Films You Have Watched

[Neon Ignition]

Venom
Like Deadpool, one the older kids have waited to see for years and they loved it

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Their second late night offering, my eldest hadn't seen this one before and both of them who watched it preferred it to Raiders.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Much Ado About Nothing (Kenneth Branagh, 1993)

Watched this last night. An interesting curio as this film and Mel Gibson's Hamlet (1990) were arguably the films that kickstarted the mid 1990s to early/mid 2000s trend of adapting classic English literature for modern cinema and younger audiences (as popularised by subsequent teen movies like Clueless (1995)).

I'd be lying if I said I was fully engaged by this from start to finish - classic Shakespearian English is clearly better suited to theatre stage than cinema film and it shows here because the actors involved never fully shake the look and feel of obvious script recital, regardless of their acting talent. That said, the ensemble cast are all ridiculously photogenic and they clearly all look like they're having fun with this, especially Denzel Washington (surely establishing his trademark nonchalant swagger after introducing it during the early part of his collab with Spike Lee). Extra points to Michael Keaton, who appears to have adapted his Beetlejuice persona here with hilarious results.

Branagh's love of Shakespeare clearly shows in the attention to detail he crafts this film with. Younger audiences today might struggle with this but the die-hard Shakespeare fans will be right at home here.

[Nu-Eclipse]

The Last Waltz (Martin Scorsese, 1978)

Caught a lunchtime showing of this at my local cinema.

I knew of the late Robbie Robertson (RIP) and his massive influence on the sound of Scorsese's films but I didn't know just how popular his former band The Band were. It soon became evident with the star-studded lineup that came out in support for their farewell gig in San Francisco back in 1976.

Didn't care much for the "documentary" side of things which seemed to focus on Robertson a bit too much (as noted by the other members of The Band in later years) but was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed a lot of the songs played throughout, with an epic finale featuring all of the guests that pretty much read like a who's who of 1960s/70s prog-rock/folk/country/R&B/Blues/Jazz greats. Was expecting the two-hour runtime to feel like a slog for what it was but it felt like quite the opposite by the end. Efficiently, ingeniously and, in some cases, beautifully shot in places (read: striking Canadian folk legend silhouette!), as you'd probably expect from Marty...or maybe not given that this was during the height of his drug addiction issues during the 1970s, which speaks to just how much thought of clarity and focus is given to the cinematography.

An excellent live concert film, truth be told. To paraphrase the intro, it definitely should be played loud! Recommended.

[Neon Ignition]

Captain Marvel
The kids attention is starting to wobble again, we have two more films till the end of Phase Three so might take a break after that again. This isn't peak MCU but it was interesting to finally see again if only to see that Larson has been wasted these past seven years in the role and it's alright overall as a watch. Easy going at the least.

[charlesr]

Robocop is probably my fave film ever. That or maybe Fire Walk With Me.

[Neon Ignition]

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
There were a couple of details I didn't know in this, most of it was stuff I was familair with though. It's fairly whistlestop about his career, opening with the accident and dedicating most of its runtime to it. There's a section that covers Superman but the part that hits the hardest isn't the accident, his death or his wife's - it's the kids how how affected they remain two decades later.

[Nu-Eclipse]

The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008)

Watched this last night - took advantage of the recent 3 months of MUBI for £2 a month offer!

No doubting Bigelow's technical skills as a director with some of the cinematography on display here, and the acting from Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner is pretty much on-point, but I didn't really find it to be the out and out "thriller" that it was touted to be if I'm honest. It felt more like a documentary-style drama with tense/thriller set-piece elements to it (I've heard some call it "The Office" in a war-drama setting but I think that's a bit harsh). Also, the ending felt a tad bit predictable and too-quickly-wrapped-up.

A decent film overall but not sure I get the hype about it.

[QualityChimp]

Blackhat (NowTV)
Took me about 47 attempts to get through this as it wasn't gripping me.
Limped my way to the end just to finish it.

It's a Michael Mann film shot in shaky grain-o-vision about Thor being released from jail to find a hacker that shut down a nuclear powerstation and caused a meltdown.

Sometimes it's really obvious what should be done, but only Thor can tell all the FBI, CIA, ABC123 and Chinese specialists what to do, like the path of 3 suspects intersect and only Thor says they should look there.

Other times, there are massive leaps of logic to get to the next bit.

The finale looks amazing but a bit nonsensical with nobody worried about people waving guns around.

Yeah, this was a bit rubbish, IMHO.