We watched Rocketman last night. I am so confused about whether or not I enjoyed it. I was not expecting it to be a musical, so that threw me immediately when the whole vil-de-sac burst into song and dance. I didn’t particularly like the framing within the rehab centre, looking back (not a spoiler, it’s the first 60 seconds of the film).
I found some of the musical performances quite difficult to watch/listen to from the supporting cast.
It wasn’t a bad film, I think I was just expecting something different. Weirdly, I was expecting something more on par with the Eddie The Eagle film, and I found out afterwards that the guy playing Elton is the same guy who played Eddie.
I found some of the musical performances quite difficult to watch/listen to from the supporting cast.
It wasn’t a bad film, I think I was just expecting something different. Weirdly, I was expecting something more on par with the Eddie The Eagle film, and I found out afterwards that the guy playing Elton is the same guy who played Eddie.
Oh i didn't realise Rocketman was a musical, I thought it was going to be a bit more like Bohemian Rhapsody (which I through was superb).
I quite like Elton John, but I'm not particularly fond of musical-films. This sees it slip a bit further down my to-watch list.
I quite like Elton John, but I'm not particularly fond of musical-films. This sees it slip a bit further down my to-watch list.
Same. It’s not that it was ‘bad’ and on the whole the songs they chose at various points really did fit the plot forwarding, but I wasn’t expecting it and really would have enjoyed more of the simple drama side, which was relatively short due to the amount of time taken up by full songs. I was expecting music in the film (as part of musical performances on stage, etc) but not full musical numbers.
Also... the direction was odd. I was 100% convinced after watching it that this was a stage show made into a film and that they’d used a lot of the on-stage direction... but it wasn’t. A lot of it seems to have been directed as if it was a stage musical.
Also... the direction was odd. I was 100% convinced after watching it that this was a stage show made into a film and that they’d used a lot of the on-stage direction... but it wasn’t. A lot of it seems to have been directed as if it was a stage musical.
Sir Taxalot wrote:
Oh i didn't realise Rocketman was a musical, I thought it was going to be a bit more like Bohemian Rhapsody (which I through was superb).
I quite like Elton John, but I'm not particularly fond of musical-films. This sees it slip a bit further down my to-watch list.
I quite like Elton John, but I'm not particularly fond of musical-films. This sees it slip a bit further down my to-watch list.
As a counterpoint, I thought Rocketman was really good - and the film Bohemian Rhapsody might have been. But I had heard Kermode's review, so was primed for the oddness.
I definitely think the unexpectedness of it was part of the reason I didn’t quite get into it, but I do wish there was more of the non-musical bits, because it was the story I found interesting, rather than the production.
I too was expecting something more akin to Bohemian Rhapsody, and don't really like musicals, but I did quite like Rocketman. I also watched Yesterday shortly after, and I really quite enjoyed all of them.
devilman wrote:
If you have Amazon Prime, Sound of Metal is worth a watch.
It's a little too long at just over two hours, but I enjoyed it.
Quote:
Metal drummer Ruben begins to lose his hearing. When a doctor tells him his condition will worsen, he thinks his career and life is over. His girlfriend Lou checks the former addict into a rehab for the deaf hoping it will prevent a relapse and help him adapt to his new life. After being welcomed and accepted just as he is, Ruben must choose between his new normal and the life he once knew.
It's a little too long at just over two hours, but I enjoyed it.
It's really, really, good.
Is it “banging”?
DBSnappa wrote:
Is it “banging”?
Nah, it was sound.
Reckon we'll be watching this Army of the Dead thing on Netflix tonight, looks fun!
markg wrote:
Reckon we'll be watching this Army of the Dead thing on Netflix tonight, looks fun!
Is it any good? I'll probably end up watching it and it's reviewed OK, but I don't want to sink 2 1/2 hours into a load of shit.
I'm not thrilled by the premise of the whole thing.
I’ve watched Army of the Dead.
It was ... alright I guess. I knew I wasn’t going to get an actual zombie movie and my brain was firmly turned off before I watched it. But even then it was fucking dumb as shit. This dude is like “don’t touch my chainsaw” and then someone else picks up his chainsaw and he’s like “don’t ever touch my chainsaw” and we have a number of shots with this big chainsaw. It’s big. It’s round. It looks like the saw spitter from Dead Space. It looks big and nasty and you can tell bodies are getting gibbed in a fucking major way.
He never uses the chainsaw.
3/10
It was ... alright I guess. I knew I wasn’t going to get an actual zombie movie and my brain was firmly turned off before I watched it. But even then it was fucking dumb as shit. This dude is like “don’t touch my chainsaw” and then someone else picks up his chainsaw and he’s like “don’t ever touch my chainsaw” and we have a number of shots with this big chainsaw. It’s big. It’s round. It looks like the saw spitter from Dead Space. It looks big and nasty and you can tell bodies are getting gibbed in a fucking major way.
He never uses the chainsaw.
3/10
I also watched Love & Monsters. A Netflix exclusive. I don’t know about the rest of you but films filmed at higher frame rates don’t look very ... filmic? Shit knows what my problem is but I was very aware I was watching a set. Anyway, some of the CG is trash, the story is bollocks, the main actor is from Mazerunner, I think, and he’s terrible as the ‘likeable dork’ with his endless fucking narration that’s supposed to be cute; the stupid “here’s a guy who can’t shoot but learns to shoot by someone telling him to empty his head” cliche is present and correct; and by the end I was fiddling with my phone.
2/10
2/10
I also watched Don’t Mess with The Zohan.
Don’t ask why.
It made me think that the Palestinians and Israelis should actually watch this film to squash their hate and come together. To murder Adam Sandler.
Don’t ask why.
It made me think that the Palestinians and Israelis should actually watch this film to squash their hate and come together. To murder Adam Sandler.
Satsuma wrote:
I also watched Love & Monsters. A Netflix exclusive. I don’t know about the rest of you but films filmed at higher frame rates don’t look very ... filmic? Shit knows what my problem is but I was very aware I was watching a set. Anyway, some of the CG is trash, the story is bollocks, the main actor is from Mazerunner, I think, and he’s terrible as the ‘likeable dork’ with his endless fucking narration that’s supposed to be cute; the stupid “here’s a guy who can’t shoot but learns to shoot by someone telling him to empty his head” cliche is present and correct; and by the end I was fiddling with my phone.
2/10
2/10
You really are dead inside.
It was a great film.. 
Satsuma wrote:
I don’t know about the rest of you but films filmed at higher frame rates don’t look very ... filmic? Shit knows what my problem is but I was very aware I was watching a set.
I felt like this the whole way through The Queen's Gambit, which was otherwise great.
Cras wrote:
Satsuma wrote:
I don’t know about the rest of you but films filmed at higher frame rates don’t look very ... filmic? Shit knows what my problem is but I was very aware I was watching a set.
I felt like this the whole way through The Queen's Gambit, which was otherwise great.
Yep, same here, it feels a bit like a TV show and not like the 'event' that I feel a film should be.
This, along with the processing stuff that modern TVs tend to try and do (unless you turn it all off), is something that I find quite unwelcome as a development.
Are you sure it's not your TVs adding the extra frames in? Both of these just looked like the usual cinematic sort of frame rates to me 
We watched a film at an Airbnb where cinema mode was turned on and it was so 'real' that we simply didn't enjoy it. Once we worked out how to put the TV into a better display it was much easier in the eye even if the picture wasn't as 'good'.
I don't think I notice the difference.
MaliA wrote:
I don't think I notice the difference.
Nor me, other than the brightness changes..
This is The Hobbit running at 48fps. I had a quick look at Love and Monsters on Netflix and it seemed to be 24fps
I think most everything on Netflix is 24fps. Apparently younger people don't have the same association between higher frame rates and TV. Seems like it's more a problem for older people like us, but it is definitely hardwired in there that smooth motion looks like TV therefore a bit low rent. Although the reason for everything being 24fps to begin with was partly down to cost saving as well, basically the lowest they could get away with. It's a funny old world. I thought that Hobbit thing looked okay at 48fps, though. But there's a difference between that and a TV just making up frames to shove in between I suppose.
I didn't get to see The Hobbit at 48p in the cinema and I feel like I missed out as there's unlikely to be many more 48p movies
Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_f ... rame_rates Not many at all
Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_f ... rame_rates Not many at all
Me too, but I had no interest in the film so I would have been going just to see the frame rate.
markg wrote:
Me too, but I had no interest in the film so I would have been going just to see the frame rate.
Someone from the PC games thread will be along in a moment to tell you you’re wrong…
I’m 100% convinced that’s not 24FPS or there’s some motion smoothing thang going on. It might be 30FPS perhaps, but I can’t find anything on it with a very cursory google search. The only technical specs I can see on IMDb relate to the cameras and they can shoot anything up to 90FPS.
I’ve been wrong before of course.
I bet @hearthly could find out or download it and test the frames or sommuts. I don’t know how things work.
I’ve been wrong before of course.
I bet @hearthly could find out or download it and test the frames or sommuts. I don’t know how things work. This is on the PC:
I still think it's your TV somehow ended up not in movie mode or something.
Attachment:
Capture.PNG
I still think it's your TV somehow ended up not in movie mode or something.
What's Movie Mode?
MaliA wrote:
What's Movie Mode?
Tom Cruise's nemesis
Movie mode should turn off motion smoothing shouldn't it? Not sure on ours as I don't use the presets.
I got a new TV in the last few months so have been throwing YouTube 4K/HDR content at it to try it out. The old TV was a 10 year old 720p set so even proper HD is new to me.
Anyway, on my trawling I came across this Gemini Man clip that is in 60 FPS if anyone wants to see what that actually looks like. It's, well, interesting.
Anyway, on my trawling I came across this Gemini Man clip that is in 60 FPS if anyone wants to see what that actually looks like. It's, well, interesting.
things just stop looking "cinematic" don't they. Like the sheen of cinema is scrubbed off.
Yeah, it looks like someone's home movie
In the stunt sequences it feels like you're watching a "making of" thing.
It reminds me strongly of an old school arcade game, I think it was called Mad Dog Mcree or something like that. Video projection screen, rifle controllers. Not sure why it reminds me of that.
What it does do, is make the action boring. Or maybe it's the glacial editing that's doing that
What it does do, is make the action boring. Or maybe it's the glacial editing that's doing that
The motorcycle bits are particularly offensive as you can tell when it’s sped up.
Gemini Man with Will Smith wasn't great though, and that'd be true at any FPS
DavPaz wrote:
It reminds me strongly of an old school arcade game, I think it was called Mad Dog Mcree or something like that. Video projection screen, rifle controllers. Not sure why it reminds me of that.
I would have thought that Mad Dog McCree would have been shot at 24fps but would have been compressed even more to turn it into a game. I dunno though, I'm only guessing. What I am sure of though is that it wouldn't have been shot at 60fps. Anyway, Mad Dog McCree has the best graphics of a game ever. Shame it's so hard.
Film review: 1922 (netflix) is a cautionary tale about murdering your wife and also an horrific film but does it with taste and style. worth a gander.
Streaming services do different things on different platforms - queen's gambit definitely didn't seem high frame rate to me but that's on Xbox one, maybe on a series X or ps5 it is though. That kind of thing.
Terminator Dark Fate was actually OK, I'd say it was a fair margin better than all the other stuff that came after T2.
I've watched two Benedict Cucumberpatch vehicles recently, The Courier and The Mauritanian (in the latter he's not the lead) - both movies that are ostensibly true stories.
Both very good movies, for very different reasons. The Courier tells the story of Greville Wynne, a businessman from Britain who in the 1960s was persuaded by MI6 and the CIA to essentially be a mule for secret documents that a USSR defector (Oleg Penkovsky) was smuggling out of the Soviet Union. It's your fairly standard Cold War espionage thriller, but where it differs from most is that it is very much centred around the friendship and personal relationship between Wynne and Penkovsky, and the loyalty that they had for each other even in the face of certain death. Excellently acted by both Cabbagepatch and Merab Ninidze, and a good show from Jessie Buckley, who I recognised as the wife of one of the doomed firefighters in the Chernobyl miniseries.
7.5/10
The Mauritanian is about Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was taken prisoner by the USA and held at Gitmo for over 10 years without ever being charged of a crime, and suffered extreme torture and physical, mental and sexual abuse in a bid to make him "crack". Tahar Rahim plays the titular character and does a stellar job of getting across the emotional turmoil and physical stresses that he was put under while imprisoned. Jodie Foster plays a defence attorney with an axe to grind against the US Government and decides to take on Slahi's case, with Cummerbund playing her counterpart for the prosecution. This film again tries to shy away from some of the "tough" topics that they could have dealt with, focusing instead on the personal relationships between Slahi and his lawyer, as well as another inmate at Gitmo that he befriends early on. They do eventually go into some of the awful things that the US Government did to the prisoners at Gitmo, and it's nothing less than shocking.
8.5/10
Both very good movies, for very different reasons. The Courier tells the story of Greville Wynne, a businessman from Britain who in the 1960s was persuaded by MI6 and the CIA to essentially be a mule for secret documents that a USSR defector (Oleg Penkovsky) was smuggling out of the Soviet Union. It's your fairly standard Cold War espionage thriller, but where it differs from most is that it is very much centred around the friendship and personal relationship between Wynne and Penkovsky, and the loyalty that they had for each other even in the face of certain death. Excellently acted by both Cabbagepatch and Merab Ninidze, and a good show from Jessie Buckley, who I recognised as the wife of one of the doomed firefighters in the Chernobyl miniseries.
7.5/10
The Mauritanian is about Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was taken prisoner by the USA and held at Gitmo for over 10 years without ever being charged of a crime, and suffered extreme torture and physical, mental and sexual abuse in a bid to make him "crack". Tahar Rahim plays the titular character and does a stellar job of getting across the emotional turmoil and physical stresses that he was put under while imprisoned. Jodie Foster plays a defence attorney with an axe to grind against the US Government and decides to take on Slahi's case, with Cummerbund playing her counterpart for the prosecution. This film again tries to shy away from some of the "tough" topics that they could have dealt with, focusing instead on the personal relationships between Slahi and his lawyer, as well as another inmate at Gitmo that he befriends early on. They do eventually go into some of the awful things that the US Government did to the prisoners at Gitmo, and it's nothing less than shocking.
8.5/10
Escape From Pretoria last night. Another movie based on a true story.
Harry Potter and a couple of chums try (and eventually succeed) to escape from Pretoria Central Prison (known as the Robben Island for whites) in apartheid'd South Africa. Professor Quirrell, another Hogwarts alumni, is another inmate.
I do love a good prison escape movie (Escape From Alcatraz, with Clint Eastwood is one of my favourite movies, so damned tense) and for the most part, this one was good. There's a non-trivial amount of anti-apartheid/pro-ANC stuff in the movie, but at the same time the movie doesn't seem to quite know whether it's trying to make a point with it.
Radcliffe is actually pretty damned good in it, and with his South African accent his voice is almost unrecognisable. He shows more range in this one movie than he did in seven Harry Potter flicks.
Harry Potter and a couple of chums try (and eventually succeed) to escape from Pretoria Central Prison (known as the Robben Island for whites) in apartheid'd South Africa. Professor Quirrell, another Hogwarts alumni, is another inmate.
I do love a good prison escape movie (Escape From Alcatraz, with Clint Eastwood is one of my favourite movies, so damned tense) and for the most part, this one was good. There's a non-trivial amount of anti-apartheid/pro-ANC stuff in the movie, but at the same time the movie doesn't seem to quite know whether it's trying to make a point with it.
Radcliffe is actually pretty damned good in it, and with his South African accent his voice is almost unrecognisable. He shows more range in this one movie than he did in seven Harry Potter flicks.
Sir Taxalot wrote:
Terminator Dark Fate was actually OK, I'd say it was a fair margin better than all the other stuff that came after T2.
Concur. Bits of it were superb, and the humour was great in places.
Nobody. Good (vicious) fun. I'm sure there are criticisms, but why bother? If Keanu Reeves is John Wick in one city, Bob Odenkirk is in another, doing their thing.
Double cinema day!
Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard. Big dumb fun, really enjoyed it.
Quiet Place II. Didn't need a sequel, got one, and it's really good. Great sound, great visuals, great performances. Couple of shameless jump scares in there that took me all the way back to Resident Evil.
Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard. Big dumb fun, really enjoyed it.
Quiet Place II. Didn't need a sequel, got one, and it's really good. Great sound, great visuals, great performances. Couple of shameless jump scares in there that took me all the way back to Resident Evil.
I watched the Blind side. It has to be one of the best Sandra Bullocks films, and it makes me weep. Sandra's acting is sublime. Her family take in a gentle giant of a boy and it is his story, of how be become a NFL giant.
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