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Movies, recently seen (Read 48477 times)
UnSubRocky
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Reply #150 - Jul 7th, 2021 at 4:45am
 


The Tomorrow War

In December 2022, biology teacher and former Green Beret Dan Forester fails to get a job at a prestigious research center. While watching the World Cup, soldiers from the year 2051 arrive to warn that humanity is on the brink of extinction due to a war with alien invaders referred to as the "Whitespikes." The Whitespikes will arrive in November 2048 and kill the majority of humanity three years later. In response, the world's militaries are sent into the future via a wormhole device called the "Jumplink," but fewer than 30% survive deployment to return in 7 days, prompting an international draft.

Kind of "meh". Special effects are quite decent. But the credibility of the plot is dangerously insulting. Future armies have the technology to be able to transport people into the future. But, they do not have the technology to transport monsters into the sun or something??

Most of this movie is a war movie. The build-up to the war is where draftee Dan Forester cannot get away from his duty to go to the future and fight a war. Yet, he cannot stay in the present and prepare to fight the alien monsters, as he will die 8 years later, and 18 years before the aliens arrive. Future military soldiers make sure he does join a bunch of draftees who are so out of place as soldiers, that they might as well have left them to die in their own past.

Rating C+.
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Reply #151 - Jul 7th, 2021 at 6:37am
 
UnSubRocky wrote on Jul 7th, 2021 at 4:45am:


The Tomorrow War

In December 2022, biology teacher and former Green Beret Dan Forester fails to get a job at a prestigious research center. While watching the World Cup, soldiers from the year 2051 arrive to warn that humanity is on the brink of extinction due to a war with alien invaders referred to as the "Whitespikes." The Whitespikes will arrive in November 2048 and kill the majority of humanity three years later. In response, the world's militaries are sent into the future via a wormhole device called the "Jumplink," but fewer than 30% survive deployment to return in 7 days, prompting an international draft.

Kind of "meh". Special effects are quite decent. But the credibility of the plot is dangerously insulting. Future armies have the technology to be able to transport people into the future. But, they do not have the technology to transport monsters into the sun or something??

Most of this movie is a war movie. The build-up to the war is where draftee Dan Forester cannot get away from his duty to go to the future and fight a war. Yet, he cannot stay in the present and prepare to fight the alien monsters, as he will die 8 years later, and 18 years before the aliens arrive. Future military soldiers make sure he does join a bunch of draftees who are so out of place as soldiers, that they might as well have left them to die in their own past.

Rating C+.


I watched that yesterday.

Meh.   3 out of 5.

I still can't get used to seeing Chris Pratt as an action star.
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Reply #152 - Jul 7th, 2021 at 2:19pm
 
I kept comparing "The Tomorrow War" with Aliens vs Predators. The concept of having to deal with containment of an alien species by a bunch of halfwit soldiers.
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Reply #153 - Jul 12th, 2021 at 4:59pm
 




Blackk Widow

Not a bad movie. Based on the Marvel character "Black Widow" played by Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh and Rachel Weisz. Ergo, we are lead to believe that the Black Widow is a job title and not an alias of female assassins trained in Russian versions of S.H.I.E.L.D.

We start off with a slow introduction of Natasha Romanoff (Ever Anderson) and Yelena Belova (Violet McGraw) as children with their surrogate mother in the midst of fleeing an arrest for their surrogate father's, Alexei's, torching of a government building (S.H.I.E.L.D.) and stealing a disk file (S.H.I.E.L.D. intel) and fleeing Cuba. As they get to the airfield, Alexei holds off a few police vehicles that have caught up with the 'family', with the use of a rifle and Alexei's own brute (superhuman) strength. Alexei manages to jump on the wing of the small plane as the rest of the family fly off to safety. Whilst the mother, Melina, is suffering from gunshot wounds during take off, Natasha has to take off the plane for her. This is actually a good action scene.

In Cuba, the medics attend Melina, whilst Alexei talks with the head of his organisation, General Dreykov. It is revealed that Alexei is an undercover spy living in Ohio for the 3 years prior. Romanoff and Belova are put in the "Red Room" for training to become Black Widows. The movie then cuts to 2016 to the era when Romanoff is on the run from General Ross, after Romanoff having betrayed the King of Wakanda in the "Captain America: Civil War" movie.

For the first hour, the movie gets bogged down with Romanoff having to track down her sister. Whilst her sister gets caught up escaping her own mind-controlled existence as a Black Widow when she retrieves virals of an antidote that can free other Widows of their mind control. With the help of a safe house keeper, Romanoff and Belova track down their 'father', Alexei, who is in prison for some reason (allegedly to do with suppressing the truth about his existence). The prison escape is one of the most over the top action scenes in Marvel history. At one point, a rocket propelled grenade explosion was enough to trigger a nearby avalanche from the mountains towards the prison. That aided the escapees, as the prison guards had to run for cover back in the prison. Go figure.

The helicopter they use in the escape manages to crash land not far from Melina's hideout. Melina welcomes the three with open arms and updates the team with no real consideration about the gravity of what they have been through. Later that night, there seems to be a double-cross and Natasha and Yelena are taken to General Dreykov's headquarters. But, the doublecross is a deception for the sake of gaining access to General Dreykov. Yelena makes a brave escape. Natasha has trouble trying to kill Dreykov. And Alexei and Melina escape their own imprisonment. After Natasha's failure to kill Dreykov, the general reveals something about Natasha's past that gives her some mild redemption. But, it also leads her to a greater confrontation.

Some self-aware moments of the movie are how Yelena tries to heckle Natasha's hero poses shown in archive news footage when Natasha lands on the ground. Natasha does one hero pose landing during the breakout of Alexei. Later, Yelena has to jump down from a high spot in the headquarters. Yelena lands on the ground in the same hero pose as she had seen Natasha done in the past. Realising what she had just done, she gets up and shakes off her mild disgust in her own hypocrisy. It was quite amusing.

Without telling you how that the situation with General Dreykov getting resolved, the situation with General Dreykov gets resolved. I found the solution a bit stupid. But then the fun begins with the escape from the other widow -- in fact, trying to save them. Then there is the scene where the headquarters of Dreykov starts falling out of the sky. Oh, did I mention that the headquarters was some harrier jet massive satellite type building flying around the stratosphere? Well, there it is. And that is where the computer-generated imagery takes centre stage.

I could leave out most of the story, so that you get the more enjoyment out of discovering what happens in the movie for yourself. Overall, this is an entertaining blockbuster of a movie. Not the best Avengers movie. But certainly "Black Widow" is on par with its reference "Captain America: Civil War" movie.

I would probably recommend that people watch this movie in theatres, or on an excellent widescreen surround sound home theatre system.

Rating: B. Perhaps a B+ rating because of the quality of the acting.
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Reply #154 - Jul 17th, 2021 at 6:16pm
 

Just watched 'Echo In The Canyon', on Netflix.

Really, really good.

A look at how musical groups such as The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, and The Mamas & the Papas birthed the beginnings of the Laurel Canyon music scene and how the echo of these artists' creations reverberated across the world.
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Reply #155 - Jul 18th, 2021 at 12:05pm
 
Gunpowder Milkshake

Whilst he didn't produce this one, Quentin Tarantino fans will see the similarities in this movie!    Despite a low audience score, I found this film extremely entertaining and, coupled with a great score (hits of the 40s, 50s and 6os) watchable a 2nd or 3rd time.    I watched on US Netflix, but I believe it will hit Aus Netflix soon.    Do yourself a favour and watch it.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8368408/
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Reply #156 - Jul 24th, 2021 at 12:56pm
 
The hitman's wife's bodyguard.

Pretty funny this one.  Cool



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Reply #157 - Jul 24th, 2021 at 5:06pm
 

Not sure why I haven't seen this one before, but I watched it a 3 o'clock this morning and thoroughly enjoyed it:



Really good movie.  Four and a half stars!
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Reply #158 - Jul 25th, 2021 at 8:23am
 
greggerypeccary wrote on Jul 24th, 2021 at 5:06pm:
Not sure why I haven't seen this one before, but I watched it a 3 o'clock this morning and thoroughly enjoyed it:



Really good movie.  Four and a half stars!



That's a great movie. Enjoyed it when it came out.

Interestingly, the same year it was filmed, my parents did a canal ride of Bruges and saw the same dog in the window that you see in the first part of the film. A famous dog, they tell me. All the locals made note of it. Just sat at the window all day.

Long dead now though.
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Reply #159 - Jul 25th, 2021 at 10:31am
 
mothra wrote on Jul 25th, 2021 at 8:23am:
greggerypeccary wrote on Jul 24th, 2021 at 5:06pm:
Not sure why I haven't seen this one before, but I watched it a 3 o'clock this morning and thoroughly enjoyed it:



Really good movie.  Four and a half stars!



That's a great movie. Enjoyed it when it came out.

Interestingly, the same year it was filmed, my parents did a canal ride of Bruges and saw the same dog in the window that you see in the first part of the film. A famous dog, they tell me. All the locals made note of it. Just sat at the window all day.

Long dead now though.


Wow, that's pretty cool.

I've been to Brussels, but never made it to Bruges.

Looks like a great place.
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Reply #160 - Jul 28th, 2021 at 1:23pm
 


Now you see me 2

Another of the bullshit movies I have seen of recent. I have both Now you see me 1 & 2. Both movies are quite "meh". But, this movie seems to be the worse of the two. I could not find a plausible way of enjoying this movie because the premise is so far-fetched.

The movie starts with the "four horsemen" still in hiding after their stunt in the first movie. They acquire a new female to replace the other female of the first movie. And then the fun begins with the attempt to overtake a magic show, aiming to expose a fraudster magician and also reveal themselves still active. That stunt goes wrong when there is a takeover of the theatre complex, as well as interference by the FBI. Their hasty exit leads the three horsemen to become kidnapped in the most far-fetched way possible.

FBI agent Dylan Rhodes (played by Mark Ruffalo) who was revealed in the last movie to be a leader for the four horsemen, gets exposed as part of the crew. Rhodes evades being arrested. But the rest of the horsemen end up in Macau under extremely mysterious (and bullshit movie plot) circumstances.

I do not really want to go into too much detail. But the acting in this movie was so poorly executed that they might as well not have done the movie at all and left the first movie as a standalone movie. I do not know how anyone would cheer on criminals at a staged event, even after the FBI put an arrest warrant on the four horsemen. But, the crowd at those events have no problem hooting and pumping their fists as if they do not care one way or another how their entertainment is served.

The actors looked like they were acting their roles. And the overuse of CGI was enough to make me think that the actors did not feel like they were doing a final take for the movie. What we saw is what was the best take. I could probably reveal some spoilers to you, when I rewatch the first movie and then this movie. But, it will take a while for me to be bothered seeing this movie again.

Rating: C+
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Reply #161 - Aug 4th, 2021 at 12:31am
 


Space Jam

This classic from 1996 is still good to watch for those of us growing up in the 1990s. Michael Jordan is enlisted to help the Looney Tunes characters in a game of basketball. Unfortunately, for the Looney Toons, the opponents are little aliens from another planet who capture the "talent" of the (then) NBA players. The talent, in this context, is the abilities of 5 NBA players that get absorbed into a basketball and then later transferred into the aliens to become large monsters... aka "Mon-stars".

With the apparent kidnapping of Michael Jordan, who seems unfazed by the ordeal, the Toons prepare to take on the aliens in an effort to prevent the toons from their enslavement to the Moron Mountain theme park. Meanwhile, the NBA players, who lost their playing ability, have to contend with being sidelined until they find out what has happened to them.

The special effects of blending live action and cartoon have been done near flawlessly. You might criticise Michael Jordan for looking like he is out of place waiting for his queue to act.... but being a sports person, he is not expected to act well.

A good movie for children and teens. Hell, make it a good movie for the family. This original Space Jam movie would be well-placed to still outshine the sequel.

Rating: B/B+
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Reply #162 - Aug 7th, 2021 at 11:54am
 


Space Jam: A New Legacy

Fairly reasonable.

The sequel to 1996's Space Jam is starring LeBron James. LeBron's lead in to the movie's story is very much similar to how Michael Jordan's storyline started. A child with dreams of growing up to become a basketball player. Except, in LeBron's case, he has an issue with his mother trying to make ends meet with a job instead of attending the teenage Lebron's games. It takes the wisdom of Lebron's coach to make him realise his potential. Fast forward to a montage of Lebron's career. Lebron enters the story as an adult at the end of his career. He has a wife and family and things seem good for his reputation.

One day, a tech company associated with Warner Bros has invited LeBron and his son (Dom) to view a new virtual reality using Lebron's likeness. Lebron rejects the idea. meanwhile, the artificial intelligence inhabiting a matrix type world witnesses the rejection. This leads the A.I. (Al G Rhythm -- played by Don Cheadle) to lose his cool and plan on kidnapping Lebron and his son to make them live out their lives in his virtual world. Dom, a computer programmer, is disheartened by his father's rejection of the offer, walks off in disgust. Lebron, trying to come to terms with his son's preference to computer games over basketball, tries to follow and reason with his son. However, Dom is soon distracted by the Warner Bros computer mainframe room. Dom uses the maze of supercomputers to evade his father. However, Dom gets caught up getting sucked into the virtual reality world of the AI program. Lebron, seeing this happen, runs to rescue him and gets pulled into the AI program, too.

This is where the computer generated world starts. Al G makes an offer to LeBron to win back his son by playing Al in a basketball game. Lebron, needing a team, gets to fall into the Warner Bros world of animation and various movies until he lands on Toon world. There, he meets Bugs Bunny -- all alone because the other toons were tricked into leaving the planet for an offer Al G had set.

The story progresses where Lebron has to make a team of toon basketballers to help  him win back Lebron's son. This does not progress well as the toons have had their own destinies to fulfill. When the decision is made that the toons become a team, the countdown to the start of the game ends. But, the transition to 3D animation kicks into gear. It is a basketball game of fun slapstick animation with visuals to make hospitalisations for any epileptic. Did I mention the basketball game is based on a computer game designed by Dom, that the Al G program steals for his own?

Space Jam: A New Legacy is a fun family cartoon/live action comedy. If you liked this original movie, you should love the sequel 25 years later. Neither leads of either movie, Michael Jordan or Lebron James are good actors. But, they never were cut out to be good actors. But, in this movie, Lebron does a decent job with what he could.

Rating B+
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Reply #163 - Aug 13th, 2021 at 12:36pm
 
Watched this one last night:



A few laughs. So over-the top violence is was funny.

Overall assessment: "meh".

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Reply #164 - Aug 13th, 2021 at 2:51pm
 
Thank you for that. I was going to review this movie with a larger analysis of the storyline. But, you said it better than I could.
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