Recently watched movies 2025

[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

 

[Deepster]

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.

Couldn't you just stand on a countertop and watch Dinklage flail away and jump in vain trying to grab you?

 

[superjohn]

Couldn't you just stand on a countertop and watch Dinklage flail away and jump in vain trying to grab you?

A mid 50's lady is a ruthless gang leader who kidnaps a girl and a mid 50's little person is the badarse bounty hunter who is going to save her. This movie sounds hilarious.

HuskyHawk hadn't had enough so he watched Final Destination. Lolz

 

[storrsroars]

Couldn't you just stand on a countertop and watch Dinklage flail away and jump in vain trying to grab you?

I'd imagine Peter has a gun.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I'd imagine Peter has a gun.

They both do. It’s pretty good.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Dinklage has an advanced scoped rifle for the era and is a very good sharpshooter/sniper

 

[Deepster]

Watched the documentary “Poop Cruise” on Netflix last night. About a Carnival cruise ship that lost power in the Gulf of Mexico, drifted for 4-5 days and the toilets all backed up and flooded the halls.

Ridiculous and disgusting and campy.

 

[Palatine]

Mountainhead 2025.

A send up of tech titans who see the disastrous and deadly consequences of one of their members AI as a chance to increase their wealth, importance and power. They are a somewhat (but not nearly enough) amusing foursome. The characters are shallow and horrible. It's all well shot and produced. But it commits the worse sin any movie can. It gets boring. No stars.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Some air travel specials.

The Old Guard & The Old Guard 2. Stars Charlize Theron as Andromache of Scythia ("Andy"). She's spectacular at 49 years old. She's one of a few "immortal" beings who have tried to help people over the centuries and are kind of bored with it at this point. Too many spoilers so I can't say much other than (a) the villain is predicable in a way that I find annoying and (b) I'm sure there will be a third movie. This is based on a comic book and the story is pretty decent. This is much more about these people and their struggles and bonds through unnaturally long life. Overall pretty decent, but nothing special.

 

[Stagnant]

F1 was really good. Nonstop action. Great visuals, great sound, well acted. And also just interesting. There is way more strategy in formula 1 racing than I would have guessed.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom. Not the new one. Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell, a decent cast really. Cromwell is the wealthy former partner of John Hammond and the original research to clone Dinos happened under his estate. He's old, dying and the last dinosaurs at the Jurassic World site are about to die by volcano. The world debates whether to save them or let them go (Jeff Goldblum wisely says let them go, his chaos theory has proved accurate in this series). The rest is spoilers, the plot is absurd to anyone who actually works in corporate America. Pratt is charming as usually and Bryce is very pretty as usual. Not the worst movie in the series, but certainly not the best.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Red Eye" is fairly new on Netflix. Saw it years ago. Has held up well over the years. Takes a while to get going, but it does a good job setting the hook, then gets intense. Cat and mouse game between Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Brick" (2025, not to be confused w/ the completely unrelated 2005 film) is new on Netflix, German sci fi thriller/mystery. Reunites Ruby O Fee and Matthias Schweighofer from Army of Thieves. Shouldn't say much about it. A couple wakes up finding themselves completely walled in their apartment building by some kind of high tech material. Have to try to figure out what's going on and how to get out. Kept me interested.

 

[CL82]

Argyle (2024)

Yet another reluctant heroine in an adventure movie. I feel like every few years someone blows the dust off the script for Romancing the Stone, and does a loosely based rewrite of it in the hopes that lightning will strike twice. Most recently we saw it in Sandra Bullock's The Lost City. That was fairly "meh" and formulaic, but at least vaguely entertaining.

This version has Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell in the Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas roles. Both are adequate, but barely so. The supporting cast is impressive, including Henry Cavill, John Cena, Bryan Cranston (who is completely wasted and seems to be phoning in his performance), Catherine O'Hara, Dua Lipa (who's actually fairly good in a tiny role), Sophia Boutella (who is also wasted and seems to be phoning it in) and, of course, Samuel L. Jackson, because apparently it is necessary for him to appear in every movie made since the year 2000.

The plot is exactly what you expected to be. Reluctant novelist with a phobia gets drawn into a drama that closely parrots the novels she writes. Sound like an exact rip off of Romancing the Stone? No, they're completely different movies, because in Romancing the Stone the phobia was fear of going outside, but in this movie, the fear is fear of flying. Completely different movies, and definitely not thinly veiled plagiarism! Other than that, it's spot on, well, at least until the "twist" in the end. Once that twist is added, the movie goes completely off the rails and becomes barely watchable.

Basically, this is a vanity piece for Bryce Dallas, Howard to pretend to be an action star. Other than a mildly entertaining Bond like initial action sequence, it isn't worth watching.

 

[Husky25]

Saw F1 last weekend. It reminded me of Driven with Sylvester Stallone, but it was sooooooo much better by a huge factor. I'm actually interested in seeing it on IMAX.

Went to see Superman with my son yesterday. It was also really good. Other than being enjoyable, I won't say much else other than whoever does not like it might possibly have a guilty conscience.

 

[ZooCougar]

Saw F1 last weekend. It reminded me of Driven with Sylvester Stallone, but it was sooooooo much better by a huge factor. I'm actually interested in seeing it on IMAX.

Went to see Superman with my son yesterday. It was also really good. Other than being enjoyable, I won't say much else other than whoever does not like it might possibly have a guilty conscience.

I’ll go see Superman with my kid out of curiosity. The previews are beyond awful. Looks totally overstuffed.

 

[Palatine]

F1 (2025) F1 stands for Formula One which is appropriate because this is two hours plus of formula movie making. Given Brad Pitt's age you can probably guess the plot. Old washed up driver is lured out of retirement after vowing not to return. If you have ever watched a sports movie (or a spy movie) where the old guy is coaxed out of retirement, you know the formula. It is all A+ film making. Great actors, great effects, great sound, great editing, great action, great, great, great. The movie isn't great. It is quite average. My wife thinks Brad Pitt still looks great. He does. One star.

 

[Husky25]

F1 (2025) F1 stands for Formula One which is appropriate because this is two hours plus of formula movie making. Given Brad Pitt's age you can probably guess the plot. Old washed up driver is lured out of retirement after vowing not to return. If you have ever watched a sports movie (or a spy movie) where the old guy is coaxed out of retirement, you know the formula. It is all A+ film making. Great actors, great effects, great sound, great editing, great action, great, great, great. The movie isn't great. It is quite average. My wife thinks Brad Pitt still looks great. He does. One star.

Hmm, Interesting take. The very first scene is Brad Pitt winning a race. He's more of a freelance racer than he is a washed up driver coming out of retirement.

Also Pitt looks old. Not good, not bad, just old.

 

[Palatine]

Hmm, Interesting take. The very first scene is Brad Pitt winning a race. He's more of a freelance racer than he is a washed up driver coming out of retirement.

Also Pitt looks old. Not good, not bad, just old.

He is an old failed F1 driver. Still in the game but not at the F1 level. He is at the 24 hours of Daytona and answering an ad for the Baha 1000 level. Not completely washed up. But washed up by F1 standards.

 

[ZooCougar]

He is an old failed F1 driver. Still in the game but not at the F1 level. He is at the 24 hours of Daytona and answering an ad for the Baha 1000 level. Not completely washed up. But washed up by F1 standards.

A part time instructor gig with Skip Barber is washed up. If you are getting paid to race and win at the Daytona 24 hours level then you will always have a ride and will be getting paid, paid extremely well. It's crazy that they frame it that way. Odds are you will be racing Le Mans as well. Endurance racing is a different game than a 190 mile Grand Prix.

 

[superjohn]

I’ll go see Superman with my kid out of curiosity. The previews are beyond awful. Looks totally overstuffed.

Francesa loved it...

 

[Palatine]

A part time instructor gig with Skip Barber is washed up. If you are getting paid to race and win at the Daytona 24 hours level then you will always have a ride and will be getting paid, paid extremely well. It's crazy that they frame it that way. Odds are you will be racing Le Mans as well. Endurance racing is a different game than a 190 mile Grand Prix

An aging American racing driver and former Formula One (F1) prodigy, Sonny Hayes, lives nomadically as a racer-for-hire. Although he raced for Lotus in the 1990s, severe injuries from a crash at the Spanish Grand Prix in 1993 ended his F1 career.[c] He subsequently became a gambling addict and lost three marriages.

 

[HuskyHawk]

A Knights War. Prime. This is low budget. There are about 6 people in it. It focuses on two brothers played by Jeremy Ninaber and Matthew Ninaber, who are actual brothers and who wrote and directed the film. They are on a quest to fulfill a prophecy the older brother and their father received. The prophecy focuses on a redheaded woman who doesn't burn, Avalon, played by the lovely Kristen Kaster. The writing and acting is good. They used atmospheric elements like fog and sets to minimize the lack of budget. Don't want to reveal any spoilers. It's sort of medieval horror. Thought this was pretty good all things considered.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Superman. James Gunn did the Guardians movies so has some talent for weaving in humor. He does that here, often via the dog, Krypto but also Jimmy Olson. David Corenswet as Superman is just ok. Rachel Brosnahan is terrific and beautiful as Lois. Nick Hoult is always good and makes a fantastic Lex Luthor. There's a lot in here as it's meant to be a foundational movie for the new DCU. While I tire of the brilliant evil billionaire as the bad guy trope in movies, Lex is the OG for that. Supes is a bit more human here, maybe a bit soft really. Dealing with some emotional baggage. It reminds me slightly of Smallville in that way, except that Corenswet is no Tom Welling. Overall it is a good fun movie, and the political elements are mild and overblown on social media. Much better than the Zach Snyder stuff.

Side note, at the very end there is a quick scene with Milly Alcock as Supergirl. Very promising. Great casting and the character has loads of potential to be a lot of fun.

 

[Fishy]

Wicked.

I watched it on a ten hour plane flight from Istanbul with 450 grumpy Turks who would not stay in their seats.

First, this movie is a pile of crap. It’s also half a movie. You can hit with a ‘to be continued’ at the end, so there is a second pile of crap coming.

Premise is that people are mean to the one person because she is green which is kinda weird when you notice that some of the people in the crowds that are being mean to her are actual minorities…..strange confluence of woke story lines running headlong into woke casting.

The bad witch is played by a good actress, the good witch is played by a bad actress. Jeff Goldblum makes an appearance to play Jeff Goldblum. He has less range than Vince Vaughn. There’s some singing, some dancing and you’ll be happy when both stop.

If you’re a woman, I am giving this four Deepsters - you people will love this slop.

If you’re not, it’s zero Deepsters - stare at the wall for three hours instead.

 

[CL82]

Wicked.

I watched it on a ten hour plane flight from Istanbul with 450 grumpy Turks who would not stay in their seats.

First, this movie is a pile of crap. It’s also half a movie. You can hit with a ‘to be continued’ at the end, so there is a second pile of crap coming.

Premise is that people are mean to the one person because she is green which is kinda weird when you notice that some of the people in the crowds that are being mean to her are actual minorities…..strange confluence of woke story lines running headlong into woke casting.

The bad witch is played by a good actress, the good witch is played by a bad actress. Jeff Goldblum makes an appearance to play Jeff Goldblum. He has less range than Vince Vaughn. There’s some singing, some dancing and you’ll be happy when both stop.

If you’re a woman, I am giving this four Deepsters - you people will love this slop.

If you’re not, it’s zero Deepsters - stare at the wall for three hours instead.

I didn't make it all the way through. Frankly, if you have the choice of watching this movie or 450 grumpy Turks, I'd take the grumpy Turk's option.