Films You Have Watched

[Dogg Thang]

Plane watched Venom: The Last Dance. It was more the same than ever. Pretty much exactly what I expected and overall it was very average nonsense and yet, once again, Hardy and the Venom character made it an entertaining watch. I can only imagine how they could have been in a really good movie. A decent watch.

Also watched Beetlejuice Beetljuice and, while no great work, it was definitely much better than I had expected and I enjoyed it. It’s a bit messy due to trying to service every character but I kind of admire them trying to do that and it led to lots of fun sequences. Not a bad film at all.

Then I rewatched Ex Machina. Not really a plane movie but, at that point, I didn’t expect to stay awake. But I did and I had forgotten how good that movie is. Very small and contained and excellent. Kind of crazy to think that, whatever about the physical mechanics, AI is probably more advanced now than the AI character in the movie.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Godzilla Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki, 2023)

Not gonna lie...using Godzilla as an allegory/metaphor for the aftermath trauma/fallout from post-World War II/reconstruction-era Japan is ingenious. Though, the two-hour story flagged ever so slightly towards the end in my opinion but I accept that's splitting hairs.

[fallenangle]

Just watched the Uncharted movie on C4 and not having played any of the games yet (have all on PS4, mostly secondhand) I just hoping they're going to be better than that pile of garbage.

Unlikable characters, unamusing, charmless, ridiculous, often generic CGI heavy action set pieces and most of all often boring. It is one of only a few films I can think of I've watched for the first time and not regretted missing the last 20 minutes, in fact welcomed an excuse to do that, in this case because it crossed over with MotD.

I can only think a large number of easily pleased kids and teenagers liked it explaining why it was a relative box office success and they're apparently making a sequel.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Batman Ninja (Jumpei Mizusaki, 2018)

Watched this last night.

Tired anime tropes with added Batman or tired Batman tropes with added anime? Either way, it feels like it tries to swing at both and misses. Probably didn't need to be 90 minutes of over-the-top incoherence - that'll probably be what those who enjoy this like about it - when 60 minutes honestly would've done the job.

As far as the voice-acting goes, they're obviously not Kevin Conroy (RIP) and Mark Hamill, but Roger Craig Smith and Tony Hale do the best they can with the sparse material that they have in their respective lead roles at Batman and Joker.

In some small fairness, the 2D/3D cel-shaded CG hybrid art style that seems to be emblematic of modern anime looked better than I thought it would do here.

[Neon Ignition]

Captain America: Brave New World
The film sits in an awkward space because everyone will understandably compare it to the prior Captain America films, to which the film fails to hold up at all. It's an incredibly Phase 4/5 film, it often looks unnecessarily cheap (some poor CG looking sequences were actually practical sets). The film works better if, despite the name (the subtitle literally means nothing to the film) of the lead character, seen as The Incredible Hulk 2. Not a thing I thought we'd see, but it's much more the latter and a reasonable enough time passer.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Anora (Sean Baker, 2024)

Regarding the recent furore surrounding Mikey Madison's decision not to use an intimacy coordinator for this role...all I'll say is that it's one hell of a swing and it doesn't half add contextual weight to the rawness and grit that she displays throughout. Her performance is a sheer force of nature from start to end and the awards shouts are not surprising.

I also didn't expect Yura Borisov's performance to surprise me with how layered and composed it was. I'm interested to see him appear in more stuff outside of Russia.

That said, the story doesn't tell us much more about the main characters and wraps itself up pretty quickly in a nothing-left-to-say way the last 30 mins or so - both are annoying.

TL;DR: I enjoyed it mostly on the basis of Madison and Borisov's performances but wouldn't necessarily say it was the cinematic tour de force that the industry awards circuit would have you believe it to be.

[wakka]

I watched Snack Shack.

Released in 2024 and set in '91 small town Nebraska, Snack Shack is a foul mouthed yet cosy coming-of-age set across an endless, sunlit high school summer.

It's simple, plot-wise, almost veering into hangout movie territory at points - basically, best friends AJ and Moose alight on a scheme to make money over the summer holiday by operating the local swimming pool's 'snack shack', selling hot dogs and soda, with things complicating via the arrival of beautiful, acerbic lifeguard Brooke.

It's not the most original film. Particularly in the latter half, it treads well-worn territory for the major beats of this kind of movie. But it's acted and directed so cohesively and sincerely that if this is the kind of thing that will resonate with you, you'll find yourself pleasantly immersed in its world.

There are shades of everything from Superbad to Dazed and Confused in here, but it's not quite either - less out-and-out comedic than the former and more structured, less purely observational, than the latter.

I think the film is most interesting in its first third, which I saw a critic compare to a pint-sized version of Altman's California Split and which I think is a perfect comparison, with motormouth dialogue between the two best friends as we see them explore a variety of quasi-legal schemes to generate money for their summer holiday. There's a slight sense of missed opportunity that some of this aspect is parked as we move into the film's second half, and we reach more traditional, sentimental territory to bring the story home.

But overall, it's a lot of fun. A perfectly relaxing Sunday night movie. I recommend

[Neon Ignition]

Dog Man
As per the trailer, dull

[Nu-Eclipse]

I'm Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui) (Walter Selles, 2024)

A remarkably real and raw encapsulation of the suffering that so many people endured during the Brazilian military dictatorship as well as the consequential lasting generational trauma suffered by their loved ones and families. Selles undoubtedly uses the beautifully idyllic Rio de Janeiro beach backdrop to contrast and highlight all of this to devastating effect.

Not sure I can say anything that hasn't already been said by many, many others about Fernanda Torres' portrayal of the late Eunice Paiva. Words like outstanding and phenomenal don't feel like they do it enough justice, but simutaneously they somehow feel apt to describe the dignity and courage of both Paiva and her family in the face of what they went through.

[Neon Ignition]

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy
Never found the films to be funny and Bridget is insufferable, Zellwegger gets a lot of praise and I'm not sure how much is translated from the books that informs the character but she genuinely comes across like she has support needs, it borders on a Mr Bean impression at times. That being said, whilst the latest film also remains terminally unfunny it's probably the entry I enjoyed the most because the sections of it that deal with the loss of a partner are actually quite well done and a whole film of that would have been much more interesting.

[QualityChimp]

The Order (Prime)
Based on a true story - a string of violent robberies in the Pacific Northwest leads veteran FBI agent Terry Husk into a white supremacist plot to overthrow the federal government. Strong lead performances from Jude Law Nicholas Hoult and Tye Sheridan in a suitably engaging story and some feds looking into some white supremacists wanting more than to be quietly burning crosses, but to take power.

Set in the distant history of the 1980s. Thankfully, white supremacists taking power in modern America could never happen!

Elevation (Prime)
Birdbox had aliens killing people who see them, A Quiet Place had aliens killing noisy people and Elevation sees aliens killing people, below a certain hight. Wait, what?
It's not properly explained, but it's a vehicle for survivors to stay in the mountains, then adventures wandering into the danger zones in the valleys.
Look, it's been done before and done better, but I like an apocalypse survival story, even though I know it's pandering to American gun nut survivalists. It's a decent yarn with some exciting moments with good lead turns from Captain America 2 and Deadpool's girlfriend.

The Monkey (Cinema)
I really enjoyed this. It wasn't particularly scary, it's more of a creepy tale that Steven King does so well. It is, however, very funny and gory with some preposterous deaths.
Felt a little bit like Final Destination, where suspicious "accidents" kill people off.
Some pacing issues where it needs to deliver some plot or make you care about the characters, but plenty of laughs once the deaths start.

[Neon Ignition]

Forgot one as we just finished the end of the film off with the kids

Green Lantern
When it finished we mentioned to the kids that the film was universally reviled and still mocked to this day, they thought that was nuts and it was okay enough.
And they're right.

[Neon Ignition]

Arthur
The Dudley Moore version - The butler provides the best laughs whilst Dudley Moore's charm works to carry the film which is very thin otherwise.

[Finsbury Girl]

Yeah I didn't mind Green Lantern (but then again I'm pretty ok with the Affleck Daredevil

[Atticus]

Recent highlights include some old school British horror films: Blood on Satan's Claw and Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter. Also watched Wind River by Taylor Sheridan and Melancholia by Lars Von Trier.