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Post by Dougs on Dec 16, 2023 8:01:06 GMT
Arthur Christmas 6/10. Bang average really but the animation is good and it's a nice, feel good story.
Think it's almost time to move onto the classics. Wife wants to watch Christmas Vacation tonight - bit early for me but it does have a good run up to Christmas Day itself.
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Reviewer
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Post by Reviewer on Dec 16, 2023 8:14:20 GMT
65 6/10
It’s alright but the trailer is almost for a completely different film. Action is brief and unexciting, the two leads are good and Driver can do action but it reminded me as Adrian Brody in Predator. His heavy breathing was weird and distracting too.
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Post by Chopsen on Dec 16, 2023 9:04:18 GMT
The Return of the Living Dead I rewatched this the other day for the first time in decades, probably. I think this is now my new favourite 80s horror film. It's got everything. Gore, humour, gratuitous nudity, only one member of the cast who can act, surprisingly good physical special affects, annoying teenagers as cannon fodder. It's one of those films that just sets up a premise and then runs with it. No character development, no underling themes, no big ideas. Just BRAAAAINS!!! Watching it again few things occur to me. By in-universe logic, anybody who got caught in the rain is screwed, which is the entire cast bar one from quite early on. I'd also forgotten just how clever the zombies are. To bring this on topic for thread, writer/director Dan O'Bannon wrote the screenplay for Alien, which I now have an itching to watch again but have a decent copy anywhere: I've somehow just got an old DVD. Shocking state of affairs.
edit: oh and in my head this is the sequel to Night of the Living Dead, with Snyder's Dawn being the end of the trilogy.
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Dec 16, 2023 9:17:11 GMT
I was quite looking forward to Rebel Moon, but then...
The conspiracy theory I read is that it was nearly four hours so they hacked it down and made it even more incomprehensible to try and force another ‘release the Snyder cut’ moment. The odd thing is, it’s Netflix. The Snyder Cut should have been a three part HBO miniseries. If he has made two four hour movies, surely an eight part series would be the play?
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Post by dfunked on Dec 16, 2023 9:22:22 GMT
Yeah, the planned DC is an hour longer, so I might just wait for that and watch it in chunks...
...Or just not bother.
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cubby
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Post by cubby on Dec 16, 2023 10:33:03 GMT
Oh great, an extra hour of slow mo footage.
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geefe
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Post by geefe on Dec 16, 2023 11:13:43 GMT
Oh great, an extra hour of slow mo footage. No. The extra footage is an hour. In slow mo, it's 3.
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mikeck
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Post by mikeck on Dec 16, 2023 12:04:39 GMT
Watched Indiana Jones: Dial of Destiny yesterday finally, I was expecting a hot mess and actually it was enjoyable. Very typical of the Indy formula (nothing wrong with that) with some good performances.
Not much more to say, don't want to derail the thread into another Indiana Jones conversation (but Temple is still top tier).
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Post by clemfandango on Dec 16, 2023 12:37:44 GMT
Lethal weapon 2 - 9/10
This is up there with die hard 2 for amazing sequels. Not quite as good as 1 but still brilliant. Probably got the most famous lethal weapon scene too, the toilet bomb which is great.
I think I’m heading into diminishing returns with the next 2 though….
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Post by clemfandango on Dec 16, 2023 12:38:42 GMT
Agreed on the latest Indy film, much better than people say it is
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Post by Bill the kidding on Dec 16, 2023 13:17:28 GMT
So, Rebel Moon is the idea of Star Wars meets Seven Samurai.
But didn't Mandalorian already do that? And also kinda Rogue One? I'd have said it sound dumb but worth seeing on the big screen, but it doesn't seem like it's getting a wide Big Screen release? So I'm not sure what the point is.
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Vortex
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Post by Vortex on Dec 16, 2023 13:31:57 GMT
Still going to watch rebel moon though! 😀
I tried to watch ppint break last night, like rawshark, but had to give up.
Keanu wasn't the only one acting badly there. Shame, i used to really enjoy it, but i don't think time has been to kind to it.
Maybe i just wasn't in the mood for it.
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Post by Bill the kidding on Dec 16, 2023 13:40:09 GMT
The Grinch (the cgi one from 2018)
This looked pretty and had a few funny moments, but it never really overcame the problem that it was taking a 25 minute cartoon (classic!) and expanding it into a 90 minute movie.
The key parts are all the same, and they even repeat some of the songs etc.. Although the songs are this weird rap-xmas hybrid that really doesn't work.
I was doing my head in trying to work out who was doing the voice of the Grinch, as it continually shifted between sounding grinchy and sounding familiar. Turned out it was Cumberbatch. Pretty good job though.
But it just kinda drags in places and feels like they needed more plot to go around. The 25min Boris Karloff / Chuck Jones version is way better.
Not terrible or anything, just a bit pointless.
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Post by rawshark on Dec 16, 2023 15:38:07 GMT
As someone who usually puts on the Jim Carrey Grinch every year I tend to agree. Compared to that absolute acid trip it’s a bit boring.
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Blue_Mike
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Post by Blue_Mike on Dec 16, 2023 16:31:12 GMT
That Beverley Hills Cop Netflix series trailer made me want to watch the films again as it's been years.
Five minutes into the first one, and a couple of things have stuck out to me already. Maybe it's just with this Blu-Ray rip that I'm watching, but the audio mix is way off. The dialogue is really low, while the music is turned up way too loud.
Also, what the fuck is with those gigantic lights on top of the Detroit PD cars?
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Post by Aunt Alison on Dec 16, 2023 17:34:38 GMT
They're to alert people to their presence. I only know that because I used to watch The Bill
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Blue_Mike
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Post by Blue_Mike on Dec 16, 2023 17:50:37 GMT
They're to alert people to their presence. I only know that because I used to watch The Bill These things are enormous though, they look like someone attached The Brain to the top of a vehicle.
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Post by Dougs on Dec 16, 2023 23:28:16 GMT
After some persuasion, gave in to Christmas Vacation. 9.5/10. It's probably my favourite Christmas film. Its objectively not the best but it's the one i enjoy the most. Bar the sled scene, it nails it imo. "It's Christmas and we're all in misery" is just perfect.
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kal
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Post by kal on Dec 17, 2023 8:29:37 GMT
Yeah I like it a lot but sadly I just don’t find that generation of comedians - Chevy, Steve Martin, Etc - travels that well beyond that era. My kids just don’t get it. But whatever, they’ll have the same thing one day and will force their kids to watch Will Ferrell or whoever.
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Post by stixxuk on Dec 17, 2023 8:38:51 GMT
Watched Shazam 2. It kept me entertained, just about, but the characters were paper thin for the most part and the ending was crap. Some fun to be had but there are a lot better ways to spend your time, 5/10
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Post by Dougs on Dec 17, 2023 8:43:56 GMT
Yeah I like it a lot but sadly I just don’t find that generation of comedians - Chevy, Steve Martin, Etc - travels that well beyond that era. My kids just don’t get it. But whatever, they’ll have the same thing one day and will force their kids to watch Will Ferrell or whoever. My kids humour us with it I think. We started to lose the eldest a bit but he just about hung on in there. Our elves also gave me an early Christmas present to watch it with - Griswolds t-shirt and a Vacation Moose glass for egg nog/Moose's Milk/Baileys! Maybe Home Alone tonight.
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geefe
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Post by geefe on Dec 17, 2023 8:56:56 GMT
I, inexplicably, decided to watch Timecop
I know I've seen it before but I don't remember a fucking thing about it. In better hands, it's more interesting. Say what you want about Arnie and Stallone but at least they have a weird, watchable charisma.
JCVD really doesn't have that same presence. Shame, as it starts really well with the civil war and 1929 stuff but it just kind becomes this plain, nothingy film.
4/10
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Post by Vandelay on Dec 17, 2023 9:07:28 GMT
Meet Me in St. Louis was last night's Christmas film. I enjoyed it, but very little actually happens. It really is just a year in the life of a family, split into the four seasons. There is a light romantic thread throughout, but there isn't too much jeopardy to any of it, besides a plan for the family to leave St. Louis. One moment the youngest child is injured, but the worry is short lived. Another moment the heartthrob neighbour can't make it to the dance anymore, but granddad quickly jumps in to accompany instead and saves the day (of course, the neighbour makes a surprise appearance at the dance in the end).
Despite it just being these series of fairly mild events though , it is undoubtedly a pleasant watch. It is saccharine throughout, a trait perhaps acknowledged early on during a ketchup making sequence where the maid and mother are trying to balance the right amount of sweet and sharpness to please all the family, but that tone works for it. There are also some real classic tunes, including The Trolley Song, Skip To my Lou and, of course, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
Also, what is up with the youngest kid? She really is a total psycho, regularly talking about holding funerals for her dead dolls. Then you have the Halloween sequence, which appears to show the kids of the 1900s as turning totally feral for the night, creating bonfires in the middle of the street and terrorising neighbours by pelting them with flour. Puts our kids today to shame.
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drakesmoke
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Post by drakesmoke on Dec 17, 2023 9:30:52 GMT
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (Gene Wilder version).
One of those films I saw in the background umpteen times as a kid and my first time actually actively watching. Never realised how good the word-smithery was in it.
10/10.
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Post by baihu1983 on Dec 17, 2023 10:05:52 GMT
Godzilla Minus One
Had to watch the dubbed version which hurt the film. Still considering the budget was less than 15m it still puts the recent Hollywood films to shame.
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Dec 17, 2023 10:33:52 GMT
Those budget comparisons aren’t *entirely* fair. Pretty much the whole of the Japanese entertainment industry is built on the back of almost slave labour.
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Post by Vandelay on Dec 17, 2023 10:38:05 GMT
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (Gene Wilder version). One of those films I saw in the background umpteen times as a kid and my first time actually actively watching. Never realised how good the word-smithery was in it. 10/10. Also watched this last week. Similarly, I had only seen bits on TV many years ago, back when it would have been a staple bank holiday/Christmas time film. Thought it was really great as well. I was surprised how long it took them to get to the firework chocolate factory, but even those early sections were a joy.
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mikeck
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Post by mikeck on Dec 17, 2023 11:04:33 GMT
Wanted to watch a throwaway Christmas movie last night so put on Office Christmas Party (2016 comedy with a decent cast). It was stupid and throwaway as expected, but had some funny moments. Definitely not going to make the yearly rotation though, we were just too tired and under the weather to watch something good.
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geefe
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Post by geefe on Dec 17, 2023 11:21:29 GMT
RLM did a review of the Gene Wilder one and it was glowing praise. It really is a film you don't expect at all. So fucking sinister.
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Post by Vandelay on Dec 17, 2023 11:48:22 GMT
Totally. I always thought Depp's version of the character was the sinister one (not seen his version, but just the impression I've had), but it is definitely there in Wilder's version too, likely in a more effective and less cartoony way, I suspect.
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