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

[unapologetic]

The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)
Trailer: (starts with an ad for something else)
A unique zombie movie.
The world is overrun by fast/rage type zombies.
The film starts at a British Army base. Where they are experimenting on a group of children, wheeled around strapped to wheelchairs.
The sholdiers afraid to even touch them.
Finding out why is part of the fun, so I'm not going to say. I rate it 8/10.

 

[TSwizzle]

Wicked Little Letters, 7/10; A quirky British black comedy/mystery based on a true story. Stars Timothy Spall and Olivia Coleman and set in a sleepy British coastal town around 1920. Neighbors Edith and Rose are neighbors and are on good terms. However, Edith and her parents receive anonymous letters that are filled with accusations and profanity. Rose becomes the number one suspect and Edith takes her to court. Rose is found guilty and is sent to prison and the letters stop. Later, when Rose is released from prison, the letters start up again and are sent to far more people. Rose again is the main suspect. The movie is quite entertaining and amusing at times but not a laugh out loud comedy. The true story the movie is based on is pretty wild.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

Nosferatu

It was okay and had some intriguing moments, but don't pay the $19.99 on Amazon for it. Also, if you have a vivid setting on your tv, use it. The goddamn film was so dark, I couldn't make out many scenes.

A lot of things just don't jibe or end up being irrelevant and/or seemingly forgotten about. Maybe that's the way the source material was? That's the only excuse I can think for the ending. But like so many good adaptations do, filmmakers can change things up for the silver screen rather than strictly adhering to the source material because films are not books. I'd like to say why the ending was so stupid, but that would fall firmly into spoiler territory.

I'll give it a tepid recommend, but don't pay extra to see it. Just wait until it shows up on whatever streaming service you use.

Horror Scale: 6/10
Non-Horror Scale: 4/10

 

[Colonel Sanders]

Humane

To be fair to, I only watched half an hour. That was enough time to assess this turd.

Synopsis: earth is overpopulated and the environment is going to hell. People volunteer and are paid money to kill themselves. Interesting, exciting, horrific, fascinating, things ensue. I think the word I was looking for was tedious.

If you wanna be hit over the head with messaging, groan every 2-3 minutes, and waste the little amount of time you have to yourself, the you will love this movie.

3/10

 

[ZiprHead]

Mandy

I had never heard of it but I read that Guillermo Del Toro liked it so I thought it worth a watch.

A 2018 low budget horror film starring Nicholas Cage. Set in 1968, a group of hippie cult members kidnap Cage's character's wife. He believes they burned her to death in front of him. This sets him off on a bloody revenge crusade against the cult and their enforcer biker gang.

The pace is slow but it works with the set designs, special effects, and the direction of the actors. It is exceedingly creepy and the tension builds slowly but surely. The revenge Cage enacts on the onto the bikers and the cultists is gruesome, bloody, and you feel well deserved.

Directed by Panos Cosmatos.

Normally I would give such a movie a 5 or maybe a six. But Cage's performance and the stylishness of the production put it over that. I give it an 8/10.

Something I forgot to add to this review. Any movie that starts out with a King Crimson song is A Ok in my book.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

Mandy

I had never heard of it but I read that Guillermo Del Toro liked it so I thought it worth a watch.

A 2018 low budget horror film starring Nicholas Cage. Set in 1968, a group of hippie cult members kidnap Cage's character's wife. He believes they burned her to death in front of him. This sets him off on a bloody revenge crusade against the cult and their enforcer biker gang.

The pace is slow but it works with the set designs, special effects, and the direction of the actors. It is exceedingly creepy and the tension builds slowly but surely. The revenge Cage enacts on the onto the bikers and the cultists is gruesome, bloody, and you feel well deserved.

Directed by Panos Cosmatos.

Normally I would give such a movie a 5 or maybe a six. But Cage's performance and the stylishness of the production put it over that. I give it an 8/10.

Here’s an interesting review:

“Bug-nuts crazy, drug-addled, apocalyptic-doomsday-cult-fueled, chainsaw-fighting, demon-biker-having madness and mania.”

Okay then.

 

[ZiprHead]

Mandy

I had never heard of it but I read that Guillermo Del Toro liked it so I thought it worth a watch.

A 2018 low budget horror film starring Nicholas Cage. Set in 1968, a group of hippie cult members kidnap Cage's character's wife. He believes they burned her to death in front of him. This sets him off on a bloody revenge crusade against the cult and their enforcer biker gang.

The pace is slow but it works with the set designs, special effects, and the direction of the actors. It is exceedingly creepy and the tension builds slowly but surely. The revenge Cage enacts on the onto the bikers and the cultists is gruesome, bloody, and you feel well deserved.

Directed by Panos Cosmatos.

Normally I would give such a movie a 5 or maybe a six. But Cage's performance and the stylishness of the production put it over that. I give it an 8/10.

Here’s an interesting review:

“Bug-nuts crazy, drug-addled, apocalyptic-doomsday-cult-fueled, chainsaw-fighting, demon-biker-having madness and mania.”

Okay then.

That pretty much sums it up.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Every time I watch V For Vendetta, it goes a bit less from fiction and more to reality. The recent pressing on DEI just keeps nudging us in the wrong direction. I always think of Michael Medved who was alarmed by the movie because it taught people that blowing up a building can make things better. The reality was, he likely saw himself in the role of the commentator and didn't like it.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Gandhi - Yeah, a bit late into life to see this for the first time. As an actor portrayal, Kingsley was absurdly good. He was able to embody a different persona without visually looking all that different. That isn't easy. The filming and the extras was incredible too. The film had a Lawrence of Arabia vibe for how well the scenes were filmed and dressed with people, as if they were more showing a film at the time, than a recreation. Looking over the history, there were a few issues, but generally forgivable. Some cliches were used in the plot in order to convey quicker emotional communication to the viewer so as to keep the focus on Gandhi. Otherwise a couple more hours would have been necessary to carry significances across for other characters.

I'd say Rohini Hattangadi's portrayal went a bit under the radar. She won the BAFTA for best supporting role, Bergen inexplicably was nominated as well despite being in the film barely at all. But she wasn't nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress. Her portrayal is subtle, but crucial.

It isn't a perfect portrayal of the man, however, in the film, Gandhi indicates any overly enthusiastic portrayal of him would be misguided. 4 of 4

 

[Colonel Sanders]

Mandy

I had never heard of it but I read that Guillermo Del Toro liked it so I thought it worth a watch.

A 2018 low budget horror film starring Nicholas Cage. Set in 1968, a group of hippie cult members kidnap Cage's character's wife. He believes they burned her to death in front of him. This sets him off on a bloody revenge crusade against the cult and their enforcer biker gang.

The pace is slow but it works with the set designs, special effects, and the direction of the actors. It is exceedingly creepy and the tension builds slowly but surely. The revenge Cage enacts on the onto the bikers and the cultists is gruesome, bloody, and you feel well deserved.

Directed by Panos Cosmatos.

Normally I would give such a movie a 5 or maybe a six. But Cage's performance and the stylishness of the production put it over that. I give it an 8/10.

Here’s an interesting review:

“Bug-nuts crazy, drug-addled, apocalyptic-doomsday-cult-fueled, chainsaw-fighting, demon-biker-having madness and mania.”

Okay then.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

I dug it, but it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea. Panos Cosmatos makes interesting looking films, but the term "style over substance" definitely applies to him.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)
Trailer: (starts with an ad for something else)
A unique zombie movie.
The world is overrun by fast/rage type zombies.
The film starts at a British Army base. Where they are experimenting on a group of children, wheeled around strapped to wheelchairs.
The soldiers afraid to even touch them.
Finding out why is part of the fun, so I'm not going to say. I rate it 8/10.

Thanks for this reminder.

I just found out why the book survived the translation from paper to film so well.

The screen play and the book were written at the same time, based on a short story.

Well worth a read/watch. In that order.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

Avatar: The Way of Water

I watched this film involuntarily. I'd actually given it a shot awhile back, but it was so bad, so quickly, I knew it wasn't for me.

My daughter was in town from out of state this past week, and she'd never seen it. She made me watch the whole goddamn thing. I tried not to groan and did a pretty good job of it because she gets so irritated at me for being critical of movies.

Oh, the movie!

It's fucking awful, but if I was 10 years old, I'd think it was awesome. I think my daughter (25) didn't like it, but stubbornly refused to admit that she'd wasted three hours of both our lives.

~$400,000,000 spent on SFX with a $4 script. One dimensional characters, cringeworthy dialogue, melodramatic, and so predictable you could practically hear James Cameron laughing at the joke he played on the audience.

If you haven't seen it, don't. It'll be a deathbed level of regret.

 

[TSwizzle]

Bank Of Dave, 7/10; Streaming on Netflix and stars Rory Kinnear as Dave, a UK business man and Joel Fry as Hugh, a hotshot London lawyer trying to assist Dave navigate the finance rules for setting up a bank. It's a fairly formulaic British comedy. A charming, cheeky working class underdog up against the evil establishment and you end up rooting for the underdog. It is still a reasonably entertaining movie and has a cameo appearance by Def Leppard. The scenes the band were a bit weak but it was still fun to see them briefly.

 

[Swammerdami]

I just watched Wonder Woman 1984, a 2020 superhero film. This is NOT my genre, but I clicked idly, in part because I knew Gal Gadot is photogenic. The plot was wild but escapist fun. It got only 5.4 IMDB points; I wouldn't have watched if I knew that but I Google upstairs while our HBO Max screen is downstairs. Since I watch very few thrillers of this type, I shouldn't try to rate it, but the 5.4 seems low. The first Wonder Woman film gets a much better 7.1 IMDBs but I've no urge to watch it: This just isn't a genre I like. (The movie's villain reminded me a bit of Trump! ... except that -- Spoiler -- the movie's villain is eventually redeemed.)

- - - - - - - - -

Speaking of movies with very low IMDB ratings, years ago I watched Remedy, an "offbeat independent crime drama" or "thriller/mystery" from 2005. It gets an extremely low 4.1 IMDB rating, but deserves much more. It has a good story for a crime thriller/mystery, elicits emotions, has memorable scenes, and offers an interesting look (accurate or not) at some life-styles different from my own experience. It's just 83 minutes long, and certainly isn't a great movie, but I'd give it 6.3 points or so, MUCH higher than its 4.1 IMDB rating. Has anyone else here seen Remedy?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I just watched Wonder Woman 1984, a 2020 superhero film. This is NOT my genre, but I clicked idly, in part because I knew Gal Gadot is photogenic. The plot was wild but escapist fun. It got only 5.4 IMDB points; I wouldn't have watched if I knew that but I Google upstairs while our HBO Max screen is downstairs. Since I watch very few thrillers of this type, I shouldn't try to rate it, but the 5.4 seems low. The first Wonder Woman film gets a much better 7.1 IMDBs but I've no urge to watch it: This just isn't a genre I like. (The movie's villain reminded me a bit of Trump! ... except that -- Spoiler -- the movie's villain is eventually redeemed.)

The first Wonder Woman movie is good but it has a couple flaws:
1) A lot of parallels with Captain America, the first Avenger
2) They used WWI as the basis of the film of which the end of WWI isn't actually good, it sets up WWII.

But... it at least worked as a Super Hero movie. Where as WW '84 forgot it was a Super Hero movie.

 

[unapologetic]

How to train your dragon 2010 animated.
I saw the animated film several months ago. It was fun and looked good.
So I went down to the library, to have a look at the book.
It was a kids book, and the art sux. So I didn't read it.
Looked like an actual instruction manual. How it tells the story, I don't know.
TODAY I saw a trailer for a live action remake coming out this summer.
Looks to be a shot-for-shot remake.
So much so that I went to IMDB to make sure I correctly remember that the 2010 film was just animated.
WHY remake it?
The CG dragons look a little more real than the animated ones. But not enough to buy a ticket.
The humans look realer than animated, but that wouldn't sell me a ticket either.
Is 80% CGI any better than 100% (computer assisted) animation?
(I am assuming the locations/sets are CGI too.)

 

[Colonel Sanders]

Thor: Love and Thunder

I've had a lot of trouble with a consistent sleep schedule these past few weeks. What works (when it does work at all) is turning on a movie that's visually interesting, but also one that I don't care about finishing. This film fits that bill. I was crashed out within 30 minutes or so. It did have an intriguing opening, which drew me in, but it quickly became stupid.

So for that, thank you Thor: Love and Thunder.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Anora 8/10

This was pretty darn good. It started with a little too much of watching twenty-somethings partying. Then after a stint in Vegas, it got good. Very funny and outstanding performance by Mikey Madison as Anora "Ani" Mikheeva.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Captain America - Brave New World / This film was part exposition for a new arc and part continuation of the series on Disney+. It has a somewhat serious tone. I'm hoping that there is a pay off with the last battle scene as I was ready for the film to be over at that point (and it sounds like there is). Being the only person who enjoyed the Eternals movie, glad to see that get back into the fold. The fighter jet sequence was a bit much. Spoiler wise, opening sequence and you are thinking that Captain America has taken a serum. But then you learn he hasn't. He is almost tougher than Rogers. He has tech that is helping, but it is a bit much how much agility he has now. Falling into a Black Widow sort of trap.

Regardless, overall, about 3 of 4, like where they are heading. The tone was good and this is effectively the beginning (excluding Eternals) of the arc now that the other arc appears to have permanently paused. Some of the sequences were too much even for a comic book movie.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

Some of the sequences were too much even for a comic book movie.

That.

Every time I watch V For Vendetta, it goes a bit less from fiction and more to reality. The recent pressing on DEI just keeps nudging us in the wrong direction. I always think of Michael Medved who was alarmed by the movie because it taught people that blowing up a building can make things better. The reality was, he likely saw himself in the role of the commentator and didn't like it.

Love this film.

I watch it about every 5 years.