Films I watched this week

[GetCarter]

Matt.. said:

Dunkirk

What a disappointment. The film has no scale. They mention 400k men on the beach, then pan to shots of maybe a few thousand. It's a let down. This film could have been substantially better.

This is not to say it's a bad film. But there could have been a far better implementation than what has been made. It's not like we get films like this made all the time, so I really wish they'd done a far better job.

Yea... but it wasn’t made like A Bridge Too Far... it was a trip. The beach was silent apart from the dive bombers... not natural, not real. Surreal. Orderly queues. Nonsense. They could have added 300,000 more soldiers in CGI if they had wanted. Nobody spoke, except from one soldier... and what did he say? Which is why it worked for me, the whole thing was unreal... like it must have been. I can see if you were expecting a big screen war movie, you’d be disappointed mind.

Just watched DETROIT. Kinda hard work, but worth a watch. Nasty people and nasty times. 6.5/10

Edited by GetCarter on Friday 22 December 18:26

[jammy-git]

I think the problem with Dunkirk is that Hollywood blockbusters have altered our perception of what real life events should have been like. The people that did experience it have said the film was extremely accurate and I can imagine Nolan went to great lengths to make sure of that.

[Halb]

Nolan seems to care about making good films.
They should give Star wars to him.
Or WB should get on their hands and knees and beg him back.

[jammy-git]

Nolan Star Wars would be epic!

[irocfan]

Redeemer - (a Chilean revenge flick on Amazon). Interesting seeing a non-US take on this genre, be warned though it is quite brutal in places

[chris watton]

Halb said:

Nolan seems to care about making good films.
They should give Star wars to him.
Or WB should get on their hands and knees and beg him back.

Yes, he is one of the very few shining lights in film making right now. I don't really get why JJ Abrams gets such praise, too. He just tinkers with previous formats, like someone taking a classic novel, changing a few words and paragraphs here and there and then claiming it his own.

[Butter Face]

Bright - Netflix original with Will Smith

Very enjoyable modern day Orc/Fairy/magic story. Quite good fun!!

[irocfan]

Butter Face said:

Bright - Netflix original with Will Smith

Very enjoyable modern day Orc/Fairy/magic story. Quite good fun!!

bit of mess in all honesty - but I really enjoyed it. Hope we get another few both before and after

[Jonesy23]

993AL said:

VEA said:

993AL said:

Beyond Skyline

Quite a good Sci-Fi yarn.

7/10

They made a sequel to Skyline? Wow!

I'm guessing the first one wasn't very good?

It's a 'proper' sequel in that it's closely tied to what was in the first film and to make proper sense of everything you'd have to watch the first one first. Though they do give enough intro that you're not lost.

The new one's not the greatest film in the world but it felt like it was better than the first one. Entertaining enough.

[Pesty]

The foreigner


Excellent twist on a revenge flick. Little bit of politics sort of long good Friday meets taken,

Really enjoyed this 9.2/10

[Funkycoldribena]

Jonesy23 said:

993AL said:

VEA said:

993AL said:

Beyond Skyline

Quite a good Sci-Fi yarn.

7/10

They made a sequel to Skyline? Wow!

I'm guessing the first one wasn't very good?

It's a 'proper' sequel in that it's closely tied to what was in the first film and to make proper sense of everything you'd have to watch the first one first. Though they do give enough intro that you're not lost.

The new one's not the greatest film in the world but it felt like it was better than the first one. Entertaining enough.

I seem to be the only person who liked the first,the second however.... bored the crap out of me.

[Murph7355]

GetCarter said:

Matt.. said:

Dunkirk

What a disappointment. The film has no scale. They mention 400k men on the beach, then pan to shots of maybe a few thousand. It's a let down. This film could have been substantially better.

This is not to say it's a bad film. But there could have been a far better implementation than what has been made. It's not like we get films like this made all the time, so I really wish they'd done a far better job.

Yea... but it wasn’t made like A Bridge Too Far... it was a trip. The beach was silent apart from the dive bombers... not natural, not real. Surreal. Orderly queues. Nonsense. They could have added 300,000 more soldiers in CGI if they had wanted. Nobody spoke, except from one soldier... and what did he say? Which is why it worked for me, the whole thing was unreal... like it must have been. I can see if you were expecting a big screen war movie, you’d be disappointed mind...

I agree with Matt (glad I'm not alone).

Wasn't expecting or wanting Saving Private Ryan. But the whole thing just fell flat for me.

Maybe this is what was intended - a sense of failure/defeat. But none of it hung together very well for me. The attempts at linking things together were too disjointed/clumsy, the characters very one dimensional. And as Matt notes, the scale felt wrong.

[Watchman]

irocfan said:

Butter Face said:

Bright - Netflix original with Will Smith

Very enjoyable modern day Orc/Fairy/magic story. Quite good fun!!

bit of mess in all honesty - but I really enjoyed it. Hope we get another few both before and after

Agreed. Back story not explored, the McGuffin wasted, no real point to it. Felt like a pilot to a series where more of this would be uncovered.

[Tiggsy]

Watchman said:

irocfan said:

Butter Face said:

Bright - Netflix original with Will Smith

Very enjoyable modern day Orc/Fairy/magic story. Quite good fun!!

bit of mess in all honesty - but I really enjoyed it. Hope we get another few both before and after

Agreed. Back story not explored, the McGuffin wasted, no real point to it. Felt like a pilot to a series where more of this would be uncovered.

Just watched this with my two kids. 11, 15 and 44 - we all thought it sucked.

The writer seems to have peaked with Training Day and just re-done that ever since.

Took the very good Bad Boys, Alien Nation, End of Watch and Harry Potter and blended them to something pants. Netflix need a refund on their $100m.

[MYOB]

Pesty said:

The foreigner


Excellent twist on a revenge flick. Little bit of politics sort of long good Friday meets taken,

Really enjoyed this 9.2/10

Not a bad film but I would only rate it as a 6/10.

[Rich_W]

American Assassin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dfcQOBJ83A


Formulaic, boring. None of the depth or texture of the Bourne trilogy (and they aren't perfect either) It's not even brain out entertainment like say John Wick. The classic, did I start playing with my phone instead of watching

5/10*

*And 1.5 of those points are because his girlfriend (Charlotte Vega) and co star Shiva Negar are hot though

[Jinba Ittai]

Watched The Accountant last night. Been sat on my planner for a while but I've always found something else to watch instead. I was expecting it to be absolute crap, but I actually really enjoyed it. And there's something about Anna Kendrick

[silverthorn2151]

Watchman said:

irocfan said:

Butter Face said:

Bright - Netflix original with Will Smith

Very enjoyable modern day Orc/Fairy/magic story. Quite good fun!!

bit of mess in all honesty - but I really enjoyed it. Hope we get another few both before and after

Agreed. Back story not explored, the McGuffin wasted, no real point to it. Felt like a pilot to a series where more of this would be uncovered.

We watched it last night and you're right. It felt, on reflection, like a pilot for more to come.

Enjoyed it though. Sometimes a film is just entertainment, not a work of art, and that's what I would categorise this as. I sometimes think too many expect for former in each film they watch.

[Legacywr]

Murph7355 said:

GetCarter said:

Matt.. said:

Dunkirk

What a disappointment. The film has no scale. They mention 400k men on the beach, then pan to shots of maybe a few thousand. It's a let down. This film could have been substantially better.

This is not to say it's a bad film. But there could have been a far better implementation than what has been made. It's not like we get films like this made all the time, so I really wish they'd done a far better job.

Yea... but it wasn’t made like A Bridge Too Far... it was a trip. The beach was silent apart from the dive bombers... not natural, not real. Surreal. Orderly queues. Nonsense. They could have added 300,000 more soldiers in CGI if they had wanted. Nobody spoke, except from one soldier... and what did he say? Which is why it worked for me, the whole thing was unreal... like it must have been. I can see if you were expecting a big screen war movie, you’d be disappointed mind...

I agree with Matt (glad I'm not alone).

Wasn't expecting or wanting Saving Private Ryan. But the whole thing just fell flat for me.

Maybe this is what was intended - a sense of failure/defeat. But none of it hung together very well for me. The attempts at linking things together were too disjointed/clumsy, the characters very one dimensional. And as Matt notes, the scale felt wrong.

I gave it 3/10.

[phazed]

Legacyw said:

gave it 3/10.

Harsh.

If you saw it on a small screen well, I agree it doesn't sit so well. I saw the trailer on the small screen and the effect wasn't there . Taking the film as a whole on the big screen with a decent sound system, it was truly fantastic. Not the best film ever but hugely enjoyable and it seemed judging by the delayed leaving in the cinema that it gave people plenty to think about.