Films

Tentet. Do you like mountains of badly expressed, overly complicated exposition that requires you to reach for the rewind button just to maintain a passing interest in what's going on?

Well have I got a movie for you!

Utter rubbish.

probably.

Thank you. Saves me wasting a couple of hours over the christmas period.

All these films have no soul

That's been my feeling about the film industry for decades (and I used to go to the cinema several times a week when there were still things worth seeing and loved film). Theatrical skills have been largely lost, it seems, and digitisation has made it worse. I stopped paying attention about fifteen years ago, and I can't even imagine how bad it must have got by now. I'm sure there are still good things, but I just haven't had the time to try and find them.

You're doing it wrong, don't try and make it make sense, just go with it being stupid tosh and enjoy the backwards men and hoover guns.

But for that it's not entertaining enough and lacks visual spectacle. Any movie with Dwayne Johnson is better for that.
Instead you get pedestrian stunts, dull repetitive fight scenes, domestic problems of some billionaire and hours of pointless exposition.

I don't think that's a fair verdict especially if you stopped paying attention. Amazing films have been made in the last 15 years.

I mean, yeah, everything's better with the Rock.

Quite possibly. By 'not paying attention', I mean that I haven't looked at all the releases I could see every week, which I did until about then. I've still watched trailers but I keep being completely appalled at how far standards have slipped. As I said, I'm sure there have been gems, but I just don't have the energy and time to find them.

You're doing it wrong, don't try and make it make sense, just go with it being stupid tosh and enjoy the backwards men and hoover guns.

Which ones are you in? I'd watch those.

death of stalin last night on the telly box, really entertaining film by armando iannucci, never knew stalin was a cockney

some great characters, michael palins was especially good

Saw it in the cinema and have watched again a couple of times. Nearly got sucked into another whole watch through last night. Really enjoyable.

Michael Palin has some good moments but Paul Whitehouse is the winner for me.

All these films have no soul

That's been my feeling about the film industry for decades

I struggle to find many new releases that excite me. When in doubt i'll often rewatch an older movie rather than a potentially disappointing new one. But if i were to think about listing the films i love that have soul i'd probably struggle. Most of them are still money making machines that happen to be really entertaining. Not sure any of the new Netflix guff is worse than Police Academy 6.

On the flipside i've seen many films over the last decade that appear much more interested in telling new stories, showing new faces and challenging norms over making money. AFAIK TV has taken a lot of good writers away from the bigger movies but there's still a lot of good screenwriters working on lower budget/independent films.

What is noticeable with a lot of my favourite films is they were often very difficult to make with stroppy actors and mental directors. Political correctness gone mad and all that but i think we've likely passed the point where you can get drunk and have a punch up on set before shooting. Maybe for me that's why a lot of new films feel quite tame.

Cronenberg's son has a new movie: Possessor. Quite graphic, but since I like his work (sure it's flawed but at least makes you think) looking forward to it. Would be nice to see it in the cinema so waiting for now, but that may not happen.

Movie nights at home this week:

1: War of the Worlds (Spielberg) Pfff annoying teenager characters...really not my cuppa tea. But technically well done, the cellar scene is grim nuff and my son said "oh I didn't expect to feel emotional" so good work, I just hate the genre.

2: Mulan (animated one) Gammy dialogue, cultural cliches, totally not proper based on the old tale, and yet lots of fun to watch.

3: Cure (1997) Japanese crime move where people randomly start killing others..an amnesiac claims he's involved. Creepy as hell with lots of existentialist dialogues/excellent acting. Definitely a movie that is much more than the sum of its parts.

I watched Cure a while ago, I enjoyed it a lot!
I watched Calm With Horses on Netflix last night. I had a few old fashioneds in the process so my judgement might have been slightly impaired but I did enjoy it. Not exactly a romp but worth a watch!

You may like Pulse as well, not a perfect movie but also interesting.

Turning into the dreaded liberal metropolitan multicultural elite house in here hah. Next is to explore African cinema, cos it's been mostly Asian/European/USA stuff.

That's been on my watch list for a while now! Still not got round to it.

Xmas Eve watching: Finding Dory with the toddler and Die Hard for the grown ups later in the evening.

Ho ho ho

We watched Die Hard the other day.
Alan Rickman really was amazing.

yeah, not a bad film debut, and he really does carry the two dimensional henchmen that surround him

Watching The Muppets Christmas Carol. Managed to find a purchase with the missing song spliced in. Mrs EB's favourite. I must admit it even warms my cynical old ass a little

I didn't know that Calm with Horses was on Netflix, thanks for the heads up. It was one of the films that I was looking forward to watching this year but didn't get to see on the big screen. Particularly gutting to ride past our independent cinema of choice and see the poster every time that I went to pick up coffee. One to watch tomorrow!

(Will likely be enjoyed with a few Old Fashioneds also!)

not in the mood for all of this festive fuckery? then look no further than "Bacurau" - about a small Brazilian town where... things happen.

look at the poster ffs!

yes that's udo kier.

+1 for calm with horses. V good.

I saw Bacurau a while ago. Was as odd as the poster would suggest! Definitely due a rewatch at some point.