What film did you watch last night?

Palm Springs.

I really enjoyed this film and can recommend it.

I do wish they had had the courage to end the film on the black screen before the final scene, leaving the audience not knowing their fate. Apparently, they shot several different endings and used friends and family to view and comment on the endings to decide which one they used.
 
Dark Places

Based on the book of the same name by Gillian Flynn.

I read the book on dark nights sailing crossing the Atlantic last year. Typical Gillian Flynn murder mystery stuff, extremely dark and disturbing, with strong female leads, exciting twists and revelations. The book was fantastic. The film not so much.

It's always difficult when a book is adapted for the screen, but some pull it off. The Talented Mr Ripely for one. Dark Places not so much. Firstly the casting is completely wrong not just the lead, but throughout. Charlize Theron was totally the wrong person to play Libby Day. In the book Libby is more of a mess Wynona Rider style in Reality Bites. Theron, just comes across as angry and unlikeable.

It's a similar story with most of the characters. No background. No real motives, just maybe a sentence thrown in, that is supposed to be their reason for acting in a certain way.

Unlike some of her other work. Flynn didn't write the screenplay for this, and it shows. The film misses all the subtleties of the book, and offers little room for depth or development. Even at 1:50 long it is rushed. I found there no reason at all to like or care for any of the characters, and the whole thing seemed disjointed.

'Gone Girl' does a better job as adaptation of a Flynn novel. Though Affleck is wooden in that. The only adaptation so far that has completely captured the atmosphere of a Flynn novel is 'Sharp Objects,' and that was mini-series. Really worth watching if you like dark shows.

As highly as I rate the book (its a solid 8 or 9/10), the film more a 6/10.
 
Tourm said:
Shadow in the Cloud. What the heck was that!

No plot, random horror thing with no context with unlikeable characters. Seems like a film was made to just hate men to the point that the 'twist' is another reminder to how bad white men are.

A female WWII pilot traveling with top secret documents on a B-17 Flying Fortress encounters an evil presence on board the flight.
...so the evil presence is the gremlin misogynistic flight crew. Throw in some shooty action bits, then straight back to the feminist agenda. "What's a girl doing on a plane!" urgh.
Click to expand...

Falls out of a plane doing 200mph and into an exploding Japanese Zero, yet rather than getting burnt to a crisp and shredded by shrapnel it just blows her back through the same hole she fell out of.

Yeah, **** you physics!
 
Uncut gems... Was ok but the story and characters were not particularly interesting and the whole thing plodded along a little. Not a bad movie by any means and it did have some nice moments, but other than Sandler's acting nothing really drew me in. 6/10
 
rubberduck said:
Uncut gems... Was ok but the story and characters were not particularly interesting and the whole thing plodded along a little. Not a bad movie by any means and it did have some nice moments, but other than Sandler's acting nothing really drew me in. 6/10
Click to expand...

I found Sandler's 'on the edge' character a little tiring. I would agree on the 6/10 rating though
 
"Night Hunter" on Netflix. Stars Henry Cavill, the lovely Alexandra Daddario and Sir Ben Kingsley. Not a particularly cheery film as it's all about the hunt for serial sex offenders/killers but driven by a great plot and good acting. A rather enjoyable 90 minutes.
The little speech Kingsley gives to a chap in bed near the start might give some pervs a few sleepless nights.
 
Night Hunter as well. Good watch, kept me entertained. same thoughts as above really.

Also watched Jungle starring Daniel Radcliffe. mostly entertaining drags a little in the middle but worth a watch
 
Peter Pan (Disney 1953)

I’ve had a long standing awareness of Peter Pan from ‘Hook’ but I can’t believe I’ve never seen this one. Absolutely marvellous and surprisingly funny?! I always think good spirited, well timed humour is timeless and the visual and musical gags in this film are just wonderful. Particularly considering the film’s age, the humour really stands up. Omg those crocodile scenes just slayed me.... genuinely giggling now thinking of those eyes bopping out of the water to the tune...

Oh and Tinkerbell is hilariously mean.... way more fun than I could have anticipated.

Just a really great time. My experience was a 10/10.
 
Noctural Animals 2016 (on Netflix).
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4550098/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

I'm sure it was mentioned on here recently, but I can't find the reference now.

Amy Adams is fantastic, in fact It think she is good in most roles she's played. No doubt if this were 90s she be one of the huge female leads up for awards. the 90s lacked strong younger female leads and it was left to the likes of Susan Surandon and Meryl Streep that were bossing it back then. Diaz, Bullock, Ryan, and to a lesser extent Roberts were mostly making fluff.

Nocturnal Animals is a revenge, psychological thriller. Its dark, but no particularly twisted, nor is it something where you'll see a the plot being turned inside out. Its straightforward storytelling. Slow by Hollywood standards, and leaves a lot for the viewer to fill in themselves. That may frustrate some who feel it doesn't amount to much, but provided a good evening of viewing for me.

It's worth its 7.5/10 rating in my eyes, but could see some people lowering that 6.5 if they were expecting more forthright and outgoing story telling.

P.S - It seems Adams is also going to star in another dark drama based on A.J Finn's Woman in the Window. I've read the book, hopefully the movie does it justice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom