Film

[StoutAndAle]

Re watched The Secret in their Eyes recently. Won the best Oscar for foreign film in 2009. An absolute tour de force of a movie. The ending stayed with me for years. If you haven't watched it you're very lucky.

Watched the US version that had Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts in it. Utter muck. Wish I had seen the original instead.

[Ollkiller]

Re watched The Secret in their Eyes recently. Won the best Oscar for foreign film in 2009. An absolute tour de force of a movie. The ending stayed with me for years. If you haven't watched it you're very lucky.

Watched the US version that had Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts in it. Utter muck. Wish I had seen the original instead.

Didn't even know there was a remake and fuck that.  If you haven't seen the original I'd say my still give it a go. The build up of tension is lethal.

[blessed1]

Re watched The Secret in their Eyes recently. Won the best Oscar for foreign film in 2009. An absolute tour de force of a movie. The ending stayed with me for years. If you haven't watched it you're very lucky.

Nice one. Never seen that. I'll give it a watch tonight.

[StoutAndAle]

"From Russia With Love" - 3/5 - Some great fun to be had, some terrible acting on show and is it just me or does Robert Shaw look like Daniel Craig has been cloned and sent back in time.

Something else that I just remembered about "From Russia With Love". I dunno when the last time any of you saw it was and I'm not one for retrospectively criticising films from a bygone age through a woke lens. I see reviews about Bond that say it would never get made in a post-Weinstein world - fair enough, this was made in 1963 so shut the fuck up.

However...

There's a set-piece in this film where Bond and the head of MI6 in Istanbul hide out in a gypsy camp ending up at some sort of dinner where two women have to fight it out to see who will marry the son of the boss. The scrap is broken up by a gun battle, Bond saves the day and after which the two traveller women are brought to his room for him to decide which one of them is worthy of marrying the son. He invites both of them in.

"This could take all night" he says and then rides the two of them until morning. And heads off not a bother on him. Nor a slash hook in sight.

Now... if a scene with a dishevelled looking Daniel Craig falling out of a caravan in Ballyhaunis appears in "No Time To Die" I will be very impressed.

[CorkonianHunger]

Watched Wait Until Dark with Audrey Hepburn and Richard Crenna. Very very cool thriller from the sixties, one location kind of thing. A young Alan Arkin plays a fantastic villain in it.

[Carnage]

One Night In Miami - After beating Sonny Liston in 1964, pre-Muhammad Ali Cassius Clay spends the night with Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown (American footballer apparently, had to look him up), discussions/arguments about civil rights ensue. Very theatrical, which is unsurprising as it's based on a play, but it's a little flat as a result. Worth a look though.

[astfgyl]

Watched Red Dot on Netflix last night. It was fairly shit.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Portrait of a Lady on Fire, exceptionally good.

[Eoin McLove]

Watched Calvary again over the weekend. Sligo looks well but I stand by my initial impression when it came out that it's a mess. How is Aidan Gillen famous? No one, ever, has sounded like any of the accents he has ever done. Fuck!

Watched Dolemite Is My Name. Funny, straight forward, feel good movie. Enjoyed that.

Parked. Bleak enough. Colm Meaney is great.

Calvary was such a disappointment. It was a complete mess and didn't seem to know if it wanted to be a hard hitting drama or a goofy comedy. Gillan was shite, from his weird accent to his trademark wooden acting. The young lad from Love/Hate... what the fuck was he supposed to be? Kind of flip flopping between cute numbskull and some kind of philosopher or sage... Moran's acting as well was a fucking abomination. It's like he was trying to act,  and trying to portray a serious character but couldn't get out of Black Books mode. Then Gleeson actually acting among all of this buffoonery came off as ridiculous by contrast. Dreadful casting,  dreadful directing and a flimsy enough story in the end. Sligo looked nice,  that was about it.

Funny you mention Parked as that was another bipolar mess that couldn't decide if it was a cutesie comedy or a heavy drama and ludicrously kept switching between the two. Awful shite.

[StoutAndAle]

Watched Steve McQueen's "Hunger". My head was melted for a bit after it.

Grim, harrowing, undeniable, essential.

The unbroken 15 minute scene between Fassbender and Cunningham is extraordinary.

[open face surgery]

Watched Calvary again over the weekend. Sligo looks well but I stand by my initial impression when it came out that it's a mess. How is Aidan Gillen famous? No one, ever, has sounded like any of the accents he has ever done. Fuck!

Watched Dolemite Is My Name. Funny, straight forward, feel good movie. Enjoyed that.

Parked. Bleak enough. Colm Meaney is great.

Calvary was such a disappointment. It was a complete mess and didn't seem to know if it wanted to be a hard hitting drama or a goofy comedy. Gillan was shite, from his weird accent to his trademark wooden acting. The young lad from Love/Hate... what the fuck was he supposed to be? Kind of flip flopping between cute numbskull and some kind of philosopher or sage... Moran's acting as well was a fucking abomination. It's like he was trying to act,  and trying to portray a serious character but couldn't get out of Black Books mode. Then Gleeson actually acting among all of this buffoonery came off as ridiculous by contrast. Dreadful casting,  dreadful directing and a flimsy enough story in the end. Sligo looked nice,  that was about it.

Funny you mention Parked as that was another bipolar mess that couldn't decide if it was a cutesie comedy or a heavy drama and ludicrously kept switching between the two. Awful shite.

Which fella was from Love/Hate? Ya, Dylan Moran  can't act. Black Books is great for a laugh but also total shite really from a technical perspective.

It's like they tried to put every comedic Irish actor in it for the hell of it. Pat Shortt, Dave McSavage, IT Crowd fella.

[Eoin McLove]

Jesus, I forgot they were all in it. The retard on the scooter was Tommy in Love/Hate. I honestly couldn't figure out what his character was supposed to be or what his presence was meant to add to the film beyond an extra level of messy confusion.

I wonder if these Irish film directors cut their teeth directing plays and then can't seem to make the transition to film without dragging over stage cliches that don't work out of that particular context. It all comes off as over-acted and hokey. Irish films often seem a bit limited like there is an idea to set the entire film in a car, as in the case of Parked, and they cling to that concept with all their might when in fact it would make sense to use that location as a springboard to bounce to other plot lines and other locations to fill in the back story a bit rather than relying on dialogue and constantly and crudely switching emotional gears mid conversation.

Hey we're having the craic here in the car,  it's grand lol BUT DON'T FORGET THAT THIS IS A SERIOUS ISSUE! But sure look it, it's grand and what's there to be moaning about? BEING HOMELESS, THAT'S WHAT! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M SUFFERING! Ah no sure look it,  it's no big deal it's a bit light and humorous. PATHOS!

A total shit fest.

[astfgyl]

Watched Mosul last night. Not bad for what it was

[blessed1]

Watched a French film called Calvaire. Hilariously messed up. French horrors are pure mental.

[ochoill]

Haven't watched a film in a while until a few nights back, watched The Lighthouse.  It is unreal.  I'lk be giving that a second go again in a few weeks I imagine.