what was the last movie you watched?
- Thread starter Folsom Al
- Start date
I managed to watch Wonder Woman 84 before it went away on Sunday night. It wasn't as good as the c-tier Marvel movies but it was still better than most of the DCEU movies which have largely been turdfests - the 2017 Wonder Woman being one of the better examples, so I guess I understand the let down. Too long, but I really enjoyed Pedro Pascal plus like any kind of Monkey Paw wishmaster story is pleasing to me.
Watched a movie on Prime called Mortal......a different take on i guess a superhero movie or rather a person with powers. Wasn’t great but aplyo was watchable. Some of it you have to overlook some impractible decision making by one of the characters but I had zero expectations and that made it a little enjoyable film.
Captain Phillips - usually I don't watch many shows "based on real life" as they take so many liberties with what actually happened it should just be fiction. While this film was actually very good, it appears this is again the case, at least to a certain extent. Sailors on the hijacked ship say the portrayal of the Captain/his actions is nothing like what actually happened before he was kidnapped; he was irresponsible, dismissive of warnings about hijackers, and he may have actually been the one to intentionally put the ship in danger by sailing too close to the coast for safety in order to speed up the trip. It appears that much of the rest of the movie is pretty true to fact though, so at least they didn't seem to make up too much after the hijacking took place.
Tom Hanks did a great job with the role, though.
Tom Hanks did a great job with the role, though.
Partial review, if there is such a thing.
Tenet - I need to watch this again. I got it as a gift from a friend and sat down to watch it the other night but my wife doesn't like loud noises so we had it turned down to the point I missed like half the dialogue (I have some hearing loss, so dialogue can be rough at times). And I was pretty wiped out so I also missed about 10-20% of the movie watching the back of my eyelids.
But I liked what I saw (and understood), so I need to watch it again with subtitles or turned up when she isn't in the room to get the full effect of the flick.
Tenet - I need to watch this again. I got it as a gift from a friend and sat down to watch it the other night but my wife doesn't like loud noises so we had it turned down to the point I missed like half the dialogue (I have some hearing loss, so dialogue can be rough at times). And I was pretty wiped out so I also missed about 10-20% of the movie watching the back of my eyelids.
But I liked what I saw (and understood), so I need to watch it again with subtitles or turned up when she isn't in the room to get the full effect of the flick.
Partial review, if there is such a thing.
Tenet - I need to watch this again. I got it as a gift from a friend and sat down to watch it the other night but my wife doesn't like loud noises so we had it turned down to the point I missed like half the dialogue (I have some hearing loss, so dialogue can be rough at times). And I was pretty wiped out so I also missed about 10-20% of the movie watching the back of my eyelids. But I liked what I saw (and understood), so I need to watch it again with subtitles or turned up when she isn't in the room to get the full effect of the flick.
Tenet - I need to watch this again. I got it as a gift from a friend and sat down to watch it the other night but my wife doesn't like loud noises so we had it turned down to the point I missed like half the dialogue (I have some hearing loss, so dialogue can be rough at times). And I was pretty wiped out so I also missed about 10-20% of the movie watching the back of my eyelids.
But I liked what I saw (and understood), so I need to watch it again with subtitles or turned up when she isn't in the room to get the full effect of the flick.
Checked off another recommendation from the Alphabet Draft.
Quigley Down Under
Bit of a tonal issue as the story wavers wildly between cheesy western romantic romp and "revenge-fantasy against genocide" extremes. At times it tries to evoke Pale Rider or Dances with Wolves (the latter released within days of Quigley), while other scenes more readily mimic Rooster Cogburn.
Selleck has some pretty good one-liners as our white knighting gun-for-hire who can somehow afford a strong moral compass despite needing to travel thousands of miles to respond to a vague want ad. San Giacomo has a nice turn as "Crazy" Cora, seamlessly evolving from completely feral, to obnoxiously annoying, to semi-nuanced deuteragonist, before being put on a bus for the climactic scene. Alan Rickman is criminally underused here, but still compelling enough in the halcyon days of his post-Die Hard villain typecasting.
I mean, it's fine, I guess. Not particularly memorable overall. But I do love the line: "We already run the misfits out of our country. Sent them back to England." Quigley said to a British Major.
Nice one Magnum.
Quigley Down Under
Bit of a tonal issue as the story wavers wildly between cheesy western romantic romp and "revenge-fantasy against genocide" extremes. At times it tries to evoke Pale Rider or Dances with Wolves (the latter released within days of Quigley), while other scenes more readily mimic Rooster Cogburn.
Selleck has some pretty good one-liners as our white knighting gun-for-hire who can somehow afford a strong moral compass despite needing to travel thousands of miles to respond to a vague want ad. San Giacomo has a nice turn as "Crazy" Cora, seamlessly evolving from completely feral, to obnoxiously annoying, to semi-nuanced deuteragonist, before being put on a bus for the climactic scene. Alan Rickman is criminally underused here, but still compelling enough in the halcyon days of his post-Die Hard villain typecasting.
I mean, it's fine, I guess. Not particularly memorable overall. But I do love the line: "We already run the misfits out of our country. Sent them back to England." Quigley said to a British Major.
Nice one Magnum.
Wife and I (well, I, she fell asleep through part of it) watched The Grand Budapest Hotel. I had no idea what the film was about going into it but it was delightful, funny, and well acted. Give it a go if you have the chance.
Edit: She's seen it before (so it wasn't lack of interest on her part); she was just exhausted after teaching kindergarteners on Zoom all week.
Edit: She's seen it before (so it wasn't lack of interest on her part); she was just exhausted after teaching kindergarteners on Zoom all week.
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Been rewatching the Marvel movies/having them on in the background as I work and, man, the first two Avengers movies are objectively not great once the initial thrill of "LOOK! Superheroes together on the big screen!" has worn off. Also with the controversy about Joss Whedon coming out of late, one can only assume what happened when Whedon was unceremoniously jettisoned from the MCU director roster midway through post-production on Age of Ultron.
Also, the Ant-Man movies remain an absolute delight and Doctor Strange wasn't as boring as I remembered.
Also, the Ant-Man movies remain an absolute delight and Doctor Strange wasn't as boring as I remembered.
Going through HBO Max and rewatching some movies from past
Safe House with Denzel and Ryan Reynolds is solid
Started Training Day
Skyline. Needed a sci-fi fix
And then watched for the first time THX 1138, the George Lucas film which is now 50 years old. The concept was interesting, Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence were fine, it was fine to watch as a relic from the past I guess.
Safe House with Denzel and Ryan Reynolds is solid
Started Training Day
Skyline. Needed a sci-fi fix
And then watched for the first time THX 1138, the George Lucas film which is now 50 years old. The concept was interesting, Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence were fine, it was fine to watch as a relic from the past I guess.
War Dogs
Strong Scorsese-vibes, but ends up less Goodfellas homage, more Wolf of Wall Street rip off.
Legit shocked Todd Phillips directed this given his filmography to that point included Old School, Starsky & Hutch, and The Hangover trilogy. Rather sharp left turn in vision statement there, but considering he'd go on to helm Joker, this would appear a conscious effort at the time to break free of his Frat Pack roots.
In the end, it's interesting and ambitious for sure, but ultimately doesn't work. There is a compelling true story here, that's simply told poorly, with oddly one-dimensional performances.
And that last part really doesn't make sense given the cast of Hill, Teller, de Armis, and Cooper on paper should be an instant knockout. Here they all come across as dreary caricatures.
Hill is supposed to be the smarmy jerk hypnotizing people through sheer magnetic charisma - think Superbad's Seth all grown-up. Instead it's made clear early he has no other friends, is hugely insecure, and telegraphs his backstabbing ways with a megaphone.
Teller channels his Whiplash persona of abused-nerd-cum-stoic-badass efficiently, but it becomes really hard to empathize with some of his more outlandish decisions as we get deeper into the weeds. Plus, his narrative voiceover is "theatrical cut of Blade Runner" bad, telling the audience in a faux-gravely monotone ideas and events that were literally just expressed in a scene moments earlier.
As for de Armis, after powerhouse performances in both BR2049 and Knives Out, she's replaced the conspicuously absent Alicia Vikander on my list of young breakout actors' whose careers I need to track, so I have some unfairly high expectations of her, even if this movie preceded both of her awards-worthy triumphs. Yet here she had me screaming in dumbfounded disbelief at the screen. She reacts to discovering her husband secretly ran guns through Fallujeh the way my wife does when I eat the last fudgesicle. To say I know she is capable of far more range is a gross understatement; she was after all the beating heart breathing emotional life into the center of a cyberpunk movie. Here she's relegated to mere 'complication' 'inconvenience', or 'distraction' for our hero's journey of self-discovery and illegal arms deals.
Ultimately, I'd call the film frustrating. There is a gem under the rough here, and some truly standout moments, but it doesn't come together as a cohesive unit. Blame it on a director cutting his teeth into a new gritty genre.
Strong Scorsese-vibes, but ends up less Goodfellas homage, more Wolf of Wall Street rip off.
Legit shocked Todd Phillips directed this given his filmography to that point included Old School, Starsky & Hutch, and The Hangover trilogy. Rather sharp left turn in vision statement there, but considering he'd go on to helm Joker, this would appear a conscious effort at the time to break free of his Frat Pack roots.
In the end, it's interesting and ambitious for sure, but ultimately doesn't work. There is a compelling true story here, that's simply told poorly, with oddly one-dimensional performances.
And that last part really doesn't make sense given the cast of Hill, Teller, de Armis, and Cooper on paper should be an instant knockout. Here they all come across as dreary caricatures.
Hill is supposed to be the smarmy jerk hypnotizing people through sheer magnetic charisma - think Superbad's Seth all grown-up. Instead it's made clear early he has no other friends, is hugely insecure, and telegraphs his backstabbing ways with a megaphone.
Teller channels his Whiplash persona of abused-nerd-cum-stoic-badass efficiently, but it becomes really hard to empathize with some of his more outlandish decisions as we get deeper into the weeds. Plus, his narrative voiceover is "theatrical cut of Blade Runner" bad, telling the audience in a faux-gravely monotone ideas and events that were literally just expressed in a scene moments earlier.
As for de Armis, after powerhouse performances in both BR2049 and Knives Out, she's replaced the conspicuously absent Alicia Vikander on my list of young breakout actors' whose careers I need to track, so I have some unfairly high expectations of her, even if this movie preceded both of her awards-worthy triumphs. Yet here she had me screaming in dumbfounded disbelief at the screen. She reacts to discovering her husband secretly ran guns through Fallujeh the way my wife does when I eat the last fudgesicle. To say I know she is capable of far more range is a gross understatement; she was after all the beating heart breathing emotional life into the center of a cyberpunk movie. Here she's relegated to mere 'complication' 'inconvenience', or 'distraction' for our hero's journey of self-discovery and illegal arms deals.
Ultimately, I'd call the film frustrating. There is a gem under the rough here, and some truly standout moments, but it doesn't come together as a cohesive unit. Blame it on a director cutting his teeth into a new gritty genre.
Just finished "In A Valley Of Violence" with Ethan Hawke and John Travolta. A Western with a hint of Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood. Lots of violence so this is for mature audiences only. I liked it as I'm home in quarantine recovering from a bad bout of the flu. Covid test was negative I like violent westerns when I'm sick for some reason Its currently available on Netflix.
I like violent westerns when I'm sick for some reason Its currently available on Netflix.
Just finished "In A Valley Of Violence" with Ethan Hawke and John Travolta. A Western with a hint of Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood. Lots of violence so this is for mature audiences only. I liked it as I'm home in quarantine recovering from a bad bout of the flu. Covid test was negative I like violent westerns when I'm sick for some reason Its currently available on Netflix.
I like violent westerns when I'm sick for some reason Its currently available on Netflix.