Nosferatu Visually it's stunning ,the cinematography is framed beautifully by monochrome and dark sepia's and the costumes are authentic for the period and your instantly transported to a kind of Dystopian Dickensian England. Well that was I found the most striking aspect of this film ,everything else is more a subject of personal taste I suppose. Willem Dafoe is left to ham it up as the Professor and it all gets a little too Young Frankenstein to be taken seriously ,Nicholas Hoult as Thomas Hutter is workmanlike in his performance ,but for me it was still a stretch and not for the want of trying ,but for me he never made the role believable. Lilly Rose Depp as the films heroine tries too hard ,but I found her clear dearth of acting talent annoying the longer the movie played out. It's like she desperately needs people to see her as a young Winona Ryder. Then we have Bill Skarsgard's portrayal of Count Orlok ,which was frankly laughable and why props thought this emaciated but towering figure would be more imposing if he sported a mustache I will never f*cking know. The accent he chose to voice was more esoteric than ominous and at times I doubted my own coherency. I honestly think the critics who are touting this as a Gothic masterpiece that surpasses Coppola's Bram Stokers Dracula ,really need to watch this disjointed ,disordered mess again rather than leave viewers in a quandary pertaining to what mushrooms were consumed at the time of watching to perceive this as being a masterpiece ? Kudos to Aaron Taylor Johnson for emerging from this with any credit. There's a lot of similarities between this and Coppola's Dracula ,but it comes across as disheveled hand me down rather than paying homage.
22 Jump Street An obvious cash grab but there were several laugh out loud moments. Decent fun entertainment. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl Not the strongest entry in the series, but how can one not like any stuff with this lot. Especially when Feathers McGraw makes an appearance. Quite entertaining, filled with the usual humour & puns. I enjoyed it. & there should be more, considering how it ended.
If I saved only one person from parting with their hard earned through my sufferance then it's been worth it. I'd confidently say the price of admission is the only thing monstrous about this film. Bill Skarsgard found his niche in portraying evil entities with Pennywise ,but his latest offering reminds me of Dr Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog , I just never envisaged a vampire who sleeps in coffins of dug up earth and has never seen daylight sporting a droopy mustache. It's like when I used to get dressed up to go out with the lads and my ex wife used to say you're not wearing that are you ? This unbeknown to her was the biggest compliment she could pay me as it proved without a shadow of a doubt that I looked good and my attire had suddenly brought on a swathe of panic that other women would see exactly what she seen. I think if she could have convinced me to wear a hat ,a flashers mac and dark sunglasses she would have done so with great relief. Well, I think someone 'probably close to him' convinced Bill Skarsgard that the muzzy would have him fighting those Ashen faced Victorian women off like flies.
Longlegs. Utter shite IMO ....I'll never get that hour and a half back. Bizarre Nicolas Cage performance, was just cringey IMO.....That's the thing with Cage, he is either in good movies or shit ones, on a 50/50 ratio. 2/10....generous 2 at that. IMO.
River of No Return [1954] Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe brave a raft journey on the (unnamed?) river through rapids and hostile Indians after Monroe's husband abandons them taking their only horse and rifle. Tommy Rettig is Mitchum's son who brings the other two together during their perilous journey. Script's a bit wooden and Marilyn bursting into song occasionally seems incongruous but Otto Preminger's direction beautifully captures the landscape of the river and Nevada's scenery, but all of that is outshone by the sheer presence of Marilyn Monroe. 7.1/10
a film from my youth but not one I’ve seen in probably 40 years. My step dad was a huge John Wayne/Robert Mitchum fan. This and the magnificent showman always seemed to be on in our house as a kid
I enjoyed Nosferatu. Felt like a strong 7/10 film for me. There wasn't really ever a moment where I felt I wasn't engaged with it. The whole setting and the mood of it just kept me invested and generally quite like the moods the filmmaker manages to create with his films. It certainly isn't a classic for the genre but that's fine. Watched Queer yesterday, a 7.5/10 for me. Marked down because I found some of the music choices jarring when the film was set in 50s Mexico City. Daniel Craig was really good in the lead role. Jason Schwartzman also plays a great comic relief role, I thought it was Zach Galifinakis the whole time. I mean....
Not Another Happy Ending [2013] Apart from the reliable (and incredibly pretty) Karen Gillan and co-star (and equally pretty) Stanley Weber this was mind numbingly difficult to watch because it's so trite. To be fair everything about it screams that it's not a film I would like, so my fault for wasting an hour and a half on it I suppose. 5.22/10
Gladiator II - 5.1/10 “Are you not entertained?”.... no, I'm not. I would have rated it slightly higher if it was a standalone movie and not just a repeat of the first. The only differences this time is, the cast, script, acting is all terrible. With a bucket load of soulless CGI piled on top. Just like Jurassic Park & Star Wars, it cheaply uses its predecessors in an attempt to make you like the film instead of making something that stands on its own. I'm going to forget this movie ever existed as it actually hurts the first. They made Maximus irrelevant and so much for his 'honour'.
The Pope's Exorcist (2023) A bang average exorcism film starring Russell Crowe that had nothing different to offer than other films of its type. 6/10.
Flow A bit hyped by the critics & was a surprise win at the Golden Globes. I thought it was okay. It has a very basic plot, but the story is told quite well & it's entertaining. It is helped by the wonderful animation. It will appeal more to people who love cats (or animals in general).
A Man Called Otto - film starring Tom Hanks on Netflix. Otto (Tom Hanks) is recently widowed and clearly depressed, living a dull life on his own. New neighbours move in with young kids and he slowly starts to see the joy in life again. A really heart warming film, and quite an easy watch. A couple of disturbing scenes in relation to suicide, but the pay off at the end is worth it. I would recommend. 8/10.
Non-Stop (2014) A decent thriller starring Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore set aboard an airliner. 7.8/10.
Nosferatu [2024] Not really any better than the Hammer films of the 70s with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, at least they didn't take themselves way too seriously like this does. Bill Skarsgard's accent/drawl is just bloody irritating, the film's up for 4 technical Oscars but I didn't see anything special in it, if anything it's all too dark. I appreciate this is an attempt to play the Dracula story straight, but it fails ultimately like most such efforts because the story itself is preposterous. 6.66/10
The Damned. Finally a Horror film that brings you right back to the fear you used to associate with the genre. Plays on the mind this one ,more cerebral than slash horror ,but chilling. The moral of the story being sometimes Old Wives Tales have more than a degree of truth to them
Gladiator II (2024) I seem to be in the minority on here i quite enjoyed this film,there were some annoying characters like the 2 camp Emperors and i burst out laughing seeing sharks in the arena I will probably watch this again in a few years if i can find the dvd in a local charity shop. 7.2/10.
