Recently Watched Movies 2022

[ZooCougar]

I shoulda listened. Despite some bad reviews, I was still curious about "The Northman." How bad could it be, I wondered? Well, it was just so slow and drawn out, rather dull, none of the characters were particularly interesting. Anya Taylor-Joy couldn't save this. I didn't realize it's the same director as "The Witch." That's two strikes against him, I think he goes on my permanent avoid list.

Yeah. I’ll never watch the movie again. But it wasn’t that bad. The audience reviews and critical reviews were not aligned either.

I really didn’t have any sympathy for the protagonist because he lived his life as a Berserker who just murdered and captured humans to be slaves.

Yeah he was wronged as a boy but how many times did he destroy lives on his raids? I was hoping for the girlfriend to wait for him to be close to his goal and then she would betray him as punishment. But the movie is based on some Norse legend.

 

[CL82]

The Germans fell for it!

Good story about the use of conformation and the invasion of Italy. There was a island outpost that was going to be bypassed by the main invasion force. An enlisted officer was instructed to take a small group of troops with him to gain intelligence about what they were going to do as the main fleet bypassed it. If possible they were authorized to contact operations to disrupt command-and-control on the island. The guy in command was a Sicilian speaking enlisted man who was given temporary officer rank.

As the main fleet pulled into sight on the horizon, he landed under a white flag and asked to talk to the commanding officer. This allowed him to get valuable intelligence of the defenses of the island, command control etc. he went to the commanders office and said he wanted to negotiate their surrender. Of course the island commander scoffed at him talked about how many troops they had how fortified the island was, etc. the American just smiled and walked out onto the balcony of the commanders office pointing at the armada sailing over the horizon. He told the commander that this island was going to be their focal point where they could get a foothold in the full might of the allies was going to come crashing down on him. He went on that he understood the commander was an honorable man and that his forces would undoubtedly put up a good fight, but they were horrifically overmatched and would be destroyed. He told him this was the only opportunity he would have to save his men’s lives and that the end result was going to be the same way regardless of his decision. By the end of the day the allies were going to be in control of the island.

The German commander thought about his options and decided it was foolish to sacrifice his men for no strategic advantage. He agreed to surrender the island. His men marched out on a road which was lined by American soldiers and in front of the dock they surrendered their weapons. what he didn’t know is that the allied forces on the island were actually so small that they were insufficient to line the highway, so as his soldiers passed the guys at the back of the line with sprint down to the front of the line to make it appear that there were more Americans on the island. After his men had surrendered he realized that the allied force that had landed was much smaller than he had been let to believe, and further, he saw the rest of the Armada sailing by his island and he realized he had been had. He turned to the American and said “you sir have no honor“ the American replied “Maybe, but you have no island.”

The American enlisted man who orchestrated the taking of the island without firing a single shot was actually a Middletown Connecticut native by the name of Corso.

 

[ZooCougar]

Jurrassic World/Dominion/Planet

This movie is a colostomy bag of fun. The good news is my 5 year old liked it enough but there are long stretches with no scary roaring dinosaurs so he got bored and needed to go potty. Such is life. Plot summary below for if you go with a child and want to take a nap.


SPOILER!

Chris Pratt and Ron Howard's daughter live an idyllic existence in a cabin in Montana and some English girl who was probably important in the previous film but I forgot about. Some big Dinosaur company that has all the dinos living in the Italian wilderness because evidently her mom gave birth to her parthenogenically, she's sort of like Jesus. Also Dinosaurs are everywhere now and are a nuisance.

Laura Dern is now a scientist scoping out evil corporate farms and discovers cat sized genetically engineered grasshoppers who are going to eat all of our food destroying civilization.

Meanwhile Blue has somehow also given birth to Dinosaur Jesus and Jesus and the English Girl are the key to everything. So a bunch or rednecks kidnap Dino Jesus and the English Girl and take them to Malta.

Laura Dern and Sam go to the Big Dinosaur Company who is run by Tim Cook. Chris Pratt and Ron Howard's daughter travel to Mos Eisley/Malta to rescue Dino Jesus and the English Girl. This doesn't go well rawrrrrrrr scary dinosaurs, laser pointer an motor cycles. Chris Pratt and Ron Howard's daughter team up with a former smuggler cum reformed do gooder former Air Force Pilot Yas Queen who flies a WWII era cargo plane full of rubber dog . She can fly a plane in high heels and doesn't need a co pilot!

Also all Chris Pratt needs to do is hold up his hands and dinosaurs stop dead in their tracks.

Fast forward, Jeff Goldblum TED Talk. Everyone ends up in Italy at the evil dino corp campus. Rawr!!!!!!!!! Giant Grasshoppers on Fire! Tim Cook dies. Chinese genetics guy who is in like every Jurrassic movie saves planet with Genes from Dino Jesus and English Girl. Dinos running with wild horses and nature is in harmony. The end.

 

[nomar]

Finished Hustle tonight. Quality sports movie.

 

[Palatine]

Jurrassic World/Dominion/Planet

This movie is a colostomy bag of fun. The good news is my 5 year old liked it enough but there are long stretches with no scary roaring dinosaurs so he got bored and needed to go potty. Such is life. Plot summary below for if you go with a child and want to take a nap.


SPOILER!

Chris Pratt and Ron Howard's daughter live an idyllic existence in a cabin in Montana and some English girl who was probably important in the previous film but I forgot about. Some big Dinosaur company that has all the dinos living in the Italian wilderness because evidently her mom gave birth to her parthenogenically, she's sort of like Jesus. Also Dinosaurs are everywhere now and are a nuisance.

Laura Dern is now a scientist scoping out evil corporate farms and discovers cat sized genetically engineered grasshoppers who are going to eat all of our food destroying civilization.

Meanwhile Blue has somehow also given birth to Dinosaur Jesus and Jesus and the English Girl are the key to everything. So a bunch or rednecks kidnap Dino Jesus and the English Girl and take them to Malta.

Laura Dern and Sam go to the Big Dinosaur Company who is run by Tim Cook. Chris Pratt and Ron Howard's daughter travel to Mos Eisley/Malta to rescue Dino Jesus and the English Girl. This doesn't go well rawrrrrrrr scary dinosaurs, laser pointer an motor cycles. Chris Pratt and Ron Howard's daughter team up with a former smuggler cum reformed do gooder former Air Force Pilot Yas Queen who flies a WWII era cargo plane full of rubber dog . She can fly a plane in high heels and doesn't need a co pilot!

Also all Chris Pratt needs to do is hold up his hands and dinosaurs stop dead in their tracks.

Fast forward, Jeff Goldblum TED Talk. Everyone ends up in Italy at the evil dino corp campus. Rawr!!!!!!!!! Giant Grasshoppers on Fire! Tim Cook dies. Chinese genetics guy who is in like every Jurrassic movie saves planet with Genes from Dino Jesus and English Girl. Dinos running with wild horses and nature is in harmony. The end.

This may be your greatest post ever. You had me at "flying a plane in high heels." Definitely waiting for pay per view.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Not going to try to top ZooCougar today.

So we saw Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them. It was ok. We tried to watch the second one, decided it was stupid and horrible, never finished. Last night, tried to watch the third one (Secrets of Dumbledore) and had no idea what was going on. So we watched the 2nd one Crimes of Grindewald. Johnny Depp is good. Jude Law makes a good Dumbledore. The cast of the original are all decent. Katherine Watersson got super skinny (and is very tall). It seemed less bad this time, coherent at least. We remembered none of it. Grindewald is bad and is basically Voldemort with a nose and a wonky eye. He and Dumbledore were once in love and made a blood pact, so neither can harm the other. They now disagree on everything. They have to work against each other through proxies. Grindewald is mostly recruiting here and gets the powerful but unstable Credence from the first movie. Dumbledore has our best loving hero Newt and his auror brother. Queenie the ditzy blonde witch mind reader also switches sides, as she's tired of the wizard world looking down on her for being a ditzy blonde. And it basically just ends there, no resolution and picks up in the new movie. Which is why we were totally lost.

The focus on "fantastic beasts" was somewhat interesting in the first movie. There are more of them and an interesting Chinese cat/dragon thing. But they have to find a way to make the creatures relevant and it feels forced. I'd give it 2 stars.

 

[temery]

Just watched the Accountant. Never been an Afflack fan, but the movie was pretty good. Its a cross between Rainman and Reacher. Sequel in the works.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Fantastic Beasts: Secrets of Dumbledore. This was actually pretty decent. All these movies are a bit weird, but there are some interesting Wizard parallels to the rise of certain regimes in the early 20th century. I had low expectations and this exceeded them a little. At this point the characters are a little further along, so it all fits a bit better. David Yates directs, and he's pretty good. Not great and you can't follow it without the two before it, but certainly not bad.

 

[ZooCougar]

The Outfit

Watched this on the Peacock. Was not bad at all. Pretty good set piece suspense crime movie. Reminded me a little of The Usual Suspects in a way.

 

[nwhoopfan]

The Outfit

Watched this on the Cock (Peacock). Was not bad at all. Pretty good set piece suspense crime movie. Reminded me a little of The Usual Suspects in a way.

Watched this a few days ago. I'm a big fan of Zoey Deutch, but I'm not quite sure she fit this role. Took me a long time to recognize Dylan O'Brien, now he really disappeared into his role.

 

[storrsroars]

Spiderhead (2022 Netflix). Quite possibly the stupidest movie and waste of time I've experienced this decade. No point even discussing plot. Just avoid like the plague.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Last Looks." Starts a little slow, but then I got into it. Charlie Hunnam stars as a burned out, disgraced former LAPD detective who is totally off the grid, then gets dragged into a murder investigation centering around a Hollywood star (Mel Gibson). Lots of moving pieces, lots of misdirection, enjoyable ride. And why didn't my kindergarten teacher look like Lucy Fry? Well I probably wouldn't have appreciated it properly if she did, but that's beside the point.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Spiderhead (2022 Netflix). Quite possibly the stupidest movie and waste of time I've experienced this decade. No point even discussing plot. Just avoid like the plague.

Watched it last night. Wife and daughter quit 20 minutes in. I powered through it, but I concur. Boring movie that goes nowhere.

 

[Waquoit]

Downton Abbey: A New Era If you like Downton at all, you'll like this. A worthy follow-up.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Black Site" is decent for a B movie. Worse ways of spending 90 minutes. Michelle Monaghan, Jason Clarke and Jai Courtney. With a few exceptions, Jai always plays total jerkwads, and he's good at it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The Outfit. Thought this was good. Old school movie largely taking place in one building and over a short period of time. Very Hitchcock. I figured out the main question of who is the rat quite quickly, but the movie has some wrinkles to throw anyway. Not for everyone but good tense thriller.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Father Stu. Was reluctant but some recommended it. If this wasn’t a largely true story I don’t think it would have worked. I thought the actors all did a god job, and the story is well paced. Stu is a boxer in Montana, and physical problems lead him to give up that life in an attempt to become an actor in Hollywood. Meets a young woman who leads him to the Catholic church. At first it’s for her, but Stu then has some life altering experiences and connects with God. So decides to become a priest.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Operation Mincemeat. 2021. Netflix. Colin Firth, Kelly Macdonald, Matthew Macfasyen, Jason Isaacs. Based on true events, the story of the operation to convince Hitler and Germany that the allies, having prevailed in North Africa, would target Greece, not Sicily. Ian Fleming was involved and has a more minor role in the story. But you can see where some of James Bond was born. This is a large detailed and complex intelligence operation because the usual efforts have not persuaded the Germans that the Allie’s would not land at Sicily (which Ike and Churchill had committed to). I thought it was good, not great, but worth a watch.

 

[storrsroars]

The Man From Toronto (2022 Netflix) Silly mistaken identity comedy. Kevin Hart is a wannabe entrepreneur with really stupid ideas. Woody Harrelson is a hit man. Hart mistakenly shows up at a place where Harrelson is supposed to be doing a job, and is assumed to be the hit man they hired. Hilarity sometimes ensues. Not a comedy classic, but has some good moments, along with decent action that Harrelson carries off fairly well.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Morbius. Reviews not good. Preview looked fun. Gave it a try. It’s no masterpiece. The plot is a bit hard to believe but honestly is more grounded than Peter Parker being bitten by a spider. So we have a genius kid with a rare disorder who tries to cure it and effectively turns himself into a vampire. His similarly afflicted friend is rich and funds it. He too gets the “cure” and then we’ve got a good and bad vampire. Leto is pretty good. So, it’s not the top of the marvel list but isn’t terrible either.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"The Princess," brand new streaming on Hulu. For some reason the trailer gave me the impression this would be a bit silly and lighthearted. It wasn't. They played it straight, and it was bloodier than I expected. While no masterpiece, it was entertaining. Joey King pulled off being the title character, who had secretly been trained to fight with bladed weapons and hand to hand combat since she was a young girl. You do have to suspend disbelief, she fights her way thru a practical army of goons all throughout a castle. Dominic Cooper seems to enjoy playing very unlikable characters. Olga Kurlyenko is good at being a baddie as well.

I stuck thru the credits, it was very notable that the vast majority of the cast and crew have Slavic/Eastern European sounding names. Nothing in the credits indicated it was filmed in one of those countries. I looked at some of them on IMDB, most didn't even have a bio, but 3 were listed as being born in Bulgaria.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Infinite" I think was only available streaming thru Paramount+. Finally came to DVD about a year later. It's okay, fairly entertaining, have to turn off your brain to watch it. Based on a book, probably a whole lot they had to leave out to fit in 1:45 run time. A very tiny percentage of humans are reincarnated continuously, and they remember all their previous lives. A splinter group is getting tired of living over and over, so they want to end all life on earth. The two groups have been battling each other for centuries. Mark Wahlberg plays Mark Wahlberg. Haven't seen much of Sophie Cookson since the first Kingsmen, definitely hope for more of her onscreen. Jason Mantzoukas also pretty much plays the same character every time out, but I dig his crazy energy. Chiwetel Ejiofor is always good, even in B grade stuff. Second movie I've seen recently w/ Dylan O'Brien in a small role, kinda surprising. How have I never heard of Wallis Day before?

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Nobody (2021) - Solid B+ action movie. The plot doesn't make a lot of sense, but it kind of doesn't matter that much. If you want a fun action movie, you will enjoy this.

I just watched this last night and your review is spot on. If you like a simple fun revenge movie, this fits the bill. Odenkirk was great in this.

You can find it on HBO max.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Star Wars marathon running all weekend, several channels are showing all of them.

So...in A New Hope, when Luke first encounters Obi Wan out in the desert, Kenobi absolutely does not recognize C3P0 or R2D2. That's kinda problematic given the prequels, he and Anakin were with the 2 droids constantly. Any genius work around explanations for this? Seems like a massive plot hole that somehow I didn't notice before.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Elvis (2022) - First movie I have seen in a theatre in a while. Really good, if a bit long (2.5 hours). Focuses on the relationship between Elvis and Colonel Tom Parker. Well done biopic that takes enough artistic license to make it more interesting than a simple retelling but doesn't veer into the straight up fantasy sequences of a Rocketman.

Austin Butler does a great job in the title role, and deserves an Oscar nomination. Rami Malek won an Oscar for playing Freddie Mercury, and Butler does a much better job than Malek did. Tom Hanks is also good in the Colonel Parker role.