Aladdin. Not a patch on the animated version. The only thing better was Princess Jasmine who was a bit more fleshed out this this version. Naomi Scott was fantastic in the role and has by far the best voice in the film. Will Smith is just doing Will Smith which is not all bad, but unfortunately he was never gonna be as good as Robin Williams. What made the performance special was Williams ability to ad lib a lot of the stuff. I never got that from Smith in this version. Aladdin, Jafar and the rest of the cast were just a bit bland, and some of the dancing in the musical numbers looked strange. Just go watch the original.
Life is more fun when you help people succeed, instead of wishing them to fail.
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
Apollo 11: pretty good, but I went through a period of reading/watching anything I could to do with the mercury/Gemini/Apollo missions. I was much more impressed with the documentary In The Shadow of the Moon - the interviews are great, I’m a massive fan of Michael Collins.
Dragged Across Concrete: certainly worth a watch, I thought Mel Gibson was pretty cool in this. Not as gnarly as Brawl in Cell Block 99.
Midsommar: watched with a friend who hadn’t seen it, not so good second time round but I love this film. Whatever the girls name is who plays Dani is great.
@Arugula I haven’t seen Dark Fate yet, but honestly I kinda enjoyed even Genisys on some levels for what it was. I doubt it’ll hold a candle to T1 and T2 but I’m sure it’ll have its moments.
@LN78 no but that sounds interesting, I don’t have Apple TV and don’t plan on getting it but hopefully, if it’s an exclusive, it’ll become available elsewhere over time..?!
@nessisonett yeah I saw an advert for that the other day, assumed it was only for iPhones purchased recently - mines Jan 19, maybe I can still get it though. I’ll take a look.
Watched Withnail and I. I had been recommended it many times by the sort of friend that wears a beret at a jaunty angle and you really aren’t sure how and why you’re still friends. Basically Jason Schwartzman from Rushmore. Anyway, the movie was pretty good and I can see why the ‘alternative’ (read: pretentious) crowd would be into it. I’d give it a mild to decent recommendation.
I saw the trailer for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie while watching the Super Bowl.
I’m a little surprised to say... it doesn’t look as awful as I was expecting. (Faint praise, I know) but given its rocky production, I thought it would be worse. I might actually watch it, like on Netflix in a year or two. 😄
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@RogerRoger I thought of you when I saw the advertisement, and wondered if you were planning to see it. Silly me, what I should have wondered was if you were going to be there opening day or not. Looks like not only opening day, but opening hour! I hope it delivers for you and I look forward to hearing your impressions. 😄
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Might go watch Birds of Prey later this week. Initial reviews are good it seems.
Also, thought Uncut Gems was great. Found it hard to watch at first because it was quite frenetic and chaotic with multiple characters talking all at the same time but eventually got use it. Both Sandler, the movie and maybe even the actress who played Julia should've been nominated for Oscars, imo.
@RogerRoger Ah, yes - Edge of Tomorrow is an under appreciated gem. The video game-like respawn process resonates so well. Glad you enjoyed it. As you say, it was nice to see Cruise in a role where he’s quite fallible, cowardly, and non-heroic.
Blunt is also great in A Quiet Place, and I’d definitely recommend that if you can stomach the light horror aspects (it barely classifies as a horror show, definitely more of a thriller, but is quite tense so beware). I haven’t seen her version of Mary Poppins but I hear it was good as well.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@RogerRoger Dark Phoenix is rather bad. I'd put it as bad as Apocalypse I think.
In other movie news, I finally got to see a film I only discovered a few weeks ago through a video essay about Streets of Rage (the link is tenuous), and that film is Streets of Fire.
How it passed me by all these years I cannot say, but none of my IRL friends seem aware of it either.
It was a big budget box office bomb released in 1984; billed as a 'rock & roll fantasy' and from the writers and director of The Warriors and 48 Hours - it had all of the elements in place to be a huge success. Costing a whopping $14m and only taking a NA box office of $8m for its entire run, (by contrast, Star Trek III-which opened at the same time took $34m its first weekend) the film washed out and the plans for a trilogy and seemingly the career of lead Michael Paré were shelved.
After I'd seen it mentioned, I tracked down the trailer and knew I had to see it!
I was gifted the basic dvd in case it wasn't worth getting the blu ray, suffice to say, I will definitely be getting the blu ray for the remastered 5.1 audio!
I enjoyed Streets of Fire immensely. Its the sort of film that I'd have liked to have seen growing up and been entertained but perhaps a bit confused by (like Buckaroo Bonzai). The alternate neon infused 50s setting is beyond compelling, and the mostly Ry Cooder soundtrack - combining bits of 80s power ballads, early rock n roll vocal styling and even a bit of rockabilly is excellent.
Unfortunately, while the audio and visuals absolutely shine, the script isn't the best. Which is a shame for a story that is chock full clichés and needs something serviceable to tie the amazing production together.
Most of the performances are fine, some are fantastic, like 18 year old Diane Lane, extra creepy young Willem Dafoe and Rick Moranis playing against type, but Michael Paré often comes across flat. He hadn't done much work at that point, and is on record as saying he was massively overwhelmed by the immense 'Hollywoodness' of the production. The role was offered around, most notably to Tom Cruise - who I think would've had a ball in the part, but he was already contracted elsewhere.
Anyway, I absolutely recommend it. Easy to see why what is essentially a bit of a musical with a wierd setting and relative unknown as lead would get lost on release in 1984 (Ghostbusters, The Terminator, Star Trek III, Beverly Hills Cop, Temple of Doom, The Never Ending Story, Gremlins, Police Academy, Footloose...) - but it still does amaze me that I'd never heard of it.
@KALofKRYPTON I need to give that a watch. I love The Warriors and that looks like it but with the camp dialled up to 11. Could be a laugh at the very least!
The soundtrack is on Spotify. It's really something! There's a song sung by Marilyn Martin called Sorcerer. If I remember the credits properly it was written by Stevie Nicks, and is arguably better than quite a lot of her solo releases!
PSN: KALofKRYPTON (so you can see how often I don't play anything!)
Twitter: @KALofKRYPTON (at your own risk, I don't care if you're offended)
"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker
@LN78 And the Venom movie changes from having more horror elements that it did.
If anyone wants to see a horror superhero film, just watch Brightburn. Not perfect by any means, but certainly quite effective at what it sets out to do.
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