Rate the last movie you've seen

[paranoid101]

Bill and Ted Face the Music Its nit a Bad movie but it was nice to see Keanu Reeves and Alex Winters reprise their famous rolls, shame it wasn't a Great movie, Best thing about probably was the 2 actresses playing they Daughters. 5/10 Final Days This was the American version of #Alive the Korean zombie movie set in the apartment block, it's not as good but it does change a few thing from the Korean movie 3/10

[paranoid101]

Midnight Mass Netflix Its directed by Mike Flanagan the director of the great Haunting of Hill House and Bly Manor also on Netflix's, This Limited Series is the definition of slow burn, which me and my partner did find a little too slow in the middle episodes, But is otherwise a great series. 7/10 instead of 8/10 due to some pacing issues in the middle.

[MinionZombie]

"Attack of the Hollywood Cliches" It's a Netflix doc type of thing, only 58 minutes with Rob Lowe presenting, talking about some of the cliches that keep occurring in mainstream movies. It doesn't dig particularly deep, rushes through a lot of things, but is generally fun - however - every time you start having fun with it: SCREEEEEEECH! Start wringing your hands and take some guilt pills, 'cos there's institutional ists and isms to preach about. Like, really? You do know that the vast majority of your audience is gonna be onboard and long established supporters of treating folks fair and equal, yeah? Why the need to pander? I'm trying to have a bit of fun laughing at recurring cliches. Do we need another guilt-ridden poser slinging around the usual phrases? That tonal shift happens throughout, like someone who doesn't know how to work a manual gearbox, and it's just weird and jarring and annoying and really not needed. At one point they talk about Green Book getting an Oscar and how that was a bad thing - yet miss the opportunity to point out that, well, duh, of course that movie won an Oscar - because it's an Oscar winning cliche. Should Black Klansman have won instead? Yeah, 'cos it was arguably the better film, but it was also 'too different' from the usual Oscar winner for Best Picture whereas Green Book was textbook for an Oscar winner. Anyway, getting off the beaten path here ... let's get out of the weeds. So yeah, it's alright and generally quick fun for the most part, but it keeps killing the buzz. They talked about the cliche of "white saviour", even lampoon it a bit, yet this doc still kinda acted like that throughout with it's overflowing sense of guilt and absolute need to comment on the fact that decades past were, shock horror, kinda racist and sexist. Who'd-a-thunk-it? - - - Updated - - - Midnight Mass Netflix Its directed by Mike Flanagan the director of the great Haunting of Hill House and Bly Manor also on Netflix's, This Limited Series is the definition of slow burn, which me and my partner did find a little too slow in the middle episodes, But is otherwise a great series. 7/10 instead of 8/10 due to some pacing issues in the middle. Ooh! I just finished this last night myself. I'd agree - it's very deliberately paced at times, kinda the definition of a slow burn, but much like Bly Manor it does reward the viewer for their patience. I did find that it leaned a bit too much on speeches and monologues at times. The Sheriff's monologue (episode 6, IIRC), for example, that's interjected into the middle of the Doctor seeking help find clunky in how it was placed, although the prose and the performance were great. Rich character and sense of place work, but don't go in expecting big scares or anything like that. It's much more of a psychological thing a lot of the time, and then when it does ramp up it's mostly chilling - when it gets into all the religious fervour (and friggin' Bev!) that's when it gets really creepy. The changes come on subtly drip-drip-drip, with sudden moments of brief 'horror'. It all builds towards a satisfying climax, too. I got serious "The Thing" vibes from the last episode. Definitely worth checking out for folks who have enjoyed Flanagan's previous work.

[paranoid101]

Free Guy Disney+ It's ok Ryan Reynolds is good in it, but I think I'm getting old, I didn't find myself laughing at anything, Its not bad, its just meh. 5/10

[MinionZombie]

Jolt Amazon Prime. Kate Beckinsale has a neurological condition that means she has severe impulse control (i.e. she goes batshit crazy and beats the fuck outta folks when she gets pissed off), seems to find something good in life only for it to be taken away and then embark on a roaring rampage of revenge. Well, not quite a 'roaring rampage', but a fair few folks get fucked up along the way. It's fairly standard action revenge stuff, and it does feel quite 'boxed in' as most of it was evidently films on backlots with some green screen work. At times it does lack spark - e.g. the car chase, with a ruddy McLaren super car at the heart of it, felt more like a 50mph pootle than anything - but the film does shine with it's dialogue and central character, who is chock full of spark and makes for an entertaining watch. There's some good bits of fighty stuff scattered about, but it does feel a bit constrained at times and nowhere near the awesomeness of "Kate", for instance, but I still had fun with it overall. 5.5/10 Judas and The Black Messiah An Oscar winning prestigue picture, so you know the sort of vibe to expect. It's a quality production with great central performances as it tells the tale of how the chair of the Chicago chapter of The Black Panthers was betrayed by an informant to the FBI, led by a thoroughly racist and fairly mentally unhinged J. Edgar Hoover. There's not a lot to say, really, it's a high quality film about 60s/70s USA and the more extreme end of the Civil Rights movement, highlighting a racially-driven conspiracy between different law enforcement agencies. 8/10

[Neil]

Take Shelter (2012) - An interesting psychological drama of a man confused if he's having premonitions of a doomsday, or going mad - 7/10.

[MinionZombie]

The Indiana Jones Quartet It's been a long old time since I saw these, and it was my first time getting to see the original three flicks in their original aspect ratio. Anyway, I'd rank the four thus: 1) Raiders of the Lost Ark - and - The Last Crusade (a tied for first scenario). 2) Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (a fair gap between this and the above two) 3) Temple of Doom (a close third) Kingdom has a better story than Temple (the first act in particular is great, but the second two acts can't reach the same peaks), however I quite dislike the overt use of CGI in Kingdom (it's particularly dodgy in the truck chase through the jungle). Temple, on the other hand, naturally has the proper look and yes, the mine cart chase is excellent, but beyond that it's not particularly great. It reeks of difficult second album syndrome and relies far too much on gross-out moments (all those bugs, the bizarre 'food' being dished up) and the tone of the whole thing feels off for Indiana Jones (a bit too sadistic - child slaves, ripping out hearts) and Willie ... ... geeeeeez ... what a pain in the arse, frankly, an intensely annoying character. Marion (Raiders and Kingdom) and Ilsa (Crusade) were far, far, far superior to that screeching pratfall act. I was surprised watching Raiders to see just how gory it is at times (skewered bodies, severed fingers, the triple-header finale), but despite that, the tone of it feels right - the perils of adventure and just desserts for the power-mad Nazis. Last Crusade ramps up the humour and drops the level of violence, but it still maintains the spirit and tone of Raiders but on a bigger canvas. Kingdom is always going to feel a little bit 'apart' from the other three, not only because of the 1930s to 1950s switch of setting, but also in terms of the 19 year gap between the making of #3 and #4, and yes, there's too many Gophers and the monkeys bit is too much, but I think Kingdom gets a raw deal and Temple gets excused a bit simply because it was made in the original IJ production window.

[Neil]

The Indiana Jones Quartet It's been a long old time since I saw these, and it was my first time getting to see the original three flicks in their original aspect ratio. Anyway, I'd rank the four thus: 1) Raiders of the Lost Ark - and - The Last Crusade (a tied for first scenario). 2) Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (a fair gap between this and the above two) 3) Temple of Doom (a close third) Kingdom has a better story than Temple (the first act in particular is great, but the second two acts can't reach the same peaks), however I quite dislike the overt use of CGI in Kingdom (it's particularly dodgy in the truck chase through the jungle). Temple, on the other hand, naturally has the proper look and yes, the mine cart chase is excellent, but beyond that it's not particularly great. It reeks of difficult second album syndrome and relies far too much on gross-out moments (all those bugs, the bizarre 'food' being dished up) and the tone of the whole thing feels off for Indiana Jones (a bit too sadistic - child slaves, ripping out hearts) and Willie ... ... geeeeeez ... what a pain in the arse, frankly, an intensely annoying character. Marion (Raiders and Kingdom) and Ilsa (Crusade) were far, far, far superior to that screeching pratfall act. I was surprised watching Raiders to see just how gory it is at times (skewered bodies, severed fingers, the triple-header finale), but despite that, the tone of it feels right - the perils of adventure and just desserts for the power-mad Nazis. Last Crusade ramps up the humour and drops the level of violence, but it still maintains the spirit and tone of Raiders but on a bigger canvas. Kingdom is always going to feel a little bit 'apart' from the other three, not only because of the 1930s to 1950s switch of setting, but also in terms of the 19 year gap between the making of #3 and #4, and yes, there's too many Gophers and the monkeys bit is too much, but I think Kingdom gets a raw deal and Temple gets excused a bit simply because it was made in the original IJ production window. With rumours being the new Indy film involves a time loop that renders Indy as never having existed, these films might all have to be deleted

[MinionZombie]

With rumours being the new Indy film involves a time loop that renders Indy as never having existed, these films might all have to be deleted A time loop?! Eh?! Getting a bit too sci-fi-ish...?

[JDP]

As said before, there just is no comparison between Temple of Doom and Crystal Skull. The second film is a great action romp with a creepy setting. Spielberg even basically apologized for how dark and gritty the film came out to be, which is actually a good thing!

[shootemindehead]

Raiders of the Lost Ark Temple of Doom That's it. And from what I've heard of the next one, it'll stay that way.

[beat_truck]

It's been many years since I watched them, but I enjoyed all of the original 3. I have had the DVD for years now, but I haven't gotten around to watching the forth. The new one sounds like it's going to be a "woke" shitfest, so I am not going to bother unless I hear otherwise.

[EvilNed]

Raiders of the Lost Ark Temple of Doom That's it. And from what I've heard of the next one, it'll stay that way. This is my view as well. The Last Crusade is far too silly for my taste. And there is nothing special about the Crystal Skull. It's just meh.

[Neil]

This is my view as well. The Last Crusade is far too silly for my taste. And there is nothing special about the Crystal Skull. It's just meh. Basically agree... The Last Crusade at least had a few nice moments (like the opening scenes) and some of the magic fairy dust from the first two IMHO...

[JDP]

Basically agree... The Last Crusade at least had a few nice moments (like the opening scenes) and some of the magic fairy dust from the first two IMHO... It's not as dark, gritty and grim as the first two, but still good. It has some great moments. But definitely the weakest one in the original trilogy.