Last Movie You Watched.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Hereditary - this horror's probably been over-praised, but there's still enough in there to give you a decent dose of the heebie-jeebies.

This sounds like my kind of flick.

I'd say so, it's a supernaturally-based one. It's decent, I just thought the 'A new generation's The Exorcist' type reviews were a bit OTT.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Hereditary - this horror's probably been over-praised, but there's still enough in there to give you a decent dose of the heebie-jeebies.

This sounds like my kind of flick.

I'd say so, it's a supernaturally-based one. It's decent, I just thought the 'A new generation's The Exorcist' type reviews were a bit OTT.

Hyperbole in film criticism, both positive and negative, isn't a rarity.

FieldsMan wrote:

In continuing the classic spy story discussion, I recently and finally watched The Ipcress File. Great film, but John Barry's music is the real standout here. Brilliant score - probably better than some of his later Bond work, such as TMWTGG and OP. And good to see Count Lippe in an expanded role. Quite a few of the Bond family here... I think Saltzman really wanted to explore brainwashing around that time, considering OHMSS was supposed to have been made in '65.

Congrats!

IPCRESS to me is an unsung masterpiece and the greatest spy film of all time. I find it as a cross between LeCarre and The Third Man and like Get Carter it is quintessential British cinema. It took me years to see it here in the US since it's long been out of print. I'm a bit obsessed with the film and the other Harry Palmer films. When I read as a kid that Saltzman made other serious spy films with members of the Bond team where Michael Caine played a spy with glasses realistically who gets downtrodden 24/7 I felt as if I had gone to spy fiction heaven.
Definitely see Funeral in Berlin as Guy Hamilton directed it and it was shot mostly on location! Billion Dollar Brain was made by Ken Russell and is a hypnotic acid trip with a staggeringly good score.

Barry's score for IPCRESS is arguably to me his masterpiece despite being mainly based on a single theme. It is a contender for my favorite soundtrack of all time and I think since he was so friendly with Caine he was able to get a theme that meshes with Caine's natural personality and the darkness of Palmer's world. If you want the best sounding release track down the US Decca stereo LP which sounds amazing and better than the CD, US mono LP and rare UK mono LP. (I have them all. Told you I'm obsessed. I even have the rare Roan IPCRESS Laserdisc.) The new Network Blu-ray has all the old features, a better quality transfer and the original mono mix in lossless quality.

Note that there are two 90's tv mini movies with Caine that are very lackluster but are somewhat watchable.

Yeah I did my research for the other Palmer films, but not to be found in Oz I'm afraid. Maybe they'll be added to the same library I found Ipcress File on, but I won't hold my breath.

Similarly, I felt Barry's score shoot up to the top of my favourite non-Bond scores. I haven't wanted to go out and buy a non-Bond score since The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Great to see you finally caught up with 'arry Palmer, Fields. Film always get a solid five out of five this end.

They were all waaaaay out of print for a very long time. FIB is now out via Warner Archive's DVD service which has reissued the Paramount DVD. You might be able to get that imported or find the R2 PAL release. BDB was released by MGM and is now on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

If you ever go region free for Blu-ray the Network IPCRESS release is pretty cheap. I got mine imported when it was on sale for less than ten dollars. And you might get lucky searching in-country ebay sales. Occasionally collectors sell import discs which result in a large savings over the hefty import fees.

Thanks HGTB. I'll have to dig a little deeper methinks... I'm always sceptical buying DVDs on eBay for fear they'd be bootleg copies. 

@Hilly, hopefully I won't have to wait as long to see the others!

FieldsMan wrote:

Thanks HGTB. I'll have to dig a little deeper methinks... I'm always sceptical buying DVDs on eBay for fear they'd be bootleg copies. 

@Hilly, hopefully I won't have to wait as long to see the others!

Correct me if I'm wrong but you can usually recognize a bootleg as such. I mean, bootlegs are prints which infringe copyrights - an enterprise which produces DVDs without having the film rights. It is as "risky" to come across them at eBay as it is anywhere else. But you can see them for what they are, IMO.
I am more concerned about scratched DVDs. "Used, good" has a wide rage of interpretations, at least when it comes to second-hand books.

Lady Bird
Well made, a few endearing performances, but left me a bit cold at the end.

Red Sparrows
Was genuinely shocked to see it was so poorly reviewed afterwards, I thought it was wonderfully shot, had some great performances and like a good thriller does, kept you both on edge whilst keeping you clued in enough to what was happening that you could be surprised but not confused. Genuinely perplexed.

Kath wrote:

FieldsMan wrote:

Thanks HGTB. I'll have to dig a little deeper methinks... I'm always sceptical buying DVDs on eBay for fear they'd be bootleg copies. 

@Hilly, hopefully I won't have to wait as long to see the others!

Correct me if I'm wrong but you can usually recognize a bootleg as such. I mean, bootlegs are prints which infringe copyrights - an enterprise which produces DVDs without having the film rights. It is as "risky" to come across them at eBay as it is anywhere else. But you can see them for what they are, IMO.
I am more concerned about scratched DVDs. "Used, good" has a wide rage of interpretations, at least when it comes to second-hand books.

I've bought dozens of DVDs on eBay, and to tell the truth, have never had a problem. It's just a matter of scrutinizing the listing closely, and if you have reservations, either moving on to another listing or querying the seller.

Vesper wrote:

Lady Bird
Well made, a few endearing performances, but left me a bit cold at the end.

Red Sparrows
Was genuinely shocked to see it was so poorly reviewed afterwards, I thought it was wonderfully shot, had some great performances and like a good thriller does, kept you both on edge whilst keeping you clued in enough to what was happening that you could be surprised but not confused. Genuinely perplexed.

Funny how reviews, even aggregated bodies of reviews and ratings, as on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, can be so misleading. Take, for example, The Mothman Prophecies. A genuinely inspired, unique and scary film, but broadly panned. Sometimes you really wonder what people could be thinking.

Vesper wrote:

Red Sparrows
Was genuinely shocked to see it was so poorly reviewed afterwards, I thought it was wonderfully shot, had some great performances and like a good thriller does, kept you both on edge whilst keeping you clued in enough to what was happening that you could be surprised but not confused. Genuinely perplexed.

100% agree. Certainly one of the better cinema experiences in the last few years and yet it was panned. 

PK wrote:

Funny how reviews, even aggregated bodies or reviews and ratings, as on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, can be so misleading. Take, for example, The Mothman Prophecies. A genuinely inspired, unique and scary film, but broadly panned. Sometimes you really wonder what people could be thinking.

Yep, going by IMDB one would think CR06 is actually a good film. 

FieldsMan wrote:

Vesper wrote:

Red Sparrows Was genuinely shocked to see it was so poorly reviewed afterwards, I thought it was wonderfully shot, had some great performances and like a good thriller does, kept you both on edge whilst keeping you clued in enough to what was happening that you could be surprised but not confused. Genuinely perplexed.

100% agree. Certainly one of the better cinema experiences in the last few years and yet it was panned.

What I have heard (mostly among fans of spy fiction) is that people were put off by the violence depicted in the film. The same goes for me. And I dislike the incoherencies in the plot. People keep telling me that I should read the book because it would be so much better and way less violent, but I am so put off that I can't bring myself to reading it. We have a threat about RS somewhere. I have opened it.

FieldsMan wrote:

PK wrote:

Funny how reviews, even aggregated bodies or reviews and ratings, as on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, can be so misleading. Take, for example, The Mothman Prophecies. A genuinely inspired, unique and scary film, but broadly panned. Sometimes you really wonder what people could be thinking.

Yep, going by IMDB one would think CR06 is actually a good film. 

That's why I don't go by reviews. I liked The Mothman Prophecies, too, but the film has a more or less open ending, or some things you cannot really work out and that is probably the reason why many dislike it.

And you have not taught them better yet about CR 06?

Ebay is pretty good for spotting fakes themselves, and you can usually tell if the image is only stock or if it doesn't match the official release on amazon etc. Always look for the studio logos and Region code icons being printed in the right place-that;s usually the best identifier.

Checking the seller and the description is always the best though. Just don't go down the rabbit hole like I did. Buying used saves a ton, but then you get too obsessed with the magic of ebay...

Fortunately, given the low price of used DVDs, that obsession is a fairly inexpensive one.

Live Wire

A bit of B-Grade trash, but a bit of fun that breezes by. 

Apparently an unrated version is out there.

THE SNOWMAN
I had to watch the movie just to see if it was as awful as critics suggested. It was everything people said it was and more.

Sicario - it's not that this 'shades of grey' tale about the fight against the drug cartels operating around the US/Mexican border wasn't a quality thriller, but I came away feeling it had been overpraised. Giving the sequel a go today.

The Long Good Friday (1980)

A Limey gangster flick starring Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Eddie Constantine, and a decidedly boyish Pierce Brosnan. It's very good. And quite violent. Martin Scorcese is doubtless a fan. Not sure if Hoskins won any awards for his portrayal of a gangland boss who butts up against the IRA, but he should have. Mirren, aged 35 at the time, is totally delicious. Brosnan, amusingly, is the love object of one of Hoskins' hoodlums. Alas, Broz sends the bum-puncher to his maker in a swimming pool in a sequence that puts one in the mind of his S&M scene with Xenia in Goldeneye.

This one is definitely worth a watch, although Yanks like myself may have a hard time deciphering the thick cockney accents.

I thought Pierce Brosnan was very good in that movie. Exuding a sense of danger he rarely matched in his later career.

It's an essential bit of British gangster cinema, with so many familiar faces.

Bob Hoskins' character's rant against the Americans is classic.

I think The Long Good Friday was Brosnan's movie debut.

Sicario 2 - think my problem with the first movie was that Emily Blunt's character didn't really ring true to me, but she's not in the sequel so problem solved. Del Toro is as good as ever and Josh Brolin now reminds me of Kurt Russell, no less.

Emily Blunt is an audience stand-in in the first movie.

Her entire point is the "Only Wolves live here now" moment.

I thought "Sicario" was entertaining but ultimately a very empty movie in terms of its ideas.

I think Taylor Sheridan's entire border trilogy is overrated, though "Hell or High Water" is probably the best of the three, in spite of its referential nature.

Still, it gave us this scene:

Salomé wrote:

I thought Pierce Brosnan was very good in that movie. Exuding a sense of danger he rarely matched in his later career.

It's an essential bit of British gangster cinema, with so many familiar faces.

Bob Hoskins' character's rant against the Americans is classic.

I don't think Broz spoke a word, but he dam' sure radiated cockiness. And good grief! He looked like he was about 17.

Brosnan's finest non-Bond hour (during his Bond hours...) might well be Tailor of Panama. Personally.

The Lost Boys (1987)

Surprisingly good this. A teen vampire flick set in Southern California and made in 1987 could easily have been haute fromage indeed, but this was actually a taut and well made film. It's really not the least bit scary, but it is quite amusing and suspenseful. TLB also features an unusually high quotient of beautiful people--even by Hollywood movie standards--with Dianne Wiest particularly scrumptious. It's an entertaining and appealing picture worth at least two viewings.