Moviepass #35 Hostiles 4/10 - Haven't been more disappointed by any of the movies I've seen so far than this. Didn't think Christian Bale was that great and aside from a hot opening 5 minutes and the final 5 minutes there was about 100 minutes of nothing happening besides watching them ride their horses from New Mexico to Montana..

Short Term 12 - 8/10

Solid. Can’t believe she did “Basmati Blues”.

:wtf:

I don't think the release dates have much to do with it, these films all stand up very well aesthetically. Arguably Lethal Weapon looks dated in an obvious way and that's mostly due to the film being set within living memory where the mullet was in style and women wore absurdly formless, high waisted jeans.

I'm always surprised when I find someone who's sensibilities are so different to mine when it comes to films.
I tend to reserve ratings of 5 and under for films that annoy or anger me in some way. A rating of 5 or lower is just a varying degree of shit to me, so I find it hard to reconcile Dave's seemingly innocuous and inoffensive comments with his oddly low scores. Especially the Lethal Weapon one. If I find a film to be 4/10 I slag it right off before I mention anything it did right.

Blade Runner 2049. Fiftyleven/10. I loved it. Really hope they continue the story even though it bombed at the box office.

You should check out my earlier ratings.

The Shape Of Water - 9/10

The Villainess 7.5/10

The Post 7/10

The Post - 7/10

Solid and yet so boring.

Moviepass #36 The Post 6/10 was more impressed with Tom Hanks than Meryl Streep. But can confirm it gets boring. An extra point because it felt like it was shot in the 70s

That’s because it was shot on 35mm film via Panavision Millennium XL2 and similar cameras.

People don’t realize how better films look when they’re shot on film. I’m glad certain franchises like Star Wars, Star Trek, DC etc. are committed to the medium. Not to mention Nolan and Tarantino who have special screenings for film projection.

Also check out Kodak’s Reel film app. It’s quite handy.

Hostiles - 3.5/5

I meant more towards how some of the shots were done. There was a shot of the guy outside at a payphone and the pan and zoom in was straight out of a 70s movie

Gotcha.

Gods and Generals: 0/4 Stars

I watched the world's worst retelling of the American Civil War last night and by the looks of it there was a bit of cash behind it too. Robert Duvall and Stephen Lang should be thoroughly ashamed of this time in their lives...when a paycheck meant more to them than the abominable material with which they were working.
Politically speaking this film was fucking mental. Every black character in it (I think there were three) gets trotted out in some gross display of friendship and assistance to the noble confederate cause and in one particularly egregious instance they have Frankie Faison add an "s" to the end of his words to show how provincially charming(ignorant) and contented(grateful under white authority) he is. I think the message is supposed to be that if you are in the south long enough a kindly black slave will come and recite passages from the bible to you in thanks for the rewards the South has provided him.
It's all pretty gross.
Aside from the so-obvious-it's-just-fucking-nuts history rewrites we also get long periods of running. I mean lots of it. Running or marching on great big fields for extended periods of time. sure there's smoke and the odd crack and flash of suspiciously shoddy CGI gunfire but it's mostly just long shots of people marching followed by slightly closer shots of people marching. Then perhaps a bit of running and finally lots of lying down or standing up as two opposing armies stand 50 yards apart and blast hell out of each other for however long it takes until the quota of melodramatic camp has been squawked away by their badly written minor characters.
There's a fucking amazing bit where the union Irish and the confederate Irish just cry at each other as they get blasted to bits.

"They've been misled to their fates" says one of them.

I nearly pissed myself.

Other highlights include Jeff Daniels clearly being swayed into this awful tripe with the promise of a heroic supporting role and his constant running forward, light aluminium cavalry sabre in hand as he intermittently screams "double time lads!" and slows down to scream it some more with his back to the war.
Stephen Lang plays the infamous Stonewall Jackson with all the aplomb of a constipation turd hitting the toilet bowl, I'm not sure why he's even in it at all. He just runs about saying religious things and being the recipient of a humble slave's benevolence.
He also gets shot in the hand first thing in the war like a complete dickhead for waving his arms around to signal kick off.

It's not a football match Stonewall.

I have decided to use Roger Ebert's 4 star rating's system from now on. I think it's easier to show approval/disapproval this way. I was too sparing in my below 5/10 reviews.

Carlito's Way: 1/4 Stars

This was really bad. It was like Scarface but with an even dafter accent, Sean Penn with a novelty Jew-fro and John Leguizamo as the wettest baddie in a film since Taylor Negron's intentionally ludicrous turn in The Last Boy Scout. How come people rated Brian De Palma anyway? From what I have seen it's all camp gangster flicks about hispanic people using horrendous colour schemes in the backdrop.
The Untouchables was alright though.

Sicario - 8/10

Moviepass #37 Winchester 6/10 not really scary..and

Also

Moviepass #38 I Tonya 8.5/10 - best movie I've seen this year and one of the better ones out of 38 Ive seen. I barely remembered the whole ordeal and whether it was entirely true or not it was still a really fun movie to watch

Winchester - 7/10

A fun horror movie with a Gothic/Victorian setting, production design and Helen Mirren. Jump scares (of course). I've wanted to take a tour of the actual Winchester House for years but this made me want to more. A fun 90 minutes.

Morgan 3/4.

Pretty much a less artsy/up its own ass version of Ex Machina with bit more violence. That's what I gave to Ex Machina so I'll give it the same rating even though this robot was less sypathetic and harder to root for.

I remember laughing my butt off when I saw the trailer for the first time. The Mystery House is in my town and there is no way I can separate fact from fiction.

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters - 3 out of 5

Last third of the film is really great but overall didn't find it as good as recent films in the series.

I really wish I'd bought Shin Godzilla when it came out. I keep seeing clips that look fucking amazing.

Phantom Thread - 3.5/5

Your Name - 4 out of 4 stars

Spectre - 4/10

Quite forgettable.

Felt like he had zero chemistry with the Bond Girl in that movie, but we were supposed to buy in that he cared a lot more than usual about the girl.

You should see her in "Blue Is The Warmest Color". Her chemistry with the other actor is impeccable.

I don't even remember who "her" is

Ze French actress who played the Bond girl in Spectre.

Here's what Wiki has to say about it:

Sounds like they bonded over sheer hatred of the director.

Snowpiercer - 2/4 stars

I said in another thread that this film has the skeleton of a masterpiece but the fleshing out is so badly done that it becomes almost ridiculous.
I'm not sure why Tilda Swinton is in it, she's absolutely horrendous. That may well be the worst character in the history of film…a purposefully disdainful, repulsive performance that puts forks on china and nails on a blackboard to shame. There was no reason to have cut-rate Terry Gilliam rip-offs in there…it just destroys the credibility entirely.

Don't get me started on the logistics of a train track that connects every railway around the world either…or the preposterous concept of a train that pierces snow and ice drifts, rocks from side to side and yet remains speeding round the side of a goddamn mountain.

Alison Pill…just no.

I dunno what to say besides this: Snowpiercer is a mediocre film that could have been absolutely incredible. I was actually prepared to accept the round the world train track until they showed the fucking thing bouncing around like a Skalectric on amphetamines.
Ed Harris should have carried this film but they didn't let him. Everything it could have been got shoved out in favour of really weird teeth and little kids with fucked up accents.

Chris Evans might as well not have been in it really. His part could have been played by absolutely anybody.

To Live And Die In LA - 3.5/4 Stars

You had me at William Friedkin, William Petersen and Willem Dafoe.
This was the antidote to Snowpiercer. A funky little 80's number with great use of colour indoors. It reminded me a bit of Manhunter in parts though not nearly as intense in the visual.
I love any film that makes the story the star and this film did exactly that. You get some excellent performances but nothing too big and absolutely nothing to overshadow the plot. It seemed oddly realistic in moments that had a side of silliness…William Petersen seems to lose every fight he is in for example and no attempt is made to have him seem like a genuine tough guy or even a particularly streetwise or smart cop.
I think the message is that some people just have no idea when they are in over their heads and some people tend to bring that situation upon themselves.

The Cloverfield Paradox - 6/10

Some good visuals and some not-so-good pacing. It does work as a prequel to the 1st film - but sometimes feels slightly forced in that regard, in that tying it to the Cloverfield universe seems like it was added to the script - but not there initially. It's a better movie than most people will probably give it credit for.

Phantom Thread 7/10

An odd film; Daniel Day-Lewis is great as always.

Cloverfield Paradox - 2/4

Generic af

Hunt for the Wilderpeople - 8/10

Such a great film. :y:

Doctor Dolittle (1967) - 4/5

The Shape Water-10/10

Absolutely loved it. Beautiful love story. Everyone involved did a stellar job. It's funny, charming, cute, compelling and suspenseful. Can't say enough good things.

And fuck yeah fish sex.

Gandhi 3/4

A well paced retelling of the man's life and achievements though conspicuously devoid of any mention of his unsavoury bedtime temptations via the naked flesh of his young female kin.
I suppose if you become the face of a nation you can sleep with all the grand daughters you like.

Ben Kingsley was born for the role, obviously. It was nice to see him as a young stage actor brought into the motion picture industry and immediately successful in a role that he will always be remembered for.
Besides that the film has only one perfect scene, but it may be the most powerful scene I can remember having seen in my life. You'll know the scene if you have seen the movie, it involves Edward Fox standing before a court and it is faultlessly heartbreaking.

Creed - 8/10

I wasn't expecting this movie to be so beautiful.

The only downside is the unnecessary deaf bird. I still think Stallone deserved the supporting Oscar for that.

It was quite subtle. But I get what you're trying to say.

I just picked up a bunch of films for pennies.

The City Of Lost Children
The Beaver
Solaris
Drop Dead Gorgeous
Horns - seen
Memento - seen

The first three are films I have been wanting to see for years. I cannot quite believe that City Of Lost Children was just sitting there in the charity shop. I have been hoping to find this for aaaaages.

I just wish Solaris was the Tarkovsky original

Still really really liked it.

I haven't seen either but I missed a chance to see the original last year and I was disappointed in myself so I had to buy it when I saw it today.

I'm extremely excited about finally getting to see The City Of lost Children though. I genuinely have butterflies even thinking about it.

Moviepass #39 Greatest Showman 5/10

The Beaver - 3.5/4 stars

I gained another level of respect for Jody Foster after seeing this. More as a director than an actress - her performance was excellent however I was already a pretty big fan so it was great to see that this overlooked piece of pub trivia was actually something wonderful.

I think if anybody else had done this it would have just been bizarre but given the parallels with Mel Gibson's publicly played out fall from grace it seems to work very effectively off the back of that connection. I know it bombed but the story is a lot more believable than it looks from the outside. Once you open the door you are in the home of a desperately ill man who is both acutely aware that something is wrong and yet who cannot do anything to keep himself from self destruction besides talk through a Beaver puppet.
It sounds ridiculous and immediately looks so but it instantly becomes clear that you are going to spend the rest of this time with your eyes trained on the man holding the Beaver's face because there are several layers to a performance going on at the same time there (puppet at face value, puppet's intrinsic meaning and Mel's repression all combined) and it's something to see Mel Gibson take his acting into another level like that.
The main plot revolves around fitting his life back together around the puppet and the repercussions of this with his family. There is a sub plot involving Anton Yelchin playing the son and his interaction with a classmate played by Jennifer Lawrence where it's a little myriad of tropes that somehow avoid forming an overly obvious teenage love story.

I got a lot out of this film and I will be rewatching it very soon. I feel as though the film Ted may have ripped some of it off for the fight scene in the original Ted. The fight scene in this is brutal, not funny and should be seen as a precursor to the inevitable finale.

A great cast and what must be one of Mel Gibson's best performances.

That was way longer than I intended.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 8/10. Did not expect that from a Vince Vaughn movie. Had some brutal deaths that I loved.

It's so good isn't it!

Aw man the arm break...
Ugh!
Did you notice that nobody ever screams?
That scared me a bit more than any noise could scare me.

Fuck yeah, loved it. As someone who's broken their arm in half I know that pain. On the no screaming part I can also kind of relste as adrenaline is a nice thing to have in those instances. Fucking loved the end and the final shot.

Moviepass #40 Peter Rabbit - 6.5/10 was surprisingly decent

The male actor has had quite a career. Star Wars, Harry Potter, rom coms that don't suck, Ex Machina etc.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle-7/10

Creative approach to getting a sequel out of it. The cast has great chemistry and the plot is simple but fun. Kevin Hart and the Rock were made for each other.

I saw Apocalypse Now for the first time but I don't want to review it. It was intense.

It's intensely shit

The best part in a film supposedly about Vietnam but using the central theme to Hearts Of Darkness is the fact that the only decent line in Brando's flaccid, insipid and tragically overrated "improvised" performance was a line stolen verbatim from Hearts Of Darkness itself.

The whole film is a lie and it seems to survive as much off the horrendous production stories as it does the film.

Overall I don't understand all the praise it got, but there were some memorable for sure.

Also, I laugh every fucking time when I think about how they think they were gonna get handsome brando but got a fat, balding man. It's why all his scenes are in the dark. Also heard he refused to leave the tent so there's that.

Same as they were filmimg Moraue. HE found a random ice bucket and refused to take if off. And the midget idea was his also. "If I'm not getting a funny midget I'm not working".

Moreau was two actors trying to outdo each other in terms of demands, a bad director who was way off the pace and never would catch up and a studio that never had real faith in the project.

Richard Stanley is a penis anyway so it's no great loss.

And Coppola is an idiot. Like I mentioned, expected a handsome young Brando and Brando was in his 50s already and was famous for subtance abuse.

Francis Ford Coppola is easily the most critically beloved director with the worst resume in film history. Godfather 1 is a perfect film, Godfather 2 is regularly cited as the first perfect sequel... every film since then has ranged from mediocre to trash. I think Mario Puzo's story was going to become a great movie even if somebody else had directed it with their own cast.
America was ready for a hard organised crime adaptation and FFC was lucky enough to be there at the right time.

I might watch it in the future again. Some of the visuals were definitely remarkable. I don't want to form a strong opinion just yet.

I watched Ocean's Eleven in English for the first time since it's release. What a time capsule...back when Hollywood felt big and ze star cast :eek:

Sodeberg has made one film I love, one I liked a lot and one I didn't mind but he is another massively overrated director.

Last film i saw for the first time was star wars episode 8, the last jedi.

I would give it 3 out of 5

It was for me disappointing, but had its moments.

The Shape of Water - 8/10

Solaris - 3.5/4

Psychologically horrifying. This is one of those films that pushes my thoughts into existential turmoil and give me a horrible lead-filled-butterflies-in-tumble-dryer feeling. You know that feeling of total loss of equilibrium when you lie on your back and stare at the sky and suddenly you're falling forever?
That's what this film does to me. It does it in a good way though, as with lying down I know I can stand up again, I know that Solaris is only 94 minutes long.
Superb performances from the four main actors, Viola Davis in particular.
This is also one of George Clooney's most believable parts. He should play haunted characters more often, he's get an Oscar nod in an original performance like this nowadays.

*Soderbergh has made two films I love

Oh, hey, I haven't heard of that movie. I know the book was written by a Pole and that's it.

Immortal Love - 3/5

It's really really good. V surprised it doesn't have more of a following.

I know the author of the book has quite a following here.

Moviepass #41 Early Man 7/10 its funny but nothing special

Droford, why the fuck do you feel the need to type "moviepass" every goddamn time?

What the fuck does this even mean?

He is using the "moviepass" service to watch them. Something only in America where he pays a monthly or yearly fee and can go to as many movies as he wants. Maybe. Might be a limit.

Black Panther 7.5/10

Hes def getting his money's worth

"Go to" movies? So they show them in the cinemas or something?

Oh, those are all new movies, so I guess yes.

Yo! You’re killing my excitement, L Jaw.

Black Panther - 6.5/10

Went in with too many expectations. Try to avoid RealD 3D.

Clooney at his best. I get tired seeing him as a charming nice guy character all the time, he should murder more people in space.

I'm seeing black panther. Not the only white person lol.

This is the first marvel comic movie I've seen since the first Iron Man. Not big marvel fan

I'm actually using this to keep track of my ratings for all the movies I've seen lol. I'm too lazy to sign up for one of those sites

I've seen 42 movies (after today) for $120 and my yearly subscription runs through November so I should be able to go well over 100 movies on that $120. I'm averaging 7 movies a month not even trying

Well, that sounds like a neat deal.

I thought that moviepass stuff was just you being a pretentious cunt.

Moviepass #42 Black Panther 4/10 I can't be the only one that found it boring with the cliche king is dead/king comes back story. None of the fight scenes were that great (and can I take a moment to mention the guy tapping out in the first challenge fight...really?). The bad guy reminded me of one of the Usos...I'm sure for people invested in Marvel stuff it was probably better but I'd rather sit through Batman vs Superman again

Black Panther - 9/10

Hot Fuzz - 4 out of 5

Black Fuzz - 3/4

Hot Panther - 2.5 / 4

Black Fuzz would probably be more like 9 & 3/4

Most of the major chains in the UK do something similar to an “Unlimited Pass/card” (it’s actually called that at Cineworld). £17.90 per month, you’d have to go twice a month to make it worthwhile, which I don’t think I’d be able to do.

Black Panther - 7/10

The blew their CG budget on Rhinos instead character models for their climax.

Cineworld bought Regal here which is The only theatre I have available and I'm halfway expecting them to do it here.

Moviepass is 1 2D non premium movie a day every day. My regal charges up to $15 for weekend nights.

Groundhog Day 9/10