The last movie I saw was...

[CHiLL]

House of Gucci

 

Enjoyed some of the aspects of the film, but overall it was far too long...and the accents! It was difficult to tell if it was serious or tongue in cheek. Sometimes it reminded me of that Family Guy sketch.

[LeMarchand]

A Castle for Christmas (Netflix)

 

To escape a scandal, a bestselling author journeys to Scotland, where she falls in love with a castle — and faces off with the grumpy duke who owns it.

 

Stars Brook Shields and Cary Elwes and yes, you have worked out the ending already. Production wise it's a cut above the standard Hallmark template it follows, though the blaring pop music could have done with being a bit quieter. It's also nice to see a romcom with an older than average couple and it will do wonders for Scottish tourism - though I'm not sure that The Highlands in November/December is as sunny/green as depicted here(!), nor can I see small villages being quite as cosmopolitan. Not a classic, but I've seen worse.

[6Foot2]

12 in a Box [2007, Prime Video]

 

At a school reunion dinner in a remote country mansion, a dozen people are offered the chance to collect a million pounds each if they can stay on the estate, cut off from the outside world, for 96 hours. With deaths, sexual intrigue, kidnapping, and spiralling levels of farce and confusion, the action barely pauses for breath as it heads towards its "Will they or won't they succeed" climax.

 

Stars: Kenneth Collard, Miranda Hart, Katy Wix

[LeMarchand]

The Woman in Black (2012) (Netflix)

 

Probably not the best choice of film, as I was a bit tired and when I'm tired I find gloomily lit films send me to sleep. I did manage most of this. Quite atmospheric but the biggest shock is that here Daniel Radcliffe looks like he could have grown up to be a bit of a heartthrob.

[6Foot2]

We have just re-watched 16 Blocks [2006, Prime Video]

 

Jack Mosley (Bruce Willis) is tasked with getting a witness from police cells to a courthouse 16 blocks away to testify in a police corruption case.

 

However, there are elements of the New York Police Department that want to make sure that Jack and his witness do not make it to court.

 

Duration: 1 hour 42 minutes.

[FN-GM]

Silent Night

 

I haven't been feeling too well this weekend and my choice of movie reflected this. It was rather this or Die Hard. I chose wrong! It's an awful movie, not real storyline to it, nobody on the edge of the seat etc.

 

Won't be watching again.

 

[LeMarchand]

Doctor Sleep (Director's Cut) (Amazon Prime)

 

This sequel to The Shining sees a grown up Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) trying to dull his powers with alcohol. While he attempts to clean his life up he learns of child with powers even greater than his and of The True Knot, a group of psychic vampires who prey on people like him.

 

OK sequel to both the previous book and film. The young girl who played Danny's fellow "Shiner" was pretty good and, on an aesthetic level, I loved Rose the Hat's style but I wasn't wowed by the film. Having read the book vs movie vs DC articles I'd say go for the original cut if you must: You won't miss much and it's slightly shorter (but still too long) while the book seems to have a particularly silly threat to The True Knot (but gives some of the side characters more to do).

[JATSO]

No Time To Die- rented it on Amazon for Saturday night watch, IMO it was ok but I preferred his others.

[StevieM]

I've decided to watch all my DVDs/BDs in alphabetical order*. Currently, I'm about half-way through B.

 

Last week, I watched 3 versions of Blade Runner: Final Cut, International Theatrical Release^ and Pre-release Workprint.

 

*I was going to list them so far, but decided against it.

^Oh, that voice-over!

[Boredguy]

Well after @LeMarchand mentioning that Dune was cheap for rent on Amazon yesterday I sat down and watched it last night.

 

Did seem strange that "Aquaman" ended up on a desert planet. And of course Drax has really let himself get pale after the events in Avengers Endgame

 

While the music was good, found the overall film to be quite slow paced and not that enjoyable so glad I'd missed seeing it in the cinema. Will likely work better for me when part 2 comes out

[LeMarchand]

Well after @LeMarchand mentioning that Dune was cheap for rent on Amazon yesterday I sat down and watched it last night.

 

Did you manage to get it before they realised and put the price back up?

Edited December 7, 2021 by LeMarchand

[Boredguy]

Did you manage to get it before they realised and put the price back up?

Yep as I "rented" it at 9:30 yesterday morning. E-mail from amazon confirmed Order Grand Total: £3.49

[LeMarchand]

Yep as I "rented" it at 9:30 yesterday morning. E-mail from amazon confirmed Order Grand Total: £3.49

 

Yay! Wonder how much Amazon lost out on before they spotted that.

[LeMarchand]

The Very Excellent Mr Dundee (Sky Movies - Recorded)

 

Paul Hogan stars as a fictionalised version of himself who just wants a quiet life, but when he takes a meeting to revive the Crocodile Dundee franchise things start to go South.

 

Not a classic, but not as bad as the fairly damning reviews would suggest. Yes, it's not up to even Crocodile Dundee 3, but it's mildly entertaining (though the ending goes on a bit and the musical number should've been cut); I did laugh out loud a couple of times. If the trailer looked OK to you, you could do worse. (Didn't link to the trailer as I'd forgotten how many of the best bits are given away).

[hardtailstar]

Watched Red Notice this evening.

 

It's a good film with laughs but some bad CGI effects and some scenery is clearly a stage somewhere when it's supposed to be outside!

[Simcfc73]

Wrath of man....been waiting for this for ages after the trailer.

 

Jason is.....the usual but it ain't a Sherlock Holmes....no idea what mr madonna is doing because it's got nothing of his style to it.

 

Makes me long for rdj to come back one last time.

[LeMarchand]

8-Bit Christmas (Sky Movies/Recorded)

 

 

8-Bit Christmas

 

I watched this with my girlfriends nephew. It was quite a good movie - better than I was expecting. It's more geared towards kids but does have a few "hidden" jokes for adults.

 

I quite enjoyed this, though I thought the market was adults who were nostalgic for the 80s rather than kids (cf Stranger Things). Worth a look if the trailer appeals.

[Simcfc73]

Just got back from Spiderman.......still computing if I like it or not.

 

No spoilers obviously but William D is awesome.

[FN-GM]

Die Hard

 

First time watching this movie! it's great!

 

For anyone wondering, I think its a movie set during Christmas. Not actually a Christmas movie....

 

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Die Hard - Not actually a Christmas movie....

Oh no. Die Hard is most definitely a Christmas movie. It might not have started out as one, but it's been forcefully adopted!

 

Back on Topic...

 

Last night we watched Last Train to Christmas.

 

 

Michael Sheen is excellent as ever and we really enjoyed the film.

[Norphy]

I watched the Polar Express with my son yesterday.

 

Just.....

 

Aside from the incredibly creepy uncanny valley animation, the majority of the voices were irritating (Those elves. Ugh. And the know it all kid. Argh), the songs put me in a diabetic coma and while I realise that the source doesn't have anywhere near enough material to fill a film that's an hour and half long, there was enough padding in there to supply the Wonderbra factory for an entire year. Bad, bad, bad.

[LeMarchand]

Die Hard

 

First time watching this movie! it's great!

 

For anyone wondering, I think its a movie set during Christmas. Not actually a Christmas movie....

 

You think that John McClane could've done all that without a little help from Santa? Shame on you!

 

Not to mention the angelic choir that plays as the Reginald VelJohnson character receives that greatest Christmas gift of all and recovers his ability to kill people.

[BlueScreen]

Went to see the new Spider man movie on Thursday.

 

20 minutes before the end the movie started to lock up and after a couple of minutes the projector gave up and froze altogether.

They had to restart the projector and re-wind it so we got to watch the climactic fight all over again.

 

And if you're wondering, there's a mid-credit Easter egg, and an end credit teaser for the next movie in the MCU.

[LeMarchand]

A Christmas No. 1 (Sky Movies/Recorded)

 

 

A music exec Meghna (Frida Pinto) is sent to London to sort out a problem with a top boy band and the head of the London branch (Alfie Boe, great in his first film role) tells her that she must find them a song that will give them a Christmas No. 1 - or she's finished. Meanwhile Blake (Iwan "Ramsey Bolton" Rheon doing his own singing and guitar - he also has a musical career) the bassist in a grindcore band, has been set a task by his terminally ill niece: write her a proper Christmas song (and find love). When Meg gets to hear the song, she realises this could be what saves her career - and she's recently single...

 

The romcom part of the film is totally predictable, but the resolution to the main plot is surprisingly bittersweet. I wasn't expecting much from this, but found myself really liking it - even the song is OK (not the boy band version, obviously!). Worth a look if the trailer takes your fancy.

 

I can't help feeling that Sky missed a trick with this one, though. They should have released both versions of the song (or maybe all 3?) as Cancer Charity singles to sort of replicate the plot of the movie - money goes to a good cause, they look good, and free publicity. Maybe rerelease next year and try that? You're welcome, Sky.

 

P.S. Some bad language and mild naughty bits push this to a 12A.

 

P.P.S. The end credits feature "music videos" from the boy band with a post credits advert for Meg's ex's perfume that has a very rude tag line.

Edited December 26, 2021 by LeMarchand

[jmak]

Encanto (Disney+)

 

Two hours of my life I won't get back...