Movie What's the last movie you saw? (7)

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Perfect Days (2023), a Japanese film (by German filmmaker Wim Wenders) about several days in the life of a Tokyo toilet cleaner. A slow-moving character study, not for all tastes but the lead actor is superb. A good subtitled film to watch on a flight to Bali. Right now I’m watching two lizards on the wall get freaky.
 

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Weird… biopic of Weird Al Yankovich does exactly what you might expect and parodies biopic films rather than bothering with anything like accuracy. Starts out hilarious, imo, Daniel Radcliffe is really good as Al, runs out of legs a little towards the end, which is not unexpected as it plays like an almost two hour comedy sketch, but it’s always interesting and there is always a decent gag coming. 7.5/10

Beverly Hills Cop… watched this in prep for the upcoming sequel. It’s aged pretty well. Great car chase to begin, with shades of the Blues Brothers, epic soundtrack kicks in immediately, an interesting mystery. Eddie Murphy really carries it with his comedy and charm. The shootout at the end is a bit silly (Axel’s actually a pretty bad cop, has no subtlety, is often trying to get cops to break pretty important rules and leads them across wide open spaces while being shot at) but a great action buddy movie, wish they made more like them. 8.5/10
 
The Goonies

Feels like it's been forever since I've watched it. Which is funny because the pop culture references (well I throw Sloth into some of my real life "banter" from time to time) still exist.
I still use "Hey you guys" a lot.

 
A Family Affair

This is bad but i enjoyed it way more than i should have. Kidman and Efron have good chemistry and Joey King does well at being wildly insufferable (it actually pays off).

Im not recommending it but i enjoyed it.

Twister

Watched the original in anticipation of the new. This film is so culturally weird. Its a smash box office hit that doesnt have Jurassic Parks dinosaurs, spawned no sequels (until now nearly 20 years on) and has no real stars (Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton are not and PSH is a bit parter).

Its just really god though. Tightly paced and thoroughly enjoyable, set pieces and effects hold up great. It seems a forgotten throwback the summer blockbuster but my word is this good stuff.
 
A Family Affair

This is bad but i enjoyed it way more than i should have. Kidman and Efron have good chemistry and Joey King does well at being wildly insufferable (it actually pays off).

Im not recommending it but i enjoyed it.

Twister

Watched the original in anticipation of the new. This film is so culturally weird. Its a smash box office hit that doesnt have Jurassic Parks dinosaurs, spawned no sequels (until now nearly 20 years on) and has no real stars (Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton are not and PSH is a bit parter).

Its just really god though. Tightly paced and thoroughly enjoyable, set pieces and effects hold up great. It seems a forgotten throwback the summer blockbuster but my word is this good stuff.
Agree on Twister - it was quite a phenomenon kind of film, people clambered into cinemas because it wasn't something they had experienced before and really quite unique.
 
Agree on Twister - it was quite a phenomenon kind of film, people clambered into cinemas because it wasn't something they had experienced before and really quite unique.
Im real pumped for the sequel TBH. I kind of already was (BIG Glen Powell guy) but after watching the original, even more so.
 
A Quiet Place: Day One

Not bad. If you're familiar with the first 2 movies then you'll have some idea what to expect here. Being a prequel set before the world got wiped out it's, a bigger scale than the earlier movies with the monsters arriving in very-crowded Manhattan.

Pretty solid movie, but not on a par with the first one which I loved, and probably slightly below the second, too. You can see it trying to generate that same kind of tension, but it doesn't always succeed. A lot of the imagery is quiet clearly intended to evoke 9/11 with dust-covered survivors shuffling through New York streets etc. Good running time at only 100 minutes so it doesn't feel like it's getting bogged down and there isn't time for the pacing to drop away too much at any point.

It felt like there was a lack of logic about some parts of it and I swear that goddamn cat was heavily drugged if not actually dead, so if you're an animal rights kind of person then this might not be for you. But overall I thought it was a worthy entry in the series, although the fact that each movie so far as not quiet lived up to the one before does make you wonder if they should stop pushing their luck.
 

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Menus - Plaisirs - Les Troigros: new documentary by Frederick Wiseman, the 94 year old king of documentaries, who has made over 40 of them since his 1967 debut. His latter career documentaries are known for being incredibly long portraits of institutions, and this is no different: a four hour exploration of the legendary Troigros family and their upkeep of a three star restaurant in rural France. This shows the family going about every aspect of owning this business - procuring produce, deciding menus, cooking, serving. It’s an incredibly in depth profile of artists at work, and the insights are a joy to watch. A trip to a cheesemonger as he talked about their processes and gives a guide tour of the facility was illuminating - and mouthwatering. I had to leave at one point to get some food from the candy bar, something I’ve never done mid-movie. Thankfully my guilt was assuaged by the fact that pretty much everyone else in the cinema had done the same.

The Taste of Things: an accidental thematic double on French foodie films, this is about a gourmet and his cook in the late 19th century and their romantic connection. She is played by Juliette Binoche in a really beautiful role, as she’s truly one of the greatest actresses today. I found the film a bit laborious (ironically, it’s half the length of the four hour one above) and, for all its formal handsomeness, a little bit empty. Still, it does nicely capture the joy of cooking and those sequences are wonderfully captured, it’s just that everything around them left were a little lacking, for me.
 
Galaxy Quest… this may be the most perfectly cast film in history. Everyone is ideally suited to their role from Tim Allen as the narcissistic lead actor n a defunct cult sci fi show, Alan Rickman as the frustrated thespian, Tony Shalhoub as the unusual tech guy, Sigourney Weaver as the eye candy who wants a more substantial role, Sam Rockwell as the bit part actor that just wants to be included. It is a good sci fi romp in its own right, my young kids watching it without any Star Trek knowledge loved it. But as satire it is gold and some of the lines just hit perfectly. 9/10
 
Menus - Plaisirs - Les Troigros: new documentary by Frederick Wiseman, the 94 year old king of documentaries, who has made over 40 of them since his 1967 debut. His latter career documentaries are known for being incredibly long portraits of institutions, and this is no different: a four hour exploration of the legendary Troigros family and their upkeep of a three star restaurant in rural France. This shows the family going about every aspect of owning this business - procuring produce, deciding menus, cooking, serving. It’s an incredibly in depth profile of artists at work, and the insights are a joy to watch. A trip to a cheesemonger as he talked about their processes and gives a guide tour of the facility was illuminating - and mouthwatering. I had to leave at one point to get some food from the candy bar, something I’ve never done mid-movie. Thankfully my guilt was assuaged by the fact that pretty much everyone else in the cinema had done the same.

The Taste of Things: an accidental thematic double on French foodie films, this is about a gourmet and his cook in the late 19th century and their romantic connection. She is played by Juliette Binoche in a really beautiful role, as she’s truly one of the greatest actresses today. I found the film a bit laborious (ironically, it’s half the length of the four hour one above) and, for all its formal handsomeness, a little bit empty. Still, it does nicely capture the joy of cooking and those sequences are wonderfully captured, it’s just that everything around them left were a little lacking, for me.
Where did you see the first one, spiny?
 
Where did you see the first one, spiny?

I’m a little late logging it - I saw it at the final day of the Sydney Film Festival. Unfortunately no idea when/if it will get much of a release here beyond whichever festivals pick it up, but most of Wiseman’s films are on Kanopy (great little streaming service, if you have it - free too!), so it’ll probably end up there eventually.

EDIT: Saw it will be playing at the Melbourne Film Festival next month.
 
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I’m a little late logging it - I saw it at the final day of the Sydney Film Festival. Unfortunately no idea when/if it will get much of a release here beyond whichever festivals pick it up, but most of Wiseman’s films are on Kanopy (great little streaming service, if you have it - free too!), so it’ll probably end up there eventually.

EDIT: Saw it will be playing at the Melbourne Film Festival next month.
Thanks, will look out for it. Definitely use Kanopy.
 
Monkey Man (2024)

The story of a man seeking vengeance against those who killed his mother when he was a boy. The action scenes are spectacular - think John Wick with an Indian twist, then there are some more contemplative moments.

Dev Patel does a great job in his first directing role and also as the lead actor. I thought Bradley Cooper was in it but it was Sharlto Copley.

7/10
 
Inside Out 2

God what a great movie. It might be a little old for my two kids (aged 6 and 4) but they still rated it 4/5, putting it into second spot behind If on their ranking of movies we've seen recently. It was a pretty predictable story, never veered into anything dark or too grown up, but it was very engaging.

The depiction of anxiety in Riley as a swirling orange whirlpool was amazing and opened up a great conversation with Mr. 6 after the movie. I also had to fill them in on what puberty is, so that was interesting!
 
Back To The Future (1985)

I forgot how good it is. Great characters, plot and score. The car!

So many fun moments. Libyan terrorists in a Combi, Ronald Reagan is president, Darth Vader from planet Vulcan, the awkwardness between Marty and his hot teenage Mom, Johnny B. Goode.

10/10
 
Despicable Me 4… oof. I haven’t seen any of the previous movies, just happened to be what was on and my daughter wanted to see it. Don’t think I genuinely laughed once, I almost fell asleep twice. And while not every kids movie has to be Pixar deep, it offers no real emotional journey or point. And the plot is just underdone with side stories and Minion vignettes to bump it out to 95 mins. 2/10, doesn’t get a 1 simply because it’s not offensively bad.

Daughter liked it, though.
 
A Quiet Place: Day One - prequel to the film series, showing what it was like when the villainous aliens from the movies arrived. It follows a cancer patient from a hospice who’s out on a day trip in Manhattan when everything goes to shit. In the Alien films, the biology of the titular creatures don’t really make any sense if you think about them long enough, but the films work and you can just go with it. I think setting this in Manhattan, where millions of people dwell in this compact space, can’t help but play up the limitations of these creatures that hunt based on sound, to the extent it took me out of the film. There are some effective moments, and it features the most chill cat I’ve ever seen to a point that had me going beyond incredulous and into fascination, but it overall left me cold.

Taipei Story (1985) - a local cinema is doing an Edward Yang retrospective. Yang was one of the top directors of Taiwan from the 1980s until he sadly died prematurely in 2007. This was his breakout film (and a major breakout for Taiwanese cinema into the global mainstream), and it really packed a punch. It features a couple, who have been together since childhood, and their different perspectives on Taipei’s future in the face of globalisation as it tears them apart. It really left a lot of thoughts, too many to go through here, but was an excellent, albeit incredibly depressing, film.
 

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Movie What's the last movie you saw? (7)

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