Movies you've recently watched

Stowaway on Netflix was not bad, but it didn't offer anything new to the sci-fi space-Houston we have a problem-adventure genre. The crew are on a mission when they discover, as the title suggests, a stowaway on board that none expected and it was now going to mess their calculations of air/ food/ supplies for them to complete the mission. It's a pretty looking film, and a bit slow burn where most of the action happens in the end.

Oxygen, again on Netflix reminded me of the movie Buried - with a sci-fi twist and overall - a well done thriller. If you're a fan of Melanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds), give this one a chance.

The Woman In The Window was hella disappointing, and unmemorable. Everything about it was either predictable or derivative, making plot twists less effective.

In The Heights was interesting because I'm not into musicals and couldn't really get into the hype surrounding this film. I appreciate the musical talent of the singers, the talent of the dance crew, but I thought the movie was long, and predictable. It didn't help that I just don't get the hype around Lin-Manual Miranda and Hamilton - file under "unpopular opinion".

Speaking of all things popular, F9 was a solid 6/10 and it's funny how the franchise is self aware - chiming in with memes. Everyone's a certified superhero cos they get shot, go through walls, car crashes, etc. and you never see them in a hospital or a Doctor's office. The franchise is checking all the boxes of whatever they can do - threw cars from a plane, we put magnets on cars, killed people they brought back to life, cars driving through buildings and what not ... one thing that's left for them to do is time travel. Dom needs to get his butt in a Dolorean and maybe fight dinosaurs or something.
 
I Watched Dune Yesterday, i really enjoyed it. I cant recommend it enough, the cinematography was great, the actors were amazing. I went with ny fiance and she liked it so much that she wants to buy the books now to see what happens :ganishka:.

Aaz, i remember you beeing a huge fan of the books, did you get a chance to see it yet?
 
Joe Chip said:
Aaz, i remember you beeing a huge fan of the books, did you get a chance to see it yet?
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Nah, I wasn't feeling the trailers so I waited it out, and then every review I've heard (until yours) was negative. I'm actually surprised you liked it so much. I still don't think I'll go to the theater but I'll definitely check it out on home video whenever it becomes available.
 
Walter said:
I really liked Many Saints of Newark.
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Is it a legibly good movie? After the first trailer i pretty much stood away from any news about this movie, i had low expectations. Please tell me so i can finally have a sigh of relief and go to the movie theater with a popcorn cup filled with gabagool and enjoy myself.

As a 30th year old man, who is starting to grow his own Paulie Walnuts hair wings, how was he depicted in the movie?
 
Salty Kenny said:
Is it a legibly good movie? After the first trailer i pretty much stood away from any news about this movie, i had low expectations. Please tell me so i can finally have a sigh of relief and go to the movie theater with a popcorn cup filled with gabagool and enjoy myself.

As a 30th year old man, who is starting to grow his own Paulie Walnuts hair wings, how was he depicted in the movie?
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Well i’d say it’s a fun movie for Sopranos fans. Definitely don’t go in expecting cinematic perfection, because it ain’t that. It’s generally well shot. Conveys appropriate atmosphere and energy for the time depicted. I think the best parts are callbacks meant for fans. The movie knows that the audience is very familiar with Sopranos material, so yes that means we definitely get some good Paulie moments (not enough). Sil’s portrayal is BY FAR the most baffling, and Livia’s the most surprising. Much ado about Tony in this movie’s marketing, but it only really amounts to a handful of moments.

All in all, I had several laughs, a few gasps, and a few “what the fuck were they thinking” moments.
 
I too enjoyed The Many Saints of Newark, even though, or maybe because, it's kind of a hangout movie without much forward momentum or vital plotting going on. The thing that most qualifies is the rise of black organized crime independent from the mafia, but it's a tonally weird story of fighting for equality in crime. Otherwise, it just sort of does stuff, which you'll really appreciate more if you know how it relates to The Sopranos (they did the varsity athlete meme! =). In this way it kind of avoids the prequel pitfalls of matching up to original material, because this is more thematic. I like Dickie, he's a fine proto-Tony, and also explains where Christopher gets some of his own worst impulses from. I think it could have probably amounted to more in the end. For instance, Tony making his bones and becoming a part of the family for good; his first kill was an African American bookie, his beloved uncle was at war with and might have been presumed killed by an African American bookie. That would have been a good way to get Tony involved, but this movie wasn't... wired that way, at least with the main story. I did enjoy how they ultimately portrayed that transition, or passing of the torch, though, dramatic as it may be.

As for fun odds and ends, it was nice to have Ray Liotta in there, and his Italian wife was good as well. It also had comedian Joey Diaz, who is referred to as a comedian at some point, who was on the infamous Mad TV Sopranos satire, so that was funny. Sil was indeed quite the over the top impression, but then Sil was kind of demonstrative like that. Paulie's portrayel was a safer, and fine, acting choice. I guess my biggest problem is with Junior... Corey Stoll is just too big and not Italiano enough for me to believe he ages into Dominic Chianese, and it's a pretty humiliating portrayal on the page from start to finish, which I enjoyed up to a point, but it basically becomes character assassination by the end (though it's appropriately fucked up =).

Oh yeah, both the young Tonys are good! The kid did a fine job, he didn't need to be his dad as an actor for the role to work, just seem eerily like him, which he did. Lastly, Vera Farmiga might steal the show as Tony's mother, who both manages to creepily resemble Carm and the insanely toxic old woman we all know and don't love.

Anyway, it was an ok movie, I might like it more or less with time, but regardless it's a treat for Sopranos fans.
 
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Griffith said:
I guess my biggest problem is with Junior... Corey Stoll is just too big and not Italiano enough for me to believe he ages into Dominic Chianese, and it's a pretty humiliating portrayal on the page from start to finish, which I enjoyed up to a point, but it basically becomes character assassination by the end (though it's appropriately fucked up =).
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I also thought those same words by the end, regarding Junior. He was already in a precarious spot with Tony for most of the series. By injecting this terrible secret between the two, it means he was never even worth the effort. On reflection, it ends up coloring many scenes, to the point that the decision feels irresponsible.

I definitely didn’t recall that note about Tony’s origin with the bookie. That very well could have been what happens next, given the momentum of things by the end. Given that this was probably the last thing we’ll see from the series, it was a bit sad that seeing Tony’s real start will remain an unplayed note. But I didn’t have expectations that would be in this movie, anyway.
 
I forget to mention, just for uncle David, I watched in the blackness of night on the biggest screen in the house with a bottle of Moscato. Best I could do for this big screen experience... that undeniably feels smaller than the show for obvious reasons.

Walter said:
I also thought those same words by the end, regarding Junior. He was already in a precarious spot with Tony for most of the series. By injecting this terrible secret between the two, it means he was never even worth the effort. On reflection, it ends up coloring many scenes, to the point that the decision feels irresponsible.
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Yep, uncle June was always half an asshole, but more stubborn and foolish than outright evil, and this didn't bother giving him the dignity of the other half where he actually knew some things and had redeeming qualities, as you allude to.

Walter said:
I definitely didn’t recall that note about Tony’s origin with the bookie. That very well could have been what happens next, given the momentum of things by the end. Given that this was probably the last thing we’ll see from the series, it was a bit sad that seeing Tony’s real start will remain an unplayed note. But I didn’t have expectations that would be in this movie, anyway.
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I remembered because it was actually one of the first episodes I saw with my dad before watching the series outright in its entirety. Anyway, I looked into it last night and the bookie in the origin story had a different name, so probably just about as close as you could come to connecting these stories with it just being a coincidence.

It's weird, because they definitely played up Tony's significance in the movie, but it didn't end up being intrinsic to the story, so I don't know what value it had to the non-Sopranos veteran. As an original plot about crime then, and as a nostalgic Sopranos setup, it's a half-measure in both cases; it works best as a character study of Dickie and the themes of his character that carry over to Tony and the series. If we'd seen Tony get more involved, kill Harold or one of his crew, or even be the one to kill Dickie in yet another shockingly spontaneous domestic incident (which makes way more sense than June), I think it might carry more weight. I actually thought some scenes to that effect might have run through the credits, but as you note, our last shot of the series is random street hustling by Harold because Dickie happened to get murdered over nothing before he could kill him (I'm pretty sure the rest of the crew would still be out for him though). Anyway, I still like it, it's not supposed to be neat and tidy obviously, but there were some missed opportunities to really make it hit, but then I'm sure they didn't want to overplay their hand with young Tony either, turning it into some gangster superhero origin story. It worked for The Godfather Part II though.:shrug:
 
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Dune - BOOOOORRRRING! Maybe in a theater the visuals would take it to another level (but maybe not, everything looked orange or sterile, and strangely cold for a purportedly hellishly hot place), but they managed to take a story they needed to split in two and make it feel like nothing happened for two and half hours. And for what the extra time they had making everyone look and sound solemn was worth, they might as well have crammed it all into one movie. Anyway, my dad, who experienced the book and films each in their own time, has more perspective:

"Don't you or I have a boxed set of the Dune novels? Saw Villeneuve version a couple of days ago. Was underwealmed. For all its faults (and there's many), IMO the Lynch version is better."

"Never mind. Found my 1965 first edition. All I needed was the first novel."

I haven't watched yet, so was it kind of staid?

"It was kind of bland. Like checking boxes for plot points. Visuals of desert were great, but rest was unimpressive to me. Excellent cast, but Dave Bautista as Beast Rabban, I couldn't buy. Also, if you didn't read the books or see the Lynch version, you're going to miss a lot. Lynch had too much exposition, this version not enough. Book fanboys will like this version better cause it follows the book more closely, while Lynch turned the story upside down. Lynch fanboys will not like it because it completely lacks the batshit craziness of Lynch's version (compare how the Harkonnens are presented in the two versions). Course the new version is only "Part 1" it just stops in the middle of things."
 
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Dune Mini-series (2000) is worth watching. Haven't seen the new film yet.

Cop Shop (2021) was quite good. I really enjoyed the character acting, the graphic novel like structure, and all around had a good time with it. It is a very literal B film, so just go in to have a good time.

Old Henry (2021) is a fun Western. I thought the "twist" elements of the film were laughable at best, but it was a fine watch at home. Note, anyone who has not seen it's predecessor should simply skip this movie and watch Unforgiven (1992) instead.

Squid Game (2021) is a fun watch on Netflix where Korean citizens volunteer to either by killed or successfully win enough money to lift them out of crippling debt. Reminds me a of a tamer live action Gantz. Each episode cuts off on a solid cliffhanger and new elements have kept it fresh for the first few episodes. Will continue watching and recommend checking it out so far.
 
Griffith said:
It was kind of bland. Like checking boxes for plot points. Visuals of desert were great, but rest was unimpressive to me. Excellent cast, but Dave Bautista as Beast Rabban, I couldn't buy. Also, if you didn't read the books or see the Lynch version, you're going to miss a lot. Lynch had too much exposition, this version not enough. Book fanboys will like this version better cause it follows the book more closely, while Lynch turned the story upside down. Lynch fanboys will not like it because it completely lacks the batshit craziness of Lynch's version (compare how the Harkonnens are presented in the two versions). Course the new version is only "Part 1" it just stops in the middle of things.
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It's weird seeing this from your dad. Our dads have pretty much agreed on every movie but this one. My dad loved it.

I thought it was a great flick, myself.
 
Griffith said:
. All I needed was the first novel."
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Very cool to hear your dad's review! But this was always going to be the case. Given that everyone says it's a visual spectacle, I plan to see it in theaters, if I can. Though it is pretty tempting to check it out on HBO though, since it's right there. I just don't have a great home theater setup.
 
Johnstantine said:
It's weird seeing this from your dad. Our dads have pretty much agreed on every movie but this one. My dad loved it.

I thought it was a great flick, myself.
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It's not that either of us thought it was bad or anything, quite the contrary, the material is treated Shakespearean, but like I said it's a bit staid. If you're looking for a sober and serious dramatic treatment, this is about as high brow as it gets... but it didn't provide a lot of narrative propulsion or excitement either (by the time it got going the movie was basically ending). I also don't really understand why they couldn't tell the whole story in the way they did, largely keeping the exposition and lore to a minimum and letting the scenes just play as they would in that world, in a three hour movie (we also may never have gotten part II, but it seems to be making it's budget back), or blow it out into the new GoT on HBO instead and explain EVERYTHING. We'll see, maybe it'll grow on me because the quality is high, but as my dad put it to me later, "I sort of hate Lynch's movie... but I still watch it once a year." I don't think this one is going to engender that sort of love/hate reaction, whether its devotion or revulsion, at least from me or him.

BTW, he also loves Villeneuve and thinks Arrival is one of the best sci-fi movies of the decade, so it's not that he wasn't primed, but it could also be expectations.

Walter said:
Very cool to hear your dad's review! But this was always going to be the case.
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I spoke to him more about it on the phone tonight and he was also touting Herbert's earlier works he read as a teenager before he "went for the mainstream" with Dune. It was like listening to some old music nerd tell you about how The Yardbirds were actually better than Led Zeppelin. :ganishka:

Walter said:
Given that everyone says it's a visual spectacle, I plan to see it in theaters, if I can. Though it is pretty tempting to check it out on HBO though, since it's right there. I just don't have a great home theater setup.
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That might be the way to go because it didn't do much for me visually on my TV, and like everybody else I thought 2049 was gorgeous. That also had a lot of visual variety though and this was largely just washed out earthtones. Actually, I found the last movie I watched this way, The Many Saints of Newark, to be more visually arresting.
 
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Walter said:
Buscemi's surprise appearance in Spy Kids 2 gave me a real shock, because I had been watching Sopranos Season 5 earlier, and I was in the other room. Then I heard Buscemi's distinctive voice and was like: oh shit, he's watching The Sopranos!
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Lol... I'm near the end of S3 of Sopranos and didn't even know he showed up in it.

Speaking of Spy Kids I only watched the first one as a kid and I remember my sisters watching it hundreds of times on DVD for some reason.

Speaking of that... they also watched Shrek at least twice daily for some ungodly reason as well. This was before smart phones were even close to a thing, they didn't have portable game systems, and weren't reading while watching or even really talking, they'd just rewatch it like that over and over paying full attention every time.

Did any of you guys do that with a movie as a kid or have siblings/cousins/friends that did? Is that what your did is doing with the Spy Kids franchise now?
 
Dar_Klink said:
Did any of you guys do that with a movie as a kid or have siblings/cousins/friends that did? Is that what your did is doing with the Spy Kids franchise now?
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This is definitely something kids do, independent of the era. I remember watching the Star Wars Ewoks TV movies (yes, there are two, but mostly Battle for Endor, the REALLY bad one) on VHS over and over, countless times. Then a few years later, I did the same with TMNT 2. Kids these days have an incredible variety of options to choose from, but my understanding is that it's often comfortable to return to something you've already memorized.
 
Dar_Klink said:
Did any of you guys do that with a movie as a kid or have siblings/cousins/friends that did? Is that what your did is doing with the Spy Kids franchise now?
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My brother used to watch the same movie back to back, rewinding the VHS as soon as it ended. Drove me nuts back then. TMNT movies especially come to mind. And now that I think of it... The Ewoks as well. Wow, just like Walter above. :ganishka: Must be generational.
 
I busted my VHS tape of the original Terminator because i rewinded it so much, particularly to see the Tech-Noir scene and when we see the endoskeleton for the first time rising up, that last one was legitimately the thing that got me into drawing, as a 5 year old kid, that scene left an impression to say the least.
 
Walter said:
Buscemi's surprise appearance in Spy Kids 2 gave me a real shock, because I had been watching Sopranos Season 5 earlier, and I was in the other room. Then I heard Buscemi's distinctive voice and was like: oh shit, he's watching The Sopranos!
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I know I shouldn't allow this, but if it means a fuckin' break from Spy Ki... Goddamn it! They got you too, Steve!?

Walter said:
This is definitely something kids do, independent of the era. I remember watching the Star Wars Ewoks TV movies (yes, there are two, but mostly Battle for Endor, the REALLY bad one) on VHS over and over, countless times.
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Whoa, I'm glad I just did that with Return of the Jedi instead so I could internalize those daddy issues on top of the little bears. =)

Walter said:
Then a few years later, I did the same with TMNT 2.
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This was one of mine too, and the best TMNT movie as a kid, but as you grow older you realize it has more in common with irredeemable TMNT3 than the shockingly, genuinely gritty first one. I remember a news report with parents complaining how the violence of it affected their children, to which I wittily commented to my mother, "Ah, I'll kill 'em!"

Walter said:
Kids these days have an incredible variety of options to choose from, but my understanding is that it's often comfortable to return to something you've already memorized.
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I know Batman 1989 so well I can recite scenes true to the beats of the original sound design. Blows my wife's mind because that was one of her's and her brother's too. Of course, every once in a while I mix it up and say, "I'M... HORSEDICK!".wav instead of Batman.

Salty Kenny said:
I busted my VHS tape of the original Terminator because i rewinded it so much, particularly to see the Tech-Noir scene and when we see the endoskeleton for the first time rising up
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I'm assuming this is a euphemism for the real scene you rewound most, when Linda Hamilton made a man out of you at 5 years old. :carcus:
 
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