For ½ of August, I’ve been on holiday, so looking after the kids has taken over. The wife and I did rewatch Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire which was still a lot of fun, especially as I’m a big Ghostbusters fan. However, despite saying that, with these new sequels, there’s something about Afterlife that I feel makes it the better of the two.

This week, I’ve managed to squeeze in four films. I’ve reviewed them on my blog, so I’ll leave links but also give you a few quick thoughts.

Rebel Moon: Part One — Chalice of Blood / Part Two — Curse of Forgiveness (2024) - Review

I really enjoyed the original edits (Review of Part One / Part Two). The story isn’t exactly original, but I became immersed in Snyder’s world. I loved the whole aesthetic. These longer versions enhanced a few story elements and just offered up more visual treats. Maybe a bit too much slo-mo though.

Alien: Romulus (2024) - Review

Very disapointed. I didn’t like Alien: Covenant, so I didn’t like that story points from that film were carried over in to this one. Also, there was too much fan service as well with lines and easter eggs littering the film.

Deep Rising (1998) - Review

A film that was recently discussed on Corridor Crew’s VFX Artists React. That and the fact is was the same director as The Mummy piqued my interest and so I gave it a watch.

The Instigators - 6/10 - Not great, predictable story with a dash of action. Manged to not fall asleep, so I count that as a win.

Gunner - 3/10 - It’s bad, terrible, really. CGI was at that level that it’s so was awful that I was interested to keep watching just to see how worse it can get.

Out of Exile - 4/10 - Not good, but might work for those that enjoy slower pace and unexpected endings.

Big Trouble in Little China (Fedi film club)

I liked it and definitely saw the charm, though I thought it fell flat in the final act.

Terminator 2 Jusgment Day (Fedi film club too)

… and my partner hadn’t seen it so I was showing them).

Still good and stands up. The Sarah Conor character is definitely still relevant in today’s industry’s attempt at doing better with women and female characters. Again, strangely, the final act felt underwhelming.

The Boys season 4.

I liked it. Better than S3 and more character driven and still hitting the satire hard. What happened with Starlight was pretty interesting I thought.

But definitely had about 2 episodes that were clearly filler IMO. Getting a bit tired of even 8-12 episode seasons having obvious filler. We’ve whittled tv seasons down to basically film production lengths now (8-12 episodes is about I LoTR trilogy) … may as well make the whole screen time as killer as possible without getting hung up having X episodes (I know, ads)

Deadpool & Wolverine was solid. If you liked the first 2 you’ll like this one. If you didn’t then you’ll probably not like this one either, unless you’re just a huge Wolverine fan. It very much is a Deadpool movie first and foremost for all the good and bad that entails. The one advantage this one has over the previous 2 is that there is some real pathos here courtesy of Hugh Jackman being a very good actor. I think the Cable stuff from the second film kind of touches on similar emotions but it’s better done here.

A Quiet Place: Day One was excellent. I really liked this movie. They captured the tension and confusion of the situation phenomenally. Excellent acting, great set pieces, tight plot. I think the bar scene was incredibly heartfelt. It does kind of struggle with the same issue that the other movies do in that how the monsters work doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense if you really think about it. But that’s not really what the movie is about and it’s easy to overlook when you’re watching.