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Films watched in 2019


Raylenth
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Fighting With My Family.

Being a massive wrestling fan like forever I was really looking forward to finally getting round to watching this. And it didn't disappoint! Great performances from all the cast. Funny, emotional and great portrayal of the wrestling business. Being a WWE fan I could spot some flaws with the story, particularly the match with AJ Lee. However this didn't spoil the film for me. Great entertainment!

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King Arthur (2004).  I've been on a binge buying spree of Mads Mikkelsen/Hugh Dancy back catalogues and chose to start with this as they are both in it.  It was a good film and I enjoyed watching it, despite one big plot hole and the ending was sad, unsurprisingly.

 

The irony, 9 years before Hannibal, of Hugh Dancy's Galahad saying "I don't kill for pleasure unlike some" and immediately the camera goes to Mads' Tristan.

Things I have learnt from the film - Smurfettes are very fierce fighters, Rhinorse and sharkicornorse's battle outfits are cool, plaited and hairy Mads is hot and Hugh has rocked a beard for years.

Edited by Raylenth
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BUMBLEBEE (2018) 3/5*

Did the TRANSFORMERS franchise really need a spin-off? I know these films have consistently made a ton of money but a lone Bumblebee movie and/or a TRANSFORMERS prequel was never something movie-goers were crying out for...but then that never stopped Hollywood did it? I kept hearing BUMBLEBEE was better than the previous franchise instalments and was also touted as 'what the first film should have been' so I expected to be wowed. 

Actually, I *really* loved the opening of the film on Cybertron - it was a great nostalgic service to fans of the "Gen 1" cartoons of the 80s. In a way it also reminded me of THE TERMINATOR (1984) where a lone warrior is sent away on a mission leaving the machine-fuelled war behind him. But that's all we see of this war so I was disappointed we didn't see more of it dispersed later in the film like in THE TERMINATOR. 

The pacing of the film is quite off. On one hand you have a emotional heart-felt story trying to focus on the relationship between the teenager and the robot while on the other hand you have an action story about the two evil robots trying to find Bumblebee - they're perfectly good threads but how they are woven together is quite rough and they somehow don't feel connected or like they're part of the same film.

I found myself not caring much for the emotional arc of the plot; the teenager-alien/robot relationship was very weak and not a patch on E.T. (1982) or TERMINATOR 2 (1991). The script tries quite hard to tug at the heart-strings but it fails due to bad pacing and under-developed plot-lines; I'm not sure why there had to be a goofy random love-interest subplot or the need for the tiresome mean girls cliche other than to be more like a teen movie. Even the deceased dad thing was unnecessary and felt pointless and I wasn't clear what John Cena had against Bumblebee other than being an alien.  Thankfully the film wasn't overloaded with 80s pop culture references, the soundtrack and movie posters was enough but maybe a bit too much leaned towards The Smiths (despite being a fan). 

BUMBLEBEE wasn't that bad but I was hoping for better. It was however a lot more tolerable than Micheal Bay's TRANSFORMERS films (apart from his first one which I still think is the only good one) and the action sequences especially looked a lot easier on the eye. BUMBLEBEE tries to be different from the rest of the TRANSFORMERS franchise by tapping into 80s nostalgia and fusing the action with a heart-felt story and teen angst but is nothing more than adequate.
 

Bumblebee_(film)_poster.png

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I finally got round to watching Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which I've been wanting to see since it came out. I liked it alot, but seeing as I had just assumed it would be awesome I guess I was probably a tad disappointed. I feel like I want to say I preferred Taika Waititi's Boy, but that might just be an expectation level thing.

I also watched Josie starring Sophie Turner and Dylan McDermott. It had the feel of a film that I should love, but on the whole I'm pretty sure it was both predictable and nonsensical. 

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HOLMES & WATSON (2018)

The crappest film of last year. Absolute pants and not funny at all. Can't see how the makers thought they even had anything good during production. Dont they know their jokes are lame at the time?

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Watched Sharknado 5 last night, let's just say it's a cinematic masterpiece for all the wrong reasons but has cameos and appearances from so many people from Nichelle Nichols to Katie Price. 

Might even give the 6th film a go now

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Ella Enchanted.  I watched it for reasons*  Sweet, but frequently silly film, they did well matching modern situations to medevialism.  Very much a kids film but it was an enjoyable (mostly) watch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* reasons

Image result for ella enchanted gifsImage result for ella enchanted gifs

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It's been a long time since I made a post in here and have watched a fair amount since so I'll be keeping my reviews down to a minimum as much as possible.

Cinema

Vice - Interesting look at the real president during the George W Bush era in the USA. Nothing ground breaking but some good performances.

Glass - I didn't like Split and this felt like more of the same.

Green Book - Awesome movie with some great performances. Highly recommend.

The Lego Movie 2 - Not as good as the first but still fun.

Alita: Battle Angel (twice) - Hated the male lead but loved the overall look of the universe and story.

How To Train Your Dragon 3 - Already forgotten what happened. Another one of those dragon movies.

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse - My third viewing! Loved this film

On The Basis Of Sex - Interesting look at the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg with some political arguments of gender roles, some of which still need fighting today.

Alien - 40th anniversary of this classic. My first time seeing it on the big screen and it added a whole new atmosphere to it, even though I knew everything that was going to happen like the back of my hand.

Mary Queen Of Scots - Good period film. I enjoyed it but will probably never watch it again.

Captain Marvel (twice) - I wasn't happy with what they did with the Skulls but otherwise another solid Marvel outing. I agree with what may people on the web are saying, that it feels like an MCU Phase One movie.

Fighting With My Family (twice) - I am no wrestling fan, but I LOVED this film. Casting was great and they really shone through to give this fun film plenty of heart. Pretty standard as these types of films go but for some reason it really stood out to me.

Fisherman's Friends - I was hoping for more from this one. The story of the shanty group gets lost in the stupid love story. I was disappointed.

The Aftermath - Kept me interested but nothing special about this Post WWII film.

Us - I wasn't much of a fan of Get Out and this wasn't any better. All mystery and fear wiped out within the first 20mins of the film.

Dumbo (2019) - I Heard a lot of bad things about this film going in, but I actually enjoyed it. It did go downhill after the first half hour or so, when they went away from the original story line of the animated movie.

Pet Sematary (2019) - One major change that didn't seem to be for any reason, otherwise pretty much exactly the same as the original movie (I haven't read the book), so a bit pointless in making it.

Shazam! - Yet again I am disappointed in DC. I had heard great things about this film, and yes the comedy was WAY better than anything they have done previously but the character of the kid and when he's in Shazam mode seemed like two different characters, which took me out of the point of the film. The ending was stupid too.

Home

Fyre - Documentary about a music festival that went wrong. unbelievable to think this actually happened.

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea - Total classic and great fun. Part of my Disney watch.

Pet Sematary (1989) - I hadn't seen this before and watched it before the new version came out. Not particularly scary. Not sure which version I prefer. This one is a bit more cheesy.

The VVitch - Knew nothing about this but watched as part of my current horror viewings. Was ok, but probably won't bother watching it again. Again, not very scary.

Equilibrium - A classic from my younger days. This film was totally only made because of the Matrix, but if you like that film and haven't seen this, give it a watch. Some great action scenes.

Ant-Man And The Wasp - Hadn't seen this since the cinema and although it's no where near the best Marvel film, it's still fun.

The Dish - I LOVE this film! All about a satellite dish in Australia helping get the footage for the moon landing. Sam Neil stars and it's just a nice, heart warming movie.

The Conjuring - I was told this was scary. It was not.

Lady And The Tramp - More Disney watching. This was my sister's favourite and I hadn't seen it in years. I could still quote along with it!

Ghostheads - I backed the kickstarter to get this documentary made and I wish I hadn't. It was supposed to be about the Ghostbusters community as a whole but it mainly featured on one guy who didn't exactly give the community a good name and upset a lot of people.

Vox Lux - Weird film about a kid star singer and when she attempts a comeback tour later in life. I'm not sure what to make of it and wouldn't really recommend it.

Fright Night (1985) - Cheesy cheese cheese. I had been lead to believe this was more scary than it was. I am not a vampire fan but added it in to my horror watch as some people I know view it as a classic. I'll let them keep it.

Man Up - Nice little rom com with Simon Pegg and Lake Bell. Nothing special but if your in the mood for that type of thing, it won't hurt you.

Old Yeller - I was told this movie was sad. It was not. Part of my Disney watch.

Comic Con Episode IV - A Fan's Hope - A documentary on parts of a certain big con and the people that go. It annoys me that that there are no auto collectors or clean photo collectors in this!

The Illusionist - I watched this years ago and thought I couldn't remember the twist. I could and that therefore ruined this viewing.

Space Cowboys - This film was beyond stupid. Amazing cast for what is ultimately a very poor and stupid film. Did I mention it was stupid?

Hereditary - Part of my horror watch and there were a few surprises, especially the part that did actually freak me out a little bit (for all of about 10 secs) but I won't spoil it!

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5 hours ago, Wrong Name said:

It's been a long time since I made a post in here and have watched a fair amount since so I'll be keeping my reviews down to a minimum as much as possible.

Loving the cynicism in all your reviews.

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Clash Of The Titans (2010).  I recorded it for trivial reasons (I flipped over the channel and it was on and saw it had a gorgeous Pegasus in it so that was enough) as I know it's not regarded as a brilliant film, and finally got around to watching it today.  10 points to me as it had bonus Mads in it (Clash did not come up in the lists for his stuff on Amazon) (He does seem to play a lot of beardy guys with swords who live rough for one reason or another).

Not as bad as I thought it was going to be, I doubt I will watch it again, but it was enjoyable.

Image result for mads mikkelsen clash of the titans

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1 hour ago, Raylenth said:

10 points to me as it had bonus Mads in it (Clash did not come up in the lists for his stuff on Amazon) (He does seem to play a lot of beardy guys with swords who live rough for one reason or another).

Have you seen his Anders Thomas Jensen films? It's funny to compare the characters he plays in those films with the amount of beardy, stoic guys in English Language films.

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5 minutes ago, natedammit said:

Have you seen his Anders Thomas Jensen films? It's funny to compare the characters he plays in those films with the amount of beardy, stoic guys in English Language films.

No, I'm only 2 films into my watch so far.  I have The Salvation, and Men and Chicken is on my 'to buy' list.  It does look like they have done a few together though.

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15 minutes ago, Raylenth said:

No, I'm only 2 films into my watch so far.  I have The Salvation, and Men and Chicken is on my 'to buy' list.  It does look like they have done a few together though.

I love Men & Chicken so much and Adam's Apples is great too. I'll watch The Green Butchers when I can be bothered. I couldn't honestly promise you'd like them, but they show a very un-Hannibal side to Mads.

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