TST Film Review Thread

[John_P]

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.

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.

 

[Mick]

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.

 

[Zeock]

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.

 

[John_P]

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.

 

[John_P]

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.

 

[John_P]

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.

 

[John_P]

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.

 

[Mick]

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.

 

[John_P]

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.

 

[Mick]

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.