Horror is nonsense in a way, it's true, but it has to be true to some kind of internal logic or else it won't have much effect.

Part of the reason I enjoyed Talk to Me was because pretty much everyone was horrible, so I had fun crossing my fingers for mass comeuppance.  

It could have been absolutely terrible, and the premise did kinda remind me of the sort of horror film you would've got in the early noughties that was absolutely terrible, but I thought it was worth a watch.

The Eternal Daughter The ever great Tilda Swinton plays daughter and mother in this eerie tale. Can't talk too much about the plot without spoiling; but it's plain that not all is what it seems when a mother and daughter visit a hotel for the mother's birthday - a place with many memories as it appears to have been a family home in the past.  Beautifully played by Swinton.

13. The Northman - I don't get the Eggers love. Admittedly, I've only seen The Lighthouse, which I thought, with the exception of a great bit of acting from Dafoe, was just not very good. But having watched The Northman, I get his skill as a director. I thought it was excellent from start to finish. A really well told tale of revenge, it combined some great acting (big up Kidman here who was brilliant), some very well done action (the raid on the village was a great "one-take" scene), beautifully shot throughout, and the revenge was how revenge should be done. Loved it [9]

I liked the film but the supporting actor nomination puzzled me as the guy and his character seemed completely unmemorable to me.

I thought Brown was great. Not sure if Oscar great but he was brilliant in the role and I also think it was an important role. There is still a stigma, possibly even growing due to the rise of Alpha male bullshit, in many black communities over being gay, especially if it isn’t played as the obvious cliched camp role. This type of role needs to be normalised.

I was expecting to love The Northman but I wasn't keen at all. I thought The Lighthouse was great.

Maybe I should give it another go.

b0r1s wrote:

I thought Brown was great. Not sure if Oscar great but he was brilliant in the role and I also think it was an important role. There is still a stigma, possibly even growing due to the rise of Alpha male bullshit, in many black communities over being gay, especially if it isn’t played as the obvious cliched camp role. This type of role needs to be normalised.

Also enjoyed Brown’s performance and the role made absolute sense in context of broader themes in the film. Oscar noms aren’t always the best barometer and didn’t expect him to win but I thought it was worth recognition, especially considering he was up against De Niro in KOTFM doing nothing and Ruffalo’s shambles in Poor Things.

13. The Flash
I had to watch this because I really like The Flash as character, but what a chore this was to sit through. It's so long and so unevenly paced that it's 2.5hrs passes, ironically, much slower than it should. There's some decent bits, particularly when Batman is on screen, but unfortunately the film manages to answer a question that hadn't occurred to me - what could be more annoying than Ezra Miller? Answer: Two Ezra Miller's. Plus, for a film that relies on CGI so much the special effects are at times absolutely laughable - some extremely uncanny valleys and sub-videogame cutscene quality shite really manage to take you out of what little engagement you've managed with the film. Michael Shannon, returning as Zod, looks completely bored - and the relentless cameos from alternate universe heroes lacks any of the charm of recent Spiderfilms. But it's not helped, again, by the terrible effects. Rubbish, but not quite as rubbish as the DC benchmark for burning shit-farms that Aquaman hit. 4

Olimite wrote:

24 - Ricky Stanicky

Despite Cena’s best efforts, this is a comedy with very few laughs.

I enjoyed it. Had quite the giggle at the wank songs

Yeah it was pretty good - elevated by Crowe but the 2 Hemsworths were also solid, as was fella off of Heroes.
Very “Navy Seals” style army man action.

Gremill wrote:

Sounds fun. Which service?

JustWatch says it's not available on any of the streaming services

Hahaha

28. Dune: Part Two
On first impression, I didn't enjoy this as much as part one but I think that was somewhat due to my expectations of long, epic battle scenes (blame trailers) whereas it was actually slower and more considered, punctuated with action. On reflection since then I suspect this will hold up much better and keen to rewatch. 

To get negatives out of the way, I thought the overall pace was a bit off - the time taken to build Paul's story was needed and really benefited the climax so perhaps more due to other characters having limited screen time. The Harkonnens and moreso the emporer, his daughter and the bene gesserits all seemed short changed, particurlarly given how critical the BG seem to the whole arc. I say all that as someone that's never read the books so maybe that's just how it goes but I wonder if a longer cut might actually seem more balanced?
The only other complaint was Zendaya. I thought she was mostly flat and one note in this, and acted off the screen by pretty much everyone around her. Even by Brolin in the few moments they shared.

That said, they are quite minor when compared to the spectacle and achievement of the film as a whole. Characters are incredibly well realised, a swathe of brilliant performances, stunning visuals and some absolutely superb set pieces. The guerrilla skirmishes were tense and tightly choreographed whilst the scale of the large battles did not disappoint, even if I did think them a bit brief. I'm sure there will be more layers to appreciate on subsequent viewings so might even consider another cinema visit, maybe changing the score but for now it's an [8]

I presume Madame Web is no relation to Charlotte?