Saw the Taylor Swift Eras Tour movie at the behest of my sister.
It was very fun!
I wouldn’t consider myself a Taylor fan after this, but it really showed me how she’s definitely an icon, a next-level artist with immense star power, holy shit. She’s such a cool person. Fuckin’… 3-hour concert show?? Wow
She’s a bonafide rockstar for sure. I dunno if you like The 1975 but when she was dating their lead singer she showed up mid concert once and was fantastic. She pretends to drink on stage (which their lead singer is known for) and plays AntiHero and then covers one of their older songs. Lots of fun to see.
I’ve heard The 1975 is pretty popular, but wow. She shows up at their show, plays one of of her own songs, and everyone sings along to the lyrics. Crazy stuff lmao
Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child of Fire
A pretty good looking movie with some obvious Zack Snyder-isms (like a loooot of slomo), and at times decent action.
The story and characters aren’t involving. The world building is insufficient. Acting spans from bad to ok-at-best. Terrible decision to put Sofia Boutella in a position where she needs to carry the movie, because she simply cannot.
I like other music by Tom Holkenborg, but this just sounds anonymous to me.
Not as abysmally bad as Army of the Dead, but not good either.
Just saw The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. A worthy prequel that actually feels like a prequel without the need to rely solely on dropping references to the original work, but also feeling like its own standalone story. Seeing how Snow went from a privileged but open-minded member of Capitol society to the cynical, bitter, sadistic dictator we saw in the previous films was handled far more believably and satisfying than seeing how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, or how Hannibal Lecter became a cannibal, or how Cruella Deville became a fur-obsessed, animal-killing fashion queen. Definitely a must-see for any Hunger Games fan.
Right, so! Godzilla Minus One, very fun and great film!
If you’re looking for some monster action, be aware the beginning of the film serves as setup to the protagonist’s sad story and life leading up to Godzilla’s full iconic reveal.
But man! The human story in this film is very depressing and heartbreaking.
A kamikaze pilot who failed to do his duty in WW2 is wracked with guilt and shame over having survived when others died in his stead.
After taking in a random woman and child off the streets due to feeling responsible to help them, he eventually manages to help them live with him and get a job on his own – and it’s at this seafaring job that he encounters Godzilla, a constant presence he crosses paths with after that wreaks destruction and leaves very little in his wake.
And at fear of sparking tensions with other world superpowers, it is up to the Japanese people to work together and figure out a way to take down this monster terrorizing them all.
It’s got great special effects, one massive godzilla, a very touching story about honour and war, just a great watch all around. Definitely reccommend.
Now I’m imterested in how the Americans handle Godzilla since I don’t remember anything from that first movie, other than a really cheezy moment where GZ gets knocked down at the same time as the human protagonist in a fight, and they have some sort of bonding moment I guess idk
Welcome to the cult, son! Now watch: Godzilla '54 (Japanese Cut), Godzilla vs Biollante, Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, Godzilla vs Space Godzilla, Godzilla vs Destoroyah and Shin Godzilla - no particular order, they’re all great.
I’d recommend skipping Godzilla vs King Ghidorah; the time travel aspect is an absolute mess and that version of King Ghidorah, while looking imposing, is a complete wuss who does nothing without being under someone’s control and whom Godzilla basically just shot to death, twice.
Try instead Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs Megaguirus, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack, Godzilla: Final Wars, and then, back to back, King Kong vs Godzilla and Godzilla vs Kong.
@MrOchoa with the release of Godzilla: Minus one. Do you have a favourite Godzilla film? A lot of people are calling Minus one their favourite.
Yeah Minus one is pretty fantastic. Personally I think the original from 1954 is the absolute best, followed by vs Biollante and vs Destoroyah.
I really like Spacegodzillas design but the movie itself is just alright.
Shut up, the movie is worth watching just to see M-11’s impression of the Linkara Running GIF! 
Aaaand now that you’ve posted that here, no need to see the movie. Or, at least, no reason to have it on a list of priority Godzilla movies; everyone should see every Godzilla movie at least once.
I’ve been on a survival film kick the past couple of weeks, I’ll give brief rundowns.
Everest (2015): A somewhat loose depiction of the 1996 Everest disaster (Into Thin Air), where 13 people died on descent from summit. They filmed in a couple of different mountain regions for authenticity, so the presentation is pretty solid despite some noticeable cgi in a couple spots. It was a good, straightforward breakdown of what happened with minimal fluff thrown in.
In the Heart of the Sea (2015): Ron Howard film based on the Essex whaling ship disaster, where a whaling ship was stoved by a whale and the crew were forced to cannibalize each other at sea in order to survive. It’s a brutal, rough story that they unfortunately weigh down by putting too much emphasis on the whale that downed them, along with a really loud and sort of obnoxious Hollywood score. I would have preferred a more grounded take on the story, which is arguably one of the most harrowing survival stories of all time. Still not bad and worth watching since it’s the only full-fledged film based on this story, it does follow the general timeline of events well enough even if it throws in way too many dramatic flourishes for my taste.
Thirteen Lives (2022): Another Ron Howard movie, this one based on the Thai cave rescue from 2018. This was very good, no bullshit really it’s just a grounded depiction of an unprecedented rescue that everyone involved thought was near-impossible. What they collective rescue effort accomplished, specifically the divers and the doctors, is just one of the most incredible human achievements in recent history and this film is absolutely worth seeing just to witness it portrayed so realistically.
The Wave (2015): Film about a hypothetical landslide-induced-tsunami occurring in Norway, an area that apparently does have some concerning seismic activity that very well could lead to an event like this. It’s centered on a meteorologist trying to predict, and ultimately survive, an impending tsunami. Great movie, it’s grounded, scientific and emotional with really convincing effects.
The Quake (2018): Sequel to The Wave following the same protagonist, similar in concept except this is about a larger-magnitude earthquake hitting a major city directly instead of a landslide. Not quite as strong as The Wave, but it hits a lot of the same notes and takes some respectable chances beyond that. This film sort of solidified this duology as a new genre I want to call “meteorology superheroism”, it can be a little goofy at points but the way it all plays out is quite gripping.
Alive (1993): Centers on the 1972 Andes plane crash, and what the survivors had to endure for 72 days in order to make it out alive. Not much fabrication if any which is nice, it’s blunt and sort of shocking in certain areas, but it does leave out a lot of the more lurid details from the real story which does leave it feeling somewhat sanitized. There’s a new movie coming out on Netflix literally tomorrow called Society of the Snow which will be another straight depiction of this story, it’s getting great reception so I think that it’ll be worth checking out.
All is Lost (2013): Fictional story about an older man (Robert Redford) who gets his hull breached while sailing in the middle of the sea. While not based on anything specifically, it shares strong elements with many real stories of people in situations exactly like this. There’s almost no dialogue, you spend the film watching this man just try to work his situation out the best that he can.
bonus: Frozen (2010): This is not a good movie. It’s about a group of teens who get stuck on a ski-lift after closing hours. It’s a story that could have been captivating, getting stuck in a situation like that would be mind-bendingly terrifying and the chances of making it out alive really aren’t high. But the dialogue is really bad, the characters are annoying in a way that seems unintentional, and the movie treats wolves like they’re rabid murder machines rather than cautious creatures that attack humans very, very rarely. Watch this if you want something funny-bad, it is genuinely a good time in that sense.
Deliverance (1972): I’ve always known that this film was notorious for a certain shocking scene that occurs about halfway through, but that was my only exposure. Up until recently, I only knew this as “the movie where that happens” because everyone who spoke to me about the movie made such a big deal about this one sequences. And yes, it is brutal and ugly, but the film itself is excellent. It’s about four guys who go up-river on a boating trip in the southern states, and after a violent encounter with a pair of locals out in the middle of nowhere they find themselves forced to make tough decisions and fight for their survival. It’s sort of fascinating to watch, because of the extremely clear influence that it’s had on so many survival-horror movies that I’ve seen over the years. There’s a movie that came out in 2018 that I really love called Calibre that basically takes a version of this concept, twists it and stretches out the final ten minutes into something gripping and feature-length. I highly recommend both movies.
I like the Studio Ghibli films, and I sought out to watch/ rewatch several of them on Netflix throughout the later half of last year. The tremendous detail in each scene, the characters with relatable problems, even the melancholy-but-hopeful tone the films strive for, they all make for wonderful watches.
This was no exception.
The story centres around Mahito Maki, who, after losing his mother, starts to act dismissive and resentful of his Dad, Shoichi, especially as they move on with their lives and find another woman, a woman expecting to give birth soon too. Mahito learns of a tower on the grounds of his new home that he mustn’t go near. A Grey Heron actively taunts him about wanting to find his mother again, and the Heron claims that she’s still alive inside the tower. And that is all I’m saying; saying anymore and it’d be spoiling it.
I watched the English dub of this, primarily because I’m at the cinema – I want to keep reading to a minimum when not in the comfort of my own home. There’s still translation captions, of course, but nothing more than that. The dub is very well done though, like the rest of Ghibli’s films, and feature a bunch of familiar names too (Christian Bale, Dave Bautista, Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson, Gemma Chan, Mark Hamill to name the most famous names). Everyone’s performances are top-notch. Bale and Pattinson are basically unrecognisable as Shoichi and the Grey Heron respectively.
I also got to watch this on what I believe was the date of the UK’s cinema release. Safe to say, I was fairly alone and got to watch with nine other people.
It’ll probably end up on Netflix at some point, as Ghibli have exclusive rights to distribute their films there, but if this sounds like something you’ll be interested in, then you’re in for a treat. If you like any of the Ghibli films, then this is a must-watch.
the boy and the heron, saw it in japanese with english subs. wow, what an excellent fucking movie, and that’s all i’ll say on it. loved it. probably my 3rd favorite ghibli film but we’ll see how it holds up after recency bias fades
Ferrari. It’s fantastic. Driver is so so good, but I think Penelope Cruz was even better as his wife.
Good show! A true Michael Mann film; it is more about the relationships between the characters than anything else. Go see it!
Watched To Live and Die in L.A. , the late William Friedkin’s 1985 thriller about an adrenaline-junkie Secret Service agent’s (William Petersen) obsessive pursuit of the counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe) who killed his partner, endangering just about everyone he encounters along the way.
The parallels to The French Connection --complete with spectacular, brutal car chase–are apparent, even to those of us who haven’t seen it in 20 years, but L.A. is tense and fantastically acted, with massive gritty 80s vibes.
Probably not quite the classic that The French Connection is, but good enough that I’m surprised I hadn’t heard much about it before Friedkin’s death.
Plus, Wang Chung composed the sweet 80s soundtrack. 
Blues Brothers.
Despite being shot in Chicago, I hated it. I just can’t figure out how funny it was supposed to be. Sure it has a few laughs but it’s mostly just silly. Dan Akroyds Chicago accent is spot on which adds a few chuckles.
Godfather marathon!!! 1 done; I’m on part 2 now. 3 is in the queue. I’m one of those weirdos who likes 3 better than 2.
Just went to see The Boy and the Heron, Miyazaki’s latest last film and the beginning of a strange new future without him at Studio Ghibli.
I also went and saw the English Dub (since they’re usually really well-done)
It was… quite the ride! It felt very metaphorical, magical and strange. Might leave you with a lot more questions than answers when you leave the theater, at least it did for me, but I enjoyed it as a fantastical tale.
The movie starts out very slow and overall soothing with its Japanese countryside vibes, and the protagonist Mahito adapting to a new life with his new mother and caretakers.
And then when the magic gets going, it felt very Alice In Wonderland-ish.
One large part of the film features these massive anthropomorphic Parakeets who have a whole working society and search for human meat to eat. The bi-pedal bird animation for them was very well-done! They were adorable, silly, chonky, but dangerous birds as they all loved to brandish various cooking utensils. They lent some great comedy to the film.
(Plus BIRBS OOOH YEAH 
)
There’s definitely some parallels to be made with overcoming grief, Miyazaki reflecting on WW2 in his older years, the struggle of letting go of Creation… definitely more to be read from interviews with Miyazaki about this film, and also how it relates to the “How do you Live?” Book that inspired him to create this.
Plus, you’ll probably find many references or similar themes and concepts to previous Ghibli films, at least I definitely did. Feels like a great coming-together of their whole legacy.
Anyway, I’d suggest you still watch it. It was fun (and I especially enjoyed the English cast – wow, Robert Patrinson playing a crotchety, silly old Heron was very impressive vocal work)
Come for the fantasy-adventure where a young boy must go on a quest to save his family and himself, stay for the thought-provoking questions on letting go…
This is one of the most annoying and nonsensical films I’ve come across in some time.
Yes I watched it. Ninety-seven minutes later…I really wish I hadn’t.
Michael Morbius suffers from a rare disease that essentially means he has to have his blood…cleaned…every few hours. Since childhood, he has dedicated his life in finding a cure, in part motivated by his friend Milo (whose real name is Lucius, but everyone calls him Milo even as adults, which is just odd). The film tries far too hard in making Morbius come off as impossibly gifted, with praise being showered upon him (and he gracefully turns down a Nobel prize for creating artificial blood…for reasons not adequately explained).
He dissects a bat for its DNA so it can be used to replace the missing parts of his DNA his condition causes. One trip into International Waters later, and the serum he creates is injected into him, and it all goes wrong. Morbius, now a vampiric human-bat person, then proceeds to kill eight mercenaries travelling along with them and then flee the crime scene.
I’d explain more, but it just gets worse, so i’ll summarise heavily; Milo Lucius really wants this cure, Morbius tells him it’s not worth the costs, Milo Lucius takes it anyway from his lab which is oddly unguarded…despite being under police investigation. Milo Lucius wants to be evil and kill people if it means he can walk… (quick one-eighty there…). Milo Lucius kills a bunch of innocent people, the two of them fight and it all eventually culminates in a sewer battle where Morbius uses his power to control bats (No, really) to pin Milo Lucius to a wall to inject a poison into him.
And then it just kind of…ends. A new anti-hero arrives…hope you’ll like Morbius II: Morbin’ Good time!
Part of the issue with this film is that scenes just…happen, oftentimes with no build-up. The cinematography is also quite basic, and a good two thirds of the film takes place at night, making it come off as very bland colors-wise. There’s been some ADR put into post production to fill in the cracks to make the editing less erratic. Speaking of which, the CGI, while honestly not the worst I’ve seen, is sometimes misused to make slow-motion action shots that have no rhyme or reason to be there (In the subway fight, one slo-mo shot is inserted for…no reason. There’s not even any music, and it lasts less than two seconds).
Matt Smith, bless him, is the best part of this movie, giving a solid performance, all things considered. This film wasted him, and i’ll be fair to Jared here, even his acting isn’t too bad. The script just doesn’t do either of them any favours.
And, finally, we get to the Stinger, those end-credits that Marvel love doing. This pissed me off for a whole other host of reasons. For those who don’t know, this film tries to tie itself to the MCU as some miltiversal-cross-promotion, something Venom: Let There Be Carnage did with Spiderman: No Way Home, and did that a lot better, might I add.
The issue here is that the act of transporting and displacing Adrian Toomes (The Vulture from Homecoming) from the MCU to Morbius and Venoms’ universe contradicts what No Way Home establishes. The film frames the displacement of Toomes as a result of the spell Doctor Strange puts out to make everyone forget about who Spiderman is, and Strange sends people to other universes. Except…that’s not how the spell works! Anyone displaced to the MCU gets transported back to their home universe, not the reverse, so Toomes shouldn’t have been affected.
Making things worse, is that the second stinger shows the Vulture in full costume getup, as if he was ripped straight from Homecoming, which doesn’t make a lick of sense as the suit he built was made from technology salvaged from the Chitauri invasion in The Avengers (and it wasn’t just made by him either!). Vulture calls Morbius out to a field to try and team up with him to take down Spiderman (who doesn’t exist in their universe) and blames them for the sudden transportation (despite having no reason to think this!). The takes are so disjointed between Morbo and Vulto, and the ADR on Vulture so fake, that it’s distracting.
Do not watch this film. Not out of curiosity, not as a meme. Just let it die. There is a way to do cheesy films well, but Morbius just takes way too many illogical leaps of thought and never tries to give consistent characterisation to anyone but Morbius.
I’ll post a review of something else on Netflix that I watched recently that I really enjoyed (Hint: It’s currently in Netflix’s Top 10 films right now), but that comes later.
