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Films watched in 2023


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4 hours ago, Raylenth said:

Guardians Of The Galaxy 3: I thought this was really good and the best thing the MCU stable have produced in a while.  I don't know how it'll stand up to a rewatch when it's on Disney +, once you know what's coming, but it was a very good film.

I have to agree, best film Marvel have put out in in a while. I laughed, and definatly cried. The actor playing the high inquisitor was fantastic and has to be up there with the best villains in the MCU, definatly the most outright evil

Edited by Mfahey79
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On 5/6/2023 at 5:24 PM, Mfahey79 said:

I have to agree, best film Marvel have put out in in a while. I laughed, and definatly cried. The actor playing the high inquisitor was fantastic and has to be up there with the best villains in the MCU, definatly the most outright evil

The door line was brilliant and I'm glad they left it in.  I don't know if it's MCU fatigue but I haven't been this pleased with any of the other recent stuff unfortunately.

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AVATAR: WAY OF WATER (2022)

3.5/5 (Mild spoilers)

The first film wasn't amazing and after 14 years did anyone still care for a sequel? I didn't hold much hope but I actually liked this film a lot more than the original but James Cameron's big sequels have always been good and he's always been a better writer than director IMO.

Yes, its long and could probably have done with a few things cut out. But what I disliked the most was that the focus was on the kids and not the adults - Jake and Neytiri (Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana) take a backseat here especially Neytiri. However, this time the villain Quadrich (Stephen Lang), gets more to do and he's a much more rounded character - he's the best thing in the film by far but I think more time could have been spent on his relationship with his estranged son and filling the audience in. Whatsmore the whole father/son thing was a bit 'Star Warsy' and even more so when Sigourney Weaver shows up as an Obi-Wan style Force-ghost. 

The CG is a definite improvement particularly the Na'vi and I loved the marines and there's a couple stand-out action scenes but there also seems to be a lot of future seeding of plotlines for the sequels which wasn't very subtle nor was the "save the wales" theme. There were also a couple of characters that seemed redundant too like Jake's youngest daughter but I guess she'll be saved for the sequels.

I'm excited for the next film but I struggle to see what else they can offer with three more sequels to go - why do the humans keep trying to fight the Na'vi and take the planet?!

Edited by nicky
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Two vampires stand in the middle of the poster, one above the other. The one above, Dracula, bears his teeth and grabs onto the shoulders of the other vampire, Renfield, who concerningly looks up.

(2023)

1.5/5 (No spoilers)

Jesus, what a s*** film. It wasn't funny, just annoying right from the very start. It reminded me of that other s*** unfunny vampire film, DAY SHIFT (2022) with Jamie Foxx. However, RENFIELD at least has Nicholas Cage as Dracula who's performance is kind of fun to watch BUT only because we're so used to Cage being made fun of on social media now.

The love story is so weak you'd be forgiven that there was actually supposed to be one - I'm not even sure why Renfield (Nicolas Hoult) falls for Awkwafina (WTF does that name even mean?!). I also think Hoult is miscast in this; he's way too much of a pretty-boy to be playing a Servant of Evil and his white-washed floppy hair look just screams 'boyband'...he's like a suped-up parody of Robert Patterson from THE TWILIGHT SAGA. The film also has this horrible green filter/lighting to it much like THE MATRIX (1999) but is totally unnecessary. The human baddies are irritating and lead by a cardboard cliche female mob boss...just like DAY SHIFT and yep, Renfield fights like an MCU superhero. An absolute travesty of a movie.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 was a terrific science fiction comedy film. It had great special effects and focused much more on Rocket than the other characters and was very interesting to see his backstory. If you enjoyed the previous films you'll probably enjoy this.

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EVIL DEAD RISE (2023)

2.5/5 (No spoilers)

Why is this getting such good reviews?! I was excited to see this but it quickly lost me and ended up such a disappointment. This is the 5th movie in the franchise but nothing new is offered bar the environment. The movie is just gore, gore, gore, the odd shock and scare...and no story.

You know the drill; the Necronomicon is found, passages are read out and Deadites are summoned to possess the living and a battle for survival ensues. What's new? Sweet FA. The characters are boring and have nothing interesting about them - even the typical estranged relationship the sisters have going on in the background is weak and adds nothing. Furthermore, the whole pregnancy thing was POINTLESS. I thought family would be a prominent theme here judging by the poster but nope, it's weak.

Worst of all there's no resolve to the story; there's a beginning and a middle but no end, what we get is unsatisfying and hardly resolves the events before it. The protagonists are not even instructed what they must do to be rid of The Deadites and so there is NO GOAL to drive the plot FORWARDS other than "just try to survive." There's no, 'must find blood of a virgin', 'must send evil back in time' or any kind of 'must do XYZ' to save yourself. Nothing.

I think even the makers KNEW they had a s*** ending cos they book-end the film with random scenes that lead into a sequel with completely different characters. I can't see why they don't make a prequel film showing the origins of The Necronomicon; who made it, how and why, the battles fought over it and how it ended up lost. They could even link it back to ARMY OF DARKNESS (1992). Why instead are we getting this s***?!

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Fast X was like the others in the Fast & Furious franchise. An enjoyable and entertaining action movie with some very impressive effects and action scenes. If you enjoy action films like this you won't be disappointed.

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The Little Mermaid (live action) was a very good adaptation. The effects and sets were very impressive plus the music from the original was also used good effect. If you are a fan of the animated film you will enjoy this.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The Flash was incredible. I was excited to see the characters I remembered from my first superhero movies when I was a kid but I had no idea the movie would go in the direction it did. It was a huge but fantastic surprise. Exciting, visually impressive and even moving. If you are a fan of the Batman franchise you must see this.

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Indiana Jones & The Dial of Destiny was a very good finale (probably) to the franchise. Indiana Jones is one of my favourite film franchises and whilst this was certainly not as good as the original trilogy it stands up well as a film.

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THE FLASH (2023)

3.5/5 (No Spoilers)

This is my favorite DCEU movie so far so its a shame that it's bombed. I thought it was a fun, simple story with some good emotional beats and action and of course the return of Micheal Keaton's beloved Batman. But was Batman's inclusion that crucial to enjoy this movie? No!

Keaton doesn't actually show-up until mid-way into the film and so everything before that has Ezra Miller as The Flash carrying the film remarkably well on his own. There are of course appearances by other DCEU characters but they don't distract from The Flash being the lead except the 'other' Flash. Supergirl however doesn't really feel like she's used much and even less so General Zod so you have to be sure to see MAN OF STEEL (2012) beforehand to fill in some blanks.

The action is good, the humor on point but it could have done with shortening (baby scene) and better CGI. Also The Flash's need for food could've been a great plot point but it's hardly used but other than that there isn't much to complain about except for maybe the lack of explanation of just how Flash's time-travelling works.

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Caught Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny tonight. Went in with low expectations as didnt want to be disappointed after the Crystal Skull. 

What can i say, loved it. not a great film by any stretch, but thoroughly entertaining. Decent bad guy, with a proper motivation and not just he's a Nazi blah got to be stopped. Needless to say Nazi's are bad. But he was well written and this wasnt mad scientist Nazi. He had a proper character and if anything underplayed perfectly.

Yes there were nostalgic nods and winks to previous films, but none were shoe-horned in for the sake of it. 

And the film was not afraid to pull on the heart strings either.

 

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EXTRACTION 2 (2023)

4/5 (No spoilers)

To say the EXTRACTION films are probably some of the better streaming films out there isn't really saying much but thankfully this latest offering is better than I expected and very entertaining. The first film was fine but film no. 2 really amplifies the action and spectacle and is something to behold...despite basically being "just another mission". There is a 'but' of course...

As expected there's plenty of LONG one-take action sequences here of which some are kinda video-gamey (shooting down helicopters with big hand-held machine-guns) however these action scenes shouldn't be the main draw of the movie, it ought to be the story of course. There are ATTEMPTS at a story but it's fairly thin and misses the opportunity to really do something with the characters and their relationships in particular building a story-arc between Rake (Chris Hemsworth) and the kid and the overarching themes of family and loyalty. 

The film is basically more of the same as the first but bigger and louder and with Rake's team-mates joining in the action this time. Neither the story or characters justify a sequel and the plot is book-ended with a continuation of the exact same 'tortured past' emotional beats from the first film which just goes to show that action is the only card up the director's sleeve. The film ends with a lame segue into a third film - hopefully we won't be subjected to Rake's 'tortured past' yet again when that comes out.
 

Edited by nicky
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SISU (2023)

3/5 (No Spoilers)

Another stunts-heavy action film with feather-light story...but instead of the usual Eastern-European gangsters we have the ever-so-reliable Nazis as the villains. SISU essentially belongs to the tired "you-messed-with-the-wrong-guy" action sub-genre similar to FIRST BLOOD (1982) but is also a reverse version of THE BEAST OF WAR (1988) in which here a tank pursues our hero over desolate ground in search of retribution.

The plot goes; an old miner just happens to dig-up some gold - whilst crossing the Finnish wasteland to bank his find the miner encounters an English-speaking Nazi death-squad who steal it from him and he has to steal it back. Of course the old guy turns out to be a legendary ex-commando and for added hardness is a man of very few words. Blood, carnage and missing limbs go flying while very little depth comes out of the the story along with soulless characters, inappropriately over-Americanized dialogue and cheesey rock guitar. 

To its credit the first couple action scenes got me quite excited for the rest of the film but as the film went on it became more and more ridiculous with one cop-out followed by the next (underwater, hanging and pick axed plane scenes). Although the action is good it didn't make me forget about the lack of story or characterization (unlike EXTRACTION 2). It should've at least had the Nazis speaking in German and the Finnish in their own language too, not modern-sounding Americanized-English. 

Edited by nicky
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On 7/8/2023 at 1:55 AM, nicky said:

220px-Extraction_2_poster.jpg


EXTRACTION 2 (2023)

4/5 (No spoilers)

To say the EXTRACTION films are probably some of the better streaming films out there isn't really saying much but thankfully this latest offering is better than I expected and very entertaining. The first film was fine but film no. 2 really amplifies the action and spectacle and is something to behold...despite basically being "just another mission". There is a 'but' of course...

As expected there's plenty of LONG one-take action sequences here of which some are kinda video-gamey (shooting down helicopters with big hand-held machine-guns) however these action scenes shouldn't be the main draw of the movie, it ought to be the story of course. There are ATTEMPTS at a story but it's fairly thin and misses the opportunity to really do something with the characters and their relationships in particular building a story-arc between Rake (Chris Hemsworth) and the kid and the overarching themes of family and loyalty. 

The film is basically more of the same as the first but bigger and louder and with Rake's team-mates joining in the action this time. Neither the story or characters justify a sequel and the plot is book-ended with a continuation of the exact same 'tortured past' emotional beats from the first film which just goes to show that action is the only card up the director's sleeve. The film ends with a lame segue into a third film - hopefully we won't be subjected to Rake's 'tortured past' yet again in when that comes out.
 

Great action film :-)

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Insidious: The Red Door (aka Insidious 5) was a watchable sequel. It was the weakest of the series and didn't seem to have enough character development. It had enough scary moments to satisfy most horror fans though.

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TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS (2023)

2/5 (No spoilers)

I've only ever liked the first film so I'm not sure why even bothered with this one - they're pretty much all the same. It actually started off surprisingly kinda OK thanks to the the lead human character but this was short-lived as the film went on. Yet again we get another MacGuffin; first it was the All-Spark and now it's the Transwarp key...I'm sure there were other devices in the previous films but can't remember them - in this universe there's always something new that everyone is chasing after it seems. Anyway the timeline is confusing now, weren't the robots new to Earth in film #1? Also characters die but you know they're not really dead cos this is a prequel. These films are about big robots fighting each other though and that's it, story comes second - they even repeated the same ol' boy/girl and robot friendship (Bumblebee and Shia LaBeouf/Haylee Steinfeldl) from at least 2 of the previous films. I'll probably watch the G.I. Joe crossover though if it happens.

 

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