The Movie (and TV show) Watching Thread

[emailking]

I watched Madame Web and all specials btw.

[Landslide Lyndon]

I watched Madame Web and all specials btw.

My condolences.

[Independents for Nihilism]

Saw 2001 at a cinema tonight. Utterly breathtaking, the sound got me more than anything. Fun fact: the guy who did the voice of HAL was from Winnipeg.

[Progressive Pessimist]

'The Holdovers' lived up to the positive expectations I had for it. Alexander Payne is back to making movies that really speak to me. My new favorite film of the 2023 backlog I'm catching up on.

I just need to see 'Killers of the Flower Moon.'

[RFK Jr.’s Brain Worm]

Judge me all you like for watching Anyone But You by myself on a Friday night, but it was at least entertaining and engaging. Solid end credit montage.

Just didn’t feel like watching anything heavy. Been kind of a bumpy reentry to work after almost two weeks off. Watched Sicario a couple nights ago and am coming to the realization that Villeneuve doesn’t really do it for me, I don’t think. It wasn’t *bad,* but it wasn’t for me. Needed something less stressful and more pulpy tonight and Anyone But You fit the bill.

[John Dule]

I watched Jerry Seinfeld's "Unfrosted" movie last night. It's possible that I only found it tolerable because it was such a welcome distraction from studying for finals, but I did not hate it. As dumb as this movie is, it's ultimately far less offensive than something like Air-- another soulless film about the creation of a product, but one that had the gall to actually take its inane subject matter seriously. Turning this burgeoning "genre" into a farce is completely welcome-- and after Air exclusively filmed Michael Jordan with over-the-shoulder camera angles (echoing Jesus in Ben-Hur), treating pop tarts with the importance of the space race barely feels like an exaggeration.

I'm also not put off by Jerry Seinfeld's bad acting. I think he's come to accept how stilted he sounds and now fully embraces it, and the result is borderline experimental anti-comedy that will elicit several chuckles. His performance has the same energy as a cheesy pre-recorded Oscars sketch, which is entirely appropriate for this material.

The problems arise when the movie abandons its commitment to the premise and wades into distracting side plots, almost all of which rely upon the most tepid, predictable humor imaginable. With the mere knowledge that JFK makes an appearance, any audience member who knows the first thing about Kennedy could predict half the jokes in that scene. Far too much screen time is devoted to Amy Schumer, multiple cringeworthy SNL cast cameos, and a shockingly outdated and unfunny sequence parodying Alien. As a result, the movie feels astonishingly long despite its 90-minute runtime.

There are some gems in the supporting cast-- Dean Norris as Nikita Khrushchev and Christian Slater as a member of the milkman mafia are particular standouts-- but they receive too little attention for the movie to be worth seeing. I was also surprised that Jerry Seinfeld of all people happened to create perhaps the only effective parody of January 6th I've seen yet (mostly because the comedy here wasn't being used as a Trojan horse for breathless moral panic). But overall, the few good clips will be available on YouTube, and the rest is not worth your time-- as is regrettably true for so many modern comedies.

[Hindsight was 2020]

Anyone else watch the 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' finale?

I had a feeling that they were building up to a meta joke about the 'Seinfeld' finale, and that's what we got. I enjoyed it as a fitting end to one of my favorite shows. I do think there was a missed opportunity with Richard Lewis' girlfriend. I really thought they were going to ger dark and have her actual try to assassinate Larry after he got out of jail.

I think that was intentional done to put the audience on edge for the end of the show as there were these long held rumors that Larry wanted the show ending with him dying. Along with it being anotber reference to the Seinfeld finale with George’s ex-in laws doing the same thing

[T'Chenka]

Challengers (2024)
director Luca Guadagnino
Zendaya, Mike Faist, Josh O'Connor

8.5 / 10

This is in theaters now. It was great. Had such a good time with it. The directing and acting were excellent. Very sexy movie, not something you want kids to see and not something you wanna see with your mom and dad. Probably the best tennis film I've ever seen. I've seen from the same director Call Me By Your Name and Bones And All. All three are very good movies.

STRONGLY recommended film. Go out to the theaters and check it out.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Challengers (2024)
director Luca Guadagnino
Zendaya, Mike Faist, Josh O'Connor

8.5 / 10

This is in theaters now. It was great. Had such a good time with it. The directing and acting were excellent. Very sexy movie, not something you want kids to see and not something you wanna see with your mom and dad. Probably the best tennis film I've ever seen. I've seen from the same director Call Me By Your Name and Bones And All. All three are very good movies.

STRONGLY recommended film. Go out to the theaters and check it out.

It's funny, when it comes to the "sexiness" I heard a lot of audiences were disappointed when the "graphic nudity" in the R rating didn't involve Zendaya. And that's odd to me. Zendaya is an attractive girl...but looks a bit too much like a girl still. I wouldn't want to see her naked! I'm relieved she didn't do that.

I've got a few movies I saw the first time (will try to keep them brief):

-'The Baby:' I try not to post about the weird, obscure, cult films I tend to watch since I imagine so few of you care, but I sought out this one because of a  B-movie podcast I listen to declared it the best movie they covered on the show (it's called Trash in the Can-check it out if you're interested in bad movies, like I am). It was definitely an interesting film, and not really bad or too obvious of a low-budget at all, but it was way too padded to reach the runtime it wanted to. It has a really intriguing premise involving a social worker working on a case featuring a grown man who behaves like a toddler, and features a truly jaw-dropping twist ending. I just wish it was a 'Twilight Zone' short or something instead of the ninety minute feature length film it was. It would have been much more satisfying to me. That aside, it was still worth watching as a truly bizarre film like this only could have been made in the 1970's, and is kind of a neat time capsule of exploitation movies of the time. I still recommend it to anyone morbidly curious. Just feel free to fast forward through some of the agonizingly slow scenes where almost nothing happens

While I'm at it, I'm requoting my review of 'The Baby' since Red Letter Media included it in their show 'Best of the Worst,' which I'm sure will increase its relevance. I always feel an odd sense of pride when I see a culty movie before they do.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

Finally watched The Matrix (dirs. The Wachowski Sisters, 1999) over three separate sittings. I gotta admit, the parts I remember watching hit different now that I'm actually trans.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Zendaya is an attractive girl...but looks a bit too much like a girl still. I wouldn't want to see her naked! I'm relieved she didn't do that.

I must be one of the few who is immune to Zendaya much ballyhooed charisma and charm.
As an actress I find her just adequate and as a woman I believe she looks like a teenage boy. In the first MCU Spiderman movie I thought initially that she was a lesbian with whom Peter would have to fight for his crush's affections, hence why she was constantly breaking his balls.

[John Dule]

Zendaya is an attractive girl...but looks a bit too much like a girl still. I wouldn't want to see her naked! I'm relieved she didn't do that.

I must be one of the few who is immune to Zendaya much ballyhooed charisma and charm.
As an actress I find her just adequate and as a woman I believe she looks like a teenage boy. In the first MCU Spiderman movie I thought initially that she was a lesbian with whom Peter would have to fight for his crush's affections, hence why she was constantly breaking his balls.

I thought this would make her more attractive to Greeks.