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TST Film Review Thread

Not usually a genre I go out of my way to see but recent British rom-com Rye Lane caught my attention from hearing numerous critics praise it.

Mostly taking place over one day, it's whip smart, and genuinely hilarious in parts. It knows it's a rom-com set in London and leans into it.

Clocks in at about 85 minutes as well so a nice easy watch.
 
Watched Dungeons & Dragons and Super Mario Bros recently.

Enjoyed both films, neither groundbreaking but good solid fun films. I felt the plot in both films was very thin.

Super Mario Bros did a good job at mixing nostalgia thrown with new ideas. A sequel is inevitable and they left a few characters (from the games) out of the film so there’s plenty of content they can throw in to the next one. The accents I can live with, they are better in the film than the trailers depicted. Animation is decent. The plot is ok, a little thin but as a kids film it does the job.

D&D, I’m not a huge D&D geek so watched it more as a casual viewer. It’s a good film, I love the setting and the universe. The plot, I’m not sure if there was much. When it got to the end it didn’t feel like much had actually happened for a 2+ hour film. The film did a good job at being there for the D&D fans but keeping it interesting enough to not confuse or bore a general audience.

Both films though I feel, much like most Hollywood films since covid, have been just OK. They are good but in 10 years time or so I’m unlikely to remember the films fondly.
 
Been to the cinema loads the past few weeks, been a really good month for the most part.

How To Blow Up A Pipeline

Really good film, very tense. Uses flashbacks really well to show the characters motivation and how this disparate group came together.

The Three Musketeers - D'Argtagnan

Great French language version of the classic novel. Loads of intrigue, sword fighting, and part 2 to come later this year.

The Pope's Exorcist

Russell Crowe in good form, a scary movie that isn't really scary but a lot of fun to watch.

Renfield

Focusing on Draculas servant, again really fun. Nicholas Cage playing Dracula is brilliant. Probably too much cgi gore instead of practical effects.

Assassin Club

Sam Neill hamming it up really can't save this film. Henry Golding needs to pick his projects better.
 
Fisherman Friends 2: one and all.

Needed more sea shanties and less drama. Tried to focus on mental health and grief of losing a parent but in doing that they lost their focus on the music. Unfortunately it suffers from being a bit dull in places and even the end doesn't quite work for me.

5/10.
 
Spider-Man Across The Spider-Verse

The long awaited sequel.

When the original came out I attended a preview screening before reviews had came out so was expecting a fun animated film. Instead I was blown away by the story and the art styles and how it all blended together.

An deserved Oscar win followed, and the announcement of not one but two sequels to continue Miles Morales story.

This time though with anticipation as high as it could be, what would happen?

Well, they topped the original in every conceivable way.

Characters old and new are fleshed out as we learn more about them and the plot.

The art designs of the different characters and worlds we visit again pop and fizzle with design and fun.

The story is given time to breathe and develop as we see both sides of major characters.

Frankly it's tremendous, go and see it on the biggest screen you can. Then start counting down the days to the third film which is out next March.
 
Matilda The Musical, Netflix.

Watched it because my 4 year old was watching it, but wow. It is incredible. The music, the lyrics, the choreography, the story adaptation, the design, the cast. The kid playing Matilda is unbelievable. It's full of humour and heart and is gives such a possitive message. As a 44 year old bloke I found it quite emotionally uplifting, and film doesn't do that to me often, not least a childrens musical.

The soundtrack has been on repeat on my daughters Alexa pretty constantly since and she knows most of the words already. There couldn't be a higher endorsement from her!

This should be sitting up there vying for best film ever made alongside Citizen Kain and, err, Paddington 2. Honestly.
 
Watched Nimona on Netflix this evening. Really good animated film (think similar style as Puss n Boots 2) featuring Riz Ahmed and Chloe Grace Moretz.

Hard to describe it without spoilers but loved the concept of a society with Knights but in a slightly futuristic society.
 
I recently watched Jurassic World: Dominion, the third and final film in the Jurassic World franchise. Take my review with a pinch of salt, as some of my feeling towards it may have been caused by the fact that I didn’t watch the 2nd film in the franchise, so I was behind on certain aspects of the plot, but this is how I felt.

I actually remember really liking the first Jurassic World film when I watched it in the cinema back in 2015, but this one was pretty different. It’s not terrible, but my overriding feeling towards Jurassic World: Dominion is that it’s overly long and a bit confusing. It’s not my favourite film I’ve ever watched.

From where I’m standing, you have two separate subplots that don’t really seem to link in with each other; these are the one about the clone girl being taken and Claire and Owen trying to find her and the one about the genetically engineered locusts. It’s a visually impressive film, with some impressive action scenes and dinosaurs, but I overall found it quite confusing and hard to follow, with many things that didn’t quite make sense to me. I also found it a bit long; with a runtime of roughly 2.5 hours, I’ll admit that I did find it difficult to stay gripped. That’s probably more down to my own lacklustre attention span than the film, but with that being said, I’ve watched other long(ish) films in the past that haven’t given me the same issue.

So overall, then, Jurassic World: Dominion wasn’t my favourite film ever, although as I say, part of my feeling could be blamed on the fact I haven’t watched Fallen Kingdom. I definitely liked it markedly less than the first Jurassic World film, which I remember being really good, and I overall just found it a bit confusing.
 
Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1

The Seventh chapter of a series that somehow continues to top what came before as Tom Cruises Ethan Hunt "the living manifestation of destiny" this time comes up the very of its moment enemy of a sentient AI.

If you've not seen any of the films before they're all watchable and I'd reccomend a watch from the beginning but the series really became what it is now when the current director Christopher McQuarrie helmed the 4th installment Ghost Protocol. Since then the current team has coalesced together.

It's exceptionally filmed, the plot and characters fitting together so well. Hayley Atwell making her series debut as Grace is excellent and carries a lot of the film.

The stunts and action is brilliant, you may have seen it in trailers and makings of but seeing how they fit together and serve the story is brilliant.

Despite it being a Part One it's very much a complete story, no massive cliff hanger to leave us dangling for 12 months.
 
The Flash.

I don't normally like modern CGI fest superhero movies. In fact, I have a distaste for CGI rather than old school stunts. I find the constantly churned out Marvel movies mostly boring and the DCEU ones are just bombastic trash.

But I do like a good Batman movie. I've always liked the character, the darkness, the vulnerability and the lack of magic and super powers. I thoroughly enjoyed Nolan's trilogy, although I felt Rises went off the rails. The Batman was excellent in my view. I was always a massive fan of Burton's Batman movies, Returns in particular where the set design and use of miniatures made it feel quite immersive and grounded for a movie with such silliness in it.

So there's not really much to say about the Flash then. A movie a wouldn't like normally, but only really watched because Keaton was back as Batman. But watching it, I did have a lot of fun. And I think I did simply because it didn't treat itself very seriously. Man of Steel, which kicked the whole thing off did, but it wasn't too bad. Batman V Superman and Justice League however were both awful. The less said about the likes of Suicide Squad and Aquaman et Al the better. The attempts at humour were little more than Dad joke level, tackiness throughout, Michael Bay-esque nonsense and attempts to cash in on the DC franchise, milking the cow like Disney have with Marvel.

Now don't get me wrong, Ezra Miller sounds like a horrid human being (but I was there for Keaton anyway), but at least the whole thing felt like it was laughing at itself. Some of it was actually quite comical. As expected from the cheesy DCEU movies to date, all the tacky and unfunny jokes and over the top CGI fueled bombast is present. But it's the fact the movie doesn't take itself seriously much at all that makes this tolerable. Gone is all the poorly written attempts at suspense and gritted teeth replaced mostly by elements that seem to make it almost a parady of the DCEU movies that came before it. It does this right from the offset, as soon as Jeremy Irons' Alfred declares "but the little babies!".

DCEU fans shouldn't worry too much, there's still plenty of over the top and ridiculous action. There's rolling around being attached to a moving truck on a freeway. There's space ships. There's a generic big lazer thing shooting down into the middle of a city. There's an absurd plot. There's also more DC nostalgia stuffed in there that you can shake a stick at (I don't think it's a spoiler by now to say that Christopher Reeves and Adam West even make CGI returns to the franchise). Think of how Batman Forever was to Burton's movies. Its offensive to fans, but not so much that it was not enjoyable like B&R was.

As for Keaton, well he's clearly here for a bit of a laugh. He also hasn't been written very seriously and is nothing like he is in his other 2 Batman outings. That said, seeing his (now wrinkly) chin poking out a bat suit that generally does look like it was an evolution of the one he wore from Returns and hearing his Keaton bat voice again, it does feel like he's back where he belongs. For about 5 minutes, it's like he never left as he's silently plotting escape routes whilst being unable to turn his head inside his black rubber suit. But he's mostly written and portrayed in a very light hearted manner.

There's some excellent Wayne Manor set recreation though. The Japanese Samurai suit corridor and kitchen from Batman 89 make an appearance, as does the big room surrounded by windows where a brooding Michael Keaton responds to his first bat signal call at the start of Returns. The 89 Bat Cave is back, complete with Batmobile.

Miller's performance is OK at best, but mostly annoying. I know he's supposed to be annoying anyway as this character but when he's trying to be serious is when he's most annoying here. He delivers one bit that's actually quite tender, but mostly he's just irritating. But again, not enough to ruin the movie. Ben Affleck, like Keaton, also seems like he's here for a bit of laugh. I suppose it was inevitable that they would both be written similarly as they're supposed to be the same character but in different universes. But both Batmen seem comfortable and confident in their final appearances wearing the cape and cowel.

After Man of Steel, the DCEU movies became absurd in my view. So The Flash is actually a welcome reprieve as it seems to acknowledge this, finally. Other than a couple of characters (like Zod and Supergirl), no one is treating this movie too seriously and this is made extremely clear in both the final scene (I won't spoil it, but you'll know exactly what I mean when you see it) and even the end credits. But by being silly, this movie has done the League more Justice than Affleck screaming "why did you say that name!!!" in to Henry Cavils face ever will or has. As a result, it's a fun little romp that you won't have to roll your eyes at. The kind of thing that's easy watching on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Edit- How could I miss the best bit? You know Danny Elfman's excellent Batman score? It's back baby!
 
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Yesterday it was Barbenheimer day with 2 of the years most anticipated films released on the same day.

So I started with an late morning screening of Barbie. I know since the projects announcement people were bemused with what was happening but with Greta Gerwig directing and Co-writing alongside Noah Baumbach it certainly raised interest beyond it being some shameless cash in.

The ridiculously stacked cast led by a game Margo Robbie, however its Ryan Gosling as Ken who steals the film with his performance.

As the trailers show they end up travelling to the real world, from then though the plot takes numerous turns I wasn't expecting.

Overall the film is loads of fun, and despite who Barbie dolls are usually aimed at this film is for everyone.

Then after a quick lunch it was back into the cinema (and the same seat as well) for Christopher Nolans Oppenheimer which is as it implies a 3+ hour biopic regarding the father of the atomic bomb. A lot of the film revolves around the work done to create 'the gadget' at Los Alamo. But we also see his life from before and after that. The film flashes backwards and forwards using two hearings to set the story.

Like Barbie the cast is ridiculously stacked people showing up I'd had no idea were in it. Cillian Murphy is great but it's Robert Downey Jnr who excels in his role.

An absolute tour de force of film making, see it on the biggest screen you can!
 
It’s summer holidays so it’s raining - thankfully there’s a few films we haven’t yet watched so the Chimp and I have seen the live action Mulan and Murder Mystery (Jennifer Anniston) this week.

I’ve never seen the original Mulan so can’t compare it, however the live action film was perfectly fine. Strong message of girl power, good vs evil - all you’d expect from a Disney film. 6/10

Murder Mystery is a 12, although I’d say it pushes that boundary quite far - a couple of scenes and comments about premature ejaculation caused raised eyebrows and awkward questions from the Chimp 😬
Other than it’s fine. Nothing spectacular, a bit of a poor man’s Glass Onion. Nice scenery, some funny bits, 7/10.

Chimp goes back to her Dad’s in a couple of days so I’ve got the new Venom and Guardians of the Galaxy3 lined up. Might even leave the house to see Oppenheimer/Barbie… if it stops raining.
 
Barbie the Movie. 4/10.

First section of the movie set up what could be a fantastic plot that would benefit the fantastic choreography and special effects used in the movie.

Instead the plot focuses on how awful Men are, the world is difficult to be a woman in, and women should hold all power over men. Brainwashing young minds into the narrative is one way of doing things with superliminal messages. While this is mostly acceptable, it ruins the plot which is forgiveable until the end when for some inexplicable reason they shoehorned the worth Motherf***er into the movie. This movie has so much potential and they've managed to squander it.
Oh and the ending on a vagina joke ruined the entire movie.
 
I was disappointed by Barbie. The first half was great, and the second half became this weird personal agenda by Greta Gerwig, lecturing about how terrible men are and how women suffer under a world of men. It's a bizarre theme to go with in 2023. It felt like a completely different film by the end, and that ruined it for me, sadly. I went from a big smile at the start to rolling my eyes by the credits.

I fear it's a film that gives off the wrong message to younger viewers.

The set design was phenomenal however, as well as practical effects. I was in awe of the production values.

-

Oppenheimer, a great film with beautiful visuals. It's one of those films you have to see on the big screen. Again, production values, 10/10.

Christopher Nolan’s attention to detail is apparent throughout the film. I'm not sure if the jumping back and forth from the ‘past’ to the ‘future’ worked very well. It's a heavy film that you really have to pay attention to, and the time jumps made it more confusing I feel.

-

Barbie - 5/10

Oppenheimer - 8/10
 
New on Netflix is They Cloned Tyrone

Starring John Boyega, Jamie Foxx, and Teyonah Parris.

Really difficult to describe this without spoiling it. But it really mashes the genres together after quickly setting up the main three characters.

Would definitely recommend watching it and going into seeing it with as little knowledge of the film as possible.
 
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Mutant Mayhem

The newest version of TMNT. produced by Seth Rogen and with a stellar voice cast.

Really brilliant animation and a storyline that really hits the mark with the Turtles actually as teenagers who want to do normal things that kids their own age do.

It's very funny and has a really good plot.

Hopefully there's a sequel as they leave plenty of pieces on the board.

and a mid credit scene showing a certain villain
 
@Chimpy is on her hols with her dad so I’ve been left to my own devices this week - haven’t ventured out to the cinema, but took the opportunity to watch a few films NSFC (not suitable for chimps).
First up was Babydriver - something I missed when it was originally released but is now available on Netflix. You know what you’re going to get with an Edgar Wright film and this didn’t disappoint. For me, a sign of a good film is I don’t pick up my phone, and with this one I lasted until the last 20 minutes or so which is a success.
Next was Guardians of the Galaxy 3. I like a Marvel film, disengage brain, watch the fighting/aerobatics and the goodies (normally) win. I liked this instalment slightly less that the previous 2, however still good, and with an antivivisection message I wasn’t expecting. Phone pinged at a dramatic moment but didn’t take too much to get back into it.
After going outside for a bit (I haven’t only watched films all week honest) I watched Paradise, a German language film on Netflix. Subtitles on (I’m not keen on dubbing as the mouths look wrong) phone on DND and I concentrated hard for this one - marvel it ain’t. Slightly futuristic, dangerously powerful company preying on the weak - your usual dystopian affair - definitely worth a watch though.
Final one this weekend was a throw back after it was mentioned in a conversation - Rocky Horror Picture Show on Disney+. This film was a favourite on the girls corridor at school (I’m not sure why or which girl originally brought it in) and we watched it so much the tape snapped and we knew all the words. Watching it again, you can see just how much Tim Curry is loving the role, and I still know all the words 😂
Chimp returns tomorrow so it’ll be back to 12s and below - hoping for Barbie and Elemental if we can find a time that suits.
 
pluk said:
Matilda The Musical, Netflix.

Watched it because my 4 year old was watching it, but wow. It is incredible. The music, the lyrics, the choreography, the story adaptation, the design, the cast. The kid playing Matilda is unbelievable. It's full of humour and heart and is gives such a possitive message. As a 44 year old bloke I found it quite emotionally uplifting, and film doesn't do that to me often, not least a childrens musical.

The soundtrack has been on repeat on my daughters Alexa pretty constantly since and she knows most of the words already. There couldn't be a higher endorsement from her!

This should be sitting up there vying for best film ever made alongside Citizen Kain and, err, Paddington 2. Honestly.
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Watched this the other day. The choreography in 'Revolting Children' was absolutely phenomenal.
 
Matilda the Musical is a great film - a natural progression from, and I dare say better than, the now somewhat dated stage production.
 
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