The Movie (and TV show) Watching Thread

[Ferguson97]

Working through Kubrick's films.

Lolita - 8/10
2001: A Space Odyssey - 10/10
A Clockwork Orange - 9/10
Barry Lyndon - 7/10
The Shining - 9/10

Tonight, I'm watching Full Metal Jacket and tomorrow I'll be watching Eyes Wide Shut.

[Ferguson97]

The Batman was great. The cast all did a phenomenal job, with special shout-out to Paul Dano and Jeffrey Wright. Only minor complaint is I think Andy Serkis was miscast as Alfred. He's a fine actor, but I don't think he was right for the part or the tone of the movie.

Cinematography and score was great as well. The most accurate comment I saw was that this movie does a good job making itself feel like it's a sequel to a movie we haven't seen. Just a great job jumping right into the action. No need for an origin story, everyone coming to see this already knows who Batman is.

Overall a 9/10.

[Ferguson97]

Everything Everywhere All at Once is getting a lot of hype right now... and I have to say it's well-deserved. It's one of the most unique movies I've seen in a while. Black comedy sci-fi if you're into that kind of thing. Don't wanna give too much away.

[Ferguson97]

I recently rewatched Knives Out, The Man Who Wasn't There, and Eyes Wide Shut.

Knives Out was a very pleasant surprise, and one of the funnier movies of the past few years.

Eyes Wide Shut is fantastic. I love Kubrick films.

[Ferguson97]

Nope was really good.

[Ferguson97]

Dual with Karen Gillan and Aaron Paul

I was very excited to see this when the trailer came out, but unfortunately it wasn't playing at any nearby theaters. I finally managed to watch it online, and man what a disappointment. The premise was obviously intriguing and the jokes were pretty good, but the dialogue was atrocious. Nobody talked or acted like a normal person. It was to the point that I expected this to lead up to some sort of plot twist, but it was just a deliberate choice that the director made. The ending was disappointing as well.

Overall a 3/5, which was disappointing because I really wanted this one to be good.

[Ferguson97]

I just finished watching The Sopranos for the first time. Wow, what a ride. Undoubtably deserves its reputation as one of the greatest shows of all time.

[Ferguson97]

And why are TV writers so terrible at writing for kids? They just throw curse words into random places in their dialogue, and it comes across as forced and cringeworthy.

Teenagers often act and behave in ways that feel forced and cringy. I think that Ellie constantly using profanity in order to seem more intimidating and mature is perfectly in-character for a 14-year-old forced to become an adult earlier than she should have been.

[Ferguson97]

Anyone here watching Yellowjackets?

[Ferguson97]

I recently started watching some older movies.

Rear Window - 8.5/10. Very fun movie. Jimmy Stewart is a national treasure, and Grace Kelly is a delight - beautiful actress. I knew the basic premise of the movie because it's been parodied so many times, but I actually didn't know that the neighbor actually did it, since in most of the parodies it was a misunderstanding. I really liked how Grace Kelly and the nurse went along with Jimmy Stewart and didn't just dismiss him as paranoid. I feel like that's something a modern movie would do, but this brought a really fun dynamic.

12 Angry Men - 10/10. Not sure what can be said about this movie that hasn't already been said. I really think that this is a perfect movie. Flawless performances from everyone. This was a really intriguing premise. Though it's sort of obvious that everyone will eventually be convinced to vote not guilty, I still loved watching the debate happen - I really found myself convinced by each and every argument as it was going on. The characters were all written beautifully, everyone felt like a real person with unique motivations and perspectives. Just an amazing movie.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - 8/10. Another brilliant performance by Jimmy Stewart. This was another fun movie with a cool premise. My only real complaint was that I thought the pacing was a little bit off. I was prepared to give this a 7, until Stewart killed it in the last half-hour with that mind-blowing performance when his character did that filibuster.

[Ferguson97]

I watched the Jennifer Lawrence movie "No Hard Feelings". It was really funny and had a lot more heart than I expected it to. The two leads have great chemistry. The plot was mostly predictable, but that's not uncommon in this genre. 7/10.

[Ferguson97]

Little Miss Sunshine was a delight. Paul Dano and Steve Carrell both gave outstanding performances.

[Ferguson97]

Barbenheimer did not disappoint.

Barbie was a delight. It's exactly what you expect, and a little bit more. It's a fun movie with an earnest and simple message. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling gave great performances, particularly in the latter half of the film. There's several laugh-out-loud moments. My only major complaint is that I actually wish the "fish out of water" scenes when Barbie and Ken first arrive in the real world went on for a little bit longer. Solid 8/10 comedy flick.

Oppenheimer was a near-perfect movie. Cillian Murphy gave an absolutely flawless performance. Flawless. The movie does a good job addressing the moral qualms behind dropping the bombs without making Oppenheimer himself seem overly sympathetic. The cinematography was amazing. My only major complaint is that the first ~20 minutes were a little unfocused. 9.5/10, will definitely see again.

[Ferguson97]

I just finished binging The West Wing. Very excellent television.

[Ferguson97]

Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (7/10): The worldbuilding was the best part of the movie. It really felt like it was in the same universe as the Hunger Games trilogy, just ~65 years in the past. I liked the focus on how the war affected everyone, particularly people in the Capitol. The performances were all great, especially Jason Schwartzman as Lucky Flickerman. My biggest disappointments, however, was how much they cut from the book! The book was my favorite of the series, so I was pretty surprised with how much they cut. Everything that was included was really great, but the amount of stuff that was removed made me feel like I saw an incomplete film. Overall I liked it, but it made me want to re-read the book more than anything else.

Exam (7/10): I love movies where it's just people sitting in a room and talking. The decisions made by the characters didn't always make sense, but I liked the dynamics between the characters. They all felt distinct and realistic for the most part. I won't spoil the ending, but the twist was surprisingly not that predictable.

Triangle (6.5/10): Fun premise, but it was very underutilized. I think the movie could've been 15-20 minutes longer. I went into this movie cold, so I really knew nothing about the "twist", I don't know if that was marketed in the trailers or not. The characters weren't super enjoyable, but the acting was mostly good, and the premise was interesting enough to keep me interested.

The Stepford Wives (1975) (7.5/10): The first two acts went on for way too long, and the third act should have been at least 20 minutes longer - but oh man, that third act was just flawless. The performances were great, the movie's villain was extremely creepy, and the protagonist was easy to sympathize with. Katharine Ross was fantastic.

[Ferguson97]

I just finished watching "Dark" on Netflix, and holy moly -- go watch this right now. This is one of those series that is better served going in completely cold, imo.

[Ferguson97]

Columbus (6.0/10): This movie is very well-acted and is beautifully shot but is mostly hollow. The characters were not particularly likable or interesting, but they weren't so annoying or despicable that I felt as if I was supposed to not like them. It's one of those movies where you keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it never does. Most of the movie is just the characters saying they won't do a thing, and then at the very end, they just do the thing.

Thoroughbreds (8.0/10): I went into this movie cold, and that's my recommendation for anyone else too. The trailer, which I only watched after finishing the movie, gives away basically everything. As for the movie itself, it was well-acted, intriguing, and entertaining. I only have two major critiques: the ending, while satisfying, was a tad rushed, and the interactions between the main characters should have been fleshed out more beyond the plot itself.

[Ferguson97]

I watched quite a few movies in the last few days

Get Out - It took me a long time to get around to finally seeing this one, and I have to say that it  lives up to the hype. I knew that this was Peele's directorial debut, but if I didn't know that, I'd have assumed that he was a seasoned veteran. The movie did a really, really good job at making you feel uneasy. Kaluuya was a phenomenal lead.

Us - Another of Peele's films. My biggest complaint is that the premise was underutilized. I know that certain things fall apart if you think about it for too long, but I really have a lot of questions about how the cloning works. I know that there are generations of clones, and that they're forced to procreate with each other in accordance with the actions of their "real world" equivalents. This makes sense for families like the Wilsons and the Tylers, but what about families who have had people immigrate to America sometime since the creation of the clone project? Does someone with an American dad and a Korean mother just not have a clone? Do immigrants not have clones? Anyway, rant over. The movie itself was really good. The acting was incredible, there were times where I forgot that there weren't different actors playing the clones. The twist was a tad predictable, but it was the logical conclusion of the film's implicit "nature vs nurture" themes.

Heat - I was honestly disappointed with this one. I can't even say that the film was just mediocre, it's a movie that has a bunch of really great scenes (coffee shop, airport shootout) mixed with a lot of terrible scenes (any scene with Robert De Niro's love interest, who is one of the least believable characters in all of film history). There were a lot of plot points that went nowhere (Waingro being a serial killer) or came out of nowhere (Al Pacino's stepdaughters suicide attempt), that made me think this story would have been better served as a miniseries.

Taken - I will always appreciate movies that have very straightforward premises and deliver upon it effectively. Liam Neeson's daughter has been taken, so he's going to get her back. Brilliant. I'm not ashamed to admit that the movie made nearly cry at times, not just because of the deeply disturbing portrayals of sex trafficking, but because of Neeson's great performance. You know that in a movie like this, he's going to succeed, but you still find yourself on the edge of your seat, eagerly waiting for himt to do so. 

[Ferguson97]

"First Cow" takes a very simple premise and turns it into something beautiful. This is one of those movies where you sort of forget that you're watching a movie because of how endearing the characters are and how realistic the acting and dialogue is. I genuinely can't think of anything I'd change about it. This is one of the best movies I've seen in a while.

[Ferguson97]

Lady Bird - 9/10

This was a near-flawless portrayal of a complex, borderline toxic mother-daughter relationship. It reminded me a lot of my own sister's relationship with our mother, to the point that I had to double check and make sure that she didn't sell Greta Gerwig the rights to her life story.

Saoirse Ronan gives a masterful performance.

[Ferguson97]

When Harry Met Sally - 8.5/10

Adorable movie. The titular Harry and Sally both felt like actual people, which is a rare feat in a rom com. The movie is very genuine, without ever verging on corny territory. Great stuff.

[Ferguson97]

I just finished "Jury Duty". Very fun show. Good for Ronald for being a good sport and all, but if that happened to me, I would have probably lost my mind.