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Watched Insidious The Last Key. Another spooky and dark entry in the series. This was the first one i let my son watch since the flashbacks chronologically are the beginning of the series. Then we will watch 3 then 1 & 2. That is the order of the story (sort of)
 
What did you think of It, Saap? I thought it was just okay; I'm not a big King fan tho'.

Like the new Spiderman the only element that really elevates these films above mediocre movie hokum (in my opinion) is the acting; in both cases the interaction between all the kids, which was really decent. Take this away & I don't really find anything of great quality in It. The supernatural elements are awful & lack all subtlety in presentation & delivery. I don't understand the fascination.
 
To summarize, I got what I was looking for. I'd been interested in the It story for a long time so this movie had been on my list since its release. I find that for every horror cliche it fell into, it also offered something fresh. Aside from the kids' shared horror, I liked the depiction of their private horrors (daddy's girl, mama's boy). Guy who plays in Stranger Things was cool. Because it was specifically the story that interested me, I managed to look past some weaker aspects of the movie and had an enjoyable experience.
 
Personal/individual character horror, presented in film, is hardly a new idea. This isn't King's fault, but in film "private horror" just seems to be an excuse to throw in a myriad of elements that don't need to be coherent or connected. Which is fine, but that can often mask an underlying lack of narrative. I dunno, in It I just find the Pennywise element kinda crap even though it's the element that seems to garner the most attention/discussion (in disussion of the film). I'm sure in the book it's more interesting & there are other more (far more, I hope) interesting elements.

Now, fear is interesting. Children's fear? For me, not so much. Clowns, no.
 
The kids definitely elevated the movie.

I think It was just the right thing at the right time. Stranger Things is really popular right now and It had the same nostalgic vibe. I enjoyed the movie but definitely not for the horror or suspense. The source material is also pretty flawed, which doesn't help.

I really think the next movie is going to be a flop. The adult parts are already the weaker parts of the book and it'll take focus away from what drew people to the first one (the retro 80s thing, the kids). Key story elements have also already been revealed. The adult parts in the book were only there to contextualize the coming of age story, they can't carry an entire movie.
 
I saw Hostiles, a film set in late 19th Century America, and focusing on a native-hating cavalry officer with a dark side (Christian Bale), who is tasked with a high profile political mission of escorting an Apache chief and his family long distance.

It wasn'the exactly a groundbreaking or outstanding film, but focuses on the relationship between sworn enemies, and the brutility both sides were capable of. Lovely scenery and decent storyline development, but don't expect all-action Western stereotypes, and was a tad predictable at times.

Comparable to a non-schmaltzy Dance With Wolves, which, funnily enough, is apparently how one critic also described it.
 
Watched Master & Commander again, but it has been over a decade since the first time. Can see why it was nominated for Best Picture. Outstanding job of recreating life on the sea at that time.

Trivia: only film I know of where James D'Arcy (who played Jarvis in Agent Carter) & Paul Bettany (who was the voice of virtual Jarvis in the Marvel films) are both in.
 
Night Prowler said:
Been watching The Sinner. Seen 3 out of the 8 episodes so far. One of the most fucked up shows I've seen in a while. Not really gorey or graphic even, just so much implied fucked up stuff.
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Finished episode 7. I will never rewatch this season again once I finish it. Ending of that episode is way too fucked up. :help2::S
 
Last thing I watched worth mentioning is 4th season of Black Mirror. I must say it's still a lot better than most of the things coming from Netflix, but I think this is least challenging season of them all.

EP 1 - USS Callister was fun to watch only due to the context that they've put it into (original Star Trek), but the idea was already chewed up in White Christmas episode. I'm surprised they're thinking of spin-offing this one, there have much better episode in there catalogue.
EP 2 - Ark Angel had a interesting starting idea, but somehow they didn't done good job about detailing it. The plot is somewhat predictable, but I wouldn't call it a bad episode. Jodie Foster directing this one was certainly a surprise.
EP 3 - Crocodile was the first episode this season that felt like a true Black Mirror. Nothing too mind twisting or too much technology based, but it captioned the spirit of the series in it's psychologicaly claustrophobic athmosphere. You really expect twist as the episode progresses but the fact that it just kept going makes it real and shocking. One thumb up for this one.
EP 4 - Hang the DJ was praised a lot, but I must say it dissapointed me. I really expected that the core of the episode will be something revolutionising, but in the end it was just another love story, told in a different way.
EP 5 - Metalhead was a complete dissapointent. If it was a stand alone movie or something else I would say it was good. But in the context of the series it had nothing that all the previous episodes had: episode ended and you have nothing left to say/think about.
EP 6 - Black Museum was the best in this season. I really hoped that they'll make a episode like this in the next season but somewhere through the episode you could see the conclusion and just knew that couldn't happen. Nevertheless, the 2 stories portrayed by the protagonist had typical BM recipe for a great episode: technology based, ethnicly question, psychologically twisted and with no happy ending.
 
terrell39 said:
Watched Master & Commander again, but it has been over a decade since the first time. Can see why it was nominated for Best Picture. Outstanding job of recreating life on the sea at that time.

Trivia: only film I know of where James D'Arcy (who played Jarvis in Agent Carter) & Paul Bettany (who was the voice of virtual Jarvis in the Marvel films) are both in.
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One of my favourite films of all time, full stop. Hands down Russell Crowe's best performance on top of accurate-to-the-last-detail historical drama? Hell yes.
 
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The Shape of Water looks absolutely gorgeous, the performances are fantastic, and the mythic quality of the story is quite lovely. As with most Guillermo del Toro films, there's a lot of small story elements and scenes that I do no particularly love but this is a movie worth seeing.
 
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