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Saw a bunch of films on Saturday. Started with The Lego Movie 2: The second part. I love the first film, think it's awesome so was a little worried this wouldn't work as well. To a degree I was right, I think the overall meta joke loses its edge. However it is a very fun film with a couple of great songs and plenty of very subtle jokes littered everywhere (some are obviously not as subtle). So yeah, it is great but not quite as awesome as the first.

If Beale Street could talk - Didn't know a whole lot going in apart from it was adapted from a book and it was directed by the guy behind Moonlight (which I thought was great). The performances in this are fantastic and there are some excellent shots (there's a really nice long take when looking around a potential new apartment). The basic story is good but overall the way it is told and edited feels sluggish and boring.

All is true - Based on what Shakespeare did once he stopped writing I wasn't expecting a whole lot (and I only saw it to fill a gap in my day) but was pleasantly surprised. It's a very well made film that never lingers too long on a scene. There are some very nice picturesque shots throughout and the cast are great.

Boy Erased - Based on a true story of a pastor's son who comes out as gay and then put through conversion therapy. I liked it, helps expose a very horrible thing happening in the States.
 
How To Train Your Dragon 3: Having seen the first one but not the second, this one started out really confusing to me. The change in tone and style is incredibly large. It feels like the second movie must have shaken up quite a lot of things, and by the third movie an entirely new status quo has been established. I think I'd have enjoyed this one more if I had any clue what the second one was about.

...or maybe not. I mean, the movie is nice to look at, but the story is kind of meh. If not to say, outright dumb.
So the film opens with our heroes performing a commando raid against someone I presume were established as villains in the second movie. Wearing full dragon scale armour, riding dragons and generally bumbling about, they easily defeat the trained soldiers who have captured dragons aboard their wooden ships somehow. The captive dragons are freed and taken to our heroes' village, which seems to have undergone a pretty drastic densification, but not expanded much despite there being plenty of room around it. At least the villagers and the dragons coexist peacefully, even as they live practically on top of each other.

One night, a villain appears out of nowhere, apparently so dangerous he can sneak right into the middle of town and out again without anybody noticing. He's there to kill the poster dragon, apparently by way of shooting it with a crossbow ...firing syringe-like bolts, filled with a poison that lets him paralyse the dragon and capture it, so he can... kill it later? If you can get up close and shoot the dragon at point-blank range, with a weapon powerful enough to pierce its skin, why not just get the job over with there and then? Because of this needlessly convoluted approach, the villain fails to kill the poster dragon, but escapes flawlessly anyway. But his appearance scares the heroes so much they decide to abandon their village overnight, packing what little they can carry on their dragons and literally setting off into the sunset in search of a fabled dragon sanctuary at the end of the world. They're leaving behind all their buildings, their boats, the areas they have charted, their nicely tended forest, their fishing grounds (and presumably also fishing gear), in short, everything their society has worked to build over the past few generations. Luckily, they find a very nice island to settle down on when they camp for the first night. Apparently, a better place to live existed only a day's flight away this entire time, can't be more than a couple days by boat at the very most, considering how quickly the villainous fleet appears later. It's an island with lush green forests and waterfalls, and its coasts are all cliffs several hundred meters tall. A little inconvenient for a people mostly living off fishing, but they all fly on dragons so I suppose that's not a problem.

But evil is afoot, and it comes in the form of a gigantic fleet of wooden ships led by the villain. They're coming after the defenseless villagers, who are sat on their precipitous cliffs, only armed with a swarm of fire-breathing, flying dragons... wait, why are these villains a threat again? They're bringing knives to a gunfight here. Or more appropriately, wooden spears to fight the equivalent of a squadron of attack helicopters based inside an impenetrable fortress. The odds couldn't possibly be better for the heroes, there's no way this fleet can be a threat in any form.

So some cunning needs to be deployed. And the villain has exactly the right tool: A female, white poster dragon! It is released near the heroes' village so the poster dragon can fall in love with it, and then ... uhh ... phase two is never really explained, as the villain doesn't have any sort of control of the white dragon. I guess their developing romance is distracting the main hero a little, but it's never shown to be a useful tactic. The villain's plan seems to only consist of capturing the white dragon again to use it as a hostage to capture the poster dragon, but as he has shown enough cunning to capture the poster dragon on his own, I don't see how the white dragon needs to figure into this at all. Oh well, it gives us a funny mating dance scene.

Anyway, the villain appears again, coming in on his mind-controlled-dragon-copter to try to kill the poster dragon once again. Again, he goes for the shoot-it-with-a-paralysing-dart tactic, paralysing the animal he so desires to kill. Oh wait, it turns out that the poster dragon has the power to convince the rest of the dragons to come with him and let themselves be captured, and this is where the hostage tactic seems to come into play. A line earlier in the movie suggests the dragons would obey the villain's dragon if not for the poster dragon, so again I don't see why the villain won't just kill the poster dragon and usurp the position as top dragon instead of forcing it at harpoon-point.

One wingsuit rescue mission later (oh yeah, the heroes have developed wingsuits to go with their snazzy dragon armour, which fits pretty conveniently with the aforementioned cliffs) the dragons are freed, and they promptly burn down the entire villain fleet while the heroes throw out witty one-liners. Judging by the size of those ships, there must be at least a hundred sailors manning each, and the fleet had a hundred ships or more, and everyone was wearing armour... oh man, the heroes are burning and drowning around ten thousand people, and having a jolly good time about it too. Oh well, at least the crab catch in the area will be great for the next couple of fishing seasons.

The main villain gets his comeuppance in the form of good ol' gravity, as per animated movie convention. But his appearance apparently solidifies the idea that the world is not ready for dragons, so they need to go to that aforementioned dragon sanctuary ... which turns out to be a few hours' flight away. There is a mournful scene as the dragons all leave for this place easily reached within a day trip by boat (that's exactly what happens in the epilogue), and the words "you can come visit at any time if you want, it's just a quick trip" seem not to be uttered or thought by anybody. Instead, the villagers now live stranded on their cliff island, without fishing boats or convenient means of getting up or down, while their old, readily developed, conveniently located village still presumably lies only a few days away by boat. It's only been abandoned for a week or so at this point, it's not like going back is impossible. Oh, wait it is: Those cliffs make it impossible to launch boats beyond tiny craft, and the dragons leave forever. The dragons live happily in their sanctuary a few hours away, but never again come to visit the villagers who've learned to depend on them for their ways of life. Apparently, that one day trip in the epilogue (it involves many kids, of course) is the only contact the villagers and dragons ever had again. End of trilogy, exit to the right, remember to recycle your popcorn bucket.

At least the movie looks very nice, but the story was pretty weak in my eyes. Still not a bad movie overall, I'd give it a 2/3.
 
@Pokemaniac , Don't disagree with anything but I recommend you watch the 2nd film. In many ways, the 1st film is just the prequel to the series with the 2nd film (+ the numerous TV series) help build on the Human-Dragon relationship and does introduce many of the points you mention including:

  • Valka (Hiccups Mum) showing up.
  • Stoick's death
  • Hiccup Becoming Chief
  • Toothless becoming Alpha Dragon (Whole idea of Alphas also introduced in film)
  • First Appearance of Hiccups wingsuit.

It is also worth remembering that 2nd film is set 5 years after the 1st and 3rd is set a year after 2nd so there has been time for everything to settle in and become the island we see in the 3rd film.

Some indepth discussion in spoiler tags below (including some 2nd film spoilers):

Will agree on the whole leaving Berk issue though. It is a sudden "spur of the moment" decision by Hiccup and I wouldn't agree everyone needs to leave. Take the main riders + respective dragons but leave everyone else on Berk as a decoy for Grimmel. Once the Hidden World is found, perhaps return to fetch dragons and take them there. A similar issue appears in the Netflix series (Race To The Edge, RTTE) where they just abandon a whole built-up island for no reason. Since RTTE is set before the 2nd film, The Edge is basically only abandoned to allow series to end and all characters to return to Berk in time for the 2nd film. It is left completely intact but is never mentioned again. The 3rd film does include numerous nods to the TV show but annoys me that the Edge is never referenced again.

Distances are also never explicitly mentioned in the entire series either. I'd like to think the Hidden World is still a good distance away from New Berk but as you say, it does appear to appear as only a day trip away. Again, it's never mentioned exactly how far away Grimmel's Island is or the distance between Berk and New Berk (or any of the many other locations mentioned/shown during the series). Would love to know some of the distance and travel speeds in real terms but they're never mentioned.

The ending is also a tie-in to the way the source material book series ends and I believe is quoted near enough exactly in Hiccup's Closing speech. Not sure on actual timings but based off ages of Hiccups children, guessing epilogue is at least 5 years after events of film Distance issue aside, I do think it is a fantastic, fitting end to the series. Glad that it has ended on a (relative) high note and does leave me wanting more. Would always rather this scenario than them dragging the story out for too long. (Do want to see more of the Nightlight dragon babies though and perhaps some footage of the transition period between end of main film and epilogue)

Will agree the overall story for the film itself is pretty weak though and do agree with your points made.

Also, while I'm here, Although the films do acknowledge the TV series, both the 2nd and 3rd films manage to completely ignore the many other civilisations within the whole archipelago. It is established during the original TV series and RTTE, there are other Dragon friendly islands in that universe, most notably the Berserkers. Where are they during the films? Berserker Island is home to a Bewilderbeest dragon, the large Alphas shown during the 2nd film. In the run up and during the 2nd film, they surely should have been invaded by Drago while he was looking for his Bewilderbeest (implied during RTTE, never shown). They must have also got caught up during the Big Battle of the 2nd film. As All Dragons had to leave during the 3rd film, surely the Berserker dragons would have had to leave as well but again never implied. It's not that them and Berk wouldn't have been in contact either as both islands are allies. They surely would have helped as back up during the 3rd film. (With the islands being friendly, they surely would have been invited to the Wedding as well but no trace of them. Even just them being a background character as part of the crowd design would have satisfied me here.)
.

Sorry, that got a bit long and rambled on quite a bit, could be here all day if I wanted.... I am a massive fan of these films and even have Toothless tattooed on my arm! Of course, this means I will try and defend the films whenever I can.
 
Alita: Battle Angel
Not bad. Not bad at all. However, despite James Cameron and Co. bigging this up as the next evolution in filmmaking, there's really nothing new here, it's all very derivative stuff. Cherry picking its ideas from recent offerings such as Thor: Ragnarok, Ghost in the Shell, Ex Machina and Elysium through to older fare like I, Robot and Real Steel, and even all the way back to things like Rollerball and Frankenstein - we've seen this all before.
The good news is that none of that really matters, it all comes together nicely to make an enjoyable, if slightly predictable film. Great visuals, a good performance (as always) from Christoph Waltz, some thrilling action and plenty of director Robert Rodriguez' trademark ickiness. The real standout here though is Alita herself - she's beautiful, likeable and stunningly rendered, her super-expressive face appearing photorealistic in all but a handful of moments. Probably the hottest animated character since Jessica Rabbit.
A better storyline and a bit more originality could have turned this entertaining diversion into something quite special. 7/10.
 
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Alita: Battle Angel
Not bad. Not bad at all. However, despite James Cameron and Co. bigging this up as the next evolution in filmmaking, there's really nothing new here, it's all very derivative stuff. Cherry picking its ideas from recent offerings such as Thor: Ragnarok, Ghost in the Shell, Ex Machina and Elysium through to older fare like I, Robot and Real Steel, and even all the way back to things like Rollerball and Frankenstein - we've seen this all before.
The good news is that none of that really matters, it all comes together nicely to make an enjoyable, if slightly predictable film. Great visuals, a good performance (as always) from Christoph Waltz, some thrilling action and plenty of director Robert Rodriguez' trademark ickiness. The real standout here though is Alita herself - she's beautiful, likeable and stunningly rendered, her super-expressive face appearing photorealistic in all but a handful of moments. Probably the hottest animated character since Jessica Rabbit.
A better storyline and a bit more originality could have turned this entertaining diversion into something quite special. 7/10.
James Cameron stealing ideas? Where is my fan because gosh almighty I would never believe such a thing.

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James Cameron stealing ideas
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The boy who would be king - This was a great family adventure film. It's just fun and most of the vfx was great (those creepy fire knights on horses were amazing).
 
Alright, so I saw some ****. Unfortunately only got two more of the Oscar films done and looks like that'll be it.

The Favourite

I actually really enjoyed it. Not my typical movie, but each of the leading ladies absolutely crushed it.

What Men Wanr

Super cheeseball. Not great

Green Book

It really bothers me when movies pretend to be true stories but are so far the actual events (Bohemian Rhapsody) but the general audience believes it. That said, this was a very good movie, despite for some very cliche scenes that are clearly just Oscar bait.

Lego Movie 2

It failed to have the magic of the first, but I expected that. Some jokes were fantastic though.

Isn't it Romantic

Wanted nothing to do with this, but actually enjoyed it. Was actually able to pull off what it was trying to mostly.

So I'm a little 8 now for the year. Last week was a great catch up week with 4. Alita is this week, and HTTYD 3 is this weekend, and not sure if my body is ready for it.

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Lego Movie 2
Not as good as the first but still a good movie. Definitely a unique storyline and does not follow the original as much as I thought it would.

Ralph Breaks the Internet
Same as Lego Movie. The dig into relationships was something I did not see coming in the latter half of the movie so bravo for Disney. Outside of that, nothing amazing but still fun.
 
How to Train Your Dragon 3

Bold statement time. This is the best animated trilogy out there. Yes, better than Toy Story, Shrek, all of them. This movie had a flaw or two, but it was fantastic.

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This can certainly be argued. While I wasn't a huge fan of 2, I've heard great things about 3 and can't wait to see it tbh. Toy Story is the only real challenger in my book.
 
This can certainly be argued. While I wasn't a huge fan of 2, I've heard great things about 3 and can't wait to see it tbh. Toy Story is the only real challenger in my book.
TS2 was weaker than the others as well though. Each series has its own magic, but this one is just a bit better for me.

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How to Train Your Dragon 3

Bold statement time. This is the best animated trilogy out there. Yes, better than Toy Story, Shrek, all of them. This movie had a flaw or two, but it was fantastic.

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Saw HTTYD 3 last night and agree, this trilogy is a great one and gives the feeling of a Star Wars trilogy from beginning to end. 1st was definitely the best and 2nd being the worst but 3rd is definitely something to see. It does rehash in some ways what we saw in two but the villain isn't the main driver, he's just helps push to the ending we didn't want to see but knew would eventually happen. My daughters (7 and 5) both definitely cried at the end so you KNOW it was on point. :p

All in all, 8/10. Would watch again.
 
Saw two films at the weekend. First was Fighting with my family, based on something I didn't know much about until I read about the Channel 4 doc. It's been a very long time since I had an interest in WWE, I'll admit the actual scenes from the show made me feel a tad nostalgic. Overall I thought the film was fantastic, it was touching, funny and enjoyable.

The aftermath - This is a drama set in Hamburg just after WWII. I found the setting very interesting as it's something you don't really hear much about, sounded like a very awkward and upsetting period. I thought the cast were good, the direction was nice but the characters make some very weird decisions. For example, Keira Knightly's character feels like she flip flops dramatically from scene to scene, at times her reaction felt really out of place/character. The sub plot with the daughter and the young German dude felt a bit unnessary and just took away from the main plot. Overall it's ok but could have been better.
 
I saw Fighting with my Family as well, and quite enjoyed it. I follow WWE so this was definitely something I wanted to see, but I went with a couple friends who aren't wrestling fans and they enjoyed it as well. It's a fun film with good humor but also mixes in some emotional scenes as well. Would recommend.
 
Alita: 2 hour over the pants in jeans handy with no sweet release

Seriously, all this build up for nothing at all. Sure it had some good visuals, but there was no payoff. Still don't get the eyes. I have a lot of gripes but I'll just leave it as meh.

Captain Marvel

I'm gonna just say this up front. This movie literally ****s all over Wonder Woman. Yes, this is comparing two different styles of film, but this is how WW should have been. First off, Brie is such a better actress than Gal. The third act of CM is the best part, unlike WW where you can replace a Transformers battle and it would be just as coherent.

Now to the actual movie. It has some major issues. The beginning is a bit of a jumbled mess, and it took me til about 40 mins or so to really get into it. Lashana Lynch stole the ****ing movie in her first scene, and it was a good origin MCU film. It's towards the upper half of the origins, but probably mid, upper mid overall. Also Brie Larson being snarky made my heart happy.

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Captain Marvel - I think this is a fun film, the cast are great but all are lame compared to Goose <3 The de-age effect on Samuel L. Jackson is incredible, you just believe it's 90s him after a few seconds. The action sequences in the first half of the film are terrible, just poor editing and camera work. Luckily the action scenes are slightly better later on. I think the film struggles a little bit with trying to cram too many things into an origin film so it leaves a fair bit unanswered. Still it is enjoyable and sets up more hype for the big one next month.
 
Finally got round to seeing Glass the other week. Really loved it, perfect conclusion to the Unbreakable/Split trilogy. Rewatching Unbreakable in preparation and then seeing this, I've got to say Elijah Price/Mr Glass has become one of my favourite film villains.
 
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