Films

[philipsteak]

11 hours ago, charlierc said:

Oscar nominations 2026: the full list | Film | The Guardian

 

I know the Oscars seem to have lost quite a bit of their shine in recent years but always intriguing to see these. I do kinda see it at this point as a recommendation of films I haven't seen.

 

Although having said that, I have seen the ones with the 2 most nominations (Sinners and One Battle..., both of which are very good). I liked the F1 movie but Best Picture was unexpected. And kinda funny to me as a noted F1 follower who saw a lot of people that watch F1 disliked the movie.

 

Sinners was my film of the year. Although I think it will probably only end up with a couple of wins. Be surprised if it beats One Battle for Picture and Director. A film I didn't love as much as most.

Saw Hamnet last night. A good film with an incredible performance (as usual) from Jessie Buckley. It's the only performance in Best Actress I've seen but I just can't imagine there's one better this year. It would have to be something mind blowing to beat her. I did like Hamnet but I get some of the complaints about it (mostly about how it emotionally manipulates. Especially the final scene which I think was astonishing and absolutely worked for me. I may so have been manipulated but, possibly due to a recent bereavement I was fine with that). I think it's right Paul Mezcal don't get a nod. He's fine but no more than that. Of course that could just be because he was on screen with Jessie Buckley. The kids were excellent too.

 

I'm not an F1 fan but I did watch the film. I thought it was genuinely bad. No idea what the hell it's doing in that list. 

 

Out the films I haven't seen in Best Picture (Begonia, Frankenstein, The Secret Agent and Sentimental Value) I most want to see The Secret Agent.

[philipsteak]

11 hours ago, charlierc said:

 

Take it y'all both think I should pop along to see 28YL:TBT then.

 

It's on my list to go and do, just gotta find the right moment in my schedule. Intrigued as well given the higher classification as an 18 and just general aura from the trailer hint that it's going to be a lot different in vibe to 28 Years Later's portrait of a family in crisis.

 

Absolutely you should. 

Yeah, it fully earns that 18.

[charlierc]

On 23/01/2026 at 07:44, philipsteak said:

 

Absolutely you should. 

Yeah, it fully earns that 18.

I will have to bear it in mind then. I'm not the best with bloody horror shots and I've heard that the "charity" scenes are very brutal.

[clarkete]

Father, it's been about 6 months since my last confession, so there will be a lot of films, almost all at home and far from new - but a couple at the pictures. 

 

Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa classic

1957

 

The Lady from Shanghai by Orson Welles

1948

 

The Smallest Show on Earth rather sweet little film with Peter Sellers about a tiny cinema 1957

 

Monkey Man by Dev Patel, 2024 I do love a good revenge film

 

Police Story 3: Super Cop, 1992 - Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh doing crazy stunts. 

 

Superman, James Gunn, 2025 - enjoyed a lot more than I expected, not least cos of his sidekick. 

 

The Substance - great and crazy stuff

 

The Naked Gun - enjoyed that too

 

The Freshman 1925 Harold Lloyd classic 

 

Officer Black Belt 2024 - Korean martial arts

 

Dark Waters 2019 - Mark Ruffalo is a great tenacious attorney. 

 

Jigarthanda Double X, by Karthik Subbaraj

2023 - a Tamil gangster who wants to be Clint Eastwood 

 

Accountant 2 - more fun than the first one (I see a lot of low brow action) 

 

 

The Fantastic 4: First Steps 2025 - looked ace and great cast

 

Pickup on South Street 1953 Directed by Samuel Fuller - good film noir about a pickpocket 

 

L'Argent, Directed by Robert Bresson, 1983 - classic French film about what happens to an innocent recipient of a counterfeit note - understated spoiler things do not go well. 

 

The Lunchbox Directed by Ritesh Batra, 2013 - great to see a tale of regular Mumbai life - but it's a really fabulous story too with some excellent characters. 

 

Union Station - 1950 - another classic film noir

 

Theatre of Blood 1973 - Vincent Price an actor wanting to take revenge on the critics... I'm sure it will be ok for them 😉

 

 

Bound for Glory Directed by Hal Ashby, 1976 - Woody Guthrie biopic with David Carradine

 

Scarface, Directed by Howard Hawks, 

1932 - enjoyable and surprisingly dark film noir with a great central actor

 

Side Street, tDirected by Anthony Mann

1950 - more classic film noir

 

Veteran 2015 - Korean action film 

 

Three Colours Blue 

Three Colours Red

Three Colours White 

Excellent polish French trilogy 

 

I, the Executioner, 2024 - sequel to veteran above

 

Running Out of Time - Johnnie To - "cancer-suffering criminal out for vengeance on Hong Kong's organized crime Syndicates"

 

L'Atalante, Directed by Jean Vigo, 1934 - seminal French film

 

A House of Dynamite, Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, 2025

 

Weapons - 2025 - wow 

 

One Battle After Another, Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, 2025 - Loved it 

 

Novocaine - 2025 - entertaining action film

 

Mon Oncle, Directed by Jacques Tati, 1958 - still looks great and pretty funny

 

Pit Stop, Directed by Jack Hill, 1969 - street and stock car racing 

 

 

The Shadow's Edge, 2025 - with Jackie Chan

 

Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock, 1943 - mysterious uncle Charlie 

 

The Young Lions, Directed by Edward Dmytryk, 1958 - great film showing 3 soldiers - 2 American and 1 German and where their lives occasionally intertwine

 

Predator: Badlands, Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, 2025 - funny, great action, even some heart 

 

I Was Born, But..., 1932 - Japanese film about two young boys and what they get up to, has some depth as it covers hierarchy

 

Anaconda, 2025 - funny and thankfully a lot better than it's namesake

 

The Old Woman with the Knife, Directed by Min Kyu-dong, 2025 - she's pretty good with it too

 

Zootopia 2 

 

 

[charlierc]

Went to see Hamnet earlier. Quite well put together indeed. Trying a bit hard to be a tearjerker at times, but the central story of a tragedy begetting another tragedy was rather well done. Only fair that Jesse Buckley is getting the cred for it as her performance is the best thing about it.

[-TLR-]

watched some run-of-the-mill Prime "horror" movie over the weekend called Hit & Run about a girl who runs someone over on the way home from a party.

 

absolute pile of crap - but good fun and hugely enjoyable.

 

 

[charlierc]

Just back from seeing Is This Thing On, which was pretty likable.

 

Also watched Office Space for the first time last night. Not sure I found it as laugh-out-loud funny as others, but I was pretty entertained.

[-TLR-]

another couple of crappy Prime "horror" movies over the weekend:

 

Play Or Die - i think this was a french or belgian production or something but with some posh english fella as the lead.

and it was proper shite... drama school project level bad... but actually very enjoyable.

 

The Outwaters - run-of-the-mill crappy found footage film, dont really know why i watched it as i hate found footage films.

but its enjoyable enough, and i have to say, the sections where the main dude is just wandering about aimlessly in the desert covered in blood are actually really very good, definitely creates an excellent creepy atmosphere. very much enjoyed it actually, but will have to give it another go as i fell asleep and missed the end... but the stupid little worm things were proper dumb.

[clarkete]

5 hours ago, -TLR- said:

another couple of crappy Prime "horror" movies over the weekend:

 

Play Or Die - i think this was a french or belgian production or something but with some posh english fella as the lead.

and it was proper shite... drama school project level bad... but actually very enjoyable.

 

The Outwaters - run-of-the-mill crappy found footage film, dont really know why i watched it as i hate found footage films.

but its enjoyable enough, and i have to say, the sections where the main dude is just wandering about aimlessly in the desert covered in blood are actually really very good, definitely creates an excellent creepy atmosphere. very much enjoyed it actually, but will have to give it another go as i fell asleep and missed the end... but the stupid little worm things were proper dumb.

 

I'm intrigued about this TLR characters motivation in this storyline, is he paid per stream by a sinister bald billionaire? 

[charlierc]

Popped out to see 28 Years Later: Bone Temple. A very curious film. Funnier than I thought it would be. Kinda also a bummer when one stops to think of the conclusion (before Cillian Murphy's cameo, that is)

[-TLR-]

right then... what crappy films have we had this weekend...

 

first up: The Void - just think of Hellraiser but if it was made by the Horror Channel and you're pretty much there. typical low budget horror, but it definitely picks up as it goes along and i think they pretty much spent the entire budget on the, actually quite impressive, knock-off Cenobite effects, and overall good fun.

 

another good thing was it stars Kenneth Welsh as the mad doctor, and i have a real fondness for Kenneth Welsh.

i met him at a Twin Peaks festival years ago - he was there as one of the people you have to pay to get their autograph which i'm not into doing, but later in the festival i bumped into him at the bar and he gave me a lot of his time and we had a beer and a lovely chat.

 

then something called Nighbourhood Watch - about a fella with a history of psychiatric problems who "thinks" he sees a kidnapping and tries to get his jaded ex-security neighbour to believe him.. sort of turns into a mismatched-buddy crime caper and is actually pretty entertaining.

 

lastly something called The Wasp, with Natalie Dormer in it - unfortunately i wasn't able to go three for three on entertaining movies this weekend, and this one is just a big pile of sh*t. feels like a TV movie, but with less budget and talent. dreadful in just about every respect.

 

🙂  

[clarkete]

Sabrina 1954 - 25 year old Audrey Hepburn in a film that has some interesting class aspects but some aspects of the romance have not aged well. 

 

8 1/2 - Fellini classic from 1963, quite a weird watch due to the non-linear and surreal nature of some. 

 

The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan (2023) - great swashbuckling and looks great. 

 

The Final Girls (2015)

 

The Taste of Things (2023) Juliette Binoche film on the beeb on valentines, people generally being kind to one another and incredible grub with a love story in the centre. 

 

The Toxic Avenger  (2025) - reboot of the old Troma film, pretty funny and entertaining. 

 

[steviewevie]

RIP

[steviewevie]

 

[-TLR-]

based on some YouTube list of "best movie mysteries of all time", I watched The Invitation (2015)

 

watching this reminded me as to why you should pay no notice of what a YouTube list tells you.

 

just another Prime pile of shite.

 

I'm all for a good slowburn story, but when the payoff is as dumb and predictable and... well, just plain dumb as this... 

 

 

 

also watched I know What You Did Last Summer (2025)

 

yes it was rubbish, yes it was utterly pointless... but what the hell, I enjoyed it.

 

😀

[clarkete]

Running Man (2025) - I liked it, good action and plenty of laughs, to be honest as I've found with pretty much everything by Edgar Wright. 

 

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (2025) - I couldn't put it better than the observer "This is a poetic and strikingly beautiful work: it looks like a shimmering watercolour painting. It combines moments of playful, droll humour with darker themes, such as bereavement, grief and the still-fresh scars of the second world war." 

 

8 Million Ways to Die (1986) - caught it on a late night freeview channel and hadn't seen it before, it's directed by Hall Ashby who's done some cracking films, it's got Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette and Andy Garcia and was pretty good. 

 

My Dinner with Andre 1981) - Two old friends meet for dinner and have a long conversation about their different experiences, so think it's an acquired taste. 

 

Fantastic Planet (1973) (animated) - "On the planet Ygam, the Draags, extremely technologically and spiritually advanced blue humanoids, consider the tiny Oms, human beings descendants of Terra's inhabitants, as ignorant animals. Those who live in slavery are treated as simple pets and used to entertain Draag children; those who live hidden in the hostile wilderness of the planet are periodically hunted and ruthlessly slaughtered as if they were vermin."

[pink_triangle]

Have watched a few films recently so good place to discuss.

 

Watched all the scream films in anticipation for scream 7. Of the first six 1, 2 and 4 top tier , 5 and 6 middle and 3 bottom . Unfortunately add 7 to the bottom tier. Not terrible but boring characters and predictable ghostface.

 

Anora - Watched mainly because Amber from scream was in. I think I had been put off by all the Oscar hype and thought it would be style over content. Completely wrong and great performance by the lead.

 

Naked gun (2025) 90 minutes of funny slapstick. Good tribute to the original and type of film we are missing these days.

 

House of dynamite - I guess based on the subject matter it’s not surprising but I found this a hard watch!

[philipsteak]

8 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

Have watched a few films recently so good place to discuss.

 

Watched all the scream films in anticipation for scream 7. Of the first six 1, 2 and 4 top tier , 5 and 6 middle and 3 bottom . Unfortunately add 7 to the bottom tier. Not terrible but boring characters and predictable ghostface.

 

Anora - Watched mainly because Amber from scream was in. I think I had been put off by all the Oscar hype and thought it would be style over content. Completely wrong and great performance by the lead.

 

Naked gun (2025) 90 minutes of funny slapstick. Good tribute to the original and type of film we are missing these days.

 

House of dynamite - I guess based on the subject matter it’s not surprising but I found this a hard watch!

 

Understandable but it is brilliant though.

[pink_triangle]

37 minutes ago, philipsteak said:

 

Understandable but it is brilliant though.

I just feel I want films to be an escape. I grew up with 90s early 2000s blockbusters that would always play out very differently!

[charlierc]

On 28/02/2026 at 21:43, clarkete said:

Running Man (2025) - I liked it, good action and plenty of laughs, to be honest as I've found with pretty much everything by Edgar Wright. 

I said this earlier in the thread but I'm curious. Were you like me in thinking that the product placement was excessive and distracting?

 

I agree it was a decent enough action flick with some decent lines but between the ads for Shake Shack, Liquid Death, Monster, Puma, Funyuns, Alpine and goodness knows what else, it did get distracting and there is a sense that when you focus on what's paying for the film as much as the film itself, it can be a sign you've let your mind wander too much.

[-TLR-]

watched Possession (1981) over the weekend.

 

i've wanted to watch this for some time, found myself at a loose end on saturday so thought i'd give it a whirl.

 

honestly - i have no idea if i liked it or not. i think i did?

 

i really only knew one thing about it going in, and that was the "subway" scene. 

 

don't really know how to describe it...  batshit crazy maybe???

 

anyways, two days later and i'm still thinking about - which is much better than than watching something and straight up thinking oh that was sh*t or whatever.

 

so really, i guess that does mean that i liked it.

 

🙂

 

[-TLR-]

sorry - it wont let me edit the comment, but just to add to the above:

 

just to add to that, i did find the setting and locations fascinating - it was shot in West Berlin in 1980, with major locations right next to the wall.

 

🙂 

[philipsteak]

For the first time in a good while I've seen all the Best Picture nominees.

 

Sinners is still my pick. Brilliant film but also a lot of fun too.

 

One Battle after Another just didn't land for me. I do wonder if I give it another try I'll see it differently. It was fine, had some good parts but I just didn't get the hype (I appreciate a lot of people are saying the same thing about Sinners though)

 

Marty Supreme. Really enjoyed this one. Odd film, little bit of a mess in way but a good mess and brilliant performances especially Chalamet

 

The Secret Agent. Unfortunately I was very tired when I watched this and it really isn't a film to watch tired. I think it's probably brilliant but I need to give it another go to be sure. 

 

Hamnet. Jessie Buckley is astonishing and has to be a lock for best actress but the film itself was good but not great. It REALLY REALLY wanted me to cry and by God it was going to get those tears out of me whatever it took (it didn't though. Ha, I showed it)

 

Sentimental Value. Amazing performances all round especially the lead and her sister. Incredible final scene. Prompted me to finally get round to watch his last film, The Worst Person in the World. Equally great performances (a lot of the same cast, including the lead)

 

Train Dreams. Lovely little film, never gonna win

 

Bugonia. Lot of fun, far from Lanthimos'  best. Probably his most accessible though

 

Frankenstein. Looks great, enjoyable enough. Proper scenery chewing gothic nonsense. Far from del Toro's best.

 

F1. Absolute tosh. Annoyingly bad. No idea what it's doing here. 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 12 by philipsteak

[ian the worm]

On 12/03/2026 at 22:10, philipsteak said:

 

Hamnet. Jessie Buckley is astonishing and has to be a lock for best actress but the film itself was good but not great. It REALLY REALLY wanted me to cry and by God it was going to get those tears out of me whatever it took (it didn't though. Ha, I showed it)

 

I cried. A lot. And enjoyed it. 

[steviewevie]

F1 for the win.