I'm convinced like Dominic son is Eddy's kid.

Blacklight:

It’s another Liam Neeson action film so I wasn’t expecting much but wow this was dumb.

Mild spoilers incoming if you’re interesting in seeing this…


…..

They make a point about his character being paranoid, checking every exit point and being OCD in general. He counts the exits at his granddaughter’s birthday party..yet forgets to pick her up, leaving her unattended at school. Which I don’t know how it is the US but that would never happen and would be a headache for him to pick her up.

Also the director of the FBI has no security at his home so you can sneak up to him in his garden? Even Addison Rae has a bodyguard let alone THE DIRECTOR of the FBI (I know his henchmen were elsewhere, but he could have more).

Also Neeson meets the FBI director after he messes up with Dusty and the director is scolding him. Then a minute later he asks to retire…
And the director tells him no he can’t retire. Why not? He’s getting sloppy and would work in director’s favour to allow him to do so.



Also it’s just lazy in parts, at one point one of the characters is upset after witnessing a soccer game on screen and complaining he lost a few quid, HOWEVER the score shown is 0-0 and no one kicks a goal on the screen he is watching. Would have taken 10 seconds to find footage of someone kicking a goal in soccer :lol:

I normally don’t care about product placement but it was especially prevalent in this, like when Neeson opens his fridge and it’s nothing but front facing bud light bottles :lol:

There’s so many more examples that sandylea can probably remind me of but it’s a mess. Like if you want to make a big dumb action film that’s fine..but don’t state that your character is meticulous if they really aren’t, just have a guy that just shoots people or something

Though I did like

SPOILER: Click to show

the twist that his family doesn’t actually get kidnapped

The fiancée and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day early, as it made more sense to do it last night, then wait for Monday, plus we didn't have the kids so that helped with making that decision. Anyways, we decided to do dinner and a movie, that movie being Marry Me, it's not the type of movie I would normally go see, however, I surprisingly liked it quite a bit.

As an actress, I like J-Lo in rom-coms (Maid In Manhattan, Monster-in-Law, as well as The Back-up Plan were good movies), and with this film, she has the added benefit of playing a character she can relate to (a singer with multiple divorces, so basically her real life). Owen Wilson was decent enough in his role as well and I didn't mind the rest of the cast either.

I doubt it'll stay in my top ten for long, especially given some of the other movies scheduled to release this year. However, like I said its a decent enough rom-com and J-Lo once again delivers in this setting.

2022 Movie Rankings

SPOILER: Click to show

4. Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild
3. Hotel Transylvania: Transformania
2. Marry Me
1. Scream

Despite saying I don't fucks with films before my time I watched Dirty Harry.

Are the other films worth a visit or was this lightning in a bottle?

Predestination 

Has anyone seen this? Its an Australian movie from 2014 staring Ethan Hawke, about a time traveller trying to stop a terrorist attack in 1970s New York? It deals very heavily with the predestination paradox, see the spoilers below to full grasp the plot..

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
A young man (later revealed to be intersex) is taken back in time and tricked by his older self (Hawke) into impregnating his younger, female self (before he underwent sexual reassignment surgery); the older self turns out to be the offspring of that union, with the paradoxical result that he is his own mother and father. Hawke steals his baby self, placing it in an orphanage, leaving no family connection.

As the story unfolds, all the major characters are revealed to be the same person, at different stages of their life including the terrorist. 

Feb 14, 2022 20:46:01 GMT nath45.47 said:

Predestination 

Has anyone seen this? Its an Australian movie from 2014 staring Ethan Hawke, about a time traveller trying to stop a terrorist attack in 1970s New York? It deals very heavily with the predestination paradox, see the spoilers below to full grasp the plot..

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
A young man (later revealed to be intersex) is taken back in time and tricked by his older self (Hawke) into impregnating his younger, female self (before he underwent sexual reassignment surgery); the older self turns out to be the offspring of that union, with the paradoxical result that he is his own mother and father. Hawke steals his baby self, placing it in an orphanage, leaving no family connection.

As the story unfolds, all the major characters are revealed to be the same person, at different stages of their life including the terrorist. 

I saw this ages ago. It was incredibly memorable and I still often talk about it to this day. A very interesting super-twist. I hate it and think it was ridiculous, but it's worth seeing to witness the absurdity. The bartender, played by Hawke, looks like my friend Dave.

Death on the Nile

I saw this at the theater on Saturday. For some reason, I was not much interested in going to see it. It is Kenneth Branagh (director and lead role), who I love, and it is a sequel to his Murder on the Orient Express remake from 2017 that was pretty darn good. But I almost went to see Blacklight instead because Liam Neeson. Why? I don't know. I guess I was being stupid. Luckily, Blacklight scored an impressive 6% on Rotten Tomatoes, so I went with Death on the Nile instead.

At first, I was not too sure I had made the right choice. The movie starts out with some terrible pacing and awkward transitions between seemingly unrelated scenes, mixed in with a massive dose of blues music shoved down your throat in at least two or three different scenes. I cannot stand the blusey music, but this is a matter of personal taste. If you like blues music, this will make the movie even better for you!

The meat of the movie then hits and Branagh does Branaghy detective things with immense skill and badassery as THE WORLD'S GREATEST DETECTIVE - HERCULE POIROT. The actors are all wonderful and the film instantly starts to hook you as the personalities are revealed and the conspiracies are woven. I don't even like Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman, but she is a perfect match for her role in this as the rich and perfect, beautiful seductress. Emma Mackey actually steals the spotlight from her though easily and is absolutely breathtaking. Rose Leslie is also in this in a minor role. I thought she was quite pretty as Ygritte in Game of Thrones, but I barely even noticed her because of those other two.

Tom Bateman, Russell Brand, and Armie Hammer all deliver incredibly well with such convincing life-like performances that each character has a unique charm about them and it really pulls you into the story.

The shots are also beautiful, capturing the majesty of the Nile, and the mystery plot is so well done that I didn't even expect the ending when it happened. I ended up loving this movie by then. I definitely recommend it. Much better than Dark Phoenix.

Feb 15, 2022 6:19:30 GMT Lionheart said:

Much better than Dark Phoenix.

Loved the review up to this part. No need for such incendiary hyperbole.

Palm Springs

Great stuff.

UT, Big Pete, mikec

Popstar meets Bigsby Bear meets Groundhog Day

With a perfect dash of Destination Wedding

Feb 16, 2022 3:27:26 GMT 🤯 said:

Palm Springs

Great stuff.

UT , Big Pete , mikec

Popstar meets Bigsby Bear meets Groundhog Day

With a perfect dash of Destination Wedding

My parents live in Palm Springs.

Feb 16, 2022 3:52:35 GMT Lionheart said:

Feb 16, 2022 3:27:26 GMT 🤯 said:

Palm Springs

Great stuff.

UT , Big Pete , mikec

Popstar meets Bigsby Bear meets Groundhog Day

With a perfect dash of Destination Wedding

My parents live in Palm Springs.

You're not British!?!?

Went in for a little Nic at Night.

Mandy: This was a solid movie, I'd heard a decent amount of hype when it dropped, didn't quite live up to that, but enjoyable enough. Pretty slow start then lets him go full Nic Cage at the end. Way better than Prisoners of the Ghostland, not as entertaining as Willy's Wonderland.

Pig: Glad I saved this for second, Cage, as ever, is at his true best when he's holding back a bit. Terrific performance. Pretty straight forward film about a man on a journey to save his stolen pig, but just well crafted start to finish. His best movie in a long long while.

Uncharted:

I’ve played about an hour of the games so sandylea can give you a much better comparison to the games than I can, but I enjoyed.

Pretty much what I was expecting it to be, nothing revolutionary but it was a fun adventure film, Mark Wahlberg and Tom Holland had good chemistry and the scenic shots were amazing. Villain was bland af but that is the case in almost all movies like this.

SPOILER: Click to show

Nolan North cameo was cool too

System as someone whose never played an Umcharted game before, I always just assumed it was like the Tomb Raider games. Basically I'm expecting the Uncharted movie to be simiar to the Tomb Raider movies, is that accurate or no?

Feb 17, 2022 16:55:12 GMT Lony said:

System as someone whose never played an Umcharted game before, I always just assumed it was like the Tomb Raider games. Basically I'm expecting the Uncharted movie to be simiar to the Tomb Raider movies, is that accurate or no?

No Lara Croft equals automatic downgrade.

Feb 17, 2022 16:55:12 GMT Lony said:

System as someone whose never played an Umcharted game before, I always just assumed it was like the Tomb Raider games. Basically I'm expecting the Uncharted movie to be simiar to the Tomb Raider movies, is that accurate or no?

Not accurate.
There is some similarities, but Nathan Drake is a clumsy/hopeless man. Who is the absolute best. He seems to just stubble across most things, where Lara is just an expert on everything.
I love both, but Lara is generally seen as uptight, doesn’t trust anyone, rather work alone, is the best at absolutely everything, always seems to win and end up with the treasure.

Nathan Drake is too carefree at the best of times, trusts absolutely everyone even when he definitely shouldn’t, is always treated like he would put gold above everything but everything single time he sacrifices the gold to save those who he is with, even attempts to save the villains on the occasion. He is super witty and the dialogue is always fun. The relationship between Nate and Sully is the best ever. I was worried the movie wouldn’t represent it well but it did so so so well.

I could go on and on. The uncharted franchise is amazing and I adore every single thing about it. The movie did a brilliant job, but it had better story and character development than any Lara Croft/Tomb Raider movie ever has.

I should point out, I do love them both. I have massive tattoos of Nathan Drake and Lara Croft on my back, but Uncharted all the way.

UNCHARTED

I am a HUGE fan of the games and I was very excited to see it but also really worried I was gonna hate it/it would be a let down.
I kind of went in expecting a good action flick but not a good adaption of the games. Boyyy did they prove me wrong.
It was amazing. I LOVED IT SO MUCH.

They did such a brilliant job at adapting it as best they could while doing their own thing. They mixed a few of the games up to create this, which I know a few people may get put off by it but I honestly believe it was the best decision for multiple reasons eg. Showing Sam now rather than waiting until the end like the video games.

I was worried Tom Holland was going to be wrong for an adult Nathan Drake, but this is how Nate found his footing and became mates with Sully and he did such a brilliant job. Also Tom Holland is FIT af, and can do the natural climbing/jumping/fighting that Nathan does all through the games so it was actually perfect casting, plus he suits the outfit incredible well.

Mark Wahlberg I’ve always been a huge fan of, but I’ve as worried he wouldn’t be a good Sully as Sully has always seemed a lot older to me, but again this is them meeting so it was incredibly well done showing how he did develop as a character from meeting Nate.

Both were just really fantastic, and had wonderful chemistry.
I wasn’t immediately won over by Sophia Ali with Chloe, but that’s also how I felt about Chloe when she was introduced in the games. Eventually she won me over and my love/hate relationship with the character continues. I’m glad they introduced her first rather than jumping straight to Elena.

Speaking of, this movie needs to be successful so I can get my sequels and have Elena introduced! I adore them in the games and I want it on the big screen!

The villains while may seem like they needed a bit more work, they are exactly how the game shows the villains and they portrayed perfectly. I love Tati Gabrielle and Antonio Banderas and they both did an excellent job.

Can’t wait to take my Dad to see it this weekend!
Please go and see this movie and love it!!!

Feb 17, 2022 16:55:12 GMT Lony said:

System as someone whose never played an Umcharted game before, I always just assumed it was like the Tomb Raider games. Basically I'm expecting the Uncharted movie to be simiar to the Tomb Raider movies, is that accurate or no?

Also PLAY THE GAMES. Please and thank you.

sandylea got that Lara Croft boner for Nathan Drake like System does for Nia Jax

Feb 18, 2022 3:59:28 GMT 🤯 said:

sandylea got that Lara Croft boner for Nathan Drake like System does for Nia Jax

Nathan Drake deserves all the boners unlike Nia Jax though haha

Atlantis: The Lost Empire - Disney, 2001

Much like the titular city is seemingly lost forever, this movie is one of those lost movies among Disney's celebrated animated movies. After the end credits rolled, I wondered why nobody talks about it, because I really enjoyed the experience.

Perhaps the reason is that it sacrifices their trademark gut-punch storytelling and deep character development for a more straightforward adventure quest. It's a really good adventure quest, in particular the animation is absolutely breathtaking, some of the scenic shots of Atlantis and the strange subterranean world in which it is located. They clearly invested a lot of resource in making the scenic animation as good as possible, at the expense of the character animation. The human bodies look kinda scrawny, blocky, like an early Playstation game. The facial expressions on some of the characters aren't the best either.

Granted, the story isn't especially sophisticated and most of the side characters are one-dimensional, and the love story isn't particularly well-developed. Uhmmm. I'm really arguing against my own point aren't I?

What I'm trying to say is that it's not perfect, it has its flaws, but it's far from terrible, and deserves more recognition than being the forgotten Disney film. They have done far worse.

Atlantis succeeds tremendously in capturing that childlike sense of wonder, adventure, and the discovery of something truly amazing better than almost any other animated film I've seen. The plot, while basic, is still pretty compelling. Yes, the villain and his motivations are generic, but the execution is great, he really is a piece of garbage who deserves his comeuppance. Considering this is a family film, it doesn't have to be super deep, and it succeeds far more than it fails.

Anyone else seen Atlantis? I'm curious to hear other perspectives.

Feb 13, 2022 13:45:09 GMT Lony said:

The fiancée and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day early, as it made more sense to do it last night, then wait for Monday, plus we didn't have the kids so that helped with making that decision. Anyways, we decided to do dinner and a movie, that movie being Marry Me, it's not the type of movie I would normally go see, however, I surprisingly liked it quite a bit.

As an actress, I like J-Lo in rom-coms (Maid In Manhattan, Monster-in-Law, as well as The Back-up Plan were good movies), and with this film, she has the added benefit of playing a character she can relate to (a singer with multiple divorces, so basically her real life). Owen Wilson was decent enough in his role as well and I didn't mind the rest of the cast either.

I doubt it'll stay in my top ten for long, especially given some of the other movies scheduled to release this year. However, like I said its a decent enough rom-com and J-Lo once again delivers in this setting.

J-Lo is actually on a great run at the moment, I've really enjoyed all of her last three movies. Probably my only major issue with Marry Me was that Michelle Buteau (who I love) was criminally underused.

Feb 20, 2022 22:24:31 GMT Emperor said:

Atlantis: The Lost Empire - Disney, 2001

Much like the titular city is seemingly lost forever, this movie is one of those lost movies among Disney's celebrated animated movies. After the end credits rolled, I wondered why nobody talks about it, because I really enjoyed the experience.

Perhaps the reason is that it sacrifices their trademark gut-punch storytelling and deep character development for a more straightforward adventure quest. It's a really good adventure quest, in particular the animation is absolutely breathtaking, some of the scenic shots of Atlantis and the strange subterranean world in which it is located. They clearly invested a lot of resource in making the scenic animation as good as possible, at the expense of the character animation. The human bodies look kinda scrawny, blocky, like an early Playstation game. The facial expressions on some of the characters aren't the best either.

Granted, the story isn't especially sophisticated and most of the side characters are one-dimensional, and the love story isn't particularly well-developed. Uhmmm. I'm really arguing against my own point aren't I?

What I'm trying to say is that it's not perfect, it has its flaws, but it's far from terrible, and deserves more recognition than being the forgotten Disney film. They have done far worse.

Atlantis succeeds tremendously in capturing that childlike sense of wonder, adventure, and the discovery of something truly amazing better than almost any other animated film I've seen. The plot, while basic, is still pretty compelling. Yes, the villain and his motivations are generic, but the execution is great, he really is a piece of garbage who deserves his comeuppance. Considering this is a family film, it doesn't have to be super deep, and it succeeds far more than it fails.

Anyone else seen Atlantis? I'm curious to hear other perspectives.

I'll give you the perspective of somebody who saw it in theatres and had a Happy Meal figurine of the movie (which may tell you how young I was)

Michael J Fox assembles a crew of stereotypes to visit Atlantis, a mythical metropolis filled with good looking foreign people. So basically Avatar or the Road To El Dorado except I remember the film having some balls for a Disney movie?

I remember enjoying it enough but it felt played out even by then. Both Pocahontas and Tarzan had very similar arcs...

...at least that's how I remember it.

Disney would go onto do worse and I could see arguments for Atlantis being better than some of the films that came before it. It certainly wasn't as big a flop as Treasure Planet or as low effort as Home On The Range.

The 355: I thought this was a pretty enjoyable spy flick with quite a bit of action. Both Jessica Chastain and Sebastian Stan were good in their roles and the rest of the cast did fine as well.

Fireheart: This was a pretty good family movie and my favorite animated film of the year so far. It's definitely worth checking out, if you've got kids and are looking for a new movie to watch.


2022 Movie Rankings

SPOILER: Click to show

6. Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild
5. Hotel Transylvania: Transformania
4. Marry Me
3. Fireheart
2. The 355
1. Scream

Feb 20, 2022 22:24:31 GMT Emperor said:

Atlantis: The Lost Empire - Disney, 2001

Much like the titular city is seemingly lost forever, this movie is one of those lost movies among Disney's celebrated animated movies. After the end credits rolled, I wondered why nobody talks about it, because I really enjoyed the experience.

Perhaps the reason is that it sacrifices their trademark gut-punch storytelling and deep character development for a more straightforward adventure quest. It's a really good adventure quest, in particular the animation is absolutely breathtaking, some of the scenic shots of Atlantis and the strange subterranean world in which it is located. They clearly invested a lot of resource in making the scenic animation as good as possible, at the expense of the character animation. The human bodies look kinda scrawny, blocky, like an early Playstation game. The facial expressions on some of the characters aren't the best either.

Granted, the story isn't especially sophisticated and most of the side characters are one-dimensional, and the love story isn't particularly well-developed. Uhmmm. I'm really arguing against my own point aren't I?

What I'm trying to say is that it's not perfect, it has its flaws, but it's far from terrible, and deserves more recognition than being the forgotten Disney film. They have done far worse.

Atlantis succeeds tremendously in capturing that childlike sense of wonder, adventure, and the discovery of something truly amazing better than almost any other animated film I've seen. The plot, while basic, is still pretty compelling. Yes, the villain and his motivations are generic, but the execution is great, he really is a piece of garbage who deserves his comeuppance. Considering this is a family film, it doesn't have to be super deep, and it succeeds far more than it fails.

Anyone else seen Atlantis? I'm curious to hear other perspectives.

I loved this film.  It doesn't get the accolades of the other Disney films which is a shame cause I think it has everything that makes a great Disney film: interesting story and characters, laughter and advneture.  It's still my daughter's second favorite Disney film right behind Little Mermaid.  

Tick, Tick... Boom!:

Brilliant and came off as an incredibly sad story to me, even if it wasn’t intending to at times. Definitely relatable as a 31yr with a side gig that’s going nowhere.



It also hits home about growing up now that Bradley Whitford looks old as fuck when I’d watch Billy Madison countless times as a kid when he looked a lot younger

Tick, Tick... Boom! was totally robbed at the Oscars, should have been up for best picture and Lin for best director.  

The Grey:

Fantastic, everyone makes fun of Americans for not knowing geography but I had no idea how huge Alaska actually is until a few years ago, thanks to its misleading size on the world map.

Only downside was that I

SPOILER: Click to show

Thought this was just Neeson by himself from the start from what I’ve heard so when it was a group it was obvious he was going to be last man standing.

Trying to watch the end credit scene on Binge was a nightmare

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:
I guess it works in making you feel like you’re on a bad trip because this made me feel uneasy to watch, similar to how some people felt after watching Cloverfield.

Had heard this was an acquired taste and it’s definitely not for mine.

I stopped watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas after like 30 minutes. Definitely not for me.

30 is a good cut off. By 31 if you're not in it... odds are it won't be worth it in the end. Not unlike life in a way.