I Just Watched (Films)

[Animalmother]

Time to dig out this classic methinks:

Jesus, I would have said it was only 8 or 9 years old.

Possibly the closest book to film adaptation I've ever seen.

[Solitaire]

It was, indeed, Animal. And for myself, that was the most infuriating book I've ever read - totally hated his style of writing, and without proper punctuation. Forced myself to finish reading it. Great movie though, that's one I'll watch every time I come across it browsing channels.

[Alan]

Last Night In Soho
That was great! The look, the soundtrack, the outfits, it’s all so well done. It even lands the end. Best film of the year I’ve seen I think. It’s too bad he made The World End and Scott Pilgrim because everything else Edgar has made is so good. I’ll let him off with two duffers :p

[Achtung Englander]

great recommendation

[Alan]

Old
Some great ideas, really shite film. Terrible acting, dialogue, plot, ending, make up and…. Just about everything. The complete opposite of Last Night In Soho… coincidentally both star Thomasin McKenzie though her parts quite small in Old so it’s not her fault.

[Animalmother]

Last Night In Soho
That was great! The look, the soundtrack, the outfits, it’s all so well done. It even lands the end. Best film of the year I’ve seen I think. It’s too bad he made The World End and Scott Pilgrim because everything else Edgar has made is so good. I’ll let him off with two duffers :p

Great, was hoping it was good.

Also Baby Driver was utter shit so 3 duffers.

[Wrathbone]

I've been hammering films recently:

Jojo Rabbit
Excellent, lives up to its accolades. Great performances all round with a well told story, and Taika Waititi's irreverent style works better than it has any right to with the film's darker corners and subject matter.

Burn After Reading
Not entirely convinced by this one. I'm hoping it's like Pulp Fiction where it's better on repeat viewings, but as far as the Coen brothers go, this doesn't hold a candle to Fargo. I'm also not keen on John Malkovich's acting style, which seems to mostly be shouting his lines.

Drive
Really enjoyed this - great rising rension, low-key but effective performances and killer style. Could have had a bit more driving.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Somehow I'd never seen this before, yet it's almost exactly what I expected it to be (in a good way). It's the first film I've ever seen Sean Penn in where I've not wanted to throw a shoe at the screen. The classic 80s stoner surfer dude stereotype works incredibly well on him. And the soundtrack! Holy crap there's some good music in this.

12 Angry Men
Still one of my favourite films of all time. I don't know how many times I've seen it, but it always holds my full attention from start to finish. An absolute masterpiece.

Firewall
I saw this at the cinema when it first came out and I remember thinking it was unremarkably fine. Watching it again 15 or so years later, it's unremarkably fine. Good, even. A solid thriller, with Paul Bettany playing a fun baddy and Harrison Ford in one of his last decent roles before Crystal Skull turned him even grumpier and he started phoning in every performance. There's also some nice technobabble, which I always find entertaining, although I'll admit it's not as out-there daft as I remembered it being. They even got Chloe from 24 to play Chloe from 24 and do some hacking, even though she's a bank secretary and isn't shown to have any aptitude in that arena until the plot requires it from her.

[Mantis]

So I've just caught up and watched Dune.

I haven't read the books, but wow, what a spectacle. Denis Villeneuve is such a fantastic filmmaker. Enthralled from start to finish and barely noticed the run time.

The book has just been substantially bumped up my reading list.

[Sly Boots]

So I've just caught up and watched Dune.

I haven't read the books, but wow, what a spectacle. Denis Villeneuve is such a fantastic filmmaker. Enthralled from start to finish and barely noticed the run time.

The book has just been substantially bumped up my reading list.

We should probably start a thread in the music & literature section

[Hatredsheart]

So I've just caught up and watched Dune.

I haven't read the books, but wow, what a spectacle. Denis Villeneuve is such a fantastic filmmaker. Enthralled from start to finish and barely noticed the run time.

The book has just been substantially bumped up my reading list.

Can't wait 'til October'23.

[Raid]

Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

I've watched every MCU film over the last two years. There's the odd one that's not as good as the others, though as a rule they've been really entertaining. But there have been a lot of them now, and it's no surprise that there eventually had to be one that was unmitigated garbage.

The thing I've loved about the MCU films from the first Thor onwards is that they take ridiculous concepts and ground them in a way that appeals to my sci-fi brain. This doesn't bother. At all. So, there are some rings, right? They're like fancy bangles. Some dude found them in a crater and then he lived for a thousand years. And then they go pew pew pew, and they whizz about and the dude can hit people with them. That may as well have been the entire screenplay. The CGI is poor, an unreasonable amount of screen time is taken up by martial arts that are indistinguishable from dancing with no dialogue or sense of threat, and the hero eventually beats the antagonist by waving his arms about in a way that makes as much sense as that sentence did. There's a wisecracking American because of course there is, this is a Marvel film, but she adds no entertainment in the way that every Marvel sidekick usually does. Then the fake Mandarin from Iron Man 3 is here for literally no reason other than for an aborted attempt to fix that utter failure, and it's an utter failure.

And the whole way through, I had this really uneasy feeling that the whole "Asian Mysticism" trope is offensive. I started watching Community recently, and Ken Jeong's character, Señor Chang, suggests that it is. Now Señor Chang is perhaps not a reliable commentator, but Community made this joke back in 2009, and in 2021 we have a big-budget Disney film laying heavily into the trope. There's never an explanation as to why everyone's using ancient crossbows, those daggers on a rope and the hook-ended swords instead of, well, howitzers and assault rifles.

Instead of watching this, go and stare through the window at a jewellers; it'll be just as fulfilling but there'll be twice as many rings.

[Snowy]

Also just seen Dune and...wow. I couldn't have been happier with how it was done, and can't wait to see the concluding instalment. Fantastic stuff.

[Wrathbone]

Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

I've watched every MCU film over the last two years. There's the odd one that's not as good as the others, though as a rule they've been really entertaining. But there have been a lot of them now, and it's no surprise that there eventually had to be one that was unmitigated garbage.

Just finished watching it. I didn’t hate it! I mean it’s not good, but it was enjoyable enough. The first half was better than the second half, before it got bogged down in tedious CGI battles.

I get the concern over the Asian mysticism trope, but I don’t think it’s entirely warranted in this case. It’s an MCU film, so superpowers and extreme martial arts prowess are part of the package no matter where the character’s background lies. On that basis, I think the problem isn’t that Shang-Chi and pals are mystical martial artists, it’s that there aren’t enough western movies with Asian protagonists that aren’t like that. It’s also important to recognise that there are Asian characters in the film (one of them very prominent) and throughout the MCU who aren’t superpowered or proficient in martial arts.

The use of magic traditional weapons is sigh-worthy, though, and it’s not limited to this film in the MCU. Wakanda’s exceptional technology is put to the stupidest military use in their armies. Even Asgard is arguably dumb in that respect. It doesn’t matter how unbelievably powerful your magic spear is - there’s a reason firearms won out!

[Raid]

I think the problem isn’t that Shang-Chi and pals are mystical martial artists, it’s that there aren’t enough western movies with Asian protagonists that aren’t like that.

That's what I was getting at. It's a trope, not necessarily offensive in and of itself but used with enough frequency in Western media to be notable. The same thing happens with Native Americans; hell, even the usually quite progressive Star Trek did that one. It's just a little reductionist.

I'll admit I'd had a bottle of wine by the time I wrote that somewhat over-the-top review. I thought the film was rubbish, but "unmitigated garbage" was perhaps a little harsh. The acting was competent but unspectacular (Michelle Yeoh did seem to be phoning it in a little), but honestly I was just bored through most of it.

[Achtung Englander]

Jungle Cruise (Disney+)

This started really well. I really enjoyed the first half. The second half is awful. What was a fun romp in the spirit of Indiana Jones, it became more and more Pirates of the Carribean but not in the good sense. CGI took over and the story became ridiculous. I can see it again but I won't be fussed if I don't.

The cast were all excellent.

6/10

The Man Who Saved the World (Prime)

Frightening. The re-enactment of the Russian nuclear bunker is nightmare inducing, and to think that actually happened. The whole bit about engaging with mother was pointless and a bum steer of the impact that we all owe a huge gratitude to Stanislav Petrov.

6/10