Recently Watched Movies 2022

[Palatine]

If you haven’t yet, try The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

I enjoyed it. Nick Cage making fun of Nick Cage movies is a fine working premise. The movie doesn't take itself seriously but it never insults the audience's intelligence. There are nice twists and turns in the plot. All the film making stuff, writing, locations, directing, cinematography are all done well. And the acting is up to Nick Cage standards. Fun stuff.

 

[8893]

Look Both Ways (2022 Netflix): Graduation night at University of Texas, Austin. Natalie had “one-time” sex with her friend a few weeks beforehand and takes a pregnancy test on graduation night because she’s not feeling well. In one universe the test is positive and in the other the test is negative. So it is an updated take on the meta-verse or parallel universes, where we see how her life plays out in each scenario.

Lili Reinhart shines as Natalie and is the highlight of the movie, which is a great concept but I thought they could have done better with the execution. Interesting watch and Reinhart is good, but I thought Sliding Doors (1998 Gwyneth Paltrow film) was a much better take on the concept.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Lili Reinhart shines as Natalie and is the highlight of the movie

I enjoyed this movie. Riverdale is a trash show, I'm glad to see her do some things outside of that.

I also liked Luke Wilson and Andrea Savage as her parents.

 

[8893]

I enjoyed this movie. Riverdale is a trash show, I'm glad to see her do some things outside of that.

I also liked Luke Wilson and Andrea Savage as her parents.

I had never seen Reinhart before, but my oldest daughter watched that show—and also said it’s crap—and I saw that that’s what Reinhart had done previously when I looked her up. I also had no idea until yesterday that the show was based on the Archie comics.

In any event, I thought she carried Look Both Ways. She reminded me of a mix of Kaley Cuoco and Brittany Murphy. I liked Savage as the mom, too.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I had never seen Reinhart before, but my oldest daughter watched that show—and also said it’s crap—and I saw that that’s what Reinhart had done previously when I looked her up.

She did a movie for Amazon about a year ago--Chemical Hearts. It was okay, but I thought her performance in that was good as well.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Untold: Operation Flagrant Foul, Netflix expose about the Tim Donaghy fiasco. A little dull, but some interest. I don't know, you have different people saying different things, but to me it just confirms David Stern was absolutely a crook and a liar. The NBA was pretty tainted, and somehow Donaghy was the only person who went down. Even makes the FBI look fairly suspicious. I absolutely KNEW that Lakers-Warriors Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals in '07 or so was a fixed game. Watching that live, it was just so evident that Stern had told the refs you better make sure this series goes to Game 7, so they did. Also confirms just in general that some refs are fairly petty individuals who hold grudges against players and coaches and totally abuse their power when they are officiating games involving those players/coaches. That all seemed fairly evident too. I haven't really paid much attention to the NBA since that era, Stern just totally ruined the league for me.

 

[Deadrody]

Wait, what? Amazon has an EXTENDED version of Jurassic World Dominion. How can you possibly make it even longer, the theatrical version is overly long by a good 20 to 30 minutes.

I keep ruminating on this (and watched Pitch Meeting and Honest Trailers ripping it to shreds). Are movie execs/screen writers/directors/producers out to prove just how bad of a movie they can get audiences to spend money on? Are they all really terrible at their jobs? It's just kind of mind numbing to me.

Embrace the power of AND

 

[HuskyHawk]

Coco. Pixar. Don't know the year. Daughter wanted to watch this. It's a cute story, not up to the level of the best Pixar movies, but pretty solid. Set in Mexico around the Day of the Dead, it follows a young boy who magically crosses the plane between the living and dead, and needs the help of his family ancestors to come back. Uncovers many secrets along the way, which changes things for his living family and others. Despite being partly about music, it's less musical than many (like Encanto...which is the Frozen of the current generation of little kids). Pretty decent really, some laughs.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Lakers-Warriors Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals i

Oops, I meant Kings. Probably had the wrong year too.

 

[superjohn]

Oops, I meant Kings. Probably had the wrong year too.

I remember watching it live and it was the most obvious fixed game I've ever seen. I almost threw the TV out the window. Everything surrounding that from Stern on down was disgraceful and the Kings were going to win the championship that year had it not been fixed. It's amazing how everything outside of Donaghy was swept under the rug.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Muriel's Wedding (1995)

One of those movies that came out in my childhood that was totally off my radar but was a favorite of my wife growing up. Randomly, it came up in conversation and likened to my love of Napoleon Dynamite (maybe my favorite movie), this movie was recommended and watched over the weekend.

The first 30 or so minutes are Dynamite-esque, in the time-nebulous Australian coastal town of Dolphin Spit, its quirkiness spearheaded by the film's excellent set design, the omnipresence of Abba and Toni Collette's lead role that morphed into a dramedy about the importance of living truthfully.

Overall, I really liked Collette as her acting was endearing and quite diverse from oddball to heartfelt.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Elvis. 2022. Streaming free HBOMax. The casting is impressive. Austin Butler is really very good as one of the most iconic figures in modern history. Not an easy role. Olivia de Jong is a good Pricilla. Tom Hanks as colonel Parker, someone I knew nothing about. And therein lies the core of the story. Plenty about Elvis growing up in Memphis, mixing with black kids and loving the blues and gospel. Truly a critical force at a key time in our history. But there’s a lot about how Parker directed his career, right to its untimely end. Having seen several very old performers recently, it strikes me that had Elvis gotten through the 70s, he could have been huge for decades more. A great loss for us all. It’s a good movie. Long, but worth it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Bullet Train. 2022. Pouring rain on Labor Day? Head to the movies. Big cast in this, Brad Pitt, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Bryan Tyree Henry, Joey King and others, including some cook cameos. Didn't realize this was a Japanese movie in a way, or at least, half American half Japanese, based on a Japanese book. The train leaves from Tokyo, and Pitt is a reluctant assassin who gets on for an assignment. He's trying to be better and throughout the movie discusses it with his handler (one of the cameos). She gives him the code name "Ladybug", because he thinks he has terrible luck. This becomes important later in a story relayed by The Elder. Several others on on board as well, and well, some crazy and often funny stuff ensues. Brad Pitt is just uniquely good in these comic-action roles. Johnson and Henry are very funny as Tangerine and Lemon. King is rocking the sexy schoolgirl thing for all it's worth. The whole movie is damned clever and lots of fun. My wife said it could have had 10-15 minutes cut, but nah, maybe 5 tops. Highly recommended.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Olivia de Jong is a good Pricilla

I've seen her in a few things, I liker her. Took me the longest time to figure out she's not American. She seems to find herself playing tragic characters most of the time.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"The Poison Rose" streaming on Netflix. I honestly don't remember ever hearing of this movie, although it's got a big cast--Travolta, Morgan Freeman, Brendan Fraser, Robert Patrick, Peter Stormare, Famke Janssen. Very mediocre, and that's being kind. I don't know if it was just trying too hard to be noir and not pulling it off, bad script, or something else, but it fell flat. Started okay and got worse the longer it went on.

 

[CL82]

Elvis. 2022. Streaming free HBOMax. The casting is impressive. Austin Butler is really very good as one of the most iconic figures in modern history. Not an easy role. Olivia de Jong is a good Pricilla. Tom Hanks as colonel Parker, someone I knew nothing about. And therein lies the core of the story. Plenty about Elvis growing up in Memphis, mixing with black kids and loving the blues and gospel. Truly a critical force at a key time in our history. But there’s a lot about how Parker directed his career, right to its untimely end. Having seen several very old performers recently, it strikes me that had Elvis gotten through the 70s, he could have been huge for decades more. A great loss for us all. It’s a good movie. Long, but worth it.

I watched about half of it. It definitely has its moments, but it seems rushed. I don’t know how much I like the decision of Tom Hanks as Colonel Parker as the narrator and his make up makes him look like one of the goblins from Harry Potter. The accent Hanks uses is an interesting choice as well. Here’s what Colonel Parker actually sounded like:

 

[nwhoopfan]

I've been living under a rock apparently. I've been curious about the movie, but had no clue about the drama surrounding the cast.

How is there already a critics score on Rotten Tomatoes 2 weeks before it opens? They hate it apparently. Could the drama be manufactured to generate more interest?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Chris Pine wants nothing to do with it or with Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde. It seems like nobody wants to be around Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde.

That’s why the video of him with Harry were hilarious. The memes were glorious as Harry attempted to describe what he likes about movies and poor Chris suffered through it. Styles is a complete genius.

 

[dbmill]

Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) - Ordinarily I am rather skeptical of the modern films that Disney produces these days, but this animated feature got very good reviews and the subject matter sounded interesting, so I decided to give this fantasy movie a try. While I don’t think it was quite up to the quality the reviews indicated, I did think it was above average and certainly a watchable movie. The world that Princess Raya lives in is being ravaged by something called the Druun, mindless spirits that among other things turn living things to stone. Raya goes on a quest to attempt solve this problem, which isn’t made any easier by the fact that it seems that very few people in her world are willing to trust one another, especially people from tribes that are not their own. This quest revolves around finding and getting the help of the last dragon, and to bring together the various pieces of a crystal that has been broken, with the various pieces scattered among the tribes of her land. Raya goes off on her quest, and as you may expect, encounters various adventures in the pursuit of her quest. As the quest moves on, a number of companions join in the quest, which is rather amazing given the lack of trust in this world.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Dual...oof. Not what it presented itself as. The poster/dvd cover art is a flat out lie. I liked the director's previous offering (The Art of Self Defense), but this came up way short. It had a few moments, but not enough to add up to something worthwhile. Hated the way it ended. A double dose of Karen Gillan was not enough to save this.

 

[temery]

Moonfall. HBO.

Had no interest in watching this movie, but I couldn't sleep, and I gave it a shot. Im not a fan of the Earth is about to end movies, but this one was good to very good.

 

[Palatine]

Moonfall. HBO.

Had no interest in watching this movie, but I couldn't sleep, and I gave it a shot. Im not a fan of the Earth is about to end movies, but this one was good to very good.

Moonfall.

I like almost anything science fiction especially when there are lots of explosions and good CG. Moonfall delivered on that score. But this one crosses the line with some very silly and beyond possible stuff. I'm good with the spaceship moon and AI creature. But I need the action to be somewhat plausible. It's okay. Nothing special.

 

[CL82]

Dual...oof. Not what it presented itself as. The poster/dvd cover art is a flat out lie. I liked the director's previous offering (The Art of Self Defense), but this came up way short. It had a few moments, but not enough to add up to something worthwhile. Hated the way it ended. A double dose of Karen Gillan was not enough to save this.

I hadn’t heard of this until you posted. It actually looks pretty good.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Had "Friendzone" on my Netflix list for a long time. Finally watched it. French rom com. Started out pretty light and fluffy, but got deeper and more poignant as it went along. I really enjoyed it. There wasn't that much humor, but a few parts made me laugh hard. Not exactly surprisingly this was racier than your run of the mill American rom com.

A dude always finds himself in the friendzone. His 3 best friends are women. They decide to help him reinvent himself to get out of his predicament. It works...and it doesn't I guess. An enjoyable ride as he tries to figure it all out.

 

[nwhoopfan]

The other day I watched "Dreamer." Not a new movie, but I never saw it before. I don't know what it is about horse stories. I haven't spent much time around them, can't consider myself a horse person, but the movies about horse racing are almost always really good. Great cast in this one--Kurt Russell, Elisabeth Shue, Kris Kristofferson, Luis Guzman, David Morse, Oded Fehr, a young Dakota Fanning. Worth a watch.

 

[HuskyHawk]

47 Ronin (2013). I started Moonfall and just couldn't do it. So Keanu Reeves comes to the rescue. I have not seen the original 1941-42 movie, but this is pretty good. They weave in a little magic and a mystical creature or two, but it's all very Japanese in style and culture. The story is loosely based on a real event, where a feudal lord is essentially tricked into violating code, has to commit seppuku and his Samurai are now ronin, with no master. Eventually they plot to avenge their old master and restore their honor. Keanu plays Kai, a half-breed who lives and works for the Lord, and who is in love with his daughter. But that can never be, and he can't be a Samurai since he's a half breed (son of a Japanese man and English woman, which is not too far off from Keanu's own English-Hawaiian/Chinese ancestry). As much as I think these codes were total BS, I still enjoy these Japanese stories based on them, and this is quite enjoyable really.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

While the historical accuracy is a significant upgrade from Braveheart, I found it quite slow moving and Chris Pine pretty dull as an inspirational leader.

Low bar.

I agree with the rest of your review. It didn't suck, but wasn't great.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Moxie (2021) - NetFlix - Hadley Robinson, who plays Jeanie Buss in Winning Time, stars in this movie about a teen that launches a feminist movement in her high school. It is good, with enough funny moments and just enough surprises to keep it interesting. With one exception, the characters are all interesting enough and with just enough depth to keep this from becoming an after school special.

I like Robinson as an actress, but I don't know that she has the charisma to be a leading actress, even when she is playing a quiet nerd like she is in this movie. She might just be one of those actors that is better in supporting roles. Marcia Gay Harden is excellent, as always, as the Principal of the school.

B to B+. Good movie to have on in the background while you are doing something else.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"I Used To Be Famous" is new on Netflix. A VERY different role from anything I've seen Ed Skrein do previously. Bravo to him. A bit slow, but a very good story. A former boy band member who saw everything slip away right when he was about to be on top of the world. 20 years later he's going nowhere in life. A chance meeting with a young man on the autism scale who is a percussionist ends up changing both of their lives.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Do Revenge." Wow, that gets savage. The lengths someone will go to in order to get revenge. Mostly entertaining. Some twists I didn't see coming.

I know, I always harp on this, and it's just the way it is. But the casting of people in their mid and late 20s as high schoolers, I just can't get used to it. Camila Mendes was great as one of the leads, but she's not the slightest bit passable as a teen. She's 28. She's gonna age out of Hollywood before she stops playing teen characters. Sophie Turner had a small role, definitely doesn't look like a teen. Another minor role, an actress who played a college student in Happy Death Day...in 2017. 5 years later she's back in high school. What?

I also found it bizarre that there were no parents of these kids ever seen on screen, not once the entire film. What world do they live in where teens never, ever, ever are in the presence of their parents? Apparently a world where said teens throw the most outlandish, lavish parties all the time. The only adults were a few staff at the school. Speaking of which, Sarah Michelle Gellar was the head mistress, haven't seen her in forever. Surprised she wasn't one of the students, she barely looks older than some of them.