Last Movie You Watched.

I, Tonya - very good, blackly funny drama about the infamous Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan case. Margot Robbie and Allison Janney are both excellent as Tonya and her monstrous mother Lavona, those Oscars are a distinct possibility.

Allison Janney is a surefire win, though I'm rooting for Laurie Metcalfe also -probably more so. I felt her performance (and character) was a little more rounded. Regardless, both are electric performances. 

Margot Robbie was exceptional, but Frances McDormand knocked it out of the park. And, if by some off chance that McDormand doesn't get it, I think this Saorise Ronan will get it.* Streep delivered in The Post, but it's not her year. 

*Haven't seen Shape of Water yet, and Sally Hawkins is an exceptional talent so this could change.

I, Tonya was very good, I agree. Refreshing to watch a true story that amplifies the different version of events.

b

Maps To The Stars was on the iPlayer a while back and I gave it a whirl ... amusingly full of bile towards Hollyweirdos and their ways.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Control wrote:

a brilliant 3rd act.

Now there's a phrase I don't hear (or use) very often.

Is it my imagination or has Cronenberg's critical standing declined? I never think of him as a great director yet his films are always worth watching. I don't know why I stopped.

Maybe I went too far describing it as brilliant, but it is solid. Eerie ending.

Haven't heard much about Cronenberg since A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE earned some Oscar nominations in 2005-06. Still haven't watched that one.

a Lewis Gilbert (Kenny More) double:

Sink the Bismarck

liberally sprinkled with Bond acting alumni (Keen, Naismith, Gotell, Brown etc) and even Peter Hunt editing, one of the better war films at a time probably when they were slipping out of vogue. Encapsulated none better perhaps than in More himself, the star so highly pinned in 1953 (Doctor in the House and Genevieve) began to flag by this point (1960). Initially signed up to act in The Angry Silence he took this as quite honestly, it offered more money (though I do like to think he might've done quite well in the other film).
It's a slightly fictionalised account of the pursuit of the Bismarck, from her breaking out of Norway through to her sinking. C.S Forester no less wrote the book that served as the basis. Liberties are therefore taken here and there: Lutjens' apparent Nazi fervour (a cringe part, admittedly is his speech before sailing: "Never forget you are Germans, never forget you are Nazis!"- Lutjens was no Nazi, he had Jewish blood in his family), the loss of a HMS Solent (no such ship existed) and a Swordfish being downed during the final assault by air.

Otherwise it does well. From that opening of More scattering the pigeons in time to the start of the music (Clifton Parker's superb march), down to the model work (a brilliant use of back projection doing a good job of the impression of a Swordfish bearing down on Bismarck whilst under intense AA fire) and even, in parts, the acting. Dana Wynter is a somewhat curious part to this film if you ask me- she was a reasonable big name I assume (in some part anyway) and here she is playing a Wren.
Rarely, this is a film where More has no love interest- this and Battle of Britain come to mind.

Gilbert did use the same actors it seemed, right down to Sydney Tafler who I believe was his brother-in-law, here he plays the 'reserved occupation' contractor aboard Prince of Wales when she's dispatched after Bismarck.

The addition of Ed Murrow adds some authenticity. One of Gilbert's fine efforts.

The Admirable Crichton

my DVD flashes up Paradise Lagoon but here be the UK title. It is not the best movie ever made but it has a certain charm. Again, encapsulated in More- playing the title character (a few years on he did a stage musical of the play, and after a dreadful performance, Noel Coward came round to the dressing room to say it was simply dreadful), a charm and British way of life no more. He was, as Gilbert noted, the officer back from the war. Gilbert also noted More was a good actor but lacked versatility. Perhaps. Probably. Nonetheless he brought great joy in my humblest opinion through his films, at least to me.
The film has a few well knowns of British cinema of the time such as Gerald Harper* (who, next to Sally-Ann Howes) must be the sole survivors cast-wise, a Bond connection, however tenuous, in Diane Cilento (before she was Mrs Connery), the always delightful Cecil Parker and the aforementioned Sally-Ann Howes. I had a crush on her when watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as a child.

Not a film I suspect Gilbert would have listed as top three, it came just after Reach for the Sky and of course some years before YOLT et al, it loses its way a touch on the island and when they come home, the relationship of Crichton and Tweeny is not quite all there (perhaps seeing that More was at best twenty years older thereabouts) but there we go.

Probably find time for Reach for the Sky/Alfie and TSWLM at some point.

(I think we see now why my column in the university paper, 2007-08 died a quick death!)

*edit, besides Harper (89) and Howes (87), there is also Miranda Connell (79) and Roland Curram (85). Not a bad return for a sixty-odd year old film

sorry chaps, being off work today and with the snow, another Gilbert double.

Alfie

I've not seen this since I brought it on DVD over eight years ago for various reasons but undoubtedly, as far as reviews go, one of Gilbert's better films. Indeed, I read he was to direct the Godfather but had to drop out -not sure if that's true or not.
Alfie himself, let's be honest, is not a likeable man as much as he is played with a cheeky grin and wink by Sir Michael Caine. There's a gritty element to the film, helped by the London locations, script and acting right down to the abortion scene.
I'll say this, Jane Asher was a knockout back in the day.
Again, you have familiar faces from other Gilbert films (maybe I reach but it's surprising how many did do most of his films) Tafler, again, Murray Melvin and even Bryan Marshall (HMS Ranger's skipper in TSWLM). (as with below, I had considered doing some definitive cross-section of Gilbert regulars but we'll avoid it)
I didn't realise there had been a sequel and quite honestly, I don't care. Alfie is good enough by itself.

Reach for the Sky

the highpoint for Kenneth More, the continuing ascent for Gilbert. Initially offered to Richard Burton, the leading role went to More who was apparently a much cheaper option. More chased the role to some degree and threw himself into it with gusto. Bader reportedly unhappy with the film, something he told Gilbert and later someone else, remarking that all his bad language, friends etc was missing from the film and all people thought of Bader was "this nice chap, More".
Anyway, to cut a ramble short, a good film with a stirring score and strong cast which again includes Gilbert regulars such as Tafler (really was in everything Gilbert did by the looks of it), Watling (Bismarck, this, Crichton), Hudd (Bismarck, Cast a Dark Shadow, Good Die Young, this and Cosh Boy), Alexander Knox (YOLT) Michael Balfour but there's right up there, Muriel Pavlow. Having a look today, at 97 she is perhaps the only surviving member of this cast and was at last note, in the actors care home Denville Hall.
Back in the day when I considered, as my debut project, something to take on, a book on More, she was one of many names I thought about writing (though how I could get kickstarted on the book was anyone's guess). Now, she's one of a few.

Two scenes always produce a lump in the throat, and both are early on. With Bader laying in his hospital bed, about to die and a nurse remarks to a friend: "Quiet! There's a boy dying in there!"- Bader's eyes focus he mutters he won't and hangs on. The other, is at the hospital, Bader makes his goodbyes and turns to face Nurse Brace.

Trivially, the film has the great advantage of having a fair few aircraft to use including a bundle of Hurricane's. Something that thirteen years later, Battle of Britain would perhaps suffer by, possessing only three flyable Hurris.

Endeth. (Onto TSWLM!)

Anthony Mann's THE FURIES (1950)

Damn, Walter Huston was great. One of the best American actors who wasn't American.

Get Out. 

Satisfyingly creepy. The exploration of the films themes are a bit on the nose - so much so it makes it a little predictable. But for its genre, a very good addition. 

Side note: it's a much more effective look into racism than Haggis' Crash. 

Daniel Kaluuya did an excellent job and is definitely worthy of his Oscar nomination. Will he bag it? I don't think so... I think the three white actors probably deserve it more, but at the same token, the SJWs will kick up a storm if Daniel Kaluuya or Denzel Washington doesn't. Storm in a hypnotic teacup, if you will...

Originality in modern horror is a pretty rare beast, so it was most welcome in Get Out. Genuinely pleased for its nominations.

Indeed. 

I probably wouldn't have watched it had it not been for Academy recognition.

"The Shape of Water"

Overrated, but saved by the performances, especially Sally Hawkins.
It's a bit odd that this is the Guillermo del Toro film that will likely end up making him the greatest amount of rewards. I don't think it's superior to "Crimson Peak", which was middling itself. Let alone his best work, "The Devil's Backbone" and "Pan's Labyrinth".

I read that critics say Lady Bird is the most overrated of the Oscar nom films. Based on where the critics mark and the audience differ.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-43146027?intlink_from_url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/ceq40e9pmywt/oscars-2018&link_location=live-reporting-story

The Bridge at Remagen

Segal, Vaughn and Gazzara. I forget how I got hold of this movie years ago, on VHS after a while but now reliant on TV showings. Odd movie -one of the few films, I've seen anyway, set towards the end of the war on the Western Front. It's effects are largely good, yet you have this weird sort of superimposed B-25 behind a close up of another B-25 (the same one done over) and one random P-51 escorting it, whilst the bomb bay doors are open you hear whistling yet no bombs seen falling and yet there they are splashing into the Rhine. A host of well known German faces acting wise including Van Eyck whose last film this was and yet...Vaughn is playing the leading German character (he does a passable impression unlike other war films where Westerners play Germans, observe Sir Michael's swaying of accent in Eagle Has Landed).
It has a guest star which adds to the odd aspect (I may be reaching for this oddness but there you go) in the form of E.G. Marshall.
The opening scene is done well, the sheer scope of it with American tanks racing one side of the bank, German artillery the other and the bridge in the distance about to be blown.

It goes along well, you have Bo Hopkins and the late Steve Sandor dotted in the cast as well as the also recently departed Bradford Dillman (the quintessential 'it's that guy from that thing' actor) doing what he sometimes did best, playing an arrogant ass.

It boasts an Elmer Bernstein score which has this lyrical element, like a fairytale sound at the end of the theme and in other parts. Surprisingly, the score is but 29 minutes against a film around two hours or more long.

10 Cloverfield Lane - a tense, claustrophobic thriller that expands into sci-fi towards the end in order to tie it to the first Cloverfield flick. John Goodman is superb, as is Mary Elizabeth Winstead. I hear mostly bad things about the recent Netflix-only Cloverfield Paradox.

Game Night - admittedly the absurdities pile up as this comedy-thriller unfolds, but if you're prepared to roll with them it's kinda fun. With Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams and Sharon Horgan.

Death Wish (2018) - Bruce Willis

Let down. Has a few moments but still not good enough.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

10 Cloverfield Lane - a tense, claustrophobic thriller that expands into sci-fi towards the end in order to tie it to the first Cloverfield flick. John Goodman is superb, as is Mary Elizabeth Winstead. I hear mostly bad things about the recent Netflix-only Cloverfield Paradox.

Game Night - admittedly the absurdities pile up as this comedy-thriller unfolds, but if you're prepared to roll with them it's kinda fun. With Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams and Sharon Horgan.  

That's because "The Cloverfield Paradox" is a failed sci-fi film that they tried to salvage by shooting a few extra scenes so they could shoe-horn it into the franchise.
I agree that the second film in the series is surprisingly good. One of the best John Goodman performances of the past decade, for sure.

So my daughter got me a Fast & Furious boxed set of the first 7 movies on blu-ray....I can't remember everything so I'm diving in starting with the one that set the ball rolling.

That korean dude from DAD is in it! I forgot all about him.

Kinda haunting to see Paul Walker again.

The Black Hole

a film I saw a lot as a kid and one thing that stayed with me since then, is the somewhat creepy final scene. The Cygnus has entered the black hole and we're treated to what can only be a scene from Hell. Max Schell's crazy Reinhardt merging with his homicidal robot Maximillian, a fiery pit below, red skies...but then we get some kind of heavenly arch and our heroes have escaped the hole into a new universe or maybe the same one.
And that's pretty much the highlight of the film. I brought it on DVD yesterday and though not the best film there's something about it. Maybe it's John Barry's score or that it's a Disney film with a dark feel to it (never mind the carnage Maximillian wreaks, the set itself is mostly dark and foreboding).
Apparently a remake is in the works. Without the likes of Schell, Borgnine, Perkins or John Barry it can't be that much of a patch on this.

n

Clerks - a late-night 'cult classic' screening at our local arthouse cinema, so nice to be able to watch this on the big screen accompanied by a couple of ales. Kevin Smith's no-budget directorial debut is still a very funny film.

Mom And Dad - what better movie to see on Mother's Day than one in which a mysterious TV signal causes parents to turn murderously on their own children ? This deliciously dark suburban satire serves as Nic Cage's first half-decent project for quite some time.

One I never get tired of.

The Wolf of Wall Street.

If Jordan was Jordanna, I'd be in that circle.

Wolf is just about the only 3 hour movie that never has me looking at the clock.

The Italian Job.

In light of not being able to see My Generation tomorrow night, the next best thing. Caine, Coward, Hill, Minis and Quincy Jones.

Remake? What remake?

CJB wrote:

Wolf is just about the only 3 hour movie that never has me looking at the clock.

I got careless once and my daughter, still a preteen, nabbed it and...had some awkward questions for me after.