What was the last film you watched?
- Thread starter Mel O'Drama
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- Awards
- 52
Hypnotic (2023)
Well that was a load of old pony! The US government have a secret defence programme which trains people to hypnotise others in just a few second just by looking at them. From this ludicrous premise the screenwriters created a story in which a police officer (Ben Affleck) is trying to find his kidnapped daughter and in the process meets a woman who he later discovers is part of the programme. They team up to find the daughter while at the same time they are being pursued by a mysterious man who is able to give commands to people making them do things against their will, including killing people and killing themselves. He is thought to have also have been part of the secret government project. However, not everything is as it seems but even the twist in the film couldn't save this nonsense.
Well that was a load of old pony! The US government have a secret defence programme which trains people to hypnotise others in just a few second just by looking at them. From this ludicrous premise the screenwriters created a story in which a police officer (Ben Affleck) is trying to find his kidnapped daughter and in the process meets a woman who he later discovers is part of the programme. They team up to find the daughter while at the same time they are being pursued by a mysterious man who is able to give commands to people making them do things against their will, including killing people and killing themselves. He is thought to have also have been part of the secret government project. However, not everything is as it seems but even the twist in the film couldn't save this nonsense.
- Awards
- 52
Allelujah (2022)
Great cast, very average film. Set in the geriatric ward of a NHS hospital in the north of England which is managed by Sister Gillpin and the patients are treated by kindly Dr Valentine. The whole hospital is threatened with closure by the government that want to cut costs. The storyline was a bit meandering and at times it wasn't entirely clear what the film was about other than a series of different and unconnected events regarding life on the ward. At the end the film does come together and was far more interesting than what we had been watching up to that point. It's a pity they didn't focus more on this aspect of the story (I can't say what as it would be a huge spoiler) because it would have made for a far more interesting film.
Great cast, very average film. Set in the geriatric ward of a NHS hospital in the north of England which is managed by Sister Gillpin and the patients are treated by kindly Dr Valentine. The whole hospital is threatened with closure by the government that want to cut costs. The storyline was a bit meandering and at times it wasn't entirely clear what the film was about other than a series of different and unconnected events regarding life on the ward. At the end the film does come together and was far more interesting than what we had been watching up to that point. It's a pity they didn't focus more on this aspect of the story (I can't say what as it would be a huge spoiler) because it would have made for a far more interesting film.
- Awards
- 14
Night At The Museum 2.
One of the few occasions that I found the sequel better than the first.
The cast really didn't fail to deliver, even the cameos were excellent. The visual aesthetic was the icing on the cake.
Egyptian pharos, gangsters, giant octopus and Tuskegee airmen meeting Amelia Earhart in one movie, who could ask for more?
The star of the show...Amy Adams stealing every scene as Amelia.
One of the few occasions that I found the sequel better than the first.
The cast really didn't fail to deliver, even the cameos were excellent. The visual aesthetic was the icing on the cake.
Egyptian pharos, gangsters, giant octopus and Tuskegee airmen meeting Amelia Earhart in one movie, who could ask for more?
The star of the show...Amy Adams stealing every scene as Amelia.
- Awards
- 52
Blackberry (2023)
The rise and fall the the Blackberry handset that dominated the mobile phone market in the 1990s. Fascinating story how a small company, Research In Motion (RIM), headed by a couple of geeks, Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin, who were just as happy organising a movie night with their colleagues as they were cutting deals with the big players in the tech market. That's until they pitch their new messaging device to company executive Jim Balsillie, who initially rejects their product but later buys into the RIM and becomes joint CEO with Mike. This partnership leads to spectacular success and growth as Blackberries becomes highly desirable devices. Jim and Mike force co-founder Doug out of the company when they no longer think his lack of seriousness is an asset to the company. All is well until Apple launch the iPhone which causes Blackberry sales to plummet. What follows is turmoil at RIM including the government investigating illegal share dealings that Jim seems to have been involved with and the value of the company nosedives. The one person who comes out of it well is Doug Fregin who sold his 4% of the company when he was forced to leave. At that time RIM were at riding high in the stock market and it is thought that he made over $1 billion from the sale, making him one of the richest people in the world.
The story is told at a brisk pace with a lot of humour thrown in. A really interesting story made into a very good film.
The rise and fall the the Blackberry handset that dominated the mobile phone market in the 1990s. Fascinating story how a small company, Research In Motion (RIM), headed by a couple of geeks, Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin, who were just as happy organising a movie night with their colleagues as they were cutting deals with the big players in the tech market. That's until they pitch their new messaging device to company executive Jim Balsillie, who initially rejects their product but later buys into the RIM and becomes joint CEO with Mike. This partnership leads to spectacular success and growth as Blackberries becomes highly desirable devices. Jim and Mike force co-founder Doug out of the company when they no longer think his lack of seriousness is an asset to the company. All is well until Apple launch the iPhone which causes Blackberry sales to plummet. What follows is turmoil at RIM including the government investigating illegal share dealings that Jim seems to have been involved with and the value of the company nosedives. The one person who comes out of it well is Doug Fregin who sold his 4% of the company when he was forced to leave. At that time RIM were at riding high in the stock market and it is thought that he made over $1 billion from the sale, making him one of the richest people in the world.
The story is told at a brisk pace with a lot of humour thrown in. A really interesting story made into a very good film.
- Awards
- 4
Baby face (1933) starring Barbara Stanwyck.
- Awards
- 20
Book Club (2018)
Another entry in the four-female-friends-talk-about-their-lives-for-two-hours genre.
This one could almost be a long lost episode of Love, American Style: "Love and the Older Women."
Four interconnected rom-coms with - spoiler alert! - everybody ending up with just who they're meant to be with.
Another entry in the four-female-friends-talk-about-their-lives-for-two-hours genre.
This one could almost be a long lost episode of Love, American Style: "Love and the Older Women."
Four interconnected rom-coms with - spoiler alert! - everybody ending up with just who they're meant to be with.
- Awards
- 52
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (2023)
For some reason I have been aware of the book that his film is based on but I never read it so I was interested to see what it was all about. I quickly realised I probably wasn't the target audience for this film as I suspect it is more directed at teenage girls. However, I still found it to be a good watch. Margaret is a sixth-grade school student from New York (does that mean she's 11? It's not a terminology we used when I was at school). Her father is Jewish and her mother is from a Catholic background and although she doesn't have a faith herself, throughout the film she talks to God and this is used to show the audience what she is thinking and feeling. Her family move to New Jersey when her dad get a new job. She struggles to fit in with her new friends, to cope with her changing body and to find her own identity and along the way, she learns about boys, bras, periods and the meaning of friendship. The film didn't blow me away but it was a pleasant enough way to pass its one and three-quarter hours running time.
For some reason I have been aware of the book that his film is based on but I never read it so I was interested to see what it was all about. I quickly realised I probably wasn't the target audience for this film as I suspect it is more directed at teenage girls. However, I still found it to be a good watch. Margaret is a sixth-grade school student from New York (does that mean she's 11? It's not a terminology we used when I was at school). Her father is Jewish and her mother is from a Catholic background and although she doesn't have a faith herself, throughout the film she talks to God and this is used to show the audience what she is thinking and feeling. Her family move to New Jersey when her dad get a new job. She struggles to fit in with her new friends, to cope with her changing body and to find her own identity and along the way, she learns about boys, bras, periods and the meaning of friendship. The film didn't blow me away but it was a pleasant enough way to pass its one and three-quarter hours running time.
- Awards
- 52
Wish I had seen this film because the sequel, The Book Club: The Next Chapter, is currently at cinemas but I don't want to watch it before I seen the original. The four elderly female friends film sound a bit like the film 80 For Brady which I quite enjoyed when I watched it a few months ago so I'm curious about these films too.
- Awards
- 52
Bud and Lou (1978)
A while back I watched the film Stan and Ollie (2018) which was a biopic of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy and it got me curious to see what this biopic of the Abbott and Costello comedy partnership was like. This film tells the story from how Bud Abbott and Lou Costello first met until up until Lou is on his deathbed. Harvey Korman played Abbott, and in an inspired piece of casting because of his uncanny resemblance to his partner, Buddy Hackett played Costello. The film included recreations of some of the duos iconic routines such as "Who's on First?" and "Mudders and Fodders". However, there is too much focus on Costello and we find out very little about Abbott. We see a lot Lou's wife Anne (played by Michelle Lee) throughout the film, we follow the birth and accidental death of their son how their grief impacted on them and we see Costello's transformation into a demanding star that affected those closest to him. By contrast, Bud's wife and 2 children were never mentioned and his epilepsy and alcoholism was also only touched on briefly. It was almost as if Bud was a background artist in his own life story. There was a lot of the 2 men bickering over who should get the most money. The film is ok but it's far from telling their full story.
A while back I watched the film Stan and Ollie (2018) which was a biopic of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy and it got me curious to see what this biopic of the Abbott and Costello comedy partnership was like. This film tells the story from how Bud Abbott and Lou Costello first met until up until Lou is on his deathbed. Harvey Korman played Abbott, and in an inspired piece of casting because of his uncanny resemblance to his partner, Buddy Hackett played Costello. The film included recreations of some of the duos iconic routines such as "Who's on First?" and "Mudders and Fodders". However, there is too much focus on Costello and we find out very little about Abbott. We see a lot Lou's wife Anne (played by Michelle Lee) throughout the film, we follow the birth and accidental death of their son how their grief impacted on them and we see Costello's transformation into a demanding star that affected those closest to him. By contrast, Bud's wife and 2 children were never mentioned and his epilepsy and alcoholism was also only touched on briefly. It was almost as if Bud was a background artist in his own life story. There was a lot of the 2 men bickering over who should get the most money. The film is ok but it's far from telling their full story.
- Awards
- 20
In fact, Hackett co-starred with Hugh O'Brian in the 1954 film Fireman Save My Child, which was originally intended as an Abbott & Costello vehicle.
That's interesting, too. Lee played Dick Van Dyke's wife in The Comic (1969), a film partly inspired by the life of Stan Laurel.
- Awards
- 52
Martin and Lewis (2002)
Watching the film Bud and Lou (1978) inspired me to check out this film about another famous American double act, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. I wasn't particular familiar with their work together, I mainly think of them as solo artists in the second phase of their careers, so there was less in this film of which I was previously aware.
The film starts with how the 2 men met and ends with their split and between those 2 bookends we learn about how they became a double act supporting headliners in small venues to become headliners themselves in some of the biggest venues across the USA before moving to Hollywood where they had huge success in films. I think this film was a little unfair to Dean Martin as he is portrayed as an average singer who wouldn't have made it without teaming up with Jerry Lewis. I always thought Dean had a great voice, a great stage presence and was incredibly funny and would have made it on his own whereas Jerry Lewis was more of an acquired taste who probably needed Dean to broaden his appeal.
When they recreated parts of their act for the film, I found Lewis's manic and chaotic humour to be almost unwatchable and found him to be more annoying than funny. However, Sean Hayes (Jack from Will and Grace) did a fabulous job in portraying Lewis who came across as being totally obnoxious, envious, bad-tempered, destructive, self-centred and attention seeking.
Of the 3 biopics I seen recently about comedy double acts (Stan and Ollie, Bud and Lou and Martin and Lewis) this was the weakest but it still had some great performances and an interesting narrative.
Watching the film Bud and Lou (1978) inspired me to check out this film about another famous American double act, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. I wasn't particular familiar with their work together, I mainly think of them as solo artists in the second phase of their careers, so there was less in this film of which I was previously aware.
The film starts with how the 2 men met and ends with their split and between those 2 bookends we learn about how they became a double act supporting headliners in small venues to become headliners themselves in some of the biggest venues across the USA before moving to Hollywood where they had huge success in films. I think this film was a little unfair to Dean Martin as he is portrayed as an average singer who wouldn't have made it without teaming up with Jerry Lewis. I always thought Dean had a great voice, a great stage presence and was incredibly funny and would have made it on his own whereas Jerry Lewis was more of an acquired taste who probably needed Dean to broaden his appeal.
When they recreated parts of their act for the film, I found Lewis's manic and chaotic humour to be almost unwatchable and found him to be more annoying than funny. However, Sean Hayes (Jack from Will and Grace) did a fabulous job in portraying Lewis who came across as being totally obnoxious, envious, bad-tempered, destructive, self-centred and attention seeking.
Of the 3 biopics I seen recently about comedy double acts (Stan and Ollie, Bud and Lou and Martin and Lewis) this was the weakest but it still had some great performances and an interesting narrative.
- Awards
- 5
- Awards
- 11
The Dammed Don't Cry- with Joan Crawford. Joan was a tad Joan Crawfordish, if that makes sense, but it was still good.
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- Awards
- 20
Of course, I forgot that Hackett and Lee appeared together in The Love Bug.
- Awards
- 52
Flamin' Hot (2023)
This film was an unexpected delight. Based on the true story of how Richard Montanez went from being a hoodlum constantly in trouble with the police, to being a janitor at a snack manufacturer, to developing a new flavour of the Cheeto snack, the Flamin' Hot, and ultimately becoming a director at the company. The film has many of the cliches of past films of the underdog challenging established procedures of resistant large corporations but the story to told with such style and humour that this really isn't a negative. Former Desperate Housewives star, Eva Longoria, in her directorial debut shows a real flare and talent in the role and a strong affection for Latino culture. The films pacing, the vibrant colours and some lovely cinematic techniques to show the passage of time were impressive.
This film was an unexpected delight. Based on the true story of how Richard Montanez went from being a hoodlum constantly in trouble with the police, to being a janitor at a snack manufacturer, to developing a new flavour of the Cheeto snack, the Flamin' Hot, and ultimately becoming a director at the company. The film has many of the cliches of past films of the underdog challenging established procedures of resistant large corporations but the story to told with such style and humour that this really isn't a negative. Former Desperate Housewives star, Eva Longoria, in her directorial debut shows a real flare and talent in the role and a strong affection for Latino culture. The films pacing, the vibrant colours and some lovely cinematic techniques to show the passage of time were impressive.
- Awards
- 27
the very last story that hadn't been filmed yet. Hollywood may as well close up shop because from now on it will only be more of the same.
- Awards
- 52
That’s why I described the film as being *an unexpected delight* because the premise of the film doesn’t sound particularly promising but the managed to create something that is fascinating, funny, positive, entertaining and inspiring out of what at first seems to be a pretty lame subject.
the very last story that hadn't been filmed yet. Hollywood may as well close up shop because from now on it will only be more of the same.
- Awards
- 52
Daliland (2023)
Not exactly a biopic, more a story about a period in the life of the artist when in his November years. Set in the early 1973, a young art gallery assistant goes to work for the great man to help his preparations for a big exhibition in New York. Dali is no longer focussed on his work and spend a lot of time trying to please wife Gala and partying. Meanwhile the people around him are trying to exploit his fame to make money, not always legally. Ben Kingsley is wonderful as Dali but even his strong performance can't save this meandering and slightly confused film from mediocrity. Fans of Dali will like it but people who are neutral or not particularly knowledgeable about his work may not find it adequately engaging.
Not exactly a biopic, more a story about a period in the life of the artist when in his November years. Set in the early 1973, a young art gallery assistant goes to work for the great man to help his preparations for a big exhibition in New York. Dali is no longer focussed on his work and spend a lot of time trying to please wife Gala and partying. Meanwhile the people around him are trying to exploit his fame to make money, not always legally. Ben Kingsley is wonderful as Dali but even his strong performance can't save this meandering and slightly confused film from mediocrity. Fans of Dali will like it but people who are neutral or not particularly knowledgeable about his work may not find it adequately engaging.