Are you aware it’s an updated version of Much Ado About Nothing by Will Shakespeare? Hence, the formulaic.
I was aware of that. I mean there’s probably only like half a dozen rom-com plots anyway.
The Fall Guy
Somewhat recommended.
Cute, fun in parts, but not particularly impactful or memorable for me. Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours, but I’m not queuing this one up again any time soon. Ryan Gosling does show once again that he is very charming and honestly should probably work only in comedy. This is nowhere near as funny as Nice Guys, though, which is one of his best performances.
Still, fun and Gosling sells the movie very well. The outtakes at the end really show how many stunts in the movie were real, which is really nice.
Wait until it streams on a service you already have.
Bullet Train, which was a fun action romp; it’s been in my Netflix TBW list pretty much since it dropped there, but it took the notification that it was leaving in a couple of weeks to make me move on it. Pretty much everyone was personable and it had some fun surprise cameos.
As a side effect, I’ve decided to watch my other Netflix My List items, 2 hours a night for the rest of the year. Tonight is the Korean screen adaptation of “The Door Into Summer.”
Vivarium Not bad, but dragged. Could have been an hour long episode of a horror anthology series.
Had to ultimately give it a negative review. Definitely a 45 minutes episode of TV stretched out to a movie length. It was a very gripping opening, but the middle just dragged.
It actually felt kind of like a Black Mirror.
Oldboy
Strongly Recommended. Essential.
I saw this movie about 10 years ago and I remembered it being pretty amazing. Yes, it is even better than I remembered and while it requires some suspension of disbelief, it earns it because the movie is absolutely perfect. I liked it the first time I saw it, but I think I underrated it. It’s an absolute classic.
A man is seemingly randomly kidnapped and wakes up in a small hotel room. He is locked up there and fed only fried dumplings. He has a TV, bed, shower. He has no idea why he is locked up, but he is.
For 15 years.
And just like that, after 15 years he is released. Why was he kidnapped? Why was he released? Much like Count of Monte Cristo, he sets out to find who did this to him and get his revenge.
This is only the premise, but the movie finds way to be innovative with this basic setup.
I loved it. Check it out.
See the Korean version. I tried Spike’s Lee’s version once and quit. This isn’t just preference for the original. It really is about 100X the movie the remake is.
Famous for the long hallway fight scene, which is a bit of cinematic mastery all on its own.
I do remember thinking, “I get why they’re bored, but why do I have to be?”.
I still think about that film when I drive by those nameless faceless lil’ boxes all made out of Tickey Tackey and they all look just the same…
My buddy had not seen Moonfall before so I got to watch it again last night. Moonfall, the finest movie ever put to celuloid!
Wow, I never knew there was a remake. Why?
I agree with you. A masterpiece.
To be fair to Spike Lee, his edit came in at 140 minutes. The studio edited it to 100 minutes and the final version was bad enough Spike Lee was extremely disappointed. The full director’s edit has never been released.
But, yeah, it’d be hard to beat or even equal the original.
Just got back from Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. This whole reboot franchise is just too serious. I think the charm of the original pentalogy was the obsurdity and dark humor. This reboot does a great job of world building but just doesn’t seem to put particularly interesting stories nor any but the most hackneyed social commentary into that world. The last scene had potential for a…
Statue of Liberty style twist. When the bunker humans finally are able to get the sat coms working and hear the voices calling to them from around the world, they should have revealed that those replying were apes.
Civil War
Recommended.
I’m realizing I am a huge fan of Alex Garland. I had seen a few of his movies without even realizing he was involved (Dredd, Ex Machina) and having gone back and re-watched some of his films (Men, Annihilation), I have come to the conclusion he is a writer-director to watch.
Civil War is the biggest budget production movie he has done and it is really great. the United States is, well, in the middle of a massive Civil War. I’ve never put much thought as to what a Civil War would look like today, but this fictional one is pretty scary.
Everyone is terrific in the movie and even though the premise probably has holes in it, you can definitely see America being as divided as it is in this movie.
I don’t know if this will be one of my favorites for the year, but definitely a good watch.
I find it strange that I’ve seen three movies with Stephen McKinley Henderson, who I had barely ever heard of or seen before. He was in Dune, Beau is Afraid, and Civil War. Good for him. Has he been around a long time?
I’m planning on giving Civil War a look. The other one that had tentatively been on my radar was Atlas, but the trailer made me a bit skeptical, and now I see it has an abysmal 17% critics’ rating on RT. No thanks! Sounds like they had an interesting idea and botched the execution.
One of the most disturbing, triggering movies I have ever seen. It’s been twenty years and I still get nauseated thinking about it.
I saw Civil War last week and I really enjoyed it as well. It was more subtle than I thought it was going to be. That is, I presumed it was going to be a rednecks versus latte-sippers extravaganza (mostly based on the trailer featuring Jesse Plemons (who was in the movie for about ten minutes). It is more about the media and the danger of war zone reporting mixed with politics and home field protectionism and all that rah rah stuff.
I did have problems with it, like …
it was the huge big deal that these reporters were going to try to make it to the front lines but when they get there, there are already reporters there embedded with the military. So why was it such a huge thing that they were there? They weren’t the only ones?
And, there whole reason d’etre was to get a blockbuster exposé interview with the president before his regime collapsed, and when they get there they basically punt it.
Also, considering I immediately exclaimed, “he wasn’t in the car, he’s still in the White House,” I, and those three reporters, are apparently geniuses because we were the only four people in that universe who figured it out. And once everybody else did figure it out, why didn’t every grunt with a gun go rushing into the Oval Office?
… I digress …
But, yeah, great performances, the action sequences at the end were pretty awesome.
(I don’t know why that isn’t blurring … eh, deal with it — figured it out)
Um, I’ve seen worse, but yes this certainly takes a few memorable turns along the way.
I don’t even know how to warn a specific subset of the population about it without spoiling the movie.
I guess I just recommend that women, in particular, tread lightly.
You’ve said enough. I’m not a woman* but I’ll probably steer clear of it.
On the opposite side of the scale, OMG, the movie that I reviewed a while back earlier in this thread, Arthur the King, is just so uplifting for anyone who loves dogs. And it’s a true story, very well done and not maudlin at all.
I’ve watched the final few minutes of the ending about ten times now, and each time I cry like a baby puppy!
* I’m actually a lovable, furry dog! 