Film Club

Quoted from Sandford1981

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
7.5/10

Five long-time friends are invited to the Greek island home of billionaire Miles Bron. All five know Bron from way back and owe their current wealth, fame and careers to him. The main event is a murder weekend game with Bron to be the victim. In reality, they all have reasons to kill him. Also invited is Benoit Blanc, the world's greatest detective.

Let me say this from the outset this is not as good as Knives Out. It has a similarly stellar cast but doesn’t quite live up to the standards of the first film. However, it’s still a fun movie to watch that kept me entertained throughout. There will be more of these and I will look forward to them as I did both of the first 2 movies.

I fully agree with this - it's never going to top a list of great films but it's thoroughly entertaining and well worth a watch

Empire of Light 10/10
Brilliant film made to the backdrop of the early 80s with Two Tone music acting as the antidote to the right wing skinhead racism.
Olivia Colman is simply astonishing in the role of a cinema assistant manager beset by mental health problems. Filmed in Margate.

Quoted from barralad

Empire of Light 10/10
Brilliant film made to the backdrop of the early 80s with Two Tone music acting as the antidote to the right wing skinhead racism.
Olivia Colman is simply astonishing in the role of a cinema assistant manager beset by mental health problems. Filmed in Margate.

Sounds good. Will give it a look.

The Banshees of Inisherin
9/10

Two lifelong friends find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them.

I absolutely adored this film. I’d have trouble selling it to someone in the fact little happens and the films entire plot is about nothing much. But therein lies the beauty, it takes the achingly trivial and mundane and elevates it into this wonderfully acted and crafted film about life. It’s a weird concoction with some brilliant dark humour however, it’s really poignant and touching at times too.
I can imagine this splitting people down the middle  and I’d not be surprised to hear someone say they didn't get it or the fuss and wasn’t keen but I fall on the other side of the fence for sure.
There are some great performances and Farrell will probably get the plaudits and rightly so but, I’d say every performance no matter how big or small was totally on point.
An outstanding bit of film making and Martin McDonagh has done it again.

The Pale Blue Eye
7/10

At West Point Academy in 1830, the calm of an October evening is shattered by the discovery of a young cadet's body swinging from a rope just off the parade grounds. An apparent suicide is not unheard of in a harsh regimen like West Point's, but the next morning, an even greater horror comes to light. Someone has stolen into the room where the body lay and removed the heart.

For the first half an hour I have to admit I found this a little awkward and it grated on me. Gladly I persevered with it and by the end I was happy I did. There is some good acting from an excellent cast and the final act is particularly pleasing.
It won’t be the best film you’ve seen but for me it was worth a watch….in the end!

The Fablemans

The new Steven Spielberg film, based loosely on Spielbergs adolescence and first years as a filmmaker, told through an original story of the fictional Sammy Fabelman, a young aspiring filmmaker who explores how the power of films can help him see the truth about his dysfunctional family and those around him.

As we expect from Spielberg, this is great to look at and all but I did get a bit bored and did think that if it was any other director it would just be a standard American melodrama. 7/10

Surge
7.5/10

Set over 24 hours in London, a man goes on a bold and reckless journey of self-liberation.

At times owing to the way it is filmed this was a dizzying ordeal that was stress inducing. I have been trying to sum it up in my own mind and the best I can do is if Ken Loach did a British version of the Michael Douglas film Falling Down. At times it did feel like I Daniel Blake and Sorry We missed You. Whatever my thoughts I know Ben Whishaw puts in a brilliant performance and it’s worth watching for that alone.

Ant-Man and the Wasp
7.5/10

As Scott Lang balances being both a superhero and a father, Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym present an urgent new mission that finds the Ant-Man fighting alongside The Wasp to uncover secrets from their past.

I used to be a snob about superhero movies barring Batman. But owing to the fact they took over the world and you couldn’t get away from them, I tried them and really enjoyed most of them too. Infinity War and Endgame stand up against most ‘normal’ films in my humble opinion. But alas it then seemed that a day didn’t go by without one being released and it all got a bit much.
I decided to dip back in on this one because I really enjoyed the first and I’m a big fan of Paul Rudd.
I wasn’t disappointed and it had the right mix of humour and action with Michael Pena supporting well. When everything is going BIG this provides a welcome relief and point of difference and the super hero genre is all the better for it.

Still Life on ITV player. 7/10

Watched this because of Eddie Marsan, who's always good.

He plays a quiet loner who works for the borough council in London, arranging the funerals of people who have died with no obvious family or friends to speak of.

He goes the extra mile for his "clients" and tries to give them a dignified send off, often attending the funerals alone.

His boss isn't happy with this and just wants them disposed of as quickly and cheaply as possible, with cremation being his preferred choice.

It's a slow, quiet, poignant type of film with a sad but uplifting ending, and I enjoyed it.

Made a change from my usual fare.

Not sure if it's already mentioned but just watched the British crime thriller film "I Came By."

Apparently the film received mixed reviews but I thought it was very good.