# 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:** 113
**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 21, 2021, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2251 "2021-05-21T13:29:09Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I was very disappointed in the _Hobbit_ trilogy and doubt I’ll ever watch it again. My understanding is there were originally supposed to be two _Hobbit_ films, but in what has become a recurring theme, the studio realized it could make more money by inserting lengthy fluff scenes, thus padding the runtime to add a 3rd movie. There are some fan edits out there that cut it down to essentially two long films (instead of 3 longish films) or even a single very long film by exorcising the fluff, such as the romantic subplot, everything with Legolas, and perhaps the Gandalf side quest being prime targets. The barrel ride and the rock monster death match? Gone. No bearing on the plot whatsoever, just padding. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2252 "2021-05-21T14:23:40Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Just watched [Spotlight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotlight_(film)) again. > > 2015 Oscar winner- well deserved, about the the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team as they investigate and expose the Boston Catholic Church’s child sex abuse scandal. > > Great ensemble cast with Michael Douglas, John Slattery, Leiv Schreiber, Mark Ruffalo and more… It _is_ a great cast, but think Bruce Wayne, not Hank Pym. ---
**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 21, 2021, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2253 "2021-05-21T23:07:57Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Michael Douglas Was this deliberate? Yes, Michael Keaton’s real name is Michael Douglas. Were you joking about this or trying to make an obscure reference or just making a strange mistake? ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2254 "2021-05-21T23:53:46Z")
**The Whole Truth** (Netflix) - courtroom dramas are tired for me and Keanu Reeves is mediocre at best as an actor, but I like him as a person and so at least want to like the movies he stars in. Regardless, this is a diamond in the rough. I enjoyed it and I think you will too. ---
**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 22, 2021, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2255 "2021-05-22T03:22:45Z")
**Army of the Dead** (Netflix) This is another theatrical movie that played one weekend and is now immediately on streaming. Zack Snyder directed it and he…well, he just doesn’t have a lot of great movies in him. This movies is 142 minutes long and it is obviously a 90-100 minute movie that has not yet been properly edited for time. Whole scenes could have been removed and vastly improved the movie. I’d say this movie has 30-40 minutes of good zombie action in it and nearly two hours of bad dialogue and boring situations. Is it terrible? No, but it is almost terrible. Just kind of OK or somewhat bad. I still believe **Watchmen** is an excellent movie, but I don’t know if he has any real quality movies left in him. ---
**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 22, 2021, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2256 "2021-05-22T03:56:34Z")
Army of the Dead The opening is a bit of a ripoff of the beginning of Zombieland, minus Metallica music. The rest of the movie plays out like a live action version of the game Left 4 Dead. With a Boss level zombie and everything. Too slow, too often. But I love Dave Bautista and Tig Notaro. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2021, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2257 "2021-05-22T05:02:50Z")
Body Double > **[Body Double (1984) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086984/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0)** > > Body Double: Directed by Brian De Palma. With Craig Wasson, Melanie Griffith, Gregg Henry, Deborah Shelton. A young actor's obsession with spying on a beautiful woman who lives nearby leads to a baffling series of events with drastic consequences. This is a film of obsession, mystery and sexuality. It is definitely a film of the 80s. This is DePalma trying to do Hitchcock and succeeding to a degree. Craig Wasson is well cast as an unemployed and vulnerable actor. Deborah Shelton is the object of his obsession. She is beautiful but not much of an actress. Melanie Griffith appears in the last 1/3 of the film as a porno star. This is recommended more for film buffs who dont need an explanation for everything. Its beautifully photographed in swanky 80s LA locations including the > **[Chemosphere](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemosphere)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The Chemosphere is a modernist house in Los Angeles, California, designed by John Lautner in 1960. The building, which the Encyclopædia Britannica once called "the most modern home built in the world", is admired both for the ingenuity of its solution to the problem of the site and for its unique octagonal design. > The building stands on the San Fernando Valley side of the Hollywood Hills, just off Mulholland Drive. It is a one-story octagon with ... ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2021, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2258 "2021-05-22T15:13:10Z")
The Gift (2015) Awesome psychological thriller. ---
**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 22, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2259 "2021-05-22T15:44:40Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > …Too slow, too often. > > But I love Dave Bautista and Tig Notaro. Indeed way overlong and slow. Tig did a great job since she filmed none of the movie with the cast. Her part was entirely filmed alone after the movie was done because they had to remove an actor who had sexual abuse claims. She likes to point out that she has never met Dave Bautista. Then again, I heard Jodie Foster on Graham Norton saying that she has almost never met or had a conversation with Anthony Hopkins. Both of their most famous movie is Silence of the Lambs, but they barely appear together in the movie and not all their dialogue was filmed with them in the same room. She’s met him, but they do not know each other very much at all. ---
**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 22, 2021, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2260 "2021-05-22T15:53:41Z")
I should also point out that Tig is, at least from my observation, very little like the character she got to play. I watched the movie “Tig” about her cancer, other losses, and her adoption attempt and she is not someone I would think is an action star. She needs a John Wick like movie. ---
**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 22, 2021, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2261 "2021-05-22T16:30:48Z")
Huh, interesting. Now I kinda wanna re-watch it because I didn’t notice anything off. ---
**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 22, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2262 "2021-05-22T17:04:09Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > Huh, interesting. Now I kinda wanna re-watch it because I didn’t notice anything off They did a great job. Noticeable only if you know about it. A few “he’s” had to be re-recorded into “she’s”. A lot of one-shots of just Tig, but she is inserted very well into group shots as well. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2021, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2263 "2021-05-22T22:00:42Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > She needs a John Wick like movie. I am so there for Tig Notaro, action star. I am there for Tig Notaro anything. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2264 "2021-05-23T14:18:36Z")
The other day I saw Earth Girls Are Easy. It blows my mind that this fits into the timeline between The Fly and In Living Color. I would have pegged it as very early eighties. How did I never hear that Jim Carrey was in this? His particular “gifts” weren’t utilized here unfortunately. Overall it was even lamer than I had thought, though pretty to look at. Best parts, Geena Davis’ tits and Julie Brown’s performance of 'Cause I’m A Blonde. Last night I watched The Cabin In the Woods. I had seen it once before and liked it; last night I decided it’s one of my favorite horror movies ever. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2265 "2021-05-23T14:48:06Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Last night I watched The Cabin In the Woods. I had seen it once before and liked it; last night I decided it’s one of my favorite horror movies ever. Team it up with _Tucker & Dale vs. Evil_ and you’ve got a perfect movie night. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2266 "2021-05-23T15:09:21Z")
I’ll keep an eye out for it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2021, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2267 "2021-05-24T00:54:22Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Was this deliberate? Yes, Michael Keaton’s real name is Michael Douglas. Were you joking about this or trying to make an obscure reference or just making a strange mistake? It was unintentional. ---
**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 24, 2021, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2268 "2021-05-24T07:36:00Z")
Last night I watched “A Face in the Crowd” (1957) where Andy Griffith as Arkansas singer Lonesome Rhodes rises to almost being the power behind the President. This isn’t Sheriff Andy - it is great acting in Griffith’s first movie. In one incredible scene Rhodes instructs a senator running for president on how to have a better TV presence. This is 3 years before the Kennedy Nixon debates, remember. Directed by Elia Kazan, written by Budd Schulberg (same as On the Waterfront.) The Times review knocked it a bit because Bosley Crowther didn’t believe that the American public wouldn’t ever blindly follow a popular TV figure. ---
**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 24, 2021, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2269 "2021-05-24T08:13:32Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I am so there for Tig Notaro, action star. > > I am there for Tig Notaro anything. Heh. It’s funny that while Ruby Rose is so desperately (and unsuccessfully) trying to fill the “female action star” niche, it’s the older women that seem to be a more natural fit. For example, despite _The Hitman’s Bodyguard_ being basically “Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L Jackson wisecrack and shoot things for two hours”, I’m sorely tempted to watch the sequel just to see Salma Hayek wisecracking and shooting things. ---
**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 24, 2021, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2270 "2021-05-24T12:06:22Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > The other day I saw Earth Girls Are Easy. It blows my mind that this fits into the timeline between The Fly and In Living Color. I would have pegged it as very early eighties. How did I never hear that Jim Carrey was in this? His particular “gifts” weren’t utilized here unfortunately. As I’ve noted before, when they showed the movie on Comedy Central (which must have been in the early 1990s, pre- **Ace Ventura** ) announcer Penn Jillette pointed out the features of the movie, including Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis, but not mentioning Jim Carrey (or Damon Wayans, for that matter). Carrey had been in several movies prior to this, and even starred in his own prime-time TV series (_The Duck Factory_), but he hadn’t really registered in the public’s consciousness. In 1994 Carrey made it big with **Ace Ventura** , **The Mask** , and **Dumb and Dumber** , and had graduated to being Recognized. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=112) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=114)