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

[Warsaw]

I had a similar take at the time. Brutalist would be a big step-up but you can see some promise here. Tend to remember it in tandem with Her Smell, they both came out around the same time and dealt unflinchingly with a fictional ageing female music star.

I mean to catch up with Childhood of the Leader, remember when that was knocking around the festivals and haven't seen it in the wild much since then. One of those films that was always up against a fair hearing then, being (then twentysomething) actor Corbet's debut, the subject matter/ambition, then-Pattinson, etc.

Yeah Her Smell is a good shout, one that came to mind too. Beyond the Lights is another about the troubled pop star that worked this genre better.

 

[Norwegian Blue]

Mrs NB was away for the weekend so I caught up a few movies that I knew she wouldn't think much of.

Smile - a couple of people mentioned it up-thread, which reminded me that I meant to see it when it was released but never got around to it. Not a bad horror flick: original but way too reliant on jump scares. 6/10

The Guns of Navarone - somehow I'd never seen this classic war movie, although I had read the book decades ago but forgot all but the general plot. Almost perfect, except the main cast were all way too old to play commandos infiltrating behind enemy lines - David Niven was in his 50s! Richard Harris' Australian accent was hilarious. 9/10

So Fine - an alleged comedy recommended to me by an alleged friend. I'd forgotten how bad some of those 1980s **** and bum movies could be. The plot involves a guy who invents a fashion item that women worldwide go wild over - jeans with the arse cheeks removed and clear plastic put there instead. About the only redeeming feature was Richard Kiel almost reprising his role as Jaws from the James Bond films. What's amazing is that the guy wrote it co-wrote Blazing Saddles, one of the funniest movies ever. Then again he also directed this and wrote/directed Striptease, so I'd say he was a far better writer than director. 2/10

 

[Beerfish]

Triangle of Sadness. Weird af. Didn't hate it but can't really say i liked it either. The food poisoning scenes would make Mr Creosote proud.. fmd that was gross.

 

[JackOutback]

Longlegs… don’t get the Silence of the Lambs comparisons other than a female FBI agent and a serial killer. This is a straight up horror flick. There’s certainly a creepy vibe, some 1970s horror flourishes, an off-the-wall performance from Nic Cage. But it sometimes confuses simply being odd with being interesting. And the actual plot is a bit nonsensical. 6.5/10

 

[kickazz]

Conclave (2024)

I'm a fan of Robert Harris' novels and Conclave is one of my favourite. So was excited to see the film adaptation, if a little trepidatious as one is when seeing a book on the screen.


I think the story is really good here, but having read it before cannot really critique it properly. Suffice to say there is enough drama and intrigue to keep you guessing, as it slowly but surely builds pace. In short: the Pope dies, and Dean of Cardinals (Ralph Fiennes) is charged with organising The Conclave - who will eventually score a two thirds majority that sees the white smoke emitted? He takes this job very seriously, and whilst having his own political leanings, above all want the right choice to be made for the church.

The acting was really good, but why they "Aglified" a couple of main characters confuses me, given they were happy to have plenty of non english dialogue. Known actors on the bill I suppose.

Cinematography was great, it is dark and gloomy, but they didn't capture the grandness of the Sistine Chapel that well imo, whilst making other buildings look too fancy compared to what they are. Score is very tense.

Themes in this movie are interesting, with doubt being central. Indeed, an early sermon by the protagonist says there cannot be faith without doubt. The age old battle between conservatism and progress gets a good airing too.

I think this movie would be appealing to Catholics and non Catholics alike. Some Catholics online have complained about this film, to them I would say: it's not a documentary. (Though there are some interesting insights into procedures)

Spoiler: Spoily

The ending fits the themes of the movie well, but some of the clues were not as clear as maybe they were in the book. (I picked it when reading). Though having read the book, when I first saw the new Cardinal I immediately noticed his physical appearance. I wonder if those going in fresh would notice it at all. As with the book, I did find his sudden escalation from unknown to pope a little bit of a stretch.

The book makes a bigger deal of women's 'lower' place within the church, so the ending plays back to that as well. Book was written in 2016, I guess it's somewhat appropriate the movie is out now given topics of gender are so forefront in public discourse.

Good entertainment. 4 stars.

 

[Kirby]

The Devil All of the Time - 2020 - Netflix

This is a bit of a hidden treasure. A slow burn thriller set in rural USA between WW2 and the Vietnam war. Interwoven story of bad things done by mostly religious sickos.

Tom Holland shows some real acting chops and there’s also an outstanding performance from Robert Pattison. The acting is great all round in fact.

8/10

 

[bok_party]

Conclave (2024)

I'm a fan of Robert Harris' novels and Conclave is one of my favourite. So was excited to see the film adaptation, if a little trepidatious as one is when seeing a book on the screen.


I think the story is really good here, but having read it before cannot really critique it properly. Suffice to say there is enough drama and intrigue to keep you guessing, as it slowly but surely builds pace. In short: the Pope dies, and Dean of Cardinals (Ralph Fiennes) is charged with organising The Conclave - who will eventually score a two thirds majority that sees the white smoke emitted? He takes this job very seriously, and whilst having his own political leanings, above all want the right choice to be made for the church.

The acting was really good, but why they "Aglified" a couple of main characters confuses me, given they were happy to have plenty of non english dialogue. Known actors on the bill I suppose.

Cinematography was great, it is dark and gloomy, but they didn't capture the grandness of the Sistine Chapel that well imo, whilst making other buildings look too fancy compared to what they are. Score is very tense.

Themes in this movie are interesting, with doubt being central. Indeed, an early sermon by the protagonist says there cannot be faith without doubt. The age old battle between conservatism and progress gets a good airing too.

I think this movie would be appealing to Catholics and non Catholics alike. Some Catholics online have complained about this film, to them I would say: it's not a documentary. (Though there are some interesting insights into procedures)

Spoiler: Spoily

The ending fits the themes of the movie well, but some of the clues were not as clear as maybe they were in the book. (I picked it when reading). Though having read the book, when I first saw the new Cardinal I immediately noticed his physical appearance. I wonder if those going in fresh would notice it at all. As with the book, I did find his sudden escalation from unknown to pope a little bit of a stretch.

The book makes a bigger deal of women's 'lower' place within the church, so the ending plays back to that as well. Book was written in 2016, I guess it's somewhat appropriate the movie is out now given topics of gender are so forefront in public discourse.

Good entertainment. 4 stars.

Absolutely loved this film. Wasn’t expecting it to be so riveting. Everything was top notch across the board 4/5