Last movie watched...

[Keef Monkey]

"Whats in the basket?!"

Lots of creepy weird stop-motion apparently!

Went to The Lighthouse last night and absolutely loved it. On the face of it it's very different to The Witch but it's every bit as masterful with atmosphere (possibly moreso, haven't seen The Witch in a while!), and the claustrophobic ratio and the way shadows play around the frame and dance across the actors' faces during those amazing performances, the dialogue, the music and sound design and that feeling of indescribable cosmic dread that's very Lovecraftian and a rare delight to see pulled off so well in a film...it's a bit of a masterpiece eh?

[Hawkmumbler]

HARK! I SAW YEE! I SAW YEE FOND OF ME LOBSTER!

[Greg M.]

Why'd ya spill yer beans, Keef?

I liked that so much of it was so close to comedy - it's relentlessly quotable, and, speaking from a Scottish perspective, it's absolutely impossible to watch a film about lighthouse keepers getting on each other's wick without recalling Chewin' the Fat's classic 'Gonnae no dae that' sketches. And yet, it doesn't overwhelm the film - it works to counterpoint the creeping existential dread.

Plus... the movie definitively answers the one question we've all had about mermaids...

[Hawkmumbler]

It really is very good, i'm seeing it again next week, the finale might be the most nerve wracking thing i've ever seen.

"It's bad luck, to kill a seabird..."

[Greg M.]

I kind of wish I hadn't read reviews which highlighted [spoiler]the links to the myth of Prometheus[/spoiler] - after I knew that, I figured out the ending. It would have been more shocking if I hadn't guessed it was coming.

[Colin YNWA]

Snowpiercer

Knew nothing about this going in and thought it had a terrible name. The info on the Film4 preview just sounded so bad and silly... and yet something about the trailer caught my attention. And I'm so glad it did. Just wonderful, wonderful stuff.

Its like Wes Anderson did a dystopian action movie... well one that doesn't involve cool animated dogs anyway... its off centre tone just worked so well to give you the sense of other and make a film that on any real level made no sense make complete sense. I was pulled in, belief suspended and just relished the ideas, humour, violence and madness as if the whole thing made perfect sense. Just brilliant.

[MacabreMagpie]

Some quick recents:

Queen + Slim. Very good, great cast all round.

The Personal History of David Copperfield. Wasn't blown away but enjoyed it, I think the trailer had me expecting more of a comedy.

[shaolin_monkey]

Its like Wes Anderson did a dystopian action movie... well one that doesn't involve cool animated dogs anyway...

Side note - did you know our very own Mike VK, he of Dredd Lawgiver and bike cannon design, designed the robot dogs in that? And a lot of the background items scattered about.

[Keef Monkey]

Saw a bunch over the weekend, with top of the bunch being Parasite. I knew it had a lot of buzz but had been dodging any details and trying to duck the hype, and it is more than worthy of all the praise it's getting. Absolutely fantastic in every regard, utterly engrossing and brilliantly acted. It's a lot of things and juggles its varying tones incredibly well, I can't wait to watch it again. Sublime.

Underwater has been getting a bit of a kicking, but me and my other half both really, really enjoyed it. It's definitely very much our cup of tea though, so experiences may vary! It reminded me a lot of the wave of post-Alien horror movies that flooded the VHS market when I was young, I loved all of those so got a thrill from seeing another one (albeit with a much bigger budget than those films could ever afford). I'm not even really on board with what seems to be the main criticism that it's ripping off Alien with no ideas of its own - I honestly found that beyond the aesthetic and the type of tension its aiming for it was enough of its own thing for me, and the title card and opening shots seem to very clearly be the director acknowledging the debt any film like this owes to Alien, in as blatant a way as possible so as to get over that hump from the outset. I've always seen 'Alien-alike' as a bit of a genre unto itself (probably thanks to all those childhood VHS rentals) so I don't see it as the same criticism many do maybe.

It seems to be getting branded a turkey but I honestly thought it was tense, scary, great-looking, full of atmosphere and well acted (Kristen Stewart is particularly great in it, and I've never paid her films much attention previously and may now have a fairly massive movie crush on her).

Watched Uncut Gems and I can see why it's getting all the hype, because it is undoubtedly brilliant. Unfortunately it also feels exactly like a horrible stress dream and as such I can't say I 'enjoyed' it. Mainly I felt sick and thought I was going to have an anxiety attack throughout. Sandler is incredible in it and it's amazingly well written and directed, and the fact that it captures the atmosphere it does and sustains it and ramps it up for 2hrs is amazing, it's just a shame that it's such an unpleasant atmosphere that I don't think I can watch it again. I've thought about it lots since watching it, and whenever I do I feel a bit queasy and stressed out. A rare, peculiar thing to find a film great but also be so unsure if I liked it.

Oh and ended the weekend with Dark Pheonix, which we'd seen in the cinema and thought was a bit disappointing (although didn't see it as the total trainwreck most did). Watching it now, distanced from all the negativity that was going around it when it came out, I found it a bit hard to see why everyone hates it so much. It's fine. Some really good moments, some others that fall pretty flat, but it's fine. I don't like it as much as DoFP or First Class, but I'm not sure I find it significantly worse than Apocalypse which I think fell flatter for me, and I still think it's more interesting than a lot of the superhero films that come out. Nothing special, but it's fine.

[karlos]

Birds of Prey and the etc.

Genuinely traumatic cinema visit aside, this is huge fun - silly yet clever, funny, never boring and Robbie was clearly born to play Harley Quinn.

Utterly bewildering why it's floundering at the Box Office.

[Jim_Campbell]

Utterly bewildering why it's floundering at the Box Office.

I'm not sure reports of its floundering are entirely fair... it's certainly not doing the sort of box office superhero movies, even the DCEU ones, are expected to make these days, but its opening take was almost identical to Ford vs Ferrari, which was immediately hailed as a box office hit and cost more to make than BoP.

[karlos]

I read the numbers and it seemed as if it had opened at the BO just fine...and then it's all over the net that it's doing poor business.

Maybe people are hoping it'll bomb (and why I'll never know, beyond the braying idiots on YT and such)?

[Hawkmumbler]

I suspect Chinese cinemas not exactly being at full capacity right now for obvious reasons is also a consideration.

[Mardroid]

I went to the cinema Sunday with the intention of watching Birds of Prey. ( I had my eye on The Gentlemen, too but as I was tired, and thinking a Guy Ritchie film would involve lots of plots, and possibly plots within plots, figured BoP would be the better option.)

I arrived a bit late for BoP though. (Actually, considering the large amount of ads at the start I'd have been fine but I'm a bit funny about getting in there before it all starts.) I ended up opting for The Gentlemen after all.

I did get a tad lost near the end [spoiler](just how did The Coach and his gang of young lads learn of that twist at the end?[/spoiler]) but I largely needn't have worried. It wasn't that hard to follow. It was a typical Guy Ritchie film in many ways, but this isn't a bad thing as I largely like those that I've seen. It was very amusing, had too much swearing (although that was sometimes used to comedic effect) but was overall a decent romp, I think. Maybe not Lock Stock... good, but it was a lot of fun.

[repoman]

Film 21 of the year was The Night Eats The World.

I wasn't even sure it was possible to make a good zombie movie but they managed it with this one.

Good concept well executed.