Your film of the week (16-24 April)

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 Blue Straggler 24 Apr 2017
I think we missed a week, never mind.

I went to the cinema twice last week.
On Monday I saw The Fate of the Furious aka The Fast and the Furious 8. This didn't cost me anything directly (unlimited Cineworld pass, Cineworld a 7 minute walk from my front door, nothing else I fancied doing that evening).
I've never seen any of this franchise apart from Tokyo Drift which originally was an unrelated standalone film anyway.
I do occasionally appreciate a dumb expensive bit of big studio tentpole blockbuster nonsense, and the fact that this one was the number one film in 60+ countries and made half a billion dollars in a long weekend, was interesting to me (also I have seen the trailer SO MANY times)
And.....I really enjoyed it. It did exactly what it said on the tin. I didn't expect emotional nuance, subtle drama etc and of course I didn't get it. I got numerous hairless musclemen, loud cars, unlikely action sequences, an overload of cheese, just the right amount of "wink at the camera" humour (for the most part, films like this succeed from the actors playing it straight, and this time it was Jason Statham who was given free reign to be the witty one), decent performances from "proper actor" guest stars who could have got away with phoning it in but who actually bothered to fit in with the vibe (Theron and Kurt Russell). Perhaps unexpectedly, Michelle Rodriguez provided the emotional anchor of the film. Even more unexpectedly, the little cameo by Helen Mirren was a bloody disgrace, she played it like a cartoon Peggy Mitchell, which was sort of an insult to the franchise.
8/10




Then I went to the local arthouse for "mystery film" shown on the final Friday each month. Always a sellout, it's £3 and at 6.15 on Friday so still time to go out properly afterward. Last month it was Russian Ark, which I missed. They have shown all sorts ranging from Paprika to Les Choristes, to Clerks, The Wrestler, Harold and Maude etc.
This Friday we got BLADE! Which I had never seen before. And it was surprisingly brilliant, as a daft comic book film, Possibly ahead of its time in getting just the right balance between dark aspects, action/violence, and self-aware humour. At some points it was on for a perfect score but some unforgivable apparent massive plot holes reduced it to another 8/10


Soon I'll go to watch something all arty-farty with subtitles etc.
1
In reply to Blue Straggler:
I tried to watch The Lobster on netflix after reading on here (possibly you?) that is was great. It might be, but I fell asleep after 30 minutes of struggling with it. Should I persist?

I don't go to the cinema, so never see anything current... but I did watch Hack Saw Ridge and Sing on a long haul flight last week. Both brilliant.

Oh, and Confusion - Pump Panel remix...great acid techno tune from Blade
Post edited at 15:18
In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:

I am one of several UKC forum posters who have recommended The Lobster. Sorry you didn't stick with it. I'd say give it a chance, in the first half hour they are all still just in the institution aren't they? Things change, things develop....but having said that if you aren't already enjoying it, you may not like the second and third acts...


I thought Sing was excellent but Hacksaw Ridge a big disappointment. I only liked the first part of Hacksaw Ridge, before they enter the theatre of combat. i.e. the home front and boot camp stuff. As soon as they go to war it just becomes "yet another generic relentless battle scene" that brought nothing new to storytelling or cinema. All the interesting stuff about Doss (apart from his obviousl selfless courageous acts at war) seems to be told in the first half.
In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:

> Oh, and Confusion - Pump Panel remix...great acid techno tune from Blade

All the nightclub music from Blade still sounds good!

Removed User 24 Apr 2017
In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:

> I tried to watch The Lobster on netflix after reading on here (possibly you?) that is was great. It might be, but I fell asleep after 30 minutes of struggling with it. Should I persist?

You must have missed this thread at the beginning of the month:

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/t.php?t=661903&v=1#x8539799

(I didn't care for it either. And I watched the whole thing)
 Tom Valentine 24 Apr 2017
In reply to Blue Straggler:

Watched "Their Finest " this afternoon and enjoyed it but it doesn't earn 5 stars for me, quite.
Near the other end of the scale is the utterly dreary "Iona" which I suffered on TV last night.
In reply to Tom Valentine:

As mentioned above, I have a Cineworld Unlimited pass so I might drag myself to see Their Finest even though everything about the marketing etc. smacks of "all that I hate about a certain type of British film", and Bill Nighy's presence as (prejudice ahoy) presumably yet another non-variation on his "whoah, I'm a wacky old Brit eccentric for hire, woooo" could be the nail in the coffin. But the subject matter does interest me. I'll see if I can fit in a screening!
 Tom Valentine 25 Apr 2017
In reply to Blue Straggler:

Worth a viewing, at the very least.
Struggling with "American Fable" at the moment
 Owen W-G 25 Apr 2017
In reply to Tom Valentine:

Recently seen

Room
Big Fish

Loved both, in different ways
 r0b 25 Apr 2017
In reply to Owen W-G:

Room is very good. The bit in the middle (won't give any spoilers but you'll know what I mean!) is so tense and emotional.
In reply to Tom Valentine:

> Worth a viewing, at the very least.

I saw it but it'll have to get its review next Monday in the "Your film of the week (24-30 April)" thread

Just noticed this one should have been "...(16-23 April)", sorry.
In reply to Blue Straggler:

Saw 'Mongol' this week, epic, cast of thousands and loved it. Also the silent 'The passion of Joan of Arc' absolute classic!
In reply to JJ Krammerhead III:

I was really disappointed with Mongol (if you mean the one from about 5 years ago)

The Passion of Joan of Arc makes a "great" double bill with modern classic "Hunger" (Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands). A fun night for all :-D
 Offwidth 27 Apr 2017
In reply to Blue Straggler:

Hunger was impressive.

Just finished watching Stalker for the first time. I loved it but can see it pissing most people off....long and slow paced without shame, really clever camera visuals, mechanical soundscapes, complex broken characters, constant unseen threats, philosophical and psychological themes, all muddled up in weird allegory. Art house incarnate.
In reply to Offwidth:

I must have told you my "Stalker" screening story, right?
 BnB 28 Apr 2017
In reply to Blue Straggler:

> I must have told you my "Stalker" screening story, right?

No spoilers. I've just been given the DVD!!

Watched Joan of Arc the other day and found it beautiful, if 20 minutes too long. But I can forgive that in the context that those expressive faces must have seemed incredible on screen several generations ago.
 Offwidth 28 Apr 2017
In reply to Blue Straggler:

No.
In reply to Offwidth:

Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) London 2001 or 2002, a time when "arty band playing an instrumental live score in front of film" was coming into vogue.
American space-rock band "Sand" were playing a score to Stalker. Support act was London band Saloon playing a score to La Jetee .

I was only really there for the former, as I was a big fan of Saloon at the time and sort of knew them a bit. I knew what a classic Stalker was but also knew it would be a bit of a long haul, so I wasn't really watching it (I was in and out of the cinema discreetly but mostly drinking in the bar and chatting to Saloon).
ANYWAY

Suddenly a bit of a kerfuffle.....and to cut a long story short, someone had been thrown out of Stalker for sarcastically slow-clapping after the infamous still mirror pool tableau scene :-D
 Offwidth 28 Apr 2017
In reply to Blue Straggler:
Its hard to think of a worse idea than having a band live score in front of such a carefully produced sound-track.

I forgot to mention I watched the second Department Q film earlier in the week 'The Absent One' Good fun for lovers of modern Scandinavian noir. The third one is on BBC 4 soon.
Post edited at 10:32

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