# 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:** 165
**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:** [December 1, 2021, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3291 "2021-12-01T01:49:46Z")
**Bug** This is the 2006 William Friedkin movie and wow, it’s incredible. Very difficult to watch, especially the final 30 minutes, but what a movie. It’s listed sometimes as a “horror” movie, but it definitely isn’t. Hard to watch for sure, but not horror. It start fairly normal, but by the end, it was downright insane. Ashley Judd did not get nominated for an Oscar for this movie and that is a crime. She was incredible. She portrays a full mental breakdown without it becoming comical, something not always easy to do. This is hard movie to talk about without spoiling it at all, but you should really check it out. It’s gripping and intense. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2021, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3292 "2021-12-02T01:08:53Z")
**The Last Duel** Ridley Scott is tremendously hit and miss for me. I mean, The Martian is amazing, but this guy also made A Good Year and numerous other quite bad movies. I don’t even think Gladiator is all that great, though I know others like it quite a bit. The Last Duel is really good, though, and I am very happy to report it. I was kind of stunned to learn that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon co-wrote the movie(with a third writer). Is this their first script since Good Will Hunting? Anyway, the movie is excellent. I can tell you this: - It is a Rashomon of sorts. Same story from different perspectives - It is a story about a rape and whether or not a woman is telling the truth - Ben Affleck looks ridiculous, but actually gives a very believably jerk performance I am not the one to go to to discuss the sexual-assault storyline and how it was handled. I don’t think the movie was insensitive to women, but I can’t really say for sure that it handled the topic entirely correctly. It is a beautiful production, though, and I was very much pulled in by the story the entire time. It is apparently based off a book that claims the whole story is true, but I have no idea how much truth survived to the adaptation. This movie bombed in theaters, by the way. That is a shame. It deserved to reach a much wider audience. I would recommend this movie to really almost anyone. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2021, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3293 "2021-12-02T04:24:28Z")
Damn. I love Ridley Scott and Goodwill Hunting but that subject matter… ---
**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:** [December 2, 2021, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3294 "2021-12-02T12:35:44Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Damn. I love Ridley Scott and Goodwill Hunting but that subject matter It’s not the most intense movie on the subject I’ve seen. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2021, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3295 "2021-12-02T22:20:24Z")
**The Power of the Dog** - Netflix I hadn’t even heard of this movie a month ago, but the buzz got my pretty interested in it and I couldn’t wait to see it. “Best Picture” and other Oscar buzz is flying around. It’s OK. In fact, it is quite a good movie. It is not going to be in my top 10 at the end of the year, though. I was definitely engaged and pulled in, but it was not as incredible as I had been lead to believe(or had hyped myself up to believe). It’s about a couple of rancher brothers. One falls in love and gets married and the other, at least to some extent, resents that. There is a whole heckuva lot more to it than that, though. A lot more. This is a movie that keeps a lot of its best parts quite secret in the opening 45 minutes or so and only as things build up and open up…do you realize it actually is quite crafty. Acting is all excellent and the whole movie is really well made. I will spoiler-box a thought that I’d rather not put out there unless you want to be spoiled a bit. No, I did not see the ending coming and actually kind of had to look up things online to make sure I understood. It was like a 5 minute ending that really surprised me. Kudos to them on that. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3296 "2021-12-02T23:00:58Z")
**8-Bit Christmas** on HBO Max It’s totally _A Christmas Story_ for the 80s generation. I am a bit too old for this, my console era was Atari and I never coveted a Nintendo, but that’s not the point. It’s just a fun romp as the kids make multiple futile attempts to procure their Holy Grail, a NES, for Christmas. Framed as a narrated story from today, told by Neil Patrick Harris, the main kid looks way more like a young Patton Oswalt, which is a bit of a weird disconnect for me, but otherwise the movie itself is fun, the kid actors are really good, and it has a sweet ending that works perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3297 "2021-12-02T23:23:37Z")
We also watched Power of the Dog last night. Dunst and Plemons did their usual great work, but I thought Cumberbatch’s performance seemed a bit forced at times. An odd movie, certainly, with some good plot twists, and probably deserves some Oscar notice. I erroneously thought the hula-hoop scene was a glaring anachronism, but it turns out that “hooping” has been around for centuries, way before Wham-O patented their version. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2021, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3298 "2021-12-02T23:42:35Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > An odd movie, certainly, with some good plot twists, and probably deserves some Oscar notice. What kind of Oscars might it deserve? I’m expecting Cumberbatch to get a nomination, but I thought he was only good, not amazing. Dunst was better. The scene where she can’t play piano and has to apologize for it is great. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3299 "2021-12-03T00:17:26Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > What kind of Oscars might it deserve? I agree on Cumberbatch (I always call him Cumberbund Bandersnatch) and on Dunst. Direction and cinematography probably. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3300 "2021-12-03T02:07:31Z")
I haven’t seen it yet (waiting for a night I can enjoy a movie and adult beverage)but the ending was also very abrupt and not 100% clear in the book , which I thought was just perfect because the point was the build up more than the resolution. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3301 "2021-12-03T16:40:51Z")
**The Power of the Dog** had the good vs evil brothers (_East of Eden_), the repressed homosexual bully (_Billy Budd_), and, for a nice sting at the end, _The Bad Seed._ Also: no guns. Benedict Cumberbatch isn’t a method actor (with exceptions like Daniel Day Lewis, Brits don’t tend towards that), but his gift is that he understands his character and its place in the story. I read that Jesse Plemons replaced Paul Dano, but this was yet another movie with a Phillip Seymour Hoffman-size hole in it. I really wanted the stepson to be underage, to make it clear that the antagonist was getting his just desserts for making the victim’s life unbearable (otherwise we have to buy onto the belief that it’s somebody else’s fault for substance abuse - even _Long Day’s Journey into Night_ didn’t go that far), instead of for being a closet chicken hawk. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3302 "2021-12-03T16:55:02Z")
Watched a movie the other day called **Ride the Eagle** , an indie comedy, possibly dramedy-leaning a little, starring Jake Johnson (_New Girl_, _Stumptown_), also with JK Simmons and Susan Sarandon. Cute little film about a man going home after his estranged mother dies, and performing tasks she listed in her will as conditions for receiving his inheritance, the lake cabin where she lived. The plot is totally predictable but the performances are good and it was mostly funny in the ways it was intended to be. Didn’t get sad until the very end. I’d watch it again. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3303 "2021-12-03T17:06:44Z")
**Spectral** on Netflix. I was halfway through it before I realized I’d seen it before. That’s how forgettable it is. The laughable “science” almost makes it worthwhile, though. “I’ll change the polarity and that will make it a high-powered light!” They do an emergency evacuation to what amounts to a cave but have all of the high-tech equipment to cannibalize to create weapons to vaporize the evil beings, and all the disparate pieces fit together perfectly! A miracle! ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3304 "2021-12-03T18:25:42Z")
**14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible** about a Nepalese climber who summits all 14 8000m peaks…in less than 7 months ! Not the first person to summit all 14, but the (few) others have taken years to complete. An unbelievable accomplishment. As if ticking off such dangerous extreme peaks wasn’t enough, he/his team helped rescue other climbers on a couple of the mountains. I watched most of **Ad Astra** last night, but ended up falling asleep before the ending. The horrible science first took me “out” of the movie, and then I started to think this is kind of “ **Apocalypse Now** in space” with the son as Martin Sheen (complete with all the narration) on the mission to locate his father (Tommy Lee Jones in the Brando role). The pace was plodding along, and by the time Brad caught up to Tommy Lee, I simply didn’t care what was going to happen ! (If the ending justifies the beginning 3/4, let me know and I will try to watch it to the end) ---
**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:** [December 3, 2021, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3305 "2021-12-03T19:22:58Z")
I saw **Wolf** yesterday. (The new Irish film, not the Jack Nicholson one.) It felt like an interesting idea that did not know where it wanted to go. The premise is that a young man believes himself to actually be a wolf who was born in the wrong body of a human and is sent to a hospital facility to cure him of this delusion (_species dysphoria_, as it’s referred to in the film.) The “cure” is basically just physical & mental abuse. It’s a pretty obvious metaphor for gay conversion camps and there is no way to watch this film without seeing the parallels to being transgender, however the problem is that these kids are _not_ animals. There is nothing supernatural here, no werewolves, etc. They _are_ mentally ill. So… is it saying that being transgender=mentally ill? It doesn’t _seem_ like that because we are supposed to sympathize with the kids and hate the sadistic doctors who torture them. Yet we know they aren’t really animals so what is the message here? I do want to give high praise for George McKay’s physical performance. The way he walks on all fours and uses his body really does give the impression of how a wolf walks. He doesn’t just look like a human crawling around. \*\* 1/2 out of \*\*\*\*\* I also saw a screening of **West Side Story** in IMAX and it was wonderful! I can’t praise it enough, so far IMO it’s the best film of the year and newcomer Rachel Zegler is incredible as Maria. It’s much grittier than I expected. I predict many Oscar noms to come for this film. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3306 "2021-12-03T22:03:31Z")
If anyone wants more Benedict Cumberbatch to watch, he is being quite prolific lately. I recently watched **The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain** , a stylised biopic of a quirky troubled man in the 1880s who went on to become a popular illustrator of cat-based cartoons. It has a hell of a cast list, and is by turns hopeful and tragic. ---
**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:** [December 4, 2021, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3307 "2021-12-04T00:19:05Z")
[Underworld](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120414/) Written by Larry Bishop. Larry Bishop thinks he and his dialog are the epitome of cool. He is very much mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3308 "2021-12-04T01:43:32Z")
_Finch_ on Apple TV. I’m a sucker for a boy and his dog and a boy and his robot stories and this has both. I think the screenplay must have been inspired by the cover art from a copy of Sinai’s _City_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3309 "2021-12-04T02:33:53Z")
[Moderating] I got a report for spoilers on this post. I’m not sure precisely what the spoiler was, so I played it safe. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/3310 "2021-12-04T11:50:12Z")
[Neighbours (1981)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082801/): I think someone mentioned this film when I was watching one of the recent National Lampoon documentaries, and I realised that it was a film with Belushi and Aykroyd I’d never seen. Back then some US releases never made it to the UK. It was awful. Apart from switching roles of the mad one for the quiet one, there was just no jokes in it, and it went nowhere for no reason. Still, glad I watched it. It reminded me that Belushi films were 50% genius and 50% awful. I’ll not bother with another one, Continental Divide. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=164) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=166)