What was the last film you watched?

[Mel O'Drama]

One of my all time favourite films. Yes it's a bit cheesy, yes it's overly sentimental, yes Mr Potter is more of a pantomime villain than a fully formed character and yes some of the characters are annoying (I want to slap Uncle Billy every time I watch it) but for me it's like having a long term partner, you love them not in spite of their flaws but because they make them more interesting and relatable.

That's a really nice way of looking at it.

I enjoyed reading your review Mel. I found it interesting as I haven’t seen this particular version since the 80s.

Oh great, and thanks.

The Alistair Sim and George C. Scott versions were always my favorites and for some reason this one never quite measured up for me. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m not exactly a big fan of musicals myself but I would like to go back and see this one now after about 35 years just to see if I would enjoy it more now at this age. I have a feeling I just might.

I did hesitate about watching when I saw it was a musical, but I'm really glad I did. As @Angela Christmas said many of the songs are forgettable, which is a shame, but I loved the performances, the atmosphere created in the film and the balance of darkness and humour. I think it works really well, especially in the non-musical moments.

The best is The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) but this is joint second with the 1951 version with Alistair Sim.

The 1951 will be on my list to watch in future. Come to think of it, I'm not sure which versions of A Christmas Carol I've actually watched.

The Muppet Christmas Carol is great. My biggest bugbear with it (as with many Disney-related films) is the nannying aspect ("Gee. This moment's a bit frightening for younger children. Let's have two daft narrators to diffuse it by saying something lighthearted"). Apart from that it's brilliant.

In my opinon, what lets this film down is it's songs, other than Thank You Very Much and the brilliant ensemble cast scene that goes with it, and Father Christmas, every other song is instantly forgettable and for a musical that's a near disaster. If it only had a couple more really good songs I think this film would be a Christmas classic, annually screened on TV.

Agreed. Still, at least there was wisdom enough to reprise both the songs you mentioned later in the film.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

When I added Nativity! to the queue, I also added the second and third films in the series. But now I see that the key character to appear in all three is the teacher's aid. Freeman - the lead character here - doesn't appear in any more, so I wonder if there's any point in continuing. Certainly I feel like I've seen more than enough of the kids and the man-child. I am curious enough to watch on to see how it's re-framed but, given the rule of diminishing returns, I can't help but wonder if continuing would be an act of pure masochism.

Well, what better time for masochism than Christmas. I ploughed on with...

Nativity 2: Danger In The Manger (2012)

There's very little I can say about this that I didn't say about the first. Pam Ferris and Jason Watkins are back and remain enjoyable, though Pam's role - sadly - is much smaller than in the first film. With David Tennant it can go either way for me, and there are TWO David Tennants here, playing both lead role and antagonist as twin brothers. Fortunately, this is a project in which I quite enjoyed him.

Marc Wooton's Mr Poppy remains supremely annoying and (as expected) dominates the film. Mark Kermode apparently described the character as "more threatening and weird than funny and entertaining", which about sums it up. This film sees him abduct a class full of children and a baby, kidnap a teacher, tying him up and stealing his wallet to fund things. Oh, and throwing said teacher's mobile phone - his only means of contacting his heavily pregnant wife - out of the back of the speeding minibus. I get that kids probably find him entertaining, but any sane adult would be glad to see this idiot getting locked up (though I'd settle for a sound thrashing).​

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey? (2014)

Since I know what to expect by now I have no-one to blame but myself. Taste almost prevailed and I came extremely close to switching off a few minutes in, the second or third time someone said "shopping maul". But then Celia Imrie's name popped up on-screen which confused me into watching.

The plot is thinner than ever and the characters thicker. The songs are abysmal. Seven year old British kids singing in terrible faux American accents and trying to give attitude. There's no Pam Ferris this time, either.

Despite having Martin Clunes, Catherine Tate and half the cast of Victoria Wood: As Seen On TV (Celia, Susie Blake and Duncan Preson are present and correct, with the latter two playing Tate's parents), the entire film centres around the useless, annoying lump carried over from the first two.

Never again. Never.​

 

[darkshadows38]

1stly the (1946) film It's A Wonderful life is a favorite of mine, for me the 1st time i remember watching it was back in the 90's i think? we had watched it in school during x-mas time i'm sure. at that time i hadn't seen that many black and white movies and i remember thinking how good it was and how different it was from films i watching at the time. and for many years i think it was the only Jimmy Stewart films i ever saw but i've seen i'd say bout maybe 50% or 60% of his films since than i think?

anyways i just got done watching one called Meet Me after the show (1951) with Bette Grable & Eddie Albert he wasn't the lead though nor did he play the husband either. it was about a wife who walked in on her husband with another woman but he actually wasn't cheating on her she was kissing him and Grable mistunderstood so she divorced his ass & later on in the film we find out she's still married to him? but she was getting Alimony from him. they spent a lot of time bickering over this and that until she decided to Fake amnesia and it was too get him back, it's a pretty damn good movie check it out it's on you tube of all places. 10/10 and i really needed to see a damn good movie these past few were either decent or just plain outright awful i really needed a good one

 

[Angela Channing]

Violent Night (2022)

This is a Christmas film for people who don't like Christmas films. It's part comedy, part action adventure, part horror, so it's not your typical Christmas film. However, it does have some of the familiar Christmas tropes:

• a couple destined to be together but there's an obstacle which stops it from happening
• there is a redemption story,
• Christmas seems doomed until someone saves the day
• the real Santa Claus appears.

A rich family gather to celebrate Christmas when a group of armed intruders get into their house to rob the millions of dollars that are in their safe. While the crime is being carried out, the real Santa Claus is visiting the house and he gets drawn into saving the family. Although the plot sounds outlandish, I couldn't help but being drawn into the film and accepting what was I was seeing as being perfectly normal. The film has strong Home Alone vibes at times when the child of the family sets booby traps for the robbers, some of which are so horrific that I couldn't watch the screen, something that I've never experienced before while viewing a film. Overall, I liked this film way more than I expected I would.

 

[Angela Channing]

Matilda (2022)

I've not read the book, I've not seen the previous film nor the stage production, so I was coming to this film with no knowledge about what it was about. It was remarkable good. It's a really strong story, the acting is superb, the musical numbers are entertaining and the film looks beautiful with close attention being paid to the colour palate they used.

Matilda is a bit of a child genius who has been home schooled until the authorities insist she needs a more conventional education. She's sent to school where she regularly gets into conflicts with the bullying headteacher, Mrs Trunchbull (Emma Thompson,) however, kindly teacher Mrs Honey (Lashana Lynch) is on her side. I often find child actors really annoying and hammy but they were fantastic in this, especially Alisha Weir in the lead role.

The film wasn't bogged down with too many songs which is often the case in stage to film adaptations, so it wasn't overly long and it flowed really well, so I suspect that many songs in the stage production were cut for the film. This may irritate fans of the theatre show but I think it made for a better film.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Cars 3 (2017)

I was going to watch Cars 2, but then noticed the steelbook was unsealed which suggested I'd watched it, so I cracked open the second sequel instead.

Looking back through this thread, it's almost four years since I watched Cars 2 (February 2019 - no wonder I can't remember it). I'd bought both at or around the same time, so my Cars 3 steelbook has been on my shelf, unopened for many years. It'd be longer still since I watched the original. That would be back on the old site somewhere.

Anyhow, while not exactly groundbreaking or earth-shattering, it satisfactorily killed the best part of two hours so I'll say it was worth the very long wait.​

 

[Biggie]

Frozen, 2013.

Happened across this while flicking about on the telly. It was 5 minutes in and decided to give it a few minutes of my time.

Frozen was simply excellent. Just magnificent.
The plot was very easy to buy into, with comedy and touching moments balanced.

The star of the show was the music.

 

[darkshadows38]

i have nothing against Frozen but i hate with a passion the song Let it Go it's easily one of the most annoying and among the worst Disney songs ever written, for me it's like nails on a chalkboard it's so bad. the characters i have nothing against though playing Disney's Dream light Valley on my x-box it's got Anna, Kristoff and i forget the leads name lol. i get the impression that Kristoff is an idiot. ]

and watch Matilda (1996) i haven't seen the new one to be fair so i can't say on how good it is but read the book i read that in one sitting when in read it in my teens.
than after you read the book and watch the (1996) film than tell us how good or bad the remake is. The (1996) film is really follows the book really well and honestly i can't think of what's left off but than i haven't read the book in years either.

i watched 2 the first was one called "Let's Dance (1950) with Fred Astire and Betty Hutton that was a really good one about 2 characters it starts out in WW2 in (1944) and Fred and Betty are in an act and he out of nowhere announces they are getting married to the crowd, she ends up telling him she married a soldier and the act breaks up, 6 years later in (1950) she's got a kid that of course was her husbands and he was killed not that longer in combat. he ended up being a rich mofo too and his evil mother was trying to get her grandson into living there with her without the mother. one of those i am rich and i can do what i want way of thinking. i'm not gonna say the whole movie but some of the music was good some of it was forgettable too, the film opens with her and Fred doing a number with them singing fast and they were frankly awful at it plus the song was terrible.

the next one i watched was also from (1950) called Everybody's Dancin' and it was awful the only name in it i know was Roddy Mcdowall who plays himself in a 2 minute scene. that easily took him 5 minutes to film at least and than he left. a really awful film about the saving of a place called Waltzland which is a place well you can do the Waltz in and it opens in (1917) and ends in what i assume is (1950) it's only about 65 minutes and not worth watching at all my rating for that is 3/10\

with Let's Dance (1950) i would say that's 8/10 with it being lower than 10 due to some really awful songs

 

[Angela Channing]

Glass Onion: An Knives Out Mystery (2022)

I was a big fan of Knives Out so was very keen to see this sequel. There is no real connection with the original film apart from the presence of Daniel Craig's character, detective Benoit Blanc, so it's not a true sequel more of a new story featuring the same character. I didn't expect to like this film more than the original but I did.

It's hard to say much about the film without giving away spoilers but from the beginning things aren't as they appear. The plot is straightforward but also quite complex at the same time. It's a really entertaining, interesting and watchable film from start to finish.

 

[Willie Oleson]

DR. NO
A scary spider scene ends with a hilarious killing.

Every hit is accompanied by a John Barry score! I tried it myself but nothing happened.

It's been a long time since I've watched the first Bond movie and I was surprised to see that Dr. NO only shows up in the last installment.
The underwater mansion looks gorgeous in that sixties-kitsch sort of way.


His evil laboratory looks positively wacky, and that's the way I like it.

Everything is labelled which makes me wonder if Alfred Pennyworth had something to do with the design.

But the most jaw-dropping scene happens in THUNDERBALL.
The view of James Bond in a towel on a massage/stretching machine is pleasant enough, but when a villain tampers with the speed control....the situation gets out of control.
Our super spy-hero SCREAMS for help; I'm pretty sure this is the first and also the last time he does that.

But why do electric/hydraulic/heat devices in films always have a Danger Mode? What's the point of it if you're not supposed to use it?
Anyway, someone should edit this into a 10 hours shaken-not-stirred video.

 

[Angela Channing]

Spoiler Alert (2022)

Michael and Kit are a couple and, spoiler alert, Kit dies. The film then tells the story of how they met, how they changed each other, how kit came out to his parents and how the relationship went through ups and downs. It was good to see a film about a gay people and their relationship that didn't fall into the usual stereotypes. It was ultimately a film about love and how people can still love and support when their relationship is getting into difficulties. The film has a lot of humour and yes, I did cry but then I cry at a lot of film.

 

[supermanfan]

Karate kid 3

 

[darkshadows38]

WOW i haven't seen The Karate Kid Part 3 (1989) in years! anyways i just got done watching Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) i had never seen it before and yeah i loved it and for me though it was Jane Russell who shined in the film more so i think she stole the film from Marylin lol. it's always going to make me laugh how some guys want a really good looking woman yet when my dog is smarter than her i say no thanks. i'd love to be married to a beautiful woman don't get me wrong but if she was dumber than a fence post i could not think of another way to put it, than she's not for me and sadly we all know women and some men too that are that dumb

i was Reading IMDB trivia board and according to Jane Russell she had a ball making the film and honestly it shows she did by her performance. the both of them look like they had a lot of fun making it & as i've always said when you have a cast of a film or a tv show have fun making it you can easily tell in their performance cause it i think enhances the performance. & can make a really bad tv show or a really bad film a lot better than if they were just reading the lines. 10/10 i still don't get why Marylin Monroe is loved like she is though.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

New Year's Eve (2011)

I'm not quite sure why I've ended up watching so many of these saccharine "significant day" romcoms in the latter part of the year, but at least I can now recognise a Love Actually knockoff when I see one. Like Christmas Eve, this attempts to create an interwoven story with a heavier hand than Richard Curtis, but I'd say NYE is a more successful film than Christmas Eve since it at least feels cinematic rather than made-for-TV.

Even though it's rather uninspired and far from a great film, NYE remains watchable due to its impressive cast of familiar faces. There's Michelle Pfeiffer doing her mousey "pre-transformation Selena Kyle" bit as a woman whose near death experience pushes her to complete her bucket list by the stroke of midnight with Zac Efron's help. Robert De Niro plays the dying man (nursed by Halle Berry) determined to see the ball drop in Times Square for the final time. Sarah Jessica Parker is the film's romantic lead (and hubby Matthew Broderick has a small role as a gruff mogul). Jon Bon Jovi is surprisingly watchable as an actor while the inevitable "rapper in an acting role" - less surprisingly - isn't. Cast, supporting players and cameos range from the sublime to the ridiculous. There's Penny Marshall (her brother did direct). Ryan Seacrest as himself. And Alyssa Milano as a nurse.

It may be going for Love Actually territory, but the loosely-connnected story with many of the characters all trying to gain entry to an exclusive club night instead reminded me of a rather different film: Thank God It's Friday. With Lea Michele in the Donna Summer role, as the aspiring singer wanting to get her break, who ends up performing before the crowd. My main reason for watching in the first place was to see Lea's performance of Auld Lang Syne in context.

With expectations low, I can say this one at least met them. In fact it was quite an enjoyable way to round off my cinematic year.​

 

[Crimson]

For New Year's Eve: THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972).

It's odd to me that this is so often considered a "bad movie" or even a "so bad it's good" movie. I think it's straight up good, certainly better than any of the other 70s disaster films. The plot is efficient, with a sense of urgency; in comparison, THE TOWERING INFERNO felt downright lacksidasical. The special effects are topnotch and hold up surprisingly well for a 50 year old movie. The actors are mostly excellent, although I'm a little iffy about Red Buttons' performance. The disparate characters are likable or relatable and, for the most part, behave as one might expect in such a dire situation: stressed, desperate, squabbling but occasionally noble.

I have no idea why Roger Ebert and other film critics were so snobby about this. What else would one expect from a movie about an upside down boat?

 

[Seaviewer]

The Post (2017)
"Based on true events", the story of how neophyte publisher of the Washington Post, Katharine Graham, decided to publish what became known as the Pentagon Papers.
Meryl Streep is known for the way she buries herself in her roles, and Tom Hanks matches her here as editor Bill Bradlee. I had no idea it was him until the cast was revealed at the end.
It occurred to me part way through that this amounted to a sort of prequel to All the President's Men (in which Jason Robards played Bradlee) and Steven Spielberg must have thought the same because he ends this film with an enactment of the discovery of the Watergate break-in.
All in all, a gripping newspaper drama but not the best of the genre.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The Duke (2020)

Every word of hyperbole on the poster above is true.

A terrific film that had me chortling a lot with its cheeky charm but still brought a lump to my throat more than once. The cinematography is wonderful, bringing the period detail vividly to live in high definition. The direction is subtle most of the time with the occasional eye-catching flourish that feels appropriate for the Sixties setting. At times it really feels like cast and crew used a time machine to get some of these shots.

It's all very British. Very Northern. Very human.






​

The Guardian's film review sums up the appeal much better than I would:

Michell does well in capturing a 60s north-east of belching chimney-stacks and rag-and-bone men; a limbo-land Britain, caught between the end of rationing and the birth of the Beatles. Kempton, one suspects, has both boots in the old world - but he can still dream of tomorrow.

What a lovely, rousing, finally moving film this is. The Duke is unashamedly sentimental and resolutely old-fashioned in the best sense of the term: a design classic built along the same lines as That Sinking Feeling, A Private Function or 50s Ealing comedies. In an earlier era, the role of Kempton would have been played by Denholm Elliott or Alastair Sim.

 

[Angela Channing]

It's odd to me that this is so often considered a "bad movie" or even a "so bad it's good" movie. I think it's straight up good

I completely agree with you. It's an excellent film in so many respects. It has great action scenes, scene of real tension and drama and the scene when Mrs Rosen dies is as emotional as any death I've seen in a film. I absolutely love this film and seen it many times.

 

[Angela Channing]

The Menu (2022)

I'm not sure I completely understood everything that was happening in this film but it is an entertaining ride.

Ralph Fiennes plays a renowned chef who invites a group of people to a special dinner that he is cooking at his restaurant which is located on an island. The dinner comprises several courses which he introduces with a short speech and they get progressively more cryptic as time goes on. All is not what it seems and unknown to the guests, they have been specially selected as part of a plan motivated by vengeance. I can't really say much more without giving away spoilers but as the chef's plans begin to unfold, the film get progressively intense, weird, thrilling and suspenseful.