Last Film Watched

blazing_saddles

I started watching Mary Queen of Scots earlier. It was on BBC over Christmas and I usually enjoy a good historical picture.
Unfortunately this version had been given the full Hollywood revisionist treatment and consequently had more in common with Queen Pricilla of the Desert than Queen Mary of Scots.
Truly awful.

pblakeney

Inside Man on Netflix. An old one from 2006 with a stellar cast.
Don't know how I missed this one but well worth rectifying.

pblakeney

My Boy on Amazon Prime. A very tense emotional drama which is good until the end.
The ending is very flat and disappointing. In my opinion.

Pross

50 Dead Men Walking on Prime. Quite old now but had never heard of it before. Really well made in my opinion, probably the first film I've seen set in The Troubles that doesn't take sides and I only realised at the end that it was based on a true story.

MattFalle

The Truffle Hunters

Sheer unadultrated joy - soooo good.

Pull up your comfiest chair, open vino rosso, slice salami.

Anyone who properly knows small Italian village life will be smiling ear to ear for 93 minutes or however long it is.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KFYhrc0AnVw

rick_chasey

Bit heavier, I actually got round to watching the pianist on the way into work.

Gets you in the right headspace.

Anyway, inappropriate jokes aside, I thought the relentless seriousness quite remarkable and, weird foreigners speaking English but Germans speaking German aside, thought it was a top film.

Far fewer flourishes than Schindler’s list and ultimately because of the story (a a survivor, which is always going to be an atypical story as that was not the usual fate..) a lot of the bad stuff is happening elsewhere so you don’t get those gut dropping “this is it” moments, but nonetheless really very good.

pblakeney

Dune (2021). Have to admit that I wasn't drawn to it but watched due to good reviews.
My take, better than expected and worth a watch but needed a touch more levity.
In hindsight I'd hold off until part 2 is released as it is very definitely a part story.

MattFalle

'71

Flawed from the begining, flowed well enough but just a bit meh tbh.

Jezyboy

Crash Reel, on iplayer. Scary/sad/inspirational.

bitmanalexQ3XlZtjb

Network (1976), directed by Sidney Lumet

I kept hearing this was a classic satire but I had never got around to seeing what the big fuss was about, and ho-ly shit. Such a powerful movie. I know it's been beaten to death that it's relevant today, but the prescience of analyzing capitalism and how the media exploits others, plus the inverse relationship both have on your humanity, is astoundingly accurate. Finch and Dunaway (and Beatty, imo) deserve their Oscars here.

mrb123

The Alpinist.

Some of the most stunning climbing footage I've seen. A couple of bits made Free Solo look fairly tame. The outcome was sadly not very surprising.

blazing_saddles

pblakeney said:

The Power of the Dog on Netflix.
Slower than a slow thing on a slow day. Try it if you have insomnia.

I read your post, but thought since it had all those Oscar nominations, I would give it a whirl.
If nothing else it goes to show the gulf that exists between the luuvies who vote on these awards and the average film goer.

Whatever they are getting and I am missing, heaven knows, but the experience must require a suitcase full of pharmaceuticals.

Pross

blazing_saddles said:

pblakeney said:

The Power of the Dog on Netflix.
Slower than a slow thing on a slow day. Try it if you have insomnia.

I read your post, but thought since it had all those Oscar nominations, I would give it a whirl.
If nothing else it goes to show the gulf that exists between the luuvies who vote on these awards and the average film goer.

Whatever they are getting and I am missing, heaven knows, but the experience must require a suitcase full of pharmaceuticals.

I watched No Country For Old Men after all these years recently and couldn't work out why it had been so successful with critics.

pblakeney

Sunshine on Amazon Prime. Good reviews, Good cast, Danny Boyle, don't bother.
Well acted, directed and shot but calling the script boll0cks is an insult to boll0cks.

seanoconn

mrb123 said:

The Alpinist.

Some of the most stunning climbing footage I've seen. A couple of bits made Free Solo look fairly tame. The outcome was sadly not very surprising.

Half way through this. Interesting that Marc-Andre has a very similar personality to Alex Honnold. ADHD, socially awkward, although you wouldn’t tell with Honnold and both find the total focus of crazy climbs block out the noise from the world thus having a calming effect rather than terrifying.

Makes climbing rock without rope seem safe in comparison. Absolutely bonkers. Think I can guess the outcome.

Mad_Malx

Pross said:

blazing_saddles said:

pblakeney said:

The Power of the Dog on Netflix.
Slower than a slow thing on a slow day. Try it if you have insomnia.

I read your post, but thought since it had all those Oscar nominations, I would give it a whirl.
If nothing else it goes to show the gulf that exists between the luuvies who vote on these awards and the average film goer.

Whatever they are getting and I am missing, heaven knows, but the experience must require a suitcase full of pharmaceuticals.

I watched No Country For Old Men after all these years recently and couldn't work out why it had been so successful with critics.

I liked that one a lot

mrb123

seanoconn said:

mrb123 said:

The Alpinist.

Some of the most stunning climbing footage I've seen. A couple of bits made Free Solo look fairly tame. The outcome was sadly not very surprising.

Half way through this. Interesting that Marc-Andre has a very similar personality to Alex Honnold. ADHD, socially awkward, although you wouldn’t tell with Honnold and both find the total focus of crazy climbs block out the noise from the world thus having a calming effect rather than terrifying.

Makes climbing rock without rope seem safe in comparison. Absolutely bonkers. Think I can guess the outcome.

Yeah, definitely similarities in their characters.

MA's risk taking a totally different level to Honnald's though. I mean, the Free Solo climb was the product of massive preparation and training. Plus he was probably climbing at a fairly comfortable grade to him for the most part.

MA was climbing that stuff on sight, in totally remote locations, with the added factor of the snow and ice being a much less predictable medium.

webboo

seanoconn said:

mrb123 said:

The Alpinist.

Some of the most stunning climbing footage I've seen. A couple of bits made Free Solo look fairly tame. The outcome was sadly not very surprising.

Half way through this. Interesting that Marc-Andre has a very similar personality to Alex Honnold. ADHD, socially awkward, although you wouldn’t tell with Honnold and both find the total focus of crazy climbs block out the noise from the world thus having a calming effect rather than terrifying.

Makes climbing rock without rope seem safe in comparison. Absolutely bonkers. Think I can guess the outcome.

Ironically he died whilst climbing with a partner.

seanoconn

webboo said:

seanoconn said:

mrb123 said:

The Alpinist.

Some of the most stunning climbing footage I've seen. A couple of bits made Free Solo look fairly tame. The outcome was sadly not very surprising.

Half way through this. Interesting that Marc-Andre has a very similar personality to Alex Honnold. ADHD, socially awkward, although you wouldn’t tell with Honnold and both find the total focus of crazy climbs block out the noise from the world thus having a calming effect rather than terrifying.

Makes climbing rock without rope seem safe in comparison. Absolutely bonkers. Think I can guess the outcome.

Ironically he died whilst climbing with a partner.

Thanks for that webbo 🤬

shirley_basso

I heard a lot of extreme athletes suffer from Toxoplasmosis (from cat poo, basically). Not dangerous most of the time. Really bad if you're pregnant.

It massively decreases your risk aversion, the evolutionary idea is that cat prey will accidentally ingest it, then become much easier to catch as they are fear free.

"A mind-altering parasite found in cat faeces may give humans more courage and help them overcome their “fear of failure,” research has suggested. According to the study, being infected by the organism, Toxoplasma gondii, may give an advantage to entrepreneurs and managers"

darkhairedlord

pblakeney said:

Dune (2021). Have to admit that I wasn't drawn to it but watched due to good reviews.
My take, better than expected and worth a watch but needed a touch more levity.
In hindsight I'd hold off until part 2 is released as it is very definitely a part story.

Yeah, just watched this over the weekend. Disappointed to see it stop half-way. It lacks the horror of the original movie; as though some-one has run it past the Chinese sensors then jet-washed by BBFC for a U-rating.
Under-whelming!

davidof

Peninsula - Korean zombie hokum with dubious CGI (apparently they like the cartoon CGI in SE Asia). A vague followup to Busan but not bad if you like that kind of thing.

Cargo: Aussie zombie hokum with Martin Freeman; exploring the age old Aussie angst of whites being imposters against nature compared to the Aboriginal People. Well filmed and a good story.

davidof

webboo said:

Makes climbing rock without rope seem safe in comparison. Absolutely bonkers. Think I can guess the outcome.

Ironically he died whilst climbing with a partner.

bbaa26940DIdkr5bV

Don`t Look Back with Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio

pblakeney

The Death of Stalin.
Seemed appropriate and gives a different perspective on the Russian elite mindset.

laurentian

pblakeney said:

The Death of Stalin.
Seemed appropriate and gives a different perspective on the Russian elite mindset.

One of my all time favourite films.

Pross

The King's Man on Disney+

It's a prequel to the Colin Firth / Taron Eggerton films set in WW1, Not quite as mad as those films but quite enjoyable.

First time I've watched anything on Disney + in the 2 years since we got it, surprised at some of the things on the channel.

blazing_saddles

I watched Dream Horse last night, on Sky Cinema
It was quite enjoyable: a feelgood film to lighten the gloom, based upon a true story.

It would be definitely be of interest to my fellow Welsh poster above, as it was mainly filmed in Blaenavon, with several shots of the rear of that cycling Mecca, the Tumble.
Also, there was a scene at a certain wedding venue we both attended, which is frequented by The Queen, on her occasional visits to the area.

Oh and Merthyr co-op.

Pross

blazing_saddles said:

I watched Dream Horse last night, on Sky Cinema
It was quite enjoyable: a feelgood film to lighten the gloom, based upon a true story.

It would be definitely be of interest to my fellow Welsh poster above, as it was mainly filmed in Blaenavon, with several shots of the rear of that cycling Mecca, the Tumble.
Also, there was a scene at a certain wedding venue we both attended, which is frequented by The Queen, on her occasional visits to the area.

Oh and Merthyr co-op.

I was in Dream Horse, they approached the choir for extras. Got paid £100 for a few hours in a social club in Rhymney that played the bar where they all watch the race. Had to carry two pints across the bar, sing the national anthem and then watch the race on TV whilst cheering about 10 times. It was the morning Wales beat the Aussies at the World Cup.

I was waiting ages to see the film as its release kept getting delayed due to Covid. When I eventually saw it I was somewhere out of shot due to the camera angles. I'm pretty sure Damian Lewis arranged it to avoid being overshadowed

None of the other choir members made the cut on their scenes either.

seanoconn

blazing_saddles said:

I watched Dream Horse last night, on Sky Cinema
It was quite enjoyable: a feelgood film to lighten the gloom, based upon a true story.

It would be definitely be of interest to my fellow Welsh poster above, as it was mainly filmed in Blaenavon, with several shots of the rear of that cycling Mecca, the Tumble.
Also, there was a scene at a certain wedding venue we both attended, which is frequented by The Queen, on her occasional visits to the area.

Oh and Merthyr co-op.

Ok be honest, how much did Pross pay you to mention Dream Horse?