# 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:** 309
**Author:** ![BomTek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bomtek/32/21364_2.png) [@BomTek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BomTek)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6164 "2026-08-09T05:11:23Z")
I saw _Spider-Man: Brand New Day_ a couple nights ago… I quite liked it overall, but thought it went just a little long. IDK how to mark spoilers, so I’ll just say that I was hoping to see one or two characters that I didn’t see but happy to see one character I wasn’t expecting. I’m sure there was a lot I missed, but I’ve certainly lost a lot of steam on the MCU since _Endgame_. ETA: it’s hilarious to me that people are taking issue with apparently-down-on-his-luck, street-level Peter Parker having a massive space in Queens and a $2000 phone, as if he doesn’t know anyone at any superhero level who would help him get a phone if it made stopping bank robberies a little easier. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2026, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6165 "2026-08-09T09:36:41Z")
> [@BomTek](#): > > ETA: it’s hilarious to me that people are taking issue with apparently-down-on-his-luck, street-level Peter Parker having a massive space in Queens and a $2000 phone, as if he doesn’t know anyone at any superhero level who would help him get a phone if it made stopping bank robberies a little easier. Most of the superheroes he knew don’t remember their relationship with him anymore. And the one who funded him the most is dead. His current superhero buddy group appears to consist of Frank. Anyway: we watched **Masters of the Universe** , which was a lot of fun. It is entirely saved by being tongue-in-cheek. That said, please don’t make the implied sequel - this shtick is unlikely to work twice. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6166 "2026-08-09T11:21:42Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > She was also in _The General_ (1998), a significant and well-regarded movie. I missed that film, stuck it on my list of things to see… Looks interesting. (I’m also wondering if I’m the only one who sees the name John Boorman and thinks Martin Bormann) ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6167 "2026-08-09T13:43:21Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And that reminds me that a decade ago, I saw the movie _[Sing Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing_Street)_ in the theaters. It’s a bit like _The Commitments_, in that it’s about young people starting a band in Dublin, and it was written and directed by John Carney, who of course made _Once_. Yeah, _Sing Street_ is delightful - definitely recommended, particularly if you like 80s music. Like _Once_, they tried to make a stage musical out of it, but I don’t think it got very far. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2026, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6168 "2026-08-09T13:50:03Z")
Last night I watched **Secret of the Incas** (1954) – the DVD copy I’d ordered finally came in. I’ve been curious about this for quite a while because it’s been argued that Charlton Heston’s character Harry Steele in the movie is supposed to be the direct inspiration for Indiana Jones, especially the costume: > Throughout _Secret of the Incas_, the main character, Harry Steele, can be seen wearing what would later become known as the “[Indiana Jones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_(character) "Indiana Jones (character)")” outfit: brown leather jacket, fedora, tan pants, an over-the-shoulder bag, and revolver It’s true – he even has the trademark stubble (said to be rare for a leading man in a 1958 film). All he’s missing is the whip, and maybe Marion Ravenwood. > _Raiders_’ costume designer [Deborah Nadoolman Landis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Nadoolman_Landis "Deborah Nadoolman Landis") noted that the inspiration for Indiana’s costume was [Charlton Heston](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Heston "Charlton Heston")’s Harry Steele in _Secret of the Incas_: “We did watch this film together as a crew several times, and I always thought it strange that the filmmakers did not credit it later as the inspiration for the series” There are other things that are similar – you’ve got Steele (who’s not an archaeologist, but an "adventurer and kind of a con man) facing off against rival fortune hunter Ed Morgan (played by Thomas Mitchell, one of those character actors you know by sight, but not by name. He was Scarlett O’Hara’s father in _Gone with the Wind_ and Uncle Billy in _It’s a Good Life_.), and the two of them are constantly taking or threatening to take things from each other, like Indy and Belloq. In fact, you can understand what Spielberg nd Lucas were trying to do with Indy by watching the interplay of Steele and Morgan. The problem is that Steele is definitely morally ambiguous, while you never doubted that Indy was straight-up honest. Despite Belloq’s line, you never felt that it would only take a little change in fortune to make Indy like him. There’s also a scene in a tomb where a shaft of sunlight going through a one-of-a-kind artifact reveals where a treasure is hidden (and there’s even a model of the room to show how it’s used, as with the “Map Room” in _Raiders of the Lost Arc_. Has anything like this EVER existed in ANY culture?). Like a lot of people, I assumed that Indiana Jones’ garb was based on that of Roy Chapman Andrews, paleontologist (not archaeologist) who went hunting in Mongolia and found protoceratops fossils and the first-ever discovered dinosaur eggs (not believed to be from another dinosaur, not proroceratops). Later on he was president of the American Museum of Natural History. (He also wrote several books about his adventures that I read as a kid)Between trucking off into the desert wilderness and his dressing in the leather jacket and fedora he seemed the perfect model, but apparently they never even discussed him at the Raiders conceptualizing meetings. I don’t think Raiders was drawn wholly from this film. The episodic structure undoubtedly derives from the cheaply-made chapter plays that were a standard of lots of studios – movie serials, that is. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” simply improved them by using ba MUCH bigger budget and taking out all the “TUne in Next Week” announcements, letting you see the hero get himself out of the latest predicament immediately, rather than in another week. But I think the biggest influence was Carl Barks’ “Uncle Scrooge” stories. Barks sent his duck heroes off into distant lands in search of treasures. I wrote a piece about is in our sadly defunct e-zine _Teemings_, entitled “Only the Penitent Duch Shall Pass”. I point out that each of the first three Indiana Jones movies has one or more images that seem to be drawn from the 1959 Uncle Scrooge story “THe Prize of Pizarro” (other reviewers have also pointed out the similarity to Uncle Scrooge, but they choose a different story. This one’s the Real McCoy) – the giant rolling stone boulder, the deadly blade that almost hops their heads off (but they’re ducks, so they’re too short), the Chasm of the Leap for Life, and the tunnel that fills with water that they run to desperately escape, jinking sideways as soo as they exit the tunnel to leave a spout of pressurized water to shoot out of the gap. I blame the lack of success in the later Indiana Jones series o the m NOT taking scenes from this story. Or any other Uncle Scrooge story, for that matter. Looking like CHarlton Heston can only take you so far. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2026, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6169 "2026-08-09T14:11:08Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > But I keep thinking of how things would be changed it it was made now. The chase would be all cg! 🙂 You really wouldn’t have to change much. It is sort of timeless. True, you can’t get a gun on a plane anymore. Bullitt would have a cell phone. You know the biggest “fault” of the movie? If the shooter had sprung for one more shotgun shell, the entire movie would have been different. “Ross” would be dead, Ross would escape with the money, the two shooters would be alive. Chalmers might get Bullitt punished for his “negligence”. Cheap-assed lazy hitman! Did you know the TV series Spenser for Hire did an episode that was nearly a ripoff. (Spenser even drove a 68 green Fastback). Except in one crucial difference. Where in Bullitt, Stanton gets caught off guard and takes a bullet to the leg, and not-Ross gets killed, Hawk, who is taking the Stanton role, is ready and blows away the hitmen. The mute witness lives. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2026, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6170 "2026-08-09T14:13:34Z")
**Striking Distance** 1993 Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Farina Free movie on my Vizio home screen. Never heard of it before. The early 90’s weren’t easy for Bruce. Hudson Hawk, The Last Boy Scout and others didn’t live up to Die Hard’s success. Pulp Fiction was still a few years later. _Striking Distance_ starts slowly. Bruce Willis testifies against his partner for excessive force. Most cops shun him. Meanwhile there’s a serial killer that’s targeting women from Bruce Willis’ past. The movie gets better in the 2nd half. The last 15 minutes is riveting. Bruce plays a very unlikeable, alcoholic character. It’s hard to believe Sarah Jessica Parker’s character has romantic feelings for the jerk. The extended family of career cops is very interesting. Adds another dimension to their connection with Bruce Willis and his reputation as a rat that turned in his partner. I recommend watching. Don’t expect _Die Hard_.. 7.5 out of 10 ---
**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:** [August 9, 2026, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6171 "2026-08-09T14:15:02Z")
Oh, another thing – watching this movie is cringeworthy in how obsequious the Peruvians are to the gringos. Robert Young (Father knows best! Marcus Welby!) plays the archaeologist Stanley Moorhead , and all the Peruvians are subserviant to him, even asking his permission to do things that you wouldn’t think they were needed for. I can understand the Chief Archaeologist being in charge of the dig, but this film takes it too far. It’s kind of like watching the Frank Capra movie _Lost Horizon_ (which also had Thomas Mitchell in it) – the gringos are really well-treated, like superior beings, and they all seem to feel that this is how things ought to be. The film was shot in Peru with the assistance of the government, who pretty clearly cooperated. But I suspect they gritted their teeth while doing it. No wonder morally ambiguous Harry Steele gives the treasure back at the end – I couldn’t see the Peruvian government giving their blessing to a film that had American Adventurers successfully robbing an Incan tomb. On the other hand, according to Wikipedia, tourism in Peru soared after the film came out, so maybe they had a good idea of what they were doing. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6172 "2026-08-09T15:22:04Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > He was Scarlett O’Hara’s father in _Gone with the Wind_ and Uncle Billy in _It’s a Good Life_. The lesser know sequel to _it’s a Wonderful Life._ ---
**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:** [August 9, 2026, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6173 "2026-08-09T15:44:01Z")
“He’s 38 years old, with a hangdog face and blue, guileless eyes. But when those eyes look at you, you’d better not foreclose on mortgages, because the mind behind them is absolutely in charge.” ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6174 "2026-08-09T16:12:36Z")
Yesterday I had a John Carpenter/ Kurt Russell triple feature. They made three great 1980’s movies together. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6175 "2026-08-09T16:29:15Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > > [@dirtball](#): > > > > **Repo Man**. I saw this one in the theater when it was released, and it didn’t much resonate with me. I’m not saying I thought it was bad, but it just didn’t draw me in. Then, just a couple of days ago, I saw that it was on the Criterion Channel, so I thought I’d revisit it and see how I’d react after all these years. Same thing, really. I just can’t get into it, and I don’t know why. “On paper,” I should. > > I may have been the perfect age for that movie. It was the most overly quoted movie in my friends group in high school. Loved it then and now. Same for me. Loved the movie, loved the sound track. Loved the warped humor and warped take on social commentary. A cult classic: deservedly so. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2026, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6176 "2026-08-09T17:05:36Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > It was the most overly quoted movie in my friends group in high school. Forty years later, any of us might drop the phrase _plate o shrimp_ and everyone knows what’s meant. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6177 "2026-08-09T17:18:17Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Forty years later, any of us might drop the phrase _plate o shrimp_ and everyone knows what’s meant. Exactly! I’ve even heard some people make a point using “plate o’ shrimp” logic. It’s all part of the cosmic unconsciousness… ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6178 "2026-08-09T17:35:45Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Forty years later, any of us might drop the phrase _plate o shrimp_ and everyone knows what’s meant. Ah, yes. I’ll say that that scene sticks with me as a favorite. (In spite of “not resonating” with me as a whole, the movie has its high points.) ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6179 "2026-08-09T17:57:30Z")
I have no issue with anything you posted about _Secrets of the Incas_, but dude, all those words and you can’t spare one for Yma Sumac? She is sensational in the flick: ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/R-C7jZfAQ34/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/R-C7jZfAQ34?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RDR-C7jZfAQ34 ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6180 "2026-08-09T21:54:06Z")
_ **Wet Hot American Summer** _ (2001) I’d never seen this before. The wife and I checked it out yesterday. It’s the last day of summer camp in 1981, and everyone is preparing for the talent show that night, or trying to get laid, or both. That’s pretty much the whole plot. A very impressive cast - including Janeane Garafolo, David Hyde Pierce, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, and some other familiar faces - goof around and ham for the camera for an hour and a half. It’s a weird mix of absurdism and parody that doesn’t even try to be earnest, all on a shoestring budget. Some of the jokes land, some don’t, and when it’s all over you’re left wondering what the hell you just watched. Still fun, and I may even check out the short pair of TV series that came later. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2026, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6181 "2026-08-09T23:14:59Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > **Striking Distance** 1993 Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Farina Is this the one set in Pittsburgh? Because if so I enjoyed it a lot less than you did. But at least I give it credit for not being nearly as bad as _The Color of Night_. ---
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6182 "2026-08-10T01:55:28Z")
**Spider-Man: Brand New Day** (2026) in theaters. I tend not to watch many previews these days, so I had not in depth analyzed frame-by-frame what is in them. That means I went into this one mostly blind thought I did know of one character from related properties that would be in it. That being said, the plot, although it had some twists was fairly predictable at points. I liked a lot of the visuals, and the comedy worked in the places where it was inserted. For a middling comic book fan that I am, there were also a few shots that came directly from a comic book cover. There were many directions they could have gone with this film and story, but what they did with it worked and did not feel overly familiar. I enjoyed seeing all the original spider-man group again, and I would not mind seeing it develop further. Overall, a solid film that I would watch again (and actually might soon as my plans to watch with one friend fell through, so we may reschedule). `//i\\` ---
**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:** [August 10, 2026, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288/6183 "2026-08-10T01:56:13Z")
Yes, **Striking Distance** was shot in Pittsburgh. The movie has many flaws. I mainly liked the conflict within a family of cops. I wish the main character had been a little more sympathetic or even likeable. Bruce can usually portray flawed characters that the audience supports. This character was way too flawed for even Bruce to redeem him. I probably should rate it 6 out of 10. I was too generous with my earlier 7.5. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288.md?page=308) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youve-seen-recently-part-2/1006288.md?page=310)