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[hallicks]

 

10 hours ago, Onyx2 said:

 

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That's where it fell a little flat for me. The protagonists describe what they are going to do, and then they do it. There's no real satisfying denouement, or last minute rug pull by the villain, and therefore it's a bit "... oh. Is that it?" when it happens. It doesn't derail the mood or anything and it will probably bother me less on a rewatch, but it was a little underwhelming.

 

Spoilers for Northman below:

Spoiler

This is exactly what happens in Northman. The main guy spends the whole film saying “I’m gonna do this.” Then in the 2nd half, the other guy says “I’m gonna do this.” Then they both just do what they said they were gonna do. So…great?

I didn’t get on with it, anyhoo. I appreciate how good it looked and all, but just too plodding and I’m not really interested in the subtext if the main story puts me to sleep. Plus the voice of the count just took me out of it completely. Like Krusty in that Simpsons episode: “Tonight I’m going to suck……..your blood!”

[Dr. Alan Grant]

About Schmidt - Warren Schmidt deserves a less annoying daughter. 4/5

La La Land - Only one or two of the songs are memorable, but Emma Stone is my soulmate, she just doesn’t know it yet. 4/5

Dr Who And The Daleks (first watch) - this was a beautiful looking restored copy of the film. I wasn’t aware going in that this is just a rehash of the first Who serial. Still fun though, but the Paul Weller haircutted Thals absolutely deserve to be wiped out by Daleks. 3/5

A Grand Day Out - haven’t seen this since I was a kid, so it’s nice to see a Citizen Kane reference that I wouldn’t have understand way back when. 3/5

The Wrong Trousers - better than A Grand Day Out, Feathers McGraw is one of the greatest villains ever, and Gromit needs to stop putting up with Wallace’s shit. 4/5

The Substance (first watch) - I LOVED THIS. The first two thirds were great, but the final half hour was something else. Give Demi Moore an Oscar dammit. And in a film of many disgusting moments, Dennis Quaid slurping on prawns like a Denethor tribute act was by far the worst. Grim. 5/5

[Carbomb]

1 hour ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

The Wrong Trousers - better than A Grand Day Out, Feathers McGraw is one of the greatest villains ever, and Gromit needs to stop putting up with Wallace’s shit. 4/5

Well said, that man.

Also, Feathers McGraw is why, whenever I put a long beanie hat on, I swoosh it back over my head.

EDIT: I'd love a Feathers McGraw heist movie.

Edited January 4, 2025 by Carbomb

[Devon Malcolm]

Nosferatu (cinema)

Awesome. For all the stuff that's rightly being written about the style and art of this, it's just a great time. It never stopped being just a riot. I can see why it's not sat well with quite a lot of people - Eggers has basically done a Hammer homage injected with 1950s Hollywood melodrama, hence how theatrical and florid the acting is. But I love that shit and I loved Skarsgard's old-fashioned voice work. The scene where Nicholas Hoult comes to the crossroads in the dark and snow is one of the most beautiful images I think I've seen in cinema.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (cinema)

Easily the best one yet. The first two were decent enough but this is stupider, funnier, weirder and more exciting. Personally I'd have preferred a lot more Krysten Ritter but I had a genuinely good time with this.

The Order (cinema)

Nicholas Hoult is busy. Really good crime thriller about a real life far-right group operating near Seattle in the 1980s. Hoult is good but slightly miscast here but the rest of the cast is very strong, not least Jude Law. He never lets you down, does he? A cracking actor. A real shame they buried this in the Christmas schedules.

Spirited Away (cinema)

Don't know why this got a re-release over Christmas but I obviously had to see it. Again. Had to see the dubbed version, sadly, but at least the dubs on these Ghibli films are always professionally done. Obviously wonderful.

Without Air

Hungarian drama about a literature teacher who gets into trouble after recommending a film to her class that contains a gay relationship. Like last year's The Teachers' Lounge, which this would pair with perfectly, a superb skewering of school politics and parental interference. Highly recommend both these films.

Freedom (Prime)

French crime caper with a ridiculously hot central couple, a great soundtrack, plenty of shagging and some good robberies. A crowd-pleaser even if the last 20 minutes are quite bad. Melanie Laurent is a really good director but she should always be in the films she makes so we get to look at her.

All We Imagine as Light

Indian drama about two nurses in Mumbai and their respective places in society and as relates to men. I love these sorts of sad urban character pieces and this didn't disappoint, really well acted, too. Unusual to see any independent Indian cinema get a wide release, here's hoping it continues.

I also watched a load of buddy cop films over Christmas, almost all of which I'd seen before except City Heat (mediocre), Real Men (bizarre but quite funny) and Fatal Beauty (shite). I feel like some people still haven't seen Running Scared or Midnight Run yet, which is frankly unacceptable.

Edited January 4, 2025 by Devon Malcolm

[Hannibal Scorch]

@Devon Malcolm I genuinely forgot Ritter was in Sonic 3 until you mentioned it. Glad you enjoyed it, I had very low expectations but I thought it was a lot of fun! 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Currently on a free trial for Prime Video that I activated on Boxing Day for the City/Everton game, went on there to find something to watch and found one I’ve been wanting to see for a while, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. Bloody glad I did as well as it’s a brilliantly bizarre take on the biopic, Daniel Radcliffe plays the titular role superbly and loved Evan Rachel Wood’s turn as Madonna as well as Rainn Wilson as Al’s agent/mentor.

My favourite scene is when the record company boss (played by the real Al) causes Al to flip out over the phone while at the restaurant by mentioning Michael Jackson had ‘covered’ Eat It and renamed it to Beat It

[FLips]

Bit of an unfair review as it wasn't the whole film due to the DVD crashing at the gas station scene (will need to replace it) but really enjoyed the first 90 minutes of Blues Brothers.
The music is obviously great but it was the comedy that really shone for me. Some of the lines are really funny, including Ray Charles throwing the black keys in for free, "we got both kinds, country and western!" and "it wasn't lies, it was just bullshit".

Just a really fun, comforting film. Looking forward to catching the last hour of it.

[LaGoosh]

Nosferatu - it was too long perhaps but I enjoyed it very much. I know the story very well so there weren't many surprises from that point but it was beautifully designed on every level.

The first scene with Count Orlock was absolutely incredible - the shadows, flame, performances and sound design were unreal. One of the best scenes I've seen in a cinema. It won't have the same power at home for sure.

[SaitoRyo]

Thunderheart

Val Kilmer is a part Sioux FBI agent sent to the Indian reservation on an investigation and encounters hostility from the locals and fellow law enforcement officials. Not a tremendous film or anything, but there's bits of it that I liked and Sam Shepard is in it, so that's good.

[BomberPat]

Nosferatu

It had its flaws, but I really enjoyed it - I agree with earlier criticisms about the ending, and I'm not a fan of the explanation as to where Count Orlok came from/how he became embroiled in their lives. I think it does a really good job of adapting the original film and sprinkling in other elements from different interpretations of Dracula, while still trying to do its own thing. It looks gorgeous, and while a lot of the acting is very stagey and theatrical, I think that is supported by the cinematography and the slightly uncanny vibes of it - I think the original Nosferatu is one of the greatest horror films ever made, and only becomes creepier with age because of that sense of uncanniness and historical distance, and Eggers did a good job of trying to replicate that without it coming across as a hokey attempt to look old-fashioned. There were some cuts and transitions that just felt like showing off, but that's what he's good at.

What I absolutely loved was how it took one of the most familiar visuals of the original film - Count Orlok's shadow - and turned the shadow itself into an object of horror and oppression, as well as an excuse for some really arty and sinister shots. The choice to make Orlok quite a looming, powerful figure was interesting too, rather than a scrawny little rat-faced thing - something that struck me on rewatching the original movie in the cinema last year, that I'd somehow never picked up on before, is that it's intensely antisemitic, based on anti-Jewish stereotypes and libels of the time, and Eggers has thankfully managed to avoid that.

[DavidB6937]

I probably won't get a chance to see Nosferatu in the cinema but I'm all for an old school cinematography approach like the shadows etc simply because I actually find older movies creepier with their less is more approach. They couldn't do nearly as much as what we can these days and yet things like anxiety and terror can be done so easily with the right shots and a good score. It's often an underappreciated part of horror these days but when I watch back things like Twilight Zone and some older horror movies they make me feel a lot more uneasy that so many new shiny attempts.

[Hannibal Scorch]

I just watched The Substance this morning. Thought it was pretty good, but not a film of the year contender. Even more baffled by Demi Moore's Golden Globe win for best actress though. I know awards shouldn't be taken too seriously, but felt like a token win and. not actually that deserved compared to some other performances I have seen in 2024, especially when Mikey Madison was rightfully nominated.

Edited January 6, 2025 by Hannibal Scorch

[mim731]

48 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

I just watched The Substance this morning. Thought it was pretty good, but not a film of the year contender. Even more baffled by Demi Moore's Golden Globe win for best actress though. I know awards shouldn't be taken too seriously, but felt like a token win and. not actually that deserved compared to some other performances I have seen in 2024, especially when Mikey Madison was rightfully nominated.

Hard disagree, I think Moore did some of her career best work, and Margaret Qualley was almost as good. An electric film, with some astonishing performances and definitely deserving of some awards consideration. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

32 minutes ago, mim731 said:

Hard disagree, I think Moore did some of her career best work, and Margaret Qualley was almost as good. An electric film, with some astonishing performances and definitely deserving of some awards consideration. 

See, i thought Qualley was better, but maybe that was because i had to suffer through Drive Away Dolls. I think seeing this after all the hype didn't help because i was expecting a bit more from it, but it was good, but I have seen better films with better performances from women then this in my opinion.  

[Chris B]

I thought Moore was fantastic in this - partly, the scene with her redoing her makeup and getting frustrated was absolutely amazing and emotionally affecting. Any issues I have with her performance are more to do with the script, tbh. Also, it's a hell of a brave performance. She's in her 60s and not just getting naked and having the camera focus on where she's aged, but she's doing so while being directly physically compared to a naked Margaret Qualley. And constantly surrounded by photos of herself when she was younger and more in the spotlight.

She was incredibly casting for that film, partly for that - not just the performance, but the reality she was relating to and contending with. Astonishing stuff.