Hi all, this tumblr mainly exists as a way of tracking all the movies I've been watching and some of the initial thoughts, and general feelings, I've had about them.
5/5 - Fantastic movies; movies which need to be seen and enjoyed by everyone.
4/5 - Movies which are very good but don’t have that spark which compels you to make others watch them as well.
3/5 - Average movies; watchable and enjoyable, but nothing which elevates them higher. The baseline all movies are given before watching.
2/5 - Can be watched but really bland and forgettable.
1/5 - Minimal to no reason to watch these films. It may have some redeeming factors e.g. it’s so bad it’s good or there’s one character that’s awesome enough to make it not a total waste of time.
0/5- Total waste of time. Nothing redeemable about these films.
As with every review blog/site, this is all my own personal opinion so feel free to take everything with a grain of salt.
Also I'm Scottish so all reviews will be in UK English. Get used to theatre, colour and words ending in -ised.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
#444/#163 Apollo 13
(Rewatch)
Something goes terribly wrong during the Apollo 13 spacecraft mission and NASA is left trying to figure out how to get the three astronauts home on the crippled spacecraft.
This movie is remarkably gripping, taking its time to set up all of the characters well before it even gets near the mission. We become invested in these men through their interactions with their families and friends so that when the sword of Damocles finally does come crashing down it’s a big deal. From there on out you’re on the edge of your seat as one thing after another just keeps cropping up. There is minimal to no action but the tension remains high throughout, purely on the strength of the drama unfolding. It didn’t matter that I had seen the film before, or already knew the outcome of the real-life events, I was still enraptured from start to finish.
Everyone involved in this movie brings their A game. Tom Hanks is great in the lead role as always, while Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton and Gary Sinise all back him up brilliantly. Ed Harris and Kathleen Quinlan also provide great performances bringing in the chaos of the control room and the despondency of the families waiting to see if their husbands/fathers/lovers are going to come home alright.
Apollo 13 is one of those powerful pieces of cinema which you don’t watch all that often but when you do you’re reminded every single time why you remember it so fondly. It’s film making at its finest. 5/5
#335/#52 National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets
(Rewatch)
When the Gate’s family name comes under attack, Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage) starts tracking down evidence to exonerate his ancestor. This time his exploits take him around the world for clues, all the while being shadowed by another treasure hunter (Ed Harris) with ulterior motives.
I’m not quite as enamoured with this film as I was its predecessor. Where the original film walked the line quite nicely between acceptance or refusal of a given situation, the suspension of disbelief in this one is used just a few to many time for the audience to completely accept its logic. It doesn’t kill the film it just makes it a little less enjoyable.
It also suffers from sequelitis pretty hard. The leading couple has broken up in between films so that they can get back together by the end of this one, the sidekick gets his own romantic subplot, the father (Jon Voight) from the previous film and now mother (Helen Mirren) from this one are now main character but don’t really add anything, grander locations/settings for no real payout and the villain is just the previous villain in a different hat i.e. NT1 ‘I just want the money’ NT2 ‘I just want the money and family recognition’. Again it doesn’t make the film bad because of it, it just makes it less interesting.
I still enjoy the characters and the American history-mystery plot enough to not get bored watching this film but it’s never one I would watch without having rewatched the original movie first. 2/5
