Movie Walrus: LeVar Goes To The Pictures Part II - Electric Boogaloo... THE REVEAL

quickbeam

Yeah, The Shallows was great.

Sawduck

I'll have to give The Shallows a watch sometime it looks interesting

Necro

Sawduck wrote: »

I'll have to give The Shallows a watch sometime it looks interesting

Tis on Netflix at the moment if you're at a loose end, well worth a spin imo

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Necro wrote: »

Tis on Netflix at the moment if you're at a loose end, well worth a spin imo

Think it has recently gone off Netflix actually...

Also Starring LeVar Burton

13th place with 3 pts is

Reberetta

The Wife (2017)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3750872/

IMDB wrote:

A wife questions her life choices as she travels to Stockholm to see her husband receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Have I Seen It Before: No

LeVar's Approval Rating: 72%

Review:
Enjoyed the story here, can't fault any of the acting, and it was a satisfying enough way to pass 90 odd minutes. If I had paid the price to see this in the cinema, I would have enjoyed myself, so it's a good film, but it's in no way perfect. The biggest problem I had with it, is that the characters were two dimensional, which is ironic given the catalyst upon which the story in the film evolves from. I had no empathy for any of the characters, and had no one to root for, as they were all unlikeable in their own different ways, but not even unlikeable enough to evoke any real sort of emotion or disdain towards them. Apathetic is the best way I could describe how I felt about the characters, so even though I liked the story and enjoyed the film well enough for what it was, it almost felt like the film is a colouring book and the audience had to colour in the characters themselves. If this was an action film or a horror, or fell into a number of another genres, I could likely forgive the cardboard cut-out character a lot more and rate it higher, but for a character based drama, it was just lacking too much in that regard for me personally.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

3rd place with 14 pts is

aaronjennings

Fighting With My Family (2019)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6513120/

IMDB wrote:

A former wrestler and his family make a living performing at small venues around the country while his kids dream of joining World Wrestling Entertainment.

Have I Seen It Before: Yes

LeVar's Approval Rating: 98%

Review:
One of my favourite films of the last decade and I feel bad not having this even higher than 3rd place. Once I saw it had been submitted, I actually thought it would take the top spot, but the two films I've ranked above it completely blew me away (one of which I had seen before and had simply forgotten how great it is) just stopping Fighting With My Family from obtaining gold or silver, but of course bronze is nothing to sniff at. First saw this when it came out in the cinema and I've been raving about how great it is ever since, just a damn good feel-good film with an amazing cast. Florence Pugh is superb in the leading role, and surrounded by a phenomenal supporting cast of some of my favourite actors ; Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Vince Vaughn, Lena Headey, and one of the soundest lads in film industry Nick Frost… who I actually met only a few months before this film came out, absolutely lovely guy, was always a big fan of his, and he's probably the reason I went to see this the day it was released, since at the time I had very little interest in Pro Wrestling. I have since developed more of an interest in Wrestling (for which Bounty Hunter and Necro's recent Werewolf is to blame) which made this re-watch all the more enjoyable.

Necro

Great movie alright, Fighting With My Family.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

14th place with 2 pts is

Electric Nitwit

Morgan (2016)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4520364/

IMDB wrote:

A corporate risk-management consultant must decide whether or not to terminate an artificially created humanoid being.

Have I Seen It Before: No

LeVar's Approval Rating: 65%

Review:
Decent enough Sci-Fi Thriller, that was essentially exactly how I expected it to be. It's not particularly unique as a story, nothing I haven't seen variations of a dozen times before, so it would have been nice to get something a little less predictable. I much preferred the first two thirds of the film that dealt with the ethical dilemna of terminating artificial intelligence, but again that's quite a common theme in Sci-Fi and it didn't offer a new perspective, but I enjoyed that debate no matter how many times I've heard it. The last half hour was grand for what it was, and I didn't dislike it, just wish they had gone a different direction with it. I liked the cast, plenty of familiar faces and people I like, and even an old acquaintance of mine Yare Jegbefume (goes by Michael Yare these days) who's a sound lad and always glad to see him pop up in things. I wouldn't say anyone gave particularly memorable performances, and Kate Mara in particular felt a bit like she was just there for the paycheck, but none of them were bad and in fairness they probably did the best with what they were given to work with. Enjoyed it, and it's not overly long, so a nice easy watch ; it was grand for what it was.

JP Liz V1

Irish Aris wrote: »

Ahh, Muriel's Wedding is a great film, very good choice!!

Also Starring LeVar Burton

2nd place with 15 pts is

Alfred Borden

Black Swan (2010)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/

IMDB wrote:

A committed dancer struggles to maintain her sanity after winning the lead role in a production of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake".

Have I Seen It Before: Yes

LeVar's Approval Rating: 99%

Review:
Saw this once before in the cinema and had forgotten how completely breathtaking it actually is. In hindsight, I now remember it blowing me away at the time, but over the years I forgot how much of an impression it actually made. Visually it's stunning, and the entire cast are superb, but its probably safe to say that this was the performance of Natalie Portman's career (as far as I'm concerned at least). I'm a big fan of films that explore the psyche, but there's something about how people strive for absolute perfection that I find fascinating, simply because it's not something I've experienced myself, content with being simply a flawed and perfectly imperfect individual. I've known a few professional dancers and seen through them how competitive that world is, and a lot of those I've only met since I saw Black Swan the first time around, so I think that added a new perspective for this re-watch. Not actually ever seen a production of Swan Lake (or any ballet for that matter), but it's actually on my bucket list to go see a major professional production of it at some point because Tchaikovsky is my favourite classical composer and the Swan Lake suite is his finest as far as I'm concerned. Excellent choice, for this highly contested round.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Which means either mustang shelly or ShaneU will be nabbing the top points and have submitted the second 100% LeVar approved film of the Walrus, and the other unfortunately will be leaving this round with only 1 point despite their film here being the highest rated last place of the game, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles on this occasion...

Irish Aris

Now I'm curious to see what made it to number 1, Black Swan would have easily topped this category for me!!

Tauriel

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

Which means either mustang shelly or ShaneU will be nabbing the top points and have submitted the second 100% LeVar approved film of the Walrus, and the other unfortunately will be leaving this round with only 1 point despite their film here being the highest rated last place of the game, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles on this occasion...

last place to me

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Last place with 1 pts is

mustang shelly

Miss Congeniality (2000)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212346/

IMDB wrote:

An F.B.I. Agent must go undercover in the Miss United States beauty pageant to prevent a group from bombing the event.

Have I Seen It Before: No

LeVar's Approval Rating: 59%

Review:
I wanted to absolutely hate this, because I always want to hate these types of "makeover" movies, for the sole reason we're expected to believe that everyone in the movie thinks the main character is some horrible ogre, but if someone slap's a bit of make-up on them and runs a brush through their hair, they're suddenly drop dead gorgeous and renders everyone in the room speechless at their beauty, but only through this tranformation do people come to learn that inside she was beautiful all along. That's all fine if the main character is played by Shrek, but that's never the case, and in this instance we're supposed to believe that just because they mess up her hair a bit and have her snort-laugh (which I actually thought was endearing) that Sandra Bullock is hideous and repulsive ; I don't think I could roll my eyes any harder at the thought of it. It also seemed like a film that wanted to take the piss out of Beauty Pageants, but halfway through the writer decided Beauty Pageants aren't all that bad, so maybe I'll stop making fun of them so much ; which only meant it wasn't particularly funny for a comedy ("Describe The Perfect Date" gag aside, I know the meme of that all too well, and loved that bit). Despite all that, I enjoyed it a fair bit more than I thought I would, and I'll give a lot of credit to Sandra Bullock for that, as I've generally enjoyed the films she has been in (except Gravity, don't get me started on Gravity), and she saves this from being a complete mess of a movie. An easy enough watch, but not particularly special or unique, but it's a shame it's coming in last place all the same, there war far weaker films in other rounds

quickbeam

That'd be about right for Miss Congeniality, but I did love Gravity.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

1st place with 16 pts is

ShaneU

The Handmaiden (2016)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4016934/

IMDB wrote:

A woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her.

Have I Seen It Before: No

LeVar's Approval Rating: 100%

Review:
Every now and then a film will take you by absolute surprise. You switch it on thinking it will be one thing only for it to catch you completely off guard by not only being something else entirely but also for being absolutely edge-of-your-seat brilliant. Having seen several films in this round beforehand that I absolutely adore, and as I had thought this was going to be a different type of film than what it actually is, I had guessed this might come somewhere in the middle of the pack, but never would have called it taking the top spot. In actuality this was one of the first ones I watched in this round, and by the end I knew there was nothing that would impress me more. Don't want to give anything away at all on this one, I even feel I've said too much already, but loved everything about it, especially the performances from the two leads Kim Tae-ri and Kim Min-hee. Don't think I've ever seen a Korean film that didn't thoroughly impress me, but The Handmaiden is by far the best of them, and that's saying something. Excellent choice for the category, and another of the best finds of the entire Walrus.

JP Liz V1

The camp Michael Caine was hilarious in Miss Congeniality

Also Starring LeVar Burton

cee_jay has a slight lead and moves into 1st place on her own having shared the top spot after the previous round, but Shane, aaron and Rikand are all nipping at her heels.

Following his best performance of the game so far Aris still can't manage to pull himself out of that wooden spoon position, but EN, Reb, and Liz aren't too far ahead of him.

Contender Sequels Kids/Animals Sports Ladies Double #1 Double #2 Total
cee_jay 15 13 10 10 48
ShaneU 11 5 14 16 46
aaronjennings 7 9 16 14 46
Rikand 12 14 12 8 46
Arghus 16 15 2 9 42
Alfred Borden 4 3 15 15 37
Necro 5 11 8 13 37
Sawduck 14 8 2 12 36
osh 9 16 6 5 36
Kolido 6 10 8 11 35
the purple tin 13 7 10 5 35
mustang shelly 3 12 13 1 29
JP Liz V1 2 1 11 7 21
Reberetta 8 6 3 3 20
Electric Nitwit 11 2 5 2 20
Irish Aris 1 4 4 6 15


Tomorrow Night's Finale can really change everything though because it's the Double Feature which had 7 categories in 1, and where each contender will have two films appearing in the same round and it's undoubtedly going to shake-up the scoreboard with a whopping 32 points on offer to 1st place... :eek:

Theoretically someone could get both 1st and 2nd place and walk away with 63 points (32 for 1st and 31 for 2nd) and someone else could end up pulling up the rear and only obtaining 3 points (1 for last, 2 for second last) so it really is all to play for.

Not sure what time I can kick off tomorrow evening as will be out in the afternoon, but if I'm back on time I'd like to kick-off about 7pm as it'll be a longer reveal with so many films in the round, but will give a heads up when I know

ShaneU

Glad you liked it. One of those films where you think you know what's going on but you don't. Thought some of the last scenes were a bit unnecessary but other than that great movie.

JP Liz V1

An enjoyable double reveal LeVar

ShaneU

The Handmaiden is on Netflix btw

Electric Nitwit

Oops, I misread/misinterpreted the brief and thought it had to be a film with two female co-stars, I may have constrained myself unnecessarily. As soon at I saw 3 Billboards midtable I knew I was screwed, very strong selection. That said I really liked Morgan and thought it got lost in the shadow of Ex-Machina, so thought I'd put it in.

ShaneU wrote: »

The Handmaiden is on Netflix btw

It's on my list, have only heard excellent things about it. Well played

the purple tin

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

:p:p
Neither. I have commitment issues :pac:

the purple tin

Fury Road seems to divide audiences but I love it. Just a visual feast like you say, and as for a strong female lead, Furiosa manages to kick Max's ass despite having only one arm :cool:
Just remembering Lady Venegance now, would have been good for a female lead. I always think of picks after the affair.

Kolido

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

6th place with 11 pts is

Kolido

The Descent (2005)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435625/





Have I Seen It Before: No

LeVar's Approval Rating: 94%

Review:
Claustrophobic, atmospheric, and inherently creepy ; exactly the kind of horror that I love. Have been meaning to watch this for a few years as it has become a bit of a cult favourite it seems, and I had heard nothing but good things, but for whatever reason I just never seemed to get around to watching it. I had worried the dark lighting (that the film requires considering its underground setting) might bother me a bit, because as a general rule I prefer films to be well lit so I can easily follow exactly what's going on, but there are always exceptions to rules and in this instance the minimal and unconventional lighting only added to the unsettling mood. Liked all of the actors and enjoyed the smorgasbord of accents we got due to the mix of nationalities involved, it made a nice change from having just a bunch of Yanks or a bunch of Brits as the main characters. Also liked that there was a certain level of realism to the "predators" and that they're not necessarily beyond the realm of possibility, it keeps things a bit more grounded and that's something I love in Horror films, as opposed to being entirely other-wordly with demons or evil spirits or aliens.

I only watched this for the first time about a year ago having seen it on a few best horror movie list. I figured you were a bit of a horror fan so thought it would be an interesting pick for this round, glad you liked it. There is a sequel, not as good but worth a watch.

the purple tin

I saw a great Nicolas Cage film recently, I would have sent it in if I hadn't already entered.
I think he's great: he can liven up even the crappiest film and make it more watchable.

And probably the most prolific actor around: he is the only person whose IMDB page actually had to be on 2 pages :eek:

Electric Nitwit

the purple tin wrote: »

I saw a great Nicolas Cage film recently, I would have sent it in if I hadn't already entered.
I think he's great: he can liven up even the crappiest film and make it more watchable.

And probably the most prolific actor around: he is the only person whose IMDB page actually had to be on 2 pages :eek:

It's a shame The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent hasn't been released yet, because its clearly going to be his best film

Nicolas Cage begrudgingly accepts a $1 million offer to attend the birthday of a Mexican billionaire super fan. When things take a wild turn, Nic is forced to become a version of some of his most iconic and beloved characters in order to extricate his wife and daughter from the fan who is a notorious drug lord

the purple tin

Electric Nitwit wrote: »

It's a shame The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent hasn't been released yet, because its clearly going to be his best film

HOW AM I NOT IN THAT MOVIE?! :pac:
I like the fact he doesn't take himself too seriously as well and can have a laugh at himself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMol8x9aUj8

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Electric Nitwit wrote: »

It's a shame The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent hasn't been released yet, because its clearly going to be his best film

That sounds fantastic!!!

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Looking good for take off at 7pm for our 2-in-1 Round Double Feature Finale...

Some stats going into this evening...

There were 2 duplicates, so we have 30 unique films entered (1st place still gets 32 points regardless)...

Certain Sub-Categories proved more popular than others with you lot...

We sadly only had 1 Off-Broadway offering...
2 Teen Screams made an appearance...
There were 3 Estevez Festivez entries...
4 B-Movies asked the infamous question, To B or Not To B...
The Early Bird Special and It's The End of The World as We Know It and I Feel Fine had 6 submissions each...
And Nicolas Cage proved most popular among our contenders with a whopping 8 movies in the Caged In mix

This round was a bit of an experiment giving you all 2 chances to amass points, but from a viewing and ranking perspective I really enjoyed it, and I think it added an interesting element to the Walrus that we haven't seen before...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqnZ1RpmxBg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA5jsa1lR9c