NEW: List some movies you've watched recently. Theatre, rental, TV... and give a */10

[DAPUNISHER]

Went to see Meg 2: The Trench in 3D. Thought it would be a perfect movie for 3D - giant shark mouths agape coming right out of the screen. Didn't happen. There was a dragonfly at the beginning of the movie flitting around my seat and I had to dodge a piece of blown-up shark later on. Those were it. Certainly not a great , or even good movie, but it is Jason Statham and he goes a long way in any movie. Thankfully my tickets were free. I give it a 6 but only because of Statham and I never looked at my watch to see how much time there was left in the movie.

Just for you. I rate this video LULZ of 10

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I've been watching Deep Space 9 on Prime VR. My flying spaghetti monster is it magnificent to watch this way. I think the last time I watched this show it was on a 36" CRT? The picture quality is impressive enough that on the VR big screen you can see the makeup prosthetics work really well. 10/10 experience

 

[JEDI]

Avatar 2: 6/10

Visually stunning but basically space cowboys vs people with bows and arrows.
Obviously the good guys will win. and obvious he or the other kid would die.
that plot line has been rehashed infinitum.

a few plot hoes:
- it's been so long since avatar 1 that i dont remember the colonel having a son?
- it's been ~20yrs since the planet has been liberated. Earth tech still cant build armored windshields that can stop a bow and arrow?
- capt Ahab and whaling subplot from left field. WTF??

- stupid theon Greyjoy subplot from Game of Thrones. kid got raised by a different family. he was loved and treated as one of their own.
you know what happened next...
didnt buy it in GoT and dont buy it here

- So Ripley from Aliens is the new virgin Mary giving birth to blue Jesus???
Been there done that in the Bible

sidenote:
Cameron waited soooooooooo long to make a sequel because he needed years to invent tech to film the underwater scenes.
Hence the ~$400M price tag for this film.

But special effects have come a long way since Obama was president.

There was no need to use real people for most of the movie when CGI would probably have sufficed in this 2nd decade of the new millenium.

At least there's no going into a trench at full speed and shooting missiles' into a hole by an ace pilot using the force.
But since there are 3 more sequels (for a 5pack), you never know

 

[sdifox]

Elemental 6/10

Weak script, not enough funnies.

 

[DigDog]

I watched K-PAX - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272152/reference/

4th time around, plus i've watched the planetarium scene at least a dozen times.
Nice film, done without complications, about an alien who comes to visit earth, and the stern refusal of the doctor to accept this.
AND also the story of a not-an-alien and the doctor's struggle to help this patient.

The script is .. undecided on what it wants. The protagonist, prot, not only has intelligence indicative of a highly intelligent man, but also knowledge unavailable to pretty much anyone on earth, and has the capacity to see the ultraviolet spectrum. There's a scene where they literally say "this guy has superpowers". And despite this, the film still wants to sit on the fence whether he is or isn't an alien, which is annoying.

Still, worth a watch. Could have been better with a rewrite (the book - and following book series - makes it 100% clear he is an actual alien). 7/10

 

[IronWing]

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
It's a decent movie. The action scenes feed the plot in a way missing from the first movie in the series. There are a small number of slapstick scenes that I thought detracted from the movie. Jude Law carries this movie. Robert Downey Jr. did well and dropped the Dustin Hoffman imitation he ran with in the first movie. 7.5/10

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
It's a decent movie. The action scenes feed the plot in a way missing from the first movie in the series. There are a small number of slapstick scenes that I thought detracted from the movie. Jude Law carries this movie. Robert Downey Jr. did well and dropped the Dustin Hoffman imitation he ran with in the first movie. 7.5/10

The Bartitsu gives me a martial arts nerdgasm. Personally liked the slapstick. Jude is the straight man; it's classic stuff.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I watched K-PAX - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272152/reference/

4th time around, plus i've watched the planetarium scene at least a dozen times.
Nice film, done without complications, about an alien who comes to visit earth, and the stern refusal of the doctor to accept this.
AND also the story of a not-an-alien and the doctor's struggle to help this patient.

The script is .. undecided on what it wants. The protagonist, prot, not only has intelligence indicative of a highly intelligent man, but also knowledge unavailable to pretty much anyone on earth, and has the capacity to see the ultraviolet spectrum. There's a scene where they literally say "this guy has superpowers". And despite this, the film still wants to sit on the fence whether he is or isn't an alien, which is annoying.

Still, worth a watch. Could have been better with a rewrite (the book - and following book series - makes it 100% clear he is an actual alien). 7/10

Only points I don't sync on - it's 8/10 for me. Because of the serious, yet not overly so, treatment they gave to the sci-fi material, and the performances.

I only saw it once, but I thought the being "on the fence" was simply us viewing it through the Dr.'s eyes. Given his profession and speciality, his incredulity and unwillingness to accept something so fantastical made sense to me. He was always looking for the rational explanation, which is what I thought the film was trying to convey by not outright declaring him an E.T.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

The Northman - 7/10

Solid period piece. Excellent cast. Enjoy the subject matter. Anya Taylor-Joy has that certain je ne sais quoi for me.

The Menu - 8/10

Did I mention I like Anya's work?

This movie is a cook's dark fantasy come to life. Especially now, when any idiot with an internet connection can fancy themselves a food critic. Plays out beautifully. Anya being the only one that doesn't belong there, and what and why she orders what she does, is the dark comedy version of Ratatouille.

 

[mikeymikec]

Atomic Blonde (2017)

Surprisingly well-choreographed and well-shot action scenes; a refreshing break after I re-watched the Bourne trilogy recently with its shaky cam and constant shot changes. I'd describe this film as an action-orientated spy thriller, set in the 80s to an alt-timeline of the final days of the Berlin Wall. It's not going to be remembered as a masterpiece of any genre, but a perfectly good action romp.

I also wouldn't be surprised if the guys here would add an extra three points to its rating due to two factors: Charlize Theron's varying levels of nudity, and a lady-lady sex scene.

 

[DigDog]

Atomic Blonde (2017)


I also wouldn't be surprised if the guys here would add an extra three points to its rating due to two factors: Charlize Theron's varying levels of nudity, and a lady-lady sex scene.

challenge accepted !

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Atomic Blonde (2017)

Surprisingly well-choreographed and well-shot action scenes; a refreshing break after I re-watched the Bourne trilogy recently with its shaky cam and constant shot changes. I'd describe this film as an action-orientated spy thriller, set in the 80s to an alt-timeline of the final days of the Berlin Wall. It's not going to be remembered as a masterpiece of any genre, but a perfectly good action romp.

I also wouldn't be surprised if the guys here would add an extra three points to its rating due to two factors: Charlize Theron's varying levels of nudity, and a lady-lady sex scene.

-Or complain about meat-flaps. It's a coin toss honestly

I know I know it's not going to have *that* kind of nudity...

 

[akugami]

Atomic Blonde (2017)

Surprisingly well-choreographed and well-shot action scenes; a refreshing break after I re-watched the Bourne trilogy recently with its shaky cam and constant shot changes. I'd describe this film as an action-orientated spy thriller, set in the 80s to an alt-timeline of the final days of the Berlin Wall. It's not going to be remembered as a masterpiece of any genre, but a perfectly good action romp.

I also wouldn't be surprised if the guys here would add an extra three points to its rating due to two factors: Charlize Theron's varying levels of nudity, and a lady-lady sex scene.

Charlize Theron was one of my celebrity crushes back in the day. First saw her in 2 Days in the Valley.

 

[SMOGZINN]

I went to see an advanced screening of Bottoms - 7/10
This is a high school hijinks movie, except our protagonists are lesbians, and it is way more violent then you would expect from high school hijinks. Despite that it follows the high school hijinks plot fairly predictably. Our protagonists are the outcasts in the school. They come up with a plan to become popular, and most importantly get laid. Their targets are, of course, the most popular cheerleaders in the school. Their plan? Form a fight club for girls. Hijinks ensues. Everyone learns some important life lessons.

Over all I enjoyed this movie for what it was. It's target audience is probably 20 years younger than me, but the themes were interesting enough to keep me entertained, and the casting was excellent. It has a R rating, but it is almost exclusively for the surprising amount of violence. There is no nudity at all, which feels like somewhat of a miss. I expect they made the choice not to do any nudity to prevent it from appearing as a lesbian exploitation movie, but I can't help but feel that they could have handled that in a way that was authentic to the characters. There could have been room in a movie like this to explore how horny teens navigate same sex attraction and communal showers, just as an example.

Overall I would rate this as a 7/10 if you are an adult for whom high school is a distant memory. It was fun, and the characters are well acted and the LGBT+ makes it different enough to feel new, and I like that it gives good representation to lesbians in this movie trope. I might push this up to 8/10 if you are younger and/or LGBT+. This is certainly someone's favorite movie that will be endlessly quoted, it is just that person is probably 17-19 years old and I am not.

 

[DigDog]

I went to see an advanced screening of Bottoms - 7/10
They come up with a plan to become popular, and most importantly get laid.

so .. Porky's.
Yeah. I will defo watch this.

 

[MrSquished]

Finished the Witcher. Where the hell is season 4 with the new Witcher already!

 

[IronWing]

Cool Hand Luke - I realized that I had never seen the ending. The scene with Luke and his mother is still one of the best in Hollywood history. 8/10

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Cool Hand Luke - I realized that I had never seen the ending. The scene with Luke and his mother is still one of the best in Hollywood history. 8/10

Movie is a 10!
“What we've got here is failure to communicate”

 

[IronWing]

Movie is a 10!
“What we've got here is failure to communicate”

I have to disagree and the reason is that I think Paul Newman was a a bit weak in the role. He seemed to sort of lose interest in the film about half way through. George Kennedy got better as the film progressed and was carrying it for the last third.

 

[Iron Woode]

Bit of a tangent, but Asimov also wrote in astronomy and cosmology. In fact, he famously wrote in every Dewey Decimal category except 100 (philosophy and psychology).

I still have his book - Jupiter

 

[Iron Woode]

Next movie:

Sahara (1943) w/ Humphrey Bogart

WWII movie about the Africa Campaign. I give this movie 8/10. Great acting and a fine story.

 

[DigDog]

i am watching Once Upon A Time In America (Original Cut Wasn't Long Enough Edition 4 Hours Long) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087843/reference/

it's a slog.
This film had a terrible history of studio-meddling, it was released at Cannes to a 20-minute standing ovation, to then flop massively at the box office after having been cut from 3h20m to just over 2 hours. And the 3h cut is already cut down from the 4hour, 9minute version i have just watched.

First off, a word about the "restoration". The film is essentially the 3h version, which itself has undergone an EXCELLENT color correction, spliced with some very crude footage from the 4h version, which is unwatchable. Grainy, almost B&W, absolutely disgraceful - just say you can't find the footage.
And, the footage doesn't really contain anything that is needed for the story to move forward.

OUATIA is the story of a bunch of street kids in 20s new york, primarily Max and David aka "Noodles". Director Sergio Leone (the Good / Bad / Ugly guy) goes into lengthy detail about Noodle's life, his crush on 14yo Jennifer Connelly (who shows him her naked butt; body double provided by the slightly-older Margherita Pace, although according to her - in a Italian-language website - Connelly did her own takes of the scene that were then cut, let's see if you can guess why), his relationship with frienemy Max, with the local police constable, the various mafia groups, etc.
Think about the scenes "back when" in The Godfather 2, except that they are 2hour long.

Eventually Noodles kills a bad guy and does time for it, where he is picked up from prison by now-adult Max, and taken back to their little empire of cash and crime.

Work goes on and Max and Noodles have a great time being small-time gangsters, doing it more for the fun and bravado than for just money. Eventually the film shows that Max is the more arrogant, power-tripping of the bunch, while Noodles wants more of a quiet life. This particular theme also shows up when he tried - now that he's got money - to seduce now-adult Deborah (Connelly), but she doesn't want to be "locked up" in a traditional marriage; she's the "Max" of the crew.

Prohibition ends, and the crew are looking to be left without the income of bootlegging. Max plans to hit the Federal Reserve Bank, a BIG JOB. Everyone else thinks this is too much, but only Noodles knows that Max will manage to persuade the others, and will likely get them all killed by going through with something impossible. He's persuaded to instead call the cops on Max with some minor offence, so that maybe a year behind bars will make him realize how ridiculous the idea was - there's even a scene where Max has purchased himself a THRONE, that he is sitting on, and he says "it's a throne, and i'm sitting on it".

Noodles goes through with the plan, but it massively misfires, and everyone else in the gang gets killed by the police.

All the above is narrated in a non-chronological fashion, where the film starts with Noodles already old, and in a opium den, trying to forget the pain of having betrayed and essentially killed his old friends. It skips ahead and back again several times, but it's fairly easy to follow - mostly because Leone leaves ABSOLUTELY NO FUCKING DOUBT about what happens in the story, instead going through every little tiny detail. The original pre-cut footage was 10 hours.

After all this bit, there is also a section where Noodles in even older - this exists in all the various cut versions, but is expanded here. He has a last meeting with Deborah (remember, he rapes her when she turns him down), now a successful yet lonely actress, and meets her son, who looks like .. Max.
He goes to meet Deborah's husband, who turns out to be Max - the one who was supposedly killed by the police.

There is a bit here which is the most confusing if you are watching one of the earlier cuts, as very little is explained. One of the "jobs" that the young-adult Noodles crew does, is to go save a union organizer, a "Teamster", from a bunch of crooked cops. In the shorter cut, this is literally just a job in a section where they show all the jobs this crew does, almost a montage, to show Noodles' crew becoming successful.
In the longer cut, Max gets more and more involved with the Teamsters. Noodles "quiet life" instead is shown at every occasion to not want to chase power, because he thinks this will split the crew. Eventually the police and mafia pressure becomes too much for the crew, and Max decides to fake his own death - comes back as a different person, takes Deborah as wife, gets knee-deep with the union mafia.
(the guy, the teamster they save, is none other than the protagonist of the film Hair, the hippie Berger)

From a cinematic perspective, the film is magnificent. The lighting, costume, sets, the recreation is amazing. The script does the opposite of trying to tell a story, but instead delights itself in showing every part of the bigger picture as a film in itself, giving everything its own importance. Now, while i have often said this is something you should NOT do, this is mostly because TV shows use this as filler; i don't care for Protagonist's Wife Yoga Class, but when the characters are charismatic, and they are relevant to the story - such as the prostitute Carol (the .. uh .. "other"? rape scene? find this really weird because to any human being who watches this scene, this character is ASKING to get raped, literally) who then eventually falls OUT of Max's arms to ask Noodles to turn in Max to save his life, shows her superficially being attracted to power, but eventually just wanting a normal life.
It's .. also 4 hours long. Or 3 hours long, because the not-sux edit is pretty much all there with the story, provided that you pay attention. It doesn't have a great central theme, the confidence in its own strength, that The Godfather (either) does.

.. i suspect that, somewhere out there on teh interwebz, there is a fanedit of this film that is better than any other "official" version.

I defo would recommend this film, but i am not sure which version, probably the 3 hour one. Margherita Pace's 2-second long butt scene isn't worth the additional hour of film, it took me over SIX hours to watch this because i had to take not one, but two breaks in between.

On an unrelated note, i will now have to watch all the filmography of Tuesday Weld, the actress who plays the rape-happy Carol.

My vote .. uh .. 8/10 or 8.5/10 but am leaning more towards 8/10, although with a good cut that gets to the fucking point, 8.5/10

 

[igor_kavinski]

On an unrelated note, i will now have to watch all the filmography of Tuesday Weld, the actress who plays the rape-happy Carol.

Let me guess. A girl who "enjoys" rape?

 

[DigDog]

Let me guess. A girl who "enjoys" rape?

probably not the actress, but the character certainly does.
Watch the film.

 

[JEDI]

i am watching Once Upon A Time In America (Original Cut Wasn't Long Enough Edition 4 Hours Long) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087843/reference/

it's a slog.

On an unrelated note, i will now have to watch all the filmography of Tuesday Weld, the actress who plays the rape-happy Carol.

My vote .. uh .. 8/10 or 8.5/10 but am leaning more towards 8/10, although with a good cut that gets to the fucking point, 8.5/10

read the wiki on Tuesday.
oh what the F? Her personal life seems like a train wreck.

Her family was poor. She became the breadwinner of the family as a child model and at age 12 she made her acting debut.

Weld often portrayed impulsive and reckless women acting out sexually, including incest victim.
she was in Looking for Mr Goodbar, packing into her short screen time an orgy, a divorce, a lot of alcohol, and two abortions.

Weld's mother was scandalized by her teen daughter's love affairs with older men, such as actor John Ireland, but Weld resisted, saying, "'If you don't leave me alone, I'll quit being an actress—which means there ain't gonna be no more money for you, Mama'. Finally, when I was sixteen, I left home. I just went out the door and bought my own house".

She was Stanley Kubrick's first choice to play the role of Lolita in his 1962 film, but she turned the offer down, saying: "I didn't have to play it. I was Lolita"

Reading inbetween the lines, it looks like she did alot of things to get modeling/acting jobs and liked doing those things.
but looks like it took a toll on her mental health?
ie: She turned down roles because she knew the film would be successful???