What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Markgway
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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The Last Witness (2018) **½
Post-war journalist uncovers truth about Soviet murder of 20,000 poles, and British cover-up.
Worthy subject deserves attention, execution's a bit flat.
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Beneath Us (2019) **
Fruitcake racists torture and murder undocumented workers in uneasy mix of satire and horror.
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Danger One (2018) *½
Frantic, violent black comedy thriller, feels like the work of Tarantino wannabes rather than real filmmakers.

Fever aka Mountain Fever (2017) *
Boring hostage thriller, filmed mostly in the dark, which may or may not be a bad thing.
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Nomads (1985) **½
If you can accept Pierce Brosnan as a French anthropologist, and a thin script (written by the director), then John McTiernan's odd urban nightmare has atmosphere to spare.
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Head of State (2003) **
Chris Rock runs for President in this simple-minded political satire.
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Bugsy (1991) ***
Charismatic gangster Ben (don't call him 'Bugsy'!) Siegel (Warren Beatty) moves out to L.A., romances mouthy starlet Virginia Hill (Annette Bening), dreams of building a lucrative hotel complex in the Nevada desert. An interesting tale, professionally made. Not a top rank genre picture, but a solid entry.
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Logan Lucky (2017) **½
Amusing crime caper, goes on a bit too long.
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Ocean's Eight (2018) **
Inert jewel heist caper with chicks instead of dicks.
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What Men Want (2019) *
Gave up on this shrill role reversal remake of the Mel Gibson comedy.
About as funny as having your windows panned in.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Kill or Be Killed (1976, South Africa/USA) Tubi - 3/5
Normally this movie would probably rate a 2 or 2.5 at most, but James Ryan has a great presence and actually looks like and looks AT you like he could realistically kick your ass, and his girlfriend Charlotte Michelle is smoking hot (in her only known movie role). Plus it’s got Nazis, Little people, and a whole lot of Martial Arts. Pretty typical story - a failed Nazi officer is putty together an ultimate team of fighters on his private island to go against his Japanese rival's team to heal his wounded ego. The other reason is my nostalgia for it. Me and my friends must have watched this 10+ times when it ran on HBO back in the early 80’s.
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The Neighbor (2018) ***
A middle-aged suburbanite (the underappreciated William Fichtner) becomes infatuated with his pretty young neighbor in this haunting, believable drama.
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Metro (1997) ***
Eddie Murphy is a hostage negotiator in this pumped-up action thriller.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Fair Game (Australia, 1986) [VoD] – 2.5/5
A pretty tame Aussie exploitationer is more of a bullying film than a human hunt film, with three semi-comical jerks harassing a lady in the wilderness. The famous scene where lead Cassandra Delaney is tied topless on a truck’s hood is cool, but that’s it for the shocks (unless you count the God-awful score). Boring it isn’t however, thanks to the action oriented approach and lead Delaney who is very watchable… and sounds shockingly much like a Japanese anime character!
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The Toybox (2017) **
Family is tormented (and slaughtered, natch) by an RV possessed by a serial killer.
Surprisingly tolerable for a good while, before it succumbs to unintentional hilarity and silly conclusion.
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Johnny English Strikes Again (2018) **
Harmless spy comedy, but barely any real laughs.
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The High Frontier (2016) **½
Polish thriller about an alpha male border guard who takes his two wimpy teen sons to work at a snowy outpost where they're joined by a suspicious intruder. A film about masculinity and what it takes to be a real man. Suspenseful, but unappealing characters keep viewer at arms length.
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American Graffiti (1973) ***
Nostalgic time capsule captures its place and time effectively with great performances and jukebox soundtrack.
George Lucas' only non-sci-fi film, and his last before becoming obsessed with Star Wars.
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Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) **½
Quentin Tarantino may be the most frustrating filmmaker in Hollywood, as evidenced yet again by this uneven, but thoroughly watchable epic tribute to an era. Most of the film dwells on episodic television, which is where Tarantino's heart lies, and the film succeeds in capturing the feel of (and his nostalgia toward) the days when every other TV show was a western. The film itself is episodic and you could remove huge chunks without affecting what little plot there is. Details aside, most of the joy is in the performances of DiCaprio and Pitt (as a highly strung, fading star and his laid back stunt double-buddy, respectively). Margot Robbie doesn't have much to do except look lovely, as Sharon Tate, and she brings an almost ethereal innocence to the tragic starlet. And herein lies the film's biggest problem. The 15-year-old boy in Tarantino will never let the mature Tarantino make a movie without his input. So, instead of a tragedy, we get an overtly comic (and uncomfortably comedic) take on the Manson family and the fateful encounter between "the hippies" and our heroes. It's no secret or spoiler to say that this isn't the true story or anything close, and isn't meant to be. But is this simple wish fulfilment fantasy or bad taste exploitation? Or both?
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Markgway wrote: 06 May 2020, 04:33 Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) **½
Quentin Tarantino may be the most frustrating filmmaker in Hollywood, as evidenced yet again by this uneven, but thoroughly watchable epic tribute to an era. Most of the film dwells on episodic television, which is where Tarantino's heart lies, and the film succeeds in capturing the feel of (and his nostalgia toward) the days when every other TV show was a western. The film itself is episodic and you could remove huge chunks without affecting what little plot there is. Details aside, most of the joy is in the performances of DiCaprio and Pitt (as a highly strung, fading star and his laid back stunt double-buddy, respectively). Margot Robbie doesn't have much to do except look lovely, as Sharon Tate, and she brings an almost ethereal innocence to the tragic starlet. And herein lies the film's biggest problem. The 15-year-old boy in Tarantino will never let the mature Tarantino make a movie without his input. So, instead of a tragedy, we get an overtly comic (and uncomfortably comedic) take on the Manson family and the fateful encounter between "the hippies" and our heroes. It's no secret or spoiler to say that this isn't the true story or anything close, and isn't meant to be. But is this simple wish fulfilment fantasy or bad taste exploitation? Or both?
I would consider that a spoiler. I was expecting a nasty massacre and I was delighted when I got to laugh my ass off (ok, maybe the clue was in the title, but anyway. It's gonna be a spoiler for Grimm at least :lol: )

The big question is, what did you think of the bloody Bruce Lee scene?!!! :lol:
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Markgway
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I didn't care for it. It's a caricature of Bruce Lee, and there's no way the real Bruce would've disrespected Ali like that. Tarantino maybe a huge fan of kung fu cinema, but he's only half as knowledgeable as he thinks he is. The scene COULD have worked, IF it had been established that the flashback was a day dream from Cliff's POV (i.e. the unreliable narrator). But that doesn't come across. And anyway, Tarantino doubled won on his bogus excuses when had the opportunity to clarify.
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Daughter of the Wolf (2019) **
Fit Gina Carano goes in pursuit of her son's kidnappers across snowy mountains.
Great scenery, everything else is meh, with second rate script and lousy action.
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21 Bridges (2019) **½
Nineties-style cops-in-pursuit action picture proves you can (almost) make them like they used to.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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'Upgrade (2018)' [Blu-Ray] 2.5/5
Entertaining Cyberpunk version of Death Wish. Tom Hardly (because the main character is a Tom Hardy look-a-like) and his bird enjoy a night out, but things go awry when their car tumbles. A bunch of evil do-ers off his bird, and left him paralyzed and wheel chair bound. But fear not Tom Hardly, there's a computer chip, that acts like Data from Star Trek but controls your muscles so it's almost like you have your movement back... wowziee. Time to deck some bad guys in the name of revenge. Dumb but funny one liners, inventive camerawork, a somewhat decent script regarding the the twist and turns. Could have been better with a bit more budget to work out the clothes or something, which i thought looked somewhat uninspired. Especially the set of mercs the main character faced, but also the scale of the sets could've used an upgrade. But overall a very satisfying film that's well paced and balanced.

'The Invisible Man (2020)' [VOD] 2.5/5
Going for a double feature here, as the director is the same as Upgrade. Elisabeth Moss does a terrific job of being the victim in a abusive relationship. One night she escape the clutches of her cunt of an boyfriend, only to have him psychological terrorize her when he found himself a way to become... THE INVISIBLE MAN. It might stir the pot with fans of the original Invisible Man IP, but I liked how it centered on the domestic abuse theme, coming from a household that kinda dealt with this certain situation, i could kinda relate to the story. I like how the film does the ending, not with a 'BOOOM' of action setpieces, but with tact and subtleness I would rarely find in todays work.

'Mandy (2018)' [Blu-Ray] 3/5
The first act feels like a Ingmar Bergman-esque character drama, a slowburner. Then the ridiculousness creeps in and the pacing ramps up a ten-fold... out is the Bergman, in is the Clive Barker-esque trash. And... it succeeds in being a mumbo jumbo of hootin' tootin' fun. Some great sets, costumes, music and Nicholas Cage performance elevates it above the average level of this sort of film. Nicholas Cage lives a quite life with his bird Mandy, a local cult leader takes a fancy in her, plays her his obscure acid folk banger and flashes her his dick. Mandy mocks the unimpressive pecker, and the cult leader enacts his wrath on the couple. After being left for dead during the raid of the cult, her boyfriend, Nicholas Tiger Cage doesn't take a liking to the situation, so it's up with the fantasy fair axe, and off with the heads. A well deserved cult hit.

'Baaghi 3 (2020)' [VOD] 0.5/5
Half a star for being so ridiculous it made me chuckle here and there. Indian rambo takes on a 'whole nation' (according to the trailer... but more like just a terrorist organisation) to save his brother and other hostages. The film is insensitive towards the situation in Syria, it stars some straight out discriminating undertones against muslims (Syrians and Pakistani's), AND FEATURES AN ANNOYING DUMB BROTHER CHARACTER WHICH IS A STAIN ON MY MENTAL HEALTH LEVEL. I hate his bloody face, everytime he turns off the light during a fight scene. Bollywood at it's worst.
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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Welcome to Bullets n Babes :D

There must be 2 more Baaghi films? Are they any better?
I haven't seen many Bollywood films, I remember seeing Indian versions of Oldboy and Reservoir Dogs
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Re: What general film/series have you just seen.. marks out of 5

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grim_tales wrote: 11 May 2020, 16:45 Welcome to Bullets n Babes :D

There must be 2 more Baaghi films? Are they any better?
I haven't seen many Bollywood films, I remember seeing Indian versions of Oldboy and Reservoir Dogs
Haha thanks... i've been a longtime lurker.

The first one kind of looks interesting if the trailer is to be believed. Looks like some kind of Game of Death setup where he has to fight his way in a tall tower to the top, with different gangs occupying each floor. But we started with the third one, since the trailer was ridiculously over the top (but all the best bits was already shown in that very same trailer)
grim_tales wrote: 11 May 2020, 16:45 I remember seeing Indian versions of Oldboy and Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs in itself... well i guess you know since we are on this forum :D
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