The last movie I saw was...

[stuey909]

Prisoners, see it if you havent you will not regret it.

[LeMarchand]

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

 

After the events of the last film Claire and Owen are leading separate lives. She is campaigning for dino rights while he is building a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Isla Nubar's dormant volcano has become active and all the dinosaurs on the island are threatened with re-extinction, but John Hammond's hitherto unmentioned business partner convinces them to try to rescue a number of dinos (particularly Blue) and relocate them to a safe haven he has built.However there are those who have other plans...

 

I quite enjoyed this, but I'm dubious about how much of it makes sense. It's very much a film of two parts: the action/explosions on the island and a more gothic second half set in a huge country house. The moral dilemma of "should we save them or not?" takes a bit of a back seat to the spectacle but there are a couple of surprisingly moving shots as well as the 'splosions. The ending suggests a completely new direction for future instalments. A solid entry in the series; go see it if it's on your watchlist, but don't add it to the list if it's not already there.

 

P.S. Post-credits scene not really worth staying for.

[LeMarchand]

Gods of Egypt

 

Set in a version of Ancient Egypt where their gods are real and most of the mortals and immortals are Australian or British, this is unfortunately almost as bad as you've heard. I'm not normally one to complain about CGI, but some of what's on display here looks like they hired SyFy's movie team and some of the acting (often from people who are usually much better) is of a similar level. It would seem that director Alex Proyas is unlikely to ever again hit the heights he reached in the 90s of "The Crow" followed by "Dark City". Save your time and watch either of those in preference to this one. A bit of a shame, as some of the ideas had a glimmer of promise.

[mavhc]

Gods of Egypt

 

 

Wow, you must have done something bad to think that level of atonement was needed.

[LeMarchand]

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

 

I've not read the book this is directly based on, and I may only know the source novel through other adaptations (though I think I probably have read it), but this seemed to me to cleave to closely to the major plot points of the novel and not offer nearly enough of the Bennet sisters being bottom-kicking zombie slayers.

 

Mme LeMarchand enjoyed it, but I was unimpressed.

[mavhc]

Jurassic Park 5: you can't outrun a volcano, silly people. Sort of OK, a few of the cgi composites seemed a bit rubbish, sauropod as they arrive on the island for example

 

Hereditary: starts off great, ending is just weird.

 

Kind hearts and coronets: black comedy, somewhat amusing.

[LeMarchand]

Christmas Eve

 

With Mlle LeMarchand having returned to the nest, it's getting hard to find a movie for movie night that we all can agree on (especially as she tends to favour the mumblecore end of the spectrum), so it was Christmas in July this weekend.

 

A power outage leaves a number of people stuck in different elevators on (surprise!) Christmas Eve. If you've seen "New Year's Eve" or "Valentine's Day" you'll know what to expect - but with a much lower budget and star power (Patrick Stewart being the only big name). I didn't hate it, but I'd recommend you find better ways to occupy your time - unless you want to play "spot the Brit pretending to be American". I also think that they may have run out of cash or got sloppy in the editing suite as a couple of the storylines didn't seem completed.

[mavhc]

Ocean's 8: Well, pros: it was free, filled up time until the next film. Cons: Aircon wasn't working

 

Leave No Trace: Excellent

[LeMarchand]

Geostorm

 

Gerard Butler builds a satellite network that saves the world from climate change by controlling the weather, but is kicked off the project when he refuses to allow the Yanks to take over what was an international effort. Years later Things Go Wrong and he's the only one who can save the world...

 

Not sure why this was so panned (well, I can see why the Yanks may have had a problem); it's no masterpiece, but it's what you'd expect for this sort of thing. I didn't feel that I wished I'd made the effort to catch it at the cinema, but I did have a fairly enjoyable couple of hours.

[witch]

Swimming with Men

 

A good little "English" film - not as funny as advertised but quite poignant in places

[synaesthesia]

Mike Bassett England Manager. An underrated classic and very easy to put real names to the characters

[Sonic007]

Below Her Mouth

[witch]

Skyscraper

 

It was a bit of fun - absurd plot, ridiculous feats of derring-do, but there were a couple of OMG moments and overall I enjoyed it!!

[LeMarchand]

Walking on Sunshine

 

Jukebox musical of 80's hits (generally from the cheesy end of the spectrum) about two sisters who, unbeknownst to each other fall for the same guy.

 

Puglia looks great, but most of the songs seemed shoe-horned in. The ladies of Château LeMarchand enjoyed it, but I wasn't keen.

[Garacesh]

Immortals

 

A somewhat re-imagining of Greek mythology. The big bad, King Hyperion, wants to pit the Gods against the Titans because he harbours resentment for the Gods, as he prayed to them when his family were dying from disease and they did not answer.

 

It was alright, the visuals were good but the storytelling was a bit 'eh'.

The particular McGuffin for this movie is the Epirus Bow, a bow that is supposedly able to free the Titans from their imprisonment beneath Tartarus, which is a shame because to my knowledge that isn't a weapon that's ever mentioned anywhere in Greek mythology. There are other ways a God can be slain that they could've gone with instead, for example the venom of the Lernaean Hydra, which was supposedly so potent it would destroy even immortal flesh, and whilst not enough to actually kill a God, the infinite agony would have them voluntarily abandon their immortality to end it (the method of which Heracles dispatched of Chiron in some stories)

 

Also Zeus didn't throw any lightning bolts.

[localzuk]

How It Ends

 

Where to start? A disaster movie that doesn't tell you what the disaster is, making it somewhat unrealistic as a result. The story follows 2 main characters as they road trip across the US from Chicago to Seattle, to try and reach their girlfriend/daughter. Movie starts with there being real problems between the 2 men - the dad dislikes the boyfriend, laying into him basically calling him a wastrel. Yet, they get on the road, and all that seems to disappear almost immediately.

 

Somehow, later in the movie, the young guy suddenly goes from never having fired a gun to being a good shot, and being able to do a handbreak turn on a bridge whilst being chased. They randomly threw in some daddy issues part way through the movie, which seemed random and out of place.

 

All in all, 3/10. Could've been so much better. Obviously had a big budget, but the movie was just lacking a good story. Characters were introduced and then discarded randomly (eg. the Native American girl, Ricki), and it just didn't hit the spot.

[LeMarchand]

the visuals were good but the storytelling was a bit 'eh'.

 

This is fairly common for director Tarsem Singh. That said, I've got a lot of time for "The Fall"

 

 

and a soft spot for "Mirror, Mirror"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkA4L8T9DA0.

 

His re-envisaged "Wizard of Oz" series "Emerald City" is worth a look if you can track it down. Alas, it was cancelled after one short season.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRCKdYORpiE

 

P.S. Lots of the locations for the latter are real places in Europe + CG rather than sets/CG.

[mavhc]

3 Idiots, Indian film about 3 guys who get into Engineering college, the pressures people have to get a good job, why the education system is rubbish, and the doctor one of them falls for.

 

It's really quite good.

[LeMarchand]

They randomly threw in some daddy issues part way through the movie

 

If Hollywood is any indication, American dads are the worst. It appears that you're not a "proper" Yank if you don't have Daddy Issues.

[AJWhite1970]

Happy Death Day

 

Groundhog Day meets Scary Movie with a big twist at the end that was blindingly obvious from about 20 minutes in.

 

Impressed I stayed awake until the end after a long weekend but ultimately wished I hadn't bothered....

[MkII]

The Box

 

Last chance on iPlayer

 

Surprisingly we enjoyed it, having read the reviews afterwards. Respect for the craft that went into making this look so 70s. Confusing plot choices at times yes but intriguing for lots of reasons.

[unixman_again]

The Box

Respect for the craft that went into making this look so 70s.

 

So, not The Box then, which was made in 1974 Quite a fun series from what I remember.

[LeMarchand]

Skyscraper

 

Die Hard meets The Towering Inferno with a bit of Enter the Dragon and corporate sponsorship by Duct Tape.

 

Actually quite a lot of dumb, ridiculous fun that somehow makes you worry for characters you know will survive. I can't imagine that in 20 years time people will be raving about it, but it was an enjoyable night out.

[MkII]

So, not The Box then, which was made in 1974 Quite a fun series from what I remember.

 

Same source I think. Also featured on the Twighlight Zone.

[elsiegee40]

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

 

Went with daughter last night. If you enjoyed the first film then you will enjoy this one too. It started a bit slowly, but improved. And Cher, cast as the mother of Donna (Meryl Streep), has the best voice by a long way!