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

[Charger]

65


An astronaut from a distant planet happens to crash land on Earth in probably the worst time possible around 65 million years ago when the Chicxulub asteroid was about to hit the planet. He and a young girl need to fight their way through dinosaur infested lands to reach an escape pod and try to make it out before the asteroid hits.

A rather interesting and great premise for a movie...something that if done right could have been amazing.

In this case though...not so much. Instead of actual REAL dinosaurs they decided to go with fake ones to differentiate themselves from Jurassic World and to add more "aggressive" dinos to make it more action packed...which ofcourse turns out to be a huge mistake. Viewer is expecting to see Raptors and T-Rexes and Pterodactyls and the likes instead we get some alien looking monster creatures. IDIOTIC!

Adam Driver does a fairly good job as the survivor and he actually was a special forces soldier so he uses some of his training and makes some of the action look rather good. But the real star of the movie however turns out to be Ariana Greelblatt who plays a character that doesn't even speak the same language as Driver's and still manages to be more interesting.

A movie with 65 million possibilities but it manages to squander most of them. Such a shame.


*  *

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Final catchup!

Thunderbolts* - The most recent MCU film, starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman. [IMDb] After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes must go on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.

This is a pretty good MCU effort, it's not challenging the top 10, but is much better than many of the latest MCU films. 8/10


Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning - The (possibly) last M:I film starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff. A continuation from events seen in Dead Reckoning a couple of years ago, the team need to track down the AI known as The Entity -- it having infiltrated the defences of most of the countries with nuclear weapons and when it has them all it will use them!

Another globe trotting thriller, with action set pieces in abundance. It's a good movie, there's too much exposition in the first 45 minutes and at 2 hours 50 it's a good 30 minutes too long. 8/10


Ballerina - An action thriller which has little to do with ballet. Set in the world of John Wick, the events take place in the same time frame as John Wick 3. This stars Ana de Armas, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Angelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne and a cameo from Keanu Reeves.

Orphaned as a child Eve (de Armas) is sent to be trained by The Director (Huston) who assess if she has a talent as a Ballet dancer... or an assassin! That's the last we see of the ballet! She is sent to defend a socialite from some bad people where she finds clues about the death of her father which takes us off on the main plot. During the film we visit The Continental Hotel where we meet Winston (McShane), Charon (Reddick), as well as an encounter with John Wick himself. I rather enjoyed this, not sure where I would rank it with the other JW films, but it is a worthy addition. 8.5/10

Of note, this is probably Lance Reddick's last film credit as he died in 2023, but it just goes to show how long some films take to get made. He was pretty much perfect as Charon.

[Zzzptm]

Liberation, Part 2

I'm doing sales and watching the planning sessions in these films helps me get ready for my upcoming quarterly report.

[Charger]

GLADIATOR II

About 20 years after the events of the first movie Rome is run by two () emperor tyrants and a young man loses his wife on the shores of Africa and becomes a captive and turns into a Gladiator hoping to find revenge. But much else is going on in the background with some familiar faces from the first one.

Ridley Scott just abandons all realism and has gladiators riding a RHINO and sharks swimming on the Coliseum and the two emperors are straight out of a bad comedy sketch with their ladyboy antics and makeups.

Paul Mescal as the Gladiator has about as much charisma as a wooden sword. The real star of the movie is ofcourse Denzel Washington as the gladiator school owner who has an agenda of his own and you can't really tell if he is a good guy or a really bad guy until the end which was really the only positive thing about this movie... Pedro Pascal was left as a pretty much in the background which was a real shame..thankfully Connie Nielsen atleast had a decent role.

Pretty much a hot mess this one. Atleast the first movie was somewhat grounded in reality this one went all in fantasy camp which as a comedy would have been fine but this was suppsoed to be serious drama. Unintentional humor it however did have.

I think it is safe to say Ridley Scott has lost the plot...he hasn't had a single good movie since The Martian and even that was just an okay film...and his last masterpiece Black Hawk Down is from 25 years ago! For the love of cinema man, retire!


*  *

One for Denzel one for Connie...that's all this mess deserves.

[Charger]

Final catchup!

Thunderbolts* - The most recent MCU film, starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman. [IMDb] After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes must go on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.

This is a pretty good MCU effort, it's not challenging the top 10, but is much better than many of the latest MCU films. 8/10


Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning - The (possibly) last M:I film starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff. A continuation from events seen in Dead Reckoning a couple of years ago, the team need to track down the AI known as The Entity -- it having infiltrated the defences of most of the countries with nuclear weapons and when it has them all it will use them!

Another globe trotting thriller, with action set pieces in abundance. It's a good movie, there's too much exposition in the first 45 minutes and at 2 hours 50 it's a good 30 minutes too long. 8/10


Ballerina - An action thriller which has little to do with ballet. Set in the world of John Wick, the events take place in the same time frame as John Wick 3. This stars Ana de Armas, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Angelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne and a cameo from Keanu Reeves.

Orphaned as a child Eve (de Armas) is sent to be trained by The Director (Huston) who assess if she has a talent as a Ballet dancer... or an assassin! That's the last we see of the ballet! She is sent to defend a socialite from some bad people where she finds clues about the death of her father which takes us off on the main plot. During the film we visit The Continental Hotel where we meet Winston (McShane), Charon (Reddick), as well as an encounter with John Wick himself. I rather enjoyed this, not sure where I would rank it with the other JW films, but it is a worthy addition. 8.5/10

Of note, this is probably Lance Reddick's last film credit as he died in 2023, but it just goes to show how long some films take to get made. He was pretty much perfect as Charon.

These might all be worth a watch then! Not a big fan of the John Wick movies but they've been okay. Thunderbolts I thought was complete garbage so I'm happy to see it wasn't.

[Charger]

GHOSTBUSTERS: Frozen Empire

The Spenglers and Gary have relocated to New York and restarted the Ghostbusters with help of former members. But they cause some damage after chasing a big ghosts and the Mayor isn't happy...especially about Pheobe's involvement and she gets benched. She makes a new ghostly friend and dr. Ray Stantz gets his hands on a mystical object that seems to have interesting effects on ghosts and might hold an ancient evil which if let out might bring the end of all humanity.

The sequel gives more depth to the characters and brings out the old crew to fight alongside the new crew...also some familiar ghosts make an appearance!

I was expecting the main monster to make an appearance bit earlier but the build up is quite good and once he does come out to play things get brilliant.

The somewhat slow start isn't so much of a problem as the actors are really good, especially Mckenna Grace how absolutely shines as Phoebe Spengler. And ofcourse the old cast joining in a much bigger role here is great.

Maybe not quite so suberb as the AfterLife was but still and excellent addition to the canon and hopefully we'll see another film!


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[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
Gladiator II was a little OTT, but I knew that before I saw it so I was prepared. It's not a great effort, but I felt I enjoyed it a little more than you did!

I didn't see the latest Ghostbusters. Not helped by dreadful reviews, I did rather like the previous film, the cast gelled quite nicely.

I've seen a few Youtubers rank the 8 Mission: Impossible films recently and this one generally comes in around No. 5 or 6.

[Charger]

I'm waiting for the new M:I to come to Sky Showtime and then I'll watch both of them in a row.

The last one has been getting quite mixed reviews...most saying the length was just too much...like you said as well.

I knew nothing about the reviews for Ghostbusters so that was a positive...no prejudice.

[Charger]

ROBIN HOOD: Prince Of Thieves


After escaping captivity in the holy land Robin of Locksley returns home with his new maurish friend just to find his father murdered and his home burnt down by a crooked power hungry sheriff of Nottingham. Robin joins forces with a group of outlaws hiding in the Sherwood forest to fight tyranny and hope to free the land and prevent a potential coup by the Sheriff.

Kevin Costner absolutely shines as Robin Hood. Sure he doesn't have an ancient British accent but that doesn't really matter he delivers such a powerful preformance otherwise. And Alan Rickman as the Sheriff...what can you say? Perfect casting? Absolutely. Rickman goes over the top when needed and understated when necessary. The only weak link really is Mary Elisabeth Mastrantonio who isn't quite right as Lady Marian...

Kevin Reynolds' direction is near flawless and he paces top notch action with humor and drama quite well. Eventhough the movie is almost 2h30mins long time just flies by which is a sign of good pacing.

Even if the movie is almost 35 years old it doesn't feel like it. It is still fresh and there are no special effects and it's all practical stuff as it should be.

This still remains THE best Robin Hood film and as such I am sure it shall remain.


*  *  *  * ½

[Thelemech]

I remember when Robin Hood came out and I was quite surprised that it was such a great experience

I will say that at the time I was really sick of hearing the Bryan Adams song from the film. Here in Canada they would play it constantly since he was Canadian. If I never heard again that would be great

[Charger]

Yeah the song is most certainly the weakest part of the movie! Horrible tune, luckily you can skip the end credits!

[Typhon]

Chuck

This is the true story of Chuck Wepner, whose title fight against Muhammad Ali became the inspiration for the movie Rocky.  Liev Schreiber gives an excellent performance as the boxer from New Jersey.  It is an uplifting tale of one man's rise, fall and redemption, as he fights his way back from fame induced self-destruction to reclaim his life.  The strong cast includes Ron Pearlman, Naomi Watts and Michael Rapaport.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  9/10

[Thelemech]

Never heard of that movie before Typhon but I am interested in it as I love the rocky movies especially the original movie

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
I checked it out on IMDb and it's called The Bleeder (2016) over here.

[Thelemech]

Thanks kilo I will keep my eye out for it
If you watch it let me know what you thought