Tried
Blue Ruin, pace felt slow during set up though Macon Blair did a good job as the lead, was some nice touches but it wasn't coming alive. Then suddenly it did come alive
with tension and good action which meant we stayed on a little more but alas, even with more characters coming in, never felt the film was clicking.
Watched
The Man from Earth: Holocene sequel to the thoughtful Man from Earth. This time the professor John Young (David Lee Smith) is starting to feel like he is ageing while four of his students begin to put pieces together as they research his mysteriously unexplained past....
Whereas the first film was quick to set up, friends in room, having party, discussion starts, this takes 45 or so minutes of it's 1 hour 40 to set up its scenario. This was going to take longer to set up as the students need to find out about the professor but it meant the two potential ideas they touch on (John facing potential mortality and from the students
) are never built up, it covers some old ground and one or two clumsy dialogue moments. The romance with Carolyn (Vanessa Williams) never comes alive but John has a nice friendship with Dr Parker (Michael Dorn) while the student 4 have shallow depth but are likeable figures, lead Isabel (Akemi Look) brings the drive, flirty Tara (Brittany Curra) and sporty Liko (Carlos Knight) provide humour. Philip (Sterling Knight) is the least developed and the one that tends to be missing from a scene but as the religious figure, they handle him with more sensitivity then they did with religious figure in first film and the best philosophical stuff revolves around him.
The set up wasn't bad, it went along nicely enough, the moments where it did touch on philosophy (when not repeating old ground) was good, the humour was gently amusing, we liked the students. The transfer onto the next stage however is clumsy and arguably offensive in way it it is written
. It does go into an intresting philosophical discussion eventually but it gets one sided by the end, then they have a big moment and... then nothing. They do one scene set a bit in future, leaving several questions unanswered and with a feeling they had run out of money or time. It feels very incomplete.
Both: 5.5
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Watched
Thor: Ragnarok which I had heard decent things about and knew director Taika Waititi's reputation had been enhanced which suggests film didn't suck. This felt different from the other Thors, its tone is much more guardians of the galaxy which isn't an issue in itself but was possibly too close on from guardians of the galaxy 2. It is a funny movie in and of itself (though I tended to not like Korg's humour) that just perhaps did a little too much humour by the end. We had many a laugh and was better then the last Thor film.
As an adventure it works well, action scenes hold up well with knowing when to use a bit of dialogue or humour to break it up before returning to the fight, film looks good including costumes bar one
and the story went along at a nice pace. It handles the transition for the Thor franchise well with new figures coming in, generally the long term new and old characters got enough time to make an impact and be developed
The main villain worked in extent of good costume and an authoritative performance from Cate Blanchett but it suffered from the old problem of too little time to develop the baddie. After her opening scenes, Thor and co go off on their own adventure and we get the odd scene with her every now and again, very separate from the main events till the final (fun enough) showdown. The secondary baddie as it were
is more there for comedy then as a threat.
Me: 7.5, Sis: 8.0
“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”
