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

Bolt (2012)
We all sat down to watch a movie tonight and had never seen this one. I had heard it wasn't very good, but was pleasantly surprised when it ended up being a decent movie. There's nothing spectacular here, but there were some good genuine laughs. It's basically homeward bound meets Rescue Rangers Flash the Wonderdog with some comedy added in. If you have kiddos, they'll probably enjoy it, and hearing them laugh will help you enjoy it too. 6.89/10
 
The US celebrates Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday in a few days, and with that in mind, I always try to watch a few films to enlighten me and broaden my perspective...

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
We never really see the titular dinner (spoiler?), but are treated to a whole lot of that uncomfortable family gathering dinner talk. Only here, you have people that all acknowledge that the others are smart, and they genuinely try to get to the meat of arguments rather than BSing or pretending they know something they don't or just trying to win. Ah, remember the days? Though it's a portrayal of a period, in most ways it's just as relevant today as ever. Full review here.

They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970)
Another great role from Poitier as he stars in this surprising sequel to In the Heat of the Night. This is a very different beast, not nearly as good, but still very interesting...for different reasons. I argue that it paved the way for Blaxploitation cinema here.

Let the Fire Burn (2013)
Somewhere there's a dramatization of this story waiting to be told, where these words would send chills down your spine with how they're delivered and what that comes to mean. But here they're one of the final acts in a direct cinema documentary about one of those forgotten pieces of recent American history that *some* folks find too easy to move on from...whereas others will never forget it. Full review here.
 
Well, America's got a new Vice today, so perhaps fitting...

Vice (2018)
Some people hated on this because at the outset it looks like a fairly straightforward biopic, or because they wanted a film that "humanized" Cheney, as if a guy who just does tons of evil in the pursuit of power isn't believable. Well here we are after 2020...time to reconsider. More thoughts here.

The Favourite (2018)
Another film about politics at court and jockeying for position, this is undoubtedly a better film than Vice, and almost as funny. Awards films almost never live up to the hype for me, but this one actually did, despite my bad airplane experience with it. More here.

Sucker Punch: The Extended Cut (2011)
I was probably the biggest Zack Snyder fan ever when I saw this in the theater, but he had gotten to a point where it almost seemed like he was parodying himself. I never got too embroiled in all the controversy around the film, until I gave this version a re-watch. On second viewing, there was enough to chew on that I had to write an article to get my thoughts together. That's on Medium here, and my overall film review is here. In short: pretty damn good.
 
mnkykungfu said:
Sucker Punch: The Extended Cut (2011)
I was probably the biggest Zack Snyder fan ever when I saw this in the theater, but he had gotten to a point where it almost seemed like he was parodying himself. I never got too embroiled in all the controversy around the film, until I gave this version a re-watch. On second viewing, there was enough to chew on that I had to write an article to get my thoughts together. That's on Medium here, and my overall film review is here. In short: pretty damn good.
Click to expand...

That was a very interesting article to read. When Sucker Punch was released, I was 8, my father and stepmother had seen it and talked about how amazing it was. I tried watching it on video but I fell asleep very early on, which I tended to do often (I still have a problem with falling asleep during movies, but not nearly as often). Now, I'm much more acquainted with Zack Snyder films, I'm a bit of a fan, and I've really been meaning to properly watch this. I've been hearing for a few years about how terrible it is, but I have a feeling that I'll end up loving it, and your article gives me more to think about when I do get around to watching it. As a not-straight not-male, I'm curious of how our perspectives may differ.
 
^Thanks, yeah, please do share your thoughts when you see it. For a film which could just be a fantasy action movie, it brings out a lot of different reactions from different people. It's definitely triggering for some, but if Lars Von Trier can abuse women and call it "art", I feel like there's room to dig beneath the surface of Sucker Punch.
 
WW84 (2020) Well, this was a bit of a letdown. I enjoyed the first movie and think it's up with the Dark Knight trilogy putting DC near the bar set by the MCU movies. While I don't dislike WW84, it feels like a lost opportunity. The story kind of just meanders along aimlessly, Barbara seems to just be there to provide a similarly-powered kind-of-villain for Diana to fight. Pedro Pascal does a great job with his character, but I didn't really feel he was a super villain either, just a desperate loser. Perhaps some fanedits will help later.

Outside the Wire (2021) A fairly standard military/sci-fi action movie. It raises a couple of interesting points along the lines that Blade Runner does. The plot device interpretation of getting the main character where it needs him strains credulity a bit, but doesn't ruin the movie.

The Midnight Sky (2020) Meh. A confused story that seems to be trying to make a point about our climate crisis. It's so muddled, split between the two main story threads it makes little sense. The final bit of character connection seems thrown in at the end simply to grab some tears for the heck of it with a bit of "Hey look! We watched Sixth Sense!" Mediocre at best, quite missable.
 
Get on Up (2014)
Everyone talks about remembering Boseman for Black Panther, or maybe now Ma Rainey's... but I wondered 'What about his star turn as James Brown?' Well, he gives a lot of performance here, though I wasn't fully on board with all of it. The movie is a bit of a mess, leading me to conclude I just don't like director Tate Taylor. More reasons why here.

Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
Honestly not as gripping as just watching the real kids in the real spelling bees. As a film for kids, this would be pretty good, but as an adult drama, it's a really derivative and mostly uninspired underdog sports film. Why it's more black-Rocky than Creed is here.

Shaft (1971)
I was just expecting some cheesy fun with this, but I turned out to really like it. Takes most of the elements introduced in They Call Me Mister Tibbs! and Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and basically perfects them. Shaft becomes almost like the first black superhero, a mythical icon that could equal any white protagonist... only cooler because he's more of an anti-hero. More here.
 
Homeland, Season One (2011): Watched the first three of 12 eps; was bored. Apart from Danes, the characters are thinly and obviously drawn, and the pace is painfully slow. Not likely to continue anytime soon, despite owning the Blu-ray.
 
Exterminator City (2005)
this  cyberpunk slasher film about a schizophrenic christian-guilt ridden robot on a call girl hunting killing spree was fantastic, schlocky, and tons of fun. all the main characters are puppets, aside from the robo-killer's victims which are played by screaming porn actresses. 
4/5 circuits
 
Final 3 films I watched with MLK Jr. in mind...

The Help (2011)
Another Tate Taylor film that also suffers from being overlong and unfocused. It's a good film though, the biggest problem being it isn't the film people want it to be. It's about the book "The Help" not about the actual "help", per se. Dividing the time equally between black characters and white characters seems to have raised the hackles of a lot of people as time has gone on. More here.

The Butler (2013)
Now, this film wasn't quite what I wanted it to be. It again suffers from title confusion, as this turns out to be a lot less about the butler and a lot more about his son's (fictional) role in every significant US civil rights action from the '50s to today. I think it tries to do too much and ends up feeling hamfisted and pandering, especially in the final moments. I'd love to see a film that just sticks to the true story of the actual butler to 5 US presidents and showcases the behind-the-scenes there. More issues with the film here.

The Brother From Another Planet (1984)
Surprisingly, this oddball sci-fi indie may tackle racism and inequality more deftly than either of the two "prestige" movies above. It accomplishes this by rooting us firmly in the experience of the title character (for a change) and illustrating his struggles more obliquely and metaphorically at times rather than broadly announcing it with speeches and swelling music (not that I don't find that effective at times). I couldn't find Sayles' earliest well-regarded film, The Return of the Secaucus Seven, so I watched this, his second one. It's made me really eager to explore more of Sayles back catalogue. More here.
 
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
The lucky little ticket winners wanted to watch this tonight. Ugh. This movie is such a letdown. The interpretation is stale, the cgi is horrid, the sets are sterile and the color grade is just gross. The only slightly good parts are the young boy who plays Charlie, his parents and the animatronic welcoming thing that catches on fire. I'll take Gene Wilder and orange oompa loompas any day. This movie was anything but a world of pure imagination.....I give it an abismal 3/10
 
Groundhog Day is coming up February 3rd, and if you haven't watched Palm Springs (2020), you should rush right out and do that. But if you have, here are some other films to scratch that itch:

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Titled "All You Need Is Kill" when I saw it in Japan, I couldn't wait for it to be retitled the obvious mantra from all the promo posters "Live. Die. Repeat." And yet, they didn't choose that in the US smh. They apparently have picked up on it for the upcoming sequel though, which I'm not sure how they're going to do because this film is a pretty pat execution, wonderfully adapted from some of its more predictable Japanese novel origins. I kinda love it, and wrote a lot about it here.

Happy Death Day 2 U (2019)
Otoh, I can't decide if I love this title or hate it. The sequel to the surprisingly fresh timeloop horror film, Happy Death Day (2017), I shouldn't have believed the hype around this one. It's got enough to enjoy, but is nowhere near as good as the first. Also, I think I kind of liked that the timeloop in the first film wasn't explained. Maybe. The explanation (as here) is almost never as satisfying as you'd imagine. More thoughts here.
 
Groundhog Day is coming up February 3rd, and if you haven't watched Palm Springs (2020), you should rush right out and do that. But if you have, here are some other films to scratch that itch:

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Titled "All You Need Is Kill" when I saw it in Japan, I couldn't wait for it to be retitled the obvious mantra from all the promo posters "Live. Die. Repeat." And yet, they didn't choose that in the US smh. They apparently have picked up on it for the upcoming sequel though, which I'm not sure how they're going to do because this film is a pretty pat execution, wonderfully adapted from some of its more predictable Japanese novel origins. I kinda love it, and wrote a lot about it here.

Happy Death Day 2 U (2019)
Otoh, I can't decide if I love this title or hate it. The sequel to the surprisingly fresh timeloop horror film, Happy Death Day (2017), I shouldn't have believed the hype around this one. It's got enough to enjoy, but is nowhere near as good as the first. Also, I think I kind of liked that the timeloop in the first film wasn't explained. Maybe. The explanation (as here) is almost never as satisfying as you'd imagine. More thoughts here.
 
Earwig and the Witch (2021)  I had high expectations for this one since it's Studio Ghibli. Well, it met them. Their first foray into 3d animation was a success IMHO. Primarily, the story is fun and engaging; it moves along at a quick pace similar to their best (Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away). The animation is great, they got a handle on it right out of the gate. For our family, it helps that the main character seems designed after our daughter.
 
Groundhog Day came up again February 3rd, so of course I had to re-watch:

Groundhog Day (1993)
One of the most revered "cult" movies ever? Seriously, look at the lists this makes... top 10 comedies of the 90s, top 100 comedies ever, top 20 sci-fi films of all time, etc. I do love this movie though, and re-watched in an interesting way this time. More here.

12:01 (1993)
The adaptation of the short story that the author alleged Groundhog Day plagiarized. I mean, it is a timeloop romance/comedy, but the details are significantly different. This TV movie is worth a watch though, for many reasons.

Primer (2004)
For anyone who hasn't heard of this legendary cult indie, its inclusion with these others is already somewhat of a spoiler. But it's worth it just to make people seek it out and give it a chance. The beginning of the movie is dry and technical in a way perhaps viewers of The Assistant will find familiar, as it just seems to be about the grind of trying to get an engineering startup going. But when one of their inventions has a surprising side effect, the film heads in a different direction. I attempt to make sense of the narrative here.
 
Man of Steel (2013) My initial impression is "Why are we rebooting this?" I remember enjoying the Christopher Reeve/Margot Kidder treatment. I guess Warner/DC felt the need to amp up the CGI and destructiveness of the fights to match MCU. It actually distracted from the story for me. I do like the examination of Clark/Kal-El's struggles with dealing with his abilities. But, the massively destructive fight scenes didn't feel like Superman to me--they seemed more in line with Nolan's other works in the Dark Knight trilogy. Taken on its own, it's a decent super hero movie, but with the decades of history of the Superman character, there's lots of "um...wait, wut?" moments as he lets buildings drop on bystanders and effectively destroys Smallville, then Metropolis.
 
Racerx1969 said:
Man of Steel (2013) My initial impression is "Why are we rebooting this?" I remember enjoying the Christopher Reeve/Margot Kidder treatment. I guess Warner/DC felt the need to amp up the CGI and destructiveness of the fights to match MCU. It actually distracted from the story for me. I do like the examination of Clark/Kal-El's struggles with dealing with his abilities. But, the massively destructive fight scenes didn't feel like Superman to me--they seemed more in line with Nolan's other works in the Dark Knight trilogy. Taken on its own, it's a decent super hero movie, but with the decades of history of the Superman character, there's lots of "um...wait, wut?" moments as he lets buildings drop on bystanders and effectively destroys Smallville, then Metropolis.
Click to expand...

I remember watching this in the theater and rolling my eyes when Zod showed up after the black whole scene and then was inundated with what felt like 20 minutes of ridiculous destruction and cgi ugly fighting. It's my understanding that Christopher Nolan helped with the story line of the movie, but the action is most certainly Zack Snyder. I liked the storyline, but would agree that the action scenes (beyond the opening ones) were ridiculous.
 
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) Following on my viewing of Man of Steel. Yep, I jumped on the HBO Max deal and am catching up on DC movies. In some ways I like this one better than Man of Steel; the fights aren't as pointlessly destructive, and they at least made a nod to paying attention to it (Batman mentioning the Port of Gotham is deserted so it's not that bad that they are trashing it). There was definitely a struggle in placing both Gotham and Metropolis in the same story since as I understand it both are stand-ins for NYC. It also seemed Wonder Woman was kind of thrown in just so she has a reason to be included in Justice League later (viewing upcoming). It actually was better than I anticipated, though I'm perfectly content that I waited until now to watch.

The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019) I'M NOT CRYING, YOU'RE CRYING! You're getting hit the the feels right out the gate on this one. The book has been on my want-to-read list for a while, and jumped up after watching the movie. My interest is based on the title and promise that it's a racing-oriented story. I learned that really isn't the case, but it's a great story anyway with plenty of racing flavor in it. It's really more a relationship/life lessons drama than any kind of action story. Did I mention I think it's really good?
 
Racerx1969 said:
Man of Steel (2013) My initial impression is "Why are we rebooting this?" I remember enjoying the Christopher Reeve/Margot Kidder treatment. I guess Warner/DC felt the need to amp up the CGI and destructiveness of the fights to match MCU. It actually distracted from the story for me. I do like the examination of Clark/Kal-El's struggles with dealing with his abilities. But, the massively destructive fight scenes didn't feel like Superman to me--they seemed more in line with Nolan's other works in the Dark Knight trilogy. Taken on its own, it's a decent super hero movie, but with the decades of history of the Superman character, there's lots of "um...wait, wut?" moments as he lets buildings drop on bystanders and effectively destroys Smallville, then Metropolis.
Click to expand...

With Marvel paving the way, the reason to reboot is simple: don't leave money on the table. Superman was (and is) arguably the most-recognized superhero in the world, and even a bad Superman movie would probably be a net gain just for all the merchandising and spin-off cartoons, toys, etc. they could launch. 

Of course I'm not totally cynical and I recognize that everyone involved must've thought they could contribute something to make it a good project, so I reckon they thought A. It's been nearly 40 years since the Reeves movies...this generation deserves their own Superman films. And B. we can update this and do it much better now. Those last Superman movies were not very good, and even the first two were very...shall we say "of their time".

That said, they were pretty wrong. Their vision of Superman is (as you said) a significant departure from the core of what has defined the character since the 1930s. Superman is the best of us; he is not only what we aspire to be, he inspires us to be that. He's the guy that not only zips around the world to give aid in natural disasters or help astronauts, but also keeps a watchful eye on the firebrand reporter he loves and isn't above rescuing a cat from a tree. When faced with an impossible decision, he finds another way.

Snyder's version stole a script from a famous Wonder Woman comic, and the story was great for her. That ending doesn't fit at all for Superman. Add to that the Akira-inspired wanton city destruction, and the fan outcry was so large that they actually wrote it into the sequel. Batman's whole reason for opposing Superman is because his actions destroyed so much of Metropolis. That wasn't from the comics and wasn't planned, that was written after the reaction to the first film. You've got to give DC credit for listening (a little)... but then they throw in crap like "Martha"....ugh. How stupid do they think their audience is? ...Nevermind, don't answer that.
 
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