Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 8568 Location: Heart and mind at Headingley, body anywhere else in the world
I Don´t Feel At Home In This World Anymore
This is a Netflix offering from 2017 which had passed me by but was suggested on one of my social media feeds as a hidden gem. So I went into it without any pre-judgement on what it was about or whether I´d like it.
It is a bit bonkers, a very dark comedy (almost black), but I´d agree that it is a hidden gem. It tells the story of a nurse who arrives home one evening to find her home burgled and sets about recovering her stolen items with the help of a neighbourhood acquaintance. It demonstrates that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. Plenty of laughs if you are in the right mood, and plenty of Wow moments. Enjoyable 90 minutes with plenty of gore and totally bonkers.
This is a Netflix offering from 2017 which had passed me by but was suggested on one of my social media feeds as a hidden gem. So I went into it without any pre-judgement on what it was about or whether I´d like it.
It is a bit bonkers, a very dark comedy (almost black), but I´d agree that it is a hidden gem. It tells the story of a nurse who arrives home one evening to find her home burgled and sets about recovering her stolen items with the help of a neighbourhood acquaintance. It demonstrates that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. Plenty of laughs if you are in the right mood, and plenty of Wow moments. Enjoyable 90 minutes with plenty of gore and totally bonkers.
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 8568 Location: Heart and mind at Headingley, body anywhere else in the world
A Man Called Otto
I loved this but it is almost too crushingly sad. I´ve a soft spot for Tom Hanks and usually love anything he´s in (Sleepless in Seattle an exception), and he doesn´t disappoint as a grumpy old man in a ´Scrooge for 2022´ film where a kindly family who move in as neighbours seek to rehabilitate him.
As the two hours unfold we learn more about Otto and the reason behind his sadness and rather than think of him as the cold fish we originally saw we come to love him and more importantly understand him.
A lovely watch but prepare yourself for some watering of the eyes.
I loved this but it is almost too crushingly sad. I´ve a soft spot for Tom Hanks and usually love anything he´s in (Sleepless in Seattle an exception), and he doesn´t disappoint as a grumpy old man in a ´Scrooge for 2022´ film where a kindly family who move in as neighbours seek to rehabilitate him.
As the two hours unfold we learn more about Otto and the reason behind his sadness and rather than think of him as the cold fish we originally saw we come to love him and more importantly understand him.
A lovely watch but prepare yourself for some watering of the eyes.
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 8568 Location: Heart and mind at Headingley, body anywhere else in the world
missing
This is not my usual type of film but it had some good reviews so I thought that I would give it ago. Almost the whole thing is played out on a computer screen using all the social media tools and VOIP communication devices available and is well crafted and executed and keeps you gripped from turn to turn.
The time flies by and despite a cruddy five minutes close to the end it is an excellent roller-coaster ride of a film which will appeal to anyone with an interest in modern technology. Pretty well acted, reasonably scripted. Well worth a watch.
This is not my usual type of film but it had some good reviews so I thought that I would give it ago. Almost the whole thing is played out on a computer screen using all the social media tools and VOIP communication devices available and is well crafted and executed and keeps you gripped from turn to turn.
The time flies by and despite a cruddy five minutes close to the end it is an excellent roller-coaster ride of a film which will appeal to anyone with an interest in modern technology. Pretty well acted, reasonably scripted. Well worth a watch.
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 8568 Location: Heart and mind at Headingley, body anywhere else in the world
Fury
I´ve been unwell with a bit of flu so caught up on a couple of oldies during moments of lucidity. I´d missed this Brad Pitt vehicle at the time of release although I think I might have made a start on it at some point and given up.
This time I was in the right frame of mind and enjoyed it, despite it being a bloody, hard hitting, unpleasant and uncompromising war film. Some cover your eyes moments but well acted and with a good cast.
I´ve been unwell with a bit of flu so caught up on a couple of oldies during moments of lucidity. I´d missed this Brad Pitt vehicle at the time of release although I think I might have made a start on it at some point and given up.
This time I was in the right frame of mind and enjoyed it, despite it being a bloody, hard hitting, unpleasant and uncompromising war film. Some cover your eyes moments but well acted and with a good cast.
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 8568 Location: Heart and mind at Headingley, body anywhere else in the world
Triple Frontier
Another flu film, watched in two parts as I was too tried to finish it first time. I enjoyed the first half but the second half was a little too predictable. Great cast who I should have enjoyed watching more.
A tale of a group of mercenaries who plot to steal a drug barons fortune and disappear with the loot but it sets off a number on unintended consequences. Could have been so much better.
Another flu film, watched in two parts as I was too tried to finish it first time. I enjoyed the first half but the second half was a little too predictable. Great cast who I should have enjoyed watching more.
A tale of a group of mercenaries who plot to steal a drug barons fortune and disappear with the loot but it sets off a number on unintended consequences. Could have been so much better.
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 8568 Location: Heart and mind at Headingley, body anywhere else in the world
Boston Strangler
Two female journalists break the story of the Boston Strangler whose reign of terror spanned three years from 1963. They doggedly chase the story, uncovering new leads and exposing police incompetence as they go.
A terrific vehicle for Keira Knightley who proves that she is an accomplished actress who can eat up these serious roles and deliver a excellent performance. She has definitely improved with age. A great period piece full of misogyny and prejudice with a kick-ass lead.
Two female journalists break the story of the Boston Strangler whose reign of terror spanned three years from 1963. They doggedly chase the story, uncovering new leads and exposing police incompetence as they go.
A terrific vehicle for Keira Knightley who proves that she is an accomplished actress who can eat up these serious roles and deliver a excellent performance. She has definitely improved with age. A great period piece full of misogyny and prejudice with a kick-ass lead.
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 8568 Location: Heart and mind at Headingley, body anywhere else in the world
Living
What a curious little film, not sure how it got made but quite glad it did. It is a vehicle for Bill Nighy which got his Oscar nominated for Best Actor and it was a role seemingly written for him as a run of the mill 1950´s post-war council worker who gets an unexpected diagnosis and looks to ´live a little´.
Well acted costume drama which gives an interesting insight into a period of time about which little is written or made, just after a horrendous war and the austerity it brought, and just before the UK kicked off its shoes for the swinging sixties. A very peculiar moment in time brilliantly captured.
What a curious little film, not sure how it got made but quite glad it did. It is a vehicle for Bill Nighy which got his Oscar nominated for Best Actor and it was a role seemingly written for him as a run of the mill 1950´s post-war council worker who gets an unexpected diagnosis and looks to ´live a little´.
Well acted costume drama which gives an interesting insight into a period of time about which little is written or made, just after a horrendous war and the austerity it brought, and just before the UK kicked off its shoes for the swinging sixties. A very peculiar moment in time brilliantly captured.
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 8568 Location: Heart and mind at Headingley, body anywhere else in the world
The Beasts (As Bestas)
I agonised long and hard over whether to watch this study into relationships in a small Galician (Spain) village where a couple of foreigners buy a house to look for the quiet life but antagonise the locals with tragic consequences. Filmed in Castillian, Gallego and French it is an observational piece and is based on a widely documented true story (Santoalla) with a documentary available on YouTube.
I agonised because it is a story based broadly on what my wife and I have done over the last 9 years, without antagonising the locals, in that we moved to a remote(ish) small village as the first non-Spanish to live here and have tried to become part of the local community.
From my perspective it is an uncomfortable watch as I can see so much of ourselves in the two French lead characters; renovating a house, trying something different in a closed community, but not wanting to cause ructions.
It is beautifully filmed, well acted, and so close to some versions of reality in rural Spain.
It´s dark, and on occasions overpowering. Give it a try.
It won 9 Goya´s (including best film) and was nominated for 8 others.
I agonised long and hard over whether to watch this study into relationships in a small Galician (Spain) village where a couple of foreigners buy a house to look for the quiet life but antagonise the locals with tragic consequences. Filmed in Castillian, Gallego and French it is an observational piece and is based on a widely documented true story (Santoalla) with a documentary available on YouTube.
I agonised because it is a story based broadly on what my wife and I have done over the last 9 years, without antagonising the locals, in that we moved to a remote(ish) small village as the first non-Spanish to live here and have tried to become part of the local community.
From my perspective it is an uncomfortable watch as I can see so much of ourselves in the two French lead characters; renovating a house, trying something different in a closed community, but not wanting to cause ructions.
It is beautifully filmed, well acted, and so close to some versions of reality in rural Spain.
It´s dark, and on occasions overpowering. Give it a try.
It won 9 Goya´s (including best film) and was nominated for 8 others.
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 8568 Location: Heart and mind at Headingley, body anywhere else in the world
Luther: The Fallen Sun
Where to start with this!
I loved the BBC Luther series, dark, gritty, well written and brilliantly acted.
This is almost the antithesis, despite Idris Elba´s best efforts to make the best of a dreadful script and the full force of the BBC special effects department. To enjoy it you will need to suspend any rational thought or knowledge of the real world, forget some massive plot holes, ignore continuity errors, and try to forget that this was a cheeky ´test reel´ for Elba´s 007 aspirations.
There are some real howlers in here but the hill I would die on was a high class bar tender offering an 18 Year Old Glenmorangie or a Tullamore Dew as an alternative (the two are definitely not comparable in any way and no respectable barman would mention them in the same breath).
This spoils the memory of the true Luther, quite awful.
I loved the BBC Luther series, dark, gritty, well written and brilliantly acted.
This is almost the antithesis, despite Idris Elba´s best efforts to make the best of a dreadful script and the full force of the BBC special effects department. To enjoy it you will need to suspend any rational thought or knowledge of the real world, forget some massive plot holes, ignore continuity errors, and try to forget that this was a cheeky ´test reel´ for Elba´s 007 aspirations.
There are some real howlers in here but the hill I would die on was a high class bar tender offering an 18 Year Old Glenmorangie or a Tullamore Dew as an alternative (the two are definitely not comparable in any way and no respectable barman would mention them in the same breath).
This spoils the memory of the true Luther, quite awful.
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 8568 Location: Heart and mind at Headingley, body anywhere else in the world
Champions
I went into this one knowing that it was a ´feelgood´film, but a feelgood film starring Woody Harrelson. I have loved Woody Harrelson through a whole host of hit and miss movies, Three Billboards, Triangle of Sadness (see earlier), Hunger games series, True Detective, No Country For Old Men, etc. But this was always going to be a gamble for the ace actor. A feelgood movie where he needed to avoid being too sickly, and unfortunately he didn´t pull it off.
A disgraced basketball coach ends up coaching a team of special needs kids and young adults in a vehicle for the Harrelson character to learn lessons and grow as a human. On paper it has potential but it is just a bit wide of the mark.
Don´t get me wrong, at no point did I consider turning it off, but it was all too predictable and formulaic. It´s not a great addition to Woody´s oeuvre and probably one which he´d rather wasn´t on his CV but it looks like he had a laugh making it, even if the laughs are a little few and far between for the viewer.
I went into this one knowing that it was a ´feelgood´film, but a feelgood film starring Woody Harrelson. I have loved Woody Harrelson through a whole host of hit and miss movies, Three Billboards, Triangle of Sadness (see earlier), Hunger games series, True Detective, No Country For Old Men, etc. But this was always going to be a gamble for the ace actor. A feelgood movie where he needed to avoid being too sickly, and unfortunately he didn´t pull it off.
A disgraced basketball coach ends up coaching a team of special needs kids and young adults in a vehicle for the Harrelson character to learn lessons and grow as a human. On paper it has potential but it is just a bit wide of the mark.
Don´t get me wrong, at no point did I consider turning it off, but it was all too predictable and formulaic. It´s not a great addition to Woody´s oeuvre and probably one which he´d rather wasn´t on his CV but it looks like he had a laugh making it, even if the laughs are a little few and far between for the viewer.
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