Just saw Eternals.
It was wicked, but I’m subtracting a point for no mention of the group Eternal.
It was wicked, but I’m subtracting a point for no mention of the group Eternal.
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I watched Ad Astra last night and I’m starting to feel like there is a specific genre here - space movies that should be slow and ponderous that aren’t allowed to be in case they become slow and ponderous. Brad Pitt is brilliant in it and his performance might have carried the movie alone. The design is lovely, shots superb. And then there is a pirate attack for some reason. And, oh yes because you have to in a movie like this, checking out a distress signal that goes precisely nowhere and is utterly baffling because nobody even cares why they went there and they leave with nothing but, hey, at least there is an ape attack. And then an exciting sequence of (let’s spoiler this one)…
Potentially a sci-fi great. Totally wasted.Comment
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I agree, it was totally disposable and a waste of potential.
Some nice ideas like the space lift and the ape bit, but it seemed like a waste of mine and NASA's time.
In other news, I rewatched The Raid 2 as it's 10 years since the original was released.
I remember someone posting the trailer on here and I stopped watching about 15 seconds in as I knew I'd love it.
Watched the sequel as there's an amazing car chase/fight, so with a film with a Raid cast member and a car chase, that's two more ticks for Woovember.
I watched the Blu-Ray with commentary on for some more insights.
The porn den sequence has flashes of flesh on the screen, but to avoid upsetting the Indonesian censors, it's actually the Director of Photography flapping his elbows together!
Got into a nice Twitter exchange with Mike Leeder, who hooked up Gareth Evans with Bruce Law who then did the chase sequence. Mike was kind enough to share a couple of behind the scenes snaps.
The Prince Charles Cinema is showing both films with a Q+A session with Gareth Evans on Monday, but it's not realistic for me to drive there and back on a school night.
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Film + extra features + plus Twitter exchange ... now that's how to get the most out of a viewing
I love The Raid but still haven't seen the sequel.
I watched The Fly last night. When I saw it back in the 80s I didn't even know who David Cronenberg was (or Jeff Goldblum, who is perfect as Seth Brundle). Now watching it again it is very much a David Cronenberg film, and still very much an old-school monster movie like the one it's based on. And for a fairly hefty commercial release it's really gross-out and horrific at times. Certainly doesn't hold back. Super tight film though. Never a lull. Very good. Can't remember if the sequel was up to much but I did see that back in the day too.Comment
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The implementation of 3D improved as time went on, but I still always felt like it was too much like a pop-up book, even on a good quality Panasonic plasma with active shutter glasses.
I thought Gravity was a great use of it, in particular. It really worked for that film with the stuff floating about. And I enjoyed Kong Island in it too. And Dredd. I actually bought quite a few 3D Blus over the years, so I'm not a hater!
But like Atticus it just pulls me out of the story most of the time. The effect is too transparent, too much of an overlay, unlike colour (and more subtle enhancements like the boosted detail and dynamic range of ultra HD, which I'd argue improve the vast majority of stuff).
The other unforgivable thing about 3D for me was how poor the implementation in cinemas could be. The crappy glasses and the cross-talk meant the picture ended up wobbly and washed out versus a 2D version. When I saw Star Wars 9, the picture quality felt bloody awful versus watching a Blu-ray at home. Way too much of a trade-off for an effect I'm really not getting much out of in the first place.
But anyway the world would be a boring place if we all agreed
QC, you should go to that screening at the PCC! YOLO!
One from me...
Anomalisa
For some reason I seem to see every film Charlie Kaufman is involved with, without necessarily actually meaning to. I think they always just have intriguing premises.
I'm not a massive fan of his to be honest - sometimes his stuff is so surreal and abstracted it disappears up its own backside - but I enjoyed this tighter, smaller effort from versus the relatively baroque (and completely indecipherable) Synecdoche, New York.
It's a film about a depressed motivational speaker who goes to speaker at a customer service business conference at an anonymous business hotel. The whole film is set over one night. He has a bad relationship with his wife and kid and he is miserable. While in the hotel he tries to reconnect with an old flame, and with a young woman he meets who is attending the conference.
Now this could easily have been some manic pixie dream girl type bull**** here. Sad white man finds himself through spunky female companion. But it isn't. It's deeper and darker than that, it's nastier, and it's very clever. It's a film, really, about narcissism.
This being Kaufman the film is quirky. It's all done with puppetry, for one thing. And the characters who aren't the protagonist are all voiced by one guy. There is no clear reason given in the film for why this is, but various arguments can be made.
Anyway, it's interesting. 90 minutes. Very human. A bit depressing. But enjoyable. Good dialogue and characters, and Kaufman doesn't go off the deep end. Small but very well formed.
Rentable on Prime.Comment
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Black Widow
It was a nice change seeing something grounded after Eternals.
This was also wicked. The fight scenes had great physicality and it felt like the characters were really bashing into things. It made me flinch a lot! It was also really funny - the helicopter bit cracked me up, and Red Guardian slipping his helmet on never got old.
There main villain was accidentally comedic - Ray Winstone’s Russian cockney accent - but Taskmaster was a very cool baddie.
This was the IMAX enhanced version, and those scenes looked great. The comparison images Disney sent out are hilarious but in reality it’s nice when everything looks a bit larger. Apparently some people don’t like the ratio switching back and forth but I’m fine with it and I’m really glad Disney are doing this(you can also choose to watch the film in regular widescreen without switching).Comment
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Watched The Hills Have Eyes last night. It's a film I always remember seeing in the video shop when I was too young to see it, the cover really stood out. And it's a pretty good film. There's that dry, middle-of-nowhere vibe that feels vast and isolated. You know you're in bother if you break down. But instead of a bunch of teens it's a family traveling through, baby to old pops and everything in between, and all are fair game to the locals. All. At times it's silly and then it's cruel and grisly. But the fun comes from not seeing a bunch of good guys bumped off but the hunted becoming the hunters. And it's another Dee Wallace film (she's also in The Howling)
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Seen it many times over my life but having recently seen Dune I gave the 1984 Dune a spin. While the modern one is well made, it's miles off in the charm stakes and the art direction is much more fun.Comment
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Rewatched the cinematic classic Freddy vs Jason last night and generally it holds up really well. It’s a lot of fun and manages to milk the best of both franchises but at a quality level higher than the best of both of them. It is very much a Nightmare on Elm Street film at its core and, as that, really delivers. It follows that series really well, building a story that feels very true to the series, playing with the dream elements and yet, even with some more outlandish elements, without going into eye-rolling territory. Although Freddy hamming it up while delivering exposition could be tough for new viewers to take.
Jason is brought into the story well with some fantastic sequences (the flaming cornfield sequence being a highlight) and then the film really delivers on its title. And it has some great lines too. “That goalie was pissed about something”. Although with all the gory violence, it’s funny that what made me wince in the movie was one exchange using a homophobic slur that we just don’t use.Comment
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The Omen III: The Final Conflict
Felt odd watching something with Sam Neill being so young. Generally though a terrible sequel even though it attempts to wrap up events. It's an incredibly plodding and slow film lacking in suspense.
9 to 5
I've always been familiar with the film but never actually sat down and watched it. The first half hour was exactly as I expected, meeting each of the three leads and how they come together under their awful boss, and it was decent fun too but as soon as the cringeworthy fantasy sequences kick in followed by the whole kidnap/false murder arc it fell apart.Comment
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Annoyed with myself for watching a couple of poor films, thinking they fitted the Woovember bill, but the actors I thought were in them weren't.
Hollow Scream (2018) starts off like a really, really cheesy horror film, then realise it's just a VR game, so it's OK.
Then you realise the film around it is really cheesy and badly acted too.
It was an okay idea, but so cheap and hammily acted it wasn't as much fun as it should have been.
Night Walk (2019) is a strange film about a man framed for murder and sent to jail, but ends up turning to Islam for peace before then carries on trying to get revenge.
It feels like it was really cheap, but Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts are in it. Roberts looks like he has a wig and Rourke has had so much work done, his face looks plastic.
Both are on Prime, both best avoided.
Saw a couple of good 'uns too though.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 (2017) in our ongoing 3D Marvel watch with my son.
Man, I'd forgotten how funny this is. I was properly chuckling throughout.
The 3D is excellent, especially in the opening section where Baby Groot is dancing to "Mr. Blue Sky" whilst the rest of them are getting trashed by a star beast. There are a couple of moments where it breaks beyond the widescreen bars for an extra pop.
The ending is a particularly poignant one too - I'm Mary Poppins, ya'll!
Dune (2021). In contrast to the japes of GotG2, Dune takes itself very seriously, which I'm 100% okay with. Not all sci-fi has to be comedy space bants.
Having seen the original film a few months back, it struck me just how much similar it is, not just key events like the hand torture box, poison mosquito and shield fighting practice, but visually too.
I'll be honest, I think I prefer the original, visually.
It just seems less of an achievement when you can chuck it all into a computer and everything comes out looking perfect, whereas in the 80's, some seriously inventive filmmaking was needed to achieve some of the effects.
I actually think the original was more unsettling with graphic scenes like the Baron drinking blood from a slave's heart plug, technicians with their eyes sewn shut and Sting in his space pants.
Ultimately, it was a brilliant film and I can't wait for the sequel, but it didn't feel as unique as it could have been.
Plus there were loads of lingering shots of people in cloaks looking to the distance like Scottish Widow adverts.Comment
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Watched Event Horizon finally around Halloween after never seeing it and after years of [MENTION=5941]Asura[/MENTION] being convinced I'd have nightmares after seeing it. Well yes it was creepy as hell but it was also a bit daft but overall thought it was good horror film to watch as well as seeing Sam Neil in a different role than I expected.
Watched Jungle Cruise and Shang-Chi and the legend of the Ten Rings over the weekend. Shang was alright, entertaining enough and nice to see some decent martial arts but...the fact it was all on green screen and such make it less impressive and it put a downer on the whole film for me how much obvious CG there was in it. I loved the faceless creature in it. Overall enjoyable with a couple of laughs.
Jungle Cruise was a great watch, really wished I saw it at the cinema. Has a very The Mummy and Pirates feel to it as previously mentioned mixed with the film Maverick which is a film I've grown to love after the bloke introduced me to it ( I guess it's because the involvement of boats in it it reminds me of Maverick?) Can't wait to finally ride the ride next year in Disney world on our delayed official honeymoon. Highly recommended.Comment
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Event Horrizon is a classic. Saw that at the cinema back in the day. Got the BluRay now which contains some alternative ending footage. Worth watching to see what could have been.Originally posted by Blobcat View PostWatched Event Horizon finally around Halloween after never seeing it and after years of [MENTION=5941]Asura[/MENTION] being convinced I'd have nightmares after seeing it. Well yes it was creepy as hell but it was also a bit daft but overall thought it was good horror film to watch as well as seeing Sam Neil in a different role than I expected.
Watched Jungle Cruise and Shang-Chi and the legend of the Ten Rings over the weekend. Shang was alright, entertaining enough and nice to see some decent martial arts but...the fact it was all on green screen and such make it less impressive and it put a downer on the whole film for me how much obvious CG there was in it. I loved the faceless creature in it. Overall enjoyable with a couple of laughs.
Jungle Cruise was a great watch, really wished I saw it at the cinema. Has a very The Mummy and Pirates feel to it as previously mentioned mixed with the film Maverick which is a film I've grown to love after the bloke introduced me to it ( I guess it's because the involvement of boats in it it reminds me of Maverick?) Can't wait to finally ride the ride next year in Disney world on our delayed official honeymoon. Highly recommended.Comment
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I first saw it when I was 14, and it scared the crap out of me. Not just the imagery of the movie, but the Lovecraftian concept of "cosmic horror" was totally new to me, so it was mind-blowing. It gave me genuine nightmares. This was the first time I'd watched it since the 90s; we wanted a scary movie for Halloween.Originally posted by Yakumo View Post
There are still some really effective bits. I thought that...
... but as an adult, some of it is schlockier than I thought. Like the inside of the ship; how it looks utterly bizarre. One of the cool things about the ships in the Alien franchise is how they look like real functional places; having a dad who worked in heavy industry, I've spent time around rigs, tankers, chemical works, steel foundries and so on, and the ships in those movies really evoke those places.
The eponymous ship in the movie feels too much like a haunted house. Like they spend a lot of time in the medical bay and presumably the production designer's theme was "small child's hospital nightmare"
Also, it was interesting to read afterwards that the Warhammer 40,000 thing was confirmed years later. At the time people made the connection that the theme of the movie; i.e. a ship with an FtL drive during which it passes through a dimension of chaos was a lot like how ships travel in 40k. Turns out the writer later said this was their direct inspiration.Comment
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I watched Dr. No last night for the first time in ages.
It still holds up really well and it's still exciting to see James finally revealed as he's winning at baccarat and flirting and the James Bond theme starts playing.
It kinda loses the impact when it plays again as he goes to his room, the bar, a car and the harbour, though.
Holy smokes, the foley guy went nuts with the bird whistle as Bond is milling about!
Really interesting to see where it all began after seeing No Time To Die.Comment
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