I missed the chance to see this one in the cinema so I’m excited to watch it in 4K HDR at home. I’ll post my thoughts once I’m done.
Tag: Movies
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Whilst looking at my list of films for 2018 it got me thinking, why aren’t we seeing anything Solo related? We are only 4 or 5 months out and we haven’t even seen a teaser. All we have is photos from Ron Howard on set.
I’m thinking one thing, there is a delay.
With The Last Jedi just out and a change of director it makes sense to me that they delay by a few months. I’m thinking it gets shifted to September, just makes the end of the summer.
If there isn’t a trailer by the end of January it’s getting delayed.
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2017 was a pretty great year for films, 2018 looks to have some crackers so here are the films I’m most looking forward to watching.
(All of these are taken from IMDB so I can’t confirm if some will actually come out this year).
- Black Panther
- Avengers Infinity War
- The Shape of Water
- Coco
- Deadpool 2
- Jurassic World 2
- Incredibles 2
- Ant man and the Wasp
Most surprisingly for me Solo: A Star Wars Story hasn’t made my list. As much as I love Chewbacca and the Millennium Falcon I just can’t get past two things. First up, we don’t need to see this back story. It’s better left unknown and risks ruining the character of Han Solo. Secondly I just don’t buy the actor chosen as Han Solo. I know I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and wait until it’s release but there’s something I just don’t like. It might be the first Star Wars film I don’t see in the cinema.
I’ll also be looking forward to seeing some films I didn’t get to the cinema for in 2017 (Blade Runner 2049) and rewatching some of my favourites including The Last Jedi and Thor: Ragnorok.
What are you looking forward to?
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I finally got around to watching The Dark Tower yesterday, not having any knowledge of the books. I know about the popularity of them and been encouraged to read but never had the time. I also know that the movie has been a little panned, especially from fans of the book.
For me overall I mostly enjoyed it, not a film of the year by any stretch of the imagination but for something to let me switch my brain off for a bit it was fine. I’m also glad I didn’t spend over £40 watching it at the cinema and only spent £9.99 getting it via 4K iTunes.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
First off I enjoyed The Gunslinger character and Idris Elba’s acting was solid as usual. They seemed to CG most of the stunts, which was a little disappointing and it wasn’t as slick as a lot of modern CG. The baddie played by Matthew McConaughey wasn’t really that menacing and just felt lifeless and dull to me. They also relied on CG for his end scene, again not done that well.
It just doesn’t feel like it had a big enough budget, brought production time or commitment from it’s backers.
I liked the premise of the movie, bright kids being picked up by the baddies henchman to be brought into his world in a bid to find the one that can bring down the Dark Tower (don’t want to spoil it too much for you).
Problem is, even though I don’t know the books I can’t see how 8 books fit into a 1.5hr movie. I don’t know how it even got signed off.
If this had an established director, a big budget and at least 3 films it might have served fans of the book. As it stands I feel it doesn’t serve either fans of the book or the general public looking for an interesting film.
I’m glad I didn’t pay to see it at the cinema and can only recommend watching it if it’s £10 or less or on a streaming service for free.
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I saw my second viewing of The Last Jedi yesterday, this time with my daughter. It felt even more like a Star Wars film to me this time.
I enjoyed it first time around but was conflicted about a few parts. Having had this second viewing, taking more in and seeing my daughters reaction I have to admit that it’s it up there with my favourites in the franchise.
I watched Return of the Jedi in the cinema when I was a kid and this feels a lot like that. Cool planets, space battles, creatures and a couple of good baddies.
I think some people are picking apart the mythology a little too much. I just sat back and enjoyed it for what it is – a Star Wars movie.
I should preface this to say I’m a massive geek for Star Wars but I do like what Rian Johnson has done with the storyline, breaking away from the Skywalker family.
I love this movie.
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I have to admit, when I saw the second Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer I got worried. It was for one reason, The Porg.
What changed my mind though was seeing my daughters reaction to it, she was laughing out loud. That made me sit back and enjoy it along with her. I have to not look at them from my older perspective but the joy I got from seeing characters at Jabba’s palace when I was the same age watching Return of the Jedi at the cinema.
That’s a major lesson I’ve taken from The Last Jedi, I really enjoyed it and it let me be a kid again like when I saw the originals.
There are some great scenes with the Porg, I’m especially fond of Chewbacca (my favourite character) having a BBQ outside of the Falcon. I won’t ruin the scene for you but it’s one of my favourites in the franchise.
I know the bulk of people will believe that Disney forced Rian Johnson’s hand in making something marketable but I read that he himself created them after seeing the puffin on the Island whilst shooting. I want to be optimistic and believe that this is in fact true.
So, some people are going to hate them and others love them. I love them and am glad that they were included in this movie.
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With every new Star Wars movie I’ve gotten into the habit of buying two books
- The visual dictionary
- The art of Star Wars
I enjoyed both books for The Force Awakens so picked up The Visual Dictionary on Amazon for £11.99.
These books are a great reference if you want to know a bit more about the characters, vehicles, weapons and worlds. The great part about them is that they show characters that appeared in the background and smaller parts. One that I was keen on was the commander of the dreadnought at the beginning of the movie.
They are full of rich images showing costume design and details that you just can’t get from watching the movie alone. For each of the images you’ll find accompanying text descriptions showing details of a costume or item in a scene.
One difference with TLJ (The Last Jedi) vs TFA (The Force Awakens) is it doesn’t seem so rich, it’s also thinner. I’m not sure if that’s because we know more of the characters or there’s less background stuff going on.
A larger portion of the book is around the casino based planet, a lower point of the movie for me. So, apart from reading about a few characters flipped straight past (it’s a bit prequel for me).
So, at £11.99 it’s on the expensive side. Wait until after Christmas and pick up when it gets to £5.99 or less.
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Since Disney picked some of Fox along with it came a raft of Marvel characters such as Deadpool and the X-Men. As a bit of an X-Men fan it got me thinking about the state of the existing film series and whether they could get a reboot.
Let’s be honest there hasn’t been a good one since the second movie. The possibility of seeing them done justice and a possible tie into Infinity War Part 2 sounds great to me.
There is such a diverse set of characters in the X-Men universe that they could be the next launch pad for a series of movies. Personally I’d be ok with Capt and Iron Man taking a break to focus on Spider-Man, an X-Men solo film and a couple of independent character ones (Nightcrawler or Gambit anyone?).
Personally I think that we’ll see a new X-Men movie announced within the next 2 years.
LJPUK 