The Last Film You Watched

[solotheatregoer]

Foe - worst film of the year for me. I know it sounds harsh but what a complete waste of two absolutely outstanding actors. I never thought a film that starred Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal would result in this mundane mess. A few good scenes from Mescal but overall this is slow, predictable and I really didn’t care for these characters at all.

[solotheatregoer]

Killers of the Flower Moon - another disappointment for me I'm afraid. A compelling story but presented very poorly. Unnecessarily long and drawn out scenes that added absolutely nothing to the narrative. I also felt the performances were very underwhelming. Overall, lacked substance and not worth the investment of 3.5 hours.

[showgirl]

I didn't fancy either of the above films, ie Foe and Killers (etc). I'm no particular fan of Paul Mescal (& Aftersun was not the way to impress me), whilst I loathe westerns and Leonardo di Caprio. Shame there's no way of avoiding the trailers, too!

[Marwood]

One film yesterday and two today, all at the BFI

Yesterday:

Run Lola Run must be best part of 25 years since I last saw it and to be honest, time hasn’t been kind to it, the use of music makes it seem like Tom Tykwer had watched Trainspotting far too many times and I didn’t think Franka Potente was that great a leading lady (what happened to her career?) Would probably be another 25 years before I give it another go. 6/10

Today:

The Thief of Bagdad: a precursor to the BFIs Powell & Pressburger season, I think I was probably in junior school the last time I saw it and while it might seem a bit clunky to people raised on similarly themed films from the 60s onwards, I thought it had a nice charm, with great performances from Sabu, Conrad Veidt and Rex Ingram in particular (at crying shame that the first two died so young) made it an enjoyable way to spend 100 minutes. 8/10

Donnie Darko: also 20 years or so since I saw this in a cinema and while it’s not as profound as it would like to think it is, a star making turn from Jake Gylenhaal with a solid supporting cast (I didn’t realise Seth Rogen is in it), along with a top notch soundtrack (although I’m not too keen on that cover of Mad World at the end makes it superior to the potboilers Hollywood studios released round the same time like The Butterfly Effect. 7/10

[justfran]

Not a brand new release but I recently watched Dream Horse - it was a premiere showing on channel 4 so I'm sure it will be on their app/online. A very enjoyable film based on the true story of a group of people in Wales who formed a syndicate to breed a race horse. Starring the ever-reliable Toni Collette and Damien Lewis. If you enjoyed Fisherman's Friends and Save the Cinema then this is for you

[mkb]

My recent trips to the cinema:

Nyad ****
Enjoyable and interesting biopic of Diana Nyad and her attempts at long-distance ocean swimming. Annette Bening as Nyad and Jodie Foster as her best "friend" and coach excel, but the lesbianism and language is toned down, presumably for international tv sales.

Golda ***
While Helen Mirren gives a highly watchable character performance, when you see clips of the real Golda Meir, Mirren isn't even close to capturing how the Israeli PM was able to play politics with the men. Interesting but you learn more from post-show Googling than from the movie itself.

Pain Hustlers ****
Well-told tale of how pharmaceuticals and doctors colluded to push extreme painkillers on patients who would not benefit, leading to addiction and fatal overdoses. Emily Blunt is on her usual good form, and Andy Garcia has fun as the slippery boss. Most people will be sniffy about this I suspect, but I was hooked and enjoyed the ride.

Cat Person *****
Marmite, but I loved it. Essentially starts as an old-fashioned rom-com, but wrapped in quirky stylisation, that then diverts on a subversive tangent. It taps into modern gender-politics anxieties superbly.

Killers of the Flower Moon ****
That's a generous four stars, because I wasn't bored and there's a lot to enjoy in the performances and drama. But 206 minutes with NO INTERVAL is cruel, and Scorsese singularly fails to convince that these characters could have got away with murder for so long, as indeed they did in real life. His job was to show how that was possible. He doesn't. The trusting wife stretches credulity too thinly.

Foe **
Painfully slow future science-fiction story involving AI. It's explained in opening text, so you know pretty much where this is headed, but it still takes nearly two hours to get there. Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan cannot rescue anything from the stilted dialogue where all characters speak cryptically at all times.

Last Night in Soho (in 35mm) *****
One of my favourite movies, so a chance to see it again on celluloid at the Curzon in the heart of Soho for a Hallowe'en midnight screening with an introduction from director Edgar Wright and other crew, was too good an opportunity to pass up. Probably even better on second viewing. Gorgeous visuals, fantastic soundtrack, and an homage to all those hip, female-led and Giallo-flavoured films of the 60s and 70s: what more could a film buff wish for?

Deep Fear *
There's no saving this low-budget B-movie about a woman caught in adversity diving off the West Indies. It's obviously Malta, not the Caribbean, the dialogue feels like it probably went through Google translate several times, and Romanian model Mãdãlina Ghenea, replete with unattractive artificially enhanced rubber lips, cannot act. Nor, on the evidence here, can out-of-favour Ed Westwick as her boyfriend on shore. I'd hoped this would be a cult so-bad-it's-good affair, but no.

Suitable Flesh **
There are moments that qualify for so-bad-it's-good, but not enough to recommend this camp, overwrought horror based on a H. P. Lovecraft story. There's sex aplenty, and Heather Graham commits so enthusiastically that gay icon status surely cannot be far away.

Bottoms ***
Not keen on the title; "Lesbian Fight Club" would have worked better. It's quirky and has several laugh-out-loud moments as it treads a line between pastiche comedy, horror and high-school coming-of-age drama.

The Killer ****
From David Fincher, the director of the original "Fight Club", this episodic tale of Michael Fassbender's unnamed killer grips from the get-go. Fincher settles for the simple-but-satisfying option of a voiceover to learn what goes on in the head of The Killer, and he's quite the philosopher. I was almost persuaded that, in life, empathy is to be avoided, and ruthless application to the job in hand is the better policy. And there's Tilda Swinton! Any film with Tilda is always a must-see, and while it's a cameo, she doesn't disappoint.

Doctor Jekyll ****
Glorious, camp, gothic horror from the newly reformed Hammer Studios. If Dr Jekyll can transmogrify into an evil alter ego in Robert Louis Stevenson's original novel, why not subvert the idea and have the character transformed genderwise too? Here Dr Nina Jekyll, transexual drugs pioneer, by puffing on a cigarette with green glow, can become Rachel Hyde, her vampish counterpart, despite the best efforts of Lindsay Duncan's watchful manager to keep Jekyll doped up and in check. Eddie Izzard as Jekyll/Hyde and Duncan have terrific fun hamming it up, and Scott Chambers as a hapless young criminal-trying-to-go-straight who wanders into proceedings is impressive and likeable. I laughed a lot -- I think this was intended -- and the ninety minutes flashed by. The admonition "Chester is not an abomination" in the end credits tickled me too, but you need to see the movie to understand. Ignore the naysayers on imdb. This is great stuff.

[Marwood]

Saw The Age Of Innocence at BFI Southbank this afternoon: probably the third or fourth time I’ve tried watching it but only the first time I’ve lasted until the end (and I was nodding off at least twice while it was playing): sorry but I just found the whole thing dull as dishwater (not helped by an ending that seemed to have been cobbled on with some diabolical aging makeup used on Day-Lewis): I won’t make out I’m a philistine who only likes Scorcese films if they have a mob plot,industrial strength swearing and some of the old ultra violence as I liked The Last Temptation of Christ but I think this is the film of his I’ve enjoyed the least: I’ll be generous and give it 5 out of 10

[showgirl]

Bottoms: as mkb says, this is hilarious in places though an odd mix of genres and the funniest scenes were those at which I felt I should be laughing least. If I thought in such terms I'd say it was a guilty pleasure but as the film is sending up so many things, albeit in an exaggerated way, maybe it's just how it achieves its aims.

[alece10]

I'm 22 years late in seeing this film but last night I watched Zoolander. Maybe the film was of its time but I just didn't find it funny.
Was it meant to be?

[Jon]

BlackBerry was a delight, I'm a sucker for business biopics but it's a great retelling of the rise and fall of Research in Motion/BlackBerry.

[mkb]

Dance First ****

That's the title being marketed, but the film opens with the title-card "Dance First: a life of Samuel Beckett" and closes with title-card "Dance First, Think Later" (which comes from Waiting for Godot), so take your pick as to what to call it.

Writer Neil Forsyth has managed to expertly craft a biopic of the Irish 1969 Nobel Prizewinner for Literature in a style reminiscent of the man himself: joy is largely excised, characters never quite manage to fully express themselves, questions go half-answered, and there are frequent longueurs where we are left to wonder what is being thought. The struggle for a sense of direction or purpose is never resolved.

Beckett's life story is illustrated, rather than told, through a series of chapters focussing on key relationships starting with his mother. The whole is framed and punctuated by Beckett in discourse with himself as he tears his soul apart with evident self-loathing.

That all sounds rather bleak, but it's actually a pleasant and fascinating wallow that should appeal to TheatreBoard members given the subject matter. There is some beautiful acting, especially from Gabriel Byrne as the older Beckett and Sandrine Bonnaire as his soul-mate and wife. The cinematography, in black and white apart from the final couple of chapters, is evocative and moody, and there's a likeable and fitting score with some upbeat jazz thrown in for good measure.

[jek]

Have now got round to watching Nyad, now that it is on Netflix. It's very much geared to my demographic (60 year old women who have grown up/ old alongside Annette Bening and Jodie Foster) and I very much enjoyed it. I am now slightly troubled that I don't have a magnificent obsession to take me through my sixties! Mind you my 24 year old son did rather break the mood by pointing out to his dad and I that we are both exhausted after a bit of gardening so maybe a physical challenge isn't the way to go. But seriously, I think the directors (whose Free Solo documentary was magnificent) have done a good job with this. It probably would have been even better on the big screen but it wasn't being shown anywhere local to us. It's certainly worth a watch.

[mkb]

Fingernails ***

A curious and underrated affair, that reminded me of Constellations in the way it uses an artifice as a means to deconstruct love. Rather than parallel realities, we have here a contemporary alternative reality in which true love can be ascertained by analsyis of fingernails. There is an extreme metaphor played out in the way couples have to submit to this testing, and this is also curiously a world where computer screens are old-fashioned cathode-ray tubes and mobile phones do not appear.

If you can accept the premise -- and it seems from reviews many cannot -- writer/director Christos Nikou has playful fun exploring the human need to have love validated and reciprocated. Notwithstanding some slightly dodgy accents, there are fine performances from the love triangle played out by Jessie Buckley, Jeremy Allen White and Riz Ahmed.

The pacing is slow, so definitely for the thoughtful crowd and not adrenaline junkies.  Not quite four-star, but definitely three-star-plus.

[mkb]

The Royal Hotel ****

Very enjoyable Australian Outback tale. Always stays the right side of plausibility when it could so easily have descended into typical movie melodrama/horror. The atmosphere is brooding and intense as two young women from overseas take a bar job at a remote small town warned that they need to be able to handle attention from men from the local mine. While a slow burn, the pressure and claustropobia is palpable, thanks in no small part to the very believable performances of leads Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick and a very sure hand on the helm in director/co-writer Kitty Green.

I learnt afterwards that the film is inspired by true life as highlighed in the documentary Hotel Coolgardie. While The Royal Hotel relies greatly on the age-old, damsels-in-distress trope, it manages to do so without alientating feminist critics. Women of a nervous disposition should probably avoid though.

[amyja89]

What I watched this week! ...

How To Have Sex (2023) - ****
A stark and sadly too familiar representation of a girls' holiday gone wrong. Three teen mates travel abroad for a party week, and we follow them on their ups and downs as they navigate the relatively new world of sexuality and consent. Pretty depressing that my friends and I all found something to relate to here.

NYAD (2023) - ****
Loved this! Jodie Foster is an all time favourite and her lesbian bestie double act with the sensational Annette Bening gave me everything I needed! A few of the stylistic choices during the crossing attempts (hallucinations etc.) felt a bit out of place with the rest of the vibe, but this kind of sporting triumph against the odds story is going to win me over every single time.

Times Square (1980) - ***1/2
No thoughts, just major vibes! This story of teen runaways in New York is delightfully messy and insane, but the tone of the movie feels true to the period.

One Hour Photo (2002) - ***
Robin Williams was one of the few comic performers who you could always trust in a serious role too. He's effortlessly creepy in this story of supermarket photo print developer who becomes obsessed with a particular family.

Bright Lights, Big City (1988) - **
This one didn't do it for me at all. I didn't believe Michael J. Fox as a yuppy New York drug addict for a single second, and with the exception of a very touching scene with his ailing mother played by Diane Weist, there isn't much to be impressed or moved by.

[danb]

I finally remembered to watch ‘Freaky’ the other day. It’s a serial killer body swap horror comedy, written by Christopher Landon who will be making ‘Scream 7’. I love the Scream films (except 3). If you’ve seen ‘Happy Death Day’ & ‘Happy Death Day 2U’ (his other films) you’ll know what the vibe is. I’m hoping he reigns in the comedy element a bit though as I like my horror to take itself seriously.

[Marwood]

Saw The Marvels tonight: best thing I can say about it was that it lasts less than two hours (unlike every other Marvel film I can remember seeing) but good Lord it was dreadful, I don’t know what it is supposed to bring to the big jigsaw of Marvel films (as far as I could see it offers nothing that connects it to the last half a dozen or so of their films), but I don’t know what was worse: the ‘musical’ section (Sondheim can rest easy going by what was served up), the abundance of kittens or the dreadful Ms. Marvel momma who soon outlived her not so hilarious welcome, and that’s just for starters. I have no idea what film they have lined up next (sure there will be about ten of them) but that’s me done with this.

[jek]

Enjoyed Anatomy of a Fall today but boy is it long! It's two and a half hours and demands proper concentration from the viewer. Much more of it was in English than I expected but I was glad that years of watching Spiral had given me a working knowledge of the French judicial system! I think you could tell it was gripping because, despite it's length, there weren't many people popping out for toilet trips (though the queues at the end were pretty long - and the Barbican isn't short on toilets). I'd certainly recommend it and it was good to see Sandra Huller in such a meaty role (I loved her in Toni Erdmann). Choose a cinema with comfy seats would be my advice.

[showgirl]

Had already booked to see this but no choice about venue, let alone seating as I needed it to fit in before a matinee & with time to travel between cinema & theatre, so I hope I can hold out for the comfort break as Curzon Camden (one I'd normally avoid) doesn't even have toilets in/near its auditoria but in a separate part of the building, so you have to go outside & back in. Stupid & inconvenient design, especially for a long film, but I'm sure it'll be worth it.

[mkb]

Typist Artist Pirate King ****

My interest was piqued by the presence of Monica Dolan starring as little-known Sunderland artist Audrey Amiss, and I am so glad it was. Always impressive on stage, Dolan gives an awards-worthy performance capturing perfectly the manner of North-Eastern women -- I have several in my family -- albeit here affected by years of mental illness.

Writer/director Carol Morley chooses to showcase Amiss's life as an imagined road movie with her psychiatric nurse (enigmatically and touchingly played by Kelly Macdonald). It's Thelma and Louise on Mogadon.

Along the way, the duo pass through stunning English landscapes -- annoyingly featured out of logical geographical sequence and rendered less than ideally in the narrow aspect ratio -- encountering an eclectic mix of peoples. The style is deliberately surreal but also gentle. Amiss suffers from Fregoli Syndrome where she believes strangers are familiar characters from her memories, and this enables aspects of her history to be revealed. The ever-reliable Gina McKee appears late on.

Amiss's art punctuates scenes and the end-credits sequence. It ranges from genuine talent and style to latter-day scrawls that scream of the confusion in Amiss's mind.  (She died in 2013 at the age of 79.)

It's a fascinating, slow-paced amble, well worth checking out, particularly for Dolan's performance.

[mkb]

How to Have Sex ***

After the first half hour, I was set to dismiss as dull this story of three girls on holiday in Greece celebrating the end of their GCSE exams, but there are qualities to commend and it picks up.

Firstly, the performances are so good that it feels like one of those Channel 5, "Club 18-30", teensploitation "documentaries". I couldn't help wondering if the cast really were hammered in some scenes.

Secondly, the story of what happens to Tara is believable and is told in a non-judgemental way that provides useful insight for realistic discussions of how, and more importantly how not, to allow yourself to cede control during a sexual encounter. It lays bare what everyone knows: in the real world, "consent" is not the black-and-white issue that legislators would have you believe; it's a psychological minefield in fact.

My problem was that the three girls have nothing about them. All they seem to care about is the superficial: their make-up, their hair, their clothes, how much they can drink, who they can pull. These are not interesting people for the viewer. There is a hint that one of the lads from a nearby apartment may develop into a more complex character, but even that fell flaccid and we never get to fully know him.

This is a squandered opportunity for a character-driven narrative that could have been so much more.

[jek]

Went to a free preview last night at our local Picturehouse for May December. By the standards of most of the previews I have seen here it was pretty busy - over half full I'd say. So Todd Haynes clearly has his followers. I went having enjoyed Far From Heaven, Carol and Wonderstruck but not having seen anything else by him. Well May December is up there with the least enjoyable films I have seen all year. I found it very boring and it wasn't helped that the main characters were so dislikable. At one point the woman in front of me got her phone out and I was disappointed when I saw from the time lighting up that we were only half way through. I'm sure that many other people will love this - the reviews certainly suggest that. But it certainly wasn't for me or my husband. Did enjoy seeing a trailer for the Kaurismaki film Fallen Leaves starring Alma Poysti who lit up the screen in the biopic of Tove Jansson of Moomin fame. Only a couple of weeks until that is out.

[mkb]

Pleased to see that Odeon appear to have resolved their dispute with Warner Brothers, and Saltburn has been reinstated yesterday into the coming week's schedules, having first been published without it, and after having cancelled preview screenings last week.

[Jon]

Nov 16, 2023 14:18:22 GMT mkb said:

Pleased to see that Odeon appear to have resolved their dispute with Warner Brothers, and Saltburn has been reinstated yesterday into the coming week's schedules, having first been published without it, and after having cancelled preview screenings last week.

I suspected the dispute would be temporary as they was no way they'd want to lose out on not showing Wonka in December. 

[amyja89]

What I watched this week! ...

Anatomy Of A Fall (2023) - ****1/2
Almost perfect in my opinion, a brilliantly tense court room drama that also serves as an exploration of how obscure marriages can be to everyone on the outside of them. A tad too long in the middle perhaps, but otherwise fantastic. Hopefully some Oscar recognition to come? Also worth noting the absolute Daniel Day-Lewis of canine performances!

Reflections In A Golden Eye (1967) - ****
I love it when I come across these types of movies that bridge the gap between the old and the modern. A drama set on a military base in the American south, an exporation of repressed and overt sexuality on both ends of the spectrum. I don’t think Elizabeth Taylor gets enough credit for some of the wild choices she made in her career. It would have been so easy for her to just stick to the boring but beautiful stuff.

The Marvels (2023) - ***1/2
This has received a lot of criticism from the so called Marvel fanboys, but I had a good time! I’ve seen all of the Marvel theatrical releases but have no knowledge of the extra carricular TV stuff, so some of this didn’t feel quite as fleshed out as it was supposed to be personally, but I there was enough fun to keep me entertained, including a very fun sequence set to Barbra Streisand’s Memory!

Saltburn (2023) - ***
A theme is starting to emerge with Emerald Fennell, and it's very much style over substance. Promising Young Woman fell down for me in the final act, being essentially a f*** the police movie that then allows the police to save the day (ish). Saltburn is a filled with the kind of unhinged, gothically quirky performances that I love (Rosamund Pike is brilliant), but ultimately is feels like it doesn't really amount to much? A hell of a lot of f***ed up sh*t happens for you to leave the cinema feeling kind of empty and meh, so there has to be something that isn't quite working.