Recently Watched Movies 2024

[ZooCougar]

Well, Dune 2 opening weekend was double Dune 1. $81.5 mil, by far the best opening for a movie in months, I would guess the best of 2024 so far. Box office has mostly been anemic this year.

Maybe the best sequel since that Godfather Part 2.

 

[CL82]

They disappeared off Prime before I had a chance to watch the other one. I have seen, but it was a long time ago.

I think it's on Hulu.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Rewatched X2. Don't know why. Bryan Singer directs, usual solid cast of actors (older ones so Rebecca Romijn not J-Law as Mystique). This is probably the best of the X-Men movies, touching on real issues. It's a big too long and could use some editing. If you want a decent action movie, it fits the bill.

 

[Palatine]

Aquaman 2. Yeah, I watched it. Huge superhero movie making. They probably used the computing power of some countries to produce the visuals. Amber Heard is phenomenal (just kidding). No one is even close to great in this movie. But it doesn't pretend to anything it is not. They didn't take this effort too seriously and even poked fun at themselves. The thing is so crazy and over the top, you kind just get used to it. Sort of. If you like crab jokes about crabs losing a claw, you'll love this movie. Otherwise it's brainless, formula, CG fun. And, yeah, it's a bad movie. One star.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Aquaman 2. Yeah, I watched it. Huge superhero movie making. They probably used the computing power of some countries to produce the visuals. Amber Heard is phenomenal (just kidding). No one is even close to great in this movie. But it doesn't pretend to anything it is not. They didn't take this effort too seriously and even poked fun at themselves. The thing is so crazy and over the top, you kind just get used to it. Sort of. If you like crab jokes about crabs losing a claw, you'll love this movie. Otherwise it's brainless, formula, CG fun. And, yeah, it's a bad movie. One star.

This is what I considered watching and decided on X2 instead. Amber Heard will undoubtedly look good at least. I do generally like Momoa.

 

[storrsroars]

I watched Enough Said (2013) for the first time on Hulu. This movie got great reviews, and it was a good movie, not great. The acting carried a spotty plot. I really like Katherine Keener as an actress, and Gandolfini was decent, although the reviews were a bit overblown. There wasn't much to his part, so it was not deserving of awards despite what reviewers said right after he died. Despite the plot problems, it kept my attention. Although, it suffered from a common problem with romcoms, which is for the plot to work, one or both of the leads has to do things that are not nice, and I end up turning on the character when they do.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is really good at playing a very unpleasant narcissist, so that is what she does every time. And that was my problem with this movie. By the end, you don't want JLD's character to find happiness, because she is a rotten person at her core. I don't know if that was deliberate, or JLD played it that way which made me hate her by the end of the movie.

I enjoyed it. My take on JLD's character was more than she was very insecure, not rotten to the core. But you must've been happy watching her have to lug that mat up the stairs at least. Gandofini was fine, but for me, his best movie work remains "The Mexican".

 

[superjohn]

You guys watch some horrible movies.

 

[HuskyHawk]

You guys watch some horrible movies.

Already watched all the good ones.

 

[storrsroars]

Already watched all the good ones.

That's when it's time for documentaries, long-form YT interviews, or a good book.

 

[storrsroars]

I finally broke down and watched Dune (2021) last night. Sci-Fantasy is not my thing, but I figured with the new one coming out, I ought to at least be able to nominally participate in conversation about the thing. I went in already jaded as I have little use for actors who don't know how to spell Timothy, or one-named actresses. Pretentious A.F. But I gave it a go. From what I understand from the little bit of research I did on it, it's supposed to be more about humanity and civilization than technological wizardry. I can't say I came away with that as the main point of the exercise. After a slow start, it did hold my interest, and probably enough to dive into the 2nd one when it hits streaming, but it didn't "wow" me.

 

[Bomber36]

Watched “Spaceman“ with Adam Sandler on Netflix. All I’ll say is it was a slog. Not terrible, just a bit slow.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Napoleon. Joaquin Phoenix looking older and more worn than he is as the Corsican. Vanessa Kirby is enchanting and stunning as Josephine Bonapart. The scenery is nice. The battle scenes well orchestrated. It’s a personal look at the man who fought many wars that probably shouldn’t have been fought and the hubris that drive him to it. He comes across as someone who needed to get his kicked as a younger man. It’s not a bad film, but it’s boring in stretches and has no real story arc.

There is no living director that does big battle scenes as well as Ridley Scott, and the Austerlitz scene was incredible. But I agree that there was no story arc. Kirby is very distinctive looking, but I am not sure she was that great in the role. Josephine treated him like crap, and the Emperor of Europe stayed with her because...reasons? It is also unclear why they maintained a correspondence after their divorce because it seemed like they couldn't stand each other.

My feeling is if a studio is going to do an epic, go all in. Make a 3 and a half hour movie. Otherwise, we don't get to know the peripheral characters, many of whom are important in the plot. Talleyrand is one of the most interesting and important people of that era, and other than him acting like a deutch in a few scenes, I doubt many of those who watched the movie have any idea which character he was. The Czar of Russia and Emperor of Austria were very unique people whose reaction to Napoleon changed history, and they got almost no screen time.

 

[Bomber36]

I think it's on Hulu.

Also available on Max.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Dune 2. At the cinema. It was quite good. I was watching and knew what was coming. I thought, did I somehow see a sneak preview? No, I forgot I read the book. So they tracked pretty closely with the book. Some deviations but not significant. Could it have been 15 minutes shorter? Yes. I don't have many complaints but the transformation of Paul to the Lisan al Gaib, is a bit rushed. It's slower in the book. They focus on him resisting what he knows and then he's all in and it happens at breakneck speed. Doesn't feel quite right. Still a really well done film and adaptation.

 

[ZooCougar]

Napoleon. Joaquin Phoenix looking older and more worn than he is as the Corsican. Vanessa Kirby is enchanting and stunning as Josephine Bonapart. The scenery is nice. The battle scenes well orchestrated. It’s a personal look at the man who fought many wars that probably shouldn’t have been fought and the hubris that drive him to it. He comes across as someone who needed to get his kicked as a younger man. It’s not a bad film, but it’s boring in stretches and has no real story arc.

I think it was a bad movie. Austerlitz wasn’t even remotely historically accurate. It was just Ridley Scott providing a wild interpretation of Napoleon with a bunch of disconnected events from his life.

You could pretty much tell that Phoenix was mailing it in. He even said it as much in the interviews. He didn’t know how to play the role.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I think it was a bad movie. Austerlitz wasn’t even remotely historically accurate. It was just Ridley Scott providing a wild interpretation of Napoleon with a bunch of disconnected events from his life.

You could pretty much tell that Phoenix was mailing it in. He even said it as much in the interviews. He didn’t know how to play the role.

I didn't realize that battle was a great victory for the Austrians and Russians. Thank you for clearing that up.

If you are referring to the lake disaster, the events are disputed. There were reports of the French doing an analysis of the events of the battle immediately afterward that showed light casualties from drowning, although Napoleon had reason to downplay the magnitude of Allied casualties at the time since he was trying to make peace with Austria and Russia and slaughtering retreating troops during an era that still had the residual cultural norms of chivalry and where quarter to defeated foes was expected, would not play well across Europe. Czar Alexander himself claims to have witnessed 20,000 Russians die on some frozen body of water. While that number is likely wildly overstated, it is not likely the Czar would want to deliberately exaggerate what was a crushing and humiliating defeat for him. Some meaningful number of Russians drowned trying to escape from that battle.

The fact that Ridley Scott did not cover every possible aspect of the battle in a 10 minutes scene also does not make the scene not "remotely historically accurate". Thousands of Austrians getting lost in the fog until they were surrounded and had to surrender does not result in great movie making, even though that was a significant part of the Allied casualties.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Well I was correct about "Ricky Stanicky"--it was both incredibly dumb, but pretty funny too. John Cena just goes all in for his role. Interesting that as an action star he's kinda meh, but he shines in comedy. I guess there's a fair bit of comedy with the roles wrestlers take on for their promos and developing their personas. Also stars Zac Efron, some nobodies, William H. Macy, and a cameo by Jeff Ross. Oh yeah, and Anja Savcic from Loudermilk. It's one of those stories where layers of lies get built upon more lies, that kind of premise I usually find frustrating.

 

[Deepster]

This is what I considered watching and decided on X2 instead. Amber Heard will undoubtedly look good at least. I do generally like Momoa.

I’m about ready for the Jason Momoa era to go away.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I’m about ready for the Jason Momoa era to go away.

Have you seen See? Liked him in that.

 

[ZooCougar]

I didn't realize that battle was a great victory for the Austrians and Russians. Thank you for clearing that up.

If you are referring to the lake disaster, the events are disputed. There were reports of the French doing an analysis of the events of the battle immediately afterward that showed light casualties from drowning, although Napoleon had reason to downplay the magnitude of Allied casualties at the time since he was trying to make peace with Austria and Russia and slaughtering retreating troops during an era that still had the residual cultural norms of chivalry and where quarter to defeated foes was expected, would not play well across Europe. Czar Alexander himself claims to have witnessed 20,000 Russians die on some frozen body of water. While that number is likely wildly overstated, it is not likely the Czar would want to deliberately exaggerate what was a crushing and humiliating defeat for him. Some meaningful number of Russians drowned trying to escape from that battle.

The fact that Ridley Scott did not cover every possible aspect of the battle in a 10 minutes scene also does not make the scene not "remotely historically accurate". Thousands of Austrians getting lost in the fog until they were surrounded and had to surrender does not result in great movie making, even though that was a significant part of the Allied casualties.

Nelson….

It depicts the ENTIRE battle taking place on a frozen lake.

In truth there likely wasn’t even a frozen lake. And it missed the entire reason why the Battle of Austerlitz was so amazing

Napoleon and Wellington never met in real life

Napoleon never fired on the pyramids

The whole move is a BS sandwich and it received brutal reviews.

 

[Deepster]

Have you seen See? Liked him in that.

You’re gonna need to sell it a little better than that.

 

[ZooCougar]

You’re gonna need to sell it a little better than that.

It’s a post apocalyptic series. Momoa actually has to act instead of playing a bro.

Humanity has basically gone blind and has plunged into a dark age. The few people who are sighted are considered abominations.

It’s sort of like Game of Thrones, Mad Max, and the Postman all rolled together. And one of the interesting aspects is how humans adapted to life without sight.

It has some really good actors like Dave Bautista and Christian Camargo and was done well on what I bet was a smaller budget.

It’s a much better show that crap like Invasion and the poorly executed but improving Foundation.

 

[HuskyHawk]

It’s a post apocalyptic series. Momoa actually has to act instead of playing a bro.

Humanity has basically gone blind and has plunged into a dark age. The few people who are sighted are considered abominations.

It’s sort of like Game of Thrones, Mad Max, and the Postman all rolled together. And one of the interesting aspects is how humans adapted to life without sight.

It has some really good actors like Dave Bautista and Christian Camargo and was done well on what I bet was a smaller budget.

It’s a much better show that crap like Invasion and the poorly executed but improving Foundation.

Exactly. I went in with low expectations and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Momoa is solid. Tom Mison and Silvia Hoeks are very good. The tall kid, Archie Madekwe is in freaking everything now. He's done very well with the lead in Gran Turismo and a big role in Saltburn. TV show, not a movie.

 

[storrsroars]

So I said in my last post about Dune that sci-fantasy is not my thing. But sci-fantasy could be, lol.

I'm an hour into Poor Things (Hulu). It's exhausting to watch, but not for the usual reasons. There is so much going on and so much unexplained - like how people are put off by Willem DeFoe's alarmingly disfigured face, but nobody who visits his home comments on the barking chicken with a dog's head or the giant bubbles DeFoe belches because he can't digest food properly - it's just too much sensory overload, and that's not even counting the numerous coitus scenes and the ethical dilemma of knowing that Mark Ruffalo is banging someone with the mental capacity and dialogue of a 5-year old. On top of that, there's the impeccable costuming, interesting and weird camera work, and overall terrific moviemaking taking place.

It is truly unlike anything I've ever seen regarding the plot, possibly because it's somewhat hard to believe the whole thing seems so scandalous that I'm surprised this film even got made, let alone attract an A-list cast. Based on reviews, I'm fairly sure I know what the point is supposed to be, and I suppose it will become clear in the second hour-plus, but I had to take a break as it was all too much, albeit in delightfully bizarre ways.

 

[nwhoopfan]

So I said in my last post about Dune that sci-fantasy is not my thing. But sci-fantasy could be, lol.

I'm an hour into Poor Things (Hulu). It's exhausting to watch, but not for the usual reasons. There is so much going on and so much unexplained - like how people are put off by Willem DeFoe's alarmingly disfigured face, but nobody who visits his home comments on the barking chicken with a dog's head or the giant bubbles DeFoe belches because he can't digest food properly - it's just too much sensory overload, and that's not even counting the numerous coitus scenes and the ethical dilemma of knowing that Mark Ruffalo is banging someone with the mental capacity and dialogue of a 5-year old. On top of that, there's the impeccable costuming, interesting and weird camera work, and overall terrific moviemaking taking place.

It is truly unlike anything I've ever seen regarding the plot, possibly because it's somewhat hard to believe the whole thing seems so scandalous that I'm surprised this film even got made, let alone attract an A-list cast. Based on reviews, I'm fairly sure I know what the point is supposed to be, and I suppose it will become clear in the second hour-plus, but I had to take a break as it was all too much, albeit in delightfully bizarre ways.

I was interested in this when I first saw trailers. I thought she was from a different era and when she was re-animated there would be culture shock from being out of her time. I didn't realize it was a freshly dead corpse, with a newborn baby's brain implanted. I read A LOT of user reviews and reactions to this movie, and eventually talked myself out of it. The whole pedo thing is just way too creepy, I'm not watching that. I can't believe this didn't generate more (or any?) controversy. Critics loved it, audience scores on imdb and Rotten Tomatoes are high, but user reviews are extremely mixed, it's a love it or hate it kind of endeavor it would appear.