UKC

An excellent start to the month: Spotlight, a docudrama on the Boston Globe exposing the cover up of child abuse in the catholic church.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spotlight_2015/

Plus an honorable mention to the weirdly compelling Tale of Tales

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tale_of_tales

 

 

 

In reply to Offwidth:

 

6.5/10 for both of those, seen at the cinema on original release

 

In reply to Offwidth:

Saw "The Dawn Wall" in Bristol last night. Thoroughly recommended. But almost wish I hadn't read `The Push' earlier this year, as the film essentially follows the same structure as the book, i.e. Caldwell's growing up/Dad, trip to Kyrgyzstan etc, climbing comps, then into Yosemite and the years-long attempt to climb Dawn Wall. But having said that it's hard, if not impossible, not to be impressed by both Caldwell's, and Jorgeson's, almost bull-headed refusal to quit and to keep going again-and-again. In fact the tensest parts of the film were Jorgeson's attempts to get through pitch 15 (and the funniest part, Jorgeson's taking a dump over the edge of a portaledge!).

PS. I hope Adidas and Patagonia pumped enough funds into the budget, because boy, the product placement paid off. It must have been impossible to get yourself into shot in the meadow without wearing an Adidas jacket!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edfw9ip9sCQ&t=2s

In reply to Southvillain:

Are you sure about him having a dump like that in the film? It seems highly unlikely to me: you have to dump in a bag and carry it out with you in Yosemite.

In reply to Offwidth:

Maybe it was over the edge of a Portaledge and into a bag

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Maybe... it's a lot easier doing this over the portaledge as it shifts alarmingly if you lean out on one side (without any counterbalence) and can even flip into the vertical. The bag you dump in is so big so there is no risk you will miss (unless the 'ground' suddenly whips out from under you).

In reply to Offwidth:

Blue Straggler is right - it was over the edge BUT into a bag. Sorry for casting aspersions on Jorgeson's `ethics'! Funnily enough, it was Jorgeson who was the `hero' of the film for me. As he says, when he offered to help Caldwell he was a boulderer. As (I think) John Long says about him "good up to 30ft".  He had no experience on big walls. But he matched Caldwell (and ends up out-doing him by making the dyno when Caldwell can't). And, as mentioned, the tensest part of the whole film was watching him constantly repeating the crux traverse pitch, when you (and he) knows that Caldwell's done it, and has gone on send the rest of the hard pitches, and could simply top out. So the pressure on Jorgeson must've been immense.

In reply to Southvillain:

Thanks for clearing that up. I've watched the filmed section on the crux many times... the determination of someone with world class bouldering ability in unfamiliar terrain is amazing.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I forgot to add The Trust, although not a great heist movie, was surprisingly worth watching... gritty, funny and nasty. From the low profile it looked like another Cage stinker ..just the opposite....bored and corrupt cop given a unexpected if risky  opportunity which brings out a mad edge... made for him. Wood was better than I expected too.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_trust_2016/

In reply to Offwidth:

Venom.  5.5/10. Actually worse than it looks in the trailer, which looked pretty bad. A few points for half-decent hunour and some decent performances from Hardy and Riz Ahmed (basically playing Elon Musk ). Total waste of Michelle Williams in a nothing role. Not a single memorable action scene or visual. Just unengaging. It wasn't horrible, there was nothing glaringly bad about it as such, but - to use a phrase I coined many years ago in the wake of Superman Returns - "it was just kind of ON"

In reply to Blue Straggler:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fruitvale_station/

A moving docudrama about the last day of a young mans life. Impressive all round. 

In reply to Offwidth:

I bought this a couple of months ago, must get around to watching it. Interesting stepping stones for this director and actor - first Fruitvale, then Creed, and then Black Panther. Presumably a 10x budget increase each time  

In reply to Offwidth:

We just watched "Death of Stalin" and "Their Finest".

Two fantastic movies - one an almost comedy about exactly the title that makes you look up the jistory of the Staline - Kruschev transition and the other a poignant tear-jerker about allied propaganda film-making in ww2. Bill Nighy in the latter does a great job in his usual role of the down-trodden, past his prime, Brit

 

 

In reply to pneame:

Oh dear. I agree with you about Bill Nighy but.........

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Their Finest was a peculiar one for me - on paper it was just absolutely EVERYTHING I hate about "chocolate-box" British film, but it was actually pretty watchable. 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I had only modest expectations, but it was quite a compelling story that got more compelling as it developed. Actually stories , as it transpired. 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I had only modest expectations, but it was quite a compelling story that got more compelling as it developed. Actually stories , as it transpired. 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

As a huge Marvel fan, this is a big disappointment as l was looking forward to this movie. It has been overwhelmingly panned by the critics such that I will wait for Virgin release rather than spend the thick end of 60 quid taking the family to see it.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I feel pretty sure you had something  uncomplimentary to say about Bill Nighy......

In reply to TheDrunkenBakers:

I had low hopes for Venom as soon as Tom Hardy was cast. I'll likely watch it at some point just because.

In reply to Offwidth:

Not a new film but one that unfortunately passed me by in 2010 when it appeared: Skeletons. I only became aware of it after meeting the writer/director at a wedding recently (he is BinL of a good friend). 

Utterly brilliant, very funny, just weird enough without descending into inexplicable surrealism, brilliantly cast and with my favourite Bulgarian music. I’ve watched it twice in the last week. I did initially wonder if a little editorial pruning nearer the end could have improved it, it isn’t what I’d call hard work but it does require a degree of attention and engagement. It’s worth it though, like most of the best things in life.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

It's archived. I probably (almost certainly) did. Poor Bill. Must be hard to say no. Maybe I should blame the industry. It's all because of The Full Monty, which we can link back to the death of Princess Diana. 

I am sober right now.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

The Silent Child... a hard hitting gem I forgot about as it doesn't come up on my main movie list.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_silent_child/

In reply to Offwidth:

The Wife: 9/10. Excellent, with an utterly riveting central performance from Glenn Close, giving a masterclass in screen acting as a Nobel prize-winning author's wife. You're unlikely to see many better demonstrations of the art of the nuanced response shot. Bravura understatement sounds somewhat paradoxical, but she brings it off. Of course, when she does let go, it's all the more telling in contrast to the restraint she exercises elsewhere. Overall she brings immense emotional range to what looks like a career best performance. She's very well matched by Jonathon Pryce as the Great American literary lion and Christian Slater also turns in a fine performance as the hack would-be biographer. Some of the best ensemble acting I've seen since the also very darkly comic The Party. Sadly it seems to be on quite limited release, but it's worth the effort of seeking out. If the movie was slightly more mainstream I'd have thought Close would be a shoo-in for the Oscar. Don't be put off by the fact that it's a portrait of a literary marriage - there's plenty of dramatic plot development as the past is exposed.

In reply to Andy Clarke:

 

Close could be in with a shout for a “sympathy” or “actually for lifetime achievement” Oscar for this. She’s had six nominations between 1982 and 2012, no wins. Also been in other “Oscar bait” stuff that didn’t earn nominations eg Paradise Road 

 

In reply to Offwidth:

The Little Stranger 6/10. Superbly directed, acted, photographed, edited etc.etc. i.e. superbly produced, very moody and atmospheric, excellent in every way ... except it had a very weak script. Far too much reliance on the (frankly unbelievable) supernatural. A pity.

C'est La Vie 9/10. A great, rich feel-good movie. Subtle, flamboyant, endlessly witty and human. It had much of the super-real, at times almost surreal, magic of Fellini about it. A bit like crossing Fellini with Fawlty Towers. It said a lot for the breadth, depth and uncynical richness of the French spirit and their quirky sense of humour, just at a point in history when we seem to be losing ours completely.

In reply to Offwidth:

John Carpenter's Halloween
7.5/10
40th Anniversary cinema screening last night.

I'd only seen this film once before, semi-reluctantly when I was about 17 (I'd liked Assault on Precinct 13 and The Thing, but being a fan of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Poltergeist, the idea of this super-cheap film where the "monster" is just a slow moving man in a mask, with a knife, did not appeal). I remember thinking it was "passable"

On the big screen it really shines though. 
The presentation had a handy and informative intro from John Carpenter, filmed a few years ago. The main thing that came out of that was that his decision to shoot in Panavision was somewhat maverick at the time, because small no-budget films without epic beautiful locations were not considered standard fare for Panavision, but he wanted that wide aspect to fill the audience's field of view. And I think it worked brilliantly - the cinematography and compositions in this film are great.

As is the story. It is pretty refreshing to have an antagonist with such a minimal back-story - yes we see Michael kills his sister when he is six and we are told that in 15 years in a mental institution there has been zero rehabilitation or understanding, but there is deliberately no further attempt to explain any motivation. In turn this makes the film immune to any charges of "not making any sense"

Of course it was a star-making turn for Jamie Lee Curtis but I think it's actually Nancy Loomis as Annie who gives the more interesting performance (even if she is clearly a "bit" too old to be at high school  ) and Donald Pleasence is pretty good in it too.

Also after the brutal (and very well filmed) opening, it cleverly spends quite a lot of time having really not much actually happen. There is a bit of a lull at about three quarters through, which does spoil the pacing, but overall just a pretty good film well deserving of its cult classic status.


Funnily enough with Gordon having just posted on here, I was actually thinking whilst watching Halloween, that it was a more effective film than The Shining despite the latter's grand guignol! (I scored The Shining 6.5/10 when I saw a cinema screening of it two years ago)

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Gordon, I mostly agree although I gave it one more point than you did (possibly some bias on my part because I really liked Gleeson and Poulter already, and Wilson was the cherry on that acting cake)
I made my write-up in September, copied here to save you a minute of searching. My final comment about cutting twenty minutes from it is somewhat key to things - it is two hours long and struggles to maintain momentum. 
Where I disagree is on a point that it is left deliberately ambiguous both by the original author, and by the film-makers - regarding whether it any point does rely on the supernatural. I like that it leaves this aspect for us to decide, with no "right or wrong". 
I do recommend 2012's "The Awakening" if you have not already seen it. Very very similar atmosphere (a young professional is brought to a grand old building in a post-war period to debunk some ghost stories, and shenanigans ensue and it's really well shot and acted) but a superior story.



"The Little Stranger

7/10

Would like to score it higher but in fairness it plays a bit too much with the "slow burner" thing (and you will see the phrase "slow burner" a lot if you look at for example User Reviews on imdb) and almost ends up "so slow burning that it burned out before getting ablaze"

This is the film whose trailer makes it look like a knock-off of 80% The Awakening and 20% The Others.

It's actually a bit different to that and I don't want to say much about it for fear of spoiling the plot.

It is worth a watch just for the acting. It's so well cast. Domnhall Gleeson gets top billing and as usual he is so good that you barely notice he's there, so it's left to Ruth Wilson to engage your attention, and she is BRILLIANT. Very nuanced, yes the whole film is a bit theatrical/hokey but she keeps the body language and eye movements just the right side. Will Poulter (who gave one of the three most terrifying screen performances I've ever seen, last year in Bigelow's "Detroit") is good, and it's nice to see a film not shy away from a character's disfigurement. And THEN there's Charlotte Rampling, but also Liv Hill as the maid is really good. It's beautifully shot and it really nails the whole "dilapidated mansion" thing.

I'd have cut about twenty minutes from it, but on the whole it's recommended despite the middling score."

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I agree about the acting - absolutely superb, even down to the smallest bit parts - and also your assessment about it being too long. Yes, perhaps 6/10 was a bit mean, but it was a vastly less entertaining evening in the cinema than C'est La Vie, which I saw last night. That's one thing I love about good movies, that they can be so different from one another. Two nights running in the cinema, yet having such utterly different experiences.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Ha, doesn't even need to be two nights running. Due to limited release and tight scheduling, I've "had to" put up with such incongruity as Margot at the Wedding (a very good but rather heavy family drama / melodrama) followed by zooming 15 miles up the road to home town to watch Captain America: The First Avenger  

 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Has anyone seen The First Man?

Wondering how it compares to The Spacewalker and Apollo 13?

In reply to Phantom Disliker:

I missed its release by two days, have come on holiday to a quiet bit of Egypt. I hope it is still on release when I return

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I saw it last night and recommend it. Definitely worth a view on the big screen if you get the opportunity. I can't really say much else without risking spoiling it for folk.

In reply to Phantom Disliker:

With my posting history I am keenly looking forward to seeing it

 

Have you seen this?   A unique and detailed interview with the last section being the Mission Commander himself talking through the final descent and landing !

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1gn9ev

In reply to Offwidth:

I saw Spotlight a year or so ago. Agreed a great film covering a very serious topic.

After that I watched a couple of good documentaries on the Catholic child abuse scandal. One was Deliver Us From Evil which was really good. I can't remember the name of the other one but that was very good too.

In reply to Southvillain:

Thanks for mentioning it. Seems like a very limited release but I just got a ticket for the early Sheffield showing tomorrow evening. I've not seen any publicity for this so glad you brought it up.

Tickets here if anyone else is interested...

https://uk.demand.film/dawn-wall/

 

 

In reply to Southvillain:

Saw The Dawn Wall too earlier this evening. Thanks for mentioning it.

I thought it was an excellent film. Not just a good climbing film but a very good film full stop. It's a great story and very well told and quite moving in places. I thought it was certainly on a par with Valley Uprising and quite possibly better, though it's been a while since I saw Valley Uprising. It's a very human oriented perspective. You won't get a lot of beta from it. Though there is a very short bit of the crux moves. But you do get a good insight into the feelings and emotions of both climbers and the epic struggle and where they're coming from. It's been years in the making but well worth waiting for in my opinion.

Looking forward to the Alex Honnold one next. I'll be very surprised if it can top The Dawn Wall but it doesn't have to to still be really good.

10/10

In reply to stp:

I don't normally recommend romances but this one seemed quite special.. mental illness, football fandom, dance competitions, gambling....that's some mix! Funny and only mawkish on a few rare occasions. A great lineup but they excel where too often in such films stars just go through the motions.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/silver_linings_playbook/

 

In reply to Offwidth:

Am I alone in thinking that it might be a good idea to have a separate thread called something like "Latest movies"? So often these monthly film threads, which imply something up-to-the-minute, while having some discussions about latest films, are about whatever various UKC cineastes happen to have been watching recently (often quite old movies). The other half would then be something like "[Month] film talk".

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Start one up and see how it fares.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Yes ... that's the obvious thing ...

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I much prefer the threads as they are, as I watch way more older movies (that are new for me) than current ones in the cinema. The film world has changed... content delivery methods are wider and so its easier to watch a film someone really recommends at home on a disk, or from an online film provider; plus home cinema facilities can be really good these days. Even for current releases I'd be more likely to recommend a film on a very short run at my local arts cinema (Broadway) that if you don't have a local equivalent you can't easily go and see it. I thought these threads celebrate film and those who love quality in that medium; not the Hollywood monster and new cinema releases.

In reply to Offwidth:

Who said I was talking about 'Hollywood monster releases'? 

I am just as keen on threads that celebrate film as you are (esp. as film making has played a huge part in my life). I was simply suggesting a new thread to separate out, hopefully useful, mini-reviews/comments on the latest movies. I may start one myself ... but not during working day ...

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Just seen Bad Times at the El Royale and liked it very much, Bridges in particular.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Inverted commas needed before "Bad" and after "Royale".....     

In reply to Offwidth:

 

yes far less mawkish than I’d expected especially from this writer-director 

have seen it twice, once with my sister who had read the novel which I’d given her long after the film’s release ; she was unaware of the film, loved the novel and also liked the film even though the structure is massively changed. Oddly, my dad later read the novel randomly , very much not his kind of thing but he loved it so ill have to show him the film too!

 

In reply to Offwidth:

Upgrade - I watched the trailer for this and wasn't over keen as it looked like a predictable and bloody revenge flick. But then I read a review that described it like a feature length version of a Black Mirror episode and knew I had to watch it. Very pleasantly surprised and have to say it was one of the best and most original sci-fi films I've seen in a long time. It's also works well as an action/thriller, so a bit different from Black Mirror. But if you like BM or any sci-fi I'd say this is must see film.

9/10

In reply to stp:

Looks interesting especially thanks to Leigh Whanell being the creator. I hope I get a chance to see it

In reply to Offwidth:

Prodigy - not the band but an American B movie and psychological thriller from 2017. The story is about a hyper-intelligent but aggressive young girl held by the military who is said to be extremely dangerous and a threat to national security. After a year of getting nowhere with her a child psychologist is brought in to see if he can do anything.

The acting in this is not fantastic but it is passable. The film's main strength is the script which makes the whole film really engaging and interesting. Have to say I thought this was a very worthwhile watch, definitely much better than many blockbusters, despite the low budget and only OK-ish acting. 6.5 or even 7/10.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

I like the look of the trailer. Definitely want to see that sometime.

In reply to pneame:

Title reminded me of a film I thoroughly enjoyed a few years ago. "Goodbye, Lenin"  A German film set around the fall of the Berlin Wall. A German comedy! Worth a watch. 

In reply to becauseitsthere:

It's worth watching again IIRC!

In reply to wercat:

Chulpan Khamatova who plays Lara the nurse in “Goodbye, Lenin” is staggeringly beautiful in that film

In reply to Phantom Disliker:

Saw The First Man today... agree about the big screen but maybe sit back a bit!!

A great seat-of-the-pants movie and makes an interesting contrast with the Right Stuff, that had much more depth of characterisation https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/right_stuff/

In reply to Offwidth:

Anyone seen Dogman yet? Good reviews and the directors previous Gomorrah was outstanding.

In reply to Offwidth:

Either I am being thick (quite possible as I am participating in a sporting competition and may be punch drunk), or your sentence is ambiguous.

 

Which film has greater depth of characterisation? The Right Stuff, or First Man? Hopefully the latter! I love The Right Stuff but the main character in that film was, essentially, the USA itself

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Just watched The Wound. 

Said to be very controversial but I just found it a bit grim

In reply to Offwidth:

Apostacy - this is a BBC film from last year. It's a story about a family of Jehovah Witnesses in the North of England, a mum and her two daughters. Apparently it's a pretty realistic portrayal of the JW religion which seems more like a quasi-cult from this. The looney beliefs put people in to binds with tragic consequences. As I don't know much about JW it was interesting and educational. The acting was good. But as film though it was pretty slow going.

5/10.

In reply to stp:

I remember that hitting the cinemas and for a moment I thought “I should go and see something worthy instead of some multiplex trash” but then I thought “this looks like doing HOMEWORK”. It was a hard sell and they didn’t succeed to sell to me !

 

In reply to Removed UserStuart en Écosse:

I watched Dogman on Friday and loved it. The lead character's gradual downfall due to his generous nature is heartbreaking without falling into pitiable. A couple of genuinely funny moments float like crutons in a delicious bowl of bleak and potato soup.

8/10

In reply to MonkeyPuzzle:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/frank_2014/

A Spinal Tap for the avant garde indie scene?  Quirky and gentle humour where Tap was loud and brash. Domhnall Gleason is spot-on as the hapless narrator who falls into an experimental band led by the mysterious and endearing Frank. Maggie Gyllenhaal is delightfully crazed, suspicious of the influence of the new band member and keen to keep Frank's experimental musical direction unchanged. Not for everyone but I thought it was really funny and surprisingly respectful look at the broken people involved.

There is an obvious influence from the real life weirdness around  Chris Sievey and his comedy creation Frank Sidebottom.

In reply to Offwidth:

I totally didn’t engage with this, against expectations. The first major Domhnall Gleeson film that I haven’t enjoyed. I had no issue with the story being quite far removed from the real Frank/Chris Story but setting it vaguely contemporary and basically turning it into a version of the making of Trout Mask Replica, was lazy 

Then they finally bottled out and showed his face 

 

Very disappointing.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I don't see they bottled anything: the denouement was  pretty normal given the style and circumstances. I found the album production really funny, despite the nod to TMR. Mental illness has often linked to great artistic work and this idea was ripe for parody in this genre and such a kind parody was warming.

In reply to Offwidth:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deepwater_horizon/

Pretty visceral movie that shows what what went wrong on the day and what it was like to be in such an inferno. Despite lack of initial character development for most players and some rather villainous hamming of John Malkovic, as a BP man,  and almost completely ignoring the enviromental catastrophe afterwards, its really well worth a watch.

In reply to Offwidth:

I don't suppose the aftermath made good drama in the same way that the explosion  did.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

A page or two at the end, detailing the ecological cost and human cost of that ecological damage and interruption of impacted local businesses, is pretty easy. The oil and chemical effects on health and mental health effects on the survivors and the severely impacted local workers almost certainly killed more people than the fire. I'd supect this a deliberate omission: Hollywood trying not to put off some of the demographic for it's big budget movie.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_the_Deepwater_Horiz...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_consequences_of_the_Deepwater_Horizo...

In reply to Offwidth:

An interesting point. I've yet to see Deepwater Horizon but I do have it and plan to see it, always heard good things about it and the partnership of Wahlberg and Peter Berg has often worked effectively. 

The point you make reminds me of the endpiece of Lord of War, a film which big-budget Hollywood somewhat shunned (some interesting tales about workarounds). Writer-director Andrew Niccol was not afraid to end with captions describing various arms dealers, ending iirc with the note that the largest arms dealer in the world was the US Government I don't remember if he described it as an illegal arms dealer though

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Offwidth, I didn't see any answer to this. Would be happy to hear. Guessing that you mean First Man had the greater depth of characterisation but interested to get this confirmed (or otherwise)

In reply to Blue Straggler:

First Man has much more time spent on the main character's development  but I found breadth of understanding in depth of why the astronauts did what they did and the effect on their families much more effective in The Right Stuff. You don't need the length of scenes of Neil suffering to realise the loss of a child has a terrible effect on him, especially at the expense of time to develop the characters of the other main players. Buzz Aldrin was a bit of a caricature and Michael Collins was again the forgotten man. First Man was a very good film about Neil. The Right Stuff was an outstanding film about astronauts.

In reply to Offwidth:

I'll have to confess that I haven't seen either of Rowan Atkinson's previous Johnny English films, but Johnny English Strikes Again I found very funny. Very tight script, very tightly directed. 8/10. A very entertaining evening of pure farce.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Similar position to you, I enjoyed the trailers albeit perhaps only for the marvel of Olga Kurylenko seeming not having aged a day since 2008!

I have not seen Johnny English 3 and am unlikely to do so in the cinema due to time constraints. Maybe I’ll see it on a television screen with my nephews

In reply to Offwidth:

Is there a reason A Star Is Born isn't being discussed?

In reply to aln:

I posted a review in the September film thread as I saw it in September, posted review on 1 October though 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

My Halloween late evening viewing:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_witch_2016/

Quite an impressive low budget horror movie, with nicely slow growing tension (even if I'm not entirely sold on the unnecessary magical ending).

In reply to Offwidth:

The ending utterly ruined it, it had been virtually and brilliantly ambiguous up to that point, with great settings/atmosphere and strong performances.

In reply to Offwidth:

Current film this time, I saw Apatride as part of an African film festival at the weekend. It's Moroccan, set on the Morocco-Algeria border and without giving anything away is an allegory on the lives of the Algerian born Moroccans who were summarily expelled from Algeria in 1975 and now find themselves stateless. A very beautiful film, but no bag of laughs. The producer was around for Q&A later which was illuminating. Anyway if you don't object to subtitles or can understand heavily accented French I'd recommend it.  

Less current, I watched The Borderlands on iplayer, my goodness what an effective creepy found-footage little number. Much better than Blair Witch, though that may be because I wasn't wishing the main characters would just get killed so I could go home.  

In reply to Offwidth:

Two similar but different catch-ups in the last few days: Wind River and Goldstone. Both involved an outsider cop parachuted in to investigate a crime in a bleak landscape with indigenous populations. Wyoming and the Australian outback respectively. Both beautifully filmed and well acted. Netflix and iPlayer (Goldstone loosely linked to the Mystery Road series on BBC4 recently). Grand, ponderous Nick Cave score for Wind River (ironically). Wind River wins for the extra snow.

Venom: not a superhero fan generally but this was a witty way to spend a couple of hours.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Ah OK, I missed that. 

In reply to Offwidth:

In First Man, how come the X15 nose starts glowing red as he's breaking OUT of the atmosphere? Do they all tend to do this and is it just a visual convention that we are used to seeing things glow red only on re-entry? I suppose if you are going fast enough in any direction and in any air density, you will generate heat....

In reply to aln:

No worries. Did you see the film?

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Presumably because its effectively a constant force rocket until the fuel runs out and the acceleration is increasing in the upper atmosphere mainly as atmospheric drag force decreases (but also as mass changes and even gravitational force changes a little). The impact velocity on the remaining thin gas layer must be impressive.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

From a 1960 NATO report on the design it seems they expected temperatures of 1200 degrees or more.  The aircraft flew at speeds exceeding 4000mph and the SR71 Blackbird of the same era was supposed to experience very high temperatures at somewhat lower speeds ....

 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I did. I thought 7.5.

In reply to Removed UserStuart en Écosse:

Disagree. Blair Witch is still pretty much top of its genre.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

What genre is that? 

In reply to aln:

Stuart en Ecosse tells us the genre in his post that started this side discussion 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Did you see the X15 film? (Not XL5!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-15_(film)

Was taken as quite a young kid to see it and found it pretty memorable even now.   Haven't seen it since.

In reply to wercat:

No but it sounds interesting

I remember seeing David Lean's film "The Sound Barrier" made in 1951, 4 years after Yeager broke Mach 1 but of course nobody knew
Not one of Lean's more classic efforts, IMHO

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I know, but I wondered what Tom V thought the genre was. I thought it was 'Pretend found footage supernatural thing that's definitely not a slasher movie it's psychological horror but it's actually really boring and after about 20 minutes and until the end of the film you'll be wishing it WAS a slasher movie and the incredibly pathetic whiny annoying protagonists were horribly murdered'. Is that a genre?

In reply to aln:

 

When you find me a decent horror film that's not pretend, let me know.