What I'm watching

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.

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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor

 

Top 10 Films from January, 2012 (Excluding re-watched films) Total watched this month: 29 (19 new) The Descendants 5/5 Warrior 5/5 127 Hours 5/5 The Artist 4.5/5 The Help 4.5/5 Fantastic Voyage 4/5 Drive 4/5 Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol 4/5 Arthur Christmas 4/5 Puss In Boots 3.5/5

Top 10 Films from January, 2012 (Excluding re-watched films)

Total watched this month: 29 (19 new)

The Descendants 5/5

Warrior 5/5

127 Hours 5/5

The Artist 4.5/5

The Help 4.5/5

Fantastic Voyage 4/5

Drive 4/5

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol 4/5

Arthur Christmas 4/5

Puss In Boots 3.5/5

#289/#6 Fantastic Voyage Set during the Cold War both the USA and the Soviets have developed the technology to shrink objects to a miniaturised scale but can only maintain that scale for 1 hour. In order to save a man injured by the Russians with information on prolonging the shrinking process, a team is miniaturised and sent into the man’s body in order to destroy his brain clot from the inside. With only an hour to do so, and with a saboteur on board, will they be able to execute their mission in time? I really enjoyed this film. It was a campy 60’s fun sci-fi film mixed with elements of a good spy thriller. It was reminding me a little of Sean Connery’s bond movies actually, probably helped along by the inclusion of Donald Pleasence in the cast. Not in terms of the spy elements, although the walk through the secret base was a little Q Labs-ish, but more so in just the whole feel of the movie. The time limit, and the fact that the film was shown primarily in real time meant that there was a real need for urgency which pulled the film along and kept you entertained. On top of this some of the set and effects, while very 60’s psychedelic, were interesting to watch and cool to see incorporated with the corresponding parts of the body (of which the film was actually surprisingly accurate for the most part). Even now some of them were hard to figure out just how they did them. I’m guessing some form of wire work but it really looks like they are naturally swimming in a lot of the scenes when they go outside the sub. Other than Pleasence none of the rest of the cast is all that memorable (outside of Raquel Welch but that’s only for the fact she’s the only woman in the movie). They all play their parts well but this is definitely a case of the story being the star of this movie rather than some big name actor/character. There are some plot holes and some weird leaps in logic/science but you’ve got to just sort of accept that those are going to happen with this sort of film from that era. All in all, a really enjoyable watch and I’d see it again. 4/5

#289/#6 Fantastic Voyage

Set during the Cold War both the USA and the Soviets have developed the technology to shrink objects to a miniaturised scale but can only maintain that scale for 1 hour. In order to save a man injured by the Russians with information on prolonging the shrinking process, a team is miniaturised and sent into the man’s body in order to destroy his brain clot from the inside. With only an hour to do so, and with a saboteur on board, will they be able to execute their mission in time?

I really enjoyed this film. It was a campy 60’s fun sci-fi film mixed with elements of a good spy thriller. It was reminding me a little of Sean Connery’s bond movies actually, probably helped along by the inclusion of Donald Pleasence in the cast. Not in terms of the spy elements, although the walk through the secret base was a little Q Labs-ish, but more so in just the whole feel of the movie.

The time limit, and the fact that the film was shown primarily in real time meant that there was a real need for urgency which pulled the film along and kept you entertained. On top of this some of the set and effects, while very 60’s psychedelic, were interesting to watch and cool to see incorporated with the corresponding parts of the body (of which the film was actually surprisingly accurate for the most part). Even now some of them were hard to figure out just how they did them. I’m guessing some form of wire work but it really looks like they are naturally swimming in a lot of the scenes when they go outside the sub.

Other than Pleasence none of the rest of the cast is all that memorable (outside of Raquel Welch but that’s only for the fact she’s the only woman in the movie). They all play their parts well but this is definitely a case of the story being the star of this movie rather than some big name actor/character.

There are some plot holes and some weird leaps in logic/science but you’ve got to just sort of accept that those are going to happen with this sort of film from that era. All in all, a really enjoyable watch and I’d see it again. 4/5