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Jurassic World: Dominion (2022)
Jurassic World: Dominion (2022)
2022 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
5
6.5 (15 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Insect park?
Jurassic Park (the original) is a masterpiece of cinema.

Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World has it's moments (the raptors in the long grass), but also has the annoying-kid-doing-gymnastics-while-a-Raptor-watches.

Jurassic Park 3 takes some scenes from the original novel (most noticeably the aviary) that were left out of the previous films, but also has the stupid ringing phone that a dinosaur has swallowed that remind the viewer too much (and not in a good way) of Peter Pan and Captain Hook crocodile.

Jurassic World follows the same format as Jurassic Park, except goes larger. It's not a bad movie.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom goes in a completely different direction, going the haunted house route in the second half, and ends with the dinosaurs released on the mainland.

Which is where Jurassic World: Dominion picks up, roughly four years on from the ending of Fallen Kingdom. Lots have been made of the fact that this also reunites the original cast - Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum - alongside the newer duo of Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard.

The problem, however, is that more is quite often less, which I found to be the case here - plenty of action (and dinosaurs), yes, but also, well, just missing something :(
  
Slumber Party Massacre (2021)
Slumber Party Massacre (2021)
2021 | Horror
6
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
This update of the 80s cult favourite hits all the right notes for the first two thirds of its runtime. There's some decent gore, some great shots, and it feels different enough from the original to have its own identity. Most importantly, the core group of characters are likable as hell. The movie takes the time to establish that we are following the story of a group of strong, determined women who ain't taking any shit. The feminist stance is far less subtle than the original, but it absolutely works. The scene wherein the group of men are the subjects of a topless pillow fight is ridiculous and hilarious, and moments like this, combined with the capable main protagonists ensure that it's mostly a blast.
Unfortunately, a lot of this falls apart in the final third. The film makes a shift into full blown, serious slasher territory, and flat out abandons a lot of what made the first hour so entertaining. The smart characters start making dumb decisions, and the narrative plays out in a way that leaves a slightly sour taste in the mouth. It ultimately leads to an underwhelming ending, which is a shame considering how genuinely decent it started out.
However, Slumber Party Massacre is a pretty good time overall, and is a slasher that can stand proudly side by side with the original.
  
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David McK (3372 KP) rated Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) in Movies

Nov 28, 2021 (Updated Mar 30, 2024)  
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
2021 | Action, Sci-Fi
Who ya gonna call?
Ghostbusters 2 was released in 1989.

Ghostbusters: The video game in 2009.

At that stage, it was - unofficially - touted as Ghostbusters 3.

The (atrocious) remake was in 2006.

This was released in 2021 - so over 30 years since Ghostbusters 2 - and is now the 'official' third entry in the franchise.

Having said that, there is absolutely no mention of Ghostbusters 2 during it, so you could easily skip that if you wanted a rewatch before going to see this.

This follows a new family, who find they have ties to a Ghostbuster of yore, when they are evicted from their tenement and inherit a farmhouse out in the rural countryside: a farmhouse that has secrets of its own, as does the surrounding neighbourhood.

It's also no secret that this relies heavily on nostalgia for the original and that family is at the core of the movie, written - as it is - by the son of the late Ivan Reitman (Jason Reitman) - and paying an elegiac tribute to the late Harold Ramis (1 of the original 4 Ghostbusters - Egon Spengler - , who passed in 2014.

Oh, and the post (not mid) -credits scene? Goes some way to making up for how Ernie Hudson was treated in the original, when he saw his scenes drastically cut from what was intended.
  
The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House
2018 | Horror
Genuinely creepy (2 more)
The tall man
The amazing 6th episode
Horror done right
What is the chance that I would watch the original "The Haunting" movie, only to see that the following day, a TV show based on the book that spawned the original movie, would appear on Netflix? Well, this is what happened to me. I'll start by saying I love the original movie. I love the psychological aspect of the horror. Sounds & shapes can be so much more terrifying that gore & jump-scares. When I saw the show under my recommendations, I couldn't wait, so I just jumped in.
I am not one to binge watch shows. My time is limited & I watch lots of stuff. But I was immediately hooked on this show. I watched half the season in one day & the rest the following.

The show does a very good job in taking the original movie's plot, changing things around & creating a terrifying tale that takes the psychological horror of the original, mixes it with some minor jump-scares & a compelling story of a family dealing with it's own demons as well as the spirits that live within Hell House. Yes, that was a very long sentence, which reminds me of the 6th episode, which is filled with long shots. The camera spins around, while things change around them. in fact, throughout the series, things change all the time. Sometimes statues turn their heads, ghosts appear in the background, faces appear in the furniture. Once I noticed one of these faces, just there, staring at the family. My fiance didn't even notice. I backed it up to show her. She went "Ooh! How did I not see that?"

The story does jump around in time, showing when the family first moved into the house, with 5 children & their parents & then in current day, still being haunted & compelled by the house. Every actor in the show is fantastic. Even the children really pull it off.

The ghosts in the show are creepy as all hell. My favorite is the tall man. I haven't been freaked out by a movie or TV show in decades, but I held my breath & stared as he...well, just watch.

I have recommended this to all my friends & those who watched it all got back to me to thank me. So, I'm recommending it to all of you too.
  
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles
1967 | Pop, Psychedelic, Rock

"I originally chose the White Album, but then I thought, no, the White Album probably is my favourite Beatles record, but Sergeant Pepper is one of those records that everybody had and you heard it so many times that I didn't imagine I could ever possibly come back to it. But I have a librarian in me; some of the Wire things I've done I've made out of sources, to recreate something, and because EMI were so diligent about keeping all of the original material they were able to go back to the original 4-track tapes, put them all into Pro Tools sessions, get them all lined up and then start playing it back in a way that it was never played back. Because of the methodology of bouncing tracks- you'd record to a 4-track machine, then bounce it to another 4-track machine and whatever- by the time you'd gone seven or eight generations you're losing all of the top end on the original recordings. There isn't that kind of clarity there. There's clarity to Revolver that isn't in Sergeant Pepper because of all the layers of recording. And one of the remarkable things about the remaster of Sergeant Pepper is that clarity comes back with a vengeance. So the first thing that you can say about it is it actually sounds a lot more like Revolver than you ever imagined it did. And the second thing is they're right there in the room with you. It's completely present. The original recording was obviously really good. They were recording in Abbey Road with high end engineers. So what had sounded a bit mushy and indistinct is very clear. There are some things that I don't agree with. I don't like any of the tracks so much where they put the drums on one side because I hate that stereo picture, but they had their reasons for doing it. They tried to be as true as possible to the original mixes; that's the other thing, so you don't have a sense that this is a redo. You just have a sense that here's an ancient artefact that had been covered in grime and somebody's just cleaned all the grime off, and there you see the shiny thing in front of you."

Source
  
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Andy K (10821 KP) rated The Beguiled (2017) in Movies

Nov 19, 2017 (Updated Nov 19, 2017)  
The Beguiled (2017)
The Beguiled (2017)
2017 | Drama
Female casting choices (0 more)
Colin Farrell (2 more)
Bad lighting for interior scenes
All emotion was drained
Really wanted to love it
Tonight I watch both versions back-to-back as the original Eastwood version is one of my favorite of his films. This new version removes any emotion form most of the characters and situations and leaves us nothing to replace it. I don't mind if the movie is told from the "female" point of view, whatever that means, but the screenplay for this story still has to be interesting, emotional and intense and this has none. The actors (except Colin Farrell who is awful in everything) do the best with the material they are given; however, this more "sterilized" version of the story doesn't hold a candle to the original. I generally think Sofia Coppola is overrated as a director and would never have gone anywhere in Hollywood without her last name.
  
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Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Tin Star in TV

Jan 15, 2018  
Tin Star
Tin Star
2017 | Drama
Performances (2 more)
Structure
Use of tension
A Fantastic Original Show
A brilliantly original drama series that takes a number of unexpected twists, Tin Star is one of my favourite TV shows of last year. This was one of those shows that I was excited about before it premiered, but when it actually started I didn't have the time to watch it and so I put it off. I am extremely glad that I decided to go back to it.
Although I liked the sound of the show back before it premiered, I actually wasn't expecting too much from it, as I had since heard mixed reviews of the series, but I for one loved it. The performances are great and I love how the show takes certain concepts that have been used many times before and puts a totally unique and unexpected twist on them.