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

DigModiFicaTion

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Inception (2010)
When you can't go watch Tenet in theaters, this is what you do. Perfection. 10/10
 

mnkykungfu

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The Pirate-athon continues...

The Ice Pirates (1984)
I have so much affection for this film from my childhood, but I hadn't watched it in at least 10 years... I'm pleased to say it totally holds up! More than the sum of its (very interesting) parts, this happy accident manages its tone to stay on the right side of knowing campiness. So rewatchable, so quotable, so enjoyable. The juicy details: https://letterboxd.com/nottheacademy/film/the-ice-pirates/

The Bounty (1984)
If you wanted a serious pirate movie in '84, this was the other choice. And before you say "That's not about pirates!", I'll have you know that Sir Anthony Hopkins himself says in the film "I need to report an act of piracy, sir!" This one isn't for the kiddies...it's honestly more of a heartthrob romance kind of vibe for much of the film, whereas I was hoping for more Master & Commander, but this is worth a watch. Juicy deets: https://letterboxd.com/nottheacademy/film/the-bounty/
 

DigModiFicaTion

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John Carter (2012)
I found myself liking this movie a lot more this time around. I'll admit that I watched it with an editing eye looking to see what I might do with it. There's really not much that I have to complain about the film itself. I think the big issue with this movie was that it just threw you into the story without any information. They either needed to spend more time with John Carter during the war and the events that lead to him going off on his own or spent more time on Barsoom/Mars at the beginning and then brought him into the story. I wish they also would have gone more into the Thern. Their characters are very intriguing and I would have liked to know more about them. A surface level scratch that attempted an epic scale but didn't have enough roots to keep us grounded in the story. 6.579/10

Michael Giacchino's score 7.5/10
Giacchino is the heart and soul of this movie. His main theme, while not one of most memorable, nails that old-timey epic feeling. This could have been a theme in an old Cecil B. DeMille. Giacchino again crafts atmosphere that lifts a flawed presentation to an enjoyable experience. Disney would be wise to re-employ him in future Star Wars ventures. He gets source material and how to bring it into the present. With Williams bowing out and James Horner gone, Giacchino might be our only hope.

*edit*
Watching the deleted opening scene......WHY didn't they open the movie like this?!?!? *face palm*
 

mnkykungfu

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Last of my pirate films for this year, a couple British-produced films that eventually made their way to American TV but I missed until now:
Treasure Island (1990)
Young Christian Bale makes the first Jim Hawkins I haven't found annoying. Charlton Heston dials back his Long John Silver and turns in a pretty nuanced portrayal that unfortunately doesn't find a counterpoint in the British nobility here, who are all amazingly standup gentlemen. A little bit dark and mature for a kids' film, but probably the best version of this story yet. Juicy details: https://letterboxd.com/nottheacademy/film/treasure-island-1990/

Neverland (2011)
Has an interesting concept: to reframe the Peter Pan story as a sci-fi based journey to another planet. This is the prequel, and much like Solo: A Star Wars Story, it goes (way) overboard on lame fan-service explanations of how characters got their notable traits. It simultaneously fails to actually capture most of what makes those characters who they are. Cheap, poorly acted, overlong, full of tropes, and sloppy, this thing is an abomination. I spit more dis-tracks here: https://letterboxd.com/nottheacademy/film/neverland-2011-1/
 

addiesin

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mnkykungfu said:
Neverland (2011)
Has an interesting concept: to reframe the Peter Pan story as a sci-fi based journey to another planet. This is the prequel, and much like Solo: A Star Wars Story, it goes (way) overboard on lame fan-service explanations of how characters got their notable traits. It simultaneously fails to actually capture most of what makes those characters who they are. Cheap, poorly acted, overlong, full of tropes, and sloppy, this thing is an abomination. I spit more dis-tracks here: https://letterboxd.com/nottheacademy/film/neverland-2011-1/

I like it as a guilty pleasure. The US release was as a two part miniseries event thing, each of the two episodes was 90 minutes that aired I think on the Sci-fi channel (they had a few of these, Tin Man, Alice, etc). Highlight here is Bob Hoskins reprising Smee from Hook.

Goofy, unnecessary, cheap? Oh yes. But still better than "Pan".
 

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^I can agree that Hoskins was good. As a fan of the book and several other adaptations, I was actually offended by how bad much of the rest was. Each to their own.
 

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The wife and I wanted something light last night and watched Enola Holmes. It was too light. I like these sorts of mysteries for the mystery. You must pay attention and play detective yourself. But that’s undermined by the fourth wall breaking convention that tells you what’s important at every step. Millie Bobbie Brown is very good however. The feminist themes might have been better served by female screenwriters and direction. My wife and I talked about how Cavill is frequently talked about for the next Bond and how he simply lacks the charisma for that role. It’s hard not to compare RDJr’s Holmes and Cavill’s charisma vacuum version.
 

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Strangers on a Train (1951)
Continuing my way through Hitchcock's non-Golden Age works. A lot of people seem to have been won over by the big concept here, and the big performance by Robert Walker. On the other hand, the lead performance by Farley Granger is lackluster, and the story comes apart easily if you just pull slightly at any of the hanging bits of yarn. The hot take: https://letterboxd.com/nottheacademy/film/strangers-on-a-train/

Outfoxed (2004)
A documentary that will unfortunately be viewed as political by most. News should just be news, right? What happened to the idea that it would be a presentation of facts, with a sincere effort made to eliminate bias? So if a documentary shows a network making no effort to do that, and in fact subverting it, that should make anyone stand up regardless of party. Unfortunately, the problem seems to be that some people don't actually want to hear that...they want their bias confirmed, factual or not. If anyone is open-minded enough to want to see exactly how Rupert Murdoch manipulates the media to have his own personal propaganda network, here ya are: https://letterboxd.com/nottheacademy/film/outfoxed-rupert-murdochs-war-on-journalism/
 

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A couple good movies for the quarantine to kick off October:

It Comes At Night (2017)
I thought this was interesting enough to dive in on my own website here, but basically it works really well as a thriller. I think the strength of it now is in viewing it as an analogy for political factionism in America. When nobody feels you can really know or trust anything for sure, what do you fall back on?

Cooties (2014)
Elijah Wood seems like such a cool, humble, fun guy, I just want to support everything he does. He's been making a lot of weird small movies ever since LOTR, most of which have been a mixed bag. But they're all interesting and this one is no different. If anyone has ever taught kids and had a nightmare where they took over and/or fantasized about having a good excuse to bodyslam them, this kind of over-the-top fun is for you. More deets here.
 

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A couple of found footage films I'd been meaning to see for forever:

Troll Hunter (2010)
True story: I used to have a student in Japan who was this 50+ year old guy that still lived with his parents. Keichi was super nice, very earnest, but sometimes we wondered if he was on the spectrum. He was obsessed with this movie, and had sadly been suckered into thinking it was real. None of the other teachers had actually seen it, so we didn't know how fake the trolls looked. We'd just ask him "So you really believe in trolls?" and he'd answer "Yes, it's a conspiracy! The government does a...uh...uh...cover-up!" Ah, Keichi. Well, he finally got me to watch the movie, and it wasn't a waste of time.  Full thoughts here.

Paranormal Activity (2007)
Also not a waste of time, but I'm not going to watch any of the sequels, I think. This would've been pretty terrifying to watch in the theater (as I did with Blair Witch). As is, I watched at home alone on the couch before bed. Whatever you say about the film, it is for sure scary. More thoughts here.
 

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Moe_Syzlak said:
The wife and I wanted something light last night and watched Enola Holmes. It was too light. I like these sorts of mysteries for the mystery. You must pay attention and play detective yourself. But that’s undermined by the fourth wall breaking convention that tells you what’s important at every step. Millie Bobbie Brown is very good however. The feminist themes might have been better served by female screenwriters and direction. My wife and I talked about how Cavill is frequently talked about for the next Bond and how he simply lacks the charisma for that role. It’s hard not to compare RDJr’s Holmes and Cavill’s charisma vacuum version.

Yeah I watched with the wife and it felt lacking. I liked Cavill better than you did but doesn't make much difference. Some cringey writing at times, tv quality direction (I checked, that's accurate), and I even felt like sometimes the camera wasn't pointed at the action. The fourth wall breaking was constant and really caused tonal whiplash throughout. It wanted to be, or maybe thought it was, quirkier than it actually turned out. There were things I liked, moments in the writing, most of the performances, I didn't expect something that was treated as a reveal so that was effective. Overall acceptable movie, totally fine, not great but not offensive. Wanted to like it a lot more than I did.
 

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E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. My kids watched this last night and I got sucked right in too. I was just about the same age as Elliot when the movie came out so right in the demo wheelhouse so to speak. But I haven’t seen it since the 80s. It still works emotionally and despite audience’s more keen eye for special effects, E.T. still totally works as a character. I definitely got a tear in my eye a time or two and my kids absolutely loved it, despite needing some convincing to watch it initially. I will say Speilberg abuses a fog machine more than a middle school metal band at its first Battle of the Bands. But that excess can be forgiven, particularly when Williams’s soaring score kicks in.
 

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sleep-away camp (original) horrible, didnt help i knew the ending, but put that aside, it was horrible even for 80's horror.
 

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The Ninth Guest (1934)
The original single-location-murder-mystery story. Started many of the tropes used today, stolen and perhaps perfected by Agatha Christie. A couple standout actors and a short runtime make this worth a watch though. More thoughts here.

Häxan- Witchcraft Through the Ages (1968)
Firstly, I'd say the original 1922 silent version may be better to watch than this '68 restoration. What I watched was interesting, almost more a series of shocking images than a film, per se. It reminded me that we already know torturers don't do it to get the truth, they do it as an excuse to persecute. Why Hollywood movies and shows keep portraying the "hero" beating the bad guy until he tells them the truth is beyond me. Full review here.
 

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I watched Adam Sandler's new Netflix movie, Hubie Halloween. It was bad. I laughed a lot at its badness, it was a fun time. I would not recommend that anyone watches this.
 

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Dial M For Murder (1954)
I've been having a really hard time finding a Hitchcock film I liked nearly as much as his most famous 4 or 5. I've also been keenly aware of his super-creepy behavior towards many of his leading women, and it's been hard to separate art from artist. However, Grace Kelly apparently had no issue with him, and she's dazzling as the leading lady here. This is the missing "great one" I've been looking for. Full thoughts here.

The Innocents (1961)
The best of apparently an endless string of adaptations of the novel The Turn of the Screw (now streaming as the series The Haunting of Bly Manor.) I think critics fell so in love with the style here that they read in a lot more ambiguity than there is, but then again I think Christopher Nolan movies make perfect sense the first time I watch them. So clearly my brain is abnormal or something. This is a gorgeous film though, recommended for lovers of creepy manor films like Crimson Peak or The Shining. Full rating here.
 

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Ghostbusters 2 (1989)
Watched the recent extended edition but my review on the normal film is here.  I hope everyone starts to revisit this with the GB nostalgia high and the younger Reitman's sequel coming soon. This is a really enjoyable film that leans hard into the comedy and was held to some pretty unfair expectations back in the day. I think it ages better than the original in many ways.

The Devil's Backbone (2001)
I've now seen every Del Toro film except Mimic, which he practically disowns. Even though this is only his third film, it's very solid. Parts of it would echo and reverberate in Pan's Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, and Crimson Peak later. Del Toro is truly a director you get to know more as you view his catalogue...and he's a pretty cool guy. Full review here.
 

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Ocean's 11 (2001)
The best heist movie, behind Inception ;). The cast is fantastic. The heist is wonderfully executed. The narrative is cleverly delivered. This movie ages well and feels the same as the first time I watched it. There a few things here and there that I personally don't care for, but other than that this remains a solid 9.5/10.
 

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Carnival of Souls (1962)
A bare bones indie schlocky attempt at horror that garners most of its fascination from the fact that they were making it up as they went along and it doesn't really make sense. Reinforces my belief that critics just get bored with movies and want something small and different. Not too big, so their tired brains don't have to think too hard, but ambiguous so that they can make up their own ideas and nobody can show them up that they don't know what they're talking about. Except in this case the director has given plenty of interviews where he admitted it was all just him and his friends having fun. Yet the Criterion people can't tell "accidentally ambiguous" from "purposely thought-provoking".  I spit more venom here.

Nosferatu (1922)
Another "classic" that sadly didn't hold up for me. 100 years ago is just too far for me to put myself in the shoes of a viewer then. But viewed nowadays, this is a slow, poor ripoff of Dracula that doesn't get what made that story work, and actually pretty laughable at parts. I've heard horror fanatics love the atmosphere, but it did little to create that for me.  Detail of the film's issues here.
 

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Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. I’m not sure how to judge this movie. Its humor and much of its messages come from the idea that these are real people reacting to Borat and his daughter. But how much if it is actually real? We quickly found that the debutant scene, for example, was staged, with extras  hired and screened and costumes provided. And, for me, if you take it as a complete work of fiction—a straight comedy—it just doesn’t hold up.
 
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