What was the last film you watched?

[Kim]

The entire plot (such as there is one) is based on people making terrible decisions about the expenditure of limited resources based on a personal grudge.  Which is kind of the whole point in the Mad Max franchise.

[citoyen]

Started watching Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes to while away a Sunday afternoon. Gave up after half an hour because it was so dull.

To quote someone elsewhere: "It's hard to become emotionally invested in CGI chimps speaking in platitudes."

[Riggers]

SPECTRE. Enjoyed it. Saw it at a reasonably small cinema, and near the front. Consequently, had to do a bit of looking left & right at the screen. Laughed at the so over-the-top product placement for Omega and, thank goodness – what a terrific shot he is from a moving boat at another moving object!

"We now know what 'C' stands for." Quite a few chortles/snorts from the audience.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Burnt.

A succulent visual composition of delight.  A U.S. take on Fawlty Towers without the laughs.  Quite good.

[Jakob]

Fast & Furious 6.

Given what it was, I have mixed feelings about this one. Cheesy (in a good way) dialogue and characters, great action/fight sequences, but an enormous amount of 'innocents' killed (by the bad guys of course) very very casually and mostly unmotivated and nobody seems to care?

[Andrij]

Hogfather

Yes, I know it's not really the season for it, but spotted the film on a website and thought I'd watch while I still could.  It's been ages since I read the book so can't make a comparison, but I thought it was good entertainment.  I know others have been made, both animated and live action, but disappointed recurring characters aren't played by the same people.

I've never been able to settle on a favourite Discworld character.  Death, or Lord Vetinari?  But having watched Hogfather, I think I'm in love with Susan.   

[L CC]

Brooklyn

Meh.

[Kim]

I've never been able to settle on a favourite Discworld character.  Death, or Lord Vetinari?  But having watched Hogfather, I think I'm in love with Susan.   

Well duh...

[Andrew]

Red Dragon - I was disappointed.

I guess it worked as a very linear narrative, generic box office, suspense thriller kind of a movie but it wasn't even the sum of it's part for me. Good source material, healthy budget, fine cast... all added up to 'ordinary'. I like Ed Norton as a rule but I felt he was poor, and maybe miscast, here. Ditto Ralph Fiennes but less so - his role offered so much scope but he just was not in the least threatening. It felt like the whole thing was smoothed out, no deep dark crevices explored, just for the sake of producing another movie in the Hannibal Lecter sequence. Shame. I'm trusting that Man Hunter will deliver where Red Dragon failed. Fingers crossed.

[fuzzy]

Stand Up Guys. Pacino, Walken and Arkin.

(click to show/hide)

Pacino is a mobster released after serving 28 years for a crime during which a co conspirator is shot by him in crossfire. Old buddy and running mate Walken picks him up form the gates. It transpires that Walken is only still alive because the father of Pacinos' victim- the head honcho 'Clap hands' (Hector from breaking bad I think) wants him to kill Pacino for shooting his only son. Pacino and Walken set about making up for his lost time and partying before the end.

My favorite quote?

Pacino 'So what'll it be, chew gum or kick ass?'
Walken 'I'm all out of gum'

An enjoyable yarn. (Though Mrs F thought otherwise).

[Jakob]

Straight Out of Compton

Pretty decent. Misses out on the East coast rivalry and can't help thinking that a straight up documentary would have been better (Like the Public Enemy one)

[Jakob]

The Wolf Soldier

Put it on as background noise whilst working. Very clearly a PLA propaganda movie, although it kinda misses the point when it takes  whole army to defeat a small group of (western) mercenaries....and they only just barely manages to do so and only due to a super human like effort from our hero.

[hillbilly]

Diary of a Teenage Girl

Coming of age film told from perspective of 15 year old young woman, which captures the insecurities, hormonal challenges and thrill of being a teenager who realises there is this thing called sex that adults do and can be jolly good fun.  Has some uncomfortable subject matter, but handled well.  A good film worth catching.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Spectre.

OK. It is what it was.

[Kim]

Ishaare

A documentary about how signing deaf and deafblind people in Mumbai communicate with hearing people using gesture.  So many fascinating cultural differences.

You can watch the whole thing here:  https://vimeo.com/user14202278/review/142068786/9dd1530f0b

(Primarily in Indian Sign Language, with subtitles throughout.)

[Andrew]

Thanks for the  pointer Kim. I've an interest in sign and gesture so have downloaded it for later watching.

(BTW, I assume you meant 'signing'  rather than "singing" - though the typo did give me a smile!)

[Kim]

BTW, I assume you meant 'signing'  than "singing" - though the typo did give me a smile!

Ah yes.  Those singing dead people...

Fixed.

[spindrift]

Burnt.

A succulent visual composition of delight.  A U.S. take on Fawlty Towers without the laughs.  Quite good.

It's completely bombed at the box office, along with Sandra Bullock's political satire.

[tiermat]

A twofer, last night.

First up The Brass Teapot the film equivalent of lift music. You recognise it as a film whilst watching it but 15 minutes later you have forgotten all about it.

Next up was The Hunger Games: Catching Fire this I enjoyed but now really need to see part 3!

[T42]

Continuing a dive into the seamier recesses of better-forgottenness, the 1968 film of Dennis Wheatley's 1934 novel The Devil Rides Out.  Terrible direction, makeup laid on with an icing bag, everyone concerned obviously laughing their legs off or embarrassed as hell but the cars are beautiful.

Takes real stamina to watch all the way through, though.

[Andrew]

Manhunter - interesting and not what I was expecting. Departed from the book, most notably the end. I can see it becoming a cult classic, if it's not already one. Not what I'd call a complete movie but it has a certain something. Synth soundtrack dates it instantly. 60s acid rock (where was the lava lamp?) during the climax assures it cult allure. Hopkins' performances defined what we now accept as Lecter, no criticism of Brian Cox's performance but it does not have the monster behind the mask in quite the same way.

In fairness, this film is centered on Will Graham - the "man hunter" of the title. It's not about the baddie. The film is nuanced accordingly. Fans of the TV series Hannibal will see how Petersen's performance here influenced Hugh Dancy, even down to the eye blinks, twitches and frowns.

And whilst on the subject of names,  my big question - Molly's son is Willy in the book, Josh in Red Dragon, Walter in the TV series Hannibal and Kevin (Kevin?!!) here. Go figure.

[Andrew]

re Red Dragon/Manhunter/Hannibal - I've enjoyed my little drill down diversion into this pool. When you get to know a plot so well, even remembering specific lines of text/dialogue, it frees you somewhat  to look at other areas. The 'compare and contrast'  exercise has been engaging; to see how different people interpret the novel and the characters etc, see what is left out or added, what is emphasised or played down - to see how all of that alters the overall feel. I'm going to continue on my journey with Lecter (or Lektar) but I'd like to do the same again within another pool.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Fury
The tank movie. Not a happy film but pretty good; I don't think it glosses over anything and doesn't try to paint pretty pictures. Don't watch if you are squeamish.

[Basil]

The Lady in the Van.

Not bad.  They've done a reasonably good job, but I much preferred the stage version. ¹
Dame Maggie was of course wonderful.  It must have been a relief for her to step away from the danger of being type cast in her later career as an upper class dragon.
Frances de la Tour, who I used to fancy years ago in an odd sort of way, just looked, erm, odd.

¹I'd be interested to know what anyone who has never seen the original stage version thinks of this film.

[ian]

Mad Max. Well, more Mad Maxine tbh. Made about as much sense as the original, when faced with a world without oil what do you do? Pimp up some muscle cars that do about four miles to the gallon, that's what. Entertainingly nonsensical, and Charlize is the best one in it. Max was a bit meh. Seems to love face masks though.

Spectre, finally. Quite liked it, it went back to Bond-roots, gadgets, predicaments, nefarious villain happy to invite Bond around to his pad to discuss his suitable nefarious plans in some detail, and some gentle self-mocking. Frankly, Bond films were never that great and god knows, do we need more gritty Bourne-style adventures where Daniel Craig wanders around looking intense and trying to find his personality.