I havent seen a movie in decades. I want to go to an actual theater and have actual popcorn. I like action movies, and comedy. Recommend one?
As far as what’s currently playing, I can recommend Guardians 3 and Across the Spiderverse. Don’t let the fact that it’s animation fool you into thinking it’s kiddie fodder. It is superb. Best movie I’ve seen this year.
Shame you missed John Wick 4. The John Wick movies have consistently been some of the best fight choreography I have ever seen.
I would also recommend both Across the Spider-verse and Guardians of the Galaxy 3. I really liked The Flash, but a significant portion of people did not.
I would recommend John Wick 4 if you’ve seen the others.
Sounds good. Yes, I’ve seen the first 3.
But you said:
Sorry. I meant at a theater. I miss the buttered popcorn smell.
Ah, got it, thanks.
I hope you get the chance soon. I know things have been rough, but a nice movie in the theater is one on those simple pleasures everyone should have. We didn’t see any movies the first years after my son was born. We just started finding the time and it’s been so nice.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Somewhat recommended.
It was OK, but I found the middle section of the movie to be a slog. I loved the opening 20 minutes with the de-aging, but there is about an hour of this movie that is just kind of slow and confusing. Not well edited action scenes.
Once the final 40 minutes hits and the Maguffin of the movie comes into play, I was enjoying it again. I liked the ending.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Pretty much agree with Mahaloth. It was slow developing the new characters and was a bit of a slog in the middle, but the last 30-40 minutes were vintage Indiana Jones and a rather nice little ending. Considering Harrison Ford’s (and Indiana Jones’) age, they let the sidekicks do a lot of the running and punching, which they were adequate at.
In sum, it’s probably better than Temple of Doom and about even with the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull but not at the level of Raiders or Last Crusade. But if you’ve seen all the films, then this one is worth the money.
My ranking, having only seen the new one once, is:
- Last Crusade
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
- Dial of Destiny
- Temple of Doom <–last 40 minutes are better than Crystal or Dial, but whole movie before that is bad.
I rewatched Troy over the last couple of nights. I hadn’t seen it in a while, and wanted to see it again. Gorgeous photography and effects work. You expect filmmaklers to screw with the story, but they did some major revisions here. I don’t just mean eliminating the gods and condensing a ten year war to a couple of weeks. They changed whole character motivations and fates. That said, they had the kernel of the story there – the Rage of Achilles and the stubbornness of all involved. I read that Brad Pitt and Peter O’Toole weren’t very pleased with the project or their roles, but they both put in incredible performances. Sean Bean’s Odysseus was god, too. Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom (“He’s so YOUNG!” my wife exclaimed) did fabulous jobs as Hector and Paris. If you ignore the gross inaccuracies, it’s a great flick, and really captures the spirit of the epic.
Pair this with the 1997 Hallmark version of the Odyssey, starring Armande Assante, a cast full of “name” stars, and effects by Jim Henson’s shop, and you’ve got a Homeric event.
I watched Nimona on Netflix. It’s an animated film based on a comic book, about an underdog Knight who has been framed for a crime, and a misunderstood “monster”, who become friends as they try to set things right.
As animated movies go, it’s high quality writing, adventure, comedy, and performances (from Chloe Grace Moretz and Riz Ahmed), and it has some contemporary LGBTQ content mixed in, though that’s not directly relevant to the story.
I think I am ageing out of these kinds of things. It’s clearly aimed at a generation of animation fans that I’m not a part of. Just like Spider-Verse, and The Mitchells vs The Machines, it’s got a frenetic style to it that exhausts me, and I don’t have any patience for.
But I liked the story and characters, it’s a good quality production in every way that counts, so if you are more attuned to modern animated movies, you might enjoy it more than I did.
Don’t let Poseidon see you writing that.
Did a search on “HBO” in this thread and your suggestion won the coin flip. “Interesting” is right. “A bit plodding at times” is also accurate. Sadly, Time After Time and Master and Commander are no longer carried by HBO, which is yet another reason to hate the streaming distribution model. I’m now watching Superman Returns, but am likely to switch to something else pdq… (you know, I forgot this was as much a Kevin Spacey movie as a Brandon Routh movie).
You People (Netflix)
Written and directed by Kenya Barris, creator of the TV show Black-ish. It hits every single by-the-numbers romcom beat, from the meet-cute to the dating montage to the all-is-lost moment to the tacked-on happy ending. So no surprises there.
But around this framework hangs some interesting food for thought regarding race relations, social attitudes, and the challenges facing interracial couples.
Good performances from the main cast, including Jonah Hill, Lauren London, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and a very restrained Eddie Murphy.
It’s not quite as deep as it wants to be, I think, and the resolution hangs on a couple of bits of very talky dialogue. But it’s worth checking out for a Sunday afternoon couch flick.
I just watched this and I must say I found it flat and uninteresting. Wow, so the rich people get covered in shit and vomit. Cool story, bro (not).
The Menu was better.
Finally saw The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Nicolas Cage sending himself up is nothing new and the “describing the movie you’re in as it happens” thing, while very well done here, is also a bit of a gimmick. But goddamn, every scene with Cage and Pascal together is just a delight to watch. It’s just pure goofy fun.
The Menu was an OK movie, but a whole heck of a lot better than Triangle of Sandess, I agree.
Agreed. In only an OK year of movies, it ended up making my top 10 movies of the year. Hey, it made me laugh.
I had to find something to do outside of my house on Sat. and the only movie that seemed bearable was No Hard Feelings
It’s a romcom, which is not usually my first choice but it stars Jennifer Lawrence and she is delightful as usual. She plays a down and out, lifetime resident of Montauk, NY who is desperate for money to pay her property taxes before her house is repo’d. The solution comes in the form of two “helicopter parents” who want to hire a young woman to help their nebbish son break out of his shell before going off to Princeton at the end of the summer. Hilarity ensues. Ok, not hilarity but I laughed at things that were downright absurd and the absurdities worked because of JLaw and costar Andrew Barth Feldman. Matthew Broderick’s small role as the father was hilarious; I didn’t even recognize him at first. I would recommend it but probably wait until it’s streaming.