What was the last film you watched?

[citoyen]

It is a film that requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief. See also:

(click to show/hide)

The 'nice' soldier letting them go and rescue kebab girl rather than forcing them to get straight on the chopper. Also kebab girl's block leaning conveniently against the neighbouring block rather than collapsing.

Just to change tack completely, I'm v.excited to have booked tickets to see Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri on Friday - a new Martin McDonagh film starring Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson. That's already ticking a lot of boxes before even sitting down to watch it. Hope it lives up to expectations - early reviews are promising.

[T42]

Just to change tack completely, I'm v.excited to have booked tickets to see Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri on Friday - a new Martin McDonagh film starring Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson. That's already ticking a lot of boxes before even sitting down to watch it. Hope it lives up to expectations - early reviews are promising.

I just watched the trailer - Frances McD. is great, but at one point she looks like Christopher Walken.

[citoyen]

at one point she looks like Christopher Walken.

Is this a bad thing?

[LEE]

Son of Saul

A Hungarian Jew, working in the Gas Chambers of a Concentration Camp, trying to perform a simple act of humanity in a place devoid of any.

It's an incredible film but be prepared for a draining experience.

It's filmed almost entirely as a closeup of Saul, so you can just catch glimpses of the day-to-day horror taking place around him.

[spindrift]

In Liam Neeson's The Commuter a bloke on the train pointing to an empty seat next to Neeson says "Is this taken?" "Pretty much," Neeson says. "But it pays the bills."

(Ian Hyland)

[Wascally Weasel]

In Liam Neeson's The Commuter a bloke on the train pointing to an empty seat next to Neeson says "Is this taken?" "Pretty much," Neeson says. "But it pays the bills."

(Ian Hyland)

Superb.  I'm going to be telling that joke non-stop.

[mattc]

In Liam Neeson's The Commuter a bloke on the train pointing to an empty seat next to Neeson says "Is this taken?" "Pretty much," Neeson says. "But it pays the bills."

(Ian Hyland)

Superb.  I'm going to be telling that joke non-stop.

I like what you did there.


(I haven't actually seen ANY Liam Neeson action movies - except the Star wars one? - but I hear so much about them, and of course you can't avoid the trailers; he seems to have become an industry joke. )

[mrcharly-YHT]

In Liam Neeson's The Commuter a bloke on the train pointing to an empty seat next to Neeson says "Is this taken?" "Pretty much," Neeson says. "But it pays the bills."

(Ian Hyland)

Superb.  I'm going to be telling that joke non-stop.

I like what you did there.


(I haven't actually seen ANY Liam Neeson action movies - except the Star wars one? - but I hear so much about them, and of course you can't avoid the trailers; he seems to have become an industry joke. )

'Taken' isn't a bad film. If only it had stopped there.
There was a sequel. Then "lets make more films with basically the identical character". He was just yawning 'Taken' in front of the camera for the paycheck.
That is what created the industry joke.

[citoyen]

To be fair, Neeson himself isn't to blame for Hollywood's lack of imagination. And if I were in his position, I would have no qualms about taking their money for old rope.

The original Taken is really good. Totally preposterous but highly enjoyable. I've never felt any inclination to watch the sequels (or any of the generic Taken-alike Neeson vehicles).

[ian]

I confess I like them all. Liam is probably not a man to pick a fight with. He's wiped out the entire Albanian criminal community. I suspect his latest commute doesn't involve a signal failure outside East Croydon and a group of kids listening to grime on their phones without bloody headphones. Yes, that would be a fine use for Liam's very particular skills.

The thing I really like is that he knows he's just keeping the swimming pool hot and avgas in the helicopter. I think when he was interviewed for Taken 3 he commented along the lines of 'Once is terrible, twice awful, but losing your family for a third time is just bad parenting,' or words to that effect.

(I think he had a ten movie deal or somesuch with Canal to make all these action movies.)

[T42]

at one point she looks like Christopher Walken.

Is this a bad thing?

Couldn't say. Maybe we could ask Walken.

[mattc]

I confess I like them all. Liam is probably not a man to pick a fight with. He's wiped out the entire Albanian criminal community. I suspect his latest commute doesn't involve a signal failure outside East Croydon and a group of kids listening to grime on their phones without bloody headphones. Yes, that would be a fine use for Liam's very particular skills.

The thing I really like is that he knows he's just keeping the swimming pool hot and avgas in the helicopter. I think when he was interviewed for Taken 3 he commented along the lines of 'Once is terrible, twice awful, but losing your family for a third time is just bad parenting,' or words to that effect.

(I think he had a ten movie deal or somesuch with Canal to make all these action movies.)

I'm sure you're right. He's on about $2million per movie for these things - that must keep your pool hot for a loooong retirement...

[spindrift]

I confess I like them all.

When Maggie Grace is threatened with kidnap in Istanbul her old man tells her to lob hand grenades into the street so he can locate her with his specially-trained ears. "THE AMERICAN IS SAFE!" Neeson yelled as he stepped over the bodies of the Turks blown up by his daughter.

[ian]

To be fair, as it's a mostly French production, I think they may be taking the piss somewhat.

[T42]

Amazing how easy it is.

[Wascally Weasel]

To be fair, as it's a mostly French production, I think they may be taking the piss somewhat.

The first one (as well as being a cracking action film) is a wonderful parody of Hollywood action films.

[citoyen]

Just to change tack completely, I'm v.excited to have booked tickets to see Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri on Friday - a new Martin McDonagh film starring Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson. That's already ticking a lot of boxes before even sitting down to watch it. Hope it lives up to expectations - early reviews are promising.

It's good. Very good. There are a few plot twists that made my heart sink, but they turned out to be false leads, so I think that's OK, but I'm not entirely sure. There are also a few plot twists that completely blindside you in a good way, and it's satisfying that some of the characters turn out to be a lot more complex than they initially appear to be. Although not necessarily in a good way. Basically, there are a lot of plot twists.

Superb script, lots of brilliant lines - albeit not quite in the same instantly quotable way as In Bruges. I particularly liked the way that a great deal of scene-setting is achieved in the first five minutes without resorting to Basil Exposition. A less skilled dramatist might resort to overuse of flashback to tell a story like this, but here there's only one short flashback scene, which comes about halfway through, and it's literally breathtaking. I can't say any more than that without spoilers so I won't. One thing I will say is that based on the evidence of the film, I'm guessing Martin McDonagh doesn't have a very high opinion of dentists.

Some unevenness and inconsistencies - I do like bit of tonal dissonance but I don't feel it always worked in this. For example, there's a nice bit of diegetic Abba, but it's used for a cheap laugh and is, I feel, the wrong choice for that particular moment. In Bruges uses the same dissonance technique (eg "the alcoves in the Koningin Astrid park") but does it seamlessly. It's definitely not seamless here. (see: Mood Whiplash)

Lots of absolutely fantastic moments too though, some real belly laughs and some bits that may well have you in tears. Frances McDormand is superb. As is Sam Rockwell. Those two performances really lift the film to a higher level overall than it might have achieved otherwise. Generally excellent acting all round, tbh.

Also a superb soundtrack - excellent song choices and lovely original music too.

[LEE]

Liam Neeson went up so high in my estimation for this self-parody...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2USXEJuvXT4

[T42]

Mudbound on NF.  Mississippi, mud, racial hatred, mud, farming, mud, WW2, mud, brotherly strife, mud, rain, mud, KKK, mud. Good but somewhat predictable and depressing. With added mud.

[Pickled Onion]

The Ottoman Lieutenant

Don't be fooled by the high imdb rating, like I was, this is a pile of shite. God knows why Sir Ben agreed to do it, though to be fair he didn't put any effort into it, and neither did the other actors.

[mrcharly-YHT]

La la land

That's 2 hrs of my life I won't get back

Great cinematography. Perfect lighting.

Utterly boring scenes. Boring story. Boring characters. Couldn't care less for any of them.
The fabled starting sequence is tedious. Boring dance sequence. Go watch something like Hello Dolly to see it done well. A good dance sequence tells a story.
I like musicals. This one was tedious.

Can't believe people thought this was an oscar-winner. Manchester by the sea, Moonlight; those are great films. La La Land is tedious.

[hillbilly]

Three Billboards  Nothing much to add to what Citoyen said. Very good film.

[Jaded]

Baby Driver

I quite enjoyed this - interesting premise, but got a bit laboured towards the end with the Terminator-like villain.

[Wascally Weasel]

Three Billboards  Nothing much to add to what Citoyen said. Very good film.

Not much to add from here either - very much enjoyed it. I had less of an issue with the ABBA inclusion.

Been really looking forward to this as I'm a big fan of the writer/director's previous films (and for the ones his brother has made - at least one of which he worked on).

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

The Darkest Hour

Hmmm..  Underpinned by a bit of historical truth, mixed with dubious cliches and stereotypes and thoroughly undermined appropriately enough by the completely bogus episode on the underground.  The only good bit was that Clementine Churchill was given the credit she almost certainly deserves for stopping the undoubtedly Great Briton from going off the rails.  I'd love to see a film that included the sinister and mysterious Brendan Bracken, con man, minister of information and founder of the Financial Times.  His other much overlooked prop, Alan Brooke, came to the rescue later and thus is quite rightly ignored here.   The camera work and period atmosphere was excellent, helped by the authentically preserved war rooms.