Took my eldest to see Fantastic Beasts 3, it was fine, much better than the 2nd one, but probably a 6/10.
One thing though Jude Law's accent was all over the shop, there was his normal accent, a bit of American, bit of West Country... wonder if he'd been asked to try and sound like Michael Gambon and failed miserably?
It’s an easy watch - I quite enjoyed it.
Yeah, same, glad they went more light-hearted again like (bits of) the first one, the second one was a bit heavy.
My daughter absolutely loved it, which is the important thing!
Pattinson as Batman was excellent, also the fact we were constantly reminded he can't fly or shoot lasersout of his arsehole, very much showed the human vulnerability and the tollof doing what he was doing, took on his body. Andy Serkis was a good choice as Alfred, Zoe Kravitz was excellent as Selina Kyle, loved the guy who played the Penguin (just looked it up and found out it was Colin Farrell which is testament to how good the prosthetics were, had absolutely no idea!), I appreciated the allbeit re-hashed story about deep rooted corruption
I liked the fact we didn't again get the Thomas and Martha being killed backstory again, even if we still kind of did in a roundabout way.
The less good bits
I know he is the Dark Knight but the film was so dark, and much more in the feel of the Tim Burton films.
Didn't like Felix Leiter as Gordon, I didnt feel he had any depth of character at all, and I wasn't a particular fan of Paul Dano playing the riddler as much as I think he played it as well as he could but the whole gimp suit outfit and then sounding a lot like Tom Hardy doing Bane for chunks of dialogue made me long for another Batman film in that Nolan universe. Which is probably where my bias comes from, I thought he got the tone of Batman films absolutely spot on including the human vulnerability aspect. I hope the next film is lit better, less gothic but take that with what its worth, I think the Nolan Batman films won't be topped (even of I did think the first of the 3 was overhyped) so I'm very much biased in that regard
7/10
Just to say that I think this review/critique is very very good and very fair. I thought Dano was disturbingly impressive in the brief window he had a chance to shine, but as you say, his non-traditional Riddler garb deprived him of more moments to shine than the scenes he was in right toward the end of the movie. Looking forward to the sequel, but Nolan’s The Dark Knight will likely never be topped.
Saw Operation Mincemeat yesterday. A retelling of 'The Man Who Never Was' with Colin Firth being very, well, Colin Firth. Good true story, well told. Solid 7.
I saw a 1950s film called The Man That Never Was a while back on TV and I think it is the same story. It was pretty decent I thought. Is it worth watching the new one if you know the story?
I finally decided to watch 'Passengers' last night and found the concept fascinating. It led me to think about what I would do in his situation.
Would you wake another passenger?
I think that if I were on board I would probably try first to wake the lead character because he's an engineer, the aim being of course for him to get us both back into hibernation. In the film though he is not able to do this. So then would we decide to wake two female passengers? Would that lead to the harmony that they found in the film, or in-fighting?
The problem that wasn't explored in the film was the food that they were eating. If they both live for 60 more years then by my calculations they would eat over 7.5 per cent of the food stored for the 5000 passengers.
Stuck Together - French, quite charming, gentle comedy/farce set in a Parisian apartment block during lockdown. Presumably written and filmed during the first lockdown.
There was only one real lockdown in France.
For the second and third, we were allowed out for work, and generally there were quite a lot of people about although not as many as usual because most shops and all leisure facilities were closed. There were also curfews, outdoor mask wearing laws, and 10km travelling restrictions. The first lockdown was the only true lockdown.
Caught it with my daughter - she'd already seen it. The upside was I got some father/daughter time in, which was great. The downside was Uncharted. Really dumb film. The game was much better.
These are the films I've seen this year: (My marks tend to be quite high, because I'm a big fan of getting out and sitting in a comfy cinema with a coffee or a glass of wine).
House of Gucci 7 Big fan of Adam Driver. Didn't realise Lady Gaga was in it until half way through. She was ok actually.
Nightmare Alley 7 (Strange, but compelling film featuring much circus weirdness)
Parallel Mothers 6 (Penelope Cruz, solid, well made, but a little dull at times)
The Batman 7.5 Too dark for my taste, lighting wise. You might have your living room lit quite low, but your eyes and brain combine to compensate. If you light a 'living room' in a movie to the same light levels the camera does not compensate in the same way. It looks like everyone is stumbling around in the dark. Speaking as a former lighting cameraman I'm hoping this trend dies out soon. Nothing wrong with creating atmosphere, but overdoing it just looks wrong.
The Worst Person in the World 7 Quite enjoyed this at the time, but it hasn't stayed with me very strongly.
The Phantom of the Open 7 If you're a golfer you'll love this, as I did, but again, the interior scenes were underlit. Mark Rylance is brilliant.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Nick Cage) 8. If I'd been a massive Nicolas Cage fan (like my daughter) I'd probably have given this 9/10, but some of the reference to his previous movies were lost on me. An enjoyable romp, with a very strong bromance at the heart of it.
Fantastic Beasts3 8/10 Hadn't seen the previous two in the series, but found this quite uplifting in a low key way.
Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness I went in to this with not terribly high expectations. I enjoyed the first film when I finally got around to watching it, and I like the Dr Strange character, but the reviews were very mixed. However, I found it really enjoyable and gripping. The characters were well acted, the storyline was interesting (and as I've read elswhere it was supposed to be confusing, if you can follow a Christopher Nolan film like Origen or The Prestige, this is child's play), and there were some of the ususal funny one liners that make Marvel films so enjoyable. I certainly found it better overal than the Eternals, and while it wasn't up to the epic high's of the last two Avengers films, it was well worth the entry. And (sadly) a lot more fun as well as scary (ask my daughter) than tha latest Fantastic Creatures film. But then again, I went in with low expectations, which always makes it easier to be wowed. 8.5/10
Nightmare Alley, rented on Prime. I though this was a great film. It's three hours long but the time passed quickly. Brilliant film noir styling, Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett looking every inch like Hollywood stars of the 40s, well supported by Willem Dafoe and Toni Collette among others. A dark tale with carnival freak weirdness, should have won more awards in my opinion. 9/10.
Nightmare Alley, rented on Prime. I though this was a great film. It's three hours long but the time passed quickly. Brilliant film noir styling, Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett looking every inch like Hollywood stars of the 40s, well supported by Willem Dafoe and Toni Collette among others. A dark tale with carnival freak weirdness, should have won more awards in my opinion. 9/10.
Yeah, it turned up on the Disney Plus package, so I watched it when the rest of the family were out. Great story and acting, really good film.
Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness I went in to this with not terribly high expectations. I enjoyed the first film when I finally got around to watching it, and I like the Dr Strange character, but the reviews were very mixed. However, I found it really enjoyable and gripping. The characters were well acted, the storyline was interesting (and as I've read elswhere it was supposed to be confusing, if you can follow a Christopher Nolan film like Origen or The Prestige, this is child's play), and there were some of the ususal funny one liners that make Marvel films so enjoyable. I certainly found it better overal than the Eternals, and while it wasn't up to the epic high's of the last two Avengers films, it was well worth the entry. And (sadly) a lot more fun as well as scary (ask my daughter) than tha latest Fantastic Creatures film. But then again, I went in with low expectations, which always makes it easier to be wowed. 8.5/10
Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness I went in to this with not terribly high expectations. I enjoyed the first film when I finally got around to watching it, and I like the Dr Strange character, but the reviews were very mixed. However, I found it really enjoyable and gripping. The characters were well acted, the storyline was interesting (and as I've read elswhere it was supposed to be confusing, if you can follow a Christopher Nolan film like Origen or The Prestige, this is child's play), and there were some of the ususal funny one liners that make Marvel films so enjoyable. I certainly found it better overal than the Eternals, and while it wasn't up to the epic high's of the last two Avengers films, it was well worth the entry. And (sadly) a lot more fun as well as scary (ask my daughter) than tha latest Fantastic Creatures film. But then again, I went in with low expectations, which always makes it easier to be wowed. 8.5/10
I'm not much of a Marvel fan but my wife took my daughter to see this on Friday and they both thought it was brilliant.
Has anyone seen ‘Everything Everywhere all at Once’? The reviews are extremely promising.
Booked a preview screening for Monday. No idea of what to expect, but hoping to be pleasantly surprised
Saw it this evening. Not really sure what to make of it. Utterly bizarre, but entertaining in parts and a good few funny moments. I could rate it it 3 or 8, so strange was it. Edit: having slept on it, I'll give it 4. It probably suffers from following so closely behind Nightmare Alley
Bizarre. 4/10. That said, it does have a reasonable number of funny moments and it's not without merit. It's a total mishmash of elements, the title is fairly descriptive of the film. I found it dragged a bit in the middle, and it probably suffered from me having just seen Nightmare Alley which I thought was brilliant. If you liked Crouching Tiger I'm sure you would give this a higher rating than I have, so don't let me put you off too much, make up your own mind. I'm glad I went on a cheap night though
Caught it with my daughter - she'd already seen it. The upside was I got some father/daughter time in, which was great. The downside was Uncharted. Really dumb film. The game was much better.
Sort of similar experience for me. Watched it as a family, which I consider to be a result as my daughter is of the age where she doesn’t really want to do anything with us. The difference for me is I didn’t mind the film actually. Yes, it was totally stupid and laughably unbelievable, but we found it pretty harmless fun. We were all laughing at various points (often at how ludicrous it was, rather than the intentional comedy). Never going to win any awards, but it was ok as long as you don’t take it too seriously.
I agree the game is vastly superior though. Some storylines and liberties with reality just work better in a game context I guess?
Watched the new Doctor Strange film the other night. Think Marvel films are on a bit of a downward slope since the last Avengers one as (Spiderman aside) this film and most of the other new ones haven't been very good.
Comments
My daughter absolutely loved it, which is the important thing!
Would you wake another passenger?
I think that if I were on board I would probably try first to wake the lead character because he's an engineer, the aim being of course for him to get us both back into hibernation.
In the film though he is not able to do this. So then would we decide to wake two female passengers? Would that lead to the harmony that they found in the film, or in-fighting?
The problem that wasn't explored in the film was the food that they were eating. If they both live for 60 more years then by my calculations they would eat over 7.5 per cent of the food stored for the 5000 passengers.
For the second and third, we were allowed out for work, and generally there were quite a lot of people about although not as many as usual because most shops and all leisure facilities were closed. There were also curfews, outdoor mask wearing laws, and 10km travelling restrictions. The first lockdown was the only true lockdown.
🤣🤣 you had to wait awhile but feck it’s classic Tarantino at the end 🤣🤣
Really enjoyed it overall, a few bits which seem over the top but still worth watching and decent enough. 7.5/10
Thank you 🙏🏻
(My marks tend to be quite high, because I'm a big fan of getting out and sitting in a comfy cinema with a coffee or a glass of wine).
House of Gucci 7 Big fan of Adam Driver. Didn't realise Lady Gaga was in it until half way through. She was ok actually.
Nightmare Alley 7 (Strange, but compelling film featuring much circus weirdness)
Parallel Mothers 6 (Penelope Cruz, solid, well made, but a little dull at times)
The Batman 7.5 Too dark for my taste, lighting wise. You might have your living room lit quite low, but your eyes and brain combine to compensate. If you light a 'living room' in a movie to the same light levels the camera does not compensate in the same way. It looks like everyone is stumbling around in the dark. Speaking as a former lighting cameraman I'm hoping this trend dies out soon. Nothing wrong with creating atmosphere, but overdoing it just looks wrong.
The Worst Person in the World 7 Quite enjoyed this at the time, but it hasn't stayed with me very strongly.
The Phantom of the Open 7 If you're a golfer you'll love this, as I did, but again, the interior scenes were underlit. Mark Rylance is brilliant.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Nick Cage) 8. If I'd been a massive Nicolas Cage fan (like my daughter) I'd probably have given this 9/10, but some of the reference to his previous movies were lost on me. An enjoyable romp, with a very strong bromance at the heart of it.
Fantastic Beasts 3 8/10 Hadn't seen the previous two in the series, but found this quite uplifting in a low key way.
All seen at the Clapham Picturehouse.
I went in to this with not terribly high expectations. I enjoyed the first film when I finally got around to watching it, and I like the Dr Strange character, but the reviews were very mixed. However, I found it really enjoyable and gripping. The characters were well acted, the storyline was interesting (and as I've read elswhere it was supposed to be confusing, if you can follow a Christopher Nolan film like Origen or The Prestige, this is child's play), and there were some of the ususal funny one liners that make Marvel films so enjoyable. I certainly found it better overal than the Eternals, and while it wasn't up to the epic high's of the last two Avengers films, it was well worth the entry. And (sadly) a lot more fun as well as scary (ask my daughter) than tha latest Fantastic Creatures film.
But then again, I went in with low expectations, which always makes it easier to be wowed.
8.5/10
A dark tale with carnival freak weirdness, should have won more awards in my opinion. 9/10.
Edit: having slept on it, I'll give it 4. It probably suffers from following so closely behind Nightmare Alley
Not great but had this Palace moment
That said, it does have a reasonable number of funny moments and it's not without merit. It's a total mishmash of elements, the title is fairly descriptive of the film.
I found it dragged a bit in the middle, and it probably suffered from me having just seen Nightmare Alley which I thought was brilliant. If you liked Crouching Tiger I'm sure you would give this a higher rating than I have, so don't let me put you off too much, make up your own mind.
I'm glad I went on a cheap night though
The difference for me is I didn’t mind the film actually. Yes, it was totally stupid and laughably unbelievable, but we found it pretty harmless fun. We were all laughing at various points (often at how ludicrous it was, rather than the intentional comedy). Never going to win any awards, but it was ok as long as you don’t take it too seriously.
what a lovely well made film 8/10