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TST Film Review Thread

Mick said:
Had a very rare solo cinema trip tonight to watch Captain America: Brave New World. Most of the reviews I’d seen beforehand were negative so had low expectations, actually thought it was decent apart from in the middle where it got a bit laborious and clunky. Decent action, snippets of that typical Marvel humour and I thought Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford were worthy leads.

A steady 6 or 7 out of 10.
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Yeah, thought it was perfectly fine as well. Touched on plenty of Sam's worries about taking on the mantle as a continuation of what we saw in Falcon & The Winter Soldier.

Saying that would love to have known what we were originally going to get seeing how many reshoots and characters removed from the final film.

Still looking forward to Thunderbolts* and Fantastic Four - First Steps over the summer.
 
Finally got round to watching Deadpool and Wolverine on Disney+, somehow managed to go in relatively spoiler free and thought it was hugely entertaining. Not particularly familiar with the X Men side of things so some of that went over my head but it worked fine as a standalone film (although watching Loki not long ago definetly helped). Matthew Macfadyen has been one of my favourite actors since Succession first started and he was class in this in a sort of comedy villain role.

8/10 - a lot of fun, but a bit on the nose too.

Good news is now I’ve finally caught up with the MCU I can start to enjoy other films again! And going to attempt to make the most of my weekly £3 Cineworld ticket through my 3 mobile contract and get back to the cinema far more regularly.
 
I watched The Monkey yesterday, which is an adaptation by Longlegs director Osgood Perkins of a Stephen King short story.
It was a solid horror-comedy, with a decent amount of gore and practical effects, some interesting kills, and a handful of slightly amusing gags. The acting was nothing special, but not terrible.
However, its plot was fairly predictable, and the middle dragged a bit, especially for a film that is only around 90 minutes.
7.2/10.
 
It's the Oscars on Sunday night and as usual I like to try and watch all the best picture nominees before the ceremony. Thankfully this week the penultimate film I needed to see was released.

So I've just been to see I'm Still Here, set in early 1970s Brazil during the military dictatorship.
Focusing on Fernanda Torres' Eunice a mother of 5 whose husband is taken away by the police for questioning. Based on the true story of the family as we see her trying to keep her family together. Heartbreakingly brilliant film and performance.

It might be the fact the film is still in my head but of the 10 films (need to see Nickel Boys) it's the best one I've seen. Fernanda Torres probably the best acting performance as well.
 
So Nickel Boys popped up on Amazon Prime the other day so I've now watched all ten best picture nominees.

So this is how I'd rank them...

1 - I'm Still Here
2 - Conclave
3 - Anora
4 - The Brutalist
5 - Dune Part 2
6 - The Substance
7 - A Complete Unknown
8 - Nickel Boys
9 - Wicked
10 - Emilia Perez


Think tomorrow night it'll be Anora or Conclave that win best picture though, both very worthy winners.
 
Back at the cinema today to see The Last Showgirl

Set in Las Vegas at one of those old big dance productions they used to do as it nears it's final performance.

Starring the terrific Pamela Anderson as she tries to work out what she's going to do next after spending 30+ years on the show to the detriment of her personal relationships.

The film is OK, a bit middling really. But as mentioned the performance from Anderson is fantastic and she's brilliantly supported by Jamie Lee Curtis and a very understated Dave Bautista.
 
Mickey 17

Bong Joon-Ho finally follows up his 2019 Oscar winning smash Parasite (well worth a watch if you've not seen it).

Set in a dystopian future Mickey Barnes played by Robert Pattinson desperate to get off the planet applies to be an expendable on a 4 year space flight to a new planet. He's scanned and his data is saved, effectively the lowest rung on the ship he's used to complete the worst possible tasks were if he dies they just print out a new copy.

Problems start when upon arriving at the new planet on an exploratory mission he doesn't die but is assumed dead and Mickey 18 is printed.

So I enjoyed this, a sci-fi dystopian tragi-comedy. Some gloriously unhinged turns from Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette as the leader of the Voyage and his wife. Obviously it's Pattinson doing the heavy lifting playing multiple Mickeys (we see quite a few during flashback) and 17 and 18 are quite different personality wise but he also has different mannerisms for each as they carry themselves in different ways.
 
I watched Mickey 17 last night too, I thought it look a while to get going but once it did (around about the point where there was two Mickey’s) it was excellent. I thought the acting across the board was excellent, but Ruffalo and Collette managed to be both hilarious and disturbing.
 
Had a cinema Sunday this afternoon...

Starting with the new Danny Dyer movie Marching Powder.

Always thought there was something endearing about Dyer and his acting, and he's again quite good in this.

Just the script and film doesn't know what to do after the initial premise of him needing to sort his life out or go to jail and lose his family.

Some of the jokes land, but more of a chortle that amazingly funny.

Mostly made up that now it's been released I'll never have to see the trailer for it ever again.


And after that (and a coffee) I saw One Of Them Days starring Keke Palmer and the musician SZA. Friends in LA who after losing their rent money set out against the clock to recover it before they lose their apartment.

This was very funny, and goes along at a brisk pace as they encounter all manner of individuals throughout the day.
 
Watched The Wild Robot over the weekend, thought it was a really beautiful animation, perfect in its simplicity and depiction of nature and how bonds form, best new animated film I’ve seen in a while.

Moana 2 which was released on Disney+ yesterday. It was about as vanilla and fine as you can get without being neither good or bad - just your stereotypical cash grab sequel. Visually impressive though.

Also currently watching the Mission Impossible films for the first time, only two down at the moment, thought they were both hugely enjoyable albeit they both have their own flaws.
 
Black Bag

Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett are husband and wife, who are also spies.

There's a leak and Fassbender is tasked with rooting out the traitor, however it could be his wife.

Great taut little spy thriller this as the plot thickens. Low on action, but very high on smart people thinking and doing smart things.

Think Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but with a modern twist.
 
Batman (the 80s Tim Burton one)

Yeah, this is my kind of Batman movie, and just my kind of movie in general.

I thought Micheal Keaton was certainly an interesting Bruce, you can never really quite tell exactly what he’s thinking. They definitely dropped the playboy part of his character, he seems more a billionaire hermit - more of a low profile Blackrock board member than a bombastic billionaire, but I dig it, it’s new to me.

However, clearly the Joker stole the show. Jack Nicholson really brought a comedic but still threatening energy to the movie. For context, being a “youngun”, I’ve only really ever known the Heath Ledger Joker - of course, I appreciate his unique angle of making the Joker less silly and more with a terrorist-chaos-based manifesto, but Jack is just better to me. His jokes, quips and killer pranks were a joy to watch, when he shakes that mafia boss’s hand and then electrocutes him so much he turns to a charred up skeleton, I was like; “wow, this is very cool”.

The practical effects were very cool as well, I really liked the tiny models and especially the makeup on Jack; however I do wonder how much of that was prosthetics and how much it was just Jack smiling the whole time. I especially liked the plastic surgeons tools - they made me laugh quite a bit. Gothams whole look is great, of course a slightly less obvious than usual Tim Burton touch makes the city look smoky, soggy and like an absolutely horrific place to live, although made for quite the visual spectacle.

Overall - really enjoyed it in a personal level. If I made a movie, it would be like this. Made me laugh, disturbed me a bit and made me jump a few times. Great fun after a very stressful day.
 
Double post, staple me to a tyre and roll me down a hill.

The Peanut Butter Falcon

It follows the story of one Zack, a man with Down syndrome that escapes his care home and teams up with a crabbing outlaw so he can start to pursue his dream career - a pro wrestler. It’s a very cute movie, but I think it deserves huge applause for the way it handles Down syndrome in the movie.

At the beginning, Zack clearly wants to leave. He’s infantilised; but through the course of the adventure after he escapes he learns to look after himself, and proves he can. I think this is a fantastic message; these are people. They can do all the other people stuff too; just with some help albeit.

Tyler also made for an interesting character. Through Zack, he has a second chance at life to do some good. The progression to making friends with him felt very natural too, and it was very fun to see them both goof off at several points during the movie too, the friendship felt real.

It’s a very corny movie, but it’s so good at it that only the most cynical, war torn old man won’t at least crack a smile by the end.

Good watch
8/10
 
The Alto Knights

Robert De Niro plays two mob bosses, Once childhood friends and now enemies in 1950s New York.

I thought De Niro was good, and its an interesting true story. A decent film but nothing special.

Last Breath

This quite scarily is a true story.

Deep sea divers in the north sea and following an issue with the ship above one of them gets cut off from their umbilical cord and with only 10 minutes of oxygen the crew of the ship and his dive team (Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu) must act quickly to save him.

Again its very well acted and captures the camaraderie of these people working in the most hostile of environments. Features lots of stoic people acting competently.

Good film, but the whole thing felt utterly terrifying to me. I believe there's a documentary of the same name about the real people.
 
Following his death a few weeks ago I've been having a bit of a Gene Hackman season.

Crimson Tide
Mississipi Burning
Runaway Jury
Hoosiers
The Conversation
The French Connection

He was such a great actor, and starred in some all time great films.
Didn't watch it as part of this as I've seen it so many times but I loved his performance in The Royal Tenembaums as well.
 
Actually watched Enemy of the State after that, a pretty good actioner until Hackman turns up and brings it up another level. It's basically a sequel to The Conversation as well.

Was back at the cinema for an action double bill today.

Novocaine

More of an action comedy, maybe a bit long but inventive with the concept as our lead can't feel pain. And had a good number of laughs.

Next up was

A Working Man

was hoping for more, especially after last years Stath/Ayer actioner The Beekeeper.

Lacked some knowing humour, though the all out action finale was enjoyable.
 
John_P said:
The Alto Knights

Robert De Niro plays two mob bosses, Once childhood friends and now enemies in 1950s New York.

I thought De Niro was good, and its an interesting true story. A decent film but nothing special.

Last Breath

This quite scarily is a true story.

Deep sea divers in the north sea and following an issue with the ship above one of them gets cut off from their umbilical cord and with only 10 minutes of oxygen the crew of the ship and his dive team (Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu) must act quickly to save him.

Again its very well acted and captures the camaraderie of these people working in the most hostile of environments. Features lots of stoic people acting competently.

Good film, but the whole thing felt utterly terrifying to me. I believe there's a documentary of the same name about the real people.
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The documentary is absolutely incredible. Definitely worth a watch even if you've seen the film.

the way it unfolds makes it seem there is no chance he survives, was genuinely shocked at the end when he makes it to safety
 
Had a free afternoon so went to see Snow White

Thought it was generally fine.

Today I've just seen A Minecraft Movie
Which despite a few chuckles felt like a waste of the concept and cast. Still during the opening prologue I thought I was going to hate it so it did improve somewhat.
 
Saw the best animated film Oscar winner Flow today.

Set in a post apocalyptic world were humans are seemingly gone. Our protagonist is a black cat trying to escape rising flood waters were a sailboat captained by a capybara comes to his aid.

The film features zero spoken dialogue (unless your Dr Doolittle) and plenty of mild peril for our animal friends.

The animals characterisation is brilliantly done, you can understand what there trying to communicate. Plenty of touches of light humour with their interactions as well.

A brilliant film.
 
Went to see Death Of A Unicorn today.

Very much an eat the rich sort of movie, which is no bad thing.

Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega are father and daughter heading to the Leopolds retreat as Rudd is due to take over running the Leopolds business once the family patriarch passes away. Heading there they hit an animal that appears to be a Unicorn.

The Leopolds are portrayed by Richard E Grant, Tea Leoni, and Will Poulter.

On arrival at the house, which to me echoed the Overlook Hotel of The Shining, the Unicorn mishap is unveiled and it's discovered it has healing properties. Seems like they'll make a fortune until some more unicorns come looking for there foal. Thus deadly mayhem takes place.

Moves at a good pace but still seems baggy in places, glad they take the time to set things up but still do it faster!

Will Poulter is the films secret weapon with him having a large share of the funniest lines.

For someone like me whose pretty horror averse it wasn't too scary, and its easy to see things coming.

Enjoyable but forgettable fun.
 
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