What film did you watch last night?

Licorice Pizza (2021) - 7/10

A feel good romantic comedy drama set in 1970’s America.

Great performances from the very likeable leads as they progress through their love/hate relationship, but the story doesn’t go anywhere for the longest time and even by the end, you may be wondering what the point of the film was.

Still, the events are entertaining if a bit random and provide some good context and nostalgia for the era.

Enjoyable and with a good soundtrack.
 
Watched about half of the new Resident Evil a few weeks back, forgot about it, put it on again last night, watched another 10 minutes and switched off again. Honestly prefer the first Paul WS Anderson movie to this.

Some nice easter eggs ofc for game fans and does seem faithful in setting but apart from that, utter rubbish.
 
A late review of Dune (the wife wanted to re-read the books again), and it was pretty good. A few small things were moved around, but it was a visual and aural tour de force. The actors were good, although Timothy Chalamet only just carries the part of Paul Atredies by dint of the fact that the character is a fifteen year old boy who's highly trained, but also quite sheltered in his life of privilege. Everyone around him has more screen presence except for Zendaya, but she's got very little to do, so is well within her acting abilities.

The experience in terms of visuals and sound are immense. As with other Villeneuve's films, there are just so many moments when what's on screen is iconic, powerful imagery, and the otherworldly nature of the setting lends itself to that.

The biggest problem I had with the film is that nearly all the internal monologues are gone, so much of the background info is lost. So many films nowadays do "tell, don't show", so I'm torn about this, as it's much better when films do "show, don't tell", but so much seems to have been moved to the immense visuals and audio, and some of that internal monologue is not just character, but also background and world building, and it doesn't always translate.

Some of the best lines were also not present ("For the father... nothing"), and even the Litany Against Fear was only half mumbled. A lot of this wouldn't affect you if you've read the books, as you'd already know the background info that wasn't in the movie. Many important parts (such as Yeuh, the Emperor, Baron Harkonnen, etc) were just glossed over and not explained fully.

All in all, it's a great adaptation as long as you're willing to lose the finer background details in exchange for the visual and audio immensity that Villeneuve brings.
 
The Father (2020)

Hadn't heard of it until it came up as suggested on the Fire TV. I took a punt on it as it starred Olivia Colman and Anthony Hopkins, two actors I love watching.
Glad I did. A rather sad and short story, about a man suffering from dementia being looked after by his daughter, but an excellent watch with some outstanding acting. Really highlights how terrifying it must be to suffer from dementia. One of the best films I've seen over the past year or so.

9/10.
 
Dark city 8/10
Has quite a bit in common with the matrix, even down to using some of the same sets. Dark and creative film that holds up well today. Especially as most modern films are rubbish reboots and sequels. Oh and Melissa George and Jennifer Connelly are worth an extra point too :p
 
Halloween Kills - 5/10

Pretty poor follow up really to the first modern take on Mike Myers. Seemed to mainly consist of a hapless vigilante posse running round Haddonfield, progressively getting offed in all manner of ways which allowed the SFX department to go to town on squashed heads and gouged eyes etc. The last ten minutes were laughable
MM down but definitely not out, so instead of cutting his head off or torching the guy to actually try and finish him, what was left of the posse stood around holding their metaphorical yanks until the inevitable happened, paving the way for movie No.3
Jamie Lee Curtis definitely taking a back seat on this one too, after being the lead character in the first movie.
 
The 355 - Not great, not crap. Doesn't deserve the panning it's been getting. A couple of hours of decent action with five hot chicks with guns. Good enough for me! 6.5/10
 
Dark city 8/10
Has quite a bit in common with the matrix, even down to using some of the same sets. Dark and creative film that holds up well today. Especially as most modern films are rubbish reboots and sequels. Oh and Melissa George and Jennifer Connelly are worth an extra point too :p

Iirc dark city came before the matrix? I still need to get round to watch it!
 
Back
Top Bottom