FilmNight: Movies you watched recently

[proserpina65]

The only bad thing about Priscilla is that it got that terrible "I've Never Been To Me" song by Charlene stuck in my head.

[Rushmoras]

No Time to Die (2021). Wow... what a boring James Bond movie, wherein even the "high-octane action scenes" are made to be "low-octane action scenes" wherein everybody either are just standing around waiting their turn to try kill Bond or just stand around and let themselves be mowed down by Bond. It's supposed to be a continuation of the previous entry, but all in all the movie does its own thing.

Spoiler

There's now a bad-guy, who is running an organization above the Spectre, and wants to eliminate them all by using highly sophisticated chemical substance targeting DNA. Wow, even writing this was boring. So, he kills them all via James Bond. And Bond wanting to find-out via he was the only one unaffected teams up with the CIA (I guess, because they were the only ones in the vicinity of this tropical paradise). While the start was... interestingly mundane... for lack of better word, but it picked up right after the mausoleum scene, but then gradually sank after that scene were all of Spectre officers got killed. The main badguy... his motivation was revenge, because Blofield ordered... Madeline (Madelaine... what ever, ex-James bond girlfriend) father to kill his family in the past, so he's out for revenge, but we only meet him like towards the end of the movie and then he dies anticlimactically.

Yes, that's the word I should describe this whole movie - anticlimactic.

Spoiler

Oh, yeah, and James has a daughter with Madeline now, who he only sees towards the end of the movie, saves and dies.

Yep...

6/10.

[Rushmoras]

So, decided to try watching Akira Kurosawa filmography for a change and started with his first entry titled Sugata Sanshiro (1943). A movie about 20-30 something lad, who arrives to a town in order to learn some martial arts. After a year, ends up in martial arts tournament, which for some reason is fights to the death (mainly because he is supposedly crazy strong, and partly because his opponents demands this). That's the gist of it. As was stated by the movie company in the opining title, the original was lost during war-time and it was heavily censored to meet the regulations of that time. This movie was a re-eddited by the movie company version in 1973, and it shows, because, for the lack of better word, it is missing some integral elements.

Never saw anything older than Godfather, so my expectations were low, but in terms of entertainment was not that boring as I would have initially thought. Even though that I laugh at some fight-scene choreographies of today's movies/series, but god damn even those are miles above from the slow "fighting" that is depicted in this movie.

5/10

[DearEvette]

Just watched Sea Beast on Netflix.  The story was predictable and nothing really earthshaking.  But holy cow, the animation was gorgeous and all the water stuff just looks very realistic. 

Also a shout of to the diversity, you get the feel that sea faring hunters were just 100% egaliatarian there were so many ethnicies represented.

Sadly there were not an abundance of sea shanties! If a movie was crying out for sea shanties, this was it!

[Shannon L.]

My dad isn't much of a movie person--he rarely watches them--so when I mentioned that I'd never seen The Sting, and response was "You've never seen The Sting? It's a great movie!" I knew I had to give it a shot.  What a good movie and a lot fun!  I never saw the ending coming. I should have and thought I did earlier in the movie, but then figured I was wrong and forgot about it, so it was a surprise to me.  I highly recommend it if you like older movies and like caper films. It's on Amazon Prime for $3.99.

[jah1986]

On 7/17/2022 at 3:42 PM, Shannon L. said:

My dad isn't much of a movie person--he rarely watches them--so when I mentioned that I'd never seen The Sting, and response was "You've never seen The Sting? It's a great movie!" I knew I had to give it a shot.  What a good movie and a lot fun!  I never saw the ending coming. I should have and thought I did earlier in the movie, but then figured I was wrong and forgot about it, so it was a surprise to me.  I highly recommend it if you like older movies and like caper films. It's on Amazon Prime for $3.99.

I LOVE The Sting. Robert Redford was just beautiful and he and Paul Newman had great chemistry. That entire cast was top notch. And it's great that all these years later the ending still surprises people.

[meep.meep]

I remember seeing The Sting first run in a movie theater.  We didn't know anything about it, but the folks coming out of the previous show all had these enormous shit eating grins across their faces.  Two hours later after seeing it, we did too.

[Rushmoras]

So, yesterday I've watched Akira Kurosawa's "The Men Who Threaded on Tiger's Tale" (1945). It was the fourth one in Akira's filmography, and the second one I've watched. The story was vastly superior to his first movie Sugata Sanshiro, however, throughout, could not shake the feeling that I'm watching a theatre-play, because everything in the movie reminded me of this. The movie is about two brothers falling-out and one ordering the assassination of the other. The younger brother with his samurais are forced to flee in disguise as monks, and they try to cross border-checkpoints. While the movie does not have any action scenes per-se, but the dialogues were interesting and kept me engaged throughout.

Spoiler

Though, I could have done without the last part of the movie were the samurais simply drank themselves blind in joy, because they succeeded. I mean, 8 minutes of watching someone drink alcohol is not my idea of entertainment when I could do it myself.

6/10

Edited July 25, 2022 by Rushmoras

[GHScorpiosRule]

I watched the new documentary series about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward last Friday. And it had me wanting to watch his early movies and The Long Hot Summer, which Paul himself said wasn’t that good. He was right. What a slog. It was the only one that was free to me from the early years. Joanne’s Clara just looked like what we call today a “mean girl.” As hawt as Paul looked, and he did, the only interesting thing about it was the richness of the color of the film and pointing out who else was in the movie: a very young Lee Remick and Angela Lansbury! A very creaky looking Orson Welles with a very bad orange tan.

Edited September 20, 2022 by Athena

[Spartan Girl]

Six Weeks (1982): Dudley Moore plays a married politician who gets emotionally involved with a terminally I’ll girl and her mother (Mary Tyler Moore). It’s schmalzy AF and you can probably guess how it ends, but Dudley didn’t do half a bad job in a more serious role.

[Bookish Jen]

Last Sunday I saw Cat Video Fest. It was really cute and funny. And don't worry dog lovers. Dog Video Fest should be released soon.

[kiddo82]

I'm neither a Wes Anderson lover nor detractor and I watched both The Grand Budapest Hotel and Isle of Dogs this weekend.  This was my first time seeing Grand Budapest Hotel.  It's now definitively my favorite of all his movies that I've seen.  Like a lot of Wes Anderson, the humor is so quick and droll that it probably gets even better with repeat viewings.  What's telling though is this is a movie I want to watch again, unlike say, Steve Zissou.  I really loved Tony Revolori here and between this and the Spider-Man movies he shows great comedic presence in two very different roles.  And I always dig Ralph Fiennes with this type of material.  Like I said, I'm not an appointment Wes Anderson viewer, but this definitely lives up to the hype.

Contrast to my feelings on Isle of Dogs.  This was my third time watching this and it always fails to leave an impression on me.  I think I keep coming back to it hoping to enjoy it more than I do but it's only okay.  The animation looks great though.  

[Rushmoras]

Prey (2022). I've got to say that 2019 Predator is hiding in the bushes compared to this movie. I personally liked it, the protagonist got banged up, scratched up along the way and eventually over-smarted the Predator without any corny jokes or cringy dialogues. Yep, that's a classic Predator movie alright. 6-7/10

[Spartan Girl]

Watched the original Bedazzled with Dudley Moore and Peter Cook. Still prefer the Brendan Fraser/Liz Hurley version, but this had its moment. Had to laugh that the magic words for each wish was “Julie Andrews.”

[JustHereForFood]

Vita & Virginia (2018) - a movie about the relationship between writers Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. I haven't read anything from either author, but I'm intrigued about this time period (1920's) in Britain, especially in these artistic circles and the movie didn't disappoint. It showed us a lot about the fascinating lives these two people had and the captivating relationship between them that started as mutual admiration, changed to friendship and eventually romantic relationship. I was fascinated by the, I would say, modern attitudes all central characters seemed to have about love, sexuality and open relationships. It seemed like a world of its own that existed sort of parallel to the rest of society, but still very much a part of it. I kind of wish I had lived at that time and place.

Costumes of course were breathtaking.

9,5/10

Edited August 29, 2022 by JustHereForFood

[meep.meep]

Now you should watch The Hours and Carrington.

Someday I'll find out why The Hours was never shown on TV until almost 20 years after it was released.

[JustHereForFood]

23 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Now you should watch The Hours and Carrington.

Someday I'll find out why The Hours was never shown on TV until almost 20 years after it was released.

Thank you. I saw Carrington some time ago, The Hours is on my list and so is Orlando, I'll watch it when it appears on TV or some streaming service I have.

[Shannon L.]

I decided to watch Rock of Ages again last night for the first time since it came out 10 years ago.  It really was not a good movie.  But, in spite of the fact that a few of the actors couldn't really sing, the musical sequences were fun, especially since it was the music I loved when I was a teen through my early 20s. It really shined (obviously) when Mary J. Blige was on screen.  The one thing I kept thinking though, was how much fun it must have been to film it.  I bet most of them had a blast.

[Shannon L.]

I watched The Lost City again last night and something I don't think I mentioned the first time around (I can't find the thread) is how much I love Beth.  The character could have been a stereotype, but the writers avoided it.  The actress is wonderful, too. 

[Spartan Girl]

Rewatched Spanglish last night, and JFC Tea Leoni’s character was just the worst. Her obnoxious and toxic behavior towards her husband, kids, and mother was abominable, but her dismissive and entitled attitude to Flor and her daughter would be scorched by today’s audience. The woman was a total Karen, acting like she was a better role model for Cristina and trying to Americanize her without giving Flor one iota of respect as a mother.

I never thought I’d say this, but it’s almost a shame that this wasn’t one of Adam Sandler’s typical comedies because if it were, she’d be given a much more satisfying comeuppance.

[Browncoat]

8 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Rewatched Spanglish last night, and JFC Tea Leoni’s character was just the worst. Her obnoxious and toxic behavior towards her husband, kids, and mother was abominable, but her dismissive and entitled attitude to Flor and her daughter would be scorched by today’s audience. The woman was a total Karen, acting like she was a better role model for Cristina and trying to Americanize her without giving Flor one iota of respect as a mother.

I never thought I’d say this, but it’s almost a shame that this wasn’t one of Adam Sandler’s typical comedies because if it were, she’d be given a much more satisfying comeuppance.

She was a HORRIBLE mother.  I felt so bad for her own daughter when she took Cristina shopping.  But I did love when Flor was berating Adam Sandler for paying Cristina for the sea glass.  Cristina was awesome in that scene.

[Spartan Girl]

13 hours ago, Browncoat said:

She was a HORRIBLE mother.  I felt so bad for her own daughter when she took Cristina shopping.

I really wish Adam or Cloris pointed out that it was shitty to leave her own daughter out like that, but even when they tried to make her understand how stupid and insensitive it was to take out Cristina without bothering to ask Flor first, she just steamrollered over them with “When is anyone in this house going to take MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY side?!” 

Her only moment of class was when she actually listened to Cloris/her mom’s advice and stopped herself from asking whether anything happened between him and Flor at the end, because of course she had no right to play the victim after she cheated on him with another guy. And even that was too little and too late.

Edited September 18, 2022 by Spartan Girl

[Shannon L.]

I saw See How They Run yesterday. It's a British film, a murder mystery that takes place in the 50s and is centered around the play Mousetrap. It's cute and amusing. Not a laugh riot, but a nice film that has the feel of a stage play, even with the multiple locations around the city. It stars Saoirse Ronan and Sam Rockwell.

[Spartan Girl]

I watched Hocus Pocus 2 and I enjoyed it. I know some people here didn’t like the first one, but I did, and God knows I needed a palate cleanser after the garbage that was Blonde. It was just pure Halloween fun that made me laugh. You could tell Bette, Kathy, and SJP were happy to be doing this again.

My favorite part was the Walgreens bit, since we go there all the time. It was hilarious. I also got a big laugh at their reaction when the girls lied to them about being 40 to keep from being eaten.

Edited October 1, 2022 by Spartan Girl

[Scarlett45]

I formulated my Nights of Halloween list and put it on this background because that was more fun than working. 
 

I also watched Hocus Pocus 2 with my Mom last night @Spartan Girl- it was cute but I felt they took everything good about the first one and just did it again! I will watch the original again and again but I can’t see watching the sequel again. The thing I liked best was the Mayor and his quest for a caramel candy apple- he was FUNNY. 

[kiddo82]

"Watch Arachnophobia", they said.  "It'll cure your fear of spiders", they said. 

NOOOOOOPE.

I couldn't remember who did the Halloween list every year but now I'm glad I can give credit.  Scarlett, you inspired me to do my own:

Mary Reilly

Maleficent

Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein

Nope

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

Nosferatu (1922)

Nosferatu (1979)

Van Helsing*

Spellbound

*the only one I've already seen.  it's a very guilty pleasure.  And I'm sure I will toss some of the Screams in there here and there but I wanted to focus on movies I haven't seen yet,

Edited October 5, 2022 by kiddo82

[andromeda331]

On 10/4/2022 at 6:55 PM, kiddo82 said:

"Watch Arachnophobia", they said.  "It'll cure your fear of spiders", they said. 

NOOOOOOPE.

It didn't cure mine either. It made it worse.

[kiddo82]

10 minutes ago, andromeda331 said:

It didn't cure mine either. It made it worse.

Ditto.

[Scarlett45]

I watched Cursed Monday night. I didn’t realize we had a young Milo Ventimilga (This is Us) in it, and Mya!! (What a blast from the turn of the millennium)

It wasn’t horrific but not something I’m eager to watch again. Joshua Jackson was creepy from his first scene. He does creepy well. 

[Anduin]

Rapid Response. It's a documentary film about the evolving frontline medical treatment in car racing, mainly from one man who was on that frontline and helping to evolve it the whole time. Dr Stephen Olvey. Mostly archive footage with Olvey or another relevant person narrating over top.

What surprised me was how short it was. Considering the subject, it could have been several times longer. It barely even looked at the pushback. You know, the people who see any attempt at making it safer with making it slower or more boring. Just two little moments.

Olvey has written a book about the subject, also called Rapid Response. That's pretty short too, under 300 pages. There's short and sweet, no padding, but there's also too abbreviated. Anyone know of a longer and more in depth look?

[Browncoat]

I saw "God's Creatures" this week.  I thought it was a fascinating look at a slice of life in an Irish fishing village.  Emily Watson was absolutely fabulous as the mother who had to make some terribly difficult choices.  I'm not at all familiar with any of the rest of the cast, but they all did a great job.  

It's really moody and atmospheric, and the dissonant music suits it perfectly.  It is a bit of a slow mover, and I was glad to have captioning in my theater, but I liked it a lot.

[kiddo82]

I crossed Nosferatu (1922) and Maleficent off my list last night.  

It's easy to see why that version of Nosferatu is so influential. And Max Schreck's Count Olaf is still creepy AF.  I remember as a kid seeing clips of moments like the shadow of his hand creeping up the stairs and it scared the daylights out of me.  While I wouldn't label the movie "scary" today it's still very effective.

Maleficent was a bit of a chore.  I didn't have the highest expectations but I thought it would at least be a fun diversion.  I was mostly bored.  I do think it accomplished two things though: I liked the subversion of "true love's first kiss" and I liked how they didn't shy away from how completely inept the fairies from the animated version were.  How that version of those fairies kept both that kid and themselves alive in the woods for 16 years we'll never know.  I also appreciated the debate about when to bring Aurora back to the castle because it always bugged me why they just couldn't wait the extra day.  For the love of Pete.  But like most villain origin stories I feel like they took Maleficent's bite away and it was a whole lot of "I don't care."

Edited October 8, 2022 by kiddo82

[Rushmoras]

Well, after a long brake, was in the mood again to watch something and decided to continue with Quentin Tarantino's filmography. Second in line was Inglorious Basterds (2009). A movie about a sub-military unit of the Allies tasked to hunt-down Nazis in France. The movie was divided in to a couple of perspectives: the one from the lead Nazi Jew hunter, the one from the Inglorious Basterds troop and the one from a local theatre-owner perspective, who in the past escaped from the Nazi Jew Hunter and is now living a new life. I mean... it was really Quent Tarantinoish movie were almost everybody dies in a blood bath. It was okey, I guess, but nothing spectacular or ground-braking. Truth be told, the first half hour or so of the movie was a slog and I was thinking of whether or not I should watch something else.

7/10, I guess.

[Scarlett45]

Movies watched from my list the last few days:

Hotel Transylvania 4 cute, but I’m glad it’s the last one, not as funny as the others, kind of “paint by numbers”.

Arachnophobia I liked it! Jeff Daniel’s scene in the nest was well shot. It’s a good one I hadn’t seen in years.

I like to alternate between scary/family friendly, and I watch brand new movies on non work nights so I can be sure to give it my full attention.

[kiddo82]

On 10/11/2022 at 10:25 PM, Scarlett45 said:

Arachnophobia I liked it! Jeff Daniel’s scene in the nest was well shot. It’s a good one I hadn’t seen in years.

One person's "well shot" is another one's "scarred me for life."  Tomato/Tomahto

Mary Reilly:  It's a shame because a lot of this movie works.  There is just one giant, glaring, issue that unfortunately cannot be overlooked.  A strong leading lady performance probably saves this movie but Julia Roberts was terribly miscast.  She's proven to be a diversly skilled actress as her career has progressed but it's apparent she wasn't ready for this role at the time.  Per the interwebs, Tim Burton was initially set to direct and wanted Winona Ryder, which I also think would have been a mistake.  (never been a huge fan of hers and I also thought she was equally miscast in Bram Stoker's Dracula.)  I was trying to come up with age appropriate actresses circa 1996 who I think could have done this movie justice and I came up with Angelina Jolie*, Gwyneth Paltrow, and the always underrated, always seems to deserve better, Naomi Watts.  And from a modern perspective, with all the non-verbal acting this movie required, Florence Pugh would eat this up.  The movie looks great though and they really set a great tone of creepy ass, Victorian era, misty London.  And for a movie that was probably made in 1995, the camera movements and angles don't feel dated at all.  This film was never destined for greatness, that ending is hokey as hell, but with the right star it could have been enjoyable guilty fun. And John Malkovich is always welcome.

*It's funny watching this after Maleficent because my feelings on the two are almost opposite.  Here you have a movie that could have been so much better with a star performance that was up to the task while in Maleficent, Angelina Jolie brings her A game and seems to be having a blast but the rest just isn't very good.

[Scarlett45]

On 10/15/2022 at 3:04 PM, kiddo82 said:

One person's "well shot" is another one's "scarred me for life."  Tomato/Tomahto

Mary Reilly:  It's a shame because a lot of this movie works.  There is just one giant, glaring, issue that unfortunately cannot be overlooked.  A strong leading lady performance probably saves this movie but Julia Roberts was terribly miscast.  She's proven to be a diversly skilled actress as her career has progressed but it's apparent she wasn't ready for this role at the time.  Per the interwebs, Tim Burton was initially set to direct and wanted Winona Ryder, which I also think would have been a mistake.  (never been a huge fan of hers and I also thought she was equally miscast in Bram Stoker's Dracula.)  I was trying to come up with age appropriate actresses circa 1996 who I think could have done this movie justice and I came up with Angelina Jolie*, Gwyneth Paltrow, and the always underrated, always seems to deserve better, Naomi Watts.  And from a modern perspective, with all the non-verbal acting this movie required, Florence Pugh would eat this up.  The movie looks great though and they really set a great tone of creepy ass, Victorian era, misty London.  And for a movie that was probably made in 1995, the camera movements and angles don't feel dated at all.  This film was never destined for greatness, that ending is hokey as hell, but with the right star it could have been enjoyable guilty fun. And John Malkovich is always welcome.

*It's funny watching this after Maleficent because my feelings on the two are almost opposite.  Here you have a movie that could have been so much better with a star performance that was up to the task while in Maleficent, Angelina Jolie brings her A game and seems to be having a blast but the rest just isn't very good.

I haven’t seen Mary Reilly in ages, probably since it came out, but your review makes me want to add it to my list for next year. 

[andromeda331]

On 10/15/2022 at 2:04 PM, kiddo82 said:

One person's "well shot" is another one's "scarred me for life."  Tomato/Tomahto

Mary Reilly:  It's a shame because a lot of this movie works.  There is just one giant, glaring, issue that unfortunately cannot be overlooked.  A strong leading lady performance probably saves this movie but Julia Roberts was terribly miscast.  She's proven to be a diversly skilled actress as her career has progressed but it's apparent she wasn't ready for this role at the time.  Per the interwebs, Tim Burton was initially set to direct and wanted Winona Ryder, which I also think would have been a mistake.  (never been a huge fan of hers and I also thought she was equally miscast in Bram Stoker's Dracula.)  I was trying to come up with age appropriate actresses circa 1996 who I think could have done this movie justice and I came up with Angelina Jolie*, Gwyneth Paltrow, and the always underrated, always seems to deserve better, Naomi Watts.  And from a modern perspective, with all the non-verbal acting this movie required, Florence Pugh would eat this up.  The movie looks great though and they really set a great tone of creepy ass, Victorian era, misty London.  And for a movie that was probably made in 1995, the camera movements and angles don't feel dated at all.  This film was never destined for greatness, that ending is hokey as hell, but with the right star it could have been enjoyable guilty fun. And John Malkovich is always welcome.

*It's funny watching this after Maleficent because my feelings on the two are almost opposite.  Here you have a movie that could have been so much better with a star performance that was up to the task while in Maleficent, Angelina Jolie brings her A game and seems to be having a blast but the rest just isn't very good.

I agree. I love the concept of Mary Reilly but they cast the wrong actress. 

[Rushmoras]

Fresh from the movies. Decided to see local (Lithuanian) works and picked out a crime-thriller called "Piktųjų Karta" (The Generation of Angry Men). And here's my impressions of it (though, I doubt that there are many Lithuanians here, if at all, so, even if you'd be interested to see it, I'd say you'll be mostly out of luck.

Maybe because I do not watch that many of my country's movies, maybe because I do not watch that many movies in general and I've experienced some sort of movie draught, but this one... this one... had surprised me pleasantly. I was sceptical at first (I did not particularly fancy 'Zero', which someone holds as an epitome of Lithuanian filmography), but god damn were my expectations smashed in a good way.

The movie revolves around gruesome murders, which, at first seems to be a work of a maniac

Spoiler

(because, who in their right mind would dedicate their time to cram-down a viper someone's throat or decapitate someone and than put a moose's head on the stump.

And that's just few of examples), but as the movie presses on, it becomes clear that this is a calling card from the past for those, who have done wrong and now are in position of power. That's the most I will spoil of the plot.

The plot is competent. The acting is also competent, if at times I can see the unnatural talking, as if monologuing in a theatre play. The chosen music score is very good as well. At times, I was finding myself nodding along to the track.

I would have even given this movie a nine out of ten score, if the director would not have been afraid to break the taboo of not killing children in the movies,

Spoiler

because what is the point of making a father suffer thinking that he has lost his child only in the next scene for the father to find-out (and rescue) that his son is alive and well? The killer should have gone the extra-mile to shatter any hopes and dreams of the father before killing him, because the final scene was that kind of deus ex machina or should I call filius ex machina that I cannot abide. A primary schooler saves the freaking day?!

I mean, in a way I get it, it's within the confines of the movie's title: "The Generation of Angry Men". The child watches a woman burning alive and his father bleeding-out, and, thus, the cycle doesn't close. But, I don't know, would have thought-out, if I was writing the script, to somehow incorporate the thing with the rubble with how many people were killed and in the end for the killer, before shooting one of the main characters, to say to him: "Here's your pieces of gold coins" (alluding to Judas).

But, hey, I'm not the screen-writer here. Just rambling on...

7/10

[kiddo82]

I had to make some alterations my list.  

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad:  I had a VHS of just the Wind in the Willows portion as a kid and I wore that out.  That said, I had never seen the Sleepy Hollow part.  The good:  Bing Crosby and the last 5 or so minutes.  The bad:  too much time getting to the last 5 or so minutes.  I really didn't need to see all the courting and fighting between Brom and Ichabod over Katrina.  Maybe if the short itself was a feature length we would have had more time to explore that as well as headless horseman goodness.  But as it stands, I thought the action and the build up were terribly imbalanced.  I did appreciate how dark the ending was considering this is primarily for children.  And speaking of a lot of build up....

Wes Craven's New Nightmare:  It felt like it took forever for this to finally get started and when it did, there was about 10 minutes left in the film.  And it was a lot tamer than I was hoping for a Nightmare movie.  These movies shouldn't be that complicated.  Slash slash slash.  Dad pun.  Slash.  Blood and guts,  Dad pun.  And it's a good 20 minutes too long. This missed the mark for me.  Stick with the OG.

Frankenweenie:  I liked this a lot.  This is probably my favorite Tim Burton movie since the 90s, maybe even since Batman Returns.  And I like it much better than the, I'm sorry, overrated Nightmare Before Christmas.  First of all, it looks gorgeous.  I think the black and white can seem alienating, especially for a movie where the target audience is probably kids, but I dug it.  And the light and shadows were perfection.  I loved all the monster movie homages and there were probably so many I didn't even catch.  But I think the best part of this movie was the emotional beats for me.  How sad Victor was when Sparky died and how happy/relieved he was to get him back.  And of course, the loyal/playful Sparky was the best.  This reminded me of the best Stephen King adaptations where the human element is just as good/if not better than the fantastical.  (Carrie, Pet Sematary, The Shining, etc. are human stories first and scary stories second.)  I do think the ending would have been stronger if Victor 

Spoiler

had to learn to let Sparky go.  one, I think it's an important lesson to learn and two, I just think it would have had a stronger impact.

But overall it's a solid, fun movie.  And I liked the supporting characters even if they were all a little underdeveloped.  It's a shame it hasn't gotten the same second life that some other movies have, but like I said, I can see why it's a little alienating at first glance.

Planning to watch Nosferatu (1979) tonight,

Edited October 23, 2022 by kiddo82

[Annber03]

Oh, god, Frankenweenie. I agree with you that it was a really good movie, but my god, I can't remember the last time I cried so much while watching a film. I swear I spent more than half of it blubbering. I think it's a very sweet movie and has a lot of good messages and touching moments and whatnot, and you highlighted so much of what makes it a good film.

But yeah, I think the very premise alone might explain why it may not get nearly as much attention. It would be nice to see more movies like that being made again in general, though, yes, whatever the subject matter. 

[BlueSkies]

The Burbs with Tom Hanks.  Was OK, pleasant entertainment

Some parts about it didn't age well while others did.

I thought the funniest part of it was him eating anchovies and not wanting to throw it up at the neighbors house.  If you've ever been forced to eat food you really didn't like at some point that scene hits home 

[festivus]

I finally got to the Fear Street trilogy on Netflix this year. Despite not remembering these books existed (I used to read Christopher Pike) I thought these were some tight little thrillers. Good storyline and acting in each. I did not guess all of the twists since I knew nothing of the books so I thought that was well done. 

I also finally saw Halloween Kills. Yeah, I know but I wasn't going to the theater during the pandemic. I have been informed that I shouldn't bother seeing the last one but I have to see it through. No spoilers please! lol. 

I said this year that I'd watch more horror movies but once again I find myself running out of time. I still need to get in my annual watching of the 80's Trick or Treat and I also have Studio 666 on deck. October just ends up being such a busy time for me every year. 

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, festivus said:

I also finally saw Halloween Kills. Yeah, I know but I wasn't going to the theater during the pandemic. I have been informed that I shouldn't bother seeing the last one but I have to see it through. No spoilers please! lol. 

No spoilers, but, yes -- see it through.  The overwhelming majority of Halloween Ends just plain sucks, and the 2018 Halloween should have stood alone rather than being the first part of this increasingly anemic trilogy, but it's worth sitting through - only once, ever - for the ending.  And I mean truly sucks for everything before that; legit, you could even fast forward to it.

(Of course, I say that not having paid anything to see it; my friend signed up for a cheap month of Peacock so we could watch it.  I'd be grumbling pretty loudly if I'd shelled out cinema prices for it, so definitely don't do that.) 

[andromeda331]

Because of Halloween I have to do my annual Scream marathon. I usually do one through three. Sometimes I do Scream 4 sometimes I don't but this year I decided too. Also, the Addams Family and Addams Family Values. It's always good time for the Addams family. I'll still have marathon of the Addams family TV show from the 60s coming up this week.

[Bastet]

15 minutes ago, andromeda331 said:

Because of Halloween I have to do my annual Scream marathon. I usually do one through three. Sometimes I do Scream 4 sometimes I don't but this year I decided too.

I like 4 better than 3.  My list goes: 1, 2, 4, 3, 5.  That reminds me I haven't bought 5 on Blu-Ray yet, and should do that so, I, too, can do a marathon, as it has been a while.

[andromeda331]

11 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I like 4 better than 3.  My list goes: 1, 2, 4, 3, 5.  That reminds me I haven't bought 5 on Blu-Ray yet, and should do that so, I, too, can do a marathon, as it has been a while.

4 is really good but 1,2,3 are my favorites. Poor Cotton. He only had a few years of his freedom back before being murdered. It was brutal the way his girlfriend was made to think Cotton was trying to killer. I love the actresses and actors they pick for the movie new stab movie especially the one Dewey picked for himself. Plus picking Gail to be the murderer in the movie. Plus it has Randy, the only mistake the second movie ever made was killing off his character. He was too awesome for that. I do love Gail's cameraman leaving in that movie and coming back when it was over. He was smart.

I also want Sidney's house from the first movie and 3 movie. 

[festivus]

5 hours ago, Bastet said:

(Of course, I say that not having paid anything to see it; my friend signed up for a cheap month of Peacock so we could watch it.  I'd be grumbling pretty loudly if I'd shelled out cinema prices for it, so definitely don't do that.) 

Yeah, I'm not going to theater, my friend has Peacock so we're gonna watch it this Saturday. She did see it at the theater and she's very grumpy about it, lol. I told her I have to see it anyway.

[Bastet]

For the first time in a very long time, last night I re-watched Piranha (because I found it on the free version of Peacock).  It is somehow exactly what you'd expect from the incredibly odd combination of a cheesy B-movie producer like Roger Corman and a brilliant writer like John Sayles.  (Yes, that John Sayles; this was his screenwriting debut, which he did in order to fund The Return of the Seacaucus Seven, a practice he continued -- make money as a screenwriter for studios in order to do his own films independently and maintain artistic control).  It looks like a Corman film (complete with obligatory tit shots), but, while it doesn't sound like a Sayles film, it sounds far less like a Corman film than usual; there's an actual effort towards character development, and the women aren't stupid.  Even Steven Spielberg called it the best of the Jaws rip-offs and loved it.

[BlueSkies]

A fan, so most movies Madonna made I’ll watch if I see it.

Shanghai Surprise came on.  She looked very very beautiful in it but can’t defend the movie.  It was pretty bad! I didn’t even finish it 

The Hangover was on the other night.  It didn’t make me laugh as hard as it did in my 20s but it still made me smile overall.

never bothered with the 2nd and 3rd movies 

[kiddo82]

The Hangover was one of those movies that I was so late to the party for that by the time I saw it, the hype had surpassed the actual product.  I didn't dislike but I wonder if I watched it again if I'd actually enjoy it more.