Recently Watched Movies 2022

[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.

 

[Dove]

Windfall (2022) - My first movie in a long time. Just a horrible slog with a stupid attempted twist at the end. The whole entrance of the Mexican gardener and his time in the movie....just dumb attempt at adding a few seconds of suspense.

Sometimes Jason Segel was okay, other times, nope. Its like you could tell what filming days where he was off. The other actors (Jesse Plemons, Lili Collins) just mailed it in.

Yikes.

 

[CL82]

The Art of Racing in the Rain. (2019)
We’ve seen the maudlin, dog’s point of view formula in movies before. This is another one. It is entirely effective.

It stars Milo Ventimiglia as aspiring race car driver/mechanic Denny and Amanda Seyfried as his love interest. Kevin Costner is the voice of Enzo his a golden retriever that hopes to be reincarnated as a human. Enzo narrates the movie so we see and hear his point of view. The movie does a good job of capturing the unflagging loyalty of the dog as he watches melodrama unfold around him.

This movie has been on my radar for a while but I put it off because I dog movies and melodramas really aren’t my thing. Nonetheless, it hooked me early and I really enjoyed it. So much so that I probably will read the New York Times list best seller that it was based on.

 

[Palatine]

Elvis.

Not much we haven't seen before. Except that Tom Hanks plays one of the least likable human beings he ever has. There is nothing vaguely redeemable about his portrayal of Col. Parker. Just an awful person. Why Hanks thought it was reasonable to build a movie around this guy is baffling.

 

[CL82]

Elvis.

Not much we haven't seen before. Except that Tom Hanks plays one of the least likable human beings he ever has. There is nothing vaguely redeemable about his portrayal of Col. Parker. Just an awful person. Why Hanks thought it was reasonable to build a movie around this guy is baffling.

As I noted above, even more baffling is his decision to give him a vaguely Yiddish accent when he didn’t actually have one and make him up to look like one of the goblin bankers in Harry Potter.

 

[Chin Diesel]

So, I've had two international flights between US and Europe over past few weeks for work. Both on Delta.

Top Gun Maverick is now available for viewing on those flights.

With zero exaggeration, during first 2 1/2 hours of the flight well over half of all people on board are watching it. Women are probably about 1/3 and pretty much every guy is watching it.

This includes a decent percentage of foreigners watching with subtitles.

It is basically the default movie choice for travellers.

It really is a global phenomenon.

 

[nwhoopfan]

What can I say, I'm a sucker for teen movies. Most of them are mediocre, but can still be fairly entertaining. Netflix has a bunch of them I've been plowing thru. Not even gonna admit to some of them I've watched. One that I thought rose above the others I've seen recently is "Along for the Ride." Girl just graduated high school, never fit in with her peers. Her parents divorced at some point, not sure how long ago it was. She lives with her mom, but is going to spend the summer before college with her dad and his younger wife and their newborn daughter. At a sleepy little coastal town. It's not mind blowing, but I appreciated the characters and the story. The kids aren't self centered, oblivious jerks, or party monsters, or any of those types of stereotypes. Decent kids, who are dealing with some stuff, and trying to figure it out as best they can. There are some recognizable faces (Dermot Mulroney, Andie MacDowell, Kate Bosworth), I wasn't familiar with any of the younger cast. I thought they all did a nice job. More of a drama than a comedy. Worth a watch I thought.


As an aside, I think IMDB's ratings are getting as unreliable as Rotten Tomatoes. You just can't believe anything anymore.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Rewatch of Enola Holmes. This is a story about Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes' sister Enola and to some extent their mother. It stars Millie Bobby Brown, who I am convinced is the next big thing. They reportedly paid her $14M for the sequel to this, so it seems she already is. Deservedly so, as she's really good in this. I enjoyed it the first time, but on re-watch it seems more clever and entertaining than I gave it credit for. It keeps your attention and the story is quite well paced. No spoilers in case anybody didn't see it, as it is a mystery story in the Sherlock Holmes style.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Vengeance." Huh. I really enjoyed it. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Really goes for some big philosophical stuff. Maybe didn't quite nail it, but gave it a darn good try. He didn't have a lot of screen time, but Ashton Kutcher really knocked it out of the park with his character. Decent ensemble cast. I haven't seen a lot of Boyd Holbrook, but I've enjoyed him in several films.

 

[CL82]

Jojo Rabbit. Why the heck did that movie work as well as it did? I guess it’s pretty much the same way The Producers works. I do a write up, but I think everyone else has long seen it. It makes me want to give a hunt for the Wilderpeople a shot.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The Woman King. At the cinema. Saw previews and thought, nah. Then it got solid audience reviews. Viola Davis is the main star here, among a huge cast. It’s set in 1823, in a African kingdom Dahomey at war with a larger tribe the Oyo. The slave trade is occurring and warring tribes are capturing people from other tribes and selling them, the Oyo have gained power and muskets this way. Davis is a general of an all woman group of warriors the Agojie. They battle the Oyo and try to return captives. Eventually she works to convince their king (John Boyega) that they shouldn’t sell their captives either and should sell palm oil and other stuff. The stunts and fighting are excellent. Really well filmed and paced. Thuso Mbedu is quite pretty plays Nawi a young woman who has probably the next most screen time and is key to the larger story. Can’t reveal more than that. It’s rather enjoyable. Worth watching.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Facing Nolan," documentary about Nolan Ryan on Netflix. I'm not a big baseball guy and I usually find documentaries a bit dry, but interesting enough. Certainly a career full of notable accomplishments, and off the field a down home family man.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Probably was reviewed by someone else at some point. I was gonna skip "Army of Thieves" based on how bad Army of the Dead was, but then took a flyer on it. Decent enough. It's a prequel, but just barely. It introduces Dieter the safecracker, that's about the only tie. The zombie apocalypse is shown in news clips on tv in the US, but during the film it hasn't spread to Europe so things are fairly normal at that point. Just a fairly standard heist film. How did I not know about Ruby O Fee previously? Had to look her up, she's Costa Rican/German.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Top Gun: Maverick. Biggest movie of the year, finally watched it. Tom is pretty good in this one. Jennifer Connelly, still too skinny (you should see her in SnowPiercer) but lovely and a good match for Maverick. The plot is absurd of course, but still a lot of fun. We get some solid character growth here, and the relationship between Maverick and Goose's son Rooster is well done. Good casting there too. I had forgotten that young Meg Ryan was in Top Gun. I can see why this was a huge hit. It's got action, people overcoming physical, external and personal challenges, and heroics. The nod to Star Wars was an interesting choice, bulls-eye on a 3 meter target, but I'm sure it kindled some nostalgia in another movie that is similar in some ways. Good stuff. Hollywood should take notice.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Jojo Rabbit (2019) - I had some problems with this movie because it jumped from an absurdist satire on the horrors of Nazism and war into a dark and depressing weird love story of a pre adolescent boy exploiting the desperation of a young Jewish woman hiding in his attic in Nazi Germany, and then finished back with the absurdist satire.

Waititi was on much firmer ground with the absurdist satire then the relationship between Jojo and Elsa. I end up hating Jojo by the end of the movie. It was one thing for the character to be ignorant at the summer camp, but when he is still a selfish little spit at the end, then why do I care about him at all? Getting rid of his imaginary Hitler is a pretty low bar to clear for redemption. The movie was a good premise that is kind of wasted into just an above average but overrated movie.

I have not decided if Thomasin McKenzie, like her buddy Anya Taylor-Joy, is actually a good actress or just has a very distinctive look that makes her interesting on screen. There are plenty of very successful actors who have done that, but that doesn't make them great actors. I feel the same way about Scarlett Johansson for that matter. Waititi was very good as Hitler, and Rockwell pulled off a tough character very well. I can't make up my mind if the lead meant to come off like a smug little brat or that was just his acting.

 

[dbmill]

C’mon C’mon (2021) - This film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffman, and Woody Norman (who I believe was 9 years old when this movie was in production). Phoenix plays Johnny, who is the single brother of Viv (Hoffman) who live on opposite sides of the United States. Viv is Jesse’s mother. Anyway, Viv needs to leave town to help take care of her estranged mentally ill husband, and asks Johnny to come take care of Jesse while she is away. Johnny and Jesse have not spent much time together in the past, so this film is more or less about the relationship that develops between the two of them while Viv is away (Johnny does seek advice from Viv over the phone fairly often). This relationship has its ups and downs as it develops, and also goes cross country has Johnny has a radio journalist job (not live stories, more of a documentary style in which he interviews mostly children) that he needs to attend to while trying to take care of Jesse. There is certainly an interesting chemistry between the uncle and the young nephew as the movie goes along.

Woody Norman delivers a solid performance as the kid, special kudos to him. I can’t imagine this movie would be everyone’s cup of tea as it is rather slow moving, but it is interesting to a certain degree and held my attention throughout. Not a great movie in my mind, but this film is certainly watchable even if not much in the way of action takes takes place.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Summer Days, Summer Nights." Directed by Edward Burns, he also acts in it but not in a starring role. One of those slice of life kind of movies I usually enjoy. One summer on Long Island in the early 80s. Soundtrack was like a time capsule. Follows the ups and downs in love and life of several young people. Some just out of high school, some a little older. Other than Burns I didn't recognize any of the cast. Nothing ground breaking here, but I thought it was well done.

edit--streaming on Amazon Prime

 

[storrsroars]

I'd recently finished "Fargo" and visited Adam Goldberg's imdb page to see if he'd been in any movies. i discovered one i'd never heard of from 2003; "The Hebrew Hammer". The best way to describe it is if Mel Brooks re-wrote "Shaft" with a Jewish cast. But the bad Mel Brooks post-Spaceballs. Production values are poor, acting is broad, action is mostly stupid, and many of the jokes fall flat and are cringeworthy. But a few hit, and you'll probably be a bit embarrassed at laughing at them in 2022. The plot is basically Santa's evil kid (Andy Dick) hatches a plan to make Christmas the only holiday, eliminating Hannukah and Kwanzaa in the process. Features Goldberg as the Hebrew Hammer, Judy Greer as the love interest, and Tony Cox as a double agent elf. It's really stupid, but it does have its moments.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Out of Office (2022 - Hulu) - This is a solid, by-the-numbers, workplace comedy. Stars Milana Vayntrub (Lily from the ATT commercials) as a Millenial loser who stumbles into a job with a fully remote small business. It has a good premise and the cast carries a script that is just OK. There are several scenes that would have flopped with a weaker cast. Vayntrub does a good job keeping a pretty nasty character at least a little sympathetic. She actually may be a little too likable for the role. Ken Jeong is one of the more underrated comedy actors of our generation. He was awesome in the Hangover movies playing over-the-top Chow, but he can dial it way back like he did in this movie and still be really funny. Jay Pharoah (SNL alum) is OK although the role is kind of forgettable. Leslie Jones is the same Leslie Jones character she was on SNL.

Emily Pendergast is a great comedy actress. She was Jonah's wife in the last season of VEEP, and despite it being one of the best comedies and one of the strongest casts of all time, she stole every scene she was in that last season. She is great in this movie too. She should get consistent work as a supporting actress in comedies for the next 30 years if her agent does his or her job.


Problems with the movie:

Jason Alexander and Cheri Oteri are really good as Vayntrub's parents, and actually should have had more screen time because there were pieces of the plot that you don't completely understand until halfway through the movie that should have been established early with her parents and sister. This is the rare movie that really needed to be 10 minutes longer. The movie would have made more sense, and the second act would have had a much better payoff.

My biggest knock, by far, is how many commercials Hulu is putting into its programming now. There was an 8 commercial break near the end of the movie that happened right in the middle of a big scene. It is really distracting, especially on a service I am paying for. I know I can pay extra to get rid of the ads, which I will eventually, but it is still annoying.

The moral of the story is kind of messed up, but that doesn't bother me with a movie like this.