Last Movie You Watched

Saw this on Netflix, still a great one.

 

I just watched "News of the World." I love Westerns and I love Tom Hanks, but was pretty underwhelmed by this film. I'm curious if anyone else has seen it and reacted differently.

 

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, the 70s one

 

Well...if anyone ever wants a time-travel movie about the World Between Worlds, call Nolan up!

Tenet is an interesting movie. It's visually appealing, philosophically stimulating (to a degree), has a great cast, has a great soundtrack, and is a really cool idea. The fight scenes are interesting and interplay with the concept in incredible ways too. Nolan's directing always feels grounded in a way that most modern movies aren't - everything is as practical as possible. This is both a boon and a curse, as his movies never really feel as light in atmosphere as I like my entertainment to be, despite the sci-fi setting.

But the plot of Tenet is pretty confusing. Time travel is a tricky plot device to use - and that's what the core premise of this movie is, time travel. It's about people who go backwards from the future and forwards from the past meeting at specific times and dates, and how people from both sides of the time...stream? time pond? time bubble? ...can do that. So in some ways it's like Terminator, in others it's like how CW's The Flash handles time travel. In still other ways it feels like Futurama. These aren't bad things, as I like them all. But I couldn't help shake the feeling that I've seen this sort of mechanic before and it could have been explained a bit better.

Tenet's plot doesn't help, as the main reveals about how the time stuff works isn't explained until at least 75% through the movie. Honestly I felt like this movie came from the first two parts of a trilogy that were mashed together to make a standalone movie with sequel potential. That sort of bugged me, but the movie is by Nolan, so I was along for the ride.

In terms of the characters, I think Nolan is getting a little better at showing human interaction. All the actors brought there A-game, and while it didn't have the emotional range that Interstellar had, I think it was better than The Dark Knight trilogy and possibly Inception. John David Washington did a great job as The Protagonist, showing a level of experience that an operative of his caliber should be while also expressing how far out of his depth he really is in terms of what's going on and how the wealthy live their lives. I want to see him in more roles.

Overall, this movie is weirder than I expected in all the right ways. If you want a mind-melting time at the theater (or via Netflix DVDs) go for it. I'm not sure this is Nolan's best work. Heck, I'm tempted to say that Nolan peaked with Inception and plateaued with Interstellar, but I still think the man has more to show us. I'd give this a 7.5/10 to 8/10.

EDIT: Another thing I noticed was how similar this felt to a James Bond movie. Bad mamma jamma in a nice suit working for a mysterious organization in order to save the world? Clean and slick presentation? Nice, affectionate relationship with a lady? IT'S CLEARLY KINGSMA- I mean, James Bond. This isn't surprising either, as Nolan has shown interest in directing a James Bond film before (admitting that if they did want him to direct, it'd be a hard reset on the franchise ala The Dark Knight trilogy).

EDIT 2: Aaron Taylor-Johnson was Ives!? I did NOT see that coming!

 

Watched Running Scared tonight. I hadn't seen it in years. It was probably Paul Walker's best on-screen performance. I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys a good stylized thriller.

 

Just finished watching Crazy Rich Asians with my mom again! (Dad got Tenet last night.) And boy howdy do I love this movie. The characters, while over-the-top at times, are well done and capable of great subtlety. I didn't appreciate Eleanor's actress the first time around, but I do now. Heck, if I had seen this last night before my Dame Helen Mirren draft pick, I might have switched actresses!

Jon M Chu's directing is also phenomenal in this. He takes time with shots and scenes, always capturing the feel of the atmosphere as well as the characters. His scene with the moon-blossoming flowers is my favorite in the film - the wedding ties with the dumpling scene for second. And I just learned he directed Step Up 2: The Streets, another one of my favorite (if not a little on the trashy side) movies! It's sad that he's stepping away from Willow, but I completely understand why he did so. Heck, I hope that Disney actually postpones the project until he can come back. ...I mean, they won't, but he's a talented director and named his Willow after the movie. They can postpone the project a few months at the very least.


A part of me is also sad that I didn't choose Chu as my director, but frankly, I'd rather him work on a smaller, more intimate Star Wars project first. ...actually...I know exactly where to place him...

 

The one that still terrifies my wife to this day, and horrified my 15 year old.


My sweet bubbly macabre 13 year old is perfectly fine, however.
I assure you that mix is possible...I now know how "Ring around the rosie" was created - by a smiling girl skipping around singing sweetly about death.

Oh, and my 13 year old loves doing this point at her sister just to watch her squirm and yell to stop.
And then she busts up laughing and gives her older sister a hug.

Cheers,
Jayson

 

You should try to find online the Despecialized Edition.
These are the amazing. The best copy that you will find of the Classic Trilogy out there.

Every movie has 19 gigas but it worth the "sacrifice", excellent quality of sound and image how they were released in the theaters back in the 70's and 80's.

Search for some interviews and documentary about this project on youtube.

 

I will have to check those out one day. For now, though, I'm enjoying the nostalgia and charm of all the little oddities of the older versions. It makes me happy.

 

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 14, 2021, Original Post Date: Jan 14, 2021 ---

Its bloody good.

 

Are you a fan of the Stallone movie? I've been thinking of watching it again lately, I saw it once when it was in the theater but didn't care for it. In hindsight I think I was just expecting another Demolition Man (which I did and still do love) and Judge Dredd ended up being pretty much the opposite tone. Then again it could have just been bad. I can't imagine Rob Schneider's comedy holds up too well (not many of his movies or SNL sketches seem to) unless it's just laughing at the fact he's in the movie.

 

I've never seen that one.

 

Dr. Who.
Just wrapped the 10th Dr. and starting the 11nth.

I used to watch Dr. Who as a kid, and then fell out as it stopped showing on TV.
I avoided it for a long time because the extreme low budget level ... everything. Really bothered me for a long time.

Finally got over that bias with shows in general and I'm glad I did because that cheeseballness is part of Dr. Who. I mean...the 11nth Dr.'s tardis has a pinball machine as part of the controls.

It's like someone took playtime as a kid, when you'd imagine being a spaceman and just shoved stuff together from around the house, and grew a show out of that.

Which is fantastic.

Because they just don't give a da*n about glossy class, they can just smash through insane ideas that no other show could take a swing at.

I have to hand it to them.
Star Trek lost its way as it evolved, no longer being a show about doing good and asking philosophical ethics questions using allegorical archetypes.
Dr. Who has managed to keep nearly all of its core forms of trying to do good, being flawed, and asking philosophical questions using allegorical archetypes while additionally finding a way to keep ahold of its cardboardland aesthetic. At this point they could change that, but they didn't. They found a way to make it part of its blood.

Well done, really. Just, well done.

Cheers,
Jayson

 

Sword of the Beast!
This is NOT a "Happily Ever After" movie, but I didn't think the end would be so bitter either. Between this and Samurai Rebellion, I'm picking up what Hideo Gosha's throwing down.

This movie is phenomenal. The acting, the action, the story, all of it is A+. The plot itself goes through layers. It starts off simple - a samurai running away after killing his liege - and then turns directions that add layers of subtext and complexity at every turn. It's a bit of a slow burn after the sort of In Media Res intro, and the flashbacks are a bit hard to follow at times, but it's all worth it in the end.

Overall, this might be my favorite samurai movie yet (Dad still likes the Samurai Trilogy better though).

PSA - There are multiple sexual assault attempts, including one unfortunately successful one during this movie. Nothing graphic is shown in relation to it, but the movie doesn't shy away from what happened either. This is used to hammer home some of the themes, but that doesn't make it easier.

The next samurai movie will definitely need to be a happier one. I'm thinking The Hidden Fortress.

EDIT: I almost forgot to add: many of the themes are very topical in specific ways. Maybe not as topical as Seven Days In May, but still topical.

EDIT 2: Samurai Rebellion was directed by Masaki Kobayashi NOT Hideo Gosha.

 

John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum!

Every John Wick movie has upped the ante, and this movie is no exception. The fights are fun, varied, and creative. Characters new and old are given depth that we could have hardly imagined in the first film, and the worldbuilding was quite fun! There are celebrity cameos in this movie too - Halle Berry is the easiest one to spot with her character Sofia (who I wouldn't mind being a love interest for John in the future, or being given a comic exploring their history previously), but there's also Jason Mantzoukas as the right-hand man to the Barrow King along with Cecep Arif Rahman and Yayan Ruhian from the Raid series - aka the Kitchen Fight Knife Guy in The Raid 2 and Mad Dog in The Raid: Redemption respectively - show up as "Shinobi." And unlike Star Wars, these two are actually given pretty quality material to work with. Heck, their fight scene is probably the most fun one in the entire film.

There were some shoddy CGI moments in this film of course, but nothing worse than what we see in a Marvel movie...and frankly, due to the scenes where it shows up, I'd rather have CGI than actual potential deaths and whatnot.

Overall, John Wick continues to be a series that I recommend for any action or gun-fu enthusiast. 8/10.

As an extra note, I may try and draft the director of this movie in the next Star Wars movie draft, assuming my primary pick is taken and the director here isn't...

EDIT:
Additional notes I forgot the first time around - Jerome Flynn (aka Bronn from Game of Thrones) was also in this movie! I totally forgot about this...which leads to my next point. Parabellum is a two hour and ten minute movie, making it shorter than TROS. And yet it feels so much longer. This movie feels like an epic at times. The second act juggles a fair deal of balls. It does so quite well, but the fact that it happens in the middle of the movie that feels far longer than it is means that there are a lot of little details that get lost in the shuffle.