Movie Record 2024 Edition - The Bear and Badger

RedDave2

Dark Soldier wrote:

Loved the first Reacher.

The violence and lol fuck yo jaw stuff in the TV series works for me cos the geezer playing big jack is hench and he could probably crush a skull with a stare but with lil tom I just kept expecting the bad guys to hold the top of his head as his little arms swing at the wind

That's a wonderful image.

poprock

davyK wrote:

Cruise had the world weariness of Reacher down.

That’s it, for me. I preferred world weary Reacher. That made more of a difference than the physicality.

LarryDavid

Medium Cool

Loads of good stuff here, scenes around the Democrat Convention in '68 (shot there & then I presume), all manner of great cinematography, fancy camera angles and nice imagery, a story that flits wherever it fancies and doesn't really settle for too long on any one thread until the central romance emerges, one which isn't too cloying. The story isn't all that important anyway. I'll guess it captured something of the spirit of the times. I wouldn't know obviously, having not been there. Could have done with some MC5 on the soundtrack I thought, rather than that unfunny Zappa shit that pops up at one stage (it's an unobtrusive soundtrack apart from that). 8/10

g.man

Kick Out The Dems, Motherfuckers?

ShabbyMcCrabby

6. Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles
People seem to love this but I thought it was a bit shit. I think they have a great story to tell of how they grew to be one of the biggest brands in the world but this doco doesn't know how to tell a story and so you get bits of the interesting stuff but it all becomes a hodge-podge as it goes from one element to the next with no real flow. Also don't show me 9/11 footage in a Wiggles doco tyvm.
[4]

Diluted Dante

ShabbyMcCrabby wrote:

Also don't show me 9/11 footage in a Wiggles doco tyvm. [4]

I'm sorry, what?

hylian_elf

2. The Boy and the Heron - 25 Jan
As lovely to look at and watch as always, these Ghibli/Miyazaki movies. After missing two showings, I was so pleased to have found a convenient time to watch it for free (sort of). However, I found it a bit lacking - it didn't feel magical or emotive enough for me. The story and narrative also felt disjointed and a bit scattergun. That's not to say it's bad, just that I was expecting more given all the hype. Certianly no Spirited Away. Glad I managed to watch it on the big screen, though.
[7]

g.man

Diluted Dante wrote:

ShabbyMcCrabby wrote:

Also don't show me 9/11 footage in a Wiggles doco tyvm. [4]

I'm sorry, what?

The Wiggles were apparently a notorious Sleeper Cell responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

Dark Soldier

The sequel is great they have a whole song and dance routine while video footage of the Vietnam War plays in the background.

g.man

LivDiv

Pretty Woman
A classic, love it.

American Gigolo
Pretty Woman flipped on its head. This time its Richard Gere boning for cash. Except of course he is a man and therefore in control and doesn't need saving, that is until he gets caught up in a murder and a love affair with the senators wife.
Smouldering ensues.
Prefer Pretty Woman.

ShabbyMcCrabby

Dark Soldier wrote:

The sequel is great they have a whole song and dance routine while video footage of the Vietnam War plays in the background.

Honestly wouldn't surprise me. It made sense for 9/11 to be a part of it as they were going to one of their first tours in the USA when it happened and so it was partly about bringing something nice and happy. But you can tell that story without showing the towers falling.

poprock

Reminiscence
Odd little sci-fi flick with Hugh Jackman playing the hard-boiled gumshoe role but mixed up with a climate change flooded cities narrative, something about dirty cops, and a time travel but not time travel conceit about tech that lets you explore people’s memories. Oh, and it’s a love story with a con artist angle. Too many things going on at once. The film is lacking focus. Only Thandie Newton saves it from the filler pile.

davyK

Wild Strawberries

A rewatch after many, many years. I had forgot some of the dream sequences - one in particular is pretty dark and heavy. But it's a marvellous film no matter what way you look at it. Initially you could think it's one of regret but I prefer to think of it as initial regret then realisation and then acceptance. Has the lovely Bibi Anderson and the beautiful Ingrid Thulin who I can't keep my eyes off.

This , with Persona and Fanny Alexander are my favourite Bergman films. (Have Persona on US Criterion BluRay ordered from wowhd.)

Gremill

4. No Hard Feelings
An odd one this - it's like 2 different films smashed together into one tonally schizophrenic comedy that makes eyes at being a rom-com but ends up being a hybrid of an indie coming of age story and a 1980s style sex-comedy. It really is all over the place. Although, not to say it's bad - it regularly made me laugh very loudly - plus Jennifer Lawrence has both a real gift for comedy and is absolutely smoking hot throughout this. I mean, goddamn she's gorgeous even when playing a man extremely morally questionable arsehole. She regularly makes herself look completely fucking deranged throughout this film and is the reason to watch more than anything else. 6

The Daddy

6. Aftersun

Not really sure what to think of this. It’s one of those subtly meaningful films that snakes its way into your brain and stays there for a day or two after. I think I’ve decided what the ending was. [7ish]

Kow

Thought the ending was really good, brought it all together.

The Daddy

My take is:

Spoiler:

hylian_elf

I loved it, an absolute great for me. I thought the above too at first, but subsequent clips suggest otherwise - the bits without the girl didn't necessarily happen, apparentky it's her mind trying to fill in the gaps. Or something.

Dark Soldier

The Beekeper

Statham innit. Slightly schizophrenic film that feels 80s but modern, big Jase smashing shit up with pure nonsense storyline but I love this brainless slop he pumps out so its an [8] for me lads.

davyK

Cries and Whispers

Bergman has a bit of a rep for bleak. But I've not really found is work like that on the whole.

But here's one that fits the mold. A tableau of lingering painful death, despair, self loathing and guilt - all of it occurring in sets comprising of beautifully dressed bright red rooms.

Three of Bergman's alumni playing three sisters portray this fairly heavy tale with the trademark facial closeups spanning a spectrum from almost vacant stares through to painful drawn out screams. There's blood, infant mortality, self harm, immorality and even a side helping of suggested lesbian lust - it's all here.

But for all that, it's still watchable. I suppose that's Bergman's talent. This is on BFI and even with the rather poor grainy presentation it's still an at times beautiful looking film and always engaging.

djchump

The Beekeeper
Very good.
[8]

The Bricklayer
Very bad.
[2]

Gremill

djchump wrote:

The Beekeeper
Very good.
[8]

The Bricklayer
Very bad.
[2]

Interested to hear your review of The Cobbler.

Wookienopants

"load of old cobblers"

LivDiv

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy next surely

ShabbyMcCrabby

The Daddy wrote:

My take is:

Spoiler:

The bit where we see him go into the sea was him ending things after his daughter left. Obviously it was cut to look like that was happening when she was out. The scene where he’s packing up the camera was like a metaphorical moving on to the afterlife thing, the disco seemed to be through the double doors.

Hmmmm, I guess I wasn't thinking of the film in that kind of way. I can't even remember what I was thinking was going on with it.
I think

Spoiler:

Maybe I need to re-watch it

djchump

Gremill wrote:

djchump wrote:

The Beekeeper Very good. [8] The Bricklayer Very bad. [2]

Interested to hear your review of The Cobbler.

Eh, I tend not to bother with Adam Sandler films, but I guess it's got Steve Buscemi in there so could be worth a watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3203616/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
It's at the bottom of my list though.

davyK

97% Owned Documentary about how money is created and how it works and how the banks needs fucking sorting out.

This is mandatory viewing.

I watched it on Netflix but it's on YT as well.

Gremill

djchump wrote:

Gremill wrote:

djchump wrote:

The Beekeeper Very good. [8] The Bricklayer Very bad. [2]

Interested to hear your review of The Cobbler.

Eh, I tend not to bother with Adam Sandler films, but I guess it's got Steve Buscemi in there so could be worth a watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3203616/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
It's at the bottom of my list though.

Thank you for taking me so literally.

djchump

Gremill wrote:

djchump wrote:

Gremill wrote:

djchump wrote:

The Beekeeper Very good. [8] The Bricklayer Very bad. [2]

Interested to hear your review of The Cobbler.

Eh, I tend not to bother with Adam Sandler films, but I guess it's got Steve Buscemi in there so could be worth a watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3203616/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
It's at the bottom of my list though.

Thank you for taking me so literally.

I aim to disappoint.

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