Speaking of characterization, The Dark Tower has none whatsoever. Based on an epic eight book Stephen King's series, this is frankly awful. Running a mere 80 odd minutes plus end credits, dialogue is basically there to move the story along. At no point did it ever seem like i was watching real people and it was only testament to stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey that i managed to stick it out until the end. This film should have been ambitious and huge instead it felt cheap and unloved. And what happened to the Gunslinger (Elba) ? The central character of the 8 book series - he was sidelined to shoehorn a kid in instead. Terrible!

Not seen this yet Dem as the reviews have been awful as you have confirmed here. I am gutted as this is a Stephen King holy grail that should have been given the time and effort it deserves, instead it's another hollywood car crash. I have been waiting years for this to be released and now cant even be bothered to give it a spin so that I can dislike it. What a shame. Is there nothing major film studios can't screw up? Most good films nowadays are independent / low budget attempts.

It wouldn't have been so bad had it not felt so lifeless. There are plenty of big budget Hollywood screw ups which i liked - Suicide Squad, to name one. However this felt something more akin to say The Spirit (2008) where no one appears to have the love for the production enough to try and salvage it or more importantly understood what they were attempting to make in the first place.

Decemberdike
 

December 29th - The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

I'm not going into any plot details here, no spoilers whatsoever. I'll just say this truly original horror film starring Emile Hirsch and the excellent as always Brian Cox was a riveting experience from it's opening moments. I found it tense and creepy, bordering on the scary, with a deliciously eerie ambiance to it throughout.

Possibly the best modern horror i've seen this year.

Been meaning to check that out for ages, along with Get Out but just haven’t got round to it yet

It's one of those films that almost slipped out unnoticed. To me anyway.

In reality it should have hit cinemas with the fanfare far worse movies such as The Babadook and It Follows had.

Yeah, I remember when the Babadook was coming out, it was all over the place being promoted and praised by everyone, which is why I was so shocked to find out just how much of a let down it was when I watched it, seeing the amount of coverage it (and It Follows) got online :nod:

That's currently on a shelf with scores of other unwatched films and TV shows – probably want to watch tonight to see if I agree with your assessment.

I highly recommend Get Out, probably the most intelligent and disturbing commentary on contemporary race relations in the US I've seen this year (an honourable mention to Kathryn Bigelow's superb Detroit for historical perspective).

I was under the impression that Autopsy of Jane Doe was some little dtv effort from 101 films or the like. Now I'm interested.

I watched this as part of my Halloween line-up this year and had a feeling you'd enjoy it. A great modern horror film and one I'll be delving into countless times no doubt.

It could make a nice double bill with a film beginning with VV.