Moving Pictures

Initial, partially-formed thoughts on Minus One:

Spoiler - click to showFundamentally, it's about survivor's guilt and PTSD, both on an individual and a national level. Shikishima's not just a failed kamikaze pilot - surviving a war he was ordered to die in, bringing shame on his family and receiving personal blame for Japan's loss - but he's also one of only two people who survived the Godzilla attack at Odo Island, where his inaction cost the lives of the rest of the crew on the base.

Spoiler - click to show(There's also a recurring theme of what it takes to move past that trauma, and how fixating on the past prevents healing.)

Spoiler - click to showThe Japan we see in the film is also reckoning with the consequences of the war, notably the cavalier attitude which the Imperial government and military had to the lives of its people. While it never goes into the specifics of what the Imperial Army got up to in the war (using the kamikaze program as a catch-all for "the fucked-up shit they made us do"), the meat-grinder approach to the troops and the lack of transparency about what they were fighting for (or against) are specifically called out multiple times.

Spoiler - click to showIt's also curious that the Americans are portrayed as basically inert. A handful of references to the firebombing of Tokyo never mention who was burning the place to the ground; there are no American troops shown in Tokyo; and the US military is explicitly absent from the fight against Godzilla, under the excuse that troop movements would provoke the Soviets.

Spoiler - click to showOne major departure from the original 1954 Godzilla - a film that was also openly grappling with Japan's WW2 legacy, albeit from a much closer perspective - is the lack of consideration given to the monster.

Spoiler - click to showIt's barely subtext in '54 that Godzilla is itself a victim of nuclear weapons, and its rampage a direct result of the animal's suffering. One of the characters repeatedly appeals for non-violent solutions, and the opportunity to study the creature's radioactive resilience.

Spoiler - click to showIn Minus One, little thought is given to the reasons for Godzilla's emergence or actions; it's a force of nature that humanity cannot hope to understand or pacify. Notably, however, the plan to defeat Godzilla in this film is actually scientifically sound - this one could actually work, which makes for a nice change of pace from the technobabble that usually handwaves away the finale of these things.

Oh, hell yes.

Yep, Dune is excellent – the quality and variety of production design alone is worth the price of entry – but it badly needs to be much, much longer.

The film sprints through all the complicated political setup in the first half, with barely more than a couple of lines to establish the web of rivalries and loyalties between the Houses, the Emperor and the Bene Gesserit; anyone who hasn't read the book and isn't paying 100% attention isn't going to know why anybody's doing anything.

The final hour slows things down to a much better pace, giving the characters and the world room to breathe, but it's also got a lot less stuff going on – it's mostly aftermath and a little bit of sequel setup. It would have been good to have some if that calm before the storm, too.

Performances are strong but not especially surprising across the board; the sound mix is occasionally dreadful, as is the standard for big budget auteur movies these days (I'm looking at you, Chris Nolan, though I can't hear a fucking word you're saying); and Hans Zimmer is working his percussion section overtime on a score that's fairly similar to his work on Blade Runner 2049 (ie, loud and cool but probably not something you'll listen to on its own).

On the cutting edge as always, I've just watched this, three years after the rest of the world.

I can't believe you thought it was too quick. For various reasons we had to take a break at about 75 minutes in, at which point nothing had really happened apart from people stomping round in sandy fortresses glaring at each other. We nearly didn't go back to it. Glad we did, because it picked up pretty much directly after that point, but it's a weird film because it starts slow, has a load of action in the middle then slows right down again.

I've not read the books or seen the previous movie but I have seen a lot of Star Wars and there's nothing exciting left about a floppy-haired boy on a desert planet who can use the Force but is going to turn to the dark side. There's even an evil emperor and he's got a bunch of stormtroopers too, woohoo. I did like the addition of an entire House full of angry bald gammons. I know the books predate SW so I'm being a bit unfair here but purely cinematically there was very little here I haven't seen before. (Dragonfly helicopters were cool I guess). I was waiting for a big sandworm moment that never really came.

Weirdly the whole film was so desaturated, Arrakis didn't even look hot. That was an odd creative choice. I did like the soundtrack a lot, it may have just been discordant honking for the most part but it worked.

I might see the second one, if only to justify my time investment in the first one.

I'm fairly sure you're trolling now, as you claim to like Foundation where literally nothing happens, at all, for hours at a time.

I don't think Foundation is that slow? I mean it's got the pacing of a ten-hour series rather than a two-hour movie but even within that it's normally got several stories going on at the same time. I do like it, yes. Lee Pace shows more charisma in one raise of his eyebrow than Mr Floppy does in the entirety of Dune.

Watched Dune 2. It was OK. In some ways the film Gar thought he saw in Dune 1. Not as good as the first. It does suffer a little from the fact that the entire lore has been stripmined by every other scifi film of the last 40 years, so it didn't have a lot of leeway to do anything particularly spectacular with the source material. DV remains a director more interested in wonderful visuals and high concepts, but not action scenes. A lot of character arcs were heavily curtailed, and I'm not sure many of the female characters got through the film with anything approaching a progressive treatment. Some of the casting was a little off, and I had slightly le film du Zach Snyder in the black and white world bits with the Elvis guy in them.

When it was good, it was great, but I think (though it's not what the Dune fans want to hear) I'd have compressed the two films into one, heavily edited, character-collapsed 3 hour movie.

3 Body Problem show is good.

3 Body Problem show is good.

You have to be joking. It's almost unwatchably bad.

Nimona though, that's great.

3 Body Problem show is good.

You have to be joking. It's almost unwatchably bad.

hm, no, I just checked and actually it's good? are you seeing the same results I am

I have seen a lot of 'but it's not like the book' angst and a lot of people being Extremely Normal Online about game of thrones about it?

I've seen better acting in Grange Hill. Woeful.

I am enjoying Girls5Eva which someone introduced me to. A Carlock/Fey production it borrows heavily from 30 Rock and Unbreakable KS, has an entirely female led cast (including Sarah Barilles - who you might know from some of her massive songs like Gravity or Love Song) and has one of the most relentlessly sharp scripts in any comedy I've watched in the last 5 years. Made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion, and it's not often you hear a joke with labia majora as part of the set up.

I've seen better acting in Grange Hill. Woeful.

oh yeah good point actually

Monkey Man
I really want to like this more than I do. It's a hell of a debut - and frankly a miracle it got made at all - but I had a handful of structural, narrative, technical, and visual issues that are all very minor, but added up to prevent me from really falling in love with it.

3 Body Problem show is good.

We are on episode 5 out of 8 and literally only still watching it this point to see how stupid it can possibly get. It’s extraordinarily bad.

3 Body Problem show is good.

We are on episode 5 out of 8 and literally only still watching it this point to see how stupid it can possibly get. It’s extraordinarily bad.

I think Luscan might be my new Garwoofoo.

What's everyone thinking on the new Fallout show? I'm one episode in and it's OK. Story and script is a bit shit, but the acting and world building is decent. The female lead does make me feel a bit like I'm watching Scrubs Season 9 at times, but she is good. The episode was far too long, but fair dos to them trying to pursue multiple arcs. That's what ruined Wool for me - there's only so many episodes you can have of following one lead on a voyage of discovery at all times.

I don't mind the games and have played them enough to recognise some of the references. But it is, thankfully, not totally slavish fan service (well it is, but not overbearingly so). Overall it seems fine and I'll probably keep going with it.

I think Fallout is great (after 2 episodes). It's proud of its (very silly) heritage, and despite being incredibly videogamey it has my wife hooked. Even the power armour didn't put her off.

I haven't started watching Fallout yet as I'm trying to persuade the other half she'll enjoy it as despite the fact it's a videogame adaptation she did absolutely love The Last of Us. If I haven't got anywhere in a couple of days (the lack of Pedro Pascal may be a sticking point I feel) then I'm just going to watch it myself.

It has got me playing New Vegas for the first time though and it's surprisingly great so far. I've only played Fallout 3 previously which was fine I guess but this is much better from the start.

How obnoxious are the ads on Amazon Prime anyway? I haven't watched anything on there since they introduced them, and I assume no-one's paying the tax to remove them.

Loads of people are saying this must have some sort of ad suppression on it, to push it. I got one short mid roll one, but lots of people say they've had none at all.

I've had none so far. Didn't realise it was a thing!

I've had one or two pop up mid-show/film, and they felt a bit more jarring and haphazardly-placed than ads used to be on terrestrial tv, but that might be because they feel so out of place now. Plus of course that they might just be more random, or jarring/haphazardly-placed, of course.

The best bit has been always getting two before Invincible though - there's been one 40-second promo for Apex Legends before every episode of season 2, then a brief, smug message telling you that 'this show is brought to you ad-free, thanks to Apex Legends'.

Besides the obvious irony, I belatedly watched the Atom Eve prequel episode straight after finishing the main series, and that didn't have the Apex ads before, or indeed any actual ads during, which rather diminished their stirring displays of generosity elsewhere.

Not very objectionable as I have a fallout t shirt on as I type and have Nuka Cola merch in the living room let alone everywhere else in the house, so it's no surprise I love this.

However, my missus is loving it, she particularly loves the lead lady and has actively asks loads of questions post episode so I can explain little bits and pieces she wants to know more lore about, like some sort of unofficial post show commentary on the world and it's back story.

We both enjoyed episode 1 of Fallout a lot. It’s much better than 3 Body Problem for sure. Loads of little references to the games but nothing that distracted from the story.

I did spend too much time though wondering if all the vault dwellers were made really ugly on purpose, as some sort of meta commentary on Bethesda’s character creator.

5 episodes into Fallout and I don't really have a bad word to say about it

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - better than Rise, not as good as Dawn or War. A couple of threads left dangling for the rest of the (of course it's a) trilogy, but I liked it enough to want to see where it goes.

I’ve been pissing on via social media anyone who claims the price of cinema being preventative to going. Because of Cineworld’s half price Monday to Wednesday.
Just gone to book Furisoa and of course they’ve cancelled it now.
I’m never leaving the house.

I think Odeon still do tickets for a fiver. Perhaps just on Mondays?

Most Odeon cinemas I've been to are in a pretty sorry state, but a fiver's a fiver.

The Odeon here in Dundee is, I'm convinced, some kind of money laundering operation. I've never been to a screening of anything that's been more than a third full, but it recently got a massive overhaul with all massive recliner seats.

The Cineworld, on the other hand, is a bit more weathered, but we tend to go there more often as it's much closer to the house.

The Vue in Leith is one of the ones where they decided to trial making every seat a recliner and all tickets £5. The prices have crept up a little in the five years since but not much.

The only cinema near us is a Cineworld and it's a shit experience: crappy screens, sticky carpets, dodgy sound and just full of herberts eating and constantly checking their phones. Also it costs a fucking fortune. I just checked to see if they had tickets for Furiosa and they are only showing it in something called "4DX" and tickets are £22 each.

I'd genuinely rather just wait a while and watch something for a fraction of the price in the comfort of my own home.

I just checked, I can go see Furiosa at Vue in good seats tomorrow for 6.99.

But honestly, I'll probably still wait to watch it at home.

The Everyman near me is a godsend. Comfy sofas, very clean, always well projected. The bar/lobby is so nice that we've gone in for drinks before, without watching a film.

And they do toddler screenings; mid-morning showings with slightly quieter sound, toddler talking allowed, a sofa for two, cake and coffee included. All for a tenner.

The Odeon is a beautiful art-deco building that genuinely smells of piss. They need to take better care of them, or lose them.

Our local Cineworld is a bit like a Premier Inn. Cheap and basic but you knew exactly what you were going to get. Was going every week under the cheap deal and never had a problem there with the audience.
Until I went to watch Wonka. Before I went I did feel a bit self-conscious about being a 45 year old man sat on his own in a kids film. But hey its a Monday afternoon so the kids will all be at school,
I'd forgot about half-term and freaked out when the lobby was full of kids. But, hey I thought, maybe it will be a better experience with a receptive audience.
Turns out kids in Cheltenham are so well behaved they did not laugh once during the whole film.
So now I'm sat there trying to stifle laughter at the film, looking twice as wierd.

Godzilla Minus One is on Netflix UK.

Get it watched.

Do we need to have seen any other movies or indeed know anything about Godzilla to enjoy this?

Godzilla Minus One is an excellent film in its own right, even if you know nothing of the lore.
It's almost a remake of the original (apparently), and not part of the whole Kong & Godzilla monsterverse. It's not really an origin story either.
The human story about the horrors of war, specifically the meaning of being a soldier in Japan, are as poignant as any non-fantasy take on it. Fanstastic cast, cinematography and character style.
One of my recent faves.

We don't have (access to) Netflix. Boo.

Do we need to have seen any other movies or indeed know anything about Godzilla to enjoy this?

Most of the Japanese Godzilla movies are fairly standalone - there are a handful of direct sequels in there, but by and large so long as you know "Godzilla's the big nuclear lizard" you're up to speed with the lore.

(The Monsterverse films pretend to have more complex lore, but they don't; thematically and plot wise, they're in the late Heisei era with recurring characters and monsters but no real through line of importance. They're also much more heavy handed with the easter eggs and references.)

Minus One is set earlier than any of the other films so far*, and could be argued as a stealth prequel to 2016's Shin Godzilla, but for all practical purposes it's a new story, with new characters and a new take on the monster. Everything you need to know is in the film.

*It's set in 1945-47, though 1991's Godzilla vs King Gidorah involved a time travel plot with a sequence set in 1944.

We watched it on Saturday night - thanks for the recommendation. It was pretty good, though we didn't have anything to compare it against. I think the only Godzilla exposure I've ever had was the 1970s TV cartoon, and thankfully Godzooky didn't make an appearance in this one.

Deadpool and Wolverine was a lot of fun.

Deadpool and Wolverine was a lot of fun.

What do you need to have watched to get the most out of it? We're more or less up to date with the MCU barring a couple of the TV shows, but we've never seen any of the X-Men movies at all so I'm guessing a lot of this will go over our heads.

I'd find it difficult to answer that without spoiling some stuff. But definitely the X-Men films and especially Logan.

I couldn’t figure out if I missed something for not watching X-Men ‘92 or whatever the cartoon is called.

There's a trailer our for the Minecraft movie that's due out next year. It stars Jason Momoa, Jack Black, and several eye-rolling tweens.

It looks exactly as bad as you're imagining.

For some stupid reason, I've now subjected myself to (re)watching all the Predator movies.

For some even stupider reason, that includes both AvPs.

Jesus wept.

Don't know if anyone cares to read my thoughts in greater detail, but I wrote it, so here you go:

Prey is the best of the lot. Characters you can give a shit about, a script that knows when to shut the fuck up, and some really inventive action beats. If there's a flaw, it's that I think it shows too much of the Predator early on.

The original Predator is pretty good fun, still, and almost holds up. Shane Black's vile "comedy" character really dates the thing, though.

Predators and the first AvP are both okay, or at least have interesting concepts. Predators tries to cast Adrien Brody as an action star, which I don't think would work even if he didn't spend the whole thing doing an impression of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, which is just distracting. AvP isn't as tense as it could be, with too long of a build-up to get to the action, and too few ideas once it gets there.

The other three, though, are absolutely awful, just irredeemably shit, though for a range of reasons - none of the scripts are any good, but The Predator has a surprisingly decent cast doing their best with material that's at best silly, and at worst offensive.

Predator 2, meanwhile, has a poor cast led by Danny Glover, who's far too old for the role and barely phoning it in on a budget of what looks like about five dollars. Poor Bill Paxton (the only actor ever to be killed by an Alien, a Predator, and the Terminator!) tries, bless him, but his character is shit.

Firmly at the bottom of the list is the truly abhorrent AvP2 - a stupid, adolescent, badly written, poorly shot, hyper-gory slog, with a frankly staggering amount of brutality towards women and children. While none but the top two on the list are really worth watching, this is the only one I'd recommend everyone in the world actively avoid.