Hatchet 1, 2, 3, Victor Crowley (2007-2017)

Pretty bad movies, but with all the elements of the great 80's slasher films. From the storyline to the (over)acting. From the setting to the old school death scenes. From the humor to the gore. It's all what makes a campy slasher movie good (or bad).

all 4 movies get the same rating from me

6,5/10

A million ways to die in the West so very very funny

I don't think the failure of the characters necessarily makes it a bad story or bad movie per se. Luke failed in Empire because he went into the lion's den too early. Obviously the resolution is what will make this entire story fulfilling and one doesn't have to wait too long for that.
It's the same as watching a disaster movie such as Titanic or Night to remember. You know most of the people are going to die because that is what actually happened. The shipbuilders failed and the crew mostly failed. Had they never launched the ship they all would all lived most likely. I think how a movie deals with failure is what makes it interesting to watch even on repeated viewings.

Thus I think there can be quite a bit of intrigue in failure as there was in Infinity War. They managed to fend the big purple/blue ~~~~~~ off for a long time (See Avengers 1 / Guardians 1).

I do accept that failure of main characters or even their existence or location can be a key frustration when you watch a movie such as Superman is the actual reason why Zod comes to earth. It actually makes the protagonist the reason why the antagonist can win in the first place. But I guess how this is balanced in a movie or story is what makes things watchable. I liked Superman 2 (both versions) but hate Man of Steel etc. But then for me Batman Vs Superman's beginning made up a lot. So it's interesting how even when you dislike a movie a sequel can redeem how you feel and even redeem a story to certain extent.

I think Infinity War gave the other Marvel movies quite a bit of meaning and made me want to watch some more over the weekend:

-------------------------------------------------------------

Spiderman: Homecoming. Really liked Michael Keaton's character. Wish they had explored his background a little bit more. Maybe another 5-10 minutes spent on him would have made him almost as intriguing as say the Joker or Thanos or so. Maybe show him down on his luck a bit more (broke etc). I liked the twist, but could see that coming for a bit. Didn't think it was necessary to make the twenty something actors pretend to be 15. Bit mad. Set in college rather than a school would have made more sense. Peter Parker comes across as a bit of jerk and it isn't until it looks like he loses quite late on (of course as you'd expect) he gains your sympathy. I think the reason the like-ability comes so late is that the whole uncle Ben dying is not present at all (probably told the story too often too recently). But this part was always important in the Spidey reboots to appreciate Peter's motivations to do right etc. Enjoyable but no better or worse than previous Spiderman movies I'd say. Without Keaton it would have been much worse for sure. 7/10

-------

Thor: Ragnorok.
Very funny in places, superb action, effects and good acting with even minor parts very interesting (Sam Neill / Jeff Goldblum). Cate Blanchet was an awesome sexy villain. Quite quirky in places which is what you expect with Marvel now to some extent. They obviously added the Led Zeppelin Immigrant Song in post because the repeated half note interval in the vocal line/scream is just like the Wonder Woman music. The flashbacks with how the Tessa Thompson character flew on a horse and defeated the villain in the past wanted me to see a movie about THAT too. The Hulk and Bruce Banner characters are kinda dumb and stupid in Marvel these days. Don't think it is necessary. Bruce Banner never knows what the hell is going on and the Hulk is like a gorilla with a very low IQ who doesn't even recognise his friends. Meh.
Great lead into IW however. Very satisfying movie mostly. 8/10

------

Also saw Infinity War again for my birthday yesterday. This time in normal 2D without the moving seats malarky. Probably will be my favourite of the year. Interested in seeing Captain Marvel especially and what role she will play in the resolution to the first Avengers phase. I have a feeling we will see some bizarre resolution that will explain the end of Robert Downey and other actors in Marvel but not their characters. Probably some strange reboot at the end of Infinity War part 2. Certainly intriguing I think how that will play out.
Already rated IW: 9/10. I stand by it.

I think you missed my point. The failure part isn't the reason I think Avengers is a poor movie. The reason I find it a poor movie is because their failure is meaningless. Even the ultimate fail in these movies (death) means nothing. Peter Parker, Quill, and whoever seems important in their universe, will return from the death, because new movies have to be made. So basically there is no limit = no emotional connection.

And of course it doesn't help that it has the depth of a computergame. It lacks the heart of an action movie with all the non stop CGI stuff. What should trigger us, as a viewer is the failure part. But it doesn't because you know your main characters will return.

Basically the movie just lack effort. "We have a bunch of known superheroes. We have a computer proggie that creates any special effect you need. Voila!"

And that's part one. Then we get the sequels:
"We have a bigger bunch of known superheroes. We still have a computer proggie that creates any special effect you need. Voila!"

And then there is infinity war:
"We have almost all known superheroes. We have a computer proggie that creates any special effect you need. And for emotional value, we kill a few of them off, so people can root for their resurrection! Voila!"

Absolutely no effort.

I think the same type of argument could be made about prequel style movies such as Solo before you even see it.

You know that Han and Chewie, Lando and even the flipping Millennium Falcon are going to be just hunky-dory regardless of what happens in the film.
:lol: It makes the whole point of seeing what you know will definitely be their survival whatever is thrown at them pointless, no?

Always thought prequels generally are a bad idea. Can only think of Rogue One as being a good one. Everything else I've seen that is regarded as a prequel just sucks: The SW prequels. Star Trek retelling of the original series (albeit in a different timeline), Better Call Saul. All mostly a waste of time making in my opinion.

Probably just too many sequels and prequels of the same story line these days which destroys the whole what's a stake feeling now. :|

10 Cloverfield Lane

What a cracking film! Tense and claustrophobic it really makes you live through it with the characters. Plays nicely with your belief in each of them. You root for the main heroine and believe John Goodman (in a superb performance) is mad. The twist is of course that he is mad. And dances like a demon. But not wrong. Anyway I won't spoil it but I can't really think of anything I didn't like about it.

5/5

The Post... solid without being exceptional. Excellent performances of course but it was very linear. Not really any twists or turns so it was very predictable. Also I didn't think it really showed the consequences of the final decision. Well made but doesn't really pack a punch. 3/5

All The Presidents Men. Like the post but with twists turns and consequences. Excellent performances all round and a nice sense of tension. 4/5

The Secret Life Of Pets... fairly amusing, quite stylish, with some amusingly quirky characters. Fun enough way to pass a couple of hours. 3/5

Haven't seen Solo yet, not really interested as I agree with your last remark. Just too many sw (what even isn't really sw) movies out there.

But no. Knowing the outcome doesn't make a movie pointless. IF they make the effort of creating/telling you something that either gives you a certain point of view to things. Or perhaps attaches you emotionally by either the storytelling or cinematography. Or anything else like that...

Avengers had nothing like that. And that is my issue with the movies. No effort whatsoever.

Annihilation (2018 )

Good performance by Natalie Portman, but the movie is a bit of a mess. It seems like the director didn't really know where to go with the genre. So it's a mash-up of a bit of everything. Never convincing storyline with no real logic.

4/10

Downsizing

Intriguing and Matt Damon is great as always. The Vietnamese lady he meets is superb and there's strong support from Christolph Waltz and his friend.

But I don't think the plot really makes the most of the down sized situation. It basically indicates the world will be the same but smaller. And the tone is rather uncertain too. It's humorous and quirky but not a comedy. It has a serious message about the end of days but isn't dramatic enough, or alternativly as knowingly fun and funny as 2012 or day after tomorrow.

Some beautiful scenes and a nice idea but it doesn't really land a punch. 2.5/5

Deadpool 2

Riotous, hilarious, anarchic, and even slightly tedious in places, the good news is they haven't gone all world building corporate playing it safe for the follow up. You'd think it would lose the surprise factor second time around but although a little of that is lost it is made up for by the surprise involved in realising that someone had the balls to do it again!

The prison bit is a bit of a let down and is the most similar to things you've seen before.

But the landing of the x force and the baby legs more than make up for it.

Pure disposable entertainment but done for the most part very well.

3.5/5

Dear Panic Lord
Any chance of falling in line with your two arch film critics on here and mark your pieces out of ten?
This would simplify and synchronise the assessments for your followers.
I was thinking of just doubling your scores in my head but the all important half mark would vanish.
Or perhaps they could drop down to the more commonly adopted five star rating?
A fear a power struggle may ensue...

Ahaha well maybe... I think they should fall in line with me. I am the Lord of Panic after all!!

Dunkirk (2017)
Really thought this was sub-par. Didn't like the fragmented story telling at all. When Tarantino does it it seems awesome. Here it just seemed clumsy and take you out of what is going on the whole time. The final reveal seemed a bit emotionless to me. Could have been awesome that story told with some liberties taken to paint a patriotic picture which the movie eventually tries but completely fails.
Such an awful soundtrack. What were they thinking? Hans Zimmer is getting worse for sure. One of the worst and most nauseating soundtracks I've heard in a major movie. Bizarre.
A normal chronological edit and a proper soundtrack would have fixed most things I bet.
Only like Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. I find the rest of what he has done very sub enjoyable for many reasons. Not that a war movie necessarily needs to be enjoyable but all this stuff has been done so much better before. I'd say even something like Fury with Brad Pitt is far, far better than this mess. Then there are classics from Spielberg and stylish visions such as Inglorious Basterds from Tarantino. This tries to be both and is just not good in the end. Neither was Interstellar. Nolan is starting to head down the worst list of directors I can mention by name but still his 3 Dark Knight movies make him more than a one hit wonder I think. The worst offenders I can think of are Steven Soderbergh and Rian Johnson.
5/10

The accountant (2016)
It's ok. Some good bits here and there. Bit daft some of it. I'd rather watch something like this type of safe movie on loop than sit through a non Dark Knight Nolan movie again.
7/10

The Commuter (2018 )
*Spoilers*
Starts off ok but turns into an unnecessarily complicated mess. It's like it's 3 movies. Movie 1 feels like the film is going to something like Non Stop or Taken when you know Liam Neeson is going to be the hero of the film. You sense some unnerving event is about to unfold but you don't know what. The stage is set and this bit ain't too bad at all. But it starts to go downhill fast as soon as Neeson starts to "commute" again.
Roll on Movie 2: Some weird who dunnit on a train tries to be like a Hitchock mystery. This is where things start to get overly complicated and quite daft. I still have no precise idea what they were after, who set things up and why. You start to lose interest here because you don't really care about anyone but only Neeson a tiny bit perhaps. You certainly don't care about the people he tries to save on the train as they all come across as jerks for the most part except maybe the Jonathan Banks character.
Roll on Movie 3: The action part. With absolutely atrocious CGI (The end of Non Stop had that too btw). The "twist" you can see a mile off and the whole what happened to Liam Neeson's family is very badly done and resolved (compare to Taken).

5/10 (I am being very kind here). It's mostly for one fight scene which Neeson has where camera magic is used to cool effect in one long scene. I think after this the entire CGI crew went on a long holiday or something.
Worth a rental/Netflix maybe JUST but absolutely no more.
Very strange to add both main The Conjuring stars (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) in a non horror movie I think (why? Farmiga didn't suit the part she had here). But then all the actors/stars in this film also deserved a much better movie regardless. Honestly Sam Neill, Neesson and the Conjuring stars in a movie along with the cool guy from Breaking Bad (Jonathan Banks) and THIS is what they came up with? Hundreds of people in the credits. I don't get how it can get so bad and why you need so many crew-members to do something so poorly. I've seen more convincing CGI done by single bedroom editors/semi pro guys using the part free Hitfilm Pro software on YouTube. Mental. The movie deserves closer to a 3/10 the more I think about it. The main problem I think is that when the entire plot centres around something that happens off screen / something you hear about (some guy who apparently got murdered and a witness who needs to deliver data to the FBI for some reason?), it's just too difficult to get involved. It would be like making the Titanic movie and seeing all the first 2 hour bits but then not show the sinking and that part is only described by the modern day people. You just wouldn't give a rat's ass when you left the theatre.

A safer movie would have been to just make Neeson a commuter who stops a terrorist on a train journey. That is the movie which I thought this was going to be. Not some overly complicated mess of different ideas based on a death/murder that happened off screen. 30 million bucks?! Mental.

Spiderman 2

Still by far and away the best of the Spiderman films for me. Funny, quirky, full of emotion, full of energy, great villain, J K Simmons is hilarious, and wow that train stopping scene.

4.5/5

Or

9/10

Ghostbusters Answer The Call

Utterly abysmal. Cringe inducingly unfunny. Hugely patronising toward woman. But somehow you watch to the end, incredulous that any of the original stars, Chris Hemsworth, or any picture studio had anything to do with it. I think my first ever

0/5

Or

0/10 ;)

Jurassic Park

The original and best. Intriguing premise, kids that only irritate you a bit before they start to earn your sympathy, some great actors, and some amazing dinosaur thrills and action. For the first time in screen I was convinced dinosaurs were real. Almost all of the effects still hold up 25 years later.

10/10

Jurassic Park Lost World

Ok so it doesn't have the intrigue or surprise factor of the first one. The ending once it transfers to San Diego is also ridiculous. Why didn't they just crash the ship into the arena killing the last remaining dinosaurs, destroying the arena, and ruining InGen once and for all?

However. It still has Steven Spielberg on top form behind the camera and Jeff Goldblum in front of it. There are some amazing sequences, like the TRex/van/cliff bit and the raptor attack in the long grass. Pete Postlethwaite is great as the lead hunter.

The plot does tend to rely on extremely intelligent people doing really stupid things.

But I'm still entertained. The pluses outweigh the minuses for me.

8/10

Jurassic Park 3

Mm. Here's where the well of inspiration starts to run dry. The way people are got back on the island with the illicit tourist operation going wrong is quite plausible. But then the script seems to think it's a family comedy including weak humour at the expense of scares. The dinosaurs for the first time are largely irrelevant. They could have been any type of dangerous animal.

Sam Neil is of course excellent and the pterodactyls are very good and that sequence works surprisingly well.

But I really wish they killed off Tea Leoni near the start or at least told her to stop shrieking.

You can tell the film makers are running out of ideas. If nothing else the film is about half an hour shorter than the others. This is often a good thing but in this case I thin they couldn't think of anything else top include.

Somewhat entertaining but far from a classic and not a patch on the previous 2.

5/10

The Shape of Water (2017)

Visually stunning, great acting, beautiful little love story. Just a tat long.

7/10

Jurassic World

Well this is odd. Having now watched the film 3 times, and this time straight after JP3, I enjoyed the film much more than before. It is certainly leagues ahead of 3 but still behind 2. I think the problem when I first saw it was how disappointing and unambitious it was versus my expectations. I've explained what I don't like about it before so I won't repeat all that now.

But the things I do like... bringing back Rexy. Some of the humour. The new Richard Hammond sorry can't remember his name. The new dinosaur and the emotion at the random killing. The mososaur.

Anyway I found that if I turned my brain off and tried not to groan out loud at some of the stupidity (which to be fair you have to do with JP2 JP3 and most blockbuster movies) I found it was actually a very entertaining popcorn thrill ride.

7/10. Could have been so much more but delivers what it sets out to in fine style as long as you don't think about it too much. I wonder what Christopher Nolan would do with a JP film?

Justice League.

*Spoilers*
Not good enough and in my opinion a big step back from Batman vs Superman after a truly dismal Man of Steel. You remember teleporting Lois Lane? Well she is back again and her teleporting powers are stronger than ever, though she did have some help from Alfred. Grumpy Superman is back. He never seems to charm or uplift the movie even a tiny percentage that Christopher Reeve always did.

Boring stupid villain. Nothing like the decent and quite good ones they have in Marvel now.

Has some ok action bits but I absolutely hated the way Superman was resurrected. So imbecilic piss poor. Probably the worst idea in the movie. I don't get the point of the final scene in Batman vs Superman when you see what happens here.

Poor character motivation and clearly tries to be all Marvel-esque but isn't good enough to share that stage.

Flash is a stupid moron who they treat as comic relief. Awful in execution mostly.

Interesting that the Superman theme somewhat resurfaced in the soundtrack. But very different music here from the previous Zimmer soundtracks. Themes probably suit Superman better but it all comes too late regardless.

5/10

Worth a watch if you are a huge super hero fan but I can understand why Justice League 2 probably won't be made now.
My guess is they will probably reboot Batman and Superman AGAIN.... *sigh*

If your main actor can't shave off his moustache because of "contract obligations" maybe you should 1) delay the movie or 2) hire a different actor. Option 3) "just" cgi his mouth clearly shows how incompetent these movie makers are.
There was no reason to get Justice League made so quickly other than trying to be just like Marvel from an arrogance stand point. I think another Superman movie in between (with a better resurrection story) and perhaps a Ben Affleck standalone Batman film first would have helped things a bit.
Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman probably will be the only incarnation that will survive for another several DC movies I reckon. Aquaman perhaps has potential. We will see. Cyborg was useless. The Flash was annoying.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018 )

Great thrill ride. When the dinos are NOT in groups on screen the CGI is astonishingly perfect and very convincing. 4DX is relentless on this one.
Nothing deep story wise but a decent continuation of JW 1. If you didn't like that, don't bother with this as it's no better. They show too many key scenes in the trailer too. Some dumb bits in the first half hour but it definitely picked up I think and I just wanted to see where they were going with it all and had me very intrigued.
I enjoyed it and really appreciated the nods to JP1.

Now bring back Sam Neill in JW3 and we can lay the franchise to bed for a bit. :up:
7/10

Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom (2018 )

Let's start by the best thing they could come up with to start this sequel...

They created the freaking multimillion park on an Island with an active volcano!? So all the research all the money that went into building this park for the future, and they overlooked this minor detail... In other words, you realise the quality of writing into this and just hope for the best...

And to be fair, the first 30 minutes or so were kind of promissing (although already very predicatable). And then... everything collapsed like a house of cards. Same annoying, non-developed characters. Same 'if we do it bigger it must be better' mentallity that failed the first JW movie and the dumbest, incredible stupid, plot/story of all of the Jurassic movies. CGI is quite good at times but also pretty underwhelming several times. So even there it didn't do an outstanding job.

Where Colin T. destroyed JW with his bad directing, they did the same in this movie by bad writing. Again they managed to destroy the tention before it can actually develop into tension. It is poorly and predictable written. From the guy on the ladder in the opening to the underwater scene with Claire and the tech guy (who's name I forgot),you know what's coming and it never draws you into the movie.

I wonder if anybody actually smiled (let alone laugh) about the tech-guy's 'jokes'. It's an insult that these movies are now part of the legacy of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park.

It has been a while since I saw JP 3. I remember it to be bad. JW was by far the worst big budget movie of 2015, but I might find this one even more terrible than those two movies.

I agree with Andrew. If you didn't like JW, avoid this one like the plague. But even if you enjoyed that one, you have to be able to shut down your expectations, common sense and basically stop your brain for anything logic. Yes, I know, it's fantasy, not a realistic movie whatsoever, but at least make sure your writing make sense. JWFK is a mess when it comes to these things.

All of a sudden "Let's go watch 'Solo'!" doesn't sound that bad after all.

3,5/10

You might appreciate Mauler's breakdown of the movie on YouTube. I like his rage and appreciation videos.
I agree with one of his main criticisms in reference to what Jurassic Park (the novel and the first movie) was mostly about was that life breaks free from the restrictions we place on that, like trying to run a zoo but it never works out.
But in all subsequent movies the reasons for life breaking free is sheer stupidity beyond that type of arrogance (leaving cages unlocked (JW2), having a tooth collection fetish (JW2), Uhm I don't know what happened here - they just escaped (JP2), just walking into an enclosure where the most dangerous dinosaur should be (JW1 - that caused ALL the mayhem if you think about it), going to an island where everyone escaped from and nearly died (JP2 / JP3 / JW1ish / JW2 definitely) ).

Every movie after JP 1 has been quite stupid and I think ultimately that is quite unnecessary. Real life scenarios of children falling into enclosures AND THEN going in
or dinos escaping because they find a weakness somewhere (JP1) would probably be better.

In JW2 a much better start to the story would have been poachers making their way through a security system around the island (it should be restricted after JW1),
and that they had nothing to do with the original people. Instead the original people should be trying to stop it and Claire and Chris Pratt were simply the best people to have on the team or so. It seems InGen in the end were up to their old bad tricks again, very much like in JP2. It would have been more realistic if the US military had completely quarantined the island and InGen is no more. I don't like the James Cromwell character stuff the more I think about it. All of a sudden Hammond had a partner. Meh.

Also Mauler's point about the Mosasaurus' tank suddenly being connected to the ocean was interesting. Why in hell's name would there even need to be a door? Were they ever going to let it out? Why? When the T Rex steps on the iPad the iPad loses connection with the door closing system so it stops. Why write it that way? An analogue connection makes no sense like that. So, why not simply when the T Rex steps on it, it reverses the closure system and opens the door instead. That would be more logical, no? And it would only have required a graphic change on the iPad I think which could even have been done in post when they realise that it is a bit dumb the way they had it now.

All quite stupid indeed.

Oh well. Still enjoyable I thought if you switch your brain off. :lol:

I did like the scene where the boat left looking back at the island especially. It did seem to close the entire Jurassic Park island book nicely. But indeed, as Mauler pointed out, what about the other island in JP2? Is it no longer canon?

In JW2 we learn that ACTUALLY the experiments first took place underneath Hammond's mansion.

I bet in JW3 or JW4 we find out that ACTUALLY the first dinosaur was created in the backseat of the car that the heroes just so happen to be driving at that point. :lol:

I'm sure in 10 years from now there will be the first or already sequels of: "Transformers IN Jurassic World." if Paramount and Universal can team up.

I honestly hope they make a decent JW3. Sam Neill is in it and that is that. But I'm sure the franchise won't be left alone for too long somehow.

I agree and would give it 8/10. Spectacular, action packed, emotional, and quite scary in places. The best sequel by far.

:shock:
Are there two versions of this? I must have watched something else... :??:


LOL Happy you folks like it though. I really don't understand how.

Solo (2018 )

Actually quite a fun movie. I wouldn't want to call it something from the StarWars Universe, it's actually more like an Indiana Jones movie.
A few nice nods though and the ending of this movie created a path for the plot of the Kenobi film.

Lando was by far the best part of the movie. It's hard to replace Harisson Ford and this Han was therefore a diffferent one than we know from the trilogies, but Lando was... Lando. Brilliant.

Didn't expect I would enjoy it but I did

7/10

Fences (2016)
Perfect acting from the entire cast. Denzel Washington his usual great self but Viola Davis' performance really was show stopping here in particular.

Probably works better as a play than a movie I reckon which I would have liked to have seen with the same actors but the snippets I've seen of James Earl Jones taking the main part look great too.
Worth your time if you like acting to take certain stage in a movie.
9/10

----

Notable mention for having seen The Greatest Showman (2017) a couple of times recently but I've not mentioned it yet.
Probably one of my favourite musical movies.

I wish the movie version of the Les Miserables musical had taken this approach (studio record the songs and mime on set, it works much better) and also had this quality music video director. It pays off for sure. The choreography and the shots thereof are perfect. Les Mis looks poor in comparison. Whilst the stage version is tremendous. Such a shame.

They did a great job with the Greatest Showman. Some great songs and super cast with Jackman rightfully taking centre stage.

Could have been a bit longer (another 15 mins I reckon) with perhaps another couple of songs thrown in but it was pretty great with some inspirational songs and lines.
8/10
Critics are clearly deranged giving this only 56% on Rotten Tomatoes. I mostly ignore them these days.

*centre stage....

Batman (1990)

Michael Keaton is Batman. Period!

Besides, Burton did a terrific job on bringing the Bat to the screen. Great dark comic atmosphere. Too bad he never did the third one (preferably with Keaton). It would, without a doubt, be the best superhero trilogy ever made.

But hey, 2 out of 3 ain't bad :-P


I like this movie better and better through the years.

8,5/10

Death Wish (2018 )

Remake from the Charles Bronson classic with Bruce Willis. I prefer the original but this was a fast paced, straight forward, no-nonsense, old fashion action flick.

7/10

Tomb Raider (2018 )

I never liked the Angelina Jolie movies of Lara Croft. So I was, kinda, pleased they started over from scratch.

Unfortunately this movie is even worse. Except for a few great stunts this movie lacks everything you can expect from an action adventure.

4/10

Ghost Stories (2017)

Quite scary at times. Great atmosphere, great acting. Much better than I expected it to be.

7,5/10

Rampage (2018 )

I like most of the movies that stars Dwayne Johnson. But this one was a miss and failed in many aspects.

6/10

Mission Impossible Fallout


Flawless epic action thriller. Funny, clever but understandable plot, extraordinary action, great supporting cast and a powerhouse performance by Cruise.

Nailed it.

Have no idea what they will do to raise the stakes next time!

10/10

Enter the Dragon (1973)

In it's time it may have been a great movie, but it really is just a showcase of what Bruce Lee can do. The story is silly and flat and the movie hasn't really stand the test of time. I forgot about Bruce's facial expressions. They are not always meant to be hilarious, but they are.

6/10

Not a movie but...

Castle Rock (2018 )
is a tv show based on the fictional location of most of Stephen King's books. It's a thriller/mystery story with hints to Stephen King books and characters. But even if you don't know his works the series is a story on its own.

I usually don't have the patience for tv shows like this, but Castle Rock is grabbing me. It seems slow but everything shown has meaning. It has the build up of a Stephen King book, something almost every King movie lacked.

Season one will have 10 episodes (5 already aired) and season 2 is already anounced (with an entire different storyline and characters).

8,5/10 (so far)

Saw these over the last week:
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Utterly fantastic. Better than I even remembered it being.
Gene Wilder is just perfect and most of the jokes still work so well. They simply do not make comedies such as these anymore.
9/10

Hidden Figures (2016)
Pretty good if a bit auto-pilot in places. One particular stellar scene which is worth the wait.
7.5/10

Loving (2016)
Superb true story but a bit hampered by sub par acting in places or simply lack of emotion. There is probably a better movie that could be made here I think.
6.5/10

The Awakening (2011)
Decent horror. Nothing to write home about. Not as good as say The Others but it does get into that direction in places. Always like Rebecca Hall for some reason.
7/10

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Unbelievable action and mega loud soundtrack but very good audio and great visuals. Probably one of the best blockbusters in recent years still.
Watched it in 3D at home. The 3D is great but for some reason lip sync was off. No idea why as original 3D Blu Ray, never seen it before with my setup. Shame but was bearable.
Very surprised Warner Brothers aren't pushing sequels out sooner. Far more interesting than their hap hazard DC comics franchise in my opinion (well except Wonder Woman).
9/10

Mama (2013)
Jumpy horror with interesting ideas but feels like it leaves loose ends a bit too much maybe. It's ok, nothing too special. The movie does a decent job I guess.
Jessica Chastain looks like Nena. She had decent character development in the story.
6.5

The Disaster Artist (2017)
I loved it. James Franco did a great job and is quite unrecognisable.
Somehow quite inspiring.
8.5/10

The Meg (2018 )

Not Jurassic World bad but for a suposed horror movie involving a giant shark that's killing people, this was pretty meh. I just don't hope that every blockbuster is now getting Asian actors and Asian settings so it can score on the Chinese market. It was way too obvious in this movie. Most deaths and plot were pretty predictable.

6/10

The Equalizer 2 (2018 )

The first one was faster paced, this one shows a more indepth view to Denzel Washington's main character. Although I prefered the first one, this was also a very decent action thriller.

7/10

Murder by Death (1976)

Peter Sellers, Peter Falk, David Niven, Alec Guiness. Just to name a few. In, what I consider, the greatest murder mystery comedy ever made. From the hand of Neil Simon, who passed away last week :(
A must see!

9/10

Oh yeah I love this film it is hilarious. Also, Peter Falk.

40 Days & 40 Nights (2002)

Ocean's 8 (2018 )

Missing the cleverness and wit from the other movies. Ladies did a decent job.

6/10

Hidden Numbers (2017)

Fun to watch. Decent feel good movie based on true events. Was it Oscar worthy? Oh well, I guess everything is nowadays.

7/10

Halloween 1978 - 4/5, great stuff, atmospheric and Jamie Lee Curtis is a powerhouse
Halloween H20 - 3.5/5, love it, best of the sequels by far (haven't seen the new one though, going soon, very excited). Fun, jumpy, well directed, and with a top notch performance from JLC.


My Fair Lady - 3/5 - great performance from Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn is class, but she's so very loud and keeps shouting GARN the whole time. Only got halfway but will finish it soon.


Jigsaw - 3/5 - a decent restart for the franchise, good traps, some decent enough acting, and some clever if slightly obvious twists.

The Birds - 4/5 - great stuff, tense, atmospheric, and unnerving.

House Of Wax 1953 2/5 - Vincent Price is a legend and rightly so, but this is not in any way scary, jumpy, or horrifying.

Theatre Of Blood - 3.5/5 - That's more like it, superb performance by Vincent, a good revenge plot, and some cleverly inspired murders. It is VERY 70s.

Wicker Man 1973 - 3.5/5 Also good. Edward Woodward is great and of course Christopher Lee is sublime. With inexplicable hair.

The Haunting of Hill House (2018)

TV series (10 episodes) that is very well written. Great character development while telling a suspensful dark tale.

8/10

Halloween 2018

For me the most anticipated movie of the year.. I consider John Carpenter's original as a near perfect movie and it's one of my all time favorite movies.

And so I waited for this one, and waited and waited... Then I saw the early screening reviews and they were over the roof, so I desperately wanted to see it myself. And I wanted it to be good, I wanted a great sequel. And today I saw it and...

Halloween is a good follow up movie. But not great. Not Halloween great, or even Halloween II great. But a decent thriller with nice winks to the original and follow up movies. But I guess I was overhyped. I am not disappointed but ... well I am disappointed. But I guess I expected too much.

In the end it might end at the #3 spot in my list of favorite Halloween movies (Halloween and Halloween II are on top of that list, then a gap then the sequels than a larger gap, than an endless pit, then Colin Trevorrow's Jurassic World at the bottom of that pit :twisted: with the T-rex eating the piles of sht that Rob Zombie crapped out)

Halloween fits in today's horror/thriller movies and the reinvented Michael Myers reminded me enough to the original Michael. But it didn't thrill me and I have to admit that at times I got a little bored.

Not gonna spoil a thing about the storyline, though.

7/10

Harry Potter Film Series in preparation for the new Fantastic Beasts film:

Philosophers Stone: 2.5/5 basic kiddies Christmas flick. Lots of world building and all of Harry's lines are along the lines of "What's that!" Decent enough but doesn't feel like a proper movie story... feels like they filmed every page of a book.

Chamber Of Secrets: 3/5 better with a more focused plot. Numbingly long though. But better acting all round.

Prisoner Of Azkaban: 4/5 a huge improvement, the first one that feels like a focused movie. Clever plot drives on rails towards the finish. Funnier, much better acting.

Goblet Of Fire: 4.5/5 my favourite one of the franchise. As driven as the previous one but now with decent acting, better characters, huge action, genuine danger, and the return of you know who. Awesome stuff.

Order Of The Phoenix: 3.5/5 Oh dear. Based on a long and tedious book, the film is over long and tedious. Imelda Staunton plays the part really well. Everything else is filler. Oh and Harry teaches some kids some stuff. Half point extra for the end battle but it takes soooo long to get there.

Half Blood Prince: 2/5 sooooo dull. They are now films for Harry Potter fanatics with little to recommend them if you are not obsessed. Harry finds out about Horcruxes. But it takes 2 hours. Zzz

Deathly Hallows Part 1:2.5/5 I actually quite like how different this film is to the rest and the lead actors are now decent enough. But not a lot happens to keep you engaged.

Deathly Hallows Part 2: 4/5 finally, a fun bold emotional and thrilling conclusion to the saga. If only it went straight from Goblet Of Fire to this!!!

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

Surprisingly good film. Benefits from being written as a film from the start and not having lots of chapters of waffle to try and film. Bouncy, fun, colourful, and engaging. My only reservation is the wimpy Eddie Redmayne who looks constantly on the verge of tears. I hear Matt Smith was also in the running and he would have been amazing.

3.5/5

Dam can't edit this post. I meant 2.5 for the Order Of The Phoenix

Bohemian Rhapsody ( 2018 )

Utterly brilliant mostly. Perhaps some iffy bits during the biopic sections but when it comes to the performances... my goodness! The recreations are simply truly, utterly spellbinding.
The last 20 minutes had me with teary eyes and a constant smile on my face.

A superb tribute to Freddie Mercury.
8.5/10

Halloween 2018

So, I watched it again. Without the expectation that I had watching it the first time. And I have to upgrade my score a little.

8/10

Below is a bit of a spoiler review of the movie, to tell you what I really liked about it. So, don't read unless you've seen it :cool:


Openingcredits
They actually ressurected Halloween at the opening credits and it was great. Same position as in the original movie but with the pumpkin being flat at the beginning to inflate and become the full pumpkin we know from the original movie. So by ressurecting the pumpkin they basically said, Halloween is not dead, we just brought it back alive!

Switched and reversed
If you pay attention you see refferences to Halloween in oposite order or switched from the original. Most noticable is the part of the ending where Michael throws Laurie of the roof, gets distracted, looks down to see that she has disappeared. But it's just one of many moments. Like the babysitter girl and her friend. In halloween he kills the boyfriend, pinnen on the wall and as a ghost with his white sheet he goes upstairs to kill the girl. Now it's the other way around, killing the babysitter upstairs and put her in the sheet to go downstairs and kill/pin the guy to the wall. Obviously we have the hunter becomes the hunted part, where Laurie is basically hunting Michael the way Michael did to her 40 years earlier. It's Halloween 1978 with a twist. As early explained as the granddaughter and her fiend go to the Halloween party as Bonnie and Clyde, but with a twis (boy dressed as girl, girl dressed as boy). The movie is full of it.

Michael is pure evil
And familie emotions have nothing to do with it. He killed the mechanic guy in the original movie, to steal his clothes and go home to start a killing spree on Halloween night. I always thought that Laurie got picked by Michael because she leaves the key under the math of the Meyers house. And the babysitter killings are just a random pick because that one girl got to Michael's house. And it made sense. He followed her after that first encounter.
And they continued that way in this version. Michael is just a pure evil monster and kills whoever comes in his way. From the father and the little kid who find the bus, to the unfortunate meaningless folks in Haddonfield. In fact, Michael is not looking for Laurie, but in a way got lured to her by the new Loomis doctor, Dr Satarian. So basically Micheal gets to Laurie by accident. He is just doing what he does best. Killing everyone in his way. And by that this version of the Shape is similair to the one in the original movie. There, after 15 years, the evil has come out and is stopped after 5 kills. Now, 40 years later, the evil is out again, more vicious after the long wait, but continueing what he did 40 years earlier. Bringin Michael back to his core base. A man withouth concious and emotion, just pure evil.

Cinematography and music score
Both are just awsome. And both feel like the original version but upgraded. Especially the score when Allison, the granddaughter has to escape Michael after the graveyard scene. In that perpective this really feels and looks like Halloween.

Nods to the other Halloween films
There are many, obvious and less obvious. Most of the are nods to the original, but the ending is clearly a refferense to Halloween II, the masks the kids are wearing from Halloween 3, Alisson holding the knife at the end is a refferense to the ending of Halloween 4. The public bathroom scene at the tankstation from H20, the truck with the Ressurection text obviously points to... ressurection. And the list goes on.

It's not a cage, it's a trap
Loved that line for some reason.

That said there are obvious things that bothered me. The boyfriend thing/break-up didn't really fit the movie. The new Loomis was too obvious the betraying party (and reason the bus crashed). some small plotholes and the ending was clearly re-shot as it felt a bit rushed and jumpy (but from what I've heard still way better than the original ending, where Michael gets shot by a bow and arrow after killing Laurie). Also, for a woman waiting for this moment for 40 years to trap and kill Michael, there were plenty stuff that made no sense. Like the mannequin dolls that just were a great oportunity for Michael to hide behind. It's just a small example.

None the less, after rewatching this, I can say I liked it better now than the first time. Just because I was able to enjoy it for what it was. I still love Halloween II but now I feel this come close to that one, maybe able to grap the 2nd place eventually (although still unlikely)

Psycho 2

Surprisingly good follow up film anchored by a superb performance by Anthony Perkins. Interesting plot, mostly good acting, and nice touch of who dunnit about it.

4/5

Scream and Scream 2

Great modern (at the time) updates to classic slasher pics. An under appreciated aspect of them is the who dunnit element actually. But there is just enough character background and development and decent acting to get you bought into the people as people you want to stay alive. So many horrors films all the characters are so annoying you don't care if they die. Not so here. Fast, funny, jumpy, and fun.

4/5 each.
2.5 for Scream 3 and 3/5 for Scream 4.

Scary Movie. Sorry I know I shouldn't but I love it. It's my guilty pleasure. Makes me laugh out loud then feel ashamed. 2 through 5 are all dreadful. I will give part 1 3.5/5

The Omen 1975

Dated but very effective film. Quite unsettling and creepy. Good performances from the lead actors and stays with you after it finishes... always a good sign. And yet... it doesn't strike me as a classic. Very good but not brilliant. 3.5/5

Annabelle (2014)

didn't hook my attention, but had a few frights

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
...

https://abload.de/img/jackrhice.jpg

Halloween 2018

Difficult one to rate this for me. As always it is far superior to any of the sequels without Jamie Lee Curtis, simply because she does an extraordinary job. In fact all the actors are pretty decent by horror standards. But it feels to me like a really really good film was made and then really badly edited and hacked down to achieve a certain run time.

For example, Laurie is damaged goods. We get that. But there are quite a few scenes where she turns up, bursts into tears, then leaves. No build up, no attempt at normality, no real context within the scene.

There's a thing that happens with the new Loomis that makes you go wtf and not in a good way. Then a few seconds later, it's undone. It's as if the film makers suddenly realise it makes no sense and take the only option to get out of it.

The ending also spends ages building up the tension very nicely but then seems a little bit rushed.

A girl escapes a car crash and then inexplicably runs through some woods in apparently random directions then finds some stuff in a clearing and collapses screaming. Not sure why. It's ok though because then the film forgets about her and she turns up exactly where she needs to be some time later.

Having said all that... there are some great scene and Michael Myers himself is back to being an unstoppable force of pure evil just as he should be. Some brutally efficient kills, but also a superbly creepy one. I won't spoil it but motion sensors are used to great effect. There's goose bumps when Michael gets his mask back and the scenes in the road at the Halloween party are a great modern upgrade of the original. The ending is superbly tense and creepy but is over just a little too quickly at the very end.

So overall very good but I'm sure there's an even better cut out there that could make it a classic.

I prefer H20. It's very of its time but it is focused, runs on rails, and is overall more coherent.

So for me 3.5/5


Ranking...

Halloween 1978
Halloween H20
Halloween 2018
Halloween II
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.
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.
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Halloween Resurrection

The Predator (2018 )

Not sure what this was. An okay action flick but a terrible Predator movie.

5/10

Annabelle creation... a long slow slog

Rest in peace Stan Lee.

I happened to watch Black Panther (2018 ) tonight for the first time.
It was ok. The build up was decent.
Bit CGI overkill, which made it all seem a bit Thor Ragnorok like. Probably that level of film. Never reaches the memorable highs of say Wonder Woman let alone Infinity War.
The political messaging was a bit weird and clumsely dealt with I thought. Enough ideas for two movies in fact if things had been better fleshed out I reckon.
7/10

But Stan Lee's cameo in the movie... it was bloody funny!
RIP to a legend who gave the world so much escapism.

Can't wait for Infinity War 2 / Avengers 4.

Avengers: Endgame.
:mad::mad::mad::mad:

Well the wait was not worth it.

What a disappointment . The movie went into all sorts of directions I didn't want.

*Spoilers*

• So slow and not re-watchable unlike Infinity War (watched it 6 times in the last year), still stellar and this movie doesn't ruin that for me. Will probably never sit through Endgame again and watch Infinity War again soon to erase my memory of this crap.
• Captain Marvel can literally carry a space ship from lightyears away back to Earth without ANY problem. Compare to Superman having trouble detaching a space shuttle from an airplane, carrying it safely into orbit and then rescuing the people in the plane. It needed all of his powers, it looked difficult. Captain Marvel is an overpowered idiotic character. How can there ever be danger again in the Marvel universe with her around? I guess she is "too busy" sometimes so that explains it. :roll:
• Thor is a shadow of himself and can't do 10% of what he did in Infinity War even with both his hammer and axe. The beerbelly was funny for a minute but just became annoying.
• Tony Stark needs to be seen doing the dishes (even though he can invent a quantum time machine in an afternoon). There is literally a lot of de-masculinisation going on here. And I think it is to show the female heroes in a better light. What nonsense. Ripley, The Bride, Sarah Conner never needed that in their movies. In fact Gamora, Scarlet Witch and Black Widow didn't need that in Infinity War. They stood out as some of the best superheroes I've seen in Marvel then and held their own amongst powerful men, but not here, here only Captain America and Ironman (after the dishes) are as powerful the rest can't do as much as the women any more. Pepper Potts has literally joined the avengers at the end in the big fight. Who is looking after their child? Ultron 2? Mental.
• Hulk is some kind of disgrace. don't know what the hell the movie makers were thinking there.
• Quill needs to get kneed in the nuts for caring about Gamora. They went with humour over drama in so many places and it just is stupid and idiotic at times. This movie is in that sense on par with The Last Jedi like watching Luke Skywalker throw his saber over his shoulder. Luke and Thor may as well have thrown their dicks and balls over their shoulders whilst they were at it. That is literally what these movies seem to want the characters to do. But why?
• Long drawn out part with Thor's mom. Who cares? He was literally a God of a people he was going to rule, not a god who missed his mommy! The Stark and his dad story makes sense, I get that. That was build up in several of the previous movies.
• Thanos gets killed easily and we have a Thanos from the past who doesn't have the intrigue, the knowledge, the sacrifice, the experience. Thanos now wants to destroy planets for the sake of it.
• Leaving the 5 year gap is ridiculous. So many consequences for humans and animals. Where do people get snapped back to existence if they were travelling in a plane? Literally the only way the movie could have gone is to do the unsnap almost immediately or prevent the snap from happening in the past. Anything else turns into a mess as this movie clearly demonstrates.
  
  "Hi honey I'm home"
  -"I'm sorry George, but I've moved on and have children with someone else now.
  
  "Where is my mommy?"
  -"I'm sorry little Thumper, but your family is long gone and your friend Bambi got shot 3 years ago")
  
• Stupid nonsense time travel rules/story that have been handled much better in Back To The Future (Endgame even takes the piss out of that) and Star Trek. What about the green infinity stone time travel? Why have two time travel devices in the same universe? How can future Marvel movies ever explain why they are not using the quantum method to fix problems?
• The 3D was a terrible dark mess. I don't remember Infinity War being like this. Could have been the cinema's projector bulb that needs to be replaced I guess (saw IW in the same screen).
• Inconsistent in comparison to the previous episode and what has been going on in all Marvel movies in general.
• Everyone rates it a 10 which makes me question critics and whether people are really honest and don't want to say something bad? To me this is some of the worst I've seen from Marvel straight after Paul Rudd channeling a woman in Antman 2. That was so horrible. Antman 2 was quite horrible in general terms.
• No heart except for some bits with Captain America and Ironman. No better than Civil War in that sense. The rest of the characters are just useless and forgettable unlike Infinity War where everyone played such important parts even Thanos' henchmen. Here everyone except Cap and Ironman feels wasted which is astonishing at 3 hours runtime.
• Captain Marvel :"You have something for me, Peter Parker?" -"Yeah I've got something for you alright, a smack in the face and a get the hell out of this movie with your cocky nonsense" He should have said.
• Scarlett Witch wants revenge for losing Vision (would be nice if there was more of that as she has become a decent character - unlike Captain Marvel). "You destroyed my world!" But then to Thanos from the past "Who is this woman?" All this one on one stuff doesn't work right as a result. The drama from Infinity War is so far removed from this, I don't get how this was done by the same film makers. Maybe this was incredibly rushed or some re-shots caused problems? So strange.

What a disgrace overall.

It's like the Avengers series is the opposite of the Star Trek original movies series.
Assemble & Infinity War (1 & 3) are quite awesome - especially the latter.
The even numbered ones (Ultron and Endgame) are barely watchable and have stupid titles to boot. Ultron wasn't an Age and Endgame should have been called Avengers Aftermath as this wasn't an Endgame. It was a time travel reversal that could have been done at any point because if a 5 year gap isn't a problem, they may as well have waited longer. Black Widow could have had another peanut butter sandwich. The Hulk could have had more selfies in a diner. The stakes for essence were just completely lost to me. Not an Endgame.

4/10

Avengers Endgame (2019)
I love how this is breaking, or better shattering all the box office records. Because personally I think this is the worst movie of the year... by far. 2,5 hours of Heartless, effortless crap. Nothing more, nothing less.

2/10

John Wick 3
In line with the first two, but I feel they are taking it too far. I really loved the first one. I really liked the 2nd one and I just like the third one.

7/10

Superman II the Richard Donner Cut

Even 'unfinished' and forced to use rehearsel footage, this one is so much better than the Richard Lester version that got released originally. This Donner cut is a continuation of Superman 1978 (the best superhero movie to date), with the same feel.
Lester made it almost a slapstick movie. Too bad Donner had to use some of the Lester stuff.

Anyway,

Superman II 6/10
Donner's cut 7,5/10

Anabelle 3 (2019)

By far the least scary horror in the Conuring franchise. More of a teenie movie

4/10

It - Chapter 2 (2019)

First one was a major disappointment. And although this was slightly better, I don't remember seeing an ending as horrible as this one in the last decade. Totally killed the movie. Typical Hollywood dumbness.

6/10

Geostorm (2018 )

Seems to have been made in a mental asylum.
If you think Michael Bay movies are cheesy, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Everything explodes for no reason. You see a car topple over, it will explode.

They basically took everything good and cheesy about 2012 and Day after tomorrow and made it even more cheesy. I had no idea that was even possible.

The worst type of movie making ever. The people behind it shouldn't be allowed near a camera.

1/10

FINALLY! Someone sees sense and writes a review I agree with! 4 is too high a score though.....

The Dead Don't Die (Zombie film with Bill Murray)

Long, drawn out nonsense that relies on being funny, when actually it isn't. Terrible

2/10

Rambo: Last Blood (2019)

Sly doing what he always did best with Rambo, blowing shit up and acting like a Grim Reaper for bad guys who deserve it.

Superb. Great music score too. Probably the movie of the year for me amongst a near Disney CGI takeover at the cinema these days.

The fact that snowflake critics are outraged over the violence in the film (Rambo was always violent even almost 40 years ago) just makes it better for me and it's something we need at the moment I reckon.

9/10

This movie is so far from the original First Blood, in fact there never has been a decent sequel to First Blood at all. Which is a shame. THAT was a great movie. ;)

Downton Abbey (2019)

Apparently a follow up to a tv series. My wife decided she wanted to see this in the theater. First hour was kind of a drag. 2nd hour was much better. Bit more humor which, apparently, was typical for the series.

Never watched it on tv but the film was okay.

7/10

Star Wars IX - Rise of Skywalker

Maybe not the best story of all SW movies, but again JJ Abrahams gets it. He understands how the feel of a Star Wars movie should be.

It seems JJ had his hands full trying to fix what RJ screwed up. I am amazed he was able to save as much as he did to give the die hard SW fans a good closure to the saga.

7,5 / 10

Star Wars IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

I was really surprised, initially very worried as the leaks sounded ridiculous.
The first half hour is break neck speed but it worked for me.
The entire story is probably as best as it could be at this point. It isn't as good as Lucas' Star Wars in that regards but his own bad handling of the prequels make those movies far less watchable and enjoyable - stoic acting, far too much cgi, no sense of realism. I would thus place this entire trilogy between the originals and prequels, if ranking good to bad.

The atmosphere in some scenes is stellar. Just for that bringing the emperor back (not really a spoiler since he is on the poster) was worth it.
Really liked the handling of the droids (after Rian Johnson's ridiculous BB-8 AT-ST walker controlling). Maybe not enough R2D2 here.

No frustrating Holdo type characters here that craps on heroic efforts of the main characters. Phew.

The actors were good, adding Richard E Grant in was good too. Nice seeing Billy Dee Williams back. Leia's scenes worked really well, wow.

There was a moment I wanted to jump out of my seat in joy. The music at that point was very special to me. The entire score was excellent, the cinematography and effects are insane for a two and bit year project.

JJ Abrams should probably have done the entire trilogy is my conclusion here. Doubt Colin Treverrow would have done any better.
In the end JJ has handled Star Wars far better than Star Trek.

The balance of drama, menace, and above all fun was exceptional I thought.

My favourite of the Disney Star Wars movies and I can't wait to see it again. In Imax with volume turned up to 11 it was just beautiful.

8/10. My heart wants to give it a 9.

Star Wars IX

Damn. What a ride.
42 years of love in 2.5 hours.
Thank you, Star Wars!

Oh and slight, minimal spoiler.

Last word that was spoken in the final movie of the Skywalker saga: Skywalker!

Haha, I think that's cool

I think there is a bit depth if people cared to look but it works well as a stand alone entertaining movie too. Pretty much what Star Wars should be. I think I originally watched the OT movies in the order of 5-6-4.

I like "The dead speak!" intro and you can uncover a lot with the voices and there are some good callbacks audio and visually to Force Awakens too.
It's all pretty neat I think.

Frozen 2 (2019)

Astonishingly bad.
I quite like the first one and it has some great songs and it's essentially a great fun rendition of the Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson. That one also took massive inspiration from Wicked and the Frozen movies even used the same singer that was in that musical.

The sequel to Frozen was like listening to two hours of twelve tone composition music. Horrible. If you've ever heard that or imagine the most irritating jazz you'll know what I mean. The lyrics made no sense and weren't rhyming mostly. Incredible they managed to come up with so many bad songs for one movie and a completely incomprehensible story. An incredible accomplishment I would say. There was literally one song by Kristoff that was "ok".

Where the first one is a solid 8, this one really is 10-8= a 2 out of 10. Easily the worst animated film I've ever seen in my life. Wanted to leave after an hour as it was simply torture by then but was with family. More pointless than Toy Story 4 but also far, far worse.

I wanted Olaf to die, how can I have such feelings in an animated film that should be full of heart? The characters were horrible and selfish. It felt like watching Kristoff locked up in hell for almost 2 hours. He was the only nice guy that cared about anything other than himself.

Insanely terrible, don't watch it as it will ruin your (probably good) memories of Frozen 1.

Apollo 11 (2019)

Really intriguing footage and well put together. Great straight forward documentary without any drama added.

8/10

After watching Rise of Skywalker a few more times at the cinema I have to say I think it's my favourite Star Wars movie. It may not objectively be the best (still think New Hope or Empire deserve that award) but man it is just so good (if you can enjoy). So many little moments are very special to me. Great stuff. Movies come and go but for me the Back to the future trilogy and the Star Wars movies always reign supreme. :up:

There is definately a lot wrong with The Rise of Skywalker, but it's predecessor made it almost impossible to focus on a decent ending. And still JJ Abrahms managed to do that.
Rian Johnson's ego was bigger than his love for the SW franchise, wich resulted in a movie without explanations and a lot of forgettable characters that, all of a sudden, seemed of importance to the story. He neglected the built up to Rey's history, he got rid of Snoke as if it was a nobody too, he focussed more on an (unlikely) romance between Kylo and Rey. And it almost felt as if he had no interest in Luke. And that Luke was only in the movie because Rian was contractual obligated to tell Luke's story. So he decided to see if he could destroy that part of the Skywalker Legacy.

At least Rise of Skywalker fixed about 70% of what Last Jedi tried to destroy. But it had it's consequenses. And it hurt the story of the third installment of the new Trilogy. What JJ did though, and had done before with TFA -again although flawed- was giving the old generation of the Original Trilogy that Star Wars nostalgic feeling back. If you line up the three movies it's obvious that Last Jedi is the one that doesn't fit in and doesn't share the same emotion and feeling of the other movies. In fact, TFA and TROS have a close connection to the Original Trilogy, where TLJ feels more like the Prequel movies.

Perhaps the younger generation of fans sees it the oposite, but for me JJ saved as much of Star Wars as possible. And I, as an Original Trilogy fan, can only imagine how great this trilogy would have been if Rian Johnson had not been a part of it.

1917 - What an incredible bit of cinema. By far my new favourite film. It brings a whole new level of WW1 to the big screen.

There is huge outrage even on Rise on Youtube. I think Last Jedi opened Pandora's Box with that. I'm not sure if it is because of the ages of the loudest YouTubers but they all seem to be between 25-35. Younger than me and perhaps they grew up with the prequels first. Not sure. I was lucky I think to have seen Star Wars in the 90s as a teenager before the Special Editions and before the prequels. People younger than the 25-35 year olds don't seem to care too much about Star Wars. I've seen plenty of 40 and over year olds enjoy Rise so what you said makes a lot of sense. A JJ episode 8 part would probably have made this all even better but I appreciate he listened to the fans after 8 and did his best. For me it is easily JJ's best stuff and I disagree with the notion he can't do original stuff. BB-8 is easily the most interesting droid after C3PO and R2. And Rey's opening without any lines (show / don't tell) in TFA was perfect. JJ is easily a better Star Wars director than George Lucas himself I think. At least more in touch with how to do things at this time rather than relying on technology which destroys realism too much.

I really liked Kevin Smith's take on the Rise of Skywalker.
Some notable moments he points out and I agree with, mixed with my favourite parts. Positive stuff only:
*Spoilers*

• "I have been every voice, you have ever heard, inside of your heard" I wanted more of the Palpatine - Kylo Ren. This all seemed very atmospheric. For me if we had only seen that as a teaser-trailer I would have been sold and not so worried about this film. I didn't think the Rey jumping over the Tie Fighter was a good way to sell this film at all.
• Loud sounds during the Palpatine - Kylo Ren stuff. "What could you possibly give me?" Pure silence.... "Everything". Loved that.
• C3PO "If I don't come back R2 I want you to know you were a good friend, my best one in fact" Perfect.
• General Pride. Richard E. Grant is superb. Loved every moment with him. And I liked how he said to the Emperor "As I served you in the old wars, I serve you now." It explained how things moved on even after Ben's redemption.
• The chewie death scene. Finn screaming in disbelief. John Boyega was pretty damn good in this. If only episode 8 had played out better maybe he would be yielding a saber. He was excellent.
• Rey not understanding the lightning coming out of her hand. It sort of explains why she is so powerful and foreboding the revelation of her grandfather.
• The Death Star remains scenes with the waves. Very atmospheric. People complain we saw the Death Star evaporate. I'm not sure how something of that size could evaporate! I liked how we saw these remains, standing on what was left from the old war (like seeing the crashed star destroyer on Jakku) and apparently that was even going to be in George Lucas' own trilogy treatments as there were artwork visuals with diving to the wreck from 2013 or so.
• Leia's last breath calling her son and that sparked Ben to stop and not destroy Rey
• People complain Rey is a Mary Sue but Kylo was easily taking Rey out here as this was really the first time they battled face to face with Kylo Ren being at full strength. I loved that Rey constantly had to retreat and looked exhausted but Kylo Ren was still coming at her.
• Leia only with R2D2 at the end of her life, that's how Star Wars started. At first I was somewhat sad R2D2 wasn't on the adventure more but considering we got this moment it actually is right I think.
• The Han - Ben/Kylo Ren moment. Perfectly done. I didn't expect Harrison Ford to come back, even for a minute. It was the biggest surprise for me. So good. Replayed the Force Awakens scene but ended differently. Good character development for me after everything we've seen. "Dad..." -"I know". Perfect.
• General Pride "Use ion canons". The start of the final battle we see a turret turn and fire. The weight appearance of the machinery, the sound etc seem so perfect in that moment. It seems very realistic to me.
• The Sith Arena. Very atmospheric. Scary figures waiting on the ceremony marking the return/conquest of the dark side. Very eerie I thought. Loved it.
• Poe saying sorry to his friends and that he thought they stood a chance.
• The radio chatter during that moment. It makes it seem very realistic and has that real A New Hope war battle vibe to it.
• Lando showing up with the cavalry. It tears me up each time. It's just astonishing. And the music is really, really great here.
• The Emperor restored to life "Look what you have created". And starting his lightning strike at the rebel army. Boom! Such loud intensity from the sound. The sound mixing was perfect throughout but there were moments that were just stellar including this one.
• Rey drained from life energy looking beyond the lightning strikes into the stars and getting all the Jedi power through the voices etc. Really good scene and we hear Rey's theme here. Luke has the final line "Rey, The Force Will be With You, Always." The only possible way that could and should have gone.
• "I am all the Sith" - "And I am all the Jedi." Love it.
• Seeing Luke's homestead at the end (nice to see the Jawas too). Leia's home on Alderaan was destroyed so it seems best to end it there indeed with the twin suns (George Lucas' creation) and Rey and BB-8, pretty much the best of JJ's creations.
• Rey's yellow lightsaber when engages, you can see a blue and green flicker on the hilt; the colours of Luke and Leia's sabers.
• The more I think about Rey taking the name, the more I think it is right.
• People complain that through Rey, Palpatine in effect won. I think that's nonsense. I've heard this movie speaks to a lot of people who have had problems with their own family. (Luke: "Some things are stronger than blood"). I can't think of what is a bigger slap to the emperor's face than his own heir rejecting his name and everything what he stood for. I think it was the right move how this played out.

I wanted this movie to be over 3 hours to be honest. But in the end I think it is best to long for more rather than getting too much. For me Endgame was far too much of the same and had nothing to offer me after Infinity War, as was getting a Toy Story 4. Completely unnecessary. Sometimes you should just get what you need and no more. I got what I needed with episode 9 for sure.

Just thought I'd share this.

Know what I think? People over think it. I saw a fun, dramatic, action packed, witty, spectacular film, with great characters and effects. Job done.

it's interesting seeing our movie enthusiasts get into the detail of what they enjoy... no different to us nitpicking over meats albums back in the day, or wario's song poll discussions

enjoy it for what it is, talk about it with like minded friends, what's wrong with that?

last movie I saw, no idea lol

Lol agreed

1917! What an extraordinarily good film. Incredible cinematography

My thoughts exactly. It captured the feeling of the unknown that surrounded WW1 so well.

Vice Versa

Rear Window (1954) 8/10 (Blu Ray)

Annabelle Creation (2017) 3/10 (Netflix)

The Poseidon Adventure (1972) 9/10 (Blu Ray)

I Am Mother (2019) 4/10 (Netflix) - Easily best of the Netflix bunch but not a patch on something like Moon.

The Last Thing He Wanted (2020) 1/10 (Netflix) Shockingly bad with Anne Hathaway and Ben Affleck!

Awake (2019) 2/10 (Netflix)

Wounds (2019) 2/10 (Netflix)

I was reminded why I cancelled Netflix in the first place over the past week. Utter and utter tripe after tripe on there. Interestingly Hitchcock, Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine still managed to counter balance all that crap over the last week and I enjoyed rewatching Rear Window and The Poseidon Adventure so much! The last 10 minutes of Poseidon are stellar. They must have been completely out of their god damn minds to think they could remake that one. (Another piss poor Hollywood cash grab attempt that was).

Netflix is great for series (at times). "Anne with an E" was superb (highly recommended) and glad I got to see that but on the movies front it is just completely bottom of the barrel far too often. Not even worth your time.

Knives Out (2019)

Don't get the hype. Not as smart as people want you to believe it is.

6/10

Agreed. I thought it was entertaining enough and I will definitely rewatch it but it didn't have enough sneaky twists and turns to be completely satisfying, in an Agatha Christie type way.

The Gentlemen (2019)

Guy Ritchie returns to the crime genre with a great piece.
Easily the best movie I've seen in 2020.

8,5/10

Spiderman Into The Spider Verse

Superman 1978 - 188 minutes TV version Extended Blu Ray.
Never seen the full TV version before.
It actually makes things a bit clearer with regards to what Lex Luthor and his cronies are doing with the nukes. Some of the extended scenes are not necessary but to me it never got boring at all. Some of the stuff in Lux Luthor's lair I had seen before in deleted scenes and that is a bit weird with "the babies." Other than that it is the ultimate version of what is probably my favourite movie. Richard Donner doesn't consider this version his own after the 2 1/2 hour director's cut but I think it's awesome. Epic, the way it should be.
Super! 10/10

Superman II - Richard Donner Cut (2006)
The better version of this film for sure. Bunch of nutjobs for hiring a different director at the time. It meant all sorts of weird changes including the sorely missed Marlon Brando. This version is far more dramatic in places. I do like the recap intro of Richard Lester's version. But Donner should never have been let go.
8/10

Some Netflix originals mostly (not MY subscription but I've been pleasantly entertained unlike 6 months ago).

Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga. (2020)
Superb, exactly what you want from this sort of movie. Some great songs. Very funny. Probably the only Will Ferrel movie I REALLY enjoyed.
8/10

The Night Clerk (2020)
Pretty good. Bit slow but suits this type of thing. Good to see John Leguizamo again. 7/10

Deliver Us From Evil (2014)
Meh. 5/10

Tenet (2020)

Awful like all of Nolan's non Dark Knight movies (which I think are spectacular and probably the only reason why I keep giving him a chance).
Muffled dialogue. Zombie female characters acting with that sort of annoying attitude as if they have seen everything that has possibly happened all before so they don't care and constantly have an advantage over the male characters but at the same time being completely physically useless. Female main character is only concerned about one thing whilst the world is ending and her motive is the constant tell but don't show approach which doesn't work in movies. No sensible motive for the bad guy, who sort of appears out of nowhere 1 hour into the movie. By then it's almost too late to even care what you are watching. Far too loud music at times, like Dark Knight without the essence of threat or stakes being raised which you never understand as to why in this movie. Nonsense "plot". Nonsense MacGuffins which make totally no sense. People screamed from roof tops when this was done a little bit in Star Wars. Here they are used to explain some major reasons for things happening (Well you go into this machine / revolving chamber so... just forget everything we told you earlier too btw, hmmm why?)

On the plus side some good looking effects and good Imax cinematography. Maybe Nolan should have been a cinematographer for a better story teller director or something. His Dunkirk I thought was bizarre and emotionless, his Interstellar is the most boring non fun and pretentious Sci Fi movie I've seen in the cinema. Again here we are presented with no fun or humour for 2 1/2 hours. Movies can be serious but even Schindler's List had a few jokes in it to keep you captivated and entertained and more importantly see that there is light even in the darkest of times.

Don't bother unless you are a Nolan superfan.
Mindless nonsense wrapped in a shroud of ambiguity to pretend it's clever somehow.
4 / 10