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Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
2019 | Biography, Crime, Thriller
Surprisingly good. Thank you Netflix and Zac Efron.
This wasn't something that was on my list to watch, but my wife is a fan of anything Ted Bundy, so I obliged. From the moment the film begins, you are immediately engulfed in the amazingly twisted love story of Bundy and Liz. The movie is incredibly paced and enthralling. Efron is his normal charismatic self, but surprisingly gripping and believable in the serial killer role. He beautifully parallels the real life man he portrays. The film also does a great job of splicing in actual police photos and TV footage, leading to the gripping final act. To say the least, I was pleasantly surprised.
  
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Bob Balaban recommended La Ronde (1950) in Movies (curated)

 
La Ronde (1950)
La Ronde (1950)
1950 | International, Comedy, Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Well I always have a hard time with this. As we get older or grow or whatever, it’s always changing, because you just see more movies, for one thing, so you change. One of my most favorite movies, I think a perennial favorite movie of mine is La Ronde. I don’t know how well acquainted you are with it. It’s one of my favorite movies. Anton Walbrook is one of the stars, who also the stars of another one of my favorite movies, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. He’s the guy who’s that German who has the seven-minute monologue with the moving camera that never cuts, and he breaks down during it."

Source
  
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Blazing Minds (92 KP) rated Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) in Movies

Oct 29, 2021 (Updated Nov 3, 2021)  
Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)
Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)
2020 | Comedy, Fantasy
I remember seeing Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure back in the cinemas in 1989, it was a most excellent movie packed with time-travelling laughs and some brilliant music, now years after their Bogus Journey they are back to Face The Music and this time they bring their family with them.

The film does seem to start of fairly slow before it finds its footing to bring us not only what feels like how the original movies felt, but also gives us that nostalgic feel of those days of crazy films that were purely for the entertainment value to make us laugh and Bill & Ted Face the Music certainly had me laughing and laughing a lot.
  
How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)
How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)
2019 | Animation
Visually stunning and exhilarating, great to be back in the world of Berk (0 more)
Kinda not as epic feeling in scope, in comparison to the previous 2 films, something felt missing just a bit. (0 more)
Flying On Fumes: Bittersweet End to Dragons - 7/10
How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is the final installment in the trilogy of films based on the books by Cressidia Cowell. It was written and directed by Dean Deblois, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal. With a returning cast starring Jay Burachel, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, and Craig Ferguson.


One year after (How To Train Your Dragon 2) Hiccup (Jay Burachel) and friends defended Berk from the threat of Drago Bludvist; the group is still rescuing dragons and relocating them back to their village. Now however the villagers are dealing with a problem of overcrowding and overpopulation of dragons. Hiccup begins the process of finding a new home for everyone to relocate to, the fabled "Hidden World" of the dragons. The conflict of the film enters when the Vikings whose dragons Hiccup has been freeing, seek the help of Grimmel the Grisly (F. Murray Abraham), a dragon hunter responsible for the eradication and near extermination of all Night Furies. And also Toothless being enamoured with the discovery of a female White Fury dragon.


This movie was really good and while watching I had fun seeing the whole group dynamic and how everyone interacted with each other. It felt awesome seeing them again and how they all grew up a little over the last year. When comparing this movie to the others in the series, it felt like it fell short especially for being the last movie in the trilogy. I guess it was hard to surpass how great the last film was. While visually stunning and exhilarating at times it failed to be as great as it could have and felt like something was missing in this conclusion to an epic series. The atmosphere of the movie felt like it never quite matched the tone that they were trying to set with the seriousness of the plot. It's like only the main character felt the weight of the world on his shoulders but it is a kids movie after all. Like I said certainly enjoyable, I give it a 7/10.
  
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LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Café Society (2016) in Movies

Sep 20, 2020 (Updated Nov 30, 2020)  
Café Society (2016)
Café Society (2016)
2016 | Comedy, Romance
This is fine, hardly anything of substance but cute enough. Literally not sure at all what this has on 𝘐𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘔𝘢𝘯 apart from the lavish period visuals - which are splendid of course - but even those don't look quite as nice as those found in 𝘞𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭, which is also the better movie coincidentally. Normally I'm averse to the Old Hollywood era aesthetic which at this point has been recycled into oblivion - but this makes it feel alive and homey and again, for what that's worth. Unfortunately that also seems to be the only thing keeping this afloat as this aggressive non-story leads to tiring predictability, listless dialogue, "eh, they've done better" sorts of performances, flat characters, and a romance that strains after the first half hour. Things just happen whenever they feel like, and nothing is truly given its due time so nothing feels worth the time we have to put into it. A nice little tonic but thank goodness it isn't longer.
  
    Stuart Edge

    Stuart Edge

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    YouTube Channel

    A few years ago, Stuart Edge was cleaning porta-potties. As he cleaned, he dreamt of someday...

Paddington 2 (2017)
Paddington 2 (2017)
2017 | Animation, Comedy, Family
Bear faced brilliance.
I never went to see “Paddington 2” at the cinema when it came out. Well, it’s a kids film isn’t it? And my grandkids I thought… well, their probably a bit too young for the long haul on this one. But – after catching up with it recently on a transatlantic flight – I’m sorry I missed it. For it is brilliant in its own way.

Having not seen the first “Paddington”, also directed by Paul King, there is a useful little flashback to the Peruvian origins of the little chap before we pitch into the plot proper. Paddington (voiced by Ben Wishaw, “Spectre“) has nicely settled down to life with The Brown’s in their London home and is a well-loved member of the community (well, well loved that is by everyone except the cranky Mr Curry (Peter Capaldi, “Dr Who“, “World War Z“). But he longs to buy his Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton, “Finding Your Feet“) a special birthday present – a pop-up book of London scenes that he’s seen in a local antique shop. But for that he needs a lot of cash, and so proceeds to earn it through a variety of different jobs.

However, fading actor Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant, “Florence Foster Jenkins“, “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.“) also shows an unhealty interest in the book and, after it disappears from the shop with Paddington’s paw prints all over the scene, the poor bear finds himself on the wrong side of the law.

This is a continually inventive movie, which rockets along with truly impressive verve and panache from scene to scene. As a particular example of this, an animated walk through the pop-up book is marvellously done: a tribute to the 2D retro nature (even in those days!) of the TV animation of the 70’s that will go over the heads of younger viewers. There are plenty of slapstick scenes – notably of Paddington trying window cleaning, and his job in a barber’s shop – which will not only delight younger children but also made this 57 year old laugh out loud too! The prison sequence also delights, with a laundry blunder by the bear leading into a comical showdown with the prison’s chief poisoner, sorry, head chef played by Brendan Gleeson (“Alone in Berlin“, “Live By Night“).

Vision AND sound! Paddington with incarcerated friends, including Brendan Gleeson (centre).
The cast all seem to revel in their parts, with Hugh Bonneville (“Viceroy’s House“, “The Monuments Men“) energetic as Mr Brown and Oscar runner-up (surely!) Sally Hawkins (“The Shape of Water“) very chirpy as Mrs Brown. All of the residents of Windsor Gardens are a who’s who of UK film and TV, and each cameo has a lovely little tale behind it: Julie Walters (“Brooklyn“) as Mrs Bird, the Brown’s help; Sanjeev Bhaskar as Dr Jafri, forever nearly locking himself out; Miss Kitts (Jessica Hynes) and the crusty Colonel Lancaster (Ben Miller) in a ‘will they/won’t they’ potential romance. Elsewhere, Jim Broadbent (“Bridget Jones Baby“, “Eddie the Eagle“) is great as the antique store owner; Tom Conti adds both gravitas and humour as Judge Biggleswade and Richard Ayoade (“The Double“) is very funny as a forensic expert.

The Brown family: from left; Mr Brown (Hugh Bonneville); Jonathan (Samuel Joslin); Mrs Brown (Sally Hawkins); Mrs Bird (Julie Walters); and Judy Brown (Madeleine Harris).
Head and shoulders above all of them though is Hugh Grant who is just outstandingly good as the puffed-up and self-important ham-actor. His Best Supporting Actor nomination for a BAFTA was surprising, but having seen the film so very much deserved. Hang around in the end credits for his last words of the film which are cornily hilarious! One can only hope that Phoenix Buchanen returns for Paddington 3.

A career best… Hugh Grant as the devilishly slippery Phoenix Buchanan.
I would have thought that some of the scenes towards the end of the film, particularly one where Paddington seems doomed to a watery end, might be a little frightening for younger viewers. Thank heavens Sally Hawkins has gills! 🙂

Overall, this is a movie I would gladly watch again, with or without kids. In a movie landscape that is pretty devoid of good comedy, here is a movie that really did make me laugh out loud.
  
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Sarah (126 KP) rated IMDb Movies & TV in Apps

Jul 12, 2018  
IMDb Movies & TV
IMDb Movies & TV
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Reference
9
8.7 (115 Ratings)
App Rating
A wealth of tv and movie information (0 more)
Ads are becoming a little too intrusive now (0 more)
An Absolute Must-Have
This has to be one of my most-used apps, one I go to on an almost daily basis. We use it for settling arguments over what else an actor has been in, the names of people we can't quite recognise, who the familiar voice in an animation belongs to, if a TV channel has missed out episodes of a series that is being shown and even the dates when a new series is due to be broadcast. One of my favourite things is that it also tells you the filming locations for TV shows and films. I really is a one-stop app for almost all the information you could possibly want to know about movies and shows. I have it installed on my phone, my Kindle and my tablet, and frequently use the website. I would hate to be without it now!