Rewatched Inglorious Basterds out of boredom. It turned out to be as annoying as I remembered.
I’d never seen it, so gave it a try. Lost me due to QT’s over-enamored with his own dialogue-writing, made worse by being in a homage to the genre where Alistair Maclean’s (Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare, etc.) advice was to always keep the action going. Instead we got one “tension-building” talkathon after another about how Germans count on their fingers or eat strudel.
Among the classic action movies he raided for their music was Jacques Loussier‘s theme from Dark of the Sun, which distracted me by making me wish I were watching it instead.
Toxic Avenger (2025) (or 2023 if you prefer)
Recommended.
Not as, uh, trashy, as the first four Toxic Avengers movies. I think that works in its favor as it is actually a really good reboot of the Toxie series.
Peter Dinklage is great and I appreciate any time he has a role that does not address his height. He was just cast because he is good and, well, famous.
Fun, funny, well made. Shame it took two whole years to get a distributor.
K-Pax, 2001, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Daniels (Netflix).
A rare ‘hated the book, loved the movie’, I read this one as part of a science fiction reading group I belonged to in the early 2000s, and didn’t like it because (a) the book read as if the author wanted a movie to be made out of it, and (b), it wasn’t really science fiction.
Don’t really remember much about the book any more (wasn’t there some sort of trial or hearing?) but the movie was pretty good if you can get over the ‘people in the insane asylum being all cutesy and shit’ trope. Spacey was excellent, one of the very few actors who can believably play evil (House of Cards) and innocence (this one) and various in-between (Margin Call).
Daniels was good, but he was one of those characters where you end up asking ‘was this guy even good at his job?’, and his Long Island house was too swank for a mid-level psychiatrist in Manhattan.
Populated by a lot of ‘that guys’ with a surprise appearance by a young Aaron Paul at the end, this is also a good examination of what people did before we spent all of our times looking at screens in public places, lol.
I watched Mission Impossible Final Reckoning. It was all maguffin. A lot of ridiculously epic, last minute desperation, gobbledegook spouting action, as usual, but painfully amped up entirely for a lot of maguffin chasing.
I hope we get a new ongoing action espionage series to compete with Bond going forward, I think it can be done without the stratospheric budgets.
Fantastic Four: First Steps.
This was our consolation prize for the fact Honey, Don’t! wasn’t in theaters.
I haven’t seen a Fantastic Four movie since that abomination with Miles Teller.
In the wrong hands, Mr. Fantastic is just a dick. But Pedro Pascal plays him thoughtfully. He’s odd, he’s pensive and a bit detached. Sometimes he hurts people’s feelings unintentionally, but you never doubt he cares.
Anyway the coolest thing about this movie is GALACTUS! This Galactus is rad! He’s towering and grave and tragic and HUNGRY everything my little heart dreamed he would be!
A+ for Galactus.
A- final grade.
I’m watching Highest 2 Lowest, a Spike Lee joint starring Denzel and other decent actors (except for that ham that does the “Mayhem” insurance ads). It’s okay, but predictable, and the constant music playing in the background, even when there is just conversation happening, is distractingly unnecessary. Not sure I’m going to finish it; while it’s just over two hours, it seems a LOT longer.
Watched “No Hard Feelings” with Jennifer Lawrence last night. We enjoyed it. It was formulaic with a few laugh-out-loud moments. The cast was likeable enough. Decent way to spend 90 minutes. I was surprised at JLaw’s nudity (can’t say I have seen her in much but she was already a star when this was made.) She’s not afraid to put it out there.
I also enjoyed it but couldn’t help thinking it could have been made 10 years ago, with Maddie as a Gen Xer and Percy as a Millennial - and the generational stereotypes would have been exactly the same.
Agreed. The stereotypes were humorous though.
The Conjuring: Last Rites
Meh, neither recommended nor not recommended.
It’s another reasonable well made, but not great Conjuring movie. Nothing happens in this one that feels any more dangerous or climactic than any other. It does seem to be the ending for this series, but I don’t think the studios will turn down making more. I see this made big bucks this weekend.
Did you see or enjoy any other Conjuring movies? This is one of those. Same thing, same deal.
I saw The Naked Gun tonight. The new Liam Neeson version.
I had been told that this was a funny movie by reviewers and by people I know and whose judgment I respect. So I can only conclude that I entered a parallel universe where this incredibly unfunny movie was playing at a place that looks remarkably like my local cinema.
So did I. I was rather disappointed. I suspect that kind of humor started to exceed its shelf life with Austin Powers twenty years ago. The thirty-somethings I work with thought it was hilarious. I’m 62 and this is probably the hundredth film of this ilk I have seen and I would probably rank it near the bottom.
I think that if it really HAD been in the style of the first three Naked Gun movies/Police Squad TV show, it would’ve been much funnier. When Ken Finkleman made the sequel Airplane 2, I thought he did a fabulous job of re-creating the Abrahams-Zucker-Abrahams style and humor. In fact, when I first saw it, I didn’t realize that it wasn’t the work of ZAZ. That style of humor is difficult to pull off. He really did a great job with the unending rush of sight gags, puns, non-sequiturs, and funny lines pilin on top of each other.
The Naked Gun reboot didn’t manage it. The jokes weren’t as relentless, giving you time to ponder how bad the previous joke had been before they tried another. To their credit, they didn’t overdo the direct copies from the original films (“cigar?” “Yes, I believe it is” or “Take a chair” “I already have enough chairs at home.” But then they had to finish the scene with “I think I WILL take a chair, and then having her drag it out of the station in an overlong sequence).
To their greater credit, they didn’t re-use the “and don’t call me Shirley” line. Although they could’ve used more silliness along that style. The whole “over macho grande” section in Airplane 2 was exactly that sort of thing, another case of Finkleman getting the ZAZ formula right.
They did proper homage to the first series, with the picture of Drebbin, the shot of the stuffed beaver, and even the guest shot of “Weird al” Yankovic, but there really wasn’t any need to have the son of Ed Hocken (George Kennedy) in there, and I think the O.J. Simpson gag was kinda tasteless.
The only part I really liked were the closing credits. They restrained themselves and played it straight for so lng that I didn’t think they’d have any credits gags, but they eventualy did get to them, with the great final after-credits sequence
I agree with both of youse. Due to pricing, I decided to pay the extra $5 to buy the digital version (over the rental price). If I ever watch it again, it won’t be for at least a year, and I doubt I’ll show it to anyone else.
In my simple rating system I still gave it 3 stars, because I applaud the sincere effort and there a few-a very few-laughs. Probably a single episode of Angie Tribeca has more.
And while I agree Neeson performed well, I think he was horribly miscast. What made Nielsen work in the role is because we can imagine him as a 1970s TV cop; heck, George Kennedy actually was! Liam just doesn’t have that kind of presence, that style.
I laughed harder at the new Naked Gun than at any other movie this year and probably last year too. I thought it was absolutely hilarious. 
I saw Twinless this weekend and highly recommend it. It’s a dark comedy/dramedy with some twists and turns, and still very touching. The two main actors (one of whom also wrote and directed) are amazing. I got an extra kick out of seeing a lot of recognizable Portland locations.
Avoid spoilers, just go see it.
I decided to start with Aliens (1986), since I was in the mood for more of an action film.
Other than a few of the visual effects, it too still holds up. I did find Bill Paxton’s character to be a bit tiring after a while.
Second this! One of my top films of the year so far. Saw it last night and wasn’t prepared for how good it was. Really don’t watch any trailers, just see it.
I’m with you on this. I cannot understand the positive reviews and the praise that some are giving it in the dedicated thread for this movie. It was worse than unfunny – it was pretty much unwatchable. I gave up after about 50 minutes, and not a single chuckle. Meanwhile I thought all three of the old films with Leslie Nielsen (and the TV shows) were hilarious – very silly, but very funny.