What film did you watch last night?

Anaconda (2025) - Disappointing. Thought with Black, Rudd and Thandiwe would be better. Not the worst film ever, the cast make it watchable, just - 5/10

Marty Supreme - Didn't quite get the hype after reading the reviews. Saying that it is an excellent film don't get me wrong, but for me it's more of a 4 star movie than a 5 star movie - 8/10
 
I watched a few over Xmas:

The Circle - rubbish. Thought it must be okay if it has Tom Hanks in it but clearly there's an exception to that rule and this is it. Emma Watson's performance isn't very good and her character can't seem to decide if she's against what the company she works for is doing, or wants to further it. Totally unsatisfying ending.

Relay - a somewhat interesting take on the whole "fixer" type action film which involved communication entirely through a phone relay service, let down by the twist at the end:
Lily James is too nice to play a convincing baddie

Novocaine - enjoyed this, over-the-top action with Jack Quaid from The Boys and Amber Midthunder from Legion and Prey. Just found out it was filmed in Cape Town which explains why it didn't quite look like the US and the cars were all wrong.

Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man - boring and slow. Not as good as the second one, which was nowhere near as good as the first one.

I also watched the Naked Gun trilogy, all great fun and packed with gags, and has made me want to track down the Police Squad series.
 
Finally got round to watching the last MI film - Final Reckoning...

Wraps things up for the overall series - but a bit disappointing as a film on it's own....I'm happy suspend belief for most action movies/stories but some of the underwater stuff was just ridiculous (surviving sub zero water temps from like 300m under water etc) and how the likes of Benji knew exactly how to hack one of the most secure places on earth by cutting the exact wires etc was just plain stupid.

Theo Degas character that joined their crew - just weird - why? what did he do/bring to the film? Very odd.

Overall - again some great stunts/action scenes - watchable for a Saturday nigiht.

Over 30 years - solid action movies, good entertainment but probably a couple of movies too far....

6.5/10
 
barmyllama said:
Primitive War (2025)

Jurassic Park meets Platoon in a Dog Soldiers type affair. Considering the budget it's very impressive.

But the dialogue, characters and even the music is so clichéd it comes across as almost parody.

The runtime is far too long for a B movie, this should've been done and dusted in 80-90 minutes. There are, what feels like, massive lulls throughout that feel more like time filler rather than character development.

There are certain scenes that are potentially epilepsy inducing with muzzle flash or lightning effects and I found them very annoying.

I also got some video game vibes with some of the camera work and a couple of Left 4 Dead type holding off the horde scenes.

Dinosaurs are impressive, putting the more recent Jurassic Parks to shame.

Overall, it's not great but considering the budget it has it's moments and the film makers deserve credit.

5/10
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Watched this straight after JW Rebirth, proper looking dinosaurs at long last. Agree with you about the rest, but I'd give it 6.5/10. Good Sunday afternoon film (if you don't mind a bit of gore).
 
Stayed tea-total over Christmas due to driving duties, but today I was nursing a muggy head after having a beer last night. Spent the day sprawled on the sofa watching Age of the Dragons (2010), a remake of Moby Dick that swaps the white whale for a white dragon.

Honestly, the film was a bit duff - though 10-year-old me would have loved it. The story was intriguing, the dragon looked decent, but it had the potential to be much better. 300 is a great example of how stylised lore and myth can be done right. Revealing the white dragon in the first five minutes was a silly choice, killing any anticipation, and a land ship with no engine plus only seven whalers to take down a massive beast was a stretch!

Much better to watch Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab in the 1956 Moby Dick.
 
Non-Stop (2014)

You know what, this would have been a 7/10 all day, I generally enjoyed it, nothing special but half decent typical crime/action movie, fine, whatever.

Up until the last 10 minutes when the plane started crashing and the **** CGI kicked in and went completely OTT, and nearly ruined the entire movie.

5/10
 
Finishing off the LOTR trilogy. I really noticed how much the extended editions made Gimley look like a bumbling oaf compared to the theatrical versions.

*****

The Lord of the Rights: The Two Towers (Extended Edition)

The saga continues, with Frodo and Sam struggling to trust their new 'guide' and the rest of the 'fellowship' trying to turn the tide in the war.

Excellent, with less menace than TFOTR but satisfying bombast that really hits hard; the battle at Helm's Deep is spectacular. Really though, the film is underpinned throughout by Gollum... who is very unsettling at points. For whatever reason, some of the GCI looked pretty bogus... particularly when Legolas jumps down a cliff to fight the riders on 'dog (?)'-back.

Bonus points for the extended scene showing Boromir standing up for his brother, which gives you more sympathy to both of them.

9/10

*****

The Lord of the Rights: The Return of the King (Extended Edition)

I'm very mixed on this. The bombast goes so hard that it ends up feeling like a Marvel film, with all sorts of spectacle that feels less engaging on rewatches than decent dialogue. Credit where credit is due... the oliphants showing up is a bit like the AT-ATs in Empire Strikes Back. You can't help but feel wowed.

This gets paired with an miserable and gruelling experience for Frodo and Sam... this succeeds with this for making me want the suffering to end, but it's because of this agony that the experience ends up collapsing under its own length. I wouldn't want to edit any of the famously 'never-ending-endings' but all of this together just feels like overload.

The 'low points' are also more obvious and prevalent here. Gimley gets two 10/10 lines ('.... that still counts...!' and '... what are we waiting for?') but comes across at a right doofus at other times with the 'bonus extended scenes'. The extra scene in the 'catacombs' with the cascading skulls doesn't really have any sensible purpose... and that irritating, dribbly tomato eater is distractingly unlikable.

It's a lot. The good is outstanding, but I seriously advise against viewing this in one sitting.

7/10
 
Relay - on Netflix or Prime I think - 8/10

Cant really explain much without ruining it but me and the mrs loved it till the very end



Poltergeist 1 - 7/10

Still stands up - maybe not the SFX but a great flick and lots of humour



Die Hard 2 - 8/10

As good as DH1 IMHO - both great films and good on a second/20th viewing



Flight of the navogator - 8/10

Got it on bluray and was gutted its got a stereo mix for the film even though its a 4k scan! Made worse when the behind the scenes is in 5.1 in DVD quality video :S

Film wise, its awesome :D
 
The Naked Gun (2025)

My wife found it far funnier than I did, I think I raised a wry smile a couple of times and that's about it. A remake nobody, old enough to enjoy this type of comedy, asked for. And I doubt it's the type of film would attract a new and younger audience. Pointless.

2/10

Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018)

After watching Rogue Nation yesterday, we definitely had to watch Fallout.

The peak of the franchise for me and it's very hard to find fault with and maybe this is where the franchise should've ended. Equally you can't blame anyone for wanting to make more. Especially with how dedicated Cruise appears to be when it comes to giving everything of himself to make the best films he possibly can.

10/10
 
so on channel 4 / maybe 5 was "clash of the titans" 80s version

only watched a little before going out, charming film, yeh the stop motion doesn't really stand up today, but still really watchable!

Had £5 free credit on amazon video, so rented the 2010 version with Sam from avatar.

Boy what a crap film, all charm lost - story retold (checked online, original one was more a kin to the legend) basically didn't work with out the fact that he was a demi god

Has there ever been a remake which has exceeded the original film?
(imdb has the 80s one at 6.9 compared to 5.8)
 
Modern 'Titan' movies have Rosamund Pike though in their favour which is a visual treat

Edit - sorry that's only wrath of the titans. Clash is Gemma Arterton I think.
 
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adencool said:
Has there ever been a remake which has exceeded the original film?
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Only one i can think of is The Fly. The original was ok back in the day, but the remake with Jeff Goldblum is so much better.

I would say that i think The Running man is better than the original, but that is a personal opinion as most people prefer the Arni version. I did like the original, but it was the hunters that let it down for me.
 
adencool said:
Has there ever been a remake which has exceeded the original film?
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The Thing
Little Shop Of Horrors
Oceans Eleven
The Fly
The Parent Trap
Scarface
Some Like it Hot
The Maltese Falcon
True Grit
Dawn of the Dead (Ok, not better, but as good)
Scent of a Woman
Ben Hur
Airplane! (which is a remake, of a remake)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
 
Only got to watch a couple of things recently.

Muppets Christmas Carol (with the restored song all in lovely shiny 4k.. thanks for that Disney) Still the best version of Christmas Carol.
Violent Night - Die Hard, meets Home Alone meets Santa. :D
Die Hard - because it's Die Hard and it's Christmas.

Also managed to sneak in viewing of the quintessential holiday film. No holiday is complete without it. The Great Escape. ;) Only had it on DVD until recently, so the 4k version is a very nice upgrade. Original mono track is good to have too.
 
Flibster said:
The Thing
Little Shop Of Horrors
Oceans Eleven
The Fly
The Parent Trap
Scarface
Some Like it Hot
The Maltese Falcon
True Grit
Dawn of the Dead (Ok, not better, but as good)
Scent of a Woman
Ben Hur
Airplane! (which is a remake, of a remake)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Click to expand...
I was going to say The Thing too, definitely better than the original. I'd also add Pale Rider, which is in essence a redoing of Shane.
 
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