Gutted we're no longer getting his movie version of Haunted Mansion, that would have looked so good.
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Gutted we're no longer getting his movie version of Haunted Mansion, that would have looked so good.
James F
Hyper Poster
I always felt that he should of been the one chosen for the film adaptation of "Phantom of the Opera", it would of been a lot more cinematic and his understanding of horror and romance would of translated it much better for the big screen.
I just got back from seeing Licorice Pizza. I am a fan of most Paul Thomas Anderson movies, but I was a bit sceptical going in with this one, it seemed like it was going to be he's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" and in some ways it was. The film is basically made up of several vignettes, with some being more interesting then others, overall it's a film with a lot of character development and atmosphere, but it is thin on plot. I felt that the age difference was too weird for me to get behind as well, plus there is a racist joke in there which really doesn't land in my view, I am not against showing racist characters for laughs, but do it better than this. Overall I still enjoyed it thanks to the performances and PTA's directing, but I would still say that it is one of his lessor films. 6.5/10
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Will
Strata Poster
Just got in from watching Nightmare Alley. That was very good, but I think it would be inaccurate to say I enjoyed it - a fair chunk of the film made for extremely uncomfortable viewing and it's another one that's ****ed with my head to the point that I couldn't wait to get outside after to make sure the real world still existed.
I had no idea it was a remake, but IMDB has just set me right.
Without wanting to give too much away, it's a plot that I feel like I've seen many, many times before - but that doesn't mean it ever gets any less unsettling - again, I think I accidentally went 'oh, **** no...' out loud twice during that.
Totally see where you're coming from on the set design - particularly loved the hellish fun house early on.
The only thing easier on the eye was Rooney Mara giving a masterclass in 'Willbait'.
(I can't find a decent picture, but if you've seen it, you know exactly what I mean...)
Time for a bit of a catch up. Nightmare Alley, I do love the set design and just overall aesthetic style of this film. I thought the cast were really good too but there were moments where I felt a little unsatisfied and I can't quite pinpoint why. Overall it's fine but it's not something in a hurray to re-watch.
The eyes of Tammy Faye, I knew nothing of this story going in (aside from what the trailer showed). Jessica Chastain absolutely immersed herself within the role (helped with some decent-ish make-up effects) and it's always good to see Andrew Garfield. I thought the film was very good, plenty of eye rolling at the whole Christianity schtick and some unexpected plot points. I liked that you do see everything from her perspective, still get an idea of what's happening around her and why she might not be picking up on the same things.
Moonfall - My screening started with some audio issues so it didn't put me into a great mood but the film is so great at doing what it does that I still came out happy to have seen it. It's very stupid, the dialogue is cringe at times but the action? Really good fun and the visual effects are great. Exactly what I'd expect from a Roland Emmerich feature tbh.
Uncharted - I've only played the last game, A Thief's End, so I was surprised to see large chunks of this film were picked from that game (and from what I've read, other scenes are from the other games, so a big ol' mix). I did enjoy this film, I love an action adventure story like this and the cast did a great job. Am I sold on the casting compared to the game characters? No, but for me the cast are well suited to the film, I can separate the two mediums enough to like both. I liked a few moments in the film that really capture the set up of stealth sequences in the game, like the way the henchman and the boss move around the plane. Would be pretty happy to see more films for this franchise.
Death on the Nile - I really liked Branagh's first Poirot film, Murder on the Orient Express, his take on the character is fun and a big ensemble murder mystery is always a good time. However this one felt like a mess, the casting on the face of it is exciting but in reality it doesn't work, the mystery isn't that good and the green screen work is bad, an old school matte painted backdrop would have looked more realistic 90% of the time.
The eyes of Tammy Faye, I knew nothing of this story going in (aside from what the trailer showed). Jessica Chastain absolutely immersed herself within the role (helped with some decent-ish make-up effects) and it's always good to see Andrew Garfield. I thought the film was very good, plenty of eye rolling at the whole Christianity schtick and some unexpected plot points. I liked that you do see everything from her perspective, still get an idea of what's happening around her and why she might not be picking up on the same things.
Moonfall - My screening started with some audio issues so it didn't put me into a great mood but the film is so great at doing what it does that I still came out happy to have seen it. It's very stupid, the dialogue is cringe at times but the action? Really good fun and the visual effects are great. Exactly what I'd expect from a Roland Emmerich feature tbh.
Uncharted - I've only played the last game, A Thief's End, so I was surprised to see large chunks of this film were picked from that game (and from what I've read, other scenes are from the other games, so a big ol' mix). I did enjoy this film, I love an action adventure story like this and the cast did a great job. Am I sold on the casting compared to the game characters? No, but for me the cast are well suited to the film, I can separate the two mediums enough to like both. I liked a few moments in the film that really capture the set up of stealth sequences in the game, like the way the henchman and the boss move around the plane. Would be pretty happy to see more films for this franchise.
Death on the Nile - I really liked Branagh's first Poirot film, Murder on the Orient Express, his take on the character is fun and a big ensemble murder mystery is always a good time. However this one felt like a mess, the casting on the face of it is exciting but in reality it doesn't work, the mystery isn't that good and the green screen work is bad, an old school matte painted backdrop would have looked more realistic 90% of the time.
Will
Strata Poster
Went to see The Batman as I had an afternoon to kill.
Let's be fair - on its own merits, its pretty good - perhaps overly long, but still felt fairly well placed so I wasn't glancing down at my watch all that much. Felt like it had a lot and some intrigue to it, so wasn't just endless tedious fight scenes and action sequences.
That said, it felt like trying to reinvent the wheel with poorly fitting tyres when compared to some of the other batman films we've seen in the last 15 years and while not as cloying as I'd expected, the slightly dodgy casting still grated - and perhaps unsurprisingly, Catwoman is a MASSIVE BURDEN and created some very incongruous scenes and one painfully predictable moment.
I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't be in a rush to watch it again - not when I could watch the Dark Knight instead.
Let's be fair - on its own merits, its pretty good - perhaps overly long, but still felt fairly well placed so I wasn't glancing down at my watch all that much. Felt like it had a lot and some intrigue to it, so wasn't just endless tedious fight scenes and action sequences.
That said, it felt like trying to reinvent the wheel with poorly fitting tyres when compared to some of the other batman films we've seen in the last 15 years and while not as cloying as I'd expected, the slightly dodgy casting still grated - and perhaps unsurprisingly, Catwoman is a MASSIVE BURDEN and created some very incongruous scenes and one painfully predictable moment.
I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't be in a rush to watch it again - not when I could watch the Dark Knight instead.
I also went to see The Batman. I really liked it, I preferred the more detective style storyline. The film grain and constant rain annoyed me a little bit but it gave it a different feel to the other films. After hearing everyone mention about it being 3 hours I was a little concerned going in but I think I just enjoy a good mystery so for me the time flew by. The action sequences were mostly shot really well and VFX wise it's amazing (apparently the cape is mostly CG!) and I wouldn't expect anything less from the man behind the Planet of the Apes trilogy. Casting is mostly impressive, Colin Farrell is the stand out though, you wouldn't know it was him with all the prosthetics/make-up and his accent just lets him completely blend into the character, he's so good. I also have zero gripes with Pattinson being Batman, I thought he did a decent job. So yeah, overall I thought it was a good addition to the franchise.
A little concerned with that Joker reveal in Arkham. I love the character but maybe it's time to let some other great Batman villains some time to shine? He's also played by Barry Keoghan who is good, especially at being a strange weirdo.
Just came back from watching The Batman myself.
The good:
- has Batman as more of a detective than before, which is welcome in pinciple - a slower burn, I can dig it;
- lots of Batman onscreen and a pretty decent interpretation;
- fight scenes show Batman actually fighting, rather than annoying editing away from it (as per the Nolan films);
- generally good characters (with one exception mentioned below) - Colin Farrel is particularly good.
The bad:
- slow burn is ‘great’ in concept but unfortunately only ‘fair’ in execution here. At times there is meandering pacing, which makes its long runtime out-stay its welcome. It could have ended fine without the final sections of the film, which add very little. A slow burn does not mean that everything you film has to make the final cut. It ultimately felt like I was binging a TV series rather than watching a movie, which isn’t great;
- humourless, which at times makes the seriousness seem overly serious and therefore silly;
- the lead villain is an underwhelming interpretation;
- there is one very jarring and not particularly well thought out ‘woke’ line;
- lacks the mastery of The Dark Knight.
Overall a good watch, but I don’t have any appetite to revisit it (yet). All the ingredients were there, but sharper editing would have made it less flabby.
3/5
The good:
- has Batman as more of a detective than before, which is welcome in pinciple - a slower burn, I can dig it;
- lots of Batman onscreen and a pretty decent interpretation;
- fight scenes show Batman actually fighting, rather than annoying editing away from it (as per the Nolan films);
- generally good characters (with one exception mentioned below) - Colin Farrel is particularly good.
The bad:
- slow burn is ‘great’ in concept but unfortunately only ‘fair’ in execution here. At times there is meandering pacing, which makes its long runtime out-stay its welcome. It could have ended fine without the final sections of the film, which add very little. A slow burn does not mean that everything you film has to make the final cut. It ultimately felt like I was binging a TV series rather than watching a movie, which isn’t great;
- humourless, which at times makes the seriousness seem overly serious and therefore silly;
- the lead villain is an underwhelming interpretation;
- there is one very jarring and not particularly well thought out ‘woke’ line;
- lacks the mastery of The Dark Knight.
Overall a good watch, but I don’t have any appetite to revisit it (yet). All the ingredients were there, but sharper editing would have made it less flabby.
3/5
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I've been lacking behind recently, I've missed a few films. I went to an early screening of The Lost City which was fun, essentially a modern version of Romancing the Stone. Daniel Radcliffe steals the show in my opinion, he's pretty good as a slightly unhinged posh villain. There's an overall feeling that it's a bit cheap/rushed but honestly I had a fun time with it, was nice to switch off and have a laugh.
Sonic 2 was great, it had the same sort of energy that made the first film work and added a lot more game characters and references. On the face of it the VFXs are great but on the massive screen I saw it on all I could see was the flaws (background elements disappearing/reappearing, assets clipping and just general low resolution renders - they clearly didn't have access to decent QC before sign off, a problem in our industry since working from home). It was a distraction for me but 99% won't notice any of it. The wedding side plot started off feeling out of place but it brings in some laughs as it goes on. Overall I had a good time and I was glad it was as good as the first film. Also the mid-credit tease for the sequel was interesting.
Sonic 2 was great, it had the same sort of energy that made the first film work and added a lot more game characters and references. On the face of it the VFXs are great but on the massive screen I saw it on all I could see was the flaws (background elements disappearing/reappearing, assets clipping and just general low resolution renders - they clearly didn't have access to decent QC before sign off, a problem in our industry since working from home). It was a distraction for me but 99% won't notice any of it. The wedding side plot started off feeling out of place but it brings in some laughs as it goes on. Overall I had a good time and I was glad it was as good as the first film. Also the mid-credit tease for the sequel was interesting.
CODA
Very good. Best picture worthy? Debatable, but still a very good film.
The Bubble
Pure stupidity. Technically not a good film at all, but I actually quite enjoyed it.
The Adam Project
S**te. Total s**te. I've always liked Ryan Reynolds, but in the last few years, he's really fallen into a trap of playing the exact same character for every bloody film.
Very good. Best picture worthy? Debatable, but still a very good film.
The Bubble
Pure stupidity. Technically not a good film at all, but I actually quite enjoyed it.
The Adam Project
S**te. Total s**te. I've always liked Ryan Reynolds, but in the last few years, he's really fallen into a trap of playing the exact same character for every bloody film.
Christian
Hyper Poster
Better Nate Than Ever
This movie is super gay and super cute. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! It is not incredible but it's just a great and happy thing to watch. Overall just lovely. It's a more modern and more musical version of Home Alone 2. Any age will enjoy it. The main kid also acts incredibly.
This movie is super gay and super cute. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! It is not incredible but it's just a great and happy thing to watch. Overall just lovely. It's a more modern and more musical version of Home Alone 2. Any age will enjoy it. The main kid also acts incredibly.
Streaming wise I also recently saw The Bubble, it was fun if a bit stupid. I also watched The Adam Project which I enjoyed but I still quite like Ryan Reynolds.
At the cinema I watched a few this week. I started with Operation Mincemeat which is a decent WWII spy thriller. It has a great cast and although I didn't care for the romantic side plot I enjoyed the fumbling about to make the operation work.
The Northman was not for me, it goes at such a tedious pace and there are some really unusual sequences. There are some really nice shots in there but I think this was a film trying to be artful and stylistic that ended up removing any enjoyment from watching it.
The Bad Guys, I wasn't going to watch this but I had some time to kill between other films. It was alright, predictable but had some fun moments (made better by the dads in the audience with ridiculous laughs).
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - I was very excited to see this film and it lived up to my own hype, it was everything I wanted from a film where Nic Cage plays himself. The bromance between Cage and Pedro Pascal's character is amazing and there were so many genuinely hilarious moments.
The PCC were able to screen Promising Young Woman this week so I made sure I caught it after work one evening. So glad that I did, it's a really good film, Carey Mulligan is excellent and I love it's humour and interesting turn of events. It rarely went in the direction I was expecting it to which was refreshing. Check it out if you can (it got dumped on stupid Sky Cinema here).
At the cinema I watched a few this week. I started with Operation Mincemeat which is a decent WWII spy thriller. It has a great cast and although I didn't care for the romantic side plot I enjoyed the fumbling about to make the operation work.
The Northman was not for me, it goes at such a tedious pace and there are some really unusual sequences. There are some really nice shots in there but I think this was a film trying to be artful and stylistic that ended up removing any enjoyment from watching it.
The Bad Guys, I wasn't going to watch this but I had some time to kill between other films. It was alright, predictable but had some fun moments (made better by the dads in the audience with ridiculous laughs).
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - I was very excited to see this film and it lived up to my own hype, it was everything I wanted from a film where Nic Cage plays himself. The bromance between Cage and Pedro Pascal's character is amazing and there were so many genuinely hilarious moments.
The PCC were able to screen Promising Young Woman this week so I made sure I caught it after work one evening. So glad that I did, it's a really good film, Carey Mulligan is excellent and I love it's humour and interesting turn of events. It rarely went in the direction I was expecting it to which was refreshing. Check it out if you can (it got dumped on stupid Sky Cinema here).
solarfall
Mega Poster
The Batman's on HBO max now so I gave it a watch. It was pretty good and I enjoyed watching it, but there was some frustrating things that I noticed. There's a ton of dialogue (including some exposition dumps from Andy Serkis, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, and a few others which are all supposed to have emotional weight) where the director insisted on doing that shot/reverse shot thing for the whole conversation, which literally every other superhero movie does and it's a huge pet peeve for me. I understand it's a popular camera technique for a reason, but for how nice some of the other shots were, you'd think they could get a little more creative for their dialogue scenes. Also the sound design was a little weird at times. They do that thing where there's supposed to be some important conversation that got secretly recorded on a phone, and it doesn't sound like the sound is coming from a phone speaker at all. Like they put some filter on the dialogue so it sounds a little bit like a phone speaker, but the way the sound is mixed into the audio it sounds like there are 2 additional people in the room saying this stuff instead of it coming from a phone? It's kind of hard to describe but it felt off to me. Also there's some lines of dialogue I think I might not have understood if I didn't have closed captioning turned on.
Aside from those technical issues and a few plotholes there's a lot to like though. The costumes & make-up were all fantastic (people always point out how unrecognizable Colin Farrell is, but also it's a huge challenge to design costumes for Batman & Catwoman that don't stick out like a sore thumb, and they did a great job with that) and all of the performances were pretty great. The script was better than I was expecting. Even though it felt a little long, I can't really think of anything off the top of my head to cut, other than maybe some of the aforementioned exposition dumps. I'd definitely recommend it, especially to genre fans, but I'm not sure if I'll ever feel the need to rewatch it.
Planning on going out tomorrow to try to catch The Northman and also possibly Everything Everywhere All at Once. Really looking forward to both of those, so I guess I'll report back soon.
Update Edit: I also watched Blood Simple today, and I had a blast. The Coen brothers have made some of my favorite movies, so it was only a matter of time until I got around to seeing their first movie. It's legitimately tense at times, and while not overly gory, the violence is presented in a way that feels really intense and disturbing. Also I really loved the camerawork (notably some really cool perspective shots), inventive use of lighting, and great use of score as usual. Just a great neo-noire movie with a short & sweet 95-minute runtime. It's on the criterion channel if anyone wants to check it out.
Aside from those technical issues and a few plotholes there's a lot to like though. The costumes & make-up were all fantastic (people always point out how unrecognizable Colin Farrell is, but also it's a huge challenge to design costumes for Batman & Catwoman that don't stick out like a sore thumb, and they did a great job with that) and all of the performances were pretty great. The script was better than I was expecting. Even though it felt a little long, I can't really think of anything off the top of my head to cut, other than maybe some of the aforementioned exposition dumps. I'd definitely recommend it, especially to genre fans, but I'm not sure if I'll ever feel the need to rewatch it.
Planning on going out tomorrow to try to catch The Northman and also possibly Everything Everywhere All at Once. Really looking forward to both of those, so I guess I'll report back soon.
Update Edit: I also watched Blood Simple today, and I had a blast. The Coen brothers have made some of my favorite movies, so it was only a matter of time until I got around to seeing their first movie. It's legitimately tense at times, and while not overly gory, the violence is presented in a way that feels really intense and disturbing. Also I really loved the camerawork (notably some really cool perspective shots), inventive use of lighting, and great use of score as usual. Just a great neo-noire movie with a short & sweet 95-minute runtime. It's on the criterion channel if anyone wants to check it out.
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James F
Hyper Poster
Watched "The Northman" a few days ago. With every film it seems Robbert Eggers gets weirder and weirder. The cinematography is outstanding and the music really stuck with me. The performances were all great and despite hearing of it's 2hrs and 15 minute runtime, it felt like that time was used well. After the film ended someone in the audience claimed that it was the worst film he has ever seen in his life and that it was nothing like Gladiator; I agree with the second part.
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Sent from my SM-A217F using Tapatalk
caffeine_demon
Strata Poster
Fantastic beasts - Nothing happened!
Dr Strange and the blah blah blah
You know how most Marvel films give you 30 minutes of story followed by 2 hours of CGI s**t getting smashed up? This one decided to forego the story part, meaning that it was only 2 hours long.
I guess that's a positive.
You know how most Marvel films give you 30 minutes of story followed by 2 hours of CGI s**t getting smashed up? This one decided to forego the story part, meaning that it was only 2 hours long.
I guess that's a positive.
Brief, but accurate.
To elaborate a little, it really felt similar to the new Star Wars trilogy in that each film appears to want to undo what was stated in the previous one. One film makes a huge reveal, the other states it wasn't a big deal after all. One film introduces pointless character without doing much with them, the next film offs the character without much ado. One film shows a main character making an important choice, the next film decides undoes the choice without dwelling with the implications.
I think Ryan George of "Pitch Meetings" summarized this style of filmmaking the best. To paraphrase: "they wanted to have a lot of impactful scenes, but didn't want to deal with the actual impact."
Earlier in the week I saw an early (for the UK) screening of Everything Everywhere All At Once in IMAX. I'd seen a lot of hype surrounding this movie since it's State-side release so I was pretty eager to see it. I think it takes a little while to get going but once things start to pick up it's an absolutely wild ride, it's hilarious, emotional and the action sequences are inventive and exciting. The cast do an incredible job, just seeing Jamie Lee Curtis in a film like this is surreal and this is easily Michelle Yeoh's best performance. Highly recommend and be prepared for things to get weird.
Then today it was time for more multi-verse action, this time from Marvel, Doctor Strange 2. I liked it but it's not great. I'm not a huge fan of Raimi's style and at times it felt a bit too old school and not in a good way. I'm surprised Marvel/Disney were willing for things to get as gory and "scary" as it does. There's a scene that sticks out for me more than the rest of the film and I think it's worth seeing just for that portion of the film (if you like Marvel films).
Like most Marvel films there is a mid-credit and post-credit scene.
Then today it was time for more multi-verse action, this time from Marvel, Doctor Strange 2. I liked it but it's not great. I'm not a huge fan of Raimi's style and at times it felt a bit too old school and not in a good way. I'm surprised Marvel/Disney were willing for things to get as gory and "scary" as it does. There's a scene that sticks out for me more than the rest of the film and I think it's worth seeing just for that portion of the film (if you like Marvel films).
Like most Marvel films there is a mid-credit and post-credit scene.
ScottLann
Mega Poster
Doctor Strange 2:
Honestly, I had high hopes for this one. With all the recent 'multiverse' stuff that's been going on in the previous marvel films and TV shows , I felt like these were all building up to this film however I was fairly let down. One of the huge issues I had with this film was that if you haven't got Disney+ and weren't able to watch WandaVision, you'll likely be at a loss as to what's going on. There was a certain scene from this film as well that really made me roll my eyes....
I did like the introduction of the new character 'America' however. The chemistry between her and Strange really hit off and made the film a bit more enjoyable. Also....some good cameos but I won't say which.
The Batman:
Hmm, tough one. I really liked the set up of this film, the atmosphere and Pattinson's batman were pretty decent. But the storyline...not a fan. The whole film just felt like one long detective case and whilst I get what this film was trying to, I felt like it wasn't leading in any new direction. The main villain started off as creepy but then started to get a tad annoying, and then at one point I was cringing with how forced the acting seemed.
I don't think it helps when I've seen the likes of The Dark Knight trilogy however. Those films, in my opinion, are near perfection.
Fantastic Beats - Secrets of Dumbledore:
I kind of wish they never started making the fantastic beasts films as each one seems to get worse. Whilst I do agree that Mads Mikkelsen did a great job at playing Grindewald, I found that the whole film had a weird feeling to it after knowing about the whole Johnny Depp fiasco. Guess it couldn't be helped but it was no reason for the poor storyline.
Honestly, I had high hopes for this one. With all the recent 'multiverse' stuff that's been going on in the previous marvel films and TV shows , I felt like these were all building up to this film however I was fairly let down. One of the huge issues I had with this film was that if you haven't got Disney+ and weren't able to watch WandaVision, you'll likely be at a loss as to what's going on. There was a certain scene from this film as well that really made me roll my eyes....
there's another book!?…..of course there is, otherwise the story would be at a loss 
I did like the introduction of the new character 'America' however. The chemistry between her and Strange really hit off and made the film a bit more enjoyable. Also....some good cameos but I won't say which.
The Batman:
Hmm, tough one. I really liked the set up of this film, the atmosphere and Pattinson's batman were pretty decent. But the storyline...not a fan. The whole film just felt like one long detective case and whilst I get what this film was trying to, I felt like it wasn't leading in any new direction. The main villain started off as creepy but then started to get a tad annoying, and then at one point I was cringing with how forced the acting seemed.
I don't think it helps when I've seen the likes of The Dark Knight trilogy however. Those films, in my opinion, are near perfection.
Fantastic Beats - Secrets of Dumbledore:
I kind of wish they never started making the fantastic beasts films as each one seems to get worse. Whilst I do agree that Mads Mikkelsen did a great job at playing Grindewald, I found that the whole film had a weird feeling to it after knowing about the whole Johnny Depp fiasco. Guess it couldn't be helped but it was no reason for the poor storyline.