Recently Watched Movies 2024

[storrsroars]

Unfrosted (2024) Much ballybooed Jerry Seinfeld vehicle. He co-wrote, directed and stars. Not very funny. First, it looks like it was shot in an assisted living home. Most of the main cast is either 70 or older. Amy Schumer, at a spry 42, drags down the average age. There are few kids in minor roles. If you haven't heard, it is a fictionalized version of the invention of the Pop Tart. It's silly. There are a few clever moments but not enough to justify anyone siting through it. My wife walked out about half an hour into the story (and we were in bed). Seinfeld is a funny guy, his series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is terrific. He can't act. He cannot carry a movie. Half of one star.

I already reviewed it on the previous page, but given another day to think about it, I believe what really annoyed me was that they were certainly capable of writing some great bits for this flick (Mad Men/Jan 6th parodies, Hugh Grant's character), but that was not even 10% of the movie. It's like they didn't even try on the other 90%, or they were all high and giggling at the juvenile jokes. Gaffigan didn't have a funny line, Schumer didn't have a funny line, Seinfeld himself only had a couple, Fred Arminsen had nothing to work with, and so on. The only comedian who was actually funny was Bill Burr.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I had zero interest to begin with, but the reviews above have definitely convinced me I want nothing to do with Unfrosted.

 

[HuskyHawk]

In The Land of Saints and Sinners. Stars Liam Neesom as Finbar Murphy, an assassin for hire in Donegal, Ireland. It’s the 70s and The Troubles roil Northern Ireland. Kerry Condon is brilliant as Doireann McCann and IRA leader who takes her crew to hide in the Donegal town where Finbar lives after a bomb attack goes wrong. Ciaran Hynds is Finbar’s friend and the local Garda. Both served in WWII, despite Irish neutrality. The Director is Clint Eastwood‘s longtime producer and this has some parallels to Unforgiven in particular. Jack Gleason (was Joffrey Baratheon) has a nice role as a younger assassin, and brings the same creepy energy. This is well shot, well acted and has a classic Western redemption tale of the gunslinger defending the town from something worse. Condon is really particularly good, just radiating a cold malice, like a Cobra ready to strike.

 

[Palatine]

In The Land of Saints and Sinners. Stars Liam Neesom as Finbar Murphy, an assassin for hire in Donegal, Ireland. It’s the 70s and The Troubles roil Northern Ireland. Kerry Condon is brilliant as Doireann McCann and IRA leader who takes her crew to hide in the Donegal town where Finbar lives after a bomb attack goes wrong. Ciaran Hynds is Finbar’s friend and the local Garda. Both served in WWII, despite Irish neutrality. The Director is Clint Eastwood‘s longtime producer and this has some parallels to Unforgiven in particular. Jack Gleason (was Joffrey Baratheon) has a nice role as a younger assassin, and brings the same creepy energy. This is well shot, well acted and has a classic Western redemption tale of the gunslinger defending the town from something worse. Condon is really particularly good, just radiating a cold malice, like a Cobra ready to strike.

How many of these is Neeson pumping out per year? I'm a sucker for these types of movies (I'm sure I'll watch this one too). He certainly has the formula. But goodness gracious.

 

[HuskyHawk]

How many of these is Neeson pumping out per year? I'm a sucker for these types of movies (I'm sure I'll watch this one too). He certainly has the formula. But goodness gracious.

This is honestly a level above his other ones. It’s not just the usual from him. This is more thoughtful and the acting and writing is good all around.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Pamela, A Love Story

I didn’t expect my wife to pick this one out on Friday night, but it was interesting as Pamela Anderson’s past trauma and family dynamics set the stage for her life, career and philanthropy. I found her very interesting, likable and she is much more intelligent than expected.

 

[DRBackup]

Watched "Unfrosted" (Netflix), just released today. It's a broad comedy about the creation of Pop-Tarts, co-written and directed by Jerry Seinfeld. I found the first half to be extremely lame comedy-wise. The writing was bad, and we all know Jerry can't act, unless it's being Jerry. I was ready to be severely disappointed given the cast, which featured many well-known comics. The only redemption in the first half was Hugh Grant playing a failed Shakespearean actor who paid his bills by playing Tony the Tiger.

But then the second half happened, and it was far more inspired. Although the overall plotline was still juvenile and stupid, there were some terrific bits featuring Bill Burr as JFK, an unexpected and funny Mad Men subplot, featuring Jon Hamm and John Slattery, and a sendup of Jan 6th, except it's striking cereal mascots overtaking Kellogg's HQ.

If you can make it through the mostly unfunny first half, the second half makes it worth the watch.

Phenomenal Gen X nostalgia. Favorite line was "Uh oh... spaghettios"

 

[DRBackup]

Unfrosted (2024) Much ballybooed Jerry Seinfeld vehicle. He co-wrote, directed and stars. Not very funny. First, it looks like it was shot in an assisted living home. Most of the main cast is either 70 or older. Amy Schumer, at a spry 42, drags down the average age. There are few kids in minor roles. If you haven't heard, it is a fictionalized version of the invention of the Pop Tart. It's silly. There are a few clever moments but not enough to justify anyone siting through it. My wife walked out about half an hour into the story (and we were in bed). Seinfeld is a funny guy, his series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is terrific. He can't act. He cannot carry a movie. Half of one star.

Take every word of this and write the opposite. That's my review. Hilarious.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"The Stranger" (2024), not to be confused with various other things with the same title. Starring Maika Monroe, Dane DeHaan and Avan Jogia. Apparently this is recut from a 2020 tv series, which I never saw. On Hulu. Paranoid cat and mouse thriller. Keeps the tension up fairly well throughout, although it got a little annoying because DeHaan seemed to be nearly omnipresent and all knowing. His motivation never made any sense to me either. I'm a fan of Monroe's. She seems to mostly gravitate toward horror or horror adjacent throughout her career. I like Jogia too. DeHaan once upon a time was saddled with the title of "next big thing." Of course it didn't work out, it usually doesn't.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Per above, have to add a note about the ending, Kinda irked me, one of my most hated tropes.

I freaking hate the blood thirsty wild animals kill everything routine. So stupid. So in this the heroine turns the tables on the baddie, causes him to have a car accident that maims him, then leaves him to die in the LA river. Mere moments later a killer pack of coyotes shows up to finish the job. They teased the killer coyotes earlier. I think almost every major city (as well as suburbs, rural, and every other imaginable habitat) in the U.S. has coyotes. They never kill people. So stupid! They will take out your cats or dogs though.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Anyone But You. Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell. Rom com. The two leads meet, have a fun night, really like each other then screw it up. Sweeney’s sister is dating Powell’s friend (female but it doesn’t matter). Then they get married in Australia and Sweeney and Powell who think they hate each other are thrust together. You know what happens. Lots of very good looking people in this, not just the leads. There are a few laughs and it’s reasonably fun.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Couple days ago caught most of "Forbidden Planet' on tv. Believe it or not I'd never seen it before. I understand it's one of the formative sci fi movies. Has held up reasonably well for something from 1956. Anne Francis...wow. A very young Leslie Nielsen too.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Dunkirk. Rewatch on the big screen ($5 tickets), well worth it. This movie just gets better with repeat watching and you appreciate the way Nolan synchronizes the three time periods and then has them all intersect. The acting is stellar and it has so many big names in small roles. This time, Tom Hardy really stood out to me. He's in an aviation helmet and goggles all movie, and yet his eyes and voice convey so much. It's an inspired telling of an inspirational moment in history.

For those interested, there's a very good museum near the beach. The beach itself is really pretty amazing.

 

[dbmill]

Couple days ago caught most of "Forbidden Planet' on tv. Believe it or not I'd never seen it before. I understand it's one of the formative sci fi movies. Has held up reasonably well for something from 1956. Anne Francis...wow. A very young Leslie Nielsen too.

"Forbidden Planet" has been one of my favorite sci fi films for a long long time now, my wife loves that movie as well. My wife is also something of a Walter Pigeon fan, and he does quite well in this movie.

"Forbidden Planet" shows up on TCM from time to time, I'm guessing that is where you saw it. When not watching sporting events, TCM is probably the most watched TV channel in our house.

 

[storrsroars]

Dunkirk. Rewatch on the big screen ($5 tickets), well worth it. This movie just gets better with repeat watching and you appreciate the way Nolan synchronizes the three time periods and then has them all intersect. The acting is stellar and it has so many big names in small roles. This time, Tom Hardy really stood out to me. He's in an aviation helmet and goggles all movie, and yet his eyes and voice convey so much. It's an inspired telling of an inspirational moment in history.

For those interested, there's a very good museum near the beach. The beach itself is really pretty amazing.

I need to rewatch this. Saw it in a theatre, but I had no idea of the three time periods being intertwined going in. By time my wife and I realized that was happening, we were probably 2/3 of the way thru, so a lot was lost on us.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Mean Girls 2024 - I watched this on an airplane the first time and thought "meh". Watched it a second time (also on an airplane), and it is surprisingly pretty good. It is a musical, which is actually a pretty good idea for a movie about teenage girls destroying each other. The songs keep the movie moving along so the remake has less dead time than the original. The remake is just fun.

My only minor complaint about the remake is the way it handles the Janis Ian (Janis 'Imi"ike in 2024 version) character. Janis is arguably the meanest girl in the original, effectively the puppet master of an elaborate plot that results in the entire school turning on itself. In MG 2024, Janis is worse in some ways, because she is more upfront about her desire to destroy Regina and more obviously manipulative of Cady, but then there is a song near the end that seems to make it out like Janis is the victim. I liked that the original was completely unapologetic about ALL the girls' terrible behavior, not just the Plastics.

The Plastics (Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried) and Lizzie Kaplan were so good in the original Mean Girls, I thought it would not be fair to cast a new set of actresses in what are truly iconic roles, but Tina Fey did a pretty good job overall. Renee Rapp is over the top, which is fine in a musical and for Regina George. Auli'i Cravalho and Avantika are really good as Janis and Karen. Bebe Wood is just ok as Gretchen. But, Angourie Rice is a HUGE upgrade over Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron. Lohan is a terrible actress with her breathy line delivery and dead face, while Rice has a really expressive face and is much more relatable. Rice's demeanor changes during the movie as she becomes more powerful in the school so it is more believable when she takes power from Regina. The original was just such a good movie that people look past how terrible Lohan was in the leading role. I think Rice is going to be a big star.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I need to rewatch this. Saw it in a theatre, but I had no idea of the three time periods being intertwined going in. By time my wife and I realized that was happening, we were probably 2/3 of the way thru, so a lot was lost on us.

It was confusing at first, but as you rewatch it, it's really some brilliant storytelling as those threads weave together. I was somewhat surprised that the theater was half full for this on a rainy Wednesday night.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Mean Girls 2024 - I watched this on an airplane the first time and thought "meh". Watched it a second time (also on an airplane), and it is surprisingly pretty good. It is a musical, which is actually a pretty good idea for a movie about teenage girls destroying each other. The songs keep the movie moving along so the remake has less dead time than the original. The remake is just fun.

My only minor complaint about the remake is the way it handles the Janis Ian (Janis 'Imi"ike in 2024 version) character. Janis is arguably the meanest girl in the original, effectively the puppet master of an elaborate plot that results in the entire school turning on itself. In MG 2024, Janis is worse in some ways, because she is more upfront about her desire to destroy Regina and more obviously manipulative of Cady, but then there is a song near the end that seems to make it out like Janis is the victim. I liked that the original was completely unapologetic about ALL the girls' terrible behavior, not just the Plastics.

The Plastics (Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried) and Lizzie Kaplan were so good in the original Mean Girls, I thought it would not be fair to cast a new set of actresses in what are truly iconic roles, but Tina Fey did a pretty good job overall. Renee Rapp is over the top, which is fine in a musical and for Regina George. Auli'i Cravalho and Avantika are really good as Janis and Karen. Bebe Wood is just ok as Gretchen. But, Angourie Rice is a HUGE upgrade over Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron. Lohan is a terrible actress with her breathy line delivery and dead face, while Rice has a really expressive face and is much more relatable. Rice's demeanor changes during the movie as she becomes more powerful in the school so it is more believable when she takes power from Regina. The original was just such a good movie that people look past how terrible Lohan was in the leading role. I think Rice is going to be a big star.

I've been waffling over whether to watch this. Not a fan of musicals generally speaking. I have been a fan of Rice for quite a while now, that would be the biggest draw. When she held her own with Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe when she was only 13 or so (The Nice Guys), I figured she was bound for big things. Her rise in the film industry has been a lot slower than I thought it would be. She was good in Ladies in Black but I don't think anybody saw that. Absolutely wasted in all 3 of the Tom Holland Spider Man movies.

 

[Deepster]

Mean Girls 2024 - I watched this on an airplane the first time and thought "meh". Watched it a second time (also on an airplane), and it is surprisingly pretty good. It is a musical, which is actually a pretty good idea for a movie about teenage girls destroying each other. The songs keep the movie moving along so the remake has less dead time than the original. The remake is just fun.

My only minor complaint about the remake is the way it handles the Janis Ian (Janis 'Imi"ike in 2024 version) character. Janis is arguably the meanest girl in the original, effectively the puppet master of an elaborate plot that results in the entire school turning on itself. In MG 2024, Janis is worse in some ways, because she is more upfront about her desire to destroy Regina and more obviously manipulative of Cady, but then there is a song near the end that seems to make it out like Janis is the victim. I liked that the original was completely unapologetic about ALL the girls' terrible behavior, not just the Plastics.

The Plastics (Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried) and Lizzie Kaplan were so good in the original Mean Girls, I thought it would not be fair to cast a new set of actresses in what are truly iconic roles, but Tina Fey did a pretty good job overall. Renee Rapp is over the top, which is fine in a musical and for Regina George. Auli'i Cravalho and Avantika are really good as Janis and Karen. Bebe Wood is just ok as Gretchen. But, Angourie Rice is a HUGE upgrade over Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron. Lohan is a terrible actress with her breathy line delivery and dead face, while Rice has a really expressive face and is much more relatable. Rice's demeanor changes during the movie as she becomes more powerful in the school so it is more believable when she takes power from Regina. The original was just such a good movie that people look past how terrible Lohan was in the leading role. I think Rice is going to be a big star.

As the father of a 20 yr old girl, I have seen the original, the Broadway play and the remade movie. Unfortunately, I put the remade movie 3rd behind the play and the original movie. I do agree the new Cady was worlds better than Lohan though. I think the times took some edge away from of the jokes and little things. For instance, in the new one? Regina really doesn't gain a noticeable amount of weight. And all the groups now have proper "racially friendly representation". Feels like they lost a bit of the bite.

 

[Waquoit]

This time, Tom Hardy really stood out to me. He's in an aviation helmet and goggles all movie, and yet his eyes and voice convey so much.

His work as Bane gave him the experience to pull off the role.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I don't watch documentaries very often. Just finished one I found intriguing. "Sisters with Transistors" about female early pioneers of electronic music. I didn't know any of the names of the featured artists. Pretty crazy seeing the kind of equipment they were working with in the early days. Interesting dovetail that the score for "Forbidden Planet" was part of this, which I just watched last week. I did find myself thinking much of it was more like what you would hear in the background in a movie or tv show rather than a song you would just sit and listen to.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Not the typical Guy Ritchie movie, it's funny in spots, but that's not the focus. Lots of big names, Henry Cavill as Gus March-Phillips, Eliza Gonzalez (maybe miscast a bit) as Marjorie Stewart, Alan Ritchson and others. This tells the somewhat true story of Operation Postmaster uncovered when Churchill's private documents were unsealed in 2016. The Germans are dominating the Atlantic with U-Boats and bombing London. The U.S. supplies are being lost crossing the Atlantic and we won't send troops. So Churchill authorizes a special force to destroy the critical supplies the German U-Boats need to operate (including CO2 filters) at a Spanish controlled island off of West Africa called Fernando Po. Ian Flemming was involved in this operation back in London, and reportedly based James Bond on March-Phillips. It's an enjoyable tale with enjoyable characters, just a fun well made movie.

Critical and audience response was very positive and yet it bombed at the box office so is streaming and for sale early. I was prepared to see it at the cinema last night when I realized it was gone, so I paid $24 to buy it.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Only halfway watching it, it's on TV fairly often. Mark Wahlberg remake of Planet of the Apes (2001) is pretty dumb, but my goodness Estella Warren looked good. That alone almost makes it worth watching. Some big name actors playing various ape characters.

 

[Dove]

Ready Or Not (2019) - A surprisingly entertaing movie. As as new bride entering into a new family, she has to follow a tradition with the fam by playing a game. The name of the game is on a card she pulls...and it's the worst card possible. She pulls the wrong game...Hide and Seek. Thus, she hides and the family has until dawn to kill her. They fail.

 

[Waquoit]

I read a rave about The Kid Detective, an indy about a grown-up Encyclopedia Brown who's past peak. It's a murder mystery plus, I really liked it. I felt funny paying a rental fee when I have a number of subscriptions but it was worth it.