The last movie I saw was...

[mavhc]

The Croods, amusing

Mary Poppins Returns, ok

[LeMarchand]

Single All The Way Netflix

 

 

Tired of spending Christmas with his family badgering him about his singledom, Peter convinces his room-mate/best friend to pose as his partner but then finds that he has been set up with a blind date who turns out to be a hot gym/skiing instructor. Bet you can't guess what he learns about himself.

 

The trailer makes this look like it will be a wild, laugh a minute, romcom but it's actually more of a Hallmark Christmas movie with more laughs and better production values. It even features Hallmark stars Barry Bostwick, Luke "I used to be in Killjoys" Macfarlane and a Christmas tree shopping scene. I would say that the romance being between men would never happen on Hallmark, but apparently even they are moving with the times. It is sweet but just not as funny as the trailer makes it look.

[6Foot2]

Do You Know Me? [2009, Amazon Prime]

 

The lead character (Elsa Carter) is shown a picture of a young girl who looks very similar to how she looks when younger.

 

After making some initial enquiries, Elsa's life, previously calm, becomes chaotic and dangerous while she tries to find out the truth of her early (forgotten) life.

[LeMarchand]

Christmas Is Canceled (Amazon Prime)

 

Trailer has a fair bit of NSFW language and that is the way it was spelled on screen when we saw it.

 

 

When Emma heads home to spend Xmas with her widowed Dad, she is horrified to find out that he dating her high school nemesis, Brandy. There's only one thing she can do: split them up.

 

Starts off really well, with some fun comedy and great lines, but the three main characters start to get annoying, especially Emma's monomania. It's also a bit worrying that Dad seems to have picked a "sexy" version of his daughter to date - though (not sure if it's surgery or makeup) she looks like someone way older trying to look younger (the actress is only six years older than the lead). Unfortunately, the jokes stop three quarters of the way through as stuff gets all emotional for the expected resolution. May be OK if you're finishing off the Christmas sherry, especially if you fall asleep when the jokes stop - you'll have worked out the ending so won't miss much.

[FN-GM]

Child's Play (1988)

 

I have been watching the TV series Chucky, so thought I would see where it all started. It was a nice short film and easy to watch!

 

[LeMarchand]

Cinderella (2021) (Amazon Prime)

 

 

Had been putting this one off due to James Corden's involvement and the music in the trailer, but enjoyed it more than I was expecting. It's mainly a jukebox style musical (with a few original songs) that updates the story slightly (Cinder/Ella wants to run her own business more than be a princess).

 

The good: Corden is one of the mice, so is mainly a small voice part. The stunning locations, costumes, choreography and photography. Some of the songs work well. Brosnan has recognised his limitations as a singer.

 

The bad: The time period is confusing. Some of the "royal" stuff seems (at the latest) Georgian, though there are "Here be Monsters" maps, whilst the village seems more Victorian except for plastic crates and electric power grinders. The rest of the songs - Camila Cabello is a lovely looking young lady and seems OK as an actress but, based on this, I'll pass on her music thanks. Her voice is fine, it's just that she seems to do that loud screechy style for everything. Some of the numbers would have been quite nice had things been taken down a notch or two. OTH, I'm not really the target audience. The prince did grow up amazingly quickly, but was initially so callow that I was wondering if they were really going to shake things up and have Ella end up with his much more sensible and caring sister for a while.

 

Anyway, if the trailer takes your fancy you'll probably enjoy it - just be prepared for bleeding ears.

[AJWhite1970]

Don’t look up (Netflix)

 

It’s satire, it’s funny, it’s a damming view on politicians, A list cast and it has a very strong ending. Well worth a watch (and there are two mid credit scenes as well)

 

[mavhc]

just watched Last Night In Soho, least funny Edgar Wright film ever

[LeMarchand]

Fatman (Sky Movies/recorded)

 

Times are getting tough for Santa (Mel Gibson). The US government who fund him (he needs money to pay for materials, food for the elves and the like) on the grounds that his work enables a trillion dollar boost to the economy are playing hardball as, due to fewer kids being good, fewer kids are getting goods "from Santa's Workshop". Things get worse when a spoiled rich kid who received coal hires a similarly let down assassin to take Santa out.

 

What sounds like it could be a fun premise takes itself way too seriously and is actually quite dull. I'm guessing the team behind this are now on the Naughty List.

[LeMarchand]

The Vault (Amazon Prime)

 

 

When Liam Cunningham's "salvage" crew have their latest find seized by the Spanish authorities, they recruit ace engineer Freddie Highmore to help them crack the world's most secure vault, in the Bank of Spain, to get it back before its real value is discovered.

 

Fun heist movie. Not sure about the plausibility of some of the details of the heist and it definitely needed some sort of character establishment for Freddie's role as it seems unlikely that someone who was turning down huge wage packets because he wants to do something worthwhile with his skills would so quickly fall in with the crew (even with a pretty girl thrown into the mix). Otherwise, an entertaining movie. I'd watch the teased sequel, but wouldn't be disappointed if it never happens.

 

Oh, if anyone does watch, there is a reason that will become clear for it's 2010 setting.

 

P.S. Famke Janssen is hardly in the film, though her English accent is better than her surgery.

Edited January 6, 2022 by LeMarchand

[mavhc]

Matrix 4, broke my own rule and paid the price

[Jawloms]

Matrix 4, loved it. Very clever the way they explained what was going on with Neo/Thomas and how they worked the other characters in to it. It would have been very easy to do the obvious "It was all just a dream" or "Matrix in a Matrix" idea and they didn't, this one tied it all in very well. Not the impact of the first Matrix movie, but does the franchise justice.

[LeMarchand]

Mixtape (Netflix)

 

 

As the millennium approaches, a 12 year old girl finds a mixtape her parents made before they died and sets out to try to get to know them through the music.

 

Quite a sweet little film. Not one that would leap to mind if someone wanted a recommendation for what to watch but the sort of thing that, if someone asked if it was worth watching, would earn a "yes".

[FN-GM]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

 

I really enjoyed this movie. It had it's own storyline but links to the original movies. There were also guest appearances from some of the cast of the original movies, even from the late Harold Ramis.

 

Would recommend!

 

[supportman]

Matrix 4, I thought the last half was good but the first half was just a re-hash of the original.

 

Its like they had no new ideas and just copyed it word for word. It got better in the 2nd half with new ideas and scenes but overall was dissapointing.

[sonofsanta]

Films and stuff!

 

Loved the Spidermans Three. Amazing how much they squeezed into its runtime, but that's the benefit you gain when you lean on 20 years of cinema and don't give a monkeys about anyone who hasn't seen the other 5 films from the previous two Spidermans. That said, I'd not seen those in a good long while (I'm not sure I ever saw Amazing 2?) but I still kept up plenty fine. Maybe a couple of moments that would have some stronger emotional resonance if you'd rewatched everything recently, but you don't need to worry about a rewatch marathon if you can't be bothered.

 

Also loved the Fourth Matrices. Very meta, and you'll either love it or hate it, but I thought the way it added itself to the continuity was clever, consistent and worked well for me. It is a proper sequel to all three movies, too, which is nice; would have been easy for them to brush #3 in particular under the carpet a bit (we did a rewatch in anticipation of 4, and ugh 3 is still a 2-hour long CGI slog) but they call back to all of them.

 

Watched Wrath of Man and enjoyed that; good plot, good action, and as someone who's not normally a fan of Mr Ritchie's latter stylings this was more up my street. Also watched No Time to Die and found it as dull as the other Daniel Craig Bonds, alas; I wish they hadn't tried to reinvent Bond as Bourne, because I miss proper Bond. It shouldn't be this self-important and serious.

 

Saw the New Year in with Nicolas Cage's Willy's Wonderland and it is truly terrible, even worse than I expected, and I had low expectations. It aspires to B-movie level, honestly. Hilarious in its awfulness. Apparently Nic Cage decided he wasn't going to speak any lines in the movie as a nod to the Man with No Name et al, the character who breezes into town and silently solves all its problems before moving on. I am amused by the implication this film has anything to do with those as an artform.

 

And then over the weekend watched The Harder They Fall on Netflix:

Absolutely brilliant. An all-Black western, with character, verve, pace and a killer soundtrack. The performances are all thoroughly engaging (especially Jonathan Majors and Idris Elba), the film doesn't sag in the middle as so many modern Westerns do, the climactic sequence is brilliant and it nails the ending. Really, thoroughly entertaining and well worth the time.

[StevieM]

The New Kid (2015, France) - MUBI

 

 

A warm-hearted look at friendship and the struggles of adolescence with brilliant natural performances from (mostly) first time actors. For once, the film is actually funnier than the trailer and it had me genuinely laughing out loud.

 

If anyone's interested, MUBI has another 3-months for £1 promotion available until midnight tonight. Even if you don't watch anything else, it's worth £1 just to see this.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Don't Look Up.

Less a film and more of a bash you over the head lesson in all that is wrong with the world.

Made me uncomfortable in the same way Years and Years did, but I still loved it.

[mthomas08]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

 

I really enjoyed this movie.

Would recommend!

 

Totally agree. Certainly felt like a good way to start while paying respect to the original.

 

As for Matrix 4 - This felt like a parody of itself while ridiculing itself and attempting to remake itself.. and the sad thing is.. if you've seen it.... you know exactly what I mean.

 

I loved the original action scenes, even in M2 and M3 but M4.. I didn't enjoy any of them and I'm an action nut.

[paulkerton]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

I really, really enjoyed this. It hit the nostalgia drum a bit hard, but that's kind of what you wanted from a film like this.

McKenna Grace is going to be an A list megastar, and Carrie Coon and Finn Wolfhard work well as her mother and brother respectively, but it's definitely McKenna Grace's film. The managed to rebuild the dynamic between Egon and Ray in McKenna's Phoebe and Logan Kim's Podcast (the breakout role of this, every time he was on screen it was fun!) and passed the baton to lay the groundwork for more movies in the future. It was smart to position potential sequels with the characters they did (without getting into spoilers) because you have two excellent actors who were completely underserved in the first two films being given the chance for their time to shine in future films.

 

If they can keep them as relatively low budget as this one, they could manage to make some fun films. An absolutely massive improvement over Answer The Call with its overly improvised scripts and bad jokes. (Except Leslie Jones, who was great in that)

Edited January 11, 2022 by paulkerton

[6Foot2]

The Escapist [2008, Film4. Recorded]

 

Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Liam Cunningham

 

Fourteen years into a life sentence, convict Frank Perry (Brian Cox) plans to escape from prison after learning his daughter nearly overdosed from heroin. With the help of fellow prisoners, Frank begins digging tunnels that will lead to the outside world. As Frank and his friends dig, he fends off Rizza (Damian Lewis), a fearsome gangster who runs the inside of the prison, and his brother, Tony (Steven Mackintosh), a junkie with designs on Frank's cellmate, Lacey (Dominic Cooper)

[witch]

The King's Man

Hated it although I liked the other two

I dont mind a bit of violence but this was a little revolting in places and generally sad almost all the time. It seemed to be several films put together and there was altogether too much WW1

 

It just didnt work for me

[paulkerton]

Marvel's Eternals

Oh boy. Where to begin. It's not a superhero movie, more of an introspective family drama that happens to have super powered robots who look like humans, in it.

If you hand a $200m franchise to an acclaimed film maker who excels at introspective family drama and has an amazing visual eye, you get that I guess - but it was a bit too slow, and considering they've known each other years and are the central romantic pairing of the film, Gemma Chan and Richard Madden had no chemistry whatsoever... and I don't think that was Gemma Chan's fault either. Barry Keoghan and Lauren Ridloff had all the chemistry though. There are a few characters I'd be happy to see not return to the MCU in this lot. Particularly Ikaris and Sprite.

 

It's not Thor : The Dark World bad, but its decidedly average. Still miles better than Wonder Woman 1984 (which is annoying cause the first one is really fun!) and Justice League mind you!

Edited January 17, 2022 by paulkerton

[thimon]

Watched Eternals over the weekend, found it better than what all the reviews have been saying. Sure it wasn’t as great as a lot of what else the MCU has to offer and was a very different tone to them as well, however there’s a huge catalogue of MCU content to compete against, it expands on the MCU and helps drive the next phase forward. Overall, not bad. Also very excited from the end of credit scene (not the ridiculous mid credit scene)!

[LeMarchand]

not the ridiculous mid credit scene

 

You're among friends here. You can admit you're into One Direction.