Last movie watched...

[Keef Monkey]

Watched David Lynch: The Art Life, really fascinating documentary/interview film with some great music and lots of insight into Lynch's mindset. His films are barely featured, the focus is on his paintings and other artwork, which is an area of his I confess I'd never looked into so found really interesting to see. My only gripe was it finished quite abruptly and unexpectedly, the running time flew by and I could have happily watched for another couple of hours.

Then I watched the documentary about the wrestler Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) that's on the WWE Network, because we were scrolling through and thought it'd be a nostalgic laugh because we remembered his whole machismo schtick from childhood. There was indeed some nostalgic fun to be had from seeing him and other forgotten faces pop up, but it was surprisingly dark. The guy had a ton of problems and it doesn't shy away from showing you them - there's some footage of him having to go out to the ring when he's far too inebriated to even stand or speak which is sad to watch. There are docs on the network for most of the wrestlers I remember from childhood, but I fear many of them will have similar trajectories, those kind of personal problems seem to be a bit of a staple with professional wrestlers (The Wrestler really nailed that part).

[radiator]

The Big Sick - semi-autobiographical rom com starring Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley) and co-written by him and his wife Emily Gordon.

It's.... OK. Veered into mawkishness a little too much for my liking, and wasn't quite funny enough, despite some good lines here and there. I also don't think enough character work was to get the audience to invest in the two leads and their relationship.

Watchable enough, but certainly not the rehabilitation of the rom com genre it's been hyped up as in the reviews.

2.5/5

[Goaty]

Blair Witch

By same team who did brilliant films You're Next and The Guest

It was available in Netfilx. I really enjoyable it. Very creepy into the woods. Nice touching with found footage theme. Perfect sequel to the Blair Witch Project.

I am looking forward to their next film; Death Note.

[Colin YNWA]

I have a feeling the linear re-do of POTA will continue.

Fair enough. I'd missed that, and this movie had been built up as the final one. That said, there are some plot threads that, whilst not exactly dangling do hint at possible future developments. [spoiler]The fact that "Nova" demonstrates that the virus is not the death sentence the Colonel believes it to be, for instance.[/spoiler]

I did also wonder whether the throwaway line about the 'lost' astronauts on Mars at the start of Dawn was a hint that this franchise was playing a very long game...

Yeah I was under the impression this was a trilogy and that this part was still billed as an end. Still while I'm yet to see this (soon, I hope, soon) I'm glad there's more based on the first two.

[Mardroid]

Phantasm

I think this is the first time I've seen it all the way through from the beginning. There are some genuine jump scares (although I've found I've become hardened to those somewhat) and the imagery is very interesting. But what a strange film it is! This is not a bad thing in some ways, but the ending was rather confusing.

[spoiler]One guy, who appeared to die earlier is suddenly back with no explanation  (although I guessed his wound would not be fatal since I remember him in the sequels sporting a triple barrel shooter) . Another has died off-screen supposedly in a car crash... or is the entire scene including the back flash to the grave a dream? [/spoiler]

I wonder if there's a longer cut of the film which makes more sense. Maybe Phantasm 2 makes more sense of it. Another film, I haven't seen all the way through.

[Link Prime]

Blair Witch

Almost as bad as 'Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows' IMO.
Zero subtlety and a cast you were wishing dead after 8 minutes.
The movie also made the mistake of presenting one of those 'impossible' situations where it is clearly apparent that there is no way out for the protagonists, which kills all suspense.

I really wanted to enjoy this, but found it genuinely unbearable. And when it comes to horror I'll watch any old shite.

[Smith]

Blair Witch

By same team who did brilliant films You're Next and The Guest

It was available in Netfilx. I really enjoyable it. Very creepy into the woods. Nice touching with found footage theme. Perfect sequel to the Blair Witch Project.

I am looking forward to their next film; Death Note.

You really shouldnt...

[Dark Jimbo]

Blair Witch

It was... okay. Maybe better than I was expecting, and very much a 'proper' sequel, but the first film's much simpler 'lost in the woods and walking in circles' scares were so much more effective than the scaled-up scares we had here. Less is usually more. Setting it all at night also somehow robbed it of chills rather than doing the opposite.

And it's all just that bit too contrived to suspend disbelief and buy into the story - was very much aware I was watching a Hollywood 'attempt' at found footage rather than buying into it as the real deal.

[JOE SOAP]

I loved Baby Driver, and already trying to plan a second viewing. Anyone else catch what I'm assuming was a [spoiler]DREDD[/spoiler] reference when he's tuning the car radio?

Missed that one...

It's just a quick line, [spoiler]when he carjacks someone while on the run from the final job, as he's scrolling through the radio to find a song a news report (or it might be the police frequency?) mentions gunfire at Peach Trees.[/spoiler]

Knowing how much of a 2000AD fan Edgar Wright is it's pretty neat that he threw that in!

Also thought this reminded me of something.

[Rara Avis]

I was never really a massive fan of Amy Winehouse although I like her music. I had heard this was good so thought I'd give it a go. I would absolutely recommend it as well. It's quite hard to watch at times especially after she becomes a drug addict. It's just so sad what happened to her and the real tragedy is that it could have been very easily prevented or brought under control a lot sooner.

"Amy", the docu on Amy Winehouse. Quite heavy to watch. Knew it'd be bad, but not as this. Lots of tragedy. Still, I thought there where alot of glory in her story. Perhaps that what made it worse watching it. Very much recommending this one.

[Mardroid]

Antman

I started it a while back but never continued at the time for some reason.

I rewatched the whole thing again today, and thoroughly enjoyed it. That was a fun film.  I loved the [spoiler]tank twist and the unsung hero Thomas the Tank Engine, or his US equivalent. (Maybe this was Charlie the Choo-Choo? Fitting considering the upcoming Dark Tower film.)[/spoiler]

I wonder how the [spoiler]sacrificial lambs[/spoiler] went down with the kiddies though. (Little monsters probably loved it.)

[von Boom]

Antman

I started it a while back but never continued at the time for some reason.

I rewatched the whole thing again today, and thoroughly enjoyed it. That was a fun film.  I loved the [spoiler]tank twist and the unsung hero Thomas the Tank Engine, or his US equivalent. (Maybe this was Charlie the Choo-Choo? Fitting considering the upcoming Dark Tower film.)[/spoiler]

I wonder how the [spoiler]sacrificial lambs[/spoiler] went down with the kiddies though. (Little monsters probably loved it.)

Antman is my favourite Marvel film to date. I haven't seen Spiderman:HC yet though. I thought it was a terrific mix of humour and action, and cast damn near perfectly.

[Colin YNWA]

Just watched The Thing (John Carpenter's) for the first time in years and I enjoyed it as much as I remember enjoying it back in the day, whenever I saw it last.

What impressed me most was how tight it was. In this day and age of so many 2 hr plus, bloated movies, in a very little over 1 1/2 hrs it packs a lot in. While the concept and setting might make it appear slight there's a lot going on, not in any sort of intellectual way, just in terms of stuff happening and ground covered, and people (and dogs) dispensed with in so many grusome ways.

Yeah very enjoyable and lean film making.

[Old Tankie]

"Dunkirk" - good action scenes and some good acting but many factual inaccuracies, too much emphasis on the small ships, 7 out of 10 for me.

[Hawkmumbler]

Just watched The Thing (John Carpenter's) for the first time in years and I enjoyed it as much as I remember enjoying it back in the day, whenever I saw it last.

Yeah very enjoyable and lean film making.

Agreed on all accounts! A masterful movie and one of, if not THE, deffinitive Lovecraftian horror movies. Just superb.