What movies are you watching?

[icystorm]

Greetings, all! What movies have you watched recently? I very recently watched Gone Girl from 2014. It was outstanding. I'm not sure how I missed that one because I usually enjoy suspense thrillers. The lead performance by Rosamund Pike was great! I rate the movie 8 out of 10 stars.

I often draw a lot of ideas and songwriting inspiration from watching emotions unfold in various movies. The performance of Rosamund Pike as Amy in Gone Girl and seeing the trials she endured, gave me some ideas for a new song.

I also watched The Substance from 2024 yesterday. I'm not really a fan of Demi Moore, although I have enjoyed some of her movies over the years. The first three fourths of the movie was good, but the final fourth missed the mark. I'll stop there to avoid spoilers in case you haven't seen it and would like to. The premise and idea behind the movie deserve 10 out of 10 stars, but the film itself fell short of its vision for me. I rate it 5 out of 10 stars.


Cheers,
Joseph

[Nick Ryder]

Hi, @icystorm Not seen Gone Girl but Saturday nights are usually movie night. We get the projector out and home theatre speakers so we might give that a go tomorrow,

We watched the new Nosferatu film last week. It looked amazing but I feel it was more style over substance. Worth a watch but not as good as the critics are making out.

[icystorm]

Hi, @icystorm Not seen Gone Girl but Saturday nights are usually movie night. We get the projector out and home theatre speakers so we might give that a go tomorrow,

We watched the new Nosferatu film last week. It looked amazing but I feel it was more style over substance. Worth a watch but not as good as the critics are making out.

@Nick Ryder -- Hi, Nick. Your presence was missed here, and I hope you're well. Yes, I think you will enjoy Gone Girl and hope you do! I have not seen the new Nosferatu yet, but I will now that you reminded me of it. I have an affinity for the classic 1922 silent-film original version. I've always perceived the old, grainy, black-and-white films as scarier than modern horror movies. The image of the abominable Dracula lurching slowly down the corridor in black-and-white was particularly scary when I first viewed Nosferatu as a child.

Likewise, recall the 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead, which was also filmed in black-and-white. The graveyard scene in the dismal winter daytime, with a gray ('grey' for those of you on the other side of the pond ) overcast juxtaposed against the lifeless landscape, is particularly creepy and eerie, especially when the first zombie in the flick strode across the cemetery ground. Modern movies in color (colour) can never capture the essence of black-and-white. I sometimes wish that someone would use the same recording equipment employed for the 1931 original Dracula with Bela Legosi to make a new horror movie in vintage style. 

Cheers,
Joseph

[Nick Ryder]

Thank you @icystorm Joseph.

I think one of the defining horror elements was the look of Nosferatu. Such a creepy image that made the original so scary. I'll not spoil it for you but I would be interested to hear what you think to the new look of him.

One of my favourite films is Sin City which is in black and white and I honestly can't imagine it working if it was in colour.

Have a great weekend,



Nick.

[Nick Ryder]

Hi, @icystorm Joseph.

We watched Gone Girl last night on your recommendation. Yeah, a really good film with lots of twists. As you say, a great performance from Rosamund and all the cast in general.

Thanks for that!!

[icystorm]

@Nick Ryder -- I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed Gone Girl, Nick. If you enjoyed that, you may also enjoy Borderline starring Gina Gershon from 2002. It's also a psychological thriller. I rate it 7 of 10 stars. I enjoy movies like that because unexpected things happen and you never quite know where things are heading until the end. One more is The Rich Man's Wife from 1996. I'm not a fan of Halle Berry, but I thought her performance was good in the movie. I rate it a strong 6 of 10 stars.

I'm trying to find very recent movies worth watching, but I'm coming up short. I will definitely watch the new Nosferatu and also Sin City from 2005, which you mentioned. There are usually some great hidden gems among indie films, which do not receive a lot of fanfare from critics or the media. I'm always on the lookout for those!

Cheers,
Joseph

[Nick Ryder]

Hi, @icystorm Joseph

We watched the new Cameron Diaz film 'Back in Action' last night on Netflix.

It was great fun. Kind of like James Bong=d but with lots of laugh out loud moments thrown in and Glenn Close was great as Diaz's mother.

I think every now and then I'm in the mood for films like this which are well made, have lots of action and are easy to watch.

I've always liked Diaz. I think as an acres she's got great comic timing

[icystorm]

@Nick Ryder -- Hi, Nick. I watched the 2024 release of Nosferatu recently, after you mentioned it earlier in this thread. You had written, "...I feel it was more style over substance. Worth a watch but not as good as the critics are making out." I believe that's an accurate assessment. I drew the same conclusion. I would rate it 4 out of 10 stars. Thanks for the tip on the new film Back in Action. I'll check it out soon!

I previewed new and upcoming movies recently. The only one that caught my attention is Locked, starring Anthony Hopkins. It's out next month (March 2025). I watched the film's trailer. Without disclosing any spoilers, there have been at least two other movies that used the same concept/trope. Hopefully it's worth the while to see.

Aside from that, I'm keeping a lookout for indie films, which often have no fanfare. Some are excellent, and they sometimes show up suddenly without attention or advanced notice.

Cheers,
Joseph

[icystorm]

I'm looking forward to seeing the psycho-thriller Locked with Anthony Hopkins soon. I'm also eager to see The Age of Disclosure forthcoming documentary about UFOs!

Cheers,
Joseph

[icystorm]

I finally watched the psycho-thriller Locked with Anthony Hopkins over the past weekend. Overall, I found it to be a mediocre movie. I give it 4 of 10 stars. And after the initial hype months ago over The Age of Disclosure documentary about UFOs, there's been nothing but crickets surrounding it and no news of a release date.

Cheers,
Joseph