Black Cat Bone

I took the wee guy to see Glass last night, his choice for his birthday. I think total shite would be underplaying how bad it was. Plot holes you could drive a herd of elephants through and overacting by McAvoy taling ham to unscaled heights.

I really struggle with why M. Night Shyamalan is still making movies that are always hinging on some plot uturn towards the end. Has he not thought that he could move on and do something different. Also throw in a cameo for no other reason than getting himself innfront of the camera.

Failure on every possible level.

Alfonso Cuaron's semi-autobiographical film about a middle-class Mexican family in the 1970s has been hailed as a masterpiece but I was rather ambivalent.
It's certainly gorgeous to look at and full of memorable shots and images, with some wonderful tracking shots and lots of detal in the crowd and street scenes, and the acting isn't to be faulted, but I thought that the film mixed its elements somewhat uncomfortably: the cinematography, sweeping and slow in the manner of Tarkovsky or Jancso, say, was mightily impressive in capturing the turmoil and scenery of Mexico at the time, but it made the human dramas at the centre of the film feel sterile and distant, as do the passive nature of Cuaron’s direction and the lead character, both more observers than direct actors, which again makes the whole less involving. It’s also hamstrung by the fact that none of the other main players develop any real personality: again, there is no emotional involvement, with genuine heart replaced by a couple of manipulative setpiece scenes.
The emphasis on long, arty shots simply made the human action feel posed and forced, stripping it of emotional heft; I'm all for making your film look great, but when even the dogturds look pristine and perfect, it's hard to buy into the reality.

This seems to have won high praise as some kind #metoo empowerment fable, but I saw it as just a sleazy (and rather hard to believe) exploitation movie. Oh well!

Difficult not to like.

I’d recommend Alex Lockwood’s 15 minute documentary ‘73 Cows’ which is quite lovely. You can watch it online on Vimeo.

We saw this the first weekend as Phil's a diehard fan. It was just wonderful- touching without being mawkish, sweet without being cloying. The leads were sensational, but the whole cast shone. I especially enjoyed Stan's wife, Ida. Both wives, in fact, were so good that I could happily have watched a spin-off about them. It gave me everything I want in a film ( apart from epic car chases ).




This was also utterly enjoyable. An unusual story told with humour, pathos and a light touch. Melissa McCarthy is unbelievably good in it; what a revelation. I hope she gets the Oscar, because I can't remember when I last saw such a terrific female lead.

Polishgirl wrote:

We saw this the first weekend as Phil's a diehard fan. It was just wonderful- touching without being mawkish, sweet without being cloying. The leads were sensational, but the whole cast shone. I especially enjoyed Stan's wife, Ida. Both wives, in fact, were so good that I could happily have watched a spin-off about them. It gave me everything I want in a film ( apart from epic car chases ).

I really liked it. Someone's done a comparison of the Way Out West dance.

Incredible, isn’t it!

We watched ‘The Favourite’ last night which was good fun. Visually spectacular.

The North Yorks Moors wrote:

Difficult not to like.

There’s a funny continuity slip in this film – at least I think there is. It’s in a scene where a guy is eating spaghetti and clams. The picture cuts away from the clams, then back again, and in the interval (barely a couple of seconds) a new heap of pasta has appeared on the guy’s plate! Or maybe I was just very hungry at the time.

The Wandering Earth (2019)

50 or so years in the future, the sun begins dying, prompting the nations of Earth to join in a millennias-long project that will propel Earth to a new solar system via giant engines. This movie comes across as a distillation of 50 years of Hollywood blockbuster sci-fi movies, magnified to the nth power. Besides the imaginative premise, some really striking visuals, and generally a pretty fun adventure, if a bit long, and the climax seems to go on forever.

I watched Performance a few nights ago. I picked it up on bluray in a 2 for 15 deal, along with Lost Horizon. I saw it years ago on telly and to be honest didn't think that much of it. I think having adverts throughout it probably spoiled the flow.

The real joy this time round was James Fox. What a performance, a million miles away from his usual roles. Totally convincing as Chaz. Jagger was good but it wasn't really much of a stretch for him to play. Anita was gorgeous and the bath water was filthy.

So how much was the finished film Cammell or Roeg? To me it looks more in line with Roegs style but I've only seen one other Cammell film, Demon Seed which I don't really remember much about. Anyone seen Cammell's other movies.

This was excellent! Really funny stuff. Highly recommended.



This was sweet and good-natured and raised a few chuckles.



This was mostly pretty good, but Denis Leary, still, really?

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So many great, great John Huston movies, but this late period masterpiece would surely be in his top five.

Have always adored the film since I first saw it on the big screen in Leicester Square forty-odd years ago.

Caught it again for about the thousandth time on BBC over the weekend.

They really do not make movies like this any more more's the pity.

There being no CGI everything went on the script, the setting and the actors.

Even Connery's fall from the bridge at the end was done by a stuntman.

We watched ‘The Selfish Giant’ the other weekend -set in Bradford, my hometown.
I’m used to films set in Bradford being relentlessly miserable but this was most certainly pushing it, with barely a breath of relief from the savage poverty and general sadness. Even the really awful bits were absolutely jaw droppingly awful and left you pretty stunned.
Yeah, so enjoy!

Stan and Ollie (2019)

Really enjoyed this, although it seemed to me this presented as much a sanitized version of real events as 'Bohemian Rhapsody' did.

Butch Manly wrote:

Saw this at the cinema on Thursday. Following Pinochet's bloody, CIA-backed toppling of Allende - the man who gave Chileans too much hope - in 1973, people around the world protested in their own ways, be it taking to the streets, boycotting Chilean produce or whatever. Thousands of miles from Santiago in East Kilbride, Bob, an engineer at the Hawker Sidley plant, spots that eight Rolls Royce jet engines, due to be serviced and refurbished, have come from Chile. In an act of solidarity with the people of Chile, he "blacks" the engines, meaning no one is to touch them since they are now under dispute. The rest of the plant fully support Bob's action and, though four of the engines are "kidnapped" in the middle of the night several years later (to what ends, we find out later on), the other four are left to rust into uselessness.

Many years later, Bob and his three comrades are visited by a Chilean documentary maker. Their act of solidarity had achieved a level of fame - and made a tangible difference - in Chile that East Kilbride had never been aware of - until now.

Touching, inspiring and a lesson to us all. Watch it if you possibly can.

Just watched this on BBC Scotland, aired as part of their inaugural night.

Braw.

So I finally streamed Bohemian Rhapsody last night. It was about as good as I thought it would be. It was fine, no better than Oliver Stone's The Doors from eons ago. Both films play with the facts to suit their director's visions yet this one seems to have received mostly kudos while The Doors was panned if memory serves. Also, I didn't find Academy Award-winning actor Rami Malek to be any better as Freddie than non-nominated Val Kilmer was as Morrison in the previous film.

Matt Wilson wrote:So I finally streamed Bohemian Rhapsody last night. It was about as good as I thought it would be. It was fine, no better than Oliver Stone's The Doors from eons ago. Both films play with the facts to suit their director's visions yet this one seems to have received mostly kudos while The Doors was panned if memory serves. Also, I didn't find Academy Award-winning actor Rami Malek to be any better as Freddie than non-nominated Val Kilmer was as Morrison in the previous film.

Don't know about the US, but BH got eviscerated by most of the more respected reviewers in the quality press in the UK. It was the same with Hugh Jackman's The Showman, which also went on to make megabucks.

Blue Juice (1995) the greatest British surfing movie ever made possibly because it's the only British surfing movie thus far made. It's a fast paced, absolute joy with a wonderful and disparate cast.
All is sweet for Catherine and Sean except he's done his back in surfing a big one and is off sex due to the pain until Northern Soul loving, drug purveying buddies from London arrive uninvited to make a nuisance of themselves. Bonus for Coronation Street fans is an uptight Brian Packham on a Stag weekend that he doesn't want to be on but ultimately Cornwall mellows him right down.

Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sean Pertwee, Ewan McGregor, Edwin Starr as a soul singer named Ossie Sands and a short role for Jenny Agutter.





The soundtrack is worth it alone -

"Movin' On Up" performed by Edwin Starr (a cover of the Primal Scream song)
"The Price of Pain" - performed by Edwin Starr
"Freedom Bug" - performed by Heavy Stereo, written by Gem Archer
"Get It On" - performed by Marc Bolan and T. Rex
"Leave Them All Behind" - performed by Ride
"Half the Man" - written and performed by Jamiroquai
"Duel" - performed by Swervedriver
"Lonely for You Baby" - performed by Sam Dees
"I Need Something Stronger" - performed by Apollo 440
"You're the One" - performed by Gillian Wisdom
"You Were the Dream" - Roscoe Shelton