The last movie I saw was...

[LeMarchand]

Hercules

 

The one starring The Rock. The trailers for this make it look like it's going to be a sub-par CGI Hercules chops up monsters film, but it's really more the The Magnificent Seven Ancient Greeks featuring a bunch of Scandinavians and Brits, plus a few British character actors in case it's too difficult to work out who the bad guys are going to be. Surprisingly fun, but not a must see.

[Norphy]

Interstellar

 

Watched on the train as Virgin were offering it for free on their Beam app.

 

Well, it helped the journey go quicker and it was pretty good but by crickey, it was about an hour too long. My attention really started to drift towards the end.

[LeMarchand]

Rewatched: Belle, which stood up well and is worth a watch.

 

Finally saw the 2016 Jungle Book which I was disappointed by. The CGI was great, but not as 100% perfect as many made it out to be, but I found it uninvolving (dropped off for a couple of minutes near the middle).

[mavhc]

It's a Wonderful Life, didn't care for it.

[witch]

Collateral Beauty

Quite good but a little over emotional for me

[Domo]

went to the pictures to watch Star wars: Rogue one

I thought it was fantastic personally, read a couple of reviews afterwards and they seemed fairly negative but i couldn't see why.

Even my girlfriend thought it was great and she's only watched (been forced to watch) episodes 4 and 5

 

Edit: was also the first time i've ever been to a showcase, Reclining seats in cinemas is the way forward

Edited January 3, 2017 by Domo

[Sagima]

Now I'm not really that big of a film watcher but due to me being talked out of my computer room each afternoon so my husband could practice cello I have watched quite a few over Christmas

 

X-Men: Apocalypse

 

Pretty good although the ending was a bit disappointing.

 

 

Die Hard

 

Classic film. Ended up watching it twice on successive days (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) as my father-in-law wanted to watch it as well.

 

 

Iron Man (2008)

 

I wasn't expecting to like this (really I wanted to watch the Avengers film but I thought I'd watch the accompanying movies first) but it turned out to be not bad at all. I have never actually watched/read any Iron Man thing before so I've no idea how close they kept it to canon.

 

 

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

 

Not as good as Iron Man or indeed any of the others. It was alright although whoever wrote it was clearly only interested in writing about banner/hulk as noone else really has any depth to their character.

His love interest was easily the worst part of the film - all I can think of is that the writer was so excited about writing about the Hulk that forgot she was meant to be in it and quickly went back adding the odd line in the script with her screaming "Nooo!" or "Stop!!!" or "Dad!!!" or similar.

I don't think I've enjoyed any of The Hulk films form the past 20 years but I did enjoy the TV series (the one with david banner)

 

 

Iron Man 2 (2010)

 

Not quite sure why, at the end, when they have all those people and killer robots they guy didn't simply say surrender or I'll shoot all these people rather than going through an elaborate aerial chase. Not as good as the first one, not by a long way.

 

 

Thor (2011)

 

Well this was easily the best of the the pre-avengers films although I do wish Idris Elba had had a more prominent role.

Antony Hopkins seemed a little bit of a waste of money but then Samuel L Jackson was probably getting a decent wage for his 10 minutes of total footage in the last few films so maybe money that wasn't that important.

It was at this point I discovered there was an Agents of SHIELD tv series that I thought I might have been supposed to be interleaving with the films but I decided I'd look at it after I've watched the films.

The guy playing Loki was brilliant as well (best villain by a mile so far)

 

 

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

 

I don't like war films, films set around WW2, things involving zombies or films that are flamboyantly american so I didn't hold up much hope that I'd enjoy this but it wasn't bad - probably put it between Iron Man 1 and 2.

(If there were Zombies I missed them - I was just pointing out that it ticked almost all the boxes for worst premise for a film)

 

I did have a though that has never crossed my mind before - that being "Chris Evans is really quite good looking" (feels weird even writing it but then they beefed him up and ruined him)

 

I did think the bit where they are storming the Hydra facility with their laser guns reminded me a lot of the ST:Voy episode(s) where the Hirogen take over the ship and force them to act out as the French resistance in the holodecks - if some klingon warriors had come rushing out of one of the corridors I wouldn't have been at all surprised

 

Worst villain - weird guy with a bright red head who looked as if he belonged in a He-Man cartoon

 

 

The Avengers (2012)

 

Best summarised as:

 

Yay - Loki!

 

Yay- new Hulk!

 

Yay - Thor!

 

Boo - Iron Man

 

 

X + Y

 

No idea why we ended up watching this - it's pretty dull. All I can assume is that is was based on a book that was interesting but it lost something in the transference to the big screen.

Avoid this one unless you really like Asa Butterfield

Edited January 3, 2017 by Sagima

[LeMarchand]

It was at this point I discovered there was an Agents of SHIELD tv series that I thought I might have been supposed to be interleaving with the films but I decided I'd look at it after I've watched the films.

 

AoS does try to keep "in sync" with the movies, and now that you've seen Avengers (1) it's not a bad place to start. The only time I was impressed by the continuity was when Captain America: The Winter Soldier came out and Marvel Cinematic Timeline Viewing Guide (Updated) | Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV Series is a pretty good guide for viewing order, but hasn't been updated recently. The one here https://www.cnet.com/uk/how-to/marvel-cinematic-universe-timeline-avengers/ (below) isn't as accurate but does include more recent additions (and is prettier).

 

[Sagima]

Almost forgot...

 

I also watched Star Trek: Beyond.

Really enjoyed it - I was having difficulty coming around to the new ones but I think i've finally settled in with them. The guy who plays bones is brilliant - they should do more with him.

So far they've got better with each one so hopefully they'll be a fourth one I can go see soon.

 

Decent space station for once but they do insist on having doors and tunnels that are only just bigger than the starship that needs to go through them - surely you'd make them double the size so there's less chance of an accident and newer, bigger ships can visit?

[GuyJD]

Decent space station for once but they do insist on having doors and tunnels that are only just bigger than the starship that needs to go through them - surely you'd make them double the size so there's less chance of an accident and newer, bigger ships can visit?

You think they'd have an auto park button, I mean most high-end saloon cars have that now.

 

I really like the new movies too, I think the entire cast are pretty true to the original series.

[Andrew_C]

Rouge 1 at the cinema. Ho-Hum - It was a Star Wars movie; pushed those buttons, but... (Couldn't help but speculate that Carrie Fisher watched it on her flight, and had her heart attack when she saw herself in it as she was all those years ago)

 

Monsters University on TV the other eve. Properly funny.

[Norphy]

The guy who plays bones is brilliant - they should do more with him.

 

I don't know, there is something about Karl Urban's performance in Star Trek that just grinds my gears. He is trying too hard with the accent imo and it seems forced and artificial. Like when American actors try English accents.

 

Watched Rogue One at the cinema last night. It was pretty good, I enjoyed it for the most part.

 

The bit that I didn't like so much were the CGI actors. Peter Cushing wasn't too bad but the young Leia was awful; the eyes were all wrong. Worse than Jeff Bridges in Tron 2.0.

Edited January 3, 2017 by Norphy

[LeMarchand]

The bit that I didn't like so much were the CGI actors. Peter Cushing wasn't too bad but the young Leia was awful; the eyes were all wrong. Worse than Jeff Bridges in Tron 2.0.

 

I thought the opposite, though Leia only had a fraction of the screen time so maybe I just wasn't paying attention at that point.

[Garacesh]

I was very impressed with 'Peter Cushing', but it felt like they didn't spent nearly as much time with 'Carrie Fisher'. 'Carrie' was very obviously CGI, whereas I didn't realise that 'Peter' wasn't a real person for the majority of the film.

(I appreciate they used a real person and CGI'd on top of him, whereas they might not have done that with Leia)

[Andrew_C]

The bit that I didn't like so much were the CGI actors. Peter Cushing wasn't too bad but the young Leia was awful;

Funny; I didn't even notice Leia was CGI. I assumed it was footage that came from the 1970's shoots, edited to fit this film.

[LeMarchand]

Someone is credited as playing Leia: Ingvild Deila - IMDb though they may just have been a mo-cap stand in.

 

I thought Tarkin's eyes were off, and his whole bearing too stiff.

[mavhc]

Rogue One: Tarkin's head didn't bob around enough, compared to the real actor he was talking to. Otherwise seemed OK for a star wars film, Episode 7 was better.

 

The Eagle Huntress, good documentary, although slightly misleading. The Eagle Huntress: New Generations of Eagle Huntresses in Kazakhstan and Mongolia ? Part II | Ancient Origins Amazing footage though.

 

Moana: good WDAS film, lots of Polynesian mythology, pretty good songs, although not as singable as Frozen's.

[Norphy]

Star Trek Beyond

 

Actually enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It did feel a bit rushed towards the end though.

 

Much better than Into Darkness, probably on a par with the first JJ film imo.

[witch]

Rouge 1 at the cinema. .

 

 

That's why you weren't keen - it was made-up...

*runs away to the punny thread

 

mrwITch and little wITch went to see A Monster Calls last night. They thought it was good but too long and very depressing

Edited January 7, 2017 by witch

[Norphy]

Bats vs Supes

 

Ugh.

[LeMarchand]

mrwITch and little wITch went to see A Monster Calls last night. They thought it was good but too long and very depressing

 

I want to see that, but worried that the cinema might be too dusty and cause eye irritation.

 

What We Did On Our Holiday

 

 

All those bits in the trailer are in the film, but let's just say that it gives a totally inaccurate representation of it. Actually quite a good film, but not as light hearted as the trailer makes out.

[mavhc]

Slaughterhouse-Five, apparently Kurt Vonnegut likes it, but it seems to be missing a lot of what the book was about.

[AJWhite1970]

Batman vs Superman

 

Thankfully I fell asleep after about 30 minutes, by all accounts I didn't miss much...

[Patrick]

Whiplash.

 

It's a very good film. A film that allows you to make up your own mind and question a mentor/student relationship.

[rickjames]

Saw Manchester By the Sea last night, perfect film if you're a fan of grieving. Can kind of see why Affleck is getting the praise he is but it's not a film to judge on it's trailer, was surprised by the amount of humour. Also lack of Michelle Williams character is a bit disappointing when you look at the whole story.

 

Seeing La La Land tonight, thank God as I've kicked the absolute a of out the soundtrack for the last 5 weeks.

Edited January 10, 2017 by rickjames