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

Lady Bird. Great. I suspected it might be a bit mumblecore, or "empowering" or about issues, but it was just a great film with great nuanced characters with all their foibles, apart from Julie and Dad maybe (who were both lovely characters).

Greta Gerwig is definitely one to look out for.

Sometimes I think reviewers, and particularly Kermode, positively discriminate against female directors (Raw, Prevenge were merely quite good imho) but this is a genuinely really good film that justifies the hype.

Reminiscent of (but not quite as good) juno
 
Contact.

First time in years. I can see the influence of 2001, Close Encounters in there. Not to mention the influence it's had on stuff since - like Arrival, Interstellar.

Lovely film but the Silvestri score is a little bit much and Zemeckis gets a bit sentimental. Still, I'd been banging on about it to the better half for ages, and she was impressed all the same.
The book is great and has some high level sci fi concepts that are really interesting, but didn't put in the film as they are quite heavy
 
It (TV Mini-Series 1990) - IMDb
A re-watch of the original before watching the new film. It's actually aged pretty well all things considered
7/10

It (2017) - IMDb
The new version, which is more the telling of the kids story rather than done from a flashback perspective. A lot of scenes from the original are re-hashed, all in all it's a good re-boot film, but considering the hysteria the trailers caused, it wasn't as good as I expected, or because maybe I watched the original just hours before took away from it because I knew what to expect, and it may be worth actually not (re)watching the original first.
7/10

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) - IMDb
Brilliant, I almost forgot just how funny this is. So many brilliant scenes, will now go on a binge of watching the follow ups also.
9/10

American Made (2017) - IMDb
This would probably have been more enjoyable had Tom Cruise actually not been at the height of being annoying in this. The narrator parts and the parts where he talks into the camera just seemed to annoy me so much that it stopped me enjoying this. Other than that this could have been another good film in an ever growing collection of Pablo Escobar related movies.
6/10

October Sky (1999) - IMDb
The true story of a young American lad in a coal mining town who decided he didn't want to follow in his father's footsteps and choose to enter a national science fair with his friends and went on to become an engineer at NASA.
8/10
 
It (TV Mini-Series 1990) - IMDb
A re-watch of the original before watching the new film. It's actually aged pretty well all things considered
7/10

It (2017) - IMDb
The new version, which is more the telling of the kids story rather than done from a flashback perspective. A lot of scenes from the original are re-hashed, all in all it's a good re-boot film, but considering the hysteria the trailers caused, it wasn't as good as I expected, or because maybe I watched the original just hours before took away from it because I knew what to expect, and it may be worth actually not (re)watching the original first.
7/10

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) - IMDb
Brilliant, I almost forgot just how funny this is. So many brilliant scenes, will now go on a binge of watching the follow ups also.
9/10

American Made (2017) - IMDb
This would probably have been more enjoyable had Tom Cruise actually not been at the height of being annoying in this. The narrator parts and the parts where he talks into the camera just seemed to annoy me so much that it stopped me enjoying this. Other than that this could have been another good film in an ever growing collection of Pablo Escobar related movies.
6/10

October Sky (1999) - IMDb
The true story of a young American lad in a coal mining town who decided he didn't want to follow in his father's footsteps and choose to enter a national science fair with his friends and went on to become an engineer at NASA.
8/10
did you d/l the new It? I've been waiting for a good torrent...
 
A few to catch up on.

Good Time (2017) - IMDb
Utter rubbish. No idea why this has such highly regarded reviews. Poor writing, poor direction, poor acting and generally just a really poor film. I can't even be bothered to go into it, so I'll just nick the IMDB blurb: After a heist goes awry, a bank robber spends a night trying to free his mentally ill brother from being sent to Riker's Island prison.
3/10

The Glass Castle (2017) - IMDb
About a troubled family who are pursued by law agencies. Always seemingly on the run, moving from squat to squat, from city to city. Until eventually the kids grow older and have enough and plan to leave. Told from the perspective of the older girl who is about to get married and we keep seeing various flashbacks. The long and short of it is we can't choose our family, but no matter how badly they treat us, it's hard to just give up on them. Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts are on on their game.
7/10

Brigsby Bear (2017) - IMDb
Not going to give to much of this one away, because it's probably not what you expect, the trailer for it is awesome, and the story although maybe not what you expect is a great story. One of the best films of the year in my opinion.
8/10

Wind River (2017) - IMDb
So many of these crime stories these days are better told on the TV than on the cinema screen, it's hard to put a murder story into 2 hours these days, and while this is a little slow paced it tells the investigation well enough and has an explosive ending that makes it all worthwhile. Good performances from Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner.
8/10

Second the Brigsby Bear nomination - a riveting watch from start to end and an amazing story arc and conceit that I think they pull off magnificently. Want to watch it again soon to see if it can survive a second viewing. Kermode is quit sniffly in damning it with faint praise and calling it a Sundance Loving Formula cranked out in the end for him to not much effect. Surprised it's not more well known has all the hallmarks of a cult classic.
 
been catching up on the Richard Herring podcasts FTW!!!!!!
Bladerunner - Boring
Get out - ok ... well about as good as an episode of
Black Mirror
Is the man who is tall happy- If you admire Chomsky you will like this
Pyscoville- first time ive seen it ... grrrrreaat!
 
Apocalypse Now Redux - like watching a whole new film, hadn't seen the original for years and this was quite the treat.
Handsome Devil - two pupils come to terms with being outsiders in their posh rugger obsessed school. Jim Moriarty and Roose Bolton co-star. Lightweight but fun.
 
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) - IMDb
More of the same Frank Drebin tom foolery, doesn't quite have the charm of the original, but still some good laughs.
7/10

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) - IMDb
Decided to watch this anyway despite the fact re-watching the original was a bad decision. Instead I came out of this one appreciating it a lot more than I did at the time, and actually thinking that this film is actually the better of the two. Instead of trying to be be, whatever the original was trying to be, this flips Gremlins on his head. It's now just a comedy, a pretty decent one. It takes the piss out of itself, there's lots of satire, tangents, and generally, it's just a lot more fun than the original.
6/10

Battle of the Sexes (2017) - IMDb
This all happened before I was born, and maybe because it's an American story, perhaps it didn't get much attention over here, because frankly this film was the first I had even heard of this. It tells a good story, the formation of the WTA for one, as well as the obvious build up to the match. The sad thing about this film in reality is, that we haven't actually moved on as much as we like to think we have in the last 40 odd years, in fact, it seems like we've hardly moved on at all. Of course assuming this film represenation of the story is accurate, I haven't checked for inaccuracies, no doubt there's some.
8/10

Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017) - IMDb
Vince Vaughan stars as the hard knock you wouldn't want to piss off, but if you know him, is probably alright kind of guy. Gets sent down after being caught up with some muppets on a drug run and then gets caught up in a blackmail scenario whilst inside the slammer. It wasn't as good as I was hoping.
5/10

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) - IMDb
A film you put on because you realise you've watched the others but never finished it off, then as you're watching it, you remember why you never bothered, and that the title of the film tells you all you need to know. Basically 2 odd hours of battles. Yawn.
3/10
 
Carol. Really underwhelming, just two hours of people staring intensely at each other. Cate Blanchett excellent as always though, her delivery of the only scene with any life in it (custody scene with lawyers) made me cry.
 
Justice League

A real mess of a film, lacking a coherent narrative and any real architectural sense of meaning.

The Disaster Artist

A very strange film, painful to watch at times. I do wonder how much sense it will make to those who might not have seen 'The Room'. Tommy is laughing at us all.
 
Geostorm

It doesn't even pass the basic "pissed on a Friday night, so I quite like an apocalypse movie" test. This movie is no San Andreas.

If you do watch, please suspend all knowledge of everything you know about physics, and basically your knowledge about everything else as well.
 
See also this load of cobblers. Cardboard Gangsters (2016) - IMDb
3F7F04D300000578-0-image-m-12_1492881432217.jpg
 
Meath Chronicle - Tipple-loving thieves trolley dash from Aldi with €400 worth of beer
Since their arrest and from further enquiries, gardai are satisfied that these two males are suspects for a number of thefts from the Navan and Trim areas and a number of thefts from Aldi/Lidl stores in the past 24 hours including the theft of alcohol from Lidl in Navan, theft of 'Celebrations' and 'Roses' sweets from Aldi in Ashbourne and the theft of 70 containers of sweets from Aldi in Santry.
 
Kenny (2017) - IMDb
A sort of biography of Liverpool FC legend Kenny Dalglish, his rise from Scotland, and most importantly his dealings with 2 of Britains worst Sporting disasters. Hillsbrough will seemingly haunt this man forever.
8/10

The Young Offenders (2016) - IMDb
Couple of Irish lads go in search of washed up cocaine. It's mildly amusing.
6/10

Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994) - IMDb
Frank Drebin comes out of retirement to help his old Police Squad buddies foil a terrorist attack. Too many cameos hurt the film, but still a good laugh.
7/10

Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - IMDb
Something that will no doubt get watched countless times over the coming years, and will probably cement it's place as being my favourite film of 2017
9/10

Supersonic (2016) - IMDb
A look back at Oasis during the first two albums and the lead up to the Knebworth concert.
8/10

Cast Away (2000) - IMDb
Tom Hanks finds himself in a spot of bother yet again as he gets stranded on an island after the FedEx plane he is travelling on gets caught up in a storm and crashes down into the Ocean.
8/10

Batman Returns (1992) - IMDb
Tim Burton's follow up to Batman and is one of my favourite films of the caped crusader.
9/10
 
Pilgrimage (2017) - IMDb Irish entry for the oscars forrin fillum category. It's 1209 and the pope wants a rock, a magic rock in a fancy box that was used to bash saint Matthew's head in, because he reckons he can use it as a wonder weapon against johnny turk. A demented dad burning holy man ropes a gaggle of monks including Tom 'Spiderman' Holland and a 'mute' PTSD'd Shane from Walking Dead into carting it across Oirland to Rome. But an evil Norman overlord wants to nick it for his king and use it as leverage or something. No colour and no women. There are several unintentionally funny bits, especially the torture prod thing and Shane's one word at the end.

It's full of dialogue like this.

oirish fillum.jpg

It's utter rubbish.
 
Downsizing (2017)

This could have been so much more! Starts off with an interesting premise (more than a nod to Swift) but then starts to lose its way. The *sex* scene leads to one of the funniest questions I've seen in a film recently.
 
The Foreigner (2017) - IMDb
Best Jackie Chan film in a long long while. His daughter gets killed in a apparent IRA explosion in London and he wants the names of the people responsible. Cue a trip to Northern Ireland to talk to some Irish Government, one of which played by Pierce Brosnan. Of course Jackie gets to kick ass, but in a more conventional and totally straight way. No comedy here.
7/10
 
Raw - cracking French horror film. It was either this or Get Out, which I've read so much about I feel I've seen already! (Will watch it at some point.)
 
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