[Sticks]

Mary Poppins Returns 6/10

I have a DVD of the original and I have also seen documentaries about the author Pamela Travers (PT) and how she was stitched up by Walt Disney for the original 1964 film. I have also seen the film Saving MR Banks, the Disney propaganda version of how they stitched Mrs Travers up

As this is still currently in the cinema my assessment is hidden due to spoilers

Spoiler:

The Emily Blunt version of Mary Poppins is too cheerful. If PT hated the 1964 version, I would hate to have seen what she made of this version. In the 1964 version if I remember correctly without having to trawl through the original, I do not remember the Julie Andrews version smiling as much. She tended to be more irritated and serious, unless you count the animated jolly holiday sequence / song that PT hated and wanted removed from the film. Julie Andrews version was closer to the PT version of MP than this current Emily Blunt version

The episode where they end up in the porcelain bowl and get caught up with the wolf villain seems to be a slight nod to one of the darker tales of MP by PT, "Bad Wednesday" anyone. Having it suddenly become a shared nightmare when the evil wolf wins and sends them over the edge seems like a cop out.

Why go up the Westminster Clock tower (Big Ben is the bell in that clock tower, can't Disney get it right?) why not have them break in and go up the stairs, dot as dramatic for the FX guys but much more sensible.

The resolution where the Dick Van Dyke character comes in and stops the evil Colin Firth nephew character seemed more like a "with one bound he was free" moment (Google that expression). Why not have a race by another team to reach him, or at least something telegraphed in the movie to indicate he was being appealed to. It was deeply unsatisfying, and came as a jarring non sequitur why not have the young George produce from his pocket the missing piece of the shares certificate? Even the 1964 film resolution made sense when senior dies laughing of screen over a joke about a wooden leg named Smith, his airs are so grateful that Mr Banks senior is reinstated and made a senior partner and by that time he has reconnected with his children, which brings me on to the other issue

Why is she there? MP in the 1964 film came not for the children, but for the father, as you get from the film Saving Mr Banks as he had got disconnected from his children. It is not entirely clear why she is there? is it just to thwart the machinations of the Colin Firth character, which gets me on to his character...

What was that Colin Firth Character thinking, repossessing all that property? How would that increase bank profits? From this link houses were cheap and the UK was not hit that badly by the depression of the 1930's infact that article points out

In the second half of the 1930s, there was an economic recovery – especially in the south and the new ‘commuter belt around London and the Midlands.

His evil scheme would not have worked - Don't the writers of Disney do any research

THE UK IS NOT THE USA!!!

The final bit with the balloon lady played by Angela Lansbury, had me squirming, balloons lifting you high into the air, where you are holding on with just one hand? That hand is going to get pretty tiered pretty quickly and then you fall to your doom. in that sequence I saw only a few sensible people lifted up tying their balloon strings to things they could sit on and avoid muscle cramps.

There maybe other bits I missed such as what did the dead mother die from, it is never said, but I have other things I need to get on with, such as laundry.

I have changed my mind

5/10!!!

[Cherie]

I, Daniel Blake...harrowing and frustrating in equal measure 10/10

[Calderyon]

The Predator (2018) - It was okay, i expected it to be way worse than it was. The ending and some of the plot were dreadful. 4.5/10

[Niamh.]

Ralph Breaks the Internet - I thought it was even better than the first and I loved that. 8.5/10

[Tony Montana]

Terminator 2: Judgment day- Still an Amazing Sci-Fi Great and Cameron's Masterpiece. 10/10

Furious 7- Long overdue film but I finally watched it last week, and it's fantastic. my fav so far, the tribute to Paul Walker was so emotional. 9/10

Aquaman- Best DCEU Film by a Mile, great acting, action, visual effects and plot. 9/10

[Benzient-XXVII]

Transformers 5: The Last Knight (2017)
9/10 > the usual explosions and fighting you'd expect from a Transformer film with a few amusing moments (the Robot playing the Piano and singing opera ), surprised Transformers 6 hasn't been announced yet

Blade 3: Trinity (2004)
9/10 > going against the grain because this was definitely the best Blade film IMO, just very entertaining with some humour more than usual, Blade 4 please

The Beach (2000)
7/10 > good adventure and the island is gorgeous also the Shark attack scene was shocking

The Starving Games (2013)
6/10 > thought this was going to be just like any other straight to DVD spoof AKA absolute crap, but I was shocked as I thought it was funny in a few places also entertaining, love the main characters name = Can'tmiss Evershot

[Nicky91]

The Predator 2018

nice movie for the predator franchise, Thomas Jane (best known for his role in deep blue sea) plays a good role as Baxley who has tourette syndrome, he portrays that really well

overall good storyline, great cast

8.5/10

[Marsh.]

Sticks reviewing the realism of how tieed an arm would get holding onto a balloon lifting you into the sky in a film lead by a woman who uses an umbrella to fly and sit on clouds.

[Sticks]

When I used to post stories here I did my research to make sure I got things right, even thought what I was writing was a fusion of Sc-Fi and Fantasy. The character of Mary Poppins is a magical entity, which is one thing, but those with the balloons were normal humans

[Marsh.]

[Scoot]

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Brief review here: https://boxd.it/Btnrb

I didn’t really like it!

[Cherie]

Hereditary, not a horror fan and this didn’t help, it was absolute garbage 1/10

[Niamh.]

The Vanishing - Based on True events but

Spoiler:

basically the only true part was that the 3 light house keeps disappeared so the whole film was totally made up. No one actually has a clue what happened to them. Most likely explanation according to the investigation because of 2 of the Oil skins missing and one left behind was that, two of the men went to retrieve some equipment during a storm (as if equipment was damaged the keepers got fined) something happened like a freak wave or something and they ended up over the cliff, 3rd guy probably saw and ran to help them(without his oil skins) but ended up over the cliff as well. Not as exciting as the story they told in the film though

It was alright. 6/10

[Strictly Jake]

Avengers infinity war

Pretty good but a bit long and it did feel like 6 films all blended into one. Guardians of the galaxy scenes being my favourite 8/10

[Sticks]

Stan and Ollie

Youtube video

9/10

Spoiler:

Looses a point due to historical inaccuracy, because they have Olliver Hardy having his heart attack in Worthing rather than Plymouth and had Stan not going on stage with anyone else, that was what he did while Oliver was convalescing

On an interesting note when the film showed some of the Laurel and Hardy routines recreated for the movie, people in the cinema were laughing as if they were in the theatre watching the real Laurel and Hardy. I also noted that the majority of the audience were elderly, meaning that like me, we grew up watching Laurel and Hardy films.

[montblanc]

Truth or Dare (the one on Netflix not the one that came out last year)

i expected it to be another dumb horror movie but it was actually pretty good one of the better survival-death game type movies

[Alf]

Originally Posted by Sticks

Stan and Ollie

Youtube video

9/10

Spoiler:

Looses a point due to historical inaccuracy, because they have Olliver Hardy having his heart attack in Worthing rather than Plymouth and had Stan not going on stage with anyone else, that was what he did while Oliver was convalescing

On an interesting note when the film showed some of the Laurel and Hardy routines recreated for the movie, people in the cinema were laughing as if they were in the theatre watching the real Laurel and Hardy. I also noted that the majority of the audience were elderly, meaning that like me, we grew up watching Laurel and Hardy films.

I was gonna go watch this today but time wasn't on my side, hopefully I can get there sometime this week.

Historical inaccuracies regularly happen in films, I would have guessed that this would be the case in a film like this.

As a big Laurel and Hardy fan, I've been hoping this isn't going to be disappointing, but you give a 9/10 which gives me hope it's not.

[Benzient-XXVII]

Beauty And The Beast (2017)
10/10 > another great live action remake with some new scenes not in the original animated film, Emma Watson was great as Belle

Alien 5:Covenant (2017)
8/10 > entertaining, gory and exciting, I thought it was the best Alien film to date

A Little Bit Of Heaven (2010)
7/10 > a woman is diagnosed with cancer then she falls in love with her doctor, quite emotional in places

How Do I Live Now (2013)
6/10 > it was okay, it was slow in the first half then it gets more interesting, don't know what else to say really?

[Jessica.]

The House with a Clock in its Walls
It was fun, I laughed quite a few times but it's definitely for a young audience and I'm glad I didn't go see it in the cinema like I previously wanted to. I like Jack Black but he was a bit too himself rather than playing a character very well.

[LaLaLand]

"Big Eyes" (Tim Burton) - 3.5/5

True story about the life of artist Margaret Keane [Amy Adams] who painted characters with huge eyes in the 60's, her slimey husband [Christoph Waltz] basically took all of the credit for her work calling himself the artist and got famous. She eventually has enough.

Enjoyed it, not quintessentially "Burton" but very enjoyable.

[Jessica.]

Originally Posted by armand.kay

just watched bird box because of all the hype online... it was actually very enjoyable and honestly a very interesting concept... I think with the right writer and budget this could be made into a short series... 8/10

I liked it too! A series would be great, a lot of people thought the film lacked important details so I think it would be very appealing to see more of the world.

[Niamh.]

Beautiful Boy - It was a pretty good depiction of what I imagine it would be like dealing with a drug addict in the family although pretty depressing. I love Steve Carrell and it's not that he can't do serious because he can but he just has such a comedy voice especially when he gets angry all I can hear in my head is brick I found that a bit distracting and took away some of the intensity of scenes. The film itself didn't flow very well either, it was jumping back and forth alot and sometimes it was hard to tell what was going on, if this was a memory or happening now or when did they get to where they were etc 6/10

[Nicky91]

The Jurassic Games 2018

starring Ryan Merriman, in this jurassic park/hunger games/maze runner type of movie

IMDB gave it just a 3.2/10 but i agree with some of positive comments there, very underrated movie, quite nice storyline and fun action scenes, also few funny death moments, for a low budget movie it's quite good

i give it a 7.5/10

[Niamh.]

Crazy Rich Asians : It was funny and entertaining, I enjoyed it 7/10

[ethanjames]

boy erased 2/10... yikes