Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[Johnny Novgorod]

I've noticed recently, that I've been on opposite ends with YouTube film critics. Lately they either have these really dumb takes, or have become really snobbish and turned into the things they hated about film critics of old and yesteryear. Or they think their opinions are the only ones that matter. Double Toasted did like movie, but I didn't watch the whole review to avoid spoilers.

Only you can decide for yourself, but I highly recommend giving this movie a chance. I am getting this day one when it hits home video.

Mark Kermode's been with BBC for decades, I know his stuff shows up on YouTube but I hardly consider him a YouTuber.

When it comes to following YouTube channels I'm only really interested in RLM but with them I generally take their word when they like something moreso than when they don't.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

No Way Up

Cheapo disaster movie. A plane goes down in the ocean and seven... nope, six survivors become trapped in an air pocket as the plane slowly sinks in shark infested waters. It's alarming enough when your big celebrity hook is Colm Meaney, although he lasts an impressive 30 minutes into the movie. There's not a whole lot going on after. Just a bunch of people standing in place, running the clock, exchanging platitudes about the pickle they're all in.

Air

The rousing story of how Nike gave a whole buncha money to Michael Jordan so they'd make a whole buncha money in return. Apparently there's nothing to the shoe itself - Matt Damon goes to the nerd in the basement on a Friday, tells him to make a prototype by Monday, and so he does, and that's yer lot. As far as product biopics go, this one only seems to care about what a great deal everybody got. I mean Michael Jordan sold out to the highest bidder, what an inspiring story.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★★★★ review of Ip Man (2008)

“Ip Man, are you afraid of your wife?” “No men are afraid of their wives. There are only men who respect their wives.” Normally, this is where I'd put a disclaimer that I'm not familiar with the actual history of Ip Man, a practitioner/teacher of the martial art Wing Chun, and therefore am...

letterboxd.com

 

[BrawlMan]

Mark Kermode's been with BBC for decades, I know his stuff shows up on YouTube but I hardly consider him a YouTuber.

When it comes to following YouTube channels I'm only really interested in RLM but with them I generally take their word when they like something moreso than when they don't.

I don't know the first guy, and will take your word for it, but RLM I hate. I stopped listening to them around the mid 2010s. Then again, I wasn't that enamored with them to begin with. Them mocking people and going out of their way to insult people for liking any of the DCEU films really grinded my gears. So they can forever fuck off.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Frankenstein (the new one by Guillermo del Toro on Netflix)
9/10

A lovely and text-sensitive adaptation- really one of the best versions of a story that's already been done to death.
I'm not usually one to whine about how film adaptations must be the book on screen but it's weird that the famous movie Frankensteins deviated in some major ways- of course the old black and white one made the creature a barely legible dummy instead of thoughtful sophisticated intellect the Mary Shelly had him quickly evolve to. And the 90's one with Kenneth Branaugh that was literally called "Mary Shelly's Frankenstein" added a subplot where Elizabeth was turned into a creature and then killed, which was a cool idea and the visual was gorgeous (Helen Bonham Carter realizing her super-goth ultra form).

Del Toro kept his wilder visual impulses in check in favor of the romantic side of his expression. This movie is more Shape of Water than Hellboy II, but romantic in that it's about passions and longing than love or sex. It walks that perfectly fine line between being kind of arty and pretentious but also visceral and entertaining. My favorite element was the relationship between Elizabeth and the creature, which was vaguely psycho-sexual-romantic but without the actors revealing much about it directly.

All this is done without any special obvious tricks like crazy plot mechanics or visuals that go too unrealistic beyond the science fiction-y premise.

Strong recommend.

 

[thebobmaster]

I don't know the first guy, and will take your word for it, but RLM I hate. I stopped listening to them around the mid 2010s. Then again, I wasn't that enamored with them to begin with. Them mocking people and going out of their way to insult people for liking any of the DCEU films really grinded my gears. So they can forever fuck off.

That's what turns me off of a lot of reviewers both on YouTube and even elsewhere. It's one thing to have a different opinion on a film. I'll even admit that I've had times where I've watched a movie, gone on Letterboxd to review it, and saw the curve, and been confused at how out of sync I was one way or the other.

The appropriate response, IMO, is "I don't get it, but maybe they saw something I didn't, or something appealed to them that just didn't click with me". It's not "Wow, you guys are fucking morons." Or, as Roger Ebert once said in an editorial (and proof that he wasn't necessarily the perfect critic he's hailed to be, although I do try to follow his philosophy about movies in general) "insufficiently evolved on an intellectual level." Which, for the record, he said about anyone who enjoyed the Bayformers films.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

That's what turns me off of a lot of reviewers both on YouTube and even elsewhere. It's one thing to have a different opinion on a film. I'll even admit that I've had times where I've watched a movie, gone on Letterboxd to review it, and saw the curve, and been confused at how out of sync I was one way or the other.

The appropriate response, IMO, is "I don't get it, but maybe they saw something I didn't, or something appealed to them that just didn't click with me". It's not "Wow, you guys are fucking morons." Or, as Roger Ebert once said in an editorial (and proof that he wasn't necessarily the perfect critic he's hailed to be, although I do try to follow his philosophy about movies in general) "insufficiently evolved on an intellectual level." Which, for the record, he said about anyone who enjoyed the Bayformers films.

I love Roger, he was the one film critic I treasured. Kermode's fine, I like Pete Travers (Rolling Stone/ABC) too. But just because I'm interested in what they have to say doesn't mean I ride and die with them. Many of Roger's most flippant takes were often misinformed or just plain wrong. Kermode pussyfoots a lot around negative criticism, Travers is often a bit too gushy. And so on.

Maybe it's a generational thing because so many relationships are purely parasocial with Gen Z and under, but I can like or "follow" a pro without having to agree with them on everything.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

This is heartening because I wanted to see it but reviews have been disappointingly mid. Only Kermode seemed to like it.

It's pretty mid, I'd give it like a 6/10.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It's pretty mid, I'd give it like a 6/10.

Lol, well that's disheartening then. Still watching it though.

 

[thebobmaster]

I love Roger, he was the one film critic I treasured. Kermode's fine, I like Pete Travers (Rolling Stone/ABC) too. But just because I'm interested in what they have to say doesn't mean I ride and die with them. Many of Roger's most flippant takes were often misinformed or just plain wrong. Kermode pussyfoots a lot around negative criticism, Travers is often a bit too gushy. And so on.

Maybe it's a generational thing because so many relationships are purely parasocial with Gen Z and under, but I can like or "follow" a pro without having to agree with them on everything.

And that's good, I'm the same way. When I was saying that, I was referring to people who say stuff like "Well, RLM didn't like this movie, so I'm not going to see it."

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

yoooo what i say??

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★★½ review of Infernal Affairs III (2003)

“Have you ever met a guy who seems nice to you, but might whack you at any moment? I’ve met someone like that before.” “So what do you think, Sam?” “I’m wondering why he didn’t whack you.” A combination of a sequel and a prequel, this film follows two different storylines. After the events of...

letterboxd.com

That...was not the direction I was expecting this trilogy to take.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★ review of Fantastic Four (2015)

“Strap in and get comfy, kids. We're about to make history.” “Yeah, or die. Either/or.” Oh, boy, did this film ever have a rocky production. It was first announced that a reboot of the Fantastic Four series was happening in 2009, with Akiva Goldsman set to produce (already a warning sign), both...

letterboxd.com

 

[Xprimentyl]

Green Book: Really Good / Great

A renowned black pianist (Mahershala Ali) employs a tacitly bigoted [Italian] New Yorker (Viggo Mortensen) as his driver for a tour throughout the deep south in 1960s America.

Based on true events, all the things you think might happen in such a volatile situation do happen, but the performances are brilliant. I'm not sure what qualifies someone as "underrated," but Mahershala Ali doesn't get talked about enough. If you need a strong, articulate black man in your movie, cancel the casting call, and call this man. I've not seen him in a movie where he's not been fantastic. And Viggo Mortensen pulls off the stereotypical New York accent expertly enough that it took a good ten minutes before I decided the actor didn't just remind me of Mortensen, but was in fact actually Mortensen... then the semi-fat suit looked a fairly obvious. Really good movie, recommended.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Green Book: Really Good / Great

A renowned black pianist (Mahershala Ali) employs a tacitly bigoted [Italian] New Yorker (Viggo Mortensen) as his driver for a tour throughout the deep south in 1960s America.

Based on true events, all the things you think might happen in such a volatile situation do happen, but the performances are brilliant. I'm not sure what qualifies someone as "underrated," but Mahershala Ali doesn't get talked about enough. If you need a strong, articulate black man in your movie, cancel the casting call, and call this man. I've not seen him in a movie where he's not been fantastic. And Viggo Mortensen pulls off the stereotypical New York accent expertly enough that it took a good ten minutes before I decided the actor didn't just remind me of Mortensen, but was in fact actually Mortensen... then the semi-fat suit looked a fairly obvious. Really good movie, recommended.

I'm glad you liked it. This movie faced a lot of backlash for its simplistic racial politics and I understand the criticisms but I think they were exaggerated. It was comparied to Crash and that is unfair IMO, Crash really did deserve that kind of mockery.

Dunno about Ali being underrated though, he pretty highly rated. I still hear the wailing cries of internets dudes over the failed attempt to get a Blade movie with him.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I'm glad you liked it. This movie faced a lot of backlash for its simplistic racial politics and I understand the criticisms but I think they were exaggerated. It was comparied to Crash and that is unfair IMO, Crash really did deserve that kind of mockery.

Dunno about Ali being underrated though, he pretty highly rated. I still hear the wailing cries of internets dudes over the failed attempt to get a Blade movie with him.

Backlash for what exactly? It was basically rote on rails for all the racist archetypes seen throughout cinematic history; this film honestly did nothing other films haven't done already, worse or better.

And I said I don't know what qualifies an actor as "underrated," but I feel like I should be seeing Ali a lot more than I have. I'm not a cinephile who watches everything everybody does, but I DO watch enough that I feel I should be seeing him more often. I dunno, I've just really liked him in literally everything I've seen him in. Maybe I should look through his filmography and do a "Mahershala Ali Weekend;" my girlfriend already loves him too (told me to my face how handsome he is, and I couldn't argue,) so it'll be something we'll both enjoy.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

I freely admitted in my review of Weapons that I felt I may not have "gotten" it, but after this HIGHLY informative watch... I get it now. Very powerful allegorical storytelling. I think it perhaps subverts itself by being a bit too obtuse with its intended messaging, offering too many avenues to distract and engage the imagination, but this was obviously (well, obviously now) a labor of personal expression, much like music, where the artist's message won't reach everyone, and may easily mean something entirely different to each individual. That said, it hits completely differently when you get the intent.

@hanselthecaretaker2, take a look; maybe your appreciation of the film can change as mine has.

Some extra fodder for why the witch really bothered me -

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Frankenstein (the new one by Guillermo del Toro on Netflix)
.

All this is done without any special obvious tricks like crazy plot mechanics or visuals that go too unrealistic beyond the science fiction-y premise.

Strong recommend.

Lmao. I really liked it but mentally checked out at what, five minutes in when he pressed a fucking ship out of the ice, while standing on the same ice.

 

[Gordon_4]

I'm glad you liked it. This movie faced a lot of backlash for its simplistic racial politics and I understand the criticisms but I think they were exaggerated. It was comparied to Crash and that is unfair IMO, Crash really did deserve that kind of mockery.

Dunno about Ali being underrated though, he pretty highly rated. I still hear the wailing cries of internets dudes over the failed attempt to get a Blade movie with him.

I'm still pretty disappointed I'm not going to get to see that Blade movie. I really think he'd have been fucking great as Blade.

 

[Bartholen]

Took a few days more than I inteded to finish Frankenstein, but boy howdy did I end up loving it. Easy 9/10, del Toro just doesn't miss with this gothic stuff. Aside from the annoying way it looks with it being way overlit, I have basically no notes. I loved the gothic atmosphere, the grand drama and tragedy, all the performances are stellar but especially Oscar Isaac. This might honestly be the best performance I've seen of him, and that's high praise indeed. He hits the perfect note of an unhinged, socially maladjusted genius who leaves a trail of destruction in the wake of his ambition. It's a great example of a character being unlikeable, but compelling and engaging. Mia Goth is a perfect foil to him. Jacob Elordi does a great job to make the creature sympathetic and engaging to watch, and his monstrous height (1,96 cm) is used to its full advantage: he just towers over everything in the frame. The sets and costuming look great, the score is great, the cinematography is great, there's not a single weak link in the production. As others have already pointed out, it's very old school and classical in its presentation: the story doesn't feel like it's been modernized in any way. It doesn't really need to, the themes are universal and timeless.

I'm kind of mixed about the creature's look in this: on one hand I like it early on when he almost looks like a freakish baby or an alien creature. But on the other hand a creature stitched together from carcasses should look at least a little grotesque, this one's just got a glowy eye and freaky skin. He could be on the cover of a monster romance novel, and it just feels weird. Beyond that and the lighting issue this is top tier stuff through and through.