Recently viewed movie thread - Rental Edition (6 Viewers)

[KarmaPolice]

I will say - Apocalypse Now is a terrible movie to pass out to after a couple glasses of wine. Woke up freaked out during the bridge sequence.

Eta: with the sound through my headphones.

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

Didn't really like Krull that much.

getting shot in the shoulder with a lazer? A flesh wound and is momentarily incapacitated. Sticks his hand in lava? Nothing happens. Hulk Hogan would be proud of that no sell. The boss fight was pretty lame but at that point the movie was already a bloated 1:44 minutes so I was sorta glad it was over quickly. Also, this is a glaive. This is more like a Shuriken. I kind of get why they would use a more familiar name but I thought it was dumb.

 

[El Floppo]

Watched Wicked on demand last night as a family.

Wife and son had seen the musical, daughter and I hadn't. Definitely worth seeing on a big screen- there are a lot of great visuals and sound. Director did a great job translating this to the screen.

I guess the theme of it- misunderstood outcast "villain" may have been more interesting when it first came out. Felt very heavy handed having to watch the masses behave predictably poorly like it was a bad 1980s teen movie and somehow accept them as "good". And in a world with talking animals, I don't see a green woman being so necessarily "different". And for me, I didn't dig the choreography.

But despite all that, I did enjoy the movie... Just the things keeping it from being anything more for me.

 

[Eephus]

Didn't really like Krull that much.

getting shot in the shoulder with a lazer? A flesh wound and is momentarily incapacitated. Sticks his hand in lava? Nothing happens. Hulk Hogan would be proud of that no sell. The boss fight was pretty lame but at that point the movie was already a bloated 1:44 minutes so I was sorta glad it was over quickly. Also, this is a glaive. This is more like a Shuriken. I kind of get why they would use a more familiar name but I thought it was dumb.

So it's not making your list then

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

I think my list has enough bad movies without adding this one.

 

[Eephus]

I'm going to try to be like @Ilov80s and be more purposeful in my cinema viewing this year instead of whatever catches my eye that night from my Tubi watchlist. But until then, my final movie of last year was Indian/Malayalam box office hit Aavesham (2024 streaming on Prime).

It's about three freshmen who get bullied by the seniors at their Engineering College and turn to a local Bangalore gangster for their revenge. The movie was predictable and a half hour too long but I was still entertained by the offbeat gangster character named Ranga. There was a lot of fighting and lowball comedy and a handful of songs as per usual in Indian movies. I didn't love it but I'd probably be down for a Ranga sequel.

 

[FarFromHome]

Loved the original Mad Mad movies. I had a Thunderdome lunchbox as a kid. Was super surprised how much I enjoyed Fury Road. It just hit for me. Just watched the latest Furiosa and just want feeling it. The production of it was solid. Definitely spent some money. I really enjoyed the beginning and I really enjoyed the ending. I started out thinking, okay this is gonna be a decent storyline. It then just kinda spun it's tires for an hour and half. Loved the ending with dude and the tree and straight into Fury Road. Talk about payback. Ha ha

 

[Ilov80s]

Watched Wicked on demand last night as a family.

Wife and son had seen the musical, daughter and I hadn't. Definitely worth seeing on a big screen- there are a lot of great visuals and sound. Director did a great job translating this to the screen.

I guess the theme of it- misunderstood outcast "villain" may have been more interesting when it first came out. Felt very heavy handed having to watch the masses behave predictably poorly like it was a bad 1980s teen movie and somehow accept them as "good". And in a world with talking animals, I don't see a green woman being so necessarily "different". And for me, I didn't dig the choreography.

But despite all that, I did enjoy the movie... Just the things keeping it from being anything more for me.

My friend was just telling me that this movie came up at Christmas dinner. His family was mostly talking about how bad it was even though none of them had seen it.

His mom said “and they messed it all up by making the wicked witch black”.

To which my friend replied, “I’m pretty sure she’s green”.

“Well she’s black under the makeup.”

You can make this ridiculousness up lol

 

[El Floppo]

Watched Wicked on demand last night as a family.

Wife and son had seen the musical, daughter and I hadn't. Definitely worth seeing on a big screen- there are a lot of great visuals and sound. Director did a great job translating this to the screen.

I guess the theme of it- misunderstood outcast "villain" may have been more interesting when it first came out. Felt very heavy handed having to watch the masses behave predictably poorly like it was a bad 1980s teen movie and somehow accept them as "good". And in a world with talking animals, I don't see a green woman being so necessarily "different". And for me, I didn't dig the choreography.

But despite all that, I did enjoy the movie... Just the things keeping it from being anything more for me.

My friend was just telling me that this movie came up at Christmas dinner. His family was mostly talking about how bad it was even though none of them had seen it.

His mom said “and they messed it all up by making the wicked witch black”.

To which my friend replied, “I’m pretty sure she’s green”.

“Well she’s black under the makeup.”

You can make this ridiculousness up lol

Racism is stranger than fiction.

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

Watching Return to Oz and already turned it off once but I kept on to see if it got better and it didn't. It's nitpicky and I usually don't care but Judy Garland was 16 and Fairuza Balk was 11. I read a thing that said they tried to make her (Garland) look 12 so that's maybe what they were going for by casting a 11 year old. She (Garland) still looked bigger and older than Balk so it almost feels like a continuity break. I just thought it was boring and lacked the charm of the original. I don't think it would have changed anything but a much darker ending where she drowns or this is all a fever dream during her session would have been a neat little ending.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Swiss Army Man - Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe as a talking corpse with a flatulence problem. Hijinks ensue

 

[Payne]

Both my girls went out on New Years so the wife and I ordered some Jets and watched Inside Out 2.

The first one hit home because I sat between my then 12- and 9-year-old daughters and I was LIVING the movie.
Now my daughters are 21 and 18. A little older than what the topic of this movie covered. Though who doesn't deal with anxiety.

Not as good as the first, but still really solid.

 

[FarFromHome]

Watched In the Heart of the Sea last night. Thor battling whales. Never even heard of it which surprised me. Ron Howard movie. I actually enjoyed it. One time watch type of movie but good.

 

[beer 30]

Watched Wolfs this weekend. Clooney - Pitt working together as cleaners. Was ok, hated the ending.

 

[guru_007]

Few movies I watched recently:

When You Finish Saving the World (AMZN) - well acted, but kind of didn't go anywhere. Julianne Moore seems to be pretty good in most everything she does, but not great in anything. Will not watch again, but not the worst waste of 90 minutes ever. Maybe 2.5 out of 5 stars

Perfect Days (Hulu) - if Krista4 or Eephus say something good about a movie, I'll usually watch it. Although, I'm starting to question some of Eephus's choices of late. I did enjoy this one quite a bit. Can't quite put my finger on it as to why, I think it's like one of those dreams you have that you enjoy it while it's happening, and then when you wake up you're bummed it's over. Give it 3.75 out of 5 stars.

My Old *** (AMZN) - yeah, I'm probably a bit of an Aubrey Plaza fan boy as those doe eyes suck me in, but the other lead in it was pretty good as well. I'm probably not the target audience for this one, but I enjoyed the ride. Give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Conclave (Peacock) - A bit heavy handed both in the story/plot lines and the acting. It was interesting enough, but I just didn't care for it. Will not watch again, give it 2 out of 5 stars.

Dead Don't Die and Carry On (NFLX) - combined 2 out of 5 stars. Will not watch either again.

Canary Black (AMZN) - Rotten Tomatoes has this at 18% and that's about right. Everything about this was ridiculous. Will probably watch the sequel though if there is one.

 

[Ilov80s]

My Old *** (AMZN) - yeah, I'm probably a bit of an Aubrey Plaza fan boy as those doe eyes suck me in, but the other lead in it was pretty good as well. I'm probably not the target audience for this one, but I enjoyed the ride. Give it 3 out of 5 stars.

I don’t think I ever commented on this one but my wife and I did enjoy it. I was surprised how much it isn’t really an Aubrey Plaza movie. She’s very much a supporting character here but I agree the lead, Maisy Stella, is good and deserves more work.

@BLOCKED_PUNT and it’s fantasy

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

imdb has it listed as comedy/drama/romance

 

[Dan Lambskin]

My Old *** (AMZN) - yeah, I'm probably a bit of an Aubrey Plaza fan boy as those doe eyes suck me in, but the other lead in it was pretty good as well. I'm probably not the target audience for this one, but I enjoyed the ride. Give it 3 out of 5 stars.

I don’t think I ever commented on this one but my wife and I did enjoy it. I was surprised how much it isn’t really an Aubrey Plaza movie. She’s very much a supporting character here but I agree the lead, Maisy Stella, is good and deserves more work.

@BLOCKED_PUNT and it’s fantasy

Yeah I liked it. Raises some interesting philosophical points

 

[Tick]

Canary Black (AMZN) - Rotten Tomatoes has this at 18% and that's about right. Everything about this was ridiculous. Will probably watch the sequel though if there is one.

Did you know that before you watched? If so, why did you watch it?

 

[guru_007]

Canary Black (AMZN) - Rotten Tomatoes has this at 18% and that's about right. Everything about this was ridiculous. Will probably watch the sequel though if there is one.

Did you know that before you watched? If so, why did you watch it?

Kate Beckinsale down? I don’t read reviews generally for movies I stream. I’ll watch the previews.

 

[krista4]

Perfect Days (Hulu) - if Krista4 or Eephus say something good about a movie, I'll usually watch it. Although, I'm starting to question some of Eephus's choices of late. I did enjoy this one quite a bit. Can't quite put my finger on it as to why, I think it's like one of those dreams you have that you enjoy it while it's happening, and then when you wake up you're bummed it's over. Give it 3.75 out of 5 stars.

Thanks. I hadn't thought of it but think your description about it being like a dream you're bummed to wake from was really apt.

 

[Tick]

Canary Black (AMZN) - Rotten Tomatoes has this at 18% and that's about right. Everything about this was ridiculous. Will probably watch the sequel though if there is one.

Did you know that before you watched? If so, why did you watch it?

Kate Beckinsale down? I don’t read reviews generally for movies I stream. I’ll watch the previews.

I had to adopt an IMDB 6 minimum when I hit a ton of zombie movies… some real dreck out there.

 

[Eephus]

I'm starting to question some of Eephus's choices of late.

Same

 

[Ilov80s]

imdb has it listed as comedy/drama/romance

It’s a teen who accidentally is able to communicate with the 40 year old version of herself and that older version of herself gives her life advice, helps her, etc. It’s not Lord of the Rings but it’s definitely part fantasy.

 

[Tick]

Green Room (Prime): IMDB 7.0. A punk band ends up at a skinhead bar and things go wrong. Not a horror movie, more of a Coen Brothers sort. They seemed to play at least the first song which is cool for actors. This had a real cast. Patrick Stewart as a skinhead is a bit odd. Maeby from Arrested Development and Imogen Poots were there. The whole movie was grimy. It grabbed me, I thought it was a decent movie.

 

[Ilov80s]

As @Eephus has said, the last few years I’ve been more intentional with what I watch. Here are my “goals” for 2025:

1. Catch up on all the 2024 movies I missed, it’s most of them really.

2. Finish off my rewatch and 1st time watching of as many Hitchcock movies as I can. I randomly listened to Hitchcock related podcasts in December and that got me on a little kick. I want to stick with it and cap it off with maybe a thread or series of posts here ranking all his movies. Maybe tie it into the director of the month threads that are on a hiatus.

3. So for the last 5 years, I’ve been posting countdowns of my favorite first time watches. I think I want to rewatch a bunch of them and see what I think a second time around.

4. Once I catch up on 2024, see what else I missed from the aughts and possibly do a thread/series of posts here on my best of the half decade.

So yeah that’s pops into my head as I enjoy a coffee at the pool on my last day in Mexico. I hear it’s 20 degree back in Detroit so there should be plenty of of time between Lions games to lay around the couch and watch movies over the coming months now that football is also winding down and my puppy is finally pretty much trained.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Green Room (Prime): IMDB 7.0. A punk band ends up at a skinhead bar and things go wrong. Not a horror movie, more of a Coen Brothers sort. They seemed to play at least the first song which is cool for actors. This had a real cast. Patrick Stewart as a skinhead is a bit odd. Maeby from Arrested Development and Imogen Poots were there. The whole movie was grimy. It grabbed me, I thought it was a decent movie.

I have this on my list, maybe I will check it out soon

 

[Dan Lambskin]

The Northman last night, though it was solid

 

[Ilov80s]

The Northman last night, though it was solid

I loved The Witch but since then I haven’t liked any of the Eggers movies I’ve seen. Something about his style just doesn’t work for me and I’m interested in Nosferatu but I don’t think I’ll pay to see it at the theater.

Anyone here seen Nosferatu yet?

 

[jamny]

The Northman last night, though it was solid

I loved The Witch but since then I haven’t liked any of the Eggers movies I’ve seen. Something about his style just doesn’t work for me and I’m interested in Nosferatu but I don’t think I’ll pay to see it at the theater.

Anyone here seen Nosferatu yet?

I saw it and love Eggers but was a bit disappointed in Nosferatu. It was good, not great, imo.

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

The Northman last night, though it was solid

I loved The Witch but since then I haven’t liked any of the Eggers movies I’ve seen. Something about his style just doesn’t work for me and I’m interested in Nosferatu but I don’t think I’ll pay to see it at the theater.

Anyone here seen Nosferatu yet?

I saw it and love Eggers but was a bit disappointed in Nosferatu. It was good, not great, imo.

Agreed. Although it stayed with the original for the most part, I was hoping for more

 

[Dan Lambskin]

The Northman last night, though it was solid

I loved The Witch but since then I haven’t liked any of the Eggers movies I’ve seen. Something about his style just doesn’t work for me and I’m interested in Nosferatu but I don’t think I’ll pay to see it at the theater.

Anyone here seen Nosferatu yet?

I saw it and love Eggers but was a bit disappointed in Nosferatu. It was good, not great, imo.

Agreed. Although it stayed with the original for the most part, I was hoping for more

I was trying to get the wife to go see it but I don’t think that’s happening

My kid and niece and nephew saw it, they all said it was just ok. They also said it benefited from being on the big screen

 

[The Gator]

The Northman last night, though it was solid

Love this movie.

 

[jamny]

The Northman last night, though it was solid

I loved The Witch but since then I haven’t liked any of the Eggers movies I’ve seen. Something about his style just doesn’t work for me and I’m interested in Nosferatu but I don’t think I’ll pay to see it at the theater.

Anyone here seen Nosferatu yet?

I saw it and love Eggers but was a bit disappointed in Nosferatu. It was good, not great, imo.

Agreed. Although it stayed with the original for the most part, I was hoping for more

I was trying to get the wife to go see it but I don’t think that’s happening

My kid and niece and nephew saw it, they all said it was just ok. They also said it benefited from being on the big screen

My wife was very bored.
I love the original and this was pretty faithful to it. Beautiful to look at and the sound was great, so yeah a big screen enhances that.

 

[Willie Neslon]

We've been watching a lot of movies lately, trying to catch all the hyped ones before awards season. Here's what we've seen so far listed from best to worst:

Anora
The best movie I've seen this year. Very entertaining with great performances across the board.

The Apprentice
Surprisingly good. It caught me off guard. Two standout performances.

The Brutalist
A true achievement and sure to be a critics' darling. Pearce and Brody are excellent. VERY long. An epic similar to There Will Be Blood. Not for everyone.

A Complete Unknown
Really good and obviously Chalamet will be right there for Best Actor. I wasn’t a fan of the girlfriend’s casting though.

September 5
Very well done. Loved how seamlessly they intertwined the archival studio footage.

Wicked
Exactly what you'd expect. Well executed with great performances from both leads. Kids will love it but I probably won't watch it again.

The Substance
Not a Best Picture contender but an absolute must-see for the WTF factor.

Saturday Night
I liked it though the lead didn’t quite work for me. Chevy actor and JK Simmons are standouts.

The Order
The characters felt a bit underdeveloped but Jude Law is solid. A tepid thumbs up.

The Last Showgirl
Thin script with a padded runtime to hit feature length. Anderson goes character-y. Meh.

Juror #2
Feels like a long, middling Law & Order episode. Implausible and straightforwardly shot by Clint. Pass.

Civil War
I came to this one late but honestly I thought it was pretty dumb.

Next up will be Nosferatu, Gladiator 2, Emelia Perez and Conclave.

Caught 3 more over the last week:

Conclave (Ranked just below September 5)
About 30 minutes in, I thought this is a really good movie. It's a slow burn, but for me, it lost its way late. Solid work by the entire cast, with Fiennes delivering a standout performance that puts him firmly in contention for a nomination.

Nosferatu (Ranked just below Wicked)
One of the best directors working today, and I consider everything he does a must-see. While visually stunning, the movie felt a bit underwhelming overall and didn’t quite come together for me.

Emelia Perez (Ranked just below The Order)
The writer was in Mexico and enjoyed some primo ganja while watching Mrs. Doubtfire, or at least that’s what I’d like to believe. While it seems poised to take home some Golden Globes, an Oscar win for Best Picture feels unlikely. The conversation leading up to the ceremony will likely focus on whether the lead secures a nomination or even a win. Undoubtedly an achievement, but it's sure to be polarizing, at least among the movie-viewing public.

 

[dutch]

The Northman last night, though it was solid

I loved The Witch but since then I haven’t liked any of the Eggers movies I’ve seen. Something about his style just doesn’t work for me and I’m interested in Nosferatu but I don’t think I’ll pay to see it at the theater.

Anyone here seen Nosferatu yet?

I saw it and love Eggers but was a bit disappointed in Nosferatu. It was good, not great, imo.

Agreed. Although it stayed with the original for the most part, I was hoping for more

I was trying to get the wife to go see it but I don’t think that’s happening

My kid and niece and nephew saw it, they all said it was just ok. They also said it benefited from being on the big screen

My wife was very bored.
I love the original and this was pretty faithful to it. Beautiful to look at and the sound was great, so yeah a big screen enhances that.

Saw this yesterday and this is pretty much how I described the experience as well. Eggers is great at setting mood and creating atmosphere and this movie like his others is visually well done with perfect sound to accompany the images. He also made good use of jump scares that fit in nicely with the narrative. One thing that threw me is Johnny Depp's daughter's face looks just like her dads and I found that distracting at times. She is an ok actor but man, sometimes I thought Eggers did the de-aging kind of thing and cgi'd Depp's face on to the body a girl which made one scene kind of icky in a funny way for me. Overall it's a good movie worth the watch, especially on the big screen, even if it does a drag a little.

Spoiler: Some quick personal notes to assist if you're on the fence about seeing this:

In Nosferatu

we have demon rape both ways, human on demon and demon on human​

pedoside​

animal torture and cruelty​

generous use of blood, pus and puke​

finger banging of leper sores​

and rats, lots and lots of rats​

Outside of that this might be in the early lead for feel good movie of the year.​

 

[Eephus]

As @Eephus has said, the last few years I’ve been more intentional with what I watch. Here are my “goals” for 2025:

1. Catch up on all the 2024 movies I missed, it’s most of them really.

2. Finish off my rewatch and 1st time watching of as many Hitchcock movies as I can. I randomly listened to Hitchcock related podcasts in December and that got me on a little kick. I want to stick with it and cap it off with maybe a thread or series of posts here ranking all his movies. Maybe tie it into the director of the month threads that are on a hiatus.

3. So for the last 5 years, I’ve been posting countdowns of my favorite first time watches. I think I want to rewatch a bunch of them and see what I think a second time around.

4. Once I catch up on 2024, see what else I missed from the aughts and possibly do a thread/series of posts here on my best of the half decade.

So yeah that’s pops into my head as I enjoy a coffee at the pool on my last day in Mexico. I hear it’s 20 degree back in Detroit so there should be plenty of of time between Lions games to lay around the couch and watch movies over the coming months now that football is also winding down and my puppy is finally pretty much trained.

No way I could be that disciplined.

 

[whoknew]

Speaking of implausible, Conclave's twist ending was a doozy. I still really liked the movie.

I was brought up Catholic and my interest in the history and trappings of the Vatican has stayed with me even if my faith hasn't. Conclave was a fascinating and beautifully filmed glimpse at the power politics of the church. At its center was a masterfully subtle performance of Ralph Fiennes and his furrowed brow.

Just watched this. I really enjoyed the first 110 minutes or so. It was a ton of fun.

Then came the ending. That was silly. I almost started laughing. Not a good ending.

 

[Eephus]

Speaking of implausible, Conclave's twist ending was a doozy. I still really liked the movie.

I was brought up Catholic and my interest in the history and trappings of the Vatican has stayed with me even if my faith hasn't. Conclave was a fascinating and beautifully filmed glimpse at the power politics of the church. At its center was a masterfully subtle performance of Ralph Fiennes and his furrowed brow.

Just watched this. I really enjoyed the first 110 minutes or so. It was a ton of fun.

Then came the ending. That was silly. I almost started laughing. Not a good ending.

The ending was taken from Robert Harris' novel but it wasn't so abrupt in the book.

 

[whoknew]

Speaking of implausible, Conclave's twist ending was a doozy. I still really liked the movie.

I was brought up Catholic and my interest in the history and trappings of the Vatican has stayed with me even if my faith hasn't. Conclave was a fascinating and beautifully filmed glimpse at the power politics of the church. At its center was a masterfully subtle performance of Ralph Fiennes and his furrowed brow.

Just watched this. I really enjoyed the first 110 minutes or so. It was a ton of fun.

Then came the ending. That was silly. I almost started laughing. Not a good ending.

The ending was taken from Robert Harris' novel but it wasn't so abrupt in the book.

I didn't know that. It was done better in the book?

 

[Eephus]

Speaking of implausible, Conclave's twist ending was a doozy. I still really liked the movie.

I was brought up Catholic and my interest in the history and trappings of the Vatican has stayed with me even if my faith hasn't. Conclave was a fascinating and beautifully filmed glimpse at the power politics of the church. At its center was a masterfully subtle performance of Ralph Fiennes and his furrowed brow.

Just watched this. I really enjoyed the first 110 minutes or so. It was a ton of fun.

Then came the ending. That was silly. I almost started laughing. Not a good ending.

The ending was taken from Robert Harris' novel but it wasn't so abrupt in the book.

I didn't know that. It was done better in the book?

I reread the last few chapters of the book after watching the movie because I was struck by the abruptness of the ending. It all happens quickly in the book as well but the new pope's character had been developed a bit more and the circumstances are explained in more depth.

Ralph Fiennes is also Italian in the novel.

 

[Runkle]

Speaking of implausible, Conclave's twist ending was a doozy. I still really liked the movie.

I was brought up Catholic and my interest in the history and trappings of the Vatican has stayed with me even if my faith hasn't. Conclave was a fascinating and beautifully filmed glimpse at the power politics of the church. At its center was a masterfully subtle performance of Ralph Fiennes and his furrowed brow.

Just watched this. I really enjoyed the first 110 minutes or so. It was a ton of fun.

Then came the ending. That was silly. I almost started laughing. Not a good ending.

The ending was taken from Robert Harris' novel but it wasn't so abrupt in the book.

I didn't know that. It was done better in the book?

I reread the last few chapters of the book after watching the movie because I was struck by the abruptness of the ending. It all happens quickly in the book as well but the new pope's character had been developed a bit more and the circumstances are explained in more depth.

Ralph Fiennes is also Italian in the novel.

Speaking of abrupt, it was just abrupt from the start regarding

Spoiler

the surprise cardinal appears, makes a short statement, and gets a vote on the very first ballot? I assume he didn't vote for himself but even getting one vote came out of nowhere considering none of them even knew he existed 10 minutes ago, suddenly someone thinks he'd be better at the job than another cardinal they've known for years? It was jarring in the moment. I guess they needed something short of a blaring "PAY ATTENTION TO THIS CHARACTER FOR THE WHOLE MOVIE IT'LL PAY OFF LATER" flashing on screen.

 

[krista4]

I found it distracting at first that Conclave had both a Cardinal Tremblay and an Archbishop Wozniak.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Green Room (Prime): IMDB 7.0. A punk band ends up at a skinhead bar and things go wrong. Not a horror movie, more of a Coen Brothers sort. They seemed to play at least the first song which is cool for actors. This had a real cast. Patrick Stewart as a skinhead is a bit odd. Maeby from Arrested Development and Imogen Poots were there. The whole movie was grimy. It grabbed me, I thought it was a decent movie.

I have this on my list, maybe I will check it out soon

Watched tonight. Thought this was really good. Think I’ve said before realistic horror scenarios like this really resonate with me

 

[Ilov80s]

I watched Saturday Night on my flight last night. I am not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, I appreciate it was barely longer than an actual SNL episode and I was never bored. However, it just seemed like a bunch of impressions and "hey remember that sketch". I liked Gabriel LaBelle a lot and think he could be a star and it was cool to see Cooper Hoffman in another role but this felt like a made for cable movie and was kind of silly, I dont know.

 

[Eephus]

Public service announcement: Apple TV+ is free this weekend. It looks like most of their exclusive content is series rather than feature films but I'm going to try to watch a few movies before the paywall slams shut.

 

[Ilov80s]

Anyone watched The Bikeriders on Peacock? Got it qued up. Looks decent.

Made it 20 minutes and turned it off. That female narrators voice was causing me severe displeasure. Just couldn't do it any longer.

You didn't miss much. I had somewhat high hopes for this one and it way under-delivered.

Everything felt like it was too heavily lifted from Scorsese. I liked Jodie Comer in the Last Duel but she was rough in this. Her accent work was really bad to the point of neing like an SNL character, she was just 100% the wrong choice for this part. It had potential and I thought Austin Butler was elecric but it didn't work. I will say the soundtrack was great and it did look good- was filmed by people who knew what they were doing visually telling a story. Even if the script didn't.

 

[Eephus]

Watched Argylle (2024) for the free Apple TV weekend because we generally like spy spoofs but man, it was awful. The setup was kind of clever for about a half hour but the story got completely wrapped around the gimmick from there on out. This is pretty typical for Matthew Vaughn whose movies tend to run out of ideas before climaxing in ridiculously choreographed violence. There were so many forced twists and turns that I stopped caring long before the credits rolled.

I was surprised by how few movies are available in the Apple TV+ catalog. I scrolled through the entire thing and it had to be less than a hundred films. I guess the TV series are good but I'd prefer more choices for one-off viewing.

 

[Eephus]

Movies I watched in December

Senna [series] (2024 - V. Amorim)
Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary (2024 - G. Price)
A Haunting in Venice (2023 - K. Branagh)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005 - T. Burton)
Blast of Silence (1961 - A. Baron)
Michael Collins (1996 - N. Jordan)
Maria (2024 - P. Larrain)
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985 - T. Burton)
Conclave (2024 - S. Berger)
Escape From L.A. (1996 - J. Carpenter)
Red One (2024 - J. Kasdan)
American Movie (1999 - C. Smith)
OSS 117: From Africa with Love (2021 - N. Bedos)
Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964 - S. Kubrick)
Aavesham (2024 - J. Madhavan)

Only 15 movies this month -- too much holiday socializing and not enough sitting alone in the dark. I've written most of them up already.

A Haunting in Venice is the third in the series of Hercule Poirot mysteries directed by Kenneth Branagh. This one paid only the slightest lip service to Agatha Christie but was an entertaining whodunit nonetheless. Branagh used every Dutch angle known to man to help keep a locked room mystery visually interesting.

Michael Collins is an ambitious biopic of the Irish revolutionary. Liam Neeson was excellent in the title role but it was kind of confusing if you know nothing about Irish history.

American Movie is an entertaining documentary about indie filmmaker Mark Borchardt and his attempts to make movies on a shoestring budget. I saw it decades ago but I remember Borchardt as a more sympathetic character--he seemed like more of an ******* this time around. But I still pronounce "coven" with a long "o" and a Wisconsin honk in his honor.

OSS 117: From Africa with Love is the third in the series of French spy spoofs starring Jean Dujardin. He was terrific as usual but the story in this one was very weak and the movie lacked the light comic touch of Michel Hazanavicius who directed the previous two.

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My final total for 2024 was 277 movies, up slightly from 256 in 2023 and 262 in 2022. There are a handful of shorts and series included in the count but they sort of even out and neither is probably significant enough to matter. Come to think of it, none of this is really significant to matter in the grand scheme of things but it keeps me off the streets late at night.

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

but it keeps me off the streets late at night.

and we don't want that