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Movies You’ve Watched Lately [OT] - 2023

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GeekyDad

Member
Rewatching Ready Player One with my new surround sound and 4K. Pretty dope.

Not a great movie, but very watchable.
Never bothered to check it out, but y'all's comments inspired me to check out the trailer. Looks like it's made for a younger audience, but it does look like a pretty cool idea. And of course, it has Van Halen's pinnacle song playing during the trailer, so yeah, I'll have to check it out. Just so surprised to see Spielberg use that song for his trailer. So yeah... :messenger_grinning_smiling:
 

AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
Never bothered to check it out, but y'all's comments inspired me to check out the trailer. Looks like it's made for a younger audience, but it does look like a pretty cool idea. And of course, it has Van Halen's pinnacle song playing during the trailer, so yeah, I'll have to check it out. Just so surprised to see Spielberg use that song for his trailer. So yeah... :messenger_grinning_smiling:
It is Spielberg making a movie that references Spielberg. The book is fun, but it is very much 80s Nostalgia the movie.
 

Doom85

Member
Ready Player One is one of those examples that, yes, sometimes the movie is better than the book. The book was mostly a chore to get through, its pop culture references were used less well than the film (the movie’s use of The Shining was far better than the book where we’re told Wade beats a challenge by reciting the movie War Games, and the author writes it like we should be excited this is happening…), and Wade acts like a stalker at times to Art3mis. The movie cut out all that bullshit and was just a fun little adventure with some pop culture visuals. Also, always love seeing Ben Mendelsohn is anything, dude is great in everything I’ve seen him in (Rogue One, Captain Marvel, Stephen King’s The Outsider).
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
The Banshees of Inisherin.
Another winner from Martin McDonagh. Colin Farrell turns in likely a career-best performance, and the entire cast is terrific in this pitch-black dramedy about friendship, breakups, and the toxic nature of insular communities. Which might sound stodgy and self-consciously worthy, but the sheer quality of the writing keeps it consistently engaging even when there's not much going on.

Feckin' funny, frequently wince-inducingly hurtful, and leaves the viewer with lots to think about at the end.

M3GAN (Unrated)
Although I'm generally luke-warm on Blumhouse product this was a really pleasant surprise. Its basically Child's Play v2.0 but actually well done, and with the material cut for PG-13 reinstated has just enough edge to back up its familiar premise. Director Gerard Johnstone previously made 2014's Housebound, which was a cracking little indie horror from NZ, and this is similarly entertaining. Lightweight but consistently fun, with top-notch effects work (M3GAN "herself" is an impressive mix of prosthetics, animatronics and CG), this gets a solid thumbs-up from me.
 

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Never bothered to check it out, but y'all's comments inspired me to check out the trailer. Looks like it's made for a younger audience, but it does look like a pretty cool idea. And of course, it has Van Halen's pinnacle song playing during the trailer, so yeah, I'll have to check it out. Just so surprised to see Spielberg use that song for his trailer. So yeah... :messenger_grinning_smiling:

It's a very middling film overall, but it's fun, and the references to everything culture - particularly video games - invokes a lot of fond memories and nostalgia (at least for me). The visuals and audio really shine.

I wouldn't recommend the book. Others have explained why, I'll just keep it short: although it told an interesting and novel story at the time, it's simply not well written and overlong.
 
Spider-Man (2002)

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Makes me feel young again watching it. Remember being so hyped back in the day after seeing it, made me wish I could web swing everywhere. Just such a fun movie, and Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin performance is top tier.
 

kurisu_1974

Member
Scream VI was shit on all accounts except maybe the violence. Also it's silly how easy it is to guess the bad guys in these modern woke sequels.

it's the only non-hispanic white people in the cast
 
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BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Fitzcarraldo (1982) ★★★☆☆

Been sitting on this one for a while. Went to bed early (long day), woke up in the middle of the night and decided to finally watch it. Herzog and Kinksi were something else back in the day. Herzog's middle distance shots of individuals with no deeper examination or explanation is still fascinating even though it feels like I've seen him do it dozens of times now. So many shots appeared to be truly grueling for the cast and crew.

Good artsy film, not great. If you've seen early Herzog work I doubt much of it will surprise you. Great lead performance, interesting direction and framing, but not a terribly interesting plot and the pace is dull for a few stints.

Next up on the Herzog list is The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser - once I get around to digging through my move boxes for the DVD that is.
 

kurisu_1974

Member
Fitzcarraldo (1982) ★★★☆☆

Been sitting on this one for a while. Went to bed early (long day), woke up in the middle of the night and decided to finally watch it. Herzog and Kinksi were something else back in the day. Herzog's middle distance shots of individuals with no deeper examination or explanation is still fascinating even though it feels like I've seen him do it dozens of times now. So many shots appeared to be truly grueling for the cast and crew.

Good artsy film, not great. If you've seen early Herzog work I doubt much of it will surprise you. Great lead performance, interesting direction and framing, but not a terribly interesting plot and the pace is dull for a few stints.

Next up on the Herzog list is The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser - once I get around to digging through my move boxes for the DVD that is.

Kinski is such a pleasure to watch. I assume you also have seen Aguirre? And I also recommend The Great Silence, a spaghetti western with peak Kinski (and a great Jean-Louis Trintignant too).
 

AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
Romeo and Juliet 1968. This is probably the best version of this play in movie form I have ever seen. Beautiful and touching.
 

12Goblins

Lil’ Gobbie
Scream VI was shit on all accounts except maybe the violence. Also it's silly how easy it is to guess the bad guys in these modern woke sequels.

it's the only non-hispanic white people in the cast
I could not believe how unbelievably bad this movie was. How can movies like this have positive test screenings??? I can't even blame the movie at this point
 
Sinister, both parts. Liked it, second part is worse, but still watchable. And music is very climatic this is somethin which can be played at Azathoth's court.

That credits song reminds me of a darker version of the musician Clark, in the best way.

 
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Scream VI was shit on all accounts except maybe the violence. Also it's silly how easy it is to guess the bad guys in these modern woke sequels.

it's the only non-hispanic white people in the cast

One of the worst written and acted films I have seen in ages. That was SHITE from beginning to end.
 
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BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Ponyo

Rewatch. Still great, nearly flawless. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when Studio Ghibli is truly done and gone, but at least we had them for a while.
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
Ponyo

Rewatch. Still great, nearly flawless. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when Studio Ghibli is truly done and gone, but at least we had them for a while.
I find Totoro and Kiki Delivery Service to be very rare movies suitable for very young kids since the action is not fast and there is no conflict. Very difficult to find similar movies.

Ponyo is a step up since the plot gets complicated.
 
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NahaNago

Member
I honestly forgot what I watched. I guess Inu-oh counts. It's an anime movie. That movie was just weird and I hated how it ends for the most part except for like the last like 3 minutes at the very end which I thought was good. The animation was all over the place and it looked like they cheaped out on the animation in some sections. Which is somewhat understandable since the movie does do some weird stuff. The music wasn't that great. It was like they were going for some weird indie rock film with this anime. I can honestly say I'm glad I didn't see it in theaters but I'm okay with owning it.

I give this movie a rating of C-.

I can almost see what they were trying to do with this movie but I feel like they didn't have a large enough buget. It also would probably work better as a live action movie.
 

GeekyDad

Member
Seen Sully two or three times, but Flight is the one I keep going back to. Sully is based on a true story I was fascinated with when I first learned about it through this guys ( https://www.youtube.com/@MentourPilot ) excellent channel, but the movie just feels, for the most part, pretty damned generic.

Flight, though (from what I understand) a fictional story, somehow feels more true. It's a tragic story, but Denzel's character feels very real.

I don't know. Neither movie is great, in my opinion, but I particularly enjoy the final prison scene.
 

Andyliini

Member
Die Hard with A Vengeance
Saw it first time in over 10 years, and I forgot how funny it was. Willis and Jackson have good chemistry, which elevates the film even further. Action scenes are not as big as they were in first two and some green screen effects have aged poorly, but otherwise it's fun and enjoyable action film.

Suzume
Makoto Shinkai did it again. After seeing Your Name a few years ago, he has become my favorite anime director. He creates films full of magic, color and wonderful fusion of 2D and 3D animation, with interesting stories. This might not be as good as Weathering with You was, but I still enjoyed it throroughly. Amazing job once again.
 

Davesky

Member
Dances-with-Wolvesed.jpg


Best movie ever. The attempted suicide scene is just so powerful. There is no theatrics, melodrama or silly orchestrated score in the background trying to play along your emotions. The effect is subtle and eloquent enough to create maximum impact for the viewer and this type of direction is sorely missed in today's cinema. For a 4 hour long movie it doesn't drag in once. Scenery and cinematography is beautiful.
 
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xrnzaaas

Member
qlLHlHr.jpg

Renfield was a disappointment after seeing the trailer. Not a huge disappointment and it's not a total disaster of a flick, but it's still worse than expected. The biggest problem with this movie is that in one scene it tries to be a silly comedy with fake guts and severed limbs and in another something more serious. This is especially noticeable with the asian police lady character - she's trying to act super serious like she's in a real crime flick. The movie is still worth watching, because Nic Cage played Dracula very well and the CGI is pretty good.
 

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Spawn (1997) ★★☆☆☆

I tried to be somewhat forgiving of it seeing as it's a low budget, early comic book movie from the late 90's. White was good in it, as was Sheen - both serving up the right amount of camp. Leguizamo was probably the best casting choice at the time for his zany character. I liked how there was a narrator at times that provided exposition the same way it's provided in a comic book. I did find myself feeling sorry for the Spawn character.

That said, it's goofy in ways I doubt they intended - even for a 90's movie, a little sloppy with the overall storytelling and cinematography, and the low budget 90's effects look like they were dated a year after the film was released.
 
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Andyliini

Member
Die Hard 4.0
12 years really shows how much movies changed during that period. While Die Hard with a Vengeance was quite grounded with it's action, this one pulled out all the stops. All the action scenes were more grand than the previous, not really fantasy, but definitely not realistic. What I did like was the idea of cyber terrorists, and how they were used. I feel like they were a bit ahead of their time in 2007, the film still feels current today. There are also some interesting bonus features on the Blu-ray.
 

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Blacklight (2022)

A by the numbers geezer pleaser. Another in the long line of recent Liam Neeson action thrillers that all follow a similar formula.

Very odd pacing, awkward fight choreography, and a lazy plot.
 

Vyse

Gold Member
I just watched the 1983 Classic Blue Thunder on Hulu. Haven’t see movie in 40 years and it still held up. Didn’t realize the young partner in the movie was Daniel Stern.
 

Lunarorbit

Member
The silence 2019. Horrible. Such lazy writing after bird box and the quiet place. They made the daughter deaf, but only recently, so she still speaks perfectly audible English. Fuck this trash. Hate watched it.

Grey man. Way better. If you don't like Ryan gosling then don't watch this. Definitely made to be a series. Some great action scenes
 

Toons

Member
Grey man was awesome

Do nee movies count? Cuz I just watched guardians three and obviously I have a character bias here(see pfp) but this might be top 3 mcu.
 

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Grey man was awesome

Do nee movies count? Cuz I just watched guardians three and obviously I have a character bias here(see pfp) but this might be top 3 mcu.

The critics dogpiled that movie but I thought it was one of the best pure action movies in years. Evans was awesome in it.
 

Toons

Member
The critics dogpiled that movie but I thought it was one of the best pure action movies in years. Evans was awesome in it.
Agreed, it wasn't anything world changing but the set pieces were awesome and it was very thrilling. Evans hamming it up was a ton of fun
 

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Rewatching Return of the Jedi on Disney+. It's a pretty good 4K rendition. The surround sound is pretty decent too. Unfortunately, though my stream claims there's HDR I can't tell.
 
Watching The Pope's Exorcist right now. I interrupted the movie just to type these words: This is one giant, laughable turd! The entire film feels like a parody, so RIDICULOUS everything is, especially the hilarious dialogue. Russel Crow is at his laziest, sporting a cringe-provoking accent; Some scenes have exchanges conducted in Italian for a couple of minutes, with no subtitles (how mysterious!...How spritual!...How fucking annoying...)...; The editing is terrible, with some odd music choices, on top of it...; and the cinematography is soulless...
Even the demon is annoying...
This is the mother of all stereotypes, in a comical, Razzie-worthy waste of time...
Back to it, cause who wouldn't want to laugh for another hour? 😐😐😐
 
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kurisu_1974

Member
Watching The Pope's Exorcist right now. I interrupted the movie just to type these words: This is one giant, laughable turd! The whole thing feels like a parody, so RIDICULOUS everything is, especially the hilarious dialogue. Russel Crow is at his laziest, sporting a cringe-provoking accent; Some scenes have exchanges conducted in Italian, for a couple of minutes, with no subtitles (how mysterious!...How spritual!...How fucking annoying...)...; The editing is terrible, with some odd music choices, on top of it...; and the cinematography is soulless...
Even the demon is annoying...
This is the mother of all stereotypes, in a comical, Razzie-worthy waste of time...
Back to it, cause who wouldn't want to laugh for another hour? 😐😐😐

Hah yes this was a real turd and the kid playing the demon sucked indeed. And how are fake accents still a thing, makes every movie ridiculous.
 
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AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
qlLHlHr.jpg

Renfield was a disappointment after seeing the trailer. Not a huge disappointment and it's not a total disaster of a flick, but it's still worse than expected. The biggest problem with this movie is that in one scene it tries to be a silly comedy with fake guts and severed limbs and in another something more serious. This is especially noticeable with the asian police lady character - she's trying to act super serious like she's in a real crime flick. The movie is still worth watching, because Nic Cage played Dracula very well and the CGI is pretty good.

This movie was just Alright. Cage was fun, and the movie didn't take itself seriously and that is great.
 

12Goblins

Lil’ Gobbie
Renfeld felt like another garbage formulaic superhero movie with a different backdrop. Absolute garbage. Actors are great though
 

BadBurger

Many “Whelps”! Handle It!
Manchester by the Sea (2016)

A good drama. I am not sure if it deserved all of the award nominations it got, as it has a noticeable period of flatness and is predictable, but still good. Casey Affleck remains one of the best actors out there. This guy disappears into his roles, completely natural and believable.
 
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Dr.Morris79

Gold Member
Just watched Blue Velvet, David Lynch..

What the fuck though. Not going to explain anything about it, if you havent seen it just watch it, see what you think..

But I will say, I just didnt get Dorothy. I get his films have ulterior definitions but, why? Or what? Why would a mother of a kidnapped husband and kid act like that..

What did I even watch :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 

Polygonal_Sprite

Gold Member
Seen Sully two or three times, but Flight is the one I keep going back to. Sully is based on a true story I was fascinated with when I first learned about it through this guys ( https://www.youtube.com/@MentourPilot ) excellent channel, but the movie just feels, for the most part, pretty damned generic.

Flight, though (from what I understand) a fictional story, somehow feels more true. It's a tragic story, but Denzel's character feels very real.

I don't know. Neither movie is great, in my opinion, but I particularly enjoy the final prison scene.
Flight is one of my favourite movies ever. Never see it talked about! 🍻
 

kurisu_1974

Member
Manchester by the Sea (2016)

A good drama. I am not sure if it deserved all of the award nominations it got, as it has a noticeable period of flatness and is predictable, but still good. Casey Affleck remains one of the best actors out there. This guy disappears into his roles, completely natural and believable.

I liked that one, recently watched A Ghost Story with the guy and he was great there too. And that pie eating scene...
 
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