Finally watched Nope!. It wasn’t as disappointing as some comments in this thread led me to believe. It’s actually a loose remake of Jaws , right?
There are a few movies a lot of people are talking about right now, but my gut instinct says not to bother watching them despite the positive reviews, as they just aren’t going to be my kind of thing. Whenever I have ignored that instinct in the past (usually after cajoling), I have just proven myself right by not enjoying, or even actively hating, a movie that I had not intended to see.
I just watched Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, and my instincts were right again. I really did not get anything from it at all.
So I think I will listen to my gut and not see: The Banshees Of Inisherin; The Menu; Amsterdam; or The Fabelmans.
Wait, there’s a movie based on the Stalker video game? Huh.
I had no idea! Though it sounds like I’ll have to give that one a miss, except maybe for completeness.
We also missed the Albert Finney one as well, somehow.
We watched Ride The High Country last night, a 1962 western that starred aging stars Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott. It was directed by Sam Peckinpah and I suppose was one of the earliest westerns to depict the bad guys as cackling, repulsive sadists. Wasn’t Peckinpah notorious later on for violent, explicit movies?
The bad guys and the date of the movie make me think of the plot in Once Upon A Time . . . In Hollywood, where DiCaprio’s character is struggling to shift from TV westerns to movies, and only succeeds when he does a good job of portraying this new style of hideous sadistic bad guy.
Anyway, we liked last night’s movie. I agree with the three and a half stars that TCM gave it.
I have instincts similar to yours. I’ll probaby watch EEAAO at some point, but last time I started I quit after about ten minutes. Fabelmans was also interrupted but only because everyone was tired and went to bed. I still want to give it a fair shot. Amsterdam in my view has no pretensions to artsy innovation; it’s a well-grounded old-style mystery thriller in the film noir genre and quite enjoyable. Banshees is just strange and I’m not sure where its super-high ratings are coming from. Fabelmans, Banshees, and EEAAO are all Variety’s picks for Oscar Best Picture contenders. Another one in their top 10 is Elvis, a spectacular film that I highly recommend, and it requires either a really big-screen TV, a projection system, or a theater, and a good sound system turned way up!
I think they missed one.
lol hilarious because it’s all true
Got woken up by a whining dog in the middle of the night. Flipped on the tube and caught Wrestling Women vs. The Aztec Mummy.
I’ll admit it didn’t watch much of it, but with a title like that, how could I not check it out??? 
We fast forwarded to the end. I’m a kind of a completist. It never got better.
Later, we watched The Garden Murder Mystery. I think TCM was running a Philo Vance marathon. I don’t know how many different actors played him on screen, but this was the third or fourth I’ve seen. Much better than The Dragon Pool Mystery which we watched the day before. This one had a decent story with a minimum of corn. Much better acting and some funny lines. @Gatopescado might be interested, because Vance in this film had an adorable dachshund.
Is there any other kind???
You got me there!
The Malkovich ABC Murders is like someone saw the Branagh Murder on the Orient Express, found it insufficiently dour, grimdark, and p*ssing on Poirot as Christie wrote him, and decided to remedy the oversight by kicking it up a few notches. 
You are too kind. It was awful, strictly 12 year old comic book stuff. However, some high paid help made this movie and they knew their audience. It’s the 6th highest grossing film ever and probably will garner the most Oscar nominations. No accounting for taste.
Yeah, I was expecting better. While I dislike Cruise on a basic human level, he’s almost always made watchable films, IMO. But this one had me yawning, and hitting pause for a break from the next predictable scene.
Saw this with the grandkids after a Sunday lunch in a comfortable recliner theater. Just enough adult humor to keep me awake. My 2-1/2 yr. old grand daughter picked up on the Goldilocks and Three Bears alliance. When ever death appeared, she’d poke me and go, “big bad wolf” and howl. We were way back in a half full theater. All three GC gave two thumbs up. All under age ten.
Watched Burn After Reading last night. I am a fan of the Coen brothers, but I didn’t care for this one. Too many famous actors, and not a good story.
I’m sure someone else has mentioned this film but I recently watched The Banshees of Inisherin (2022). (It’s streaming on HBO Max if you happen to have that service.) I liked it so much I’m now watching it again. It’s amazing the things you pick up on a second watching.
Colin Farrell is incredible in it, as is Brendan Gleeson. It’s a dark comedy about two close friends on an island off Ireland in 1923 and one of them suddenly ends their relationship with the other. Needless to say, things don’t end well. Well worth the watch if you haven’t seen it yet. Quirky, but interesting from start to finish.
The Menu
Pretty good, but I kept thinking more was going to happen with the story than actually did. Nope, this is kind of a “what you expect is about what you get” movie, though I did find it to be well made and acted. I’m kind of surprised to see such top-level actors in a movie that really isn’t all that bold or imaginative. Still, there are some solid performances and I’m sure everyone was happy to be working.
There’s a whole thing about random spots with very high gravity - step into one and you go squish. The bolt/streamer flags them ahead of time.
Watched Strange World, Disney’s new, barely-promoted effort. While I’m aware that certain demographics are triggered by the existence of a gay couple in it and believe this to be the source of all the film’s woes, the reality is that the relationship barely features (and is rather pleasant) and that the film is simply rather dull and predictable, with an applied-with-a-sledgehammer theme of fathers wanting their children to follow in their footsteps vs sons wanting to forge their own path. There is a big twist near the end but it really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone as the clues were supplied with big flashing neon arrows throughout (at one point a character pokes a thing and says “I WONDER WHAT THIS DOES” - yeah, we know alveoli when we see them).
In its favor it is lovely to look at and they clearly put most of their efforts into the visuals. But I don’t recommend thinking about it too hard, especially when you consider the ramifications for the entire ecosystem. I mean, where did the humans come from? Did they evolve as parasites to the main organism? Did they come from outside and if so, from where given that there isn’t any obvious other landmass on this planet? And how inbred must this population be? It just gets weirder the more you consider it.
Speaking of films you shouldn’t think about much, I rewatched RED which is ridiculous and dumb and OTT violent but is entirely worth watching for 1) Helen Mirren firing heavy weaponry while looking stunning, and 2) John Malkovich in pretty much every scene he’s in. I’d also forgotten Karl Urban was in this, looking young and fit.