Which films have you seen lately? Vol. 21: Now in CinemaScope!

[EgonSpengler]

Part One: What Movie(s) Have You Recently Seen?
Part Two: What movie(s) have you recently seen 2
Part Three: Which movie(s) have you viewed lately? - Episode III
Part Four: Which movie(s) have you seen lately? - Episode IV
Part Five: Which Movies Have You Seen Lately? V for Five
Part Six: Which Movies Have You Seen Lately? VI - The Sequel Five Sequels in the Making
Part Seven: Which movies have you seen lately? Kinetic Icon VII
Part Eight: Which movie(s) have you seen recently- VIII Remake of the 80s
Part Nine: Which movies have you watched? IX
Part Ten: Which movies have you watched? Ι' --not an iota of bad movies; but maybe bad taste
Part Eleven: Which movies have you watched? xi --- straight to dvd
Part Twelve: What films have you been watching? (XII/IB) - CFC's Dirty Dozen
Part Thirteen: Which movies have you watched? 13 - In a world where...
Part Fourteen: Which movies have you watched? ΙΔ' - The House of Asterion
Part Fifteen: Which movies have you watched? IE': NO CAPES!
Part Sixteen: Which Movies Have You Watched XV This Title Is Not Included In Your Subscription
Part Seventeen: What Movies Have You Watched? 17: Blowed Up Real Good
Part Eighteen: Which Films have you seen lately? Certificate 18
Part Nineteen: Which Films have you seen lately? 19 - Get your Film's Name Outta Your Mouth
Part Twenty: Which Films have you seen lately? Number K'. Someone was spreading lies about Joseph 20

 

[Birdjaguar]

What! A new thread?

 

[Smellincoffee]

And I get to break it in! Watched Stranger than Paradise (1984), a Jim Jarmusch film in which.....nothing much happens. We open in New York on a do-nothing dude named Willie, whose cousin Ava is coming in from Hungary and needs to stay at his pad for a few days before joining her parents in Cleveland. Willie resents her arrival, but by the time she leaves is evidently fond enough of her to buy her a dress, which she promptly trashes because it's the tackiest thing ever filmed. After he and his buddy Nickie are accused of cheating at poker a year later, they borrow a car and skedaddle, going to see Ava in Cleveland. Then, randomly, the guys decide to go to Florida and take Ava with them, and I think the film ends with one of the guys going to Hungary thinking he's chasing Ava there, because some random criminal mistook her for his contact and gave her a bundle of money, and she wrote a note. Difficult to say because the volume was low and my friends and I had finished a bottle of port at this point. Interesting film to say the least. I liked the simplicity of it -- the long, un-cut shots, and the black and white despite it being filmed in 1984.

 

[EgonSpengler]

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) was excellent. I went into this not really knowing anything about it, what it was about or who was in it, and it was very affecting. Based on a novel I haven't read. Stacked cast. I watched it for Regina King, but only after looking them up did I realize I'd seen Kiki Layne in The Old Guard and Stephan James in Selma and 21 Bridges. And then the roster of actors I like and didn't even know were in this movie just started rolling across the screen. First Barry Jenkins film I've seen. The man knows how to make a movie.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. - This was another one that I saw while on vacation with the family. I thought it was pretty good. It actually helped to have seen the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special because you had a little context for the setting and the status of the team. It was a nice wrap up to the trilogy.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Unknown (2011), the first of the Liam Neeson-Jaume Collet Serra collaborations (Non-Stop; Run All Night; The Commuter). Fun enough for a Saturday night under quarantine. I wouldn't mind if these got a little better. You could definitely do worse, though. Is January Jones just a terrible actor? I've never seen her in anything before. She was just mailing it in. The rest of them were at least playing along.

Asteroid City (2023). Wes Anderson is an odd one. I loved his stuff, for a bit. Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). Then I lost track of him. Not a purposeful ghosting, just kind of wandered off. You know how it is. I rewatched Rushmore a couple years ago, and Tenenbaums maybe a couple years before that, and I enjoyed them both again. But he's made 7 or 8 movies since Tenenbaums, and boy, he really got high on his own supply, didn't he? And what's with this artificial, deadpan delivery? Is that becoming a thing now? 'Cause f that. It didn't ruin this movie, the way it ruined those Lanthimos movies, I think because this one was so visually arresting and odd, but if this is gonna be a thing with these art-house films, I'm gonna have to watch more superhero movies in retaliation. Don't make me watch Blue Beetle, Wes! You know I'll do it! Other than that, I liked it, though.

 

[lymond]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. - This was another one that I saw while on vacation with the family. I thought it was pretty good. It actually helped to have seen the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special because you had a little context for the setting and the status of the team. It was a nice wrap up to the trilogy.

I watched it last night on Disney. I thought it was excellent. Really enjoyed the Rocket backstory and laughed a lot throughout, even though it was a bit dark at times. The one negative is that by virtue of the plot, there was less of Rocket in the movie...but baby Rocket was fun too. Of course:

Spoiler :

Sad that it appears this group has come to an end. I really do hope we see them all together again in something. The whole trilogy was a blast.

Special hats off to Drax for being especially funny in this movie.

 

[lymond]

Also, I watched a movie this weekend called Disconnect (2012) on Amazon. I'd never heard of this movie - it had pretty good reviews. Kinda like an Amorres Perros/Babel type structure (i.e., several storylines are present with some minor intersections) depicting the ramification of cyber crimes. Stars are Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Paul Patton, Alexander Skarsgard, Andrea Riseborough. Overall, a very solid, if not particularly original, movie that is let down a bit by underwhelming conclusions. Worth a watch though.

 

[Sommerswerd]

I watched it last night on Disney. I thought it was excellent. Really enjoyed the Rocket backstory and laughed a lot throughout, even though it was a bit dark at times. The one negative is that by virtue of the plot, there was less of Rocket in the movie...but baby Rocket was fun too. Of course:

Spoiler :

Sad that it appears this group has come to an end. I really do hope we see them all together again in something. The whole trilogy was a blast.

Special hats off to Drax for being especially funny in this movie.

It was also cool to see one of the main actors from NETFLIX's "choose your own adventure" movie Bandersnatch as a main character in this film.

 

[Kyriakos]

I tried to watch Marlowe.

No.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I watched it last night on Disney. I thought it was excellent. Really enjoyed the Rocket backstory and laughed a lot throughout, even though it was a bit dark at times. The one negative is that by virtue of the plot, there was less of Rocket in the movie...but baby Rocket was fun too. Of course:

Spoiler :

Sad that it appears this group has come to an end. I really do hope we see them all together again in something. The whole trilogy was a blast.

Special hats off to Drax for being especially funny in this movie.

I think some of the actors have had enough. Anyway, I don't know how many people besides Gunn could write them well, and I wouldn't want anyone to do another one, just to do another one. If someone has a great idea that can really only be a Guardians reunion and not other characters, then sure, great. But if this really is the last we see of them, I'm satisfied.

 

[lymond]

I think some of the actors have had enough. Anyway, I don't know how many people besides Gunn could write them well, and I wouldn't want anyone to do another one, just to do another one. If someone has a great idea that can really only be a Guardians reunion and not other characters, then sure, great. But if this really is the last we see of them, I'm satisfied.

And, of course, they left open the possibility of

Spoiler :

A new crew to arise with Rocket as cap, and Groot. I'm not sure what is canon, since I never read the comics, but I assume the characters changed now and then

 

[EgonSpengler]

And, of course, they left open the possibility of

Spoiler :

A new crew to arise with Rocket as cap, and Groot. I'm not sure what is canon, since I never read the comics, but I assume the characters changed now and then

See, that's something I'd rather Marvel leave alone, at least for the time being. Obviously if somebody came up with a fantastic idea to do that, then okay. Ultimately what I'm after is good movies. I'd rather see a great movie that I didn't expect than a(nother) mid Fantastic Four or Blade, but if slowing down and concentrating their efforts and resources on fewer projects will result in better movies, there are a bunch of things I'd rather see ahead of another Guardians project.

 

[Sommerswerd]

See, that's something I'd rather Marvel leave alone, at least for the time being. Obviously if somebody came up with a fantastic idea to do that, then okay. Ultimately what I'm after is good movies. I'd rather see a great movie that I didn't expect than a(nother) mid Fantastic Four or Blade, but if slowing down and concentrating their efforts and resources on fewer projects will result in better movies, there are a bunch of things I'd rather see ahead of another Guardians project.

Guardians has a ride at Disney World, a pretty awesome ride at that, one of the best in all the parks and certainly the best one at EPCOT, so I suspect that they are going to keep making Guardians films for the foreseeable future. I agree that they've reached a good stopping point, but let's not kid ourselves... as long as they can make money doing Guardians films and shows, they are going to keep doing them.

Another factor that makes me think they are sort of forced to keep making Guardians content, is because Guardians is apparently the one exception to the agreement Disney made with Universal that Marvel related rides, merch, etc would be exclusive to Universal, east of the Mississippi River. So the only way Disney can capitalize on the success of its Marvel Movies at Disney World is to use Guardians.

As an aside... again, that Guardians ride is pretty freaking incredible... there are only a few rides, "Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance" being one, that tops it.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Guardians has a ride at Disney World, a pretty awesome ride at that, one of the best in all the parks and certainly the best one at EPCOT, so I suspect that they are going to keep making Guardians films for the foreseeable future. I agree that they've reached a good stopping point, but let's not kid ourselves... as long as they can make money doing Guardians films and shows, they are going to keep doing them.

Another factor that makes me think they are sort of forced to keep making Guardians content, is because Guardians is apparently the one exception to the agreement Disney made with Universal that Marvel related rides, merch, etc would be exclusive to Universal, east of the Mississippi River. So the only way Disney can capitalize on the success of its Marvel Movies at Disney World is to use Guardians.

As an aside... again, that Guardians ride is pretty freaking incredible... there are only a few rides, "Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance" being one, that tops it.

My priorities are the reverse of what they are for the company: I only care if they make money insofar as that contributes to making the next film. Obviously for them it's the other way around. They'll make whatever they think will make them a lot of money, and so far, every piece of drek they've thrown at the screen has made a bundle. I think even Quantumania ($476m worldwide) probably broke even. The Marvels probably will too, even if it's bad. That said, on one of the film podcasts I listen to, someone said that when "Star-Lord will return" came onscreen at the end of the movie, there was an audible groan in the theater. It'll be interesting to see what the first genuine Marvel bomb will be. Eternals could very well have lost money - $402m worldwide, which still outgrossed the DCEU stuff lately. The DC movies did so badly, they just pulled the plug and hired Gunn to start over. As much as they're getting kicked around lately, it feels like the MCU is still a long way from any kind of massive shakeup like that.

 

[Sommerswerd]

My priorities are the reverse of what they are for the company: I only care if they make money insofar as that contributes to making the next film. Obviously for them it's the other way around. They'll make whatever they think will make them a lot of money, and so far, every piece of drek they've thrown at the screen has made a bundle. I think even Quantumania ($476m worldwide) probably broke even. The Marvels probably will too, even if it's bad. That said, on one of the film podcasts I listen to, someone said that when "Star-Lord will return" came onscreen at the end of the movie, there was an audible groan in the theater. It'll be interesting to see what the first genuine Marvel bomb will be. Eternals could very well have lost money - $402m worldwide, which still outgrossed the DCEU stuff lately. The DC movies did so badly, they just pulled the plug and hired Gunn to start over. As much as they're getting kicked around lately, it feels like the MCU is still a long way from any kind of massive shakeup like that.

I'm a little puzzled sometimes with all the hate that get thrown DC's way... Marvel is just as capable of producing mediocre, meh and downright stupid, unwatchable content. For example, can you think of any DCEU movie that was as mediocre as Eternals? Or Love and Thunder?

Shazam Fury of the Gods maybe? I mean Black Adam wasn't great but it was certainly better than Love and Thunder... and The Batman was amazing.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I'm a little puzzled sometimes with all the hate that get thrown DC's way... Marvel is just as capable of producing mediocre, meh and downright stupid, unwatchable content. For example, can you think of any DCEU movie that was as mediocre as Eternals? Or Love and Thunder?

Shazam Fury of the Gods maybe? I mean Black Adam wasn't great but it was certainly better than Love and Thunder... and The Batman was amazing.

Well, I don't really judge either of them by their worst movies. There's been a lot of good DC stuff. The Batman was good. I liked Shazam and Aquaman and The Suicide Squad. The CW shows all had some good stuff. Titans and Swamp Thing and Doom Patrol were all pretty good, I thought. Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy was good. Wonder Woman shot itself in the foot in the final act, but it was good up to then. And if you like animation, there's an avalanche of DC animated movies.

 

[BenitoChavez]

Knock at the Cabin - A M. Night Shyamalan horror/thriller. It's kind of a home invasion story where one group thinks the apocalypse is coming and the other group thinks they're crazy and thus tension and violence ensues. It's really at it's best when you don't really know who is right. It also plays with the question of "What would it take to be convinced of someone else's worldview that is completely different from your own?". The acting was generally good, and the premise is great. There are some leaps in logic the film takes. There is also a huge cosmic coincidence, beyond the supernatural stuff, that isn't really explained other than an additional way for the film makers to create tension.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Spider Man: Across the Spiderverse - Amazing (pun intended). Even better than the first one. I didn't even want to see this one, because I was so skeptical that they could top the first one, which was a masterpiece, but this one was shockingly even better... as in ESB is better than ANH better.

As a side note, I also saw this one on vacation with family, the same day as we saw Barbie. We drove to see Barbie, drove all the way back to where we were staying, fed and walked the dog (we brought the dog with us on vacation), then drove back out to the same theatre (almost an hour away) to see Spiderverse. Totally worth it... as my sons, who were completely checked out on the Barbie movie were ecstatic to see Spiderverse... my teenage son hugged me right before and after the film saying "Thanks Dad" for taking them to see it. My whole family loved it.

10 out of 10, would definitely recommend.

 

[Arakhor]

I thought it was a great film too.