The last movie I saw was...

[Simcfc73]

Couldn't sleep this morning so watched Elevation on Netflix

 

Elevation (2024) - IMDb

 

Nothing special, didn't make much sense but always nice seeing Morena Baccarin on screen.

[LeMarchand]

The Assignment (Started on Plex, got sick of the ads and finished on Prime) aka Tomboy, aka Revenger, aka Tomboy: The Revengers Tale, aka (Re) Assignment

 

A Low level hitman takes out the brother of an unhinged doctor and wakes up to find that he's had his gender changed. His new body isn't going to stop him getting revenge, though.

 

Directed by Walter Hill, starring Michelle Rodriguez (who you'd think wouldn't need to flash so much flesh), Sigourney weaver, Tony Shalhoub and Antony LaPaglia. It couldn't be that bad, could it? Wrong!

 

Game Changer (Prime) aka గేమ్ ఛేంజర్

 

When a minister has a heart attack and almost doesn't get to hospital after a shoddily constructed flyover collapses and blocks the ambulances route, he vows to clean up corruption in his government.Ram Nandan (Ram Charan from "RRR" or, to give him is onscreen credit, "Global Star Ram Charan") is... something in government that that may make sense to Indian/Telegu audiences and is given the task of enforcing this new, honest government. Basically he's incorruptible and goes around doing action hero stuff. And administration for elections along with a bunch of other stuff. Meanwhile the minister's son, who was expecting to take over from his dad, decides he'd much rather profit from the corruption.

 

I think that's what happened, but I did drop off around 3/4s of the way through during an extended, unheralded, flashback to the forming of the political party by Ram's Dad (also played by Ram Charan) - the unheralded flashback and dual dad/son role seems to be a thing in Indian action films at the moment. I did wake up to see lots of twists and turns before the eventual outcome is reached. Another duff one on Amazon, not helped by the "comedy" bits that included stuff like Ram's "Rage Meter". If you want to see Ram Charan in a movie, watch "RRR". If you want to see someone from "RRR" in another film, watch N.T. Rama Rao in "Devara: Part One" (also features the unheralded flashback and the main actor playing his Dad thing). If you want to watch a good Indian action/political movie, watch "Jawan" (ditto on the flashback).

[Ditto]

Challengers on Amazon Prime Video. It's a tennis based story. I'd heard about a couple of other such films, Match Point and Wimbledon. I've watched neither but they didn't get very good reviews. Challengers did. and even scores 88% with Rotten Tomatoes. In the 'Audience Says' section it says "Challengers charms might be too subtle for some...".

 

Well, before the movie started, I for the first time got "This video is brought to you with limited interruptions", immediately destroying the claim .

 

I'm thinking, WTF, this is a subscription channel, not more ads! Well I think there was one break, but I think no ads were played but there was a pause. Subsequent research show yes, in spite of the paid for subscription, it looks like amazon are adding ads now and asking you to pay even more money to avoid the ads.

 

 

Anyway, back to the movie. I can keep this simple - it was total and utter, pretentious garbage. Looks like Mr and Mrs Ditto are in the group where the movie is just "too subtle" for us.

 

For therapy, we watched the next episode of Loudermilk straight after and it was a great antidote.

 

*** EDIT : Coming back to the Amazon Ad thing - to avoid the ads that you didn't previously get, it's nearly a 40% fee increase. The advertisers should give up, I've got no money left as I spent it all trying to avoid adverts ***

Edited February 9, 2025 by Ditto

[Norphy]

Saw Dogman at the cinema with my 8 year old son.

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10954718/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

 

Yeah, I’m definitely not in the target audience for this one. I think this is the first film where I’ve been close to falling asleep in the cinema. Though that could just be because I’m getting old.

 

Anyway, the eight year old enjoyed it so that’s the main thing.

[mavhc]

Macbeth, with David Tennant. Very good.

 

Including a trailer for The Importance of Being Earnest with Ncuti Gatwa, if they cancel Dr Who they'll end up with a smaller audience for such things

[6Foot2]

... if they cancel Dr Who they'll end up with a smaller audience for such things

 

Likewise Big Boys, with Camille Coduri, Annette Badland and Katy Wix (via Torchwood)

 

Series 3 is available to stream on Channel 4 (six episodes).

 

[LeMarchand]

I'm thinking, WTF, this is a subscription channel, not more ads! Well I think there was one break, but I think no ads were played but there was a pause. Subsequent research show yes, in spite of the paid for subscription, it looks like amazon are adding ads now and asking you to pay even more money to avoid the ads.

 

Yep, it's incredibly annoying and greedy. I think it will drive more people to sailing the high seas and surely some income is better than none?

[LeMarchand]

Love Hurts (Cinema)

 

Trailer NSFW: Swearing and violence

 

 

Ke Huy Quan plays an affable estate agent who used to be his criminal brother's enforcer. When his supposedly dead old flame reappears he's going to need his old skills.

 

Fun action comedy. Not an all time classic, but worth catching when it's streaming. I guess they didn't want to go up against Marvel but, given the title of the film, its romances and the fact it's actually mainly set on Valentines Day, I'm surprised they didn't release it on the 14th.

[LeMarchand]

La Dolce Villa (Netflix)

 

The latest romance in a picturesque location from Netflix has an American widower dad rushing to Tuscany to stop his daughter buy a €1 house. Unable to deter her, he ends up staying to help with renovations and starts to fall for the local, handily widowed, mayor.

 

More rom than com, it's a gentle watch with pretty scenery. If you enjoy this sort of fluff it's OK, but far from the best example of the genre.

[LeMarchand]

The Killer's Game (Prime Video)

 

Trailer fairly violent and bloody

 

 

Hitman Joe Flood (don't worry, he only kills bad uns) learns he has a terminal disease. Not wanting his new love to see him wither away, he takes out a contract on his own life. When he finds out he was misdiagnosed, and the contract cannot be cancelled, he must survive Europe's deadliest killers so that he can live life with his twue love.

 

OK action thriller with way too much CG blood. It has some amusing bits, like the Scottish pair who have subtitles until whoever was doing that got bored, but not a "must see". Unless you've had a hankering to see Dave Bautista in the bedroom...

 

Captain America: Brave New World (Cinema)

 

General "Thunderbolt" Ross is now the prez, but something about his presidency seems off. Can Sam Wilson remain as Captain America and save the day?

 

Better than I was expecting, but nowhere near the best MCU entries. Worth a look if you're a True Believer, though. Cinema was pleasantly busy and, much to my surprise given it's themes and star, it seems to be doing well in the US too.

[LeMarchand]

The Gorge (Apple TV+)

 

 

Two elite snipers are positioned either side of a gorge in an undisclosed location. They must stay there for a year and prevent anything that may try to reach the surface from doing so. They must have no contact with anyone, even each other, more than a monthly radio check in with their superiors. As one of the snipers is played by Anya Taylor Joy it's not long before that rule is broken, and then things start to unravel...

 

One of the most enjoyable films I've seen for a while. Kudos to the trailer editors for not feeling that they have to show everything. Mme LeMarchand had to be cajoled into giving this a go and but both enjoyed it and stayed awake. It is one of those films that it's best not to question the setup too hard, but well worth checking if it's available to you. If you don't have access to Apple, I'd look around for a free deal and add this to your "Apple month long binge" list.

[LeMarchand]

Novocaine (Cinema)

 

TRAILER NSFW (Swearing, violence)

 

 

A mild mannered assistant bank manager falls in love with a beautiful lady who is kidnapped during a heist at the bank they both work at. He sets out to rescue her and luckily for him he doesn't feel pain at all.

 

The trailer above (unlike the earlier one) doesn't give so much away and isn't as misleading with the dialogue. Was unsure whether to see this theatrically, but our local cinema had a "Mystery Movie" night Saturday and this is what it turned out to be. Glad I went as it was a lot of fun, even if it didn't make a whole lot of sense. If you like the trailer/s, well worth a look.

 

Cinema was the fullest I’ve seen it in a while (normally go midweek though) - mainly couples in their 50s and 60s who I thought might not enjoy the movie, though everyone seemed to have a good time.

[Simcfc73]

Electric State (2025) - Netflix

 

 

I really wanted to like this but I felt it was a bang average. Beautiful SFX and the robots looked great but the story and acting weren't great.

 

It reminded me a bit of Ready Player One which I love and have watehded loads of times.

[Simcfc73]

Me Again.

 

Took my 9yo and her friend to see Snow White. 

 

Much better than the numpty reviewer make out but not a classic. Kids enjoyed it. 

[LeMarchand]

Picture This (Prime Video)

 

A couple of racy lines in the trailer.

 

 

Pia's photography business is on, the rocks and so his her love life. When the fortuneteller hired for her sister's wedding predicts that she will find true love on the fifth date she has her family decide that they will set her up on the dates and that she will bring her choice to the event.

 

Amusing romcom that raised quite a few chuckles. Fans of The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh will enjoy seeing Mrs Pradeep playing much the same role and, in a small part, Vinod. As usual in these things, Pia is somehow single despite being gorgeous and has the sort of flat and wardrobe that don't jibe with her alleged ongoing lack of money. OK if you're in the mood for a romcom (or need to sit through one as a tradeoff).

 

The Gardener aka Le Jardinier (Prime Video)

 

Trailer fairly violent.

 

 

When a government official is targetted for assassination it's up to his ex-special forces gardener to save the day.

 

The film is available subbed or dubbed on Prime, but probably not one to waste your time on. There a couple of amusing bits, and you'll wonder if Van Damme had it in his contract that he had to be called handsome every 20 minutes or so, but that's it. 

[LeMarchand]

A Family Affair (Netflix)

 

Joey King stars as Zara, PA to a pampered, out of touch movie star (Zac Efron). When she quits, he goes to her house to try to get her back and meets her widowed mother (Nicole Kidman) and sparks fly. Zara isn't convinced that it will ever be more than a fling that hurts her mother and is determined that her mom won't be hurt by her boss.

 

Bit of an uneasy mix of romcom and family drama. This has its moments, and Nicole Kidman's nicer than she has done for some time (though could do with a sandwich or two) but not a winner. Was also a bit of an awkward watch as it was chosen as a family movie because no-one had seen it and I was Bonus Daughter #2's boss when I got together with her mum. Luckily she approved of the relationship (who wouldn't?). Also Nicole Kidman could never hold a candle to Mme LeMarchand 💑, though these days should probably never hold a candle at all.

[LeMarchand]

The Electric State (Prime Video))

 

After a robot uprising mechanicals are outcast into the desert while most humans spend their lives jacked into a VR world. When a girl is approached by a robot who may be able to lead her to her missing brother, they set out to find him.

 

Started this two or three weeks ago and had to stop around 1/2 way due to a family emergency. It took this long to go back to it. Might have been in more of the right mood, but found the second 1/2 much better than the first. As a whole though, not a must see.

[mavhc]

Flow, weirder than I expected. Great film made with open source software. Only bit I didn't like was the choice of shading on the main characters, reminded me too much of highly compress/low colour images. Ironically could use more blending

[LeMarchand]

A Working Man (Cinema)

 

The latest entry in the "ex-military/intelligence, now trying to live a normal life, has to use their particular set of skills once again" genre. This sees Jason Statham kicking, punching, stabbing, shooting, choking, blowing up and probably using other ways to get though a small army of baddies to save his boss's daughter from human traffickers. Not particularly "good", but entertaining enough. The sound design gets a special mention as the team seem to have got to great effort to make sure you hear every stab, punch and broken bone. I'd wait for digital rather than going out if you have this on your watchlist, though.

 

I didn't think this would be doing well in the US as the lead is a Brit (he isn't pretending to have an American accent in this one, thank goodness), the bad guys are Russian, the family he is helping are Hispanic and the "damsel in distress" doesn't just wait for rescue (she even takes out one of the boss baddies). The film even knocked Snow White off the top spot on Friday.

 

Oh, Jason and Stallone must have really enjoyed working on The Expendables as Sly is a listed here as a producer and co-writer.

 

 

[Dos_Box]

I went to see Interstellar in IMAX with my son last night, I have to admit, it's not my favorite Nolan film (that goes to Tenet), but in IMAX it really popped, and the sound was unreal!

[LeMarchand]

Hellboy: The Crooked Man (Prime Video)

 

Whilst transporting a beastie back in the 50s, Hellboy and a new recruit find themselves in the Appalachians and have to take on The Crooked Man.

 

I fell asleep and have no desire to try to watch this again. The Hellboy makeup is about the only OK thing about this movie, which is one step up from an amateur production. I actually "saw" this a couple of weeks ago and forgot about it.

 

Skyfire (Prime Video)

 

 

A lush tropical island hosts an active volcano and a resort for "danger tourists" who, of course, get more danger than they were expecting.

 

2019 Chinese movie only available subbed though apparently it was "dual filmed" in Chinese and English, it's basically "Volcanic Park". Apparently Jason Isaacs based his character on Elon Musk (though he turns out to be a better person than Elon is ever likely to) and what we thought was supposed to be a Kiwi accent is supposed to be South African. China seems to be where action directors who have fallen from favour in the West can still get work as Renny Harlin has also made a movie over there. Anyway, maybe it was the joy of not having to keep the sound down so as not to disturb kiddies and the neighbours (both lots away) and being able to give the sound and sub a good workout, but we thoroughly enjoyed this. If you want a disaster movie night it's worth a watch, though I think it's one of the "limited time" ones.

[LeMarchand]

Heretic (Rental)

 

 

 

Two young Mormon missionaries find themselves trapped in a house with a man who wants to test their faith.

 

More of a theological debate than a movie, this is still quite interesting thanks to Hugh Grant's performance.

[LeMarchand]

Not made very good choices of late.

 

Most entertaining was G20, which was basically "Die Hard at the G20". Entertaining enough, but the villain's motivation didn't make a lot of sense. One Ranger has a mini The Expanse reunion with an almost unrecognisable Thomas Jane playing the title role with a thick Texas accent and Dominique Tipper as a Brit agent who recruits him to catch an Irish terrorist. Also with John Malkovitch as the head of some UK agency and Nick Moran as a Russian(!). Very low budget and while I have seen worse it's not one to waste your time on. Worst of the bunch was Buddy. Full disclosure: I had very little sleep the night before due to one of the grandbrats kicking off and so I did keep dropping off during this film; I doubt I missed much. Anyway, a slowburn (2 years of over comms flirtation) romance between a hotshot pilot and a rookie air traffic controller is threatened when a mob boss 's son needs a new heart and the ATC is a match. During her kidnap she briefly dies and her soul is transferred into the large teddy bear the pilot bought her. The bear teams up with the pilot to find her body before it is too late. Imagine a mainly humorous Indian Ted as a sort of action movie and you'll have some idea. Apparently walking, talking,  teddy bears are a common sight in India as no-one is phased by the sight of Buddy. Pretty bad, though the scene where the bear and a street kid do the Oscar-winning "Naatu Naatu" from RRR  to raise some cash is vaguely amusing.

[LeMarchand]

Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie (Netflix)

 

 

When his stepdaughter's fiancé dies in a freak accident, Adrian Monk investigates along with most of the original cast. It seems as if billionaire Jeff Bezos Rick Eden may be involved...

 

Monk was one of those shows that I enjoyed, but never got around to finishing. This was OK, but the "solution" was way too obvious. It didn't make me want to go back and finish the show, though I might watch the finale. Oh, the title is probably a lie as a sequel hook is clearly set up.

[LeMarchand]

The Amateur (Cinema)

 

When his wife is killed by terrorists for poorly explained reasons (so poorly explained that I was expecting a twist with her being alive and their leader), a CIA geek blackmails his bosses into giving him enough training to enable him to seek out and kill the perps. He soon realises that he's never going to be the next Jason Bourne and must use his IT skills to get the job done.

 

OK, but I'd wait for streaming. I was hoping that the film might make people realise that getting on the wrong side of IT is not a good idea but his skills might as well be magical ones.