Last Movie Watched.... The Xenforo Edition

Discussion in 'Movies, TV and Music' started by Val1, May 4, 2012.

  1. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
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    We actually went to the theater this weekend - first time since mid-2017 - to see "Knives Out." And while I enjoyed the movie and we had fun, the $42 for four matinee tickets plus $15 for popcorn and a drink means I am not likely to go back for a goodly while. This would have been equally fun on my home entertainment system.

    [​IMG]
     
  2. malby

    malby Member+

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    Erm Frank Mc Court wrote Angelas Ashes :p:D
     
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  3. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    I know, I have already reported that brain fart to the mods, I noticed it too late to make the edit myself. :ROFLMAO:

    I'm getting old Mal! :(
     
  4. malby

    malby Member+

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    It get worse. I forget characters names the day after I see the movie. :ROFLMAO:
     
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  5. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    A Score to Settle (2019)
    Dir. Shawn Ku

    [​IMG]

    Frank gets an early release from his prison sentence after having already served 19 years. He exits the big house as an angry man, perceiving his former associates as having betrayed him. After agreeing to take the fall to protect his boss, what had been promised as a short prison stint turned into a lengthy one and his former gang members did not keep their other promise, taking good care of his son during his incarceration. Whilst Frank does reconnect with his child after his release, he becomes increasingly more consumed by his vendetta, acting out revenge even though many of his former associates have moved on from their former lives of crime.

    Not a great entry in the Nic Cage Bad Movie Pantheon. Only scores about a six on the Cage hair-do scale as well. The one big twist will have been guessed long before it is revealed by the majority of the audience and the writing doesn't offer much else in terms of making this different to any other revenge thriller.
     
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  6. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    #7406 Belgian guy, Dec 2, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2019
    Footsteps in the Fog (1955)
    Dir. Arthur Lubin

    [​IMG]

    Stephen Lowry is a newly widowed man. On the surface he is grieving his wife's death. In reality, it is he himself who poisoned her and got away with the murder. Only Lily, a maid in his household, pieces together what has happened due to finding the poison her master used on his murdered wife. She uses this information to blackmail him into giving her the position of housekeeper. An uneasy relationship emerges in which neither fully trusts the other but both have to maintain the illusion. In the case of Stephen, to remain a free man. In the case of Lily, to retain her privileged status within the Lowry household.

    This get more complicated when Lily develops more romantic feelings for Lowry whilst Lowry himself sees an opportunity in marrying his new business partner's young daughter.

    A noirish crime drama that was quite enjoyable. Noteworthy for the fact that both of the lead characters are quite unlikable. The game of distrust and attraction between the pair of them is what drives the story forward until its fitting climax. The two lead actors are very enjoyable. Granger embodies Lowry's sinister caddishness well and Jean Simmons ably manages to find a good balance between her character's scheming nature and the earnestness of her nascent feelings for her master.
     
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  7. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

    May 2, 2001
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    The guy played by Joe Pesci (IIRC), Russell Bufalino, ran his operation from a small town less than ten miles from me. I've read a a few books about the case, including the one this is based on. You guys convinced me that I was right: no need to see this flick.
     
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  8. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    Ad Astra (2019)
    Dir. James Gray

    [​IMG]

    Roy McBride is an astronaut who gets called into a debriefing following an incident on the international space station which left several of his fellow astronauts dead. In reality, it is revealed that the briefing is intended to reveal classified information to him: his father Clifford McBride, a legend of the space program and long presumed to be dead is in fact alive. The experimental craft he was commanding is in orbit around Neptune and is held responsible for a series of power surges which have caused major damage all over the Earth, including the incident on the space station which led to the deaths of Roy's colleagues.

    It is believed that Clifford and/or part of his crew staged a mutiny and that they have been surviving on their spacecraft - originally intended to find intelligent life on distant worlds - for several decades. Roy is tasked with a three legged trip to Neptune, its goal to bring his father back in and to eliminate the threat he poses to the Earth.

    A science-fiction thriller which didn't really work for me. I tried to figure out the problem (from my perspective). There is a detached tone about the entire feature, a conscious choice for sure. It might be fitting for many science fiction films but I don't believe it is for this one, since we have to care about Roy for this movie to have an emotional impact and I can't say that the director/writer really succeeded in doing that.
     
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  9. Chesco United

    Chesco United Member+

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    Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
    Not to the level of the original. It was good to see Deckard again, though.
     
  10. yasik19

    yasik19 Moderator
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    Chelsea
    Ukraine
    Oct 21, 2004
    Daly City
    agreed on all counts...just saw this on the plane and was disappointed.
     
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  11. Chesco United

    Chesco United Member+

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    Deadwood: The Movie (2019) Good to see everyone again. Nothing too groundbreaking, just a couple hours of fun.
     
  12. taosjohn

    taosjohn Member+

    Dec 23, 2004
    taos,nm
    Saw this last night-- in a small town theater that doesn't cost too much-- and liked it a lot, for what it is. It is well-served by the big screen, as the set dressing and the cinematography are awfully good, and the direction, both in the use of the inanimate stuff to enhance the story, and in the excellent cast who seem all to have been well served by the director, excellent.

    Particular note should go to Ana de Armas who carries the whole apparatus in a role that requires very subtle stuff-- you have to be aware of her struggles with temptation, without it being clear whether she is struggling successfully or not until the last moment.

    And Toni Colette is fierce in a role which is easy to get paid for, but requires a seamless and pitch-perfect performance to make believable. And Don Johnson, who has never impressed me, is very effective-- I recognized him, and then forgot he wasn't the character immediately and entirely-- which is about all you can ask these days...
     
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  13. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    Johnson has morphed into an interesting character actor imho.
     
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  14. yasik19

    yasik19 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Chelsea
    Ukraine
    Oct 21, 2004
    Daly City
    [​IMG]
    Brian Banks - never heard this story until the movie came out. Very powerful stuff.
     
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  15. Val1

    Val1 Member+

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    Mar 12, 2004
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    frozen 2.jpg

    Frozen II

    Not by choice did I see this movie. I specifically avoided the first (and I hate sequels in general) and I've long decided that my love of animation may have been a time of life thing that ended when my daughter went away to school.

    But... this isn't bad. I mean, it's not good: the stupid snowman is annoying (as are all the side kicks), the plot twist is easy to see coming, and the songs largely suck (and they squander Idina Menzel criminally). But the relationship between the two sisters is subtle and ultimately rewarding. And Elsa as an ice mage, well, she's got powers that would be the equal of any Marvel heroine.

    It actually made me want to see Frozen I. And that's saying something.
     
  16. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
    Dir. John Sturges

    [​IMG]

    Shortly after the end of WWII, a stranger gets off the train in a dilapidated western town called Black Rock. The man in question, John Macreedy, is immediately treated with outward hostility by most of the townfolks. This gets worse when he reveals he is there to visit a man named Komoko. He gets no help from anyone, until a man named Smith informs him that Komoko, as a Japanese-American, was sent to an internment camp shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and that no one has seen him since.

    When Macreedy finally does get the means to pay Komoko's former ranch a visit, he finds the homestead burned down. He realizes that there is something the people in town aren't telling him about Komoko's real fate and that this explains the hostility he has had to endure since his arrival. Only his insistence on getting answers ends up threatening his own life.

    I had never seen this John Sturges classic until now. I regret I didn't get to it earlier. This is a film that is a mixture of several genres: a neo-western with noirish traits and some mystery sprinkled on top. The Cinemascope landscapes are impressive, especially during the jeep section in the first act of the film. Apart from an excellent Spencer Tracy in the lead role and the always reliable Robert Ryan as the main antagonist, this cast also includes Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin as a couple of heavies and Walter Brennan as a sympathetic undertaker. The opening section of the film, with the train cutting through the landscape, is very well done, the editing slowly rising the tension until we arrive at Black Rock itself with what I believe is a conscious nod to "High Noon". It's hard to find an equivalent for this film, the closest thing I can think of is Don Siegel's "Edge of Eternity".
     
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  17. Val1

    Val1 Member+

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    Mar 12, 2004
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    Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin as heavies?

    Bring it on! I gotta see this.
     
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  18. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    It's definitely a movie which is still on my mind the next day.

    1184708047395942400 is not a valid tweet id


    I think this sentiment has more than a bit of merit to it. Specifically the theme of men doing nothing in the face of evil.
     
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  19. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    6 Underground (2019)
    Dir. Michael Bay

    [​IMG]

    The Six are a group of operatives who work at the behest of their billionaire leader, known simply as One. One's objective is to take out men he perceives as evil and who would otherwise never get their comeuppance in a world of cynical realpolitik. His own code is rather dark and prohibits the rest of his team (all of which are known to each other only by a number) from forming meaningful interpersonal bonds, because he believes that their work requires a level of personal detachment that any too close a relationship would harm.

    This was a bit of a mess, though I can't claim with a straight face that I still didn't enjoy some parts of it. The closest equivalent I can think of is "The Losers", both thematically and in the action-comedy tone. The edit of this film is weird and I kind of felt like the non-linear narrative was not a function of the screenplay but more because the shoot had left them with no good way of telling the story in a more coherent manner. The non-linear story structure certainly adds little to the enjoyment. I also thought that some of the imagery was a bit jarring, I don't think Michael Bay is the best person to tackle some of the issues put onto the screen in this film (to put it lightly).

    The cast are a weird ensemble. Ryan Reynolds gets to once again go to the well of sarcastic/ironic action stardom he has used in the Deadpool franchise as well as the Hitman's Bodyguard, though he isn't allowed the same leeway to utterly let loose completely compared to those films (though there are definitely some minor flourishes of the full Reynolds). Mélanie Laurent is enjoyable as a French James Bond type (Jane Bond? Jeanne Bond?) character. Not sure if her interplay with Manuel Garcia-Rulfo always works as well as it is supposed to. Corey Hawkins is perhaps gifted the least interesting role as a disillusioned elite soldier. I also thought Adria Arjona was given too little to do, considering the fact that she is a very charming performer.

    Within Michael Bay's oeuvre this falls somewhere in the middle for me. It lacks the bonkers enjoyability of something completely over the top like "Pain & Gain" as well as the perfectly pitched action movie quality of something like "The Rock". It's better than his Transformers movies though.
     
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  20. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    Knives Out (2019)
    Dir. Rian Johnson

    [​IMG]

    Harlan Thrombley is a successful detective novel writer who is found dead in his study on the morning after his 85th birthday party, a soiree which turned out to be quite eventful and featured several confrontations with family members. It is assumed he killed himself, in spite of the fact that the cause of death was an apparently self-inflicted knife wound to the throat. The police choose to believe the suicide version, mostly because the blood splatter pattern suggests no one else was in the room and the witness statements more or less confirm that no one went up to the study at night. Then a private detective by the name of Benoit Blanc shows up. The man has been paid by an unnamed party to investigate the death and he is convinced of foul play. In the middle of all this is Harlan's nurse Marta, a devoted and kind young woman who seems to be the only person truly grieving for Harlan's death.

    Well this was as delightful as everyone has claimed it to be. Rian Johnson has made something here that is a classic whodunnit, a 21st reinvention of the whodunnit and a comedic send-up of the whodunnit genre all at once. Somehow the film succeeds in being all three things in equal measure, however unlikely that might sound. Much of the enjoyment comes from the cast. Christopher Plummer is terrific as the murder victim, Chris Evans is visibly enjoying his chance at playing a shameless and unredeemable cad, Toni Collette is Toni Collete and Jamie Lee Curtis and Don Johnson play a great couple. But the beating heart of this film is Ana de Armas in what must be a star-making turn. Her Golden Globe nomination is totally deserved. She has to carry this entire movie as she is in almost every scene and she delivers quite beautifully. We already saw glimpses of this in Blade Runner 2049 but that was a small supporting role. Here she is more or less asked to carry a film in which she is surrounded by a very talented and well-known ensemble and yet she manages to outshine them all. I was a bit more dubious in my assessment of Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc turn. On the one hand, it is great to see how much fun the Brit has chewing scenery as the southern sleuth. On the other hand, he perhaps goes a bit too deep into caricature mode.

    My one tiny quibble: I had read several reviews which also praised the central mystery for its originality. I found that merely adequate and its resolution even a bit contrived. But it doesn't matter, by that point you've already spent over two very entertaining hours with these folks. I am so, so happy this is turning out to be a modest hit (133 million so far against a 40 million budget), since it means we might see more of these films in the near future.
     
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  21. StiltonFC

    StiltonFC He said to only look up -- Guster

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    Dirty John - Dir. Jeffrey Reiner (2018)

    [​IMG]
    Eric Bana stars as John Meehan, a charming 50ish nurse/anaesthesiologist. He meets Debra Newell (Connie Britton) and they have a whirlwind romance. Her two daughters do not like or trust him, and flashbacks show us why they have reason to be skeptical.

    Eight part mini-series from Bravo on Netflix.

    Creepy.
     
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  22. fischerw

    fischerw Member+

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    I haven't watched the show yet but I highly recommend the non-fiction podcast this show was based on.
     
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  23. Chesco United

    Chesco United Member+

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    North Country (2005)
    Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) gets a job in a Mesabi Iron Range mine. She deals with some pretty awful sexual harassment while there. She eventually files a sexual harassment suit against the mining company.
    I suspect women would like this movie better than men. Still a good use of a couple hours.
     
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  24. spejic

    spejic Cautionary example

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    #7424 spejic, Dec 18, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2019
    [​IMG]

    Man of Steel (2013)

    When superhero movies are about people, and when they are about anything, they are about personal power and how it should be used. But this isn't a movie about a person, it's a movie about a god. And those movies aren't about what mankind should do - it's a prayer hoping mankind is worthy of being saved. Man of Steel says we aren't.

    Because Man of Steel is a story of the gods, many of the criticisms I've seen don't matter to me. Space ship defenses using techno-snakes out of the blue? I love it. That ponderous and exhausting end fight? Give me more. That confusing and overlong Krypton beginning should have been even more confusing and even longer. If anything, it was made too accessible by arguing issues humans have argued before. I want a struggle for such goals and the unleashing of such power that we could not comprehend. I wanted them to make up nonsense words for what they are doing.

    But the implausibilities and alienating plot have to serve a purpose - create an outsider that can look at us (and especially me and mine, and especially me) and say we have value. Maybe even deserve to be loved. This movie didn't do that. Superman was raised by someone that thought not ruffling feathers was more important than justice, more important than innocent life. And his fight with Zod was never anything but personal - Zod may have said Clark chose humanity over Kryptonians, but the only thing Clark chose was to fight someone that threatened him personally, his mother, and a girl he was sweet on. The fights were all completely indiscriminate to human costs - we were nothing but ants to all of them.

    I can see that fitting in Snyder's Randian philosophy - that the ants should get out of the way of great beings. There's two problems with that. First, the movie was an utter failure in showing the Kryptonians as great. And second, I'm one of those ants.

    And in contrast:

    [​IMG]

    Wonder Woman (2017)

    This is the same kind of movie, but it's done right. It's important that this movie takes place when it does, because WW I is humanity at pretty close to its worst. If we are worthy of being saved, you have to be honest and say this is part of what you are saving. And she chose to do that, knowing everything. To see her fight for us - it makes you feel proud.
     
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  25. spejic

    spejic Cautionary example

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    For an AAA movie, Man of Steel had an awful lot of actors from Vancouver. I recognized faces from Battlestar Galactica and Stargate SG-1, but in browsing IMDB it seems what actually happened was the casting agent called everyone that ever appeared in Supernatural and asked if they were free for a movie.
     
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