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The Last Movie(s) You Watched... (quick one or two sentence reviews)

Watched The Batman (2021) today. Overall it was good, Pattison was great and it did Batman best out of the modern adaptions. But man, I'm tired of the Nolan-style "realism" and Riddler was awful (felt less like Nygma and more like a diet serial killer). Hopefully they go more into Comic Book-style dealings in the sequel. And I mean fantastical stuff like Clayface and all that. Drop the grounded nonsense for once, it's tiring at this point.

7/10
 
Jrzag42 said:
Reservoir Dogs is my personal favorite, but I wouldn't call it his best of course.
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I used to feel the same, and it still has my fav scene (Mr. Orange's meta-story). It's hard not to feel like Tarantino at least owes Ringo Lam a writing credit though after you watch City on Fire.
 
Watched Chinatown after having heard that it was good. Didn't realize until after I bought it that it was Roman Polanski which kinda made me hesitate, but I was curious nonetheless. Pretty good movie, Jack Nicholson was great as always. It was fun recognizing tropes that either started around this time or were at least not yet overused. I need to watch more classic detective movies, it's a fun genre that I haven't tapped into much.
 
Trumbo. Came for the funny name, stayed for a great insight into an era of the film industry that I was mostly unaware of. I remember reading the Wikipedia page for Battle Beyond the Stars and saw that it mentioned one of the actors making his return after having been blacklisted for being a communist, but I never looked further into the subject. Between this and Mank, I really want to check out more movies about old Hollywood.
 
Jrzag42 said:
Trumbo. Came for the funny name, stayed for a great insight into an era of the film industry that I was mostly unaware of. I remember reading the Wikipedia page for Battle Beyond the Stars and saw that it mentioned one of the actors making his return after having been blacklisted for being a communist, but I never looked further into the subject. Between this and Mank, I really want to check out more movies about old Hollywood.
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I love movies about movies. Trumbo was good. Here are some of my favourites covering 20s/30s/40s/50s Hollywood:

Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Singin' In The Rain (1952)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
The Day of the Locust (1975)
Chaplin (1992)
Ed Wood (1994)
Gods and Monsters (1998)
The Aviator (2004)
The Artist (2011)
 
TM2YC said:
I love movies about movies. Trumbo was good. Here are some of my favourites covering 20s/30s/40s/50s Hollywood:

Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Singin' In The Rain (1952)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
The Day of the Locust (1975)
Chaplin (1992)
Ed Wood (1994)
Gods and Monsters (1998)
The Aviator (2004)
The Artist (2011)
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Thanks for the recomendations, Chaplin, Ed Wood, and Gods and Monsters are all movies I've been interested in but keep forgetting to check out.
 
Jrzag42 said:
Thanks for the recomendations, Chaplin, Ed Wood, and Gods and Monsters are all movies I've been interested in but keep forgetting to check out.
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Do check out Ed Wood! It's my favorite Tim Burton film, a total laugh riot, and a great movie for anyone aspiring to be involved in filmmaking!
 
Just watched 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag, all I can say is... What the fuck? Why does this exist? Why does this dvd not have a menu? The dream sequence is so totally out of place, and the only thing that made me laugh. What is this movie?
 
Flesh + Blood (1985)
Paul Verhoeven's first "American" movie (though filmed in Europe with multiple European cast members and crew) is an incredibly brutal class war tale in Medieval Europe. He apparently had a mission to take the bloom off the rose of these chivalric romances, and he does it in spades with graphic sex, violence, and language, as you'd now expect from him.

Passing (2021)
Not really my kind of film, but the quality on this one is so high that I have to acknowledge it got robbed at the Oscars. Ruth Negga in particular gives a Best (Supporting?) Actress performance as a black woman who passed well enough for white that she married into white upper class society in the '20s. When she re-encounters a teenage bestie who recognizes her (Tessa Thompson), many complications ensue...

Jrzag42 said:
Watched Chinatown after having heard that it was good... it's a fun genre that I haven't tapped into much.
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Wow, I can't help but feel like that's a big understatement. This film essentially started the "neo"-noir sub-genre. It's widely regarded as one of the best scripts of all time. I'd say, check out a bunch of noir (or neo-noir), then revisit this one to see all the tropes and conventions it's riffing off of...you may get a lot more enjoyment out of it than just "good" and "fun"...
TM2YC said:
I love movies about movies.
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For now, I'll just plug Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers as a movie that really took me by surprise as to what a love letter it was to animated films...
 
Love and Monsters (2020)
Surprisingly decent. I thought for sure this would be just a lionsgate level post apocalyptic teen movie. It's perhaps a little too silly for my liking, but it does make it a bit more accessible. I didn't catch all the dialogue of the film so I didn't really get what was happening with the world, but the character growth that the main character goes through was done well. I especially liked the scenes where he encounters the robot and the ending monologue. There is an analogous therapeutic quality to this movie in the aftermath of covid. This movie is basically How to Train Your Dragon, but as a post apocalyptic monster I am Legend remix. 6.5/10
 
Everything Everywhere All At Once. It’s not perfect but I found it mostly entertaining. It’s a bit preachy about nothing particularly deep and the fight scenes, though imaginative, drag on a little long for me. And it sounds crazy to complain about a batshit crazy film being a a little too over the top, but toning it down would’ve helped me stay more invested. Still probably the best movie I’ve seen of 2022 so far.
 
The US recently celebrated Independence Day (aren't you happy to be rid of us, Brits?) and so too did I:

Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Getting back into my Oliver Stone marathon with a rewatch of this, commentary track on. I made notes of the highlights here, but basically this remains an amazing drama better to sink into with Williams' score and Cruise's gripping performance fully audible.

Long Shot (2019)
Are there any other political Rom-Coms besides this and The American President? I didn't like this one as much as the other, but you can't knock it for going full bore into the raunchy comedy aspect. Rogen opposite Theron feels far more aware that his wife would be watching this than when he was opposite Katherine Heigl...

Forrest Gump (1994)
Is being the most mass-market appealing film in one of the best film years ever a reason to hate on this? I say no. A film that is all about heart and avoids any real political stances if you're watching honestly, despite misunderstood criticism from "the radical left". One of the best soundtracks ever?
 
Another summer day, another movie of the kids’ choosing. This time Thor: Guns N Roses …ahem, sorry… Love and Thunder. This movie is primarily a comedy. I liked it more than most MCU fare as a result. It’s up there with the first Guardians movie or the first 2/3 of the first Iron Man movie for me. Sure, some of the jokes don’t land, but it has a decent enough heart and enough laughs for me to take it as an entertaining popcorn movie that didn’t feel as formulaic as most of the MCU…barely.
 
The Matrix Resurrections
Well, that didn't pass the second viewing test. This movie is just too out of sorts. It's more an example of why such movies just can't work in pop culture today. Everything is contrived and forced. The updates to the Matrix aren't logical and actually make fun of current Gen Z mentality and society (that's not meant as a diss on my part). This is best evident in Jude's character and the ridiculous dialogue of the Merovingian. This is societal satire with a bubblegum love story cherry on top. The movie could have been equally mind bending if it simply followed the initial strain of it all being in Thomas Anderson's head. That would have had the equal and opposite reaction the original movie had and perhaps could have been equally powerful in taking it in a direction that could support those who actually do suffer from mental health needs at such levels. This movie flirted with the idea, but ultimately did not support such, but rather made a satire out of it.
Anyway, the credits scene sums up what I think the movie is actually about.
 
Got around to seeing Glass last night. Overall, it's a mixed bag. I liked the performances between the three leads, but I'm not sure I liked the ending all that much. And yes, I understood the social commentary that was going on throughout. For me, the buildup didn't support the payoff very well. I enjoyed seeing Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson back together again, and James McAvoy deserves to be called an acting genius for being so good at his role in the franchise. But with that said, it's probably the weakest of the three movies in this very loose trilogy.
 
If you would've asked me, I would've suspected I'd have completely opposite takes on both these films:

Vanishing Point (1971)
Iconic car in a movie that actually wants to be Easy Rider but can't decide how real and how metaphorical it wants to be. Needs twice as much car racing and half as much stopping and detouring for kirky sidequest characters. Keep the same level of naked motorcycle ladies.

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022)
A refreshing surprise that dropped with little aplomb on Disney+ because it's not a crappy live-action/CG remake, not connected to Star Wars, and not a setup for 2 new Marvel characters crammed into a different TV series. What it is is a loving tribute to animation history, a cross between The Rescuers and Chinatown that will recall Who Framed Roger Rabbit? but with 200% more snark about modern reboots and Disney themselves.
 
Star Trek The Motion Picture
Snnooooore. Wow this movie is boring, uneventful and renders its characters incompetent. I don't really have anything good to say about this movie.
 
DigModiFicaTion said:
Star Trek The Motion Picture
Snnooooore. Wow this movie is boring, uneventful and renders its characters incompetent. I don't really have anything good to say about this movie.
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I guess I liked it somewhat more than you did (mainly because I've seen far worse Trek movies), but I agree that it wasn't a strong effort. If the movie were 30 minutes shorter, it would probably be so much more interesting.
 
Hitchcock
This movie is just so good. Hopkins gives a masterclass performance as Hitchcock and Helen Mirren shines as Alma Reville. The brilliance of this movie is that it's crafted like a Hitchcock film. It's witty, dark, light and just plain fun. One of the better biopics I've ever seen. It makes you want to go and do a Hitchock binge. 10/10
 
U Turn (1997)
Picking back up my Oliver Stone marathon with my least favorite film of his. I was hoping that now that I'm a more-cultured cinephile that I would get more out of this stab at neo-noir than I did back in '97, but nope: it's pretty bad. Great cast that really commits to their performances, but the script and direction seem almost at odds with each other.

Gandhi (1982)
I've been surprised by some of these '80s Oscar winners when I found that they actually weren't melodramatic pablum that modern audiences would probably sus out right away. Not so, this one. Well-shot hagiography where two old white guys give their perspective on Ghandi, which plays like a highlight reel of how he impressed the West rather than showing who he was as a person.
 
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