Ernest & Celestine

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Amberly

The French animation that's nominated for an Oscar. Based on a book series I'm unaware of but it appears to be set in a world where only bears and mice exist. It's a beautiful style of animation though, a watercolour picture book look. Really beautiful and the story of an unlikely friendship is simple and charming. Cute movie.

How I Live Now

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Michael, Amberly

Write Up.

12 Years a Slave

IMDB

First time viewed: Yes

Current Release: Yes

Watched With: Tyler, Michael

Steve McQueen's last film was called Shame. I think he likes the subject.

As to be expected, beautifully shot, and also a great cast doing fine work. The problem I had with this though was the same as Dallas Buyers Club. Based on a true story and there's not really any surprises in the narrative. You know what you're in for going in and after all the reports of how graphic and harsh the film is I just found it completely underwhelming. But still, very pretty.

Drinking Buddies

IMDB

First time viewed: No

Current Release: Yes

Watched With: Amberly

Write Up.

Beautiful film.

20 Feet from Stardom

IMDB

First time viewed: Yes

Current Release: Yes

Watched With: Tyler

It's a well put together documentary and a great subject, but I don't think it should have won the Oscar. I haven't seen the other documentaries, but I still can't see how this won...

Big Ass Spider

IMDB

First time viewed: Yes

Current Release: Yes

Watched With: Kate

Now if you want a giant spider fix, this is definitely the superior film. It manages to be both trashy camp hilarious and genuinely hilarious. I know it looks incredibly stupid (and it is) but it's also just so much fun! Delightful surprise.

Spiders

IMDB

First time viewed: Yes

Current Release: Yes

Watched With: Kate

I love the 80's kids horror film The Gate directed by Tibor Takács. He hasn't done much for a while and then this shows up. I do loves me some giant spiders. Unfortunately not available to me in 3D (I should probably invest in a new TV) but I don't think that would really matter, that's not gonna save this film. It's not even fun enough to be trashy.

Touchy Feely

IMDB

First time viewed: Yes

Current Release: Yes

Lynn Shelton's latest has a good cast, but I just didn't find the characters that engaging. It was alright I guess.

Die Monster, Die aka Monster of Terror

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: No

I only just found out that there was another old film based on the H.P. Lovecraft story The Colour Out Of Space. I do love that story. As for the film, well, it's got some old school hammy charm about it, some crazy angles And Boris Karloff. A little hoaky but there was one or two moments of creepiness that were effective. Love finding these films!

Imaginaerum

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Don't know if I've ever seen a Finnish film before. Although it's in English. It has the tone of a dark fairytale for children but it's dealing primarily with dementia and the strained relationships associated. It's not quite cohesive and I don't see what the target audience is. Some nice effects work though.

Dallas Buyers Club

IMDB

First time viewed: Yes

Current Release: Yes

Watched With: Tyler

Yeah it's okay. Some nice acting from the cast but it never rose above the predictable true story narrative beats we've seen many times before. It's enjoyable though.

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

Slow paced outlaw doomed romance. It is what it is, does't do much for me though.

The Wolf of Wall Street

IMDB

First time viewed: Yes

Current Release: Yes

Watched With: Domini, Ben, Marko, Jordan

Oh it is so much fun. But dark and disturbing as hell. It's almost like if Taxi Driver were a musical. You might enjoy it while you watch but you're still going to feel really dirty after. Leonardo DiCaprio displays some impressive physical comedy chops. Jonah Hill makes some pretty big character choices and I enjoyed them muchly. There's also more than a handful of directors that make up the supporting cast, so it was fun watching them pop up every few scenes. Good amoral fun.

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

IMDB

First time viewed: Yes

Current Release: Yes

Paranormal Activity have their first Latino spin-off, although it may as well just be called instalment 4.5, because everything ties directly into the main series and there's some nice furthering of mythology. Actually some pretty big stuff. It's also nice to take a break from the security camera footage style and have more of a roving camera scenarios that isn't house bound. 

And yet, it still has the same unsatisfying feeling at the end. Full disclosure, I have to admit being more than mildly distracted by an overly full bladder in the final 10 minutes (despite the brief running time, too much frozen coke) and the pace certainly picks up but part from some dangerous flirtations with what I expect to be time travel, and unexplained stuff that I hope will come back in future films, and some nice fan service, the very end is still lacking that big payoff. 

If these films have an endgame, we're not getting any closer, it feels more like the turning of the gears as more money comes in. Time will tell. Still, much more fun than the last ones. 

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Michael

I never followed the Jack Ryan series. But I can imagine the other film adaptations were better than this Bourne-lite modern-day origin story. We're not in the cold war anymore. And this story feels just a little hammy in a modern day setting. Add to that Kenneth Branagh's moustache twirling evil Russian villain and you have a film that feels like it was an outline for a 70's Bond film that was never fleshed out enough to actually go into production.

It's shiny, well put together. The tech credits are all fine, it looks like a movie, but the experience was pretty hollow.