New films? What are those? 
Feb 2021
24 films watched (2 rewatches)
The best: Supernova, Only the animals, Papicha, Fanny & Alexander.
The worst: An American Pickle, Broken hearts gallery, Peninsula.
Was going to get to watch some films on Friday but that’s off now due to a dates mixup.
Watched 17
Best: Amour
Worst: zootopia, private life
12 Likes
Thought it built the world quite nicely then spent the entire runtime shoe-horning in references, something about that animation style and big name voice cast that I always find absolutely charmless too.
Don’t think I’m the target audience, mind
What you trying to say?!
I thought it was good/underrated. The kids aren’t massively into it tbh though.
3 Likes
I think Zootropolis has some great little bits but overall I do think it lacks some sort of heart I can’t really put my finger on.
I love Elba but his voice never really gels for me in the animation either.
Still, I’ll take it over Cars any day…
The Disney company: here are some talking animals solving crime
Me, an intellectual: Charmless, please show me Michael Haneke’s palme d’or winning Amour (2012) instead.
5 Likes
Amour was amazing, but I’m not desperate for a rewatch.
Last month…
Best: Judas and the Black Messiah, Zodiac (rewatch)
Worst: Mulan (remake)
I think it was a not great idea for me to watch Amour 2 days after my grandma passed away.
Didn’t think it was as good as the white ribbon or hidden, but that’s an incredibly high bar.
I think The White Ribbon is my favourite Haneke and would like to rewatch it as I think it may be even more powerful in the present day.
I saw it for the first time last year, and yeah, feels like it could have been made in the last year or 2. Perfect film
1 Like
Watched Sorry To Bother You again at the weekend. Mad af but I did enjoy it
7 Likes
Are We Lost Forever - Swedish queer drama about a couple’s break-up. Starts off quite compelling and realistic (I went through a terrible break-up in 2019 and a lot of it rang true) but the second half is such a slog, full of contrivances (they bump into each other everywhere, constantly) and gets bogged down by trying to cover too many themes at once. Also several actors who weren’t cast for their acting skills, ifyouknowwhatImean.
From yesterday (copied from the other thread)
Romance - a woman is sexually unfulfilled by her boyfriend so goes out and seeks the pleasure from others. Includes graphic and unsimulated sex (one of the men she meets is Rocco Siffredi). Without wanting to sound like a dirty old man or anything, I think if you’re going to make a film like this then you have to properly go for it in a way that will make the sex seem natural and part of the story. As it is, it seems those scenes are designed for shock value as opposed to being pivotal to the story and it feels very stilted throughout.
Wrong Turn - wrote in the horror thread about this but to recap, I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected . I don’t recall seeing the original but thought this had a very 70s/80s horror sensibility and does really well at making it seem really nasty without ever being gratuitous or overly explicit.
Wadjda - a young girl in Saudi tries to save up to buy a bike, despite the constraints imposed on her by the country. Loved this. As well as having a story at the heart to root for, it does what I lpve about film and gives you an insight into a world that is alien to me
Best film in February I saw was One Cut Of The Dead.
Worst: too many to mention.
4 Likes
Recently watched:
Tale Of Cinema - Korean film directed by Hong Sang-soo who did The Woman Who Ran that I really enjoyed. This one was a film within a film and had a similar style of cinematography in terms of the odd zoom shots and also style of dialogue. I won’t give away the plot but film was sombre, slow moving but very watchable. 8/10.
The Big Chill - A early 80s uni reunion film with an ensemble cast including William Hurt, Meg Tilly, Kevin Kline, JoBeth Williams, Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum and Glenn Close are old uni mates that meet up after the suicide of one of their mates. Liked the feel and warmth as well as the tensions in the film. Reminded me of Diner which I’ve seen once maybe 25 years ago. Maybe didn’t quite pull off what it wanted but I liked it. 7.5/10.
The Farewell - Awkwafina goes to China to visit her Grandma, Shuzhen Zhao who’s dying. Zhao doesn’t know she had a few months to live as her family want to protect her from the worry but the film isn’t really about that. Brilliantly moving scenes between the differing generations. Zhao’s performance was amazing and Awkwafina who was the best thing in Crazy Rich Asians, great in Ocean’s 8 and Jumanji 2 and was a revelation here. She was effortlessly great in this role of a caring New York slacker who goes to China to be with her extended family. 8.5/10.
Galaxy Quest - Excellent comedy spoof. Funny, silly, touching and warm. 8/10.
2 Likes
Watched: 16
Best: Heat
Worst: Wonder Woman 1984, The Beach
Watched: 35
Best: System Crasher
Worst: Situation Hopeless -But Not Serious
Very much enjoyed A Sun and My Man Godfrey too.