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The Last Movie(s) You Watched... (quick one or two sentence reviews)

Garp

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'Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman' [2017]
Source: Hulu [streaming]

If, like me, you were expecting an in-depth bio-drama about the creation of 'Wonder Woman', you'll be disappointed. This isn't that story. Instead, the unusual life and relationships of Marston, his wife and their partner is the crux of this well-acted film, intermingled with the DISC theory, BDSM, lie detectors and, yes, comic books. Sometimes sexy, sometimes uncomfortable but ultimately sweet; it's inspired me to check out 'The Secret History of Wonder Woman' from the library.
 

TM2YC

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^ Looking forward to seeing that when I get a chance.

Starman (1984)
I don't think I'd watched this John Carpenter gem since I was a young teen, so it was almost like seeing it for the first time. An alien learning what it is to be human and teaching us the audience what it means too. Many of JC's other action oriented films are more famous but this might be his finest work.  Jack Nitzsche's synth score is of course beautiful, tear inducing and impossible to get out of your brain.


(I do wish they'd cast Bridges in 'Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2' so I could've kept the notion that Starman is Starlord's father a part of my own personal head-canon :D ).
 

gazza

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a quiet place 2018 
a decent movie overall ,suspenseful in place.my only faults were they never gave the creatures any backstory other than a newspaper clipping that says no sound,and at one point the family start arguing in sign language for 5+ minutes and the theatre didnt have subtitleson screen(i dont know if that was intentional or whether all theatres did that)
 

The Scribbling Man

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gazza said:
my only faults were they never gave the creatures any backstory other than a newspaper clipping that says no sound

The film has faults, but I don't consider that one of them.
It's not about the creatures, it's about the family. Everything else is just a setting.

If you're going to mention plot details, then I'd recommend using spoiler tags.
 

Sinbad

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gazza said:
a quiet place 2018 
a decent movie overall ,suspenseful in place.my only faults were they never gave the creatures any backstory other than a newspaper clipping that says no sound,and at one point the family start arguing in sign language for 5+ minutes and the theatre didnt have subtitleson screen(i dont know if that was intentional or whether all theatres did that)

Definitely had subtitles for all important parts in my cinema, I didn't feel there was a need for any backstory on the 'Aliens' part (although I'm not interested in the whole xenomorph/prometheus back story either in the Alien franchise to be fair) in what is essentially a low budget monster flick based on a simple but intriguing premise.  Thats something they can elaborate on in the inevitable sequel given the film's success.  I  imagine a bigger budget, bigger scope sequel is on the way that will probably be a prequel showing the initial invasion of the creatures.
 

slekyr

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I agree, I'm glad they didn't give more details about where the monsters came from.  I don't think it would have made sense given the context and tone of the film.  Plus when you leave the details vague it allows the audience to formulate their own opinions and speculations about where they came from.  Plus just like @"Sinbad" said, they could elaborate those details in the sequel that will inevitably happen given the film's success. To be honest, unless the same creative people behind the first are attached to the make the sequel, I feel like the quality will drop just like most horror franchises.  

One of my most favorite films is Tremors, which is another movie that benefits from the ambiguity of not knowing the creatures origins.  However, once they started exploring the origins of the graboids, the films story and especially quality have declined greatly with each release. I haven't even brought myself to watch the newest one yet.
 

TM2YC

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To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
William Friedkin makes a possible blueprint for later amped-up 1980/90s unorthodox Cops-breaking-the-rules movies like 'Lethal Weapon' and 'Bad Boys'. Hyper-stylised visuals, sun-burnt LA photography (looks spectacular on blu-ray), ridiculous levels of violence, an all-time great car-chase and a thudding Synth-Pop score. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if everyone in front of and behind the camera was working through a cloud of Cocaine.

Comes with a pretty unique and brilliantly edited trailer:

 

Sinbad

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^One of my absolute faves, also features one of the greatest WTF moments in cinema history (probably down to the cocaine)
 

TM2YC

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The Limehouse Golem (2016)
A ripper-a-like killer is carving up Music-hall folk and prostitutes in Victorian London, so Bill Nighy (the Sherlock of this story) is put on the case. Features astonishingly violent practical gore FX that will turn all but the hardiest of stomachs. The viewing pleasure will either come from guessing 'til end who the killer is, or guessing who it was in the first 10-minutes (like I did because I'm just suspicious like that ;) ) and then spending the rest of the film marveling at the film's subtle slight of hand in disguising the truth.

 

Sinbad

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^Well that's tomorrow night's viewing conundrum sorted, very intriuged :)
 

Sinbad

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Sicario 2
Taylor Sheridan really has been knocking it out of the park with his screenplays and succeeds again with this unexpected Sicario follow up. Compelling from start to finish but blighted a little by a groan inducing cliche in the third act.  Definitely worth your time for fans of the albeit superior original.
 

TM2YC

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The Deer Hunter (1978)
I watched this when I was younger and thought it was unnecessarily long and slow, so as it was back on the big-screen in 4K for it's 40th Anniversary I gave it another go. This time I was blown away, the first hour spent entirely setting up the characters was perfectly edited and timed. The other two hours are grueling and powerful and need that setup, to feel what is lost.


(It might have just been the screening I saw but perhaps the blacks were a tiny bit crushed and colours were slightly over-saturated but generally it looked fantastic. Better than it looking washed out and soft I suppose)
 

Sinbad

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Short Circuit 3 TAU
Oh dear, this so wanted to be a thoughtful mash up of Ex Machina/ Cube and ended up more like a spiritual sequel to Short Circuit. Nonsensical plot, Gary Oldman embarrassing himself without even being on screen, if it wasn't pretty damn boring it might have had some campy bad movie value.  This made that Cloverfield sequel look like a masterpiece. 

Secretary
Much much better, I really don't know how I would pigeon hole this it's pretty unique but I guess at a push it's  an extremely dark  romantic drama/comedy.  Conversely though it manages to handle it's subject matter with a lightness of touch that we can still root for Spader and Gyllenhall despite how they like to get their jollies. Glad I finally got round to watching it, excellent stuff
 

TM2YC

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Simon Killer (2012)
Menacing film about a Sociopathic US Graduate who spends time in Paris and "befriends" a prostitute. I doubt I'd be exaggerating if I said that more than 50% of the film is comprised of over-the-shoulder shots (with the background blurred out) and another 25% is made up of shots were the actors are mostly cropped out of the frame. These are occasionally powerful artistic devices for certain scenes but not for the whole movie (unless it's for a very specific reason like in 'Son of Saul').


Barbarella (1968)
I'd never got past the horribly shot first scene on the planet before (cunningly setup to make the already small and fake looking ice set, look as pathetic as possible) but after that point, the Direction is pretty decent. Kind of a Psychedelic 60s soft-core-porno with a baddie who looks like Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse. The main fun is the awesome array of brilliantly designed sexy Sci-Fi costumes Jane Fonda wears. I counted nine outfits... if you include her birthday suit! :D 

 

TM2YC

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The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
This has the reputation of an underated action-movie classic but I think the 68% RT score is probably about right. The opening and closing are scrappy, the characters (outside of Geena Davis and Sam Jackson) are thinly developed and the actor playing the main-villain is a flatline (you needed an Alan Rickman-a-like chewing up the scenery). However, it does have many memorable one-liners, a smart premise and lots of hard-edged action, so it's a ton of fun.

 

TM2YC

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A Connery double-bill:

Outland (1981)
An excellent violent Sci-Fi/Western/Horror starring Sean Connery as the new (honest) Marshall of a corrupt Jupiter mining colony. The world looks, sounds and feels identical to that of the gritty/grimy 'Alien' (from two years earlier), not surprising when it shares the same composer (Jerry Goldsmith), the same costume designer (John Mollo) and the same model makers (Martin Bower et al) among others.


The Offence (1972)
Sidney Lumet film about a British Cop (played by Sean Connery) who has seen too many horrors and finally snaps, beating a suspect child-molester to death, while in custody. I soon guessed this was based on a stage play because disappointingly no real attempt is made to disguise that it's just three very long scenes in rooms. The best Connery performance I've yet seen, intense, sad, occasionally cruel and often frightening.

 

Sinbad

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The Offence has been on my watchlist for a while, I will make an effort to finallly get round to viewing it now. I've always rated Outland as a great scifi western version of high noon. Peter Hyams has a reputation as a hack but I always found his films up to and around Sudden Death very entertaining. Hell a sound of thunder has a ''so bad it's good' quality too...

To live and die in l.a
Picked up the bluray this week, packed with extras. The film is jam packed with 80's excess but Friedkins off kilter approach is still there in spades. It gets better everytime I watch it and I loved it on first viewing!
 

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Thoroughbreds. My favorite of 2018 so far along with Death of Stalin. There’s amazing cinematography, scoring, performances, and writing in this. And a long take that’s like the anti-Children of Men or Touch of Evil. Essentially a static shot, it relies on what’s come before in the plot and the sound design to convey what’s happening. It’s quite remarkable and, IMO, the conclusion of that long take give the film a great feeling that, as an audience, we can’t be sure what’s going on. Highly recommended.
 

TM2YC

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Zardoz (1794)
Another Sean Connery and John Boorman film... and yes it's that mad one with Connery wearing a handlebar mustache, a red nappy/diaper and nothing else. Once you get past the initial strangeness, the underlying plot turns out to be simple enough but it's presentation isn't. It looks like the result of a hippy commune taking over a country house and deciding to improvise a Sci-Fi film. The final shot of Connery and Charlotte Rampling (both admirably taking it all very seriously) metamorphosing into joke-shop skeletons is unintentionally hilarious.

 

TM2YC

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Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
Not one of Ridley Scott's best but was worth the purchase for his usual plethora of bonus features. The decision to have it both ways and give the "miraculous" events of the Moses story semi-credible scientific explanations robs it of awe and poetry. Far, far more boring than this story should ever be.


Valentino (1977)
Ballet Dancer Rudolf Nureyev stars in this biopic of Silent film mega-star Rudolph Valentino. Being a Ken Russell film, it's a sumptuous canvas of exotic costumes, lavish sets, raucous sexuality and drunken shenanigans. From a quick read of Wikipedia I was surprised that most of it seems to be true! (Quite a few Lucasfilm faces in the cast)


Piccadilly (1929)
Artfully Directed British Silent film starring the beautiful Anna May Wong. Fascinating to see the multicultural melting pot of 20s London, from a glitzy Piccadilly Nightclub, to the smokey saloons of the Limehouse District. A nightclub owner becomes erotically obsessed by his new Chinese dancer (Wong), who just happens to have a photo of the recently deceased Valentino on her wall.

 
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