. What a story. Incredible.

It is many things. It's wonderful what modern tech can do too even though it's only a small part of the real story (although a vital facilitator of it).

Watching shadows from the past always has a great effect on me - even when the scenes are trivial unlike the resonance this has.

Let the iPlayer carry on with the next programme....ended up watching something about cross dressers!! 

Skinamarink

I tried to appreciate this, I really did. Unfortunately it felt closer to forcing myself to concentrate during a quarterly meeting at work than watching something I was actually enjoying. I was primed for 'potentially special' but the entire film was almost willfully dull, as if trying to shake any viewer not prepared to fully embrace the (desperately try hard) arthouse feel. The stuff with the toys moving around just makes it feel like a passing grade Media Studies short stretched into an agonisingly long feature length film. The only thing terrifying about this is the thought of ever having to sit through it again. Come back Barbarian, all is forgiven.

Just found your review. Yup.

11. The Hitman's Bodyguard
Expected this to be a bit shit, bit it was actually really great fun. Some fantastic stunts, chase sequences and great banter between the leads made it a great way to spenda few hours. 7

Gremill wrote:

11. The Hitman's Bodyguard
Expected this to be a bit shit, bit it was actually really great fun. Some fantastic stunts, chase sequences and great banter between the leads made it a great way to spenda few hours. 7

There’s a sequel The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard that is also pretty fun.

Yep repeat viewings hit harder. Love it.

Arrival’s a belter. And a shoe-in for the all-time top 10 of sci-fi films. Probably the only one from its generation. Actually maybe there’s two. Arrival and Moon?

You know which one.