I Just Watched (Films)

[Wrathbone]

As is usually the case with movie adaptations, I think you really need to be a fan of the medium and have read the original manga to properly appreciate Akira.

If reading the source material gives you a wider or deeper appreciation of an adaptation, that’s great, but if it’s essentially a requirement to know the source material to a get a basic appreciation then it’s a bad adaptation. That said, I know nothing about Akira.

[Raid]

I do agree with that stance; I can appreciate that fans won't want the adaptation to ignore the context of the original, and there's limited runtime to fit that stuff in, but to expect a viewer to already know the work surely defeats the point of making the adaptation in the first place.

I perhaps didn't make it clear that I did really enjoy the ending of the film. I didn't feel it really needed explaining - I've seen enough sci-fi to be able to fill in the blanks. I think the film deserves a re-watch at some point a few years down the line, just to see if my frustration at the lack of context at the start is lost when I know where it's going.

[Mantis]

As is usually the case with movie adaptations, I think you really need to be a fan of the medium and have read the original manga to properly appreciate Akira.

If reading the source material gives you a wider or deeper appreciation of an adaptation, that’s great, but if it’s essentially a requirement to know the source material to a get a basic appreciation then it’s a bad adaptation. That said, I know nothing about Akira.

I agree. I was suggesting more along the lines that it isn't an amazing adaptation in the first place. Obviously there's a limited amount they can fit into a two hour movie when the manga stretches to 2000+ pages, but the movie does leave out quite a bit, particularly from the latter parts of the manga which are pretty significant in delivering the full impact of the story.

You don't have to read it first to understand or appreciate the movie, but if someone were to watch it as their only experience of Akira and then they decided that it must have been a product of its time and doesn't stand up well today, well then I'd suggest they were missing out somewhat, the manga is far richer and really excellent in its own right. It's an old movie to be fair, and I think manga is more timeless than what animation studios were capable of putting out in the late 80s.

The more recent Blame! adaptation suffers in the same way. You can watch it as a standalone movie and all the pertinent plot points are there for you to understand the concept well enough, but it's only a very loose take on a very early part of the overall manga and doesn't even touch the majority of the plot. The manga on the otherhand is one of my absolute favourites and such a treat to read and explore that world.

[2Channelwonder]

The Tomorrow War

Combines Starship Troopers, Alien, The X Files film from 1998, Skyline and Battle Los Angeles and throws in some rudimentary time travel as well but actually, enjoyed this much more than I expected although the battle scenes are on the screen along with the money the storylines are much more concentrated and it feels almost all about Chris Pratt's character until near to the end. The effects were 4K despite being a Prime film so it would've looked even better in big-screen UHD but the cinematography was well done enough that I didn't get eyestrain watching it on my PC monitor. As with lots of time travel films once you've seen it the puzzle is unravelled and solved but the battle scenes are worth a second viewing, good to see a full big budget film come to streaming in competition with the kind of stuff Netflix releases regularly.

[Achtung Englander]

Agnelli (Sky)

A documentary about the billionaire playboy Chris Agnelli. Its alright. 6/10

[Raid]

Star Trek IV: The One With The Whales

I doubt it'll be the biggest surprise this forum has ever seen that I love this film. It's a little preachy and the concept is thoroughly absurd, but it's just so much fun. Kirk and Spock take turns failing to swear properly, comically Russian-sounding Chekov asks a policeman for directions to the US Navy base and the nuclear aircraft carriers during the Cold War, Scotty tries to talk to a computer mouse, McCoy fails to see the difference between 20th century medicine and dark-age trepanning.

But despite the ridiculous plot (the crew of the late Starship Enterprise go back in time to 20th century Earth to bring back a pair of extinct humpback whales who must respond to a probe that Starfleet is otherwise powerless to stop), it holds together surprisingly well. I think it may actually be Shatner's best attempt at playing a human being, and just for a chance it's the rest of the cast hamming it up. The effects are a little ropey for a mid-80s sci-fi film (the Klingon Bird of Prey changes size constantly for example), but the dialogue is excellent, and some of the cinematography is pretty good for a film directed by one of the actors.

[2Channelwonder]

6 Underground (Netflix)

Well that's where Fast and Furious 9 ripped off all the magnet scenes. Finally got round to the ideal Friday night actioner directed by Michael Bay and the only difference this time round is that there's some realistic focus on innocent victims of violence and bystanders and not just the characters vs the bad guys. It was also good to watch action where someone decided they had to top the driving car chase scene from Mission Impossible Rogue Nation or at least lengthen it out to longer than five to ten minutes, you are hooked in with the action immediately and then the film jumps into flashbacks for everyone except Ryan Reynolds whose origin remains deliberately scant but whose character develops last of all. They also threw in some rooftop action with Bay looking at what made the start of Casino Royale and District 13 stand out with the parkour based stunts and that's something not seen in his films. Whilst 13 Hours has the element of truth to it including the overview on real-life politics, 6 Underground evokes shades of The Losers and the M-I series but with stacks more guns, so what you see is what you get, it's well edited and doesn't drag due to throwing you into the action and explaining recruitment even if there's not proper origins, something used to develop character but later on. So definitely a Netflix high point if you want all of Bay's action (which only goes really OTT in the final scene) and none of the real life politics that underpinned 13 Hours.

[Wrathbone]

Black Widow

Good, not amazing. It’s a film with no purpose other than for Kevin Feige to be able to point and go “Look, we did a Black Widow movie, alright?”

On the plus side, it stands by itself quite well with very little prior knowledge of the character or franchise required for it to make sense (with a couple of big exceptions, but if you’ve casually seen Civil War and Endgame then you’re all set). The new characters are fun, with everyone hamming up the Russian accents to Hunt for Red October levels, although Ray Winstone’s accent veers into “you fackin’ slaaaag” territory too. Florence Pugh is clearly being set up to take over the reigns for Marvel’s resident sexy-spy role, which is fair enough. In many ways it’s really her story more than Black Widow’s.

Where the film struggles is with pace and tone. It’s a slow, ponderous film that plods along without building enough tension. Any tension that it does build is wiped away by the frequent levity from David Harbour’s Red Protector (essentially Captain Communism), who was the soviet counterpart to Captain America. He’s fun and not without heart, but too often he pushes the film away from spy thriller and towards slapstick comedy. Rachel Weisz pulls the tone the other way but is criminally underused.

Ending spoilers:

Spoiler

Two things. First, what was with the hand-wave at the end as to how William Hurt finally caught up to Natasha and then suddenly she’s free and on the run again? I feel like that could have been covered with a 20 second shot of her simply running away rather than just standing there waiting for the cars to arrive.

Secondly, I’m relieved that they didn’t try and come up with some face-swapping bollocks which meant that Natasha didn’t really die in Endgame. That would have cheapened her sacrifice, so I’m glad that they doubled down on it and have stuck with the consequences. You never know when it comes to superheroes.

I enjoyed Black Widow, especially as it’s fairly different to every other Marvel film, but it’s uneven and lacklustre at times. Worst of all, it feels unnecessary and inconsequential. Hopefully it serves as a platform to bring its new characters into the fold, as they’re what make it worth watching.

6/10

[Raid]

X-Men: Dark Phoenix

Ehh.

I don't have an especially high opinion of Fox's X-Men series; they tend to really stretch the suspension of disbelief because the Mutants are just too powerful. This takes a pretty big step down from Apocalypse (where Magneto had world-ending powers), and while Jean's clearly very powerful, the scale of the destruction is much smaller and it's a better film for it. I can't say I enjoyed much of the acting in this either. Fassbender's good, McAvoy's alright, but I don't rate Turner's performance and honestly I found Lawrence irritating.

...but I just didn't see the need for the alien storyline, it didn't add anything to the film. In fact I think it was more of a distraction than anything else. The "villain", if you can even call her that, was completely pointless. I don't know much about the original Dark Phoenix storyline, so maybe this was all part of the adaptation, but I felt Last Stand had a more coherent plot. Jean getting her incredible power from past trauma would have been a better story than absorbing some cosmic rays.

It was a better film than Apocalypse, but I don't think that's saying much.

[Animalmother]

Nobody
Saul Goodman does John Wick. It's a fun film with some joyously brutal fight scenes and gun fights. It does drag a little at the beginning and made its 90 minutes feel much longer. I also saw it on a 4K TV which resulted in it looking like a made for TV film which did ruin it a little. That aside, the acting is great and Bob Odenkirk makes for a surprisingly good action hero.

[Animalmother]

The Quiet Place 2
First time back in a cinema since pre pandemic. There was about 10 other people in the place plus it was dirt cheap.

Film is pretty similar to the first one with a bit of flashback stuff. If you liked the first then this is perfectly serviceable. If you think too much about the situation and how the creatures conquered the planet so quickly it all falls apart but it's best to ignore that. Bit heavy on the jump scares as well, as in there's one every 5 minutes.

There is a very obvious The Last of Us influence in the look and story, there are scenes that could have been straight from the game.

Desperado
Watched this on a whim last night and very much enjoyed it. Peak 1990's silliness and akimbo pistols gunishment being dealt out. Bodies sail through the air from gun blasts and everything explodes if shoot enough. Great action scenes and also one of the worst sex scenes ever, painfully funny to watch A great blast from the past.

[Alan]

Peak buscemi too!

“In walks the biggest fucking Mexican…”


I also think the intro section is just the best.

[Rossell]

Aw man I need to watch that film again, bloody brilliant.

[eny]

Nobody
Saul Goodman does John Wick. It's a fun film with some joyously brutal fight scenes and gun fights. It does drag a little at the beginning and made its 90 minutes feel much longer. I also saw it on a 4K TV which resulted in it looking like a made for TV film which did ruin it a little. That aside, the acting is great and Bob Odenkirk makes for a surprisingly good action hero.

I get the feeling that this film had a bigger budget intention, but got stifled by Covid, so a few issues with regard to stylisation and continuity - like the rifle on the stairs that had a silencer, then lost it, then found it again...

Good watch though, Odenkirk is eminently enjoyable. This is the child Hot Fuzz thought it had with John Wick, but the winning spermatozoon came from a masturbating Snatch, sat in the corner watching them...

[2Channelwonder]

Black Widow

Good, not amazing. It’s a film with no purpose other than for Kevin Feige to be able to point and go “Look, we did a Black Widow movie, alright?”

On the plus side, it stands by itself quite well with very little prior knowledge of the character or franchise required for it to make sense (with a couple of big exceptions, but if you’ve casually seen Civil War and Endgame then you’re all set). The new characters are fun, with everyone hamming up the Russian accents to Hunt for Red October levels, although Ray Winstone’s accent veers into “you fackin’ slaaaag” territory too. Florence Pugh is clearly being set up to take over the reigns for Marvel’s resident sexy-spy role, which is fair enough. In many ways it’s really her story more than Black Widow’s.

Where the film struggles is with pace and tone. It’s a slow, ponderous film that plods along without building enough tension. Any tension that it does build is wiped away by the frequent levity from David Harbour’s Red Protector (essentially Captain Communism), who was the soviet counterpart to Captain America. He’s fun and not without heart, but too often he pushes the film away from spy thriller and towards slapstick comedy. Rachel Weisz pulls the tone the other way but is criminally underused.

I enjoyed Black Widow, especially as it’s fairly different to every other Marvel film, but it’s uneven and lacklustre at times. Worst of all, it feels unnecessary and inconsequential. Hopefully it serves as a platform to bring its new characters into the fold, as they’re what make it worth watching.

6/10

Black Widow basically is one massive drama and character study, everyone's motivations are all deliberately politically intertwined and the film's musings on family are reminiscent of anything you saw in the better Fast and Furious films. The money's up on the screen and in terms of the MCU its action fits in as the junior equivalent of Civil War and Winter Soldier given Black Widow's trademark fighting style. Aside from one section of the introductory action scene which would have you saying "this character would be D-E-A-D-dead in real life" it's elements of Mission Impossible Fallout and Tomorrow Never Dies that are also referenced in the later action scenes but strangely enough those are more believable than that beginning scene with the plane. The over arching political motivation for the villain is also reminiscent of Winter Soldier again but not a small element of Robocop as well. The CGI never takes you out of the film not even when watching on the biggest screen in the cinema, apparently the film was supposed to be offered in 3D but maybe it's Covid that stopped them bothering with it outside of America.

It's the right side of witty and there's a good fan reference harking back to something remarked upon in the 2012 Avengers film that fitted the tone perfectly here rather than getting relegated to a Disney+ TV show. Similarly one character's (Red Guardian?) reliving his glory days also doesn't hit the Iron Man 3 level of misplaced comedy taking you out of the world of Black Widow, it all falls into the Fast and Furious style of family construction, before the end credit sequence right at the end brings you back up to the present day of post Infinity War and Endgame (the trailer for Eternals flat out ignored anything prior to Phase 4 aside from looking like they can draw mystical portals like Doctor Strange). It's a smart return for the MCU on the big screen considering the previous flashback Captain Marvel outstayed its welcome and had misplaced comedy but Black Widow is solid, something I'd consider on Blu Ray to go with Winter Soldier if there were decent extras.