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

mnkykungfu

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Happy Festivus and all that! Here's some stuff I watched for the holidays:

White Christmas (1954)
A somewhat poorly dated classic musical with a patchy story. Some great singing and dancing in it though. More here.

Klaus (2019)
The beginning in the town reminded me of classic WB cartoons like Wile E. Coyote vs the Roadrunner. Goofy, dark fun. Not "Academy Award" worthy as a film, but the animation is groundbreaking. Details here.

The Smurfs' Christmas Special (1982)
Surprisingly dark! More here.

A Pinky and The Brain Christmas (1995)
This offshoot from Animaniacs had no right to be as good as it was. The special holds up so well, I watch it almost every year along with the Christmas episode of Animaniacs. A bit more.
 

GeekFanedits

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Deadpool (2016)

Never really been into any of the marvel films nor do I ever think I will be. However this film is actually great, after watching I had the idea to maybe make the events happen in chronoligcal order although that has probably already been done before as it is quite an obvious idea.
 

hothstation

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Soul and Tenet... Both are fantastic films in completely different ways!
 

mnkykungfu

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A few more Christmas movies to catch up on here:

The Family Man (2000)
One of the rare Nic Cage films that's actually worth watching for more than just him. A very promising setup and some curveballs had me hoping this would become a perennial favorite before it settled into a simplistic mass-market film. Details here.

Mean Girls (2004)
Missed the boat on this when it first came out, so I used Christmas as an excuse to catch up on it. And for those of you who say it's not a Christmas film, I say:
Merry Christmas!
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I loved the setup but hated when it turned into Tina Fey's wish fulfillment lecture to her younger self. Full thoughts here.

The Ice Harvest (2005)
Something like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang meets Miller's Crossing with some Grosse Point Blank thrown in. The final third lost me a bit, but it was a fun ride. More here.
 

Racerx1969

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The Christmas movie playlist got watched.

A Christmas Story (1983) The best Christmas movie. We love this one and it's been a tradition every year for a while now. It just isn't Christmas without Ralphie's adventures.

Die Hard (1988) Yes, it is so a Christmas movie! This is just my tradition since it's a no go for the kids and my wife isn't on board with it. But it now isn't Christmas without Hans Gruber base jumping off Nakatomi Tower.

White Christmas (1954) Yes it's dated, yes the story is sappy. So what? It's a classic feel-good story at the end with several great song and dance routines with Danny Kaye and Frank Sinatra.

It's A Wonderful Life (1946) Clarence has to get his wings every year. It's a good parable movie very much in the spirit of the holiday.

Soul (2020) It's a Pixar movie, so I anticipated it being good. It exceeded my expectations, this is a great addition to their library. I thought it was going one way at the beginning, and it went off in a different--better--direction. We really enjoyed this one, and I'm quite happy in overruling my wife's request to watch Elf (I'll endure that later).
 

mnkykungfu

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^ The big discovery for me when I first watched White Christmas this year was Vera-Ellen. What an incredible dancer!
 

mnkykungfu

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The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold (1981)
Unfairly maligned, I say! A short Irish puppet musical staged as an X-mas production, what's not to love? More here.

The Ref (1994)
Not quite a modern Christmas classic, but one I do return to from time to time. I appreciate this even more as I get older and care less about the relative lack of Dennis Leary while appreciating more of the truth in the marital squabbles. And I'm not even married. More here.

Christmas Evil (1980)
It's honestly better to watch this without knowing much about it. I avoid giving anything away in my review here, but I'll also just say that Jon Waters shows this movie every year, and a vote from Jon Waters is a vote from me!
 

DigModiFicaTion

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Soul (2020)
I loved the beginning of this movie. I enjoyed the character developments during the mismatch experience. I loved the moment with his student. I loved the aesthetic of this movie and the human character designs are far better than other Disney/Pixar outings, but I'll admit it didn't have one of those moments that usually hits me hard. I'm not sure why. I feel like the middle and the ending were either rushed or we were missing something. It's still better than most 3D animated films these days, just didn't hit me as hard in the feelers like others have. That sports joke was hilarious though ;) 7/10
 

Moe_Syzlak

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DigModiFicaTion said:
Soul (2020)
I loved the beginning of this movie. I enjoyed the character developments during the mismatch experience. I loved the moment with his student. I loved the aesthetic of this movie and the human character designs are far better than other Disney/Pixar outings, but I'll admit it didn't have one of those moments that usually hits me hard. I'm not sure why. I feel like the middle and the ending were either rushed or we were missing something. It's still better than most 3D animated films these days, just didn't hit me as hard in the feelers like others have. That sports joke was hilarious though ;) 7/10

I agree. The “Great Before” didn’t work for me at all. So all the non-Earth scenes didn’t work for me. I also felt like the movie had to work too hard to set up its premise. And, as a jazz fan, there just wasn’t enough music in it. It was a middle of the road Pixar effort.
 

mnkykungfu

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The Queen's Gambit (2020)
A self-contained mini-series, this story isn't so much about chess as it is a character study of this young orphan who grows up to be a champion chess player. I was unaware that the upper echelon of players really do have a lucrative and occasionally glamourous profession, and Anna Taylor Joy makes it even more so. More here.

7500 (2019)
The kind of movie that probably wouldn't be made in America now, because it doesn't do backflips trying to change the ethnicity or motivations of the terrorists to avoid them being Islamic extremists. It does try to get to the humanity behind the people involved, somewhat unsuccessfully imho. The film-making techniques are very worthy of more discussion here, though.

The Assistant (2019)
A crime procedural, in a way, this short indie does a great job I think of not letting anyone off the hook for their role in enabling a corrosive system for Hollywood producers. If you wanted a thoughtful and nuanced look at how someone like Harvey Weinstein got away with so much for so long, this is it. More here.
 

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The Midnight Sky. I’m a fan of slow, introspective sci-fi. If you’re not you won’t find a conversion here. Unfortunately, there’s nothing here you won’t see coming a mile away. And the characters were mainly following are simply too thin. It was maybe more of a near miss than I’m making it out to be, but grand ambition begets fastidious critique.
 

DigModiFicaTion

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The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
Quarky fun. If Ocean's 11 and James Bond movies had a child it would be something like this. Though it does have some pacing issues and the story is a little disjointed, the dynamics between the characters and the presentation style make it  a fun spy outing that I'd love to revisit in a sequel. 8/10
 

mnkykungfu

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Come to Daddy (2019)
I did not enjoy this. Some people will like it just by virtue of it being dark and quirky as f***, but for me the most interesting part was early on, before the first big reveal. Full review here.

The Wolverine: Director's Cut (2013)
My first time watching this cut, which I hadn't been too excited about because A. I already liked the film, and B. I thought it was primarily just more explicit violence. But there is actually a lot of nice connective tissue added here, and it's wonderful to watch this after Logan has come out, to see that it was heading in that direction all along. More here.

Mank (2020)
What I'm hearing is that some typical movie-goers have found this slow, boring, or confusing, whereas most critics have just been warm on it. I came to understand it as a film which delves into how Citizen Kane was a very personal film, but not for Orson Welles. It turns out to be about how you can only say "I don't follow politics" for so long. Not that the film is about politics, but that was my key to understanding the narrative. I think it's a rich masterpiece that will get richer on a 2nd watch for most people. Here's more.
 

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The Social Network (2010)

I had kinda high expectations going in to watch this film as I heard multiple of my favourite reviewers say good things about it. Easily enough to say I wasn't dissapointed. The acting in this film was perfect, of course Jessie Eisnberg was the best, however Andrew Garfield was surprisingly great too.

Also I can not tell if I loved or hated the ending to this film as I felt it was a cheap way of ending it. However I kinda like the simplicity of the ending.
 

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Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) I didn't read the blurb before watching, it just looked interesting as a period blues music based movie. While that was part of it--all the characters are a blues band in a recording session, it was more a character study and commentary on society. I was not surprised to see in the end credits it's based on a play. So, while not quite what I was expecting, it is a good thought-provoking movie.
 

mnkykungfu

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A few watches for New Year's Eve:

200 Cigarettes (1999)
An underrated gem imho. Just watched the first time this year (full review here) but I'll be returning to it in future NYE viewings. A phenomenal cast before most were famous crosses paths all over Manhattan in a bid to sort out who they will hook up with when the ball drops. Bombed when released because Hollywood hates female writers and directors. I kid. Maybe.

Ocean's Eleven (1960)
So I looked up Letterboxd reviews after watching this and it seems like most people feel the same as me: this is not a fun movie to watch. It's just not very good. Here is what went wrong in the film, but if (like me) you would spend half the movie just trying to figure out who everyone was, here's a little help:
 
ratpack-350x229.jpg

From left: Peter Lawford. Brit who didn't serve in WWII due to nerve damage from an accident to his right hand. Moved from bit player to movie star during the war when matinee idols like Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart were in the Army. Became a political socialite and married JFK's sister, then ended up connected with the Rat Pack.
Sammy Davis Jr. Started off as a dancer in vaudeville, then later an impressionist, then a singer, then entered into movies. Legend.
'Ol Blue Eyes. Sinatra started as a singer, then got into dramatic acting through musicals. He later directed and opened his own production studio. Was the film bankroller of the Rat Pack. Professional womanizer.
Joey Bishop. Was a comedian who became a talk show host and eventually actor. His talk show sidekick was Regis Philbin, and near as I can tell, Philbin modeled his whole schtick on Bishop. There's no way Bishop was in the same league as these other guys, so near as I can figure he must've been that one chucklehead every group keeps around because he's so good-natured and can take a punch.
Dean Martin. Had a hell of an interesting life as a kid before teaming up with Jerry Lewis to do a comedy/song routine. They got into radio and then movies, then Martin went solo. In the '60s, he started a late night variety show that went for 10 years. His later film career, he quite often teamed with Sammy Davis Jr. Apparently how real his alcoholism was and how much was an act is hotly debated.
These guys are scarcely all on screen at the same time, even though this is the quintessential Rat Pack movie. When they are, you can tell they're having a lot of fun goofing around, but it doesn't make for a compelling heist film.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service [The LS Cut] (original- 1969)
I watched this awhile back, but realized it really made for a great New Year's film. Not only does the climax take place then, but the film is all about trying to turn over a new leaf and starting over, both behind the scenes and in the film itself. I often state this as my favorite Bond film, and even though it's still not perfect in The LS Cut, this is my preferred way to watch now.
 

asterixsmeagol

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[quote="It']
The Social Network (2010)

I had kinda high expectations going in to watch this film as I heard multiple of my favourite reviewers say good things about it. Easily enough to say I wasn't dissapointed. The acting in this film was perfect, of course Jessie Eisnberg was the best, however Andrew Garfield was surprisingly great too.

Also I can not tell if I loved or hated the ending to this film as I felt it was a cheap way of ending it. However I kinda like the simplicity of the ending.
[/quote]

10 years later, this film could use a sequel to cover what Facebook has become.
 

mnkykungfu

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mid90s (2018)
Reminded me very much of watching "Kids" back IN the '90s when I knew kids just like the ones in this film. I think it's a mistake to view this as a nostalgia trip...it's a period piece, just a more recent one. There's not a lot more to it than any other coming-of-age movie, but it gets the exact issues right for how that was in the '90s. I narrated my experience of watching with my older sister here.

Greyhound (2020)
My first AppleTV watch, this does a lot to validate it as a Netflix competitor. It reminded me a lot of We Were Soldiers, but at sea. It's got a really interesting scale, trying to show a streaming service can do a "big budget" action movie, not just indie dramas or cheap sci-fi. Some people may not like the look of how they pulled that off, but the lean focus and Hanks' performance sold it for me. More here.

The Vicious Kind (2009)
A Thanksgiving movie I somehow forgot about until now. I'll just include this snippet from my full review: "It's a shallow film playing at deepness, and despite some good performances and being competently shot, I found it a bit of a chore. I don't have to like characters to watch a movie about them, but I do have to like WATCHING them. Caleb isn't worth watching, and Scott is tasked with pulling off some scenes that he just doesn't have in him."
 

Gaith

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mnkykungfu said:
Greyhound (2020)
My first AppleTV watch, this does a lot to validate it as a Netflix competitor. It reminded me a lot of We Were Soldiers, but at sea. It's got a really interesting scale, trying to show a streaming service can do a "big budget" action movie, not just indie dramas or cheap sci-fi. Some people may not like the look of how they pulled that off, but the lean focus and Hanks' performance sold it for me. More here.

It wasn't made for Apple/streaming, though; Apple merely bought the rights. It was made by Sony for standard theatrical distribution.
 

mnkykungfu

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^I didn't mean to imply it was. The interviews I read all talked about how they wanted to do a blockbuster movie on a limited scale and reduced budget though, and thought about how to do that in the current age where there aren't a lot of "medium-expensive" movies in theaters. Everything seems to be 5 million dollars or 150 million. This is not to say that while they were making the film, they said "this is going to be perfect for streaming!"...I know almost every director wants to see their film on the big screen, at least in a limited run. It just so happens that making the kind of movie they did gave AppleTV the perfect opportunity to snatch up a film that shows they can do blockbusters, too. (A great article here on Schneider's approach during filming.)

I'd be wary of just throwing it out there that this was "made by Sony for standard theatrical distribution." To me at least, that big name, "Sony", gives a false impression. The film was actually produced by Stage 6 Films, which is a Sony imprint and has a first-look distribution deal with them since they film on their Culver City lot. But the majority of Stage 6 Films' movies are not picked up by Sony for distribution (that arm is technically called "Sony Pictures Worldwide Distribution"). They specialize in reduced budget features, especially indie, horror, and sci-fi. Much of it has limited release or goes to video. The biggest thing they've done (and maybe one of the few films anyone would've heard of) is the Insidious series, and even those were only CO-distributed by Sony.

Getting Tom Hanks and working at this budget was huge for them, so it was very likely Sony would've picked this up and distributed it normally, but it's not a guarantee. (I read that SPWD did buy the rights, but then when theaters closed they turned around and sold them to Apple.) Sony Japan has controlling "ownership" of lots of production companies in this way, including Tri-Star, Screen Gems, Columbia Pictures, and more. They all work as separate business entities though, and succeed or fail on their own merits. So, if Stage 6 Films makes a bunch of bad movies, they're going to lose money and go down, not Sony.
 
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