What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

The first Jackson trilogy was decent, not awesome, but at least I can watch them. The Hobbit series, those I care for a lot less. The first one was kind of ok, but the second and last…..no. Just no.

Talking of Stardust, which is quite good, I keep thinking of enchanted - an alternative approach to the evil witch

Maybe next year disenchanted will be released….

Originally Posted by Lemonhead
I somewhat remember Stardust being good but I can't seem to recall any other "recent" good fantasy movies.

Ad Astra: a very ambitious film. If you keep your expectations at bay, it is actually quite fun to watch.

Originally Posted by Philistine
So could you give a short list of films you would consider 10/10?

Hmmm, this whole "best ever" concept seems ill-fated to me.
I'm pretty much a Devourer of All Things Worthy (tm) -- and as such, my preferences vary wildly from time to time.

If I'm in the mood for some thrash, having fun with Rambo 3 is pretty OK, so I guess Rambo 3 is a "must watch" for thrash.
If I'm in a surreal mood, Holy Motors is great -- so I guess Holy Motors is a "must watch" for weird.
If I'm philosophical, Bergman's Seventh Seal is awesome -- so I guess the Seventh Seal is a "must watch" for intellectuals.
If I'm in the mood for …
… anyway, you get my gist.

TL;DR: I think there is no "ultimate" best stuff, but there are highlights of any given category you don't want to miss - if the category is of any interest to you.

Didn't really care for it - esp the part with pirates….

Originally Posted by duerer
Ad Astra: a very ambitious film. If you keep your expectations at bay, it is actually quite fun to watch.

Originally Posted by joxer
Joxers post about stuff

This isn’t a post about books but of course I’ve read the lord of the rings, 3 or 4 times and in 2 different languages. ��
The Hobbit films… yeah let’s not talk about those, they are best forgotten.
Pans Labyrinth was great ���� I saw it about 15 years ago and some scenes still haunt me.
Thanks for all the other tips I’ll check them out.

The fam and I just watched the critically panned, box-office failure known as Mortal Engines… and we all absolutely loved it. None of us have read the books, but the kids are now keen to.

Birds of Prey trailer review: NO!

Not Angry Birds ?

Saw Joker today and before Joker the trailer for Birds of Prey. For Joker - it might be a fantastic movie but it was absolutely zero fun. One of the recent batman (just before Ben's version) was very dark and gritty but redeeming at the end. Joker was like that but without anything to redeem it at the end. Just sour and biting.
-
Birds of Prey - not sure it will be much fun but maybe.

Originally Posted by you
Saw Joker today and before Joker the trailer for Birds of Prey. For Joker - it might be a fantastic movie but it was absolutely zero fun. One of the recent batman (just before Ben's version) was very dark and gritty but redeeming at the end. Joker was like that but without anything to redeem it at the end. Just sour and biting.

I'm not sure if a Joker film could ever have the concept of redeeming as an ending but otherwise I agree that it lacked fun.

Joker (2019) freshly back from the cinema having avoided pretty much all hype and discussion prior to seeing it.

This is a very well made movie. It oozes class and distinction in the film making craft. Having recently seen Taxi Driver for the first time (see above a page or two) TD was still very fresh in my memory and from a very early point in the film I started getting the impression that Joker was a clever modern remake of Taxi Driver. Then all of a sudden Robert De Niro pops up as a supporting cast actor. Then Joker's colleague at work is a spitter for De Niro's work colleague in Taxi Driver. Then Joker has a scene where he practices pointing his gun at people while at home.

And Joker doesn't really go beyond that. It stays a very low key, subdued realism piece that charts a man's decent into psychopathy. For a film about the Joker it surprisingly lacks either tension, humour or even that je ne sais quoi of the likable villain. Jack Nicholson, Mark Hammil and especially Heath Ledger were always going to be hard acts to follow and this interpretation of Joker doesn't bring any real sense of unabashed anarchy, it's more a case of success by mistake, Life of Brian style. No criminal masterminding on show here.

I can't fault anything about the film from a practical perspective and I enjoyed it while watching it, but when I left the cinema I found myself yawning all the way home. I guess that while the film's playing one is kept in anticipation for something exciting to happen, when it's over there's nothing left to surpass the primary emotion that was on display, sleepiness. Now off to watch youtubers talk about it. 3.5/5

I will be watching Joker when it arrives on Blu, so I have only seen the trailers, but those reminded me more of King of Comedy than Taxi Driver.

It could well also be taking stuff from King of Comedy, another Scorsese/De Niro movie, that would make sense, though I've never seen it so I couldn't say, but I'll take your word for it. The copying of Taxi Driver is very self evident, looking around it's been a very commonly noticed thing.

I don't know if it copies or not but did you expect the head shot ?

Originally Posted by lackblogger
It could well also be taking stuff from King of Comedy, another Scorsese/De Niro movie, that would make sense, though I've never seen it so I couldn't say, but I'll take your word for it. The copying of Taxi Driver is very self evident, looking around it's been a very commonly noticed thing.

Of course, I expected literally nothing else.

@you Um… spoiler tags?

Father wanted to rewatch Gladiator (2000) tonight (Russel Crow fan). I've seen this loads of times over the years. Man, that is such an all time classic. Someone asked me recently in this thread to name movies that get close to 10/10 and Gladiator is certainly up there in the running. Sure, it has it's flaws, but, wow, do they get overshadowed by the sum of the parts. To which the biggest of those parts are Joachim Phoenix's utterly reprehensible villain paired off against Russel Crow in top form, wonderfully supported by Oliver Reed's final performance. In fact the whole cast is perfect and it would be criminal to leave anyone out.

The weaker aspects come entirely from the script, which is mostly great but just occasionally a bit dumb or not-very-logical which briefly takes one out of it for a moment.

The effects and overall look and atmosphere stand up still to this day. I believe many of it's memes are also still en-vogue even to this day. 2.5 hours flashes by in what seems like an hour.

4.5/5

[I thought this was great serendipity what with Phoenix currently playing the Joker (which my dad had no knowledge of), so thought I'd share and remind everyone of Phoenix's villain legacy].

You've never seen a camera take a head shot before ? Hum guess you are spoiled.

Originally Posted by JDR13
@you Um… spoiler tags?

Originally Posted by you
You've never seen a camera take a head shot before ? Hum guess you are spoiled.

I thought you meant something else by "head shot".

Now THAT'S something I'm REALLY looking forward to : https://www.pixar.com/onward