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

[Tyr66]

I enjoyed the movie.
Damon acting an american father in seach of the truth about a murder of which his daughter is accused and imprisoned in Marseille. After first research, he suspects a young man from the northern urban zone of the city - in reality, an ultra-violent zone governed by drug and weapon trafficking, the police no longer fit there - of being the murderer. He meets a mother and her young daughter and moves in with her.
Very good story inspired by a real event that took place in Italy. The acting is perfect. A slow pace, hardly any action scene but a story that keeps its promises until the final scene.
8/10

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

We saw No Time To Die this weekend. The latest James Bond film sees the last outing for Daniel Craig as the titular character. The rest of the usual suspects are there: Ralph Fiennes, Ben Wishaw, Naomi Harris, Lea Seydoux, Rory Kinnear a re-appearance of Jeffrey Wright a return of villain Christoph Waltz, new faces with Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas and Rami Malek. I do wonder if with a new Bond actor if we will get a complete reboot with an all new cast for Bond 26 as many of the regulars have been there for a few episodes now. We shall see.

Bond has retired to Jamaica when old CIA operative Felix Leiter (Wright) persuades him to do a job for him that causes him to cross swords with an MI5 investigation into the theft of a DNA based chemical weapon from a London laboratory and the capture of the scientist developing it. Bond gets re-instated and this leads to a globe trotting journey until we end up with a showdown on a disputed island in the Pacific, where Bond must make decisions which affects his personal life.

As you would expect with any Bond movie no money is spared on the set-pieces, the villains are typically malevolent (which maybe why some people have complained that Malek is boring, not really, but he is a quiet and brooding villain), there are car chases, explosions and the Aston Martin DB5 is suitably kitted out. Seydoux and de Armas look particularly gorgeous in this film but sadly de Armas only has one extended scene, but hopefully she'll back in future installments.

The only real criticism I have is that at 2 hours 43 minutes it may be 20-25 minutes too long, and there are places where it could have been trimmed a little. But this is a minor complaint really. I would rank it up there with Skyfall and Casino Royale as the best of the Bonds in recent years. 8.5/10

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

They showed Sum of All Fears on TV here over the weekend. It' a film I hadn't seen before, a Jack Ryan CIA action romp starring Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, James Cromwell, Bridget Moynahan, Liev Schrieber and Ciaran Hinds.

An Israeli Nuke falls into the wrong hands, intelligence services are concerned with actions of an unstable Russian leader and it's unclear if the two things are connected. Things spiral out of control and war seems inevitable. Only Jack Ryan seems to have a level head, but will they listen to him.

It's enjoyable enough, the plot is a little predictable, but the effects are fine for a 20 year old film. 7/10

[Zzzptm]

Re. Bond retiring and getting re-activated: So I'm assuming they skipped over where he did his onboarding and had to complete his mandatory HR online training modules?

Re. "Israeli nuke falls into wrong hands, only Jack Ryan can resolve this one" - OK, I laughed at that premise, knowing what I know about both Israeli nukes and Israeli intelligence. A Pakistani, Indian, even Russian nuke falling into the wrong hands, that I can accept. Having said that, I wouldn't see any of those nations turning to an outsider to pick up the pieces and put them back together again. But an *Israeli* one? Same country that has *Mossad* for its spy agency?



Yeah no.

***

Had to babysit some youngsters over the weekend, so I got to see Monsters University. I actually got into that one, very good story. Surprisingly good, really.

[Charger]

Re. "Israeli nuke falls into wrong hands, only Jack Ryan can resolve this one" - OK, I laughed at that premise, knowing what I know about both Israeli nukes and Israeli intelligence. A Pakistani, Indian, even Russian nuke falling into the wrong hands, that I can accept. Having said that, I wouldn't see any of those nations turning to an outsider to pick up the pieces and put them back together again. But an *Israeli* one? Same country that has *Mossad* for its spy agency?



Yeah no.

Yeah that would never happen. But considering just how anti Israel the Hollywood leftists are it's not all that surprising of a premise that they would try to undercut them when ever possible. It has become a bit of a joke the way Israel and Mossad are being portrayed in most hollywood productions nowadays.

Considering the movie, I haven't seen it as to me there is only one Jack Ryan and his name is Harrison Ford.

[Zzzptm]

This is why all the spy movies I like best are in Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles.

[Zzzptm]

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

Gettin' ready for Halloween with the classic!

[Thelemech]

I enjoyed this for the most part, even though it was not very scary. I also think the original one is better than this remake.
6/10

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

We watched Willy's Wonderland on rental yesterday, a comedy horror starring Nicolas Cage and... well, noone else I had ever heard of!

Cage plays a quiet, loner whose car is damaged in a remote town. The locals say it will cost him to get the car repaired but they'll wave the bill if he spends the night cleaning up the grafitti in the local condemned theme park called Willy's Wonderland. At the same time a bunch of local kids look to burn the place down. Unsurprisingly some bad things happen... the animatronic exhibits come to life and start killing. The kids are picked off one by one blah, blah, blah, local law enforcement get involved, blah, blah, blah!

It's quirky rather than funny, the horror is predictable and I've seen scarier episodes of The Simpsons. I'm not sure Cage ever speaks in the film! It's thankfully quite short. 4/10

[Zzzptm]

The missus and I watched Queenpins on Paramount. It's a made-for-TV-on-the-Internet movie, the kind of thing you can watch while doing something else and get the same enjoyment as if you focus 100% on the film. Light entertainment, some fun characters, a bit of unnecessary grossness, but overall a bit of fun. Won't rate it out of 10, because it's only shooting for 5. 4/5.

By implication, if you're looking for a film with higher aspirations, don't watch this one.

[Thelemech]

I saw this when I was a small child, 6 or 7 maybe. It was OK and set the stage for several sequels that go from bad to worse. 7/10

[Typhon]

During World War I, a German U-boat sinks a British ship and takes the survivors on board. After it takes a wrong turn, the submarine takes them to the unknown land of Caprona, where they find dinosaurs and neanderthals.  A decent film by Hammer Studio's rival Amicus.  7.5/10

[Zzzptm]

I loved that movie when I was a kid!

[Typhon]

Slasher film with pretty girls.  Enough said. 3/10

[Zzzptm]

Watched the classic film, The Invisible Man, last night.

Even though the effects were all 1930s vintage, I was sold 100% on the ride. Tight plot, great acting, and I'm all aboard the suspension of disbelief train.