Monday 29 August 2016

What we've been watching (August)


We watch quite a lot of movies; at the moment LOVEFiLM send us two discs every week... although I'm always considering the best way to get our movies.


So this is what we watched in August - come back to see what September has brought us.



Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie
I think if you are watching a Peanuts moive then you probably know what to expect. Even if we have translated from 2D to 3D it is still classic Peanuts fare.




Inside Llewyn Davis
The film is a biopic of a young singer in NYC in the 1960s. The film made it to our rental list because of the cat in the trailer (there have been worse and weirder reasons that films made it to our rental list). The film was surprisingly watchable.



Trumbo
Screenwriters, actors and other Hollywood artists were jailed for their political beliefs in the 1940s and 1950s. Quite a fascinating look at the political climate of the times.




London Has Fallen
Couldn't wait to see this film, having thoroughly enjoyed the predecessor "Olympus Has Fallen". Just what you hope for when watching an action movie - a plot to assassinate the world leaders as they attend a state funeral in London.




Exposed
A cop is investigating his partner's death - which leads to secrets and corruption; towards the end the film begins to take on a rather strange supernatural twist. Not a great film, but given recent impatience with giving up on bad films it must have had enough going for it to keep us watching until the end.



Triple 9
A crew of corrupt cops is blackmailed by the Russian mafia to pull of a heist - the only way to do it is to manufacture a "999" which is code for officer down. A solid cast and reasonable plot makes for a watchable action movie.




High-Rise
Gave up watching after 20 minutes, just too bizarre.




True Deception
Story about a writer struggling with various problems and a murder trial. I am reliably assured that I watched this movie to the end, but even having read plot summaries I am unable to really recall any details of the film; other than vaguely recollecting the cast - which do their best to prove that a great cast doesn't always make a good movie.


Monday 1 August 2016

What we've been watching (July)


We watch quite a lot of movies; at the moment LOVEFiLM send us two discs every week... although I'm always considering the best way to get our movies.


So this is what we watched in July - come back to see what August has brought us.



Spotlight
The true story of  how the Boston Globe uncovered a child molestation scandal. Well acted and well written.




The Benefactor
The story revolves around Richard Gere as a philanthropist who meddles in the lives of a newly married couple in a misguided attempt to relive his past.



The Night Before
Some-what out of season, this is the story of three friends whose annual Christmas eve party tradition leads to the seeking out the holy grail of Christmas parties - The Nutcracker Ball. Comedy with that extra element of almost slap-stick.




Steve Jobs
Not quite "Pirates of Silicon Valley" this is another attempt to commit the Steve Jobs "legend" to film. Well constructed and well acted, but the story is to well known to translate into a compelling film.




Ratter
A student in NYC is stalked on technology in her life (webcam, phone, etc.) it's rather like Hacker from last month, but not as good. Didn't make it to the end.



Youth
Michael Caine as a retired conductor invited to perform at Prince Philip's birthday party by the Queen. The film was so slow moving we didn't make the end.




Goosebumps
Imaginary demons inhabiting the books of a horror writer are inadvertently set free to cause chaos across a town. This was a proper good fun movie with a good cast and good effects, and even a script and a story line.