Much more to discuss this week which is good, and hopefully I’m now into the flow of watching films regularly.

The Magnificent Seven (remake)

I saw the original of this years ago at university, enjoying it at the time, but Westerns aren’t something I go back to once seen. This remake was what I wanted it to be – on in the background and enjoyable enough. It probably wasn’t necessary but at the very least it did do some work in updating and embracing modern storytelling and production rather than a straight remake.

Life

This was on my list of films to watch at the cinema but I missed it. This probably would have been more engrossing in the cinema environment, it’s a solid claustrophobic horror, but doesn’t particularly do anything that we’ve not seen in Alien, Gravity, Event Horizon, or other films of this ilk. The ‘lifeform’ was very well realised, both visually and in behaviour, and tension was ramped up without being gory so that’s something.

The Stanford Prison Experiment

Since enjoying Ezra Miller so much in Justice League I’m watching more of his films. We spent a bit of time on this experiment at university so it was interesting seeing a dramatised version of it, but I feel a better version of this film might be possible where it moralises more, or gives more insight into it. Maybe a mix of insight from professionals and dramatising some events might work well.

Pacific Rim

I was about 30 minutes into this film when I decided I wanted to watch it again with my partner. This is such a terrific film, and parts of it are exactly designed to delight her. We watched it at the cinema on release but hadn’t seen it since, and it is still a terrific movie. Probably the best I’ve watched this year so far, and I can’t wait to talk about it on Pop Culturally Deprived.

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

Honestly this took me about four sittings to get through. I wasn’t inspired to watch it but felt I should, and even in getting through it I found it hard to get into the story or characters. In the end I didn’t find anything too surprising or involving, and the main character is almost secondary to the story they seem to be pinning the coming series on.

Bill

The first recommendation that I’ve watched comes from @katyshuroo on Twitter. My childhood being taken to castles, homes, and other historical sites means I don’t go to films with a historical setting very often. This was actually pretty funny, some very good wordplay throughout and actors who were really into their parts without, generally, camping it up à la Monty Python.

The Emperor’s New Groove

Admittedly I only watched this because when I turned off Bill it was just starting on TV. One of my favourite Disney films, it’s a great example of slightly weird Disney – drawing from the TV cartoon series that had been so popular in the 90’s to create a similar vibe, alongside some really well defined characters who all have a terrific arc.

Godzilla: Final Wars

I’d been meaning to watch this for a long while now, and decided that building up to discussing Pacific Rim was a good time. I’m perhaps over-hyped on this since I enjoyed it less than expected. The second half was what I expected the whole film to be, and the first half was just a mishmash of ideas that didn’t come together as well as they hoped.

Supergirl

Wow this is even worse than I remembered it being. Check out our latest Across The Arrow-Verse where we spend 18 minutes trying to find things to discuss. Just don’t watch this film.

Colossal

Again tying into Pacific Rim is a rewatch of one of my favourite recent films. Anne Hathaway is sublime in a darkly flawed character who goes from one bad relationship to another, at the same time there are monster attacks in Seoul. I actually think I enjoyed this more the second time when I could pay more attention to the performances and characters.

Recommendation of the week

As much as Pacific Rim and Emperor’s New Groove are truly great films, I want to recommend Colossal because it has not yet been seen by enough people. You won’t be sorry you spent time with that film.