What was the last film you watched?

[Hot Flatus]

Saltburn

Good family viewing 

[andrewc]

Angelheart.  Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro , Lisa Bonet & Charlotte Rampling in a horror mystery directed by Alan Parker.


I saw this on first release back in 1987 & hadn't seen it since.   Excellent performances & photography.  1950's New York in freezing slush to steamy New Orleans.


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092563/reviews?ref_=tt_urv

[SpaceBadger]

It’s a Wonderful Life.

I finally ticked this one off my list earlier today.

[Hot Flatus]

Saltburn

Cracking good fun. A lot of it is quite predictable (I saw the ending coming a mile off*) and some of the plot details don't bear close scrutiny, but it's all very well put together, looks and sounds gorgeous (great sets, great costumes, great soundtrack), laugh-out-loud funny in places, and Rosamund Pike and Richard E Grant are superb. So is Barry Keoghan, of course.

*as Peter Bradshaw put it:

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a broadly guessable twist which relies on there being an absence of anyone in or out of authority showing a normal level of curiosity

I really enjoyed it.

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Very Talented Mr Ripley, though, which after the trip to Prescot you could see coming.

The grave shagging was a new one though.

[Jaded]

Saltburn

Good family viewing 

Ah. That’s got our neighbour in it. Must watch. Tata.

[Hot Flatus]

Saltburn

Good family viewing 

Ah. That’s got our neighbour in it. Must watch. Tata.

Well I don't know who that would be, but Richard lives  in Avening

[Jaded]

Saltburn

Good family viewing 

Ah. That’s got our neighbour in it. Must watch. Tata.

Well I don't know who that would be, but Richard lives  in Avening

Yes, so your neighbour too 

[Hot Flatus]

More yours than mine.

And Eddie the Eagle has moved from the house round the back of mine so I'm no longer famous.

[Pickled Onion]

I've just cancelled my Cinema Paradiso subscription. Not their fault, but the Royal Mail rises (and poor service) over the last year have made it unviable (plus the fact I'm away a lot these days).

I've watched lots of fantastic films that are pretty well unavailable anywhere else, eg the full works of Sergei Loznitsa, etc. but I guess from now on I'll have to put up with the selections on streaming.

[citoyen]

Wonka

Surprisingly enjoyable. Strong hints of Jeunet et Caro in the styling but very much aimed at a younger audience.

Timothée Chalamet is good but Hugh Grant totally steals the show as the Oompa Loompa.

I liked the songs too.

[citoyen]

Angelheart.  Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro , Lisa Bonet & Charlotte Rampling in a horror mystery directed by Alan Parker.


I saw this on first release back in 1987 & hadn't seen it since.   Excellent performances & photography.  1950's New York in freezing slush to steamy New Orleans.


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092563/reviews?ref_=tt_urv

My abiding memory of that film is Lisa Bonet and the chicken.

[citoyen]

I really enjoyed it.

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Very Talented Mr Ripley, though, which after the trip to Prescot you could see coming.

The grave shagging was a new one though.

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It was the novel approach to cleaning a bath that had the highest ick factor for me.

I’ve somehow never got round to seeing The Talented Mr Ripley. You’re not the first person to make the comparison.

[Robh]

Maestro. Simply superb. Too many good things about it list here. I can't wait to watch it again, significant other allowing.

[Hot Flatus]

I really enjoyed it.

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Very Talented Mr Ripley, though, which after the trip to Prescot you could see coming.

The grave shagging was a new one though.

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It was the novel approach to cleaning a bath that had the highest ick factor for me.

I’ve somehow never got round to seeing The Talented Mr Ripley. You’re not the first person to make the comparison.

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It's an obvious comparison to make as its almost the same plot...fused with Brideshead Revisited for added ghey. It'll not be an enduring film I suspect. I did, however, love the deliberate vapidity, soulessness and blandness of Oliver's victims. They were there to be devoured. I think the bath scene where he eats Felix's jizz and the eating out of Felix's sister when menstruating was literally eating the rich. Devouring their essence before he could actually devour them.

I read a mildly negative review in the Guardian today which missed the point, I felt, which is the emptiness of the wealthy. The lack of depth is, I think, deliberate.   

[citoyen]

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The lack of depth is, I think, deliberate.   

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Indeed, I’ve seen a few criticisms along the lines of “style over substance” but you’re right - the lack of substance is the whole point.

My wife also has a theory that it’s all Oliver’s fantasy and none of it really happened.

I think it doesn’t pay to analyse it too closely though. It’s mostly just very funny.

[Mrs Pingu]

We don't watch many films, but it's a NYE tradition that we watch some sort of international film at my brother's (JP Jeunet various, Parasite, last year it was Everything, Everywhere...) We like the quirky shit.
Looking for something this week and my brother sent me the trailer for Lamb.
Looks very weird.
https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2726215705/?ref_=vp_rv_ap_0

[sg37409]

...We like the quirky shit.
Looking for something this week and my brother sent me the trailer for Lamb.
...

Put me in mind of Only The Animals.   As quirky shit goes, thats one of the very best

[citoyen]

Priscilla

Not really the kind of thing I would normally go for but we had to use up our free cinema tickets and the alternatives were Aquaman, Wish, Anyone But You...

It's good. Well made, well scripted, very stylish, fine performances from the two leads, and yet... I don't know that I really enjoyed it.

I like the fact that it is very much her story, not his - it doesn't dwell too much on everything you already know about Elvis, and his music hardly features in the film at all. It shows how badly he treated her but at the same time it takes great pains not to make him out as a villain - in fact, you end up feeling sorry for him as much as for her.

There are some subtle allusions to the real villain of the piece, Col Parker, but he doesn't ever appear in the film - you just feel him as a malign influence off-camera.

It does feel like it pulls its punches a bit, although the flip side of that is that it's not at all sensationalist or mawkish, which is a good thing.

Overall, it's a desperately sad story.

[PeterM]

It does feel like it pulls its punches a bit, although the flip side of that is that it's not at all sensationalist or mawkish, which is a good thing.

Not surprising it pulls its punches, since it was made with Priscilla Presley's approval. Sounds like another Sofia Coppola sad princess film (not seen it--wild horses etc etc)

[citoyen]

Not surprising it pulls its punches, since it was made with Priscilla Presley's approval.

Indeed - I noted her name as exec producer in the opening credits, plus the fact that it's based on her own memoirs, so wasn't expecting it to be anything other than very much her version of events.

This also explains the film's weirdly wholesome spin on his behaviour towards her when they first met, with her being sooooo young at the time... 

Sounds like another Sofia Coppola sad princess film (not seen it--wild horses etc etc)

Like I said, not the kind of thing I would normally bother with. It really is a very well made film but if you've already made up your mind about Sofia Coppola, this won't do anything to change it.

[mrcharly-YHT]

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About that: if GPS was out, how did they follow the road?

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Guessing just std lane sensor technology.  I wondered why all the Teslas where white in colour.

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To make it clear in the wide shot that the Teslas were forming a 'plug' to stop people leaving New York by road?

Makes sense, given the rest.

Bit late to this party but

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were we watching the same characters? Interesting? I would not have enjoyed their company at a party

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Yeah. They are all horrible people.

Interesting watching Julia Roberts act a thoroughly unpleasant person.

[felstedrider]

Wonka

Surprisingly enjoyable. Strong hints of Jeunet et Caro in the styling but very much aimed at a younger audience.

Timothée Chalamet is good but Hugh Grant totally steals the show as the Oompa Loompa.

I liked the songs too.

Written by Neil Hannon but I suspect you already know that.

[citoyen]

Wonka
...
I liked the songs too.

Written by Neil Hannon but I suspect you already know that.

Yes indeed. Timothee Chalamet does a pretty good impression of him in the way he sings them too - I had to check the credits to make sure it wasn't actually Neil Hannon singing with a slightly American-tinged accent.

There aren't any particularly stand-out numbers but they all suit the film well.

If you want a second opinion, m'colleague who saw it with her son hated the songs and thought there were far too many of them. 

[jwo]

There aren't any particularly stand-out numbers but they all suit the film well.

I thought "Scrub Scrub", "Sweet Tooth" were pretty good, but it was always going to be hard to compete with the Oompa Loompa theme and Pure Imagination for ear wormy memorability.

[Kim]

Zero Hour! (1957)

They're doing all the right lines, but not necessarily in the right order.  But that's not important right now...