Last film watched..

[ramone]

Good call there ramone.

Have seen their vehicles around the Somme area and can confirm from others that they know how to conduct these tours. One of their vehicles was at the Lochnager crater site when we made a visit there. (We bought a memorial plaque there for my wife's great grandfather who was killed on the Somme in 1916.)

Mate tbh they are dedicated to their job and even had a memorial put up in a village that depicts a piper on top of a sandbag mound which they paid for says something about them.
I have some good memories and excellent pictures from out there.

 

[Alistair20000]

1917.

Just back and I agree with Hants and art. A must watch film.

This is not a film where the word “enjoyable” seems appropriate. It is tense, gripping, shocking and breathtaking. There are scenes where you feel you are in the firing line from German soldiers, buried in the bunker as the booby trap is set off, hit by the ricocheting bullet in the fight with the sniper, falling into the raging torrent of the river. Brilliantly directed.

The horrors of that particularly dreadful war are graphic.

The film lacks a little authenticity as a lot of it was shot in England but that is probably because I know the part of France where it is set very well. Not really a criticism.

 

[Oldsmobile-88]

Calibre(2018)
Two friends go hunting deer in a remote part of Scotland,one accidentally kills a boy who’s father stumbles on the scene..Very tense film.
Excellent...Better than any Hollywood blockbuster with their usual happy ever after ending.

9.5/10

 

[LOG]

1917.

This is not a film where the word “enjoyable” seems appropriate. It is tense, gripping, shocking and breathtaking. There are scenes where you feel you are in the firing line from German soldiers, buried in the bunker as the booby trap is set off, hit by the ricocheting bullet in the fight with the sniper, falling into the raging torrent of the river. Brilliantly directed.

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

Whilst I agree with the above (nearly done a poo when the booby trap went off), I was left slightly disappointed by the film as a whole as I was expecting a 10/10 Oscar shoe-in which I felt it wasn't. I wasn't convinced by the single camera shot approach as it seemed to drag some passages out for longer than necessary but then at other times there seemed to be unexplained leaps in the plot and I came away with several questions.

• Who milked the cow?
• How did the troops who arrived at the farm get there? The mateys had had to sneak their was there but this lot just appeared out of nowhere with all of their big noisy vehicles.
• When matey was crossing the destroyed bridge and getting shot at, why didn’t the group who’d dropped him there help out? He’d only just got off the lorry.
• It was very convenient that matey had the aforementioned milk to give to the baby in a scene which felt shoe horned in to demonstrate English good, Germans bad.
• It was also very convenient that matey got out of the river as exactly the right place, sans map, to find the 2nd Devons. Then he just walked up to them and nobody seemed to notice until after the singing had stopped.

I'd still give it a solid 7.5 mind.

 

[Alistair20000]

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

Whilst I agree with the above (nearly done a poo when the booby trap went off), A bit too much info here I just jumped out of me seat I was left slightly disappointed by the film as a whole as I was expecting a 10/10 Oscar shoe-in which I felt it wasn't. I wasn't convinced by the single camera shot approach as it seemed to drag some passages out for longer than necessary but then at other times there seemed to be unexplained leaps in the plot A valid point and I came away with several questions.

• Who milked the cow?
• The farm was behind the old, very recently vacated German front line so maybe the farmer or the Hun prior to the retreat to the Hindenburg Line ? Retreat at night so the churn of milk left behind by mistake ? It had a funny look about it to my jaundiced eye.
• How did the troops who arrived at the farm get there? The mateys had had to sneak their way there but this lot just appeared out of nowhere with all of their big noisy vehicles.
• I thought they were headed to the village of Ecoust-St-Mien and could not get there with the bridge down. The Hun were still in the village though. Did the lorry platoon know that ? Could mateys have travelled more directly had they been sure the Germans had withdrawn so far back ? I agree questions to be answered here mind.
• When matey was crossing the destroyed bridge and getting shot at, why didn’t the group who’d dropped him there help out? He’d only just got off the lorry.
• A fault of the continuous shoot ? Maybe there was a gap in time or the lorry platoon would not have turned back to save one man and/or made the alternative bridge the priority once they heard the shooting ? The whole of their presence seemed to be a conduit for the Captain to warn matey to have witnesses present when he delivered the orders which anticipated the arrogant response of MacKenzie (Devonshire commander) when he learned the attack was not to proceed. Might have shot matey if there had been no witnesses ?
• It was very convenient that matey had the aforementioned milk to give to the baby in a scene which felt shoe horned in to demonstrate English good, Germans bad.
• A scene that added no value IMHO beyond your goodie/baddie point. A re-emphasis perhaps following on from the count in the plane who stabbed Blake having been rescued from the burning wreckage with Schofield ordered away to pull water for the ungrateful bugger.
• It was also very convenient that matey got out of the river at exactly the right place, sans map, to find the 2nd Devons. Then he just walked up to them and nobody seemed to notice until after the singing had stopped.
• The luck of war ? But yes, shirley some sentries would have been posted even if the Germans were in front rather than behind the Devonshires. A bit rum.

I'd still give it a solid 7.5 mind.

An interesting analysis Logster.

Some thoughts above in bold which may be total rubbish.

It was not clear to me that the burned out village of Ecoust was so close to the bridge which became apparent only when Schofield came round after the spat with the German sniper. The building looked like the railway station which was I think on the edge of Ecoust. Will check it out when next in the region.

I have seen some reviews that say some of the action scenes (e.g. running through burning Ecoust) looked more from a video game.

Despite all this a must see film.

 

[IndoMike]

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

Whilst I agree with the above (nearly done a poo when the booby trap went off), I was left slightly disappointed by the film as a whole as I was expecting a 10/10 Oscar shoe-in which I felt it wasn't. I wasn't convinced by the single camera shot approach as it seemed to drag some passages out for longer than necessary but then at other times there seemed to be unexplained leaps in the plot and I came away with several questions.

• Who milked the cow?
• How did the troops who arrived at the farm get there? The mateys had had to sneak their was there but this lot just appeared out of nowhere with all of their big noisy vehicles.
• When matey was crossing the destroyed bridge and getting shot at, why didn’t the group who’d dropped him there help out? He’d only just got off the lorry.
• It was very convenient that matey had the aforementioned milk to give to the baby in a scene which felt shoe horned in to demonstrate English good, Germans bad.
• It was also very convenient that matey got out of the river as exactly the right place, sans map, to find the 2nd Devons. Then he just walked up to them and nobody seemed to notice until after the singing had stopped.

I'd still give it a solid 7.5 mind.

Pardon me for intervening. I have to say that if a film poses questions to the filmgoer as per your post, I find I am distracted : the film starts to lose credibility in my eyes and I lose interest.

 

[Banksy]

Pardon me for intervening. I have to say that if a film poses questions to the filmgoer as per your post, I find I am distracted : the film starts to lose credibility in my eyes and I lose interest.

I find it’s all in the eye of the beholder.Many are the films the critics have told me are rubbish which I’ve enjoyed and vice versa. But I agree , other folks’ criticisms do make me start to look for problems rather than just sitting back and absorbing myself in the film.
I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail last night which I last saw at the cinema in the seventies.
Strangely , I think I laughed a bit more at some of the skits this time around.

 

[Banksy]

Ridley Scott’s masterpiece Blade Runner , the 2007 final cut , the definitive version as Scott really wanted it to be , without Harrison Ford’s narration.I’ve seen all the versions , I think this is the best.

 

[Banksy]

The Sisters brothers. Western 2019 .Joaquin Phoenix and Jake Gyllenhaal. Odd western this with an unusual storyline.Great scenery and pretty good acting , but couldn’t really get into it. It didn’t help that a lot of it was shot in the dark including some of the gunfights and it was therefore hard to see what was going on at times. It was the last film role film of Rutger Hauer.5/10

 

[Stuffy]

Needless to say, none of the 2nd Devons have Devonshire accents

being
Watched the film last night and thoroughly it. One criticism would be the total lack of sentries that allowed Schofield to approach Devons unchallenged.

Yup, no Devonshire accents and no quotes from the Graun means that Exonians must have been thin on the ground as well.