What’s Been Watched This Month – May 2021

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Here’s what square eyed Mikey Wolfman been watching throughout May 2021.

The TV

Execute order 66? Not on The Bad Batch’s watch… An offshoot to Disney’s excellent The Clone Wars series that wrapped up last year. The Bad Batch are an elite squad of modified clone troopers know as Clone Force 99. The TV Star Wars shows are so much better than all the new films, not including Rogue One. It’s my Saturday morning breakfast watch and love discussing it with my son after.

This Time with Alan Partridge. You know what I do struggle with this format of Alan Partridge. It could be so much better. I still don’t know why he’s added in that different tone to Alan voice? He never used to do it, it just slowly came into effect and now it’s here all the time. However, there have been some hilarious scenes. The jar opening cracked me up and the return of John Thomson and Cheeky Monkey was a high point for me. Tim Key is so under used, need him back in a more Side Kick Simon role. Still, its always great having Alan on the telly.

Jupiter Legacy. Adaptation of Mark Millar’s superhero comic book story. His stories have been made into films like the brilliant Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and Kick-ass (2010). I’d never read the comics of Jupiter Legacy. I was excited as I do like a new take on the supers. However, I watched the first episode and could instantly feel something was off! Strange pacing? Cheesy acting? Unlikable characters? The Boys and Invincible nailed their first episodes and draw you straight in. This I could tell I didn’t want to spend my time with it. Feel free to let me know if it goes ace and I’m wrong.

Love, Death & Robots. The first season came out of nowhere and dropped 18 short wildly additive animated sci-fi inspired episodes on us. It was incredible. So wonderfully creative. Check Beyond the Aquila Rift or Zima Blue as just two key episodes to start with. Then out of the blue season two appears. Only 8 episodes this time but nonetheless I was still very excited. Really made for the great weekend. Yeah it would be greedy to have wanted more but they so short it would of been cool to have at least four more little stories. I loved them all. Pop Squad and Snow in the Desert were the two stand out’s from the new ones I’d say.

The Films

15 films this month and a total of 80 this year
1014 since the start of the blog in January 2017.

Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse (2021) – Wolfman Rating 6 – IMDB Rating 5.7
Amazon’s go with a Jack Ryan offshoot movie. Michael B Jordan stars as John Kelly an elite Navy SEAL out for revenge and a chance to take down the bad guys. I was quite excited for this. One, at last getting a decent looking film for my subscription fee and the other being it was good to watch it with Mrs Wolf. Unfortunately it was instantly forgettable, unlikable characters, esp Jamie Bell and generally not that good. Jodie Turner-Smith was great though playing an extension to her The Last Ship bad-ass soldier role.

Mortal Kombat (2021) – Wolfman Rating 6.5 – IMDB Rating 6.3
A revamped adaption of the arcade fighter Mortal Kombat. You know what I still love the first Mortal Kombat (1995) film. Yeah it’s insanely cheesy, a guilty pleasure and so much campy fun. This new one has some of that even with the bigger budget and better effects. It does exactly what you think it will do, entertains in a pure popcorn way. I did get much joy out of the little game references. My fav was the guy using the same kick move to take down his training partner. There was always that same annoying move that you could keep repeating to win your battle. That did crack me up… Mindless action needed? Get on it.

Limelight (1952) – Wolfman Rating 9 – IMDB Rating 8.1
How delightful this wonderful film was. Just the way it plays out had me captivated. What a show off Charlie Chaplin was lol, directed, written, screenplay, stars, choreographed, produced and even does the music! Claire Bloom was excellent too and of course, beautiful.

Punjab Road Runners, Bradford To Pakistan (1993) – Wolfman Rating 9 – IMDB Rating —
This doc is amazing. Fazel and his taxi driver best mate Patrick decide to drive three MK 2 Transit’s from Bradford to Pakistan with another guy, Azel. Fazel’s narration is so natural and friendly unless he’s taking a pop at “dick head” Azel. lol. It’s a truly wonderful little travel doc as they maneuver their way across Europe and the Middle East in their red, white and blue Ford van’s. Fazel is an unsung hero. It’s was an old Channel 4 documentary and it’s here on YouTube.

Raw Deal (1986) – Wolfman Rating 6 – IMDB Rating 5.6
Arnold Schwarzenegger takes on the Mob from the inside in one of his lesser films. It does still have entertainment in full effect. I did a write up here if you fancy a read.

Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes (2008) – Wolfman Rating 8 – IMDB Rating 7.6
Fascinating little documentary from Jon Ronson who’s given the chance of a lifetime to look through Stanley Kubrick’s boxes after he’d died. Thousands of meticulously filed archives in the most painstaking perfectionist way. If you’re a fan of Kubrick or into film, it’s a interesting watch to see yet another side of one of the true masters of film. The attention to detail will blow your mind. You can watch it here on Vimeo.

Jodorowsky’s Dune (2013) – Wolfman Rating 9 – IMDB Rating 8.1
The story of cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s ambitious but ultimately doomed film adaptation of the seminal science fiction novel. I was recommended this insanely fascinating and wild ride of a film by the amazing Laughter Over Tears blog. I enjoyed it so much and very grateful for the heads up. If you love docs, sci-fi, Dune or crazy passionate stories then you need this in your watching schedule.

The Snorkel (1958) – Wolfman Rating 8 – IMDB Rating 6.8
The first of two Hammer films thriller that I reviewed this month. Both are brilliant and come very recommended. Here’s my review. The Ruthless Gas Man Cometh But From Where?

Honest Thief (2020) – Wolfman Rating 5.5 – IMDB Rating 6
Sometimes you just gotta get though these films to feel like your getting your subscription fees paid. Liam Neeson has worked his way into the Nic Cage take any old shit film role. He does his best I guess and is just Liam Neeson in another Taken-esque. On Amazon.

The Courier (2020) – Wolfman Rating 8 – IMDB Rating 7.1
Cold War spy goes to Russia as a salesman to communicate with a defecting Russian asset trying to put an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis. I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I do love a good Cold War drama. Both leads Benedict Cumberbatch and Merab Ninidze played their real life parts of Greville Wynne and Oleg Penkovsky extremely well. Lots of harrowing tension and shadowy characters moving them about like pawns. If you like your historical drama’s this is worth looking out for I’d say.

R.I.P.D. (2013) – Wolfman Rating 5 – IMDB Rating 5.6
Oh boy this is bad. I can imagine the comic book works well!! However this film is even bad for a Friday drunk after the pub kinda film!

Army of the Dead (2021) – Wolfman Rating 7 – IMDB Rating 6.2
Full of plot holes and stupidness plus Zack Synder always makes things too big and too long. (Watchmen though not long enough, hehe I loved that film and could just keep watching it.) But hey anyway this is a big budget zombie action movie with lots of crazy set pieces and a ridiculously bad crew, bar a few. It was “free” on Netflix, its the weekend I’m eating steak and drinking beer. Yeah of course I really enjoyed it.

Mr. Arkadin (1955) – Wolfman Rating 6 – IMDB Rating 7.3
Also know as Confidential Report. I struggled with this. The shouting, the dubbing and editing is all over the place. The lead, Robert Arden, was pretty unlikable, just shouting his dialogue all the time. Every one seemed to looking in different directions when they interact. To be honest I didn’t care much for this film. It felt really disjointed, over confusing and worse, you really didn’t care for the two male leads. However, it’s an Orson Welles production and there is so much gorgeous visual flare to be had and a few wonderful tracking camera shots. Three top scenes were, the tracking camera shot through the giant front room with dancers and people mingling. The boat rocking set piece with drunk Patricia Medina was bonkos. And the Flea Circus performer was another wonderful touch. I’ll probably take a hit on this film for not liking it?

Scream of Fear (1961) – Wolfman Rating 9 – IMDB Rating 7.4
The second in the Hammer film thriller reviews. Pop on by here if you want to have a read. Twisty Wheelchair Bound Thriller From Hammer Film Productions

Man on Fire (2004) – Wolfman Rating 8 – IMDB Rating 7.7
Was chatting with a friend about Denzel Washington and his classic “Denzel-isms”. Which lead to thinking about his films. He suggested Man on Fire, I saw it was on Amazon. I couldn’t recall that much so thought I watch it again. Haha a few minutes in I realise I’ve never seen it before. Result! Director Tony Scott is so different to his brother’s film-making style. So in your face, fast edits, bangs, zooming in and out, explosions, helicopter camera angles, loud music. Damn it was entertaining.

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Thanks for popping on by my humble little movie site. Please stay safe.

Any goodies in there you have seen and liked? Thoughts, recommends etc always welcome if you fancy too.

Keep watching the screens. Thanks for having a look to see what’s been watched. All the best……… The howling one, Mikey