# Movies you've seen recently (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [August 27, 2024, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288 "2024-08-27T05:10:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 147
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2921 "2025-07-28T13:58:27Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/mfmrPu43DF8/maxresdefault.jpg "The Hunger Games (2012 Movie) - Official Theatrical Trailer - Jennifer Lawrence & Liam Hemsworth") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfmrPu43DF8) been a while. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2922 "2025-07-28T14:08:56Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > It has two professional wrestlers in it: Maxwell Jacob Friedman from AEW plays one of Happy’s sons, and Becky Lynch from WWE plays one of the Maxi players. It also features Travis Kelce being covered in honey, for you football fans. And appropriately so: > **[Travis Kelce hits a golf ball to Mars to win celebrity long drive contest at...](https://www.golfdigest.com/story/travis-kelce-wins-celebrity-long-drive-contest-lake-tahoe-american-century-championship-video)** > > Even the NFL star couldn't believe how far he crushed this one. ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2923 "2025-07-28T14:44:44Z")
I first saw Lawrence in **Winterbone** and was very impressed. I thought later work she ended up over exposed but enjoy her in **Hunger Games** which really reminds me of the original **Roller Ball**. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/joPveEKnxaw/maxresdefault.jpg "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) - Official Trailer #1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joPveEKnxaw) ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2924 "2025-07-28T14:47:37Z")
We watched _ **Superman** _ (1978), extended cut on Amazon. This is the classic with Christopher Reeve as the title character and Margot Kidder as Lois Lane. And it holds up well, although it’s sort of a time capsule to the late 1970s. Plenty of time spent on character development, both Clark Kent and Superman, and Lois Lane too. Both lead actors portrayed their characters well. Marlon Brando played a very formal, yet loving, father as Jor El. And Gene Hackman played an excellent comic-book villain as Lex Luthor. Despite Superman’s super strength, there’s no fisticuffs; this is a movie about the limits of Superman, even despite his powers. Well worth see again or for the first time. Looking at the cast, the only surviving actor with a significant role is Valerie Perrine, who played Ms Teschmacher. But I was surprised to see a young John Ratzenberger with a minor speaking role. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2925 "2025-07-28T15:37:37Z")
> [@MacDoc](#): > > I first saw Lawrence in **Winterbone** and was very impressed. **Winter’s Bone** I first noticed Lawrence in **The Poker House** , and then a couple years later I saw Winter’s Bone and wondered if she was going to be typecast as the poor white trash girl. Spoiler: She would not. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2926 "2025-07-28T17:12:55Z")
A while back, we watched the 1949 Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra (and that other guy) film _On The Town_. We thought it was pretty good. You don’t expect a lot from an MGM musical, and you don’t get it here. But it was good at what it was. It made a fun movie from what it had. So we decided to watch the 1945 Gene Kelly Frank Sinatra film _Anchors Aweigh_. It is to be expected that MGM musicals have threadbare plots, but outright stupidity and characters so annoying you want to punch them (including a nine year old Dean Stockwell!) was too much. And it got multiple Oscar noms! No accounting for taste. We quit after about 15 minutes, before the actual plot even started. We switched over to the 1942 Bette Davis film _Now, Voyager_ \* which was actually really good film. I’m not sure what I expected, but I wasn’t expecting that. Bonus it has both Claude Rains and Paul Henreid, just before Casablanca. Like, a day before Casablanca. \*I always hear the title as Capt Janeway giving the command to go to warp ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2927 "2025-07-28T17:17:12Z")
**Blue Beetle** Really recommended. Did you miss this DC superhero movie a couple years ago? You shouldn’t; it is one of their best and my wife and I just watched it and actually find it to be more fun than Superman, the latest release. Blue Beetle is great because his whole family is in on him being a superhero and they all help take down the bad guys. It is fun and funny and if you missed it, check it out! ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2928 "2025-07-28T17:33:25Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > **Happy Gilmore 2**. Recommended. I love the first film, and the second one is more Sandler silliness. Yeah, I dunno. I was closing at work the other night which affords about an hour of free time so I pulled up _Happy Gilmore 2_ on Netflix in one of the playrooms. Now I don’t have Netflix at home so that’s pretty much the only place I can catch it. So … I watched the first 45 minutes of it and I was feeling very _-meh-_ about where shit was going and now hearing the cut-tendon thing and wresting thing … yeah … I don’t see myself catching the end of it anytime soon. And I like Sandler. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2929 "2025-07-28T17:33:30Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > \*I always hear the title as Capt Janeway giving the command to go to warp Always thought that title belonged in a double feature with _Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!_ ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2930 "2025-07-28T17:36:21Z")
We got a little less than an hour into **Wicked** before bailing. The songs were just so forgettable and the Harry Potter themes just so tired and familiar. The only things I was impressed by were the made up words with clear meanings in the script and the wacky optometric design; otherwise just boring. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2931 "2025-07-28T19:05:54Z")
I gave up on **Wicked** around the time they introduced the secret meeting of talking animals. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2932 "2025-07-28T21:45:02Z")
Recently caught up with… _The Phoenician Scheme_ (2025) stars Benecio Del Toro as a death resistant international shady business tycoon trying to swindle his investors while bonding with his estranged daughter/heir (a nun) and fighting with his crazed brother Benedict Cumberbatch (with beard prosthetic). Fun, if forgettable Wes Anderson flick has plenty o’ wit, humorous dialogue (“Help yourself to a hand grenade”) and absurdity, but relentless one-note dead-pan performances, lame-ass afterlife scenes and tiresomely repeated motifs make story more monotonous in spots than it needed to be. _Black Bag_ (2025) has ice-cold Brit gov’t cyber security agent Michael Fassbender suspecting his wife Cate Blanchett and/or four other colleagues of leaking software that can trigger nuclear meltdowns to the Russkies. Mostly talk in well-shot, but unpleasant-to-sit-through drama suffused with a strong _Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?_ vibe. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2933 "2025-07-28T22:14:29Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > A while back, we watched the 1949 Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra (and that other guy) film _On The Town_. We thought it was pretty good. You don’t expect a lot from an MGM musical, and you don’t get it here. But it was good at what it was. It made a fun movie from what it had. One special thing about that movie is that a lot of it was shot on location in New York, which had never been done before in a musical. It adds a lot to the movie, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2934 "2025-07-28T22:24:10Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > unpleasant-to-sit-through drama Strongly disagree. I thought _Black Bag_ was a well executed spy thriller that was fun to watch, and I think it was underrated on IMDb. The 96% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes was closer to the mark. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2935 "2025-07-29T09:40:24Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > The songs were just so forgettable and the Harry Potter themes just so tired and familiar. 1. You seem to have bailed before “Popular” (and obviously before “Defying Gravity”) if you think the songs are “forgettable”. 2. “Harry Potter themes”? Even the “Wicked” book predates the first Harry Potter book, never mind the original Baum stories and related films. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2936 "2025-07-29T13:03:09Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > _One special thing about that movie is that a lot of it was shot on location in New York, which had never been done before in a musical. It adds a lot to the movie, IMHO._ I’ve seen that movie a time or two, once in a theater on a big screen. In the “New York, New York” number, if you look closely, you can see random members of the public, a rather large crowd actually, watching the filming. Aside from “New York, New York” and the title tune, most of the music is forgettable. Some is flat-out awful. (Sorry Mr. Bernstein.) But it was a big glossy colorful M-G-M musical, and despite some cringe-worthy songs, it’s a fun watch. And Vera-Ellen (“Miss Turnstiles”) was real dish. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2937 "2025-07-29T14:41:23Z")
**The Last Rifleman** (2023). Pierce Brosnan plays a 92 year old WWII vet who runs away from his Belfast nursing home to attend a D-Day commemoration in France. It’s NOT the war/thriller/drama it’s tagged as. It’s just a sweet little journey picture where most people are good and helpful and understanding. Besides Brosnan; John Amos and Jurgen Prochnow also play nonagenarian veterans. Enjoyable film with some good performances if not any great insights. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2938 "2025-07-29T16:59:13Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > Aside from “New York, New York” and the title tune, most of the music is forgettable. Some is flat-out awful. (Sorry Mr. Bernstein.) No need for apologies - most of those forgettable and/or flat-out awful songs were written by Roger Edens to replace Bernstein’s songs from the original stage musical. (Bernstein was not happy.) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2939 "2025-07-30T00:12:22Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > And Vera-Ellen (“Miss Turnstiles”) was real dish. She was bulimic, and it ruined her throat. If you check it out, she wears high necked outfits or chocker style necklaces. > [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > No need for apologies - most of those forgettable and/or flat-out awful songs were written by Roger Edens to replace Bernstein’s songs from the original stage musical. (Bernstein was not happy.) That “missing link” number in the museum is especially egregious. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/2940 "2025-07-30T07:36:59Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > No need for apologies - most of those forgettable and/or flat-out awful songs were written by Roger Edens to replace Bernstein’s songs from the original stage musical. (Bernstein was not happy.) Especially as Bernstein’s songs are excellent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288.md?page=146) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288.md?page=148)