Movies

The third

Yeah I loved the first film. Isla Fisher in her prime really helps.

I liked both NYSM movies, and Lizzie Caplan is an upgrade on Isla Fisher, at least for comic timing.
But I hated the simple hypnosis thing, the evil twin cobblers, and using CGI when "magic" could never have worked. For lite-brain thrills they are pretty satisfying to me. I particularly enjoy the wee clues to make later payoffs more engaging.

Fisher is back for the latest one so we get both her and Caplan. I'll definitely watch it, but I won't be giving money to a cinema for the privilege.

My daughter saw it and liked it. Whether that translates to anyone on here liking it I'm not sure.

My Bloody Valentine. Very very very fucking loud.

you cannot probably watch this but

This is a heartbreaking film, purely for the fact that the ukrainians totally understand the situation. 2000 Metres to Andriivka is a first person account of a battle the war and the push by the Ukraine to take back land. If the russians cannot keep their gains they destroy everything so there is nothing left to reclaim. Each principle in the battle is given screen time and we learn their fate later in the film. The line that says it all is uttered halfway through the documentary, "The longer this goes on, the less people will care", and it's true. These poor brave people, not professional soldiers trying to hold on to their land and dignity knowing full well that they will most likely end up dead. Definitely worth watching.

Chicago: Feeling Helpless.

Thanks for this, had read about it previously and had been meaning to watch it.

The Long Walk is very well acted and shot, but the story itself has a couple of fatal flaws, the final outcome is predictable, and its attempt to finish ambiguously flops.

Worth watching for the central performances, but it was a story that King blasted out in a few days when he was young and still finding his feet as a writer, and it shows. If it was written by someone less well known I doubt this movie would have been greenlit.

Before you decide your movies of the year please watch Caught Stealing, it is magnificent. It's funny and dark and violent, in the vein of the best of Guy Ritchie and the Safdies. Austin Butler was already one of my favourite Hollywood actors after his incredible performance in Elvis, but he has now cemented himself this year with The Bikeriders and this as my number one must watch.

We watching Caught Stealing based on your recommendation (and the fact that it had good reviews) and found it very underwhelming. Austin Butler apart from being a smoke show is a good actor, but the film was messy and disjointed and just a bit rubbish with some amusing violence thrown in. it literally did nothing for us whatsoever. Shame, because before I saw the film I was going to buy the book. Might not now.

Because of Rob Reiner (and this was before he was killed yesterday), we plan on seeing the Spinal Tap sequel which has magically popped up on HBO Max. The reviews weren't great but most of the audience who saw it really gave it positive reviews. I could do with a laugh right now. The Cheese shop scene in the preview was amusing. Hopefully the rest of the film keeps our spirits up. RIP Mr. Reiner.

Chicago: Looking for a laugh.

Third Knives Out film is very good and well worth your time, if you like that kind of thing. F1 movie with Brad Pitt is fine if you’ve got Apple TV but I wouldn’t go out of my way as it’s formulaic as hell.

I liked the latest Knives Out. Really leaned in on the 70s murder mystery vibes. Some shots (much like Poker Face) were straight out of Spielberg era Columbo. Not as good as the first but better than Glass Onion, I thought.

I didn’t mention it on here at the time but I finally got around to watching The Grey for the first time recently when I was off from work.
The survival and wolf behavior aspects are complete cobblers, so if you just wanted to see Neeson punch a wolf in the face, go elsewhere.
That said, and this is about to get a bit “I’m in my feelings” as the youth here say, but it really did a number on me emotionally. It’s not about what it’s about at all and whoever it was I read that described it as an ‘atheist’s parable’ was on the money. Grief really is a hell of a thing.

I also watched Mad God which was straight up fever dream and absolutely not for everyone.

And for anyone who enjoyed Ballad of Wallis Island, I thought (although it too deals more openly with grief) Ballad was reminiscent of ‘Marcel the Shell with Shoes on’ and ‘Brian and Charles’ which have a similar quirky (often twee) charm. Again, absolutely not for everyone.

The trailer was proper disturbing, reminiscent of the nightmarish animations that Channel 4 used to traumatise kids back in the day.

At times, it feels like something Dali and Lynch would have come up with if asked to show their vision of Hell. There’s a loose narrative and next to zero dialogue and it gets proper trippy at the end.