Recently Watched Movies 2022 | Page 17 | The Boneyard

Recently Watched Movies 2022

8893 said:
Thanks. Good thoughts. The only thing I would disagree with is that I think it’s more of a circus or spectacle than a church. Which is also a major point.
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Yes, that works well too. I really want to watch it again and focus on some details. Rare that I have a movie with enough going on to do that.
 
This movie and Top Gun: Maverick have a bunch in common. Both were totally or partially made during the Covid hysteria when the future of the Cinema was in doubt.

Kind of kicking myself for not seeing this one on IMAX. But definitely to be fully appreciated it needs to be seen on the big screen like Top Gun. The shots of the sky and the some of the things happening won’t seem nearly as spectacular even on a big 4K TV. Also the sound was really something else. I noticed that when the horse was galloping near the end.

Like most great movies, the end product is ambiguous enough to let people see multiple interpretations. Is it statement police brutality? Is it about exploitation? Is it Angels? Or is it just a bad assed American UFO story. The answer is yes.

Peele says he was making a statement in the beginning about how black contributions to cinema were marginalized and then just wanted to make the Great American UFO Movie and Cinema being in peril was the driving factor in making it into a big spectacle.

Anyways. There is a deleted scene that reveals more about the UFO. And there is sequel possibility.
 
Get Out. 2017. Family is in Jordan Peele mode so I rented this. This is closer to a traditional horror film, but with quite a few twists. It’s cleverly done and a lot of fun. Really love the way Peele uses the black/white dynamic in complex and honest ways. Horror as a genre is particularly interesting in that context. The very name of this movie came from a classic Eddie Murphy routine. Peele evidently considered casting Murphy. It wouldn’t have worked for various reasons and instead we have Daniel Kalyuuya again. Eddie‘s routine reminds me of the recent commercial where the pretty blonde says “no, don’t drive away, let’s hide behind those chainsaws.” Anyway, this is less Hitchcock and yet still creepy and fun.

 
HuskyHawk said:
Get Out. 2017. Family is in Jordan Peele mode so I rented this. This is closer to a traditional horror film, but with quite a few twists. It’s cleverly done and a lot of fun. Really love the way Peele uses the black/white dynamic in complex and honest ways. Horror as a genre is particularly interesting in that context. The very name of this movie came from a classic Eddie Murphy routine. Peele evidently considered casting Murphy. It wouldn’t have worked for various reasons and instead we have Daniel Kalyuuya again. Eddie‘s routine reminds me of the recent commercial where the pretty blonde says “no, don’t drive away, let’s hide behind those chainsaws.” Anyway, this is less Hitchcock and yet still creepy and fun.

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Yeah I loved this movie. Very creative and very creepy. Really well cast, too. I hadn't seen "Girls" or anything else Allison Williams had been in and I was very impressed with her, but everyone was excellent across the board.

I loved Catherine Keener in Being John Malkovich, which is one of my favorite movies, and I don't think I had seen her in anything since. And then it dawned on me that the central premise behind both movies is really the same, i.e., old people harvesting younger bodies to implant their own brains and use them as vessels for an extended life.
 
Blacklight.

Typical Liam Neeson movie, but not as good as most.

Liam plays an on off book FBI agent who works for the director, who is a friend who he served with in Vietnam. Liam - good guy. Director - bad guy. Lady reporter stuck in the middle. And of course Liam has a daughter and granddaughter ...

The one memorable take from this movie is how bad a shot the FBI agents were. They couldn't hit the side of a barn.

www.imdb.com

Blacklight (2022) ⭐ 4.9 | Action, Drama, Thriller

1h 44m | PG-13
www.imdb.com www.imdb.com
 
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So I'm going to list a trilogy (actually 4 movies) here. Godzilla (2014), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), Godzilla vs Kong (2021). As part of that story Kong: Skull Island (2017) also applies. Backstory, my wife loves the old Japanese Godzilla movies and has seen them all several times. The 2014 Godzilla is really well filmed, atmospheric, terrific soundtrack and use of mist/fog that reminds me of Jaws. You don't see Godzilla all that much, and it's just a good story. Strong cast with Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor Johnson and Bryan Cranston. Then came Kong: Skull Island, which could have been really good but for the decision to be stupid with Samuel L. Jackson's character going nuts. Still silly fun. Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson save it a bit. Godzilla - King of the Monsters picks up the story and introduces new characters, including played by Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiglia and Millie Bobbie Brown (fresh off Stranger Things). People are the bad guys here (especially Charles Vance, as always) and we get to see the classic Godzilla as the hero of mankind storyline. Pretty good. Godzilla vs Kong, redeems the Kong movie. The Millie Bobbie-Brown character takes a key role, as do Rebecca Hall and Alexander Skarsgård. Brian Tyree Henry adds comic relief as a conspiracy theorist who's mostly right. Eliza Gonzales is just...wow. Evil corporate types are the bad guys, Godzilla and Kong square off in a couple "there can be only one" alpha battles, with no winner (edge: Godzilla). Ultimately, the hollow earth theory comes into play and the two titans must team up to defeat Mechagodzilla. Surprisingly good, 2nd best of this series. All three are solid movies in the fun, Saturday matinee movie style. Skull Island is weaker, but I've come to enjoy it anyway.

These are not to be confused with the 1998 catastrophe Godzilla with Matthew Broderick. That was utter trash.
 
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Bullet Train (2022)

Just got back from the theaters and really loved this movie.

Brad Pitt’s character was hilarious, the movie was vibrantly shot, the details were well curated and the plot line was clever and slowly revealing.

Overall great ensemble cast too. I don’t get out to the movies often but this was my favorite movie theater experience in a while. Also, definitely a movie better for the big screen.

Overall, had a blast. Would see it again.
 
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Thirteen Lives (2022, Amazon Prime). Story of the rescue of the Thai youth soccer club that got trapped in a flooded cave. As it was directed by Ron Howard, I expected more that what this film delivered. It was basically a very linear depiction of the rescue, which was very difficult, but there's simply no character development or palpable tension throughout. Viggo Mortenson and Colin Farrell are the leads as a team of practiced cave divers, but there's simply not much acting here. Most of the film is them and others in scuba gear in a dark cave, navigating tight quarters. It'll hold your interest, but if you're like me, you'll wish there was more there there.
 
Watched "Prey" last night on Amazon. The best thing I can say about it is that the scenery was beautiful. I'll have to look up where it was filmed. Rivers, canyons, plains, mountains in the background.

It was weird seeing a slightly lower tech version of the predator. It didn't have a cannon, but it still had a laser sight. And of course a space ship to get it to earth. Oh, and part of it's armor was the skull of some kind of beast.

At some point my suspension of disbelief broke. When it tore apart a huge grizzly bear without even using any projectile weapons, it got really hard to buy that any of the Comanches could even put a scratch in it.

edit--filmed in and around Calgary, Alberta
 
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nwhoopfan said:
Watched "Prey" last night on Amazon. The best thing I can say about it is that the scenery was beautiful. I'll have to look up where it was filmed. Rivers, canyons, plains, mountains in the background.

It was weird seeing a slightly lower tech version of the predator. It didn't have a cannon, but it still had a laser sight. And of course a space ship to get it to earth. Oh, and part of it's armor was the skull of some kind of beast.

At some point my suspension of disbelief broke. When it tore apart a huge grizzly bear without even using any projectile weapons, it got really hard to buy that any of the Comanches could even put a scratch in it.

edit--filmed in and around Calgary, Alberta
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Just watched it. Good to very good movie.

www.imdb.com

Prey (2022) ⭐ 7.1 | Action, Adventure, Horror

1h 40m | R
www.imdb.com www.imdb.com
 
nwhoopfan said:
Watched "Prey" last night on Amazon. The best thing I can say about it is that the scenery was beautiful. I'll have to look up where it was filmed. Rivers, canyons, plains, mountains in the background.

It was weird seeing a slightly lower tech version of the predator. It didn't have a cannon, but it still had a laser sight. And of course a space ship to get it to earth. Oh, and part of it's armor was the skull of some kind of beast.

At some point my suspension of disbelief broke. When it tore apart a huge grizzly bear without even using any projectile weapons, it got really hard to buy that any of the Comanches could even put a scratch in it.

edit--filmed in and around Calgary, Alberta
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I just watched it as well. Agree that the scenery is pretty good. Cinematography isn’t bad either, but the script could be made of Swiss cheese for all the potholes that are in it. Absolutely, the best one is that someone decided that because this is a prequel dealing with American Indians the predators mask should be made out of bone even though it still has the three little laser that’s coming out of it. What are the lasers coming out of, don’t know. Maybe they’re magic prehistoric lasers.

The script is a series of ripped off scenes from various movies. Yeah, you’ll see scenes from predator, but you’ll also see scenes from the Revenant and Jungle Book, and maybe a little Dances with Wolves thrown in there too. Figuring out which other movies there are ripping off and anyone’s scene is one of the more entertaining parts of the movie. I also like that the lead character, who is apparently a Comanche gatherer female who randomly wears warpaint ( and later eye makeup) will equally randomly switch from Comanche to English. We all accept the deal where a character starts speaking a language and it switches to English to indicate that it’s being done for convenience so that we understand the dialogue, but in this movie they just switch back-and-forth randomly, which was a little distracting.

All that said, the scenery was good, the cinematography wasn’t bad, and there’s a decent amount of action. As long as you set your suspension of disbelief meter incredibly high, Prey is watchable.
 
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Roman Holiday (1953)

Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn starring this story of a wayward princess who escapes from the embassy and gets talked into taking a holiday by an American reporter hoping to get the story It was the film that really established Hepburn as a star. She is absolutely charming and Gregory Peck shows a gift for physical comedy often at the expense of costar Eddie Albert. I’ve seen this film once or twice before but stumbled onto it today and decided to watch. It is an incredibly well-made movie that holds up to this day.
 
storrsroars said:
Thirteen Lives (2022, Amazon Prime). Story of the rescue of the Thai youth soccer club that got trapped in a flooded cave. As it was directed by Ron Howard, I expected more that what this film delivered. It was basically a very linear depiction of the rescue, which was very difficult, but there's simply no character development or palpable tension throughout. Viggo Mortenson and Colin Farrell are the leads as a team of practiced cave divers, but there's simply not much acting here. Most of the film is them and others in scuba gear in a dark cave, navigating tight quarters. It'll hold your interest, but if you're like me, you'll wish there was more there there.
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Anything in there on Musk trying to help?
 
Watched the Netflix documentary about the Danbury Trashers of the UHL, Untold: Crimes and Penalties last night.

Pretty amazing that this actually happened. Very good and easy watch (hour and 20 minutes).

I only recall some peripheral parts of the story from the time, which surprises me given the scope of what went down. Very entertaining and interesting.
 
8893 said:
Watched the Netflix documentary about the Danbury Trashers of the UHL, Untold: Crimes and Penalties last night.

Pretty amazing that this actually happened. Very good and easy watch (hour and 20 minutes).

I only recall some peripheral parts of the story from the time, which surprises me given the scope of what went down. Very entertaining and interesting.
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Thanks for the suggestion, especially since I had no idea of its existence.

Along with the Red Wings/Avalanche doc on ESPN+, those are two "home alone" hockey documentaries that are on my list.
 
Hey Adrien! said:
Along with the Red Wings/Avalanche doc on ESPN+, those are two "home alone" hockey documentaries that are on my list.
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The Red Wings / Avalanche one is riveting...great doc...and there is clearly some bitterness lingering after all these years.
 
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Under the Skin. 2015. I was vaguely familiar with this because Scarlett Johannson is stark naked in it. It’s a sci fi movie of sorts. She’s an alien inside the skin of a human (ScarJo) in Glasgow and other parts of Scotland. She and an alien in a male body are the two aliens. She never speaks to him. Her task seems to be to drive around in a white van, lure men and then essentially feed them to some dark substance. One of the ways this is fascinating as that she actually did that. The guys are real guys she picked up on the street, filmed on hidden camera, and it feels that way. They then signed releases and some filmed further scenes (being eaten by the black stuff). There is very little dialogue and yet ScarJo conveys a lot. She’s changing, becoming at home in her new skin. Fascinated by it, and eventually by people. The question becomes, what’s under the skin? There are some beautiful scenes in the Cairngorms and some fairly stark ones in Glasgow. But in both cases the impression is “raw”, like high quality home footage. Critics liked it, yet it made $7m. It’s slow paced, creepy and more art house style.

time.com

This is what it's like to get picked up by Scarlett Johansson

Hint: it's weird!
time.com time.com
 
nwhoopfan said:
At some point my suspension of disbelief broke. When it tore apart a huge grizzly bear without even using any projectile weapons, it got really hard to buy that any of the Comanches could even put a scratch in it.

edit--filmed in and around Calgary, Alberta
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Least of all Mary Sue
 
Uncharted (Netflix, 2022). This is what happens when you take all the unbelievable parts of DaVinci Code and National Treasure and tie those to a plot similar to Red Notice, weaving all of that into an even more ridiculous storyline, with the bonus of a short and slight untrained nerdish guy becoming a ninja capable of defending himself against trained assassins, and finally Marky Mark as the conflicted hero.

It is an incredibly stupid premise and plot, which amazingly gets even dumber by the minute. Yet you'll watch it because this compound level of stupidity demands an even more ridiculously unbelievable resolution than you can imagine.
 
storrsroars said:
Uncharted (Netflix, 2022). This is what happens when you take all the unbelievable parts of DaVinci Code and National Treasure and tie those to a plot similar to Red Notice, weaving all of that into an even more ridiculous storyline, with the bonus of a short and slight untrained nerdish guy becoming a ninja capable of defending himself against trained assassins, and finally Marky Mark as the conflicted hero.

It is an incredibly stupid premise and plot, which amazingly gets even dumber by the minute. Yet you'll watch it because this compound level of stupidity demands an even more ridiculously unbelievable resolution than you can imagine.
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Thought it was stupid but still a little bit fun.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Thought it was stupid but still a little bit fun.
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No doubt it had its moments. The stuff flying out of the cargo plane was entertaining if ridiculous. As was the end for the outrageousness of the premise. But the whole thing takes "suspending belief" to another level.
 
storrsroars said:
But the whole thing takes "suspending belief" to another level.
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I thought the airlifting of a galleon loaded down with gold was a stretch. I looked up some info on it, absolutely shatters the laws of physics.
 
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The Nice Guys (2016). I'd never even heard of this before seeing it show up on Netflix. Underrated buddy comedy. Kudos to whomever thought of a storyline that managed to have the industry used as a device to take down colluding Detroit automakers. It somehow stays within the outermost realm of possibility. Crowe and Gosling are entertaining as a bumbling (mostly Gosling) detective team, but the star is Gosling's daughter, played by Angourie Rice. I found it worth the watch.
 
storrsroars said:
The Nice Guys
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I've seen this a few times before, watched it again last night (Netflix). Totally agreed about Rice, she steals the movie. I've been following her career ever since. She's been in a few good movies, but mostly her talents are being wasted on throwaway roles.
 
"She's Funny That Way" is another new arrival on Netflix I've seen before and enjoyed. Woody Allen-esque. Great ensemble cast, kind of a zany comedy of errors.
 
nwhoopfan said:
I've seen this a few times before, watched it again last night (Netflix). Totally agreed about Rice, she steals the movie. I've been following her career ever since. She's been in a few good movies, but mostly her talents are being wasted on throwaway roles.
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I just looked her up on IMDB. Just turned 21, meaning she was 15 for that role. I thought she was maybe 12, tops. But that's she's Aussie and did a perfect American teen accent makes that performance even more special.
 
storrsroars said:
I just looked her up on IMDB. Just turned 21, meaning she was 15 for that role. I thought she was maybe 12, tops. But that's she's Aussie and did a perfect American teen accent makes that performance even more special.
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She does a solid American accent in Spiderman No Way Home as well. It seems like Brits and Aussies have an easier time picking up "American" than the other way around.

Mila Kunis in that 70's show is still the most impressive example of an American accent I've seen. She was 14 when that started, having moved to the U.S. from Ukraine at age 7. By age 10 she had a role in Days of Our Lives.
 
nwhoopfan said:
"She's Funny That Way" is another new arrival on Netflix I've seen before and enjoyed. Woody Allen-esque. Great ensemble cast, kind of a zany comedy of errors.
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That was good. Thanks for posting about it, probably wouldn't have looked for it otherwise.

Owen Wilson doesn't age, does he?
 
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