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[Dandontdare]

I've not seen either movie but te way JJ Abrams says the 2 films are not direct sequel/prequels but are "blood relatives"  and described their connection as: "It's like Cloverfield is the amusement park, and each of these movies is a different ride in that park." (http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/03/cloverfield-franchise-jj-abrams)

Therte we go, perfectly clear! 

[Darren Stephens]

Zootopia. So, so good. Beautiful to look at, superb animation, great story with a message (of course!) and very funny too. What more could you ask for? 

[Mattofthespurs]

I've not seen either movie but te way JJ Abrams says the 2 films are not direct sequel/prequels but are "blood relatives"  and described their connection as: "It's like Cloverfield is the amusement park, and each of these movies is a different ride in that park." (http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/03/cloverfield-franchise-jj-abrams)

Therte we go, perfectly clear! 

So it's connected then...

[Mattofthespurs]

No, if I remember rightly there was quite an extensive backstory to Cloverfield through viral websites and whatnot, which pointed to the creature from the first film being [spoiler]an underwater creature that mutated because of deep sea mining of some sort of chemical for an energy drink? I add the question mark because I'm struggling to remember the specifics! But yeah, it definitely wasn't aliens. According to the creators its only connection to Cloverfield is that they wanted to make it another similarly mysterious sci-fi/horror type thing, as part of an anthology series of unrelated stories. From that it's no more related to the original Cloverfield than one Twilight Zone episode is related to another. Still, I guess it would be nice to imagine all that crazy shit is happening at once![/spoiler]

The answer is in the film itself, [spoiler] in the very last few frames of the happy couple at the beach.  In the background you see the creature drop into the ocean with a splash, presumably from space, and in embryonic form.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5lHnRqF89c&nohtml5=False[/spoiler]

Is the right answer.

[Colin YNWA]

Zootopia. So, so good. Beautiful to look at, superb animation, great story with a message (of course!) and very funny too. What more could you ask for? 

Yep seems like an age ago that I hailed this films glories here. Its bloody brilliant isn't it. Can't wait for it to come out on DVD,

[Darren Stephens]

Zootopia. So, so good. Beautiful to look at, superb animation, great story with a message (of course!) and very funny too. What more could you ask for? 

Yep seems like an age ago that I hailed this films glories here. Its bloody brilliant isn't it. Can't wait for it to come out on DVD,

Yes! I wanted to sit through it again immediately, ha. Brilliant. I must get the 'art of' book....! 

[Colin YNWA]

Well much to my surprise Hunger Games - Catching Fire. I've had no interest in these books or movies, seeming to be derivative of some many other things. But a while ago I caught the first hour of the first one on Film 4 and really enjoying it. Felt it didn't sustain itself to the end but it was fun enough. So when the second one came on telly the other day I found I was really keen to see it. Which I have and it was pretty good. Enjoyed it quite a lot. It has all the advantages of second film in series. It doesn't have to labour set up and world building too much and doesn't have to labour to a complete conclusion. So has liberty to be bold with what it tells as a movie in and of itself. This one does it really well.

Feels attached to the first but while it dances with repetition does a great job of remaining fresh and building instead. So yeah even though I worry that the last story does that rubbish spliting in two thing, which I fear will led it to be bloated and a bit rubbish I'm defo very keen to see them now.

Nice surpise.

[TordelBack]

First and second Hunger Games  are genuinely good SF movies, with impressively nutty designs and a charismatic lead - I really liked them . If they weren't known to be adapted from YA novels I'd say they'd be better regarded by us oldies, but at the same time would have made a tiny fraction of the dough. The third was so dull and disappointing I haven't had the will to see the fourth.

[Spikes]

Grimsby, by SBC. A big lump of dumb, but not bad. At 86 minutes it didn't outstay it's welcome.

[Eric Plumrose]

So it's connected then...

Only if you squint. I suspect most people will take it as read based on the title alone but, as I've said already, the aliens aren't physically the same. No gigantosaurus. No scuttlers. Instead, we get a big cat with a fanged prolapse for a mouth dropping down from some kind of space shuttle, neither of which appeared in CLOVERFIELD.

It may later prove a direct sequel but there's nothing in the film itself that unequivocally confirms it being such. It's got aliens, sure. But then so has THE FORCE AWAKENS.

10 CLOVERFIELD LANE is the second film in a projected franchise, it isn't necessarily part of some expanded universe. As that interview with VANITY FAIR suggests, Abrams wants to create an anthology series of films using one umbrella title as brand recognition. Hence (or so I presume) Bad Robot shoehorning aliens into someone else's story lest the general public be left confused as to why it's even called 'Cloverfield'.

[Spikes]

The Twilight Zone, or Amusement Park analogy, I really like. Has a fresh feel to it - though there is a whiff of the [spoiler]aliens[/spoiler] being tacked on in 10 Cloverfield Lane - and not the usual done-to-death prequel/sequel thingy

Keen to see more 'episodes', or enjoy further 'rides'.

[Professor Bear]

I got dragged to a semi-drunken viewing of 10 Cloverfield Lane even though I read the Wikipedia plot synopsis ahead of time specifically to avoid such a scenario.  The ending felt tacked-on in a dry overview of the plot and if anything it felt even more tacked-on in the film because what precedes it is pretty well-done (if rote), especially John Goodman's turn as a survivalist loner who can't deal with the reality of what he's been preparing and secretly wishing for [spoiler]- the way the film hints at him being a serial predator of women is quite clever, but undermined by clumsy reveals.[/spoiler]
Everything before the final 15 minutes is better than what comes after, and the Cloverfield name is simply a cheat on the audience.  I suspect this will find a better reception as home viewing than it has as cinema fare.

Apprentice is a Star Wars fan-film that breaks from the usual fanfilm problem of being a snapshot of some larger story to which we aren't privy, though it is still a vignette set in the main continuity (immediately before The Phantom Menace) telling the story of a typical Sidious dick move when he sics some Jedi on Darth Maul as a final test of his skills.
The guy who plays Maul does a good job, though for some reason I couldn't get Ross Kemp out of my head every time Maul would stare intently at something off-camera.  I liked the western musical cue in the showdown sequence, and that the film doesn't use the typical opening crawl infodump.  The attack drones look fake so I suspect they didn't actually use real flying robots armed with lasers and instead just added them in later with computers or something, but otherwise it's visually impressive and the actors are pretty good, even if some do better than others.

[TordelBack]

Zootopia. So, so good. Beautiful to look at, superb animation, great story with a message (of course!) and very funny too. What more could you ask for? 

Yep seems like an age ago that I hailed this films glories here. Its bloody brilliant isn't it. Can't wait for it to come out on DVD,

Yes! I wanted to sit through it again immediately, ha. Brilliant. I must get the 'art of' book....! 

So very good - surprised even Alan Moore took his name off this one. By which I mean, this is to Top Ten what The Incredibles was to Watchmen, the best adaptation we're ever likely to get.

Loved the Frozen gags, the Breaking Bad and 48 Hours homages, the subtle use of lighting and focus, the really clever way the 'savage' characters were animated, Idris Elba was magnificent, it was just all round awesome. 

Some very mild reservations: Shakira was a bit overused, the baddie and plot twists were very obvious, Nick could maybe have had a sharper edge or been slower to come around, and Hollywood's fuzzy love-in with organised crime continues. 

But all I wanted when the credits rolled was MORE. Sequel, TV show, ride at EuroDisney, I don't care: just more Officer Hopps and more Zootropolis. A solid 9.5/10 from me.

[Colin YNWA]

Zootopia.

By which I mean, this is to Top Ten what The Incredibles was to Watchmen, the best adaptation we're ever likely to get.

.....and plot twists were very obvious...

Surely you mean The Incredibles is to Fantastic Four? But then I didn't get the twist at all... so yah know...

[TordelBack]

Surely you mean The Incredibles is to Fantastic Four?.

Retired middle-aged masked heroes unite to stop former hero's dastardly secret plan involving murdering other retired heroes and the false-flag attack of a giant squid creature on a capital city? Nope, definitely Watchmen.

My niggles are of the tiniest variety, Zootropolis is by some margin the best film I've seen this year.  Best of all is the really surprisingly nuanced message about embracing diversity and the unending difficulties of actually making that work. And the sloths. Definitely the sloths.