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ThierryHenry

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Calibre
Two friends go deer hunting in a tight-nit Scottish town. One of them accidentally shoots a young boy and everything quickly spirals out of control.

This is the first film I've actually enjoyed since lockdown began. Gritty, British thriller with so much fecking suspense, it nearly killed me! I absolutely loved everything about this and it's on Netflix so no excuse not to watch it 8.5/10
feck me. I’m watching this now, half an hour from the end. Have had to take a break as the tension is getting to me. What a fantastic low-budget thriller.
 

Dirty Schwein

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feck me. I’m watching this now, half an hour from the end. Have had to take a break as the tension is getting to me. What a fantastic low-budget thriller.
Agreed. I'm surprised not many people have seen this (and even I was late to the party).

If anyone knows any other films that ramps up suspense like this, please let me know.

I've seen Eden Lake and This Is England, both which do a similar thing.
 

jderbyshire

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Wanted to watch On The Rocks last night but then realised it's not on VOD until the 23rd.

So we decided to start watching some horror films for October.

Started with The Babysitter

This was one of the dumbest films I have ever seen. It's a shame cos it's a good concept that no one can use well now.

And I imagine it got produced purely off the concept, because the script is stupid.
 

VorZakone

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Wake in Fright (1971)

Started intriguing, but got a little bored mid-through. Didn't finish it eventually. Lots of beer though.

Sleepers (1996)

Great movie.
 

ThierryHenry

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Agreed. I'm surprised not many people have seen this (and even I was late to the party).

If anyone knows any other films that ramps up suspense like this, please let me know.

I've seen Eden Lake and This Is England, both which do a similar thing.
Should become a decent cult hit - I'd never heard of it before the posts on here.

I was slightly disappointed by the ending, but I'm not sure how I could have not been. The build up of tension until the point the body was discovered in the woods was masterful, but it effectively popped at the point they ran for it, and Vaughan was caught. The conclusion from that point on was guaranteed to be cold and bloody, and it was, but I just wish it could have kept up the level of the first 70 minutes.
 

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Bridge of Spies

Intriguing Cold War thriller. Spielberg has this kind of thing down to a tee, he can produce these movies in his sleep. Still find his subtle American liberal patriotism mildly irritating, even though he did his best to disguise it by portraying Abel favourably in contrast to his American counterpart. Depiction of Berlin was most interesting.

7/10
 

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Wake in Fright (1971)

Started intriguing, but got a little bored mid-through. Didn't finish it eventually. Lots of beer though.

Sleepers (1996)

Great movie.
I loved Wake in Fright, can see why it wouldn't be everyones cut of tea though. It's a tough watch at times!
 

VorZakone

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I loved Wake in Fright, can see why it wouldn't be everyones cut of tea though. It's a tough watch at times!
I mean, it started out intriguing initially. But the Doc storyline put me off.
 

Dirty Schwein

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Should become a decent cult hit - I'd never heard of it before the posts on here.

I was slightly disappointed by the ending, but I'm not sure how I could have not been. The build up of tension until the point the body was discovered in the woods was masterful, but it effectively popped at the point they ran for it, and Vaughan was caught. The conclusion from that point on was guaranteed to be cold and bloody, and it was, but I just wish it could have kept up the level of the first 70 minutes.
I would have ended with the shotgun having a fake bullet. Then the town's people send the two friends on their way home. That conversation between the two would have been very interesting [\spoiler]
 

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I watched Blackkklansman yesterday. Great film. Good story, and lots of humour into what's really of course a very dark subject. The references to Trump also worked well - especially how they became more obvious gradually. Somehow I wasn't particularly struck by the message though; I guess I've been numbed by racism from everything else I've seen and read. But anyway, both a good and entertaining film.

I was actually emotionally most impressed by the end, when the Unite The Right rally was shown. I guess that's because it's not set in the faraway 70s anymore, from which I can detach more easily. ('Yep, things were crazy back then.') Striking and interesting also that Spike Lee ends a film on racism with a photo of a White person.[/QUOTE]
 

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Good fellas was released 30 years ago this month. Interview with the producer, Irwin Winkler (paywalled) below.

The studio had wanted Tom Cruise as Henry Hill and Madonna as his wife Karen.

I think it's well known Pesci adlibbed the 'funny how?' scene...

...which the actor had devised himself based on a blood-curdling incident from his own life. (While working as a waiter in New York, he’d once made the mistake of telling a mobster he found him amusing.)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/goodfellas-became-hit-had-lot-walkouts-first-murder/
 

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Good fellas was released 30 years ago this month. Interview with the producer, Irwin Winkler (paywalled) below.

The studio had wanted Tom Cruise as Henry Hill and Madonna as his wife Karen.
It definitely worked better with Ray Liotta, as his career also went into witness protection at the end of the film.
 

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Calibre

Watched on recommendation from @Dirty Schwein .
A film that will pass under the radar of many.
What a film, absolutely top notch, easy on of the best films I have watched this year, I could find no fault with it.
Highly recommend watch this.

10/10
 
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Cheimoon

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Calibre

Watched on recommendation from @Dirty Schwein .
A film that will pass under the radar of many.
What a film, absolutely top notch, easy on of the best films I have watched this year, I could find no fault with it.
Highly recommend watch this.

10/10
So what's it really like? Scary? (Like, possible death or a crazy scare around every corner.) Or rather tense? I watched the trailer after @Dirty Schwein's review, but wasn't sure what to think of it. I don't enjoy scary movies (or horror), but I like it if the tension is well done. (Like a good Hitchcock.)
 

pauldyson1uk

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So what's it really like? Scary? (Like, possible death or a crazy scare around every corner.) Or rather tense? I watched the trailer after @Dirty Schwein's review, but wasn't sure what to think of it. I don't enjoy scary movies (or horror), but I like it if the tension is well done. (Like a good Hitchcock.)
Not scary for me, just a very good thriller, very tense in places, If you like Hitchcock, you will enjoy it.
 

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Howard

Apparently I'm all about emotional documentaries these days. The doc about the genius Howard Ashman (if you don't recognize the name watch the movie), a man that probably has affected or been a part of your life in some way.
 

Dirty Schwein

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So what's it really like? Scary? (Like, possible death or a crazy scare around every corner.) Or rather tense? I watched the trailer after @Dirty Schwein's review, but wasn't sure what to think of it. I don't enjoy scary movies (or horror), but I like it if the tension is well done. (Like a good Hitchcock.)
It's very tense, like This Is England. Not horror.
 

Wibble

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Calibre
Two friends go deer hunting in a tight-nit Scottish town. One of them accidentally shoots a young boy and everything quickly spirals out of control.

This is the first film I've actually enjoyed since lockdown began. Gritty, British thriller with so much fecking suspense, it nearly killed me! I absolutely loved everything about this and it's on Netflix so no excuse not to watch it 8.5/10
I downloaded this but after about 10 mins realised I'd watched it before :(
 

Dirty Schwein

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No. The reviews seem to be love or hate.

I enjoyed Calibre even if the ending seemed to possibly be written by a film student who loved Hitchcock.
Yes, I loved Eden Lake and my wife hated it!

I think it's worth a watch though...
 

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Terrific movie. Great soundtrack and the late Frank Doubleday scene-stealing.
Yeah that part was pretty shocking tbh.Really didn't expect it.
Snowpiercer

Finally got round to watching this last night. It's very watchable, although I'm not sure the plot holds up to close scrutiny.
I liked the way Bong Joon-ho had the Korean characters stealing the show, with Tilda Swinton great and adding a surreal twist.
It weirdly reminded me of the Matrix, with the cod Eastern philosophy about the balance of the train, the cartoon violence and how he is basically 'the one', leading the rebellion.

7/10
Watched this for a second time after you're review. And I've come to the conclusion that I love the film all the way up to around the first hour mark.

It was great to see a sci fi dystopian film go against the standard narrative of "the one" savior character arc(In the first half). The reason the tail end get so far isn't because they are better fighters, more intelligent or morally the films good guys but due to their sheer numbers and size. The tension as they wait to find out if the guards guns are empty and then the explosion of movement afterwards fits a kind of Marxist idea of a class going from in itself to a class for itself. The characters also play to a similar rule, their views are shaped by where they are in the train. A part from maybe the hacker there is no gifted passenger from the tail end there to lift everyone up or some stupid upper class member who's endangering everyone.To ram another Marx quote - "Society does not consist of individuals but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand" Snowpiercer as far as movies go is a great example of this.

Also Tilda Swinton performance deserve it's own mention. After listening to some interviews, both her and Bong Joon-ho inspiration seem to be a mix of
Gaddafi and Thatcher. The most interesting point raised about Mason was their view that she was someone who had started from the tail end and then got picked out to go further up the train. The Yorkshire accent(Considering recent events - bunch of old northerners voting for Boris)has aged perfectly. Overall a really great villain.

For me the film drops a bit when the tail end spilt up and the film goes off into a more standard sci fi movie approach. Also the ending scenes in the engine room were a mess for me. Just putting forward the idea it was secretly planned and the revolution was a designed outcome from the start took away from the most interesting elements of the film, it kills the agency that was shown to the audience before.

Maybe this is a dumb idea/completely unworkable but it would have been great if Wilson wasn't real or had been dead for several years. When the engine doors finally opened the room was empty. What was really keeping the train going and the real driver was the class system throughout the train.

Anyways for anyone who hasn't seen Snowpiercer go watch it.
 

Reiver

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Been meaning to watch this for a while, U like a sci-fi film. With the wait, I thought it was excellent.
I'm not a huge Brad Pitt fan but he certainly carries the film and is very good. The film really captured the vastness of space and our insignificance in it. What I wasn't expecting, amongst other things, was the commentary on how sons become their fathers - something that has personal resonance for me.

9/10
 

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Yeah that part was pretty shocking tbh.Really didn't expect it.

Watched this for a second time after you're review. And I've come to the conclusion that I love the film all the way up to around the first hour mark.

It was great to see a sci fi dystopian film go against the standard narrative of "the one" savior character arc(In the first half). The reason the tail end get so far isn't because they are better fighters, more intelligent or morally the films good guys but due to their sheer numbers and size. The tension as they wait to find out if the guards guns are empty and then the explosion of movement afterwards fits a kind of Marxist idea of a class going from in itself to a class for itself. The characters also play to a similar rule, their views are shaped by where they are in the train. A part from maybe the hacker there is no gifted passenger from the tail end there to lift everyone up or some stupid upper class member who's endangering everyone.To ram another Marx quote - "Society does not consist of individuals but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand" Snowpiercer as far as movies go is a great example of this.

Also Tilda Swinton performance deserve it's own mention. After listening to some interviews, both her and Bong Joon-ho inspiration seem to be a mix of
Gaddafi and Thatcher. The most interesting point raised about Mason was their view that she was someone who had started from the tail end and then got picked out to go further up the train. The Yorkshire accent(Considering recent events - bunch of old northerners voting for Boris)has aged perfectly. Overall a really great villain.

For me the film drops a bit when the tail end spilt up and the film goes off into a more standard sci fi movie approach. Also the ending scenes in the engine room were a mess for me. Just putting forward the idea it was secretly planned and the revolution was a designed outcome from the start took away from the most interesting elements of the film, it kills the agency that was shown to the audience before.

Maybe this is a dumb idea/completely unworkable but it would have been great if Wilson wasn't real or had been dead for several years. When the engine doors finally opened the room was empty. What was really keeping the train going and the real driver was the class system throughout the train.

Anyways for anyone who hasn't seen Snowpiercer go watch it.
There is a 'gifted passenger from the tail end' in the shape of Chris Evans being the inspirational leader, who orders they follow. He is clearly the missing part that can make this uprising successful, so disagree on the one argument. Agree numbers prove decisive in the end, like with the Soviets in the wars. The violinist shows the passengers can adapt between the classes at least to a degree.

Tilda Swinton is Thatcher meets Rosa Klebb maybe. I did wonder if the driver might not exist in the end or be long dead. Would've potentially been a better ending. The little kids being used to hold the engine together felt a bit of an afterthought too.

Decent film though and nice to see something beyond the c30 Sky seemingly have on repeat each week.
 

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I watched Calibre based on the recommendations here, it was good but not quite as great as some are making out I thought. It was fine for a 90mn watch, and quite tense, but I felt the end was quite predictable and it dragged in places.

Still, a good watch overall.
 

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A Man Called Ove (2015) - 7.5/10

Did a thread search and surprised it didn't pop up.

Solid feel-good fare. One of those 'eh, cliched a bit but they pull it off' flicks. Swedish and subtitled.
 

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There is a 'gifted passenger from the tail end' in the shape of Chris Evans being the inspirational leader, who orders they follow. He is clearly the missing part that can make this uprising successful, so disagree on the one argument.
Yeah I just found him to be too dull tbh(Mostly the character as his performance was fine.).
 

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Watched 5 mins of Hubie Halloween, the new Sandler comedy, thinking it might be a fun easy watch. Nope. Honestly amazed they allowed it on Netflix it's that shit. Couldn't bare to watch any more.
 

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Been meaning to watch this for a while, U like a sci-fi film. With the wait, I thought it was excellent.
I'm not a huge Brad Pitt fan but he certainly carries the film and is very good. The film really captured the vastness of space and our insignificance in it. What I wasn't expecting, amongst other things, was the commentary on how sons become their fathers - something that has personal resonance for me.

9/10
I found this the most boring film ever! Glad somebody enjoyed it though.
 

Dirty Schwein

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Onward
A nice adventure with a touching central theme. Not Pixar's absolute best but definitely a fun movie with heart 7/10
 

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The Dead Don't Die

It turns out that a zombie comedy movie starring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloe Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Danny Glover, Tom Waits, an undead Iggy Pop and Steve Buscemi in a MAGA hat can actually be really damn boring. And so far up its own arse with nods to how great the director supposedly is that it forgets that its big monologue at the end about "we're all zombies becuz of capitalism so zombie movies are dumb" is exactly the point that the godfather of zombie movies was making with his work 50 years ago and therefore not nearly as poignant as the writer thought it was before he lay back in his chair and spent the rest of the day smelling his own farts.

3/10 and only because the first thirty minutes made it seem like the story was going somewhere.
 

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Maybe this is a dumb idea/completely unworkable but it would have been great if Wilson wasn't real or had been dead for several years. When the engine doors finally opened the room was empty. What was really keeping the train going and the real driver was the class system throughout the train.
The Netflix TV show adaptation does actually run with this idea...sort of. Though it doesn’t have nearly as good a cast, and is incredibly naff in general.
 
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Wibble

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Good idea and the film started well and mixed black comedy horror with a bit of charm quite well. Sadly they had no idea where the story was going so it went nowhere and the ending not only didn't plant its landing but just petered out with no idea how to end things at all.
5/10 (all for the first 2/3 of the film).
 

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The Dead Don't Die

It turns out that a zombie comedy movie starring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloe Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Danny Glover, Tom Waits, an undead Iggy Pop and Steve Buscemi in a MAGA hat can actually be really damn boring. And so far up its own arse with nods to how great the director supposedly is that it forgets that its big monologue at the end about "we're all zombies becuz of capitalism so zombie movies are dumb" is exactly the point that the godfather of zombie movies was making with his work 50 years ago and therefore not nearly as poignant as the writer thought it was before he lay back in his chair and spent the rest of the day smelling his own farts.

3/10 and only because the first thirty minutes made it seem like the story was going somewhere.
That cast and movie being shit and far up it's ass can only mean Jarmusch or Wes Anderson.
 

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The Netflix TV show adaptation does actually run with this idea...sort of. Though it doesn’t have nearly as good a cast, and is incredibly naff in general.
That's a shame.

After rewatching the movie I did look up clips from the t.v. series and it did seem nothing more than you're average run of the mill sci fi show(JJ Abrams has really left his stain all over mainstream sci fi). I remember reading the script had gone through a ton of reshoots to the point where the lead writer quit the show all together so maybe it was more interesting to start with and then got killed in rewrites and test screenings(The original film bombed in test screenings).

Honestly the biggest surprise from the clips I saw was just how cheap the show looked(There's a remarkable similarity between the life of luxury the top 1% of passengers and department sections in John Lewis).
 

Dirty Schwein

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The Dead Don't Die

It turns out that a zombie comedy movie starring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloe Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Danny Glover, Tom Waits, an undead Iggy Pop and Steve Buscemi in a MAGA hat can actually be really damn boring. And so far up its own arse with nods to how great the director supposedly is that it forgets that its big monologue at the end about "we're all zombies becuz of capitalism so zombie movies are dumb" is exactly the point that the godfather of zombie movies was making with his work 50 years ago and therefore not nearly as poignant as the writer thought it was before he lay back in his chair and spent the rest of the day smelling his own farts.

3/10 and only because the first thirty minutes made it seem like the story was going somewhere.
I hated this film. Such a talented cast absolutely wasted.