We’ve been ill that last week so it’s mainly been watching trashy films/films we’ve previously seen because we didn’t want to start watching a good film and then miss any being asleep. The trashiest of the trashiest is of course was watching the most recent 3 Fast and Furious…we’re not proud of it. They’re all completely bizarre and over the top and even though they’re obviously all the same (fast cars, lots of guns etc.) film 6 and 8 have mirrored plot lines; a member of the crew goes ‘rouge’ and they have to fight their friends. Not that this fact makes it thoughtful, merely something we noticed. However, as one dimensional as the characters are and as predictable and unbelievable as the plot is, that’s what makes the films such a guilty pleasure. They fly cars out of a plane, jump across bridges and catching people in mid-air, and fall from ridiculous heights. For a second time, it’s a serious guilty pleasure and we’ve had our fill for some time…
Another was Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a film we’ve had on our list but didn’t think it would be any good so had been avoiding it, making it perfect for this scenario. Just have to say that you have to credit J.K. Rowling. Rather than spin off new big-screen adventures for the generation-defining boy wizard, she’s opened a completely different wizarding saga: a new era, new country and entirely new characters (at least so far). That’s a lot of world-building to do, so this film has a bit of the same dense exposition of the first two Potter films. But is has some serious structural problems. Rowling’s varied beasts are fun, and brilliantly realised by the effects team, but they’re ultimately a sideshow, and the numerous action sequences to capture each one can drag. The sight of Eddie Redmayne performing a mating dance for a giant hippo-monster will stay with you, but it’s not what we need to see when there’s bad shit happening across town. It’s only in the last act, when Newt focuses on the real threats and discovers the mystery to solve, that the film gets entertaining.
After that we wanted to re-watch Cabin in the Woods because they were talking about it on a podcast we like. It was pretty great revisiting it. After the opening title, we are thrown into the social standard of the guts and glory horror we all know (and some love). Five friends decide to drive their van out to an abandoned cabin in the woods and along the way they come across a creepy old man at a run down petrol station; nothing could go wrong right? And what would a stereotypical horror scenario be without with out it's cliché's characters; the stoner; the jock; the nerd; the popular girl and the virgin - well, sort of. Much to the hilarity of the film the group do just about everything you shouldn't do when in a creepy cabin; which results in them fighting for there lives when suddenly under attack from bombarding creatures of the night. As for the rest of the plot, it's pleasantly far from what you would normally expect; and balances out stunningly between a well mixed cocktail of classic horror and laugh out loud humour.
The Nice Guys was great as always – a pair of sound-hearted good-bad guys off on the trail of a missing porn star in a crime caper.
Gattaca is another excellent film to see many times; 15 minutes into the future and genetic engineering is just pre-emptive plastic surgery. Make the child perfect in the test tube, and save money later. A piece of cinema that is referenced by scientists and philosophers alike.
Towards the end of the week we were well enough to head to the cinema and check out You Were Never Really Here. A very distressing film about death, child abuse and the general pointlessness of life. The cinema was the perfect place to capture the subtlety of the film; sometimes there would just be condensation on a window or a shot of a character’s eyes. Without the gigantic screen these may have been lost.
