Matrix Resurrected

Seems like all the takes are already on the internet, so I don't need to do anything!

Thomas Anderson is once again in the Matrix, this time as a famous video game developer. But he's still kept to heel and struggles with his dreams that this is not everything that it seems. Eventually, others drag him out, but it's not that simple. There's something else calling him back to the Matrix, and he will do anything for her.

Yes, this is a retread of the previous Matrix movies. First they have the "get Neo out of the Matrix" scene, then the fight related to the Merovingian and a big battle with the big bad and... which isn't to say this is all retread, but a lot of it is. And no amount of lampshading is going to entirely erase that. But hey, we have fights... with quick cuts and lots of different characters. Remember when it was a lot of slowmo of just Neo taking on a bunch of people? Nope, back to just everyone piling in. At least Neo will save us all...

Except, one small point. Neo is kinda pointless to the entire thing. There's nothing for him to really do once he's out, and even the great final battle is more personal that meaning anything in a wider sense (although the movie does spend the final few minutes trying to pretend).

All of which isn't to say that this movie didn't need to be, but that if you set your expectations properly, it's fine.

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Doing the French Dispatch

This movie is so Wes Anderson it's painful!

Journalists write for the French Dispatch, and this is three stories from those journalists. One about a painter, one about a chef and one about a revolutionary. But there's more to each story and you get wrapped up and carried away in each story.

This is, I have to say, EXCEPTIONALLY shot. Every frame a picture indeed. Wes Anderson knows what he is doing, and the screen is his canvas. Every shot perfectly framed, exquisitely composed and finely crafted.

And the story is all right. Certainly I can't say I brought into everything doing on, but I didn't mind as I was swept along at every moment. And an amazing cast of actors. Although hey, if I was asked "do you want to be in a Wes Anderson movie," I would say yes no matter how small the part. (And some actors are only on screen for moments.)

Certainly a feast for the eyes. I missed it during the festival, and definitely glad I caught up with it.

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Second PROBEing

There are only four episodes that I have, so this isn't going to be a long series.

The second on is The Devil of Winterborne. Mark Gatiss returns to write this episode, and even returns to play a character (no, not the same character, that would be hard). We are at Winterborne, a school for male children. At least there are three of them, all just turning eighteen, and there is one teacher and a headmaster. Yeah, we aren't dealing with a huge cast here. But we are dealing with devils, homosexuals and people who stutter. A sensitive portrayal? Well, it could be worse, but definitely wouldn't be done that way these days.

This story works so much better than the previous one. There's one clear storyline, deaths with weird overtones, and we get a simple thread to follow. Some minor sideplots, but basically one story. However, the audio doesn't continue to make friends here. Music overwhelms a lot of scenes, and when there is dialogue there is also a lot of natural sounds (eg footsteps) that can easily wipe out what people are saying. Still, far better.

And hey, Peter Davison is in this, as you would tell if you saw the cover (which is just his face over swirly lines). We also get Geoffrey Beevers (he's a doctor, and he wants his sausages!), Terry Molloy and a group of young actors playing the young men and doing a great job at it.

However... I'm still not sure what the point of the P.R.O.B.E. taskforce is. It's kinda UNIT-lite, but this is supposed to be in the Doctor Who universe because this is Liz Shaw, so why not just have UNIT? Or, given the rather prosaic nature of events, just the normal police even. Let's get some really weird things happening and actually make Dr Shaw use her scientific abilities!

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First PROBEing

One of the many Doctor Who spinoffs was P.R.O.B.E. starring one Carolyn John as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (as produced by BBV - Bill Baggs Video). I got my hands on them episodes and let's watch 'em.

The first one is The Zero Imperative, and features a clinic for patients with mental problems. Although the only one that matters in the patient in room Zero (clearly a natural numbering scheme here). Dr Dove is in charge of the clinic and is about to be closed down when Peter Russell steps in. However, there have been several murders in the area, attracting the attention of Liz Shaw, who much uncover the connection between all the characters involved.

The plot summary might seem a little confused, but there's several plot strands in this story (written by Mark Gatiss) and very little of them many any sense and even less are connected with the actual plot. Indeed, Liz is largely irrelevant to what is going on, and easily could be written out of her own story. She certainly isn't putting any amazing scientific prowess of display and I do wonder if this story might have once featured Sarah Jane Smith investigating.

But at least we have a heck of a cast. Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker, Jon Pertwee to name three. There are very sly references to them being the Doctor, and at one point Liz thanks Jon's character with "Thank you, doctor." Although it's kind of odd that she doesn't say "hey, you look just like this chap I used to know..." We also get Sophie Aldred and Louise Jameson and Mark Gatiss steps from behind the writer's desk to have a role.

At the end of the day... this isn't a great start. Cast isn't everything, and the story is a lot of a mess. Let's hope this picks up.

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Spider-m'n no home

Yeah, I've seen it. That is to say, I saw it.

Story-wise, go watch the trailer. You get the basic idea: Peter goes to Dr Strange to do a spell to undo the revelation at the end of the previous movie, and Bad Things(tm) happen.

First off, there was a lot of cheering in the theatre, so expect that. Whenever someone big turned up, so did the cheering. So this gets a big combination of the new Tom Holland movies and the Spider-Man franchises so far (although not Into the Spider-Verse... yet). Peter Parker is gonna be Peter Parker, and his villains are gonna be his villains.

It was great to see various actors back, and see them give great performances again. More than just "big scene eating" (although there was that as well), we got to see quieter moments that make you go "yeah, they can act!" And hey, the CGI effects are just like they used to be (with some particular ones standing in for actors that weren't there). [And the mask taking off/putting on looks just as fake as it always has.]

I have no doubt this will be rewatched often with the other movies, but in the mean time check it out at a theatre near you. And yes, there are post-credit sequences to watch.

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GhostLife: AfterBusters

Take the first movie... and completely ignore the others... and remake it... I mean make this sequel.

This movie is recovering the past. The characters find out that the first movie happened, and then they get to do the same thing. Hooray!

Everyone has pointed out how steeped in nostalgia this is, and they are right. Like you spend a lot of time going "hey, that's that thing!" So from that point of view this is a lot of a remake. However... the original was a lot of comedy, and this movie, again as people point out, isn't so much. Indeed, with the focus now on the kids (and how they step up when the adults are completely incompetent), and with that, the movie can't really splash in horror due to ghosts either.

Which is a shame, as if you can't do comedy, horror would have been a good way to take this. Instead, this is a love letter, and there is certainly love all over the place. Especially when the first three come back, because of course they do. And there is easily set up for more movies. (Although there is barely a nod to Ghostbusters 2, and absolutely no mention of the female Ghostbusters movie.)

So... it's fine. There are some nice moments. But it doesn't really go anywhere new, just retreads old ground. If there's more, we'll see if something more can be done with this franchise (because coming back to this well will now be a thing.)

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Madame X

It's her latest concert, mainly filmed in Lisbon, but you can spot shots from other shows.

Madonna performs songs from her most recent album, Madame X, but scatters in previous songs too, usually with a twist on them. However, rather than huge shows, Madonna chose to go to smaller, more intimate venues so people could get up close to her (and she to them). Certainly the stages are smaller and so everyone gets up in there. And the cameras really do.

I didn't talk about the album when it came out, but I had a big problem with it: namely Madonna sounds extremely robotised on her songs. There are moments of pure auto-tune, but it feels like something like that had been applied to everything. Especially during Batuka, you compare Madonna with the all-women group, and she comes off really badly. And they are here in this concert too! And this concert also shows Madonna singing more naturally for her other songs, so I just don't know why she felt this album needed this treatment.

But, hey, concert with her performing live, that's got to be good right? One small issue... the editor decided that we must have a different shot every two seconds. It's extremely aggravating! Calm down! Madonna knows how to put on a show, you don't need to smash cut to something every other moment, just put the camera on her and leave it alone! Some close up, fine, but put down the cocaine!

I damn hope Madonna does other international concerts, certainly I'd like to go to another one, but this is not the best representation of what she can do.

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I Can't Die!

Tim/TJ is known for rather "distinctive" characters. That, plus an inciting incident of "let's go in without a plan" lead to a rather different adventure for us.

The title rather suggested itself.

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Last Night in Soho

I can't say I was agog for the latest Edgar Wright, but I was always going to watch it eventually.

Eloise comes to London, but finds herself dropping into the past and lining up with Sandie and her glory days. Only it turns out, it's not all glory and indeed at moments rather gory days. Unfortunately, Eloise isn't finding it easy not to be there, and the past becomes present in very unpleasant ways.

This movie certainly goes places. The nature of the movie changes slowly, and gets very dark indeed. I didn't forsee pretty much anything, so yeah, completely caught by surprise. Pleasantly so! Wright does good work.

All talk is about how good Thomasin McKenzie and Anna Taylor-Joy are, but... I completely failed to realize that was Dame Diana Rigg there! Wow! And of course there's Matt Smith here, but I didn't have a problem disassociating him from his rather more well known performance. And Terrance Stamp! Always a treat!

And indeed, this whole movie is gorgeous to watch, great cinematography with amazing choreography of movements... Definitely check it out if you were hesitating!

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Canom: Let there be Vernage

I note this isn't listed as Venom 2, but Venom: A different subtitle. This is the MCU way, and this is definitely folding into the MCU.

Eddie bumbles his away around his life, not doing much, until Kassidy drags him into the plot of the movie. Indeed, Kassidy makes all the moves, and advances the plot as he becomes Carnage, and does everything he can to make the movie happen while Eddie happens to also be there.

This movie is a tight 97 minutes, which makes it a rare superhero movie that comes in under 2 hours these days. However, it has been pointed out that this movie have been heavily edited, and it certainly feels that. Any moment that could give the movie a breath is squeezed out in order to get to each plot point as it rushes along. Just take a beat, movie, you can afford it.

Woody Harrelson, unsurprisingly, takes the entire movie and is the best thing on screen (although he could do with opening his mouth more and being more audible). Tom Hardy apparently wrote part of the story, and yet doesn't really seem to know what he is doing in any scene, just accidentally being in the right scene at the right time. Naomie Harris should have been in more of this.

A straight forward enough movie. A quick pace that could stand to be a scant bit less quick.

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Drink Moo Cow!

Okay, a little bit of backstory here. Back in season one, Logan has a "starter" area called Burlyington, a 1950s town where the day reset every day (and every day was Friday). Things happens, and it was taken over by the Blue Mage. This season, the PCs woke up in the sequel version, Burlyington 2.0, and because Logan had time to plan, there was a lot going on. Here, we do some investigating.

The name is pretty obvious, but I was the first one to get there!

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The Truffle Hunters

Time to hunt up some truffles!

This is a relaxed documentary where we follow some elderly truffle hunters. Like, they are quite old. But they are still spritely enough to trample around the forest with their dogs and dig up some truffles. Which are then passed on to someone else who then sells them on to other people. It's quite a thing.

While we do follow men with dogs, we also get their thoughts. People are just coming in rampantly to get truffles, and truffles in general are harder to find these days (doesn't surprise me as truffles get hunted to extinction). I can't say it seems to be a luxurious life they live, but they seem happy enough.

And there are a LOT of people who sniff truffles, and we see them sniffing them. I have no idea what they smell like, but that does seem to be the quality people go for the most. (Although we are in Italy, and people smoke a LOT, so I wonder how well they can smell them... or are they smelling truffles because that's the only thing with a powerful enough aroma to get through the lack of smell they have?)

It's a nice documentary, easy pace, and enjoyable fun watch.

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'Til Kingdom Come

Oh good, a documentary about the wonderful combination of religion and politics...

The Christians in small towns America gather together funds and send them to Jews in Israel... which sounds good? And hey, some of them need support. However, ask why: namely because Jews being in Jerusalem is a key feature of the return of Christ, which leads to Armageddon... which is a good thing (to them). Uh...

This movie shows that off pretty well. While the Christians are all "hey, Israel is important, let's give them support," the Jews are "hang on...". But the evangelicals hold a lot of power and sway with the government (this is filmed during the previous US president's term), and that government was more than willing to feed into it, especially willing to move the embassy and everything.

(Which isn't to say I'm expecting the current US president to be much better about this, he's just as Christian as the ones who did this.)

This is a creepy movie, and a lot of things make you go "are you hearing what you are saying?" But for them, it's a feature, not a bug!

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Cryptozoo

Animated movie time... but this definitely is not a kids cartoon.

After experiencing a Baku as a child Joan grew up with the idea of protecting the cryptids. We follow her and Phoebe as they track down the Baku, all for the Cryptozoo, a zoo where people can get to see cryptids and more than a little exploitative. However, Nicholas is also after them, as they make great weapons to sell to the military. Unfortunately, there's been an incident back at the zoo, and when they get back all heck has broken out...

Given that this has people having full on sex, yeah, this isn't for kids... that said, there's no real need for that, so it easily could not have had that if they wanted the movie a bit more available. And there are some big names associated with this, so easily could have gotten attention: Lake Bell, Michael Cera, and Peter Stomare.

Nor is the message ultimately that deep. Not that it's a bad message, and its certainly a colourful movie, but one that could have done better.

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I'm Your Man

It's time for one woman and her robot.

In a new experiment, people are partenered up with robots, and one woman reluctantly gets her own robot. However, she has trouble seeing it as anything other than a robot, which kinda impinges on connecting with him. The robot is designed to be everything she needs... although the thing she really needs is happiness.

You won't be shocked by the plot, this movie still works really well for all that. Maren Eggbert and Dan Stevens are great as leads. (Note, this is a German movie, and Dan Stevens is an English actor... although he speaks flawless German, although they do explain why he has an English accent despite being a robot.)

Just a basic story about being human and connecting, and it's great!

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The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On

Oh, a documentary from 1987 from Japan! Although not a fun one.

Kenzo Okuzaki is a 62-year-old WW2 veteran and one particular event during the war he is aware of is the death of two Japanese soldiers. However, that doesn't sit right with him, and his religious views, so although the crime doesn't hold up any long under law, God's law demands the people responsible face up to the truth, that of murder. And so we follow him as he tracks down people, trying to get some sort of justice.

This is a while ago (even from the point of view of the documentary at the time) so he is talking to people who at best vaguely remember, and most often pass the buck of "it wasn't me, I didn't know about it at the time, I only just got there, I was just following orders".

However, this documentary is two hours long, and it is too long. This may reflect my Western sensibilities in how long it takes to get things to happen, but it does feel like there is stuff that easily could be cut out. I was also surprised about how much people let cameras in to film them.

An interesting documentary, but could be revised for current viewing habits.

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Escape from Mogadishu

A Korean Film, with a definitely different take than what you'd get from an American film.

South Korea and North Korea both have embassies in Somalia... and then it's the 1990s and a war breaks out between the military and the civilians. They get caught up in it, and eventually make the move to get out. Unfortunately, North Koreans are having a bit of a problem and they end up at the South Korean embassy, but even they can't all last long there. But is there a way any of them can get out, let alone both?

Neither of them are having a good time, and when they are forced together, tensions are very high, and not just because of the war in the city. This is a great movie and the character actors do fantastic jobs. By the end, while the authorities of North Korea can jump in the deepest pits, you really are sided with them all to get out alive.

(Conversely, if this was an American movie, no doubt this would have been American Troops criss-crossing the city, shooting everyone, and no-one would be likeable as they bravely deign to acknowledge the city as they casually leave everyone else behind.)

But yeah, we get a more intimate movie with this (than America) and I enjoyed this a lot.

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Savage

It's a New Zealand movie! From back in 2001... which contains the quote "This is America, you can't just shoot everyone!"

A young couple (very loosely in a relationship) drive around, and occasionally pick up hitchhikers for fun. But when they pick a cowboy, they also pick up his troubles, which includes a Maori drug lord and some skinheads. She wanted fun, but what will she have to do to earn the right to wear snakeskin?

This has a great lead performance by Melanie Lynskey...and about the only other person you might recognise is a younger Taika Waititi. That said, there are solid performances all around, and even the skinheads get something of an arc (even if they are still skinheads and get what's coming to them).

I'm not sure if this a classic NZ movie, but glad I saw it. It's really good!

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Sisters with Transistors

A documentary about early female pioneers in the electronica music industry? Don't mind if I do!

As it says above, this is about the female makers of electronic music, from back in the 50s, 60s and 70s. We hear from (and about) names like Suzanne Ciani, Elaine Radigue, Laurie Spiegel and Delia Derbyshire amongst others. We also hear plenty of their music, which basically is the entire backing track of this movie.

(And yes, of course they mention the Doctor Who theme.)

Given the range of music, it's not surprising that while I liked some, other music not so much. When even the subtitles say "drone" you know you are in for a tough listen. But hey, they were popular (in so far as they can be popular and still not well known, which is the point of the documentary) so it's not my tastes that mean anything.

If this sounds anywhere near your interests, give it a watch!

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Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time

Certainly one of the longest titles for a movie!

Marta leaves America for Budapest, to meet up with a man she met at a medical conference. However, when she tracks him down, he doesn't know her. Oops! However, she decides to stay around, takes a job that's rather beneath her skills, all to track the guy down. Yep, she's basically stalking him, but it's a good thing. In the mean time she sort of hooks up with the son of a patient, and then when she does get her man, it's not easy going.

Especially as she isn't the most reliable of narrators. We find out (she talks to a therapist, and this is one of the few movies where that's a good thing) that she has a tendency to make things up and later believe they are real. So how was this first meeting really? And when she is with the chap later, is she really, or is it in her mind?

I'm sure the ending isn't as ambiguous as how I read it, but after that set up, how could I not? Not to mention it ends on an image that might mean something, but I could easily have missed it.

But my main take away from this movie... dang, director Lili Horvat really likes a close up! Back that camera off!

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The Killing of Two Lovers

It's a character piece about a man trying to get back with his family.

That man we see in the first shot is trying to shoot his (separated from) wife and her new lover. From there, he tries to get through the days while he can't really be with his children and his wife is with someone else, and his teenage daughter having her own problems with the family having issues...

To be honest, I'm not sure why this made my short list, but there we are. My main issue is that... I don't like the lead character. He's not a great guy, so him getting back with the wife and the family isn't something I'm rooting for. Which is the basic thesis of the movie, so...

Maybe I should refine my selections better...

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All Light, Everywhere

What we have here is a documentary about the camera, about what it sees, about what it doesn't see. And it's something else.

Take a good look at cameras. In particular, spend a long time looking at police bodycameras, where they are made, how the police are told to use them... but then make everything artier. Artier... ARTIER... now really JUMP up your own butt with pretentiousness... there you go, there's the movie we have!

This has some interesting points to make, about how we look at the world. The body camera sees what the observer sees, but not what the observer does. Technology isn't seamless, images can't get everything. Our own eyes have blindspots, and so do our cameras.

But that's not enough for this movie. We need to see beyond what the camera is pointed at. We need to see the camera itself. We see the documentary makers. We have a voice over tell us things. We have (sometimes) separate captions telling us things.

We get auteur up in this!

And we also get nearly two hours of this. It is a LOT. Myself, I would like this to be made in a more straightforward way, but this method may appeal to someone.

(All this, and nothing about Deep Fakes...)

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Riders of Justice

Hey, a Mads Mikkelsen movie!

A train accident is just an accident.. or is it? One person who was on the train can't stop thinking about it, and finds proof that it was an assassination attempt, and talks to the (military) husband of a woman who died, and they end up doing something about that against the people they find behind it. However, it escalates quickly, and goes in ways you wouldn't expect.

There are some very different performances, from Mads, who gets to do a range of different things, to the "geeks" to his daughter played by Andrea Heick Gadeberg. Despite the action moments of this film, this is more of a character piece as we see people reacting to events and find someone to blame.

That said, it felt a bit slow to me, just reveling in some of the weirder moments as if to go "hey, how about this then?" So... two hours is a bit long for my patience, but that doesn't make it a bad watch.

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Notturno

Documentary time (one of many), about living in the war torn Middle East.

As the line above says, this is about people living in war torn countries. I'm not saying they are living a joyous life, but they are surviving. We see a fair few different people, including patients at a hospital putting on a play about staying strong, and kids telling stories of being under ISIS.

Not a fun movie, but a rather stark portrayal of life. But while this is a crappy time for many, people are getting by, day-by-day. Some are doing better than others. This is like some places in that the people on the low rung are just doing their things and trying to get by, but a lot of other places don't have constant war and imminent death hanging over their heads.

Life endures. It's a shit hand, but life endures.

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Undine

A nice wee film about love and killing people because of water.

Undine breaks up with one boyfriend, but ends up with another one pretty quickly. While passionate, a brief encounter shows she still has feelings for the one old. Well, we can't be having with that, can we?

Undine is a water nymph, and this movie taps into that idea, although I'm not very familiar with the myth. But the brief line on IMDB gives it away (spoilers!), so I wasn't too shocked when it happened. Knowing it was coming, events did flow nicely and it is quite the tale. Not so much of a woman scorned, but certainly a woman with her own problems that has a supernatural touch to it.

Paula Beer gives a good performance as Undine, but I was reminded by Franz Rogowski that I've seen him in a few other things. Thanks to the Wellington Film Society for broadening my horizons!

At only 90 minutes, it doesn't outstay its welcome, and indeed it is a welcome film.

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Titane

I gather that people really love this. Indeed, it won a Palme D'or. It's... weird.

A girl is involved in a car crash, and gets a Titanium skull plate... and later grows up to be a rather psychotic young woman. Conversely, there's father that lost his son, and the woman is looking for a place to hide, so 1 + 3 = 2...

Yeah, as I said, it's weird. The main weirdness is that woman is pregnant, but doesn't seem to be, but is heavy pregnant, but isn't...

Agathe Rousselle puts on a heck of a performance, with not much dialogue, but plenty of screen time to show her stuff. Vincent Lindon also has a heck of a role, and sells a lot of things well.

It's a full on character piece about lengths people will go to, and I can see that it looks like a great movie, but I wouldn't say this is a movie I'll want to watch again.

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The Eternally

Thanks to "early screenings" and because New Zealand has an early time zone, yep, I saw this last night!

Of course, with such an early screening, I do need to be more careful about spoilers than some. That said, you already probably know most of the premise from adverts and basic movie formulas. There were Deviants, and so there were Eternals to battle them. We see some past battles amidst the present day needing to deal with them, but still plenty of present day to deal with.

And at around 2 and a half hours there's a LOT of everything to deal with. To be honest, there are lot of long shots and and HUGE exposition dump that half hour could easily be edited down. And there are some odd editing choices. Aside from the huge Tell Don't Show that occurs, there is a lot of dialogue that is given while the shot is looking at the other person in the scene, who isn't really reacting much. That, to me, smacks of ADR, so I do wonder what happened there. (And yes, there is gay representation, but despite some assurances, I'm not going to say that it can't be edited around with too many issues.)

Gemma Chan, Richard Madden and Lia McHugh are the main leads. Despite Selma Hayek and Angelina Jolie being present in a lot of trailers, they feel more like supporting cast there for star power than actual presences in the movie. And best non-Eternal is easily Harish Patel's Karun. Let's get more of him!

Overall, this will be a movie people will see. I can't see this being a highly ranking Marvel feature, although it's certainly better than a lot.

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Nine Days

My watching of Film Festival films begins with... what sounds like a too adult version of Soul.

A man is watching over people living on earth, and must choose someone else to go from being a soul to being an actual human being. They are given nine days while he assesses them, and we are here for the journey.

While it could be a serious take on Soul, it is entirely it's own thing. We aren't given any context of why or how this is a thing, but we quickly get the idea and see the potential humans on their journey, as well as the interviewer himself learning about living.

Winston Duke is the interviewer, and he does a great job. However, he is easily upstaged by Zazie Beetz who steals all the moments she is on screen. Benedict Wong is enjoying himself too, and all the actors are into making this movie work.

And it does. This isn't big budget, but dang, you can see why it gets the film festival picks...

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DUNC it!

It seems that a) everyone will see this movie, and b) everyone will like this movie. Everyone... WILL!!!

Paul Atreides goes with his parents to the planet known as Dune. Everyone gets attacked, and Paul barely gets away and...

End of part one!

Okay, that was a rather glib summary, but if you know the story you know what happens. This movie is quite a faithful adaptation of the book. Remember that scene? Yeah, it's in the movie. Which means this is a long ass movie, with lots of stuff happening... and yet not much does really happen. The book works better because it has room to breathe, but translating onto screen, it feels like some elements are skipped over.

However, there's no real doubt that there will be a part two. Especially with some performances (hello Zendaya) not really coming into anything until part two.

But at least the music is great!

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Hilloween Kalls

Oh dear gods... what the hell is this mess of a movie supposed to be?

One part of this movie is supposed to follow on from the previous movie (which I can't recall the name of), and it is trying to make a statement about what is the real impact of Michael Myers. Another part of this movie is trying to reference the previous movies like it is an anniversary special. And yet another part is going "hey, how about some kewl Michael kills?"

And the problem is... none of these parts are integrated! It's like they had three different scripts they mashed together. Or, rather, more like they had a raft of deleted scenes from other movies they wanted to cram into one movie to get everything out of the way.

(And make no mistake about this being the end of the franchise... they aren't allowed to kill Myers off.)

What we get is an incoherent mess. I'm not sure why half the actors bothered to be here, possibly they were contracted, possibly they just wanted the money. Certainly it's not for the artistic merit.

Just best to avoid, but I'm sure everyone already even halfway invested in this series will check this out.

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Jimonthy Blonde

Partially I suspect because cinemas could not open up fully, this took a while to come out compare to other countries... but still before others. But not as bad as some other movies on the slate...

What if there was a weapon that could target people and be used safely around others? And what if the British spies were entirely responsible for it getting out of hand? That's the plot, but the majority of this movie is actually about the relationships between Bond and other characters, mainly his not wife Madeleine Swann and also her relationships with other characters. Which sometimes gets interrupted with action scenes.

Am I saying this movie is focusing on the wrong things? Well, it's so bloody long it focuses on everything. There were a lot of parts where I was thinking "could this be edited down? yes!".

That said, it has a lot to pack it. It has a lot of references to the rest of the series, and James' interaction with Felix is one of the better parts of the movie. There are some good action sequences, but not all. And as for the villain... is he even in this movie? I'm fairly sure you could remove him and not really notice.

It's too long, but this does sit in for a full story with Craig's Bond. That said, I did stay right to the end to see if they put the usual title card at the end...

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Pushing Mildred's Buttons!

This was the last episode of season 6 that I was in. Given the time zones involved, I don't sign up for much, and so it's getting over already... and then season 7 will kick in!

At the time, I had a better reason for why I convinced people that this title was good. There was Mildred pushing buttons, as well as such pushing Mildred's psychological buttons... but listening back now, that doesn't come across anywhere near as well as what I recall.

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Not Young

Fine, let's see the latest M. Night twist!

A couple of families go to a resort and get taken out to a lovely beach that has great views, great water and a small side effect of aging people rapidly. ... ... ... skip to 90 minutes and then we wrap up what is actually going on.

Seriously, the main chunk of this movie is nothing happen. We have the gimmick, and then the gimmick goes on.. and that's it! Nothing interesting develops from that, and even the big reveal of what is going on is "meh". Certainly not a surprise twist. Not that I saw it coming, but that I just didn't care that that's what the answer was.

Because it doesn't work. There's the premise, but it doesn't actually work that way! There are some hat tips to actual science, but most of it is ignored because that's not what the story is about. But what the story is about is "people hang around" and that isn't a story that anything exciting happens with.

This might be a movie to catch on tv, but I definitely wouldn't say you need to go to a cinema to see it.

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Shaun Chi

Finally managed to see the latest Marvel movie, with lockdown easing and movies coming out later.

Shang-Chi has daddy issues, understandable when your dad is the leader of the Ten Rings. In fact, the whole movie is about family issues. There is also a lot of martial arts fighting, and Awkwafina, but otherwise it's family. (So this is the Fast and Furious of Marvel movies?)

A lot of people are loving this movie, but I can't say it feels like more than an average Marvel movie to me. So ... uh... I don't feel like I have a lot of say here.

Which isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it. Just that as I think back on it... I'm remembering bits from the trailer more than the actual movie. Considering that I was careful to avoid any spoilers and stuff, maybe I was expecting too much?

In all, it was decent, but... that's about it.

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KondyMon

After some issues, I did manage to see this sequel to the 1992 movie (which I also watched prior).

An artist becomes fascinated by the legend of the Candyman, but his latest project is connecting him with the being in ways he didn't expect. But as he gets in touch with the Candyman, the Candyman reaches out and touches others in rather unpleasant ways.

While I did see the 1992 movie, I haven't seen the others. And guessing how sequels would probably up the horror factor of "man with hook who appears in mirror", I'm not immediately pining to. While this is Clive Barker, look what happened with Hellraiser...

But this version picks up from '92 and references that. As such, it is useful to see that movie, but they do explain a lot of it. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is the artist of the main role, and he gets to experience some personally unsettling thing, which is a key factor of these movies. In that it is what people find out about how other people treat people (in particular, how black people are treated).

Less of a factor is the horror element of hook related fatalities, and some bee themed stuff. Unfortunately, this movie does go into "hey, let's kill some random people," which undermines the personal nature of the movie and could be scenes from any killer movie. The bee thing is a neat touch, but is only really incidental, and easily could have been dropped... or ramped up.

I'm sure I missed some parts of the movie, but this easily could be a different type of horror movie that occasionally treads into the common paths.

Oh, and completely unrelated, but goes through my head all the time...

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The Geen Kinigit!

A LOT of people are excited about this, so I'll check it out.

Gawain is attending King Arthur's court when the Green Knight comes in and says "hit me and I will hit you in return, and everything will be fine" and Gawain hasn't seen the script so kills the Knight. Cut to, his journey later to go to the knight and get the returned blow.

This is based on classical mythology and... I don't get it. I wonder if I knew the story more I would? There are likely lots of references and such that makes people go "hey, that's that thing!" but none of that meant anything to me.

This movie is definitely artistic, with lots of stylish flourishes. But again, while I could appreciate it as a technical production, again the story didn't really resonate with me.

What this comes down to is: it's a nice movie, I guess, but not really meaning much to me.

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Baguette!

Of the various places our characters could go, one of them had everyone speaking French. And my character had spent time in Canada, and so could speak French. And so... however, only been there once, others have only been there a few times, and I doubt the other players really care enough to go back.

The title was obvious, and if you are reading the chat you'll see where I make that point.

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Rememberingensing

Hugh Jackman sci-fi? I'll bite, but I'm wondering if this is an excuse for historical in sci-fi clothes.

Nope, while people have said this is noir, this isn't as bad as I feared from "we live in the past". The past, in this case, is where clues are for the mystery of what happened in the now. Jackman is trying to unravel the question, and the remembering is an analogy for... living in the past? In a better time? In a time of secrets? I don't know analogies, so can't really say, but it isn't about solely dwelling in the past that the trailer hinted at.

Aside from that mystery... this isn't really that interesting a movie. The remembering of things is more of a gimmick than anything else, and yes this could easily be a noir detective story without needing to change much.

So not a bad movie... but not a great movie either.

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Snack Eyes

We've come a long way baby. But in some ways, not very far at all.

In the past, one child suffered a traumatic event. Now, in the present, he will do whatever it takes to deal with that trauma, even at the cost of learning an arc to be a better person.

While I'm not saying this movie is incredibly generic,... I am saying there are a lot of commonalities between this and a lot of other movies, particularly other martial arts movies. Heck, I'm expecting more of the same when Shang-Chi hits.

But one aspect I want to point out is: It takes 23 minutes for the first pair of female characters to come into the movie. And then another 30 minutes before the second pair. ... And that's it! Sure, you can say the yakuza and such are male biased, but godsdammit you could easily have plenty of more women around considering they are also a ninja clan, and there are masters and such. Four female characters?? In 2021? Come on now!

Aside from that... oh yeah, this is a GI Joe movie, but you'll be forgiven for blinking and missing that when that only takes up about 5 minutes of screen time.

You know what... I am going to call this generic. Watch it for Henry Golding, but not much interest otherwise.

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Poster Child!

Yep, another episode! And the internet was really crapping out hard in Europe, so only got a few episodes in.

The title, amongst other things, refers to this being a Poster Child for how to eff around and not do anything.

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Freeg Uy

It wasn't until I saw the cast list proper that I clicked: this is one of those "hey, let's make a movie with my friends" that is definitely that idea first and other things, such as plot, way later.

If you've seen the advert, you know the basic concept: NPC gets the powers of a PC. Mix in with that a standard "someone took our project" plot, and you've got the movie!

And, if you guessed at various time "that's not how the internet, or AI, or MMOs work" you'll be right! But then, we are talking about one of the writers of Ready Player One, so that tracks.

Aside from that, it's quite fun. Ryan Reynolds knows he's here to goof, so goof he does. Jodie Comer gets to do various bits of actual acting. And Taika Waititi is also here to goof. And there's also quite a list of famous names that you probably won't get until you too see the cast list.

But one cameo you will spot is where you can tell the producers suddenly got a hold of a lot of other movie's property. Still, better than RPO's use of them!

Fun gimmicky movie, but it is just a fun gimmicky movie.

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THE Swuiwide Swad

Clearly James Gunn is feeling a bit repressed under Marvel, so when given a chance to do an R18 for DC...

The easy premise with SS is that movies/missions can be completely independent, so there's no need to acknowledge the previous movie, beyond "Hey Harley was in that, then in Birds of Prey, what she doing here?" which is largely handwaved away. Beyond that, all new plot with (nearly) all new characters, and so make a bet before you go in as to who will survive and who will be killed off because no-one knows who they are (and I wouldn't even count out all the comics related people who get thanks at the end from that list). But what we do get is "go to this country where there are bad people, and deal with the bad people, and the bad things they are doing." Simple enough plot.

And fine, this clears the (low, low) bar of being better than the previous movie, but this movie still feels a little weak. It could be trimmed down some, there is just a few too many characters to try to squeeze in, so a slimmer movie would be better. Still that does let James Gunn go ham with the gore, and that's fun to see.

Margot Robbie is back with her accent and her special ability to... not get hit with bullets? Which is a neat ability, but otherwise is there because we have to have Harley. Idris Elba gets a lot to do, and his power is CGI morphing guns! Speaking of ham, John Cena is clearly having a good time, and indeed the whole cast do look to be enjoying themselves.

And I'll throw this trailer in... why, because I know one of the stuntwomen who is in this clip! (And by "know" I mean "I happen to be on the same discord server as her".)

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Yungle Kruise

Sure, the latest Disney ride made into a movie, I'll go for it.

The plot is largely straight forward. Frankly think of generic items involving ripping of the idea of Fountain of Youth, a thick jungle, and the finest of typical heroic couple, and there you are. Indeed, the main thing this movie reminded me of was The Mummy (1996), with very similar energy, and you could even map characters over if you really want to.

But what makes this movie different to all others is that this starts Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt... and they sure are in it! They are having big dumb fun, and this fits the movie perfectly, but neither is really going all out beyond that.

And hey, Jack Whiteall plays Disney's First Gay Character! (Of course, not explicitly stated, but close enough that you can tell, but still deny when trying to get the movie in the Chinese market.)

Big Dumb Fun is the basic summary of this movie, but that's about all it is.

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Taupo!

To take a break, I spent a few days up in Taupo! Found a place with a thermal bath (feed from an underground hot spring) and booked a few activities, and la!

One place: Lake Taupo on Ernest Kemp. Cruise the lake and see the Maori carvings. In our case, get to the carvings and then bounce around and barely be to stand let alone take a good photo. But the rest of the trip was a gentle cruise over the waters.

Also: Huka River Cruise. Gentle cruise the river (as opposed to spinning and bouncing around the place on a jet boat) and get right up close to the falls, as well as enjoy commentary on the local scenery.

Then: Craters of the Moon. The surface of the earth at Taupo is very thin (so expect Primords). As such, the bubbling lava is close to the surface, leading to a volcano (now Lake Taupo) but also steam and other vapours leaking through. You can walk around and admire large sunken areas but be careful how you breathe.

Full photo album here.

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Tourist Trap!

There are lots of adventures happening (generally three or four sessions a week), and due to time zones, I'm only in a few. So, some time later, I was in this!

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Shield Heist!

Do you recall back in the day I posted links to my RPGing of Heroic Cthulhu? Well, those links are long dead. And so is that game. But the GM eventually got pulled in to doing another series called "Any Time, Any Where", which is using the same system, only using the Amber Universe.

However, he is now based in Europe, so this involves me getting up for 3am start time! Ouch!

This is the first one I was a part of. This has been going for six seasons, so there is a LOT of background information before all this. However, I didn't care, and just wanted to get on with whatever they were doing, so dive in!

(This is hopefully a full playlist?)

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Lonley Assassans

It's a new Doctor Who game! I've done most of the others (the really old games I haven't), so of course I had to give this a try. It's a mobile game... so of course I played it on a PC. Moreover, I paid for it on PC when it's free on mobile!

The idea is that you find a phone, and from there are caught up in an adventure! There is Petronella Osgood as your main contact, and the phone belongs to Lawrence Nightingale... so there are definitely links there! Ingrid Oliver and Finlay Robertson return to play their parts (in either voice or actual video!), and a few other characters are here as well. There's even a Doctor!

The plot involves the Weeping Angels, so about those new characters... yeah, well, don't get too attached.

The game isn't that hard. You look at bits on the phone (eg email, chats, etc), and get pieces to unlock the next part. There's a wee challenge of sort of mini-games, but you can't really fail. There is, however, a "best outcome", so... well... don't suck.

Around two hours to play, it's not a bad game, and certainly I'm sure this was easy enough for Maze Theory to do, so... here's hoping they put more out!

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Wack Blidow

Yes, because a) NZ isn't rubbish, and b) time zones are a thing, I saw this movie before most people... in fact before it even releases.

I could talk about plot but since people try to avoid spoilers, I'm gonna skip that part. Besides, it's not like you need my opinion of how the story unfolds before if you are going to see it. I will say that the tone is rather straight. It's like they were trying for a Captain America level seriousness, but couldn't quite get it working properly. Which isn't saying there isn't comedy, but it's sprinkled in and just happens, as opposed to rising naturally out what is happening. Especially around Red Guardian. But it mostly comes across as awkward. (Although this didn't stop the audience in the theater from tittering at the less than slightest provocation.)

A point of this movie is to give ScarJo her own movie, now they can no longer fit it into the ongoing series (although complaining about it taking place pre Infinity War would be like complaining that Captain Marvel is pre Iron Man... hey, is putting female led movies into the past a common theme we'll be getting?). So ScarJo gets a lot to do, but is largely giving the same performance as in her other movies, so can't really say the character is getting a lot of stretching.

Still it's nice to see Rachel Weisz and David Harbour having fun. And, of course, we get more Florence Pugh. But, uh, those accents... I'm sure they had coaches and all, but...

The "big bad" of the movie is Taskmaster, and I didn't see any correct predictions about who it was. Although they seem to also co-opt some of DC's Prometheus where moves could be programmed in? But this did raise the question in my mind: could Taskmaster give a great speech?

There are a fair few explosions for those that want some, but this is a more "grounded" story, as Natasha doesn't really have powers other than "can pose well". I have no idea who came up with the big end sequence, but it's certainly impressive.

And of course there is a post credit scene - why are you even asking??

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Timothy Minchinothy

So, last week, I went to a concert... a Tim Minchin concert! If you haven't heard of him, well... you have some great songs to catch up on! One such song is below, and yes, that was part of his concert.

Most of his songs were recent ones, where he talks a lot about how he moved from LA to Aussie...and yes, he was very self-deprecating about the fact that he was rich enough to do that. And so we get a range of songs from maudlin to his more jocular efforts, including a rather great piece about "CHEESE!" As he put it, there was Old Songs, New Songs, Fuck You Songs.

This concert was called "Back" as he was Back, back in Aussie, back to touring, even more poignant after the recent years. I have no idea where he's going, I only happen to spot this concert was even happening when looking at the ticketing website, but I'm glad I went. So check out, and see if he's coming Back near you!

And bonus fact: He has a Glossary!!!

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Eff Nien

This time it's about family! Also, physics takes a holiday!

When you look at Vin Diesel you think "he's clearly related to John Cena", and so this movie. It's brother versus brother as they hunt down another mcguffin that does a thing that isn't possible, but we'll buy into it because it's fun. There are lots of car stunts, although there could be more. There are also plenty of people, and they all come together for the big set piece, and then there's the final scene where we even see...

First of all, I do want to point out that this is a fun dumb movie. I'm about to critique points, but I still enjoyed watching it.

Point one: there are a lot of main cast to get through. As these films have expanded and taken on more characters, and not killed them off (and killed some of them off, but it didn't stick), there are a lot of characters to cameo. And so we get a lot of quick random scenes of "hey, it's that person" as the plot tries to shoehorn them in, some more successful than others. Which means a lot more talking sequences, which is of course what brings people to these movies.

Another point is about physics. And metaphysics. They have the comedy black duo point out how lucky they are to get away with what they do, but they don't really do anything with that. Set up the lampshade, but don't follow through. And even have the gall to have the line "trust the physics" at one point! There is nothing in this movie that obeys the laws of physics! Ropes, magnets, dna, all sorts of things just do whatever the plot wants, not what any principles of reality have to do with it.

Still, the main thing is heart, and this movie has tons of that. So enjoy!

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Triple Conjuration

Don't call it the third one, it doesn't have a number, it just has a subtitle.

After an exorcism, the demon jumps from the kid to the adult, but people don't realise this immediately. Slowly everyone does come to realise something weird is going on, and Ed and Lorraine Warren need to dig in what is going on, who is actually causing it, and how to stop them.

Because it really is satanism and such and there really is a devil and yadda yadda yadda... No there isn't! We get the actual tapes played, but the kid is just doing a voice. And you know what? In these sorts of possessions, in the movies, we always see the body twisting and contorting... if the people actually did do that, do you know what that would do to their ligaments and bones? Ow! Snapping!

Okay, aside from all that, how is it? As ever, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga have an absolutely bloody fantastic chemistry! Put those two together in anything, and I will believe they are a couple. And hey, John Noble! Ever since Fringe, I'm seeing him in so many roles. He must have had a great career before then, but I am completely oblivious.

The story itself is rather blah. Yes, we've seen many possessed movies before, and them paying homage to The Exorcist at the beginning doesn't excuse them for doing it here. The crew was apparently tired of haunted house cases, so fine, but this isn't really stretching the format.

I'm still sure there will be more Conjurings to come... and I'm just as sure I will watch them as soon as they come out...

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Sperel

It's a torture porn film, it must be Saw...

Many years after the events of Saw, someone decides to take a stand against the police and kill off officers that are corrupt. (Oooh, timely commentary!) Can the One Good Officer find out the person who is behind all this?

There is political commentary here in the corrupt cops, but there isn't really anything done about that given the current social atmosphere. More like "this is what the movie was always about and then society turned against the police."

The bigger problem with this movie is... why is this Saw? Not just the social commentary angle, but this could easily have been any "the corrupt police are being taken out" and there was no real need to set it in the larger universe at all. Aside from a few references, it's completely irrelevant.

And then there is Chris Rock, who is either doing a comedy bit, or trying to do a serious bit. His face is so often "I can't believe this" that I can't take many of his scenes seriously. And Samuel L Jackson is wasted, but then this movie shouldn't have happened this way, so not surprising his role doesn't really work either.

But as ever, this film has traps, and that is what is important. Although watching this, I am left wondering... how the hell did a) the killer get the traps into position and b) custom make some of this? Just go into business as an engineer, make lots of money!

Overall, it was just kinda meh. The graphic horror was pretty graphic, in keeping with the series, but the story is largely generic and not really enthralling.

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A Quieter Location

Eh, what the heck, let's go to the cinema! The sequel is out, so time to partake.

Aside from a brief moment at the beginning to show how this all started, and to introduce another character we'll meet later, we start basically from where the previous movie ended. The family (...I cannot recall their last name... or even their first names, mostly, to be honest. One downside of people not talking is that they don't say names often for me to remember) have to move on to a new secure location. After bumping into the character introduced in the opening bit, they find a clue that there might be more people, and which also, co-incidentally, ties into how the creatures can be defeated. Convenient! After that... it's a matter of split up people so we have different threads to follow until the end.

Once again, sound plays an important role with this movie. Which again makes me very aware of me eating popcorn during the movie, munch, munch, munch... This also (again I'm sure) makes me wonder about films in which there are no dialogue. Not silent movies, but movies that just don't have any dialogue in them.

But back to this movie, this is very much a sequel, in that it does follow directly on from the previous movie and continues with the plot threads of that. Then the point of the movie becomes focused on the kids, and how do they survive and pick up the mantle with the adults aren't around/really able to do so. Fortunately, the kids aren't terrible, so I didn't mind following them!

After a slower Act 1 and 2, Act 3 is a lot of action, in that I keep forgetting all the beats that are in there. Which makes it a somewhat uneven movie, but at least I'm still remembering it at all!

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Wroth of Mon

Jason Statham? Guy Ritchie? Sure, I'm in!

A crew hits a security truck carrying cash. Completely incidentally a hard guy joins the security team not long after and is looking at people suspiciously. As you might guess, something went wrong and now someone has to pay. So get ready for a lot of violence and people looking tough.

As far as these movies go, this felt rather middle of the road for Ritchie. Considering he recently did The Gentlemen, this came across as Ritchie on auto-pilot. Sure, it's still got the action you want, but there isn't really heart to it, just rather rote of people playing parts.

Turns out, this is a remake of a French film, and I have to admit I kinda want to watch that now, although I can't see it anywhere.

If you are looking for a two hour action piece, give this a go, but it's not a top Ritchie product.

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MORAL WOMBAT!!!

Wow, this movie got a drubbing from various places, so I guess I'm not gonna like this...

In Samurai Times (which are a distinct time period in history now, given the number of movies set there), who-would-be-Sub-Zero attacks the family of who-would-be-Scorpion. Only a baby survives. Cut to modern day, and fighters are being gathered because it's time for the tenth competition between Earthrealm and Outworld. As it happens, the baby's descent is one of the fighters so that links everything together. However, while they are all training, Outworld decides "sod the rules, let's cheat" (which they've been doing already), so let's launch into Mortal Kombat!!

You know what... I like this movie! The fight scenes are great. The narrative connective tissue works find to get you from place to place and keep things clear. This isn't a cinematic masterpiece, but considering I'm watching a movie based on a video game, yeah, this is good!

I also liked the 1995 movie, although that was leaning far more into the silliness than this movie. The sequel can jump in the trash though.

I have no doubt the series will jump on sequels given half a chance, but as much as I liked this, I doubt this will get there. (Happy to be wrong.)

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Nobuddy

I hope want revenge violence, 'cos this movie is revenge violence.

Random guy is going through life, being a nine-to-five chap that is just getting through life. However when his house gets invaded, his dander slowly gets up, goes to do something about, and ends up in a punching movie. Fortunately, he happens to have a special set of skills.

Of course people will compare this with John Wick, and that's understandable. A Bad Day happens to a seemingly normal guy, and it turns out that he is The Wrong Guy To Piss Off. However, I'm going to drop a hot take: I can believe Keanu Reaves as a master killing machine. Bob Oldenkirk... not so much. Some of that is para-text, in that we've seen Keanu getting jacked for these movies and know he went through extensive training for his roles. Bob... well, he's Saul Goodman... a skeezy lawyer whos greatest act was drinking his own piss and offering himself up as a target. We aren't seeing him one handedly taking out gangs of men (because they are always men, we aren't gender neutral in fighting movies). Now, Hutch (played by Bob) doesn't get away without scratches, but still... movie magic can only go so far.

Still, Christopher Lloyd is in this, and gets to have fun.

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Monkey vs Lizard

It seems this came out a week before the US got it... cool!

This is it! The title bout!! The one we've all been waiting for!!! ... I have no idea how to cut a promo!!!!

Kong needs to move, so they take this opportunity to hunt for the Hidden World that lies beneath the surface of the earth. But Kong on the move means that Godzilla realises he is around, and so... But wait, that's not the only thing Godzilla is getting annoyed about, and so we have the humans tracking down something weird in the heart of Pensecola.

Let's cut to the details: there are some monster fights, and you can even see most of them! Outside of the fights, there is a fair bit of humans, but there is also a lot of Kong. Like, I hope you want to see a big monkey often, because Kong is our connection to the soul of the Titans.

As for the big question of who wins... of course, I'm not going to spoil that, but a lot of internet guesses already worked out the plot, so I can't say I was surprised when things unfolded as they did.

Enjoyable, and they are slowly getting better with the monster epics, but we can do bigger and better monster fights, can't we?

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Bill the Bailey!

I went and saw Bill Bailey live recently... because I live in a country not led by morons! There, I said it!

It was great. Laughed a lot. I'm not going to repeat the jokes because a) that's his material, and b) I'd probably screw it up. That said, I doubt any other group than those there that night will get "Satan came from Trowbridge"!

His comedy stylings are a nice... not really "family friendly" per se, but certainly not that hard edge of some comics. (Looking at you Jimmy Carr!) A more gentle comedy, with a mixture of stories, jokes and musical stylings.

Although the show was called "Enroute to Normal" there wasn't that much about the 'rona. Of course he did talk about how it was basically him in New Zealand (and the Wiggles) and we were one of the few counties everyone wanted to come to, and a wee quarantine story, but mostly it was random observations that could have been in any show. Not that I didn't enjoy it (see the part about laughing a lot) but that was a little misleading.

Still, great show, and I see Ben Elton is coming in May. Hmm....

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Troll Bridge

This was a LONG time in the making. So much so that I'm in the backers list twice! Still, very good!

#GNUTERRYPRATCHETT

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Cloud in the Shadow

Humm... So, I saw this.. but I don't know what this movie is trying to say.

A WAAF catches a plane ride with an important cargo, but the planeful of men aren't the most respectful towards her. As the flight goes on, she sees strange things on the plane, and so the men start to suspect her and pick apart her story. Soon, she is fighting for the plane and more than herself to get to some sense of safety.

This is definitely the movie of Chloë Grace Moretz, and we can as the camera is on her the entire time. Like, she is in the below gunner position (as that is the only room for her on the place) and we stay there for most of the movie. The character imagines some of the peoples faces, but basically it's an audio play with one character on screen. But the problem the movie has isn't with her, or that stylistic choice.

But to explain, I need to go into some spoilers. We have three elements in play here, Maude being a female on the plane, the cargo she is carrying which is linked to another character and (here is the spoiler) is their baby, and then there is the gremlin attacking the plane. And the problem is... these elements aren't linked. Like, okay, Maude and her baby, but just so happens to be the fathers plane as well? (She took the first plane she could, so that wasn't planned.) And her fighting the gremlin... that wasn't linked at all. It didn't connect to her motherhood, or having to put up with the men (which did have to happen), but it was like "we need something to fight, so stick this thing in there" and it doesn't really fit.

There could have been a fine thriller without the gremlin, as tension mounts over Maude's story, but that is tacked on because... getting people's bums in seats?

Ultimately, it didn't work for me. Just too many things trying to fit and they didn't.

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Wews of the Norld

Hey, a Tom Hanks movie and, waddayaknow... it's good!

After the Civil War, Captain Kidd is wandering the towns, reading the news ('cos reading is something a lot of people don't have time for). He comes across a kid who was supposed to be taken to a family a ways away, but the old west happened around her. He takes her under his wing as he takes her to her new home and...

To be perfectly honest, this plays out exactly how you expect it to. There isn't anything surprising here, and you can tell where all the beats are going to end. However... it's a well told story and damn if the movie didn't keep me entertained.

Tom Hanks is as great as ever, and for a lot of the movie it's him carrying it (as Johanna doesn't really talk), but hey, it's Tom Hanks! Of course he can carry it! Helena Zengel does well, but mainly she's just there for the movie to advance.

Worth the watching!

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Mon-Star Hunter

I haven't ever played the game, barely seen it... but I have now seen the movie of the game!

Have you seen the trailer? Then you've basically seen the movie. US Rangers get trapped in Monster Hunter world and have to deal with monsters. The thing is... the plot really is that basic. There's is absolutely nothing of depth here to the story and you can guess all the beats.

Actually, in some ways, this movie could have been done around halfway in, but they stick a second copy of the story on the end. And, hey, they left plenty of room for this to be a franchise, so good for them?

Milla Jovovich and Tony Jaa carry the movie (understandably), and even those they don't speak the same language, we don't get a constant stream from Milla to cover for that, which I've seen done in so many movies. The effects are... mostly decent, although the monsters do suffer from "it's a large grey blob with some features but it's so busy moving about that it's just a grey blob" syndrome. And I spent a lot of the movie wondering how the biology worked, so it wasn't good that I was constantly thinking of that instead of being engaged in the movie.

Overall, nothing really special, and don't feel any need to see this in theaters (which I did!).

You know, all this said... I would like to see Paul W. S. Anderson (and sure Milla Jovovich) do Tomb Raider.

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Borls Rect

I've heard good things about this movie, so of course I have to give it a go.

This movie is the history of Borley Rectory. In that it is replicating scenes that were given in various books, in a rather black and white style with basic effects layers on it. Don't expect anything new, or for this to go in any particular direction, it is simply various moments dramatised.

Oddly, it starts with "everyone saw the photos of Harry Price, but not his movies", but doesn't actually do anything with it. That would have been a great launching point for their own thing, but nope, just various moments portrayed on screen.

So in all, I'm not really impressed by this. And at the end, they rather irresponsibly say "the supernatural events are still on-going". No! Leave Borley alone! This was years ago now, and they don't need people tramping all over the place.

Indeed, you'd think we've have discovered a more "haunted" place than this by now. If there was anything to hauntings in the first place...

[END]

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