Topic: The Movie Thread

@LN78 I don't blame ya. My joint least favourite Craig bond movie with Quantam of Solace. I'll watch it again whenever they release a complete Daniel Craig 4K collection. But at almost 3 hours long I'm not particularly looking forward to it.

@JohnnyShoulder It's actually mental how divided opinions are on the movie in the Bond fan community. Some people think it's the second best of the Craig era ("Casino Royale" is almost universally the top pick) and others that it's worse than "QoS". It's sitting on my shelf so I'll get around to it one day. Probably.

Watched three films this weekend.

All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix).

Film that follows the lives of a group of German soldiers during WWI from time of recruitment to the end of the war.

It does a stellar job throwing you into the muck of the war, with powerful scenes & moments that'll make you squirm. It may not be entirely original in showing how gruesome this war was (1917 also comes to mind), but that makes it no less effective, and the viewpoint from the "other" side is an inspired take that shows that war is hell for everyone involved. Not a fun film, but one that's well worth watching.

Ghost in the Shell (4K UHD Blu-Ray)

I'll admit I can be a bit overwhelmed by the narratives/themes the GitS franchise tends to have (for example the Arise line, which I've heard is a bit more narratively "streamlined" compared to the franchise at large, still starts to elude me by the 3rd OVA), however I've always loved the original film, and that holds true with the 4K Blu-Ray release.

With absolutely stunning animation & design that still holds up (& looks fantastic in 4K) and a narrative that explores exactly what it means to be alive/human, there's nothing not to love about it.

Operation Mincemeat (Netflix)

Film based on a true story of how British intelligence attempted to convince the Nazis that the allied Invasion of Europe was going to go through Greece (instead of Sicily) by planting fake invasion plans on the corpse of a vagrant they dressed up like an officer (with a complete made up history to boot) and floated ashore to Spain (being neutral, it had a lot of spies on both sides, so they hoped the Nazis would pick up & fall for it).

It's perhaps a bit too padded out (with the romance drama), but it's produced well enough & is an interesting story that goes to show that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

@LN78 My sisters boyfriend, who is a massive Bond fan, was apparently visibly upset when he watched it. And he is not the sort of person to get upset over such things.

@RR529 Just for clarification’s sake, All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel from 1928, with a Best Picture winning adaptation from 1930. I guess you can argue that it’s not very original as it’s based on real life but it’s much more likely to have influenced 1917 than the other way round!

watching The Keep and Young Sherlock Holmes on Plutotv

then just a few minutes ago tonight i noticed Monkey Shines is back on Tubi so Ill be watching that movie finally

@nessisonett There was another remake (I think in the early Eighties) with Ian Holm and Ernest Borgnine. It wasn't very good, though.

@nessisonett, oh yeah, I knew it was a remake. I meant it more in terms of how visually gruesome it depicted the war, rather than the story/narrative itself.

I got "The Banshees of Inisherin" on blu-ray. It's the second time I've seen it and I'm fairly confident that it's a masterpiece.

@LN78
I thought it was excellent also and really darkly funny in places. I've struggled to recommend it to people I know though as I'm not sure how wide it's appeal is to others. Glad you liked it.

@sorteddan I'm struggling to think of anything bad to say about it. A few dodgy makeup effects, maybe? I'd recommend it to anybody just on the strength of the acting - every single performance is immaculate.

@LN78
Oh yeah I mean it's the type of humour. I find things funny that some may think is a bit too bleak or grim sometimes. I worry that they may judge me too harshly for it.

@sorteddan It's certainly melancholic but then humour is so completely subjective that anybody judging you on that basis is probably somebody whose opinion is not worth worrying about.

Watched "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" with Nic Cage (ripping into himself with considerable aplomb) and man of the moment Pedro Pascal. It's essentially a very meta parody of low budget action movies and so the script is more than a little creaky in spots but the two stars are absolutely crackerjack - I particularly enjoyed the scenes of Cage acting (and snogging) with a digitally de-aged (and performatively regresssd) version of his younger self. Sporadically very funny indeed.

@LN78 I've seen it twice and both times I didn't know what to make of it. It is almost like it is two different films, or a film within a film. There are some genuinely laugh out loud moments though. Wierdly, when they both get high I found it a bit cringe first time, but the second time I was belly laughing at it.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer. This is strange one, and hard to describe what genre it falls under. It starts off as a drama with a weird unsettling tone, but then twists into something else. I found it fascinating to watch but I'm not sure if I enjoyed it, a similar feeling I had when I watched Joker. The cast all do a good job, which includes Sunny Suljic who plays Atreus in the last two God of War games.

Watched Spinal Tap for about the millionth time. Such a great movie and endlessly quotable.

@nessisonett You're not wrong about that - my brother and his best mate can do all the Nigel and David dialogue verbatim - though thankfully not quite as often as they used to. Highly recommend "Anvil: The Story of Anvil" as the other half of a rockumentary (if you will) double feature.

Just finished watching Man of Steel on HBO Max. Absolutely phenomenal movie, definitely one of the coolest superhero movies I've ever watched. The scale of the battles were very impressive, as were the visual effects. Henry Cavill as Superman is such a perfect fit (and it's too bad that he won't be reprising that character anymore).

Can't believe that I wasn't planning on watching this movie until I read about the DC Extended Universe and which order to watch the movies. Just like with MCU, I felt like release order was the best way and starting with Man of Steel has given me an excellent introduction to this universe. Genuinely cannot wait to watch the other movies!

Movies I watched this weekend.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney+)

One of the better MCU efforts from 2022.

It's perhaps a bit too long and some of the night scenes are way too dark (I think this is more of a Disney+ problem than one of the film itself as I've had the problem in some of their series, though the scene where Namor first snuck up on Shuri & her mother was so dark it was almost like just watching a bunch of disembodied voices, lol), however the tributes to T'challa (and Chadwick Boseman himself) were well done & emotional (I was almost tearing up by the after credits scene), and when it got around to it the action was fun (Namor in particular was pretty badass).

Return of Godzilla/Godzilla 1984 (Blu-Ray)

Original Japanese version.

80's (soft) reboot of the classic Kaiju film series that acts as a direct followup to the 50's original, aiming to bring it back down to it's roots as more a grounded warning of the power of nuclear power, in contrast to the campy monster "vs" movies the series had become over the past couple decades.

After the titular monster awakens from a decades long slumber it attacks a Soviet nuclear submarine & Japan finds itself in the middle of Cold War drama as the Soviets & Americans jointly agree that the best course of action would be to nuke him out of existence right on Tokyo's doorstep, and the Japanese must find a way to neutralize the threat before real catastrophe strikes.

It mostly still holds up, all things considered. It does feel like there was at least some level of pressure to shoehorn in some toy marketing material with the whole "Super X" subplot (a futuristic flying war machine with laser blasters & the like), but otherwise the more political elements & pretty grounded military capabilities make the effort successful.