Recently Watched Movies 2021

[8893]

Watched Nomadland on Friday night. Great, compelling performance. Very interesting perspective.

 

[Deepster]

Watched Nomadland on Friday night. Great, compelling performance. Very interesting perspective.

It's up on my list. It looks really slow though. Is the story unique or creative enough where it's more than "is she running away from something or searching for something"? That's what it looks like from me seeing about 45 seconds of trailer.

 

[8893]

It's up on my list. It looks really slow though. Is the story unique or creative enough where it's more than "is she running away from something or searching for something"? That's what it looks like from me seeing about 45 seconds of trailer.

It's different than that. It is more about the people living this life. Other than McDormand I think the other main characters are all real people. Together with her I think they offer a very unique perspective on life that is very interesting.

 

[Kolumbo]

Skyfall (2012)
I am a huge fan of Danial Craig as James Bond. The movies are very entertaining and his 007 character is more interesting than any other, although Sean Connery is still entertaining. I've seen this movie a few times in pieces but this was my second time watching from start to finish. As I thought about the ending, I became very disappointed.

Spoiler: Ending Events

007 thought the best way to protect M was to go back in time to the place he crew up. The other members of MI6 covertly help 007 and M escape to Skyfall leaving a trail only the villain could follow. 007 and M get to the old house only to find they have virtually no ammunition there. The bad guys show up and there is lots of action but this ending mission just seemed like a very bad move on the part of MI6.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Skyfall (2012)
I am a huge fan of Danial Craig as James Bond. The movies are very entertaining and his 007 character is more interesting than any other, although Sean Connery is still entertaining. I've seen this movie a few times in pieces but this was my second time watching from start to finish. As I thought about the ending, I became very disappointed.

Spoiler: Ending Events

007 thought the best way to protect M was to go back in time to the place he crew up. The other members of MI6 covertly help 007 and M escape to Skyfall leaving a trail only the villain could follow. 007 and M get to the old house only to find they have virtually no ammunition there. The bad guys show up and there is lots of action but this ending mission just seemed like a very bad move on the part of MI6.

As much as I think Sean Connery is the best Bond, I think this is the best Bond Movie. Don't agree with your synopsis of the strategy. The villain was a step or two ahead of Bond and M16 all along. Anticipating everything, manipulating everything, even his capture was planned. He knows M16 too well. Bond throws a curve. He does the unexpected and goes to ground at a place he knows, and where there is no chance that the villain has anticipated the move. Taking the old Aston Martin DB5 just adds to the appeal.

 

[nwhoopfan]

For something completely different, watched a French film on Amazon--The Student and Mr. Henri (or L'etudiante et Monsieur Henri as it's orginally titled). A bit slow, but I found the characters interesting enough to stick with it. I guess overall it was about generational differences, and parents and their offspring not understanding each other. That's oversimplifying somewhat. Alternatively it was about a struggling student who leases a room from a grumpy old Parisian widower. The student, played by Noemie Schmidt, was a big part of me continuing to watch.

 

[Jay-Bone]

The Nightingale - This may be the hardest movie I've watched since Irreversible. If you can stomach it, its quite engrossing.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - great movie, but it takes emotional manipulation to another level. Also, watching anything about Fred Rogers makes me feel like I am a complete scalitohole. It is hard not to.

 

[storrsroars]

Without Remorse - It's been years since I read it, or any Clancy, but I distinctly recall it being my favorite Clancy book. So, I was excited to see the film version, just released on Amazon.

And now I'm planning on re-reading the book to remember why I liked it, because the movie was pretty terrible. There was a whole lot of dumb, a ton of unbelievable, a bunch of wooden acting, and too much PC overtone to the whole production to make it enjoyable. I won't get into details, but the bad guys here had worse aim than Star Wars storm troopers, and nobody complains of hypothermia after a plane crashes in the Berents Sea and everyone gets wet. And that's not even the worst of it.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Possessor - Brandon Cronenberg did not fall far from the sci-fi/body horror tree that his dad David came from. It could be gruesome at times but it was interesting throughout. Bleak but I enjoyed it.

Bad Trip - This would've been a lot better in an altered state. I wasn't. Pretty dumb. Missed opportunity for me I guess.

Godzilla vs. Kong - Mission accomplished as far as giving us a fairly mindless but quality summer action blockbuster type flick. Big screen would've been nice for this.

A Most Violent Year - Glacially paced and verging on being a bore. Saved by competent performances by Isaac and Chastain. Kind of a throwback love letter to movies from the era it portrays.

High-Rise - Dominated by it's hit you over the head social commentary, High-Rise doesn't do subtle in it's escalating fever dream of debauched class warfare amidst societal breakdown. A bit more dark humor would have helped a touch.

The Big Sick - I thought I had seen this all the way through before but was mistaken. It was good but not as funny as advertised, which considering it's subject matter should've been expected were it not for it's marketing and trailer.

Zathura: A Space Adventure - A good, fun adventure pic that the kids and I watched together. Kept their attention throughout. Jumanji vibes of course since it's from the same author's source material.

The Girl with All the Gifts - I do like a good post apocalyptic tale. The titular Girl was very good in this. I liked the ending choice as well.

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar - Zany and silly in the best ways and thankfully didn't cross the line into cringe. Everybody looked like they were having genuine fun with their roles.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Big Trip. I thought it was pretty laugh-out-loud funny.

 

[8893]

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - great movie, but it takes emotional manipulation to another level. Also, watching anything about Fred Rogers makes me feel like I am a complete scalitohole. It is hard not to.

If you haven‘t seen Won’t You Be My Neighbor, the documentary about him that came out about a year before this, you should. I saw it first and was hesitant to see A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood because the documentary is so good. Hanks pulled it off of course, but the documentary Is refreshing in its depiction of his humanity. He wasn’t perfect, but he was real.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

If you haven‘t seen Won’t You Be My Neighbor, the documentary about him that came out about a year before this, you should. I saw it first and was hesitant to see A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood because the documentary is so good. Hanks pulled it off of course, but the documentary Is refreshing in its depiction of his humanity. He wasn’t perfect, but he was real.

I did see Won't You Be My Neighbor. It also made me feel like an scalitohole. I need to set my sites a lot lower than Fred Rogers. The posters on this board are a good start towards building self-esteem.

 

[8893]

I did see Won't You Be My Neighbor. It also made me feel like an scalitohole. I need to set my sites a lot lower than Fred Rogers. The posters on this board are a good start towards building self-esteem.

Maybe check out Uncut Gems then.

 

[Mano]

Astro Boy - Really really poorly written and completely forgettable. Wasn't expecting much from what was a clear lower level kids movie, got what I expected. The visuals had it's moments at least.

Raya and the Last Dragon - The kids enjoyed it, although one intense scene early on (something that would seem obviously impermanent to an adult) brought my 4yo to tears. Followed the quest formula for kid's movies fairly closely.

Polar - Love Mads and I enjoy a decent hitman action movie from time to time. This was a fairly terrible Mads hitman action movie. Ho hum.

Limitless - Caught this late one night. Just a time waster.

Velvet Buzzsaw - Goodness what cheesy crap. Completely fell apart once the macabre absurdities started occurring. Lots of good wasted talent.

Mortal Kombat - I grew up a gamer and while the original movies were nothing more than cheesy action movies they were fairly faithful from what I remember to the games. This was again fairly faithful (for a property based on a thinly plotted video game anyway) entertaining action flick with a good amount of humor thrown in.

Ponyo - Took a chance that one of Miyazaki’s lighter films might go over well with the kids and I wasn’t disappointed. Kept them captivated the whole time with what was a truly delightful story of love.

Emma. - I’m not super familiar with Austen’s work but it seemed to have the requisite wit, charm and romantic intrigue one might expect. Anya Taylor-Joy was pretty good as the titular Emma but Mia Goth stole the show I thought.

Tom Clancy's Without Remorse - Kinda predictable I thought. The Syria scene in the beginning did a really poor job of initially immersing me. Didn’t feel gritty and authentic enough somehow. Not sure if it was how it was shot or the production value in the beginning but I was underwhelmed. Got a little better as it went. MBJ is certainly bad assed enough and believable in the role. I’d give it a C.

The Mitchells vs. the Machines - This felt like a legit fully fledged theater release that Netflix lucked into because of the pandemic. Pretty entertaining Kid’s flick.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The Gentlemen (2019) - A solid, by-the-numbers, Guy Ritchie English crime movie. I enjoyed it, but it definitely could have been better. It was just a little off. There were some great scenes, like Hugh Grant having problems with his translation of lip-read Cantonese, but there were other scenes that could have been better. A few of the plot twists were far-fetched.

Performances were very good for the most part. Hugh Grant is outstanding as a slimy tabloid journalist. Colin Farrell is one of those actors that is better in a supporting role than he is in a lead. Henry Golding was over the top but entertaining. McConaghy is McConaghy. Dockery is solid, although as is the case with most Guy Ritchie films, the female characters don't have a lot of depth. I think Charlie Hunnam is mediocre. I also thought Jeremy Strong's excessively effeminate demeanor was actually mildly offensive.

I wish there was a way to buy Henry Golding stock, because he could be one of the biggest stars on the planet with a few right moves. He was basically a prop as co-lead in a massive hit in Crazy Rich Asians where he didn't have to act much. Then he had another 9 digit box office with Last Christmas despite its bad reviews, and here he gets to chew the scenery in a Guy Ritchie popcorn flick. His agent is definitely earning his fee.

 

[Deadrody]

The Gentlemen (2019) - A solid, by-the-numbers, Guy Ritchie English crime movie. I enjoyed it, but it definitely could have been better. It was just a little off. There were some great scenes, like Hugh Grant having problems with his translation of lip-read Cantonese, but there were other scenes that could have been better. A few of the plot twists were far-fetched.

Performances were very good for the most part. Hugh Grant is outstanding as a slimy tabloid journalist. Colin Farrell is one of those actors that is better in a supporting role than he is in a lead. Henry Golding was over the top but entertaining. McConaghy is McConaghy. Dockery is solid, although as is the case with most Guy Ritchie films, the female characters don't have a lot of depth. I think Charlie Hunnam is mediocre. I also thought Jeremy Strong's excessively effeminate demeanor was actually mildly offensive.

I wish there was a way to buy Henry Golding stock, because he could be one of the biggest stars on the planet with a few right moves. He was basically a prop as co-lead in a massive hit in Crazy Rich Asians where he didn't have to act much. Then he had another 9 digit box office with Last Christmas despite its bad reviews, and here he gets to chew the scenery in a Guy Ritchie popcorn flick. His agent is definitely earning his fee.

Colin Farrell's character in this was hilarious. Wasn't great, but I wasn't expecting nearly as much as it provided!

 

[nwhoopfan]

Saw "The Sweetest Thing" after it came out on DVD. Been a while. Early 2000s. Amazon has it streaming. It was cheesy, and really crude in some places, but I got some laughs out of it. The chemistry w/ the roomies was fun. Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate, Selma Blair, Thomas Jane, Jason Bateman, Parker Posey...you could definitely do worse for a cast.

I've seen parts of "Barbarella" on tv before. Never saw it all the way thru. Amazon has that as well. Cheesy to the nth degree, but it's actually not quite as bad as I thought when you start from the beginning. Slightly more coherent than I previously thought. And of course the only reason anyone watches it is because of a young Jane Fonda.

 

[Deepster]

Without Remorse - It's been years since I read it, or any Clancy, but I distinctly recall it being my favorite Clancy book. So, I was excited to see the film version, just released on Amazon.

And now I'm planning on re-reading the book to remember why I liked it, because the movie was pretty terrible. There was a whole lot of dumb, a ton of unbelievable, a bunch of wooden acting, and too much PC overtone to the whole production to make it enjoyable. I won't get into details, but the bad guys here had worse aim than Star Wars storm troopers, and nobody complains of hypothermia after a plane crashes in the Berents Sea and everyone gets wet. And that's not even the worst of it.

Just watched it and wow is it awful. Nothing like surviving a plane crash in the ocean AND a bomb going off 20 ft from you in a day. Painfully pathetic.

 

[Deepster]

Just watched it and wow is it awful. Nothing like surviving a plane crash in the ocean AND a bomb going off 20 ft from you in a day. Painfully pathetic.

Edit to Update: I turned it off before it was over. Can't say I have gone 1+ hours and turned many movies off before.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Colin Farrell's character in this was hilarious. Wasn't great, but I wasn't expecting nearly as much as it provided!

How does it compare to In Bruges? That one is just brilliant.

 

[CL82]

Just watched it and wow is it awful. Nothing like surviving a plane crash in the ocean AND a bomb going off 20 ft from you in a day. Painfully pathetic.

That's a shame because it is really good book. Probably one of my favorites of the Clancy novels. It sounds like the film didn't take much from the book except the name.

 

[dbmill]

How does it compare to In Bruges? That one is just brilliant.

No argument with this one, "In Bruges" is an excellent movie.

 

[storrsroars]

No argument with this one, "In Bruges" is an excellent movie.

I keep hoping it shows up on non-premium cable or as a free movie on Netflix or Prime. Never has.

And Bruges is a great little town.

 

[nwhoopfan]

The Darkest Hour, not to be confused w/ Darkest Hour. Sci fi flck from 2011 that was barely a blip on the radar, other than being panned by critics. It's not a classic of the genre, but it's not bad. I've seen it a few times. Entertaining enough. On Netflix currently.

A few Westerners in Moscow during an alien invasion, almost the whole city is wiped out. A few survivors band together to try to figure out what to do next. Decent cast--Emile Hirsch, Max Minghella, Joel Kinnaman, Rachael Taylor, and Olivia Thirlby who I adore.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Blithe Spirit (2021). Wife was in the mood for something light and funny, this seemed to fit the bill. It's not laugh out loud funny, more just pleasantly entertaining and amusing. It's based on a play by Noel Coward. Set in 1937 in southeast England, and Dan Stevens is an author with writer's block. His first wife (Leslie Mann) is dead. Isla Fisher is his attractive current wife, and her father is a movie director. They attend a theater performance by a medium, played by Judi Dench. From there, stuff starts to happen. It's a pleasant bit of distraction, but isn't truly funny. You aren't missing anything if you miss this, but it certainly isn't bad either. 2.5/4 stars.