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

[David L]

The Staight Story (1999). Richard Farnsworth stars in David Lynch's true story of a septegenarian's journey to reconcile with his ill brother......on a lawnmower.
Excellent and moving film that I never knew existed.

The double-irony here of course is that Lynch is renowned for very much non-straight stories!

Maybe the only other one is The Elephant Man - the rest are varying degrees of glorious batsh!ttery.

It is a strange title that only made sense when the main character's name is revealed to be Alvin Straight. I'd have thought a different title may have been better but one has to admit it can't be beaten for being appropriate.
So, the weirdest thing about this movie is probably the title!

[pxr5]

Finished Stranger Things. Blimey, that last episode was a drag at over 2 hours long. It's a relief it's completed now but rumours are that a spin off is on the way. Hmm.

[Matt2112]

Took advantage of Apple TV's 7-day free trial to work through Pluribus.

Ep 1 was okay, I'll carry on...

[Matt2112]

Pluribus Eps 2 and 3 this afternoon; safe to say that after an okay start I'm really into it now.

Rhea Seehorn is absolutely superb, as she was in Better Call Saul, except here of course she gets a thoroughly deserved leading role.

[Fishy]

The Night Manager

[Thenop]

Mayor of Kingstown S4. Very good again. Jeremy Renner is made for the part.

[Matt2112]

Pluribus S1 now completed, including a 3-and-a-half hour binge-watch spanning Eps 6-9.

All I'll say for now is this: Vince Gilligan is surely the greatest storyteller of the 21st Century.

[R6GYY]

Finished series 1 of Red Eye last night on ITVx.

Will kick off series 2 tonight.

[Fishy]

The Great Escape for the millionth time...

[Matt2112]

M3gan 2.0

It was with some trepidation and pretty low expectations I finally got round to seeing this follow-up to the excellent M3gan: reviews weren't exactly glowing, including our own pxr's when this was released last summer, a rating of 3/10 being the verdict.

However, this wasn't half as bad as I'd feared.  The first half is actually quite entertaining, with slick production design and snappy dialogue driving the film along.  Yes, the second half sort of plunges itself into slightly messy, almost tongue-in-cheek sci-fi action territory and it suffers from having too many daft plot lines thrown at it.

But on a Friday night after a few beers this is actually fairly entertaining if somewhat forgettable hokum.

Rating: ***

[pxr5]

^ Matt, you're too kind   Maybe I was a bit harsh, but I really didn't enjoy it at all after the first movie; and I came to it cold expecting a continuation of the first effort - which it certainly isn't.

Anyway, tonight's movie delectation is the new Predator flick - Predator: Badlands. This is another in the franchise, but has taken a different approach. Some reviews say it's been 'Disneyfied' and I do get this to a point. But it's good to get something unexpected and I really liked it actually. I think the problem people have with it is the fact that the Predator has been given too much emotion, which, let's face it, is not the normal cold killing machines of past movies. That aside the action and effects are outstanding and has quite a few wtf moments. Maybe the money that was saved paying actors (there are 4) was used for the script, effects, music etc. and it's filming location - New Zealand - which added to the atmosphere. All in all it's a romp from beginning to end and on my wouldIwatchitagain'o'meter gets a strong 8.5/10

[R6GYY]

Caught up with Matt Damon in The Bourne Identity again tonight.

Always entertaining. I have very fond memories of this as the first time I saw it was on the big screen in Wroclaw, Poland whilst I was working there in 2002. Happy days.

[Fishy]

Run Away

[Matt2112]

^ Matt, you're too kind  Maybe I was a bit harsh, but I really didn't enjoy it at all after the first movie; and I came to it cold expecting a continuation of the first effort - which it certainly isn't.

Oh, I completely agree it's inferior in many ways to the first one; I think the first one was so unexpectedly good, handling profound themes so well as it did while still being popcorn-friendly, that the expectations for its inevitable sequel were hugely inflated.

When the sequel shifted the tone and turned out to be more commercial than cerebral it got panned, which is understandable; in my opinion, though, the sequel on its own terms isn't all that bad, and that there always feels an undercurrent that it isn't taking itself too seriously works in its favour.

[Matt2112]

Warfare

Searing, utterly gripping and technically astonishing account of a Navy SEAL team's ordeal during the Iraq war; told mostly in real-time, this is on another level of war movie realism.

Expect Oscar nominations.

Rating: ****