The Big VR Movie Weview

Some absolute gold on Film 4 today. Watched Battleship Potemkin already, am now watching Rope. Hitchcock's always grand, and James Stewart is one of my favourite actors ever so this is another winner. Seen it before, like, but always happy to watch it again.

There's a Bette Davis film on later an all. Marvellous lady,

Nightw*tch

There was a version of this from the a*se end of the 90s with Ewan McGregor in it (which is well worth a watch), but I watched the original Danish version. Creepy psychological horror about a guy who takes a job as a security guard as a morgue. Couple of things going on here, including his game of 'dare' with his best mate, and a serial killer who's scalping prostitues left, right and centre. Thought it got a bit silly towards the end but the first half of it is properly scary, which is all the more remarkable for the fact that absolutely nothing happens in the opening half hour or so. Highly recommended if you like your horror in a creepy Ring/Blair Witch kinda stylee.

(Also, George reviewed it on page 86.)

Also watched Destination Moon yesterday afternoon. Utterly charming sci-fi curio from 1950, imagining the first mission to the moon. It's cheap and badly acted and the special effects are hilarious, but it's so earnest, especially with the cheesy dialogue (the Cold War as a concept had only just come into being, remember) that it's hard not to like it. Have a look next time it's on Film4. Great way to spend a couple of hours.

Quote: Captain Stupendo, Jan 2012

Title:Sherlock Holmes 2
Genre: action adventure thingy
Tagline:
Basic plot: basically sherlock 1 but bigger and louder
Good actors: jude law (robert jr annoyed the hell out of me in this one)
Good characters: Watson, Moriarty
Products placements: erm..none i think
Minutes too long: nope
Deaths: a few baddies
Attractive females: the gypsy chick was quite nice
Attractive males: robert downey jr i guess
Soundtrack: same as the first film pretty much
Highlight: the train scene was a larf
Lowlight: the ending (it sucks)

My Score: 6/10

Really? I thought the ending was great. Moriarty stole the show for me though. Tremendous character and brilliant acting

Title: The Muppets
Genre: purified awesomeness that defies classification
Basic plot: Years after the end of the Muppet Show, all of the stars have gone their separate ways, but having learned that an oil baron is going to tear down the old studio, 3 fans find Kermit and they get all the muppets back together to put on a show and raise the money to save the studio.
Good actors: All of them
Good characters: All of them
Products placements: toilets
Minutes too long: none
Deaths: none
Attractive females: Amy Adams
Attractive males: Neil Patrick Harris has a cameo and one of my favourite lines in the film
Soundtrack: beyond awesome
Best quote: mahna mahna
Highlight: the (Oscar nominated) song "Man or Muppet"
Lowlight: none
IMDB Score: 8.0
My Score: off the chart

Nothing I could say about how amazing this film is would be an exaggeration. It's the first film I've ever gone back to the cinema to see for a second time. It's not really a children's film as such, it's more a film for the people who remember the muppets from when they were still on TV (and people who remember dial-up internet), but it's still a U because they're still the muppets.

The story is straightforward and verging on predictable, but that's what you want from the muppets, and the quality of the humour is what keeps it going. There's not one scene that the film could have gone without, and not one joke that falls flat; apart from Fozzie bear's of course. Wakka wakka!