shallowness

Star Trek Beyond AKA the New Start Trek Movie was fine. Not great, but fine. For background, I haven’t been the most wildly excited person about the reboot/new films, that is, I wouldn't count myself a member of that subset of the fandom, although I’ve enjoyed them. I liked this film more as the next instalment of Trek than as a film.

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I have seen Love & Friendship! Given the limited nature of its release, that's an achievement.

Basically, the positive reviews had it right. I haven’t read ‘Lady Susan’ or seen a Whit Stillman film before, but it feels a little like Austen unleashed although possibly pushed a little further than she ever went by the adaptation. Virtue has to ( spoiler? ) but Virtue is either a bit wet or generally outmatched by Lady Susan and her lack of scruples (Beckinsale grabs the talky role with the relish of someone who has been best known for ex-husband Len Wiseman’s roles recently). Her manipulations rekindled my longing to see an adaptation of ‘The Grand Sophy’ (the Heyer with the monkey in it). Stillman’s archness feels like a good approach to Austen and what they say about Tom Bennett’s scene stealing as a blockhead of a suitor is true. He's one of a smattering of characters with names that repeat in the novels. The most important thing is that I was snorting most inelegantly with laughter throughout.

Marvel, I still don’t see why a standalone Black Widow movie isn’t upcoming. I really don’t.

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I saw the trailer for X-Men Apocalypse ( Read more... ) Must watch the Rogue cut of DOFP soon, then.

I posted Fancy Hotel, a Person of Interest/The Night Manager ficlet. Zoe and John were the focus of the prompt and remain the focus of the fic, but I had TNM on my mind and it was the spark for me. I wish I could have come up with a better title, but at least I managed a summary.

I caught up with B99 3.14 Karen Peralta

( Itsy-Bitsy Spider )

Of course, I’m now behind again because I chose to watch Scorpion (post to come).

I went to see a double-bill of films yesterday for the first time in ages. First was Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Yes, I know. One word review: ponderous.

( more words ) There were lots of problems, but I’ll focus on the most relevant one, which is that you’ve seen the trailer(s), and who hasn't given the promo push, most of the film will not come as a surpise.

And before this film a new-to-me Captain America: Civil War trailer aired and I think that contained a major development that made me clap my hands to my mouth in disbelief that they’d show that now. What is wrong with the people behind cutting these trailers? Stick to the first third, show glimpses of the main characters, give a flavour of the mood...people are going to go see films featuring Captain America, Iron Man, Batman and Superman!

Having said that, The Lego Batman Movie trailer filled me with glee.

What I wasn’t spoiled for in BvS:DoJ was ( Read more... ) Roll on the Wonder Woman solo movie, which seems like the only thing DC is doing that Marvel seems to need to worry about.

The second film I saw was Eddie the Eagle, which is thoroughly entertaining. It has also had a huge promo push in the UK, and benefits from being a sporting underdog dramedy based on a true story that I'm about old enough to remember, but I don't think they used the last third in the promo material.

Finally, I've caught up on Parks and Rec

5.11

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5.12

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I watched The Saint on DVD last night, because it seemed the most lighthearted film on my 'to watch' pile. Unfortunatly, it got beyond skippy at one bit. That's an observation, not a complaint, because IIRC I got the DVD from a charity shop, but it happened during a favourite trope of mind. ( Spoiler? ) So, for a bit I dipped out and found out that the three blokes from The Last Leg had taken over Channel Four last night.

The Saint isn't very good - the opening is terrible. But it's so daft and it offers some incidental pleasures, because, as it was set in 1997, I could yell excitedly at the use of floppy disks.

Watching Val Kilmer's character in disguise is VERY ENTERTAINING. Although, unfortunately, he can't do an Australian accent. There are fewer wigs and hairstyles from him as the film goes on. Really, I'd say watch Salt, also directed by Phillip Noyce, over this, but it's interesting that he also directed some Revenge episodes. I don't know if it's a case of being drawn towards similar stories or Hollywood just thinking of him.

Elizabeth Shue plays the love interest (what happened to her?) who is just kooky enough. Face-wise, I thought that she's a cross between Alicia Silverstone and Anne Hathaway. But I was also reminded of Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen's hair by the baddie's son. I must have seen this film on TV or something at some point.

I feel like I need a few days’ adjustment to take in the new canon.

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UK filmgoers, we only had a mid-credit scene. Nothing at the bitter end.

Happy New Year!

Below are my top 10 films of 2014 ( Read more... )

X-Men Days of Future Past and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies came close to being on this list, but I had all kinds of questions after seeing both, and both are part of franchises that I've been so engaged in over the years that it's hard to judge them as films. I saw The Hobbit yesterday, and ( spoilers )

Anyway, I wanted to mention and recommend two films that I saw on DVD for the first time in 2014, both directed by Shane Carruth: Primer and Upstream Color. I am not claiming to fully understand either, they're headscratchers, but Upstream Color really moved me and Primer satisfied my geekiness (even if I still don't expect to get the time travel until I watch it a few more times, I actually trust that it makes sense.)

Films that I didn't get to see in 2014 because I blinked and missed them at the cinema include Two Days and One Night, The Grandmaster and Standby. Snowpiercer still hasn't been released in the UK.

Previous lists can be found here.

As it turned out, I could and did go to the cinema* last night to see Guardians of the Galaxy, which I enjoyed. ( Read more... )

I am so looking forward to seeing Lucy. It looks BONKERS and the plot seems to be that ScarJo’s character gets to be ALL THE X-MEN. I'll be there when it comes out here.

Den of Geeks is claiming that Sony is planning a female-led Spider-man spin-off, among the several others it’s still planning to do seeing as the Spidey sequel wasn't the biggest hit. It might involve Felicia Hardy, as she has been introduced. I’d love to see Felicity Jones get that chance, but have to emphasise that what we’ve learned from Catwoman and Electra is that the script needs to be good. And the directing.

*Not a great experience, apart from the fact that it was crowded Orange Wednesday, Cineworld has irritatingly decided to introduce allocated seating of late. I’m dubious as to whether I was sitting where my ticket said I should, although I tried, because I knew that it would be full. But ‘back, middle or front?’ isn’t specific enough. At least they’ve started leaving the lights on during the adverts – which means I can read stuff instead of watching the adverts, ha! But, inevitably, what happened is that latecomers had to be lead around to ‘their’ seats by a loud usher with a torch, two or three scenes into the movie, which was distracting, especially during one big scene with a lot of exposition. Not a fan of this. I didn’t really have a problem with first come, first serve for the best seats with big groups coming to see a big film on a popular night want to arrive ten minutes OR MORE after the starting time having to separate and sit in the worst places. Harrumph.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

My reaction as a pro/con list.

( spoilers )

VERDICT: Not amazing.

The Good Wife 5.12 We, The Juries

No pro con list here. It’s all thumbs up.

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