[Spoiler Alert] Film reviews and ratings

Civil War

Did a lot of things really nicely, but the complete absence of any context is a killer. I don't like it when movies need to overexplain things, but this is the complete opposite extreme where we're not told anything. I think Alex Garland tries so hard not to "take a side", so to speak, that it negatively impacts the story. The world building that we see is really well done, but there's too little of it.

It's at it's best in the tense, slower-paced moments. I won't spoil anything, but the Jesse Plemons scene is pretty bone-chilling. It's shot really well and the soundscape was fantastic.

The third act just descended into all out action and stupidity from a few of the main characters though.

I think it's worth seeing for sure, but the potential was there for it to be much better. 7/10

 

Oppenheimer is the most 5/10 film I've ever seen

After watching (finally) I'm absolutely astounded at the plaudits that it's received. The interigation within the last 45 mins or so maintained the 5/10 or it might have been lower.

 

Couldn’t be arsed with it. My wife was watching it the other day, saw a bit, looked boring as *.

 

Going to see it on Friday. Looking forward to it but it's not getting excellent reviews, admittedly. Will give my run down at the weekend.

 

Yer Teas Oot

 

Yeah, watched it the other day and had high hopes for it, thought it was quite poor to be honest.

 

Saw Civil War recently and it bored me. Lacked any real depth or world building.

Saw Challengers yesterday and it was quite intense and enjoyable, but I doubt I’ll watch it again.

 

is this the one with Billy Connolly? and …

“yer teas out mcquilan”
“come ahead mccafferty”

 

Finally watched it the other day, was on my list of movies to catch up on.

Thought it was greaf tbh, although a bit meh on the ending. I mean, I get the meaning of it, just felt as if it missed a trick somewhere along the lines.

Still a good watch though, and loved the premise of it being a "live" 70s tv show.

Yer man the skeptic was great I thought, pure pantomine villain style

 

Civil War

Thought it was great. I get the arguments over a lack of context or any explanation as to what the history of that world is, but it didn't bother me at all. I think the trailer was very misleading and made it look like another proper war film, which it isn't. You're essentially dropped into the middle of the civil war and seeing it through the eyes of journalists and photographers and how they navigate a war torn country.

A few of the scenes were just incredible, particularly the Jesse Plemons one. He's one of the best actors around.

 

Monkey Man.

Knew nothing going in and was for the best, the cinematography is wild, story is brilliant, deff go & see it.

 

Billy Connolly was in ‘Elephants Graveyard’ which was also set in Greenock and ‘’Just Another Saturday’ another one of Peter McDougall’s plays.

 

KAK and more FUKIN KAK

 

Abigail

Always like a bit of a misdirect flick (when the film itself begins and builds one way then switches), and it works so well especially with this genre. Have sat through this twice now and will probably do so again before it leaves the cinema. Big fan.

Civil War

For those who were seeking a film about a 2nd American Civil War and what it might look like, when that is not really what the film is about, so the marketing and trailer etc are completely misleading in that regard. It is more akin to the likes of the Killing Fields or Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, except that it is set to a fictional invented 'civil' war, instead of real ones. Some especially memorable scenes and another in a line of quality releases from A24.

Boy Kills World

It has aspirations of wanting to be Deadpool. It wishes it was Deadpool. But the sad fact is, this is a long, long way short of being Deadpool. I didn't have the benefit of AD, but it did nothing for me, and the gimmick gets old real quick. In truth there are litrally two better movies that are virtually telling the ame story at the cinema at the moment as this movie, Kung Fu Panda 4 (in it's way) and Monkey Man especially, and both are miles ahead of this.

Challengers

There are some interesting ideas but spoilt by inconsistent writing and the nature of this sort of undermined. Admittedly, the last 10 min or so are the most interesting passage of the film (and barely a word is even spoken during that part), but otherwise feels very much like an old tv 'movie of the week'. Far from convinced that Zendaya can actually carry a movie - she is fine as a support but to be the headline... yeah.. far from convinced. The two male leads Josh O'Conner and Mike Faist both deliver better performances.

TBH, am really not much of a fan of director Luca Guadagnino's work at this point. Was not all that impressed by Call Me By Your Name (Timothee Chalomet's performance aside), his version of Susperia (despite the stallar cast is a long way shy of the Dario Argento original from the 1970's) or Bones and All, making Challengers now the 4th of his movies that have left a decidedly underwhelming impression.

 

I enjoyed it but thought they could have easily chopped 40 minutes off it without losing anything. They almost decided that to win a Oscar a film needs to be 3 hours long.

 

It's not even close to Nolan's best movie... Dark Knight, Interstellar, Inception and even Momento or The Prestige were all better, but like what happens so often with the Oscars, it's so often about being rewarded after 'paying dues', and I think that was the case this year with Oppenheimer... same that happened with Scorecese, for example.

 

Watched Alpha Dog last night. Great film and a true story. Would recommend it for sure. 7.5/10

 

I absolutely agree. I thought Prestige was oddly underrated and miles better than Oppenheimer. Also, it was a pretty poor year for Oscar worthy films in general. A lot of Oscar success is based on films you happen to be up against.