Topic: The Movie Thread

@graymamba That trio of Mann movies are my faves, too. Such great movies!

watching the rest of the last half of Never Say Never Again on Netflix. and breezing through season 2 of Dark Winds.

the People of Darkness plot for season 2 is fun to rediscover. but i cant stand the silent albino hitman

@Bundersvessel From what I’m gathering (as confirmed by @FuriousMachine ), audience reception has been lukewarm overall, so you’re not alone. By most accounts, ‘The Bone Temple’ has been much better received. I’ll try my best not to overlap my thoughts between the two films as they’re a bit intertwined in my head now. They’re very connected, despite being quite stylistically different, and ‘The Bone Temple’ very much builds on the foundation that ‘Years’ has laid down.

I went into the film expecting some solid zombie entertainment with that Garland/Boyle flavour, but was completely blown away by the depth of the writing, the power of the performances (particularly Comer, who breathes real life into a role that could have so easily been one dimensional) and Boyle’s execution.

There’s so much going on in this film thematically, and as a father, I connected deeply with a story that is very concerned with the nature of leadership - fatherhood in particular - and how the seeds sown in childhood eventually do reap a harvest, for better or worse. The things we expose our kids to, the things we teach them - how are they going to be interpreted, especially if we’re not around to guide them?

I found its examination of how one’s relationship with death affects one’s approach to life to be rather poignant.

I also really loved how structurally unpredictable it was. I thought I had this story figured out multiple times only to have things switch gears entirely. What begins as a familiar coming of age story quickly becomes something so much more, and had me in tears by its climax.

It’s interesting that some of the editing/directing choices took you out of the film. I’m not sure exactly what examples you might be referring to but I can recognize some of the bold choices. Some of these actually had the opposite effect for me. To establish early on that this is a very philosophical film, I found the somewhat meta usage of Rudyard Kipling’s poem, ‘Boots’ intercut with images from ‘Henry V’ to effectively put me in that headspace. And I read the frenetic ‘bullet timey’ 3d bits (which were shot on an iPhone) for the particularly grisly images to communicate Spike’s trauma. Like, these are the images he would remember.

I love it. They could have phoned it in but instead it really felt like the work of filmmakers who have 20 more years of life experience under their belt. It’s a dense film made even more so by ‘The Bone Temple.’ I’m very curious to see if that one lands more positively for you!

@FuriousMachine I’ll definitely be checking out ‘Rental Family’! I’ve got a real soft spot for Brendan Fraser.

@Bundersvessel I’m looking forward to it!

watching the last 40 minutes of License to Kill on netflix.

then back to watching stuff on my watchlist on tubi.

and my usual stuff to watch on youtube

Got the Ballerina (John Wick) 4k steelbook yesterday. I saw this when it came to the cinema, and watched it again recently on streaming.

It is not bad. It’s not great, but it is fun. Although I enjoy the John Wick character, with his stoic attitude and dry sense of humour. It felt good to try something a bit different within the same “world”.

As for the rumours about John Wick chapter 5, are they rumours? Is it definitely happening? The ending of part 4 felt like the end of a good story. It felt properly earned. Let the man be reunited with his wife, and just leave him in peace. I said something similar here before, that I know Wick seems indestructible, but surely there limits, even for him?

Edit: John Wick chapter 5 is currently listed as “In development”. Presumably means that they are working on the script, but have not started shooting (no pun intended).

Currently having a Harry Potter marathon at home. Tonight, The Half-Blood Prince. Tomorrow, the Deathly Hallows. Because the Deathly Hallows is in two parts, back-to-back it comes to just over four and half hours long. Wondering whether to do a double bill, or not?

@seinfeldfanatic I love License to Kill for Robert Davi, it's the first movie I saw him in and the first movie I saw a young Benicio Del Toro in. One of his first roles was as an extra in a Madonna music video. After License to Kill he started to really get noticed. Timothy Dalton is my favorite Bond too. Are you going in the chronological order? Did you already watch The Living Daylights? That's one of my favorites, the story was very well written and relatable. Goldeneye being a very close second, it's an extremely accurate representation of the New Russia of the nineties. No other piece of media has come close. They captured and understood the transition between the previous Cold War/post-Soviet landscape and the current power structure, then managed to accurately depict it in a way where it still stands true today, more-so. We've returned to those wild nineties in a big way. The Saint (1997) also came close with it's focus on post-Glasnost Capitalist Moscow, I don't know of any other Western movies that tackled the same landscape and did it correctly but Bond rarely misses.

Only watched Craig's Bond era, I would love to see the other ones.

@Matthewnh

Unless something bad happen -God forbid- they will do 5th one since the franchise is popular and successful. 3rd one was the perfect ending for me and 4th felt a bit unnecessary. Liked Ballerina more than 4th.

Goblet of Fire is my favourite HP movie. I love the atmosphere and the story of a tournament in that.

@GirlVersusGame kind of but not really in chronological order. sort of here and there to watch them.

had to watch the last half of Living Daylights since thats what i watched at first on plutotv last month.

then thanks to netflix i watched a few Roger Moore Bond movies mostly of Spy Who Loved Me, Octopussy and some other Roger Moore Bond movie. then i had to watch the second Sean Connery Bond movie taking place after Dr No. then watched Never Say Never Again.

then finally watched License to Kill and yeah i was surprised at how young Benicio Del Toro was back then. same with Kim Basinger in one of the Bond movies i watched the past couple of days.

wasnt WWE's Batista in one of the Daniel Craig Bond movies?

@Scottyy You not having seen any of the old Bond movies makes my not seeing any Harry Potter movies level off. I noticed we both watched Friends for the first time recently too. The older Bond movies are very good, From Russia with Love showcased quite a lot of Istanbul. I'd love to be able to watch all of the Bond movies again for the first time. Especially Sean Connery's, I feel like I'd have more appreciation for them.

@seinfeldfanatic I forgot Kim Basinger was in the franchise. It's because of Never Say Never Again, being a sequel it kept being left out of so many boxsets. The same for Casino Royale, the original with Peter Sellers (1967) A lot of people don't even know it exists. It's basically a very early Bond parody and a very good one at that. I had to check who Bautista is, he was in Specter. I can't say I've seen wrestling TV before though (is it real fighting?) I have seen Russian slap fighting. That's a sight to behold, also some bare knuckle boxing.

@GirlVersusGame

I am mostly curious about Pierce Brosnan ones but yeah Sean Connery looks interesting too.

Weakest ensemble so far. I didn't care about any of the characters one bit. Also not having the "murder" in first 30 minutes of a murder mystery movie is certainly a choice; a bad one. Another thing is I felt nearly none of the cast had anything to play with in terms of scenario, like they were just there as one dimensional people. Still I have to give it to John O'Connor and Josh Brolin for their performances; them having a bit of material to play with certainly helped though.

Still, murder itself and classic "explanation" parts were fun to watch and overall it was better than what that 2nd movie was. I don't know if I would care more of Benoit Blanc's adventures tbh; even though more in the classic side I prefer Hercule Poirot movies in recent years.

3/5

@Scottyy Brosnan was offered the role back in 1983, then again in 1986 for The Living Daylights, he was already contracted to play Remington Steele. How do you watch the majority of your media in Turkey? Anytime I've been people were watching Satellite TV, I imagine also Netflix.

@GirlVersusGame

He already looks like Bond in Remington Steele. Yeah, satellite tv is very common in Turkey but Netflix really implemented itself well in here too. Even people above middle-aged know it and use it. Of course there are HBO Max, Disney+, Prime Video etc. none of them are as popular as Netflix.

This morning I was looking for a something to grab me and figured that I’d probably left it long enough to forget enough of Wind River from when I first watched it at its release, to get as close to that first viewing experience as I could. I figured right, as apart from the basic plot - native girl dies in the snows of Wyoming, so scared that she could run an unfeasibly long distance barefoot and in freezing conditions… and then Renner and Olsen uncover the truth before serving justice, I’d forgotten enough.

Beautiful film… in every way. Probably the best I’ve ever seen the two leads, who are ably assisted by Gil Birmingham and Graham Green, who provide the Native American stoicism perfectly. And then theres that note-perfect cameo from John Bernthal too… doing the best Logan audition possible, just a shame he’s already the Punisher. Loved it more this time than I did the first time.

Next on my Sheridan-athon, a rewatch of Sicario, of which I remember even less…

@graymamba I think I maybe saw that way back, but have completely forgotten about it. I should really give it another chance, sounds like. I'm a big fan of both Renner and Olsen (my favourite Avengers ) which is the main reason I believe I saw it in the first place (can't imagine it passing me by).
Thanks for putting this back on my radar!

@FuriousMachine Well, as always I’ll look forward to reading your thoughts. Hope you enjoy.

@graymamba Thanks, sounds like I will May even give it a look tonight, unless "SW: Outlaws" gobbles up my entire evening... again