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TST Film Review Thread
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Matt.GC
TS Member
Bag Head - Pretty formulaic in terms of it's structure, and certainly not excellent. But an original premise that's quite interesting and entertaining. An enjoyable enough bog standard supernatural horror that I'd watch again. 6/10.
Cocaine Bear - Left the cinema before I had a chance to watch it but I finally did tonight. Very clever the way this movie is written and it's hard to explain. Well choreographed dark comedy that makes a mockery of the rediclous real life events that inspired it. 7.5/10.
Cocaine Bear - Left the cinema before I had a chance to watch it but I finally did tonight. Very clever the way this movie is written and it's hard to explain. Well choreographed dark comedy that makes a mockery of the rediclous real life events that inspired it. 7.5/10.
ScottishChris
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Legend
A few films I've seen of late:
Poor Things: I was all set to see the Holdovers, but no cinema in an hours radius was showing it. Poor Things was interesting. The storyline and themes were odd - which I was expecting. This is maybe a controversial point, but I felt the casting was mostly good, but I felt Emma Stone as Bella Baxter was poorly cast. I did have some moral quandaries around the core notion of her sexuality. That said, I enjoyed it for what it was... I don't have a desire to see it again.
One Life: An absolute sleeper of a film when I went to see it in its's early days or release. I knew the story, and of course this being a film doesn't follow the true narrative. This being said I really enjoyed the film and turned into a blubbering idiot at times (thankfully cinemas are dark!). I felt the casting was excellent - Johnny Flynn was particularly excellent. This film deserves more in terms of coverage and praise... it is very good and covers some history we should all know.
Argylle: I enjoyed it for what it is. It is disjointed at times, and I believe it would have made a better TV series than a film. It's not excellent, but it is fun and a bit of nonsense.
Wonka: I loved it. I loved the music, the story, most of the casting. It's exactly what you would want from a film like this.
Non-cinema, films:
Wild (2014 - Disney+): This is the story about a young lady who sets out to complete the Pacific Crest Trail to reflect on her up-bringing, issues with drugs, love and sex. It stars Reece Witherspoon in what I believe is her best acting role. The film is based on a true story. It is a thoroughly enjoyable movie which does have a few triggering moment, but turns positive at the end. I would highly recommend this film.
Happiness for Beginners (Netflix): It is a silly, low budget film about a group hiking a section of the Appalachian Trail. Each member of the group is there for personal fulfilment. Needless to say Helen (the main protagonist) starts as a hopeless hiker and ends up being the best. She also falls for her brothers best friend [who just happens to be there]. It ends with lots of cheese and happiness. I watched this on a low mental health day, and it hit the spot.
Lift (Netflix): It's a story about a criminal who needs to team up with law enforcement to steal from an even bigger criminal. It's not very good, and the tech in the film is beyond ridiculous. i would class this as a 'drinking film'... you need to be at least a bottle of wine down to start it and you need to keep the alcohol levels up to get the most from it.
Poor Things: I was all set to see the Holdovers, but no cinema in an hours radius was showing it. Poor Things was interesting. The storyline and themes were odd - which I was expecting. This is maybe a controversial point, but I felt the casting was mostly good, but I felt Emma Stone as Bella Baxter was poorly cast. I did have some moral quandaries around the core notion of her sexuality. That said, I enjoyed it for what it was... I don't have a desire to see it again.
One Life: An absolute sleeper of a film when I went to see it in its's early days or release. I knew the story, and of course this being a film doesn't follow the true narrative. This being said I really enjoyed the film and turned into a blubbering idiot at times (thankfully cinemas are dark!). I felt the casting was excellent - Johnny Flynn was particularly excellent. This film deserves more in terms of coverage and praise... it is very good and covers some history we should all know.
Argylle: I enjoyed it for what it is. It is disjointed at times, and I believe it would have made a better TV series than a film. It's not excellent, but it is fun and a bit of nonsense.
Wonka: I loved it. I loved the music, the story, most of the casting. It's exactly what you would want from a film like this.
Non-cinema, films:
Wild (2014 - Disney+): This is the story about a young lady who sets out to complete the Pacific Crest Trail to reflect on her up-bringing, issues with drugs, love and sex. It stars Reece Witherspoon in what I believe is her best acting role. The film is based on a true story. It is a thoroughly enjoyable movie which does have a few triggering moment, but turns positive at the end. I would highly recommend this film.
Happiness for Beginners (Netflix): It is a silly, low budget film about a group hiking a section of the Appalachian Trail. Each member of the group is there for personal fulfilment. Needless to say Helen (the main protagonist) starts as a hopeless hiker and ends up being the best. She also falls for her brothers best friend [who just happens to be there]. It ends with lots of cheese and happiness. I watched this on a low mental health day, and it hit the spot.
Lift (Netflix): It's a story about a criminal who needs to team up with law enforcement to steal from an even bigger criminal. It's not very good, and the tech in the film is beyond ridiculous. i would class this as a 'drinking film'... you need to be at least a bottle of wine down to start it and you need to keep the alcohol levels up to get the most from it.
John_P
TS Member
Caught up on the only big January release I missed yesterday with The Color Purple the big screen version of the Broadway musical, obviously originally a novel that was adapted to film by Steven Spielberg.
Very much enjoyed this version, some great songs, and a very natural way were the songs come out of the situations and the characters do make some of the music themselves. Also felt like a lot of it really helped from being shot on locations and on large sets. Difficult to pick out acting performances when due to the time jumps a number of the actresses change. But I'd probably argue Colman Domingo is better in this than he was in Rustin which he's picked up an Oscar nomination for.
Very much enjoyed this version, some great songs, and a very natural way were the songs come out of the situations and the characters do make some of the music themselves. Also felt like a lot of it really helped from being shot on locations and on large sets. Difficult to pick out acting performances when due to the time jumps a number of the actresses change. But I'd probably argue Colman Domingo is better in this than he was in Rustin which he's picked up an Oscar nomination for.
John_P
TS Member
New out in the cinemas today is the A24 movie that seems to have missed out on all the awards buzz. The Iron Claw, which stars Zack Efron, Harris Dickinson, and Jeremy Allen White as three of the famous Von Erich Brothers.
A family of wrestlers led by their father Fritz, who ran WCCW in Texas in the 70s and 80s. A story about family, brotherhood, an overbearing father, and tragedy after tragedy. Plus wrestling in the final days of the territories before the WWF swept it all aside.
Just a great film and great performances (maybe not best Ric Flair impression though), I knew the real story going in but that really didn't lessen the impact.
A family of wrestlers led by their father Fritz, who ran WCCW in Texas in the 70s and 80s. A story about family, brotherhood, an overbearing father, and tragedy after tragedy. Plus wrestling in the final days of the territories before the WWF swept it all aside.
Just a great film and great performances (maybe not best Ric Flair impression though), I knew the real story going in but that really didn't lessen the impact.
John_P
TS Member
With Part 2 out in a few weeks they re released 2021 Dune on the big screen this weekend. So I headed back to the planet of Arakkis.
Denis Villneuve pulls off another sci-fi masterclass as he marshalls a cast filled with famous faces. The absolute dread in the first half of the film as we await for the trap to be sprung, before we have the escape into the desert itself. There's a lot of set up but plenty of pay off. Despite it being part 1 of 2 it does feel like a complete story.
After the screening we got some interviews about Part 2 and a scene from the film as well. Can't wait for it now.
Denis Villneuve pulls off another sci-fi masterclass as he marshalls a cast filled with famous faces. The absolute dread in the first half of the film as we await for the trap to be sprung, before we have the escape into the desert itself. There's a lot of set up but plenty of pay off. Despite it being part 1 of 2 it does feel like a complete story.
After the screening we got some interviews about Part 2 and a scene from the film as well. Can't wait for it now.
John_P
TS Member
Saw the Sony Marvel MCU adjacent film Madame Web, barring the game lead characters interactions just felt like a failure of a movie on every level.
Biggest worry for me is how the MCU currently isn't doing very well and you feel a lot of people who don't realise this is from a different studio and just assume it's another misfire from the MCU.
Biggest worry for me is how the MCU currently isn't doing very well and you feel a lot of people who don't realise this is from a different studio and just assume it's another misfire from the MCU.
John_P
TS Member
Bob Marley - One Love the biopic covering Bob Marley in the late 70s when he's nearly killed in his own home in Jamaica, moving to London and becoming a global super star following the recording and release of Exodus.
Despite the fact it very much eschews the usual music biopic trope of the climb to fame (see Walk Hard) in this Marley is already a famous man in Jamaica and abroad. It still is very much by the numbers plotting. Feels like it relys too much on putting in another Marley tune instead of really digging into what made the man tick during these key years of his life.
A pity as Kingsley Ben-Adir is excellent as Bob Marley, as is Lashana Lynch as his wife Rita.
Despite the fact it very much eschews the usual music biopic trope of the climb to fame (see Walk Hard) in this Marley is already a famous man in Jamaica and abroad. It still is very much by the numbers plotting. Feels like it relys too much on putting in another Marley tune instead of really digging into what made the man tick during these key years of his life.
A pity as Kingsley Ben-Adir is excellent as Bob Marley, as is Lashana Lynch as his wife Rita.
John_P
TS Member
Finally saw the 10th and final best picture nomination for the academy awards today.
Jeffrey Wright plays Monk in American Fiction. Were he's an acclaimed writer of books no one buys, in a fit of pique he writes a novel filled with clichés about the African-American experience as a way to send up the publishing community. Things go wrong when it unexpectedly is lapped up by the publishers and there's even talk of a film adaptation.
Great performances across the board especially from Wright and Sterling K Brown, who have both gotten Oscar nominations.
The film is very funny, and there's a lot going on as Monk tries to deal with the literary world and his own family.
Jeffrey Wright plays Monk in American Fiction. Were he's an acclaimed writer of books no one buys, in a fit of pique he writes a novel filled with clichés about the African-American experience as a way to send up the publishing community. Things go wrong when it unexpectedly is lapped up by the publishers and there's even talk of a film adaptation.
Great performances across the board especially from Wright and Sterling K Brown, who have both gotten Oscar nominations.
The film is very funny, and there's a lot going on as Monk tries to deal with the literary world and his own family.
John_P
TS Member
Tonights cinema trip was a preview screening of Wicked Little Letters starring Jessie Buckley and Olivia Colman.
Set in Littlehampton in post World War One Britain as a slew of poison pen letters targeting Colmans character Edith and the finger of suspicion points to her rowdy neighbour Rose (Buckley).
Lots of fun and full of plenty of old timey swear words. The hundred minutes of running time flies by.
Set in Littlehampton in post World War One Britain as a slew of poison pen letters targeting Colmans character Edith and the finger of suspicion points to her rowdy neighbour Rose (Buckley).
Lots of fun and full of plenty of old timey swear words. The hundred minutes of running time flies by.
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Alix
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Balder BEEP BEEP
Watched The Creator last night on Disney+. Wasn’t really sure what to expect, got a big sci fi war film. I liked it - the effects looked good, the NOMAD was a pretty terrifying piece of kit, and the story was slightly predictable but engaging. It did get a bit sad in places - the futility of war and civilian collateral damage were key themes. The kid who played Alphie acted their little socks off.
jon81uk
TS Member
Yes I saw this at the cinema last year and was expecting it to be a lot more about robots/AI and terminator style stuff whereas it turned out it was a lot more about war is bad and why are we fighting, plus as you say the civilian collatoral.
Basically I was expecting Sci-Fi but got a war film.
John_P
TS Member
Lisa Frankenstein
Kathryn Newton stars in this 80s set comedy horror as a high schooler who ends up teaming up with a reanimated corpse from over a century ago.
Loads of fun and a number of laugh out loud moments. See it now so when everyone else sees it in 5 years time you're ahead of the curve.
Kathryn Newton stars in this 80s set comedy horror as a high schooler who ends up teaming up with a reanimated corpse from over a century ago.
Loads of fun and a number of laugh out loud moments. See it now so when everyone else sees it in 5 years time you're ahead of the curve.
John_P
TS Member
It's the Oscars this weekend, so here's my picks for the big awards
Film - Oppenheimer
Director - Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)
Actor - Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)
Actress - Lily Gladstone (Killers Of The Flower Moon)
Supporting Actor - Robert Downey Jnr (Oppenheimer)
Supporting Actress - Da'vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)
All in a cracking year for cinema with loads of great films and performances.
Film - Oppenheimer
Director - Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)
Actor - Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)
Actress - Lily Gladstone (Killers Of The Flower Moon)
Supporting Actor - Robert Downey Jnr (Oppenheimer)
Supporting Actress - Da'vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)
All in a cracking year for cinema with loads of great films and performances.
Matt.GC
TS Member
Zone of Interest.
When it came out in my local Cineworld, they showed it a few times and then removed it. They're gits for doing that in their Group 2 cinemas, advertise the hell out of something, play it a few times, then if you blink you end up missing it. But they put a showing on last Wednesday as an Oscar season special. For a Wednesday night, the auditorium was busy, almost half full.
As far as the second world war in film goes, the family friendly stories of war heroics, Damn Busters, The Train, Steve McQueen doing motorbike stunts etc, in which Nazi's have been portrayed as atypical Hollywood "bad guys" have been done to death. We've seen gritty depictions of important stories from the allied perspective in the likes of Saving Private Ryan, Darkest Hour, and Dunkirk. We've seen powerful, chilling, and disturbing stories of the Holocaust told in the likes of Schindler's List and The Pianist.
But this movie is unlike any I've ever seen. The premise is quite simple, you follow the family of Rudolph Hoss as they go about their day to day business in their villa at Auschwitz, discussing things like how to landscape the garden, showing around the in-laws, what to have for dinner, playing with the kids, and deciding whether to move or not when Hoss is promoted. Would be just everyday mundane stuff, if not for the circumstance.
Whilst they crack on going about their dull business like any upper-middle class family, this movie makes you feel disgusted with every normal activity they partake in. A lifestyle you wouldn't begrudge anyone, if you ignored who they were, why they're there, and what's happening on the other side of that big concrete barbed wire topped wall. There's no torture, rounding up, or gun shots to the head shown here. No. Just a family acting "normal", blissfully going about their daily business. That's pretty much it.
Except that it isn't. Prisoners mill around them doing house work, gardening, and one is provided to Hoss for sex. Whilst they smell flowers and the kids enjoy the pool, cracks of gun shots can be heard in the distance. Whilst walking out into the beautiful garden, SS officers shouting, and prisoners begging, can be heard on the other side of that imposing grey wall. As the kids play, steam trains can be heard arriving at Birkenau. When the bed time stories are being read, fire and smoke colours the night sky orange and black outside the bedroom window. Throughput most of the movie, there's this factory, industrial sound humming away in the back ground, only broken up by distant shouting steam engines, or gunfire. As if it's perfectly normal.
A haunting movie, not to be watched, but to be experienced. It's sound design and the way it is filmed immerses you in the evil. It's hard to explain, but it's not about what happens and what is shown, it's about what isn't. I'm glad I got to see it in the cinema, where this movie should be watched. From the titles to the credits, there were no gasps, no mutters, no nothing. Just silence throughout. 9/10.
When it came out in my local Cineworld, they showed it a few times and then removed it. They're gits for doing that in their Group 2 cinemas, advertise the hell out of something, play it a few times, then if you blink you end up missing it. But they put a showing on last Wednesday as an Oscar season special. For a Wednesday night, the auditorium was busy, almost half full.
As far as the second world war in film goes, the family friendly stories of war heroics, Damn Busters, The Train, Steve McQueen doing motorbike stunts etc, in which Nazi's have been portrayed as atypical Hollywood "bad guys" have been done to death. We've seen gritty depictions of important stories from the allied perspective in the likes of Saving Private Ryan, Darkest Hour, and Dunkirk. We've seen powerful, chilling, and disturbing stories of the Holocaust told in the likes of Schindler's List and The Pianist.
But this movie is unlike any I've ever seen. The premise is quite simple, you follow the family of Rudolph Hoss as they go about their day to day business in their villa at Auschwitz, discussing things like how to landscape the garden, showing around the in-laws, what to have for dinner, playing with the kids, and deciding whether to move or not when Hoss is promoted. Would be just everyday mundane stuff, if not for the circumstance.
Whilst they crack on going about their dull business like any upper-middle class family, this movie makes you feel disgusted with every normal activity they partake in. A lifestyle you wouldn't begrudge anyone, if you ignored who they were, why they're there, and what's happening on the other side of that big concrete barbed wire topped wall. There's no torture, rounding up, or gun shots to the head shown here. No. Just a family acting "normal", blissfully going about their daily business. That's pretty much it.
Except that it isn't. Prisoners mill around them doing house work, gardening, and one is provided to Hoss for sex. Whilst they smell flowers and the kids enjoy the pool, cracks of gun shots can be heard in the distance. Whilst walking out into the beautiful garden, SS officers shouting, and prisoners begging, can be heard on the other side of that imposing grey wall. As the kids play, steam trains can be heard arriving at Birkenau. When the bed time stories are being read, fire and smoke colours the night sky orange and black outside the bedroom window. Throughput most of the movie, there's this factory, industrial sound humming away in the back ground, only broken up by distant shouting steam engines, or gunfire. As if it's perfectly normal.
A haunting movie, not to be watched, but to be experienced. It's sound design and the way it is filmed immerses you in the evil. It's hard to explain, but it's not about what happens and what is shown, it's about what isn't. I'm glad I got to see it in the cinema, where this movie should be watched. From the titles to the credits, there were no gasps, no mutters, no nothing. Just silence throughout. 9/10.
Thameslink Rail
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Smiler
I'd love to see something at my local cinema but there's a general lack of films I'd be interested in. I've got a choice of ten foreign language films though.
John_P
TS Member
Just the one wrong pick from educated guesses, thought Emma Stone having already won an Oscar would've left an easier path for Lily Gladstone.
Anyhow thought it was a great Oscar ceremony, plenty of comedy throughout, and it actually felt like a proper celebration of film and the industry.
Fantastic performance of I'm Just Ken as well.
ScottishChris
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Legend
I have been to see Ghostbusters Frozen Empire.
I was disappointed. The story was poorly constructed, some of the characters were poorly developed and so much of it didn't really make sense.
I don't want to go too deep into the story to avoid spoilers, so this may be a bit cryptic.
Firstly, the story development from the previous film was just shoe-horned in. The brief "this is why they are in New York in the Fire House" was rushed, and I feel the development of this was odd.
Some of the characters were oddly developed. Melody - you just have more questions than answers. The biggest one was how did she know that Phoebe was able to turn herself into a ghost for a few minutes... when nobody else knew.
'The FireMaster' character was clearly trying to go down the comical route. It didn't work. It was very poorly cast and the character was poor.
James Acaster... I love that man. His character was alright, and I think he was a OK cast. The issue though was with the backstory. Why an abandoned aquarium? We are told Winston is wealthy and has this whole organisation behind him... but it was just James? His character had potential, but it failed.
I do also believe that they shoehorned characters from the previous film into this one. Podcast is living in Dan Akroyds basement with his parents thinking he is at space camp? That's list-worthy strange. Finn Wolfhard's love interest from the previous film is randomly now James Acaster's intern. It just was really poorly formed.
For the positives:
1. Paul Rudd is a very handsome man and is in the film. I do enjoy his relationship with Callie in the movie.
2. Finn Wolfhard (Trevor Spengler) is a talented actor. I don't feel he was allowed to really shine in this film, but lots of potential for the next (if there is one).
3. Like Finn, Mckenna Grace (Phoebe Spangler) has a lot of talent - she was in the spotlight for much of this film, but the story was poor.
4. The relationship between the Spenglers and Paul Rud really developed well. There is an "awww" moment near the end - which was sweet.
5. The CG was good. Slimer was in the movie as were the StayPuff marshmallow men.
6. It was Ghostbusters
So, in summary it was by far the poorest of the Ghostbusters films to date. I enjoyed it because I like Ghostbusters, but remove the emotion and honestly it wasn't very good. I do still feel the franchise has legs - they just need to do better next time.
I was disappointed. The story was poorly constructed, some of the characters were poorly developed and so much of it didn't really make sense.
I don't want to go too deep into the story to avoid spoilers, so this may be a bit cryptic.
Firstly, the story development from the previous film was just shoe-horned in. The brief "this is why they are in New York in the Fire House" was rushed, and I feel the development of this was odd.
Some of the characters were oddly developed. Melody - you just have more questions than answers. The biggest one was how did she know that Phoebe was able to turn herself into a ghost for a few minutes... when nobody else knew.
'The FireMaster' character was clearly trying to go down the comical route. It didn't work. It was very poorly cast and the character was poor.
James Acaster... I love that man. His character was alright, and I think he was a OK cast. The issue though was with the backstory. Why an abandoned aquarium? We are told Winston is wealthy and has this whole organisation behind him... but it was just James? His character had potential, but it failed.
I do also believe that they shoehorned characters from the previous film into this one. Podcast is living in Dan Akroyds basement with his parents thinking he is at space camp? That's list-worthy strange. Finn Wolfhard's love interest from the previous film is randomly now James Acaster's intern. It just was really poorly formed.
For the positives:
1. Paul Rudd is a very handsome man and is in the film. I do enjoy his relationship with Callie in the movie.
2. Finn Wolfhard (Trevor Spengler) is a talented actor. I don't feel he was allowed to really shine in this film, but lots of potential for the next (if there is one).
3. Like Finn, Mckenna Grace (Phoebe Spangler) has a lot of talent - she was in the spotlight for much of this film, but the story was poor.
4. The relationship between the Spenglers and Paul Rud really developed well. There is an "awww" moment near the end - which was sweet.
5. The CG was good. Slimer was in the movie as were the StayPuff marshmallow men.
6. It was Ghostbusters
So, in summary it was by far the poorest of the Ghostbusters films to date. I enjoyed it because I like Ghostbusters, but remove the emotion and honestly it wasn't very good. I do still feel the franchise has legs - they just need to do better next time.