Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Well that is not one, but actually two awfully vague reviews. Only thing I can think of that would fit vaguely is the perfectly-okay Quigley.

Just got done watching Shin Godzilla.

I watched it on Prime, so unfortunately, dubbed was my ONLY option (boo, hiss)

It was pretty good. The big G has some. . . . interesting looks throughout the film and, as is fairly characteristic of a Toho Godzilla film (at least up to, but not including Minus One), the human characters are generally fairly laughable.

Overally, was not disappointed. It was a perfectly good Godzilla movie.

Migration


It’s fine. Decent enough, but wait for streaming.

This is the End

A Seth Rogan Apocalypse movie. The most interesting thing about it is:

1. There are a lot of cameos from the timeframe of the end of Seth's heyday.

2. All the actors are ostensibly playing "Themselves". Therefore Seth Rogan plays the part he was born to play; Seth Rogan!

3. This is an actual biblical apocalypse, and they don't make the Rapture. Why? Because they are bad people.

Random but movie related thought.

When I was wee, and not particularly wee but not that big either?

I was fully convinced that, thanks to movies, that when someone died, from whatever cause, you could tell they were ded because blood would trickle out the corner of their mouth.


Dakkanauts of a similar undisclosed vintage please tell me I’m not the only one?

Nightmare on Elm Street

The original one.

The film is pretty solid for its time. It has to set up the tone and backstory, and doesn’t really have the time or maybe budget to explore the dream kills the way later Elm Street films do. John Saxon stands out as the name actor hired to add credibility to the film.



Enter the Dragon

Had to show my son this classic. Bruce Lee at the top of his game in the quintessential Kung Fu flick. Some parts of the film are rough, but you ignore that because everybody was Kung Fu fighting. John Saxon stands out as the name actor hired to add credibility to the film.

This is free on Tubi, but leaving in a week or so.

A Fistful of Yen

This is the main segment of Kentucky Fried Movie, and the only part safe for kids. It’s a parody of Enter the Dragon by the team behind Airplane! and The Naked Gun.

I had to watch this after Enter the Dragon because I could not stop laughing at Bruce Lee’s “what was that?” scene and the “refuse from waterfront bars, just lost, drunken men who don’t know where they are and no longer care” scene. And I still lose it at “Take him to Detroit.”

This part is free to watch on YouTube.

Was home alone ill yesterday so had a mini movie marathon:

Guns Akimbo
Harry Potter is a geek who gets his kicks taunting trolls online. The leader of a popular underground deathmatch club takes exception, and drags him into the next game against his will by bolting guns to his hands and setting the current champ after him. It gives no great philosophical insight or anything (unless 'people in general are f'ing awful' counts) but it's good fun. Well worth a watch with a few beers and a bowl of popcorn.

Underwater
Kristen Stewart works on a deep mining platform at the bottom of the Mariana Trench - they dig too deep and wake Cthulhu. Woops! Again, really good fun and worth a watch.

H.P. Lovecraft's Witch House
Not what I'd hoped, and something of a lesson in how to not do eldritch horror. Confusing, lots of psychedelic sequences and a pretty gak 'was it all a dream, oh wait no' ending. Still don't know what actually happened. And I know a lot of horror films are low budget, but it wouldn't surprise me if these guys got change from a tenner. Not worth it.

I really enjoyed Underwater. The effort that had been made on costumes and the sets really sold it to me. It also has the benefit of underwater CG effects can have reasonably have filters applied that help disguise the fakeness a bit more

Yeah, Underwater is a good movie that I've watched a few times now. And I absolutely love Guns Akimbo.

Underwater got really bad reviews, which I don't get as I too thought it was a pretty good flick.

On the other hand...
Transformers Rise of the Beasts
Bumblebee was an awesome movie. It pulled all the strings perfectly and I very much enjoyed it. Rise of the Beasts on the other hand is dreck. It is fething gak. Want to know how bad I think this film is? It's Rise of Skywallker bad. It's Ghostbusters 2016 bad. It's last season of Game of Thrones bad. I managed to get through the whole film purely by my curiosity of how awful this film is.
Do yourself a favour and avoid at all costs.

Never heard of Underwater. While I'm massively bored with Cthulhu in most regards (it's just a cheap pop-culture meme you can throw into anything. Rather bland.), but an actual film actually trying to get the idea across sounds interesting.

Tried to watch Guns Akimbo once on Netflix. Much to my surprise it only featured the German dub audio and not the original one, so I had to stop.

It’s not actually Cthulhu related. Just a handy shorthand for weird underwater monsteriness.

Underwater was a fun movie. I like that it there is very little build up. It just starts with Stewart in the bathroom and suddenly the installation starts falling apart and the rest of the film is just trying to survive. The "deep old one" element isn't really a major factor, or even a known element, until the very end of the the film. Really it is kind of a spoiler as the only real threats 99% of the movie are the exploding/imploding buildings, the depth, and some crazy fish men.

Five Nights At Freddy’s

So I’ve never played the game, but I’m aware of it. No idea if this is a faithful or even interesting adaptation for fans.

But this was a waste of £10. There’s no vim or vigour to it. I’m half an hour away from the end, and it’s dragged like a seal’s ringpiece.

You want daft animatronic violence? Watch Willy’s Wonderland which whilst utterly daft is at least entertaining. And it has Nic Cage.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
You want daft animatronic violence? Watch Willy’s Wonderland which whilst utterly daft is at least entertaining. And it has Nic Cage.

I would like to second this recommendation for pretty much the same reasons.

Slotherhouse

This fun horror-comedy was almost a satire of social media addiction. There’s a fun meta quality to a film that tried to go viral about a bunch of social media narcissists trying to go viral. Too bad they didn’t crack the M3gan tik-tok code.

There were some great gags and a few sharp moments, but overall the film needed one more writing pass to elevate it from good to great. It got a lot of comedic mileage out of the score.


The Naked Gun

This is a comedy classic. It you’ve never seen it before, see it now.

The Creator

Firstly, this is not the movie you're probably expecting if all you've seen or heard of it is the trailer. While there is plenty action, it is probably a little more introspective then it has been marketed.

But is it any good? Well, yes and no.

Taking a leaf straight (and I mean straight) out of Terminator lore, the parallel Earth that the film inhabits progressed more quickly than we have in robotics and AI, culminating in an AI unleashing a nuke on downtown LA in the early 20th Century. This shapes the film's present, where in a "war on terror" or Vietnam parallel, the US has spent the intervening years trying to eradicate AIs, but has failed to do so thanks in part to a large part of what is now known as New Asia holding a different attitude to AI and providing them with a safe haven.

We join the story as the US finally begins to close in on "The Creator" a legendary engineer, and the rumoured super weapon he has created.

While the movie looks great, and all on a rumoured production budget of $80m, which is a pittance on modern terms, it suffers from a bit terribly engaging story and I also struggled to really care about the characters.

Musings on the nature of humanity are a common theme for sci fi, from Blade Runner to AI, even Alita: Battle Angel. The problem with The Creator is it doesn't really ask any new questions or offer any new perspectives. Subsequently the plot points all feel familiar and, alongside somewhat bland characters, there's not much that really engages.

The production design is almost sufficient to recommend it alone (and is no coincidence this area is where it's received it's award nominations) but be prepared to push through some of the slightly turgid plot to enjoy the positives.

Wait. It’s an alt-history movie?? That kind of changes things.

How much does the movie go into the history part?


Now I just want them to have throwaway lines about Henry Kissinger illegally bombing Compudia or an iRan-Control Scandal, stuff like that.

The Devil on Trial (Netflix 2023)

A documentary about the first and only time “demonic possession” was used as a defense in the US legal system back in 1981. Somewhat spooky at times in the re-enactments, but mostly just a bunch of interviews with the murderer and family who have varying degrees of belief in what really happened. Their sincere beliefs are interesting, but it just seems like a hoax from the start:

-There are photos of the supposed possession, but it just looks like a kid having a tantrum.
-There are audio recordings, but it just sounds like a kid having a tantrum.
-Ed and Lorraine Warren (of the Conjuring franchise fame / infamy) get involved and get to grifting.
-At one point the father loses his patience and berates the kid, which ceases the possession. Hell hath no fury like a father tired of his sons bs and just wants some peace and quiet, it seems.
-the actual “possession murder” happens months after the possession, and is perpetrated by someone who wasn’t even possessed.
-Victim and murderer were both drunk at the time. Victim was the murderers landlord.
-The Warrens proceed to use the situation for their own financial gain, pocketing the lions share of money that the story garners.

feth the Warrens, feth most of the family involved that tries to profit from a guy getting murdered by a drunkard.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Wait. It’s an alt-history movie?? That kind of changes things.

How much does the movie go into the history part?


Now I just want them to have throwaway lines about Henry Kissinger illegally bombing Compudia or an iRan-Control Scandal, stuff like that.

It's literally just the opening part, documenting the growth of AI and robots with some faux black and white news footage, skipping along until it reaches the detonation of the nuke in LA. It all takes place well in the future, so it barely makes a difference other than to set the scene as to why people are intent on wiping out artificial life.

The A-Team - 2010

I hadn't watched this in several years. I remembered not being impressed the first time I saw it. There's a chance I have only seen it twice now.

I really enjoyed it this time. It felt way more A-Team than I remembered. B.A. Again carries the team but every character was a lot better than I had remembered, it was over all just more fun than I expected.

 Flinty wrote:
It’s not actually Cthulhu related. Just a handy shorthand for weird underwater monsteriness.

Nope, it is intended to be actual Cthulhu:
https://screenrant.com/underwater-movie-monster-explained-origin-real-life/

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

A fun but entirely unnecessary film.
Honestly, thought I'd enjoy it a bit more than I did (I'm one of the few people who likes Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), but it doesn't help that it's just not that good. It's about 45 minutes too long, the CGI is pretty noticeable (Particularly at the start) and Harrison Ford is a good few years past the point where he can convincingly play an action hero.

I talked about this one to a friend and their kid the other day. Over the past half year or so they watched all the Indiana Jones films. My friend liked it because the script was a bit smarter than usual, and her son liked it too, because it was exciting and funny. He likes it better than Temple of Doom, but rates 1 and 3 over 5. I haven't seen it, but that bodes well for the film. Especially since a few months ago I watched a film show on youtube in which the presenters discussed who that film was made for and that it didn't work as a nostalgia piece. So in that regard I assume it just works like all Indiana Jones films in the past - for everybody (to an extent).

I watched Drop Zone (1994). It's been a while since I saw that one, and in my brain that one is very strongly connected to Passenger 47, because both star Wesley Snipes and airplanes. Drop Zone of course is the parachute jumping one. Evil parachutist (Gary Busey) and evil pals do something evil. Air marshal Wesley Snipes' air marshal friend is killed by Busey during that ongoing evil-doery. Wesley Snipes has to a.) get into the parachuting scene (I'll get to that in a bit) and b.) stop Gary Busey and evil parachute gang from further parachute-based evil-doery.

It's one of those films where they insist that there's a sub-culture around parachuting in ..California or where ever that takes place. Remember when there were subcultures? Of people? Anyway. The film works alrighty I think. Snipes makes for a fine lead as we all know, and especially the scenes in which he's a bit of a dork whilst learning the parachuting make him a sympathetic one too. Gray Busey is a great go-to baddie. Highlight to me was him working a 1994 computer, making Busey faces. I also really like the interactions between the evil parachutists and good parachutists. Really basic stuff, rather silly, but it's a funny dynamic.

All in all the film isn't great by any means and I suspect that Passenger 47 is the better of the two.
The film also stars Parker Lewis as part of the goodie parachutists.

Take it or Leave it.

Blade

“The action is super 90’s.” —my son.

The film is attitude and (adequate) action in a leather trench coat. If that sounds like enough, you’ll like the film. If not, you probably won’t get much out of it.

Important historical note: If you are a student of culture, this film originated the now-classic phrase “some motherf[eth]ers always ice skating uphill.” Of equal moment is Passenger 57, to wit: “You ever play roulette? Always bet on black.”



Friday the 13th
The first one.


Pretty tame by today’s standards.

 Easy E wrote:
This is the End

A Seth Rogan Apocalypse movie.

Saw this with my wife and sister in law. We spent 90% of the film on the edge of shutting it off, but never quite pressing the button.

Blade is an odd one.

For me, it’s ruined by the dodgy blood effects. But I’ve also seen the deleted scene version of the final fight which is even worse.

However.

I’m dimly familiar with ratings, and so I accept the blood might’ve looked crap on purpose, to pass censorship with a reasonably appealing rating.

Blade (ONE!) rocks.

The Covenant

The trailer for The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare reminded me that I hadn’t seen Guy Richies previous outing.

Pretty damn good action/thriller, with alot of familiar faces in supporting roles. One of those types of box office bombs that deserved better, imo.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Blade

“The action is super 90’s.” —my son.

The film is attitude and (adequate) action in a leather trench coat. If that sounds like enough, you’ll like the film. If not, you probably won’t get much out of it.

Important historical note: If you are a student of culture, this film originated the now-classic phrase “some motherf[eth]ers always ice skating uphill.” Of equal moment is Passenger 57, to wit: “You ever play roulette? Always bet on black.”

Blade at least has the courtesy to let the audience know if they will like the film or not. You watch the first few minutes tot eh end of the nightclub scene, and then get to make an informed decision about whether or not to watch the rest...

The Colour Out of Space.

So Richard Stanley (I think that's his name), the man who made the much better than it has any right to be killer robot/2000 A.D. copyright dodging film "Hardware" directs this Lovecraft adaptation.

Starring Nicholas Cage. When you absolutely need to cast someone who can do the whole "going slowly bonkers" thing, you know who to call.

Always thought this was one of Lovecraft's more unfilmable stories just due to the concept of an alien colour, but the film does reasonably well being unsettling.

Cage is at least watchable and at best pretty good. Effects are also fine for the budget.

Overall, fairly enjoyable and amongst the better mid budget Lovecraft films out there.