Movie Record 2024 Edition - The Bear and Badger

poprock

Blackberry
More laughs than I expected in this story of yet another tech company’s birth and death.

davyK

Shin Ultraman Completely bonkers slice of Japanese preposterousness. Made in 2022 - a combo of CGI, hand drawn animation and men in suits used to portray a contrived , mad tale of giant aliens and Kaiju. Highly entertaining and helped along by , I suspect, iffy translation in the subtitles.

davyK

Beast (2017), is an unsettling psychological drama set against a manhunt for a serial killer on the island of Jersey. Has a brilliant performance from Jessie Buckley in the lead. Watching this you never feel that your feet are on steady ground between the ambiguity of the characters and the claustrophobia of the island community. Worth a look.

Wookienopants

Godzilla x Kong

Took a rare trip to the cinema with the kids in tow.
Used a three mobile rewards so we got 2 x tickets for £6.
Winner.
Film was pretty good fun, loud crashy and smashy. Dan Stevens looked like he was just living his best life and having a grand old time.
Annoyingly the picture quality wasn't great, contrast was off and the picture ended up looking washed out. Plus it didn't feel the highest definition I would expect.

Other than that, movie was a perfectly cromulant way to spend a few hours

g.man

Did the kids love it?

Wookienopants

Absolutely. They thought it was awesome.

poprock

Scoop
Not the story of Prince Andrew’s horrendous Newsnight interview, but the story behind it. Of how it came about. I expected a Gillian Anderson vehicle, but she’s almost playing a supporting role here to Billie Piper - who’s brilliant as the promoter who booked the whole thing.

davyK

Love is the Devil : Study for a portrait of Francis Bacon bio pic centred on the destructive relationship Bacon had with George Dwyer.

It's a real treat seeing the Colony Room scenes with a marvellous Tilda Swinton playing its notorious owner, Muriel Belcher. Derek Jacobi does a splendid impression of the artist and Daniel Craig is effective as his ultimately brittle "bit of rough".

The chaos of Bacon's studio is recreated, as is the booze soaked squalor he lived in while he made millions. Ultimately an impressively presented but tragic tale.

nick_md

Watched Tale of Tales over the weekend at the wife's recommendation, really enjoyed it. You don't get many of these adulty fairy tale films these days, which is a shame. Googling afterwards it seemed the film failed to land with audiences, but I don't know why - I thought it was beautifully shot and the three stories that make up the film (told concurrent, not one after another anthology style) were engaging. I'd give it a solid 4/5 and a rec to anyone who likes their fairy tale stuff on the adult / authentic side.

ShabbyMcCrabby

Oh yeah, I always meant to watch that but then kept forgetting it existed

davyK

Godzilla x Kong This was good but there was too much time spent in the Hollow Earth mucking about with baby Kong etc. All that Lost World/Lost Tribe thing is all a bit tedious. It also takes away what is fun about Godzilla and Kong - seeing them in perspective with humans and buildings while they smash stuff up. This should have been called Kong x Godzilla as it's pretty much a Kong film with G coming in as and when.

There was a bit too much going on too (thinking about those flying beasties and the pointless anti grav thing) and felt a bit of a mess.

Anyhow - above ground it was great craic. And the below ground 2 v 2 money shot was splendid as well. Enjoyed it but I hope I've seen the last of the Hollow Earth. Not sure where this is all going now - likely a Titan War to wrap it all up? It's in danger of overstaying its welcome after this. It needs to get better.

nick_md

ShabbyMcCrabby wrote:

Oh yeah, I always meant to watch that but then kept forgetting it existed

Do it, would be interested to hear how you find it. Good cast too.

In fact if there are any recs for similar adulty fairy tale films, let me have 'em. Not Pans Labyrinth.

Dark Soldier

@nick_md watched that horror you recommended. Already forgotten its name but it was great. Wasn't a huge fan of the ending but the whole buildup between the old dude and the young lass was banging.

ShabbyMcCrabby

Well now I want to know which one it was

Dark Soldier

ShabbyMcCrabby wrote:

Well now I want to know which one it was

You'll Never Find Me, that's it!

ShabbyMcCrabby

25. The Omen
It's actually quite a fun movie really. Partly because of the setting and some of the politics but also because each of the horror set pieces still absolutely slap. I think it's because of the extraneous damage that occurs throughout them. Smashing through windows and the like. Made me realise how contained so many stunts are these days because the reset time would be too long. Also that kid is perfect casting
[8]

26. The Terminator
I know people will balk at the score but it's just a little harder to watch this one now knowing what is to come. I'm sure it blew minds back in the day but it just feels a little small and repetitive car chasey now. Still heaps of fun though.
[7]

27. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad
Watching through old Disney. They were so thirsty back then. And lecherous. Yikes. Note to writers, don't ever describe a woman as "ripe". Mr Toad is fun though and so is the headless horseman until it goes for too long.
[5]

28. The First Omen
Gee whiz female directed horror can often just not hold back at all. This film went to some places I was not prepared for. If you shave off the epilogue, get rid of the few unnecessary jump scares, and adjust that other wink wink line and you've got a bonafide classic. Just spoils it with those few things.
[7]

nick_md

Dark Soldier wrote:

@nick_md watched that horror you recommended. Already forgotten its name but it was great. Wasn't a huge fan of the ending but the whole buildup between the old dude and the young lass was banging.

Yeah I'd agree what that, the build up was great but the ending let it down a bit. Still a great effort tho and a strong rec.

davyK

ShabbyMcCrabby wrote:

The First Omen Gee whiz female directed horror can often just not hold back at all. This film went to some places I was not prepared for. If you shave off the epilogue, get rid of the few unnecessary jump scares, and adjust that other wink wink line and you've got a bonafide classic. Just spoils it with those few things. [7]

Saw a trailer for this last night. Knowing the original Omen quite well and hearing this is a prequel, I'd be interested in knowing if it knits into the original's narrative re the origin of the child. It didn't seem to be heading that way going by the trailer.

Looked interesting - may well watch it when it appears on stream.

btw - which Omen were you referring to in the post above - the original or the recent remake?

ShabbyMcCrabby

The original. Yeah I forgot there was a remake.

I think you'll like this new one. I'd say it's a combination of the old Omen style horror and newer horror like Saint Maud.
I do think it does some necessary jump scares for the Conjuring crowd though. It's kind of a shame because the rest of the film is made in a more classical style and, to me, they felt out of step with the rest of it. If you just cut the "boo!!" moments out of those sequences they would have been great. Although maybe the tension and dread would have been too much without some release.

ShabbyMcCrabby

nick_md wrote:

Dark Soldier wrote:

@nick_md watched that horror you recommended. Already forgotten its name but it was great. Wasn't a huge fan of the ending but the whole buildup between the old dude and the young lass was banging.

Yeah I'd agree what that, the build up was great but the ending let it down a bit. Still a great effort tho and a strong rec.

Which one plz

Moot_Geeza

I tried looking for whatever they're on about yesterday but I couldn't find it.

nick_md

You'll Never Find Me, it's on shudder. Keep up pls.

nick_md

Oh wait

nick_md

Woosh

davyK

Dead Man's Letters is the Soviet response to Threads. This was made in '86 when censorship was loosening up in the USSR and it pulls no punches. It's a more philosophic film but it has its horrors too. If there is an image of hell on Earth it's a post nuclear war hospital.

The film centres around a small group living in a bunker underneath a museum, with the main character being a Nobel prize winner for physics, considering his role in what he sees as the end of humanity. Yeah - it's not a laugh a minute this one...

The director, a student of Tarkovsky (he worked on Stalker)is clearly influenced by that. There's an awful beauty to this film.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Man's_Letters

On youtube. The captions are out of kilter with the film but it doesn't affect the experience as they are ahead of the images by a few seconds which actually means you are often looking at the actor as they speak. This deserves to be given a proper treatment as its as important as it is artistic.

davyK

ShabbyMcCrabby wrote:

The original. Yeah I forgot there was a remake. I think you'll like this new one. I'd say it's a combination of the old Omen style horror and newer horror like Saint Maud. I do think it does some necessary jump scares for the Conjuring crowd though. It's kind of a shame because the rest of the film is made in a more classical style and, to me, they felt out of step with the rest of it. If you just cut the "boo!!" moments out of those sequences they would have been great. Although maybe the tension and dread would have been too much without some release.

That's a good point about jump scares. They are a kind of comic relief really. They are a cop out when you think about it.

ShabbyMcCrabby

Done well they allow the filmmakers to release the tension of a scary sequence in a satisfying way that means the film doesn't become too overbearing.
But anyone can have a cat jump out at you and make you flinch in your seat.
There was just a few sequences in the first Omen that did the obvious thing when the better choice would have been restraint.

And thanks Nick, that one is on my list

davyK

Reptile Enjoyable crime caper that starts as a murder enquiry and does the ol' switcheroo. The story is OK but the cast elevate it. Good old Benicio Del Toro carries it but there's a surprising (to me) turn from Justin Timberlake. Who knew?

Moot_Geeza

Quite liked that one. Kinda felt like it could've been a fondly remembered early noughties thriller.

Moot_Geeza

Watched You'll Never Find Me last night. Enjoyed the build up and had no problem with the ending.

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