Film

[StoutAndAle]

Watched a few things over the weekend.

"The Suicide Squad" - very enjoyable. I got pissed off with the whole superhero thing a while back. This was great though. Never once does it take itself seriously. The most fun comic book film since "Deadpool" (or "Deadpool 2").

"A Most Wanted Man" - tense post-9/11 spy thriller with Philip Seymour Hoffman in the lead. Spot on performances all round.

"Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain" - When I heard about this, I instantly thought "Cash in". Then I saw the trailer and it looked good. Just before it was released I read about the backlash regarding the director using AI to deepfake Bourdain's voice. To be fair, they shouldn't have done it and, worse still, didn't need to do it - if it's the short few lines that I think it was. I can't understand the woke brigade going after Morgan Neville so vehemently though. Reports of Twatters tweeting that they were crying and felt cheated after hearing the AI voice.

Anyway - all of that aside - "Roadrunnner" is not the film that the great Tony Bourdain deserves to have made about him. Nothing much of note really for the avid fan - if you have read his books and seen his TV shows, you will learn hardly anything new about him. The soundtrack holds this thing together. The last 40 minutes or so is an increasingly hard watch for more reasons than one.

[jobrok1]

Yup!

Suicide Squad (2016) was utter scutter.
The Suicide Squad (2021) is great.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Well, I watched Thor Ragnarok last night, and no. I really should just give up on the comic book movies. Although I loved comics as a kid, I just cannot connect to what they're doing with the movies at all. Bit of humour, fine, and some of the jokes were decent. The problem is that beyond the humour there was absolutely no substance, just a thin gruel of a plot drip-dripping down between gimmicks and distractions. If that's the best of the latest slew of Marvel Universe films, then that'll be it for me now.

[Eoin McLove]

Watched the first half of Sherpa (the joys of having a two year old) and I'll watch the rest tomorrow if I get a chance. You can't help but admire those men. The work they do is monumental and nothing short of heroic. RESTECP!

[Carnage]

Watched The Visit, M. Night Shyalaman's one from a few years back. Two ridiculously irritating little shits making a documentary about visiting their estranged grandparents begin to suspect that things ain't quite right. They ain't.

Terrible script and the kids can't act, boring as fuck overall with twists and jump scares that you see coming a mile off.

A big nappy full of shite.

[Kunt 4 Life]

I actually didn't see that big twist reveal coming when I saw it in the cinema, but then I wasn't expecting to be a massive twist. If I knew there was a big one then I'd probably (hopefully) seen it coming.

Was flicking through Amazon/Netflix for a film a few days ago and saw Jacobs Ladder. At first I thought it was the brilliant Tim Robbins one but then caught that it was from 2019.
The main character was the same name but the synopsis is quite different. Anyone caught it and know if it's a sequel/reboot/reimagining?

[StoutAndAle]

Well, I watched Thor Ragnarok last night, and no. I really should just give up on the comic book movies. Although I loved comics as a kid, I just cannot connect to what they're doing with the movies at all. Bit of humour, fine, and some of the jokes were decent. The problem is that beyond the humour there was absolutely no substance, just a thin gruel of a plot drip-dripping down between gimmicks and distractions. If that's the best of the latest slew of Marvel Universe films, then that'll be it for me now.

I feel the same. When I was a kid I read Bats, Spidey and 2000AD. "Batman" in 1989 was one of the greatest things that I ever saw in the cinema. I always wondered why they hadn't made a proper Spiderman movie - beyond the hokey Nicholas Hammond stuff. (I saw "Judge Dredd" starring Stallone and that cooled my jets for a while!) Years ago, I'd rush to the cinema to see the latest Marvel etc. Very quickly (with the exception of Nolan's Batman trilogy) it became a long series of diminishing returns. The Avengers series took my last bit of resolve.

I watched "The Suicide Squad" only because my missus said she'd like to watch a film, something light - i.e don't suggest a Kurosawa film to me right now.  It was pure fluff, some good fun and enjoyable but that's my movie cheat meal done with now for a long time.

I was listening to AO Scott, the NY Times critic on Marc Maron's podcast last week and they had a lengthy discussion about this very same thing. A lot of what we are being served up now on the big screen is microwaved dog shit in a shiny packet.

This is where MUBI has been a bit of a boon for me.

[Ollkiller]

The avengers is fucking awful. Can't watch superhero stuff anymore. It's all shit. Guardians of the galaxy been top of the shit pile. Probably last one I liked was the Karl Urban Judge Dredd and more recently The Boys, again with Karl Urban.

[ldj]

I watched Another Round last night, another Danish film with Mads Mikkelsen.

It's about a group of friends who decide to conduct an experiment based around a theory that man would benefit from having a constant blood alcohol content of 0.5%.

It's a really good film and definitely makes you think about our relationship with alcohol and it's place in our lives.

[StoutAndAle]

The avengers is fucking awful. Can't watch superhero stuff anymore. It's all shit. Guardians of the galaxy been top of the shit pile. Probably last one I liked was the Karl Urban Judge Dredd and more recently The Boys, again with Karl Urban.

That Dredd movie was very good. I've read "The Boys" but I can't get my head into watching the show. Same with Garth Ennis' other one "Preacher". Watched a few and forgot it.

If you liked "Guardians Of The Galaxy" (I didn't) then you'll probably enjoy "The Suicide Squad" - written and directed by the same guy, James Gunn.

[Carnage]

The Preacher programme was shit, I gave up a couple of episodes into season 2, but The Boys is pretty good. It's as loosely based on the comic as Preacher but executed much better and a lot funnier when it needs to be. The portrayal of Homelander is sublime.

[Ollkiller]

The Preacher programme was shit, I gave up a couple of episodes into season 2, but The Boys is pretty good. It's as loosely based on the comic as Preacher but executed much better and a lot funnier when it needs to be. The portrayal of Homelander is sublime.

Aye Preacher wasn't great but The Boys is good. Homelander is such a cunt.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Poster for upcoming Almodovar movie getting some folk pissed off, including Instagram's algorithm, albeit since over-ridden on an appeal of "artistic" merit or some such lark, since apparently biological merit doesn't cut it. I won't post the image directly, just in case it shocks any of ye:
https://elpais.com/icon/cultura/2021-08-09/almodovar-libera-el-pezon-claves-para-entender-el-primer-y-provocador-poster-de-madres-paralelas.html

[Eoin McLove]

Who is getting upset by that? 

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

The same kind of perversely sex-taboo-obsessed people who think breast-feeding is something to be hidden away, I imagine.