Films The Official bit-tech Movie Thread - What have you seen lately?

The Accountant: 8/10

I.. Was not expecting that. That was thoroughly engaging.

 

I really enjoyed that one too. Well worth a watch.

I didn't realise for quite a while that she was Lisa Vito, Joe Pesci's girlfriend, in My cousin Vinnie (also worth a watch if you haven't seen it)

 

Blockers - 4/10
Even as far as American comedies go, this one was quite bad - It starts with teenagers that don't act like teenagers, and goes on with underwhelming acting, lame jokes...

Ready Player One - 7/10
I enjoyed this. Again, it's not mind blowing. But between the hunger games-esque plot, the visuals, the sound track, and the pop culture reference density (and they way that fit into the world), there's some fun to be had in the film.

 

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - 8/10

Really enjoyed it, hated the ads advertising it though! great popcorn-flick!

 

Well I've just tried watching Ready Player One.

I have never HATED a movie so much in my whole. What a complete steaming pile of brown smelly stuff. I've put off watching it for so long because I just knew Spielberg would destroy what is my favorite ever book. I never thought they could destroy it this badly, but congrats they have. I can't even rate it zero because that would score it too high. I am so disgusted, I just want to fill the page with swear words.

 

Yeah, watched that a while back and really wasn't expecting much.

I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Pacific Rim Uprising: 3/10

Let's be honest; the first film wasn't exactly the pinnacle of cinematic excellence, it was a film about big giant robots fighting big giant monsters. It delivered just about everything you'd expect from a film about big giant robots fighting big giant monsters: just the right mix of dumb, ludicrous, cliched, cheesy, and, most importantly, bags of fun. Uprising sucked out everything that made the first film good. It honestly could have been a Transformers film.

 

ip man final fight. 6/10 more interesting than the donnie yen ones with alot less action.

The Hollow 7/10 nice animated series on netflix reminds me a fair bit of of gravity falls.

Spectral 6/10 decent sci-fi with a hint of s.t.a.l.k.e.r/metro in the story line

 

Rampage - 3/10
This was bad... REAL bad... Even self-aware Dwayne Johnson could not save this.

Father of the Year - 6/10
This, on the other hand, was decent fun. Not ridiculously good, but a coming of age comedy that's predictable and amusing.

How It Ends - 5/10
I just don't know what to make of this. Films in the format of cliffhanger short stories don't work for me... this is no exception.

 

A fair few films in the last week post completion of a rather extensive list of home cinema upgrades and a stack of new 4K BDs

John Wick (4K BD)
I've seen this before of course, as have all of us. Riotous fun in any format, but the 4K HDR visuals are superb, and the Atmos soundtrack even better. A great example of perfectly judged mixing.

John Wick 2 (4K BD)
Even better visuals than the first, and equally excellent soundtrack (though seemed to me run around 5db hot overall) and to my ears more use of the height channels than the first. The "story" doesn't do it for me in quite the same way as number one - the film itself is still tonnes of fun, just the story is a little (lot) vapid. I know there's fundamentally no difference to the story in the first though, so not sure why this is. I think the target in the first is probably just more unlikable.

Black Panther (Amazon Streamed)
This is my first time watching this - enjoyed the film, but not as much as I thought/hoped I would - in the context of the world of film generally, very good. In the context of the recent Marvel output, not so much. I watched Ragnarok a few weeks before and it set a bar that Black Panther just wasn't up for meeting. I agree with other comments that it seemed more like an excerpt from a wider story than a story in of itself. The main problem for me was Disney's less than perfect mixing job, which I found distracting, particularly with the LFE. I paused 3 times during the film to adjust. I ended up running 7db hot on the sub, and even then there wasn't nearly as much weight to impact/gunfire as there should have been (+7db of nothing is still nothing)

The Last Jedi (BD)
I've had this for quite a while, just never got around to watching. Kind of meh overall. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, just that I was in no way surprised by anything in the film, and it probably says it all that having watched it mere days ago, I can't really recall much of the story or presentation to comment.

Deadpool (4K BD)
One of those films like John Wick I think I could watch on loop and never get tired of, and we've all seen it so no point commenting on the content. In terms of the presentation though, this is my first time seeing it this format, and there's no disappointment. Excellent visuals, though perhaps missing quite the same level of HDR punch as either of the John Wicks (probably more as a result of the actual content, rather than anything being poorly done). The soundtrack is perfect though - great use of the height channels and really seamless mixing, well judged and tight LFE.

Coco (4K BD)
Great film and truly visually spectacular. Liked how they take series of a fundamentally macabre themes and somehow make it kid friendly without sugar coating it. Really catchy music, which is in no way surprising. Excellent story with all the feels. This is my second time watching and the ending still had me on the brink of tears.

The Greatest Showman (4K BD)
My daughter has been doing songs from it in her musical theatre group at school for the last term (and as a result I've heard a lot of the music over the last several months) and had her show last week, but still hadn't seen the film, so picked this up as a surprise for her. And to my surprise, I really enjoyed it. I think a big part of it was knowing the songs and hearing them in context, and seeing her bopping along to it as well. Everything about the film I just found very satisfying - the songs, the choreography, likeable characters, even the definitely-sugarcoated story. It also manages to avoid that weird "dubbed" quality that so many musicals seem to have, which I can find a bit distracting. In terms of the presentation, the visuals are spectacular and the sound in particular is a masterclass - this is without a doubt the best content I've seen so far for demonstrating what 4K, HDR and Atmos are all about.

 

Super Troopers 2.

Got my copy of the film over the weekend so had to watch it, And I was happy as ever with it. Been waiting years for this to happen and which it was not as good as the original. the sequel lived up to what I expected and deliverd.

8/10 would happily watch it again

 

Deadpool 2 fun/10

It's an enjoyable movie overall. Some great action, a few great jokes. If I have one complaint it's maybe that it was a bit too self-aware. Like the Uncanny Valley, I think it starts out cute and honest, but at some point becomes forced and fake.
This movie is almost there. It's still funny, but it's pushing the limit IMO.

Also I loved that multiple massive plot points just happened in a clip of like 30 seconds in the middle of the credits. That was really cool. Half of the audience was leaving the theatre already.

 

M*A*S*H - He won't commit suicide, he's just gonna try./10

 

Final Space - Full of win/10 you guys should give this anitmated sci-fi a go. does not take it self too seriously and has been great fun to watch.

 

literally just finished binging it, a little rough in places but overall a solid series, pleased its been picked up for a second season

 

Dirty Grandpa - 2/10
Whatever made Robert de Niro do this movie? It's utter BS. A poor mans Hangover 5. Avoid.

Bad Moms - 4/10
I expected this do be a female Hangover 5....it's not, it's actually only a bit boring.

 

Tomb Raider - 8/10

If there's not a sequel i'll reduce the score because it was enjoyable but, yeah, the origins story if pretty much a variation on a theme that's been done before.

Do a good, new, sequel and you keep your points as I found it refreshingly gritty.

But yeah i'm a sucker for TR stuff anyway.

Edit: thanks @liratheal

 

The Incredibles 2 - 8/10

I really enjoyed that. It was funny, it was well structured, it had likeable characters and good writing (IMO).

I was also, having watched 1 last night, blown away by how much technology has advanced. Of course, you expect that, but the stand out moment for me was when Elastigirl is reading a paper in a limo - The camera pans across it and the texture looks really, really, good. Of course, hair, clothes, backgrounds were all much improved, but yeah. Technically impressive as well as good all round.

 

ManHunt 5/10 no brainer action movie with a fugitive element thrown in by john woo and what seems like very low budget. ticks all the boxes for woo fans bar the story line, flying doves, gun totting, everyone with seriously bad aim and a cringworthy line that milks his classic ABT.