Last Movie You Watched

[erskblue]

On ‎19‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 17:21, Strider6003 said:

I also liked him in Get Carter, The Last Valley, The Eagle Has Landed and Harry Brown.

How did I forget him in 'The Eagle has Landed '

Only one of my favourite films. Doh !

And not forgetting 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'

[erskblue]

'Chips O Toole' and 'Randy Bentwick' !

[Blueblur]

Mission Impossible Fallout

Wow. I've always loved this series, having watched the first one at the age of 14, can't believe they are still making them. 

But MI:6 has finally replaced the first one as my favourite. This is a blistering film, with an unbelievable amount of action sequences- foot chases, bike chases, car chases, helicopter dog-fights, HALO jumps, masks, heart-in-mouth moments galore with many a twist and turn.

Just when you think you know what's happening the rug is pulled from beneath you. 

It's a long film at 2.5 hours but never feels like it. It manages to reference all the other M:I films, as well as Bond quite frequently, especially via the musical score. 

Go see it, it's the best action you'll see this year. 

9/10 

[Les666]

Saw Mission Impossible Fallout last weekend..BRILLIANT..  film of the year so far

[strider6004]

Just been reminded of a film I chose not to see at the box office yet caught on terrestrial tv, Ex-Machina.

Totally enjoyed and unlike many films couldn't see which way it was going to turn out, a top thriller, IMO.

[TrueBlueBIH]

Allied (2016)

7/10

[erskblue]

Hurricane.

The story of the Polish Fighter Pilots during The Battle of Britain.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-45516556

Josef Frantisek: The Battle of Britain's Czech hero

Winston Churchill described the Battle of Britain pilots as "these splendid men… who will have the glory of saving their native land". But they weren't all British. A new film, Hurricane, tells the story of the Polish pilots of 303 Squadron - and also highlights the brilliance of an often-overlooked Czech flying ace, Josef Frantisek.

He was "remarkable - some thought a little crazy", wrote the historians Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud. A Czech "who flew with a fury none of the others could match".

Josef Frantisek has been credited with shooting down 17 enemy aircraft in one month at the height of the Battle of Britain - September 1940 - as Hitler sought to achieve the air superiority he needed to invade the UK.

The Imperial War Museum calls Frantisek the "top scorer" of the Battle of Britain, and he is generally considered to be one of the top scorers of the entire war, despite his death in its very early stages.

Beyond the statistics, however, Frantisek remains an elusive figure.

 

"His aplomb in the sky is documented, of course, but not much else," Hurricane's director, David Blair, tells me.

But Blair says he became fascinated by Frantisek - a "lone wolf" pilot who kept breaking away from the squadron to chase enemy planes on his own - and worked hard to discover more about him.

"I like his freedom and wildness, his romantic attitude," says Czech actor Krystof Hadek, who plays Frantisek in the film. "He didn't have discipline - but he was the best."

Image copyright Hurricane Image caption Pilots of 303 Squadron in the new film, Hurricane, including Krystof Hadek (as Frantisek) at far left

So how did he end up in Northolt, west London, flying with a squadron of Poles?

Frantisek was born in 1914 in a village that became part of Czechoslovakia after the collapse of the Habsburg empire. He was a boisterous child, driving cars from the age of 12. But after training in the Czechoslovak air force he had to watch in huge frustration as that country's military was ordered not to resist Nazi invasion in 1939.

Driven by what his mother called a "deadly hatred" of the Nazis he escaped across the border to Poland and started flying for the Polish air force but witnessed defeat later that year against overwhelming German power. Stories of Frantisek flying low in primitive planes to drop hand grenades on German units hint at his seemingly reckless courage against daunting odds.

He fled Poland after its defeat and eventually made his way to France where he managed to fly in combat for exiled Polish and other units. Then, after the fall of France in June 1940, he headed for Britain, where he joined the RAF and the new Polish 303 Squadron.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Members of 303 Squadron in October 1940, with one of their Hurricane aircraft

Frantisek chose to fly with the Poles because he admired their fighting spirit, but his Czech origins reinforced his status as something of an outsider.

Another pilot in the squadron remembered Frantisek as tall, well-built but "sometimes a bit absent-minded, as if shrouded in a strange sadness".

With their previous combat experience and burning desire to avenge what Nazi invaders were doing to their countries 303 Squadron's pilots longed to begin active RAF service. But their Canadian and British commanding officers were wary of the pilots' lack of English language skills, experience of radio communication and tight-formation flying.

It was a situation guaranteed to frustrate Frantisek in particular - constantly challenging and exasperating authority throughout his career. But Frantisek's formidable flying skill was what counted when 303 Squadron was finally given permission to enter combat, at a time when the RAF, facing a growing Luftwaffe onslaught, was desperately short of trained pilots.

Claims of enemy "kills" are a much-disputed area - researchers have found that Allied and German statistics do not match - but Frantisek's achievements certainly gave him one of the highest personal scores of any Battle of Britain pilot in Fighter Command.

Image copyright @Imperial War Museum Image caption Josef Frantisek, "shrouded in a strange sadness"

Why was he so successful? Peter Devitt from the RAF Museum in London points to his willingness to fly close to the enemy before opening fire.

His courage, says Devitt, like that of the Polish pilots around him, may have come from a sense of having "nothing to lose" given what had happened to his home country. But Devitt also points out that 303 Squadron lost fewer pilots during the Battle of Britain than most RAF units.

The Czech ace was permitted to fight what was in effect a private war against the Germans Peter Devitt, RAF Museum

Frantisek submitted his own laconic reports of his successes. On one action against a vastly superior German force he wrote of "swarms of Messerschmitt 109s diving to attack us" after which he "played hide and seek with them in the clouds", nearly collided with a German bomber and then shot down two enemy planes in a few minutes before he was hit. But north-east of Brighton he "found a cabbage field and made an excellent landing".

What marked Frantisek out was his habit of breaking away from strict squadron formation to chase enemy planes on his own, often pursuing stragglers back across the Channel towards France.

The Poles flew and fought as a team, and some of his comrades resented what they called "Frantisek's method". RAF and Polish officers in the squadron initially criticised his lack of discipline, arguing that it endangered everyone's safety. There was also a fear that younger pilots would seek to emulate him.

But as his successes grew, there came about what Devitt calls a "remarkable compromise". Frantisek was given permission to take off with 303 Squadron as a kind of "guest" who could head off on his own. "The Czech ace was permitted to fight what was in effect a private war against the Germans," Devitt says.

The squadron's impressive record did not go unnoticed. "Had it not been for the magnificent material contributed by the Polish squadrons and their unsurpassed gallantry," wrote Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, head of RAF Fighter Command, "I hesitate to say that the outcome of the Battle (of Britain) would have been the same."

King George VI visited 303's Northolt base near London, and the Polish and Czech airmen were feted in the media.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Members of 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron at Duxford in September 1940

But within weeks there was a final, characteristically mysterious twist in the Frantisek story. The pilot who had survived so many hours of hazardous combat was killed in on 8 October 1940 after he broke away from his squadron and then apparently crash-landed in a field in Surrey. His aircraft flipped over and he was killed instantly.

Rumours quickly circulated that suggested a death more befitting a romantic hero - that he had perhaps been performing low level acrobatics showing off to a girlfriend. But the reality is likely to have been more mundane - lack of fuel, exhaustion perhaps, a final, fatal misjudgement.

---

Poles and Czechoslovaks in the Battle of Britain

• According to the Imperial War Museum, 145 Polish airmen fought in the Battle of Britain, 79 in various RAF squadrons, 32 in No. 302 (Polish) Fighter Squadron and 34 in No. 303 (Polish) Fighter Squadron
• There were also two Czechoslovak fighter squadrons, 310 Squadron and 312 Squadron, both based at Duxford in Cambridgeshire for the duration of the Battle of Britain

---

Frantisek's life reminds us that the Battle of Britain pilots, symbols of extraordinary courage, faced enormous levels of physical and mental stress. It seems clear that he was plagued by anxiety and inner demons. One contemporary account of 303 Squadron by a Polish writer, said of Frantisek: "There was something truly moving, worthy of the deepest compassion, in the way this young daredevil, who took off against the enemy with the greatest of dash… was afraid of the Earth when he returned to the safety of his base."

Shortly after Frantisek's death Hitler acknowledged that air superiority over the RAF had not been established, and the planned invasion of Britain was postponed indefinitely. And once the Battle of Britain was won the memory of pilots like Frantisek faded swiftly - as did the memory of the many from other nations, including Canada, New Zealand, and Caribbean states who had contributed hugely towards the RAF's "finest hour".

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption By 1943, 303 Squadron was flying Spitfires

After the war, the Polish pilots felt their country had been betrayed to Soviet communism. And they were not included in victory celebrations in Britain, nor in war films celebrating RAF heroism. Other Polish contributions to the war effort - such as vital work in the cracking of the German Enigma code - went similarly unacknowledged.

Meanwhile Polish and Czech ex RAF pilots who returned to their own countries often suffered terribly at the hands of new communist rulers who regarded them as imperialist agents tainted by their Western links. "They were treated as spies, it was so unfair," says Czech actor Krystof Hadek. Only since the end of communist rule has their memory been honoured.

Frantisek's memory survived in Britain among a few who discovered what he had achieved. In 2011 the Wolf Brewery in Norfolk brought out a Lone Wolf beer in his honour.

Others have researched recently where exactly he died - now the site of a nature reserve near Ewell in Surrey - and want to create a memorial for him there.

"Not just his short but brilliant series of aerial victories, but also his unique and untamed nature make him unforgettable," writes the Czech historian Jiri Rajlich,

Frantisek is not the central character of the new film, Hurricane, but director David Blair says he "didn't want him just making up the numbers".

"I wanted to work on him 'growing' on the audience (and the Poles) and making the sense of loss all the more palpable by the end."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-45516556

 

[Boyne]

@erskblue Thanks for posting about the film, Hurricane. I hope to go along and see it. The role played by the Czechs and Poles in the Battle of Britain was immense and they were highly praised by Hugh Dowding. This Sunday I'm going to Duxford for the Battle of Britain Airshow.  As the article you posted points Duxford was where 310 Squadron was based. According to the programme for this weekend's airshow nineteen Spitfires will take part.

Last Sunday I went to Biggin Hill and visited St. George's Chapel. Very moving and with some fine tributes.

Have just watched The Colditz Story for the umpteenth time. A fine film with a great cast.

[bluedave]

I went to see American Animals recently and enjoyed it. I went into it thinking it was going to be a conventional 'based on a true story' heist movie but actually it falls somewhere between heist movie and documentary. The film is about a group of students who plot over several months to steal some very valuable old books from the college library. There are short interviews with the real robbers involved interspersed throughout the film, and they provide insights into the way events are being portrayed and occasionally interact with the actors playing them, which was interesting. The portrayal of the robbery itself was very well done, extremely tense and chaotic.

[dan_cfc]

Summer of 84 - Suprisingly good film well worth a watch. 8/10

Mission Impossible Fallout - Best one of the series. 8/10

[Barry Bridges]

On 16/06/2018 at 01:57, Munkworth said:

Went to see Super Troopers 2 last night. If you saw the first one then you know what to expect. 

Me and my brother were the only two people in the cinema 

haha is it as good as the first?

 

This was my go to movie when having girls over with no intention of watching the whole movie........ something about Farva just sets the mood hahaha.......

 

 

[Munkunku]

1 minute ago, Barry Bridges said:

haha is it as good as the first?

 

This was my go to movie when having girls over with no intention of watching the whole movie........ something about Farva just sets the mood hahaha.......

 

 

It’s not as good as the first for me but it’s not far off. 

[moi]

The other night I was invited by friends to go over to their house to watch a DVD.  It was The Water Diviner, directed by Russell Crowe and starring Russell Crowe. I found it self- indulgent and implausible, but my friends thought it was great, so I kept my mouth shut. When I checked it out on IMDB, people were raving about it. So now I am doubting my own judgement. 

@youlots Have you seen it? What did you think?

[strider6004]

1 hour ago, moi said:

The other night I was invited by friends to go over to their house to watch a DVD.  It was The Water Diviner, directed by Russell Crowe and starring Russell Crowe. I found it self- indulgent and implausible, but my friends thought it was great, so I kept my mouth shut. When I checked it out on IMDB, people were raving about it. So now I am doubting my own judgement. 

@youlots Have you seen it? What did you think?

Is that the one where he goes to Turkey?

[moi]

Just now, Strider6003 said:

Is that the one where he goes to Turkey?

Yes. And there are some realistic war scenes, but the whole premise of the story is absurdly implausible, and the fact that Crowe couldn't resist giving himself a love interest was self indulgent to the point of nausea inducing.

[youlots]

Heya - I have seen it & I agree that its a bit of a mess isn't it - poor old russ - trying to do too much on his directorial debut. There is some good acting & some scenes have been shot well but the editing was poor in respect to all that back & forward (which explains why they felt that captions were necessary) and all that water divination rubbish - the film would have much better w/o that.

[strider6004]

1 minute ago, moi said:

Yes. And there are some realistic war scenes, but the whole premise of the story is absurdly implausible, and the fact that Crowe couldn't resist giving himself a love interest was self indulgent to the point of nausea inducing.

Slowly coming back to me, loved the early scene of the weather event and then he went off to Turkey to recover his son's body. While there meets whirling dervishes and gets caught up in Greeks trying to recover territory they had lost.

I found it interesting and agree it was implausible yet interesting story. 

[moi]

5 minutes ago, youlots said:

Heya - I have seen it & I agree that its a bit of a mess isn't it - poor old russ - trying to do too much on his directorial debut. There is some good acting & some scenes have been shot well but the editing was poor in respect to all that back & forward (which explains why they felt that captions were necessary) and all that water divination rubbish - the film would have much better w/o that.

I wish you lived on the same continent as me!  

[dkw]

14 hours ago, Barry Bridges said:

haha is it as good as the first?

 

This was my go to movie when having girls over with no intention of watching the whole movie........ something about Farva just sets the mood hahaha.......

 

 

One of my favourite turn your brain of films, its so Cheesy but its just so right ha ha. 

[dkw]

Watched dead pool 2, not as good as the 1st but still a belting film that doesn't take itself seriously. Though the breaking tge 4th wall stuff was a bit over done at times. 

[bluedave]

BlacKkKlansman is great. It's loosely based on a true story about a black undercover detective who infiltrates a KKK group in the early 70s, at a time when the Black Power movement is on the rise and racial tensions are heightened. The tone is not as serious as you'd expect considering the subject matter and it's actually very funny at times. The way it ended is very powerful and I had to compose myself for several minutes before leaving the cinema. I won't give too much away but the film finishes with a montage of material most of us will have seen before, but seeing it on a big screen and the way it contrasts with the positive mood of the film on the whole makes it feel particularly powerful.

[Munkunku]

9 hours ago, bluedave said:

BlacKkKlansman is great. 

I was thinking about seeing that but wasn’t too sure. 

The First Purge - as you can probably work out for yourselves - is f**king dreadful! 

[Jezz]

Watched 'Venom' at the cinemas on the weekend.

Wasn't too bad, but it wasn't brilliant either.

Edited October 21, 2018 by Jezz

[the special one]

Mandy. Nicolas Cage at his best. Weird phantasmagoric revenge flick.

 

Edited November 2, 2018 by the special one

[big blue]

Watched sorry to bother you recently. Dark comedy, with a very unpredictable twist.