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I felt like watching something mindless the other day, so I turned on Netflix and chose 47 Metres Down. I'm going to be honest, I expected a load of garbage but it wasn't actually that bad. Okay, it wasn't an award winner and for someone who isn't super afraid of water and fish it probably wouldn't be good at all, but for someone who fears both of those things, it made for a tense film. When their winch broke and the cage started falling to the bottom of the ocean, I held my breath and actually felt physically sick thinking about that happening to me. I disliked the end because it didn't really seem to have much of a conclusion by way of the characters reflecting on what had happened, but meh. Decent film for a person frightened of water, for sure.

7/10
 
I, Tonya

I enjoyed this, mostly because I'm old enough to remember when it all happened and found it all very interesting at the time. It's very one-sided and paints Tonya Harding as a bit of a victim, which is probably less than accurate. Margot Robbie was very good, but not "Oscar" good to be honest. Alison Janney was fab, but she always is.

Lady Bird

Had no idea about this one and almost didn't bother, but it was excellent. I didn't know what I was expecting from it, but it was very funny without being an all-out comedy, just a very well-written, witty script even though not much actually happens. Saoirse Ronan was fantastic - totally Oscar-worthy, but Francis McDormand is clearly getting that one this year. Laurie Metcalf was excellent as well; such an underrated actress.
 
The Post - I love the cast but this seriously felt like a TV movie and not a big serious Speilberg production. It was good but a bit tedious in places.

Maze Runner: The Death Cure - I really liked the first one, second was boring so I went into this with fairly low expectations. I thoroughly enjoyed it, the action sequences were really well made and the visual effects throughout were amazing. There were some predictable moments dotted throughout and the story dragged occasionally but I was very entertained overall.


A Futile and stupid gesture - on Netflix, I was looking forward to this one. I like some of the director's previous work and I was intrigued to learn about the early days of National Lampoon. The cast list is insane, it took me about 10-15 mins to realise it was Domhnall Gleeson in one of the main roles. Unfortunately a lot of the Lampoon peeps were mere cameo sized roles and so you expect the film to make good use of these funny people and instead they just disappear. The film is really well made and nicely shot but I found it a little boring, there were certainly some good to great moments but I won't be in a rush to watch it again.
 
I went and saw Black Panther today for something I didn't have no expectations for I came out of that cinema and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's by far one of those Marvel films that anyone can see and the characters are likeable and amazing. It is now my third favourite MCU film can't wait for Infinity War now.
 
Yeah I also saw Black Panther yesterday. I saw it in IMAX 3D, I don't recommend, the 3D roto is atrocious which is just amplified and distracting in IMAX.

However, the film is fantastic. The score is really great, it looks incredible (aside from some slightly rushed vfx here and there) and the cast are just amazing. It was really funny in some scenes which I wasn't expecting? (despite it being a Marvel flick) Some of the action shots were a bit ropey but overall the action scenes were intense and exciting. The World building of Wakanda and the different tribes was excellent and the way the back story was told was neat.

Random side note, Black panther's father has a fake eye, it was distracting.
 
Watched The Ritual on Netflix, which seemed like a bit of a mix between Blair Witch and The Witch. The first hour and a bit was reallllly good and I found myself genuinely frightened because the woods are just such a vulnerable place. Not sure how I felt about the ending once they showed the "thing," but overall it was an effective psychological thriller/horror movie with a really good creep factor.

7.5
 
Black Panther - Yeah very good. Could have done more with the premise/message perhaps, but maybe it was better to be slightly more subtle (not that it's subtle) rather than be too preachy. Suffered from the same issue as every Marvel film in that the last 40 minutes is just one huge fight sequence which gets very tedious. Up there with the better Marvel films though.

Ingrid Goes West - Hadn't heard of it, but it was decent enough. Less comedy than I was expecting based on the description, but had its moments. Trying a bit too hard to be "current" and satirical.

The Florida Project - Excellent film, but very depressing. Definitely not a big-budget blockbuster kind of thing, but very well-made with excellent performances all round. Not a pleasant watch by any means.

Happy Death Day - I kind of liked this. It's all very silly but quite enjoyable.

Dunkirk - Yawn. I'm not a fan of war films in general, and this offered f**k all new. Bunch of young men get shot at for two hours. Obviously it's all very "important" because it's based on real events, but that doesn't mean it should automatically be heralded as some amazing piece of cinema.

Geostorm - Jesus Christ it's terrible. Every cliché end-of-the-world film trope is in there. Stupid story, horrendous dialogue, terrible acting. This has to go down as one of the worst films ever made, and not even in a "It's so bad it's good" way. It's just f**king garbage.
 
@gavin - you watch quite a lot of films, yeah? Forgive my ignorance, but when you go to the cinema in China, what language are Western movies shown in? Is it English with subtitles, or are they dubbed? Or do you get the option of both?
Just curious how a local lad like yourself gets by in these situations. I mean, for all I know you could be so fluent in Mandarin Chinese that it doesn't matter either way. I have no clue. Which is why I'm asking, I guess... o_O
 
Howie said:
@gavin - you watch quite a lot of films, yeah? Forgive my ignorance, but when you go to the cinema in China, what language are Western movies shown in? Is it English with subtitles, or are they dubbed? Or do you get the option of both?
Just curious how a local lad like yourself gets by in these situations. I mean, for all I know you could be so fluent in Mandarin Chinese that it doesn't matter either way. I have no clue. Which is why I'm asking, I guess... o_O
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China? How dare you; it's Hong Kong.

They're always in English with Chinese subtitles. With kids' films, there's usually a choice of English with Chinese subtitles or Cantonese dubbing. Just got to pick the right one. Local films have English subtitles. Films in any other language will have Chinese and English subtitles.

I watch a fair few yeah. Four of those from the last post were on a plane, but I've got a few cinemas within a 10-minute walk from my flat, so I'll go if I'm bored and just choose any old s**te.



Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk
 
gavin said:
China? How dare you; it's Hong Kong.
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Again, just goes to show you how little I know about the place. To me, the whole of Asia is one place and as you seem to be our only representative in the entire continent, if you wanna know something about Asia then you ask Gavin. Cos anywhere in Asia is just up the road from you, right?

gavin said:
Local films have English subtitles. Films in any other language will have Chinese and English subtitles.
Click to expand...

Quite surprising, that. I guess it makes sense in Hong Kong to a certain extent, but would I be right in assuming that mainland China doesn't cater for the English speaker quite as well as Hong Kong?

gavin said:
...so I'll go if I'm bored and just choose any old s**te.
Click to expand...

And yeah, you do watch an awful lot of s**te. ;)
 
The Shape of water - Lovely film, it's just fantastic to look at, the story is interesting and different and the cast is incredible. I loved the creature design and the sounds it made. The soundtrack and use of colours reminded me a bit of Amelie. Glad that this film is getting loads of attention at the award ceremonies.
 
Really enjoyed Black Panther. Not a favorite (That is still a toss up between Thor Ragnorak and Captain America Civil War for me), but definitely in the top tier of Marvel's Cinematic Universe.

Also a shout out to TV series, Mozart in the Jungle is back for it's 4th season, which has been very good. If you are a musician or have ever identified as a musician and haven't watched this series, you'll really enjoy it.
 
The best picture nominees I've seen ranked from fave to least fave (I'm watching the Post and Phantom Thread this week somewhere).

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Just a great, high quality film. It didn't blow me away completely, but it has great writing and acting. Not much to fault about this film, other than it not leaving a huge lasting impression on me. It was entertaining from start to finish. Funny, raw, intense and clever.

The Shape of Water
Beautiful film. Definitely not as good as Pan's Labyrinth, which is a masterpiece, but it was still a wonderful film. The plot didn't have enough to it to impress me, but the way it was made was very artsy and creative. There was a single musical-ish scene that felt out of place and corny though.

Get Out
The top 3 are all quite close to each other for me. I'm glad this was nominated because I loved it. Despite seeing it almost a year ago it stuck with me.

Dunkirk
Glad that I got to see it in IMAX because as an experience it was very impressive and intense. I bet watching it on regular TV would make it quite dull. Especially somewhere in the middle I found my attention wandering off even in IMAX.

Lady Bird
Great dialogue, great acting (especially Saoirse Ronan) but I felt that the film was too fast paced with loads of short scenes that I never truly got into it. Still a very good film, but I'm a bit surprised it was nominated for best picture. It wasn't any better than last year's The Edge of Seventeen imo.

Darkest Hour
I had low expectations but it was better than I expected. The speeches were quite well done and Gary Oldman was excellent. Still not something that I'd really love.

Call Me By Your Name
Meh. I liked the first half due to its summery feel/setting, but the second half was so boring and it could do with being at least half an hour shorter. I didn't care for the characters all that much either. A well made, but ultimately very dull film.

Some other oscar nominated films I saw:

The Florida Project
I loved this film. Better than almost all of the best picture nominees (up there with the top 3). That child actress playing the girl was so impressive and the film stayed on my mind for the next few days. Quite a sad and impactful film. Willem Dafoe's character was fab.

Coco
Perhaps my fave American film of the year (it's between Coco and Baby Driver, I clearly love music-themed films it seems). Honestly brilliant. The world building and detail in the animation is the best I've ever seen in a Pixar film and even almost rivals Studio Ghibli. The music was beautiful and the whole story was quite emotional. It's honestly up there with Toy Story 3 and Monsters Inc as my fave Pixar film. Pixar has always been a bit hit/miss for me. Films like Up, Inside Out, Wall-E and Finding Nemo, while I really like some of them, all got so much praise that it left me a bit confused.

Coco will obviously deservedly win the oscar for best animated feature, but can I just say that the animated category is absolute horse sh*te? Boss Baby? Ferdinand? I bet they would even think of nominating the Emoji Movie before they consider a non-Ghibli Japanese anime film. Last year Your Name was snubbed despite it being far better than any of the animated films of that year. At least that year had solid competition though, in this year they had no excuse. Which leads me to perhaps my fave film of the year, animated or not.

A Silent Voice
What an incredible film. It deals with bullying, self-loathing, suicide, guilt and redemption in a really beautiful and believable way. It's heartfelt and relevant. Excellent animation, voice acting and overall it stayed with me a lot, especially since deafness is not something that's covered a lot in films from what I've seen. It even has an amazing scene in Nagashima Spa Land with loads of detail. Highly recommended. How the academy would pick Boss Baby over this one is something that I'll never understand.

Overall a pretty meh film year. I much preferred 2016.
 
Battle of the Sexes - Decent enough, and Emma Stone was less irritating than usual.

Home Again - Wasn't going to bother with this, but I really liked it. It's just a really "nice" film with a simple enough story but very likable characters.

The Post - I quit halfway through, which I NEVER do, since it was boring the tits off me.

Loving Vincent - Amazing to look at, but lacking in substance otherwise. I wouldn't be surprised to see it win the Animated Feature Oscar since that category is ALWAYS wrong, with people voting on the quality of the animation - and this is totally unique in that respect - and not the actual "feature" they should be voting for, which is clearly Coco.
 
Just watched Star Wars: The Phantom Menace over again for the first time in years.

Yeah, the story is dumb and poorly told, the acting may be a little stiff and the script isn't the best either, but its visuals are quite stunning and I like how colourful it is. The Last Jedi is a better film, all things considered, but I'd say the visuals and locations of Episode I are much more memorable. It features interesting new planets, interesting new vehicles, and as stylish as Snoke's golden bathrobe may be, it doesn't hold a candle to the crazy stuff Queen Amidala keeps getting wrapped up in. I recognise the flaws of Episode I, but it certainly has elements worth appreciating as well. Still a solid 2/3 for me.
 
Phantom Thread - What was that? Two hours of my life I won't get back. Great music, acting and filming but other than that it was completely pointless and boring.
 
ThomVD said:
Phantom Thread - What was that? Two hours of my life I won't get back. Great music, acting and filming but other than that it was completely pointless and boring.
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My thoughts exactly. Looks and sounds lovely, but f**k me it was dull.
 
^^But we all know it's not the worst Star Wars film ever made, don't we? ;)
 
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