What movies have you seen recently?

[Blzer]

The Life of Chuck

I left this movie feeling more profound. The last movies to give me as much introspection as this did were Past Lives and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.

Movies told out of sequence better have a reason to do so and a payoff for it, and this is one part where I feel might be more effective in short story form than it does as a piece of two-hour cinema. Even still, to say I wasn't always experiencing the present moment would be farcical. This movie, like our lives, are the sum of all things big and small, and within the details we can establish connections, influence others, and leave a marking in this world. I think this movie did that for me, and like the other two aforementioned films it'll last with me for a while. Unlike those however, I was not emotionally impacted while watching the movie.

On an acting note, Mark Hamill made the most of his on-screen time, and I'm expecting a Best Supporting Actor nod heading his way. On the flip side, I found Tom Hiddleston's American accent to be a little rough around the edges. Lots of actors come and go for different reasons though, and all are pretty memorable even if there for a short while. I wonder if they (as actors) understood their larger function in this film, having only served their one part. Of course, I wonder if I do that in people's lives as well, long after I last saw or spoke to them.

For the curious, this movie is a very soft R, and blends many genres but ultimately playing out as a drama. A perfect movie this is not, especially as it left answers to the biggest questions I had while watching. I suppose such is life, though, and our patience is all.

[KSUowls]

The Phoenician Scheme

Excellent cast, quirky Wes Anderson film. I kind of loved it. It's exactly what you would expect from the trailers.

Sent from my SM-S936U1 using Tapatalk

[Blzer]

The Phoenician Scheme
Excellent cast, quirky Wes Anderson film. I kind of loved it. It's exactly what you would expect from the trailers.

Sent from my SM-S936U1 using Tapatalk

I just saw it last night as well. Really loved the three leads. I didn't really find that many others had much to do, outside of be a sum of the whole (except for maybe Benedict Cumberbatch).

It had a good energy, and the comedic timing was fully in the editing. Speaking of which, after seeing the detonation timing of grenades in Ballerina, you can imagine how much tension was building up in me when the pin was pulled in this movie, haha!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Anyway, for those more used to seeing me post movie reviews on time, I've been living with just a phone for a little while so typing them out isn't really my favorite thing (neither is looking at a little screen for too long, it messes with my head). But to keep the record straight, I've been going to the theaters at an astounding rate lately.

Here are all the films I've seen in theater since April (most recent on top):

1. The Phoenician Scheme
2. Ballerina
3. The Life of Chuck
4. Friendship
5. Dangerous Animals
6. Lilo & Stitch
7. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
8. Bring Her Back
9. Final Destination: Bloodlines
10. Hurry Up Tomorrow
11. Clown in a Cornfield
12. Snow White
13. Until Dawn
14. Fight or Flight
15. Rosario
16. Thunderbolts*
17. The Accountant 2
18. Sinners
19. Warfare
20. Freaky Tales
21. A Minecraft Movie
22. Drop
23. The Woman in the Yard
24. Black Bag

EDIT: Apologies, I saw 25 and 26 in February, I believe.

[Ghost Of The Year]

I just saw it last night as well. Really loved the three leads. I didn't really find that many others had much to do, outside of be a sum of the whole (except for maybe Benedict Cumberbatch).

It had a good energy, and the comedic timing was fully in the editing. Speaking of which, after seeing the detonation timing of grenades in Ballerina, you can imagine how much tension was building up in me when the pin was pulled in this movie, haha!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Anyway, for those more used to seeing me post movie reviews on time, I've been living with just a phone for a little while so typing them out isn't really my favorite thing (neither is looking at a little screen for too long, it messes with my head). But to keep the record straight, I've been going to the theaters at an astounding rate lately.

Here are all the films I've seen in theater since April (most recent on top):

1. The Phoenician Scheme
2. Ballerina
3. The Life of Chuck
4. Friendship
5. Dangerous Animals
6. Lilo & Stitch
7. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
8. Bring Her Back
9. Final Destination: Bloodlines
10. Hurry Up Tomorrow
11. Clown in a Cornfield
12. Snow White
13. Until Dawn
14. Fight or Flight
15. Rosario
16. Thunderbolts*
17. The Accountant 2
18. Sinners
19. Warfare
20. Freaky Tales
21. A Minecraft Movie
22. Drop
23. The Woman in the Yard
24. Black Bag
25. The Monkey
26. Heart Eyes

Oh man, that's a lot of 🍿 !!

[Blzer]

Oh man, that's a lot of 🍿 !!

I always eat beforehand. Combining my Regal Unlimited and free advance screening passes, I haven't even spent $50 seeing all these movies!

[Blzer]

Materialists

In the rom-com-dram genre, this is certainly less comedy and more drama. In fact, I would call most of this movie serious and cynical, and being far from a typical date movie (YMMV). This is also definitely Dakota Johnson's movie. Having avoided trailers, from what I heard about this my only understanding of the plot was "Who ends up with the girl?" So I thought this was more the guys' film with Johnson playing the McGuffin, but that was most definitely not the case.

Celine Song does another tremendous job at displaying a situation with a lot of pragmatism. Her films are nuanced and have a lot of breathing room, but I do think a lot more of the thematic elements were on the surface and in the dialogue itself than, say, Past Lives. In a movie featured around romance, I did not get as much of that feeling between the characters simply because they had to explain their feelings so often (as was rooted in the story), and because of that the silence between their words didn't leave me thinking too much about what they were thinking. By comparison, Past Lives was all about what was happening between the dialogue and what we were thinking as audience members. I only compare because both films have a similar pacing structure, but Materialists made less sense for it.

By the way, this was the first time I really felt the Pedro Pascal oversaturation. Not in that I'm sick of seeing him everywhere, but where he seems so busy filming everything that his role almost comes off as a "glorified extended cameo." He's not asked to do too much other than watch Dakota talk. I'm not saying he doesn't serve an important function in the story of that he was missing for film acts, but as an actor he was absolutely replaceable with anybody else who can fit his physical profile and natural charm. It just feels to me like he came in for about a week, and then dipped out to shoot his next project.

Spoiler

Now, I personally do feel he was missing in the final act, although his function was over in Dakota's story arc. I wish that he ended up with Zoe Winters' character in the end, and part of me feels his arc would feel more complete if you saw them in the park together and saw that they were happy, but then we're probably trending into typical Hollywood crap that this movie was avoiding. However, if he was there, I probably wouldn't feel the same way about Pedro's inclusion.

I also wish there was a conversation between Harry and Pedro in the bar after the play. Nothing competitive or animus, just some classy version of "So you're the new guy" and "You're the ex," even if implied in whatever they mention (breaking any potential awkward tension). If I were to guess, something was shot, but edited out for the sake of pacing and keeping the focus on Lucy.

Fine acting and wonderfully shot, nonetheless. Song continues to tell personal stories that are attractive on multiple levels, and I thought Johnson did a great job in the lead role. This ain't no Past Lives, but it's still a winner.

[Gotmadskillzson]

The Accountant 2 - 9 out of 10. Very good movie.

[KSUowls]

Ballerina

I enjoyed it. Lots of action, and it was relatively grounded which I appreciated it. I also had the same thought as Blzer with the grenades after seeing the Phoenician Scheme 🤣

Spoiler

Obviously "grounded" is a relative term. It's the John Wick Universe so it's still very over the top. There were two things that I really appreciated about their portrayal of Eve's character:
1 - She won a lot of fights, but she also struggled. She's implied to still be fairly young, and most of the movie takes place just 2 months after her completing her first job as an assassin. So, it's good to see her still being kind of raw.
2 - The fight with John Wick...I was so scared that they were going to have her somehow beat Wick or push him to a stalemate, like so often happens in these kinds of spinoffs. I was very happy to see that she was outclassed by him in every way. It would have been so dumb to have an entire movie franchise explaining how much of a super being that John Wick was, only to have a virtual rookie best him just because it's 'their' movie. So, I was really happy how it played out there.