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jonreastwood
Reviews
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)
Maybe the final nail in the coffin for the franchise
I thought Afterlife was mediocre but went into this movie with an open mind. It wasn't awful (apart from Paul Rudd's usual level of performance) but it wasn't great.
It felt a little like the last Jurassic Park movie where they tried to include as many old and new characters as possible. It was great to see the old Ghostbusters together on screen but it felt like they were wasted. Unfortunately the whole premise and plot were quite weak. Although they may have been going for scary when it came to the bad ghost, there wasn't much substance to him. He was on a rampage but I doubt he knew why! Not a great villain like Zool or Vigo The Carpathian. All the articles I read about Bill Murray suggest he'll only appear in a movie if it's a really great script. Not sure in that case what script he read?! Anyhow, very much a watch once movie in my opinion!
Prey (2022)
A decent straight to streaming spin-off
Prey currently has a 7.3 IMDB rating when Predator only has a 7.8 which begs the question whether some people have actually seen the original?! Let's get real; this movie doesn't come anywhere close to being on a similar par with Predator however it's an entertaining addition to the franchise that may deserve a second viewing at some point. It's a good concept in terms of primitive technology but true hunting skills of the native people pitted against the predator which I assume the director wanted to look different just for the sake of being different. The cinematography was impressive and the story and pace of the film just about hold up. Certainly bot the best movie of the year but by far not the worst.
The Stand In (2020)
Please find a stand in to watch this drivel so you don't have to
Is this a comedy? Was it supposed to be? There wasn't anything remotely funny or entertaining about it. I'm just gobsmacked that somewhere lie some investors who put money forward to make this! It's an unfortunate outcome of so many streaming services competing for new content that my wife picked this from one of the "Top" new movies on Netflix. I can only imagine that because they are included in the new releases they then get added to "top movies" due to people being duped into watching them as opposed to the movie being good! Anyway - a horribly uninteresting story, easily forgettable characters, two atrocious performances by Drew Barrymore and an ending that....well, we didn't get that far. 40 mins was enough of our life that we wasted with this.
Coming 2 America (2021)
Terrible. Even without Covid, this is straight to video/streaming stuff
Terrible sequel. The first third provides a nostalgic return of many characters from the original which admittedly brought a few smiles and then goes downhill as soon as the truly atrocious Wesley Snipes is introduced. A real problem is that the "coming to America" part is so short lived. That's what made the original funny; the fish out of water tale. The story line involving a genXer going to Africa to wonder in a CGI backdrop world was neither interesting or funny. There would have been so many more options of a buddy movie storyline for Murphy and Hall to shine in but they went with a large portion of the film ignoring the multitude of talent from the original and having a romance between two characters nobody cares about. They could have just done a 90 minute movie based at the barber shop in Queens and it would have been more entertaining. They are lucky movie theaters are still closed as this would have been direct to streaming in any case.
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)
Interesting concept, but very little decisions to make and loops to many times
I haven't written a review in years but felt it was worth clicking on the 'forgotten password' link to dust off my account. The old saying "One person's treasure, is another person's trash' comes to mind with this show. It is certainly evident from the reviews..... you'll either love it or hate it! My question would be whether the scores are based on the story, the concept, or the combination of both?
I wanted to love it, I really did! I love Black Mirror! I love 80's nostalgia and I proudly owned a 128k ZX Spectrum+2 back in the day, and hold sweet memories of borrowing multiple 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books from the library as a kid.
I just couldn't bring myself to love it.
The gimmick of selecting how the story would go was nice, warming me up by asking me to select what to have for breakfast and what music to listen to, but it just didn't interest me after a short while.
I get that the story is essentially about 'choices' and different timelines of reality, but there were too many dead ends (some all too literal), too early on without being able to progress, for me. It just felt like trial and error in terms of choosing 'incorrectly' and more or less being sent back to select the 'correct' choice, rather than it flowing down a different path for a significant amount of time (i.e choosing to work in the office as opposed to home). It just felt all too short, with not enough choices before coming to the end of each final outcome.
I'll still give future attempts a go. It's a concept that needs to be explored further. It just wasn't for me, which polar opposite to all of those scores of 9 and 10! So, give it a go, you might enjoy it!
Long Way Round (2004)
The Ultimate Road Trip
Who needs a scripted 'buddy movie' when you have real buddies on a trip of a lifetime? I've been enjoying the recently edited 10 part (rather than the original 6 part) version of the series on Sky One and am hoping a new directors cut DVD is released soon. The original run, although excellent did give the impression that there was so much more of the trip that hadn't been shown and this extended re-run does the show even more justice.
I guess maybe the American people that are eagerly anticipating the DVD might end up getting the extended series?
The book accompanying the Series should definitely be read if your a fan of the show. The personal insights by Charlie and Ewan are great and it's interesting to get two perspectives on certain situations; a pretty funny confession from both of them was that out of boredom on long legs of the journey they would purposely avoid a pothole at the last possible moment knowing that poor Claudio who would be directly behind would never have a enough reaction time to avoid them!