Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[Bartholen]

We've had this discussion about this film before. While I don't deny the tragedy suffered by all involved, I never took Leon's relationship with Mathilda as anything save paternal. He IS on the outs of society, and what more jarring a reckoning than to be thrust into the role of a foster parent to a severely damaged child? Many people have spun it as a Lolita-esque romance, but I never got that vibe. I got Mathilda being a very trouble girl with perhaps misdirected affections given Leon is likely the first person in her life not to abuse her in myriad ways and actually CARE for her, but I never got from Leon that he was taking advantage of that, rather he was stumbling through the motions of protecting someone other than himself who he initially tried to emotionally distance from.

Still, it's a great film, and I hope any discomfort you felt didn't take away from those amazing performances.

Oh, it's absolutely clear that Léon is in no way taking advantage of Mathilda and is only taking care of her the best he can. If anything, it's the opposite: Mathilda is the one who's taking advantage of Léon's status, weakness and sympathy, even if unintentionally. Even if you took her misguided romantic advances towards him out of the film, she would still be completely FUBAR as a person, and the film would be only partially less unnerving.

This movie was perhaps the closest I've come to getting over Portman's awful performance in Star Wars and her middling role in the MCU. I'd long considered her an actress who is oddly popular despite being bad at acting, alongside ScarJo, but after seeing her in this movie and in V for Vendetta, it's clear that she has the talent but just doesn't have much luck with directors.

Looking at her IMDB after getting the hype about her myself as well I definitely feel kind of bad for her. She clearly has great talent, but for every Black Swan or Jackie or V for Vendetta there's like 3 romantic comedies from the 00s or some dramas that I've never heard of with scores below 6.0. I kind of get the feeling she's been typecast a lot as a love interest or a stoic "strong independent woman" considering her being an outspoken feminist. Annihilation is a good example: I love that film, but just about every character in it feels somewhat cold and detached, which doesn't leave the actors much to work with to give a memorable performance, Portman included.

 

[Gordon_4]

The Transformers: the Movie - 10/10

This glorious artefact of the 1980s is not a good film in the traditional sense, or even an unconventional one. There are parts of it that are weapons grade stupid, and make you wonder if there was supposed to be another season of the show to introduce you to all these new people while you’re wondering where Mirage and Inferno are.

However, despite all that, it is a movie that brings me an intense amount of joy to watch. Toei did the legwork and it shows - colouring and dead guys showing up not withstanding. The battle set pieces are all memorable, the dialogue is very quotable and all the new characters are actually pretty fun. Even if most of them are Star Wars with the serial numbers filed off, barely so in Arcee’s case.

One of the movie’s unqualified strong points is it’s score: the piece that plays when Optimus Prime breathes his last (with Peter Cullen acting the ever loving shit out of it) will never not make me sad.

 

[Thaluikhain]

They need an LOL button on these! Yeah, the movie was trying to mimic Frank Frazetta type of art work. Ah me. When I was young and before Internet, ahem,

Frank Frazetta worked on the film, they weren't just mimicking him.

It's wild to think that we're almost as far from Peter Jackson's trilogy as that trilogy was from the 1978 film, yet the trilogy looks better than ever. I think they are, and always will be the greatest fantasy films ever made. I tried to think of what combination of IP, technology, casting and raw filmmaking talent could possibly top it, and I genuinely couldn't come up with one.

Oh...bold statement. Now, the best in their field of fantasy, perhaps, but fantasy includes all sorts of things, I could see a challenger being created.

Not one trying to be the next LotR like those Narnia films or the Hobbit Trilogy. Boo!

 

[Bartholen]

Oh...bold statement. Now, the best in their field of fantasy, perhaps, but fantasy includes all sorts of things, I could see a challenger being created.

Not one trying to be the next LotR like those Narnia films or the Hobbit Trilogy. Boo!

I can see a fantasy film better than LotR being created, but in terms of overall impact I don't think it's even possible now, or in the near future, to match that of LotR. It wasn't just a series of films, it was a cultural and historical touchstone. It took over globally in a way only Marvel has been able to match, absolutely swept the Oscars and I dare say was a vital part of fundamentally changing how "nerdy" media was perceived. The LotR movies are as seminal to fantasy cinema as the books themselves are to fantasy literature. I don't think such impact is possible anymore with how the internet has fragmented culture. And it's not just LotR itself that did it: the first Harry Potter film releasing the same year was instrumental to the popularity of both franchises. You could even argue the first X-Men and Spider-Man movies were also part of the same phenomenon, if in a different place than HP and LotR. This phrase feels overused, but the LotR trilogy truly was lightning in a bottle.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I can see a fantasy film better than LotR being created, but in terms of overall impact I don't think it's even possible now, or in the near future, to match that of LotR. It wasn't just a series of films, it was a cultural and historical touchstone. It took over globally in a way only Marvel has been able to match, absolutely swept the Oscars and I dare say was a vital part of fundamentally changing how "nerdy" media was perceived. The LotR movies are as foundational to fantasy cinema as the books themselves are to fantasy literature. I don't think such impact is possible anymore with how the internet has fragmented culture. And it's not just LotR itself that did it: the first Harry Potter film releasing the same year was instrumental to the popularity of both franchises. You could even argue the first X-Men and Spider-Man movies were also part of the same phenomenon, if in a different place than HP and LotR. This phrase feels overused, but the LotR trilogy truly was lightning in a bottle.

Don't quite agree on it being as important to fantasy cinema as the book to literature, or changing nerdy media so much, but yeah, that's true. Be a long while before something so big happens again, after Harry Potter and LotR, and maybe to an extent the MCU we've not seen anything else so big that way.

 

[Bartholen]

Don't quite agree on it being as important to fantasy cinema as the book to literature, or changing nerdy media so much, but yeah, that's true. Be a long while before something so big happens again, after Harry Potter and LotR, and maybe to an extent the MCU we've not seen anything else so big that way.

I think Game of Thrones had a decent shot, but by season 5 it was apparent Martin's writing and source material ultimately carried the show, and they just couldn't stick the landing without him. With how control of media and especially big productions is being concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer companies there's emerged a tradeoff: on one hand you have fewer and fewer properties getting produced and pushed, but on the other the ones that do get proper production values and budgets behind them. From what I've heard of the Wheel of Time show its faults don't seem to lie with the budget at the very least. So I do think it's possible to see the emergence of something at least as well produced as LotR.

It feels baffling to say this, but of all parties I think Amazon is the one that seems to have been pushing the envelope with the likes of The Boys and Invincible. Neither of those had any brand recognition outside comic circles, and were incredibly graphic, subversive stories about superheroes. You wouldn't be adapting those if you were merely trying to ride the superhero wave, there was genuine though and consideration behind it. If I were to make a comparison, moving from Game of Thrones to The Witcher isn't that big a leap to take: both are dark fantasy that challenge traditional tropes of the genre. But moving from Marvel or even DC movies to The Boys is about as big of a shift as you can get while staying somewhat in the same genre. And let's not forget the guts it takes to even try to create a new depiction of Middle-Earth that doesn't involve the original cast.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Boys From Country Hell - (Prime, bought seperarely)
Irish horror comedy about vampire. Not vampires, just vampire. Just the one. Let's get the obvious out the way: it's not high budget, the reveal at the end looks as disappointing as one would expect out of such films. And the main character is a bit of a middling bore. The comedy is about as desaturated as the Irish weather too, so it may not hit for international audiences as well. But it's alright I suppose. The unique thing is the vampire doesn't actually bite anyone, but supernaturally sucks/draws the blood from a distance which does make for far more disturbing potential in death scenes. There curiously aren't any subtitle options, the second time a Prime film recently has been severely lacking - the first being Coma, a visually impressive Russian film I unfortunately could not continue with the American dubbing as the only option.

The House - Netflix
3 stop-motion animated shorts. First two quite disturbing, last one somewhat melancholic. Feel rather sad after all that. Mostly recommended, it didn't seem like a waste of time?

 

[Agema]

Hmm. Boris Vallejo appears to have been working fairly recently:
View attachment 5364

And he's tactfully covered up those barbarian women who were definitely wearing less in the actual film. Which is the opposite of what I normally expect from Vallejo.

 

[gorfias]

Frank Frazetta worked on the film, they weren't just mimicking him.

Wow, thanks! If I ever looked into the movie before, I forgot this stuff! Collab credit! And Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas wrote the screenplay!?!?

Fire and Ice (1983 film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

The Snyder Cut:

Pretty Good.

(Personal copy bought on Google Play)

I will say if you plan to see this avoid the Google Play version as the version on there still has the Imax tracking information on it to help Imax put the film up on screen so you have these two little white dots at the top most of the film.

As for the film itself it it's a Zack Snyder film undeniably with the kind of stuff you'd expect from it such as somewhat egregious use of Slo-Mo in places and vague allusion to bigger themes but apparently since Batman Vs Superman Zack has sort of decided to make this a sort of post war on terror film where Batman vs Superman was sort of a war on terrorism film idea The Snyder Cut Justice League is about putting aside old fears and grudges to work to combat an existential threat to the world which threatens to scorch the earth but not actually going any further into symbolism for that which for Zack Snyder feels like he was very restrained there but not in a big company holding him and telling him no but a self restraint way. Also there's some stuff about how possibly the original fears about Superman and totally not terrorism may be justified.

The film is technically really damn good though admittedly I refused to watch the panned Wheddon cut so I can't compare them. It really does lay down the groundwork for the characters and give them development and make sure that the audience knows who they are at least for the ones not previously introduced. It's cool to see Superman be just overpowered and hell but also Snyder manages to show that the reset of the league aren't helpless on their own too with Superman not actually being the one to finish Steppenwolf. Admittedly some of the stuff seems a little out of place / needed a little more explanation such as Martian Man Hunter and some of his stuff and the epilogue is quite frankly a complete mess which unless you are a DC fan will mean little to you and the references being lost on you and just what the hell was their idea that required The Joker of all people for their plan?

 

[Xprimentyl]

The Tragedy of Macbeth: Didn't Finish it / Great

I tried. I really did, but Shakespeare will always and forever elude me. About 15 minutes in, we were lost and gave up. Also, Denzel Washington's complete lack of any attempt of any sort of British accent put him doubly out of place. Apparently it's a good film; I'll never know.

Old: Weird / Great

A family vacationing at a tropical resort is taken to a very exclusive spot on the island where they encounter a mysterious "force" that causes them to age rapidly and prevents them from leaving.

Seeing as M. Night Shyamalan makes his mandatory cameo in his own movie within the first few minutes, I knew not to expect much. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't great either. It treads on some uncomfortable territory at times, making you reflect and think on certain implications, but the way it's filmed, it just screams, I dunno, "B-film Hollywood." It goes out of its way in certain shots to hide what the trailers have already revealed making some of the writing feel very "1st year hipster theater student." But in the end, it's an indictment of Big Pharma, and peters out to the credits. Watch if you want to.

 

[Gordon_4]

The Tragedy of Macbeth: Didn't Finish it / Great

I tried. I really did, but Shakespeare will always and forever elude me. About 15 minutes in, we were lost and gave up. Also, Denzel Washington's complete lack of any attempt of any sort of British accent put him doubly out of place. Apparently it's a good film; I'll never know.

Grab yourself a copy of Kenneth Brannagh's "Much Ado About Nothing", Denzel is in that as well. So is Keanu Reeves. Its a hell of a thing to watch. Its also a touch easier to digest because its one of the comedies.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Grab yourself a copy of Kenneth Brannagh's "Much Ado About Nothing", Denzel is in that as well. So is Keanu Reeves. Its a hell of a thing to watch. Its also a touch easier to digest because its one of the comedies.

I appreciate the recommendation, but at this point, I've decided Shakespeare and I aren't a good fit. I've tried watching several film adaptations of his work, and every time, I've found myself having to translate English into English while several sentences behind the pace of the production, and continually lost. If Much Ado About Nothing falls in my lap, fine, but I most likely won't go looking for it.

 

[Gordon_4]

I appreciate the recommendation, but at this point, I've decided Shakespeare and I aren't a good fit. I've tried watching several film adaptations of his work, and every time, I've found myself having to translate English into English while several sentences behind the pace of the production, and continually lost. If Much Ado About Nothing falls in my lap, fine, but I most likely won't go looking for it.

Fair enough.

 

[Ezekiel]

I couldn't make it through either of the Shakespearean Orson Welles movies I tried, Chimes at Midnight and Othello. If I was reading, I could have kept stopping to grasp the meanings of things, but movies? Tiresome.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I couldn't make it through either of the Shakespearean Orson Welles movies I tried, Chimes at Midnight and Othello. If I was reading, I could have kept stopping to grasp the meanings of things, but movies? Tiresome.

Exactly this. Reading it is fine as you can absorb/understand it at your own clip. But watching it acted out and trying to understand one line as five others are spoken in the interim is a task. Doesn't help that the actors tend to speak quickly so as to make it sound like fluid, conversational speech. I've long since accepted that I'm not "smart" enough to watch Shakespeare.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Oh, yeah; we also watched...

Life of Pi: Really Good / Great

A young Indian man finds himself stranded in a lifeboat with a feral tiger, and struggles to keep his feline "friend" safe and alive while staying uneaten himself.

I'd heard of this movie for years, but the premise was off-putting insofar as I felt a dude and a tiger in a lifeboat sounded like a thin premise, and probably should have been shorter that reality would allow, but it's actually a really good movie. Well acted, and the twist at the end commands a second watch to eke out hints one might have missed that suggest what we saw might not have been the reality we were presented. Recommended. My asshole stayed puckered the entire time as my three deepest fears are being burned alive, drowning and being eaten alive by a wild animal (finding myself in a Saw-like situation coming in a close fourth.)

 

[Agema]

Attack of The Lederhosen Zombies (2016)

Did I really watch this? What was I thinking? I know I've always had a thing for B-movie horror, but... seriously? THIS? I so should have watched Call Girl of Cthulhu instead.

It's a comedy schlock horror from Austria, although most of the dialogue is in English. When you start thinking Evil Dead or Braindead, you understand what a good director can do with little more than two rocks to rub together. I'm going to say that whoever directed this has clearly watched that sort of movie and wanted to emulate it, but does not have the spark to carry it off. To be fair, it's not without some charm, it almost succeeds at being occasionally funny, it's done well enough on a shoestring that I wouldn't be outraged if the creators got another shot at movie-making. But it just lacks enough pizazz to drag it out of mediocrity. In fact, I cannot help but feel that someone thought up a great name for trashy film, and once that effort was expended the movie itself got less than half as much thought.

 

[gorfias]

Nobody on HBO-Max

Fun fantasy movie for dads in which they have work a day jobs that cause one day to merge into the next but secretly they are super deadly armies of one.

It is a neat 1.5 hours that does not over stay its welcome in which a late middle age skinny short and unremarkable looking man trashes an army of bad Russian gangsters. No need to think more deeply about it than that. But sometimes, that's all you really want. B+

 

[Agema]

The Green Knight (2021)

This is a fascinating and quite arty epic fantasy based on the myth of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. So King Arthur is celebrating Christmas, and invites his nephew Gawain to join him. Gawain's mother evidently has plans for her son, and through magic draws a mysterious stranger to Camelot. This stranger offers a challenge that any knight may strike him, but that in a year's time they must present themselves to the stranger and receive the same cut they inflicted. Gawain steps up... and a year later, Gawain heads out on his quest to receive his payback.

It is on the most obvious level of plot a medieval fantasy quest; on the second a story of morality of the nature of being a knight (or, perhaps, more relatably, just being a good person) through the character of Gawain and what he has to learn, and on the third it dwells perhaps on the frailty and transience of lfe and civilisation.

This film is well off the beaten track and elements of it are uneven, but it is overall a thoughtful and well presented piece. The film has a nice mystical edge, and captures perhaps that borderline between Christianity and pagan magic that fits so well with Arthurian legend. The land is dark, dreary, strange and intimidating outside of the castles, and it makes its point well enough. Overall, a lovely if slightly flawed little gem of a movie.