Yeah, those slow motion scenes that are about 5fps are rough.
3 Likes
Nobody 2. Slightly less garbage than the first, but still garbage. Odenkirk does slightly better, but he is still a hugely expressive comedic actor in a role that is all about implacable stoicism. Nielsen is so much better than her bucket of sick of a role. The fight scenes are slightly more inventive, but this film is just as soulless as the first. The climax is equally worthless, I found myself looking at a blank wall during the âheightâ of the action, which is nothing more than a bunch of pre-arranged traps that have less inventiveness than Home Alone. A pointless film.
Greenland, on HBO. (I donât care what itâs named this week, it will forever be HBO to me).
Very typical disaster porn at the hands of a comet that miraculously no one saw coming. Throw in some family drama for extra plot points and some meh CGI and off we go.
An entertaining if somewhat shallow and predictable end of the world as we know it flick. Drink every time our protagonist survives an internal organ destroying shockwave if you hate yourself and your liver. 6/10.
2 Likes
Itâs funny, Iâve been seeing ads for Greenland 2, and I have never in my life heard of the first one.
4 Likes
I was praying for the entire family to die.
Anaconda. A stupid film, but not a bad one. Iâm unsure what it is exactly, but most of this mess works; Rudd isnât afraid to look genuinely stupid, Jack Black is delightful, and Steve Zahn is a low-key comedy genius. Thandiwe Newton, in a terrible wig for some reason, is noticeably not as well-written or given the same opportunity for jokes. It lacks the genuine oddness of the original, which is not a good film, but makes up for it with some light-hearted good intentions. Predictable, but safe, mild fun.
1 Like
The Naked Gun was funnier than I thought it would be. You, of course, have to enjoy screwball comedy, but the movie was a nonstop assault of gags and many of them landed. I thought the trailers were generally awful and I didnât think Liam Neeson was the right man for the job but he did well with the role. A pleasant surprise.
2 Likes
Keeper. Decent atmosphere, but Tatiana Maslany carries almost the entire thing on her back.
Sisu: Road to Revenge. Better than the first, just very silly from the start, no fucks given.
Anatomy of a Fall. Very up itself. I liked the ambiguity, it felt real, but a lot of the courtroom dramatics felt silly.
The Rip. A childâs idea of a crime film. âWhat if there were some good guys, but one of them is a bad guy, and you couldnât tell who it was.â delivered by those two titans of acting, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Brimstone. Loved Dakota Fanning in this. Guy Pearce is fine, but heâs just an implacable stoic monster. Fanning has to do everything, largely mute, and does it well. I did wonder at some of the abrupt tone changes, but they were brief, and often just as dark as the rest of the film. Almost two and a half hours long, but didnât feel it.
Train Dreams. Marx's theory of alienation - Wikipedia
2 Likes
The Rip, on Netflix. Fully agreed with @OhBollox. This was a complete waste of my time and beneath the Damon / Affleck Iâve come to expect. Donât bother, both you and they are better than this mess.
On the other hand, we have Sinners, streamed on HBO and purchased on iTunes. Came into this skeptical, as itâs billed as horror and imho real life is scary enough, no need to watch it as well. Plus I hate jump scares. Anyway, the 16 Oscarâs nods it got piqued my interest.
This movie is so much more than a southern gothic vampire film. The music, the use of color, the imagery, the deeper meanings behind so much of it. I absolutely loved it and understand the Oscar nominations. On my fourth watch in as many days and there are still scenes that give me chills. Canât recommend it enough, it renewed my faith in movie making. 11/10.
4 Likes
All too true. And thanks for the warning on The Rip. Iâve been resistant to Sinners for the same reasons you were, but Iâll try it this weekend. Mrs. biffpow and I finished the Agatha Christie miniseries The Seven Dials on netflix and really enjoyed it. Excellent acting all around and really high production values. Love classic mysteries, though, so I was biased going in.
3 Likes
Primate. A chimp gets rabies and kills people. Thatâs it. Totally uninspired, it has perhaps one scene with a decent idea behind it, and thereâs no laughs, nor is it grim, itâs just flat. Worthless.
Back when Ridley Scott still cared about not worsening his obituary with every expansion of his work, watching Harrison Ford shoot runaway slaves never got old. Plenty of incredibly beautiful shots, an iconic score of Vangelis pressing one keyboard key at a time, and the unfortunate scene of Deckard forcing himself on a woman because sheâs either a machine or a slave, either way.
1 Like
Just saw Barbarian. Realized that a lot of the style that I loved in Weapons was in the directors previous film too.
Apparently Creggers next project is a resident evil film. Ive zero attachment to the IP, but I know its a very difficult line to tread to appeal to fans of the IP and fans of the genre
1 Like
If I Had Legs Iâd Kick You. Bleakly funny, very grim at times, and a brilliant turn from Rose Byrne, who is on-screen, and often centered, for about 95% of the runtime. An experiment in stress.
War Machine. A stupid film. I wanted everyone in it dead from about two minutes in. I wonât even start on how bad hoo-rah militarism is with Iran in the background.
Outland. Connery as the (space) town marshal in this High Noon riff is quite enjoyable. Ropy effects, good ideas, grungy environs. Some really good sections.
2 Likes
Crime 101. Crime film, worth a watch.
Goat. Kids first sports film. Zero to hero, you know the story if youve seen any sports film ever. Just enough across the spiderverse style so you know its from the same artists.
I swear. Based on a true story of a Scottish tourettes sufferer/campaigner. Uplifting, heartbreaking, exceptional.
Very much looking forward to project hail mary. Tried to get the book out at the library. Im 75th in the queue lol
3 Likes
I did not care for the book.
We Bury the Dead. A little more thoughtful than your average zombie film, as a humanitarian burial effort following a WMD test gone awry finds some of the dead people are coming back to life. A woman looking for her estranged husband kind of robs the story of a lot of its urgency and weight; it rapidly becomes clear the relationship is dead even if he isnât. Some great imagery, albeit very obviously composited.
Couldnât make it 10m into the book. Found it annoying, tropeâish, and derivative. Movie is getting a lot of traction so maybe thatâll make me want to go back and read it?
2 Likes
You could put a gun to my head and I wouldnât read it again. The best bit is where you think the main character might be a paedophile for a paragraph.
3 Likes
Was definitely not expecting push back on the book given the buzz in various places. Id also heard the trailer spoils the twist. Interested to see how this one plays out.
Outland is such an under-rated movie. I bought that on VHS I liked it so much. Rodenberry always insisted he wanted Star Trek to be a Western in space, which it never really wasâOutland actually nails that in the good ways. I wouldnât mind seeing someone capable try to remake that with actual special effects.
@Snotty128 I also did not finish the book, and I am sort of baffled as to how they could make the movie good unless they departed from the source material in a big way. If you go see it, Iâll be curious to know what you think.
1 Like
Might go and see the advanced screening tomorrow if theres any decent seats left. My city centre cinema has basically sold out. Will have to go to my local one. Normally they start advance screening on wednesday, seems theyve made a wise business decision to have an advanced advance screening on saturday
1 Like
Splitsville. Really quite funny, and walks a fine line between uncomfortable and amusing the entire time. Quite impressive. Bonus points for a great fight scene.
Licence to Kill. One of my favourite Bonds, it has James completely off the reservation (his own side try to kill him immediately, very funny), and it genuinely feels personal. Qâs doddering brilliance and Carey Lowellâs top flight Bond girl, and the darker tone, complete with some great practical stunts and flashes of Daltonâs northern accent. Brilliant.
Cold Storage. Enjoyed this even more on the re-watch. A nice splattery comedy horror.
This is Not a Test. A very stupid film. Even worse than most zombie films in the âget somewhere safe then do either nothing or incredibly stupid stuffâ.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Donât Die. A genuinely funny film that swaps in satire after its first third, but is still broadly good, if progressively shallower the longer it goes on. A brilliant madcap central performance by Sam Rockwell, the likes of which I havenât seen from him in ages. Michael Peña should be in this even more than he is. I wish the film was longer, if anything, and we got to see more of the cast and their backstories, which is were a good chunk of the filmâs quality is.
1 Like