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

Pig. Nic Cage definitely has to have some kind of record for most films as the lead at this point. He is committed as usual and in this instance it works. There’s one ill-conceived “fight club” scene that serves almost no purpose other than to bloody up Cage and the movie would be much better without the scene or the bloodied Cage. Otherwise it’s quite good and I’m sure I’m over my limit for a brief review.
 
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Throne of Blood (1957) Kurosawa's take on MacBeth. It took me a long time in broken up viewings to get this watched. It works, but definitely far from my favorite of his work as witnessed by the long time between viewing sessions.
 
Venom: Let There be Carnage - I've enjoyed the first but this one is a pitiful waste of time, trying to be funny all the time, but I laughed ONCE, and almost fallen asleep. 2/10.
 
Racerx1969 said:
Throne of Blood (1957) It works, but definitely far from my favorite of his work
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Ooooh, what are your favorites? I mean, clearly Seven Samurai and Rashomon are unimpeachable, but I think this one comes next for me. Maybe RAN?
 
Oh man, Throne of Blood is so good! I mean, basically all of Kurosawa is god tier, but Throne of Blood is certainly in the upper for me. It’s also probably my favorite Shakespearean adaptation, along with Ran and Macbeth (2015).
 
Summer of Soul. Amazing to see the music and to realize that this amazing event happened and I, despite being a huge fan of many of the artists, had no idea. Yet, I felt it only touched on the why it wasn’t publicized. They had Maxwell House as a sponsor and spent tons of money filming it. Why did Maxwell House just eat that expense? I wanted more from this.
 
Battleship
Picked this up on digital for a buck. It's a better transformers movie than the transformers movies but still not a very good movie. The alien torpedoes were a fun reference to the game pieces and the NOA buoy signals were a creative way to add the grid component. 6/10
 
CODA. A formulaic teen/family coming of age movie that manages to both breathe life into the genre and be genuinely “feel good” while also delivering some powerful messages. It helps to love Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now.
 
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Pacific Rim
Another digital bargain purchase. A lot better than I was expecting it to be. This is one part Godzilla, one part Power Rangers, and one part The Edge of Tomorrow. The characters aren't deeep, but this movie wasn't really going for that anyway. The monster battles did start to drag on after a while. The dialogue was cheap but not terrible, except for the main character when he keeps saying "Mako" over and over in monotone and drawn out deliveries......it made for a decent movie during a workout. 6/10
 
DigModiFicaTion said:
Pacific Rim
Another digital bargain purchase. A lot better than I was expecting it to be. This is one part Godzilla, one part Power Rangers, and one part The Edge of Tomorrow. The characters aren't deeep, but this movie wasn't really going for that anyway. The monster battles did start to drag on after a while. The dialogue was cheap but not terrible, except for the main character when he keeps saying "Mako" over and over in monotone and drawn out deliveries......it made for a decent movie during a workout. 6/10
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That one's fun, I also appreciate that the two leads don't randomly kiss at the end, their bond is atypical of Hollywood fare.
 
mnkykungfu said:
Ooooh, what are your favorites? I mean, clearly Seven Samurai and Rashomon are unimpeachable, but I think this one comes next for me. Maybe RAN?
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Darth Kermit said:
Oh man, Throne of Blood is so good! I mean, basically all of Kurosawa is god tier, but Throne of Blood is certainly in the upper for me. It’s also probably my favorite Shakespearean adaptation, along with Ran and Macbeth (2015).
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It's definitely not bad, just not my favorite so far. I'm still working through his movies (yes, I should have watched them long ago, I'm slow sometimes). So far Seven Samurai and Yojimbo are my favorites.
 
8 Bit Christmas (2021) I heard a bit of the buzz around this so had to watch it with the family last night. I see why there's the buzz; it's really good. There's some fun nods to A Christmas Story (ok, a LOT of homage to it) and I swear some to Princess Bride. Which just makes it all the better. This is going on the holiday season must-watch list now.
 
Being the Ricardo’s. Sorkin uses his usual biopic MO, utilizing a short period in time and then fleshing it out with flashbacks. It’s not as effective here as it was with Steve Jobs or The Social Network. And like Trial of the Chicago 7, it may also be too ambitious for Sorkin as a director as it tackles numerous themes but fails to pack the necessary punch for any of them. Sorkin is improving but again I can’t help but feel this is another movie where Sorkin the screenwriter deserved a better director.
 
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Some people hate on this film because it's so tied to the MCU, which boggles my mind because weren't they tired of just getting the same rehashed Spider-Man movies at this point? This is the first Spidey film to perhaps truly capture being a 15-year old superhero kid, and I think they balance the scale and perspective of it perfectly.

Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
I liked this one a lot less than the first...Nick Fury steers the story in a way that feels much less like a Spider-Man film and more dominated by being an Avengers: Endgame epilogue. A much greater amount of the humor doesn't work, and the supporting characters become a major distraction from the main themes of the story.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
The six years since starting this series are beginning to make it hard to believe these are all high school kids, but the script does a much better job than the last one of not writing down to them. It's the most mature Spider-Man film, easily on par with Homecoming and wonderfully bringing those themes of growing pains and mentorship full circle. A very special film that has to be seen in the theater, spoiler-free.
 
Heaven & Earth (1993)
Film 7 in my Oliver Stone mini-marathon, and the third in his 'Vietnam trilogy'. This is a film that is everything Stone films were not up to this point: a strong female lead, mostly a straight drama with restrained editing, a war film with almost no fighting, a film using almost no popular Western music. And he pulls it off in grand fashion. The alternative and deleted scenes would turn this amazing film into a fan-edit masterpiece however.

A Better Tomorrow (1986)
The film that announced both John Woo and Chow Yun Fat (in a supporting role that steals the movie) as the new wave of Hong Kong action film leaders. This movie set the standards and tropes for what would become known as the "heroic bloodshed" sub-genre. It doesn't reach the heights of later collabs like The Killer and Hard-Boiled, but it's well worth a watch.

I Am Easy To Find (2019)
A short film (26 min) collaboration between Mike Mills (Beginners) and post-rock indie darlings, The National. Alicia Vikander plays a woman throughout her entire life, which is revealed through a series of short images with brief text subtitled in. Almost an EP-length music video, some people were able to put enough of their own emotions onto this as to find it profoundly moving, but for me it was just okay.
 
Don’t Look Up. It was okay. It’s not subtle. Its central disaster comet is the most sledgehammery metaphor you’re likely to find and things are very on-the-nose complete with MAGA style “Don’t Look Up” baseball caps. But if you’re going to be that on-the-nose why play it up as an over-the-top farce? If this was played straight it would’ve worked way better in my opinion. Perhaps they thought it was too dark to play straight. I don’t know, but I kept thinking “what if” while watching. A missed opportunity for me.
 
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Some people like Oliver Stone best when he's very restrained, turning in strong dramas with great performances. I like him best when he's completely unhinged, a wild trip of shrooms and acid through the desert of the capitalist, media-obsessed political landscape. This Stone is peak Stone.

Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001)
2 1/2 hour eulogy for the famed director that WB put together and threw up on Youtube. It's not bad, but certainly leaves room for a deeper, more-interesting take on the man.

Die Hard (1988)
I actually watched the great fanedit "Die Hard 'til Midnight", starting at 10:15PM Christmas Eve for a perfect midnight rollover. Great movie that has already been film analyzed to death, but I threw out some quick hits here.
 
Krampus (2015) - Krampy santa demon lazily torments people with gingerbread men and a "Friday Night at Freddy's" understudy group. (full review)

Goliath and the Dragon (1960) - a man who isn't called Goliath does not face a dragon. Politics and melodrama form an inadequate replacement. (full review)

The Wrong Man (1956) - People arrest the wrong man. Quiet tragedy ensues. (full review)
 
The Guilty. Riveting, well made, and brilliantly acted by Gyllenhaal, who is pretty much a one man show. The framing of the title felt unnecessary to me (but perhaps someone can explain why that improved the story). But otherwise a solid film.
 
Matrix Resurrection (2021) I'm not as annoyed or let down as some on this one and overall enjoyed it. But, yeah. :| Some interesting meta concepts there, but presented in a spiteful-seeming way. I don't hate it, I don't love it. But I don't want my 2 hours back either.
 
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