[Film] Film 2023

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dolphins

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2012
5,660
BN1, in GOSBTS
Booked in to see 'Dream Scenario' next week.

Have a rough idea what it's about and am avoiding finding out anymore until I see it.

I hope I enjoy it.
Me too - and I've preceded this (a day before) by The Marvels, so was pleased to see @Acker79's positive review of it.

BTW a warning for anyone going to the Cineworld at the Marina at the moment: it was really chilly in there yesterday, so wrap up warm!
 




Is it PotG?

Thrifty non-licker
Feb 20, 2017
25,455
Sussex by the Sea
The Great Escaper. An acting Tour De Force from Caine and Jackson particularly from the latter who was just perfect from start to finish. Very good and moving. 87 out of 100
Back from The Amex after a knackering Dutch week.
A tidy 2016 Haut-Médoc and looking forward to this .....
 






The Clamp

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jan 11, 2016
26,185
West is BEST
The Killer

Some very good set pieces and nice idea.

A bit under powered though. Never quite gets up to full gear.


But it’s well worth a watch.
 






dolphins

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2012
5,660
BN1, in GOSBTS
Just back from The Marvels and was sadly quite underwhelmed by it. I can't put my finger on exactly what didn't work for me. Script/plot? Sounded like it had a bit of a troubled background as a film, but bringing in elements from Wandavision and Ms Marvel - both of which I've not seen - didn't help me. Also felt a bit... dunno... like a DC film rather than Marvel - if that makes sense!

Anyway, Dream Scenario tomorrow...
 


dolphins

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2012
5,660
BN1, in GOSBTS
Saw Dream Scenario, Nicolas Cage's latest film, today.

Excellent film. A quirky premise - a very ordinary college professor starts appearing in people's dreams. Anyone's dreams. People who have never met him. And he just wanders through the dream, not helping when help is needed, for example. What starts as a bit of a comedy then starts to get darker as things start turning... Posters for the film make it out that it is an out and out comedy, whereas it is definitely much more of a drama. Can't talk too much about it, but suffice it to say, I recommend it.
 




Jul 20, 2003
20,681
Saw Dream Scenario, Nicolas Cage's latest film, today.

Excellent film. A quirky premise - a very ordinary college professor starts appearing in people's dreams. Anyone's dreams. People who have never met him. And he just wanders through the dream, not helping when help is needed, for example. What starts as a bit of a comedy then starts to get darker as things start turning... Posters for the film make it out that it is an out and out comedy, whereas it is definitely much more of a drama. Can't talk too much about it, but suffice it to say, I recommend it.


Went this evening .... throughly enjoyed it but a bit frustrated that they threw so much at it towards the end.

Too many endings.

Weirdly I think that it probably needed a few extra scenes and and an additional 15 running time. Can't remember the last time I saw a film that needed to be longer.

I will happily watch it again.
 


Meade's Ball

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
13,653
Hither (sometimes Thither)
Been a good 10 days or so of films for me.
How to Have Sex was good. Immersive, and ripped with chaotic emotion as a young female sinks themselves into life on a pulsating, sex-mad cretian isle. The music and rhythm of it fluctuates unapologetically and the acting of the main girl is brilliant. It was a time of everything, of adulthood to come, and the constant pressure to move into that status flattening all hope of normalcy, of a smooth passage. Really well made version of events for a whole gamut of young folk who i would choose to avoid at most costs, but whose journey here absorbs, and disturbs.

Anatomy of a Fall was good. Ever since Toni Erdmann, well only then really until the last month when seeing her again, i've liked Sandra Huller. In Anatomy of a Fall she plays a woman so full of character, that we're to know more of in bits and pieces and she is investigated by the French justice system for the death of her husband. I kept thinking of the Shining with the blood and snow and haircut of the son, but they are not attached films at all. In this the investigation changes our suspicions as it goes, and has us wonder of how little we know others, and our renditions of the truth. There were some shots meant to be news-shots, that i didn't feel fitted, but this won at Cannes and was quality fare. Worth a watch.

Dream Scenario was funny enough. You could tell Ari Aster was attached to it when his producer credit appeared at the end. This is mostly tragi-comic, without a largely likeable person in sight, as mob mentality, in dream essence, converts its hysterical feelings toward one sorry and bland person. Had some funny bits and Nicholas Cage was Nicholas Cage, mostly as ever.

And today i went to see The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp on the biggish screen for the first time. Powell & Pressberger feel insurpassable as British filmmakers, and how bleeding daring was it to make this film in 1943? A film where friendship lasts between a German and British solider. So emotional, and so sad to see someone almost legendary being sunken into obsolescence, although still with a patch of honour to cling to. Beautiful film of love and war, and funnier than i recall. A beauty.
 


Acker79

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Nov 15, 2008
31,921
Brighton
I went to this evening's closing film for the Cinecity Festival, All of Us Strangers. Andrew Scott plays a writer who is writing a story about his dead parents, visit his old family home and runs into what transpires to be the ghost of his parents, so he starts visiting them to update them on his life since their passing. At the same time, he starts a relationship with the only other man who lives in his apartment block. Loosely based on a Japanese novel.

It wasn't quite what I was expecting (I have no idea what I was really expecting, but I didn't think there would be an element of spirituality/supernatural), but I really enjoyed it. Seemed to be a hit with the audience, too.
 




Acker79

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Nov 15, 2008
31,921
Brighton
I went to see the latest Eli Roth offerng Thanksgiving. It's a full length movie inspired by the fake trailer from the grindhouse double bill (Deathproof and Planet Terror). It isn't intended to be the movie the trailer was advertised, rather it was approached as a reboot of that movie, so it's not an exact match.

Not much to say about it really. It doesn't re-invent the wheel, it knows it's trashy, but has fun with the violence. Is less campy than the fake trailer, but I don't know that would work for a full length film. I enjoyed it, without being blown away,
 


keaton

Big heart, hot blood and balls. Big balls
Nov 18, 2004
9,972
I enjoyed Napoleon. Impressive battle scenes and a good, love story between Phoenix and Kirby. It has more of a sense of humour than I expected as well. It is a bit historically off in parts but not as bad as nearly all historical movies
 






Easy 10

Brain dead MUG SHEEP
Jul 5, 2003
62,416
Location Location
I also enjoyed Napoleon, to a point. A little dry in some parts, but as mentioned, the battle scenes were excellent and it was genuinely interesting to see the field tactics adopted by the D of W at Waterloo. I was also completely ignorant of the fact that he was exiled twice. I didn't realise he returned to France within a year to mount a coup and then get his arse handed to him on a plate, a fairly drastic gap in my knowledge there. Given the tyrant and despot he became, responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths on both sides, I'm amazed he was treated so cordially by the allies following his final defeat.

Phoenix was superb as usual, but I was a little disappointed that there were no other 'star names'. That said, the supporting cast were excellent, Kirby in particular. A decent yarn, but not one I envisage revisiting any time soon.

71%
 


herecomesaregular

We're in the pipe, 5 by 5
Oct 27, 2008
4,651
Still in Brighton
Didn't really enjoy the acting in Napoleon, intentionally or not, I found the humour awkward and hammy. Phoenix is an actor I just can't enjoy it seems (I did like his work in Her and that's about it for his filmography). The finale, Waterloo, was well done though. The film is a bit bonkers but then French history is a bit bonkers. I enjoyed Ridley's The Last Duel a lot more (despite a terribly miscast Matt Damon).
 


Is it PotG?

Thrifty non-licker
Feb 20, 2017
25,455
Sussex by the Sea
Enjoyed Flower Moon a lot last evening, the length allowed a 'pause' and top up of red.
I think the good lady wife steals the show, and beautifully shot.
 


Acker79

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Nov 15, 2008
31,921
Brighton
Went to the unlimited screening of Godzilla Minus One this evening. I really enjoyed it. Unlike all the American Godzilla movies, this one told a story that made you care about the human characters. Bit of a stretch to give a particular resolution to part of the story but overall, a good kaiju movie.
 




The Lemming Stomper

Under the flag
Apr 1, 2007
2,741
Saltdean
Went to the unlimited screening of Godzilla Minus One this evening. I really enjoyed it. Unlike all the American Godzilla movies, this one told a story that made you care about the human characters. Bit of a stretch to give a particular resolution to part of the story but overall, a good kaiju movie.
Saw this today and think it's brilliant...

Film of the year for me
 


Uncle Spielberg

Well-known member
Jul 6, 2003
43,094
Lancing
Final cinema scores in 2023

The Fabelmans 92 out of 100
Barbie 88 out of 100
The Great Escaper 86 out of 100
Indiana Jones and the dial of destiny 83 out of 100
The Little Mermaid 82 out of 100
The unlikely pilgramage of Harold Fry - 78 out of 100

ET The Extraterrestrial 40th annivery - 99 out of 100
 


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