Recently Watched Movies 2021 | Page 13 | The Boneyard

Recently Watched Movies 2021

nwhoopfan said:
Set a pandemic era record w/ $90 mil opening weekend. Previous high was Black Widow at around $80 mil. Opened even better than the original, which of course was pre-pandemic.
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I think it will get broken by the new Bond flick and Dune. But it is a pretty good movie and better than the first one and the first one was very watchable.
 
Reminiscence - Really, really poor flick. It's been a couple months ago now and I remember coming away thinking how lackluster it was but not much else is coming back to me. Damning enough in and of itself I think.

Terminator: Genisys - I can now check off the Terminator franchise as complete. A pretty long string of junk ever since #3. This was not the worst but definitely in the lower third.

Love and Monsters - The world setup held my interest, the creature CGI was pretty shoddy, the leads were capable enough. Worse things could be watched.

Vacation Friends - It had some generous doses of hilarity. Probably would've been looked at as one of the under the radar comedy hits of the summer if we were in normal times.

Dinosaur - Had to pick up my son one day from pre-K after he had one of those random throwing up fits that subsided as quickly as it came on. We got home and I asked him what he wanted to do and he responded by saying he wanted to watch a movie about dinosaurs so this is what we arrived at. Pretty bad, in keeping with its rep as a total bomb.

Playing With Fire - A time waster to watch with the family. Pretty inoffensive and comparably uninteresting.

Kate - Love me some Mary Elizabeth Winstead. She struggled a little with the physicality that was asked for in the role but they hid it somewhat through out. You could see the resolution a mile off. It was aiight.

Malignant - Dumb as ish and corny as hell. Only watched it since it was on HBOMax. The score was whack as well.

The Ritual - Went on a bit of a horror binge for a bit. I enjoyed it but they could've really leaned into one aspect of it for greater affect that I don't want to spoil.

Hereditary - Horror is best when it's grounded in some kind of real life history of the occult as opposed to some wannabe creepy, out of left-field, paranormal type thing. I missed out on this one this whole time and it's definitely deserving of the acclaim. Can't wait to see what Ari Aster follows up Midsommar with.

Apostle - Interesting set up, great cast, building intrigue but then it's let down quite a bit by the reveal. The director seemed like a bit of a mismatch too, with Gareth Evans shoehorning his action style from the Raid movies into a film that needed a more gritty and naturalistic action tone (at least for the sparse few scenes of it that there were).

Promising Young Woman - Stealing bits here and there from movies like Oldboy and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Woman ended up feeling a bit derivative. I found the ending more than a little disappointing as well.

The Many Saints of Newark - Chase, from the get go, could not figure out who this movie should be about. It needed to be about Dickie Moltisanti and his life, goals and choices. Plop us down in it, let us get invested in it like a young Anthony Soprano might have and then rip our hearts out like those left behind as we imagine the fallout. Instead we got a fractured spotlight with not nearly enough development for anyone involved. The familiar characters we were offered up instead felt like caricatures of the ones we saw for 6 seasons. There could've been a compelling movie in this but it instead felt like it was pulled in too many different creative directions.
 
ZooCougar said:
I think it will get broken by the new Bond flick and Dune. But it is a pretty good movie and better than the first one and the first one was very watchable.
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Those both got a head start in the international box office and are doing well. However Dune might get hurt by a simultaneous release on HBOMax. I wonder if that's going to be the new normal indefinitely, or if studios will go back to theater release only initially. It certainly helps movies with opening numbers.

Top Gun: Maverick keeps getting pushed back, now a '22 release. That could do well also.
 
Mano said:
Terminator: Genisys - I can now check off the Terminator franchise as complete. A pretty long string of junk ever since #3. This was not the worst but definitely in the lower third.
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You've seen them all, or you wisely decided to quit before watching Dark Fate? It's definitely worse than Genisys.
 
I watched "Triple 9" when it came out on DVD. I remember it being decent, but couldn't recall anything about it specifically. It's streaming on Netflix, so I watched it again. It's solid. Kinda been there and done that, crooked cops, gangsters, heists, a bit convoluted. Killer cast though--Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus, Clifton Collins, Jr., Teresa Palmer, Kate Winslet, Gal Gadot. That's a whole lot of talent all in one place.
 
Dove said:
Psychological horror more than scream horror. Very entertaining.
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But it has "graphic kill scenes galore". More psychological horror than that seems like a lot of psychological horror.
 
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ZooCougar said:
I think it will get broken by the new Bond flick and Dune. But it is a pretty good movie and better than the first one and the first one was very watchable.
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I'm going to see it tonight. Glad to read the good reviews.

Bond probably next week. I plan to keep going to the theater, which is amazing and usually empty.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Those both got a head start in the international box office and are doing well. However Dune might get hurt by a simultaneous release on HBOMax. I wonder if that's going to be the new normal indefinitely, or if studios will go back to theater release only initially. It certainly helps movies with opening numbers.

Top Gun: Maverick keeps getting pushed back, now a '22 release. That could do well also.
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Dune needs to be seen in a theater. Preferably imax.
 
Venom: Let There Be Carnage was indeed fun. Definitely a buddy movie of sorts, as @ZooCougar said. Some interesting dynamics of characters with multiple personalities. Because of that Tom Hardy tapped Andy Serkis to direct this one. Who better than Gollum to understand what Eddie is going through as host to Venom?

Side note for anyone with a Regal Cinema: Regal RPX is dangerously loud. At least with this movie, it was at a seriously unhealthy volume. My wife put improvised earplugs in and still could barely stand to be there. The picture is superb on a large screen, and sound impressive, but they need to dial it down. We will stick to the regular screens.
 
Malignant -As @Mano said, I only watched because it is on HBOMax and ends on 10/10. So I figured now or never. I got about 35-40% and turned it off (to finish watching Foundation). All the writing quality of the Star Wars prequels with half the acting talent, and 1/10th the overall story appeal. Waste of time.
 
ZooCougar said:
Dune needs to be seen in a theater. Preferably imax.
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A smattering from the last week or so.

I like Amanda Seyfried a lot. I've purposefully skipped some of her films because they didn't really interest me. "Letters to Juliet" had been one of them. But it's streaming on Netflix, so what the heck. I actually quite enjoyed it. It is rather sappy, but it's a nice story, Amanda is as charming and lovely as ever. Vanessa Redgrave lends it some class and grace. I don't know what it is about Gael Garcia Bernal, but he generally bugs me, and his character wasn't very likable in this, so it had that going for it too (seriously, what kind of genius takes a vacation to Italy w/ Amanda and then completely ignores her the whole time?). Minor characters all added nicely to the film. And lovely Italian villages and countryside.

"Destination Wedding" was never on my radar, but I saw a mention of it recently that piqued my interest. Kind of an odd film, but I found it entertaining. Pretty much 90 minutes of Keanu Reaves and Winona Ryder exchanging witty insults with each other. That's pretty much the movie. They both attend a wedding they don't want to be at, they're the two extras who don't really fit with anybody else, so they're stuck together. Both are miserable people who find their shared misery just might possibly lead to some modicum of happiness. Excellent cameo by a mountain lion.

I swear I remember seeing "Walk of Shame" on the shelves at Hollywood or Blockbuster, but it's from 2014, don't remember when all of those went away, so maybe I'm imagining it. I've certainly seen the poster/cover art. I think I meant to watch it, but never got around to it. So...why isn't this a late night classic? Should be on TNT/TBS/USA/FX all the time. Got some good laughs. Elizabeth Banks is all in. They don't get much screen time but Gillian Jacobs and Sarah Wright as her friends are good. A few other recognizable faces and then some unknowns. Banks is a news anchor on a small time local affiliate in LA. She has a shot at a big break moving up in the world, but it falls thru. Then she gets dumped by her fiancee. Her besties talk her into a night out of partying to drown her sorrows. Which leads to the next day being a complete day from hell, and much hilarity ensues. Worth a watch, wish I would've gotten around to it sooner.



There's probably some others I'm forgetting. I did watch "Waterworld," hadn't seen that in forever. It holds up fairly well.

edit--ah yes. "A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas" is so wrong on so many levels, but it's pretty funny. If you want to see a totally inappropriate Christmas-y movie, this might be the one for you.
 
nwhoopfan said:
A smattering from the last week or so.

I like Amanda Seyfried a lot. I've purposefully skipped some of her films because they didn't really interest me. "Letters to Juliet" had been one of them. But it's streaming on Netflix, so what the heck. I actually quite enjoyed it. It is rather sappy, but it's a nice story, Amanda is as charming and lovely as ever. Vanessa Redgrave lends it some class and grace. I don't know what it is about Gael Garcia Bernal, but he generally bugs me, and his character wasn't very likable in this, so it had that going for it too (seriously, what kind of genius takes a vacation to Italy w/ Amanda and then completely ignores her the whole time?). Minor characters all added nicely to the film. And lovely Italian villages and countryside.

"Destination Wedding" was never on my radar, but I saw a mention of it recently that piqued my interest. Kind of an odd film, but I found it entertaining. Pretty much 90 minutes of Keanu Reaves and Winona Ryder exchanging witty insults with each other. That's pretty much the movie. They both attend a wedding they don't want to be at, they're the two extras who don't really fit with anybody else, so they're stuck together. Both are miserable people who find their shared misery just might possibly lead to some modicum of happiness. Excellent cameo by a mountain lion.

I swear I remember seeing "Walk of Shame" on the shelves at Hollywood or Blockbuster, but it's from 2014, don't remember when all of those went away, so maybe I'm imagining it. I've certainly seen the poster/cover art. I think I meant to watch it, but never got around to it. So...why isn't this a late night classic? Should be on TNT/TBS/USA/FX all the time. Got some good laughs. Elizabeth Banks is all in. They don't get much screen time but Gillian Jacobs and Sarah Wright as her friends are good. A few other recognizable faces and then some unknowns. Banks is a news anchor on a small time local affiliate in LA. She has a shot at a big break moving up in the world, but it falls thru. Then she gets dumped by her fiancee. Her besties talk her into a night out of partying to drown her sorrows. Which leads to the next day being a complete day from hell, and much hilarity ensues. Worth a watch, wish I would've gotten around to it sooner.



There's probably some others I'm forgetting. I did watch "Waterworld," hadn't seen that in forever. It holds up fairly well.

edit--ah yes. "A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas" is so wrong on so many levels, but it's pretty funny. If you want to see a totally inappropriate Christmas-y movie, this might be the one for you.
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Amanda Seyfried is one of the more underrated actresses of her generation. I like her in just about everything, but one of my favorite roles of hers was Ted 2, which I actually liked better than the original. She never chews the scenery, and she was perfect in a ridiculous movie that was just pure fun. A lot of serious actors struggle in comedies because they can't back off and just let the story tell itself.
 
The Guilty. One of those movies you just watch due to process of elimination as you've seen everything else seemingly worthwhile on Netflix. A Jake Gyllenhaal ego trip, he produces and stars and is the sole character on screen for about 90% of the film. It's a remake of a Danish film titled "Den Skyldige". The plot is basically summed up as a corrupt cop awaiting a hearing is demoted to taking calls at a 911 center and things get complicated when he's confronted with a caller that's apparently been kidnapped.

I found JG's acting to be over-the-top at numerous points. The dialogue is also weak at points, which is key as pretty much the entire movie is JG talking on the phone to the woman who called to say she was kidnapped, her husband who is the accused kidnapper, their daughter who's been left home alone, and JG's partner who's another corrupt cop. That said, things did get intense in the latter third of the film and it wasn't a total waste of time.

There is a short voice appearance by Bill Burr, who is a caller who drops a whole lot of F bombs in an incredibly short period of time.
 
storrsroars said:
The Guilty
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I tried. Shut it down 1/2 or maybe 2/3 of the way thru. Pulling off an entire movie with basically one set and one character is really hard to do, and this didn't quite manage it for me. His behavior as a 911 operator got just a bit too outrageous for me, couldn't suspend disbelief anymore.
 
Watched Calibre on netflix, 2 Scottish friends go hunting near a small town in the Mountains. Without ruining too much, they end up committing a crime and try and hide it from the locals who start getting aggressively more hostel with them. Wouldnt say it was a horror movie but was part of Netflix's movies for halloween. Thought it was ok.
 
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nwhoopfan said:
I tried. Shut it down 1/2 or maybe 2/3 of the way thru. Pulling off an entire movie with basically one set and one character is really hard to do, and this didn't quite manage it for me. His behavior as a 911 operator got just a bit too outrageous for me, couldn't suspend disbelief anymore.
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I get that completely. But I did stick it out, and as I mentioned in my first post on it, the movie did have somewhat of a payoff in the final third, although the final few minutes of the ending was a bit on the trite side.
 
Saw another Amanda Seyfried movie I'd been skipping for years--"Dear John." Not lighthearted like "Letters to Juliet." Well done though, and worth a watch. Amanda is college student on spring break who meets a soldier, Channing Tatum, who is home on leave. They quickly fall deeply for each other. He has to ship out again and a fair portion of the movie is them writing letters to each other back and forth. This one doesn't have a typical Hollywood ending.
 
Waquoit said:
I think it's because she's not just beautiful, she's sexy.
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Of course they call it acting for a reason, but I think some portion of an actor's real persona leaks into their performances. There is a sweetness to many of her characters that is just as appealing as her physical appearance for me.
 
nwhoopfan said:
Saw another Amanda Seyfried movie I'd been skipping for years--"Dear John." Not lighthearted like "Letters to Juliet." Well done though, and worth a watch. Amanda is college student on spring break who meets a soldier, Channing Tatum, who is home on leave. They quickly fall deeply for each other. He has to ship out again and a fair portion of the movie is them writing letters to each other back and forth. This one doesn't have a typical Hollywood ending.
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I like both of those movies largely because of her. Both of those were made in 2010. I confuse her movies with Dakota Fanning's early stuff particularly Please Stand By, which is about an autistic girl's journey to get her script submitted in a Paramount contest. If you Seyfried you might like it.
 
CL82 said:
I like both of those movies largely because of her. Both of those were made in 2010. I confuse her movies with Dakota Fanning's early stuff particularly Please Stand By, which is about an autistic girl's journey to get her script submitted in a Paramount contest. If you Seyfried you might like it.
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I saw that, enjoyed that as well. Dakota seemed to have a seamless, drama free transition from child actor to adulthood. I like her sister Elle as well.
 
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Free Guy. 2021.

Imaginative light comedy. This is the kind of character that Ryan Reynolds excels at. Base of the story is rom/com where individualism fights against a society that strictly defines role. Jumps seamlessly between video game and "real" world. Huge, well done special effects. A+ film making. This could have gone horribly wrong but it walks the line between geting too silly or too serious, which is tough with this concept. Good fun, worth watching.
 
James Bond - No Time to Die. (2021). Watched it on the big screen, 7 people total in the theater. I fear these places will close if people don't start going. This is perhaps the most unusual Bond film. It shares some of depth of character that we get in Skyfall (the best Daniel Craig Bond film, and perhaps the best period). Lea Seydoux is back from Spectre as Bond's love interest, Madeline Swan, and for a nice change, we get a lot of background depth on her character. She's lovely and interesting (and needs Invisalign). This is very much a continuation of Spectre, with some twists from Madeline's past providing the core story. It's a better movie than that one was. Ana de Armas is mesmerizing and stunning in slight departure from the usual "Bond Girl" role as a quite capable CIA agent. Rami Malek is the bad guy, and he's ok. Certainly lacks the creepy intensity that Javier Bardem brought. The scenery is gorgeous, especially Matera, Italy a UNESCO world heritage site that doubled as the Amazon's city in Wonder Woman. Other stunning locations include Norway and the Faroe Islands.

Overall a solid thumb up 3/4. In addition to a solid story, it has the car chases, shootouts, action and a couple of vintage Aston Martins. The V8 Vantage Saloon is fantastic for a 1980's era car.
 
Forgot the best part of the Bond movie (aside from Ms. de Armas). This quote read by M at the end. It's from Jack London and I find it perfectly attuned to our current time. "The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."
 
I must have seen some really bad reviews of "Lying and Stealing" that scared me off when it came out. It's streaming on Netflix. I saw some at least mildly positive reviews of it and decided to give it a chance. It's a decent enough heist/caper movie.

I think I have a default setting to dislike pretty boys. Some of them win me over w/ likable performances. Theo James has become one of those. Emily Ratajkowski is never gonna win any awards, but she's half decent in the right kind of roles, like this one.
 
The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020) - This film had been high on my list of movies to see, as it sounded intriguing. This movie is billed as a black comedy horror film, but I did not find much humor of any type in this film. The basic set up is that several grisly murders have occurred in the small western town of Snow Hollow, all during periods of a full moon. Because of the association with the full moon, there are suggestions that a character suggested by the title of this film might be involved. One thing I found striking about this film is the even before the murders start and after they occur, no one in this film seems to be capable of getting along with each other or talk to each other in anything resembling a civil tone, including the police and other authorities involved in investigating the murders. I also found what I thought to be a considerable flaw in the logic of the piece when more than one character tries to either defend themselves or when they try to pursue the potential killer. It also doesn't help that the behavior of the lead character is way beyond believability in terms of keeping his employment. I had been somewhat eager to see this move. No doubt because of that, I was very disappointed due to my expectations for this film.
 
I've been underwhelmed by most of the Netflix originals I've seen lately. "Night Teeth" just came out. I really enjoyed it. Bit of a familiar set up, a driver is tasked w/ whisking a client all over town during the course of a long, crazy night. Usually set in LA. The client might be (probably is) up to something nefarious. Add in vampires for this one. I've seen Lucy Fry as 2 very different vampire characters in 2 different movies, shall I say she slayed in this one? I think she was born to portray a vamp. Debby Ryan was also good as her not quite as wicked friend. Jorge Lendeborg was likable as the protagonist (the driver), understandably completely thrown off by the events unfolding around him. Nice brief cameos by Megan Fox and Sydney Sweeney. Definitely worth a watch.
 
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