Film Club

Fisherman’s Friend 7/10
Fisherman’s Friend: One and All 6/10

A fast living, cynical London music executive heads to a remote Cornish village on a stag weekend where he's pranked by his boss into trying to sign a group of shanty singing fishermen. He becomes the ultimate "fish out of water" as he struggles to gain the respect or enthusiasm of the unlikely boy band and their families who value friendship and community over fame and fortune. As he's drawn deeper into the traditional way of life he's forced to reevaluate his own integrity and ultimately question what success really means.

The first film is better than the second but overall we enjoyed both. We watch this type of film on a Sunday evening and we watched them on consecutive Sundays. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before and is gentle and easy to watch but entertaining nonetheless. A lot of the music is catchy and some have found their way on to my playlists. I enjoyed the various references to Grimsby in the second too. It has a stellar British cast who looked like they enjoyed making every minute. They were a good accompaniment to see out the weekends with.

Born 2 Race
Don't like cars? 3/10, avoid
Do like cars? 6.5/10, worthy of a watch

This is one of those reckless teen coming-of-age whilst re-engaging a relationship with his estranged father type films, but its also got a healthy does of fast&the furious welded on to make it a little different to the usual.

It's got a certain charm to it that a few straight to DVD films tend to have.  The characters are actually well acted and fleshed out - even if they are a collection of stereotypes.  If you too rolled a Corsa (complete with loud exhaust and Maxx power stickers) on the A16 in your youth this will be an enjoyable hour and 20 minutes on a Sunday afternoon

Fences
8/10

Troy Maxson makes his living as a sanitation worker in 1950s Pittsburgh. Maxson once dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player, but was deemed too old when the major leagues began admitting black athletes. Bitter over his missed opportunity, Troy creates further tension in his family when he squashes his son's chance to meet a college football recruiter.

Denzel Washington is an absolutely outstanding actor and right up there with my favourites of all time. I don’t know why it took me this long to watch Fences but I’m glad I got round to it. I don’t think this will be for everyone but the craft on display is undoubtedly top drawer with Viola David matching Denzel every step of the way. It took me 20 minutes to acclimatise to the film and I think it’s obvious this is a film adaptation of a stage play but it’s an excellent one.

Quoted from Sandford1981

Fences
8/10

Troy Maxson makes his living as a sanitation worker in 1950s Pittsburgh. Maxson once dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player, but was deemed too old when the major leagues began admitting black athletes. Bitter over his missed opportunity, Troy creates further tension in his family when he squashes his son's chance to meet a college football recruiter.

Denzel Washington is an absolutely outstanding actor and right up there with my favourites of all time. I don’t know why it took me this long to watch Fences but I’m glad I got round to it. I don’t think this will be for everyone but the craft on display is undoubtedly top drawer with Viola David matching Denzel every step of the way. It took me 20 minutes to acclimatise to the film and I think it’s obvious this is a film adaptation of a stage play but it’s an excellent one.

Agree. Excellent film.

Quoted from smokey111

Agree. Excellent film.

Have you seen Moonlight?

Herself
8/10

A young mother escapes her abusive husband and fights back against a broken housing system. She sets out to build her own home and in the process rebuilds her life and re-discovers herself.

This very much reminded me of a film version of the excellent tv series Maid. The lead actress is one of the main protagonists in Kin and she is equally impressive in this role as she is as Amanda Kinsella in that.
Hard to watch at times, especially the parts in which the children witness the devastating consequences of domestic abuse.
But it has many redeeming features too, not least the group of friends that are formed along the way which leads to a surprising end.
An under the radar gem in my opinion and we thought it was a good watch.

Quoted from Sandford1981

Have you seen Moonlight?

No. Worth a watch?

Quoted from smokey111

No. Worth a watch?

My association is purely because they were out at similar times and were up for many of the same awards. It also took me ages to get round to Moonlight too but I was happy once I’d seen it. An excellent film!

Looper
9/10

In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent into the past, where a hired gun awaits - someone like Joe - who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by sending back Joe's future self for assassination.

As I have mentioned before I wouldn’t class myself as a Sci-Fi fan, in fact in general I tend to avoid films of that nature. It’s taken me years to watch this and I have it recorded it many times only to delete it on each occasion too.

I thought this was an outstanding piece of film making, it watches like a noir film or certainly felt that way to me. It’s very stylish but doesn’t lack for substance either.

It has a brilliant cast and although it’s not perfect at about 2 hours the movie just flew by. If you haven’t seen this yourself I would recommend going out your way to see it. I’m glad I did!

The Boondock Saints
5.5/10

After Irish-American brothers Connor McManus (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy MacManus (Norman Reedus) cheat death with the Russian mob a day after St. Patrick's Day, the two decide to voluntarily stay overnight at a police station, where they receive what appears to be a message from God to rid Boston of all evil.

I put this on the watchlist after listening to Billy Connolly’s autobiography and he’s the best thing in it and he’s hardly on screen or says anything. It’s not the worst film I’ve ever seen and I can imagine my younger self enjoying it of a Sunday evening  after a few jars down the pub but it’s not the best. There is a second which I shall not be bothering with and I’d recommend to all not to bother with this either. It’s