Here we go, I'll start.

Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark (2010) - This movie is a joke. At first it's interesting, then it's boring and then it's just funny/pathetic. And they put it in a "horror" genre. Words are not sufficient. Nosferatu is turning in his grave. 3/10

1 decade ago*

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Incredibles 2 and day after that Polar.

5 years ago
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Bumblebee - πŸ‘πŸ½πŸ‘πŸ½
FYRE (The netflix one) - 🀷
Alita: Battle Angel - πŸ‘πŸ½ (The last act where someone died was the highlight for me. I don't need that unnecessary romance.)
Dog's Way Home - πŸ‘ŽπŸ½ (Too much forced commentary to evoke emotion)
Pooka - πŸ‘πŸ½πŸ‘πŸ½

5 years ago
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How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
My kids love the series on Netflix, so naturally I've seen a lot of it as well, including the first 2 movies.
So we went to the theatre for this one. I actually enjoyed watching it. 3D. Nice end of the story. Beautifully made.

5 years ago
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Hunter Killer
I have a weakness for submarine films, so despite my better judgment I decided to give this one a watch. And boy did they ramp up the hammy dialogue and cliched plot in general in this one. You have the grizzled veteran spec ops soldier with his "I don't know much about politics, but... " line, who then goes off to do his shooty bang bang heroics, while our fearless Captain Joe Glass (King Leonidas from 300) will retort to his first officer who claims that the former's unorthodox actions will get him court-martialed, "then it's my job to keep you alive until the trial", which is supposed to come off as... self-sacrificial and heroic? Well yeah, this is the kind of forced pathos you can expect from this film which does everything in its power to ape the greats, but alas, Hunt for Red October or Crimson Tide this is not. A criminally under-ultilised and one dimensional Gary Oldman doesn't help matters, and a far too young Common who we're supposed to take for a Vice Admiral (like, seriously? The guy barely looks like a Commander, if that) remains far from convincing. Not even a spirited Linda Cardellini who usually elevates a movie by her mere presence is able to save matters here. Too bad this is one of Michael Nyqvist's final roles before his untimely passing, and he does make the most of the little he is given here as a charismatic Russian captain. Casting aside, the entire plot is so bonkers and full of enough holes that it's just best to throw any kind of critical thought process overboard while viewing, after which the whole affair even becomes surprisingly enjoyable in places despite everything that speaks against it. A very so-so experience in my book.

The Shape of Water
I respect Guillermo del Toro's chops as a storyteller and his sheer verve, and his worlds are always interesting, if sometimes flawed. But there was something about the whimsical nature of the story here that just didn't click with me at all, despite the stellar performances all around.
This is a film I don't regret seeing but it's also one that left me strangely cold despite (or perhaps because of?) the at times overbearing attempts to convey emotion and feeling. Maybe it's a bit harsh to file this one under the "overrated" bin but I don't really get all the praise and accolades it received. I would have never guessed it would snag Best Picture at last year's Academy Awards, for example, but I guess I just don't get it.

First Man
Damien Chazelle is quickly becoming one of my favourite directors - his three previous films, this one included, were excellent, I would dare say almost flawless. I found this one was envisioned and executed with the same attention to detail and cinematic finesse as everything else he has done to date. This is easily the best film I have seen recently, which makes the entire hullabaloo over the so-called "flag controversy" (the filmmakers chose to forgo showing the actual planting of the American flag on the moon's surface, although the flag remains plainly visible in many shots, causing a ruckus from self-professed patriots and various malcontents) all the more ridiculous. Although Buzz Aldrin comes off as a bit of a dick in this film, making me wonder if that was how he was in real life? Hmm, I haven't yet found out.

Cloud Atlas
This monstrosity of a film by the Wachowski's and Tom Tykwer that clocks in at three hours with an all star cast led by Tom Hanks and Halle Berry (amongst others) and yet remains still too short to fully portray the intricacies and grandeur of its source material, David Mitchell's majestic 2004 Booker Prize nominated novel, was one uneven watch. On the one hand having recently finished the brilliant, labyrinthine novel, I was excited to see how the filmmakers would tackle the seemingly "unfilmable" nature of the multi-layered, nested plot. And predictably, they couldn't quite port over what worked so well in literature into the medium of cinema. Rather problematically, the same actors portray many different roles over the course of the different stories (of which there are six spread across hundreds of years), which was supposed to convey the connected nature of the seemingly separate stories. However, because their casting was done haphazardly and did not correspond to the actual characters that they should have been portraying based on the subtle connected nature of the stories themselves, one of the central themes of the book is diluted and made nonsensical in a vague and unconvincing manner. This is my main gripe with this interpretation, and although I did like seeing scenes from the book making the jump to the big screen, the flawed nature of its central conceit in this version prevented me from truly enjoying it. If you haven't read the novel, I wonder what, if anything you would even take away from the film as it stands. I suspect it would be pretty far from what the author intended with it in the first place.

5 years ago
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thanks a ton cause...

If you haven't read the novel, I wonder what, if anything you would even take away from the film as it stands

Cloud Atlas will be my very next one, then

5 years ago
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Excellent choice. You're in for one hell of a ride!

5 years ago
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aaalways been ready for that!

(you can also see some side effects, thou...)

5 years ago
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am at 34:00 of this ride. i keep repeating, like a mantra: "this is so much for me"

meanwhile, thanks. i'll come back.

View attached image.
5 years ago
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Oh, I thought you meant you were going to read the novel. The film is definitely interesting, though. Probably worth a watch, even if it can't live up to the book.

5 years ago
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watched 34 minutes in 3 days, engine. and when it comes to books, i'm even -a lot- slower than that. now, can't imagine the length of that novel if movie is 2 hours and a half long...

please have some mercy, engine...

(it won't surely live up to the book, but i usually enjoy it nevertheless. say, i don't like the make-ups in this one, but taking it slow it kinda gives me the time to imagine the story/novel behind it)

5 years ago
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Sure, take your time to take it all in and enjoy the sights! (The novel is like 600 dense pages, but so worth it :)

5 years ago
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failed to finish this one, engine

imo, gets boring fast, especially on the "weird language" used part. didn't read a word of its novel but i'd guess is just one of those books you shouldn't try making movie adaptation

btw and anyway, i was here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NMmgKPiAhw ... so, still <3

5 years ago
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In the Mood for Love - now that is a true masterpiece. Absolutely essential cinema. I wonder if you have seen it?

5 years ago
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no, like... not yet.
also cause, yesterday, was truly thinking wth engine cut the initial silence from that huge video... :P

5 years ago
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Shape of Water was a fantastic movie. Good choice.

5 years ago
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I find that submarine movies are always better when they're actually about something, like the terminal cold war politics of Hunt for Red October, or even the post cold war angst of Crimson Tide, or my favorite, Das Boot, which is so good it not only exemplifies that niche category, but manages to transcend it as well.

5 years ago
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True that. I really should stop putting off Das Boot and give it the watch that it deserves some time.

5 years ago*
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The Girl in the Spider's Web 6/10

5 years ago
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Upgrade. 5/10, bad acting.

5 years ago
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like... very bad.
still, gorgeous photography. even stunning, at times

5 years ago
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Casablanca(1942), 9/10

A kiss is still a kiss in Casablanca
A kiss is not a kiss without your sigh
Please don’t leave me in Casablanca
I love you more and more each day as time goes by

5 years ago
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Anna and the Apocalypse.

Heard about this title last year, Finally got to see it. Not too bad. And not what I was expecting.

Think Shaun of the Dead meets High School Musical.

5 years ago
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The Border (S01) πŸ‘

Robin Hood πŸ‘Ž

5 years ago
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Feel the same about Robin Hood. I liked the 2010 version more with Russel Crowe.

5 years ago
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Same here - 2010 version with Russel Crowe is great. I also have great enthusiasm for the version with Kevin Costner.

I also saw you have a very nice SG profile, so have a πŸ’™. :) See you around!

5 years ago
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how to train your dragon 3
It was really good and fun to watch.

5 years ago
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London Fields (2018). Why did I watch this until the end? Oh yeah, Amber Heard.

5 years ago
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I just watched The Vice. which is about the vp Dick Cheney. Very well done movie, I really liked it.

5 years ago
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Night Train to Munich. Top notch British thriller about espionage on the eve of WW2.

5 years ago
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Battle Angel Alita. Great movie, it was amazing in imax 3d

5 years ago
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If Beale Street Could Talk

5 years ago
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Day of the Dead: Bloodline
this is either the longest build up to a porn sequence, or a cleverly disguised satire on studio obsession with keeping licenses to dead franchises by making the title itself the real rotting corpse. It keeps getting up because shots to the foot cant kill it.
it is indeed a bold remake, so much so that its closer to 28 Days than it is to Romero.
they could watch the original and steal as much as they needed. Take a look at the zombies, feel the atmosphere, the social commentary, hell you can even use the same names. Than again, there wasn't even time to come up with a subtitle. "Bloodline" is just the equivalent "Alan Smithee" for embarrassed titles
1/10
Red Sparrow
well, this is something that exists. And of all people to make an erotic thriller, it had to be the director of the Hunger games.
As a thriller, yeah it's fine enough, i'm more concerned about the similarities with Salon Kitty. well, i will at least clap at his attempt to over sexualize a story where women offer their body to the state and turn into prostitutes just to steal information from villainous people. Classy
5/10

Overlord
wow, is it uninspired ! Overlord is just filled with war movie cliches. The gore scenes are creative, but the cgi was surprisingly cheap
3/10

Creed 2/ Rocky 8
It could just grab subplots and cliches from the franchise and i would consider myself happy. But it did more than that, it grabbed the silliest entry in the series and fortified it. And i love Rocky 4, but Creed 2 fixes some of the stupidity that came out of one of the most memorable stuff in rocky. Creed had already given it all for a character who died in such a tonally inconsistent rocky 4. but now we are given a better developed Drago. And if the reason was that Dolph wasn't an actor and didn't speak fluent english. this just shows that he never had to. His character was just ridiculously one dimensional until now.
9/10

5 years ago
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Overlord was just chock full of silly stuff, not least of which the idea of dropping green troops at the eleventh hour to take out the purportedly single most vital pre D-Day target. Aside from being extraordinarily meh, even going in with low expectations, its only other claim to fame is the disservice it does to its far superior and truly disturbing predecessor/namesake.

5 years ago
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Overlord πŸ‘

5 years ago
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How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World - πŸ‘πŸ½πŸ‘πŸ½πŸ‘πŸ½πŸ‘πŸ½πŸ‘πŸ½ Perfect ending to a great trilogy.

5 years ago
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Deleted

This comment was deleted 10 months ago.

5 years ago
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Deep Blue Sea πŸ‘

Mayans M.C. (S01) πŸ‘

5 years ago
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Ninja πŸ‘

5 years ago
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Captain Marvel
The hype for this one seems to be quite sizable, so it's not really surprising that it couldn't quite live up to it. This film is spinning many plates at once, working as origin story, tie-in to the larger established Marvel universe, as well as setting the stage for Avengers: Endgame, and I'm not sure it managed to quite pull it off. We are (re-)introduced to a few familiar faces from previous outings, and the way the story is set up with some characters that featured in Guardians of the Galaxy offers some clues as to how the tale will twist and turn. The filmmakers had some fun with the 90's throwbacks, what with all the music and all, but unfortunately it just seemed so forced at times. One pivotal action sequence that started with the dramatic orchestral score but switched gears mid-scene to a 90's hit (I don't even recall what), the likes of which has become a staple in Marvel films at this point, just failed to work - unlike, say, the brilliant climatic fight sequence set to Led Zeppelin in Thor: Ragnarok.
It was refreshing to see Ben Mendelsohn playing a villain somewhat against type, but Samuel L. Jackson's portrayal of Nick Fury's origins didn't really hit the mark for me. His attempts at humour were part of a larger pattern of failed jokes in this film that didn't really resonate. (With a few notable exceptions, one involving an oblivious next door neighbour, and one hilarious scene with a Windows 95 progress bar). Of course, Captain Marvel will return in Avengers: Endgame, but we already knew that going in - I would have liked to have seen more of why and how than the mere scraps we are thrown here. Zooming out and looking at the entire canvas of the sprawling MCU, Captain Marvel is a film that can be ultimately skipped, which is a bit of shame as it has so much riding on it. (Remember that this is Marvel's first superhero film with a female protagonist, having been beaten to the punch by DC's Wonderwoman). Brie Larson is great in the titular role though, so here's to hoping to a stronger showing from this character in the future.

5 years ago*
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i'm surprised i enjoyed overlord, it's really well done and it has the right amount of story and action.

View attached image.
5 years ago
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SuperBob with Brett Goldstein. a man that looks like a simple man, irl too. (just rewatched)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3055402/

5 years ago
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A Walk Among the Tombstones
I enjoyed all but the final third somewhat. It wasn't bad at the end either, just not inspired or captivating. 6/10

Sanjuro
Nice Japanese samurai movie from the 60s and a very unusual one for Kurosawa. Good fun but not as great as his other movies. 7/10

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
One of my John le CarrΓ© favorites. And such a brilliant cast. 8/10

Resolution
Some very unusual indie horror movie, with not too much in common with most movies of the genre. 7/10

Terminal
Ugh. Why? 3/10

5 years ago
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The description of Resolution reads like a sub-plot from another movie I watched, and I recognized the house in the trailer. The Endless is written and directed by the same people, and elements from Resolution appear in it. They also made Spring. Both of them are unusual as well, and worth the watch. Thanks for posting about Resolution; I mistakenly thought Spring was their first film.

4 years ago
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