Recently viewed movie thread - Rental, Streaming, Theater etc (27 Viewers)

[Dan Lambskin]

Watched these over the weekend

You’re Cordially Invited - widower Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon (a business gal) accidentally double book a wedding for their daughter / sister on the same Nantuckety island
Hijinks ensue - plenty of them. It’s got a few laughs, but Ferrell is mostly subdued and not his usual self.

Vivarium - Jesse Eisenberg and Imogene Poots go look at houses and can’t leave the neighborhood. Hijinks ensue. Pretty weird and artsy, kind of a Severance vibe

Honey Don’t! - Margaret Qualley plays a PI in a Coen Bro (not Bros) yarn. It was ok, kind of venturing into Wes Anderson quirky territory. After the wife agrees to watch it she says “wait is this the one with the big lesbian scene? Is that why you suggested it?” I was actually not aware of that but there was indeed a scene with Aubrey Plaza
Charlie Day is also in it, and Captain America
Felt like it wrapped up a little too quick, didn’t love it, but it was entertaining enough

Kinds of Kindness - I’ve liked all of the other stuff I’ve seen by Yorgos but this one just didn’t capture me. Basically 3 hour long shorts that are maybe connected, I don’t know, couldn’t really follow the plot. Probably some underlying message I didn’t get

 

[El Floppo]

Honey Don’t! - Margaret Qualley plays a PI in a Coen Bro (not Bros) yarn. It was ok, kind of venturing into Wes Anderson quirky territory. After the wife agrees to watch it she says “wait is this the one with the big lesbian scene? Is that why you suggested it?” I was actually not aware of that but there was indeed a scene with Aubrey Plaza
Charlie Day is also in it, and Captain America
Felt like it wrapped up a little too quick, didn’t love it, but it was entertaining enough

I watched that recently. Its a mess. Derivative and super sloppy. I'd say don't with Honey Don't. Coens were involved?

 

[nirad3]

Predator: Badlands was all gas, no plot. Loved it.

Saw it with my son and a few of his buddies for his 13th birthday last night. They got a little bored about 3/4 of the way through. Probably because they didn't have any of the backstory and/or ties to the Alien franchise. I thought it was pretty good, though. Solid 8/10.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Honey Don’t! - Margaret Qualley plays a PI in a Coen Bro (not Bros) yarn. It was ok, kind of venturing into Wes Anderson quirky territory. After the wife agrees to watch it she says “wait is this the one with the big lesbian scene? Is that why you suggested it?” I was actually not aware of that but there was indeed a scene with Aubrey Plaza
Charlie Day is also in it, and Captain America
Felt like it wrapped up a little too quick, didn’t love it, but it was entertaining enough

I watched that recently. Its a mess. Derivative and super sloppy. I'd say don't with Honey Don't. Coens were involved?

“Honey Don't! is a 2025 neo-noir dark comedy film directed by Ethan Coen, who co-wrote the screenplay with his wife Tricia Cooke.”

 

[Ilov80s]

Noirvember Double Feature #4
Fritz Lang

Another unintentional theme I have stumbled upon is stories about writers. Bogey plays a screenwriter in In a Lonely place. Both of the Fritz Lang movies I watched, The Blue Gardenia and While the City Sleeps pull 1950s newspaper journalists from just covering the news to making themselves part of. In The Blue Gardenia we get another mysterious did they do it or not but this time it's Anne Baxter who after a hard night of drinking learns her date was murdered and she can't remember what happened. A popular columnist dubs the suspect The Blue Gardenia Killer and attempts to find her before the police do.

While the City Sleeps is a bit of a pre-Zodiac movie. A strangler is on the loose while the local major news company faces an internal power struggle with the coverage of the serial killer becoming the primary means by which the different factions wage war. Killer cast with Vincent Price, Dana Andrews, George Sanders, Ida Lupino, Thomas Mitchell, Rhonda Fleming. Lang was clealry deeply interested in the connection between murder and business and the media. While the City Sleeps is the movie that better delivers on those ideas.


Noirvember Double Feature #5
Billy Wilder

More writers. Another failing screen writer and another reporter looking to sensationalize human suffering for his profit. Sunset Boulevard and Ace in the Hole were released consecutively in 1950 and 1951. Sunset is obviously one of the best movies ever made and if you haven't seen it, you should. But don't sleep on Ace in the Hole. Kirk Douglas is on fire and it's message that the media feeds it's ego on the lives of humanity is still dark today.

"We're in the same boat"
"I''m in the boat. You're in the water. Start swimming."

Noirvember Double Feature #6
Coen Brothers

It's really interesting to see their 2 takes on Texas noir separated by 20 years of movie making experience. The more I've seen No Country for Old Men, the more it's fallen back near the pack in terms of Coen Brothers movies. While conversely, everytime I see Blood Simple, I feel like it makes big gains. I don't know if I will ever prefer Blood Simple but it's getting closer all the time. What an outrageously good debut film.

 

[El Floppo]

Watched the new Frankenstein...on my TV unfortunately. A really well made telling of the story.

 

[El Floppo]

Blood Simple,

I don't think I've rewatched this one since the theaters a million years ago- so good.

tangent- I have a cousins based out of Nashville... amazing group of people. patriarch (my mom' 1st cousin) was a juilliard trained NY violinist who moved to nashville and set up a studio and string section that changed the sound of nashville (i've heard/read) and country music. he ended up playing with a zillion musicians country, rock and otherwise. one daughter knew she wanted to be in restaurants, bailed college and just started working every restaurant job she could. dated a musician and ended up opengin up her own spot, with some live music just to make him happy- the blue bird cafe (if you know, you know). other daughter started a charity/non-profit- super cool woman.

anyways... I bring them up because of the son- graduated college and had a girlfriend who got a PA/intern job on some small indie film out west for first time director. he decided to ride along to the shoot spot, drop her off and keep going out to CA to see what he could find. when they got to the shoot, the director wouldn't let him leave- small film and they were undermanned and needed somebody to hold the boom. It was Blood Simple. And the guy ended up making a career of it- doing every one of their movies after, while also progressing into other sound work. all from tagging along with his girlfriend on a cross country trip. I can't think of Blood Simple without thinking of him and that family.

 

[Joey Wright]

What I've seen lately:

Die My Love (in theater)- Closest performance I've seen of its type to Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence. Unhinged. A tough watch, but if you've seen Lynne Ramsey's other films, you sort of know what you are getting into.

We Need To Talk About Kevin (from the collection)- My favorite film of 2011. Revisited in anticipation of seeing DIE MY LOVE. A really tough view of nature vs. nurture. First time watching it since becoming a parent. More difficult of a watch now than it was the last time I saw it.

Frankenstein (in theater)- I really loved GDT's interpretation where there was less focus on the creation of the monster and more focus on why and what that means for the monster. I've seen a dozen Frankenstein adaptations, this one outside of the James Whale ones is near the top.

Sorry Baby! (streaming on HBO Max)- A very exciting first feature from Eva Victor. I cannot wait to see what she does next. A really interesting take on the type of film I've seen a lot in the past ten years. Takes a tough subject matter and colors outside the lines. My wife and I liked it quite a bit.

 

[El Floppo]

Closest performance I've seen of its type to Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence

Sold!

 

[Ilov80s]

Blood Simple,

I don't think I've rewatched this one since the theaters a million years ago- so good.

tangent- I have a cousins based out of Nashville... amazing group of people. patriarch (my mom' 1st cousin) was a juilliard trained NY violinist who moved to nashville and set up a studio and string section that changed the sound of nashville (i've heard/read) and country music. he ended up playing with a zillion musicians country, rock and otherwise. one daughter knew she wanted to be in restaurants, bailed college and just started working every restaurant job she could. dated a musician and ended up opengin up her own spot, with some live music just to make him happy- the blue bird cafe (if you know, you know). other daughter started a charity/non-profit- super cool woman.

anyways... I bring them up because of the son- graduated college and had a girlfriend who got a PA/intern job on some small indie film out west for first time director. he decided to ride along to the shoot spot, drop her off and keep going out to CA to see what he could find. when they got to the shoot, the director wouldn't let him leave- small film and they were undermanned and needed somebody to hold the boom. It was Blood Simple. And the guy ended up making a career of it- doing every one of their movies after, while also progressing into other sound work. all from tagging along with his girlfriend on a cross country trip. I can't think of Blood Simple without thinking of him and that family.

Very cool story and what a lucky break stumbling into that movie. I've heard some of the stories of how low budget Blood Simple was. They had raised money from all kinds if places including a couple dentists oddly enough. M. Emmet Walsh was so unimpressed with the production and the set-up, he demanded to be paid in cash all up front and wore the money on a money belt under his clothes through the entire movie shoot because he was so worried it would get stolen from his hotel room.

 

[KarmaPolice]

This thread has me so confused. I had written off Honey Don't due to tone of the trailer and who wrote it, but Plaza + Qualley? Del Toro is a director I mostly steer clear from, but positive reviews are coming in. To be fair they often do with this movies and I often disagree. I will get to both movies eventually.

 

[KarmaPolice]

I did another 50s double feature with a couple Kubrick movies: The Killing + Paths of Glory.

I also watched Kubrick by Kubrick this month which is a great documentary on Prime with interviews with Kubrick about his movies. The Killing is also on Prime, and is still one of my favorites of his despite the clunky voiceover. This was one of my main "ins" to older movies overcoming biases about pre-60s movies. I especially love Hayden and Cook Jr in this one. Sherry cracks me up in this as well - from the first second she is on screen taking down her husband with haymakers. Paths of Glory is fantastic as well, these are both rewatches of movies I own. My main love for Kubrick started as a fascination over how he was able to basically make 1 movie in each genre and arguably make one of the greatest examples of a movie in that genre.

Another thing that stood out watching The Killing right after Sudden Fear is the differences in the dialogue and character portrayals of the femme fatales and women in general between the two movies. It didn't surprise to read today that one was largely written by a woman and one was not.

 

[El Floppo]

This thread has me so confused. I had written off Honey Don't due to tone of the trailer and who wrote it, but Plaza + Qualley? Del Toro is a director I mostly steer clear from, but positive reviews are coming in. To be fair they often do with this movies and I often disagree. I will get to both movies eventually.

I thought Honey Don't isn't worth seeing. Would not recommend, in spite of the cast.

I kinda get your avoidance of Del Toro- feel similar.. but Frankenstein is definitely worth seeing.

 

[FarFromHome]

Watched Del Toros, Frankenstein, on Netflix. Hard to not get Dr Evil from Austin Powers vibes from the narrator in the beginning. ""My mother was born and now her smile is feeding the cold earth. "" Ha ha. Just a wonderful cast. To my surprise, Christoph Waltz was in it. Really good production. I can't recall any comments here on the movie. I actually really liked it. Bravo. I put it on and figured I'd lose interest and start doing a house project or something, but I sat there with the dogs and watched the entire thing. It reminded me of an old show I had completely forgotten. Penny Dreadful on showtime. Gonna have to rewatch that one down the road. Just solid.

 

[El Floppo]

Watched Del Toros, Frankenstein, on Netflix. Hard to not get Dr Evil from Austin Powers vibes from the narrator in the beginning. ""My mother was born and now her smile is feeding the cold earth. "" Ha ha. Just a wonderful cast. To my surprise, Christoph Waltz was in it. Really good production. I can't recall any comments here on the movie. I actually really liked it. Bravo. I put it on and figured I'd lose interest and start doing a house project or something, but I sat there with the dogs and watched the entire thing. It reminded me of an old show I had completely forgotten. Penny Dreadful on showtime. Gonna have to rewatch that one down the road. Just solid.

Penny Dreadful is a pretty good comp... and also a better than it should be show- fun ride on that.

eta: and lol... any comments on the movie? aaaaaaaaallll the way upthread one single post.

 

[FarFromHome]

Watched the new Frankenstein...on my TV unfortunately. A really well made telling of the story.

Agreed

 

[The Gator]

Watched the new Frankenstein...on my TV unfortunately. A really well made telling of the story.

Loved it. The world building and look of it was great. The creature was the best adaptation yet imo, loved him

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

I haven't seen every Del Toro but he's pretty great

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

Random factoid of the day but I have never seen Good Will Hunting

UNTIL NOW

It's weird that I had never watched this despite being a big fan of Damon and Williams. I actually watched the first half days ago and I was pretty tepid but when I watched the rest today I just thought it was very good.

 

[Eephus]

Random factoid of the day but I have never seen Good Will Hunting

UNTIL NOW

It's weird that I had never watched this despite being a big fan of Damon and Williams. I actually watched the first half days ago and I was pretty tepid but when I watched the rest today I just thought it was very good.

I've never seen it either.

There's still a gap in my pop culture knowledge stretching from the mid-90s to early-00s because we were raising babies.

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

Random factoid of the day but I have never seen Good Will Hunting

UNTIL NOW

It's weird that I had never watched this despite being a big fan of Damon and Williams. I actually watched the first half days ago and I was pretty tepid but when I watched the rest today I just thought it was very good.

I've never seen it either.

There's still a gap in my pop culture knowledge stretching from the mid-90s to early-00s because we were raising babies.

maybe one of those 20 movies a month should be this. Lots of foul language.

 

[whoknew]

Saw yesterday that the runtime of Avatar: Fire and Ash is 3 hours, 12 minutes.

Sigh.

 

[Payne]

Watched Playdate on Amazon. Outside of a few funny parts, not good.

 

[Ilov80s]

Saw yesterday that the runtime of Avatar: Fire and Ash is 3 hours, 12 minutes.

Sigh.

Looks like that is the exact length of the last one. I get that it's very long but you are going to pay a lot of money to see it at an IMAX in 3D, you at least should get your moneys worth. Now it still has be entertaining enough to justify all of that but I think the last 2 have. They are rides. Not something with great rewatchability but the experience is memorable and very one of a kind. I just think any movie over 150 mins should really consder an intermission. The Brutalist had one and it was fantastic. Loved getting to hit the bathroom and chat for a couple minutes on what had happened, where it was going.

 

[Eephus]

Saw yesterday that the runtime of Avatar: Fire and Ash is 3 hours, 12 minutes.

Sigh.

Looks like that is the exact length of the last one. I get that it's very long but you are going to pay a lot of money to see it at an IMAX in 3D, you at least should get your moneys worth. Now it still has be entertaining enough to justify all of that but I think the last 2 have. They are rides. Not something with great rewatchability but the experience is memorable and very one of a kind. I just think any movie over 150 mins should really consder an intermission. The Brutalist had one and it was fantastic. Loved getting to hit the bathroom and chat for a couple minutes on what had happened, where it was going.

Avatar is going to open in thousands of more screens and in bigger rooms than an arthouse release like The Brutalist. I think the theater chains would prefer squeezing in another showing to the incremental concessions revenue but logistical challenges of getting audiences in and out during a 15 minute break.

 

[Ilov80s]

Saw yesterday that the runtime of Avatar: Fire and Ash is 3 hours, 12 minutes.

Sigh.

Looks like that is the exact length of the last one. I get that it's very long but you are going to pay a lot of money to see it at an IMAX in 3D, you at least should get your moneys worth. Now it still has be entertaining enough to justify all of that but I think the last 2 have. They are rides. Not something with great rewatchability but the experience is memorable and very one of a kind. I just think any movie over 150 mins should really consder an intermission. The Brutalist had one and it was fantastic. Loved getting to hit the bathroom and chat for a couple minutes on what had happened, where it was going.

Avatar is going to open in thousands of more screens and in bigger rooms than an arthouse release like The Brutalist. I think the theater chains would prefer squeezing in another showing to the incremental concessions revenue but logistical challenges of getting audiences in and out during a 15 minute break.

Totally agree, 5 minutes even is a suitable intermission. And adding 5 mins to a 3 hour movie probably won’t change the number of showings available. Certainly not nearly as much as just editing the movie down to a reasonable length.

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

My Old School really really falls apart after an hour. It's kind of interesting and I think I enjoyed watching it and learning about this random moment in time. It has a 7.1 on IMDB but I think it's more like a 6.5. Not a must watch but if you do watch it, stop watching it after an hour.

 

[Ilov80s]

I did another 50s double feature with a couple Kubrick movies: The Killing + Paths of Glory.

I also watched Kubrick by Kubrick this month which is a great documentary on Prime with interviews with Kubrick about his movies. The Killing is also on Prime, and is still one of my favorites of his despite the clunky voiceover. This was one of my main "ins" to older movies overcoming biases about pre-60s movies. I especially love Hayden and Cook Jr in this one. Sherry cracks me up in this as well - from the first second she is on screen taking down her husband with haymakers. Paths of Glory is fantastic as well, these are both rewatches of movies I own. My main love for Kubrick started as a fascination over how he was able to basically make 1 movie in each genre and arguably make one of the greatest examples of a movie in that genre.

Another thing that stood out watching The Killing right after Sudden Fear is the differences in the dialogue and character portrayals of the femme fatales and women in general between the two movies. It didn't surprise to read today that one was largely written by a woman and one was not.

Pure Cinema Podcast is doing a 2 episode Kubrick series

 

[KarmaPolice]

I did another 50s double feature with a couple Kubrick movies: The Killing + Paths of Glory.

I also watched Kubrick by Kubrick this month which is a great documentary on Prime with interviews with Kubrick about his movies. The Killing is also on Prime, and is still one of my favorites of his despite the clunky voiceover. This was one of my main "ins" to older movies overcoming biases about pre-60s movies. I especially love Hayden and Cook Jr in this one. Sherry cracks me up in this as well - from the first second she is on screen taking down her husband with haymakers. Paths of Glory is fantastic as well, these are both rewatches of movies I own. My main love for Kubrick started as a fascination over how he was able to basically make 1 movie in each genre and arguably make one of the greatest examples of a movie in that genre.

Another thing that stood out watching The Killing right after Sudden Fear is the differences in the dialogue and character portrayals of the femme fatales and women in general between the two movies. It didn't surprise to read today that one was largely written by a woman and one was not.

Pure Cinema Podcast is doing a 2 episode Kubrick series

Yep. I listened to ep. 1. Good stuff as usual, but yet again their pairings are often hard to find.

 

[Ilov80s]

Noirvember Double Feature #7
Killer Blondes

There is a certain level of camp that made Gun Crazy and Basic Instinct a good pairing. Peggy Cummings is the carnival sharp shooter who is the flame to John Dall's moth. He loves guns and shooting but doesn't actually want to hurt anyone. She, on the other hand, doesn't care who gets hurt as long as she can make easy money and have fun doing it. Like a puppy dog, he follows her to the bitter end. Director Joseph H. Lewis elevates this B picture to noir cannon status. The one take robbery scene is especially fantastic. Gun Crazy is a bridge between the classic film noir and the French New Wave and the prototype for movies like Bonnie and Clyde, Natural Born Killers. Essential film noir.

Basic Instinct takes Vertigo and turns it up to 100. Sleezy, sexy, nasty (and a little silly). It was a bridge to nowhere though. This was the peak of the 90s erotic thrillers and we saw the country turn more conservative pretty quickly after (grunge giving way for Britney Spears and N'Sync). As a boy who was a preteen when it came out, getting an idea of what was in it, my parents renting it and not letting me watch it, SNL and Seinfeld spoofing it this was a white whale for me to finally get my hands on. It didn't disappoint then and 30+ years later is still so much fun. Has anyone ever been sexier than Sharon Stone's Catherine Tramell? The **** of the century!

 

[Ilov80s]

I did another 50s double feature with a couple Kubrick movies: The Killing + Paths of Glory.

I also watched Kubrick by Kubrick this month which is a great documentary on Prime with interviews with Kubrick about his movies. The Killing is also on Prime, and is still one of my favorites of his despite the clunky voiceover. This was one of my main "ins" to older movies overcoming biases about pre-60s movies. I especially love Hayden and Cook Jr in this one. Sherry cracks me up in this as well - from the first second she is on screen taking down her husband with haymakers. Paths of Glory is fantastic as well, these are both rewatches of movies I own. My main love for Kubrick started as a fascination over how he was able to basically make 1 movie in each genre and arguably make one of the greatest examples of a movie in that genre.

Another thing that stood out watching The Killing right after Sudden Fear is the differences in the dialogue and character portrayals of the femme fatales and women in general between the two movies. It didn't surprise to read today that one was largely written by a woman and one was not.

Pure Cinema Podcast is doing a 2 episode Kubrick series

Yep. I listened to ep. 1. Good stuff as usual, but yet again their pairings are often hard to find.

I onlt got about 10 mins in and got interruped. I need to finish it this weekend.

 

[Eephus]

Basic Instinct takes Vertigo and turns it up to 100. Sleezy, sexy, nasty (and a little silly). It was a bridge to nowhere though. This was the peak of the 90s erotic thrillers and we saw the country turn more conservative pretty quickly after (grunge giving way for Britney Spears and N'Sync). As a boy who was a preteen when it came out, getting an idea of what was in it, my parents renting it and not letting me watch it, SNL and Seinfeld spoofing it this was a white whale for me to finally get my hands on. It didn't disappoint then and 30+ years later is still so much fun. Has anyone ever been sexier than Sharon Stone's Catherine Tramell? The **** of the century!

I watched Basic Instinct when I did my Paul Verhoeven dive last year. I was astonished how lurid and kinky it was for a film that was a mainstream hit.

We used to be a proper country.

 

[Ilov80s]

Basic Instinct takes Vertigo and turns it up to 100. Sleezy, sexy, nasty (and a little silly). It was a bridge to nowhere though. This was the peak of the 90s erotic thrillers and we saw the country turn more conservative pretty quickly after (grunge giving way for Britney Spears and N'Sync). As a boy who was a preteen when it came out, getting an idea of what was in it, my parents renting it and not letting me watch it, SNL and Seinfeld spoofing it this was a white whale for me to finally get my hands on. It didn't disappoint then and 30+ years later is still so much fun. Has anyone ever been sexier than Sharon Stone's Catherine Tramell? The **** of the century!

I watched Basic Instinct when I did my Paul Verhoeven dive last year. I was astonished how lurid and kinky it was for a film that was a mainstream hit.

We used to be a proper country.

An absolute bonkers hit, adjusted for inflation, it made $1.2 Billion. Today if a movie comes out with a single sex scene and some boobs, people are like "was that necessary? did the fictional characers really give consent to being naked in the movie?"

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

!!!!

The Last Rider was pretty good. Really liked it. I know next to nothing about cycling and I feel like I know even less now but I enjoyed it and if you like sports then I think you'd like this. Go watch it.

 

[El Floppo]

Basic Instinct takes Vertigo and turns it up to 100. Sleezy, sexy, nasty (and a little silly). It was a bridge to nowhere though. This was the peak of the 90s erotic thrillers and we saw the country turn more conservative pretty quickly after (grunge giving way for Britney Spears and N'Sync). As a boy who was a preteen when it came out, getting an idea of what was in it, my parents renting it and not letting me watch it, SNL and Seinfeld spoofing it this was a white whale for me to finally get my hands on. It didn't disappoint then and 30+ years later is still so much fun. Has anyone ever been sexier than Sharon Stone's Catherine Tramell? The **** of the century!

I watched Basic Instinct when I did my Paul Verhoeven dive last year. I was astonished how lurid and kinky it was for a film that was a mainstream hit.

We used to be a proper country.

An absolute bonkers hit, adjusted for inflation, it made $1.2 Billion. Today if a movie comes out with a single sex scene and some boobs, people are like "was that necessary? did the fictional characers really give consent to being naked in the movie?"

General murmur of approval while crossing and uncrossing my legs.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Titane - fell asleep with like 30 min left. Don’t plan to finish it. Not sure what it is but something with French films just don’t work for me, especially horror based. I guess raw and high tension were ok

 

[Eephus]

Titane - fell asleep with like 30 min left. Don’t plan to finish it. Not sure what it is but something with French films just don’t work for me, especially horror based. I guess raw and high tension were ok

That one was even too weird for me