The last movie I saw was...

[LeMarchand]

Spirited (Apple TV+)

 

Basically "A Christmas Carol" the full-on musical meets (no) "Monsters Inc" as the disillusioned Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrel) tries to turn around scumbag media consultant Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds). The trailer does show that there will be a song and dance number or two, but this is a "proper" musical with a song (and usually dance) number every few minutes. Quite fun but whilst there is some OK choreography the songs are eminently forgettable.

 

If you have Apple TV+ maybe worth a look if you fancy a predictable Xmas musical, but not worth subscribing to see and if you go for the free trial there are better things to binge.

[LeMarchand]

Disenchanted (Disney+)

 

 

What happens after "Happily Ever After"? For Giselle and Robert, a baby and a move to suburbia which isn't what now-teenage daughter Morgan wants. With things not going to plan, Giselle wishes for a fairy tale life again but has forgotten the role of a stepmother in fairy tales...

 

I wasn't entirely sold by the trailer, but this turned out to be a fun sequel. Amy Adams and Maya Rudolph both have a lot of fun being wicked. It feels much more of a musical than the original, with more full on song and dance numbers but sadly, with the possible exception of "Badder", none are particularly memorable. Well worth a look if you have Disney+ and enjoyed the original. I'm surprised this didn't get a theatrical release.

 

 

Black Panther 2 - Just abysmal

 

 

That's a brave admission. Cancel worthy in some corners of the net ! Keep meaning to try the sequel, but it's hard to find a nigh on three hours slot to give to a film I'm not convinced will be worth it.

 

Spirited (Apple TV+)

 

Basically "A Christmas Carol" the full-on musical meets (no) "Monsters Inc" as the disillusioned Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrel) tries to turn around scumbag media consultant Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds). The trailer does show that there will be a song and dance number or two, but this is a "proper" musical with a song (and usually dance) number every few minutes. Quite fun but whilst there is some OK choreography the songs are eminently forgettable.

 

If you have Apple TV+ maybe worth a look if you fancy a predictable Xmas musical, but not worth subscribing to see and if you go for the free trial there are better things to binge.

 

Despite me not being keen, this has only just left our local cinema!

[Simcfc73]

Disenchanted (Disney+)

 

 

What happens after "Happily Ever After"? For Giselle and Robert, a baby and a move to suburbia which isn't what now-teenage daughter Morgan wants. With things not going to plan, Giselle wishes for a fairy tale life again but has forgotten the role of a stepmother in fairy tales...

 

I wasn't entirely sold by the trailer, but this turned out to be a fun sequel. Amy Adams and Maya Rudolph both have a lot of fun being wicked. It feels much more of a musical than the original, with more full on song and dance numbers but sadly, with the possible exception of "Badder", none are particularly memorable. Well worth a look if you have Disney+ and enjoyed the original. I'm surprised this didn't get a theatrical release.

 

 

 

 

 

That's a brave admission. Cancel worthy in some corners of the net ! Keep meaning to try the sequel, but it's hard to find a nigh on three hours slot to give to a film I'm not convinced will be worth it.

 

 

 

Despite me not being keen, this has only just left our local cinema!

 

I handed in THAT card years ago I'm afraid.

 

As for BP2.. not my words but ones I totally agree with "Wakanda forever is a bloated, preachy, tedious, self-important, clumsily written mess of a film with an uninspiring protagonist, a tedious plot, ridiculous sequences, highly questionable morality and the most boring forgettable MCU villian since that guy from Ant-Man." 5 minutes at the start and end are exceptions.

[LeMarchand]

Your Place Or Mine? (Netflix)

 

Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon star as a one-night only lovers, friends ever since pair in this romcom. It's a bit odd in that when they share screen time, it is mainly split-screen as they spend most of the film on opposite sides of America. Not bad, but not a must see.

 

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Cinema)

 

Down to his last life, Puss hangs up his boots; but there may be a way to restore him back to nine lives... Fun, but not a "rush to the cinema" one.

[LeMarchand]

M3GAN (Premium Rental)

 

Basically Chucky with a girl AI doll. Not bad, but not worth a premium rental. Admittedly, a couple of days spent with the monster-in-law and a 4-hour drive home probably meant I should have waited to watch this.

 

Reminiscence (Sky Cinema; also available to rent and on disc)

 

Trailer may be a bit raunchy for work.

 

 

In the near future, encroaching tides have devastated coastal areas. Military veteran Nick Bannister scrapes a living by using a device that allows people to relive memories but his life is turned upside down when he falls for a client.

 

Made by and starring peeps from "Westworld" this turns out to be a lot less tricksy than I expected and is basically a neo noir down to a femme fatale in a Jessica Rabbit dress. That said, it had me gripped and feeling quite moved at the end. Worth a look if you have access to Sky. It's a shame that this was one of the early "Stream and theatrical" releases soon after lockdown as it deserved to do better.

[LeMarchand]

See How They Run (Disney +, also to rent most services).

 

 

There's been a murder at "The Mousetrap"! Set in 1953, this meta whodunnit sees cops Sam Rockwell (surprisingly decent accent) and Saoirse Ronan on the trail of the killer. Quite a fun movie with loads of Easter Eggs/in-jokes and featuring a mix of real-life and fictional people. I'm not sure that Agatha, the author of a book whose original title was "Ten Little N*****s", would have been amused to see her husband being played by Lucian Msamati but the rest of you might enjoy the film. Worth a look if you have access to Disney+.

[LeMarchand]

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Cinema)

 

When Scott's daughter Cassie's experiment see the whole family sucked into the Quantum Realm, they must fight against a powerful enemy that Janet failed to mention.

 

This really needs to be renamed "Ant-Man and his Daughter: Quantumania (with The Wasp in a Really Unflattering Haircut)". Otherwise, a fairly standard, apart from the setting, Marvel movie. Fun, but only critical viewing if you are a fan of the MCU and then mainly for it setting up a new Big Bad. Even then you may be better off waiting for Disney+ as the film's palette is very dark and I'm sure the viewing experience would have been better at home than at our cinema, where the projector in some screens doesn't do darker films justice.

[6Foot2]

NOTE: Some NSFW language throughout

 

Die Hart (Prime Video) Kevin Hart (as a fictionalized version of Kevin Hart) longs to be an action hero leading man. To this end, he is persuaded to enrol in Ron Wilcox's (John Travolta) acting classes, which place a heavy emphasis on stunts!

 

It runs along as you would probably expect, but it passes the time (1 hour 24 minutes) if you have nothing better to do.

 

Also featured: Jean Reno, Josh Hartnett.

[Dos_Box]

I went to see The Banshees of Inisherin last night with my son (his recommendation) and I was blown away.

It's a very, very good film with an amazing cast. I would highly recommend it, be warned though, whilst some describe it as a comedy, it is quite dark, but pulls it off with a cast that knows what they are doing with the material.

 

[LeMarchand]

The Railway Children Return (Sky Cinema)

 

Three siblings are evacuated from Manchester to Yorkshire at the tail end of WW2 and prat about near the railway for a while until they find a mystery man who may be a spy.

 

This should really be called "The Railway Child Returns" as the only member of the original group who's in it is Bobbie. Jenny Agutter has graduated from the mother in an earlier remake to a grandmother in this sequel. It's very slight, though it does touch on things rarely mentioned in films set over here like the treatment of Black US soldiers by their own officers. Possibly worth a look if you're a big fan of the original or the Yorkshire countryside but not a must see.

Edited March 2, 2023 by LeMarchand

[6Foot2]

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (All4 [7 days left to view] Runtime: 2 hours 41 minutes)

 

I didn't see this when it was released, though I had intended to. Watching it this evening was a "pleasure" delayed (allowing for the topic and the content)

[LeMarchand]

Rosaline (Disney+)

 

Rosaline is in love with the sort of guy who climbs up to her balcony to recite poetic words of love to her. Unfortunately he belongs to a rival family and her father is trying to marry her off to, well, anyone who'll take her (who's not on of that family). Then disaster strikes when she is on an enforced date with a would-be suitor and misses a masquerade ball: Her true love finds another. The solution? She'll just break them up. Romeo and Juliet will never happen...

 

 

Based on a YA book that sets the story in present day, this is set in the "real" time period. Quite fun, and with a strong cast - Kaitlyn "Booksmart" Dever, Isabela Merced ("Dora the Explorer", Instant Family"), Bradley Whitford and Minnie Driver - but it really needed a tighter script with more gags. Filmed mainly in beautiful Italian locations, this might be worth your time if you have access to it and the trailer amuses.

 

If you do watch it, you might be wondering where you've seen Lord Montague before. Let's just say Young Sherlock is no longer young.

[LeMarchand]

Decided we needed a "day of rest" yesterday and saw two films.

 

What's Love Got To Do With It? (Cinema)

 

Don't worry! I've not suddenly got into Tina Turner.

 

 

Documentary maker Lily James is surprised to learn that her next-door neighbour/childhood friend Shazad "Clem Fandango" Latif is going to have an assisted marriage and decides to make his quest the subject of her next film. No prizes for guessing what happens.

 

This starts off as a very Richard Curtissy romcom (everyone has impossibly gorgeous houses) but doesn't follow the exact formula. It's sweet and funny and surprisingly moving in parts. I do feel that a bit more weight should have been given to "assisted" relationships that worked, though. If the writer and the director weren't of Asian descent it would have felt slightly racist. We were the only people in the screen without grey hair for some reason.

 

Bahubali 2: The Conclusion (Netflix)

 

 

We stayed in the same region-ish for our evening viewing. More OTT than the first part including a flying ship, that may have been symbolic, and an assault on a city where the heroes catapult themselves over the walls using palm trees and hook up mid-air to form a kind of barrel with their shields, this didn't entertain us as much as the first. However this may have been because we saw the first a while back and were totally on the wrong page from the start of the film: What we thought was a continuation from the end of the first film was (mainly) a jump back to the past featured towards the end of it. We should have known as evil moustache guy had a grey 'tache in the "present day". I blame it on the same actor playing Dad and Son and both of them having the same character name. Plus Bahubali Snr's power-hungry Mum looks a bit like his paramour (amongst other Oedipal bits). We did wonder why what we thought was the rescued-from-a-cage lady had gone so evil and where the rebel lady from the first film had gone. The last quarter reverts to "present day" and lives up to the subtitle - or did until Bahubali 3 comes along.

 

Anyway, only for fans of the first and even then, make sure you remember it before you watch this one!

[witch]

Everything Everywhere All at Once

 

Interesting film - good in parts but generally a bit over-engineered in some places. A sci-fi film made for people who dont watch sci-fi . Enjoyed it though

[LeMarchand]

You mean, "The Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated RRR". Admittedly for "Best Song".

 

 

 

On Oscars, Everything Everywhere All at Once is nominated in an amazing 11 categories. Although I wasn't taken by the movie, I kinda hope it wins in all categories so that they can market it as Everything Everywhere and All the Oscars All at Once.

 

Congratulations to EEAAO; 7 out of 11 is pretty good going. More excited that RRR is now an Oscar-winner as this will hopefully mean production on the sequel will be ramped up.

 

 

You knew it was coming!

[Ditto]

Everything Everywhere All at Once

 

Interesting film - good in parts but generally a bit over-engineered in some places. A sci-fi film made for people who dont watch sci-fi . Enjoyed it though

I think it's fair to say they were slightly more gushing in their review at the OSCARS

[Simcfc73]

I think it's fair to say they were slightly more gushing in their review at the OSCARS

 

I didn't get it.. I got to the bit in the tax office and gave up.

[LeMarchand]

Faraway (Netflix)

 

Trailer NSFW.

 

 

When Zeynep's mother dies she bequeaths her house in Croatia to her and, after Zeynep's husband doesn't turn up at the funeral as he's too busy flirting with the new young cook at his restaurant, she decides to drive from her home in Germany to Croatia to look into selling the house. When she gets there, she finds that the house has an annoying lodger but there is something about the place and, maybe, him...

 

Yep, it's romcom variation #1: Protagonist inherits a crumbling property in a place they despise but come to love, and falls for one of the locals. This one's USP is that Croatia isn't normally one of the settings and that the romance is between people pushing 50 who aren't super gorgeous (obviously they haven't been hit with the ugly stick either!). A bit low key but not bad if you like this sort of movie.

[mavhc]

I didn't get it.. I got to the bit in the tax office and gave up.

 

It's about not giving up on people

[Patrick]

I found it to be very overrated. I enjoyed The Whale much more.

[Dos_Box]

I'm off to see The Whale on Sunday in Lancaster with my son. Not seen it yet (he has) and very much looking forwards to it.

[DalekSec]

I'm off to see The Whale on Sunday in Lancaster with my son. Not seen it yet (he has) and very much looking forwards to it.

 

Want to see it, waiting for rent price to come down...

 

Rewatched EEAAO after watching it couple months back but giving up 2/3 way though.

 

This time made sure to watch it all way through, its a good film don't get me wrong and i did enjoy it in the end. But Oscar worthy? unsure. As much as i love Jamie Lee-Curtis (big Halloween fan) she's hardly in the film past first few scenes!

[Patrick]

Want to see it, waiting for rent price to come down...

 

Rewatched EEAAO after watching it couple months back but giving up 2/3 way though.

 

This time made sure to watch it all way through, its a good film don't get me wrong and i did enjoy it in the end. But Oscar worthy? unsure. As much as i love Jamie Lee-Curtis (big Halloween fan) she's hardly in the film past first few scenes!

 

It kinda feels like a group of critics got together and decided it was brilliant and that we should all follow suite and love it. I just thought it was an average action/sci-fi film.

[mavhc]

It's a film about love, not fitting in, mother daughter relationships, immigrants, and kicking people in the face

[Simcfc73]

Just finished watching Luther on Netflix. Didn't have the magic of the bbc series and I'm sorry.. Serkis is not a good actor unless he is covered in balls. Average at best.