I Just Watched (Films)

[Raid]

Highlander

I really thought I'd seen this before, but given that I didn't remember any of it when I watched it this evening, I have to conclude that I hadn't. Say what you want about it, but it's memorable.

Did anyone realise how preposterous a film they were making? Was the director just completely smashed off his face the whole time? Did they really get a Franco-American to play a Scotsman, and a man famous for being Scottish to play an Egyptian Spaniard who speaks with an entirely undisguised Scottish accent?

It's absolutely terrible and I loved it.

[Sly Boots]

Highlander

I really thought I'd seen this before, but given that I didn't remember any of it when I watched it this evening, I have to conclude that I hadn't. Say what you want about it, but it's memorable.

Did anyone realise how preposterous a film they were making? Was the director just completely smashed off his face the whole time? Did they really get a Franco-American to play a Scotsman, and a man famous for being Scottish to play an Egyptian Spaniard who speaks with an entirely undisguised Scottish accent?

It's absolutely terrible and I loved it.

Lol yes. What makes it even better is that Lambert's accent was so incomprehensible all his dialogue had to be redubbed after filming.

And Mr Krabs as the Kurgan *chef's kiss*

[ManBearSquid]

Highlander
Did they really get a Franco-American to play a Scotsman, and a man famous for being Scottish to play an Egyptian Spaniard who speaks with an entirely undisguised Scottish accent?

It's absolutely terrible and I loved it.

All of that makes much more sense once you watch the, almost unbelievable, sequel...

Spoiler

They're aliens. Not joking.

[Achtung Englander]

Highlander 2 should never have been made given "the one" was chosen.

Funny casting is always fun. Patricia Cruz, a Spainard played a Greek...in English

[Alan]

Highlander 2 is still great in its own shitty way.

[Raid]

See, I knew about the sci-fi angle that comes up in the sequel, I've definitely seen parts of that. I was expecting there to be at least some mention of it in the original, but there's really no indication of it.

[Alan]

Its almost like they rewrite the mythos with every - single - release!

[ManBearSquid]

Highlander 2 is just fucking bananas. Fantastic B-movie quality sci-fi.

[Raid]

Ad Astra

Pretty decent. It's a sci-fi adventure with, I guess, elements of psychological thriller, that perhaps doesn't quite hit the mark in places. It's well produced with a good atmospheric soundtrack and visual effects. To be honest I hadn't heard of it before it popped up on my Prime recommendations, but I remember seeing a comment about it being a hidden gem, and while I probably wouldn't go quite that far, it's a decent watch.

[eny]

Mississippi Burning

It is Gene Hackman's 92 birthday today, so have dug out this old classic. One of my favourite actors, and a fantastically realised film.

[Rusty]

Our Son

The main selling point is that James McAvoy didn't have a script and improvised his scenes.
It starts off well with you being in th esame position as James as the father of a missing son and not having any information to go on.

It then spends a lot of time building up certain possiblities of why the son has gone missing, but then totally ignores them with a poorly executed stealth em up in an abandoned house, and ends abrubtly with pretty much a few lines of script covering everything.

In the end there was no mystery, everything was at it first appears.

Still, Scotland was beautifully shot

[Wrathbone]

Mad Max: Fury Road

I've been re-watching the Mad Max series, finishing with Fury Road which I hadn't seen. I thought it was a reasonable action romp with occasional delusions of grandeur, which surprised me as most opinions I'd heard before were opposite extremes - either it's a masterpiece or total trash. I think what lets it down is when it tries to follow a traditional Hollywood narrative, as Max ends up being a bit too heroic, and Furiosa has the bloody awful moment where Max asks her why she's doing this and she replies, "Redemption."

I reckon it's the best of a poor series, though. While the films clearly had a big influence on the post-apocalyptic genre (Fallout certainly wouldn't exist without it), they're mostly a bit shit if I'm being honest. The second one has some decent moments and the third one has the idiotic comedy of the Thunderdome of course, but the first film is woefully boring and feels like there's an extra hour somehow stuffed into its 90 minutes.

[Sly Boots]

Not seen Fury Road, but have to agree with the rest, tried rewatching the first one last year sometime, and ended up bailing on it about half an hour in. Odd case of influential films that actually aren't much cop.

[Raid]

I'm in the "Fury Road Is The Best Action Film Ever" camp, and while it isn't without its problems, I think just the sheer effort they went to to do it as practically as possible rather than relying on CGI is massively deserving of respect.

The first two films though are another of my cult-classic blackspots. I suspect I've seen the second (although not since I was a kid), but I have absolutely no memory of the first. If I see them crop up on a streaming service, I'll give them a watch.

[Wrathbone]

I'm in the "Fury Road Is The Best Action Film Ever" camp, and while it isn't without its problems, I think just the sheer effort they went to to do it as practically as possible rather than relying on CGI is massively deserving of respect.

It's definitely worth recognising exceptional production efforts, but ultimately my interests in how a film is made are separate to how I feel about the end result. In terms of the action, I think it's fine. There's a lot of stuff going on at any given moment, and while it's obviously dealing with the insanity of flamboyant excess, there is such a thing as too much. I'd watch it again, but it wouldn't make my top 20 action films.