There are no spoilers for the films listed
So here we are the first ‘It’s a Bug’s life’, the weekly post when I tell you what films we’ve watched both on our film Sundays and other parts of the week (I will talk about TV shows elsewhere). Please if you haven’t read the introduction page to this series go take a look that’s where you’ll learn the history of our sorely missed ‘Bug’.
The first film this week was on Wednesday when we watched Battle:Los Angeles (Battle LA in America). I somehow missed the original release of this film, then in one week my wife saw an advert for it on Television and I stumbled across the Blu-ray in a charity shop. You will find quite a theme when reading around BAFTD, I don’t often take much notice of critics or the popularity of films, I like to make up my own mind. That is the reason I rarely watch trailers or listen to critics before I see a film that I’m going to be watching anyway.
Battle: Los Angeles did not do well at the Cinema (if you count advertising it probably broke even). I enjoyed the film (as did Mrs BAFTD), I liked the documentary style of shooting and the obvious practical affects. Aaron Eckhart puts in a solid performance. Yes the characters and script are a little one dimensional and the film is a little derivative of many other films but you do care what happens to characters which is important if you want more than big set pieces. If you like visually realistic War films this is an enjoyable romp and worth looking out.
Friday evening we decided to re-watch Minority Report. It’s actually the first time we had watched the Blu-Ray version (another charity shop find). As a fan of Philip K Dick, Steven Speilberg and Tom Cruise it’s like the trifecta. It’s a PKD adaptation I’ve always loved as it hones into the ethics of the original short story, Sometimes people accuse Speilberg of being overly sentimental (I don’t find that though) in Minority report he finds a good balance using any sentimentality to progress the story. Its both a Great Science Fiction film and a great PKD adaptation. The extras on the Blu-ray are really good with some good insights into the film making and design process. It includes newer sections (which were put together for the Blu-ray release) and original material that was on the first DVD release. I’m a huge fan of good quality extras so along with that and a decent film transfer the Blu-ray is great.
On Saturday Evening we watched The Founder on Amazon Prime. We had actually seen the trailer on
the Battle:Los Angeles Blu-ray. It looked interesting and we found it came free with our Amazon Prime membership. It may be a strange thing for a Vegan to want to do, watch a film about Mcdonalds but we both love these sort of stories. It’s a really fascinating Story about how Mcdonalds became the behemoth it is now. I’m not sure how true to life it is but it felt real, It is based on Ray Kroch’s autobiography so it’s is the story from his point of view. I noticed when looking up some information for some strange reason it was marketed as a Comedy drama, as much as there are some things that will make you chuckle it really isn’t a comedy. Michael Keaton is Excellent as Ray Kroch and you really believe he’s the man that he is portraying. In my opinion well worth a watch if you like this sort of story.
On Sunday’s we normally watch a minimum of around 3 films. This Sunday we had something we needed to finish to only managed to fit 2 in. Over Sunday and Monday evening we re-watched the first 3 Twilight films. Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse. I know there’s a lot of negativity in some quarters about these films but BAFTD isn’t a Negative space. When they came out my wife was more interested in them than me. When watching them myself there are a lot of good things in them, I will admit this time watching them I did pick up a few more negatives, so they’re not perfect films but I enjoy them I think I prefer the final two overall (I’ll confirm that once I’ve re-watched them). Just a point the text on the menus on the Blu-ray’s are so small that unless you’re either sitting on top of your TV or it’s some cinema sized screen it is not easy to see. This is one thing that really bug’s me as how hard is it to make it readable?
So that’s our film watching from this week. Next week they’ll be the finish of the Twilight films along I’m sure with some Horror for Halloween. Looking forward to some interesting viewing next week,
