I saw Joker.

It's such a shame Phoenix's performance is stuck in such a mediocre film. He's great, but everything else is exactly what you'd expect from the guy who made The Hangover films trying to do a knock off Taxi Driver.

Saw Joker and quite enjoyed it. Won't blow any brains but it's solid, and this is coming from someone with little interest in the Batlad who finds the Joker boring as a character. I was interested mostly for Joaquin Phoenix and he didn't disappoint.

Only thing I didn't like is when it tried to tie Batman into it, which to me felt forced and unnecessary, involving something we've already seen at least five times in a little over a decade.

Went to see The Day Shall Come.

Feels like something that will take a few rewatches to fully appreciate because it's extremely dry and extremely quick when it comes to the gags, but first impressions are that it's good, but not as fantastic as Four Lions was. The subject matter perhaps makes comparisons to that film inevitable, and I never felt as bad for Moses as I did for Waj or Omar. It's probably as funny, the best gags still hit when they need to, but without that emotional connection I don't think it works as well as a whole. Still highly recommended though.

Parasite and The Lighthouse are both fantastic films, check em out!

I re-watched Dark City last night, which I think was the first film we did in this thread as part of a weekly film club a while back. Still really enjoyed it, although maybe my rating at the time of 4.5/5 was a bit high.

Other than that I've been watching a lot of mediocre films on Netflix recently. The film selection on UK Netflix is like 90% garbage, 5% well-known good movies and 5% average/good films. I probably spend more tile scrolling through the lists of films trying to find something than I spend watching the film.

Thankfully the TV series on there aren't so bad. Been watching Mad Men and it's been keeping me amused for a while.

Director's Cut again? Might be interesting to see the difference.

Second after The 400 Blows, but I wouldn't have been able to place it at all without checking the list.

I couldn't remember what version we watched last time, and it's been so long that I couldn't remember the plot anyway. But ye, it was the director's cut. The theatrical version is on the Blu-ray too, so I'll make a mental note to watch that version next time.

I must have skipped that one because I don't even recognize the title. "French new-wave drama film" - that's probably why. I think Rififi is the only French film I've seen.

Knives Out is soooo good!

Went to see The Nightingale, the new film from Jennifer Kent, and her first feature since The Babadook.

It's pretty good. Enjoyed the visuals, couple of really great nightmare sequences and makes good use of the 4:3 frame, but it's a relatively by the numbers affair other than that. It's a revenge story with a suitably detestable villain, great cast all round and good chemistry between the two leads, but it's nothing to write home about. Feels at a few points like it might go off track and do something different with the narrative, but always course corrects and ends up pretty much exactly where you'd expect it to. A decent watch but don't rush out to see it.

Anyone here use Letterboxd? It's been a decent way to keep track of movies I've seen and a motivation to make time for movies I want to catch up on. I don't actually know anyone in the real world who uses it, but I do recall some people form when I was bumming around the NG BBS whose opinions I respected.

https://letterboxd.com/EdRooney/

Yep. https://letterboxd.com/senseoffender/

Society and Hellraiser? Nice.

https://letterboxd.com/Lowlander/

Saw Rise of Skywalker.

It's super safe, one of the least ambitious films I've ever seen, but I was never bored like with The Last Jedi. About on par with Force Awakens, as in extremely mediocre.

what's the best movie this year? between parasite and uncut gems for me

Also, if any NG homies are on Letterboxd lemme know and I'll give ya a follow

Feel like I haven't seen your username in years!

I've only seen 8 films that were released in 2019 and don't think any of them were anything too special. Out of the films I've seen, it's going to be either The Irishman or The Highwaymen.

Looks like I rated The Irishman slightly higher on Letterboxd, but I'll give it to The Highwaymen instead. Maybe my memory is hazy, but I feel like it was the more enjoyable film. The Irishman was good but it really didn't go above and beyond what I was expecting from it, and having to watch an old Robert De Niro "beat up" that store owner made me cringe.

Parasite and The Lighthouse were great but didn't blow me away. Think I was too hyped for The Lighthouse so it might be better on a rewatch.

Loved Parasite although it lost me a bit by the end. I was interested in it for the director and didn't know how much acclaim it's gotten (highest ranked film of all time on letterboxd) til after I watched it, which is surely a good thing since I would've only been underwhelmed.

Honestly I don't normally rank marvel films this high, and I doubt I ever will again, but nothing's topped Endgame for me this year and I find that slightly embarrassing. I still have a lot to catch up on so hopefully some of the lesser hyped films will click with me

As someone who greatly enjoyed both 7 and 8 I found this one decent, but by far the weakest of the trilogy and its heel turns and lack of conviction diminish the previous two. This was poised to be my favorite SW trilogy by a good margin, then it runs away with its tail between its legs.

Not that it really matters, The Mandalorian is where shit is at right now. Probably my favorite SW thing outside the original two films.

I didn't watch it until it was finished and thought it was really good but not the revelation people were hyping it as.

I really liked the structure, especially in the middle of the season, of shorter self contained episodes with a loose arc running through everything. I'm absolutely sick of fully serialised shows, just don't have the patience for them any more, give me an actual beginning, middle and end each week and I'll be a lot happier. I hope we get more of that, because it seems like the basic premise going forward (searching for more Yodas) lends itself to them stopping somewhere new, solving a local problem, then flying off to another new planet next week.

Baby Yoda is an awful gremlin with weird little monster hands and horrible stubby limbs that should be dropkicked off a bridge ASAP though.

I went to the cinema for the first time in ages this year to see the 70th Anniversary of Carol Reed's The Third Man. It was all in black-and-white but that didn't matter. It was a great film with a story with twists and turns and some stunning cinematography. No need for special effects or anything like that. Just good writing and characters.

If you haven't seen it and enjoy a good mystery then I would recommend checking it out.

I think people are paradoxically starved for good SW content. There's a billion spinoffs but it's all spread across different media that wont necessarily be compatible with most fans. This is somehow the first side thing that's extremely close to the core trilogy in its design and taps into the same energy that made people fanatic to begin with and kept the rest of the franchise afloat.

I don't mind serialized shows since I don't watch much TV to begin with, but I definitely agree and the format of those episodes felt retro in a great way. That said, I found those middle episodes the weakest just because the stories weren't that interesting. I hope season 2 gets some really good writers on board and focuses on one-off stories that explore more weird and memorable concepts.

The big budget might be working against it on that end, no need to come up with interesting brainfood stories when every episode can just have Mando blow shit up.

Also a sidenote about baby yoda, he could be dismissed as a viral marketing tool and he;s everywhere now, but he was kept secret until his reveal in the show. Even the toys didn't spoil it, so there was a gap of a few weeks where everyone was raving about him but no merch was available. I think that's kinda neato.

I watch hardly anything these days and the fact it's all serialised plays a big part in that. It's far harder to do well and too many of then are packed with empty filler or constant cliffhangers and cockteasing without any satisfying payoff. You really need to have your show planned from beginning to end for it to work, but it feels like most wing it a season at a time.

The other reason I don't watch much anymore is because David Lynch ruined television by making Twin Peaks: The Return so good that everything else feels hollow and pointless in comparison.

If we get a Star Wars show exploring high concept sci-fi ideas while Star Trek is depressingly committed to being action schlock we've officially entered bizzaro world.

The only of the middle episodes that didn't work for me was the one with the rookie bounty hunter, though. I enjoyed the AT-ST and prison break ones.

I don't want to dismiss him I want to catapult him into the sea.

Any animated movies that look cool lately?

Have you heard of Bird Boy or Where Black Birds Fly?

Bird boy looks neat!

I got my hands on a legitimate publication of a film called The Wild Geese from 1978. The reason I got it was because it's one of several films about a topic I sometimes read about: Mercenaries hired to fight in The Congo. The film was based on their personal experiences and was given personal consulting from Thomas Michael "Mad Mike" Hoare who, along with many other mercenaries, fought in numerous conflicts throughout Africa during the 1960s. He has even attempted to start a coup at one point.

The premise is rather straightforward: A colonel is hired by a shady financier to rescue an African president who is due to be executed by a general commanding an army of rebels known as The Simbas. He goes on to recruit his old crew, as well as hire and train mostly ex-military recruits to carry out the mission. Wacky shenanigans ensue.

Apparently a good number of the actors hated the filming of it, but nonetheless it's a fun little adventure. But of course it's the real stories that are more interesting. Many interesting characters - As you would expect from mercenaries.

Just watched Uncut Gems, it's a banger. Easily my top for 2019, for now. (@sumidiotdude)

Also, watched Ad Astra and Hobbs & Shaw on a flight recently. Ad Astra had a lot going for it but didn't quite hit the mark for me, I've seen too many better things in the same vein (it's basically Heart of Darkness but in space). It also has constant, needless voiceover narration and an ending that's very bizarrely bright for the kind of story it is, both of those to me scream of studio interference.

Hobbs & Shaw was retarded, two guys who drive fast have to team up and fight a cyborg. It has a lot of the same issues as most big budget films (bloat and CG overload) but it's still a lot of fun and the stunts were just silly enough without going full on fantasy nonsense.

Went to see The Lighthouse. Loved it, glad I waited until it hit cinemas over here, my sound system could not have done that justice.

Hi I’m a young artist that would like to try to be the next big thing in Newgrounds ether by making animations or with my art

Went back and finally finished Twin Peaks: The Return. I liked the ending, but can't say I wasn't disappointed. I wasn't expecting closure going in, but part 16 and 17, and the earlier Ed/Norma thing, successfully baited me into hoping for a conclusive ending only for the finale to take a severe Lynchian left turn.

I actually think it's genius and has me obsessed with the show again. I'd just have liked a couple more loose ends tied up before slapping us with the end. More than a little miffed at the almost total absence of Audrey while having time for a staggering amount of subplots that led nowhere.

Bit ironic placing these two sentiments together. I'd imagine empty filler, constant cliffhangers and cockteasing without satisfying payoff is exactly how many would describe the Return, along with hollow and pointless. @Dean for eg.