Watched the game on netflix. With Michael douglas 8/10
Rate the last movie you watched.
DUNE (2021)
This movies is getting a lot of misplaced hate. It is a very good movie. . It has a story and a narrative that are well conveyed cinematically - it tells the story it is trying to tell well. Someone buying a movie ticket, not know what DUNE is about can follow what is going on. I think people get very tangled up in wanting every movies to "tell" the audiences even nuance of the universe and the story immediately. And, honestly the director and producers have focused on the central story: a young nobleman coming into his own to overthrow and corrupt kingdom with powerful influences controlling everyone else's lives only for their own enrichment. THAT IS THE STORY! Getting caught up in the meaning/portrayal/history of Spice production, Navigators, Spacing Guild, Bene Gesserit, Landsraad, and The Emperors court is all secondary.
This version of the story focuses on the human scale struggle. It is about Paul gaining enough trust and power within the Freman to shoot his shot. The Fremen having amassed their power for centuries, convince them to shoot their shot while he shoots his. They put their strength behind "his' vengeance to turn it into a Jihad against the Imperial 'power structure' that has betrayed House Atreides and most other human worlds. The whole movies is and exercise isn "show" and not just "tell". Good movies show teh audiences what is happening and don't rely on exposition to "tell" the audiences what is happening and why they should care.
DUNE (2021) is the last movie I saw as well, and I loved it. Villeneuve's mastery of the craft of filmmaking is on full display. You might not like the story or be into sci-fi, but the shots, pacing, acting, cinematography, directing, score, and pretty much every aspect that goes into the technical art of making a film was just excellent. I love a good slow burn, but even this I wouldn't call a slow burn, because it really isn't all that slow, even being 2.5 hrs. Just an excellent movie all around - I'd give a 9/10
No Time to Die 4 out of 5
The latest James Bond movie as of 2021 is, above everything else, a video game movie. It got “Nano Machine, son!” moments from Metal Gear series. A shot where James Bond emerges out of the sea and burning debris all around him, ala 2007’s Bioshock. Of course lots of Mass Effect memories provoking moments since yours truly simply regard the trilogy as the favorite. Bond would pick ammo up from those he recent murdered, and exchange weapon whenever necessary.
Marketed as Craig’s final Bond movie and they certainly stick to their gun here. James Bond dies in the end of this one. Not only that, the movie combined Ian Fleming’s final 2 books into one. The Garden of Death from You Live Twice is where the final battle took place, the movie with the same title went for a bit more cartoony Bond villain liar. Rami Melak basically played the Man With the Golden Gun here, who in IO’s Hitman term uses both ballistic and poison.
And “shoutout” to the shitty theatre experience I had. Last year, I went to an IMAX screening of Tenet and the image did not come up until about 5 minutes into the movie. The same happened when I went to an IMAX screening for No Time To Die. The charitable read I had is that after the pandemic, the newly hired staff of theatre just lacked experience operating the projector. Well, guess there will be a long time until I went to any theatre again if the experience is like that.
@mynameisfatmike said:
DUNE (2021) is the last movie I saw as well, and I loved it. Villeneuve's mastery of the craft of filmmaking is on full display. You might not like the story or be into sci-fi, but the shots, pacing, acting, cinematography, directing, score, and pretty much every aspect that goes into the technical art of making a film was just excellent. I love a good slow burn, but even this I wouldn't call a slow burn, because it really isn't all that slow, even being 2.5 hrs. Just an excellent movie all around - I'd give a 9/10
One of those days, Villeneuve's Dune might appear in the same conversation with Lawrence of Arabia or Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. But as of the long and "unfinished" movie we can watch now, I would keep myself on the skepical side.
In anticipation of No Time to Die that comes out here in Australia on the 11th, I rewatched the Daniel Craig Bond movies:
1) Casino Royale (2006): 15 years on, this movie still slaps. I know this is a ‘no duh’ statement considering it’s based on the first Fleming Bond novel, but I forgot how truly raw Bond comes across in this movie and how he hasn’t quite nailed being a 00 agent. It is a bit funny though thinking back that one of the things people loved about this entry was how ‘grounded’ it was (“He’s actually getting beaten up, with blood down this face and everything!”), but it ticks all the boxes you want from a Bond movie. It is also impressive how well this works as an action movie when half the movie is pretty much just the poker game where it’s effectively just a bunch of people just staring each other down.
Rating: 4/5
P.S. The balls torture scene is still hilarious though. Every time I watch it, I just think, “Any dude watching this knows that you can very easily just sit with your legs together such that your boys sit on top of your thighs, thereby never being in risk of getting smashed by a giant knotted piece of rope.
P.P.S. I was pleasantly surprised to relearn that Chris Cornell did the theme song.
2) Quantum of Solace (2008): I feel the problem with this movie is twofold: 1) The villain’s plot of wanting to destabilize a government so he can price gouge a country’s water source is much more pharma bro douchebag evil as opposed to ‘destroy the world’ evil, and 2) The way they just completely squander the Quantum stuff that gets a decent setup in Casino Royale. It just goes nowhere and doesn’t really add anything to the movie. Points added though for having a Bond Girl™ who doesn’t want Bond’s D by the end of the movie, and realizes that he’s a pretty fucked dude whose got some heavy shit he needs to work through.
Rating: 3/5
3) Skyfall (2012): This tale of a former agent’s revenge mission against M and Bond is another good entry in the Bond canon. They wisely dump the Quantum stuff and introduce two pretty solid portrayals of Moneypenny (who actually gets some decent screen time) and Q. The series also starts to question the efficacy and purpose of MI6’s ‘boots on the ground’ 00 program in today’s modern high-tech society, which shows a level of self-awareness that I did appreciate. And if you’ve been watching the Bond movies since the Goldeneye relaunch, you will get misty-eyed near the end.
Rating: 4/5
4) Spectre (2015): I didn’t get around to watching this in the cinema at the time because I saw that the reviews said it was aggressively ‘meh’, but when I started watching it, I thought, ‘This isn’t so bad’. The opening ‘one-take’ tracking shot and subsequent helicopter fight scene are very well staged. But then they start to aggressively shoehorn all the plots from the other movies together and make out that the previous villains and their plans were all interconnected and I then saw why people were so down on this film. The overarching plot of the power struggle between M and C’s new ‘surveillance all around’ program was fiiiiiiiiiine, but then you find out that of course he’s in league with Blofeld and it just ends up being a letdown. But then it gets to the main twist of the film which I really hoping wasn’t going to happen (that Blofeld and Bond have a shared history and that Blofeld set up this insanely complex criminal organisation just to get back at Bond) and I was like, “Nope, I’m out”. They also do Léa Seydoux a bit dirty in this film, where she goes from “Get the fuck away from me Bond” to “I love you James” quickly enough that you won’t necessarily get whiplash, but your neck will be sore for a couple of days. They also set this up as Daniel Craig’s final walk off into the sunset, which must’ve been a bit of a wet fart at the time before you found out a couple of years later that they were doing No Time to Die.
Rating: 2.5-3/5.
TL;DR Ranking: Casino Royale > Skyfall >>> Quantum of Solace > Spectre
I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer 2/10
In the tradition of Halloween I decided to go through Amazon Prime and see what Horror movies I can watch. I came upon the last film in the "I Know" trilogy and decided to watch it, since I didn't even know it existed. And man... I can see why. This was one of the worst movies overall I've seen in a while. I went in expecting a low budget B movie, but it's even worst than that. Some B movies can be very good, with the only limitation being the budget. This movie, however, had bad acting, bad pacing, bad lead character, bad plot. Even the Fisherman Killer was a huge disappointment. Stay away from this stinker.
Also Jan during a UPF a couple of weeks ago mentioned the Hell House LLC series. I decided to watch some of those as well, and he is pretty much on point. The first movie was a decent found footage entry: 7/10. But the sequel was a huge downgrade, mainly because the acting and scares were terrible: 4/10. Haven't watched the final one yet, but I'd expect for Jan to be right about that one as well.
Now on to Dune. I will post my opinion on the film at a later time.
Dune -
Amazing through and through. Gorgeous visuals. I wanted to rate it 5/5; however, I realized I am very biased here since I loved the book (although I haven't read it in, like, 20 years and hence forgot much of the story). Thinking about it afterward, I found I was mostly swept away by the visuals and the feeling of being in this incredibly well-realized world. I'm not sure, yet, that I have strong opinions on the characters and the meaning of the story. Aside from maybe one joke (the one that's in the trailer) everything is quite solemn. That's probably as it should be, but I don't get a great sense yet of the personality of these characters. It suffers a bit from the lack of internal monologue that's in the book. I'll need to see it again to refine my opinion. Regardless: Go see it.
Here's a few recent ones that I can remember off the top of my head:
Chungking Express (5/5)
I'd been avoiding watching the productions of Wong Kar-Wai for a very long time because I really wanted to see his movies in a cinema. Luckily I got recently got a chance to do just that and on first viewing Chungking Express rose to the list of my top 10 all time favorite movies. A purposefully unfulfilling love drama with Hong Kong being as much of a character and love interest than any of the humans in the movie. Impeccable cinematography, witty writing, good use of music, great acting and deep atmosphere you can just soak in. A masterpiece.
2046 (4/5)
Another very good Kar-Wai movie, with repeating themes of unfulfilled love and loneliness. The sci-fi scenes give it some good spice and there's yet again some very good acting by Faye Wong, TOny Leung and others. Not quite at the level of Chungking Express, but still a very interesting film.
007 No Time to Die (3/5)
My second favorite Daniel Craig Bond movie after Casino Royale and a decent Bond movie throughout. Nothing extremely memorable, but worth a watch.
Der Hauptmann (4/5)
The story of a German deserter during the last weeks of WW2 who manages to pretend being an officer for his own gain and quickly sees himself becoming the horror he tried to escape. A well made look into an often overlooked part of the war.
Kummeli Stories (2/5)
The first movie based on a very popular Finnish comedy show. I was a fan of the show as a kid and somehow never saw any of the movies. Honestly I was quite drunk when watching this movie and don't remember it perfectly, but even after a half dozen beers I struggled to find it very funny. I guess comedy of that era just hasn't aged all that well.
Godzilla Raids Again (2/5)
The second Godzilla movie of the Shōwa era. While the original is still a poignant classic, this second movie focuses too much on the big battle scenes and something about the acting and film style make the rubber suits look much worse than in the first movie. It was still quite fun.
Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) (2/5)
Better than the last American Godzilla movie for sure, but still quite bland and unfulfilling. All of the hollow earth stuff felt confusing and unnecessary. If the movie had focused more on Mechagodzilla then I might have enjoyed it more.
Rocky Horror Picture Show (3/5)
Another movie I'd somehow missed seeing for a long time. A very fun musical with terrific acting by Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon. I could see myself re-watching this in a year or two.
I also recently re-watched all three Matrix movies, Robocop and the original Godzilla. Matrix and Robocop remain at a 5-star rating for me. Godzilla is a solid 4-stars. I actually liked Matrix Reloaded more than I remembered, so I'll give it 3-stars and Matrix Revolutions was worse than I remembered so 2-stars for that.
I also watched Dune and I though it was fantastic. I know it is not the thing to say at the moment considering the pandemic but this is one of those, better at the cinema ones I think. One of the reasons is the music which I thought was incredible and very much reflecting the modern/ancient aesthetic of the whole thing.
One question: did anyone think that some of the shots in the film were references to the games? I know it’s dumb but that shot of silos needing to be filled gave me isometric strategy vibes but maybe I am reading too much into it.
Okay, like many others, I watched Dune 8/10.
Watched it on HBO Max
I think it was a good film. I never saw the original film back in the day and I never read the book, and I never played the video game, so I don't have any of those things to compare it. As a film itself, it was well acted, visually nice, Hans Zimmer doing Zimmer things with the score. The actions when it happened was well done. Nice colorful cast that reflects a desert world. Since this film is part one, I hope they make a sequel years from now. The only nit-pick I'll make is how they made a big deal about Zendaya being in the movie, but doesn't make her appearance until the end.
Dune 2/10
It's a 2.5 hour prologue to an actual story. It's like they took the diplomatic parts of Attack of the Clones, made that a 2 hour movie, then sprinkled in 30 minutes of story and action. Now, if the end of the movie had been roughly the end of episode 2 of an 8-10 episode series, it would be much better. They made a movie that's sole purpose was to setup another movie.
Back again with some movies that I've seen in the cinema over the last two weeks:
Ron's Gone Wrong: In a near-future world where the new hotness for kids is a pill-shaped digitally-connected robot that is a portal to all your social media and internet content, this tale of a socially awkward young teen who gets a defective model (that literally fell off the back of a truck) that might not be the one he wanted, but just might be the one he needs is a mostly simple but still heart-felt one. If you liked odd-couple human/non-human buddy movies like the Iron Giant/How to Train Your Dragon, then you'll enjoy the friendship that develops here. It has some low hanging but pretty on point comments about the dangers of technology and social media and it's effects on teens (a plot point where a girl gets a social media shaming is absolutely fucking savage, and makes you thankful that this is a kid's movie, because if it was a YA joint, then it could've potentially have gotten super dark). It might also be the nicest portrayal of a silicon valley tech bro douchebag you'll ever see, but again it's a kid's movie, so you can forgive that.
Rating: 4/5
Eternals: First let me preface this by saying that I've only ever briefly skimmed what the whole deal with the Eternals is by doing a wiki deep dive, so if you reply back on this post saying that this movie was a shit portrayal of them, then I'm not going to @ you. But regarding the movie, I found it a mostly enjoyable but safe Marvel movie with most of the ensemble cast getting their 15 minutes in and making you care for them. You'd have hoped that the director of Nomadland would've been able to do some interesting and different things with a Marvel property, but it's ultimately Disney, so what are you going to do. Making Gemma Chan's character the lead was the right idea as she is one of the best actors amongst the group (I think Jolie is a great actor as well, but she doesn't have to do any real heavy lifting with her character). You do get a always funny Captain Marvel-esque hand wavy explanation about why these insanely powerful beings did absolutely nothing about Thanos, so there is that. It also gets some 'about fucking time' points for having a LGBT representation in the mainline MCU movies that isn't completely weaksauce. Cons are that it is way too fucking long, you get some pretty solid exposition dumps, and the Deviant's overall plot line doesn't really end up in a satisfying way (their designs are pretty dope though). If you've burnt out on the MCU post Endgame, then it's not essential viewing, but if you're still in, I'd say it's better than Black Widow, but not as good as Shang-Chi.
Rating 3-3.5/5
P.S. If nothing else, it's interesting to say that Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie are now part of the MCU (it's funny in the sense of Kumail because I was reminded looking this movie up that this was the role that he got super jacked for, but there's absolutely no shots of him shirtless in the film).
Dune. It was OK but it suffers from being too long with too little substance. I get what the lengthy establishing shots are trying to do but I got it the first time, and after a while it started to feel padded.
They also added unnecessary 'characterization' to Paul and some of the supporting cast in order to make them more relatable (which feels completely out of place and doesn't work imho) while completely butchering others (like Dr. Yueh and the Baron). I keep hearing that it does show and not tell, but in my mind it (often) does neither, while also adding whole scenes of characters spouting platitudes and dream sequences hinting of a more engaging narrative that never happens. The movie is longer than the 1984 Lynch movie (while covering about half of the book) and still failed to both engage me and to actually dig into the characters and themes. Instead they added a bunch of new scenes, and worst of all, a bunch of Visions about upcoming characters and plot events. Instead of continously hinting at the second half of the story (which doesn't happen in the book except for a short line) they could have done more with the first half, or perhaps made a shorter, better movie! I don't think I've ever seen a worse, less engaging 'to be continued' ending. Dune 2021 is basically a sci-fi version of the Hobbit when it comes to adaptations.
It's a shame, because the actors do a good job, especially whoever played Jessica.
Afterwards I actually watched the 1984 Dune for the first time. The special effects haven't aged very well and it gets beyond corny at times, but it is imaginative and fun to watch. Characters like Yueh and the Baron act closer to the original intent, Paul is actually weird and creepy like he should be, the Baron and his gang of weirdoes are hilarious and it's got Patrick Stewart and an adorable pug. The story is basically the same as Dune (but with more faithful characterization and weird internal dialogue straight from the book, that doesn't really work but does add some extra depth in certain scenes) until the the second half of the book. Then they realized they had about 40 minutes to tell the rest of the story and shit gets WILD. It's incredibly rushed and introduces pretty big concepts and scenes one after another. It's more like an abbreviated 'best of' video, but I would lie if I said it wasn't entertaining as hell. Overall, I really enjoyed it.
I kind of dread watching the next Dune movie and having to watch the same story beats but with establishing shots that don't end, a Baron that has nothing to do with the book, and a 2h 40 min running time.
Last night in soho- 4/5
Big departure for Edgar Wright and I loved it. Cinematically beautiful, didn't see the twist coming, great soundtrack.
Some of the characters could have been fleshed out a little.
I just saw Finch, which might be the only movie I've seen all year. It's an apocalypse movie about Tom Hanks, his dog, and his robot buddy, and it hits every beat you'd probably expect that movie to hit. It's fine. The robot looked pretty good. Bad special effects are one of those things that will take might right out of a movie, but it looked pretty natural.
The Harder They Fall 7/10
The new western movie on Netflix is a decent revenge tale. Regina King can't seem to miss right now as she does a pretty good job playing one of the villains. The cast as a whole shine in their roles and there is plenty of action as well. The only thing I didn't like was the music choices and the poor timing of the music in some of the scenes, which if you know anything about western movies, the music placement is crucial. It almost took me out of the film completely. Good thing the story holds up until the end.
1917 five out of five
A World War I movie brought you by the 3 creative leads behind the more-LeCarre-than-Fleming Bond movie Skyfall. Maybe it's the "gimmick" of being a long shot movie, this "Oscar bait" can actually be enjoyed as a thrill ride kind of movie more than the trio's James Bond blockbuster. The film is dedicated to a Mendes senior, the director's grandfather or ancestor who were in the trench depicted in this movie. After Spectre's underwhelming cinematography, it's nice to have Mr. Roger Deakins back with some truly stunning lighting. And with the movie being rated R, it makes the surviving in a war zone theme stronger than the PG-13 sterilized view in Dunkirk. The fucking movie needs to be seen to be believed.
No Time to Die 7/10
I was worried about the runtime. But it actually manages to keep you pretty engaged throughout. Some of the film definitely feels a little superfluous, however it never lingers too long. Remy Malik feels a bit underutilized as the latest Bond villain. He is rather absent for a large period of time and while his intentions are interesting, I didn't find the character memorable. It does a good job introducing you to the new faces and doesn't spend anywhere near as much time, as some may have thought, focusing on the 007 thing. The movie does a good job with Lasana Lynch and making her role not feel like she's just stepping into Bond's shoes. Likewise, Bond makes a good argument about why it doesn't matter anyway. Its probably my 2nd favorite next to Casino Royale(Might have to watch Skyfall again). As far as it being Daniel Craig's final outing it was a satisfying conclusion, and one that went in a direction I found a little more gutsy. Its not going to leave you with much to chew on afterwards but it was a fun last ride.
Red Notice
2/5
This movie made me feel like a psychic because I predicted nearly every plot beat and twist. Ryan Reynolds character is not far from his Deadpool character (endless quips and one liners), Dwayne Johnson is like every Dwayne Johnson character (overtly virtuous and mildly comedic), and Gal Gadot is painfully smug throughout her appearances. The film even makes fun of itself in a scene in which Reynolds and Johnson are searching for a valuable Egyptian artifact while Reynolds suggests they look for the item in a box labeled “MacGuffin”. The twist is awful and makes the plot even dumber than what it was before the swerve. I guess since it’s on Netflix it might be worth your time if you want a low brow heist film. If it was in theaters it would be a huge bomb.
BIG dump, I'd been in this thread far less than I thought lately, though this time I'll just pull quotes and link to the full letterbox'd review for the sake of space and time! Let's rewind almost three full months friends!
September
"The key to the movie, in my opinion, is a formerly renowned regional chef wandering the (criminal?) underworld of Portland's culinary scene in increasing levels of disrepair, and yet this is almost never acknowledged by the people he interacts with. After all, what is a retired chef turned truffle farmer but a miserable pile of secrets?"
"All I know is this movie is nigh-unrecommendable, and yet I could listen to / read people talking about it forever."
"I couldn't stop smiling at just how far this movie was willing to go, no matter how many scenarios leading up to its conclusion were punctuated with lingering "I can't believe no one is willing to step in and stop this situation" queasiness."
What If? (aka The F Word) - 4/5
"Well, consider me triggered."
"I truly appreciate the interpretation of those who've decided to view Dirty Work as a kind of anti-comedy troll job from Macdonald, Artie Lange and Bob Saget that's more interested in making fun of the films his buddies Sandler, Stiller and Farley were making than an earnestly entertaining movie in its own right, but I can't ride that wave."
"Freaky might be a little dumber than it had to be, but a dumb good time's quite alright."
"It's a little sad to think back on the excitement surrounding Haywire if you were an action fan, as Carano promised to bring the combat bonafides of a Jean Claude Van Damme or Michelle Yeoh paired with the raw sex appeal of a previous generation of Hollywood women thrust into action franchises like Kate Beckinsale."
"Child actors are always a gamble, and he went on to have fun in genre fare like Brick and Fat Kid Rules the World, but here it's clear the producers needed a Macauley Culkin / Haley Joel Osment here and they just didn't quite get it."
The Only Living Boy in New York - 2/5
"For a movie with such technically high stakes, it's odd how often these actors are just dully staring at each other and saying things."
Dave Chappelle: The Closer - 3/5
"There's not many laughs here, but I don't buy that there's not an abundance of heart, either."
"There's a gleeful malevolence to this film that cuts through the schlock and admits what the best version of Promising Young Woman is - particularly when Cassie is interacting with other women - but all too often Fennell's script just can't help itself and strains to explain what it's doing."
"Some of the costumes are stupendously ugly, some gloriously conceived. At times too much is borrowed from Star Wars while at others the set design acts as a clear refutation of what was then considered "good"."
The Killing of a Sacred Deer - 4.5/5
"Hello comedy, my old friend. It’s me, psychological horror! How’re you understanding life these days? Cynically? I’d love to join you! Don’t worry, my dad’s hot and loves to serve lemonade."
"The line while reading up on things later that I connected with most comes from Mark Feeney in the Boston Globe, arguing that the movie is so overloaded with portent that it all feels oddly desperate. Everyone is whispering under a raging Hans Zimmer score that makes the movie at least as unintelligible as Christopher Nolan's similarly ambitious for the sake of it Tenet, only in this movie what the people are saying actually matters a great deal."
October
"Somehow, Ebert found this poetic. Weird."
"...every damn thing that happens in the Matrix is just some nerds sitting at their mind computers, putin' - I don't think we'll be recapturing that bit of magic this holiday season."
"Practically a companion piece to Charlie Kaufman's Synechdoche, New York, only if you were able to strip all the artifice and movie magic from the Matryoshka doll and just accept self-mythology for what it truly is: as absurd and real as anything else we do with our lives."
"Everyone wants to trust she's just too smart for her own good. But before you know it, she's a pig and the game is on."
"Have only watched the Ernie and Kenny episodes so far but this is such a life affirming documentary, I'd almost wager even if you're not a basketball fan there's something here for you."
Last Night
"If you've played Disco Elysium, it's hard not to hear Sean Harris as Henry's limbic system, hissing as a snake sent to sabotage his holy eminence from within. It's a rad performance, and he looks every bit the part - I truly believe there's nothing he, Edgerton and Ben Mendelsohn live for more than oiling up their beards, throwing on unwashed wigs and spewing sanitized Shakespearean myths."
DMX: Don't Try to Understand - 4/5
"It's fucking human is what it is, this perpetually askew rhombus than can never quite square the argument it's trying to make with the footage it's got to offer."
An American Pickle. 6/10 Too much Seth Rogan
Bruised 7/10
This Netflix film stars Halle Berry and its also her directorial debut. Its about her playing a disgraced MMA fighter with lots of personal issues, who struggles to find her way back, after the son she abandoned years ago is now back in her life. Even though its a cliche underdog story in a lot of ways, it isn't bad for Berry's first directed film. You can also tell the amount of time and effort she put in learning mixed martial arts during the fight scenes. She does all the fighting herself with no stunt doubles.
League of Legends: Arcane 10/10
I know its not a film, but I had to gives this one an honorable mention. This is easily one of the best animated series I've ever watched. The animation, the story, the music, and art... just awesome across the board. I can't wait for season 2. It surpasses the Dota Animation and the Castlevaina one, both which I liked also. Netflix is become a place for great animated series.
Was in a weird early 2000s funk the other day so watched a pair of preposterous for very different reasons movies.
"50 minutes is when the other shoe on this thrill-less thriller drops and it'll send just about anybody who watches this movie in a post-Google world screaming towards their smartphones for facts. Fact is, yea, Wentworth Miller actually can play this part (and as someone who never saw Prison Break, he's pretty alright!) but casting Anthony Hopkins reeks of desperation."
"Caruso is practically imported from another movie, one made in the freewheeling '80s rather than the paranoid '90s - if there was ever a performance that deserved a straight to DVD series of sequels less and less directly related to its origins, I'd love to see it."
Just watched/rewatched a few movies this past weekend.
First, had to catch up on the mos recent MCU movies.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - 3.5/5
I liked Shang-Chi more than I ever thought I would. Simu Liu was really good and, I know its kind of a controversial opinion, I liked Awkwafina's character, Katy. My one main gripe, and I still can't believe that this exists in these movies with exorbitant budgets, was the rubbery CGI in the fight scenes, it was better than Matrix Reloaded, but not by much. You could tell where its CGI budget went, and if you saw the movie then you probably know where I'm talking about.
Black Widow - 3/5
Give me all that action spy shit. I won't say that this movie is spectacular by any means but it was full of moments that are 100% my thing.
There are multiple points where they explain away things with a short line and that's supposed to be enough and the pacing is all over the place. But for Marvel's take on a Mission Impossible-type movie, I thought they did really well. Florence Pugh was fantastic (as was the rest of the main cast), the action scenes were fun, and there were some touching moments.
Like I said, not the best, but I had a really good time with it.
Now, some other movies.
Oblivion - 2/5
Even though a movie is gorgeous, doesn't mean its good.
There are so many things about Oblivion that I should've liked. It's very much a take on an old-school sci-fi movie with modern film techniques and quality, but it just fizzled out for me. Tom Cruise is so damn boring in here, so was his companion (Andrea Riseborough). The story dragged on even though it pretty much predictable what was going to happen at every turn. Also, I don't know if they were trying to paint the ending as happy, but for me personally, it was kind of distressing.
All in all, Oblivion was just so bland, but man it was gorgeous.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - 4/5
I have seen this movie multiple times and I absolutely love it. There's not much for me to say other than if you love spy fiction in vein of Three Days of the Condor or The Spy Who Came In from the Cold then you'll probably like this one.
Black Widow7/10
I actually like the direction this movie went. I actually found the sister played by Florence Pugh to be a highlight of the film. The sister dynamic was fun, but not over done, and I wish David Harbour's Red Guardian had gotten a "10 more minutes of screen time to show off his moves as a 'younger' version of teh superhero/ We didn't need to get bogged down in a Red Guardian huge backstory, but I would have loved a flashbacks of some of his more daring missions in a montage. Despite what some people say, teh audience reaction for this film was VERY good. It has a 91% Tomation score from audiences, so I see that THEY saw what I saw - far from perfect, but sweet. I liked that this movie was not there to set anything else up - just there to give teh character he due.
I hope that they might actually find some cameo sports for the sister character, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) because she was funny, fierce, and great so see on screen. I really hope Yelena is part of "Phase Four" withContessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) filling a central role to the action. I'm dubious, but I would not mind taht direction at all. Black Widows was good...don't listen to the haters.
The Power of the Dog - 10/10
Probably the best movie i've seen this year. Just came out on Netflix.Something like this deserves a theater release or even a blu-ray disc. Loved the cinematography in this one.
The Green Knight - 4/5
Holy shit. Completely in opposition of what I expected this movie to be and I loved pretty much every moment of it. Beautifully directed and acted. The set design and costuming was amazing!
My man Gawain definitely has a few tales to tell after this one.
Also, that scene with the giants actually made my stomach turn in a good way. It was just so gorgeous.
Space Jam: A New Legacy
1/5
The original Space Jam was not a great film, and this rehashes a already dull movie(and somehow makes it worse). Simply put, this is a LeBron James vanity project. Centered around him (and his awful acting), the films plot is basic, and uses other WB franchises poorly to stitch together this unfunny, uninteresting and forgettable movie. Poorly written, poorly acted, and poorly executed on all levels. Do not waste the time watching this, it is truly an awful film.
The French Dispatch
I enjoyed it for what it was, which is a visually pleasing picture with good music. As a whole, it’s less than the sum of its parts, but that isn’t to say it’s awful, just not Wes Andersons best, or second best, or third best. In the end, I suspect that what he really should have done was publish a vanity printing of the magazine the movie is about, and include all the tableau scenes as actual still photos. He overused tableau so much that it could fill a magazine, and while I individually enjoyed each tableau he made, I had a very full stomach of them by the half-way point.
The plot zipped along haphazardly and the characters spoke so quickly that I had trouble following the individual beats of the story, even as the simplicity of it did make things apparent by the end of each vignette.
Overall, if you are having a Wes Anderson movie night and you have already seen everything else, you won’t regret picking this over Darjeeling Express. Otherwise, I’d eat it if it’s served to me but I wouldn’t ask for it by name.
8 bit Christmas, I was pretty dissapointed how that movie turned in to a hallmark type deal.
The Power of the Dog - 3/5
Very well shot, mostly well acted, but this movie had a really self-satisfied attitude to me that I didn't appreciate at all. I get that some people are going to like this movie just because they like it, but I think critics were desperate for a big Hollywood Oscar movie in a year mostly about erudite indie dramas. Throw in the return of Jane Campion to the director's chair and a press blitz about Cumberbatch's intense commitment to the roll and I'm not surprised most critics took what this movie was selling hook, line and sinker.
I agree most with this line from this Letterbox'd review: "I’m all for intrigue, but this borders on laziness, not purpose."
Oh, and the actual best review:
"So there's this movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Kristen Dunst and Dunst's son's name is Peter and you're telling me Kevin Feige isn't behind all this?
The hype is real"
Snowden - 8/10.Fantastic Beasts:Crimes of Grindelwald - 6.5/10
8-Bit Christmas - 4/5
It was really cute and didn't go how I thought it would (which was great!).
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