Recently watched movies 2025

[Palatine]

Accountant 2. This one is less plausible. I guess that is inevitable as the action sequences get bigger. The original was an origin story. This one had to stand on its own. The scope of the original was smaller and more focused.

This edition is also played for laughs, it is essentially a buddy picture. I liked the plotting. What you thought was a wild card is an essential part of the film. This is not just an action movie, it's pretty smart. All the craftsmanship is very good, story, acting, shooting, editing, sound, effects.

 

[dbmill]

I’m a huge Wes fan, like top 5 directors for me. I liked Phoenician Scheme. I did not like French Dispatch really, but I really liked Asteroid City.

Fantastic Mr. Fox, Darjeeling Limited and Grand Budapest still remain my favorite.

My top 3 directors of all time are currently Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, and John Ford.

 

[Fishy]

Yeah, no

Worst take in the history of the Boneyard.

Moonrise Kingdom was terrific.

Grand Budapest Hotel is my favorite.

Royal Tennenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom and Rushmore just behind.

 

[Fishy]

I didn’t like it at all. It was emotionally manipulative and 20 minutes too long. One of the things that got on my nerves was how repetitive the dialogue was. We heard it the first ten tomes he said how important family was. Italians are big on family. Got it. So is every culture.

Lorraine Bracco is really good and carries the movie through some weak dialogue. Drea de Matteo is a good actress within a tight range. The rest of the cast is fine other than Vince Vaughn, who tries to play it more emotional but ends up at smartass, because that is the only gear he has.

I actually enjoyed it - just kind of a happy movie. The cast was terrific, even Vaughn, against all odds.

But….Susan Sarandon is 78 years old. My god.

She needs to be studied by anti-aging scientists.

 

[storrsroars]

But….Susan Sarandon is 78 years old. My god.

She needs to be studied by anti-aging scientists.

It's the lemons.

(whomever gets the reference qualifies as a serious movie buff)

 

[superjohn]

Worst take in the history of the Boneyard.

Moonrise Kingdom was terrific.

Grand Budapest Hotel is my favorite.

Royal Tennenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom and Rushmore just behind.

His movies just got worse when he stopped his partnership writing with Owen Wilson. There was always the emotionally cut off flat characters throughout his films but they would still bring some sort of realism when they would show true emotion at times. Dignan was an amazing character and played brilliantly by Owen Wilson. He was full of life, unintentionally hilarious, and sad. Chas was so closed off until he wasn't and the emotion was so real and poignant it made his character feel real and memorable, same for Richie.

Moonrise Kingdom is just so pretentious and soulless. The characters are devoid of any real human emotions and the dialogue from the kids is ridiculous...there's just no reason to connect or care about any of them.

I get that's his thing but the heart he had in those first few movies writing with Owen Wilson was completely gone. I saw it so long ago but it was such a bad experience I won't watch it again to give it another chance.

 

[superjohn]

I actually enjoyed it - just kind of a happy movie. The cast was terrific, even Vaughn, against all odds.

But….Susan Sarandon is 78 years old. My god.

She needs to be studied by anti-aging scientists.

It's called having a good plastic surgeon and not going crazy and overdoing it like everyone else in Hollywood.

 

[Fishy]

It's called having a good plastic surgeon and not going crazy and overdoing it like everyone else in Hollywood.

You need a hell of a lot more than that at 78.

 

[HuskyHawk]

You need a hell of a lot more than that at 78.

Agreed. She is in pretty rare territory for that age.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Mission Impossible 1-5. Rewatching them all ahead of watching the final one. I think 1-4 are all pretty good. #4 drags a little bit at times. I won't go into detail on these, you've probably seen them.

MI-5 though, Rogue Nation, is better. It's genuinely a better film, some impressive filming, scenery and the story (however usually implausible) works pretty well. A lot of that is probably due to Rebecca Ferguson really standing out as Ilsa Faust. She's on the line of good/bad for awhile and she's a great foil or partner for Ethan Hunt. The team is also firmed up with Simon Pegg and Ving Rames. She got pretty strong for this and really looks the part of a beautiful athletic agent.

 

[Fishy]

His movies just got worse when he stopped his partnership writing with Owen Wilson. There was always the emotionally cut off flat characters throughout his films but they would still bring some sort of realism when they would show true emotion at times. Dignan was an amazing character and played brilliantly by Owen Wilson. He was full of life, unintentionally hilarious, and sad. Chas was so closed off until he wasn't and the emotion was so real and poignant it made his character feel real and memorable, same for Richie.

Moonrise Kingdom is just so pretentious and soulless. The characters are devoid of any real human emotions and the dialogue from the kids is ridiculous...there's just no reason to connect or care about any of them.

I get that's his thing but the heart he had in those first few movies writing with Owen Wilson was completely gone. I saw it so long ago but it was such a bad experience I won't watch it again to give it another chance.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

Yours is really bad.

 

[dbmill]

His movies just got worse when he stopped his partnership writing with Owen Wilson. There was always the emotionally cut off flat characters throughout his films but they would still bring some sort of realism when they would show true emotion at times. Dignan was an amazing character and played brilliantly by Owen Wilson. He was full of life, unintentionally hilarious, and sad. Chas was so closed off until he wasn't and the emotion was so real and poignant it made his character feel real and memorable, same for Richie.

Moonrise Kingdom is just so pretentious and soulless. The characters are devoid of any real human emotions and the dialogue from the kids is ridiculous...there's just no reason to connect or care about any of them.

I get that's his thing but the heart he had in those first few movies writing with Owen Wilson was completely gone. I saw it so long ago but it was such a bad experience I won't watch it again to give it another chance.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

Yours is really bad.

I disagree with @superjohn on his opinion of Wes Anderson films as well. There are several Wes Anderson films that I quite enjoyed when I saw them, and a few that I admit that I did not care for at the time I saw them. But for the most part I do like Wes Anderson films. I've mentioned before in these threads that Moonrise Kingdom is my favorite of the bunch.

 

[Dove]

Plane (2023) - Gerard Butler is an airline pilot. Has to fly a New Years Eve flight through Indonesia. A wild storm takes down the plane.

Wait...so he loses power and instruments and crash lands on an island with no government but run by militants. All but 2 passengers survive. The plane has minimal damage!!

So, with the Luke Cage guy, he goes off to find a way to communicate with his airline. He succeeds!!

They drive a truck back to the survivors but not until the militants round up the passengers and bring them to their lair.

Wait, Gerard and Luke Cage follow and...with the aid of US paratrooper super soldiers they pound the militants, save the survivors and get back to the plane!!!

Yes, the militants follow and are decimated in a shootout.

Wait, Butler, during the firefight, fixes the planes brakes, loads everybody on...AND TAKES OFF!!!!!

With little fuel and power, he makes it to an island 50 miles away, flying at 400 feet, and lands the plan again!!! With little damage except 1 blown engine.

Overall, a pretty damned decent movie!

 

[Monte]

HIGH NOON: Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. (1952, black and white)
It gives you courage to watch Cooper in action in this movie.

 

[dbmill]

HIGH NOON: Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. (1952, black and white)
It gives you courage to watch Cooper in action in this movie.

This was on TCM the other day. It has been one of my favorite Gary Cooper westerns for a number of years now. No question in my mind, it is worth seeing.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The Death of a Unicorn. Paul Rudd plays a father who is taking his daughter (Jenna Ortiz) to meet up with wealthy pharmaceutical company owners (his employer). He's expecting to take over for the Patriarch who is dying of cancer. It's meant to be Canada, in the Rockies, but is filmed in Hungary. Gorgeous. On the drive, Rudd hits a unicorn, kills it and puts it in the back of the car. Stuff happens, the boss family discovers and tried to exploit the unicorn. Then things get serious. Aside from the very tired "business guy is a bad guy" trope, this is pretty good. Solid black comedy/horror/suspense film.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Mountainhead (MAX) - A well acted and entertaining, if entirely too self-important and trite, satire of the tech industry. It's message is not particularly original, and it feels like the movie was written in a week, which apparently it was. The characters are moderately interesting, and the ending seems pretty cool until you think about it for 10 minutes. A great cast makes this movie seem a lot better than it is.

 

[Palatine]

The Imitation Game ( 2014) Recently rewatched this gem.

Ostensively a biography of Alan Turing centered around his days as a British code breaker in WW2. Turing is played, with an Oscar worthy performance, by Benedict Cumberbatch. He is the outsider in the midst of brilliant mathematicians, including another fish out of water, female Joan Clarke, played by Keira Knightley who also received Oscar consideration. This is a war story without the war but with all the drama and high stakes of any action picture as the code breakers attempt to unravel the mystery of the Enigma machine and decode German transmissions.Complicating matters, Turning is a closeted homosexual and extremely socially awkward. His attempts to decode humanity are as feeble as his insights are brilliant.

This is a four star movie on all counts. It does take liberties with history but there are no short cuts in the film making.

 

[Waquoit]

HIGH NOON: Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. (1952, black and white)
It gives you courage to watch Cooper in action in this movie.

I remember catching that for the first time at one of those fundraisers on campus years ago. Great movie, Grace Kelly!

 

[nwhoopfan]

Watched "Predator: Killer of Killers" on Hulu. Animated film, series of vignettes. It was okay. Humans from different eras in history come face to face w/ predators and try to fight them. Had vikings, samurai and WWII pilots.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Bumping this one because the 2024 movie thread keeps moving back to the top of the page.

 

[superjohn]

Blink Twice- unbelievably bad

There was a trigger warning before the movie started and I see the end credits that Lenny Kravitz daughter directed it. It all makes more sense now.

All these streaming apps and content yet it's damn near impossible to find a good movie.

 

[Deepster]

Plane (2023) - Gerard Butler is an airline pilot. Has to fly a New Years Eve flight through Indonesia. A wild storm takes down the plane.

Wait...so he loses power and instruments and crash lands on an island with no government but run by militants. All but 2 passengers survive. The plane has minimal damage!!

So, with the Luke Cage guy, he goes off to find a way to communicate with his airline. He succeeds!!

They drive a truck back to the survivors but not until the militants round up the passengers and bring them to their lair.

Wait, Gerard and Luke Cage follow and...with the aid of US paratrooper super soldiers they pound the militants, save the survivors and get back to the plane!!!

Yes, the militants follow and are decimated in a shootout.

Wait, Butler, during the firefight, fixes the planes brakes, loads everybody on...AND TAKES OFF!!!!!

With little fuel and power, he makes it to an island 50 miles away, flying at 400 feet, and lands the plan again!!! With little damage except 1 blown engine.

Overall, a pretty damned decent movie!

Well, we don't need to watch this one now with this spoiler filled review.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The Thicket. Had never heard of this. Peter Dinklage is pressed into service as a bounty hunter named Jones. Juliette Lewis is nearly unrecognizable as Cut Throat Bill, a ruthless leader of a gang of criminals. Set in the early part of the 20th century (motorized vehicles exist). It's a western, beautifully filmed. Can't say much without spoilers, but a rag tag bunch comes together to put an end to "Bill" and rescue a captive. Lewis is really quite good here. The movie is above 85% on the tomato site for critics and audience and I think that's deserved. Good stuff.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Posted in the damned 2024 thread by accident.

Final Destination. Everyone seems to love the new one, so I decided to watch the original. A bunch of kids board a plane to France. Alex has a vision, freaks out and is taken off the plane with some other students and a teacher. It seems they cheated Death and Death wants payback. Alex comes to see patterns and can predict where Death comes next. It's a race of sorts, to stay ahead and stay alive. Loads of early 2000s young actors in this, Seann William Scott, Amanda Detmer, Kerr Smith and Ali Larter. Ali Larter is an oddball classmate, a bit weird and despite being gorgeous is more geek at first. Interesting to see her 25 years before Landman. I found this fun, with a few tense or slightly scary moments. It's original at least.

Weirdly the Rotten Tomato score for the series is:
1. ok
2. ok
3. pretty bad
4. really bad
5. pretty good
6. really good