The Movie (and TV show) Watching Thread

[Progressive Pessimist]

^'Watership Down' is great, as f**ed up as it is for an animated movie about rabbits. If you liked it though might I recommend 'Plague Dogs' as well if you like incredibly dark British movies about animals. 'Plague Dogs' is even darker though, it will ruin your day if you watch it. It's still good though.

Then there's 'Felidae,' which is a German made film noir, with a version dubbed in English, about a cat trying to solve the mystery behind murders of other cats in a neighborhood he and his owner move to. This one is explicitly an R-rated movie though featuring cat sex, graphic gore, and themes of eugenics and genocide. Give it a watch! It's kind of nuts!

[SingingAnalyst]

Yesterday I watched "Knives Out" for the 4th time. I love that movie.

There aren't many "whodunit" mysteries these days, and this one is stellar. The character development is absolutely phenomenal (as is Christopher Plummer). The movie absolutely does not hold back. One of the (female) characters reeks of innocence (though two others, a Yogi mother and SJW daughter, are quite lovable) while another character reeks of assholiness. I loved seeing the latter get his comeuppance.

I had last seen the movie in late March, after having seen it twice, once in late December 2019 and again in early January 2020. Reflecting on how much the world has changed since then made me a bit sad, yet hopeful.

[T'Chenka]

Watched a lot recently.

VERY GOOD
- Once Upon A Time In The West
- Aquarius
- Soul

ABOVE AVERAGE
- Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
- Pieces Of A Woman
- Stuck In Love

AVERAGE
- Mary Poppins Returns

BELOW AVERAGE
- The Meg

[T'Chenka]

Yesterday I watched "Knives Out" for the 4th time. I love that movie.

Knives Out was really a great movie. I always wondered if there were conservative movie-watchers who enjoyed it though...

[John Dule]

The Futurama movie The Beast With a Billion Backs is a surprisingly solid take on religion.

[SingingAnalyst]

Yesterday I watched "Knives Out" for the 4th time. I love that movie.

Knives Out was really a great movie. I always wondered if there were conservative movie-watchers who enjoyed it though...

I loved everything about it. I'd watch it again in a heartbeat.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I have been watching alot of Action films but when Football season is over and no fans in baseball, in Summer and Basketball it's gonna be boring.

Fans are the integral part of Baseball and Basketball but Lakers and Dodgers are champs

[T'Chenka]

I have been watching alot of Action films but when Football season is over and no fans in baseball, in Summer and Basketball it's gonna be boring.

Fans are the integral part of Baseball and Basketball but Lakers and Dodgers are champs

Did you enjoy Mission: Impossible - Fallout?

[John Dule]

Stranger than Fiction: I'd never heard of this film before watching it on Netflix, but it does a whole lot of clever stuff with a very simple premise. Many people on this site seem to hate Will Ferrell, and I agree that he generally makes low-quality movies, but when he's given a decent role he often manages to shine. This movie is exponentially better than his idiotic man-child movies he makes with his friends. I wish he had more stuff like this in his filmography; it's just as funny as Anchorman, and as a bonus you won't feel bad laughing at it.

Memories of Murder: I watched this South Korean film for the second time last night, and it really holds up. The cinematography is magnificent; the camera is allowed to sit calmly in a corner while the actors move through the scene, and the faraway shots add a darkly comedic effect to the action scenes. Kang-Ho Song is simply amazing in this as a somewhat dim-witted detective who nevertheless has his heart in the right place. And of course, the story is great-- a truly disturbing sequence of killings that manage to depict sexual violence without fetishizing it. I would rank this on my list of 100 favorite films. If you liked Parasite I would wholly recommend this.

Suffragette: A fairly boiler-plate historical drama about the movement to get the vote for women in Britain. I would say that a few factors elevate it above other biopic mush, namely Carey Mulligan's performance and Brendan Gleeson's role as her pursuer. Gleeson's character saves this movie from being totally one-dimensional; he presents real, honest arguments against what Mulligan's character is doing, and it's clear that he isn't in the film to fill the "male villain" role (as the rapist factory owner is). Nevertheless, the movie suffers from the same problems as other films of its ilk-- a complete lack of humor, bland cinematography, washed-out colors, and an overbearing sense of self-importance.

[T'Chenka]

GOD'S OWN COUNTRY - Good movie, 7/10.
GONE WITH THE WIND - I've watched half of it so far, and it's pretty good.

[Progressive Pessimist]

'Gretel and Hansel:' From the director of the superior  'Blackcoat's Daughter' and inferior 'I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House' but is just as slow as both comes a film that is also as visually striking as his other two. The cinematography and production design steal this movie! It's one of the most atmospheric, coolest looking takes on a Grimms' fairy tale I have ever seen. It's a perfect Halloween movie. The score is excellent too. It's a weird synth sort of sound, reminiscent of 'A Clockwork Orange' to me, which is different from the typical dark folk horror scores you get, but actually works very well.

I would recommend it to audiences interested in an efficiently creepy, surprisingly graphic for a PG-13 (even though there is no direct physical bloodshed there is some major gross-out stuff in this movie. I don't know how it didn't get an R rating), slow-burn movie. A lot of complaints about it seem to revolve around how slow it is, but I actually prefer slow horror films that build themselves up. Anyway there are plenty of consistently eerie moments to keep you engaged throughout.

My real qualms with the film involve its somewhat muddled story, some awkward and odd dialogue, some unnecessaey voice-over narration, and the two siblings having completely different accents (it being a fantasy movie I can get past there being no unifying dialect among the characters, but when they're siblings it's a bit distracting to me). Don't expect it to be a very close adaptation of the Hansel and Gretel story you already know, of course. There a few neat twists and even a few omissions from the conventional version of it. For instance, the house isn't made of candy, our protagonists are several years apart instead of twins, and there are no breadcrumbs. Still though, if you can get past that and every other somewhat  minor flaw I mentioned, it's probably worth a watch.

'One Night in Miami:' This move has been receiving a lot of buzz, especially for awards season. It definitely deserves it, and having a black female first-time director, Oscar winning actress Regina King, it's probably a shoo-in to at least be nominated for a lot. And for a directional debut, it's pretty impressive. But I can't say that I was quite as enchanted with it. Don't get me wrong, it's a very well-made, very well-acted movie and I still liked it a lot, but in being adapted from a play it felt way too much like one for me. The whole movie was basically our four main characters talking about their roles as prominent, powerful black men in the civil rights movement and cultural upheaval of the 1960's for black Americans. Our characters being Jim Brown (who has the least to do in the movie, I don't even think he should have really been there. He gets maybe two important moments in the film-though they are two of the movie's best moments in my opinion), Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali,  Sam Cooke, and Malcolm X-four legends in black history and American history overall too. This isn't a true story, but could conceivably have been a real event since all four knew each other and relate to each other. Nobody should go into this movie thinking it did actually happen.

Maybe it's because I'm white and am a bit more disconnected, but these four, admittedly interesting, characters just hanging out and talking in a hotel room for the majority of the film just didn't really resonate with me. I feel like the film should have built up to something like the deaths of either Cooke or Malcolm X, but the only real conflict is in our characters' disagreements with each other. Much of what they talked about did resonate with me though; there are a lot of important, interesting, and still relevant discussions and debates that occur. But it felt more like an episode of a political talk show than a movie to me. I might be exaggerating a bit, there is definitely more of a heart to it than that. As unnatural as some of the dialogue came across when they were debating their interactions in other circumstances at least felt natural and that puts this adaptation above other drawing room play film adaptations. But as I said before, it seems like something that works better as a play still and I just don't tend to care for those adapted to film like 'August Osage COunty,' 'Glengarry Glen Ross,' or 'The Importance of Being Earnest.' 'Twelve Angry Men' is excepted though. I do love that one.

I would still recommend the film overall in spite of having some issues with its structure and format. It's especially going to appeal to anyone who appreciates these four figures, is interested in black history, or does like drawing room plays. I don't think it's for everybody though, very casual viewers might react to it with some apathy, especially with its nearly 2 hour run time.

[Lumine]

Currently watching Abel Gance's Napoleon (1927), the five and half-hour restoration. Have only covered the first hour, but I'm quite literally in awe.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

I saw the Truman Show for the first time on Wednesday(?) night. Very solid movie. I knew the general premise of it, but it was very done as a whole.

I rewatched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (on Blu-Ray) for the 11th(?) time on Friday. You can probably guess my thoughts on it.

I also watched Salt last night. I had seen it in theaters with my friends back in 2010 (I wonder why?). I vaguely remembered some parts of it, but it kept me guessing the whole time, though I had some suspicions. Not sure if I like the ending, but a solid movie overall. Best of all? It (and the Truman Show) are free on Amazon Prime.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Yesterday I watched Blood Simple, the Coen brothers' first film from 1984. I quite liked it, actually.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Psych-Out! is available on YouTube for free in HQ:

[dssg0915]

I started watching the old Alfred Hitchcock movies this lockdown. I really enjoyed Rear Window and Psycho the most and it definitely gave me inspiration for my own projects

[SevenEleven]

I started watching the old Alfred Hitchcock movies this lockdown. I really enjoyed Rear Window and Psycho the most and it definitely gave me inspiration for my own projects

Notorious is another good one!

[Anna Komnene]

Not a movie but WandaVision has me smiling so far. It's like the perfect amount of camp mixed with mysterious dark undertones. You can tell everyone really enjoyed making it. I can't wait to see where it goes.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

The Beach Bum (2019) 8/10
Mud (2012) 8/10
Joker (2019) 10/10
Green Room (2015) (rewatch) 6/10
Baby Driver (2017) 9/10
Hard Candy (2005) 7/10

[SingingAnalyst]

I watched "Blow the Man Down" which I liked ok, but which I found a bit strange and hard to follow.

I started to watch "The Shawshank Redemption". I heard that is one of the best movies of all time, and I am inclined to believe. I am looking forward to watching it in its entirety.

[John Dule]

The Professor and the Madman: After seeing this film, I looked up what the cast/crew had to say about it. Mel Gibson said that he was disappointed with the final cut and felt that the movie had been ruined by the producers. And I have to say... he's probably right. This film is about the development of the Oxford English Dictionary; while the story isn't exactly riveting, Gibson gives a startlingly good performance with a spot-on Scottish accent, and Sean Penn does a better-than-decent job playing an American doctor being eaten away by psychosis. However, just about every other aspect of the film lets them down. Firstly, the movie is easily half an hour too long; tons of unnecessary redundant scenes are included that could easily have been cut, and the second half of the film feels packed with filler, like a hamburger made up of 25% sawdust. Secondly, the dialogue is unbearably ponderous. It is exactly as verbose/loquacious/garrulous as you'd expect from a self-important movie about dictionaries. And third, the cinematography does very little to hold the audience's interest. While the costumes and sets are generally quite good, the camerawork is very uncreative, with lots of shot/reverse shot scenes of people talking in rooms. Constantly cutting in scenes where people are simply talking to one another is unnecessary and doesn't leave you with anywhere to go visually once the drama escalates. Altogether, this was a fairly interesting story anchored by two (unexpectedly) brilliant performances, but the rest of the movie is colossally dull.

[John Dule]

Also, my girlfriend finally got me to watch some of Cowboy Bebop and One Piece. This may surprise some people here given the stereotype of libertarians being weebs, but I have never watched any anime before this. Weirdly, I'm the only person I know out of all my friends who doesn't watch it; liking anime seems to transcend genders, races, and socioeconomic statuses. I'm not sure how it became so popular, but I never got into it growing up (unless you count renting an old Pokemon VHS from the local Silver Screen Video).

Cowboy Bebop is a lot like Firefly (a show I love), featuring a similar futuristic/wild west setting and a very richly imagined universe. Pretty much everything about the world of this show is easy to like; the ship designs, the cities, and the space travel wormholes all feel very clean and well thought-out. The soundtrack is also great. However, after watching several episodes of the show I still feel I cannot connect with these characters.

I think part of the problem here is that I still see cartoons as something for kids, and so a supposedly "more adult" show like Cowboy Bebop rubs me the wrong way because it takes itself seriously while still being pretty absurd. But even despite this, none of these characters seem to confront problems that are relevant to real life-- most of their obstacles have to do with their exotic pasts as criminals, and their run-ins with various crime organizations are just not compelling enough on their own to maintain my interest. Even in a sci-fi setting, I think characters ought to confront realistic problems that will resonate with the viewer. This show is more concerned with being "cool" than with doing this, and because of that I never really got into it.

One Piece is a different thing altogether; it's a straight-up kid's show filled with gleefully cartoonish animation that indulges 110% in the silliness that's possible in this genre. After getting over a few humps (namely the abominably lengthy fight scenes and certain aspects of anime that make me cringe), I've come to find it pretty charming. I had never heard of this show until recently, but apparently it's basically the most popular series in Japan and has been running for 20+ years. The appeal is easy to understand; the humor comes easily and naturally, and the characters embody a nostalgic childish abandon that adults should be able to appreciate as well as kids. The world is just as richly imagined as that of Cowboy Bebop, but by refusing to mask its absurdity under a layer of cynicism and "maturity," I think One Piece has won me over.

Addendum: To sum up the differences between these shows, Cowboy Bebop has a character named "Faye Valentine," which sounds cool, mysterious, and edgy. One Piece, however, has a character named "Lieutenant Double-Iron-Fist Fullbody," which is just so freaking over-the-top and self-aware it's impossible not to laugh at it.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The 1931 German thriller "M - A City Searches for a Murderer" is available for free on Youtube, original German audio with official English subtitles.

The 1929 silent documentary "A Man With a Movie Camera" was shown in the atrium of my school last year. It is purely experimental and simply shows daily life in several large cities in the USSR, but there is no obvious propaganda.

Both are listed on the list of Greatest Films of All Time

[John Dule]

The Dig: I had some hopes for this movie about the Sutton Hoo discovery, as it stars Ralph Feinnes and covers subject matter that's fairly fascinating. However, the true story behind this is ultimately too sparse to adapt into a feature-length film. This could easily have been a one-hour documentary, and it would've lost nothing for it. In their efforts to stretch this narrative out, the filmmakers threw in a number of wholly unnecessary subplots, including a laughable and entirely fictional gay affair. This movie could have benefitted from a wholesale fictionalization; if they were really willing to make things up to this extent, the screenwriters should've decided to fictionalize the story entirely, amping up the drama and the tension between the museum curators and the diggers in the process. As it is, the movie is nothing more than a morose, colorless slog padded with uninteresting ancillary characters. 4/10

Kodachrome: A wretched, cliche-ridden piece of filth starring the ever-awful Jason Sudekis. This movie is essentially unwatchable; after about half an hour you will be able to predict the rest of the film to an astonishing degree of accuracy. The story-- about a record company stooge who is forced to reconnect with his dying rock star father-- has been told in countless other similar films, none of which plunged to these depths of insipid Hollywood schmaltz. Part of me suspects that every single line of dialogue in the film was lifted from other scripts and then painstakingly pieced together into one modestly coherent narrative. It is derivative to the point that it can hardly be called an "original screenplay." 2/10

[Santander]

Kodachrome: A wretched, cliche-ridden piece of filth starring the ever-awful Jason Sudekis. This movie is essentially unwatchable; after about half an hour you will be able to predict the rest of the film to an astonishing degree of accuracy. The story-- about a record company stooge who is forced to reconnect with his dying rock star father-- has been told in countless other similar films, none of which plunged to these depths of insipid Hollywood schmaltz. Part of me suspects that every single line of dialogue in the film was lifted from other scripts and then painstakingly pieced together into one modestly coherent narrative. It is derivative to the point that it can hardly be called an "original screenplay." 2/10

I actually made a pilgrimage to Dwayne's Photo just before they discontinued Kodachrome. I bought a commemorative shirt, but I lost it.

(Velvia is better than Kodachrome, but Kodachrome had a character and romance that a Japanese film could never replicate)