It’s a terrible movie. Great poster though.

Watched Don’t Look Up and I guess I should start with “this movie was made for people who think like me.” If we don’t share general political views, I’m not sure how you’ll take it. For me, I’m not sure that it needed to be this long, but there was enough humor in it for me to have a good time watching it.

The new Scream was fine, if predictable (possible by design), still not as good as the first, the only great one for my money, and a toss-up with the second, but better than 4 and especially 3.

Death on the Nile:

I’m so over not being able to understand what characters are saying, closed captions device coming for me soon. So many different accents in the movie and low & fast talking.




Other than that I enjoyed for the most part however considering how modern movies are

SPOILER: Click to show

I thought to myself “the killer is a white male” and I was right (for one of them) which killed a lot of suspense for it.

It’s like an argument my lefty sister got in with her professor at uni, they were saying Muslims should only be portrayed as heroes in fiction if they are to be represented.

My sister argued back that they should be shown in all lights, sometimes the villain etc but teacher wouldn’t have a word of it.

Watched Coda last night. It’s not a surprising movie, it has its coming of age structure and doesn’t veer far from it. But it’s a new spin with the deaf family and the cast is really good so I enjoyed it probably more than either of the other two best picture noms I’ve seen, but it doesn’t really feel worthy of beat picture.

So far for power ranking the Oscar picks I’d have Don’t Look Up over Coda over King Richard. Next weekend I’m going to try to watch Wedt Side Story and maybe Power of the Dog.

I really did not care much for Power of the Dog. I’ve never been much for this setting or pace, so I suppose it isn’t surprising that I didn’t enjoy it. The end was surprising, but in a way that wasn’t particularly impactful.

Anyway, least favorite of the Oscar nominees I’ve seen now.

I've only managed to see what's available on Netflix and Disney in regards to Oscar films this year. I haven't really been blown away by any of them.

I enjoyed CODA probably more than any of the others, it was pulled along by a funny cast, particularly the dad, and was a solid concept with a new angle that I've ultimately seen play out a million times before.

The Power of the Dog was a strange one. It felt far too shiny and neat to deal with the subject it was dealing with. It was a good looking movie, but I came out of it feeling like I'd just listened to a folk song. Not near visceral enough.

Don't Look Up has no business being a best picture nomination but people are overcompensating in their criticism. It isn't a bad movie, just an average one, a somewhat lazy comedy with the subtlety of a shovel, but it does make you laugh.

I got 20 minutes in to Tick Tick Boom before something came up last night, on first impressions it looks very good and more interesting than anything I've seen so far. I'm going to watch Dune this week too, I doubt I'll love it. Might see Belfast in the theater if I can be arsed. To be honest, the film that most left a mark on me this year was the Lost Daughter. I don't know if I would say it was a great film per se, but I think it set out what it wanted to achieve. It's a very harsh, hard-on-the-eyes look at maternal guilt.

Red Rocket (Sean Baker; 2021)

This is Baker's follow-up to the Florida Project which I really enjoyed and it's a very similar style of movie. Red Rocket is about Mike Saber, a pornstar who has to move back to Texas City for reasons that remain unclear and it's about his attempt at getting back on his feet while he lives with his estranged wife and her mother. I've never seen any of the Scream sequels, so I'd never seen Simon Rex but he played a wonderful sleazeball in this. It's the perfect casting where he'll do whatever he can to earn an opportunity, but there's an insincerity behind everything he says. He's somebody who hasn't quite matured and still acts like an early 20s something despite being in his 40s.

It's one of those movies that's set up as a redemption story, but there's constant side-tracks or hard lefts that the character has to deal with.

I found myself really enjoying it. I think Texas was the perfect choice, because a character like Mikey Sabre one way or another is going to get found out in the harsh environment. While the down-trodden nature of Texas plays a big part in the movie, I like that Baker can still find some really unique places to shoot to make the city look more inviting. These are the type of players the characters would want to hang out to escape that life.

Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance; 2010)

I decided to revisit this since it's been a minute. When I watched it on release, I remember being confused with the narration of the film. We know from the start that the marriage is on the rocks and Gosling's character is not doing well so the tragedy that their marriage is irreconcilable didn't feel as impactful. I wanted to love these characters, but as a movie-goer I felt like I had to keep my expectations in check.

Returning to it now, I see the movie is more from Michelle Williams' perspective. This is the way things are, but these memories that pop up through out are the reasons why she's stuck with it for so long despite them growing apart. That's the tragedy because Gosling isn't an awful father and he clearly loves her, but they never really got the chance to really know one another before they rushed into the marriage. There's so many factors and things for Michelle's character to feel guilty about and feel like she owes Gosling's character her love but ultimately Gosling isn't willing to take the steps to be the partner she needs and she can't put up with that facade.

I think the way it was presented really does a great job of putting you in her shoes and the conflict.

Also love the musical choices in the film. Grizzly Bear did the score coming off of Vecktamist which was one of my favourite albums of 2009 and some of the musical choices were great. You and Me by Penny and the Quaters and Gosling's cover of You Always Hurt The Ones You Love which is probably the best scene of the movie.

I still need to check out The Sound Of Metal, which Cianfrance wrote. Cianfrance is collaberating with Gosling again for the next Blumhouse movie, Wolfman, so I'm actually keen to check that out.

Malcolm X:

Surprised it held my attention it’s huge 3hr 17min runtime, I’d only seen a clip of the film as a kid where Malcolm is learning the teachings of Islam in prison & had always been interested to watch it. Denzel Washington was absolutely brilliant in this. It got really cheesy toward the end is my only criticism, but seemed like a good bio pic to me although I only had a basic knowledge of his life beforehand

The Batman:
Really good for the most part, another movie that justified its run time.

Death on the Nile - pretty average flick. Very predictable. Honestly hard to tell what characters are saying sometimes? Though at least was way more entertaining than Murder on the Orient Express.

Tick Tick Boom - Fantastic movie! Andrew Garfield was outstanding. Absolutely loved him in the movie and he deserves all of the awards. Such a depressing ending though as I never knew the guys real life shirt before watching the movie.

The Batman - loved it! Robert, Zoe, Paul, Colin, and Andy were all fantastic! The story justified the runtime and I can’t wait to watch it again.

My Sister’s Keeper - rewatch. I have watched this film multiple times and each time it brings the tears, but most importantly - each time I am super super grateful they changed the ending of the movie from the ending in the book. The book ending is terrible imo and even more unnecessary/heartbreaking.

The King's Man - A decent enough movie, took me quite a while to click on to Rhys Ifans being Rasputin, I was convinced it was just Alice Cooper for some reason until the penny dropped. Some decent actions scenes, and Ralph Fiennes as Orlando Oxford was good. Also, I guess the sequel to this prequel will focus on WW2, as the post-credits scene had Hitler in it.


Trolls World Tour - Had to put something on to keep the Niece occupied for a while, and this was it....mind-numbing nonsense...but hey Ozzy Osbourne voices a Troll in this one.

Mar 5, 2022 19:50:16 GMT Jake said:

The King's Man - A decent enough movie, took me quite a while to click on to Rhys Ifans being Rasputin, I was convinced it was just Alice Cooper for some reason until the penny dropped. Some decent actions scenes, and Ralph Fiennes as Orlando Oxford was good. Also, I guess the sequel to this prequel will focus on WW2, as the post-credits scene had Hitler in it.


Trolls World Tour - Had to put something on to keep the Niece occupied for a while, and this was it....mind-numbing nonsense...but hey Ozzy Osbourne voices a Troll in this one.

I'm glad the series dropped the modern setting and that obnoxious cockney kid.

This was a good enough time-waster movie that has my interest on how they portray Hilter, in a some-what comedy/adventure setting.

Also an interesting choice using The Great War as a backdrop, as most younger audiences wouldn't have a clue, hence some reviews noting it was difficult to follow.

Mar 5, 2022 20:12:44 GMT nath45.47 said:

Mar 5, 2022 19:50:16 GMT Jake said:

The King's Man - A decent enough movie, took me quite a while to click on to Rhys Ifans being Rasputin, I was convinced it was just Alice Cooper for some reason until the penny dropped. Some decent actions scenes, and Ralph Fiennes as Orlando Oxford was good. Also, I guess the sequel to this prequel will focus on WW2, as the post-credits scene had Hitler in it.


Trolls World Tour - Had to put something on to keep the Niece occupied for a while, and this was it....mind-numbing nonsense...but hey Ozzy Osbourne voices a Troll in this one.

I'm glad the series dropped the modern setting and that obnoxious cockney kid.

This was a good enough time-waster movie that has my interest on how they portray Hilter, in a some-what comedy/adventure setting.

Also an interesting choice using The Great War as a backdrop, as most younger audiences wouldn't have a clue, hence some reviews noting it was difficult to follow.

I guess it needed a few more "Diyouknow what I mean bruv" and other London slang terms... Which I don't understand at times.


I liked it, even the shock of (and I can't do spoiler tags on mobile so..) that scene in the trench. (I hope you know which one I mean)

Mar 5, 2022 20:19:23 GMT Jake said:

Mar 5, 2022 20:12:44 GMT nath45.47 said:

I'm glad the series dropped the modern setting and that obnoxious cockney kid.

This was a good enough time-waster movie that has my interest on how they portray Hilter, in a some-what comedy/adventure setting.

Also an interesting choice using The Great War as a backdrop, as most younger audiences wouldn't have a clue, hence some reviews noting it was difficult to follow.

I guess it needed a few more "Diyouknow what I mean bruv" and other London slang terms... Which I don't understand at times.


I liked it, even the shock of (and I can't do spoiler tags on mobile so..) that scene in the trench. (I hope you know which one I mean)

Click, Boom.

If anything will motivate you to start a spy agency, it might be that.

I’ve been working my way back through the Lord of the Rings, this time with closed captioning which helps me appreciate all these fantasy epics when I’m not trying to decipher what they’re saying behind accents and long names. It’s obviously still good, shocking to see the cutting edge CGI feels a little dated so soon but then it’s not as recent as it feels I guess.

Watching some old Sandra Bullock movies last night and tonight. Watched Force of Nature (also starring Ben Affleck) cute movie. Simple storyline/rom-com, I’m still not a super fan of the ending considering what each character goes through during the movie but overall I liked it.

Murder by Numbers, starring a super young Ryan Gosling. It’s not the best movie in the world, but it’s pretty enjoyable regardless. The way the case unfolds is pretty great on first viewing. Not sure how well it holds up on multiple viewings.

And a new Netflix movie I watched was The Weekend Away - admittedly the acting was average at best, but the storyline was pretty decent. Had my second guessing what happened multiple times, and even when I thought I was right and had it all worked out it bamboozled me once more. Probably one of the best murder mystery films I’ve watched it awhile.

Finished Tick Tick Boom - really good. Andrew Garfield is at his best in this with a fully fleshed out performance. It’s hopeful, sad, funny. I think I would put it at number one for now. It is bizarre that it didn’t get a best picture nod, seems right up the Academy’s street. Maybe the music isn’t the best and that’s what caught with it but it’s about a lot more than the music. I recommend it.

Dune is just sitting there waiting for me to watch it but I just can’t be bothered. 😂

Yeah, I am utterly baffled why Tick Tick Boom did not get nominated. Crazy this was Lin-Manuel Miranda's directing debut.

Honestly, you have zero rush on Dune is it is the first half of the story and part two has not started filming yet. If you know the story, basically first film ends when Paul goes to the desert. It is pretty, but the first half does not really work well as its own story.

Old Henry: Nice down to basics focused western, takes place almost entirely in one location, and of the 6-7 named characters, most of the dialog happens with just 4 of them. Worth the watch just for Tim Blake Nelson in a leading role, really is his show start to finish.

Fresh: Pretty damn entertaining watch, even if you know the conclusion is inevitable once the pieces are in place, it’s great shlock.

Watched The Ice Road starring Liam Neeson and Laurence Fishburne.
I honestly don’t think I ever saw the trailer for this movie, but I pretty watch anything with Liam Neeson. I really don’t know why I expected it to be more about the trucks and the ice road than it was. I really should’ve known it was going to be typical action with a small story thrown in. It was enjoyable enough, but I was just expecting something ‘more’. 🤷🏻‍♀️

On another note. It blows my mind that this a real life job. It sounds terrifying af, and I am immensely impressed at the balls of steel these people have.

Mar 10, 2022 16:10:57 GMT sandylea said:

Watched The Ice Road starring Liam Neeson and Laurence Fishburne.
I honestly don’t think I ever saw the trailer for this movie, but I pretty watch anything with Liam Neeson. I really don’t know why I expected it to be more about the trucks and the ice road than it was. I really should’ve known it was going to be typical action with a small story thrown in. It was enjoyable enough, but I was just expecting something ‘more’. 🤷🏻‍♀️

On another note. It blows my mind that this a real life job. It sounds terrifying af, and I am immensely impressed at the balls of steel these people have.

There was a show on Discovery channel (I believe) called Ice Road Truckers.  It was surreal.  

The French Dispatch is exactly what you’d expect from a Wes Anderson film, just charming, visually striking, well told stories. Benicia Del Toro’s segment (this one is a series of short stories connected by the namesake newspaper) was my favorite, but all of them were good. Still not as good as Grand Budapest Hotel, and not sure I’d intentionally return to it, but well worth a single watch.

Turning Red
Great movie. Disney/Pixar nails another one. We watched it as a family last night and ate pizza. It was a really fun time. Not the funniest Pixar movie but still had its moments and was super pretty to look at. Lots of cool visuals.

Turning Red.

It was pretty solid , wouldn’t go as far to say it’s Pixar’s best but middle of the road. I enjoyed the themes more than anything but it was just too long and really dragged in parts.

My daughter loved it and that’s what counts. Though I’m not sure she exactly grasped the themes quite yet.

The Producers

Loved the musical, and watched the movie (well remake with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane), and I guess it holds up.

Turning Red - was super fun, relatable. Overall good film. Not the best Pixar has ever done, but I really enjoyed the movie and how the characters developed.

The Adam Project - was so good. A weird balance of sci-fi, action, comedy, romance, and way more sadness than I expected 😂made me cry a few times lol. Really loved it. The kid was something special for sure.

I ended up watching a few new movies over the last two weeks or so…

Dog: This was alright I guess, honestly I only went and saw it, cause The fiancée wanted to watch it. It’s not something I’d probably ever watch again, although it was cool seeing Kevin Nash in this.

Turning Red: This is a decent enough animated flick, though not one of Disney's/Pixar's better ones, at least as far as more recent releases go. The kids loved it more than I did though, as they've already seen it three times, over the past week.

The Batman: I really enjoyed this one, definitely my favorite of the three movies. Robert Pattinson was a lot better as Batman, then I was expecting when going into this. The film is almost three hours long, yet didn't feel like it at all, which is a good thing or it probably would have been a chore to watch.

2022 Movie Rankings

SPOILER: Click to show

9. Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild
8. Dog
7. Hotel Transylvania: Transformania
6. Marry Me
5. Turning Red
4. Fireheart
3. The 355
2. The Batman
1. Scream

Blackboard Jungle (Richard Brooks, 1955)

Blackboard Jungle is best known as the breakout role of Sidney Poitier, who passed away recently. He takes the main supporting role in a movie about a school teacher Richard Dadier, played by Glenn Ford, who gets a job at a school filled with teenage delinquents of various ethnic backgrounds. Other teachers at the same school are suffering, they have given up the effort to try and tame the lions, but Dadier is persistent.

It's a really gripping drama that takes a simple premise and powerfully explores many themes, such as bigotry, not taking anybody for granted, and demonstrating that the only way to truly win people's hearts is kindness, courage, and love.

The film was the first to cast adults as teenagers. Most of these actors are believable. Sidney Poitier is the actor who really does look like an adult, but his performance is enthralling; the topsy turvy relationship between him and Glenn Ford is the fulcrum on which the narrative rests. It also has a phenomenal closing sequence where the teacher faces the greatest challenge from his troublesome students.

The rock 'n' roll soundtrack reflects the rebellious nature of the film. In fact according to the Wikipedia article, it is this movie that made "Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets a massive hit and a symbol of rebellion in youth culture. Unfortunately the movie seems to have encouraged antisocial behaviour amongst teenagers.

Really effective drama and well worth a watch.

Mar 10, 2022 16:37:57 GMT iron maiden said:

Mar 10, 2022 16:10:57 GMT sandylea said:

Watched The Ice Road starring Liam Neeson and Laurence Fishburne.
I honestly don’t think I ever saw the trailer for this movie, but I pretty much watch anything with Liam Neeson. I really don’t know why I expected it to be more about the trucks and the ice road than it was. I really should’ve known it was going to be typical action with a small story thrown in. It was enjoyable enough, but I was just expecting something ‘more’. 🤷🏻‍♀️

On another note. It blows my mind that this is a real-life job. It sounds terrifying af, and I am immensely impressed at the balls of steel these people have.

There was a show on the Discovery channel (I believe) called Ice Road Truckers.  It was surreal.  

I use to enjoy Ice Road Tuckers but certain things made me question the legitimacy of the show.

My friend had like a weird breakdown in his early 20's and ran away to Alaska. He was part of an ice road truck team one season between fishing runs and said it was mostly really boring. You are stuck in the truck, basically drive extremely slow and spend your months just going over the million safety checks that need to be constantly done. Said it was great pay but extremely boring so he did not opt to do it a second time and just keep on the fishing boats instead.