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Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010)
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010)
2010 | Action, Animation, Sci-Fi
6
7.1 (16 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Am I saying all it takes to make a good movie is animation as angelic as this - some of the very best the 2010s (or any decade) has to offer - which not only took my breath away but on several occasions you could even have convinced me some of these beautiful vistas were actually real? Well - I mean 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘻𝘦𝘯 2 still sucked, didn't it? But at the same time, without such godly visuals this would have been a total snooze. The bookends strain but the portion in the middle won me over, it's just so dang cute (I mean come on... that echidna?? Adorable). It really is a testament to how exemplary this looks that it managed to choke me up even in spite of its boring voice acting, character designs that look good idle but once they're required to emote have such unexpressive faces, and of course it wouldn't be 2010 without a heaping helping of noxious 3D 'gimmicks' (gimmicks = continually grinding the movie to a halt while shoving something uncomfortably close to the camera for no reason). There's even a super intriguing thread in here about the different ways we view legends/fairy tales as a kid versus as an adult and how to reconcile with that (or at least try to). But one last quibble - this has the same issue as π˜›π˜¦π˜¦π˜―π˜’π˜¨π˜¦ π˜”π˜Άπ˜΅π˜’π˜―π˜΅ π˜•π˜ͺ𝘯𝘫𝘒 π˜›π˜Άπ˜³π˜΅π˜­π˜¦π˜΄ (2014) where the slo-mo was really cool the first few times but did they have to keep reusing it over and over and over again like that? We get it, it's a Snyder movie but it gets tiresome after a point, dude. And putting an Owl City song in this should have been punishable by imprisonment.
  
My Bloody Valentine 3-D (2009)
My Bloody Valentine 3-D (2009)
2009 | Horror, Mystery
One of the avalanche of classic horror remakes to surface during the 00s, My Bloody Valentine (in "spectacular" 3D of course) isn't the worst of them by a long shot, but it still suffers from the soul-less-ness that the majority of them seem all to keen to pack in.

Its certainly more action packed and gory than it's 80s older sibling. The violence on display packs a punch for sure, some of it looks great, some of its looks terrible. The Harry Warden killer, much like the Michaels and Jasons of this remake era, is more of a machine than before. Relentless, brutal, faster, and pretty intimidating as far as these things go. It also packs in a fair amount of character development, which is a nice touch that gives the whole narrative some much needed gravitas, and the cast all do a good job with the by-the-numbers slasher-remake screenplay, with highlights being Jaime King and the ever reliable Tom Atkins.

You know how these things go though, and the simple fact is that this do over isn't as good as the original. It lacks the realness and charm (there's that word again) that the original had. There's a twist near the end that is designed to pull the rug out from under fans of the original, and it's actually a pretty interesting one, albeit executed poorly, and requires the viewer to really suspend disbelief in order to glaze over some gaping plot holes.

All in all, it's gory and fun enough to easily pass a couple of hours, and manages to feel like a homage to the original, rather than a straight up copy, and that I can respect, but ultimately, it's not a strong argument for the case of remakes.
  
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
2018 | Action, Sci-Fi
So this was my midnight screening... I threw caution to the wind again and dragged myself out of bed when normal people were sleeping. I rocked up at 11:45 thinking I was actually running a bit late... but as it turned out, I was the first one there. I tried my best to sneak down the side so I didn't have to have my picture taken with some extras who were doing some promo shots out front. Unfortunately I wasn't channelling my ninja skills enough due to lack of sleep and I was trapped against my will for snaps.

When I went to see Last Jedi the whole screen was packed out. I had been toying with when to see this one, I wasn't overly bothered so a midnight screening seemed a bit over the top. But LJ had been such a great atmosphere that I went for it. I was very surprised to find that when I went to book there were only two other seats booked for the 3D screening, and when I checked the 2D there were maybe 20 tickets booked.

No one had very high hopes for this one, and I for one didn't think it was as good as Force Awakens or Last Jedi, but it did have its moments. There were a lot of nostalgic references, I don't know if they were things that was already know in the fandom, but to me they were new and I appreciated them.

Beyond that I wasn't overly impressed by it. Paul Bettany was woefully under used and the rest didn't really feel very convincing, even when taking into account the fictional nature of everything. The one thing that actually got me in the feels was Lando and L3. Still brings a tear to my eye now.
  
Alpha (2018)
Alpha (2018)
2018 | Action, Drama, Thriller
The origin of man's best friend, a heart warming story with some epic visuals.

I was slightly distracted for a while because my brain went "Keda's dad looks like Zod." Sorry if I've just distracted you with that too... you're welcome.

Somehow I managed to see an audio described release of this by accident and I was intrigued. As well as the films own subtitles you have all the sound commentary. I was struck by the fact that more than once they used the word "wince", which is visual, as an audio cue. He "winced in pain". Well yes he did wince, but you could see that, it should surely have said "cries with pain" or something similar?

Part of me is very glad that I didn't end up seeing this in 3D as I'd originally planned. On more than one occasion during the film I had to look away from the screen as I was getting dizzy or feeling slightly nauseous. So probably not one to see on the big screen if you have issues with motion sickness.

As I said at the beginning the visuals are amazing, and there are no obvious signs of the necessary digital intervention. It's a smooth film all the way through, nothing out of place. There's a snippet in the trailer where you see Keda tossed into the air by a buffalo, the extended version of this in the film is probably the best bit for me. It gave me that tense physical reaction to see larger than life, and thankfully didn't set off the vertigo! That all being said though, it's still just a pleasant film that goes where you expect it to.
  
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