The Movie (and TV show) Watching Thread

[Meclazine for Israel]

The Significant Other (2022)



Great film. Worth watching with a 'significant other'.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Watched Wakanda Forever great sequel with Angela Bassett as Ramonda

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

Finally saw both “Now You See Me” and “Tenet”.

Both were pretty good. I’m not sure that “Now You See Me” would hold up to repeated viewing (though seeing it a second time, knowing the twist would be interesting). Tenet seems like a movie that needs to be watched multiple times. I had a decent grasp of the story (and I didn’t have major issues with hearing dialogue using a pair of AirPods lol), but there’s probably a lot of stuff I missed or that would be interesting to see it again knowing what happens.

[Enduro]

Finally saw both “Now You See Me” and “Tenet”.

Both were pretty good. I’m not sure that “Now You See Me” would hold up to repeated viewing (though seeing it a second time, knowing the twist would be interesting). Tenet seems like a movie that needs to be watched multiple times. I had a decent grasp of the story (and I didn’t have major issues with hearing dialogue using a pair of AirPods lol), but there’s probably a lot of stuff I missed or that would be interesting to see it again knowing what happens.

Christopher Nolan is great at making movies that get in your head every few months until you are forced to watch it again; I consistently rewatch The Dark Knight, Tenet, Rises, and Memento. I get the feeling that Oppenheimer is going to be the same way.

[T'Chenka]

Glass Onion is on Netflix now. Go watch it.

[Meclazine for Israel]

The Loneliest Boy In The World (2022)



Great little film.

Also watched Don't Worry Baby. Living proof that putting the most attractive and fashionable Hollywood ingredients into a film can all be for nought.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Watched Jesus movie on Xmas

[Progressive Pessimist]

I had a busy holiday weekend but I still managed to see 'Glass Onion.' A film I was truly anticipating this year. And it really disappointed and frustrated me, unfortunately. My biggest disappointment of the year after the New York election results, probably.

I can go into many specific criticisms of the film, but I don't want this post to go on as long as many of my other movie posts do, though I will detail two of my biggest complaints, and will try avoiding spoilers as much as I can:

For one thing the structure of the film really felt off. It takes a little over an hour into the movie for the murder to happen and to find out what the actual conflict is after a slow and overly long start involving our eventual suspects who share a friendship I just could not buy alongside the entire, somewhat arbitrary  reason for them meeting up. Following that comes a second act that is entirely in flashback, and while it re-contextualizes what you already saw, it also feels like it prolongs the set up and bloats an already long film. I found it very irritating and unnecessary for the narrative to be told in a nonlinear fashion like that. And it all culminates in an unsatisfactory finale and reveal that lives up to what the whole "glass onion" metaphor means: seemingly complicated but actually very obvious. Whether that was some of Rian Johnson's f***ing "subversion" tendencies or not, it evoked why 'The Last Jedi' pissed me off so much.

And speaking of which, the second biggest grievance I have is this film doubling down on what was really my biggest and only issue with 'Knives Out:' the predictable culprit. Even with all other criticisms I had, if this film had offered a true out of left field reveal of who was behind this film's mystery I think it would have done a lot to leave me more satisfied. Instead exactly who you think would be the killer, ends up being the killer. One character even says that outright at one point only for Benoit Blanc to say "maybe, but we can't assume that." It turns out you could have because any means of muddying the waters to conceal who the actual perpetrator was were incredibly unconvincing to me. Actually, for a moment or two I thought it wasn't going to be them because it was so obvious and knotted myself into a reverse psychology pretzel only to still end up being right in my initial expectations. Not only that but our array of red herrings were unconvincing too. The rest of the characters who aren't the murderer do not seem competent or malicious enough to even be capable of the convoluted scheme that unfolds.

I could go on, but I just really hate that I'm on the critical end of another Rian Johnson movie which may associate me with the Ben Shapiros and reactionary f***s of the world who pile-on his films for the worst reasons and dilute the genuine criticisms of his writing. I am more than happy to give him another chance with a future installment in this franchise even if it features yet another woman of color being the victim of a conspiracy conceived by rich, elite, often reactionary scumbags; I am fine with all that. But for f***'s sake I want a real shock of a reveal kind of like I got out of a Dario Argento murder mystery film I watched for the first time recently, 'Four Flies on Grey Velvet.' The reveal in that movie was completely preposterous, don't get me wrong, but it was actually very compelling and surprising since it was so out of left-field. I dare anyone to have predicted that. Johnson needs to get some influence from films like that. If the next installment is as disappointing as this one was, or is worse, I will regret ever having an interest in this series. I actually think I liked 'See How They Run' better.

Now, as harsh as I may sound I still don't hate this movie. It was at least entertaining enough and had a lot of funny and amusing moments. I didn't even mind Johnson's typical social commentary about the rich and elite. Hell, this film, in spite of being filmed and written over a year ago, is possibly more relevant than ever, bordering on being prescient. And I will also give Johnson credit for being able to come up with fun little details that get set up and pay off to these mysteries, it's just that all that in this particular one didn't come together in a way I found that worked. I'm not upset that I watched it but it's a movie I will only ever watch once, unlike its predecessor which is fun to watch on repeats or with new people. I also can't say that I am as excited for the next mystery as I was for this one. I'll still probably check it out, but I'm going to really need to be impressed.

Watched Jesus movie on Xmas

A religious movie parody by Friedeberg and Seltzer?

[Frodo]

I think I might see this:

[T'Chenka]

I think I might see this:

I'm going to see it tomorrow. It has mixed reviews that are overall "good" but not better than that. Considering the director and the films he has made previously, that's a disappointment. It's also 3 hours long (which I personally have no issue with).

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I saw the new Avatar. It's basically what you would expect, great visuals, clichéd plot...also kind of a waste of its acting talent since all they do is effectively voice CGI aliens. I didn't even know Kate Winslet was in it until the end credits for example. And WAY too long especially since the second act could be easily shortened...it's quite boring and mostly just a CGI showcase. Nothing really happens in it.

[dead0man]

Apple TV tho sucks and is not worth it. I only have it because it was for free and i immediately cancelled subscription so that it wouldn't be automatically renewed. It barely has content and a lot of content still needs to be "hired" or "bought".

agreed.  But do try and catch Mythic Quest if you still have it.  Good show.



Weird: The Al Yankovic Story=excellent
Clerks III=less than excellent

[T'Chenka]

Babylon
2022
director Damien Chazelle

8.5 (almost 9.0) / 10

One of the best movies of the year. This is a flawed gem, where Chazelle aims so high, and tries to do so much, and he fails somewhat in what he's trying to achieve. The end result is still REALLY really good. That being said, it's somewhat messy and unfocused, and it's probably an easier film for somebody to APPRECIATE than it is for somebody to LOVE. Chazelle lets you know right from the start that he's going to do whatever the f__k he wants to do, and he doesn't really give a s__t whether you like it or not.

There are two things that impressed me more than anything else... Damien Chazelle's directing (and cinematography), and Margot Robbie. I know Robbie has her haters, but the woman was born to be a movie star. This is POSSIBLY her best performance yet. If you're a Chazelle stan (and/or simp), or maybe you're a Robbie stan (and/or simp), you're gonna be eating good. Calva and Pitt do a good job, but they sold me over the course of the film. Robbie started selling me from the her first scene. The supporting cast does a great job as well.

Basically all the techs are extremely good. I thought the musical score was fairly good, not amazing, but good and also fit the movie well. That might be a spicy opinion, as I've seen others say the score disappointed them. It's probably not as good by itself and not playing with the film. The last thing to talk about is the script. Let's just say, it's funny, and has some great parts, but it's ambitious and messy and definitely the weakest part of the film. The first half of the movie is IMO better than the second half.

Overall, it's a great piece of kino and Chazelle's love letter to cinema. I would HIGHLY recommend to kino lovers, but not strongly to a general audience.

[Хahar 🤔]

I saw Babylon yesterday. I don't regret doing it because the alternative was work and because there's something remarkable about seeing something so bad that it took real ambition to do, but it's the worst movie I've seen in years. It shows an incredible lack of good taste (I lost count of how many different kinds of bodily fluid were spewed on the screen) and also an incredible lack of interest in anything about the time or place it ostensibly depicts.

I'm not an expert on old Hollywood by any means, but so many moments aren't just casually incorrect but obviously wrong in a way that undercuts whatever the movie is trying to say. There's a scene late in the movie where Brad Pitt's aging silent-era star is told by a gossip columnist that it doesn't matter what she writes or even whether he dies, because generations yet to be born will take his films out from the vaults and see him and through them he will live forever. This is clearly meant to be one of the great emotional moments of the film, but if you know anything at all about silent film you'll know that nobody involved believed that what they were making was permanent, which is why the vast majority of silent movies have not been preserved. Anyone who recognizes that the obese degenerate shown at the beginning of the movie is meant to be Fatty Arbuckle will know this very elementary fact, which makes me wonder whom exactly this is for. Anyone who recognizes Fatty Arbuckle will also recognize and be appalled by the disgusting way this movie perpetuates in death the slanders leveled against him while he was alive. I suppose in that sense he does live forever.

All along Babylon shows nothing but contempt and condescension for its characters and setting, and then (if the waterfalls of feces and urine and vomit weren't enough to demonstrate this already) it shows its contempt and condescension for its audience in the ludicrous ending, which appropriates first Singin' in the Rain and then the entire history of cinema to try to create the illusion of profundity, as if all of that happened for Damien Chazelle to show a dwarf holding an enormous model of a penis and spraying mock-semen onto a mostly naked crowd. If the movie was supposed to have any other point, I missed it entirely. It's a "movie about movies" that doesn't care about movies or anything else. My thought watching it was that it was aiming for camp (which of course doesn't work if you're trying to do it), but reading about it afterward it seems as though real people really enjoyed it. I can't imagine how or why.

[T'Chenka]

My thought watching it was that it was aiming for camp (which of course doesn't work if you're trying to do it), but reading about it afterward it seems as though real people really enjoyed it. I can't imagine how or why.

The directing, acting, production design, costumes, etc are all great, and it has some truly great scenes. Overall, it's a messy and overly ambitious film, with some parts that don't work as well as others. It doesn't always nail the landing, but overall there's A LOT to like there.

[kyc0705]

I probably won't see Babylon for a while because I've just been at home playing catch-up with a bunch of other long movies from this year, but if we're talking about Damien Chazelle, I think La La Land is a great movie ~in spite~ of all its attempts to comment on Hollywood and The Movies.

[T'Chenka]

I probably won't see Babylon for a while because I've just been at home playing catch-up with a bunch of other long movies from this year, but if we're talking about Damien Chazelle, I think La La Land is a great movie ~in spite~ of all its attempts to comment on Hollywood and The Movies.

La La Land and Whiplash are his two best films. Watch Whiplash (from 2014) if you haven't yet.

[kyc0705]

I probably won't see Babylon for a while because I've just been at home playing catch-up with a bunch of other long movies from this year, but if we're talking about Damien Chazelle, I think La La Land is a great movie ~in spite~ of all its attempts to comment on Hollywood and The Movies.

La La Land and Whiplash are his two best films. Watch Whiplash (from 2014) if you haven't yet.

I've seen Whiplash and I remember liking it. First Man is also very good.

Not to put too fine a point on it, I came away from La La Land with the inkling that Chazelle has very... specific and complicated feelings about what it means to make movies, for lack of a better way of putting it. I think some of his other stuff could suggest this as well, if you read it metaphorically. I have a half-serious/full-crackpot theory about Chazelle's personal feelings on filmmaking generally that I won't go into now, based on his work that I've seen. I'm curious to see Babylon eventually, because some of the discussion about it I've read (particularly the negative reviews, tbh) seems to suggest there might be more fuel for it.

[vitoNova]

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

1.9 out of 10. 

It sucks.  Don't watch it. 

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Looking forward to House Party on Jan 13 th

[Meclazine for Israel]

The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnxGV9RQutE

4 Corners Story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fndcCyYzXKg



Executive Producer is Leonardo DiCaprio. This is hard to watch, but the actual events in the movie are remarkable. This particular volcanic eruption occurs when  the volcanic system releases pressure. Seawater starts interacting with the system and that then produces superheated steam (white) accompanied by a pyroclastic flow (black), so the visitors left on the island were left in pitch black darkness with little chance of survival.

The footage presented is simply unbelievable. You can see the moment where the tourists change from having a great day to witnessing a horrific tragedy unfold live in front of their iPhones.

From a TV series perspective, started watching Tulsa King. First class series. Really like it.

[Enduro]

My wife and I are rewatching the Pirates movies; it's crazy how much lore is involved. I always forget that there is more to the films than Jack Sparrow.

[Progressive Pessimist]

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

1.9 out of 10. 

It sucks.  Don't watch it. 

I enjoyed the first two segments, but overall, yeah, I more or less agree on balance.

My wife and I are rewatching the Pirates movies; it's crazy how much lore is involved. I always forget that there is more to the films than Jack Sparrow.

I've always found those movies to be way too convoluted and confusing. I really wish they got rid of the whole supernatural s*** after awhile and just had mortal pirates competing over treasure and back-stabbing each other.

[T'Chenka]

Udta Punjab
"Punjab Flying (High)"
director Abishek Chaubey

6.5 (almost 6.0) / 10

I didn't know exactly what to expect with this one. I was a little overwhelmed at first, but the each act lays a foundation for the next act to build on, and by the end, the setup pays off fairly well. Some of the subplots were really underwhelming me... until they weren't. Even the directing seems to get better as the movie progresses. Editing is good throughout, and acting from the ensemble cast is really good throughout, though a moment or two felt like overacting to me. Pacing is a bit weird. The movie seems to go on and on forever, but not in a bad way? I don't know if that makes sense.

I would recommend this film to people, but I'm not sure how strongly, unless it seems up their alley. If only the whole movie could have matched that third act. It's a kino, which can't be said for many of the films that come out of India.

[vitoNova]

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

1.9 out of 10. 

It sucks.  Don't watch it. 

I enjoyed the first two segments, but overall, yeah, I more or less agree on balance.

My wife and I are rewatching the Pirates movies; it's crazy how much lore is involved. I always forget that there is more to the films than Jack Sparrow.

I've always found those movies to be way too convoluted and confusing. I really wish they got rid of the whole supernatural s*** after awhile and just had mortal pirates competing over treasure and back-stabbing each other.

I can kinda get where the Coen Brothers were coming from (my favorite directors of all time)...which was: Western vignettes and Americana frontier tales.  Complete with the random, stylized violence of Tarantino.

But I simply wasn't feeling it.