What DVD / Video did you watch last night? (pt3)

[Reno]

I'm five episodes into Trapped and not quite feeling it. I like the idea of a killer lose during a snowstorm, but otherwise this is a bogstandart whodunnit which ticks all the boxes of the genre, with red herrings at regular intervals.

 

[Orang Utan]

Been watching Dickensian, which is a lot of fun. Enjoying it very much, but quite sad knowing that most of the characters' fates are unhappy ones.
Compeyson is a great villain.

 

[The39thStep]

Re watched the first series of Banshee in anticipation of the fourth and final season which starts April1st. Very underrated series imo although the 'sex' scenes are pretty superfluous .

 

[belboid]

American Horror Story, Murder House.

There's far too much telly to watch, so it's taken me till now to get around to AHS. Damn, but it's bloody good tho. Deliciously done.

 

[Idris2002]

Quadrophenia.

I know it means a lot to some people on here (if memory serves), but I'd never seen it, and I was surprised at how good it was. Not just a vanity project for a bunch of aging multi-millionaire rock stars.

And Phil Daniels was truly excellent in the lead role of tormented Mod Jimmy. Though maybe it was the Mod subculture that was the real star of the show?

The scenes where they ride into Brighton over the Downs were as exciting as any of the road scenes in Easy Rider. A possible influence?

Also, did this flick play any role in sparking the mod revival, which IIRC was roughly around the same time it was released.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Just watched Mockingjay Part 2. Great stuff, did the book justice. Still wiping my eyes

 

[Indeliblelink]

St. Martins Lane (1938), - a London busker recruits a young female pickpocket off the street to be part of his troupe but he then has to cope when she leaves to bcome a famous actress. Simple plot but oustanding performances from Charles Laughton & Vivien Leigh make this a a hidden gem of British cinema.

on youtube here

Spoiler

 

[rubbershoes]

whats his preferred acting style?


I watched Spectre. Either bond films are getting insanely repetitive or I've seen it before and somehow forgotten completly. It was alright, JB ennit. A big sugary cake of nothing but there is some good fights and cars chases etc

You're not wrong. Spectre is boring as shire.

 

[ringo]

Re watched the first series of Banshee in anticipation of the fourth and final season which starts April1st.

Not appearing on the Sky Guide website, can't find a listing showing it...

 

[The39thStep]

Not appearing on the Sky Guide website, can't find a listing showing it...

It's screened in the US April 1st . Don't know who if anyone will get the series rights in UK. Good reason to download Kodi ?

 

[krtek a houby]

Deustchland 83 - 4 eps in and we are really enjoying it. Great pop songs peppered throughout & story is increasingly bonkers!

 

[Nine Bob Note]

Watched Terminator on demand as have just discovered we have Sky Movies (!!). They only have one and three though, fucks sake, what is the point of that? .

I always thought Arnie's bouncing wang was darkened out of shot in the SD release, but for HD they don't seem to bothered

 

[The Boy]

He never died (2015). About the best thing about this is that it had Henry Rollins deadpanning it in the lead role. Other than that a fairly pedestrian horror effort that sees the above playing the part of an immortal cannibal living as a loner to control his urge to eat people. Meh.

Housebound (2014). New Zealand horror comedy. I didn't like this, but can see why it appeals. I might actually give it another try as i was in a pretty funny mood.

 

[Idris2002]

Man Up.

(German title: Es Ist Kompliziert).

Simon Pegg and Kate Bell meet cute amidst the human drama that is dating among the upper-middle classes of London town.

A better than average rom-com, I suppose. Though a creepy stalker's creepy stalking is played for laughs, in way that is almost certainly not true-to-life.

And this depicts a world where people hosting a party have designated sofas for red and white wine drinkers.

 

[Sue]

Man Up.

(German title: Es Ist Kompliziert).

Simon Pegg and Kate Bell meet cute amidst the human drama that is dating among the upper-middle classes of London town.

A better than average rom-com, I suppose. Though a creepy stalker's creepy stalking is played for laughs, in way that is almost certainly not true-to-life.

And this depicts a world where people hosting a party have designated sofas for red and white wine drinkers.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Been watching How to Get Away with Murder. Viola Davis is quite marvellous. The plotting is pretty good with enough suspension of disbelief, and the cast mostly hold it all together enough to keep it entertaining.....but, god, I am bored of all the endless shagging between them all.

All these pretty people with fit bods and lovely underwear always at it is so dull.

 

[Reno]

Chinese Roulette, considered one of RW Fassbinders lesser films, but actually pretty great. A psycho-drama which plays a bit like a country house murder mystery without the murders. The plot is like a parody of the 70s Euro art house film, where the layers of hypocrisy are peeled off the bourgeois characters during a climactic children's game. It works thanks thanks to the stylised acting, where the characters are so tightly choreographed that they almost dance around each other and thanks to the camera work by Michael Ballhaus which deliriously circles around them. The casts members who frequently worked with Fassbinder and who are completely attuned to his theatrical style, work far better in the film than French star Anna Karina, who is too subdued and naturalistic to register much.

The Walk, Robert Zemeckis fictionalised film of French wire walker Philippe Petit who walked between the Twin Towers in the 70s. Mainly watched this to give my 3D projector a work out. I'd seen the documentary Man on a Wire and I found Petit so intensely irritating (French, mime, raging ego) I just wanted him to fall off his rope to his death. He is only moderately less annoying as played here by Joseph Gordon-Levitt with an Inspector Closeau accent (actually pretty close to the real man). As a tribute to the World Trade Centre the film is more interesting. The camera regards the building in an almost fetishistic manner, just like Petit did. There is something haunting about seeing it recreated here via CGI during a time when it had just been built.

 

[DotCommunist]

I've watched most of the first series of house of cards as I was persuaded to in a trade off for getting someone to watch Daredevil, something out of their TV comfort zone. Its good, power game after power game. Frank Underwood however is a moral vacuum he literally exists to win. Money, sex the trappings. He likes those well enough. But its all simple status markers indicating the only thing he exists for- power over other people. Its weird watching a program and cheering for his enemies and gutted cos you know this sharks going to eat them

his wife is just as cold and clever and power-fluent. Lady macbeth and hilary clinton but with more charm than both. I'll have to watch the lot now. I want to know how far Franks ambition goes- the big chair itself?

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Kick Ass 2 - must have been one of the few people to enjoy it!

 

[Reno]

Kick Ass 2 - must have been one of the few people to enjoy it!

Why doesn't that surprise me !

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Why doesn't that surprise me !

I like what I like! It was inappropriately rude and violent, much like the first one (from what I remember of it). It made me chuckle and I enjoyed the action scenes. The choppings and spurting limbs reminded me of one of my all time faves, Shogun Assassin. I'd sit through this again before any X-Men/Superman/Fantastic Four 12-cert snoozefest. Maybe a bit gratuitous for a 15 cert, but that's a bbfc issue...

 

[Nine Bob Note]

300: Rise of an Empire
Loved the first one, but this was pretty bad. Didn't look as 'different' and not enough Xerxes. On the plus side, Sullivan Stapleton is FOOKIN hot, and Jack O'Connell too.

Taken
Loved it. Hugely enjoyable nonsense from start to finish. Typically, Sky don't have the second one, but I'm led to believe the sequels are total shit.

Now have True Lies and Midnight Cowboy downloading

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Re watched the first series of Banshee in anticipation of the fourth and final season which starts April1st. Very underrated series imo although the 'sex' scenes are pretty superfluous .

I really enjoyed the 1st one - have the 2nd on my shelf to watch. It's silly entertainment and realises it (unlike, say, GoT ).

 

[Nine Bob Note]

Now have True Lies and Midnight Cowboy downloading

Midnight Cowboy was excellent, possibly the best film I've crammed in this week Been through the entire Sky Movies catalogue, and there really isn't anything else I want to watch. Deffo not worth whatever we are paying for it. Fortunately, have a few DVDs due tmoz.

 

[DaveCinzano]

I watched the most recent Punisher film

No you didn't

 

[DaveCinzano]

Hyena
Corrupt cops and gangsters. Deserves better ratings. Thought it was good.

Worth checking out the earlier Tony - same lead actor, director, composer - low budget London serial killer stuff, but very downbeat.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Worth checking out the earlier Tony - same lead actor, director, composer - low budget London serial killer stuff, but very downbeat.

Rather than the happy-go-lucky, cheerful, uplifting serial killer stuff, obviously.

 

[redsquirrel]

If you thought that was impressive then watch Timecode by Mike Figgis from 2000. It was the first feature film to be shot in one take, but he had four storylines on a screen split into four panels and they all cross at some point, so he had to do the same thing times four and all of it at the same time. I think they shot Victoria four or five times till they got it, Timecode took 16 takes. Like Victoria I don't think the film works as a successful drama because editing is essential for pacing a film, but the logistics are impressive.

A few years ago I went to a live mix of Timecode Figgis give as the last film to be shown in the Newcastle Odeon. Interesting to see different stories focussed from the original version

 

[trabuquera]

Sweeney Todd - the 2006 BBC TV movie version. Goes much heavier on Georgian/18th century set dressing, postulating boils, gouting gore, Hogarthian squalor, street banter and despair than most treatments of the subject. Ray Winston is strangely affecting as a demon barber with a bad case of PTSD, his doomed twisted romance with Mrs Lovett is genuinely touching and uncomfortable. Tom Hardy shows up looking very pretty in a wig and pantaloons but sadly gets shanked in the end. It's a strange fever dream of an adaptation but for my taste (ha!) an interesting one.

 

[Reno]

Just watched Mockingjay Part 2. Great stuff, did the book justice. Still wiping my eyes

It was alright, watched it last night together with the first part which I had not yet seen. The last two parts probably work best as one long film. Part 2 does have a few plot turns which are surprisingly dark, I didn't expect they would go there. There were complaints a about splitting the last book into two films, but I thought that worked fine, it didn't feel too extended to me.

Philip Seymour Hoffman's death presented some problems which they weren't quite able to resolve. He was really needed in what would have been his last scene. And just why did they have to add that now obligatory, soppy epilogue a couple of years into the future ? It would have been a perfect end the scene before with her answering: "It's real". Was the epilogue in the book ?

On the whole this was pretty good as these thing go.