What film did you watch last night?

Sleepless (2017) - 3/10

A formulaic action thriller with a weak plot, cliché characters and an inconsistent quality in the acting.

Some of the action scenes are ok, but the film takes a number of daft turns toward the end.

Nothing special or original, but entertaining enough.
 
Unlocked 6/10

Average, a couple of good twists. Orlando Bloom is annoying and gets a bit OTT at the end.

Oh, and the product placement was a bit excessive - Irn Bru everywhere :D

Also, this was filmed years ago, but only released now for some reason.
 
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The Founder - 5/10 - The story of how McDonalds was founded and became a world wide supplier of greasy food to kids :D Michael Keaton is extremely good in the lead role as the man who found a little burger shack with a unique selling point (your food in 30 seconds or less), stole it's identity from the owners and made it a global commodity. He plays his travelling salesman with the gift of the gab role just the right side of "slimy" and he play it so well that you almost feel sorry for him when he runs into issues, but knowing the outcome already removes most of the suspense from these situations. Some very good supporting roles too for the original McDonald brothers and his first wife but overall the story just felt a little long and dragged out, with the initial rush of excitement from the first meeting/contract rapidly giving way to mundane lawyer drama as the brothers battle for their restaurant back and it never really recovers from this slow down. Costumes and set dressing was amazing though, love seeing all the 50's cars and authentic period wear!
 
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Alien covenant:
I love the alien franchise/universe but absolutely despised Prometheus so had a lot of concerns going into this. Fortunately it kinda delivered - it's entertaining and enjoyable. Some odd choices and lacking some character development but still a 7/10 for me.
 
Guardians of the Galaxy 2. 7.4/10

Very entertaining. Not as good as the first but everyone flowed into their roles flawlessly.

Script was a little weak but did explain a couple of things from 1st film. I didn't like the way a few of the relationships developed felt very forced. But only small crumb of complaint. Great visuals (4k) and sound as usual. Looking forward to the next.

Alien covenant probably tomorrow in 4k as well only 160 baht :)
 
Alien Covenent - 7/10

Better than Prometheus but not as good as Alien & Aliens.
Did explain a lot as to how & where the Alien came from & had acouple of jumpy moments.
 
King Arthur legend of the sword. 8/10

Pure marmite. Do not expect a retelling of the original legend.
Expect east end thugs mixed with LOTR in a strange but sometimes comedic style.
Sir snatchalot or lock stock and 2 smoking Excaliburs.
 
midnight special - 5/10 - i mean it wasn't terrible but it didn't really go anywhere and had a pretty weak payoff. It needed to explain more stuff. Don't know how they got so many big names to do it.
 
Unlocked (2017) - 6/10

A serviceable spy thriller with well shot action scenes and a broad range of well-acted characters.

The plot isn’t great and is quite formulaic, and although there are plenty of twists and turns, they begin to lose their impact after a while.
 
Arrival - 7/10 - The marketing dept for this film should all be sacked immediately, then flogged, then shot, then flogged again!

It was advertised as an Alien Invasion style film (like maybe a "talky" Independence Day) where as it was nothing like that, which is why I think it's been so polarising with audiences. Instead of an Invasion film it's actually a beautifully shot and thoughtful piece on how language defines us and how understanding that can open up new ways of thinking so it's more of a "thinker" film than an "action" type. I thought all 3 leads played their parts very well, although TBF, Forest Whitaker had very little real emoting to really do. The Production/set-dressing etc was fantastic and some the US military base CGI was virtually perfect (still not 100% sure if the CH-47's were real or not) although the CGI for the other 11 bases was much poorer and the lack of story from those other sites, while integral to the story i.e. if we stop talking to each other, see how bad the situation can get, well it was a bit annoying as we only get 1 persons perspective but it's just a minor issue. However I loved the circular storyline and had no issues following it once the connection to the way the Aliens viewed time was found but I did feel that last 10 minutes (after the Chinese phone call) was a little too drawn out and the same effect could have been done in less time without harming the ending.
 
ianh said:
Arrival - 7/10 - The marketing dept for this film should all be sacked immediately, then flogged, then shot, then flogged again!

It was advertised as an Alien Invasion style film (like maybe a "talky" Independence Day) where as it was nothing like that, which is why I think it's been so polarising with audiences. Instead of an Invasion film it's actually a beautifully shot and thoughtful piece on how language defines us and how understanding that can open up new ways of thinking so it's more of a "thinker" film than an "action" type. I thought all 3 leads played their parts very well, although TBF, Forest Whitaker had very little real emoting to really do. The Production/set-dressing etc was fantastic and some the US military base CGI was virtually perfect (still not 100% sure if the CH-47's were real or not) although the CGI for the other 11 bases was much poorer and the lack of story from those other sites, while integral to the story i.e. if we stop talking to each other, see how bad the situation can get, well it was a bit annoying as we only get 1 persons perspective but it's just a minor issue. However I loved the circular storyline and had no issues following it once the connection to the way the Aliens viewed time was found but I did feel that last 10 minutes (after the Chinese phone call) was a little too drawn out and the same effect could have been done in less time without harming the ending.
Click to expand...

I've not read all of your post for fear of spoilers but, my take away from the marketing was far closer to a modern Contact than Independence day. A fact that leaves me with an interest in watching the film, another Independence day is about as big a draw as bad boys number X to me...
 
stewski said:
but, my take away from the marketing was far closer to a modern Contact than Independence day.
Click to expand...

Thats exactly how it "should" have been marketed as Contact is exactly the sort of film this is so if you liked Contact you might like this. However, if you watch the original trailer below it really ramps up the military/conflict side and even shows planes firing missiles at the Alien ships at the end in a direct copy of ID4 etc which is why it could have come across to many as a Aliens vs Humans story like ID4. Thats just my reading of the trailer though.

 
Hmmmm..... not sure how anyone could have watched the Arrival trailer and expected an ID4 type film.
95% of that trailer is slow talky thinky stuff which is exactly right, with just a couple of shots of planes and a single explosion.

Still, each to their own I guess. At least you still enjoyed it with a 7/10 :)
 
10 Cloverfield Lane

The hints to the original Cloverfield were what I found most interesting. In the end it turned out to be pretty run of the mill, and should have just been a standalone film.

6/10
 
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