Movies you're watching

[Brian Boru]

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind 2019, 1h 53m
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Maxwell Simba
Felix Lemburo
Wonderful, wonderful movie which is based on a true story. Chiwetel has done an outstanding job as writer, director and supporting actor, Maxwell is brilliant in his first acting role, and the rest of the cast are uniformly great.

Set in Malawi—SE Africa—in 2001, it's the story of a family and community facing famine, and how a brilliant 13-year-old was able to design and build a windmill to save the day. If that's your thing, watch this—nearly 2 hours just flew by.

10/10

Here are TED talks by the boy, now grown.

 

[Brian Boru]

The Take 2016, 1h 32m
Idris Elba
Richard Madden
Charlotte Le Bon
Fun heist movie set in Paris, with some thriller stuff thrown in. Idris is always watchable, and cast are fine for the job. Despite a fair amount of action, it's a decent enough movie.

6/10

 

[Johnway]

I had some time to kill yesterday so i watched a movie. This time its The red turtle.

Part produced by studio ghibli, its a tale of a man who washes onto a remote island and his relationship with a red turtle that turned into a red haired woman. it chronicles the relationship from the start to the predictable conclusion where the man dies of old age.

There's very little spoken dialogue and the story itself is simple. But the simplicity of it makes it quite an emotional and in many ways beautiful as you can feel the love/relationship of the family. The happiness, the love, concern and sadness of each character. The ending whilst predictable, is every bit heart wrenching as you feel for the poor woman's loss for her husband. The other part was when the man initially attacks the red turtle in a fit of rage. i mean, sure it destroyed his attempts to sail off the island ,but yeah, smashing a stick over the turtles head and flipping it over so that it slowly died of dehydration was kinda horrible. The man does live to regret it and finds it hard to forgive himself when the turtle changes into the red hair woman.

its not the longest movie, being only an 75 minutes long but it got a fair few awards and was rated quite highly. I would give it a 7 or an 8/10.

 

[Brian Boru]

Luther: The Fallen Sun 2023, 2h 9m
Idris Elba
Cynthia Erivo
Andy Serkis
The Luther TV series was 10/10 for me, and this stands up well as more of the same in movie form. Cliche plot & character—sadistic serial killer and maverick cop—but done very well. Great crime suspense, not ruined by too much action or gore for effect.

8/10

 

[Brian Boru]

My Cousin Vinny 1992, 2h
Joe Pesci
Marisa Tomei
Ralph Macchio
Hilarious comedy about a bunch of New Yorkers doing the fish out of water thing in Alabama. Joe and Marisa are excellent, and supporting cast does a fine job too. There's a bit of slapstick and sit-com, but mostly it's just great dialog in and around a murder court case.

9/10

 

[Brian Boru]

The Pale Blue Eye 2022, 2h 8m
Christian Bale
Harry Melling
Simon McBurney
A somewhat macabre murder mystery at West Point in 1830—as befits Edgar Allan Poe being a central character. Atmospheric, interesting, different, good writing and quite a cast—Christian and Harry are great, and well supported.

A bit slow to start , but captivates once it gets going. May be best watched on a winter's night, with some weather outside your window

8/10

 

[Brian Boru]

Last Seen Alive 2022, 1h 35m
Gerard Butler
Jaimie Alexander
Russell Hornsby
B-movie about a kidnap—this is no Taken, and Gerard needs to stick to superhero stuff, he's no Liam Neeson.
Script is poor, plot is often ridiculous. But it's not too long, there are no car chases, and it moves along fairly quickly—so not a waste if you keep expectations low.

4/10

 

[Brian Boru]

True Lies 1994, 2h 21m
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Jamie Lee Curtis
Tom Arnold
My fav action movie, third time watching it. Maybe Arnie's best performance, Jamie is brilliant, and Tom is the ideal sidekick.

James Cameron knows how to do action, and this has a number of standout set pieces—the hotel chase is truly memorable. This is basically a bigger louder funnier early Bond movie

Full of stock gunfights, chases and explosions, what saves this from being a long yawn? Main thing is the comedy, it's very good between the top 3 characters. Secondary is the inclusion of Jamie's role as Arnie's unsuspecting wife, a role you usually don't see in action movies.

9/10