Last Movie You Watched.

Spider-Man : Homecoming - a definite improvement over the last Tobey Maguire and 2 Andrew Garfield flicks, this sees the wisecracking web-slinger pretty much back on form.

War For The Planet Of The Apes - Serkis and the CGI are as brilliant as ever, but this is much slower and a lot less 'action-y' than the 'War' in the title would lead you to believe. For me, an ultimately disappointing end to the reboot trilogy.

The Lone Ranger - a little overlong and meandering, but still decent fun. Armie Hammer suffers nobly as the titular Western hero, and Johnny Depp's Tonto is a hoot.

Dunkirk - this has probably been critically over-praised, but it's still pretty good.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Dunkirk - this has probably been critically over-praised, but it's still pretty good.

Though I'm interested to see it, I thought as much.

Baby Driver. Excellent film. There's an edge and vibrancy to it that's been missing from action films lately. The Bond team could learn a thing or two from this movie regarding car stunts. bitchcraft, you'd enjoy it, I imagine.

Maps To The Stars - David Cronenberg-directed Hollywood bullshit-skewering satirical drama, with Julieanne Moore, John Cusack, Mia Wasikowska and Robert Pattinson.

Every character is deeply unsympathetic so rooting for any of them is tough, but there are still some (very) dark laughs to be had.

The Great Escape (1963)

Brilliant film, and the near-3 hour runtime breezed by. Anyone know if John Sturges was ever in consideration to direct a Bond film? He excelled in both drama and action.

Bride of Frankenstein.

Incredible film, the very epitome of how to do a sequel right...the lesson is here in 1935 and not just the embryonic ideas but the whole kit and caboodle. Character, story thrills, comedy, and even horror (I say 'even' as today we are desensitised to so much of what would have been horrific here) - great score too.

Oh while on the subject of sequels

John Wick Chapter 2

Very entertaining, a little less than the original (mostly in so far as it occasionally overplays its hand) but what it does do very well is create its own universe without allowing it to derail the main narrative - Marvel and DC's in particular should take note.

Kong: Skull Island

Twas ok I guess, too much cgi left the action seqiences without bite though occasional flashes of spectacle did emerge. A bland set of characters wandered throughout with none really emerging as noteworthy or memorable.

I'm debating whether to give it it a 5 or 6 on imdb...

Dunkirk

Tense and atmospheric, but at times it felt like the intercutting between the various storylines was too frequent. A cinematic feast for the senses, nevertheless. By far my favourite aspect has to be the absence of CGI. Funny that actual planes look realer and create tenser situations than literal cartoons defying physics and causing great big yellow-and-orange video game explosions every few seconds.

And that persistent ticking was truly something.

I note that Teh Grauniad and others, in addition to the usual complaints about the dearth of ovary-bearers and darker melanin-bearers, are crticising the relative "bloodlessness" of the film. Frankly, the contemporary obsession with graphic violence is unsettling, at best. I've just finished Westword and, though I liked it, I really do hope the studio received a discount after the fiftieth gallon of fake blood they ordered. We all know that war is a gory spectacle and there's certainly a place for films that don't hold back on that front (eg. Saving Private Ryan) but I think Nolan made the right decision by focusing on a few heroic men and a few heroic deeds rather than satisfying the post-Game of Thrones bloodlust for mountains of severed limbs and disemboweled torsos.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Dunkirk - this has probably been critically over-praised, but it's still pretty good.

Did the job for me, good movie!

The Skin I Live In - Pedro Almodovar-directed thriller with Antonio Banderas as a plastic surgeon experimenting with creating synthetic skin in the aftermath of his wife's suicide following the terrible burns she suffered as a result of a car accident.

That's only scratching the surface of how dark and twisted the story becomes.

Shin Godzilla (2016)

Japan's first Godzilla film in 12 years and it didn't disappoint. I've long wanted a new Godzilla film in the same vein as the original film and Godzilla '85 and this film absolutely delivered on that. It's actually a bit more of a political drama at times than just a Godzilla film as this one really takes you inside and out of the Japanese government and their potential response to what would something like a Godzilla attack be like as well as the international implications of such a thing. Of course like the original was an allegory of the Nuclear bomb this one seems to based around the political disarray after Fukushima and Japan's current position in the world. Godzilla himself while still very much the original and true Godzilla in spirit and roar (they used the original Godzilla sound effects and music for this film which as a fan was just a delight to hear) has been given quite a makeover being an ever-evolving large organism that started out as an amphibian creature who's only able to crawl when he gets on land but finally by the last attack is able to not only go back to his old stomping on everything in his path but is also able to fire laser-like beams out of his spine and a hole in his tail. The amount of scenes with Godzilla are plentiful enough with his appearances coming in cycles each with him having evolved more and more especially during the second attack in Tokyo at night which actually was a bit unsettling as it really drives home that Godzilla is a walking Atom Bomb with Godzilla bending down and essentially coughing up a wave of fire turning an entire district of Tokyo into an inferno within seconds. All this is also helped by some really terrific directing by Hideaki Anno who's mainly known for an anime series called Evangelion. Overall this was a very well-done and meticulous mix of monster attack and political drama bringing the series not only back to it's original creation but back to the overall genre's nuclear scare roots.

The Peacemaker - hadn't seen this Clooney 'n' Kidman number for 20 years. Pleasingly, it held up rather well ... pacy and tense, with lots of action.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

The Peacemaker - hadn't seen this Clooney 'n' Kidman number for 20 years. Pleasingly, it held up rather well ... pacy and tense, with lots of action.

Heh caught this on TV at the start of the year. 90s cheese, but was enjoyable enough.

THE CURE FOR WELLNESS
Dane Dehaan is an interesting actor from what I've seen (Amazing Spiderman 2; Chronicle) but I think he's horribly miscast in this movie. He simply looks way too young to be an experienced Wall Street hot shot, and the juxtaposition of him with a cast of mostly senior citizens is jarring (nudity alert: lots of naked senior citizens in this film )

I had a suspicion what the twist in the movie might be (I read a book years ago called THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child that covered somewhat similar territory) and, sure enough, I was right. Unfortunately the twist comes 80 minutes into an 147 minute movie, so we still had almost half the film to go knowing what the shocking twist was.

Beautifully shot on location in Germany and the Alps....the location work is breathtaking, but the story and direction are, like the customers of the clinic, flabby.

30-45 minutes should've been cut from the movie; too many superfluous scenes that Gore Verbinski must've thought added to the ambiance, but instead simply delayed the inevitable.

At no time was I ever scared. Nor particularly shocked. There were a few minutes of tension (including the scene where I thought the young girl and the guys in the bar were going to reenact a scene from THE ACCUSED, but that didn't happen).

The end of the story leaves Dane's character deciding to turn his back on the dog-eat-dog world of Wall Street politics, but I just think the character was too young and hadn't live enough life to be so jaded.

Yeah, I'd heard there was a potentially decent shorter film struggling to get out of The Cure For Wellness.

Anaconda - this was kinda like one of those shoddy 'creature features' that are always on SyFy had somehow managed to attract Jon Voight, J-Lo and Owen Wilson to star. Even 20 years ago, the CGI snake effects must've looked iffy.

The Saint (2017)

Watched the entire film for the 30 second cameo of Sir Roger Moore at the end. It's not a good film, but it was nice to see the man himself in what was one of his last screen performances moments. The dialogue is naff, the story is serviceable, and the acting is shoddy. The lead was likeable, though a little lightweight - something that becomes all too apparent when Sir Rog makes his appearance. We all know he isn't the best actor in the world, but he had presence and gravitas and I struggle to think of an actor who has as much pull these days. The girl was good, though. 

With a better director, better cast and a rewrite of the rather empty storyline, it might have stood a chance for a sequel. But I suppose if The Man From U.N.C.L.E is struggling to get a sequel up, this will have no chance in hell.

I take it you mean the '97 film with Val Kilmer, with Sir Rog 'appearing' in voice only as a radio announcer?

No, this one:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2569088/?ref_=rvi_tt

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Anaconda - this was kinda like one of those shoddy 'creature features' that are always on SyFy had somehow managed to attract Jon Voight, J-Lo and Owen Wilson to star. Even 20 years ago, the CGI snake effects must've looked iffy.

Nah. At the time it actually looked pretty good. I think they ended up doing a bunch of direct-to-video sequels, but the original was a decent attempt at being JAWS for the 90's.

FieldsMan wrote:

No, this one:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2569088/?ref_=rvi_tt

Ah. This was a pilot that didn't lead to a series being commissioned, I think.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

FieldsMan wrote:

No, this one:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2569088/?ref_=rvi_tt

Ah. This was a pilot that didn't lead to a series being commissioned, I think.

Yeah I read that. Supposedly they filmed more in 2015 to add to the pilot ep (which they shot in 2013) to make it feature length and release it that way. Probably why it feels so empty.

Urge (2016)

Looks nice, but some terrible performances amongst the main cast. Brosnan is the only one with any presence, and I suppose the the actor who played Jason was a step above his group of mates. Most disappointing was Danny Masterson from That 70s Show, who is so perfect in his breakthrough role, but so terrible in this film. Brosnan also works better with some restraint, so I prefer his other work, but he certainly doesn't detract - in fact he's one of the few highlights here. 

But I was never bored. So 6/10...

Annabelle, scary little bitch and I've always hated dolls with those kinda eyes that look right at you.

Worth a look, might go again.