Last movie watched...

[pictsy]

Watched Commando last night and it’s classic bad 80s action movie and a need to watch when a teenager growing up in that decade just to say you seen the ripsaw blade kill!!.
It’s Arnie season on film 4 so will give a few more of his films another view to see how well or bad they hold up. I hadn’t rewatched this since the early 90s and I have to say Commando does not hold up well. (Some of his others, in my mind, do - Terminator, Running Man & Predator- and they could even get away with a remake considering the effects back then - but not with Arnie)
Still not Oscar caliber but entertainment nonetheless.

I was planning, with a friend, to double bill Commando and Running Man for over a year now.  We both think fondly of the latter but I've always held that Commando is a bad film.  I'll probably be entertained by it, but that doesn't make it good.

I agree about Terminator, Running Man and Predator.  Predator is probably my favourite Arnie film.  I find Terminator odd... Kyle Reese is a weird creep, but it has atmosphere and a really good soundtrack.

I think the most underrated of Arnie's films is Last Action Hero.  The cartoon cat breaks the concept a little for me, but otherwise it is a real existential and metaphysical treat of an action-comedy.

I still find enjoyment in the classic Arnie films.

[von Boom]

Commando has some great one-liners. Objectively it's a bad film, but I've always found it entertaining and watch when in need of some 80s action. Running Man is a better film for the time but I always thought it never did the book justice. Still, you can't go wrong for 80s action with this double-bill.

[Dandontdare]

Guy I knew from school was a bodybuilder and worshipped Arnie. When I was home from uni, I'd say hi to the folks and get the train to Manchester to spend a week getting wrecked and watching Arnie marathons with the old gang.

I think the most underrated of Arnie's films is Last Action Hero.  The cartoon cat breaks the concept a little for me, but otherwise it is a real existential and metaphysical treat of an action-comedy.

Agreed, I watched this in the first lockdown and it was better than I remembered, and I really enjoyed it the first time.

Terminator and Predator will always be cool, 'nuff said. Running Man's got some great bits but when you're getting your idea of menacing costumed villains from comics, some of those costumes just seemed naff... it's been a while though, so it's on the LOCKDOWN II: THIS TIME IT'S COLD OUT watchlist. I've got a real soft spot for Twins 'cos I love Danny DeVito even more than I love Arnie, and it's got the funniest Sly gag of them all. Total Recall's another good 'un. And Conan of course, so many. Not keen on Kindergarten cop - too many Hollywood stage-school gremlins desperately trying to out-cute each other in mortal terror of the silent ride home with Mom. Batman and Robin didn't happen. And Commando's just bloody good fun - they knew what they were doing.

But if you asked Big Jim, top of the list would always be Pumping Iron. And you didn't argue.

[TordelBack]

Inception, finally. Whole family (11-49) loved it, far less effects-flashy than I had expected (a good thing), and the innumerable homages we'd all seen over the years somehow hadn't spoilt it one bit. Going to have to stop being ambivalent about Nolan, I think. 

Agree that Predator is Arnie's best, but I love most of them from his classic period, Conan being a particularly guilty pleasure. Last Action Hero is a blast.

[Tiplodocus]

Commando is was way better than Running Man. More like Running Shit!

[Dandontdare]

*phew* I thought I'd be the one getting the backlash (steps back and opens popcorn)

[Greg M.]

Frustratingly, England's lockdown is knocking out Scotland's cinemas - distribution issues - so I nipped out to see Korean zombie-flick Peninsula (2020) last night before my local filmhouse closed today. It's a perfectly serviceable mix of Day of the Dead / Land of the Dead with Fast and Furious and Mad Max 3, and is the semi-sequel to Train to Busan. At its best when it goes quirky and Korean, at its weakest when it overindulges in cloying sentimentality. Reasonable way of passing a couple of hours.

[Trooper McFad]

Jo-Jo Rabbit really good. Thought the actor playing Jo-Jo was fantastic and some great side characters. I know there was some criticism whether we should have films about Hitler youth and is it a subject to take lightly but funny moments aside it has it’s thought provoking moments.
I’d recommend it.

[Mardroid]

Jo-Jo Rabbit really good. Thought the actor playing Jo-Jo was fantastic and some great side characters. I know there was some criticism whether we should have films about Hitler youth and is it a subject to take lightly but funny moments aside it has it’s thought provoking moments.
I’d recommend it.

Agreed. I was that at the cinema. Yeah, while they did play the Hitler Youth stuff for laughs they never depicted it as a good thing, in fact the lad overcoming his negative indoctrination was kind of the point, so I had no problem with it.

[Mister Pops]

Jo-Jo Rabbit really good. Thought the actor playing Jo-Jo was fantastic and some great side characters. I know there was some criticism whether we should have films about Hitler youth and is it a subject to take lightly but funny moments aside it has it’s thought provoking moments.
I’d recommend it.

Agreed. I was that at the cinema. Yeah, while they did play the Hitler Youth stuff for laughs they never depicted it as a good thing, in fact the lad overcoming his negative indoctrination was kind of the point, so I had no problem with it.

Yeah, this movie doesn't make light of or excuse nazis like former President Trump, it aped and lampooned them, made them look very silly. Silly like former President Trump
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler!"

And so forth..

[pictsy]

Ghost Stories (2017)

This was an interesting anthology horror movie.  Unfortunately, I think the first story is the most effective and it is diminishing returns.  It is also undermined as a horror film, imo, but the final story that suggest that the whole thing is a coma nightmare.  It's interesting, but it gutted the horror for me.  Nevertheless, it was still an entertaining watch, with some familiar faces, good performances and good ideas.  I liked it.

[Michael Knight]

I loved Ghost Stories. I've seen the West End Theatre show twice and was initially a bit hesitant to watch the film version, however I was pleasantly impressed.

[pictsy]

Jojo Rabbit

Oh Kay.  I got the humorous tone and chuckled here and there but did not think this film was especially funny.  Quirky, maybe, but not funny.  There are wonderful characters and performances.  My highlights are Sam Rockwell (because of course) and the kid who I am going to call mini-Nick Frost, who made the best deliveries in the entire film.

Ultimately, though, this is a bittersweet love story that, at the end, punched me in the gut hard and made me weep.

I really feel I was mis-sold this film.  I wanted to watch something a lot sillier than this and really was not expecting to have  such an emotional response to the film. 

[Link Prime]

I loved Ghost Stories. I've seen the West End Theatre show twice and was initially a bit hesitant to watch the film version, however I was pleasantly impressed.

Did the West End version have the same 'twist'?

I will admit my anticipation to see this film a few years back was fueled by the rave reviews of the West End version, but just like Pictsy the twist ending undermined it a bit too much for my liking.

To this day it has not been added to the Portmanteau Horror Blu-ray / DVD collection.
Just can't see myself ever re-watching it.

[repoman]

I really like portmanteau films and so was quite excited about Ghost Stories what with it getting a cinema release but I was very let down by it.

Part one was really bad mainly because Paul Whitehouse isn't an actor.  It's all to easy to film some dark corridors and let the audience's imagination do the heavy lifting.  Making it a former insane asylum too.  So on the nose.  The story is basically Paul making terrible decisions.

Part two was unoriginal, not scary and that kid isn't the most believable actor either.

Part three is the best part even though it's just a standard poltergeist tale.  I didn't rate it much.  Also I can't really see Martin Freeman as anything but the smug guy in the phone adverts now.

The worst thing though was the main actor.  Andy Nyman is basically the Ian Brown of acting which is to say he is the worst at what he does.  That and the ridiculously generic stories.

It's a shame because I really did want to like it.