Movies 2: Electric Boogaloo

Saw The Purge: Election Year today. Not quite as good as the previous one but a solid dystopian-ish horror nonetheless. Says he: I've never been into horror films that much.

I watched The Martian last week, really enjoyed it & thought Matt Damon was excellent in it though I did feel like it flipped back and forth between Mars & Earth a bit too much.

I watched Pete's Dragon yesterday. I'm not familiar with the original, which my girlfriend said is very different, but I enjoyed it. A heartfelt family film of a kind I don't feel like we see enough of anymore. Also: Lots of dragon for your buck, which is always a win.

Saw Maggie last night. A 2015 Schwarzenegger film, a low budget zombie film, 5/10 0n metacritic...

But it was actually really good! It was about people who'd been bitten but not yet turned, in particular Arnie's daughter. It was slow and sad, and it felt more believable than most zombie films because a lot of life was just carrying on. It didn't do much in the way of big shocks or twists, it just marched toward a horrible, inevitable end. Grim stuff, but worth it just to see the Governator put in a pretty decent turn as a sad old warrior facing something he can't just fight.

Is anybody in to Golden Era Hollywood films? 1930s-1960s stuff? I've watched some films from that period but am looking for recommendations if anybody has favourites from that era. Currently addicted to the "Discovering..." series on Sky Arts (1 hour biographical pieces on guys like Cary Grant and Grace Kelly with film critics talking about their careers) and it's really making me want to watch a load of black and white films. It all seemed so pure - put two people in a room and let them act.

I'm into science fiction and fantasy of that era- I like stop motion and puppetry and practical effects and out-of-date science. Less so more dry cinema. I have a copy of Gone With The Wind I borrowed from my neighbour when I moved in which I've still not watched.

Drunkalilly wrote:

Saw Maggie last night. A 2015 Schwarzenegger film, a low budget zombie film, 5/10 0n metacritic...

But it was actually really good! It was about people who'd been bitten but not yet turned, in particular Arnie's daughter. It was slow and sad, and it felt more believable than most zombie films because a lot of life was just carrying on. It didn't do much in the way of big shocks or twists, it just marched toward a horrible, inevitable end. Grim stuff, but worth it just to see the Governator put in a pretty decent turn as a sad old warrior facing something he can't just fight.

I saw that under the "indie" tab of the Sky Go movies section a few days ago & was intrigued by but didn't watch it....I think I will now.

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Just finished watching a time travel movie called Project Almanac, pretty standard/average stuff overall but it still had me questioning certain aspects of it after it was done so I guess it done it's job.

gjones wrote:

Is anybody in to Golden Era Hollywood films? 1930s-1960s stuff? I've watched some films from that period but am looking for recommendations if anybody has favourites from that era. Currently addicted to the "Discovering..." series on Sky Arts (1 hour biographical pieces on guys like Cary Grant and Grace Kelly with film critics talking about their careers) and it's really making me want to watch a load of black and white films. It all seemed so pure - put two people in a room and let them act.

If you are into film noír then I remember enjoying Detour a lot at Uni, and you can watch it on youtube. It's only about an hour long.

I haven't watched the Back To The Future trilogy recently, but after reading this - about how the events of the films start mirroring themselves at the midpoint of BTTFII (read the article, it explains things far better) - I really should.

That was a good read, Zero! It reminded me of the old George Lucas quote about the two Star Wars trilogies: "It's like poetry. It rhymes."

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Or Tim Burton's X-Men

Went and saw this yesterday evening. My girlfriend read and enjoyed the book but I went in not really knowing what to expect. It was really good! It was pretty typical "loner kid discovers he's special" stuff but the nature of the magic and monsters and all that was really brilliant and creepy, like something straight out of a creepypasta. There were kids in the row behind us asking their parents to take them out because they were scared, which is always a good sign

I'm quite looking forward to seeing that, though I don't know when I'll get the chance to at the moment. Too many multiplayer games I want to play...

The Teaser for Power Rangers looks real decent, anyone else seen?

I saved it until I got home, so I could switch the lights off, sit on my comfy chair and watch it on my TV.

It didn't really show much, but the overall feeling was very Power Rangers. I am cautiously optimistic.

Little guitar riff at the start as well. Nice.

I'm going to keep judgment until we get to see a proper look at the all important zords

This is sort of related to gaming as I watched


Kingsglavie stars Aaron Paul as Nyx Ulric who is a Glavie, Sean Bean as King Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII and Lena Headey as Lunafreya Nox Fleuret.

You can guess what happens to some these characters, anyway on the film it self now I've seen Advent Children & The Spirits Within and I would day due to me not having that much love for FFVII that Kingsglavie might be the best of the bunch.

Now I'm saying the best of the bunch as the bunch aren't great and the anime movies are likely better, Kingsglavie did its job by adding context to things for Final Fantasy XV mainly for Lunafreya and if you are planning to play that then I would say watch this film and also checkout brotherhood as dos the same but for the boys instead of Lunafreya.

Only thing is now to me Lunafreya sounds like Lena Headey and in game is Amy Shiels who does sound a lot like her but will take a while for me to adjust, I do hope though Lunafreya becomes my Aerith/Aeris, Yuna as those are well loved female characters in the FF universe and due to time and place none have resonated with me.

I really hope FFXV is the Final Fantasy for me.

Saw The Girl On The Train last night. Effective thriller, it was... pretty unsettling in places. No idea how it compares to the book.

I watched Sunset Boulevard last night and it is still one of the best films I've seen. Have been watching a fair bit of film noir lately, after obsessively downloading the Sky Arts' "Discovering..." series that does 1-hour documentaries on actors/actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood (1920s-1960s). There's something fascinating about films where pretty much everybody involved in making them are now long dead - it's like a lazy way of time-travel.

I watched TMNT 2 last night, it was a fun watch but after you watch it I'm thinking that Turtles did barely anything of actually being a Ninja.

They rarely do, outside the comics and maybe the 2000s cartoon.

I've not watched the 90's cartoon for years but they actually from what I remember did some actual fighting in that, not lets talk for a bit cut to another scene talk for a bit then do something.

Zero is home from seeing Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. Strange film, really - a bit uneven until about forty minutes in, and then it kicks things up a notch. Eddie Redmayne is a brilliant geeky wizard and the production values are amazing. It's fun but most Potter films are better.

I have also just returned from Fantastic Beasts, and I think I'm a little more positive about it than Mr. Jones. A fun film, with a nice mellow pace that builds to an exciting finish. It built on Harry Potter lore nicely, and I am now eager to see how the series progresses from here.

My one concern:

Spoiler:

That said, it's nice to see a story in that world with grown-up wizards, doing competent magic and actually dealing with real world stuff. The England/ America divide really came across, and the look at an earlier, more precarious point in the timeline of Wizard secrecy was exciting. Also, to alleviate my own confusion:

Spoiler:

I seen Super 8 for the first time last night, great wee film that captures the same sort of feeling of films like ET & The Goonies.

Super 8 was the first film Jo and I watched at home. Having never been that fond of E.T. or The Goonies, I suspect some of it was lost on me.