Recently Watched Movies 2023 | Page 17 | The Boneyard

Recently Watched Movies 2023

HuskyHawk said:
The Holdovers. Stars Paul Giamatti as a boarding school teacher stuck with the “holdovers” who have nowhere to go during the holidays.
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I really liked this one. If Giamatti wins the Oscar it would be fine by me. He really knows how to use his face. Did I tell you I liked this one?
 
Ghosted. Ana DeArmas and Chris Evans, with several others and a fun cameo by Ryan Reynolds. It’s a rom-com with a mix of James Bond action and it’s quite enjoyable. Apple+.
 
Napoleon (2023) For some reason, it seems impossible to make a good movie centered on Napoleon. This one is pretty bad. Scott, who's films are famous for their brilliant cinematography, gives us dull dark palette that that makes the entire film gloomy.

Phoenix, at 49 is simply too old to play Bonaparte, who died at 51 after six years of exile. We never believe he is an ambitious young man with an insatiable thirst for power especially since he sleepwalks through the lead.

The battles are gory but unemotional. The narrative makes Napoleon's life seem like a series of barely connected vignettes. It's too long. Comments heard walking out of the theater, "what a waste," "garbage," you get the idea. One star.
 
Palatine said:
Napoleon (2023) For some reason, it seems impossible to make a good movie centered on Napoleon. This one is pretty bad. Scott, who's films are famous for their brilliant cinematography, gives us dull dark palette that that makes the entire film gloomy.

Phoenix, at 49 is simply too old to play Bonaparte, who died at 51 after six years of exile. We never believe he is an ambitious young man with an insatiable thirst for power especially since he sleepwalks through the lead.

The battles are gory but unemotional. The narrative makes Napoleon's life seem like a series of barely connected vignettes. It's too long. Comments heard walking out of the theater, "what a waste," "garbage," you get the idea. One star.
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The movie was basically like a Wikipedia of Napoleon’s life. A bunch of events but no narrative connecting it all. Ridley Scott is so over.

The best movie about Napoleon is Waterloo. Which is a real sleeper.

It was filmed in Ukraine during the ‘70s and it used like 20,000 extras from the Russian Army.

Rod Steiger is Napoleon and Christopher Plummer is Wellington.

You can watch it on YouTube for free and it’s a high quality version.
 
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Blue Beetle. This was pretty bad. It is set in some fake city like Miami. Could have been fun if it wasn’t so absurdly political. Like Che Guevara made a superhero movie. Stars the kid from Cobra Kai as the hero and Susan Sarandon as the bad guy. She looks 30 years younger than she is, so maybe some digital help there.
 
HuskyHawk said:
She looks 30 years younger than she is, so maybe some digital help there.
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She looked more than 30 years younger when she played her own daughter in the Avatar sequel. All CGI of course.
 
Godzilla: Minus One. This was really very good. It has a lot of depth and some great cinematic nods to other films, notably Jaws. It starts at the end of WWII and our protagonist first encounters Godzilla on a small island. He survIves and returns to what’s left of Tokyo. You get a really interesting view of post war Japan and the struggles of the people there. He meets a young woman (the adorable Minami Hamabe) who is with a small baby. I won’t provide more spoilers but it explores the feelings of guilt and helplessness the Japanese experienced in WWII. Later there is some soul searching from a wise character about the failures of the empire. A critical scene near the end seems to symbolically represent the death of the empire and the beginning of a new Japan. That’s probably the largest overall message but there are many here. Japanese with English subtitles, which is actually easier for me since I usually get the closed caption glasses.
 
Violent Night (2022) - David Harbour does well playing a messed-up Santa who is taking a break on Christmas Eve. That break is at a home where 300M is targeted for a robbery. Beverly D'Angelo and John Leguizamo also star.

Entertaining.
 
Dove said:
Violent Night (2022) - David Harbour does well playing a messed-up Santa who is taking a break on Christmas Eve. That break is at a home where 300M is targeted for a robbery. Beverly D'Angelo and John Leguizamo also star.

Entertaining.
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I thought this one was fun.
 
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Watched this on Netflix over the weekend. Not great, but engaging enough and quite unsettling at times. The book, which I read a couple of years ago, was pretty good as well.

 
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Dove said:
Violent Night (2022) - David Harbour does well playing a messed-up Santa who is taking a break on Christmas Eve. That break is at a home where 300M is targeted for a robbery. Beverly D'Angelo and John Leguizamo also star.

Entertaining.
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Watched this on a plane in May. Was a lot of fun. Agree with the posts on Napoleon. My French revolution history is a blur at this point but I had a hard time understanding the context of the battles. They spent like 45 minutes on his relationship with his wife and then the other half in battles without really making sense of the why
 
nwhoopfan said:
She looked more than 30 years younger when she played her own daughter in the Avatar sequel. All CGI of course.
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Wasn't that Sigourney Weaver?
 
HuskyHawk said:
Godzilla: Minus One. This was really very good. It has a lot of depth and some great cinematic nods to other films, notably Jaws. It starts at the end of WWII and our protagonist first encounters Godzilla on a small island. He survIves and returns to what’s left of Tokyo. You get a really interesting view of post war Japan and the struggles of the people there. He meets a young woman (the adorable Minami Hamabe) who is with a small baby. I won’t provide more spoilers but it explores the feelings of guilt and helplessness the Japanese experienced in WWII. Later there is some soul searching from a wise character about the failures of the empire. A critical scene near the end seems to symbolically represent the death of the empire and the beginning of a new Japan. That’s probably the largest overall message but there are many here. Japanese with English subtitles, which is actually easier for me since I usually get the closed caption glasses.
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This was VERY good. The less you know before you see the movie the better.
 
ZooCougar said:
This was VERY good. The less you know before you see the movie the better.
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Saw Killers of the Flower Moon a few days ago. This is quite a bit better than that and it will probably get a best picture nomination.
 
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Bomber36 said:
Watched this on Netflix over the weekend. Not great, but engaging enough and quite unsettling at times. The book, which I read a couple of years ago, was pretty good as well.

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I watched it this weekend and really liked it. Great cast and great acting. Cool, weird storyline. Definitely kept me interested and engaged the entire time.
 
Leave the world behind. I am getting hip to the Netflix production style of basically shooting a small movie and adding in 10 million dollars of special effects to make it look expensive. Somebody in finance is riding herd on these productions. Way too slow and light on action for me. It's all very well done, tight script, top talent, nice cinematography, good editing. But it was all a bit pointless and drawn out. One star.


Godzilla Minus One. Haven't seen it. Want to. It looks like someone -finally- decided after 60 year to take Godzilla serious. The trailer was promising as is reading these BY reviews.
 
Palatine said:
Leave the world behind. I am getting hip to the Netflix production style of basically shooting a small movie and adding in 10 million dollars of special effects to make it look expensive. Somebody in finance is riding herd on these productions. Way too slow and light on action for me. It's all very well done, tight script, top talent, nice cinematography, good editing. But it was all a bit pointless and drawn out. One star.


Godzilla Minus One. Haven't seen it. Want to. It looks like someone -finally- decided after 60 year to take Godzilla serious. The trailer was promising as is reading these BY reviews.
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I just finished 'LTWB'. I love Sam Esmail's directorial style so if you enjoyed the 'Mr. Robot' series you'll love it. I thought it was superb although I can how the pacing might irk some people.

If you're looking for action I suggest the Netflix series 'Obliterated'. Don't say I didn't warn you though.

My NFLX top 5 movies:

1) 'All Quiet on the Western Front'
2) 'The Irishman'
3) 'The Pale Blue Eye'
4) 'Leave the World Behind'
5) 'The Killer'

Bonus shout out to 'Army of the Dead', which was its own special kind of chaotic awesomeness.
 
Already reviewed but here is my further take FWIW:

Napoleon: Ridley Scott's Waterloo.

You don't need to have taken AP European History to know that the two most compelling parts of Napoleon's legacy. The invasion of Russia was a military disaster of the highest order, it's so bad that it almost eclipses Randy Edsall's second stint at UConn. His subsequent escape from exile and reforming an Army seemingly from nothing was a comeback story for the ages; then he blows it all all at Waterloo. The whole thing is stranger than fiction. The man was larger than life whose successes were balanced by some amazing failures.

Does Ridley make this movie? No. He makes a freaking love story. And it just doesn't work.

It's so bad that you can that Phoenix really has no idea how to play the role and even admitted as such. Instead he just kind of does Phoenix things. And it unintentionally becomes a comedy. Whether it's the strange way he comes onto Josephine, or his line to the British: "You think you are so great because you have so many boats!". You will dislike the movie but you will laugh two or three times and if not then you will cringe.

You have no idea why the British and the French are fighting. You have no idea why the Russians turn on Napoleon. The Battle of Austerlitz, which is probably the most stunning battlefield victory, maybe ever is reduced to a ripoff of the 1930's Alexander Nevsky.

The final battle of Waterloo has a few nice touches. The Prussian General has no idea where he is and when asked he just shouts "Officer!". The messengers on horseback were kind of cool. But you could tell the battle was fought in fake rain. You don't even really see the Old Guard getting surprised by British hidden regiments which was what the knockout punch was truly.
 
Such a shame about ‘Napoleon”, but not a big surprise. Every time Hollywood tackles history, it turns into a terrible romance. See “Titanic” and ‘Pearl Harbor” as two not so shining examples. ”Real” history vs “Reel” history has always been a challenge for those folks.
 
Finally watched a movie from the early 2000s that I was kind of curious about but just never got around to--"Don't Say A Word." Decent thriller, kept some tension, went a bit off the rails at the end like many movies of that type tend to do. Really good cast--Michael Douglas, Sean Bean, Oliver Platt, Brittany Murphy, Famke Janssen, Jennifer Esposito.
 
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Don't Worry Darling (2022) - Watched this on Netflix last night. I've heard it compared to The Stepford Wives and I think that's a pretty good comparison. Harry Styles is married to Florence Pugh and it's directed by Olivia Wilde. I went back to the 2022 post and agree Harry Styles was super weak, Florence Pugh almost carried him regardless and while I liked the last 30-40 minutes, there were a lot of plot holes.

Like.....who were the guys in red suits? Were they real? And spoiler alert....why would it impact you if you died in Victory?
 
Deepster said:
Don't Worry Darling (2022) - Watched this on Netflix last night. I've heard it compared to The Stepford Wives and I think that's a pretty good comparison. Harry Styles is married to Florence Pugh and it's directed by Olivia Wilde. I went back to the 2022 post and agree Harry Styles was super weak, Florence Pugh almost carried him regardless and while I liked the last 30-40 minutes, there were a lot of plot holes.

Like.....who were the guys in red suits? Were they real? And spoiler alert....why would it impact you if you died in Victory?
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Think all of that is pretty much on the money. Nice try but this ain't hand grenades.
 
Impuratus. Stars Tom Sizemore in his last role I believe. Set in early 20th century. A police detective (Sizemore) is summoned to a mental hospital to witness a mysterious Civil War veteran's bizarre death-bed confession. The confession is read and the movie goes back to that time when it is. Supernatural thriller. It has tension and is mildly scary at times, but it meanders, and I found the ending didn't really conclude anything. The premise is interesting but it just became a bit boring.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Saw Killers of the Flower Moon a few days ago. This is quite a bit better than that and it will probably get a best picture nomination.
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I felt like it was miscast with DeNiro and DiCaprio. I liked the book quite a bit though.
 
CL82 said:
I felt like it was miscast with DeNiro and DiCaprio. I liked the book quite a bit though.
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My wife loved the book. I think Scorcese just included his two favorites and fired his editor so it became a slog. He added a lot of scenes not in the book.
 
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Long and slow. I liked a lot of the scenery and effects but after watching it over a few evenings, it didn't seem like all that great a movie. Blade Runner was so unique at the time and this version didn't seem to offer anything new. I thought it was kind of boring.
 
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