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I’m looking forward to the Lighthouse on Netflix. It looks like a real trip... but the kind I might want to pause to go to the bathroom.

Regarding Captain Marvel being one of the better instalments of the MCU, I’d personally disagree. It’s good, and there are worse movies in the bunch, but I’d say all of the Avenger movies, GotG 1, Ragnarok, all of the Captain America movies and Iron Man 1 were all better movies. And I wasn’t a big fan of End Game.

Having known little about the Character, other than she’s a “Galaxy Class” entity, every combat was a forgone conclusion. Like, what was the point of any single punch-up that she was involved in? The baby seals are never going to beat the lady with the club. They can’t effectively shoot her with person-portable weaponry. They can’t effectively shoot her with continent-destroying missiles. Her obstacles *in the movie* were nothing for her power level. Aside from realizing her power level, there wasn’t much / anything going on character development wise. And I could level that claim at a lot of action movies, but it really stood out for me in this movie.

Asking her friend (sole caregiver for her child?) to join her on a mission to space? Why? You can fly. You can literally punch out a spaceship. You’re just putting her at risk for no reason!

Been on a creature feature kick while painting...

Primeval: It's okay, but just okay. Has a few creepy scenes but is otherwise stuffed with too much non-creature stuff. Cool idea though (and based on a real crocodile I believe)

Rogue: Surprisingly good for a lower budget film. Better idea, and suitably silly. The ending just goes from silly to sillier.

47 Meters Down: The sequel(?): We may have a winner here. Yes the story is convoluted, the acting is terrible, the girls are annoying...but man they nailed a spooky shark movie. Jump scares are perfect and some excellent super-creepy scenes (particularly the introductions). Good stupid fun if you can put up with annoying high school girls screaming for 35% of the movie. A bit ruined by a PG-13 rating.

US

Its a popular movie this year about a family that sees its mirror outside after going to the beach, and interesting shenanigans.

Review: Excellent. It doesn't hold together well if you start thinking about it, but watching it is unsettling. The wife and I had to watch it in chunks with breaks.
Its not terribly gory or fully of jump scares. It is more of a psychological creepfest. Quite entertaining. Peele is really working the "like Shamalian but way better!" thing going.

The Butler

Forest Gump, but through the eyes of an African American Butler at the White House. The people playing the various Presidents is good fun, but the movie jumps around a lot, hits all the Boomer highlights but is focused on Civil Rights, and ends on a positive and uplifting tone with the election of Obama.

A few things struck me:

1. I forgot that Oprah was also an actress.

2. The typical things Boomers take credit for accomplishing.... Civil Rights, Man on the Moon, ending Vietnam, were pretty big accomplishments that the generation responsible for them should be proud off. Too bad the Boomers didn't do them. It was the people who could actually wield the power at the time and that was still the Greatest Generation.... the Boomers parents. Take that Boomers! LOL.

3. It ended so hopeful...... I guess the joke is on the film makers.

4. All those racists young kids we see fighting for Segregation in the South against all the young black kids. I would love to see a similar type movie about them, and their life story.....

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: I was so excited by this due to my love of the books when I was a kid...and Guillermo del Toro's involvement in the film. While the aesthetics for certain creatures were on point, the film was hugely underwhelming. I admit I generally expected to be disappointed, and it has a few moments...but it just didn't deliver on much. I was hoping this would exceed my low expectations.

Kiss the Girls: Good flick, really enjoyed the two Alex Cross films. Solid whodunit thriller style.

Along Came a Spider: Same as above. Morgan Freeman and decent stories, fun stuff.

HellBoy- The Ron Pearlman Edition

There are a lot of great elements in this film, but ultimately it doesn't add up and align properly to be a true success.

For example, we see a scene where Hellboy's impetuousness leads to the death of his closest human friend and his team. There is a brief scene that follows that deals with the follow-out of his decisions. It looks like we could have a compelling character arc started here..... but then it abruptly transitions to a light-hearted bit of rom-com between him, agent Myers, and Liz?

There is a bit more character arc on his relationship with the FBI boss and Hellboy based on the scene where his team is killed as they grow to respect each other. However, the character growth in Hellboy never develops or is expressed in the script. Huge miss!

In addition, the light Rom-Com stuff never really pans out either.

Overall, a disappointment.

T-34: Russian film about a WW2 Russian tank crew....pretty fun, silly and enjoyable. I've been enjoying the quality of Russian films lately.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Summary:

A snivelling little gak does NOT get the "just desserts" he deserves when he tries to backstab his brother and two sisters. Talking animals are all excited about the family coming to Narnia, because that means Lion-Jesus is going to finally bring spring back. Ice Queen isn't happy about that, so tries to kill Lion-Jesus but we all know how that goes, don't we? A big battle breaks out and the good guys win, despite not eviscerating the snivelling little gak, which they should have.

Analysis:

I've never really warmed to the Narnia universe. It's got basically all the ingredients that I like, but somehow the soup it results in just isn't to my taste.

That said, without diving into the story's religious background and inspiration, it's not a bad story. Cliches come from somewhere, and Narnia is one of those classics that formed those fantasy tropes. While it was likely fresh and new in it's day... it's not anymore.

So it's a nice, comfortable, family-friendly action adventure romp. There are worse ways to kill a rainy afternoon with the kids than to watch this movie.

Den of Thieves.
Basically a remake of HEAT (although not marketed at all like that).
However I thought it was significantly better. Didnt meander as much, wasnt up its own arse like heat was and the bank vault scene was darn tense. And a nice twist at the end.
Definitely worth a watch if you like cops VS robbers films.

 greatbigtree wrote:
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Summary:

A snivelling little gak does NOT get the "just desserts" he deserves when he tries to backstab his brother and two sisters. Talking animals are all excited about the family coming to Narnia, because that means Lion-Jesus is going to finally bring spring back. Ice Queen isn't happy about that, so tries to kill Lion-Jesus but we all know how that goes, don't we? A big battle breaks out and the good guys win, despite not eviscerating the snivelling little gak, which they should have.

Analysis:

I've never really warmed to the Narnia universe. It's got basically all the ingredients that I like, but somehow the soup it results in just isn't to my taste.

That said, without diving into the story's religious background and inspiration, it's not a bad story. Cliches come from somewhere, and Narnia is one of those classics that formed those fantasy tropes. While it was likely fresh and new in it's day... it's not anymore.

So it's a nice, comfortable, family-friendly action adventure romp. There are worse ways to kill a rainy afternoon with the kids than to watch this movie.

Oh don't worry the spiteful Deity that lives in Lewis's muddled tales gets them all eventually, well apart from the woman of sinful life

The Mask of Zorro

A very fun and adventurous story that hangs together well and does what it says on the tin. A very re-watchable blockbuster. One thing I really appreciate about this movie is that the villains are pretty competent, reasonably well-rounded, and are not afraid to do their own dirty work when it is needed. Plus, swordfights are cool!

The Legend of Zorro
The sequel to the first. it moves on in a somewhat logical manner. However, the plot and story are a bit of a downgrade and the introduction of the "child" Zorro is a bit much. The villains are much less competent in this one and everything seems like a bit of a downgrade from the first one.

Wild, Wild West
I loved this show as a kid.

Why did we make this and not another Zorro movie again? I have no idea.... this sucks by all possible definitions. I would have preferred a Zorro and the Black Lash movie where Zorro and his wife (the Black Lash) must taken on more Confederates trying to break the Union blockade by going through California.... or something. Instead, we have ..... THIS! Disappointing.

Dune

If you have not seen the David Lynch version of Dune, stop what you are doing right NOW!

Find it.

Watch it.

You are welcome.

Dragonheart

So, this has spun off how many DTV and streaming only spin-offs? Wow.

I guess I don't get the appeal. it was very uneven, and sometimes was laughably bad, and other times passably solid.

What is with Randy Quaid's "batman"-Voice? Pete Postelthwaite (sp) is great as usual. Best part of the movie maybe, but Sean Connery voicing the Dragon has its moments too. I expected him to make some sort of Trebek reference though.

The Last Samurai

Sure, there are a lot of things very wrong with this movie..... but I still like it!

It delivers on stirring and motivational score, good looking imagery, and cool stuff happening.

.... but it is still so wrong on so many levels.

Hairspray

I am really torn how to feel about this movie. There is a message about excepting and loving who you are, but they take some nasty shots at everyone involved along the way.... so torn.

Also, John Travolta as the Mom character was.... very distracting in a bad way.

Watching movies that deal with historical racism and integration have been a real downer for me lately.

Midway

Run of the mill war flick. Mostly what I expected. Typical historical apocryphism that shouldn't bother any typical movie goers and the normal war movie cliches.

The CGI is god awful and easily the worst part of the movie. It invokes this uncanny valley like effect at every opportunity, cause it doesn't look "bad" but it looks "CGI" and it constantly stands out like a sore thumb.

Jumanji: The Next Level

Very enjoyable, family friendly film. The setup is a bit off, but having the characters swap avatars part way through put a fun and fresh spin on things.

Since my first official date with my wife was to go see the original (Robin Williams) Jumanji in theatres, the franchise has a soft spot in my heart, so I don’t think I can give a real, hard critique of the film. But if you liked the first two Juman... jye? Jumanji-ees? Movies set in the alternate reality known as Jumanji? Then the third is quite satisfying.

Seeing the actors (of the avatars) taking on the personas of the characters (in movie-real-life) was a lot of fun. Particularly hearing the Rock and Awkwafina take on Danny Devito’s New Yoakah accent in the game parts was a lot of fun.

I’d recommend it. Light, fun, good time.

 Easy E wrote:
The Last Samurai

Sure, there are a lot of things very wrong with this movie..... but I still like it!

It delivers on stirring and motivational score, good looking imagery, and cool stuff happening.

.... but it is still so wrong on so many levels.

Exactly how I feel about that film.


@greatbigtree: I keep hearing very good things about this new Jumanji franchise.


Let's see, what did I watch...

I saw Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

Last time I've seen it must have been first run on TV or something. It's been a long time. First time I watched the non-dubbed version too. Somehow not having Tom Hanks speaking in the voice I'm used to draws attention to how weird his face looks.
Meg Ryan looks like a pretty person in that film, but a person. Which is cool. It's nice in general how much people in films back then looked like persons.

Anyway, you kniw the film. you probably know the plot even if you don't know the film. Tom Hanks' wife just died, so he's a single parent now, he calls in on a radio show and opens up, people listen to his story and really are taken with it, one of whom is Meg Ryan over in New York.

I watched it with a friend who I watch through all of Frasier every few years, so we had a ton of fun when Niles showed up, playing Niles even. And I think we may have spotted Maris, even though they called her Betsy or something. Then Kenny Daly paid a visit, very much fitting his Frasier role as well. Excellent stuff.

Anyway, this film is so hard to dislike. And it actually is done really cleverly. We cut back and forth between Tom Hanks trying to get 'back out there' dating, Meg Ryan leading her life with her fiancée (Bill Pullman, who's the real hero of the film and a great president). Over the course of the film we spend so much time with each of the characters and seem them struggle, but getting on with their lives that it really is an odd moment when in the end they actually meet. To me it was just really nice how the whole thing finds its resolution. The most interesting thing was the very end, when they meet, walk out hand in hand, and Meg Ryan looking at Tom Hanks in this really peculiar manner. She hasn't seen his face then, but over months had been obsessed with that man and just left her fiancee for him simply she believed in those signs which are entirely accidental. This look really drew me in because she lingers on his face and she looks kinda happy, but also in slight disbelief, studying his face, as they quietly go to the elevator.

Sure, sure, it makes no sense and "omg what if either of them is a total loon" and all of that cynical crap (as embodied by Meg Ryan's flatmate Rosie O'Donnell). Here's a lady who is aromantic and who is putting things on the line for this idea of 'the perfect fit'. Sure, she hires a private detective to check up on whether or not the guy is lying about all of his life or not. That's the thing - she isn't an idiot. Nobody in this film is.

Speaking of the private eye thing she does - there are two quite pivotal scenes in which computers and the internet are used in the film. Okay, they're super useful, these computer things, which is a bit unrealistic, but in both scenes it's women using the new media quite casually and competently. They don't have to resort to a 'nerdy friend' or stuff like that. I'm quite ignorant to the finer nuances of gender interplay and representation and stuff, but that I really liked.

I also noticed how it's impossible not to draw some parallels between Tom Hanks and his son in this film and the Liam Neeson story (or rather his son's I guess) in Love Actually. All the dad-son dialoge stuff (which is really nice in Love Actually) - Sleepless in Seattle did that pretty much equally well 10 years before that. Not to detract from Love Actually of course. I'm not the biggest fan of that story though.

Must See



Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Watched this classic for the first time!

Army veteran Paul Newman is hit with a very, very harsh prison sentence after damaging a parking meter or something like that. He's thrown into prison in the South of the US, including chains and singing and lots of handiwork along roads and all of that. And he just doesn't want to stay in prison, that rascal. Keeps on breaking out, him. Over and over. Which is why the German title of the film is Der Unbeugsame ("The Unfaltering").

There's prison hierarchy stuff in the beginning, male bonding, all that stuff. And then lots of breaking-outing. Paul Newman does it with cleverness, cheekiness, and a smile. Each time they get him back he's punished harshly, but he can't be kept down. It may sound like a simplistic plot, but it's really engaging to watch.

Watch It



Event Horizon (1997)

It's the mid-21st century, mankind's got a moon base and whatnot and in the early 40s launched an exploration ship (the Event Horizon) to go beyond Jupiter for the first time. Well, it got to Jupiter and then vanished. Now it's popped back up! A ship (captained by Laurence Fishburne), among its crew the designer (Sam Neil) of the revolutionary new drive that's supposed to get the Event Horizon out far into space is sent out on a rescue mission and to investigate what happened.

This one's one of my go-to sci-fi fun times films. Loved it from the first time I've seen it. Not the least of course because it's 40k as heck, it's also just a cool scenario and looks amazing. Because it's a Paul W.S. Anderson film. It also comes with some of the shortcomings of his film - the plot is kinda patchy, the pacing is odd (however, studio seems to had him cut like a third of the film, which sucks. AND those scenes are proper lost due to unwise storage. Which sucks BIG TIME.) and there's a ton of jumpscares. And for the first time I noticed these shortcomings a bit. However, it's a fun film. Should be watched if you like Space Horror things, and for that it did new things.

Watch It.

 Easy E wrote:
The Last Samurai

Sure, there are a lot of things very wrong with this movie..... but I still like it!

It delivers on stirring and motivational score, good looking imagery, and cool stuff happening.

.... but it is still so wrong on so many levels.

it is indeed a gorgeously polished film, even if some of the 'history' is on par with "The Scottish film" (heck they even share that whole rich folks are backstabby gak-lords thing)

The Wandering Earth.

I loved it as a complete balls to the wall crazy premise. Probably one of the dumbest ever. Like, it's pretty ambitious to go sooooo crazy with your movie plot.

The Sun is dying? Eh, what the hell? Lets just stick engines all over Earth and propel it out of the solar system to Alpha Centauri! Uh, oh...we're gonna hit Jupiter! Hard to starboard!

But at the same time the movie is gorgeous. Some of the coolest special effects I've seen, especially out of China of all places. I loved it for all the reasons I loved the special effects in Aquaman, to turn my mind off and enjoy the pretty scenes.

Parasite.
*From the Director of The Host and includes some of the actors.

Setting, a very poor urban S Korean family of grifters slowly insinuate their way into a hyper rich family.
Its billed as a comedy and has some comedic moments but it aint no comedy. It is weird however.

Recommendation: If you like a weird plot, good acting, good writing, some disconcerting scenes (in that they catch up with you later and make you think), and are tired of CGI driven stuff, this is a film for you. Pay attention to the juxtaposition of the poor family and the wealthy one. There is a lot of social commentary on S Korea classes here (like a lot of horror movies in S Korea actually). It is in S. Korean but subtitled.

Side note, I love the wealthy family's house that most of the film is centered in. Its really a castle design but with a glorious view of their garden. Swap in an elevator instead of stairs, a Hacienda style interior and Frazzled has his perfect Hacienda del Troy!

@Sigur....

Was Sleepless in Seattle Tom Hanks or Billy Crystal? I honestly do not recall as there was a knock off called something like "You've Got Mail" that starred one of the two, while Sleepless in Seattle starred the other......

I could just google but....... bleh.


Birds of Prey

Amusing. Better than Suicide Squad by... alot. Closer to Guardians of the Galaxy. Some fun action scenes too.

Margrot Robie must love this role as Harley since she was the Producer of the film. It is clear she is having tons of fun in the role, and she probably likes it 100 times better than playing Sharon Tate for QT.

Finally, the movie reveals that Harley is a Bernie Bro......

 Easy E wrote:
@Sigur....

Was Sleepless in Seattle Tom Hanks or Billy Crystal? I honestly do not recall as there was a knock off called something like "You've Got Mail" that starred one of the two, while Sleepless in Seattle starred the other......

I could just google but....... bleh.

Tom Hanks AND Meg Ryan are in both of those movies....


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Jojo Rabbit

Great film. Not nearly the comedy its advertised as; most of the zany trailer action happens early on to make way for a really nuanced dissection of the classic "are we the baddies?" Flying Circus joke. Some incredibly hard hitting moments and a rousing well deserved ending.

Frozen 2

I love the original but the sequel was just.... meh. Like, really really really meh. It's also one of those movies where all you can do afterwards is question what few things actually happen afterwards because nothing clicks into place.

John Wick 3: Parabellum

More John Wick is always good though I didn't love this one as much as the two before. The very videogamey scenes lacked the creativity that most of the series has thrived on, though other scenes had some great ideas. It just felt a little more generic than the two before, but still pretty great.

Bumblebee

I'm sorry I slept on this one just because it deserves more money than it got. Probably the best feature film adaptation of an 80's toy commercial one could hope for, even if in a lot of ways its like one of those TV episodes that cribs on a masterpiece. Easily one of the best episodes of that show, but still a paltry imitation of in this case, Iron Giant.

Midsommar: A great slow-burn kind of thriller. Still relies on the classic "man these people aren't paying attention to what's happening" a bit too much...and it's really long/slow for a lot of people I'm sure. Pleasantly non-Hollywood feeling though.

1917: Great bit of movie-making. This movie is worth it solely for the sets and attention to detail. The presentation of WW1's terrain/environment is tremendous. The "one shot" film style did detract a little bit from it, but overall a really good watch.

Creed II: There's nothing wrong with this movie from a writing/directing/acting/lighting/staging perspective...it's just...painfully formulaic. You've already seen this film. You know exactly how it plays out, you know the result. There are no surprises, nothing. Adonis Creed still presents nothing particularly charismatic or likeable, so there's little to no payoff with the expected and completely scripted result. So, if you're in the mood for that kind of film, you'll enjoy it.

 LunarSol wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
@Sigur....

Was Sleepless in Seattle Tom Hanks or Billy Crystal? I honestly do not recall as there was a knock off called something like "You've Got Mail" that starred one of the two, while Sleepless in Seattle starred the other......

I could just google but....... bleh.

Tom Hanks AND Meg Ryan are in both of those movies....

You are right. I was thinking of When Harry Met Sally which BOTH of these movies are probably knocks of!

American Assassin: A middle of the road action movie, hurt by using a hum-drum non-charismatic main character who generally acts like a dick most of the film. A real void. Saved by Michael Keaton, or this would have been an absolute waste of time. I struggle when movie studios pick really gak actors for their main lead roles in a film...just kills it for me.

 Easy E wrote:

 LunarSol wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
@Sigur....

Was Sleepless in Seattle Tom Hanks or Billy Crystal? I honestly do not recall as there was a knock off called something like "You've Got Mail" that starred one of the two, while Sleepless in Seattle starred the other......

I could just google but....... bleh.

Tom Hanks AND Meg Ryan are in both of those movies....

You are right. I was thinking of When Harry Met Sally which BOTH of these movies are probably knocks of!

Nothing against When Harry Met Sally, but Sleepless in Seattle is all about the two never really meeting or having a relationship while the former is all about the two being in basically a never-ending relationship, right?

You've got Mail was just a cheap cash-in on Hanks/Ryan and Interwebs I thought. To be honest, never seen it. Because it hear it's just a bit rubbish.



I can't wait to see Parasite. Should be good. Can't really live up to the hype, but I'm happy if it does what I hear that it does.

13 hours, secret soldiers of benghazi.
Yup its a michael bay movie but darn I enjoyed it.
Basically ex special forces contractors have to defend a CIA compound in libya.
The firefights are great in this as you'd expect from MB, actors are fairly solid and it has a decent pace.
Sure its not oscar material but worth a watch if you want some good pewpew action.

Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad

I forgot how "straight" they actually play this movie. I remember it as being all slapstick, word-play and non-sequitars. However, it is not.

For example, when our hero Lt. Frank Drebin screws up an assaults someone very important the next scene he is suspended from the squad. His stupid actions have consequences in this movie. I was surprised.

Still a funny movie.

 Easy E wrote:
Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad

I forgot how "straight" they actually play this movie. I remember it as being all slapstick, word-play and non-sequitars. However, it is not.

For example, when our hero Lt. Frank Drebin screws up an assaults someone very important the next scene he is suspended from the squad. His stupid actions have consequences in this movie. I was surprised.

Still a funny movie.

I definitely think that's one of the things that sets it - and Airplane - apart from lots of others. Treated a little differently, the same premise/plot would actually work in a serious version of the same movie.