Ork1927

Wales looked like they were going to get annihilated by Croatia who should have been out of sight at half time.

 

But second half they improved a bit and hung on in there and just managed to equalise in stoppage time!

5 minutes ago, ZOK said:

Yes, I think there are probably plenty of reasons why someone wouldn’t give if full marks, but afterward I sat there thinking ‘what else could I ask for from a film?’ 

 

It was very close to 5 for me and a film I'll show the family at some point so it could go up.

 

 

I saw it yesterday and loved it.

 

It stretches suspension of disbelief well past breaking point a lot of the time, it is quite silly in places and the CGI is occasionally a little ropey, but I just really enjoyed the never ending orgy of over the top Gun-Fu.  I didn't find it too samey, but I appreciate it could be seen as a bit repetitive, but I was never remotely bored.

 

First 20/25 minutes is mainly plot and then its three massive over-the top, super loud, lengthy action strings of scenes with little breaks for a bit of plot.  Plenty of great kills and 'ouch/oof' moments.

 

I went in thinking why is this nearly 3 hours and came out thinking why wouldn't it be nearly three hours.

 

I think I'd happily sit through it again at the cinema next week if a mate wanted to go.

On 12/03/2023 at 09:53, ZOK said:

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom - 5/5 (Bristol Watershed)

 

Fancy city boy Ugyen is a teacher and lazy little shit, living it up in Bhutan’s capital city (pop.100,000). The government send him to Lunana (pop.46) as part of their programme to achieve Gross National Happiness by educating every child. The school in Lunana is the most remote in Bhutan, and probably the world.

 

I can’t give this anything other than five stars, even though it’s a retread of a threadbare story (fish out of comfortable water finds his truth in harsh simplicity) with a five minute ending sequence that is almost a clunker. It’s just so spectacularly beautiful and lovely that it’s a perfect film. Every single scene is a delight, save for the very end. And even that had me welling up.

 

 

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom

 

I watched this yesterday as part of a 4 film cinema day out.

 

I don't think I'll go 5/5, but it was 4.5/5 and I'll strongly agree with Zok's review.  Would have happily spent a lot longer in Lunana or treking to it.  On the ending

 

 

 

 

Rye Lane

 

A very funny and charming rom-com which mainly takes place across one afternoon/evening in South London between a couple who meet in the toilets of a gallery opening.

 

The two leads were very likeable, the dialogue was funny and sharp and it was visually imaginative and quite trippy at times.  Only 82 minutes long. Great stuff.

 

4/5

 

Allelujah 

 

I almost want to start a whole thread for this, but only because of the WTF third act plot point.

 

So this is the story of a elder care hospital under threat of closure with Judi Dench and David Bradley as patients and Jennifer Saunders as a long serving sister who is getting a medal and Russel Tovey as a Management consultant working for the government.

 

Its not very good, but its very pro NHS and anti government so while its not a great film, its got a good message to the extent that one of the leads is an Asian doctor who is doing a voice over saying how important the NHS is and how we don't treat the elderly well and at one point Russel Tovey kicks off at the wanker Tory Health minister and does a whole speech about how they are destroying the NHS.

 

So 2/5, but up to 2.5 stars for the message except (spoiler for third act plot point) that drops this to 1/5

 

 

Finally

 

I'll post in the main thread, but 

 

John Wick 4.

 

Stupid, over the top, never ending violence - loved it.

 

4/5

 

 

 

 

 

Bet it has NFTs or at least ALL the micro transactions.

Saw this yesterday - I like the first one quite  lot, and along with Suicide Squad 2, its the only two DCU films I've been happy to rewatch (I liked Wonder Woman, but that terrible CGI ending and the terrible sequel have put me off).

 

Enjoyed this one - its a bit over long/clunky, but retains the charm of the original, has got some good humour throughout and the inevitable CGI fest at the end was actually really good - the CGI varied in quality throughout the film, but the monsters all looked cool and the end battle was surprisingly decent compared to most CGI heavy end battles.

 

Glad I hadn't watched the final trailer and the 2 end credits were quite amusing.

 

So - certainly worth a watch if you liked the first one and a lot better than the Rock being miserable in Black Adam.

19 hours ago, Timmo said:

Why did they remove it from their service? I fucking hate modern streaming and feel no guilt at all pirating. 

Yep - I keep meaning to get a sub of Parnount+ for a bit and binge the stuff I want to see - which 30 seconds ago when I read the original post, would have included this.

 

But if I can only watch this by pirating - might as well not bother subscribing and pirate anything on there.

8 hours ago, Mike1812 said:

Ridiculous how close it is, 19th to 14th with one win, one point off 12th. No one's cut adrift yet. It's going to be a tight relegation battle.

 

I’m still convinced it will be Southampton and Bournemouth, but the other spot I’m not sure - Forest maybe?

 

But, with so many teams in the mix then there are going to be a lot of 6 pointers coming up as teams play each other.

 

Those 2nd and 3rd goals (and the 4th sort of as they didn’t play to the whistle) Leeds scored made it look like Wolves wanted to keep things interesting by not trying to win and pull away a bit.

Nightmare for us today. 
 

Apparently well on top against Rotherham and at half time results going our way where we’d have been well clear of the bottom 3 and moved above Rotherham and QPR.

 

Now we have to fit in a rearranged away game and are currently only 3 points from safety.

Half time rain at Rotherham vs Cardiff so bad that the game suspended and potential abandoned.

 

And we were winning and on top 😞 

Didn't think we'd get it - but a very valuable point at home last night against West Brom with some key players missing for us.

 

That was only our second point all season when we've gone 1-0 down!  All the bottom 4 picked up at least a point (with Blackpool getting 3 in their surprising massacre of QPR).  Combined points of the teams 13th to 20th above the bottom 4 this mid week was 1.

 

Our next three games are nuts

 

Rotherham (a)

Swansea (h)

Blackpool (a)

 

Two mega six pointers on the road and the derby in the middle.

 

Can't lose any of them and need to probably win at least two of them.  Big ask and I'd really like to win Saturday and other results go our way to take a little bit of pressure off before the derby.

I found this pretty Meh. Premise is good and there are some nice visuals and the dinosaurs look good, but far too much tropey flashback/backstory for a 90 minutes escape form the planet of the dinosaurs movie and the shooting dinosaurs with laser stuff was mainly unsatisfying as the laser hitting the dinosaurs didn't really show anything for the most part - it was a bit like Duck Hunt.

 

It just about dragged itself to a 3/5 as it ended pretty well and there were some nice ideas and a few half decent set pieces, but its very cliched.

On 01/03/2023 at 01:15, Majora said:

Close (2022) - 4.5/5

 

So this is one of the Oscar noms for best foreign language movie this year. I knew very little about it apart from it being about a close friendship between two young teen boys. It was free with my Picturehouse membership so I thought why not give it a shot on a boring Tuesday evening. I went in expecting something breezy, maybe poignant/life-affirming.

 

The cinema was packed, which wasn't a problem in itself as the audience were all silent, but in total I had to spend about an hour tonight sat on my own in a rammed cinema trying my absolute best not to burst out crying and failing miserably on two occasions. 

 

I found it desperately heavy and uncomfortable viewing and it's sat with me all night since seeing it. I'm glad I saw it but also kind of wish I had never seen it and could just forget about it forever. I don't think I've truly felt like that about a movie since I saw Amour a decade ago.

I watched this at lunchtime.

 

As above, I knew little about it, bar it was about the relationship between two boys except I also knew it wasn’t a happy movie (but no detail).

 

It’s an extremely well constructed and well acted film and while  I wasn’t reduced to tears, it did shock and upset me despite being prepared for it not being a heart warming tale and with a son of a similar age to the kids in the film I’m giving him a big cuddle when I get in.

 

4/5

Specific very spoilers thought below

 

 

1 hour ago, Fry Crayola said:

Another change is that instead of separate international windows in September and October, there'll be a single 16-day window featuring four games in late September.

 

That's really going to upset some club fans.

All club fans I’d imagine - so in a tournament year, 2 months after the World Cup/Euros have finished and just a few weeks after the season has started there are two weeks of what will be increasingly meaningless international games that will play some part in qualifying for the next tournament.

Everyone will zone out of the group stages and then be expected to jump back in for a monster first knock out round which will also likely consist of mainly mis-matches and deliver little in the way of shocks given the bigger teams will have probably have gotten to rotate and rest players in the groups and shaken off any sort of rust that may previously made them vulnerable to going out in the group stage where there were stronger groups.

 

 

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

Remember the World Cup expansion from 64 to 80 games in 2026? They changed their minds. It'll be 104 instead. And instead of 16 groups of 3, it'll be 12 groups of 4. Top 2 from each, plus 8 best third places go through.

 

That is pretty much the end of a one country world cup as well isn't it?  How many stadiums is that going to take?  And I assume they can't increase the window (weeks) that it takes place by too much so just a ridiculous amount of games every day with the added timezone issues.

 

Also pretty much removes all jeopardy for the 'big teams' going out in the groups as the increase in teams means there will likely be more 'cannon fodder' and 1 decent win will almost guarantee you to qualify.

3 hours ago, Stig said:

 

Middle of it. Spider-Man NWH, Loki, What If and Multiverse of Madness were all out.

 

The main comparison of the Marvel films would be Multiverse of Madness, but that did a speed run through the multiverse can be anything bit with a 30 second montage and we only actually got to see a couple of actual multiverses and they were just branched off realities.

 

Loki did it a bit more with their Loki variants and Spiderverse with their characters (Spider-Ham, Noir, etc), but full on weird multiverses that aren't just branches off of the core reality hasn't really happened.

 

 

 

 

Looks like Reading may lose 6 points this week, Wigan haven’t been paying their players and may lose 3 and some talk of Huddersfield going into admin.

 

So the relegation battle could turn into a bit of a farce quite quickly.

16 minutes ago, Pelekophoros said:

Angela Bassett, Kerry Condon and Stephanie Hsu were all better and more impactful in their respectful roles than JLC's comedic turn as a bit part in Everything. An utterly bizarre win.

 

That said, I'd have voted for Banshees for best picture, and Farrell for best actor. 

 

I also can't believe that The Whale got best makeup and hairstyling for a fat suit. That's pretty astounding when you're in the running with Black Panther and The Batman (Farrell's Penguin was an absolute fucking marvel).

 

Hey ho.

 

It was a win based entirely on who she was rather than the performance, but hard not to be pleased for her or any of the other 3 winners.  It was certainly a feel good sweep of acting winners.

Bottom 3 all lost but so did we and Rotherham also lost, but teams slightly above won.

 

I’d like to improve in a six point cushion before the International Break as one of the bottom 3 is going to pick up points at some point.

West Brom at Home and Rotherham away for us this week. Need something against the Baggies and then can’t lose against Rotherham.

 

4 points will be tricky, but very welcome.

Man City don’t seem to be playing before International break so if Arsenal win this and beat Palace next week they’ll take an 8 point lead into April.

 

The Man City play Liverpool at home which could be interesting depending what Liverpool turn up.

Part 7 - Films 36 to 21.

 

Right, final chapter until we hit the actual Top 20.

 

46 Points (4 Picks) – Film 36

 

And it is Rob Reiner again, as he follows up Princess Bride to direct a Nora Ephron scripted Rom-Com classic as Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan star in When Harry Met Sally (1989). The diner scene became one of the most famous movie scenes of all time and Meg Ryan began her reign as queen of the rom-coms.

 

47 Points (4 Picks) – Film 35

 

Ben Stiller directs himself, Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell in very silly fashion model comedy, Zoolander (2001) which was Stiller’s third film as a director.

 

47 Points (5 Picks) – Film 34

 

Taika Waititi and Jermaine Clement write, direct and star in excellent vampire mockumentary, What We Do in the Shadows (2014) which would go on to spawn an excellent TV Series of the same name.

 

48 Points (4 Picks) – Film 33

 

First appearance on the list for Edgar Wright as director, but instead of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost its an insanely stacked young cast as he directs comic adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010). Cast includes Michael Cera, Chris Evans, Brie Larson and Mary Elizabeth Winstead and despite being a brilliant vehicle for Wright, very funny with great performances, it did poorly at the box office with Universal having no clue how to market a video game/music/action/rom-com based on a comic.

 

49 Points (3 Picks) – Film 32

 

Shin’ichiro Ueda writes and directs zombie comedy, One Cut of the Dead (2017). Its very good, but if you haven’t seen it then its best to go in completely cold so I’ll say no more, bar go watch it.

 

50 Points (4 Picks) – Film 31

 

Penelope Spheeris directs Mike Myers and Dana Carvey’s SNL creations in Wayne’s World (1992). A massive hit that also led to a come back for Queen thanks to that Bohemian Rapsody car scene.

 

50 Points (5 Picks) – Film 30

 

The Farelly Brothers have a mega hit with a gross out, sometimes offensive, very silly and sometimes very sweet, romantic comedy There’s Something About Mary (1998) as Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz and Matt Dillon star in a film with some very funny and very memorable scenes – two of which involve Ben Stiller’s ‘Frank’.

 

51 Points (7 Picks) – Film 29

 

The film that appeared on the most lists outside the Top 20 is John Landis directing Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as The Blues Brothers (1980) in this chaotic musical, car smashing, action comedy.

 

53 Points (5 Picks) – Film 28

 

Frank Oz directs his first film that is all humans and no puppets of any kind as Steve Martin and Michael Caine are Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1989) in this enjoyable conman comedy. Steve Martin continues his great eighties comedy run, and Caine is the great and slightly unlikely partner for this despicable double act.

 

54 Points (3 Picks) – Film 27

 

Billy Wilder writes and directs Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe in crime, romantic-comedy farce, Some Like it Hot (1959) (favourite film of Smac).  Widely considered one of the greatest comedies of all time – it’s a very enjoyable farce with special mention to Curtis taking the mick out of Cary Grant for the second half of the film.  Wilder and Lemmon would re-unite the following year for another classic with The Apartment.

 

54 Points (4 Picks) – Film 26

 

Steve Oedekerk directs Jim Carey in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995) as Carey returns, just one year later, to the role that launched his career as a comedy leading man.

 

54 Points (5 Picks) – Film 25

 

It Is amazing that this ever got made, but even more amazing that Chris Morris managed to make a very funny film about likeable British suicide bombers as Riz Ahmed and Kayvan Novak are two of the Four Lions (2010)

 

56 Points (5 Picks) – Film 24

 

John Landis directs a big ‘fish out of water’ hit as Eddie Murphy is Coming to America (1988) which would be the last of Murphy’s 80’s blockbusters (his final 80’s film, Harlem Nights was not a hit) and the last decent film Landis would direct.  But both men will appear later on this list with an earlier collaboration.

 

57 Points (4 Picks) – Film 23

 

Mel Brooks directs himself and co-writer, Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein (1974) (favourite film of Camel) as they send up classic horror films.  This will be the 4th of 5 Mel Brooks films on the list.

 

58 Points (6 Picks) – Film 22

 

The second highest Wes Anderson film on the list contains the usual excellent ensemble cast, but Ralph Fiennes steals the show and then some as he runs riot in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). An incredibly enjoyable farcical hotel murder mystery.

 

59 Points (4 Picks) – Film 21

 

And narrowly finishing outside of the Top 20 is Johnny Knoxville and friends doing terribly and hilarious stunts and pranks to each other in Jackass Number 2 (2006) (favourite film of Timmo).

57 minutes ago, Commander Jameson said:

I saw this tonight at a Cineworld secret screening. It was very good fun. 

Good news - if Mario is also good it’s going to be a great gaming Easter double bill.

Watched it a few weeks ago and thought it was really good as did my kids. 
 

Hopefully it heralds the start of a very good year for animation at the cinema with Mario and Spiderverse coming up.

I'm sure everyone will be pleased to here that the run-time for this is a brisk 169 minutes.

 

Why does it need to be nearly 3 hours.