Saturday, January 27, 2018

Saturday Screen Time #9: Magic and Sharks


Hi, everyone! This was a slow week with another not great film picked by my husband and a Netflix shark movie. I didn't hate everything, so yay for that! Before we get into the movies, I'd like to say a couple words about my favorite movie websites. 

I used to be an avid IMDB user until they decided to do away with the message boards. I was irritated by the decision along with a lot of other long time users and started looking elsewhere. If you ever click the links I provide, you'll notice that I link directly to Letterboxd. I have no idea how long this website has been around but I LOVE it! Although there's no discussion, there are tons of user reviews and you can keep a film diary with ratings and notes, along with watch lists and any other lists you'd like to keep. 

My other favorite is Fan TV, which is super handy for finding out where a movie is available for streaming. You can search for a movie or show and it tells you if it's available on Netflix, Prime, Hulu, Vudu, etc. 

That's it! Without further ado... 


THIS WEEK IN FILM


The Dark Tower - Oh man. This film. It isn't good. Let me start by saying I haven't read this series, but I am familiar with it. I read The Gunslinger approximately a hundred years ago and don't remember much about it, but I do remember the western vibes. I mean, it's literally about a gunslinger. I watched this movie and thought that it was just a kind of okay fantasy flick. There wasn't anything amazing about it to set it apart from the rest and it felt like a lot of wasted potential. I don't know much about the Man in Black and that really sucks because he seems like a super intriguing character! I was also annoyed by the distinct LACK of the Dark Tower. It's there for about 10 seconds in the beginning so we can be told the Man in Black is trying to destroy it, then it's gone. Like I said, I don't know much about this series, but I do know that the Gunslinger, Roland, is obsessed with it in the books. This series really should've been made into a TV series, Game of Thrones style. I'm giving it two stars because it was a decent generic fantasy, but mostly I just want to read the series now. (2/5 stars)

47 Meters Down - Fun fact about me: I LOVE shark movies! Jaws, Deep Blue Sea, Open Water, even The Shallows. I love them all! So I was excited for this to come out, but not enough to spend money on it after I saw the ratings. Luckily, it's on Netflix now! I'll admit, I was nervous when I realized Rapunzel Mandy Moore was in it, but she actually wasn't awful. As shark movies go, this wasn't terrible. It kept my interest and kept my adrenaline going. But there were soooo many things that didn't make any sense. For example, why would any grown woman be stupid enough to get into a shark tank with no dive training? Why did they fall 47 meters down so quickly with no apparent physical problems? Why were the sharks hardly in this? And WHY does the CGI look like it's from 1999? I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, and I'll probably watch the sequel. (3/5 stars)



Have you seen either of these? What did you think?
What movies have you watched lately?
Let me know in the comments!