Last Movie You Watched.

Us - Jordan Peele successfully follows up Get Out with an even weirder slice of thought-provoking horror.

With that and GET OUT, I'm becoming pretty interested in his iteration of THE TWILIGHT ZONE.

Indeed. Here's hoping no stuntmen die this time round

Tango And Cash - my first time watching this 30-year-old buddy-cop actioner. Good fun, with Stallone and Russell kicking ass and trading bickering banter like good 'uns.

Easter double-bill. Hehehe.

Life Of Brian - now 40 years old, and still as irreverently hilarious as ever. Peerless religious satire.

Nude Nuns With Big Guns - the sort of thing that probably plays in Tarantino's head when he has a fever, this low-budget 'nunsploitation' flick is heavy on the gratuitous nudity, violence and bad gringos. Perfect late-night-with-beer 'mantertainment'.

Still yet to see any Monty Python. No reason really but very ashamed of the fact. I'll make it a goal for this year!

Oh Fieldsy, there's a world ahead of you as far as Python's concerned. If you ever watch the series, ditch half of the third and all of the fourth. You've not lived until you've experienced the Inquisition.

As I think I've mentioned before, on the commentary of Brian (The Immaculate Edition), Cleese says during the scene with Jesus' sermon they wanted to try and get George Lazenby as Jesus just so the poster read- LAZENBY IS CHRIST!

He declined, er, unsurprisingly I suppose. Missed trick.

Brilliant! I sure would have watched them sooner had Lazenby been in it! Probably might have given his career a kick too... Probably that same agent who decided against it.

Shazam! - pretty enjoyable, but possibly overpraised. I dunno, there's something about the DC movies whereby they don't feel as 'together' as the Marvel ones.

FieldsMan wrote:

Brilliant!  I sure would have watched them sooner had Lazenby been in it! Probably might have given his career a kick too... Probably that same agent who decided against it.

Probably, I mean that agent needs to be found and given a good slap.

I think Lazenby would've gotten a kick out of being Jesus somehow. A man who could walk on water etc

Having re-read Raise The Titanic the other week, I decided ultimately to rewatch A Night to Remember.

it remains the premier Titanic film. Yes, it was done long before the wreck was found and the consequential debates on the break-up (even now, since 2012, the theories have evolved to something along the line that it wasn't a clean break so to speak) but it does a good job. There's no fuss, there's no real flash in terms of effects -it boils down to the human story. We get the set-up scenes, Lightoller with his wife (you see, when you have Kenneth More as a lead, therefore the Second Officer gets the main set-up), the first class passengers, the second class passengers and then the third class passengers that we'll focus on throughout all get their introduction scenes and all jar alongside the other. For the first class of course have the local workhouse kids see them off whereas the third, for example, all pile into a wagon with the local priest saying to one make sure you get a good price for the cart and horses in Queenstown.

The acting is top class. John Merivale's Mr Lucas kissing his son goodbye for the last son is unbearable in some ways, made more-so by More's expression as he looks on. More doesn't do a bad job himself, especially during the sinking scenes (right up to when he fires his gun in desperation to ward off the panic). Anthony Bushell as Carpathia's skipper is first class as he always was in film. Even John Cairney as the almost stereotypical Irish steerage passenger (still with us, aged 89) is at once entertaining but then moving as he cradles his dead friend in the lifeboat. Laurence Naismith does well as Smith and so on.

It is a film full of well known faces and there's of course the Bond alumni -both Q's of Connery's period (Peter Burton and Desmond Llewellyn) in small roles, Connery himself but I've never been able to find him, Honor Blackman but it's a sterling film. But we've only a few left from this film, Cairney, Honor Blackman (93), Gerald Harper (90), David McCallum (85) and Derren Nesbit (83) that I can see and perhaps others in minor unspoken roles.

Happy Death Day - if Groundhog Day had been a slasher flick, it might have been something like this. A bitchy sorority girl is killed on campus on the night of her birthday, and then finds herself reliving the day again and again. She sets out to discover who kills her and why, in order to stop them and break free from the 'loop'. Quite inventive, and with a nice streak of humour.

Hilly KCMG wrote:

Having re-read Raise The Titanic the other week, I decided ultimately to rewatch A Night to Remember.

it remains the premier Titanic film. Yes, it was done long before the wreck was found and the consequential debates on the break-up (even now, since 2012, the theories have evolved to something along the line that it wasn't a clean break so to speak) but it does a good job. There's no fuss, there's no real flash in terms of effects -it boils down to the human story. We get the set-up scenes, Lightoller with his wife (you see, when you have Kenneth More as a lead, therefore the Second Officer gets the main set-up), the first class passengers, the second class passengers and then the third class passengers that we'll focus on throughout all get their introduction scenes and all jar alongside the other. For the first class of course have the local workhouse kids see them off whereas the third, for example, all pile into a wagon with the local priest saying to one make sure you get a good price for the cart and horses in Queenstown.

The acting is top class. John Merivale's Mr Lucas kissing his son goodbye for the last son is unbearable in some ways, made more-so by More's expression as he looks on. More doesn't do a bad job himself, especially during the sinking scenes (right up to when he fires his gun in desperation to ward off the panic). Anthony Bushell as Carpathia's skipper is first class as he always was in film. Even John Cairney as the almost stereotypical Irish steerage passenger (still with us, aged 89) is at once entertaining but then moving as he cradles his dead friend in the lifeboat. Laurence Naismith does well as Smith and so on.

It is a film full of well known faces and there's of course the Bond alumni -both Q's of Connery's period (Peter Burton and Desmond Llewellyn) in small roles, Connery himself but I've never been able to find him, Honor Blackman but it's a sterling film. But we've only a few left from this film, Cairney, Honor Blackman (93), Gerald Harper (90), David McCallum (85) and Derren Nesbit (83) that I can see and perhaps others in minor unspoken roles.

You've just reminded me of this film. Been on my to-watch list for a while. I'll have to try find it in Oz somewhere.

Worth a shot if you can Fields. This film I saw a lot as a kid, cemented my liking of More as a chap and actor. (Lewis Gilbert always slated him for his limited range but even Kenny More knew his limits as an actor). It's based on a book of course and based on facts known by the mid-1950s (even has the fourth officer as a technical adviser).

Though I've seen it a few times, one of the most memorable was catching it at the British Film Institute (South Bank) in April 2012, as part of the centenary of the disaster. In fact it was even the 14th I think. Small audience, about fifty of us and this film remastered. Perfect

Talk Radio (1988)
Been on an Oliver Stone kick lately. His eighties output was pretty strong with Salvador, Platoon, and Wall Street followed by this one. While the talk radio format isn't quite as big as it was during this film's era you can easily apply the film's overall intent to the crazier side of Youtube and Social Media. An absolute strong performance by Eric Bogosian as the unraveling radio host and a pretty strong lineup of actors as his behind-the-scenes team with Alec Baldwin, John C. McGinley and To Live and Die in L.A.'s John Pankow. Also a pretty strong performance from Michael Wincott as a crazy, drug-addicted rocker. Great film and sometimes even a little unnerving.

Any Given Sunday (1999)
I have zero interest in football or sports in general but that might be a plus going into the pretty dark and realistic take on the craziness surrounding the sports behind the scenes. As usual Oliver put together a strong cast with Al Pacino, James Woods, Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx and even Charlton Heston. The MTV editing is a bit jarring at times but I think here it's used to make a point. Not as strong as his earlier output but still Oliver put together a solid piece of filmmaking.

Sin City (2005)
First time seeing them despite enjoying some of Rodriguez's work such as the Mariachi trilogy before. It was alright. Had some good scenes here and there but nothing that impressed me too much. Strongest part for me was Bruce Willis' parts and the late Powers Boothe as the vicious Senator but he's not in it too much. Didn't dislike it overall like I did Rodriguez's later Grindhouse film Machete but something here didn't click for me.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)
Although I ended up liking it's sequel/prequel more despite the critical reaction to it. It felt more put together overall and had a bit more meat on the bone than the previous film (still more about style though but it felt a little less jarring as there was more to latch onto). A major chunk of it being about Josh Brolin's P.I. character (played by Clive Owen in the previous film) and his former girlfriend played by Eva Green who's a pretty wicked femme fatale here. There was also quite a bit more screentime for Powers Boothe here and his performance was even stronger (thankfully as this would turn out to be his last film before he passed away a couple years later) plus the film does have a satisfying conclusion. Something about the first one made me feel disconnected from it overall but this one on other hand I was more engaged with. More Boothe, more Noir tropes.

My daughter is almost a teen, a tear rolled down my eye. We watched this

Strangways&Quarrel wrote:

Any Given Sunday (1999)
I have zero interest in football or sports in general but that might be a plus going into the pretty dark and realistic take on the craziness surrounding the sports behind the scenes. As usual Oliver put together a strong cast with Al Pacino, James Woods, Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx and even Charlton Heston. The MTV editing is a bit jarring at times but I think here it's used to make a point. Not as strong as his earlier output but still Oliver put together a solid piece of filmmaking.

That pretty much sums up my thoughts on it. Haven't seen it in years, though.

Avengers : Endgame - not terrible or anything, but overlong and I think I preferred Assemble and Infinity War.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Avengers : Endgame - not terrible or anything, but overlong and I think I preferred Assemble and Infinity War.

3 hours, wow...on the plus side, I co-invested some cash in Marvel related merchandise and we sold out everything...

The Wicker Man - not my first time watching this British folk-horror classic, but it WAS the first time that the dark Beeb comedy The League Of Gentlemen (the film is one of the show's many influences) kept coming to mind while doing so, causing me to chuckle throughout. And always good to see Britt Ekland's half-naked scenes, hehehe.

Godzilla (2014)

I've put this one off for a while as I was leery of another American made Godzilla and heard that the film wasn't the type of film they were initially advertising it with those great trailers it had early on (those made it look like an apocalyptic horror film like the original one was). Picked it for four bucks at Walmart with some fairly low expectations.

Well those expectations should have been a bit lower. The general consensus for this film is that it's a good Godzilla film that fits the spirit of the original Toho series. Sorry to say but that doesn't seem like the same movie I saw. This movie is very cut-and-paste, cliche-riddled and honestly doesn't feel like it was even properly finished at times. There's not enough monster mashing with it literally cutting to black anytime the Muto monsters or Godzilla are about to do something cool until the final fight which is too dark to see due the cinematography at least until Godzilla fires up his breath like a nuclear nightlight. This leaves us with either the film having to rely on keeping the same anti-war and anti-nuclear message the series was built on or at least a decent film about human survival but it failed at providing those two things as well. It pretty much turned into the same old military action flick that the movie going public absolutely despised back in 1998 when Roland Emmerich made his American Godzilla film but honestly that film had much better action and characters except for the very few times when the title of the film finally shows and does something. This film only has a couple characters who aren't boring stock characters from every single movie like this in existence one of whom is Bryan Cranston's obsessed scientist who as pretty much every other reviewer of this film has noted is out of the film too soon despite being front and center in the trailers. The rest is just following his generic soldier son as every single event in this film somehow coincidentally ties into his life (his Mom played by Juliette Binoche was killed by the bad guy creature, his Dad goes crazy due to the creature, he goes to Japan with his Dad where his Dad gets killed by the creature indirectly then goes to Hawaii where the creature just so happens to show up, then the creature goes to San Francisco where his wife just so happens to be working as a nurse ... oh, for heck's sake.) and the military geniuses planning to blow up San Fran with a nuke to stop the two villain monsters called Mutos because that old cliche hasn't been done before (sarcasm deployed). A lot of this wouldn't be that much a problem if this film actually committed to something. If they wanted less of a monster flick and more of a human story then write actual decent humans then. If they wanted a monster film well then show the damn monsters then. It's just a very safe and generic film for anyone to see and doesn't really achieve much other than being a time-killer. And I'm really disappointed to say that actually despite my previous lower expectations because I hope this doesn't bode what the upcoming King of the Monsters film will be like as when they actually have Godzilla onscreen (and visible) it actually turns into a good movie. I like his newer, more aggressive fighting style ( in the final fight he literally grabs one of the mutos by the jaw and fires his nuclear breath down its throat which was probably the best scene in the movie) and I really liked the last scene especially with the film capping off with Godzilla's victorious roar. But the problem is that it's about ten or twenty minute of great footage attached to a movie that doesn't even come close to matching it. A film that doesn't seem to really care about Godzilla to begin with and is more occupied with Cranston's boring son and his problems and people doing the same cliched reactions to destruction everyone made fun of back in the nineties when Emmerich did the same exact stuff (it even has the old dog running from disaster trope).

I don't regret seeing it. The follow-up film King of the Monsters does look promising so it pays to bridge the gap if they don't mess up there too. The price I paid for it makes a decent addition to the collection just for reference sake. But this is a film that really needed someone making it with a proper vision in mind whether it be a fun monster-basher of something more cerebral. Either way it needed more of the title character most of all.

Train To Busan - this South Korean 'zombies on a train' flick has gore, tension, a little humour and even a bit of genuine poignancy. And appropriately enough given its title, it moves at a fair old lick too.

Recommended :) .

Ip Man 1, 2 and 3.

The production values and action choreography are impressive. The performances are very hit and miss, particularly the supporting characters. And the dialogue is very clunky, though I imagine it isn't as literal as the translations suggest. Also the narrative unfolds in a curious fashion. Structurally it's not so conventional, maybe it's a flaw, but the technical side is so polished that it somehow works.

Michelle Yeoh and Dave Bautista feature in a spin off, which I'm keen to check out.

Once Upon a Time in the West

Probably my favorite western. Would have been interesting as a fourth "Dollars" film had Eastwood not turned it down.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

A decent enough follow-up that features a replicant tasked with hunting down his own kind and later on finding Deckard, the original film's protagonist. Ryan Gosling is ... Ryan Gosling here. Nothing really out of the ordinary Gosling performance. Robin Right is solid as his superior, Lt. Joshi and Harrison Ford was great when he finally shows up later on. He definitely isn't in it too much but enough to leave a great impression and really add a spark to the film. Jared Leto was alright as the new Tyrell figure but I think his character could have been a little better if his dialogue wasn't so spelled out about his intentions. It felt like they were going for a more menacing and creepier version of Tyrell but I think it didn't work as well. His henchwoman though, a replicant he named Luv, I adored. Dave Bautista was in and out the film pretty fast. Somebody who would have probably made a great villain for the film himself in the Rutger Hauer fashion. Like the original not a film with a lot of action but when it did the action scenes were pretty good particularly the climax.

The visuals are pretty much the film's strongest selling point though. The film looks great particularly the new Tyrell Corp. (now named Wallace Corporation after Leto's character) and while I don't think it felt as featured as much as it was in the first film the city looks good enough and doesn't feel that far off from the original film. The film honestly even with the sequel aspect becoming much more central later on works better when you approach it as it's own film as it doesn't feel like a sequel that adds that much overall. A lot the first half feels like it's hitting some similar beats about identity and prejudice the original film did (this one way more on the nose regarding the latter) and the second half of the film is more of a follow-up and that part's why I say decent enough but it overall didn't totally engage me except in parts of it. The film despite that pace feels bit more spelled out than the first film particularly as I mentioned regarding Leto's character in the dialogue.

Overall it was a good enough watch but not one that I regard as a masterpiece or anything. I didn't feel like there's as much to take away from this film when it's over as the first film had. Would recommend a watch for anyone who hasn't seen it just for the visuals alone though and if you are interested in what happened to Deckard after the credits rolled on the first film.