Recently viewed movie thread - Rental, Streaming, Theater etc (16 Viewers)

[Andy Dufresne]

Some good upcoming 4k's this next year.

Maltese Falcon, African Queen, the Star Trek TNG movies (I'm in for Generations), and most importantly...The Abyss. I'll still believe that one when I see it, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

Now...about Aliens and True Lies...

 

[Ilov80s]

It probably wasn't the best decision to watch them in consecutive days, but I finished up The Color Purple and Amistad. I didn't like either, and it left me with a ton of questions. I am still thinking about them both and trying to filter it through past eyes vs. 2022 which can be hard.

I think long story short, maybe Steve wasn't the person to do these movies, but if not him - who else? Especially when we are putting it in context of when they came out.

He has said that he wasn’t the right person and in no way would he direct them today. I don’t remember much from Amistad, I think we had to watch it in high school. I liked The Color Purple. They didn’t do the lesbian story which is a big part of the book but some great performances in there.

 

[Ilov80s]

Another Sight and Sound tidbit that I find interesting for the "quality" of streaming today. This is how many S&S Top 100 are available for streaming (not renting or buying, just comes streaming with the service)

Amazon Prime: 2
Showtime: 2
Paramount+: 2
Hulu: 2
Netflix: 0
Disney +: 0
Apple: 0

HBO Max: 44

 

[Ilov80s]

Some good upcoming 4k's this next year.

Maltese Falcon, African Queen, the Star Trek TNG movies (I'm in for Generations), and most importantly...The Abyss. I'll still believe that one when I see it, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

Now...about Aliens and True Lies...

4K Three Days of the Condor

 

[KarmaPolice]

It probably wasn't the best decision to watch them in consecutive days, but I finished up The Color Purple and Amistad. I didn't like either, and it left me with a ton of questions. I am still thinking about them both and trying to filter it through past eyes vs. 2022 which can be hard.

I think long story short, maybe Steve wasn't the person to do these movies, but if not him - who else? Especially when we are putting it in context of when they came out.

He has said that he wasn’t the right person and in no way would he direct them today. I don’t remember much from Amistad, I think we had to watch it in high school. I liked The Color Purple. They didn’t do the lesbian story which is a big part of the book but some great performances in there.

I guess I couldn't get past the Hallmark-ish feel I got for Color Purple. It gets high marks when I read a little about it, but I just couldn't get into it at all and even thought the acting was cringy sometimes. Sometimes people just have bad nights watching movies, and I can accept that as another possible explanation, too.

In a way, I think Amistad surprised me more. For some reason I had it in my mind as pre-Schindler's. Color Purple to me felt like a blockbuster film director, who is damn good at that and directing in general, put that energy into a very serious project that he didn't have much of a connection with. I don't remember details around that movie, but it very much felt like somebody came to him to do it. Amistad felt a little more polished, but still not something that he was passionate about - which is a bit what I was talking about with saying he wasn't the right person for the movie. But then it struck me - wait, that was a few years after Schindler's List?? That confused me, and made me look slightly more negatively at the situation.

Oh well, on to a couple more and hope I enjoy the experience more. Hell, those were two that I was actually looking forward to watching, I haven't gotten to the one I was dreading the most.... A.I.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Psycho was Hitchcock's apex.

Saving Private Ryan was Spielberg's. The only post-SPR movie I've seen more than once is Minority Report, and that one only twice.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Psycho was Hitchcock's apex.

Saving Private Ryan was Spielberg's. The only post-SPR movie I've seen more than once is Minority Report, and that one only twice.

I misunderstood you at first, but get what you are saying. I would probably agree, as Minority Report is the only one currently that I would rate better than pre-SPR flicks. The only other one I stared at was Munich, and that was on the agenda for this month as well. My memory is hazy on that movie so I can't give a strong opinion on that one.

 

[Ilov80s]

Psycho was Hitchcock's apex.

Saving Private Ryan was Spielberg's. The only post-SPR movie I've seen more than once is Minority Report, and that one only twice.

I misunderstood you at first, but get what you are saying. I would probably agree, as Minority Report is the only one currently that I would rate better than pre-SPR flicks. The only other one I stared at was Munich, and that was on the agenda for this month as well. My memory is hazy on that movie so I can't give a strong opinion on that one.

I agree with AD on Hitch and would maybe expand it to NxNW-Vertigo-Psycho as his apex. He made 3 consecutive movies that regularly appear on lists life AFI and Sight and Sound. That is insane. He still made some good movies after that but nothing close to those highs.

As for Spielberg, I think '93 making JP and Schindler's List was actually his apex but I am openly a bit lower on SPR than most.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Psycho was Hitchcock's apex.

Saving Private Ryan was Spielberg's. The only post-SPR movie I've seen more than once is Minority Report, and that one only twice.

I misunderstood you at first, but get what you are saying. I would probably agree, as Minority Report is the only one currently that I would rate better than pre-SPR flicks. The only other one I stared at was Munich, and that was on the agenda for this month as well. My memory is hazy on that movie so I can't give a strong opinion on that one.

I agree with AD on Hitch and would maybe expand it to NxNW-Vertigo-Psycho as his apex. He made 3 consecutive movies that regularly appear on lists life AFI and Sight and Sound. That is insane. He still made some good movies after that but nothing close to those highs.

As for Spielberg, I think '93 making JP and Schindler's List was actually his apex but I am openly a bit lower on SPR than most.

I wouldn't argue much about this either. Lost World and Amistad are misses for me, so post '93 it's only 2-3 great movies left.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

That new Pinocchio is…interesting

 

[Ilov80s]

That new Pinocchio is…interesting

The Zemeckis Disney one or the new Del Toro? Funny that 2 new Pinocchio movies came out this year

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

That new Pinocchio is…interesting

Yea. That story was notched up by quite a few wooden pegs.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

That new Pinocchio is…interesting

The Zemeckis Disney one or the new Del Toro? Funny that 2 new Pinocchio movies came out this year

Del Toro…forgot there were 2. It’s definitely a bit dark sided, animation was kind of unlike anything else I’ve seen.

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

That new Pinocchio is…interesting

The Zemeckis Disney one or the new Del Toro? Funny that 2 new Pinocchio movies came out this year

Del Toro…forgot there were 2. It’s definitely a bit dark sided, animation was kind of unlike anything else I’ve seen.

Yea, it's old school stop-motion animation.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

That new Pinocchio is…interesting

The Zemeckis Disney one or the new Del Toro? Funny that 2 new Pinocchio movies came out this year

Del Toro…forgot there were 2. It’s definitely a bit dark sided, animation was kind of unlike anything else I’ve seen.

Yea, it's old school stop-motion animation.

Thought so wasn’t sure if it was or if they just made it look that way

 

[Dan Lambskin]

That prisoners movie was pretty good. Surprisingly had never heard of it

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Buster's Mal Heart

Didn't get it. Don't care enough to have it explained. I've never taken drugs, but it would probably help make this movie enjoyable.

 

[TripItUp]

"Emily the Criminal" on Netflix was pretty good.

 

[CGRdrJoe]

ok introduced my nephew to fight club tonight, every time i see it i see something new. i’ve watched it countless times and tonight my nephew caught something that i’ve never seen, the priest that the mechanic picks a fight is later involved in a fight club fight and a prominent member of project mayhem

 

[Ilov80s]

Buster's Mal Heart

Didn't get it. Don't care enough to have it explained. I've never taken drugs, but it would probably help make this movie enjoyable.

Rami Malek is one of my all time least favorite actors

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Buster's Mal Heart

Didn't get it. Don't care enough to have it explained. I've never taken drugs, but it would probably help make this movie enjoyable.

Rami Malek is one of my all time least favorite actors

I liked Mr. Robot, but yeah...he's not great.

 

[belljr]

Buster's Mal Heart

Didn't get it. Don't care enough to have it explained. I've never taken drugs, but it would probably help make this movie enjoyable.

Rami Malek is one of my all time least favorite actors

I thought he did great as Freddie Mercury

 

[CGRdrJoe]

Buster's Mal Heart

Didn't get it. Don't care enough to have it explained. I've never taken drugs, but it would probably help make this movie enjoyable.

Rami Malek is one of my all time least favorite actors

I thought he did great as Freddie Mercury

and as snafu

 

[Andy Dufresne]

House of Games

Decent if a bit farfetched. The plot resolves nicely and I like where the main character ends up..

 

[Bluesbomber]

A Long Goodbye was very cool. Watched a few older movies while coviding...

 

[falguy]

House of Games

Decent if a bit farfetched. The plot resolves nicely and I like where the main character ends up..

I really enjoyed this movie. Was many years ago that I watched it. Thought Montegna was excellent. The female lead seemed stiff/wooden but that was sort of the character they were looking for, I suppose. Ending was perfect.

 

[Ilov80s]

Crimes of the Future on Hulu…I think I can officially declare that I don’t get Cronenberg at all. So much love for him and I just don’t see anything in his movies.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Buster's Mal Heart

Didn't get it. Don't care enough to have it explained. I've never taken drugs, but it would probably help make this movie enjoyable.

Rami Malek is one of my all time least favorite actors

There was a tweet or something once that said he always looks like he’s quietly eating chips, that’s all I can think of

Buster's Mal Heart

Didn't get it. Don't care enough to have it explained. I've never taken drugs, but it would probably help make this movie enjoyable.

Rami Malek is one of my all time least favorite actors

I thought he did great as Freddie Mercury

He was terrible

Crimes of the Future on Hulu…I think I can officially declare that I don’t get Cronenberg at all. So much love for him and I just don’t see anything in his movies.

He’s hit or miss for me. His kid has a new one coming out, looked interesting, might have to check out some of his other stuff

Videodrome and The Fly both really good, eXistenZ is quite interesting, I think it suffered from releasing around the same time as The Matrix IIRC

I liked History of Violence and Eastern Promises as well

Might have to get baked and watch Naked Lunch again

 

[Osaurus]

The Unthinkable

Chaos ensues across Sweden. I swear some of the scenes look like they’re straight out of GTA . Crazy Swedes. Toxic rain and an unknown invasion force dominates this film. Swedish language with subtitles. 3.75/5

 

[KarmaPolice]

"I had better sex in prison"

Oh man is this a gloriously dumb movie.

 

[Ilov80s]

Just saw Avatar 2 Way of Water at the 3D IMAX and this is Top Gun Maverick level good. Absolutely better than the original. An experience more than a movie. What did I just watch! Sure Cameron's dialogue is clunky and it's a big long but the final hour is an experience like none other. Never doubt Big Jim, he's done it again.

 

[Ilov80s]

If you see 1 movie this year in the theater, it should be Maverick. If you see a second, it should be Way of Water

 

[whoknew]

not a rental but the banshees of inisherin is a 100% must see. the cinematography was out of this world, the script is an A plus, i just saw it 3 hours ago and i’m already to go see it again tomorrow to figure out what i missed. Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell are ****ing amazing in this, I don’t remember the last time i laughed this much watching a movie that’s not a comedy

Just watched this last night on HBO Max. First, I'll say it was fantastic. The acting is great. The story is terrific (if a bit extreme). It will leave you thinking after the movie. And it certainly has its very funny moments.

But after watching, the feeling I couldn't help shaking was one of incredible sadness. Its just such a sad movie. Its great, don't get me wrong. But very sad.

 

[CGRdrJoe]

not a rental but the banshees of inisherin is a 100% must see. the cinematography was out of this world, the script is an A plus, i just saw it 3 hours ago and i’m already to go see it again tomorrow to figure out what i missed. Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell are ****ing amazing in this, I don’t remember the last time i laughed this much watching a movie that’s not a comedy

Just watched this last night on HBO Max. First, I'll say it was fantastic. The acting is great. The story is terrific (if a bit extreme). It will leave you thinking after the movie. And it certainly has its very funny moments.

But after watching, the feeling I couldn't help shaking was one of incredible sadness. Its just such a sad movie. Its great, don't get me wrong. But very sad.

it is so sad, it’s the funniest sad movie i’ve ever seen

 

[CGRdrJoe]

If you see 1 movie this year in the theater, it should be Maverick. If you see a second, it should be Way of Water

it was so good

 

[Eephus]

If you see 1 movie this year in the theater, it should be Maverick. If you see a second, it should be Way of Water

They should put this on the movie poster

 

[CGRdrJoe]

If you see 1 movie this year in the theater, it should be Maverick. If you see a second, it should be Way of Water

They should put this on the movie poster

it was by far the shortest 3 hour 15 minute movie i’ve ever seen.

 

[Ilov80s]

it is so sad, it’s the funniest sad movie i’ve ever seen

So sad. So funny. A black hole with laughs.

 

[Eephus]

I did a mini-binge of five movies directed by John Huston

The MacKintosh Man (1973) was an understated spy film starring Paul Newman as a British agent. Beat the Devil (1953), notorious for its chaotic shoot and on-the-fly creation by screenwriters Huston and Truman Capote. Moulin Rouge (1952) a biopic of Toulouse Lautrec starring Jose Ferrer as the painter. The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) a strange and not totally successful take on an English whodunit. The Dead (1987) Huston's final film starring his daughter and written by his son, adapted from a short story by James Joyce.

Huston was known as an economical director who composed a film in his head and avoided multiple camera setups and re-takes. He shared this attribute with old Hollywood pros and has a kindred spirit in Clint Eastwood. Huston was an actor's director who gives performers plenty of leeway and allows them to work in long uninterrupted takes. This sometimes leads to unnatural positioning of the actors in order to get them all into a single shot.

It may have just been the films I chose but Huston sometimes seemed more interested in the characters than the narrative. Huston had a writer's credit on all of the films except the one credited to his son. None of the films were propelled by plot. The MacKintosh Man was a thriller that was almost devoid of thrills. Newman's character (a British agent pretending to be an Australian prisoner) was rarely in control and more often at the mercy of events happening around him. Moulin Rouge suffered from a tragic central character in Lautrec who couldn't carry the film. What little action there was in he Dead took place years before and was told in a matter of fact way by the characters.

I think the best films were the oldest two. Beat the Devil was a good bit of fun. It's set up as a caper that never happens and draws its comedy from a great cast of character actors. Moulin Rouge was a labor of love from Huston who studied as a painter as a young man. I never really thought of him as a visual stylist but this film is a gorgeous rendition of Belle Epoque Paris. Scenes look like paintings by Lautrec and his contemporaries. The Dead is also worth watching for its final scenes alone. It's also a Christmas movie, set largely during a dinner celebrating the Epiphany in 1904 Dublin.

I struggled to stick with The List of Adrian Messenger. It was a stodgy mystery that revealed the killer to the audience early on and then filled in implausible details about his motive. Its big gimmick was a number of cameos by big Hollywood stars who were rendered unrecognizable by prosthetic makeup to be revealed only after the closing credits.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Sorry but... A Christmas Story Christmas is unwatchable.

And I could watch A Christmas Story on a loop.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Sorry but... A Christmas Story Christmas is unwatchable.

And I could watch A Christmas Story on a loop.

Oh man - I think the original is unwatchable. I can't imagine how bad this one is.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Rewatched the first 3 Alien movies this week. Alien 3 was better and worse than I remembered. It's still pretty dumb and I tire very quickly of the constant mention that these dudes are rapists and Ripley is a lady, but some of the F/X were a bit better than I was expecting so that was a pleasant surprise. We will see if I am strong enough for Resurrection and the rest.

 

[Ilov80s]

Sorry but... A Christmas Story Christmas is unwatchable.

And I could watch A Christmas Story on a loop.

I still feel like I have to watch it but my expectations couldn't be much lower

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

Sorry but... A Christmas Story Christmas is unwatchable.

And I could watch A Christmas Story on a loop.

It was a decent movie, it was watchable and got the nostalgia down right. The callbacks were done well.

Billingsley doesn't do much acting these days (he's a behind the scenes guy), and it shows somewhat in his performance. He seemed a little clunky at times, like it sounded as if he was reading dialogue off a page rather than speaking the words in a natural way.

On a sidenote, it took me half the movie to recognize that his mother was the flight attendant in Airplane!.

 

[Eephus]

If you can't get enough Christmas Story, there's also a 2008 documentary where a couple of movie nerds go around visiting locations used for the original film. I watched it years ago and remember it as warm hearted and low budget in that order. It's streaming on Tubi.

A Christmas Story Documentary: Road Trip for Ralphie (2008) - IMDb

A Christmas Story Documentary: Road Trip for Ralphie: Directed by Tyler Schwartz. With Yano Anaya, Ian Campbell, Gord Chase, Daryl Cloran. During an adventure spanning two years and two countries, two mega-fans of "A Christmas Story" set out to discover all the film's shooting locations. Along...

www.imdb.com

 

[Mr. Mojo]

Sorry but... A Christmas Story Christmas is unwatchable.

And I could watch A Christmas Story on a loop.

Oh man - I think the original is unwatchable. I can't imagine how bad this one is.

After that comment, you should be fed to the Bumpus hounds!

 

[Eephus]

I watched 2015 Vietnamese action film Furie last night. It's about a mother who goes on a rampage to rescue her child from a trafficking ring. I thought it was just OK--the scenes where she was kicking *** were good but the remainder of the film was implausible and preachy.

Like a lot of the off-beat movies I watch, I did so alone in the back of the house after Mrs. Eephus went to bed. This morning when I asked her how she had slept, she mentioned a weird dream she'd had about getting in a fight at an Asian grocery store. The strange thing is the first of the many action set pieces in Furie took place in a Vietnamese market.

I've heard of dreamcasting but didn't know it worked like this. When I master this new-found superpower I promise to use it for good rather than evil.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Sorry but... A Christmas Story Christmas is unwatchable.

And I could watch A Christmas Story on a loop.

Oh man - I think the original is unwatchable. I can't imagine how bad this one is.

After that comment, you should be fed to the Bumpus hounds!

Doesn't help that Christmas Story, along with dozens of other movies that seem to be universally popular, I didn't ever see until I was 30 or older. I have 0 nostalgia for many of these movies.

 

[fatness]

And I could watch A Christmas Story on a loop.

I did that for so many years when we had the family over for Christmas that I ruined it for most of them. So I stopped, and Christmas dinner conversation still always includes "do you remember when we always watched A Christmas Story all the time?" in a non-complimentary way.

10-20 years from now they'll figure out on their own why it's so good.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Watching Alien: Resurrection.

1.
2. Is that Tuco??
3. Do these things not have acid blood anymore?