Which movie did you watch today and how would you rate it?

[prideandfall]

Blue Ruin: 5/10

hard to separate a review from a synopsis, it's a very simple movie about a man out for revenge.
not a lot happens, but it's got a lot of good atmosphere and tension. so while it was light on plot or character it was very moody and i enjoyed it throughout, even if the ending was both terribly cliche and telegraphed about halfway through the movie.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Cookies (8/10)

Yet another zombie movie clearly capitalising on the trend. This time it's a splatter comedy and the virus only infects children. No, not particularly unique or groundbreaking. But really well crafted. The humour is subtle and right on the money. The gore is just fucking great. Perfect balance of disgusting and fun with bodily fluids. The acting is phenomenal. It's a bit wasted though. This script is not particularly well crafted. It could have used a hell of a lot more work. But these actors are so damn good they make it work.

This is way better and smarter than what the cover shot or title hint at. I expected a really dumb and silly college film. I was pleasantly surprised. None of the actors really steal the show. They all do a great job. So... well casted

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Edge of Tomorrow - It's Groundhog Day meets Mission Impossible! What isn't to love about this movie? It has action, a wildly borderline ridiculous plot, and Tom Cruise. Emily Blunt will help you from ripping your eyes from your head, but the film, while decent to watch from a popcorn perspective, it suffers from a couple substantial issues. This is also ignoring the largely, where in the hell did they manage to figure it out part of the plot.

Firstly, the major underlying part of the plot.

Show

Okay, so these aliens are just lining us up to kill us in one fell swoop. Why the fuck are they doing that? They wipe out Europe in a blink of an eye, pretend to be held back... just to wallop mankind again?! That makes no fucking sense at all.

Oh and can someone explain to me experimentation and dissection without a blood transfusion?

The film's largest flaw is the ending.

Show

This is where it becomes Groundhog Day meets Mission Impossible meets the atrocity that was the ending of War of the Worlds. What the fuck?!

It is a decent 2.5 of 4 until the ending. Finishes with a 2 of 4.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Jack Strong 9/10 Netflix

Polish movie about Colonel Kuklinski who passed Soviet documents to the CIA. I loved the short range comms device he used. Like trying to hide an adding machine under your coat. The man was fearless.
I don't know if I've seen another Polish made movie. This was very well presented.

 

[DrZoidberg]

Cookies (8/10)

Yet another zombie movie clearly capitalising on the trend. This time it's a splatter comedy and the virus only infects children. No, not particularly unique or groundbreaking. But really well crafted. The humour is subtle and right on the money. The gore is just fucking great. Perfect balance of disgusting and fun with bodily fluids. The acting is phenomenal. It's a bit wasted though. This script is not particularly well crafted. It could have used a hell of a lot more work. But these actors are so damn good they make it work.

This is way better and smarter than what the cover shot or title hint at. I expected a really dumb and silly college film. I was pleasantly surprised. None of the actors really steal the show. They all do a great job. So... well casted

Fucking autocorrect. The film is called Cooties.

 

[Underseer]

Edge of Tomorrow - It's Groundhog Day meets Mission Impossible! What isn't to love about this movie? It has action, a wildly borderline ridiculous plot, and Tom Cruise. Emily Blunt will help you from ripping your eyes from your head, but the film, while decent to watch from a popcorn perspective, it suffers from a couple substantial issues. This is also ignoring the largely, where in the hell did they manage to figure it out part of the plot.

Firstly, the major underlying part of the plot.

Show

Okay, so these aliens are just lining us up to kill us in one fell swoop. Why the fuck are they doing that? They wipe out Europe in a blink of an eye, pretend to be held back... just to wallop mankind again?! That makes no fucking sense at all.

Oh and can someone explain to me experimentation and dissection without a blood transfusion?

The film's largest flaw is the ending.

Show

This is where it becomes Groundhog Day meets Mission Impossible meets the atrocity that was the ending of War of the Worlds. What the fuck?!

It is a decent 2.5 of 4 until the ending. Finishes with a 2 of 4.

Eh, the plot doesn't really hold up to close examination.

One fun thing about the movie is that you can interpret it as a metaphor/commentary on Tom Cruise's career.

One thing I don't understand was Hollywood's decision to change the name. The source material is the Japanese comic book All You Need is Kill, which is a bizarre clunky name that sticks in the memory, while Edge of Tomorrow sounds like just another bland Hollywood action movie. Neither tells you jack diddly about what the story is about, but at least the original title is stupid enough to make you curious.

- - - Updated - - -

Cookies (8/10)

Yet another zombie movie clearly capitalising on the trend. This time it's a splatter comedy and the virus only infects children. No, not particularly unique or groundbreaking. But really well crafted. The humour is subtle and right on the money. The gore is just fucking great. Perfect balance of disgusting and fun with bodily fluids. The acting is phenomenal. It's a bit wasted though. This script is not particularly well crafted. It could have used a hell of a lot more work. But these actors are so damn good they make it work.

This is way better and smarter than what the cover shot or title hint at. I expected a really dumb and silly college film. I was pleasantly surprised. None of the actors really steal the show. They all do a great job. So... well casted

Fucking autocorrect. The film is called Cooties.

 

[CJW]

World War Z 8/10

Decent action/Zombie movie - good pacing and I like Brad Pitt in this role - I like how his character is constantly observing the situation, trying to understand what is happening, making mental notes and keeping that info on tap for future potential use.

Dark Places 7/10

(On Amazon Prime) Based on a Gillian Flynn novel - Although I think Charlize Theron was a little too beautiful for the lead, I think she did a decent job. Interesting murder mystery story that had several twists, one telegraphed way early, one unexpected and one that didn't pan out as I had thought. Not quite as disturbing as 7, but there were a few scenes that stuck with me well after the movie was over.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Eh, the plot doesn't really hold up to close examination.

One fun thing about the movie is that you can interpret it as a metaphor/commentary on Tom Cruise's career.

I couldn't believe they needed to do a scene with him on a motorcycle. Is that in his contract or something?

One thing I don't understand was Hollywood's decision to change the name. The source material is the Japanese comic book All You Need is Kill, which is a bizarre clunky name that sticks in the memory, while Edge of Tomorrow sounds like just another bland Hollywood action movie. Neither tells you jack diddly about what the story is about, but at least the original title is stupid enough to make you curious.

I thought the name made sense. He is literally living on the edge of tomorrow, with the whole Groundhog Day thing going on.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I've been playing the Mortal Kombat video game, so I decided to watch the old movies from the 90s.

Mortal Kombat - 7/10

This movie is pretty stupid, but it knows exactly what it is and goes with it and makes it work. It's a very enjoyable romp. Incidentally, this movie was originally supposed to star Jean Claude Van Damme and Cameron Diaz, but they both had to back out at the last minute. It would have been even more awesome with those two in it.

Mortal Kombat - Annihilation = 0/10

This movie doubled down on all the stupid shit from the first movie and removed all the stuff which made the other one kind of cool. It's unwatchable tripe that makes Baby Jesus cry.

 

[Bacillus anthracis]

Edge of Tomorrow - It's Groundhog Day meets Mission Impossible! What isn't to love about this movie? It has action, a wildly borderline ridiculous plot, and Tom Cruise. Emily Blunt will help you from ripping your eyes from your head, but the film, while decent to watch from a popcorn perspective, it suffers from a couple substantial issues. This is also ignoring the largely, where in the hell did they manage to figure it out part of the plot.

Firstly, the major underlying part of the plot.

Show

Okay, so these aliens are just lining us up to kill us in one fell swoop. Why the fuck are they doing that? They wipe out Europe in a blink of an eye, pretend to be held back... just to wallop mankind again?! That makes no fucking sense at all.

Oh and can someone explain to me experimentation and dissection without a blood transfusion?

The film's largest flaw is the ending.

Show

This is where it becomes Groundhog Day meets Mission Impossible meets the atrocity that was the ending of War of the Worlds. What the fuck?!

It is a decent 2.5 of 4 until the ending. Finishes with a 2 of 4.

I thought it was a good popcorn movie. It wasn't trying to be anything else other than fun sic-fi action. It also doesn't take itself too seriously. There's some solid "Of course this is ridiculous, we both know it" humor in it as well.

Anything with space aliens in it means that you just have to roll with it. Actually, any movie with Tom Cruise in it means that you just have to roll with it. Unlike many others, I don't automatically eschew a Tom Cruise movie. He tries really hard and the more action and less serious acting from him, the better. Anyway, compared to most movies, at least this one is watchable from start to finish.

 

[MarkW]

The Two Faces of January

9/10

A superior thriller adapted from Patricia Highsmith's novel of the same title, and the directorial debut of screen writer Hossein amini (Drive, etc.). Don't expect a Hollywood-style, action-packed film--this is a film in the style of European directors like Claude Chabrol. Do expect great performances from the core cast members--Oscar Isaac, Viggo Mortenson, and Kirsten Dunst--along with plenty of suspense as the relationships among their characters get ever more edgy as the film progresses.

Not to mention the locations, which makes it worthwhile viewing regardless of anything else.

Oh, yes, this one had some lovely scenery porn.

Tonight's movie:

Unknown

6/10

A competently-executed thriller, but one that really strains the viewer's willingness to suspend disbelief at times. Liam Neeson, as usual, is a reasonably convincing leading man for a film like this, while Diane Kruger is a welcome presence and it's nice to see the veteran Bruno Ganz turn up in a supporting role.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Edge of Tomorrow - It's Groundhog Day meets Mission Impossible! What isn't to love about this movie? It has action, a wildly borderline ridiculous plot, and Tom Cruise. Emily Blunt will help you from ripping your eyes from your head, but the film, while decent to watch from a popcorn perspective, it suffers from a couple substantial issues. This is also ignoring the largely, where in the hell did they manage to figure it out part of the plot.

Firstly, the major underlying part of the plot.

Show

Okay, so these aliens are just lining us up to kill us in one fell swoop. Why the fuck are they doing that? They wipe out Europe in a blink of an eye, pretend to be held back... just to wallop mankind again?! That makes no fucking sense at all.

Oh and can someone explain to me experimentation and dissection without a blood transfusion?

The film's largest flaw is the ending.

Show

This is where it becomes Groundhog Day meets Mission Impossible meets the atrocity that was the ending of War of the Worlds. What the fuck?!

It is a decent 2.5 of 4 until the ending. Finishes with a 2 of 4.

I thought it was a good popcorn movie. It wasn't trying to be anything else other than fun sic-fi action. It also doesn't take itself too seriously. There's some solid "Of course this is ridiculous, we both know it" humor in it as well.

Anything with space aliens in it means that you just have to roll with it. Actually, any movie with Tom Cruise in it means that you just have to roll with it. Unlike many others, I don't automatically eschew a Tom Cruise movie. He tries really hard and the more action and less serious acting from him, the better. Anyway, compared to most movies, at least this one is watchable from start to finish.

I can't disagree with most of that. The characters did start making with the Die Hard IV issue though, becoming somewhat indestructible at the end of the film.

 

[Underseer]

I couldn't believe they needed to do a scene with him on a motorcycle. Is that in his contract or something?

One thing I don't understand was Hollywood's decision to change the name. The source material is the Japanese comic book All You Need is Kill, which is a bizarre clunky name that sticks in the memory, while Edge of Tomorrow sounds like just another bland Hollywood action movie. Neither tells you jack diddly about what the story is about, but at least the original title is stupid enough to make you curious.

I thought the name made sense. He is literally living on the edge of tomorrow, with the whole Groundhog Day thing going on.

By the same token, you could say All You Need Is Kill also tells you about the story because he needs to figure out how to kill enemies in the right way to end the constant recycling, but honestly both are a bit of a stretch.

 

[Bacillus anthracis]

The Pyramid

A huge pyramid is discovered beneath the ground near the above-ground Giza Pyramids. A father-daughter archeological team along with her rover-commanding boyfriend is working on the thing and they are followed around by a two person camera crew.

So what's it going to be?

Space portal/Aliens?
A long lost civilization that has lived under ground and evolved in strange ways over thousands and thousands of years?
An entrance to another dimension?
A doorway to the afterlife?

Nah, of course not; that would be silly.

Hairless cats.

Yep. Really mean hairless cats. Mostly. But they are a little bigger than the average cat; so there's that.

Okay, there is a demigod who apparently has just been walking around in this thing for who knows how long. He comes in toward the end and he's kind of cool. But the effects are pretty weak. And as always, you know a movie's bad when you're rooting for the monster to do really bad things to characters you're supposed to care about. And thankfully, at least that happens.

3/10

 

[Bacillus anthracis]

Jack Strong 9/10 Netflix

Polish movie about Colonel Kuklinski who passed Soviet documents to the CIA. I loved the short range comms device he used. Like trying to hide an adding machine under your coat. The man was fearless.
I don't know if I've seen another Polish made movie. This was very well presented.

I watched this one based on what you wrote here. Thanks. It was a solid movie--and the Cold War gets such short shrift these days in the movies, so it's always nice to see one. However, it does have its problems. I don't want to spoil anything and the "hidden" feature begs people to have plot points and endings spoiled. I'll just say that a lot of the dialogue is amateurish, there's an event that occurs that should be important but is then completely ignored afterward, and the ongoing cutback to the interrogation scene is almost, but not quite as bad as the now reviled "It was all a dream!" technique.

And the name of the movie? I don't know what the source material is; maybe there's a book and "Jack Strong" is the name of the book, but I'd skipped this movie based on name alone for weeks because it sounded like bad foreign ripoff of a Tom Cruise action movie.

Overall, the film is worth seeing and I'd recommend it to anyone even though it does have some glaring amateurish elements to it.

6.95/10

 

[MarkW]

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

9/10

This is the one with "the other fellow." George Lazenby's one outing as James Bond was not a huge success at release, owing partly to its downbeat ending and partly due to Lazenby's uneven performance. He's very good in the action sequences but lacks Sean Connery's charisma--in this most romantic of the Bond films, some of the romance falls a little bit flat. Otherwise, this one is terrific--crackling action sequences, Diana Rigg as perhaps the best Bond Girl of them all, and a solid supporting cast.

 

[credoconsolans]

Spectre - 8.5/10 - highly enjoyable Bond movie, lots of action, some a little like remixed versions of things seen before, but still fun. Good to see a certain villain with a fluffy white cat again. Pulls most of the strings of the previous few movies together quite nicely.

Spectre 6/10

Great action scenes - the helicopter one is breathtaking - incredible cinematography but a great lack of emotional depth in this.

Show

The villain has a lot to do with Bond's childhood situation, but there was no reaction from Bond. It's like he's long past it and it doesn't matter. His mission is to kill the villain and he's not doing it based on his own vendetta.

Hot women starting with Monica Belluci - finally a hot woman Bond's own age - but of course our hero ends up with a woman half his age who looks fresh from a model shoot and barely 18.

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She is a complete waste of space, because supposedly she can 'take care of herself', and knows her way around a gun, but only uses a gun once, and not with any great effect and except for that 3 seconds of proactiveness, spends the rest of the movie having to be rescued.

There is no chemistry between Bond and this woman. There was more chemistry between Bond and Judi Dench's "M" from Skyfall. Because of this

Show

I see no reason Bond should be so taken with her that he walks off into the sunset with her leaving the service or why she loves him. She's such a brainless non-entity and they've shared nothing but trauma together.

So that was pretty meh.

The villain

Show

is an old favorite from the Bond series,

and though his scariness factor was amped up, especially in the beginning, by the end,

Show

he's just a sadist wearing no socks with his loafers. The "C" character plotline is more interesting and relevant.

So good but overly long. The Bond girl plotline is wasted time. OK for an afternoon at the movies, but inferior in almost every way to Skyfall. Except Bond looks great in a tux.

 

[bradw]

The Godfather Part II (Coppola restoration)

Enjoyable movie, but too long.

7/10

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Kingsman - The Secret Service - 8/10

This was a really well done movie with a lot of good humour that didn't take itself too seriously while at the same time avoiding becoming a farce. The action scenes were great as well.

Well worth seeing.

 

[TSwizzle]

The Judge, 4/10: Stars Robert Downey Jr and Robert Duval. Downey plays the part of a defense attorney and estranged son, who's father (Duval) is a judge. The story kicks off with the passing of Downey's mother which means he has to go to the funeral and all the awkwardness that entails. The judge/father runs over and kills an ex con he previously sentenced many years previous and goes on trial for murder, the DA being played by Billy Bob Thorton and Downey assumes the role of his father's attorney. This movie was 2 1/2 hours long, tedious for long stretches and didn't really have much going on.