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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.
Okay large post here we go. I watched five movies during the long Thanksgiving weekend. I'll do them by order that I watched it.
Hamnet
Big Oscar contender. I liked Nomadland at the time that it came out. I think if I watched it now I would feel differently about it. It's still one of the better Best Picture winners of the decade, even if it feels like a conservative Malick film. I did not enjoy Eternals, which was Zhao's first forray into mainstream filmmaking. I was utterly bored throughout it even if it looked better than most modern MCU films.
I really wasn't looking forward to this. It's received immense acclaim from film critics, it's played very well with general audiences. And I can't understand why. I thought this was so boring. It's poorly structured, poorly edited, and overacted.
It's misery porn to a certain degree, but it is hollow in its attempt to be a tearjerker. Even feels so effortful, it feels like it's trying to be this big emotional thing. Buckley and Mescal feel like they're trying to prove that they're capital A actors with the shouting and the crying and snot coming out of their noses. I don't think Buckley or Mescal are particularly great actors, I think they're both boring screen presences that have been assigned prestige because of the type of projects they take on rather than from their ability. I think their Oscar nominated performances were overrated. Here it feels like every scene is meant to be an Oscar clip for them, I felt the same way about Buckley's performance in Women Talking.
Just poor all around. There's certain chunks that work but not enough for me to overcome how much I didn't like this.
(1.5/5)
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
No spoilers here. I thought this was the weakest Knives Out film. The previous two entries were both 5/5's for me and were top 5 films of their respective years. This didn't connect as much for me. The political satire is still present, and if anything it's the most obvious we have in the trilogy. But it didn't feel as fired up about it like in Knives Out or Glass Onion.
The characters aren't as interesting as the previous two. I think Josh O'Connor is also another overrated mumbly actor, but he's pretty comedic timing that was evident in both The Mastermind and Challengers. His character is not nearly as interesting or engaging as De Armas in Knives Out or Monae in Glass Onion however. The side characters are also not as compelling as they were in those two, and the performances lack the camp that this series is known for. Jeremy Renner stood out to me in a bad way, this is going to sound mean but I don't think he can act very well anymore after his accident. He just looks like he's in pain and he has trouble enunciating words now. Sort of like how Val Kilmer struggled at the end of his life.
The mystery is also not as interesting and the explanation is too convoluted even for this series. Kind of a let down, but still very good.
(4/5)
Now You See Me: Now You Don't
I don't remember much of the first two. I thought they were fine for the most part. This was probably the worst of the three even if it is still very entertaining. I think my biggest gripe with the film are the new guys. Justice Smith is decent in the role, even if I don't particularly care for him as an actor. But Ariana Greenblatt and Dominic Sessa were actively bad. Loved Holdovers, don't think Sessa is going to be a versatile actor. He's better than Greenblatt though which is weird since she's much more experienced. I don't think Greenblatt is a good actress, I think she got lucky with being cast in one of the biggest movies of all time in a pivotal scene as young Gamora (and then repeated that luck with being cast in Barbie). But she doesn't have the chops. She doesn't even feel natural in anything I've seen her. It reminded me that Disney kids don't get acting lessons, so when they move on to real stuff they struggle (with exceptions but not the case here).
The main characters are also really dumb in this one so that the younger ones could outshine them. Also no Mark Ruffalo to give it more credibility as a film. It also looks worse than the previous two even though all of these were shot on digital.
(2/5)
Zootopia 2
Probably the best Disney sequel since Toy Story 4. It's not as good as the first one, not that I think the first one is some masterpiece, and the characters are made more annoying here so that they can have an arc. But I think it works towards the end, it looks really good which might sound like a given but Moana 2 came out last year and it looked like shit. Good nutritional fun I think, probably the best animated film of the year.
(3.5/5)
Eternity
The best of this specific bunch that I saw. It reminded me a lot of Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait, both in style and in tone. I thought it was wickedly funny and all the performances were in the pocket (probably the only film here where I didn't have a gripe with one of the actors).
I love Elizabeth Olsen, I've seen so many of her interviews and she is so sweet and charming and funny. This is the first role I've seen her in where she's allowed to be that version of herself. It's a nice ode to "ordinary love." Not the type of earth shattering love that Hollywood usually romanticizes, but the type of love that develops slowly and through small moments.
The only thing is that there are so many references to Callum Turner's character being like unbelievably good looking even though I think he's a similar level of plain as Miles Teller.
Very nice, sweet, the type of film Hollywood used to make tons of but now has been relegated to an indie studio like A24.
(4/5)
There's something about Justice Smith that makes me feel negatively in everything I see him in. I'm not too sure what it is but I think it's not great. Now You See 3 was pretty terrible imo, the plot reveal at the end was pretty lazy in my opinion.
I know people hated him in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Detective Pikachu, he's now experienced a better reception after TV Glow. I personally didn't mind him in either Jurassic or Pikachu, and I remember liking him in The Get Down.
I'll try TV Glow, tbh I really hate him in most of his roles and try to avoid seeing him. I enjoyed DnD despite him though, and I think Detective Pikachu would be a much better movie with someone else as the lead. I didn't actually know he'd be in Now You See 3 and it definitely soured my enjoyment of an already pretty mediocre sequel.
As a huge oldschool hiphop fan I'm still pissed that The Get Down got canceled after only one season. Fuckin' Netflix. :(
I finally watched No Other Choice (2025) this week and I enjoyed it! It feels like an especially relevant movie in the modern day with the rise of automation displacing people from their jobs. I'll be honest, when I first watched it, I did find the ending a bit disappointing and felt that certain aspects of the movie lacked depth but after letting it marinate in my head for a day or two, I can see why things were done the way they were. The criticisms I've seen for this movie online are valid in my opinion, but I still think its a great movie and worth a watch!
I also finally watched Tropic Thunder (2008) and man, I'm at a loss for words with this movie haha. I knew it was a satirical comedy but I didn't know to what extent things would be satirized and I was just left in shock as I watched the movie. Overall, I really enjoyed the film and I can see why Robert Downey Jr. was praised for his portayal of Kirk Lazarus. I also had no idea that Tom Cruise was in this film and it took me a few minutes to actually recongnize him on screen. Overall, a fun watch that was definitely made at a different time.
My parents took me to go watch Tropic Thunder when I was 8 years old in theaters. I also didn’t know that was Tom Cruise but my mom recognized him immediately
It’s worth doing the directors commentary. RDJ promised to stay in character until a certain point in the directors commentary and he’s true to his word.
My friend was telling me about the directors commentary actually, will definitely give it a watch! I think I saw some behind the scenes clips of RDJ remaining in character too and its just so funny.
just a perfect movie. the baby, cruise, the trailers... just perfect.
You might also like this chill mix -- https://youtu.be/CFG5dk1GyRo?t=242 :)
quick edit: if you need a copy of the commentary track to mux in, let me know
My sister and I just got out of the theater for Die My Love. I actually really enjoyed it, both leads were really great in their roles in my opinion. I think it was a bit messy with all the cuts and unreliable narrator, but It was also the point so yeah. I really enjoyed the movie in a technical sense too, I loved the choices the director and editor made, and the ending scene I really enjoyed a lot.
I think If I Had Legs I'd Kick You was a better movie overall that tackled the theme of motherhood in a more dramatic and stressful way, but I think Die My Love was more interesting to me in a mental health theme sense. Between those two and One Battle After Another I think me and my sister need something happier to watch in the Brooklyn theater we go to, since the last two motherhood movies have been pretty stressful and hectic.
Just got out of the theater for the Running Man. I thought it was really fun to watch until maybe the last 3rd of the movie! The last 3rd had some interesting action scene but it was definitely a bit hamfisted with a lot of it's themes. Glen Powell was fun to watch and Michael Cera was pretty hilarious. It didn't feel like an Edgar Wright movie though, I was surprised at a lot of the direction and some of the edits.
I’m going through Fincher’s catalog. I did Panic Room, Zodiac, and Benjamin Button this week — for Button i listened to the commentary track instead. I realized that I know all of his movies like the back of my hand.
Fincher’s use of CGI is always neat. He refuses to use squibs, for instance. Sprays of blood, gaping wounds; all done in post.
I kind of hope Benjamin Button gets a touch up to make it perfect and take it out of that uncanny valley slope, though.