84th Wonderous Woman

Yeah, I seen it. That is to say, I saw it. The Embassy had a special event on Wednesday night and I decided to go along to that. Because it hasn't fully released yet, I'm gonna be more vague than usual.

It's 1984 and Wonder Woman is going about the place, doing really minor things to be honest. Then Max Lord comes in and (plot) slowly becomes a villain she has to deal with. Barbara Minerva gets to pal around with Diana but, as we know from the trailer, develops her own abilities. Oh, and Steve is back because reasons.

This movie is 150 minutes, and while it didn't feel long, it did feel like it could be tightened up in places. There were a few scenes I was wondering "what is the point of this?" Odd considering how long longer they had to bake this movie. Conversely, I was missing some plot connections, just chalked it up to "stuff happened off screen, I guess".

I am fine with Steve coming back. Explained well enough in the movie, and hey, in the comics, Steve has returned via coming from another dimension, or being a clone, so what the hey? Barbara to Cheetah was a bit of a stretch, feeling more like they wanted Cheetah in the movie more so than organically developed. And why was Max Lord in this? There is that rather (in)famous moment in the comics, but there is a much better Wonder Woman villain in the form of Dr Psycho who is just there, ready to go! (And has a better connection with Cheetah too.)

There's a lot of visual impact in this movie, and I'm glad Patty Jenkins got to do a sequel, and hopefully WB have already got a contract done for WW3, but ultimately this movie felt like it could have done with another editing pass.

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She's an X

Hey, a documentary Maddy did about her latest album! I haven't really expressed my opinions about Madame X because... really I felt it was very over processed and not really her natural voice. And in some ways, it was 'get out of the way of the world music'. And this documentary goes into more about why she did the album that way.

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Honest Theif

It's a Liam Neeson movie where he has to bring up a special set of skills to deal with a problem after a female relation gets into trouble...

Again, if you've seen the trailer, you've basically seen the set up of the movie. Liam Neeson is a thief that tries to go legit, but immediately gets involved with the corrupt members of the FBI, and trouble ensues.

This is a pretty straightforward movie, and at 90 minutes, it just gets on with what you'd expect and does its job. Which also means there's nothing particularly impressive about it. Liam Neeson does a standard job, nothing outstanding, but decent enough. The other actors also put in workman jobs, and again are there to get the job done.

Looking for a way to pass the time? There are worse things.

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Fraky

Sure, this looks stupid and yet worth watching. Let's give it a go!

Basic premise is explained in the trailer: Swap the minds in the bodies of a high school student and serial murder, and have fun! The story doesn't deliver huge surprises after that set up... but then, it doesn't need to. It's a great story, well presented.

More or less. This is written by two men, so there are some dialogue choices for the female characters that made me go "uuhhh...". And the movie does rely on high school boys not being interested in Kathryn Newton (although some of that is to blame Hollywood for not being able to cast unattractive people).

The comedy is decent, the kills are... rather over the top, to be honest, considered the rest of the tone. No doubt we'll see this mixed in as part of the Happy Death Day universe later.

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F'tm'n

It's an earnest Christmas movie. However...

Chris Cringle and his wife Ruth are trying hard to make ends meet, and the annual gig just isn't as profitable as it used to be. So they have to take on an extra contract to help make ends meet. In a completely separate story, a young punk of a spoiled rich kid doesn't like his gift from Santa and so calls out a hit on him, and we see the assassin slowly track down the location of the giver. And then at the, you will believe that the two plots collide.

Let's talk about the reindeer in the room. Yes, Mel Gibson is in this, and he gives an all right performance. So your willingness to put up with him will impact on how you accept this film. On the other hand, Walter Goggins gives a great performance and is the best thing in any scene he is in.

The problem with this movie is that it is very earnest... about being earnest. Aside from that, I'm not sure what the heck this movie was going for. The Chris plot was barely an arc, and the assassin bit was completely unrelated, so yeah... what was the point of this again?

Not a terrible movie, but not one that is going to stick in the memory either.

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Gloneland

Yeah, okay, let's see this take on 2012.

A comet... maybe? It's a bad scientific phenomena they can't quite identity... is heading by Earth, only everyone is so mathematically incompetent they can't tell that the fragments are instead going to slam into the planet. And so in one night we have a small family trying to get to a shelter, and undergoing many stupid and pointless adventures as the point of the movie seems to be "civilisation is one hour away from going into chaos".

As you might be able to tell, I wasn't that impressed. This is better than 2014 in that there is at least some justification for why Gerald Butler and co might actually be involved in the end of the world, but otherwise this just feels like "how many horrible/stupid things can we have our stars deal with?" while still trying to fit it into one night. I don't know geography, but it feels like they are able to cover vast swaths of land in just an hour or so.

Oh, and there's a comet. Which feels very much an excuse for a) panic and b) for things to blow up. While listening to Plot Exposition Radio, they make it clear that science doesn't actually know what this comet is, how the fragments are moving, nor what is going on because "it came from another solar system" or some such rubbish. Try hard not to think too deeply about it, because I suspect the writers/editors didn't.

Despite the years since things like 2012, this feels like generic disaster movie, with only slightly more focus on the characters over the special effects.

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They are Desert Bus

When you read this, the latest run of Desert Bus will have started. But if you can't watch that, you can watch this documentary on it!

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