tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68989288966625908072024-03-18T16:03:17.053+13:00The Truth Behind...Taking a look at life around us and showing what is really going on...Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.comBlogger4379125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-32200295227826560902024-03-18T07:00:00.016+13:002024-03-18T07:00:00.135+13:00TTT'Omen<div>It's <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082377/">the last one</a>! There is no more!! We have reached the Final Conflict!!!</div><div><br /></div><div>Damian is in charge of a corporation that seems to be evil (so, a corporation yet), but it's time to return to his roots of being the American Ambassador to Great Britain, because it is the time of the second coming! And as anyone who knows, who knows their bible, this is the time where Damian kills the christ and takes command of the world... Oh wait.</div><div><br /></div><div>First we have the return of the daggers, and seven priests who each take one to kill him... and their completely inane plans fail to work on all kinds of levels. But the stars have combined to say the new christ has come, so clearly the right step is to kill all new born males (sexist!). This seems to work well, with a potential problem of one of Damian's main adherents having a kid? But what is a little slaughter of the innocents if not a call back to the bible's passages.</div><div><br /></div><div>Eventually we get the final confrontation of evil vs ... random people. Good here is about as actively taking a role as evil does. Again Damian barely does anything evil himself, just takes advantage of a lot of other people doing work for him, so why not christ doing the same?</div><div><br /></div><div>The big thing here is Damian is... our own Sam Neill! Yes, of course, the American Devil raised in England has a New Zealand accent! It's only natural! Sam clearly devours several scenes, and his trademark smirk is the right note for several "yes, I am evil!" scenes. I'm sure the other main actors are also well known, but I don't know them.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are few on screen deaths, and lots of implied ones around the babies. Again, no photographs are taken. Although I'm not sure if they could claim that no animals were harmed? Certainly the reverse is portrayed to happen.</div><div><br /></div><div>While this movie claims to be a big conflict, it's more about Damian dealing with the coming of christ and not really a conflict there at all. As such, there is a whole lot of nothing happening. Watchable nothing, but really this isn't much of a final battle as the title would suggest.</div><div><br /></div><div>So... no more movies then?</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-60575628493803862392024-03-17T07:00:00.021+13:002024-03-17T07:00:00.130+13:00tips hatM'dame Web<div>Okay, time to see the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11057302/">not MCU movie</a> that people (by which I mean the actors involved) thought was MCU.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the casual part of Peru everyone can get to, there are secret spiders that the obviously clearly bad guy grabs. Cut to Cassie hating children (so there's her arc!), who falls into the water and activates her powers, although badly. PEPSI She accidentally gets into the same train as three young woman who are clearly not in their twenties and the bad guy who some people can see if they are related to the plot. They run away and avoid fight scenes because they were only visions from Cassie, which is a cop out we were already tired of when Twilight did it. Cassie pops over the easy to access Peru to get thirty years of therapy in ten seconds of exposition, and then win using Nic Cages powers from Next. PEPSI COLA.</div><div><br /></div><div>This movie was... boring. Like not even "bad in an enjoyable way". Just huge slabs of "I don't care, I have other things to do." I'm sure some people cared when they were making this movie, but then some thought they were in MCU and expected more. In many ways this movie is fine, but nothing amazing takes place, either in the script or in production.</div><div><br /></div><div>But at least they made fun of Peter's parents dying...</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-48789038207376061302024-03-09T07:00:00.020+13:002024-03-09T07:00:00.262+13:00Poooor Things<div>Oscar likes this movie, so I suppose I can <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14230458/">watch it</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>As shown in the trailer, Bella is a baby in her mother's body... now I don't want to fact check the scientific accuracy of this movie which has random creatures fused together, but I don't think that works that way. Bella certainly seems to pick things up quickly (although we don't get a real sense of how much time passes) and goes out into the world... and manages to deal with it quite well. A lot of people don't seem concerned with how odd she is, and she gains a lot of experiences. This is a rather entertaining tale, with an extreme fantastical bent.</div><div><br /></div><div>Emma Stone does the good job you've heard. She certainly puts a lot into her physical acting, but again I'm not entirely sure I believe her "baby in a body" status. Willem DeFoe isn't an immediately evil bastard. Remy Youssef has a nice quiet role, and Mark Ruffalo is also in this movie.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm sure people will get more out of this than I did, so I can only recommend going reading what they have to say.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-15351182554622046352024-03-06T07:00:00.020+13:002024-03-06T07:00:00.147+13:00TT'Omen<div>Because there's a prequel coming, and for <a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6898928896662590807&postID=8684391215218314402">no other reason</a>, sure, let's watch more <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077394/">Omens</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>After a prologue to get rid of some characters from the first movie, we move on to Damian about to become a teenager. His new guardian father is in charge of a big plant with pesticides, and there's a subplot about doing something not illegal, but unethical, so they don't do it, and isn't that nice in those innocent times. (Of course, the person stopping that is killed, and the plan sort of goes ahead, although more deaths later probably put a stop in it? I wonder about deleted scenes.) Anyway, people get interested in Damian and then they die. Someone points out Revelation to him, so he comes to realise he's the devil's son, but apparently doesn't read until the end of the book and find out what happens to himself?</div><div><br /></div><div>Again we have that deaths are happening around Damian without his seeming knowledge or control (aside from one near the end) so... this is really just the first movie again. "Damian must be defeated... oh no, I'm dead!" Although there is no gimmick with photographs, just a random raven turning up now and again.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our lead older actor this time is William Holden, and there are a number of notable side roles for Sylvia Sidney, Allan Arbus, and oh, is that Lance Henriksen? It is! The closest we get to evil Englishman is Robert Foxworth, and you can tell he's evil because he has a perm haircut. There is a good death in an elevator, but again we get silly dummy death due to a truck that is just amusing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Overall, I'm sure it did well, but this is just the first movie again with some small acceptance of Damian knowing who he is now, so... maybe next time he might actually do something?</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-36514398677249202172024-02-28T07:00:00.007+13:002024-02-28T07:00:00.261+13:00Planetaryquack<div>Oh lord, back on my bullshit. With this Asylum movie that is "what if there was a <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29794968/">planet sized quake</a>?" only not really and in a way in which it only matters to a handful of people they can show on screen.</div><div><br /></div><div>An undersea nuclear bomb is accidentally dropped, setting off an earthquake that will slowly go around the ring of fire from Japan to eventually hitting the US 72 hours later, because of course only what impacts the US matters. Fortunately, against this is one geologist scientist, her assistant, and her smart brother. They fire some orbital lasers to heat up the plate to stop the incoming energy, but that doesn't work. So then they use four local oil rigs to release gas to relieve the pressure, but that doesn't work either as two of the rigs blow up. Fortunately, they can send a missile down one of the rigs to... explode and create a volcano that saves the day??</div><div><br /></div><div>Geophysics doesn't get a look it, does it?</div><div><br /></div><div>Also, the scientist's daughter is on a plane that crashes, and her husband is a military man that heads up search and rescue, and his one mission is to go find his daughter (who saves herself). So... they are also in this movie.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is a mixture of scenes of "a handful of people in small room sets" plus "random stock footage of search and rescue teams" and, of course, "bad cgi". There are also more people just off screen, but they have lines, and it's just unfortunate that they aren't on camera when they talk.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is Not Good, but as soon as I heard the premise "A tectonic shift deep below the Mariana Trench causes a series of ever escalating earthquakes. If a team of leading seismologists fails to stop the disaster, the events will break apart the Earth, resulting in billions of casualties." I had to check it out.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ultimately, yes, it's as bad as you think.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-599829484332129602024-02-25T07:00:00.003+13:002024-02-25T07:00:00.144+13:00On the ocean waves<div>Aside from going places, I was on the boat. They try to make it interesting and there is plenty to eat, but they do try with events. I can't say I was that enthralled by them all, but did some trivia events. In the James Bond trivia... I kinda got more than double second place. And helped another team win at 80s music songs. So woo that!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ff372/ritchards/IMG_0287.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ff372/ritchards/IMG_0287.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div>I also ended up going to one of the fancy restaurants, Sabatini's, which is Italian. It was a five course meal that I enjoyed over two hours, so delicious, but very full. Fortunately, I had the drinks package, so fluid wasn't an issue, although I stayed with soft drink.</div><div><br /></div><div>The boat wasn't that full, although the general age was retirees. People were even staying on for the next cruise the boat did, but you have to get off some time and get back to work (at least, I did). I am Platinum status, which gave me a few benefits, but nothing that amazing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Getting to and from the boat was a thing, as I got hit with security screening going over, and if I had going with the time the shuttle suggested I would have missed the plane coming back. That could be more enjoyable.</div><div><br /></div><div>One last thing, I spotted this while out and about.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ff372/ritchards/IMG_0304.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ff372/ritchards/IMG_0304.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div>The full photo album is <a href="https://app.photobucket.com/u/ritchards/a/7de5afde-c608-4dae-9772-db1d11747896?field=DATE_TAKEN&desc=desc">available here</a>.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-60193433964296384702024-02-23T07:00:00.027+13:002024-02-23T07:00:00.454+13:00Yennifer's Bode<div>So another one was <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1131734/">Megan Fox's</a>... I have no idea when this occurred in regard to her other movies, but this was definitely one of them.</div><div><br /></div><div>People from out of town are just straight up evil, it seems. When Jennifer becomes possessed it is up to her friend Needy (wow, that is a subtle name) to sort her out. Once Needy's own boyfriend gets involved in events, until then Needy is just keeping an eye on things but eventually becomes more active.</div><div><br /></div><div>If I didn't know better, I would say this is a metaphor for childhood friends who go separate ways on becoming adults, and one might lead the other astray. But what do I know?</div><div><br /></div><div>You know what's really impressive? This small high school library not only has an occult section, it has an occult section that has the very specific instance of evil happenings that happened to happen here!</div><div><br /></div><div>Also weird, JK Simmons with hair. Didn't expect that.</div><div><br /></div><div>This wasn't nearly as exploitative as I was worried about, and indeed the evil side of things was very much secondary to the friendship of Needy and Jennifer. It's largely a slow burn movie, but still moves along well. Quite a decent watch.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-32532370207108433632024-02-21T07:00:00.001+13:002024-02-21T07:00:00.134+13:00Chronch<div>Went to a few places in Tasmania.. and of course I did want to check out the wildlife. Indeed, check out these cuties!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ff372/ritchards/IMG_0256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ff372/ritchards/IMG_0256.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>This is at the <a href="https://tasmaniandevilunzoo.com.au/">Tasmania Unzoo</a>, which is basically a wildlife sanctuary where you can more interact with the animals, such as birds and kangaroos. But not the devils, they are fenced off. During the devil talk, the person had meat on a leg bone, and when you hear the chronch of devil biting through leg... that stays with you.<div><br /></div><div>I also visited Hobart, walked around the town, and then in Devonport went to some locations, including <a href="https://donriverrailway.com.au/">riding the train</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ff372/ritchards/IMG_0294.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ff372/ritchards/IMG_0294.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div>This is a short 10 minute trip that goes down to a bay... and goes back. Also a <a href="https://www.bassstraitmaritimecentre.com.au/">maritime museum</a>, and <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/places/home-hill/">Home Hill</a>.<br /><div><br /></div><div>And some general scenic viewing as we cross between towns.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ff372/ritchards/IMG_0285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ff372/ritchards/IMG_0285.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Otherwise, seas days and other things I'll talk about shortly.</div><div><br /></div>[END]</div>Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-86843912152183144022024-02-19T07:00:00.003+13:002024-02-19T07:00:00.345+13:00T'Omen<div>While on cruise, I saw some movies, 'cos they were there and I didn't have humongous internet access. One such was <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075005/">a lesson </a>that although you can be American to be born evil, you have be raised British to be really evil.</div><div><br /></div><div>An American couple wants a child, their own dies in childbirth, so are just handed a spare one that was lying around. They move to England where they get an English Nanny, who is immediately evil, but less so than the next nanny, who comes after the first one kills herself. This is combined with a man who cannot take a clean photograph to lead the father to realise that his kid is devil spawn and so something must be done... or something will be done to him!</div><div><br /></div><div>First point, the kid is (relatively) innocent in all this. Yes, there is a lot happening around him, but he isn't directly causing it himself, on a conscious level. The closest he comes is killing his mother (spoilers?) but that's more because of the evil nanny. The photographs and subsequent deaths are just his aura / his real dad looking out for him? I'm not saying that in the fiction of the movie Damian shouldn't die, but he isn't the direct agent of evil I gather he will be in later movies.</div><div><br /></div><div>And, hey, Patrick Troughton! In fact, you could almost pretend this is the Second Doctor trying to warn the father against evil, although this is all religious which the Doctor isn't. Gregory Peck and David Warner also turn in good performances although David's death is... somewhat undercut by the state of effects at the time and that his head becomes a football that bounces around...</div><div><br /></div><div>Will I watch the other movies? I'm not inclined to at the moment, but who knows what future cruises will bring?</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-26018634703786909222024-02-17T07:00:00.001+13:002024-02-17T07:00:00.136+13:00Cruisin'<div>Amongst the not a lot I did over the past month, I did go on a cruise. From Brisbane, I went down to Tasmania and back. But first... I had to get to Brisbane.</div><div><br /></div><div>Somehow, I was wearing a sign that said "Give me every security check". It was just as well I wasn't in a hurry (although I was very tired) as it took ages for them to decide to look through my bag and check that I wasn't carrying (unproscribed) drugs and the like... although at least I wasn't in the queue behind me waiting for the one guy to be free. Note: it doesn't help when you think of one set of arrival card questions when they actually ask you something different.</div><div><br /></div><div>Due to travel fun, it's always advised to get in at least a day early, so I did, then spent another hour or so the day of getting from one side of Myrtletown to the other. There is no public transport, but there are shuttles, which would prove to be useful later.</div><div><br /></div><div>On the boat itself, I got a Premium Balcony room which, as far as I can tell, involves more balcony space than normal balcony room, so that was nice that I could stretch out.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ff372/ritchards/IMG_0231.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ff372/ritchards/IMG_0231.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I would be nearly two weeks in that room, so the space was nice. I wouldn't say I need a balcony room everytime, but the big window letting in outside light was wonderful.<div><br /></div><div>Our first port of call was Sydney, but I couldn't be bothered getting off.. which was just as well. For whatever reason, instead of getting into a port, the ship used a water shuttle to transport people to and from, and due to the number of personal craft in the harbour, there was only one shuttle running and it took people over an hour to get on shore. Not fun.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next port was Eden, and we docked, so I could get a nice walk in. And see some nice sights.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ff372/ritchards/IMG_0242.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/ff372/ritchards/IMG_0242.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><div>But I wasn't here for those ports, but for... Tasmania!</div><div><br /></div>[END]</div>Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-32825662480177139322024-01-08T07:00:00.002+13:002024-01-08T07:00:00.135+13:00Saltburned<div>The trailer looks like this was going to be <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17351924/">a crazy romp</a>, so I'm excited!</div><div><br /></div><div>20 minutes in: This is just boring.</div><div>40 minutes in: Met the family, they are all terrible people.</div><div>60 minutes in: Everyone is just terrible people.</div><div>80 minutes in: Is this one of them black comedies I don't get?</div><div>100 minutes in: Is there a revelation to come? I hope there's a revelation to come.</div><div>190 minutes in: What a waste of a movie.</div><div><br /></div><div>So yeah, I didn't enjoy it much. I do have trouble with black comedies, but I can intellectually realise they are black comedies, and I couldn't process this as that. This is just one terrible person infiltrating themselves into the lives of others and making everyone miserable. This is not a movie I wanted to watch after all.</div><div><br /></div><div>In terms of doing the script, great acting from all people, nothing to be said about them. Just complaints about how bad I found the script.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hope my next movie choice is better.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-13929423951344369152024-01-04T07:00:00.015+13:002024-01-04T07:00:00.131+13:00Roping Cursing 3<div>Netflix continues its roll and we get <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27941077/">a third movie</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Never mind the rope. There is only one rope in this, and it's barely cursing. The Thai Demon is back, with the Gate of Ghosts being open, and it's hanging out at a hotel in which people are slowly dying. In that people are dying, but it happens over the course of the movie, not that people are slowly losing life, which all of us are doing. The characters from the second movie are back to sort of deal with this, but it's really about yet another father/son pair who are ritual masters, although the son isn't that interested until this movie happens to him. Plot happens and the demon gets an upper hand, but hey, dancing will save the day.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have no idea how many of these ideas are actual cultural practices, but I feel like Cthulhu should be stealing these ideas for modules.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's very much a third movie in that it is more of the same. There is sort of a climax, but these movies are the sort that can go on and on, so even if it was defeated, there are more around (I'm not sure if the end scene is it still being around or something else).</div><div><br /></div><div>If there's a fourth, I'll probably watch it, but I'm not looking for it.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-25244370329701840472024-01-03T07:00:00.016+13:002024-01-03T07:00:00.131+13:00Rope Cursive 2<div>Netflix decided this was a series to sink their money into, and lo, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13212006/">we got the sequel</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Remember how the first was about someone who dies by rope being angry? Never mind any of that, it's a Thai demon now! And it uses ropes to kill people, so I guess it's at least related? And speaking of related, we get characters with plots that happen to overlap because they are related, where a young woman is near-psychic who helps some streamers, and entirely incidentally her uncle is killed by the Thai Demon because... because, that's why. And so the demon infects her family, her and her aunt, but don't worry there's a drunk Taoist Master who can help, who happens to have the same master as a character from the previous movie who is here with his stupid nephew! Hooray for returning characters?</div><div><br /></div><div>This seems like a mélange of characters and plot because... it is. The threads are connected because the writer decided they would be. While we do get a rope ritual, this is really a different movie with a rope connection tied in to make it part of the series (yes, I see what I did there).</div><div><br /></div><div>Not bad characters involved, but the dangling thread from the last movie isn't followed up on, and this has a whole new dangling thread to end on!</div><div><br /></div><div>Let's see where the third movie ends up.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-7881970649574253242024-01-02T07:00:00.015+13:002024-01-02T07:00:00.132+13:00Zong xie<div>Did you know that if someone dies under extreme rage or grief... they can make <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9174800/">the rope they</a> use be a cursed item.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is actually a Taiwanese film which does have a certain air of familiarity, but the actual rope itself is rather incidental. Ten years after a girl was bullied to death (because of a ten year promise), all of a sudden a curse is unleashed that inflicts death on those that bullied her. One incidental was her friend she fell out with at the time, and so the movie is about their connection and problems between them, in a wrapping of an evil curse movie.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's not a bad movie, there is some good building of tension, which I like in a movie. But yeah, the actual curse it rather incidental. The resolution promises that the events aren't over, but then we get a twist at the end that is comes out of nowhere, but is rather standard for these types of movies.</div><div><br /></div><div>Let's see what the sequel holds...</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-9795611175627242482023-12-28T07:00:00.017+13:002023-12-28T07:00:00.144+13:00Aquamanatte and the Climate Allegory<div><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9663764/">Just came out</a>, but ... eh, wasn't that excited about seeing it. But it was on, and there weren't many people, and I had time, so...</div><div><br /></div><div>Black Manta finds an Ancient Artifact (as one does) and immediately goes on a global killing spree (in that he is killing the globe, not that he is killing a lot of people... directly). However, he ends up crossing paths with Atlantis and so our "hero" is brought into the plot. Aquaman teams up with Orm to make the movie a buddy comedy as they track down Manta, and eventually there's a big fight and Aquaman's family is put in danger.</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, and Mera is also there.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jason Mamoa is just there having fun, while Patrick Wilson is actually trying to act. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II should be doing a lot, but they really trim down any scene with him and give the spotlight to Randall Park instead. And even Dolph Lundgren gets more screen time than Amber Heard!</div><div><br /></div><div>I won't say I was bored during the movie, but there was just often big fighting scenes with lots of colour and CGI and... I couldn't tell what was happening. And I didn't care. We all know it's going to come down to the main actors punching each other, so get to that and let us get to the personal conflict (as expressed through punching).</div><div><br /></div><div>And so ends the DC:EU... and I have no idea what the next DC movie is.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-17752038799647429722023-12-22T07:00:00.006+13:002023-12-22T07:00:00.140+13:00ThanksGiven<div>Yes, this is the Eli Roth <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1448754/">trailer-turned-movie</a>... can't recall if there is one left but can't be bothered to look it up.</div><div><br /></div><div>What if Dawn of the Dead but not subtle about its message of consumerism? That's the opening of this movie, in which several stupid deaths happen in a Thanksgiving sale, and so one year later vengeance will be taken! I will immediately give that there are some intelligent moves and people don't start with the Stupid Brain, although there definitely are some SB moments. Unfortunately, the killer has standard teleportation powers, and the ability not to look like the person who is later revealed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Not a lot of cast I recognise. Patrick Dempsey of course, and Gina Gershon briefly. Rick Hoffman is great in every scene he is in. The others, especially the younger actors, were fine, and I may or may not ever recognise them if they end up in anything else.</div><div><br /></div><div>Overall it's decent if typically example of the genre.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-20934699166469248732023-12-21T07:00:00.018+13:002023-12-21T07:00:00.139+13:00Future Relaxed<div>A time travel movie? Maybe. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13786042/">With Rhys Darby</a>? Okay, I'll check it out!</div><div><br /></div><div>A time traveler comes to our present day with a plan to help make the future better. But being aware of time travel consequences, he keeps low key, hangs out with people who don't have much of an impact, but there is just one artist he can't help getting involved with. And causing problems in what should happen. But it's fine, there's someone else from the future too who is here to make sure there are no other time travelers around.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is a comedy in that it's light hearted, and not taking itself seriously. It's not really a comedy, in that it isn't funny. If anything, it really wants to be a stoner comedy, but Rhys Darby can't do that. He spends every scene talking way too much, so any tension or even interest is drained away by the tide of words. Julian Richings is a great character actor who should be more of a focus, but he isn't on screen enough. Gabrielle Graham is the closest person we have to an actual protagonist of interest, and she fits the stoner comedy part, but again there isn't anything funny going on.</div><div><br /></div><div>This could have been good... but it isn't.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-78808017472979279002023-12-20T07:00:00.000+13:002023-12-20T07:00:00.125+13:00One Last Monk<div>Monk was a great tv series. It ended, as far as I recall, and that's fine. But clearly someone decided to dip back into that well, and so we get a <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27145269/">Last Case</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Monk is not doing well, and plans on joining his wife. However, Molly is about to get married but her husband-to-be dies and she gets Monk to get involved. And we all know who the guy is. [The movie isn't subtle, the chap is a Jeff Bezos stand in.]</div><div><br /></div><div>Who is Molly you might ask? Apparently Trudy knew her, but... I have no idea who she is. The only kid in the series was Natalie's, but that was way after Trudy died (Natalie was what... third season?), so... just agree that this character was a major part of Adrian and Trudy's backstory and move on.</div><div><br /></div><div>We get the team back together, Natalie, Randy, and Stottlemeyer (Sharon has a cameo). Aside from the emotional beats with Monk on the verge of moving on, this is a fairly standard story. The bad guy is obvious, and the method of the death was fairly obvious too (although it is revealed way late). The ending moment is a nice touch and... is there going to be a new series? I doubt it, but the set up is there.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's nice to be back with the crew, and this should be enough to get me to go back to watch the series, but I'm good. Nice to revisit, but no need to stay here.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-20547637836442093752023-12-19T07:00:00.002+13:002023-12-19T07:00:00.142+13:00From Madonna's Unknown Heart<div>Clearly I am a Maddy fan, and for whatever reason YouTube decided that I need to know about unreleased songs from albums. Which is pretty cool. Here for example, are the unreleased songs from Rebel Heart.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oH2NFyZurUs" width="320" youtube-src-id="oH2NFyZurUs"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>But my question is... how did they (the video channel) get them? Or whereever they got them from? Does Maddy secretly release these on the sly? Do recording studios stockpile them and someone leaks? It's neat to hear these songs, but... does Madonna really want people to listen to songs she hasn't explicitly released?</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-17484391806037942862023-12-18T07:00:00.020+13:002023-12-18T07:00:00.134+13:00Dawn of the Nougat<div>Many years later, we got <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8337264/">a chicken sequel</a>... been a while since I saw the first, so let's see what I remember.</div><div><br /></div><div>And the movie recaps the salient points from the first movie, so that's not a problem! Here we get the next step, namely the introduction of a kid, who grows up and causes trouble. Which eventually because the drive for the chickens to actually do something and where they escaped a camp last time, this time they... infiltrate a camp! What a twist! ... but yeah, that makes sense. It's not a story I think needs telling, but I'm not dismissing it now we have it.</div><div><br /></div><div>The voices get recast, because it has been a while... and a lot of them are fine in an of themselves, but are quite different from what we got the first time. Instead of Mel Gibson we have Zachery Levy (barely a step up), and instead of Julia Sawalha we have Thandiwe Newton, and that's quite the change. But hey, Bella Ramsey as the kid, so yay!</div><div><br /></div><div>So we have a second. Is there a sign of a third? I'm not looking for it, but I won't turn away should we get one.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-74375518186347236842023-12-15T07:00:00.040+13:002023-12-15T07:00:00.134+13:00Sugar/Swan/Rat/Poison<div>For some reason Netflix decided to do a "week" of Wes Anderson adaptations of <a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/wes-anderson-netflix-short-films">Roald Dahl short stories,</a> where week equals four days.</div><div><br /></div><div>Each adaptation has the same approach, the main characters narrate the story directly to the camera, and limited portrayals of actual events. There are very artificial sets and changes are done on screen, as if this was a collection of stage plays. And there are about five main actors who turn up as different characters across and within the stories. This works only because these are short stories, if this continued for a full movie it would be a bit much.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar goes several stories deep as it tells its tale, and while engaging the sparse portrayal of the story could do with more complexity.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Swan is the most abstract, with even more telling not showing and walking along long hedge paths.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Ratcatcher is more of a character piece with the title character showing what it means to go after rats. This also dives a lot into the stage play aspect as well as featuring an animated sequence that, hey, continues the trend I've been following!</div><div><br /></div><div>Poison is one I think I might have read before? If one would skip any, this might be one, as the resolution is rather faint.</div><div><br /></div><div>We get Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, Richard Ayoade, and Rupert Friend across the stories, with Ralph Fiennes repeating his role as Roald Dahl a few times. All good performances, and it is clear when they swap around roles. Good makeup and costume work!</div><div><br /></div><div>I do wonder if this could be combined as a stage performance of all these stories in one go. It would be something to check out.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-55787084896728796582023-12-14T07:00:00.029+13:002023-12-14T07:00:00.242+13:00Doggy Isle<div>Not just Anderson, but still more <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5104604/">Anderson animated</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's quite the leap to suddenly declare all dogs as evil, but that's the set-up we get. Following that, we get a young boy trying to get his dog back, and there is a group of dogs that will help him, and will those dogs be able to save the day? There is also a B-plot with a young girl, but that feels so incidental that it could have been easily lifted out.</div><div><br /></div><div>One issue with this is the stylistic approach of Wes Anderson here is great to look at for individual frames of the movie but... the dogs are more like very staged creatures, ie they aren't dogs. There is Dogs As People metaphor, but this goes beyond that to not even having dogs as dogs. (And I don't entirely follow that the dogs would act as they do here, but that's a big ask of the movie to get invested in what is going on.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Again, good cast, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, and others, but again the stilted nature of Wes Anderson does make these dogs come across rather oddly.</div><div><br /></div><div>I did enjoy this as I watched it, but thinking back on it now... clearly I have some issues. But hey, in the time, I did enjoy watching this.</div><div><br /></div><div>We had two animated Andersons, of which one was a Roald Dahl adaptation, so next...</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-70318949018432025072023-12-13T07:00:00.018+13:002023-12-13T07:00:00.252+13:00Foxy Fantastic<div>Time to catch up on some Wes Anderson! This time it's <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0432283/">George Clooney as a sexy creature</a> that gets into trouble... hang on...</div><div><br /></div><div>Mr Fox is a clever creature that we immediately like. He's a rogue, gets away with things, and everyone likes him (more or less, his son is rather more ambivalent). However, his reach exceeds his grasp, and soon he and his companions are in over their head, and extremes are needed to get out.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think I read this as a kid, it was a little kind of familiar, but hey, it's a fun story, and this is a great adaptation. There's a lot happening with Fox, with the two kids, with the other animals, with the three humans, and...</div><div><br /></div><div>Great performances really come through. Even aside from George Clooney, we get Michael Gambon, Jason Schwartzman, and Eric Chase Anderson giving great voices to their characters. Which are matched by...</div><div><br /></div><div>Great visuals. This is Wes Anderson of course, a careful study of each frame, and just because this is animated/puppeted, that makes this no less meticulous in set and execution. I will be saying that a lot.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is on D+, so easy to catch, and it led me to the next one.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-46771100286998600342023-12-04T07:00:00.003+13:002023-12-04T07:00:00.134+13:00Gojira i squared<div>Oooh, new <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23289160/">Toho kaiju movie</a>? I'm in!</div><div><br /></div><div>A scared man lands down at an aircraft repair base.. and Godzilla attacks! With that, he is trapped in his own war, as signified by this giant dinosaur like monster, but having external demons doesn't help with internal demons.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is going back to Godzilla as the atomic war metaphour he was before, and, moreover, actually gets presence on screen, unlike other Godzilla movies! Toho knows what we want!</div><div><br /></div><div>And this is shot brilliantly. We are with people as they face dealing with post-war life on a small scale, as well as having to battle this giant stomping devastating <strike>analogy</strike> monster. We get a good balance of scope, and while some moments you can spot comings, it's still wonderfully portrayed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Although note that this is subtitled, so some people might be upset by that. It's a Japanese movie, what did you expect? At least we didn't get a reedit with an American journalist badly inserted into it...</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not expecting this to reboot a whole new series of Godzilla movies... but I wouldn't say no.</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898928896662590807.post-71753082578853666592023-11-25T07:00:00.015+13:002023-11-25T07:00:00.140+13:00one Dara Ó Briain<div>In my (apparently) continuing trek to see British (and adjacent) comedians, I attended the show of <a href="https://daraobriain.com/">Dara Ó Briain</a>!</div><div><br /></div><div>Now I'm not going to repeat his material, because a) it's his, and b) I would do it crappily. But there were two hours of laughs, so in short, it was great! It was basically a few big stories, but he had plenty of time to talk with audience members, which made me glad I wasn't in the front row. I hope those people had an expectation they might be picked on, because if you are there, you are in the firing line.</div><div><br /></div><div>He said this wasn't one of his usual shows (because of a certain world wide event that interrupted his usual process of gaining material - basically by living it), so I guess I need to check out one of his "usual shows" next time he is in town.</div><div><br /></div><div>As expected, a great show, so if you have the chance...</div><div><br /></div>[END]Jamas Enrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17764197426293692684noreply@blogger.com0