Recently Watched Movies 2021

[nwhoopfan]

Not surprisingly, Netflix originals have been hit and miss for me. More miss than hit.

"Beckett"--conspiracy thriller set in Greece, starring John David Washington (and Alicia Vikander for about 10 minutes). My interest waned about 2/3 of they way thru. When it was finally revealed what was really going on and why, seemed fairly undercooked.

"Nightbooks"--surprised they didn't wait til October for this, definitely a Halloween season kind of movie. 2 kids are held captive in a spooky apartment by a witch. It's a kids movie I guess, but fairly intense and a bit disturbing at times. I found the 2 kids kind of annoying. Krysten Ritter was great as the witch. Haven't seen her in anything in a while.

"Kate"--I was looking forward to this one. Mary Elizabeth 'Winstead plays a hitwoman who is poisoned and has a very shot time to figure out who did it and get revenge (not a spoiler, it's in the trailer). One woman army goes on a rampage. Fell kinda flat. Been there, done that. There are a few good action scenes, but long lulls inbetween, and the story line just wasn't that interesting. On a side note, who would've guessed Woody Harrelson would have such a long, successful career based on his start as a dim bulb in Cheers?

 

[Dove]

Nobody (2021) - Bob Odenkirk in a damned entertaining movie. That's it. Just damned entertaining.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Dating back several weeks.

"The High Note." Threw that on a list quite a while ago, but wasn't feeling much enthusiasm for actually watching it. Finally did. Exceeded my expectations by far. I like Dakota Johnson, I think she's been doing some really good work the last several years (caveat, I didn't watch and will never watch any of the 50 Shades series). The movie wasn't really what I thought it was going to be.

"Mortaln Kombat (2021)." Another I put on a list but wasn't very excited about. Entertaining, again better than expected. Less cheesy than the '95 version.

"Opening Night." Took a flyer on this, it's streaming on Netlfix. Don't recall hearing of it before. Some recognizable names--Topher Grace, Taye Diggs, Anne Heche, Rob Riggle, Paul Scheer, Alona Tal, Lauren Lapkus, JC Chasez playing a db version of himself. It's kinda savagely poking fun at the whole Broadway musical scene. Opening night of a production based around one hit wonder songs. Grace is the stage manager (who absolutely despises musicals), various other characters are either acting in the production, or behind the scenes persons. Got some good chuckles out of it, decent enough. Lots of pop culture references, lots of making fun of boy bands.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Rules of Attraction (2002) - This is a really interesting, well done, absolutely amoral, movie. In 2002, after watching this movie, I would have predicted that James Van Der Beek, Ian Somerhalder, and Shannyn Sossamon would have been 3 of the biggest stars on the planet by 2010. The movie is definitely over-directed, but it somehow does not completely lose the plot despite all the gimmicks.

Reviews are critical of the self-destructive behavior of the characters, but this movie is not meant to be a morality play. It doesn't apologize. It is surreal and not particularly grounded, but it ultimately doesn't matter. The movie is what it is. Interesting, with a great soundtrack.

 

[nwhoopfan]

You don't watch Fast & Furious movies for realism. But oh my goodness, F9 was utterly ludicrously ridiculously over the top. I laughed hysterically at several scenes that weren't supposed to be funny. So dumb. Tyrese Gibson's character even got meta for a moment and questioned how they have been in so many impossible situations and keep walking away w/out a scratch...but they just shrugged it off. The music in the movie sucks too. But hey at least they brought Jordana Brewster back into the franchise and let her actually be part of the action.

 

[Dove]

Malignant (2021) - A James Wan film starring Annabelle Wallis (Peaky Blinders).

Mrs. Dove tapped out and was close but the POW...I was all in. Great special effects and graphic kill scenes galore.

Psychological horror more than scream horror. Very entertaining.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I'll often watch something simply because an actor or actress I like is in it. The results are very hit and miss. Tonight was a case in point.

Knew absolutely nothing about "Broken Diamonds," just added to Hoopla. Lola Kirke is in it, so I was in. It's a tough watch, it's heartbreaking, but very well done and worth the watch. It does leave you with a little bit of hope. Lola plays a young woman struggling with schizophrenia. Ben Platt (who I've only seen in comedic roles previously) plays her younger brother. Their parents are divorced and both remarried. Father just died. Mother moved out of the area and has dementia. I imagine this was fairly realistic, both for people who have mental health issues, and for family and friends around them who also deal with it. Ben has spent his entire lifetime trying to appease everyone and hold things together, and he's never really dealt with his own emotional issues. It all hits the fan when Lola is kicked out of the facility she's living at, has nowhere else to go so has to move in with him.

The other movie I tried is "French Exit" mostly because Imogen Poots is among the cast. But she was hardly on screen. I tried, but gave up after 30 or 40 minutes. Fast forwarded to catch a bit more of Ms. Poots. Not even gonna bother with a plot synopsis or anything else. Fans of Michelle Pfeiffer might consider it worth the effort, but I just couldn't bring myself to give it any more time than I did. Imogen needs a better agent. I adore her, but I can't remember the last movie she was in that I actually liked.

 

[ZooCougar]

Venom 2 is really fun and funny. It’s a Buddy flick. And some really worthwhile post credit twists.

 

[dbmill]

The Water Man (2020) - Actor David Oyelowo delivers the goods in his feature film directing debut, a very solid kid adventure story with fairy tale overtones. 11 year old Gunner (his father played by Oyelowo is a Marine, so that no doubt helps explain his name) and his mom and dad have recently moved to a small rural town in Oregon. Gunner is a kid with great imagination whose big passion is drawing and writing a graphic novel. The illustrations and the animation that go along with them in this film are quite entertaining and imaginative, and are a big highlight in this story.

Anyway, Gunner finds his mom (played by Rosario Dawson) who he is quite close to is seriously ill with leukemia. This certain draws Gunner’s attention as this illness becomes part of the research that the kid always seems to be involved in for his graphic novel. While this sorry news surrounds him, Gunner starts to hear about the local legend of the The Water Man, a person who is said to have come back from the dead after drowning who is said to still live in the woods nearby the town. Gunner hopes The Water Man can help his mom, so he decides to go find him. Gunner meets a girl named Jo who claims to have encountered The Water Man, so he gets this girl who has more than a bit of a grifter in her to guide him in a quest to find this mythical person, and this gets the adventure going.

The two kids (played by Lonnie Chavis and Amiah Miller) do very well in carrying the film, and in addition to the solid acting work of Oyelowo and Dawson, there are nice supporting roles for Alfred Molina and Maria Bello as well in this movie. I feel this film is definitely worth checking out.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Venom 2 is really fun and funny. It’s a Buddy flick. And some really worthwhile post credit twists.

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.

 

[ZooCougar]

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.

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.

 

[Mano]

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.

 

[nwhoopfan]

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.

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.

 

[nwhoopfan]

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.

You've seen them all, or you wisely decided to quit before watching Dark Fate? It's definitely worse than Genisys.

 

[nwhoopfan]

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.

 

[Waquoit]

Psychological horror more than scream horror. Very entertaining.

But it has "graphic kill scenes galore". More psychological horror than that seems like a lot of psychological horror.

 

[HuskyHawk]

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.

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.

 

[ZooCougar]

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.

Dune needs to be seen in a theater. Preferably imax.

 

[HuskyHawk]

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.

 

[HuskyHawk]

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.

 

[CL82]

Dune needs to be seen in a theater. Preferably imax.

 

[ZooCougar]

View attachment 70213

Good thing the AMC in KC has the dual laser. It’s one of the flagship theaters. This isn’t the cinema in Waterbury.

 

[HuskyHawk]

View attachment 70213

I wonder about our Regal RPX (that I hated with Venon 2). Screen size/shape is more like the middle IMAX than a standard cinema. They have IMAX branded too, plus 4DX.

 

[nwhoopfan]

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 moron 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.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

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 moron 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.

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.