# 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:** 240
**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:** [August 21, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4795 "2022-08-21T19:55:33Z")
We streamed [Force of Nature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_of_Nature_(2020_film)) Should be called Force of Stupid. OK, two cops, one a rookie, the other a burnout, are sent out in a hurricane to evacuate people in a hurricane. It’s a hurricane, get it??A force of nature characterized by heavy rains. right? Emile Hirsh is a terrible miscast. Doesn’t seem like a cop at all, and always looks…too small for the job. Anyway, the cops go an apartment building, encounter Mel Gibson, who is very good, some other weird folks, not nearly as good, and a team of heavily armed thieves looking for stolen art. Too many scenes where two characters have long discussions alone to talk about their pasts, hopes and dreams, while in a crisis situation of being hunted by armed thieves and killers. Here is the part that took me right out of from the beginning. They are in a hurricane. Heavy rain. No one, not one single person, not the cops, the killers, the citizens, has a raincoat. Or commented about maybe needing one. It’s like they did not know they existed. Skip it. ---
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4796 "2022-08-21T20:00:21Z")
On DVD, I just watched “Doctor Faustus”, with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4797 "2022-08-22T00:41:49Z")
_The Wolf of Snow Hollow_. The last role of Robert Foster. Much better than I expected, a lot of tension and good acting. Very stressful, but I recommend it. On Amazon Video. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4798 "2022-08-22T00:54:24Z")
My review from above…. > [@Maserschmidt](#): > > [The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11140488/), an indie werewolf horror/dark comedy. What a strange little film…it attracted my attention because the IMDb was low (6.2) but RT (89%)/Metacritic (67) reasonably good. It also features the great Robert Forster’s last feature film performance, plus Riki Lindhome (of comedy team Garfunkel & Oates, & the film Knives Out). > > For the most part it worked, though where it really suffered was that the protagonist was such an asshole that it was hard to have much interest in his emotional growth (which is interesting, because the director, writer, and lead actor are all the same person). Some of the comedy is also uneven, but some of it works quite well. > > On the whole I’m glad I watched it, but I’m not 100% sure I recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4799 "2022-08-22T10:54:59Z")
Yeah, I’d second all of that and much better written than my post. I’ve read that Jim Cummings had a previous movie called Thunder Road that was very similar, so maybe the werewolf hook was enough for him? The main character did have something of a redemption arc, but you’re right that he was such an asshole by the end that it didn’t really matter. Riki Lindhome did an excellent job. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2022, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4800 "2022-08-22T11:16:04Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > But the biggest WTF (spoilered in case in provides too big a clue), was pretty amazing how James Mason being a child molester was considered such a very minor offense. Different times indeed. I strongly suspect that Mason got the role because he had played Humbert Humbert in Stanley Kubrick’s **Lolita** , something I was unaware of when I first saw the film. Another “times change” thing. I re-watched (for the umpteenth time) **North by Northwest** over the weekend. After the secret agents have pulled off their convincing (to everyone by Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant’s character) performance that Roger was an irresponsible drunk driver, his mother comments “Roger, just _pay_ the two dollars” I remember the line well, and frequently recall it – in 1959 Drunk Driving, (now DUI) was regarded as a minor infraction, with a fine of only $2. Even with infltion, that ain’t much. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4801 "2022-08-22T11:30:43Z")
I give a full five stars to the Netflix movie: “Til Death”!! It is a psychological thriller that had my SiL digging her fingernails into my forearm far too many times! LOL If you want the full effect of this movie, absolutely do NOT read any synopsis or access any spoilers whatsoever! You have to see it unfold without knowing what is coming next! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4802 "2022-08-22T14:31:34Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > After the secret agents have pulled off their convincing (to everyone by Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant’s character) performance that Roger was an irresponsible drunk driver, his mother comments “Roger, just _pay_ the two dollars” I remember the line well, and frequently recall it – in 1959 Drunk Driving, (now DUI) was regarded as a minor infraction, with a fine of only $2. Even with infltion, that ain’t much. Heh, yeah. I started reading a book last night that was first published around 1900. The edition I was reading was published in 1930, and the flyleaf blurb was talking about how many people were happy this book was in print again. First edition copies were selling for $25! ---
**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:** [August 22, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4803 "2022-08-22T15:54:57Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I tried to rewatch **The Last Detail** , Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid. I used to like this film, as it seemed to reflect my own experience in the Navy. But now, it just seems sad and depressing, and I didn’t finish. I saw it a few years ago, and yeah, it’s pretty bleak. Did you notice Gilda Radner in her screen debut as a guest at the hippy party? ---
**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:** [August 22, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4804 "2022-08-22T16:17:08Z")
Yeah, I caught that the first time around. Also [Carol Kane](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001406/) in a very early role as the ‘young whore’ (which is how she’s credited in the film) that goes with Quaid. People probably remember her mostly from being Latka’s girlfriend Simka on the series Taxi, but she has been a very busy actor for about 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4805 "2022-08-22T17:09:49Z")
**Go Back To China** (2019, Prime) - Pampered freeloading 20 something socialite gets her credit card cancelled by estranged father, to get the money faucet turned back on she must work in her fathers factory in China for a year. Throw a stepsister into the mix and predictable hilarity ensues. Overall, a cute chick flick, I guess I’d give it a B-. It’s not my genre, I put it on to occupy my wife while I worked on my laptop but it pulled me in so that’s something. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2022, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4806 "2022-08-22T17:40:42Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > After the secret agents have pulled off their convincing (to everyone by Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant’s character) performance that Roger was an irresponsible drunk driver, his mother comments “Roger, just _pay_ the two dollars” I remember the line well, and frequently recall it – in 1959 Drunk Driving, (now DUI) was regarded as a minor infraction, with a fine of only $2. Even with infltion, that ain’t much. I just found this in the “trivia” section of the imdb page on this movie. Evidently the $2 fine is NOT the real fine he would have paid: > [@](#): > > Roger Thornhill’s mother tells him jokingly, “Pay the two dollars”, after he futilely attempts to shed light on his kidnapping and be exonerated from his DWI charge. The line is a reference to a Depression-era [Willie Howard](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0397681) vaudeville sketch written by [Billy K. Wells](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0920465). A man is in court to pay a two dollar fine for spitting on the subway, but his lawyer insists on fighting the case. As the lawyer incurs greater and greater sentences, his defendant keeps pleading, “Pay the two dollars!” This sketch also appeared in [Ziegfeld Follies](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039116) (1945), with [Edward Arnold](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0036427) portraying the attorney. I’ve done a quick look, and I can’t find the circa 1960 fine for drunk driving. It WAS still seen as a minor crime, but even sixty years earlier the maximum fine was a couple of hundred dollars (!) > **[North by Northwest (1959) - Trivia - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv)** > > North by Northwest (1959) - Trivia on IMDb: Cameos, Mistakes, Spoilers and more... Random thought – Leo G. Carroll played the leader of the spy group – “The Professor”. Later he played Alexander Waverly, the head of U.N.C.L.E. in the TV series _The Man from U.N.C.L.E._. Edward Platt played Thornhill’s lawyer. Years later, while Man from U.N.C.L.E was still on the air, Platt was tapped to play “Thaddeus”, the head of C.O.N.T.R.O.L. in the TV series _Get Smart!._ ---
**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:** [August 22, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4807 "2022-08-22T18:12:21Z")
Watched several movies streaming over the weekend. [The Best Thing](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5731710/) Awful all around. Bad script, bad direction, bad story, amateur acting, bad editing……. I would expect better from a film school project. [No Tears for the Dead](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3697566/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) A hit man traumatized from accidentally killing a young girl during a job is given the mission to eliminate her mother, and begins the ultimate fight to save her life. Surprisingly good shoot ‘em up. Guns and murder and intrigue and guns and murder……lot’s of fun. Make sure to have your English subtitles on. Some of the characters speak English, some Korean, some both Lastly. [House of Gucci](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11214590/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) Lady Gaga was very good. Jared Leto was also, though unrecognizable. Al Pacino was Al Pacino. Good as a biopic, but it ended suddenly after the murder and just showed her conviction. I would like to have seen some of the investigation and the drama there. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4808 "2022-08-22T20:38:28Z")
I honestly thought Jared Leto’s ‘performance’ was one of the worst I’ve ever seen by a professional actor. I kept asking myself is he meant to be funny or is he actually playing this straight? There were certainly stifled laughs in the screening I was in. But each to their own I guess! ---
**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:** [August 22, 2022, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4809 "2022-08-22T20:48:13Z")
> [@iamatractorboy](#): > > I honestly thought Jared Leto’s ‘performance’ was one of the worst I’ve ever seen by a professional actor. The kindest description I read was: “Leto delivers his lines in a string of high-pitched whoops that suggest he is attempting to communicate with whales” -BBC ---
**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:** [August 23, 2022, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4810 "2022-08-23T03:27:24Z")
**Midnight Run** I’d never seen it. Essentially a buddy cop movie, just with no actual cop in the film. We have Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin getting on each other’s nerves and the whole thing is a lot of fun. Grodin was a master of…a kind of acting I can not quite describe. Being a nuisance? A very fun movie and one of the better performances I’ve seen from De Niro, who is very hit or miss in things. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2022, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4811 "2022-08-23T05:18:26Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > A very fun movie and one of the better performances I’ve seen from De Niro, who is very hit or miss in things. **Midnight Run** marks the first and last time De Niro was ever funny in a comedy. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2022, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4812 "2022-08-23T11:58:46Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > **Midnight Run** marks the first and last time De Niro was ever funny in a comedy. Yeah, he was well directed and I actually enjoyed his performance. It’s in part because Charles Grodin is so good at the type of character he played and De Niro could react to him instead of having to force a performance to come out. The scene where they fake-test $20 bills to see if they are counterfeit was terrific. What comedies has De Niro done aside from this and the “Meet the Parents” movies, where he basically plays a tough guy with no humor? Edit: I found a ranked list and you are right. This is the only genuinely good one and also one where _he_ is funny, not just people around him. > **[All of Robert De Niro’s Comedic Roles, Ranked](https://www.vulture.com/article/robert-de-niro-movies-ranked.html)** > > About My Father is just the latest in a long line of comedies for the actor. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2022, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4813 "2022-08-23T12:35:43Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > What comedies has De Niro done aside from this and the “Meet the Parents” movies, where he basically plays a tough guy with no humor? > > Edit: I found a ranked list and you are right. This is the only genuinely good one and also one where _he_ is funny, not just people around him. I have a certain love for the “The King of Comedy” but ironically it’s not really that much of a comedy. Still a good film though. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2022, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/4814 "2022-08-23T13:01:41Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I have a certain love for the “The King of Comedy” but ironically it’s not really that much of a comedy. Still a good film though. I haven’t seen it, but I have always heard it isn’t a comedy. Then again, Wikipedia lists it as a satirical black comedy, so what do I know? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=239) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=241)