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Sharlto Copley recommended The Goonies (1985) in Movies (curated)

 
The Goonies (1985)
The Goonies (1985)
1985 | Adventure, Comedy

"I definitely have films that, for whatever reason, had an impact on me. One of the first ones is The Goonies, which I watched when I was a little kid growing up in South Africa. I actually came home from watching The Goonies and planned a whole movie that I recorded on the tape recorder. It was about some kids in a gang. They stumble upon a stolen piece of art. It’s actually not such a bad idea now that I think about it. [The Goonies] was definitely one of those films that I distinctly remember pushing me into, “This is what I’m going to do.” I’d been playing around with the camera, but that was like the turning point for me, The Goonies."

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Cameron Crowe recommended The Apartment (1960) in Movies (curated)

 
The Apartment (1960)
The Apartment (1960)
1960 | Classics, Comedy, Drama

"You really can’t beat The Apartment for finding laughs and heartache and triumph in the life of a morally compromised schnook of an insurance salesman. The great Billy Wilder was at one of his many career peaks here, finding unforgettable depth in Shirley MacLaine as elevator operator Fran Kubelik, and pulling a delicious Mitt Romneyesque-bad-guy performance out of an unlikely casting choice, the Disney leading man from Flubber, Fred MacMurray. The high-water mark in romantic comedy, this movie is so assured of its tone that even an attempted suicide is never far from a big laugh. It’s all wrapped up in giddy melancholy and — in a rare move — the Academy gave this comedy a whole bunch of Oscars too. Viva Wilder!"

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The Fate of the Furious (2017)
The Fate of the Furious (2017)
2017 | Action
This 8th entry in the Fast & Furious series is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's half a boring movie with a annoyingly cringey villain (not bashing Charlize Theron, but her character writing and direction is just awful), but on the other hand, it's more of the same stupid action that is laughably far away from the original at this point (not a bad thing). The entire last hour is ridiculous and so horrifically entertaining. Jason Statham taking out waves of thugs on an aeroplane with a gun in one hand, and a baby in the other, is definitely a series highlight. This franchise has essentially turned into that Tugg Speedman trailer from Tropic Thunder, and I'm ok with that.
  
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Tim Burton recommended The Omega Man (1971) in Movies (curated)

 
The Omega Man (1971)
The Omega Man (1971)
1971 | Classics, Sci-Fi

"Seeing Charlton Heston reciting lines from Woodstock and wearing jumpsuits that look like he’s out of Gilligan’s Island — there are lots of good things. The thing I liked about this is that the vampire characters were played by real people. They had a really cool look to them — black robes, dark glasses. Not Charlton Heston with his shirt off. [laughs] I was kind of obsessed by him, because he’s like the greatest bad actor of all time. Between this and Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green and The Ten Commandments — I know that was a religious film but I always thought it was like the first zombie movie. He starts out like this real person and by the end he’s like this weird zombie."

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Nickg24 (492 KP) rated Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) in Movies

Oct 13, 2019 (Updated Oct 13, 2019)  
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure
The Samoans (0 more)
Corny dialogue (1 more)
Recycled Action Sequences
Never been a fan of the F&F movies and I wasnt expecting to like this...and surprisingly thats exactly what i got.The dialogue between Hobbs and shaw was ridiculous at best,cringeworthy at its worst.The action sequences were just the same old same old,some of it belonged in one of those bargain basement 90's straight to DVD action films.

Those 2 big name "cameos" added nothing to the story much and how such a wonderful actor in Idris Elba ended up playing such a predictable bad guy amazes me.The only good thing about this movie was the samoan family and the beautiful island itself.How this was a big hit at the box office I will never know.
  
Hide and Seek (2005)
Hide and Seek (2005)
2005 | Mystery
8
6.3 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Come Out and Play
Hide and Seek- is a very underrated horror film. It has a very good twist at the end. Both Robert De Niro and Dakota Fanning do a excellent job. Its suspenseful, scary, thrilling and intense.

The Plot: Following the suicide of his wife (Amy Irving), psychologist David Callaway (Robert De Niro) decides to take his daughter, Emily (Dakota Fanning), away from New York City to a house in the country for a fresh start. Unfortunately, Emily is too grief-stricken to really appreciate her new surroundings, and she hasn't made any friends, save Charlie, who is imaginary. When Charlie begins to harbor resentment toward David, an already bad situation gets worse.

Its a really good movie.
  
Black as night (2021)
Black as night (2021)
2021 | Drama, Horror, Thriller
6
5.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Good cinematography (1 more)
Endearing characters
Narration is a bit odd (0 more)
Fun, but not amazing
Black as night is an Amazon movie, about vampires causing havoc in the predominantly poor black community in New Orleans.

It follows a young girl, who after suffering a family tragedy for to vampiric influence, decides to get her Buffy on and take vengeance.

It's a fun Blumhouse film, but it's made almost for quite a young audience (like, too young to actually watch it). Some of the characters are good, but the narration from the protagonist throws the feeling of the film off for me, and I don't know why.

All in all, it's not bad, and worth a watch, but it's by no means a good vampire film.
  
Choose Or Die (2022)
Choose Or Die (2022)
2022 | Horror
4
5.0 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Choose or Die has a decent premise, and some good ideas, but it suffers from a sloppy execution that results in a forgettable horror that fails to excite. After an intriguing opening scene and a first act that sets up proceedings well enough, the narrative falls off the rails a bit. It kind of explains why all this bad shit is happening but simultaneously peaces out with a conclusion that doesn't make sense or even matters to be honest. It's like the movie gets bored of itself around the halfway point. The only real saving grace is the disorientating as fuck soundtrack from Liam Howlett (The Prodigy), but otherwise, Choose or Die kind of gives it a go, but is ultimately a flaccid disappointment.
  
Transformers Rise of the Beasts (2023)
Transformers Rise of the Beasts (2023)
2023 | Action, Adventure
6
7.1 (8 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I heard this is something like the 7th entry in the main 'Transformers' non-cartoon movie series.

7.

I still remember the first.

This is also a prequel, of sorts, set during the 1990s instead of the more contemporary setting of the earlier (mid 2000) movies, with a new cast of human characters alongside the Autobots and - here - the Terracons and the Maximals.

For some reason, however, I found it not to be as engaging as those earlier (maximum Bayhem!) entries, even though it is clearer on just what is happening - maybe it's the fusion of sound and vision that's missing?

Anyway, it's not bad but I still prefer the first two entries in particular (before it all went massively downhill).
  
Justice League (2017)
Justice League (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure
Superman! (0 more)
Messy introduction (1 more)
Steppenwolf
A really pleasant surprise
PRE-MOVIE THOUGHTS: Up until very recently, I'd been cautiously optimistic regarding Justice League. I enjoyed Man of Steel, despite some faults, and I thought that Henry Cavill was perfectly suited to the role. I didn't mind Batman V Superman so much either, despite Jesse Eisenbergs Lex Luthor constantly trying to ruin it. The best thing about Batman V Superman though was Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, which is why her standalone origin movie deservedly did so well earlier this year. But the characters of Superman and Batman were beginning to get a bit of a raw deal in my opinion, and that was starting to piss me off. The original Superman movie with Christopher Reeve, along with Christopher Nolans Dark Knight trilogy, are among my favourite films and these latest movies just weren't doing them 'justice'. Suicide Squad showed that DC couldn't do an ensemble movie, which cast a lot of doubt over just how good Justice League was going to be. And when reports came in of re-shoots and a change of director, it wasn't really looking good. But some of the more recent trailers and teasers actually didn't look so bad, so maybe there wasn't too much to be worried about. Until a few days ago that is, when about 90% of the reviews I read didn't give it higher than two stars! And those that gave it higher were still highlighting some of the weaknesses I've already mentioned here. So, I headed into the cinema, expecting to be pissed off again. But seriously, genuinely hoping I wasn't.

POST-MOVIE REVIEW: Justice League doesn't start things off too well. The world is still mourning the death of Superman, and a few pointless scenes try to highlight that loss and despair. Batman and Wonder Woman appear in a couple of standalone battles to remind us what they're capable of, but those scenes also seem rushed and out of place. We have three new team members to be introduced to as well, along with the big bad of the movie. Whereas Marvel's Avengers took the time to introduce their team over a series of standalone movies, we've had no such luxury in the run up to Justice League, aside from some brief glimpses in previous movies. It all just seems like a rush to get things to the point where the team are together and can start having some fun. Everything up until that point just seems cobbled together. Lacking coherence, and just a little bit dull.

Talking of dull, once again the big bad of the movie is a bit of a let down. Steppenwolf appears on Earth in search of three powerful cubes which when combined together will give him the ability to forge the Earth into something more appealing to him, or something like that anyway. He's accompanied by thousands of flying zombie man-bug type creatures and the whole thing just reeks of supervillain plotlines we've seen many times before. Steppenwolf himself is entirely CGI, and at times the CGI just doesn't look that good.

Onto the league themselves. Well, Wonder Woman is still the most impressive of them all, proving to be a real natural leader. Batman, although greatly improved on his Batman V Superman appearance, just seems like he can't be bothered. Tired and uninterested at times. This might be partly down to Ben Affleck, who never really seemed suited to the role in my opinion. If the rumours of him being recast in the next standalone Batman movie are true, then it may well be for the best. Even if the thought of yet another actor taking on the role so soon already is extremely frustrating.

The two biggest surprise for me were the two characters I was initially least interested about when heading in to the cinema. Cyborg, from his introduction in BvS and glimpses in the trailers, just seemed pointless. But, despite that we gloss over his back story somewhat, actually proves himself to be a valuable and interesting member of the team. And as for The Flash, he manages to get many of the movies better lines and scenes while he tries to come to terms with what he can actually do with his power ("Up until now I usually just run really fast and push people").

Slightly disappointing though was Aquaman. Not the character himself, just the fact that we barely get a glimpse of his undersea world, before he finds himself thrust into the league, reduced to just being some extra muscle. His is a role which would have greatly benefited from a standalone origin movie before appearing in this one.

When the team eventually do come together is when the movie really steps up a gear. They work really well together and I really enjoyed the battle scenes. It soon becomes clear though, that they cannot defeat Steppenwolf on their own, and need somebody even more powerful to help them out.

It's no secret, despite his absence from the trailers, that Superman returns to become part of the league. I felt that this was handled really well and the team helping to overcome his initial disorientation was a really fun scene. When he is fully recovered and battling the bad guys, it's the kind of Superman we all know and love and everything involving him is just hugely enjoyable.

If it wasn't for the rushed, incoherent introduction to the movie, I would have rated this a lot higher. For me, the rest of the movie is right up there with this years Wonder Woman, and is a serious step in the right direction for DC. A really pleasant surprise...