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Billybobble1
Movies are art.
There is a distinct difference between them and I love both when treated with the proper care and attention.
Ratings
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Reviews
Poor Things (2023)
I shall try to erase this one from my memory
While I am loathe to criticise a fairly original story and something quite different from the norm, this film was definitely not for me. I'm a big fan of Stone, Ruffalo and Defoe so it pains me even more to be negative but I did not like this at all and feel tricked by the high review scores, to the point where I feel the need to leave a low score to balance it out a bit.
I was left thinking suddenly I no longer understand film for this to have scored so high.
I'm not sure why this is deemed a comedy, it is much more a horror in the conventional sense. Frequently grotesque and music designed to make you want to hit the mute button. I tried to like the style and cinematography but I just found the whole story so unpleasant as to be completely distracting.
The one thing I did find funny was the first frame saying 'CONTAINS TOBACCO REFERENCES', which is then proceeded by the opening shot of a suicide. What a bizarre world we are living in.
Drugs Map of Britain: THC Vapes (2024)
Typical BBC propaganda
THC Vapes have changed my life. Having known the prospect of them some years ago from watching videos where they are legal, I always felt they were what I needed to live a decent life. Last year I discovered how to get them and I was not disappointed. A couple of puffs and I'm good for at least an hour, calm, content, focused......happy.
I've smoked weed for decades, but it's a pretty dirty habit and one that kept me couped up inside. I smoked it for the medicinal properties, I didn't want to pour the overwhelming smell onto others, I never want to draw attention to myself thinking I'm 'cool' etc.
THC vapes are discreet, and take minimal effort to get the required dose.
This programme barely mentions this, instead focusing on spiked vapes with 'spice', which I'd heard of but knew little about. Had this episode been titled Spice vapes, I would not write this. It portrays a 'drugs are bad mmmkay' attitude, when it is not the THC vapes that are bad, it is the people who are selling counterfeit products that are known to cause harm.
I was hoping to watch this and connect with people and their experiences of how THC vapes improved their lives, but all I saw was one guy who said they worked for him, but as his mate had a bad experience with a spice vape, he was now put off by the risk of getting spiked.
Keeping cannabis illegal is the cause of this, preventing people from having access to medication they know works for them enables nefarious people to try making a quick buck at the expense of others health and wellbeing. It needs to be legal so you can obtain it from established sources. I might add though, the ability to obtain these online is a very review based system, with lots of chatter, fraudsters won't last and the cream rises to the top. If you look in the right places, the black market is actually more trustworthy than the common market, it self-regulates.
This is not crack, monkey dust etc. Which are definitely bad drugs, you can also include legal drugs which can have dire effects on the wrong person.
Don't get me wrong, nothing is perfect, it won't work for everyone, but if the research was there and a medical professional could say to me 'take two puffs, once every 2-3 hours', that would be advice I could take knowing there was reasoning behind it. As is, I take it when I want, and invariably will take too much, in that I run out faster and it costs me more money!
It feels so much 'cleaner' with a THC vape than a joint, and I can go out and mix with people. I wish I had been able to get these 20 years ago, my life would have been so much better than the secluded hermit I became.
I refuse to refer to this programme as a 'documentary' as it is not only completely biased, it misses it's own sub-title by talking about a totally different and harmful drug. It's 1920's oil barons all over again.
Having said this, it is the BBC, so should I be surprised? No.
The Creator (2023)
Realistically dumb
I don't like to give a bad review but I fel it is needed here. The 5/10 is for the production; the SFX are great, the acting decent etc. But the story, oh my.
For a movie about A. I. it does not seem to understand what the 'I' is. I really wanted to like this movie, sci-fi is my favourite genre, but within 10 mins or so there was way too much 'D' going on. I will normally plough through a movie, even if I'm not enjoying it, as I did with this, but I really felt like it was wasting my time.
It writes in problems that wouldn't be problems, and creates lame solutions for those problems, subsequently turning it into a very predictable plot. What is surprising is that this script/storyline was the final draft.
Very disappointing, it could have been so much more with better writing.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Amazing movie
Don't read reviews, just go watch it, then come back and review it. Utterly brilliant, so original and both hilarious and heart-warming. This movie is incredible and deserves all the praise.
The Core (2003)
Still one of my favourite action/sci-fi's
Okay, I am a super-harsh critic when it comes to sci-fi, it can only take one little mis-step in plot or dialogue for me to chime out. This is a movie that defies that notion.
The story is utterly absurd, bonkers out-there nonsense and yet I am accepting of it, the reason being is that it explains itself just well enough to allow me, as a viewer, to 'just go with it'. There was a line from Robert Pattinson in the film Tenet, "try not to think about it too much", things like that are a game-changer for me with these kind of exotic plotlines, it allows me to just sit back, strap in and enjoy the ride.
With The Core, there is a multitude of craziness but for me, pretty much all of it is handled in a way that does not irk me. I think the cast is stellar, as are the visuals. There's no way this deserves the 5.5 average in my opinion, which is why I'm overrating it, I think it's a solid 8/10 for a good old fashioned popcorn movie.
So here I am, 19 years after release and giving it the thumbs up as I've watched it a dozen and more times during that time, when it comes around on my 'background tv' movie playlist I invariably end up getting absorbed into watching it again (as happened today and stirring me to write a review).
If you like action/sci-fi/disaster movies, you can certainly do a lot worse than The Core, it's a very under-rated gem in my opinion.
Richard Jewell (2019)
A beautiful gem
I like to go into film and movies in the dark, all I knew was this had a stellar cast, it was about a wrongful accusation of the Atlanta bombing and a very respectable rating on IMDB.
Three quarters through I knew I would review so browsed IMDB in readiness, and then I saw Clint Eastwood was the director, 'of course' I said to myself. This is a touching and powerful story and presented as only a masterful filmmaker could. I would say I am not a huge Clint fan but his expertise is very obvious, I was feeling exactly how I believe he wanted me to feel throughout the film, without feeling this was through use of tropes, though they were there.
I am a huge fan of Sam Rockwell and yet again he delivers an amazing performance but it has to be said the true star is Paul Walter Hauser. I like to review without spoilers and I will keep to this, suffice to say having only a very brief knowledge of the real person he portrayed he seems almost indistinguishable.
This film is a fantastic example of where I like to differentiate between film and movie, this is very much a film, and of the highest caliber, genuine emotions and thoughts felt throughout. This is why I don't do spoilers, watch it and feel your own feelings without pre-judgement, just know if you love film you will very much appreciate this story and it's production. The other cast members are also excellent in their performance, it's probably reasonably well known, but the man Eastwood is an auteur and really gets the most of his actors, as proven here.
I must admit, the loose information I had going in I thought I may enjoy it and probably only watch once. I enjoyed it much more than I thought, I may still only ever watch once but it will stick with me for a very long time and I feel wiser from the experience, that's film. My hats off to all involved in the production.
It would be great to explore details, but again, I stick to spoiler free reviews, so do yourself a favour and give this a watch, there's definitely some conversation to be had amongst friends, colleagues and family over this.
Halt and Catch Fire (2014)
Too short but just the right length
Being a child of the 80's and 90's I really enjoyed watching this and questioning myself if it was based on reality, to a degree I think some of it could be though I have not fact checked. It very much feels like it could be a true story.
Regardless of the above, this is a fairly unique story and I love that, if you have any interest in technology and recent history you should enjoy this. If you enjoy tight scripts and interesting characters, you should enjoy this. I found it from the high ratings and acknowledging the renaissance period AMC have had with quite a few shows, this is one of them. I think it's entirely possible a viewer could miss the subtleties that make this above average, I have no doubt that if I watched the series again I would find many other layers I missed the first time.
It features an absolute stellar cast and the characters actions and motivations are believable, and portrayed exquisitely. My instinct is to say if you enjoy technology you will very much enjoy this series, but I would like to objectively think it stands out as just a great series and story. I very much appreciate series' that don't overstay their welcome, if I was to be really critical I would have liked a couple more episodes purely because I enjoyed the characters so much. In reality I much prefer a complete story and I feel this managed it in only four series, well worth watching.
Admittedly I am writing this review at least a year after binge watching all four series, it has pleased me to see quite a few of the cast in high profile roles (it took me way too long to realise who played Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy, and I'm normally really good at that kinda game).
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Tarantino's Magnum Opus
As years pass and I get older, when speaking to people many years my younger and inevitably getting to the topic of movies and film, this is always the first one I enquire if they have watched, and also inevitably demand it is the next thing they watch.
It remains possibly the most entertaining script to cross genres, I don't feel you can really pigeon-hole this to a genre, it has a bit of everything. It's one of a select few films you wish you could watch again for the first time, but watching it for a second, third, eighth, tenth time... it still feels fresh and still makes you laugh.
The casting is just spot on, and the performances across the board are so memorable, even the bit-parts. I have watched this so many times I could probably recite the entire dialogue with a high degree of accuracy. As many a good film I have seen I would be hard pressed to state a better script, I can't think of many, if any lines of dialogue that don't need to be there. That is an outstanding achievement.
On top of this there's also the awesome soundtrack, when I first saw this I can't say I had heard any of the tracks before, subsequently it was one of the first soundtracks I bought the CD. As with Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino's choice of music was incredibly effective for the vibe of the film.
There is some violence but it is not gratuitous and adds to the story. Now stop reading this and go watch it.
Interstellar (2014)
The things we love most, hurt us the most
I believe Christopher Nolan is possibly the best director around at present, and I love space/science fiction. I try very hard to go into films blind, knowing as little as possible. To say I was looking forward to this is a massive understatement, which probably is why I feel more critical over it than just passing it off as a mediocre movie, it is not.
I had to watch it a second time to change my view from abysmal to, okay, it has some merits, but it ain't the story!
Honestly I think my highlight to this film is the soundtrack, Hans Zimmer proves once again what a powerhouse he is in creating visual splendour out of sound. An absolute master in his craft.
Visually it's also relatively stunning and has some intriguing concepts. Besides this though, I just didn't buy it, it was too unbelievable and all I heard before watching was how it was supposed to be accurate, or as accurate as is perceptible. I appreciate this was a big movie with the aim of appealing to a large audience, but how some of the script has to explain to the audience what is going on was just a massive fail for me and completely took away my immersion.
I wanted to like this movie so much, I've tried watching it multiple times, I just don't. It has all the right ingredients for a sumptuous cake but it's like they forgot to put the filling in and it's just sponge, nice sponge, but not a sponge you would later tell your friends about, or post on social media (if that's your thing).
I could point out specifics but they would be spoilers and I try to maintain spoiler free reviews. If you are interested in watching I would still very much say yes go for it, there's every chance you may think my review is unfair. I am definitely right about the soundtrack though, that is exceptional.
Gravity (2013)
Amazing cinematography
First off, don't watch this for the plot, it's ridiculous! Get passed that and accept this as a movie, not an accurate portrayal of space travel and it's highly enjoyable. I am very demanding in what I require for 'space' films, especially if they sell themselves as 'possible' or 'realistic'.
Having said this I went into Gravity with an open mind and despite the numerous and many inaccuracies, I really enjoyed it. It's a roller-coaster ride with outstanding visuals and a nice touching element of humanity. A fine example of when the content does not have to be too strong when all the elements around it to piece it together are so visually and audibly stunning.
As a gamer, it is often said good graphics do not make a good game, this movie proves that statement does not apply to cinema.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
A timeless classic
When this released one year before the Moon landings, the timeline was plausible, unfortunately popular interest in space travel diminished as did its funding.
It is difficult to quantify the mastery in film-making that this encompasses, there is good reason Kubrick is regarded so very highly. Make no mistake this film is not for everyone, it requires patience and thought. By the end, you will probably be left confused, and admittedly I still am somewhat unsure of the ending but I do not seek for it to be explained. I prefer the confusion, it allows for my thoughts to be provoked and to draw my own conclusions, this is a good thing and successful outcome of fantastic film crafting.
When you stare at the credits and try to comprehend what you have just seen, for me, that is a truly great film. In context though, this is only relevant when the build up to the finale is so perfect and for this particular film, so accurate in its portrayal of events leading to it.
It's astonishing to think this is now over 50 years old, it still very much holds up as it was so grounded in realistic foresight. If you allow it around 20 years grace because of the de-funding of space travel you will find it will still hold up in most aspects for another 10 years or more.
2001: A Space Odyssey has been the benchmark for all space/science-fiction for me having first seen it at around age 12-13 back in 1992-93, it still has no competition in that regard.
Blade Runner (1982)
9.5/10
In 1927 there was Metropolis, 55 years later there was Bladerunner. In my mind these are the two most influential sci-fi films ever made.
(*Disclaimer, yes Alien, yes Star Wars, my thoughts on the above are based on a possible reality (yes, I know Bladerunner is now set in the past!!))
Not my greatest review ^ but this is one of my all-time favourite films.
Blade Runner (1982)
9.5/10
In 1927 there was Metropolis, 55 years later there was Bladerunner. In my mind these are the two most influential sci-fi films ever made.
(*Disclaimer, yes Alien, yes Star Wars, my thoughts on the above are based on a possible reality (yes, I know Bladerunner is now set in the past!!))
Not my greatest review ^ but this is one of my all-time favourite films.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Highly enjoyable
I didn't know what to expect going in to this but being a child of the 80's it quickly established itself with a great soundtrack and a very light-hearted approach.
From there it was just a great, fun movie and took very little time to like all the characters. I have seen maybe 10 movies in 3D and in that respect I found this the best 3D movie I have watched. That's a minor point, this movie made me laugh, smile and care for the characters. At the end I felt thoroughly satisfied.
The only downside was it meant the sequel would always struggle to match it.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
A beautiful finale to a long running story arc
To be fair there has been a lot of build up story and character development movies to this, but what a payoff. Will there ever be such reward for the audience that has followed the journey? I find it hard to believe. If there ever is I hope to experience it in my lifetime.
With Infinity War to complement this main story-line, the audience is given an absolute treat. I am grateful to have followed this journey since 2008 and avoided all spoilers. Put simply, in my opinion, if you have seen all the preceding MCU movies, Infinity War and Endgame are the best action/superhero movies ever.
Triple Frontier (2019)
Good action film
Seeing other review scores I may be a little over generous with this score, but I went into this knowing zero plot and found I really enjoyed it. Yeah it can be a bit unrealistic in places, but it's a movie not a documentary.
If you're looking for an action movie to pass a couple of hours this one is decent.
The Lighthouse (2019)
4:3 and B&W
I'll be honest, I switched off after 7 minutes, I found the 4:3 and black and white way too distracting to give any attention to the film. 5/10 as it has Willem Defoe. Maybe I'll try again sometime but it's way to pretentious combining old formats just because you can't figure out lenses and filters for modern cinema.
Flight of the Navigator (1986)
Best kids film ever
This film gave me an extra mark on what was something equivalent to a SATs test when I was 9 because I knew what the word 'impregnable' meant. It was a delight watching this over and over as a child and still holds up to this day.
The soundtrack is fantastic and still gives me goosebumps, I only need see an image related to the film and the music plays in my head, it's so upbeat and I think, still sounds fresh.
In summary, if you hate your kids, don't let them watch this.
Universal Soldier (1992)
Classic 90's action
I may have some nostalgic bias towards this, firstly I was a teen when it came out and also I was and still am a fan of Jean-Claude.
That being said I still feel this has it's merits, it's an action movie with a splurge of sci-fi. As I write I am struggling to think of another movie that has done the government 'super soldier' programme in such a memorable way, back in the days of VHS and less choice I did watch this many times.
The plot is not too far out there to get behind and I think most of the cast, even the small parts add their worth to the story. It's not really cheesy and is even quite gritty, Dolph Lundgren is very convincing as a scary dude you would not want to cross paths with (at the time I remember his portrayal of a religious nut bad guy in Johnny Mnemonic being THE scariest bad guy I had seen, maybe I might change my mind if watched again but I don't remember that movie being any good!).
Back in the day I thought this movie was great, admittedly it has been some years since I watched it last but I would watch it again no question. To this day I still find myself quoting some of Dolph's lines and there are some gems as only action movies from the 80's and 90's could achieve.
"It's EMPTYYYY" he cheerfully states while attempting to shoot one of the characters, and also "See, they're everywhere" after calmly and casually shooting four men. This film had humour, but it was dark, dark humour, it was Dolph's performance that provided this.
This also had a great final scene line delivered by JVD, which I will not spoil. If you like action movies and have yet to experience Universal Soldier I do thoroughly recommend giving it a go, you will probably be surprised.
Stay away from the sequels though.
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
CGI first, story second
One thing I have to say about this movie is in the opening scene, some characters look like they did from T2, the sfx for that small scene are incredible, just incredible.
Now moving on, I am a fan of the Terminator fiction, it's been a slowly sliding scale since the first one but I have never felt appalled by the sequels, not like the Predator sequels (apart from Predators which was okay). It is true you do have to let a lot of storytelling slide to not be offended their continuation of the franchise.
Unfortunately the longer this movie continued the harder it gets to accept the story it is trying to tell. For visuals it is pretty spectacular but as a keen gamer, good graphics do not equal a good game.
I try to go into movies with as little knowledge as possible and I was surprised to see James Cameron's name in the credits as a writer. I would imagine the holes in the story were known in the production but were glossed over by trying to immerse the viewer in the action and explosions, I would say they were moderately successful in this respect. These days I kind of accept a movie like this will be style over substance, it's a shame and review scores reflect this. If it makes money though don't expect this to change. The cynical side of me thinks having a hispanic flavour is to appeal to a wider audience regardless of if the story is up to par. I think ericck90 did a good summary with his 3/10 review 'We did this'. Like Judgement Day, this kind of production is inevitable.
The first two minutes is well worth watching just for the jaw dropping effects, beyond that I stand by 6/10, you can watch it but you'll soon forget it.
It Chapter Two (2019)
Much better than expected
I am in no means a fan of modern horror movies and not really a fan of horror in general, if ghosts or the paranormal are involved I check out or don't even check in. There are exceptions, an obvious one being The Shining.
I had seen and read a general dislike to this movie upon release but I have seen the original, and the recent remake of the first part so inevitably I was going to watch this. To my surprise I actually quite enjoyed it and I would normally be a prime contender to berate at the first opportunity. I thought it was good fun, though maybe that is not the soundbite you want from a 'scary' movie.
I'm not sure I've ever been affected by jump scares, I just don't react to them, for me there was only one in this movie and it was obviously on it's way (ballon, bed, asylum), but nonetheless it was some of the imagery I enjoyed, that skit being one. The old lady I thought was fantastic.
It's against the norm for me but I thought the humour was actually funny, I've definitely seen supposed comedies with much fewer laughs, I didn't feel this detracted from the 'horror' as 'horror' films don't really exist anymore. I was along for the ride and that's no small feat for me and this genre.
The most horrifying scene is probably the opening scene, beyond that I generally liked most of the cast so it was somewhat irreverent to me how their journey's progressed as mentioned, I was onboard for the ride.
It's a long movie but I felt it moved along at a decent pace, I can understand some of the criticisms, this could have had a much darker tone though I watched the original IT for the first time only a short time before the release of the first part of the remake, I can only really remember the second half of the original being ridiculous any way. I barely remember the first part of the remake ....but in this ....that old lady, that's going to stay with me for a while.
Overall I think if you go into this with an open mind it's generally quite enjoyable, a bit silly and a bit sick. I think I will leave it there reiterating my words above 'good fun'.
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (2018)
Watch Koyaanisqatsi instead
The subject matter for this documentary is very serious, and it should make you angry, I was angry, but at the film not the topic.
It starts at an incredibly slow pace, very little dialogue and the names of the locations seemingly camouflaged into the background and easy to miss. Only 10 minutes in I checked to see what the runtime was, 1hr 26m, that's nothing but boy did I feel this was going to go slowly, and it did.
So to get to why this makes me angry, the narrator sounds half asleep, even sounding like she's given up on life or the planet itself already. Just reeling off depressing numbers about things that may or may not be true, there's just no authority here, and that's the problem.
To paraphrase a quote from the astronaut Edgar Mitchell 'Look at that, you son of a *beehive*.' referring to seeing the planet as a whole for the first time and how precious it is to us. That is the attitude that needs to be adopted.
I care deeply about the health of our planet and this documentary, if anything made me care less. We should be told off, scolded for our lackadaisicalness. Not here. While it can be said some of the imagery tells the story of a thousand words, I only felt that from a few shots and it could have been presented in a much more engaging and informed way. Some of the shots looked pretty, but it was difficult to grasp exactly what I was looking at and indeed the relevance. I'm sure the camera crew enjoyed the task of their busman's holiday jetsetting around the globe to show us the damage idle humans are causing.
The film did give me an audible 'wtf!!!?' moment, I even repeatedly said it aloud to myself, but this was to the discovery of a church in Africa that was built to accommodate one million people!!!
That blew my mind, and to see the Africans' unrelenting will to be happy despite horrible jobs and blinkered belief in fairy tales that only assist in the destruction of their lands via their incredible talent to carry things on their heads.
I should have felt ashamed after watching this, embarrassed at what is happening to our planet but mainly I was left slightly awestruck by some of the incredible engineering used to bring about this destruction. Unfortunately I feel this was a very weak effort; the type of person like myself to watch this will gain no new knowledge or understanding, and the type of person who would be less receptive to the hard truths will be so bored there is no way they will watch to conclusion.
If this was made in an attempt to try and open people's eyes to what we have become and the need to learn to apply the brakes and work smarter, great. If this was made to convince the world of science to collectively admit we are at a new epoch.... write a scientific paper!! This was not the latter I feel, far from it.
As said in the heading, the seminal Koyaanisqatsi achieved so much more, with no dialogue and no words on screen. It's 38 years old but equally relevant today as it was then, watch it and ignore this.
As a footnote I would like to say obviously the quote further up did not use the word 'beehive'; this childish obsession with censoring words is analogous to humanity's stupidity to ignore real world problems.
6 Underground (2019)
4 stars for the cast trying to make a film
Why is michael bay still allowed to make movies?
Why is michael bay still allowed to make movies?
Why is michael bay still allowed to make movies?
Apparently my review was too short.
1917 (2019)
Required viewing for lovers of film
I think I have said in at least one other review, I don't like giving 10/10 as a review score, but some films just deserve it, and in my opinion this is one of those.
I also don't like to give any plot lines or any hint at the film itself, it's called 1917, it's based around WW1, that's all you need.
The cinematogrophy is outstanding, the acting sublime. This film does not get in it's own way, I was totally absorbed on every level. Just watch it.
The Matrix (1999)
A Masterpiece
20 years ago as I left the cinema from watching The Matrix, I was pissed off, it was an odd sensation and feeling. I had gone to see what I thought would be an action movie with some state of the art special effects, and kung fu.
I was pissed off because I was not at all prepared for such an amazing, intelligent and intricate story, to this day arguably one of the best in modern cinema and storytelling.
I am reticent to ever call this a science-fiction film, the 'sci' yes, but the 'fi', well, if you have seen this film you will understand.
This film set new standards in so many areas, I could write pages over so many small facets but I like to keep reviews fairly short. If you have any interest in film this is required viewing, it's as simple as that.