Recently Watched Movies 2022

[Palatine]

Thor: Love and Thunder. 2022. Saw it opening night at the local Regal cinema. This is directed by Taika Waititi, so if you know his stuff, you know what to expect. I'll start by saying it isn't as good as Ragnarok, which was also directed by Taika. The cast is the same. Brief scenes with the Guardians of the Galaxy to start. There is a fair bit of flashback/story/narrator to get from there to now, with Taika narrating as Korg telling a story to kids. Christian Bale is the new arrival and he's the bad guy. He's pretty good. Tessa Thompson is back as Valkyrie, now leader of the Asgardians on earth (she lost weight and looks great). New Asgard has a stage show, with Matt Damon as Loki, Sam Neil as Odin and Luke Hemsworth as Thor. I won't reveal too much, but Bale is processed by an evil sword and becomes the "God Killer" and must be stopped. It's quite funny. Russell Crowe joins his abundant fellow Aussies as a funny, out of shape Zeus. It's a fun enjoyable movie. Doesn't take itself seriously. Spoilers now:

Spoiler

"The "Love" is a little girl who was Bale's daughter. She is brought back and becomes "Love", and is adopted by Thor. Hence "Love and Thunder". She's played by Chris Hemsworth's daughter. "

and

Spoiler

"In the post credit teaser, we see that Zeus is pissed at Thor and seeks revenge on him and the humans that now worship superheroes instead of the old gods. He turns to Hercules to sort out Thor, and he's played by Brett Goldstein from Ted Lasso. Roy Kent is indeed, everywhere."

Marvel has made humor a staple of its superhero movies. Thor L&T crossed the line from funny to silly, bordering on stupid. And while Marvel has never sunk to the level of Jar Jar Binks. L&T comes close on number of occasions.

I love these movies. The size, scope, imagination and spectacle turns me into a 13 year old buying Fantastic Four #2 at the corner store. Thor certainly delivered on that count.

What made superhero movies great was handling them in an adult manor. The film Batman Returns took itself seriously and kept a twinkle in its eyes. It changed the genre. L&T is closer to Batman the campy TV series than Batman Returns. I liked it. But even I will draw the line at some point.

 

[ZooCougar]

That plane crash sequence still haunts me.....and I haven't seen that movie in years. The music during that sequence really added to the haunting vibe.

I always thought this was an under appreciated movie.

Very. Peter Weir is under appreciated too.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Marvel has made humor a staple of its superhero movies. Thor L&T crossed the line from funny to silly, bordering on stupid. And while Marvel has never sunk to the level of Jar Jar Binks. L&T comes close on number of occasions.

I love these movies. The size, scope, imagination and spectacle turns me into a 13 year old buying Fantastic Four #2 at the corner store. Thor certainly delivered on that count.

What made superhero movies great was handling them in an adult manor. The film Batman Returns took itself seriously and kept a twinkle in its eyes. It changed the genre. L&T is closer to Batman the campy TV series than Batman Returns. I liked it. But even I will draw the line at some point.

It‘s intentional. Have you seen “What we do in the shadows.”? Taika has a unique style. It is silly.

 

[ZooCougar]

It‘s intentional. Have you seen “What we do in the shadows.”? Taika has a unique style. It is silly.

I can’t take Marvel seriously so I thought the new Thor was perfect. It was actually pretty funny.

Marvel is the crap fast food of the Cinema. Utter Poop.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Nothing. Just both Disney.

Oh, I suspected he/she was channeling the "Top Gun did so great because it was anti-woke" perspective.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Just watched a really good documentary on Netflix--"Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World." If you are a fan of music history, I'd say it's a must watch. Very informative and very interesting. I was sadly oblivious to much of what was covered before watching it. I had no idea how much Native music influenced rock, blues and jazz.

 

[Palatine]

It‘s intentional. Have you seen “What we do in the shadows.”? Taika has a unique style. It is silly.

JoJo Rabbit was Taika at his best. Funny, even absurd, but grounded in a way that gave the story line some heft. He missed the mark with L&T.

 

[dbmill]

JoJo Rabbit was Taika at his best. Funny, even absurd, but grounded in a way that gave the story line some heft. He missed the mark with L&T.

JoJo Rabbit was good, but my favorite Taika Waititi movie is "Hunt for the Wilderpeople". My wife and I really enjoyed that one.

 

[CL82]

JoJo Rabbit was good, but my favorite Taika Waititi movie is "Hunt for the Wilderpeople". My wife and I really enjoyed that one.

I had sent that aside to watch and never got around to it. I’ll look for it.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Zone 414" was decent for a B grade movie. Other than Guy Pearce I didn't recognize anyone else in it. A bit slow paced. Treading some familiar ground, very life like androids, confined to one zone of a city. The rich can pay to go there and live out their fantasies. Went with the dark, grimy, dystopian version of the future that seems to be the standard for a quite a while now. Streaming on Netflix. Pearce is an ex cop/detective hired by the beyond eccentric creator of the android tech to find his daughter, who is hiding out in the android zone. He is told to seek out one particular synthetic who is special and different from all the others.


I gotta say, I am not missing streaming stuff on Hulu and having to endure commercials constantly. Soooo frustrating. I heard a terrible rumor that Netflix might go to showing ads as well, I sure hope not.

 

[temery]

The Man From Toronto (2022 Netflix) Silly mistaken identity comedy. Kevin Hart is a wannabe entrepreneur with really stupid ideas. Woody Harrelson is a hit man. Hart mistakenly shows up at a place where Harrelson is supposed to be doing a job, and is assumed to be the hit man they hired. Hilarity sometimes ensues. Not a comedy classic, but has some good moments, along with decent action that Harrelson carries off fairly well.

Just watched it. Good summary. Worth watching.

 

[8893]

Saw Where the Crawdads Sing in the local theater today. Well cast and loyal to the book; good not great. Could have done a bit more with the story imo; didn't seem as dramatic, moving or suspenseful as the book, and a few key moments were omitted.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Saw Where the Crawdads Sing in the local theater today. Well cast and loyal to the book; good not great. Could have done a bit more with the story imo; didn't seem as dramatic, moving or suspenseful as the book, and a few key moments were omitted.

Thanks, this is on my radar. I haven't gone to the theater in forever but this looks interesting, will see it eventually.

 

[8893]

Thanks, this is on my radar. I haven't gone to the theater in forever but this looks interesting, will see it eventually.

Unlike Maverick, this is not one that has to be seen in the theater. We just went because we like going to the movies. Theater was probably 3/4 full and apparently it’s been drawing good crowds since it opened on Friday. The crowd skewed considerably older and female, neither of which surprised me.

 

[temery]

Blitz. Im a Stathum fan, but this movie is terrible. It was actually 1/2 a movie with all the jumping back and forth. It's like they made a copy of the movie, cut it up, and put it all together blind.

Admittedly I have a hard time following non linear movies, but this one jumped around for no reason I can even come close to under standing.

 

[storrsroars]

Blitz. Im a Stathum fan, but this movie is terrible. It was actually 1/2 a movie with all the jumping back and forth. It's like they made a copy of the movie, cut it up, and put it all together blind.

Admittedly I have a hard time following non linear movies, but this one jumped around for no reason I can even come close to under standing.

Also a Statham fan, and while not his best, it made more sense than Crank.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Admittedly I have a hard time following non linear movies

Darned Tarantino made it all the rage. Yeah, definitely some movies do it for no particular reason, maybe other than all the cool kids are doing it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Kill Me Three Times. 2014. Hadn't seen it, so whatever. Simon Pegg, the lovely Teresa Palmer (who is pregnant I suspect or just had a baby), Alice Braga (Brazilian), Luke Hemsworth, Bryan Brown and other Aussies. It is set in a small seaside town in Western Australia. Beautiful scenery. It reminds me slightly of Blood Simple (first Coen Brother movie). It's a whole bunch of folks, all of whom may or may not be in the process of screwing each other over, and yes, killing each other. It doesn't capture the tension of Blood Simple, but it gets some of the humor. Ultimately, it's just ok though. Wife gave up half-way through. She hates movies with no story arc, and this is one of those. It bounces around until you piece together what everyone is doing, yet none of them know what everyone is doing.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"The Gray Man." Netflix threw a lot of money and plenty of star power at this one. Loud, chaotic, high body count. It's fairly good, but nothing exceptional or groundbreaking. Ana de Armas' character from the last James Bond wandered over and got to be onscreen for a whole lot more than 5 minutes or whatever ridiculously small amount of time the geniuses behind Bond allowed her. If you thought Chris Evans went against character in Knives Out, multiply that times about 1000.

 

[HuskyHawk]

"The Gray Man." Netflix threw a lot of money and plenty of star power at this one. Loud, chaotic, high body count. It's fairly good, but nothing exceptional or groundbreaking. Ana de Armas' character from the last James Bond wandered over and got to be onscreen for a whole lot more than 5 minutes or whatever ridiculously small amount of time the geniuses behind Bond allowed her. If you thought Chris Evans went against character in Knives Out, multiply that times about 1000.

I'll watch it. Perhaps tonight. As many of us said about the pretty poor latest Bond movie, just loop Ana de Armas' scenes for 2 hours and that would have still be enjoyable. So by default, this has to be at least ok.

 

[storrsroars]

"The Gray Man." Netflix threw a lot of money and plenty of star power at this one. Loud, chaotic, high body count. It's fairly good, but nothing exceptional or groundbreaking. Ana de Armas' character from the last James Bond wandered over and got to be onscreen for a whole lot more than 5 minutes or whatever ridiculously small amount of time the geniuses behind Bond allowed her. If you thought Chris Evans went against character in Knives Out, multiply that times about 1000.

14.5 minutes of credits.

I don't know a thing about Evans as I don't watch much Marvel, but what a goofy character. Couldn't take him seriously as a villain. Gosling was fine, but it's ground that the other Ryan does better. No character development for anyone really, so the only thing that keeps one's interest is the action.

Anyway, mindless "fun" I guess. Shame that Billy Bob Thornton and Alfre Woodard have to do this kind of stuff for a paycheck in 2022.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Well, as mindless fun goes, there is certainly worse than "The Gray Man." Take "Uncharted" for instance. The problem with that was, it just wasn't much fun. I lost interest about halfway thru, kinda dull, uninteresting characters. Glad I never sprung the $2 to rent it from Redbox, it wouldn't have been worth it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The Gray Man. The amount of stupid, absurd things (mostly action) out
distances any Bond film. Just excessive. Especially Prague scene. I actually thought Evans was good. The saving grace for this thing is that you really quite like Gosling’s Six and Ana de Armas‘ character as well. When don’t you like Ana de Armas? Billy Bob is pretty good too. There isn’t much nuance here but that helps when it’s silly anyway. Good guys and bad guys. I assume they will extend the series and can probably provide better plots going forward.

 

[Dove]

Out Of Death (2021) with Bruce Willis

God awful. No description needed.

He was edited and had minimal screen time. Sad. Seemed like he was quite medicated.

 

[CL82]

Out Of Death (2021) with Bruce Willis

God awful. No description needed.

He was edited and had minimal screen time. Sad. Seemed like he was quite medicated.

I saw this and posted about it a while back. It was epically bad. You know you’re in trouble if even the title isn’t cogent. Out of death? What the heck does that even mean?