Last Movie You Watched.

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Erica Ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

Erica Ambler wrote:

Is Logan Lucky's box office failure the reason Craig is back as Bond?

Has Craig had a hit outside Bond? Not that I can recall.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was a modest hit, I suppose?
It made 232 million worldwide.

It didn't make 232 million worldwide, that was its box office; by the time production and distrubtion were subtracted it lost money, which impacted on Bond-partners MGM, which co-financed the film. Things were made worse as Sony paid a fortune for the rights to the trilogy, but couldn't get finance or partners for parts two and three after the initial failure. It's rebooting with an entirely new cast in 2018, IIRC.

I thought it would have made a profit against its 90 million dollar production cost, even with distribution and promotional costs.
But I didn't factor in the larger rights issue.
Of course, you are sort of setting yourself up to fail if your movie needs to make 300+ million just to break even.
Very few non-superhero movies make such money in the modern climate (unfortunately).

m

The biggest box-office successes with Craig outside of Bond appear to be Lara Croft : Tomb Raider, The Adventures Of Tintin : The Secret Of The Unicorn and Star Wars : The Force Awakens.

So that's a videogame adaptation, an animated film and an uncredited cameo. Hmmm.

Darkman - Sam Raimi brings his manic energy to this mash-up of Batman and Phantom Of The Opera, with very enjoyable results. Some scenes suffer from budgetary restraints, but overall tremendous fun.

Salomé wrote:

Erica Ambler wrote:

Is Logan Lucky's box office failure the reason Craig is back as Bond?

Has Craig had a hit outside Bond? Not that I can recall.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was a modest hit, I suppose?
It made 232 million worldwide.

SONY is carrying on the series, but without Rooney Mara or Daniel Craig. I think the movie was a risk to be released on Christmas Day, counter-programming not withstanding. Recasting Rooney is a dumb idea. She was spot-on, unless they're thinking of hiring Noomi Rapace to do the sequel. Now that could be interesting.

But no, Craig hasn't really had anything that broke out and was a hit. His biggest hits from Casino Royale onward have all been Bond films. Nothing outside of 007 hasn't broken $100 million in the US.

Well, past week or so worked through my Dirty Harry sequels. Best to worst in is essentially the order they came out.

Sudden Impact and Dead Pool verge into parody, the Enforcer had elements that threatened this but either it's Lalo Schifrin's slightly dated 80s main themes for the last two or it's Eastwood's age or the gunfights that kept cropping up I don't know. Dead Pool is not helped by Liam Neeson's dodgy English accent and Jim Carrey miming to Welcome to the Jungle plus the villain (who quite frankly is poor) being taken out by a harpoon (not to mention also, Harry being pursued by a remote control car).

The first two sequels had enough to them. Harry wasn't a vigilante, wasn't entirely trigger happy -at least in Magnum Force when he's up against cops who see themselves as his equal but are far beyond the pail.

Sudden Impact does have the 'ray of light' moment at least (Harry coming to save the day) and the Dead Pool has 'you forgot to read your fortune cookie...it says...you're shit out of luck."

Ende.

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

This was my first time seeing Kingsman as it's a movie I kind of forgot existed. I found the movie to be pretty fun despite some flaws. Colin Firth is particularly good in his role and despite the odd lisp I thought Samuel L. Jackson was as entertaining as usual. The action scenes while used the same sort of kinetic editing I usually groan at in action films nowadays were actually pretty well done despite the editing choice although I felt like the church scene went on a bit too long (and according to stuff I've read online the director wanted it to be even longer). It was a surprise that they made the villain a lunatic environmentalist and even an implied Obama being in on it (the head exploding scene was humorous in a Team America sort of way), a throwback to the old Stromberg/Hugo Drax Bond villain type. Michael Caine was also solid in it but of course his role could have just been him in a corner reading mock-ups of future angry feminist comments about the film's "re-entry" scene and I'd still give thumbs up on it.

The one flaw that I think keeps the film from excelling from really good to great territory for me is that I honestly felt like Taron Egerton's Eggsy wasn't quite as compelling as Firth's Harry Hart. I felt like Colin Firth was really handling things well and had a compelling enough backstory that would have made the film even better if they left Harry alive through the film and kept him as the lead trying to regain his edge and make peace with his mistake in the beginning. I get that would have taken away from Matthew Vaughn's commentary on class he was going for but Eggsy while not bad per se was someone I really only warmed up to when he attempted rear entry with the princess later in the film.

Overall, I really did like it despite what would probably be a much more glaring issue in any other film but the positives far outweighed the negatives as the rest of the cast and film is so enjoyable to watch.

I'd be interested to read your thoughts on the second Kingsman film, S&Q. Despite some bigger flaws, I actually preferred it to the first. 

And not a fan of Jackson's lisp? Best thing about the film, in my opinion! 

Honestly, I don't dislike the lisp overall but it felt forced when I first heard it. Last night it didn't occur to me though that it does fit in hindsight as I was thinking about the film earlier today and realized a lot of his traits and oddities are approximately what a modern Bond villain would be if the Craig films were more in the tone of the Guy Hamilton/Lewis Gilbert Bond movies. You have a crazed environmentalist who's also a tech wiz with at least some sort of of impediment who despite wanting huge amounts of people killed off for his cause is adverse to seeing blood and violence himself (the latter of which I forgot to mention I found pretty funny as well). All that's missing is an Aston Martin/Prius chase and a winking pigeon to strengthen the recipe.

I'll see the second one at some point. Even with Eggsy in the lead as long as it doesn't get into Daddy issues and doltish psychobabble I'll probably be fine with whatever it does. The bar has recently been set really, really low in the spy genre recently but at least Kingsman and recently Atomic Blonde have at least picked up some of the slack.

Very true. Though we should be fortunate we got a villain like Silva. That's as close we'll get. 

I thought the spy genre has been in decent shape since 2011 (SP aside). Tinker Tailor, Our Kind of Hero, A Most Wanted Man, Skyfall, Bridge of Spies and Eye In The Sky have all meandered between 'very good' to 'excellent', and Rogue Nation was one of the better entries in the Mission: Impossible series (Despite the excellent choreography of the car/bike chase sequence - car flip aside - I will never forgive the writing of it). Then there is also The Man From U.N.C.L.E, which was solid, too. And as you mention, Atomic Blonde and Kingsman have delivered somewhat. 

Even television spies have been great - London Spy, The Night Manager, The Same Sky. I'd probably include The Honourable Woman in that also.

Re-watched "Symptoms".

Still holds up as a great film imho.

Everyone should watch it at least once, even if only for Angela Pleasence's performance.

The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)

Entertaining action/comedy mostly a vehicle for the back and forths between Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson. Again, Sam Jackson having a blast this time as the hitman and Ryan made a good pairing as the reluctant bodyguard who's had many run-ins with Jackson's hitman in the past. Plenty of good action sequences including a Moonraker-esque boat chase in the canals of Amsterdam and the climax at the Hague. The plot twists were fairly obvious (gee, there's a mole in Interpol and they cast Joaquim de Almeida as a higher-up in Interpol, I wonder who it could be?) and Gary Oldman only had a couple scenes where he really shined as the Russian Dictator (Salma Hayek on the other hand shined brightly as Jackson's feisty wife) but the action and humor from the two leads made for a fun watch.

j

The Hateful Eight (2015)

My Black Friday haul has kind of turned this week into Samuel L. Jackson week. Finally caught up on all of Tarantino's films and have to say this one is a bit of a mix although mostly good. I honestly think the first half of the film is some of Tarantino's finest filmmaking yet with gorgeous cinematography, a great score and an exquisite sense of atmosphere. Everyone even Michael Madsen got a chance to put in some stellar performances particular stand-outs being Tim Roth as the hangman (or so he claimed), Walton Goggins and Bruce Dern. I honestly was surprised Tarantino kept the violence to a bare minimal until the last hour and thirty minutes and let the characters and atmosphere be the main draw of the film for most of it. The dialogue was as usual with Tarantino, very sharp and as mentioned the music is terrific and thankfully got Ennio Morricone a much deserved Academy Award.

Sadly the film isn't perfect though. I felt like the last hour and thirty minutes when everyone's true identities are revealed didn't hold up as well. I can honestly overlook certain things like a character not doing a certain thing that would have made their job easier and quicker as sometimes especially the Domergue gang might not simply be bright enough or just so caught up in what they're doing they miss the obvious. I think it just felt like Tarantino was trying to hard to tie things up in a quicker manner and wound up just making a bit of a plot hole. If the mystery of who everyone is would've kept and maybe even have at least Tim Roth stay a innocent bystander in all this it would have kept enough tension and made the Domergue gang's lack of action earlier on less questionable.

Overall, it's still a very good film despite the dip in the plot. If the film was as great as the first hour and a half was throughout it would easily be my top Tarantino film but it just didn't deliver all the way. Still better than Death Proof though by a mile which remains Tarantino's weakest effort to me.

Tarantino in ranking:
1. Reservoir Dogs
2. Jackie Brown
3. Django Unchained
4. Pulp Fiction
5. Inglourious Basterds
6. The Hateful Eight
7. Kill Bill Vol. 2
8. Kill Bill Vol. 1
a really low down the list 9. Death Proof

I think it's a better movie than "Django Unchained", though I suspect that this is primarily because I like the movies he references more in "The Hateful Eight".

Beyond the often touted inspirations like "The Thing" and to a lesser extent, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", "The Hateful Eight" owes most to films like "The Petrified Forest", "The Tall T" and "Man of the West". The first two especially, since Tarantino lifts entire plot elements straight from those movies.

My Tarantino ranking would be:

1. Reservoir Dogs
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Inglorious Basterds
4. Jackie Brown
5. The Hateful Eight
6. Django Unchained
7. Kill Bill Vol. 1
8. Kill Bill Vol. 2
9. Death Proof

Still think Eight's story is wayyy too slight to support the arse-numbing runtime, still don't understand the decision to shoot it in 70mm then set most of it in a fucking cabin and still don't understand Tarantino seemingly wanting to be seen as a matured film-maker whilst also including exploding-heads gore.

I really enjoyed The Hateful Eight and from memory I didn't think it dragged. I'm a fan of films that take place in one location (or mostly in one location) and Tarantino's cracking dialogue keeps it moving. 

My ranking would be something like this:

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

Haven't seen the others.

Recently saw:

About Schmidt
Beautiful drama about searching for your life's purpose. Nicholson turns in a uncharacteristically restrained performance, and delivers.

Heartburn
A brilliant director in Mike Nichols directing two of the greatest actors ever should have been a masterpiece. Unfortunately Nora Ephron's script is both too pedestrian and too unfocused. I don't mind the various renditions of Carly Simon's song, but I've never been big on the original version so it constantly popping up was a little off-putting. Any song with the lyric 'Fix the toaster' should be questioned, just like a more modern song where the singer asks "do you ever feel, like a plastic bag..." 

But Streep and Nicholson elevate this film to something watchable. Good to see Stockard Channing in something else too.

Didn't mind Hateful Eight, but concur with BI's assertion that Tarantino still can't seem to shake the requisite need for rivers of blood.

The Foreigner

Good performance by Brosnan as Gurry Ahdums but a pretty dull affair otherwise. The film can't seem to decide whether it wants to be some sort of low-grade political thriller or a thinly-veiled Taken knock off. Chan seems to disappear for a good chunk of the film. Could've used more kung fu shit to liven the spectacle up.

John Wick

Finally got round to seeing this after hearing about what a masterpiece it was for years. Stylistically interesting, but ultimately a soulless and vapid shoot-'em-up. Whereas once upon a time films revolving around Arnold or Sly mowing down hundreds of foreigners had humour, self-awareness and were viewed as nothing more than cheesy entertainment, this one lacks any charm or the remotest semblance of a plot and yet the GoT/ISIL generation laps this shit up because a lot of brains get splattered.

Also, the Russian was spoken terribly and the subtitles were riddled with inaccuracies. And since when were Russians Catholic? Why haven't the SJWs complained?

Shame you didn't enjoy The Foreigner. I thought it was interesting politically, and preferable to the Taken series. Admittedly I did find Chan's short absence a little unusual, but it allowed for some other narrative threads to develop.

It made the narrative feel unfocused to me. The movie jumps from setting up a revenge flick to being mainly about Gerry Brosnan, his IR--sorry, UDI mates, and his wife fucking his nephew. Occasionally a Chinese guy comes in to do some backflips before you forget he exists.

My guess is that Chan, God love him, just couldn't be the driving force in a dramatic English language film so this is the hodgepodge that came of it.

Don't know about that, considering he has led many Hollywood films. I know he was flying between England and China to shoot another film during the shoot, so his time was limited. Maybe that's why Brosnan got extra screen time? But if that's the case, it's odd that he didn't postpone the shoot to free up more time, considering he was aching to be in dramatic, English-language film.

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I enjoyed "The Hateful Eight" for what it was, which is a locked-room mystery wrapped in a bundle of western references (mostly Westerns that were better than "The Hateful Eight"). I don't really go into Tarantino flicks hoping to find a cinematic masterpiece. If I'm entertained then I come out of the theater content.

Erica Ambler wrote:

FieldsMan wrote:

I I don't mind the various renditions of Carly Simon's song, but I've never been big on the original version so it constantly popping up was a little off-putting. Any song with the lyric 'Fix the toaster' should be questioned

Coming Around Again is a very adult song. To quote the toaster line without the subsequent, 'Then you break a window, Burn the souffle, Scream a lullaby', means you've missed the point. Anyone who's lived the traps and comforts of domesticity knows exactly what Simon's writing about.

I'm not big of Simon's vocals (even for Nobody Does It Better) or the music and so I never listened attentively to the lyrics. When it plays on the radio, I hear that line and think it's such an odd thing to sing about. With those subsequent lyrics you posted I can understand the context, but surely there was a more tactful way to tell the story.

CJB wrote:

It made the narrative feel unfocused to me. The movie jumps from setting up a revenge flick to being mainly about Gerry Brosnan, his IR--sorry, UDI mates, and his wife fucking his nephew. Occasionally a Chinese guy comes in to do some backflips before you forget he exists.

My guess is that Chan, God love him, just couldn't be the driving force in a dramatic English language film so this is the hodgepodge that came of it.

UDI ... ah, so the screenplay of The Foreigner invents the terrorist organisation that Brosnan's character used to be a part of, then.

Reminds me of Patriot Games ... in the book the organisation that Ryan enrages is the fictional 'ULA' (Ulster Liberation Army), whereas in the movie they just went with the IRA.