Films

[clarkete]

19 minutes ago, philipsteak said:

Really looking forward to The Ballad of Wallis Island. My local cinema doesn't get it until next week so should get chance then

 

My local is sadly another month or so after that, but I think it's pretty much volunteers /not for profit.  Nearest after that just converting to a lidl now, but it was never very popular tbh

[philipsteak]

1 minute ago, clarkete said:

 

My local is sadly another month or so after that, but I think it's pretty much volunteers /not for profit.  Nearest after that just converting to a lidl now, but it was never very popular tbh

 

Mine isn't quite that level but it definitely seems like a bit of a labour of love for the owners. Haven't lived here long but I do go reasonably often and there's been too many times it's been me/me and a mate and one or two others. It's a real community asset though. Hopefully it's packed out with tourists on the normally frequent rainy days (Keswick) and it's just been so quiet since I've been here because of the great weather.

They hosted a lovely event there last month. One of their staff is a budding film maker so they let him use the cinema to shoot a short film. They then held the Premier of it alongside some other local shorts and a Q&A. It was a full house. Obviously a lot of friends and family of the filmmakers but there were plenty of people with no connection (like me) who just went along to support.

[clarkete]

Just now, philipsteak said:

 

Mine isn't quite that level but it definitely seems like a bit of a labour of love for the owners. Haven't lived here long but I do go reasonably often and there's been too many times it's been me/me and a mate and one or two others. It's a real community asset though. Hopefully it's packed out with tourists on the normally frequent rainy days (Keswick) and it's just been so quiet since I've been here because of the great weather.

They hosted a lovely event there last month. One of their staff is a budding film maker so they let him use the cinema to shoot a short film. They then held the Premier of it alongside some other local shorts and a Q&A. It was a full house. Obviously a lot of friends and family of the filmmakers but there were plenty of people with no connection (like me) who just went along to support.

 

You are a good and loyal customer tbh I'm a hypocrite and I've been using my old 1080p projector a bit more, that I bought 15 to 20 years ago - sound via a pair of monitors I bought for 40 quid second hand 😊

[clarkete]

Fascinating documentary link shared by @Sawdusty surfer 

 

Edited June 1, 2025 by clarkete

[philipsteak]

1 hour ago, clarkete said:

 

You are a good and loyal customer tbh I'm a hypocrite and I've been using my old 1080p projector a bit more, that I bought 15 to 20 years ago - sound via a pair of monitors I bought for 40 quid second hand 😊

Feels like a bit more of an event going to the cinema. 

Plus it stops me picking my phone up. 

[clarkete]

2 hours ago, philipsteak said:

Feels like a bit more of an event going to the cinema. 

Plus it stops me picking my phone up. 

 

Very much, plus even with a projector the screen at the cinema is so much bigger. 

 

 

[charlierc]

8 hours ago, philipsteak said:

Agreed on Mission Impossible. The opening scenes just went on forever, mostly characters telling Ethan Hunt/Tom Cruise how amazingly incredibly awesome and important he is. Was fine once it eventually got going.

 

I think between when they leave London and when they start the submarine stuff, it needed one extra big stunt. Fallout and Dead Reckoning were non-stop action crazy things, but this felt like it veered too far into the plot and essentially making Ethan Hunt into some kind of God-like figure who was the chosen one to prevent Armageddon.

 

Either that or more Tramell Tillman. He was great in Severance and was pretty good in this role. Hannah Waddingham and Nick Offerman just kinda felt wasted in generic "stone-faced army type" roles.

[philipsteak]

Just got back from The Ballad of Wallis Island.

I'm a bib Tim Key fan, like Tom Basden and have been looking forward to this for ages. 

It's brilliant. 

As funny and weird as you'd expect but also genuinely moving and warm. The music is actually pretty good too. Carey Mulligan is as good as you'd expect but maybe doesn't have loads to do but then I think the focus is deliberately on Tom and Tim and it's their film. And they are really good in it too. 

Also nice to see a full screening. Ok, it was the smallest screen but I've regularly been one of only a handful of people in there

[philipsteak]

Went to 28 Years Later last night. 

Much weirder than I was expecting. In a good way. 

Then that ending. f**k me. Absolutely bat sh*t. Came out of the cinema feeling like I had whiplash. Again, in a good way. I think. Bonkers.

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, philipsteak said:

Went to 28 Years Later last night. 

Much weirder than I was expecting. In a good way. 

Then that ending. f**k me. Absolutely bat sh*t. Came out of the cinema feeling like I had whiplash. Again, in a good way. I think. Bonkers.

I have had the ending spoiled and I'm aware it's dividing opinion. There's a lot of people out there who have kinda taken against it and a few who think it does work despite it's strangeness.

 

Perhaps the only way I can truly judge is to see it for myself.

[philipsteak]

10 minutes ago, charlierc said:

I have had the ending spoiled and I'm aware it's dividing opinion. There's a lot of people out there who have kinda taken against it and a few who think it does work despite it's strangeness.

 

Perhaps the only way I can truly judge is to see it for myself.

 

I knew it was mad but didn't know how/why. 

Not 100% sure it fully works but I enjoyed it. 

You could've given me a billion guesses and I wouldn't have come up with that.

[philipsteak]

Also Ralph Fiennes is superb.

[charlierc]

11 minutes ago, philipsteak said:

Also Ralph Fiennes is superb.

Feels like that goes without saying. He's usually great value in things that he does.

[philipsteak]

3 hours ago, charlierc said:

Feels like that goes without saying. He's usually great value in things that he does.

 

Oh yeah even when he's by his standards phoning it in he's still better than most. This is a really interesting portrayal of a really interesting character

[charlierc]

Made a trip to go see the F1 movie. As somebody that tries to watch every race and is on board with the meme culture, I was curious how I'd find it

 

I was impressed with how it looked. Looked cool and got the vibe right. Plot was a fairly standard sports movie kinda operation and there were a lot of elements that did make me laugh due to them being unsportsmanlike, unrealistic or both

 

Could've been shorter but I'm content with it. Was expecting something worse when I first heard about the idea

[Ryan1984]

I really enjoyed 28 Years Later (including the ending) despite the mixed reviews.

 

Something I’ve noticed about the reviews is a lot mention the first half being stronger. Wonder if that’s because there’s a change in who we follow?

[steviewevie]

...and after all the hype...Superman is sh*t.

[charlierc]

Jurassic World Rebirth was what I went to see on Tuesday night. On the plus side, it's better than the dreadful Dominion and it was a very nice looking film. But man so many of the characters were just stupid that it was hard to get over that.

 

Also, I'm aware a central tenet of the franchise is chaos theory and how things unexpectedly go wrong. But there's a scene very early on where, to use rock-paper-scissors logic, chocolate bar wrapper beats hi-tech dinosaur research lab. Which - lol

[charlierc]

On 08/07/2025 at 20:48, steviewevie said:

...and after all the hype...Superman is sh*t.

What reviews are you citing? They seem mostly positive judging by Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes 

 

Having said that, somebody pointed out on Reddit that many of the more negative reviews came from British critics. Which is kinda funny. 

[charlierc]

On 08/07/2025 at 20:48, steviewevie said:

...and after all the hype...Superman is sh*t.

Went to see it last night. Not my review at all. I thought it was quite charming in its own way. Not really a game changer but was quite entertaining enough.

Edited July 15, 2025 by charlierc

[philipsteak]

On 08/07/2025 at 20:48, steviewevie said:

...and after all the hype...Superman is sh*t.

 

Wouldn't say so. 

 

It's a bit all over the place, both tonally and story wise, but it's quite a lot of fun, looks great and it's surprisingly weird at times. And I won't say who cos I don't know what's a spoiler and what isn't but the cameo at the end promises good things as well as potentially more weirdness.

 

Not enough Wendall Peirce though

[steviewevie]

Come on... it's sh*t.

 

KPop Demon Hunters, now that's a film.

Edited July 19, 2025 by steviewevie

[steviewevie]

Watched The Remarkable Life of Ibelin on netflix last night after hearing an interview with the director on Cerys Mathews' 6music show. Strong recommend, very moving.

[charlierc]

On 19/07/2025 at 09:15, steviewevie said:

Come on... it's sh*t.

 

If I felt it was sh*t, I would've called sh*t.

[philipsteak]

3 hours ago, steviewevie said:

Watched The Remarkable Life of Ibelin on netflix last night after hearing an interview with the director on Cerys Mathews' 6music show. Strong recommend, very moving.

 

Yep, excellent film