Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[Halaineza]

Waiting to see again Intersteral on the new screen.

[TacomaDiver]

Watched the new Dev Patel film Monkey Man on Friday night. Even with all of the comparisons to John Wick (they even mention John Wick in the dialogue, and I do like how one of the IMDB reviewers calls it John Weak) it was a decent action flick. I'm starting to get back into films (and all of the technical aspects of them) so I appreciated that this film even got made, and then released theatrically. I wasn't able to catch it in the theaters, but did buy the 4k UHD of it.

Great tale of revenge, and I enjoyed how the story tapped into some Indian folklore (something I don't know very much of.) Plus, it wasn't a super hero movie, and the hero got his butt kicked quite a bit.

[dannyboy121070]

Last night was OUT OF DARKNESS, a film that I was frantic to see when it played in theaters last fall. My wife refused to go, because "Cavemen and monsters? And subtitles? No.", and no one else was interested in subtitles either, so.....

Thank God I was too cheap to pay the $5.99 rental, and waited until it hit Paramount+ yesterday, because wow, I was ready to put my fist through the TV by the time it ended. The clean-shaven face of the tribal leader was bad enough, but the reveal of what they were on the run from actually made me squirm with anger. No spoilers, but...fuck you for marketing the film the way you did. I can't really blame the filmmaker for making the film he wanted to make, but this was totally marketed in a misleading way. Enough said. Just don't waste your time.

[dannyboy121070]

I watched a new doc about The Beach Boys last night on Disney+, which was excellent. Highly recommended if you're a fan.

[Sock Monkey]

It started out strong. I read about 25% of it in bed one night, I just could not put it down. The author was given permission to follow the film from pre-production though release, so she made a lot of friends on the set. By the end, it seemed as if she was including things about crew members that we didn't need to know, just to include them, and the book dragged mercilessly. Did I need to read about the costume fittings of extras, and the goings-on of Bruce Willis' stand-in...? No. So...I guess it depends on how Inside Baseball you want the book to be. To me, there was just too much extraneous information for the book to be considered enjoyable.

That kinda makes it sound like it'll be a pass for me. I love some Inside Baseball stuff, but there is a tipping point. Maybe if I find it used somewhere cheap...

[dannyboy121070]

I'm glad you liked AMERICAN FICTION! It's just a funnier, smarter, and even more fun of a movie than what I thought it was going to be.

I hadn't heard of THE DEVIL'S CANDY, but have always been fascinated about the issues surrounding THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES. How was it?

It started out strong. I read about 25% of it in bed one night, I just could not put it down. The author was given permission to follow the film from pre-production though release, so she made a lot of friends on the set. By the end, it seemed as if she was including things about crew members that we didn't need to know, just to include them, and the book dragged mercilessly. Did I need to read about the costume fittings of extras, and the goings-on of Bruce Willis' stand-in...? No. So...I guess it depends on how Inside Baseball you want the book to be. To me, there was just too much extraneous information for the book to be considered enjoyable.

[Sock Monkey]

I watched AMERICAN FICTION on Amazon the other night...what a great film! Thought-provoking, hilarious, great cast...Geoffrey Wright was amazing, as always. Highly recommended.

I just finished reading THE DEVIL'S CANDY: THE ANATOMY OF A HOLLYWOOD FIASCO, about Brian De Palma's film adaptation of THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES, so I decided to watch A24's documentary DE PALMA, which was very interesting. I haven't seen all of his films, and this made me want to go seek out some of the ones that I've missed. Fascinating stuff.

I'm glad you liked AMERICAN FICTION! It's just a funnier, smarter, and even more fun of a movie than what I thought it was going to be.

I hadn't heard of THE DEVIL'S CANDY, but have always been fascinated about the issues surrounding THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES. How was it?

[Martin]

I watched AMERICAN FICTION on Amazon the other night...what a great film! Thought-provoking, hilarious, great cast...Geoffrey Wright was amazing, as always. Highly recommended.

I just finished reading THE DEVIL'S CANDY: THE ANATOMY OF A HOLLYWOOD FIASCO, about Brian De Palma's film adaptation of THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES, so I decided to watch A24's documentary DE PALMA, which was very interesting. I haven't seen all of his films, and this made me want to go seek out some of the ones that I've missed. Fascinating stuff.

Thank you for posting about American Fiction. That was one I was planning on going to the theater to see but life got in the way. It had dropped off my radar and I did not realize it was on Prime. I will try and find the time to get to it soon. 

[dannyboy121070]

I watched AMERICAN FICTION on Amazon the other night...what a great film! Thought-provoking, hilarious, great cast...Geoffrey Wright was amazing, as always. Highly recommended.

I just finished reading THE DEVIL'S CANDY: THE ANATOMY OF A HOLLYWOOD FIASCO, about Brian De Palma's film adaptation of THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES, so I decided to watch A24's documentary DE PALMA, which was very interesting. I haven't seen all of his films, and this made me want to go seek out some of the ones that I've missed. Fascinating stuff.

[dannyboy121070]

I also watched Dev Patel's MONKEY MAN on Peacock, which was vaguely disappointing. I was frantic to see this film, after all the hype of how brutal and relentless the action was, but it dragged a bit for me, despite some really good fight scenes. Patel is great in the film, but it was a lot longer than it needed to be, and the shakycam beatdowns were too few and far-between to hold my interest.

[dannyboy121070]

Thanks for the heads up on the doc. I have MAX so that works out for a change!

As far as vampire films, I really try to steer clear of them. Frankly, I just don't find them that interesting or scary, unless it's completely brutal vampires like in 30 Days of Night. Same goes for werewolves. Though to be honest, my main issue is that most modern werewolf films I have seen in recent years are just riffing on the puberty/sexual awakening themes of Ginger Snaps. After more than a couple of these, my weariness begat my wariness. Finally, I really enjoyed Nathalie Emmanuel in Game of Thrones and keep looking for her to pop up in something decent. The only thing that I have seen her in is Die Hart 2, which was playing at a family member's house and...yeah, from what I saw, I'm good not doubling back to catch the other 70-something minutes I missed.

Yeah, I think THE INVITATION was her chance at stardom, and it seems to have flopped. I was wondering if she'd done anything lately. But I suppose being in a Kevin Hart vehicle is good exposure.

[Sock Monkey]

The Jodorowsky doc is streaming on Max, and THE INVITATION was the newer vampire one. How they can just take a title from another recent movie is beyond me, but, yes, the Kusama one was vastly superior! As far as recent vampire films go, I've seen a LOT worse than this. A LOT, lol. And Nathalie Emmanuel is easy on the eyes, so there was that.

Thanks for the heads up on the doc. I have MAX so that works out for a change!

As far as vampire films, I really try to steer clear of them. Frankly, I just don't find them that interesting or scary, unless it's completely brutal vampires like in 30 Days of Night. Same goes for werewolves. Though to be honest, my main issue is that most modern werewolf films I have seen in recent years are just riffing on the puberty/sexual awakening themes of Ginger Snaps. After more than a couple of these, my weariness begat my wariness. Finally, I really enjoyed Nathalie Emmanuel in Game of Thrones and keep looking for her to pop up in something decent. The only thing that I have seen her in is Die Hart 2, which was playing at a family member's house and...yeah, from what I saw, I'm good not doubling back to catch the other 70-something minutes I missed.

[dannyboy121070]

The Jodorowsky doc is streaming on Max, and THE INVITATION was the newer vampire one. How they can just take a title from another recent movie is beyond me, but, yes, the Kusama one was vastly superior! As far as recent vampire films go, I've seen a LOT worse than this. A LOT, lol. And Nathalie Emmanuel is easy on the eyes, so there was that.

[Sock Monkey]

I've been watching movies like crazy over the past few weeks...so many that I forgot some of them already. Highlights include:

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT, a fresh-from-theaters film directed by George Clooney about a Washington rowing team that made it to the Olympics in Hitler's Germany. Decent film, but if you've seen one sports biopic, you've seen this one. No surprises to be had at all.

NOSFERATU. THE VAMPYRE . Having just finished Werner Herzog's new autobiography, I felt compelled to seek out some Herzong/Kinski films. I was sure I had never seen this, but a lot of it seemed familiar...I think I saw it on Bravo back in the 90s, maybe. VERY slow and ponderous...I alternated being awestruck (Some of the lingering shots of scenery and countryside were just spectacular) and being bored by the odd pace. Kinski pales in comparison to Max Schreck, unfortunately, and this was not as good as the original. Isabelle Adjani's performance was silent-film worthy in it's dramatics. Weird film. Glad I watched it, but it bored me enough to postpone more Herzog/Kinski films for another night.

Not sure if I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I finally watched THE GRAY MAN on Netflix. Fun action film with Ryan Gosling, and Chris Evans in a rare villain role. Action-packed, good performances, and I could look at Ana De Armas all day, every day.

THE INVITATION spoils the hook of the film in the trailer, so there were no surprises here, but it was a decent Horror film. Probably would have been better if it were rated R. There is an unrated version, but the PG-13 version was on Netflix, and the unrated is on pay-per-view, so PG-13 won, lol.

Last night I watched a couple of documentaries, one about late WWE wrestler Bray Wyatt, which had me in tears by the end, and another about Jodorowsky's aborted attempt to make a (bonkers) film of DUNE in 1975. Truly weird stuff, which could have legitimately changed the course of cinematic history if he had succeeded in getting it made. Orson Welles as Baron Harkonnen, Dali as The Emperor, Mick Jagger as Feyd Rautha.....crazy.

I'm assuming THE INVITATION is the more recent one and not the Karyn Kusama-directed movie from 2015. If so, I definitely passed on that one. The one from 2015--completely unrelated besides the title--is one of my favorite films, though.

I have been meaning to get around to watching that Jodorowsky Dune documentary for years. Thanks for the reminder to track that down as it sounds fascinating.

[dannyboy121070]

I've been watching movies like crazy over the past few weeks...so many that I forgot some of them already. Highlights include:

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT, a fresh-from-theaters film directed by George Clooney about a Washington rowing team that made it to the Olympics in Hitler's Germany. Decent film, but if you've seen one sports biopic, you've seen this one. No surprises to be had at all.

NOSFERATU. THE VAMPYRE . Having just finished Werner Herzog's new autobiography, I felt compelled to seek out some Herzong/Kinski films. I was sure I had never seen this, but a lot of it seemed familiar...I think I saw it on Bravo back in the 90s, maybe. VERY slow and ponderous...I alternated being awestruck (Some of the lingering shots of scenery and countryside were just spectacular) and being bored by the odd pace. Kinski pales in comparison to Max Schreck, unfortunately, and this was not as good as the original. Isabelle Adjani's performance was silent-film worthy in it's dramatics. Weird film. Glad I watched it, but it bored me enough to postpone more Herzog/Kinski films for another night.

Not sure if I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I finally watched THE GRAY MAN on Netflix. Fun action film with Ryan Gosling, and Chris Evans in a rare villain role. Action-packed, good performances, and I could look at Ana De Armas all day, every day.

THE INVITATION spoils the hook of the film in the trailer, so there were no surprises here, but it was a decent Horror film. Probably would have been better if it were rated R. There is an unrated version, but the PG-13 version was on Netflix, and the unrated is on pay-per-view, so PG-13 won, lol.

Last night I watched a couple of documentaries, one about late WWE wrestler Bray Wyatt, which had me in tears by the end, and another about Jodorowsky's aborted attempt to make a (bonkers) film of DUNE in 1975. Truly weird stuff, which could have legitimately changed the course of cinematic history if he had succeeded in getting it made. Orson Welles as Baron Harkonnen, Dali as The Emperor, Mick Jagger as Feyd Rautha.....crazy.