What movies have you seen lately? Now with reviews!Movies

[JKgo]

I'd been wanting to see The Accountant for a while and just got around to it last night so you'll have to deal with the necro-quotes.

To an extent, I agree that some of them were pretty transparent. But I dare you to say that you saw the first one with the puzzle coming. Caught me completely by surprise and was there to reinforce just how analytical his mind is. On a level we can't comprehend and not finishing a task is truly devastating to him.

Again, I'll agree that I wasn't expecting it to start as slow as it did but I didn't find that off-putting.

Possibly because I'd just finished The Revenant (yawn).

His mind is at home with numbers and problem solving. It's the majority of what he does day in and day out. Glazing over the hum drum that is his life is removing who he is. To me, without that it would have been just another man on a mission and everyone dies movie. If I want that, I'll watch Mr. Wick again.

They way he goes about his tasks is very matter-of-fact. There is no emotion involved, only the job; be it helping an elderly couple with tax loopholes or dropping baddies with a .50 cal.

It's impossible to say where on the Autism scale he's supposed to fall (it's only mentioned that he's high functioning) but he's clearly not as functional as the likes of Jobs and Gates. That said, of course there isn't much in the way of smiling or emotion. He's not going to have his 🤬 eating grin from Good Will Hunting.

There are PLENTY of movies that feel like they're trying to set up for a sequel that isn't needed (I'm looking at you, The Foreigner) but I didn't feel that from this one. If felt like he'd finished the job he was working on and moving on (literally) with his life. Sure, it's obvious he'd done the same before and will continue spreadsheeting and assassinating but I didn't feel there was the intent of multiple films coming down the pipe.

Again, apologies for digging this old post out.

Edit: Next up - A Quiet Place

....No problem. To be honest, I can't even remember the majority of that film anymore. When did I watch it anyway?

 

[TheCracker]

Spoiler

A bullet through the cheek won't kill you. The narrator purposely missed his brain with the shot. But having wrested control, finally, from Tyler Durden, he could obscure the fact that he would.

Basically he did the one thing his psychotic alternate self wasn't psychotic enough to do: Commit suicide. Or seemingly commit suicide.

Marla is confused by what's happening, but she recognizes, likely, which Tyler Durden is in control, because she finally understands Tyler's split personality.

How many times do you people need to be told!?

Spoiler

1st RULE - You do not talk about FIGHT CLUB.

Spoiler

2nd RULE - You DO NOT talk about FIGHT CLUB.

 

[niky]

How many times do you people need to be told!?

Spoiler

1st RULE - You do not talk about FIGHT CLUB.

Spoiler

2nd RULE - You DO NOT talk about FIGHT CLUB.

Spoiler

LOOK WHO'S TALKING.

7/10.

 

[05XR8]

A waste of my time...

That's what the movie starring Forrest Whitaker and the dude from one of those future dystopia movies, should be called.

Something destructive happens in the USA. No one knows what is happening. A man and his daughter's boyfriend, go searching for her, in a Cadillac CTS.
Along the way, they encounter other people trying to survive. Fuel seems to be the main concern.(hmm, where have I seen something like this before?...).


Anyway, the boyfriend is reunited with his girlfriend. A big ash cloud descends upon the place they were staying. They mange to outrun it in a classic Jeep Grand Wagoneer. The movie ends. Literally, seriously, the movie fades to black.

My score : 0/10

 

[Lain]

Last night I decided to watch Tomorrowland for some reason. I went in not knowing what to expect, beyond the fact it was directed by Brad Bird and was critically panned.

Logically, a lot of this movie doesn't add up. Parts of it kinda reminded me of Steins;Gate, which coincidentally also has some trouble with that. That being said, this is a family oriented movie with a good message that I feel is aimed more at kids than, say, The Incredibles (which are more kid-friendly movies for adults). With that in mind, I personally feel that the inconsistencies can be swept under the rug... I know I enjoyed my fair share of logically problematic movies as a kid. But the rest of the film is kinda mean-spirited and at odds with this, such as the bountiful robot violence. Decapitations, PG re-enactments of scenes from Resident Evil and Irreversible, a little girl (or at least a robot who looks like one... I'm not even gonna touch the awkwardness of the romance subplot between her and George Clooney's character) getting plowed into by a truck... I enjoyed that stuff, but it's still a bit weird in a movie that is otherwise squarely aimed at kids.

Overall I found it mildly entertaining. It's got some pretty glaring problems, and definitely drags in the middle thanks to its excessive run time, but it's not quite as bad as I thought it'd be... and to some extent, I think it gets a little bit of a free pass on certain things because it's aimed at kids who likely won't notice or care.

I rate it so-so.

 

[niky]

Tomorrowland just didn't know what it wanted to be. It was meandering, unevenly paced and all over the place.

Granted, it has a decent germ of an idea, well, several ideas... or several dozen ideas all mashed together into a movie that is both bigger and smaller than the sum of its parts.

 

[Lain]

Oh, I also watched Antiporno. Without subtitles.

Not sure what to make of it, but I guess I liked it. I'll rate it good.

 

[petesj26]

With you guys talking about Tomorrowland I rather enjoyed it. Even with it's third act getting some stick for going against the optimistic start I felt it all knit nicely into the narrative.

Which brings me to Incredibles 2 carrying on with the Brad Bird link.... It's an incredibly enjoyable superhero adventure. It's not particularly original but it's a boat load of fun. Well paced and visually very appealing. The only negatives are some of the character development suffers, particularly as the family is separate for most of the run time and one of the characters is just too perfect so they don't have much of a journey arc. The villain starts off great but ends up being a weak point towards the end. But all in all I really liked it which is a 4/5 in my numbers.... Went to see a couple other films this week too.

Mission Impossible: Fallout. Oh boy. The MI franchise is such a treat. Everything in Fallout just screams competency. There isn't a thing glaringly wrong with it. Tom Cruise has a lot of credit in the bank. He's flying the helicopter and riding the bikes. All the action scenes are gripping. It's just a shame all the cars in the chase are clearly CG but still, Kudos! I think this will be on a bunch of best of the year polls come December. 4.5/5 (my policy dictates that no film can be a 5 until repeat watches occur, thank the marvel movies for that!

Hotel Artemis: It's an evening spent in what is ultimately a future mob hospital. With a riot going on outside for good measure.... Boiled down you spend 45min meeting and getting to know the characters. The next 45min is spent being curious about just how it's going to go pear shaped. Your final 20min is the destruction of the pear..... I think a bunch of people in my screening were not particularity satisfied. It was made to look like an action film in the trailer I saw but it certainly isn't that. I liked it however. The Sofia Boutella fight scene is the real highlight. 3/5.

 

[ProjectWHaT]

I also saw the new Mission Impossible. Absolutely no faults. Everything was perfectly executed

 

[Lain]

Had a couple days off, so I did a little bit of catch-up movie binging.

Started off with The Avengers. Due to all the hype around Infinity War, I was inspired to do a bit of catching up on the MCU movies. I watched all the movies leading up to this first Avengers film over these past few month, and they've all been pretty damn good. Sadly though, the payoff here is a bit underwhelming. The movie's too long, and it drags badly in the middle. The climactic action sequence was... neat. But aside from that and some cute one-liners, this movie was pretty dull... hands-down the weakest MCU movie I've seen thus far, IMO. I rate it so-so.

After that, I watched... Spider-Man Homecoming. I didn't even really think of it as being an MCU movie when I decided to watch it, but coincidentally it picks up right during the aftermath of the first Avengers movie... so that worked out nicely I suppose. This movie was excellent. I've got a soft spot for the Raimi Spider-Man films, but this was definitely as good as those, if not better. I rate it great.

Next up was Coco, which I've heard nothing but glowing praise for. And to keep things short... it definitely deserves all that praise. Great.

After that I watched Get Out... An entertainingly twisted horror flick with not-so-subtle racial undertones. I felt the buildup was a little bit too slow and some of the humor didn't work for me, but overall it's still one of the better horror flicks in recent memory. Great.

Finally, I finished my binge by checking out the Hollywood adaptation of Ghost in the Shell. It was a bit of a mixed bag... visuals were usually quite excellent, though there were a couple scenes where some CGI elements stuck out like a sore thumb. The story and writing were about as good as anybody could've hoped for from a Hollywood adaptation of an anime, which is to say... not very (Them spoon-feeding you the meaning of the title in one of the opening scenes should clue you into this). Action scenes ranged from decent to great. Acting was pretty solid across the board. Overall it wasn't amazing or even particularly good, but it could've been much much worse. So I'm glad the film exists, even if only for the eyecandy... I rate it so-so.

 

[petesj26]

I also saw the new Mission Impossible. Absolutely no faults. Everything was perfectly executed

There are so few action films you could say that about.... Maybe 'MI5 Ghost Protocol'? Definitely 'Dredd', 'Terminator 2' as well....

Next up was Coco, which I've heard nothing but glowing praise for. And to keep things short... it definitely deserves all that praise. Great.

Oh, Coco is amazing. Can't wait to watch it again.... Have you seen 'The Book Of Life'? Similar in that it's another journey in to the world of the dead but it's certainly worth a watch. Like Coco it's a stunning array of design and colour.....

I'm glad you thought that about the Ghost in the Shell remake. I liked it enough to watch it twice at the cinema. It's a shame the film seemed to be forgotten after all the comments about casting.... Certainly not the best film ever but it's a solid way to spend two hours.....

 

[Lain]

There are so few action films you could say that about.... Maybe 'MI5 Ghost Protocol'? Definitely 'Dredd', 'Terminator 2' as well....


Oh, Coco is amazing. Can't wait to watch it again.... Have you seen 'The Book Of Life'? Similar in that it's another journey in to the world of the dead but it's certainly worth a watch. Like Coco it's a stunning array of design and colour.....

I'm glad you thought that about the Ghost in the Shell remake. I liked it enough to watch it twice at the cinema. It's a shame the film seemed to be forgotten after all the comments about casting.... Certainly not the best film ever but it's a solid way to spend two hours.....

I haven't seen The Book of Life, but looks pretty fun... I'll check it out eventually. I'm trying to get into a routine of watching one movie every day. You know what they say: A film a day keeps Michael Bay away.

Latest ones I've watched are the Netflix adaptation of Death Note, Molly's Game, and John Wick 2.

Death Note... I went in expecting the absolute worst, but I actually kinda liked it. It's got a lot of problems... weak acting (especially from the lead actor who plays Light, which is particularly a glaring issue), awkward writing, editing and overall pacing, etc. But I still enjoyed it overall and I thought they did some fun things with how they changed up the story to (very) loosely fit some of Death Note's plot points into a single movie. I don't personally consider adaptations being unfaithful to the source material to inherently be a bad thing, and I think anybody who went into this Seattle-based adaptation expecting it to be particularly faithful was a fool. This adaptation is its own thing, and IMO it's dumb fun. Rating: Bad ...though to be honest, I kinda had more fun watching this than Ghost in the Shell.

Molly's Game was excellent, don't really have much to say about it except that maybe there's a scene or two that drags on a bit longer than necessary. But it was fantastic all around, and there was a scene towards the end with Idris Elba going off which nearly compelled me to clap. Rating: Great.

John Wick 2... same awesome gunplay as in the original, but with a less compelling narrative to justify the bloodshed. It's easy to get behind a John Wick killing a bunch of goons who killed his doggo, less easy to get behind him killing because of a debt to some jackass. I think the filmmakers realized this and tried to soften things...

Spoiler

by having his target kill herself instead of John Wick actually doing the deed

,...but that's only a band-aid for the problem. This get better in the 2nd half when the situation changes and the killing becomes more a matter of self-defense on Wick's part, but the end note is moderately unsatisfying. Still, the action is excellent and I suppose that's what matters for a movie like this. Rating: Good.

 

[Brett]

I haven't seen The Book of Life, but looks pretty fun... I'll check it out eventually. I'm trying to get into a routine of watching one movie every day. You know what they say: A film a day keeps Michael Bay away.

The Book of Life is very enjoyable. A friend invited me to see it while it was still in theatres. I had no idea what it was, but enjoy going to movies and walked out thoroughly entertained.

John Wick 2... same awesome gunplay as in the original, but with a less compelling narrative to justify the bloodshed. It's easy to get behind a John Wick killing a bunch of goons who killed his doggo, less easy to get behind him killing because of a debt to some jackass. I think the filmmakers realized this and tried to soften things...

Spoiler

by having his target kill herself instead of John Wick actually doing the deed

,...but that's only a band-aid for the problem. This get better in the 2nd half when the situation changes and the killing becomes more a matter of self-defense on Wick's part, but the end note is moderately unsatisfying. Still, the action is excellent and I suppose that's what matters for a movie like this. Rating: Good.

Narratively not as good as the first movie. Some of the gunplay is better in this one. The transitions between using a rifle, pistol, or shotgun were really awesome. Even if it took a bunch of takes, Keanu Reeves put in some work to get that good at doing those.

 

[Danoff]

Next up was Coco, which I've heard nothing but glowing praise for. And to keep things short... it definitely deserves all that praise. Great.

Oh, Coco is amazing. Can't wait to watch it again....

Coco was an absolute mess with its themes. It is a clinic for teaching someone all the wrong perspectives on life. You owe it to your family to give their life meaning? You should be guilted in to learning about them out of a sense of obligation to their memory? And the way the main character snaps from not giving two shakes about someone to fierce/loyal caring based only on the notion that they might share some weak genes is... absurd.

Can you imagine the questions from a adopted child watching that movie? "So wait, if I did that, would I have to find my biological relatives or what?" And your family members can put any arbitrary restrictions on your life and you have to obey simply because of relation? Like... "you can no longer do what you love... for ridiculous reasons... and you have to listen to me because your eye color matches my eye color". WTH.

The themes of that movie are about as backward as it gets. Horrible messages to teach children.

And don't get me started on the ridiculousness of a skeleton swimming! to save another skeleton that can't swim! (I know he wasn't a skeleton, but the actual skeleton didn't know that)

I can't go more than 5 minutes straight in that movie without having to roll my eyes.

 

[petesj26]

Coco was an absolute mess with its themes. It is a clinic for teaching someone all the wrong perspectives on life. You owe it to your family to give their life meaning? You should be guilted in to learning about them out of a sense of obligation to their memory? And the way the main character snaps from not giving two shakes about someone to fierce/loyal caring based only on the notion that they might share some weak genes is... absurd.

Can you imagine the questions from a adopted child watching that movie? "So wait, if I did that, would I have to find my biological relatives or what?" And your family members can put any arbitrary restrictions on your life and you have to obey simply because of relation? Like... "you can no longer do what you love... for ridiculous reasons... and you have to listen to me because your eye color matches my eye color". WTH.

The themes of that movie are about as backward as it gets. Horrible messages to teach children.

And don't get me started on the ridiculousness of a skeleton swimming! to save another skeleton that can't swim! (I know he wasn't a skeleton, but the actual skeleton didn't know that)

I can't go more than 5 minutes straight in that movie without having to roll my eyes.

I can't disagree with any of that but I don't exactly agree with it either..... My take home was that a strong memory of your family strengthens you. Kind of a 'to know where you are you need to know where you've been' deal..... I'll watch it again and maybe I'll feel differently.

With the swimming.... How did the skeletons do anything that didn't involve falling apart! I didn't see any ligaments of any kind..... I tore apart the ligaments in my wrist and nothing stayed in it's place (it was crunchy!! )

 

[Lain]

Coco was an absolute mess with its themes. It is a clinic for teaching someone all the wrong perspectives on life. You owe it to your family to give their life meaning? You should be guilted in to learning about them out of a sense of obligation to their memory? And the way the main character snaps from not giving two shakes about someone to fierce/loyal caring based only on the notion that they might share some weak genes is... absurd.

Can you imagine the questions from a adopted child watching that movie? "So wait, if I did that, would I have to find my biological relatives or what?" And your family members can put any arbitrary restrictions on your life and you have to obey simply because of relation? Like... "you can no longer do what you love... for ridiculous reasons... and you have to listen to me because your eye color matches my eye color". WTH.

The themes of that movie are about as backward as it gets. Horrible messages to teach children.

And don't get me started on the ridiculousness of a skeleton swimming! to save another skeleton that can't swim! (I know he wasn't a skeleton, but the actual skeleton didn't know that)

I can't go more than 5 minutes straight in that movie without having to roll my eyes.

Regarding "owing it to your family to give their life meaning", I didn't get that at all from the movie and think you might've just misconstrued things... maybe you were seeing things too cynically with those rolled eyes of yours.

But regarding learning about/remembering family, well that is kind of the whole point of the holiday that the movie's themed around. So that's not really a criticism of the movie but of the holiday it's based on. And while I don't agree that remembering family is vital, I don't think it's a horrible message either... your example of people who were adopted does complicate things and I think telling them "you MUST remember your family" maybe isn't great. But I'm sure they probably wonder about their biological parents anyway. And you don't have to strictly interpret the "remember family" theme as "remember biological family" if you believe that family is what you make it.

 

[Danoff]

Regarding "owing it to your family to give their life meaning", I didn't get that at all from the movie and think you might've just misconstrued things... maybe you were seeing things too cynically with those rolled eyes of yours.

But regarding learning about/remembering family, well that is kind of the whole point of the holiday that the movie's themed around. So that's not really a criticism of the movie but of the holiday it's based on. And while I don't agree that remembering family is vital, I don't think it's a horrible message either... your example of people who were adopted does complicate things and I think telling them "you MUST remember your family" maybe isn't great. But I'm sure they probably wonder about their biological parents anyway. And you don't have to strictly interpret the "remember family" theme as "remember biological family" if you believe that family is what you make it.

Of course, real life people don't constrain their ideas of who they care about and who is important in their lives to genetics. But Coco draws a super bright line there. To the point where the boy does a complete about face when he realizes who he's related to. If you don't think that movie has a hardcore guilt trip about owing it to Hector to remember him... to the point of just outright begging... I don't know what to say to that.

I don't have very much positive to say about the themes of that movie. I think it sends terrible messages all the way around - and if that stems from the holiday well... maybe they shouldn't have made a movie about a holiday with bad themes.

 

[Lain]

Of course, real life people don't constrain their ideas of who they care about and who is important in their lives to genetics. But Coco draws a super bright line there. To the point where the boy does a complete about face when he realizes who he's related to. If you don't think that movie has a hardcore guilt trip about owing it to Hector to remember him... to the point of just outright begging... I don't know what to say to that.

I don't have very much positive to say about the themes of that movie. I think it sends terrible messages all the way around - and if that stems from the holiday well... maybe they shouldn't have made a movie about a holiday with bad themes.

The boy's about face and the "guilt" isn't so much because of blood but because of the whole "Hector's actually a good guy and De La Cruz is a monster" Edison/Tesla-but-worse situation.

You just seem to have some sort of bug up your ass regarding the familial theme of the movie. Which hey, I'm not super close with my family and think that families can definitely be toxic... but they aren't necessarily toxic, so I don't think the familial themes present are inherently terrible.

Besides, the film also tackles some of the ways families can be toxic, such as forbidding things out of tradition and trying to decide their kid's future for them. This admittedly gets slightly watered down by the Hector situation, but it's still a huge theme of the movie... arguably even the main theme.

 

[Danoff]

The boy's about face and the "guilt" isn't so much because of blood but because of the whole "Hector's actually a good guy and De La Cruz is a monster" Edison/Tesla-but-worse situation.

You just seem to have some sort of bug up your ass regarding the familial theme of the movie. Which hey, I'm not super close with my family and think that families can definitely be toxic... but they aren't necessarily toxic, so I don't think the familial themes present are inherently terrible.

Besides, the film also tackles some of the ways families can be toxic, such as forbidding things out of tradition and trying to decide their kid's future for them. This admittedly gets slightly watered down by the Hector situation, but it's still a huge theme of the movie... arguably even the main theme.

If that was supposed to be the theme, it got botched by sidestepping it with the Hector/De La Cruz situation. There was no overcoming of the toxic family situation that the movie itself presented. They merely revealed that the whole family had been duped. In no way does the movie suggest that if the past had been as the family had thought it was that they should have or would have changed their minds. In fact, by trying to salvage all of their characters at the end, the movie only bolsters the notion that they had come to the right conclusion given the information they had. There is no remorse for their (frankly cruel and toxic) behavior earlier in the film.

The messages as I saw them were as follows:
- Your family is what matters
- If you don't dedicate some portion of your life to learning about the dead (that you're related to) and passing them on, you are literally harming and destroying them. You owe them.
- The most irrational demands of your family are still to be assumed for your own good
- When learning about the deeds of the people who came before you, skip past the crowds, brush off the strangers, and learn about those people who you are related to.

None of that strikes me as healthy.

 

[Lain]

I wrote responses regarding each of those messages you see in the film and why I don't see those in the film, but I think this has gone on long enough. So I'll just leave it at this: I agree that the film ultimately sidesteps the supreme family dictatorship issue that sets the film's conflict in motion, but I definitely don't agree with the notion that the film is condoning it. In fact it condemns it, even if this condemnation is ultimately watered down by how the issue is sidestepped for plot convenience and a happy ending.


Anyway... I've been keeping up with my daily movie regimen.

Ikiru... Critiquing very old movies is always a bit more of a challenge, especially when trying to judge how well it has aged... but while I was mulling it over after viewing the film and coming up with petty nitpicks and/or theorizing alternative ways the film could've been structured that might've flowed better, just thinking about certain shots made me get teary eyed. And so I stopped and decided that the film was still excellent, and I'd just leave it at that. Rating: Great

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Gonna keep this short. The few minor criticisms I've heard of this film don't hold water IMO, and are likely from people who didn't realize it was a black comedy or just can't find black comedy funny. Personally, I found this movie to be a hoot. Rating: Great

The Foreigner ...This movie was a blast. (Pun not intended, but I'll take credit for it.) It's just an absolute joy to watch an old Jackie Chan kick ass, take names, and put the pressure on Pierce Brosnan. Unfortunately I found the way that the film tied things up at the end to be fairly dissatisfying... but as with John Wick 2, it doesn't matter too much. For this kind of movie, it delivers where it counts. Rating: Good

 

[TB]

The Foreigner ...This movie was a blast. (Pun not intended, but I'll take credit for it.) It's just an absolute joy to watch an old Jackie Chan kick ass, take names, and put the pressure on Pierce Brosnan. Unfortunately I found the way that the film tied things up at the end to be fairly dissatisfying... but as with John Wick 2, it doesn't matter too much. For this kind of movie, it delivers where it counts. Rating: Good

I watched it a few weeks ago and completely agree.

Like 95% of the movies I watch, I don't want to know much of anything about them. For this one, I saw Chan and Brosnan and knew I was watching it. It was more cerebral than most other Chan flicks, which I wasn't expecting but loved. The ending did leave a lot to be desired, and not surprisingly tried to set up for a sequel, which this in no way felt like it needed.

 

[petesj26]

I went to go and see The Meg, if your a fan of fun the idea of people trying to kill an oversize shark is a hoot. It's all very cliché but I wanted a fun evening at the cinema and it delivered.

Watched Shanghai Knights for much the same thing. It's not as good. I enjoyed some of it though. It's just a bit lifeless, Jackie doesn't go full Chan and Owen Wilson is, well, he's never been much different than cardboard. Useful but uninteresting....

 

[Northstar]

I just finished Deadpool 2 and I think it's about as good as the first. It did some things like the fight scenes better, but I think the first had better jokes. The cut scenes were awesome as well.

 

[petesj26]

I just finished Deadpool 2 and I think it's about as good as the first. It did some things like the fight scenes better, but I think the first had better jokes. The cut scenes were awesome as well.

Was that the new "Super Duper" cut? I think that's out in the states but not here in the UK until the disc release next month.... But yeah, a decent extension from Deadpool 1..... I'm really curious and excited about a Deadpool 3

 

[Northstar]

Was that the new "Super Duper" cut? I think that's out in the states but not here in the UK until the disc release next month.... But yeah, a decent extension from Deadpool 1..... I'm really curious and excited about a Deadpool 3

It was indeed the extended cut. Although since I haven’t seen the “normal” version I don’t know what the extra scenes were.

 

[05XR8]

Train to Busan

Zombie movie in Korea. Filmed well. Good acting.
10/10 for entertainment.

 

[JKgo]

....A quick review of the Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Don't have the time nowadays to go to a cinema for the last six, seven months, so it's all down to streaming if I wanna get my movie fix.
So, I watched this Marvel film during a couple of hours off on Sunday. Avoiding spoilers until now was a real b***h, let me tell you.

First impression - it was a fun movie, with surprisingly low stakes. Not a single person dies until the end credit scene, which was very "Disney" of the filmmakers, I guess. Paul Rudd was funny, but I thought that Michael Douglas stole the show whenever he was on screen.

I don't think I'll watch this film again any time soon, though. It just didn't feel like an essential repeat material, in the way the Cap: Winter Soldier or the first Ant-Man is.

6.5/10

Recently, I got a dvd for the film "You Were Never Really Here", but I can't seem to find the time to watch it. Man, I hope it won't turn into another "Logan" fiasco - I bought the bluray of that movie but didn't watch it until like almost a year later.....

 

[Lain]

Since my last post, I definitely abandoned my aspirations of watching one movie a day... but I have been watching movies sporadically, and have recently settled into having Sunday and Monday as dedicated movie watching days.

Here's what I've seen since my previous post, which was in... *gulp* the beginning of August? Hope I don't forget anything! (I probably will):

Black Panther - Cool, charismatic villain, but otherwise fairly mediocre. Rating: So-so

Doctor Strange - House, but he's a superhero. Not the best comic book movie ever, but still quite a bit of fun. Rating: Good

The Founder - Story of McDonalds. I like McDonalds. I like Michael Keaton. I love this movie. Rating: I'm Lovin It Great

Swiss Army Man - Has a fun, goofy premise and crude-but-amusing humor... but goes some weird places that don't work quite as well. Rating: So-so

La La Land - Not much to say about this other than it's an extremely charming musical. Rating: Great

The Big Short - An, uh, "entertaining" look at the financial crisis in 2007-08. Overall quite potent, even if some of the 4th wall breaks could sometimes feel a bit too cheeky. Rating: Great

Schindler's List - Some people complain that this movie has bit of Spielberg's saccharine touch which is inappropriately hopeful/optimistic for a movie about the Holocaust, but this isn't a movie about the Holocaust in general... it's a movie about Oskar Schindler's story in particular. And as such, I felt the more optimistic moments weren't out of place... they were appropriately subdued, and greatly overshadowed by the incredible bleakness. In fact, if I were to nitpick anything about this movie, it'd be a couple scenes that could almost be construed as black humor, which would be fairly inappropriate. Rating: Great

The Imitation Game - Despite it taking many liberties, this was a sleek, enjoyable and well-acted dramatization of cracking the Enigma machine and of Alan Turing's life. Rating: Great

Inside Out - The outward plot is fairly simplistic and isn't anything too special, but the fun and creative ways the film depicts the inner workings of the mind with emotions personified as our helmsmen more than makes up for it. Rating: Great

Zootopia - A pretty obvious allegory about racism, sexism, stereotypes and discrimination in general. Some more strongly left-leaning folks might nitpick certain aspects of it, right-leaning folks might roll their eyes at the very premise... but personally I felt it took an appropriately balanced and level-headed approach, and concludes with a good message that both sides should probably take heed of. Rating: Great

The Secret Life of Pets - Just a dumb, silly little cartoon involving pets. Not much to say about it other than it was enjoyable. Rating: Good

 

[niky]

Zootopia - A pretty obvious allegory about racism, sexism, stereotypes and discrimination in general. Some more strongly left-leaning folks might nitpick certain aspects of it, right-leaning folks might roll their eyes at the very premise... but personally I felt it took an appropriately balanced and level-headed approach, and concludes with a good message that both sides should probably take heed of. Rating: Great

I like that it took the trope of bigotry and turned it on its head to show the dangers of reverse bigotry, as well. A movie that could have been more one-sidedly preachy but which, in the end, wasn't.

 

[andrea]

Martyrs

I didn't enjoy it, but the ending was not what I expected. In a good way, I guess.