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Y tu mama tambier
This looked interesting as Netflix scrolled through films for me, so I watched it. And it turned out to be much better than I expected - funny, naughty and, in the end, surprisingly sentimental. The basic plot is an older woman leaving her husband, for reasons not entirely revealed at the time, and going on a road trip with two teenaged sex-mad boys. The expected happens, of course, but not without a lot of laughs and some unexpected complications. I found myself thinking about this film for several days afterwards, finding new elements that I failed to spot at the time. It’s a Spanish film, and one of its strengths is the scenery on display. But the film itself is well worth seeing, if you can’t speak Spanish but don’t mind subtitles.
Lucy
About half way through this film I remembered I’d seen it before. D’oh. But it’s not bad, starring Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman. It appears most humans utilise only about 10% of their cerebral power, but Scarlett has a lot of chemicals accidentally injected into her bloodstream and ends up being practically godlike, using 100%. The sub-plot is that drug runners are trying to get hold of her. It’s not a bad film. Maybe the characters are a bit stereotyped and the ‘science’ a bit simplistic... but Scarlett and Morgan make it watchable.
Havoc
This film, starring Tom Holland, was getting a lot of mixed reviews. Don’t bother reading them - and don’t bother watching the film, either. If you boil the plot down it’s not awful, but unfortunately some 80% of the film is just action sequence after action sequence, with lots of gunfights where baddies are slaughtered and goodies miraculously survive. It’s over the top stuff. It’s not often I recommend not watching something. But here’s a precedent.
A river runs through it
We splashed out £3.49 to watch this on Prime Video, and ended up glad that we did. This is a splendid film. I wasn’t too sure about it at the start, as there’s a lot of voice-overs and it’s a little slow, but it soon eases into its own storyline and offers a vivid picture of 1920s Montana. The lead actor is Craig Sheffer and I freely confess I’d never heard of him. But he’s excellent in this film, as is his brother, played by a young Brad Pitt. In fact, one of the film’s strengths is that everyone in the cast seems to be perfect for whatever part they are playing. Strongly recommended. Don’t expect violent action or anything of that nature... it’s a slow burn, but no less effective for that.
Thunderbolts
I grew up with comics portraying Marvel (and DC) characters (as I keep repeating in these reviews - sorry) and it’s unlikely I’ll tire of actually seeing them. I knew Thunderbolts was going to be different from usual Marvel fare, focusing more on characters than usual, less on splendid special effects than usual, so I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to pan out. The short answer is that I enjoyed it. Florence Pugh pretty much carries the film as far as emotional stakes are concerned - the other characters are much more one-dimensional. But even so, the team-building was good. The baddie was also quite good, his power growing with his mental instability, although my main quibble with the film is that on Monday he can barely make a cup of water boil, but on Tuesday he’s as powerful as Superman, or even more so. It’s certainly not a dud, as some have predicted it would be. So I certainly wouldn’t try to dissuade you from seeing it.
Sisu
I was on my own, so picked out what looked like an interesting thriller from Netflix. It tells the story of a Finnish ex-commando who finds some gold at the tail-end of the second world war, and fights through a bunch of universally evil Nazis to get it to a bank. Two things interested me about this film (which I enjoyed). One: the characters were heavily stereotyped. This could be a problem if the film was meant to be deep and meaningful, but it isn’t and so it wasn’t. Two: the aforementioned super commando says nothing at all until the last twenty seconds of the film, when he tells a girl at the counter ‘Big bills’, because the gold has been damned heavy to carry. Lots of violent set pieces, which mainly work well. Baddies losing; goodie winning. What’s not to like?
No Hard Feelings
This film was quite good fun... another popcorn derivation with no thought required. Mum & dad hire a girl to try to get their excessively shy son out of his bubble before he goes off to college... and fact, to get him into bed would be even better. The girl in question is played rather nicely by Jennifer Lawrence. O confess I’m wondering if the title of the film is actually an awful pun. Anyway, although the film doesn’t really bring anything new to the oeuvre, it’s not bad and I wouldn’t try to stop anyone who wants to watch it.
Back in Action
This is a popcorn comedy thriller which we both enjoyed. No thinking required. Two ex-spies, married with children, have to go on the run when they accidentally reveal they are still alive when social media posts show them beating up some antsy teenagers. The children, of course, go on the run with them but they have no idea that their parents are ex spies. And the usual action, some of which is old fashioned slapstick, ensues. It’s quite good fun. I wouldn’t put anyone off watching it.
The Bone Tomahawk
I watched this film on Netflix when Ivy was out, as I knew full well she wouldn’t enjoy it. Why? Because it’s a western and it’s a horror, and she doesn’t like either. Apparently it has a bit of a cult following, and I can see why. It’s utterly unlike anything I’ve seen before. Weirdly, both the western and horror elements are muted, but they somehow combine to make something both ‘of its time’ and also pretty horrible, although much of the horror comes from the audience’s mind and isn’t especially explicit on the screen. I quite enjoyed it, if enjoyed can be the right word for this sort of film. So I recommend it for anyone who isn’t going to start watching through fingers splayed over their face.
Anora
Because Anora was something of an unexpected Oscars sensation, it appeared in Ayr cinema mere days after the ceremony. When we went to see it, we knew it was something like a more gritty, realistic Pretty Woman, and the lead female won the Oscar, but that was about it. We both thought it started off rather slowly. Lots of scenes all basically showing the same thing - how the rich waste their time and splash out money that all of the rest of us can only dream about. We got the message quite quickly, but the scenes went on and on. But after that, things picked up and it became interesting and surprisingly funny. Whether it deserves its Oscars is not for me to say, although I suspect this won’t be one of those ‘classic’ films we’ll all remember years in the future. But it’s definitely worth seeing. And check this out... there’s not really a baddie in the cast at all.