Film

[Eoin McLove]

I watched The Whale this evening. It was very good. I thought John Candy put in a hell of a performance.

[Hellyeah]

I watched The Whale this evening. It was very good. I thought John Candy put in a hell of a performance.

Surprisingly enjoyed it also, got a few laughs out of it which I was not expecting ie the furious fap!!!!

[Eoin McLove]

The opening scene no less!

[Buer]

Watched 'The last voyage of the Demeter' its not a bad film.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Watched No Hard Feelings last night. Definitely leans too much into sentimentality but some proper lols throughout, one of which featuring J. Lawrence in all of her wonderful glory! 

[Thorn]

SOME hard feelings then? 

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

More than tonight anyway; just watched Misery for the first time 

Funny how it looks and feels a bit like a Twin Peaks side story, especially given Richard Farnsworth (the sheriff) also stars in Lynch's A Straight Story.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Turns out, in a stroke of incredible synchronicity (since we hadn't seen either before), that Sunset Boulevard is quite literally the perfect companion film to Misery. It made for a pretty weird vibe while watching SB last night.

[open face surgery]

Watched and enjoyed Arrival last night.

[Necro Red]

Turns out, in a stroke of incredible synchronicity (since we hadn't seen either before), that Sunset Boulevard is quite literally the perfect companion film to Misery. It made for a pretty weird vibe while watching SB last night.

sunset is a brilliant movie!

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Through and through. Still a few other of Wilder's top-rated movies I've to get through; Witness For The Prosecution, Double Indemnity, Ace In The Hole. Looking forward to them!

[Mooncat]

Watched a good double bill the other night - Kids by Larry Clark. Which is supposed to be a watch-once, horrifying gritty drama, but reminds me of everyday teen life in Ireland in the 90s, particularly the stupid teen banter between them all. A teen boy likes to deflower virgins, but also has aids. One of those barely-a-plot films, that just follows a group of teens around for a day, like a fly on the wall kind of thing.

And Wake in Fright (1971, not the shitty modern remake). Australian film about a white collar outback schoolteacher who stops over in a blue collar mining town on his way to Sydney and gets sucked into the drinking culture there and begins to lose his identity, and mind. Sometimes considered a horror (by Americans presumably), but actually also very much reminds me of Irish culture (people being offended if you refuse a drink etc).

Oh, also Road Games (1981, Australia). Superb Hitchcockian road drama about a mysterious green van that may or may not be driven by a serial killer, and the trucker who keeps running into him that is becoming more and more obsessed with the case. Stacy Keach is excellent as the truck driver with quote-a-minute dialogue. Also with Jamie Lee Curtis. Would be an excellent companion film to The Hitcher (the Rutger Hauer one).

Actually one more (then no more edits...), River's Edge was really good too. Another film about a group of disaffected teens (so would go well with Kids). One of their friends has strangled his girlfriend by the river and tells his friends about it. They all go to see the body and are mainly apathetic about it and just go back to their normal lives while it continues to decay there. Based on a real life case. Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, a fairly unhinged Crispin Glover, and Dennis Hopper in one of his also unhinged mid 80s performances. The movie that took the 80s on a hard left turn from candy coated John Hughes idealism into much darker territory. Paved the way for moves like Heathers, and heralded the coming of the disaffected 90s. Good metal soundtrack too.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Enjoyed Barbie far less than I was expecting. Found parts of it excruciating tbh. Herself fell asleep from boredom about half an hour from the end!

[Pentagrimes]

Solid list from Mooncat but Jesus, if Kids reminds you of teen life in Ireland in the 90s you had a far more exciting life in your teens than anyone I knew

[StoutAndAle]

And Wake in Fright (1971, not the shitty modern remake). Australian film about a white collar outback schoolteacher who stops over in a blue collar mining town on his way to Sydney and gets sucked into the drinking culture there and begins to lose his identity, and mind. Sometimes considered a horror (by Americans presumably), but actually also very much reminds me of Irish culture (people being offended if you refuse a drink etc).

"Wake In Fright" is one of my all time favourite films. I saw it for the first time about 12 years ago. It blew my mind. I sat on my couch for ages after it ended trying to reckon with what I had just watched. Very few films have done that to me.

I sent a copy of the DVD to my brother who was living in rural Western Australia at the time and got an email back "Great film but what the fuck did you send this to me for?!"

You could double-bill "Wake In Fright" with "There Will Be Blood" or a triple-bill it with "Southern Comfort".

The most remarkable thing about "Wake In Fright" (beyond the experience of watching it) is the fact that it was directed by Ted Kotcheff. The same Ted Kotcheff who went on to make "First Blood" and eh... "Weekend At Bernie's".