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Recently viewed movie thread - Rental, Streaming, Theater etc (4 Viewers)

Tick said:
Capella said:
Watching lord of the rings for the first time. I thought the ring would give you superpowers or something. You just turn invisible?
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It also betrays you and tries to get back to its master, which is certainly a bigger negative than the invisibility is a positive.

There's a Galadriel scene near the end of the first movie that shows a bit of what it could do if someone decided to use it. I think it's my favorite scene in the movies.
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Somehow I chose the extended cut which is 4 hours so I had to cut it off after 2. It’s like I have a whole other movie to watch now and this is just the first one. I’ll try to finish it tomorrow but Dragons is on.
 
A couple of weeks late but we enjoyed Axel F. It did a good job of balancing the story with the fan service cameos and thankfully maintained the 80s R-ratedness of the franchise. The action scenes were nothing special and the plot sagged a bit in the middle but it was an upgrade over Beverly Hills Cop 3.
 
Ilov80s said:
Twisters: better than the original but only slightly. It gives you exactly what you expect- nothing more and nothing less but it’s a good ride.
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Wife and I saw this today and enjoyed. Kind of a nice "twist" on good guy/bad guy. Definitely worth seeing it in the theater :thumbup:
 
I did another watch of Twister last night before the HBO Max goes bye bye. It could have been so great with that cast if they could make the tornado look even mildly threatening. I also forget how many aces are in the movie and how bad the f/x and Gertz's hair are. Not going to spend extra money on Twisters, but I will watch it sometime when it comes out to streaming/disc.
 
⚡DEADHEAD⚡ said:
Watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This movie holds up well, though it's not that old. 2011. We started watching with our kids. Forgot about some of the scenes. Thankfully they got bored and left 15 min in. We would have stopped it for sure, of course.
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After seeing the US versions, I watched the Sweden versions and enjoyed them as well.

I was surprised to see the US version stayed pretty true to the Sweden version. :thumbup:
 
⚡DEADHEAD⚡ said:
Watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This movie holds up well, though it's not that old. 2011. We started watching with our kids. Forgot about some of the scenes. Thankfully they got bored and left 15 min in. We would have stopped it for sure, of course.
Click to expand...
Oh, I should mention I hadn't read the books before watching the movie in the theater... With my Dad..
Ya, some uncomfortable moments to say the least :eek:
 
The Teacher's Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer) on Netflix may interest @Ilov80s and other teachers on this board. It's a 2023 German drama that was nominated for the Best International Film Oscar (It lost to The Zone of Interest).

The movie is about a young middle school teacher who gets caught up in a series of unintended consequences following a theft at the school. It builds a surprising amount of suspense around this small scale crime. It probably works better as allegory but it's a very intriguing and original story with an exceptional performance from Leonie Benesch as the teacher.
 
Eephus said:
The Teacher's Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer) on Netflix may interest @Ilov80s and other teachers on this board. It's a 2023 German drama that was nominated for the Best International Film Oscar (It lost to The Zone of Interest).

The movie is about a young middle school teacher who gets caught up in a series of unintended consequences following a theft at the school. It builds a surprising amount of suspense around this small scale crime. It probably works better as allegory but it's a very intriguing and original story with an exceptional performance from Leonie Benesch as the teacher.
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Thanks for the shout out, also fits my global movie summer theme
 
Saw a 2014 Aussie film, The Rover.

Great cast, interesting Mad Max-esque desert/western/post-apoc concept. Some beautiful shots and nice acting, but it just didn't go anywhere and Guy Pierce's ultimate driving M.O. felt limp. I guess some decent quirky quasi-real violence action.

Anybody else see this?
 
El Floppo said:
Saw a 2014 Aussie film, The Rover.

Great cast, interesting Mad Max-esque desert/western/post-apoc concept. Some beautiful shots and nice acting, but it just didn't go anywhere and Guy Pierce's ultimate driving M.O. felt limp. I guess some decent quirky quasi-real violence action.

Anybody else see this?
Click to expand...
On my list, but I haven't gotten to it.

Reminds me, I need to finish up Harpoon tonight.
 
Harpoon (Prime): IMDB 5.9, listed as horror/comedy, but not scary or funny... more of a tense movie, I guess. 3 friends get into a fight but go on a boat trip to make amends. The boat dies, they start scheming, and all end up being somewhat- to very-unlikeable. There's a surprising reveal and the ending is also surprising, but satisfying. 5.9 is probably a good rating for this - I didn't hate watching it, but it's not very memorable.
 
Ilov80s said:
Ilov80s said:
Ilov80s said:
Ok so watched a ton of movies since getting back from vacation. 92 degrees with 70% humidity isn’t very good for doing much else.

Inside Out 2
A very good sequel. Not nearly as funny or sad but I was thoroughly engrossed in the story and it does such a good job building a story around how emotions work and how we grow and develop, heal, etc. Highly recommend for families.

The last couple summers, I’ve done a “movie festival”. Two years ago it was epics. Last year it was westerns. This year it’s global. So far:

Happy Together: Hong Kong-Argentina. Beautifully sad love story. As Wong Kar Wai always does, the vignettes feel like memories or dreams. There’s such a certain quality his movies have that almost no other filmmaker is able to replicate.

The Zone of Interest: Germany-Poland. This was a brilliant movie. The banality of evil is the perfect description for this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. It’s maybe more terrifying than Schindlers List despite having no actual violence whatsoever.

I’m No Longer Here: Mexico-NYC. This one caught me off guard with how great it was. Holy ****, it’s on Netflix. Check it out. A teen in Monterrey is accidentally caught up in the gang violence of his neighborhood and forced to sneak into America to try to start a new life. While that sounds super depressing and it is, it doesn’t leave you feeling hopeless at all. It has a real strength to it. The main character Ulises is one I will never forget.

The Proposition Australia. Absolutely brutal western. Very good if that’s your thing. Written by Nick Cave. The score he did for it is also excellent.
Click to expand...
Kept going with the global movie festival going (though we got a puppy Monday so movie watching has really slowed down).

Port of Shadows: France. Going back to 1938 and the great Jean Gabin. This is a key movie for the development of film noir. I have to imagine the great European emigre directors who populated Hollywood in the 40s and 50s took inspiration from this. The film description screams noir: Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean, an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, as acts of both revenge and kindness render him front-page news. Any fan of 40s noirs should absolutely check this out.

Yojimbo: Japan. Even though he never made a western, there are few filmamkers as important to the midcentury development of the Western than Akira Kurosawa. Seven Samurai became The Magnificnet Seven. The ultimate get the gang together, assemble the team movie that we see not just out west but in The Expendables, Avengers, etc. It's a blueprint on which hundreds of movies have been built. Then with Yojimbo, Kurosawa created the polar plan: the lone nameless "hero". This diretcly became Eastwood's Dollar's trilogy character. But it's also an archetype that we recycle endlessly. He's alone, he owes nohing to anyone but he does have a moral code. He's not a good guy but he's not bad either. He's an opportunist. It's a spin on Shane (who was very much not nameless) who wanted to to be good, wanted a simple life, wanted to sacrifice for the good. Kurosawa's nameless hero isn't looking for redemption.

The Official Story: Argentina. The 1986 Best Foreign Film winner at the Academy Awards is a tragic look into the damage done during Argentina's military dictatorship of the late 70s and early 80s. This centers on a bourgeois husband and wife during the final days of the oppressive regime. The husband has aligned himself with the military and sees their position slipping while the wife begins to ask questions about where their adopted daughter came from. Tremendous lead performance from Norma Aleandro. Anyone interested in a movie that blends family drama with historical events this is on HBO Max and well worth checking out.

Petite Maman: France. Celine Sciamma's follow-up to the much acclaimed Portrait of a Lady on Fire is such a small, sweet and tender movie. Coming in at just 72 minutes, it's a breezy warm hug of a watch. I appreciate her telling a story in that time frame (aka I could watch the whole thing during 1 puppy nap) and not feeling the to need to drag it out to hit 90 mins or some kind of arbitrary marker. This reminded me a lot of All of Us Strangers which is the only real hint I will give at the plot other than to say it's about a young girl who's grandmother passes away. I really liked this one and need to dig into more of Sciamma's movies.
Click to expand...
and the global film fest moves forward with a long detour in France

Last Year in Marienbad: France. I knew roughly what I was getting into here. I've seen Alain Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour (masterpiece imo) so I knew this was going to be lacking in structure, maybe even in plot. I loved the sets, costume, hair, makeup, editing, etc. I just couldn't connect to the "story". It was successful in what it aimed to do: create a movie of the mind- thoughts and dreams but I just was not drawn to the final product. It's considered kind of a classic now but I see when it came out it was a very divisive movie. I for sure fall on the side that this thing is more mess than masterpiece.

Band of Outsiders: France. The male characters here really suck. Anna Karina is carrying them both. There are some fun scenes, creative stuff but I'm not sure the sense of whimsy that's intended always works. Not a miss for me but not a hit either.

Le Doulos: France. Director Jean Pierre Melville makes a crime film like Godard did with with Band of Outsiders but there's no whimsy here. No laughs. No smiles. Not even a smirk. I much prefer the Melville approach. Doulos is slang for a rat or a snitch and that's what this movie is all about. Fresh out of a prison, a criminal has a safe job lined up but when he's snitched on everything unravels. This is pure hardboiled noir. Melville absolutely rules.

Godzilla Minus One: Japan. The story was better than the usual Godzilla fare but in the end it's still a Godzilla movie which just doesn't move the needle much for me. It won an Oscar for FX but they didn't seem all that great (though I understand they were done on a small budget which I do appreciate). I am glad people liked this, it beats the heck out of those Zilla vs Kong things but this kind of monster movie won't ever be my thing.
Click to expand...

A Hero: Iran. There's a little bit of Bicycle Thieves vibes to this in that's abour a poor guy just looking for money to help him and his kid. It's a depressing moral dilema. A case of how trying to do the right thing can backfire, how people look to take advantage of others and how small lies can take on lives of their own. It asks some difficult questions while managing to stay entertaining. This 2021 film is the first Farhadi movie I've seen but I will definitely be going back for more. It was excellent.

The Worst Person in the World: Denmark. My first watch of this in 2022 left me thrilled. On 2nd viewing, I can say this is in the running for my favorite movie of the 2020s. Full of energy and sex and edge and intelligence. I love everything about this movie. It's what I would consider a truly modern rom-com. Our lead Julie is constantly evolving, shifting and self destructing. I will probably watch this movie 5,10,20 more times. Renate Reinsve is so awesome in this. It's a perfect match of star, screenplay and direction.

Even the Rain: Spain and Bolivia. Hadn't heard of this one but did some browsing to find some movies set in South America that were streaming and landed on this. The set-up is a Spanish film crew heads to Bolivia to film a Christoper Columbus movie hoping to employ the Native residents to play the Natives in the film. While there, they find themslves in the middle of a violent Native uprising against the Bolivian government that has partnered with international business ventures to privatize the water. Lots of layers to this one, well worth checking out.

The Handmaiden: South Korea. Holy hot scissoring sisters was this thing salacious. And such cruel fun. It's got some twists so I won't say much other than a 1930s Korean thief plots with a man posing as royalty to swindle a naive Japanese heiress out of her fortune. It's sadistic though so be warned.
 
Feels a bit lowbrow after ilov80s post but had a fun time at the movies with Twisters. I thought the script was well constructed to reveal the characters and relevant scientific business gradually through the series of six storms. I didn't expect a message for community-based solutions over predatory capitalism but it's not like the disaster flicks of yore.
 
Ilov80s said:

The Handmaiden: South Korea. Holy hot scissoring sisters was this thing salacious. And such cruel fun. It's got some twists so I won't say much other than a 1930s Korean thief plots with a man posing as royalty to swindle a naive Japanese heiress out of her fortune. It's sadistic though so be warned.
Click to expand...
One of my favorite Korean revenge/horror movies ever. 10/10
 
Ilov80s said:
Ilov80s said:
Ilov80s said:
Ilov80s said:
Ok so watched a ton of movies since getting back from vacation. 92 degrees with 70% humidity isn’t very good for doing much else.

Inside Out 2
A very good sequel. Not nearly as funny or sad but I was thoroughly engrossed in the story and it does such a good job building a story around how emotions work and how we grow and develop, heal, etc. Highly recommend for families.

The last couple summers, I’ve done a “movie festival”. Two years ago it was epics. Last year it was westerns. This year it’s global. So far:

Happy Together: Hong Kong-Argentina. Beautifully sad love story. As Wong Kar Wai always does, the vignettes feel like memories or dreams. There’s such a certain quality his movies have that almost no other filmmaker is able to replicate.

The Zone of Interest: Germany-Poland. This was a brilliant movie. The banality of evil is the perfect description for this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. It’s maybe more terrifying than Schindlers List despite having no actual violence whatsoever.

I’m No Longer Here: Mexico-NYC. This one caught me off guard with how great it was. Holy ****, it’s on Netflix. Check it out. A teen in Monterrey is accidentally caught up in the gang violence of his neighborhood and forced to sneak into America to try to start a new life. While that sounds super depressing and it is, it doesn’t leave you feeling hopeless at all. It has a real strength to it. The main character Ulises is one I will never forget.

The Proposition Australia. Absolutely brutal western. Very good if that’s your thing. Written by Nick Cave. The score he did for it is also excellent.
Click to expand...
Kept going with the global movie festival going (though we got a puppy Monday so movie watching has really slowed down).

Port of Shadows: France. Going back to 1938 and the great Jean Gabin. This is a key movie for the development of film noir. I have to imagine the great European emigre directors who populated Hollywood in the 40s and 50s took inspiration from this. The film description screams noir: Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean, an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, as acts of both revenge and kindness render him front-page news. Any fan of 40s noirs should absolutely check this out.

Yojimbo: Japan. Even though he never made a western, there are few filmamkers as important to the midcentury development of the Western than Akira Kurosawa. Seven Samurai became The Magnificnet Seven. The ultimate get the gang together, assemble the team movie that we see not just out west but in The Expendables, Avengers, etc. It's a blueprint on which hundreds of movies have been built. Then with Yojimbo, Kurosawa created the polar plan: the lone nameless "hero". This diretcly became Eastwood's Dollar's trilogy character. But it's also an archetype that we recycle endlessly. He's alone, he owes nohing to anyone but he does have a moral code. He's not a good guy but he's not bad either. He's an opportunist. It's a spin on Shane (who was very much not nameless) who wanted to to be good, wanted a simple life, wanted to sacrifice for the good. Kurosawa's nameless hero isn't looking for redemption.

The Official Story: Argentina. The 1986 Best Foreign Film winner at the Academy Awards is a tragic look into the damage done during Argentina's military dictatorship of the late 70s and early 80s. This centers on a bourgeois husband and wife during the final days of the oppressive regime. The husband has aligned himself with the military and sees their position slipping while the wife begins to ask questions about where their adopted daughter came from. Tremendous lead performance from Norma Aleandro. Anyone interested in a movie that blends family drama with historical events this is on HBO Max and well worth checking out.

Petite Maman: France. Celine Sciamma's follow-up to the much acclaimed Portrait of a Lady on Fire is such a small, sweet and tender movie. Coming in at just 72 minutes, it's a breezy warm hug of a watch. I appreciate her telling a story in that time frame (aka I could watch the whole thing during 1 puppy nap) and not feeling the to need to drag it out to hit 90 mins or some kind of arbitrary marker. This reminded me a lot of All of Us Strangers which is the only real hint I will give at the plot other than to say it's about a young girl who's grandmother passes away. I really liked this one and need to dig into more of Sciamma's movies.
Click to expand...
and the global film fest moves forward with a long detour in France

Last Year in Marienbad: France. I knew roughly what I was getting into here. I've seen Alain Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour (masterpiece imo) so I knew this was going to be lacking in structure, maybe even in plot. I loved the sets, costume, hair, makeup, editing, etc. I just couldn't connect to the "story". It was successful in what it aimed to do: create a movie of the mind- thoughts and dreams but I just was not drawn to the final product. It's considered kind of a classic now but I see when it came out it was a very divisive movie. I for sure fall on the side that this thing is more mess than masterpiece.

Band of Outsiders: France. The male characters here really suck. Anna Karina is carrying them both. There are some fun scenes, creative stuff but I'm not sure the sense of whimsy that's intended always works. Not a miss for me but not a hit either.

Le Doulos: France. Director Jean Pierre Melville makes a crime film like Godard did with with Band of Outsiders but there's no whimsy here. No laughs. No smiles. Not even a smirk. I much prefer the Melville approach. Doulos is slang for a rat or a snitch and that's what this movie is all about. Fresh out of a prison, a criminal has a safe job lined up but when he's snitched on everything unravels. This is pure hardboiled noir. Melville absolutely rules.

Godzilla Minus One: Japan. The story was better than the usual Godzilla fare but in the end it's still a Godzilla movie which just doesn't move the needle much for me. It won an Oscar for FX but they didn't seem all that great (though I understand they were done on a small budget which I do appreciate). I am glad people liked this, it beats the heck out of those Zilla vs Kong things but this kind of monster movie won't ever be my thing.
Click to expand...

A Hero: Iran. There's a little bit of Bicycle Thieves vibes to this in that's abour a poor guy just looking for money to help him and his kid. It's a depressing moral dilema. A case of how trying to do the right thing can backfire, how people look to take advantage of others and how small lies can take on lives of their own. It asks some difficult questions while managing to stay entertaining. This 2021 film is the first Farhadi movie I've seen but I will definitely be going back for more. It was excellent.

The Worst Person in the World: Denmark. My first watch of this in 2022 left me thrilled. On 2nd viewing, I can say this is in the running for my favorite movie of the 2020s. Full of energy and sex and edge and intelligence. I love everything about this movie. It's what I would consider a truly modern rom-com. Our lead Julie is constantly evolving, shifting and self destructing. I will probably watch this movie 5,10,20 more times. Renate Reinsve is so awesome in this. It's a perfect match of star, screenplay and direction.

Even the Rain: Spain and Bolivia. Hadn't heard of this one but did some browsing to find some movies set in South America that were streaming and landed on this. The set-up is a Spanish film crew heads to Bolivia to film a Christoper Columbus movie hoping to employ the Native residents to play the Natives in the film. While there, they find themslves in the middle of a violent Native uprising against the Bolivian government that has partnered with international business ventures to privatize the water. Lots of layers to this one, well worth checking out.

The Handmaiden: South Korea. Holy hot scissoring sisters was this thing salacious. And such cruel fun. It's got some twists so I won't say much other than a 1930s Korean thief plots with a man posing as royalty to swindle a naive Japanese heiress out of her fortune. It's sadistic though so be warned.
Click to expand...
Thank you... Now I want to see all of these!
 
El Floppo said:
Ilov80s said:
Ilov80s said:
Ilov80s said:
Ilov80s said:
Ok so watched a ton of movies since getting back from vacation. 92 degrees with 70% humidity isn’t very good for doing much else.

Inside Out 2
A very good sequel. Not nearly as funny or sad but I was thoroughly engrossed in the story and it does such a good job building a story around how emotions work and how we grow and develop, heal, etc. Highly recommend for families.

The last couple summers, I’ve done a “movie festival”. Two years ago it was epics. Last year it was westerns. This year it’s global. So far:

Happy Together: Hong Kong-Argentina. Beautifully sad love story. As Wong Kar Wai always does, the vignettes feel like memories or dreams. There’s such a certain quality his movies have that almost no other filmmaker is able to replicate.

The Zone of Interest: Germany-Poland. This was a brilliant movie. The banality of evil is the perfect description for this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. It’s maybe more terrifying than Schindlers List despite having no actual violence whatsoever.

I’m No Longer Here: Mexico-NYC. This one caught me off guard with how great it was. Holy ****, it’s on Netflix. Check it out. A teen in Monterrey is accidentally caught up in the gang violence of his neighborhood and forced to sneak into America to try to start a new life. While that sounds super depressing and it is, it doesn’t leave you feeling hopeless at all. It has a real strength to it. The main character Ulises is one I will never forget.

The Proposition Australia. Absolutely brutal western. Very good if that’s your thing. Written by Nick Cave. The score he did for it is also excellent.
Click to expand...
Kept going with the global movie festival going (though we got a puppy Monday so movie watching has really slowed down).

Port of Shadows: France. Going back to 1938 and the great Jean Gabin. This is a key movie for the development of film noir. I have to imagine the great European emigre directors who populated Hollywood in the 40s and 50s took inspiration from this. The film description screams noir: Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean, an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, as acts of both revenge and kindness render him front-page news. Any fan of 40s noirs should absolutely check this out.

Yojimbo: Japan. Even though he never made a western, there are few filmamkers as important to the midcentury development of the Western than Akira Kurosawa. Seven Samurai became The Magnificnet Seven. The ultimate get the gang together, assemble the team movie that we see not just out west but in The Expendables, Avengers, etc. It's a blueprint on which hundreds of movies have been built. Then with Yojimbo, Kurosawa created the polar plan: the lone nameless "hero". This diretcly became Eastwood's Dollar's trilogy character. But it's also an archetype that we recycle endlessly. He's alone, he owes nohing to anyone but he does have a moral code. He's not a good guy but he's not bad either. He's an opportunist. It's a spin on Shane (who was very much not nameless) who wanted to to be good, wanted a simple life, wanted to sacrifice for the good. Kurosawa's nameless hero isn't looking for redemption.

The Official Story: Argentina. The 1986 Best Foreign Film winner at the Academy Awards is a tragic look into the damage done during Argentina's military dictatorship of the late 70s and early 80s. This centers on a bourgeois husband and wife during the final days of the oppressive regime. The husband has aligned himself with the military and sees their position slipping while the wife begins to ask questions about where their adopted daughter came from. Tremendous lead performance from Norma Aleandro. Anyone interested in a movie that blends family drama with historical events this is on HBO Max and well worth checking out.

Petite Maman: France. Celine Sciamma's follow-up to the much acclaimed Portrait of a Lady on Fire is such a small, sweet and tender movie. Coming in at just 72 minutes, it's a breezy warm hug of a watch. I appreciate her telling a story in that time frame (aka I could watch the whole thing during 1 puppy nap) and not feeling the to need to drag it out to hit 90 mins or some kind of arbitrary marker. This reminded me a lot of All of Us Strangers which is the only real hint I will give at the plot other than to say it's about a young girl who's grandmother passes away. I really liked this one and need to dig into more of Sciamma's movies.
Click to expand...
and the global film fest moves forward with a long detour in France

Last Year in Marienbad: France. I knew roughly what I was getting into here. I've seen Alain Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour (masterpiece imo) so I knew this was going to be lacking in structure, maybe even in plot. I loved the sets, costume, hair, makeup, editing, etc. I just couldn't connect to the "story". It was successful in what it aimed to do: create a movie of the mind- thoughts and dreams but I just was not drawn to the final product. It's considered kind of a classic now but I see when it came out it was a very divisive movie. I for sure fall on the side that this thing is more mess than masterpiece.

Band of Outsiders: France. The male characters here really suck. Anna Karina is carrying them both. There are some fun scenes, creative stuff but I'm not sure the sense of whimsy that's intended always works. Not a miss for me but not a hit either.

Le Doulos: France. Director Jean Pierre Melville makes a crime film like Godard did with with Band of Outsiders but there's no whimsy here. No laughs. No smiles. Not even a smirk. I much prefer the Melville approach. Doulos is slang for a rat or a snitch and that's what this movie is all about. Fresh out of a prison, a criminal has a safe job lined up but when he's snitched on everything unravels. This is pure hardboiled noir. Melville absolutely rules.

Godzilla Minus One: Japan. The story was better than the usual Godzilla fare but in the end it's still a Godzilla movie which just doesn't move the needle much for me. It won an Oscar for FX but they didn't seem all that great (though I understand they were done on a small budget which I do appreciate). I am glad people liked this, it beats the heck out of those Zilla vs Kong things but this kind of monster movie won't ever be my thing.
Click to expand...

A Hero: Iran. There's a little bit of Bicycle Thieves vibes to this in that's abour a poor guy just looking for money to help him and his kid. It's a depressing moral dilema. A case of how trying to do the right thing can backfire, how people look to take advantage of others and how small lies can take on lives of their own. It asks some difficult questions while managing to stay entertaining. This 2021 film is the first Farhadi movie I've seen but I will definitely be going back for more. It was excellent.

The Worst Person in the World: Denmark. My first watch of this in 2022 left me thrilled. On 2nd viewing, I can say this is in the running for my favorite movie of the 2020s. Full of energy and sex and edge and intelligence. I love everything about this movie. It's what I would consider a truly modern rom-com. Our lead Julie is constantly evolving, shifting and self destructing. I will probably watch this movie 5,10,20 more times. Renate Reinsve is so awesome in this. It's a perfect match of star, screenplay and direction.

Even the Rain: Spain and Bolivia. Hadn't heard of this one but did some browsing to find some movies set in South America that were streaming and landed on this. The set-up is a Spanish film crew heads to Bolivia to film a Christoper Columbus movie hoping to employ the Native residents to play the Natives in the film. While there, they find themslves in the middle of a violent Native uprising against the Bolivian government that has partnered with international business ventures to privatize the water. Lots of layers to this one, well worth checking out.

The Handmaiden: South Korea. Holy hot scissoring sisters was this thing salacious. And such cruel fun. It's got some twists so I won't say much other than a 1930s Korean thief plots with a man posing as royalty to swindle a naive Japanese heiress out of her fortune. It's sadistic though so be warned.
Click to expand...
Thank you... Now I want to see all of these!
Click to expand...
I can help you out. The Handmaiden and A Hero are streaming on Prime. Even the Water is on Netflix. The Worst Person in the World is on Hulu.
 
Ilov80s said:
Ilov80s said:
Ilov80s said:
Ilov80s said:
Ok so watched a ton of movies since getting back from vacation. 92 degrees with 70% humidity isn’t very good for doing much else.

Inside Out 2
A very good sequel. Not nearly as funny or sad but I was thoroughly engrossed in the story and it does such a good job building a story around how emotions work and how we grow and develop, heal, etc. Highly recommend for families.

The last couple summers, I’ve done a “movie festival”. Two years ago it was epics. Last year it was westerns. This year it’s global. So far:

Happy Together: Hong Kong-Argentina. Beautifully sad love story. As Wong Kar Wai always does, the vignettes feel like memories or dreams. There’s such a certain quality his movies have that almost no other filmmaker is able to replicate.

The Zone of Interest: Germany-Poland. This was a brilliant movie. The banality of evil is the perfect description for this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. It’s maybe more terrifying than Schindlers List despite having no actual violence whatsoever.

I’m No Longer Here: Mexico-NYC. This one caught me off guard with how great it was. Holy ****, it’s on Netflix. Check it out. A teen in Monterrey is accidentally caught up in the gang violence of his neighborhood and forced to sneak into America to try to start a new life. While that sounds super depressing and it is, it doesn’t leave you feeling hopeless at all. It has a real strength to it. The main character Ulises is one I will never forget.

The Proposition Australia. Absolutely brutal western. Very good if that’s your thing. Written by Nick Cave. The score he did for it is also excellent.
Click to expand...
Kept going with the global movie festival going (though we got a puppy Monday so movie watching has really slowed down).

Port of Shadows: France. Going back to 1938 and the great Jean Gabin. This is a key movie for the development of film noir. I have to imagine the great European emigre directors who populated Hollywood in the 40s and 50s took inspiration from this. The film description screams noir: Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean, an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, as acts of both revenge and kindness render him front-page news. Any fan of 40s noirs should absolutely check this out.

Yojimbo: Japan. Even though he never made a western, there are few filmamkers as important to the midcentury development of the Western than Akira Kurosawa. Seven Samurai became The Magnificnet Seven. The ultimate get the gang together, assemble the team movie that we see not just out west but in The Expendables, Avengers, etc. It's a blueprint on which hundreds of movies have been built. Then with Yojimbo, Kurosawa created the polar plan: the lone nameless "hero". This diretcly became Eastwood's Dollar's trilogy character. But it's also an archetype that we recycle endlessly. He's alone, he owes nohing to anyone but he does have a moral code. He's not a good guy but he's not bad either. He's an opportunist. It's a spin on Shane (who was very much not nameless) who wanted to to be good, wanted a simple life, wanted to sacrifice for the good. Kurosawa's nameless hero isn't looking for redemption.

The Official Story: Argentina. The 1986 Best Foreign Film winner at the Academy Awards is a tragic look into the damage done during Argentina's military dictatorship of the late 70s and early 80s. This centers on a bourgeois husband and wife during the final days of the oppressive regime. The husband has aligned himself with the military and sees their position slipping while the wife begins to ask questions about where their adopted daughter came from. Tremendous lead performance from Norma Aleandro. Anyone interested in a movie that blends family drama with historical events this is on HBO Max and well worth checking out.

Petite Maman: France. Celine Sciamma's follow-up to the much acclaimed Portrait of a Lady on Fire is such a small, sweet and tender movie. Coming in at just 72 minutes, it's a breezy warm hug of a watch. I appreciate her telling a story in that time frame (aka I could watch the whole thing during 1 puppy nap) and not feeling the to need to drag it out to hit 90 mins or some kind of arbitrary marker. This reminded me a lot of All of Us Strangers which is the only real hint I will give at the plot other than to say it's about a young girl who's grandmother passes away. I really liked this one and need to dig into more of Sciamma's movies.
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and the global film fest moves forward with a long detour in France

Last Year in Marienbad: France. I knew roughly what I was getting into here. I've seen Alain Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour (masterpiece imo) so I knew this was going to be lacking in structure, maybe even in plot. I loved the sets, costume, hair, makeup, editing, etc. I just couldn't connect to the "story". It was successful in what it aimed to do: create a movie of the mind- thoughts and dreams but I just was not drawn to the final product. It's considered kind of a classic now but I see when it came out it was a very divisive movie. I for sure fall on the side that this thing is more mess than masterpiece.

Band of Outsiders: France. The male characters here really suck. Anna Karina is carrying them both. There are some fun scenes, creative stuff but I'm not sure the sense of whimsy that's intended always works. Not a miss for me but not a hit either.

Le Doulos: France. Director Jean Pierre Melville makes a crime film like Godard did with with Band of Outsiders but there's no whimsy here. No laughs. No smiles. Not even a smirk. I much prefer the Melville approach. Doulos is slang for a rat or a snitch and that's what this movie is all about. Fresh out of a prison, a criminal has a safe job lined up but when he's snitched on everything unravels. This is pure hardboiled noir. Melville absolutely rules.

Godzilla Minus One: Japan. The story was better than the usual Godzilla fare but in the end it's still a Godzilla movie which just doesn't move the needle much for me. It won an Oscar for FX but they didn't seem all that great (though I understand they were done on a small budget which I do appreciate). I am glad people liked this, it beats the heck out of those Zilla vs Kong things but this kind of monster movie won't ever be my thing.
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A Hero: Iran. There's a little bit of Bicycle Thieves vibes to this in that's abour a poor guy just looking for money to help him and his kid. It's a depressing moral dilema. A case of how trying to do the right thing can backfire, how people look to take advantage of others and how small lies can take on lives of their own. It asks some difficult questions while managing to stay entertaining. This 2021 film is the first Farhadi movie I've seen but I will definitely be going back for more. It was excellent.

The Worst Person in the World: Denmark. My first watch of this in 2022 left me thrilled. On 2nd viewing, I can say this is in the running for my favorite movie of the 2020s. Full of energy and sex and edge and intelligence. I love everything about this movie. It's what I would consider a truly modern rom-com. Our lead Julie is constantly evolving, shifting and self destructing. I will probably watch this movie 5,10,20 more times. Renate Reinsve is so awesome in this. It's a perfect match of star, screenplay and direction.

Even the Rain: Spain and Bolivia. Hadn't heard of this one but did some browsing to find some movies set in South America that were streaming and landed on this. The set-up is a Spanish film crew heads to Bolivia to film a Christoper Columbus movie hoping to employ the Native residents to play the Natives in the film. While there, they find themslves in the middle of a violent Native uprising against the Bolivian government that has partnered with international business ventures to privatize the water. Lots of layers to this one, well worth checking out.

The Handmaiden: South Korea. Holy hot scissoring sisters was this thing salacious. And such cruel fun. It's got some twists so I won't say much other than a 1930s Korean thief plots with a man posing as royalty to swindle a naive Japanese heiress out of her fortune. It's sadistic though so be warned.
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Worst Person is on my watch list - it gets high IMDB ratings.

Handmaiden was a shock - I didn't expect it to do what it did, either on the salacious side or on the twist side.
 
A couple I watched this week.

Deer Camp ‘86 - low budget, group of hunters goes into the woods in Michigan to a hunting cabin. **** goes sideways due to a Native American curse. Had fun. 6/10

Quiet Place: Day One - We should all know what this is about. Had a Cloverfield feel to it, but without the found footage aesthetic. I might like this one the best of the three. 8/10

Sting - Low budget, giant space-spider movie in a broken down Brooklyn apartment building. Had Arachnophobia vibes, but from space. Also had fun with it. 6/10

Thanksgiving - stupid and campy, and I was down for it. 7/10
 
Ghostbusters has forgotten what made the first one so good. HUMOR.

I couldn't even finish Frozen Empire. This doesn't even come close to how I felt watching it :yucky: :x :wall:
 
snogger said:
Ghostbusters has forgotten what made the first one so good. HUMOR.

I couldn't even finish Frozen Empire. This doesn't even come close to how I felt watching it :yucky: :x :wall:
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Well, busting ghosts is in the title, not humor. ;)

When I feel myself start to grumble about these types of movie sequels/reboots I like to watch a few of the old ones. I watched 2 and the one with Wiig and McCarthy, and I was reminded how bad it's been for how long. I think the female one at least tried to have some humor, but it has 2 people in it I find very unfunny in general - McCarthy and McKinnon. As much as I love Wiig and thought Hemsworth was funny, I couldn't get over the other 2 - but I could see how people could find the movie better than I did. For Afterlife, since I am watching these by myself, suffers because of the kids and them being central to the story. It probably just makes me feel old, but I am glad if the next generation digs them and it makes them seek out and like the old ones too.
 
Watched “Reunion “ on Prime. A lot of recognizable people in it. A large reunion party at a rich former classmates house ends up the scene of a murder where people are snowed in with the possible killer. Pretty enjoyable comedy.
 
I finally caught up with Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One since it's now on Prime. I avoided spoilers in this thread when it came out so apologies if this has already been discussed. I guess the main thing is the six big action setpieces were all excellent but I thought the connective bits between them were particularly weak. The expository dialog about the Entity was just brutal and you know they're going to have to repeat some of it in the next movie. So we're left with one team of good guys and multiple teams of villains chasing two parts of a key around the world. I know part one is right there in the title but I expected resolution of something after watching for 2 1/2 hours.

Younger audiences will probably disagree but I think this franchise could benefit from a retro reboot. The current IMF team is getting a little long in the tooth but I think the bigger problem is that the technology now dwarfs the characters. Maybe Cruise and McQuarrie realize this as well and the team will have to use rotary phones to evade the Entity in part two.
 
Darkman (1990) hasn't been on streaming for a long time so I queued it up immediately when it recently showed up on Prime. The hybrid of 80s action and 30s monster movies still holds up pretty well. Sam Raimi had a much bigger budget to play with than the first two Evil Deads and he spent it wisely to blow things up. There's an exuberance in his over the top style which is matched by Liam Neeson's exaggerated performance. Some of the effects work is cheesy by modern standards but there's a retro charm here that I don't get from CGI from just a few years later.
 
Eephus said:
I finally caught up with Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One since it's now on Prime. I avoided spoilers in this thread when it came out so apologies if this has already been discussed. I guess the main thing is the six big action setpieces were all excellent but I thought the connective bits between them were particularly weak. The expository dialog about the Entity was just brutal and you know they're going to have to repeat some of it in the next movie. So we're left with one team of good guys and multiple teams of villains chasing two parts of a key around the world. I know part one is right there in the title but I expected resolution of something after watching for 2 1/2 hours.

Younger audiences will probably disagree but I think this franchise could benefit from a retro reboot. The current IMF team is getting a little long in the tooth but I think the bigger problem is that the technology now dwarfs the characters. Maybe Cruise and McQuarrie realize this as well and the team will have to use rotary phones to evade the Entity in part two.
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Mission Impossible, brought to you from the producers of Fast and the Furious!!

This movie sucked so bad.
 
Eephus said:
I finally caught up with Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One since it's now on Prime. I avoided spoilers in this thread when it came out so apologies if this has already been discussed. I guess the main thing is the six big action setpieces were all excellent but I thought the connective bits between them were particularly weak. The expository dialog about the Entity was just brutal and you know they're going to have to repeat some of it in the next movie. So we're left with one team of good guys and multiple teams of villains chasing two parts of a key around the world. I know part one is right there in the title but I expected resolution of something after watching for 2 1/2 hours.

Younger audiences will probably disagree but I think this franchise could benefit from a retro reboot. The current IMF team is getting a little long in the tooth but I think the bigger problem is that the technology now dwarfs the characters. Maybe Cruise and McQuarrie realize this as well and the team will have to use rotary phones to evade the Entity in part two.
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Excellent review. The set pieces were great- I especially liked the car chase in Rome. However, the AI storyline didnt do much for me and the recent few Cruise MIs really all blend together.
 
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Wife forced me to watch Anything But You. Sydney Sweeney gazonkas, the Top Gun guy's abs, and the Australian scenery made it bearable. But I highly recommend avoiding this snoozefest.
 
Brunell4MVP said:
Wife forced me to watch Anything But You. Sydney Sweeney gazonkas, the Top Gun guy's abs, and the Australian scenery made it bearable. But I highly recommend avoiding this snoozefest.
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If you would like to see her in all her glory, The Voyeurs on Prime. Fantastic body.
 
My monthly movies watched dump for July

Round Midnight (1986 - B. Tavernier)
Personal Best (1982 - R. Towne)
Robin Hood (2010 - R. Scott)
Robin and Marian (1976 - R. Lester)
Napoleon (1927 - A. Gance)
Code of Silence (1985 - A. Davis)
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957 - B. Wilder)
Without Limits (1998 - R. Towne)
She’s the Man (2006 - A. Fickman)
The Neon Highway (2024 - W. Wages)
American Gangster (2007 - R. Scott)
Tiger 3 (2023 - M. Sharma)
Scarface (1932 - H. Hawks)
London Fields (2018 - M. Cullen)
Thursday’s Game (1974 - R. Moore)
Penn & Teller Get Killed (1989 - A. Penn)
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. (2024 - M. Molloy)
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991 - K. Reynolds)
The Teacher’s Lounge (2023 - I. Catak)
Big Eyes (2014 - T. Burton)
Man on Fire (2004 - T. Scott)
Man on Fire (1987 - E. Chouraqui)
Twisters (2024 - L.I. Chung)
Days of Thunder (1990 - T. Scott)
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993 - M. Brooks)
Criss Cross (1949 - R. Siodmak)
Crossroads (1986 - W. Hill)
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (2023 - C. McQuarrie)
Tony Rome (1967 - G. Douglas)

I've written up most of them already here and in DotM but there are a few I missed.

Round Midnight is one of the greatest movies ever about Jazz. I know he's playing a fictional character but I'm glad the filmmakers were able to capture the personality of Dexter Gordon on film forever. It's a spectacular performance by a one-and-done actor. The original Scarface is still an astounding action film almost a century after it was made. It's pre-code which helps a lot because gangster movies couldn't match its violence for the next forty years. Highly recommended if you're only familiar with the De Palma/Pacino version.

In advance of the Olympics and to celebrate the great screenwriter Robert Towne (RIP), I watched two movies he directed about track & field athletes. Personal Best was notorious in its day for its portrayal of a lesbian romance but it seems more creepy now for the asymmetric power dynamics between the young pentathlete and her veteran competitor and her coach. I thought Towne's movie about Steve Prefontaine Without Limits was better even though its structure was a more conventional sports biopic. Donald Sutherland was terrific as coach Bill Bowerman.

I knew London Fields was a bomb but I liked the book and wanted to see how bad it could be. I really wasn't prepared for just how bad it was. The story was incomprehensible and both Amber Heard and Jim Sturgess were terrible in a way you rarely see from actors these days. Penn & Teller Get Killed wasn't quite as bad but it wasn't very good. The story was lame and a lot of the comedy bits fell flat. It was a sad way for director Arthur Penn to close out a great career.

Big Eyes was a fun story about the painter Margaret Keane and her husband Walter. I enjoyed the recreation of 60s San Francisco and Amy Adams' performance. Criss Cross was a fine film noir heist movie with Burt Lancaster and Dan Duryea. I was going to watch Soderbergh's remake The Underneath but that will have to wait until this month. Crossroads isn't the Britney Spears movie but rather Walter Hill's road movie about the unlikely friendship of an old bluesman and Ralph Macchio. The contract with the devil subplot is older than the Blues but it somehow worked in this odd little 80s movie. Tony Rome is a decent 60s private eye movie with Sinatra in the title role. It's one of those mysteries where whodunit is of secondary importance to its colorful characters.
 
Eephus said:
I knew London Fields was a bomb but I liked the book and wanted to see how bad it could be. I really wasn't prepared for just how bad it was. The story was incomprehensible and both Amber Heard and Jim Sturgess were terrible in a way you rarely see from actors these day
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Thank you. Also a big fan of the book and was literally just looking at watching this over the weekend. Now I don't have to.

Not Amis but Ballard... I remember really enjoying reading Highrise. The movie wasn't terrible, but felt like it's missed a lot of the commentary I tent of it.
 
El Floppo said:
Eephus said:
I knew London Fields was a bomb but I liked the book and wanted to see how bad it could be. I really wasn't prepared for just how bad it was. The story was incomprehensible and both Amber Heard and Jim Sturgess were terrible in a way you rarely see from actors these day
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Thank you. Also a big fan of the book and was literally just looking at watching this over the weekend. Now I don't have to.

Not Amis but Ballard... I remember really enjoying reading Highrise. The movie wasn't terrible, but felt like it's missed a lot of the commentary I tent of it.
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Like a lot of modern novels, London Fields is tough to translate to the screen. Martin Amis' wickedly satirical prose has to be delivered in voiceover. Amis was involved early in the project but I don't know how much of his work ended up in the final script. The director was a first timer (who hasn't made a movie since) who couldn't make sense of the screenplay and the guy they cast in the pivotal role of Keith Talent is just abysmal.
 
So Paramount and Nolan were planning a 70mm IMAX re-release of Interstellar this year but it’s being scrapped because he’s learned someone at Paramount made the decision years ago to destroy all their copies. WTF!

And from this I learned years ago when they decided to trash all the 70mm prints of Days of Thunder, they mistakenly also trashed all the 70mm prints of Days of Heaven.
 
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