Rate the Last Movie You Saw

[Ben Staad]

Re-watched The Mist Thanksgiving night. Still love it. I feel I could do with a followup movie following the path of Melissa McBride and what happened with her and her children. I think that would be fun.

[dannyboy121070]

Odd double-feature last night...

First was MATERIALISTS, a rom-com (Which my wife says it definitely was NOT!) about a female matchmaker in Manhattan who must choose between a perfect millionaire and her impoverished ex-boyfriend. Well-done, good performances...I liked it. Pedro Pascal is in EVERYTHING that comes out. Just saying...

Next was GOOD BOY, the dog-in-a-haunted-house film that was in theaters over in October. As I suspected, telling a story, even one as short as this (Barely 70 minutes) from the POV of a dog gets old real fast, and leaves a lot of unanswered questions. I do, however, think this dog should get an Oscar. He was emoting like a canine Meryl Streep.

[dannyboy121070]

I loved Time Bandits as a kid and found Baron to be amusing. I have not watched them again as an adult. Time Bandits was something entirely different to me as a young person and I still remember bits and pieces of it a million years later. It left an impression on me for sure.

For sure...I had never seen anything like TIME BANDITS, and it still holds up! Glad to find another fan!

[Ben Staad]

I loved Time Bandits as a kid and found Baron to be amusing. I have not watched them again as an adult. Time Bandits was something entirely different to me as a young person and I still remember bits and pieces of it a million years later. It left an impression on me for sure.

o

My mother, who does not know the names of virtually any directors, knows Terry Gilliam's name. As in "I will never forget that horrible film you forced me to take you to see! TIME BANDITS! Yuck! That same horrible Terry Gilliam also made that horrible Munchausen film! Horrible!" Bear in mind, TIME BANDITS came out in 1979, so I was maybe 9 years old when I "forced" her to take me. And she still holds a grudge. I watched it with my wife and kids a few years ago, and none of them liked it, either. Guess it must just appeal to me, lol.

[dannyboy121070]

o

brlesh Your summary of The Running Man is not a surprise to me after seeing the trailers. I was hoping I was wrong in my opinion. Bummer.

dannyboy121070 Brazil was unwatchable for me and I never finished it. Monkeys is always one I want to like but can't. I hadn't heard of Eddington before and it doesn't sound appealing.

My mother, who does not know the names of virtually any directors, knows Terry Gilliam's name. As in "I will never forget that horrible film you forced me to take you to see! TIME BANDITS! Yuck! That same horrible Terry Gilliam also made that horrible Munchausen film! Horrible!" Bear in mind, TIME BANDITS came out in 1979, so I was maybe 9 years old when I "forced" her to take me. And she still holds a grudge. I watched it with my wife and kids a few years ago, and none of them liked it, either. Guess it must just appeal to me, lol.

[Ben Staad]

brlesh Your summary of The Running Man is not a surprise to me after seeing the trailers. I was hoping I was wrong in my opinion. Bummer.

dannyboy121070 Brazil was unwatchable for me and I never finished it. Monkeys is always one I want to like but can't. I hadn't heard of Eddington before and it doesn't sound appealing.

We have watched a few basic movies here. Both fairly bland for different reasons. 8 Seconds about a bullrider and 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. Neither great but watchable with 8 seconds having huge holes in the story and reminiscent of a hallmark film. 13 Hours was a good action flick but I think it was written by the Pentagon.

[dannyboy121070]

I watched a few Terry Gilliam films this week- BRAZIL and 12 MONKEYS. BRAZIL kind of left me cold. To be fair, my recent job loss has really messed with my sleep pattern, so I dozed off a few times during the film. At first, I rewound and watched what I had missed, but towards the end I just stopped giving a shit, lol. The story was just too predictable and dragged out, and it ended just the way I expected. 12 MONKEYS was also way too long, but, thankfully, not as predictable. Brad Pitt's wild overacting was really annoying, and I thought the film itself was just ok. I used to be a Gilliam fanatic (TIME BANDITS and THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN are films that I never get tired of watching), but I think that maybe I just outgrew his style.

Also caught Ari Aster's EDDINGTON last night, which was a lot like his last film, BEAU IS AFRAID-, Started off strong before becoming a muddled, self-indulgent slog. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix as a rabidly anti-mask small town sheriff during the height of Covid, with Pedro Pascal as the mask-advocating town Mayor. The conflict between them is strong enough to carry the film, but Aster can't leave well enough alone, and includes all kinds of crazy conspiracies and weird shit. I honestly have no idea who this film is for, as both sides of the argument come off as lunatics. I was surprised something like this even got made...I think that, if a film like this came out at juuuust the right (or wrong) time, it could have inspired violence. I remember seeing a trailer, and thinking "Yeah, I want to go see THAT in a theater and get shot...."

I read an interview with Aster after this film flopped, and he said that his father told him that after this and BEAU, maybe he should stop writing AND directing, and try just directing. I wholeheartedly agree.

[brlesh]

Saw The Running Man last night and have to say I was rather disappointed with it.

Not particularly bad, but not particularly good either. By the time Thanksgiving rolls around I doubt I’ll remember anything about this movie (and no, it’s not just me getting fucking old!!). The movie was just kind of bland.

It tried to straddle the line between the bleak grimness of the book and the over the top campy-ness of the Schwarzenegger movie. And in trying to do both, it did neither one well.

The acting was OK, for the most part. This was the first thing I’ve seen Glen Powell in, and I can see why people say he will be the next big action star. A better script would have helped him immensely here. Josh Brolin was the highlight for me. He’s playing the ultimate prick and plays him well.

On the other hand, I have no idea what Michael Cera was going for. Maybe trying to channel his character from Arrested Development?
He just seemed stoned the whole time he was on screen. And it was at the time his character was introduced (at a little more than the half way point) that I really started to lose interest in the movie.

Most of the secondary characters just came off as rather forgettable. Even the actress that played the kidnapped women was rather unbelievable. The whole kidnapping plot line worked in the book. It didn’t work in the movie.

Nothing worked for me in the second half, when the movie seemed to abandon the source material for the wackiness of the first movie.

The running time was also an issue. At 2:15, this movie was a slog. They should have quickened the pace and cut a half an hour off the run time.

B

[dannyboy121070]

Spent most of the week watching ALIENS EXPANDED in dribs and drabs....a five-hour, exhaustive documentary about the making of ALIENS. A lot of fun, overall, and made me want to watch the film itself again.

Joe Hill's ABRAHAM'S BOYS adaptation finally hit Shudder the other day....I don't remember much about the original short story, so I can't comment on how faithful the film is, but it sure was dull and cheap-looking. It looked like it had a budget of a few grand. The square aspect ratio made it seem like it was a 90s Sci-Fi Channel original, and the weird, jaunty soundtrack music was totally out of place. Titus Welliver is probably in his mid-to-late sixties, but he seemed way too young to play Van Helsing. At least this was short...

Unemployment is forcing us to ditch Netflix, so I'm watching the few things I've been meaning to get to before our last day. I finally sat down and watched Eddie Murphy's MY NAME IS DOLEMITE, which was a hoot. Never seen a Dolemite film, but I think I'm going to have to remedy that.

[dannyboy121070]

I haven’t seen everything by Del Toro, but in general, I’ve liked what I’ve seen.

I thought the Hellboy movies were a lot of fun, especially the first one, which seemed to have a much stronger ensemble cast than the second.

I thought Mimic was great, though it’s been a while since I’ve seen it.

But for me, hands down, his best movie was Pan’s Labyrinth. Damn, that movie blew me away the first time I saw it. The mix of fairy tale, folk horror, and war story was just a great combination for a movie.

B

I'm of two minds about the HELLBOY films...The first one was a fairly faithful adaptation of the comic, which I am a huge fan of, but the introduction of the bland white-bread audience identification character really impacted the pacing. The second one was better, but totally abandoned the comic storyline in favor of Del Toro's obsession with fairy tales, which actually bled into the comic book, changing it from cosmic horror to a blend of fairy tales and mythology, which Mike Mignola handled beautifully, but I have to wonder what would have happened if he hadn't been swept up by Del Toro's vision.

[brlesh]

Totally understand. I know it's a bit a blasphemy to most horror movie lovers, but I ALWAYS find Del Toro's stuff lacking, To me, his movies look amazing but always feel hollow.

I haven’t seen everything by Del Toro, but in general, I’ve liked what I’ve seen.

I thought the Hellboy movies were a lot of fun, especially the first one, which seemed to have a much stronger ensemble cast than the second.

I thought Mimic was great, though it’s been a while since I’ve seen it.

But for me, hands down, his best movie was Pan’s Labyrinth. Damn, that movie blew me away the first time I saw it. The mix of fairy tale, folk horror, and war story was just a great combination for a movie.

B

[dannyboy121070]

Totally understand. I know it's a bit a blasphemy to most horror movie lovers, but I ALWAYS find Del Toro's stuff lacking, To me, his movies look amazing but always feel hollow.

I'm kind of in the same boat...I've loved a few of his films (MIMIC, BLADE 2, THE SHAPE OF WATER), but I've hated a few as well (FRANKENSTEIN, CRIMSON PEAK), and found most of the rest lacking in one way or another.

[sholloman81]

We watched Guillermo Del Toro's Boringstein last night. For something that he has been obsessed with making for his entire career, it was very underwhelming. I was bored and restless throughout the nearly three-hour turgid mess.

First off, I have to say that I hate the novel. I found it to be almost unreadably dry and stuffy when I read it originally, and a few attempts to try again have not made me feel any differently. That said, I have enjoyed many of the film adaptations, especially the Kenneth Branagh version, which is probably as good as you're going to get. (Skip the new one and watch that one instead. It is almost the same, much shorter and more faithful, and has the benefit of real sets and practical effects.)

Del Toro has been crowing about how faithful his adaptation is, but...he changed everything! Added new, and very time-consuming characters, changed names and situations, spent a ton of time exploring Victor Frankenstein's childhood...it was SO...LONG. My wife loves Del Toro's films, and she kept asking me "HOW long is this.." during the film.

Critics are saying that Jacob Elordi is a shoo-in for an Oscar nod, but I didn't buy his monster for one second. His design made me think of Slim Goodbody by way of Robert Pattinson. Mia Goth portraying Victor's mother and love interest was...a choice, I guess. Weird.

Some of the CGI is VERY dodgy...Del Toro has a LOT of animal scenes (Deer, rats, wolves) that looked awful. I mean, is it that hard to film an actual deer, or a few wolves running around? Switch to CGI for the violence, but back in the day, they had trained animals in Hollywood...the CGI animals here were take-you-out-of-the-movie bad.

I didn't expect much, because I knew going in that I had long-ago reached my tolerance for movies adapting the Frankenstein novel. Much like Superman's origin, I have seen/heard/read it enough to last me a lifetime...this was a completely unneeded film, and a very self-indulgent one, at that.

I'd love to hear your opinions.....

Totally understand. I know it's a bit a blasphemy to most horror movie lovers, but I ALWAYS find Del Toro's stuff lacking, To me, his movies look amazing but always feel hollow.

[Ben Staad]

Oh man. I was looking forward to watching this but I don't see this story anywhere near three hours long.

nearly three-hour turgid mess

I'd love to hear your opinions.....

[dannyboy121070]

We watched Guillermo Del Toro's Boringstein last night. For something that he has been obsessed with making for his entire career, it was very underwhelming. I was bored and restless throughout the nearly three-hour turgid mess.

First off, I have to say that I hate the novel. I found it to be almost unreadably dry and stuffy when I read it originally, and a few attempts to try again have not made me feel any differently. That said, I have enjoyed many of the film adaptations, especially the Kenneth Branagh version, which is probably as good as you're going to get. (Skip the new one and watch that one instead. It is almost the same, much shorter and more faithful, and has the benefit of real sets and practical effects.)

Del Toro has been crowing about how faithful his adaptation is, but...he changed everything! Added new, and very time-consuming characters, changed names and situations, spent a ton of time exploring Victor Frankenstein's childhood...it was SO...LONG. My wife loves Del Toro's films, and she kept asking me "HOW long is this.." during the film.

Critics are saying that Jacob Elordi is a shoo-in for an Oscar nod, but I didn't buy his monster for one second. His design made me think of Slim Goodbody by way of Robert Pattinson. Mia Goth portraying Victor's mother and love interest was...a choice, I guess. Weird.

Some of the CGI is VERY dodgy...Del Toro has a LOT of animal scenes (Deer, rats, wolves) that looked awful. I mean, is it that hard to film an actual deer, or a few wolves running around? Switch to CGI for the violence, but back in the day, they had trained animals in Hollywood...the CGI animals here were take-you-out-of-the-movie bad.

I didn't expect much, because I knew going in that I had long-ago reached my tolerance for movies adapting the Frankenstein novel. Much like Superman's origin, I have seen/heard/read it enough to last me a lifetime...this was a completely unneeded film, and a very self-indulgent one, at that.

I'd love to hear your opinions.....