I Just Watched (Films)

[Jez]

Agreed. Best since the originals for me.

[Drarok]

That sounds suspiciously like Rogue One, Disney should sue!

[Animalmother]

Ah yeah, I spell not well

[Raid]

Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring - This is the first time in over ten years that I've tried to watch a Lord of the Rings film and made it through the prologue. I bought the ultra-extended versions on DVD when I was a student, and every time since I've gotten to the opening narration and switched it off. It's a series I really do need to be in the right frame of mind to watch, and despite knowing the films quite well, I was pretty spellbound throughout. Perhaps it was the fact that Cinema Wins recently started with the series, perhaps it's the fact that I spent a morning this week trying to secure tickets to Ian McKellan's one-man show that's coming to Lancaster for one night only in May, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's looking quite dated now if you concentrate on any one area of the epic swooping, panning shots over CGI armies, but everything that isn't CGI is just breathtakingly good. I don't think there's any denying how good the production is, regardless of what you think of the story.

I have most of the weekend to myself, and I'm planning on watching Two Towers tomorrow night. I finished off a bottle of good rum for Fellowship, tomorrow it'll be opening a bottle of good whisky. I think the alcohol helps get past just how seriously the series takes itself.

[Wrathbone]

Fellowship remains one of my favourite films of all time. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched it but I still get a hard to detail feeling from it that no other film gives me. Everything that happens up until Frodo and Sam meet up with Merry and Pippin is extraordinary.

Towers is so much better on the extended version as it completely changes Faramir.

[Raid]

Yeah. I couldn't remember much of the extended edition changes for Fellowship (I'm watching the Netflix versions which I believe are the theatrical releases), just the one scene where Galadriel presents the entire Fellowship with gifts , rather than just the one flashback to Frodo receiving the tears of whatsitcalled. In The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers, which I watched last night, it feels like there's more important stuff missing. I know there's a scene that adds a lot of context for Boromir and Faramir in the extended cut, without which Faramir comes across as a bit of a useless peon of his father.

The second film wasn't nearly as engaging as the first. The battle of Helm's Deep was excellent, but the constant cuts to Frodo and Sam, and Merry and Pippin doing very little of interest were a little irritating. I'm not sure how their stories could have been implemented in another way, and they're definitely necessary, but it's a bit jarring to cut from epic battle to two men chatting while riding a talking tree.

[DjchunKfunK]

Sicario: Day of the Soldado

What a terribly dull film and a totally pointless sequel. Ended up fast forwarding large chunks. Avoid.

[Tichinde]

Sicario: Day of the Soldado

What a terribly dull film and a totally pointless sequel. Ended up fast forwarding large chunks. Avoid.

Ouch, that's on our list to watch....quite enjoyed the first one to a degree.

The Predator
The less said the better, but then where's the fun in that?
The early laughs are all at the abysmal dialogue (they stop soon enough. The laughs, not the jokes), it's tear inducingly badly written, none of the characters are likeable in the slightest and the story is just utter wank. The less said about the ending the better.

If I had spent money on seeing it, I'd be livid.
I only spent time on it, so I'm just angry.

[DjchunKfunK]

It's nothing like the first film unfortunately.

[Rusty]

Going to go and see the new Fantastic beasts tonight (I know, for some reason I'm a Harry Potter superfan) despite the mixed reviews. Hope my son doesn't get too bored...

[Achtung Englander]

warning - apparently its really boring

no spoiler review

[Wizard Of Odd]

We watched Summer Of 84 the other night. I enjoyed it and thought it had a great ending. It's a homage to the slasher flicks of the 80s in many ways, and has a killer soundtrack.

[Alan]

Crimes of dimblebumble
The look and style are cracking the rest is real bad. It thinks it’s the empire strikes back, it’s not.

Sorry To Bother You
Really enjoyed this. It’s like Spike Lee with an imagination and sense of humour. Funny, sharp and the right level of batshit.

Girl In The Spidets Web
Pretty lame. Other than tossing child abuse in for some poignant seasoning it’s tame and by the numbers. Foy plays it far more vanilla and the whole thing is just uninteresting.

[Rossell]

Bohemian Rhapsody.

The film does have some odd moments but generally rami maleks version of Freddie is fantastic and the last 15 minutes with the Live Aid set is just awesome.

[Sly Boots]

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Made-for-Netflix film by the Coen Brothers, an anthology of six short Western stories. Each one features very different characters, tones and morals, but all are of a high quality. I love their work and this was a very good watch.

The first story starring Coen regular Tim Blake Nelson is almost a dark, violent real-life Looney Toons cartoon with some very funny moments, and kind of sets the tone for a not-your-usual kind of Western flick. There's a very short piece with James Franco with a black humour to it, followed by a touching, bleak one with Liam Neeson as a travelling impressario faced with a show of waning interest, then Tom Waits as a prospector which of the six has the happiest ending. The fifth story is the longest and a tale of romance along the wagon trail, which was a bit of a slow burn but of the six was the one that had my jaw hitting the floor and some dust in my eye by the end. The sixth is arguably the oddest of all and ends up quite gothic in tone.

Overall the first and fifth stories were probably my favourites, the first for how balls-out crazy and ludicrously entertaining it is, the fifth for emotional impact. And perhaps the best thing I can say is that all the stories left you wanting more, to know more about these characters and what happened to them before and especially after what was shown in the film.

Good stuff.