mickman91-1

Such a fantastic 80s B movie type nostalgic feel to it. It feels like watching a sort of grown up episode of Goosebumps. Really fun and enjoyable. And the scenario is such a classic and engaging idea for a horror story. The guy who plays Herman Munster was excellent fun and really likeable. It was really enjoyable for the first hour but then it did start to get a bit bogged down and dragging on a bit with the terror baby hunting them all down. But well worth a watch for horror fans who enjoy classic fun. It is topped off with an epic theme tune by Ramones which I have played hundreds of times.

I watched this when I was about 14. At the time I was a serious horror buff and was on a mission of self-education with all things horror. I loved everything from Bela Lugosi to Saw. The scarier and more shocking the better. I did not rally appreciate this film at all. I love the spooky vibe and was a fan of Christopher Lee. But because of my expectations of it being a 'horror' film, and purportedly an excellent one, I was disappointed.

However, watching this 15 years later, I enjoyed this much more more. I think this is because I have lived longer now and understand much more the danger and terror involved in groupthink and how easily we can all be a victim of the cult of opinion and shunned out to tragic consequences. This is especially true in this day and age of cancel culture where even people of the highest esteem one day are literally put in the stocks and scourged from society the next. One could reliably imagine that we are only a few short mistakes away from there being real world wicker man type rituals taking place on the streets of America for people having the wrong opinion.

So yes the horror involved in this movie is most certainly real and visceral and I GET it now. But also I appreciate more from an academic perspective how original this film was in 1973 and bold and ambitious and courageous to release a film to horror fans like this. Another part of Britain's amazing cultural fabric that I am proud to be attached too.

Wow what a load of tripe. But only a pleb would critique such a film seriously. Because it is not meant to be taken seriously it is almost a parody of itself, but most certainly a consciously made bit of mindless fun. It takes all the monster movie tropes and has a laugh with them, without being a blatant piss take like Scary Movie. I can understand why lots of people love this movie, because most films take themselves far too seriously for what they are. Unless you're Schindlers List, maybe the majority of movies could have a bit more perspective and take themselves a bit less seriously. This film is one for fans that watch films for entertainment and not for art or introspection. Which tbh is probably most people, even if I myself would be more of the latter camp.

I knew Chloe Moretz was a good actress. I can't believe it has taken me so long to getting round to watching this because I absolutely love Carrie. Sissy Spacek breaks my heart in Carrie she plays the bullied downtrodden young girl so wonderfully. These are very big shoes to fill but somehow remarkably and unexpectedly Chloe Moretz just about fills them actually. Sissy was much older than Chloe when she played Carrie too. For Chloe to do such a moving and heartbreaking performance at such a young age is incredible. Sissy makes the original Carrie movie although it is very well made too. Chloe totally makes the 2013 remake despite it not being as well made. But it is half decent and undistracting, so really it is just a vehicle for Chloe's performance. I was enthralled throughout like I was in the original and really pleased it was as good as it was because I was expecting to be disappointed.

Guy Ritchie is really hit and miss. He has made some excellent films, but he has also made a few unwatchable films. But I always check his stuff out. This was somewhere in the middle or slightly above. For action fans this is a top tier action film. Action led films don't really get that much better than this. Because it was full of believable and investable action, but it also had a story and a heart at the middle of it: a fathers revenge mission to find those who murdered his son. On a more objective perspective, this is not Shakespeare or anything that is going to do too much for your inner world. But for a does what it says on the time action film entertainment it is excellent.

I watch a lot of movies. This was one of the most impressive movies I have seen in a long time. This is because I usually have a very good intuition about what a film is going to be about and what it is going to be like. However, this film was difficult to get a grasp on because it is a difficult film to talk too much about without giving a good part of the pleasure of watching it away. The trailers and pre release media dig a good job of not giving this away and im very thankful they didn't. But anyway I expected this then to be an average film, I was hoping it may be half decent because I do like Daisy after her magnificent performance in Normal People.

But it turned out to be an excellent film that kept in glued to the screen in a way I haven't for some time now. It is a tribute to a way of movie making of old which is sorely lacking in modern times. This is what films used to be like until the early 2000s. You would get a good 30 minutes+ of exposition and character development so the audience can orient themselves and get behind the characters involved and for there to be a believable build up to the action and tension. This film was literally an hour of character development and you didn't even know where the film was heading in this time. But the development was so well done I didn't even care of stop to think about it. I was simply enjoying so much getting to know the characters and the world and lightly theorising about what mystery might be in store further down the road.

I think this movie is underrated according to its scores. And I think from reading the reviews I can understand why. I think it is because this movie is an adaptation of a novel, a very popular novel. And fans of novels will always judge the films harshly as they very rarely measure up in novel readers eyes. But the novel and movie are very very different mediums and there has to be a conversion process from one to the other. I haven't read the novel so I can't comment on the conversion process. But i do know that on its own merits this is an excellent film, whether it diverges significantly from the novel or not. Due to the nature of the story, I im so glad i hadn't read the novel first because I got to appreciate the unveiling of this story in its full effect.

The pacing was totally off. Not much happens for 30 minutes then rushes through not enough of the story in the other hour. It lacked much investment into the main characters and was totally devoid of moral lessons that you expect in a Disney film and any children's film for that matter. There were a few questionable reference to modern fashion e.g 'influencers' etc which will not age very well in 20 years time when technology and the world will look very different. Unliked the original pinocchio and other disney classics which are timeless and have stood the test of time and will do for longer than this and other poorly done modern remakes will. Tom Hanks was good though it has to be said. And there was a certain warmth in my heart at the very finale on Gepetto and Pinnochios reunion. But overall one of the weaker live action remakes.

The first series of The Capture was nothing new in its elements, but it put its concept was a fairly original twist that I hadn't really seen before so I thought it was worth a watch given the reviews. It was very enjoyable and kept you engaged throughout scratching your head as to how the mystery would be solved. Excellent music and decent BBC production and performances. Not spectacular but very good.

The second series continues on with the style and substance of the first series. However, in an effort to impress the take the bluffing, double bluffing, and triple bluffing the audience to the extreme so one twist comes after another until it almost becomes like Inception tbh and you would have to draw a diagram on a piece of paper to fully wrap your head around it. Yes this was clever, a pat on the back to the screenwriters. But I couldn't feeling like they were there feeling very smug with all their twist and turns and waiting for audience applause and missed a bit of down to earthiness and making sure the story was actually interesting, not just convoluted.

I liked what they were trying to do here. Make a very modern High School Musical type of Christian film for the younger Christian generation. Something that is relatable to their experience of growing up in a Christian family/community but which is still rooted in the modern world and not too academic or preachy. Unfortunately though its intentions were good it was really poorly made. The acting and dialogue was so cringe. They spent all their time and money on the songs I think, which tbf were pretty good and catchy, but tbh I added them to my spotify playlist but haven't listened that much since either.

There is no question that Jodie Comer is absolutely magnificent in this one-woman show. It is only about 90 minutes, which is entirely appropriate because she opens at full pelt and does not let up for the entirety of the show. She delivers a bombardment of dialogue and energetic action. It was so clever how she morphed her accent between scouse and RP depending on the state of mind and situation the character was in at any given moment. Truly brilliant. You could not look away the entire time.

The production was also excellent. You can see at the end of the show when the camera pans out, how small the Harold Pinter stage is. But because of the camerawork, you can't tell this when watching, the show feels massive, yet you also feel on stage right with Jodie at the same time. Thus is the synergy of excellent camerawork and excellent acting.

As for the story. Well. I was behind it for about an hour. It looks at how the judicial system, in its noble quest for objectivity and a fair trial for both alleged victim and alleged perpetrator, can often bulldoze alleged victims and not be sensitive enough to the traumatising experience of having to retell and relive their past experiences (in this instance, sexual assault) in the course of the judicial process.

But by the end it gave up on this idea and descended down the cheap, lazy and offensive route instead of just blanket-blaming men for all of the proposed problems with the legal system (a legal system which btw is run by a significant amount of women). Not a specific man, or a specific subsection of men. Just men. It very provocatively suggests that an average of 1 in 3 women in the audience will be sexually assaulted in their lives (a statistic I strongly disagree with), and by implication, that there are huge swathes of men in our society who are sexual abusers (again, an idea I strongly protest). This is the terrible divisiveness that many women have become so accustomed to getting away unchallenged with, and are supportive of each other in promoting in modern times, by blaming all of life's ills on men. And the way that many clearly female reviewers have written galvanising reviews here on IMDB in support of this message of misandry demonstrates how far this toxicity has spread. Not only is it divisive, but promoting this dogma of women=innocent, man=guilty diminishes all the male alleged victims of sexual assault, and all the men who have had to relive traumatising experiences in the course of the judicial process too. So what started off as an interesting and powerful look at the difficult experiences many alleged victims have to go through in the course of the judicial process, was ultimately just a clever guise to lead you down the garden path to some unrestrained and unchallenged man-bashing. How long are we going to let social justice warriors get away with spouting this type of vitriol without any accountability for the effects?

The national geographic documentary about this miracle event was so good I was so ready to be disappointed by this and thought it would be a cheap Hollywood attempt at making money out of such an emotional but ultimately inspiring real life event. I was so pleased to be wrong. It is a long film but it never drags. The swimming through the cave shots get a bit repetitive and were not done as well as National Geographic managed to do them - they were too dark and obscured. But everything about this felt deeply respectful to authenticity, the facts of the event, the people involved, the victims, etc. Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen are absolutely brilliant in their attempts to accurately portray the mannerisms and personalities of the normal unremarkable but remarkable British heroes who led the expedition. Colin Farrell the actor completely disappeared, you could not discern any of him in his voice or his mannerisms. And this was without wearing any makeup or costume. Absolutely outstanding. Viggo was equally good though not quite as impressive. But the energy they both carried themselves with was one of utter respect for the real life heroes they were portraying. And this imbued out to all of the production. There was no hollywood sensationalism. Just respect. And that was deeply felt. And because of that all the raw emotion of the ordeal was allowed to shine through organically. One of the most emotional hollywood films I have seen in sometime, on par with the documentary. This is not to be underestimated. We live in a crazy sensationalist world where everything is completely overblown and catastrophised because we are so difficult to shock and surprise these days because with the worst and best of humanity available everyday at our fingertips on the internet we think we have seen it all. So to take this approach was very brave and extremely refreshing and was what Hollywood and audiences have drastically been missing. Hopefully this will inspire more films, real and fiction, to a higher form of authenticity for the future. We so badly need it.

Extremely predictable and a survival /disaster film which literally paints by numbers with all of the tropes it almost feels like a parody film at times. But at the end of the day you spend 90 mins with 2 girls at a stupidly dangerous height and go through the emotional ups and downs with them of finding hope and then losing it again. And it is presented to us in all the ways we would wish for: suspense, fear, danger, fun. So if you enjoy your disaster movies then this will be well worth and evening for you, despite the lack of technical prowess.

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I like Kevin Hart so I am positively biased. However, even I think this was a load of bum fluff. It starts silly and sets up a predictable premise. But this is fine as long as the journey is entertaining. But it wasn't. Flat jokes, ridiculous set pieces and a lack of heart makes nothing about this worth watching. I would be surprised if you can maintain proper attention after about 30 mins.

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Thankfully this wasn't another critical race theory propaganda piece from Jordan Peele. Get Out was rubbish. I quite liked Us it was very entertaining and had some interesting things to say about trauma. Nope's message is much more subtle, but I put forward that it regards the concept of spectacle and sensationalism which is something which dominates all of our forms of media these days, particularly social media, and the consequences of foregoing what is right and morality in pursuit of bigger spectacle. Again, Peele uses an entertaining and seemingly unrelated vehicle through which to explore this deeper subtext. This time round it is a sci-fi, horror, thriller vehicle. And the vehicle does look fantastic. I was not surprised to learn they used IMAX cameras, it really does look great and is perhaps worth the extra investment to see it on the big screen. As with his other two films though, I think he points to interesting concepts but doesn't have too much to say about them, he just asks questions. His thematic objectives are clearly important priorities for him, but remain subtle, and this is no different.

I am not a superhero film fan. I have struggled with them for years. I keep watching them waiting for them to be good and they keep disappointing. There are a few notable exceptions (Joker, The Batman, etc). I wasn't expecting much from this at all. Even though I am a Stallone fan, or rather I respect him very much for dedicating his life to doing what he loves and doing it well (over the top but fun action flicks). But this actually really impressed me. It is an over the top acton flick, but it is also a lot of fun. But most importantly, it has what the Marvel franchise sorely misses, which is heart, and and emotional journey and lessons to be learnt. I haven't see this much heart since the classic 2002 Spiderman ('with great power comes great responsibility', etc). Stand up for what is right, get back up when life knocks you down. Thank you samaritan and Sly, hopefully Marvel will take note and actually create some 3-dimensional characters and personal journeys that I care for.

It clearly has less budget than the original and doesn't like quite as tight. The colours are off and its all a bit dark and TVish. But I thought the orphan was one of the better horror films of recent years and this is a great follow up. The original was an innovative new idea for a horror film. And the child actress at the time who played a psycho adult trapped in a childs body, was absolutely incredible. One of the most underrated performances ever. She carried the entire film and was so menacing and terrifying and able to appear as an adult when necessary and then a child again in the next breath. Now that young actress is an adult herself, again playing a psycho adult trapped in a childs body. And she returns and does another excellent job and carries the film again and makes it great. First Kill, also has a similarly innovative twist in that after 30 minutes you think it is going one way and it is all becoming a little predictable but then there is a switch that you never saw coming nor I have seen done before. I love this franchise and think it is highly underrated.

I think 7.5 is too generous. It is highly watchable and it is quirky and original in tone so you get drawn in and don't stop to think about too much for the first half hour. But when you do work out what's going on and then have space to take a step back you start wondering where it is going and what is actually happening in the story then you realise it is all a bit bonkers. Which is fine, bonkers can be done well. But by the time the last 20 minutes come i was left feeling that the story was full of holes, boring, and I didn't really care how it ended, it wasn't all very believable. It was clearly a homage to Tarantino, and other quirky filmmakers, but sadly felt mostly derivative by the end rather than original.

This is available on Youtube. I have to say that I got distracted half way through this one. It doesn't have the classic feel of the 1970 version, nor the pastural English charm of the 1968 TV version (also available on youtube). It feels a bit too modern and sapped of charm. However it is a serviceable version but I doubt it won over many childhood hearts in 2000, Im sure children by and large still prefer the original as does everyone else. It will be interesting to see what they do with the sequel in 2022.

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This is available on YouTube and it is well worth a watch. It doesn't have the charm and the 'part of the cultural fabric' appeal of the 1970 film remake that everyone knows and loves. But it is very charming in its own way. It looks so much older because of the lower budget TV production and the fact it is in black and white. But the episodes are only 20 minutes long so are easily eaten up. But it allows for more time to adapt more of the novel that most people know from the 1970 version.

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Way too abridged and short at only 90 minutes. Doesn't make total sense unless you already know the story, it jus skis over the salient plot details with no time getting to know or care for the characters. Watch the 1979 version for the most thorough and true to novel version. The 1995 version is an excellent family friendly version too.

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This is one of three main versions of Old Curiosity Shop available today, and this is by far the most thorough and true to the novel of the 3. It does of course suffer from low budget British 70s TV production, and is very slow in pace compared to modern adaptations. But it is this that allows it to be so thorough. Some of the acting is so so but some is really good (Trevor Peacock as Quilp is a Dickensian villain for the history books). Not available online so you will need to buy the DVD, but it is worth it. The 1995 is a very good but family friendly version. The 2007 version is skippable.

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This is one of the most charming and family-friendly Dickens adaptations I have ever seen, and I have seen almost all of them over many years of effort. The only other Dickens which have this family movie type atmosphere are versions of Oliver Twist and Christmas Carol, most of his others don't get such a treatment. But I think Old Curiosity Shop works so well in a family oriented version. It has the lovely young girl (Nell) and her grandfather for young people to get behind, and an abject and characitaured villain in Quilp who everyone loves to see the downfall of. In reality though the novel ends quite tragically, showing the audience the harsh realities of the times in which the story is set. This version does partially romanticise the ending and cuts a little out. This is fine for what else it has achieved.

I am a Star Wars watcher but wouldn't consider myself a 'fan'. I have no extensive knowledge of the universe and have never had conversations with others about the stars wars universe. But I have seen all 9 episodes and Rogue One, Solo, and Mandalorian. I can't work out why the star wars fanbase haven't responded to this. I keep seeing signs that it perhaps makes error in continuity with the universe. This would be a shame and a poor oversight if this is the case. From an outsiders perspective though I thought this was really enjoyable. As enjoyable as some of the better star wars episodes. It is a very simple story about Obi Wan protecting a young Leia and what he learns about himself along the way. It does have plenty of action but it perhaps doesn't have the totally escapism factor that other star wars media does. This though is why I like it. It was character driven because they had a decent actor to carry it (Ewan McGregor), and it had lots of heart and meaningful lessons for both young people (through Leia) and the rest (through Obi Wan). The young girl who plays young Leia was absolutely amazing, so precocious, I haven't seen a child performance so mature as that in some time. Credit must surely have to go to Ewan for this for supporting her and allowing to be so good during the production process. And I think Ewan will be pleased and feel he has achieved some sort of redemption for his cringey performances 20 years ago in the star wars prequel trilogy.

I watched this for Billie Joe. And he was engaging and endearing enough and carried the whole thing really. The movie was very watchable but before you know it you've watched 45 minutes and the plot is dumb as hell. Its exploration of the concepts it presents are really shallow. I was left having learnt nothing.

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Really nice film with a commendable narrative about how we treat animals without being too negative or shaming. I have to say though, a week or two after having watched it I can barely remember what happens tbh. It didn't get under my skin very much, there is a certain spark missing.

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