Last movie watched...

[Tjm86]

And the sloths. Definitely the sloths.

Oh man, aye.  The sloths were     h                               y                      s                   t              e          r                   i               c                   a                        l.

Especially at the end.

[JamesC]

Predestination.

Mind bending, time loopy, paradox stuff starring Ethan Hawke.
I really enjoyed it but it would have been better if my girlfriend hadn't kept asking me to explain it. It's one of those stories that makes sense in your own head but when you try to explain it you end up getting confused!

[Keef Monkey]

Been wanting to watch Predestination for a while after finding that team's previous film Daybreakers surprisingly enjoyable.

Watched Emelie, it's a creepy babysitter story with a pretty standard set-up, but the ways in which her creepiness comes out and the way she messes with the kids is pretty unsettling and it's an uncomfortable watch at times. There are some really tense scenes and the performances are good, particularly from the kids who are surprisingly natural.

[Professor Bear]

No Blade of Grass - British post-apocalyptic drama based on a novel by Tripods writer John Christopher about a family fleeing the imminent culling of the London population across a UK countryside transformed by food shortages into a lawless wasteland of roving thieves and murderers - you may insert your own "PFFT.  The North." joke here if you so wish.
The dilemmas the group face are interesting and wander off from the usual tropes, and there's a blackly-comic-as-it-gets use of flashbacks and flashforwards to the moments a character is born or dies, and even, in one instance, a child musing on when she might lose her virginity which is suddenly interrupted with the scene from later in the film where she and her mum are raped by bikers.  In other words, it's as bleak as you'd expect a 1970s British dystopian film to get, with the plucky middle class Londoners murdering each other on a dime or pimping out their children to placate sociopaths and then brushing it all off in the knowledge "this is how we live now - but we're still British, dash it all!"
The posters are, as you would expect of the period, completely awesome:


Jane Got A Gun - the original director walked off this and was immediately dismissed as a nightmare to work with, but being a lady type she'd get that reputation whether she deserved it or not, so I take the tale with a pinch of salt and choose instead to believe that she knew that 90 minutes with this boring story was bad enough, never mind the 90 days it would take to make it.  The general idea seems to be to make a film that Youtubers can later edit into a music video to accompany the song "Stand By Your Man", but that's where this film's contribution to wider culture sadly comes to an end, so let me save you the trouble: it's hard to be a pretty white woman in Western Times.  That is literally the whole film for you right there.

[Tjm86]

I've not seen the film adaptation but I've read the novel.  Spent years searching for it.  Finally found a 2nd hand copy and all of a sudden it were everywhere!   

It's pretty much what you expect for the time and genre.  A nice easy read and an easy riff on Cain and Able.  I wouldn't mind watching the film version some time to see what they've made of it.

[Colin YNWA]

No Blade of Grass - British post-apocalyptic drama based on a novel by Tripods writer John Christopher

I've never heard of either film or book but all sounds very interesting. Thanks for the heads up will check this out.

[Hawkmumbler]

I think I started watching the movie some years ago but never finished it. Can't remember why because of what I saw it was quite nifty. Must slot that in for a rematch.

[TordelBack]

No Blade of Grass - British post-apocalyptic drama based on a novel by Tripods writer John Christopher

I've never heard of either film or book but all sounds very interesting. Thanks for the heads up will check this out.

The book is called The Death of Grass, if you're looking for it. If you like Youd/Christopher, it's a good one.

[Mardroid]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I'm late seeing this.

I think I prefer the Captain America comic arc with that title, but this is a good film in the franchise. It lacks the enjoyable silliness of its predecessor, with the exception of the running gag of Natasha insisting on discussing Steve's love life (or rather lack thereof) during inappropriate moments, but in this case that is probably a good thing.

And Falcon got to do some cool stuff.

[radiator]

The Jungle Book (2016).

Wow. Just when you're feeling jaded with overblown cgi extravaganzas, along comes a cinematic experience like this to really blow your socks off.

It is hands down the most impressive digital effects showcase I have ever seen, and I'm generally not a fan of 'photo real' digi animation.

As for the film itself, as you'd expect from a Jon Favreau production, it's utterly charming. I've never actually seen the original animated movie start to finish, despite being familiar with its most iconic characters, so the story was really all new to me. I was wondering whether or not they were going to feature musical numbers ([spoiler]and found myself very much wishing that they would) and thankfully those two iconic songs are included, and in a refreshingly unpolished, unfussy way. It's absolutely delightful.[/spoiler]

Thankfully, my biggest gripe with big cgi action adventure movies - the ludicrously OTT, physics-defying, uninvolving action set-piece - doesn't apply here. The scale, though heightened, is kept relatively small, the action has a sense of physicality and weight uncommon in this kind of film.

It also does not even slightly outstay its welcome, clocking in at around 100mins. We stayed until the very end of the (amazing) end credits.

All in all a perfect night at the movies. Highest of recommends. 5/5.

[Colin YNWA]

The Jungle Book (2016).

All in all a perfect night at the movies. Highest of recommends. 5/5.

Cool the kids want to see this and its getting a good rep so nice to see that confirmed.

[radiator]

Oh yeah, and the little kid who plays Mowgli? He's up there with the kid from Room as one of the best child performances of recent years - and all the more impressive considering he was presumably filming the vast majority of his scenes in front of a greenscreen with no one to act against.

I'd honestly go and see it again.

[Spikes]

No Blade of Grass - British post-apocalyptic drama based on a novel by Tripods writer John Christopher

I've never heard of either film or book but all sounds very interesting. Thanks for the heads up will check this out.

The book is called The Death of Grass, if you're looking for it. If you like Youd/Christopher, it's a good one.

Add me to the list of folks now interested in this.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Green Room

Watched it at the QFT in Belfast.

This is basically a cabin in the woods style horror movie, but with a neo-nazi compound instead of a cabin, and a punk rock band instead of dumb American highschoolers.

Also Patrick Stewart is the leader or the neo-nazis. And Maebe from Arrested Development is in the punk band.

Gorey as fuck, and a fuckin' fantastic show.

[Tiplodocus]

LADY IN THE VAN
Maggie Smith is on top form in this which works as a study of a nice, comfy mental illness, religous doctrine and living partially outside of the rules.

Alex Jennings is also grand as Alan Bennett and, as based on his memoir, there are some big, big laughs to be had. Some reasonably famous names pop up in short roles as Bennett's "gentlemen callers".

There's a really simple conceit of having Alan Bennett (the person) and Alan Bennett (the writer) on screen at the same time discussing things.  It works really well and I can't recall if I've seen it before.


and the

THE BOOK THIEF
Another nice, comfy study of Nazism, WWII and the holocaust. Emily Watson and Geoffrey Rush do their best with fairly meagre material but it all failed to click for me and what should be an emotional ending is all a bit flat (and I don't think I could blame it on the child actors).


After those two, I really need to see a movie with some great action set-pieces, shagging and swearing.