Recently Watched Movies 2024 | Page 24 | The Boneyard

Recently Watched Movies 2024

"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 said:
They look very much alike.
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I've suspected for a while that Vikander and Clara Rugaard are long lost sisters, maybe Baptista is another sibling.
 
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.
 
"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.
 
HuskyHawk said:
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+
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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.
 
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"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.
 
Red One. The Rock, KJ Simmons, Chris Evans, Kiernan Shipka. Silly family friendly Christmas movie. Santa and a range of other mythical beings, are real. Some action in this and I like KJ as a buff take on Santa. Not trying to be anything but a fun Christmas movie kids and adults can enjoy. Thought it hit the mark pretty well.
 
Watched "Carry-On" (Netflix) yesterday. Let the "Christmas movie" debate begin - like Die Hard, it takes place in an airport on Christmas Eve, and the entire soundtrack is well-known Christmas songs. Taron Egerton is a low level TSA guy, Jason Bateman is a baddie trying to make sure a suspect bag passes thru security. It has its moments. But I think at the end, if you're like me, you're really going to wonder if that refrigerator was designed to keep any and all contents hermetically sealed inside.
 
storrsroars said:
Watched "Carry-On" (Netflix) yesterday. Let the "Christmas movie" debate begin - like Die Hard, it takes place in an airport on Christmas Eve, and the entire soundtrack is well-known Christmas songs. Taron Egerton is a low level TSA guy, Jason Bateman is a baddie trying to make sure a suspect bag passes thru security. It has its moments. But I think at the end, if you're like me, you're really going to wonder if that refrigerator was designed to keep any and all contents hermetically sealed inside.
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spoiler alert?
 
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I had one of those nights. Started and quit on 2 or 3 movies. Kept looking at my watch list, nothing was jumping out at me as what I wanted to watch. Kept scrolling thru the Amazon Prime menu, finally decided to take a flyer on "Time Freak." I'm sure I've looked at the description of it before and passed on it. Well I'm glad I tried. Really enjoyed it. Asa Butterfield plays a brilliant physics student who gets dumped by his girlfriend Sophie Turner. He invents a time machine and enrolls his best friend Skyler Gisondo to take a stroll through the past with him as he tries to fix all the things he thinks contributed to the breakup. It's one of those, for a really smart guy he's pretty dumb kind of things. I got some good chuckles out of it, but it gets more serious when it needs to. Eventually some lessons are learned about the futility of trying to control everything and that perfection doesn't exist.

I don't know what it is, I don't really like Butterfield. His characters usually bug me. I do like Gisondo. The first time I was aware of him was in "Booksmart," which unfortunately was just a bad role. But I've seen him in several other things since then and he's usually endearing and charming. And I know we have a resident Sophie Turner hater, can't remember who that was, but I like her and really enjoyed her performance in this.
 
Huh? There's a live action "Underdog" movie from 2007, super cheesy, can't believe some of the people they got to be in it. Peter Dinklage, Jason Lee, Amy Adams, Jim Belushi, Patrick Warburton, Brad Garrett, Samantha Bee, and a pre-The Pretty Reckless Taylor Momsen. Some of them were voice only for the dog characters, but their name is still attached to it.
 
Suncoast (2024)

Kind of a quirky movie. It's one part coming of age movie and one part drama about dealing with the coming death of a child in hospice wrapped in the loose historical background of the Terri Schiavo case. Woody Harrelson is inserted as one part comic relief, one part moral guide. Surprisingly, it works.

(If the lead actress, Nico Parker looks familiar, it's because she's Thandie Newton's daughter.)
 
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Conclave. Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow. Set at the Vatican obviously. The pope has died. Fiennes is Cardinal Lawrence, the Dean of Cardinals whose job it is to manage the Conclave process to select a new pope. There are political factions within the Cardinals, and some surprises along the way. Fairly constant tension and it’s all really well filmed. I’m sure there’s quite a bit of creative license here but the process itself seems to be accurately portrayed. Won’t say more. Enjoyed it.
 
"On The Line" (2022) - The second to last twist was a "Huh?" moment in a movie that had me thinking the movie was dumb up to that point, anyway. Then, the final twist was predictable.

Mel Gibson plays an overnight radio station host at KLAT. The staff plays a major prank on him. And that is the final twist.

However long the movie is that much sooner I am to death.
 
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Dove said:
"On The Line" (2022) - The second to last twist was a "Huh?" moment in a movie that had me thinking the movie was dumb up to that point, anyway. Then, the final twist was predictable.

Mel Gibson plays an overnight radio station host at KLAT. The staff plays a major prank on him. And that is the final twist.

However long the movie is that much sooner I am to death.
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You're a better man than I, only made it for about 20 minutes. Long stretches of nothing happening, no one was likable, boring, looked cheaply made.
 
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One Life is a biopic about Nicholas Winton starring Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn playing Winton in 1987 and 1939 respectively. Emotional, and a bit emotionally manipulative, but pretty true to actual events, which were also emotionally manipulative in 1987. That people like this Winton guy even existed is the reason the world survived World War Two. It is hard not to be in awe of Winton.

Minor complaints: The scheme Winton and a Doreen Warriner used to get mostly Jewish kids out of Prague in 1939 is a little hard to follow, and I may have missed it early in the movie but I was not clear on 1987’s Winton’s motivations.

Overall a very good film.
 
A Complete Unknown (2024) - In the ever-growing world of biopics, this one was very good. Hats off to Chalamet.
 
Big (1988) - Man, this Tom Hanks movies still has lol moments. I love this movie.

John Heard doing the mocking, "I don't get it! I don't get it!" ha ha
 
Dove said:
Big (1988) - Man, this Tom Hanks movies still has lol moments. I love this movie.

John Heard doing the mocking, "I don't get it! I don't get it!" ha ha
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Fun fact: my sister’s high school boyfriend was an extra during the piano scene. Since a photo of him is in the background of the back of the dvd/vhs cover, he gets a nominal royalty check indefinitely.
 
Hey Adrien! said:
Fun fact: my sister’s high school boyfriend was an extra during the piano scene. Since a photo of him is in the background of the back of the dvd/vhs cover, he gets a nominal royalty check indefinitely.
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People still buy Big VHS tapes?
 
Hey Adrien! said:
Fun fact: my sister’s high school boyfriend was an extra during the piano scene. Since a photo of him is in the background of the back of the dvd/vhs cover, he gets a nominal royalty check indefinitely.
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Big will always be a special movie to me.

Funny story- I watched the movie in the theater as a kid with my family. My mom was sitting next to me and she said what a charming neighborhood in reference to the house the Tom Hanks character grew up in as a kid. After the movie ended she said I don't know where these directors find these charming all-American neighborhoods for these films. She talked to her brother and said the same thing. He told her, she should have a strong affinity for the house and neighborhood because it's actually their neighborhood, their childhood house is in the movie and Josh's/Tom Hanks house in the movie was their neighbors house in Cliffside Park, NJ.

She had no clue but immediately felt a connection to the house and neighborhood.
 
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HuskyHawk said:
Conclave. Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow. Set at the Vatican obviously. The pope has died. Fiennes is Cardinal Lawrence, the Dean of Cardinals whose job it is to manage the Conclave process to select a new pope. There are political factions within the Cardinals, and some surprises along the way. Fairly constant tension and it’s all really well filmed. I’m sure there’s quite a bit of creative license here but the process itself seems to be accurately portrayed. Won’t say more. Enjoyed it.
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Pretty much agree. It is a peek behind the curtain story. But you know there is not this much drama in real life. And if there was it would be more low key. I am saying that having worked with a couple of cardinals and bishops. I enjoyed it as well.
 
The "Aquaman" sequel is about what you would expect. Mildly entertaining, totally over the top, fairly much brainless. If you enjoyed the first you'll like it as well.
 
nomar said:
She's the lead in a rom-com that just came out. I don't think we're the target audience.

www.thewrap.com

'Sweethearts' Director Told Kiernan Shipka and Gen Z Cast to Flag Anything That Was Too 'Millennial Cringe'

First-time director Jordan Weiss and partner Dan Brier wanted to write a coming-of-age comedy based on their own male-female friendship.
www.thewrap.com www.thewrap.com
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I tried this. Don't think I even made it 30 minutes. Whoever wrote the screenplay is a total hack. Just awful.

I do look forward to the day that Nico Hiraga is no longer playing skateboarding teenagers. I first saw him do it in Booksmart in 2019. He was still doing it in 2024 (although in those 5 years he did go from being a high school Senior to being a college Freshman). He just turned 27. So...maybe by the time he turns 30?
 
storrsroars said:
Watched "Carry-On" (Netflix) yesterday. Let the "Christmas movie" debate begin - like Die Hard, it takes place in an airport on Christmas Eve, and the entire soundtrack is well-known Christmas songs. Taron Egerton is a low level TSA guy, Jason Bateman is a baddie trying to make sure a suspect bag passes thru security. It has its moments. But I think at the end, if you're like me, you're really going to wonder if that refrigerator was designed to keep any and all contents hermetically sealed inside.
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Also the cop seemed pretty casual about calling in the hazmat squad, no? They didn’t even quarantine Egerton!
 
Bomber36 said:
Just watched Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. I wanted to love it. I didn’t . Meh.
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Yeah, not great. Pretty good for the first half or 2/3, but the companion musical number to the first movie was an epic disaster. Overall arc of the movie reminded me of Argyle. Decent, then off the rails completely
 
nelsonmuntz said:
I liked it for the most part. I didn't get as annoyed by the journalist focus as some reviews have. Making the journalists the focus avoids the perspective problem of a traditional war movie, where the audience only sees one side's viewpoint.

The movie is about the horrors of war, and uses a war in the U.S. to make it feel more visceral for American audiences. While reviewers, and Zoo, focus on which side in the movie represents which side in modern America, I don't think it matters. The movie is a cautionary tale about a modern society unraveling, and does not want viewers cheering for either side. America is not immune to a society getting so unstable that it turns on itself.

I do think the movie is too optimistic about what an America fighting a Civil War would look like. America has such a complicated and urbanized economy that deindustrialization would result in mass starvation and rapid fragmentation of our society.

The movie itself is OK. It has some slow spots, and the slow motion shots would be more effective if the director didn't do one every 5 minutes. The acting was decent. I like Wagner Maura and Caelee Spaeny, Dunst was OK and Henderson plays the same character in everything he does. I didn't love the ending for Dunst's character, and thought it undermined the movie a bit.

The movie was decent, and it makes an important point. I would give a mild recommendation.
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Probably would have been better set in a fictional country like the US where people weren't trying to figure out which side was which, or picking apart why one side or the other doesn't make sense in the current day. Maybe you could pull it off if made better, but that kind of dissection of the movie seems inevitable set in the US in the present
 
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