FilmNight: Movies you watched recently

[Rushmoras]

Fresh out from the movies. Friend told us she was taken us to see a comedy. Um, A Man Called Otto... would not call that movie a comedy, sure, it had some elements of it, but it was mainly drama about a man trying to get it together after death of wife. IMO, better than Mr. Church (kinda similar movie with E. Murphy from a couple of years ago) 7/10.

[kiddo82]

30 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I've never heard of this, but it sounds like something I'd want to check out -- once, and for free.  I'll look it up

Yeah.  I saw this because of A-list.  I don't think I would have gone out of my way to pay for it.  

 

31 minutes ago, Bastet said:

It's a good film, but, yes, it has its head so far up its ass it's wearing itself as a hat.  It's one of those films men make and then stand around telling each other how fucking brilliant they are, but it's a lot less offensive than most of those films.  I've never re-watched it, but I liked it.

That's a great way of putting it.  Self-important but mainly inoffensive.  And to reiterate, I think it's a good movie.  I don't even begrudge its screenplay win.  It just didn't appeal to me but I could completely see how it would appeal to someone different.  

[Anela]

On 12/25/2022 at 9:29 AM, Spartan Girl said:

Watched this last night, and it managed to be twisted and heartwarming at the same time! David Harbour playing a hard-drinking, jaded, ass-kicking Santa suited my holiday blues quite nicely. Some of the kills were a little too gratuitous, but they didn’t call it Violent Night for nothing lol.

I think I'm watching this tomorrow.

I watched "Sick" a week ago, and it was okay. Basically a covid version of "Scream". 

I still haven't watched "Nope". I started it, but then decided I wasn't in the mood for a movie (too tired).

[kiddo82]

Another random movie dump:

John Wick Chapter 2:  This one started out strong and there was a lot I liked about it, but then it did the exact thing I was happy that the first one didn't do and devolve into crazy twists and plots and "this thing is bigger than you know" type reveals.  It's bananas, but the action is still a lot of fun.

John Wick Chapter 3:  And now we're off the rails.  Literally everyone is an assassin and I can't with how everyone is so beholden to their rules and their queen bee's and their blood sacrifices.  It's like a bunch of 12 year old girls at a sleepover.  And how many times can John simply survive getting run over by cars?  In all seriousness though, I would like a side movie about that world wide assassin command center.  I want the backstory about those taking the phone calls and updating all the bounties and stuff.  Back to this though, the fight scenes are still unimpeachable, and it's still insanely watchable, but higher stakes don't necessarily equal better stakes.  That said, Laurence Fishburne and Halle Berry are national treasures.  At least they looked like they had a ton of fun.

Aftersun:  This is a really slow burn and I did drift at times, even for a 90 minute movie, but the ending makes it worth it.  I think Paul Mescal definitely deserves all the love he's getting for the role.  I can't decide if 

Spoiler

Using the lyrics from Under Pressure was too on the nose or not.  But I did like that moment none the less.

The War of the Roses:  I've seen this now 3 times and I think I always want to like it more than I do.  The good is the stinger of an ending.  They really "landed" that one.  And I did laugh at some other moments too but nothing that I can ever really recall once the credits roll.  I can't blame either of them for not wanting to give up that house though.

Ratatouille:  Another movie I have now seen three times hoping to see what some others apparently see.  First off, it's a Pixar film so it's technically beautiful, but the story feels so jumbled and I don't even think it has a clear thesis statement.  (and if it's "be yourself even when everyone tells you not to" I think A Bug's Life did that much better.)  There are about 18 different subplots and no one really learns anything at the end other than the critic who barely qualifies as an antagonist.  And you know who the real hero of this story is?  The health inspector.  Justice for that dude.

[Bastet]

Emily the Criminal - I've never seen the actor, Aubrey Plaza, in anything before, but she's pretty much perfection in this.  How Emily feels when she's around her successful friends is never expressed in dialogue, but is broadcast all over her face.  It's a good script, too, establishing her circumstances so that her trajectory is completely believable.  And I could not love more the scene where she tells off a prospective employer for the audacity of calling a job an internship so she doesn't have to pay people for their work.

[Rushmoras]

Yesterday went to the movies with friends and saw a Lithuanian movie called "Man viskas gerai" (I'm Fine, Thanks) about a female researcher suffering from PTSD (however, the movie lacked to tell the viewer what caused the PTSD) and only recently having been released from psychiatric care after a worse episode, but the gist of it is, she never told anyone that she was in hospital, everyone thought that she took a vacation abroad. So, when she returns to her social life, she sees that everything is falling apart and those PTSD episodes are slowly returning to a climactic point in the end.

Overall, I would describe the movie as surfing though filth and nothing but filth; depression on depression, melancholy on melancholy, only to in the end do a one-eighty and have a dramic-comedy scene. Did I like it? Eh, it wasn't terrible, a solid 6 out of 10, but if this was on cable tv (yeah, we still use that old thing here lol), I would change the channel after the first commercial break.

6/10

[BlueSkies]

Inception (2010).  

 

Was okay.  My best friend recommended it.  Perhaps just that genre of film isn't my thing but I didnt feel it.  Not to say it was an awful movie just sort aaah..  

[Shannon L.]

I watched Everything Everywhere All at Once a 2nd time last night because my husband hadn't seen it yet.  I agree that technically (acting, costumes, editing, set design, etc.....) it's a wonder and I was able to follow it better this time, which made me like a few scenes better, but I still don't care for it.  It's way too frenetic for me and I thought they could have made their point (which I did understand the first time through, lest anyone think that I didn't like it because I didn't get it) much faster.

[kiddo82]

I like it but it's at least 20 minutes too long.

[Shannon L.]

When the list of Academy Award nominees came out, I knew there were three more Best Picture nominees that I wanted to see.  This afternoon, I watched Triangle of Sadness.

Oof. What a waste of time and money.  I had read that it was a dark satire/comedy and had even see the comments "uproariously funny".   I'm usually pretty good at picking out the parts that the writer wanted you to find funny, even if I disagree, but I'm still baffled as to where there were any funny moments, let alone "uproariously" funny ones.   It's yet another movie about the differences between the classes and the writer of this one didn't even try to be subtle--he clobbered you over the head with it.

Add to it a good 15 minutes, give or take, of scenes with explosive vomiting and diarrhea and an ambiguous ending (plus one extra few seconds that made no sense at all) and I think I'd have had a much more entertaining afternoon watching a few of the tv shows I started streaming recently. 

Of course, I'm sure that people who love "fine art" will insist that I just didn't get it (even though it wasn't all that hard to understand).  I should have known to be wary of it when I saw that it won the highest reward at Cannes and received an 8 minute standing ovation.  There are very few of those films that I've enjoyed over the years.

[roseha]

I was going to post this in the TCM thread but since I watched it online I'll do it here:

Given the Cary Grant love I'm seeing on the boards, I thought I would mention a 1936 movie currently playing on the Criterion Channel, Big Brown Eyes starring Grant and Joan Bennett, directed by Raoul Walsh.,

"Cary Grant and Joan Bennett make for a most delightful crime-solving duo in this eccentric mix of gangster drama and screwball comedy."

Grant is a police detective in love with Bennett who goes from manicurist to crime reporter back to manicurist while helping Grant reveal a gang ringleader.  By the way the title doesn't really amount to anything that I can tell, maybe Grant or Bennett had brown eyes but it doesn't come up. Generally a fun movie though; it was recommended in an interview on the Nitrateville Radio podcast by the author of a recent Grant bio.

Edited February 12, 2023 by roseha

[Bastet]

When it popped up as a Netflix recommendation, I watched The Founder, about how McDonald's became a nationwide and then worldwide franchise.  It boggles my mind, fundamentally, as only twice in my life have I found a cheeseburger (one of my favorite things) so bad it was inedible and tossed in the trash uneaten -- once was hospital food, and once was McDonald's (I don't know which specific burger, as this was back in high school). 

Beyond personal taste and feelings on how fast food transformed American dining, Ray Kroc was an asshole.  Which this film seems to sort of acknowledge yet tries to wave away as an inevitable aspect of success, ultimately admiring his "persistence".  The whitewash failed on me; I'm all the more glad not to eat there.  Yet I'm simultaneously appalled by the McDonald brothers' stupidity in accepting the terms of the buyout, when they knew damn well - by word and deed - by then who Kroc was, so I can't feel sorry for them being put out of business.

Shady shitheads and pious prats is what this boiled down to, when presumably they were all more nuanced than that.  Good performances can't save this celebration of ambition at its worst.

[Shannon L.]

I watched Tar last night.  Cate Blanchett was amazing, but that's nothing new.  The movie itself was ok, but really slow, imo.  I wonder if I'd have liked it more if I knew about classical music and that whole industry?  It shouldn't matter because at it's core, it's about a seemingly perfect person who starts to unravel due to both her own personality and some outside influences, which has nothing to do with what one does for a living.  But the movie has you so immersed in that world, that it had me wondering if I'd have felt differently if I knew more about it.

[Rushmoras]

Watched Banshees of Insherin yesterday in the cinema. Was okey, I guess.

Spoiler

Two blokes on an island of maybe 1000 people were friends, but one of them decided that the other is rather dull and he'd rather spend his remaining life composing music. But when that other friend did not understand why his friend is no longer friends with him, that friend decided to opt to drastic measures - cutting his own fingers to get the point across.

Had some comedic elements as well (when bickering in Irish),

Spoiler

plus some underlying abusive gay incest side-topic, when the village finds out that the local cop is sexually mollesting his son and then, in the end, the son commits suicide, because he figured-out that his 'friend' is not a good person and cannot be trusted any longer.

Overall, a movie about two village yokels that take their bickering to an absurd level.

7/10

[Sarahsmile416]

Watched Empire of Light today - a good, if not meandering movie.  Olivia Colman was amazing as always…and Colin Firth truly made me hate him - a feat in and of itself! Not a movie I will likely forget any time soon, but like the last Olivia Colman movie I saw (The Lost Daughter), probably not one I will rewatch either…

[Sarahsmile416]

On 2/12/2023 at 12:18 AM, Bastet said:

When it popped up as a Netflix recommendation, I watched The Founder, about how McDonald's became a nationwide and then worldwide franchise.  It boggles my mind, fundamentally, as only twice in my life have I found a cheeseburger (one of my favorite things) so bad it was inedible and tossed in the trash uneaten -- once was hospital food, and once was McDonald's (I don't know which specific burger, as this was back in high school). 

Beyond personal taste and feelings on how fast food transformed American dining, Ray Kroc was an asshole.  Which this film seems to sort of acknowledge yet tries to wave away as an inevitable aspect of success, ultimately admiring his "persistence".  The whitewash failed on me; I'm all the more glad not to eat there.  Yet I'm simultaneously appalled by the McDonald brothers' stupidity in accepting the terms of the buyout, when they knew damn well - by word and deed - by then who Kroc was, so I can't feel sorry for them being put out of business.

Shady shitheads and pious prats is what this boiled down to, when presumably they were all more nuanced than that.  Good performances can't save this celebration of ambition at its worst.

Just saw this recently and I agree.  I came off thinking of Ray Kroc was an asshole too - and I guess I don’t think the movie shied away from that conclusion as much as you do.  I think where the movie fails is having the eponymously likable Michael Keaton play him.   

[Shannon L.]

I watched Scream last night for the first time since it came out.  I was impressed with how Courtney Cox was able to make her character completely different than Monica in Friends. 

[kiddo82]

Gail:  Jesus!  The camera.  Hurry.

Kenny:  my name is not "Jesus"

Edited February 19, 2023 by kiddo82

[Bastet]

Amber Alert.  It came up as a recommendation on Prime, and I like a good "found footage" film -- but I hate a bad one, and wowza, is this bad.  Unwatchably bad -- I started fast forwarding not even halfway through, but I had to keep going to see how bad it could get.  BAD.  I have seen better student films.  In high school.

The premise is a group of three friends set out to make an audition video for some reality show (and they are SO the type who'd audition to be on some reality show, so from the beginning I can't stand these folks), and soon come across the car that is the subject of an Amber Alert.  They follow, and get increasingly involved, but because they're as reckless as the cops are ineffectual, everything goes to hell. 

Nate is a worthless moron, constantly dismissing the situation as just a "custody dispute" - and still being more concerned about his empty stomach once he learns the truth - and stupidly insisting the cops will be there any moment when they've done absolutely jack all up to this point, but Sam's utter disgust with his whining and the utterly inept police response is frequently overshadowed by the fact she never shuts the hell up for a moment.  And, while I appreciate that people, especially young people, totally out of their depth are not going to act perfectly in a situation like this, the complete lack of logic and pathetically ineffectual communication throughout is too much to swallow.

[Cloud9Shopper]

I watched Save the Last Dance tonight. This came out when I was in high school so I definitely still watch and enjoy it when I can. But I must be getting old because during Sarah’s second audition at the end I was like “She’ll never make it at Julliard if she needs all this start and stop time at an audition.”

 

[Rushmoras]

Local movie called Paradas (2023) (Parade) - an ex-husband and wife trying to annul their marriage solemnized in the church. That's the gist of it. A drama-comedy. Liked it. Though, could have been twenty minutes shorter, because at 1:15 mark, I started looking at my phone.

[BlueSkies]

I watched Burlesque with Christina Aguilera & Cher.  I grew up with a big crush on Christina and still like her.  So it was now free on Netflix so I gave it a shot.

 

A little of this whole vibe were from Hollywood and think we're better than other people from middle America came up.  Christina's character was from Iowa and her friend she lived with from Kentucky...   there were lines in there something along the lines of we didnt find anyone where we lived whose life was worthwhile or something like that.  A little condescending.

 

 

But for the stuff I liked Christina and Cher were both very good in their roles.  It was an entertaining film.  I liked Christina's characters persistence in trying to reach her dreams/goals.  She was very beautiful along with Kristen Bell (even though I didnt like her character) in the film.  

 

 

Gets a 7/10 from me 

[Shannon L.]

That Burlesque scene where she sang for the first time was a real "hell yeah!" moment.  It was pretty clever with the product placement, too 😉

[BlueSkies]

15 minutes ago, Shannon L. said:

That Burlesque scene where she sang for the first time was a real "hell yeah!" moment.  It was pretty clever with the product placement, too 😉

Yeah I agree.

 

I think for a variety of reasons people sometimes dont get a chance to meet their full potential.  So yeah I could appreciate that scene as I've grown up too 

Edited March 6, 2023 by BlueSkies

[kiddo82]

On 7/5/2022 at 6:47 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Dangerous Liaisons (1988): Well, other than the costumes and Glenn Close’s performance, I can say I enjoyed this movie. Not that I ever liked Cruel Intentions that much to begin, but at least Cecile and Annette ended in a better place than their counterparts: Cecile is ruined and goes to a convent while Tourvel freaking DIES?! And no, sorry, I don’t give a crap about Valmont, he was an asshole!

This is from a while back...I think my main issue was how miscast John Malkovich was.  I bought him as scheming and manipulative but in no way did I see Pfeiffer's character ever falling for him.  And it's entirely possible that I'm brining in my 2023 prejudices.  I love Malkovich as an actor but it's almost impossibe for me not to see him as (and I mean this as a compliment) creepy, weirdo character actor guy.  I'm too young to know what people thought about him as a leading man in 1988 so maybe it was a get at the time.

I'll always have a soft spot for Cruel Intentions, so again, I might just be showing my biases but Phillippe and Witherspoon had chemistry for daaaaaaays.  (and the Joey Tribbianni theory where heat onscreen does not equal heat offscreen was apparently disproven here.)  And I think he's just better suited to play both sides.  I buy him both as smarmy, manipulative, entitled asshole AND someone who Annette would ultimately let her guard down around.  

[Spartan Girl]

Return to Oz: Finally watched this movie, and as far as dark and trippy 80s kid’s movie go, it’s pretty entertaining. I think people made the mistake of constantly comparing it to the original movie…but JFC they made the Scarecrow look hideous.

Also, can’t believe the little girl that was Dorothy grew up to be the girl from The Craft and Vicky Vallencourt from The Waterboy!

[proserpina65]

16 hours ago, kiddo82 said:

This is from a while back...I think my main issue was how miscast John Malkovich was.  I bought him as scheming and manipulative but in no way did I see Pfeiffer's character ever falling for him.  And it's entirely possible that I'm brining in my 2023 prejudices.  I love Malkovich as an actor but it's almost impossibe for me not to see him as (and I mean this as a compliment) creepy, weirdo character actor guy.  I'm too young to know what people thought about him as a leading man in 1988 so maybe it was a get at the time.

I saw Dangerous Liaisons not too long after it came out, and I absolutely agree with you.  I never bought John Malkovich as a seducer for whom anyone would fall, let alone Michelle Pfeiffer's character.  Some time after that I discovered that Alan Rickman had played Valmont in the RSC production of Les Liaison Dangereuses in 1985. HE would've been the perfect, believable Valmont for the film but off course he didn't have his break into movies until 1988 and so wouldn't have been on the producers' radar when they were casting the film, alas.

Edited March 8, 2023 by proserpina65

[kiddo82]

I heard on a podcast that the year after Dangerous Liaisons came out there was another version adapted by Milos Forman called Valmont.  It starred Annette Benning as Merteuil, Meg Tilly as Tourvel, and Colin Firth as Valmont.  Frankly, I don't have much desire to watch another version of this story but I definitely can get behind Firth in this role as well.  

[Popples]

8 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I saw Dangerous Liaisons not too long after it came out, and I absolutely agree with you.  I never bought John Malkovich as a seducer for whom anyone would fall, let alone Michelle Pfeiffer's character.  Some time after that I discovered that Alan Rickman had played Valmont in the RSC production of Les Liaison Dangereuses in 1985. HE would've been the perfect, believable Valmont for the film but off course he didn't have his break into movies until 1988 and so wouldn't have been on the producers' radar when they were casting the film, alas.

I found this out after watching the film for the first time last year and feel completely robbed.

[JustHereForFood]

23 hours ago, kiddo82 said:

I heard on a podcast that the year after Dangerous Liaisons came out there was another version adapted by Milos Forman called Valmont.  It starred Annette Benning as Merteuil, Meg Tilly as Tourvel, and Colin Firth as Valmont.  Frankly, I don't have much desire to watch another version of this story but I definitely can get behind Firth in this role as well.  

I preferred that one.

There's also a TV version with Catherine Deneuve, Rupert Everett and Nastassja Kinski, set in the 1960's. I used to confuse Colin Firth and Rupert Everett a long time ago and them playing the same character didn't really help.

[QQQQ]

On 3/1/2021 at 2:02 PM, festivus said:

Watched Barefoot in the Park last night. I love Mother. But omg I think they said she was supposed to be 52. Just the style and whatever made her seem so much older. I also loved that little apartment. The colors were so pretty.

This is one of my favorite movies - has been since I was a teen. But I'm 52 and reading this makes me want to cry. 

[BlueSkies]

The Man From Left Field.  Burt Reynolds played a man who forgot everything in his life but somehow winds himself coaching a little league team of misfits.  And miraculously he coaches them to victory and feeling better about themselves.  He was a former baseball player in a past life before having amnesia.

 

While the plot seems kinda goofy I thought the movie had a lot of heart.

 

Reba McIntyre is in it as well.  Her character as usual was very likebale as the single mom.

 

A larger part of the positive review comes from it's a part of my childhood nostalgia.  Review: 9/10 

 

 

 

[Anduin]

I just got back from 65. Adam Driver vs dinosaurs. Not terrible, but not as good as the premise would suggest. Pitch Black meets Jurassic Park? Oh well. So Adam Driver has to leave his wife and daughter and fly a spaceship hauling colonists in cryofreeze. Only the ship is hit by an asteroid swarm and he crashes on a nearby planet. Luckily, it has a breathable atmosphere. One colonist survives, a preteen girl who doesn't speak English. Together they have to learn to communicate, help each other, and fight dinos on their way up a mountain to a lifeboat, so they can return to space. And guess what? Those asteroids are on a collision course with the planet! Yes, we all know what's coming. Even though it actually happened 66 mya.

Attention those squeamish about body horror: there is a very uncomfortable bit when they're in the cave with the glow sticks. I squirmed in my seat and looked away for a few moments.

My biggest quibble was the dinos themselves. They just kept coming after our heroes, even after getting beaten up. Surely there's easier prey. Especially the one that tore into the ship to get to the humans inside. Also, none were presented with feathers. All scaly, mostly grey. I suppose those are easier to animate. However, the only dinos I could say for sure were t-rexes and pterosaurs. Apparently the director resisted the urge to chuck all the usual suspects in. There was something in the iguanodon vein and some raptor-esque dinos, but I couldn't say exactly what they were.

On a side note, my bus didn't come and I had to walk 30 minutes into town. Pretty warm day today. I was low on water and food. That probably didn't help my mood. If I'd been watching this at home, I doubt I'd have finished. But as I paid $27, I stayed to get my money's worth.

All in all, thumbs a little above the middle. All right, but underwhelming.

[Browncoat]

Words do not adequately express my adoration of Real Genius.  So absurdly hilarious, and eminently quotable.  

[Shannon L.]

I watched Bodies Bodies Bodies last night.  I don't have the same visceral reaction to Pete Davidson as some people do and it was only a 1hr and 35min, so I thought I'd try it.  It's your typical slasher film updated with Gen Z references and humor and, imo, just ok until the last 2 minutes.  The payoff is brilliant and made me laugh out loud.  It was a silly moment, but it worked. 

[Bastet]

12 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

I watched Bodies Bodies Bodies last night.  I don't have the same visceral reaction to Pete Davidson as some people do and it was only a 1hr and 35min, so I thought I'd try it.  It's your typical slasher film updated with Gen Z references and humor and, imo, just ok until the last 2 minutes.  The payoff is brilliant and made me laugh out loud.  It was a silly moment, but it worked. 

That was the first thing I saw Davidson in, and I'm one of those visceral dislike people -- he's distractingly unattractive to me, which is quite shallow, I understand, but I also find him a mediocre-at-best actor.  (I subsequently saw him in something else, I can't recall what, and felt the same way; there's something quite off-putting about him.) Still, that reveal is the best. 

It is made for a younger audience than me, and I'd never heard of it until a friend mentioned she'd seen it on a list of recommended horror films, so for our next movie night we gave it a try.  It was fun.  The characters aren't very well developed, but that's true of a lot of horror films.  It did fairly well with the suspense and humor, and, again, that ending is why it rightfully made the list.

Edited March 15, 2023 by Bastet

[MagnusHex]

Just saw Hey Arnold!: The Movie as part of finishing up the TV series' fifth and final season. Here's my review!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the summer of '02, Nickelodeon made the foolish decision of releasing a produced-for-TV movie on the big screen, competing against the likes of "Lilo & Stitch", the live action Scooby-Doo adaptation, Star Wars Episode II, The Powerpuff Girls Movie, and let's not forget, the first big-screen debut of Spider-Man. To make things worse, the marketing budget of the film cost over 13 million dollars, on top of the 3 million budget for the film.

It's little wonder that the film was considered a flop, and "Hey Arnold" the series would be put on the shelf for a long time to come after its TV finale, "The Journal". The original theatrical release that this film replaced, "The Jungle Movie", would not come to see the light of day for more than a decade.

And as for the actual movie itself? It's quite decent for a big-screen version of the series, filled with your typical one-off guest characters and cinematic elements reserved for movie versions of TV shows. The gentrification plot is a little cliched, not to mention being a go-to plot for many American movies, from "Casper: A Spirited Beginning" to Pixar's "Cars" (the latter of which actually had a decent song to convey the theme, James Taylor's "Our Town"). That being said, the movie does a good job of showing the mundane but somewhat quirky lives of various citizens living in the soon-to-be uprooted town in the forms of the aforementioned one-off characters, particularly the bus driver, Murray who's a war veteran whose girlfriend ran off due to prejudice against his amputated leg. In fact, Murray's existence gives the film the kind of melancholic somberness that made the animated series popular and appealing to even older audiences. Unfortunately, this is ultimately underwhelmed by an over-the-top antagonist with a weak motivation, coming off as your typical cartoon villain usually seen in big-screen versions of TV cartoons.

That said, the film does contain a pretty nice Helga and Arnold moment. Even if I'm not a big fan of the shipping myself due to Helga's problematic behavior that's pardoned by fans, it's a pretty decent character progression compared to her stagnated arc in the series. It's just a shame that status quo remains king in the film.

Overall, it's not a bad film adaptation, even if it's not nearly as impressive as even certain TV movies of other cartoons (like "Codename: Kids Next Door" that actually had real progression in its lore). I also like the subtle jab at Disney animated musicals when Eugene tries to sing in a musical number - twice - but got shut down by Arnold and Gerald. Always a fun take to knock those Disney musicals down a notch or two.

3/5

Edited March 18, 2023 by MagnusHex

[Bastet]

I watched the documentary Crack (Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy on Netflix) last night and was a little disappointed it was more of a cursory primer than I was expecting, but it's quite a good cursory primer; if you don't already know "crack babies" were hardly an epidemic, the overwhelming majority of crack users were white, Reagan - in his quest to return America to the 1950s - cared more about keeping communists out of Nicaragua than keeping cocaine out of the U.S., the war on drugs subsequent presidents amped up even more has done nothing but waste money, militarize police forces, and build a prison industrial complex out of the mass incarceration of Black Americans, mandatory minimum sentences are racist as hell, and this addiction crisis was treated wildly differently than today's opioid addiction crisis, check it out. 

Even if you do know all that, check it out, as the personal accounts from former users and dealers are worth it, and even if you're not learning anything new from the historians, journalists, and the fantastic neuroscientist laying out the big picture, it's nice to nod along as they do it.

[Kel Varnsen]

I watched Greyhound last night with Tom Hanks on Apple TV. I hadn't seen it before and it was pretty good. I liked how it covered on relatively short event in time (a convoy of allied ships crossing the Atlantic in WWII) and showed how brutally stressful it would have been.

The only thing I thought was dumb was the opening scene was Hanks meeting with his girlfriend before he ships out and wanting to get married (she said to wait until he comes home). It just seemed stupid since Hanks is in his 60s and his character would probably be at least in his 50's and it just seemed dumb that in 1942 he and his girlfriend played by Elizabeth Shue wouldn't have already been married. It seems like more of a trope you would have for a soldier or sailor in their 20's going off to war. It also didn't really add anything to the story.

[MagnusHex]

Over the past week, I've finished three solid conclusions to seasons-long cartoons from my childhood, namely "The Powerpuff Girls Rule" (10th anniversary special to the series), "Codename: Kids Next Door - Operation I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W." (a very emotional send-off for fans of the series and the young at heart), and finally, the movie I just watched just now, "Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie". Out of those three, the last one is arguably the strongest finale that pays the proper tribute and ties up all the loose threads fans have asked for.

Here's my review for it:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie

And so, at long last, after 22 years beginning from its pilot episode of '95, its follow-up five seasons, and two movies, Hey Arnold has finally come to an end. And what an end it is, with this movie easily being one of the strongest animated TV finales I have ever seen. Ironically, contrary to its big-screen debut, this delayed TV movie (originally intended to be a big-screen movie, and its quality animation really shows that) actually feels far more cinematic and theatrical than "Hey Arnold: The Movie", not simply because it pays proper tribute to all the secondary characters and their unique traits, but more importantly, it reminds everyone about all the great deeds Arnold has done for the community over the course of the series that made Arnold the special boy he is. It's a perfect tribute to the TV series that HA: The Movie sorely lacked.

And of course, it's also a great finale because of how it gave a proper closure to the biggest lingering plot of the TV series: Arnold's parents. Sure, much like some of the movie, things did feel rather contrived and even cheesy - befitting a Nickelodeon cartoon - and I did almost roll my eyes a few times, especially towards the end in a scene involving Helga's locket, but I still ended up accepting the film for what it is because I feel that the resolution is well-deserved, cheesiness be damned. Personally speaking, I do agree with some people in that I wouldn't have minded a more melancholic ending as well, as some of my favorite HA episodes were about getting through the dark times with hope in my heart, even if I don't get what I want in reality. Having said that, for a conclusion to a decade-old TV series, you gotta wear your heart on your sleeve and have a satisfying ending like this with all the sentimentality for the fans (much like the way "Spider-Man: No Way Home" poured its fanservice), and I think "The Jungle Movie" had the right amount of sincerity without being too goofy.

It's a solid send-off for one of the best animations America has offered, and I couldn't be more happy to have witnessed it.

4.5/5

Edited March 21, 2023 by MagnusHex

[GHScorpiosRule]

I was looking for something to watch on Tuesday night and came across a remake of 12 Angry Men from 1997. Good cast. But I was so exhausted that I fell asleep about a half hour in. I wanted to resume watching last night, but couldn't find it. What showed up was the original 1957 version and so I watched that again.

I have the dvd, and this was the second time I watched it. Still so very, very good. And shallow, but Henry Fonda was sooooooooo hawt.

Ahem.

From what I can remember of the 1997 version I did see, the dialogue is almost verbatim. I'm going to try and find it again tonight to resume watching.

And earlier this week, I watched She Said. What struck me was that this seemed like All The President's Men, but with female reporters. I found it powerful. But I kept waiting for the news about Annabelle Sciora, but there was no mention of her or her story.

I watched it on Peacock--no commercials. Well, there were about 2 minutes of commercials before the movie started, but no ad interruptions while watching.

[JustHereForFood]

7 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I was looking for something to watch on Tuesday night and came across a remake of 12 Angry Men from 1997. Good cast. But I was so exhausted that I fell asleep about a half hour in. I wanted to resume watching last night, but couldn't find it. What showed up was the original 1957 version and so I watched that again.

I have the dvd, and this was the second time I watched it. Still so very, very good. And shallow, but Henry Fonda was sooooooooo hawt.

I've only seen the original version, it was really very good. And knowing almost nothing about it going in, from the title I expected to dislike it, lol.

[Bastet]

7 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I was looking for something to watch on Tuesday night and came across a remake of 12 Angry Men from 1997.

I like that one; even with such a cast, I wondered how it would measure up to such a classic original, but it more than holds its own (it definitely helps that the original writer revised his own screenplay).  I just re-watched it this past Christmas Eve.

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 minute ago, Bastet said:

I like that one; even with such a cast, I wondered how it would measure up to such a classic original, but it more than holds its own (it definitely helps that the original writer revised his own screenplay).  I just re-watched it this past Christmas Eve.

I liked what I saw of it as well. I've just been so exhausted. I've come off of a two week project, working 12 hours a day and the past two weekends, and planning for my vacation trip, that I just fell asleep! I plan on watching it tonight.

[Spartan Girl]

My mom wanted to rent The Whale so we watched it.

And…it wasn’t a great movie. The melodrama was a little too strong. But I will still take it over that stupid, boring Banshees of Inisherin.

Look, I don’t like how it won Best Makeup for the fat suit and all that. However, I don’t think the movie on the whole dehumanizes fat people the way some people are accusing it of doing, even though a lot of stuff is hard to watch. If anything, it tries to understand why Charlie fell apart the way he did, and damn if your heart doesn’t break for him.

Brendan earned his Oscar, and Hong Chau was great. And Sadie Sink did a good job, despite the fact that I wanted to throttle her character. I get being mad that her father left her (even though he did try to be a part of her life, or at least keep in touch before he got depressed and fell apart), but you can only blame your parents for so much, and none of that that was an excuse for how cruel she was to him for most of the movie.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Spartan Girl

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

However, I don’t think the movie on the whole dehumanizes fat people the way some people are accusing it of doing,

I'll give it a try at some point when I can watch it for free, but literally no one - of any body type - I know in real life nor anyone overweight/obese I "know" online  who's seen it has said anything other than, while Fraser's performance is fantastic, this is another instance of someone who isn't fat writing an offensively uninformed take on what it is to live as the target of a fat-shaming society.  So I'll be pleasantly surprised if I come away feeling as you do, and will keep an open mind when the time comes, but this is quite the outlying review even among those who liked the film among those I've heard from.

[andromeda331]

Just watched The Untouchables again I love that movie. Great characters on both sides. My favorites are Malone and the Accountant. Almost everything Sean Connery said was great. I love the nerdy accoutant during the shootout at the bridge. He's shocked and so proud of himself when he held his own and sneaks some booze. I like how they showed how almost everyone especially the police, politicians and judges were on Capone's payroll. They really were.

16 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I was looking for something to watch on Tuesday night and came across a remake of 12 Angry Men from 1997. Good cast. But I was so exhausted that I fell asleep about a half hour in. I wanted to resume watching last night, but couldn't find it. What showed up was the original 1957 version and so I watched that again.

I have the dvd, and this was the second time I watched it. Still so very, very good. And shallow, but Henry Fonda was sooooooooo hawt.

Ahem.

From what I can remember of the 1997 version I did see, the dialogue is almost verbatim. I'm going to try and find it again tonight to resume watching.

And earlier this week, I watched She Said. What struck me was that this seemed like All The President's Men, but with female reporters. I found it powerful. But I kept waiting for the news about Annabelle Sciora, but there was no mention of her or her story.

I watched it on Peacock--no commercials. Well, there were about 2 minutes of commercials before the movie started, but no ad interruptions while watching.

She Said is such a good movie. Infuriating but very good.

9 hours ago, JustHereForFood said:

I've only seen the original version, it was really very good. And knowing almost nothing about it going in, from the title I expected to dislike it, lol.

Both are really good but the original is the best. I do wish they had changed it in the 1997 to 12 Angry People including women I like how they go through the evidence and testimony. The guy who grew up in the same world as the defendent realizes their holding the knife wrong. Or the glasses.

 

[Shannon L.]

I watched Puss in Boots: The Last Wish last night and oh my goodness, Perrito is one of the best cartoon side kicks I've ever seen. 

[Spartan Girl]

Watched Murder Mystery on Netflix and it wasn’t bad. Yeah, the bar for Adam Sandler movies is tremendously low, but it was pretty entertaining. Probably will watch the sequel on Friday.

[jah1986]

Just watched Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris on Prime and I loved it. The costumes were beautiful and the acting was very good. Put me in a similar frame of mind as Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, another one I love.