What movies have you been watching?

[JoJo]

Recently watched "I Care A Lot" from Netflix.  So good!   A little scary because as a single woman with assets and no children it scares me what might happen should I end up with dimentia some day. 

[wenchsenior]

Finally got around to watching Midsommar, which I really enjoyed.  It was not subtle, totally predictable to any human who knows anything about ancient pagan religions and rituals (which made the fact that a bunch of anthropology students somehow got taken by surprise at what they found themselves mixed up in pretty funny), and not really scary (but I don't think it was actually meant to be a horror movie).

Yet, I really loved it anyway. I appreciated the beautiful setting/costumes and the fact that the movie illustrated that there was intense emotional resonance to some of the customs that modern people would find weird or horrifying, but that would be very sustaining to the community itself, and possibly attractive to a portion of the modern populace as well. I actually found the sequence involving the

Spoiler: show

ritual suicide of the pair of old people jumping off the cliff

quite beautiful and moving, and got irritated at the British tourists throwing fits about it. 

Also, it was really funny, which I was not expecting after seeing Hereditary.

Francis Pugh is always excellent. I was also quite amused to see Chidi from The Good Place playing another academic, but semi-dirtbag Good performances all around.

[Roadrunner53]

Watched Army of the Dead yesterday on Netflix. I liked it and it was full of action! I like zombie movies for some reason!

[OtherJen]

Seconding the thumbs-up for Midsommar and I Care A Lot.

Last night, we watched Skyfall (Daniel Craig as Bond) last night for the first time since seeing it in the theater years ago. It’s held up well, much better than many of the older, cheesier Bond films.

[EscapeVelocity2020]

Watched Army of the Dead yesterday on Netflix. I liked it and it was full of action! I like zombie movies for some reason!

Army was definitely a whole lotta fun!

I also saw 'The Woman in the Window' this weekend and was pleasantly surprised.  I had low expectations since I didn't know anything about it, but liked the twists and turns.  Also saw 'Those Who Wish Me Dead', and I was kinda wishing myself dead about half way through.  Angelina Jolie really looked under a healthy weight, skeletal almost, but maybe that was supposed to be part of her troubled character? 

[lost_in_the_endless_aisle]

Finally got around to watching Midsommar, which I really enjoyed.  It was not subtle, totally predictable to any human who knows anything about ancient pagan religions and rituals (which made the fact that a bunch of anthropology students somehow got taken by surprise at what they found themselves mixed up in pretty funny), and not really scary (but I don't think it was actually meant to be a horror movie).

Yet, I really loved it anyway. I appreciated the beautiful setting/costumes and the fact that the movie illustrated that there was intense emotional resonance to some of the customs that modern people would find weird or horrifying, but that would be very sustaining to the community itself, and possibly attractive to a portion of the modern populace as well. I actually found the sequence involving the

Spoiler: show

ritual suicide of the pair of old people jumping off the cliff

quite beautiful and moving, and got irritated at the British tourists throwing fits about it. 

Also, it was really funny, which I was not expecting after seeing Hereditary.

Francis Pugh is always excellent. I was also quite amused to see Chidi from The Good Place playing another academic, but semi-dirtbag Good performances all around.

What did you think of Hereditary? I though it was great up to and including The Incident but was horrible after that. Midsommar is flawed but I give a lot of points to movies that are at least moderately ambitious (another example of flawed but ambitious would be Melancholia). Anyway, regarding Midsommar, the story arc of the protagonist is wonderful amidst the horrors and the ending is glorious.

[wenchsenior]

Finally got around to watching Midsommar, which I really enjoyed.  It was not subtle, totally predictable to any human who knows anything about ancient pagan religions and rituals (which made the fact that a bunch of anthropology students somehow got taken by surprise at what they found themselves mixed up in pretty funny), and not really scary (but I don't think it was actually meant to be a horror movie).

Yet, I really loved it anyway. I appreciated the beautiful setting/costumes and the fact that the movie illustrated that there was intense emotional resonance to some of the customs that modern people would find weird or horrifying, but that would be very sustaining to the community itself, and possibly attractive to a portion of the modern populace as well. I actually found the sequence involving the

Spoiler: show

ritual suicide of the pair of old people jumping off the cliff

quite beautiful and moving, and got irritated at the British tourists throwing fits about it. 

Also, it was really funny, which I was not expecting after seeing Hereditary.

Francis Pugh is always excellent. I was also quite amused to see Chidi from The Good Place playing another academic, but semi-dirtbag Good performances all around.

What did you think of Hereditary? I though it was great up to and including The Incident but was horrible after that. Midsommar is flawed but I give a lot of points to movies that are at least moderately ambitious (another example of flawed but ambitious would be Melancholia). Anyway, regarding Midsommar, the story arc of the protagonist is wonderful amidst the horrors and the ending is glorious.

I also appreciate flawed but ambitious!  (Most recent previous movie that I saw that fell into that category was Promising Young Woman).  I thought Hereditary was very effectively brutal up until the last 15 minutes or so, when

Spoiler: show

the events began to clearly become supernatural and not possibly the effects of grief and mental illness

.  It's not the kind of movie I normally watch (I don't watch that much horror,  and I don't enjoy that level of misery as a viewer).  But it was quite effective.  I do wonder a bit where Ari Aster is likely to go now, and if he has much more to show thematically, given that his first two movies are essentially a deep dive on family trauma and the grief that results.  But I'll be interested to see....given the black comedy in Midsommar, I'm hoping he'll do more of that.

[nessness]

Woman in the Window. It got bad reviews but I liked it - just the right amount of camp.

[slackmax]

I was just reminded on another thread of a movie called "Finding Forrester" with Sean Connery. Definitely a good one.

+1. Good acting, believable plot, no vomit scenes.

[wenchsenior]

Watched the new remake of Rebecca (Netflix).  It was fine. There was zero reason for yet another remake, and Ben Wheatley surprisingly didn't bring anything new or creative or unnerving to the presentation.   But Kristin Scott Thomas was awesome, as usual. And the costumes, sets, location shooting were incredible.  That first date that Maxim took "I" on...OMG, I would have absolutely swooned!  Best first date ever!  https://www.jardin-exotique.mc/

I'm starting to feel like I know Hatfield House better than my own home from all of the stuff getting filmed there recently (The Favourite, Enola Holmes, Bridgerton, and Rebecca).

[GuitarStv]

Watched 'Colour Out of Space' this weekend and enjoyed it.  It seemed true to my memory of the spirit of the Lovecraft story that I read a couple decades ago.  Not sure I'd recommend it to someone who isn't a Lovecraft fan . . . many of his standard themes - despair, people caught in the clutches of powerful and poorly understood forces, horor in the sense of general unease and unshakable feeling that things won't work out right.  Far better than the usual torture and gore porn that is often sold as 'horror' these days.

[slackmax]

'Adrift', adventure movie about a young couple in a broken down sailboat drifting in the ocean. I liked it, especially the actress.

Believable plot.  Good photography. 

Yes, it has a vomit scene, unfortunately, but it could be ascribed to seasickness.   

[slackmax]

'Wild Mountain Thyme' romantic comedy set in Ireland. Scenes with Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan are just pure, beautiful, and funny.  Five stars.   

[Metalcat]

'Wild Mountain Thyme' romantic comedy set in Ireland. Scenes with Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan are just pure, beautiful, and funny.  Five stars.   

Really? I turned it off after 15 minutes and read that it was terrible. Now I'm curious to watch a bit more.

[slackmax]

'Wild Mountain Thyme' romantic comedy set in Ireland. Scenes with Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan are just pure, beautiful, and funny.  Five stars.   

Really? I turned it off after 15 minutes and read that it was terrible. Now I'm curious to watch a bit more.

I had the same initial reaction. Christopher Walken is horribly miscast as the father, and does an awful Irish accent, and some of the other actors seemed like clones of other actors (Helen Mirren clone was there) , and I was actually planning to give up on it, but I restarted the DVD from the beginning, this time with the captioning on, so I could understand it (lousy hearing I have) and gave it a chance.

It really took off for me after about 20 minutes. I really identified with the main male character, which of course, sucked me right in. Your results may vary.   


Edit to add:  I just started to check some reviews of this movie, and, yes, no one seems to like it, lol. 

I guess you have to identify with one of the characters. The scene in Emily Blunt's farmhouse where she tries to seduce the neurotic neighbor who feels unworthy of her is just so real, I thought it was terrific writing.     

[wenchsenior]

High Life.  I watched this b/c I have seen very little of Robert Pattinson's  work since the Harry Potter days, and was curious that he seems to choose such disparate projects and gets such good reviews and generally really seems to be building a solid career.  Let me be clear that the actors gave their all in this project (Pattinson did some interesting stuff with body language; Juliette Binoche was terrific playing a 'witch' type character, and OMG I always forget how insanely charismatic Andre Benjamin is), but the movie was just a slow and pretentious muddle of themes and semi-baked plot threads and thoroughly unpleasant to watch as well.

HOWEVER, there was a beautiful ambient/minimalist folk-type song over the closing credits, and I was all amped to go looking for a new band...and it turned out be Robert Pattinson!  He sings, too. Best thing about the movie, for sure. 

[slackmax]

High Life.  I watched this b/c I have seen very little of Robert Pattinson's  work since the Harry Potter days, and was curious that he seems to choose such disparate projects and gets such good reviews and generally really seems to be building a solid career.  Let me be clear that the actors gave their all in this project (Pattinson did some interesting stuff with body language; Juliette Binoche was terrific playing a 'witch' type character, and OMG I always forget how insanely charismatic Andre Benjamin is), but the movie was just a slow and pretentious muddle of themes and semi-baked plot threads and thoroughly unpleasant to watch as well.

HOWEVER, there was a beautiful ambient/minimalist folk-type song over the closing credits, and I was all amped to go looking for a new band...and it turned out be Robert Pattinson!  He sings, too. Best thing about the movie, for sure.

Huh. Maybe that's a thing now, actors singing in their movies. I thought Adam Driver did a great job singing 'Being Alive' by Sondheim, at the end of the  end of the movie Marriage Story.  Who knew?
 
Have you seen Pattinson in The Lighthouse? I thought he was very good. Other folks did not.  I thought he was very dull in the vampire movies,  and was surprised how good he was once he got out of that role.

Looking forward to watching High Life when I get a chance.

[wenchsenior]

High Life.  I watched this b/c I have seen very little of Robert Pattinson's  work since the Harry Potter days, and was curious that he seems to choose such disparate projects and gets such good reviews and generally really seems to be building a solid career.  Let me be clear that the actors gave their all in this project (Pattinson did some interesting stuff with body language; Juliette Binoche was terrific playing a 'witch' type character, and OMG I always forget how insanely charismatic Andre Benjamin is), but the movie was just a slow and pretentious muddle of themes and semi-baked plot threads and thoroughly unpleasant to watch as well.

HOWEVER, there was a beautiful ambient/minimalist folk-type song over the closing credits, and I was all amped to go looking for a new band...and it turned out be Robert Pattinson!  He sings, too. Best thing about the movie, for sure.

Huh. Maybe that's a thing now, actors singing in their movies. I thought Adam Driver did a great job singing 'Being Alive' by Sondheim, at the end of the  end of the movie Marriage Story.  Who knew?
 
Have you seen Pattinson in The Lighthouse? I thought he was very good. Other folks did not.  I thought he was very dull in the vampire movies,  and was surprised how good he was once he got out of that role.

Looking forward to watching High Life when I get a chance.

Just to be clear, I'm not recommending the movie. At all. Just the performance and the singing LOL.  I haven't seen The Lighthouse, but I LOVE Willem Dafoe, so I will get to it as some point.

[slackmax]

High Life.  I watched this b/c I have seen very little of Robert Pattinson's  work since the Harry Potter days, and was curious that he seems to choose such disparate projects and gets such good reviews and generally really seems to be building a solid career.  Let me be clear that the actors gave their all in this project (Pattinson did some interesting stuff with body language; Juliette Binoche was terrific playing a 'witch' type character, and OMG I always forget how insanely charismatic Andre Benjamin is), but the movie was just a slow and pretentious muddle of themes and semi-baked plot threads and thoroughly unpleasant to watch as well.

HOWEVER, there was a beautiful ambient/minimalist folk-type song over the closing credits, and I was all amped to go looking for a new band...and it turned out be Robert Pattinson!  He sings, too. Best thing about the movie, for sure.

Huh. Maybe that's a thing now, actors singing in their movies. I thought Adam Driver did a great job singing 'Being Alive' by Sondheim, at the end of the  end of the movie Marriage Story.  Who knew?
 
Have you seen Pattinson in The Lighthouse? I thought he was very good. Other folks did not.  I thought he was very dull in the vampire movies,  and was surprised how good he was once he got out of that role.

Looking forward to watching High Life when I get a chance.

Just to be clear, I'm not recommending the movie. At all. Just the performance and the singing LOL.  I haven't seen The Lighthouse, but I LOVE Willem Dafoe, so I will get to it as some point.

OK, noted you are not recommending it. I did a quick internet scan for reviews of High Life just now and I see it is pretty shocking. I still plan to watch it. 

I thought Defoe and Pattinson were both terrific in The Lighthouse. Their 'salty dog' accents are over the top, in a good way.  It's in black and white, and uses a square screen format.   A lot of people just plain didn't like the movie at all.     

[sui generis]

High Life.  I watched this b/c I have seen very little of Robert Pattinson's  work since the Harry Potter days, and was curious that he seems to choose such disparate projects and gets such good reviews and generally really seems to be building a solid career.  Let me be clear that the actors gave their all in this project (Pattinson did some interesting stuff with body language; Juliette Binoche was terrific playing a 'witch' type character, and OMG I always forget how insanely charismatic Andre Benjamin is), but the movie was just a slow and pretentious muddle of themes and semi-baked plot threads and thoroughly unpleasant to watch as well.

HOWEVER, there was a beautiful ambient/minimalist folk-type song over the closing credits, and I was all amped to go looking for a new band...and it turned out be Robert Pattinson!  He sings, too. Best thing about the movie, for sure.

Huh. Maybe that's a thing now, actors singing in their movies. I thought Adam Driver did a great job singing 'Being Alive' by Sondheim, at the end of the  end of the movie Marriage Story.  Who knew?
 
Have you seen Pattinson in The Lighthouse? I thought he was very good. Other folks did not.  I thought he was very dull in the vampire movies,  and was surprised how good he was once he got out of that role.

Looking forward to watching High Life when I get a chance.

Just to be clear, I'm not recommending the movie. At all. Just the performance and the singing LOL.  I haven't seen The Lighthouse, but I LOVE Willem Dafoe, so I will get to it as some point.

OK, noted you are not recommending it. I did a quick internet scan for reviews of High Life just now and I see it is pretty shocking. I still plan to watch it. 

I thought Defoe and Pattinson were both terrific in The Lighthouse. Their 'salty dog' accents are over the top, in a good way.  It's in black and white, and uses a square screen format.   A lot of people just plain didn't like the movie at all.     

I was a bit tickled by the Lighthouse.  I believe we had a lively discussion about it on this thread a few pages back.

We watched Minari last night.  I loved the characters but the story/plot was disappointing in several ways.  I think DH liked it better than me.

[DaMa]

High Life.  I watched this b/c I have seen very little of Robert Pattinson's  work since the Harry Potter days, and was curious that he seems to choose such disparate projects and gets such good reviews and generally really seems to be building a solid career.  Let me be clear that the actors gave their all in this project (Pattinson did some interesting stuff with body language; Juliette Binoche was terrific playing a 'witch' type character, and OMG I always forget how insanely charismatic Andre Benjamin is), but the movie was just a slow and pretentious muddle of themes and semi-baked plot threads and thoroughly unpleasant to watch as well.

HOWEVER, there was a beautiful ambient/minimalist folk-type song over the closing credits, and I was all amped to go looking for a new band...and it turned out be Robert Pattinson!  He sings, too. Best thing about the movie, for sure.

They used two of Pattinson's songs in Twilight, and I love them.  Now I have to go find High Life.

[OtherJen]

High Life.  I watched this b/c I have seen very little of Robert Pattinson's  work since the Harry Potter days, and was curious that he seems to choose such disparate projects and gets such good reviews and generally really seems to be building a solid career.  Let me be clear that the actors gave their all in this project (Pattinson did some interesting stuff with body language; Juliette Binoche was terrific playing a 'witch' type character, and OMG I always forget how insanely charismatic Andre Benjamin is), but the movie was just a slow and pretentious muddle of themes and semi-baked plot threads and thoroughly unpleasant to watch as well.

HOWEVER, there was a beautiful ambient/minimalist folk-type song over the closing credits, and I was all amped to go looking for a new band...and it turned out be Robert Pattinson!  He sings, too. Best thing about the movie, for sure.

Huh. Maybe that's a thing now, actors singing in their movies. I thought Adam Driver did a great job singing 'Being Alive' by Sondheim, at the end of the  end of the movie Marriage Story.  Who knew?
 
Have you seen Pattinson in The Lighthouse? I thought he was very good. Other folks did not.  I thought he was very dull in the vampire movies,  and was surprised how good he was once he got out of that role.

Looking forward to watching High Life when I get a chance.

Just to be clear, I'm not recommending the movie. At all. Just the performance and the singing LOL.  I haven't seen The Lighthouse, but I LOVE Willem Dafoe, so I will get to it as some point.

OK, noted you are not recommending it. I did a quick internet scan for reviews of High Life just now and I see it is pretty shocking. I still plan to watch it. 

I thought Defoe and Pattinson were both terrific in The Lighthouse. Their 'salty dog' accents are over the top, in a good way.  It's in black and white, and uses a square screen format.   A lot of people just plain didn't like the movie at all.     

I was a bit tickled by the Lighthouse.  I believe we had a lively discussion about it on this thread a few pages back.

Here's an honest review from one of our own: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/off-topic/what-movies-have-you-been-watching/msg2763977/#msg2763977

[Metalcat]

I watched Wonder Woman 1984...

It was unbearably stupid. Long, stupid, tacky, nonsense.

[OtherJen]

I watched Wonder Woman 1984...

It was unbearably stupid. Long, stupid, tacky, nonsense.

Seconded. I understand that 80s nostalgia can be fun, but it seemed like the main point of the movie.

[LaineyAZ]

The Clovehitch Killer, on Netflix.  Partly based on the real-life "BTK" killer.   
Dylan McDermott as the dad/killer was fantastic, as was Charlie Plummer who played his teenage son who suspects him. 

[Metalcat]

I watched Wonder Woman 1984...

It was unbearably stupid. Long, stupid, tacky, nonsense.

Seconded. I understand that 80s nostalgia can be fun, but it seemed like the main point of the movie.

It also wasn't even well done, or remotely clever in it's 80s nostalgia. Countless lower budget movies and tv shows have done the same thing better.

[techwiz]

I watched Wonder Woman 1984...

It was unbearably stupid. Long, stupid, tacky, nonsense.

Seconded. I understand that 80s nostalgia can be fun, but it seemed like the main point of the movie.

It also wasn't even well done, or remotely clever in it's 80s nostalgia. Countless lower budget movies and tv shows have done the same thing better.

My thoughts on this one too.  The only part of the movie I liked was the first 5-10 mins. 

[Wolfpack Mustachian]

I watched Wonder Woman 1984...

It was unbearably stupid. Long, stupid, tacky, nonsense.

Seconded. I understand that 80s nostalgia can be fun, but it seemed like the main point of the movie.

It also wasn't even well done, or remotely clever in it's 80s nostalgia. Countless lower budget movies and tv shows have done the same thing better.

My thoughts on this one too.  The only part of the movie I liked was the first 5-10 mins.

It's good to know this, but it's really disappointing. I enjoyed the first movie a lot.

[Metalcat]

I watched Wonder Woman 1984...

It was unbearably stupid. Long, stupid, tacky, nonsense.

Seconded. I understand that 80s nostalgia can be fun, but it seemed like the main point of the movie.

It also wasn't even well done, or remotely clever in it's 80s nostalgia. Countless lower budget movies and tv shows have done the same thing better.

My thoughts on this one too.  The only part of the movie I liked was the first 5-10 mins.

It's good to know this, but it's really disappointing. I enjoyed the first movie a lot.

Yeah, I knew it was bad going in, and I was still disappointed.

[EscapeVelocity2020]

Not sure exactly how I ended up watching "Extract" on HBO Max.  I saw it a long time ago and remember the vague story, but it's so much better seeing Bateman and Affleck now for some reason.  I don't know if I enjoyed it as much the first time, maybe my expectations were too high from Office Space, Idiocracy, and World Police at the time, but this is really hitting the spot...

[slackmax]

"Westworld" sci fi about killer robots in a vacation resort.  I was surprised it was so old. From the Seventies. Yul Brynner. Richard Benjamin. James Brolin. A fun, quick moving movie, imo. And funny in spots. 

[slackmax]

Fellini's  'Juliet  of the Spirits' from 1965.  It was his first color movie.

I had a hard time getting into it, since the plot wasn't very interesting to me, and a lot of bizarre stuff was happening, but I stuck with it, and started to enjoy it for the wide variety of interesting characters.

Beautiful cinematography, as you might expect. 

[wenchsenior]

I watched two movies about dysfunctional marriages this week, and both suffered from a lot of the same problems, mostly due to the spotty writing.



The Nest:   A lot of talent marshaled in service of a very unfocused script that couldn't decide if it was a psychological thriller, domestic drama, or straight up horror movie.  I kept expecting things to elevate and get really bonkers, which would have made it interestiing, but the movie kept teasing and copping out and it never really adopted a strong pov.  However, it was very watchable...beautiful cinemetography, oustanding performance by Carrie Coon (who I am fairly unfamiliar with), and Jude Law competently reverting to his mid-career staple of charming narcissist.  Had promise, but fizzled out in the end.

Similar problems with Marriage Story.  Extremely watchable and enjoyable (maybe b/c I've had a happy marriage for almost 30 years, with very little conflict...I suspect it might not be a fun watch if it cuts closer to home), but not quite worth all the rave reviews.

The script was a strange combination of overwritten silliness (that ridiculous fight scene wtf? Johansson's family wtf?), great individual scenes or details (e.g., Driver and the knife), and generic.  The performances (except for Alan Alda, who was great) were spotty, probably b/c of the weird writing.  Scarlet Johansson and Adam Driver were absolutely phenomenal in some scenes, and pretty bad in other scenes.  Laura Dern,  Julie Haggerty, and Merritt Weaver were ridiculous caricatures (though enjoyable ones) and all three of them over-racted in the extreme.  It's a bit of a bummer that Laura Dern won an Oscar for this, when she's been so much better in so many other movies. Maybe one could view it as a 'career achievement award'.

Very strange.  Not actively bad but not deserving of its accolades, either. Soft recommend if you like talky character dramas b/c it is a very diverting two hours.

[slackmax]

A trilogy of films on a DVD by Kaurismaki, a Finnish film maker. "Match Factory Girl', 'ARiel', and 'Shadows in Paradise'.

1960's ? timeframe in FInland. Young love, down and out blue collar workers, good guy wins the girl. Minimalist.

I liked all 3.

[GuitarStv]

My wife and I watched 'Palm Springs' yesterday.

It's a unicorn of a romantic comedy . . . one that's worth watching (and funny!).  The acting (especially by the two lead characters) is outstanding.  The themes of sadness, regret, and existential angst are strongly present undercutting schlocky sweetness and making it somehow palatable.  And it does all this while providing a new and fun approach to the old 'Groundhog Day' style time loop plot device.

Excellent movie, would recommend.

[techwiz]

A 2013 sci-fi movie about a kids recruited by the International Military to lead the fight against an insectoid alien race. I might have seen it before as some part seem familiar still enjoyed it. 

[slackmax]

Promising Young Woman.

I enjoyed this movie in spite of much of the plot being unbelievable. I was hoping it would end about 3/4 of the way through when she met Mr. Right, but it didn't. It got darker, and had an ending I didn't like.

Still, worth watching, for me.   

[mspym]

My wife and I watched 'Palm Springs' yesterday.

It's a unicorn of a romantic comedy . . . one that's worth watching (and funny!).  The acting (especially by the two lead characters) is outstanding.  The themes of sadness, regret, and existential angst are strongly present undercutting schlocky sweetness and making it somehow palatable.  And it does all this while providing a new and fun approach to the old 'Groundhog Day' style time loop plot device.

Excellent movie, would recommend.

That was one of my favourite movies of last year.

[Metalcat]

My wife and I watched 'Palm Springs' yesterday.

It's a unicorn of a romantic comedy . . . one that's worth watching (and funny!).  The acting (especially by the two lead characters) is outstanding.  The themes of sadness, regret, and existential angst are strongly present undercutting schlocky sweetness and making it somehow palatable.  And it does all this while providing a new and fun approach to the old 'Groundhog Day' style time loop plot device.

Excellent movie, would recommend.

It's SO good, DH and I both loved it.

[WhiteTrashCash]

I watched “Young Frankenstein” recorded off the Movies! Channel over-the-air for free. I’ve seen it a few times and enjoyed it. Such a classic Mel Brooks comedy. Movies! Is nice because they don’t edit their films for length and only one word was edited from the audio to play the movie over-the-air. I enjoyed it.

[Tigerpine]

A 2013 sci-fi movie about a kids recruited by the International Military to lead the fight against an insectoid alien race. I might have seen it before as some part seem familiar still enjoyed it.

Is that movie similar to The Last Starfighter?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Starfighter

[Michael in ABQ]

I watched "Force 10 from Navarone" yesterday with my kids. It's a British-American WW2 movie starring Harrison Ford and was made shortly after the first Star Wars movie in 1978.

It was rated PG so I expected it to be appropriate for my kids as they've watched several old war movies and they're usually not that violent. Guys get shot and they just fall down with no blood. Well apparently PG in 1978 meant you could still have frontal nudity. I was a bit surprised when the partisan woman who was taking a bath got up out of the tub and took a few seconds before covering herself with a towel. They also showed a German Soldier getting decapitated by a wire strung across the road as he was standing up in a vehicle. I though it looked fairly obvious as just a dummy.

Overall an OK movie. It was kind of nice seeing model dams and bridges and planes getting blown up instead of everything being CGI.

[Metalcat]

We watched American Animals, which is fine true story of 4 upper middle class college students who decided to rob millions in valuable books from a Kentucky university library...mostly because they were bored and thought they could.

It's both an entertaining dramatized film AND a documentary. Meaning, they have actors playing the 4 guys, their families, etc, but what's really neat is that they also have interview footage of those same guys, their families, etc, interspersed throughout the movie.

What really interesting is that the real guys add a lot of drama to the movie. I actually looked it up while watching to see if it was a Fargo situation where the "true story" part is a joke, because I thought the "real" guys might also be actors. They're all extremely engaging to watch, not like typical true crime interviews.

But nope, they're the real guys, and the director uses them in a way that really elevates the movie beyond "true story" docudrama.

It's not the best movie I've ever seen, but it's something different, well acted, very polished, the story is ridiculous, and the acting is strong. Evan Peters is the lead and his usual whacky energy is perfect, although you get the distinct sense of the real guy being even more intense.

It won't leave you awestruck or moved, but it's solidly entertaining, and definitely a very fresh take on a been-there-seen-that genre.
For anyone who is a fan of film making, it's definitely worth watching. I can see film industry people liking it more than general audiences.

[GuitarStv]

A 2013 sci-fi movie about a kids recruited by the International Military to lead the fight against an insectoid alien race. I might have seen it before as some part seem familiar still enjoyed it.

Is that movie similar to The Last Starfighter?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Starfighter

Nope, not at all.

Ender's game was based on the excellent book of the same name (which I'd encourage people to read rather than watch the movie) and had a much more serious feel, better character development, and was an awful lot more thought provoking.  In contrast, The Last Starfighter seemed like someone got high at an arcade and said "Dude, what if like . . . aliens picked people to fight bad guys based on their game scores" and then ran with that idea, poorly ripping off as much from Star Wars as was necessary to fill in the plot, character development and run time until they had a movie that could be pushed out the door.

[Tigerpine]

A 2013 sci-fi movie about a kids recruited by the International Military to lead the fight against an insectoid alien race. I might have seen it before as some part seem familiar still enjoyed it.

Is that movie similar to The Last Starfighter?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Starfighter

Nope, not at all.

Ender's game was based on the excellent book of the same name (which I'd encourage people to read rather than watch the movie) and had a much more serious feel, better character development, and was an awful lot more thought provoking.  In contrast, The Last Starfighter seemed like someone got high at an arcade and said "Dude, what if like . . . aliens picked people to fight bad guys based on their game scores" and then ran with that idea, poorly ripping off as much from Star Wars as was necessary to fill in the plot, character development and run time until they had a movie that could be pushed out the door.

I'll have to put Ender's Game on the list to eventually see.  Although to be fair to The Last Starfighter, I loved that movie when I was a kid.  What kid doesn't want to dream that someday video games might actually lead to something important?

[Wolfpack Mustachian]

A 2013 sci-fi movie about a kids recruited by the International Military to lead the fight against an insectoid alien race. I might have seen it before as some part seem familiar still enjoyed it.

Is that movie similar to The Last Starfighter?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Starfighter

Nope, not at all.

Ender's game was based on the excellent book of the same name (which I'd encourage people to read rather than watch the movie) and had a much more serious feel, better character development, and was an awful lot more thought provoking.  In contrast, The Last Starfighter seemed like someone got high at an arcade and said "Dude, what if like . . . aliens picked people to fight bad guys based on their game scores" and then ran with that idea, poorly ripping off as much from Star Wars as was necessary to fill in the plot, character development and run time until they had a movie that could be pushed out the door.

I'll echo this. The movie Ender's Game was good - the book was great. Even the movie though, was, as GuitarStv said, a more serious take. The Last Starfighter was a popcorn flick about something crazy that could happen with an arcade game and all that jazz. Ender's Game - especially the book - is all about kids being taken away from a young age and trained for war.

[EscapeVelocity2020]

'The Tomorrow War' (free on Prime) was pretty decent.  Loads of action, not too bad on the sci-fi, just a little long-winded...  Not going to complain for the cost only being ~2 hrs of my time.  I typically hate time travel mechanics in movies, but it was done OK without too much hand waving.  There is an early-ish harrowing sequence that got my respect...  If anything, making rules and sticking to them made the end of the movie a bit meh, which I also respect, but also know most people will ultimately thumb down this movie.

Going to watch 'No Sudden Move' now...  Free movies (once you are a sub) for the win!

[iris lily]

I watched two movies about dysfunctional marriages this week, and both suffered from a lot of the same problems, mostly due to the spotty writing.



The Nest:   A lot of talent marshaled in service of a very unfocused script that couldn't decide if it was a psychological thriller, domestic drama, or straight up horror movie.  I kept expecting things to elevate and get really bonkers, which would have made it interestiing, but the movie kept teasing and copping out and it never really adopted a strong pov.  However, it was very watchable...beautiful cinemetography, oustanding performance by Carrie Coon (who I am fairly unfamiliar with), and Jude Law competently reverting to his mid-career staple of charming narcissist.  Had promise, but fizzled out in the end.

Similar problems with Marriage Story.  Extremely watchable and enjoyable (maybe b/c I've had a happy marriage for almost 30 years, with very little conflict...I suspect it might not be a fun watch if it cuts closer to home), but not quite worth all the rave reviews.

The script was a strange combination of overwritten silliness (that ridiculous fight scene wtf? Johansson's family wtf?), great individual scenes or details (e.g., Driver and the knife), and generic.  The performances (except for Alan Alda, who was great) were spotty, probably b/c of the weird writing.  Scarlet Johansson and Adam Driver were absolutely phenomenal in some scenes, and pretty bad in other scenes.  Laura Dern,  Julie Haggerty, and Merritt Weaver were ridiculous caricatures (though enjoyable ones) and all three of them over-racted in the extreme.  It's a bit of a bummer that Laura Dern won an Oscar for this, when she's been so much better in so many other movies. Maybe one could view it as a 'career achievement award'.

Very strange.  Not actively bad but not deserving of its accolades, either. Soft recommend if you like talky character dramas b/c it is a very diverting two hours.

I had that same reaction to Laura Dern’s nomination and subsequent Oscar win. Well I’m not a big Laura Dern fan, I didn’t think she was very good in that role.

I find Merritt Weaver annoying.

Overall I like a marriage story a lot because I love seeing Adam Driver work, and Scarlett is magical.

[wenchsenior]

I watched two movies about dysfunctional marriages this week, and both suffered from a lot of the same problems, mostly due to the spotty writing.



The Nest:   A lot of talent marshaled in service of a very unfocused script that couldn't decide if it was a psychological thriller, domestic drama, or straight up horror movie.  I kept expecting things to elevate and get really bonkers, which would have made it interestiing, but the movie kept teasing and copping out and it never really adopted a strong pov.  However, it was very watchable...beautiful cinemetography, oustanding performance by Carrie Coon (who I am fairly unfamiliar with), and Jude Law competently reverting to his mid-career staple of charming narcissist.  Had promise, but fizzled out in the end.

Similar problems with Marriage Story.  Extremely watchable and enjoyable (maybe b/c I've had a happy marriage for almost 30 years, with very little conflict...I suspect it might not be a fun watch if it cuts closer to home), but not quite worth all the rave reviews.

The script was a strange combination of overwritten silliness (that ridiculous fight scene wtf? Johansson's family wtf?), great individual scenes or details (e.g., Driver and the knife), and generic.  The performances (except for Alan Alda, who was great) were spotty, probably b/c of the weird writing.  Scarlet Johansson and Adam Driver were absolutely phenomenal in some scenes, and pretty bad in other scenes.  Laura Dern,  Julie Haggerty, and Merritt Weaver were ridiculous caricatures (though enjoyable ones) and all three of them over-racted in the extreme.  It's a bit of a bummer that Laura Dern won an Oscar for this, when she's been so much better in so many other movies. Maybe one could view it as a 'career achievement award'.

Very strange.  Not actively bad but not deserving of its accolades, either. Soft recommend if you like talky character dramas b/c it is a very diverting two hours.

I had that same reaction to Laura Dern’s nomination and subsequent Oscar win. Well I’m not a big Laura Dern fan, I didn’t think she was very good in that role.

I find Merritt Weaver annoying.

Overall I like a marriage story a lot because I love seeing Adam Driver work, and Scarlett is magical.

I found her twitchiness to be pretty effective in Run but that's the only other thing I've seen her in, so if this is her default acting setting, I agree with you.

[Metalcat]

I loved her in Nurse Jackie ETA and in The Walking Dead