What's in/on Your DVD/VCR/PVR etc

[pxr5]

The Naked Gun - Liam Neeson takes on the role of Frank Drebin's son in this continuation of the Police Squad shows. A strange choice is Liam Neeson for this role. As a whole it's a disappointing movie - a lot of the jokes fall flat and are straight from a Xmas cracker, some are sort of okay, but I must have laughed only a few times. What's really wrong with this movie is they lost the idea of the format: there is way too much slapstick instead of the dry humour of the originals. It was short though, coming in at a smidge over an hour - which is a blessing really. My wife hated it whereas I found it just about bearable. A measly 3/10.

[dom]

Owning Muhowny

A 2003 film I'd never heard of.

Good cast and performances from Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Minnie Driver and William Hurt.

A true story and even though I wasn't aware of it beforehand it was all a little bit inevitable. Managing a bank and a gambling addiction will never go well together!

[Matt2112]

The Holdovers

A multiple nominee in last year's Oscars, and it has all the "worthiness" that entails; Paul Giamatti is of course never less than very good in any of his roles and he's on great form again in this.

It's a little bit overlong though and solidly good, rather than the spectacularly good it's clearly aiming for.

Rating: ***

[R6GYY]

Last night episode 3 of the (so far) excellent The Last Frontier.
Tonight we started on series 5 of Slow Horses.

Both on Apple TV.

[pxr5]

Season 3 of Invasion. This has gone off in a weird tangent after the good first series. It's watchable though but seems to be going nowhere.

[David L]

I was nicely surprised to see 'Becoming Led Zeppelin' was available as an option on our flight to JFK - enjoyed it. Followed by a couple of episodes of Family Guy 

[Fishy]

More Alan Partridge and 2 eps in of the new season of the Diplomat

[Thenop]

The Diplomat, finished. Excellent.

[Fishy]

The Diplomat, finished. Excellent.

. Yeah we're 4 eps in but not sure if I'm enjoying it.. all the characters are complete bastards..

[Thenop]

The Diplomat, finished. Excellent.

. Yeah we're 4 eps in but not sure if I'm enjoying it.. all the characters are complete bastards..

Exactly, EP01 was just a setup, an explation of what happened and has to happen. But what it really feels like to me:

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

[pxr5]

The Long Walk - set in a Dystopian alternative near future "A group of teenage boys compete in an annual contest known as "The Long Walk," in which they must maintain a certain walking speed or get shot." I haven't read the book by King so had no expectations, but this is a hard watch at times. After a bit of research it transpires that this was the first novel King had ever written when he was only 19.  It's a bleak and miserable film but gripping nonetheless. Some scenes are graphic and quite shocking especially the hopelessness of the boys existence. There are problems though and some of the decision making, and the ability to hold meaningful discussions, after walking for days means you have to park your brain at times. But faults apart this is a good movie. The acting from Philp Seymour Hoffman's son and the English actor playing Pete is excellent. Mark Hammill ramps it up as the nasty 'Major', but apart from the him the other soldiers following the walk are just there to pop off the next victim - and there is no delay or reasoning, just 3 warnings then - 'bang'. I'll probably read the book now as apparently it differs from this movie quite a lot. 8/10

[Matt2112]

Anora

This year's board-sweeping Oscar winner and, for all its pretentions to its odd, tone-shifting mix of grittiness, social satire and screwball comedy, it turns out to be quite a vapid and underwhelming experience.

It wears its influences on its sleeve, attempting and failing to come across as some hybrid of Pretty Woman, Pulp Fiction and Uncut Gems, all of which are far superior and reward your time much more richly than the overlong 2 hours 18 minutes that makes up this.

The Academy must do better next year...

Rating: **

[Fishy]

Finished The Diplomat

[pxr5]

We started watch Alien: Earth last night. Quite good and really feels like the original film. I have read that it meanders to a crappy ending, but from the first 2 episodes I have some optimism for a decent show. And it's made by Noah Hawley (Fargo etc.). Time will tell though - I'll report back when finished.

[Fishy]

We started watch Alien: Earth last night. Quite good and really feels like the original film. I have read that it meanders to a crappy ending, but from the first 2 episodes I have some optimism for a decent show. And it's made by Noah Hawley (Fargo etc.). Time will tell though - I'll report back when finished.

I managed about 20 mins of that.. awful...