What's the latest movie you've seen?

[Guybrush]

I disagree with your analysis of how the alien evolves. It has always been that way and necessary.

It's always been stupid, yes. I get the purist argument that it should stay as stupid as it's always been, but for myself, it'll always be a jarring part of that franchise.

[tristan_geoff]

Festen (The Celebration)

Reminded me of you lot

[Marie Monday]

Wow are you calling us incestuous

[tristan_geoff]

Wow are you calling us incestuous

LMAO nahh just drama 

[Trollheart]

The Cassandra Crossing (1976)

For the time, this is a pretty dark action movie. It sort of has everything, from stars of today (at the time) such as Richard Harris and Martin Sheen and yesterday in Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner, to high-speed action, a government conspiracy, a deadly virus and an explosive ending. I saw it years and years ago and only remember the ending, but I rewatched it last night and while it's not a classic, for the time it's pretty good and the themes it explores are still relevant today. In fact, replace the made-up virus they have in the movie with Covid and it works. Harris in his traditional turtleneck sweater, submachinegun over his shoulder, is out to save the day, and it's interesting to see Sheen with long hair playing a bad guy.

Burt Lancaster as the colonel tasked with, um, stopping the train plays his role in a brilliantly understated way, and yeah, OJ Simpson is okay in it too. There's a helicopter chase scene in it that one of the Mission: Impossible movies must have just lifted almost right out of this movie, and it's a timely reminder - for the era of Watergate and Vietnam - never to trust your government. Damned good effects too. Worth a watch if you like rollercoaster thrillers mixed with conspiracy theory. There's a particularly poignant scene in the movie where a Jewish man who has obviously been in the camps sees the train being boarded up (for their safety - right - as a sort of mobile quarantine) and is reminded sharply of the cattle trucks which took him and his family to the concentration camps during the war.

[Marie Monday]

Ferris Bueller's Day Off - childish, dated, and mean-spirited. Even worse than Fast Times; some of those classic old teen films are really just nostalgia traps

[DJChameleon]

Ferris Bueller's Day Off - childish, dated, and mean-spirited. Even worse than Fast Times; some of those classic old teen films are really just nostalgia traps

Yeah I had that experience when I rewatched Weird Science.

They drop certain insults so casually but yeah it was a different time. Retarded and F****t is what I'm talking about.

[Psy-Fi]

Shed no Tears (1948)

B&W crime drama about a life insurance fraud scheme between a married couple (an older man and a much younger woman), which goes awry under a cloud of suspicion over the widow while she's planning on taking all of the insurance money and running away with her young lover. 

[Marie Monday]

Yeah I had that experience when I rewatched Weird Science.

They drop certain insults so casually but yeah it was a different time. Retarded and F****t is what I'm talking about.

yeah but policitally incorrect or old-fashioned bigoted stuff wasn't even what bothered me most here. The worst thing is how the film presents you with a whole bunch of characters who are just pathetic, nothing more, and then asks the audience to laugh at their expense. That's its main idea of 'entertainment'; it's miserable to sit through (I did though - the desperation of airplane boredom)

[SGR]

I saw this two weeks ago and I enjoyed it. It was a bit strange having two antagonists but it ended up working out.

I also saw Romulus and loved it so much. Some people complained about the characters not having much depth but I'm like come on they are alien fodder who cares if they have depth or not. Only the main two needed depth which they did and had good back story. I disagree with your analysis of how the alien evolves. It has always been that way and necessary.

To add a bit to the conversation here, I saw both Alien: Romulus and the Beetlejuice sequel in theaters recently, and I enjoyed both but thought Alien was much better.

Beetlejuice (Beetlejuice) has a villain problem. Delores (Monica Belucci) is set up at the beginning to be what seems to be the primary antagonist of the film and then....the film does basically nothing with her. Not to spoil too much, but the ending scene...I thought we'd get something, anything more than what we got, but nope. I love Willem DaFoe as much as the next guy, but his character felt completely pointless in the story as well. Cut both of those characters out and give the other characters more screentime imo and we'd be better off. The love story between Ortega's character and the boy felt a little forced to me too. She runs into his fence and apologizes, then they both find out they read Dostoevsky and listen to music and they fall in love? I mean, they're supposed to be teenagers I guess, but it didn't feel completely natural (hint hint: I guess there's a reason it didn't feel "natural").

Overall, the film just had too much going on. It didn't feel focused like the first film did. All that being said, it was "fun". So I'll give it that. I think a few years from now though, none of us will remember the major story beats of the film.

Alien, despite some of the stated flaws, was also a blast. It can be nitpicked for sure, but I was completely engaged and entertained throughout the film. A return to form, none of this engineers shit, just give me the Xenomorph and some grisly and suspenseful chase and death scenes and I'm happy. I'd switch Guy's ratings of these two movies around honestly. The ending of Romulus was just great...what a nasty motherfucker that thing was, my goodness. 

[Trollheart]

Breach (2007)

I don't know what it is with me. I didn't love but gave credit to The Cassandra Crossing as a good thriller, and literally every critic panned it, some calling it something like the worst movie ever, which I think is unfair. Having watched this, I thought at the end "meh" and here every single critic loves it, some even putting it as film of the year! GMDNTA obviously, at least mine doesn't. But I found this pedestrian and boring. I know it's based on reality, but I've watched films like that before and they've managed to make them interesting. This I expected a twist at the end (forgot it was a true story, to be honest) but no, nothing happened. For me, it just did not fulfill its potential and I was left with a feeling of "so what?" after the credits rolled.




Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

Sure, we all know the story and in fact I only recently watched a documentary about her, but it never ceases to be an interesting one. Talk about a bunch of men using a woman - well, two women really; Elizabeth didn't want to have her executed but had no choice - to get their own way. Quite misogynistic in a lot of ways, but them was the times. Saoirse Ronan is great in the title role, Margot Robbie didn't really convince me as Elizabeth, but David Tennant gave a towering performance as John Knox. Always good to see Martin Compston too. I'd say recommended, though don't really expect anything you don't already know. Great score too.





The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021)

I loved this. Different, quirky, fun and funny, with a lot of family-driven pathos too. A dysfunctional family have to save the world when mobile phones become robots and, of course, go rogue and take over the world. Well-written, at times side-splittingly funny with some genuine emotion and a well-timed dig at the "Instagram generation". Best line: "Maybe collecting people's personal data and sending it to a hyper-intelligent AI as part of an unauthorised and unregulated tech monopoly was a BAD idea?" Superb. Silly to the max, but highly enjoyable. And for once, the kids aren't annoying. Oh, another great line: Father (looking up at huge computer structure) "My God! It's like the cover of a Journey album!" Kid: "What's an album?" 

[Psy-Fi]

Blonde Ice (1948)

Another crime drama from 1948. This one is about an amoral society columnist with a desire for wealth & power, with no limits to what she will do to fulfill her desires. 

[Guybrush]

I saw The Substance with a couple of mates today at the cinema 🙂



I went in blind having read no review or watched a single trailer. I somehow knew it was body horror starring Demi Moore and that the imdb rating was unusually good.

Such a fun movie! It was an absolute blast. The few characters that were in it were fun, especially Dennis Quaid as the sleaziest network exec. It was nice seeing Demi Moore again and Margaret Qualley was indeed a treat for the eyes.

The stakes were high. The comedy was fun and the gross out moments were gross.

Best of all, the movie just keeps ramping up for a completely insane finale that took all of us by surprise - and in a good way. It's been a while since I laughed this much in the cinema.

Some rando was too grossed out and left, but most seemed to like it 👍

Go watch it!

[innerspaceboy]

Tonight I attended a screening of Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism's Unholy War on Democracy (2024).

From the official website:

BAD FAITH reveals how Christian Nationalist leaders have spread fear and anger for decades, distorting political issues into Biblical battles between good and evil. Financed through the secretive Council for National Policy, Christian Nationalists have succeeded in taking over the Republican Party, turning it into a powerful weapon to demolish democracy from within. Discover the origins of this organized grasp for power and the grassroots coalition of secular and interfaith leaders bravely confronting the unholy forces threatening democracy.

Critics have summed it up best, saying:

BAD FAITH is one of the ten best movies of 2024.—VARIETY

A GREAT AND POWERFUL AND TIMELY FILM, filled with the dread this moment engenders; the cynical misuse of religion to advance aims diametrically the opposite of Christianity's mission. — Ken Burns

BAD FAITH IS THE SCARIEST MOVIE I'VE SEEN IN A LONG TIME — Owen Gleiberman, Variety

BAD FAITH FEELS LIKE A TERRIFYING POLITICAL THRILLER — Desert Sun

TRUST ME WHEN I TELL YOU THIS: IT IS A MUST-SEE AND IT WILL TERRIFY YOU — Steve Schmidt

Trailer:

[jimmy jazz]

Been meaning to watch this for years and with it being shown on the BBC this week (they picked the right time to scare people  ), I thought it would be a good time.

Threads.



It managed to shock me in places.

I really enjoyed it.

5/5 from me.