I hadn’t watched On Golden Pond in decades, and I’m delighted to say it holds up remarkably well—not dated at all.
Sometimes I crave a good nostalgic tearjerker, and On Golden Pond is one of the finest. It delivers top-notch direction, acting, cinematography, editing, and set design across the board. It’s a timeless gem, offering a perfect blend of nostalgia and powerful storytelling.
What a treat it is to watch two megastars, Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, give a masterclass in acting in their twilight years. The chemistry between them is palpable, making their performances even more compelling. It’s also heartwarming to see Henry Fonda and his daughter, Jane, share the screen. Their scenes together are poignant and memorable. I only wish they could have found a part for Peter Fonda too—it would have made the family dynamic complete.
We saw Inside Out 2 today. Nowhere near as good as the original. But there’s almost no way it could have been.
The original was breathtaking (IMHO) for its inventive world-building and novel depiction of the inner workings of a child’s developing mind. Every concept – the memory spheres, the basic emotions taking turns at the control panel, the personality islands, etc., etc. – was fresh and new, and everything fit nicely together.
Returning to the same control room for IO2with the addition of a few new emotions (do I really have to blur this?) just doesn’t have the same frisson of excitement and novelty, and as others have said above, the storyline is essentially a rehash of the original. The five emotions’ attempt to return to the control room is more meandering and disjointed than the similar sequence in the first film, and although there are some clever touches (the sar-chasm), the scene in the vault with Bllofy and Pouchy was Cringey. In general, their journey doesn’t make as much sense and it certainly lacks the emotional impact of the heartbreaking scene with Bing Bong, the imaginary friend.
Also, there are inconsistencies. In the first film, the parents’ control rooms have the same five emotions as young Riley. Why didn’t they have anxiety, envy, or ennui? (Okay, maybe ennui is mainly a teen thing, but not the other two.)
And the after-credits stinger was hardly worth hanging around for.
FYI, original cast members Amy Poehler (Joy) and Lewis Black (Anger) returned for the sequel, but Bill Hader (Fear) and Mindy Kaling (Disgust) did not.
All in all, if you liked Inside Out, you’ll probably enjoy watching it again more than seeing Inside Out 2.
I learned about this movie from threads on SDMB. I was surprised it requires a DVD to watch. I couldn’t find it on Prime streaming.
The movie starts slowly. The plot is very intricate that surprised me several times. Dougray Scott and Jermey Northam are very good as adversaries. I wasn’t familiar with either actor. Kate Winslet does a good job. Her character could be more fully developed.
The code breaking is interesting but it’s secondary to the espionage story.
I recommend the movie if you get a chance to watch.
Mothers’ Instinct. Two women who live next door to each other and are very close have a Bad Thing happen and movie ensues. Starring Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway with Josh Charles.
It’s a remake of a book adaptation. Set apparently in 1960. (The cars! The clothes! Women wearing gloves! Etc.)
It goes along reasonably okay for a while and then … it doesn’t. It just gets … bad. Spent over half the movie thinking “Why are we watching this?” Was this deliberately written this way to make the viewers hate the movie? What is going on?
Plus it has Chastain as a blonde. I felt I was looking at some sort of AI thing where someone told a 'bot to put her face on some other women’s head. Just didn’t look right.
Give it 2 stuffed bunnies. It’d be just 1 if the first bit wasn’t passable.
I’ve been having some very good movie luck lately. This is another amazing movie I had never seen and until a few days ago, had not even heard of.
A city has a series of murders…but every single time the murderer is caught right away. Not even hiding, usually. They don’t know why they did it. Each murder is the same in that a huge X is cut into the victim. But each murder is done by a totally different person who had been entirely normal up to that point. Every time they catch someone, they seem confused.
Thank you for recommending Cure, and also thanks for recommending The Handmaiden and, earlier, I Saw the Devil. The latter is the only one I’ve seen so far but I fully agree with your endorsement and appreciate the tip. I plan on watching the first two at the earliest opportunity.
I should maybe mention for the benefit of others that all three of these movies are foreign-language so one has to put up with subtitles (I can’t even adequately describe how much I despise movies that are dubbed!). The first one is Japanese, and the latter two are Korean. Both those countries seem to have a fine filmmaking culture, judging from my recent viewing of Godzilla Minus One and I Saw the Devil! Please keep the recommendations coming!
Went to see The Bikeriders today. A decent use of a couple of hours, but nothing that is going to reinvent the wheel for the biker film subgenre. I was kind of tickled at the fact that the two lead Brits, Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy, had the thickest Chicago accents out of the entire cast.
We watched Inside Out (2015) on Disney+, then Inside Out 2 (2024) in a local theater, and finished the day eating at an In-N-Out burger joint.
Overall, they’re a basic coming-of-age story, with a focus on internal dialog. As a fan of Herman’s Head, I love these movies.
The sequel is a natural follow-on to the first movie. While not strictly necessary, (re)watch the first one before viewing the second. They even carried on one of the running gags. Lots of emoting from Riley again as she advances to teenager from tween. The feelings inside her are more nuanced now, showing some emotional growth, but still naïve in many ways. The internal conflict resolves itself as Riley emotionally matures. Very satisfying ending.
My kids were young when the original came out. It was a little too intense for them at the time. That giant clown was scary! The sequel hits them right in the feels; they’re competitive athletes balancing ambitions and friendships while the world changes under them.
I went to see that last weekend, but left the theater about halfway through. I wasn’t hating it, but all the intense slow-motion scrutiny of Riley’s little missteps just felt too “cringe”, as the kids say. The first one was more engaging because more novel, as you note.
We had to read Ethan Frome in Highschool. It’s a love story where nothing significant happens at all. Everyone hated it because it was boring. I loved it because that is EXACTLY how my love interests went at the time. The book spoke to me. It doesn’t end well, but it some how gave me strength and maturity, knowing what slow burn romance or even unrequited love means.
Hey, most comedies get zero laughs from me. I will admit this movie did get me to laugh quite a few times and because of that, I have to recommend it if you are looking for a fun little way to spend 90 minutes. “Wrong kid died!!!” is a legitimately funny recurring gag and that actor deserves a ton of credit for making it work over and over.
Jokes that worked:
I’m 14 and in a band!
I’m his 12 year old girlfriend!
“Wrong kid died!!!”
The recurring drug escalation joke “No, man, you don’t want this!”
Even I thought the movie forgot he had a wife already or I had missed their divorce. When his current wife walks in on him, it was great.
Jokes that failed:
the Beatles bit with the famous actors was overlong and unfunny
Most of Jenna Fischer’s bit was unfunny. Everything she did was unfunny. No fault of hers.
The song filled with innuendos was unfunny
Most small jokes also were unfunny
The music was pretty good and John C Reilley deserves credit here. The fake Roy Orbison song was kind of amazing, to be honest.
Yeah, it was OK. I watched the 90 minute theatrical cut; I would have zero interest in an extended version.
I despise Patrick Swayze; he can’t act for sour owl poop, he’s strange looking and barely a so-so singer. Original Road House (despite Sam Elliott giving it his all and the platinum blonde strip tease) was tedium on film.
Gyllenhaal Road House was fantastic. It has a wry, if slightly silly, sense of humor, excellent cast (particularly Hannah Love Lanier) and the last twenty minutes don’t let up for a second. Locations are gorgeous, photography is first-rate, supporting cast have things to contribute. Sometimes it seems it’s spoofing itself. Other times, there’s no doubt. Everybody had a good, fun time making this movie. Gotta watch it again, this time with my wife.
No, it isn’t as good as Fury Road. But it is very excellent and I enjoyed it. I actually found I was losing some of the plot points in this movie from time to time, mostly because it was difficult to feel the passing of time accurately.
Anyway, this is one of the best movies of the year and as someone who considers Fury Road one of the best movies of the past 10 years, this is a great follow up.
I enjoyed it a lot and can’t wait to see it again.
Speaking of Road Warrior films, there’s a new one out called Road Wars: Max Fury. Wow, two Road Warrior films released so close together
Look, I like watching bad movies for the MST3K of it. But at 1.9 on IMDb (and no score at RT) I think I’ll pass on this one. Anyone here want to take the hit and watch this?
I love movies by The Asylum, but I kind of have to space them out…I’ll probably look at it in the next few months. Also, I think it’s a sequel, so I’ll have to watch the first one first.
