Film you recently watched: part 3

I rewatched the Goonies with my kids at the weekend. I was surprised at how much of an awful, awful film it was, which seems to hold such positive memories for everyone.

The kids all talk over each other most of the time and a lot of the dialogue is inaudible and that which is, is pretty poorly scripted. The characters are pathetically one dimensional and unsympathetic. The whole premise is ridiculous. This pirate managed to carve out booby traps and release a map, whilst being trapped in a cave? And nobody bothered to look for it properly for 4oo years apart from one, poorly equipped man who didn't think to tread cautiously.

How on earth did we used to enjoy films like this in the 80s? For comparison, I watched Twins the other day and thought it still stands up as a superb masterpiece.

 

Oh, and why, when they are on the cliffs at the end, do they just watch the ship sail off. There's likely $50m worth of loot on there. Surely worth scrambling a helicopter and a dingy to salvage it.

 

You can't knock the goonies. Every school had a fat kid who got railroaded into performing the truffle shuffle and a kid who looked like Iain Dowie with the nickname "Sloth". Casting a critical eye over many films in the 80s will give you the same questions of wtf is going on here?.. Honey I shrunk the kids? Inner Space? Back to the future? Short Circuit? Kindergarten Cop? All sound scientific facts and realism compared to the modern CGI HDR Dolby Atmos snoozefest.

 

I disagree. I think corny, dated movies can stand on their merits. I watch Kindergarten cop about 6 times per year on average. Karate Kid whenever it's on.

I just think that the Goonies is just terrible on every level. Ignoring the physics of a pair of novelty teeth supporting the weight if a 12 year old kid, it's just an awful film. The fact that it provided fuel for bullying fat and ugly kids isn't really enough.

 

Last night out before another lockdown, on my way out soon to watch Get Out at the local cinema then to the brewery. Already done most of a bottle of red so I’ll do well to not shout at the screen. They do tableservice booze in the cinema too #pray4filbert

 

Watches Knives Out on Amazon Prime last night. Silly, predictable, formulaic whodunnit. 5/10

 

Watched the all-singin'-an'-dancin' version of "The Thing" for Halloween last night. I thought for 38 YO SFX-heavy film it was 'alright' my littlest, the heathen - I blame the ASD, dismissed it as "...like Tom Baker Doctor Who..."

I wonder what a rewatch of Carpenter's masterpiece "They Live" would be like? I noticed the local is/was showing his "Halloween"...

 

Also Friday night was "Ghost in the Shell" - I really think that it should have been seen on a big screen in the cinema - I didn't enjoy it as much as "Alita :Battle Angel" (which we actually saw in the cinema).

 

They have never matched "(They long to be) close to you" in my book.

 

Great thanks! It’s a fantastic independent cinema but there was only about fifteen people there. Hopefully it doesn’t go under. That’ll only leave the livestock auctions and the pie museum for things to do in Melton.

 

ur confused m8 ones a skeletal weird lookin & sounding alien like thing the others...

 

I love watching movies and have a home cinema setup in the living room (projector / 120 inch screen / surround sound) , an outdoor cinema setup (projector and massive blow up screen) and contemplating creating a garage home cinema (something to do in the next lockdown) anybody else into their AV equipment ?

if you have never thought about a projector you can buy a reasonable 1080p projector for £500 that’s easily capable of 120-150 inch picture , massively changes the whole experience of movie night (and game night)

 

"The Invisible Man"

Finally got to see this and was actually quite good and an entertaining film, although we guessed the slight twist and the end annoyed the Mrs

 

I was looking at projectors, though for way under 100 quid. I'm not big on definition. I just wanted something for watching movies outside in the summer with the kids.

We set something up when camping which was nice, using my sister in law's projector and was thinking of trying something similar.

 

nice , don’t touch the eBay £50 8000 lumens projectors they are utter ***** , best bet is a 2nd hand reconditioned unit from eBay should be able to get something for under £100. My outdoor projector is a reconditioned one , was £250 but does this

 

Watched Parasite last night, if you’ve not seen it yet would definitely recommend.

I tried to watch it a couple of times before but couldn’t work out why I was struggling to get into it.... it definitely helps if you turn the subtitles on.

 

As someone into film I feel ashamed to adit I've never seen it. I'll remedy that this weekend. Weren't all those candelit scenes literally that: they were actually lit by candlelight (shot with a speical lens they 'borrowed' form NASA)?

Meanwhile the bestest ever film ever has just got a release date:

Spoiler

 

Chicago 7....thoroughly enjoyed it

 

I'm currently in the process of converting our garage into a home cinema. It was a lockdown project that is slowly getting more involved! At the moment, I'm in the process of wiring up prior to insulating and plastering. Been slightly delayed by discovering a roof leak and having to get the roof replaced.

I bought an Optoma HD-141X about four years ago in an Amazon sale (for about £380 I think) and love it - it's served me well so far. It's 3D capable and whilst lots of people don't like 3D, I like it for the right film. It's hooked up to a PS4 which gives BluRay playback (3D), gaming and streaming at 1080P with optical audio out. I'm half considering the upgrade to 4k, but it would be an expensive upgrade so not sure I'll bother just yet. I'm still pretty happy with the quality of the Optoma at 1080p.

I've not tried an outdoor setup as yet but may look into it next summer.

 

nice , have you got a decent cinema amp to go with it ?

I keep thing about 4K projector , thing that is stopping me is my broadband is relatively low (15mb) and can’t really stream 4K content without issues.

 

I've only got a basic HTIB surround sound setup at the moment, but wiring in all this speaker cable is tempting me to upgrade..

We're quite lucky with the broadband here, the city has been upgraded to Vodafone Gigafast so we can have up to 900mb connections. I've gone for 500mb as it was the same price as my previous broadband contract for 30mb with BT and I don't think I'll be needing the full 900mb anytime soon!

I don't have Sky and just rely on streaming for everything which has become viable since getting the gigafast internet. No 4k displays as yet though so not really making the most of it.

Where did you get your garden screen from? Looks good. Any tips on buying having used yours for a while?

 

G

got it off Amazon (search inflatable projector screen) cost about £200 but much better than a white sheet between two poles. Used it 10-15 times over the summer, fan is a bit noisy but part of the atmosphere , goes up in a couple of mins , packing it away takes 5 mins. I wish I had got a bigger one , it’s massive but get the biggest you can get in your garden, it really is like being in a proper open air cinema.

Biggest problem is we live in quite a windy area so needs to be bolted down well (using tent pegs) as when blow up flys all over the place.

you either need a really bright projector or leave movie viewing till dark , we typically found in the summer we couldn’t start much before 9, also don’t underestimate the sound source I started using a simple Bluetooth speaker but it wasn’t up to the job so ended up getting an old Yamaha sound bar off eBay which works well.

 

Owl and the Pussycat, 1970 with Barbra Streisand.

Thoroughly enjoyed it, beginning to end.

 

Watched The Prestige for the first time last night. The last remaining Nolan movie I hadn't seen.

Brilliant stuff although I saw a lot of the twists coming. I guess that comes with Nolan movie experience.

Didn't get the Lord Caldlow bit at the end though.

 

Watched Home Alone on Saturday. Really good film. 3/4

 

Disagree. Home Alone 1 & 2 are brilliant, with 2 just shading it for me. That said, by the time 3 & 4 came around, the whole thing felt a bit forced.

 

I reckon you could play 1 & 2 at the same time and the exact same things would be happening simultaneously, just with the physical location of the events being different. Still good films though.

 

Birds OF Prey is excellent.

Loving Harley Quinn

 

Not a film as such but a Documentary, My Octopus Teacher.

A lovely story and quite incredible creatures.