What movies have you seen recently?

[dickey1331]

What movies have you seen recently?

Horrible Bosses 2. Really good and funny. I think this may be better than the first one.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Well....I watched two movies that were on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum.

The Gambler (1974): If it wasn't for the Mark Wahlberg remake I don't think many people would know too much about this one. I wasn't aware of it until the Wahlberg film came out however there is a scene from it that i've seen a clip of from various retrospectives of James Caan. This is a pretty dark character study of a man who is self destructive and hurts everyone he's involved with. The subject matter could be about a million other vices and still hold water as it's not REALLY about Caan's gambling addiction but rather about a man who keeps putting himself deeper and deeper into crap because he gets off on it. He's a masochist who's only out to hurt himself even if it means hurting everyone he knows. This is key to understanding the somewhat out of left field ending which I won't spoil but it's definitely the key to understanding the deeper aspect of it.

This is probably one of the best performances of Caan's career and not to be missed. Paul Sorvino is also pretty good as a mob bookie who seems to be a friend to Caan in the film. It's not a "big" film but it packs a bit of a wallop. I'll be interested to see how the Wahlberg flick holds up to it but i'm not holding my breath on it living up to the original which I will give a solid 3 1/2 stars.


Goodbye Bruce Lee: His Last Game of Death (1975): Hoo boy...This movie is trash and not good trash. It's slow, pedantic and boring. It's one of the very many Brucesploitation movies that were made in the '70s in the wake of Bruce Lee's untimely death. This is not one of the worst but it's nowhere the best either. The fight scenes are flaccid and the movie is tortuously slow not to mention the fact that almost all plot elements introduced are quickly discarded. Despite this, it had one of the most absolutely hilariously bad theme songs i've ever heard:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z5lODqZJjfA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Needless to say this gets a very charitable 1 star.

[DonkeyJote]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I've been on a bit of a Netflix binge lately. Watched "One Day" with Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway, "In Your Eyes", "Keith" (Jesse McCartney was better than I expected), "Barefoot" (Evan Rachel Wood was amazing), "Save the Date" (anything with Lizzy Caplan and Alison Brie I'm watching), "The Right Kind of Wrong", "Adore" and "Chef" which are all pretty good to amazing.

"Take Me Home" was okay, but predictable and the ending honestly didn't make sense to me. "A Teacher" was just bad. So bad. And they never indicate at all how the affair even started.

"White Bird in a Blizzard" was okay for the first hour or so, but then the ending is rushed and doesn't make much sense.

Spoiler

Like, he apparently moves the body while she's asleep after she sees him passed out drunk. And he got that way in an incredibly short amount of time. And how did she go years not noticing the freezer in the basement was locked. And that's not even mentioning the fact that the movie becomes a murder mystery in the last 30 minutes after not being that at all in the first hour.

[TripleCrown9]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Just watched the first ABCs of Death.

It's...well...it's a thing that exists.

[dickey1331]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Just watched the first ABCs of Death.



It's...well...it's a thing that exists.

Haha some of those are hilarious. I need to see the 2nd one.

[TripleCrown9]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Haha some of those are hilarious. I need to see the 2nd one.

I need a break from that before I attempt the second one lol.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Carbon Copy (1981): This happens to be the first film of Denzel Washington's career but it's a movie that doesn't get shown much on TV due to its racial content. Basically this is a culture clash movie as George Segal plays an executive in the exclusive all white San Marino, California who's surprised one day by the arrival of his son Roger (Washington). Segal is married to an uptight woman and her father (who is his boss) is a racist bigot but Segal tries to make things right by taking in his son. Complications ensue with Segal being thrown out of his house, losing his job and all his money as his father in law and wife try to make him "think better" than to take in a black kid.

This is where the culture clash comes in as Segal is forced to see the other side of life from scrounging for every nickel to working in a stables to living in the most rundown section of Watts. The screenwriter Stanley Shapiro did a great job with the script as it doesn't pull any punches to the point that the first half hour or so comes across as VERY racist. This is probably why the movie isn't seen much but it's not so much a racist movie as it examines the attitudes of the rich Reagan era conservative types.

Denzel and Segal have great chemistry together and you can see that Denzel was gonna be a big star. There's a great scene when Segal takes Denzel to his place (he schemes to have Denzel adopted into his family) and Denzel just absolutely drives his wife and adopted kid crazy as they become extremely uncomfortable with a black guy in their midst.

I would say that this movie does a great job at examining the racial divide and attitudes that are still prevalent today though today it's a lot more subtle. The film doesn't hold back any punches and uses humor to further illustrate the point its trying to make. I'd rate this as a 2 1/2 out of 4 stars. I think the first half hour or so while effectively showing the attitudes prevalent among the upper crust white elite has the problem of being just a little TOO on the nose which hurts the film a bit.

[bradtxmale]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I just saw Neighbors from a DVR recording from the HBO broadcast from last Saturday. That movie is messed up. A few crude scenes in it, though. Its got a few sick nude scenes in it. Its so totally a movie to watch with your college buddies.

[Quint75]

What movies have you seen recently?

Just a heads-up: anyone interested in seeing a classic, TCM is showing the original In Cold Blood tonight (tomorrow actually) 2:30 AM Central time. Great movie, terrific performance by a young Scott Wilson of Walking Dead fame. My DVR is set.


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[bradtxmale]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Now watching The Hangover Part II on TBS. Zach Galifiankis is crazy in this movie. Not better than the 1st one, though. The Wolfpack go nuts in Bangkok, Thailand.

Spoiler

Mr. Chow actually almost dies in this movie.

[Knight165]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Just a heads-up: anyone interested in seeing a classic, TCM is showing the original In Cold Blood tonight (tomorrow actually) 2:30 AM Central time. Great movie, terrific performance by a young Scott Wilson of Walking Dead fame. My DVR is set.


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Holy crap....never realized that was him.

M.K.
Knight165

[Quint75]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Holy crap....never realized that was him.



M.K.

Knight165

Yes it is and he's chilling. Robert Blake is fine too as the mentally anguished Perry Smith.


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[redsox4evur]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Just a heads-up: anyone interested in seeing a classic, TCM is showing the original In Cold Blood tonight (tomorrow actually) 2:30 AM Central time. Great movie, terrific performance by a young Scott Wilson of Walking Dead fame. My DVR is set.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have started to watch this when it was on netflix. I think I fell asleep watching. But it was a pretty good movie from what I remember. Also the book is a great read. I had to read it for either my Junior or Senior of HS.

[headzapp]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Man Who Knew Too Much. It's a fun movie and has a nice suspenseful part in it. Well it is a Hitchcock film. Taken reminds me a lot of this movie.

Mine Games, on Netflix. It's worth a watch. Cool little murder film. Don't watch the trailer it shows pretty much the ending.

The Taking of Deborah Logan, on Netflix. A documentary style horror film. It starts off as a doc. about alzheimer's and as it goes we see what's up. To me it's unique and can be creepy.

Dark Skies, on Netflix. An alien movie. Waaay better than I was thinking it would be. It's a good movie. I was glued to the screen.

The Trouble With Harry. Another Hitchcock film (I got the limited edition masterpiece blu ray collection recently) which pretty much is a dark comedy. Vibrant colors. The art in the movie reminds me of my art a little bit.

[KSOR24]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I tried to watch Taken 3 last night but I just couldn't finish it. The action scenes were confusing and annoying because every shot had 20 different camera angles that lasted half a second so it was impossible to keep up with what was going on. The acting was subpar and the story wasn't great either. Granted, I didn't finish the movie, but I didn't see it getting any better.