Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[Johnny Novgorod]

Sinners

It's From Dusk Till Dawn but instead of regular folk entering a vampire bar it's vampires entering a regular bar. Hailey Steinfeld plays the Salma Hayek equivalent. It's a horny as fuck movie. Lotsa crotch grabbing and pussy eating.

It's pretty good and it's got one terrific musical sequence (you know the one) but I think overall they oversold it to me.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

What makes it especially annoying is that Julie Bowen *is* in the movie a fair bit (flashbacks and afterlife hallucinations). So it's not even that she got too big for Happy Gilmore 2, it's Sandler and his writers not being able to think of anything useful for the character to do but die and set up Happy's journey of getting over it.

Soured the rest of the movie for me.

Jeremy Jahns said in his review that the main plot point to cause personal conflict/strife with Happy was going to be with Chubbs but Carl Weathers pasted away. I guess the Julie Bowen thing was a fill-in for that, not that that's an excuse or anything. I really hated the 2nd Bourne movie for killing off main chick in the first few minutes.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

My experience with Fantastic Four First Steps was very similar with Superman. I was really happy with the casting and soundtrack, relieved with how not-garbage the visuals were, and ultimately underwhelmed by the story.

When the movie ended, I was kinda surprised. I thought there would be more to it. Galactus and the Surfer are essentially the only conflicts that need to be resolved. No internal strife with the family, no flaws overcome, no new dynamics between characters. It felt like I watched an extremely well produced middle of the season episode of a monster-of-the-week science fiction show. Its even more confusing because it seemed like they set the stage for a lot these conflicts, but they never go anywhere.

I had issues with Superman, but I thought it was very obviously trying to say that being a good person is always a worthy fight, no matter how much trouble it will bring you. I have no idea what Fantastic Four is trying to say.

 

[BrawlMan]

I have no idea what Fantastic Four is trying to say.

Family....

​

That and not giving into the "easiest and most obvious solutions" for the sake of convenience and comfort. Especially if those moral costs are high and unforgivable.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I have no idea what Fantastic Four is trying to say.

'Please watch more MCU!'

 

[BrawlMan]

'Please watch more MCU!'

Everyone knows that one. Jokes on you MCU, the only thing I care about is Ironheart and Shang-Chi 2.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It felt like I watched an extremely well produced middle of the season episode of a monster-of-the-week science fiction show.

*insert John Williams score*

 

[Gordon_4]

Everyone knows that one. Jokes on you MCU, the only thing I care about is Ironheart and Shang-Chi 2.

They really better move their fucking arse on Shang Chi 2 before Simu Liu takes his handsome and charismatic self to other pastures.

 

[BrawlMan]

They really better move their fucking arse on Shang Chi 2 before Simu Liu takes his handsome and charismatic self to other pastures.

Ya damn right, Knuckles Gordon_4.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★ review of Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (2002)

“What would you know? You’re beautiful. It’s always been easy for you.” “Easy? That’s not how I remember it.” Like all good DisneyToon sequels, this started as a TV series before the creators regained their sanity enough to realize that it really wasn't working. However, they still had three...

letterboxd.com

 

[Kyrian007]

Happy Gilmore 2

So Happy Gilmore isn't such a high standard for a legacy sequel to clear, but I'm at the point where I'd rather a legacy sequel not ruin a good ending for the sake of a 6/10 comedy elevated by nostalgia bait.

They do a Zoolander 2 by killing off the love interest (Happy murders her) and undoing the big material win (Happy loses Grandma's house and pulls a Rocky V by losing all his money too). I kinda hate it when a comedy sequel fridges the love interest. It's as if the writers can't envision a wife as anything other than a ball and chain.

Rest of the movie is cameos, product placement and golfball slapstick. Some of these cameos are so random that the movie will play a clip from OG just in case you don't know or appreciate who the fuck is that.

It's funnier than Beverly Hills Cop 4, but I'm gonna rate it lower just because of all the sour retcons. On the plus side it's miles ahead of Zoolander 2 and Coming 2 America.

I agree with your general level of disappointment in Happy Gilmore 2, but I do disagree about Virginia's fate. I went into HG2 expecting a death to start it off (I mean, that's the callback.) I even guessed correctly the circumstances of that death (Happy drive bonk.) I had just guessed that would have been Grandma Gilmore's fate, not Virginia's. But looking back at the original, they weren't really using Julie Bowen to her full comedic potential anyway. And seeing the rest of HG2, they wouldn't have had anything better for her in the sequel anyway. So putting her under the turf in the first 60 seconds... fine. Doesn't bother me. What I didn't like about the sequel... it just wasn't as funny. I didn't actually laugh at a single joke until over a half hour into the movie (I think it was the Jack Nicklaus/Arnold Palmer joke.) And as a follow up to something that made you laugh around once or twice a minute on average... not being funny is kind of a deathblow. Trading comedy for more callbacks was a big part of the problem. Making sure all of the Happy Madison kids had speaking roles... was another part of the problem. The stuntcasting was fine. Jon Daily was funny, Travis Kelce was funny, Lee Travino reprising his role... great. But the kids... it wasn't working.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Just catching up here and I come across two surprises...

1- The new Fantastic Four is actually good?! Ok I'll admit I don't know why I expected it to be crap, maybe superhero fatigue, but still. This means that each comic book world now has good movies out at the same time. Is this the first time that ever happened?
The good news for me as someone who just doesn't care about the FF is that it gives me an excuse to watch Vanessa Kirby, one of my favorite actresses.

2- A new freaking Babylon 5 movie?! What? Weren't they trying to do a reboot or something? What the heck?
B5 is my favorite sci-fi show of all time that doesn't have the words "Star Trek" in it and I've watched that series like 5 times.

 

[thebobmaster]

I agree with your general level of disappointment in Happy Gilmore 2, but I do disagree about Virginia's fate. I went into HG2 expecting a death to start it off (I mean, that's the callback.) I even guessed correctly the circumstances of that death (Happy drive bonk.) I had just guessed that would have been Grandma Gilmore's fate, not Virginia's. But looking back at the original, they weren't really using Julie Bowen to her full comedic potential anyway. And seeing the rest of HG2, they wouldn't have had anything better for her in the sequel anyway. So putting her under the turf in the first 60 seconds... fine. Doesn't bother me. What I didn't like about the sequel... it just wasn't as funny. I didn't actually laugh at a single joke until over a half hour into the movie (I think it was the Jack Nicklaus/Arnold Palmer joke.) And as a follow up to something that made you laugh around once or twice a minute on average... not being funny is kind of a deathblow. Trading comedy for more callbacks was a big part of the problem. Making sure all of the Happy Madison kids had speaking roles... was another part of the problem. The stuntcasting was fine. Jon Daily was funny, Travis Kelce was funny, Lee Travino reprising his role... great. But the kids... it wasn't working.

I think this sums it up for me. 90% of the time Happy Gilmore 2 tried to tell a joke, my reaction was: "That joke was funny in the first movie. Why am I not watching that one?" Between that and the over-use of flashbacks to that movie, it really became obvious that HG2 was relying on people loving the first movie enough for the residual humor to get them through this one with a few chuckles, without really putting in much effort on its own.

I mean, even on just a basic level, Shooter McGavin versus Billy (Haley Joel Osment) as a rival? There's absolutely no contest there. And it's not that Haley Joel Osment couldn't be a strong enough actor to pull off the rival character, the writing just didn't care to make him do so.

 

[BrawlMan]

Is this the first time that ever happened?

No.

 

[Bartholen]

I caught a couple of movies on TV while on vacation.

Joker, 8/10

I hadn't seen this since it came out (6 years already, Jesus fuck), and with the absolute clown show the sequel turned into I decided to check it to possibly reevaluate. Nope, no need for that. Joker is just a really solid character piece. It's well acted, well directed and the setting is realized incredibly well with the amount of detail, filth and grunge. I like how some of the pivotal scenes are basically directed like a horror movie: the subway murder scene could be something out of a classier version of Terrifier. This justifiably created some of the most iconic and referenced movie visuals of the 2010s. It threads a very difficult balance of sympathy and creepiness for Arthur, because if you lean into either one too much, he becomes much less interesting. My biggest criticism (aside from the stupid as shit inclusion of the Crime Alley scene at the very end) would probably be the romance subplot with Zazie Beetz's character, it just feels really underdeveloped and if you removed it from the movie it wouldn't really affect much. Yeah, it's a borderline ripoff of Taxi Driver and King of Comedy, but I think it's tackling different themes than either, so I consider it more of an homage than a copy.

Godzilla 2: King of Monsters, 2/10

Geez, what a turd this was. My expectations were bottom of the barrel going in, but I still somehow ended up disappointed. I just wanted to see monsters go crash boom bang (which the criminally underrated Kong: Skull Island had in droves), but the vast majority of this is spent with incredibly boring cookie-cutter characters and worldbuilding straight out of the dumbest fan fiction written by an 11-year old. The plot manages to somehow be needlessly convoluted as well with characters constantly explaining different mechanics and whatsits. It wastes the acting talents of people like Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown and Charles freaking Dance himself, who could not look more like he's showing up for a paycheck even if he tried. When it finally gets to the big monster action after what feels like several days the big smashy action is pretty fun: there's a proper sense of weight and scale, and the effects are pretty good. But as is usual with bad monster movies, it's constantly intercut with the humans getting on with their story amidst the chaos, which leads to some really dumb moments. This is one of those movies where you're infinitely better off just watching the monster scenes on Youtube with proper headphones.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★ review of The Amityville Horror (2005)

“We’ve got the All American dream here. There’s no way in Hell I’m letting that go.” Like the original, this film's production did have some issues. Namely, George Lutz was not pleased that the remake was made without his knowledge until it was deep into production. In fact, it got to the point...

letterboxd.com

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Fantastic Four: Baby Steps

It was cozy and enjoyable enough. Wish they played up the campy 50s-60s optimism - you get past the big introductory newsreel montage and the whole movie is a rather glum trolley problem of whether it's ok to punt a baby into Galactus' mouth to save the Earth or not. This being a Fantastic Four movie I think we waste a little too much genuine emotion on taking this discussion seriously and pretending a deus ex third option won't save them from making the choice.

I liked everybody in the roles, and they nailed the warm family dynamic, although I got a weird claustrophobic vibe from rarely seeing the 4 away from their homebase, interact with anybody other than each other or have much of a life outside of it (Ben has a meet cute with Natasha Lyonne and that's about it). Bad guys felt underwritten. Also it's been a while but going from memory alone the plot plays out more or less the same as the 2007 movie. What does Galactus get out of giving planets the headsup that he's gonna eat them? And why is Cronos-ing the Richards' baby boy instead an upgrade?

My takeaway was that it was a fun movie, but it was never exciting. Superman was exciting because it keeps revealing new facets of the plot and the characters. Sinners was exciting. It's bad news for F4 that I left the theater still humming Rocky Road to Dublin. But nothing about F4 is gonna stay with me, other than remembering I enjoyed watching it.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Just watched Predator: Killer of Killers, and it was actually really good. Or to be more specific, half of it was really good, the other half was so-so. It's a Predator sequel, and a (Western) animated one, so I was just a little iffy on this whole thing. Probably wouldn't have even checked it out if not for some positive word of mouth.

I liked the first Viking tale the best. It's surprising how much it manages to convey in that short amount of time. And the action is very well done - there's this village raid where our main character (along with her gang) butchers this tribe of Vikings and it's got some proper animated violence. The story about the Samurai bros was good too. Again, very nice action moments, and creative scenes in regards to the Predator. It kinda lost me with the WW2 fighter pilot section of the movie, and the main character was a little annoying too. And by the very end things got a bit too silly. It went from genuine harrowing moments in the first half of the movie, to goofy Star Wars shit near the end.

Overall pretty damn good, and better than Prey I'd say.

 

[Gordon_4]

2- A new freaking Babylon 5 movie?! What? Weren't they trying to do a reboot or something? What the heck?
B5 is my favorite sci-fi show of all time that doesn't have the words "Star Trek" in it and I've watched that series like 5 times.

I mean, kind of sort of. There's been jungle drums about JMS redoing Babylon 5 as he originally envisioned it before reality came and forced a bunch of changes (Sinclair leaving, the whole Lyta/Talia/Lyta telepath thing for example) making it the show we know and love.

As for the movie, its fine, I enjoyed it but it essentially Spider-Verse or that Simpsons Treehouse of Horror where Homer has a time machine toaster. Not what I'd have done if I was blowing money on getting what remains of the band back together but it could very easily have been worse. The worst part was the cast list and In Memoriam lists being basically of similar length.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I mean, kind of sort of. There's been jungle drums about JMS redoing Babylon 5 as he originally envisioned it before reality came and forced a bunch of changes (Sinclair leaving, the whole Lyta/Talia/Lyta telepath thing for example) making it the show we know and love.

As for the movie, its fine, I enjoyed it but it essentially Spider-Verse or that Simpsons Treehouse of Horror where Homer has a time machine toaster. Not what I'd have done if I was blowing money on getting what remains of the band back together but it could very easily have been worse. The worst part was the cast list and In Memoriam lists being basically of similar length.

I looked up this B5 movie, saw it was animated, and realized I may have actually watched this? I didn't realize in your previous post this movie is actually a couple of years old. I was aware of it, I either didn't care to watch it or I watched and forgot it. It's just not the same.

Also, I'll be real- the B5 movies are all weak. B5's genius lies in the connective themes and narratives across the episodes.

Other TV stuff I been watching:

- Superstore, finished season 5, with only a shorted final season left, and the show did what all sitcoms inevitably do- Flanderize. The characters get stupider, meaner, sillier, and unlikable. There are still good gags and lines and with so little left I'll finish it out but it's just another example of how TV shows peak around the 2nd or 3rd season and start to drop off after 4.

- Star Wars Rebels: it's pretty good for what it is but I just find it hard to pay attention to animated shows like this. I'm gonna stop watching, not out of any particular dislike just I lost interest.

- Andor, season 1, rewatch: as a counterpoint to Rebels, I realized while watching season 2 of Andor how much I forgot and how this show really works when you watch a few episodes back to back. Generally I like weekly episodes more than "binging" but I think Andor is the exception. Revisiting the heist on the barracks to steal the payroll in one sitting was an absolute joy.
I have been converted from thinking Andor was getting so much praise just because it's the first SW show that is actually decent into seeing it as truly great.