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Films watched in 2023


Daniel
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THE EQUALIZER 3 (2023)

3.5 (No spoilers)

This is the best of the three but that's not saying much since the previous entries were pretty meh. This film however at least delves a bit deeper into the gentler side of Robert McCall (Denzel) and his love for the people around him while in contrast the violence is amped-up thus distancing itself even further from the original TV series. Why the films have not been more faithful to the TV show has always disappointed me (where's Stewart Copeland's funky theme?).

The plot goes McCall almost dies at the start but while recovering he begins to consider retirement while resting in a small Sicilian town...only some thugs terrorize the locals there so McCall goes back to his old tricks - its basically like a Western. Thrown into the mix is a CIA agent (Dakota Fanning) who's role in the movie is totally redundant - there was absolutely NO reason for her to be in the film as she contributes nothing to the plot at all. It's the most useless piece of screen-writing I've seen in a long time.

There's not as much action this time but the build-up is great and we get a better sense of McCall's motivation but this results in a very sudden and rushed 3rd act when he finally decides to kick ass leading to a flat finale. It would've been nice if McCall took more time with his mission but as it stands he hardly gives anyone any warning or does any investigating so it quickly reduces itself into being just another macho action flick which is definitely what the TV show was not.

Edited by nicky
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 10/22/2023 at 12:38 PM, Faerie Tanith said:

Finally, belatedly, able to watch Saw X...

My expectations were astoundingly low after the disappointments of Jigsaw and Spiral.

Oh, my god.

Saw X is truly worthy of all the hype it's getting. This is what I've been missing since Saw 3D. THIS is the plot based drama I've been craving. Tobin Bell's performance? Shawnee Smith? The quality of the traps? The quality of the movie overall? The mid credits scene? 10/10 holy hell I never thought I'd say this but they actually did it, they actually pulled off a Saw sequel-but-actually-its-a-prequel and made it work. 

Yea I went in not expecting much but really enjoyed seeing John Kramer in action again.

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As we approach the end of 2023, it's the time to list your films of the year. List all the films you have seen (or can remember) from 2023 in order of best to worst. I'll start:

1. The Flash
2. Creed III
3. Tetris
4. Big George Foreman
5. M3gan
6. Scream VI
7. The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
8. Barbie
9. The Fabelmans
10. The Little Mermaid 
11. Oppenheimer
12. Till
13. Air
14. Bottoms
15. A Man Called Otto 
16. The Whale
17. Fast X
18. No Hard Feelings
19. Plane
20. Indiana Jones & The Dial of Destiny 
21. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3
22. Alice, Darling 
23. The Expendables 4
24. Shazam! Fury of the Gods
25  Retribution
26. Napoleon
27. Strays
28. Dumb Money 
29. Haunted Mansion
30. Killers of the Flower Moon
31. Super Mario Bros 
32. John Wick: Chapter 4
33. Renfield 
34. The Equalizer 3
35. My Fault
36. Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
37. Saw X
38. Women Talking 
39. My Neighbour, Adolf
40. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
41. Wonka
42. Evil Dead Rise
43. Genie
44. Allelujah 
45. Knock at the Cabin
46. Your Place or Mine
47. Boston Strangler 
48. The Boogeyman 
49. Beautiful Disaster
50. Blue Beetle 
51. Marvels
52. Insidious: The Red Door 
53. Babylon 
54. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget 
55. Best. Christmas. Ever!
56. A Home for the Holidays
57. A Job to Die For 
58. The Secrets We Keep
59. Cocaine Bear
60. Saltburn
61. What's Love Got to Do With It?
62. Clock
63. Killer Stepmom
64. First Love
65. Psycho Paramedic 
66. The Plot to Murder My Mother 
69. A Maple Valley Christmas
70. To Catch a Killer 
71. The Disappearance of Cari Farver
72. Secrets by the Shore
73. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Theives 
74. A Christmas...Present
75. Pet Sematary: Blood Lines
76. Her Obsession

Edited by Daniel
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On 12/26/2023 at 8:34 PM, Daniel said:

As we approach the end of 2023, it's the time to list your films of the year. List all the films you have seen (or can remember) from 2023 in order of best to worst. I'll start:

Did you not see Mission: Impossible: Dead ReckoningSilent Night, The Creator, Thanksgiving, Rebel Moon, The Meg 2, Joy Ride, The Killer, The Pope's Exorcist, The Exorcist: Believer, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Extraction 2, 65, Godzilla Minus One, Past Lives or Winnie The Pooh: Blood & Honey

Edited by nicky
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On 1/3/2024 at 4:44 PM, nicky said:

Did you not see Mission: Impossible: Dead ReckoningSilent Night, The Creator, Thanksgiving, Rebel Moon, The Meg 2, Joy Ride, The Killer, The Pope's Exorcist, The Exorcist: Believer, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Extraction 2, 65, Godzilla Minus One, Past Lives or Winnie The Pooh: Blood & Honey

I guess I missed those, but seeing Aquaman 2 this week. Let's see your list.

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Strictly films released in 2023. Godzilla Minus One is still on my to-see list.

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning....... (Best one for me since MI:3. Great set-pieces)
Plane.......... (Great tension but the prisoner wasn't an important plot-point after 30 mins and ending was hokey)
Extraction 2......... (Good actioner but cliched drama and underwhelming finale)
The Creator........(Refreshingly original and looked great. Crap title though.)
The Equalizer 3......(Nice change of pace but Dakota wasn't needed and finale is rushed)

Silent Night.....(The no dialogue became tiresome and restrictive, action was OK but story was meh)
The Flash.....(Interesting multi-verse take but too long)

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves.....(Nice set-pieces and it had charm)
John Wick 4......(Better than the last 3 thanks to Donnie Yen.)
Joy Ride..........(Funny but script was disjointed and lacking)
Past Lives.........(Bittersweet romance but little plot)
Meg 2......(Big sharks are great but leave Statham bashing thugs to his other films)

Evil Dead Rise.......(All gore, no plot. The heckler at the premiere was right, it sucked!)
No Hard Feelings....(Predictable teen sex comedy, Jennifer Lawrence isn't funny)
Rebel Moon..........(Looks nice but doesn't do much with the characters)
Scream VI........(Lost interest and count after 3rd film. Also no Neve or Arquette.)
Fast X...............(Too many characters, too big and very messy)
Thanksgiving..........(Overrated slasher, like a straight-to-video version of Scream)
The Little Mermaid.......(Melissa McCarthy annoying, Javier Bardem glum. The Prince can't sing)
65..........(Adam Driver is NOT an action star. The makers must've struggled to attract others to the project.)
The Pope's Exorcist......(Meh, not sure what drew a star like Russell Crowe to this)
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts......
(Just like the rest but diluted by the lesser known names)
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.......(MCU, your time is up. Michelle Pfieffer = GILF)
Indiana Jones And The Dial of Destiny.......(Boring, bland, long. Who the F cast Pheobe Waller-Bridge?)
Cocaine Bear......(Nice wacky idea but that's about it.)
Expendables 4.......(From the director of Hidden Strike, bad CGI, 50 Cent, Megan Fox almost no Sly. You have been warned)
Barbie.......(I didn't get it. Sorry. But the whole reversed patriarchy thing had potential).
The Killer........(As boring as a dog's ass. Why, Fincher, why??)
Renfield..........(Some people actually enjoyed this s***-show??!! It sucked vampire balls!)

Edited by nicky
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