Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[Ben Staad]

Re-watched It's a Wonderful Life. Still 5 out of 5 stars for me.

I just love this movie and enjoy watching it over the holiday season.

[Sock Monkey]

After all the talk on the forum, I had to do it. Sat down this morning and watched DIE HARD. After my effusive praise for it, I was a little worried that maybe the film will have lost some of its charm. It happens sometimes and it's one of the dangers of revisiting favorite films as you get older. But, nope, this movie still rocks as much as I think it does. All the little character arcs play out so well and its so gratifying, which is especially interesting considering that the film was reportedly being rewritten during filming.

I have an old DVD of the movie from the four-film "Ultimate Collection" and the picture looked pretty darn good, but it might be time to upgrade to the 4K. Anyways, I did go through some of the special features and from what I saw of it, it has an interesting "text commentary" that runs through the film as subtitles while the standard audio of the film plays and one of the interesting comments made, I believe from one of the writers or producers, was that in comparison to all the other action films during the time that were all about autonomous proactive heroism of the individual, John McClane actually spends the first act of the film trying to get help. While it's something that I understood subconsciously, it had never dawned on me in that specific manner and, as the commentary suggests, really helps ground the film.

So, thanks for giving me the motivation to dust off the old DVD disc and give it another spin!

[Chuggers]

Scrooge is incredible. About the only "tradition" I've held onto from single life to married and now with a 4 year old daughter is to watch some variation of A Christmas Carol. Scrooged is right up towards the top 

[Sock Monkey]

I decided to go out of order of my list above and watched THE NICE GUYS last night. Not Christmas movie at all (and only included in my list above because it pairs so well with KISS KISS BANG BANG), but I still really enjoyed it. Not as tightly written or constructed as KISS KISS BANG BANG, but it's a fun action/comedy/mystery that really takes advantage of Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe as its two leads to really reel in the audience. Like I mentioned, it's not as tightly plotted and this time around I felt like there might have been a longer version of the movie that got edited down as some beats just don't hit as well as I'd like them to. But all that being said, I still really like the movie and wish that it had done better at the box office so we'd get more movies in this vein.

The other movie I watched recently was BARBIE. I know this was like the highest grossing movie of 2023 and the highest grossing movie for Warner Brothers in their 100 year history, but, man, I just didn't get the love for this film. Don't get me wrong, I think that it tackles some interesting topics regarding gender equality and the oppressive rule of a patriarchal society, but it seemed for everything that the movie did right (the Barbieland set design, clearly the casting of Robbie and Gosling, Ken's arc, some of the jokes, especially "I'm a man with no power. Does that make me a woman?"), it did stuff that was so didn't work (the chase in the cubicles of Mattel was particularly stupid, the arc between America Ferrera and her daughter was so abrupt that to call it an arc really gives it more credit than it deserves). Ultimately, as much as I loved some of the individual parts of the movie, I just didn't think the movie worked as a whole. I liked everyone involved and will definitely be following up on their future projects, including getting around to watching Gerwig's LITTLE WOMEN, but there will be no revisits to BARBIE or her land for me.

[Sock Monkey]

Scrooged. 4 out of 5 stars.

It hit all the right notes for me this year. This was a re-watch however I hadn't seen this in a decade or so. The ending monologue was fantastic and Murray played a great jerk.

SCROOGED is a ton of fun!

[Ben Staad]

Scrooged. 4 out of 5 stars.

It hit all the right notes for me this year. This was a re-watch however I hadn't seen this in a decade or so. The ending monologue was fantastic and Murray played a great jerk.

[Sock Monkey]

Die Hard 3

I'm thinking 2 out of 5 stars. This one wasn't very good at all.

The first DIE HARD is one of my absolute favorite movies.  I think it was the first R-rated movie I ever saw.  One of the reasons that the first one works so well is the rather grounded nature of Willis's John McClane.  It's hard to see in the later films as the character becomes more of a caricature, but the first film works hard to undermine some of the traditional masculine stereotypes: McClane's fear of flying, the fact that he let his wife move to Los Angeles thinking that she'd wind up coming back home and instead she excels and he is having to attempt (rather poorly at the beginning of the film) to bridge that gap in their relationship, he dismisses John Wayne in favor of Roy Rogers, and actually has to rely on another man (Reginald VelJohnson) for emotional support during the ordeal.  It isn't touch-feely by any means, but when the film came out in 1988, we'd already had ultra-masculine action films like COMMANDO and RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II (Not including FIRST BLOOD because that's a whole other beast) that both came out in 1985.  Couple this with Bruce Willis in the lead, who at the time was known as a comedic actor and not an action star and the film just has a slightly different flavor.  And that isn't even touching on Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber!

As for the sequels, I actually think that the third (DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE) is the best of the lot and, to me, it's the last time that one of the sequels feels like it could possibly exist in the same world as the original.  I also love the interaction with Samuel L. Jackson's character.  It is far more comedic and lighthearted than DIE HARD 2 (I always thought the addition of DIE HARDER was rather dumb), but I actually kind of like it.  LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD feels far less like a Die Hard film and I'd probably like it a bit more if it was one of Willis's standalone action films like THE LAST BOY SCOUT or STRIKING DISTANCE.  When it comes to A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD, the film and Willis's character doesn't even seem to be in the same universe as the original.  

If I had my way, this would be my Christmas viewing leading up to the big day:

DIE HARD
LETHAL WEAPON
KISS KISS BANG BANG
THE NICE GUYS

[sholloman81]

Die Hard 3

I'm thinking 2 out of 5 stars. This one wasn't very good at all.

It's been forever since I've seen it, but I don't remember caring much for it either although it did have moments of humor. To me, Die Hard is a classic. I try to forget the other films even exist as they were always diminishing returns on a film that should have been left alone.

[Ben Staad]

Die Hard 3

I'm thinking 2 out of 5 stars. This one wasn't very good at all.

[Ben Staad]

Hahah. It's really such a fun movie. Moved unto Die Hard 2 which isn't so great but still fun enough.

Love me some Die Hard! It's such an awesome action movie. Hans Gruber still might be my all-time favorite movie villain.

Crap, now I'm quoting dialogue in my head and want to watch the movie, maybe after work...

[sholloman81]

Annual re-watch of Die Hard last night. Still a solid movie, bubbie. Four out of Five stars.

Love me some Die Hard! It's such an awesome action movie. Hans Gruber still might be my all-time favorite movie villain.

Crap, now I'm quoting dialogue in my head and want to watch the movie, maybe after work...

[Ben Staad]

Annual re-watch of Die Hard last night. Still a solid movie, bubbie. Four out of Five stars.

[brlesh]

Saw Godzilla Minus One the other night and loved it.

A well told story that harkens back to the original 1950’s movie.

Great effects (I believe they were a combination of cgi and practical which maintained the look of the original Godzilla, but better (obviously not a man in a suit tromping on models)).

Parts of the story were rather cheesy, but even the cheesy parts (maybe especially the cheesy parts) gave the film a 1950-ish monster movie feel to it.

A must-see for any Godzilla fans out there.

B

[sholloman81]

Blue Beetle: There's constant chatter about "superhero fatigue" and if the genre is on the cusp of dying off or, at least, giving up its throne of box office dominance. While I think that it is only inevitable that their place at the top of the box office will give way to something else, I don't think that the genre is necessarily going the way of the dodo. I think instead that people are just tired of the formula and mostly the origin story. Which is a long-winded way of saying that Blue Beetle was perfectly fine. And that's kind of the problem. It's "perfectly fine" translates into a sheen of generic superhero shenanigans that fail to anchor itself in any real emotions. The jokes aren't bad, but they don't land well enough to get more than a chuckle and, frankly, there was just too many characters to properly develop any of them beyond broad sketches, including our lead, who is likeable but the movie is so overstuffed that he gets lost in the plot. I will say that the costume looked pretty darn good in comparison to how it could have been. And, honestly, they did do a good job working in the Ted Kord version of Blue Beetle into the story, even down to a comics accurate costume, a box of his favorite cookies left at his computer (Oreos in the movie, but named "Chocos" in the comics), AND we did get his ship, which was awesome. But once again, completely overstuffing the movie to the detriment of character development.

All that being said, I liked the movie well enough, but it also highlights the need for superhero movies to either innovate more in plot or be able to find a way past the origin story. Grade: C

This review is about what I was expecting for this movie unfortunately. While the "superhero fatigue" thing is real, I also think it is a bit simple and that there are a lot of reasons that these properties aren't doing as well anymore. Personally, one of the biggest recent turnoffs has been the move of properties to streaming services. Especially irksome are the "exclusive" series that then tie-into movies or other shows. I do not stream tv and do not plan to ever do so in the future unless truly forced. I use live tv and physical media primarily. So, instead of prompting me to buy their streaming service, they've basically turned me off of these properties going forward altogether. For example, I actually liked the first Captain Marvel movie and saw it in the theaters, but I have no desire to see the sequel since I have no way of watching Ms. Marvel or Wandavision beforehand. The other main turnoff for me has been that the films have become too cookie-cutter, as you mention above. From their looks, to plot, to the humor, etc., they mostly feel like templates now, which makes sense as that's a very Disney/Corporate thing to do. I'm sure that I'll still see the occasional superhero movie if it looks good enough, but they've definitely lost their luster and are no longer must see for me. 

[Sock Monkey]

Blue Beetle: There's constant chatter about "superhero fatigue" and if the genre is on the cusp of dying off or, at least, giving up its throne of box office dominance. While I think that it is only inevitable that their place at the top of the box office will give way to something else, I don't think that the genre is necessarily going the way of the dodo. I think instead that people are just tired of the formula and mostly the origin story. Which is a long-winded way of saying that Blue Beetle was perfectly fine. And that's kind of the problem. It's "perfectly fine" translates into a sheen of generic superhero shenanigans that fail to anchor itself in any real emotions. The jokes aren't bad, but they don't land well enough to get more than a chuckle and, frankly, there was just too many characters to properly develop any of them beyond broad sketches, including our lead, who is likeable but the movie is so overstuffed that he gets lost in the plot. I will say that the costume looked pretty darn good in comparison to how it could have been. And, honestly, they did do a good job working in the Ted Kord version of Blue Beetle into the story, even down to a comics accurate costume, a box of his favorite cookies left at his computer (Oreos in the movie, but named "Chocos" in the comics), AND we did get his ship, which was awesome. But once again, completely overstuffing the movie to the detriment of character development.

All that being said, I liked the movie well enough, but it also highlights the need for superhero movies to either innovate more in plot or be able to find a way past the origin story. Grade: C