Movies 2: Electric Boogaloo

I hated with a passion everything they tried to put on in between the cartoons. I knew budget saving tricks when I saw them . . .

I never did see Empire in the Cinema as when I went to book times had all gone, and seems till only very recently only a few cinemas had opened back up.

Which is why only now went back to the Cinema where I saw Tenet which also stars John David Washington. My first thoughts


And after the film Craig was like what was the plot, I think I understood it and explained it but I could be totally wrong but as something to watch in terms of directing, stunts it is top notch.

Taxi Driver (1976)

I really enjoyed this iconic De Niro thriller, that follows a lonely, depressed taxi driver as he contemplates his purpose in a city full of scum. Trying to woo a woman by taking her to watch a porno on a first date and then wondering why she isn't interested in him is an eye-opening glimpse into the socially inept world of stalkers and weirdos, people who could well fall into the "scum" category. Instead, a chance encounter with a teenage prostitute opens his eyes and gives him a sense of purpose. He befriends her and in doing so is able to use his military skills from his past to clean up the streets and change her life. I won't spoil the rest as it contains some iconic moments and phrases, but despite 70s New York looking decidedly different-era in 2020, it's a great film that still hits hard today.

9/10

masofdas wrote:

I never did see Empire in the Cinema as when I went to book times had all gone, and seems till only very recently only a few cinemas had opened back up.

Which is why only now went back to the Cinema where I saw Tenet which also stars John David Washington. My first thoughts


And after the film Craig was like what was the plot, I think I understood it and explained it but I could be totally wrong but as something to watch in terms of directing, stunts it is top notch.  

Tenet:

Not quite Tenet levels of complexity, but we watched The Old Guard after my writing group spent ages raving about it. It's a superhero film with immortals that plays out more like a military action film with the occasional resurrection. It has two queer romances and a nice diverse cast (the two main characters are a woman and a black woman), but otherwise was really dull - so it's probably a good thing it exists but I couldn't recommend it. Oh, and it still can't resist the 'goodies American baddies British' trope.

I've heard nothing but good things about The Old Guard from people much like your writing group I would guess.

I probably got a bit Undertaled/Celested going in, in that I thought it was going to be an AMAZING REVOLUTIONARY FILM and it was... okay. Something to keep in mind.

Buskalilly wrote:

I actually caught the Equalizer in theatres. I remember it being pretty bloody cheesy but also good fun.

When you pray for rain, you gotta be ready to deal with the mud too.

I watched Tenet. It all made sense, I thought it was nicely plotted, I liked the leads and overall I liked it. Not Nolan's best - the science fiction aspect was deep but the emotional core was overly simple good and evil - but a good romp.

I will say this, though: Nolan's films are tense but I never feel like I need to see the action again. Its serviceable but not super cool.

Saw Bill & Ted: Face the Music. A most excellent successor to the original pair of films. It takes a little while to get going, and it is perhaps a lot less innocent than the older flicks, but it still radiates goofy fun.

I actually had a visitor over this week, and we'd watched the first two films before watching this at the cinema.

As with Bogus, this film does something different with the formula - although there are moments which feel like a greatest hits collection - so it went down very well.

I liked it! It felt like a third Bill and Ted, which is about the highest compliment I can give.

Watched a few films recently


Mulan, yep I paid to watch it as sure it was expensive but don't think anyone I know would want to go see it in the Cinema (whenever that happens) and that would £12 anyway. I thought it was an entertaining evening viewing.

Enola Holmes, sort by accident as Netflix started autoplaying and I just watched it which it's fine could see gJones getting a lot of it with his kids

Onward, another Disney film but this time from Pixar and I really liked it and would say it's the best of these four films

Hubie Halloween, an Adam Sandler Netflix film so you guess what it's like but as I've not watched many of them or many of his films in recent year that it was fine especially this time of year

masofdas wrote:

Watched a few films recently

Enola Holmes, sort by accident as Netflix started autoplaying and I just watched it which it's fine could see gJones getting a lot of it with his kids

Thanks bud, I'll check that out over Christmas when I have them

I watched the following recently:



The Apartment (1960)

Quite a late black and white film that feels a lot like Mad Men, except it was actually shot during that period. Like any film that shows office life, it's dated by the technology (there are whole floors of people working on typewriters) but still manages to deliver on its promise of being a great romantic comedy. Jack Lemmon is brilliant as the fed up office worker who lets his bosses use his apartment for their affairs, and ends up falling for one of the women (her job is working the lifts - hard to imagine that was a job). If you've seen stuff like The Seven Year Itch with Marilyn Monroe, then this is well worth a watch, and another film that excels from just having a few characters and one main location. 8.5/10

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

When I first put this on I was wondering what all the fuss was about - it's a very odd film for the uninitiated Mad Max viewer (I've not seen the originals). But given it's essentially one long action sequence, I felt like I was dragged along for the ride and was constantly asking myself "How on earth did they film that?". It's a beautifully shot movie that doesn't delve into how these characters ended up in this situation, and didn't put a forced Hollywood romance into Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy's characters, which felt refreshing. I immediately wanted to watch it again, which is a good sign. 9/10

From Here to Eternity (1953)

While this is Montgomery Clift's film, given he's the lead, this was all about Frank Sinatra. He steals every scene, and he's a bleeding singer! He has a lot of charisma and while the famous part of this film is the beach where Burt Lancaster rolls in the sand with Deborah Kerr, that's at the start and the meat of the film is actually what Hot Shots! spoofs. A loner with great boxing abilities who refuses to fight, set in the military, it didn't really leave a lasting impression on me. It's not even that dated, but is more suited to a Sunday afternoon watch than an evening one. Bit disappointing to be honest, but worth it for Sinatra alone. 7/10

The Roads Not Taken (2020)

Speaking of standout performances, Javier Bardem in this was something else. He plays a father with dementia, who has flashbacks to his past life as a writer, as well as what life would have been like had he stayed with his first wife in Mexico (the ageless Salma Hayek). It's mostly about his daughter and her struggles to balance work with looking after him, but I left the cinema with a lot of stuff in my eyes, it's horribly sad and don't watch it if you do know someone with dementia. Wouldn't be surprised if Bardem is nominated for an Oscar. 8/10

A Star is Born (2017)

I didn't expect to like this, but Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga were just, wow! Some of it was a bit far-fetched, but there was real sexual chemistry between the two leads that is hard to ignore, and the songs were exceptional. I could see myself watching this again, a bit like La La Land, and I'm not normally into films that rely on their music and vocal performances. 9/10

Saint Maud (2020)

I'd heard good things about Saint Maud, and didn't really know what to expect. It's been a long time since I'd seen a horror film at the cinema (does Midsommar count?) but this was something else. If you want gore and jump scares, you'll be disappointed (although there was a big jump scare that completely caught me off-guard) - this is like The Exorcist or Rosemary's Baby, proper slow-burn horror that is about a nurse who is obsessed with her religion (Catholicism) and slowly descends into fanaticism/madness - you're never sure which it is. She's looking after an older lady who is a singer that enjoys partying, so it's actually The Color Purple taken to dark, dark places. Watch it. 10/10

The Graduate (1967)

A classic. I'd not seen this before but knew about Mrs Robinson and the premise of Dustin Hoffman being seduced by an older lady, but there's so many iconic scenes in this that I'd seen elsewhere (the tapping on the window is in the Simpsons, but with Grandpa smashing through, being one) and the Paul Simon music is legendary. But Dustin Hoffman, who is 30 at the time, playing the clueless graduate going nowhere in life, who has an affair with his parent's friend, then ends up falling in love with her daughter, is superbly done and set against the 60s Americana, it's a film very much of its time that, along with Bonnie and Clyde, dragged cinema into more mature, adult areas. 10/10

Gone Girl (2016)

I like this film, but it's also got plotholes. Rosamund Pike is great as the successful writer that gives it all up to put her marriage first, but sees her husband leech off of her and have an affair. You watch it thinking he's the bad guy, before it unravels and you start to see her real character. It's really well paced and has some beautiful locations, but the ending kind of pissed me off. Worth a watch - it's on Netflix. 8/10

Last year on Halloween my friend Rob and I watched The Ring.
This year we followed it up with The Grudge



It was full of fantastic imagery and stuff, with a bunch of iconic scares that have clearly had a big influence on horror; games like Fatal Frame are full of references.

Overall, though, it hasn't aged nearly as well as Ring. The beauty of that film was that it was all one long, tense investigation leading to a single big scare. I was invested in the characters and dragged along with the adventure, so it was a really creepy experience.

The Grudge jumped around between multiple different characters, bumping them off as soon as you started to care for them so it's impossible to get invested in anyone and feel any proper tension or fear.

Last year, I spent the night feeling a little spooked. This year I just felt sick from the obscene amount of chocolates and Haribo I ate.

Lots of jump scares I'd imagine? I believe that's what Ju-On is know for IIRC.

I watched Beetlejuice for the first time this Hallowe'en, so I definitely didn't feel spooked. Fun enough, pacing was off though.

Only just watched Beetlejuice

I am faaaaaaaaar behind on classic films I should have watched. The Lady's helping me get up to speed, but it's going to be a process.

Balladeer wrote:

I am faaaaaaaaar behind on classic films I should have watched.  The Lady's helping me get up to speed, but it's going to be a process.

You're not alone. Through this whole year I've rediscovered a love for film (big telly helps), by working my way through Best Picture nominees. It's great being able to tick off those classics I'd never seen and with films, it's a lot more realistic than it is with games. Two hours and done.

To be fair I think you're picking more 'proper' classics than me to watch!

My problem with film, and indeed telly, has always been that it's such a passive experience. With a game I need to play it; with a book I can vary the pace, and need to engage my imagination to bring it to life. With films and television you just... sit there, watching and listening. Now that I'm watching these things with somebody it's more of an active experience, so I'm enjoying it more and doing it more.

Interestingly, that's the opposite to me. I much prefer watching TV or film alone, as family and friends (or at least the ones I know) just talk and distract me. I like to get immersed in a film - headphones on, sat in the dark. Or a cinema to myself - not the most sociable way I know! I find books and games don't really grab me the same (despite being lone experiences), as it's very stop-start, and the immersion is often broken or I forget plot points from weeks ago.

I feel I'm a weird mix as I would sooner spend my time playing a game but I also want that game to be story driven for the most part such as a Last of Us Part II

I like games, books, movies and TV quite a lot. The difference for me is in how I discuss them afterwards. Books I don't really talk to other people about; I go on a little adventure, put it down and keep it quietly inside. With games, I don't generally play stuff I don't like so I just want to excitedly discuss my enjoyment. With films and TV, because the time and effort commitment is lower, I'm willing to give lots of stuff a go and then really discuss the details, good or bad.

I can see that from a commitment basis.  I've never really thought about how I discuss the different things, but I do tend to discuss games a lot more than books and telly/films - but then games are a bigger part of my life and I'm a part of several communities (three as things stand) dedicated to discussing them!

gjones wrote:

Interestingly, that's the opposite to me. I much prefer watching TV or film alone, as family and friends (or at least the ones I know) just talk and distract me. I like to get immersed in a film - headphones on, sat in the dark. Or a cinema to myself - not the most sociable way I know! I find books and games don't really grab me the same (despite being lone experiences), as it's very stop-start, and the immersion is often broken or I forget plot points from weeks ago.

You would bloody hate watching anything with me then! I either have to be discussing it/reacting to it as I go along or I get distracted, unless it's really good.  The exception is going to the cinema though, partly because I'm not an inconsiderate git and partly because the ambience helps.  It's more of an event so I pay more serious attention.

masofdas wrote:

I feel I'm a weird mix as I would sooner spend my time playing a game but I also want that game to be story driven for the most part such as a Last of Us Part II

I think I get that.  I'm guessing you want that story focus, but you want what you feel as you being directly involved in the story.

Bingo

From my perspective I'd say a major difference I'd see with books is that they don't tend to have the same urgency as other mediums. It's not often I hear about a new book launching that everyone jumps on at midnight upon release, whereas for games, tv & film that's pretty common behaviour.

I do also struggle a bit to watch films at home. I've gone through quite a lot this year, but even then it's mostly as a secondary source of entertainment whilst I'm playing something straightforward and less involved (See FFXIV or a fair few of my platinums). I'm in a similar camp to Balla when it comes to the Cinema though. I love that the Cinema just clears the room & my mind and I can just sit and focus on it.