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am I the only person on Earth who didn’t particularly rate Interstellar?

No, you're not the only one fella. In fact, I think Nolan is probably THE most overrated director around at the moment. I'm really not a fan of any of his stuff, with the possible exception of The Dark Knight, and even that is only 'good', rather than 'great'. Sure, he does some cool visuals and jazzy action sequences every now and again but why does he insist on pissing about with confusing multiple or overlapping timelines? Does my head in it does. Dialogue is very often inaudible behind deafening soundtracks and when it is audible it's usually deliberately confusing waffle, and he fills his films with poorly fleshed out characters who I couldn't give two sh*ts about, whether they win, lose, live or die.
So no, you're definitely not the only one, I'm 100% with you on this one Matt.
 
Talk to Me
Went into town today and decided to see a movie, and was pleasantly surprised when I noticed there was a horror movie playing. The movie doesn't seem too well known and I didn't really know what to expect, but it was actually pretty good as far as horror movies are concerned. It didn't really scare me, which is hard to do anyway, but I found myself slightly disturbed by a few scenes at the very least, and it had an okay storyline and character development which is pretty rare for this genre.

6.75/10
 
I watched Puffin Rock and the New Friends today not just once, but twice after already going to Wales last month to watch it.

It's a fantastic film that really bought me into a zen like state. I love stuff like this. Engaging enough to keep me interested but also safe enough to make me feel cozy.

One of my favourite films of all time. Go and watch it!
 
Red, White & Royal Blue

5/10


A friend best described it as a hallmark light comedy, that's really what this movie is. It was enjoyable, sometimes funny but overall very bland. I am starting to get tired of all these stories with a queer outing as the main plot especially when nothing else in the movie has any depth. In a way, this movie is a worse version of Young Royals. I would really want to see movies where the queer feelings are taken for granted and the plot is something else that the main couple face together, like any straight romcom couple would. For the most part, the acting was good.

On a side note, the President's reaction to Alex coming out was so similar to my own mum's reaction when I came out, that gave me a big smile.
 
I'm really not a fan of any of his stuff, with the possible exception of The Dark Knight, and even that is only 'good', rather than 'great'.
I'd add The Prestige to the good list, but generally I agree with you here. The Prestige is likely one of his very few movies (aside from the Dark Knight trilogy) that actually had a gripping storyline rather than just toying with some ideas and shoving the characters and the story aside.
 
Saw The Creator this afternoon because I like the big well-made sci-fi stuff (don't get enough of it IMHO)

Anyway it was big, well-made, sci-fi stuff - awesome SFX (not flashy at all, kinda "natural") - and not a bad old tale.

I liked.
 
Watched Saw X last night.

It's a classic Saw film, with traps, gore and surprises. In general it's pretty decent.

It doesn't add anything to the Saw universe though. Being a film which takes place between Saw and Saw 2, there was limited scope I guess, but they could have done something. Instead, the film is just an excuse to bring Tobin Bell back and make money from the series again.

Not a bad film. I liked it. But unnecessary for the Saw universe.
 
Watched Anna and the Apocalypse (2017).

It's a British Christmas zombie musical film. Yeah, you read that right. And honestly? I loved it. It's a fun genre mashup with stupidly catchy songs, a good balance between comedy and drama, and it can be a good musical and a good zombie movie at the same time. I recommend the extended version, as it's got a couple of cut songs that are honestly great. Watched it because I got gifted a Bluray of the movie in a secret santa a year ago and had been saving it for my yearly Halloween marathon, couldn't be happier I have it in my collection now.
 
Killers of the Flower Moon

Scorsese is still out here making the most ambitious films of his career. I knew nothing about the story going in and after experiencing such a vast story it made me realise how little we here of Native American stories in mainstream cinema. Being a scorsese movie you can bet it's beautifully shot and has incredible performances, particularly from Lily Gladstone. It's definitely something that I would recommend seeing if you have the chance, although I do understand that a 3 and a half runtime is off putting for most, although about from one or two scenes that runtime is justified in my opinion.

Saw X

I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Saw is a guilty pleasure for me and understand I go in knowing it's going to be a bad soap opera with blood and gore, but this time around they had genuine story which is carried by Tobin Bell's performance. I Think the best Saw films are to do with revenge and this is the most personal revenge for John Kramer. This is pretty much the John Wick of the Saw franchise and I am all for it. While the ending didn't make much sense (in typical Saw fashion) it a throughly entertaining film despite some of it's cringy moments.

The Influencer

Going into this I thought it was going to take a more cynical approach considering it focuses on Instagram travel influencers, but I respect it for taking the harder approach with trying to make the characters more three dimensional, granted you still want to hit their smug faces at times. It's marketed as a horror film, but I would say it's more of a thriller akin to Gone Girl, while not quite as good as the Fincher film it's worth a watch, although they could a written the old drunken English man without him being a cartoon character.
 
Barbarian (2022).

Welp, I did not expect that. Well done plot twists, fascinating horror, and effective suspense. Had me covering myself with a blanket and trying to look away int he most tense moments (and being unable to) because of the eeriness of it all. I will also never see Airbnb the same way ever again.
 
Five Nights at Freddy's

None spoiler review.

Opening gives a fast recap of the known lore. Then it fades into mike and his life. Things go wrong for Mike. Gets a proposition of a job at freddys. Isn't sure why at first but later takes the job. Then the movie follows the game in its "nights" structure. You meet the crew and antics happen. His dreams have something in them but Mike can't see it yet. Then near to movies end. The real evil shows himself. And you met him near the start.

As someone who is deep into the lore it was good.

I say 8/10 go watch. If you don't mind the spoopy jumps.

It does have some slow parts with alot of the story being abit smushed and rushed. As it is a pretty close movie adaptation of the first game with modified additions to the lore. Its pretty good. If you are the open minded type that is ok with 2 hours of your brain being in a pickle jar its good.

Mathew Lillard did sign on for a three movie deal so there most likely will be sequels.
 
Wonka

Really enjoyed it. Lots of nods to the old Gene Wilder film, with the humour being quite "Roald Dahl" while also having newer references. The cast is really good, with lots of "Oh, it's him/her from..." moments if you're familiar with British TV. I got a bit of a nasty shock when that fu**ing Colman woman popped up, but I should've expected it and she was actually very good. Hugh Grant is the absolute highlight of the film though.
 
Family Switch

From what I saw of it, I didn’t think this was that great, if I’m being honest. If you’ve ever seen Freaky Friday, it’s a very similar sort of premise to that film; you have a family where the mother and daughter and the father and son swap bodies, and the baby and the dog swap as well. There’s also a good dose of Christmas sprinkled in there. I was watching with my parents, and while I was not as offended by it as they were, I just didn’t think it was anything overly great. I’d struggle to necessarily pinpoint why, but… it wasn’t really doing it for me.

I didn’t get to see all of it, however, as my parents found it so awful that they switched it off halfway through. I thought more highly of it than they did, for sure. As one of the characters in the film said “We switch films off halfway through” as part of a motivational speech, my dad said “Yes, what a great idea!”, and turned it off.

We then watched Daddy’s Home… now that is one funny film!
 
For me, new films are like London buses at the moment... I go ages without seeing one, and then I see two in very short succession!

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
This was actually very good! As a child of the 2000s, the original Indiana Jones films were a bit before my time, but I actually really enjoyed Dial of Destiny! Harrison Ford still holds his own as a great action hero, and it's overall a fun, reasonably exciting watch! The storyline involves time travel, which can sometimes make things confusing and hard to follow (the likes of Interstellar say hello), but I found the story reasonably clear to follow at all times and I don't think it uses the time travel too extensively. Overall, I certainly found this film a fun couple of hours. It's good, reasonably light-hearted entertainment, and for a film that's over 2.5 hours long, the time went by quickly, which I always think is a good sign with a longer film!
 
Watched a few oldie but goodies this week.

1. AWAKENINGS- Touching film, and I always enjoy me some Robin Williams goodness! Premise was simple, it told a good story, had good acting, and the characters had depth. A few tear jerking scenes in there for sure. 7/10.

2. DRIVING MISS DAISY- I am conflicted on this film to the point where I already want to rewatch it. I enjoyed it, I loved Hoke's warm, charming, and upbeat character, but Miss Daisy just annoyed me the entire time until she got super old. My only big complaint was seeing that she appeared to be coming along when she wanted Hoke to go to the MLK dinner, but then never invited him in. I found that a silly place to skip 15 years and continue with the narrative that they became great friends. I don't doubt they did, but beginning that 15 year gap on a note where she didn't do the right thing didn't seem like the right move to me in terms of story progression. I love that they maintained a friendship and the end was touching, but that was my one big complaint. Still, a solid movie. 7/10 and I will rewatch it someday.
 
Counter Bears:

Seems fitting for the current nerd news stories out of Disney world. Honestly a nice movie with lots of unnecessary cameos from names like Willie Nelson, Elton John, Brian setzer, etc. Has a nice story and a lot of references to the attraction. It's not that long, and the tech involved is super awesome. Also the soundtrack is great. Don't take it seriously, and don't expect too much. And one final thong to say..."Ohhhhh noooo....country beat hall has been crushed"
 
Yeah made a trip out to the (real) IMAX to see that there Dune yesterday...

Agree with the comments so far, very pretty but a bit dull.

I mean the film's "climax" was a knife fight with some random chap that just turned up 2 minutes earlier!
"Part One" indeed
saw that Dune - Part Two at the (same) IMAX yesterday....

Most spectacular and probably less dull than the first one, but the story starts to get very silly (IMHO) now (not the film's fault, its the plot from the books of course).

And this one also ends on a knife-fight - at least this protagonist turned up a bit earlier in this film than in the first one ;)

"Part Three" anyone?
 
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