Last Movie You Watched.

Nocturnal Animals

Self-conscious. Pointless.

I thought it was a bit pretentious myself, but well-acted and properly designed in terms of differentiating between the "real world" and the "novel world".

Master and Commander- superb film, a shame there was not at least one more Aubrey film.

The Hunt for Red October- still excellent, with Richard Jordan stealing the scenes he's in.

The 39 Steps (1959)- Yes not the original but it's enjoyable in its way. A shame Kay Kendall did not get to co-star with More again.

Salomé wrote:

I thought it was a bit pretentious myself, but well-acted and properly designed in terms of differentiating between the "real world" and the "novel world".

I only held back from using 'pretentious' because I actually feel it was pretty honest about being so. I don't think at any point it presented itself as anything but style over substance and in fact went some way towards making it clear that the style was largely the point of the film, however it was that self-consciousness that annoyed me a bit. They over-emphasised that point in my eyes - they could have just run a subtitle saying "there's no point watching this for the plot, just drink in the pretty".

Hold the Dark

Flawed but very interesting. Very much adult cinema.
Jeremy Saulnier is noteworthy just courtesy of having a very own voice.
I do still prefer "Blue Ruin".



Visually quite accomplished as well.

Taken 2 - even allowing for the low expectations that come with with watching trashy-ish action flicks, still pretty bad. Directed as if it was expected that everyone who saw it would be an ADD sufferer.

First of the Few

known as Spitfire in the USA, this was Leslie Howard's last film before he was killed when the passenger plane he was on, was shot down by the Luftwaffe over the Bay of Biscay. It's a touch inaccurate in places, it's a typical war film of the era down to Niv's promise to a 109 that 'I'll get you, if it's the last thing I do!' for shooting down another Spit.

But, personally, the joy in the film nowadays is the fact that start and end you get to see real-life members of the Few (such as Brian Kingcome who was one of the more well known faces) and Tony Bartley (who married Deborah Kerr in 1945) appear on screen (some died before production was completed). The other joy is the footage of the new Spitfire being thrown about the sky by Niven's Geoffrey Crisp (a fictionalised version of test pilots Jeffrey Quill and Mutt Summers). Of course at the end you get the dogfight with the Germans being boweled over one after the other, what is now familiar archival footage of planes being shot down and so on but it's a decent enough film. A marker of a bygone age.


A final note is that it features Cyril Raymond (who is, if he is remembered now, remembered for playing Celia Johnson's somewhat patient if unsuspecting husband in Brief Encounter). Raymond here, as he did in Angels One Five (another Battle of Britain film), plays a fighter controller -a role he actually did for real in the real-life Battle of Britain.

Smokey and the Bandit.

Shameless fun, just how an action film should be. Some sharp dialogue and a cracking score too!

Venom - not top-tier Marvel, but a damn sight more entertaining than the reviews would have you believe IMO.

Pawn Sacrifice.

Highly evocative of what CR06 coulda/shoulda been.

Highlander - Queen's Princes Of The Universe being on the radio a couple of days ago put me in the mood for this swashbuckling 80s action-fantasy again.

It's utterly preposterous of course (not least in the casting of the very French Christopher Lambert as a Scot and the very Scottish Connery as an Egyptian/Spaniard), but that just adds to the fun really. And Clancy Brown is clearly having the time of his life as the villainous Kurgan.

watched the two Cate Blanchett Elizabeth movies.

Mixed bag really. Both films possess a decent cast list (though the first has that oddity amongst its number, Eric Cantona -imagine, Dickie Attenborough in the same scene as a guy who once high kicked a Palace supporter).

ELIZABETH- is the stronger of the two films. There's enough intrigue, goings-on and so forth to keep the film going from the likes of Eccleston, Cassell, Attenborough and even Daniel Craig (as some vengeful Catholic would-be assassin).

THE GOLDEN AGE- is a bit of a letdown. I was quite taken when I saw it in the cinema but the years are not kind. Like the first film there are some liberties taken with history (most revolving around Raleigh). The Armada comes, a mess of CGI and so forth. But then there's Clive Owen sort of mugging it up and being a bit all that and no substance. Of the ensemble one of the best might be Samantha Morton as Mary, Queen of Scots. (It also boasts one of my favourites, Tom Hollander).

The two real plus points of either film are Geoffrey Rush as Walsingham and Cate Blanchett. Both are top notch, there is something about Rush in these films that just screams excellence. Like actors in some recent Bond's, the best of a bad bunch. The likes of your Ifans and Redmayne come and go in Golden Age without any real mark (ditto Craig in the first film).

I imagine the reception to Golden Age put paid to a third film which I'm sure was in the cards prior (bring it full circle, one imagines with Elizabeth dying). However, there you go. We'll see how the new Mary, Queen of Scots film goes. Surely now one of the most filmed episodes of Tudor England.

Never got around to seeing The Golden Age, and after reading your write up, I probably won't now.  

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Great fun. Probably a little inferior to the MacQuarrie efforts, but I appreciate the Cold War-Esque vibe and Russian setting. Shame Paula Patton hasn't returned to the series.

A Simple Favor

Poor man's Gone Girl but a welcome return of camp to the thriller genre. Blake Lively does well (and I'm curious to see how she fairs in Babs' Rhythm Section). I feel Anna Kendrick is too adolescent to be a mum, and Henry Golding was miscast. Not bad a bad career though; two films into it and he's already worked with a Bond girl and snogged Blake Lively.

Possum - slow-burning, deeply unsettling British psychological horror. With excellent performances from Sean Harris and Alun Armstrong and a highly effective score by the Radiophonic Workshop.

Gave Spy a rewatch last night. The 2 minute car sequence from the airport to Susan's hotel in Rome was more thrilling than the entire car chase in SP.

x

I think Possum is in selected cinemas and on streaming services from next Friday, Ambler. I was at a screening that was part of the 50th anniversary celebrations for the QFT, Belfast's arthouse cinema. Writer/director Matthew 'Garth Mahrengi' Holness was in attendance to introduce the film and for a Q and A after it.

The Eagle Has Landed

The extended version. Indeed, the extended version is all the more worth watching for the bits lopped out of the theatrical release -they for the most part do help the film. Still a good film overall -it's scripted by Tom Mankiewicz and is benefited by it tremendously -the right amount of humour (down to Steiner's remark about driving on the right side of the road or "I got that truck with a bazooka/"a truck for crissakes! What does he want a Silver Star?!") and downright seriousness. Great cast to boot (good to see Jeff Conaway outside of Grease/Taxi) and good action scenes. The film moves along a steady rate but it's after the Germans are revealed to the villagers ("More bloody foreigners") that it cracks into action. Steiner honourably trying to carry on with his plan whilst things fall apart. ("If you don't mind Father, I insist on giving it a try.")

War films where British/Americans play Germans don't always work well. You have your Enemy at the Gates where either side seem to speak in British accents for the most part or even Sea Chase where John Wayne plays a German and well...
So with Eagle you have a few of the Westerners trying their luck. Coming up tops is Robert Duvall who makes a decent effort at his German followed by Michael Byrne. Then you get Quayle, who big a fan as I am of his, doesn't quite make it and then, finally, the enigma that is Sir Michael's Steiner. Steiner seems to slip from faintly German to very German depending on who he's speaking to (his random accent change when in Poland. Having been confronted by two soldiers, the accent changes abruptly into a harsh guttural when faced by the general).
Honourable mention to Sutherland with his Irish.

Only found out by checking out the movie details that German actor Siegfried Rauch (here playing one of Steiner's doomed men) died earlier this year. Fondly remember him for his roles in Patton and The Big Red One.

I've wanted to see The Eagle Has Landed for a while. Is it available on any streaming service?

CJB wrote:

I've wanted to see The Eagle Has Landed for a while. Is it available on any streaming service?

from what I can see, maybe Amazon. Otherwise I'm unsure.

Cross of Iron (1977)

Just got the recent U.S. Blu-ray of this which appears to be pretty much a straight port of the U.K. Optimum release at least transfer wise. This was my first time seeing it as I'm still slowly catching up on Peckinpah's films and have to say this is next to Alfredo Garcia as one of his best films.  Excellent war film that sadly still seems lesser known despite how fully realized the film is in regards to Peckinpah's outlook. James Coburn delivered a great performance as well as Maximilian Schell as the slimy Captain. Also worth noting is the presence of James Mason and David Warner who both also deliver solid performances. Not only does this rank highly on my Peckinpah list it's definitely amongst the best War films right up there with Das Boot and The Dirty Dozen as films with a more realistic and less glamorized approach to the genre.

Strangways&Quarrel wrote:

Cross of Iron (1977)

Just got the recent U.S. Blu-ray of this which appears to be pretty much a straight port of the U.K. Optimum release at least transfer wise. This was my first time seeing it as I'm still slowly catching up on Peckinpah's films and have to say this is next to Alfredo Garcia as one of his best films.  Excellent war film that sadly still seems lesser known despite how fully realized the film is in regards to Peckinpah's outlook. James Coburn delivered a great performance as well as Maximilian Schell as the slimy Captain. Also worth noting is the presence of James Mason and David Warner who both also deliver solid performances. Not only does this rank highly on my Peckinpah list it's definitely amongst the best War films right up there with Das Boot and The Dirty Dozen as films with a more realistic and less glamorized approach to the genre.

Orson Welles called this the greatest anti-war war film ever made.

It's terrific. A great depiction of the nihilism and madness at the heart of warfare. Some great instances of Peckinpah's dark humor.

Bohemian Rhapsody - culminating in a very convincing recreation of Queen's Live Aid performance, this biopic of Freddie Mercury (surely one of rock's most beloved frontmen) is inspiring, amusing and at times deeply moving. Rami Malek is excellent as Freddie.

Stonehearst Asylum - darkly entertaining slice of 'Victorian Gothic', loosely based on an Edgar Allan Poe short story. With Jim Sturgess, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Kingsley, Michael Caine and David Thewlis.

Equalizer 2.

Tis okay...but my fave movie with DW remains Book of Eli