Recently Watched Movies 2022

[nwhoopfan]

Haven't gotten a chance to watch it yet, but brand new streaming on Hulu is the new Kenneth Branagh version of "Death on the Nile." Hulu does get some stuff before it's out on DVD.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Haven't gotten a chance to watch it yet, but brand new streaming on Hulu is the new Kenneth Branagh version of "Death on the Nile." Hulu does get some stuff before it's out on DVD.

Okay, now I've seen it. Pretty slow to get going. Cinematography is great, many beautiful images of the river, pyramids, humongous statues, sunrises, etc. Emma Mackey was smoldering, she pretty much made it worth watching. I really like her in the Netflix series "Sex Education" and she was good here as well. Some of the cast weren't particularly interesting. I think it's just an Agatha Christie thing, needlessly complicated plots with pretty much every character seeming guilty of committing the crime appears to be the way she rolls. It was okay, but only that. There were definitely some changes from the book, I read it at some point the last few years. I know the ending was a big departure.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Gorky Park. 1983. Had been planning a re-watch, saw it was leaving Prime in just over a day (likely after today). William Hurt is the lead, with some other notables including Lee Marvin, Brian Dennehey and a young attractive Joanna Pacula. Set in Moscow during the later stages of the USSR just post Brezhnev (Andropov is in charge). Hurt is a Moscow detective, one who has clashed with KGB in the past. Here he's tasked with solving a murder of 3 people who were found in Gorky Park. The twist is that there is, of course, international intrigue that comes into play. They dynamic is a good one, making for a complex plot and mystery to be solved. Don't want to give away details here but this was a good movie in its time and still holds up today. Gorky Park was filmed in Helsinki and Stockholm because the USSR condemned it and wouldn't let filming occur in Moscow.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The House of Gucci. 2021. So, big cast here with Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino and shockingly Jared Leto. They all do a good job, Leto is better than good, he's unrecognizable as Paolo Gucci. I didn't know the story, maybe some do. Irons and Pacino are Gucci brothers Rodolpho and Aldo and own the stock 50-50. It's a somewhat old company that is facing fading relevance, and modern counterfeiting. But really this is about the family and the backstabbing, and Lady Gaga setting her sights on Rodolpho's son Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) and reeling him in like a prized tuna. She's sexy, curvy and plays a very long game. In some ways, she plays it too well as you see the whole thing unfold. It's long and maybe could have used some editing, but it isn't tedious. Not amazing, but there are very good performances and lots of nice scenery.

Side note: I don't think I have appreciated how much of a chameleon Jared Leto is. I keep seeing the Morbius trailer and he's fit, athletic, handsome. In Gucci, he's fat, balding and looks 10 years older. Looking at what he's been in, its remarkable how he simply blends in and becomes the character, even Joker where he's the lead. So much so I lose track of the fact that it's him.

 

[Palatine]

Belfast - I found it very slow. I get that it's a character driven piece and using a child as the lead is an attempt to bring innocence to madness. But the child has no real drama in his life except for trivial childish things. He just kind of harmlessly floats through the movie.

There is real craftsmanship in this film. The lack of scale is meant to make it intimate and that works to a degree. The story telling is clean and simple which I appreciate in a time where films tend to be so self conscious. It does combine to create a world that is true to itself. Ultimately though, IMHO, it is a good not great movie.

 

[HuskyHawk]

No Time To Die. 2021. Bond. Rewatch of movie we saw in the cinema. Impression is the same. Story drags on too long. Somehow, an unimpressive guy (Rami Malek) wipes out Spectre, which CIA and MI6 couldn't manage. Then he threatens the whole world, and Bond of course has to stop him. Among the most ridiculous Bond plots yet. Positive notes: the love interest with Bond and Madeline Swann (Lea Seydoux) is pretty good. Her backstory that starts the movie is well done. The scenes with them in Italy are spectacular. Bond's house in the Caribbean is pretty sweet. The Aston Martins are awesome. Ana de Armas just owns one of the more amazing dresses of all time and kills like 20 guys while in it. Holy cow. My wife said "she's just so pretty". Yes. Anyway, we all have to suspend disbelief and accept the absurd in a Bond film, this one asks us to do it a little more than was reasonable or necessary. If you can accept that, proceed.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Madeline Swann (Lea Seydoux)

Ana de Armas just owns one of the more amazing dresses of all time

Only 2 reasons to bother with this film at all. The rest is a heaping bag of meh.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Only 2 reasons to bother with this film at all. The rest is a heaping bag of meh.

The cars are cool, and the location in Italy. But yeah, mostly aesthetic.

 

[storrsroars]

Watched a couple of recent war flicks over the weekend. 1944 is a film about Estonia being caught between the Nazis and Russians, each of whom conscripted Estonians to fight for them, leading to relatives and friends fighting relatives and friends. Battle scenes are very well done. It's not really plot-driven, more of an exploration of the challenges faced by Baltic states during WWII. Acting seemed decent enough but Amazon only gives the option for English overdub, which is pretty bad. Had they left it in Estonian with English subtitles it might've been even more compelling.

T-34 is a very good war movie cloaked within a nationalist Russian propaganda message. It's the story of an exceptional Russian tank commander who gets taken POW and uses an opportunity offered by his captors to use a captured T-34 tank to teach newly conscripted Nazi soldiers how to operate tanks in combat. He is reunited with some of his former tank crew and they decide they're going to use the tank to make a break for the Czech border, which was controlled by Russia. There's a lot of attention to detail, such as what it's really like to be inside a tank during battle. The tank crew offers plenty of dark humor and are the types of characters you'd want to go into battle with. This is one I'd watch again. While the plot may seem unbelievable, the story is convincing, the acting is good, and it's an enjoyable ride.

 

[nwhoopfan]

"Reminiscence." Somewhere in there was probably a better movie. A bit long and a bit slow. Not as much of a mind trip as I was expecting. It's almost a noir film. It's okay, but you could skip it.

 

[ZooCougar]

Watched a couple of recent war flicks over the weekend. 1944 is a film about Estonia being caught between the Nazis and Russians, each of whom conscripted Estonians to fight for them, leading to relatives and friends fighting relatives and friends. Battle scenes are very well done. It's not really plot-driven, more of an exploration of the challenges faced by Baltic states during WWII. Acting seemed decent enough but Amazon only gives the option for English overdub, which is pretty bad. Had they left it in Estonian with English subtitles it might've been even more compelling.

T-34 is a very good war movie cloaked within a nationalist Russian propaganda message. It's the story of an exceptional Russian tank commander who gets taken POW and uses an opportunity offered by his captors to use a captured T-34 tank to teach newly conscripted Nazi soldiers how to operate tanks in combat. He is reunited with some of his former tank crew and they decide they're going to use the tank to make a break for the Czech border, which was controlled by Russia. There's a lot of attention to detail, such as what it's really like to be inside a tank during battle. The tank crew offers plenty of dark humor and are the types of characters you'd want to go into battle with. This is one I'd watch again. While the plot may seem unbelievable, the story is convincing, the acting is good, and it's an enjoyable ride.

Betcha the Russians won’t be making a tank movie about this guy.



But I will probably check out T-34 anyways.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

No Time To Die. 2021. Bond. Rewatch of movie we saw in the cinema. Impression is the same. Story drags on too long. Somehow, an unimpressive guy (Rami Malek) wipes out Spectre, which CIA and MI6 couldn't manage. Then he threatens the whole world, and Bond of course has to stop him. Among the most ridiculous Bond plots yet. Positive notes: the love interest with Bond and Madeline Swann (Lea Seydoux) is pretty good. Her backstory that starts the movie is well done. The scenes with them in Italy are spectacular. Bond's house in the Caribbean is pretty sweet. The Aston Martins are awesome. Ana de Armas just owns one of the more amazing dresses of all time and kills like 20 guys while in it. Holy cow. My wife said "she's just so pretty". Yes. Anyway, we all have to suspend disbelief and accept the absurd in a Bond film, this one asks us to do it a little more than was reasonable or necessary. If you can accept that, proceed.

I’m generally a huge Bond fan and an exceptionally easy sell on these and for some reason I have started this movie probably 4 times and have yet to make it more than an hour. Maybe I’ll give it one more shot. Opening flashback is certainly creepy as hell.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I’m generally a huge Bond fan and an exceptionally easy sell on these and for some reason I have started this movie probably 4 times and have yet to make it more than an hour. Maybe I’ll give it one more shot. Opening flashback is certainly creepy as hell.

Have to at least get to Ana de Armas in Havana.

 

[CL82]

Life (2017)

When something works you stick with it, right? Alien was a successful movie, so what if we reused its plot points. An alien is brought aboard a small dingy spacecraft. Though there are protocols to protect the crew from giving life with unknown capabilities and dangers complete access to the ship, they are ignored in the hope of saving a crewmate. The alien starts out young but quickly grows in size and capability. despite the fact that it is newly born/hatched, it seems to have inate intelligence. How do you fight aliens aboard a spacecraft with an oxygen rich atmosphere? Well, with flamethrowers of course.

Those are major plot lines of both the movie Alien and the movie Life. In some ways, it’s interesting to watch Life to see all that it does wrong and remember all that Alien did write. Life suffers from the fatal flaw of many movies with an expansive cast, it tries to give each of them a heroic moment. Alien has plenty of heroic moments but they happen organically and don’t feel contrived.

The cast seems promising but is utterly wasted. It’s stars Jake Gyllenhall, Ryan Reynolds, and Rebecca Ferguson. Gyllenhall seems vaguely annoyed he is a part of the movie and that seems to be the extent of his acting except for screaming no right before the very end credits. Rebecca Ferguson is wasted in that she remains fully clothed throughout the whole movie. Ryan Reynolds seem to have figured out this thing was a loser in manages to eliminate himself within the first 10 minutes.

Though there are a few interesting moments and concepts, this isn’t worth watching.

 

[HuskyHawk]

All the Old Knives. 2022. Prime and cinemas. Stars Chris Pine and Thandie Newton, with Laurence Fishburn and Jonathan Pryce. It’s a CIA mystery/thriller of sorts. Very much a film that is almost nothing but conversation, no action at all. The stars are CIA agents and lovers, stationed in Vienna. A bad thing happens and the movie basically then unravels their story, including a lot of flashbacks as they recount what happened. It’s not as good, but it reminds me slightly of the first Cohen Brothers movie, Blood Simple. This is a decent movie if you want a slow paced film where the mystery gets peeled away through conversation.

 

[CL82]

Ford vs. Ferrari

For whatever reason the descriptions of this movie didn’t make it sound all that appealing to me. I finally watched it last night, though. It was incredibly good from start to finish.

 

[Palatine]

Ford vs. Ferrari

For whatever reason the descriptions of this movie didn’t make it sound all that appealing to me. I finally watched it last night, though. It was incredibly good from start to finish.

Good director, good movie.

 

[nwhoopfan]

What has happened to indie film making? Maybe I'm just on an unlucky streak, but I've seen several recently that were TERRIBLE. "Warning," "Silent Night," and "John and the Hole" were all a complete waste of time. Dull and totally pointless. Who are these writers, directors, producers? Just bad, bad film making. They all had decent casts, but nothing to work with.

 

[CL82]

What has happened to indie film making? Maybe I'm just on an unlucky streak, but I've seen several recently that were TERRIBLE. "Warning," "Silent Night," and "John and the Hole" were all a complete waste of time. Dull and totally pointless. Who are these writers, directors, producers? Just bad, bad film making. They all had decent casts, but nothing to work with.

Sometimes I get a sense that a lot of the movies that are being put out are being chugged out just for the purpose of creating on demand content. There’s a ton of stuff out there that you watch and think to yourself man they really did not give a crap about this movie. Then periodically and you find a gem among the crap. Leave No Trace comes to mind as a good example.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Leave No Trace comes to mind as a good example.

Agreed, definitely a gem.

 

[ZooCougar]

Made a critical mistake in watching Aloha directed by Cameron Crowe. I was suckered in by the impressive cast: Bill Murray, John Krasinski, Bradley Cooper, Rachel McAdams, Emma Stone, Alec Baldwin and Danny McBride among others.

I will be brief. Every Cameron Crowe movie is a derivative of Singles or Jerry McGuire. Which might be his only good movies.

In this case, the man child with the early mid life crisis is Bradley Cooper. Former military with a sketchy ethical past now working for a Billionaire Bezos/Musk kind of guy (Murray). But it just so happens that his ex girlfriend gums up the works and Cooper takes way too long in figuring out he should move on and sleep with Emma Stone.

Murray is wasted, not enough screen time. Alec Baldwin, who is perfectly cast as an angry Type A Air Force General delivers the best one liners and there aren't enough. And he somehow gets through the movie without shooting the director. Danny McBride, also wasted here plays a completely extraneous character. John Krasinski is just eye candy for the ladies. I think McAdams did the movie because she forgot her wallet and needed some lunch money.

This is a movie made for women that is hated by women and made by a dude who probably wishes he was a woman.

I may or may not of written this just to pump up the stats that @Mano produces every year.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I will be brief. Every Cameron Crowe movie is a derivative of Singles or Jerry McGuire. Which might be his only good movies.

You're not including Almost Famous as a good movie?

I've seen criticism of Aloha before. I found it decently entertaining. Compared to the absolute garbage I keep seeing that was produced during the covid era, it's practically a masterpiece.

 

[Palatine]

Almost Famous was his best movie by far.

 

[ZooCougar]

You're not including Almost Famous as a good movie?

I've seen criticism of Aloha before. I found it decently entertaining. Compared to the absolute garbage I keep seeing that was produced during the covid era, it's practically a masterpiece.

Not really my cup of tea.

 

[ZooCougar]

You're not including Almost Famous as a good movie?

I've seen criticism of Aloha before. I found it decently entertaining. Compared to the absolute garbage I keep seeing that was produced during the covid era, it's practically a masterpiece.

Aloha came out in 2015. Literally one of the top 5 pieces of garbage I have ever seen before.