Seen any good films lately? [3]

I think he can play anything, though looking at him you wouldn't cast him as Sam.  Magic of radio.

she would have made a better Tauriel or any female Elven character. her face is perfect.

Actually by her own admission her eyes are freakishly far apart (it's endearing).  She tells a cute story about how her friends know they have to toss things to her from the side: anything coming straight at her will thunk her between the eyes (imitates looking increasingly confused as her eyes go more cross, then jolts and shakes out the stars circling her head).

I saw The Ritual (2017) the other night, and hot damn it is a great little horror film. The first two acts are very reminiscent of The Descent, with a final third that goes into Hereditary territory in a satisfying and effective manner, complete with twists and an absolutely delicious reveal. Highly recommended!

Re-watched The Equaliser, I have never seen a bad Denzel Washington film.

I wouldn't have thought that to be your cup of tea, though Denzel does bring a certain poetry to violent characters. Gotta love Christopher Walken's description of his character in Man on Fire: "Creasey's art is death, and he's about to paint his masterpiece."

I actually love that kind of stuff as long as there is some mystery and it doesn't go Tarantino for no reason. I like macho men doing their stuff and I prefer a Bruce Willis or Vin Diesel film to the romantic girlie stuff, I cant stand those romantic drama films...yuck!

unless its a classic Austin or a Bronte, or anything with a bustle.

Yep, romantic drama films should not be confused with chick flicks, of which they are a mere subset. Chick flicks written by Tina Fey or produced by Drew Barrymore are where it's at.

As we're waiting for Dave to cuss and scratch his head and try to type, I just wanted to say that I've reviewed The Spy Who Loved Me, only remembered about 2 scenes from the last time I saw it (20-30 years ago?), and so enjoyed it immensely. Have to agree with Figgy it's the best of the Bond films, despite having the wrong Bond.

my favourite is From Russia With Love, and it defo has the right Bond.

Saw the new Tomb Raider with that young Alicia Vikander.  She has the amazing physicality the role calls for (the girl has washboard abs), and is a more engaging actor than I expected.  The film is more of an origin story, and I have to say I prefer the mystery of the Angelina Jolie character.  Vikander's a bit young for the full role but I think she's a good choice who will grow into it.  The film itself I rate as okay.

I give props to the film-makers - we see those amazing abs in the first scene, and though they could easily have chosen to exhibit them throughout by many incarnations of the Lara Croft costume, they chose not to.  I'd be surprised if future episodes show the same restraint.

{{ Havent seen the film but it seems to have lifted scenes pretty whole from the games. }}

Huh....I thought that was an example of the writers reaching for something random to add excitement, now I see it was fan service. I'm always amazed at how realistic modern games are.

{{ Watched the Lighthouse, with William Dafoe and Robert Paterson. Its pretty much an art house film, set in a lighthouse in the late 1800's off the US coast near Maine. And its sort of an exploration of madness, isolation, repressed sexuality, alcholism, good and evil, duplicity and has an added touch of Lovecraft as an undercurrent to it. I say sort of about those things because precisely what its about is as much up to the interpretation of the viewer as anything forced by the writer/director Robert Eggers. And its, well I enjoyed it, that I will say. A lot in fact. I especially enjoyed the performances, both are raw and powerful and in particular Dafoe's cross between Captain Ahab and Long John Silver as the senior lighthouse keeper is cant take your eyes off him stuff.
But, there is always a but, its one of those films that doesnt seek to resolve anything, or explain anything, and like all these films it walks a fine line between thought provoking and going up its own arse. And occasionally for me it strayed a little to close to the later, but not on the whole and it never fortunately gets there.

Its interestingly shot too, not just the direction and cinematography, both very good, but also it has an aspect ratio not used for a very long time, its not only not in widescreen, its not even in 4:3 the image is almost a perfect square at a 1.19:1 ratio. A style once favoured for creating a sense of claustrophobia and to conceal stuff from the viewer. And its all in black and white too shot on 35mm film using a technique that evokes 19th century photography.
They also apparently built the entire lighthouse, strong enough to withstand 75mph winds, and its a superb bit of set construction as if I hadnt discovered this after watching I would not even have considered the possibility it was faked and not just an old lighthouse they had found to use.

Would I recommend it? Yes, most certainly, just go in expecting an art house film and assuming you dont mind films that could also be plays ie its largely imagery, two characters talking and a make your own mind up about whats going on style, and you'll be fine.
You might want subtitles too, I did have to rewatch a few bits here and there, as the dedication to following speech patterns and dialects of the time period from the Maine area can make catching all the dialogue tricky sometimes (apparently the style was inspired by the works of Sarah Jewett, who wrote with heavy use of the local Maine dialects and speech patterns in working class folk at that time).
Oh and the way the fog horn is used reminded somewhat of the Silent Hill games and its use of the air raid siren. }}

Robert Pattinson has been trying to shake the flimsiness of his Twilight launching pad for some time. Playing opposite Willem Dafoe is a good move for him. I saw Dafoe in a one man show about war reminisces a quarter century ago, and even then his performance was emotionally staggering. If Pattinson can hold up against what Dafoe has grown into then he can handle anything.

{{ Having never seen any of the Twilight films this is I think the first thing Ive ever seen him in, so my impressions of him as an actor are rather good. The entire film pretty much relies entirely on the perfomances of the two main characters to work, as they are the only two characters in the film, and it all hinges on their performances. And they are both compelling, the only reason I'd say I prefer Dafoe here is not because he outperforms Pattinson but solely because his character his richer in dialogue, and Ive always had a soft spot for crabbit old sea dogs in stories.}}

He wasn't flimsy in Twilight, he just had a flimsy platform to show off his deeper acting skills. Those vampires didn't have the introspection of Anne Rice vampires, or even the menace of Underworld vampires. They tried to have a bit of both, but in the end couldn't escape being teenage love story vampires.

In twilight he just had to stand around looking broodingly handsome at his girlfriend.
This film reminds me a bit of The Mill and the Cross. A bit depressing but interesting.

Never heard of the Mill and the Cross.  Happy to see Ratguer Hauer get a lead role, I think his last lead was Ladyhawke.

Just watched Rays and the last Dragon on Disney plus. The film was ok, but the picture quality in 4k was brilliant. Dont think I've seen better.

And he wasn't even the lead in Ladyhawke! Little Godzilla boy was the lead, tech-nic-all-y. Did you see Hobo With a Shotgun? He was definitely the lead in that.

Oh hey Petty, I saw The Lighthouse when it came out. I would recommend it too for its masterful bits of acting from Dafoe and its curated old-timey cinematics. But good grief was that ending unsatisfying. As a fellow who grew up with Twilight-Patterson I also enjoyed good chuckles over his character's masturbation scenes.

Saw Blade Runner 2049. Finally realized the reason I didn't like it is in the original the replicants were actually more emotional and felt more alive than the humans. In 2049 their emotions are masked. Only the computer girlfriend really feels alive.

It was ok but nothing special, don't remember much about it.

Just saw Byzantium, which is an interesting twist on the vampire theme, with Sairse Ronan and Gemma Arterton. Very good dialogue. I was a bit put out when director Neil Jordan said in the inverviews that the original version was more cerebral, and he asked the writer to pull it more towards a traditional horror film. The best parts were the cerebral parts; I'd like to see it redone with the original script.

there's two parts to a vampire story: the blood-drinking horror-fascination part; and the twin dilemmas of mortals confronting immortality and the need to feed off of what was once their own kind. It's the second part that defines modern vampires. Bram Stoker and Underworld never went there (though I love me some Underworld action).

{{ Three parts- you somehow missed the sex out - lot of that- all the seduction, penetration of young women, taking away their innoncence and purity and all that underlying stuff. And frankly its still about sex, Twilight is about sex just targeted and moderated for teenage girls. Humans, sex and violence, and often together- seems to be a favourite of our species. }}

*yawn* watched John Wick Parabellum, what a computer game its turned into, I switched it off after the hundredth boring fight scene which all looked the same just switching the costumes of the Russian/Italian/Japanese/Arab villains. What a yawnfest. I do love Keano but I hope this is the last John Wick he does. There was one feeble joke in the whole film.

{{ very interesting points made here by director Rachel Talalay on the written medium verus the visual. }}