I Just Watched (Films)

[Raid]

Deadpool and Wolverine

Oh thank god, there's still someone that works at Disney that isn't just a hideous, amorphous amalgamation of seventeen focus groups and twelve censor panels, or that at least hasn't been injected by whatever Mickey Mouse logo-shaped nanoprobes that they use and forced to serve the hive mind. I was genuinely worried that the Fox acquisition would have ruined this, but it's every bit as good, maybe even better than the first two. The additional budget mostly didn't make it feel disingenuous - there was one cameo that felt a bit forced and out of place (see spoiler text), but aside from that it still felt like a scrappy B-movie. I laughed my arse off throughout.

Spoiler

The cameo was Wesley Snipes as Blade. Every other cameo felt like a pick from the Marvel c-list, characters that had a cult following but that hadn't really made it to prime time, at least on the big screen. Blade though was a massive hit, and one of the three film series that really laid the groundwork for the superhero trend of the late 2000s and 2010s. If they'd had someone else play him it would have been fine because they could have made a joke out of it.

And, much as I've taken the piss out of Fox for putting their X-Men characters in black leather instead of their actual costumes, the Wolverine mask looked absolutely hilarious in live-action - in a way that absolutely worked ror this film, don't get me wrong, but I'm wondering if maybe they had a point after all.

[Snowy]

Alien Romulus - watched last night with very little in the way of expectations, with Alien and Predator movies generally being awful. Ended up pleasantly surprised - it wasn't anything close to Alien/Aliens but I would say it slots in around Alien 3 in the overall franchise order of quality.

I know Raid plans to watch it so won't give any details whatsoever of the plot. The cast are all young, I would guess twenties, and several have something of a jarring London pikey vibe, but I guess that's preferable to the usual casting of 'douchey/hipster Murrican'. They act it well, especially the lead and her 'brother'. It also introduces some new stuff to the canon, if stuff like that appeals.

Snowy's potted review: Worth a watch.

[Animalmother]

Monkey Man
Fun revenge film with Dev Patel set in India. The action is great but the pacing is a bit off and it's a wee bit too long. The most original knife kill I've seen in a film if nothing else.

[Alan]

Dear Santa
When a dyslexic kid misspells Santa, Jack blacks satan gets his Christmas letter. With hilarious consequences. Maybe. We made it like 15mins. The most painful dialogue this side of the room.

Smile 2
Better than the first. The main woman is really good and it’s a solid mainstream horror. It does have ideas above its station that it doesn’t land. It almost feels like they got an early look at The Substance and went “we should do some of that!”.

It’s A Wonderful Life
Still don’t care for Jimmy Stewart but there’s no denying it’s a good take on a Christmas Carol.

Last Holiday
Queen Latifah is given weeks to live so she decides to blow her money doing things she always dreamed of. It’s so 2000’s comedy but it has a heart and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

[Wrathbone]

Still don’t care for Jimmy Stewart

I… what?!

<clutches pearls>

[Alan]

Still don’t care for Jimmy Stewart

I… what?!

<clutches pearls>

It's his voice, it's just so whiny. He's in a pile of great movies but I hate his delivery.

[Wrathbone]

It's folksy. Folksy!

Sorry, it's just that I idolise him as an actor.

[Sly Boots]

It's folksy. Folksy!

Sorry, it's just that I idolise him as an actor.

I'm the same, in my younger years I went through a bit of a phase of watching as many of his films as I could lay my hands on. Mr Smith Goes to Washington is an under-rated classic imo.

And he's a bona fide war hero and was an all-round great guy by all accounts.

[Animalmother]

I'm with Alan on this, I always found him to be a bit irritating to watch. He also helped steal a scared yeti artifact from a Himalayan monastery in the 1950's. Abominable behavior...

[Rusty]

Terrifier trilogy. It's the most gruesome set of horror films I've ever seen and I'm not usually a fan of horror and gore, but the main villain is brilliant.

I like to think of him as a homicidal Mr Bean. Just don't get attached to anybody

Dear Santa Must concur, awful film, awful ending. I like Jack Black when he doesn't overact - and he's passable in this. The kids are bit wooden but occasionally say funny things.
It's just the whole plot and piss taking of dyslexia, buck teeth, weight etc just grates. Feels like a 90s teen movie - I wasn't even sure what age it was aimed at. Sometimes felt like a kids movie but then promptly deals with adult themes.

Very odd.

[Raid]

Violent Night

This is so obviously a commercial reaction to the gag of Die Hard being a Christmas film, but to hell with it, it works. It's simultaneously a bad-but-good action movie while still feeling properly Christmassy. Go into it with your expectations on the floor and it's excellent, and had me laughing my arse off in places. How many other action movies cut to the factually best Christmas Song for the credits?

[Rusty]

I found that last Christmas and it has now joined my yearly roster of films to watch

[Animalmother]

It Follows
The ultimate STD that manifests as a random person and stalks then fucks you to death. Enjoyable low budget horror that was pretty successful. It manages to be silly and creepy at the same time. There's a second one in the works I believe.

Moon 44
A 1990 sci-fi that is never heard of directed by Roland Emmerich. A group of prisoners are being trained to fly helicopter gunships on a mining moon under attack from another cooperation. The story is shite, the acting is passable and the action is lacking. But the effects are a wonderful use of sets and miniatures that reminded me of Aliens or Blade Runner.

The trailer doesn't do the actual quality of the production justice. The quality of the dialogue is pretty accurate through.

[Rusty]

Been off work the last few days with cold/flu. I can't concentrate enough on new films so sought out some oldies to comfort me.

Happy Gilmore
An actually passable Adam Sandler film.

Signs
I recalled thinking this was OK back when I first saw it but on rewatching the whole plot is silly shenanigans. The acting is great. I thought one of the kids looked familiar and after a quick IMDB found it's Macaulay Culkin's brother.

Payback and Ransom
(not entirely random the last 3 films have been Mel Gibson as he was pretty prolific in the 90s and early 2000s

Payback is a fun crime/revenge caper. The opening 5 minutes of the film paint the protagonist as a complete asshole so wasn't sure if I was supposed to cheer for him later on (I think we're supposed to). Luckily the action and script is pretty funny (it's supposed to be) and ends weirdly... I do wonder what it actually meant.

Ransom is Mel shouting at kidnappers a lot and getting the 'better' of them through psychological warfare with the stakes being his son's life. I didn't regret watching it.

Carry-on
Sounded like a new carry on film: Carry on up in the skies.
But no, it's a new film with Taron Egerton (the bloke from Kingsman and Rocketman, both great films) being an airport security guard forced to comply with a nasty Jason Bateman.
It starts of being quite passable and tense but then dissolves into utter dribble like a cheap Die Hard 2 knock off. The script pretty much forgets what to do after the first half and just makes stuff up the rest of the way.
Painful to watch.

[Wrathbone]

Signs
I recalled thinking this was OK back when I first saw it but on rewatching the whole plot is silly shenanigans. The acting is great. I thought one of the kids looked familiar and after a quick IMDB found it's Macaulay Culkin's brother.

Signs is great fun - I've watched it a fair few times. The scene where Joaquin Phoenix is watching the news is done so well. But yes, the plot is daft. Swing away, Merrill!