Movies you've seen recently (Part 2)

Cafe Society
1281

The Great Movie watch of 2025. I was sick for a long time recently. Once I got well enough to be able to enjoy stuff on the 'puter I watched/re-watched some older movies. Here we go.

Chasing Amy. Saw this in a real theater when it came out. Loved it then, still love it. Affleck’s character is a bit overly naive/stupid but it holds up. The “It’s like an SAT test.” is still great. Dwight Ewell has Hooper is superb. Too bad his career didn’t soar. My fave of Kevin Smith movies by far. Give it 4.5 Skeeballs.

The Big Lebowski. Also holds up well. The Dude abides. Give it 4.5 rugs that hold the room together.

Empire Records. This is nearly a totally “Wow!” movie. The music really makes it work. Excellent cast. The big problem is that the instigator of the main story arc (Lucas) is just not that good in terms of plot or acting. Remember when record stores were a thing? Give it 4.5 Rex Manning Days.

Raising Arizona. This one is dropping in my esteem. E.g., Gale and Evelle’s screaming fits work great in the tunnel escape but it’s just annoying in most other places. And how do H.I. and Ed get away from the massive destruction (including their car) without being arrested or anything? Give it 4 non-funny balloons.

Jackie & Ryan. One of the small movies Katherine Heigl made after she tanked her career. Two musically inclined people at different stages of their careers meet and spend time together in that great musical hub of Ogden, Utah.

This is one of those “character driven” movies. I.e., not much in the way of events driving the plot forward. Some films of this type work well, most don’t. This one barely gets by. The young actress who plays Heigl’s daughter is very good. Clea Duvall is practically unrecognizable. Give it 2.5 guitars.

Clerks III. I’ve seen I several times. II just once. Finally got around to seeing III. Lots of fan service, in fact too much. E.g., the field hockey game on the roof was boring and pointless. But it’s Randal and Dante together again. Randal has a life changing moment and decides to make a B&W movie about the Quick Stop and the video store in the 90s starring themselves and the usual locals. Nah, that’ll never work.

There are some serious, emotional moments in the film. But O’Halloran and Anderson are just not capable of going there. Marilyn Ghigliotti as Veronica is still surprisingly good. There’s two characters who are devolving religious nuts that aren’t at all good and just drag down all the scenes they are in.

Give it 2.5 packs of Chewies and most of that for the nostalgia.

1282

Boy, did I find Clerks III to be disappointing. Love Clerks, thought Clerks 2 was actually a really great sequel.

Clerks III landed with a dull thud for me.

Not funny, stupid plot points, and an ending that felt false to me. I especially didn’t like Kevin Smith talking about his original ending over the credits.

I feel so old to think that Clerks is some 30+ year old movie. It felt so fresh and new and, in many ways, innovative.

1283

Some comedies I’d never seen all the way through, but did now:

Scary Movie - horrible, not one laugh in the movie. Hated it.

Scary Movie 2 - Why did I try the sequel? I dunno, it streamed. Terrible as well. I feel embarrassed for everyone in these. David Cross…why???

National Lampoon’s Vacation - Grew up seeing this on TV a lot, but had never seen the full, unedited, theatrical version on VHS or anything. Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. Honestly, kind of a dull opening 30 or 40 minutes, but that last hour is a lot of fun. Chevy Chase is great in this, but so is everyone. Very cute and funny.

National Lampoon’s European Vacation - Again, saw it chopped up on TV a bunch, but never just flat saw the full movie. A weaker sequel, to be sure. Still has some fun moments, but I’m kind of surprised this series continued after this one. Thank goodness they did.

I’ve seen Christmas Vacation many times, not sure if I’ll revisit it now. It’s not just the best one, but it isn’t even close. A true classic. A movie I can laugh just thinking about.

I saw Vegas Vacation one time, its opening weekend in the theater. My memory was that it was not all that funny.

1284

They Live

Fun movie, not quite the classic some hold it to be. Between this and Hell Comes to Frogtown, I feel like I’ve seen most of what Rowdy Roddy Piper had to offer to movies. Call me insane, but I’m not sure They Live was that much better than Frogtown.

1285

I would put Vegas Vacation above European and below the original. Been a while since I’ve seen it, though, I should revisit.

1286

Just watched on Blu-Ray STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER, starring Clifton Webb.
Watched him on DVD a few days ago in another movie, THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS.

1287

From the same location:

“Anti-wrinkle cream there may be, but anti-fat-bastard cream there is none”.

1288

Saw Harry Dean Anderson’s last film Lucky last night. Lucky is an elderly, long-time resident of a desert town, sort of the local curmudgeon that everyone knows. He spends his days doing crossword puzzles, watching TV game shows and hanging out at the local bar. The townsfolk are an eclectic bunch, played by the likes of Tom Skerritt, Beth Grant, James Darren and David Lynch.

It’s basically a couple of days in the life of Lucky and his interactions with his neighbors with discussions on topics both mundane and deep. A must watch for Harry Dean Stanton fans.

1289

And David Lynch fans with his recent passing.

It’s a quirky movie, but if you like that type of quirk, watch. I’m a fan of that type of movie. One of my go to movies when needing something to help when I’m sick is The Station Agent.

1290

The Commitments is Irish.

1291

Adventures of Robin Hood 1938 with Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland

It’s on Max. I think it’s the best version of the story ever produced. Robin Hood is Flynn’s best known role.

The print is quite good. Colors are a bit muted but acceptable for the time period.

1292

Picky picky picky. It’s the genre I’m talking about, not its locality.

1293

Jaysus, don’t conflate the British and Irish anywhere within earshot of an Irish person. They’re still a bit sensitive about the, you know, centuries of brutal occupation.

1294

Recently saw Two Distant Strangers an Oscar winning short from a few years back, streams on Netflix.

It was interesting, Groundhog Day set in a Black Lives Matter nightmare scenario. Very well made and acted, with a few twists and turns in the 30 minute run time. I liked the protagonist, and the interplay with his new girlfriend/paramour, it added a lot to his story.

Worth watching.

1295

I mentioned character driven movies in my most recent post. Lucky is an example of how to do one of those right.

1296

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

This was, without question, the greatest film I have ever seen on the same day as having a colonoscopy. It was silly, predictable and utterly ridiculous. The pace was fast, there were no boring scenes and the kaiju battle at the pyramids was kinda cool. While the emoting they got out of Kong‘s CG was impressive, I found it (and his character) too human-like and he often failed to convince as an ape. Skar King made an underwhelming villain, the black guy’s “comedy relief” was unwelcome and The Big G isn’t even in the film all that much despite top billing… leaving Mothra (as usual) to steal every scene she’s in.

1297

Bad Times at the El Royale

Wait…why isn’t this a classic? Why was this not a huge hit? I had never heard of this movie and it was AMAZING.

I mean, this was hugely surprisingly and excellent from beginning to end.

For a thriller, which I suppose this is, the best thing we can get is a movie that keeps you wondering what could possibly happen next. I never guessed what was going to happen next in this movie and was continually surprised throughout.

Everyone is great in it.

I think I loved this movie.

1298

I saw that one in the theater when it was released and liked it.

1299

High praise, indeed!

1300

I also loved this one, even with the end act being kind of another direction. But overall, it was such a different film. Drew Goddard seems to have a very good hit rate with Cabin in the woods, this, and (I just found this out), Daredevil, I’d argue the best Marvel series.