What was the last movie you saw...? Part IV

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*Insert a facepalm here*

[Zzzptm]

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TRUE GRIT


A young girl whose father was killed by an outlaw named Tom Chaney hires a drunken US Marshall to track him down, but insists that she can go along. The unlikely pair joins forces with a young Texas Ranger who his hunting Chaney for his own reasons. What follows is a wild west road movie with action and some great dialogue.

Joel And Ethan Coen took an old John Wayne classic and turned it into their own and rather well in a matter of fact. The dialogue for the most part is pure Coens and some great witty banter is a certainty. There is quite a bit of humor and not a whole lot of action but when there it's kind of in your face.

Jeff Bridges takes over John Wayne's role and does so quite well. Matt Damon does an okay job as the Ranger but the show is somewhat stolen by the young Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie. Sure the character is bit over the top but that's what you'd expect.

As on few other occations with the Coen brothers the ending falls bit short eventhough Bridges gets to do the "classic" western ride and shoot!

Is this better than the original...in parts maybe it is...Bridges doesn't match the charisma of the Duke but holds his own very very well. The added humor is a positive but could have used a better ending.

*  *  *  ½

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Of the two, I do prefer the Coen' Bros' version.

[Thelemech]

I like both versions but prefer the John Wayne original

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GLADIATOR


A loyal general of Emperor Marcus Aurelius is betrayed by the power hungry son after he murders his father who wants to give the power back to the Roman Senate. General Maximus manages to escape to find his son and wife murdered and he himself gets captured by slave traders and he is sold as a gladiator. Soon he becomes unbeatable in the arena and calls out his betrayer and gets the support of the people.

Russell Crowe is a bit of a stick in the mud in the lead and the show is stolen by Joaquin Pheonix as the villain Commodus and Connie Nielsen does a pretty good job as well. The story is bit split with too much attention given to Commodus and not enough for the Gladiator training and fighting...which is a thing the tv show Spartacus did much better.
Also the action isn't plentiful and maybe not quite brutal enough...again something Spartacus did better.

First time I saw this since it came out in 2000 and time has not been kind. The digitally created Coloseum was the big thing back then and now it looked pretty dated and had lost most of their magic.

The movie however did manage to hide it's over 2 h 30 minute running time pretty well. But there were few parts that could have done with some heavier editing.

Not among the greatest of Historical epics but far from the worst ones either. Honestly however I did remember it being better than it turned out to be.


*  *  *


Fun fact BLAZE BAYLEY made a song based on this movie on his The Man Who Would Not Die album called SMILE BACK AT DEATH and it's pretty awesome!

[Zzzptm]

All this talk of John Wayne made me stick around to watch all of North to Alaska when I was visiting an older friend in an assisted care facility yesterday.

That was one fun movie, I tell you what!

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Hmm North To Alaska....Is that the one he's got the yellow grip revolver? Haven't seen that one in 30 years!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I've been a bit lazy about posting my reviews recently, so here's a quick round up of what I've seen so far this year... well part 1 anyway!

A Better Man - a musical biopic of the singer Robbie Williams. I'm not a fan of his but this film was rather well done. It portrays Williams as CGI chimp (among live action surroundings) as he develops from a wannabe star to a member of Take That and then go on to his solo career. The CGI was very well done and the film received Awards nominations for its visual effects.  8/10

A Real Pain - A drama with some comedy elements about Jewish cousins (played by Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin) who travel to Poland in memory of their grandmother who has recently passed away and had spent time in a concentration camp. Culkin's character is "the pain" in the title, having an unorthodox way about him which rubs some people the wrong way. A thankfully short film but the acting was quite good and Culkin won all the main Supporting Actor awards this year.  6/10

Conclave - A suitably apt film about the death of a pope and the process to elect a new one. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini, it depicts the toing and froing as different cardinels gain the upper hand and how some fall away. It's described as a thriller and you are never quite sure how the plot will twist and turn. Not bad, it too got lots of awards buzz this year.  7/10

A Complete Unknown - Another musical biopic, this time of Bob Dylan. Timothee Chalamet (Dylan), Edward Nortin, Elle  Fanning and Monica Barbaro (Joan Baez), cover the early years of Dylan's career up to the point where he goes "electric". I'm not a fan of Dylan -- I've said before, that he wrote some good songs... that were performed by other people! -- but this seemed like a by-the-numbers biopic and Chalamet and Barbaro worked well together. Not really my thing, but it too got a lot of awards buzz this year. 6/10

Captain America - Brave New World - with a new Captain America (now played by Anthony Mackie) and with Harrison Ford as the president, Cap. finds himself in the middle of an international incident and must discover the motive behind a nefarious global plan! This was delayed by a year after the abysmal performance of The Marvels film, perhaps for some changes to be made, perhaps to put some distance between it and the previous film in the hope that people might have forgotten... who knows!! Anyway, it's distinctly average and not promising much for the future of the MCU.  6/10

To be continued...

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I need to check Captain America out...although I know it's not going to be as good as the old MCU movies...honestly I haven't really liked any of the post Endgame movies part from Guardians III...they kind of lost the plot sadly.... Now it feels they're just making movies to make money, not to tell stories.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
Guardians 3 was definitely the best of the post Endgames films (a top3 MCU film for me), but there were other quite good ones. I enjoyed Black Widow, Shang Chi and Doctor Strange 2. I also liked the Loki and Hawkeye TV series. And while I know it was a poor film I also enjoyed elements of Thor 4!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Catch up part 2

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy - Really not one I wanted to see! Starring Renee Zellweger, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Hugh Grant and Leo Woodall. We see Bridget (Zellweger) resigned to a single mum life after her husband suddenly dies doing humanitarian work. However 2 men come into her life, one quite young (Woodall) who she falls for. Anyway the film is better than I feared, if still not something I wish to see again! 5/10

Black Bag - Low key espionage thriller starring Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Rege-Jean Page, Naomi Harris, Marisa Abela and Pierce Brosnan. A spy is suspected in the National Cyber Security Centre so Woodhouse (Fassbender) is tasked to uncover them. Evidence points to his wife (Blanchett), but other agents have their agendas! It's no Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy but it's quite good if a little trivial! 7/10

The Accountant 2 - Action, crime, thriller starring Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson. IMDb - When her former boss is killed by unknown assassins, Treasury Agent Marybeth Medina (Addai-Robinson) is forced to contact Christian Wolff (Affleck) to solve the murder. With the help of his estranged but highly lethal brother Brax (Bernthal), Chris applies his brilliant mind and less-than-legal methods to piece together the unsolved puzzle.
     Wolff is on the autistic spectrum and has a talent for maths and puzzles. In the first film he is an accountant for the mob. Brax is psychotic and in early scenes is clearly unhinged... he's a very good character. Loved the movie. 8.5/10


Still  got a couple to add!

[Charger]

^^^
Guardians 3 was definitely the best of the post Endgames films (a top3 MCU film for me), but there were other quite good ones. I enjoyed Black Widow, Shang Chi and Doctor Strange 2. I also liked the Loki and Hawkeye TV series. And while I know it was a poor film I also enjoyed elements of Thor 4!

Haven't seen Shang Chi but I did not like Black Widow at all... DS 2 I did forget...that one (although bit strange) was pretty good! And Thor 4 had good humor but it wasn't in the same level as the previous ones. Haven't watched any of the series...might have to check them out though at some point.

[Thelemech]

I just finished watching the original Jurassic Park
I am amazed at how well the special effects hold up especially the great work they did with the t Rex
I enjoy the sequels for what they are but the first movie was very well made and shows the talent that Spielberg and his team have.
Going to watch the second movie today

[Charger]

^^
Still a stone cold classic!



ANNIHILATION

A strange meteor hits and creates a bizarre new ever expanding bubble where rules of conventional nature do not apply and where people sent into investigate do not return. A new team of all women scientists is sent in to figure out just what is going on. They come across some strange mutations and beasts and discover they themselves are changing into something new.

Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh lead the expedition in somewhat clichéish mannor and just kind of go through the motions.

The movie was marketed as a Sci-Fi horror movie that was supposed to have some great and twisted creatures...well it had none of that. The "horror" elements were bland and lackluster and the effects for the most part were incredibly cheapish and made with bad CGI. There was very little action and most certainly no suspense what so ever and the ending was absolutely ridiculous.

Natalie Portman was the only good thing about the movie and it was clear she wasn't very interested either.

The basic elements of the story were rather brilliant and it could have been made into something spectacular instead we got this hot mess of cheap trickery with a horrible childish ending.

* ½

Avoid.

Fun fact:
The test screenings for the movie were pretty bad and the studio demanded drastic changes especially to the ending but director/writer Alex Garland refused to make any changes.
Sometimes it's good to stick to your guns but as evident here sometimes it would be good to listen to some constructive criticism.