DrewMerson wrote:

Hard ‘no’.

You’re one of those MI:2 lovers, aren’t you? Not saying I hated it, just story wise, it made no sense.

Latest MI is bobbins. Huge let down for me on the heels of how awesome maverick was.

I enjoyed it but it was unnecessarily long.

Witchfinder General (1968) - The cult historical drama-slash-horror that inspired the Paedofinder General from Monkey Dust. Watched this via 4K Blu-ray and the 4K presentation was honestly a significant pleasant surprise given the age of the film. While the materials are dated and are sometimes soft or grainy, much of the costuming and scenery benefits from the vibrant colours of HDR and as lighting has such a huge impact on the film - it is shot at various times of day and sometimes with bright man-made light sources such as lamps and fires - the tasteful use of HDR brightness adds a huge amount to the aesthetic appeal of the film, whether it’s the sun attempting to burst through the clouds, sunlight reflecting off a character’s hair or something more morbid like peasants poking at the ashes of a witch-burning bonfire.

The film is generally enjoyable, the kind of thing they just don’t make any more. There are some respects in which that’s a bad thing though - the plotting is mildly wonky at times and the main female character, while she feels on the verge of becoming a proper deuteragonist at times, ends up being objectified.

Overall though, I enjoyed it and while I bought the 4K as a luxurious treat I’m surprised to find it feels like a justified purchase. ★★★★☆

It really was something to behold, that performance. And not in a good way.

The smug self-satisfaction is off the charts. That’s what made it such a bad performance.

Paul the sparky wrote:

Paul the sparky wrote:

Just back from that June 2. Fucking incredible. [10]

Hey though what about that "humble Messiah" line straight out of The Life of Brian?! I nearly burst out laughing. Almost ruinous

There was a comedic undercurrent throughout the movie. Quite a few laughs in my local cinema but on 2nd viewing in Manchester no one picked up on it all all. Fuckin tourists/students.

Yep he was the best thing in it.

Yeah, it does look very much like that's the case.

Tbh fury road had the same all over it. I think the noticeability of it lent it a charm, like mid-90s action flick explosions.

g.man wrote:

Definitely to an extent, but this looks like a lot of it was shot in George Miller’s garden shed.

I mean, the first two Mad Maxes were.

Sunset Boulevard is an all-timer. Love it.

Immaculate (2024) - Young American woman Sydney Sweeney travels to Italy to become a nun at a convent that acts as a hospice for aging nuns but is hinted to have darkness seething beneath the surface. She is only there for a short time when she immaculately conceives a baby, triggering a series of horror-laden events.

I saw mixed reviews for this but mixed as in some middling and some genuinely positive, including a positive review from Mark Kermode, so I gave it a go. For the most part, I thought it a pretty generic modern horror. At one point a nasty old nun says “You will never leave here!” to Sydney Sweeney and I thought “So what?” because we’re never shown Sweeney’s life before the convent, she has a threadbare backstory and is pretty weakly characterised by the script.

The hyped up final scenes are more interesting than the rest of the movie but less powerful for having been preceded by a fairly mediocre movie and I don’t really feel like the film actually earns the extreme violence that emerges in the third act. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad movie but I also wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to see it at the cinema. ★★★☆☆