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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!

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
2016 | Action, Comedy
9
9.0 (8 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Wonderfully quirky drama
I'd heard so many good things about this film, and I was so happy to see it finally pop up to watch on Amazon Prime. And I'm glad to say it was everything I hoped it would be.

Taika Waititi is probably one of my favourite current directors. Not my all time favourite, that accolade belongs to Christopher Nolan, but he's not far behind and until I turned this on, I'd completely forgotten this was even one of his films. But as soon as the film starts, it's so obviously Waititi and that's before the man himself turns up in a rather wacky and wonderful cameo.

This is a rather wonderful coming of age type drama. It's completely bonkers yet full of heart and a decent amount of laughs. Yet still doesnt shy away from the more serious topics that underpin the entire story. It's quirky yet so much fun, and also full of a decent amount of pop culture references that cant help make you laugh out loud. Sam Neill is great as grouchy uncle Hector, and Julian Dennison is a riot as Ricky. The cinematography too is marvellous, this is a beautifully made and stunning looking film and altogether just a delight to watch.

The story might get a little ridiculous at times, but this is easy to ignore when the rest of it is so fun and heart warming.
  
Army of Thieves (2021)
Army of Thieves (2021)
2021 | Action, Comedy, Crime, Horror, Thriller
8
6.3 (6 Ratings)
Movie Rating
“Did He Just Say Gulp?”
I have Covid-19, and am confined to quarters. So time to catch up on some streaming films. New on Netflix is “Army of Thieves”, a quirky prequel, of sorts, to Zac Snyder’s “Army of the Dead“.

Plot Summary:
Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert (Matthias Schweighöfer) is a geek obsessed with the work of legendary safe-manufacturer Hans Wagner whose magnum opus was a series of four intricate safes named after the four parts of his namesake’s Ring cycle: The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung.

Seeking more the glory of cracking the legendary safes (rather than the riches within), high-class jewel-thief Gwendoline (Nathalie Emmanuel) teams with Sebastian to crack the three known safes (in Paris, Prague and St Moritz) before they are officially ‘retired’. Together with Korina (Ruby O. Fee), muscle-man Brad (Stuart Martin) and getaway driver Rolph (Guz Khan) the gang try to stay one step ahead of obsessed Interpol agent Delacroix (Jonathan Cohen).

Certification:
US: TV-MA. UK: 15.

Talent:
Starring: Matthias Schweighöfer, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ruby O. Fee, Stuart Martin, Guz Khan, Jonathan Cohen.

Directed by: Matthias Schweighöfer.

Written by: Shay Hatten (from a story by Shay Hatten and Zack Snyder).

“Army of Thieves” Review: Positives:
I really wasn’t expecting much from this offering. For me, the character of Dieter in “Army of the Dead” was an annoyingly quirky comedy character in a zombie-actioner that you just wanted to punch in the face…. repeatedly. But in contrast, this Dieter-centric film is deliberately quirky throughout and it just all worked for me. Under his own direction, Schweighöfer’s Sebastian/Dieter becomes a genuinely quirky, lovelorn and loveable loser that you want to root for.
The look and feel of the film is utterly glorious. The wonderful cinematography by Bernhard Jasper makes the introduction to the European locations feel Bond-like and the combination of Production Design and Special Effects make the safe-cracking scenes tense, dynamic and beautiful to watch. It’s all nicely rounded off by a quirky Steve Mazzaro / Hans Zimmer score.
Shay Hatten’s script delivers a nice balance of action and exposition. It actually – shock horror – takes time to flesh out some character behind the generic heist-movie stereotypes. Setting the movie in the same timeline as the emerging Nevada zombie-apocalypse as “Army of the Dead” is neat: (although those expecting extensive zombie-action will feel short-changed). And having the Las Vegas safe as the mythical Götterdämmerung is a nice touch. Above all – “SURPRISE!!!” – the script surpassed the essential six-laughs test.
The acting is above par, with Schweighöfer putting in a fabulous turn and the stunningly beautiful Nathalie Emmanuel (best known for being Ramsey in the Fast and Furious series) gets to be a lot more than mere window-dressing here. Stuart Martin is notable here for looking astonishingly like Hugh Jackman…. I mean, really, they could be twins.

Negatives:
I mean, honestly, there are more holes in this story than a St Moritz swiss-cheese. Why would all of the safes, owned by different private institutions, be being “decommissioned” due to a Zombie outbreak on the other side of the world? Can the Interpol team really be that incompetent? And however clever he is, I don’t buy that you can open safes like that!
Although I liked the balance of the script overall, the story is pretty simplistic and linear.


Summary Thoughts on “Army of Thieves”
Sometimes a little movie appears that surprises and delights you, and this was one of those for me. It’s not big and it’s not clever. But it is very nicely made, thoroughly entertained me and was – for me – way better than its source movie. A recommended watch on Netflix.