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Films watched in 2020


Raylenth
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8 hours ago, The Friendly Dalek said:

I think that DC have been on an excellent streak recently. Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam and Joker are all films I enjoy.

I haven't seen Joker yet and WW was OK, but I can't agree with AM :D

Shazam wasn't without it's faults (like the ethics of turning a 6/7 year old into a super hero because I'm sure they are well known for their critical thinking and ability to understand and cope with what Supers are required to do) but on the whole it was good.

Edited by Raylenth
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1917 (5/5) - Absolutely brilliant, loved every minute one you have to see on the big screen especially the IMAX if you can!

Marriage Story (5/5) - A grim story but a brilliant movie, was great to see Adam Driver's acting skills here after the movie that was Rise Of Skywalker...

Hacksaw Ridge (3/5) - After watching 1917 I needed to watch another war movie and this had been on my list for a while, was okay but to over the top for my liking.

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (4/5) - Can't believe it's taken me to watch this film thought it was great! Hopefully it doesn't take me as long to watch the next one.

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The two Popes: some brilliant acting of both Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce. Loved the story and the background they provided. It's a two hour film, but it flew by. Really intriguing story between these two men who were so far apart and then became friends in a way. 

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Tempo.  Another film watched for reasons*  A very 'meh' film if there ever was one, slipping slightly down to 'hmmph' if I were honest.  The film was an interesting mix of recognisable names though I can't say I care much for Melanie Griffiths acting and most of the rest of the characters were fairly one dimensional, the story was relatively simple and adequately executed, if very predictable.  For some inexplicable reason it contained quite a few amusingly slightly sped up scenes which lent it an air of oddness and were very noticeable.  Maybe the editor had to be home early for some reason.

*

Image result for Hugh Dancy Tempo

 

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The Lighthouse 2/5 - well what a disappointment!  Having eagerly awaited it for months on the back of tremendous advance buzz, this was ever so tedious.  There was a lot of comic potential to be unearthed here given the premise but there were very few chuckles for me.  Visually and aurally it was hugely impressive (those with sensitive ears might need to bring plugs with them!), but as an overall entertainment experience I would expect audience and critic opinion to differ wildly here.

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Just watched Ad Astra this morning. Its alright, but not massively impressed. Quite decent special effects and a lot of stars, but a fairly slow plot. If you get on with slow plodding sort of films you might like it. Conceptually not  a million lightyears from Interstellar but nowhere near as good. I'll admit it would probably have been better at the cinema. Verdict: 3/5

Edited by Captain Lucas
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John Wick 3.  Awesome balls with an extra helping of fantastic sauce.

Interesting to see more of the inner workings of the JW world in the bowels of The continental.  Jerome Flynn had a very dodgy accent though I suppose he paid for it for the fact that he got Theon'ed.  The action sequences with all the animals were brilliant.

It does suffer a teeny bit from the old 'bad guys waiting in line to fight' issue on occasion but eh.

 

12/10, minus 1 for slapping a horsey 11/10, but plus .5 for inventive use of said horses, 11.5/10

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23 hours ago, Captain Lucas said:

Just watched Ad Astra this morning. Its alright, but not massively impressed. Quite decent special effects and a lot of stars, but a fairly slow plot. If you get on with slow plodding sort of films you might like it. Conceptually not  a million lightyears from Interstellar but nowhere near as good. I'll admit it would probably have been better at the cinema. Verdict: 3/5

I saw it last week and was aware that it was more of a slow-burner. Reminded me a bit of "Apocalypse Now" as BP journeyed into the heart of darkness.

Donald Sutherland wasn't in it for long enough.

3/5 sounds about right.

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On 2/2/2020 at 7:40 PM, Captain Lucas said:

Just watched Ad Astra this morning. Its alright, but not massively impressed. Quite decent special effects and a lot of stars, but a fairly slow plot. If you get on with slow plodding sort of films you might like it. Conceptually not  a million lightyears from Interstellar but nowhere near as good. I'll admit it would probably have been better at the cinema. Verdict: 3/5

I hated Interstellar.....:spew:

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Arctic.  In many ways it's a hard film to watch as it's brutally real and it's about one man's struggle to survive after a plane crash in the arctic but it's worth it.  It's light on dialogue but doesn't really need it.  It's hard to say too much without giving anything away but it's a good film.

 

Image result for mads mikkelsen arctic"

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Richard Jewell was very good. It certainly showed how the media can destroy someone's life without evidence. Even if you are too young to remember the 1996 Olympics I'd still recommend it. My only complaint was it didn't go into much detail about the actual bomber.

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Warcraft: I actually enjoyed it, probably because I never played the game and I can't be bothered with the inaccuracy of it all. It was a nice fantasy movie with cool special effects. The characters were cool and the orcs were actually well done, very realistic. 

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It's been a busy week...

A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood 3/5 - an eccentric, sentimental story about Fred Rogers, a beloved American children's TV presenter pretty much unheard of outside the States.  I saw it for Oscar-nominated Tom Hanks, who delivers as usual - in fact, in anyone else's hands, Rogers might have come across as plain creepy.  But the film just about works and does hit upon some universal emotional truths.

Richard Jewell 3/5 - solidly made account of the 1996 Atlanta bombing and the grossly unfair persecution of Richard Jewell, the Security Guard who discovered the bomb and saved many lives in the process.  A slightly overlong but well crafted movie in which Olivia Wilde's bug-eyed journalist strikes the only false note.

Parasite 4/5 - one of the best 5 films of 2019, an inventive, compelling mix of social satire and crime comedy that sees an impoverished, unemployed Seoul family inveigle their way into the home of a wealthy, naive household.  Don't let the subtitles put you off - a must see.

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Just seen "Birds of Prey" blah blah blah blah.  Have to say it made Cats look an Oscar winner for best picture. It was terrible. A lot of people will love it and I'm glad for them but for me it ranks as one of the longest 1 hr 50 mins of my life.

Edited by Jabberwocky50
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220px-1917poster.jpg
1917 (2019)
*No Spoilers* 4/5
This was probably the best film of 2019 for me and up there with the greats when it comes to war films. I haven't seen many of Sam Mendes's films but would say that 1917 is a lot better than his other Oscar acclaimed film, American Beauty (1999).
 
When I first heard 1917 was filmed in one-shot I feared it was just a gimmick to get some attention. Clint Eastwood had a gimmick too when he hired the actual people from the true-life event instead of actors for 15:17 To Paris (2018) and that didn't work. But in 1917 the one-shot cinematography really adds to the story and I could see how it benefited the film; as a viewer it feels like you're experiencing everything that the two leads do and that you're along for the ride. For the most part the film is set in real-time (apart from when there's the one obvious cut) and so the one-shot cinematography is very appropriate and makes the viewing experience much more engaging.
 
As with most war films the story has little to do with war or combat and is more a story about determination to overcome great odds. The characters are nicely fleshed-out with some great casting of recognizable A-listers as the commanding officers. There was also an event within the film that totally took me by surprise which was a nice change in gears for the rest of the film. I think the only bad thing about the film for me was the climax was over with a bit too quickly considering the journey that was made to get there.
Edited by nicky
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DOCTOR SLEEP: Director's Cut (2019)
2/5 No Spoilers

I was never a huge fan of the THE SHINING (1980) but I respected it as an iconic piece of film-making. Now obviously I wasn't expecting DOCTOR SLEEP to be anywhere near as good as Stanely Kubrick's film before it but I had high hopes that it would at least be enjoyable but it turned out to be even worse than I expected. I would have preferred to watch the shorter theatrical version but ultimately I went with this 3hr cut.

For a start I thought the pacing was off particularly around the first half as we're bouncing around from one character's back-story to the next. It kind of reminded me of IT (2017) in that we have all these characters and we have to see everyone's individual story in messy turn. In DOCTOR SLEEP there's three main characters but it seems to take so long in telling their stories and yet there are still questions unanswered about where they came from. There's a lot of redundant scenes in this cut of the film and the plot isn't even that complex at all. 

It was a pretty boring film and I was disappointed that this had been catagorized as a horror film. I didn't think there was much horror in it at all. The re-casting of the actors from Kubrick's film was also disappointing and took me out of it - I know the director opted to not de-age the actors digitally though and instead re-cast them but I just didn't like what we got.  

Its been almost 40 years since the original film and I think that this sequel has come way too late, it just didn't feel like a sequel to the 1980 film at all or that it was even set in the same universe. 

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PARASITE (2019)

3/5* (Mild spoilers)

Well it's the movie everyone's talking about so I guess I'll have my say. I first heard about people raving about the film last summer but I was disappointed to learn that it wasn't a horror film given the title and coming from the director of The Host (2006) so I didn't bother with it. Then this week it won four Oscars, but most importantly it was a Korean movie that won Best Picture, not just Best Foreign Film but Best Picture, and THAT changed my mind.  

I wanted to like this film, I really did, but for me it just didn't live up to the hype. Yes, it's smart and clever, original and has great social commentary but I felt the build-up especially in the first half to be rather slow. Maybe it was a pacing issue because there seemed to be some redundant plot-points in the film (guy pissing, pizza-box boss) which I think could easily have been omitted to make the film more concise. 

I also had problems with the family being poor - they obviously have skills and are not just clever so how is it they're not able to get real jobs? The two kids evidently went to school and studied pretty well given their talents. What the father did at the end of the film really baffled me too, I'm not sure what his motivation was for doing that. 

So it was an OK film and I'm happy a Korean film was lauded so well but for me I felt it could have been more concise. Actually it reminded me a lot of Get Out (2017) with its social commentary and its outsider/domestic themes. Its sad though because most people who will now see the film wouldn't have bothered if it wasn't for the Oscar wins, myself included, but I guess marketing and awards go hand in hand.
 

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