What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

Saw another batch of Bong Joon Ho movies recently.

Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000) - his first movie. This is an absolute classic, funny, original and one of those films that is like no other. One of those films that improves in the memory as the days pass after watching it. 9/10

Memories of Murder (2003) - his second movie. An enjoyable film about a group of policemen trying to catch a serial killer. People who like Zodiac (2007) will probably like this as well. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Zodiac (the film) was inspired by Memories of Murder. I didn't really like Zodiac for the same reasons I didn't really like Memories of Murder, even though in both cases I enjoyed many aspects of the film. 7/10

Having already seen Parasite (2019) and The Host (2006), this just leaves Mother (2009) and Okja (2017) to see at some point.
 
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David Cronenberg is usually worth a watch.

Yeah, I only just now realized that Viggo played quite a few of his movies, that I enjoyed. I particularly remember liking History of Violence and Eastern Promises.

Also, I was in a time wasting kind of mood, so I started a random Netflix movie, that could be promising, based on the director, Guy Ritchie. It's called Wrath of Man, from 2021. And man, what a letdown. I only saw around half of it, and you could not find a more generic action movie, especially for 2021. How the mighty have fallen.
 
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The remake of Stephen King's Firestarter looks good.
Hey, cool.
Coincidentally, my wife is just reading the book of this (she's going through a King phase, and it's one in a pile that I handed to her), and we've been talking about looking for* the 80s one with Drew Barrymore in it.
I don't think it's well thought of, but I have fond memories of going to see it on the big screen when I was 12 or so. I think it was a R13 or 15 over here, so we lied about our age.

So, if I can't "find" that, there's always this.


(*arrhh ahoy me hearties)
 
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Recently watch the new Batman movie - and I really liked it.

Unfortunately, I think it sort of stumbles towards the end - and it's just too long.

But it's absolutely beautiful and a masterpiece in terms of aesthetics. One of the very, very few movies I've seen that rivals the best of Ridley Scott in that particular way.

Same goes for the soundtrack - which is amazing.
 
Yeah, while I did enjoy the newest Batman flick, for the most part, it could have done with some additional editing. And oh yes, the soundtrack is second to none, they could have just put "Something in the Way" on a continuous loop and I would have been happy with that too. -p

When you actually make Wayne/Batman a detective, you'll win me over every time. Because, at the core, that's who he is.
 
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I suspect this will be Cronenberg's last film. He is old now, and I would guess he would like to end his career with a remake of his first one.

It is not a remake of the original film. It only has the same name - weird I know!!!

He already has another 2 movies planned with 1 already in preproduction :)
 
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It is not a remake of the original film. It only has the same name - weird I know!!!

He already has another 2 movies planned with 1 already in preproduction :)
Wow. Power to him, that's optimistic! I hope Brandon is willing to finish anything he cannot.
 
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Yeah, while I did enjoy the newest Batman flick, for the most part, it could have done with some additional editing. And oh yes, the soundtrack is second to none, they could have just put "Something in the Way" on a continuous loop and I would have been happy with that too. -p

When you actually make Wayne/Batman a detective, you'll win me over every time. Because, at the core, that's who he is.

Yeah, that particular song was used very well in the film.

I can't say I'm a huge fan of Batman - though I think he's probably my favorite "superhero" - though I guess he's not quite that.

I enjoy a good detective story, and I think it was handled well in the film.

That said, I personally prefer less "gritty grimdark reality" and more "theater of fantasy" when it comes to Batman and Gotham.

I don't think it's been done quite like I would want it yet, but it would probably be closer to Burton's version than these recent takes.

But, at the heart of any good story, lies compelling human drama - and I think it was done well here, too.

I was much more invested than in the Nolan films - which are way too "cold and clean" in terms of atmosphere for my tastes. They're more like Bond with less humor than Batman - and they're too binary with the moralizing for me.

Batman Begins was good, though - even if I'm definitely not a fan of Bale's Batman.
 
We stuck on a random film tonight, lads night in kind of movie, Tom Selleck stars as the grizzled American Civil War mustang cowboy who's just tryin' to live a normal life but people keep'a'shootin' at him kinda thing.

It was called, oh shit, I've forgotten already, wait a mo, ah yes, Last Stand At Saber River.

I assumed it was an 80s thing due to it starring Tom Selleck and David Carradine. But then the opening credits rolled and a name popped up onto the screen, quite high up in the credits: Haley Joel Osment.

What? He'd have to be in minus years for this to be an 80s film, oh wow, it must be a 90s film then. Then this tiny little boy shows up playing Selleck's son and he's instantly recognisable. Oh wow, so this is pre-Sixth Sense Haley.

So I check out IMDB. Jeez, he was in a LOT of stuff in the 90s before he became famous, if you consider that he didn't become famous playing Forest Junior in Forrest Gump.

He'd already been in 10 movies before Sixth Sense. Admittedly, six of them were TV movies, including this one, but that's still quite amazing. No wonder he was already good by the time of Sixth Sense, he was already a seasoned pro by then.

Last Stand At Saber River sits at the halfway point between Gump and Sixth Sense and he's pretty good in this, and it was a pretty decent TV movie, if you like routine westerny type films.

And there ya go, you think you're watching some old random filler content and you end up ticking of a hollywood legend's back catalogue from your bucket list. Most unexpected and, wow, how awesome that is.
 
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Tried watching The Northman - which I'd been looking forward to as a fan of The Witch (less so The Lighthouse) - but I didn't care for it, and had to skip it.

The battle scenes were unconvincing and way too choreographed for my tastes - and the whole thing didn't seem to push what it was actually trying to push.

The uncharismatic lead did have a very impressive physical appearance, though.

I think I might actually prefer the Refn version of much the same concept.

Certainly, Conan is the superior edition - or the Gibson Hamlet movie from back in the day.
 
I'm re-watching a film that I've not seen in probably thirty years or more, Once Upon a Time in America. I think it's going to take me maybe a week to watch it as it's near to four hours in length. Thirty minutes seen so far and feeling all the old vibes and such!
 
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The Innocents

A Norwegian drama/horror about a group of young kids in an apartment complex that discover they have some interesting abilities.

I liked it. I didn't find it as disturbing as some articles claim it is, but there's definitely some uncomfortable scenes. It's got an A24-ish feel about it, and if you like that vibe, you'll probably find this worth checking out.
 
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