Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[Johnny Novgorod]

Watched a preview screening of Supergirl and I'm not feeling it. Nothing against Milly but playing Rooster Cogburn at 23 with no other clout than "the girl from House of the Dragon" is a tall ask. Instead of a girl going up to a grizzled old washout audiences would recognize as a former badass it's just another girl and their rapport simply isn't as interesting. Nor did I find Supergirl's party girl persona very convincing. Jason Momoa does his bro schtick as Lobo. Belgian dude as the main villain is generic, forgettable. Suffers a bad case of "throws character around" instead of going for the kill.

I wonder if they just did a low stakes nothingburger space adventure in space to sidestep the inconvenience of setting up a global earthbound conflict without offending anybody this time. And I know it's a different director but the whole dive bars and biker gangs aesthetic just reeks of James Gunn. Supergirl's big debut just looks and feels like a mix of The Marvels and Guardians of the Galaxy. Doesn't carve much of an identity for itself.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★★½ review of Rocky III (1982)

“No, I don’t hate Balboa, but I pity the fool.” Written by Sylvester Stallone with the idea of addressing how being world champion would affect Rocky compared to his underdog role, this film did have some casting changes. Initially, two world-class heavyweight boxers, Joe Frazier and Earnie...

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[Xprimentyl]

Dead Of Winter: Alright / Great

A widow travels to northern Minnesota to spread her husband's ashes at the lake where they had their first date. Along the way, she detours to a remote cabin where she meets a man acting very strangely. Her suspicions are validated, and what ensues is an attempt to rescue a young woman from an unknown, but clearly "not good" fate.

It's one of those films that exists for its own sake. It's a self-contained effort filled with contrivances to justify what happens next from moment to moment. It's not bad, but not great either. Without spoiling anything, I'd say the biggest question is the main antagonist and how they project so much power and influence over the other characters. It feels like this is a movie that should have been about 3 minutes long if anyone else involved had a decent right hook.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★★★★ review of Isle of Dogs (2018)

“The humans in this story speak only in their native tongue (occasionally translated via bilingual interpreter, foreign exchange student, or electronic device). All barks have been rendered into English.” In 2015, Wes Anderson announced plans to make a stop-motion picture centered on dogs, as a...

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[thebobmaster]

A ★★ review of Disturbia (2007)

“I’m not a stalker. These are just simple observations, natural side effects of chronic boredom.” Christopher Landon came up with the idea of this film after contemplating how he would handle being under house arrest while watching an NPR program discussing Martha Stewart’s own house arrest, and...

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[thebobmaster]

A ★★ review of 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019)

“It’s not my fault that no one likes her.” “You know, that’s a real nasty thing to say.” A sequel to 47 Meters Down was announced in 2017, with the title of 48 Meters Down. However, as the film went through production, it was first renamed to 47 Meters Down: The Next Chapter, before finally...

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[thebobmaster]

A ★★ review of Gran Turismo (2023)

“You puked on my lawn.” A film based on the Gran Turismo series of video games was announced by Sony Pictures in 2013, produced by Michael de Luna and Dana Brunetti and written by Alex Tse. Joseph Kosinski was announced to be directing in 2015, but by 2018, the film was shelved. It wasn’t until...

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[Johnny Novgorod]

Nuestra tierra (Our Land)

Lucrecia Martel's latest movie since Zama. It's a documentary that covers the murder of a Chuschagasta indian by a "landowner" and a couple of ex cop goons, the subsequent trial and on a more general note the systematic erasure and indoctrination of the Chuschagasta. I'm supposed to extol it as rising above being "merely" true crime Netflix schtick but frankly the true crime angle is what worked best for me. The movie turns into a bit of a snoozefest in its second half when it basically becomes a family picture slideshow with glum, sentimental running commentary by the local fogies. In the grand Argentine tradition, the obvious guilty party are finally declared guilty a whole decade after the murder, then exonerated couple of years later. *blows party horn*

I don't think I'll ever like a Martel movie that way I liked La ciénaga and La mujer sin cabeza, and that's fine.

 

[McElroy]

Dead Of Winter:

Shot in Koli national park in Finnish North Karelia. The only one I've properly visited myself. I haven't seen the movie, though. The trailer made it look too generic to warrant a movie ticket.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Toy Story 5

Yup it’s more Toy Story, but now aims to tackle the struggle of modern day kid life where tech replaces toys. How young is too young? No one knows better than tech leaders regarding that, but I digress because it doesn’t dare go there.

The focal point character-wise is Jessie and Bonnie this time, with Buzz and to a lesser extent Woody leading the supporting cast, along with the newcomer LilyPad. Poor Bonnie is behind the times and it doesn’t take long before getting her first dose of peer pressure and wind up in a tizzy of confusion. The through line is how toys and tech wind up working together to save the day, which is ultimately worth little more than popcorn fodder. If there’s a bright spot it’s that maybe kids can understand that it’s still ok to play with toys at the tender age of eight.

It has heartfelt moments reaching back to the past and expectedly some of the best animation quality as of late. I’d probably skip the 3D version though. Like practically all of them it fades into nothing after a while and oddly enough there was an issue with the previews where the Real 3D glasses (well after being told to put them on) had odd vertical bar-like artifacts on them. I tried them on backwards and the effect disappeared. Other people nearby seemed to have the issue too, and I initially even went and grabbed a bunch of new glasses thinking they were defective, but at some point the image showed up correctly. Just goes to show what a gimmick it is, and will remain so until the technology is beyond even James Cameron’s expectations.

Oh, there’s also a mid credits and a post credits scene, with the former being story-related and the latter a basic gag.