Watched, Read, Reviewed: April 2023

Managed to again review all the movies that I watched throughout April separately so I’ll just rank them below & include the review links. Also managed to watch a full series of a new show (hated it), read a book, and listened to some new music which is rare since music sucks now (but it’s from an old fart band, of course, because I’m an old fart).

MOVIES WATCHED IN APRIL (ranked best to worst):

In The Mood For Love – 8/10

La Haine – 8/10

The Passion Of Joan Of Arc – 8/10

Man With A Movie Camera – 8/10

Resurrection – 7.5/10

A Good Person – 7.5/10

I Want To Eat Your Pancreas – 7/10

Nope – 7/10

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre – 6.5/10

We Have A Ghost – 6.5/10

Piggy – 6.5/10

Minions: The Rise Of Gru – 6/10

The Super Mario Bros. Movie – 6/10

Murder Mystery 2 – 6/10

Black Bear – 6/10

Bullet Train – 6/10

The FP – 5.5/10

A Boy And His Dog – 5/10

The Death Of Dick Long – 5/10

Clock – 4.5/10

Movies Rewatched In April:

Terminator 2: Judgment Day – 8.5/10 (Absolute classic. Obviously.)

Shorts, Documentaries, Etc Watched:

An Irish Goodbye – This won Best Live-Action short at the Oscars. The only other one I’ve seen is Le Pupille, which I didn’t like as much as this one. Thought this was a very sweet & funny look at two brothers dealing with the death of a parent. Good stuff. Am glad it won, although I obviously can’t compare it to all the others. I’ll try to watch the rest if they pop up on services like this one did.

BOOKS, TV, MUSIC, MISCELLANEOUS IN APRIL

TV SHOWS WATCHED (not ranked)

– The Mandalorian: S3 E6-8 – Loved it. Love Grogu. My favorite show in years. Is it still as great as at first? Nah, probably the weakest series of the three but still great. And I’m now heartbroken to have no new Grogu content to look forward to each week. 😭 Was saying to the hubby “You know I’m not on my phone looking up sexy men or something – It’s most likely I’m searching for cute Grogu clips to rewatch”.

– Beef: S1 – Pretty much hated this. Could any of these characters have been any more hateful? (Except for the daughter – she was adorable). I just didn’t see the point of this show? I guess it was showing how road rage can escalate but this story was just fucking ridiculous. And why did that one specific person have such a gross & violent death compared to everyone else who was an asshole as well & deserved no better? I mainly watched this as I like Steven Yeun (and Glenn was my favorite Walking Dead character). But when I saw it was an A24 thing I knew it might be a pretentious piece of shit so it’s my own damn fault for watching it I guess.

– Sweet Tooth: S2 E1 – Liked Season 1 so was looking forward to finally seeing this. But, honestly, I’ve forgotten too much of Season 1 so was a bit lost during this first episode of Season 2. Need a shorter wait between each series. I’ve watched a million other things since then! Including Cocaine Bear, which this boy was in. So I kept thinking “Cocaine Bear kid!”. Will try to watch more, though. Still an interesting story.

– Schitt’s Creek: S1 E12-13, S2 E1-2 – Continuing this as it’s honestly the perfect sort of thing to stick on in the background while you’re doing other shit. Like writing a blog review. Super insulting, probably. But I do like it.

– Grey’s Anatomy: S19 E1-14 – I have a love/hate relationship with this show. 19 years, man – I can’t stop watching now. I actually think this season has been better than other recent ones so far. The women’s clinic stuff has been really good & needs to be shown because things are f*^king crazy over there. And I quite like the above new batch of interns or whatever they are. Sometimes the group of newbies they get on the show each season are just annoying as hell.

– The Amazing World Of Gumball: S1 – Daughter was obsessed with this show when younger & I only ever saw bits & pieces of it. It’s absolutely fucking nuts. Now I know why she’s such a (lovable) weirdo. 🙂 She was very happy it suddenly became available again on one of our services for the first time in years so I decided to watch them with her as she’s still a big fan. But now it’s disappeared from the service again. Not happy! Was enjoying this way more than I probably should as a grown woman… For a taste of Gumball, I posted about it in my Anthropomorphic Cuteness series here (I miss those posts).

– Heavenly Delusion (天国大魔境, Tengoku Daimakyō): S1 E1 – Japanese dystopian anime – Seemed right up my alley! Hubby & I watched a couple more episodes in May & we’re losing interest. It’s a bit of a mess. Not sure if we’ll continue.

– Outer Banks: S1 E1-3 – Meh. Daughter & I decided to check this out. We’re not really feeling it & probably won’t continue. For me, everyone is just too young & too good looking & too unrealistic. Annoying teenage bullshit.

BOOKS READ

– The Other People by C.J. Tudor – C.J. Tudor is my new favorite author. She’s a combination of my two faves: Dean Koontz crossed with Stephen King but with a bit less of the supernatural shit I love (but still some) & a bit more “crime” (it’s the section where they put her books in my local library). The Chalk Man was great & I liked The Burning Girls a lot. I liked this one & The Taking Of Annie Thorne a bit less but still found the story very enjoyable. She does love to take you on a twisty turny journey. Actually, she’s probably mostly influenced by Harlan Coben but I have less experience with his work (mostly just the TV adaptations). Yeah, it’s lightweight but that’s what I like to read – I’m too busy watching movies to read a heavy book. Although I’m still working my way through Watership Down, so I do attempt to read some classics! Here’s the synopsis for The Other People (via Amazon):

“Driving home one night, stuck behind a rusty old car, Gabe sees a little girl’s face appear in the rear window. She mouths one word: ‘Daddy.’ It’s his five-year-old daughter, Izzy. He never sees her again.

Three years later, Gabe spends his days and nights travelling up and down the motorway, searching for the car that took his daughter, refusing to give up hope, even though most people believe that Izzy is dead.” – My Rating: 3/5

MUSIC LISTENED TO IN APRIL

– Metallica – 72 Seasons – Yay! New music for us old farts! I like what I’ve heard so far. I haven’t given it a really good listen yet as have had it playing while working. I wrote a bit about how much I loved Metallica in high school when I used to do my Music Video Friday series & I posted the video for The Unforgiven.

Must admit I’ve ignored Metallica’s newer stuff for many years now & continue to just listen to their oldest albums (up through the Black album, then Load & Reload were disappointing, then I loved Garage, Inc – anyone else have a Garage Days cassette at the time? I loved that thing. God I’m old). Nothing will ever top Lightning & Master, though. Those albums are amazing. I can only think of one song I’ve liked since Garage, Inc (The Day That Never Comes). Am I missing out? Should I give their last few albums a chance too?

BLOG PLANS FOR THE COMING MONTH

Probably gonna sign up for one month of Apple TV to binge the latest season of Ted Lasso & watch Tetris & all the 2022 Apple TV movies that I missed. And it looks like Halloween Ends is being added to one of my services in May so I’ll be checking that out.

Might as well end this post with the title track from the new Metallica album…

Resurrection (2022) & Piggy (2022) Reviews

My last two April reviews are two interesting horror films from last year. One of them is very much my type of thing which I didn’t love at first but has gone way up in my estimation since seeing it. I can’t quite decide how I feel about the other one but I know I’d never watch it again.

Resurrection (2022)

Directed & Written by Andrew Semans

Starring: Rebecca Hall, Grace Kaufman, Michael Esper, Tim Roth

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
The plot follows Margaret (Hall) as she tries to maintain control of her life when an abusive ex-boyfriend (Roth) re-appears in her vicinity.

My Opinion:

Initially gave this a lower rating but have upped it after giving the film some more thought. At first saw it as simply a story of trauma from an abusive relationship, which it is, but then saw it as being just as much about motherhood & all the fears that come with that and I could then relate even more to Rebecca Hall’s character. Would’ve made a good double feature with Men and am sure this one is just as divisive as both indeed get pretty damn weird (which I appreciate). I preferred this one being more than just “all men are evil”, though, and Hall gives a great performance. Hate to use the word but Men also got a little too pretentious whereas this one for the most part stayed just the right side of that line. I feel it’s one that could go up in my estimation the more I think about it (as it already has).

I admit I do like a film that I have to look up afterwards to try to figure out what it’s meant to mean & love when there can be different interpretations. As I said, for me I could relate to the fears about motherhood & wanting to protect your child & how hard it is to let them go when they reach adulthood themselves. Others will get different things from this movie and I think there can be plenty of discussion on what’s real & what’s maybe not in this story. It’s definitely a like it or absolutely hate it film and I appreciate that it’s one I’m going to be thinking about for a while.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Piggy (2022) (Spanish: Cerdita)

Directed by Carlota Pereda

Based on Piggy (short film) by Carlota Pereda

Starring: Laura Galán, Richard Holmes, Carmen Machi, Irene Ferreiro, Camille Aguilar, Claudia Salas, Pilar Castro

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDb)
An overweight teen is bullied by a clique of cool girls poolside while holidaying in her village. The long walk home will change the rest of her life.

My Opinion:

Not sure how I feel about this movie. I can’t stand bullies so hated seeing this girl being tormented. Even though high school was a very very long time ago for me and I was never the victim of any severe bullying as one of the invisible “not popular but not unpopular” people, I still remember every single seemingly insignificant cruel thing from classmates & “friends” to this day. That teenage bullshit stays with you forever. And this character is humiliated, which is hard to watch. I’m so thankful that in my day social media didn’t exist, at least. I can’t imagine being a teenager nowadays.

So, yes, I didn’t feel any sympathy for the “mean girls” other than a little bit for the blonde one who clearly went along with things due to peer pressure. Being “in the middle”, I’m sure I didn’t always stand up for people when I could have as a teen (although I do remember speaking out sometimes). It’s very hard to do that at that age. Just not sure how I wanted this story to go or to end. And the main girl did some really stupid things, which was a little frustrating as I wanted to be fully on her side. I don’t know. I think I wanted the end to go the other way but that may not have been best for her character.

The one thing I do like about this movie is that it will have you questioning if you’d have done the same thing in her situation. I know we all like to think we’d do the right thing but you can certainly see why this character would hesitate to help after what they’ve put her through for presumably years. So I liked that moral dilemma but not sure I liked how that idea was executed in this film or how much bullying we had to watch this girl endure.

My Rating: 6.5/10

The Night House (2020) & Terror Train (1980) Reviews

Happy Halloween everyone!

I have two posts ready to go for later today (reviews for Society & for Halloween 1-6 which I rewatched this month). But I just recently watched these two horror movies for the first time so figured I better squeeze in quick reviews.

I’ll also say that I spent yesterday & part of today watching classic horror on the Horror Channel in the U.K. I’ve just posted My Top Ten Pre-1970 Horror Movies this week & was saying it’s terrible that I’ve not seen so many of the old classics so it’s great this has given me the chance to see some. It’s a shame it’s unlikely I’ll get around to reviewing them today but, oh well. I guess there’s no law that says I can’t review them after Halloween. Here’s what I’ve seen:

Dracula (1931) – 8/10
Frankenstein (1931) – 7.5/10
Bride Of Frankenstein (1935) – 7/10
The Wolf Man (1941) – 7/10

And I’ll be watching The Invisible Man (1933) today.

Now here are my brief thoughts on these two movies…

The Night House (2020)

Directed by David Bruckner

Starring: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Evan Jonigkeit, Stacy Martin, Vondie Curtis-Hall

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
The Night House stars Rebecca Hall as a widow who discovers a dark secret about the house her late architect husband built.

My Opinion:

Was super excited to see a NEW film on Disney Plus! Well, Disney Star or whatever the grownup bit of Disney Plus is called – I believe America doesn’t get that?? Yay, we have something you don’t for once! And I can count it as a 2021 release as it’s the first time available in the U.K. This follows Disney also getting The Empty Man, which was quite new too. And it’s a supernatural horror where the hubby had some secret his widow now has to discover and that’s SO my type of guilty pleasure horror movie. Plus I thought the poster at the very top of this post looked pretty cool. Oh! And I thought the director’s film The Ritual was pretty good.

This movie was okay but disappointing. It’s the kind of thing I’ll forget in a year but at least the story kept me interested. I didn’t love Rebecca Hall’s character – Something about her was kind of annoying but she did well enough as a newly widowed woman who is grieving & then having weird shit happen to her. I don’t think the story was explored well enough plus we’re kind of just left hanging at the end without a satisfying resolution. Not that horror has that very often anyway! And she of course watched videos of her & the hubby from their wedding, etc, because that’s a requirement in these supernatural stories where someone has just lost their spouse. I did like a couple of creepy shots that were pretty effective in which Hall’s character saw shapes in her house, though. It was also a good setting, in a lovely secluded house on a lake. Cliché again, yes, but that’s because that’s the perfect setting for this type of story.

This was fine. It passed the time one afternoon & is the type of supernatural horror I go for but it could’ve been better.

My Rating: 6/10

Terror Train (1980)

Directed by Roger Spottiswoode

Starring: Ben Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Hart Bochner, Sandee Currie, Timothy Webber, Derek MacKinnon, Anthony Sherwood, Joy Boushel, Vanity, D.D. Winters, Greg Swanson, Howard Busgang, Elizabeth Cholette, David Copperfield

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDb)
Three years after a prank went terribly awry, the six college students responsible are targeted by a masked killer at a New Year’s Eve party aboard a moving train.

My Opinion:

I’d never heard of this. An ’80s slasher!! I figured now was the perfect time to check it out as it’s October & I’ve also just spent the month rewatching Halloween 1-6, the first two of which obviously also star Jamie Lee Curtis (I’ve done a post reviewing all of those which I’ll post later today). I can see why Terror Train isn’t more well known but it’s not awful.

It starts out with a pretty pathetic prank being played on a fellow medical student at some party but the guy is unstable already, I guess, as it drives him off the deep end & he ends up having to be committed. Three years later, the students are having a party on a train & the bullied boy decides it’s the perfect time for revenge. Is it a Halloween party?! I guess I just assumed that as they’re all dressed up in costumes. And are parties on trains a thing? It looks like fun! Anyway – the bullied boy goes after everyone involved in the prank, including Jamie Lee Curtis who didn’t actually want to be part of the prank & I think didn’t know what they’d actually had planned for the prank so she’s had guilt over it ever since. And she has a much better hairdo than that frizzy hair she had in Halloween.

I liked this fine. It’s actually not overly “bloody” so not sure if it can be considered a slasher. Probably, but the kills are pretty mild (which is fine with me as I’m pretty wussy). And I know nothing whatsoever about filmmaking but I thought this looked quite good for a film from 1980?? It just didn’t have that low budget sort of look like many movies, especially horror movies, from that time. And David Copperfield is in it as a magician, surprisingly, that I guess they’ve hired as their entertainment. Didn’t know he’d ever done any acting? He was pretty good in this – I liked his character. I saw him live once when I was a kid! Got an autograph afterwards. Think I lost it.

This is well worth a watch for fans of ’80s slashers, especially if you like Jamie Lee Curtis. But it’s a bit slow & I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who isn’t into movies from this era as there are much better ones to check out. Oh – Vanity has a small role in this (she was so pretty). I kind of recognised some other faces, I think, but not well. One of my favorite things about watching ’80s movies I never saw is to see familiar faces. Always love that! So I enjoyed this but I can’t say it’s one I’d have watched over & over again in the ’80s like I did with things such as the Elm Street films. It was worth a one-time watch, though.

My Rating: 6/10

The Gift (2015) & Coherence (2013) Reviews

Okay, these two aren’t horror films but they’re “mystery thrillers” (one a sci-fi mystery thriller) and it feels right to review them as part of October Horror Month. I love a good thriller! And these two weren’t too bad. Let’s discuss… 

The Gift (2015)

Directed & Written by Joel Edgerton

Starring: Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton, Tim Griffin, Allison Tolman, Beau Knapp, P.J. Byrne, David Denman, Busy Philipps, Wendell Pierce, Katie Aselton, Mirrah Foulkes, Nash Edgerton

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB)
A young married couple’s lives are thrown into a harrowing tailspin when an acquaintance from the husband’s past brings mysterious gifts and a horrifying secret to light after more than 20 years.

My Opinion:

I thought this was a good film in terms of “psychological mind-fuckery”. I love psychological horrors & thrillers and Joel Edgerton’s character was creepy as shit. It’s a hard film to discuss without spoiling the outcome. I’ll just say that the horrible thing that may or may not occur (and it is truly disturbing) is left up to interpretation. I love it when it’s left up to the audience to decide. Did he or didn’t he?! Oh man, I hope not. It’s my own personal opinion that he did NOT. But that’s the whole point of the psychological fuckery behind Edgerton’s character’s motives. It’s a well written psychological thriller and I did enjoy it (despite being somewhat offended and grossed-out…!).

Sorry for the vague review. If you’ve not seen it, it’s better if you don’t know much about it. I’d compare it to another rather random favorite “psychological mind-fuckery” film of mine: Malice starring Nicole Kidman & Alec Baldwin. I’ve not thought of that one in a long time. I can’t exactly say that was a “great” film but it was a thoroughly entertaining thriller. Hmm… Another one that comes to mind is David Fincher’s The Game (although I wouldn’t say The Gift was as good as The Game). Another fun one was Shattered (1991). Overall, The Gift is a decent psychological thriller & I wish more films like this were still made. It feels like we don’t get as many movies within this genre nowadays as we did in the 80s/early 90s. I’d like to see more being made again (even if they’re cheesy like those 80s/early 90s ones often were!). It’s a fun genre.

My Rating: 7/10

Coherence (2013)

Directed & Written by James Ward Byrkit

Starring: Emily Baldoni, Maury Sterling, Nicholas Brendon

Plot Synopsis: (via IMDB)
Strange things begin to happen when a group of friends gather for a dinner party on an evening when a comet is passing overhead.

My Opinion:

This movie is very much my type of thing (mindfuck sci-fi!) and I really liked it. I need to see it again, though. This is one of those movies that you’ll probably need to rewatch to catch things you may have missed the first time around. So, hey hubby! I know you were annoyed I watched this without you. I’ll rewatch it with you sometime! 😉

I’ll say it starts out quite slow and some of the friends who’ve gathered for a dinner party had the potential to really get on my nerves. Why are people at dinner parties in movies so annoying? Who the hell has dinner parties in real life anyway? Maybe I just have no class. If you come to my house, I’ll just order a pizza & we can watch a movie! Anyway, this started out a bit like a thriller I reviewed last year for October Horror Month: The Invitation (which I also quite liked despite it starting out with some annoying dinner party wankers). But Coherence gets far more weird than that one. Oh I do love weird!

In reading about this, I read that director & writer James Ward Byrkit was inspired by The Twilight Zone, which would explain why I liked it since that’s my absolute favorite TV series ever. It does have a very Twilight Zone feel. I do have to compare it to a few other movies I’ve seen in the past few years to better give you an idea of what it’s like. By the way, I recommend all these films: Primer (although it was WAY over my head), Predestination (love this crazy time travel mind-bender), and Circle (fantastic story in which a group of 50 strangers wake up in a mysterious room and realize that someone will die every two minutes & that they have the ability to choose who will be next). To be honest, although I thought Coherence was pretty great, I think I was slightly underwhelmed simply because I saw Predestination & Circle first and I thought they were brilliant mindfuck science fiction films. If you watch them, just keep an open mind. Especially with Circle, which seemed very low budget but had such a good story that I didn’t care.

As for Coherence, I’d probably again say it’s best to not know too much beforehand so I’ve not gotten into any specifics about the story. I love the idea that comets could totally mess us up, though. That’s such 1950’s Twilight Zone thinking! I will just say that they don’t all turn into weird comet-zombies like in Night Of The Comet (that movie kicks ass, by the way). 😉 I do recommend this movie to lovers of sci-fi weirdness and promise you’ll enjoy the story after the dinner party wankers stop being annoying once the weird shit starts going down.

My Rating: 7.5/10

The Dinner by Herman Koch (Book Review)

I’m reviewing the book The Dinner by Herman Koch as the movie is released today in the U.S. There’s currently no U.K. release date scheduled. The movie was directed by Oren Moverman & stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall, Adepero Oduye & Chloë Sevigny.

The Dinner by Herman Koch

What It’s About: (via Amazon)
It’s a summer’s evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the polite scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse — the banality of work, the triviality of the holidays. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened.

Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act; an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.

My Thoughts:

I liked this book but it’s probably not for everyone. I’ll avoid plot spoilers but I’ll tell you that none of the characters are very likable, which puts a lot of readers off (including me, usually). The story was intriguing enough to keep me reading, however, and it’s not a long book so it’s a pretty quick read. It might be worth your time if the plot synopsis interests you. However, it’s also the type of story that should work well as a movie so, if it’s a decent adaptation, you might want to skip the book. I’ll let you know if the movie does the book justice (if the movie ever gets a U.K. release date)! It’s a film I’m definitely wanting to check out as it’s one I feel could possibly improve on the book if handled well. The cast seems promising.

I liked the way the story was presented as courses instead of “Chapters”: Appetiser, Main, Dessert, etc etc (I can’t remember all the posh terms for all the different courses. Never knew there were so many courses to a fancy meal!). We slowly learn more & more about the four adults having this meal together while the story of the horrible act commited by their teenage sons comes to light.

I’m not going to say much more as the story is pretty straightforward and there’s not much more I could say anyway without spoiling it. I’ll say it’s a decent character study but doesn’t explore all the moral implications as much as it could have. By the end, it felt more shallow than I was hoping for. That’s why I’m hopeful for the possibility of a really good film adaptation as there’s some meaty material here for a really good set of screenwriters & actors to sink their teeth into. We’ll see. The Dinner isn’t as deep & meaningful as it could’ve been but it’s still an intriguing story told in a fairly original way and I’d say I enjoyed it more than several of the other 13 books I’ve read so far this year.

My Rating: 3/5

**Yes, I’m keeping a list of all the books I’ve read so far this year. At the moment, this is probably how I’d rank them (from least favorite to favorite). If you really want to know… 😉 I hope to review them all by the end of the year:

14. The Sisters by Claire Douglas
13. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
12. The Circle by Dave Eggers
11. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
10. The Snowman by Jo Nesbo
9. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
8. Finders Keepers by Stephen King
7. The Dinner by Herman Koch
6. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King
5. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
4. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
3. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
2. Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
1. Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie

(And, yes, I’m focusing on reading books that have been movies/TV shows recently or will be very soon) 🙂

Starter For 10 (2006) Review

Starter For 10 (2006)

Directed by Tom Vaughan

Produced by Tom Hanks, Pippa Harris & Sam Mendes

Written by David Nicholls

Starring:
James McAvoy
Alice Eve
Benedict Cumberbatch
Rebecca Hall
Dominic Cooper
Catherine Tate
James Corden

Running time: 92 minutes

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
Starter for 10 is a 2006 British comedy-drama film directed by Tom Vaughan from a screenplay by David Nicholls, adapted from his own novel Starter for Ten. The film stars James McAvoy as a university student who wins a place on a University Challenge quiz team.

My Opinion:

I decided to watch this the other day after reading a review from the lovely Emma on MovieRob’s blog (HERE). I’d known about it but hadn’t known that it was set in my beloved 1980s until I read her review so that was all I needed to convince me to watch it.

Starter For Ten is a book by David Nicholls. I’ve not read it (but Emma has & says it’s of course better than the movie). I did read One Day by David Nicholls and, although it’s very flawed, I still liked the book & the movie (despite the fact that Anne Hathaway was in it – staring at Jim Sturgess & his big brown eyes helped a little). Plus, as I said, Starter For 10 is set in the EIGHTIES! Woohoo! Well, unfortunately, the movie is a bit bland. And as for the 1980s, this is one of those movies where it doesn’t actually look or feel all that much like that decade even though they throw in as much music as possible from that era. Don’t get me wrong – I love 80’s music. At one point I looked at the hubby & said “are they actually playing my playlist?” as it’s filled with things like New Order, The Smiths, Tears For Fears and LOADS of songs from The Cure. It’s nice hearing a bunch of my favorite songs but, at the same time, it also feels very lazy on the part of the filmmakers. It’s like “See? Our movie is set in the eighties because we’re playing The Cure! Ignore Alice Eve with her big boobs & her very un-eighties clothes & blonde highlights – just listen to Motörhead!”

I will say this movie is only really worth a watch if you’re a fan of any of its stars or if you enjoy similar British films. There are some very big names in Starter For 10 so it was fun seeing them just before most of them made it really big in blockbusters like the X-Men, Star Trek & Iron Man series of films. The storyline was extremely predictable to the point of almost being annoying (I’m talking especially about the romance!) but, when the group finally appear on the game show they’ve been preparing for, the film does get a little more fun. The movie is very “British” and I couldn’t help but compare it to Nick Hornby’s books & movies. I have to say I far prefer Hornby & would recommend his stuff over this (especially the book High Fidelity). Overall, Starter For 10 just didn’t really work for me. It’s not a bad movie but the predictable plot and one-dimensional characters just left me feeling “Meh. So what?”. Watch it if you like the actors but first check out some Nick Hornby. And The Cure’s greatest hits!

My Rating: 5.5/10

Iron Man 3 (2013) Review

IRON MAN 3

Directed by Shane Black

Starring:
Robert Downey, Jr.
Gwyneth Paltrow
Don Cheadle
Guy Pearce
Rebecca Hall
Stephanie Szostak
James Badge Dale
Jon Favreau
Ben Kingsley

Synopsis (courtesy of IMDB):

When Tony Stark’s world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution.

My Opinion on superhero movies:

I like superhero movies a lot but overall I’m not the absolute biggest fan of them. So this review comes from someone who has never touched a comic book (well, I did read Watchmen – does that count?) and who knows ONLY what has been shown of all the superheroes in their Hollywood movies.

The X-Men movies were probably the first superhero movies to make me geek-out a little. Actually… To be honest, I remember loving Tim Burton’s Batman and thinking Jack Nicholson was cool as hell as the Joker & I think I even bought some Joker earrings at the time (give me a break – I was in my early teens). Then things like (the Tobey Maguire) Spider-Mans came along (entertaining enough – not brilliant) and Fantastic Four (meh) and I was starting to get a little bored with the superhero thing. Then Batman Begins & The Dark Knight came along, re-inventing the genre & making truly stunning “films” instead of mere “comic book” movies. You had Iron Man the same year as The Dark Knight and I was loving the superhero thing again. And although Batman Begins is a better “film”, I probably enjoyed the first Iron Man movie more. I was so pleasantly surprised by the first Iron Man. I loved that it was somewhere between the superhero movies that were a little too cheesy (Fantastic Four) and the very dark & serious Nolan Batman films. I loved Tony Stark’s charming arrogance & internal struggle (Ha! Well, yeah – all superheroes have that internal struggle thing I guess). My point is, I loved the first Iron Man & he’s definitely one of my favorite comic book characters as portrayed by Hollywood in the last ten years or so. So I’m a little disappointed to have to say that Iron Man 3 is a bit weak compared to the first two.

My Opinion on Iron Man 3:

I think a big part of the problem is that this follows on from The Avengers. So, really, how can you actually expect to top THAT? You’re going from having superheroes galore fighting bad-ass aliens with over the top, non-stop action back to one guy going it alone against a bad guy who isn’t going to seem much of a threat when compared with the threat to all of humanity that we saw in The Avengers. And could none of the Avengers give Tony Stark a hand in this one? After all he did to help out at the end of The Avengers?! Ingrates. 😉

The Good:

– Ben Kingsley. Loved him. Can’t go into it much but he’s great in this role.

– Harley. Probably one of those things that will divide people but I liked this little sub-plot.

– The focus on one superhero again. Yes, I know I’ve just contradicted what I said above. Having all the superheroes in The Avengers was exciting, so it’s hard to top that excitement. But I also found that to be slight overkill in The Avengers so it was kind of nice just having one superhero to focus on again. Which is why it’s a shame that this script was so weak on character development when they had the chance to fully focus on Tony Stark again (more on that below).

– The Iron Man suits. And gadgets. Still cool.

– It’s Iron Man and it’s still fun, even if it’s not as good of a film as the other two (especially the first one, which is by far the best).

The Not-So-Good:

– Robert Downey Jr. Wait! Keep reading! I’m not saying he’s bad. Maybe I mean Tony Stark… Aside from a few panic attacks he’s suffering from due to the stress of what happened to him at the end of The Avengers, he doesn’t seem as “internally conflicted” as in the first two. That internal conflict thing is important in these superhero movies! I think this is the fault of the script for this one – he’s just not as well-developed as in the other two. But I suppose it’s perhaps hard to keep that up for three films (four including The Avengers). We all know Tony Stark by now. And, unfortunately, Robert Downey Jr seems a little bored in this one. The performance feels a bit “phoned in”. Sorry. He’s still better than….

– Guy Pearce. He didn’t really work for me in this role. Weak character overall, I think.

– Maya. Not that the character was bad – the character was wasted. They could have done more with her.

– Tony Stark/Pepper Potts relationship. Not feeling it so much in this one. Again, though, I think that’s the fault of a script that doesn’t give you very fully-realized characters this time around.

– The plot. It’s a bit “so what”. Especially after The Avengers. Just not as “exciting” as a lot of other superhero movie plots.

End Credits Scene: Yes, there is one. Should you stay for it? Yes, if you’re a “completist” who MUST stay for all end credits scenes. But it’s not totally necessary to see it… So I guess it depends on how badly you have to pee. 🙂

Summary:

A popcorn-worthy addition to the Iron Man set of films but the script and plot feel a bit weak overall and the characters feel under-developed. It’s okay but not as strong as the first Iron Man & certainly not as fun or exciting as The Avengers.

My Iron Man Rating: 8/10

My Iron Man 2 Rating: 6.5/10

My Iron Man 3 Rating: 6.5/10

My 2013 Movies Seen

**I’ve been too harsh! Upped my Iron Man 2 & 3 ratings a bit. I still enjoy the Iron Man series – they’ve just been weak compared with the first one.