What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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grim_tales
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Surely every Bond has reflected the times in which they were made (to some extent), Moore was camp and humourous, compared to Connery, and I'd argue that the 90's films were a reboot or update in a way - Brosnan's style was like Connery and Moore mixed together, Judi Dench playing M etc, (and things were half dark-half silly in Die Another Day)
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Bond films reflected the trends of the day, sure, but pretty much remained consistent with their ethos and the fundamentals in the interpretation of the character. It's only recently that Bond began to not feel like Bond (to me anyway).
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - 3/5
It was fine, nothing amazing.
At least they didn't let Wanda get away with her insurmountable mountain of evil deeds (for now... if and when they do bring her back to life, hopefully it'll be at least after a noticeable period of IRL time), unlike what they did after Wandavision. She mind-raped a whole town there and got away consequence free.

In regard to jangling keys (cameos), I liked seeing Jim from The Office US showing up as (other dimension) Mr. Fantastic. It's been speculated for a long time that him and IRL wife Emily Blunt would play Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman. (My cautious optimism for the actual Fantastic Four movie fell after Jon Watts dropped out as director, i.e. who we owe for the greatness of Homecoming and No Way Home.)

Torn over whether or not I'm going to bother seeing Thor: Love and Thunder in the theatres or just wait the 2-3 months for the Linux ISO.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Northman (2022) - 5/5
This film was utterly amazing. A simple story, but still cast in shades of grey. Cinematography, musical score, fight choreography, pacing - all top notch.

There's no shoehorned in Netflix-esque modern social agenda lecturing. Eg nothing to break immersion of the region specific, historical setting like having black lady jarls.

Scream 5 (2022) - 3/5
Well executed modern day sequel/soft-reboot of the series, for the most part.

Some noticeable brainfarts of the plotting revolved around the slaying of a cop. She goes to protect herself with a kitchen knife instead of you know, a gun, which most US police probably have readily on hand. She radios for back up to swarm her house... but nobody shows up until well after she's slain.

The identities of the killers I could see miles away, because it's still a modern day mainstream Hollywood film. Of course they're going to be the straight white people. They're too deadly afraid to make POCs and/or LGBT be the villains.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Inexorable (France/Belgium, 2021) [DCP] – 3/5
Fabrice du Welz delivers his take on the stranger-inserts-him/herself-into-a-family-for-nefarious-purposes trope here as a young woman with some serious issues gets taken in by a famous writer and his family. A bit more mainstream than du Welz's last film Adoration (2019) but I didn't find that to be a bad thing. And any filmmaker that puts "FILMED IN GLORIOUS KODAK SUPER 16MM" in the end credits in the same size and right after the names of the main actors deserves nothing but respect and support.

Black Glasses (Italy, 2022) [DCP] – 2/5
Dario Argento's new film has everything that you'd expect from the director: an utterly preposterous plot (a prostitute blinded in a car crash teams up with a Chinese kid to fight a serial killer), terrible acting and highly questionable music choices (in this case what often sounded suspiciously like 90ies techno). It is really odd, then, that it is hard to sit through the 90 minutes of this film when the exact same criticisms could be levelled at, say, Phenomena (1985) and yet I consider that film an absolute masterpiece. Maybe Argento's films should never have worked, yet for a while they somehow did. Whatever alchemical componet made that possible is long gone and now we're left with a whole that is nothing more than the sum of its parts.

No Looking Back (Russia, 2021) [DCP] – 4/5
Kirill Sokolov's Why Don't You Just Die was one of the best films I saw in 2019, so I was eagerly anticipating his follow up. Luckily, it didn't disappoint and delivered another pitch black comedy with plenty of bloodshed. Olya (Viktoriya Korotkova) gets discharged after serving four years in prison for stabbing out the eye of her lover. She wants to take her 10 year old daughter Masha (Sofya Krugova) and start a new life with another man, which soon leads to aforementioned one-eyed ex and her own mother chasing her through the Russian countryside with murder on their mind. It's a visually gorgeous film and viewers thus inclined can feel free to read all kinds of things into the way it portrays dysfunctional families, institutional violence and mother-daughter relationships. Or you can just have fun with a very original, very cinematic and very bloody crime comedy.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Morbius (2022) - 2.5/5
Meh. Barebones film that follows the set formula for a superhero origins story film set by Iron Man 1 (2008 ). 20-40ish mins in gets powers; 2nd act: mapping out of capabilities and discovering boundaries; 3rd act: fight evil mirror version. Unremarkably mediocre.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Wolf-Man (1941) - first time: 3.75/5

A man (Lon Chaney Jr.) gets bitten by a wolf and becomes a werewolf himself. Weirdly Claude Rains (52 at the time) is playing Chaney's (35 or so) dad :D
Very atmospheric in places and they did the best they could with the make up job considering when the film was made.

Chaney uses a telescope to spy on a girl and keeps badgering her to go on a date with him :mad: :dontknow: Not cool.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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grim_tales wrote: 14 Jun 2022, 09:40 The Wolf-Man (1941) - first time: 3.75/5
Chaney uses a telescope to spy on a girl and keeps badgering her to go on a date with him :mad: :dontknow: Not cool.
It was 1941! You do realise times have changed? :oops:

At least we now know who these PC content warnings are for! ;)
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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:D It's OK, just stuck out for me a bit, that's all :)
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Dracula (1931): 3.5/5
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Phantom of the Opera (1943) - first time watch: 4/5

Claude Rains is really good in this as the crazy Phantom.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Creature From the Black Lagoon (USA, 1954) BD - first time watch: 3.5/5

Cool creature feature, filmed in 3D, it has some good suspeanse and underwater action - seems a bit slow despite the short running time as if it's the first part of a longer movie The creature only captures Kay right at the end and the group let the creature go?!spoiler]
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Top Gun: Maverick (USA, 2022) [IMAX] – 4.5/5
Tom Cruise’s career best film: a thoroughly enjoyable fun first 90 minutes followed by a spectacular climax that is no doubt the best action sequence filmed in Hollywood since Death Proof’s last 20 minutes. For once Hollywood is investing money in the right things, that is, doing things for "real" instead of endless CGI graphics. The result is absolutely breath taking.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Dracula (Spanish version) 1931 - first time watch: 3.5/5
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Bride of Frankenstein (USA, 1935): 4/5

Some great scenes in this, strange that the Bride character is only shown right at the end though.
Some of the music sounds familliar, one music cue sounds like it was used in a trailer for The Big Boss :?
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Mummy (USA, 1932): 4/5
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Invisible Man (USA, 1933): 4/5

Even though some of the more hysterical acting is annoying, this movie has an interesting story and Claude Rains is excellent. The effects are amazing for the time, how did they do it? Very early blue screen?
Some of the scenes earlier on when Jack is playing pranks and stuff are actually pretty funny :D
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Spiderman: No Way Home (rewatch): 4.5/5
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Batman Begins (2005): 4/5
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Blade Runner (1982/2007) - first time - cinema: 4/5

Visually stunning sci-fi looks way ahead of it's time - but it's weird :D
Was Deckard a replicant or not? :confused: I'm sure I read he was in one version
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Man with the Golden Gun (UK/US, 1974) - cinema: 3.5/5

Not Moore's best, but still worthwhile. Christopher Lee makes an excellent villain (not forgetting the memorable Nik-Nak), Britt Ekland is funny as Bond's assistant and the locations (HK and Thailand) are a real time capsule.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Big Lebowski (USA, 1998): 3.5/5

There are some funny scenes and good lines - the musical montages are definitely weird :D The lack of subtitles is a real hindrance making it hard to understand what's being said.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Dark Knight (USA, 2008): 4/5

Bale sounds even gruffer here than in Batman Begins! :D Heath Ledger's performance is good as The Joker and does psychotic weirdo well.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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grim_tales wrote: 07 Jul 2022, 22:44 Blade Runner (1982/2007) - first time - cinema: 4/5
grim_tales wrote: 10 Jul 2022, 21:30 The Man with the Golden Gun (UK/US, 1974) - cinema: 3.5/5
Bond and Blade Runner on big screen. Nice! Some sort of special screenings, or?
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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I reckon they were just digital screenings not 35mm, can't be sure :) A cinema local to me sometimes shows these kind of things so not really "special screening", but they're showing Police Story next month.
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