Films

Haven't read any reviews yet but I thought it was fine but not great. Nothing understated about it and i found all the big name actors all doing their thing really distracting.

In more upbeat reviews i really enjoyed the new Suicide Squad. Likeable characters, good action, and funny from the beginning to the end.

Drop Zone with Wesley Snipes has a smack of Point Break to it too from what I remember. Just with sky diving rather than surfing AND skydiving.

Bit surprised people had high expectations for the new Matrix film.

Did anyone have high expectations? I'm still hoping for enjoyable and not awful. Not exactly high. Last year's Bill and Ted delivered on that front.

Also I think Crouching Tiger was maybe more to blame for the wire work overload.

Watched Palm Springs a few days ago. Enjoyed it.
Rom com / Groundhog Day / Lonely Island

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpBLtXduh_k

Crouching Tiger

Good point but my biggest issue with Matrix was it seemed to open the doors for normal actors doing high level physical action scenes. Although not trained martial artists Yeoh and Zhang have a long history of doing HK cinema fight choreography. I'm sure Matrix wasn't the only culprit but it's the one that stood out for me. The John Woo influence slightly before was also annoying but less unconvincing.

I quite enjoyed this. I didn't have high expectations and it pleasantly surprised me!

Speaking of low expectations, I reckon the new Matrix is going to be fucking dog shit but I can't wait to see it anyway.

I saw the Spielberg two days ago and had no expectations (I didn’t even know WSS had been remade so went along for trip-to-the-flicks giggles, making jokes about ‘hoping the main characters get chased by a huge boulder in the early scenes’). I did wonder why anyone would bother trying to make this film anew? What different take can there be on this story?

Turns out you don’t bother trying a new angle at all. Sure, it has a slightly different starting point and underlying beat that makes the narrative hang together better (imo), but everything is resolutely the same, even the palette is set to ‘Technicolor’ ffs.

It’s great. It totally blows the original away.

I watched ‘Don’t Look Up’ last night and didn’t think much of it. Sure, the premise is decent and it has a few good moments, but it was too long and not funny enough. Plus some of the editing decisions were baffling…stock footage cutaways, random freeze frames…just didn’t work for me.

Was Don’t Look Up a metaphor for the covid?

Could’ve been anything, but it would work as one for the environment too.

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

Terrible, nonsense, bullshit, unfunny.

Unfortunately, they may think they have mileage in all the family combinations. Hitman's Bodyguard's Wife, Hitman's Bodyguard's Nephew, Hitman's Niece Anne Bumpsadaisy...

about 70% of his work is crap IMO.

He is not a great actor. I don't get why he always gets the same role in every film, when he wheels out the same stilted performance.

Particularly when he is actually quite good in films that he isn't an action figure (MOPI, Dangerous Liaisons, that recent one with Winona Ryder).

That punch tho.

Went to see The Lamb at the cinema the other day. Fully recommend it.

walter hill mini-season at mine today: starting with SOUTHERN COMFORT (1981) and then will watch one of either THE DRIVER (1978), 48 HRS. (1982), or EXTREME PREJUDICE (1987)

Watched 48hrs a little while ago, the racism is very egregious.

Not seen Extreme Prejudice since the mid 90s, might need to find that for a rewatch.

The Warriors ftw

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/29/climate-scientist-dont-look-up-madness

Saw Don’t Look Up, can only add to the comments that it’s flabby and overly long. Which, with an incredible cast list (not always a reliable metric but 5 Oscar winners!) and The Big Short and Vice part of the DNA, is a significant achievement in itself.

Tl;Dr Didn’t believe the reviews, should have believed the reviews

Same. I tried to work out why it was such a colossal bum note. It gave me that same feeling of watching an extended SNL sketch where it’s irritating because you don’t get the self-referential stuff because you’re not a regular viewer, while the ‘obviously funny’ bits just weren’t sharp enough to carry the film alone. Shame.

Very unfestivly of myself, I rewatched Se7en last night. Was not disappointed.

SOUTHERN COMFORT (1981)

I have never been able to untangle my memory of this from Deliverance or Platoon.

Watched Lamb last night, other half could not stop laughing, I felt it was just an arthouse wankfest, so I rinsed my eyes by watching Die Hard 2, the shittest of the trilogy ( yes, trilogy) and yet still superior to the Icelandic Weresheep