# 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:** 83
**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:** [November 15, 2020, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1651 "2020-11-15T21:54:05Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > We also saw **"Detective Story’** and learned that the Williams Shatner’s and Al Pacino’s overacting style was actually invented by Kirk Douglas. His ‘tortured’ day seems ridiculous in today’s world when he learns that his loyal and loving wife was a whore how had…slept with another man _before she met him_ . 😱 His self-righteousness is al the more maddening when he we see how has no qualms at all about beating a suspect. I’m convinced that _Detective Story_ was part of the inspiration for the TV series _Barney Miller_. In the parts not involving Kirk Douglas’ character, you get a picture of life in a police precinct where everything is low-key and skews weirdly humorous, probably the way it seemed in Real Life to the cops who worked there. It probably came as a surprising change and revelation to the people who saw it first as a stage play and later as a movie. It’s so completely removed from the hard-edged police dramas and shoot-em-ups that were standard fare. In one episode of _Barney Miller_ that involves a bunch of actors, some even calls them “Detective Story rejects”,. I’ll bet most people missed this reference to this particular play/movie, and thought they were referring to the genre itself. I saw **Cats** on Friday night. It disappeared from the theaters before I had a chance to see it, and then COVID came along. The movie has gotten a severe thrashing by critics and the public. It won both Worst Picture and Worst Director in the Razzies. I liked it. I’ve seen the show on stage twice, once during its original Broadway run and the Winter Garden theater. For years people have talked about how difficult it would be to film, and at one point they were going to do it as an animated film. I think that the blend of live actors and CGI elements (chiefly the cats’ ears and tails) freaked too many people out. It wasn’t really “uncanny valley” territory, but it was close enough to make too many people uneasy simply because of the appearance. There’s a lot I didn’t like. I hated director Tom Hooper’s love of looking directly into bright lights. I didn’t much care for Jennifer Hudson’s rendition(s) of the signature song “Memory” They made changes in the plot and script. But, overall, a well-done interpretation. My chief complaints are really complaints about the original stage show. I got more from reading the Wikipedia page and the IMDB “Trivia” page. I wondered why, for the first time I know, Old Deuteronomy was played by a female actor – Judi Dench – and learned that she had been in the very first London company that performed the show. Was sought out for it, in fact. Ian McKellen had been in the cast of _Six Degrees of Separation_, where the characters discussed how it would be very difficult to make a film version of _Cats_, and his said he wouldn’t mind being an extra in it. I completely missed the fact that Taylor Swift’s Bombalurina riding on a crescent moon and distributing catnip was an homage to the logo of a Woman in the Moon sprinkling cocaine used by Studio 54 in its heyday. One thing I did catch on my own was a lit-up sign in the background that at first reads “Moriarty” before changing to “Macavity”. As devoted Sherlock Holmes fans know, poet T.S. Eliot (on whose collection of poems _Cats_ is based) was a Holmes fan himself (His poetic play _Murder in the Cathedral_ , about the murder of Thomas Becket, contains lines lifted from the Holmes story _The Musgrave Ritual_. From the ritual itself, in fact.). His description of Macavity is taken directly from Doyle’s description of Professor Moriarty, and both are called “The Napoleon of CRime”. Ultimately, it seems to go on a little too long, and is at times a little too silly. But I certainly don’t think it was bad. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1652 "2020-11-15T22:13:30Z")
I saw Mike Flanagans **Before I Wake** , which is exclusive to Netflix. Good, but surprisingly cheesy for a Mike Flanagan movie. This is the guy who has directed Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep, Haunting of Hill House, and others that are a lot more grim. This movie was scary in a few parts, but it was mostly a positive experience. I liked it, but think Doctor Sleep has become the movie he will have working hard to beat for the rest of his career. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1653 "2020-11-16T03:23:11Z")
I watched _The Gentlemen_ today. Figured the spoiler in less then a minute. Otherwise, violent and somewhat amusing. Typical drug gang nonsense. I give it one fin up. ---
**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:** [November 16, 2020, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1654 "2020-11-16T04:36:08Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > …Lastly was **Witness for the Prosecution**. Charles Laughton was magnificent, Tyrone Power was great and Marlene Dietrich was stunning. A must-see. It _is_ good. Now I encourage you to see a more recent remake, which focuses on the defendant’s solicitor and not his barrister. Darkly clever and quite a bit different from the Laughton version: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YbTPDWQLhM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YbTPDWQLhM) ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1655 "2020-11-16T12:00:17Z")
I watched **Non-Stop** starring Liam Neeson last night. A movie set on a transatlantic flight where Neeson’s character, a sunken Federal Air Marshall, receives anonymous messages from someone on board demanding a ransom or somebody will be killed every 20 minutes. I do love these one set location movies. Closed environment, nobody can get out, characters having to work out who each other is not knowing whether to believe it, figure out what the hell is going on and then working out how to survive. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1656 "2020-11-16T12:20:24Z")
> [@Boycott](#): > > I watched **Non-Stop** starring Liam Neeson last night. A movie set on a transatlantic flight where Neeson’s character, a sunken Federal Air Marshall, receives anonymous messages from someone on board demanding a ransom or somebody will be killed every 20 minutes. I spent a significant amount of time in this movie asking how the hell he’s getting cell reception up there at 39000 feet… ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1657 "2020-11-16T19:50:52Z")
Last week we saw the new family drama / revenge fantasy _Let Him Go_, which was pretty good, actually. It would make a good double feature with the 2001 film _In the Bedroom_, but explaining why might get too spoilery. Over the weekend we watched _Don’t Look Now_ (1973) and _Julia_ (1977). They were both meh. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1658 "2020-11-17T03:07:13Z")
Last weekend was the first weekend that cinemas reopened, so my wife and I went to see _The New Mutants_ It was okay, but definitely kind of unfocused. Could have used a nudge toward the horror side, I think. Still, it was good enough, and grand to see a movie on the big screen. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2020, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1659 "2020-11-19T00:42:10Z")
“_Love & Friendship_” on Hulu. It’s the Brian Wilson biopic, and it’s pretty good for a period piece. John Cusack plays the older Wilson, and Paul Giamatti is very good as the evil Dr. Landy. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2020, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1660 "2020-11-19T03:23:42Z")
You mean _Love and Mercy_. That’s the Brian Wilson movie. _Love and Friendship_ is a different movie. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1661 "2020-11-19T15:36:51Z")
Yeah, that. ---
**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:** [November 21, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1662 "2020-11-21T21:11:31Z")
That’s one of my all-time favorite movies. Humor, pathos, and stellar performances all around, even from actors you don’t expect it from like Melanie Griffith. As for recent: We watched **War Horse** last night. My wife enjoyed it; I’d like that 2-1/2 hours of bombast back. Leave it to Spielberg to club you over the head with swelling music and over-explained scenes because we’re all too stupid to understand subtlety. Completely unbelievable setups and scenes. I’m surprised it got 75% positive on Rotten Tomatoes. ---
**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:** [November 21, 2020, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1663 "2020-11-21T21:45:22Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > You mean _Love and Mercy_. That’s the Brian Wilson movie. _Love and Friendship_ is a different movie. Although Jane Austen meeting the Beach Boys could’ve been interesting… ---
**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:** [November 22, 2020, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1664 "2020-11-22T00:06:20Z")
Watched [Ruben Brandt, Collector](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruben_Brandt,_Collector) this week. The animation is wonderful to watch and the story - a crime thriller about a therapist haunted by dreams in which characters from famous paintings attack him - is as surreal as the artwork. And then it ends. Abruptly. 99% of the film is innovative and fresh, and then it ends suddenly with a spectacularly disappointing cliché. Ah well. ---
**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:** [November 22, 2020, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1665 "2020-11-22T00:36:45Z")
Werner Herzog has a new movie. **Fireball - Visitors from Darker Worlds** It’s about meteorites, the search for them, what they tell us about space. It is a pretty good Herzog movie, actually. You can tell he enjoys those who take joy in their science and discovery. I was amazed at how nice the work and living environment in Antarctica looks now. Well worth a look if you know Herzog or are curious what his movies are like. He narrates and appears once or twice on screen. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1666 "2020-11-23T18:36:58Z")
Over the weekend, we saw the new Hulu Original _Run_ (not bad), _Almost Famous_ (not as bad as I was expecting), and a documentary called _Citizen Architect_ (a complete mess). ---
**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:** [November 23, 2020, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1667 "2020-11-23T20:17:15Z")
We watched #Alive, a Korean zombie movie. It was pretty good. I think it hoped to be as good as Train To Busan(it isn’t), but ended up better than many other zombie movies out there. Netflix original. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1668 "2020-11-23T20:23:05Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Over the weekend, we saw the new Hulu Original _Run_ (not bad), _Almost Famous_ (not as bad as I was expecting), and a documentary called _Citizen Architect_ (a complete mess). Wait, by _Almost Famous_ are you referring to the semi-autobiographical film by Cameron Crowe? I’d say it’s a great deal better than “not as bad as I was expecting”. It’s an _awesome_ film and one of my favorites. (Also, as I remember, one of Roger Ebert’s favorites. I think he identified with the teenage journalist main character.) ---
**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:** [November 23, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1669 "2020-11-23T20:25:04Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Wait, by _Almost Famous_ are you referring to the semi-autobiographical film by Cameron Crowe? I’d say it’s a great deal better than “not as bad as I was expecting”. It’s an _awesome_ film and one of my favorites. I’ve never seen it, but now I am thinking about it. I loved Roger Ebert. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1670 "2020-11-23T20:37:21Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Wait, by _Almost Famous_ are you referring to the semi-autobiographical film by Cameron Crowe? I’d say it’s a great deal better than “not as bad as I was expecting”. It’s an _awesome_ film and one of my favorites. (Also, as I remember, one of Roger Ebert’s favorites. I think he identified with the teenage journalist main character.) _De gustibus_ and all that. I was expecting something much closer to _Dazed and Confused_ and got more than I expected. It’s probably significant that I’m simultaneously 10 years younger and 30 years older than I expect the target market for the film (people who were 15-25 at the time it was set and people who were 15-25 when it came out). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=82) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=84)