Boring conversation anyway.

Star Wars (1977)

Almost indifferently shot (it's only real sense of style is in trying to ape serials with old fashioned wipe edits) but with a magic of it's own that is generally quite delightful. 

It's exciting hokum with fun chases, fights, interesting spaceship design, calls to adventure, evil to vanquish.

Luke is a touch dull, bit too worthy and spends more time moping about a crazy old man he just met than his actual family who have raised him for years.

But the other characters more than make up for that. Harrison ford and Carrie Fisher have a pleasing sparring chemistry getting some of the best lines fired at each other, not quite His Girl Friday for sure but that movie didn't have laser swords and giant metal moons.

Though the political world view is simplistic it fills it's actual universe with details that are often quite funny and feels 'real' and lived in as opposed to sterile.

Several sequels and prequels followed, some of which had better elements (notably the laser sword fighting) but none managed to be as good as this one.

I got a feeling everyone else passed on this job

The Expendables (2010)

With perhaps one of the most mendacious titles since The Never Ending Story there is very little to recommend this would be 80s action movie love in.

As no stakes what-so-ever drive the narrative it's left to the action to provide tension. Which it does not. A hyperactive mess there is no flow to any of it and little reward for paying attention.

Basically just an excuse for a bunch of old men to laugh. A lot. Occasionally one will say something that has the cadence of a joke but doesn't actually form a joke and they all laugh and laugh and laugh.

Awful.

Oh my god! You want us to steal Scarlett Johansson?

St. Trinian's (2007)

Dreadful tosh with little genuine wit or amusement to be gained by watching. It marks the time with bad gags, broadly played stereotypes and shameless pedophile bait.

Colin Firth seems game and there are a couple of interesting faces amongst the girls (Juno Temple and Lily Cole) but is a forgettable waste of effort generally.

You can't win an argument just by being right!

Four Lions (2010)

Incredibly funny. Incredibly dark. Incredibly offensive. 

A biting, sharp satire from Chris morris. By playing out the plot of a group of suicide bombers as comedy rather than thriller it presents the mindset in a fresh way that should make you think deeper than the average episode of homeland. 

but Im not sure it evens cares if you do. It's not really even about Islam vs the west, it's political dimension is there but subserviant to a story about people just wanting to connect with and have an effect on, the world.

Terrific.

You're a cool guy but you're not pulling your weight in the flat.

What We do in the Shadows (2014)

Often very funny effort from some of those behind Flight of the Conchords and a previous filmaday entry Eagle Vs Shark.

It doesn't quite break out of it's cult ghetto appeal being slightly too weird for mainstream and not quite well made enough to crossover.

The set-up of a documentary about a group of flat sharing vampires is fun but even with some nice world building details doesn't really hang together strongly (like most films of it's ilk it can't quite decide how the film crew work in this setting which makes the times when it does bring them into the plot more galling). though there are hints perhaps that the vampires inherent hypnosis abilities can cover over some of the plot holes.

Rhys Darby is, as ever, just terrific as a werewolf trying to run a thoughtful polite pack and Stuart Rutherford gets a lot of laughs out of his dead pan performance (and a neat nod to Andy Warhol's Dracula).

I will show you revenge!

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You cannot have grief tragically becoming a comedy.

Bernie (2011)

Black and Maclaine are fantastic in this slight but offbeat true crime movie. 

Mixing in to-camera townsfolk talking about the case whilst playing it out with big name stars sometimes feels a little crass but the film is funny and sad when it needs to be. The movie, like the townsfolk, is clearly on bernie's side here, an admitted murderer but it gives out just a hint of ambiguity to stop it from feeling too horribly biased.

Another interesting movie from varied career of Richard Linklater.