FilmNight: Movies you watched recently

[andromeda331]

The Addams Family 1991 and Addams Family Values. Those movies are still so funny and so much fun. Morticia is just so awesome. She loves and suppose Gomez. When he's depressed over Fester she talks to her mother about how to help him. When they get evicted from their home which leaves Gomez so destroyed. She cheers up the rest of the family and goes out to get a job. I love the job recruiter isn't even phased by Morticia's "major" being spells and hexes. She just calls it "Liberal Arts". Gomez and Morticia have the best marriage. They love each other so much. They are devoted to each other. And have a hard time keeping their hands off each other. Like at the charity auction when they keep bidding against each other for the item they donated. 

Their also such great parents. Gomez proudly telling the parents' at camp that Pugsley is on probation. Sitting through the school play in the first film clearly bored out of their mind until their kids turn and then they are so happy. Give them a standing ovations. Pugsley's and Wednesday's swordfighting is amazing with all the blood flying everywhere. Especially on the audience. Sending their kids to camp because they think its what they want in the second film even though they clearly don't like it. Same with Morticia reading the baby a Dr. Seuss book even though it pains her because its what makes her baby happy. I also like when Wednesday's teacher is talking to her about her worries showing her the "normal" pictures other kids brought in that they admire. President Bush and Jane Pauley, the latter Morticia asks the teacher if she's spoken to that girl's parents. Naturally Wednesday brings in a picture she drew of her great-aunt who was burned as a witch for dancing naked in the town square and enslaving a minister. But don't worry Morticia told Wednesday college first.

Wednesday Addams is also awesome. She's suspicious about Fester not really being her uncle. In the second movie is suspicious of the new nanny. Her comments and all her scenes are awesome. Asking if Girls Scout cookies are made out of real Girl Scouts and the entirety of Wednesday's revolt at the camp's Thanksgiving play. It is awesome.

The whole family is great. They all love each other. The movies are still just so much fun.

 

 

[jah1986]

Saw King Richard on HBO this weekend and I really enjoyed it.  I haven't seen tick, tick, Boom yet so I can't speak to Andrew Garfield's performance. But I thought Will Smith was fantastic in this, as well Anjanue Ellis (sp?).

I still think Richard Williams is a jerk, But at least I have a better understanding as to why.  It was nice to be reminded of how good Venus and Serena were and what it took for them to get to the top of their game.

[twoods]

Elf. I freaking love this movie and it still cracks me up. 

[JustHereForFood]

I have just watched Tre nøtter til Askepott, a Norwegian remake of Three Nuts for Cinderella, a classic fairytale movie that was made in 1973 as a co-production between Czechoslovakia and East Germany (orig. title: Tři oříšky pro Popelku / Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel). The original is one of the most popular movies in Czech Republic and Slovakia and is always broadcast on TV on Christmas Eve in prime time. I knew that it was also popular in Norway among other countries, but I only learned few months ago when the trailer was released that they were doing a remake of it. I generally don't want to be the kind of person to immediately dismiss remakes, but I still waited with caution, because I love the original so much.

I was surprised by how much I liked it. It's not the original, but I did not expect that and I think it is a good movie on its own, as well as a worthy remake. I would maybe compare it to Disney live-action versions in terms of difference between the original and the new version - some scenes were very similar, even had some of the same dialogue, some were slightly altered and some scenes were new. There was one new character that provided some additional comic relief, but I'm not sure he added much.

 

The good stuff:

- The highlight was definitely the scenery, Norway is so beautiful and I kept admiring how magnificent and yet simple does the snow-covered country look (I love snow).

- Costumes were also great, Cinderella's ball gown looked amazing.

- I liked the twist at the end with the third nut.

Spoiler

There was no dress in it and Cinderella was instead changed to her original outfit, which might look like a downer at first, but I liked how she noted that this will just have to do, meaning the Prince will have to like her as she is.

- I liked some of the modern touches to it, like how Cinderella said at the end that they just met and that's too early to get married right away.

 

The not so good stuff:

- I am not sure I like that they made the stepsister more sympathetic here (for those who wonder, there is only one stepsister in both movies). I liked how in the original she was just as self-centered and nasty as her mother and they made a great duo. Also, her mother clearly loved her. Here, the stepmother is basically the only one who is nasty and doesn't treat her daughter all that well either, so we are left to feel a bit sympathetic towards her. I think that works better when there are two sisters, like in Ever After, but not so much with only one.

- My favorite line was missing in this version.

Spoiler

When Prince tells Cinderella that he just found his bride, she immediately tells him that he forgot the important part which is to ask her if she wants to marry him. That whole exchange was skipped here, which I found a bit odd, because I considered it to be one of the integral parts of this version of Cinderella, one that establishes their banter. 

All together, it's rather good, maybe 8/10.

[JustHereForFood]

Last Train to Christmas with Michael Sheen. I am not sure what to think about it to be honest. I like time travel, but I was a bit confused how some of the changes in different time periods worked here. Has anyone else seen it? 

What I also didn't get is 

Spoiler

why did Tony end up in 2015 at the end, when he started the movie in 1985. I thought the movie would end in the same time period. From what we saw, it seems that he still had only memories of his original timeline and was clueless in future timelines about how him life turned up, so will he now spend all his time trying to piece how the last 30 years of his life turned out? Seems like a weird ending.

What I liked is how each time period looked like a movie shot at that time - different ratio of the screen, older periods looked more grainy and the oldest was black and white. Visually it was great. Good music too. Sadly, Nathalie Emmanuel was wasted here.

6/10

[AngieBee1]

I recently watched the dark (so very dark) apocalyptic comedy SILENT NIGHT on AMC+. It stars Matthew Goode, Kieran Knightley, Roman Griffin-Davis and many others. I absolutely loved it. I don't watch trailers or read reviews of a film until after I have seen it and, judging fom the reviews from viewers I am in the minority. The film was very jarring and disturbing to a lot but I found it funny and darkly beautiful. 

[kiddo82]

Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977):  I had never seen this.  I knew the ending was coming and it was still hella hard to watch.  Diane Keaton probably gives her least Diane Keaton performance ever, which I dug. I didn't really jive with the movie as a whole but I like the conversation it sparks as I understand it was divisive even in its time.  I don't even want to imagine the discourse if this gets released today.  I'm actually surprised the movie itself isn't talked about more.

And because disturbing movies are apparently a theme in casa kiddo82 this week:

The Constant Gardener (2005):  Been on a Rachel Weisz kick lately and wanted to revisit this as I remembered almost nothing about it.  (I just caught it before it left prime.)  The book is probably better as it seemed like there were some missing pieces and it was a little hard to follow.  And I don't know if it's because I had already seen it, although I swear I really didn't remember any key plot points, but the twists and reveals didn't seem all that shocking.  Maybe it's an of it's time thing but I'm like 

Spoiler

No shit the big pharmaceutical company is the bad guy.  It was nice learning with Justin that Tessa really did love him all along though.

I did like the big "hell yeah" moment at the end.  Weisz is good, as is Ralph Fiennes, but I don't know that there is a ton there where I'm like "That's an Oscar performance."  Although at any moment Tessa could have become insufferable in her righteousness so kudos to Weisz for never letting it get to that level.  I think The Favorite gives her a lot more to sink her teeth into though.  I plan on revisiting that one tonight.  If memory serves, I thought she was the best of the 3 leads.  Another upper of a film.  

Edited January 1, 2022 by kiddo82

[Rushmoras]

Haven't watched anything lately, was not in the mood, but yesterday decided to see what was all the fuss back then about "The Shape of Water" and... well... it really did receive an Oscar for the best movie of 2018? Really? Am I getting old or just don't understand these sorts of movies.

Spoiler

A mute woman falls in love (and three times have sex) with the "creature from the blue lagoon" (or what was that eighties movie called). And for this it won the best movie of the year award?

Hahahaha. What were other contenders I wonder. I mean, don't get me wrong, its an entertaining one-time watch, but personally would not give it above 7.

[Shannon L.]

15 hours ago, Rushmoras said:

Hahahaha. What were other contenders I wonder. I mean, don't get me wrong, its an entertaining one-time watch, but personally would not give it above 7.

The Shape of Water

Call Me by Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Get Out

Lady Bird

Phantom Thread

The Post

Of those movies I saw Call Me By Your Name (hated it except that the actor playing the father was excellent), Lady Bird (meh), The Darkest Hour (loved it), Get Out (loved it) and The Post (loved it).  I had no interest in the other three. 

I don't get most of the artsy movies either.

Edited January 3, 2022 by Shannon L.

[Spartan Girl]

Mom and I watched Finch on AppleTV and yeah, it’s a tearjerker. I mean, if you have Tom Hanks, a sentient robot, and a cute dog in a road trip movie set in the apocalypse, you know that 

Spoiler

One of them is gonna die!!!! 😭😭😭😭

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by Spartan Girl

[kiddo82]

On 1/2/2022 at 12:09 PM, Shannon L. said:

The Shape of Water

Call Me by Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Get Out

Lady Bird

Phantom Thread

The Post

Of those movies I saw Call Me By Your Name (hated it except that the actor playing the father was excellent), Lady Bird (meh), The Darkest Hour (loved it), Get Out (loved it) and The Post (loved it).  I had no interest in the other three. 

I don't get most of the artsy movies either.

I saw all of those except Phantom Thread, in which I have no interest.  I thought Shape of Water was fine but my vote would have been for Dunkirk or Get Out.  My UO about this crop is that Lady Bird didn't do anything for me in spite of the fact that I am probably the demographic it was made for.  I didn't agree with the praise at all.

Oh, P.S., word of advice about The Shape of Water in case anyone hasn't seen it.  Don't watch it with your dad.  Learned that lesson the hard way.

ETA:  Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was also in this class.  I haven't revisited this movie since 2018, and I know it has its flaws, but I also remember really enjoying it.  I'm still sticking with my aforementioned top 2 from that year though.  

Edited January 8, 2022 by kiddo82

[Spartan Girl]

Watched Come From Away last night on AppleTV because I needed a reminder that not everyone on the planet is a garbage person.

[Browncoat]

48 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Watched Come From Away last night on AppleTV because I needed a reminder that not everyone on the planet is a garbage person.

Thanks for the reminder that that's on Apple TV!  I'd forgotten about it, though I'd really like to see it.

[GHScorpiosRule]

The Jurassic Park movies. And as stated in the unpopular thread, I see no reason for the last two movies. Aside from Blue.

And we never learned what happened to Papa Rex and baby from The Lost World!

The only thing I’m excited about in the new one is seeing the original 3-and to see Queenie eat all the STOOPID HOOMANS.

[Kel Varnsen]

I watched The Rocker from 2008 with my kids on the weekend. It's a fun/dumb comedy that they liked. But man, has there ever been a more poorly received movie with a more loaded cast of award winners and nominees. Nearly everyone in the movie is an Emmy nominee or winner even people with bit parts (Rainn Wilson, Christiana Applegate, Jeff Garlin, Jayne Lynch, Jason Sudeikis, Will Arnett, Howard Hessman, Fred Armisen, Jane Krakowski and Aziz Ansari). The only people who haven't been up for Emmys in this movie were the lead singer of the band (who seems to have been hired because he could sing) Bradley Cooper (who has a bunch of Oscar nominations), Josh Gad (who has a Tony Nomination and grammy) and Emma Stone who has an actual Oscar. It was a good movie but not great but on paper it should have been amazing.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Kel Varnsen

[Bastet]

5 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

But man, has there ever been a more poorly received movie with a more loaded cast of award winners and nominees.

I wouldn't have believed a movie with Susan Sarandon, Allison Janney, Kathy Bates, Dan Aykroyd, Toni Collette, Nat Faxon, Melissa McCarthy, and Gary Cole could be anything but great, but Tammy is not at all good.  I like Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone, but they missed the mark with that one.

[festivus]

In preparation to watch the new Matrix, we watched the original(still one of my favorites ever), Reloaded, which I have only seen half of due to falling asleep watching it 15 years ago and never bothering to finish and Revolutions, which I have never seen. It's crazy I've gone 15+ years without knowing

Spoiler

Trinity and Neo died! Whoa.

It'll be interesting to see how this is dealt with in the new one. I did end up liking the sequels but they don't have the magic of the original. The battle for Zion went on way too long in the last one. Agent Smith and Neo's final fight was great though.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 1/10/2022 at 4:55 PM, Bastet said:

I wouldn't have believed a movie with Susan Sarandon, Allison Janney, Kathy Bates, Dan Aykroyd, Toni Collette, Nat Faxon, Melissa McCarthy, and Gary Cole could be anything but great, but Tammy is not at all good.  I like Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone, but they missed the mark with that one.

That movie was pretty bad. The Boss, which stared Melissa McCarthy and was directed by her husband and also had a crazy stacked cast was also really bad. I mean I am glad they have a strong enough marriage where they can work together like that, but I can't believe they keep getting to make movies together. And to take it back to my previous post, The Rocker was way better than Tammy so you might have found a worse movie with a more loaded cast.

[proserpina65]

On 1/2/2022 at 12:09 PM, Shannon L. said:

The Shape of Water

Call Me by Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Get Out

Lady Bird

Phantom Thread

The Post

Of those movies I saw Call Me By Your Name (hated it except that the actor playing the father was excellent), Lady Bird (meh), The Darkest Hour (loved it), Get Out (loved it) and The Post (loved it).  I had no interest in the other three. 

I don't get most of the artsy movies either.

Darkest Hour was soooooo much better than The Shape of Water, and Dunkirk should've won Best Picture, imo.  Although I haven't seen Get Out, so it could've been a serious contender.

[Scarlett45]

Some friends of mine are discussing Working Girl  (1988) for their podcast and I realized I had NEVER seen this one. They must’ve not played it on cable because it won all sorts of awards when it came out but nope- have never seen it. Not even clips. 
 

Ummmm when Harrison Ford takes Melanie Grifith’s character home because she drank too much, I thought 1. Did he roofie her because who becomes unconscious like that after one drink (her friend gave her something); 2. then I thought “oh he is being nice, leaving her in the chair.” 3. And then  it went to “how did she end up in the bed with her DRESS OFF in her undergarments???”

Mick Dugan (played by Alec Baldwin) is Tess’s (Melanie Griffith’s character) loser boyfriend. He cheats on her (she catches him mid coitus) and then he cops an attitude when she doesn’t agree to his public proposal!

Do not get me started on the “Caribbean Themed Wedding”- cringey. However, the 80s styles are fun and it’s great seeing everyone so young! Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin, Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver, Oliver Platt, Joan Cusack (man her eye makeup is WILD). 

[supposebly]

I just watched Jerry McGuire the first time. This won Oscars? But why? I couldn't figure out what this was supposed to be about. Romance? A sports agent who finds his soul? A weird football player? I was bored throughout.

At least it had Regina King.

[Scarlett45]

32 minutes ago, supposebly said:

At least it had Regina King.

She was the best thing about it. 

[Bastet]

28 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

She was the best thing about it. 

Absolutely.  It's one of those thankless supportive wife roles, but she's such a force she makes it interesting.  When she's watching from home as Tidwell gets injured, and Jerry calls to tell Marcee he's unconscious but being tended to by good doctors so stayed tuned and stay calm, because her family needs that, and she says, "I know, but my whole life is this family, and it does not work without him!" it's oodles better than anything in the Jerry/Dorothy romance.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Bastet

[Shannon L.]

I really liked Jerry Maguire when it first came out, but it didn't age well.  I tried to watch it a few months ago and I couldn't. There are some scenes that I still like and Regina King is most of them.  I like the scene where she loses it over the terrible contract that was offered to her husband and Rene Zellweger fires back at her, ending with "I'm sorry. I'm just not as good at the insults as she is" with Regina's response of "No, that was really good."

I think the reason I didn't mind (and still don't) it being nominated was because I was already so tired of the slow, artsy films that keep getting nominated, that it was nice to see something mainstream getting recognized.  I still feel that way, although, it's getting slightly better where that's concerned.

Wasn't it also the first time Tom Cruise did comedy?  I think I remember that being a new thing for his fans to witness.

[Bastet]

12 minutes ago, Shannon L. said:

Wasn't it also the first time Tom Cruise did comedy? 

Cocktail was a romantic comedy-drama, but had less comedy than Jerry Maguire (and was terrible; what a waste of Elisabeth Shue).

[Fool to cry]

On 1/14/2022 at 7:08 PM, supposebly said:

I just watched Jerry McGuire the first time. This won Oscars? But why? I couldn't figure out what this was supposed to be about. Romance? A sports agent who finds his soul? A weird football player? I was bored throughout.

At least it had Regina King.

You should look up Patton Oswalt's story about the time he and his brother saw it in the theaters. His brother's reaction was hilarious.

[Rushmoras]

On 1/15/2022 at 5:08 AM, supposebly said:

I just watched Jerry McGuire the first time. This won Oscars? But why? I couldn't figure out what this was supposed to be about. Romance? A sports agent who finds his soul? A weird football player? I was bored throughout.

At least it had Regina King.

I never really watched it when it was on TV. Just bits and pieces, but I know the general story. Thanks for reminding me, might as well watch it this week.

[Rushmoras]

Kill Bill Volume 1 (2003). Continuing forwards with Quentin Tarantino movies. So far, in terms of enjoyment, I like this the most, however, I cannot give it more than an 8 because of one versus an entire army trope and some plot armour protecting the MC from certain death situations where others would simply die by her hand (though, maybe, when fighting that insane chick with a chainball the same applied to the insane chick, because, apparently, getting hit with a spiky part of your own chainball on the back of the head means squat). Also, that child in the beginning, she's definitely not four years old. I don't know, but in my country, no one would allow four year olds to travel by bus unescorted from kindergarten. But I don't know, so take this with a pinch of salt. She looks more to be in primary school, maybe grade one or two, so that would explain the yellow school bus.

7.5/10

[kiddo82]

I rewatched Room for the umpteenth time last night.  It's a weird movie to like as much as I do because it's not an easy watch but I keep finding myself coming back to it.  I love the tightrope that Ma/Joy has to walk when dealing with Jack when they are in room.  Like when he's screaming at her because he wants candles on his birthday cake.  She can't really reason with him because he's five, and she can't exactly tell him the truth, so she just has to sit there and check herself and she has to take it.  And she just has to take so many things in order to protect both of them while all these emotions are constantly bubbling underneath throughout the first half of the movie.  Larson plays it perfectly.  You can't help but cringe with empathy for her because, although I hope none of us have ever been in Joy's exact situation, I think we can all relate to that experience of having to swallow our emotions and carry on.  Sometimes for a prolonged amount of time without a real outlet. My favorite image is her just crying in the night and covering her mouth so as not to wake Jack up and upset him.  It's the only time she gets to let something out and even then it's suppressed.   And the whole escape plan/scene is still so compelling after rewatches.  I haven't revisited the book since before seeing the movie the first time but I still maintain that this is a really well done book to movie adaptation.  My only gripe is I think the second half of the film would have been better if it did focus more on Joy and her mom and both of them trying to reconcile the last 7 years.  We just weren't going to get that because the movie is so faithful to the book.  However, the fight they have, where both of them are completely valid in their feelings, is the best thing about the second hour.  I wish we explored more of that.  Plus, you got Joan Allen right there so put her to good use.

[magicdog]

On 1/14/2022 at 6:43 PM, Scarlett45 said:

Some friends of mine are discussing Working Girl  (1988) for their podcast and I realized I had NEVER seen this one. They must’ve not played it on cable because it won all sorts of awards when it came out but nope- have never seen it. Not even clips. 

I saw this film when it was in theaters when first released and thought it was great!  I too am surprised it's rarely on cable.  Don't know why.  It got plenty of attention back in the day and IIRC it was well received.  Plus, I had Carly Simon's song, "Let The River Run" in my head for weeks! 

Just got finished re-watching "Julie & Julia".  Still one of my favorite latter day films, and one of the few made in the last 20 years that I still enjoy.  The only thing that taints it is the real life Julie (who based on her follow up book) seems like an unpleasant shrew, not the likeable charming person in the form of Amy Adams.  Naturally, Meryl Streep is perfect as Julia Child and if Julia had lived to see the film, I'd like to think she would have loved her performance. 

[Scarlett45]

3 hours ago, kiddo82 said:

I rewatched Room for the umpteenth time last night.  It's a weird movie to like as much as I do because it's not an easy watch but I keep finding myself coming back to it.  I love the tightrope that Ma/Joy has to walk when dealing with Jack when they are in room.  Like when he's screaming at her because he wants candles on his birthday cake.  She can't really reason with him because he's five, and she can't exactly tell him the truth, so she just has to sit there and check herself and she has to take it.  And she just has to take so many things in order to protect both of them while all these emotions are constantly bubbling underneath throughout the first half of the movie.  Larson plays it perfectly.  You can't help but cringe with empathy for her because, although I hope none of us have ever been in Joy's exact situation, I think we can all relate to that experience of having to swallow our emotions and carry on.  Sometimes for a prolonged amount of time without a real outlet. My favorite image is her just crying in the night and covering her mouth so as not to wake Jack up and upset him.  It's the only time she gets to let something out and even then it's suppressed.   And the whole escape plan/scene is still so compelling after rewatches.  I haven't revisited the book since before seeing the movie the first time but I still maintain that this is a really well done book to movie adaptation.  My only gripe is I think the second half of the film would have been better if it did focus more on Joy and her mom and both of them trying to reconcile the last 7 years.  We just weren't going to get that because the movie is so faithful to the book.  However, the fight they have, where both of them are completely valid in their feelings, is the best thing about the second hour.  I wish we explored more of that.  Plus, you got Joan Allen right there so put her to good use.

I have not seen Room but I have heard nothing but good things about it. I will watch it one of these days, but I know I have to be in a certain mood to watch a film like that. 

[Spartan Girl]

On the Rocks (2020): Rashida Jones is worried her husband is cheating on her, and her womanizing father (Bill Murray) tries to help her by tailing him. It’s pretty good. Sofia Coppola knows how to use Bill Murray—I’m pretty sure given his escapes, he has talked his way out of a ticket like his character in the movie.

[kiddo82]

56 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

On the Rocks (2020): Rashida Jones is worried her husband is cheating on her, and her womanizing father (Bill Murray) tries to help her by tailing him. It’s pretty good. Sofia Coppola knows how to use Bill Murray—I’m pretty sure given his escapes, he has talked his way out of a ticket like his character in the movie.

I liked On the Rocks.  And I agree about Coppola and Bill Murray.  I'm not the biggest fan of his but it seems like she has a strong sense of what she wants out of him so as not to let him go off the rails.  Comedians tend to do that and it can have diminishing returns.  Although, in fairness to him, he has proven his willingness to do the "dialed down" performances with other directors as well such as Wes Anderson. 

[ramble]

Love and Monsters  (2020) which is billed as a “monster apocalypse thriller.”  I only noticed it because of Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf, Maze Runner trilogy) who I tend to like. I went it with low expectations but was pleasantly surprised that I was enjoyably entertained. I watched it while we were in some of the harsher parts of lockdown for our area and it fit the bill for what I needed. Not heavy, kind of goofy, likable lead and monsters. I would not call it groundbreaking but it was fun and I liked it  

 

 

[proserpina65]

I finally got around to seeing Knives Out this weekend.  I loved it.  It wasn't exactly what I was expecting but it was great.  Chris Evans still does nothing for me, though.

[Kel Varnsen]

On the weekend I watched The Mitchells vs the Machines on Netflix. I threw it on with 0 expectations and it ended up being really good. And the crazy/creative animation was awesome. Also it kind of surprised name, but between this, Hotel Transylvania 4 and the Spider verse movies how did Sony Animation possibly become the 2nd best big animation company? Because I like the Minions but everything else that Illumination does (Sing, Secret life of pets) is kind of weak. DreamWorks is doing Boss Baby and Trolls and Warner is just recycling old stuff like Scoob! And Tom and Jerry.  In Sony's case I can't believe the company that made the Emoji Movie is actually putting out great stuff.

[proserpina65]

I was so disappointed with the Lord of the Rings movies that I never bothered with the 3 Hobbit movies, but I have free HBO right now and so I'm currently watching the first Hobbit movie.  My god, it's long and crammed with unnecessary detail!  Trust Peter Jackson to take one short book and turn it into 3 endless, overstuffed epics - assuming, of course, the next 2 movies are as overdone and overlong as the first.  It looks good, if obviously CGI-d within a inch of its life, but it takes what is, in the book, a relatively simple story and makes it so complicated that it can barely stand under the weight of its own pretentiousness.

[Browncoat]

4 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I was so disappointed with the Lord of the Rings movies that I never bothered with the 3 Hobbit movies, but I have free HBO right now and so I'm currently watching the first Hobbit movie.  My god, it's long and crammed with unnecessary detail!  Trust Peter Jackson to take one short book and turn it into 3 endless, overstuffed epics - assuming, of course, the next 2 movies are as overdone and overlong as the first.  It looks good, if obviously CGI-d within a inch of its life, but it takes what is, in the book, a relatively simple story and makes it so complicated that it can barely stand under the weight of its own pretentiousness.

I've only seen the first of the Hobbit movies, and I very nearly fell asleep from boredom.  I liked the book!

[Rushmoras]

Kill Bill Vol. 2. Um, I don't know, maybe better than Volume 1, but at times cheesier than a B type movie from the eighties, but I guess that's what they were aiming for with the introduction of that old bearded crazy haired kung fu master, who yells like he is in an over the top theatre play. Actually, I think I saw this movie or parts of it many years ago on TV, because that training montage scene felt very familiar or maybe, because many popular media seemed to use it. I don't know, perhaps and 8? But I'm inclined to give it a 7. Eh... gonna be enough with Q. Tarantino movies for a while.

[Bastet]

Last night, a friend and I finally had our Black Christmas move night - re-watching the original and watching Glen Morgan's 2006 remake.  Oh, dear.  The remake is horrible.  And really had us worrying about Morgan, as this film felt like what the "Home" episode of The X-Files would have been without network standards and practices.  But, apparently, it wasn't him - all the truly disgusting, gory stuff was there at Bob Weinstein's insistence.  That doesn't let him off the hook for the bland writing and his inexcusable insistence on casting his terrible actor of a wife (Kristen Cloke) in his projects, but at least we no longer think he should perhaps be committed.

We don't have the 2019 version, but it's rated as even crappier than the 2006 (too bad, since that one was written and directed by a woman who wanted to explore the original premise "but with a Me Too-style twist and a celebration of the bonds of sisterhood").

We watched the original Scream for the upteenth time afterward as a palate cleanser (we haven't seen the latest one of those yet, since it's only in theatres right now and we're waiting for streaming due to the pandemic).

[Spartan Girl]

Stardust (2007): I love this movie. It’s got everything—Charlie Cox, lightning pirates, DeNiro giving makeovers, a human goat, magical jewelry, a Greek chorus of ghost princes that all killed each other…

[Rushmoras]

So, I decided to watch something unseen with Jim Carrey for instance, and was looking through his filmography on imdb, and found an eighties movie about vampires. 'Hmm', thought to myself, 'might be an interesting watch'.... well, fast-forward to the end of the movie and that was an hour and a half of my life that I will never be getting back.

The name of the movie was Once Bitten (1985). Its about a vampiress, who must every Halloween drink the blood of a virgin three times in order to appear as young as she is, but since she is living in the 20th century, naturally, compared to previous centuries, the quantity of virgins are dwindling. Here, steps our unlucky protagonist (Jim Carey), who after an argument with his girlfriend, stumbles upon the vampiress. That's the supposed plot, but in reality it is a movie about a douche, who had a stick up his butt, because his current girlfriend refused to have sex with him in an ice-cream truck in a place where every couples inside the cars are banging. So, instead of thinking, well, maybe I'm gonna book a hotel room, I'm just going to get laid, because my girlfriend refuses to give me any, and then goes: "No, oh my god, I made a mistake. Please forgive me".

The movie is supposed to be a comedy, but I did not laugh once. Even before halfway through the movie, I was wishing for it to end soon. It wasn't funny, it wasn't entertaining, it wasn't even a good parody about vampires. The only two redeaming qualities it had was the soundtrack and the fact that someone noticed Carrey's proclivities for physical comedy. That's it.

4/10

[kiddo82]

I finally got around to watching Best in Show for the first time yesterday.  It's one that had been on my list for a while and it lived up to the hype.  And I bet it's one of those movies that gets better the more you watch it because the humor is so dry.  It's almost impossible to pick a favorite character but if I had to I'd go with Fred Willard's dog show commentator.  When his character saw Catherine O'hara's and he goes "That handler looks familiar to me" I damn near lost it.

[festivus]

I love Best in Show. I used to watch dog shows sometimes because I found it all so hilarious. I was just saying the other day that I need to watch this again. From my memory what was so funny about it was that there wasn't that much to parody about dog shows since they are already absurd.  That's why I found it brilliant. Making something funny that already was so unintentionally funny to begin with. 

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, festivus said:

From my memory what was so funny about it was that there wasn't that much to parody about dog shows since they are already absurd.  That's why I found it brilliant. Making something funny that already was so unintentionally funny to begin with. 

When I first saw Little Miss Sunshine - which does the same thing with the ridiculous world of kiddie pageants (including using real kids and their parents) - I was reminded of Best in Show for that reason.  I haven't seen BiS in a long time, but it's my favorite of Guest's improvised mockumentaries. 

This is a fun oral history, which included Fred Willard just a month before he died. 

[Spartan Girl]

Bridget Jones’ Baby: Finally got to watch this and it was okay. A little disappointed that the filmmakers didn’t take the unconventional route and have Jack be the father while Mark and Bridget still get married. It might have been a little weird, but since they were all on warm terms at the end, why not?

[Bastet]

I watched the Rita Moreno documentary, Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It, this morning and loved it.  She's unflinchingly honest, including admitting feeling relieved when her husband died, as it meant she didn't have to answer to anyone anymore (he loved her, but it wasn't a good marriage).  She's honest in her appearance, too, letting them film her with no make-up and her thin hair.

She talks about the sexual harassment she endured (and of being raped by her agent - yet needing to keep him on as her agent), including a heartbreaking story of a disastrous afternoon getting repeatedly propositioned and groped at an industry party, where she wound up fleeing to the backyard and telling the Mexican gardeners she needed to go home.  They just quietly put a jacket on her and drove her home; she says "Those were the only gentlemen I met that day".

She also talks about the unending string of racist, sexist roles she was put in, and how she had such high hopes after getting cast in Singing in the Rain, but it was right back to illiterate island girl with make-up the color of mud.

I highly recommend it; it's a great look at her career and activism, the struggles she faced and the barriers she broke.

They filmed some backstage footage on the set of One Day at a Time, and there's a fun moment when Justina Machado turns to the camera as the studio audience goes wild when Moreno goes out to take her bow and says, "Here's the part where I won't even be able to hear when my name is called."

Edited February 13, 2022 by Bastet

[proserpina65]

I watched Baz Luhrman's Australia the other week, and like most of his movies, it was overstuffed and overdone.  There were about 4 movies crammed in there, two of which were pretty good, one of which was okay and the last one was a cheesy, cliche-filled mess.  He was absolutely the wrong director to try and deal with heavy social issues like the treatment of Aboriginal peoples and mixed race children.

But the cattle drive part was quite entertaining.  And I imagine Brian Brown was having a ball.

[Rushmoras]

The Truman Show (1998). Movie about dystopian alternate reality where TV studios can adopt a fetus and film his/hers life from beginning to an end for all the world to see, while spending billions upon billions of dollars in order to create infrastructure just for the main character. 7/10. If not for car radio going haywire, Jim Carrey's character might never have figured anything out.

[Bastet]

I watched Worth, about the establishment and administration of the 9/11 victims compensation fund (created by Congress to keep the victims' families from suing the airlines).  It's the "what is a lost life worth?" question that must be answered in any wrongful death settlement, only on a massive scale and one that highlights where ethics and numbers collide - the stockbroker's family is indeed entitled to more than the line cook's, because the lost income is so much greater.

How to create an objective formula and where to set the parameters, or whether removing emotion from the process is even the right way to do it, never gets properly grappled with.  Which works in a way, as there is no good answer, but also doesn't quite work as a film.  And the turnaround in attitudes - of the lawyer serving as the special master that the fund needs to be done differently and then of the families deciding to trust him and sign on just in time - isn't properly set up.

But it's a quiet film with great performances, especially by Stanley Tucci (of course), and some lesser known stage actors given the chance to shine in small but affecting roles as grieving and angry family members.