bgajunkie's Check-Ins

Enjoyed this family film with my wife as a light-hearted drama about a young girl who fears for her family's future and moving home, after her father loses his job.

I and my wife enjoyed this Audrey Hepburn film which documents the struggles a nun has to be obedient to her vows and God, when her heart advies her to do what is right not what is expected as a nun.

Getting much better this season, better than season 1.

Thoughly enjoyed this film and with a satisfying ending with respect to the main character.

James Fox added a touch of class to an otherwise not very engaging episode.

Just watched one of the best but strangest Orson Welles film ever

Just saw Spectre, Bond story back to its original 60's roots, no real love interest, no real reliance on gadgets, just good old-fashioned spy caper.

The food looked so good I wanted to eat it...

Before prequel

Boy meets girl meets legendary giant armoured snake. Dumb FBI and police fighting armoured war reptilians with normal tactics, no contest. Other than the warfare, I enjoyed this film and its concept.

Doom, doom and thrice doom. Third time this year.

Enjoyed this film as a n action adventure and also great character studies of the captain & first mate, but you have to have a hardened heart not to feel for the whales and the suffering they were subjected to. If it wasn't for the discovery of crude oil on land, whales may already be extinct..

Loved this film, the mix of old and new characters, the ongoing war of good vs evil with the baton being passed from the veterans to the new recruits.

Real story, real drama and a moral centre, while being laugh out loud funny.

One of the most decent and imaginative horror films I have seen for a long time. Reminiscent of 13 Ghosts with the souls-in-captivity motif and the professional skeptic, also a psychiatrist, it does follow after similar themes in other movies of this type, but the real personal & emotional connection shared by the main protagonist Jason Clarke with the (lady of the) haunted mansion house takes it a place above the run of the mill horror movie. Coupled with the pleasing lack of blood displayed, makes this an engaging and worthwhile film to watch.

One of the most decent and imaginative horror films I have seen for a long time. Reminiscent of 13 Ghosts with the souls-in-captivity motif and the professional skeptic, also a psychiatrist, it does follow after similar themes in other movies of this type, but the real personal & emotional connection shared by the main protagonist Jason Clarke with the (lady of the) haunted mansion house takes it a place above the run of the mill horror movie. Coupled with the pleasing lack of blood displayed, makes this an engaging and worthwhile film to watch.

9/10 - Stunning. Simply the best starring role of Jennifer Lawrence's acting career so far.

Good clean family fun.....ouch!

Wicked sixties western. One of Gregory Peck's best acting roles of his career, from a mostly understated performance. Omar Sharif almost steals the film from under Peck's nose.

Loved this film before, and watching it again today - it's still as good as the first time #Up

Viewed this film again all the way through entirely, for the first time in 20 years. Robert Powell was excellent as Richard Hannay and the complete focus of the film The Thirty Nine Steps, great Xmas TV.

Family feel-good movie excellence

Feel good movie from the heights of Fifties Hollywood Musicals.

Unbelievable child/family fantasy comedy movie, first and best of five movies that devolved into an endless line of mediocre sequels.

A Road Dahl dark fantasy family movie where Giant Country and England clash, 8/10

All-time child-friendly sing-a-long Disney musical. Highly recommended. You would have to be made of stone not to feel good watching this movie. And even stone can be made to smile!

Not as magical as the original Mary Poppins (1964), but good old-fashioned reliable Disney fantasy family fare. Updated for a twenty-first century audience.

Due to being brought up on David Suchet's Poirot, and not read the original Agatha Christie - Hercule Poirot books, I am unaware if the plot of the BBC mini-series, the ABC Murders follows the original novel closely. I enjoyed it as a specific one-off TV event, but John Malkevich isn't my mental ideal of Poirot.

Highly enjoyable sci-fi bug hunt, the opposite of the Alien/Predator/Terminator franchises - hunt-the-humans plots. This movie allows your sci-fi fan alien haters to geek out on mass insectoid slaughter. I am looking forward to seeing the film version of Ernest Cline's Armada, which I hope will combine the best of film version of Ready Player One with fun action of The Last Starfighter and the seriousness of war from Ender's Game. Ultimately, of course, all these types of movies are only laying the groundwork for the Daddy of the Alien Bug War movie franchises, Halo - which cannot come soon enough for me. Until then, grab your popcorn, a four-pack of beer or soda and watch Starship Troopers or any of the sequels. BTW, favourite scene/character of the movie is Michael Ironside, he was one of my favourite on-screen baddies, and the government black ops villian of some of my favourite Eighties & Nineties sci-fi films. He was great in Starship Troopers, playing hard-as-nail veteran Jean Rasczak.

Overlong at two & a half hours and painfully slow at times, but worth seeing in the end for the expected and sought for ending.

If I take this first episode on face value and ignore the knowledge of the original novel that this is loosely based on, I would say that for a Netflix type series - this is a reasonable start. The plot is wavy, going from medical science exploration to low-level state authorities manhunt story, with the blood & gore from a vampire angle thrown in. The real story is the buddy relationship between Dr Luther Swann and his best friend Michael Frayne, and the prion disease that comes between them, according not the writers. So far I am not seeing a master plan, or even any reasoning behind the events that transpire, which don't become apparent on either side of this war until episodes 4 & 5.

Mike Shepherd solves a murder, and finds a long missing body, but is finally beaten by a criminal genius who played all involved like a concert violin.

Kid wants to be a bounty hunter and aims real high first time

Engrossing directorial feature by actor David Hewlett (Dr Rodney McKay of Stargate Atlantis) featuring Jason Momoa (also of Stargate Atlantis)

Today is our first time watching Cats at all. We have not seen it live, so my wife and I were pleased with the opportunity to watch the Cats (1999) musical production on Sky Arts via VirginMedia cable. We quite enjoyed the production and allowances were made for the low SD quality on Sky Arts, whose programme quality is usually exemplary. 


So due to the age and format of the recording, at times the quality detracted from the full spectacle of Cats that was expected. But overall the production has stood up to the time passed since it was made. An engaging and entertaining musical filmed live from the Adelphi Theatre in London, which lived up to our expectations and was thoroughly enjoyed by us. I look forward to viewing the new musical film production of Cats (2019).

Boxing Day lunchtime family movie starring Henry 'The Fonz' Winkler

Decent end to the third trilogy, with resolution of the First Order/New Republic story arc

I enjoyed this animated children's film starring Will Smith, there were great laughs and Mission Impossible visuals, right down to the slow-motion shots, formulaic, but it was entertaining all the same. I recommend this movie for children of all ages, especially for those that haven't grown up.

Real Bond this. SPECTRE is real Bond. Let's hope the next Bond after No Time To Die, is up to the standard set by Daniel Craig.

A lovely light-hearted family Christmas movie about missing the life you had not the life you wish for.

This is a fresh take on the well-known horror story of the vampire Count Dracula

Old school gangster meets new school - score draw!

Death in Paradise is back in 2020, with an interesting conundrum.

A delightful story of love and family, of expectations and disappointment, of tragedy and redemption.

This film by director and on-screen character actor Taika Waititi, on first look is a straight-forward tale set in the WW2, of an thoughtful, but lonely young German boy who has an imaginary friend called Adolf Hitler. It turns out to be more than just that with drama and comedy, tragedy and resolution in equal measure. A guilty pleasure indeed.

Low budget feature length UFO conspiracy film about an impending alien invasion and extermination of humanity, and the few, alien & human alike who hope to warn Earth of the doom that is to befall them in five days time.

Romantic feel good dream fantasy come true in the end film

Oscar shoe-in as far as I am concerned. Great cinematography, good story and small-scale POV personal visual viewpoint, with the camera as the third member of the mission team.

Highly enjoyable car chase & heist caper, before Fast and Furious franchise. Nicholas Cage is his usual intense, manic slow drawl, tough guy self. Throw in Angelina Jolie, shake and pour..

The Good Witch's Catherine Bell teams up here with Cameron Mathison, from Hallmark's A Christmas to Remember holiday romance movie

A.I. computer left on its lonesome after the death of its caretaker decided to leave it's planet to roam the stars and free its brother computers from slavery

A.I. computer left on its lonesome after the death of its caretaker decided to leave it's planet to roam the stars and free its brother computers from slavery

Incorrigible rogue Harry Mudd is apprehended by the Enterprise - Captain Kirk & Mr Spock, who prevent him from selling love crystals to the inhabitants of mining planet, and so Mudd decides to trick Nurse Christine Chapel into using them on Spock, the man she loves, who is infected. Broken crystals gases getting into environmental system and infect all the crew, while Harry makes good his escape with Chapel. Kirk & Spock give Chase.

Michael Fassbinder is Callum Lynch /Aguilar de Nerha - Master Assassin of old in this game to film adaptation. Quite possibly the best game to screenplay adaption so far. Even if you knew nothing about the games, you could still find much to admire about this fantasy action adventure tale of Assassins v Templars.

Love this programme, Vera is my favourite police procedural on UK TV, just ahead of Line of Duty. Brenda Blethyn plays Vera Stanhope who looks like a bag lady but is undeniably the smartest person in the room, and often the smartest person in the entire episode. Stanhope doesn't worry about what she does know, but as police, she wants to know everything that she doesn't know.

Great action and effects, great music and usual Bad Boys characterisations, but with a more added depth and feeling. A film about family, revenge and secrets. I liked it but the ending telegraphed the likelihood of a sequel, going so far as to stage an actual scene where Mike Lowry intimates there is a continuation of this current story to come, but starring a different character, just like the beginnings of the Fast and the Furious franchise.

End of first series of Liar

Brilliant supernatural fantasy about the Keyhouse, the Locke siblings and magical keys. With the right writers this graphic novel series could be the US - Harry Potter.

Eighties horror nonsense, only notable for the good looking Brian Krause of Charmed, alongside Alice Krige in a decidedly non-PC familial relationship. Cameos from horror masters Tobe Hooper and Clive Barker, with a manically weird performance by the master of horror himself, Stephen King. Oh, and lots of cats!

If social distancing and flattening the curve, and staying at home, and staying safe, and protecting the NHS, and saving lives, all fail - then we may have a few more waves to live through

Good relaxing family movie about the traps and travails of living by your phone's and technology, and how going unplugged for a regular break can benefit your relationships, your peace of mind and ultimately help you reconnect with yourself and your future

Quiet possibly the best screen adaptation of the Dickens classic, its small scale sets and dark, brooding, claustrophobic atmosphere frame an excellent story of misfortune, redemption and love

Excellent post-apocalyptic drama about the right to live a life of your choosing within metal set of boxes called a train, but in reality, it's a lifelong sentence in a moving prison.

When you're in the mood for a light-hearted musical or just a bit of Fred Astaire, and don't mind the thirties clichés, black and white film, then this hits the spot. Fred dances elegantly but with pizzazz, dresses impeccably and acts in the aimably debonair style a la Coward which was suited to its time. Ginger Rogers dances with innocent feminine allure, dazzles in her costume dresses, and her acting fizzes like a heady cocktail, emotions popping all over like champagne with a lit sparkler in the glass. The supporting actors add comedy, colour and set piece scale, but do little to advance the plot, serving only as placeholders in between each musical number and pointers to the next major scene between the principal leads.

Matt Damon & Julianne Moore star in an Ethan & Joel Coen scripted movie, directed by George Clooney, and loosely based on a true event that happened in Levittown, PA. Interviews recorded with the residents of Levittown appear on a TV screen in the movie - taken from a documentary titled 'Crisis in Levittown (1957)

Unlike most previous Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, this television movie keeps up the suspense (?) and doesn't revel the killer until almost at the end of the last act, leaving just enough time for Nick to make the (blindingly obvious and predictable) marriage proposal to Aurora, that he had tried to get to all throughout the movie. The story itself is almost irrelevant in respect of the subplot, but the main story of the jewelled headress being stolen (the heist) isn't as compelling as in earlier movies of the series.

One of my favourite actors Sam Neill returns for the third episode in the Jurassic Park trilogy, where he returns to the islands to take part in a rescue operation without his co-operation but joins up with a small group of people to find a lost boy, and escape the island.

The second of the Jurassic World trilogy, starring Chris Pratt & Brice Dallas Howard who both return to Isla to rescue the dinosaurs from imminent death from an active volcano. Along with two others they fight to save Blue, the raptor and all the other dinos both from the volcano and later back on the US mainland, from paramilitary contractors and an unscrupulous businessman & scientist who try to profit from the sake of the rare dinosaurs to rich & exploitative collectors. There is a third movie to round off the trilogy due to be released in 2021.

Glossy Hollywood advert for the US Air Force, highlighting the struggles made by servicepeople in 50's USA, in order to help protect their country, and the sacrifices (extra)ordinary people made during the Cold War era for those they left behind at home.

Replying to IMDB via Twitter. Name the first film you saw at a (movie) theater.

As a teenager after leaving school in summer 1978, the first film I saw was Thank God It's Friday

https://youtu.be/nBRuhvsKml8
Fighting Shadows & Bad Boys https://youtu.be/Xx0blzRFQRs

As a war film, it's not that good except for the pointlessness of war. But as a exploration of the aimlessness and depression of an unwanted and seemingly unnecessary, to the WWII American soldiers, protection patrol detail guarding a castle and its art treasures.

Shocked and enthralled, no pilot episode before or since has had such dramatic impact as Game of Thrones, season 1 episode 1 of Game of Thrones - Winter Is Coming.

The greatest TV series of all time, so far. First time I saw GOT I was shocked at the prime time nudity, sex and violence. Now there are many other channels & series out there trying to outdo HBO to be the next GOT. I love this series as fantasy, of course. I don't agree in real life with over half the stuff portrayed on screen, out of principle, but nevertheless, it is a guilty pleasure. Though a note of warning, if this type of television series becomes the norm - then we are all in serious trouble, moral, ethical and societal. We are already too used to the Hostel / Purge types of film and television, reflective not the times we live in, but of who we, mankind, allow ourselves to become. This is not an anti-GOT rant, this is a cautionary tale of one possible future. Westeros is not Earth, unless our planet got knocked into an eccentric orbit somehow. So even if temporary semi-ice age cycles were to occur regularly like on Westeros, so many years summer then winter like the Antarctic seasons - I doubt Earth would ever look like Westeros, though regression into a feudal kings and high king or emperor system could happen on a continental scale.

Robb goes to war against the Lannisters

Robert Baratheon dies, Eddard Stark commits treason and the North goes to war. Khal Drogo also commits to crossing the Narrow Sea to bring war to the West

Viserys challenges Drogo and dies. Robert goes hunting and gets injured, Tyrion fights for freedom in the Vale, and Eddard discovers the Lannister secret

Scatty, wayward, funny romance story with a moral core about a woman chasing love by flying thousands of miles to hopefully find the love within the next 30 days but in the end discovers that real love too close for her to recognise, under her nose right on her doorstep.

Just watched this again. Wonderful movie - 9 out of 10!

Last episode 6 of 6. Just watched the end of a really uplifting series, that starts sad and goes slowly downhill emotionally but ends on a surprisingly emotional high, with potentially, many happy endings. Well acted and staged, the situations the characters find themselves in, all seemed reasonably natural if taken to extremes, but still you could believe yourself to be walking in their shoes and enduring similar if not identical experiences.

A story of courage, faith and most of all, love

Too simplistic, I didn't enjoy this at all

The Hidden for a 21st century audience

If you woke to find that your world was false but you were the only one who knew it was unreal, but you had what would always wanted - would you be happy or sad?

Ingeniously twisty thriller

Strong 8/10

Strong 8/10

Strong 9/10