# Movies you've seen recently (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [September 29, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906 "2014-09-29T21:53:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 107
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2021, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2131 "2021-04-21T21:49:07Z")
I watched the 1939 version of _Of Mice and Men_. I understand the times were different back yon and film making was done in other styles, but Holy Christ was this the hammiest, over-acted piece of crap I’ve ever seen! Like, comically, really bad. Words fail me. Damn near unwatchable. I read the book, and don’t remember it being so crappy and corny, and seen other newer versions that weren’t nearly so wretched. George was awful. Lenny was worse. The foreman guy and his wife were awful. The whole movie sucked. Corny and hammy. Anyway, DID NOT LIKE! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2132 "2021-04-22T00:38:11Z")
Just finished watching _The Willoughbys_. Animated film that stays away from clichés. Ricky Gervais is great as the cat/narrator. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2133 "2021-04-22T10:15:37Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Just finished watching _The Willoughbys_ . Animated film that stays away from clichés. You’re not kidding. It’s a weird but fun one. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2134 "2021-04-22T18:43:24Z")
> **[Perinbaba (1985) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089800/?ref_=rvi_tt)** > > Perinbaba: Directed by Juraj Jakubisko. With Giulietta Masina, Petra Vancíková, Tobias Hoesl, Sona Valentová. The Feather Fairy lives in the sky and gives snow to the people. She lives with a boy called Jakob, who one day ventures into the human... An inventive fantasy imbued with wit, imagination and (family-friendly) creepiness despite a low budget. It’s a very loose adaptation of a Grimm bros tale starring famed actress Giulietta Masina (dubbed in Czech) as Lady Winter, a metaphysical conceit responsible for winter weather on earth (she causes snow by jumping on her duvet). She saves toddler Jakob from Death only to see him fall in love with a girl on earth oppressed by her greedy stepmom, spoiled stepsister and oblivious dad. One of several very loose adaptations of the story, it’s supposedly a cult film in its homeland. I liked it. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2021, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2135 "2021-04-24T17:15:53Z")
For anyone who loves a good spy story, I highly recommend [Möbius](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2106550/). The movie is tri-lingual and does an excellent job of seamlessly delivering dialogue in multiple languages. The actors don’t butcher their lines for the most part because many of the actors are native speakers in their respective mother tongues. Those that aren’t native speakers have made the effort to practice their lines. Tim Roth seems to have the hardest time of it. The story itself is complex enough to make you work to keep up with who’s doing what to whom. There is no obvious “good guys”, and with one exception, the “bad guys” aren’t served up to you on a silver platter. There is one silly scene involving the delivery of a bad guy as a message that I thought wasn’t worthy of the story because it’s stupidly implausible. But that aside, the movie is well above average, as is the cast performances. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2021, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2136 "2021-04-25T03:14:29Z")
**Mortal Kombat** 2021 This is the best Mortal Kombat movie that has been made, but that is hardly a high bar. It pretty much goes like this: Great opening 10 minutes Pretty bad middle 40 minutes Very impressive fight sequences and choreography at the end \<–highlight of movie I can’t think of a better video game movie because they are all so bad, but this is still not a great movie. However, the last 30 minutes or so are a lot of fun and deliver actual high-quality fighting. I was kind of bored in the middle, but legit nearly cheered at a couple bigger moments near the end. Better than expected, but not a hugely amazing movie. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2021, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2137 "2021-04-30T21:35:54Z")
_Swiss Army Man_ What… _the fuck_… was… that… _Bullshit???_ Lost interest almost immediately, but left it on in the background. Utter and total garbage and a waste of electric power and your time to watch it. Avoid like Covid! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2138 "2021-05-01T00:41:53Z")
Saw _The Mitchells vs. the Machines_ on Netflix. Excellent in all respects. Lots of things about it had me laughing out loud, and that didn’t keep it from still being emotionally affecting. The way they used the dog as a weapon was inspired humor. The final showdown went on a bit too long, but otherwise a first class bit of animation and I loved the way they added little bits of what looked like traditional animation to the computer animated stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2139 "2021-05-01T06:00:09Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Saw _The Mitchells vs. the Machines_ on Netflix. Good to know. I saw the review in the Times today and it is on my list. I’ve been reading the NY Times 1,000 movies book and adding stuff I haven’t seen to my list. I saw “Dressed to Kill” last night. I knew who did it already, but still good, except for the last five minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2140 "2021-05-01T07:52:39Z")
**Thunder Force**. Did you like _Spy_ with Melissa McCarthy? Then you’ll probably like this because it’s like that, only she’s a superhero and Octavia Spencer is one too. It even has Bobby Canavale as the bad guy _again_. Plus: Jason Bateman as a half-crab man. OTOH if you didn’t like _Spy_, you won’t like this. It’s often predictable and there’s lots of fairly immature jokes. A film to show that women are just as capable of starring in lightweight, goofy, and puerile comedies as men are. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2141 "2021-05-01T16:53:36Z")
Another recommendation for The Mitchells vs the machines, if you liked Lego the movie, or Spiderman into the Spiderverse, this one is for you, the same people. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2142 "2021-05-01T18:50:51Z")
_American Animals_ (2018). It must surely be the most #WhitePeopleProblems of all heist films. They could have made a more gripping/interesting story about the librarian. And that’s not a moral judgment, it’s simply an observation of how bland, milquetoast, and uninteresting the film’s chosen protagonists are. They are at no point compelling, either as college students or as criminals or as college students vaulting into the role of criminals, and aren’t even worthy of the label “anti-heroes.” Just bleh. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2143 "2021-05-01T21:41:04Z")
IIRC at some point, Nancy Kerrigan pointed out that she was the victim, i.e. how is it fair that Tonya profit from the incident? True. I had a few misgivings but watched it. It’s a very good movie. See 1:15-1:20 in the trailer…they’re not afraid to break the fourth wall. It had really good good photography, Margot was very good, and I may watch it again. Compelling stuff! > **[I, Tonya - Official Trailer: I, Tonya | IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/video/vi4244617241/?playlistId=tt5580036&ref_=tt_pr_ov_vi)** > > Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises among the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the activity is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2144 "2021-05-02T15:05:16Z")
**The Mitchells vs The Machines** (Netflix). From the folks who brought you The Lego Movie and Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. See it. I think I laughed out loud more often at this than anything I’ve seen in recent memory. And the animation is brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2145 "2021-05-02T16:13:52Z")
Tenet (2020) Ponderous, pretentious, boring AF. Nolan is very overrated IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2146 "2021-05-02T16:33:04Z")
I’ve watched two versions of _The Thief of Bagdad_ recently (the silent original from 1924 and the Italian version starring Steve “Hercules” Reeves" from 1961, which is the one I first saw as a kid), so I thought I’d finally watch the most praised version, the 1940 Alexander Korda version. I didn’t like it, overall. That doesn’t mean that it’s bad 1.) As I’ve remarked before, early Technicolor movies really go out of the way to showcase their colors. When most of your films are black and white, a color film is going to stand out, but they really went out of their way to bring out vibrant and contrasting colors. There’s lots of Red and Blue (neither of which you really got with the Cinecolor process, or the so-called “two strip” Technicolor). There’s an entire blue city. Thumbs up for the bright colors 2.) This is one of the first really big special effects films in color. _Wizard of Oz_ had preceded it, of course, and _Gone with the Wind_ had more effects scenes than people realize, but they tried more new and experimental techniques here – lots of travelling mattes, glass paintings, blending of images, using items at different distances to suggest size differences, using suspended models, using rear-projection, etc. A lot of these had been used before, but not with color photography. Thumbs up for the effects, even if some are substandard to our jaded modern eyes. 3.) William Cameron Menzies, who was the production designer for the 1924 version, is for this one as well. (He also did Gone with the Wind). Most of his sets are gorgeous. Thumbs up 4.) I hate when people call this a remake. Even from the Wikipedia and IMDB articles you wouldn’t guess that the plots of the 1924 and the 1940 versions are completely different. And it’s not just that the Thief and the Princess’ lover are two different people. This is a wholly different movie, with different locations, characters, and motivations. They both share a setting (an imaginary Bagdad, inexplicably located on the seacoast), roots in the Arabian Nights, and some images/tropes (The flying carpet, the flying horse, the giant idol with the jewel in its head that can be used as a seeing stone (which someone has to climb, at great personal peril, to get), the lover breaks into the princess’ garden). The 1940 version adds a genie , an Evil Vizier, a childish sultan obsessed with toys, a hero blinded by the villain and another turned into a dog, a mystical council of elders, a giant spider, and other things. It lacks a lot of things from the original, including the Quest and the explicitly shown transformation of the Thief of Bagdad from an unrepentant rogue to a prince.Thumbs down, in my opinion 5.) Not only is the plot different, it makes very little sense, and has no general trajectory. Things just sort of happen, to keep the film going. The heroes are kind of dumb. But then again, the villain is, too. Thumbs WAY down 6.) Disney’s _Aladdin_ clearly strip-mined this film – an evil vizier named Jafar who can work magic, control minds, and wants to marry the Princess; a dim-witted Sultan who is obsessed with toys; a thief as a co-hero, and who’s named Abu (!); an oddly-colored and usually giant genie; a flying carpet. I think Disney lifted some stuff from UPA’s _1001 Nights_ (starring Mister Magoo), which also told the story of Aladdin, but the borrowing is more explicit from ToB. 6.) As often happens, the romantic leads are pretty thin and unimpressive. They get a few good lines, but the show is definitely stolen by Rex Ingram’s genie, Sabu’s thief Abu, and especially Conrad Veidt’s wonderfully evil Jafar. Bottom line – it’s an important film, in terms of effects, its design and color, but it’s not really a remake and its plot is a wandering mess. Turn your brain off for this. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2147 "2021-05-02T16:43:21Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > Ponderous, pretentious, boring AF. Nolan is very overrated IMHO. I like Nolan quite a bit and would rank Inception as one of the top movies of its decade, but I ranked Tenet as the biggest disappointment and one of the worst movies I saw last year…considering I try not to see massive stinkers. I’m stunned he thought it was finished, really. It was not ready for release and its script needed to be redone. Sometimes even great movie-makers get the whole thing written, shoot it, take it to the editing room, finish the edit and kind of realize it makes no sense. Tenet turned out like that. ---
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2148 "2021-05-02T16:50:04Z")
I liked a lot of the different concepts in Tenet, but I agree that it was not put together that well. To a certain extent, it was a little bit like a re-imagining of memento, in that story ends up not being exactly linear. But memento did not leave you scratching your head quite as much and had some humor injected for good measure. `//i\\` ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2149 "2021-05-02T17:08:31Z")
I thought Inception looked great and was well acted but found the story just average. No desire to re-watch it. Same with just about all of Nolans movies. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2150 "2021-05-02T21:06:16Z")
To possibly repeat a comment about _Tenet_ which I may already have made on the SDMB, I preferred _Bill & Ted Face the Music_ among last year’s movies. The time travel ideas in them are equally ridiculous. Yes, _Bill & Ted Face the Music_ was silly and minor, but _Tenet_ was pretentious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=106) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=108)