Really good fun. A solid mystery, a couple of neat twists, a nice use of real history, some well-staged action, and even an answer to one of my complaints about the first film (to say what would be a spoiler).
A spectacularly odd film, from the weirdly aimless storyline, to the mostly mediocre or bizarre songs, not to mention the horrendously outdated views on domestic violence.
Plus, not actually very much to do with the titular fairground attraction.
This was surprisingly enjoyable, in a laidback, undemanding way. None of it’s hilarious (though a musical sequence comes close), but it’s kinda amiable, and almost heartwarming at the end.
Could’ve easily been ridiculous, but a solid screenplay and great cast (Martin Freeman is perfect for “man who would like to be happy but must keep himself calm/miserable”) ensure it stays balanced on just the right comedy-drama line.
Hits a lot of familiar “Christmas fairytale” kind of beats, and does have a TV movie-ish feel to the production at times, but the storyline contains a near-perfect blend of magic, heart, humour, and just enough sadness to add grit, so that the end result is a likeable Christmas film. Wouldn’t be undeserving to become requisite seasonal family viewing.
It's the kind of wild-swing hyper-meta self-deconstructing take on a franchise that I’ve always longed for a legacy sequel to give me, but no one has been bold enough to try (or possibly they just couldn’t get it past the suits, who knows).
If all you want from The Matrix is Young People Who Traverse Dimensions While Wearing Sunglasses + cool action scenes, I guess Resurrections will leave you disappointed. If you appreciate a film that has something to say about our current entertainment culture, there’s a lot to like here.
Ugh, it’s so Americanised. And almost all the songs are awful. We loved Dahl’s books in our house, so I can absolutely see why my parents put me off watching this as a kid, and why Tim Burton thought it was worth a remake. Heck, his version might even be better (I’ve not seen it for years so won’t fully commit to that opinion yet).
Gene Wilder is really good, though. Shame it takes him almost half the movie to show up.
Overall, a very good Bond film. It doesn’t manage the entire-franchise-highs of Casino Royale or Skyfall, but there are some superb individual sequences. And it’s much more consistent than Spectre, and therefore a more fitting send-off — Daniel Craig goes out with a bang.
Loved this — it was everything I expected it to be and more. Both an amusing extrapolation of its premise and a solid mystery in its own right, with a surprisingly moving conclusion. One part in particular gave me goosebumps, and you’ve got to love anything that can elicit such a physical reaction.
Ceaselessly, magnificently bizarre. The way it’s happy to just spin off onto any and all random tangents is a wonder to behold. A couple more musical numbers and it would’ve been perfect.
You’ll believe a man can jump out of shot followed by a whooshing sound while people stare slack-jawed at something offscreen!
Technical limitations of the era aside, this has a nice political edge, with the real villains being a mob of regular small-town Americans out for a lynching. “Obviously none of you can be trusted with guns,” says Superman, accurately, “so I’m gonna take them away from you.” If only it were that easy.
In many ways it's just a remix of Universal’s Dracula, but overall I actually preferred this. Karloff is superb as the antagonist; Zita Johann (and her array of skimpy outfits) makes for an appealing (and, perhaps in spite of said clothing, competent) female lead; and there’s some really atmospheric direction from Karl Freund.
No doubt it’s a significant book and an important tale, but the film seems to rely on that to carry it through — the narrative comes across as episodic and the direction is a little bit TV movie. I feel like there’s a better (more dynamic, more affecting) version of this to be made.
Was expecting the dark comedy laughs, which it thankfully delivered; was not expecting to find it quite so emotionally effective, or if it to take a tired old aphorism and make it feel like it really meant something. For a film about teenagers popping, that’s pretty impressive.
We’re so used to Spielberg and his success (both commercial and artistic) that we take it all for granted. This doc helps remind us how revolutionary and influential — and, more often than not, of phenomenally high quality — his body of work has been.
This Japanese answer to The Day the Earth Stood Still is more serious-minded than you might expect if you’ve seen the quaint alien costumes, but its anti-nuclear-war message gets a bit muddled when it turns out nukes are useful, actually, and, you know what, it would be better if we had even more powerful ones. Hmm.
Based on trailers and other comments, I was worried I'd find this a bit boring, but no, I thought it was a beautiful, deeply humane, quite powerful experience.
I’ve never thought The Hound of the Baskervilles is a very good detective mystery novel, but it is quite a good gothic adventure, which makes Hammer pretty much the perfect studio to bring it to the screen. This version doesn’t disappoint, with Terence Fisher’s direction leaning hard into that atmosphere, plus a superb cast, in particular Cushing and Morell as a fantastic Holmes and Watson. I wish they’d done a whole series starring them.
Comments 1 - 25 of 277
Movie comment on Disenchanted
badblokebob
Disappointing.Movie comment on The Killing
badblokebob
Moral of the story: never buy cheap luggage.Movie comment on Enola Holmes 2
badblokebob
Really good fun. A solid mystery, a couple of neat twists, a nice use of real history, some well-staged action, and even an answer to one of my complaints about the first film (to say what would be a spoiler).Movie comment on He Walked by Night
badblokebob
Gorgeously shot procedural noir, with multiple tense suspense sequences, a neat largely-silent performance from Richard Basehart, and a bonus dog.Movie comment on Carousel
badblokebob
A spectacularly odd film, from the weirdly aimless storyline, to the mostly mediocre or bizarre songs, not to mention the horrendously outdated views on domestic violence.Plus, not actually very much to do with the titular fairground attraction.
Movie comment on Pretty in Pink
badblokebob
The correct answer is she shouldn't've picked either of them.Movie comment on The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee
badblokebob
This was surprisingly enjoyable, in a laidback, undemanding way. None of it’s hilarious (though a musical sequence comes close), but it’s kinda amiable, and almost heartwarming at the end.Movie comment on Ode to Joy
badblokebob
Could’ve easily been ridiculous, but a solid screenplay and great cast (Martin Freeman is perfect for “man who would like to be happy but must keep himself calm/miserable”) ensure it stays balanced on just the right comedy-drama line.Movie comment on Jackass: The Movie
badblokebob
Never thought this would be my kind of thing — and it isn't, really — but, credit where it's due, some of it was funnier than I expected.Movie comment on A Boy Called Christmas
badblokebob
Hits a lot of familiar “Christmas fairytale” kind of beats, and does have a TV movie-ish feel to the production at times, but the storyline contains a near-perfect blend of magic, heart, humour, and just enough sadness to add grit, so that the end result is a likeable Christmas film. Wouldn’t be undeserving to become requisite seasonal family viewing.Movie comment on The Matrix Resurrections
badblokebob
It's the kind of wild-swing hyper-meta self-deconstructing take on a franchise that I’ve always longed for a legacy sequel to give me, but no one has been bold enough to try (or possibly they just couldn’t get it past the suits, who knows).If all you want from The Matrix is Young People Who Traverse Dimensions While Wearing Sunglasses + cool action scenes, I guess Resurrections will leave you disappointed. If you appreciate a film that has something to say about our current entertainment culture, there’s a lot to like here.
Movie comment on Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
badblokebob
Ugh, it’s so Americanised. And almost all the songs are awful. We loved Dahl’s books in our house, so I can absolutely see why my parents put me off watching this as a kid, and why Tim Burton thought it was worth a remake. Heck, his version might even be better (I’ve not seen it for years so won’t fully commit to that opinion yet).Gene Wilder is really good, though. Shame it takes him almost half the movie to show up.
Movie comment on Raffles
badblokebob
A cracking little adventure, with David Niven suitably suave as the eponymous gentleman thief. I would happily have watched a series of these.Movie comment on No Time to Die
badblokebob
Overall, a very good Bond film. It doesn’t manage the entire-franchise-highs of Casino Royale or Skyfall, but there are some superb individual sequences. And it’s much more consistent than Spectre, and therefore a more fitting send-off — Daniel Craig goes out with a bang.Movie comment on The Kid Detective
badblokebob
Loved this — it was everything I expected it to be and more. Both an amusing extrapolation of its premise and a solid mystery in its own right, with a surprisingly moving conclusion. One part in particular gave me goosebumps, and you’ve got to love anything that can elicit such a physical reaction.Movie comment on Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
badblokebob
Ceaselessly, magnificently bizarre. The way it’s happy to just spin off onto any and all random tangents is a wonder to behold. A couple more musical numbers and it would’ve been perfect.Movie comment on Superman and the Mole-Men
badblokebob
You’ll believe a man can jump out of shot followed by a whooshing sound while people stare slack-jawed at something offscreen!Technical limitations of the era aside, this has a nice political edge, with the real villains being a mob of regular small-town Americans out for a lynching. “Obviously none of you can be trusted with guns,” says Superman, accurately, “so I’m gonna take them away from you.” If only it were that easy.
Movie comment on The Mummy
badblokebob
In many ways it's just a remix of Universal’s Dracula, but overall I actually preferred this. Karloff is superb as the antagonist; Zita Johann (and her array of skimpy outfits) makes for an appealing (and, perhaps in spite of said clothing, competent) female lead; and there’s some really atmospheric direction from Karl Freund.Movie comment on Testament of Youth
badblokebob
No doubt it’s a significant book and an important tale, but the film seems to rely on that to carry it through — the narrative comes across as episodic and the direction is a little bit TV movie. I feel like there’s a better (more dynamic, more affecting) version of this to be made.Movie comment on Spontaneous
badblokebob
Was expecting the dark comedy laughs, which it thankfully delivered; was not expecting to find it quite so emotionally effective, or if it to take a tired old aphorism and make it feel like it really meant something. For a film about teenagers popping, that’s pretty impressive.Movie comment on Baby Done
badblokebob
Pleasingly irreverent, though of course gives in to the typical “having a baby is great” sentiment by the end.Movie comment on Spielberg
badblokebob
We’re so used to Spielberg and his success (both commercial and artistic) that we take it all for granted. This doc helps remind us how revolutionary and influential — and, more often than not, of phenomenally high quality — his body of work has been.Movie comment on Uchûjin Tôkyô ni arawaru
badblokebob
This Japanese answer to The Day the Earth Stood Still is more serious-minded than you might expect if you’ve seen the quaint alien costumes, but its anti-nuclear-war message gets a bit muddled when it turns out nukes are useful, actually, and, you know what, it would be better if we had even more powerful ones. Hmm.Movie comment on Nomadland
badblokebob
Based on trailers and other comments, I was worried I'd find this a bit boring, but no, I thought it was a beautiful, deeply humane, quite powerful experience.Movie comment on The Hound of the Baskervilles
badblokebob
I’ve never thought The Hound of the Baskervilles is a very good detective mystery novel, but it is quite a good gothic adventure, which makes Hammer pretty much the perfect studio to bring it to the screen. This version doesn’t disappoint, with Terence Fisher’s direction leaning hard into that atmosphere, plus a superb cast, in particular Cushing and Morell as a fantastic Holmes and Watson. I wish they’d done a whole series starring them.Showing items 1 – 25 of 277