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The first one made me want to kick kittens, so unless it's free, not gonna bother.

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Movie Monday happened...

TMNT: Out of the Shadows

So I didn't think the first one was bad, actually had some good moments. This one however was just tugging at the child in me who grew up watching the cartoon. Argh, it had so many things that I loved about the show in it and actually did them well! The film is far from perfect but it's great fun, the visuals are actually pretty good for most of the time and the script is a lot better. Some characters don't really get much screen time (Shredder and his little assistant are barely in it) but then you have BeBop and RockSteady who totally own every second of screen time they have. It's genuinely funny and has some great action sequences, I actually wouldn't moan about a third film!


Warcraft: the beginning

So my knowledge of Warcraft pretty much stops at Leeroy Jenkins ( clicky ) so going in I had zero expectations. I really enjoyed this film, it's well and truly epic. The visuals and animation is just stunning throughout, the sheer detail and effort thrown in to this film is amazing. It crams a stupid amount of story, character and World building in to just over 2 hours and does a pretty decent job of it. I want to know more of this World, see more of the characters and the story actually has some rather surprising and shocking twists. This is like the modern day equivalent of say, Labyrinth in terms of a fantasy film of our time (maybe a lack of David Bowie, but his son did direct this!). So I loved it, probably not for everyone and critics seem to be well and truly divided over it. Intrigued to hear what any of you guys think when you get to see it.

Oh and today I learned that a cameo of Chesney Hawks playing a medieval style version of "the one and only" was cut, but that needs to be seen!


Money Monster

This was a really solid film with fantastic performances all round. I liked that the story sometimes took a different route than expected so you never truly knew what would happen next. I found it quite gripping at times and it's also very funny.
 
I don't often go out watching romance movies, but I've always been interested in the topic of assisted suicide, and Emilia Clarke's character looked interesting, so I went to the movies alone to watch Me Before You, so as not to bother my boyfriend to sit through a cheesy, sappy film with me.

The movie was basically exactly what I expected. Lou was such a cute, lovable character (albeit with over dramatic eyebrows, but it added to her quirkiness I thought) with an interesting wardrobe that always seemed to have a positive outlook towards most things in life. Even Sam Claflin's character, Will, was fun to watch despite him being mostly an ass for 70% of the film. I knew what was going to happen because the trailers made it pretty obvious , but I was still reduced to a blubbering idiot through multiple parts. I felt the beginning was slightly slow, and that the last third of the film felt slightly rushed, but after reading the book it's actually paced the same way. Still, a solid film and one of the only romance movies I actually enjoyed.

7/10
 
gavin said:
furie said:
I thought Christopher Walken as a mafia boss King Louis was inspired. It worked really well and then... The remake of the song. OMG. Awful. I may be suffering from "change is bad" syndrome, but why was he a gigantopitheicus?

I took it as being down to the fact that you don't get orangutans in India, whereas all the other animals were accurate. The idea that a gigantopithicus is surviving out in the jungle somewhere, while equally silly, works better I think. It allows for making him massive and menacing, something that orangutans just aren't.

I'm not saying it worked.

Ah, that makes sense I guess. They could have just missed that bit completely :p

Seen a couple more recently (more than that, but I lose track).

X-Men: Alpacalips (sounds so much better)

It was a superhero movie. Third one this year.

gavin said:
They're all much of a muchness though really, aren't they?

Yes. I did enjoy it. It's a solid hero romp and I liked that it was the kind of proper origin story for the very first Bryan Singer (and original trilogy) that he didn't give us. Not much to say because I'm now in super hero film fatigue and my brain can't handle them all.

So it was a stupid idea to go and see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but we already knew that ;)

It was ridiculous. Cartoon nonsense at it's cheesiest. Erm, that's good because it's a kid's film based on a kid's cartoon from the late 80's/early 90's. It satisfied that criteria 100% and I'm glad that it didn't pander to an adult audience by trying to be anything more than kiddie crap. It was fun, badly animated at times, see-through plot, ridiculous baddies with no brains. Just mindless, stupid rubbish. I ate the popcorn and laughed and had a superb two hours not caring that I should be doing something "grown up".

Awful - go and see it :)
 
Beepop and Rocksteady were my reasons to go. My wife wanted to for Stephen Amell, and nephew wanted to see it because it was Ninja Turtles.

All reasons justified. Mindless film.

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Now You See Me 2

Utter ridiculousness from start to finish. Came across as being quite complicated, but was actually just very stupid. I strangely didn't hate it though. Well, apart from Jesse Eisenberg, who I can't stand and had forgotten was in it.
 
The Boss

I think Melissa McCarthy can be amusing and I liked the idea behind the film but wow this was just pants. There was the odd chuckle and there was a glimpse of good character development and backstories but it's just poorly written and directed. I don't recommend anyone goes out of their way to watch it.
 
Conjuring 2

Sequels are typically never as good as the first, so I went in expecting to be disappointed, but it turned out quite nearly as good as the first. The Conjuring has always been one of my favourite horror films because it has more to offer than just paper thin characters, boobs out on screen, and cheap jump scares that most of the horror movies of today seem to rely on for "success." Conjuring 2 was really no different. I liked the atmosphere in London as well as in the dank looking house, and though it followed a very similar plot line to the first, it didn't feel like recycled material. I enjoyed it, and though no horror movie has ever scared me apart from Paranormal Witness, it did have a few creepy moments!

7.5
 
Independence Day: Whatever

I won't say I was looking forward to it exactly, but the original was a big deal when I was a teenager, so was interested to see it.

It's basically more of the same, only now we're totally desensitised to incredible special effects, so it just doesn't have the same impact. The first one gave us things that we'd never seen visually before. Anyone old enough to have seen it in the cinema will probably remember what a big deal the whole thing was. Now, we've seen it a hundred times.

For a film that is pretty much action from start to finish, it manages to be very boring. I had to laugh when I noticed during the credits that it took 3 people to come up with the "story" and 4 to write the screenplay. Really?

Oh, and the recent Holllywood trend of throwing a random Chinese actor/actress into a pointless role just to grab extra Chinese cash, along with some ridiculous Chinese product placement in this one, is starting to get right on my tits.
 
Finding Dory

Finally saw it yesterday.

Finding Nemo I loved as a kid so I was looking forward to this. Never watched a single trailer, so I had no idea of the plot at all. It was such a great movie though... So **** adorable and cute with baby Dory and the short film before the movie. Great humor also, with even some adult humor thrown in. The "hands" scene was golden, if you have seen the movie, you know what I am talking about. Very emotional movie in some parts also. Go see this movie. The theater I was in was full, and no joke, but there were more teenagers and young adults than kids. Nostaglia I guess, but man this movie is wonderful.
9.5
 
Independence Day Resurgence
I've always enjoyed the first film so this I wanted to see. It was very MEH. The special effects felt lacking honestly and in way too many scenes it had a green screen vibe/feel to it. The plot was all over the place and seemed very inconsistent. It was pretty entertaining to watch that huge alien ship just suck up all the cities like it was nothing though... The acting was not so great and the dialouge was pretty cheesy and cliché. It's not terrible but it's also not that good.
5
 
Caught myself up with the latest Pixar films...

The Good Dinosaur

I never bothered to see this in theaters as it didn't seem like many people liked it. I wish I did because when I finally watched it the other night I really enjoyed it. The animation and environments really are gorgeous, probably the best I've seen in an animated movie. The environments alone are worth seeing the film imo.

While the story/plot isn't the best, I accepted it for what it is because I was more engrossed in the whole premise and how the roles of humans and dinosaurs have swapped. The kid is hilarious and I enjoyed his relationship with the dinosaur. I thought they handled the emotional scenes very well; I teared up at the final scene, which I thought was one of Pixar's most emotional moments they've done.

But I think my favorite part are the T-Rex's, wasn't really expecting that!

Despite what others have said, I believe this is up there with the other good stuff Pixar has done.

Finding Dory

The first one is fantastic, and this is no different. The beginning is the stuff you'd expect (feels a bit familiar too) but the movie picks up and gets better as it goes on. I love the new characters and there were some good laughs spread throughout the film. This one even felt a little more dramatic than the first one too.

Overall it didn't feel like "just a sequel." I'll have to watch Nemo again to see which one I prefer, but they're close for me.
 
Re: "Now Showing"

gavin said:
Now You See Me 2

Utter ridiculousness from start to finish. Came across as being quite complicated, but was actually just very stupid. I strangely didn't hate it though. Well, apart from Jesse Eisenberg, who I can't stand and had forgotten was in it.
This is about as accurate of a description for the movie there is. Jesse Eisenberg needs to **** off.

Finding Dory

Very cute. It was funny, tried for the feels and got it, and just a good voice cast. Overall very good.

Green Inferno

Turned it off halfway through, complete trash. Then again I hate horror films but this was just a gore film that was idiotic.

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Free State of Jones

I'm a history buff, especially when it comes to warfare, so I was excited for this movie. The opening scene is intense, and showcases the horrors of the American Civil War. I enjoyed this movie, but thought it was boring and slow in some scenes. If you're a history buff or like war movies, you should like this. Not the best Civil War movie I've seen (that honor goes to Glory), but it was an enjoyable movie.

7.5

The Purge Election Year

I never saw the first one, but I have seen the 2nd one and viewed it as a guilty pleasure movie. This one is no different. It did everything the 2nd did but bigger, so it was a fun movie. However, there is a group of characters that infuriated me so much, I was pissed whenever they were on screen. If you see the movie, you should know who I am talking about. Also, the dialogue felt cheap and uncreative. A character literally said "I guess I'm going to have to defend this place myself!" like it was straight out a 90's action movie. If you enjoyed the 2nd movie, you'll probably enjoy this. This isn't a movie you need to go out of your way to see, but it was an alright experience.

6.5
 
^I love the Purge films. I can't wait to see Election Year.


I got to see a film I worked on last week on the big screen which was great. Very funny, will post again about it closer to it's release (sounds like it might be early next year).


Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

I love the TV show but the last series and the specials were awful. Saunders clearly ran out of ideas on where to take the characters next and the film just shows this off even more. I barely laughed throughout this "comedy" and the cameos were meh. They just felt thrown in for no good reason and when half of them are there just to pretty much react the same way when Edina goes over to them just felt lazy and boring. It also felt really awkward, I think it was a set of characters that should have stayed on the small screen.

Avoid.
 
^ I'll still watch it, but expecting it to be s**t. I'm trying to think of a single example of "TV Show:The Movie" which has been less than dire, and I'm failing.
 
^ Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa worked well. The tone was kept light-hearted (for a plot about hostage negotiation anyway) and the key was keeping the humour focused on the characters. In The Loop was similarly well done, but it was essentially just a feature length episode of The Thick of It, that happened to go to America.
 
Central Intelligence

Very similar principal to the 21 jump street films. Thought Kevin Hart and The Rock had some really good chemistry and the story line wasn't as horrendously obvious as I expected. I'd be intrigued to see if their is a sequel (I hope there is)
 
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