Film

[Eoin McLove]

Pesci stood out alright.  Nice understated performance from him.  I found it hard to take De Nero and Pacino seriously in those hard man roles, though.  They are too fucking geriatric.  When De Nero was beating up the grocer my biggest worry wasn't for the fate of the grocer,  I was more concerned that De Nero's nappy might burst from all the excitement.

That said, it was a decent watch. It looked beautiful and had the feel of classic Scorsese. I was worried it might be a retarded blood bath like The Departed, but it was much more story based.  I'm just not convinced that the story was itself all that fascinating to warrant 3.5 hours of attention. 

I don't know if the two boys are just entirely past it at this stage or if it's partly down to mob fatigue on my part,  but I'd like to see them trying something more age appropriate.  They could potentially make an interesting drama together.  De Nero at least still seems to have the chops to do it.  I'm not so sure about Pacino. He came off as especially goofy, I thought.

[jobrok1]

Jeez! That latest Rambo flick is terrible pants altogether.

[Emphyrio]

Jeez! That latest Rambo flick is terrible pants altogether.

They're all terrible! And brilliant.

[Caomhaoin]

The Irishman was good enough I thought, and that scene with De Niro kicking yer man in the head, the greengrocer was indeed a bit toe curling alright.

Apart from that, and a few other minor quibbles, solid show. I kept nodding off near the end once the business end had come and gone though. A bit too long for one sitting for the 21st century attention span.

[jobrok1]

Jeez! That latest Rambo flick is terrible pants altogether.

First one, like Rocky, is a stone cold classic.

Second and third are pure 80's gold.

The other recent one stood well enough on it's own merits, but this one is just quite sad.

[Emphyrio]

It's significantly weaker than the previous one admittedly. Grand though.

[Pedrito]

Jaysis the new Rambo is class..god bless the 80's. They don't make men like that anymore. 100 mins of proper manliness. 

[jobrok1]

Jaysis the new Rambo is class..god bless the 80's. They don't make men like that anymore. 100 mins of proper manliness.

There's always one!   

[Pedrito]

  

[Ducky]

Went to the new Star Wars last night - I enjoyed it for what it is.

It absolutely plays on nostalgia, but what's to be expected from the ninth and final film in a story arc that debuted 42 years ago and wasn't intended to be this big?

It's got good action (both in terms of space pew-pew and lightsabre wub-wub), a little bit of the silly humour the series is known for, a twist that I didn't expect.

Some of the reviews online for this are cringy-as-fuck (The Irish Times in particular is painful to read). Complaining about lack of character development? Lads, it's the last fuckin' act in a nine-part story. Some of the characters are a bit nondescript (Po is just a Dealz version of Han Solo and Finn is... a guy), but you still have Rey, Kylo Ren (love or hate Adam Driver, he's a good actor), Chewie and the droids are still lovable and in a way the whole thing belongs to Leia/Carrie Fisher. Plus, you still have the iconic-as-fuck "characters" like the ships and lightsabres.

And as someone that first watched the Star Wars films as a pup in the 1980s (usually around this time of year with my two older siblings, who I went to the cinema with last night), the final scene made me feel something (as it was obviously designed to do).

[Eoin McLove]

Back from Star Wars.  I'm not a SW fan in the slightest but I went along with the in-in-laws- I went to the last one with them too.  Visually it was stunning and I seldom say that about CGI films,  but they really captured a dark and menacing atmosphere visually.  Fucked if I knew what was going on but I didn't care anyway as I think Star Wars is one of the most ludicrous franchises and I can't take it in any way seriously on a conceptual level.  Plus I slept through a lot of it due to jetlag. But yeah, it looked incredible and, believe it or not, that's high praise coming from me.

I watched Downsizing on Netflix earlier.  It was 44° outside so a day for hiding inside with the air conditioning on full blast.  I was hoping for some easy fluff to entertain me for a couple of hours and this was recommended under the comedy section.  Jesus, it was tedious as Hell.  Watched over an hour of it trying to figure out exactly what the point of the film was before turning it off.  There was still another hour left in the fucking yoke! It's almost worth a look just to see what a comedy that has no sense of humour looks like.  Shocking stuff.

[Pedrito]

Even the thoughts of watching another of these new Star Wars films gives me the creeps. This is coming from a 40 year old man who could easily sit through something like Toy Story or Shrek. Well made films are well made films, all the other explanations, they did this or the other, are secondary. They have just been crap storywise.

[Pedrito]

Watched the new Almodovar movie Pain & Glory last night. Excellent film, with a plot, nuanced acting, complex, adult themes and no fucking superheroes. Penelope Cruz, as always, all woman and Antonio Banderas brilliant.

Also watched the 1st hour of the Irishman. DeNiro hard to take seriously after that 'kicking' he gives the guy on the ground. Could they not find a stunt double to handle that stuff ffs? Awful, jarring scene. Also, why the need to make him youthful? Again, a younger actor could have worked. Interesting so far apart from the CGI stuff.

[Ducky]

Scorcese knows what "real cinema" is, so this must be it.

[jobrok1]

Also watched the 1st hour of the Irishman. DeNiro hard to take seriously after that 'kicking' he gives the guy on the ground. Could they not find a stunt double to handle that stuff ffs? Awful, jarring scene. Also, why the need to make him youthful? Again, a younger actor could have worked. Interesting so far apart from the CGI stuff.

I'm also an hour in and this sums it up so far.