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  • Sir Hillary BraySir Hillary Bray College of ArmsPosts: 2,174MI6 Agent
    VICE

    Christian Bale, transforming his body yet again, absolutely disappears into the role of Dick Cheney, GW Bush's Vice President. Directed by Adam McKay in a similar style to The Big Short (narration, breaking of the 4th wall, insertion of real-life footage, celebrity cameos, onscreen text), the film chronicles Cheney's rise from ne'er-do-well Yale dropout to arguably the most powerful VP in US history. The story is interesting, but it's a polemical film, and McKay's hatred of Cheney means he attributes just about everything bad in the world to the man. Well-told though it may be, it all becomes a bit much by the end. The major players (Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell) are all very good, but the film left me rolling my eyes in fatigue when it was over, unlike The Big Short, after which I could have run a marathon to release all my anger.
    Hilly...you old devil!
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,882Chief of Staff
    Mary Poppins Returns. That's right: the crusty ol' Hardyboy saw a Disney film about a magical flying nanny. I'll admit it: I love the original and I wanted to see how the long-delayed sequel would stack up. Hmmm. You really do have to take it on its own terms, in which case it's fine: Emily Blunt is very good in the title role (as Mary Poppins, not as the Returns), and everything moves at a pippy pace. The problem is that the movie openly begs comparison to the original: instead of Bert, we've got Jack (and I hope my English friends find Lin-Manuel Miranda's Cockney accent more acceptable than was Dick Van Dyke's), instead of the medicine chest we get the bathtub, instead of Ed Wynn on the ceiling we get Meryl Streep on the ceiling, instead of dancing chimney sweeps we have dancing lamplighters, etc., etc. There's also the problem of a much darker tone (set during the Depression, right after the death of good ol' Ben Wishaw's wife) and the fact the songs are just serviceable. . .you won't come out of the theater humming any tunes. So, again, take it for what it's worth. . .
    Vox clamantis in deserto
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    Quatermass And The Pit

    I've posted about this story before, it being one of my favourites, though normally about the 1967 Hammer film, and have just spent an enjoyable 3 hours rewatching the original 1958-59 BBC b&w serial. Dated, obviously, but still great stuff- I particularly enjoyed how the story begins with trivial events and builds relentlessly including sci-fi and occult elements to a gripping climax.
    Much of this was re-used by Dr Who among others, and it strongly influenced Stephen King's "The Tommyknockers". André Morell is just fine as Quatermass (though I prefer Andrew Keir in the Hammer version), but the standout performance is from Cec Linder as his best friend- and Cec Linder as the hero's best friend should be very very familiar to us Bond fans....
  • Sir Hillary BraySir Hillary Bray College of ArmsPosts: 2,174MI6 Agent
    A couple, on a cross-country plane flight just before the new year...

    ARRIVAL
    Quite a lovely film, with Amy Adams starring as a linguist assigned to decode the language of extraterrestrials who have landed spacecraft in 12 locations around the world. In this film, the aliens are more good than bad, with most humans the opposite. But some clumsy political subplots aside, the film is really about Adams's character, who uses the experience as a means to both purge herself of and to revisit a tragedy in her life. There's a twist at the end that I don't entirely understand, but I found the whole thing uplifting. Beautiful, both visually and sonically.

    THE DEATH OF STALIN
    Wow, if only all black comedies were this good. In 1953, Stalin dies, and a massive power vacuum ensues. Various Soviet higher-ups (Khrushchev, Beria, Malenkov, Molotov, etc.) jockey for position in an attempt to take over. Steve Buscemi, Michael Palin, Simon Russell Beale, Jeffrey Tambor and Jason Isaacs are among the cast, and Bond veteran Olga Kurylenko shows up in a small but important role. Everyone plays their parts in their native accents (or close to them) so you have Buscemi talking American English as Khrushchev, Beale sounding British as Beria, etc. This was a great decision, as opposed to having everyone sport a bad Russian accent (as in, say, The Hunt for Red October). The story is alternatively brutal and hilarious, and all the players bring their A-games, particularly Beale, who is absolutely amazing as the vile Beria. Probably the best film I saw in 2018.
    Hilly...you old devil!
  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 26,417Chief of Staff
    Gymkata wrote:
    I've heard nothing but great things about THE DEATH OF STALIN. I need to see that one.

    You do...it’s excellent -{
    YNWA 97
  • UnderwaterBattle007UnderwaterBattle007 Posts: 284MI6 Agent
    Red Sparrow, a gritty espionage thriller, in the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy mould.

    I haven't enjoyed a spy film like this for absolute ages, and part of me wishes there could be an X rated James Bond film.

    A torture scene well there's a couple of believable ones in this movie, Plus Jennifer Lawrence (or her body double) has wonderful tits!!!

    A great way to spend a Sunday afternoon in darkest North West of England, where it's been unrelenting pissing down rain and freezing cold!!
    FRWl, CR, OHMSS, TSWLM, SF, GF, TLD, LTK, TND, FYEO, OP,TWINE, GE, LALD, TB, SPECTRE, DN, YOLT, TMWTGG, QOS, MR, DAF, DAD, AVTAK, NTTD.

    "Do you expect me to talk? "No Mister Bond I expect you to die"
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    Layer Cake on telly, too many ads though.

    It's odd seeing this all those years later, it reminds me of The Craig Wars that broke out... :)) At times, Craig looks more Bond in this than he ever did in his movies, very young and cool. He never quite looked that young and cool as Bond. At others, you can see why many railed against him, his looks are very changeable and imo his face looked better in the last one, more filled in with age, though maybe he's had some work done.

    I do also prefer this movie to his Bonds, I wish they'd gone with Matthew Vaughan as director for CR. So many of his camera set-ups looks so cool and classy, esp as all of it is shot in and around London. I just like the easy style of the movie, I find I want to watch it if it's on.

    Sarah Hawkins had a small role in it, as the clueless gangster's girlfriend! She's got one hell of a range.

    Craig does very well in this, but it helps he's part of an ensemble cast, something the Bond producers only really picked up on by his third film. He's great, he elevates the film; you can imagine James McAvoy or Ewan McGregor in a film like this, and you'd know what to expect of course - in some ways it might make for an easier viewing experience but Craig has more surprises.

    In many ways this feels like the real Casino Royale to me, in particular the whole learning curve of the character and his first kill, etc.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Sir Hillary BraySir Hillary Bray College of ArmsPosts: 2,174MI6 Agent
    Layer Cake...

    Sarah Hawkins had a small role in it, as the clueless gangster's girlfriend! She's got one hell of a range.
    Fantastic film, so much better than the Ritchies that preceded it. Gambon's sermon at the end is worth the price of admission all by itself (by the way, his is the ugliest tan I've ever seen). Unfortunately, for me, nothing Vaughn has directed since then has measured up.

    Think you mean Sally Hawkins, but you're right, she's great in this film and terrific in general. Ever see her (and a very young James Corden) in Mike Leigh's All or Nothing? Depressing film, but great performances all around.
    Hilly...you old devil!
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    Yeah, Sally Hawkins, that's who I meant! No, I haven't seen All or Nothing. (Saw Everything or Nothing of course... :D )

    It's odd, there are films like that that simply never get a showing on telly.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 26,417Chief of Staff
    Stan & Ollie...an absolutely wonderful, touching and heartwarming film...both leads are superb...but you will know this if you’ve seen it...and if not...why not?
    Glorious -{
    YNWA 97
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,882Chief of Staff
    I saw Peter Jackson's World War I documentary They Shall Not Grow Old. Absolutely stunning. I study the war and teach literature from it (mainly the poetry), but this made me feel like I was there.
    Vox clamantis in deserto
  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 26,417Chief of Staff
    Hardyboy wrote:
    I saw Peter Jackson's World War I documentary They Shall Not Grow Old. Absolutely stunning. I study the war and teach literature from it (mainly the poetry), but this made me feel like I was there.

    I watched this just before Christmas...it is stunning...and also brutal...and touching...and funny...
    Adding sound - as well as colour - just adds more layers of reality...it’s an epic piece that is a fitting tribute to all that fought in that horrible war.
    YNWA 97
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    Modesty Blaise

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    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    Tom and Jerry

    Acclaimed bittersweet drama in which the 1930s cinema comics reunite decades after their heyday for a low-budget tour of Britain. There they find themselves playing to empty seats and up against the modern day competition such as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, who are cleaning up.

    There's a bit of baggage between the two, and it becomes clear that Jerry is carrying his partner somewhat, especially as Tom is not in the best of health - his back legs have gone and his tail has gone a bit mangey. There's bad blood also from the time Tom went off to do a Rentokil commercial by himself. He also spends time gambling, betting on dog fights (this features a cameo from Spike the Dog.)

    It's not bad, though it's not quite plausible that the pair should be able to recreate their skit with the piano (Tom is clearly not playing the instrument as Jerry bops up and down around the piano keys) and the shots of the audience doubled up with laughter seem a bit laid on (the film seems to have been in debt to the Tom and Jerry foundation) but otherwise this works quite well.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Lady RoseLady Rose London,UKPosts: 2,667MI6 Agent
    Sir Miles wrote:
    Stan & Ollie...an absolutely wonderful, touching and heartwarming film...both leads are superb...but you will know this if you’ve seen it...and if not...why not?
    Glorious -{

    I popped in here to see if anyone had seen it. I'm going to wait till it's out on dvd/online but I'm looking forward to it. I have a real soft spot for Stan and Ollie.

    Coogan is a surprisingly good actor even if his Bond impressions area little dodgy.


    I watched the Bruce Willis remake of Death Wish recently. Not as bad as I thought it would be. Quite watchable in a Bruce Willis shoot 'em up kind of way.
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,882Chief of Staff
    Lady Rose wrote:
    Sir Miles wrote:
    Stan & Ollie...an absolutely wonderful, touching and heartwarming film...both leads are superb...but you will know this if you’ve seen it...and if not...why not?
    Glorious -{

    I popped in here to see if anyone had seen it. I'm going to wait till it's out on dvd/online but I'm looking forward to it. I have a real soft spot for Stan and Ollie.

    Coogan is a surprisingly good actor even if his Bond impressions area little dodgy.

    I saw it just yesterday, in an exclusive showing. It was exclusive because I was the only one in the auditorium! Well, their loss. This is an absolutely beautiful film--it's about the kind of love only real friends can have--and Coogan and Reilly entirely lose themselves inside their roles. Even if you're not a Laurel & Hardy fan, this is a film to be cherished.
    Vox clamantis in deserto
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    Widows

    Heist move with a new slant.

    It opens with a furious chase, in which our heroes Tom & Jerry are both pursued by the cops and an angry black maid with a broom, and unexpectedly ends when a huge fridge crashes down on them both, and promptly explodes.
    Left behind are Mrs Tom and Mrs Jerry, who are about to face eviction for their late husbands' crimes. They decide to hatch their own spin-off show and carry on where their partners left off.
    It's not bad but becomes less credible as it goes on, as it's not quite believable that they could assume this criminal cartoon lifestyle so seamlessly. Plus, we never saw the old Tom and Jerry use getaway cars, the action was mostly confined to the house.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,702MI6 Agent
    Violante Placido is 42 years old and a good age to star alongside Daniel Craig. I wouldn't mind if they cast her as the mystery woman in Bond25.

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  • ChriscoopChriscoop Belize Posts: 10,449MI6 Agent
    Gymkata wrote:
    THE AMERICAN (2010) with George Clooney.

    Pretty solid, no frills thriller. It's not very action packed but what IS in there feels authentic, which is refreshing.

    Clooney plays an assassin/arms dealer in Europe. After the opening sequences, he ends up in a small town in Italy brokering an arms job for a customer. He faces fallout from what happened in the opening sequences and also deals with some friendships/relationships that he fosters in this small town.

    I like films that show the process of how things get done, and this film does a lot of that. You see Clooney doing some spycraft, and you also see him physically do things like acquire a rifle, make modifications to it, test it out...essentially, you get to see 'how the sausage gets made'. I find that stuff fascinating, and it all comes off as being 100% legit.

    I also have to say, the main female in this movie is...GORGEOUS. Played by Violante Placido, she's just...wow. Too bad that we never got her as a Bond girl/woman because she would have been amazing.

    Recommended if you like a slower, more deliberate kind of thriller.
    Up there with my favourite films, and one I revisit, totally agree with you about Violante, the scenery is stunning and the pace is just perfect for a real get your teeth into movie.
    It was either that.....or the priesthood
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,907MI6 Agent
    This is Spinal Tap

    Tibbet's in this one! he plays Sir Denis Eton-Hogg, president of Polymer Records.
    I think it's his fault the cover of the latest Tap album is rejected and their career goes down the drain.
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  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    The Old Man and the Gun

    Robert Redford send-off, ironically not dissimilar to a late film by his Butch Cassidy co-star Paul Newman, which co-starred Linda Fiorentino.

    It's okay, like the protagonist it asks a lot but ends up not giving much in return. It asks you to believe a hold-up man who looks like Redford and is 80 if he's a day would not draw much attention or reputation as he goes about his bank hold ups, assisted by two accomplices, as well as the lack of observational powers by the bank manager and tellers, and the most lackadaisical detective in heist movie history.

    These films don't have the big name stars, CGI special effects or pop song soundtrack but surely they have a great script, emotional maturity and realness that they don't have, except even with Stan & Ollie, I found there is a bit of an ersatz thing going on, it's not quite reality either, and a classy TV series might be smarter and have more emotional hold over you.
    What we get instead is a sort of emotional shorthand, some strings on the soundtrack and the sense that if you've paid your money you pretty damn sure ought to find it moving.

    One plot point that puts the detective on the trail is dealt with in five seconds and easy to miss - annoying too when most of the film unfolds in slo-mo.

    Redford is okay, and he and Spacek are very watchable, as is the film even if slow moving, but two decades ago we might have bought into the whole, wow, this is an old cove, a charmer, doing his own thing rather than a narcissistic drifter addicted to larceny like some are addicted to the bottle.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    The November Man starring Pierce Brosnan.

    Brozzer has done a few of these B-movie/straight to DVD/airplane film fodder fare in recent years, and some of the titles get mixed up in my mind.
    That said, he's working and as it's going to be what, four, five years? between Bonds for the supposedly brilliant Daniel Craig, you have to ask what he's committted to celluloid in the meantime - a small role in a comedy heist movie. You'd think he'd be knocking it out the ball park in that time - a Wild-Geese style ensemble piece, perhaps, a decent North London-set gritty drama like Enduring Love, I don't know.

    November Man is sub-Bond but seems to work as a sort of sequel to GoldenEye and there are nods to that but it is set in the Bourne world. Brosnan is good at shaking of the shackles of Bond and plays it well, that said much of his charisma did get a leg up from the Bond association. He's not as watchable as Neeson, of course.
    At one point his character does deliberate damage to a wholly innocent character with no comeback at all, it's not meant to be a shift in your sympathies, it seems.
    QoS's Kurylenko pops up, and her imdb shows she really has had a good career since then, unlike the fate of many Bond gals.
    I did enjoy this movie, but the cinematography was a bit plain, it lacked that visual magic.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    Score, a documentary about soundtrack composers, shown on BBC4.

    Some good stuff, though overshadowing everything was the revelation (to me, anyway) that composer Hans Zimmer, who was behind Chris Nolan scores such as Batman and Dunkirk, among others, was the keyboardist on the 1979 smash hit Video Killed the Radio Star, and seen looking sheepishly handsome in the video:

    Video.jpg

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    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,239MI6 Agent
    I thoroughly recommend the astonishing documentary, Three Identical Strangers.

    This is about how an American lad turned up to college on his first day, to be cheerily greeted by complete strangers. Turns out he has a double, born on the same day as him... it builds from there, and to reveal more would be to give away spoilers, but this is an increasingly bizarre and dark movie. On Channel 4 last night, so look out for it.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Overlord.
    On D Day a small group of American soldiers discover a top Nazi research centre making undead
    super soldiers, and things turn nasty. :)
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,882Chief of Staff
    I watched Mads Mikkelsen in a Netflix original, Polar. I have to say, I got this confused with another MM film, Arctic, which has gotten some good reviews. As for Polar. . .Mads is only the good thing in this nasty concoction. Everyone is a hitman or hitwoman, and pretty much everyone dies in a horrible way--and Mads is on the receiving end of a torture scene that makes what he dishes out in Casino Royale look like a child's game of tickling. My opinion of humanity was considerably lowered by this dreck. . .and a film that can do that to a viewer is not good.
    Vox clamantis in deserto
  • Christmas TounesChristmas Tounes GloucestershirePosts: 164MI6 Agent
    Layer Cake.. Not watched it for 10 years and forgot how thrilling and entertaining it is. Craig is great and looking back now at this movie it's easy to see how this performance landed him the role of 007.

    PS.. Hi to the 2002 originals who may remember me, Hardyboy and Napoleon Plural.. hope you're doing good guys. I'm looking forwaed to the Bond 25 press conference which should be coming this month. Hope Bond 25 is better than Spectre, haven't re-watched that since I saw it at the cinema on release :))
    1. Goldeneye 2. OHMSS 3. Goldfinger 4. TND 5. Octopussy 6. FYEO
    7. LALD 8. TWINE 9. Skyfall 10. AVTAK 11. CR 12. TLD 13. YOLT
    14. TMWTGG 15. Moonraker 16. TSWLM 17. Thunderball 18. FRWL
    19. Dr. No 20. DAF 21. LTK 22. DAD 23. QoS 24. Spectre 25. NTTD
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,882Chief of Staff
    PS.. Hi to the 2002 originals who may remember me, Hardyboy and Napoleon Plural.. hope you're doing good guys. I'm looking forwaed to the Bond 25 press conference which should be coming this month. Hope Bond 25 is better than Spectre, haven't re-watched that since I saw it at the cinema on release :))

    Wow. . .Christmas Tounes. I remember you as a little kid! (Then again, I'm now an old man.) Anyway, don't want to take up time here. Why not drop by Comings and Goings and re-introduce yourself?
    Vox clamantis in deserto
  • dr. evan-gelistdr. evan-gelist SheffieldPosts: 398MI6 Agent
    BODYSLAM
    Dirk Benedict plays a music manager who combines rock with wrestling. Great music intro and co stars Tanya Roberts, Roddy Piper and Billy Barty.
    "You're in the wrong business... leave it to the professionals!"
    James Bond- Licence To Kill
  • dr. evan-gelistdr. evan-gelist SheffieldPosts: 398MI6 Agent
    Im also doing an 80s rare film junkie session. Details will follow later.
    "You're in the wrong business... leave it to the professionals!"
    James Bond- Licence To Kill
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