# 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:** 141
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2811 "2021-09-01T13:18:29Z")
**Saint Maud** (Hulu) A dark, sad story of a troubled young woman’s religious zealotry. Definitely could have gone all wrong in the hands of another director but this one works really well. Atmospheric and creepy with just the right amount of blood (which is to say, not much). There are a number of horror movie tropes that could have made this the “same old same old”, but this film has a very different feel from anything I’ve seen in a long while. I saw a review comparing it to _Carrie_, presumably because of the lead actress and the religious theme, but this is on a whole 'nother level than that (incredible) film. I highly recommend it to horror loving Dopers. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2021, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2812 "2021-09-01T14:07:25Z")
@WOOKINPANUBv.2 Saint Maud was pretty highly anticipated for me and I found it to be a bit of a “thud” when it landed and was only OK. Censor was probably the other somewhat similar movie that landed this year and it was much better. I would also recommend Gretel and Hansel over it(again, making sure you get the movie dirtected by Oz Perkins). ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2021, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2813 "2021-09-01T14:31:23Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Saint Maud was pretty highly anticipated for me and I found it to be a bit of a “thud” when it landed and was only OK. Censor was probably the other somewhat similar movie that landed this year and it was much better. > > I would also recommend Gretel and Hansel over it(again, making sure you get the movie dirtected by Oz Perkins). I preferred this one over _Censor_ but both are terrific. I did see _Gretel and Hansel_ (due to your recommendation, I think). Fantasy isn’t usually my bag but I’m glad I watched it. The visuals were great and I am a big fan of Oz (I loved The Blackcoat’s Daughter and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House). ---
**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:** [September 1, 2021, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2814 "2021-09-01T14:50:28Z")
Watched “ **I See You** ”. Started out pretty well with one predictable but interesting plot twist. Then it went formulaically downhill. Hellen Hunt stars in it and I think she’s great. But she must have had some recent work done on her face and it put me off more than the second half of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2815 "2021-09-02T02:35:10Z")
Ok, just saw **Censor** based on the recommendations in this thread. I’m not sure what I just saw! I did like it, it was quite different and disturbing but I really need to think about this one and parse what was actually going on. If that could even be determined. My immediate thoughts: Enid killed her sister Nina as a child in the woods but blocked out the memory of the actual event and convinced herself she was missing/abducted. The parents knew the truth which is why they tried to finally convince Enid that she was dead with the death certificate. (Was the body ever found? If so why was Enid not charged with murder? Did the parents help cover it up?) Seeing a constant stream of all the video nasties starts her on a mental breakdown and she becomes convinced that her sister is actually an actress in a film and the filmmaker is planning on killing her for real. I am not sure how much of the “filming” sequence at the end is in her head vs actually happening. I did like how the aspect ratio changed between the “video nasty” she was filming and “reality.” My reading is she really did kill the actor on set, and then kidnapped Alice Lee and brought her home to her parents, who were horrified to see what their daughter had done. The flashes of their actual faces coming through the “happy” ending were chilling. I do have a lot of questions like, why did the makeup person think she was an actor? Did the director know who she was and created the film “Don’t Go in the Church” from her story? Was her entire memory of the murder false and made up in her head from watching all the films and her sister _didn’t_ actually die that way? It’s very hard to get a handle on things when the story is told from the POV of an unreliable narrator. So many questions! ---
**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:** [September 2, 2021, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2816 "2021-09-02T03:32:15Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > So many questions! I saw it over two months ago and still think about it. I think the final 30 minutes are some of the best of this year in movies. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2021, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2817 "2021-09-02T12:18:58Z")
Last night we watched [Absolutely Anything](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1727770/), from 2015. A movie about an ordinary guy who gains the power to make absolutely anything happen. Unbeknownst to him, his choices will be judged by watching aliens, and if they deem them unworthy the planet is doomed. So this was a fairly pleasant and mildly amusing way to pass the time. However, it’s kind of heartbreaking to see all the massive talent that collaborated here to produce this weaksauce result. Douglas Adams, Robin Williams, Simon Pegg, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Eddie Izzard, etc. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2021, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2818 "2021-09-02T12:26:19Z")
I tried to watch “ **Jolt** ”. Not because I thought it would be good but because I wanted to give Bobby Cannavale a chance to redeem it. Got 20 minutes into it and had to turn it off because I felt myself getting dumber. What a steaming pile of crap. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2021, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2819 "2021-09-02T12:31:44Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I tried to watch “ **Jolt** ”. Not because I thought it would be good but because I wanted to give Bobby Cannavale a chance to redeem it. Got 20 minutes into it and had to turn it off because I felt myself getting dumber. What a steaming pile of crap I really liked Jolt. Quite a bit, actually. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2021, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2820 "2021-09-02T12:35:13Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I really liked Jolt. Quite a bit, actually. Really? Every time she was on screen it was like watching Zoolander vogue-ing. And I never watched Zoolander. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2021, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2821 "2021-09-02T13:30:05Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Last night we watched [Absolutely Anything](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1727770/), from 2015. A movie about an ordinary guy who gains the power to make absolutely anything happen. Unbeknownst to him, his choices will be judged by watching aliens, and if they deem them unworthy the planet is doomed. > > So this was a fairly pleasant and mildly amusing way to pass the time. However, it’s kind of heartbreaking to see all the massive talent that collaborated here to produce this weaksauce result. Douglas Adams, Robin Williams, Simon Pegg, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Eddie Izzard, etc. I missed this one - sounds like a remake of [The Man Who Could Work Miracles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Could_Work_Miracles), which was rather charming in a low-budget British B&W film way. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2822 "2021-09-02T13:49:57Z")
I agree with most of what you said, except I think maybe she did not kill her sister, but was “responsible” in the sense that she forced her to enter the cabin(I definitely think sis is dead though). Mainly I think this because if she’d killed her that would leave too many holes in the story and her parents’ actions wouldn’t make sense. The murder I’m questioning is the producer who was impaled on his award. Way too implausible / over the top to have really happened, no? It’s the kind of cheesy thing she might have seen in a video nasty, i.e. she imagined it because that’s what she’d have liked to have done to him ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2823 "2021-09-02T14:38:30Z")
**Infinity Chamber** (2016) (Prime) A man in the near future is captured and placed in a cell with only a robotic eye that talks for company. Why is he there? Are these visions or dreams he is having real? How can he escape? Why should we care? Turns out we really don’t. By the time the big reveal comes it’s too little too late and the twist is hardly worth the bother. Suspense/scifi is so compelling to me in part because of the massive amount of flexibility it gives the story teller. So it’s such a shame to see the same tired tropes flogged again, the genre then just showcases the laziness. This would have been a disappointing Black Mirror episode but at least it would have been shorter. It’s a film-student-director-on-Dust level of effort. For the suspense/scifi category **Coherence** remains the best I’ve seen in recent memory. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2021, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2824 "2021-09-02T14:43:44Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > For the suspense/scifi category **Coherence** remains the best I’ve seen in recent memory. It’s been a few months since I watched it and I still think about it from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2021, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2825 "2021-09-02T14:46:35Z")
_Right_! It could have been a stage performance with one set and it would have worked. There were lines delivered in the film that sent chills down my spine and they were spoken in just a conversational tone. That’s solid writing. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2021, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2826 "2021-09-02T18:17:17Z")
**Scanners** Like The Fly, I had never seen this movie either. The Fly was quite a bit better, but Scanners was OK in its own right, but nothing amazing in my opinion. I was surprised to learn there are four sequels to Scanners. Anyway, I would only somewhat recommend Scanners. It was surprisingly generic, though it may not have felt that way in 1981. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2021, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2827 "2021-09-03T01:30:57Z")
**After Midnight** - streams on Hoopla\* This was a weird one. A guy and his girlfriend move in together and are happy. Suddenly, she disappears and while he lives alone, he begins to be attacked by a monster that only he sees(we don’t even see it watching the movie). This movie isn’t what it sounds like. It’s very odd, almost an attempt at a horror comedy. It tries to be funny throughout, but kind of falls flat much of the time. I’ll spoil some not-major-spoiler stuff here with some final thoughts: Yeah, so it’s not surprising the girlfriend shows back up. We are supposed to suspect she might be the monster and the boyfriend is at least smart enough to wonder if she is. We are also supposed to wonder if there is a monster since no one but our protagonist sees it. She shows back up, the reunite, and then the movie kind of becomes memorable again. I won’t spoil how it all works out, but it ended up being pretty creative and more surprising than I expected. I liked it more than I expected, but it was not the movie I anticipated. \*Hoopla is the library streaming service. It’s all free and you should check it out if you haven’t yet. Hopefully your library participates. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2021, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2828 "2021-09-03T09:00:21Z")
Does “After Midnight” refer to when he shouldn’t have fed his girlfriend? [https://bbts1.azureedge.net/images/p/full/2020/10/547d5150-36d5-4e3c-ab49-536ce62e718f.jpg](https://bbts1.azureedge.net/images/p/full/2020/10/547d5150-36d5-4e3c-ab49-536ce62e718f.jpg) ---
**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:** [September 3, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2829 "2021-09-03T19:16:52Z")
Run away! My latest five: _Memories of Murder_ A South Korean serial-killer mystery, loosely based on a true story and cowritten and directed by Bong Joon-ho (_Parasite_). Very disappointing - the cops are stupid and corrupt, young women in the small town keep walking in the woods after dark even after several high-profile unsolved murders there, and the movie just drags. _The Green Knight_ An interesting version of the tale of Sir Gawaine which takes some major liberties with Arthurian legend but mostly held my interest. Visually stunning but also, unfortunately, overlong. _Chariots of Fire_ I finally saw this Oscar-winning 1981 historical drama, about British runners at the 1924 Olympics. It was good but not great, I’d say. The Vangelis score is certainly iconic. _State Funeral_ Plodding documentary about Josef Stalin’s elaborate 1953 funeral in Moscow, drawn from Kremlin newsreel archives and also showing grieving citizens across the Soviet Union. For all the praise heaped upon Stalin at the time by party officials, I was glad to see a postscript at the end of the movie about his crimes and the many millions who died under his paranoid misrule. _Boys State_ Pretty good documentary about teenage Texans assembling in Austin to learn about democracy and government, focusing on the choosing of a boy governor in a mini-election that is, just like the real thing, an uneasy mix of idealism, cynicism, public-spiritedness, pandering, sound bites and dirty tricks. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2021, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/2830 "2021-09-03T22:28:15Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > _Memories of Murder_ > A South Korean serial-killer mystery, loosely based on a true story and cowritten and directed by Bong Joon-ho ( _Parasite_ ). Very disappointing - the cops are stupid and corrupt, young women in the small town keep walking in the woods after dark even after several high-profile unsolved murders there, and the movie just drags. I actually quit watching this movie and I don’t often quite movies. Try **The Wailing** if you have not seen it. Also Korean, but different director. Much better movie that hooked me. And surprisingly funny in parts even though it was really intense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=140) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=142)