Tomo
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Post by Tomo on Dec 4, 2023 21:16:42 GMT
Zombi Child - 5/10
Plodding film about Haitian voodoo and mixed timelines. Interesting premise and some lovely shots, but it's mostly boring.
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cubby
Full Member
doesn't get subtext
Posts: 6,189
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Post by cubby on Dec 4, 2023 21:35:08 GMT
I think Ethan Hawke is really underrated. His body of work is vast including lots of really good indie stuff. I’m not sure why he never really got considered top tier like some of his contemporaries but I really like him. Same, I always have time for him, and if he's involved in a film it immediately gets my interest because I know he only does stuff that interests him. I think time will look extremely highly of his career.
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Nanocrystal
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Post by Nanocrystal on Dec 4, 2023 21:40:53 GMT
Gone Girl You know, I'd somehow made it almost a decade without knowing the details of what happens in this movie, and I am so fucking glad that I remained spoiler-free. It's dark and messed up and complicated. And absolutely hilarious. I can see it maybe being a bit problematic in the way it treats things like sexual assault. But I dunno... it's a movie about extremely fucked up people, I don't think any statement it makes could be generalised to real life. 9/10, this has jumped almost to the top of my favourite Finchers Don't be tempted to read the book. It has the most annoying writing style I've ever encountered. Like an obnoxious teenage girl's stream of consciousness. Absolutely insufferable.
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Post by Whizzo on Dec 4, 2023 22:17:46 GMT
Next Goal Wins
What was supposed to be Cineworld's latest secret screening was kinda spoilt by Vue and Odeon doing previews of it tonight and not really hiding what the film was too well. I was in two minds whether to bother as the reviews have certainly been mixed (it's 43% on RT but with an audience score of 84%) and Waititi lost a lot of pull for me after Love and Thunder but I thought fuck it I've got nothing better to do tonight so went.
Which is just as well as I had a really great time, American Samoa are the worst team in World football having lost 31-0 to the Socceroos and they're weeks away from the next World Cup qualifiers and their local coach isn't up to the task and the head of the local football association just wants them to score a single goal, not win a match, not draw, just score a goal.
In comes Thomas Rongen, a Dutch-American (though you wouldn't know that as Michael Fassbender really doesn't attempt any accent than his own) football coach who is pretty much forced to take the job as he's out on his ear otherwise. Cue a version of "Cool Runnings" but with American Samoans playing football rather than Jamaicans on ice.
It almost certainly takes some liberties with the true story, as explained by a priest played by Taika Waititi as he addresses the audience at the very start of the film but some of the things that seem like they had to be done for the film aren't.
It's funny, sweet at times, the scenery is certainly lovely and the cast of mostly Polynesians are very entertaining.
I'd say you probably don't really need to know anything about football to enjoy the film, largely because the team know pretty much bugger all about football either.
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Post by Leolian'sBro on Dec 4, 2023 22:23:52 GMT
I think Ethan Hawke is really underrated. His body of work is vast including lots of really good indie stuff. I’m not sure why he never really got considered top tier like some of his contemporaries but I really like him. His Hamlet is well worth checking out for trying to do something different with the material. Plus Daybreakers is a really interesting take on vampires.
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geefe
Full Member
Short for Zangief
Posts: 8,323
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Post by geefe on Dec 4, 2023 22:50:55 GMT
Funnily enough I was reminded of the Rampart scandal today. Seems it influenced a lot of cop dramas in the 2000s.
Anyway, back to Alien 4...
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Post by Dougs on Dec 4, 2023 23:11:49 GMT
Agree re Ethan Hawke. Great actor who is very believable.
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Post by britesparc on Dec 5, 2023 11:46:30 GMT
Watched Violent Night (2022) last night. First proper Christmas film of the year, apart from watching Nightmare Before Christmas at Halloween.
It's good; it's funny, it's nicely violent in a sort of schlocky OTT way. Harbour is great, John Leguizamo gives good bad guy, and the cute kid is appropriately cute without being sickly or irritating. It does a decent job, for the most part, of straddling the line between gory adult action film and saccharine kids' film; I don't think it goes far enough, though, making those sweeter moments stick out at times. Perhaps toning down some of the early brutality and drawn-out family drama would have helped matters.
It does take a long time to get going, and the family that Santa is supposed to be saving are so unlikeable I was genuinely rooting for most of them to be killed. There's too little nuance for them, and they're not funny either. Plus tonally the first half is off, some too-nasty executions of minor characters and too much of the irritating family or Santa being sad. Takes too long to get going; if they'd cut 15 minutes out of the first hour I think it'd play better as a whole.
Still, good fun, just not quite as good as its premise suggests.
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kal
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Post by kal on Dec 5, 2023 12:53:38 GMT
I enjoyed Better Watch Out as a similar alternative Christmas fun horror type thing.
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Post by cristar on Dec 5, 2023 13:19:24 GMT
I have got The Killing Tree and Christmas Bloody Christmas on my watch list. They may be complete shit though.
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askew
Full Member
Posts: 6,618
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Post by askew on Dec 5, 2023 13:39:03 GMT
I prescribe a viewing of Jack Frost as penance
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Post by Vandelay on Dec 5, 2023 14:03:33 GMT
My recent Christmas (or more accurately Christmas adjacent) Blu-ray purchases includes the original Black Christmas, which I've never seen. Looking forward to that, but will save it until a bit nearer the day.
Also have Willy Wonka (original, probably seen, but not sure if I actually watched it all the way through), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (saw a long time ago), Meet Me in St. Louis (never seen), Wizard of Oz (again, a long time ago) and The Apartment (which I mentioned a few posts back).
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kal
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Post by kal on Dec 5, 2023 15:14:47 GMT
The older I get the harder It’s a Wonderful Life hits me. It’s only really recently I think I truly understood it. It’s such an incredibly touching and meaningful film.
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dmukgr
Junior Member
Posts: 1,469
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Post by dmukgr on Dec 5, 2023 16:11:54 GMT
I saw The Bishops Wife last year which is a nice old christmas film.
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Post by Jambowayoh on Dec 5, 2023 16:24:17 GMT
I prescribe a viewing of Jack Frost as penance Hopefully we're talking about the absolutely terrifying Disney version starring Michael Keaton.
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Post by Vandelay on Dec 5, 2023 16:33:02 GMT
I saw The Bishops Wife last year which is a nice old christmas film. On my list to watch. I believe it is available through Prime. As is It's A Wonderful Life, which I love.
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Post by mcgeeza on Dec 5, 2023 16:44:53 GMT
When Evil Lurks
Argentinian demonic possession movie. Small children and animals included.
Fucked up shit/10
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Post by Reviewer on Dec 5, 2023 18:29:38 GMT
I think Ethan Hawke is really underrated. His body of work is vast including lots of really good indie stuff. I’m not sure why he never really got considered top tier like some of his contemporaries but I really like him. Same, I always have time for him, and if he's involved in a film it immediately gets my interest because I know he only does stuff that interests him. I think time will look extremely highly of his career. Although he’s usually very good and some of his choices are interesting, he has also been in a lot of terrible/mediocre films.
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Post by Dougs on Dec 5, 2023 21:06:30 GMT
I prescribe a viewing of Jack Frost as penance Hopefully we're talking about the absolutely terrifying Disney version starring Michael Keaton. My son absolutely loved that as a small boy. He stuck it on last year for "nostalgia" and didn't last 10 mins!
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Post by Jambowayoh on Dec 5, 2023 21:09:55 GMT
Ha!
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askew
Full Member
Posts: 6,618
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Post by askew on Dec 5, 2023 21:19:43 GMT
I prescribe a viewing of Jack Frost as penance Hopefully we're talking about the absolutely terrifying Disney version starring Michael Keaton. Indeed we are.
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Post by rawshark on Dec 5, 2023 21:24:07 GMT
“Snow Dad is better than no dad.”
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geefe
Full Member
Short for Zangief
Posts: 8,323
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Post by geefe on Dec 5, 2023 21:45:08 GMT
I can safely say that if my recently deceased father came back as a snow man I'd be boiling the fuck out of the kettle
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Post by Bill in the rain on Dec 6, 2023 1:41:09 GMT
My recent Christmas (or more accurately Christmas adjacent) Blu-ray purchases includes the original Black Christmas, which I've never seen. Looking forward to that, but will save it until a bit nearer the day. Also have Willy Wonka (original, probably seen, but not sure if I actually watched it all the way through), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (saw a long time ago), Meet Me in St. Louis (never seen), Wizard of Oz (again, a long time ago) and The Apartment (which I mentioned a few posts back). I only saw Black Christmas recently. It's pretty good for its age, but the whole 'Christmas' part doesn't really play in at all. I'm not sure there's anything remotely christmassy in it. Just general 'winter'. Enjoy the opening credits to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang And the tunnel ride in Willy Wonka. Wizard of Oz still holds up so well, even though new HD viewing makes the sets much more obvious in WW and WoO.
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Post by rawshark on Dec 6, 2023 9:24:12 GMT
There's also a subsection of Christmas films starring professional wrestlers as Santa...
Hulk Hogan - Santa with Muscles Goldberg - Santa's Slay The Big Show - Jingle All the Way...
And on that note I always thought Jingle All the Way was a great concept for a Christmas film. An overworked father is forced to rush around looking for that year's hot Christmas gift after leaving it too late. That's relatable.
The problem was they cast Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead, who is less relatable on account of being a huge man. The other problem was just about everything else.
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mrpon
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Post by mrpon on Dec 6, 2023 9:26:44 GMT
A better casting for the same premise is Stephen Merchant in Click & Collect. Pretty funny, gets a yearly rotate.
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Post by cristar on Dec 6, 2023 9:40:26 GMT
Not having any bad words about Jingle all The Way. A Christmas classic imo.
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Post by rawshark on Dec 6, 2023 12:15:11 GMT
CLick and collect was great. It was basically Jingle All the Way spliced with Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
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Post by Jambowayoh on Dec 6, 2023 12:21:08 GMT
Not having any bad words about Jingle all The Way. A Christmas classic imo. HIS KID DOESN'T RECOGNISE THAT HIS DAD IS TURBO MAN! HE'S THE ONLY GUY IN THIS SMALL TOWN WHO'S INSANELY JACKED AND HAS AN AUSTRIAN ACCENT!
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Post by zisssou on Dec 6, 2023 14:05:27 GMT
There's also a subsection of Christmas films starring professional wrestlers as Santa... Hulk Hogan - Santa with Muscles Goldberg - Santa's Slay The Big Show - Jingle All the Way... And on that note I always thought Jingle All the Way was a great concept for a Christmas film. An overworked father is forced to rush around looking for that year's hot Christmas gift after leaving it too late. That's relatable. The problem was they cast Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead, who is less relatable on account of being a huge man. The other problem was just about everything else. You need to add Three Wise Guys with Roddy Piper.
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