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

Holes (2003)

I was a huge fan of the book as a kid, and I watched this film twice when it was in theaters. Looking back on it now, some of the CGI effects are dated, and the pacing is a little too fast for my liking, but I'm still glad to revisit a fun part of my pre-teen years yet again. The performances from both the kids and the adults are surprisingly good, and the choice to be faithful to the book was a good one. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you love the book like I do.
 
Jrzag42 said:
Is the new Napoleon movie based on the 1927 film at all? Either a remake, or just inspired by? Because I keep assuming that there's a connection, and I have no idea why. I can't find any evidence to suggest any relation.
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I doubt it. I mean it’s obviously about the same guy, so… related. 🤷‍♂️🤣 But this is an original screenplay by David Scarpa as far as I know.
 
American Fiction. American Fiction is first and foremost a story about how black Americans are perceived and when the, perhaps well-intentioned, desire to see more representation serves only to perpetuate stereotypes. Where it works, it really works. But the film is uneven and sometimes heavy handed. Early on there’s a moment where there is a reading of a “black novel” and it is obviously pandering. There’s a shot of Monk standing, staring somewhat incredulous. As the reading ends, a middle aged white woman stands up applauding supplanting the image of Monk. At this early part of the movie this worked for me as a comedic moment. As those types of moments piled up, it started to feel heavy handed. The career stuff just feels out of step tonally with the personal stuff and it doesn’t feel like it needed to. But in a film loaded with great performances, Jeffrey Wright shines bright. His character could easily slide into irredeemably unlikable. But we still root for him. Ultimately he elevates a good but not great film for me. And it gets an extra point for ending with Cannonball Adderly’s Autumn Leaves. 😜
 
Lassie (2005) - This film is, rough I really like it but it isn't as polished as I'd thought it'd be for a 2005 film, still though a cool find, I now wanna go after a copy of the 2020 Lassie movie, that looks stunning.

Air Bud (1997) A really sweet dog film that is almost impossible to find on physical media, anyways as someone who owns a Golden Retriever this movie is really sweet. I like how heart felt it is and yet creative, was this film based on anything or an original story? Also who the heck is Keystone Pictures?
 
Jrzag42 said:
Is the new Napoleon movie based on the 1927 film at all? Either a remake, or just inspired by? Because I keep assuming that there's a connection, and I have no idea why. I can't find any evidence to suggest any relation.
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I've not seen the '27 film so can't say for sure, but my impression is that this screenplay is heavily informed by the letters between Napoleon and Josephine. Hence, some quite important events are skipped or only briefly shown since they do not have any letters that talk about them in detail. The film ends up being essentially a total embrace of these two points of view: Napoleon constantly writing of his total adoration of Josephine, and her being rather more removed and polite. That's how the performances come off, and I think the juxtaposition that audiences found humor in, as essentially Napoleon comes off as a "simp" who's "cucked" as the kids put it these days. We don't really see much of the obvious magnetism and commanding presence that Napoleon clearly had to accomplish his reign, as that wasn't part of the letters. So I think that tone will be the main difference from the '27 version.
 
More Mad Love....

Badlands (1973)
I feel like I would've liked this more if I hadn't already seen True Romance and Natural Born Killers a dozen times each. This one feels caught between the two, and a few pretty shots from Malick don't make up for a meandering, misguided story.

Body Heat (1981)
Watched Wraith's Extended Edition, and it was a very valid and well-done way to experience again this under-rated classic. Lawrence Kasdan had just written Raiders and Empire, and for his directorial debut he was ready for a lot of hot, steamy sex anchoring a rock solid Film Noir. I heartily approve.

Woman in the Dunes (1964)
This on the other hand has a lot less sex than advertised, and is primarily a psychological Thriller, or a dark absurdist Comedy. To me, it was clearly a big metaphorical commentary on Japanese society of the time, but is also an eerily prescient masterpiece.
 
The Naked Kiss (1964)
Odd late-stage Noir (or maybe early Neo-Noir?) that actually has the 'ol Hooker With A Heart Of Gold as the protagonist, and boy does she go on a bizarre narrative ride. The film vacillates between smartly-written pulp and outright melodrama, so I can't say I think it earns the label "forgotten classic" but I can see why some people find it extremely interesting.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Finally caught up with this one, and my suspicions that it was very not-for-me were confirmed. Didn't buy into the superficial romance, hardly laughed once, mostly found the characters caricatures cringey...it really commits to the premise though (except the wedding is just the end) so I can see why some Rom-Com fans would love it.

Echo (2024)
Marvel's most recent series has 5 episodes that run about 35 minutes each without the credits and minus the recap, which means the show comes out to about the same length as Avengers: Endgame.... I ask you, which one really should've been a multi-episode series? I found this to be a lot of filler and actually pretty poorly-assembled in terms of making clear the relationships and the Hows and Whys of things. Coulda, shoulda been a low-budget, gritty movie or a "Special Presentation" like Werewolf By Night, imho.
 
The Creator. I watched this while working out today so I admit I wasn’t 100% focused on it. It’s definitely about 20-30 minutes too long. It takes way too long to get to the first “twist.” Though honestly the twists are so predictable I’m not even sure they were intended as such. John David Washington isn’t a bad actor, but like Sam Worthington before him, he just doesn’t have the charisma to carry a movie like this. There are huge plot holes which I could forgive if the rest of the movie were better. It’s not terrible, but it ls also not very good.
 
THE BIG COUNTRY (1958) directed by William Wyler.
Epic stunning vistas are the background to this sweeping story about the futility of bravado and violence. Gregory Peck's performance is fantastic and the score is incredible.

RIDE LONESOME (1959) directed by Budd Boetticher
A lean, mean, economical tale of revenge and redemption. A Western B-Movie masterpiece!
 
Dune: Part Two (2024)

Like Part One, this turned out to be a hard movie to review, at least for me. I can't deny that it's better than the first one, and it's an easy contender for the best film of the year, perhaps the decade. But I have to be honest: It wasn't fun. The book had some level of entertainment that is most definitely gone here. This one seems more geared to be a depressing political allegory for present day politics. The book took place in its own world, and I wished the film had done more of the same. I do like how they handled Chani, though. They handled her better than the book did, so at least there's that.
 
DAMSEL (Netflix 2024)
Entertaining, but it is 100% predictable. But what I deeply appreciated is the movie knows it genre, likes it's genre and is not embarrassed by it, and steadfastly and earnestly stays in its lane. Thus, no modern vernacular or slang. No sarcasm, no satire and no deep dives into idiotic comedy. No pop songs! No excessive slo-mo! Our hero does not turn into a ultra-skilled-super-soldier in the last act. So in this respect, I actually found this movie very refreshing in its old school approach.
 
bionicbob said:
DAMSEL (Netflix 2024)
Entertaining, but it is 100% predictable. But what I deeply appreciated is the movie knows it genre, likes it's genre and is not embarrassed by it, and steadfastly and earnestly stays in its lane. Thus, no modern vernacular or slang. No sarcasm, no satire and no deep dives into idiotic comedy. No pop songs! No excessive slo-mo! Our hero does not turn into a ultra-skilled-super-soldier in the last act. So in this respect, I actually found this movie very refreshing in its old school approach.
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Wow, you nailed it @bionicbob . These are literally all the things that bug me about these newer Fantasy/Adventure genre stabs, especially the straight-to-streaming ones. I suspected this to be guilty of some if not all of them, so hearing this puts the film back in my "maybe I'll actually watch it instead of clawing out my own eyes" category. :)
 
mnkykungfu said:
Wow, you nailed it @bionicbob . These are literally all the things that bug me about these newer Fantasy/Adventure genre stabs, especially the straight-to-streaming ones. I suspected this to be guilty of some if not all of them, so hearing this puts the film back in my "maybe I'll actually watch it instead of clawing out my own eyes" category. :)
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As I said, Damsel is 100% predictable plot wise, but every actor is completely committed to their roles and the world.
It succeeds for me where both the recent Dungeon & Dragons movie and Willow continuation utterly failed.
And the CGI dragon design is pretty good too!
 
bionicbob said:
both the recent Dungeon & Dragons movie and Willow continuation utterly failed.
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Oh, those are a million years apart for me, though. D&D was incredibly clever and fully embraced its source, imho.

Triple Feature: 3 Films from the 1920s

-Safety Last! (1923)
My first Harold Lloyd film is reportedly his best, and I would indeed be blown away if he has another one that manages to be this good. Great physical comedy that holds up as well as Chaplin, strong acting, fun scenarios, and incredibly clever intertitles make this a Silent Era film as good as nearly anything else out there, and better than some more famous ones.

-Greed (1924)
Having various supposedly genius, much longer, lost cuts of this film has given it an unearned reputation I think. Granted, I didn't watch it in the best visual quality or with amazing music, but just the directing and acting and writing here are all fairly "mid" as the kids say -- though I'll give it credit for some occasional poetry, like the ending.

-Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
I'm not sure the reason for the subtitle, as really this is a love triangle story about a good ol country boy being tempted away from his sweet wife by the slutty city girl. Despite that very dated and simplistic premise, the filmmaking itself is stunning and the story is fully investing by the end.
 
mnkykungfu said:
Oh, those are a million years apart for me, though. D&D was incredibly clever and fully embraced its source, imho.
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I soooooo wanted to love D&D Honor Among Thieves. A great cast and solid production values.
But I think I have grown tired of full on comedy being injected into so many modern films, often undermining the reality of the world and it's stakes for me.

And I used to play D&D. And I read way too many Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance and other TSR novels, allong with other Epic Fantasy, in my youth. So I guess I was just craving something closer to the tone Jackson's LOTR rather than the Saturday morning cartoon. Though I admit, that cameo did make me smile.
 
Strangely apropos at the moment.. if you watch you'd see what I mean..
Suspect (1987)
But, it was a good movie free on YT. I just watched for the first time. I love the feel of old 80s movies.
 
Dream Scenario (2023)

Me and my roommate feel hoodwinked right now. The two of us were expecting this to be a comedy, and it wasn't that at all. I'm trying my best to review this for what it is, and not for what I wanted it to be, but it's hard. I agree with the message on cancel culture, and Nicolas Cage does a fine job in the lead role. I guess the film has that going for it. But for the most part, it was boring. Maybe if I had seen it with the right frame of mind, it would've worked, but for now, I hate it.
 
Triple Feature: 3 Irish* Films

-Bloody Sunday (2002)
Paul Greengrass' breakthrough film with all his hallmarks (handheld camera, lack of score, wonky editing). Makes you feel like you were actually in Derry on that fateful day in 1972. Infuriating.

-Waking Ned Devine (1998)
Would make a good palette-cleanser for the above. About an aging Irish village that happens to have an unclaimed lottery ticket. Lots of charm and quirk as the older actors enact silly schemes make the whole village richer.

-Leprechaun 3 (1995)*
Okay, not technically an Irish film, but c'mon! I watch one of these every St. Patrick's, and this one was a welcome, batshit crazy comedy after the somewhat tepid 2nd entry last year. I mean, they try to make Leprechauns like werewolves in this, as well as like genies, and also TV psychics? Drink responsibly.
 
Dune Part 2

Honestly, I am very torn on this film. I loved the craft and I think it's a good adaptation but it was very sanitised and only served to remind me what I love about the Lynch film. This version was austere, bordering on "joyless" at times, so the film gets a 6/10 as a standalone work. That said, I adore the first part so the duology as a whole gets 8/10
 
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