# 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:** 95
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2021, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1891 "2021-02-17T12:10:19Z")
**Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga** An amusing film which has some hilarious moments, some meh moments, and good music. On the whole I was entertained, but felt that Will Ferrell was too old for the role he played. I don’t feel like it was a waste of time, but it is not something I imagine doing a complete reviewing. Maybe some of the scenes are funny enough to watch again on their own. I was surprised to see Pierce Brosnan in it, thought it felt a little jarring since the previous film I had seen him in was **The Foreigner** which is a great action/thriller movie where he played his irishness to the hilt. `//i\\` ---
**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:** [February 17, 2021, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1892 "2021-02-17T12:17:26Z")
I know it’s not technically a movie, but we also watched _Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Hotel Cecil_ last weekend. Absolutely shameful the way they inflated a 45-minute episode of _Autopsy_ to four hours. Please let me save you the time: Elisa Lam was bipolar and off her meds. After a likely psychotic episode, she drowned in the water tank on top of the hotel. If, after reading that spoiler, you decide to go ahead and watch the show, please note the mention of prescription meds fairly early on in episode one. Being a fan of “fair play mysteries,” that’s the one thing they did that qualifies. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2021, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1893 "2021-02-17T12:52:29Z")
**Happy Death Day** and **Happy Death Day 2U** My wife and I have seen these before and I would strongly recommend the first one. Groundhog day, but a light-horror movie, really much more comedic than scary. The sequel is cute and probably one of the few “stuck in a time loop” sequels I’ve seen. They did a good job with the time loop again, but I still think the first one is the much better one. The lead actress is amazing and she sells the frustration perfectly. Great movie. We saw **Freaky** from the same director as well. Vince Vaughn and a girl swap bodies like Freaky Friday, except he was a crazed serial killer. Much more fun in concept than the movie actually is. Is it fun to see Vince Vaughn be a teenage girl? Yes, but just not funny enough. It was originally called **Freaky Friday the 13th** and they should have kept that title. I only laughed a little during Freaky, but Happy Death Day is a joy throughout. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1894 "2021-02-17T16:43:16Z")
I finally saw the original _ **The Producers** _. I was familiar with the story and had seen partial clips of the _Springtime for Hitler_ production number. I like Mel Brooks but I really didn’t enjoy this one. However, seeing SFH in it’s entirety was worth it. Right up there with _The Inquisition_. As for new movies, I went to the local indie movie house to watch **Fear of Rain** I was mostly interested because I watched part of it being filmed in my neighborhood. Kind of disappointing but worth a watch once it’s streaming for free. It’s currently on Amazon. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2021, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1895 "2021-02-17T17:26:21Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > > [@CalMeacham](#): > > > > **Sky Captain that World of Tomorrow** , which I think was horribly underappreciated… > > I don’t, and [this excellent summary explains why](https://evadne-noel.livejournal.com/6321.html). I’m with **Gyrate** , and I’d say that piece pretty much nails it. > [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > …I was able to watch _[My Favorite Year](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084370/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)_ (1982) the other day. Peter O’Toole is basically Errol Flynn and the estimable Mark Linn-Baker is the hapless Benjy Stone, the sap who’s charged with keeping the drunken Alan Swan on track. I was underwhelmed by the film, but one of Swan’s lines has stuck with me all these years: "I’m not an actor, I’m a _movie star!"_ > [@Mahaloth](#): > > …My list, if anyone cares to hear what I put on it, was this: > > Inception > Silence > Mad Max Fury Road > Blade Runner 2049 > Hereditary > Avengers: Endgame > I Saw The Devil > Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol > Dredd > The Force Awakens > The Martian A fine list. My own Top Ten for the Twenty Tens includes: Limitless Inception The King’s Speech Blade Runner 2049 The Avengers The Martian Lincoln The Grand Budapest Hotel La La Land Arrival > [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > We watched [Jade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_(film)). > > …This was the first jump of David Caruso in movie stardom. But as an actor, he sucks. Then you gotta see this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJSqkwyL1Zo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJSqkwyL1Zo) ---
**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:** [February 17, 2021, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1896 "2021-02-17T19:14:57Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > … > Limitless > Inception > The King’s Speech > Blade Runner 2049 > The Avengers > The Martian > Lincoln > The Grand Budapest Hotel > La La Land > Arrival > … A nice list as well and I agree those are good movies, though I was not a fan of La La Land. The original Avengers over Endgame? Huh. My top pick for that decade probably was between Inception and Mad Max 4. I would probably pick Inception if pressed. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2021, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1897 "2021-02-18T16:18:53Z")
Yes, I preferred the original Avengers to Endgame - fresher and more fun, I think. And I _far_ prefer Inception to Mad Max: Fury Road. In fact, I never really got the love showered on the latter. A perfectly good MM movie, sure, but not the towering masterpiece of post-apoc cinema that so many seemed to think it was. I’m not a movie musical guy as a rule, but I really enjoyed La La Land. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2021, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1898 "2021-02-18T19:33:40Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > And I _far_ prefer Inception to Mad Max: Fury Road. In fact, I never really got the love showered on the latter. A perfectly good MM movie, sure, but not the towering masterpiece of post-apoc cinema that so many seemed to think it was… I’ll go further. Mad Max 4 is the greatest action movie of all time. I’m not sure what the runners up are, but it’s the top. I would start there and list a bunch of second place movies. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1899 "2021-02-19T08:33:48Z")
**Hereafter** (2010). One of Clint Eastwood’s recent films that I wasn’t aware of. Not bad, probably pretty well made (_I’m just a regular guy_), and it certainly gives the actors plenty of space and opportunity for some fine interpretation. You might sense that I’m building up to why I think it isn’t a great film. Actually I don’t know why. Maybe a little too predictable, not enough surprises in the plot to keep me interested… There is one thing, although I don’t know if anyone else feels this way: His use of the same or very similar music is ruining his films for me. I’m guessing it’s a melody he worked out on the piano some years ago (I checked: he’s credited for the music in this film). It’s nicely orchestrated here, played on different instruments and arranged in different ways, but it sounds very similar to what I’ve heard in at least four or five of his more recent films. ---
**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:** [February 19, 2021, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1900 "2021-02-19T11:11:18Z")
_Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_. (I’m only putting movies that I’ve seen on the big screen in this thread). Finishing up the core trilogy, and doing it pretty well. I’m not fond of the way they treated Dr. Brody; but I remind myself that at his goofiest he was basically wiped out by thirst and stress. Still, I would have liked to have seen him behaving more competently earlier on. Overall, though, a solid #2 out of the four movies, considerably better than _Temple of Doom_, light-years ahead of _Crystal Skull_, and, really, just short of _Raiders_. The day after tomorrow we’ll be heading out to see the _Star Wars_ original trilogy on IMAX screen; the weekend after it’ll be an LOTR marathon. I’m quite enjoying seeing all these movies again in the theater; I just wish the circumstances prompting their second run were…better. ---
**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:** [February 19, 2021, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1901 "2021-02-19T21:15:42Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I’ll go further. Mad Max 4 is the greatest action movie of all time. I’m not sure what the runners up are, but it’s the top. I would start there and list a bunch of second place movies. Wow, I wouldn’t go nearly that far. I think Raiders of the Lost Ark, True Lies, The Avengers, the Mission: Impossible series (all of them but the second), Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day are all much, much better action movies. But to each their own. ---
**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:** [February 19, 2021, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1902 "2021-02-19T21:22:03Z")
There is one film that fully meets the criteria of “action movie” and has consistently appeared in international lists of the greatest films of all time (once, even topping the list) [**Seven Samurai**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Samurai) ---
**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:** [February 19, 2021, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1903 "2021-02-19T21:33:34Z")
Any particular reason to obscure the film title? ---
**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:** [February 19, 2021, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1904 "2021-02-19T21:38:08Z")
Just wanted people to be able to have their own guesses before revealing it. ---
**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:** [February 19, 2021, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1905 "2021-02-19T23:04:54Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Wow, I wouldn’t go nearly that far. I think Raiders of the Lost Ark, True Lies, The Avengers, the Mission: Impossible series (all of them but the second), Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day are all much, much better action movies. But to each their own. I would say that other “all time great” action movies I have seen are: Raiders of the Lost Ark The Matrix Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol The Bourne Supremacy I think Mad Max 4 beats all of those, though. Again, it was probably my #2 movie of the previous decade, so I obviously loved it. ---
**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:** [February 21, 2021, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1906 "2021-02-21T05:24:36Z")
Jeez, I just watched _Air Force One_, and the only good thing I can report, is it gives me opportunity to use the word ‘Preposterous’ in a post. If that word was subject to squaring, it would still not do that film justice. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1907 "2021-02-21T17:00:09Z")
Just watched _Thelma and Louise._ Had seen it when it was first released, but not since (Damn, was that 30 years ago?). Still fresh. What struck me was how the problems of two rather ordinary women kept snowballing irrevocably out of control. And the iconic ending was an act, not of desperation, but of liberation and defiance. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2021, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1908 "2021-02-22T09:32:44Z")
**News of the World** - Tom Hanks rides around the old West with a young girl, and is Tom Hanks. It’s very Tom Hanksy. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2021, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1909 "2021-02-22T14:47:41Z")
We watched **Nomadland** on Hulu last night. Francis McDormand is a national treasure, folks; a female version of Willem Dafoe who could pass as his twin sister. The movie is based on the non-fiction book of the same name. Other than McDormand and David Strathairn, everyone in the film is a non-actor. This is the story of what has happened to a lot of folks in post-recession America. They’ve become drifters and loners who depend occasionally on others like them, and on part-time gigs for survival, but who spend most of their time on the road. An excellent and thoughtful film. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906/1910 "2021-02-22T14:56:57Z")
It was pretty successful when it came out. I haven’t watched it again since but remember the excitement generated. After the Cold War era was over and blockbuster movie makers had to come up with something new for political thrillers. Harrison Ford playing a kickass US president was a great sell. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=94) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-1/699906.md?page=96)