Over the long weekend, I watched the 3 Dan Brown movies (The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and Inferno). It was to my very great surprise that I had seen the 2nd one already (rated it in IMDb or I’d never have known). I had zero recollection of having watched it.
Then, to get over all of that, I watched something uplifing: 1917.
Watched Blood Quantum on Prime
It was touted to be a clever twist on zombie moves.
It really wasn’t. It had a great trailer, but all the best scenes in the movie were in the trailer. The rest was same old, same old.
One infuriating tidbit.
The evil character gets a BJ from a woman who turns zombie, then eats his penis. THEN, the evil character does evil shit instead of…ya know…bleeding to death.
Ravenous (1999). An uneven film set in one of the less pleasant parts of California during one of the less pleasant parts of the year, following a less than pleasant battle during our less than pleasant war with Mexico. It’s a sort of/kind of horror film that takes place along the frontier. It could be great, if only it had maybe been a little better directed and edited (that’s my take on it, anyway).
But as a strong plus, it opens with probably the best ever rendition of Hail, Columbia!, so there’s that.
The Goldfinch. My wife had read the book, and was curious if the film version was as bad as the critics said it was. It was. Just long, dreary and pointless.
Palm Springs. (Hulu) Groundhog Day except with 2 people, set at a wedding. The idea sounds like a ripoff but it’s still quite delightful.
Double Indemnity (1944)
I’d never seen it before. Who knew a movie about insurance fraud could be so exciting? Mrs. Wheelz, who usually hates “old movies,” thoroughly enjoyed it as well. Films were certainly a whole lot different back then. But in this case, the story is so well-told that you get past the outdated look and speech rhythms and such very quickly, and just get caught up in it. Great cast. Fred MacMurray (totally opposite his Steve Douglas persona), Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson were all terrific. Highly recommended!
Better Watch Out (2016)
This should be a new Christmas classic.
Palm Springs (2020) on Hulu. It was pretty good, although the way I’ve heard people fawning over it is a little confusing. It’s a good move, well acted, well shot, the story, while obviously derivative of Ground Hog Day (but we knew that going in), is well constructed. There’s nothing wrong with it whatsoever, but it’s really nothing that friggin’ earth-shattering. I like it a lot but if you’re not an Andy Samberg fan going in, you might not really like it as much.
My one criticism of it is that they really give Ground Hog Day short shrift. I would’ve thought they’d at least give it a take somehow, somewhere. It’s hard to ignore that elephant in the room.
Horrific premise. The guy lies to women and she knows this because she shares a phone line. And because she knows he’s a cad, he seduces her by pretending to be someone else when he comes face to face, screwing over her AND his supposed best friend who he knows is in love with her.
He’s a dick on multiple levels. And once he is discovered, the woman falls for him and the friend forgives him.
They should all get scurvy.
Old Guard, with Charlize Theron on Netflix. Pretty good action flick.
Just saw this myself. First impression: did they really used to serve beer at drive-thrus? To people in their cars?!
Legal in 30 states.
Let me be clear. In the scene in this movie, the guy is sold an open bottle of beer at, I guess technically it’s a drive-in (not drive-thru) diner (more like Sonic than McDonalds). He’s sitting there in his car pouring the beer into a glass set out on a window tray and then drinking it. Granted the car is parked, and I suppose it’s functionally little different than walking in, sitting at a table, having a drink, and walking out to the car just after.
But still…
BT
I gather I live in one of those states because we have a drive-thru liquor store (one at least) in my town. Looks like a converted car wash from the looks of it.
Waiting for Guffman (Hulu). One of the Christopher Guest faux documentaries (along with Best in Show and A Mighty Wind) and with his usual troupe of players – about small town community theater. I think I’ve seen bits and pieces of all of his films but never sat and watched all the way through, and I’m glad I did. Just delightful. It takes real talent to come up with staging, choreography and music that’s plausibly ambitious but just … not very good. So I shouldn’t have been surprised (but I was) when the credits rolled and music & lyrics were by the 3 members of Spinal Tap.
We followed that up immediately with Thor: Ragnarok (Disney+). We’re not fans of the comic book genre – the action sequences are always just a dizzying CGI mess. But we are fans of Taika Waititi. So in this, the scenes between the action messes were great; lots of good humor.
I caught a few movies when we were out of town.
The Big Year. Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson are avid bird-watchers. Despite the cast, it’s relatively free of slapstick comedy, and it has no right being as charming of a movie as it is. It certainly wasn’t up for any awards (that I know of), but it kept me entertained.
The Longshot. Seth Rogan and Charlize Theron. Not great. There were a handful of funny moments, a handful of the usual funny Seth Rogan moments, more than a handful of the usual unfunny Seth Rogan moments.
The Upside. Brian Cranston and Kevin Hart have a great chemistry together in this “underdog helps disabled billionaire”. The standard fare that comes with such a movie is especially standard, and results in a very predicable movie. But it’s worth it just to watch them interact.
I’ve seen all three of those. The Big Year was fun, which is perhaps more than one would expect from a movie about bird watching. As for The Upside, you may not be aware that it’s an American remake of a much better French film called The Intouchables, which is worth seeing even given the language issue.
I knew only because there was a little prologue at the end of the movie, giving an update on the characters. That made me look up to see if it was based on a true story, and I saw that it was, and there was the French film that preceded it.
I’m about done with A Bridge Too Far, the 1977 WWII epic, starring every British and American actor who was not currently working on another film (I even spotted Cliff Clavin in uniform!) and every German-speaking actor that could be found. Typical for most war extravaganzas, everybody is a wisecracking tough guy, even whilst dying. Not a bad movie, however.
Watched The Shining and Saturday Night Fever (neither for the first time) recently. Was once again (edit: not unimpressed, rather) underwhelmed with the former, and found myself appreciating the latter more than I thought I had before. Went to IMDb to update my rating of it to a 7, found I had rated it a 7 previously, so I guess how much I think I think of it just fades over time.
Except that poor bastard who warned them about the radios. And he gets sidelines as if it must be his “nerves” or something!
We watched Charlie’s Angels and followed up with Charlie’s Angels II Full Throttle.
As a result, I lost 25 I.Q. points and forgot how to spell my name for an hour.