I Just Watched (Films)

[Raid]

This year's festive viewing:

A Muppets Christmas Carol
One of those films where people exclaim "You've never seen it?!" when I tell them I've not seen it, so I finally got around to it. It's pretty good; I get the feeling it's nostalgia talking when others praise this, but while I don't think it lives up to that, there's clearly a ton of charm to it. I just didn't particularly like any of the musical numbers.

Knives Out
Brilliant. I don't generally get on with whodunnit stories thanks to a poor memory that means I forget most clues by the time you have enough to put together, but this is so well written that even I managed to recall the bits that the ending required.

Guillermo del Toro's Pinnochio
I'm not familiar with the original book, nor do I have much memory of the Disney film, but I certainly remember fewer instances of Pinnochio being executed by Benito Mussolini in them. I suspect that's all I really need to say about this; it's slightly less of a fever dream than Pan's Labyrinth, but only slightly. The stop motion animation is exquisite, but if you're going to sit younger kids in front of this, I'm not sure how they're going to react to something that can be quite unsettling at times.

[arqueturus]

This year's festive viewing:

A Muppets Christmas Carol
One of those films where people exclaim "You've never seen it?!" when I tell them I've not seen it, so I finally got around to it. It's pretty good; I get the feeling it's nostalgia talking when others praise this, but while I don't think it lives up to that, there's clearly a ton of charm to it. I just didn't particularly like any of the musical numbers.

Knives Out
Brilliant. I don't generally get on with whodunnit stories thanks to a poor memory that means I forget most clues by the time you have enough to put together, but this is so well written that even I managed to recall the bits that the ending required.

Guillermo del Toro's Pinnochio
I'm not familiar with the original book, nor do I have much memory of the Disney film, but I certainly remember fewer instances of Pinnochio being executed by Benito Mussolini in them. I suspect that's all I really need to say about this; it's slightly less of a fever dream than Pan's Labyrinth, but only slightly. The stop motion animation is exquisite, but if you're going to sit younger kids in front of this, I'm not sure how they're going to react to something that can be quite unsettling at times.

Excluding The Muppets I've actually watched both these too this Xmas. Totally agree - the 'Making of' of Pinnochio is worth a watch too just to see how incredibly hard it was to do. I thought the Aardman animations were amazing but this is a whole level beyond that. I'm not sure we'll ever see the like of it again.

RRR

Actually brilliant in a bat shit kinda way. It reminds me of Crouching Tiger in that it takes a massive detour when you least expect it. It's essentially a Superhero movie but much more brutal in many ways. The portrayal of the British Imperialists is slightly caricatured but makes for really uncomfortable viewing as it's easy to imagine that it's pretty close to the reality. There's a real sense of joy and love in the film too. Highly recommended.

[Sly Boots]

Had a horrible bug post-Christmas Day and just spent the last several days in bed unable to do anything except watch a bunch of YT vids and films, so thought I'd share thoughts on some of the latter lol:

Predators

I remember liking this when it came out despite a fairly mixed reception generally, and on rewatching was pleased to find I do still like it. Brody remains an odd choice for a muscle-bound action star but he just about pulls it off. Until the recent Prey I'd say it's the best of the Predator sequels (I know 2 has a following but I'm not that keen).

Aliens vs Predator

I saw this in the cinema when it came out and remember thinking it was a bit shit. And maybe it was the fever talking, but this time round I thought it was just good dumb fun.

Valerian: City of a Thousand Planets

Hadn't seen this before, largely because of fairly middling reviews when it came out, but I was pleasantly surprised. It runs out of steam a little bit towards the end I think, but overall was great fun. Has more creativity and imagination than most sci-fi out there, and wasn't surprised to learn that it's directed by the same guy as the Fifth Element. Maybe not quite as good as that film, but definitely along a similar vein.

[Animalmother]

Down visiting my parents for the Christmas and they have a great 4k tv.

Watched The Last Crusade and Back to the Future 3 in glorious HD that makes them look like they were made yesterday rather than 30 odd years ago. They really don't make films like this anymore.

[Wrathbone]

Knives Out - Glass Onion

Not as good as the first one but still entertaining. Daniel Craig’s accent stretches its credibility to some painful territory.

[Mantis]

I really enjoyed the sequel. I feel like it leaned far more into the farcical elements that the first one had somewhat more measured. It made the overall movie more amusing but probably not as good as the original.

I really love Daniel Craig's character in it though, particularly the little video game reference at the beginning and the fact that he's so rubbish at it despite being the worlds best detective.

[Sly Boots]

Just saw it myself, thought it was good fun, like a modern Agatha Christie type affair. I enjoyed how (like an onion) layers kept being peeled off, and like Miles' description of the Mona Lisa, events took on different meaning depending on what angle they were viewed at.

Unfortunately, I did guess the culprit quite early on as I did notice the nature of the crucial switch as it happened,

Spoiler

and the culprit's later differing version of the same event cemented it in my mind

. It was fun seeing the rest of it play out, though.

Also, not sure if these are plotholes, but a couple of niggles:

Spoiler

It was fun that Ed Norton's character was such a moron in reality, but that being the case 1) why did such an intelligent woman as Andi latch onto him in the first place, or introduce him to her group of friends 2) being such a moron, how was he able to secure the favours that elevated each member of the group and 3) why would Andi, again supremely intelligent, start a company with Miles when the whole thing was her idea in the first place?

I kept waiting for the reveals that would explain some or all of the above, but they never came.

And was it just me, or was Miles a satire on Musk?

[Rusty]

It passed the time, not a patch on the first one.
I still didn't like the fact that (trying not to spoiler) there were 2 murders (and 1 near miss) and no-one really cared about that all being tied up.

Daniel Craig is ace though

[Raid]

The Girl in the Spider's Web
Another film from the same book series as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the film of which I rather enjoyed. It's an entirely different cast with Claire Foy taking over the role of Lisbeth, which is a bit of a strange one for me as the only other role I've seen her in is that of the young Queen Elizabeth II from The Crown. Lisbeth is not only an exceptional hacker in this one, but she's now seemingly had special forces training as she's just a few flourishes away from being Black Widow. As such it lacks a lot of the believability of the earlier film, and while it's a decent thriller, it's just not as good, with the story feeling a bit plain and obvious. It's still worth a watch.

[Sly Boots]

The Girl in the Spider's Web
Another film from the same book series as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the film of which I rather enjoyed. It's an entirely different cast with Claire Foy taking over the role of Lisbeth, which is a bit of a strange one for me as the only other role I've seen her in is that of the young Queen Elizabeth II from The Crown. Lisbeth is not only an exceptional hacker in this one, but she's now seemingly had special forces training as she's just a few flourishes away from being Black Widow. As such it lacks a lot of the believability of the earlier film, and while it's a decent thriller, it's just not as good, with the story feeling a bit plain and obvious. It's still worth a watch.

It's actually not written by the same guy. Stieg Larsson, who wrote the original trilogy (which I've read, recommended), died just as they were about to be published. His series was picked up byanother author from the 4th book onwards, and from what I can tell from the Amazon reviews, they're not as good.

[Lenny Solidus]

Avatar 2: The Way of Water

*If the following seems a little conflicting in any manner, I am typing all this nursing myself over from last night still*

Let's get the obvious out-of-the-way first, shall we. This movie...this fucking movie is a technical masterclass. Done. Dusted. Especially in terms of transferring such a lengthily planned vision for a follow-up from page to the big screen - you will question how much of it was even made, given how stagnant and formulaic a lot of modern movies have become.

No matter the scene if there's very little going on or it's at a point when it really peaks story or plot wise visually every inch of the screen that is presented makes anything you see in modern Marvel movies look like a student flick made on a shoe string budget. I know that will surprise nobody, but what is at times presented looks a hundred, no a hundred and ten percent better than anything else you can see on the big screen right now and it never lets up, ever. Water is of course the primary element here, and sadly because of it you feel as though you don't get to see as much of Pandora this time around as you did the first and the movie kind of suffers for it I will admit. Still what Cameron and his team have delivered here is nothing short of mind blowing, the sense of being amid the scene playing is pretty much second to none.

The amount of contrasting detail in a scene is truly unreal, you can focus on half a dozen oh looks there's something happening in the background or midground moments in any scene, and it's all presented flawlessly. Everything that you see looks like it had the exact same amount of meticulous attention given to it and considering it lasts for three damn hours that is an insane visual, technical and even cinematic achievement.

But this is an enormous but - all of this comes at considerable cost, and it's a cost that will really make some turn off completely from the experience the moment they notice it happening during viewing. That issue is that the true motion style fluidity of what you see occurring on screen is completely at odds with itself, depending on if there are actual humans set into any given scene. The best way to describe how utterly jarring this is - is to compare it to having scenes with humans set to 30 frames but then if it only revolves around Na'vi it looks like it is now set to 120 frames and you literally can tell the instance when the frames either rise or fall as one moment everything looks fantastically fluid and life like then suddenly look like it just got slowed right back down then sped up again. The worst aspect of saying this is I have little to no idea if this will be the same for all experiences, we only managed to get tickets for the standard 2D viewing, which could well explain it.

Saying all of this, Avatar 2 is a lot more emotional invested even though much of everything else feels oddly scaled back from the original the most memorable parts are often acting performance and not action driven scenes. It's all a lot more personal, character and family centric with an exceptional turn by the one and only Sigourney Weaver as young Kiri and also a mention needs to be given to whomever played the son Lo'ak. They were amazing. Do I think it is better than the first? I did not, not in terms of it being the complete package at least. As technically amazing as it looks *you will become obsessed with noticing stuff going on in the background at all times* and a lot more lets say spiritually captivating, I felt like there was something missing over the first, and it did not materialise come the finale. It was still very good and those three hours flew by, but it is one of those rare moments when newer Cameron could not compete with older Cameron *writing, storytelling, direction* even after thirteen years of planning and clear obvious technological advancement, only proving how truly special Avatar was for the time it was released.

The movie is still beautiful, it is emotional, certain scenes will have you gawking for far too long, and I think there are easily a few breakout roles included. Overall though, it really emphasises a great deal how parents can treat you with what many would deem as tough love when everything they ever do or say all comes down to protecting you, sometimes just from yourself.

The biggest and honestly nitpicking style negative I can give is that some of the human actors absolutely phone in their lines and the script for the humans was pretty much 90% horse shit compared to anything revolving around any of the Na'vi who give all the best lines and commit the best to all the true impact the movie has.
It's honestly a little distracting how bad some of them are, they straight up had me cringing and questioning how the fuck they even made the final cut of the movie.

A very solid 8.0 out of 10. Though it may not have the overall impact that the first had for the time, it is actually superior in many seemingly understated ways.

Spoiler

Oh and the various Cameron inspired Easter eggs of course were very fun to spot, you will know them a mile away instantly if you love his movies like I do. Also, Stephen Lang is pretty fantastic as a Na'vi but you get the sense he is very often holding back, and he's no longer as ruthless as he was in the first and the way they send him off will possibly annoy some but he really is meant to be the singular big bad for the majority of the movies so he loses a battle but has yet to lose the war.

Addition - Sam Worthington has always been seen as a bit of a zero charisma actor but seeing his performance come through in this as Jake I honestly am of the opinion that I can't think of another actor who could deliver his portrayal in the same way he does. A lot of his acting in this is far above anything in the original, but it is way more reserved along with it, Cameron does a lot of work with Na'vi and allowing both their eyes and body language to tell the story and it works extremely well, I was much more invested in Jake *and his sons, one in particular* this time around than I was the first.

[Rusty]

Avatar 2

Well, you made me want to go see it. So I bought some 3d tickets.

This really has to be the last 3D film I want to watch. It really doesn't bring anything to the film apart from distractions. It's brilliant in places but largely just got in the way.
I'd read about the framerate changes but I'm not sure they happen in the 3d version as it probably needs a constant rate to work but if it did I never noticed it.

The film itself is sublime, the CGI is fantastic. Everything felt real.

The story was absolute wank. Full of cliches, last minute saves and characters making stupid decisions.

Would still watch again, in 2D maybe in 4K on a TV rather than the cinema. I haven't been to the cinema for a while but I was glad at the silence during the whole 3 hour runtime. No silly people chatting or using phones.

I think both me and my son scored it a 6 out 10 and most of the score was for the visuals

[Hatredsheart]

Similar views to you Rusty mate

[Alan]

I did some short shifts on Xmas day, boxing day and new years day and as part of my recompense I got 2 weeks off and we've been watching a lot and renewed our cinema card. Off the top of my head, I'll keep them short -_-

Mad Heidi
I'll let the trailer say it all.


The Menu
Ralf Fiennes is a high end chef that throws very exclusive, very expensive, very secluded dinners on his private island. Things start going very bad. I really liked it. Its insanely daft in a lot of ways but its a very well made black comedy and Fiennes is perfect. Its always nice to see John Leguizamo getting roles!

Violent Night
Die Hard with Santa and a lot more blood and violence than I expected. Good fun, wouldnt rewatch but I dont regret the single watch. Also has Leguizamo!

Piggy
An overweight girl that is brutally bullied by the "pretty girls" witnesses said girls being kidnapped and decides to not tell anyone and how she deals from there. Its very good. I think it was a Spanish film.

Empire Of Light
Set in a cinema in the early 80's. Olivia Colman is suffering from mental problems, Colin Firth the sleazy owner and Micheal Ward as the new employee who is a black kid on a background of the rise of the skinheads. Its both an almost pornographic love letter to classic cinema projection as it is following Colmans personal struggles and how they all deal with the racism. Its clumsy and heavy handed but its not bad. All very well acted and Firth has some lines that will be seared on my brain. -_-

Alligator
For some reason the missus wanted to see it. She regrets her decision.

The Glass Onion
It was fine except the triggering of the climax seemed a bit.. overkill? Janelle Monáe again showing she's pretty great. I wasn't big on Knives Out I thought it was also fine but this is just more of that on steroids.

To Catch A Thief
Its daft sure but Cary Grant is always so watchable... as is Grace Kelly.

Holiday Inn
Its adorable and creepy in equal measures. Bing Crosby opens a Holiday Inn that only opens on major holidays and puts on elaborate shows while his ex partner Fred Astaire keeps trying to steal his woman basically. Weird blackface section (in celebration of Lincoln day....) aside, its schmaltzy fun.

Miracle On 34th Street (1947)
Just fucking adorable. Much better than the remake.

Theodora Goes Wild
Member of a strict church group writes steamy novels on the side. Its fairly typical but fun.

Hellbender
Two witches live in the forest and write metal music. Shite :p

A Slightly Pregnant Man
Great!

Funny Face
So big of old man Fred Astaire to fall for Audrey Hepburn in her prime even though she has such a "funny face". -_-

[Animalmother]

Fucking hell mate, a shorter list would be what you didn't watch..