The Last Film You Watched

Staying in Dublin from last Thursday, going back tomorrow and wanting something other to do on a Saturday afternoon that didn’t involve a bar, I finally did the ‘May the 4th Be With You’ thing yesterday and went to see Star Wars Episode 1 yesterday at the Savoy on O’Connell Street. I’ve seen it a few times before and don’t understand some of the hatred that’s been poured towards it and George Lucas, it’s by no means great and a lot of it is clunky, in particular Jar Jar Binks and Jake Lloyd but it has some good moments and doesn’t drag. My main gripe was an old bastard sitting in the row behind me that spent about 90 minutes of its running time arsing about with plastic packets and what sounded like a zip: a few loads ffs from me had no effect, hope he detested every second he was in the, the fucjer.

I.S.S. ****
I had an inkling this was going to be a so-bad-it's-good movie so chanced a screening. Surprisingly, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sure, it's flawed and has clearly been back to the editing room a few times, but what remains is a tight and tense chamber piece. If you're after action, this is not the film for you, but it's a solid and engrossing drama, and the character dialogue between the Americans and Russians in their frought space station environment rarely strays from realism. The acting is uniformly good, and Ariana DeBose is always worth a watch.

There's Still Tomorrow (C'è Ancora Domani) ****
This black-and white movie from director Paola Cortellesi, which she also co-wrote and and stars in, is so lovingly crafted and such an homage to post-war Italian cinema in style, that it's difficult to believe it's a contemporary piece of film-making. One's interest in the put-upon and domestically abused Delia never wavers, and her journey destination is The stylisation of the regular spousal beatings as a dance rather than actual violence is particularly effective, conveying as it does the casualness and normality of life for the mother. Unfortunately, a couple of incongruous and unnecessary urban music choices twice kill the cinematic vibe, jarring with everything else in the score.

The American Society of Magical Negroes ****
My second divergence of last week with the wisdom-of-crowds that is the imdb.com rating system. This film was carrying a hard-to-achieve low of 2.7 -- but has climbed to 3.0 since -- yet one-in-twenty were rating this at 10.0. How could this be? I was intrigued. After sitting through what is actually a rather well-made rom-com, with compelling performances and chemistry between leads Justice Smith and Mia Ford, I am throughly mystified. I can only assume the scoring comes from Americans who don't get satire and who take things far too literally. While this film is not as good as American Fiction, which similarly played with audience preconceptions to make valid points about being black in a white-dominated society, the device used here by writer/director Kobi Libii is to show an alternative world where black people assume responsibility for stopping white people from unleashing any latent racist anger. It's an outrageous and subversive notion, but the narrative and resolution are supremely effective in challenging and puncturing well-meaning liberal complacency. I enjoyed this a lot.

Ordinary Angels ****
I could have done without the omnipresence of God in the dialogue, but director Joe Gunn seems to have form for making Christian movies and we're set in the US bible belt, so I guess it's to be expected. Notwithstanding that qualm, Ordinary Angels retells a true-ish story of a middle-aged woman energised to help a family suffering from recent bereavement and dealing with a sick child. She does this as a catharsis for her own problems. This story could be so saccharine as to require sick bags, but in fact Hilary Swank as the lead is believable and real in a grippingly powerful performance. It's a shame the writers needlessly diverged from reality in the dénouement for dramatic effect, as their choices require too much suspension of disbelief in a tale that, till that point, has been well grounded and tightly directed. What elevates the piece overall is that, religion aside, one cannot deny its power to move and uplift the viewer. I got through quite a few tissues watching this.

Boy Kills World *
Insufferably boring. Characters are thrust upon us with no time to know who they and why we should care what happens to them, before launching into two hours of relentless, mind-numbingly dull, graphic violence. I couldn't wait for this to end. How on earth did it get greenlit?

Tarot ***
This seems to be a horror b-movie aimed at the teenage audience, since all the graphic deaths that would trigger an age-restricted censor's certificate are left mainly to the imagination. There are a few effective jump scares, the tension builds nicely, and the actors do their best in looking surprised as they meet gruesome (and comical) ends one by one. I couldn't quite bring myself to give this the two stars it probably deserves, as the film doesn't take itself too seriously, it whips along without ennui setting in, and there are some gorgeously shot images that reminded me of the lighting and set design used in Punchdrunk's The Drowned Man.

I completely loved The Fall Guy!!
I am seriously wondering whether other people saw the same film as me?

It’s a love-letter to old-fashioned action movies, playing with a lot of action movie tropes; a movie about the movies. It’s freaking hilarious and the leads have great chemistry and are giving pitch-perfect performances.

Yes, they are *meant* to be laid-back. They’re pretending they are not as into each other as they really are.




Maybe you need to be a bit of a film geek to get all the jokes??

Same here. You can get the jokes and still think they're not funny. It just wasn't for me.

Judging by imdb, yours is the predominant view. I was surprised by how much I disliked The Fall Guy after 2022's Bullet Train from the same director which I quite enjoyed.

Saw Challengers this afternoon: I liked it rather than loved it, and liked the soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross a lot (although it seemed there wasn’t much material that was stretched out over the running time), I also thought it was too long (the end of that challengers match was dragged out for a ridiculously long time), and not sure if it was necessary to have so many shots with the camera attached to tennis ballls and racquets and while I think I got where that final shot was coming from and it’s intentions, I don’t think anyone that had paid to watch that match would be whooping and hollering. 7 out of 10 from me.

Saw three movies last week, The Fall Guy, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and IF. The Fall Guy was a fun romp, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was a solid entry into the revived franchise and IF was decent if a little predictable.

I finally got round to seeing You Can Call Me Bill tonight at the Prince Charles Cinema (I had a ticket to see it there during last years LFF but yet another day of industrial action on the trains made that a non starter 🤬)it was ok but maybe 50 years of doing the convention circuit means he didn’t have anything to say about his days working on Star Trek, TJ Hooker or Third Rock but plenty of clips were shown (I was fearing it being some dreadful thing where they couldn’t secure the rights to show anything) but clips of plenty of his other shows and films were played, as well as bits of things like Raging Bull, Goodfellas and Richard III. It got tied down with his thoughts about getting old and dying but the clip of when he turned up to a tribute to George Lucas (with Spielberg, Ford and Hammill also there) is worth seeing this for by itself: Lucas’ WTF? expression when Shatner walks out on stage is gold dust 🤣

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - ****

As visually arresting and bonkers as Fury Road, but perhaps just not quite as stunning simply because Fury Road came before it? Still a super strong four stars though, from someone who considers Fury Road to have been five.

Really enjoyed Hit Man today; my 3rd best film of the year so far, with American Fiction & The Teachers' Lounge still tying for top place. Today I also saw Two Tickets To Greece, a Frency film actually released last year but only now in the UK. I wasn't expecting it to be as good as Hit Man and the target audience is likely to be far smaller, but would include me and I liked it.

Saw Furiosa this afternoon and while it looks like an awful lot of millions of dollars, there wasn’t much of a story to drive it forward (although I don’t think anyone expects too much story wise from Mad Max movies): it was ok but not a patch on Fury Road or The Road Warrior. 3 stars from me.

I know who Josh O’Connor is but I’d not really seen him in anything. But strangely he’s starred in the last three films I’ve seen, Challengers and La Chimera a few weeks ago, and then yesterday a screening of God’s Own Country.

I thought Challengers was good, Faist and O’Connor having great chemistry, certainly more than either had with Zendaya. It was just a bit too long though, my mind wandered a bit in the second hour. Felt a bit too coy as well.

La Chimera was pretty cool and quirky. Lovely seeing Isabella Rossellini too. Bit of an impulse booking, I didn’t it was in Italian. Good job I don’t mind subtitles. 😂

My favourite was God’s Own Country. I love how stripped back it was in its storytelling, mostly just observing the characters. Nice surprise to see Patsy Ferran turn up in it too.