Films

Such a good year. I spent a lot of it watching no country and there will be blood on alternating repeat.

I haven’t watched new blade runner, but I’m with you on Arrival. Great premise, which it absolutely makes a giant bollock of in the final act.

I wish every year for a 4k scan of There Will Be Blood.

I would pay £££ for a special edition.

We watched The Guard last night, Beverly Hills Cop-ish in Ireland, very funny, very good.

I genuinely think There Will Be Blood is one of the best films ever made. It'll be remembered as a classic for sure. Not that those other films are bad, NCFOM in particular is excellent, but There Will Be Blood is just incredible.

Watched Eyes Wide Shut last night for the first time since it was released in the late 90's (Mrs EB had never seen it)

I don't remember it being so awful! I'm also convinced that I remember Nicole Kidman's character accompanying Tom Cruise to the sex party, but that didn't happen. Also the most unsexy sex party imaginable....

Anyway, pretty dire. Seems like it was old man Kubrik's wank fantasy..

I loved arrival tbh. I think when it finally all clicks, its amazing.

He was just going solo to see other members of the illuminate.

Saw oppenheimer yesterday. Pretty well made but thank fuck I saw a documentary about the man two weeks ago. How does one keep up with this storyline if you go in blanco?

I wasn't too bothered about watching Oppenheimer, but very recently discovered my Grandad was involved with Tube Alloys so I feel some sort of obligation to see it now

Also watched Oppenheimer yesterday, enjoyed it, didn't feel like three hours which just be a good sign and soundtrack was enjoyable but did feel a bit like two movies smashed together and not sure seeing it at the IMAX added much

Talk to Me. Candyman meets It Follows. Gets real dumb midway through and familiar tropes. You'll spot the ending a mile away. 6/10

It's Fellowes, a film about an annoying, posh snob who follows people around at a distance would be good.

The Guard

Loved that. It reminded us irresistibly of Martin McDonagh's In Bruges / Seven Psychopaths which makes sense because it was written/directed by his brother! Lot of talent over there in That Ireland.

I'm working my way through the Ingmar Bergmans. They're great but the Persona / Summer with Monika / Through A Glass Darkly combo was an incredibly heavy set of films to watch together. I found myself yearning for the light hearted, whimsical frothy fun of Seventh Seal about halfway through.

If you enjoyed the Guard, try Intermission it's probably dated a bit but that and I Went Down are by far the best comedies to come out of Ireland.

Brilliant, I will do. We even loved Pixie so we've definitely got some more Irish comedy dramas in us yet

The General, from 1998, is a great Brendan Gleeson film. About Martin Cahill a notorious crime boss who thought he could hide his identity in public just by holding his hand over his face.

It doesn't seem to be very well known despite being directed by John Boorman.

I did this too and actually enjoyed Persona and Summer with Monika. I was loving it all the way until I saw Fanny & Alexander and just felt sad for a couple of days.

Meanwhile in the Blockbuster video latest releases...

Given the ratings and how much i like all the other Rocky/Creed movies i'm surprised by how much i disliked Creed 3. Wood Harris did his best to fill the Stallone gap and i rate Jonathan Majors but i couldn't find anything to like about it.

Air was as described somewhere, a very enjoyable Nike marketing campaign.

Ant man and the purple screen was horrific, maybe i don't rate Jonathan Majors?

Watched The Red Ghost at the weekend. Russian film about partisans in WWII. Total Sergio Leone tribute, right down to the Morricone-style music. Interesting for the unexpected combination and not bad.

It's a superb film. I assumed the hand over face was to stop Garda lipreaders, there weren't too many people with combovers like Cahill.

That makes way more sense, he knew all the tricks in the book.

Another view on Oppenheimer, the first two hours flew by, the third hour dragged. It didn’t add much to what I already knew about the man. The saving grace was Matt Damon who played his part really well. Japan and the after effects are glossed over. Overall, disappointing.

Just realised why the extras in Guardians of the Galaxy 3 looked familiar...

Howard Moon even bears a vague resemblance to Star-Lord.

It's Fellowes, a film about an annoying, posh snob who follows people
around at a distance would be good

Following?
.

How I learned to stop worrying about Gosford Park and learned to love Downton Abbey.