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  • CheverianCheverian Posts: 1,446MI6 Agent
    Gymkata wrote:
    I watched THE IRISHMAN last night on Netflix.  It's long but it's oh so worth it.  The de-aging doesn't quite gel in some scenes but it's highly effective most of the time.  The effect only pulled me out of the movie a few times so I'd consider it to be successful.
    It's great.  DeNiro, Pesci, and Pacino are playing characters who are very different from what they've tackled before, so don't think of it as another GOODFELLAS or CASINO, although the movie is right up there with those in terms of quality.  DeNiro does some of his career best acting here.  there's a scene towards the end of the film where he's calling Pacino's wife that may be the best thing he's done since RAGING BULL.  Pesci is wonderful, playing a genuinely nice guy without a lot of flash...very different from his other Scorsese output.  Pacino is Pacino, reliably awesome.
    Highly recommended.

    Ditto. This film really builds as it goes.

    True, the de-aging stuff is a technology yet to be perfected.

    But that scene with DeNiro on the phone to Hoffa's wife...devastatingly good. And I was especially impressed with Pesci playing a tightly controlled character instead of the hotheads we associate him with.
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,882Chief of Staff
    I too watched The Irishman--snark that I am, I couldn't help but note that the technology makes actors in their 70s who are playing men in their 30s look like actors in their 50s playing men in their 30s--but I was also never bored by its massive running time. In some ways, this was like Scorcese looking back on his career as a maker of gangster films, sadly acknowledging that perhaps their time has passed.
    Vox clamantis in deserto
  • Golrush007Golrush007 South AfricaPosts: 3,418Quartermasters
    Just got back from a Sunday afternoon screening of Knives Out and I found it most enjoyable...a well conceived and directed bit of smart yarn spinning. I'm not particularly a connoiseur of murder mysteries, but I have read a few of the Agatha Christie Poirot novels and this film does have a bit of that flavour. It also manages to simultaneously feel both old fashioned and contemporary, and the characters were all quite memorable - I particularly enjoyed Daniel Craig's performance as Southern gentleman detective Benoit Blanc. Seeing him on the big screen again has certainly whetted my appetite for No Time To Die. Knives Out is a film that I would recommend as worthy of your time and attention.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Re-watched all the Indiana Jones movies, even Crystal Skull. Which I still think is rubbish :D
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Smithers500Smithers500 Spectre IslandPosts: 1,341MI6 Agent
    Golrush007 wrote:
    Just got back from a Sunday afternoon screening of Knives Out and I found it most enjoyable...a well conceived and directed bit of smart yarn spinning. I'm not particularly a connoiseur of murder mysteries, but I have read a few of the Agatha Christie Poirot novels and this film does have a bit of that flavour. It also manages to simultaneously feel both old fashioned and contemporary, and the characters were all quite memorable - I particularly enjoyed Daniel Craig's performance as Southern gentleman detective Benoit Blanc. Seeing him on the big screen again has certainly whetted my appetite for No Time To Die. Knives Out is a film that I would recommend as worthy of your time and attention.

    I just saw this today and agree it was an excellent film, though strangely I found Daniel Craig to be the weakest aspect, not to say he was bad just my least favourite, his accent in particular was very distracting.

    Got to say Ana De Armas was very good and bodes well for NTTD.
    Japanese proverb say, "Bird never make nest in bare tree".
  • Revolver66Revolver66 Melbourne, AustraliaPosts: 470MI6 Agent
    1917 - Brilliant film by Sam Mendes. And Roger Deakins works that magic again (he will surely win the Oscar for this)

    Intense and nerve wracking. Deserves to be seen on the biggest screen you can find!
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,238MI6 Agent
    Rewatched Face/Off. Still brilliant.

    At the time, I thought it was better than any Bond film and I still do, not hard as the ones in the last 20 years haven't been too good imo.
    The action scenes are Bond-style, they have that swagger and spectacle but nary a whiff of CGI that I can see ensures it's not dated at all in the last - gulp - 20 years.
    TND came out that year and was stale cheese, so did Titanic but though the CGI on that has dated, at the time it raised the bar in terms of spectacle and movie making.

    Face/Off was like going to see Moonraker at the cinema as a nine-year-old kid. The direction and script and cinematography are great, oh and of course the score which I found very moving.

    From a similar era, Minority Report. Spielberg is a real director on this, on subsequent efforts I found him a bit woolly - War Horse, for instance.
    I suppose it has the same theme as F/O in that you have a cop type character with a dead son to offer hinterland. :( The setting is sort of Metropolis, the whole thing plays out like a Hitchcock chase thriller with John Williams giving nods to the music of North by Northwest. Cruise is always good in that young, urgent, out of his depth mode, but the surprise in this film was Colin Farrell.
    It's good stuff, just some flaws or implausibilities in the last third - as with Jason Bourne, you do wonder how he manages to get back in the building when he's supposed to be persona non grata.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Lady RoseLady Rose London,UKPosts: 2,667MI6 Agent
    Hardyboy wrote:
    I too watched The Irishman--snark that I am, I couldn't help but note that the technology makes actors in their 70s who are playing men in their 30s look like actors in their 50s playing men in their 30s--but I was also never bored by its massive running time. In some ways, this was like Scorcese looking back on his career as a maker of gangster films, sadly acknowledging that perhaps their time has passed.

    I don't know what they've done with DeNiro's eyes but I found it quite distracting.

    I've only watched an hour and so far and I have to say it hasn't gripped me. I will carry on because I like so many of the actors involved (good to see Harvey Keitel in something that isn't a 'Direct Line' advert) and feel obliged to watch it now.

    One of my biggest issues is Al Pacino. I've found him unwatchable for the last 25 years of his career. He just seems shout everything with bulging eyes. I think it started with Scent of A Woman. :s
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,906MI6 Agent
    Lady Rose wrote:
    One of my biggest issues is Al Pacino. I've found him unwatchable for the last 25 years of his career. He just seems shout everything with bulging eyes. I think it started with Scent of A Woman.
    was he ever not shouty? he shouted all the way through Serpico and DogDay Afternoon. "Attica! Attica! Attica!"
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,906MI6 Agent
    I just Googled "Al Pacino" and "mr. shouty", that actually gets a lot of results!
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    A double bill of Under Siege 1 & 2. I hadn't watched them in years but picked up
    a cheap Blu ray bundle, and really enjoyed them. They may be Die Hard copies but
    the first is very good indeed, once you get past Steven Seagal's bad acting :D
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,238MI6 Agent
    Le Mans '66 - retitled in some venues as Ford v Ferrari! :D

    Lovely, lovely film. Lovely cars, lovely sound, lovely photography...

    It's enough to make you wish they'd do a Bond film like that, only to remember that The Man From UNCLE movie tried to do that, and it didn't do so much but look good.

    Nice dialogue, by Jed Butterworth of Spectre fame, right? Seemed okay to me. However, one minor snark I will put in spoilers because the criticism only came to me after:
    A dramatic flaw in Le Mans is that it's straightforward - Ford decide to take on Ferrari at racing. But it's not much of an underdog story, cos Ferrari are skint and Ford have loads of money. So the writers have to create spurious drama at times, and introduce office politics into things, rivalries within Ford - don't know if this really existed. That's a bit like the film Spectre, because face it we know Bond is going to win so instead we get office politics to mix things up, with 'C' and so on. It's okay but it does ring a bit false, or a bit soap opera.

    Also, did Matt Damon's character have a wife or love life or anything?

    Matt Damon has evolved into another kind of actor - older and a bit uglier, he looks like a guy from that time. It's a compliment. Christian Bale is great in this, you would not know him as the actor from American Psycho.

    I'm not sure if some of the dramatic events in the film really happened. That does take the sheen off things a bit.

    See it at the theatre if you have the chance. I would say that, as with Ad Astrad, if you caught this on the opening weekend you might just have been disappointed, but as a second bounce movie it's great stuff. The shots of the cars going at it is sublime stuff.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Watching Laura Croft : Tomb Raider today, I noticed DC uses the " Tempus Fugit " expression
    when solving a puzzle.
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,644MI6 Agent
    Watching Laura Croft : Tomb Raider today, I noticed DC uses the " Tempus Fugit " expression
    when solving a puzzle.

    So that was recall in Spectre?! It's all starting to make sense now...I think. :D
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • Lady RoseLady Rose London,UKPosts: 2,667MI6 Agent
    Gymkata wrote:
    He was always shouty, but he went over the top and into HOO HAA mode in SCENT OF A WOMAN and never really stopped. He's managed to dial it back when necessary, like when he did THE INSIDER, but I think his instinct is to go big now.

    I definitely felt Scent of a Woman was a turning point in the shouty stakes. I hated that film.
  • JoshuaJoshua Posts: 1,138MI6 Agent
    As I write this is not exactly 'last film seen' but will be later this evening!

    I am going to watch Octopussy on my new 50" television. I have been saving hard to buy it and this will be the first James Bond film I have watched on it. I hope Roger Moore can almost leap out of the screen!
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    You're going to have a great time, Joshua. Enjoy!
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,906MI6 Agent
    the Constant Gardener
    adapted from le Carre
    starring Ralph Fiennes (he's one of ours) and Rachel Weisz (she's married to one of ours, what was that fellows name again, oh you know who I mean, cant think of his name....)

    A bit sleepy paced, but there's some valid reasons for that.
    Its told through the eyes of a man experiencing traumatic grief following the murder of his wife, so much of it is flashbacks in a sort of dream state.
    And the bulk of it takes place in Kenya, and is actually filmed there, in the villages and slums, with African music as its soundtrack, giving it all the sensation of a shimmering heat haze. Beautiful photography, depressing subject matter.

    At the end is a quote from le Carre, asserting compared to what Big Pharma gets up to in reality, his story was a "holiday postcard"
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    I'm re-watching the Mission Impossible films and last night it was MI3, Good action
    flick but the star of this outing has to be the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, what a
    great performance he gave as the villain.
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • JoshuaJoshua Posts: 1,138MI6 Agent
    Barbel wrote:
    You're going to have a great time, Joshua. Enjoy!

    It was good!
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    Re Mercouri- possibly it might have something to do with the director being her husband...? :))
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,906MI6 Agent
    Body Heat
    A sleazy unofficial remake of Double Indemnity starring Jessica (Kathleen Turner) Rabbit.

    Of interest to us because it has a spooky hypnotic noir style soundtrack from John Barry.
  • Westward_DriftWestward_Drift Posts: 3,085MI6 Agent
    Body Heat
    A sleazy unofficial remake of Double Indemnity starring Jessica (Kathleen Turner) Rabbit.

    Of interest to us because it has a spooky hypnotic noir style soundtrack from John Barry.

    Of interest to those of us who saw the movie in 1981 with a naked circa 1981 Kathleen Turner.
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,238MI6 Agent
    The Man Who Haunted Himself

    Bond fans of a certain age appreciate this 1970 drama, which gave a pre-Bond Roger Moore a chance to display his acting chops.
    He plays a respectable, middle-aged married man with two kids and a successful place on the board who finds - just as an important merger is about to go through - that an imposter seems to be taking over his life. Just what is going on?

    It all has a wonderfully seedy dreary British vibe to it.

    And there a strangely prescient nods to the Bond films, even a reference to James Bond at one point, and I thought I recognised in the cast the actor who played the buffoonish colonel who loses at backgammon to Kamal Khan in Octopussy, but I could be wrong.
    It's strange to see Anton Rogers - who later popped up in May to December sitcom and a small role in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as the French police inspector looking so young.

    There are anticipatory nods to other films such as Face/Off and another that if I name will spoil things.
    Moore is excellent.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,699MI6 Agent
    Little Big Man (1970)

    I hadn't seen this film since the VCR days and I was surprised by how good it is. The film is a mix of drama and comedy. Some scenes are almost slapstick, others are moving drama and even bloody horror. It shouldn't fit in the same film, but somehow it does. Dustin Hoffman is great in it. He actually holds the world reccord for longest age span portrayed by a actor in one movie - her plays Jack Crabb from age ten to 121!
  • BIG TAMBIG TAM Wrexham, North Wales, UK.Posts: 773MI6 Agent
    Two new films in the last few days: STAR WARS & CATS

    STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
    Saw it at my newly refurbished Vue cinema on Thursday. It now has plush recliner seats. Very comfortable. It served me well for the film: I had a good sleep! I jest (a bit). The film is okay... sort of. When you hear the term 'bad film' it's difficult to know how to take it. If talking about competency of cinematic craft then this one's a winner. Technically it's a marvel. These films are fundamentally visual experiences & from that POV it works a treat. If 'bad' refers to narrative coherence & emotional investment then I'm afraid the film's woeful. There's a big scene where Rey & Kylo Ren face-off (again!?) amidst skyscraper sized waves. I found myself fascinated at the realism of the water. Not good when you're meant to be caring about yet another lightsabre duel between these two.
    One of the beauties about the original trilogy was a simplicity of narrative. All were easy to follow. Beginning with the prequels there seemed to be a need to afford these films a profundity they didn't deserve. This one carries on that trend. Plot-points are fired at you left, right & centre, to a point I honestly didn't know what was going on. The film feels as though it's been hastily rewritten to achieve a release date. This last crop of films appear to have endured troubled production histories with original personnel jumping ship to be replaced by a safe pair of hands (Ron Howard on SOLO, J.J. Abrams on this). Abrams got the tone right for FORCE AWAKENS, recalling as it did the original films. But he was working from scratch on that one. Here it feels he's having to unravel a set of ideas that weren't working: effectively applying plasters to large open wounds. He does okay with some aspects but not all. It's all over the place with characters suddenly stating they're related to each other in a way which makes it resemble an episode of WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? And one character suddenly changes allegiances in a way that clearly smacks of a plot contrivance to get our heroes out of a hole.
    There's a decent line in wit throughout & the middle section features some nice running around shiny corridors blasting lasers. But the rest is a bit of a drag & there's too much fanboy pandering (Ewoks make an appearance during the slushy climax). As much as John Williams' score swells & Daisy Ridley blubs (her eyes are rarely dry throughout) there's no emotional involvement. I don't enjoy slagging it off - these films are part of my cultural DNA - & there are worse ways to spend a couple of hours but this really is a bit lazy. There are lots of things going on but not actually anything going on. There is one good sight gag involving a torch & lightsabre that went unnoticed, but I chuckled.

    CATS
    Saw this on Friday. I can honestly say I can't remember a film that's received such unanimously bad reviews. And for the life of me I cannot see why. In short, I enjoyed it. Not a perfect film, but the weaknesses are down to a couple of lacklustre songs as opposed to its visual imagining. The CGI effects worked fine - it's basically the stage show with digital tinkering as opposed to leotards. It comes down to this: do you like the original stage musical? If so, it's a cinematic replica. If not, then nothing will make it better. I found the stage show okay if a little over-rated. But I was about fourteen at the time & more excited about being in London. There are times you have to make a lone stand against much opposition. This is a case in point. Many will undoubtedly disagree.
  • MarkOOMarkMarkOOMark Posts: 91MI6 Agent
    BIG TAM wrote:
    too much fanboy pandering

    Maybe there is, but I must say for the most part I loved it B-) I'm of the age (51) where Star Wars was a huge deal for me as a kid, but I'm no SW geek, and I don't ask, or want, to be served.... However, seeing it with my two boys, one of whom is 9 and therefore the same age as me when my mum first took me to see A New Hope, I could not help but to be moved by certain parts of this conclusion, and in seeing his overwhelming joy in the fun and excitement of it all..... Maybe I'm a soppy sentimentalist, but I enjoyed the references, which felt right in the context of this being a conclusion; and yes, it took me back.... As a family, with my older son (14) and wife (who didn't do SW as a kid) we all loved it!... I find the huge negative critical reception way over the top, and just a sign of the times we live in, where everything is torn apart, and all the joy is sucked away. I'm not saying it's a masterpiece, or without fault (and I agree with a lot of your points) but, as a fun bit of fantasy escapism it's a very enjoyable movie.
  • BIG TAMBIG TAM Wrexham, North Wales, UK.Posts: 773MI6 Agent
    MarkOOMark wrote:
    BIG TAM wrote:
    too much fanboy pandering

    Maybe there is, but I must say for the most part I loved it B-) I'm of the age (51) where Star Wars was a huge deal for me as a kid, but I'm no SW geek, and I don't ask, or want, to be served.... However, seeing it with my two boys, one of whom is 9 and therefore the same age as me when my mum first took me to see A New Hope, I could not help but to be moved by certain parts of this conclusion, and in seeing his overwhelming joy in the fun and excitement of it all..... Maybe I'm a soppy sentimentalist, but I enjoyed the references, which felt right in the context of this being a conclusion; and yes, it took me back.... As a family, with my older son (14) and wife (who didn't do SW as a kid) we all loved it!... I find the huge negative critical reception way over the top, and just a sign of the times we live in, where everything is torn apart, and all the joy is sucked away. I'm not saying it's a masterpiece, or without fault (and I agree with a lot of your points) but, as a fun bit of fantasy escapism it's a very enjoyable movie.

    I too am 51 & remember the joy of finally seeing the first film in February, 1978. My dad hates sci-fi & it took that long to persuade him to take me. I can understand the pleasure of rekindling the past with your own children. I have no children & can only see as I find. To me it does a dis-service to hardcore fans. THE FORCE AWAKENS felt a more magical film. This just feels... well, a bit lazy. But I hardly think my view counts for much in the scheme of things. It appears to be making a mint for Disney.
  • DrydenDryden UKPosts: 131MI6 Agent
    Star Wars: The Rise of Somebody (after watching it I really don't care who rose)

    It's really not good, not as bad as the last one but still bad. They've rehashed Carrie Fisher's unused scenes from the previous film and wrote a story around them, unfortunately the story was bad

    J J Abrams has nailed the final nail into the coffin that Rian Johnson built
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,882Chief of Staff
    The 7th Dawn (1964). This was directed by Lewis Gilbert, and I have to think it's the film that suggested to the Bond producers that Gilbert should direct YOLT: it's set in the far east (Malaysia) and utilizes Freddie Young's cinematography to create vast, sweeping images that are exotic and beautiful. It also foregrounds YOLT in the casting of Tetsuro Tana (Tamba) in a major role and a couple of shoot-em-ups and mano-a-mano fights. . .and just as YOLT has Connery putting on "yellow" face as a Japanese peasant, this one has Capucine yellowing it up as a Malay mistress. As for the story: William Holden is very much a Bogart kind of character as a loner in Malaysia during the political machinations surrounding its independence from Britain. Kind of slow and talky, but not without interest.
    Vox clamantis in deserto
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