What movies have you seen recently?

[kibaxx7]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

What? I haven't replied here in more than a year? That can't be right! Ok, where do we start. If anyone here is on Letterboxd, please me know, my reviews there are in Spanish and not larger than a tweet, but it would be nice to have some more people there. So I'm just going to copy and paste here. My last fifteen:

Haxan (1922) is a Swedish (kind-of) documentary, with a lot of things done well: special effects for a 100-year old movie are decent, the director won't think you are dumb and women's opression is also a part of it. But it shows some very nasty things for a 1920s film -- it was censored in USA for almost fifty years.

The Whole Nine Yards (2000), oh man. This has aged poorly. I think Bruce Willis is always good, but I just can't stand Matthew Perry. The movie kills its black character (Michael Clarke Duncan) without any reason, and that physical comedy is now cringey. Amanda Peet steals it just by smiling.

Finally, finally watched Starship Troopers (1997). So late to this, because it's a complete must watch. I think it is the right mix between propaganda, satire and even comedy, because it won't take itself seriously. That was key. Denise Richards has to be one of the worst actresses of the decade -- no competition.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)! I was so excited for this. Cage himself is the one making fun of Cage, that is what makes it a big film and not a "straight to VOD" flick. I think the chemistry with Pascal is off the charts, and some moments made me laugh HARD. Tiffany Haddish is on my "can't stand" my list too, I don't find her funny at all.

The Sentinel (1977)... Oh. I wouldn't say it's based on Rosemary's Baby (1968), I would say it STEALS a lot from it, but I liked it even more. It has a distinct David Lynch aroma, and the cast is impressive: Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith, Christopher Walker, Eli Wallach, even a young Jeff Goldblum. It reminded me a lot of Lucio Fulci's L'aldila / The Beyond (1981), so that can't be bad.

Watched Goodfellas (1990) for the third time after reading about Ray Liotta's passing. At this point, it's impossible to say something new about it, but it has the best voiceover ever, maybe? One of the best fourth wall breaks ever too? And it lasts twenty seconds, maybe less! Joe Pesci is immaculate... the Peter-Paul-Marie joke, I still laugh about it today.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)... wow. My father doesn't go to the movies very often. I think the last time we went together was Ford vs. Ferrari (2020)? But as soon as he heard about this one, he asked me to go. It's pretty normal for about two minutes, because there's like an endless crescendo from the third minute and it won't let you breathe. We could make a case that it has the best flight sequences in history, and the CGI (if there's any) is perfect. Tom's smile will cure cancer and every disease in the world.

It's not easy to create a character without any grain of empathy, but The Sword of Doom (1966) does it. Tatsuya Nakadai completely steals this one, no remorse, his eyes are totally lost... and he will gradually go insane as the movie goes on. The last fifteen minutes are *chef's kiss*.

A Useful Life (2010) is an Uruguayan movie about a (very serious and respectable) man who loses his job at Uruguay's film archive and begins to look at life from a different perspective. He looks a lot like Alfred Molina, it's almost uncanny. It will remind you a lot about Truffaut and the French New Wave, and will also make you think about your cinephilia and why we like movies so much. Argentina doesn't have a film archive, so this one struck differently to me.

My girlfriend is a big fan of The Crow (1994) but I never watched it, so it was about time too. I think Brandon Lee made the movie his own, but its director (Alex Proyas, who made I, Robot and a lot of... questionable films) did OK here. The soundtrack is amazing and the photography is great too. Reminded me a lot of The Punisher (2004), with Thomas Jane and Travolta.

Went back to Transformers (2007) after a decade, probably. The visual effects back then were incredible, and I think it has some smart things, but some really cringey things too, but it holds up. After Dark of the Moon (2011) I was done, and I don't think I will come back, but Bumblebee (2018) was more than OK. I'm really excited about Rise of the Beasts (2023) though, I've always loved Beast Wars.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967) began a new era for Hollywood, and Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway together were perfect. Maybe the first movie that made you worry about its "villains"? It features the first part of Gene Wilder's career, but man, so much banjo. Turn it down a little bit!

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (2017) will take you through the entirety of Ryuichi's life. His beginnings with Yellow Magic Orchestra (think Kraftwerk, but in Japan); his battle against cancer (the movie was released before his throat cancer went into remission, but he was diagnosed with rectal cancer last year), and his entire process of composition, which is pretty much unique. Some of his works remind me a lot of Studio Ghibli films.

And last but not least, Female Trouble (1974). It was my first John Waters film; I watched a couple of interviews on YouTube, but that would not prepare me for what was coming. More than a Waters film, I think it was a showcase for Divine? To see what point she would reach? I haven't watched Pink Flamingos, but I've been told that it's even crazier. It was made for $25k, so this being part of Criterion's catalogue is nothing short but a miracle.

[NinerFan1983]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Top Gun and Back to the Future were the most recent movies I saw.

I still need to see Top Gun Maverick and Jurassic World Dominion.

[lowpaiddonkey10]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I watched Jolt with Kate Beckinsale on Amazon Prime. Awful movie but this girl is ageless. 48 looks 25.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I saw Top Gun: Maverick for the fifth time, this time in 4DX. It looks like they're pushing it out for other titles tomorrow at my local theaters.

So my real only experience with motion seating previously was at Paramount's Great America (now just called California's Great America, and sadly will be shut down by 2033 according to recent headlines) with a Days of Thunder experience. I was a kid at the time and wasn't aware of the real movie, but they basically took every driving element of the film when you're seeing gas/brake pedal slams, clutch depresses, and gear shifts alongside first-person shots of weaving through traffic and bumping into cars in a race, and the motion seats aggressively corresponded to the action there (EDIT: this promo is the closest I could find). It was actually a really, really fun experience and one that I didn't know how 4DX films would work in comparison because not everything is "first person."

I thought this experience was very fun, but it wasn't Days of Thunder fun. Many shots in TG:M are not first-person, and in fact will often be rearview then transitioning the other way. It didn't really correlate to on-screen action perfectly, and my brain was sadly turning off from the movie to think about the connections rather than letting them be natural. There were also plenty of dialogue scenes with of course no movement, but every so often it would blow wind at me, jab me from behind, etc. that since I've seen the movie so much before I was trying to anticipate moments that often wouldn't ever happen or happened differently than I expected. As I said, Days of Thunder was a perfect experience being about a six minute sequence of buckling in and getting the first-person action veering left and right in a vehicle on a track. I miss that and wish I could relive it. Maverick was probably the best kind of 4DX experience you'd get outside of maybe Ford v Ferrari (which I did not try) for a 2D film and I'm glad I tried the experience, but ultimately it wasn't the big need for this film that I had to have. I just love watching the movie.

However, one funny moment from an audience member that I'll mention (content spoiler from the film):

Spoiler

When Penny leaves her door open to invite Pete inside for some action, one person in the crowd went: "Bow-chicka-wow-wow," and then somebody followed up by saying: "Ten bucks we'll all get a headache in about a minute," as if the motion seats were going to cue up with basically... that.

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Uncharted

I am a big fan of the games, and have replayed them all multiple times (except Golden Abyss on Vita, and I have yet to play Lost Legacy DLC). However, I was always one who was more or less against the idea of making these into a movie. My justification was that just because a video game is made more movie-like doesn't mean that it should be more likely made into a movie. I instead just feel that the grasp of the story works better to enhance the video game, rather than justifying its reason for becoming a film. I thought many of the gameplay elements were just us scaling cliffs and shooting up endless baddies, and the notion of that being a movie experience seemed rather unsatisfying.

Thankfully this movie was not that, and it made it its own. I think they made a lot of right decisions with this, and ultimately I was left very entertained. I had zero problem with Tom Holland as a younger Nathan Drake. He seemingly did a lot of his own stunt work, and he has the mold to seem like his character can pull it off. Most of his action involved aerobatics/parkour-like moments and some hand combat instead of gunplay, which fit the character we know so far at this point. Mark Wahlberg was an okay fit as a younger Sully, and I did find it a bit distracting that his character was a little less trustworthy but I think it's something that allowed for his character to also evolve all the same. Making this a franchise and getting a third film by about 8-10 years from now would make for a good age around where we would see the characters in the first Uncharted film if they reach that point.

If you know me, then you know I will take the action as silly as the universe seems to allow. The in media res opening shows an action bit where I first said: "Okay, given Uncharted's universe I am on board." Seconds later there were parts where I'd then say: "That doesn't physics right." It's partly because of the world that it's in, but also because it is literally contradicting its own laws at the same time. The final scene was also bonkers but worked for the movie, although there were still one or two questionable items there regarding physics logic or where you think the characters would go with something.

The only real problem I had with this movie, and this is kind of spoiler-y if you haven't seen it, is that as this is a treasure-hunting film and will likely be compared to film franchises such as Indiana Jones and National Treasure, is that the MacGuffin wasn't built up quite enough and the payoff of finding it wasn't gratifying enough. It literally was an "in-passing" moment as there were still more obstacles in play. When I watch National Treasure and their clues keep you on your toes for where things will go next and you dearly hope they will find the thing, you get goosebumps during the payoff moment. It is its crescendo, and this is not the case in Uncharted. The video games actually seem to often do the same thing since you need a final boss battle, so maybe that is just keeping consistent with those games... but it is again another reason why games don't always translate perfect to movies. I think there was a weird thing will villains in this film too where they kind of keep handing off who you think is the main villain, and since they wanted to highlight them it was distracting but that is an okay storytelling decision for me.

Like Tomb Raider's film though, I think they are on the right path for a franchise and so far they've left out anything supernatural, which is how I prefer to see them. Each first film is an origin story of sorts, and I quite enjoyed both enough that if they announced a two-pack today on UHD then I would get both right now (no reason they ever would since different studios and different timeframes, but just as a hypothetical). Uncharted had a few Easter eggs to the games that I caught and I think with more films they will consider other environments that the games also had. I actually think this could work out, and I feel again that having Holland as Drake may have actually been the right choice here. Given those decisions made, I have to give Sony props for proving me wrong on adapting this to film.

[Speedy]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

You saw the same movie 5 times in a theater? Is this common to see a movie multiple times? I've never watched a movie more than once at the theater.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

You saw the same movie 5 times in a theater? Is this common to see a movie multiple times? I've never watched a movie more than once at the theater.

The only movies that I tend to see more than twice in a theater are Nolan films, of which I'll tend to see 4-6 times overall. This is mostly because of their speciality in the 15/70mm IMAX format, of which my local areas have those actual theaters. But most of all, it's being able to re-see a movie that I both love and can only relive this kind of experience for a limited amount of time.

I made sure to see my advance screening, then a first weekend screening with a bunch of people, then an IMAX screening, then a "screw it I want to see it again and it's Father's Day Sunday" screening, and then a 4DX screening. I plan on seeing it at least once more, and when I do I want to see it with players and parents from my softball team during one of our tournaments (maybe the one in Reno a few weeks from now).

I do tend to see movies more than once in theater if I really like it, though. It makes it easier now with something like Regal Unlimited, where for $21 a month I pay $0.50 on the day to see the movie (outside of premium options such as 4DX, which was $7 instead). Because of the pandemic many movies either weren't in theaters long or released to streaming/home video early or day-and-date, so I haven't rewatched many recent ones in theaters multiple times. Outside of this and Nolan films, I saw Spider-Man: No Way Home and Toy Story 4 twice in theaters.

[TheDave89]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

everything everywhere might be one of the best movies ive ever seen. my friend is a budding director and he just said what is the point in making movies after watching that. incredible.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

You saw the same movie 5 times in a theater? Is this common to see a movie multiple times? I've never watched a movie more than once at the theater.

Yeah I know I have with movies with I loved, saw Top Gun twice in Imax and Dolby atmos. I would have done 4dx because each one would have been a different experience.


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[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Yeah I know I have with movies with I loved, saw Top Gun twice in Imax and Dolby atmos. I would have done 4dx because each one would have been a different experience.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I mean and if you think about it this way, with my advance screening being free, I could've escaped five viewings spending a total cost of $2.00 even if I didn't do premium screens. For somebody who is going to buy this on UHD for plenty more rewatches, this seems pretty normal to me.

And if you're asking where I have the time? Folks, I am a high school teacher and it is summer. I am literally doing nothing with my time right now. Hell I just took a two hour nap yesterday. I think three of my showings so far have been like a "Screw it, why not?" kind of showing as well, just getting up and going.

I miss the communal experience you get in a theater, and the fact that TG:M is still packing houses one month later is awesome and makes for a great time out.

Anyway, I sat down and thought out every movie I have seen in theaters more than once since being able to drive. Not everything on this list will be "something I loved" since I could have seen it a second time with some group of friends or something.

Red Eye
Juno
The Dark Knight
Saw VI
Inception
The Dark Knight Rises
Interstellar
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Dunkirk
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi
Ocean's Eight
Toy Story 4
Tenet
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Top Gun: Maverick

I also know I saw The Ring in theaters more than once. Before that, you're talking about movies when I was a wee lad, like The Lion King and maybe Toy Story 2 or something.

The only movie I remember walking out of in my life was Broken Flowers. My parents took me to see it, and after 20 minutes I asked if I could go see Red Eye again (you can see where the trend began haha). They finished at about the same time, and when they came out my dad demanded his money back at the box office. Guess I made the right choice.

[Armor and Sword]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Black Phone - 10/10

Looking forward to this one big time.

Going to see JP Dominion…..I have seen every Jurassic Park film on the big screen and I always go in with low expectations as these are popcorn flicks.


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[KSUowls]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

The Protege

I remember seeing trailers for this, and being really excited for it. Somehow I just completely forgot about it though.

Enjoyable movie. Plot was a bit weaker than I would have liked, even for the genre, but there were strong performances from Maggie Q, Michael Keaton, and of course Samuel L Jackson. Some really solid action sequences as well.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

For those aware, I show my students the movie Memento every year and have them write a paper on it tying in with our math class. A student allowed me to share her report with others in the future as a reference, so I thought I'd share it with you all as well. There are spoilers in the essay, so it is tagged (also they are images of her paper and it's five pages long).

I really enjoy doing this one, and I love hearing reactions from students after we watch it and break it all down. Anyway, here is the main portion of the prompt:

In Memento, explain how you believe the relationship between characters’ ideologies regarding memory sync with Mr. Robinson’s philosophy regarding the human psyche in the Integrated Math 3 course curriculum, not to mention any future math curricula. Contrastingly, provide your own viewpoints on how you believe your ‘math mind’ has been shaped growing up, and what you believe works best for you when it comes to learning, with substantive arguments and reasoning. If you have a viewpoint that opposes Mr. Robinson’s, please make it understandable it as well. You may provide examples from Memento to support your viewpoint regardless of your stance.

Here is her essay:

Spoiler

[Madden08PCgmr]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Really enjoyed Elvis for the most part.

Fell flat at the end though.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Thor: Love and Thunder

Let me preface this by saying that I don't really love any of the other Thor movies. Ragnarok was actually a massive misstep for me. The slapstick comedy made me eyeroll almost every time out, not at all fitting any progressive tone from the previous Thor or Avengers movies before it. After loving Jojo Rabbit, I thought that every Taika Waititi product that I didn't enjoy was some exception to his excellence, but I shortly discovered that that was the only film I did care to love from him. I started to give up hope, especially after hearing Love and Thunder only adds to the silliness that Ragnarok had.

I'm here to say that the comedy this time around wasn't as maddening for me. Some of it was legitimately funny or at least served a courteous chuckle; it never interfered with the action, the villain, or serious moments; and I think the majority of jokes that fell flat passed by so quickly that I wouldn't even realize it was an attempt at humor unless somebody said it was supposed to be funny (which is never good, but it's better if it goes without a hitch). The Zeus scene was admittedly worst than the Ragnarok levels of 'bad' and really brought the movie down during the time, but thankfully that was the only time that I really felt the brunt end of failed comedy. There were two other running gags during the film-one involving certain animals which I laughed at the more they appeared, and the other involving weapons which really didn't work except the first time it happened. They even repeat a bit from Ragnarok that I thought worked more this time around simply because it took place on Earth instead of Asgard. Upon re-reading my own paragraph I feel like I may be giving this movie more credit in its humor than I feel it's owed, but I feel this is all relative when I say: "At least it's not as bad as expected or as previously established." I can't see how somebody who loved Ragnarok is only now going to be upset at the knockabout that this movie at times can be.

Love and Thunder introduces Jane as Mighty Thor, and although it was great to see Natalie Portman return, the dichotomy between her two selves with no in-between was very jarring. I guess in a two-hour runtime you have to accept these little nuances to be skipped time to time and she isn't the only character to undergo an immediate change like this, but if you're coming off the Phase One MCU character of Jane who you remember you would never believe she would evolve this persona. I guess that's what happens when your character lives on as you take a hiatus from the universe as an actress, though. Regardless, this story is very Jane-centric and I think it is something that Ragnarok was dearly missing. She helps complete Thor, or at least for a life that Thor pines for. There is a backstory montage showing a relationship between Thor and Jane (almost in an "never before seen footage" kind of way) that displayed more chemistry between them than either Thor or The Dark World bothered to give off. Like I said, very heartfelt.

This actually is a good transition to Gorr, because his origins are also derived from the love of another as well. This movie does that thing that the show House M. D. did (where a patient with a certain quirk delivered thematically for the doctors in the episode), so what was happening with Thor was also happening with Gorr regarding their attachment to the loved ones in their lives. It doesn't play like this for the whole movie, but it is still a present theme. Christian Bale is really good, but I'm not sure if he has enough moments to show this. He both frontends and bookends the film very strongly and shows up here and there with shadowy minions, and he is absolutely a dominant presence every time he is on screen, but I definitely could have had more of him. He is never served as cannon fodder for Waititi's comedy, so his scenes are always serious and impactful. His monologues are very captivating and will get a lot of clicks on YouTube, and the action set pieces with him are very diverse and engaging.

I'll restate that Thor never really was my favorite, and unfortunately it could be because he isn't Earthbound. Any time this character is off of our planet, losing that grounded aspect really takes away from it all for me. Never before had I imagined after seeing the first Iron Man film that we would get to a point where we'd have rainbow bridges and rock-bodied aliens, and that can be detracting for me. That said, the Earth scenes here once again grabbed me most (as well as the scenes with the colorless portrayal, you'll know when you get to it) and the off-world stuff did not (especially once again the Zeus scene). When Asgard was destroyed in Ragnarok I thought that was the best thing that could happen to this franchise if it meant more Earth scenes. There are some scenes away from Earth with nice grounded conversation, and these are the moments that almost reminded me of what Jojo Rabbit did so well. Valkyrie was also normalized a lot in this movie and I dug her every time she was on screen because of it.

Despite some of the cringe that was afoot, I had a good time with this sequel. Given that I do not relatively enjoy the Thor films as much as many of the other MCU films, I can easily put this above the other three myself. It was a visual delight, the music was well done, the actors all gave good performances, and characters had solid arcs to play out. Furthermore, I like that it was two hours and they didn't needlessly add in other characters which didn't fit this story, even if they were a part of previous Thor films. I won't say this movie completely fuses the humor to my liking for this character, but the movie itself is the best/most entertaining of Thor that I have seen so I suppose I am accepting of it.

[KSUowls]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Hate would be too strong of a word, but I definitely did not enjoy it. My wife and I had to pause the movie about half way through to check on our dog, and after we were done with that we both questioned if we wanted to bother with finishing the movie. I will say that the final 30 minutes or so was better than the buildup at least.

A movie about dinosaurs had surprisingly few dinosaurs. Once you get past about the 20 minute mark then nearly all of the dinosaur activity is just seeing them displayed in cages or tranquilized. Overall just problems with pacing, weird plot points, and while raptors have always been a prominent feature of the franchise they really have just taken it too far.

Our original plan was to watch this tonight and then go to the theater to watch the new one on Sunday. That plan is now cancelled. This movie killed any desire to continue watching this new trilogy any time soon.