I had a night in on my own yesterday and so was looking for a movie to watch. I had seen the new Hellboy was on Netflix and that looked like some undemanding viewing. I have only ever read one of the comics that I got from a charity shop, so I have little in the way of expectations of how the characters are portrayed. Fantasy movies are mostly popcorn entertainment that is more like a thrill ride than serious acting. The novelty and quality of the effects tend to matter more. The acting is more about quantity than quality.
The trailer is typical in giving away a little too much.
I have seen the previous movies with Ron Perlman in the title role. This time it is David Harbour (Hopper from Stranger Things), but I did not realise it was him. These movies are all about fights with monsters, but you get some nasty humans too. Milla Jovovich gets to play yet another supernatural character.
There is plenty of humour in this movie and more swearing than some. They must have decided it was worth having a more restrictive certificate. The reviews were not great, but I rate it as good on entertainment value. They keep things moving and there is some cool action. A lot of it takes place in England with plenty of local accents. It does play on some of our folklore about King Arthur and Merlin.
There is some cool rock music on the soundtrack from Muse, Royal Blood, The Scorpions, Alice Cooper etc. Netflix had a 5.1 soundtrack. The mix was a bit variable as you needed it loud to hear the dialogue, but got deafened by the action scenes.
It seems Ian McShane crops up a lot in things I watch recently. He is a busy man for an actor in his late 70s. He was in American Gods, Pirates of the Caribbean and John Wick, but many Brits will remember him fondly as dodgy antiques dealer Lovejoy, but he has done loads more.
My series viewing on Netflix recently is German supernatural thriller Dark. I have been watching this with the original dialogue plus subtitles to practice my rusty German. I am only a few episodes in. It feels like a more serious version of Stranger Things and also has a retro element.