What movies have you seen recently?

[Ghost Of The Year]

Thoroughly enjoyed The Penguin with Colin Farrell but I still wish Batman had a presence throughout, even if it was just people talking about the bat man. I give it two 🐧 wings up.
Wait, do penguins have wings?

[ChaseB]

Thoroughly enjoyed The Penguin with Colin Farrell but I still wish Batman had a presence throughout, even if it was just people talking about the bat man. I give it two 🐧 wings up.
Wait, do penguins have wings?

They got wings. I got a little burned out by The Penguin by the end but still was a good time.

I'm seeing Mission Impossible in IMAX this week, I re-watched Spotlight last night for the whatever number time -- I just love newspaper movies they're like real life event thrillers -- and it's just a very rewatchable movie to me even if it's a very heavy topic. It's kind of like Zodiac to me in that way.

[Blzer]

Hopefully I'll be seeing Final Reckoning in IMAX tomorrow.

I've skipped on posting about a lot of movies I've seen recently, mostly because of the forum changeover but also I've been without my computer for a while and typing on my phone isn't my favorite.

However, recently I have seen Snow White, Final Destination: Bloodlines, and Bring Her Back.

I enjoyed FD most out of the bunch. I re-watched the first five and will hopefully rewatch Bloodlines today before I post more about it.

EDIT: Welp, sadly I got through about 30 minutes of a repeat FD screening before the power went out in the whole theater. Currently in the lobby awaiting an explanation.

Much as this doesn't happen (only happened to me once seeing The Martian, but that was a stormy night), it's unfortunate that it does because I can see this dissuading half the audience from returning, even with a free ticket voucher I'm literally hearing people say "We'll just stream it later" in the lobby).

What's worse for me is this was an IMAX screening and this will be replaced by Final Reckoning this week.

[ChaseB]

Hopefully I'll be seeing Final Reckoning in IMAX tomorrow.

I've skipped on posting about a lot of movies I've seen recently, mostly because of the forum changeover but also I've been without my computer for a while and typing on my phone isn't my favorite.

However, recently I have seen Snow White, Final Destination: Bloodlines, and Bring Her Back.

I enjoyed FD most out of the bunch. I re-watched the first five and will hopefully rewatch Bloodlines today before I post more about it.

EDIT: Welp, sadly I got through about 30 minutes of a repeat FD screening before the power went out in the whole theater. Currently in the lobby awaiting an explanation.

Much as this doesn't happen (only happened to me once seeing The Martian, but that was a stormy night), it's unfortunate that it does because I can see this dissuading half the audience from returning, even with a free ticket voucher I'm literally hearing people say "We'll just stream it later" in the lobby).

What's worse for me is this was an IMAX screening and this will be replaced by Final Reckoning this week.

Haha I was in Nosferatu IMAX months back and the fire alarm went off TWICE. There was like 10 people left in the screening by the end. But speaking of MI in IMAX this week, my body is ready for 3 hours of nonsense.

[Blzer]

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

My sister previously asked me if she needs to see all the M:I films before seeing this one. After seeing it, I would say yes. It is not only a direct sequel to Dead Reckoning, but it plays heavily to the lore and story elements that reward you for having seen them. Admittedly, the film tries to fill in those gaps with dialogue and cutaways for those who haven't seen them, but strangely enough I think it's only effective if you have actually seen them. You can safely skip M:I 2 in your rewatch party, though.

However, when my sister asked me the same thing about Spider-Man: Homecoming and the MCU, I told her that not only should she see some films before, but some of those films (like Captain America: Civil War, which debuts Spider-Man) are better than Homecoming. In that way, I attribute The Final Reckoning to Homecoming, in that they should not be the target film to see when its predecessors are superior.

This franchise was kind of known for a few things:

- Tom Cruise crazy stunt work
- Change in directorial style with every film
- Improving as it went along

But after Fallout, these bullet points didn't quite have the same strength as before. Dead Reckoning felt like an inferior retread of some of the films before it. Personally, I found it to be a fun movie with a litany of problems:

- Overlong prologue, and runtime too long for its own good
- Exposition vomit
- Stoic side characters continuing and completing each other's sentences
- Closeup face shots and Dutch tilts
- Retconning past films and IMF lore
- Terribly miscast Esai Morales as villain
- The Entity existing in "tell, not show" fashion all movie long
- Foreshadowing its ending act way too often
- One showcase stunt to dominate all marketing
- Shooting on digital instead of film

And yet, The Final Reckoning decides to double down on all of these. This bullet point list ended up being the movie. I could not believe McQ did not learn from his lessons of what made Rogue Nation and Fallout superb and what made Dead Reckoning pale in comparison, especially when he always said he'd try hard to make every movie feel different from the others and he decided not to do so here.

There is still a lot of good within this movie, but when one of my main valuations of an action film is its rewatchability factor, there is a lot of bull**** to cut through that DR brought over (both in style and substance) to get to that little bit of good.

I love how the opening is both a love letter to the franchise and Tom/Ethan's contributions. I was even okay with callbacks to previous films specifically. But they didn't have to cut back to clips each and every time. Either audience members didn't see them, or they did. Either way, they didn't help the cause here. Just more bloat that filled that first half of the film.

This was my most anticipated film of the year, and it shot its own foot way too many times with fluff. I was excited for the runtime, too. When you tell a story like Rogue Nation or Fallout did, you can sustain that kind of time. This one has problems with it though. I'm excited to see a 3.5-4 hour "Reckoning" cut of both films 7 and 8 someday, because that can address a few of the core issues, but not all of them.

I'd say the majority of this film's good comes from two major set pieces, the female character leads, the score, and it was also emotional at times. It is also undoubtedly a theatrical endeavor. If you want a movie that you think merits the big screen, this is it. I don't think this will satisfy anybody who has simply wanted more M:I flair though.

If I were to rank them today, I would put it as:

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Mission: Impossible III
Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
Mission: Impossible 2

[kibaxx7]

Well, I watched Sinners last night, and let me say -- I would love for Hailee Steinfeld to bite my neck too.

[Dead2009]

Been re-binging the Final Destination series here the past few days, before moving onto the Fear Street ones.

[Scott]

Watched Lilo & Stitch over the weekend. Thought it was a really good live-action version.

[Blzer]

Watched Lilo & Stitch over the weekend. Thought it was a really good live-action version.

I agree. It was cute.

There was a lot of Nani in this, and it worked well. Not sure if that was true of the animated version, since I haven't seen it before. Despite it pushing upward to two hours, I in fact easily could've used another 5-10 additional minutes of this movie in the middle act with Lilo and Stitch. Somewhere that I found more of Stitch's development (especially with language) or Lilo standing prouder against her little bullies.

But the actress who played Lilo? Stop it. She is so adorable. She won me over the first minute she was on screen.

It took me a moment to buy in to the movie at the start, though. The alien stuff felt like it was out of an animated movie, probably because of the shoddy CGI (it didn't even try to pass off as "live-action adjacent"). I didn't know Stitch started out with six limbs so for a while I wondered if I had simply Mandela-effected his appearance. Things figured themselves out shortly after.

Also random, but for a while I didn't recognize that was Zach Galifianakis. Then I saw more of his isms and I couldn't unsee him after that.

[Ghost Of The Year]

About eight years ago, I read David Duchovny`s book Bucky F* Dent. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
I immediately thought it could have been made into a pretty good movie.

Fast-forward to tonight, I just watched the movie the book was turned into. Reverse The Curse.
Terrible, pure garbage. Doesn't do the book justice. Don't bother. I'm going to reread the book again now, see if I can still enjoy it as the good read it originally was.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Working Man - 8 out of 10

Valiant One - 6 out of 10.

Warfare - 9 out of 10.

[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 🍿 !!