Late Night with the Devil (Hulu, 2023) A found footage horror film cast on the live set of a failing late night talk show host. It was alright, the novelty carried it through most of the way and while the end was weak I was glad I saw it.
3 stars. Reservedly recommended for fans of B list celebrity horror shows.
The only thing I got from that was that Lorraine Braco looks like a hoot in it. Good thing she has such a recognizable voice or I’d never have known who she was.
I was trying to figure out what movies they had a hand in making ( produced or commissioned) vs distributed.
The Apple Studios wiki should cover the movies they produced or commissioned, and not the ones they were only distributors for.
The List of Apple TV+ original films wiki page should have everything they produced and distributed
I’d agree the former last doesn’t have a whole lot of standout movies.
Final Destination Bloodlines
Recommended!
Wow, this was far and away the best Final Destination(the sixth one!) movie and it was actually a really good horror comedy. They really found ways to make us think one thing would happen only for a completely different type of crazy thing to happen.
I’m not kidding when I say at this early point, this is one of my favorite movies of the year. Lots and lots of movies to come, but this one was hilarious.
Yes, you can skip ALL of the other Final Destination movies. It stands alone.
I think I may have mention this one in this thread before but I don’t know why The Green Hornet (2011) starring Seth Rogan gets such shit … even from Rogan. I think it’s friggin’ awesome. It’s available on PlutoTV right now. Speaking of which, at this very moment, I’m watching Dead Man on Campus (1998) starring Tom Everett Scott and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. It’s one of my favorite flicks. I haven’t seen it streaming in some time. You ought to check it out.
We watched that one a little while back, and I would agree with three stars. Pleasantly entertaining.
I watched The Third Man yesterday. I was impressed with the less than fairy tale ending.
Which Carol Reed had to insist on, over Graham Greene’s protests. Greene wanted a rosy finish.
That’s interesting!
Lilo & Stitch (2025):
We saw it at the Cinema Cafe a couple days ago. There was pre-show entertainment of a live Polynesian dance troupe.
Good movie. Gantu doesn’t appear, and Pleakley doesn’t dress in drag. There are a few changes that would be considered spoilers.
It wouldn’t replace the animated film in my heart, but we all enjoyed it.
I also saw Lilo & Stitch today. It’s been so long since I last saw the original that I had no clue what was new or changed but I really enjoyed it! Stitch is just so darn cute! The young girl who played Lilo was excellent. One of the better live action Disney remakes so far.
Air Force One 1997 Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman
First time viewing. I knew what to expect. I’d seen scenes previewed and online discussions.
Harrison Ford didn’t disappoint. President Marshall has the same tenacity as Jack Ryan.
Very good movie.
Saw Mickey 17 on HBO. It was okay but overly long. Mark Ruffalo’s fake teeth were distractingly bad, I assume as intended. (Reminded me of Matt Dillon in There’s Something About Mary.) The movie sort of gave me the same feeling as Avenue 5, that spaceship show with Hugh Laurie, which I could not get into.
The denouement felt unearned and self-indulgent. After the plot resolves, there’s a 10-15 minute wrap-up segment as if this were the series finale of Six Feet Under. I was nowhere near emotionally invested enough to need any denouement, much less a long one.
Felt like watching a movie that I didn’t have to think much about. The Tomorrow War with Chris Pratt fit the bill. The plot doesn’t hold up to scrutiny but it was decent mindless distraction. I could write a dissertation about what was wrong with the logic but I wasn’t looking for anything I had to analyze.
So I like this director but I feel like he’s got a lot of half-baked themes in his movies. “Capitalism is bad, let’s make vague references to that.”
Also, this is a science fiction premise rife with opportunities to explore complicated questions of identity, what it means to be mortal and all sorts of science-fictiony stuff and there were too many missed opportunities.
It had those adorable potato bug creatures though. I can’t hate it for that.
Reminded me of Nausicaa. Actually I’m pretty sure there were some direct references to Nausicaa, and that’s one of my favorite movies.
Also saw it recently, good action movie but one scene is super annoying to me when the hijacking first happens and the pilots are landing. Really feel the pilots would have “spiked” the engines in advance to prevent it from being used, as opposed to waiting until the terrorists storm the cockpit and having the pilots decide at last second to abort the landing, I mean the pilots know their dead either way right? At least know you died preventing the hijacking.
The Comeback Trail on Paramount+
Weird mashup of The Producers and a Roadrunner cartoon starring Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Tommy Lee Jones. A horse named Butterscotch is the standout performance in this illustrious cast.
My husband and I watched this last week. We enjoyed it. Sometimes cheese is good!
The original Glenn Ford/Donna Reed version of Ransom! (1956, ! is part of the title).
Interesting differences from the 1996 version. A much simpler plot, which unfortunately really drags. It is 20 minutes shorter, but seems longer. And even in that it omits anything to do with the kidnappers. Not only is the lead 'napper not a cop involved in the case, they are never identified. They are never caught. They weren’t even cast. It’s purely a study of the father’s actions.
I preferred the remake, and I never thought I’d say, but Mel Gibson was a better actor. I really believed he was struggling with turning the ransom into a bounty. Ford just seemed to treat it as a business decision, weighing pros and cons, and not his son’s life in the balance. The adage about “how understated can something be before it becomes unstated” to me applies to Ford’s showing his emotions in this movie.
Den of Thieves on NFLX A heist movie that wasn’t bad, although I was a bit confused by the plot twist at the end. I was impressed with the gun usage. I can almost always catch bullshit gun handling, and I didn’t see any glaring errors. No closed ejection ports, no unnecessary slide action, etc. They had a good arms person on staff.