# 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:** 302
**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 20, 2026, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6024 "2026-07-20T08:52:09Z")
Fun fact: my spouse used to teach the aulos player who plays on the soundtrack (she didn’t teach him aulos - she taught other stuff). Reportedly not a particularly nice person to deal with but a helluva talented musician. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6025 "2026-07-20T15:22:32Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > and a lot of unnecessary exposition got dropped without losing anything. Although I did regret the omission of the movable-bed trick question dialogue at the very end, which I think really caps the poignancy of the Odysseus-Penelope reunion in a lovely way. Pasolini’s version in the 2024 _The Return_ did that bit very well IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6026 "2026-07-20T16:53:13Z")
I had to Google that trick question, as I wasn’t familiar with that part of the story. (And is it _really_ necessary to spoiler-box any element of this?) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6027 "2026-07-20T17:01:56Z")
Well, I didn’t know if readers might like to avoid advance knowledge of which specific bits are omitted from key events in the movie. Yes, I recognize that none of the events are in themselves going to be a surprise to anybody who’s been paying attention to landmarks of Western literature any time in the last 2500 years or so. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6028 "2026-07-20T20:52:22Z")
Saturday night on our flight home my wife and I both watched **Hamnet**. She cried, I was bored. I probably shouldn’t have watched it after spending all day in an airport. Maybe I’ll watch it again when I’m in a better mood. Last night I watched **If I Had Legs I’d Kick You** on HBOMax. Didn’t really get it, don’t understand the title, probably won’t watch it again to see what I’m missing. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2026, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6029 "2026-07-21T15:13:38Z")
**The Odyssey** - It was alright, the 3 hours flew by. My son had no knowledge of the story beforehand and we both enjoyed it. Not as good as Insomnia or Momento, but better than Nolan’s Dark Knight films and way better than Oppenheimer. **Obsession** - It was alright. I get the appeal. **Project Hail Mary** - I had not read the book and thought the story was scientifically weaker than _The Martian_ until I came across some YT vids describing parts of the book the film didn’t cover. In particular [Grace’s arrival and existence on Eridani is fascinating](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ-FCz6lMiI&t=1s). Worth watching, probably well worth reading some day. **Ilya Muromets** - My young son is an avid WWI plane enthusiast. The largest bomber of the war was the Russian Ilya Muromets. Turns out that’s a guys name and the title of a Russian folk tale similar to The Sword in the Stone. Ripe for propaganda, the Soviets released the film Ilya Muromets in 1985 and you can watch it free on Tubi. It was pretty good. Featuring fantastic landscapes and evocative costumes, it falls somewhere between the older versions of _Lord of the Rings_ and _Wizard of Oz_. I was impressed with the camera tricks to make it mythical without CGI. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2026, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6030 "2026-07-21T15:19:47Z")
I’m watching **Violent Night** , a Christmas-themed comedy starring people who probably didn’t have anything to do. David Harbour is reliably funny as a boozy, fed-up real Santa. An over-the-hill Bevery D’Angelo looks to be trying to make some money off of her stint in Christmas Vacation. Her voice is shot from too much booze or cigarettes or both. John Leguizamo tries hard to be a vicious criminal and does well with what cards he was dealt. The laughs are few half-way through, with a couple of solid bits and several lame ones. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2026, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6031 "2026-07-21T15:29:07Z")
**The Long Walk** , HBO. Inna and I really enjoyed this one, Inna moreso than I as she said the set and costume design was very reminiscent of the Soviet Union. **Hell or High Water** , HBO. We also enjoyed this Taylor Sheridan penned “modern western”. Inna noted that if the shot didn’t get him, the rattlesnake would have. ---
**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 21, 2026, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6032 "2026-07-21T16:00:47Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > **The Long Walk** on HBO. Based on a book by Stephen King. Unless you really like watching people walking and being killed, I’d pass on this one. Boring and predictable. I remember some SD board discussion of this. I couldn’t figure out the appeal. “This is a real book? Was King tripin’ on Ambien?” ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2026, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6033 "2026-07-21T16:40:33Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I’m watching **Violent Night** , a Christmas-themed comedy Aha! Years ago I saw a preview where some bad guys had Santa tied to a chair and he is looking malevolently POed about it. You can tell things will not go for the BGs. Unfortunately by the time I made it home the title had evaporated from my mind and I could not track it down. From the timing this has to be it. Was there such a scene? > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I remember some SD board discussion of this. I couldn’t figure out the appeal. “This is a real book? Was King tripin’ on Ambien?” From the wiki entry on the book: > While not the first of King’s novels to be published, _The Long Walk_ was the first novel he wrote, having begun it in 1966–67 during his freshman year at the [University of Maine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Maine "University of Maine"), some eight years before his first published novel, _[Carrie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_(novel) "Carrie (novel)")_, was released in 1974. So not surprising. A writer I know estimated it literally takes about a million words before a novelist hits their stride, three generous books’ worth. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2026, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6034 "2026-07-21T16:53:35Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Was there such a scene? I’m only about halfway through it, but that sounds like a likely scene. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2026, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6035 "2026-07-21T17:38:02Z")
Correct, Not really a spoiler, Santa gets away or else the movie gets a lot shorter. The movie is in my Christmas rotation along with Reindeer Games and Nakatomi towers. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6036 "2026-07-23T12:37:51Z")
**Masters of the Universe** released on Amazon Prime yesterday. I enjoyed it. It understood what it was and leaned into it. The Brian May collaboration on the score made it sound like Flash Gordon. ---
**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 23, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6037 "2026-07-23T13:58:41Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > The Brian May collaboration on the score made it sound like Flash Gordon. Okay, that moves it up the list to “must see”. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6038 "2026-07-23T21:19:40Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > **The Odyssey** - It was alright, the 3 hours flew by. Yeah, that would be my review. The only thing that bugged me was Telemachus consistently referring to Mom and Dad. For some reason it just pulled me out of the character. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6039 "2026-07-23T21:42:45Z")
Just watched the new Masters of the Universe movie and it pisses me off that it bombed. This movie deserved to be at least a mild success, it’s funny and goofy and sweet and at no point it takes itself or the source material seriously. Which is the only way a He-Man movie would ever work. Hell, even Jared Leto was absolutely perfect as Skeletor, and I haven’t enjoyed anything he’s been in since My So Called Life. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2026, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6040 "2026-07-23T23:32:56Z")
Rocky and Rocky 2 Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith AMC Both 1970’s movies hold up really well. I’ve always felt it was amazing first time writer Sylvester Stallone wrote and acted in such a heartfelt movie. What an amazing accomplishment. The casting is so good that it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing these characters. I highly recommend watching. 9 out of 10 ---
**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 24, 2026, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6041 "2026-07-24T00:15:48Z")
One of the trailers I saw before _The Odyssey_ was a Stallone bio-pic about the making of _Rocky._ ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6042 "2026-07-24T01:39:07Z")
Agreed. Threw it on to kill time and liked it more than I should have. My kids wore out He-Man DVDs on road trips when they were kids. Sure, there was a lot of wrong, but “Fisto” saying “Let’s fist some bad guys” and “Give them head, Ram-Man” was enough to make me consider the time well-spent. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2026, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6043 "2026-07-24T02:01:56Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > One of the trailers I saw before _The Odyssey_ was a Stallone bio-pic about the making of _Rocky_ [I Play Rocky](https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/i-play-rocky-trailer-anthony-ippolito-stars-as-sly-stallone/ar-AA27YZM6) I definitely want to watch when it comes out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288.md?page=301) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288.md?page=303)