# 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:** 23
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/442 "2016-03-04T07:57:42Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Haven’t done an update, let’s see if I can remember a couple of them at least. > > _Spotlight_. Fairly good movie. Well acted. Made a complex story reasonably clear. > > For a large chunk of it I was baffled why no one seemed interested in a key thing that had happened several years before. But it was nicely explained by a big reveal near the end. Satisfaction at last. > > Also, any movie that has men and women working together without introducing a staged romance gets an upvote from me. Movies don’t need a romantic subplot to be good. > > _The Danish Girl_. Harmed by pacing and absolutely ruined by Redmayne’s overacting. He was terrible. It was sort of interesting when Lili first went out to the big bash. But it went downhill … and downhill … from there. The ending was incredibly predictable merely by noting how little time was left once … stuff happened. > > The rest of the cast is okay. Regarding Vikander getting an Oscar: A decent but not top-notch performance, plus she was the female lead, not supporting. I fully agree with you about Danish Girl. I thought I was the only person who felt that way. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2016, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/443 "2016-03-05T04:52:31Z")
Recently seen: _Chimes at Midnight_ Orson Welles directed and starred in this 1966 B&W Shakespearian mashup focusing on Falstaff and Prince Hal. Had its moments but disappointing overall. _Mad Max: Fury Road_ Good but not great. Surprised by all the Oscar love it got. _The Maltese Falcon_ Saw this _noir_ classic in a 75th anniversary remastered print. Still holds up well. _Deadpool_ Lots of fun - a tongue-in-cheek, fourth-wall-breaking, raunchy, ultra-violent superhero yarn, with a very well-calibrated mix of action and jokes. _Groundhog Day_ It has it all: laughs, tragedy, romance, a moral core, and a deeply philosophical resonance that really appeals to me. Great premise, fine cast and just one great line after another. ---
**Author:** ![4d3fect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/4d3fect/32/9728_2.png) [@4d3fect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/4d3fect)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/444 "2016-03-05T05:09:27Z")
Set Fire to the Stars and Maps to the Stars. (Don’t bother.) Also, my wife just lost her next turn to pick DVDs from the library. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/445 "2016-03-05T05:15:44Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Then, OMG, I watched **Gigi** , another one of those films modern audiences should react to with horror: > > The film begins with some old fart singing “Thank Heavens for Little Girl” while watching some 8yo girl play in the park, undressing her with his eyes… > > … Wait, it gets worse… > > Fifteen year-old Gigi is being groomed by her aunt and grandmother to be a courtesan (essentially, a mistress to the high and mighty). > > … wait, it gets worse… > > Thirty-Five year-old Gaston gets the hots for her. > > … wait, it gets worse … > > The poor girl doesn’t want to become a prostitute (sorry! Courtesan! I know somebody will soon tell me the difference…), but under pressure from _the other female members of her family_ she finally gives in. > > … wait, it gets worse… > > But it’s OK, as Gaston is depressed and only the efforts of this 15yo child can get him out of this depression, so he decides to take her up as his mistress. > > … wait, it gets worse… > > So they go out on a date, in which all the other people in the restaurant look @ Gigi like she’s a clapped-out streetwalker, with the smarmy old fart from the beginning of the movie saying “This one will keep you occupied for _weeks_!” > > … But it’s all OK, because… > > Gaston is embarrassed for both himself and her, takes her home, and proposes marriage. > > Just freakin’ bizarre. > > This thing won Best Picture at the Academy Awards that year, so _some_ money must have traded hands, I can only assume… > [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > I’m not going to defend Gigi. I’ve never even seen it. > > I remember when I went to movies during 1958 & 1959, the previews made it sound like this was the greatest fim ever made and I desperately wanted to see it. > > As far as your shock that it won so many awards, I’d just like to point out that the world of movies in 1958 was a very different world than it is today. > > If you were not alive during the 50s and 60s, I would guess it would be very difficult to try to compare movies made in 1958 with modern movies. It would be very difficult for young people today to try and compare older movies to modern ones and guess which ones would win the Oscars. I’m fairly certain that I could never succeed at doing that. > It was an entirely different world back then. Most people still believed in the essential goodness of human beings back then. That must seem pretty strange today. I’ve seen _ **“Gigi”** _ and just thought it was okay. Nowhere near some of the better musicals I’ve seen (_ **“West Side Story”** _, _ **“Singing In The Rain”** _ and _ **“1776”** _.) But before anyone else freaks out about the way the characters were portrayed in the film, consider that the setting of _ **“Gigi”** _ takes place in Paris at the turn of the 20th Century. The life expectancy in the USA in 1900 was age 46.3 for men and 48.3 for women. I don’t know what it was in France at the time but I’ve got to guess that it was similar. As a comparison, in 1998 the life expectancy in the USA was age 73.8 for men and 79.5 for women If your life span was just under 50 years old , your “mid-life” would be 25. So it would never be considered strange for women or men getting married and starting a family as early as age 15. (and they’d probably attempt to have as many children as possible, considering the death rate of infants at that time.) Sure, when the film was released the times had changed, but the setting was well over 60 years prior. It would be like seeing a film today taking place in 1966. The attitudes and actions of people would be much different than they are today, but if you’re going to be true to that period… ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/446 "2016-03-05T05:52:48Z")
Kamikaze '89. Fun-tastic. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/447 "2016-03-05T05:56:40Z")
Life expectancy was that low because of high child mortality rates, not because people died of old age @ 50. Mid-life then was certainly earlier than it is now, but it was by no means 25yo. Sorry, **Gigi** is just a creepy film. No two ways about it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/448 "2016-03-09T13:13:43Z")
**The Deer Hunter** Devastating film about the effect of the Vietnam War on three Pennsylvania steel workers. Starring De Niro, Walken, and Cazale, this film is a fascinating look at an America of 40 years ago. **Funny Girl**. Not. At. All. Streisand has a great voice and a grating screen presence. 3 hours I won’t get back. **Cimarron** I really liked this film about the settling and development of Oklahoma as seen through the eyes of a newspaper publisher. Another B. Picture winner from the 1930’s, I’d rather have watched this three times than Funny Girl once. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2016, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/449 "2016-03-19T12:07:24Z")
**Marty** , 1955, Ernest Borgnine plays Marty, a nice-guy butcher who can’t seem to find a wife. He meets a rather plain schoolteacher one night at a dance, then wrestles with his internal demons (worries about social status) and external demons (dipshit friends, a grasping mother) in determining if this “dog” was good enough for him. Nice movie, sweet movie, but somehow bizarrely callous to the modern viewer. **Tom Jones** , 1963, Albert Finney plays a bastard adopted by some English 18th-century society types. Hijinks, and hiked-pantiloons, ensue. Not as boring as **Barry Lyndon** , but not really rushing to see this one again. **10 Cloverfield Lane** - Young lady finds herself in a bunker with a crazy man and his protege. Crazy man holding her hostage speaks of alien attacks and poisoned atmosphere, and his not so crazy protege backs him up… but the young lady keeps hearing evidence of normal life above the underground bunker. Is he right… or just crazy? **Terms of Endearment** , 1983. One of my absolute favorite movies, not to mention one of my all-time favorite Best Picture winners, I absolutely adore this movie. And honestly, there’s not a single male character in filmdom that fills me with as much disgust and loathing as Flap Horton. Ugh, just canNOT stand Flap. Deborah Winger makes this movie - I don’t think it succeeds with any other actress. **Smokey and the Bandit** , 1977. The greatest road-trip movie, told from a dogs perspective, of all time. Watch as Fred the basset hound gets to eat cheesy diner burgers, sticks his head out the window and bark, howl along to his master’s singing, get loved on by an in-her-prime Sally Field, go for a swim, be the central point of contention in a biker fight, sit in the front seat of the big rig… the adventure never ends with Fred! Oh, and Burt Reynolds is in this movie too. ---
**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:** [April 7, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/450 "2016-04-07T15:10:44Z")
Our international film festival is now in full swing; lots of good flicks. I’ve recently seen: _Brother_ A 2015 Belgian dark comedy/drama about a schlub who impersonates his much-more-suave, but now dead, near-twin brother to get at the late brother’s ex-girlfriend’s fortune after she contacts him, 20 years later, to say she never stopped loving him (the by-then-late brother, that is). I guessed both the twist and the ending, but it’s still worth a look. _Snowtime!_ A Canadian animated film about kids in a wintry northern town building, and then fighting over, an elaborate snow fort. A good anti-war message, but as a film it never quite took off. _Right Footed_ Documentary about an American woman born with no arms. She learns to care for herself and eventually earns both her driver’s and her small-aircraft pilot’s licenses, and becomes an advocate for the disabled and amputees. Interesting and inspiring. _April and the Extraordinary World_ French animated film about an alternative timeline in which major scientists (Einstein, Bohr, Curie, etc.) disappear right on the cusp of fame and neither world war is ever fought. A smart, plucky Paris girl, April, tries to figure out what’s going on, aided by her talking cat, her genius grandfather and a young admirer who is not what he seems. Interesting premise, good animation but overlong, I thought. _Every Face Has A Name_ A Swedish documentary filmmaker went through 1945 footage of WWII refugees arriving in his country, reviewed passenger lists and, in the present day, tracked down and interviewed as many survivors as he could. We see several as they watch the footage, spotting themselves, friends and family members from long ago, and describing (sometimes in tears) their wartime experiences and what has happened to them since. Well-made and very moving, and draws a direct link to the current European refugee crisis. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/451 "2016-04-07T19:00:45Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > I’ve seen _ **“Gigi”** _ and just thought it was okay. Nowhere near some of the better musicals I’ve seen (_ **“West Side Story”** _, _ **“Singing In The Rain”** _ and _ **“1776”** _.) > > But before anyone else freaks out about the way the characters were portrayed in the film, consider that the setting of _ **“Gigi”** _ takes place in Paris at the turn of the 20th Century. The life expectancy in the USA in 1900 was age 46.3 for men and 48.3 for women. I don’t know what it was in France at the time but I’ve got to guess that it was similar. > > As a comparison, in 1998 the life expectancy in the USA was age 73.8 for men and 79.5 for women > > If your life span was just under 50 years old , your “mid-life” would be 25. So it would never be considered strange for women or men getting married and starting a family as early as age 15. (and they’d probably attempt to have as many children as possible, considering the death rate of infants at that time.) > > Sure, when the film was released the times had changed, but the setting was well over 60 years prior. It would be like seeing a film today taking place in 1966. The attitudes and actions of people would be much different than they are today, but if you’re going to be true to that period… I was thinking that the Hayes Code was in full flower in the 1950s, and so it just might be that the picture was made acceptable in part because of Hayes Code censorship. Suppose there had been no Hayes Code, and the film had included a sex scene between Gigi and her “boyfriend.” The ick factor would have been off the charts. ---
**Author:** ![JcWoman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jcwoman/32/2889_2.png) [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/452 "2016-04-07T19:14:45Z")
A couple of oldies that I saw recently: **Planet of the Apes,** starring Charleton Heston’s teeth. It was a great movie, almost ruined by his hamming it up and horribly stilted line delivery. Oh, and the soundtrack was so atrocious that Jerry Goldsmith should be ashamed of himself. Here, I can summarize the entire thing for you: bum bum bum CRASH zeeeee wooooo woo wooooooo BAMMM CRASH BANG wubba wubba wubba eeeeeeooooeeeeeee CRASH **Big Trouble in Little China.** Never really cared for this when I saw it on tv hundreds of times. It was great on the big screen, though. Made doubly fun as a special Alamo Drafthouse dinner show with capguns, blinky “magic” rings and glow sticks to simulate lightening. Walked out afterwards thinking “that was fun!” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/453 "2016-04-07T19:17:01Z")
It’s been a while. I posted about the new Pee-wee Herman film in the thread for that. (Short snort: Sort of okay if you’re already a fan.) Saw _The Hateful 8_. Not much to say. Sort of “meh”. Wasted too much time on scenery shots and other crap. The whole “twist” premise was overly stupid. It would not have worked at all that way in reality. Etc. It’s no _Pulp Fiction_. Do want to plug [Man Up](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3064298/) with Lake Bell and Simon Pegg. Quite good film about a blind date gone … different. Good acting (well, Lake Bell was doing a British accent …), very good supporting cast, well paced. Some nice humor and other touches. Movies that are set in one short time frame, e.g., one evening, tend to have problems such as keeping the action flowing evenly. Not this one. It pulled it off nicely. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/454 "2016-04-13T21:13:46Z")
I posted my review of _Hail, Caesar!_ in the thread for that. (Short review: 1.5 stars.) I forgot about [Sleeping with Other People](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3165612/) with Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis. Yet Another Attempt At An Alternate Romance Movie. I like Alison Brie quite a bit, both from _Community_ and _Mad Men_. Did a decent job. But Sudeikis isn’t up to the challenge. He doesn’t have the range. Not a bad movie. Not a really good movie either. Okay for when you’ve got nothing better to watch. Just leave your “Isn’t that just like _When Harry Met Sally_?” comparisons at the door. One bright spot: The actor who played Brie’s married ex-lover seemed awfully familiar but I couldn’t place him. Then I saw the closing credits and was shocked. That really couldn’t be that guy, could it? Yes it was. Really good job at playing someone _very_ different from the usual roles. Almost worth watching the whole movie just for that. (Don’t look him up if you don’t want to be spoilered.) ---
**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:** [April 18, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/455 "2016-04-18T18:01:39Z")
More movies I recently saw at the film festival: _My Internship in Canada_ Pretty good political satire about a low-profile Canadian MP whose vote becomes enormously important when the country is considering going to war and he’s the tie-breaker in Parliament. _Demimonde_ Hungarian costume drama about an aging Budapest courtesan just before World War I and her manipulations of her lovers - a wealthy architect and a moony young poet - and her two servants, one of whom knows too many of her secrets. _God Knows Where I Am_ Excellent, very powerful documentary about a mentally-ill woman who spends a winter in an abandoned New Hampshire farmhouse, keeping a journal as she slowly starves to death. There are interviews with friends and family, but the script is otherwise almost entirely drawn from her sad, eerie journal. _The Lovers and the Despot_ So-so documentary about Kim Jong-Il’s minions’ kidnapping of a South Korean director and his actress wife to help revivify the North’s film industry. A bizarre incident but not all that great a movie. _Anthropocene_ Pop science documentary about how humanity is changing the world around us through pollution, agriculture, urban sprawl, etc. Almost always interesting, and not as gloomy in its long-term outlook as you might expect. ---
**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 2, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/456 "2016-05-02T18:35:35Z")
My last five from the film festival: _Rabin In His Own Words_ Good documentary about the Israeli leader in his evolution from soldier to politician to peacemaker to martyr. _Lace Crater_ Strange indie film about a woman who has a one-night stand with a… ghost, maybe? Things don’t go too well for her after that. _Embers_ Very well-done sf drama about the collapse of society after a pandemic leaves everyone unable to form long-term memories. Kind of like _Memento_ gone global. _Lo & Behold, Reveries of the Connected World_ Fascinating but uneven Werner Herzog documentary about artificial intelligence, the Internet and both the promise and perils of high tech. _Little Gangster_ Dutch comedy about a bullied kid who tries to get some respect at school by spreading the rumor that his very meek dad is actually a Mafia kingpin. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/457 "2016-05-02T19:29:57Z")
Hologram for the King. It was … nice, I guess; my local critic gave it a rave review and I don’t know what he was thinking. Tom Hanks is always good, and the insight into Saudi Arabia was fascinating. But the story is rather uneven and takes an odd right turn 3/4 of the way through. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/458 "2016-05-02T21:18:05Z")
Two sort of similar movies. _[45 Years](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3544082/)_ and _[The Lady in the Van](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3722070/)_. Both British, character studies, with at least one famous long time actor in each. _45 Years_ was a fairly good film at times. But overly dreary at other times. Some unneeded time consuming nature shots and other filler. The worst: seeing how much Tom Courtenay has aged. Makes me feel very old. Decent enough film to watch if you have spare time. _The Lady in the Van_, OTOH, was one of those films that just ticks you off. Why on Earth is the writer letting this miserable old lady live in a filth laden van in his drive for 15 years? It also has two copies of the writer, talking to each other, etc. Why? Just to have dialogue that’s not really that great? Confusing at first. And at the end. The two versions might have different personalities and goals but you can’t tell them apart so what was the point? It does come together at the end, though, when we find out more about Maggie Smith’s character. The movie should have jumped to that in some way and flashed back to the earlier stuff. Focusing on how the writer found out her story and what it was. (BTW: we find out very little about the writer, who lived the actual story and wrote about it and makes a cameo at the end. Why so little about the 2nd major character?) (BTW: James Corden has an incredibly small blink-and-you’ll-miss-it role. Weird.) It’s a 2 star movie that should have been at least a 4 star one. ---
**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 24, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/459 "2016-05-24T15:43:37Z")
Recently seen: _Zootopia_ Charming, eye-candy-filled Disney film about a city of anthropomorphic animals, and the spunky female rabbit who wants to be the first bunny in the police department. Good but not great. _Calvary_ I rewatched this dark comedy, about an Irish village priest whose life is threatened in the confessional by one of his flock - but which one? A powerful, sometimes-harrowing meditation on love, sin, redemption and forgiveness. Brendan Gleeson should’ve gotten an Oscar. _Ice Station Zebra_ Hadn’t seen this Cold War submarine drama/Arctic adventure in many years. Some WTF plot moments, but not bad for what it is. _Believeland_ Documentary about the trials and tribulations of Cleveland, Ohio’s pro sports teams, and how some fans 'waaaaay over-identify with “their” teams. _Doubt_ Drama about a prissy nun (Meryl Streep) in the Bronx in 1964 who comes to suspect that a charming priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) may be sexually abusing a schoolboy. Amy Adams is also excellent as a naïve young nun. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/460 "2016-05-24T15:57:53Z")
\*Money Monster. \* A bit formulaic, but well done. _Jungle Book._ Highly recommended. Much closer to the dark and mysterious jungle of Kipling’s original than the musical-cartoony-happy 60’s Disney version. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/461 "2016-05-30T21:59:50Z")
_The Nice Guys_ with Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, an action-comedy set in the 70s, with the stars as grubby, flawed investigators. The crime investigation story – a porn actress is murdered – is a goulash of silliness and cliches, and it’s nothing that will involve your emotions. There’s lots of comic violence, and a little serious violence. The action and dialogue are pleasant weird, and I chuckled 5 or 6 times. The leads did a good job of being scuzzy without being repellent. They seemed to be having a good time with their roles. I give it a B+. My time and money didn’t seem wasted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=24)