@LN78Yeah, how Bruce didn’t sustain any injuries standing so close to the explosion didn’t make sense at all. Not to mention, how he still managed to get up and walked away after that serious crash when he was using his wingsuit to escape.
Lupin III: Napoleon's Dictionary - 90's Film in the ever present long running anime franchise. It was okay, but never really elevated itself above feeling like an overly long episode of one of the TV series (even the animation felt like a half step between TV series & movie quality).
I was hoping for some sort of "Whacky Races" type antics given that the setup was supposed to be Lupin entering a classic car race across Europe in order to win Napoleon's dictionary (which is said to hold a clue to Lupin's family treasure) with the CIA (and other intelligence agencies) trying to capture him along the way, however you practically never even see any of the other contestants. It's largely just Lupin's gang getting chased across Europe by said intelligence agencies which could have easily been done without the race setup.
It sure has it's moments if you're already a fan of the franchise, however I can't see any reason to watch it otherwise.
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Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
Not sure why I chose to, but I watched “Death on the Nile” recently. Exceedingly average would be my assessment.
Some of the acting is wonderful. Some of the cinematography and art direction is really beautiful. And the story is fine, but it veers into the ridiculous at times, and it definitely took too long to get going. There is just some weird pacing issues here. And by the end there’s the feeling of “okay, okay… let’s just get on with the twist and get this thing over with.”
@LN78 Yeah, I really liked that. And (…here I go with the interpretive analysis… 😅) I appreciated the symbolism there of the mustache being his attachment to his former life and love and now shedding it representing him finally moving on.
Branagh is a divisive personality, but it’s hard to deny the guy’s got talent. I always seem to enjoy watching his performances even when I’m not enjoying the movie itself.
Surprisingly, I thought Gal Gadot was pretty ‘meh’ in this one. Maybe it’s because I kept waiting for her to whip out her golden lasso.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@LN78 My experience with Gadot is limited to her role as Wonder Woman, which I enjoy. But in a movie like “Death on the Nile” it becomes pretty clear that there’s a lot that action sequences and CG shenanigans do to compensate for her one-note acting.
As for the egocentricity of Branagh, it seems to be An epidemic in Hollywood. It makes me wonder — does the performing arts attract that kind of personality, or does it create it (since these people get hoisted on a pedestal all the time)?
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution I think Branagh is a definite outlier in terms of ego when it comes to British actors. Our scene is fundamentally more down to earth and even the actors that are a bit silly like Hugh Grant have a modicum of self-awareness. Hollywood is Hollywood but Branagh sticks out amongst other British actors. Also the fact he cheated on Emma Thompson automatically makes me dislike him.
Just got back from Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. Even though I'm a little tired of the overused multiverse concept at this point, I thought this film did a good job of using it drive its many wacky concepts, entertaining setpieces, and exploration of inter-generational trauma and meaning. The film is at risk of being a little tropey and sentimental at times, but its emotionally realistic characters help to carry it.
It's too long, though. I'd love to see a version of this film that was tightened up a bit. But I enjoyed it overall. Michelle Yeoh's performance is great, and truly carries the film.
Not perfect, and, weirdly, not even the first high-profile film of 2022 to explore the troubled generational conflict between the mother and daughter in a chinese immigrant family, but still better than most of what comes out of bigger Hollywood studios.
@Th3solution I was really disappointed by DotN. The mystery sucked (seriously, who didn't see the main "twist" coming from a mile away), Poirot didn't actually do much detective work, and, yeah, it took almost half the darn movie before the murder mystery bit even properly started.
@LN78 Several comic-related things. Happy Death Day 2 comes to mind. Another Earth isn't strictly multiverse, but tackles a similar idea. Some video games. Some novels.
The pool gets a lot bigger if you include the general concept of multiple universes coming together, as cross-overs and metaverse-y crap like Space Jam 2, Ready Player One, etc. seem to gaining in popularity as well for their ability to be economically exploited by companies.
Mostly within the last decade.
I'm more tired of the whole post-apoc/survival genre. But there are still instances of that I love as well.
@LN78 The movie was more interesting in concept than in execution to me, if only because it didn't have enough time to flesh out its concept. For that reason, I prefer what I saw of the TV series.
Bruce Willis is good at playing certain types of characters, but doesn't have a ton of range, in my experience. He's kind of like Nicholas Cage and Morgan Freeman in that respect.
Currently Playing: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (NS2); Corpse Factory (PC)
Went to see Everything Everywhere All At Once.
No idea what I just saw but I recommend that everybody does. Definitely one of top movies in recent memory.
@LN78Haha, maybe that's why the creators didn't want Bruce to sustain any injuries (especially to the face) from the explosion, cause it would give away his identity.
Watched the Doctor Who movie from 1996. It’s laughably camp and cheesier than cheddar but I kinda loved it. The moving van guy from Happy Gilmore turned up which was a weird spot. McGann was really quite good in the role and it’s a real shame how it panned out, I’d have loved to watch a series with him, although at least there’s the audio plays. Bit of a random way for McCoy to go though, gunned down for seemingly no reason by a Chinese gang in San Francisco. It was a noble attempt at bringing the show back through a movie but the stars didn’t align even though the tone was really similar to the later wave of shows coming through on American TV like Buffy.
@RogerRoger It’s the sort of movie that while it doesn’t all work, enough does to be an enjoyable mess. Plus it’s aged really quite well given how clearly ahead of its time it is, with the WB/CW shows in the later 90s and 00s hitting the same tonal beats. I’d cautiously recommend it to anybody who can switch their brain off.
Finally got round to seeing The Batman and honestly enjoyed it quite a bit. It’s the epitome of a 4 star movie for me, I enjoyed a lot of it but can totally see where a sequel could improve on it. A solid start for a new take on Batman with the best iteration of Catwoman we’ve seen. I love Paul Dano but I do think Riddler could have been a little less unhinged and a bit more cunning and well, smart. John Turturro as Falcone was the standout though, one of the most remarkably nasty characters I’ve seen in quite a while. I quite liked the direction they went with Batman but I don’t think they quite went far enough. They could have really doubled down on the fear aspect, almost like The Crow, especially how he tries to create a boogeyman for the baddies, a legend essentially. That would provide a better contrast to the later growth he shows as an actual hero rather than just a vigilante. Because it really was an origin story of Batman as a hero, rather than just Batman himself. Special shout-out to my man Trevor from Eastenders, thankfully didn’t get his dong out like in Chernobyl! Also waited the whole movie to see the scenes shot in Glasgow’s necropolis only for it to be the last scene 😂
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