Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[Xprimentyl]

The Great Debaters: Good / Great

Denzel Washington plays Denzel Washington as a professor at a historically black college in the 1930s who leads his debate team to prominence and victory against white colleges.

Based on true events, it is good movie, but man, Denzel, can you stop being the ideal black man? You've set a high bar for the rest of us. I'm ready for another outing like Training Day, where you're still Denzel Washington, but not one that black women point to and say "See?!? Be like HIM!!!" I KNOW, Mom!! I tried!! I don't have the swagger, but I'm fairly articulate and have avoided criminal activity; isn't that enough?? Why do you love him more than me??

Oh, wait, this is a review in the forums, not a letter to my mother...

 

[BrawlMan]

The Great Debaters: Good / Great

Denzel Washington plays Denzel Washington as a professor at a historically black college in the 1930s who leads his debate team to prominence and victory against white colleges.

Based on true events, it is good movie, but man, Denzel, can you stop being the ideal black man? You've set a high bar for the rest of us. I'm ready for another outing like Training Day, where you're still Denzel Washington, but not one that black women point to and say "See?!? Be like HIM!!!" I KNOW, Mom!! I tried!! I don't have the swagger, but I'm fairly articulate and have avoided criminal activity; isn't that enough?? Why do you love him more than me??

Oh, wait, this is a review in the forums, not a letter to my mother...

My mom loves Denzel with all her heart, but she never did that to my brother and I. The same applies to my father too. They didn't set unrealistic goals or expectations to be like him. They made sure that we are ourselves.

 

[Xprimentyl]

My mom loves Denzel with all her heart, but she never did that to my brother and I. The same applies to my father too. They didn't set unrealistic goals or expectations to be like him. They made sure that we are ourselves.

I was being flippant. My mother never actually expected Denzel-levels of character of me (but she does love the way he walks, if that's a thing.) More generalizing that black women fawn over him every time he shows up. Hell many women of every color fawn over Denzel; he's that "perfect." Hell twice, I know a lot of dudes who wish THEY were Denzel, or at the very least, wish that he was their dad. The dude's an icon, and in 99% of his films, he's just the best person ever.

We found The Great Debaters just flipping through Amazon Prime, and my girlfriend chose it after seeing just the thumbnail because it was "Denzel." I stopped and looked at her for a solid 3 seconds before clicking to watch it thinking to myself "this b*tch loves Denzel too!"

BUT, to his credit, he IS pretty fucking great.

 

[BrawlMan]

I was being flippant. My mother never actually expected Denzel-levels of character of me (but she does love the way he walks, if that's a thing.) More generalizing that black women fawn over him every time he shows up. Hell many women of every color fawn over Denzel; he's that "perfect." Hell twice, I know a lot of dudes who wish THEY were Denzel, or at the very least, wish that he was their dad. The dude's an icon, and in 99% of his films, he's just the best person ever.

We found The Great Debaters just flipping through Amazon Prime, and my girlfriend chose it after seeing just the thumbnail because it was "Denzel." I stopped and looked at her for a solid 3 seconds before clicking to watch it thinking to myself "this b*tch loves Denzel too!"

BUT, to his credit, he IS pretty fucking great.

The first time I saw that movie was with my family in theaters. Great time.

Also, your mom and your girlfriend's reactions remind me of this:

​

 

[Xprimentyl]

The first time I saw that movie was with my family in theaters. Great time.

Also, your mom and your girlfriend's reactions remind me of this:

​

Pretty much! That's hilarious!

 

[Xprimentyl]

The Tender Bar

A memoir in which nothing much happens. The movie didn't clue me in at all why it was worth making, nor why the book was worth writing. It's a coming-of-age story in which nothing ever really stands in the way of its protagonist. He wants to get into Yale, he gets in first try. He wants a job, he gets one at The New York Times first try. He wants to date the pretty girl, he scores first try. So he's traumatized by an absent father, and I guess the big climax is telling his pa to go fuck himself. Power to him. Is that it? Not like you didn't grow up with lots of friends and a huge extended family that supported you and regaled you with cliché Kodak moments every step of the way.

Nothing is ever an issue. The mother gets sick, then gets better within the same voiceover narration. The uncle gets sick - he's out of it in the next scene. Time skips ahead, even grandpa Christopher Lloyd is still around. Again: nothing is ever an issue. JR Moehringer's two big achievements in his memoir are telling pa to go fuck himself and getting over an on-and-off gf who is just not that into him. Some fucking boss fight. As he's riding into the sunset to Steely Dan's "Do It Again" on the free Cadilllac his poor uncle just gave him, victoriously VO'ing about how he's decided to be a writer, I kept thinking: who the fuck does this guy think he is?

The Tender Bar: Really Good / Great

I see where you're coming from, @Johnny Novgorod, but I think the story was less about a Hollywood-esque overcoming of insurmountable odds and more about the relationship between Moehringer and his uncle. With the absentee father, he turned to the closest thing he had to a paternal figure who guided him with straight facts of life. Throughout the film, we see him placing faith in people who didn't deserve or even want it, and he always came back to his uncle who righted his ship with truth and harsh realities. It was a beautiful movie if uneventful per modern cinematic standards. He qualified it at the beginning when he said "everyone needs an Uncle Charlie." It's not a memoir about rags to riches, but a recounting of a life journey that wouldn't have been possible without the guidance of a key figure in Moehringer's life. Highly recommended. Don't watch if all you expect is a prototypical protagonist and the comeuppance of an antagonist (though you kinda get that near the end.)

It's not the most remarkable story, maybe not even worth a memoir in some people's eyes, but it's an excellent tale of a relatively bland life story.

 

[gorfias]

Paper Tigers on Netflix

This is an unusual and unexpected treat. 3 young Kung Fu prodigy’s re-unite 30 years after their best to face a foe. Now they’re about 48 years old and out of shape and out of practice.

How did this end up on Netflix? I think it likely because it has a brief appearance by Yuji Okumoto who plays Chozen in Karate Kid 2 and now, Cobra Kai which was ranked #1 for nearly a month this year. He is the first listed cast member on IMDB for a really, really small part!

Part light comedy, part pretty good action movie.

B movie production values, but the cast, writing and direction are all done by people bringing their A game.

7.5/10

 

[Thaluikhain]

The first time I saw that movie was with my family in theaters. Great time.

Also, your mom and your girlfriend's reactions remind me of this:

​

Heh, was just thinking of that as well. As an aside, do you know what caused the triple post above? Not seen one for ages here.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

I am Number Four

(Prime Video UK)

Rating: Dumb fun but once it got going it was enjoyable enough if verging on self parody

Discussion:

Finally I have done it, my latest insane film quest. To seek out the films that sought to be the next Twilight and watch them all in the hopes of understanding what made Twilight work without having to watch any of the Twilight films: Red Riding Hood, Beautiful Creatures, The Host, The Mortal Instruments and finally I Am Number Four . In order of worth watching Beautiful Creatures, I Am Number Four, The Host, The Mortal Instruments City of Bones, Red Riding Hood. So that should give you some idea of just how bad my view on some of the other films has been. Oh and I refuse to include Warm Bodies in this list because that's somewhat of a parody film.

So if you know the genre tropes for that film based on a Young Adult Novel series feel free to join in to yourself about the plot line I'm about the outline.

A Teenager with a somewhat mysterious past comes to a new town and immediately falls for another teenager while said teenagers secret legacy is revealed an they have to deal with teenage highschool stuff but also the emergence of their powers that they struggle to control or are still not full in control of with them ending up having to confront their destiny and likely defying some adults along the way because they won't give up on love.

In this case the Teenager is John Smith, his secret legacy is he's an alien with his protector posing as his father and falls in love with a local highschool girl who is into photography and wouldn't you just know it she's a former prom queen from a year or two before and her boyfriend was the star Quaterback whom she broke up with. But wouldn't you just know it despite it being a bad break up and her losing all her friends over rumours started by the guy he's still into her and wants her back as she was as his queen. Oh and there's some evil aliens hunting John Smith down too along with a mysterious girl seemingly also tracking him. There were 9 of his species that escaped their home world with 9 protectors but 3 are dead already hunted and killed down by the bad aliens. Oh also there's the nerdy social outcast whose father was an Alien hunter basically looking for evidence of Ancient Astronauts but his father is missing and him and John Smith sort of become friends due to him being the new guy.

 

[Dwarvenhobble]

Thoughts Part 2 because the forum hates when I put lots of formatting in 1 post apparently.

The fight stuff is slow to get started but when it does the influence Michael Bay being in the producers list on this one definitely becomes obvious as does where the apparently $50 Million of Dreamworks's & Disney's money went. For the Budget it looks pretty good most of the time. It's worth pointing out Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle cost $90 Million to make for comparison to another film or Hellboy (the original one) which clocked in at $66 Million so I am Number Four is defiantly in the lower end of action film budgets especially special effects heavy ones and even cheaper than The Hunger Games $78 Million budget. The CGI creature fight also looking pretty good even holding up fairly well now because of the choice made to have the CGI stuff done similar to how practical monster effects used to be made to look better and having the lighting of the scenes be a little lower to allow some of the imperfections to be hidden slightly in shadow and darkness.

Spoiler: Spoilers but also why it feels like parody

These aren't in order
Some hackney dialogue and twistsyou'll see coming a mile off.
The twist with the pet dog being one you'll likely see coming a mile off too.
The Nerdy dude who believes in Aliens and his Dad was trying to find evidence is immediately smitten by the badass Alien girl who turns up and acts like almost the stereotypical film badass chick only she also has a range of super powers of her own. Oh an she rides a motorbike and has a leather jacket and aviator style shades.
The Jock dude has his goons attack John Smith and take Sarah the girl he falls for to the head jock.
The Police end up coming after John Smith and there's the fact the head of the Police happens to the the Jock's father.
Instead of awkward boners John Smith gets glowing hands and accidentally making lights explode or power sources flicker.
A literal like in the film is something like "Fuck me that's better than Red Bull"
The evil Aliens have trained giant monsters to hunt down the good aliens and one of them ends up being defeated in a fight in the locker room showers because it slips on a bar of soap (no really)
The whole thing was a set up for more films based on the Lorien Legacy series but it didn't catch on so no more film
The only thing I'll give the film credit for is giving the jock a sort of redemption arc at the end as he warns Sarah and John about the bad aliens arriving at the school and helps recover John's legacy box at the end of the film from the police station and his father and watches John, Number Six (Jane Doe) and Sam (the nerdy dude) drive off as he stand with Sarah and watches them go after him and John Smith have shook hands and parted on good terms.

 

[Agema]

The Invisible Man (2020)

Elizabeth Moss as an escapee from an abusive relationship with a narcissist-sociopath tech genius. However, like any insanely controlling person, he's not giving up his partner/victim that easily, and that tech is going to come in handy. Cue stalker thriller/horror, which perhaps has something to say about how insidious stalking is.

This is all very effective. It's not brilliant or original, but it's for the most part well-executed and genuinely uncomfortable and tense. Chiefly it is undermined by a few very significant, sloppy plot holes. I suppose they're not huge in the sense that they don't fundamentally undermine the film, but they are jarring. For instance at one point, the heroine deliberately cuts herself: the wound simply seems to disappear by the next shot and thereafter as if it never happened. These instances are a bit of a shame, because they cheapen the film unnecessarily.

 

[BrawlMan]

Best of the Best (1989) - A martial arts movie based around a Tae Kwan Do tournament. Team USA vs. Team Korea. Starring Phillip Ree, Eric Roberts, and James Earl Jones. Earl Jones plays as the coach. That man always has an awesome and commanding presence around him no matter what he plays. It's your typical sports film a la Karate Kid and Rocky, but the movie definitely has its unique charms and twists. Why the fuck did critics hate this movie again? Don't answer that, I am being rhetorical. I am gonna be honest, better than most of the Rocky sequels released in the 80s and early 90s.

The action scenes are good, the movie never feels too slow or fast, and the movie has some genuine heartwarming moments. I won't lie, I did tear up little towards the end. Not spoiling it. The only flaw I can mention is two of the guys on Team USA, Sonny and Virgil, don't have much development or personality. With Sonny getting even less. Phillip's character, Tommy, and Eric's character, Alex, both have character motivation and an arc. Even Travis, the team jack ass gets something by learning to be less of a jack ass. It explains why Sonny and Virgil are dropped in the sequels. It's sad, because Sonny is from Detroit. It's still nice to get some city representation. Another flaw, is there is one training montage song that tries so hard to be Eye of the Tiger without legally using it. It didn't bother me, but stuck out so hard.

The last time I saw this movie was back in the 90s on either Cinemax, Showtime, or HBO with my older brother. I think we watched BotB 2 a couple of times, but we never saw 3 or 4. I do recommend it, if you're looking for a reminder of the time when karate movies were the rage. It's a good movie and holds up well for me.

Edit: Phillip Ree wrote, but did not direct the story for this movie. He wrote and directed 3 and 4, though. That explains so much why there were two more sequels after 2.

 

[BrawlMan]

Best of the Best 2 (1993) - This is where the franchise start going over the top. More action and more fighting. This ain't a martial arts tournament anymore. This is underground fight clubbing. The sequel is the equivalent and combination of Bloodsport and Rocky IV. Friend (Travis) of the protag(s) enter in a tournament/fight and gets killed by a big buff Russian dude. Tommy and Alex have to avenge him. The cheese factor is high in this movie, but in a good, classic, vintage 90s action movie way. Definitely entertaining, and the action is pretty good and more of it. Phillip Ree is clearly the main star attraction even though Eric Robert's character is just as involved. Once it gets to No Turning Back and Without Warning, it's all about Tommy and he is the only returning character for the rest of the franchise. I'll finish off the last two films later today.

Another thing I noticed, and this is more so coincidence, but plot feels like something you see come out of a 90s fighting game from SNK. It just screams something they would make. Nothing wrong with that; I'm just rambling. Also, you get some more training montages, but not as entertaining and over-the-top as the special one in the original.

 

[Thaluikhain]

LA Takedown.

Before Heat, the same basic story was used to create a TV pilot which was changed into a film. The remake is loads better, but this is ok.

 

[Gordon_4]

Addams Family 2 - 5/10

The first point is that my kids loved it which means regardless of my own opinion, I got my $30 worth for tickets. With that said…

Wednesday and Pugsly as I remember them were both chaotic beings in their own right and were either in on the same gags or working two sides of something for mutual benefit. This one (I didn’t see the first one) has them on very uneven footing with Wednesday being a complete ***** to him (and everyone really) throughout the film because she’s pissed off about a partipation award contrivance in the opening act science fair. A joke that sort of fails because they’ve got five kids up on stage (out of what looks like at least a hundred) which implied they were the top five in respective fields (chemistry, physics, mechanical engineering etc) so only exists to justify Wednesday being a brat.

Also, the character designs just don’t work for me and holy hell I know everyone is gonna throw bottles at me and scream nostalgia - and you won’t be totally wrong - but Jason Isaacs and Charlize Theron just do NOT have the chemistry that Raul Julia and Angelica Huston did; I look at this movie’s Gomez and Morticia and figure it’s a stretch they have two kids. Julia and Huston? It’s a miracle they don’t have twenty.

And I think there lays my biggest issue; the Addams are as their own theme song states: “They're creepy and they're kooky. Mysterious and spooky. They're all together ooky” but they’re also a tight knit family. They love each other unconditionally. Wednesday never stood apart from them because she was smarter or whatever, she was just more like her mother.

Last but not least in the climax they missed an opportunity to have Fester make good on the Addams family motto and eat the villain.

 

[BrawlMan]

Heh, was just thinking of that as well. As an aside, do you know what caused the triple post above? Not seen one for ages here.

I don't know. I deleted them.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Brad's Status: Are You Serious?/ Great

A film about a middle-class cis white man (Ben Stiller) who's perpetually dissatisfied with his life when compared to those of his college friends who he sees as enjoying a level of success so far beyond his own as to be unfair. He travels to Boston with this son for college visits, and learns that Harvard is his son's #1 choice and his chances of getting in are very good.

It's a good movie... about white privilege. I'm not sure who this movie was for. Maybe it's for people like Stiller's character who need the wake up call? As well acted as it is, the "protagonist" is entirely unlikeable in a film that attempts to sell him as sympathetic. He spends the entire movie bitching in his head about his rich, ostensibly ex-best friends while bemoaning his own comfortable-if-not-exorbitant life. It's a film about unwarranted jealousy. I mean, halfway through, it calls him on his own bullshit, yet his bullshit continues. Imagine living a good life, and your mid-life crisis revolves around it not being "perfect." I maintain it's a decent film, but... I dunno, it wasn't for "me." Let's just say from the jump, Stiller is living a life most people would envy, and he complains, imagines ways it should be better, "should" being the operative word there; he thinks he is entitled to more. I mean, he has connections to get his son into Harvard; how bad off could he possibly feel? Imagine if Jeff Bezos starred in a film about how shit his life is compared to Elon Musk; bring that down to upper-middle-class, 6 to 7 figure salaries, and you've got the gist.

TL;DR? A film about a white guy with most things complaining in his head that he doesn't have EVERYTHING. It's sold as a dramatic comedy, but it lacks enough moments of humor and self-awareness to come off as such. Instead it comes off as a whining homage to privileged people, and the lessons he "learns" are those most people watching knew going in.

 

[BrawlMan]

Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back (1995) - This is the one where Tommy (Phillip Rhee) fights Neo Nazi skinheads! The action gets even better! Surprisingly, when it comes to discussing racism and hatred in a straight to video action film, it does not come off as hokey and cheesy, but there are cheesy moments in one of the action scenes. There are genuine heartwarming scenes and sad scenes. Interesting trivia, the original script (called No Turning Back) had a black man as the lead role, and he was a marine returning from the Gulf War. Rhee loved the script so much, he produced it and asked for it re-written to fit Tommy's character and be part of the BotB franchise.

It's sad that we never got see the original version of what could have been, but it's still a good movie. Tommy's arc is basically coming to grips from killing the main big bad from the last movie. It's not focused that much, but it's nice to see some acknowledgment and this movie saying the last movie indeed did happen. I do love the scenes where Tommy shows his kind heartedness and helps those have been victimized. Very human and shows the movie and character still has heart. Another thing I noticed is that each sequel seems to add another relative to Tommy we did not know about in the next film. 2 has Tommy's uncle and 3 has his sister. This a big retcon especially for 3, as we get flashbacks to Tommy's childhood in the first film and she is never mentioned. These movies seem to have everybody famous you would not expect. Or someone who gets famous or more well known later in their filming career. Chris McDonald is the town sheriff, and R. Lee Ermey is the leader/"preacher" for the white supremacists group. Did not expect either of these actors to show up.

​

 

[BrawlMan]

Best of the Best 4: Without Warning (1998) - The last one in the franchise. Tommy Lee takes on Russian mobsters that are running a counter fit operation. Tobin Bell (John "Jigsaw" Kramer) puts on his best Russian accent as the main villain, and Ernie Hudson is your typical hard ass with a heart detective. There is not as much action as in 2 or 3, but still plenty of it. There's some dodgy CG/blue-screen effects that shows you how low the budget was. They even CG in a orange helicopter in the beginning heist scene. Yet, they use a real chopper later in one of the chase scenes towards the last third of the movie. Also, Tommy now has daughter that is 6 years old. Though the mother is different, meaning things did not work for his previous love interest in 3. Though his wife is already dead and passed away as we found out later in the movie. This does create a weird continuity error in time, because 3 took place in 95. If his daughter is turning 6, then that would place the movie in either 2000 or 2001. Yet it feels like it takes place in 1998; the year the film released. Whatever.

A nice way to go out on the franchise. Apparently Rhee is going to reboot the franchise, but I don't know when that is coming out. Here's the best action scene in this movie:

​

 

[Agema]

Here's the best action scene in this movie:

It's awfully polite of those guys to wait and queue up to take him on one by one. It seems very unkind to give one of them a potentially lethal wound after they've offered him such a huge sporting chance.