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 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I don’t really understand that concern. Humans joke and use bleak humor in stressful situations. The astronaut doesn’t come across as flippant or unserious, but he does make fun of himself and his situation sometimes. Nothing about the humor in the movie struck me as out of place or annoying.

He's worse in the book, plus, spoiler alert:

 Lathe Biosas wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I don’t really understand that concern. Humans joke and use bleak humor in stressful situations. The astronaut doesn’t come across as flippant or unserious, but he does make fun of himself and his situation sometimes. Nothing about the humor in the movie struck me as out of place or annoying.

He's worse in the book, plus, spoiler alert:

Spoiler:

he's not really an astronaut. Not on purpose anyway. He's literally MacGyver, in space.

I dont think you need the spoiler tag for something made blatantly clear in the trailers.

What time is it, you ask? Why, it's Morbin' Time!

I watched Morbius before. I wasn't impressed at the time. I couldn't even say why anymore, but I think it may have been a lot of niggles adding up and something about the finale not agreeing with me. I did do a good job of forgetting stuff about the movie in the last year or two, though. So much so that I figured I should give it another watch.

And it's fine. I can't say any blunders or stupid writing stood out. The story flowed well enough. It had fewer dark parts (in terms of lighting) than I thought it did. No AvP2-like annoyance there. Makes me scratch my head why anything about it originally bothered me enough to come away with a negative opinion. It's a fairly mediocre movie like so many others, but nothing I'd call bad or offensive.

Perfectly good to watch in my opinion.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I don’t really understand that concern. Humans joke and use bleak humor in stressful situations. The astronaut doesn’t come across as flippant or unserious, but he does make fun of himself and his situation sometimes. Nothing about the humor in the movie struck me as out of place or annoying.

Agreed.

Also, as becomes apparent really early in the film, the main character is a school teacher, rather than an astronaut.

Edit - D'oh. I missed a page change. Ninja'd

Wit

A movie about a female English Professor played by Emma Thompson who goes through chemotherapy for stage 4 ovarian cancer.

This is a rough watch if you have any experiece with hospitals and being the patient in a Healthcare setting.

Great performance by Thompson, but not an easy watch.

E.T.- The Extra-Terrestrial

I got to see it on the big screen. Despite coming out when I was prime to see this, I had never seen the movie. It sounds dumb but I owned an audio 45 record of it, and a big glossy book of it. However, I never saw it in the cinema.

Now I have, and I can see why it was so beloved. First off, the ET effects are still amazing. They hold up.

Second, it really is written and performed very well. It feels like the late 80's with this odd mix of despair and hope. Affluence and lost connections.

Thirdly, I am convinced that John Williams helped make Steven Spielberg a star. The score is great!

Anyway, you probably have all seen it before, but it was new to me. A gap in my cinema knowledge filled.

ET is comically effective at giving children nightmares. Not just the movie with its scary and traumatic scenes—that fugly creature makes the worst noises. He’d be fear-hated like Mac from Mac and Me if not for the Williams score and Spielberg’s skill. It almost seems like braggadocio to make such a heartwarming movie with such a repellent creature.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
ET is comically effective at giving children nightmares. Not just the movie with its scary and traumatic scenes—that fugly creature makes the worst noises. He’d be fear-hated like Mac from Mac and Me if not for the Williams score and Spielberg’s skill. It almost seems like braggadocio to make such a heartwarming movie with such a repellent creature.

Two things about ET.

One. ET the film taught me as a child that my parents didn't have all the answers in life.

Child me: "If ET could fly, why didn't he fly up to his space ship at the beginning?"

Two. The Special Edition of ET needs to be buried next to all the Atari ET video games. What a terrible violation that film was.

The Princess Bride

Really not much to say about this. It’s a classic, and for good reason. A well made, well acted family friendly slice of cinematic fun. And it got a little bit of everything. Thrills, comedy, romance, fisticuffs, wit. Even a bit of sci-fi just about kinda (Miracle Max and his potions).

Sadly, a film I don’t think I actually saw as a kid, was probably put off by the title sounding Pretty Girly, which was poison to me as a snivellin’ lirrul Grot.

If it’s been a while, or you’ve not seen it yet (no judgement on the latter) you can watch it on Disney+, at least in the UK.

And if peeps can recommend similar movies, I’ll check them out.

Similar in what way?

I find Secondhand Lions has a similar swashbuckling-but-also-family-bonding feel. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen hits the same fantasy feeling, but is darker and weirder. Krull is family friendly fantasy, but much more Star Wars than Princess Bride in tone. The book Howl’s Moving Castoe has that overwhelming charm and wholesomeness. Vibes, starring Jeff Goldblum and Cyndi Lauper has that nice romcom-adventure energy. I’ll keep thinking…

If you want more bittersweet and haven’t seen The Life of Chuck, I recommend that.

Just….y’know…in a similar vein!

Of those you’ve mentioned, I’ve seen and enjoyed Baron Munchhausen, Krull and Howl’s Moving Castle.

Vibes I don’t think I’ve heard of, but those cast members have me sold. Jeff Goldblum is…himself. And Cyndi Lauper I’ve always had a crush on.

Life of Chuck is that new one I think? With Tom Hiddleston? Will give it a watch.


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Return to Oz

How to sum this up? I know, I’ll quote some Bad News lyrics. For they were contemporaneous.

Bad dreams, are keeping me awake at night.
Bad dreams, I think I’m gonna turn on the light,
Bad dreams, wish that they’d go away
NIGHTMARE! HERE COMES THE BEAST AGAIN!

Good gravy what a gloriously horrifying film. Wheelers! Petrification! Nomes! Mombi’s Screaming Bonces*

Whilst well made, you can absolutely see how and why this choked at the box office. Far too scary for kids, and I dare say a fair few adults. Given it was trading off a stone cold family friendly classic? Its bold vision just never really stood a chance. As much as I got a real kick out of the terror as a kid? It’s a film with no clear audience as a result.

*Now that is a band name!

Thinking about more wholesome (ish) adventure or comedy movies with a hint of romance, I’ll suggest the following:

The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (cryptids!), Short Circuit 2, The Fall Guy (good date movie), and House 2: The Second Story (with one of the best pulpy adventurers of the 80’s).

Getting less wholesome, my wife loves Barbarella. Try also, Cherry 2000


Automatically Appended Next Post:
My son wants to see Return to Oz due to its reputation as nightmare fuel.

Well, Return to Oz is on Disney+ as well. At least in the UK. Still lives up to its reputation.

Of your recommendations, it’s only Secret of the Lost Legend I’ve not seen.

Particularly fond of the Sinbad movies, and in fact own them all on digital. So that’s the weekend’s viewing sorted.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also? Return to Oz.

Proves that an Effing Chicken is a better actor than Jared Leto, as I actually give a flip whether it survives or not.

Stardust has kind of a similar vibe to The Princess Bride.

pgmason wrote:
Stardust has kind of a similar vibe to The Princess Bride.

I still have not seen this. I really should.

You definitely should! It’s ace!

A24’s 2026 horror offering undertone

I think I liked it.

A young woman, at bedside vigil for her soon to be departed mother, starts hearing and seeing things around the house. I’m not sure if it’s a haunting, a possession movie, or a stressed, mourning woman’s descent into psychosis. Seems like a combo of all 3.

It’s definitely a good example of “less is more”, as the film is shot in like 4-6 rooms in a house, with only 1 active character, all else being just a few voices or a comatose woman. But it does a good job making you want to pay attention to the periphery and small details.

It’s definitely a slow burn, but still kind of freaky.

It's amazing how bad some sequels can be. I just finished The Transporter: Refueled.

I know Jason Statham isn't the greatest actor of all time, but the guy they got to replace him has the personality of a cheese sandwich.

The movie felt like it was a TV pilot, but the Transporter TV show had better actors and a better story.

I'm just not sure why this film exists.

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
I know Jason Statham isn't the greatest actor of all time

He's at least on par with Jared Leto.

 Ahtman wrote:

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
I know Jason Statham isn't the greatest actor of all time

He's at least on par with Jared Leto.

Or Matt Smith.

I won’t hear a bad word against Jason Statham.

Limited range? Severely. But he’s good at what he does, and doesn’t claim to be some great actor.

Some might say “but how hard is it to be a decent action start”. I say watch this.