[Film] Film 2021

[Acker79]

Censor
I'm not sure. I think I liked it, but am somewhat confused by the message. It's not often horror movies like to admit to being the cause of real life violence, but it somewhat feels like that is what this film is doing despite at several points seeming to put forward the idea that there isn't a link. It's well made, the visuals evoking some old horror movies of the 80s, and such, it just felt like the story and the intent of the message contradicted which left a slightly uncomfortable feeling.

 

[sydney]

have just watched wrath of man , Guy Ritchie and Jason Stathams's latest offering but for the life of me can't work out why H's crew were watching the depot in the first place ......were they casing it as well..?

5/10

 

[Gabbafella]

Just got back from watching Free Guy. Very good.
It's simple and stupid fun. You don't have to be in to gaming to enjoy this film, the Mrs loved it and didn't get half the jokes (kind of like our relationship actually), loads of gaming references which made me chuckle (Portal, Fortnight, GTA, Just Cause, to name a few) also Marvel and Star Wars. Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Comer both very good, first decent film we've seen at the cinema for a long time. 8/10.

 

[The Clamp]

The Sparks Brothers.

It’s just a joy.
9/10

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6KkXcs8eBtk

 

[Acker79]

I want to watch the sparks brothers, but the showings just haven't been timed well enough to work for me.

Jungle Cruise
The trailer made it seem like a rip-off of the stephen sommers version of The Mummy. That was a fun film, and not a bad one to rip off if you're going that route. Deceptively prim adventurous English woman in a time when women shouldn't have such proclivities, travels with an effete brother to find an american tour guide to take them on a journer into dangerous territory, to face curses and near death, while being pursued by others hunting the same treasure. So clearly similar. But it didn't hew too closely to the Mummy, so there wasn't a constant sense of it, where you're thinking 'the mummy did it better' every five minutes, the film existed on it's own, despite those parallels. Not groundbreaking, but a fun enough couple of hours.

Candyman
I've seen this referred to as a spiritual sequel to the original. An artist in a bit of a creative slump hears a story that is a slightly corrupted version of the original movie, giving an idea of how those events were viewed by people who didn't believe Virginia Madsen was tormented by a legend, so were left to make sense of her actions following the end of that film. This story inspires him, and eventually he starts looking into her story, and thus into the story of the Candyman. While the original had clear themes of racism, it didn't linger on them, instead focusing on the Dracula-like romantacism of a seductive villain, this film leans more heavily into racial themes, most obviously with the tails of police brutality of innocent black men, and gentrification. A decent effort, with a constant sense of dread playing throughout.

Snake Eyes - GI Joe Origins
The first GI Joe film was not great. I thought the sequel was worse, offensively bad. So I went into this with very low expectations. It was ok. Took itself a little too seriously, but otherwise fine. Not a lot to say about it really.

 

[Weststander]

The Courier - we watched this today at the Odeon. A true life Cold War spying story, starring Benedict Cumberbatch who was great, really enjoyed it.

7.5/10.

[Despite the best efforts of a couple of ********s in the auditorium, who tried to ruin in it with a constant array of noises for the first hour ’s].

 

[Meade's Ball]

Went to see The Nest today, and found it quite compelling. It's the 80s and finances and a facade that cannot last, whilst the family that live in and of it cannot survive with or without each other. A new chap at my work says he won't watch this film as he wants to generally wallop Jude Law's face with a shovel when he sees him, and his character here inspires such a potential act, but his performance is good. That of his wife though, played by Carrie Coon, is immense. She is full of layers that Law seems bereft of. She seems to be everything of the 1980s, in turmoil as an accomplice. After a party in the mansion they regret calling home some locals have scrawled YUPPY C*NTS on the wall, and this seems to be the general verdict by the filmmaker.
I hope Sean Durkin doesn't leave it so long between films next times.

 

[Is it PotG?]

Went to see The Nest today, and found it quite compelling. It's the 80s and finances and a facade that cannot last, whilst the family that live in and of it cannot survive with or without each other. A new chap at my work says he won't watch this film as he wants to generally wallop Jude Law's face with a shovel when he sees him, and his character here inspires such a potential act, but his performance is good. That of his wife though, played by Carrie Coon, is immense. She is full of layers that Law seems bereft of. She seems to be everything of the 1980s, in turmoil as an accomplice. After a party in the mansion they regret calling home some locals have scrawled YUPPY C*NTS on the wall, and this seems to be the general verdict by the filmmaker.
I hope Sean Durkin doesn't leave it so long between films next times.

Yup, I enjoyed that last evening also. Good stuff from Mr Law.

 

[Acker79]

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
The latest from Marvel, and we're back on track with the schedule of release. It's one of marvel's lesser known heroes, but they've shown with their previous movies they know how to make a fun film and I think they've done it again. It follows the titular Shang-Chi as his crimminal father, possessor of 'the ten rings' (bracelets that grant the owner power and eternal life) makes moves to bring him back into the fold years after he fled the family compound.There's a lot of heart and there is a lot of emphasis on character and family, until the big finale when the special effects kick in, as standard. There are a few familiar faces that pop up, one in particular was a great joy to see. There are a couple of end credit scenes, one particularly long.

 

[Acker79]

Annette
Going in I knew very little beyond it was Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard in a musical by the Sparks (they did the music, Leos Carax directed) 2hr20m later as the credits rolled, I was still not entirely sure what I watched. I think I know two Sparks songs - ‘this town ain’t big enough for the both of us’ and ‘when do I get to sing my way’. Two quite pop-py songs. The music in the film felt much more experimental artsy. Driver is a stand up comedian who falls in love with opera singer Cotillard, they have a kid (mostly played by a puppet). It’s a whistle stop tour through their relationship, that ends in tragedy, and then the aftermath where her conductor (played by Simon ‘Moist’ Helberg) joins the story. The music was frustrating, but usually good and catchy, they just kept stopping it, going off in tangents, only having a snippet of a song, become spoken word performances or the lyrics would be annoyingly repetitive and literal. Right near the end, the puppet gets replaced by a real girl played by Devyn McDowell who is six years old and she put in an incredible performance. I’m still not convinced they didn’t use some sort of cg trickery to get the performance they wanted. I think it was such a mixed bag of brilliance and annoying artsy approaches.

 

[The Clamp]

Annette
Going in I knew very little beyond it was Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard in a musical by the Sparks (they did the music, Leos Carax directed) 2hr20m later as the credits rolled, I was still not entirely sure what I watched. I think I know two Sparks songs - ‘this town ain’t big enough for the both of us’ and ‘when do I get to sing my way’. Two quite pop-py songs. The music in the film felt much more experimental artsy. Driver is a stand up comedian who falls in love with opera singer Cotillard, they have a kid (mostly played by a puppet). It’s a whistle stop tour through their relationship, that ends in tragedy, and then the aftermath where her conductor (played by Simon ‘Moist’ Helberg) joins the story. The music was frustrating, but usually good and catchy, they just kept stopping it, going off in tangents, only having a snippet of a song, become spoken word performances or the lyrics would be annoyingly repetitive and literal. Right near the end, the puppet gets replaced by a real girl played by Devyn McDowell who is six years old and she put in an incredible performance. I’m still not convinced they didn’t use some sort of cg trickery to get the performance they wanted. I think it was such a mixed bag of brilliance and annoying artsy approaches.

One of the few films I’ve abandoned lately. I like Sparks but I find Adam Driver unwatchable in almost everything he has done. Overrated and thoroughly unlikeable screen presence. IMO of course.

I watched Stillwater yesterday. It’s not what you’d expect, not so much a man trying to free his daughter but a simple man trying to mend his ways and fit into life in France. Matt Damon delivers a good performance but the film takes a couple of huge wrong turns that are glossed over far too quickly. I’m glad it wasn’t a Neeson style rescue film though.
It was interesting and I rather liked it. It’s very flawed though. 5/10

 

[Meade's Ball]

I went along to Annette on Saturday evening, and felt initially stunned and invigorated with the opening track, the tone set for something fulsome and enlivened. But midway through i began to drop off a bit. Driver was good, but not at all likeable, or greatly interesting, or mellifluous, either in singing tone or character. Cotillard isn't allowed much space to be, a perfect myth perhaps, so it becomes a one-man show mostly, of someone you don't want to spend time with. I do love that opening bit though.

 

[Is it PotG?]

Nowhere Special


I always take note of 100% Rotten Tomatoes, and I really liked it, definitely hits where it's meant to.

Nice one Norton.

 

[Gabbafella]

Me and the Mrs saw Shang Chi and the ten rings earlier today, it's brilliant. We both loved it, loads of action, good story, decent acting. A great start to phase 4 (I'm not counting the very disappointing Black Widow)
Very much looking forward to Eternals and Spider-Man.

 

[Gabbafella]

Just finished watching Candyman. What a pile of shit.
The constant digs at the white man, the fact that Candyman himself now only kills white people, and the desperate attempts to shoehorn in some police brutality, it all felt really forced, nothing woke about it and nothing groundbreaking or thought provoking, I get that there's a message in there but it's so poorly executed that it falls flat on its face. 2/10.

 

[dolphins]

Jungle Cruise
The trailer made it seem like a rip-off of the stephen sommers version of The Mummy. That was a fun film, and not a bad one to rip off if you're going that route. Deceptively prim adventurous English woman in a time when women shouldn't have such proclivities, travels with an effete brother to find an american tour guide to take them on a journer into dangerous territory, to face curses and near death, while being pursued by others hunting the same treasure. So clearly similar. But it didn't hew too closely to the Mummy, so there wasn't a constant sense of it, where you're thinking 'the mummy did it better' every five minutes, the film existed on it's own, despite those parallels. Not groundbreaking, but a fun enough couple of hours.

Mrs Dolphins and I watched this last night as a bit of light relief as her mum passed away this week, so plunged into all the normal post-death sorting out that I experienced a year ago when my mum went. The film proved the perfect salve, as it was good fun, amusing, the odd little nod to the Disney ride that inspired it very loosely, and Johnson is a dependable frontman for this sort of thing. Blunt works well too, and Whitehall as her posh brother seemed well suited to the role. Didn't even seem to need to act much - it was his typical onscreen presence. I was a bit surprised at a couple of the action bits (particularly snakey bits) which I guess due to their brevity on screen meant they scraped a lower rating than maybe they would warrant if there was a bit more lingering of shots.

 

[Acker79]

Mrs Dolphins and I watched this last night as a bit of light relief as her mum passed away this week, so plunged into all the normal post-death sorting out that I experienced a year ago when my mum went. The film proved the perfect salve, as it was good fun, amusing, the odd little nod to the Disney ride that inspired it very loosely, and Johnson is a dependable frontman for this sort of thing. Blunt works well too, and Whitehall as her posh brother seemed well suited to the role. Didn't even seem to need to act much - it was his typical onscreen presence. I was a bit surprised at a couple of the action bits (particularly snakey bits) which I guess due to their brevity on screen meant they scraped a lower rating than maybe they would warrant if there was a bit more lingering of shots.

I'm sorry for your loss. I suppose the idea of coming to terms with mortality being one of the themes threads of the film, it was quite appropriate.

 

[The Clamp]

My Son.
Famously garnering one of the worst Guardian reviews in recent years, My Son tells the story of a couple whose son is kidnapped and the subsequent hunt for the child that is left down to the Father played by James Mcevoy, to finish when the police abandon the search for reasons unknown.
Claire Foye plays the wife/mother.

The “unique” element is that Mcevoy was not given a script. The filmmakers claim it has never been done before. He had to react to clues and other actors’ dialogue as it happens.
I wasn’t aware of this going in and I can’t see why they did it. It appears to have no consequence, pro or con. It does explain some of the bizarre dialogue choices though.

It’s a remake of the French film, both directed by Christian Carion. So it has been done before. By the same man.

I actually thought it was a good, solid, thriller it’s dark, grimy and rather well made.
I increasingly despair of the Guardian but I do normally trust their film reviews. I think I they got this one wrong though. It’s not amazing but it’s not terrible. Certainly better than most revenge/hunt down the perps type fayre out there.

6.5/10

 

[dolphins]

I'm sorry for your loss. I suppose the idea of coming to terms with mortality being one of the themes threads of the film, it was quite appropriate.

Thanks [MENTION=12595]Acker79[/MENTION] - that hadn't struck me until you mentioned it. In a further effort to decompress from the day's activities, last night we finally caught up with Black Widow. Normally I really enjoy Marvel films, but felt this was a real let-down, with too much exposition and general chat. Some of it seemed to rely on a good memory of previously screened films (as it sits before Avengers Infinity War) or good knowledge of the comics/characters, as looking back on this thread some suggested issues due to the choices made by the writers/director of this one. Not terrible - Florence Pugh seems ever dependable (interesting contrast to her roles in Midsommar and Fighting With My Family) even though her Russian accent had a slight transatlantic wobble at times!

 

[Acker79]

I watched the new movie version of the stage musical 'Everybody's Talking About Jamie' on Prime. I've seen the stage show live once, and via cinema broadcast (live and replays) several times. I may have also watched an illicit upload of it on youtube. I've listed to the cast recording countless times.

The stage show has a thin story (based on a bbc documentary 'Jamie: Drag Queen at 16' about a 16 year odl who wants to be a drag queen and decides to go to the school prom in a dress). There is little substantial threat, or conflict for him to over come, but the songs are either catchy or moving, and there is so much energy in the performances that it distracts from the thinness of the plot.

It seems with the film they have taken the approach that since it's on camera, there's no need to be so big with the performances, have reined it in and so the performances are generally less energetic, and more flat (with the notable exception of Richard E Grant). They also decided to remove half the songs and replace them with bland pop songs.

Sarah Lancashire played Jamie's mum and I was a little concerned when I heard about this because the ballad 'He's My Boy' is one of the show's emotional highlights and requires some chops to pull off, and having never seen her do anything musical before I was expecting the worst, but she actually did quite well with it.

As a fan of the show, the film was quite a disappointment. I'm sure I'll go back to it, because they kep half the songs, and there is Grant to enjoy. The one addition I did like was a montage covering the history of gay/trans activism, but I liked that more for the look into history than it adding anything to the story. I remember enjoying the movie versions of Rent and Phantom of the Opera and thinking the fans of those shows were picky for moaning about how bad a job they did compareed to the shows. I kinda ge that sentiment now. But like me with Rent and PotO, there will probably be people who love the film because they aren't taking their experience with the show into their viewing with them.

Though, as a musical film about a gay boy who wants to be a drag queen, I imagine there won't be a lot fo fans on here.