Last Film You Watched

[Santi]

I'm still digesting the movie.
The end I did not like, but the movie is slow and very very beautiful.

[fish]

Never heard of it, but I don't mind a good quasi-scientific drama, and I know "The Drake Equation".
Well known for predicting the likelihood of finding alien life in the galaxy/universe.
Highly speculative at best.

The audience seemed to like it more than the critics.
Not sure what to make of that.

[Santi]

The movie is not in Spanish. Someone has subtitled it in Catalan. It means that it is a particular job that pleased to someone a lot.
The movie is very good but the ending is very USA, disgusting.

(The Drake Equation=1)

[fish]

...(The Drake Equation=1)

I've always wondered how they calculated a numerical value for civilisations to evolve a high enough technology to communicate, but not so high that they've already caused their own extinction.

[Ian]

End of Days. Big Arnie takes on his biggest opponent yet - Satan himself! Arnie's an ex-cop, embittered following the murder of his own family, who becomes embroiled in a conspiracy surrounding an innocent young woman who has been chosen to bear the Devil's child and bring about the end of the world... Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Pollak and The Mentalist's Robin Tunney co-star in this late 90s action/horror hybrid. As with a few others from this time, including Con Air and Arnie's Eraser, I wasn't a massive fan of this at the time but thoroughly enjoy it now. Great ludicrous OTT fun.

[fish]

...ludicrous OTT...

My initial reaction.
Not being a great Arnie fan, I lost patience early.

[Ian]

Joker. Arthur Fleck is a downtrodden man with mental health issues, struggling to make a living as a clown and look after his sick mother. But in a city ripe with crime, cruelty and rampant disinterest in the welfare of others, a series of unpleasant happenings begin to increasingly disconnect him from reality... Joaquin Phoenix gives an excellent performance in what is certainly a very unusual comic book movie, solely from the perspective of a troubled but not unsympathetic man who will soon become a notorious criminal lunatic. Different, but good.

[Ian]

Primal Fear. A hotshot defense attorney defends a seemingly harmless teenage alter boy accused of the brutal murder of Chicago's Archbishop. But nothing and no one - including the victim - are everything they appear. Richard Gere and Edward Norton lead a great cast (including Frasier's John Mahoney, Newsradio's Maura Tierney, Frances Sternhagen, Terry O'Quinn, Laura Linney) in this still very solid and entertaining mid-90s courtroom drama/thriller. Thoroughly enjoyable.

[Ian]

Ready Or Not. A young woman marrying into a wealthy family discovers that the rich really are different when, on her wedding night, her new family invite her to play a game of Hide and Seek - a game she's not expected to survive. Adam Brody and Andie MacDowell co-star in this darkly comic 2019 horror flick that's a thoroughly wicked and thoroughly entertaining ride.

[Ian]

Doctor Sleep. An adult Danny Torrance struggles to overcome the personal demons remaining from his traumatic childhood experiences at the Overlook Hotel, only for his psychic gift to connect him to a teenage girl who is being hunted by a pack of near-immortal psychic vampires who live off the lifeforce of those 'gifted' with what he calls "the shining". Ewan McGregor and Rebecca Ferguson star in this rather belated sequel to The Shining, based on the Stephen King novel. The film has a few issues - it's definitely too long though perhaps fortunately that flab is more in the first half than the second, which certainly delivers - and the recasting of Danny's parents for the flashback scenes is simultaneously understandable and justifiable yet still somewhat jarring given how much the film otherwise perfectly recreates the iconography of the Overlook from the original film for the climax of this one. But it's still a pretty solid film, with the highlights being Mike Flanagan's typically assured and atmospheric direction and Ferguson's performance as the main villain. Good stuff.

[fish]

...connect him to a teenage girl who is being hunted by a pack of near-immortal psychic vampires who live off the lifeforce of those 'gifted' with what he calls "the shining"...

I've almost lost count of the number of time this has happened to me.

[Ian]

The Satanic Rites of Dracula. Prominent people in 70s London appear to be involved in some sort of weird cult, much to the alarm of some in the security services. That alarm only grows when it seems the cult are developing an even deadlier strain of the Bubonic Plague, but no one suspects the true evil hiding in the shadows - Count Dracula! Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing are at it again in this mid 70s finale to the Hammer Dracula pictures, which is an odd but very entertaining mix of vampire horror and conspiracy thriller crossed with The Avengers (it's even got a pre-Purdey Joanna Lumley) with a dose of Pertwee-era Doctor Who courtesy of Who scribe Don Houghton (Dracula as the mysterious head of a nefarious corporation with global ambitions is very Delgado Master). This isn't popular with some Hammer fans, apparently, but I found this a thoroughly entertaining romp.

[Ian]

Taste the Blood of Dracula. A trio of "community pillars" who lead a hypocritical double life as hedonistic thrill-seekers are suckered into participating in a ritual to resurrect Count Dracula, who soon reigns down terror on them and their families as a thank you. The 5th Hammer Dracula is better than the disappointing Dracula Has Risen from the Grave - which I actually turned off on account of being so dull - not least thanks to a very impressive cast including Peter Sallis, Russell Hunter, Isla Blair and Martin Jarvis and other familiar British actors, and a more interesting story. Taste also looks absolutely fabulous on Blu ray for a now 50 year old movie, and is let down only by a "WTH that was easy" ending and a trait of the mid-term Dracula movies, the lack of a strong hero (Peter Cushing is very much needed at this point). Generally rather good though.

[fish]

...Peter Cushing...

Very much a requirement in Hammer movies IMHO.

[Ian]

I've just started getting into the Hammer movies. I've tried a couple of times over the years, but couldn't seem to do it, but I've always wanted to. I've always thought they should be my cup of tea, given their influence on Who and my love for classic Who and The Avengers and so forth.

Anyhow this time around it seems to be working. Am mainly concentrating on the Dracula series so far. Loved the original Dracula and really liked Prince of Darkness and Taste the Blood of... What really sparked me off, amusingly enough, was a rather unpopular one - Satanic Rites of Dracula. Really awful full-screen VHS one-of-50-movies DVD rip, but I loved it anyway and am going to fork out for the Blu ray when I get paid. Haven't seen (but have got) Brides of Dracula and Scars of Dracula, and will have to get AD72 as well.

With modern pop culture being a cup of cold sick to me, I'm rather enjoying finding something 'new' that's to my taste. Will have to check out the Amicus ones too (when I can afford it).