The film thread.

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Rewatched Magnolia last night - great cast with some fantastic performances. Always gets me that Jason Robards was playing an old man on his deathbed with cancer, when at the time, he himself was dying of cancer. He passed away not too long after the film’s release.

I knew Aimee Mann’s music was used in the film, but I didn’t know that the film was inspired by her music. Paul Thomas Anderson used one of the lines from one of her songs in the movie.

This really needs a 4K release!

Haven't seen that in ages.

Away on hols at present, and always bring stuff on DVD to watch as I would rather not watch SD stuff if possible - when you're away you get whatever crappy TV the place comes with, so it seems to matter less. Enjoyed Shirley Valentine and Babe - the latter is rather twee, but well-executed.

 

[Freddy]

Just bought Drive on 4K Blu-ray. Great film.

Picture and sound are great.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Le Mans 66 (US: Ford vs Ferrari) -- Disney Plus -- disappointingly in HD rather than 4K but with some good audio. Manages to create some whoop out loud moments but the story was a little disappointing. The best performances were almost entirely with the supporting cast. Top notch audio for atmosphere but failed to deliver on the gutsy bass growl of the racing.

Just ordered this from Amazon on 4k - £11.99 at the moment!

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Oliver Stone's Talk Radio. Great performance from Eric Bogosian in the lead (never heard of him in anything else. Not exactly a barrel of laughs, but a powerful piece - I recall seeing it at the Odeon when it came out.

 

[davidf]

Just ordered this from Amazon on 4k - £11.99 at the moment!

Good film, better than I expected it to be.

 

[Freddy]

Watched King Richard last night and it was really good. I can remember most of it happening at the time though because I was the same age as Venus. I Saw Serena and Venus both play at Wimbledon when I was a member of the LTA.

 

[Arron]

The Big Blue -- Blu Ray -- an exquisite exploration of love of the sea.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Midnight Cowboy - a surprisingly modern feeling film for one so old - hadn't seen it in years.

 

[Gray]

Midnight Cowboy

I like its music, never seen the film.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

The Illusionist - not one of Edward Norton's greatest performances (though that's a skyscrapingly-high bar to set), but an interesting film nonetheless.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Only watched this film about a month ago. I got the 4K disc rental through Cinema Paradiso, and it the film was so good, and the audio and picture quality was so good that I ordered the 4K disc. I was pleasantly surprised when I watched it - Christian Bale as Ken Miles is brilliant in it, although I’m a little unsure about Bale’s accent, which I couldn’t quite work out, and I found out after the film that Miles was from Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham.
Really enjoyable film, funny, and informative, as I‘d never even heard of Ken Miles, and didn’t know the story of Ford/Ferrari. A good 9/10 from me.

Finally got around to watching this last night and we enjoyed it, surprisingly Mrs 12th more than me. I think they could profitably have cut 30 minutes from the run time, and had more track action. They also took a few liberties with apparent speed, and the rate at which the speedometer and rev counter increased, but that's proper nit-picking.

Despite having been into F1 for years (though I lost interest completely over the last decade), I didn't know Miles's story. Mrs 12th had guessed.

Must dig out Senna again soon...

 

[Freddy]

I started to watch Lightyear but wasn’t too impressed by it so stopped watching.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

I started to watch Lightyear but wasn’t too impressed by it so stopped watching.

I confess I'd never heard of that. I think the first three Toy Story films are great in their different ways, but we gave up less than half way through the fourth, despite it being as well-reviewed as the others.

 

[Freddy]

I confess I'd never heard of that. I think the first three Toy Story films are great in their different ways, but we gave up less than half way through the fourth, despite it being as well-reviewed as the others.

Same here, exactly the same for me.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Great minds, eh? Now if I can just get you to stop browsing for AV bargains...!

 

[Freddy]

Great minds, eh? Now if I can just get you to stop browsing for AV bargains...!

I won’t buy any AV stuff or TVs for years and years and years away. I have been through all that. I have the best TV for 2020 and 2021 and I can’t beat my home cinema system.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

The Mule - not up there with Eastwood's very best (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby) but good nonetheless. It's the story of a nonagenarian estranged from his family, and whose business fails. He ends up delivering packages, which he quickly twigs are not legal. I wonder how true it is to life - will be seeing what I can find out.

 

[Arron]

Two solid hits last night:
Local Hero - DVD - outstanding performances all around, captures early-80s US attitudes and contrasts it brilliantly with rural Scotland.
Shaolin Soccer - DVD - ultra-silly martial arts mash up and one of the greatest football movies despite it being slow to get going and the first hour being very light on football.

 

[davidf]

Two solid hits last night:
Local Hero - DVD - outstanding performances all around, captures early-80s US attitudes and contrasts it brilliantly with rural Scotland.
Shaolin Soccer - DVD - ultra-silly martial arts mash up and one of the greatest football movies despite it being slow to get going and the first hour being very light on football.

When Shaolin Soccer came out, these types of films were scarce - and I think it was this film that partly kicked off a lot of other copycats. It was pretty fresh at the time, and I remember enjoying it, despite its silliness. Haven’t seen it since, might have to revisit it at some point.

 

[davidf]

Got a European film called Patrick from Cinema Paradiso because it appeared on some film list I’d read about, and because the synopsis looked quite odd. Basically, a 38 year old Patrick is a handyman at his parents’ nudist camp, and one of the hammers from his set goes missing - he then embarks on a quest to find the hammer. I wasn’t expecting much, but was quite surprised - interesting, funny, and well made too. A decent 7/10.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Widows, a remake (of sorts) of a Lynda La Plante series from a way back. Well-acted and 'competent', but it felt a little rushed in its plotline - Mrs 12th remembers the series and said it benefitted from having more run time, but was noticeably worse in the acting department. Overall, I think I'm glad it was from C4HD and not bought.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Batman Begins on 4k - a pretty good film, but I found the next two overly-long and a bit convoluted.

 

[davidf]

Batman Begins on 4k - a pretty good film, but I found the next two overly-long and a bit convoluted.

While I like the trilogy, I find the latter two feel like ‘highlights’ - trying to cram too much into their run time.

 

[Freddy]

Batman Begins on 4k - a pretty good film, but I found the next two overly-long and a bit convoluted.

Me too!

 

[Freddy]

Top Gun 2 Maverick - great movie.