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Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






I’d argue that Andrew Garfield was a better Peter Parker under the mask. Certainly (it’s been a while!) my recollection is he was somewhat more flippant in the script.

Kinda want to watch it again.

   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

I started on Amazing 2 and it seems a better film. Part of it is the origin is covered (not that it needed to be) and now Garfield can have some fun.

In Amazing 1 the script just gave him nothing to do but mope about his dead father/mother/uncle/girlfriend's father. Now he can actually smile.

But we shall see...

 
   
Made in at
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!





Vienna, Austria

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Amazing Spider Man (2012)

Not bad, not by any measure, just terribly redundant and forever in the shadow of the much better Rami films.



My thoughts exactly. There was nothing wrong with it, but the Raimi ones are charming.

I do like Mr.Garfield though. Saw him in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. He was good in that one.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/08/29 21:55:24


   
Made in gb
Leader of the Sept







I’ve not watched it for a while, but if anyone is after a bit of amazing grimdark, then I can recommend Casshern. Japanese live action film with heavy CGI that is highly stylised and competes with anime for bizarro over the topness. It’s bleak and tragic and 40k levels of horrendous waste and lack of compassion. And the hero has to overcome stuff and ends up being super smashy.

Please excuse any spelling errors. I use a tablet frequently and software keyboards are a pain!

Terranwing - w3;d1;l1
51st Dunedinw2;d0;l0
Cadre Coronal Afterglow w1;d0;l0 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Spiral

A Saw spin-off sequel type thing. Starring Chris Rock in a non-comedy role…

Well, I’m a sucker for the Saw series. Most definitely a guilty pleasure, especially the later entries which become ever more convoluted and nonsensical.

This one is actually rather enjoyable. Somewhat back to basics, without being as lazy as a straight remake. I mean, it’s still not a brilliant film, but it is well made and written all the same.

   
Made in at
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!





Vienna, Austria

Alexander (2004)

the Ridley Scott one.

Well, I like it. It's good. Each time I watch it I come to this conclusion. On top of it all - the costumes seem to be to large degrees historically accurate. Lots of Boeotian helmets. Which is a look I enjoy. Apart from that it's just great, melodramatic filmmaking with little compromise.

Watch It.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/08/31 21:32:44


   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

I do not think it is Ridley Scott, but the director is now escaping me!

Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
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Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

Oliver Stone?

   
Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA



This one.

He's the guy who decided ancient Macedonians were Irish!

   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

Well, it fits with the ancient Greeks sounding Scottish.

   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

Amazing Spider Man 2

I started this one years ago, stopped around the point with the secret subway station. When I went back to finish it it was gone from Netflix. Restarted it a few days ago, got back to the same secret subway and called it a night. Went back and... it got pulled from Netflix today.

This movie is cursed.

ZERO STARS.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/09/01 08:36:06


 
   
Made in us
Purposeful Hammerhead Pilot




United States

Bob Ross: Happy Accidence, Betrayal and Greed (2021)

This was an eye opening documentary. The surprising amount of drama going on behind the scenes and level to which Bob Ross's partners took advantage of his kindness and relaxed approach to the business, was surprising.

High Score (2021)

A neat video game documentary that covers Atari through the release of Doom and mostly uses its history and perspective to relate back to the esports industry, they use the winners of the various major tournaments to craft a plot as the explore the histories of the games/consoles. (Space invaders, Nintendo Power, Sonic, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat, Doom)
   
Made in at
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!





Vienna, Austria



Right, that's the one! Sorry, my bad.

Either way - yeah, I keep hearing the Irish stuff and so on. I don't know if it's that distracting, because all I've ever seen is the German dubbed version. But really, it's not a bad idea to me in theory. It's one way of depicting people talking differently, yet being understandable if ye talk English. At least they're not all Americans, right?

   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Cruela

Thoroughly enjoyable. Not really a kids film, more Young Adult I’d say.

It’s not there’s anything particularly not child friendly. It’s just very much plot based.

   
Made in gb
Executing Exarch





Godzilla King of the Monsters

How do you make big gribblys twonking each other dull, gave up an hour in, avoid

"AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED." 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut





Oxfordshire

WW84

What to make of this? It's twee. So terribly, terribly twee. That doesn't make it a bad movie, but it does make it one that's a little hard to watch without constantly huffing or groaning at the overwhelming tweeness. It takes every opportunity to point out the era that the film is set in, just in case the audience was too stupid to have made the connection. But at least it doesn't make the mistake of Captain Marvel by saturating the audio with relentless period music. I noticed a single music track that was given prominence (Frankie Goes to Hollywood) and it was well suited to the scene and didn't dominate.

Most superhero movies have a good first and second act and are marred by a letdown of a third act. The original Wonder Woman was criminal for this. WW84 reverses this, with the first and second acts being a slog and the final act as worthy entertainment. The success of the later part comes from the stand out efforts of the two lead bad guy actors. In truth, they carry the weight of the whole movie with the titular hero being a bit player for much of the proceedings.

I can't help but believe this would have been better as a mini-series, especially as much of the dialogue and set pieces have all the hallmarks of a Supergirl script.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sometimes I wonder why the hell I pay for Sky. Then at other times I'm grateful that, having pre-paid, I'm not penalised for experimenting with stuff I wouldn't have paid for. On we go with ... foreign language epic war films. At first glance watching these foreign films I found myself struggling to keep up with who was who and whether there were any characters to hook onto. I was concerned that I was falling into the trap of "they all look the same". Then I recall watching Saving Private Ryan for the first time, struggling to pick out who the heroes were in the first twenty minutes and falling foul of lots of people all wearing the same and looking alike. I think it's an attribute of many a war film, regardless of the origin, and just like SPR, when the action calms down we can get to grips with out heroes and start picking them out from their identi-kit comrades.

The 800
Westerners (myself included) know that WW2 started in 1939, but to many other nations the fighting had begun long before. This Chinese language film is set during the battle of Shanghai in 1937 and gives a perspective on heroism and duty in combat that is familiar to, yet subtly different from, western fare. The fighting in this one feels non-stop, with very brief moments of respite before all hell kicks off again. The absurdity of one side of a river being a murder house while the other side watches on as though it were entertainment is presented well. There's a pervasive honesty of what a person would do to survive, even when that would mean the death of others, that is rarely portrayed in western films with such empathy.

The Battle of Jangsari
While American forces raid one end of the Korean Peninsula, a force of untrained student-soldiers are sent on a suicide mission to distract North Korean forces. The roles for our stand out characters are a bit more cookie cutter in this film, but with the foreign language element that probably makes it a more accessible film. Megan Fox "stars" (not really) as an American reporter, nowhere near the battle, that is used to tie the Korean activities into the greater war picture. It's pretty neat that at the end of the film Fox's character is recognised as being a singular representative of the many war reporters of this conflict, and that's something I've been noticing more recently in "based on a true event" programs, ever since they did the same for Chernobyl.


Can I recommend these two over a western war film? Eh, not really. They're good enough, but at the same time there is something rewarding and refreshing about seeing familiar themes from a different cultural perspective. So if you get a chance, do go and watch.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/09/04 22:49:52


 
   
Made in us
Terrifying Doombull




Gunpowder Milkshake

Caught this on Netflex... it was pretty bad.

Putting aside the subtext that was spoken out loud at the end (men=bad), and the weirdly shy queerbaiting (when lesbians seemed an obvious tagalong for the former), it was just a bad film.

It was 'Lets do the Professional again, but make it a dark comedy'. Where dark comedy = spray blood everywhere, make everyone incompetent (the incompetence is supposed to be funny, somehow), and just skip anything resembling a scene transition.

I'm not the sort of movie viewer that usually notices scenery, sets and lighting, but in this, they were awful. All the lighting was some manner of glaring, the sets were oddly bare and often high-school theatre level, and nothing gelled together to make anything seem like a real place people inhabited.

I'm reasonably sure the bad sets, lighting and etc. was intentional, but have no idea why. Given some of the actresses involved in the film, I can't figure out why they agreed to be in it.

Avoid.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2021/09/05 22:11:02


Efficiency is the highest virtue. 
   
Made in gb
Leader of the Sept







I watched the A Team again last night.

It’s utterly stupid and totally glorious at the same time. I think it neatly captures all the key points of the original series. No one can hit for toffee, wacky capers and a reasonable dose of do it yourself nonsense.

It’s worth watching all the way through just for the tank bit in the middle.

Please excuse any spelling errors. I use a tablet frequently and software keyboards are a pain!

Terranwing - w3;d1;l1
51st Dunedinw2;d0;l0
Cadre Coronal Afterglow w1;d0;l0 
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

Re: The 800. I understand that more Chinese soldiers die in the film than actually died in the battle upon which it’s based. I’ve been keen to see the movie ever since Kings and Generals did their video on the battle.

Re: Wonder Woman 1984. I found the highlight of the film to be the White House scene. That’s the only point where the various plot and character elements gelled for me

Re: A-Team. The tank scene I recall was a bit too much for me. However I mainly remember the Swahili joke and not knowing how to feel about it.

   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

House of Cards (Netflix series)

I'm a few years late and mildly surprised it's still available after Kevin Spacey's fall from grace.

And it is a darn good show. I found myself looking up a couple of the actors as I watched, just a really good cast.

I have no doubt that semi-grounded betrayals and shenanigans will grow outrageous at some point but for now it's a good political thriller.

 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Only Murders in the Building

On Disney+ in the U.K.

It’s really pretty awesome. Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short star as three True Crime fans trying to solve a murder in their New York apartment block.

Really good chemistry between the three. Steve and Martin was perhaps to be expected as they worked together before. Selena Gomez is really good.

   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

Green Lantern

This has aged better than when I first saw it. The effects are not great, and the CGI suit looks very bright and not real. Ryan Reynolds is a bit annoying, but he usually is to me.

There is some attempt at character between the three; hero, girl, and henchman. This time, I started to think that Hector's "Mind reading" was not a power at all, but just his fear induced self-talk coming to the fore.

Criminal misuse of Amanda Waller, and the final fight is kind of lame. Also, a very tantalizing end credits sequence, that never gets to go anywhere. Kind of like the Jem movie.

Not as bad as I recall, but just not that compelling. It is somehow missing the secret sauce to put it above workmanlike and by-the-numbers.

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Made in gb
Executing Exarch





Think it's main issue was Ryan Reynolds is Hal Jordan, rather than Ryan Reynolds plays Hal Jordan, as well as DC deciding that dudley do-right characters like GL and Supes need to bodged about with cos we all hate Cap

"AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED." 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






I think DC’s issue is their seeming obsession with subverting expectations on their two best known characters.

Nobody really wants Edgelord Superman, do they?

   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

47 Ronin

This movie is also by-the-numbers. There are good elements to it, but it does not seem to be able to put it all together into a compelling whole. The Keanu character is a pointless "western" add-on as a half-breed child of mystical origins. However, he never really does much to make me care about him. The main Samurai character (who is played by a familiar face but I sadly do not know his name) is a much better and more interesting character as he reflects the key ideas we need to understand for the premise of this movie to work.... at all.

Plus, what is with movies feeling so insecure about their ability to show and not tell that they feel the needs for a narrator all the time? It is a plague of movies that want to be big, tentpole movies. Opening and closing narration is pointless, as it tells us stuff that we end up seeing in the film most of the time anyway. The studios think we are all idiots, and therefore need narrators.

Overall, and ambitious failure as it lacks rooting interest or a compelling character arc for the main protagonist.

Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
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Made in gb
Executing Exarch





 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I think DC’s issue is their seeming obsession with subverting expectations on their two best known characters.

Nobody really wants Edgelord Superman, do they?


If only it went the other way too..I'd be up for Bataffleck going all Adam West (also both the Adam West animations are glorious and daft in a whole Brave and Bold way)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/09/07 17:42:22


"AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED." 
   
Made in at
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!





Vienna, Austria

 Easy E wrote:
47 Ronin

This movie is also by-the-numbers. There are good elements to it, but it does not seem to be able to put it all together into a compelling whole. The Keanu character is a pointless "western" add-on as a half-breed child of mystical origins. However, he never really does much to make me care about him. The main Samurai character (who is played by a familiar face but I sadly do not know his name) is a much better and more interesting character as he reflects the key ideas we need to understand for the premise of this movie to work.... at all.

Plus, what is with movies feeling so insecure about their ability to show and not tell that they feel the needs for a narrator all the time? It is a plague of movies that want to be big, tentpole movies. Opening and closing narration is pointless, as it tells us stuff that we end up seeing in the film most of the time anyway. The studios think we are all idiots, and therefore need narrators.

Overall, and ambitious failure as it lacks rooting interest or a compelling character arc for the main protagonist.


I watched that one earlier this summer, and liked it way better than I think I would. There's some unnecessary bits, and it feels a bit convoluted in places, but overall it's a fun romp with very fun villains.


Just watching The Village. Last time I saw it in cinema and liked it, and I still do. What a neat film.


This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/09/08 19:29:16


   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






 Turnip Jedi wrote:
 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I think DC’s issue is their seeming obsession with subverting expectations on their two best known characters.

Nobody really wants Edgelord Superman, do they?


If only it went the other way too..I'd be up for Bataffleck going all Adam West (also both the Adam West animations are glorious and daft in a whole Brave and Bold way)


I’d watch that.

Dark and grimy Batman I’m fine with. It’s just Superman….The Big Blue Boy Scout. Told by his Dad “no don’t save people son or the gubmint tek yoo always”.

I mean…..how. How exactly would any Government abduct Superman? He’s Superman. He protects his civilian identity to protect others. But even then? When you’re Superman, who is actually going to mess with you in that way? Because if you want a train carriage forcibly inserted somewhere you rather it wasn’t, that’s how you go about it.

   
Made in gb
The Daemon Possessing Fulgrim's Body





Devon, UK

Bruce Wayne wrote:I want you to remember, Clark. In all the years to come, in your most private moments, I want you to remember, my hand, at your throat, I want you to remember, the one man who beat you.


I'd ask that guy.

We find comfort among those who agree with us - growth among those who don't. - Frank Howard Clark

The wise man doubts often, and changes his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubts not; he knows all things but his own ignorance.

The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense!” Professor Brian Cox

Ask me about
Barnstaple Slayers Club 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






About to give The Orville a spin, as it’s popped up on Disney+.

Given my deep seated loathing for Seth McFarlane and his god awful smugness, it’s got a real uphill battle to win me over.

   
 
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