Rate The Last Film You Watched

I saw the British film 1917 today. The cinematography was simply outstanding as well as the acting. My vote for the best actor is for Mark Strong as Capt. Smith who portrayed the ideal subaltern. The plot has one huge "hole" in it: why didn't they just drop a "weighted" message streamer from the Allied planes who were flying in the area? :rolleyes: As well, the shooting scenes screamed utter incompetence and ignorance on behalf of the maker(s). Germans firing Mauser rifles from the hip? :rolleyes: Also, Lance Corporal Schofield "standing & delivering" unaimed rifle fire that miraculously hits its target barricaded a great distance away. Never mind that he would have been shot down like a dog in reality. Of course, no one in the UK today hardly owns a weapon let alone shoots one, so.................... Note to director: get some real men who know how to maneuver & shoot in combat to proofread the script and not some milquetoast whose only experience is video in his parents' basement. :rolleyes:

Another objection was the modernization of grammar in today's movies regarding curse words. The part where Colonel MacKenzie (B. Cumberbatch) tells an enlisted man to "fu%$ off" is simply unbelievable as well as over the top (no pun intended) for the period. :rolleyes: Piss poor historical research, but that's typical for movies nowadays.

Nonetheless, I recommend it as it IS more palatable than movies with "flying" Chinese warriors or mutants with super powers.
 
I saw the British film 1917 today. The cinematography was simply outstanding as well as the acting. My vote for the best actor is for Mark Strong as Capt. Smith who portrayed the ideal subaltern. The plot has one huge "hole" in it: why didn't they just drop a "weighted" message streamer from the Allied planes who were flying in the area? :rolleyes: As well, the shooting scenes screamed utter incompetence and ignorance on behalf of the maker(s). Germans firing Mauser rifles from the hip? :rolleyes: Also, Lance Corporal Schofield "standing & delivering" unaimed rifle fire that miraculously hits its target barricaded a great distance away. Never mind that he would have been shot down like a dog in reality. Of course, no one in the UK today hardly owns a weapon let alone shoots one, so.................... Note to director: get some real men who know how to maneuver & shoot in combat to proofread the script and not some milquetoast whose only experience is video in his parents' basement. :rolleyes:

Another objection was the modernization of grammar in today's movies regarding curse words. The part where Colonel MacKenzie (B. Cumberbatch) tells an enlisted man to "fu%$ off" is simply unbelievable as well as over the top (no pun intended) for the period. :rolleyes: Piss poor historical research, but that's typical for movies nowadays.

Nonetheless, I recommend it as it IS more palatable than movies with "flying" Chinese warriors or mutants with super powers.

Roger Deakins is a legend of DoP's

Watch this if you haven't already
 
Roger Deakins is a legend of DoP's

Watch this if you haven't already

I saw that when it came out and had the DVD. It is the most authentic and historically accurate Western made as well as Brad Pitt's greatest role. It bombed at the box office as it had no.................................."flying" Chinese warriors or mutants with super powers. ;)
 
I saw that when it came out and had the DVD. It is the most authentic and historically accurate Western made as well as Brad Pitt's greatest role. It bombed at the box office as it had no.................................."flying" Chinese warriors or mutants with super powers. ;)

IMO, it's criminal Andrew Dominik has only made 1 proper film since then. In addition to Brad Pitt, the supporting cast is genuinely superb. I thought Brad Pitt was excellent in Tree of Life as well (a film with a lot of flaws but the good parts are sublime)

I can understand why Jesse James bombed, the film is too slow, doesn't have enough action, blah blah blah. IMO, it's one of the finest films in the last 20 years. I wish more films like that were made, ones that take a risk, have a solid screenplay, good actors, great storytelling, no bells and whistles (eg lyra costumes, CGI) but viewers who want this are in the minority.
 
IMO, it's criminal Andrew Dominik has only made 1 proper film since then. In addition to Brad Pitt, the supporting cast is genuinely superb. I thought Brad Pitt was excellent in Tree of Life as well (a film with a lot of flaws but the good parts are sublime)

I can understand why Jesse James bombed, the film is too slow, doesn't have enough action, blah blah blah. IMO, it's one of the finest films in the last 20 years. I wish more films like that were made, ones that take a risk, have a solid screenplay, good actors, great storytelling, no bells and whistles (eg lyra costumes, CGI) but viewers who want this are in the minority.

+1
 
'Dolomite is my name'

5 out of 10

I ain't no Barry Norman
That film is the pits, had to switch it off!


Didn't know about this one so going to dig it out and have a look. It will be better than Pitt's Ad Astra which I also recently saw and thought fell well short of potential.
 
I enjoyed Togo at the weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed Willem Dafoe's performance, so I decided to watch The Lighthouse. Absolutely appalling pretentious nonsense.
 
Watched 1917 last weekend. I enjoyed the "one shot" style of filming, quite immersive but other than that the whole thing was very underwhelming, bordering on annoying... Especially after the media fanfare it's received.

My issues with it were:

One of the main protagonists is overweight with chubby hamster cheeks... In the trenches, in WW1? That was my hopes of a realistic film dashed within the first 30 seconds.

The whole "saving the brother" aspect of the plot seems completely irrelevant to me, what about the other 1600 men, are they chopped liver? Feels like unnecessary melodrama.

The idea they would send a team of 2 to save 1600 men is ridiculous, they would send many different parties to increase the chance one would make it through, more Hollywood nonsense.

The second protagonist (who actually puts in a pretty impressive performance) is introduced to us as battle hardened, world weary and street wise compared to the apparent fresh faced other lad but this narrative is smashed when he faces a German sniper in combat and handles his Enfield like an old granny, only clearing the chamber a good 5 seconds after firing - Cringe.

The downed German pilot who after being saved from the burning wreck decided to knife one of our plucky heroes stuck out to me as odd, I suppose it's entirely possible but does fly in the face of everything I've ever been taught... Weren't the German WW1 pilots mostly wealthy aristocrats? Gentleman who fought with honour? The idea of one knifing the man who just saved his life seems a trite continuation of old "barbaric Hun" anti-German propaganda.

Next up is the 4 lorry convoy which happened to just be driving through no-man's land, how did they get there (the Ypres bypass?! :p:) What are they doing there? We've just followed our boys through the deadliest journey of their lives traversing hellish swamps of dead bodies and booby trapped German trenches and there's a convoy who apparently got there without any issue whatsoever? Why didn't they just hitch a lift in the first place.

When our remaining protagonist takes a prolonged dip in the river his very special letter is amazingly unscathed, not a single run in the ink.

There's probably more nonsense I missed, the ending is a bit of a blur as the cinema was very hot and I'd switched off by then.
 
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