# 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:** 265
**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:** [April 13, 2026, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5284 "2026-04-13T03:47:31Z")
That’s where we watched it too. Since I’ve been staying with my parents these last few weeks, they’ve put me in charge of movies to watch and I thought my mom might enjoy this one. I watched it about six months ago and it just sprung to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5285 "2026-04-13T03:50:35Z")
_Oh my lucky stars…a negro!_ ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5286 "2026-04-13T04:09:36Z")
**Spider Man** 2002 Toby Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, William Dafoe On Max until April 30 I think the entire Trilogy will soon be gone. I wanted to see it before it leaves Max. I enjoyed the first film. I read a few of the spider man comics in elementary school. The Green Goblin’s unmoving mouth bugged me. But, I can’t see Spiderman’s mouth moving under the mask either. Rating 8.5 out of 10 ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5287 "2026-04-13T05:22:08Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Rewatched “A Simple Plan” with Billy Bob, Bill Paxson and Bridget Fonda. It holds up well for something that seems to be trying to be a Coen Brothers movie. I watched that a few months back, hadn’t seen it for a long time. Terrific film, the Coens would be proud to have made it. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2026, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5288 "2026-04-13T08:31:18Z")
The Coens did in fact give director Sam Raimi advice on filming against snow-covered backgrounds (as they had recently done in _Fargo_). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5289 "2026-04-13T11:24:59Z")
I watched the Hallmark YV miniseries version of **Arabian Nights** , as sort of a counterpoint to Pier Paolo Pasolini’s version that I rcently watched. I’m generally impressed with the Hallmark Hall of Fame/Jim Henson company collaborations. Within the limits imposed by a TV miniseries, they did excellent versions of _The Odyssey_ and _Jason and the Argonauts_ (more faithful to Apollonius’ story that Harryhausen’s version, blasphemous though that may be to write). The added extra dimension to _Gulliver’s Travels_ and covered more of the book’s usually unexplored territory. Similarly, this quarter od a century old entry – Arabian Nights – is both very faithful and pushes into new interpretations. They concentrate on the framing story of Sharzad (Scheherazade) , which almost no other version does (even those with her name in the title). They show the mechanics of storytelling and ask what the purpose and point of the telling is, and minimize the misogyny of the original. They manufacture a civil war between Shahryar and his brother, but I see why they did it. And the special effects are gorgeous. On the other hand, I’ a little disappointed to see that all but one of the stories (and th framing story) are NOT actually from the body of the 1001 Nights – The stories of Ali Baba, of Aladdin, and of The Three Brothers (part of the story of Ahmed and the Peri Banu) do not have any traceable Indian or Persian originals. In Richard Burton’s translation (which they say they were drawing from) these are all in the “supplemental nights” volumes. In fact, modern scholars believe that these stories were originals, mad up by Hanna Diyab, the person who related the Arabian Nights stories to Antoine Galland (who first published them in a European tongue). He seems to have made them up himself using middle eastern story tropes and – in the case of Aladdin – bits of his own biography. That sort of explains the Magic Telescope in the story of the three brothers – the thing seems horribly anachronistic in a story we assume to be a millennium or more old, but makes sense if it was composed at the opening of the 18th century, when telescopes were common. (When Douglas Fairbanks co-opted the story as part of the 1924 _Thief of Baghdad_ he turned the “telescope” into a crystal ball) It also means that a lot of things we assume are standard parts of the Arabian Nights aren’t really ancient traditional story elements at all, but part of a muh morev recent individual creation – The story of Aladdin, the Genie in a Magic Lamp, “Open Sesame”, the flying carpet – these are all “modern” inventions. It would’ve been more interesting if Hallmark had adapted some of the lesser-known stories. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2026, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5290 "2026-04-13T11:34:08Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Here’s the the thing, though … there is practically no “film-making” in this film. It is all just curated and edited clips and snippets mostly from police body cams. There is no narration, there are no captions, there is a hint of a score during a couple of scenes, but that’s it. It watches like an episode of _Cops_. None of that is to say that it isn’t a compelling watch about a horrible case but I cannot fathom why it was up for an Oscar. It is pretty art-less. I strongly disagree. The reason _A Perfect Neighbor_ was up for an Oscar was that it told a very compelling, emotional story that was crafted in a uniquely creative way. It’s not easy to tell a coherent story using only police body cam videos (and also real-life courtroom video clips). It was a terrific accomplishment. The only reason it didn’t win was the same reason many other very deserving Oscar nominees in many other categories didn’t win – ultimately the judges have to pick just one, and the choice is often rather arbitrary. The way I usually prefer to look at it is that **all** the nominees are winners. I think _Mr Nobody Against Putin_ was probably selected because it told a larger, more internationally relevant story. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5291 "2026-04-13T12:14:34Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Watched the latest - and hopefully last - Mission Impossible movie. Or perhaps it should be called Mission Preposterous. A pretty muddled mess, IMO. Cruise is still fit in his 60s, but looking fairly jowly. They’re supposed to be preposterous. This is a world where matters of foreign policy can be resolved by climbing the Burj Khalifa, clinging to the side of a moving airplane, or suddenly pulling your face off to reveal you’re actually a totally different person! I ended up watching it with my 9 year old daughter. She’s never seen an M:I film before. I think it blew her mind. > [@wolfpup](#): > > _Mr Nobody Against Putin_ was probably selected because it told a larger, more internationally relevant story. I assume this film has nothing to do with the 2009 Jared Leto sci-fi film or the Bob Odenkirk action films? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5292 "2026-04-13T13:14:01Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > The Coens did in fact give director Sam Raimi advice on filming against snow-covered backgrounds (as they had recently done in _Fargo_). Yeah, those guys were housemates for a while, the conversations must’ve been interesting. A Simple Plan does have a Coen Brothers feel, but it does also follow the plot of the Scott Smith book pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5293 "2026-04-13T13:41:09Z")
**Nuremberg.** My wife thought it was excellent. I though Rami Malek was miscast, and it put me to sleep after about 15 minutes, so I have no opinion one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5294 "2026-04-13T15:08:56Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > A Simple Plan does have a Coen Brothers feel, but it does also follow the plot of the Scott Smith book pretty well. Totally agree. The book, I thought, was excellent, as was the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5295 "2026-04-13T15:36:18Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > A Simple Plan does have a Coen Brothers feel, but it does also follow the plot of the Scott Smith book pretty well. I don’t think I’ve read the book. Every actor in the movie was well-defined, even the “FBI agent” with his small role and the police chief were memorable. I’ve always thought Billy Bob is a terrific actor. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5296 "2026-04-13T15:48:24Z")
The book is good, and one thing I remember, part of their publicity drive was noting that it had already sold movie rights as it was being published. The only other book he wrote was _The Ruins,_ which was a pretty good horror novel. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5297 "2026-04-13T15:51:12Z")
I thought so too. I wish Scott Smith would write more. ---
**Author:** ![Scoobysnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5298 "2026-04-13T16:04:30Z")
I just watched **War Machine** last night. The first half when they were all training was ok. The second half when they were fighting the alien machine got ridiculous pretty quickly. Dennis Quaid really phoned in his role; luckily he was in maybe 3 minutes of the film. I agree with Smithsb’s 1.5 star rating. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2026, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5299 "2026-04-13T16:07:12Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Brendan Frazier Fraser. But, yeah, I liked this when I saw it ages ago. Pleasant. What I enjoyed about _A Simple Plan_ is that the complications piled up and up and … But it still felt very natural and organic. Much like in a Coen brothers film! ---
**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:** [April 13, 2026, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5300 "2026-04-13T16:17:34Z")
On a recent flight I caught the first half hour of **Honey Don’t** (I ran out of flight before I ran out of film) and thought that it felt a lot more like a Coen Brothers film than **Drive Away Dolls** did, even though both are Ethan’s doing. Dunno if that continued through the film, obvs. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2026, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5301 "2026-04-13T18:11:51Z")
**2010: The Year We Make Contact** (1984) First watch in 40 years. Except for the antiquated computer displays, it hold up well. Bob Balaban is good as HAL’s creator, but I think he was cast just to give Roy Scheider a co-star who looks like Richard Dreyfus. I’d forgotten Helen Mirren plays the Russian commander. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5302 "2026-04-13T19:13:41Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > First watch in 40 years. Except for the antiquated computer displays, it hold up well. Bob Balaban is good as HAL’s creator, but I think he was cast just to give Roy Scheider a co-star who looks like Richard Dreyfus. I’d forgotten Helen Mirren plays the Russian commander. Yeah – I never bought Bob Balaban as “Doctor Chandra”. Should’ve been an actor of Indian ancestry there. As for the displays, I remember that at the time the film was released they were saying that in the future it would look disappointing – the computer displays in the original 2001 were animated and still stand up, but you can see the flaws when they used actual computer displays. I still think the film would be a thousand times better if they simply took out all the voice-overs. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/5303 "2026-04-13T20:47:57Z")
Just watched “12 Monkeys” with Bruce Willis and a really young-looking Brad Pitt. I saw it long ago but couldn’t remember any of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288.md?page=264) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288.md?page=266)