Film

[astfgyl]

I wasn't as harsh on it but fully agree about the ai being the only decent character in it. I liked the mood of it and thought the last egg bit was horror-ish enough.

I do see it as somewhat of a missed opportunity in terms of characters (so underdeveloped and cardboard as to simply not matter at all if they lived or died) and I would have liked it to be more well defined in terms of whether it wanted to be horror or action but I think it would fit in the list about equal to alien 3 and will watch it again on the small screen when it's on.

[Pagan Saviour]

Gut reaction is it's not as good a movie as Alien 3 as flawed as that film is it's got a great cast and some really memorable lines - that whole "on your feet or on your knees" speech makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand every time I hear it. The desolate tone of the whole thing is a kind of fitting end to the trilogy.

I'd probably rate it slightly above Prometheus and Covenant with Resurrection still taking the rock bottom spot, awful film altogether.

[Sworntothecans]

One thing to remember for Romulus, it was developed for to be a Hulu/Disney+ exclusive but when Prey did huge numbers and almost every review asked why this wasn't released in cinemas they pivoted, plus the pending SAG/WGA strike fast tracked it. Now hopefully they lash up the 4k disc preorders soon!

[The Heretic]

The main problem with the Alien films now is that the Xenomorphs just aren't that scary anymore....

[John Kimble]

Romulus was grand, but nothing more. I actually think I preferred Prometheus tbh. It had the makings of a decent Alien film, particularly in the opening 30 mins or so. The way they kept the aesthetic of the 80s films was cool. The cast were horrible, bunch of irritating teen chavs. Then...

Spoiler

the Ian Holm CGI was absolutely horrific, I mean just incomprehensibly bad. How anyone in production watched that back and said, yeah that's worked out really well, I think people will dig that, is beyond me

[close]

So yeah, a moderately enjoyable night at the flicks but I'd have very little interest in revisiting that.

[StoutAndAle]

Watched the new Mark Wahlberg actioner "The Union" over the weekend. It is utter, utter shit with one semi-good chuckle thrown in.

His filmography has a lot of shit in it but I am not adverse to a Wahlbergian performance piece- I'll buy him as a cop ("Patriot's Day"), an oil rigger ("Deepwater Horizon"), an elite NAVY SEAL ("Lone Survivor"), a CIA security specialist ("All The Money In The World") - fuck it - I'll even suspend disbelief and see him as a college professor! ("The Gambler") but of late his films have all been duds.

For most of the films that he's made since 2016 - I have looked at the trailer and said "no" and never seen them. 

I've been caught out once or twice though. "Mile 22" looked good - it is shit. "Spenser Confidential" looked good - it is, at best, average.

I got caught out with this one too... mainly becasue my wife didn't want to watch "some weird indie thing or film from the 80s" on Saturday night. 


Also watched "Reality Bites" which I'd never seen before. It's alright and way better than "Singles". It's not a patch on GenX movies like "Clerks", "Sex, Lies & Videotape", "Slacker" or "Kicking And Screaming" though.

My main take away from "Reality Bites" is that I miss the 1990s. Even though I was miserable (or thought I was) in the 1990s.

[Sworntothecans]

Yeah Wahlberg is pretty insufferable, the occasional great performance but he's a gobshite mostly.

Lone Survivor is awful as yer man's story is meant to be bullshit (like most SEALs with a book & movie deal), that grifter cunt Dan Bilzerian paid to be in it.

Although I am intrigued by Flight Risk as Mel Gibson is directing it.

[Mooncat]

Watched Last Exit to Brooklyn after finishing the book. Thought it was shite. It's hard to pull off the 50s without it seeming cheesy and pantomime-y and this definitely fell into that. With the book the sheer nihilism and bleakness is the point too, but of course they had to Hollywoodize it a bit and change some details and so it was just nowhere near as effective.

The real film adaptation of Last Exit to Brooklyn is Kids, just updated to the 90s.

[Mooncat]

Just saw Deadpool and Wolverine. Thought it was genuinely really funny, but a complete mess of a film. Marvel is just degrading into The Simpsons of the 2000s: crap writing and all about the cameos. In pure comedy terms it really succeeded though in having tons of zinger lines and moments.

[Pentagrimes]

Also watched "Reality Bites" which I'd never seen before. It's alright and way better than "Singles". It's not a patch on GenX movies like "Clerks", "Sex, Lies & Videotape", "Slacker" or "Kicking And Screaming" though.

My main take away from "Reality Bites" is that I miss the 1990s. Even though I was miserable (or thought I was) in the 1990s.

Weirdly, I have an enormous soft spot for this film, and I've seen it sn embarrassing amount of times. I may watch again now, in fact.

[StoutAndAle]

Weirdly, I have an enormous soft spot for this film, and I've seen it sn embarrassing amount of times. I may watch again now, in fact.

I think that if I had seen "Reality Bites" when it came out or when I was the target audience for it that it might have had more of an impact on me. Much in the same way that if I saw "Clerks" or "Swingers" for the first time now, I probably wouldn't connect with it.

As a man in his (very young and vital) mid-40s I found the Ethan Hawke character to be a total cunt even though he is, ostensibly, meant to be the hero of the piece and the one that the filmmakers wanted male audiences to connect with. The Stiller character is not much better but at least he comes to understand something about himself.

This movie is 30 years old but SPOLIER ALERT;

Spoiler

There's a scene near the beginning where he tells Winona Ryder's character that he loves her and then plays it off like a joke. The look on Ryder's face as she realises that he messing with her absolutely crushed me. Probably the best she's ever been in a movie.

[close]

The soundtrack is pretty class though.

[Emphyrio]

Watched Pearl. Not bad, not as good as the first one but I'll watch Maxxxine tonight. Mia Goth does the unhinged thing very well.

[leatherface]

Weirdly, I have an enormous soft spot for this film, and I've seen it sn embarrassing amount of times. I may watch again now, in fact.

I think that if I had seen "Reality Bites" when it came out or when I was the target audience for it that it might have had more of an impact on me. Much in the same way that if I saw "Clerks" or "Swingers" for the first time now, I probably wouldn't connect with it.

'Clerks' is definitely a 'you had to be there' sort of a movie, it hasn't aged well obviously. I watched it recently and didn't find it funny or engaging whereas when I was 19 it was the dog's bollocks. The whole '90s 'slacker' schtick.  Of all the Smith movies that I would watch now it would probably be 'Chasing Amy' or 'Dogma'. Having said that 'Clerks 2' wasn't bad at all but the third one was awful, could have been so much better. Bizarrely enough, I still have a soft spot for 'Mallrats' which was almost universally hated at the time.

[open face surgery]

Thought Pearl was the best of the 3. Enjoyed Maxxxine as well.

[leatherface]

I watched all seven Police Academy movies in a row last weekend (they were on TV here in Spain and I was bored). As clichéd as it sounds you really wouldn't get away with this kind of humour nowadays. So, My ranking is as follows , from worst to best:

Part 7 (Mission to Moscow- with Christopher Lee of all people)

Part 5 (Assignment Miami Beach- mildly diverting rubbish)

Part 6 (City Under Siege- some ok jokes)

Part 4 (Citizens on Patrol- Callahan in the swimming pool  )

Part 2 (The First Mission )

Part 3 (Back in Training- with a Japanese character that never returned)

Part 1 ( the better of all them)