Last Movie You Watched.

*spoilers*

ROGUE ONE (2016)

The first third of the film had me thinking the series had just about being milked dry. I don't necessarily waver from that view, but I suppose things do pick up eventually. There was also, naturally, a bit of giddiness when they set up the opening scene of Episode IV at the end.

Speaking of, why does Princess Leia even bother denying she's with the Rebel Alliance when her ship is crawling with soldiers in Rebel uniform? If you were to take Rogue One as canon, then it'd make even less sense given that her ship was docked with a Rebel ship in the midst of an assault on an Imperial base.

Anyway, biggest problem with this movie is that the characters are puddle-deep, even by Star Wars standards. I don't even remember what any of them were named. Nevertheless, I wouldn't say it's any worse than last year's A New Hope Awakens. The cashola will keep rolling in for Disney unless the law of diminishing returns sets in.

EDIT: Giving some of the characters 70's porn 'taches was a nice touch.

The Light Between Oceans

I enjoyed the book and I feel like the film delivered on all counts. Michael Fassbender and Rachel Weisz were fantastic, and Alicia Vikander gives a solid performance too. I do think, however, that the film could have evolved in a similar manner to the book. SPOILERS AHEAD: If I recall correctly, the boat arriving with the baby is the opening scene in the novel. I think this would have been a much more inviting opening (and opening shot) than the interview with Tom. 8/10

Ronin
Good to see three Bond villains working alongside Robert De Niro. An excellent action thriller, perhaps marred slightly because of the lead actress. Catherine Zeta Jones would have been better. The director seemed very particular and I would have been interested to see how he'd handle a Bond film. Alas it wasn't meant to be. RIP. 9/10

Sleepless in Seattle.
Absolutely ridiculous but a very easy watch. Meg, Tom and Nora do well to lure you in and keep you hooked. One of the better romantic comedies despite it being nonsensical. 7/10

Laws of Attraction
Bresnan seems to be in his element. And his chemistry with Julianne Moore is palpable. It just seems contrived. Seeing Francis Fisher in a much looser fashion than her Titanic counterpart was nice. 5/10

Oh and also Mean Streets. Been aching to see this for years, and finally found it on Netflix. Exceptional film. De Niro is brilliant and Scorsese's work is on point. I'm not sure it surpasses Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Casino or even Gangs of New York (my first Scorsese film and still love it), but I suppose ranking Scorsese's films are like ranking Bond films - it's always changing.

Need to find a copy of The King of Comedy, The Big Shave, New York New York and The Colour of Money, now.

The Man Who Fell To Earth - at 140 minutes, this slice of 70s sci-fi starring David Bowie meanders somewhat but it's so beguilingly weird I didn't really mind.

Jason Bourne

He's back, last time he thought he remembered it all...but you know what thought did...fortunately he doesn't have to remember much as his life is one big ground-hog day where the faces change but the roles and actions keep repeating, The 'gritty and realistic' action is as shaky and incoherent as ever - amusingly in the final chase sequence the cuts come so fast it makes the traffic seem to be stationary, a SWAT truck decimates vehicles in a scene taken from Tim Burtons Batman Returns, but fortunately Bourne is not only able to fend off lethal blows but also envelope his car in a force field. While it all seems very familiar, curiously uneventful for the most part, there are some fun scenes and sequences. Of particular merit, and rare these days, is that the locations felt varied and changed the nature of the action appropriately. Close up's of Tommy Lee Jones aside this is a glorious HD transfer and a great sonic fest for a good surround system (I'm also a fan of John Powell's score - like the film itself all but a mild revision and remix of the previous themes).

6/10

Now You See Me - breezy romp in which a troupe of magicians called the Four Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco) pull off daring heists and give the money to their audiences as part of their live performances whilst a FBI/Interpol duo (Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent) pursue them and try to bring them to book. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman also star.

SUICIDE SQUAD - Expectations were low going in but I found it decent; mostly held together by Margot Robie as Harley Quinn. Her spin-off movie would be interesting.

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS: THE MOVIE - Ugh.....Jennifer Lumley needs to give this up. The later series weren't quite as good as the first 4 or 5, but there were at least some laughs to be found. And at least she was still doing it as episodic television. The movie format is just plain wrong and the movie is a total misfire, with only one or two decent jokes/gags in the whole project. Movie looks like a 30 minute episode stretched out into 90 minutes of tedious boredom, with familiar characters doing a quick walk-on cameo and then dropping off.

POMPEII: Figured it was going to be garbage and it pretty much was. Kit Harington basically just playing Jon Snow in this movie and really he was the only reason I even bothered to rent it. Keifer Sutherland was laughable as a Roman Senator(?) and Carrie Anne-Moss basically just showing up to collect a paycheck. This movie wanted to be like GLADIATOR meets TITANIC so badly, with the emphasis on *badly*. Special effects were crud. Who gives Paul W.S. Anderson $110 million to make a movie? Whoever greenlit him as the director should've been fired!

Split - while this is sticking to being a psychological thriller, it's pretty good. But there's a silly lapse into OTT horror towards the end (and the final-frame revelation by way of explanation that the movie is meant to be set in the 'world' of one of Shamalayan's earlier movies is too little, too late).

My Scientology Movie - I'm told Going Clear is superior, but this Louis Theroux docu (his first for the big screen) does a good enough job of flagging up the paranoiac, control-freaky, harrassing and violent side of the looney-tunes belief system.

The Lego Batman Movie - fantastically animated and a damn sight funnier than many recent 'adult' comedies. Just try to pick a screening that won't be full of bloody kids, the disruptive little shits will only ruin it (mine was a morning screening at which a guy had to take his kids out halfway through because they wouldn't just stay in their seats and watch the movie ... God knows what the afternoon ones will be like).

The Good Shepherd.

Though IMDB suggests otherwise, I thought it was an excellent spy drama. Matt Damon exceeds, and I just wish Eon took a leaf out of this Matt Damon film as opposed to the Bourne series - if they really needed to. Of course I'd prefer Bond to be the trend setter, but alas, that hasn't been the case since the 60s.

This boasts an extraordinary cast and a script that drips with intrigue and a touch of bizarre. Perhaps it could have been a little tighter in the editing room, and perhaps Eddie Redmayne recast. I simply can't take him seriously.

Nightcrawler - terrific thriller with Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom, a down-on-his-luck LA guy who hits on the idea of becoming a freelance news-gatherer, turning up at the scenes of accidents and violent crimes and shooting footage which he can sell to a local news station. Bloom ends up venturing down darker and darker paths in order to film his increasingly ghoulishly sensational footage, which of course the station pays him bigger and bigger amounts for.

This is hard-hitting and blackly funny at times, with a superb performance by Gyllenhaal ... I don't recall seeing so much of the whites of an actor's eyes before, but there's absolutely no spark of humanity or compassion behind them. Bloom is a chillingly amoral character.

Also starring Rene Russo, Bill Paxton and Riz Ahmed.

Been too long since I've posted about my viewings. On the subject of Bill Paxton as he was mentioned in the post above it's sad to hear a welcome screen presence has passed. His role in True Lies especially a highlight and Twister being one of the nineties best (unintentional) comedies.

The Limey (1999)

A throwback delight with a strong Point Blank vibe. Terence Stamp as an ex-con seeking vengeance in L.A. for his daughter, the villain a sleazy record producer played by Peter Fonda. Barry Newman from Vanishing Point also had a terrific performance here as the record producer's right hand man. Steven Soderbergh's directing is great here and as mentioned before he seemed to be heavily inspired by the John Boorman classic Point Blank using similar editing techniques and realistic action. Also had a decent little role for cult icon Joe Dallesandro as a mentally impaired hitman.

The Matrix Trilogy (1999, 2003)

I sat down and watched the trilogy in one sitting recently for the first time since the third film came to DVD in 2004. I remember of course not really liking the second and third film at the time. But now I have to say these films while are still fairly hokey in terms of being deep and philosophical but the overall style, feel and amount of action still makes these films fun to watch. The first one is the overall most cohesive but I honestly this time liked the second film the most this time as despite having some silly "real world" segments but the amount of fun action sequences especially the goofy fight in the park with an army of Agent Smith clones being pummeled by Neo with a metal pole. The third is still pretty meh and honestly a little rushed. I wonder if the Wachowskis had spent a year or two on the script before filming if the film would have been better. Overall I had fun and even if these were overall boring the first film had Joe Pantoliano who I can say I enjoy in everything I see him in. My favorite line in the film from him is perhaps the best bit of philosophy when approaching the trilogy: "You know I realize this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth The Matrix is telling my brain it's juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss."

Logan - the Wolverine character finally gets the 'standalone' movie he deserves ... pity it's to be his last. There's some action sure, but there's no massive-scale CGI battles ... more time is spent on the characters and there are far deeper reflections on ageing, death and family than in your usual Marvel flick.

The script is littered with f-bombs and the violence is brutally bloody, so the more adult certification reflects that and should ensure there are no little darlings at the screenings. And there's no post-credits extra bit, either.

Jackie Brown

Finally got around to watching this. Excellent stuff again from Tarantino. There is something super in the way he introduces Jackie - the combination of music and the staging of the scene works wonders.

I especially dig the one shots. The actors must have had a blast.

If I had to do a Tarantino ranking (of the films I've seen):

1. Inglorious Basterds
2. Jackie Brown
3. The Hateful Eight
4. Pulp Fiction
5. Reservoir Dogs
6. Django Unchained

Death Proof and the Kill Bill Volumes remain!

Kong : Skull Island - part 'Nam movie, part The Land That Time Forgot/Jurassic Park, this is a pretty enjoyable action-adventure. The characters are fairly standard, but the monsters more than compensate.

Well I watched a few films but perhaps the most relavant here..

The Edge (1997)

Great performances by Hopkins, Baldwin and Bart the Bear, good work by Lee Tamahori who keeps the tension ramped up nicely....but the true star - Jerry Goldsmith with a hauntingly beautiful/menacing by turn score.. this wasn't the first time I had seen the film but somehow it hadn't registered before and though in hindsight that seems crazy it is so nice to discover a 'new' Goldsmith score. (had to opt for a second hand cd as it is out of print and oddly not available digitally).

The Borderlands - reasonably effective little British chiller about a team of Vatican investigators checking out a claim of miraculous activity at a small English church. It becomes apparent that whatever is active there is not on the side of good ...


Heat - a digitally-remastered cinema screening of Michael Mann's mid-90s epic crime thriller. Holds up extremely well ... nice to have a reminder of the days when De Niro and Pacino still cared. The mid-point gun battle may well be one of the finest action sequences ever filmed.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

 

Heat - a digitally-remastered cinema screening of Michael Mann's mid-90s epic crime thriller. Holds up extremely well ... nice to have a reminder of the days when De Niro and Pacino still cared. The mid-point gun battle may well be one of the finest action sequences ever filmed.

Yeah. Since, maybe only Jackie Brown/The Good Shepherd for De Niro and Danny Collins for Pacino prove that they still care. But one/two films each in several over the last two decades doesn't seem that reassuring. Hopefully working Scorsese in The Irishman will inspire them again.

It says a lot that someone even thought that there'd be any point in sending the Dirty Grandpa script to De Niro's agent. And a lot more that said agent passed it along. And more again that De Niro actually did it.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

It says a lot that someone even thought that there'd be any point in sending the Dirty Grandpa script to De Niro's agent. And a lot more that said agent passed it along. And more again that De Niro actually did it.      

Apparently there are financial reasons why De Niro has to act in so many subpar projects, not unlike Nicolas Cage's career in the last say, 10-15 years.

Ah, I see.

Get Out - part delicious social satire, part fabulously creepy horror-thriller ... you probably haven't seen many movies like this.

The Duke of Burgundy (2014)

A somewhat surreal and beautifully shot tale about a female butterfly expert named Cynthia who engages in sadomasochistic role-playing scenarios with her lesbian lover who grows much more demanding as the film goes on making Cynthia wonder if she's the one ultimately being controlled. Director Peter Strickland was inspired by the sort of artsy exploitation/erotica films of the seventies particularly Jess Franco but thankfully this film never felt like exploitation (sex is never depicted that much and there's no nudity) ultimately is probably one of the most human and somewhat sweet-natured depictions of the subject and it ultimately is a film about the nature of dependency in relationships.

Kill List - now, here's a good example of why it's better sometimes to only know scant details about a movie before sitting down to watch. Much was made upon the release of this low-budget British thriller (about 2 hitmen contracted to take out 3 people) about how it skewed into unexpected bone-chilling horror in its later stages. Well ... once you know that it's no longer 'unexpected', and the guess I made as to the the nature of said horror early-ish in the movie due to a couple of clues I picked up on turned out to be more or less right. Ah well.

Free Fire - this kinda reminded me of early Tarantino ... you know, back when he didn't think his movies had to last for a fucking fortnight. A bloodily violent and at times very funny 90 minutes.

TOP GUN
Like a fine wine, this movie seems to get better every viewing. I was sort of surprised I wasn't sure I'd like it as much on this last viewing, but I actually felt more for the characters. Maybe that's the price of getting older.

I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel if done right, but won't hold out for Iceman. He doesn't seem he's got much longer to live.

Coincidentally I just watched Top Gun for the first time (from start-to-finish that is) last week. I've had Danger Zone stuck in my head since then.

I'm gonna have to veto a sequel. The whole shebang is too 80s to replicate in our vastly inferior times. No one wants to see an ageing, post-Scientology Tom Cruise operating a CGI predator drone while an autotuned ballad by that Arab from One Erection blares in the background.