Last movie watched...

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

And have I missed the Blah-Blah Land backlash? Quite underwhelmed and I like a musical, Sing Street was my film of the year last year, up until Rogue One came out that was.

You've just helped me make a decision - I gnerally hate musicals and romcoms nd nothing about this movie appealed to me - However I was considering giving it a go based on the massive praise being lavished on it, but I reckon I'll trust my instincts!

My mother and sisters, HUGE fans of old fashioned Hollywood musicals, despised this movie. I would consider these ladies to be expert afficionados of the genre, their knowledge would dwarf any of this forums' knowledge on sci-fi and fantasy. It's thanks to them I can appreciate the likes of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, and how their physical capabilities would shame even Jackie Chan.

They hated this movie, and there have been times when I've thought my mother can enjoy any oul shite. Their reactions reminded me of the fanboy backlash to the Disney Star Wars movies. Like they resented the nostalgia pandering.

I cannot think of any criticism more damning.

[I, Cosh]

One question, the answer to which I haven't had the patience to look for: did Cosh ever see Big Trouble In Little China?

Sadly, he did not. It means there's always one more good film to see in among the Dolph Lundgren DTV slop.

[Tiplodocus]

And hopefully your review won't be "...more like Big Shite in Little China"

[Professor Bear]

La La Land - more like Sh Sh Shite.
It comes close occasionally to replicating the energy of classic Hollywood musicals, but always, always shits the bed in some dumb way that could be seen a mile off by anyone half-interested in improving what's here, like the musical number that has a lengthy but pointless single shot moving through a character's apartment, forcing compromises on the delivery and highlighting the lip-synching.  Not the entire musical number, mind you, just a bit of it - so... why bother?  Is it an attempt to replicate stage musicals?
Added to that there are objective problems with the non-musical stuff, like the white guy who sets out to "save Jazz" - and yes, characters actually say this onscreen - but what's truly bonkers is that I utterly loathe jazz music but even I could tell that whatever the music was that was on display here had fuck all to do with jazz.  The main plot arc for the characters is also way off and the film knows it to the point that at the end there's a fantasy sequence showing the story you should have been watching all along, meaning the film is little more than that hipster asshole you overhear in the pub telling his mates how he'd have made a better film than the one they just saw, only instead of some film they saw in the pictures, he's talking about all those old musicals you saw as a kid.
Probably could have gotten away with being as smug as it is if it was a better film, but it isn't, so it doesn't.  An insufferable wankfest.

[Rara Avis]

I've just been to see 'Manchester by the Sea", it is in turns funny and poignant. Casey Affleck is amazing in it and the kid who plays his nephew is fantastic too. It can be quite heavy at times but it definitely lived up to the hype. First movie in a long time that made me go "Wow!".

By the way, what is the origins of the phrase 'shit the bed'. I never heard anyone ever say it until a few years ago and now it's popping up everywhere. Was it used on a tv show?

[Theblazeuk]

Rogue One - thoroughly enjoyed. The budget of the prequels with the action and sensibilities of the originals. And a darker story by far than ever before.

[Professor Bear]

The Shallows - more like The Shite-ows Meh-It's-Alright-ows.  The original concept sounds great, but like most modern takes on simple concepts, things are over-egged until a film about a woman stranded on some rocks in treacherous waters when a shark shows up and with six hours until the tide rises becomes a mix of body-horror and action movie instead, with multiple changes of location, pointless visual gimmicks, some deeply unconvincing CGI sharks, and an isolated beach that seems to see an awful lot of foot traffic eventually sapping the tension until the film has to resort to panto silliness to keep your attention.  The ending seems to be from an entirely different film, which would have been okay if only that film didn't shit the bed in its third act, too.

Forbidden Area - Charlton Heston stars as a one-eyed Colonel in a military think-tank who deduces coincidental mechanical failures are meant to ground America's air defenses ahead of a Soviet attack, but is cock-blocked from alerting the president by Vincent Price.  No beds are shit, this is a solid mid-50s effort that's overshadowed by the later - and admittedly superior - Fail-Safe, but still worth a look if you like watching cold war thrillers and/or Heston being overly-intense and borderline outraged at all times. 

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

Trainspotting 2

Blackest of humour but, remarkably, laugh out loud funny with it. It's been a long time since I've been in a cinema where all, or most, of the audience were laughing at a film.

But it is also a maudlin introspective about aging and being in your 40s. And living in Scotland.

I enjoyed it. YMMV, depending on age, geography and nostalgia.

[Tiplodocus]

1) I quite enjoyed THE SHALLOWS. 

2) Apart from [spoiler]flying burning[/spoiler] shark, I thought it looked pretty realistic.  And I thought the "panto silliness" was a fun escalation of stakes.

3) "an awful lot of foot traffic"  - Really, I recall there being about six people on it all day, tops.

4) The resolution did seem to come a bit out of left field though.  But I just about bought it [spoiler]given the amount of damage teh shark had taken[/spoiler] by that point.

5) And refreshingly, though Blake Lively is in a bikini for most of the running time, they don't seem to ogle and have the camera linger on her too much.

6) Points 1) and 5) may be related.

[TordelBack]

Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Extraordinarily good, as one would expect from this team, but how cool were those wild boar effects! Pleased to see TLS playing a fictionalised version of himself, and getting a location fee too! 

[NapalmKev]

John Wick starring Keanu Reeves.

Finally got round to watching this and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Look forward to the next one.

Cheers

[Spikes]

Trainspotting 2

Blackest of humour but, remarkably, laugh out loud funny with it. It's been a long time since I've been in a cinema where all, or most, of the audience were laughing at a film.

But it is also a maudlin introspective about aging and being in your 40s. And living in Scotland.

I enjoyed it. YMMV, depending on age, geography and nostalgia.

A odd little film in some ways. The story is relatively slight, and feels like an extended epilogue/postscript more than anything. But once I got into it, it is very enjoyable.

[CalHab]

Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Extraordinarily good, as one would expect from this team, but how cool were those wild boar effects! Pleased to see TLS playing a fictionalised version of himself, and getting a location fee too! 

I watched that last night. It was brilliant and surprisingly touching.

[Theblazeuk]

Oh that got me Tord

Great movie too. "I never chose the skunk life"

[Goaty]

Ex Machina is on Netflix now