Jump to content

Films watched in 2020


Raylenth
 Share

Recommended Posts

Legacy_of_Rage.jpg

Legacy of Rage (1986)

The late Brandon Lee's feature film debut and the only HK movie he ever made is a surprisingly enjoyable romp with a great human story behind it, something I find rare in HK action films. The only gripe, and I know others have said the same, is that Brandon's martial arts skills aren't given enough opportunity to shine here. Nevertheless it's still a good film.

Edited by nicky
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Birds_of_Prey_(and_the_Fantabulous_Emanc

Birds Of Prey (2020)
1.5/5 (No Spoilers)

WTF was this film even about?! The non-linear narrative is so messy, not to mention pretentious, and just doesn't work. Obviously we have a screenwriter here too big for her boots. The order of play only confuses you as the story constantly jumps back and forth, going off at tangents. Each of the characters are flat too and its obvious the girl-power agenda was being rammed down our throats. Sure it looks nice and is colourful but its a classic example of style-over-substance and reminded me of McG's CHARLIE'S ANGELS (2000). I found myself looking at my DVD player's timer way too much dying for it to all end. Come back SUICIDE SQUAD, all is forgiven! Worst film of the year for me.

 

Bloodshot_-_official_film_poster.jpeg

Bloodshot (2020)
2/5 (Mild spoiler)

Oh Jesus, another turkey from Vin Diesel - he just can't catch a break outside of the FAST & FURIOUS films lately can he? After failing with BABYLON A.D. (2008) and THE LAST WITCH-HUNTER (2015), here he is again, this time trying to jump on the superhero shared-universe bandwagon begging to prove he can do a decent action film on his own.

It actually started off promising but then we get this weird cringey scene early on with Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" playing in the background. Once the twist is revealed (does every film HAVE to have one?!) you expect things to ramp-up but the film quickly goes downhill after that and just implodes when the tech-guy constantly tries to make unfunny joke-after-joke-after-joke. I actually felt sorry for that actor in what surly must have been career-suicide in one of the most annoying roles ever to rival even Jar Jar Binks. On another note, leading lady Eiza González was so painfully FIT I just wanted to gouge out my eyeballs.

 

Underwater_poster.jpeg

Underwater (2020)
1.5/5 (No spoilers)

Usually I like these confined-space creature features but this is just an abomination to the genre. From the main title to the opening shot of the corridors to even the identical sounds of the computers, this film so badly wants to be like ALIEN (1979)... except the plot is so wafer-thin. The story is simply this: get from A to B and dodge the beasties. At least the film was relatively short as a result of having no depth.

Kristen Stewart goes around looking like Pink and spends way too much time inappropriately prancing about in her underwear. T.J. Miller on the other hand is so criminally unfunny and his jokes are just so misplaced he's like a poor man's Ryan Reynolds - its as if Miller still thinks he's actually in DEADPOOL. And Vincent Cassel; he's a great actor but WTF was he doing in this?! Also we're not told what the creatures actually are (unlike DEEP RISING) or why there is just one huge giant one. But worst of all, half the film takes place in dark murky water and you can't see WTF is going on which makes transitions from one scene to the next very confusing! The ending was lazily-written too, its like the writers ran out of ideas.

 

Edited by nicky
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Favourite: I like Yorgos Lanthimos, his films are always a bit off. Well, a lot off. This was a bit more normal than his usual fare actually: all power struggles in relationships, both political and romantic. The best thing about it though is that it showed the real truth about women - they're all awful creatures.

Bumblebee: Ok, I get it, you're set in the 80s, no need to throw another 5 pop songs at me. This was almost a very good film, but most aspects of it just slightly missed the mark for me. Hailee Steinfeld is so good at being likeable, but there was an annoying side to her character that bothered me. John Cena's character could have done with being a bit more fleshed out. The action scenes at the start were confusing. But I hope the sequel does actually happen.

Shazam: There was enough to like about this film to make it worth the watch, but it was still just 'ok'. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Toy Story 4.  I knew the ending in vague terms as I had spoiled myself by looking it up when the film came out, so it was easy to pick up on the build up.  It was a sweet film like the previous ones, and whilst a sad/happy ending it was a worthwhile conclusion to the series.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mary Poppins Returns. Following such an iconic film was inevitably going to be hard as there's pretty much no way they could live up to the first one but on the whole they did a good job of replicating the spirit of it.  They could easily have stuck to CGI given modern audiences but it was nice to see they went with the animated style and had a few nods to the original.

On the whole it was an OK film but not one I will watch again.  The songs were fine but none stood out as memorable and it was slightly predictable in that it was obvious what the ending was going to be from the scene where the kid took the box out to dump.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Faerie Tanith said:

Pom Poko. I can't believe it's taken me this long to see it. Not quite what I expected but in true Ghibli fashion it's extremely cute.

It's one of my least favourite Ghibli movies, but on the plus side it does have the most animal testicles I've ever seen in one film, and the most varied usage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beauty And The Beast 2017.  A film about what can happen when someone's in lockdown.

It actually wasn't bad, it's the first of the live action versions I've seen so I was impressed.  Not entirely sure it was necessary but hey ho.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Raylenth said:

Beauty And The Beast 2017.  A film about what can happen when someone's in lockdown.

It actually wasn't bad, it's the first of the live action versions I've seen so I was impressed.  Not entirely sure it was necessary but hey ho.

It's my least favourite of the live versions that I've seen. Mostly I hated Emma Watson.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of Disney live-action movies, I recently saw Tim Burton's Dumbo (2019). I've never seen the original but I actually found this new version pretty boring and I lost interest quickly. Good cast though but the best thing was seeing Danny Devito reunited with Micheal Keaton (and Burton). Apparently Christopher Walken was originally cast too which would've made an even greater Batman Returns reunion.

I also tried to watch Alladdin (2019) but switched it off after less than 10 mins. Again, I've not seen the animated version but in Guy Ritchie's film I just couldn't stand the American accents (especially the lead actor) in a story set in Arabia.  

Edited by nicky
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My aim during this lockdown is to watch films I have never seen before. First up...

The Twilight Saga - All five films. Now I realise I am probably ay least 25 years older than the usual demographic age of viewers for these films but I don't care. Anything with vampires and werewolves is likely to be good and these films did not disappoint. I love them. The effects are great, the acting is good and the overall effect from start to finish is very enjoyable. The films definitely get darker as the series progresses. And there is a reason* these films are very easy on the eye. Overall 10/10

Taylor Lautner Jacob Black GIF - TaylorLautner JacobBlack Twilight GIFs* reason

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Peter Capaldi Fan said:

My aim during this lockdown is to watch films I have never seen before. First up...

The Twilight Saga - All five films. Now I realise I am probably ay least 25 years older than the usual demographic age of viewers for these films but I don't care. Anything with vampires and werewolves is likely to be good and these films did not disappoint. I love them. The effects are great, the acting is good and the overall effect from start to finish is very enjoyable. The films definitely get darker as the series progresses. And there is a reason* these films are very easy on the eye. Overall 10/10

Taylor Lautner Jacob Black GIF - TaylorLautner JacobBlack Twilight GIFs* reason

It's funny that after all the flack the films got, the main two stars have gone on to prove themselves among the best and most interesting actors around. And, you know, your werewolf fella was quite funny in 'Cuckoo' too, so yay him.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bumblebee.  Sigh, it's a bit better than the Michael Bay films but that's not exactly a hard thing to do.  It was OK.  The characters are pretty much still one dimensional, especially army guy, who I'm surprised wasn't called Captain Military because he was so bland and forgettable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Judy ---- i was apprehensive as i love judy garland and having read so much about her, watching her movies and interviews etc was worried about this  film. decided to give it a shot and take it for what it was. It was ok and happy i watched it 

Bloodshot... omg bbbbboooorrring. Even sam heughen couldnt save it 

Birds of Prey.... love margot as harley.  Enjoyed it.   

Bad Boys 3 ..... loved it.  Was so worried but thought was fab

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...