what was the last movie you watched?
- Thread starter Folsom Al
- Start date
Unlike @LoungeLizard And being DC and Marvel fan for a very long time, I didn’t like it at all. Hubby finished it but I walked away 40 minutes later. Batman absolutely no personality just like a stick man, Zoe looked fabulous until they decided to cut a beanie for her partial mask and she looked ridiculous when she wore that, Batman’s butler character I didn’t care for at all. Obviously I was disappointed enough to call it a day…. Hubby said it never got better either…. Oh well glad we didn’t waste theater money on it
Caught a couple KingsFans recommendations recently.
Winter's Bone - With all the praise Jennifer Lawrence got for carrying this movie on her back, I went in expecting a dynamic, star-turning performance. What I did not expect was the then 19-year-old's screen presence to be so phenomenally poised, reserved, understated, and brimming with nuance. Haven't seen that from her even in her celebrated roles that followed. Here, it was absolutely necessary to ground the plot in realism.
As for the film itself, plays like a neo noir set in the backwoods of the Ozarks with Lawrence's Ree forced to knock on some screen doors best left unopened. Parts of this becomes positively ghoulish, and one establishing shot I swear was lifted straight from Bergman's Seventh Seal. Things get grim here, so if you're in the mood for that, and some fine acting, certainly worth a spin.
But between this and the series Ozark, I don't have much desire to ever visit Missouri. Makes the state look like a cross between a Nuclear Winter and Silent Hill.
King of California - There is so very much about this I want to love. The initial premise of tracking a treasure map through the modern California suburbs, culminating in excavating an after hours Costco like it's an abandoned old west gold mine is brilliantly tasty. I know that is merely the veneer to frame the complex father-daughter relationship at the narrative's center, but I found it the most compelling.
As a meditation on mental health and family relationships, it doesn't quite hit the mark for me, with a bipolar disorder being played for quirky laughs or as some sort of hyper-sane super power. Also, the "but he's my dad" angle only runs so far with me before my suspension of disbelief in the daughter going along with the bonkers plan breaks down. Somewhere between the breaking and entering and the swingers party.
Winter's Bone - With all the praise Jennifer Lawrence got for carrying this movie on her back, I went in expecting a dynamic, star-turning performance. What I did not expect was the then 19-year-old's screen presence to be so phenomenally poised, reserved, understated, and brimming with nuance. Haven't seen that from her even in her celebrated roles that followed. Here, it was absolutely necessary to ground the plot in realism.
As for the film itself, plays like a neo noir set in the backwoods of the Ozarks with Lawrence's Ree forced to knock on some screen doors best left unopened. Parts of this becomes positively ghoulish, and one establishing shot I swear was lifted straight from Bergman's Seventh Seal. Things get grim here, so if you're in the mood for that, and some fine acting, certainly worth a spin.
But between this and the series Ozark, I don't have much desire to ever visit Missouri. Makes the state look like a cross between a Nuclear Winter and Silent Hill.
King of California - There is so very much about this I want to love. The initial premise of tracking a treasure map through the modern California suburbs, culminating in excavating an after hours Costco like it's an abandoned old west gold mine is brilliantly tasty. I know that is merely the veneer to frame the complex father-daughter relationship at the narrative's center, but I found it the most compelling.
As a meditation on mental health and family relationships, it doesn't quite hit the mark for me, with a bipolar disorder being played for quirky laughs or as some sort of hyper-sane super power. Also, the "but he's my dad" angle only runs so far with me before my suspension of disbelief in the daughter going along with the bonkers plan breaks down. Somewhere between the breaking and entering and the swingers party.
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I had no idea what it was about going in (never saw a trailer, heck, I don't think I'd even heard the name), so I had no expectations. I didn't know who directed it, etc., and had no idea who was in it. I've never seen those shows you mentioned, so I don't have that frame of reference. Dad wanted to see it so we went. There are a few names in it but other than Nicole Kidman I didn't recognize anyone on screen.
Vikings and a Conan-type hero figure looking for revenge? It should have been right up my alley as far as films go!
Funny enough, it was both too weird and not weird enough at the same time. Too many attempts to tie in the "mystical" to the film that just never went anywhere. Based on some of the early scenes I was thinking there might be some kind of werewolves/shape shifters coming up in the movie, but no - apparently it was just trying to play up some of the aspects of the berserker side of things (they are playing it more "straight" and avoiding some of the possible fantasy aspects, which is fine). But then the berserker side of things was never really played up either. There are some dream-type sequences with a family tree that never really lead to anything. Scenes with some village shaman-type figures that seem almost crammed into the movie as well. There is a fortune-telling witch that disappears, but apparently her only power is disappearing from the one real interaction she has with the hero.
So why include all that if it really doesn't have a place in the movie? It's like they played up some of these aspects but they didn't really seem to "pay off" anywhere in the film.
The dialogue and volume is a bit uneven. I have some work-related hearing loss in one ear and my dad has some natural age-related hearing loss. But we almost never have problems at a movie theater - they play those things at a volume where it is rarely an issue. There are times throughout this movie where the accents combined with dialogue volume and background music/noise make it hard to hear what they are saying. And some of the dialogue is just not the greatest to begin with. Maybe it was better that I missed some of it?
Some of the camera work is great, and the figures in the film can be imposing. The fight scenes are generally decently done, but for a movie this long I expected more of those.
In a few shots it seemed like some of the fighters were wearing something closer to modern day Speedos than authentic Viking-type garb, which was a bit weird.
It's hard to describe. The film was somewhat uneven and overly long. It is definitely a lot longer than it needed to be to tell that story. There really isn't one thing that stands out as "bad", just a whole bunch of smaller things that add up to "not good". And it really could have been good! Maybe my disappointment at "what could have been" is also playing into this?
Vikings and a Conan-type hero figure looking for revenge? It should have been right up my alley as far as films go!
Funny enough, it was both too weird and not weird enough at the same time. Too many attempts to tie in the "mystical" to the film that just never went anywhere. Based on some of the early scenes I was thinking there might be some kind of werewolves/shape shifters coming up in the movie, but no - apparently it was just trying to play up some of the aspects of the berserker side of things (they are playing it more "straight" and avoiding some of the possible fantasy aspects, which is fine). But then the berserker side of things was never really played up either. There are some dream-type sequences with a family tree that never really lead to anything. Scenes with some village shaman-type figures that seem almost crammed into the movie as well. There is a fortune-telling witch that disappears, but apparently her only power is disappearing from the one real interaction she has with the hero.
So why include all that if it really doesn't have a place in the movie? It's like they played up some of these aspects but they didn't really seem to "pay off" anywhere in the film.
The dialogue and volume is a bit uneven. I have some work-related hearing loss in one ear and my dad has some natural age-related hearing loss. But we almost never have problems at a movie theater - they play those things at a volume where it is rarely an issue. There are times throughout this movie where the accents combined with dialogue volume and background music/noise make it hard to hear what they are saying. And some of the dialogue is just not the greatest to begin with. Maybe it was better that I missed some of it?
Some of the camera work is great, and the figures in the film can be imposing. The fight scenes are generally decently done, but for a movie this long I expected more of those.
In a few shots it seemed like some of the fighters were wearing something closer to modern day Speedos than authentic Viking-type garb, which was a bit weird.
It's hard to describe. The film was somewhat uneven and overly long. It is definitely a lot longer than it needed to be to tell that story. There really isn't one thing that stands out as "bad", just a whole bunch of smaller things that add up to "not good". And it really could have been good! Maybe my disappointment at "what could have been" is also playing into this?
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A friend bought be a Blu-ray of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter as a joke birthday gift - it's as ridiculous as the title but was better than I thought it was going to be. Not saying it's good, because it isn't, but it has some entertaining parts within the lunacy of the premise.
On a related note, I fear for the already abysmal education system in our country:
On a related note, I fear for the already abysmal education system in our country:
Caught Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness today with 4 friends - one loved it, 2-3 liked it (including me), one just went along not anticipating liking it (didn't like the first one) and said it was OK.
It felt a bit disjointed at times (even with the multiverse aspects) as if they were trying to cram in a bit too much. The horror elements added in were a nice change of pace from traditional Marvel fare, and there are definitely some surprise characters that show up in this one (although you may have seen some clues here and there over the past year). It makes more sense if you've been watching the Disney+ shows as well - some of those have elements that play into this flick.
Interesting to see where some of the plot threads lead in the future....
It felt a bit disjointed at times (even with the multiverse aspects) as if they were trying to cram in a bit too much. The horror elements added in were a nice change of pace from traditional Marvel fare, and there are definitely some surprise characters that show up in this one (although you may have seen some clues here and there over the past year). It makes more sense if you've been watching the Disney+ shows as well - some of those have elements that play into this flick.
Interesting to see where some of the plot threads lead in the future....
Watched a couple Will Ferrel movies with the kiddo last night. First up was The House, I think this was on HBO. Where daughter loses her scholarship so they open a casino in their divorced friend's house. Lots of folks from The League showed up here, I thought it was pretty funny, classic Will stuff. Nothing amazing but a fun way to spend 90 minutes. Then we watched Stepbrothers which was on Peacock. Is that his best movie? Probably.
We watched Dodgeball last night. Funny story is a year or two after the movie came out I moved to Portland and to meet people joined an adult dodgeball league. I gave it up well over 10 years ago and after the divorce I let my ex have all those friends. But I have a ton of fond memories of the movie and that time.
But I didn't find the movie to be remotely as funny as I did 15+ years ago.
But I didn't find the movie to be remotely as funny as I did 15+ years ago.
We watched the TV show and the previous movie. If you like those you'll be fine with this. Part of the plot seemed a bit contrived, but so what? The enjoyment of these shows/films is in being swallowed up in the era and the characters again. The acting is great, and the scenery and period dress enjoyable to see. The hard part with something like this is that the show has so many characters, which is easier to manage in a TV series where some characters get more time in some episodes, and less in others, etc. Balancing that in a 2 hour movie....it's done well here.
Sheesh, it is like an Avengers flick after all! Challenge accepted!
Sheesh, it is like an Avengers flick after all! Challenge accepted!
Caught Gattaca today (Netflix) while home sick from work. I think I saw it when it first came out on video, but not since then so I didn't really remember much about it at all. Decent flick; I didn't catch that the name "Gattaca" is spelled only with the four DNA nucleotide bases (A, C, G, T) the first time I watched it - just happened to make that connection today. It's nice when there are little Easter Eggs in movies like that. 