What was the last movie you saw?

[J Riff]

Casino Royale, the wild chase scene in Uganda at the beginning, and the ridiculous poker hand sequence, make this another James Bond film.

 

[Rodders]

I've been going through a bit of post apocolyptic phase at the moment. Just watched a very well made Spanish film called The Last Days. An excellent film, well shot with well developed characters and a decent plot.

 

[Droflet]

Alien: Covenant. Meh.

 

[HanaBi]

"Get Carter" (2000) - Steven Kay (D); Sylvester Stallone, Miranda Richardson, John C McGinley

A completely pointless, gutless, emotionless, tedious waste of a need to remake the classic 1971 original with Michael Caine.

Stallone did it for the money, is the only reason I can think of why he is in this half-baked pile of pants; and what was the delightful & hugely talented Miranda Richardson thinking!!?

And as for the ending! Just don' get me started. Grrrrrr

1/5

 

[J Riff]

Tank 432, 2017. One of the worst, just don't bother, really, don't.
Hillbillys in a Haunted House 1967... wuhl.... jest 'cos Ferlin n' Merle can sing right perty - don't mean they'all kin act much. Nice little jamboree at th' end. Also, havin' Carradine, Chaney Jr. and Rathbone... well she should be scary right? Ya'll have to see fer yerselves, if'n ya kin find this bit of nonsense.

 

[WaylanderToo]

Baby Driver (2017)
Not perfect, and a bit ridiculous at times, but an excellent film. One I recommend seeing at the cinema. The opening scene is superb, as well as the way scenes flow with the music throughout.

I was wondering about this one, so thanks.

any film that has Golden Earring's "Radar Love" and Focus's "Hocus Pocus" as part of their soundtrack has to be worth a watch (and yes it is good!)

 

[J Riff]

Any heist movie gets glommed here, Driving Baby is playing tonight; should be better than Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, but not holding my breath.)

 

[BigBadBob141]

I've just watched "The Girl With All The Gifts" (2016).
This is a truly outstanding British Horror film, I could not recommend it more (6 stars out of 5)!!!
It's a completely original take on Zombies, but the creatures in it are really no more zombies then the ones in "28 Days Later".
I can't say anymore as I don't want to give the plot away.
To say it's good is like saying "Breaking Bad" or "Game Of Thrones " is not half bad!!!
The young actress who plays the main part, Sennia Nanua could not be better!!!
One other horror film I would recommend is "The Cabin In The Woods" (2012).
It appears to start off as your average teenage slasher movie, but nothing is as it seems.
It was written by the chap who created "Buffy", "Angel" & "Firefly".
So it's full of original plot twists with a great ending.
P.S. Look out for Sigourney Weaver.
P.P.S. Really enjoyed her cameo in "Paul".

 

[AlexH]

I'd like to watch that as one of the filming locations was my (now abandoned) local bus station. I don't usually watch horror, but maybe I'll give The Girl With All The Gifts a go.

 

[Rodders]

I watched a couple of movies recently.

Kill Command. A group of soldiers are ordered to scout a remote island, only to discover they thay're bing used to be hunted may military robots, who are learning from them.

A cheap film that was pretty well made imo. Not bad at all.

Hell. A German language movies set in a world where the sun had increased the Earths temperature by ten degrees. We follow two girls and a guy as they try to get to higher ground where the water is more freely available. On the way they get hijacked by some bandits that turn out to be a family. The girls are wanted to to marry the sons and they guys are kept for meat. Not a bad film, but I doubt if I'll watch them again.

 

[J Riff]

Blue Ruin... homeless guy kills a guy who killed his father... but then the guy's pals try to kill him.. it's all a mistake because really the guy's Dad was the killer.. but they all run around shooting each other until the tragic and mindless ending.
Trolls - not BoxTrolls, just Trolls, and they are mighty cute and sing well as they avoid being eaten by the giant people.

 

[Dave]

For a split second, a read that as the Trolls being the ones going around shooting each other, which would have made for a very original film, if not quite as mighty cute.

 

[AstroZon]

Last Monday I was sick (on my day off, arrrhhh!) Anyhow, I lounged in the recliner and watched the entire Frank Herbert's Dune miniseries (the one with William Hurt and Alec Newman.) Not perfect, but pretty close IMO.

On Friday, I found Interstellar in the $5.00 bin at Walmart, so I bought it and watched it Saturday night. This movie needs a re-edit IMO.

 

[Randy M.]

Loving (2016), directed by Jeff Nichols, starring Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton.

Based on the lives and marriage of Mildred and Richard Loving. Mildred gets pregnant and Richard, who truly loves her, takes her from their home in Virginia to Washington, D.C. and marries her there. The problem is they are an inter-racial couple at a time when many Southern states still have laws against miscegenation. Eventually they are championed by the ACLU, their case goes to the Supreme Court and the miscegenation laws are quashed by the verdict, but along the way they are arrested, threatened with prison, and forced to leave their home. What could have been unbearably sanctimonious is instead moving. The Lovings were simple people who just wanted a decent life together. By focusing on the Lovings rather than on the courts and the trials, the filmmakers put a human face on the issue. Richard was killed by a drunk driver seven years after the court verdict, but if the portrayal of their marriage is anywhere near accurate, they must have had a happy life together while it lasted.


And now, for something completely different ...

Marlowe (1969), directed by Paul Bogart, starring James Garner, Gayle Hunnicutt, Carol O'Connor, Rita Moreno, Bruce Lee and a platoon of familiar character actors (note Kenneth Tobey, without a Thing).

Based on Raymond Chandler's The Little Sister. Mavis Wald is a well-known actress in a very successful sitcom. Pictures of her cavorting with a known gangster could ruin her career, but P.I. Philip Marlowe intrudes. While working a different case he intersects with the blackmailing scheme meant to drain Wald. The story takes a few turns, from family members with few scruples, to a TV exec with something like an ethical outlook, to a doctor who may be crooked and a stripper who may actually like Marlowe, to an appearance by Bruce Lee that probably jump-started his American movie career, given the energy he displays -- it's hard to steal scenes from Garner, but he holds his own with Garner and that's pretty good. Besides the fashions and hair-styles, the slightly jazzy not-quite-rock music, the color, the use of the camera and framing of shots, the sound-stage work all tag this as a 1960s movie. Stirling Silliphant wrote the script and stayed pretty close to the novel, which is mostly good though he probably could have toned down the latent misogyny of Chandler's writing; the direction is mostly crisp and the character actors get some pretty good scenes; one of the movie's strengths is its cast which includes William Daniels and Sharon Farrell. And it failed at the box-office. The P.I. was going out of style, I think, and this one just didn't capture the public imagination -- Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye, also not a financial success, probably drove the final nail in the coffin of the private eye movie; they're about as dead as the Western. Too bad. Garner was good as Marlowe and I'd like to have seen him in another Marlowe movie, maybe a better one. Still, we'll always have Rockford.


Randy M.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Butley (1974)

Back in the 1970's there was a thing called the American Film Theatre which released several movies adapted from plays. These have been released as a set, and we are working our way through these very slowly, probably once a month, in alphabetical order. This is the first one.

The title character (Alan Bates) is a slovenly, heavy-drinking, heavy-smoking, sarcastic English professor who spends his day insulting his colleagues and avoiding his students. He shares his office with a younger man who was once his student, and who is now his live-in lover. His wife has just left him with their infant daughter, and his lover is about to leave him for another man. With a few tiny exceptions, the entire movie takes place in his office. Various characters come and go and interact with this acid-tongued, self-destructive fellow. Bates has to talk constantly, in dialogue which sounds very written, as opposed to the somewhat more realistic dialogue of the other characters. His performance is also more affected, particularly in contrast with the very low-key performances of the rest of the cast. Something of a tour de force for Bates, if not exactly uplifting entertainment.

Eddie and the Cruisers (1983)

Rock 'n' roll band has a massive hit record in 1963. Their follow-up record is declared unreleasable. The lead drives his car off a bridge but his body is never found. Now somebody is trashing the homes of the remaining members of the band in an apparent attempt to recover the lost tapes. Offbeat combination of musical, drama, Citizen Kane-style multiple flashbacks, and mystery never quite comes together but holds the interest. It's odd to hear music supposedly from the early 1960's that starts off like the 1950's then sounds like Bruce Springsteen then sounds like the Doors.

Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! (1989)

Inferior sequel takes the leader of the band, who now lives in Canada under an assumed name, back to his rock 'n' roll roots as he assembles a new group. Another set of lost tapes is thrown in for no reason at all, and the whole thing seems rather pointless.

 

[Randy M.]

Eddie and the Cruisers (1983)

Rock 'n' roll band has a massive hit record in 1963. Their follow-up record is declared unreleasable. The lead drives his car off a bridge but his body is never found. Now somebody is trashing the homes of the remaining members of the band in an apparent attempt to recover the lost tapes. Offbeat combination of musical, drama, Citizen Kane-style multiple flashbacks, and mystery never quite comes together but holds the interest. It's odd to hear music supposedly from the early 1960's that starts off like the 1950's then sounds like Bruce Springsteen then sounds like the Doors.

I remember going to see this when it was released and thinking, wow, a botched attempt at updating Citizen Kane! Which probably isn't entirely fair, but my main take away was how well Ellen Barkin could cry when required.


Randy M.

 

[Ignited Moth]

Saturday I went to see Spider-Man: Homecoming. It was a lot of fun.

 

[HanaBi]

"Glengarry Glen Ross" (1992) - James Foley (D); Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey

A wonderful adaptation from David Mamet's stage-play about four struggling real estate salesmen trying to save their jobs due to a depressed market and unacceptably low monthly sales figures. One of the company's top salesman (Baldwin) sets up a sales meeting with most of these men and tells them in no uncertain terms that at the end of the month the person who finishes 3rd in the sale contest will be fired!

Despite their loud and very vocal protests to their office manager (Spacey), they realise that they're now having to resort to "illegal" tactics to win a sale, or for two of them to resort to robbing the office and stealing the much-sought after Glengarry leads and sell them to a rival real estate company.

Despite tanking at the box-office, it was received with very high critical acclaim from the film critics, and is a brilliant character-driven study of how four men react to the news they're jobs are at risk.

Al Pacino, is the most successful of those four men in terms of sales turnover, and therefore isn't overly concerned because he is top of the sales board. But for the likes of Harris and Lemmon it's like the end of the world is about to happen for them.

In fact this film is perhaps Lemmon's most rounded, most multi-layered performance I have seen of his (and I've seen quite a lot!): truly amazing!!

Another astonishing performance was Baldwin's 10 minute cameo at the beginning, and his "<A>lways, <B>e <C>losing" sales speech to the troops. And here's a little taster....

"...You certainly don't, pal, because the good news is, you're fired!
The bad news is, you've got, all you've got just one week to regain your jobs starting with tonight.
Have I got your attention now? Good. because we're adding a little something to this month's sales contest.
As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado.
Anyone want to see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives.
Third prize is you're fired!
Get the picture?
You laughing now?
You got leads. Mitch and Murray paid good money, get their names to sell them; you can't close the leads you're given, you can't close s**t, you ARE s**t! Hit the bricks, pal, and beat it because you are going out!!"



Be warned - there's lots of "effing and jeffing" in this film, with nearly every other line having the "f" bomb (and its derivatives) and the "c" bomb thrown in for good measure.


Simply brilliant

5/5

 

[J Riff]

Rounders 1998, hey a not-bad poker movie. If it went on longer, Matt Damon could have gone on to win the World Series o' Poker.

 

[AE35Unit]

Going thru the X Men box set and tonight it was Origins: Wolverine. And tho we've seen it before there's a certain character near the end that became very popular, but last time we watched it he was as yet an unknown entity.