Amph What was the last movie you saw?

Stand by Me Yet another 80's film that I've not seen since the lates 80's. I have find memories of this. The friendship of 4 boys, (who go on an adventure to find the dead body of a teen hit by a train out in the countryside), hit all the right notes with me being a teenager back in the 80s, and the long days I'd spend with my group of friends out in the countryside and how we seemed to cram so much into those summer days.

I think this film still holds up today, in particular the performances of the 4 leads. They do an excellent job of convincing of their close friendship and also the hardships that they've had in their short lifes so far. Thats what make this film so good. The late night camp scene is a big stand out in that regard, being both funny and really poignant too. I actually never realised it was based on a Stephen King novel, but I really like the idea of it being the flashback of a writers young life as he recounts the experience for his latest book. I still felt that the ending is a real downer when the fate of River Phoenixs character is revealed and thats down the great writing as I really felt invested in all 4 leads..

The supports are good too, in particular Kiefer Sutherland, he plays these kind of parts really well and is convincing as the towns bad boy.

Its also quite a short film, around 80 minutes once the credits roll. But it doesn't outstay its welcome, its well paced and is arguably on the best coming of age movies of the decade, if not all time.

 

Demolition .

Jake Gyllenhall plays a guy whose wife dies suddenly and he goes into a funk and can't grieve , Gyllenhall does his usual thing of being semi-catatonic and vague , Naomi Watts turns up to add a bit of interest , there's a lot of narrating about metaphors .
its quite unexpectedly funny at times tho .

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I didn’t the movie itself was that good, although having said that, that’s not the fault of the cast. I did however like the idea of this movie as an 11th Century sports movie.

 

Free State of Jones

Historically very interesting, but the movie in itself could've been done better.

 

Saw Thor Rag, Enjoyed it a lot.. Might say I liked it better than GOTG2.. Maybe..

 

Personally, I think it could have used some actual singing.

 

The Party. Peter Sellers plays an accident prone Indian actor who is invited to a high class Hollywood party by mistake, and provides to cause havoc. While the idea of casting Sellers as an Indian is questionable by todays standards, it's a very funny film with some brilliant comic set pieces.

 

er.... are we supposed to guess ?

 

He's obviously talking about A Knight's Tale which Havac reviewed in the last post of the previous page; I suspect he replied to it thinking it was the last post in the thread, not having turned the page so to speak.

 

Cars 3. Much, much better than Cars 2.

 

I try not to be this guy, but the most awe-inspiring and impressive part of San Andreas was Alexandra Daddario. Never seen her before that. God, she is breathtaking. I mean astonishingly hypnotic.

 

Those big beautiful... eyes.

I’m not joking, I like her eyes.

 

They're hypnotic. It seems like they could fire lasers. Or maybe are already firing them and that's what that weird feeling in your chest is.

 

Allied

Much of the early part of the film is very fake, both in appearance and story. There's lots of awkward CGI and the chemistry between Pitt and Cotillard in Casablanca is very poor and the idea of them falling in love is entirely unconvincing. The second half of the film was much better. The sunny married life in London is much more convincing and is actually effective, setting up a very suspenseful ending that was pretty shocking, and ultimately logical.

One might say that the flaws I pointed out were intentional, but I don't think so. They aren't used as if they were intentional.

Either way, the movie isn't particularly romantic or melodramatic, though it certainly seems like it should be. It's more an uneven modern tale of sex and panicked violence, with slightly raunchy sex scenes, drug use, an open lesbian couple and some intense violence that feel bizarrely out of place. Like if Scorsese-lite did a hybrid of Casablanca and Hitchcock.

Certainly too flawed to be a classic. Skip the Casablanca scenes and start watching when they get to London.

 

Murder on the Orient Express (2017) - Kenneth Branagh

Having never seen the original film, I went into this one not knowing what to expect. Was I surprised at the outcome? Definitely. I couldn't have seen that coming in a million years. I love murder mysteries, especially the ones that keep you engaged and guessing throughout the entire duration, and this was no exception. From start to finish I was questioning everyone and everything. Branagh did a marvellous job as director, by making everyone seem equally guilty with no obvious murderer. My main problem with the film is that I felt it got weaker as it went on, which is never a good thing. It started off excellent and I was loving every moment of it, but I slowly felt like I was losing interest. That being said, it never got close to being bad. I'm not sure how similar this version was to the original, but it's a clever plot.

The cast was fantastic. Every single actor and actress really sold their character. It's great to see Daisy Ridley finally in another big film, as she's a very talented young actress. However, the real star of the film was the director and lead actor himself, Kenneth Branagh (and of course his wonderful moustache). He was just a joy to watch in every single one of his scenes, as ("probably the greatest detective in the world") Hercule Poirot. Not only was he the greatest character in this film, but one of the greatest characters all year. I loved the style of this film. They didn't try to modernise it, but kept a classic feel to it instead, which worked very well. The cinematography was also great, especially with some moments from the start of the film and all of the shots of the train on its journey.

8/10.

 

Jordan1Kenobi
You should watch the original if you get a chance. You'll definitely like it.

 

Jordan1Kenobi Dagobahsystem It's sure to be on TV over Christmas.

 

Autopsy (a.k.a. Macchie Solari) (1974) This giallo had a fascinating premise that was ultimately undone by the miscast of Barry Primus and its decent from a truly original idea into a rather typical murder mystery scenario. I haven't seen this in at least 8 years. Time has made me less boo-hiss against Mimsy Farmer's corpse-like Simona (rather funny actually, given that she's a pathology intern whose thesis deals with real versus fake suicides), but I soured even more on Primus craptastic over-acting and the plot drifting away from that hook during a nasty summer heat wave. Simona and Primus's mentally unhinged priest Father Lenox investigate the murder of his sister (made to look like a suicide), which turns personal as people around Simona start dying too. One thing that remained interesting was how the sun spots and the brutal heat were playing havoc with Simona and the killer.

Bad actor and story shift renders this hard R trashy whodunnit into pedestrian waters. Which is a shame since Ray Lovelock was adorably off-putting as Simona's lover Edgar, Ennio Morricone delivered perhaps his most unsettling score, and the disturbing opening sequence of Roman citizens killing themselves in various ways which transitions into a deranged and creepy sexual vista in the morgue. Nothing frustrates me more as a movie-goer than when a really great premise isn't followed through. I can roll with bad acting if it's the in spirit of the character and the movie, in Mimsy's case, it works here. In Primus' case any time he is on screen it nearly stops the movie, um, dead.

If I was given the opportunity to remake this, I would think of a much better way to incorporate the real vs. fake suicides than the what was used here, and run with the sun spots/heat wave and rethink Father Lenox.

 

Dr. No - Primitive but effective first entry in the Bond film series.

 

You should watch True Detective season 1. Great show.

 

another annoying double post. Why does this only seem to happen in this thread?

 

Operation Christmas -

In this prequel to BSG, Number Six uses her "sex robot" wiles to seduce an enlisted military man and infiltrate his home base in order to learn more about military culture and customs ahead of the planned extermination of the human race.

 

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Written and directed by Taika Waititi, of Thor Ragnarok fame.
Marvellous, quirky and far more touching than I expected. Taika Waititi and the fantastic 3 main actors manage to make a movie that’s as goofy as it is sincere. A real treat.

 

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Written and directed by Taika Waititi, of Thor Ragnarok fame.
Marvellous, quirky and far more touching than I expected. Taika Waititi and the fantastic 3 main actors manage to make a movie that’s as goofy as it is sincere. A real treat.

 

Justice League

Highly recommended if you like DC and its iconic characters. This is a thrilling movie full of incredible action, much humor, some poignant scenes, and a great cast with a lot of charisma. The score was fantastic and this is an excellent addition to the DC film universe.

Try not to pay attention to the inevitable online negativity but rather go see it for yourself if you like these characters or are a fan of DC.

I will most likely go see this again in theaters and for sure will be adding the blu ray to my collection on the day of its release.

Justice League is one of the best superhero films I've ever seen and I've seen nearly all of them, including the old school ones lol.