OV9

Quelle shock Avatar 3 is quite underwhelming. Lots of the usual Cameron spectacle and I would say the bits that were actually fiery and ashy were actually interesting but the mass rehashing of Avatar 2 was pointless and on reflection an annoying waste of time.

Zootopia 2 I am a complete sucker for good animation and it is very good animation. So frenetic in pace though I really wonder if it had much substance. I'll happily rewatch it to check though and note another dozen Easter eggs I'm sure.

Die Hard of course it's still ace and at nearly forty years old embarrasses the hell out of most modern action movies, see above.

Probably late to the party: Black bag on Netflix.
Black Bag is a nice, mature spy thriller. Calm pace. Serious tone. It skips flashy action and obvious explanations. You pay attention, you follow along, and that feels right.
Nothing loud. Just a solid, adult thriller.

Black Bag is great, one of my favourite movies of the year.

I've seen a few reviews of Avatar 3 where they've said it's a cinematic spectacle, has to be seen on a massive screen, but that the actual story. plot characters etc are all utter bobbins. I still find it a bit strange that James Cameron is devoting so much of his life to these movies.

zx6rkiller wrote: Mon Dec 29, 2025 7:14 am Probably late to the party: Black bag on Netflix.
Black Bag is a nice, mature spy thriller. Calm pace. Serious tone. It skips flashy action and obvious explanations. You pay attention, you follow along, and that feels right.
Nothing loud. Just a solid, adult thriller.

On Netflix?

I can't find that (no VPNs etc)

Ascender wrote: Tue Dec 30, 2025 10:14 am Black Bag is great, one of my favourite movies of the year.

I've seen a few reviews of Avatar 3 where they've said it's a cinematic spectacle, has to be seen on a massive screen, but that the actual story. plot characters etc are all utter bobbins. I still find it a bit strange that James Cameron is devoting so much of his life to these movies.

Wasn't that what they said about the first two?

The first two Avatar films are his highest grossing, and if I remember correctly the first one made the most money in the world, so in terms of its most important metric it’s his most successful film series.
I don’t think they’re made for adults though…

Mito Man wrote: Tue Dec 30, 2025 1:26 pm I don’t think they’re made for adults though…

Or for people with a functioning brain

I remember the first one - awful

Felt like watching someone playing a boring and pointless video game

Fool me once etc...

Mito Man wrote: Tue Dec 30, 2025 1:26 pm The first two Avatar films are his highest grossing, and if I remember correctly the first one made the most money in the world, so in terms of its most important metric it’s his most successful film series.
I don’t think they’re made for adults though…

I watched True Lies for the umpteenth time last night, not sure the level of turning brain off is any lower than the first Avatar

Avatar is a great spectacle on the big screen and is the only time I've ever thought 3D was at all worthwhile. All the things my inner child wants, spaceships, mechs, giant flying things and a passable level of not stupid as to take away my suspension of disbelief.

Avatar 2 really pushed that last one with the distracting high frame rate (which I think was even worse in 3) additional mcguffins and goobers and a really indefensible resurrection of the first antagonist. Good baddies stay dead!

A3 was disapointing that it only spent half its run-time on anything new and felt like it went nowhere.

One of the few times I've found myself strongly agreeing with the critics over the audience ratings on Rottentomatos.

Anyway if it makes shedloads of cash A4 will roll around in a few years and I'll probably go see it but it's disapointing that Cameron appears so insulated now he'd rather wallow in Avatarverse with complete control than try and rediscover his Aliens/T2/True Lies action movie magic.

Speaking of stupid Anaconda is incredibly dumb but for a very certain demographic with nostaglia for the "original", Guns n Roses and Sir Mixalot it's entertaining. I'm not sure how narrow that demographic is but myself and the mrs are in it.

Yes I really enjoyed Avatar 1 and saw it twice in 3D. Haven’t seen the others though.
On another topic, over the winter break we had some young family round and I was really disappointed at how bad the early 2000’s era CGI animation now looks. Found Shrek and most other stuff from that era unwatchable, kept watching thinking my eyes would adjust like on an old game but nope. Even LOTR isn’t very good now and the CGI bits stick out like a sore thumb

Avatar 1 was essentially a theme park 4d experience. The story line was just strong enough to keep attention - there was no history or scope for more - it was a simple start-middle-end with everything told.

This was made clear when i tried to watch the 2nd one - I turned it off after about half and hour because it was clear there was nothing more to tell and have no interest in the 3rd.

DaveE wrote: Tue Dec 30, 2025 11:24 am

zx6rkiller wrote: Mon Dec 29, 2025 7:14 am Probably late to the party: Black bag on Netflix.
Black Bag is a nice, mature spy thriller. Calm pace. Serious tone. It skips flashy action and obvious explanations. You pay attention, you follow along, and that feels right.
Nothing loud. Just a solid, adult thriller.

On Netflix?

I can't find that (no VPNs etc)

Just noticed that it's indeed not on Netflix UK, saw it on Netflix Belgium. VPN?

zx6rkiller wrote: Fri Jan 02, 2026 10:36 am

DaveE wrote: Tue Dec 30, 2025 11:24 am

zx6rkiller wrote: Mon Dec 29, 2025 7:14 am Probably late to the party: Black bag on Netflix.
Black Bag is a nice, mature spy thriller. Calm pace. Serious tone. It skips flashy action and obvious explanations. You pay attention, you follow along, and that feels right.
Nothing loud. Just a solid, adult thriller.

On Netflix?

I can't find that (no VPNs etc)

Just noticed that it's indeed not on Netflix UK, saw it on Netflix Belgium. VPN?

I'll give that a go...

Tag

Based on a true story about a group of friends who have been playing a game of tag since childhood into andulthood and will go to extreme lengths to catch each other. It’s entertaining, fairly simple, nostalgic and has a few great songs on the soundtrack including Ozzy and Danzig.

6 out of 10

The housemaid, wife has read the book so wanted to go and see it

Fuck me it takes a while to get going, but get going it does.

Spoiler

If you’ve not read the book, and no one’s told you about it you don’t see the twist coming

F1 The Movie

I know others have commented on this, but I’ll never find it with search.

Far better than my expectations. Although - my expectations were loooow.

Did a pretty good job of conveying the impression of speed, without giving each car 23 gears.

6.5 Pit Manoeuvres out of 10.

mik wrote: Fri Feb 06, 2026 9:08 am F1 The Movie

I know others have commented on this, but I’ll never find it with search.

Far better than my expectations. Although - my expectations were loooow.

Did a pretty good job of conveying the impression of speed, without giving each car 23 gears.

6.5 Pit Manoeuvres out of 10.

I’d never complain about the cinematography of it, that aspect was great which makes it all the more frustrating that the plot was so bad!

The Beekeeper - quite enjoyed that. Seemed like a Hitman video game with never ending various ways of killing people. 7/10 chopped fingers.

jamcg wrote: Fri Jan 02, 2026 3:46 pm The housemaid, wife has read the book so wanted to go and see it

Fuck me it takes a while to get going, but get going it does.

Spoiler

If you’ve not read the book, and no one’s told you about it you don’t see the twist coming

I watched this at the weekend and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it and also with your spoiler 100%. Which is weird for me as I'm usually all over that sort of thing.