Just finished Mayday on Apple. Ryan Reynolds, Kenneth Branagh in a comedy about a fighter pilot who ends up in Soviet Russia. Entertaining.
I saw that. It was fun enough.
Stupid and pointless, imo. It’s Oscar bait, and not very good Oscar bait.
I would not nominate Pattinson for it and the closest thing to a good performance was the guy who posed as bait for the predators.
I don’t see how this movie even made it to production. So silly and stupid.
Drop Dead Gorgeous, 1999, on Prime.
This was an attempt to find something to watch with my 14 year old daughter, amd while some recent attempts have failed, this one hit. Some lovely dark humour, a high rate if throwaway gags, amd a real skewering of small town power as well as the tackies and creepiness of Miss Teen pageants.
Luca
Pixar animation from a few years ago about a boy who explores the small world of a 1960s (I think) Italian coastal village. Oh and he’s a sea ‘monster’.
The animation for this was fantastic, really vibrant and imaginative. But the narrative and the script were pretty mediocre and below Pixar’s high standards. It raised a few giggles from me but no uncontrollable fits of laughter, and the emotional connection was a bit lacking. Worth watching but probably just the once.
6/10
I just watched this (on Netflix), and agree with aceplace57. Unknown rates at least 10 out of 10 as an exciting suspenseful thriller. It’s ridiculously far-fetched and unrealistic, but so are many of the best thrillers (e.g. James Bond, Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings!).
Action thriller is NOT a favorite genre for me, but Unknown is excellent. It gets 6.9 IMDB and 56% Tomatoes: These numbers should be much higher.
The Day After Tomorrow 2004
Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ian Holm, Emmy Rossum, Sela Ward
Prime UHD offer - $4.99 purchase
It’s the ultimate climate disaster movie. One of my favorite Dennis Quaid films.
Highly recommend watching
9 out of 10
I watched The Menu last night. I went in knowing nothing more than it’s about a chef that has a ‘shocking surprise’. I figured we were going to find out they were eating people, or something similarly disturbing.
After I started watching, what seemed ‘obvious’ to me was that this was ‘obviously’ going to be an Agatha Christie style murder mystery. Private dinner, invite only, remote island with no outside communications. Not only was I wrong about it being a whodunit, it wasn’t even a howcatchem, it was more of a WhyDunIt? Is whydunit even a thing?
I do have one question for people that have seen it.
If they all knew they were about to die, why were they so worried about their secrets being exposed or their finger being cut off (and needing to get to a hospital) or anything else for that matter. The best answer I can find is that he was essentially a cult leader and they were drinking the kool-aid (I know, I know it was flavor aid). But I don’t know if I buy that.
Also, bit of a goof/inconsistency. The windows appeared to be soundproof in only one direction.
To answer your question, these are people who are so narcissistic that 1) it’s hard for them to believe, at least initially, that they’re actually going to die, and even when it becomes clearer, they think they can negotiate their ways out of it, because “we’re important and rich!” and 2) they are so tied to their status, as shown by their fatuous pre-dinner lies and arrogance, that loss of face is actually at least close to death for them.
That movie freaked me out for a different reason.
I share a last name with the chef - not a very common name. The only other famous one I know of is an offensive coordinator or something in the NFL.
And by the end they have accepted not only that there is no escape but that what is happening to them is justified - with the exception of the one character who “doesn’t belong”. The little hand gesture at the end, where she is waved off, encapsulates this whole acceptance of their fate.
We watched Caddo Lake, Saturday night. All I can say is, hm. It was promising for a while, then it was confusing, then I had it figured out, and then I wasn’t sure. I had to Google it. I was correct, but it still didn’t make sense. I give it a 5.
How do you make a movie about a bitter disagreement between two meteorologists interesting? That was the challenge for “Pressure,” a 2026 film directed by Anthony Maras and based upon David Haig’s 2014 stage play. You give it a tight 90 minute script and stock it with good actors.
The Invasion of Normandy was what hung in the balance, and it was a part of history that most of us would never think about. Weather forecasting was an inexact science in 1944, depending on balloons and hastily drawn maps, and much of it was educated guesswork. How would history have changed had they made the wrong decision, which they very nearly did. We enjoyed this more than we thought we would. The invasion sequences are short but graphic. The acting is good all around, though I didn’t quite buy the rather beefy Brendan Fraser as General Dwight Eisenhower. Recommended.
Yesterday I heard on the Broadway Channel that Kinky Boots the musical had been based on a movie. I’d never seen either version, so we searched out the movie last night (Amazon Prime, I think). I expected it to be funnier, more 
fabulous, more emotionally engaging than it was. But we enjoyed it anyway.
Massacre at Central High 1976
Derrel Maury, Andrew Stevens, Robert Carradine, Kimberly Beck
It was out of print for a long time. I remember searching every video rental store. The vhs was very washed out.
I never found the dvd for sale in the 90’s. I think it was pulled over copywrite battles.
It’s been remastered and looks terrific on Prime. The film is a minor cult hit. Starts slow, but the violence escalates dramatically.
The soundtrack bugs me. It sounds exactly like the episodic and tv movie of the week from the 70’s.
You know what I mean if you grew up in that era.
The violence does get extreme. Who would crush someone’s legs by pushing a car off the jack? All over a trivial fight with a few punches?
But, it does give David a reason to start the murders. He’s one deadly dude out for vengeance.
I find it very interesting that…
A new group of bullies emerges from the former dweebs after David eliminates the cool clique.
What David does afterwards is terrible. He’s become out of control and corrupted too.
It’s interesting social commentary.
It does set this movie apart from the standard 70’s slasher films.