Marty and Doc are at it again as the time-traveling duo head to 2015 to nip some McFly family woes in the bud. But things go awry thanks to bully Biff Tannen and a pesky sports almanac. In a last-ditch attempt to set things straight, Marty finds himself bound for 1955 and face to face with his teenage parents -- again.
A teenager's weekend at a lake house with her father takes a turn for the worse when a group of convicts wreaks havoc on their lives.
Some splatter but conveys no real sense of threat or peril. Fairly typified by Kevin James as a white suprematist who’s more Danny Ocean than Himmler…
★★
As storm season intensifies, the paths of former storm chaser Kate Carter and reckless social-media superstar Tyler Owens collide when terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed. The pair and their competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.
There must be a term or phrase in some language that explains the critical consensus on this movie, along the lines of:
There were low expectations across the board but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as expected and thus it was considered “good” but, on that basis, a new expectation is created, which has the opposite effect.
There must be a name for that, right? I could imagine it going in waves forever on this movie.
I’m going to tell you it’s really quite bad, with almost no redeeming features. The one thing that stands out is the intertwinned character arc of Kate and Tyler, which never quite goes the way you expect. And, actually, that’s probably worth at least half a star. And, to be fair, Glen Powell is very enjoyable too, maybe worthy of another half star?
★★½
Recently fired and desperate for work, a troubled young man named Mike agrees to take a position as a night security guard at an abandoned theme restaurant: Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. But he soon discovers that nothing at Freddy's is what it seems.
Very young teen friendly. Lacks any sustained tension or peril and there’s little injury detail. The story is straightforward, and if you’d told me it was based on a Stephen King short, rather than a video game, I’d believe you. It’s all pretty unremarkable.
But my 13yo enjoyed it and he’s the reason I watch it, so 👍
★★★
Follow Robbie Williams' journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all the while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring.
Honestly, you’ll be over the chimp thing in minutes and as long as you remembered it’s not a documentary you should be OK.
I’m no fan of Robbie, in fact I think he quotes me in the opening, but I now have a little more respect for Robert.
★★★★
When a deadly airborne virus threatens to wipe out the northeastern United States, teacher Elliot Moore and his wife Alma flee from contaminated cities into the countryside in a fight to discover the truth. Is it terrorism, the accidental release of some toxic military bio weapon -- or something even more sinister?
Mike Muncer made me watch this again…
My only commentary is that Marky Mark is supposed to be playing some beta-male everyman and it appears beyond him. Good on him for trying but he can’t hide his quintessential self-confidence. He’s just too alpha.
Actually, there is one other thing… do the plants also control the wind or are they, like, just waiting for the wind to blow in the right direction…
★★
When K-pop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey aren't selling out stadiums, they're using their secret powers to protect their fans from supernatural threats.
It’d be wrong to criticise the tone because I am not the target audience but, as a hairy old man, I can’t help but feel that the “threat” is under-sold and thus it all feels a bit throwaway. Like, I don’t want it to be burdened with Nolan-esque gravitas but SOME would have gone a long way.
But, you know, is that the REAL battle at the heart of this story? Probably not. Does it tell THAT story well and pay it off? Absolutely. With sparkles.
★★★★
Sam Witwicky leaves the Autobots behind for a normal life. But when his mind is filled with cryptic symbols, the Decepticons target him and he is dragged back into the Transformers' war.
Started watching this with my kids last night (10&13), they enjoyed the first film, so we thought we might try it.
Based on my memory, I had slight misgivings but we can’t have been more than 15 minutes in and we agreed to turn it off. The tone was making them visibly uncomfortable. For what audience was this made?!
★★
Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, covert operations expert Zora Bennett is contracted to lead a skilled team on a top-secret mission to secure genetic material from the world's three most massive dinosaurs. When Zora's operation intersects with a civilian family whose boating expedition was capsized, they all find themselves stranded on an island where they come face-to-face with a sinister, shocking discovery that's been hidden from the world for decades.
As they inevitably leave the island, you realise you’ve seen this film so many times before. Why not try something different? Why not have them work out how they’re going to survive with no prospect of rescue? Like, The Martian with dinosaurs?
My kids enjoyed it well enough but half the screening was notably bored. There are some tense scenes that work well and plenty of people getting chomped, so I wasn’t disappointed there.
But there is literally nothing I haven’t seen before. I’ve not read it for a while, but I think the T-Rex/raft chase is in the original novel. The lack of invention is honestly baffling.
The contrivance that brings children into the story means there are far too many characters. Despite the screen time invested, even the back stories of the main characters are paper-thin. You could sum up the remaining characters in a single sentence.
Finally, and this is my own personally nerdy beef, why do they go so woefully under-armed again? One guy, has one gun which is so ill-suited to the supposed purpose it is ludicrous. Where’s the .50cal armour-piercing long rifles? If you don’t want to kill it, why not light or sound? No-one has ever even chucked a flashbang at these things. Dinsoaurs have been living in the world, they must know how to kill or at least dissuade them by now!
P.S. yes, I have seen the Netflix animations
★★½
Death is just as omnipresent as ever, and is unleashed after one man’s premonition saves a group of coworkers from a terrifying suspension bridge collapse. But this group of unsuspecting souls was never supposed to survive, and, in a terrifying race against time, the ill-fated group frantically tries to discover a way to escape Death’s sinister agenda.
You know when you ask someone to scratch your back, and they start off pretty close but then go wildly off target, before finally getting exactly the right spot? You get that deep sense of relief and satisfaction? That’s my best comparison for Final Destination 1-5.
★★★★
