Seven(1979)
I think this is the film that's used for reference whenever they make a piss take of 70's trash. The acting is hilariously bad in places and the plot stupidity over complicated. A ruthless gang is taking over Hawaii and a group is formed to take out the ringleaders. Each gang boss has a specialist assigned so they can be offed in a unique way. This involves a hang glider, a super sonic dart, karate expert, comedy show etc. I suspect this film was actually made so a bunch of middle-aged past it actors could be surrounded by and foundle topless young women, of which there are many.
Entertaining shite to say the least.
There's also a hitman that uses a skateboard and has a blonde mullet and moustache...
Godzilla Minus One
Now this is how you make a monster film. It's set in Japan just after the war and deals with the aftermath of that and the arrival of a giant radioactive lizard. The budget was apparently a pretty modest $15 million but the effects are fantastic, it won the Oscar for best visual effects last year. Godzilla just ploughs through building and wreaks shit with wild abandon. It's a tad long-winded at 2 hours and there just not enough Godzilla but it's definitely worth a watch.
It's just appeared on Netflix this week, and it was absolutely worth the wait. It's a kaiju film that very much focuses on the humans, but that's not a negative, as the characters are sympathetic and likeable, and it absolutely nails the scale of the damage. Godzilla himself looks amazing, very much looking like his 70-year-old original appearance with only one or two modernisations, and they use the original musical theme (which is one of my favourite pieces of cinematic music) in a way that feels impactful.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Guy Ritchie's latest film set during WW2. This is the WW2 from video games like Commandos and Sniper Elite. Henry Cavill and co gleefully slaughter truckloads of Nazis with gleeful abandon and it's great fun! Alan Ritchson (Reacher) is basically BJ Blazkowicz from Wolfenstein and if they ever make a movie adaptation he'd be perfect, Murder Billy incarnate. Story wise it's fine but it's definitely style over substance and it's all a very silly.
I've been a fan of the original for a good while and even though my expectations weren't all that high I came out of this thinking it was not all that great, and honestly I don't mind some good cheese, but the tone for this was all over the place. Something felt significantly off about the entire thing compared to the highly entertaining first outing - which is a bit of a shame.
4 out of 10 oiled up dancing Statham's.
Do yourself a solid and watch the very overlooked and very brilliant in my humble opinion Underwater instead. I get that it's not quite in the same ballpark exactly, but it's still more than worthy of your time if you can track it down, that is.
Building the future, and keeping the past alive - are one and the same thing.
It was so 'Guy Ritchie like' that, as I was watching this, I thought, they've stolen a Guy Ritchie vibe on this. Only to see 'directed by Guy Ritchie' at the end
Story was very straight forward no double crosses, easy to see goodies and baddies.
Fun - so much so that I've asked my work mates to stage a movie night just to rewatch it
