Films I Rate 7/10

__Welcome back to my series of posts in which I list all the films I've seen, grouped by rating. This time, we're looking at the movies I've rated 7/10, which in my book means "good". Not great, but enjoyable. This is another of my most common ratings, currently consisting of 352 movies, or about 16.1% of the total 2,186.

Absolute Power (1997)
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Alien 3 (1992)
All Is Lost (2013)
Alligator (1980)
Alpha (2018)
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
American Made (2017)

Films I Rate 8/10

__Welcome back to my series of posts in which I list all the films I've seen, grouped by rating. This time, we're looking at the movies I've given a score of 8/10, which means I think they're very good, just not quite great. There was a time when this was by far my most common rating, but 6/10 has caught up with it at an alarming rate lately. In fact, they're pretty much neck and neck, but 6/10 is just barely ahead at the moment. Of all 2,186 films I've rated up to now, the 8/10 ones currently number 376, or about 17.2% of the grand total.

About a Boy (2002)
The Accused (1988)
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad (1949)
Alice in Wonderland (1951)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Allied (2016)
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
The Angels' Share (2012)
Ant-Man (2015)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Films I Rate 9/10

__Welcome back to my series of posts in which I list all the films I've seen, grouped by rating. This time, we're looking at the movies upon which I've bestowed a 9/10 rating, meaning not quite full marks but still great movies in the five-star tier. There are currently 176 in this range, which is about 8.1% of the total amount.

__Before we begin, here's some more general advice for all ten of these posts. The lists are in alphabetical order, obviously. If a title begins with a number, it's arranged as if the number were spelt out in words. So if you're looking for a particular movie in any of these lists, it should be easy enough to find.🙂 But pay attention to the year, because it might not be the version you're thinking of.

American Beauty (1999)
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (2014)
Anomalisa (2015)
Antz (1998)
Argo (2012)
Arrietty [AKA The Secret World of Arrietty] (2010)
Attack the Block (2011)
Avatar (2009)
Avengers Assemble [AKA The Avengers] (2012)
Baby Driver (2017)

Films I Rate 10/10

__Welcome to a series of posts in which I list every movie I've seen up to now, grouped by rating from one to ten. I already listed all the ones that form part of a series (or just a distinctive banner like, say, the Disney animated features), so if you haven't already, you can check out that post to see how I think each instalment in a series compares with the others. But now it's time to spotlight every standalone movie in between as well. I'm such a nerd that I actually keep a record of every movie I've seen (including short films, documentaries and even two-episode TV miniseries, which can easily be viewed as one movie split in half), and I try to keep my full set of ratings consistent across all movie-related websites.

__For this first entry, I'll be listing the absolute best, the movies I love so much that they've earned full marks. Lately, a full 10/10 is becoming the hardest rating to achieve, because I've seen so many movies, especially mediocre or downright terrible ones, that I'm getting increasingly jaded and harder to please. Of the 2,186 movies that I've seen to date, there are 115 that I've placed on the top tier of my enjoyment scale. That's about 5.3% of the entire library! So these are the elite, the cream of the crop, the ones I absolutely love and will never get tired of.

__And keep in mind that, since I live in the British Isles, they'll be listed alphabetically by their British titles. If the American title is significantly different, I'll be sure to mention it. I did think of making each title a link to the film's IMDb page in case you'd like more information, but considering I'd have to copy more than two thousand links and insert them into the selected text, I decided that'd be a bit too ambitious and time-consuming.

__Right, enough preamble! Here we go.

AC/DC: Live at Donington (1992)
Aladdin (1992)
Alien (1979)
Aliens (1986)
Amadeus (1984)
Apollo 13 (1995)
The Artist (2011)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Back to the Future (1985)
Back to the Future Part II (1989)

Film Series I've Seen

__Welcome to the last month of 2020.🙂 I hope everyone has a good holiday season, and let's keep hoping for much better times all around next year.
__As I said in my last post, I've been using Wordpress instead of this blog for several years now. Obviously, I've seen tons of movies in that time, so I thought, "Why not bring anyone reading this up to speed?"🙂

__I am working on a series of posts in which I list every movie I've placed in each level on the rating scale from one to ten. However, as many of them are sequels that sometimes wind up with a higher rating than their predecessors, I think it'd be best to group them by series or category first. So this is going to be a comprehensive list of every film franchise I've seen to date, along with my rating for each instalment.

__The franchises will all be listed in alphabetical order, followed by a section in which I list a bunch of miscellaneous two-parters, i.e. movies that have only one sequel, or at least only one that I've seen. Then, at the end, I'll list everything I've seen from some of my favourite directors, again listed alphabetically from James Cameron to Edgar Wright, as well as three directors for whom I have… well, let's just say much less respect.

__If you're curious to know how much I like or dislike a movie in particular, especially if it's part of a set, you should easily be able to find it here.🙂 If it's not in the section you expect it to be, try doing a "find on page" search for it. And if you'd like more information on any movie, each title will serve as a link to its IMDb page.

__First, let's do a rundown of what my ratings mean. And keep in mind that they're just gauging my enjoyment of the movie rather than indicating any technical or artistic merit.

10/10 = outstanding
9/10 = great
8/10 = very good
7/10 = good
6/10 = not bad
5/10 = okay
4/10 = not good
3/10 = poor
2/10 = dire
Turd = atrocious

__I say "turd" because 1/10 might be too easy to confuse with 10/10 at first glance.

__I'd love to use something more visual, like five stars to correspond with 10/10, four-and-a-half stars for 9/10 and so on, but apparently there's no Unicode symbol for a half-star. Or rather there is, but not all software can read it.

__For the record, here's how I'd define the five-star scale…

10/10 + 9/10 = five stars (love it)

8/10 + 7/10 = four stars (like it)

6/10 + 5/10 = three stars (it's okay)

4/10 + 3/10 = two stars (don't like it)

2/10 + 1/10 = one star (hate it)

First Impressions Review Diary 14-Nov-2020

__Hello.🙂 I hope everyone's doing well.
__It's been a long, long time since I posted on this blog. For the last few years, I've been using Wordpress instead. However, they've recently revised their writing system to a format I really don't like. The text is divided into blocks, and it no longer seems to be possible to insert "read more" tags or wrap the text around pictures, like I wanted to for this post. Besides, the main reason I stopped using Blogger was because emoticons only showed up in text form, but it appears you can insert them as special characters now, so I may start using Blogger on a more permanent basis once again.
__Before I continue, I should probably explain the format my posts have been following lately. I've seen so many movies by this point that I've lost my motivation to write the full reviews that I used to on this blog, so I usually just copy and paste my comments from Twitter, with each movie's title serving as a link to its IMDb page if you'd like to know more.
__Today's post, however, will follow a layout I haven't used for a long time: the usual series of mini reviews from my Twitter page, followed by a full review of the last game I played. I've been watching a lot of Let's Plays lately, mainly NES classics like Castlevania and Metroid, although I have actually sat down and played a more recent game on top of that, and it turned out I had enough to say to fill a review of almost 250 words, just like I used to.

__But before that, let's go over the last few movies I've been watching. Among them was Weathering with You, the last movie from 2019 that I was really looking forward to seeing; I just had to wait for the DVD. After that, as per tradition on Halloween, I watched several new horror movies, in this case the Shark Attack trilogy (yeah, I was in the mood for some trash this year😀) and some of the Universal classics to offset it.
__There's also Predator 2, the only film in the Predator series that I hadn't seen yet. So, before I comment on that one, it might be appropriate to give my brief thoughts on the first Predator movie, especially since I did watch it again before the sequel anyway.

Predator (1987)
An adept example of pitting macho heroes against an impossibly greater threat. I like how the cinematography conveys the tightness of the jungle. But by far the best part is the climactic cat-and-mouse game between Arnold and the Predator.
My rating: 75%.

__So, with that out of the way, let's get started on the movies I was watching for the first time.
Predator 2 (1990)
It's hard to care about the characters because everything about the acting and overall presentation is so over-the-top that it becomes obnoxious. Ultimately, it just feels like a cheap rehashed sequel that doesn't add anything significant.
My rating: 30%.
Weathering with You (2019)
The animation is outstanding, and the movie points out how the weather affects your mood, so I think it's clearly a metaphor for the romance, especially given Hina's direct connection to it. The only thing I don't like is the ending.
My rating: 75%.
Beetlejuice (1988)
It's a comedy infused with Tim Burton's signature macabre zaniness, but it also has its share of effective dramatic moments, like when the couple first realise they're dead. It's boosted by a fun and inventive take on the spirit world.
My rating: 75%.
Shark Attack (1999)
If you're expecting B-movie trash, you're not quite going to get it. The sharks take a back seat to an involved business plot, and the attacks are often obscured behind a flurry of hectic cuts. It's not spectacularly bad, just kind of dull.
My rating: 40%.
Shark Attack 2 (2000)
This is bursting with the so-bad-it's-good quality that the first movie lacked. The writing is stock, and the effects are so lame it's hysterical. It's a terrible movie, but I laughed so much that I can't quite bring myself to hate it.
My rating: 25%.
Shark Attack 3: Megalodon (2002)
In terms of competence, this truly is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The laughable dialogue and effects can only go so far when they're surrounded by utter stupidity to the point of getting shark species wrong.
My rating: turkey.
Dracula's Daughter (1936)
For the most part, the countess's struggle is an interesting one, seeking to break her vampire curse through psychological means and being told to confront her issues instead of avoiding them. It's all undone in the third act, however.
My rating: 65%.
Son of Dracula (1943)
All the characters are memorable: Alucard in search for new feeding grounds, the detectives on his trail, and his bride who has motives of her own. It's a fun sequel with plenty of satisfying plot developments and a great ending.
My rating: 70%.
House of Frankenstein (1944)
The first movie to include three Universal monsters, all held together by a mad scientist using them in a quest for revenge. Dracula is the first attempt, which fails and forces him to find an alternative. It's good but not amazing.
My rating: 70%.
House of Dracula (1945)
Aside from a couple of good ideas, like what comes of Dracula's blood transfusion, it's definitely one of the Universal monster series' weakest, because it blatantly disregards all continuity. The result is a second-rate retread.
My rating: 55%.
The Mummy (1932)
The original Mummy might still be the best. Right from the opening scene, it's spellbinding. Be it exploring Imhotep's past or his central quest to recover his long-lost love, the overall tone is just as hypnotic as Boris Karloff's stare.
My rating: 85%.

__And now let's end with the more in-depth game review.

Jurassic World Evolution (PC)
__Essentially a remake of Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis. It's the same basic setup: build a park, create dinosaurs by excavating their genetic material from dig sites around the world, and try to keep both the animals and the guests satisfied.
__I'm still trying to decide whether I prefer this to JPOG. On one hand, as strange as it sounds, I prefer when everything's locked down on a grid; it makes space much easier to manage. Here, when trying to place a building close to another, or a path or something, it would often say "building constraints" or "terrain constraints" or just "obstructed", even when it looked like there was plenty of room. On the other hand, I love the freedom you have in JWE, not just in the variety of dinosaur species (especially with the DLCs that include even more), but the fact that you can name individual dinosaurs, buildings and even your ranger teams.
__The only DLC I didn't bother with was Secrets of Dr Wu, because I'm just not interested in the hybrid dinosaurs.
__For me, the hardest part was trying to unlock every entry in the InGen Database (basically what other games might call a codex). In some cases, the conditions are just outrageous, particularly Paul Kirby's character profile! That's the main reason my final play time was over 103 hours.
__Overall, it's a fun and addictive park simulator, and by far the best thing to bear the name Jurassic World.
__My rating: 90%.

History of the World

   I was reading Jurassic Park the other day, and it mentions at one point that most people find it hard enough to imagine historical events that took place hundreds or even thousands of years ago, but that’s small potatoes in comparison to the millions of years that palaeontologists and geologists deal in. So I’ve decided to provide you with a little demonstration of just how big a difference that is, and how insignificant human history is in the grand scheme of things.

   The Earth is a staggering 4·54 billion years old. Let’s imagine that vast time span in the space of one year. That means each day of the year represents about 12·44 million years.

   So the Earth was formed on the stroke of midnight that marked January 1st, and away we go! :)

   Now, the earliest undisputed evidence of life on Earth – simple, single-celled organisms – dates from about three billion years ago. On our timeline, that’s somewhere around 7.30 PM (give or take a few minutes) on May 4th. There was a lot of geological chaos going on in those first four months, but we’re not here to detail the entire history of the planet: just a few of the most interesting evolutionary landmarks.

   Now, life may have existed since May 4th, but it’s not until November 15th, around 8.53 AM, that we get the first multicellular animals! (That’s 580 million years.)

   And it’s only at around 9.21 AM on November 19th (530 million years ago) that we find creatures with backbones.

   Up to now, all life has existed only in the sea. A select few creatures along the way were able to leave the sea and venture onto dry land, but it’s not until December that we find the land well and truly colonised. This happened in the Late Devonian period, between 385 and 359 million years ago, so that’s no earlier than 1.08 AM on December 1st on our timeline.

   So what about the dinosaurs? I’m sure that’s one you all want to know about. :) Well, the dinosaurs only appeared at around 11.08 AM on December 12th. (The earliest known dinosaur, Nyasasaurus, dates from about 243 million years ago.)

   And the extinction of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago, was at about 6.35 PM on December 26th.

   And as for humans, modern man… well, only the last 23 minutes of this entire year represents their (or perhaps I should say our) reign of about 200,000 years.

   And now, just to finish up, let’s throw in a frame of reference that might be more recognisable to you. The birth of Christ, say. Well, out of this whole year, the 2015 AD years only represent the last fourteen seconds!

   Compared to this, an average human lifetime of seventy-five years is (are you ready for this?) 0·52 seconds. Blink and you’d miss it!

   So there you go. Human history of five thousand years or so may seem like a very long time to us, but compared to geological time, it’s beyond negligible.