what was the last movie you saw?

[PanicLord]

Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 2. Another damn solid piece of entertainment from Marvel. Man they know how to craft a movie. Funny, emotional, action packed, gorgeous to look at (cast and design wise). Could someone maybe let Warner brothers and DC know how to do it please?

Can't really fault it to be honest. 5/5.

[Adje]

Spies Like Us (1986)

Chevy Chase at his peak in this funny spy movie.

I saw this in the theater as a kid. Bought the DVD about a decade ago and finally watched it again in HD on the big screen. Long time since I laughed this much at a movie. Chase's comedy timing is just perfect. Besides, seeing it on a big moviescreen did bring back fond memories.

Sure it has flaws but it made me laugh so much I can only give this a great rating.

8.5/10

[Cherry.Loaf]

Originally Posted by PanicLord

Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 2. Another damn solid piece of entertainment from Marvel. Man they know how to craft a movie. Funny, emotional, action packed, gorgeous to look at (cast and design wise). Could someone maybe let Warner brothers and DC know how to do it please?

Can't really fault it to be honest. 5/5.

Couldn't have said it better myself

also fantastic use of Fleetwood Mac

[PanicLord]

Originally Posted by Cherry.Loaf

Couldn't have said it better myself

also fantastic use of Fleetwood Mac

Oh yeah forgot to mention another great soundtrack.

[Adje]

First Blood (1982)

For some reason I prefer those classic 80's movies (must be my childhood) over today blockbusters like the Fast and Wreckless 12, or the Avenging Marvel Bunch 8 etc. There are excptions, obviously, but overall it seems like those old movies (even the bad ones) have more Heart in them than many of today's CGI and Superhero flicks.

I guess I'm getting old and grumpy

Anyway, First Blood:
7,5/10

[AndrewG]

Back to the future (1985)

Still as awesome as it ever was.
Until the 4K Blu Ray comes out the Blu Ray is the ultimate version. The 10-15 minutes at the end is the perfect work out for any new AV equipment. Like being there.

Whenever I watch it I still think Marty isn't going to make it back as Doc Brown is farting around with the cables on the clock tower.
The editing is sublime at the end. The thunder effects, short bursts of lightning and rousing music are all perfect.

Will always be my perfect #1 movie. Probably seen it about 50 times, if not more.
11/10

[Adje]

Green Mile (1999)

Frank Darabont's 2nd Stephen King adaptation, after the Shawshank Redemption.
Well this one is not as good as Shawshank (one of my fav movies of all time) but it is a great movie nonetheless.

8/10

[PanicLord]

Final Destination 2. Love it :) Damn near as good as the first one and some very inventive kills. Decent acting all round.

4/5

[Adje]

David Brent: Life on the Road (2016)

More painful than funny. More sentimental than funny.

5/10

[PanicLord]

Final Destination 3

Surprisingly good for a third part of a trilogy. A better follow up than Scream 3 for example. Not quite as good as the first two but a worthy effort nonetheless.

3/5

The Final Destination (Final Destination 4)

Oh dear. What a drop off in quality. Oddly enough had a much bigger budget which they spent on a lot of cheap cgi. I'd rather have less but better. The acting is dreadful. Full of characters you don't care about... but don't worry because they don't appear to care about each other much either. A decent enough race against time at the end aside, there's no tension, no drama, only cringe worthy humour. Not good.

2/5

I'll watch Part 5 but only for completeness sake!

[Adje]

Beauty ad the Beast (2017)

Well, my wife enjoyed it a lot. I didn't so much.
Not the best visual effects and not even the best acting performances. The movie never manages to enchant like the 1991 animation does.

4,5/10

[PanicLord]

Final Destination 5

Wow. A franchise low point. More money but it clearly wasn't spent on the script. Or acting classes. Decent bridge collapse although all the characters are so cliche that you don't care who lives or dies. And for the most part the rest of the deaths are lame with no element of surprise. The first two essentially amount to falling over badly ( actually that's not quite true but I won't say more for fear of spoilers).

The idea of killing someone else to extend your life is under used until the end but could have given new life to this franchise. The ending is quite good but it's a real slog to get there.

1.5/5

[AndrewG]

Guardians of the galaxy Vol2 (2017)

Best Marvel movie I've seen and pretty much the only time I've come out of a Marvel movie thinking "damn, I can't wait to see THAT again". The movie had something for everyone, so many likeable characters, wacky action, mental humour, drama and so much heart. Great seeing Stallone getting a decent part in a great sci fi movie for once. Perfect last 10-15 minutes. One of my favourite movie endings ever.
9/10

[PanicLord]

The Spy Who Loved Me

A tribute to the legend that is, and always shall be, Roger Moore. It amazed me to think that this film is 40 years old this year! And ok compared to modern films the action is smaller scale and obviously with 100% less cgi! But this is classic Bond at its absolute best. Gorgeous locations, beautiful women, decent action throughout but especially at the end (the command centre attack that Bond leads is brilliantly staged), and a smart script that gives Bond and XXX a much more real relationship than with any previous film apart from On Her Majesty Secret Service.

And of course our Rog on absolutely top form as Bond. He looks his best in this one, gets plenty of action (of the fighting and bedroom types), some cracking one liners, and also delivers the more serious parts and meatier dialogue perfectly.

Remember when Bond films used to be fun?

5/5

[samurai7]

Originally Posted by PanicLord

The Spy Who Loved Me

A tribute to the legend that is, and always shall be, Roger Moore. It amazed me to think that this film is 40 years old this year! And ok compared to modern films the action is smaller scale and obviously with 100% less cgi! But this is classic Bond at its absolute best. Gorgeous locations, beautiful women, decent action throughout but especially at the end (the command centre attack that Bond leads is brilliantly staged), and a smart script that gives Bond and XXX a much more real relationship than with any previous film apart from On Her Majesty Secret Service.

And of course our Rog on absolutely top form as Bond. He looks his best in this one, gets plenty of action (of the fighting and bedroom types), some cracking one liners, and also delivers the more serious parts and meatier dialogue perfectly.

Remember when Bond films used to be fun?

5/5

It also has my favourite Bond theme in 'Nobody Does It Better' as well. Although I always laugh when Jaws peels back the roof of the truck like a tin can before even trying the doors 🙈😂

[Adje]

Life (2017)

Sort of a mix between Alien and Gravity. The surprise ending was a bit predictable but overall a decent sci-fi Horror movie.

7,5/10

[Adje]

Alien Covenant (2017)

Not sure what Ridley Scott was thinking. But this wasn't really good and looks more like a sequel to Prometheus.

5/10

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by Adje

Alien Covenant (2017)

Not sure what Ridley Scott was thinking. But this wasn't really good and looks more like a sequel to Prometheus.

5/10

Bunch of dumb ass script writers killed Ripley off in 3 and really wrote themselves into a corner I always think.
Having said that James Cameron has done the same with Sigourney Weaver and she will still appear in the 1 million Avatar sequels.

Btw Alien 1 & Aliens (2) really proved I think Hollywood was never really that sexist and why we didn't need dumb ass female Ghostbusters. Why people perceived Ghostbusters about nerdy scientist guys wanting to go into business for themselves as the pinnacle of misogynist movies I will never understand. That was never an action movie. The girl licking her gun (gun??!) in the trailer for the female version really proves Paul Feig never understood or liked the original Ghostbusters. Alien & Aliens saw a woman take on pretty much the most dangerous and scariest thing ever encountered by humans pretty much.

Other than The Martian Ridley Scott seems similar to George Lucas, totally not getting why their original stuff was so good. It seems many movie critics understand these guys better than themselves, certainly their work. I like how they talk themselves out of. They really are kidding themselves on. Especially Lucas claiming he knows what audiences would like but stylistically he wanted to do another thing. Right. That's why he destroyed the myth of Jedi "training" which I'm pretty sure everyone took as something magical that anyone could learn as to be a physical academy on a planet along with the terrible midiclorians idea in the prequels??! Because of "Style". Right George, whatever. Obviously the restrictedness he had making the original Star Wars movies actually made the original movies good and certainly not "unfinished". Ridley Scott is probably having the same issue with Alien. The original was very cleverly done and looked so real and scary. Now he can get computers to do all his work and the magic is thus gone.

I think it is too late to save the Alien franchise with the amount of mess or at least "meh" movies that has been put out. Terminator is another franchise that seems dead, but rumours of a James Cameron produced spin off recently are going around. Imagine the anticipation if 3 was now on its way and we didn't have all those meh sequels after Judgement Day. Holy cow, that would have been THE part 3 to go and see after all these years.
Glad Star Wars was saved and Back to The Future was left as is.
Ghostbusters is totally ruined. Not sure what Bill Murray's problem was. He never wanted to do 3 but then he has no problem appearing in a terrible spin off version that destroys the mythology of the original stuff with his buddies. And the movie I really think pisses all over Harold Ramis' grave.

The eighties were awesome for movies it seems. So many good and fresh ideas that became franchises came from that time or just before it (Alien & A New Hope), even Superman and Rocky I would put into this category really. Now they are really struggling making those franchises work (except for Star Wars, Rocky I would argue and the Nolan Batman movies).

Will they mess up Indiana Jones 5 too?

</random late night movie thoughts>

[Adje]

Actually, in my opinion there are only 2 good Alien movies. The original and Alien3. I don't understand the hype for Aliens. Which is merely a rip-off of the first, but with really 1 dimensional characters and standard Hollywood stupidity. In a way Alien Covenant reminds me of Aliens as all characters seem incapable of doing what they were trained for.

Alien 4 was a mess not too mention again.

I hoped Scott would be able to give a new impulse to the ( his) Alien franchise. Unfortunately he walked the same path as the failing sequels. After Alien and Alien3 this one can fight it out with Cameron's overrated sequel for third place. (I slightly prefer Aliens over Covenant atm)

[Adje]

John Wick 2 (2017)

2nd time I watched this. One of the better movie sequels. No-nonsense action

8/10

[PanicLord]

John Wick

Not quite as much fun as taken but a very decent action film and Keanu is on superb form. 4/5

[PanicLord]

Cell.

Really pedestrian version of a pretty decent Stephen king book. John Cusack looks scarily like he is using Nic Cage's wig supplier at points and in other shots a bit like the little doll in Saw. Don't bother.

1.5/5

[Adje]

Originally Posted by PanicLord

John Wick

Not quite as much fun as taken but a very decent action film and Keanu is on superb form. 4/5

Well, they are completely different movies in a complete different genre. Where Taken is more of a thriller, John Wick is pure action

Agree on Cell. The book was almost a movie screenplay, yet they managed to screw that up with bad casting and bad story changes (like that horrible ending)

[PanicLord]

Seven. Terrific stuff. Great turns from Brad Pitt and the always excellent Morgan Freeman. Cameo from Kevin Spacey is also hugely effective. This is a dark and grungy thriller from a time before movie studios decided that's what all films must be because of the Dark Knight. And it turns it into a virtue. Compelling stuff.

5/5

[PanicLord]

Odd Thomas.

Well it's odd actually. The book is terrific and has a long slow build of gradually ramping up tension building to a huge and devastating finale. The film seems to take the plot and pick up on the quirky nature of the setting and characters and does it's own quirky thing with them. Some might say it misses the point of the book. But I don't think it does. I think it just presents a fresh and quirky spin on it. Sometimes it's much more interesting than just seeing a literal page by page adaptation. Hello Dan Brown.

Overall though I think this is one of those rare films that could do with being much longer, and slower, and gradually ratchet up the tension to unbearable levels.

So it's fun and With fine turns from the cast, but I would like to see a proper horror version of it.

2.5/5