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Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
1971 | Fantasy, Musical
The quirky humour, the fantastic sets (0 more)
Occasional strange scenes (0 more)
A Childhood Favourite
I've loved this film since I was about 3 years old and that's quite a while ago! I love the songs in the film's soundtrack and the quirky character Gene Wilder plays.

Wilder has some fantastic one liners and the children are brilliant, playing the obnoxious winners of the Golden Tickets. Charlie Bucket is very likeable and you feel for him, as he and family struggle to survive.

The only part of the film which I don't particularly care for, is the 'Wonkatania' boat scene, I found this particularly disturbing as a child.

The songs in this are very memorable. Considering the fact that I have probably watched this film 100's of times, I could sing all of them at the drop of a hat! This film has been a part of my life for so long, that most of my family could recite most of the film too!

This is one of my all time favourite films and a guilty pleasure. I have watched the Tim Burton adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel this film is based on and, although it had some nice additions from the original text, which did not feature in this version of the story, I much prefer this version.

If you want to watch a film full of magic and wonder, I suggest watching this film.
  
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Elli H Burton (1288 KP) Jun 14, 2019

"Occasional strange scenes" I absolutely love this. The boat scene haunted me as a child!

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Kaz (232 KP) Jun 14, 2019

I didn't know how else to describe it! It was terrifying when I was a child!

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999)
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999)
1999 | Musical
6
6.5 (11 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Great music, shame about the rest
I loved Joseph when I was a child, and I haven’t seen the stage show since I was in primary school either, so I had to watch this when I saw it had been added to Netflix.

I spent the entire of this film trying to figure out if this was a stage show they’d recorded and made look like a film, or if they’d intentionally made it as a film like this. Looking it up afterwards, I’ve discovered this was a direct to video film and boy can you tell. For a purposely made film, the production values in this are really cheesy and cheap, and the costumes are pretty bad even with it being the late 90s. I also can’t stand the narrator in this, I just found her very irritating - the last scene especially. Donny Osmond is alright but his hair looks so fake I couldn’t help laughing every time there was a close up. The highlight of the cast by far is Richard Attenborough, it’s just a shame he isn't in it very much.

What saves this is the all round entertainment factor and the soundtrack. You can’t question the Lloyd Webber music, it’s truly fantastic and so varied (from country to Elvis rock) and catchy. I just wished the rest of the film lived up to this - they really should have just filmed a stage version.
  
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AT (1676 KP) Jan 29, 2019

Ugh, that's too bad! It's always such a disappointment when they take a great thing and mess it up like that.

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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Stranger Things - Season 1 in TV

Jul 5, 2019 (Updated Jul 5, 2019)  
Stranger Things  - Season 1
Stranger Things - Season 1
2016 | Horror, Sci-Fi
Welcome to Hawkins
For me, the first season of Stranger Things is perfect, and I really, and truly mean that.
 
The acting is top notch, the young actors in particular are phenomenal, believable, hugely professional.
Winona Ryder is fantastic as Joyce Byers, a mother losing her mind over the disappearance of her son (or is she). David Harbour is possibly the most likeable TV character in recent history, as Hopper, and then we have a host of supporting characters who all have an individual impact on the overall narrative (Justice for Barb)

There is an impending sense of dread throughout, as the mystery of Wills disappearance is slowly unravelled, as the season flits effortlessly from 80s buddy adventure, to creature feature, to government conspiracy thriller - there are many plates being spun, and none of them fall off.
Some of the more tense scenes will have you on the edge of your seat (R.U.N.)
At times it even reminded of one of my absolute favourite shows ever - Twin Peaks.

The 80s setting is a smart move, shoeing in references to other media left, right and centre, without ever feeling to on the nose, topped off with a very retro low electronic soundtrack, the atmosphere is very well crafted.

All of these positives put together produce an astounding season of television, that is near impossible to watch in bits.

Easy 10/10 for me!
  
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Madbatdan82 (341 KP) Jul 5, 2019

Couldn't agree more esp about Hopper - total legend!

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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Two Popes (2019) in Movies

Dec 6, 2019 (Updated Dec 6, 2019)  
The Two Popes (2019)
The Two Popes (2019)
2019 | Biography, Comedy, Drama
'And it's in nomine patris from me...' '...et in spiritus sancti from him.' Slightly oddball true-life drama doesn't go quite as far as that, but is still much funnier and lighter than it sounds from the capsule synopsis - any film which sees the college of cardinals going into conclave while Dancing Queen plays on the soundtrack, and droll enough to show the two pontiffs watching the World Cup final together (Germany-Argentina, of course) obviously has something to say for itself.

The question is what that is. No doubt the decision to make the film a comedy-drama was partly inspired by concerns it could be offputtingly talky, but the talk works when it's delivered by two actors like Pryce and Hopkins, working with a very good script. The film is arguably biased in favour of Jorge Bergoglio, who is presented as warm, human, and compassionate; his life story is explored in much more detail than that of Joseph Ratzinger - but then again you could say the film does Ratzinger a big favour by largely ignoring the elephant in the room and his role in covering it up. Most of the film is very plausible, and it's only near the end that you begin to suspect how much of it is complete fiction. Still, it's engaging and plausible fiction, and - some distracting hand-held camerawork aside - mostly very well played and filmed.
  
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JT (287 KP) rated Summer of 84 (2018) in Movies

Mar 10, 2020  
Summer of 84 (2018)
Summer of 84 (2018)
2018 | Horror
The arrival of Stranger Things has given those old enough to remember the 80s a real sense of nostalgia; a retro throwback to a time when life was relatively uncomplicated. The film cobbles together another bunch of archetypal misfits who are convinced their sleepy suburb harbours a terrifying secret – that the kind hearted cop living next door is in fact a sadistic serial killer.

Davey (Graham Verchere) is bored and in need of something to spice up his univentful summer. When he starts to suspect that Wayne Mackey (Rich Sommer) is a serial killer, he enlists the help of his friends to piece together the evidence.

It’s not long before the group think that Davey is paranoid and start to cut him off, leaving Davey’s hot neighbour, whom he has a desperate teenage crush on, as the only person who might just believe him. Summer of 84 was always going to come up short to its Stranger Things cousin, but I really enjoyed it, the synth retro soundtrack coupled with a satisfying ending made it a great watch.

It makes no excuses for being thoroughly unoriginal but instead has fun, never taking itself too seriously. Each of the boys has a reason to be outside playing amatuer detective rather than in the confines of their unhappy homes. The final epilogue will leave an unhinged sense of fear in us all and it’s an ending which doesn’t follow the normal rules.
  
    Dungeon, Inc.

    Dungeon, Inc.

    Games, Entertainment and Stickers

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