The last movie I saw was...

[pooley]

The Predator 2018 - very enjoyable, not going to win any awards but gory enough and plenty of action to keep me entertained.

[localzuk]

Watched "The Mortal Instruments - City of Bones" last night. Whilst it is a bit cheesy and forced at times, it is a good movie. My main issue with it, is the second half seems rushed. They spend the first half setting up some side stories, and then basically abandon them in the second half. Also, it should be at least a 15 IMO, as some of it lacks punch or any real sense of danger as people just get beaten a bit and that's about it.

[LeMarchand]

Watched "The Mortal Instruments - City of Bones" last night. Whilst it is a bit cheesy and forced at times, it is a good movie. My main issue with it, is the second half seems rushed. They spend the first half setting up some side stories, and then basically abandon them in the second half. Also, it should be at least a 15 IMO, as some of it lacks punch or any real sense of danger as people just get beaten a bit and that's about it.

 

They probably hoped to follow stuff up in the proposed sequels that never happened. I found the "family" vibe a bit odd (and it seems to be in other aimed more at teenage girls work like the entire oeuvre of Virginia Andrews). I gave the TV show a go but it makes the film look like a masterpiece.

 

I saw Crimes of Grindelwald last night and enjoyed it. As others have said, it's far too long: Stuff like Newt's doting assistant and the stuff with the Kelpie could've easily been cut. Like the later Potter novels, it's as if no-one had the guts to tell JK to cut stuff out, though she doesn't seem to be averse to going off piste as Jacob and Queenie's story seemed to have come to an end in the first film but they were back again in this one. I'm personally glad they were, as I find their relationship much more interesting that that of Newt and Tina (she sees a headline and throws away their relationship!). In fact Credence/Nagini and even Newt/Leta/Theseus are more interesting than Newt/Tina.

 

Loved the production design again and, while I felt that they didn't do a good job of selling the film, it was nice that the trailers didn't give everything away. Looking forward to the next one

 

Oh... re the controversies: Dumbledore's relationship with Grindelwald seemed pretty obviously more than friends to me. Guess people wanted to see the act being done. As for Claudia Kim/Nagini, she seemed to be a sympathetic character who wanted to do good - not the "they've cast an Asian as an evil monster!" that the easily-triggered were moaning about.

Edited November 29, 2018 by LeMarchand
To protect the innocent

[LeMarchand]

Kubo and the Two Strings

Not linking to a trailer because it really does the film a disservice.

 

Young Kubo cares for his mother after a shipwreck has washed them ashore, scraping a living by retelling her stories in the marketplace using what seems to be a magical talent for making origami figures come to life. When he breaks on of the three rules she has instilled in him, he learns that the stories are actually very real.

 

A beautiful, magical film. Maybe too beautiful - I assumed it was CG until the end credits (it's stop-motion). The story is fairly easy to guess where it's going, and the fate of the two evil sisters isn't too clear, but if you can enjoy kid's films it's well worth a look.

[localzuk]

Watched a couple of movies last night.

 

The Titan - about a future Earth where we didn't manage to solve the environment issues and the Earth is dying. So, a mad scientist, funded by the UN, USA and Britain, sets about bio-engineering humans so they can be sent to Titan and can live in the environment.

 

To be honest, I was disappointed. The story lacked rigour, and the entire thing just felt forced. Not a great film.

 

The Humanity Bureau - about a future Earth where we didn't managed to solve the environment issues and the Earth is basically dead. So, America built walls around itself, and its big cities. Citizens who don't contribute are deported to "New Eden"... Nicholas Cage is Nicholas Cage. Very unexpected ending. But a good movie.

[Disease]

I watched Get Me Out last night - entertaining psychological Thriller, worth a watch.

[mavhc]

Watched a couple of movies last night.

 

The Titan - about a future Earth where we didn't manage to solve the environment issues and the Earth is dying. So, a mad scientist, funded by the UN, USA and Britain, sets about bio-engineering humans so they can be sent to Titan and can live in the environment.

 

To be honest, I was disappointed. The story lacked rigour, and the entire thing just felt forced. Not a great film.

 

The Humanity Bureau - about a future Earth where we didn't managed to solve the environment issues and the Earth is basically dead. So, America built walls around itself, and its big cities. Citizens who don't contribute are deported to "New Eden"... Nicholas Cage is Nicholas Cage. Very unexpected ending. But a good movie.

 

Have you already watched all the good films where we didn't manage to solve the environment issues and the Earth is dying?

 

Kubo is mostly stop motion, although extras, backgrounds, and FX are CGI. Does make you wonder when you can't tell which is stop motion and which is cgi why they would bother, but hey, it's still awesome.

 

It Happened One Night, since remade as every romcom ever. Also the origin of Bugs Bunny. Pretty good.

[phreak]

Watched Wreck it Ralph 2 : Ralph breaks the internet on the weekend with my family and I must say it was a lot of fun. There were a few adult jokes in there and a lot of kiddie ones too.

We all seem to be in agreement that it was actually better than the first one.

I had a few slight issues with the movie, but if I went into them they would constitute spoilers so I won't. One thing that we did, or didn't do, was watch all of the trailers for it before going to go see it (learnt that one the hard way with other movies where all the best bits were in the trailers).

[Dos_Box]

Watched Wreck it Ralph 2 : Ralph breaks the internet on the weekend with my family and I must say it was a lot of fun. There were a few adult jokes in there and a lot of kiddie ones too.

We all seem to be in agreement that it was actually better than the first one.

I had a few slight issues with the movie, but if I went into them they would constitute spoilers so I won't. One thing that we did, or didn't do, was watch all of the trailers for it before going to go see it (learnt that one the hard way with other movies where all the best bits were in the trailers).

 

Took the kids to see this today and thoroughly enjoyed it.

On par, if not better than the first one and stay to the end of the credits. You'll thank me for it.

[MkII]

Mortal Engines

Didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Some very good scenes and ideas.

[LeMarchand]

Mortal Engines

Didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Some very good scenes and ideas.

 

Out of curiosity, have you read the book/s?

[MkII]

Out of curiosity, have you read the book/s?

No I haven't. In my ignorance didn't know they existed. Will definitely go look, thanks.

[LeMarchand]

No I haven't. In my ignorance didn't know they existed. Will definitely go look, thanks.

 

No, that's good. I was worried that the movie was only going to appeal to existing fans and it would also be a bit impenetrable to "newbies".

 

The books are brilliant, and well worth a read. Given the lack of buzz about the film and what the peeps at my local cinema said about ticket sales so far, it seems unlikely that they'll be making more of them - unless the Chinese market loves the movie. Shame because it sounds as if they've sowed the seeds for the final page of the fourth book already. (The author originally wrote ME as a standalone).

[SpuffMonkey]

No, that's good. I was worried that the movie was only going to appeal to existing fans and it would also be a bit impenetrable to "newbies".

 

The books are brilliant, and well worth a read.

 

Seconded. In fact most of his books are well wortha read - recently read the Railhead trilogy - very good

[mavhc]

Memories of Murder, South Korean detective film set in 1986 about the true story of South Korea's first serial killer, but also a metaphor for the military government of the time. Surprisingly funny as well as being good.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

The Nightmare Before Christmas, watched this with the family at Pop-up drive-in cinema in Preston last night.

 

Great film as always, but made extra special watching it on a rainy night will all the car snacks we could pack in!

[witch]

Mortal Engines

I enjoyed it once I had suspended disbelief. Those huge machines gave me a few moments of terror. You can tell it was written for younger people - lots of killing but no soppy stuff. Completely different ending to the book though - why do they do that?

[LeMarchand]

Seconded. In fact most of his books are well wortha read - recently read the Railhead trilogy - very good

 

^^^

Absolutely. I've read pretty much his entire output, the "Larklight" and "Goblins" books are also great (though skew younger/much younger) and even his stuff for littler ones is fun - particularly "Pugs of the Frozen North".

Mortal Engines

I enjoyed it once I had suspended disbelief. Those huge machines gave me a few moments of terror. You can tell it was written for younger people - lots of killing but no soppy stuff. Completely different ending to the book though - why do they do that?

 

Trivia: Apparently ME wasn't originally written as YA, but Reeve couldn't sell it - so he aged the lead characters down and the rest is history. I quite like that his books are fairly chaste. There's a scene in (I think) Predator's Gold where it's obvious Tom and Hester have consummated their relationship but we didn't have (or need to have) a full-blown description of the act.

[Patrick]

I watched journeys end on netflix and really enjoyed it. Focuses more on the effects of trench warfare on the soldiers, rather than run-and-gun action. Great film.

[MkII]

No, that's good. I was worried that the movie was only going to appeal to existing fans and it would also be a bit impenetrable to "newbies".

 

The books are brilliant, and well worth a read. Given the lack of buzz about the film and what the peeps at my local cinema said about ticket sales so far, it seems unlikely that they'll be making more of them - unless the Chinese market loves the movie. Shame because it sounds as if they've sowed the seeds for the final page of the fourth book already. (The author originally wrote ME as a standalone).

 

We booked early thinking it'd be very popular, having seen the trailer. The screen wasn't half full. Such a shame if it doesn't get the audiences that it deserves.

[unixman_again]

Suspiria - not a patch on the original. Too much padding and the Red Army Faction side plot was completely irrelevant.

[pooley]

Mowgli (netflix) very good, closer to the book story line. Don't expect any singing and dancing, it gets dark!!

 

Bohemian Rhapsody - finally got around to watching this, loved it!! (massive queen fan and wasn't disappointed)

[LeMarchand]

Mortal Engines

 

I loved it and will be getting it on disk on release. Even recognising my bias (I love the books), I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as most reviews are making out. It seems to be suffering from the "John Carter" effect in that it seems to be derivative because films released earlier have mined some of the same areas, though the original source material was published before those other films were made. I have to agree with the "Star Wars" criticisms, though, but the ending of the book is a lot less like The Battle of Yavin.

 

There's lots to like about the film: It's visually stunning, the performances are generally good, Shrike is proper scary and avoids coming off as a Terminator clone and fans of the book will appreciate the seeds laid for the (sadly unlikely to be happening) sequels and prequels as well as second billing for the author (and a tiny cameo). Mme LeMarchand (who's read but mainly forgotten the books) and Mlle LeMarchand (who wasn't impressed by the trailers but whose curiosity was piqued by the featurettes focussing on the "back room" type people) both loved it, too.

 

I'd liked to have known what happened to Bevis (he wasn't shown at the end, maybe what happened in the book was filmed but cut) and was only disappointed by some of the changes from the book. I can understand the stuff set on Tunbridge Wheels getting cut, but wasn't keen on the potential survival of one book character who should be dead, and the definite survival of another would make me worried that they don't have the cojones to stick to the end of the final book if I thought it was likely to happen. Not sure why the ending was changed to the "assault on the Death Star" as there was plenty of action in the book version; maybe they wanted the Stalker to be unique? Also, Hester was way too nice. It would be hard to imagine film Hester doing some of the stuff book Hester does.

 

Finally, I have seen a few outraged people complaining across the internet about Hester's (lack of) scarring. I do understand why they toned it down from the book description, which was close to this:

 

 

but do feel that

 

 

looks more like a birthmark than a horrific scar.

 

Hester's scar does inform some of her decisions and actions later. This photoshop I found seems like a much better middle ground.

 

[mavhc]

I assumed it was a sequel to Mortal Instruments, which I've also not seen

[witch]

Christmas Chronicles on Netflix

Kurt Russell very good - love the outfit

Ther rest of it - very schmaltzy and silly. But an easy watch for an afternoon