Movie recommendations

[Oraisteach]

Get Out was terrific.  3 Billbords Outside Ebbing, Missouri, also a winner!

[Syferus]

I've been watching the Rocky movies recently.

For movies that essentially follow a similar synopsis in each they change massively stylistically as they go. Rocky I won the Best Picture Oscar and it was deserving of recognition, a film more in line with new wave cinema from the likes of Scorsese and Coppola than Hollywood melodrama, and Sly drawing comparisons to a peak Brando for his performance as a genuinely likeable outsider weren't far off the mark at all.

Carl Weathers is so good as Apollo Creed that he goes from being a device to tell Rocky's story to the most tragic figure in the series by sheer force of personality.

Rocky II is the slowest of the films, and if not for the mangled ending to V might be my least favourite of them all but it still is a very enjoyable ride. Mr. T's threatening force of nature performance in III made him such a great antagonist with very little dialogue. And Apollo training Rocky might be my favourite training montage in a series filled with great ones. And the ending to III is easily the best of the lot.

Rocky IV might be my favourite of the lot, not because it does anything ground-breaking but for how economical it is. Barely 90 minutes long, filled with the most perfect 80s power rock soundtrack you will ever hear, you get the stakes and characters established with barely a word spoken by Drago ("If he dies, he dies") or even Rocky, it's a music video action film masquerading as a sports drama. It's over the top (it ends with Rocky ending the Cold War with a speech), but in its own way it remains consistent to the tone it's aiming for. Paulie's robot servant is about the only thing that seems out of place.

V returned the director of I and shifted the focus back towards Rocky's family, and his relationship with his son. This actually plays out pretty effectively until the climatic street fight with (then world champion) Tommy Gunn. Originally Stallone had intended for Rocky to die in that fight but changed his mind midway through production, which is probably part of the reason why it feels so meaningless and inconsequential. In fairness, despite the change crashing V into a brick wall, it saved Rocky from an ending that didn't really suit his plucky underdog everyman and we eventually got two excellent follow-ups in Rocky Balboa and Creed.

Creed II is essentially going to be a sequel to Rocky IV with Adonis fighting Drago's son, which sounds amazing on paper.

[The Iceman]

Wathed "The Foreigner" over the weekend where an elderly Jackie Chan takes on the RA. Surprisingly good. Probably the best film I've seen of Jackie's in decades.
Brosnan's accent was way off the mark (I've heard yanks with better efforts) but the action was great and the story line was on point. 7.5/10

[Tony Baloney]

Watched Annihilation on Netflix at the weekend based on decent reviews. Didn't do it for me at all - 6/10 at a push.

Made the mistake of watching The Fantastic Four (2015) on tv. Pure pish - 3/10.

[nrico2006]

Watched Annihilation on Netflix at the weekend based on decent reviews. Didn't do it for me at all - 6/10 at a push.

Made the mistake of watching The Fantastic Four (2015) on tv. Pure pish - 3/10.

Annihilation would be lucky to get a 4 from me - really bad. On a sidenote, watched Willy Wonka, Sound of Music and Annie the past few days for the first time. I must be a harsh critic because i thought they were all poor enough too.

[Arthur_Friend]

Watched the Outsider on Netflix, nothing special but entertaining enough. 6/10.

[The Iceman]

Watched the Outsider on Netflix, nothing special but entertaining enough. 6/10.

wasn't fussed on it at all - watchable but very slow and a lot of unanswered questions

[Eamonnca1]

I've been watching the Rocky movies recently.

For movies that essentially follow a similar synopsis in each they change massively stylistically as they go. Rocky I won the Best Picture Oscar and it was deserving of recognition, a film more in line with new wave cinema from the likes of Scorsese and Coppola than Hollywood melodrama, and Sly drawing comparisons to a peak Brando for his performance as a genuinely likeable outsider weren't far off the mark at all.

Carl Weathers is so good as Apollo Creed that he goes from being a device to tell Rocky's story to the most tragic figure in the series by sheer force of personality.

Rocky II is the slowest of the films, and if not for the mangled ending to V might be my least favourite of them all but it still is a very enjoyable ride. Mr. T's threatening force of nature performance in III made him such a great antagonist with very little dialogue. And Apollo training Rocky might be my favourite training montage in a series filled with great ones. And the ending to III is easily the best of the lot.

Rocky IV might be my favourite of the lot, not because it does anything ground-breaking but for how economical it is. Barely 90 minutes long, filled with the most perfect 80s power rock soundtrack you will ever hear, you get the stakes and characters established with barely a word spoken by Drago ("If he dies, he dies") or even Rocky, it's a music video action film masquerading as a sports drama. It's over the top (it ends with Rocky ending the Cold War with a speech), but in its own way it remains consistent to the tone it's aiming for. Paulie's robot servant is about the only thing that seems out of place.

V returned the director of I and shifted the focus back towards Rocky's family, and his relationship with his son. This actually plays out pretty effectively until the climatic street fight with (then world champion) Tommy Gunn. Originally Stallone had intended for Rocky to die in that fight but changed his mind midway through production, which is probably part of the reason why it feels so meaningless and inconsequential. In fairness, despite the change crashing V into a brick wall, it saved Rocky from an ending that didn't really suit his plucky underdog everyman and we eventually got two excellent follow-ups in Rocky Balboa and Creed.

Creed II is essentially going to be a sequel to Rocky IV with Adonis fighting Drago's son, which sounds amazing on paper.

I'm surprised at you saying you didn't like II. Rocky II has been said by some to be one of the rare sequels that was better than the original.

I agree that IV is so over-the-top it's almost a parody of itself.

Creed was superb.

[Milltown Row2]

I picked this film (Rocky) when it came out over here to watch over Easter with my dad and two brothers, I picked it because they were showing both, Rocky 1 and 2! Must have been 1980 or thereabouts! I remember my da saying at the start that it's looks crap! But at the end of both films we'd ghe gloves out in the house having boxing fights!

I picked the next film, Airplane!

[Square Ball]

Enjoyed Hidden Figures. Took a long time for these women to be rewarded for their contribution to the American space race and what they had to overcome.

[heffo]

Watched Annihilation on Netflix at the weekend based on decent reviews. Didn't do it for me at all - 6/10 at a push.

Annihilation would be lucky to get a 4 from me - really bad.

Was looking forward to Annihilation after the very good reviews - it was awful

[Eamonnca1]

Enjoyed Hidden Figures. Took a long time for these women to be rewarded for their contribution to the American space race and what they had to overcome.

+1

[Tony Baloney]

Watched Annihilation on Netflix at the weekend based on decent reviews. Didn't do it for me at all - 6/10 at a push.

Annihilation would be lucky to get a 4 from me - really bad.

Was looking forward to Annihilation after the very good reviews - it was awful

Yep. A lot of the positive reviews must have been based on the fact that it was "women led".

[Milltown Row2]

Watched Annihilation on Netflix at the weekend based on decent reviews. Didn't do it for me at all - 6/10 at a push.

Annihilation would be lucky to get a 4 from me - really bad.

Was looking forward to Annihilation after the very good reviews - it was awful

Yep. A lot of the positive reviews must have been based on the fact that it was "women led".

You'll get in trouble

Syferus, get him!!

[Syferus]

Watched Annihilation on Netflix at the weekend based on decent reviews. Didn't do it for me at all - 6/10 at a push.

Annihilation would be lucky to get a 4 from me - really bad.

Was looking forward to Annihilation after the very good reviews - it was awful

Yep. A lot of the positive reviews must have been based on the fact that it was "women led".

This film is very much in keeping with the cerebral tone of Alex Garland's last film, Ex Machina, and Sunshine, which he wrote. I think there was some affirmative hype surrounding Wonder Woman and Ghostbusters but Annihilation is not even getting a release in theatres outside a short and limited run in the US - there just isn't the level of interest in it to suggest the good reviews have much to do with the female leads. This is exactly the sort of slow-burn film that critics love and wider audiences struggle to connect with, the sex of the leads could be male and the reviews and reaction would have been about the same. It harkens back to 70s sci-fi like 2001 and the first Alien film. It's neither an action film or a horror, which is what trailers wrongly sold it as. It's a sci-fi film about big ideas and mood.

The fact the leads are women is totally incidental to the story or the themes of change, which honestly makes it much better than the films I mentioned at actually moving the needle of forward and opening up traditionally male-dominated roles for female actresses.