Recently Watched Movies 2024

[Waquoit]

The Yacht Rock doc on MAX was really good.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The Last Rifleman. Stars Pierce Brosnan as Artie Crawford, a WWII vet who was part of the infantry landing at D-Day. He’s from Belfast, fought for the British with his best friend Charlie. The story is told both present day and with flashbacks to Artie, Charlie and Artie’s wife Maggie. Artie is in an assisted living home at 92, so is Maggie, who has dementia. Eventually Artis decides he need to get to Normandy for the 75th anniversary of D-Day, but that requires an escape and adventure. Some really nice supporting role from Sammuel Bottomly, Clemence Posey, John Amos and Juergen Pronchow. This is a wonderful film. Should be nominated for awards including Brosnan for best actor.

 

[Dove]

The Last Rifleman. Stars Pierce Brosnan as Artie Crawford, a WWII vet who was part of the infantry landing at D-Day. He’s from Belfast, fought for the British with his best friend Charlie. The story is told both present day and with flashbacks to Artie, Charlie and Artie’s wife Maggie. Artie is in an assisted living home at 92, so is Maggie, who has dementia. Eventually Artis decides he need to get to Normandy for the 75th anniversary of D-Day, but that requires an escape and adventure. Some really nice supporting role from Sammuel Bottomly, Clemence Posey, John Amos and Juergen Pronchow. This is a wonderful film. Should be nominated for awards including Brosnan for best actor.

Brosnan is playing a 92 y/o? Ughhh.

What network is this on?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Brosnan is playing a 92 y/o? Ughhh.

What network is this on?

It's streaming/rental on any platform that rents movies. It's a new film. He looks every day of 92. Incredible makeup. The flashback scenes when he's a little younger are probably his current age or they may be making him slightly younger.

 

[Dove]

It's streaming/rental on any platform that rents movies. It's a new film. He looks every day of 92. Incredible makeup. The flashback scenes when he's a little younger are probably his current age or they may be making him slightly younger.

This was a charming movie. Brosnan was great. I loved the final scene where he's brought to a celebration of his career.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Yeah..."Deadpool & Wolverine" was almost as much of a steaming pile of rubbish as Thor: Love and Thunder was. Emma Corrin as Cassandra was maybe the only good thing about it. You give the fan boys some fan service and they go absolutely nuts. Rated 7.7 on imdb, that is ridiculous. It's more like a 5.0.

 

[nwhoopfan]

What if I told you that last night I watched a movie w/ a snarky narrator who periodically broke the fourth wall throughout...and it wasn't any of the Deadpool films. And it was from 1991. Long before Mr. Reynolds had the brilliant idea to do the same thing.

"Big Girls Don't Cry...They Get Even." Felt like an 80s movie to me. I don't think I was ever previously aware of it. It's on Amazon. I enjoyed it. Dizzying lineup of a non nuclear family with various divorces and remarriages, siblings, half siblings and step siblings. Most of which can't stand each other. Our narrator runs away to a beautiful lake in the mountains in California (I'll have to look up where it was filmed, legit looked like the Sierras; they mentioned the town of Bishop at one point which I have passed thru several times). The whole crazy gang goes to look for her. Most of the characters exhibit some degree of personal growth and there is some familial bonding that goes on. Don't know most of the cast, although I've seen David Strathairn in a bunch of stuff, I at least recognize the name Griffin Dunne, and it was pretty weird seeing a teenage age Jenny Lewis playing a vapid teeny bopper. I keep forgetting she had quite a few acting credits before she walked away from the biz and started a band. And a pre "Boy Meets World" Ben Savage. The lead was played by Hillary Wolf, I thought she did a good job. Just looked her up and she was in Home Alone and its sequel. And then she disappeared from Hollywood.


edit--much of it was filmed at Lake Mamie, near the town of Mammoth Lakes. I haven't been to that particular lake, but I've been to the town and have done several hikes in the area.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Lee. Based on the true story of Lee Miller with Kate Winslet as Lee. Some good supporting roles but she carries this. Miller was a very popular model in the 20s and had made friends with several French poets and artists with money. She moves from modeling to photography and earns a job at Vogue. Her British husband volunteers as a raid warden during WWII and Lee feels useless as they deal with the Blitz. After D Day she convinces Vogue to send her to the front. Shes American and they allow it. She teams with David Scherman, a photographer for Life magazine. She was the only female correspondent overseas during the war and took some of the most iconic photos. Very good film, a little slow early on.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Fly Me To the Moon. Scarlet Johanson is Kelly Jones, a brilliant Madison Avenue marketer. Channing Tatum is Cole Davis, NASA launch director. Woody Harrelson is a Moe Berkus a person working for Nixon in some capacity. It’s 1968, we are trying to get Apollo 11 to the moon and beat the Russians. Berkus hires Jones to be PR director for NASA to increase public support for the mission and help secure funding from Congress. It’s part rom-com and part a “take” on what might have happened. ScarJo is absolutely fetching in this. She’s fabulous and funny. They do a good job capturing the period. It’s a fun, enjoyable movie. Highly recommended. Apple+

 

[Palatine]

What if I told you that last night I watched a movie w/ a snarky narrator who periodically broke the fourth wall throughout...and it wasn't any of the Deadpool films. And it was from 1991. Long before Mr. Reynolds had the brilliant idea to do the same thing.

Groucho Marx was doing that in 1929. And that was before Deadpool.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Groucho Marx was doing that in 1929. And that was before Deadpool.

I think there are a few old phrases or cliches that fit here:

Nothing new under the sun.

Everything old is new again.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I didn't watch it, but "Red One" is available on Amazon Prime already. I'm almost curious to see if it is as bad as all the reviews say it is.

 

[storrsroars]

I didn't watch it, but "Red One" is available on Amazon Prime already. I'm almost curious to see if it is as bad as all the reviews say it is.

Haven't seen it and know nothing about it, but this article explains quite well (I think it was my first free article of month, so may not open for all):

Why Did Dwayne Johnson’s ‘Red One’ Come To Streaming So Quickly?

Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans’ Christmas movie “Red One” is already streaming on Prime Video, less than a month after it debuted in theaters. Why did the film make such a quick debut on the streamer?

www.forbes.com

• it was planned to go direct to streaming from the start. It only got a theatrical release because of favorable audience screenings
• even though it's still in theatres, it makes more financial sense for a Christmas movie to go to streaming earlier in December than waiting till after Christmas
• movie critics don't like it, but like many other movies, it has a high "fresh" score from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes (90%)

 

[Dove]

Carry On (2024) - Taron Egerton (played Elton John in "Rocket Man") is a likeable bloke working within the security force of LAX. He is an underachiever with a girlfriend. All his coworkers like him. He gets his first crack at sitting at the luggage x ray machine and BOOM, he suddenly is a pawn in Jason Bateman's plan to smuggle a nerve agent on a plane. Bateman players a terrorist-for-hire. Here, he is Marty Byrde with an edge.

For me, it dragged while Bateman dictated to action through the ear piece. But once Edgerton said "**** this.", it gets exciting. Cool ending.

Yes, some belief suspension.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Okay, "Red One" wasn't terrible but it wasn't particularly good either. Neither Dwayne Johnson or Chris Evans were particularly likable or interesting as the leads, and their bickering with each other wasn't entertaining. The bad guy characters were much better. Krampus and the Christmas Witch.

Has JK Simmons always been that ripped? Dude is almost 70.


I didn't bother posting a review of it before but around a week ago I saw "Borderlands." Another "can it really be that bad?" experiment. Kind of the same, not the worst, but not memorable at all.

 

[storrsroars]

Has JK Simmons always been that ripped? Dude is almost 70.

yep

 

[temery]

Okay, "Red One" wasn't terrible but it wasn't particularly good either. Neither Dwayne Johnson or Chris Evans were particularly likable or interesting as the leads, and their bickering with each other wasn't entertaining. The bad guy characters were much better. Krampus and the Christmas Witch.

Has JK Simmons always been that ripped? Dude is almost 70.


I didn't bother posting a review of it before but around a week ago I saw "Borderlands." Another "can it really be that bad?" experiment. Kind of the same, not the worst, but not memorable at all.

i'm not much of a fan of Chris Evans, but I'm a big fan of his new bride, Alba Batista. Warrior Nun is a fun watch. She's a very good new actress, but also easy on the eyes. (Stop. She's 27.)

 

[nwhoopfan]

i'm not much of a fan of Chris Evans, but I'm a big fan of his new bride, Alba Batista. Warrior Nun is a fun watch. She's a very good new actress, but also easy on the eyes. (Stop. She's 27.)

View attachment 105417

I'm not familiar with her. At least in this picture, she reminds me a bit of Alicia Vikander.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"The Killer's Game" died in theaters and I'm sure got trashed by critics, but it was a lot of fun. Dave Bautista is the top hit man in Europe. He meets someone (Sofia Boutella, she's everywhere ever since Kingsmen), gets a terminal diagnosis, takes out a contract on himself, then has second thoughts. His handler (Ben Kingsley) wouldn't take the job so he had to go to a competitor (Pom Klementieff). She has a vendetta against him, so she won't cancel the contract, in fact she sends EVERYBODY to take him out. A bunch of action, a bunch of violence, some humor. Most of the hitters sent after him I didn't know, but there are a few familiar faces. Scott Adkins and Drew McIntyre (yeah, the pro wrestler) are hilarious as a pair of Scottish brothers who can barely be understood. All their dialogue is subtitled, or rather translated, but much of it clearly isn't quite exactly what they are saying. Terry Crews was also great.

 

[temery]

I'm not familiar with her. At least in this picture, she reminds me a bit of Alicia Vikander.

They look very much alike.

 

[nwhoopfan]

They look very much alike.

I've suspected for a while that Vikander and Clara Rugaard are long lost sisters, maybe Baptista is another sibling.

 

[Palatine]

Gladiator 2. Wanted to see it before it left theaters. Doesn't rival the original on any score. It is more like a modern version of the old 1950s and 60s movies. Lots of one dimensional characters with a lot of action. Of course, in the 50s and 60 they would have mixed in religious overtones. Lots of holes in the plot. But I'm a sucker for big action pieces and it certainly delivered. I cannot recommend this movie. It's pretty bad.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"White Bird" is tangentially related to "Wonder" (about the kid with severe facial deformities going to public school for the first time). The bully from that, Julian, got expelled from the school. This finds him several years later at a different school, not really learning his lesson. He knows not to be a bully anymore, but only to stay out of trouble, doesn't really get the wrongness of it.

Enter his grandmother played by the wondrous Helen Mirren. Most of the movie is a flashback to her as a young teen in occupied France during WWII. She tells him her story so he can understand the importance of kindness. She's Jewish. During the day all the Jewish students were rounded up at school, she evaded capture. Her classmate, who has polio, takes her in and his family shelters her in their barn for more than a year.

The young leads Ariella Glaser and Orlando Schwerdt did a really good job. Gillian Anderson played the boy's mother.

Like anything about WWII, it's a tough watch. Heartbreaking and infuriating. Really good though I thought. My one issue, the scene with the wolves in the forest just felt totally out of place, I don't know why they went that route.

 

[Deepster]

Fly Me To the Moon. Scarlet Johanson is Kelly Jones, a brilliant Madison Avenue marketer. Channing Tatum is Cole Davis, NASA launch director. Woody Harrelson is a Moe Berkus a person working for Nixon in some capacity. It’s 1968, we are trying to get Apollo 11 to the moon and beat the Russians. Berkus hires Jones to be PR director for NASA to increase public support for the mission and help secure funding from Congress. It’s part rom-com and part a “take” on what might have happened. ScarJo is absolutely fetching in this. She’s fabulous and funny. They do a good job capturing the period. It’s a fun, enjoyable movie. Highly recommended. Apple+

Watched it this weekend and agreed with your review. Scarlett Johanson still has her fastball for sure. Fetching is a great word. Channing Tatum was the sole weak spot for me. Just a terrible actor. But he didn't ruin anything here and I thought the story was super fun.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Causeway" on Apple + starring Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry. Understated, character driven movie. Well done and well acted I thought. Two people wounded both physically and emotionally develop an unlikely friendship. There's not much more to it than that, but there doesn't need to be.