What was the last film you watched?

[Toni]

Yesterday I watched two tv movies that I guess belong here (they were not tv shows). One of them was this fantabulous biopic of actor Peter Sellers, starring an amazing Geoffrey Rush. This is one of the most surrealistic, profound, believable bio movies I have ever watched, maybe together with "Feud" (and a great miniseries about Natalie Wood).

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I also watched the remake of "The Boys in the Band", too similar to the original movie and, therefore, a bit outdated. I must say that I found Jim Parsons unexpectedly solid, and Zachary Quinto improves somewhat the unberable role he plays here and in the revival play (all of them repeated here). The intentions are good, but I think it´s out of place in Netflix.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The Day Of The Triffids (1962)

Clayton Farlow saves the world (with the help of Thora Hird's daughter and The Doctor's granddaughter).

 

[DallasFanForever]

Never seen it but from that preview I can honestly say I’ll never forget the name of it. Could they have said the title of the movie just a few more times?

 

[darkshadows38]

i just got done watching Stargate (1994) i love the tv show more than the film but the film is still pretty good though 8/10

 

[Angela Channing]

Blithe Spirit (2020)

I hadn't seen the play or the original film adaptation so I knew very little about the story and was looking forward too seeing this however, I shouldn't have bothered. Very disappointing film. I didn't laugh once even though it was meant to be a comedy. I'm going to have to watch the 1945 film of the story to see if it was any better. On the plus side, the setting was great and I liked a lot of the cinematography but the slapstick moments were cringy rather than funny and Judi Dench played her role too seriously to be a kooky madcap medium.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I'm going to have to watch the 1945 film of the story to see if it was any better.

I'm very fond of the 1945 version. The effects are a little dated, but the dialogue is delivered brilliantly, as you'd expect from Rex Harrison and Margaret Rutherford (I don't think anyone could accuse the ever-wacky Rutherford of playing Madame Arcati too seriously). It's also worth bearing in mind that Margaret Rutherford and Kay Hammond originated their respective roles in the first run of the play.

I can understand the point of a remake - after all it's been three quarters of a century, and the play has been performed on stage by countless actors since it began. All the same, the 1945 version feels definitive to me, so I'd find it difficult to put those interpretations out of my mind enough to enjoy the new version.

 

[Angela Channing]

I can understand the point of a remake - after all it's been three quarters of a century, and the play has been performed on stage by countless actors since it began.

This was the main reason why I was keen to see the remake. It's a play that is constantly being revived in London's West End, most recently Jennifer Saunders was playing Madame Arcati because lockdown stopped that production and just a few years ago Angela Lansbury made a triumphant West End Return when she was 88, so I had high expectations for it.

I can imagine Margaret Rutherford as being perfect in the role of Madame Arcarti so I'm going to track down a copy of the 1945 version soon.

 

[darkshadows38]

saw 4 (2007) it's a good movie but not one of my favorites in the series part 2 (2005) is my favorite one actually. this one i'd say is 8/10

 

[Mel O'Drama]

And The Same To You (1960)

With a cast including Terry Scott, Tommy Cooper and Renee Houston. William Hartnell plays a Sid James type dual role as the fast talking con artist who poses as an avuncular vicar, while Sid James himself plays another role entirely.​

 

[The Lovely Sue Ellen]

IT Chapter 2

 

[darkshadows38]

how did you like it? i'm one of those weird ones that thought the 2nd one was actually better than the first, the 1st one angered the living shit out of me cause of the way it ended with Beverly getting kidnapped that's not in the book and that ending and what they did angered me so much that to me hurt the film for me so i give it a lower rating to boot. the way Pennywise died though was really really really stupid though that's not how he is killed in the book either a drunk frat boy can prolly come up with a better idea than the idiots who made the film

 

[Angela Channing]

The Father (2020)

This is a film about the confusion and disorientation that dementia can cause. It reminded a lot of the episode of Emmerdale a few years ago which was told from the point of view of the character Ashley who was living with dementia and I thought Emmerdale did it better. However, this was a very insightful film in how it showed the effects of dementia on the screen at time making me experience the confusion that the Anthony Hopkins character was going through.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Clue (1985)

It really hit the spot for me tonight, and Tim Curry is blindingly good.

I think I've watched it before, but I may be thinking of Murder By Death, which I've definitely seen. In fact I would have sworn this scene was from MBD:

 

[Angela Channing]

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

I can't understand why the critics panned this film because I loved it and Gal Gadot is stunningly beautiful in it even after a long energetic fight scene. Maybe the critics didn't like it because it wasn't as good as the original, maybe it was because it never got a proper cinema release so some of the action sequences didn't have the intended impact or maybe it was because the storyline is a bit ludicrous but then it's a superhero film so it's not meant to be realistic. Whatever the reason why they didn't like it, don't listen to them, it's a great piece of entertainment.

 

[The Lovely Sue Ellen]

The Craft

 

[James from London]

My favourite film critic Mark Kermode thinks "The Deer Hunter is one of the worst films ever made, a rambling self-indulgent, self-aggrandising barf-fest steeped in manipulatively racist emotion, and notable primarily for its farcically melodramatic tone which is pitched somewhere between shrieking hysteria and somnambulist somberness." I can kind of see what he means, but I also think it's beautiful, haunting, harrowing and just so sad. It feels epic and small at the same time, sort of like an existential Dr Zhivago. The running time is three hours and pretty much the first third is given over to a small town wedding which doubles as a send-off party for the groom and his two friends who are off to Vietnam the next day. It's so wonderful to see a pre-fame Robert de Niro*, Christopher Walken, Cazale, Meryl Streep and the especially great John Savage back when they were all so young, playing off each other so beautifully -- getting drunk, falling in love, taking the p*ss, laughing, dancing, streaking. Then without warning, you're plunged into the hell of war and the film's most infamous sequence. Suffice to say, there aren't many laughs from this point on, but there are moments of delicacy and beauty and it's completely riveting throughout.

*Actually, de Niro had already done Taxi Driver and The Godfather Part II by this point.

Esquire has ranked The Deer Hunter as the second worst Oscar winning film of all-time, calling it "Unbearably annoying, and the wedding section’s so long you’ll find yourself praying for a barely competent local band to start parping out ‘Mr Brightside’ so you can sneak off." I feel strangely proud.

All 93 Best Picture Oscar Winners, Ranked

Nearly a century of Academy darlings, from worst to best. And no, 'Crash' isn't at number 92

www.esquire.com

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I can't understand why the critics panned this film because I loved it and Gal Gadot is stunningly beautiful in it even after a long energetic fight scene.

Whatever the reason why they didn't like it, don't listen to them, it's a great piece of entertainment.

It's nice to see a favourable review. Often, films that get slated across the board aren't quite as awful as all that (just as the ones with all the acclaim are perhaps not all that great), and I do wonder if a lot of these reviews are simply critics giving in to peer pressure, or at least viewing it with a biased conception based on other reviews.

I haven't seen it (I only got round to watching the first film in the last couple of months), but would like to at some point, if only to finally see a live-action Cheetah.

Esquire has ranked The Deer Hunter as the second worst Oscar winning film of all-time, calling it "Unbearably annoying, and the wedding section’s so long you’ll find yourself praying for a barely competent local band to start parping out ‘Mr Brightside’ so you can sneak off." I feel strangely proud.

Great stuff. I still feel I ought to watch The Deer Hunter just to say I've ticked that box. But it's fair to say my expectations aren't as high as they once were.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

A Month In The Country (1987)

The first main film roles for Colin Firth and Kenneth Branagh. Beautiful film.
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[thomaswak]

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

I can't understand why the critics panned this film because I loved it and Gal Gadot is stunningly beautiful in it even after a long energetic fight scene. Maybe the critics didn't like it because it wasn't as good as the original, maybe it was because it never got a proper cinema release so some of the action sequences didn't have the intended impact or maybe it was because the storyline is a bit ludicrous but then it's a superhero film so it's not meant to be realistic. Whatever the reason why they didn't like it, don't listen to them, it's a great piece of entertainment.

It's nice to see that you liked the movie. To be honest, I really dislike it. I wasn't aware of the bad critics when I watched it. So I wasn't under influences.

 

[Angela Channing]

It's nice to see that you liked the movie. To be honest, I really dislike it. I wasn't aware of the bad critics when I watched it. So I wasn't under influences.

Was there something specific you didn't like about the film? Did you not find the characters interesting? Was the storyline too far-fetched for you? Were there too many plot holes that you were unable to accept?