Recently Watched Movies 2023

[Hey Adrien!]

You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah (2023) - Netflix

Sandler has been on a role lately on his Netflix flicks (Murder Mystery and Hustle were favorites of mine), but this one was meh.

Had no idea until after watching the movie that Sandler's actual daughters are his daughters in the film: fun fact. I would recommend it for families with middle school/high school aged kids as I think this movie did a good job replicating what it's like to grow up nowadays.

Some funny moments, I actually really like Sandler in the movie (could have used more), but overall, felt slow moving and longer than the 90 minute length.

 

[dbmill]

The Trip to Greece (2020) - This movie is the last of a series of four "Trip" movies directed by Michael Winterbottom, and starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as some sort of fictionalized versions of themselves. They all feature Coogan and Brydon on a vacation somewhere in Europe.

I quite enjoyed the first three movies in this series. in addition to the focus on the vacation with its travelogue and food, the films contains much interesting, clever and witty conversations chiefly involving Coogan and/or Brydon, including a dueling series of vocal impressions of other actors and other well known figures between the two stars.

Anyway, I found that while this film was okay, I did not enjoy this Trip movie as much as I did the first three films in this series. I'm inclined to think that in this movie there is less of a focus on the travel and the food they encounter during their trip. Instead the focus seems to be much more on the interplay between Coogan and Brydon and their various conversations and impressions of other people.

 

[Palatine]

The Flash. 2023. The younger version of the Flash was one of the most annoying (in a bad way) characters to have ever hit the silver screen. The older Flash is somewhat annoying but the kid takes the cake. Time travel movies are almost always sort of silly. But this one did not even bother to pretend to have reason for its complete lack of common sense. The how and why of time travel isn't even really discussed. And how Batman knows that time travel is a matrix and not a timeline is another giant leap of faith that gets nowhere.

I like big special effects action movies. And there were some decent performances and huge mega-scale fights. So I enjoyed the movie in spite of itself. But the special effects of past super heroes was C- stuff. Just awful. Like I said, I like these kind of movies so I give it a one star. But man-o-man there is a lot wrong about The Flash.

 

[CL82]

I wonder how Batman would answer your questioning how he would know that time is the matrix and not a timeline?

 

[Jay-Bone]

Old Henry - Pretty damn good if you like westerns.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Seen bits and pieces of it, but never saw the entirety of the 1984 version of "Dune" until now. It's weird. It's David Lynch, so it has to be. Sure did pack a lot more in it's running time than the new version (which is a two parter of course). The Harkonnens were all stark raving mad. Sean Young and Virginia Madsen circa 1984...well that's two reasons to watch it.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Seen bits and pieces of it, but never saw the entirety of the 1984 version of "Dune" until now. It's weird. It's David Lynch, so it has to be. Sure did pack a lot more in it's running time than the new version (which is a two parter of course). The Harkonnens were all stark raving mad. Sean Young and Virginia Madsen circa 1984...well that's two reasons to watch it.

The making of that movie was a mess. Lynch had the budget to make it look better, but he just didn't have the expertise to pull off the special effects.

My take on the actors (from by 2021 post on the movie):

Matchup comparison, actors of 1984 Dune to actors of 2021 Dune:

More of ">" indicates a bigger gap between the actors.

Paul Atriedes - Timothy Chalamet >>>>>>>> Kyle MacLachlan - MacLachlan is a mediocre actor on his good days. Chalamet is great.

Chani - Zendaya >>>> Sean Young. Sean Young's claim to fame is being one of the most batspit crazy actors in the history of a town of batspit crazy actors. One of the problems with the first Dune is that MacLachlan and Young couldn't carry a movie as the leads.

Duncan Idaho - Jason Mamoa >> Richard Jordan. Jordan was a good actor back in the day, but this was weird casting in the 1984 movie. He wasn't right for the role.

Baron Harkonnen - Stellan Skarsgard >>> Kenneth McMillan. McMillan wasn't bad in Dune 1984, but Skarsgard is one of the best actors of his generation.

Duke Leto - Oscar Isaac >>> Jurgen Prochnow. Prochnow was not bad, but Isaac is better as an actor and the writing for Leto is so much better in the new one.

Lady Jessica - Francesca Annis >>>>> Rebecca Ferguson. I thought Rebecca Ferguson was absolutely wrong for Lady Jessica. Francesca Annis played her badass, and as someone to be feared. Ferguson is mousy and plays her practically afraid of her own shadow, so when Lady Jessica wins a couple of the confrontations in Dune 2021, it doesn't feel credible.

Gurney Hallock - Patrick Stewart > Josh Brolin. Close, but Stewart was better.

Shadout Mapes - Linda Hunt >>>> Golda Rosheuvel. There were a lot of odd directorial decisions in Dune 1984, but one of the few good ones was giving Linda Hunt a lot of screen time.

Stilgar - Javier Bardem > Everett McGill. Too early to call, although Bardem is probably going to come out ahead.

Thufir Hawat - Stephen McKinley Henderson = Freddie Jones. Both were good. Henderson has a chance to pull into the lead in Part II.

Dr. Yueh - Dean Stockwell > Chen Chang. I thought Chang was fine in the role, but the writers kind of screwed up the character in Dune 2021.

Rabban - Dave Bautista >>>>> Paul Smith. I thought Smith's Rabban was one of the worst acting jobs in the first Dune, for a role that isn't that hard. Simple competence by Bautista is a huge improvement.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The Flash. 2023. The younger version of the Flash was one of the most annoying (in a bad way) characters to have ever hit the silver screen. The older Flash is somewhat annoying but the kid takes the cake. Time travel movies are almost always sort of silly. But this one did not even bother to pretend to have reason for its complete lack of common sense. The how and why of time travel isn't even really discussed. And how Batman knows that time travel is a matrix and not a timeline is another giant leap of faith that gets nowhere.

I like big special effects action movies. And there were some decent performances and huge mega-scale fights. So I enjoyed the movie in spite of itself. But the special effects of past super heroes was C- stuff. Just awful. Like I said, I like these kind of movies so I give it a one star. But man-o-man there is a lot wrong about The Flash.

Started this. Got to the baby scene at the hospital 10 minutes in and turned it off.

Switched to The Crucifixion. Not a bad horror movie. All set and filmed in Romania which was interesting.

 

[Waquoit]

The Flash. 2023. The younger version of the Flash was one of the most annoying (in a bad way) characters to have ever hit the silver screen.

That's too bad. I was hoping they would get this one right. Kevin Smith raved about it, I guess he was just being a hype-man.

 

[Monte]

CROSSING DELANCEY....last night, on TV. Filmed in NYC

 

[dbmill]

CROSSING DELANCEY....last night, on TV. Filmed in NYC

It was on Turner Classic Movies, it seems to show up there from time to time. One of these days I'll get around to watching it.

 

[Deepster]

Watched Arrival (2016) last week with Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. Not sure how I missed that the first time around, I really enjoyed the storyline. I don't think Amy Adams is the best actress in the world, but she was fine here. The twist and overall "a ha" of it all was really well done. I found myself thinking about the movie for a couple days afterwards which is always a good indicator for me.

 

[nwhoopfan]

My take on the actors (from by 2021 post on the movie):

You forgot Sting vs. whoever. Or maybe Feyd Rautha hasn't appeared yet in the new version, I can't remember.


I'll take Sean Young as Chani over Zendaya any day. Neither of them had much to do in the movie.

 

[nwhoopfan]

And now for something completely different. Never heard of it previously, but it's newly added to streaming on Kanopy. "Too Late." A few recognizable names, John Hawkes, Natalie Zea, Dichen Lachman, Robert Forster. It was slow, very talky. Almost just a series of vignettes, although they were related. And not in sequential order. I wasn't quite sure if I was gonna stick with it, but I was curious to see if it would amount to something in the end. Good zinger of a twist I absolutely didn't see coming. Several of the characters were interesting. I'd say worth watching once anyway.

 

[HuskyHawk]

You forgot Sting vs. whoever. Or maybe Feyd Rautha hasn't appeared yet in the new version, I can't remember.


I'll take Sean Young as Chani over Zendaya any day. Neither of them had much to do in the movie.

Sean Young may be the only thing about the original that is better than the new one. It's kind of an incoherent mess. Maybe Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck. Max Von Sydow as Kynes as ok, but the new one is good too.

 

[CL82]

You forgot Sting vs. whoever. Or maybe Feyd Rautha hasn't appeared yet in the new version, I can't remember.


I'll take Sean Young as Chani over Zendaya any day. Neither of them had much to do in the movie.

Here's all the comparisons

Generally like the modern characterizations better with the exception of the lead. Timothee Chalamont lacks the physical presence that you would think you would need for Paul Atreides. Not that Kyle McLachlan was great casting either.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022)

Caught this over the weekend on Netflix.

Yet another musician biopic. It's a worthy watch it it's up your alley, but I'll grade it as "fine".

Particular shout out to Naomi Ackie (Whitney Houston), Stanley Tucci (Clive Davis) and Tamara Tunie (Houston's mom).

 

[nwhoopfan]

Here's all the comparisons

Generally like the modern characterizations better with the exception of the lead. Timothee Chalamont lacks the physical presence that you would think you would need for Paul Atreides. Not that Kyle McLachlan was great casting either.

Agreed. Chalamet still looks like he's about 12 to me. Maybe he'll grow out of that by the time he's 40?

 

[nwhoopfan]

I should add about "Too Late" that it is a neo noir. Also apparently each scene (5 of them) is a long continuous shot.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Found something on Amazon Prime that sounded interesting, never heard anything about it before. It's one of Scarlett Johansson's earlier roles (2001). "An American Rhapsody." Based on a true story. A family flees Hungary during a time of political upheaval in the 50s. The parents and older daughter make it to America, but something goes wrong with their plan and they leave their baby daughter behind. The girl is with the grandmother, but she is soon thrown in jail, so the baby ends up with foster parents out in the country (the events in the beginning of the film take place in Budapest). They raise her til she is 6, when she is finally able to join her family in California. There are several time skips, so several actresses play the younger daughter including Johansson when she is about 15. The parents are played by Tony Goldwyn and Nastassja Kinski. Emmy Rossum makes a brief appearance, as does Larisa Oleynik (the younger daughter from "10 Things I Hate About You).

I thought it was well done. Slow paced, but there was a lot of establishing characters and their history that needed to take place in order to make it all make sense. Powerful and moving.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The Nun, A Conjuring movie that doesn’t feature the Warrens. Sequel is #1 in cinemas so I watched it. Set in Romania in 1952, a Priest, Father Burke is sent by Rome to investigate a Nun’s suicide at an Abby. He’s joined by a young nun, Sister Irene’s, who has some past visions and psychic experience, played by Taissa Farmiglia. There’s an evil there, an old history and a local French Canadian farmer named Maurice “Frenchie” Theriault (played by Jonas Bloquet) helps them. Spoilers to say more. It’s not a very good movie, but if you like the overall Conjuring storyline, it’s ok.

I have a small personal connection to Frenchie, who is actually the key to this story. While at UConn, a friend from across the hall, Chris McKinnel was asked by his grandparents to check on a farmer in Mass. He asked me to drive him, because his motorcycle was in the shop at Manchester Honda (I took him there). I couldn’t due to a midterm. So someone else did. The farmer was Frenchie. I missed seeing som supernatural stuff according to the guy that drove Chris. Later Chris borrowed one of the little green bibles they handed out on campus from me and used it in Frenchie’s exorcism. He gave it back but I didn‘t want it.

 

[Palatine]

Agreed. Chalamet still looks like he's about 12 to me. Maybe he'll grow out of that by the time he's 40?

Agree. He looks like a strong wind would blow him over.

 

[CL82]

I watched Thor Love and Thunder, wow that was actually stunningly bad. Thor franchise has one of the best marvel movies, Thor Ragnarok and probably the worst, at least that I've seen, Thor Love and Thunder. It tries to recapture the snark of Ragnarok and fails miserably.

 

[dbmill]

Crazy Heart (2009) - This film about a country music musician stars Jeff Bridges and was directed by Scott Cooper. Bridges plays a guy who was once a big country music star. However, for many years he has been horribly alcoholic, and that has contributed to the downward spiral of his career. He is now reduced to performing in small town bars and similar places. He is now reduced to just trying to get by with life.

The music in this film is probably the best thing in this movie, it is very good, and Jeff Bridges does well with it. This film also features a number of other actors who do well in this film, including Maggie Gyllenhaal (playing a woman who he is trying to develop a relationship with), Colin Farrell (as another country music singer who the Bridges character was once a mentor to), and Robert Duvall.

I thought this was a very solid film, and as I mentioned before, thought the music is quite good. I suspect that T. Bone Burnett, a music producer who produced many solid music albums, also made a very nice contribution to the music in this film as well.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Crazy Heart (2009) - This film about a country music musician stars Jeff Bridges and was directed by Scott Cooper. Bridges plays a guy who was once a big country music star. However, for many years he has been horribly alcoholic, and that has contributed to the downward spiral of his career. He is now reduced to performing in small town bars and similar places. He is now reduced to just trying to get by with life.

The music in this film is probably the best thing in this movie, it is very good, and Jeff Bridges does well with it. This film also features a number of other actors who do well in this film, including Maggie Gyllenhaal (playing a woman who he is trying to develop a relationship with), Colin Farrell (as another country music singer who the Bridges character was once a mentor to), and Robert Duvall.

I thought this was a very solid film, and as I mentioned before, thought the music is quite good. I suspect that T. Bone Burnett, a music producer who produced many solid music albums, also made a very nice contribution to the music in this film as well.

It's good, other than suspending disbelief in a few instances with Maggie & Jeff. Collin Farrel was particularly good. Ryan Bingham is responsible for some of the music. The movie is dedicated to Stephen Bruton, the legendary Texas musician, and a lifelong friend of Burnett's, wrote or co-wrote most of the original music performed by Bridges and Ryan Bingham. Collin Farrel is also actually singing here. The best song is "Fallin' & Flying" which shows up twice, once with Farrel and Bridges, once just Bridges.