Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[dannyboy121070]

I was informed last week that my job was going to be handled by a combination of AI and "offshore assets" as of November, so, while I'm still working until Halloween, I have been immersing myself into seasonal movies to try to forget my constant, all-consuming anxiety about starvation, homelessness, etc. I have honestly lost track of which films I watched this past week and which ones I watched when I was still gainfully employed, lol. Off the top of my head....

RABID- Nowhere near as good as I was expecting. Marilyn Chambers wasn't bad, and the usual Cronenberg touches were there, but the film didn't do much for me.

TO THE DEVIL...A DAUGHTER- Fun 70s Satanism film, with Richard Widmark going up against Christopher Lee's evil priest. Unfortunately, the creepy puppet-devil-baby was not enough to save the film, which doesn't so much end as just stop,

THE BLACK CAT- More Satanic fun, with Karloff & Lugosi as old enemies who have a final face-off during a black mass. Lugosi is surprisingly sympathetic as the good guy.

HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP- Rapey fish-men run wild in a small seaside town. Good dumb fun.

WEAPONS- I was blown away by this one, which had a twist that is right up my alley. The less you know going in, the better. The end was amazing.

TALES FROM THE CRYPT PRESENTS DEMON KNIGHT- Not as good as I remember it being 30 years ago.

THE DESCENT- Ditto. It seemed much smaller and more set-bound than it did 20 years ago in a theater.

POSSESSION- The MOST overwrought performances that I have ever seen in a film. I'm surprised Isabel Adjani and Sam Neill didn't have heart attacks from all of the overacting on display. A woman drives her spy husband nuts by fucking an octopus. (Yes, there's more to it than that, but that is a fun description.)

We also saw THE LONG WALK a few weeks ago, and my wife and kids and I all loved it. Really well-made, with some characters and moments that have stayed with me in the weeks since I saw it.

[Ben Staad]

It's a rainy day here so we decided to watch something at the local theater. There wasn't much of selection but we lucked into some Good Fortune.

Starring Keanu Reeves, as a minor angel, who works to help Aziz Ansari realize his life struggles aren't so bad. A cute comedy that touches on some social topics while keeping things light and funny. Nothing really over the top goofy, heavy handed, or outrageous and just a solid and simple film. We both laughed and enjoyed this one.

3.5 out of 5 buckets of popcorn.

[Ben Staad]

Re-watch of Blazing Saddles. Still a goofy, funny, and over the top goof of a movie. I was shocked that this was a fist time watch for my wife. It was fun seeing Wilder, Brooks, Kahn, Korman, and the appearance of Dom near the end.

The biggest laugh for my wife was the song from Lili Von Shtupp. I'm tired.

[dannyboy121070]

YES!! That kid was amazing.

[brlesh]

I watched MEGAN 2.0, and thought it was very good, much better than all of the online bitching and complaining led me to expect. People moan and cry about wanting new ideas, and then moan and cry when they get them. This film ditches the doll-horror of the first film, and goes in a Mission: Impossible-type of techno-thriller direction, which I really enjoyed. Nothing Earth-shattering, but I had fun.

THE NAKED GUN was also fun, but I'm glad I didn't pay to see it in a theater. One REALLY hilariously dirty scene provided almost all of the laughs, but my son and I chuckled a lot, and it was a good time overall.

BRING HER BACK is a Horror film that I knew almost nothing about going in, and that was probably for the best. The less you know, the better. I thought it was one of the best Horror films I've seen in a LONG time, and it had a lot of moments that made this jaded viewer squirm and feel grossed out. Highly recommended.

V/H/S HALLOWEEN. I watch every new installment of this franchise, and halfway through each one, I remember that I have yet to see one that I even remotely liked. This is another steaming pile of shit. I'm sure I'll forget and watch the next one, though. Don't make the same mistake.

I completely agree about Bring Her Back.

I saw it earlier this summer in the theater and I walked out thinking it was the best horror movie I had seen since Where Evil Roams.

I wish they had provided a little more background into the mother’s role in the cult, but there were definitely some cringe inducing in Bring Her Back.

And that weird ass kid! How does he not win an Oscar!

B

[Ben Staad]

Nice reviews. I will be on the lookout for Bring Her Back. That one sounds interesting to me. The V/H/S films I've seen and thought they were okay.

I watched MEGAN 2.0, and thought it was very good, much better than all of the online bitching and complaining led me to expect. People moan and cry about wanting new ideas, and then moan and cry when they get them. This film ditches the doll-horror of the first film, and goes in a Mission: Impossible-type of techno-thriller direction, which I really enjoyed. Nothing Earth-shattering, but I had fun.

THE NAKED GUN was also fun, but I'm glad I didn't pay to see it in a theater. One REALLY hilariously dirty scene provided almost all of the laughs, but my son and I chuckled a lot, and it was a good time overall.

BRING HER BACK is a Horror film that I knew almost nothing about going in, and that was probably for the best. The less you know, the better. I thought it was one of the best Horror films I've seen in a LONG time, and it had a lot of moments that made this jaded viewer squirm and feel grossed out. Highly recommended.

V/H/S HALLOWEEN. I watch every new installment of this franchise, and halfway through each one, I remember that I have yet to see one that I even remotely liked. This is another steaming pile of shit. I'm sure I'll forget and watch the next one, though. Don't make the same mistake.

[dannyboy121070]

I watched MEGAN 2.0, and thought it was very good, much better than all of the online bitching and complaining led me to expect. People moan and cry about wanting new ideas, and then moan and cry when they get them. This film ditches the doll-horror of the first film, and goes in a Mission: Impossible-type of techno-thriller direction, which I really enjoyed. Nothing Earth-shattering, but I had fun.

THE NAKED GUN was also fun, but I'm glad I didn't pay to see it in a theater. One REALLY hilariously dirty scene provided almost all of the laughs, but my son and I chuckled a lot, and it was a good time overall.

BRING HER BACK is a Horror film that I knew almost nothing about going in, and that was probably for the best. The less you know, the better. I thought it was one of the best Horror films I've seen in a LONG time, and it had a lot of moments that made this jaded viewer squirm and feel grossed out. Highly recommended.

V/H/S HALLOWEEN. I watch every new installment of this franchise, and halfway through each one, I remember that I have yet to see one that I even remotely liked. This is another steaming pile of shit. I'm sure I'll forget and watch the next one, though. Don't make the same mistake.

[Ben Staad]

The Last Spark of Hope. Watched this sci-fi movie on Tubi. Isolated girl and guard robot are the entire cast. Not much more I can say on this one without spoiling this basic story. Acting was okay, set was okay, writing was okay, and overall not great. 1.5 out of 5 stars. Think bad movie but just good enough.

[Ben Staad]

Glad you liked it enough. I enjoyed it a lot, agree about the ending, and the consolidating of items.

It did feel like they really worked hard on a keeping a budget and minimizing the movie down to a two person relationship.

Spoiler!

It would have been interesting to expand the World just a little bit. Maybe some short scenes through the beginning credits (relating to the War) or showing civil unrest with spectators to hammer home the current state of affairs.

Saw The Long Walk the other night, and pretty much agree with your assessment.

I thought it was a very good, but well short of great movie. The acting was very good, especially the actor that played Peter. He brought so much energy and charisma to the role. Hoffman’s kid was also very good in the more understated lead role of Ray Garrett.

There were some changes from the story (of course), some of which worked in the movie and some that didn’t. In some cases, several characters from the book were condensed into one character for the movie (100 walkers in the book vs 50 walkers in the movie). I also thought not having a live audience along the way (as the book did) seemed to water down the walk as a spectacle.

Hamill seemed to be forcing the tough guy act as The Major. There are certainly other actors more suited to that type of role.

The endings differed, and quite frankly, I don’t think either ending was very satisfying.

Overall, as King adaptations go, The Long Walk is pretty good. Just wonder what Darabont would have done with this story had his version ever reached fruition?

B

[brlesh]

The Long Walk. Solid film and almost fantastic. It's been years since the read the story so I don't recall how it compares to the written work.

The cast was good and the two leads were fantastic. Hamill was interesting and this is a film I could watch again. The achievement of this film was the shoots of Americana, the music, and a great use of capturing looks and body language in lieu of dialogue.

I feel this also captured that attitude, and swagger, of SK's works when he was young. It had a raw and youthful feeling to it.

Saw The Long Walk the other night, and pretty much agree with your assessment.

I thought it was a very good, but well short of great movie. The acting was very good, especially the actor that played Peter. He brought so much energy and charisma to the role. Hoffman’s kid was also very good in the more understated lead role of Ray Garrett.

There were some changes from the story (of course), some of which worked in the movie and some that didn’t. In some cases, several characters from the book were condensed into one character for the movie (100 walkers in the book vs 50 walkers in the movie). I also thought not having a live audience along the way (as the book did) seemed to water down the walk as a spectacle.

Hamill seemed to be forcing the tough guy act as The Major. There are certainly other actors more suited to that type of role.

The endings differed, and quite frankly, I don’t think either ending was very satisfying.

Overall, as King adaptations go, The Long Walk is pretty good. Just wonder what Darabont would have done with this story had his version ever reached fruition?

B

[Ben Staad]

Please don't go into the The Long Walk expected to be blown away. I thought that it's a subtle movie that happens to be well done.

[brlesh]

The Long Walk. Solid film and almost fantastic. It's been years since the read the story so I don't recall how it compares to the written work.

The cast was good and the two leads were fantastic. Hamill was interesting and this is a film I could watch again. The achievement of this film was the shoots of Americana, the music, and a great use of capturing looks and body language in lieu of dialogue.

I feel this also captured that attitude, and swagger, of SK's works when he was young. It had a raw and youthful feeling to it.

Glad to hear you liked it.

Overall, reviews seem to be very positive.

Going to try and catch a show one night this week after work.

B

[dannyboy121070]

My wife has adopted a new hard-line strategy of "I will no longer watch Horror films", so I have no one to go to the movies with now, if the film in question is even vaguely Horror-adjacent (The Long Walk, for instance...).

Oddly enough, I asked my sixteen-year-old son, who does NOT like Horror, if he would like to watch THE CONJURING, and he said yes. Which led to us watching all nine Conjuring Universe films over the past week on HBO Max, and we have tickets to see the new one this afternoon. We're both pretty excited.He enjoyed all nine films, to varying degrees, and we're eager to see how the franchise wraps up. (Like it's really the end, lol....)

[Sock Monkey]

The Long Walk. Solid film and almost fantastic. It's been years since the read the story so I don't recall how it compares to the written work.

The cast was good and the two leads were fantastic. Hamill was interesting and this is a film I could watch again. The achievement of this film was the shoots of Americana, the music, and a great use of capturing looks and body language in lieu of dialogue.

I feel this also captured that attitude, and swagger, of SK's works when he was young. It had a raw and youthful feeling to it.

Good to hear. I’m not keen on most King adaptations, but this one looked really good.

[Ben Staad]

The Long Walk. Solid film and almost fantastic. It's been years since the read the story so I don't recall how it compares to the written work.

The cast was good and the two leads were fantastic. Hamill was interesting and this is a film I could watch again. The achievement of this film was the shoots of Americana, the music, and a great use of capturing looks and body language in lieu of dialogue.

I feel this also captured that attitude, and swagger, of SK's works when he was young. It had a raw and youthful feeling to it.