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...

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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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