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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've started to track my movie-watching on Letterboxd. I'm not nearly as well-versed in writing or film critiques as everyone else in this thread, so I can't really articulate much about any given movie, but I'm game if anyone else is interested in talking about them. This list is in the order I watched them, and by now it is long enough to be worth posting.
Due to my lack of experience reviewing movies, I rated each on a just three-star scale that reflects my feelings right after watching the movie. So it isn't necessarily even a measure of how good the movie is, just how much I enjoyed it as a film noob. Please don't bite when you see me give your favorite movie a bad score.
★ - I didn't particularly enjoy the movie. It isn't necessarily a bad movie, but I am not interested in watching it again and kinda wish I could recoup the opportunity cost of watching something else.
★★ - Worth watching, and I was entertained at an average level. It could be either middling overall, or a mix of particularly good and bad. Met expectations.
★★★ - Thoroughly enjoyed it. This movie gets priority to rewatch after I finish the 5000 other famous movies I want to catch up on...
Wicked (2024): ★⯨
This movie reviewed well and my local theater is still showing Wicked three times per day, so I decided to go see what the fuss was about. I was generally underwhelmed. I have never seen the musical and haven't seen The Wizard of Oz in ages, so maybe I was missing important context. I had forgotten that the movie is a "Part 1" despite not advertising that anywhere (but I did remember reading about that here on Tildes as soon as I saw the title card come up on screen), and I guess I kinda felt like the story was unsatisfying in order to prepare for the second part. I also had trouble understanding people when they were singing sometimes. I can appreciate why others like the movie, but this one wasn't for me.
No Country For Old Men (2007): ★★
I probably need to rewatch this again when I am better at interpreting movies. It kinda made me feel stupid because the movie clearly takes its time immersing you in the world and building up tension with a slow burn, but I still wasn't always able to keep up and understand in real time. One important event happens off-screen and made me rewind to the previous scene because I thought I had missed something. I hadn't; I just didn't figure out how it was being told right away and got confused. So I understand why it reviewed so well, and my two-star rating is more because I'm dumb instead of the movie being bad. Hopefully I can come back to this later and get three stars out of it.
The Avengers (2012): ★★⯨
Kaboom, whoosh, pew pew, smash, crunch. I watched this the day after No Country For Old Men, and it was a bit of a tonal whiplash. The former is probably the better movie overall, but this one was easier for an idiot like me to digest on first watch. I could tell that I was missing inside jokes and references from previous superhero movies, but I could still follow the plot of this movie without issue. This also introduced me to "Superhero Snark" that everyone complains about. I get that a couple characters are jerks and snide remarks are in-character, but everyone in this movie does it. It seems like this movie never wants to let a moment breathe or take itself particularly seriously, and that made me enjoy it a bit less.
Interstellar (2014): ★★★
Now here's a really good movie! My only disappointment is that I picked up movies one year too late to see this one on the big screen for its tenth anniversary. I enjoyed both the story and the spectacle of the scifi/space scenes. It's almost three hours, but doesn't feel that long. Definitely recommend this one.
Joker (2019): ★
Did Luigi Mangione write this movie? I can appreciate that the movie is technically well-made and that the actors performed the parts well, but the story really does not sit well with me. Maybe my reaction would have been different if I had watched it more than two months ago, and maybe the themes of the movie were fresher to audiences at the time of its release, but I didn't enjoy it at all. The social commentary was too heavy-handed for me and broke my suspension of disbelief a couple times. Even though I agree with many of the messages, it still had me going "Okay, I get it; let's move on already" and reminded me that it's a movie. I also predicted most of the twists/surprises well ahead of time. Instead of building suspense, I just felt like I spent most of the movie waiting for the next shoe to drop. Sorry for being so negative here, and maybe my opinion was affected because I watched this one day after Interstellar, but this was the first movie in this list where I just wished I had watched something else instead.
The King's Speech (2010): ★★
I enjoyed it, although I'm a bit surprised that it won Best Picture. The movie more or less deals with the main character's stammer separately from the royal succession plot, and it kinda felt they didn't weave the two together as well as I expected. [Spoilers redacted while proofreading], so I didn't get too invested in the supporting cast until they weren't relevant anymore. It feels artificially constructed to be dramatic, and I had to remind myself that the movie is (loosely) based on a real story. So for me, this one was worth watching, but not amazing.
Minority Report (2002): ★★
I went into this one blind and enjoyed it. Some of the stuff with the eyes was too gross for my liking, but otherwise the special effects were good (maybe only having the DVD instead of the blu-ray helps the CGI hold up). It is interesting to think about how a fair bit of the non-precrime scifi tech from the movie actually exists in some simpler or more limited form today. I am torn between giving this another half-star.
Parasite (2019): ★★⯨
This is very close to three stars. I remembered seeing that this won Best Picture despite being a Korean-language film, so I decided to go out on a limb and try it. My DVD doesn't have an English dub (but it did have a French one instead?), so I had to watch with subtitles. I feel like I missed some things (both action and actors' performances) because I had to read all the dialogue and couldn't focus on the rest of the screen. But otherwise, I enjoyed the movie. It gave me a taste of what most of the world experiences when they have to watch English-language movies. Honestly, I think the DVD quality may be the only thing keeping this below three stars for me. Again, the star ratings judge my experience watching the movie, and this movie itself is very good.
Heat (1995): ★★
I heard good things about the action sequences in this movie, and I saw the blu-ray on sale, so why not? The action was entertaining, but the rest of the movie kinda dragged on for me. This movie is one minute longer than Interstellar, but it feels like an extra hour. Also, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro looked too similar, so I got confused early on. Still worth the watch.
I'm going to see Nosferatu in the theater today. My local theater is dropping it after tonight, but it seems to have generally positive reviews, so I'm interested in checking it out. That will also help get me back into the theater instead of watching DVDs.
I ordered The Philadelphia Story on Amazon three weeks ago, but the package apparently hasn't even shipped yet. >:( All the more reason to try and buy local, I guess. Another older movie I'd like to see is All About Eve, but I can only find that from Criterion and can't stomach $40 for a single movie.
Happy to see another amateur (in the positive sense of the word) film reviewer. No need to worry about knowledge. I personally like personal reviews much more than those takes a deep dive into intellectual analytics and interpretations. Would be glad to link up on Letterboxd.
First of all, no one is too dumb to watch or have an opinion of a movie. There is no "right" way to interpret a movie. You have the experience you had, and that is not more or less correct than anyone else. And the important event happening off-screen is entirely intentional from the filmmakers. They want us to be confused and clueless to what the hell is going on, because that is a very unusual way to do that. They more or less broke several unwritten rules of storytelling, and that is what make it so interesting! Your reaction is exactly what the directors was going for with that. And yes, it is definitely a movie that grows on a re watch. In my opinion, the "key" this movie are not found within the two main protagonist, but with the old sheriff played by Tommy Lee Jones. The entire movie is a reflection of how he sees the world has changed, pointing back to the title as well. But that is just how I see it.
Your Letterboxd page is impressive. I didn't know that the extra stats are visible to everyone, not just the person themselves (and definitely not to someone with a free account). My one hesitation with sharing my own profile is that one movie/documentary gives away too much about precisely where I live. Maybe I'll warm up to the idea later, and thanks for sharing your profile.
Thanks for reassuring me about No Country For Old Men. It reminds me of Fumita Ueda's video games, which are very much about how the characters change rather than whatever the actual events of the plot are. I'll probably pick up the blu-ray the next time Criterion goes on sale and give it another try.
I recently watched Parasite (2019) and throughly enjoyed it! I don’t speak or understand Korean so I had the subs on as well, still with that limitation I got a good feel for the actors’ performances and was generally impressed. For me, what made the movie was the contrast in every day life for both families, how one struggles so heavily while the other is living comfortably. Some of those scenes were just beautifully shot and put together, the scenes with the rain were particularly good. The other thing i appreciated was the complexity/layers of the overall theme. Who is the parasite? Is there one or many? Since the characters were complex and not necessarily likable, the answer kept changing throughout the movie and I still kept thinking of it after I finished watching.
Parasite is definitely one that is interesting to see people break down on Youtube after watching it. I was entertained in the loop of "Haha, funny joke; oh no, what happens next? Haha, funny joke; oh no, ..." But other peoples' reactions bring up so many parallels and wrinkles in the story that went completely over my head.
I watched The Mechanic (1972) and… it’s Charles Bronson and Jan-Michael Vincent. Is it a great movie? no. Is it a good movie? no. Does it feel like someone made a list of every cool thing that could happen in a movie… then made that? yes!
edit: also watched Anora (2024), which might be the best dark comedy of the year, in a way... some scenes are brutal, but its so well-written. Overall, excellent film... not a comedy all the way through, though, so don't expect that.
Good movie.. starts off like a soft-porn, though
late add: 10 Things I Hate About You is terrible. I couldn’t even finish it. The dialog is boring then dips into the Shakespearean stuff; which is fine… but it’s so clunky.
I saw that a couple of months ago and you summed it up well. It isn't really a good movie, but it was enjoyable none the less. I liked how it focused on just the pure "mechanics" of assassinations with all the meticulous process and preparation. No need for going into any sort of back story on the targets.
i’m wondering if Josh Holloway drew from JMV for Sawyer on LOST — the hair, the walk, a lot of the mannerisms… they’re spot on.
I got a fresh batch of 11 spaghetti westerns blurays from Arrow Video, so I have seen the first two Sartana films. If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death from 1968 and I Am Sartana Your Angel of Death from 1969 both starring Gianni Garko and Klaus Kinski(!). This series seems to be purely going for the stylish entertainment, and not overly interested in the political allegories like the movies by Sergio Sollima and Sergio Corbucci. Besides the general message of painting the rich and powerful as horrible people, which is basically a standard element in all spaghetti westerns. Sartana is a stylish gunslinger dressed in a long black and red cape, being both good at poker and fast draws. The body count is rather crazy, even by the genre standards, and there is a huge amount of creativity to the gunfights. Both in terms of varied locations and the clever ways Sartana outsmarts his opponents. It may not have the same depth in plot and thematics as some other stuff, but it is damn stylish and entertaining. I Am Sartana Your Angel of Death can even be found in a reasonable quality on Youtube
I was waiting to see both The Brutalist and Nickel Boys before updating my top 10. I guess I technically still have to see The Beast, but considering my own taste I don’t think that would enter my top 10 either.
I was debating between The Order and Furiosa: A Mad Max Story. Both are 4/5s for me (this is actually the first time since I started making these lists that a movie entered my top 10 without a 4.5 rating from me). So 10th might just be a tie between them. Which speaks to how weak this year has been for film.
Honorable mentions (other 4/5’s): Abigail, Smile 2, Alien: Romulus, Heretic, Juror No. 2, The Wild Robot, Civil War, A Different Man
Reviews of the new Mel Gibson/Mark Wahlberg movie have me dying. Has anyone been brave enough to see this?
Rotten Tomatoes has 19% from critics, but 65% from audiences. Maybe the early viewers are the ones most likely to enjoy the movie.
I watched Blink Twice which is a bland thriller. It's got a great cast filled with people I really enjoy. They all do a good job with the acting. I think everything technical is actually done fairly well - the acting is good, they tend to do a fair job at building tension within a scene, good soundtrack, etc. - but the overall experience is just kind of bland.
Spoilers
I think it's that everything is very sign-posted. Things that are supposed to be huge reveals are clearly signposted, so at no point was there anything approaching a surprise, which is not good when there is supposed to be a twist. I cannot think of a single thing that happened in the movie that had any element of surprise to it. I didn't watch the trailer either, so it wasn't that the trailer spoilt anything for me (as is often the case, I don't actually know if there are spoilers in the trailer). I think anyone who has a cursory knowledge of storytelling could tell you what would happen in the next scene after watching any scene.
It was to the point of being able to tell who would die in the next scene, and how they would die. When Frida is being chased, you know that Sarah is going to save her. When Lucas opens the door you know that he's going to immediately get shot. You know Slater is going to be foiled by his own drug concoction, that Kyle McLachlan's character will get comeuppance, that Frida was there before... every single thing is so telegraphed that there are no story beats that actually feel meaningful.
Overall, very meh.
I watched Hundreds of Beavers last night with my friends. I went in blind, just knowing it was a silent slapstick comedy and my movie critic friend gave it high praise as one of the funniest films he'd seen in years. He compared it to live-action Looney Tunes.
It was definitely an experience. A good experience and very funny, but also one of the oddest films I've ever seen in terms of visuals. Not in a bad way, just... I can see this one being a bit of an acquired taste just for the visuals. The story and acting though are great. It's one of the few times I'm left genuinely wondering what drugs the writers were taking when writing the movie.
Speaking of, one of my friends was stoned. And she had an experience watching it.
Queer
I don't think I like Luca Guadagnino as a director. Call Me By Your Name was good (which I will now credit to James Ivory's screenplay) but everything else I've seen from him has not been it. The aesthetic, production design, and costume design here are really compelling. But everything is else is kind of dull and boring. I didn't think Daniel Craig was noteworthy here, I thought Drew Starskey was as bland as cardboard. And I don't think Starskey is attractive enough to warrant this twink obsession Craig has (unlike say Hammer's twink obsession with Chalamet in Call Me By Your Name).
It's first thirty minutes weren't bad but it got weird and tedious afterwards. I thought about Challengers while watching it and it made me go "I guess that's not so bad in comparison."
The Beast
I tried torrenting this but couldn't find subtitles. Finally decided just to spend the three dollars to rent it. My suspicions were realized. I didn't really like this. I thought it was needlessly confusing, and I didn't think any part of it was engaging enough to warrant that. For all the comparisons to Lynch, he at least had a sense of pacing and knew how to keep someone's attention.
The only "cool" things I dig about this is that it's extremely online. Dasha Nekrasova having a small part in it (co-host of the infamous RedScare podcast) and the unsubtle references to Elliot Rodgers and inceldom as a whole. However, I don't think it says anything interesting.
Saw “Sing Sing” tonight.👍🏼 (Didn’t know much about it going in - which is always my preference.) I previously thought Adrian Brody might get the Oscar for Best Actor, but now strongly feel Coleman Domingo should win.
I just watched Heretic with Hugh Grant last night, and I thought it was a really interesting exploration of religion as a whole. Note I am ex Christian but not ex LDS!
I went online to read comments about the movie after I watched it but I'm confused on why people really want it to have supernatural elements or something, I feel like it would undermine the main thesis of the movie, and showing that there is something supernatural would define "truth" in the context of the movie, when it's actually mostly about faith, even in the absence of absolute truth.
The movie actually made me think a lot, which I feel like I haven't needed to do in a while for a movie haha. would recommend it if you haven't seen it yet!