Talk about FILMS you’ve just seen!
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I know, but I was referring to (or at least it’s my impression) that the Dollars trilogy + ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST are his most famous/iconic/well-regarded spaghetti westerns.
Yeah, sorry, I literally realized that after I posted!
Speaking of films and school, I remember in 7th or 8th grade, we had a “free class” one day, meaning we could choose a film to watch (on a TV and VHS system the teacher rolled into the room). With a friend of mine, I chose TREMORS to watch for all of us. The teacher, a rather ‘anorak’ woman, was appalled by our choice when she saw the monster gore. 😀
Great. I can remember that once we had a class trip to a country hostel (hope that’s the right term) and they had a room with a VHS and we choose to watch RAMBO III. I think some teachers were also not that fond of it but we were too old for them to prohibit that 😉
Just back from seeing the latest SPIDERMAN film.
Way too long and pretty much more of the same old, same old.
My least favourite of the Tom Holland editions.
Probably superhero fatigue has a lot to do with it.
It ended stronger than it began. The first hour or so was sooooo boring.
The score was also the weakest of the lot. I think Giacchino needs to take a break from scoring. His recent efforts have been poor*, by comparison to his many other (much better) scores.* I did really like FANTASTIC FOUR FIRST STEPS though. He seemed jazzed for that one.
I understand it’s now become the biggest box office hit of all time?
I suppose that’s the sole reason I should watch it; to be on top of all things pop culture. But I have zero interest. I was super-heroed out a long time ago.
It’s number 3 in global box office. Number 1 in North America all time.
God knows how. The other ones were much better to me.Crazy. For fun, I looked up where Jurassic Park is now, which was the big deal until Titanic. It’s not even in the top 50 now. Lots of inane superhero stuff has taken over, including this new Spider-Man thing.
Indeed. But bear in mind that none of the recent big hits have been adjusted for inflation, and the prices these days including IMAX prices, which are off the chart (and attract A LOT of people) make a massive difference.
Crazy. For fun, I looked up where Jurassic Park is now, which was the big deal until Titanic. It’s not even in the top 50 now.
It’s on 43 worldwide, if that’s consolation.
Two press screenings today:
BUTTERFLY (2026)
I liked Itonje Søimer Guttormsen’s previous film, GRITT (2021). She’s very good at low culture vs. high culture, keeping or losing facades, circular narratives (rather than linear) and so on. And she does it again here, with higher budget: Two sisters who don’t get along (one of them played by the ubiquitous Renate Reinsve) investigate their mother’s death on Grand Canaria. Great, largely electronic score by Erik Ljunggren, who also did GRITT.
THE HEART OF THE BEAST (2026)I don’t like dogs, and this looked like a CALL OF THE WILD-type story with Brad Pitt and a dog. But I gave it a shot. It’s not very good. Perhaps medium minus. I went into it for some great ‘survival in Alaska’-type things, but none of the setpieces were particularly engrossing. Turns rather sentimental, and again – I don’t like live action films where they try to ‘humanize’ the animals. Dog lovers will no doubt appreciate it. The score by Jared Michael Fry (who?) had some nice Oriental colours, as if the story took place in Nepal or something (maybe it’s supposed to mirror Native American sounds instead), but also some non-descript suspense stuff.
Also:
I’m doing a Q&A with Warren Ellis in a month, so need to re-watch some films he and Nick Cave have scored. Not a big fan, but it’s a job. Re-watched THE PROPOSITION, THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD and THE ROAD so far, but I have a long way to go. They have a pretty big back catalogue, and I won’t be able to see everything. Must pick and choose. Looking forward to a re-watch of MUSTANG (2015), though, which was one of my favourite films that year, and which Ellis scored solo, without Cave.
I’m doing a Q&A with Warren Ellis in a month, so need to re-watch some films he and Nick Cave have scored. Not a big fan, but it’s a job.
They fall more in the category “servicable” as we discussed on the other topic. I have only three scores. Besides the mentioned THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES … I hve WIND RIVER (which I remeber to have liked) and WAR MACHINE (which I have actual no memory of right now…).
I saw the trailer for that new Brad Pitt film before Spidey, and it reminded me a bit of that Liam Neeson one in the snow (THE GREY?).
Some ropey CGI too (the bit were he swings the dog up, while hanging one-armed from a log, was both rough-looking and ridiculous).
I’ll give that one a miss.Just came back from:
DIGGER (2026)
God, that was annoying. I get and appreciate what Iñárritu is trying to do – to make a satire out of the crazy oligarchs and political leaders in the world. But the method, man, the method! This is a bit like the director’s BIRDMAN – a theatrical meta affair. I wasn’t a fan of that movie either. But this one takes it even further: It’s basically two+ hours of people screaming and yelling constantly. Very hysterical. In fact, it undermines the very satirical effect Iñárritu is after. There’s good craft here – especially some of the imagery, and Tom Cruise’s make-up/histrionics – but that doesn’t help. If there’s one thing worse than a bad film, it’s an irritating film. And this is one of those.
Iñárritu’s THE REVENANT is one of my favourite films of the entire 2010s. It’s amazing that he can go from that to this.
Not familiar with him, I’m afraid. You mean the yelling bit? Or the theatre bit? I have problems with yelling films. A reason for why I can’t stand Maïwenn either.
Crikey, I keep forgetting to post about new viewings here.
Anyways, some more films with Warren Ellis scores:
KINGS (2017)
What a letdown after Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s superb MUSTANG. There’s a lot of drama surrounding the 1991 Rodney King riots, but the film never lives out its potential as it depicts a family caught in the crossfire. Ergüven must have felt the same, because she left filmmaking after this and focussed on TV.
WIND RIVER (2017)
Pretty good neo-Western crime drama set to a reservation in Wyoming. Directed by Taylor Sheridan, who would go on to YELLOWSTONE fame. Wintery and chilly, great mood.
THE NEW BOY (2023)
Australian drama starring Cate Blanchett as a nun in 1940s Australia, and a young, indigenous boy with supernatural powers she takes in. Lots of potential, but weird narrative structure and too long for what it has to say. But some great Cave/Ellis moments, one of the best they’ve done, I think.
Also:
MIDNIGHT RUN (1988)
As mentioned in another thread, a rewatch with two of my mates. Still dig this film. And spectacular Elfman score.
Then some Norwegian kiddie films that weren’t very good — NORTH (but great score by Raymond Enoksen), RUFUS – THE SEA SERPENT WHO COULDN’T SWIM and THE BADGERS.
And finally a new good Norwegian-US film:
FLOPHOUSE AMERICA (2026)
Beautiful documentary about a young boy and his alcoholic parents, living in a tiny motel room. Puts the finger on US poverty, and surviving against all odds. Lots of human resilience in that young boy. One of the best films I’ve seen this year, this.
We Bury the Dead (Zak Hilditch, 2025) (5/10)
I like movies from all kinds of genres, but I have always had a particular fable for Westerns and apocalyptical stories. They put people on the spot: no laws, no civilization, no higher court to call on… you’ve got to make your own choices and then you live with them. Or not… death is always right around the corner in these movies.
I was genuinely happy when 28 Days Later and Zack Snyder’s Dawn Of The Dead (my all time favorite “Zombie” movie) revived the zombie genre and dragged it out of the gore-soaked basements of 70s and early‑80s exploitation VHS movies to the feuilleton sections of respectable newspapers. Suddenly, the undead were not just chewing on limbs… it was the horror of the human behavior that was put under the magnifying glass. The Walking Dead, in its early seasons, was terrific television — some of the best written TV episodes ever were from that phase of the show — before it wandered off into its own wilderness and the final seasons became just meandering around the same tropes.
So here is another zombie movie, and if you want to do zombies again, you need a new angle. We Bury The Dead certainly tries. The zombies here are not immediately threatening. They are frightening by their mere presence. How would people react if the recently deceased simply got up and did… nothing? Just stood there, staring. That is a quietly horrifying idea, and the film leans into it for quite a long stretch before anything traditionally dangerous happens. Eventually, of course, even these zombies turn threatening, but that arrives in the second half… so if you’re hoping for “horror”… you’re in for a stretch.
The result is perhaps the most contemplative and mournful zombie film I have seen, more elegy than horror. It is an interesting idea, though not entirely successful, and certainly not convincing enough to carry the whole premise. There are creepy scenes in the later half, and the actors are uniformly strong. It is nice to see Daisy Ridley in a more fleshed-out lead role than she ever got in the Star Wars franchise, where she mostly had to look determined while stuff happend around her.
But overall, We Bury the Dead tries to be both spooky and meaningful, and ends up falling short on both fronts. Not disastrously so… just enough that you walk away thinking: well, that was fine for ninety minutes, but not something to write home about. A decent watch, not a must see. Skip or watch as you see fit.
WIND RIVER (2017)
Pretty good neo-Western crime drama set to a reservation in Wyoming. Directed by Taylor Sheridan, who would go on to YELLOWSTONE fame. Wintery and chilly, great mood.
Funny that you mention it, I saw this a few weeks ago and thought I wrote something about it here… Apparently I didn’t. But I agree, that was pretty good, great setting, great mood. I loved tension scenes when they investigated the remote oil-drilling location.
WE BURY THE DEAD was a real positive surprise for me. I loved that slow, contemplative approach (for the most part). I see I gave it 3 out of 5 stars on MUBI.
A few more:
SAMI VS. SAMI (2026)
A commendable Norwegian documentary about two sami tribes in a legal battle, but so many papers, procedurals and dry-ness. Didn’t live up to its potential.
MY FIRST LOVE (2026)
Again, a commendable story about a young disabled, wheelchair-bound girl who wants to move away from home, and starts a relationship with a fellow student, but it fails to ignite anything other than strained relationships.
SIGNIFICANT OTHER (2025)
Quite interesting sci fi with Maika Monroe about shapeshifters and alien invasion. It makes a few weird tone shifts along the way, but engrossing “sci fi in the woods”.
SPIDER-MAN: A BRAND NEW DAY (2026)
Well, I had to see it because it’s such a blockbuster. It was okay, but it irks me that fairly formulaic films like this are able to top the alltime lists over proper event films.
WORLD-BREAKER (2025)
Another intriguing post-apocalyptic/alien invasion film, but it’s basically a set-up to a series. It ends just as it’s about to start. However, I dig the isolated aspect of it, as a father and his daughter train for survival on an island. Don’t need the big monster clashes. Milla Jovovich is underused.
We watched Spider Man – Far From Home a few days ago, and that one was really enjoyable. Just all around excellently done. Amazing that Marvel can still make a fresh superhero movie after all that time.
Now I know some love Superhero movies (they are obviously among the biggest box office draws of all time), while others hate them (never watch them at all) or have “super hero movie fatigue”, since there are simply so many of them.
Not sure where I fall, somewhere within these realms I guess. I don’t have any genre preferences, and I love a good superhero movie and I dislike a bad one. Fact is, there are so many, I don’t keep up. I haven’t seen all the Marvel films and don’t know all the interconnected story-lines and what not, but it’s nice that Marvel structures their films now basically the way they structured their comic books half century ago.
Anyway, so much for the intro, suffice to say: we haven’t seen a super hero movie in some time. Because I don’t go out of my way to watch them. Nicole doesn’t really care about superhero movies either.
But we both ended up enjoying Spider Man – Far From Home very much so. It was fun, it was fresh, it had a good villain (SPOILER: Jake Gyllenhaal is the villain), and while there need to be spectacular “super hero fights super villain” action set pieces, the movie actually had fun with them, and they didn’t take center stage. Center stage was rather Peter Parker’s attempts to balance his life as friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and just being a regular student with a crush on MJ. It’s that part that was well done and charming and we ended up liking the movie a lot.I enjoyed that one and the previous ones. And I also did enjoy the sequel NO WAY HOME with its multiverse stuff. Haven’t seen the latest.
I recently again watched THE BRIDGE ON RIVER KWAI on arte (I love that they show all these old movies no other TV station does) after probably decades and I was surprised how sparse it was scored in general. Only some key scenes had music as far as I remember and with its full orchestra even sometimes felt a bit too much. However I only have the Chandos CD with the suite and that is great. The marches – the Bogey one and Arnolds’s original – that originally are combined are separated as counterpoints here are seperate tracks. But actually they are not the best tracks anyway.
I also watched POLICE PYTHON 357 that Delerue scored. Also very sparesely scored and the main title and finale is basically diagetic music bleeding into film score technically. Also interesting how raw those old police movies are shot compared with the high glossy color corrected ones of today.
Some stinkers I’ve had to endure of late.
WAR MACHINE on Netflix, starring the charisma-free lump of meat Alan Ritchson (this is the first thing I’ve seen him in). It’s basically a hotch-potch of other films (Predator, Edge of Tomorrow, Terminator) thrown onto an A.I mixer to serve up mindless dross. Awful.
Then we watched SMILE 2.
Now I think I quite liked the first one, up to a point. But this one is friggin awful. 2 hours of unscary, senseless tedium featuring horrible characters you couldn’t give a toot about. It’s films like this that makes me dislike modern horror films so much. A complete waste of 2 hours I will never get back.I absolutely love SMILE 2, as I believe I mentioned earlier in the thread. Satire and horror hand in hand. And Ray Nicholson!
WAR MACHINE, I haven’t seen. I tried to watch that old satirical Brad Pitt film by the same name a few days ago, but had to turn off. Not for me.
There are two things I like from a horror film.
To be scared.
And to care about some characters.
None of that happened during SMILE 2.
And those godawful Lady Gaga style songs 🤬🤬
There was nothing to smile about for me.
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