Films I watched this week (Vol 2)

[irocfan]

Brother D said:

Venom

Not sure what happened to the marketing for this - did anyone even see any? Honestly a refreshing change to the avengers type releases we've seen, maybe leans towards deadpool, but without the slapstick and a bit darker.

I really enjoyed it as did the missus who didn't fall asleep, which is about the highest praise a film can ever get.

Hardy plays the role pretty well, and probably what helps the film is the absence of 'A' list stars.

agree with all of the above. I did enjoy the dark humour - HOWEVER, there were a couple of CGI scenes where (IMO) it didn't hang together too well riot and venom scrap near the rocket, and it really should have been made as an 18. I also I like the fact that Marvel has got some involvement

Overall a riot of a film,


PS the first stinger is quite good, the 2nd really depends on if you're interested in the animated Spider-Man that comes out later this year (is quite funny though)

[daddy cool]

ESOG said:

How many of you have seen RESCUE DAWN with Christian Bale?

Yep, once, many years back - good movie.
"Empty what is full, fill what is empty, scratch where it itches"

Talking of war movies, I watched Black Hawk Down last night, again after a 10+ year gap. Forgot how exhausting 2.5 hours of machine gun fire is!
Also forgot how many famous (or at least well known) actors are in it - even Jaime Lannister from GoT and Phil Dunphy from Modern Family!

[ben5575]

Ali2202 said:

Molly's Game is great!

The extra edge of a true-story always helps. Chebtastic at times!

Yep, I really enjoyed (the chebtastic) Molly's game too.

[Halb]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

I used to be quite a Star Wars fangirl, but I am so done with Star Wars right now. We simply don't need a backstory film for every character. Part of Han Solo's charm was his shady past, alluded to by little snippets of conversation in the original films. We don't need to be explicitly shown it.

current hollywood writers really don't get esoteric characters. Hence the boba fett film, and I think even obi-wkanobi would be damaged by explaining away all his free time too. Accepting that those films are now probably dead in the water.

[ukaskew]

irocfan said:

should have been made as an 18.

It was a very, very light 15 (or more importantly, PG-13 in the US), and like The Meg I'd suggest the box office performance fully justifies them sticking to the lower US rating.

An 18 in the UK is basically graphic torture or sexual violence these days, a 15 should be more than enough for a bloody, violent superhero film, but then films aren't made with the BBFC in mind. Red Sparrow is a 15, that would be at the extreme other end of the 15 scale compared to Venom to put it mildly.

[irocfan]

ukaskew said:

irocfan said:

should have been made as an 18.

It was a very, very light 15 (or more importantly, PG-13 in the US), and like The Meg I'd suggest the box office performance fully justifies them sticking to the lower US rating.

An 18 in the UK is basically graphic torture or sexual violence these days, a 15 should be more than enough for a bloody, violent superhero film, but then films aren't made with the BBFC in mind. Red Sparrow is a 15, that would be at the extreme other end of the 15 scale compared to Venom to put it mildly.

I'd love to see some "director's cut" bluray of these as a full on blood 'n' violence version. IMO Venom really would suit that (though you are correct WRT the box-office)

[mintybiscuit]

Bullett said:

6 Days
Netflix thing on the Iranian Embassy Siege.
Quite interesting, I remember it happening but was under 10 so no details. It's not all gung-ho look how good our boys are taking several angle. No idea on the accuracy or how much was made up but a decent film, well made.
7.8/10

Thanks for that. I really enjoyed it

My first offerings on this thread are both from Adelade film festival.

The Snowtown Murders. Based on true life events.

Bad Boy Bubby. VERY odd and dark comedy.

Google them first if you are easily offended

[ajprice]

Venom. It's a good fun one, not sure why it's a 15 really, could very easily be a 12 if they wanted it to, but as said already, a full on 18 version would be good. I went in ignoring the lack of Spiderman and Marvelverse links and backstory (one line made me laugh though 'So sound is it's kryptonite?' ) . It looked like Tom Hardy had fun doing the part, I had fun watching it, job done.

As for critics reviews...

[SydneyBridge]

On rotten tomatoes, venom is 30% from critics and 89% for non critic people who have watched it

[phazed]

SydneyBridge said:

On rotten tomatoes, venom is 30% from critics and 89% for non critic people who have watched it

Loook at , Man On Fire. Very similar score, critics slated it, gen public loved it, (good film actually).

Take critics reviews with a pinch of salt.

[Cold]

Another Venom viewer here. I think half the problem is going to these types of movies knowing something about the comics or the stories. I'd never even heard of Venom up until the first snippets of trailers started a while back. The same scenario with the bulk of the rest of the Marvel/DC type stuff.

This really helps when watching the films. You go in completely fresh with no preconceived ideas about anything or any loyalty to what the storyline or characters "should" be and just enjoy what's dished up on screen.

And to that end I had fun with tonight's showing. I liked the humour and the light-hearted way in which the violence was dished out. Sometimes it's ok to eat someone's head as long as it's done with a funny line or moral lesson. Eddie and the parasite bonded emotionally as well as physically and I enjoyed the contradiction of that.

8 symbiotes out of one space canister.

[justin220]

A Star is Born

I actually really enjoyed this. Lady Gaga was superb in it! I haven't seen any of the originals, but thought this was a solid 7/10. Slightly too long for me

Megan Leavey

Story was excellent, but it never really gripped me the way I expected it to. 6/10

Molly's Game

Also enjoyed this one, another 7/10 for me

[ESOG]

Cold said:

Another Venom viewer here. I think half the problem is going to these types of movies knowing something about the comics or the stories. I'd never even heard of Venom up until the first snippets of trailers started a while back. The same scenario with the bulk of the rest of the Marvel/DC type stuff.

I am not knocking you, i am genuinely curious as to how you have never heard of Venom before?

[ukaskew]

ESOG said:

I am not knocking you, i am genuinely curious as to how you have never heard of Venom before?

I hadn't either. Never read comics growing up so was only really aware of the top tier mainstream characters. I also don't watch trailers or read any movie news these days as I like to go in as fresh as possible.

phazed said:

Take critics reviews with a pinch of salt.

Or, accept that a critical review can only ever be a personal review, so try and find a critic you generally have similar taste to and 'trust' their reviews over any others. I'm not sure what people are implying when they point out massive differences between critic and audience reaction, it would be a slippery slope indeed if critics tried to second guess the mainstream audience reaction.

I also think it's possible to enjoy an average film, but that still doesn't make it a good film from a critical perspective. I actually quite enjoyed The Predator, but I'm under no illusion that it was a good or even coherent film, in fact it's a complete mess by any objective measure.

Critics can watch anything up to 3 or 4 films per day, so I can see why a relatively generic superhero movie might bore them. Even if you loved the film it would be hard to argue that it didn't have a very generic origin story structure, a 90s-esq muddy CGI blur of a final boss battle or some criminally underused talent (Michelle Williams).

Edited by ukaskew on Wednesday 10th October 05:09

[Cold]

ESOG said:

I am not knocking you, i am genuinely curious as to how you have never heard of Venom before?

Never been into the whole comic book thing. Batman was Adam West, Spiderman was a crappy cartoon on Saturday mornings that made He-Man look like a hi-def production. Iron Man was a recent movie made like a real-life hybrid cartoon Transformers thingy casting a washed up actor in the lead role and was bound to be a bit rubbish, wasn't it? So my point of reference is somewhat different to long term fans of the genre.

I don't get all the nuances of the current crop of DC/Marvel stuff and I'm sure that there are many references that go right over my head, but watching each movie on an individual or standalone basis is enjoyable enough. I'm not sure I'm convinced that they all need to be linked in some obscure or obvious way but I guess it keeps the hardcore nerds fans happy.

[Langweilig]

Arrival. Are the aliens peaceful or or they planning to take over the world? Did something get lost in translation? The film was okay but not "The best sci-fi movie ever".

[generationx]

ESOG said:

I am not knocking you, i am genuinely curious as to how you have never heard of Venom before?

I hadn't before the trailers either.

[toasty]

generationx said:

ESOG said:

I am not knocking you, i am genuinely curious as to how you have never heard of Venom before?

I hadn't before the trailers either.

Me either

[Antony Moxey]

I’m genuinely curious as to why people think that because they’re familiar with something then everyone else must be too. I’m another who’s never heard of venom and aside from seeing it mentioned on this thread I’m still not entirely sure as to who or what Venom is.

[phazed]

Antony Moxey said:

I’m genuinely curious as to why people think that because they’re familiar with something then everyone else must be too. I’m another who’s never heard of venom and aside from seeing it mentioned on this thread I’m still not entirely sure as to who or what Venom is.

X2