Film/Video Discussion Thread - The Bear and Badger

b0r1s

Reply from BFI, basically use Apple and pay a bit more.

“While we currently don't have a dedicated Apple TV app we are hoping to release one in the coming months. We also have a separate Apple TV channel, operated by Apple themselves, which might be better suited to your current setup.”

davyK

I access bfi via prime. Extra £5 a month.

tin_robot

I discovered the whole BFI faff *after* my wife signed us up for a year. It was immensely irritating but…. We stream it to the TV from my phone and it works perfectly well. I suspect if we were using it to watch 4k blockbusters in Super Surround Sound I might notice what I’m missing, but as it’s usually either very old or very low budget it’s never been a problem.

Blocks100

Drive-Away Dolls - what a load of old disappointing twaddle. Margaret Qualley does her best as a cookie lesbian who accidentally picks up mysterious suitcase when hiring a car to go on a long ride. The trailer depicts that Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal will be in it - but they are the shortest of short cameo roles - they've got more screen time in the trailer than the actual film.

Done by one-half of the Cohen brothers, it does look very Coheny, but it fails miserably as a lesbian road movie. If you want to watch one of those, go watch Thelma and Louise (and they're not even lesbians!)

A generous two out of five dildos from me.

regmcfly

Two dildos? As good as Requiem for a Dream

DrewMerson

JonB

What's a cookie lesbian?

b0r1s

One who needs permission.

Moot_Geeza

A lesbian from Maryland.

acemuzzy

I am also watching DUNC the first atm, in advance if watching the second in the cinema on Wednesday. I really liked it first time round though, so mainly studying it so I can remember what the fuck happened and am fully prepped for the sequel, was deffo more of an experience with the big screen + mega loud theatre audio etc

EvilRedEye

Son of Kong (1933) - This is the sequel to King Kong, rushed to market in nine months and released the same year as the original. Knowing that it could not possibly top the original, it was written to be more light-hearted and comedic. The film is only 69 minutes long and the special effects only show up 43 minutes into the film. The special effects themselves are actually pretty decent but unfortunately they are stuck serving quite a poorly written story that evokes the direct-to-video sequels of the VHS era. I struggle to understand why they didn’t just develop a proper sequel - but even this could have been a lot better if they’d just tried to make a decent script. Not awful, but frustrating. ★★☆☆☆

nick_md

Watching a plane film with the wife and conversation has gone on to other plane films and she says con air. Is con air a plane film? Stupid question perhaps but a fair amount takes place not on a plane.

What's everyone else's favourite plane films?

monkey

Airplane

Wookienopants

Airplane.
Con air.
Air force one.
Executive Decision

nick_md

I had con air as a film that has a plane in it, but isn't a true 100% plane film. Feels like the whole film needs to be set on a plane to be a plane film. I'm half drunk tho so don't hold me to this.

Dark Soldier

Turbulence cos Liotta

EvilRedEye

Watched the two remaining short films I hadn’t seen from the Oscar nominations:

Knight of Fortune (2022) - Quirky goings-on occur as a man visits the body of his dead wife. I found this a bit twee and archetypically short filmish. ★★★☆☆

Red, White and Blue (2023) - A cash-strapped single mother in America is forced to organise an abortion out-of-state. A bit on the nose but there is a particular moment in the film that is very powerful. ★★★★☆

EvilRedEye

Here’s my final ranking of the Best Live Action Short Film nominees:

1 - Invincible (2022) - Review - 10/03/24 - ★★★★★ - Watch for free on Vimeo
2 - Red, White and Blue (2023) - Review - 17/03/24 - ★★★★☆ - Rent for $1.99 from the official website
3 - The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023) - Review - 11/03/24 - ★★★★☆ - Watch on Netflix
4 - Knight of Fortune (2022) - Review - 17/03/24 - ★★★☆☆ - Rent for £3.05 on Vimeo or use a VPN to watch it for free on The New Yorker’s YouTube channel
5 - The After (2023) - Review - 10/03/24 - ★★★☆☆ - Watch on Netflix

My main recommendation would be for Invincible, which you can watch free on Vimeo using the link above. The middle three are OK but not life-changing given they are either a faff or cost money to access. The After isn’t worth the time even if you have Netflix.

EvilRedEye

Couple more short films:

Ninety-Five Senses (2022) - Animated short in which an old man reflects on the five senses. This is a nice change from the Disney and Pixar pre-film short fare but the transition from relatable to unrelatably extreme in the middle of the film doesn’t work as well as the creators thought it would. That said, not bad. ★★★★☆

The Barber of Little Rock (2023) - Documentary short which profiles Arlo Washington, a Black barber who also runs a non-profit community bank. I think it would have been much better if this had been about addressing the racial generational wealth gap generally with Washington as a major point of focus rather than it entirely revolving around Washington. While the subject matter is very worthy, I didn’t think this was particularly interesting and a lot of the footage is comprised of Washington delivering ‘presentations’, having ‘meetings’ with his staff and travelling about for no particular reason, i.e. entirely contrived non-real situations. ★★★☆☆

regmcfly

nick_md wrote:

I had con air as a film that has a plane in it, but isn't a true 100% plane film. Feels like the whole film needs to be set on a plane to be a plane film. I'm half drunk tho so don't hold me to this.

Red-Eye is good trashy fun.

LivDiv

Flightplan is a good plane movie.

I seem to remember enjoying Non-Stop as well but its peak Neeson has skills era.

Snakes on a Plane is not a good movie but has a good line.

LivDiv

Alive is a great movie with a plane in it.

LivDiv

Passenger 57!
"Always bet on Black" classic

RedDave2

As a kid Mr Snipes was a sign of a good movie - white men can't jump, demolition man, passenger 57, major league and some of his edgier stuff like new Jack City. A firm fav of the vhs rental era.

Moot_Geeza

Left Behind with Nicolas Cage.

Moot_Geeza

What was the Clint plane one pls? Can't be bothered to Google.

djchump

There’s that Big Gerry Butler plane film called Plane that has a plane in it, but mostly takes place not on the plane.

Diluted Dante

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Left Behind with Nicolas Cage.

This is genuinely one of the worst films I have ever seen.

Moot_Geeza

I think it might be the worst film I've ever seen. It somehow swerves the 'so bad it's good' zone and isn't something that I could imagine anyone enjoying.

EvilRedEye

Couple more short docos:

The Last Repair Shop (2023) - This won the Oscar, deservedly based on the three nominees I’ve seen so far. Los Angeles, the recording capital of the world, runs a free service that repairs musical instruments for school kids. This documentary looks at the kids who benefit from the service but the real stars of the show are the technicians who restore the instruments, who recount their genuinely interesting life stories. The film culminates in what might be the credit sequence of the year as the kids and adults, in addition to Los Angeles school alumni, combine to perform the end credits music, tying the film in a neat little bow. A strong argument in favour of not everything needing to be 90 minutes. ★★★★★

Island in Between (2023) - A documentary filmmaker with American, Taiwanese and Chinese passports takes a look at the Taiwan/China situation. This was moderately interesting but a bit listless, not helped by the completely deadpan tone of the narrator. Good but there must have been a more interesting film possible here. ★★★★☆

These are both available for free on YouTube - I think Last Repair Shop might also be on Disney+ and would likely be higher video quality on that.

The remaining two require Paramount+ and Disney+ respectively so unless I can pirate them I’ll just wait for the next time I happen to be subscribed.

Howdy, Stranger!

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