Arrival. 2016 7 / 10
My wife and l were at a bit of a loss for things to see recently, as our choices in Sumatra are limited. She chose Arrival over The Great Wall. This is an intelligent, well made movie, which has a message about how we might deal with first contact with alien beings. Those dealings range from the scientific to suspicious to downright hostile. Amy Adams holds down the fort as a linguist and the only person capable of communicating with the aliens. Jeremy Renner’s character as a world class physicist is never really developed, all that well, and he spends much of the film agreeing with her, but providing next to no insights. The film does have a human dimension as well based on the death of Adams’ daughter.
After the movie, l asked my wife what she thought of it. she said it was okay, but not great, but l noted that we both paid close attention as we watched it closely, even if for different reasons.
Death count?
Death count?
For Allied? A dozen or so in the assassination scene, others in the air raid scenes, a dozen or so in the jail scene and at least another 3 in the closing scenes.
Not huge.
Went and saw Allied tonight. Pretty good.Brad Pitt is an Allied agent who’s sent to Casablanca to meet up with French resistance fighter, Marion Cotillard, to cause havoc there and assassinate the German ambassador.
They do so, and return to England where they marry and have a baby. Then just before D-Day, he’s told his wife is a German agent and if it’s proven to be true, he has to execute her.
This is the film where Pitt’s psycho wife, Angelina Jolie, decides that Brad is being unfaithful with Marion which both deny.
Saw Allied yesterday, and it was boring.
Was like a dramatic version of Mr and Mrs Smith, and was too long for the weak story line. The scene where Pitt and his future missus gunned down the Huns in Casablanca and then drove away had little credibility, as was Pitt flying to France to interrogate the one-armed man in the local jail, and then killing a truck full of more Huns.
Should have known better to go to a movie where Brad Pitt played a “dramatic” role. Angelina has more acting ability than him, yep that’s how bad it was.
Not sure if I posted this already but … Passengers wasn’t as bad as I expected. And I was glad someone finally did something about trailers spoiling the movie…
The Accountant is a bad movie with a good idea trapped inside. Something wrong with the script and or plot and or editing.
Untill he apologises for gigli I will never rate Affleck. Academy awards or not.
He’s an ok batman in a shyte dc universe.
Why Him? 2016 4 / 10
This one l will blame on my wife, who saw the previews before Christmas and has been chasing it around the place ever since. Franco is a bit over the top, even though his character calls for it. The main problem is the script. It takes too long to establish the positive side of his character. Meanwhile, Brian Cartland comes off sounding like a neo-fascist. None of the characters are all that well developed, although the basic idea behind the plot has some merit, it is not well developed. Looks like it was made adolescent males, and that is too limited a demographic. Despite the obvious weaknesses, there are some genuine lols. Could have been much more.
Passengers was ■■■■
Not sure if I posted this already but ... Passengers wasn't as bad as I expected. And I was glad someone finally did something about trailers spoiling the movie...The Accountant is a bad movie with a good idea trapped inside. Something wrong with the script and or plot and or editing.
Passengers was actually quite different from how it looked in the trailers. I was expecting a blockbuster, but it was almost a romance/drama set in space. Thought it was good but not great. Did create a great question about what the viewer would do if we were in his shoes.
Saw Assassins Creed. Was ok at best. Any scene when he was an assassin were the highlight. The back in reality scenes were pretty average. I think i only played the games once so i have no idea if it stayed true to the storyline or not. But it felt really muddled in parts
We saw an Estonian film called The Fencer at the Nova last week. Enjoyed it a lot.
During WW 2 Estonia is occupied by the Nazis and the young men are all drafted into their army, including a young student who happens to be a champion fencer. (Swords, not palings.) Then after the war Estonia is taken over by the Russians who go after all the Estonians who went into the German army and sends them off to labour camps in Siberia.
The young fencer goes to hide out in a remote town and takes a job as a teacher. The kids have no sports equipment at all, but he makes some foils out of tree branches and starts to teach them to fence, and they love it. They become good. Then the dilemma: does he take the kids to Leningrad to participate in a big competition, where he runs a big risk of being recognised and arrested, or does he play safe and stay holed up in the town and disappoint the kids?
There are no surprises in the film, but it’s very nicely done and the entire audience of approximately 10 people left the cinema smiling.
It will pop up on TV before too long. Well worth a look. 7.5/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH3OxVFvTeg
Holy moly how many of them can they make.
PassengersWhat a yawn. Chris Pratt is one of 5,000 passengers on a 120-year spaceship journey to resettle a new planet. All passengers are in hibernation and meant to stay that way for 119 years and 8 months. Unfortunately for Chris he wakes up 90 years too early due to a malfunction in his hibernation pod.
What ensues is a dull 1.5 hours of tedium as Pratt and later Pratt and Lawrence wile time away on their space cruise ship. There’s a laughable crisis sequence towards the end of the film but I’d lost interest long before.
This film could have been more interesting as it did raise an interesting moral dilemma. However, it can’t overcome it’s extremely thin story which is inexplicably stretched to 2 hours.
Perfect context for a “Lifeboat” type scenario by the sounds.
One of Hitchcock’s lesser known films, but one of my favourites:
“Several British and American civilians, service members and merchant mariners are stuck in a lifeboat in the North Atlantic after their ship and a U-boat sink each other in combat. Willi (Walter Slezak), a German survivor, is pulled aboard and denies being the U-boat’s captain. During an animated debate, engine room crewman Kovac (John Hodiak) demands the German be thrown out to drown. However, the others object, with radioman Stanley (Hume Cronyn), wealthy industrialist Rittenhouse (Henry Hull) and columnist Connie Porter (Tallulah Bankhead), who speaks German, succeeding in arguing that he be allowed to stay. Porter, initially alone in the boat, had managed to bring her luggage with her, and her primary concern at first is a run in her stocking. She is thrilled at having filmed the battle between the two vessels, but her movie camera is the first in a series of her possessions to be lost overboard in a succession of incidents.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH3OxVFvTeg
If it lives up to the comics… heck yes. Last Wolverine film with Jackman and it should never contemplate being made with another actor.
Saw a preview for a film called split about a guy with multiple personalties, looks really good
M. Night Shamayalan.
Just saying…
M. Night Shamayalan. Just saying...
Split has actually received some positive reviews for a change.
Been flying…
Snowden
Terrific. Scary stuff going on in the real world. More than a little disappointing that nothing has changed. Guess overall we don’t really care for privacy over just doing what we do day to day.
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
Cruise is miscast in this role. The original Reacher in the books is a tall, solid menace of a man that can intimidate the room with his presence. That’s why he doesn’t use guns. Cruise just looks like an idiot. The film was just okay, but I don’t watch Cruise for just okay. Tried to tell too many stories I think. Meh.
The Shallows
Has moments of really good suspense that are completely undone by every moment the shark is on screen. It’s dumber than it needs to be which is a shame. Okay otherwise.
Watched Blood Father last night, was pretty good. Unbelievable tripe but I like Mel Gibson, reckon it should have went half hour longer.Gibson could easily pull off another mad max. In this role he was a cross betwen Martin Rigs and mad max I think he's been working the arms a bit, He looked very fit