I Just Watched (Films)

[Achtung Englander]

Athena (Netflix)

A powerful film. Basically a dramatization of a French riot before it actually happened. Top rate drama. Amazing cinematography, acting, music and direction

8/10

Watched the making off as well. Some of the shots were original and second to none. Really well done.

[Achtung Englander]

Wham (Netflix)

What a superb documentary. Andrew and Michael actual audio on their early career edited with home footage and TV spots. I loved it.

8/10

[Solitaire]

Wham (Netflix)

What a superb documentary. Andrew and Michael actual audio on their early career edited with home footage and TV spots. I loved it.

8/10

Agreed! I watched it over a week ago and "Careless Whisper" is still stuck in my head every morning when I wake up

[Animalmother]

Dragged Across Concrete
Same guy who made Bone Tomahawk (which is fantastic) so expected this to be pretty graphic. Two suspended cops decide to rob some bank robbers. Said robbers are fucking psychotic so it gets rough in places. Too many characters with pointless story arcs make it over long and the acting in places is wooden. Vince Vaughn is just not good in serious roles and probably just isn't a good actor. The violence is quick and often brutal which is about the only thing that makes it stand out. Way too much waffle and no one is remotely likeable. A lot of negative points there but it is pretty good

[Sly Boots]

Dune (2021)

Hadn't seen this before, but with it recently landing on Prime decided to give it a go... with a fair amount of reticence given the David Lynch abomination and it being based on one of my favourite books of all time.

But... have to say, they absolutely nailed it. It was with no small amount of joy it gradually dawned on me that they'd actually made not just a good Dune film but a goddamned excellent one. Couldn't fault it one bit... obviously elements were left out but that's to be expected with any adaptation, the important thing was they stayed true to the source material (looking at you, Witcher).

I believe the second part is due out pretty soon, feeling quite excited about it, may even go to the cinema on my todd to see it if I can't persuade the wife to come

[Rusty]

Dune
Yup, Dune went straight into my top 5 films of all time. Re-watched it again (I got the 4k Blu-ray version) and it still wows. Especially on an nice big OLED screen with some headphones on.

Asteroid City
That was one weird movie. I have no idea what it's about but, for some reason, I enjoyed watching it. The actors were great.

[Snowy]

Dune (2021)

Hadn't seen this before, but with it recently landing on Prime decided to give it a go... with a fair amount of reticence given the David Lynch abomination and it being based on one of my favourite books of all time.

But... have to say, they absolutely nailed it. It was with no small amount of joy it gradually dawned on me that they'd actually made not just a good Dune film but a goddamned excellent one. Couldn't fault it one bit... obviously elements were left out but that's to be expected with any adaptation, the important thing was they stayed true to the source material (looking at you, Witcher).

I believe the second part is due out pretty soon, feeling quite excited about it, may even go to the cinema on my todd to see it if I can't persuade the wife to come

Absolutely magnificent film. If you get stuck for company to watch the second part, tap me up mate.

[Sly Boots]

Haha, may well do!

[Animalmother]

The Ritual
Nicely made mid budget horror film about a group of mates that go hiking in a remote Swedish forest. They get lost and then the weird stuff starts happening. Brief glimpses of something in the trees and strange sounds for the most part, all a bit Blair Witch. It's a little slow going and they try to work around the smaller budget but definitely worth a look.

Spoiler

The creature looks amazing, very unique and very creepy. The upsidedown torso with hanging arms as it's head is inspired. Looks like it's mostly done with practical effects and the CGI is very good for what it is.

I only realized that Rafe Spall is Timothy Spall's son..

[Wrathbone]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Not bad, probably my least favourite of the three but still a decent character piece and better than most other MCU phase 4 films. The only thing I really didn't like was...

Spoiler

...what they did with Adam Warlock. There's almost no correllation with the comic version of the character, to the point where he comes across as a sulky child rather than one of the most powerful defenders of the cosmos.

Also I'm not sure why they bothered keeping his forehead gem when in the comics that's the soul infinity gem and is key to the Infinity Gauntlet / Infinity War saga that's obviously already played out in the MCU. I wonder if he was intended to be part of the Infinity War film at the time of GotG2, when he was revealed in a post-credits scene (or his cocoon, at least).

Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves
It's weird that I haven't seen this until now, but it's even weirder that there's a D&D film that is genuinely good! Loved every minute of it, even all the silly inside jokes and references. What impressed me most is that it captures the feel of a really great D&D game, with humour in the adventuring, lots of improvisation in the plans (which forms a core part of the story) and actual stakes for the characters which I cared about.

As for Hugh Grant, hamming it up as the charismatic but thoroughly awful villain, I think it might be the best performance he's ever given. Listening to him in the special features interviews, he clearly had no idea what on earth was going on most of the time but appears to have enjoyed himself thoroughly, and it comes across on screen. It does with all the cast - it feels like a true labour of love with everyone involved. I never thought we'd get a D&D film worthy of being recommended to non-D&D fans, yet here we are.

[Sly Boots]

Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves
It's weird that I haven't seen this until now, but it's even weirder that there's a D&D film that is genuinely good! Loved every minute of it, even all the silly inside jokes and references. What impressed me most is that it captures the feel of a really great D&D game, with humour in the adventuring, lots of improvisation in the plans (which forms a core part of the story) and actual stakes for the characters which I cared about.

Glad you enjoyed it Those were exactly my thoughts coming away from this one as well

[Lenny Solidus]

White Settlers aka Blood Lands

A completely mismatched couple decides to buy their dream home in Ireland and as such tales tend to go their dream turns into a wait for it - yes a nightmare. But trust me when I say I sat through the entirety of this fucking movie holding on for it to somehow justify itself. I don't really believe in only testing the water into a movie and dipping back out - I always do my best to push through anything in full to gain an overall opinion and I do have one on this. It's shite, it's that strange random white dog shite firmly settled at the bottom of your shoe on a short walk to the shop for milk. Amazon really does have an incredibly low bar when it comes to Prime movies.

0.5 out of 10

Triangle

I've always appreciated this movie, once it gets itself set into position just right it positively begs you the audience to start scribbling down mental notes and working out how things will eventually unfold. Some will no doubt put the movie down as being totally and inexplicably convoluted but I think it keeps things consistently intriguing and formed enough to keep you in the loop if you remain truly observant and ride along enjoying the overall experience.

8 out of 10

Rogue

Nope, not the Megan Fox version, the far superior Radha Mitchell version - with a fucking huge gator. I love these kinds of movies and the Director of this one also made my firm favourite Daniel Radcliffe movie in Jungle. Radha Mitchell is one of the most underrated absolutely brilliant actors of our time and she is amazing in this and fits perfectly into anything survival based, just the visual look of the movie is pretty unique (spot the real flies constantly annoying actors) and the gator itself is truly terrifying and incredibly well realised for the time this was made.

8 out of 10

[eny]

Dune (2021)

Hadn't seen this before, but with it recently landing on Prime decided to give it a go... with a fair amount of reticence given the David Lynch abomination and it being based on one of my favourite books of all time.

But... have to say, they absolutely nailed it. It was with no small amount of joy it gradually dawned on me that they'd actually made not just a good Dune film but a goddamned excellent one. Couldn't fault it one bit... obviously elements were left out but that's to be expected with any adaptation, the important thing was they stayed true to the source material (looking at you, Witcher).

I believe the second part is due out pretty soon, feeling quite excited about it, may even go to the cinema on my todd to see it if I can't persuade the wife to come

Just watched this myself for the first time...Wow! Exquisite and mesmerising both, outstanding.

[Wrathbone]

Cocaine Bear

A little disappointing. Very little happens in the first half and then it’s a bit more fun, but the problem is that the bear comes across as merely aggressive and violent, not a cocaine-fuelled rampage machine. Don’t get me wrong, it’s entertaining and there are body parts flying everywhere, it just felt a bit lacklustre at times. When you call your film Cocaine Bear, you have one job: deliver what it says on the tin.

6/10

[Alan]

Beau Is Afraid
I can’t decide if that was great or Ari Aster has crawled so far up his own ass that even he has no idea what he’s doing. I think it might be both.

It’s a surrealist black comedy I guess. It’s all over the place but it has some brilliant sequences and if you’re anything like us it’s also very funny! You will also say “fuckin’ whit?!” when the credits roll. Phoenix plays his niche of confused mumblecore loner perfectly as always. It’s also 3 hours long but I don’t actually begrudge it that because it’s kind of dense. There are 3 quite visually and atmospherically distinctive acts (could argue 4) that it could almost work as a mini series.

Honestly I don’t know what to say about it because I still don’t know what I think about it! I do think it’s worth watching if surrealist black comedy perks your ears up.

*shrug*