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Midweek Movie Free Talk
Have you watched any movies recently you want to discuss? Any films you want to recommend or are hyped about? Feel free to discuss anything here.
Please just try to provide fair warning of spoilers if you can.
My daughter (who is almost 17) wanted to watch some movies from when I was her age, so we started picking some a while ago and have been making our way through some 90's / 00's movies that I have enjoyed, or that she has specifically requested.
The Sixth Sense - she was absolutely floored at the twist ending, and enjoyed the movie immensely. At no point had she seen what was coming. Rewatching the movie for the first time since I saw it many years ago was interesting, and the foreshadowing is actually really well done. Me: 9/10. Kid: 10/10.
Memento - she thought it was just okay, and honestly I agreed. This is another movie which shook me when I watched it 22 years ago, and I would probably have told you it was one of my favourites... and now it's just okay. The cast is good, but it does not hit the same way, and maybe that's because I've seen Irreversible, which has the same storytelling technique, but is much darker and more shocking. My daughter also paused it in the middle and asked if
spoiler
he was going to set himself up to be the killer, and that is the exact thing that happens, so maybe I wasn't as smart at 20 as my daughter is at 16. Actually, there's no "maybe" about that, because I'm not smarter in my mid 40s either.Anyways, our ratings were Me: 7/10 Kid 5/10.
Se7en - Kid was immediately into it - she loves Morgan Freeman - and was astonished at how young everyone was. It was dark and depraved, but not quite as dark and depraved as I remember it being.
Spoiler: Another surprising guess by Kid
When the driver delivered the box, kid immediately said, "Gwyneth Paltrow's head is in that box, right?". She is so much smarter about film than I was at her age.I think that there are several times where you can see the killer in the background in several scenes. This movie still holds up well. Me: 8/10 Kid 8/10.
Speed - her request, but I'll admit that I love this movie. Keanu and Sandra? I don't know a better 90s power couple. Jeff Bridges and Joe Morton (especially Joe's moustache!) are both great as cops, and Dennis Hopper was a fun villain. Some of the absolutely terrible dialogue is still delightful, and the bus jumping over the 50 feet of missing highway when it could have just turned left? Astounding. This rating is on the basis of "is this good brainless action?" Me: 10/10 Kid 10/10. Un-fucking-beatable dumb action movie.
Hawthorne James is in both Speed and Se7en, and we had a discussion about Six Degrees.
We have a bunch more on our list to watch:
And we're adding to it all the time.
Some additions to the list:
I'd love to see your reviews of Speed 2, because I think it's one of the worst sequels ever made.
I've never seen Speed 2, despite the fact that it came out at roughly the height of my crush-on-Sandra-Bullock phase, it just looked too stupid to sit through. But I was thinking about telling kiddo that it's even better than the first, going through it together, and just seeing what she says at the end.
I’ve been into movies a long time. Since I was an early teenager. But still, I can’t even imagine someone not knowing the twist in Sixth Sense. It’s so engrained in pop culture that it’s like knowing Darth Vader is Luke’s father.
Sixth Sense was actually the movie that was number 1 at the box office the day I was born. There was some website that told you that a while ago.
I noticed Pulp Fiction isn’t on the list, have you guys seen it or plan on it?
That's a funny thing to bring up, because she also didn't know (and still doesn't particularly care) that Vader was Luke's father. When we watched Empire Strikes Back, she was mostly on her phone, and then kind of tuned in when the line was spoken, but mostly didn't care. Nor did my wife; neither of them are particularly interested in "silly space magic". (It's okay, my other two kids are were into it)
Oh, and we should put Pulp Fiction on the list! Good call.
Also, since you have two Tom Cruise movies there, Jerry Maguire. Don’t know if you like that movie but I think it completes that Vanilla Sky and Few Good Men trilogy.
We started with that one in that trilogy (and I agree, it does round them out). Not for any reason other than convenience - we could easily stream that one, and the others I had to acquire.
Some of these are 80s rather than 90's/00's, but if your daughter enjoys action movies, you should also consider adding Alien/Aliens, Terminator/Terminator 2, and Predator/Predator 2, Robocop, Total Recall, The Fifth Element, The Matrix, and The Thing to the list too. And you can't watch Shawshank without also watching Green Mile, that's sacrilege!
Great choices - some of these we have already watched (and one is from the 70s! Alien).
Going to add Green Mile, Robocop, Fifth Element as a must-rewatch-again.
Also - why am I not surprised that many of the movies that you in particular recommended were ones we've already watched? ;) Some of them we even watched on family movie night (The Matrix, Fifth Element).
Edit to add: we watched the whole Alien Franchise (including Predator movies) for kind of a funny reason. Kiddo tends to glom onto specific actresses and then watch everything they've done. A while ago, she got really into Charlize Theron, and watched Prometheus. At that point, I convinced her to watch Alien / Aliens, and then we watched everything else as well. There are some not great entries in that list, but it was still pretty enjoyable.
Ah, that's good to hear. You're educating her well!
Hah. I'm honestly also not really surprised you have watched all those with her already either. Besides somehow seeming to go to a lot of the exact same concerts, we also seem to have remarkably similar taste when it comes to a lot of other things too. I only really recommended them just in case you hadn't got around to them yet, so you wouldn't forget them. :P
p.s. Some other series I thought of that are also worth watching as well:
Gremlins, Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Indiana Jones, Rambo, Rocky, Conan, Evil Dead/Army of Darkness, Mad Max, Blade, Jason Bourne, Sherlock Holmes, Highlander, Home Alone, Ghost Busters, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Beverly Hills Cop, Naked Gun, Hot Shots!, National Lampoon's Vacations.
And after looking through my Trakt.tv history ratings, here's a bunch more of my other personal favorites she might also enjoy watching with you:
Willow, Labyrinth, Princess Bride, Neverending Story, Goonies, Big Trouble in Little China, Big Fish, Spirited Away (and every other Studio Ghibli), Planes Trains and Automobiles, Uncle Buck, Spaceballs (and every other Mel Brooks), Monty Python and the Hold Grail (and every other Monty Python), Galaxy Quest, Groundhog Day, In Bruges, Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, My Cousin Vinny, Good Morning Vietnam, Dutch (w Ed O'Neill), Robin Hood Men in Tights, Robin Hood (Kevin Costner version), Blade Runner, Children of Men, Equilibrium, V for Vendetta, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Starship Troopers, Gattaca, 300, 13th Warrior, Legend, True Lies, Long Kiss Goodnight, Unforgiven, Enemy at the Gates, The Fugitive, Dantes Peak (holds up surprisingly well!), The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off, The Crow, The Last Castle, The Recruit, and Spy Games.
Loads of great movies here! Added some, many more already have been watched (including some of our all-time favourites, like Princess Bride and Home Alone). Thanks for the suggestions!
You know, there's a not insignificant chance that we have actually seen each other. That's interesting.
Heh, quite possibly. At the very least I wouldn't be surprised if we were within 100ft of each other at various points during some of those Edgefests back in the day, especially since the crowds at the small stages weren't really that big. And some of the clubs downtown where smaller concerts took place, like Industry and System Soundbar, were pretty dang small too.
p.s. I'm guessing you're straight, but if you ever visited any of the gay or drag clubs/bars in the late 90s or early 00s near Church and Wellesley, like Woody’s, Zelda's, or Crews & Tangos, I (or one of my friend) may have even bought you a drink, and made a pass at you. ;)
This is such a wonderful idea, and I am totally going to pinch it to spend some quality time with my daughter :)
OH man, I love both of these movies. Great recommendations! Thank you for both of them.
Spoilers
I watched "The Game" with my mom when it came out, so I might invite her for a movie night as well some time. I loved the movie and since I last saw it in over 20 years ago, I actually don't remember all of the twists and turns. Great time for a rewatch!Gattaca - I just love the juxtaposition of this dystopian future with the final message of hope. I think I'll suggest this one earlier rather than later.
Thanks again!
Saw M3GAN in theaters just a few days ago. In all honesty it's kind of meh; it's put together very well but the story is a little... underwhelming? There are points where it's just a bit too blunt in trying to convey opinions, some parts are a little underbaked - especially M3GAN's motivations.
Though to be fair I had to leave the theater to pee at one point so I missed a tiny bit of it, so I might have missed something critical.
Definately needed more Tik Tok dancing, though. :P
So a while ago I had watched Blonde but I only got to the first 30 minutes. And it was just not good that I turned it off. But now that De Armas is getting a nomination I decided to finish it (this was on Saturday). It gets better after those initial 30 minutes, but it’s still kind of all over the place. It’s pretentious. It’s trying hard to be artsy. But! It is a very gorgeous film. Like it is so beautiful to look at. And the score is wonderful, and De Armas is legitimately great as Monroe.
It seems like opinions on this are divisive. It’s detractors say it’s disgusting and whenever someone praises it they get the “that’s a yikes from me” response from people. Its proponents think it’s a misunderstood masterpiece. I’m kind of in the middle. Not that I care when a movie is “problematic” but I just don’t think a lot of it works.
It’s a big swing from Dominik but it’s a bit of a miss. Shame cause I’m a big fan of Killing Them Softly. Every now and then I’ll recite “I’m not living in a country, I’m living in America. And America ain’t a country. It’s just a business. Now fucking pay me.” Which is probably the best ending line of any movie ever.
I recently watched both Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) and Aliens (James Cameron, 1986) for the first time. These movies were so referenced and talked about that it felt like I had watched them already.
My impression of Alien, and what everyone talked about, was that it was very much a horror. Maybe the fact that I knew a lot about it changed my appreciation, and "scary levels" changed with time, but to me, it felt more like a thriller. I didn't experience the dread associated with horror. The first two-thirds are solid, even excellent. Space poetry, empty spaces, and all that jazz. Tensions building up. Wonderful. But the last third, especially the climax and the resolution, are to me among the best things ever put on film. Just sublime, a lesson in action and suspense.
Aliens is even less in the realm of horror, this is a good action movie with grotesque elements. I don't like that they took one of the strongest female leads in film and reduced her to a mother role. Did Ripley really need additional motivation to fight the creatures that killed the entire crew of the Nostromo?
I really appreciate the anti-capitalist theme that surrounds both films, as well as the franchise's approach to artificial intelligence.
Out of curiosity, I watched Alien Covenant (Ridley Scott, 2017). It's sad how some directors kinda give up after being successful at a young age. The passion is not there anymore. The production design is boring and generic, the shots are standard and unimaginative. Anyone could have made this film. There is no authorship, no style, and no care. Scott made a parody of himself, and not a good one. It's hard to believe this came from the guy that made Blade Runner.
You should watch The Last Duel for a great late-era Ridley Scott film. Also, The Martian if you haven’t already (though I think you have).
Yeah, I've seen The Martian. It's alright. Definitely more passion there. Maybe he's just tired of Alien, in which case, why not give it to someone else? He's a powerful producer, he can make it happen. Covenant was released in 2017. Maybe he could have given it to Alex Garland, Matt Reeves, or even Denis Villeneuve. Someone hungry to prove themselves in speculative fiction, like Cameron was in 1986.
I'm not too interested in non-sci-fi Ridley Scott, but it's an interesting suggestion for me to better understand what's going on with him. Maybe watch it for completion.
I'm not sure how creatively involved he was with The Good Wife, but that was to me a masterful TV legal drama.
Alien 5 was originally supposed to be done by Blomkamp (District 9) a long time ago. But it rotted in production hell. Considering Blomkamp’s filmography since then it was probably for the best.
Right now there’s a series being done from Noah Hawley who is responsible for the Fargo show.
Blomkamp might actually have been great... some people work better under constraints than when they have more freedom. And he did demonstrate he is a capable director. I may be one of the few people that actually enjoyed Chappie, even though I agree that it is flawed. His problem is more story than direction, I think.
Oh, so it's an Alien series. Could be great!
I’ve been re-watching some 2016 movies. I actually have a letterboxd list from back then. I decided to update my top 10 from that year. I didn’t think my taste changed that much from when I was 16/17. But looking at the difference is kind of interesting.
List at 16/17:
List now:
Out the list: Fantastic Beasts, Swiss Army Man, Popstar, Sing Street
Movies that made the list after re-watch: The Nice Guys, The Lobster, Hail, Caesar.
New watch: Silence
Rewatching Swiss Army Man (because I wanted to see if I still liked it more than EEAAO) was probably the biggest sign that my taste had changed. I remember thinking it was a masterpiece when I was 16, and I still do think it’s better than EEAAO, but I felt a lot less enamored by it now. And then I re-watched Hail Caesar right after and the stark difference between those two styles of filmmaking, and how much more I preferred Caesar this time around (I was indifferent to it back then) really did make me feel my evolution.
Sidenote: Swiss Army Man had an RT score in the 60s back when it came out, but I’m convinced if it came out today it’d have an RT score in the 90s easily.
I mean it makes sense, I’ve seen over 2000 more films since then. Many of them classic films. My taste was bound to change.
The other movies I re-watched (The Nice Guys and The Lobster) were always movies I enjoyed at the time. But I never really considered them all that great. Or, at the time, I liked other movies more. But re-watching them made me appreciate the brilliance of those movies. The Nice Guys is probably the best studio comedy in the past ten years honestly.
And Silence is incredible. I was meaning to watch it for a really long time now. But, man what a beautiful movie. Highly underrated Scorsese movie.
Caved and watched 'Knives Out' (original 2019) because a friend wanted to watch it with me. The sequel is getting a lot of press right now and the series has favourable reviews from ordinary punters, but plenty of critics on RYM films where I frequent. I was worried also because I didn't like Rian Johnson's Star Wars but it was OK. It's a whodunit that is over the top without going too far, but Daniel Craig's fake accent was awful. I'd give it a 6 out of 10. I'm now being badgered to watch the sequel also so will report back after that.
I think I liked the sequel more than the first Knives Out, but maybe that's just because I was coming in with lower expectations. They're both fun, though.
The cheesiness of Daniel Craig's accent and mannerisms is approximately 30% of my enjoyment of Knives Out. Yes, especially because the only other movies I know him from have him playing James Bond.
(That is accompanied by 10% playing a game of Go., 12% nausea jokes, 5% for somewhat excessive use of Checkov's Gun. and 3% Jamie Lee Curtis).