# 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:** 425
**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:** [January 22, 2024, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8500 "2024-01-22T23:56:23Z")
Tried to watch **A Walk in the Woods**. As soon as Kristen Schaal appeared, that was it for me, but it really wasn’t working. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8501 "2024-01-23T00:44:03Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > And Dial of Destiny was actually quite good. No, no it wasn’t. **Crystal Skull** is the only thing that keeps it from being the fifth best movie in the franchise. All of the plot beats were recycled pablum for the uncritical fans. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8502 "2024-01-23T00:50:59Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > and I saw “Get Shorty” last night, a movie that we had never seen before, and enjoyed it very much I have not enjoyed anything travolta starred in since _Grease._ Okay, I liked parts of Pulp Fiction. Mostly the parts he wasn’t in. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Blue Beetle** – I hadn’t seen this in the theaters. In fact, I have never seen an actual Blue Beetle comic book, despite the fact that it was a Charlton comic when I was a kid and was later revived by DC. He and his buddy Booster Gold often were the comedy relief in some Justice Comics. > [@smithsb](#): > > [2024 Razzie Nominations: Expend4bles, Meg 2 Among 'Worst' Movies](https://people.com/expend4bles-meg-2-and-shazam-fury-of-the-gods-among-2024-razzie-nominations-of-worst-movies-8547029) Huh. I have not seen that but I enjoyed the other Shazam films. > [@peccavi](#): > > **Dial of Destiny** was at least better than Crystal Skull. > > **Shazam! FOTG** was not bad, just mediocre. Yeah, i concur on the first, and thanks for the second. > [@Chefguy](#): > > Tried to watch **A Walk in the Woods**. As soon as Kristen Schaal appeared, that was it for me, but it really wasn’t working. A very good film (the Book was better) but her part is so tiny that not only dont I remember her at all, but the plot synopsis on Wiki doesnt even mention her. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8503 "2024-01-23T02:12:11Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > As soon as Kristen Schaal appeared, that was it for me, > [@DrDeth](#): > > her part is so tiny that not only dont I remember her at all She was barely in it and it was a bit of a snooze fest IMHO. But I did like [her stories from it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKiaKaYSPZw). Just generally, Kristen Schaal is a gem. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2024, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8504 "2024-01-23T02:18:37Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > A very good film (the Book was better) but her part is so tiny that not only dont I remember her at all, but the plot synopsis on Wiki doesnt even mention her. I don’t know what it is about the movie. Nolte is annoying me, for some reason. I read the book and enjoyed it like I have all of Bryson’s books. I seem to recall that some panned the book because they thought he was too negative, but I didn’t get that vibe from it. Maybe I’ll give the film another try. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2024, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8505 "2024-01-23T02:26:39Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Just generally, Kristen Schaal is a gem. Absolute fact. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2024, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8506 "2024-01-23T11:42:29Z")
> [@peccavi](#): > > **Dial of Destiny** was at least better than Crystal Skull. > > **Shazam! FOTG** was not bad, just mediocre. Agree on both, although “mediocre” is as high as I would rate the Shazam sequel, and I totally get why the various actresses got nominated. Even for a goofy superhero film it didn’t really work. Also: **A Haunting in Venice** - I continue to dislike Branagh’s Poirot films as smug, self-aggrandizing and dull, but AHiV adds “So dark you can’t see anything” to the mix. It’s not moody, Kenneth; it’s just murky. I need to go watch David Suchet (or even Peter Ustinov) afterwards to regain my love for Poirot. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8507 "2024-01-23T15:17:55Z")
**Significant Other** (2022, Paramount+) The Blurb: SIGNIFICANT OTHER follows a young couple, Harry (Jake Lacy, “White Lotus”) and Ruth (Maika Monroe, “It Follows”), who take a remote backpacking trip through the Pacific Northwest, but things take a dark turn when they realize they may not be alone. I would ruin it if I said anything so I won’t. In the vein of a thriller/mystery you could do far worse and I think it\s undervalued by Rotten Tomatoes fans and critics who only gave it 70% each. Good ‘date night flick’, B+ ---
**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:** [January 23, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8508 "2024-01-23T16:09:56Z")
**Repo! The Genetic Opera** Not recommended. The songs aren’t good enough, the whole thing is kind of cheesy, and the story is definitely weak. I don’t blame them for making it and Anthony Head gives his absolute best to this project, but there just wasn’t enough pre-production work to make sure the songs are good and the story/script will be interesting. It was kind of boring, to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8509 "2024-01-23T17:27:59Z")
**Blazing Saddles** It’s been many years since I’ve watched this, and I wasn’t sure how it would play in 2024. The casual n-word use did not bother me in context. The gay stereotyping in the “French Mistake” scene made me cringe hard, however. The film is still hilarious, full of great iconic performances. And I absolutely love the mind-twisting ending. Mel Brooks may not have invented fourth-wall breaking, but I’d say he _re_-invented it here. Brilliant. **Role Play** A professional assassin’s secret work life interferes with her suburban family life. Implausible to the point of stupidity, the two leads (Kaley Cuoco and David Oyelowo) are nevertheless appealing enough to make it watchable. Plus a wonderfully creepy supporting turn from Bill Nighy. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2024, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8510 "2024-01-23T17:58:53Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > **Blazing Saddles** > It’s been many years since I’ve watched this, and I wasn’t sure how it would play in 2024. The casual n-word use did not bother me in context. The gay stereotyping in the “French Mistake” scene made me cringe hard, however. > The film is still hilarious, full of great iconic performances. And I absolutely love the mind-twisting ending. Mel Brooks may not have invented fourth-wall breaking, but I’d say he _re_-invented it here. Brilliant. I dunno, I find the whole thing hilarious and just made with such a teasing-in-a-fun-way attitude, none of it is offensive even in 2024. I agree at studio would not approve the movie the way it is today, but I also remember my Dad telling me around 1994 that they could never make this movie “today”, so apparently people thought this even 20 years after release. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8511 "2024-01-23T18:36:34Z")
Apparently, the studio executives didn’t like what he was doing even at the time, but he did it anyway. Read the first couple of Q&As here: > **[Mel Brooks Looks Back: ‘Blazing Saddles’ Could Never Get Made Today](https://www.thedailybeast.com/mel-brooks-looks-back-blazing-saddles-could-never-get-made-today)** > > The 90-year-old comedy master opens up about his upcoming Blazing Saddles event at Radio City Music Hall, political correctness, and the state of comedy today. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8512 "2024-01-23T18:42:04Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > **Repo! The Genetic Opera** > > Not recommended. > > The songs aren’t good enough, the whole thing is kind of cheesy, and the story is definitely weak. I don’t blame them for making it and Anthony Head gives his absolute best to this project, but there just wasn’t enough pre-production work to make sure the songs are good and the story/script will be interesting. It was kind of boring, to be honest. Yeah, but compare it to the competition. There ain’t many Sci-fi/horror musicals out there. After Rocky Horror, you’ve got what? And if you critically look at Rocky Horror, it’s not a good movie. It gained it’s cult status at a time when any kind of gender-bending was SHOCKING! Let’s face it - it is so bad, people started yelling things back at the screen. I was going to compare to Little Shop of Horrors, but that’s comedy, not horror. And a fantastic movie. I was also going to compare to [Poultrygist - Night of the Living Chicken](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462485/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_poultryg), but again, a comedy - this time from Troma Films, so barely a movie to begin with. To keep with the actual thread, yes, I watched this the other night. It was obviously made to be bad, and they succeeded incredibly. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8513 "2024-01-23T18:51:07Z")
Gawd, I love Mel Brooks! And, he proved everyone who said “Blazing Saddles couldn’t be made today” wrong by re-making it as an animated movie, so the racism could be tollerable. And before anyone says that Paws of Fury wasn’t a remake of Blazing Saddles, Mel said it was, and it was so much a remake that Richard Pryor got a writing credit. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8514 "2024-01-23T21:17:50Z")
I streamed The Meg and The Meg 2, back to back!!! Why? Boredom? Self-loathing? You bet! But I was not prepared from the IQ points I would lose while watching. I was drooling and I think I may have wet myself before snapping out of it. OK, so there is another ocean below the ocean, separated by a thick thermal layer of freezing cold water. Below, it’s pretty warm, I guess, with plumes of heat venting all around. And even though its way down there, far from any light at all, there are Megs. 90 foot sharks. My first though, what else was big enough down there for it to eat to maintain it’s size? Why would it not have evolved to be smaller since space and food are both issues, I guess. And I wonder why beings who live in total darkness are so attracted to light. And why would it be attracted to something that smells like metal and oil and not food. OK, so it gets out from under the thermal layer and into our big blue. It seems to have no trouble at all adjusting to the pressure. And its really, really hungry. Oh, wait, 2 of them got out. The humans prevail and we go to the next movie. Now an ocean institute has raised a baby meg from a pup. And that same ocean institute is slowly exploring the trench under the thermal layer. But unbeknownst to them or their sophisticated equipment, with mapping and sonar and software up the yingyang, someone has snuck a complete mining operation into where they were exploring, using the very technology they created. And AND!!! people they trusted and worked along side for years are actually bad guys who will now try and kill them now they they have discovered the mining operation. Oh, and some other creatures escaped from 25000 ft below, including a giant octopus that can get right upo to the docks and these 6ft long lizard things that actually have legs and can breath air. Then I blacked out. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8515 "2024-01-23T22:03:14Z")
I remember watching the first _Meg_ when it came out on streaming. I’d fallen asleep and woke up in the middle of the movie when they killed the little Meg - and I thought that was the end of the movie, so I rewound it and watched it while conscious and when it got to the point where I originally thought was the end - the big Meg comes up out of nowhere and eats the little Meg. I laughed my bag off. The rest of the movie is kind of blurry because I was still laughing through most of the rest of it. I don’t think I could take _Meg 2_. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8516 "2024-01-23T22:43:02Z")
Using Box Office Mojo as a source, Meg and Meg 2 were 16th and 15th in worldwide box office, respectively, in their years of release, and had combined worldwide gross of nearly a billion dollars. They aren’t produced with dramatic quality or even US audiences (only about 25% of the gross was from the US domestic box office) as the primary goal. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8517 "2024-01-23T22:55:26Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > Yeah, but compare it to the competition. There ain’t many Sci-fi/horror musicals out there. After Rocky Horror, you’ve got what? And if you critically look at Rocky Horror, it’s not a good movie. It gained it’s cult status at a time when any kind of gender-bending was SHOCKING! Let’s face it - it is so bad, people started yelling things back at the screen. Rocky Horror Picture Show is in no way a horror, or indeed a sci-fi movie, it’s a comedy, a spoof of bad horrors from the 40s and 50s. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8518 "2024-01-23T23:06:01Z")
I re-watched _the Phantom Tollbooth_ film on TCM. Still good. Then _The Longest Day-_ also still good. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/8519 "2024-01-23T23:08:44Z")
I went down the rabbit hole on this a bit. The first one made $529 million against the reported budget of $129 million, which would often be enough for profit, but a big chunk of that came out of China, where production companies typically only take 25% of box office. But then I read that this was a coproduction with a Chinese company, and that they got a good deal on box office, so it looks like a real winner, especially with the endless streaming it has done. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=424) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=426)