Flickfessions

It's been hard lately to catch up on movies with all the prep/cardio I've been doing for the recent comp. I have been able to mow through a lot of podcasts though. I should be able to get back into movies now.


Million Dollar Baby
https://en.wikipedia...ion_Dollar_Baby

A 12 year old film that most people have probably seen. Boxing films are always way down my list as they nearly always tell the same story of someone fallen on hard times with no money, who then discover they have boxing talent they use to rise to become a champion despite being an underdog the entire way. And with that synopsis I've exactly described the plot in this film, leaving out one crucial twist. However the reason this movie has such rave reviews is because it does the boxing genre film perfectly. All the characters are well developed, you actually care about them, and you ride shotgun with them during their ups and downs. I had some issues with this such as Freeman's character not being used to his full potential and the back story of Eastwood's character would have been interesting to learn more about. I think what sets this movie apart from other similar films is the twist in the third act. I knew very little about this movie going in, and I think others should get that opportunity too. Because of the subject matter at the end, this goes from an above average movie to a must see.




The Sea Inside
https://en.wikipedia.../The_Sea_Inside

A movie of the same year and dealing with a similar subject matter as Million Dollar Baby. I actually purposely watched these films back to back, as well as wanting to watch more Javier Bardem movies. This is a biographical film of Ramon Sampedro, a 25 year old Spanish man who broke his neck during a cliff diving accident. Having above average intelligence and being able to successfully debate others with ease, he is now a paraplegic resigned to a bed for the rest of his natural life. Understanding that he is not living live with dignity, he asks for euthanasia. However his family and friends are either against it or too worried they'll be prosecuted with his murder. So now living a hellish life both in body and mind, he must fight for his right to his own body in the courts, which goes on for 28 years. Undoubtedly a film like this won numerous awards, will definitely stay with you and will possibly have an impact on your morals.




The Boss
https://en.wikipedia...%282016_film%29

To break up the good movies I've seen, now some trash. I really don't get what others see in Melissa McCarthy films, as they are the perfect example of textbook Hollywood mush comedies for the masses. Gag humour with no lead up, throw everything at the wall and hope something sticks, and always follow the rom-com formula of "everything is great, oh no I did something wrong to offend someone, now we're made up". What annoys me with these movies are there are genuinely funny scenes and jokes, but then they have to add all this unnecessary drama and filler that makes it like all the other forgettable movies. The plot is about a self-made millionaire who loses it all. She then has to live with a previous employee and learn what it's like to be a commoner. I think this may still be in cinemas, but don't waste your time.

Sir El Stiffy said:

****SPOILER ALERT*****

Watched The Revenant last night.




Pretty much like every other survival movie. Talked through the entire Movie, that's how boring it was.

Plot: Kunt goes hunting. Kunts get attacked by Injians. Kunt gets attaked by Bear. Kunt's mates rescue him. Mates then leave Kunt to die. One mate tries to kill Kunt. Kunt survives. Kunt falls down mountains. Kunt gets chased by Injians. Kunt gets chased by Whites. Kunt falls into freezing River. Kunt almost dies of starvation. Kunt goes after dude who initially tried to kill him. The End.

Seen thousands of movies like this. Some younger people who haven't seen as many of these survival movies might like it. But for me, it just went on and on and on with the same stuff I've seen before!


EDIT: Just remembered. Great scene where Kunt cuts open a dead Horse, then pulls out all the Horse's organs. Kunt then crawls inside dead Horse's belly and uses it as a shelter

Click to expand...

Maaaate, this movie fuken.
Watching this kunce running through the snow, running and running, fall asleep, wake up, kunce still running and running, fall asleep again, wake up again, kunce still running, running and running fuken.

fuken!

Wasn't a fan of the new batman / super man movie.
Left half way during the movie last night.Script was hard to follow and seems to drag on

BrisVegasGhost said:

Wasn't a fan of the new batman / super man movie.
Left half way during the movie last night.Script was hard to follow and seems to drag on

Click to expand...

Go see Cap: Civil War mate. That is what they wanted to create with BvS. They had the right idea in BvS but just went the wrong way about it in my opinion, I want to go rewatch it to try go watch it with a different train of thought. I have already seen Cap CW twice within 2 days of it's release, it is great. Don't go in expecting 100% action in it, Stallone didn't produce it

The Hangover Part III
https://en.wikipedia...ngover_Part_III

The final instalment in The Hangover series. The first movie was a surprise hit despite looking like a typical Hollywood comedy. The sequel was surprisingly good, living up to the high expectations even though it followed a similar plot in a different setting. So I don't know what happened here as the crew are mostly back to the Vegas setting, but with a totally different story structure, defying the name of the film. There is no partying or premise of forgotten memories apart from the last 2 minutes of the film, which consequently is the best part of the movie. Here the old gang/recurring characters are back together to track down gold and kidnapped friends. So basically the action of the previous movies without the clever story telling or comedy. This movie feels as if it was rushed into production to cash in on the name, and I think that's partially true reading about the film afterwards. This was disappointing and not worth checking out.




Prince of Darkness
https://en.wikipedia...ness_%28film%29

A very 80s John Carpenter film following The Thing in the horror genre. I didn't know this at the time, but within the first 10 minutes I suspected someone had copied The Thing, so if you liked that movie, you'll like this. The premise has a lot of poorly thought out concepts rolled into one. The story follows a secret being/entity/liquid stored in an abandoned church, only to be discovered and analysed by a professor and his students. Mix in demonic possession, low level homeless zombies, time travel and even some acceptable college misogyny and you have this film wrapped up. There are some good and suspenseful scenes, but as a whole nothing is truly fleshed out or has much direction. The movie basically devolves into "who can survive the night". I guess this would be a good candidate if hosting an 80s movies night and wanted something a little out of left field.




Glory
https://en.wikipedia...%281989_film%29

A movie based on the letters of a young colonel during the American Civil War who lead the very first African American unit, providing an alternative to slavery. Obviously very loosely based on a true story as the only real character is the colonel, but with some big name actors such as Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman, they did a good job with this. The first half of the movie shows the African Americans in training, willing to go to battle and die over a life in slavery. It soon becomes apparent they are just a publicity stunt and there is no intention of them actually fighting in the war. Seeing no purpose in their lives or being in the army without actually fighting, the colonel and his unit volunteer for an almost certain suicide mission. I found this movie quite good and above average for a war movie with a lot of notable and powerful scenes. No doubt Americans and especially African Americans would find this of more significance. I'd add this movie to your to-watch list.

Foxy Brown
https://en.wikipedia...rown_%28film%29

A classic 70s' blaxploitation film that was kind of ahead of its time. An undercover police investigator is murdered by gangsters, and his former partner vows to take revenge, even if it means getting her hands dirty and becoming a high-class prostitute. I say this is ahead of its time because Pam Grier play the lead role and really is the hero of the story, which was rare for not only a 70s' action film, but one starring predominately African Americans. Sort of like the black female version of a James Bond film. I like the direction this film took, being gritty and not being afraid to show Foxy beaten up or vulnerable. Surprisingly what I thought of as a strength, people criticised about the movie, saying this movie was just an excuse to beat up on women. These people completely missed the point of this film. This holds up really well and is worth watching.




Hollywood Shuffle
https://en.wikipedia...llywood_Shuffle

Another iconic African American film, this time a satire on the acting roles for blacks in Hollywood during the 80s. The loose plot, inner-cut with vignettes based on social commentary of the film industry, is about a wannabe actor trying to get his break in Hollywood. However he's mostly relegated to embarrassing stereotypical black roles. When watching this, it seemed like a below average comedy with hints clever writing within the skits, not part of the main story. Reading about this afterwards, it was universally praised as a pivotal movie addressing real issues African American actors faced at the time. So it's safe to say that a lot of the subplot was lost on me due to not really understanding the situation of the film industry 30 years ago. You can definitely see the roots of black comedy today in the skits, most obvious in Chappelle's Show. I'm sure actors or perhaps people who've faced racial prejudice will find this a worthwhile watch.




End of Watch
https://en.wikipedia...ki/End_of_Watch

A movie I heard great things about when it came out, but never got around to seeing it. Feeling almost like a documentary, you follow two police officers in their day to day duties patrolling the bad parts of Los Angeles. The movie opens strong with the police officers being faced with shooting dead a criminal who pulls a gun on them. It soon becomes clear that this is just seen as another day on the job. Throughout the movie the officers encounter petty crimes along with mistakenly stepping on the toes of federal agents in a major sting operation. If you're a fan of prison shows or realistic police movies, you'll love this, as did I. Every moment had me on the edge of my seat, especially sensing that something tragic was impending. I think that feeling was intentional; to give a feel for what real police officers must face daily. This is one of the best movies I've seen this year.

Do you watch all these movies that you post [MENTION=15941]steveP[/MENTION]; ?

Yeah of course. I can't rate them without seeing them.

Trophy Kids
https://en.wikipedia...%282013_film%29

The follow up documentary from Chris Bell, who wrote and directed Bigger Stronger Faster*. This time the backwards cap enthusiast delves into the world of overbearing sporting parents within high school division sports. You follow 5 unique socially inept parents who control their kids to the extreme. Whether it is super strict training and nutrition, early morning practices, berating the child for having a social life or using school politics to get coaches fired, all for the benefit of their own child. The stuff you see in this is almost unbelievable and would be suspect if were seen in a movie. You experience many emotions watching this, starting with anger towards the parents, then being confused why the schools allow it, and finally simply hoping that the children are able to at least live normal lives after being emotionally scarred. Unlike Bigger Stronger Faster*, Chris takes a step back from the camera and is barely seen, focusing purely on these children and their insane parents.




Prescription Thugs
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4505666/

Chris Bell's latest documentary, this time turning the camera on himself, much more than his previous films. Much like a Michael Moore documentary, this focuses on the prescription drug industry in America, and what's wrong with it. I was surprised to learn that America is the only country in the world that's allowed to advertise medication through mainstream outlets. Where the rest of the world looks at medication as something to take when sick, the American medication culture is to up-sell as much as possible and to get people onto lifetime subscriptions, where the doctors and medicine producers profit. Much like their broken medical system, this is just another area that's exploited by corporations. There is somewhat of a twist towards the end that some people liked, but I felt by then I had heard enough and was getting bored of this. For me this is the weakest of all the Chris' docs, as I feel he was in front of the camera too much, dragging out interviews. Not to mention that some of his "experts" were people with a financial interest in alternative medicines. I'd rate this as average.




Paranoid Park
https://en.wikipedia...Park_%28film%29

A Gus Van Sant film I've had on my list for a while. Being 10 years old, it feels very dated seeing it's sort of a skateboard movie, back when skateboard movies were a thing. This is about a group of high school skateboarders being questioned about a dead body found near their skatepark. You follow Alex before, during and after the incident, in the typical Van Sant way of lingering slow motion shots just out of focus. If you haven't seen one of his movies before it can be frustrating as it's the opposite of the typical Hollywood style of always having the maximum action on screen at a time. But if you let his movies take you on a ride, they're always memorable. Like his other movies this will leave you with unanswered questions and plot points you want to discuss. This isn't for everyone, but if you're into art house style movies, you'll enjoy it.

Eden Lake
https://en.wikipedia.../wiki/Eden_Lake

A British take on the "cabin in the woods" genre, but replace the cabin with a tent, and have the uncivilised children from dodgy welfare cheat parents as the antagonists. The basic premise is that a couple is camping for a weekend in the English countryside, expecting to have some quiet secluded time to themselves. Unfortunately a gang of uneducated youths from a nearby rural town cross paths with the couple, and their interactions soon turn ugly. Once figuring out the antagonists in this, I thought this was going to be quite campy in execution, but surprisingly the movie takes a rather extreme and gory turn at the midway point, turning this into a true horror film. However part of me just couldn't take these scumbag kids seriously as something people would be scared of. Afterwards I found that people criticised this movie for portraying uneducated youths from poor families in this manner, but I think it's pretty spot on with certain parts of society. If you haven't seen a decent horror movie in the while, this is definitely worth the watch.




The Conjuring
https://en.wikipedia...i/The_Conjuring

Keeping the horror theme going, I saw James Wan's next film after the disappointing Insidious. Hearing this was better, I gave it go, knowing the sequel is currently out in cinemas if I liked it. This is almost a carbon copy of Insidious, where a family moves into a haunted house and psychics must remove the demons. The lead actor is even the same in both movies. So is this a better movie? I'd say yes as this is partially based off a true story with real world history to base the story off. James Wan seems like he's learnt from the previous movie and the methods used here to scare the audience are more subtle. In a way this is a retelling of The Exorcist, so if you're over that trope, maybe give this a miss. I'd rate it as average in the horror genre. There's nothing offensively bad, but nothing memorable either.




Now You See Me 2
https://en.wikipedia...ow_You_See_Me_2

A movie about a group of selected magicians being tested to join a mysterious club. I hadn't seen the first movie, which I think was a mistake, as I was often asking who people were and why they are in the middle of an unexplained scenario. This is still a watchable movie on its own, but I think knowing the history of the first would have added to the story. This is a classic example of style over substance. The movie seemed like a sequence of set ups to show crazy camera angles of magic tricks/heists in real time, much like a poor man's Ocean 11. I know this is a movie about magic, but I just couldn't see the point of it to drive the story. I spent most of the movie wishing I was watching The Prestige instead. Clearly this movie wasn't meant for someone like me, but if you're impressed by magic, lots of CGI and cookie cutter characters, go see it.

American History X
https://en.wikipedia...rican_History_X

A movie most people have heard of, depicting neo-Nazis in modern day America. This tells the story of a white family with low level racial views that become strengthened as the father is murdered by African American gang bangers. The eldest son, Derek, becomes a leader of a local Nazi group, becoming too extreme and alienating him from the rest of his family. He ultimately goes to jail for a hate crime, and is slowly deradicalised, unbeknownst to his Nazi community on the outside. Derek now faces an internal struggle of being a role model for a movement he no longer supports. This has very good ratings; no doubt for tackling a sensitive subject and doing it justice. My only criticism is that this didn't go longer or had a sequel. There was still so much back story and "what ifs" that could've been explored. But for what for this movie set out to do, it nailed it and is definitely worth watching.




Welcome to Leith
https://en.wikipedia...elcome_to_Leith

Continuing the Nazi theme, this is a documentary about a small remote town with a population of 16 hard working, friendly residents. Due to the location and cheap land, a well known white supremacist moves into town and starts buying up the land, planning to turn the town into a KKK haven. The locals don't really know how to approach this, and try to discourage him from living in Leith before more racists move in and hold more power at the community meetings. Luckily what's going on makes headlines and more people come to help the townspeople. Although an interesting topic, the documentary felt a little under-cooked as there were some loose ends and pending court cases in the end. I had to do my own research to find out what actually happened. Like I said, an interesting topic, but not a must-watch.




We Are Legion
https://en.wikipedia...i/We_Are_Legion

A documentary about the infamous group Anonymous. I thought this was going to be a "cleaned up for TV" talking heads doc only about the newsworthy incidents, and that is partly true. But there were glimpses of the true origin of this group; socially awkward perverted misfits with a collective superpower of internet hacking. This did touch on the roots of Anonymous, beginning in the cesspool of 4chan, but was mostly stepping through the chronological order of notable attacks, protests, trolling and defending themselves against counter attacks against the likes of Scientology, the US government and Sony. I think most of what Anonymous stands for is justice and the greater good that all of us can agree with, but personally I find their trolling and mischief the most entertaining; such as spamming gaming dating apps with MIB lookalike agents or pranking racist journalists. If you're someone who will like this, you'll already know who Anonymous is and have probably already seen it.

Romper Stomper
https://en.wikipedia.../Romper_Stomper

An early 90s Australian movie starring Russell Crowe as a Nazi skinhead in a breakout role. A neo-Nazi group are violently attacking Asians who are gentrifying a heavily industrial area of Melbourne. The Asian groups band together and drive out the skinheads, leaving them to retreat and plot revenge. However the skinhead group eventually devolve as they question their lifestyle. This definitely has that raw crisp feel of an early Australian movie, but the pace of the plot wasn't thought out. The first act builds up a rivalry between the skinheads and Asians, then it abruptly comes to a head half way through the movie, leaving the second half to the skinheads licking their wounds and not much else. I think this is a case of being exposed to many great Nazi/racially motivated movies such as American History X, and this not holding up that well. I wouldn't recommend this if you need a strong story to pull you through a movie.




Murder Party
https://en.wikipedia...ki/Murder_Party

I finally got around to tracking down the directorial debut of Jeremy Saulnier, the director of one of my favourite movies, Blue Ruin. The story is about a socially awkward guy, Chris, with no plans on Halloween. He randomly finds an invitation to a "murder party", dresses up in a poorly constructed cardboard outfit and attends the party. Things firstly do not go as planned when the address directs Chris to an abandoned part of town. The party consists of others dressed in a costume, surprised that someone actually turned up. I don't want to say much else as it would ruin the plot, but things definitely don't go as expected for Chris. Many odd and memorable characters show up and the movie turns partly into a black comedy. This is a great cult film that flew under the radar if there ever was one. The story is well written and acted for what looks to be no budget at all. I was entertained throughout and would recommend to all horror or suspense film fans.




Green Room
https://en.wikipedia...reen_Room_(film)

To continue with the work of Jeremy Saulnier, this is his latest film that sadly got no realise here in Australia. Also relating to the first movie I posted, this is set around a Nazi community where a band desperate for work, plays a gig at a remote Nazi stronghold. After a nervous but successful set, the band plans to get paid and leave, but inadvertently witnesses a crime by some unsavoury people. Things go from bad to worse rather rapidly in the worst possible situation for the band. Again, this is all I can say without giving away too much of the movie. If there's one thing that this director does great, it's create suspense. Countless times I was biting my nails or holding my face, not knowing what was coming, which is incredibly rare for me. Surprisingly I found a bit of hate for this movie from people calling it boring. I guess this director and his story telling is either love or hate. I thought this was great one of the best movies I've seen all year.

Zootopia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zootopia

Marketed as a kids' holiday movie, but it had gotten rave reviews from critics, so I thought I'd check it out. The premise is very childlike in certain respects, as this is a world where animals live like people in cities, however they're all happily segregated to their own areas/climates. Think the Lego Movie but with animals. All seems well in Zootopia until random animals start to turn savage. An unlikely pairing of a rookie cop and a street hustler must team up to solve the case. I didn't think this was as good as the reviews, and personally I was a little under whelmed, but this is a notch above most generic kids' movies of this type. The writing is clever in places and there are some genuinely funny jokes. If you're looking for a movie to watch with a younger audience or just want to be lost in a Disney movie, I'd recommend it.




Star Trek Beyond
https://en.wikipedia...tar_Trek_Beyond

The latest Star Trek instalment, recently in cinemas. I have seen some of the previous movies, but I still had no idea what was going half the time and I'm sure most of the story arcs went over my head. It still works as a standalone movie, and that's how I went into this. The usual crew go on an adventure or "trek" I guess they call it to help a "space refugee" who claims her people are in danger. Being the pinnacle of white knights, the Star Trek people volunteer their lives to help a species they've known about for 5 minutes. As you'd expect, things don't go to plan and the crew must recollect and work together to get home. The story isn't offensively bad and these Star Trek movies seem to be a step up from the usual super hero garbage. My main problem was all the "shaky cam" used in a movie that was already confusing and hard to follow. I'm sure fans will love this, however I feel this will be just as forgettable as past movies though.




Meek's Cutoff
https://en.wikipedia...Meek%27s_Cutoff

Randomly browsing Netflix, I came across a recently made western, which are rare these days. Seeing the hit-to-miss rate of westerns has been quite good, I gave it a shot. I'm sad to say that this totally skewed the hit-to-miss ratio. I'd go so far as to call this the worst western I've ever seen. I get what they tried to do here, but they totally missed the mark, in the most bland and tedious way. 90% of the dialogue is inaudible, which wouldn't be so bad if there was actually something interesting to focus on. Based on a true story, you follow 3 families crossing the American deserts. They get lost, hire an apparent guide, they are still lost, they hold a Native American hostage to show them the way, he's no use, then there is no ending. The story is meant to be viewed from the females' perspective, where they aren't privy to many of the conversations, but it's just a concept that doesn't work, which is why you don't see it in other movies. It really isn't worth discussing more than I just did.

Dune
https://en.wikipedia...wiki/Dune_(film)

A David Lynch film I've had on my list for a long time, but wasn't that keen on as I'm not a fan of the genre and never hear it spoken of favourably. This reminded me of the early James Bond films where you're thrown into the deep end of the plot with no character development. The story is about three warring groups/planets, fighting over a scarce resource. Then some type of supernatural offspring/prophet must rise up and lead the good guys to victory. Where the Bond films eventually pull it together, this just goes deeper and deeper as less and less sinks in. This is obviously because it's based off a book where the whole premise is just too much to fit into a single movie. The movie was then taken out of the hands of Lynch and cut to fit a running time, resulting in a disjointed mess. I can't recommend this to anyone, even sci-fi or David Lynch fans.




Argo
https://en.wikipedia...Argo_(2012_film)

A political caper movie based off the Iranian Hostage Crisis where the US embassy was overrun and six employees went into hiding at other embassies. As the Iranians were on the lookout for the missing Americans, the US government had to plan an elaborate scheme to get them out under the guise that they were a Canadian film making crew. This movie has rave reviews, won 3 Academy Awards, and I agree that it's a great and compelling movie, except for the last 10 minutes. There are just too many close calls and forced scenes for suspense that it took me out of the movie and somewhat spoiled an excellent story. Reading about this afterwards, there was a lot more wrong with the historical accuracy than I noticed. Nevertheless, these are minor gripes and this is a must-see movie.




30 Days of Night
https://en.wikipedia..._of_Night_(film)

It had been a while since I gave a horror movie a chance, and I vaguely remembered this as being ok. This is a vampire movie set in northern Alaska where the premise is that based on the Earth's axis, there are 30 days of no sunlight during winter, allowing vampires to run havoc. Much effort went into creating scary and realistic (as possible) vampires, and it worked, as these are not things you want to mess with. But they were almost too powerful, slaughtering nearly the entire town in a night. This started out ok, but then just devolved into senseless violence where I no longer cared who died or survived. The story was cut poorly as I had no idea what "day" they were meant to be in, where I just assumed the story took place in a single night. They had something decent here to start with, but the plot was just undercooked and didn't go anywhere. There are much better vampire movies out there if you like this genre.

The Bad News Bears
https://en.wikipedia..._Bad_News_Bears

A movie that I'd heard was a great classic, but damn, the remake dominates free-to-air screen time. After watching it, I can sort of understand why. This has got to be one of the most politically incorrect movies I've seen in a long time. An alcoholic driving around at least 8 primary school aged children in an open top convertible with no seat belts and possibly drunk, blatant racism towards children who don't speak English as a first language, emotionally blackmailing an 11 year old girl and then engaging in banter towards her sex life, and many more. The general premise is that an out of work baseball coach, who still can't let go of his professional past is hired to lead a team of misfits. Everybody, including the children are under no illusions that they suck, and they're only there for the experience. However they start to work together and climb the ranks. Including the examples listed, this movie certainly has charm, in terms of the actual story and nostalgia, back when things were simpler (people not held accountable). I wouldn't rush out to see it, but it's an enjoyable watch if you like these classic sporting/coming-of-age movies.




Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
https://en.wikipedia..._Never_Stopping

I was really looking forward to seeing this in the cinemas, as comedies are a genre enhanced by watching it with a crowd. But like many other movies this year, Australia was screwed and it didn't get a release here. This is a parody of the Justin Bieber movie, written and staring the Lonely Island crew. Generally a fan of mockumentaries, I really enjoyed this. I'm sure a lot of jokes went over my head as I never saw the Justin Bieber movie, and I got the feeling a lot of the jokes were mocking certain scenes, but the jokes and gags are pretty rapid fire. They don't all land, but you can forgive it, as the ones that do are great. There are endless cameos in this and the surprisingly the production value is very high, probably higher than most deal docs. It's really a shame that this didn't get much of a release, even inside the US, as critics loved this as well. If you hadn't heard of this, definitely put it on your list.




Fright Night
https://en.wikipedia...ki/Fright_Night

A cult horror film that I was aware of, but never actually knew what it was about. Disappointingly, it's a high school vampire film, meaning it's not completely 80s' camp, nor or a true horror film. Basically it's the old premise of a stranger/vampire moves in next door, but being a pimply-faced high school kid, no one believes you; so it's up to the unlikely hero to save the town. For the age of the movie, there were a few cool special effects, but I think most people have seen it all before and the story was very predictable. Not really a movie worth seeing.

You mad bro?
Fright Night is an 80's classic.
Us older folk will understand.

Not mad, just disappointed lol. It's not cringe-worthy bad, but it's ungood.

Finally back into watching movies. For one reason or another, been super busy the last few months. Got a big list to get through.


Fatso
https://en.wikipedia...atso_(2008_film)

A Norwegian film following a socially awkward, porn-addicted virgin, Rino. He's secluded, yet in his comfort zone, living rent free in his parent's second house, with no responsibilities or job. He basically stays at home all day, watching porn, only to catch up with a friend; another social outcast with inflated self confidence, pretending to be god's gift to women. A spanner is thrown into the works when Rino's parents decide to rent out the house to pay the bills. A somewhat innocent, free-spirited girl moves in, seemingly looking past Rino's shortfalls and genuinely becomes his friend. Like most socially awkward people, they are their own worst enemy, over complicating situations in their head, and self sabotaging relationships. Overall, the story moves along at quite a good pace, getting to interesting confrontations without much filler. However the ending was quite odd, where you don't know what's real, but not in a good way. Possibly worth the watch if you see it playing, but I wouldn't go out looking for it.




Generation Iron
https://en.wikipedia...Generation_Iron

A documentary you'd think I would've seen when it came out, but I'm so saturated with gym and fitness stuff, that I let it slip. It was probably more interesting watching it a few years on, seeing some of the politics play out. This follows the 2013 Olympia, where reigning champ Phil Heath will defend his title against others pros hungry for the title, including the most promising prospect Kai Greene. They actually build up the rivalry quite a lot in this, but I suspect it's all manufactured to sell tickets. I was surprised this documentary didn't really go in depth with the bodybuilders' training or diet. I guess this only appeals to the hardcore followers, and focusing more on the drama and grandeur of the event potentially got more people to watch this. As a fan of these guys, a lot of what you see is not new and is pretty much what you'd expect. A follow up doc would be interesting as there has been a lot more drama and politics in the bodybuilding scene since this was filmed. Worth the watch if you're someone into fitness or bodybuilding.




Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
https://en.wikipedia..._Children_(film)

The latest Tim Burton movie, this time about children with super powers who can time travel. Yes, a premise so outlandish that I went in expecting very little. In think because of this, I found the movie average instead of terrible. There is nothing wrong with this movie, I'm just not a fan of fantasy with no remote basis in reality. The story is about Jake, who has heard crazy stories from his grandfather as a child, about a remote English island with fantasy creatures. After the grandfather's death, Jake's parents feel it's best to take him to this island to help him find closure. However he soon finds that these stories were actually real. If you're a fan of Harry Potter and similar "young adult" films, this will be for you.

Currently in love with doctor stranger. Marvel serves the best in town.