Also watched Fountain of Youth with John Krasinski and Natalie Portman. A rather lame attempt to clone the Indiana Jones movies. Worse, there were hints at the end that there may be a sequel. Please, god, no.
Watched Trap, a M Shamamalamdingdong movie with his daughter doing a pop star act. I thought it was ok, but it was kind of ruined by the police being massively incompetent again and again near the end. Which ruined it for me. Without that bit, I’d have thought more of it.
I’ve been calling him that since I first heard about him because I have never been able to remember his name. I’ve never heard anyone else refer to him that way until now. I thought it was original with me! I guess great minds do think alike.
Sorry, @XOldiesJock, I’ve been hearing people saying it for years, usually derisively. It is kind of funny but I like him so I don’t say it (out loud that is).
Yeah, people having been calling him that for 25 years. It’s not clever. TBH it always felt a bit racist, like Indian names are sooooo weird and confusing let’s make fun of them. It’s not even that hard a name and he’s been famous since 1999.
I think Howard Stern used the name a lot.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard his name pronounced out loud, so famous or not, not sure how I can say it. I more use that name mostly to reflect the quality of his movies, which have not been that great. The best I can say is he’s not as bad as Uwe Boll. Which I also don’t really know how to pronounce.
None of Shyamalan’s other movies have come anywhere close to the stature of the acclaimed The Sixth Sense, but I’ll give him credit for being more than just a one-hit wonder. I like his genre and he’s produced decent if not stellar films like Signs and The Village. Unfortunately he’s very uneven and has produced stinkers that fall below the 6.0 IMDb rating that I generally consider to be the minimum to be worth spending time on. Trap is just below the threshold at 5.8. Still, I might give it a shot as it sounds kinda interesting. Apparently it was filmed in Toronto, with some interior scenes in Hamilton. Exterior shots included the ScotiaBank arena (home of the Leafs) and the Rogers Centre (home of the Blue Jays).
I’ve seen most of his movies, it appears, and kind of enjoy them. But there’s always something “wrong” with them. The twist stuff, yeah, people kept giving him money to do twist movies and it was so predictable once you knew his schtick, I think I stopped after about 3 of those. The village was a pointless movie when you enter it going “well, that was obvious”. Six Sense was predictable twist, seeable from the trailer, but could watch once. Again? I tried, to see if anyone else around was reacting to him, but I got bored and found it unwatchable second time around. Unbreakable was ok though, but not as great as everyone thought it was (and indeed twist).
His rebirth out of twistyness did bring me back, and I have at least half enjoyed some of his movies, some more than others. Split was good for allow Mcavoy to showcase his acting skills, and at least two I really liked (even if one had a genuine twist): The visit and Knock at the door.
But it’s the attention to detail which lacks. He seems to do a decent high concept and not employ someone to ask logical questions about the script. “Why didn’t the police do this?” “Why did she do that?”. That’s what makes me struggle with his lesser movies.
I’ll go against the grain and say that I’m a big fan of M. Night Shyamalan. Though to be honest I didn’t love Trap.
I happened to notice Glass on Peacock the other day so I fired it up and thought it was great. Pretty sure it was not received well, but I liked it at the time and liked it again now.
I had also recently watched the Queen’s Gambit for the first time, so after seeing Anya Taylor-Joy again in Glass I decided to rewatch Morgan on HBO Max. It was still just okay. I love Kate Mara but this was not my favorite role of hers. My main takeaway was that I kind of want to rewatch Splice now.
It was hampered by Bruce Willis being in the earliest stages of his dementia. It looks like they subverted expectations by not having them all fight on the top of a big tower, but the smaller fight and the quick deal of Bruce in the movie was a result of his disability.
It makes way more sense knowing that now.
I believe Glass was his final real movie. Everything(?) after that was those atrocious geezer teasers that he took to make a ton of money before he couldn’t do it anymore.
I watch 1974’s The Conversation the other day, first time in like 45 years. I remember some parts being really good, and apparently I completely forgot the parts that were stupid.The good parts were still good, such as the titular conversation recording scene, and editing of it, plus the supporting cast was great.
But why would Caul, an obviously paranoid and secretive person, invite people, some strangers, some his competition(!) back to his inner sanctum? And with predictable results?
I love the probably accidental meta factor that the titular conversation was completely inane, boring, and meaningless, save for the one crucial line. And there was a contemporary making-of doc on the DVD, showing Coppola and Hackman walking around the sets, working on the scenes, and you couldn’t understand their conversation, either!
Ah, the ultimate paragon of tasteful, sophisticated humor.
Goldeneye 1995 Pierce Brosnon
It’s pretty good. The movie ran long for my taste. I was losing interest after the big confrontation on the train.
Then they have to travel to Cuba? For another even bigger confrontation with 006?
I hung in there until the end.
Just like Sean Bean.
Summer of 69 with the amazing Chloe Fineman (SNL) and Sam Morelos (That 90s Show). The two stars are about the only good things about it; it is not as good as the similarly-themed NO HARD FEELINGS from a year or two ago. Among the many plot points that you have to turn your brain off for to appreciate the film, the story is about a strip joint that (a) features no actual nudity, (b) is going out of business, and (c) makes you out to be a bad, uncool person if you point out the connection between a and b.
TMC ran the 1971 Norman Lear-directed Cold Turkey a couple of nights ago. Always funny to me after multiple viewings.
After finishing The Studio I was all set to watch The Silo as I work my way through all the AppleTV+ shows before cancelling. But just as I hit play on The Silo, I remembered there was a movie about people trapped in a tower where food drops down. My impression is that The Silo is similarly themed, so I googled it and fired up…
The Platform (2019) on Netflix. (I went with English subtitles for the Spanish dialogue; I think there’s a dubbed version but no thank you.) It appears at first glance to be a criticism of trickle-down economics, but then took a weird turn into religion. Already losing me in the third act, I just shook my head at the ending. There’s a sequel but I think I’ll just go ahead and watch The Silo instead.
We watched Greyhound, starring (and screenwriting) Tom Hanks as the commander of a group of destroyers tasked with protecting convoy vessels from U-boat attacks during the Battle of the Atlantic. It’s based on a 1955 novel by C.S. Forester, who also wrote “The African Queen.”
Aside from a few early moments introducing his character and his girlfriend (the lovely Elisabeth Shue) they got right into the action, which kept up relentlessly for the next 90 minutes. The action sequences are outstanding.
I’ve always liked movies like this. Hanks and his crews were not in submarines, but it had the same tight claustrophobic feel of some other favorites of mine, “Run Silent, Run Deep” and “Das Boot.”
It’s a “guys” movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t think my wife watched 5 minutes.
Wow, I haven’t even thought of that one in years. The only thing I remember is that Dick Van Dyke is in it.