Ughhh...just watched Tomb Raider (2018), and felt I needed a place to vent. The movie was so frustratingly bad that it ruined the game (which I haven't completed yet) and parts of Indiana Jones for me!
Actions bits swing between participants being superhuman god-creatures and mushy useless worms whenever convenient.
Had to watch it over the course of a week, because of how much it kept annoying me, and revived myself with watching episodes of The Wire, I, Claudius and film Ex Machina to reassure myself that the actors in this film weren't complete dullards.

I watched Misery for the first time in about 20 years and it's still pretty good. My wife wanted to watch it because she had finished reading the book that afternoon - she found the movie disappointing because she missed the more extensive tortures Annie put Paul through in the book. I have not read the book, though, so I just see it as one of the last decent movies Rob Reiner made :)

Saw the new Blade Runner. I have a lot of pessimism for both modern film making and more so for reboots/sequels of classics and almost didnt watch this. Im glad I did, the characters and world felt like Blade Runner for the most part while still standing on its own merits.
I had a small sense of hope for the movie after hearing the guy that did Prisoners was going to direct this and hes impressed me again. I still prefer the original, but its hard to top something so unique especially when compared to todays style of filmmaking.

If I had to list a complaint it would be that the story was too 'big'. The first one was such a small story in the dealings of the world and I liked that, this was huge and sorta epic which goes a little against the setting. It is a bit reflective of our times I think. Whether you are on the inside or the outside, the disconnect and level of power between the common man and the instuitutions that run our world is something everyone can sense... I guess it doesnt go against the cyberpunk setting after all.

Stardust

A wonderful and quirky tale, as it is usual for anything that comes from Neil Gaiman's imagination. Sometimes I just want to dream about other worlds, and this story delivers exactly that. I think the best way to describe it would be a modern Princess Bride. And Robert De Niro is fabulous in every sense of the word.

Finally caught the animated Batman movies with Adam West. They were fine, and it was nice to hear West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar play the characters again. Shatner does a good job as Two-Face. It was odd to see so much of the action take place at night when the original show was mostly in daylight. In many ways it felt like the creators were trying to align this version of Batman with the comics or the 90s animated series. Really the biggest issue with the Two-Face movie was that it regurgitated the Bruce Timm take on Two-Face too much. You can acknowledge that Batman has emotions but they needed to find a funnier angle to express it, like how Batman is heartbroken by Miss Kitka in the movie.

Not too crazy about Catwoman joining in with the heroes because the 66 version is a pure criminal. That's what makes her fun :)

The portrayal of Aunt Harriet was pretty off but it's Aunt Harriet so who really cares?

I disagree. My issue with the second movie was that it focused too much on other villains rather than Two-Face for the first half (maybe even more than that), but I like the fact they kept Two-Face mostly serious and a bit darker than is usual for the campy Adam West Batman. Two-Face is the most tragic of all Batman villains. There's no point to him if that doesn't come across, at least to some degree.

I used to hate campy Batman. So childish and silly etc. Over the years I came around to appreciating it for what it is and I can have a lot of fun with that version. But I like it even more when, exactly like the Two-Face movie did, the authors manage to tie some of the darker themes into it, because they are really at the core of Batman as a character, and most of his villains and supporting characters. It's a difficult balance to strike, but when it works (some of the episodes of Brave and the Bold were especially good at it), it's so much more rewarding than just the campy fun alone.

deleted

Just saw Black Klansman yesterday. I enjoyed it, but there was a bit of an emotional shock at the end.

In particular, this movie need trigger warnings for:
* Verbal aggression, including slurs (in particular, the n-word is used a fair amount in the movie)
* Violence (and not the glorified sort you see in action movies)
* Right-wing rhetoric
* (spoilers?) At the end of the movie, some clips from last year's Charlottesville are shown, including an actual murder. (If this would be too much of a trigger for you, I would leave the theater at this point; the only thing after that, I believe, is the credits.)

Spike Lee decided that was going to be the end of the movie even before he started filming.

I salute the idea and hope it resonates the way he intends it to.

The Huntsman: Winter's War, the spin-off from Snow White and the Huntsman where Kristen Stewart played Snow White, is better than the aforementioned Snow White and the Huntsman. Arguably, that's not very hard, but I enjoyed my time watching it very much and it sometimes felt like a good old fashioned adventure movie I used to watch as a kid, so there's that. If one can tolerate the story/acting in Snow White and the Huntsman and/or other action fantasy movies (that are stupid, but enjoyable), then you'll probably enjoy The Huntsman: Winter's War.

That movie was huge surprise for me, because the first Huntsman movie was utterly terrible, and not only because of Kristen Stewart, so while removing her from the equation was obviously going to help, I still didn't expect the movie to be any good. So perhaps my very low expectations colored my perception, but I also enjoyed the sequel quite a lot. A proper fantasy adventure movie, lots of fun, and while it's not great cinema by any stretch, it has a far better story and cast of characters than the first one. I actually regret the box office wasn't better and they didn't get to make another one (though I guess I don't get to complain, since I didn't go to see in the theatre either).

Land of the Lost

As fun as ever. I never could understand the film's poor reviews.

Ad Astra
Not a *bad* movie, but there's plenty wrong with it.
I'm not going to write a review here, just this:
It continues the trend of making modern movies way too long. I read the books and watched The Lord of the Rings movies. I even wished the extended versions of the movies were longer (but probably perfect as they were).
Not here... many movies nowadays are like open world games, stuffed with a lot of MMO-style filler and a lot of emptiness.

Ok, 2h 4m might not sound like the worst example/offender, but it felt like 3 hrs - 80 minutes would've been a lot better.

Reminds me of Star Wars Episode 8, which really went on longer than it should have. (Of the new trilogy, I liked 8 the lease.)

No wonder that they bought Marvel... those movies always start with a 30 minutes (or feels like that) meaningless action sequence.