what was the last movie you watched?

Löwenherz said:
I mean, yes, other than Seven Samurai, Rashomon, and Ran.

But for sure, make time for Harakiri - the movie, not the practice.
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I will also chime in and put forward a full recommendation for all four of these films. I would also vouch for The Hidden Fortress, which is an amazing watch when you know going in that it's the plot basis for Star Wars.

If you want Samurai-adjacent films, I can recommend two from the '60s that have just a ton of flair. Tokyo Drifter (1966) is technically a Yakuza film, but the story line is really a throwback to the Ronin (i.e. "freelance Samurai") genre. The second is Le Samourai (1967), a French-Italian co-production featuring Alain Delon as hitman in an intriguing interpretation of the "samurai" genre. Both of these movies just have style for days.
 
hrdboild said:
Seven Samurai is great for sure but I'm going to go against the grain and blaspheme that I actually like the 1960 version of The Magnificent Seven with Yul Brenner and Steve McQueen more than the movie its based on.
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You’re right. That is blasphemy.

But I also can never get any of my friends to watch a 3 1/2 hour black-and-white movie with subtitles from the 50s. Hard sell, so maybe you’re onto something.
 
Capt. Factorial said:
The second is Le Samourai (1967), a French-Italian co-production featuring Alain Delon as hitman in an intriguing interpretation of the "samurai" genre. Both of these movies just have style for days.
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Top 3 movie for me and the source of the quote in my signature. But Melville flat out made up all the supposed samurai connections off the top of his head.

If you’re going that route, I would recommend Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) with Forest Whitaker as a double feature for a more played-straight “samurai in the modern world” interpretation.
 
Capt. Factorial said:
You jerk. I was writing that up and you just steal my thunder. Boo!
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Oh no! I guess I'm not as original in my thinking as I purport to be? :confused:

It's also worth noting (as I'm sure you and @Löwenherz already know) that Akira Kurosawa originally got the idea for Yojimbo from a pulp crime novel by Dashiell Hammett (either The Glass Key or Red Harvest, depending on who you ask) so taking things full circle back to noir-inflected crime fiction is a logical next step for one of his directing peers to make. This cross-pollination between genres (western, gangster, and samurai films primarily) is one of my favorite aspects of 1960s filmmaking.
 
hrdboild said:
Oh no! I guess I'm not as original in my thinking as I purport to be? :confused:

It's also worth noting (as I'm sure you and @Löwenherz already know) that Akira Kurosawa originally got the idea for Yojimbo from a pulp crime novel by Dashiell Hammett (either The Glass Key or Red Harvest, depending on who you ask) so taking things full circle back to noir-inflected crime fiction is a logical next step for one of his directing peers to make. This cross-pollination between genres (western, gangster, and samurai films primarily) is one of my favorite aspects of 1960s filmmaking.
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IMG_1342.jpeg
 
thank you to Lowen, Hrdboild & Capt for the recommendations, quite a list. Found Sanjuro (1962) on Youtube so that will be the next one to check out
 
Caught The Fantastic Four: First Steps in the theater with a couple friends and it was good, if somewhat repetitive of the previous flicks to a certain point. Not as much humor as the previous versions, but pretty grounded. I still think Chris Evans was the best Johnny Storm I've seen, though.
 
Warhawk said:
Caught The Fantastic Four: First Steps in the theater with a couple friends and it was good, if somewhat repetitive of the previous flicks to a certain point. Not as much humor as the previous versions, but pretty grounded. I still think Chris Evans was the best Johnny Storm I've seen, though.
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I plan on seeing it with all the good reviews coming out. Also went to finally see F1 and thought it was great.
 
Saw The Naked Gun and Weapons over the last couple weeks. Enjoyed both of them. Naked Gun was over the top slapstick much like its predecessors. Thought Liam Neeson did an admirable job with the impossible task of playing Frank Drebin (Jr).

Weapons was cleverly done with the right amount of suspense and mystery to keep you guessing. Not for the faint of heart.
 
Sometimes when I binge, I can actually feel at least a little productive crossing off titles from my watchlist.

This was not one of those sessions.

Wife and daughter out of town. House to myself for 4 days. Was determined to be productive. Motivated to clean the garage, plan some lessons, read a few books gathering dust on my shelf

… Instead binged Netflix along with Wednesday Season 2 and Rick and Morty. On both counts felt like being in a club that used to be super trendy and popular, but is kinda dead now.

Movies had a similar theme.

John Wick 4 - 2023 (???)
I’ll be honest, weekend’s kind of a blur, so I don’t remember if this was on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon or … I don’t know, Pluto? Too many to track. But whatever, I finished the Wick quadrilogy. Which is the closest to feeling accomplished I got all weekend.

The first John Wick was such an underrated darling, brought action Keanu out of mothballs and crafted a Rule of Cool world of assassins you just wanted to explore and understand. By the fourth entry, the rules and players had gotten so convoluted I’d really forgotten to care, but felt invested enough to see it through to the end. Cinematography of the first half was rather dazzling, but by the last scene it was basically just a crappy Windows screensaver.

Glad to be done with the franchise … wait, Ballerina, The Continental limited series, and the upcoming Caine are all spin-offs set in the same universe? Sigh, this might be a while.

Happy Gilmore 2 - 2025 (Netflix)
I am neither an uber-fan nor uber-hater of Adam Sandler - well, I might lean a little toward the latter, but I really enjoyed the original Happy Gilmore as a gloriously gonzo “outsider who’s inexplicably good at a very insider and elite sport/activity” story. Queen’s Gambit and Good Will Hunting start from a similar premise. Happy Gilmore is just considerably more juvenile and bonkers with some delightfully surreal scenes that make things fun along the way even if you already know Happy will win the tournament, save the house, and get the girl even before the opening credits roll.

I knew the Netflix sequel was nostalgia-bait. And I knew it was inline with the standard cynical Netflix practice to vomit out any original content that sparks a large volume of views even if no one actually enjoys it. There have been exactly two “nostalgia-bait” sequels worth a damn (Blade Runner 2049 and Mad Max: Fury Road) in the last two decades and there was no way in Little Nicky’s Hell that Happy Gilmore 2 was going to be the third.

But of course I clicked. And of course it sucked.

The first act is basically a Rocky V ripoff, which did not instill me with a lot of confidence. There are something like 37 Rocky movies; why would you steal from objectively the worst? From there it plays as an unintentionally sad meta-commentary on Sandler as a comedian, dusting off some vintage tools and trying to relive a little glory. But while a 29-year-old blue collar hockey bro slapshotting his way to the PGA tour is absurdist funny, watching the same guy try it when he’s nearly 60 doesn’t have the same magic.

One scene encapsulates the vibe perfectly: Happy and Shooter have a fist fight in a graveyard filled with the tombstones of characters (and actors) who have died since the last Happy Gilmore. After a while the two rivals just kinda stop fighting, sit on the grass for a bit, and talk so the plot can move forward. The whole film is half-hearted references to scenes and gags from the original, while plodding along toward its tired, hollow, nonsensical Xtreme 90s finish.

KPop Demon Hunters - 2025 (Netflix)
OK, I might be as far from the target audience of this as possible, but you know what, this was fun. The animation is energetic, the songs are deliriously catchy, the characters are endearing, and the ending, honestly, shockingly impactful.

Yes, I watched this. Yes, I enjoyed it. No, I’m not telling my family that it happened.

Sausage Party - 2016 (Netflix)
Oh man, I guess I’d blocked this out. Sophomoric, offensive, gross, intentionally inflammatory, with a ham-fisted critique of religion with an over abundance of food puns. It’s a bunch of dirty sex, drug, and stereotype jokes set in a parody of Toy Story, but based in a world where the 80s knock-off action figures Food Fighters became a hit.

Draft Day - 2014 (Starzz)
My wife signed us up for a free trial of Starzz a month ago so she could see Wild Things (1999) for the first time, and it’s still lingering here before I figure out how to cancel, so might as well get some milage out of it.

This movie is so extraordinarily stupid. An NFL GM spending the morning before the draft exactly as the average Browns fan would - driving around Cleveland in a pick-up truck listening to Sports Talk Radio. How relatable! This was a marketing scheme that dumbs down thing so much it actually insulted NFL fans who were more knowledgeable of the ins and outs of the Draft than Sonny Weaver. And the whole project was already filled with cringe BEFORE Bo Calihan’s super agent as played by P Diddy entered into the center of the cring-o-verse.

I could dissect this movie endlessly, but I still keep coming back because it’s basically the only movie of its kind outside of half of Moneyball, a fraction of Jerry McGuire, and about 20 seconds of Air.
 
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