Last movie watched...

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

X-MEN APOCALYPSE: Bit bonkers in part and the Egyptian setting seemed a little off kilter for me since the 'first mutant' would surely have appeared in the Stone Age but Apocalypse himself was nicely psychotic and the destruction rendered was a perfect image of what Donald Trumps White House will bestow on history. There's some bloody bits when Wolverine[Weapon X] is released on Stryker's soldiers who get bloodily stabbed to death [those with young families have been warned] while their erstwhile Leader legs it leaving his men to be duly wasted Moop troop style. The poorly received joke about the 3rd movie in any franchise being the worst one of the series I actually guffawed at but I'm shallow. Quicksilver seemed to get the best of this one, his rescue of Xavier's students from a big explosion is very well done though Magneto's story line seemed overly melodramatic with his human/mutant family wasted by bungling authorities. Didn't Magneto hate the human Race to begin with? The battle at the end was well staged and it was entertaining to see how Storm got her white hair- and how Professor X lost his. Fun but put into brain to neutral while watching.     

[PsychoGoatee]

Check out We Are X when you get a chance, incredible doc about X-Japan, great band. Powerful stuff, not a dry eye in the house when I saw it the other day!

[Mardroid]

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

I think I sum this film up well with two words:

Eh? What?

That's not actually a criticism. I liked the film a lot, although it is tonally very different from the series.

As far as odd factor is concerned this probably even stranger, though. I mean you've got the freaky Bob and little guy stuff but you also have  [spoiler]a red haired woman doing a strange dance and pulling faces at Keier Sutherland and David Bowie as a teleporting FBI agent with a Southern accent [/spoiler] Oh my!

[TordelBack]

Finally watched the extended DVD of Battle of the Five Armies, aka Hours 7-11 of The Hobbit, which has sat on our shelf as a guiltily unwatched purchase for some months now.  Masochistically, we watched it after a re-watch of the first two, and you know what, it's not a bad experience at all. 

A disappointing movie on its own, from a series of arse-deadening predecessors, it actually works pretty well as the last half-dozen episodes of a mini-series.  Yes, Alfred is beyond irritating, [spoiler]despite a new and very horrid comedy demise[/spoiler], and the vast battle scenes which revel in the rubbery invulnerability of Our Heroes as they bounce, fly and slice their way through legions of allegedly-armoured Orcs that must be made entirely of over-cooked spaghetti armed with feather dusters are in general comedic rather than exciting. I'd be lying if I didn't say that a lot of the slapstick slaughter was fun to watch though - and the kids loved it.  The problem for me wasn't this largely admirable embracing of the silly, it was its juxtaposition with dead children in the snowy streets of Dale, and the central drama of Thranduill's on-off commitment to aiding the mortals around him. It's a massive tonal dissonance the movies never even tried to manage.  In general I was happiest with the series when everyone was singing improvised ditties, throwing plates around and watrching Goblin dance numbers, so it's probably churlish to complain about ice-skating sheep-drawn death-chariots.

The extended edition does do one very important thing, remedying the biggest fault of the theatrical release, in that it gives the individual dwarves things to do and even the odd thing to say, giving some payoff to the long time we've spent learning to tell them apart. This includes a badly needed funeral scene for Thorin and his pretty-boy nephews that resolves the Arkenstone plot, left ludicrously hanging in the original version.

There is a bizarre new scene where some random orc appears to know that Gandalf [spoiler]wears Narya, the Elven Ring of Fire, when this is a pretty major secret not revealed until the very end of the LotR books.  If it was common knowledge, one wonders why Saruman didn't grab it when he had the chance at Isengard[/spoiler].  But it's so strange that I don't really think it matters.

Most important of all, my 7-year old daughter had been too young to see this in the cinema, and she absolutely loved it, and was satisfyingly reduced to floods of tears by Thorin's death scene and subsequent funeral.  I say satisfying because my own first run-through with The Hobbit was the superb Bernard Cribbens Jackanory production, and the very same scene, where Bilbo says his goodbyes to the mortally wounded Thorin, had a slightly older me in tears too, and sold me on Tolkien for life.

We ran straight on into watching Fellowship of the Ring, and I have to give Jackson his due: it's a flawless transition into that superior film, far better managed than (haugh-spit) Revenge of the Sith.

A misguided overlong mess of a thing, but fun after all.  And I still think the Kili-Tauriel romance is very touching, and a great addition.

[Mardroid]

I'm one of those who waited for the extended version of each Lord of the Rings film, and bought it the moment it came out. I did the same with the first two Hobbit films.

I still haven't gotten round to buying Battle of the Five Armies though. I'm not sure why. I pretty much liked all the films, although I preferred t LotR films more, and I was genuinely really looking forward tongue extended version of this one.

Getting more patient with age, or careful with finances, maybe?

Thanks for reminding me, I should pick this up though!

[Hawkmumbler]

King Kong Escapes is a movie only slightly more less ridiculous and King Kong Lives! in that it's basically a live action adaptation of an episode of the Rankin-Bass kids show. Toho gave the big ape one last hurrah* after defeating Gojira himself by simultaneously paying tribute to the orignal movie and cashing in ALL their cheesy, mid 60's tropes as Kong battles Gorosaurous, the military and even a robot version of himself (Mechani-Kong is a big reason for my childish adoration for this movie). It's bonkers. Good stuff!

Well, besides a guest appearance in Go! Godman but who remembers that show anyway?

[Mattofthespurs]

Watched Girl on a Train today.

Not what I was expecting. 6/10

Tedious opening hour though.

[Colin YNWA]

I thought Series 7 was very interesting and the fact that Cosh (I) calls it shite makes me more intrigued to revisit and I'm keen now to re-evaluate.

Well, it's a long time since I saw it but I recall it being a huge disappointment. What had seemed an interesting or fun idea descended into a load of amateurish improvised panting and shrieking.

Well turns out Cosh was right... kinda. I finally got around to this, after taking a detour to wagtch Season 3 of Walking Dead and Its certainly not as good as I remember it being. Has it dated. Possibly but its only 15 years old. Its a good idea but the way its done completely lacks subtly. The themes it uses are worth while but its all a bit hamfisted and this looses alot of its potential for satire and the dark humour becomes pantomine at times.

Shame I had fond memories, as it is one for the charity shop donation pile. Season 4 of Walking Dead and then Bubba HoTep I think...

[Mattofthespurs]

Arrival.
Wow. Just...Wow.
Superb.
Best film of the year for me.
10/10

[Keef Monkey]

Arrival.
Wow. Just...Wow.
Superb.
Best film of the year for me.
10/10

Yup, agreed!

[Spikes]

Arrival for me as well. A day off work and a trip to the cinema to catch this.
Amy Adams is again just wonderful.

8/10.

Now [spoiler]the Heptapods already know this, but for all you Humans out there [/spoiler]  I'll be watching Who Dares Wins tonight, as the Arrow Bluray dropped through my letterbox this morning.

[Mattofthespurs]

Arrival for me as well. A day off work and a trip to the cinema to catch this.
Amy Adams is again just wonderful.

8/10.

Now [spoiler]the Heptapods already know this, but for all you Humans out there [/spoiler]  I'll be watching Who Dares Wins tonight, as the Arrow Bluray dropped through my letterbox this morning.

I thought they would have told you not to....  [spoiler]but then I've seen it...obviously...and so should you have![/spoiler]

[Mattofthespurs]

Just watched Sinister starring Ethan Hawke.
Man, what a pile of shite.

[TordelBack]

Fantastic Beasts and etc.   That was a really enjoyable ninth Potter Wizarding World film, but it wasn't at all what I was expecting, and while I'm happy to sing its praises I'm rather afraid it will be seen as the Phantom Menace of the series: a prequel obviously, really superb design and SFX, rather dour and (initially at least) unlikeable characters and obscure motivations, confusing political plot with two sets of vague hidden baddies running in the background of a brighter rather episodic plot, magic powers on a scale we haven't seen before, hints of connections to earlier popular characters that make you wish you were watching them...

Rowling takes no prisoners here, launching into Potter jargon right from the outset, and very much assuming you know the familiar Wizarding setup that her Prohibition-era America is being contrasted with. Then we have Newt, a genuinely unlikely adult hero, who avoids eye contact and speaks in low, passive tones, and who is very much peripheral to the machinations against which his smaller adventure plays out: no Boy Who Lived child of destiny at the heart of this film. However, by the end of the film I was thoroughly charmed by Redmayne's Newt and looking forward to seeing more of him and his magnificently realised menagerie. 

In fact all the heroes start out a bit underwhelming and even irritating, but eventually blossom. Alison Sudol's Queenie steals the show, and Dan Fogler's Kowalski adds some needed human warmth. Ron Perlman has a great cameo as an underworld goblin, hope we see more of him in future. The various Macusa and second Salem characters, and Katherine Watterson's Tina didn't make much of an impression. The Fantastic Beasts and their amazing home definitely did.

Heart sank a bit when I saw [spoiler]Depp[/spoiler] revealed in full-on Burton regalia, but I suppose we'll see. I would have thought he was a bit old to play [spoiler]Grindlewald[/spoiler] at this point in time, especially happy if there are four more films to go...

It seems a lot darker than the earlier Potters, with one if the three plot strands hingeing on violent and psychological abuse of a child, and the main monster is pretty darned scary and far better executed than many similar effects designs. In fact it's admirably very different to its predecessors, opening up Rowling's world while retaining the warmth and magic at its heart. Thumbs up from this Potter fan, and I hope it brings its original audience with it, in the way that other Prequel didn't.

[Theblazeuk]

Arrival - will go wildly against popular opinion among the squaxx. It's 9/10, not 8/10 or 10/10. Ok maybe I'd give it the extra 1 if I felt a little more charitable about some of the changes from the source (which are necessary for the silver screen I think but remove a bit of the conceptual brilliance, if only slightly), dont make me conform.


Followed up with ID:Resurgence or at least the first 45 min. Yawn.