What movies have you seen recently?

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

John Wick Chapter 2

Great stuff. As a fan of the first film, this is a very solid sequel and a good set up for a helluva Chapter 3.

Amazing action scenes and gun-play as with the first. This one is a bit less 'personal', but the extra focus on the Wick universe is welcome and interesting. This is a different dilemma for John to work through and isn't about personal revenge like the first was, but the interest comes from how he must work through this dilemma that he, frankly, got himself into from his actions (should we say, re-involvement) from the first film.

Also I must say, I got this on 4K HDR bluray and this movie pops like few of my other 4K BR's do; technically brilliant picture as well.

Highly recommended if you liked the first.

[daflyboys]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Saw Whiplash again. Just as good the, what, 3rd time around? The ultimate **** you movie!

Definitely the best moment, and it goes fast:

Spoiler

Fletcher approaches his drum set angrily after Andrew had stepped back in during the final performance and just smashes the cymbal almost smacking Fletcher in the face!

https://youtu.be/ZZY-Ytrw2co?t=1m31s

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I haven't watched anything worthy of comment in my vast cataloging of old movies however last night I did watch an early starring role for Charlton Heston (before his huge blockbuster hits) and it was pretty interesting watching him. He was always a larger than life type of character but here he's directed by a real old time director in Irving Rapper so some of his theatrical flourishes are exaggerated a bit here. He does a pretty good job in a very predictable story as an army medico who comes back home and gets involved with a rich woman who gets him connected with the high society doctor set. He eventually loses his way until the end of the film when he realizes he can't do that anymore and must go back to real doctoring.

Not a bad little film though Lizabeth Scott as the femme fatale type was really grating in this one which is a little odd as she was one of the best in those kind of roles. I think a lot of it had to do with her character who was a selfish, overbearing bitchy type. Anywho if you ever run across it or are interested check it out. The movie's called Bad for Each Other (1953)

[Lieutenant Dan]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Saw Whiplash again. Just as good the, what, 3rd time around? The ultimate **** you movie!

Definitely the best moment, and it goes fast:

Spoiler

Fletcher approaches his drum set angrily after Andrew had stepped back in during the final performance and just smashes the cymbal almost smacking Fletcher in the face!

https://youtu.be/ZZY-Ytrw2co?t=1m31s

Definitely an interesting and well-acted film, with two pretty messed up main characters, it was an unusual story to be sure and glad to see the Hollywood machine let this one through as something a little different.

Spoiler

I liked that the ending had the main character just going ahead with a career in jazz and some idea of what it's going to cost him.

The filmmaker followed this film with La La Land, which was another examination of the choices involved with following your dreams and some of the possible costs and compromises.

Back to Whiplash and a real-life thing in my life. Our second oldest is a damn good drummer; I'd say he's an exceptional talent. However, he's pretty headstrong about what he will and won't play, and really only likes to play his own brand of action-packed busy-ness style that's a combo of his biggest influences: Neil Peart, John Bonham and Carter Beauford (Dave Matthews Band).

I had pointed out to him his senior year in high school that I believe he has the talent to be a professional. However, he would have to accept a working musician's life along with that which is typically extremely hard. The vast majority of musicians can't make a living at it (or won't), and the 1% that make a great living at it are just that; an extreme minority in a minority. I did tell him we'll support and encourage his choice if he wants to pursue that though. On his own, he chose to enlist in the Marines, and now he's out and working and going to college, and plays recreationally, which is his choice. He decided against trying to make what he does for fun into a job.

This all comes back to Whiplash.....the whole thing centers around the main character trying to decide how much he wants a career as a jazz drummer.

BTW...our son liked that movie, though he said if any instructor ever tried to throw a cymbal at him he would not have stood for that.

[Majingir]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

In my controversial Star Wars rankings, I'd rank Rogue One 4th on my list. Maybe borderline 5th, but I'll put it 4th so people don't further freak out at my controversial/unique rankings.

Started out kinda slow, but for a movie essentially Star Wars Episode 3.5, everything wrapped up real nicely and tied into the start of Episode 4 perfectly. K2 is way better than C3PO.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Saw the latest xXx: Return of Xander.

Obviously you're not watching this to see a Oscar film and expect over top action which it doesn't disappoint. Lots of LOL moments on the over the top action like Vin Diesel skiing through a Brazil jungle and skateboarding off the side of a bus.

Loved all the Donnie Yen parts, he's just awesome in anything he does and it was nice tto see him do some gun choreography in it too. I hope he keeps doing more American movies as he was great in Rogue One.

Big disappointment with Tony Jaa, I thought when I saw his name he would be in some epic fights, barely showed any of it. He actually lost a lot of weight and it isn't the same fierce fighter you seen in other movies. Looked like he's been on drugs actually.

Michael Bisbing wasn't actually that bad as most MMA to movie characters have been. Even Tony Gonzales is in the movie.

Anyway, probably give it a try if you are somewhat entertained by these movies, if not, don't waste your time.

[Majingir]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Saw the new beauty and the beast movie. Overall it was ok. Haven't seen the original since the 90s so I forgot most of it, but reading Wikipedia movie description, it sounds very similar.

I'll consider it solo acting even if it's CGI characters in there too, but Emma Watson did great job in the movie. I think she is best in these types of roles in movies. Just feels more natural in a role like this. Too bad she doesn't do more movies. This was my first movie seeing of hers outside of Harry Potter. I've been meaning to watch her other 2 main ones but reviews don't sound the best.


Also saw Minions. Funny movie. Maybe one of my fave animated films from comedy aspect. Bob specifically. It's way better than Despicable Me series.

[JayBee74]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Baby Driver opens tonight for early viewing. It's polling at 65 out of 66 (98%) on Rotten Tomatoes.

A very extended and entertaining five-minute trailer:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kcc05_oZlLc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I've been excited for this for a long time.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I should be excited about this stellar cast, but seeing the wrx rip though the city gives me goosebumps.

Sent from my VIE-L29 using Tapatalk

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The LEGO Batman Movie

Innocent and harmless fun like the original LEGO movie. This one did not seem to do as much to feel the need to be LEGO though, if you know what I mean. The original LEGO movie was literally all about them being LEGOs. This one just found itself in the same world. Almost all jokes were great, but many of them were telegraphed from a mile away as well. I'm just glad there was a heart behind the story as the main driving force, otherwise it would just be silly slapstick... which is fine for me, but not for the quality of the film itself.


John Wick: Chapter 2

Spinning off my impressions for the first film, I can pretty much say the same for this film. I was pretty excited to see this, then found out not much changed from Chapter 1... which is actually better than it is worse, but I think others might enjoy these movies more than I do. I like them plenty (and look, bring on Chapter 3 please!), it's just not at the top of my list. I think I like the lore of the character more so than anything else, because after a while, 121 kills kind of wears on you when they are mostly chest-then-headshots. Still glamorous, stylistic, and the moments of ridiculousness are awesome that they maintain a code with another in certain areas, stuff like that. Still would like a prequel when all is said and done.


Moana

Maybe I just watched it the wrong time of day or something, but despite the great visuals and unique story, I was kind of bored with it. Many jokes didn't land (or I just didn't consider them jokes), I wasn't in love with the characters, and the songs grew borderline tedious when you consider some of them to be obligatory filler. I'll probably have to rewatch this again at some point, but while I would consider this to technically be a good film, it did not fancy my intrigue like I hope or expected it to.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Moana reminded me of Brave in a lot of ways since it's tone and story is a lot more off-beat than the traditional and more famous Disney princess movies.

With that said both are among my recent favorites from Disney.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Moana reminded me of Brave in a lot of ways since it's tone and story is a lot more off-beat than the traditional and more famous Disney princess movies.

With that said both are among my recent favorites from Disney.

Interesting. I found Brave to be rather childish and have an awful story line. Its themes were there, but ideas and execution felt lacking IMO. I'm way okay with "different from typical," but it wasn't the kind of different I was looking for I guess. Still my least favorite Pixar movie, but I have yet to see The Good Dinosaur or Cars 3.

I'll give that Moana looked to be the better film, I just wasn't enthused while watching it. I just don't think that Brave was that good.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I didn't find it any more or less childish than any other Disney film. I've watched it several times and the parental relationships at the core of the movie is fairly impressionable no matter the age. Cars, on the other hand, is trash. I have always hated that series.

The Good Dinosaur is great.

[JayBee74]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Saw Baby Driver-good movie with good music and some great car scenes, but my expectations were really high after the reviews, and they were not totally met.