The last movie I saw was...

[Ditto]

"After Yang" via BT NOW: it divided opinion in the household. I found it intriguing and thought provoking particularly in a time of intense discussions around the future of AI. Eldest son got bored, youngest rated it 2* and Mrs Ditto wanted an explanation!

[RedwayNetworks_Calum]

Probably not, when you consider its intended audience. How old is your brother?

 

It's not going to win any Oscars but it's a fun enough film. The fact that Rotten Tomatoes gives it an audience score of 96% right now is telling.

 

He is coming on 14 now so maybe he's a bit too old for it. I guess it's a chance for us to have a bit of a laugh though,

[RedwayNetworks_Calum]

Went to see it with my brother last night. It's coming to the end of it's run and down to two showings a day, but the screen was packed.

I enjoyed it (it's John Wick, so whats not to like!), but felt it overly long and the fight scenes were getting a bit same-y. I did like The Warriors nod though

 

See I felt that the film went very quickly, I guess it's what you come to expect from a John Wick film. The dragons breath scene was brilliant

[Dos_Box]

The next film I have lined up is Life of Brian on Thursday with my son. He's not seen any Python films yet. Dukes Theatre in Lancaster have it on the big screen.

I'm very much looking forward to it.

[smurfomatic]

He's not seen any Python films yet.

 

He's a very naughty boy...

[LeMarchand]

Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves

 

Fun romp that kept us entertained, but isn't going to go down as a classic.

 

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre

 

Another one with a subtitle and High Grant. Kinda OK, but it felt like Guy Ritchie wanted to make a Bond film but then cast Jason Statham, who can be great in certain parts but is in no way suave enough for the kind of caper this seemed to be aiming for.

[6Foot2]

Straw Dogs (2011, via Amazon Freevee. Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes)

 

Not a "classic" but better than I expected. Violent and bloody in the second half.

[LeMarchand]

Forgot to say that OF:RdG was Amazon Prime and D&D:HAT was the cinema, as was John Wick: Chapter 4 (no extra title).

 

Think this is the first of these I've watched theatrically. It was entertaining but the fight scenes, as in the others, all went on far too long. Admittedly the later ones (The Arc de Triomphe, The Dragon's Breath and The Steps were impressive). Not sure what the point of the opening two scenes were, or "Mr. Nobody" though Shamier Anderson's acting has improved since his Wynonna Earp days. Talking about acting: Scott Adkins' cameo was great.

 

Has to be said that Akira was right, though: JW turns up somewhere, asks for help and chances are whoever he asks will wind up dead, along with dozens of henchmen on both sides.

[Ditto]

Twilight on Sky. The first in a run of four movies I understand. Teenage suitable variant of the Dracula theme. It wasn't bad, but no showstopper and at times I thought got a little too silly. At one point, it became a little too much like a The Addams family.

[LeMarchand]

Murder Mystery 2 (Netflix)

 

After the events of the first film, the Nick and Audrey have become less than successful PIs. When The Maharajah invites them to his wedding they're soon drawn into another murder mystery. This was tolerably fun when I was watching it (though the final "surprise" made absolutely no sense) but I really struggled to remember what I'd watched today.

 

Speaking of forgetting things, I was playing "Heavy Rain" just before watching

 

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre

 

and the load screens feature close-ups of the CG cast faces. The face I had on screen just before watching was of Sam Douglas/Scott Shelby, who was in the film as Josh Hartnett's agent. Also in the film was Tim Seyfi from Turkish show "The Gift".

[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

Watched this last night with OH and OH's good friend. We laughed quite a bit, not sure we were meant too? Unsure what to make of it, sort of seemed to be a pacified hybrid of Edward Scissorhands and Clockwork Orange if that's possible. Presumably due to Oscars, there's an arty side to the story that didn't have the same impact on us. My tip: it's quite long so don't watch it too late as it's quite tiring early on. I don't think it will be regarded as a classic, but well worth a watch if you have an open mind.

[mavhc]

Of course you're supposed to laugh.

 

Did you miss the part about the immigrant generational experience, and the mother/daughter relationship?

[Ditto]

Of course you're supposed to laugh.

 

Did you miss the part about the immigrant generational experience, and the mother/daughter relationship?

That's reassuring! For the first question, see my previous movie watch, thought I'd done that! For the second part, yes, probably, only have boys. Many good friends with daughters view me with envy!

[witch]

All the Star Wars films in order

Boy did they all fail a lot - other than destroying the Death Star very little was achieved in any of the films!

[Bill8]

Did you include Solo and Rogue One?

[LeMarchand]

Renfield (Cinema)

 

Dracula's familiar is looking after his master in present day New Orleans and attending a support group which helps him to stand up to the count.

 

Funny, and incredibly violent action/comedy. Looking at the BBFC site, I wonder what films would warrant 5/5 for violence when a film where people's heads get punched off, faces get ripped off and arms get ripped off and used as clubs gets 4/5. If the trailer amused, probably worth a look, though not really a "must head to the cinema" one. The action scenes suffer from the usual "too close to the action" filming (made worse by the "sped up" nature of the fights) but, at a lean 93 minutes, it doesn't outstay its welcome.

[AlistairB1983]

Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves

 

Saw this yesterday with the OH (who is in no way a 'geek') and both absolutely loved it. I enjoyed several of the 'inside' jokes, but not getting them had no impact on her enjoyment of the film. It reminded me very much of a Marvel film in terms of the overall presentation/humour. Think Guardians of the Galaxy, but in Fantasy not Sci Fi - though possibly with a better storyline (although it's still not going to win any awards for it).

[mavhc]

Avatar 2: shows that all exosuits eventually evolve into crabs

The Batman: in a world where people aren't addicted to smartphones, one man will fail to realise that billionaires should care about accounting

Top Gun 2: we filmed a load of planes doing cool stuff for 100 hours, you're welcome

[Dos_Box]

Saw the Super Mario Bros Movie on Friday night. I was expecting more humor similar to The Lego Movie but it was fun enough, albeit wrapped up in a 1.5 hour advert!

It was fun spotting the easter eggs though.

[LeMarchand]

Ghosted (Apple TV+)

 

 

When Cole meets the beautiful Sadie, he can't believe his luck... and then finds himself ghosted. So he decides to follow her to London and finds himself dragged into her real life.

 

You've seen this plot before, but this time it's the guy who is one who is the innocent. After a rocky start that seems to be more of an Apple commercial (to be fair one of the products is part of the plot) it develops into more of a Netflix action flick; I'm guessing that Apple are finding that "critically acclaimed" doesn't necessarily equate to "new subscribers". A fun romp that's worth a look if you're a subscriber or you get a free trial to binge a load of things (like Foundation) but not worth stumping up for a sub just to watch.

 

There are some great uncredited cameos (Chris Evans is listed as a producer so I guess he called up some mates) and I can see why the second bounty hunter was there (they are even styled like another relevant character they played) but I can't help but feel, given who they were sandwiched between, they should have had one of two ladies there instead.

 

P.S. I bet Dexter Fletcher never imagined he'd be involved in stuff like this back in the "Press Gang" days - let alone directing them.

Edited April 27, 2023 by LeMarchand

[Dos_Box]

Missing

 

Went to see Missing woth my son late yesterday afternoon and was very pleased with the film. It follows an 18 year old girl trying to find her mother who failed to return from a long weekend trip to Columbia with her new boyfriend.

It's all filmed from the screen of whatever device she is using or is seen via at the time (laptops, phones etc.) and is very well done. Watch the trailer belopw to get an idea of the filming style. The entire movie is like this. Highly recommended, and if it's still showing in your area then try and get out to see it.

 

[LeMarchand]

Polite Society (Cinema)

 

 

Ria dreams of becoming a stuntwoman, and her sister Lena (Ritu Arya from The Umbrella Academy) is her greatest supporter. When Lena falls for handsome surgeon Salim, Ria realises there's only one thing she can do... break them up. But Salim may well be to good to be true...

 

Fun comedy/action movie that is worth catching on home release, though probably not a cinema trip. Nimra Bucha, who plays the evil mother of the would-be groom, seems to have found her niche as she played much the same role in Ms. Marvel.

[LeMarchand]

The King's Daughter (Rakuten as I had a free rental, but widely available to rent)

 

King Louis XIV (Pierce Brosnan) is feeling his mortality and commissions an expedition to capture a mermaid that he can sacrifice in order to achieve immortality. However he hasn't counted on the bond his daughter will form with the creature.

 

This one was filmed in 2014 and then pulled to finish FX work and then enmeshed in legal complications, eventually surfacing last year. It's a French/Chinese/Australian production with a mainly British/American cast apart from Fan Bingbing as the mermaid - surprised by the lack of French people - with the cast putting on English accents. Looks sumptuous though, while the men's costumes seem fairly "period" (not sure Louis would have been showing quite so much chest), the women's often look like they got a deal when "The Great Gatsby" finished filming (IANA historical costume expert). Unfortunately, it all feels a bit like a better than average kid's film and I suspect it would play better to the sort of young 'uns who don't need "kidz" in their films.

 

As it stands, the most interesting thing about it is that the novel it's based on beat out "Game of Thrones" for the 1997 Nebula. From the synopsis, the novel seems to cover the same sort of beats, but is definitely not for young 'uns.

[LeMarchand]

Beast (Netflix)

 

Trailer a bit violent for work.

 

 

After a young girl is killed by the blast when he fires on a target in an area where his superiors lied and told him was clear, top agent Veera leaves the service. When his therapist despairs of Veera's daily visits, he takes the ex-agent along to a wedding in the hope of pairing him up. Veera is obviously irresistible and a song and dance routine later he and an unhappily engaged young lady hit it off. She works for the country's worst security firm and takes him along to her boss for a job, which is how the three of them, one of the firm's ancient employees, her not-quite-ex, two thugs he's hired to beat up Veera and what appears to be the Indian Cheech and Chong are at a mall when terrorists attack demanding the release of the leader who was captured during Veera's last job. Yes, it's "Die Hard" in a Chennai mall (it's even set at Xmas) with a bit of "Top Gun" at the end for good measure.

 

If you're in the mood for an Indian action flick with a shaky grasp of physics but lots of completely OTT sequences such as terrorists being taken out by Veera's incredible rollerblading skills, our hero donning shades and fixing his very bouffant hair before using a shotgun that never misses while negotiating a corridor filled with guys with machine guns that never hit and a Seagalesque pose framed by a shattered window - but Seagal never shattered to window by decapitating a bad guy with such force that the head not only shatters the window, but flies across the car park - give this a go. If you haven't succumbed to the dubious joys of Indian action flicks but you're curious, RRR is still the one to watch. Oddly, despite being billed as a musical, there is only the aforementioned wedding dance and an (awful) early in the credits bit. The other songs are more "Miami Vice" like sequences set to music, often that earwormy "meaner, leaner, stronger" bit in the trailer.

[pooley]

Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves - I have no idea how rotten tomatoes has given it 91%, it was OK.