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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.
I felt like watching a shitty action movie tonight and I watched Fast and Furious (the 4th in the franchise). It’s bad, but I loved it. It’s so, so dumb, but car go vroom. If I had not known the release date, I’d have guessed 2009 anyways, it’s just so very much a product of its time. I have the rest on deck, this is the furthest I’ve been in the franchise. I’ve seen the first two a handful of times each and now Tokyo Drift and 4 once each. On to Fast Five!
I also watched Deadpool and Wolverine finally. I love both characters and just didn’t get around to it. It’s exactly what I personally wanted. The plot was extremely dumb in places, but I got two hours of R rated Deadpool and Wolverine fucking shit up. The jokes very much landed with me, too, so I thoroughly enjoyed it.
You're going to really enjoy the rest of the franchise. It becomes so much more dumb and way more vroom!
My Summer of Love - 4/10.
I liked some parts of this movie, but most of it not so much. The story was very ungratifying.
Venom: The Last Dance - 6/10.
Good stupid fun.
All the Money in the World - 7/10.
Very well made movie and I couldn't believe that one of the main characters' scenes were only shot like weeks before the release date!? Some things fell flat though, I especially didn't like how streneous Michelle Williams acted throughout the whole movie.
Headhunters - 2/10.
Truly awful. Practically everything fell flat. The action was supposed to be so dumb that you'd laugh, but it was just cringeworthy. Nothing made sense in regards to the plot - Jo Nesbø writes airport novels after all. There is no reason for any character to do any of the things they did. And this is supposed to be a dark comedy? The only thing funny about this movie was how laughably bad it was.
The Outrun - 8/10.
This movie was tough but great. There are a couple of things I though weren't great, like it was a bit overlong in the beginning and kind of trodded along for parts of it. If it had been tighter, it would have been a 9/10. Something else was I was quite confused by the many flashbacks to different periods in time, but that's more of a skull issue lol - the second third or half was incredible and so let me gush:
Spoilers inside
Two moments made me cry. The SA scene was telegraphed but it still shocked me. It was made really well and chaotically, so it had a big punch. It was over quite fast though and avoided any and all tropes as for once the victim could scream for help and actually got it. It was building with tension and then you breathe a sigh of relief as she has pictures taken of her wounds. But the point that I got really emotional was when Daynin was shown to be waiting in the hall for Rona.
The second one was after the party on the island. She steps out for some air and
Santathe grocer finds her there. They smalltalk for a moment and then he just cuts through with "so how long have you been sober?" and that just hit me super hard too. Saoirse's face was just great there.Yet another thing I loved was the intense noise whenever she was feeling a lot of mental anguish.. that is just such a great representation of how it feels to have that much going on in your head. One of the best depictions of this that I have seen.
The ending was great too. It cuts back and forth between her having fun with directing the waves while sober for 63 days, and then back to when she was still drinking and clubbing. So I think it meant she can finally feel happy while sober, even though she said the opposite.
Army of Thieves - DNF.
Got halfway through this but it was too late in the evening and I got tired so didn't finish it. Intended to watch the other half the next day but when it came to it, I just.. didn't care. Pretty soulless movie.
Snatch - 5/10.
Speaking of soulless, this was just kind of boring? Guy Ritchie as much of a hit and miss director as Ridley Scott - even though he is overall just one or two points (out of 10) better. I'll usually check out their new movies but for Ritchie, his movies float around a 5 or 6 and other times between 7 and an 8. 5-6 to Snatch, Sherlock Holmes, and King Arthur, and especially bad in my opinion was The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare which was just such a turd an got a 3 from me. I do intend to check out Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre which I do have tempered expectations about but I love Jason Statham, and this seems like another one of his good mindless turn-of-your-brain-for-2-hours movies. A bag of chips with dip and/or candy and Bob's your uncle! Also on the list is The Covenant but that one has a much higher IMDB score which I usually trust.
Ritchie is still an interesting director and going back to Snatch, this is however a movie I definitely don't feel deserves such a high score. It's #120 on the list of all time best movies..! Baffles me. Like I said, it felt soulless and boring, even though I really liked a ton of things about it. It clocks in at 100 minutes but it felt so long! Like at least half an hour longer than it was. The characters are all quite unique and interesting, but none of them seem to go through any development at all. The editing and quick pace in some scenes was a delight to watch, but somehow the movie just still didn't land? I can't quite put my finger on it. I was somewhat entertained but I also found myself yawning and checking my phone because it struggled to keep my attention. I'm glad I watched it though as it's a bit of a cult film, so now I no longer feel like there's a hole in that kinda funny list I feel we all have about "oh I should really watch this some day" - Titanic is in that category lol
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - 8/10.
Was pleasantly surprised by this. I had heard some negative things about it but nope! Great movie. It was steering towards cliched storytelling multiple times but it always took another route which was really well pulled off. A rare good reboot. Can't wait for the next one!
I wrapped up the Kubrick filmography with Full Metal Jacket. It was surprising and fun to see how many quotes I have seen and heard in all kinds of places before that came from this movie. Its influence reaches far. I also enjoyed the choice of music. It sets the tone perfectly. Kubrick uses a different way of making an anti-war movie that isn't as direct as he did in Paths of Glory. We just see the military abuse and brainwashing and where it ultimately leads to, told in a very neutral cold manner. I am not super well versed in Vietnam movies but it didn't do a whole lot for me despite being generally impressed with the high quality of filmmaking that Kubrick always comes with.
With Kubrick in general I think 2001 is the pinnacle achievement, but it has been several years since I last saw it, so I am not entirely sure it will still be my favorite. I found all his film to be worth watching, where I hold Dr. Strangelove and Paths of Glory in pretty high regard. I was also surprised with how much I liked Spartacus, even though Kubrick himself wasn't satisfied with it as the studio limited his creative freedom quite a bit. The film I want to rewatch the most however is Eyes Wide Shut. That had something that was difficult to grasp and it seems like a film that really could develop or change over time by revisiting it.
Would love to hear if anyone has any opinions on Kubrick in general.
Just want to grab onto this tiny part of your comment: the term "anti-war movie". It's hotly debated and it's an interesting subject! This article has a snippet about Full Metal Jacket:
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20140710-can-a-film-be-truly-anti-war
Personally, I'm in the camp that there are few if any anti-war movies. At best, they are still action and spectacle.
There is something to that. Because what movies are "pro-war" movies? I guess something like Top Gun at least has recruiting potential without directly praising war itself. And something like Act of Valor that used active duty navy seals. However, I have a hard time imaging concluding that the military is a great place to be after watching Full Metal Jacket, but I guess that greatly depends on what worldview one has going in.
Whichever ones are sponsored by a country's military. Which a lot of US war movies are, because otherwise the productions can't use their planes or tanks or vehicles etc.
I don't disagree. It's probably one of the top 1% least pro-war movies. And I guess there's no way to know if this critic in the article was right.
Golden Globe winner predictions:
Drama: The Brutalist
Comedy: Anora
Director: The Brutalist
Screenplay: Anora
Lead Actor - Drama: Timothee Chalamet - A Complete Unknown
Lead Actress - Drama: Nicole Kidman - Babygirl
Lead Actor - Comedy: Hugh Grant - Heretic
Lead Actress - Comedy: Mikey Madison - Anora
Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin - A Real Pain
Supporting Actress: Ariana Grande - Wicked
Original Score: The Brutalist
Original Song: “El Mal” from Emilia Perez
International: Emilia Perez
Box Office Achievement: Wicked
My local theater is showing more Christmas movies than new ones these days. I had never seen It's a Wonderful Life before, and after seeing it the first time, I decided to go back again the next day. The sad scenes in that movie pack a punch. I also went and saw Elf. I had already seen it a long time ago as a kid, but it was still enjoyable this time as an adult. It's different when you can understand both the story and the comedy :P
Interstellar re-released in IMAX this past weekend. I was aware of the release back in late 2014 (my junior year of high school) but I can't recall why I didn't watch it in theaters. I watched it on a Redbox rental. The TV in our living room at the time had a broken speaker. I remember begging my mom to get a different TV because the broken speaker made things unwatchable but she refused for a while (we bought a new one a year later).
That kind of ruined the experience for me, especially considering how important sound is in the film. But even then I didn't really care for it. 15 year old me really rolled his eyes at the "love transcends dimensions" stuff. I've seen the film multiple times at home, but I decided to watch the film the way it was intended (or at least the closest way I could watch it as such).
It completely changed my opinion. The immersive experience really drastically improved the film for me. It was like seeing the world with a new pair of glasses, or seeing the film for the first time. I felt swept up in everything, I felt in awe of the images.
The love stuff didn't bother me as much this time because I was able to take the film for the metaphor for parentage that it is. I really like the idea of making a sci fi epic just to discuss what it's like to be a parent. It's intimacy on a grand scale.