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

Moe_Syzlak

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We just got back from a week in Edinburgh (and a day in England where we went to Alnwick Castle—where the broom practice was filmed—near where my wife’s family is from). And so we watched the first Harry Potter tonight. We’ve all seen it but the kids were excited to see some of the inspirations on film with fresh eyes. I can’t really say much new. The first half is delightful especially for book readers. The second half drags and doesn’t really deliver much of a story arc. And it really feels dated with the CGI. Hard to believe that was the best they could do for such a massive franchise at the same time as the prequels and LotR was happening. But Edinburgh fully reinvigorated the kids’ enthusiasm for Harry Potter.
 

Ray Danger

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Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark (2019)
Not my first time watching, but I love it more every time.
Totally underrated & overlooked. I love horror that works for kids & adults.
A great tribute to some excellent source material.
 

Jrzag42

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Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark (2019)
Not my first time watching, but I love it more every time.
Totally underrated & overlooked. I love horror that works for kids & adults.
A great tribute to some excellent source material.
This movie is so good, it has some creepy moments that affect me worse than most other horror movies! I find myself thinking about it often. Underrated and overlooked indeed.
 

Eyepainter

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Candyman (1992)

Overall, a solid horror flick. I thought the final scene was ludicrous, but the performances by Tony Todd and Virginia Madsen make this a good scary story to watch on a dark and stormy night.

High Anxiety (1977)

I hoped this would be a fun watch from Mel Brooks, but alas, Blazing Saddles this is not. There are flashes of brilliance here and there (the camera breaking the windowsill, for example), and the camerawork does feel like classic Hitchcock, but a lot of the jokes are either drawn out too much (like the boxing scene) or they're just not funny (like the musical number). A lot of trimming would've made this a better film. Maybe someone should try a fanedit of this some time.
 

mnkykungfu

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Eraserhead (1977)
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who love David Lynch and those who don't.
I get what you mean, and his films are often polarizing, but I actually love some and hate others. It's just about execution. For me, despite the hard-to-follow narrative filled with symbolism, he still pulls together all the visuals and themes into an amazing film in Mulholland Drive. In Eraserhead: not so much. I actually just watched it as well and found it ...pretty underwhelming. (No slight against you, @Eyepainter . The heart wants what it wants.)

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
If this movie was one of the inspirations for the "Homer Goes to College" episode of The Simpsons, it wouldn't surprise me.
I think that was primarily inspired from Back to School (1986).
I've heard some comedians say that all great comedy is reflective of the times, and so it immediately becomes dated and "bad" when that moment has passed. They view their job as to be on the forefront of social commentary, and so always moving on and "doing better". I don't know how much that applies to film Comedies, too, but it certainly says something that so many wildly popular '80s films are just very hard for modern audiences to connect with, this one included.
 

mnkykungfu

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There Be Dragons (2011)
Watched for All Saints' Day. The film is framed by Dougray Scott investigating this story of a priest (Charlie Cox) and finds out his father's own history (Wes Bentley) was tied together with the priests. The modern-day stuff with Scott is dire, but the Spanish Civil War stuff that makes up most of the center of the film is much more promising and gave me the idea for a fanedit of it.

A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
Another highly-praised Korean Horror/Thriller that I found very tonally confused and preposterously written, alternating between completely unexpressive acting and high melodrama. Earns some jump scares and has some nice cinematography, but anyone who pays attention to story might find this a big jerk around.
 

catferoze

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RRR (2022)
Epic in every sense, this film has fighting, romance, torture, singing, betrayal, rescues, tigers, wolves, revenge, bromance, dance-offs, and more! I’m usually pretty quiet when watching films but this one had me laughing, cheering and clapping with delight (when it wasn’t making me teary-eyed)!
 

Ray Danger

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M3GAN (2022)
Not my first time watching, certainly not my last time either. I love this movie.
Fun, smart & scary.
 

mnkykungfu

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Murderball (2005)
A documentary about "wheelchair rugby", which is kind of like violent basketball really, or Aussie-rules football. It's fast-moving (no pun intended) and hard-hitting (pun intended), focusing on both the Paralympians and on the nature of men losing their physical abilities and how they deal with that.

Scanners (1981)
And then there's this one about people who have extra abilities, in this case everything from mind-melding and mental computer hacking to pyrokinesis and forced body dysmorphia. Despite effective doses of Cronenberg's trademark body horror, most of this plays like a conspiracy thriller where shadowy corporations are hunting the X-Men. Loved it.

One in Guy Fawkes' honor:
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Errol Flynn was kind of a twat and a perv, but he makes a charming rogue here, to be sure. A stellar cast fills out a very lightweight technicolor romp that is essentially the same as the later Disney film but, er...a little less sexy? Anybody else grow up with a crush on a cartoon fox?
 

Eyepainter

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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

No blood and guts here. Just pure, genuine horror from beginning to end. A perfect example of the original being the best one.

Miller's Crossing (1990)

Ahhhhh, it's good to rewatch this. The script is as brilliantly written as it was more than 30 years ago. Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, John Turturro, and Jon Polito are all in excellent form. The cinematography is beautiful, and the music is unforgettable. A masterpiece, any way you look at it.
 

mnkykungfu

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You're Next (2011)
It's nice to have a "final girl" in a Horror film that is actually competent. That said, the plot, dialogue, and characters in this are ridiculously dumb and hateable, and I found the tone really mismanaged. Big miss for me.

Unfriended (2014)
So I guess this was the first "all on a laptop" Horror/Thriller? Well, I've seen a bunch that came after this and all did it better, primarily because they had an actual plot with actual actors playing characters with some actual depth and humanity.

The Watcher in the Woods (1980)

One of those wonderful '80s movies that's basically for kids but has at least one or two scenes that are definitely way too dark and intense for kids. (Think: Return to Oz, The Dark Crystal, The Neverending Story, The Secret of Nimh, Something Wicked This Way Comes, etc...) I watched @TriggeredPuppy 's excellent fanedit which restores even more of that darkness, making this a good movie for spooky season.
 

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The Conjuring (2014)

Not the most amazing thing ever but it was fine. Pretty good even. Gonna pretend it's just this movie though because none of the other movies in this "universe" interest me.
 

Eyepainter

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The Conjuring (2014)

Not the most amazing thing ever but it was fine. Pretty good even. Gonna pretend it's just this movie though because none of the other movies in this "universe" interest me.

I've only seen the first two films, and although I do consider the first movie the better one, I do think The Conjuring 2 might still be worth a watch. Not saying you have to go see it, but if I can entice you, I recommend giving that one a look.
 

mnkykungfu

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A Bucket of Blood (1959)
One of those early films that Roger Corman actually directed as well as producing, this one is more like a long TV episode than a film but feels a bit edgy for the '50s. The portrayal of a mentally disabled man as a sociopath is problematic but most people will find a lot of dark comedy in the jibes at the art community.

When a Stranger Calls (1979)
Probably the definitive movie that incorporates that old "the call is coming from inside the house!" urban legend, though really the middle of this film is kind of a random, generic slog. Worth watching to see where Scream basically stole its whole beginning scene from, and for the strong ending.

Eraserhead (1977)
The most definitively "not for me!" film out of all the David Lynch films I've seen. Some creepy effects do not make up for the juvenile attempts at allegory and the script which isn't mysterious, but just boring.
 

Ray Danger

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The Killer (2023)
I really loved it, even though it kinda ran out of steam for me towards the end.
 

mnkykungfu

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Hold the Dark (2018)
Jeremy Saulnier directs a script from his Blue Ruin lead actor, Macon Blair, about an naturalist author visiting a family in Alaska where their child has reportedly been killed by wolves. There are some plot turns to this that I won't spoil, but I'll say that the character motivations largely failed to add up for me, making this a beautifully stark but ultimately frustrating film.

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
It took me awhile to get around to digging up this old gem, which is a lot of fun! The punk rock aesthetic translates much further than just the soundtrack, making this one of the oddest, gutsiest, funniest zombie films I've ever seen.

[REC]⁴ Apocalypse (2014)
They jumped the gun with the title here, but I guess "lead up to the apocalypse" isn't nearly as catchy, and they needed all the help they could to recover from the 3rd film. I jumped straight from #2 to here though, which picks up literal minutes after and ditches the series' found footage technique. Unfortunately, the result is something wildly unfocused and less original than the very good previous 2 films.
 

Prism_Skywalker

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Can't remember if I put it here, but I saw The Marvels (2023) and oh my goodness that film is bad, I really like it's ideas, its got a fun vibe and it's enjoyable to turn your brain off and view but I already have plans to recut it massively, and look into if the reshoots caused major changes.
 

Eyepainter

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Can't remember if I put it here, but I saw The Marvels (2023) and oh my goodness that film is bad, I really like it's ideas, its got a fun vibe and it's enjoyable to turn your brain off and view but I already have plans to recut it massively, and look into if the reshoots caused major changes.

Just as I feared. I consider myself an MCU fan (or at least the first decade or so of it), but I'm convinced Marvel peaked with Thanos. It's been all downhill since then, even with Guardians 3 and Spider-Man: No Way Home trying to prove otherwise.

I hope you make a good edit out of The Marvels when fe.org allows you to.

Goodfellas (1990)

One of my favorite Scorsese films, if not one of my favorite films. It's impressive how much this film manages to cram in to its 145 minutes while still being fast paced and easy to follow. The performances are glorious. The cinematography is fantastic without overly showing off. It's rated R and proud of it. Recommended to everyone but the squeamish.

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

What an anomaly this film is. One of Paul Thomas Anderson's worst films and one of Adam Sandler's best films. If you're asking me though, I love this movie, even if it's not for everyone. I also gotta mention the late Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance as the villain. He's great in this one too.
 

mnkykungfu

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^I try not to spend this thread throwing in contrasting opinions on other people's reviews (although I do disagree about The Marvels) but just curious why you call this "one of PTA's worst films"? When I think of Punch Drunk Love, the directing is one of the things I love the most...
 

Eyepainter

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^I try not to spend this thread throwing in contrasting opinions on other people's reviews (although I do disagree about The Marvels) but just curious why you call this "one of PTA's worst films"? When I think of Punch Drunk Love, the directing is one of the things I love the most...

The main reason is pretty simple. When compared with Anderson's other films (like Boogie Nights or Magnolia), this movie kind of pales. That doesn't mean that Anderson's talents aren't on full display. But in terms of execution, it's not one of his strongest.
 
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