I took a trip to the cinema at Rochester to watch a film. I didn’t know much about the film, but I think I did see a trailer for it recently. Normally before horror films you get a load of horror trailers and this one had a real mix of trailers so I still wasn’t sure what to expect once the film started. It was dark as I arrived and I couldn’t see where the river’s edge was. I could see loads of white round things on top of the mud flats that are at the riverbank. It was nice to see so many birds resting, I’d not seen that before.
After I watched this film I rated it on IMDb and you need to know there’s a whole system existing to make sure I’m consistent with my scores. You can read about that in this communication. I gave this film 6/10.
Well, this film was ok. I was curious about how they were going to resolve lots of the issues and I think it was well done. It’s good to see films and stories moving away from the mad-woman type of narrative and becoming more realistic. We all know that men are the cause of most of the problems in the world so hopefully we can get that message across in popular culture.
I took a trip to the cinema at Rochester to see Silent Night, Deadly Night. The river was low meaning the tide was out some distance. You can tell when the river is wanting water when the mud flats are entirely visible. I took a picture of the bridges that span the Medway at this point.
The Bridges At Medway Gap
After I have watched a film I rate it on IMDb. There is a whole communication about how the rating system works and you should read it. In the old days I used to post the rating on Twitter but I haven’t been a part of that “community” for over two years now. Although I do WhatsApp and Reddit I don’t do any other type of social media and I’m thankful for it. I am often waaay out of the loop on things happening in the village or locally but I keep myself to myself and most of these things don’t matter.
Silent Night, Deadly Night – IMDB Rating
I stayed in the theatre watching this film because I wanted to see how they ended it and not because I thought it was a good film. I do think the film was very dark and spent a lot of the runtime moaning about light switches and how modern life means we don’t have to wander around in the dark or use low powered bulbs. Maybe the darkness was a cinema error or maybe it was a deliberate film-maker’s choice but it was annoying. I’m pretty sure you can make a film scary without it being dark. Having said that I didn’t think this film was particularly scary. If anything it was a rather dark version of Judge Dread. There’s a lot of killing and the best bit was about halfway through when it was deemed important to the plot that a bunch of Nazis had to die.
I won’t be watching this film again and I won’t be recommending it to others. It wasn’t great. I know there’s a market for this sort of film but it isn’t me. You could make a really intelligent film with the same premise and it would be amazing, but I suspect it would also require courtroom scenes and as we know justice can take a rather long time.
I snuck out last night to watch the film Eternity at the cinema in Rochester. It was dark when I arrived and also raining a little so I don’t really know what was going on with the levels of the river Medway. I tried looking but there were reflections everywhere and it was not easy to tell where the edge of the water was. Other people from where I work were doing important customer relations so it felt a little cheeky to be heading out for the evening.
I rated this film on IMDb and for an explanation of how the system works you should read this communication. I rated this film 6/10.
I didn’t know what to expect with this film. All I knew was that it was about someone who had to choose between two men in the afterlife. I hadn’t realised this was a comedy and so when the first few laughs happened I was somewhat surprised but I leant into that and eventually there were times when I was the only person who found a particular instance laugh out loud. I don’t know why this happens I just think I sometimes find strange things funny. Overall I enjoyed this film, it was good fun.
Eternity had the overall feel of a film from a past era. It was kind, funny and just nice to watch. Also, and I think this is important, it wasn’t too long. There are way too many films out there going past the two hour mark. If you want to make a film that long it’s fine but you are playing with reaching the bum-seat-fidget limits.
I don’t know if Eternity would be a good idea. Who would want to spend forever in one place doing one thing. The great thing about life is that it changes, we learn from new experiences and we grow. Being stuck in a single place forever, that seems like hell to me. Bring on the void. Fortunately we know that stuff isn’t true and we can just die and be gone.
Sorry, back to the film. It was fun, well made and also good looking. There are the usual twists and turns in the plot as you would expect with someone having to choose between two people. The acting was good and I’m sure there were lots of little funny touches I missed in the background. The film was rated 15 by the BBFC with a written caution for “strong sex”. I don’t think I watch the same film they rated. There were two sex scenes, but the focus was definitely not on anything more than you would expect in something broadcast on TV during the day. I don’t know how they reached this rating.
After watching the recent film Nuremburg I was pondering a way of showing my IMDb scores on this site. In the long-ago I used to tweet my film scores and then I could embed those tweets within this site, giving a nice look and feel to the communications. However, I have deleted all tweets and so that no longer exists. I don’t do anything in social media really – I guess Reddit counts but I don’t post much, I just like looking at pictures of aircraft.
I scored the film on IMDb and then I wondered what scores I have given everything I’ve rated on that site. It turns out there’s a download data option for all my reviews. So, I now have an Excel spreadsheet with all the scores I have given. I still don’t really know what to do with that, unless I can create some sort of plugin viewer so people can see all the scores. Maybe I’ll create some overall stats to give some idea of what I think of all the films I’ve rated. I’ve also decided to rate the films I watch at home, mostly because I have found myself watching some shit film on Prime recently and can’t remember if I’ve seen it before!
I took a trip to the cinema to watch Nuremburg. I knew it was about the trials after the second world war but that is all I knew. I didn’t know who was in it or any other details. I watched this at the Cineworld at Rochester. I think the tide was really low as I drove along the riverside. I can’t remember now, I need to make a better point of looking and remembering on future trips to the cinema. As is usual I rated this film on IMDb after watching it, but to understand the ratings guide you need to see this communication.
I thought this was a very well made film. The acting was great and the story was what the story was. These fictionalised accounts of historical events need to be carefully made and I think this film did it well. Because I didn’t know who was in the film I felt some surprise at recognising Russell Crowe although that took quite a while for my brain to filter, I’m not great at faces. There’s also something about Rami Malek’s lower lip that bothers me and I feel bad for having those thoughts.
This film is very much a story warning us that it doesn’t take much for a society to fall into fascism. If we look at the USA now and also the rhetoric of some UK politicians it’s not beyond the realms of imagination to see that both these countries could be bad places. I would argue the USA is already a bad place – the leaders are carrying out a very clear agenda against many peoples. If Reform win more in the UK then the country is fucked. At the moment they are an amusing fringe of despots that have no ideas about organising or running large organisations. The sort of chaos that follows Reform could easily wreck the country if they gain more power.
It is an amusing fact that Germany in the 1930s looked to the USA to learn how to legally create a society where racism and prejudice were accepted. Germany in the 1930s was in legal terms the USA on steroids. The UK, while not objectively racist, has many issues because of it’s descent from a feudal society and there’s an acceptance in the UK that people are where they belong -those in charge should remain in charge. Imagine what the country could do if it was really a meritocracy.
Everyone should watch this film, or better still, learn how the Nazi’s managed to corrupt an entire people and get them to look the other way while they carried out a holocaust. We are so close to this happening again.
I went to see this film recently. I went to the cinema at Rochester (really Strood) and I noted that the tide was indeed quite high as I drove along the esplanade. I did rate this movie on IMDb but there is a trick rating system which is covered in this communication. In days gone by I would tweet the result of my rating, but all I can do now is say that it is a 6/10.
This film was perfectly enjoyable. There’s some grossness in the killings, a few bits of humour here and there and it looks pretty amazing. I wouldn’t go any further than that really. For me, the political message is more important and I know this is based on a book but the messaging hasn’t really changed in the forty years since the original film. Large media organisations do not have our interests at heart and they are corrupt.
I had some issues with the main character. He’s very quick to violence and it’s played as though he’s just angry. I’m not sure he’s a good character to have as the lead. But, when the revolution comes we will need a figurehead and I guess someone like that would work well. Also, I guess the chap is angry at the injustice and inequality in the world so maybe that makes it better. Remember people, government should be for the people.
I went to see the latest dinosaur film at Cineworld in Rochester. The tide was quite low on entrance to the film and it was still quite low on the way out so I really don’t know what’s happening with that. Maybe the tides stopped for a little while? I’ve never seen the water levels stay so consistent over three hours. I guess that the tide could have been waning as we arrived at the cinema, hit low and then started waxing as we left – this does seem more likely than the tides actually stopping.
The film itself was rather “meh”. There’s been enough Jurassic films now I think they can stop. Also, my opinion, you can’t beat the original for all aspects of story telling. So I rated this movie on IMDb and there’s a guide to the rating system here.
6/10 for Jurassic World: Rebirth
Some parts of the film were interesting but too much of it is just a rehash of all the other films. It was ok-ish.
Well, what to say about this film? We can start with the formalities. I went to the cinema at Rochester, the tide was very low. I could see all the mud banks at the edge of the river along with the dip at the end showing the main channel. We were late getting to the cinema because the junction on the motorway was closed so we had to go to the next junction and then return back. I didn’t mind being late because we missed most of the adverts. We did see a few trailers though. The trailer for F1 managed to make the film look as boring as fuck. So, back to Mission: Impossible. I rated this film on IMDB and there is a guide to my rating system here.
MI – Final Reckoning IMDB Score
I really didn’t enjoy this film. Had I not been with other people I would probably have walked out after the first half hour and overall the film is 2 hours and 50 minutes. I turned to JCBFan after about half an hour and asked “do you understand any of this?”. The reply was “no”. Maybe there were loads of references to MI films I haven’t seen? Maybe I needed to learn a bit more about the characters but the first half hour was really disjointed and made zero sense. I think it was meant to be a “getting the team together” thing, but it was really badly done.
The rest of the over two hours of film was really just two large set pieces of action. Some submarine stuff which was done better in Hunt For Red October and The Abyss and also some flying stuff which was alright I guess. At least I now know how to punch someone piloting a biplane when I’m holding on to the side – the move was used twice and it annoyed me – although why change something that works. The set design for the submarine was pretty special and the way it rotated was impressive. But the story part of this was shit.
The general plot seemed to be that the internet is bad and it is going to kill the human race. This I agree with and if it was deliberate to warn of the perils of social media and untruths then that would be a good part of the film. There’s an AI going to destroy the world and is slowly taking control of nuclear weapons – which hilariously is shown on a giant map on the wall inside a mountain. WHILE at the same time people push little models of ships around on giant maps in the room which was very WWII. So much of this film was just stupid. I didn’t understand what they were trying to do and why.
The American Navy was scared of the Russian carrier but it’s a heap of shit so that wouldn’t really bother them. The USA also have a LOAD of carriers. I don’t think the naval tensions were really worth it. Did you know you can fly a DC3 from the Bering Straight to South Africa in less than twelve hours? Those DC3s are notorious for transcontinental journeys in no time. Oh, and they are super comfortable. Also, people seem to have normal volume conversations in loads of situations where the actual noise would be consuming. If you’ve ever seen pilots in little planes they wear headsets. There’s always noise.
We need to know a bit about the data transfer rates that work in this film. The “entity” – what a fucking shit name – could “move” very quickly. Even when a thingy was connected to a boggler in the middle of South Africa away from any form of internet connection. Did you know that pick pockets are really good at grabbing something and taking it within a 100 millisecond window? Human reactions are hardwired at best to 190 milliseconds so she wouldn’t have been able to take the dongle out in time. Why was there a woman who speaks only French which most people understand but she also understands all the English being spoken? Who was fighting who in the cave? Who turned up to start that fight? Why do people who live on an island in the arctic know the yield of atomic weapons and detailed specifications about how long you have to run after cutting the wires? God this film was absolute shit.
ITs’ another year and another chance to see Combichrist. This was the twelfth time I have seen this band since 2009 and, if I honest, I am starting to get a little bored. The Old School set at M’era Luna last year was amazing. I didn’t know what to expect last night but there hasn’t been any new material from the band for a while. First we have to cover the early bands.
Smith and I got to the venue while Esotrik were playing their set. It wasn’t anything special. In my notes I wrote – OK.
Crimson Veil @ The Underworld 2025
The second band of the evening were Crimson Veil. A band comprising 3 women and a man playing guitars. The drummer was excellent. I liked the idea of the electric viola and harp. The singing was excellent. I struggled a little bit with the beat and the length of the songs. The songs were long. The beat felt disjointed. I suspect this is what would be considered “experimental” sounds. I also suspect it was musically clever, but my ears aren’t good enough to spot that.
Extize @ The Underworld 2025
Extize were great. It was the singers birthday and also the release date of their new album. It was their first time playing in the UK. I really enjoyed their set last year at M’era Luna and I also really enjoyed the set they played here. It was good fun, the band looked like they really enjoyed themselves. I enjoyed myself. In my notes I described this as heavy dance with humour. I will buy their new album.
The headliners were Combichrist. It was a solid set from the band. I didn’t dance or mosh too much as I was worried my back would die again – it died at a gig I played before christmas. So, I stood near the back and observed – this was my standard position years ago before I got pit-hungry. Apart from two newer songs in the middle of the set it was all really really good. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole show. I would still argue they don’t need guitars on most of the songs, but they have moved on from electro and it does kinda work.
Combichrist @ The Underworld 2025
Elliot Berlin is now on his way to being the most seen artist in my concert going career. He used to be with Aesthetic Perfection and is now with Combichrist. Joe Letz didn’t make it to this many shows I’d seen. He left Combichrist a few years ago. It’s interesting that it has taken me this many gigs with Combichrist to start getting a little bored. There are many bands from my teenage years who I’ve seen a few times but really don’t think I’d be that fussed about seeing them again. In music my attention wanes.
This is a terrible film. There. That pretty much sums it up. I rated it 2/10 on IMDB and although I didn’t leave the cinema before the film had ended I certainly fell asleep and did not care about anything in this film. It’s terrible. Such a shame. They could have made an amazing story, but no. They did not.
