Movies you've seen recently (Part 1)

Cafe Society
2491

I have not dropped into this thread in a while, so have some catching up to do:

A Quite Place (2018, FX) – ★★★★ out of ★★★★★
Put this one off too long. Gripping, well written and performed, looking forward to seeing the sequel.

Barton Fink (1991, Showtime) - ★★★★1/2
Trying to round out my Coen brothers watchlist. I will watch anything with John Turturro in it. They had me the second Steve Buscemi emerged from the trap door behind the hotel desk.

Mank (2020, Netflix) - ★★★1/2
A bit disappointing. Seemed to exist primarily to show us what old Hollywood was like. Not enough substance.

Minari (2020, DVD) - ★★★★★
Grabbed me by the heart. Elegant performances, supreme storytelling, fresh perspective. My choice for Best Picture.

8 ½ (1963, TCM) - ★★★1/2
I had to see what all the fuss is about. A bit of an effort to watch, but not without its rewards. Despite its reputation I did not have high hopes. “Was not as bad as I thought it would be” is not exactly a glowing recommendation, but that is what I came away with.

Fatherhood (2021, Netflix) - ★★★
I had a pretty low (for no real reason) opinion of Kevin Hart for quite a while; my mind has since been changed upon hearing what a good guy he actually is. This movie is less than great, however. Any emotion it elicits feels unearned. Pretty by-the-numbers film making.

Monterey Pop (1968, Netflix) - ★★★★
Documentary about the pre-Woodstock (1967) 3-day music festival that includes appearances by the Mamas & the Papas, Simon and Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, the Who, and a few others. Some glitch-ey camera work, but otherwise quite the time capsule. I knocked off a star due to Ravi Shankar’s interminable (YMMV) performance.

The Father (2020, DVD) - ★★★★★
My pick for Best Picture (wait, didn’t I already say that about Minari? Oops). Anthony Hopkins deserves his Oscar and has nothing to apologize for. A hard watch if you have a loved one with dementia.

Blood Simple (1984, Showtime) - ★★★★
More Coen brothers fun. I had not seen it before. Who knew Frances McDormand was such a cutie (ok, probably everyone but me knew this). Quite the debut for the Coens.

mmm

2492

My pick as well, though I had a much lower opinion of Minari than you did. I could have also given it to Another Round, but The Father was more powerful.

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Olympus Has Fallen, with Gerard Butler. Typical action flick with lots of shootouts and explosions. A popcorn movie, basically.

2494

I think you’re missing an adjective here.

2495

It was quiet a good movie. :slight_smile:

2496

Gotcha :wink:

2497

Just watched Gunpowder Milkshake on Netflix. Quite enjoyable, a bit silly, very violent. Bits of John Wick, in that there seems to be an entire underground network of secret places for, well underground folks, like assassins and gangsters to go and have meetings and/or gear up, and very stylized stabbage and stootage. All female leads, except bad guys.

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Tombstone

★★★ out of ★★★★★

Gist: Gorgeous and well acted, the weak script pulls it down.

I was really looking forward to Tombstone, one of those movies that I just had not had a chance to see over the years. I remember when it came out(1993) and have always known it had positive reviews, but I just never had the experience of seeing it. I decided to give it a watch and while it is beautiful to look at and well acted, its story and script never really pulled me in as much as I had hoped they would.

Pros:

  • Feels like a classic Western from the 1950’s

  • Stunning cinematography

  • Very well acted by all lead actors

  • An absolutely stellar cast includeing Kurt Russel, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliot, and even Charlton Heston

Cons:

  • I’ll be flayed for saying it, but it was actually quite dull in many parts

  • Despite its positives, I was never fully pulled into the story or invested in these characters

  • Perfect example of a movie where all its positive parts do not add up to an incredible movie. Lots of skill and craft, but a weak script and dull story are detrimental

I really would recommend this movie to anyone who likes the Western genre. It’s a very well made movie and a pretty good Western. Despite its flaws, I did enjoy the movie and was very impressed with the craft that went into it.

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TOMBSTONE
One of my favorite movies of all time. Val Kilmer’s performance as Doc Holiday alone gives it five stars for me.

Do you like westerns? If yes what ones would you score higher?

2500

Linus Van Pelt (of Peanuts/Snoopy fame) read that, right? Man, I’m ignorant…

https://www.reddit.com/r/dostoevsky/comments/gpipvh/peanuts_nov_4th_1964/

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It’s not my favorite genre, but some Westerns I can think of that I liked better are:

The Salvation
Unforgiven
Django Unchained
Bone Tomahawk

I’m sure I could think of more if I took some time.

2502

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

2503

Silverado and Once Upon A Time In The West are favorites of mine also.

2504

Legends of the Fall
Soldier Blue
Dances With Wolves
Smoke Signals
Songs My Brothers Taught Me
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

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Unforgiven
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Oxbow Incident
Dances With Wolves
True Grit (the John Wayne version)
The Shootist
High Noon

2506

I’ve got “The Proposition”, with Guy Pearce in my queue. Can’t quite seem to pull the trigger on it.

2507

I saw Uncut Gems (2019) starring Adam Sandler. No, wait come back. He is really good in it. And the film is OK too, in a Death of a Salesman kind of way. It’s about jewelry salesman who cannot get out of his own way.

Three superb owl rings.

2508

This is a film which effectively irritated the shit out of me.

Which wasn’t a bad thing. It was trying to do that. It was the point of the film

Not an enjoyable watch, watching someone who is barely likeable self destruct due to gambling problems, getting deeper and deeper.

But effective.

2509

I realize the point of a film is not always to make you love the character and the story. Sometimes the point of art is to make you feel uncomfortable and figure out why it does that.

But I just couldn’t get through Uncut Gems. I simply wasn’t up for that kind of challenge.

Good Time was another of those movies that I found tough to watch.

2510

I hear both of you. The only reason I could watch it was that I’ve never known anyone in real life who was such a gambling addict, so it didn’t trigger anything for me. It was uncomfortable at times, but not unbearably. No one would agree with me but I feel like it had a happy ending. lol