DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently 3 - The Final Insult

[wordsfromlee 2,492]

Has anyone seen The Fanatic? I’m morbidly interested in seeing it even though it’s supposed to be absolute dog shit. 
It’s written and directed by Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit, produced by the chairman of Everton FC and stars John Travolta. How can it not be awfully amazing?!

[cobra_gordo 681]

I had a long haul flight a couple of weeks ago with really varied on demand libraries so managed to get through a few films each way and then caught up on some bits I'd missed once I got home. Listed in order of viewing.

Predator. What better way to kick off a ten hour flight than watching this classic with my 11 year old son. What to say that hasn't already been said a million times. The cast, the score, the monster, the script. Just perfect.

The Lego Movie. We fancied a light follow up to Predator and whilst this is the polar opposite it's an equally brilliant film. Plenty for both kids and adults to enjoy.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Maybe it's because we were four hours in to the flight by this point but I just found this tedious. I love Tarrantino (bar Hateful Eight) but this just felt a slog. Yes it's filmed well, yes DiCaprio and Pitt are great actors, yes the dialogue is good but it just felt like hard work.

Gone Girl. Was getting fed up by this point so watched this over someones shoulder three rows down and it still gave me palpitations. Poor Neil Patrick Harris.

Bruce Almighty. Was channel hopping on holiday and this was on and I had a couple of hours to kill having not seen it in years. A lot better than I remember it being, some genuinely funny moments, Carrey being himself, Steve Carrell being a brilliant twat and a not-terrible-for-once performance from Jennifer Anniston.

A Star Is Born. Another one that was randomly on US telly early in the morning. I've put off watching it because I assumed it would be shit but found myself pleasantly surprised, particularly with Lady Gaga's performance. Would watch again.

The Full Monty. First film on the flight back home and still gets some belly laughs. Brilliant score too. Couple of awkward moments during the stripping scenes where I remembered I was on a plane and my screen was in full view. Nothing like an hour and half of blokes in their kecks to set your stall out with the other passengers. The final scene in the working mens club is marvellous so no shame.

IT. I was nodding off at this point and wasn't going to put anything on but the kids sat behind me started acting up so I put this on with the hope they would watch over my shoulder and and give their parents something to deal with at a later time. Then I fell asleep. My Mrs was across the aisle watching Red Sparrow at the time so anybody sat behind us had the choice of murderous clown demon or Jennifer Lawrence getting raped. Good old British Airways and their film selection.

Good Boys. First film when we arrived home and was in tears laughing at this in places. Great performances by all the kids and about as good a comedy as I've watched in years. Superbad with tweens, but funnier.

Joker. Masterpiece isn't a word I use often but this is such a stunning film. I've spoken to so many people who went to see it thinking it was going to be full of Batman and hated it as a result. This is such an anti-comic book movie to the point where if it wasn't the Joker but someone else just losing their mind it would still be great.

Frozen 2. I fell asleep. One of the songs is good.

Gemini Man. What a load of old shite.

 

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by cobra_gordo

[DEF 654]

 

 

EDIT - Misread what you said because I'm an idiot.

 

I can't wait to watch Predator with my daughter, I'm thinking age 11 is about right. Die Hard I'm thinking age 10.

Edited November 26, 2019 by DEF

[SuperBacon 6,113]

46 minutes ago, DEF said:

 

EDIT - Misread what you said because I'm an idiot.

 

I can't wait to watch Predator with my daughter, I'm thinking age 11 is about right. Die Hard I'm thinking age 10.

Eh? What has made you come to that conclusion?

I moved flats recently and went through a 8 day period without WiFi (which luckily coincided with the UKFF being down), so I raided local charity shops for DVDs as I don’t really have any anymore.

500 Days Of Summer

Jesus Christ. I was willing them both to die 10 minutes in, and had to hate watch it until the end to find out. The only time I’ve ever been angry at hearing a Pixies song. Oh god it’s so shit. The scene where he’s playing The Smiths on his office computer so she’ll notice as she walks past made me cringe so hard I hurt my fingers balling my hands into fists. Probably the worst film I’ve ever seen 

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

An absolute riot of a film, and one that I would’ve easily watched another half an hour of. Easy to see why Downey Jr got the Iron Man gig based on this.

American History X

I have seen this before but a long time ago. Still decent, although I’ve never bought into the “Ed Norton is the best actor of his generation” thing (I think it’s his voice that puts me off), but he is superb in this. The whole cast is to be fair.

Animal Factory

I didn’t mean to watch two Edward Furlong films in a row, but again this was good. Really easy watch and Willem Dafoe is mesmerising as a prison big shot and exudes quiet menace as always. He’s a scary dude. 

Also rewatched Juno, American Beauty and The Matrix again and they’re all still great. In fact, if I could erase my memory of one film and go back and watch it fresh again, it’d be The Matrix. Blew my tiny little 14 year old mind and it still does now. 

[DEF 654]

15 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Eh? What has made you come to that conclusion?

Just seems about right. I think I was about 10 when I saw it. Die Hard's not especially gory or violent or frightening. The action is pretty much on the level of a 12A these days. It's tense and suspenseful in a good way that I know would definitely hook my daughter. Do you disagree? I'm really interested on other peoples takes on went to show films to kids. I certainly want to protector her but at the same time I also want to blow her little mind with the greatest films ever made.

[cobra_gordo 681]

My 11 year old has been watching action films since he was 6 or 7, occasionally with the real time censorship of me sticking a hand over his eyes if a scene is particularly horrible (melting man in Robocop for instance). I was a bit younger than that when my Dad would let me watch stuff like Robocop, Aliens, Terminator etc and like you say, the violence and gore is of a similar calibre to a lot of modern 12a films. 

He watched Predator around age 7 and loved it to the point he got me to make him a screen accurate costume. He's seen all the classics and has an appreciation for the special effects and props which is partly the reason he never had any problems watching action movies from a young age as we went through all the science behind the stunts, blood squibs, that sort of thing. Plus he's seen me make a bunch of masks and props so he always understood it wasn't real. Basically clued him in that it was all fake and pretend, like wrestling. He thinks ED209 is crap, his only personality flaw.

Edited November 26, 2019 by cobra_gordo

[Devon Malcolm 11,459]

I watched Dirty Harry for the first time when I was 6 and I turned out.... absolutely terribly, actually.

It's a judgement call for any kid. My eldest seems to be like me in that they don't seem to find anything scary but hate jump scares, so I've shown them Halloween and The Fog and good stuff like that and they've been asking for scarier stuff. Violence and gore are easier to gauge, I find.

[johnnyboy 2,657]

7 hours ago, DEF said:

Die Hard's not especially gory or violent or frightening. The action is pretty much on the level of a 12A these days.

 

7 hours ago, cobra_gordo said:

...stuff like Robocop, Aliens, Terminator etc and like you say, the violence and gore is of a similar calibre to a lot of modern 12a films.

Violence in a 12a is essentially never gory, that's how it qualifies for a 12a.  You're not going to see gun play with serious claret consequences in a 12a.

Die Hard is nearer a 15 now, and I believe was classified as such during its cinema run last Christmas as I took my son who wasn't 18.  Robocop would still be an 18.

Edit: The film of Die Hard was reclassified as a 15 in 2013.

Edited November 26, 2019 by johnnyboy

[johnnyboy 2,657]

Charlie's Angels (throw your hands up at me)

I'm not convinced that it deserves the utter panning that its received, but the last 20 minutes and credit scenes are better than the rest of the film and saved it for me.

[DEF 654]

1 hour ago, johnnyboy said:

 

Violence in a 12a is essentially never gory, that's how it qualifies for a 12a.  You're not going to see gun play with serious claret consequences in a 12a.

Die Hard is nearer a 15 now, and I believe was classified as such during its cinema run last Christmas as I took my son who wasn't 18.  Robocop would still be an 18.

Edit: The film of Die Hard was reclassified as a 15 in 2013.

Yeah Die Hards been a 15 for ages. Robocop is much more graphic and is rightly still an 18 IMO.

[Hannibal Scorch 2,235]

9 hours ago, johnnyboy said:

Charlie's Angels (throw your hands up at me)

I'm not convinced that it deserves the utter panning that its received, but the last 20 minutes and credit scenes are better than the rest of the film and saved it for me.

Sounds like The Lone Ranger in your description. I will see it, but only after I’ve seen Knives Out and 21 Bridges first

[DavidB6937 1,468]

I won't go into it too much as it has been discussed to death all over the place, but Joker hasn't left my mind since I watched it. In fact I've watched it 3 times now and it gets me every time. Phoenix's performance is absolutely phenomenal. Easily one of the best I've ever seen. Whatever you believe or don't believe about the film as a whole, his work will stick with me for a long time.

[Mr_Danger 2,608]

[Mark Kermode] I'm glad you got more out of it than I did[/Mark Kermode]

[Factotum 1,122]

Quote

500 Days Of Summer

Jesus Christ. I was willing them both to die 10 minutes in, and had to hate watch it until the end to find out. The only time I’ve ever been angry at hearing a Pixies song. Oh god it’s so shit. The scene where he’s playing The Smiths on his office computer so she’ll notice as she walks past made me cringe so hard I hurt my fingers balling my hands into fists. Probably the worst film I’ve ever seen 

Isn't this....the point of the film? That he's so into himself he's viewing her through his own vision which is selfish and twattish? She's not even a real character, its his perception of her.

[SuperBacon 6,113]

9 minutes ago, Factotum said:

Isn't this....the point of the film? That he's so into himself he's viewing her through his own vision which is selfish and twattish? She's not even a real character, its his perception of her.

Perhaps, but I still wanted them both to meet a really grisly and bloody end, caricature or not.