Films you've seen recently and would recommend WITH reservations

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Top Gun: Maverick

I saw this at the cinema earlier this year and like most people who saw it (I presume), came out of it thinking fucking hell that was GREAT.

Rewatched tonight with my parents and for a big chunk of it was thinking "oh, it's actually a bit shit – all this rubbish dialogue and hammy acting, this trading on nostalgia and tugging on the heartstrings by drawing your attention to Tom Cruise, the symbolic immortal, being right on the cusp of ageing beyond repair, and it's military propaganda"...

And THEN, in the last let's say hour, a flurry of some of the most exciting action sequences I've ever seen, which even on my parents' relatively diminutive flatscreen, had me on the edge of the sofa and grinning like an idiot.

It clicked at this point that a big chunk of the people who think this is a fantastic film (and were pissed off at the Guardian for putting it so low down their top films of 2022 list) come out of it feeling that way because of the last hour and more or less forget about the rest of it.

I couldn't document this experience in the "without reservations" thread so I thought I'd invent this one.

This thread will also allow me to recommend with reservations Guillermo Del Toro's very much flawed but also occasionally quite brilliant stop-motion Pinocchio adaptation. Another film, in fact, that doesn't seem to be much cop until you reach the end, which is surprisingly moving and makes the rest of it seem retroactively much better.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Saw this film called Havana the other day, Robert Redford is in Havana to play cards in clubs owned by Mayer Lansky on the eve of the revolution, he meets a beautiful woman but she's married to this revolutionary leader. Basically it's the same plot as Casablanca with the main guy having to choose between the woman he loves and doing the right thing while a war happens. It's not as good as Casablanca but it was fun, it didn't really look like 50s Cuba but I still liked the way it looked. It's a 3.5 star film so perfect for this thread…. although it was really long, too long.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
The Banshees of Inisherin is 1/5 - scenery was best actor which says it all. Could lob in films you wouldn’t recommend thread but its respective cliffs, sand blasted winds and abodes huddled in coves are stunning. Shame about the story

Fancy chucking your cut off fingers at a tiresome mate’s front door. Everyone has close friends they drift away from, if only the film had at least spent 20 mins of ingratiating annoyances from the offset and then gone ‘well, I’m after thinking you’re a dull wee cunt and its escalating, just telling so you have time to adjust - go on a few adventures - your patter is awfully limited lad’, but Gleason’s character becomes a weirdo sacral goat in himself. CF’s pining wouldn’t have been needed if a colder reality was introduced cenobitically from the get go

Tiresome one dimensional schtick, all that was missing was slipping in Thin Lizzy’s WITJ
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Top Gun: Maverick

I saw this at the cinema earlier this year and like most people who saw it (I presume), came out of it thinking fucking hell that was GREAT.

Rewatched tonight with my parents and for a big chunk of it was thinking "oh, it's actually a bit shit – all this rubbish dialogue and hammy acting, this trading on nostalgia and tugging on the heartstrings by drawing your attention to Tom Cruise, the symbolic immortal, being right on the cusp of ageing beyond repair, and it's military propaganda"...

And THEN, in the last let's say hour, a flurry of some of the most exciting action sequences I've ever seen, which even on my parents' relatively diminutive flatscreen, had me on the edge of the sofa and grinning like an idiot.

It clicked at this point that a big chunk of the people who think this is a fantastic film (and were pissed off at the Guardian for putting it so low down their top films of 2022 list) come out of it feeling that way because of the last hour and more or less forget about the rest of it.

I couldn't document this experience in the "without reservations" thread so I thought I'd invent this one.

This thread will also allow me to recommend with reservations Guillermo Del Toro's very much flawed but also occasionally quite brilliant stop-motion Pinocchio adaptation. Another film, in fact, that doesn't seem to be much cop until you reach the end, which is surprisingly moving and makes the rest of it seem retroactively much better.

People also loved it because everybody is basically obsessed with time, age, memory, nostalgia and death and the most profound modern films all deal in these themes, including your beloved Marvel juggernauts.
 

version

Well-known member
People also loved it because everybody is basically obsessed with time, age, memory, nostalgia and death and the most profound modern films all deal in these themes, including your beloved Marvel juggernauts.

I think it being a big film that wasn't a superhero thing and which had real stunts played a part too.
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
I don't really watch films anymore but I somewhat randomly saw Rush Hour 2 over xmas and now I want to see all the Jackie Chan films, fast forwarding between the action sequences. I love him and I loved the female baddie Zhang Ziyi, miles better here than Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Chris Tucker was annoying as fuck though.

I'll bet the new top gun is great.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
I don't really watch films anymore but I somewhat randomly saw Rush Hour 2 over xmas and now I want to see all the Jackie Chan films, fast forwarding between the action sequences. I love him and I loved the female baddie Zhang Ziyi, miles better here than Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Chris Tucker was annoying as fuck though.

I'll bet the new top gun is great.

You can't go wrong with 1980s Michelle Yeoh action flicks.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Are they with Jackie Chan? I was gonna ask, are there any JC films worth watching properly all the way through not just for the action?

I'm sure there are some with Jackie Chan if it's specifically Jackie Chan you are looking for.
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
Haha I'll have a look myself then, there's probably hundreds of them. I know next to nothing about martial arts films. I thought Zhang Ziyi was great in rush hour 2 though. Was just fishing for recommendations
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Haha I'll have a look myself then, there's probably hundreds of them. I know next to nothing about martial arts films. I thought Zhang Ziyi was great in rush hour 2 though. Was just fishing for recommendations

Supercop has one of the best stunts ever put on film.

Yes, Madam! is really good.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I think nostalgia was what got people in for Top Gun initially but what made it a monster was word of mouth, and I think (though alas cannot prove) that this was fuelled by the incredibly exciting action sequences.
 

version

Well-known member
I think nostalgia was what got people in for Top Gun initially but what made it a monster was word of mouth, and I think (though alas cannot prove) that this was fuelled by the incredibly exciting action sequences.

I didn't have the impression the original was that popular these days and was surprised when I heard they were doing a sequel. I'd only ever heard it mentioned in ironic tones with people talking about how unintentionally homoerotic it was.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I went to see it with a cineaste pal (he's seen all the arthouse staples, cult classics, etc.) and was shocked to discover he absolutely loves the original film. He saw it at an impressionable age (I didn't). He thought the sequel was a good action film but not "important" like the first.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
I think nostalgia was what got people in for Top Gun initially but what made it a monster was word of mouth, and I think (though alas cannot prove) that this was fuelled by the incredibly exciting action sequences.

Yawn
 
Top