Be Excellent To Each Other

We watched all of the Final Destination films! Staring people you sort-of recognise from other things! It's quite funny to see how they moved from at least attempting to inject some tension or horror elements in the first couple to just plain-out killing a bunch of people in the last ones.

Here's what I said about Elvis:

Elvis is a okay film, but the soundtrack is superb. I know that sounds like an obvious thing to say, but it's the modern rearrangements of his songs that stand out, they're phenomenal, and Austin Butler's singing is really good. His acting is okay, but that's cool because it's rarely more than three minutes between songs. I ended up watching it as a concert with weird intermissions, which worked quite well.

Yeah, Elvis was pretty damned good, although I don't think I'll ever get used to Baz Luhrmann's style of editing -- it's very fast-paced and frenetic and there were a couple of points in the movie where I literally got a headache from the quick cuts and scene changes.

I thought Butler was absolutely tremendous. I don't know enough about Colonel Tom Parker to be able to say whether Hanks did a good impression of his accent and mannerisms, but it was somewhat odd to see Hanks so heavily made-up and as a (kind of) villain for a change.

I also thought the film did a pretty good job of getting across just how... exciting Elvis' music was when he first took to the stage (and to a point, these days too).

Having just watched Everything Everywhere all at once the bit that really blew my mind

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ke_Huy_Quan

Me, after watching the same film:
I thought I was being a racist, but it is Data from the Goonies!

Also her dad is Cassadra's dad from Wayne's World 2.

Watched Thor: Love and Thunder this morning.

My initial thoughts weren’t great and it’s not warming to me with the passing time. It’s enjoyable enough, but Waititi seems to have gotten punch drunk on the critical reception to the humour and wacky elements of Ragnarok, and has brought it all back for this movie — but dialled up to 11.

The problem though is that Ragnarok was an inherently silly movie with characters that were played entirely for laughs (Goldblum’s Grandmaster in particular) so the humour worked.

In this movie, the baddie and his plan are presented as monstrous almost right from the start, so the jokes just don’t land properly and everything feels forced. There’s very little drama or tension as a result, too.

A shame really, as it has the underpinnings of a great Thor movie.

I understand what you mean, but I didn’t find it took anything away from it for me. Thinking back though, it’s almost like two movies - the bits with Gorr and/or normal Jane, and all the other bits.

But I still thought it was ace fun, would watch again, solid entry to the series, etc.

My one thing I do think is that they’ve done lots of stuff introducing various characters and character sets and stuff, but without an obvious Thanos-type threat in the background at all (maybe Kang from the Loki series, but I dunno). Not craving an immediate return to an Avengers movie or anything, and maybe they’re sowing the seeds in a more subtle fashion, but I dunno.

Also, no spoilers, but the mid-credit scene made me squee.

Yes that was a great scene

Watched it last night and although I really enjoyed the experience, I think you've summed up the film well.

Hanks as the Colonel was pretty creepy throughout.

Thor. Filmed for 3d, reckon it should be seen in 3d - without, I found it bitty which I'm sure is because there are a few pauses in there for an effect to land, or because I'm supposed to be admiring the rocks moving. I found myself immediately forgetting almost every minute of it in the hope there was something better coming. I liked it enough to really enjoy the ending, though. I'd read Jason Aaron's latest newsletter just beforehand, which gave me all the good feelings for the film but it still didn't work. Even with the goats.

(https://jasonaaron.substack.com/p/loving-and-thundering)

I watched a filum!

Thor: Love & Thunder it was and, y’know, it was reet enjoyable. The cast was great and especially Russell Crowe who did his best impression of a Greek kebab shop owner and even Christian Bale doing some decent Monty Python. Most jokes landed for me and it was a fun good time. Natalie Portman brought the heart to the movie and there were some surprisingly touching moments dotted throughout.

Yeah not much to complain about at all. I don’t know what the internet is on about sometimes…

Just watched the batman and seemed a good way to kill three hours on a flight.

Really enjoyed it, loved the griminess of it all. The use of Something in the Way was inspired. Was never a fan of the song, but it's kind of found its place in this film and is kind of perfect.

But still, three hours. I can't quite believe they managed to stretch it out over that. I think part of if was pattinson moving around very slowly.

The penguin was played by Colin Farrel? Wut?

I also spent some time on planes recently and watched some films.

Ghostbusters Afterlife It was kinda fun, and felt quite 'tight' in size with it all being set in a small town. Of course it doesn't compare to my feelings for the original, but it was well done. I like Paul Rudd.

The Suicide Squad was a lot of fun. Idris Elba brings a dry, world-weary comedy that I wouldn't have expected. John Cena is brilliant in his role. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Suicide Squad After watching and enjoying 'the', I decided to try the original. It wasn't as funny or entertaining, but still diverting. It wasn't clear exactly what the Joker brought to this film.

The Batman was dark and moody, but in a good, fitting way rather than seeming dark and 'edgy' just for the sake of it. When I first heard Pattinson would be Batman I didn't think he'd be any good, but actually, he is. The best film I've seen recently.

I also started watching another film but it was too dark to see clearly on the poor quality plane screen, so I gave up part way through. I can't remember what film it was, so clearly it made very little impact on me.

Oh, almost forgot (actually i googled 'current films on Etihad' to get a list) I watched uncharted. It felt a bit like National Treasure but with more acrobatics. Tom Holland is cool, him and Mark Wahlberg bring a bit of the funny. I did get a bit fed up with the turnabouts and the 'can they be trusted? No, then yes, then double cross, no you can't actually but maybe you can a bit' characters. It's a little bit forgettable, and I continue to get annoyed at this 'in medias res' style of starting the film in the middle of an action sequence, then going back a bit, then forward a bit, which this film seemed quite bad for.

I am convinced there was another film i watched, but I just can't put my finger on it.

The Untouchables?

I watched The Gray Man on Netflix.

It was fun, in a smashy bangy action movie kind of way. Gosling and Evans are good as the leads, and as long as you don't think about it all too much it's entertaining.

Very good

Time for you to watch Peacemaker, then

I started watching that! Must have been distracted by other stuff, I’ll get back to that though as it was good from the 2 or 3 episodes I saw.

The Gray Man is a film I watched.

It passed some time and entertained me a bit. I’m a huge John Wick fan, and this tries hard to be another film like that buuut it just doesn’t quite hit like that.

I had several problems with the action and they were all CG related. Frankly, too much fucking CG. It was everywhere and it was incredibly noticeable.

Also the fight scenes were sped up like a fucking Chinese kung fu movie from the 70’s. But worse.

Also the Russo brothers seem to have borrowed Michael Bay’s drone for lots and lots of drone shots.

Apart from the two leads, the cast was almost universally terrible too and even Ryan Gosling, who I fucking love to bits, needed more time on screen to do that quiet sulky thing that he does.

It’s a passable watch but I’ll forget about it tomorrow.

Cor, I didn't know about this. Cheers mate, I shall check it out soon

I watched a film!

Bullettrain. Or was it Bullet Train?

It’s basically Smoking Aces x Lock, Stock. If that’s sounds great then you’ll fucking love this. I did. Especially cause some of the violence was pretty squishy.

I came away with only three criticisms: the music during the end shoot out was fucking awful; some of Brad Pitt’s lines didn’t land with me and when two of the protagonists walk into the sunset in the last scene it was horribly obvious that it was on a green screen. They even had a green haze around them.

So if you like John Wick like what I love John Wick, you’ll love this.

Prey, the new Predator film makes me happier than seeing a dead Frenchman atop a pile of dead Frenchmen.

Even better than that, it's a good Predator flimum. After that last comic book shite one I thought it was a lost cause.

It is indeed...and has a good boy in it.

We watched the Gray Man. It was another one in the 'man extremely good at fighting and shooting kills lots of people and survives seemingly overwhelming odds' series of films and shows.

It was all mostly just... fine. Solid but uninspiring. A visual spectacle but not terribly memorable. Not as brutal as Wick, not as smart as Bourne, not as many jump cuts as Taken, not as high stakes as Mission Impossible, not as suave as Bond, not as funny as the other Ryan's films.

Good things:
Captain America was clearly having fun as the baddie. Nice 'tache.
It was amusing in places but without being overly so.
It was competently done.
Some of those Audis looked like really smart and cool cars.

Meh things:
I wasn't overly invested in the main character or his cause, TBH. There was a lot of damage and death, and perhaps it's where I'm aging out of action films a bit, but I found myself wondering if his cause was really worth blowing up a tram and leveling a lot of the city, and also lots of police got themselves ded. Plus, I forgot what happened to the government bad guy in the end - he had a vaguely threatening / threatened conversation and then.... that was it?
Explodey bits seemed a little bit overdone in places. Maybe sometimes less actually is more.



Bad things:
It was very hard to see what was going on in some scenes, especially in the - it was all moving too fast and was really just a blur on screen.
Ryan is super buff and handsome, I think he's been good in many roles, but just doesn't really convince as a badass invincible fighty man.
I did not like Ryan's beard at all
I'm getting uncomfortable seeing torture what seems like every action film (even if it is done to show how BAD the BADGUYZ are)
There was a scene with a car pulling out of a carparking space and zooming off that was so sped up it was just utterly ridiculous.

I watched a film!

Prey!

Similar to Hans’ dice in the new Star Wars films it tells the story of where the gun comes from at the end of Predator 2. For some fucking reason.

Anyway, its an alright Predator film. The budget for the film, and unfortunately the CG effects, is low thanks to the absolute turds this franchise has pooped out over the years which hurts this film a bit. But it’s a reasonable effort.

It entertained me a bit for the nostalgia and is worth a watch.

Now I’d like to take this opportunity to have a moan. I didn’t care for the actors. I didn’t care for the Comanche dialogue. I didn’t care that, at some point, this film turned into “just wait to see how the Predator kills this next guy. And this one.” That being said, I laughed when that guy shot the predators helmet and it bounced off and killed himself. I also didn’t like the design of the predators face with his big ass thick brow. I did like the predators shield, mind, reminded me of Sekiro.

So yeah, it’s alright I guess.

*Checks thread*
Yep this is permissible for satsuma.

The arcade cabinet in Spiderhead is real - 1 of 12, a mere €23800. So maybe I won't buy one.

I bloody love a good western. So I watched two modern examples!

The Power of the Dog

Dr Strange is a bit gay and a bit of a dickhead. It’s a strange old yarn about being a bit of a gay dickhead but ultimately enjoyable. I’m not sure everyone would enjoy this one. There’s some decent performances here from the cast and Dr Strange is good in it. Lots of Oscar nom nom noms for this, which is weird because

Hostiles

Is the better film from a couple of years earlier. Loads more enjoyable western about Christian Bale being a dickhead towards the natives and then not being a dickhead. Learn something did we Dr Strange? Tut. Christian Bale is utterly captivating in this and the supporting cast is absolutely tremendous. There’s some nice explosions of violence to keep you entertained in what is a nice slow burner. Highly recommended.

I still rate Rango as one of the best westerns I've seen.

Serenity is the best one, obv, followed by Unforgiven.

My personal modern favourites are Bone Tomohawk, The Revenant and The Hateful Eight.

The Harder They Fall was a huge amount of fun, last year.

and Rango is great (and you can just about persuade yourself Depp isn't involved)

I'm a bit lost with all that, he was a violent shithead then he wasn't and now he sort of is again?

He always was, but successfully distracted attention from it with a "but look, imperfection here!!!"

IIRC John Wayne was also a piece of shit. Maybe it's a cowboy thing.

I can't remember watching a John Wayne film.

I've just watched The Princess Bride. After years of shitting on it, it turns out it isn't the film I thought it was.

You're thinking of The Princess Diaries.

Possibly The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement?

Did you enjoy the Princess Bride?

Yeah it was ok.

Russell has found a film called The Iron Mask free to watch on Prime Video. It has Schwartznegger in it. It has Jackie Chan in it. It has Rutger Haur in it. It has Charles Dance in it.

It is only two years old somehow.

And it is the worst film I have ever seen, and I say that confidently even though the opening credits are still rolling.

It’s made by about twenty different Chinese and Russian film companies. Schwartznegger seems to be playing Captain Hook. Well, someone called James Hook, and he’s dressed like a pirate, and he’s in the Tower of London, being British. All of the language is dubbed, but by the actual people playing those roles, and only Charles Dance is in time with his voice.

It’s had two moments of Russian propaganda whilst the credits were still on screen. It’s seemingly made on a sound stage that’s no more than two metres in any given direction.

Please watch a bit of it. Just so you can experience a few minutes of it.

We gave up after about ten minutes. Even I couldn't stomach it.

Day Shift (Netflix) looked amusing from the trailers, but it was actually a bit dull and I fell asleep in it.

We watched that the other night, not too bad, there are much worse Vampire films out there.

I thought it was an okay action film, but a rubbish vampire film.