Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[MrCalavera]

I wanted to have a little summary of movies i watched this year, so i'll try to drop some reviews in the upcoming weeks.

First one will be:


Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

It was the first film i watched in cinema this year, after the lockdows were lifted.
If you ever studied english literature, in any scope, chances are you know the chivalric romance the movie was based on.

The early medieval period England, one leg in it's new religion, the other in still vivid folk(pagan) beliefs.
The titular knight, an eerie fellow, visits Camelot on a Christmas Day and challenges the Knights of the Round Table up for a... game? A test? Whoever's brave enough can try and strike him, on the condition that he'll return that blow in the next year. Our figuratively green, hot-headed protagonist that still has yet to prove himself stands up to the challenge. In a rash, but spectacular way, he succeeds and unwittingly puts himself into a play, the rules of he has yet to understand.

The film happens to be uneven in translating from paper to the "film reel", which is acceptable, by the very definition of an adaptation.
The mystical aura of Green Knight's trial. The eroticism of scenes in the castle Gawain visits. The details, like the pentagram shield... All these elements of the source material are there.
But it also takes some liberties with what was depicted... or wasn't! For example, the "many adventures" Gawain has on his way between Camelot and the mysterious castle: In the poem encapsulated by a single sentence. Here, we get to see writers' interpretation of how could they actually look like. All adorned with fantastic, moody visuals.
The other liberties come down mostly to the interpretation of symbols... but symbolism is all the movie, accordingly to the source, is about. It's so important that at one point film spends an entire scene on the exposition about the symbolism of colors - green in particular, unsurprisingly. Medieval literature put heavy emphasis on metaphors and symbolism, and colors and their meaning, were important part of that.
The movie also takes an interesting approach towards Gawain's characterization. The young knight more so stumbles over, than conquers consecutive milestones of his journey, being mostly a naive, clueless, and over his head throughout. More than his literaly counterpart.

Sadly, "The Green Knight" is also uneven as a movie itself. The parts that are awe inspiring, or fascinating in their ambiguity are alternated with ones that simply drag on. One could also complain about Gawain's character arc being seemingly condensed into the climax of the movie.
It's still and interesting, in a good sense of that word, stunning film, but mostly for those that are already atleast somewhat familiar with the source material. All those who didn't care for it in the first place, might bounce off of it.

 

[Xprimentyl]

National Lampoon's Vacation: Still Fucking Great / Great

Clark Griswold, his wife and two children embark on a cross-country trip from Chicago to southern California to visit the Wally World theme park. They're not even out of their own driveway before shit starts hitting the fan, and a LOT of shit hits the fan.

I've not watched this movie in several years, and this re-watch was nothing but pure joy. I laughed like I'd never seen it. I can't help but feel Clark has gotten to be more relatable with age and the times. We're all told to be kind, optimistic, do our best, make lemonade out of lemons, but underneath, we're actually all seething and at the precipice of a breakdown. "DON'T TOUCH!" Fucking classic.

 

[BrawlMan]

Not a great movie, but at least it was honest and tried. A fond part of my childhood. I recall the excitement I and my friends felt when we went to the theater to see our beloved Turtles "live." It was awesome.

I consider it great. Still the best of the live-action Turtles, with Out of the Shadows taking second place.

No.

Spoiler: I'll put this in spoilers I guess

When Bill shoots Beatrix (what was the point of censoring her name in vol. 1 by the way?) with the truth serum, she straight up admits to feeling good when killing people. Which, considering how little we know of her to begin with, dropped my sympathy for her pretty drastically. Bill is a mass murdering petulant crime lord who's clearly been grooming multiple women half his age to be his underlings and partners, and would have likely done the same to BB (minus the sexual stuff). One of his father figures is a misogynistic pimp who openly admits to cutting up the faces of women who've made him angry.

After these realizations I was left completely cold during the climax. I'm all for stories about morally grey and even villainous protagonists (I really like Killer Joe for example), but here I end up rooting for no one. It's essentially a story about morally bankrupt people in a crapsack world, but the presentation makes me think Tarantino wants me to think it's "OMG so kewl and badass". Bill's death is played up hugely with Beatrix in tears and swelling emotional music, but all I could think of was "Good. Die you fucking bastard. Why am I supposed to feel anything about your rotten ass passing? Good riddance."

Similar to you, it's why I dislike Scott Pilgrim so much. Why I am supposed to root for this cheating asshole who tried to date a very naive teenager that is 17, and he's already in his mid 20s. Dumping the girl without saying and pining for a woman closer to his age, but is a biatch when you stop and think for less than a second. Also, even if you take Scott out of the equation, most of his friends and associates are assholes too. They just look decent in comparison to Scott. Take that away, and most of them don't smell like prim roses.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The Matrix Resurrections

Matrix returns 18 years later and with one less Wachowski in the kind of belated sequel/tarted up reboot usually reserved for hired help like J.J. and the dude that made Jurassic World. Point towards the movie: the returning characters aren't just giving a free ride to a brand new focus-tested millennial cast. The movie is about Neo and Trinity more than anybody. But it also means most of the new characters aren't given much to do, especially in the second half.

The first half is the actually interesting one, presenting a disorienting scenario involving Thomas Anderson that is meant to question the nature of the original trilogy and its effect on pop culture just as the first movie was pitched as a wake up call to question accepted reality. First impression is he's the creator of a videogame trilogy and is being pressured to make a new one. It's intriguing enough in a Twilight Zone kinda way, Keanu sells a sadsack character and the movie not at all subtly works as meta commentary on its own production ("Warner Bros would make the 4th one with or without us" says a character).

All of this goes out the window at the halfway point, I'm sorry to say. And suddenly the movie is aping the worst parts of 2 and 3: the constant goddamn exposition dumps and emotionless bargaining/chastising/theorizing in which groups of 10 to 12 characters gather around in a circle and talk about what's going on and what's about to happen. So if you came for the J.J. Abrams mystery box novelty you're gonna be disappointed, and you're gonna be moreso if you wanted more of the good old Matrix, because the action suuuuucks in this. It's the artless choppy Bourne stuff that is more about confusing you than showing you what's happening. The special effects are somewhere between cheap and par for the course and the movie has a flat, indistinct look to it. What a disappointment.

PS they couldn't have picked a cuddliest, least intimidating duo of villains than NPH and Mindhunter.

 

[BrawlMan]

It's the artless choppy Bourne stuff that is more about confusing you than showing you what's happening.

I find this really ironic. A Matrix movie is using out of date techniques from the Bourne franchise. How and why?

Filmmakers, stop doing this. Stop bringing back old properties for shallow nostalgia; f you're not going to do much with them, or just copy your homework from old films. And stop copying Jason Bourne like those film series were some goddamn revolution! All they did is usher in a new age of shitty action directors or people who did not know how to do action at all. We're finally getting away from this, but it seems like a few people still want to hold on to this. As if it's the Holy Grail.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

I find this really ironic. A Matrix movie is using out of date techniques from the Bourne franchise. How and why?

Filmmakers, stop doing this. Stop bringing back old properties for shallow nostalgia, if you're not going to do much with them, or just copy your homework from old films. And stop copying Jason Bourne like those film series were some goddamn revolution! All they do is usher in a new age of shitty action directors or people who did not know how to do action at all. We're finally getting away from this, but it seems like a few people still want to hold on to this. As if it's the Holy Grail.

Not that you'll likely see this Brawlman but the why is easy.
Cost.
3-5 days to film a wide angle non choppy martial art fight sequence.
3 hours to 1 day to film the sequence with lots of cuts and close ups so you can barely see what's going on.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I find this really ironic. A Matrix movie is using out of date techniques from the Bourne franchise. How and why?

We do get some bullet time here and there, mostly for plot purposes, but that's about it. Nothing as slick or elegant as the entrance shootout in 1 or the highway chase in 2. A lot of it plays out like those cartoon clouds that would cover up a melee in Tom and Jerry or Looney Tunes.

Closest thing to a good action scene comes near the end but it's ugly, underlit and doesn't mix it up that much. I'm gonna guess Lily was the one with the action chops.

 

[BrawlMan]

We do get some bullet time here and there, mostly for plot purposes, but that's about it. Nothing as slick or elegant as the entrance shootout in 1 or the highway chase in 2. A lot of it plays out like those cartoon clouds that would cover up a melee in Tom and Jerry or Looney Tunes.

Closest thing to a good action scene comes near the end but it's ugly, underlit and doesn't mix it up that much. I'm gonna guess Lily was the one with the action chops.

Shit....

Here's a great action scene to help cleanse you of this filth.

​

 

[thebobmaster]

Watched Spider-Man: No Way Home today. I could go on for AGES about how much I liked the movie, but I'll sum it up simply. For me, this is easily the best live-action Spider-Man movie, possibly my favorite Spider-Man movie overall, and in serious contention as the best MCU movie. It was one of those movies where everything just worked.

 

[Bartholen]

Similar to you, it's why I dislike Scott Pilgrim so much. Why I am supposed to root for this cheating asshole who tried to date a very naive teenager that is 17, and he's already in his mid 20s. Dumping the girl without saying and pining for a woman closer to his age, but is a biatch when you stop and think for less than a second. Also, even if you take Scott out of the equation, most of his friends and associates are assholes too. They just look decent in comparison to Scott. Take that away, and most of them don't smell like prim roses.

When I first saw Scott Pilgrim it blew my socks off. I went to see it twice in theaters in a week, and considered it my absolute #1 favorite film ever. Only a couple of years later when I decided to watch it on DVD my opinion of it dropped dramatically. Without the booming sound and the massive screen of a cinema, and having already seen the fight scenes the luster faded very quickly. It wasn't even the characters like you mentioned, it's that Michael Cera is such a concentration of anti-charisma that I just couldn't get on board with the film anymore. That, and the film is just shameless nerd wish fulfillment fantasy through and through. I don't know if I'd call it pandering because I don't know how accurately it's adapted from the comic, but I've certainly felt no need to watch it for like 7 years at this point.

 

[BrawlMan]

I don't know if I'd call it pandering because I don't know how accurately it's adapted from the comic, but I've certainly felt no need to watch it for like 7 years at this point.

It's pretty accurate to the comics aside from a few small changes.

Only a couple of years later when I decided to watch it on DVD my opinion of it dropped dramatically. Without the booming sound and the massive screen of a cinema, and having already seen the fight scenes the luster faded very quickly. It wasn't even the characters like you mentioned, it's that Michael Cera is such a concentration of anti-charisma that I just couldn't get on board with the film anymore.

I got the DVD day one. After 2 years, I could not enjoy it anymore after realizing how shit the character is. Most of the action and special effects lost their luster, because why should I care? I sold my dvd copy around 2019, and never looked back.

As far as Cera goes, I don't hate him, but I certainly could not be bothered to watch any other films he has been in afterward. I do not find him interesting.

 

[Xprimentyl]

National Lampoon'S European Vacation: Good / Great

Clark Griswold and family win a European vacation via a gameshow, and "Griswold" happens.

High off of my re-watch of the original Vacation film, I couldn't wait to watch this one again... And it's not a great as I recall. Still funny at points, but not nearly as great as the first film. It's hard to pin down exactly where it missed; maybe it was doing too much changing from one iconic European location to another every 15-20 minutes taking the focus away from the catastrophe that inevitably follows the Griswolds, but it just doesn't have the same "IT" as the first film. Audrey is insufferable in this one, and the whole kidnapping of Ellen by a French thief near the end felt really contrived and not what audiences went in for expecting more of Clark's good-natured oafishness and clumsiness.

Maybe it's because this time out, of all people Clark, is the sympathetic one? He's got two spoiled brats of children complaining every step of the way through a European vacation; Jesus, I'd KILL for such a treat. And his wife acts like his every bit of enthusiasm is tiresome. In the first film, it was always Clark's poor judgment and decision making that lead to the family's misfortune; in this one, it was mostly shit luck while his wife and kids complained. Anyway, off to watch Christmas Vacation next. I've watched that one more recently than the others, and I already know it holds up.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Being The Ricardos: Good / Great

A biopic/documentary covering a single, tumultuous week in the life of Lucille Ball and husband Desi Arnaz after news drops that Ball ostensibly has ties to the Communist party.

A bit all over the place. It starts off as suggesting it's a documentary, but bleeds immediately into a biopic starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem. It also does some seamless transitions between time periods within a relatively short period of time, and I don't say "seamless" as a compliment; more a criticism that it's important to the story that you know "when" events are taking place, but I found myself often confused on that front, i.e.: is this scene the next day, a year later or 5 years in the past? Example, one significant point of contention is Ball's pregnancy with their son Desi Jr. At that point, on-screen pregnancy was unprecedented insofar as family sitcoms went, so when she drops the news she's pregnant, and she and Arnaz want to write it into the tale of their fictional family in lieu of what was typically done (hiding the growing belly behind scenery or contriving reasons for a pregnant woman to be carrying laundry, etc.,) there's a lot of push back from studio/sponsor executives. She's about 12 weeks pregnant at that point, and only a few scenes later, Desi is seen holding an infant that had apparently been birthed several months later, but despite it being such a significant point, was basically glossed over and never really addressed again in any substantive detail.

Overall, a good movie. One would be hard pressed to cast Kidman and Bardem and not end up with something pretty damn good, it just tried to tell too much about a short period of time too quickly, if that makes sense. Normally after a biopic, I'll find myself scouring Wikipedia to fill in small gaps; in this case, I found myself scouring Wikipedia for BIG gaps. Granted, this wasn't intended to be comprehensive, covering the birth, life and death of Ball, rather focusing on a very specific point in time of her life and their show, but still, a lot of stuff is suggested and hinted at that I feel was worth exploring. Point in case, the movie ends on a bombshell regarding Lucy and Desi's codependence that could itself merit a standalone movie, but instead, we get a two-screen text summary of the failure of their marriage, then credits. Worth the watch if you're not as morbidly curious about ALL the details as I am.

 

[MrCalavera]

THE MATRIX: RESURRECTIONS

From someone who's in the "1st Matrix is the only great one" camp: It was enjoyable, but kinda pointless? Which, paradoxically, is one of the points that the first, meta-satirical segment of the movie tries to make? Truly convoluted, as a Matrix sequel should be.
Surprisingly, i actually liked the the first act more, and would like the meta-approach being expanded on.
The 2nd part is more of what people think when they say "Matrix", except the action is somehow the weakest part(!). I don't know what happened, at first i thought that maybe it simply didn't look special after 20 years of movies copying the original, but no. It just lacks the panache and 'oomf' the originals had.
In conclusion, less meandering story than Reloaded/Revolutions, but also lacking when it comes to choreography - which was the Matrix staple for the average moviegoer.

I may post more spoilerific stuff in the Matrix thread

We do get some bullet time here and there, mostly for plot purposes, but that's about it. Nothing as slick or elegant as the entrance shootout in 1 or the highway chase in 2. A lot of it plays out like those cartoon clouds that would cover up a melee in Tom and Jerry or Looney Tunes.

Closest thing to a good action scene comes near the end but it's ugly, underlit and doesn't mix it up that much. I'm gonna guess Lily was the one with the action chops.

 

[BrawlMan]

Spider-Man: No Way Home - I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it.

Best of the MCU Spider-Man Trilogy; makes me even more excited to what Spider-Verse 2 brings to the table!

Five Elements Ninjas - Chinese martial artists vs. ninjas! What else do you want me to say?! Other than this being in my top 5 of ninja films! I will say this is the best ninja action I have ever seen! It puts certain modern ninja movies to shame! See this movie!

​

 

[Casual Shinji]

Encanto

*ugh* I am officially sick to death of Lin-Manual Miranda's jibber-jabber style of writing lyrics. I could not for the life of me remember the melody of any of these songs and I just watched the damn thing. Well actually, I just stopped watching it. Another generic song started with another character cutting in with more of this annoying fast talking song speak, and I just couldn't anymore, I was done.

As for the movie itself... whatever. There was something about not putting pressure and too high expectations on your kids somewhere underneath all the usual generic Disney sauce. Maybe if I hadn't seen Arcane I would've been more forgiving, but nearly everything about this movie just stuck out as painfully bland by comparison.

Why the fuck do I have Disney+ again? It's just a reminder of how freaking saltless this entire brand has become.

 

[gorfias]

"Don't Look Up" on Netflix. Some scientists discover a world ending comet coming to Earth. The powers that be do not disbelieve, or believe them. They're just not focused on the issue and distracted by everything but what is important.

As political commentary, I think everyone should feel it aimed some at them. There is more to climate change than some admit. You can see photos of the Earth and see the amount of ice covering reduced over time. The Climate Change concerns are not baseless.

But people were being banned from social media for stating they thought Covid came from the Wuhan lab.

A good movie and food for thought. B-

 

[meiam]

"Don't Look Up" on Netflix. Some scientists discover a world ending comet coming to Earth. The powers that be do not disbelieve, or believe them. They're just not focused on the issue and distracted by everything but what is important.

As political commentary, I think everyone should feel it aimed some at them. There is more to climate change than some admit. You can see photos of the Earth and see the amount of ice covering reduced over time. The Climate Change concerns are not baseless.

But people were being banned from social media for stating they thought Covid came from the Wuhan lab.

A good movie and food for thought. B-

Just coincidental watched it and I though it felt like a 30 min movie stretch to feature length. Large section in the middle didn't really add anything, the guy having an affair, the girl getting a loser boyfriend. There's also not really any reason why the two scientist were the one doing all the interview and stuff, tracking comet wasn't even their specialty, and they were terrible at explaining things. The movie felt too patronizing and not nearly funny enough. Also really weird that a movie all about "why don't people trust science!" finish with all the scientist praying...

 

[gorfias]

Just coincidental watched it and I though it felt like a 30 min movie stretch to feature length. Large section in the middle didn't really add anything, the guy having an affair, the girl getting a loser boyfriend. There's also not really any reason why the two scientist were the one doing all the interview and stuff, tracking comet wasn't even their specialty, and they were terrible at explaining things. The movie felt too patronizing and not nearly funny enough. Also really weird that a movie all about "why don't people trust science!" finish with all the scientist praying...

Spoiler

Loved particularly the girl having an affair with the kid. And the surprise of not judging a book by it's cover. The kid is wiser than suspected. While he takes his fate with grace, a reminder that our actions impact future generations . The affair was emblematic of how even the scientists can be seduced by money, sex, power from being the truth tellers we need them to be. While amused, I did not like the nude scene at the end. Undermined much of the movie's point.

 

[Bartholen]

Rare Exports (2010) 8/10

This is a little known, finnish fairytale/horror/thriller/black comedy about some locals in Lapland who start experiencing the effects of excavations in the nearby mountain who are looking for Santa Claus. It's a bit hard to explain to outsiders because 1. there's a prevalent mystery element as to what the plot exactly entails and 2. it relies a fair bit on knowing the cultural context around finnish Christmas folklore (like Santa Claus being not from the North Pole, but from Korvatunturi), which I'm not sure translates very well to international audiences.

It's legitimately great. It's one of those movies that feels way longer than it is in a good way, because so much happens and every scene is meaningful. It's not even 80 minutes long, yet it feels like 2, again, in a good way. The acting is great even from the child leads (though again, I'm not sure how well it translates), there's a really good dramatic element between the main character and his father and there's a lot of character that's conveyed via showing and not telling. It's beautifully shot, genuinely tense and has a really sweet ending. There's also some absolutely pitch-black cynical humor thrown in I'm pretty sure won't even register as humor to international audiences. It also earns its R-rating with tons of swearing, quite graphic content and some disturbing imagery, and a ton of male nudity at the end (you'll have to see it yourself to find out how that comes into play). One of the things I appreciated the most is how the patently ludicrous premise is played completely straight, allowing the characters and situations feel entirely real without Marvel-esque winking at the camera. It also helps with the humor, because every so often you'll go "Wait a minute, this is absurd", like when the protagonists are wheeling a santa creature in a cage to be presented to a businessman. The juxtaposition between the ridiculousness of the situation and the completely earnest acting is what makes it funny.

Whatever criticisms I have will be mostly missed by non-finnish speaking audiences. Sometimes the script gets a bit too sweary for its own good, and in certain scenes it feels like the acting is maybe a touch more intense than it needs to be. There's also some pretty glaring inaccuracies when it comes to the dialects the characters speak, but that's about as small potatoes as you can get. I would recommend everyone see it who wants to see a massively edgier, darker Christmas movie that'll still get you in the spirit, but I'm pretty sure this movie is buried under a rock in a volcano on the ocean floor when it comes to actually trying to find it. All I can say is y'all are missing out.