The "Movies I recently saw" thread

[RichardS]

'Limitless'

[Doppleganger]

Has no one really posted in this topic in ALMOST A YEAR? That seems baffling.

Well, this isn't exactly a movie, but I was watching a video from the "Nostalgia Critic" who was trying to give perspective on why idiots are making the awful Disney remakes MORE MONEY then the originals they were based on.

One of his points was, "People like updates".

This makes me feel stupid because for years I have been arguing that updates for Android phones are often bad, breaking apps while also rolling back features like screen capture or ad blocking.

It never occurred to me that the default attitude is that update=good. This is why phones purchases are always termed "upgrades", even if the device is actually worse than the previous one.

Just another case of me failing to empathize with the slobbering masses.

[Doppleganger]

Anyone seen Joker?

[Doppleganger]

Knives Out

Amazing. Best film I've seen since Shazam! last year, and proof positive that The Last Jedi was more Disney than Rian Johnson.

[Doppleganger]

1917

This is an entertaining adventure film. I say adventure film because the CGI in it takes you out of the historical thriller/drama setting and has you feel like you're playing an FPS video game, due to the one continuous shot camerawork.

The film was super harrowing up until the shot "broke", after that it broke down up until the climax of the film.

I liked it a lot, but it's fairly conventional, and the people calling it the greatest war drama ever are silly.

[sixdragons_in_atrenchcoat]

Rise of Skywalker.
Didn't like it.

[Doppleganger]

Avengers: Endgame is pleb-tier trash.

I wouldn't even call it mediocre. It's about as bad as Rise of Skywalker.

It's so stupid I'm shocked that it was made concurrently with Infinity War, and I'm angry it outperformed Infinity War.

[sixdragons_in_atrenchcoat]

^ W H A T
Endgame was awesome.

Anyway, Onward.
Adorable, heartfelt, funny, epic in some places. The centaur was entirely unnecessary though. Should have stuck to being a cop side character.

[Doppleganger]

Free Guy

I really liked this movie. It was loaded with charm, had a smart (if, for anime fans, familiar) premise, had great jokes and a pretty solid script. There were some plot holes/flaws that were very noticeable to me the adult but other stuff was so on-point it allowed me to forgive it. If I was pulled out of the movie, I was pulled right back in.

I have to note that for the first time (to me), Ryan Reynolds is actually acting in this movie. Usually, he plays a character who is essentially Ryan Reynolds, just like Tom Hanks gets cast to play Tom Hanks characters, The Rock and John Cena are cast as The Rock/John Cena etc.

In this, Guy/Blue Shirt Guy has a legitimately different personality from Ryan Reynolds. He's cheerful and optimistic and it's never a fault, always an asset. He's also smart and capable (although he starts off noobish due to having no game knowledge). I think the marketing did a good job of showing scenes but deceiving the viewer about the direction of the movie.

I think the worst scene was the lightsaber one. Says a lot about how good this movie is.

I'd call it a 7/10 - enjoyment wise it's an 8 or a 9, script wise it's a 6. Solid but messy. Being a video game excuses the gratuitous CGI and basically everyone, even Taika Waititi as Antwon, is very fun.

This is a movie worthy of braving the journey to a theater. Just as a warnng the theater I visited was woefully under maintained due to coronavirus; the food was bad, the drinks were flat, and the bathrooms, unclean. Euch.

[Doppleganger]

DUNE

Fantastic and a must-watch in theatres, especially IMAX.

[Doppleganger]

So I read a "spoiler free" Guardian review of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, but if one has followed the discourse and development around the movie, it was anything but:

Spoiler: show

The review all but confirmed there are no jokes, it's not a comedy film so much as an action-adventure thriller with an almost religious reverence for the first film. This is much closer in line to the Disney Star Wars or Jurassic World films than even the 2016 reboot.

It also confirmed that a CGI Harold Ramis ghost is appearing in the movie. Well, just great.

So in some ways, this movie might be even more sacrilegious to the franchise than the 2016 failure is. Which has me wondering why no one can seem to get Ghostbusters right. Sure, you can't recreate the performances of the original film...so don't try to.

Sony, Konami, Nintendo...sure seems like Japanese video-game company ownership of American stuff is bungled. Maybe we should be happy Tencent is taking over everything.

[Doppleganger]

I'm not a comic book or Marvel fan by any stretch, but Spider-Man: No Way Home might be the first Marvel film since Thor: Regnarok I see in theatres.

Somehow, it's not just a Sony-MCU crossover, it's also a sequel to Sam Raimi's Spider Man trilogy and Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man movies.

How? By incorporating the multiverse idea, the villains from those past movies are wreaking havoc in No Way Home. With the recent trailer and posters, we have a clear idea who will form the "Sinister Six", Spider Man's greatest enemies:

Spoiler: show

Green Goblin - Spider Man
Doctor Octopus - Spider-Man 2
Sandman - Spider-Man 3
The Lizard - The Amazing Spider-Man
Electro - The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Venom - Venom: Let There Be Carnage

That is cool as fudge.

[Doppleganger]

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Lives up to the hype in every way. A truly epic movie in every possible dimension.

[Doppleganger]

Fantastic Beasts III

I hadn't seen the first two but thrived off reviews of them. Suffice to say, I liked this one even if it's just an excuse to hang out with charming characters for 3 hours.

The plot was kind of messy, and the CGI wonky in places (with some filler scenes) but the characters and the acting were all top notch.

I'd recommend it! I had a good time. It wasn't as mesmerizing or magical as The Batman, but I didn't hate myself watching it.

Mads Mikkelson is also the standout performance as he's so much better than Johnny Depp in basically every way.

[BeckJohn21]

Final Days directed by Matthew Miller Skow, Nicholas Stumphauzer.

[LiamEvans210]

I recently watched The Northman and I'm surprised at how well it's rated by both critics and the audience alike. I thought it was disordered with badly choreographed fight scenes. Maybe I'll like it if I rewatch it.

[EyesFitt]

I watch Extraction 2 and Bloodhounds Season.

[Doppleganger]

On the one hand, I like that the bots are watching TV, but I have to wonder who is coding bots like this to browse old forums?

[Doppleganger]

Most consider Beauty and the Beast to be Disney's best film, but man, I see so many problems in it today.

First is Belle. She is supposed to be portrayed as intelligent because she likes to read, but what she reads is fairy tails and romantic fiction. It's the equivalent of anime/manga today. She's basically a neckbeard, not some genius.

Gaston is vain and shallow but it's 100% earned. He worked hard to make himself who he is and doesn't want to settle.

Beast is even more tragic. He was cursed by a witch when he was ELEVEN YEARS OLD, for the most pathetic/inane/petty reason possible. Sure, a lord might be willing to let a stranger into his home, but he could get assassinated, or worse, the stranger could defacate on his floor.

Lumiere is a groomer who chases after the teenage French maids. Harvey Weinstein approved. Oops!

I think the town being hostile to Maurice is a little unwarranted, but the dude doesn't seem to contribute to the town at all. Maybe they're resentful over that.

Overall, Belle should die, Beast and Gaston should be bro's, Maurice should invent a weight loss pill and marry Mrs. Potts and Lefou should find a mad doctor and ressurect Frankenstein.

[phoopes]

ratio

[Doppleganger]

The Emperor's New Groove has aged amazingly. Like Rocky & Bullwinkle, many of the jokes are generically witty and radiate off the character personalities, and there's no one source of comic relief. Everyone is gag potential.

Aladdin hasn't aged so well. While the basic musical premise is still solid (wants/motivations/themes) I think Genie has aged the worst, with his references being dated today. There's also the whole stereotypical bit and inaccurate architecture etc.

New Groove is ostensibly set in the Incan Empire, but it quickly dispenses with reality. Aladdin presupposes that veneer.