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

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
I very much agree with your review.

[Charger]

DREDD

In the 22nd century most of the population in the US has centered in large cities called Mega Cities and they house hundreds of millions of poeple. In order to keep the peace and order a new police unit was formed who had the right to be the police and the court system, they are simply called Judges and one is a cut above the rest and his name is Judge Dredd.

Based on a very succesful and popular comic Dredd takes us into the Mega City 1 and to a single day and night of the life of Judge Dredd played by Karl Urban who gets signed a new probie called Anderson who is green but has some psychic powers that come in very handy when the two get trapped in a massive sky scraper with a very deadly gang with a ferocious leader played to perfection by Lena Headey.


I have never read the comics but I have always liked the Dredd universe and the very brutal world. The brutality came through in the movie as it had some spectacular deaths and suitable ammount of gore (although most of it sadly made with cgi) but the universe not so much...as almost 80% of the movie took place in that one single building....making this kind of like Die Hard in the future. The massive Mega City was left to the background and the cursed Earth where the mutants dwell (yes that is from a song that I'm sure you all know) was barely even mentioned.

The previous version from the 90s with Sylvester Stallone inversed the world better eventhough the character of Dredd was most certainly less authentic than on this version. But I still (eventhough I haven't seen it in ages so it might have not aged well) think I prefer that version over this one simply because this was done bit on the cheap confining the action into just that one building...albeit there was a lot of it.

The opening sequence also made me gringe a bit as it features a bunch of drug addicts fleeing in an old 80s VW Transporter! Yeah right...like those would still be left in the 2100s! Hell most of them have already rusted away. So either that was some sort of inside joke or it was just silly...either way it made me gringe but not in a good way.

Karl Urban was a good choice for the lead though...he doesn't have the on camera charisma that Stallone has so it actually didn't matter he never took the visor off (in the comics Dredd supposedly is never seen without his helmet either which was one of the main reasons the comic fans hated that version) in the whole movie and he did handle the one liners quite well...but ofcourse the star was Lena Headey without a doubt, she sure can play a mean bad guy...or gal I suppose...either way.

Good entertainment for sure but honestly the Dredd world would have deserved a bit of a bigger outing than just a Die Hard remake with miniguns...oh yeah...there were miniguns! Those do add a star automatically though.

* * *

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
It didn't help that it came out the same year as The Raid, an Indonesian martial arts actioner which involved cops fighting their way up a tower block to get the big baddie. Neither did great at the box office, so may have stolen each others audience. The Raid is a far superior film, but Dredd was good too but plans for a sequel seem to have evaporated.

================
This weekend we saw The Lost City on rental. Starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe and a notable cameo from Brad Pitt.

Loretta (Bullock) is a reclusive author who writes about exotic adventures. Alan (Tatum) is the model who adorns the covers of her books. One day on a promotional tour Loretta is kidnapped by Fairfax (Radcliffe) a billionaire looking for clues to the whereabouts of a hidden treasure in a lost city that Loretta's late husband and her had discovered. After the kidnapping Alan wants to rescue her and with the help of Jack (Pitt) who is a sort of mercenary for hire, they go after her.

Umm, this movie is rubbish, a weak plot, weak production design, a weak villain (has Radcliffe done anything notable since Harry Potter? Maybe the Woman in Black but he was too young for that role). There's no peril, or threat (unless you're a Brad Pitt fan ), and the chemistry between the leads is non existent. And while I think this is supposed to be a comedy or at least light-hearted, there is little to smile at.   4/10 (it does at least have Sandra Bullock in it!)

[Zzzptm]

Caught a warm movie I've enjoyed before last night:



The Big Year is about the lives of three bird watchers as each attempts to see the greatest number of birds in a year in the USA and Canada. It's a quiet, warm, funny, gentle sort of movie that's perfect for a Sunday night relaxation. It's like cinematic comfort food. Nothing deep about it, but it's fun and you like going back to it.

[Charger]

SAMARITAN

A kid is suspecting that a garbage man living next door called Joe might in fact be an old superhero called Samaritan and tries to befriend him but Joe just wants to be left alone, but bad things happen and he has to choose either to stay back leave sleeping dogs lie or to step up and help those in need as a dangerous criminal tries to slip the city into chaos.

Sylvester Stallone does a very different kind of a superhero movie with a very down to earth touch and spirit.

For the first time Sly really lets his age show and he is using it as an advantage...and it's more than little ironic that he does so in a superhero movie. But then again most of Sly's characters have portrayed some superhero elements over the years and one might say this is something of a tribute to all of them.

This isn't flashy, it isn't over the top visual effects, this is not a Marvel or a DC movie, this is something different.

Javon Walton does a good job playing the kid Sam and Pilou Aspaek has a good villain in him but ofcourse this is all about Stallone and he does an amazing job...his on screen charisma is something special and it is what makes this movie.

This kind of feels a bit like a send off to all of his action roles...I hope not, but the melancholy and the "I don't want to be the superhero anymore" feel is there.

Sadly the story doesn't quite hold up and honestly it could have been bit longer even...and this does kind of feel like we're saying goodbye to one of the greatest action stars of all time.


* * * ½

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
I was just thinking "I don't know that one", but I realise it has only just come out on Streaming. I'll have to put it on the watch list... but that's quite a long list!

And Pilou Aspaek did make a good villain in the last couple of series of Game of Thrones.

[Zzzptm]

Z (1969 film)

Costa-Gavras' unflinching look at the assassination of Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis. At the start of the film, he states that any resemblance to persons living or dead is *intentional*. I found the film absolutely riveting and, it being based on actual events, there are twists that are stranger than fiction.

[Charger]

^^^
I was just thinking "I don't know that one", but I realise it has only just come out on Streaming. I'll have to put it on the watch list... but that's quite a long list!

And Pilou Aspaek did make a good villain in the last couple of series of Game of Thrones.

Well hello! I saw a new movie before you did! Wow...that must be a first!

Didn't know he had been on Game Of Thrones...never got into that show.

[Zzzptm]

The Queen

NOTHING to do with the passing of the English monarch - my wife and daughter had been watching a lot of Drag Race and wanted to see this 1967 documentary about a drag pageant in New York City. As a cultural piece, it was a snapshot of a much different time, socially speaking. 2 years before Stonewall and 16 years before the radio station I work at started one of the first LGBT public-affairs shows... and 55 years before today. It was a fascinating documentary to follow and consider all the social changes we've gone through since then.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Ticket to Paradise

A rom-com starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Kaitlyn Dever. Clooney and Roberts play a divorced couple who come together to try and stop their daughter (Dever) from making the same mistakes they did. The daughter has gone off on a holiday to Bali after graduating with a law degree and almost immediately falls for a local lad who seems too good to be true, and they get engaged.

There are a few chuckles to be had, mainly from the bitter rivalry of the parents in their attempts to break up the newly engaged couple.  However, the film is so predictable it is laughable as you check off the various plot points as they occur.

I don't like picking on people for their appearance but I was shocked at how old Julia Roberts looked in this. She's 55 but I thought she looked more like 65! A few laughs aside this seemed liked quite a poor film. 4/10

[Thelemech]

Started Fall off with a Friday The 13 marathon. Never having seen them before I must admit that some aspects have not aged well but for the most part, they have been entertaining. Up to number 7 now and honestly, I would say that number 6th was the best one. And that particular film has Alice Cooper singing 3 songs and inspired the song The Man Behind The Mask.
Overall, I give them a 7 out of 10 collectively though the worst one The New Beginning was absolute trash.

[Charger]

Well I am dreading to write this one as this might further the rift between me and zzz...



THE BIG LEBOWSKI


The brilliant Jeff Bridges stars as a dude (no strike that...) THE DUDE who likes his white russians (yuck), his sandals, his bowling and his rug, which gets pissed on by a lowlife and in search of retribution gets thrown into a wild kidnapping drama where nothing really is what it seems and a roller coaster of events follow.

The Coen brothers classic is a cool ride with an amazing cast and some top notch crazy slapstic comedy. When this hits it hits big. There is a certain Seinfeld feel to the movie as it pretty much is about...well...nothing. There's hardly a beginning, not much of a middle and there really isn't an end either....It's just a week in the Dude's life...well bit of a strange week but still...or maybe not...who knows what happened to him the next week?

The humor is top notch there is no doubt about it and Jeff Bridges is brilliant but the always suberb John Goodman does steal the show...he is just incredible as always. Nice little roles from Steve Buscemi, Sam Elliot, Julianne Moore, Peter Stormare, Mark Pellegrino, John Turturro and even the young Tara Reid.

The last time I saw this was over 20 years ago and honestly it felt better back then...this sure made me laugh still but in the end it left me bit empty...like the parts were more than the sum. Still I enjoyed it a lot but not as much as I thought (or remembered) I would.

This rating will not earn me any points from zzz that's for sure...Plus I can already guess which picture he's gonna post next.


* * * ½

[Zzzptm]

[Charger]

Yeah...that's the one.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Ahem... well... err... actually, I never finished watching it, it was just not my sort of film at all!

I'll see myself out!