Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[Johnny Novgorod]

Umma

Mediocre Blumhouse-y movie. Ghost of Sandra Oh's mother comes to haunt her just as Sandra Oh's daughter is ready to leave for college. Something about women's dread of becoming their own (domineering) mothers, coupled with Korean superstition and a few Sam Raimi barrel rolls (he's a producer). But it's not a scary movie and it doesn't have a sense of humor. With Raimi as producer I was expecting the characters to be tortured mercilessly but as far as scary movie gauntlets go Umma felt very low stakes. The ghost is but an inconvenience, it takes relatively little to deal with it and nobody dies. The small buffet of side characters who I thought for sure were goners never even realize they're in a horror movie.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Halloween Ends

*See title*

Well, it has been hinted at as much and certainly followed through with its premise, but also took its sweet time getting there. While the first entry of this rebooted trilogy dealt with Laurie's emotional and traumatic baggage spilling into her daughter's and granddaughter's lives, and the second is basically Michael-gone-wild and the effects of mob mentality, this third installment winds up more a newbie's story than Laurie's or Michael's. I've seen it labeled as both "Thriller" and "Horror" by different outlets, and a case can be made for each at different points.

Look, by now one really has to go into these movies willing to disregard reservations over the nine sequels including Rob Zombie's between the original and the reboot, in order to find anything more than cynicism and contemptuous grievances for their sins against the arts, or even pop culture. Viewed through a lens that encompasses just four movies then, spanning nearly 45 years of time and with a handful of the original cast, I will give each credit for having a different feel to them. Michael Myers is personified through these films as a force of "pure evil", and the finale acts as a sort of examination on the role evil plays in human nature; how it manifests, the various ways it can spread, and the tolls it takes.

In the end, I can only personally say the franchise was at least given a far better treatment than where it was left before Green took the helm. It couldn't have been an easy endeavor to navigate through such overtread ground and follow through on it definitively, while also respecting the source material and doing justice to the characters. Whether or not it's the ending the franchise deserved will be highly contestable among horror fans due to matters of personal taste, but in any case, it sure as hell needed it.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

Clerks 3 - 3/10

The movie is obviously very specifically personal to Kevin Smith so much so that it feels solely made for just Kevin Smith. The movie is mainly just a "clip show" or trip down memory lane of the previous Clerks movies (mainly the 1st) that just rehashes the same jokes and same scenes and feels like a behind the scenes featurette of the original Clerks. There's some pretty cringe self-aggrandizing at times as well. The movie really attempts to put some heavy emotional scenes in but they just don't work on the whole because it's just so specific to Kevin Smith, they aren't that well done, and Randal's character just comes off as too much of an ass for too much of the movie for it to work. Just rewatch the original Clerks if you're in a Clerks mood.

 

[twistedmic]

Clerks 3 - 3/10

The movie is obviously very specifically personal to Kevin Smith so much so that it feels solely made for just Kevin Smith. The movie is mainly just a "clip show" or trip down memory lane of the previous Clerks movies (mainly the 1st) that just rehashes the same jokes and same scenes and feels like a behind the scenes featurette of the original Clerks. There's some pretty cringe self-aggrandizing at times as well. The movie really attempts to put some heavy emotional scenes in but they just don't work on the whole because it's just so specific to Kevin Smith, they aren't that well done, and Randal's character just comes off as too much of an ass for too much of the movie for it to work. Just rewatch the original Clerks if you're in a Clerks mood.

I feel like Kevin Smith is pretty overrated and that he should have stayed in the nineties and early aughts. Clerks 2 was probably has last good to decent movie and even then he was starting to feel played out and dried up.

 

[BrawlMan]

Randal's character just comes off as too much of an ass for too much of the movie for it to work. Just rewatch the original Clerks if you're in a Clerks mood.

Even in the second movie, I got fucking tired of Randal's antics, and made me ask "Why does Dante stick around with dumb mother-fucker?!" I would have ditched him while in high school, and I would not even consider him an acquaintance. Granted, I went out of my way to avoid assholes like that in high school. I would not have hung around him to begin with. Shit, even the people who acted like assholes at my high school, would avoid or pummel someone like Randel.

I feel like Kevin Smith is pretty overrated and that he should have stayed in the nineties and early aughts. Clerks 2 was probably has last good to decent movie and even then he was starting to feel played out and dried up.

I don't even care for most of his good movies. I liked Dogma, but even I sold my DVD copy a decade ago.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I feel like Kevin Smith is pretty overrated and that he should have stayed in the nineties and early aughts. Clerks 2 was probably has last good to decent movie and even then he was starting to feel played out and dried up.

I'll bring some old man energy and talk about what it was like to start discovering movies as a young person when Clerks came onto the scene in 1994. I was 17 and just at the right age. Tarrantino was the coolest dude because he brought full-on nerd energy to auteur genre-blending-while-homaging film making and here comes the comedy version, maxing out his personal debt to make a passion project. It was punk rock, it was alternative culture when that still meant something, it was genuine.

Clerks is so completely 100% of its time, it's what makes it both one of the greatest films ever made and one of the least interesting to watch now and certainly to rewatch. Pretty much all of his movies until Jersey Girl were basically Clerks++ in some way and they're amusing for those that were plugged into his vibe.

Clerks 2 and 3 are stupid IMO for the same reason the new Barbie movie and Book of Boba Fet and the upcoming Barbarella and all this other shit that just doesn't let anything from the past stay in the past. As a huge huge fan of Clerks, I have less interest in watching Clerks 3 than anything.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

I feel like Kevin Smith is pretty overrated and that he should have stayed in the nineties and early aughts. Clerks 2 was probably has last good to decent movie and even then he was starting to feel played out and dried up.

I also feel Clerks 3 inadvertently has the message that Kevin Smith never grew up as a director much like Dante and Randal haven't either.

Even in the second movie, I got fucking tired of Randal's antics, and made me ask "Why does Dante stick around with dumb mother-fucker?!" I would have ditched him while in high school, and I would not even consider him an acquaintance. Granted, I went out of my way to avoid assholes like that in high school. I would not have hung around him to begin with. Shit, even the people who acted like assholes at my high school, would avoid or pummel someone like Randel.

Randal came off to me as the facade he shows the rest of the world plus his character's main purpose was to make pop reference jokes so it was fine. But in this movie, most of his dialogue isn't for jokes and thus makes him into a pretty fucking massive asshole. He actually reminded quite a bit of a friend's brother that constantly screws over my friend.

 

[Asita]

I don't even care for most of his good movies. I liked Dogma, but even I sold my DVD copy a decade ago.

Honestly, I only ever saw Dogma as "ok". I'm not sure it could ever have been great between its core narrative and the tone it was trying for, but looking back on it I can't help but feel that it had an amateurish feel to it, like the production team was still learning its craft. A bit too high budget to be a semester project, of course, but still it felt more like something that would be pointed to and embarrasedly chucking about as a starting point rather than turning out to be a career highlight.

 

[BrawlMan]

Honestly, I only ever saw Dogma as "ok". I'm not sure it could ever have been great between its core narrative and the tone it was trying for, but looking back on it I can't help but feel that it had an amateurish feel to it, like the production team was still learning its craft. A bit too high budget to be a semester project, of course, but still it felt more like something that would be pointed to and embarrasedly chucking about as a starting point rather than turning out to be a career highlight.

I do admit I literally watched it for Alan Rickman, Salma Hayek, Jay and Silent Bob, and Chris Rock. I got the idea and themes that were going for, but each watch got less interesting for me. I do wish they kept this deleted scene in. It would have had way more of an impact on the film.

​

 

[Hawki]

Toy Story That Time Forgot (5/10)

I'd hoped to have watched this back when I was writing 'Mister Spaceman,' but then, its contents were never directly relevant, so no biggie. But besides that, this film isn't really anything special, which is surprising, as Toy Story of Terror was quite fun.

Thing is, the actual concept behind the story is pretty neat. A group of Bonnie's toys ends up in a friend's house, but Bonnie and Mason spend time playing videogames, so the toys end up in a giant room with a giant toy set (seriously, this kid has to be insanely rich to get all these toys, plus a whole room dedicated to them) of Battlesaurs!, who have forged their own society in the harsh realm of, um, the toy room. Only these battlesaurs think they're the real deal, as they've never been played with by Mason (who got them for Christmas, but has spent all of his time since playing videogames), so while their leader knows their true nature, he's intentionally keeping them in the dark, and subjecting other toys to gladitorial combat/sacrifice.

Conceptually, this is really neat - a look at "toy culture," if you will. Not the first time the IP has done this, but what it does, it does well. What's also neat is that while in the room, we intiailly see things as they really appear (walls, wooden floor, etc.), but over time, it shifts into a saurian-landscape that is broken only when Bonnie and Mason re-enter it, yet if you're paying attention, you can see where the boundaries are (e.g. the 'sunset' is just the back of a cardboard box advertising the BATTLESAURS!). Subtle, but nice touch.

Yet despite all this, I was meh on the execution, and I don't really know why. I think it's because I already knew the plot points going in, but, yeah. I was just "meh" through most of it, though like most things, I was working at the time, so there's that. But for whatever the reason, I just didn't really feel much watching this, despite understanding that creatively and conceptually, it's actually solid. Maybe one day I'll give it a "proper watch," but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[gorfias]

Jexi on Netflix (B-)

Fun enough movie. Adam Devine is a very affable and enjoyable screen presence with a new phone that insists that it is going to improve his life. Whether he likes it or not.

Special props to Michael Pena. Not only is he terrific but really gets to close things out for the movie.

Kid Cudi is in it too and a lot of fun.

Kind of off topic but I have a 5.1 sound system, the quality of the sound varies depending upon the app and movie being played. This sounded really special.

 

[BrawlMan]

Sonic the Hedehog (2020) - I finally decided to give this a go. The Blu-Ray double pack came in the mail earlier yesterday. The movie is not bad and is actually decent. The action scenes are good, and still feels like a Sonic movie. Ben Scwartz is obviously doing a different take of the character (albeit slightly younger and was socially isolated for most of his life), but familiar. There's plenty of good shout-outs to the games without being distracting, and the last 30 minutes are the best part. Jim Carrey is a riot as always, and fits Eggman to an E. Perfectly accurate depiction with his own spin. The human characters are not as bad as I thought they would be. I actually like Tom and some of the supporting ones that show up. I still wish the movie was animated and just took place in Sonic's actual world. Not much point in complaining about it now. These movies are basically the live-action versions of Sonic X, but better. Not much of a milestone as there are better Sonic adaptions, but I will take this movie any day over two seasons of Sonic X.

On a rating scale of movie adaptions with MK 1995, SF II: The Animated Movie, and SF: Assassin's Fists at the top, Rampage (2018) being in the middle decent-good portion, the live action Mario Bros & Double Dragon at D-List, with anything Hitman or Uwe Bowell being at worse than crap bottom: Sonic sits slightly below Rampage, but has enough charm to keep the film going. The pacing works for the most part and the dull moments don't last long. Most of the humor works, but that whole "child in a gym bag" gag should have been cut. Nothing would have been missed.

I do love the animated credits in the end using the 16-bit graphics recapping the film. The animated Sega logo at the beginning with a lot of the Sega games on display tugs the heartstrings.... The people making this film did care enough, so I won't hate them for that.

Now on to Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022). The one with the stupid wedding sub-plot no one asked for. I'll be hitting the fast forward button whenever it cuts to the wedding. Which explains the 122-minute runtime.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Entergalactic on Netflix.

The animation is basically Baby's First Spider-verse, which is not at all an insult. Gorgeous movie with a great soundtrack. I kinda dismissed Timothee Chalamet (or whatever his name is) as the new teenage girl thirst trap, but the dude killed it as one of the main character's crackhead friends.

That said, in classic Netflix fashion, all tension and conflict in the movie relies on miscommunication. I fucking hate that really, everything could be avoided with a single sentence. Maybe that's realistic, heaven knows people in real life hate having hard talks, but here it made all the drama feel cheap.

Still worth a watch though. This is the kind of shit I want to see Netflix putting out.

Kinda expected more of the 'two neighbors getting into a relationship, but then what if it doesn't work out' risk that was mentioned earlier in the movie too. Also, I had no idea Timothee Chalamet was in this.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Kinda expected more of the 'two neighbors getting into a relationship, but then what if it doesn't work out' risk that was mentioned earlier in the movie too. Also, I had no idea Timothee Chalamet was in this.

He was the skinny white dude with a shaved head.

 

[thebobmaster]

Watched Misery for my October watchathon. Still holds up. Both Kathy Bates and James Caan more than hold their own, and the cinematography is quite good. There are some differences from the book, but most of them are actually for the better, IMO.

 

[Casual Shinji]

He was the skinny white dude with a shaved head.

Yeah, I figured he's pretty much the only white guy in the movie (with actual lines and a name).

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Yeah, I figured he's pretty much the only white guy in the movie (with actual lines and a name).

Hey, he could have been the preppy white bread white guy! Which honestly I would have expected of Chalamet.

 

[BrawlMan]

Randal came off to me as the facade he shows the rest of the world plus his character's main purpose was to make pop reference jokes so it was fine.

All of the pop culture references in the world can't save him from being such obnoxious and oblivious asshole. Randal is not worth the dated pop culture references. The only thing he gets from me is rapid knee bashes to his face.

 

[Piscian]

Bullet Train
(paid for my own copy)

Rating: 8/10


Premise: A wet work operative (hitmen, thieves, heavies for the mob etc) coming back to work after having had therapy due to a series and unfortunate events happing when he's on the job ends up boarding a Japanese Bullet train for one simple job, steal a briefcase and get out. This is made more complicated by a series of other wet work operatives all being on the train all with their own missions, agendas and reasons to be there leading to Ladybug (Brad pitt) ending caught up in the middle of other schemes going on. All the while a father tries to get revenge on the person who put his son in a coma.

Thoughts: This is a kind of film I don't think Hollywood makes much anymore and is especially rare in this genre. It's an ensemble cast road trip film the likes of which you see with Cannonball Run or Rat Race with Brad Pitts character acting more and a main through point connecting to all the other stories which themselves overlap with various other different ones. It's one of the few films I've seen that uses flashback sequences well to tell backstories and relevant parts of the history without said things feeling like thing that the story should have told in order as in this case many of the flashbacks are short segments in varying locations and times or just fill in how the operative in question came to get on the bullet train. If I had one criticism it's that one of the operatives didn't feel fleshed out at all compared to the others with little backstory or personality when compared to the quite impressive range of fleshed out distinct characters on show even if one or two do slip slightly into being some slightly stock / trope characters.

Hell if you need me to give you a weird "Hook" reason to see it, one reason to see it is so you can watch a hired killer give a socio-political analysis about the why modern Thomas the Tank Engine as a franchise is far worse than it was in the past and offers far less to modern children than the older iterations (no really this happens).

Same 8-9/10

There's something uniquely enjoyable about these ensemble films we just don't get often enough. It reminded me a lot of a better Smokin Aces. I think it's just hard for your average hollywood writer to put together 5-10 intersecting stories and make it all culminate in a cathartic ending while giving every cast member time to breath. The big bad guy reveal I found especially hilarious because that particular actor is just so insane. He lives for being ridiculous on camera and this is him amped to 11.

It's definitely akin to something like Oceans 11 where you can tell the director and staff are just telling the actors to have fun. Everyone is having such a good time here and its hard not to get swept up in it. Most importantly the story is always feels like its rollicking forward. Theres never a sense of "ok what are we doing here?".

 

[Piscian]

Clerks III - first 40 minutes: