What film did you watch last night?

Watched the two Timothy Dalton Bond films this week.

The Living Daylights - much more violent realistic and less funny than Roger's outings, even had some brief nudity! Shock! 3/5

Licence to Kill - much more violent again, was a 15 certificate and had more blood than all of the previous films combined. Not that I am complaining, just stating that the films took quite a change in direction to distance themselves from the old (57 years old!) Roger Moore era. 3/5 too
 
Ghost in the Shell (2016) - 5/10 - Not especially good or bad, just average. Once you get past distraction caused by the "nude-ish look" skin tight body suit Scarlett Johansson (aka The Major) wears in some scenes (difficult I know) you find a film that's a very pale imitation of the original anime on which it's based. The plot has been seen before (corporations removing peoples rights) and the character of the main "bad guy" is so paper thin it's no surprise the actor playing him had nowhere to go but to ham it up.

In fact the acting/script was pretty poor all around. The only actors who I felt came out well, had sufficient back story and felt well acted and fleshed out people not just actors, were Juliette Binoche's "Dr Frankenstein" style inventor/doctor and Pilou Asbæk who played Batou, the Majors friend/work partner. In fact Pilou Asbæk (also known as Euron Greyjoy in GoT) was the best character in the film for me, as the top billed A-List star Scarlett Johansson was pretty bland TBH, almost "Lucy" bland. I really don't know whether that was a deliberate choice (to make her seem more robotic that human) or just a poor acting choice, because even in the most "what does it mean to be human" scenes there is no believable engagement between the character and the actor.

As for the rest, the CGI is extremely good in most places with only a few dodgy parts. The world felt real enough, almost like a cleaner/lighter BladeRunner and visually the film was a winner but it all, felt let down by poor acting choices & a "seen it all before" script, which is a big problem when you're remaking a film 20 years later.
 
John Wick 2 7/10

Never going to set the world on fire but I really like the gun play in these films, very crisp and calculated. Good fun, predictable, bang bang action film that allowed me to switch off and enjoy for 2 hours. Not sad I rented it for £1.99.

Extra point for dog envy. Wish my dog was as well behaved as his.
 
John Wick 2 - 6/10 - Sometimes "more" isn't always "better". The first film came out of nowhere and I absolutely loved it but I wish it had just been a single film because John Wick 2, while entertaining enough, felt more like a remake rather than a sequel. While Keanu is still the most visually impressive actor/stuntman in Hollywood (only Tom Cruise gets close), watching him dispatch an army of nameless/faceless goons in the same old way just didn't feel as exciting or fresh as with the first film. In fact I'd have rather that this film was the Mythical "How John Wick got 'out' in an impossible mission" which seems a lot more interesting than this was. However, while that may sound highly negative there was still a lot I really liked about this film and it's expanded world which we're now seeing more of. Keanu is still amazing, the stunts are fantastic if a little repetitive and some the "removing the camera from the shot" CGI work in the house of mirrors is stunning. So overall more of the same which is starting to get a bit stale but is still a visual stunt-filled rollercoaster.

Kong Skull Island - 3/10 - Thats 3 marks for the amazing CGI only, the rest of the film was a 0/10 all day long. Horribly miscast actors, horrible script, horrible direction, horrible acting from "A-List" actors who should have known better with the exception of John C Reilly. I worry about the "Kong vs Godzilla vs MUTOS" film the ending setup because while I liked Godzilla, this film was a mess and if the sequel is treated like this garbage was it'll kill the franchise dead.

Colossal - 6/10 - I really loved the first 1/2 of this film which was an easy 8/10 for me but 2nd half, with its twist as the former friend starts to get all "manipulative stalker" (which would have been good if the film was only about Anne Hathaway going home to refocus her life) really threw the "Monster" part of the film away. I though both leads did a fantastic job and Jason Sudeikis played the transition from Friend to Enemy extremely well, so much so I'd actually like to see him do this again in a proper psychological thriller film. While the rest fo the small cast did OK the weakest role was that of Hathaways boyfriend played by UK actor Dan Stevens who did little with the role. The direction seemed good and the Monster CGI, for such a limited budget, was extremely well done. I suppose I'd have given the film a higher rating if the trailers etc (which had bypassed the descent to stalker) had let me know before hand that this film ended up as a psychological stalker style film which wasn't the ending I was expecting.
 
So 5/10 being average..
Last weekend - Atomic Blonde - great 1980s retro movie, 7/10.
Tonight - The Hitman's Bodyguard - the leads on this were having fun and it shows, really good laugh - 8/10.
 
Battlefield Earth 2/10
Think this has been voted one of the worst films ever made , not quite the worst film i have ever watched but wouldn't mind watching a uncut version as it seems a bit disjointed at times.
Travolta & Whitaker are great though , i can imagine watching this high on narcotics and laughing myself stupid.
 
The Space Between Us: Boy accidentally born on Mars comes to Earth. I nearly gave up on this so many times. The romantic parts work well, the serious sci-fi parts (such as they are) don't. Asa Butterfield looks like a tall skinny child, having trouble with earth stuff, Britt Robertson just looks far too grown up for him. Carla Gugino and Gary Oldman are great as usual, but this just shows up Butterfield's clunky acting. The problem I had with this is they try so hard to make him an alien coming home, and it just doesn't come off. Sure, he's never seen rain or the sea, but when it's convenient he's never been socialised or trained to interact with the hundreds of people living on Mars. They keep making a joke that he's "been raised by scientists", but they would have developed a teaching curriculum for him to be able to grow up like a real boy, not this poor attempt at a pinnochio. They can do all kinds of advanced stuff like put nanotubes into his bones, but they can't put a pump in to help his Mars-raised heart (we can do that today). Cars in the future are easy to steal with a smartphone, but can't be disabled remotely. They travel all over by car to make it a road trip, but those pursuing in planes and helicopters never seem to be able to catch up to them.

Eye In The Sky: An attempt to capture, then kill some top terrorists via a drone strike gets mired in politics when a child is at risk. Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman are great as usual, but it all comes down to how terrible our politicians are. The soldiers are willing to sacrifice collateral damage to stop dozens more being killed in suicide bombings, but none of the politicians are willing to make a decision and take responsibility. They'd rather weep over 80 dead and point the finger at the terrorists, than risk one child getting killed and being blamed for it politically. I'm not sure what message to get out of this film - maybe that there are no good choices in a difficult situation where you have to sacrifice a few innocents to save many innocents? That our armed forces are hamstrung by weak politicians? If you give people massive hoops to jump through, they will find ways to bend the rules to do what must be done? We must all make sacrifices for the greater good - as long as it's not my sacrifice?
 
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FurryLemon said:
The Girl With All the Gifts - Typical uninspiring zombie nonsense. Weak story, acting and atmosphere. One to avoid unless you like the genre A LOT.
Click to expand...

I'm a massive zombie fan and really enjoyed reading the book.
But I agree the film was a massive let down. Seems to happen that way with most horror films
 
Independence Day Resurgence.

As a standalone brain out film it wasn't too bad, guide funny (not sure if intentional or not) in places, but as a followup to the first it just didn't fit, completely different style of film.
 
Kong: Skull Island - thoroughly enjoyed it to be honest - not the greatest casting and the script was a bit wobbly but some great action sequences showing off the main attraction (ie. the monsters themselves) - 8/10

Baywatch - One of those films that was so bad I enjoyed it! 6/10
 
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