What film did you watch last night?

TheOracle said:
I saw this advertised on Netflix and wondered if it was any good. Might give it a go at the weekend but the long running time made me wonder if it might start to drag on a bit.
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It does outstay it’s welcome and peter-out.

You’re interest will wane quickly depending on how tired you are on purported “SJW” issues, but remind yourself that this is about a bold young woman in the Victorian era so it’s pretty much impossible not to have themes along those lines.

With all that said, the good is good. I think it would have been better with a shorter runtime and the bombastic finale that was dangled in front of our faces. The way a major plot just arc ends (or rather doesn’t end) is not very satisfactory at all.
 
First Man on Netflix, a biography of Neil Armstrong's test pilot and astronaut career closely based on the superb book of the same name by James R. Hansen.

I'd read the book a few times already which goes into painstaking detail of Armstrong's entire career and to a lesser extent his prior life, the movie instead does a great job of focusing on a few important parts with the same level of detail as the book, with exact dialogue to what was actually said in some situations and action sequences that pretty much are actually what happened in his truly remarkable career. The poignant personal elements are also all true to his real life.

I don't like Gosling at all, but he's not bad in this, the movie is more about Armstrong's actions as a pilot that were very measured and calculated, and he plays it low key, so I can't criticise him this time.

The main merit of this this movie is it's extremely accurate, though they seem to want to throw Buzz Aldrin under the bus for some reason, and reduce Michael Collins to doing very little, it doesn't take too much away, the rest has some amazing detail of real life occurrences.

Interestingly they completely choose to leave out the fact that most all of the early Astronauts including Neil were ex ace military pilots with numerous kills in flight combat in the Korean War, but there's another movie's worth of out that to be made potentially in the future.

Highly recommended for its historical and technical accuracy, it's basically an educational movie about some amazing achievements in aviation and space exploration.
 
The Devil All The Time

For all the first acts gratuitous violence, it's an extremely dull affair. The performances are decent and there's a seed of a once good screenplay buried in there somewhere, but the abundance of uninteresting and derivative subplots makes the whole 2+ hours incredibly dull. Shame really but hey ho.
 
Unusual for me to bail on a movie once I've started, but last night I gave up on Otherworld (apparently also known as Harmony) from 2018. I landed on it at random with no prior knowledge, but from the titles in there was a growing sense of amateurish naffness and quite early on I made the bold decision that it wasn't worth investing the time. Change my mind - come at me bro!
 
PC777 said:
I'd read the book a few times already which goes into painstaking detail of Armstrong's entire career and to a lesser extent his prior life
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If you haven't already, you should read The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. It could almost be a prequel to First Man, and focuses more on the Mercury Seven, how NASA was initially a joke compared to the Russians, how they were always one-step behind etc. And how the top pilots didn't really want to be astronauts because they didn't see the point :p Very interesting.
 
Scam said:
If you haven't already, you should read The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. It could almost be a prequel to First Man, and focuses more on the Mercury Seven, how NASA was initially a joke compared to the Russians, how they were always one-step behind etc. And how the top pilots didn't really want to be astronauts because they didn't see the point :p Very interesting.
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Already have a few times, along with most other books I could get my hands on about the space race. The Right Stuff is actually the one that got me started me on being a space exploration book fan, I read the Electric Kool Aid acid test first and really wanted to read more Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff is totally different but a truly excellent book in its own right.

My other highly recommended space race/space exploration books:

A Man on The Moon by Andrew Chaikin

Space Race The Battle To Rule The Heavens

Moon Dust by Andrew Smith (Awesome book about the feel of being in space and on the Moon)

Red Moon Rising

Too Far From Home

Magnificent Desolation by Buzz Aldrin


All highly recommended by me.
 
Williams

A feature length documentary on Frank Williams, his family, and his F1 team. Very much a puff piece but if you're, like me, a big F1 fan then it's very much worth a watch.

8/10 for big F1 fans, probably about a 5 for anyone else
 
My Octopus Teacher. I guess more of a feature length documentary of sorts. I thought it was amazing. Utterly engaging and so incredibly touching. I can't believe I had tears in my eyes watching a documentary about an octopus.
 
Mortal Engines

Apparently the biggest flop in history, I don't think it deserves that accolade. The setting is absolute screaming nonsense, but I rather enjoy that. Giant cities on wheels chasing each other, what's not to love? It's missing a lot of the charm and nuance of the books, and has turned into a simple action/fantasy narrative but it's still a decent enough yarn with a unique visual style.

Don't think too hard and you'll enjoy the ride 6/10
 
richyfingers said:
My Octopus Teacher. I guess more of a feature length documentary of sorts. I thought it was amazing. Utterly engaging and so incredibly touching. I can't believe I had tears in my eyes watching a documentary about an octopus.
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Noticed this on Netflix but passed by on it with a 'what the hell' moment, but just Googled it after your post and it's pretty well received. So will give it a watch now - Cheers.

*Just asked the other half if she wanted to watch a film about a Man and an Octopus - she replied 'Eh!' ( definitely a hard sell, it's happening though :p)
 
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Mr Jack said:
Mortal Engines

Apparently the biggest flop in history, I don't think it deserves that accolade. The setting is absolute screaming nonsense, but I rather enjoy that. Giant cities on wheels chasing each other, what's not to love? It's missing a lot of the charm and nuance of the books, and has turned into a simple action/fantasy narrative but it's still a decent enough yarn with a unique visual style.

Don't think too hard and you'll enjoy the ride 6/10
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They just ripped off star wars. Awful movie, that could've easily been good with the premise.
 
Nitefly said:
Enola Holmes - A mostly lighthearted and fun (albeit slightly drawn out) ‘family mystery‘ romp.

I feel it unintentionally suffers for having plot points that perhaps by coincidence tie into the SJW stuff that is really, really tired at the moment. Not really a fault of this specific film... sadly I think any film about a young women finding herself in the Victorian era is going to feel a bit tired at the moment!! But it did go against this somewhat with the ‘mum subplot’.

I found myself a little frustrated that the ‘mum subplot’ alluded to a bombastic finale but it just sort of ended? Either reserving stuff for a second film or there was a budget cut. I can’t be alone in feeling that way.

6/10
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yeh i watched this the other day. It was ok. Geared a bit more towards children/teenagers i think, but was sort of watchable.

Not sure Henry was the right pick for Sherlock. It did look a bit ridiculous having a ridiculously jacked Sherlock Holmes, and he appeared to be playing a slightly softer version of the Witcher, character wise :p.

I would say 5/10 personally.
 
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