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Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
2017 | Fantasy, Musical, Romance
Emma Watson, Dan Stevens and an army of all-star voices do justice to animated landmark – even if some magic is M.I.A.
Critic Review By Peter Travers - Rollingstone.com

Read the full review: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/peter-travers-beauty-and-the-beast-movie-review-w471990

Except:

What Beauty and the Beast rises or falls on is the love story, and here, allowed to slow down to let in intimate moments, the movie catches fire. Hobbled by a motion capture process that forced him to walk on stilts and wear a huge muscle suit covered in Lycra, Stevens goes beyond the call of family-musical duty to give us a flawed human being instead of a special effect; his is a Beast worth saving. Those are his eyes gazing down with passion at Watson's Beauty, his voice choked with genuine ardor. And suddenly, in a movie built on the bones of what preceded it, there is something there that wasn't there before. I'd call that an exhilarating gift.
  
Legion  - Season 1
Legion - Season 1
2017 | Action, Sci-Fi
Original (4 more)
Surreal
Soundtrack was on point
Aubrey Plaza
Dan Stevens
More could have happened (0 more)
Mind fuck of a TV Show
I really enjoyed this show. It was everything I had wanted from a TV show involving a character as complex as David Haller.
The set pieces were spectacular and the surreal and weirdness of this show kept you questioning everything about what was going on.
Considering the show ran for 8 episodes in the grand scheme of things not a lot actually happened when you take away all the insanity from Haller's mind, but don't let that detract you from this wonderfully crafted show with links to the Marvel world.
Just sit back and enjoy the unimaginable.
  
A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
2014 | Action, Drama
8
6.4 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
A Walk Within The Shadows
A Walk Among the Tombstones- is a really good movie. The drama, the thrills, the suspense, the action, and the twist.

The plot: Matt Scudder (Liam Neeson), formerly part of the NYPD, now works as an unlicensed private detective. His latest client is a drug trafficker (Dan Stevens) whose wife was kidnapped and brutally murdered, and as Scudder delves deeper, he finds that the crime's sequence is the modus operandi of the perpetrators. Before they can strike again and destroy other lives, Scudder races through the back streets of New York to catch the killers, blurring the lines between lawful and criminal as he goes.

Highly recordmend.
  
The Guest (2014)
The Guest (2014)
2014 | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Great story (7 more)
Thriller aspects are amazing
Creepy in a good way
Dan Stevens is fantastic
Directing is great
Action is very good
Supporting cast great as well
Soundtrack
Nothing (0 more)
Awesome movie
The guest is an extremely underrated movie in my opinion because it delivers everything you want from a thriller/horror and then more added on. It's a really great movie with a lot of mystery going on and throughout the movie more is learned in a clever way, it is a very clever and well made movie with nothing really wrong with it.
I thoroughly enjoyed everything about it and think that most people will too but it just needs more recognition from everyone so go and watch it !
  
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
2020 | Comedy, Music, Romance
Will ferrell (1 more)
Rachel mcadams
Never been a total fan of eurovision song contest over the years due to absurdity and the campness of it all and why after 60 years why do we still need to hold this contest every year anymore the UK entrant hasn't won 1997 24 wasted years of trying why don't we just give up.
Anyway the movie I laughed so much at the movie that was send up of eurovision and its campness even an apprentice from Grahame Norton sending up himself. Will ferrell is brilliant as the lead with Rachel mcadams as his support not forgetting pierce brosnan and Dan Stevens in support. Overall best euro song contest I've seen in years doest mean I will be watching tomorrow night
  
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
2020 | Comedy, Music, Romance
Full of Eurovision spirit
I am a big fan of Eurovision, it's a must see event every year and I've even been to see it in person when it was last held in Denmark. Sadly with the cancellation of pretty much everything this year including Eurovision, I've been dying for a bit of cheesy fun and this film *almost* delivers it in the truckload.

This film really knows how to channel the Eurovision spirit. There's a lot of great cheesy songs and costumes, some great over the top performances (Dan Stevens was a hoot) and a decent amount of heart. The songs are very good, from the hilariously cheesy to the impressive ballads. The acting was good although i felt Will Ferrell was a little of a letdown. It was great to see Dan Stevens camping it up though and a nice (but sadly too short) role for Natasia Demetriou from What We Do in the Shadows, and I loved the cameos from existing real life Eurovision acts.

The problem with this film is the humour is lacking when it's not cheesy Eurovision fun. And the jokes that were there fell pretty flat for me. The film is also rather longer than you'd expect and did drag a little in the middle.

I had been expecting a Eurovision spoof comedy, but instead what I got was almost a homage to everything we love about Eurovision. It's not great but definitely an enjoyable bit of fun. I've been debating whether to score this a 6 or 7 and in the end, I've decided to be rather generous as it is a lot of fun.
  
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JT (287 KP) rated The Guest (2014) in Movies

Mar 10, 2020  
The Guest (2014)
The Guest (2014)
2014 | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
If there was any further indication needed that British leading men make for accomplished villains, this is a prime example. The softly spoken Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) can now walk shoulder to shoulder with the likes of other talented antagonists such as Mark Strong, Tom Hiddleston and Ben Kingsley.

Director Adam Wingard‘s home invasion horror You’re Next received high acclaim so this was always going to be an exciting follow up. When I caught the trailer not a lot was given away. I like the fact that you’re going in almost blind. It makes for better viewing.

David (Stevens) enters the life of the Peterson family who are still grieving from the loss of their son Caleb who was killed in Iraq. Quickly he becomes an integral part of their lives, always around to help them out of difficult situations or as a shoulder to cry on.

It’s clear there is something more disturbing beneath his chilling blue eyes and it doesn’t take long for us to find out what. The Guest is a tense intriguing thriller that never gives too much away, making it one of its strong points. We all know there is something wrong with David, that much is clear from the shots of him grimly staring into the distance.

He manifests himself as a psychotic guardian angel with ulterior motives that are never revealed until the bodies start to pile up and we get to delve further into his back story. Even then Stevens plays his character with deadpan charm that makes us like him even more.

There are a number of genres all thrown in that ultimately work well alongside each other. A nice dose of action thanks to a backyard shootout is quickly morphed into an 80s slasher horror that echoes Halloween. The soundtrack is slick and pulsating, with comparisons drawn to Drive not just from the score but from Stevens somewhat uncanny resemblance to Ryan Gosling.

It never feels disjointed at any point and while it might wobble a little with the surprise ending (of which you knew was coming) it doesn’t damage the overall integrity if the story.
  
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Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) Mar 11, 2020

One of my all time favorite psychological horror films.

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JT (287 KP) Mar 11, 2020

Goes from thriller to 80s slasher flick almost seamlessly

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)
2014 | Action, Comedy
6
6.9 (9 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Night At The Museum: Secret of the Tomb, is a new movie (rated PG) starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Dan Stevens, and Rebel Wilson.

It is the third installment in the ‘Night At The Museum’ series.

The movie begins in time before any of the movies take place in time, throwing us back to the discovery of the magical tablet that brings the museum to life after sunset.

We then flash forward to current day,
and Ben Stillers character, Larry Daley, is the ‘special effects’ manager, in charge of all the magic of the museum.

Things go awry, and the rest of the movie is spent wrapped up in an attempt to first find out how to stop the erosion of the tablet, and then how to implement the information that is discovered.

The movie is fast paced, and it did draw me in. It is likely I was more emotionally invested in this film because it is the last film I will see Robin Williams in, and that was definitely at the forefront of my mind while watching the movie.

Some of the scenes between Rebel Wilson and Ben Stiller were less than funny to me, and some of the jokes were definitely groan worthy.
It was fairly predictable, but Dan
Stevens as Sir Lancelot did throw a few curve balls that mixed it up a bit.

It seems, based on some of the scenes, that Night at The Museum might be better in 3D than it was in 2D.

Over all, I liked the movie, but wouldn’t bother to take my son, who is 6 to see it ‘at the theatre’. It is one of those movies where the best parts seem to be in the previews.

http://sknr.net/2014/12/19/night-museum-3/
  
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
2020 | Comedy, Music, Romance
OK, I'll admit it … that was better than I was expecting.

Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams starring Rom-Com, as the members of the Icelandic band 'Fire Saga', who get chosen (for plot reasons) to represent their country in 2020s Eurovision Song Contest, which is being held in Scotland for some reason(?!).

Yes, the actual 2020 Eurovision competition itself was cancelled due to Covid-19.

As for the film: after a slow(ish) setting the scene start, it picks up once Lars and Sigrit make it to the song contest, and with the introduction of Dan Stevens completely-over-the-top Russian entrant - the firm favourite to be the winner of said competition - alongside a whole host of actual Eurovision nods and winks.

And Graham Norton.

Yes, that Graham Norton.

(although he may be more familiar to UK watchers than to others)
  
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Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Legion in TV

Aug 3, 2017  
Legion
Legion
2017 | Action, Sci-Fi
Writing (4 more)
Cinematography
Performances
Lighting
Direction
The ending of the first season (0 more)
A mind bending new take
This show was so fresh and offered an extremely interesting and original new take on the X Men universe. Dan Stevens and Aubrey Plaza are phenomenal as are the rest of the cast. The show was writing by the guys behind Fargo, so as expected it is a very well written script with sharp, meaningful dialogue and some genuinely shocking moments. There are some very experimental methods of filming used and for the most part they totally work with the surreal tone that the show achieves.
The only reason I can't score this a perfect 10 is because I found the ending of the first season to be very anti climatic after all of the clever, tightly woven build up. Still though, this is a great new show.