Films You Have Watched

[Yakumo]

Barbie (Cinema) - Had a family outing where the kids saw TMNT and I saw Barbie with the wife. I'd wanted to see it since the trailer, so was really pleased when she stated an interest too. I think it's really good. It touches on the whole "what is real?" theme like Truman Show or even The Matrix, but with a neon pink exterior. I'm so pleased it's doing great business as it's got an amazing message at its core.
Every time I went to the cinema, there's been a line of women waiting to see it (a summer Barbie queue?! ), which has been great to see..

I saw Barbie yesterday but really didn't rate it. I was expecting a far more off the rails movie. I found it to be rather bland story wise and not funny at all.
The only parts of interest was

->Open Spoiler<-

where Ken went to century city and the strange song and dance routine at the end.

Maybe if I went in to the movie not expecting anything I would have liked it more? Honestly, half way through I seriously was thinking I couldn't be bothered to watch the rest of it. That's very unusual for me.

[Atticus]

I went to see new 50th anniversary release of Enter the Dragon at the cinema last night. Amazing to see it on the big screen in 4k (apart from too much detail on Saxon's hairpiece) after years of VHS viewings. Bruce is so incredible to watch ... but Kelly has all the best lines. Loads of fun and that Lalo Schifrin soundtrack sounded class in a proper auditorium.

The night before I watched Jaws 2. Accepting nothing will ever touch the first film it's actually a pleasant watch. A glimpse of the wrecked Orca ... then Brody bezzing round sunny Amity Island ... I was in the mood pretty quick. It feels like more of a family film than the first but that's okay. I enjoyed it.

My Name is Alfred Hitchcock (Cinema) - Documentary by Mark (Moviedrome) Cousins where Alistair McGowan does an impression of Hitchcock to talk about his narrative themes through "his own words". It's a nice watch if you want to learn a bit more about those story elements he employed.
Vertigo (cinema) - Did a double-bill with Vertigo, which I've never seen before. The story was different to what I imagined and is pretty dark, especially that ending! It looks amazing, though, and had me guessing where it was going throughout.

Looking forward to seeing My Name is Alfred Hitchcock ... it's been getting great reviews. Vertigo is one of my all time faves, if not all time fave of all (time ). I love the dreamy spell it casts. Scotty following Madeleine for what? 20 odd minutes ... no dialogue ... going down and down through the streets of SF. It's hypnotic. Then there's the use of colour. The score. It's all so brilliant.

I watched Rear Window again last week. Always special as it was my gateway to Hitchcock. And that incredible set is one film world I would absolutely love to live in. It's magic.

Jigsaw (1962)

Fab little police procedural whodunnit set in and around Brighton in the 60s. It’s longer than most Brit flicks of the era, especially black and white, but it gallops along, and not a word is wasted. An absolute gem. 8.5/10

Was that on the TV prinny?

[Neon Ignition]

Stripes
The cast in this is great and it's pretty decent for the most part. Kind of like a proto-Police Academy but it reaches a natural end point at around 1hr 20m in and just keeps on going into territory that drags the film down hard when it could have grasped a win.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
The film owes a big debt to Spider-Verse visually but does admittedly look great. The light humour is enjoyable and the dynamic between the characters is spot on, particularly cementing the teenager aspect of the characters and how that factors into their motivations. Plotwise it's fairly straight forward stop the bad guy stuff, keeping much of the more well known stuff for the eventual sequel.

Orca
One of the original Jaws rip offs, this whale focused copycat is fairly similar but lacks any of the charm

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
On second watch I found this to be pretty much just fine, the missus despised it though

Point Break
The original, still a good watch

The Meg 2: The Trench
I'd read that this was all talk till the last 20 mins and to be honest I don't really agree with it. There's stuff going on throughout, I'd say about as much as the original and though the blood is overall dialled down it's very much more of the same meaning your mileage will depend on what you made of the first.

Haunted Mansion
The new version, another one of those films that isn't amazing or anything like that but is at the same time not the epic failure its box office would suggest it is. I much preferred it to the prior version as it sticks more closely to the ideas lifted from the Disneyland ride, the family audience focus is one of the issues as it lacks scares and the summer release is dumb but it's a decent enough watch

The Little Mermaid
Finally caught up with the live action remake and it sits firmly in the bracket of overall being 'fine'. Bailey's voice and singing vocals are on point for Ariel, surprisingly so are McCarthy's for Ursula. The film though has a very weird style about it whereby it feels like everyone recorded their lines post-filming and put their all into the performance, but on set are very unemotive and bland faced which is a bit distracting. As expected, the realistic sea creatures look awful and the new songs are crud. Javier Bardem is literally just picking up a paycheck, I've never seen him make so little effort in a role and though the film is much longer than the animated version it's actually hard to work out how as they haven't really added too much that's new - but what changes are there are universally there to make it a weaker version of what came before. The same guy made Beauty and the Beast and I prefer this of the two but it will easily wash away with the tide from your mind.

[prinnysquad]

Was that on the TV prinny?

It was on Talking Pictures. I’m not sure when, but afterwards it appeared on the red button Encore catch-up service. Annoyingly it was a timed showing, so it’s off now. I’m sure they’ll show it again soon though.

Alternatively, it’s on YouTube!

[Atticus]

Grand, cheers for the info

[Neon Ignition]

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
20 years old and having watched The Little Mermaid it stands out starkly how a two decades old film is staggeringly better made than a brand new one. CG - the bane of modern films

[Baseley09]

Orca might not be the best but its fun and that whale calf scene is one of the most harrowing I ever saw!

Artwork for the Japanese laser is out if this world

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204216720553?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ZVrUA9oYT6O&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=R-Lu-7wwSyW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[prinnysquad]

Hell Drivers (1957)

Brit flick about a bloke who gets hired as a truck driver at a haulage company. The arrangement is close-knit - when not on the road, he lives in lodgings and eats communally with his fellow drivers. When on the road, there’s a very strict set of guidelines to consider. He has to accomplish a certain amount of ‘runs’ per day, or face the sack. He is discouraged from challenging the group’s pacesetter, Red. Truck maintenance is very much his own problem - and if he tries to help others, he risks not meeting his quota.

It’s a very diverting little film, with a dark edge balanced by the odd piece of nasty humour. The driving sequences are excellent for the period, and you genuinely feel the pressure they’re under. The whole thing is held together by its terrific cast, which manages to drag quality from every line and scene. Check out the roll call: Stanley Baker (from Zulu), Herbert Lom (from Pink Panther), Sean Connery, Sid James, Patrick McGoohan (very menacing in his performance), William Hartnell (Dr Who), David McCallum (Man from UNCLE) and Gordon Jackson (The Professionals).

Another good one! 8/10

[Atticus]

It’s a great watch. Stanley Baker is so cool as Tom. VP put me onto this one☝️

[prinnysquad]

It’s another cracker with a great cast!

There’s one on TPTV Encore that I’ve got my eye on called D.O.A. A 1949 noir about a bloke who is fatally poisoned trying to find out who did it, and why. There’s so many good old films on that channel.

[charlesr]

Bloodsport. Top fun.

Kickboxer vengeance. Basically a mash up of Kickboxer and Bloodsport

[huxley]

Wanted something with a slower pace last night. Watched "Living" on prime. Lovely story set in 1950s London.
Key cast members Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood.

[Atticus]

Enjoyed a New York double-bill last night, starting with ...

After Hours. Amazing to finally have a top-qual home release to enjoy. Not Scorsese's most famous film but a proper hidden gem ... with Griffin Dunne's straight laced mr normal, rolling the dice on an encounter with Rosanna Arquette and getting drawn into a night of strangeness in arty Soho where everything seems to go against him. Just as brilliant as I remember ... it had been so long I'd forgotten cinema's most useless parents were in it too (John Heard and Catherine O'Hara).

Annie Hall. Long time since I'd seen this too but it was even better than I remembered ... probably because I'm a fair bit older this time. It's so clever ... with so little going on on the surface but so much going on underneath. Absolutely brilliant. Left me wanting more Woody.

[fallenangle]

Watched US crime action/drama 21 Bridges last night.

Never heard of it before and although utterly predictable and, as many other critics have said, a rushed ending I was entertained.

[charlesr]

Kickboxer Retaliation. Adds kidnapping plot element. Otherwise exactly the same.

It is weird how these films glorify the kill