What was the last film you watched?

[Crimson]

Run Hide Fight (2021)

Sometimes I wonder who the audience is for these obscure programmers that are destined to disappear into oblivion. Now I know the answer.

It's you.

And honestly not a shot. I admire your willingness to give just about any movie a watch. I've become impossibly persnickety about films, with an entire mental checklist to determine if I think I might like it. And even then I usually decide it's not worth the effort.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I admire your willingness to give just about any movie a watch. I've become impossibly persnickety about films, with an entire mental checklist to determine if I think I might like it. And even then I usually decide it's not worth the effort.

I've become less discriminating in the streaming age. When I had to buy or rent a film I was far more selective. Now I feel there's less to lose. Also, as someone who relies on structure, sometimes it's quite liberating to watch a film knowing nothing about it.

Occasionally it yields gold, and I suppose those times and the hope that a film might give me a surprisingly rich experience mitigates any sense of having completely wasted precious time.


But, yes. My bar is very low. Basically, if Ryan Gosling is not in it, I'll give it a go.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Basically, if Ryan Gosling is not in it, I'll give it a go.

Ryan Gosling, Ryan Gosling....which Ryan is that?

 

[Willie Oleson]

Game Night (2018)



Jason Bateman is typecast as the passive-aggressive guy (Max) who has to put up with all the stupidity in the world. He knows how to play this role and he also does it very well in Game Night.
Rachel McAdams plays his breezy but oh-so-resourceful wife (Annie) and together they belong to a group of friends who like to spend their leisure time playing games (the physical ones, not computer games).
When Max's cocky ne'er-do-well brother Brooks returns from a long trip - or something like that - things start to spiral out of control pretty fast and then, well, it never stops. That's all I'm going to say about the plot.
I'm not a big Kyle Chandler fan but at least that makes his role suitable enough for me.

The story is full of surprises, funny failures and funny victories. There are things in it that look familiar (when it happens) but that's not exactly the same as being predictable (before it happens).
There are quite a few references to real-life celebrities and maybe some events but that's de rigueur in modern comedies.
Game Night is literally crammed with jokes and naturally not every joke will have the same effect on everybody.
Luckily, you don't have time to think about a "meh" moment and it's usually followed by a better one.

Unlike Netflix's Murder Mystery, Game Night never feels like throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.
Actually I kinda enjoyed the first Murder Mystery movie but the sequel is atrocious.
Anyway, what I was going to say is that it looks as if the makers of Game Night had a very clear vision of the concept, humour and characters in their film. It's about hilarious stupidity but the film itself isn't.
Some moments even qualify as Comedy Gold e.g. the slow-moving box on the conveyer belt or the "how to remove a bullet" instruction on a racist website.
Considering the movement of the story it also made me think of the bitchy Rat Race remake from 2001.
It rarely happens that a mainstream comedy entertains me from start to finish, and speaking of finish don't forget to watch the fabulous end credits sequence.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Basically, if Ryan Gosling is not in it, I'll give it a go.

Ya don't like The Goz?

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Ya don't like The Goz?

It's difficult to say. I've only seen him in one film, and that was nineteen years ago, so I may feel differently today. Back then I disliked that particular performance enough to actively avoid his films since then.

He seems to have aged well, though, and is probably a very nice chap.

Ryan Gosling, Ryan Gosling....which Ryan is that?

The one who's not Ryan Reynolds.

I think.

Game Night (2018)

Oh - you liked it more than I did.

Smug, entitled, middle-aged Americans act like the smart-talking sassy teenagers from Scream for no reason other than, apparently, because.

But I did concede:

Although it doesn't sound like it, there was something strangely watchable about it.

 

[Willie Oleson]

It's difficult to say. I've only seen him in one film, and that was nineteen years ago, so I may feel differently today. Back then I disliked that particular performance enough to actively avoid his films since then.

I've only seen him in Barbie and he was the best part of that movie.

Oh - you liked it more than I did.

Interestingly, Game Night was directed by the writers of Horrible Bosses which you liked more than I did.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Interestingly, Game Night was directed by the writers of Horrible Bosses which you liked more than I did.

Oh, I hadn't realised that. I think I watched Game Night some three or four years before I saw Horrible Bosses. Perhaps I'd have appreciated it more if I'd watched it after.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I'm not saying it's a masterpiece but the story develops non-stop and I was never prepared for the next thing, or the next joke for that matter.
Perhaps my expectations were not very high although I consider the 2010s a good decade for films.
As for the 2020s I feel my interest is waning with each passing year. Everything's called "Oscar bait" now and I'm not going to be part of that crowd.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Entertaining Mr Sloane (1970)



A rewatch, the first time I liked it and now I love it. I don't know how it compares to the original stage play but online comments suggest that the film has played up the friviolous tone at the expense of the darker material in this story.
It's true that some of the unsettling character backgrounds are only mentioned in passing but that doesn't mean it's irrelevant. If anything, it adds to the eccentric and surreal quality of the film.
There's the father peeping Tomming his daughter's sexual escapades, and the vengeful gay brother who has prevented his sister from raising her own son (no details are given so it's not clear what level of darkness we're dealing with).

The only thing I'd love to change is the dead of Dadda. If Sloane isn't responsible but still the most obvious suspect then the blackmail would look nastier and would also serve as a karmic retribution for the murder he did commit before the story begins.

Character-wise they're almost as grotesque as the characters in John Waters fiction, but this is also a very very British film and therefore a sense of pseudo-middle class must prevail. The effect of the comedy is that most of what's being said must be interpreted as the complete opposite.
I don't know if Sloane was meant to tie in with the atrocious sex farce genre that happened in seventies Europe (definitely not to be confused with the better quality Billy Wilder plays) but I can easily interpret it as a knowing and intelligent parody on that genre.
At the end of the day, what you have here is four actors acting the hell out of their roles supported by terrific dialogue to sink their teeth into.
Especially Beryl Reid's part - "Blanche Deveraux" on steroids - is endlessly quotable.
But as I said, the finale lacks a bit of momentum. The outcome itself actually precedes the bisexual arrangement in Sunday Bloody Sunday that was released the next year.

 

[Willie Oleson]

First Blood (1982)



The Rambo character is literally created, right in front of our very noses, from of the actions and incorrect perception of the antagonists.
The most hateable villian is not the creepy serial killer or the tycoon with a diabolic master plan, it's the powerful bully.
Even if you're not interested in the Rambo character - and to be honest, he doesn't give much reason to - then you'd still want to revel in the gruesome comeuppance of these redneck violators who are supposed to protect people.

Looking at Stallone's perfect eighties blow-dry, the story's depiction of "dirty" drifter made me chuckle, not to mention the idea that a knife is considered more dangerous and illegal than a gun. To be fair, it's a really big knife. Definitely not for Boy Scouts activities.
I know it's cliché and uncool to say "they don't make 'em like that anymore" but look at the cinematography in this film, a film that doesn't even aim to be a cinematic gem. Apparently, it was the normal thing to do at that time. And a good reason to be in the cinema.
Everything is clear to see in lush widescreen, no hysterical editing with fast-changing close-ups.

In some way it feels more like an unintentional blockbuster spectacle, which has a lot to do with how the situation spirals out of control.
The destruction of Sheriff Teasle's precious boring town is the most satisfying part in this film, a counter-attack on a society who didn't want to be reminded of that war, conveniently "forgetting" that most of the recruits never signed up for that kind of horror and suffering in the first place.
Stallone, not exactly know for his Shakespearean comedic talent (becaus he doesn't have it or because he never showed it) is convincing throughout the whole film and that includes the emotional finale - which could have gone so very wrong, but thankfully it didn't.
When the end credits started to roll I was suddenly overwhelmed by sadness, not because of the story but because of the knowledge that it's going to be sequeled.
They had a good thing here, why couldn't they just leave it alone and let it forever be "that great film from 1982", a film that shows how much can be accomplished with a simple, straightforward story.
I imagine that First Blood Part II (as if it's literally the next chapter in exactly the same story) is the Rambo equivalent of Aliens: more glistening muscles and bigger guns. Either way, I have no intention to find out.