What was the last film you watched?

[T42]

Quai des Orfèvres, a Parisian krimi that came out in the year of my birth. Back then Parisians still spoke at 400 syllables/minute, about four times faster than the English - following it took a bit of an effort.  A grimy little story revolving around variety theatre, a rising star, a lascivious ancient and a jealous husband, with a phlegmatic cop slowly picking them all apart. Some bloody wonderful singing, but no decent views of Paris, which we were hoping for.

ETA: The name  of Peter Seller's Inspector Clouseau could well be a nod to Henri-Georges Clouzot, who screen-wrote, produced & directed this film.  And the theatre used in the film looks very like the favourite theatre of Louis Jouvet, the male lead. It's now named for him.

[ian]

Valerian and the whatever. Now that was a mess. Not sure why the leads where about ten years old and had all the acting ability of house bricks. It might have looked pretty on the big screen, but I only the benefits of a seat back screen.

The Dark Tower. I confess I never the books, so I mostly had no idea what was going on and it didn't really get around to telling me. I did sleep through the middle which didn't seem to cause any problems. Possibly I skipped some big exposé but I suspect not.

Alien: Covenant. Well, you know what I think, but for laughs. It's actually a movie that's worse the second time around, which I would have said previously wasn't possible. But it was. Mind you that little dancing alien that bursts out (if you remember those tedious dancing flowers, that's it) still raises a titter. I mean you went from the ultimate scary HR Giger xenomorphs in Alien to, erm, that. WTF.

The Hitman's Bodyguard. I quite enjoyed this. Samuel Jackson says 'motherfucker' a lot, and let's face, no one says 'motherfucker' quite as a well as SLJ.

[ElyDave]

Birdman, was on the beeb last night.  How that never won an Oscar I have no idea, what a great film.

[citoyen]

Sleepless In Seattle

I've never seen it before but Mark Kermode recommended it as his TV movie of the week last week so I recorded it. Proper Sunday afternoon kind of film. I like Tom Hanks. I like Meg Ryan. And it's a good script.

One problem.

It's a quirk of the Sony Pictures channel that they break their film broadcasts into two parts, with a five-minute news thing in between, so if you're recording a film to watch later, you have to make sure you record both parts...

Oh well, I have a hunch I can guess how it ends.

[Redlight]

Sleepless In Seattle
Oh well, I have a hunch I can guess how it ends.

He falls asleep.

[Jaded]

He gets an email.

Oh, on reflection, that might be a different film.

[citoyen]

He gets an email.

Oh, on reflection, that might be a different film.

That was on ITV yesterday afternoon. After watching the first half of one film, I could have changed channel and watched the second half of a different film with the same leads.

[ian]

Sleepless In Seattle
Oh well, I have a hunch I can guess how it ends.

He falls asleep.

Isn't that the one where Dustin Hoffman discovers a cure for insomnia?

[T42]

Been watching "Homeland" on Netflix. Claire Danes' mugging is ludicrous.

[menthel]

Lion. The wife was weeping, I mainly browsed the internet.

[T42]

It says a lot about sumfink or other that when you Google "lion" the first page & a bit of results are about the film, Nicole Kidman, films about adoption, you name it. Panthera leo isn't mentioned until halfway down the second page.

[IanDG]

Recently back from the 'Last Jedi'. Didn't make yesterday's 'first cinema opening in Stornoway on the Sabbath' - it was sold out by the time I realised it was happening 

[Feanor]

Down with that kind of thing!

[Jaded]

Recently back from the 'Last Jedi'. Didn't make yesterday's 'first cinema opening in Stornoway on the Sabbath' - it was sold out by the time I realised it was happening 

Bum. That’s a big fail 

[IanDG]

Recently back from the 'Last Jedi'. Didn't make yesterday's 'first cinema opening in Stornoway on the Sabbath' - it was sold out by the time I realised it was happening 

Bum. That’s a big fail 

Big fail - I could have worn my 'Atheist Army' T-shirt

[hillbilly]

Mountain

Documentary about being amongs mountains and the effect they have on humans. 

Despite the over reliance on tracking, aerial and time lapse shots, it was a very beautiful film.  Stunningly so in some parts.  The voiceover was a little earnest (to be expected given the words were written by the travel writer Robert MacFarlane, who has a very wordy style that I find overbearing) but the score was very well chosen.

[Jakob]

Mountain

Documentary about being amongs mountains and the effect they have on humans. 

Despite the over reliance on tracking, aerial and time lapse shots, it was a very beautiful film.  Stunningly so in some parts.  The voiceover was a little earnest (to be expected given the words were written by the travel writer Robert MacFarlane, who has a very wordy style that I find overbearing) but the score was very well chosen.

I shall have to watch that. Love being on the mountains and I would hate to move away from them.

[T42]

First episode of the latest Montalbano series.  It was like a cardboard replica of the earlier series: bloody awful direction, wooden acting, boring story about uninteresting people and terrible resolution, which at least had the merit of hiding the actors' wrinkles. I'm wondering if the missus got ripped off on Amazon. Bah.

[hillbilly]

Elle or as I will call it, 50 Nuances de Grey.  I suspect it is a male rape fantasy film, given the complicit overtures that run through the film.  Powerful central performance, but a vaguely uncomfortable watch.

Weiner Documentary about a politician who tries to rehabilitate himself after a scandal (sharing dirty pics) but his human weakness gets in the way.  An excellent human story, highly recommended.

I also watched a Fench film called “Metamorphoses”.  You can thank me for saving my you the bother, as it was pretty poor.  Basically Ovid’s tales in a modern setting.  Aimed for depth but I found it shallow.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Den of Thieves

It reminded me somewhat of 'Heat' besides which in every way except the shoot-outs it was a pallid imitation.  A pity because hiding inside it was a not unclever idea struggling to communicate.

[Jakob]

The Post, Steven Spielberg's film about the publishing of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 by the NY Times and the Washington Post. As the title suggests, most of the film revolves around the role played by the Washington Post and Katherine Graham.

Altho' in many ways it seemed as much about now than then.   An excellent film altho' I would also guess that an American would get more out of it than most Brits. 
Katherine Graham's rapid learning curve was very well portrayed, I thought.

While entertaining enough, I thought it felt rushed and overly targeted at the current US administration. Streep was borderline terrible and the fact that she got an oscar noms for this just undermines the Academy.
Unlike "All the Presidents Men", this movie will be culturally irrelevant in a couple of years.

[T42]

Seven Psychopaths.  Not bad at all.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

The Post, Steven Spielberg's film about the publishing of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 by the NY Times and the Washington Post. As the title suggests, most of the film revolves around the role played by the Washington Post and Katherine Graham.

Altho' in many ways it seemed as much about now than then.   An excellent film altho' I would also guess that an American would get more out of it than most Brits. 
Katherine Graham's rapid learning curve was very well portrayed, I thought.

While entertaining enough, I thought it felt rushed and overly targeted at the current US administration. Streep was borderline terrible and the fact that she got an oscar noms for this just undermines the Academy.
Unlike "All the Presidents Men", this movie will be culturally irrelevant in a couple of years.

The Post Is a Perfectly Timed, Crackling Newspaper Movie — and a Meryl Streep Showcase

It isn’t necessary to know the circumstances under which the new Steven Spielberg–Meryl Streep–Tom Hanks journalism drama The Post was produced, but it makes the movie seem more immediate — more of a muckraker, and even more fun. The film came together very fast, while Spielberg was basically sitting around ... He was no doubt feeling especially useless — as many of us were — watching the brand-new Trump administration reject the media’s demonstrably true facts in favor of so-called “alternative facts” prompted by the commander-in-chief’s Il Duce–like need to be venerated — and, later, far removed from “the Russia thing.”..


Nixon, [is] seen in silhouette in the window of the Oval Office railing on the phone at his subordinates. His words are vulgar, gangster-ish, too outlandish to be credible — and straight from the Nixon tapes. (That’s Nixon’s voice.)
The thought of what’s being said in the Oval Office at this very moment is enough to thank God — and Spielberg — for The Post.

Critix!  Waddatheykno? 

But yeah, hopefully it will have served its purpose .. when? Couldn't be soon enough.

[mattc]

Trump's only been in office a year - can Hollywood actually make a movie (from script-to-premiere) that quickly these days??

(I don't usually watch this sort of thing, but I've never *not* enjoyed a Hanks movie, so I'm sure I'll watch it one day )

[fuzzy]

Murder in the first, a film set in the late 30's about an inmate of Alcatraz and his trial for a prison murder. Looseley based on fact.

I enjoyed it. Kevin Bacon plays a good unhinged inmate. Gary Oldman at his bad guy bets. Christian Slater? Has been better. R Lee Ermey as a judge? How can he tell numbnuts to get their shit together if he is The Honorable.... ?