Rate the last movie you've seen

[Neil]

Blood Red Sky Netflix I went into this film expecting an average film, run of the mill action movie, but I was surprised to find this film to be (pardon the pun) bloody good, It's a little long at 2 hours, but I was never bored, I wont go in to spoilers I would recommend not watching the preview of this movie and go in blind. 8/10 really enjoyable film. Yeh, pretty enjoyable. Felt like a little more attention to the script could really have lifted it even more - 7.5/10.

[MinionZombie]

Blood Red Sky Okay, so I gave it a spin on you guys' recommendation. Mind you, the splash screen image for it kind of gives the game away. I'll talk about it just in the spoiler tags below in case anyone else wants to hop on to it with as little prior knowledge as possible...   Just catching a fleeting glance at the image, trying not to look too closely, I'd assumed it was zombies on a plane, but it was in fact vampires on a plane - although it was much better than that cheap 'snakes on a plane' type description would make you think. The opening was good (always nice to see Graham MacTavish on-screen) and had a good sense of tension and action. The main story was a bit overlong ultimately (mind you, the end credits are 9+ minutes in themselves), with the climactic scenes aboard the plane feeling like there's maybe one too many wrinkles (e.g. the older husband of the trampled wife) just when you need things to be wrapping up. What I really liked about the film, though, was Nadja and how vampirism was being treated like a terrible curse that you had to keep suppressed and seek to eradicate. She actually tries to fully kill anyone she attacks so she doesn't end up with bloody vampires getting in her way on top of the hijacking situation. I also liked how it was being treated like a real medical condition that could possibly be treated. Speaking of Nadja - THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A "STRONG" FEMALE PROTAGONIST - or more accurately, a complex one. Not some lame-o Mary Sue who's brilliant at everything and gets what she wants dead quick and super easy (no problem at all, barely an inconvenience, you might say ). Nadja, even when turning into a full blown vampire with greater strength, isn't actually physically stronger than another vampire who is physically larger than she is. They keep it relatively realistic on that front. Instead she has to use her wits, her resourcefulness, think on her feet, use whatever is at hand as a weapon. She has to think around the problem (e.g. the nutter in the fancy car with the bullet proof glass). She's a flawed character but she also has skin in the game - her son - who she's trying desperately to protect. I loved the moments when she's fighting against her vampiric instincts to protect him - and then when it's taking her over too much, that scene where she's pushing the boy away was quite moving. Indeed, ultimately, she fails in so far as she isn't able to save herself, but she succeeds in protecting her son. You not only sympathise with her, but you get to empathising with her. Not once is the character of Nadja grinding proceedings to a halt to bang on about being a woman under the jackboot of the patriarchy, or how she's always been hard done to by men (while never once bothering to stand up for herself), and the film itself isn't pushing some sort of pandering agenda - it's just a well written and well performed character who feels REAL (despite the fantastical vampire elements). You care about her and what she's trying to achieve, you're rooting for her the whole way. It's not about cheap point scoring and pandering wokery. It's about a complex character who just so happens to be female. Nadja isn't stripped of her femininity either, turned into a muscle bound male substitute with a cliched haircut. I was really impressed with her character, just thinking "Yes! This! This is how you write a strong, complex female character!" ... if only Hollywood would 'woke up' to that, eh? Anyway, despite it feeling a smidge overlong as previously mentioned (a little polishing and judicious editing here and there, nothing major, just little trims, would have helped nicely), it generally felt intelligently made, had some great ideas thrown into the mix, and boasted a cracking protagonist with Nadja.

[paranoid101]

Blood Red Sky Okay, so I gave it a spin on you guys' recommendation. Mind you, the splash screen image for it kind of gives the game away. I'll talk about it just in the spoiler tags below in case anyone else wants to hop on to it with as little prior knowledge as possible...   Just catching a fleeting glance at the image, trying not to look too closely, I'd assumed it was zombies on a plane, but it was in fact vampires on a plane - although it was much better than that cheap 'snakes on a plane' type description would make you think. The opening was good (always nice to see Graham MacTavish on-screen) and had a good sense of tension and action. The main story was a bit overlong ultimately (mind you, the end credits are 9+ minutes in themselves), with the climactic scenes aboard the plane feeling like there's maybe one too many wrinkles (e.g. the older husband of the trampled wife) just when you need things to be wrapping up. What I really liked about the film, though, was Nadja and how vampirism was being treated like a terrible curse that you had to keep suppressed and seek to eradicate. She actually tries to fully kill anyone she attacks so she doesn't end up with bloody vampires getting in her way on top of the hijacking situation. I also liked how it was being treated like a real medical condition that could possibly be treated. Speaking of Nadja - THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A "STRONG" FEMALE PROTAGONIST - or more accurately, a complex one. Not some lame-o Mary Sue who's brilliant at everything and gets what she wants dead quick and super easy (no problem at all, barely an inconvenience, you might say ). Nadja, even when turning into a full blown vampire with greater strength, isn't actually physically stronger than another vampire who is physically larger than she is. They keep it relatively realistic on that front. Instead she has to use her wits, her resourcefulness, think on her feet, use whatever is at hand as a weapon. She has to think around the problem (e.g. the nutter in the fancy car with the bullet proof glass). She's a flawed character but she also has skin in the game - her son - who she's trying desperately to protect. I loved the moments when she's fighting against her vampiric instincts to protect him - and then when it's taking her over too much, that scene where she's pushing the boy away was quite moving. Indeed, ultimately, she fails in so far as she isn't able to save herself, but she succeeds in protecting her son. You not only sympathise with her, but you get to empathising with her. Not once is the character of Nadja grinding proceedings to a halt to bang on about being a woman under the jackboot of the patriarchy, or how she's always been hard done to by men (while never once bothering to stand up for herself), and the film itself isn't pushing some sort of pandering agenda - it's just a well written and well performed character who feels REAL (despite the fantastical vampire elements). You care about her and what she's trying to achieve, you're rooting for her the whole way. It's not about cheap point scoring and pandering wokery. It's about a complex character who just so happens to be female. Nadja isn't stripped of her femininity either, turned into a muscle bound male substitute with a cliched haircut. I was really impressed with her character, just thinking "Yes! This! This is how you write a strong, complex female character!" ... if only Hollywood would 'woke up' to that, eh? Anyway, despite it feeling a smidge overlong as previously mentioned (a little polishing and judicious editing here and there, nothing major, just little trims, would have helped nicely), it generally felt intelligently made, had some great ideas thrown into the mix, and boasted a cracking protagonist with Nadja. Glad you guys enjoyed it, quite a surprised for a movie that looked like an average B-movie to be so good.   I Loved the bit when Nadja burst out of the cockpit and killed the main Hijacker and the other ones fled in terror apart for the psychopath that watch and took everything in, he played the part of a looney so well.

[EvilNed]

Blood Red Sky Okay, so I gave it a spin on you guys' recommendation. Mind you, the splash screen image for it kind of gives the game away. I'll talk about it just in the spoiler tags below in case anyone else wants to hop on to it with as little prior knowledge as possible...   Just catching a fleeting glance at the image, trying not to look too closely, I'd assumed it was zombies on a plane, but it was in fact vampires on a plane - although it was much better than that cheap 'snakes on a plane' type description would make you think. The opening was good (always nice to see Graham MacTavish on-screen) and had a good sense of tension and action. The main story was a bit overlong ultimately (mind you, the end credits are 9+ minutes in themselves), with the climactic scenes aboard the plane feeling like there's maybe one too many wrinkles (e.g. the older husband of the trampled wife) just when you need things to be wrapping up. What I really liked about the film, though, was Nadja and how vampirism was being treated like a terrible curse that you had to keep suppressed and seek to eradicate. She actually tries to fully kill anyone she attacks so she doesn't end up with bloody vampires getting in her way on top of the hijacking situation. I also liked how it was being treated like a real medical condition that could possibly be treated. Speaking of Nadja - THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A "STRONG" FEMALE PROTAGONIST - or more accurately, a complex one. Not some lame-o Mary Sue who's brilliant at everything and gets what she wants dead quick and super easy (no problem at all, barely an inconvenience, you might say ). Nadja, even when turning into a full blown vampire with greater strength, isn't actually physically stronger than another vampire who is physically larger than she is. They keep it relatively realistic on that front. Instead she has to use her wits, her resourcefulness, think on her feet, use whatever is at hand as a weapon. She has to think around the problem (e.g. the nutter in the fancy car with the bullet proof glass). She's a flawed character but she also has skin in the game - her son - who she's trying desperately to protect. I loved the moments when she's fighting against her vampiric instincts to protect him - and then when it's taking her over too much, that scene where she's pushing the boy away was quite moving. Indeed, ultimately, she fails in so far as she isn't able to save herself, but she succeeds in protecting her son. You not only sympathise with her, but you get to empathising with her. Not once is the character of Nadja grinding proceedings to a halt to bang on about being a woman under the jackboot of the patriarchy, or how she's always been hard done to by men (while never once bothering to stand up for herself), and the film itself isn't pushing some sort of pandering agenda - it's just a well written and well performed character who feels REAL (despite the fantastical vampire elements). You care about her and what she's trying to achieve, you're rooting for her the whole way. It's not about cheap point scoring and pandering wokery. It's about a complex character who just so happens to be female. Nadja isn't stripped of her femininity either, turned into a muscle bound male substitute with a cliched haircut. I was really impressed with her character, just thinking "Yes! This! This is how you write a strong, complex female character!" ... if only Hollywood would 'woke up' to that, eh? Anyway, despite it feeling a smidge overlong as previously mentioned (a little polishing and judicious editing here and there, nothing major, just little trims, would have helped nicely), it generally felt intelligently made, had some great ideas thrown into the mix, and boasted a cracking protagonist with Nadja. Those are good points and I agree, but:   Unfortunately, not all characters are well written and the further into the playtime it gets the more fantastic things become. I love the hijacking situation getting interrupted by her vampiric survival instincts, that's a G R E A T plot element but the film jumps the shark at around the same time that the antagonist injects himself with vampiric blood. There's three prominent plot characters that drag the writing down to "that's just contrived" levels: 1. The kid. He's basically a wandering plot necessity, constantly doing outlandish things only to further the plot along. There's no way he'd be anything but a whimpering wreck in this film but at some points he even tries to save the day? Get real. 2. The psycho hijacker: He doesn't even try to hide his psychopathic tendencies. Some of the choices he makes are just bizarre. Who would willingly inject himself with vampire blood? He has no idea what will happen. He doesn't even know wether he'll turn into one fast enough. For all he knows, it could be a month long process, during which time he could be in a state of transitioning. Weak, maybe feverish and unable to defend himself. Stupid... 3. The british businessman. Stereotypically narcissistic and self-centered. He's written that way so that we'll despise him but he just comes off as a wandering cliché. Nobody acts like that. People do generally try to hide their true emotions and intentions, but somehow these bit-parts put them out in full display. The kicker is when he lets loose the vampire just to gain everlasting life. What a fucking joke... Overall, I enjoyed the film a lot, but the last act of the film is where the above mentioned weaknesses really come into the forefront.

[MinionZombie]

Those are good points and I agree, but:   Unfortunately, not all characters are well written and the further into the playtime it gets the more fantastic things become. I love the hijacking situation getting interrupted by her vampiric survival instincts, that's a G R E A T plot element but the film jumps the shark at around the same time that the antagonist injects himself with vampiric blood. There's three prominent plot characters that drag the writing down to "that's just contrived" levels: 1. The kid. He's basically a wandering plot necessity, constantly doing outlandish things only to further the plot along. There's no way he'd be anything but a whimpering wreck in this film but at some points he even tries to save the day? Get real. 2. The psycho hijacker: He doesn't even try to hide his psychopathic tendencies. Some of the choices he makes are just bizarre. Who would willingly inject himself with vampire blood? He has no idea what will happen. He doesn't even know wether he'll turn into one fast enough. For all he knows, it could be a month long process, during which time he could be in a state of transitioning. Weak, maybe feverish and unable to defend himself. Stupid... 3. The british businessman. Stereotypically narcissistic and self-centered. He's written that way so that we'll despise him but he just comes off as a wandering cliché. Nobody acts like that. People do generally try to hide their true emotions and intentions, but somehow these bit-parts put them out in full display. The kicker is when he lets loose the vampire just to gain everlasting life. What a fucking joke... Overall, I enjoyed the film a lot, but the last act of the film is where the above mentioned weaknesses really come into the forefront. Fair points...   I didn't mind the kid all that much. Sure, at times he was a bit in the way, but I did connect with the character in some ways as he's this wee boy desperate to get his Mum well again. So emotionally speaking I think that character worked well, but yeah, perhaps in terms of implementing him into the actual mechanics of the plot needed some tidying up. The psycho hijacker ... well, he hid himself initially as the overtly camp steward. It might have been better if his psycho tendencies had seeped out a little more slowly rather than just flipping a switch, or if at least the hijackers were a little more surprised by his actions or something like that. I see what you mean about not knowing whether it'll turn him fast enough, but then again did he see Dominic Purcell's character already turning mere moments after Nadja had bitten him? That proves it's fast acting. He also knows that it makes you much more powerful, so a nutter like him would love that. I quite liked that whole thing of him extracting her blood. Initially I assumed it was so he could sell it on the black market or something like that, something we'd see play out in the end credits as a sting in the tail. So him injecting himself is in part a way to try and get the situation back under control. The businessman - yeah - he was a cliche. He does feel like he was only there to open that door. I think that could have been done better another way. He was just too one-note, all that "I'll pay you a million pounds" stuff to make a rather blunt and well trampled point about greed which we've already seen a million times before, ironically enough.

[EvilNed]

Meh, I didn't buy any of those three. They all felt too contrived and serving the plot rather than feeling like well drawn out characters. But they are mainly relegated to the third act, which was the films weakest point. also:   the psycho cliché never saw a full transformation. he saw the initial stages of one. He had no idea of where it would have gone from there. And Dominics character was bitten, he was not injected

[MinionZombie]

Wonder Woman 1984 On the one hand it's not quite as terrible as I was beginning to think it was, but on the other hand it's absolutely nowhere near - nowhere near - as good as the original movie (which wasn't without the odd flaw - e.g. CGI overload finale). The original film was written by Allan Heinberg (Story by Zack Snyder, Allan Heinberg, and Jason Fuchs), but the sequel was written by Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns, and Dave Callaham, and ultimately that's what the myriad problems the film suffers from comes down to - the script. The pacing is off, for one, with large sections feeling like they just plod along. Kristen Wiig's character feels rushed, underwritten, and poorly executed (why does she suddenly really take against Diana Prince, after they were all chummy early on in the movie? Losing your humanity? Yeah, but that's not really specific to your friendship with Diana Prince, though, is it?), and indeed, the whole film brandishes the scars of reshoots and rewrites. Too many things just happen because they have to happen, there's endless gaps in logic not only within the film but also in regards to WW's time within the DCEU itself (hiding for a century, huh? Liar liar, lasso of truth on fire). Speaking of truth, the themes of the film are rather clunky. The opening sequence ultimately makes the point of 'don't cheat, that's not true', which is good in itself, but the whole sequence suffers a major problem in taking this dinky little kid version of Diana Prince and making her vastly superior to fully grown adult warrior Amazons (faster, stronger etc) ... it really is "Mary Sue" territory and feels like it tramples all over the previous movie. It makes it seem like Diana Prince didn't have to learn anything or work to achieve her skills. It feels cheap. And it simply isn't in the slightest bit believable for a tiny kid to have the same/better physical abilities than fully grown, fully trained Amazons. Scenes like that treat the audience like an idiot. And seriously, basically every man that the females encounter just want to letch on them/attempt to rape them? Seriously? The main villain and the film at large has also clearly been influenced by the Trump era in the White House. A flashy TV star who isn't worth as much as he claims? Check. Giant border wall that appears out of nowhere? Check. Silly hairdo? Check. Mind you, the villain in this does actually have some genuine fatherly instincts, so that's different, and he had to scrape his way up from nothing instead of just being handed an exceedingly large loan by a rich Daddy. Still, the wider implications are also felt. Also, the prominent use of the Watergate building is pretty cringe and blunt as fuck. Then you have the big controversy about the movie - the return of Steve Trevor. The movie already feels silly as it's basically "Wonder Woman vs The Monkey's Paw", but why did they have to include the whole thing of Trevor returning in the body of another man (who has a life, a job, a family, and you know, personal autonomy and choice and the ability to consent) rather than just bringing actual Steve back with no thunderously "problematic" issues surrounding his return in another man's body. It's so fucked up when you think about it for any length of time, and only gets worse the more you explore it as a concept. Why do it at all?! Considering the amount of #MeToo type stuff in this movie, it's stunning that not only did Jenkins & Co not see any problem with the Trevor subplot, but doubled down and said it wasn't an issue ... weirdly comparing it to "Big" because it's a 'body swap movie'. Well, no, Big isn't a body swap movie. A kid grows into his own adult body and is consciously aware of it. He also has sex with a fully grown adult woman (who is unawares of him being a kid in an adult's body), even if he's consenting - but again - he's a boy mentally, so it's still kinda messed up. To use that as your excuse is not only inaccurate, but it doesn't help you one bit. The action feels limp, too. Wide shots of WW running look super silly (it clearly looks like someone running on a movie travelator while the camera also moves), the wire work is obvious (e.g. those ever so gently landings after giant leaps), and the finale fight with cat lady is just a big grey murky mess that feels tossed in. The action in the original movie was good and you got pumped up by it, that themetune wailing away getting your juices raging (e.g. WW heading into No Man's Land shielding herself from a hail of bullets), but not one single action beat in WW84 ever gets within a sniff of the first movie's thrills. There's a sequel in the works. Unfortunately it seems like the same writing team is going to remain ("oh dear", as Neil might say), so considering the balls up that WW84 has turned out to be I have very little hope for WW#3, sadly. There were pieces that I enjoyed dotted throughout, and there's some cheap laughs to be had (but they are just that - cheap), but overall it's a huge step down from the first movie, and the more you analyse the movie the worse it gets... Naturally, the Pitch Meeting folks nailed it:

[Neil]

Oh Dear™ The Pitch Meeting is fun (as always).

[Neil]

The Blob (1958) - Yep, I've never watched it until now A 28yr old Steve McQueen trying to pass as a 17yr old school kid fighting against an alien monster man eating blob. Enjoyed it more than I thought I would 6.5/10

[MinionZombie]

The Blob (1958) - Yep, I've never watched it until now A 28yr old Steve McQueen trying to pass as a 17yr old school kid fighting against an alien monster man eating blob. Enjoyed it more than I thought I would 6.5/10 Blimey. It's been a loooooooong old time since I saw that. I remember really digging the stop motion and miniature effects work. Have you seen the 1980s remake? Excellent practical effects in that!

[Neil]

Have you seen the 1980s remake? Excellent practical effects in that! Didn't even know one existed I'll track it down...

[JDP]

The Blob (1958) - Yep, I've never watched it until now Are you like... from this planet??? - - - Updated - - - Didn't even know one existed I'll track it down... Are you like... from this galaxy??? - - - Updated - - - Blimey. It's been a loooooooong old time since I saw that. I remember really digging the stop motion and miniature effects work. Have you seen the 1980s remake? Excellent practical effects in that! The 80s remake is another of those rare instances where the remake does justice to the original. Note for fans of The Walking Dead: it also features Jeffrey "Dale" DeMunn as the town sheriff.

[MinionZombie]

Didn't even know one existed I'll track it down... Shawnee Smith (from Saw) is in it, Chuck Russel (also the director) & Frank Darabont co-wrote it (they were involved with ANOES #3), and Kevin Dillon rocks the most 80s hair ever. I recall there being some ropey dialogue or moments here and there, but there's so many awesome moments. The Blob - because of what we see it do to human beings - is much more scary than in the original. Nobody wants to get blobbed in either film, sure, but when you see some of the shit that goes down in the 1988 version you definitely wanna get the hell away from that gloopy goo! The 80s remake is another of those rare instances where the remake does justice to the original. Perfectly suited to the golden age of practical monster/gore effects. Filmmaking technology had fully caught up to the idea.

[Neil]

Are you like... from this planet??? Are you like... from this galaxy??? The secret is finally out! The 80s remake is another of those rare instances where the remake does justice to the original. Note for fans of The Walking Dead: it also features Jeffrey "Dale" DeMunn as the town sheriff. Always been a fan of horror and scifi but somehow these (the original and remake) just passed me by

[EvilNed]

The only thing I remember about the 80's remake was the sex I had while it was on.