What movies have you seen recently?

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Witch
I loved this. It is more dramatic horror that builds tension and intensity through character development/descent rather than relying on jump scares and overt gore. The atmosphere is crafted wonderfully as the viewer is never able to fully relax; tension weaves it's way throughout the whole of the film and builds through the film's score and lingering shots. It is a haunting tale that I'm still racing to think about 12 hours later.

The cast were all superb and the dedication to the Germanic-based folklore is obvious and appreciated. This is a film that has all its pieces working together building upon each other to create a lingering haunt. It feels like a literary work with its attention to subtleties and development of themes.

I'll be watching this again once October rolls around.

I watched this again recently with Ashleigh and enjoyed it even more than the first time. I'll have to pick it up on blu-ray to have on hand for future Halloweens.

[LambertandHam]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Sleepy Hollow

I like Tim Burton's adaptation with Johnny Depp. Forgot that Christopher Walken is the Headless Horseman, but still a fun Halloween time movie.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Blair Witch

Welp, this totally missed what the first film was all about. Granted, I only saw The Blair Witch Project for the first time just last year, so I'm not necessarily one to engorge everything that made it what it was in the first place, but I do understand what it did for its time.

People say this film is part reboot and part sequel. I'll agree with the reboot part because it doesn't really differentiate itself from the original regarding plot structure, but it is a sequel. The first film matters for this film's existence, whether or not you care to see it beforehand.

I'm going to jump to a segment from my impressions on The Blair Witch Project:

Any person who is looking to be freaked out won't get that because this goes way in the "less is more" camp, something that I appreciated but also didn't know how it was supposed to move me when I'm clearly watching this nearly two decades too late. I'm sure the sequel/reboot/whatever you call it is made to help modernize things for viewers now, and sadly won't do what the original did as a result. Higher budget and showing more is doing exactly what the original film totally wasn't about in the first place.

This was 100% nailed. They show more, and it suffers as a result. Even high-res HD cameras sadly take away from the found footage aspect of it, but the real issue was any CGI or post-production sound mixing, false jump scares (people scaring people unintentionally and such), and technology going unreliably astray for plot conveniences. I enjoyed that they used modern-day items such as their own personal ear-piece cameras, GPS, a drone, and walkies (not new, but they were prepared nonetheless), but if everything chooses to go defunct anyway then it makes no difference in the end anyway. It's like bringing Fruit Stripe gum to an SAT hoping for your higher brain function to kick in and endure.

Characters were stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. They made stupid decisions and they were not admirable. There was one good character, and he was incredibly underused. This mockumentary decided to use the trope of picking one off at a time, and simply it lost me. The first film had a great build-up, learning about the Blair witch from the townspeople and seeing the signs slowly unveil in front of them. Is this a hoax? Is this our imagination letting us run wild? Is something really out there, human or demonic? This sequel dumps all over that, and does nothing new on top of it other than be a bit more showy.

I do not recommend. I can't even recommend the first one if you've been a found-footage fiend over the course of the past twenty years either, but I can still respect what it did and what it has done for the rest of them. I cannot say the same for Blair Witch.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

A Bad Moms Christmas

This movie is stupid and ludicrous, but a riot—gratuitous in its R-rated language and sexual content, and fully boasts its awesome cast in several outrageous ways. After feeling out our moms (Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn) in the first film, I really now see and understand how the unique characters bring out the most in one another, and it felt more organic as a result. The 104-minute run time felt just fine to me and not overlong, but there was one subplot of this film I still could have done without and did not add much to the story and would have brought it down to a tight 90 minutes.

The Christmas theme is integrated right into the plot and is a fresh way to pitch the sequel, and the grandmoms help induce the struggling relationships that one could find in a hard-hitting melodrama: one whose mom has unrealistic expectations for her daughter's motherhood, one who wants separative space between herself and her mom, and one who wants more closeness to her mom. It sounds very general, but when within the right framework (when not clouded by the film's foolishness) it hits very real when it tries to.

Now that there are two comedy sequels releasing about parents' parents coming home for the Christmas holidays, the similarities stop there and audiences have a choice between seeing: men/women, naughty/nice, or crude/slapstick. I'd say for the appropriate age, A Bad Moms Christmas delivers on more fronts than Daddy's Home 2; regardless, prepare to turn off the "suspension of disbelief" switch and prepare for a decent abs workout.

[JayBee74]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

A Bad Moms Christmas? Wow, that was a quick sequel.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

A Bad Moms Christmas? Wow, that was a quick sequel.

I know, right? That and Daddy's Home made very quick turnarounds.

[daflyboys]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

A Bad Moms Christmas? Wow, that was a quick sequel.

Just wait until "A Bad Moms President's Day" comes out! Can't wait!

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Just wait until "A Bad Moms President's Day" comes out! Can't wait!

Actually, based on this film the next sequel to come out very well could be...

Spoiler

Bad Grandmoms

(a spin-off, if you will)

[daflyboys]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Actually, based on this film the next sequel to come out very well could be...

Spoiler

Bad Grandmoms

(a spin-off, if you will)

Sheesh.... true evidence that at least a part of Hollywood has gone to the ****ter.

[slickdtc]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Caught The LEGO Ninjago Movie the other day.

Loved it. I still think The LEGO Movie was the best of the three main ones they’ve released (the movie, Batman, Ninjago) but Ninjago comes close. Not having to adhere to Batman’s storyline allows for creative freedom, and these movies shine when they can do what they want. Yes, I’m sure some of this movie relates to the actual Ninjago TV series, but it didn’t feel forced.

Obviously had some LOL moments. The writers for these movies are hilarious.

Whoever played Garmadon was excellent.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I haven't watched any movies for a while until now

Farewell My Lovely (1975)

How can you go wrong with a movie where Robert Mitchum plays famed detective Philip Marlowe? This was an excellent film that I greatly enjoyed. I'd seen the follow up from '78 which was set in the modern day done by Michael Winner and while that was good it didn't really bowl me over. This movie doesn't quite bowl me over either but it grabbed me and kept my attention. For one thing, they decided to do it as a period piece and I loved how you can get a sense of the passage of time through Marlowe following DiMaggio's hitting streak. The film is a real throwback to the Golden Age of Hollywood though not a neo-noir. It actually throws back to the cycle of detective movies in the late '30s more than the more hard boiled flicks of the '40s.

That being said, Mitchum (who many in the industry felt was a bit too old for the part at the time) brought a more mature and slightly haggard and world weary interpretation of the character. He would really ramp up the world weariness in the '78 film (The Big Sleep) but here he does a great job of balancing that aspect with a more spry tough guy persona. The plot is not too complicated and the film is littered with some fine performances. I like the fact that it played around with the convention of the dumb cops being way behind the detective on the case by making Marlowe a friend of Det. Lt. Nulty. There's a working relationship between the two and a respect that pays off in the end. In a lot of ways if this was filmed in B&W it'd fit perfectly in the Hollywood of the past if you take out some of the swearing and the slight bit of nudity.

If you haven't seen Mitchum's portrayal of Marlowe you owe it to yourself to watch this or The Big Sleep which i've seen a few times in the past.


The Big Racket (1976)

A great Italian action crime drama starring Fabio Testi. This movie packs a bit of an emotional punch as there's a lot of attention to detail in terms of creating 3 dimensional characters. Testi plays Nico Palmieri a police detective determined to stop a protection racket that's a lot bigger than it seems. We see numerous shop owners and such being shaken down and having their place burned to the ground. Eventually a few of these people really see some devastating things happen to them. One of whom is a restaurant owner who has had enough of the racket always getting away with their crap and he makes a sworn statement against them. This causes his daughter to be kidnapped and raped. The rape scene while not graphic is truly horrifying and a bit rough to watch. This sends the restaurateur in a silent rage and he ends up killing a couple of the racket boys when he's shaken down again and he's thrown to jail.

We see others whose lives are ruined by the racket including a shady nightclub owner, a small time crook (with some influence) who through subtext has a history with Testi as almost a father figure and a skeet shooter who saves Testi and the cops when a police operation goes awry. Eventually Testi brings these people together to take down the racket AND the large fishes when they hold a meeting.

The film has something in common with the American revenge films of the period like Death Wish and the tough cop flicks like Dirty Harry but the difference here is that director Enzo G. Castallari injects a humanity into his characters and really makes you feel their plight. You can't help but feel sorry for these guys when their lives are turned to crap by the racket. Even the ending of the film takes any joy out of revenge right out with a clear as day message that yeah, it's nice to get revenge but it's not going to change what came before.

The movie can be found for a small fee on Youtube.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

It's been a long time coming, but I finally sat down and watched Fight Club for the first time.

Man, what a freakin movie; instantly shoots to the top of my Fincher list.

[daflyboys]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Glass Castle.

Woody Harrelson, Brie Larson and Naomi Watts in this portrayal of a family with eccentric parents who moved from place to place and tried to use life experiences to teach the kids. Yes, it sounds like it has been done before, but this is based on a real family and I thought it was well done. The interchanging between past and present scenes was done thoughtfully.

Good family drama type movie to watch with the wife/girlfriend.

It was strange to see Max Greenfield (Schmidt from New Girl) in a straight role. Hoping he gets some comedic parts in the future.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Been taking advantage of moviepass a lot lately.
Thor 9/10
Marshall 7/10
A Mountain Between Us 6/10
Bad Mom's Christmas 6/10
Jigsaw 7/10
Suburbicon 5/10
American Made 7/10
The Foreigner 9/10
Tyler Perry Boo 2 6/10
Lego Ninjago 8/10
Thank You For Your Service 8/10
Only The Brave 7/10

Not quite sure how long they can sustain the business by charging only $10/month but no complaints here. Gonna ride it til the wheels fall off.

[~LiverpoolRed~]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Surfing through Netflix last night and I saw in the New Releases, "Office Christmas Party"

I want my 90 minutes back. What a horrible movie that was. I barely laughed at all. Jennifer Aniston & Jason Bateman need to stop doing movies together.