Idle Hands (1999)

Green Room (Odeon Scream Unseen)
Even better than the fab Blue Ruin

9/10

Hush decent home invasion thriller on Netflix

7/10

The Barbarian and the Geisha [1958]. Director: John Huston

6/10

Atypical John Wayne movie (he has one brief fight and gets beaten by a guy half his size). Historical drama shot on location in Japan. Interesting rather than exciting.

The Martian - 10/10

Beyond The Sea (2004) - 6.5/10

Criminal - daft mish mash of Total Recall,The Bourne Identity, Falling Down, Leon and just about every other action movie of the 90's gets a nod. Its pretty brutal in places and darn good fun, just disengage any rational thinking before watching. Costner's second attempt at launching himself as the next Liam Neeson is a lot better than 3 days to kill and the Taken sequels.

Its better than last years almost identically themed self/less too

Good Friday night fun! 7.5/10

The Jungle Book (2016) 10/10

Eddie The Eagle - good fun, some great action shots and pretty good soundtrack.

My favourite quote was when Keith Allen (Eddie's dad) says 'if he keeps doing what he's doing he's gonna walk through that door in a wheelchair'.

Also liked the reference to Cool Runnings

Star Wars: the Force Awakens. (Blu Ray) Fantastic, much better than I was expecting, although it may not have the repeat value of the wonderful original (A New Hope).
8/10

Watched "Bastille Day" at the cinema. It was okay for killing time in the afternoon. The fight in the van was pretty awesome though.
Also viewed a dodgy download of "The Boss" this evening. A bit hit and miss. Not that great, but had a couple of visual gags that I laughed at.

The Machinist (2004) Sky Movies 6/10

Southpaw (2015) Sky Movies 8/10

Gone in 60 seconds (1974) 8/10

A car theft scheme ends up in an epic car chase through Los Angeles.

Fantastic 70s indy movie delivers great entertainment.

Cape Fear (1991) Sky Movies 4/10

The Queen (2006) 7/10

Gandhi (1982) - A re-watch. It's alright. Bit of a slog. Might re-watch it again in a decade or so. Give it a 7/10.

I also watched the the first two Captain America films. Reasonably entertaining stuff, but fairly forgettable. Preferred the first one. 6.5/10 and 6/10 respectively.

Midnight Special

In Secret [2014]. Director: Charlie Stratton

7/10

Bland title for yet another adaptation of Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin, this one boasting fine performances from Elizabeth Olsen in the title role and Jessica Lange as her aunt/mother-in-law. Suitably gloomy Serbian & Hungarian locations.

*******
The Ringer [1952]. Director: Guy Hamilton

7/10

Debut feature from director Hamilton, who died this week. Adaptation of an Edgar Wallace play features Herbert Lom as a dodgy solicitor, with a great comic turn from William Hartnell as a small-time cockney thief.

*******
Flying 55 [1939]. Director: Reginald Denham

5/10

Routine horse-racing drama, this time from a novel by Edgar Wallace. An uncredited Terry-Thomas gets 2 lines.

Forbidden Planet

1950's SF classic. Perhaps a little talky for some, but there's always the art direction, and Anne Francis, to swoon over. 9/10

Snake Eyes

Nic Cage in moderate De Palma thriller. An underwhelming finale betrays some of the old flashy magic spun before it. 6/10

Star Wars: The Force Awakens...

...as the viewer yawns. Bit of a drag on 2nd showing. Wondered if Carrie Fisher is some sort of animatronic. Only her lips and eyelids seemed to move. 5/10

Gone in sixty seconds (2000) 3/10

Lame remake of the original (1974).

Can safely be ignored despite the presence of Nicholas Cage, Angelina Jolie and Robert Duvall. And Cage does not even say 'I should have read my horoscope'.

Mask Of The Phantasm 10/10.

The best Batman film ever. Amazing how an 1 hour and 20 minute cartoon can give a better back story to Bruce Wayne becoming Batman than anything else put to screen yet.

Casablanca (1942) - 8.5/10

American Sniper - Based on the autobiography of the same name by the late Chris Kyle who was the most lethal sniper in US history. Interesting film in that it's really well made and at times gripping to watch but ultimately it left a bad taste in my mouth and not in the way Clint Eastwood probably intended. Though for a generally right wing Republican film-maker, I was expecting a full on jingoistic piece and it's not quite that. Still, after watching this I still wonder whether it was worth going into Iraq and that overshadows the personal story of Kyle who I don't think was the gung ho hero that some people thought he was. This is the first time I've seen Bradley Cooper disappear into a role.

6/10

Eye in the sky- Intelligent, gripping and a real nail biter, I have never seen a movie where the sale of baked goods has had me on the edge of my seat before...

Great final role for Alan Rickman and his last proper line of dialogue was very fitting.

8.5/10

The Hottie and the Nottie [2008]. Director: Tom Putnam

3/10

Repellent romantic comedy.

Just watched "The Boy", starring Maggie from "The Walking Dead".
It's about a woman who takes a job as a nanny, only to find that the boy in question is a doll!

Quite creepy in bits, with good use of surround sound, but the last section lets it down.