Movie Record 2024 Edition - The Bear and Badger

poprock

Paul the sparky wrote:

Has anyone ever heard of the Lord of the Rings films?

Sounds like one of those porn parodies.

Cos

I was going to suggest you’re thinking of Lord of the Rims but that’s apparently some kind of legit rimworld mod. And a tyre shop in California.

poprock

A tyre shop? Perfect.

The Daddy

I hope there’s an alloy wheel shop called Specific Rim

Dark Soldier

Moot_Geeza wrote:

DS is wrong about Come True.

He's right about Red Rooms though, very interesting film. A couple of things I wasn't sure on

Spoiler:

the Clementine character. She was necessary I guess, but perhaps too one dimensional and not quite in step with the deftness of the rest of the film. Also - and this could just be me - the poker-against-the-clock scene towards the end just seemed odd. Would she not have just banked that money beforehand (or is that not how bitcoin works?).

Other than that it's a skillful deep dive into morbid darkness, not a film I came close to second guessing and not something I'll be forgetting in a hurry. Good rec.

Yes lad

davyK

Phantom Thread Daniel Day Lewis plays an elite level dressmaker who has his life perfectly organised until he meets a certain young lady. Exquisitely made and the three leads are superb.

On iPlayer.

Kow

davyK wrote:

Phantom Thread Daniel Day Lewis plays Solid Snake, an elite level dressmaker who has his life perfectly organised until he meets a certain young lady who isn't able to wear clothes, for reasons. Exquisitely made and the three leads are superb. On iPlayer.

EvilRedEye

I've breached the 75 barrier.

EvilRedEye wrote:

1 - Bonnie and Clyde (1967) - No review - 01/01/2024 - ★★★★☆
2 - Saltburn (2023) - Review - 09/01/2024 - ★★★☆☆
3 - Shin Godzilla (2016) - Review - 12/01/24 - ★★★★☆
4 - Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (2017) - Review - 13/01/24 - ★★★★☆
5 - Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018) - Review - 20/01/24 - ★★★☆☆
6 - Teorema (1968) - Review - 25/01/24 - ★★★★☆
7 - Bloodsport (1988) - Review - 26/01/24 - ★★★★☆
8 - Godzilla: The Planet Eater (2018) - Review - 27/01/24 - ★★★☆☆
9 - King Kong (1933) - Review - 03/02/24 - ★★★★★
10 - The Shop Around the Corner (1940) - Review - 04/02/24 - ★★★★☆
11 - The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953) - Review - 08/02/24 - ★★★★☆
12 - The Marvels (2023) - Review - 09/02/24 - ★★★★☆
13 - Dune: Part One (2021) - Review - 10/02/24 - ★★★★☆
14 - Casablanca (1942) - Review - 18/02/24 - ★★★★☆
15 - Them (1954) - Review - 18/02/24 - ★★★★☆
16 - The Zone of Interest (2023) - Review - 19/02/24 - ★★★★★
17 - All of Us Strangers (2023) - Review - 19/02/24 - ★★★★★
18 - Poor Things (2023) - Review - 20/02/24 - ★★★☆☆
19 - The Taste of Things (2023) - Review - 21/02/24 - ★★★★☆
20 - The Iron Claw (2023) - Review - 21/02/24 - ★★★★☆
21 - Mandabi (1968) - Review - 22/02/24 - ★★★★☆
22 - Aftersun (2022) - Review - 24/02/24 - ★★★★☆
23 - Wonka (2023) - Review - 25/02/24 - ★★★★☆
24 - In the Mood for Love (2000) - Review - 25/02/24 - ★★★★☆
25 - Tokyo Decadence (1992) - Review - 25/02/24 - ★★★★☆
26 - Shoshana (2023) - Review - 26/02/24 - ★★★☆☆
27 - Evil Does Not Exist (2023) - Review - 26/02/24 - ★★★★☆
28 - American Fiction (2023) - Review - 28/02/24 - ★★★★☆
29 - The Holdovers (2023) - Review - 28/02/24 - ★★★★★
30 - Evil Dead Trap (1988) - Review - 02/03/24 - ★★★☆☆
31 - Dune: Part Two (2024) - Review - 03/03/24 - ★★★★☆
32 - Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) - Review - 03/03/24 - ★★☆☆☆
33 - Morbius (2022) - Review - 04/03/24 - ★★☆☆☆
34 - Madame Web (2024) - Review - 04/03/24 - ★☆☆☆☆
35 - Wicked Little Letters (2023) - Review - 04/03/24 - ★★★☆☆
36 - Past Lives (2023) - Review - 07/04/24 - ★★★★☆
37 - Maestro (2023) - Review - 08/03/24 - ★★★☆☆
38 - Anatomy of a Fall (2023) - Review - 08/03/24 - ★★★★★
39 - Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) - Review - 09/03/24 - ★★☆☆☆
40 - Cimarron (1931) - Review - 12/03/24 - ★★☆☆☆
41 - Evil Dead Trap 2 (1991) - Review - 16/03/24 - ★★☆☆☆
42 - Son of Kong (1933) - Review - 17/03/24 - ★★☆☆☆
43 - 20 Days in Mariupol (2023) - Review - 18/03/24 - ★★★★★
44 - To Kill a Tiger (2022) - Review - 19/03/24 - ★★★★★
45 - Dustin (2023) - Review - 20/03/24 - ★★★★☆
46 - Napoleon (2023) - Review - 20/03/24 - ★★☆☆☆
47 - Mighty Joe Young (1949) - Review - 23/03/24 - ★★☆☆☆
48 - Witchfinder General (1968) - Review - 23-24/03/24 - ★★★★☆
49 - Sunset Boulevard (1950) - Review - 24/03/24 - ★★★★★
50 - Immaculate (2024) - Review - 24/03/24 - ★★★☆☆
51 - Perfect Days (2023) - Review - 25/03/24 - ★★★★☆
52 - Mothers’ Instinct (2024) - Review - 25/03/24 - ★★★★☆
53 - Robot Dreams (2023) - Review - 27/03/24 - ★★★☆☆
54 - Late Night with the Devil (2023) - Review - 27/03/24 - ★★★★☆
55 - Godzilla (2014) - Review - 28/03/24 - ★★☆☆☆
56 - Kong: Skull Island (2017) - Review - 29/03/24 - ★★★★☆
57 - The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) - Review - 29-30/03/24 - ★★★★☆
58 - Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) - Review - 30/03/24 - ★★★★☆
59 - The Iron Giant (1999) - Review - 31/03/24 - ★★★★★
60 - Secrets of a Wallaby Boy (2023) - Review - 31/03/24 - ★★★★☆
61 - Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) - Review - 01/04/24 - ★★★☆☆
62 - Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire (2024) - Review - 02/04/24 - ★★★★☆
63 - Road House (2024) - Review - 05/04/24 - ★★☆☆☆
64 - The Wicker Man (1973) - Review - 06/04/24 - ★★★★★
65 - The First Omen (2024) - Review - 07/04/24 - ★★★★☆
66 - Cinema Paradiso (1988) - Review - 07/04/24 - ★★★★☆
67 - Monkey Man (2024) - Review - 07/04/24 - ★★★★☆
68 - Civil War (2024) - Review - 09/04/24 - ★★★★☆
69 - Nyad (2023) - Review - 11/04/24 - ★★★★★
70 - Nimona (2023) - Review - 11/04/24 - ★★★☆☆
71 - American Symphony (2023) - Review - 12/04/24 - ★★☆☆☆
72 - The Amityville Horror (1979) - Review - 12/04/24 - ★★★★☆
73 - The Creator (2023) - Review - 13/04/24 - ★★☆☆☆
74 - Wish (2023) - Review - 13/04/24 - ★★★☆☆
75 - Flamin’ Hot (2023) - Review - 14/04/24 - ★★★☆☆
76 - Southland Tales (2006) - Review - 14/04/2024 - ★☆☆☆☆
77 - Blackhat (2015) - Review - 15/04/24 - ★★☆☆☆
78 - Back to Black (2024) - Review - 16/04/24 - ★★★☆☆

Films watched as part of my cinema membership: 24
Cost of cinema membership payment: £92.49
Cost per film of cinema membership: £3.85

Short films:

1 - The After (2023) - Review - 10/03/24 - ★★★☆☆
2 - Invincible (2022) - Review - 10/03/24 - ★★★★★
3 - The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023) - Review - 11/03/24 - ★★★★☆
4 - Knight of Fortune (2022) - Review - 17/03/24 - ★★★☆☆
5 - Red, White and Blue (2023) - Review - 17/03/24 - ★★★★☆
6 - Ninety-Five Senses (2022) - Review - 18/03/24 - ★★★★☆
7 - The Barber of Little Rock (2023) - Review - 18/03/24 - ★★★☆☆
8 - The Last Repair Shop (2023) - Review - 18/03/24 - ★★★★★
9 - Island in Between (2023) - Review - 18/03/24 - ★★★★☆
10 - Wish 143 (2011) - Review - 18/03/24 - ★★★★☆
11 - Letter to a Pig (2022) - Review - 18/03/24 - ★★★☆☆
12 - Pachyderme (2022) - Review - 18/03/24 - ★★★☆☆
13 - War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko (2022) - Review - 18/03/24 - ★★★☆☆
14 - Our Uniform (2023) - Review - 19/03/24 - ★★★★☆
15 - Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (2023) - Review - 13/04/24 - ★★★☆☆
16 - This is the Way the World Ends (2007) - Review - 14/04/24 - ★★★☆☆

davyK

K-PAX is another film from the baby raising zone. I missed many films in the first decade.

Wasn't sure what to expect from this - starts off as a possible ambiguous scifi tale and goes places I wasn't expecting. Spacey may be an arsehole but he's damn good in everything he did - he is no exception in this as a man who drops in from nowhere claiming to be an alien and Jeff Bridges is an excellent counterpart as the psychiatrist tasked with getting to the bottom of it all.

I really rather enjoyed this.

ShabbyMcCrabby

29. Godzilla X Kong
I'm a sucker for big destructiony action films and especially ones with monsters but I think this one tilted the movie a bit too much towards the monsters for me which kind of just made it feel like I was watching a cartoon for most of it. Not that that's bad but it just didn't work for me as much being set in hollow earth for most of it. Dan Stevens was fun though but like most of the humans that don't get enough to do to make it worth it.
[4]

30. Congo
A cabin DVD collection watch. Hadn't seen this for yonks. Had somehow forgot that Tim Curry is doing an absolutely shocking Romanian accent. Almost like he said he wouldn't do the film unless he could do an accent he'd been working on and so they said okay and then couldn't make him change it. There's a lot of money on screen in this from the amazing location shooting to the incredible animatronic and animal performance work. The miniature/SFX/VFX work on the end sequence is amazing too. Just a shame the film around it isn't great as it could have been another Jurassic Park like classic. Well maybe not that good but still.
[5]

31. The Wedding Singer
Another rented cabin DVD watch. There's some of the classic Adam Sandler humour in here that really hasn't aged well. He was always a big fan of pointing at overweight people or those whose looks are different to the hollywood norm and just saying "look at the fat person" as a 'joke'. That stuff ain't great but the rest of it here is still good. He's a good actor when there's some restraint placed on the character, like he's meant to be a real person and not The Waterboy. Drew Barrymore being charming also helps.
[6]

32. Wish
Ooft. This is genuinely the day the magic died. I don't think I've ever seen as creatively bankrupt a film as this. I realised that I had a genuine look of disgust on my face throughout nearly all of this. From the shamefully dull and half-assed art style that makes anything from midfield back have zero detail because of the line work, to the fact there's no life in the frame outside of the main characters. It's like they saw Spiderverse and thought they had to try something new and that was the best they could do. To the story that doesn't even try to set-up any of the characters with, well, character. Why does the lead want to become the Sorcerors Apprentice apart from it being a reference? Are the king and queen an actual couple because there's no sense of love there, she doesn't even care when he turns evil or when he's eventually defeated. Is this place a big city or does everyone know each other like they're bffs? Because people keep being talked about like the hundreds of people are also best mate with that person. Why does the star make animals speak? Did they always want to speak or are you just doing another reference to animals talking in Disney films? The songs are also genuinely terrible and completely unmemorable. I genuinely think this is one of the worst films I've ever seen and it's just because Disney has some of the best animation people in the world and this is a real piece of shit and they should know better. Can't believe they couldn't even put some 2d animation in here if this was meant to be a 100 year celebration, even for a flashback or something. Creatively bankrupt and the rest of the animation world is leaving them in the dust.
[0]

33. Late Night With the Devil
Would I have liked this more if History of the Occult didn't exist? Maybe. That one is just the better film in a similar style. Late Night is just a little boring throughout most of the runtime. I also don't like fake documentary footage when it isn't shot like a real documentary. I almost feel like they added the opening (very very) long voiceover setup after the fact to reframe the extra footage as doco. Maybe. It doesn't work though. David Dastmalchian is good though as he usually is. Just wanted a little more from it. Also shorter plz.
[4]

34. Southland Tales
Not sure what to say about this. A weird film that shows that Donnie Darko was a bit of luck for old mate. This has so many similar themes but without the restraint of DD it just is hogwash. It's genuinely funny at times and Sarah Michelle Geller is absolutely fantastic and her performance deserved a better film. Interesting to see The Rock used to have zero screen charisma too. Maybe it's because he's not so muscley. Glad I watched it and read the graphic novels but you can see why Kelly doesn't make films anymore.
[unscoreable]

jdanielp

Wow. A 0 and an unscoreable!

EvilRedEye

Brutal. I think Chicken Little is the worst mainline Disney film but there are a few films from the after-Disney-died-but-before-Little Mermaid era and from when they went to shit in the 2000s that are worse than Wish.

ShabbyMcCrabby

Can't really remember Chicken Little but I feel like you can give the early 3d animations a pass in many ways. Wish was made at a time when the craft is reaching new heights and they couldn't even come up with an interesting story or characters.

jdanielp wrote:

Wow. A 0 and an unscoreable!

Yeah i don't know how I got through Wish. Southland is unscoreable just because it's at times a 5 star masterpiece but mostly a trainwreck.

Wookienopants

Argylle

I really wanted to like this but it's all style and no substance. So much CGI that looks awful and obvious use of digital backgrounds just makes every action scene look like a poor videogame cutscene. The editing is all over the shop so most of the fights lose any sense of impact or coherent flow.
Apple TV app froze and crashed about 30 mins from the end so I just turned off the TV and went to bed. I do not feel the desire to return for the ending.

Such a waste

LivDiv

I've not watched Argyle but that fakeness seems to be so common in movies now.

I watched the original Fast and the Furious yesterday. There are some bits where it is obviously CGed up, it's heavily stylised with light streaks and chats happening at 100mph through windows. However there are other scenes where it looked so obviously real compared to Fast X and many other films now. The cars rattle and and shake as they are pushed at speed, Dom's charger really gets fucked up at the end rather than a CG double. They establish it's Johnny Tran riding a motorbike before he does the big stunts and it switches to the stunt man rather than zooming in and having some dodgy jpg of the actor's face stitched over the visor like it's Apple VR.

These modern films just seem to lean far too much into doing things in CG later now.

Wookienopants

CG when done well can look incredible but nothing looks as good as practical stunt effects. We watched The Blues Brothers the other day and my boys couldn't believe how many cars got trashed, the stunts and car crashes still look brilliant and exciting after all these years because they actually trashed that many cars!

LivDiv

Blues Brothers is great.

CG should enhance or do what otherwise couldn't be done.
I get the distinct impression it's being used heavily to have actors on set less days now.

hylian_elf

Must be bad if Wookie doesn’t like it, he literally likes any movie.

Wookienopants

It's not bad it's just... Disappointing

nick_md

Watched that Immaculate last night and really enjoyed it. Has its problems for sure - a strand or two of stuff that didn't really get enough screen time - but in general it was a great love letter to giallo horror and had me thinking of suspiria a bunch. I am partial to a bit of creepy Catholic horror stuff tho so if you aren't it may not land as well. Reading Reddit threads after it seems to have split people quite a bit, but I'd give it a recommended 8.

The bits I wanted more of / thought could've been better:

Spoiler:

Gremill

LivDiv wrote:

I've not watched Argyle but that fakeness seems to be so common in movies now.

I watched the original Fast and the Furious yesterday. There are some bits where it is obviously CGed up, it's heavily stylised with light streaks and chats happening at 100mph through windows. However there are other scenes where it looked so obviously real compared to Fast X and many other films now. The cars rattle and and shake as they are pushed at speed, Dom's charger really gets fucked up at the end rather than a CG double. They establish it's Johnny Tran riding a motorbike before he does the big stunts and it switches to the stunt man rather than zooming in and having some dodgy jpg of the actor's face stitched over the visor like it's Apple VR.

These modern films just seem to lean far too much into doing things in CG later now.

The most recent Mission Impossible is chock full of that shit. Especially egregious given the promo focus on Tom's stunts.

LivDiv

Yup.
Said it ITT, the bike stunt was totally lost in CG, waste of time doing it.

davyK

Dead Poet's Society One I never got around to until now. They look so young. Robin Williams shows his talent and a very young Ethan Hawke shows his quality. It feels its age - it has that 90s feel to it. It feels a bit raw and unpolished but it's still engaging. Enjoyed this.

Maybe the feeling is just the nostalgia - this was made in 1989 - I was 23 then and living in England doing my year in industry for my degree (I didn't go to university until I was 21). Even seeing the old Touchstone intro brought back the feels.

davyK

Siberia (2018) Funny seeing Keanu Reeves playing a vulnerable human after Messrs Neo and Wick.

This is fairly slow, plodding diamond dealing /double crossing story and Reeves does more banging than shooting in it. The film is very well made but the plot is slight and can't really carry the film though Reeves proves once again that he can. He makes it watchable but it's fairly forgettable.

poprock

Dune Part Two
Makes the first one feel like a warm up. Sci-fi on an epic scale, which is something we rarely see nowadays. It’s strikingly beautiful. The story’s basic - but that’s the point, isn’t it? A simple story on a massive scale.

ShabbyMcCrabby

Gremill wrote:

LivDiv wrote:

I've not watched Argyle but that fakeness seems to be so common in movies now.

I watched the original Fast and the Furious yesterday. There are some bits where it is obviously CGed up, it's heavily stylised with light streaks and chats happening at 100mph through windows. However there are other scenes where it looked so obviously real compared to Fast X and many other films now. The cars rattle and and shake as they are pushed at speed, Dom's charger really gets fucked up at the end rather than a CG double. They establish it's Johnny Tran riding a motorbike before he does the big stunts and it switches to the stunt man rather than zooming in and having some dodgy jpg of the actor's face stitched over the visor like it's Apple VR.

These modern films just seem to lean far too much into doing things in CG later now.

The most recent Mission Impossible is chock full of that shit. Especially egregious given the promo focus on Tom's stunts.

I think the thing with the newest MI was that they filmed most of it for real but then replaced backgrounds and such so much that it looked like it was all CG. Almost all of the train sequence looked fake even though I know nearly all was filmed on moving trains for real.

I've enjoyed going back and watching older movies lately because it's refreshing to see movies that aren't all filmed shallow focus to hide the CGI backgrounds and see images with real people and life and light in the frame. Dune and The Batman shows you can do CG and The Volume well but it takes preproduction and planning and I feel like most movies these days must just go straight into production with a "we'll fix it later" attitude or one where the thinking is "this technique works most the time" instead of doing what's best for the film.

I didn't mind Argyle but it got worse as it went along and the CG-ness of it did make it feel cheap and like I shouldn't have been paying to see it at a cinema.

davyK

Relic One for those who like films with people sneaking about a dark creepy house. Grandmother showing signs of dementia has daughter and granddaughter arrive after she goes missing. Granny re-appears with no memory of what has happened - and we take it from there. This is an unusual take on the genre and its equally unusual - maybe even touching , with perhaps a nod to Babadook, ending makes it worth a look. Solid performances from the small cast of 3 too and there's some atmospheric ambient music and good use of sound.

Raiziel

Gremill wrote:

17. Come True
I watched this last year and although I really liked it, I can't say that I remembered that much of it (I may have been under the influence) so it was due a rewatch. So glad I did, because this time I loved it. A really solid central performance anchors a fever-dream like film about a young woman who is struggling with insomnia and nightmares and so joins a sleep research clinic. Some incredibly unnerving imagery, a dread atmosphere, brilliantly stylised direction and a superb soundtrack all make for a compulsive and disturbing watch. 9

Yes on every level.

There’s something about the combination of the directorial flourish, the score, the performances, the everything, that makes this the most me film ever. I just keep watching it.

ShabbyMcCrabby

davyK wrote:

Relic One for those who like films with people sneaking about a dark creepy house. Grandmother showing signs of dementia has daughter and granddaughter arrive after she goes missing. Granny re-appears with no memory of what has happened - and we take it from there. This is an unusual take on the genre and its equally unusual - maybe even touching , with perhaps a nod to Babadook, ending makes it worth a look. Solid performances from the small cast of 3 too and there's some atmospheric ambient music and good use of sound.

I really liked Relic. I think it has a nice message at the heart of it which a lot of films like this don't often have.

Plus my sister used to live in the town that it's set.

Wookienopants

Late Night With The Devil

Pretty great really. Rather enjoyed it.

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