Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[Drathnoxis]

I found Knives Out 3 a huge improvement on the previous movie, and a return to roots for the franchise. The premise (an impossible murder of a "charistmatic" priest) is inherently less interesting than that of the first movie. But the core message of decent people doing good things overcoming assholes is still there, and I thought the protagonist Father Jud was the most compelling in the series so far.

It also really helps that the director was more restrained with real world references this time. That got REALLY old in the previous one.

One major criticism I had though is that the supporting cast is not very memorable, despite having a fairly stacked cast. Maybe this was needed in order to have a higher focus on the main characters, but I thought it was a little disappointing.

I saw this last night and thought it was pretty meh. I never saw the second but I seem to recall the first being pretty decent, though my memory of it is vague. I guess the mystery was wrapped up ok, but I don't know, something about the presentation made the whole thing kind of uninteresting. And, was this supposed to be a comedy? Because a lot of the acting and scenes were kind of awkward, but it just... wasn't funny.

Also, the actor who plays Father Jud has really weird ears and this distracted me pretty much every time he was on screen. They're completely smooth and ridge-less, like satellite dishes on the side of his head. It's like someone picked him up by his ears when he was a baby and they got popped all inside out and never went back to normal.

Edit: Another thing, I'm not religious but Father Wicks clearly wasn't preaching church doctrine. The Catholic church is an organization, I would think that he would have been removed from the priesthood pretty quickly. Surely there was some bishop or something Father Jud could have appealed to.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Also, the actor who plays Father Jud has really weird ears and this distracted me pretty much every time he was on screen. They're completely smooth and ridge-less, like satellite dishes on the side of his head. It's like someone picked him up by his ears when he was a baby and they got popped all inside out and never went back to normal.

Edit: Another thing, I'm not religious but Father Wicks clearly wasn't preaching church doctrine. The Catholic church is an organization, I would think that he would have been removed from the priesthood pretty quickly. Surely there was some bishop or something Father Jud could have appealed to.

I assumed Father Jud had cauliflower ears due to his boxing past. Or maybe he does indeed just have weird ears, but my assumption added a bit to his character for me. Also, Jud is an outcast and his mentor mentioned in the beginning that Wicks has supporters in the church. He isn't exactly in the position to be ratting anyone out.

I saw this last night and thought it was pretty meh. I never saw the second but I seem to recall the first being pretty decent, though my memory of it is vague. I guess the mystery was wrapped up ok, but I don't know, something about the presentation made the whole thing kind of uninteresting. And, was this supposed to be a comedy? Because a lot of the acting and scenes were kind of awkward, but it just... wasn't funny.

Fair enough. Like I said, the premise is pretty tame compared to the previous movies. I do kind of want to watch the first one to see how it stacks up.

 

[Gordon_4]

I disagree about Evey's role just being the stock damsel in distress. Her knowledge of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics is crucial to the climax. Without her there, despite how badass Rick is with a sword, there is no way they could have defeated the bad guy, plus she had far more personality than "stock" would imply. I see your point with the CGI effects to a degree as well, but if you watch some of the behind the scenes stuff, there was an astonishing amount of effort put into especially that same climax. Would you believe that not one of the skeletons you see there are even represented by guys in mocap suits? That's all Brendan Fraser.

ETA: Also, no mention of Kevin O'Connor as Beni? For shame.

"Hey, O'Connell! It looks to me like I have all the horses!" "Hey, Beni! It looks to me like you're on the wrong side of the river!"

My favourite character in those movies was always Jonathan, Evey’s brother. I have a soft spot for his kind of character and John Hannah plays him to perfection. Plus if you put together a few seemingly contradictory things he can do, a rather compelling - if basic - background manages to emerge. But the movie really is just packed with strong if arch characters played by actors with charisma and charm to burn.

 

[thebobmaster]

My favourite character in those movies was always Jonathan, Evey’s brother. I have a soft spot for his kind of character and John Hannah plays him to perfection. Plus if you put together a few seemingly contradictory things he can do, a rather compelling - if basic - background manages to emerge. But the movie really is just packed with strong if arch characters played by actors with charisma and charm to burn.

Jonathan's great as well. I love the fan theory, and also subscribe to it, that he's actually a veteran of the first World War, and got PTSD from it, hence the seeming contradiction between him being terrified of any danger but extremely capable when his back is against the wall.

 

[Gordon_4]

Jonathan's great as well. I love the fan theory, and also subscribe to it, that he's actually a veteran of the first World War, and got PTSD from it, hence the seeming contradiction between him being terrified of any danger but extremely capable when his back is against the wall.

That's what I mean. Sure he's a lovable cowardly rogue of a man, but you can't pull off some of the shit he does as a marksman - especially in Mummy Returns - or have the wherewithal to just try and pretend to be a zombie to fit into Imhotep's hordes without having some serious life experience and it didn't come much more serious than the First World War.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★ review of Home Alone 4 (2002)

“I should have gone to college. In 2 years, I could have been a dental technician. 2 years!” After so much time had passed since the second movie, everyone on the kid's side were recast because the other actors had aged out of the role. The adult actors apparently (or explicitly, in the case of...

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[Phoenixmgs]

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery - 5/10

The 1st Knives Out is so good and the sequels have not been near as good. This is the longest Knives Out movie while having I'd say the least complex mystery plot overall. I didn't find the characters nearly as interesting, entertaining, or fun as previous casts/characters; not even Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc is as fun as the prior movies. Most of the characters don't even have much to do in the film either. The setting itself is just a basic church and isn't nearly as interesting as the previous settings. The reference to the RINO term replaced as PINO (priest in name only) was just so cringe. Overall, the film is longer for not much reason and not nearly as entertaining as the other 2 films in the series, it even takes 40 minutes for Daniel Craig to even show up.

You could watch 3 Poker Face episodes (Rian Johnson created show) in the time it takes to watch this movie and each of those episodes would be better.

 

[Phoenixmgs]

8-Bit Christmas - 8/10

Really well done modern Christmas movie. Neil Patrick Harris in modern time tells his daughter the story of how he got a Nintendo in the late 80s as a kid. The vast majority of the movie obviously takes place in 80s so NPH isn't in the film too much and it's mainly on the kids to carry the movie. And the kids do carry the movie really well, there's a good variety of the type of kids from the one that has the charisma to the rich kid to the kid that is allowed to watch R-rated movies. The plans the kids come up with to get a Nintendo are all rather entertaining. Steve Zahn is great as the father. There's even a pretty funny joke reference to "does the dog die?" infamous website. The film also pulls off a really heartwarming message at the end. Kids should love this movie and adults should also enjoy the nostalgia done in a genuine, tasteful manner.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I guess we're all watching Knives Out 3.

I'd rank it better than 2, not as fun as 1. The Benoit Blanc character has been dialed back from being a complete caricature, he's no longer fishing for memeable moments, and the movie has generally been toned down into a darker, more grim affair. It's more grounded than Glass Onion, but also less cynical. I liked O'Connor in it, who has a great rapport with Craig. And they made the mystery much more interesting and exciting (I forget who even was murdered in 2), even if not everything gels as tightly by the end. Again half the cast is wasted on red herrings, again Johnson continues to obsess over the TLJ online fallout (I'm sick of his influencer/chronically online strawmen). I get the impression Knives Out has become Netflix's answer to White Lotus, where each entry changes the tone and scenery dramatically and packs in as many A-listers as possible without necessarily worrying about where to go from there.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★½ review of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

“It’s because I’m green, isn’t it?!” This film had both a fairly complicated pre-production, and some troubles during actual production. While attempts had been made to do a live-action Grinch movie before, they all got killed off at the stage of actually getting the rights, because Theodore...

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[Johnny Novgorod]

The Woman in the Yard

Blumhouse's belated answer to Babadook transforms its metaphor for grief into a woman and relocates it to, yes, the yard. For about 90 minutes a widowed mother despairs at the mere sight, even though there's no explicit threat to her or her kids, and nothing's stopping her from unloading a shotgun on the trespasser or at least fucking off to the nearest Chipotle. The plot is thin and uneventful, the metaphor's painfully heavy-handed and neither the woman nor the yard prove scary. I've seen worse movies this year but this was the queen of snoozefests.

 

[Xprimentyl]

The Woman in the Yard
the metaphor's painfully heavy-handed

Agreed. Nothing much happens in this film until the final moments where it slaps you in the face with its point.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I get the impression Knives Out has become Netflix's answer to White Lotus, where each entry changes the tone and scenery dramatically and packs in as many A-listers as possible without necessarily worrying about where to go from there.

I'm not as in touch with movies and actors as you, so my impression was that they scaled back on A-listers. I know they're not exactly unknowns either, but outside of Brolin, Renner, the guy who played Moriarty in Sherlock, and Close, I didn't really know who these people were (although I'm probably forgetting a few)

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm not as in touch with movies and actors as you, so my impression was that they scaled back on A-listers. I know they're not exactly unknowns either, but outside of Brolin, Renner, the guy who played Moriarty in Sherlock, and Close, I didn't really know who these people were (although I'm probably forgetting a few)

Maybe a more appropriate term would be lapsed A-listers or production value celebs. The younger ones have been leads in at least one big thing recently, Josh O'Connor in Challengers, Cailee Spaeny in Priscilla. And then you have career supporting actors like Jeffrey Wright and Thomas Haden Church. Only one I didn't know from anywhere was the guy playing the influencer.

Naturally the highest profile one (at the time) always dies first. Applies to all three Branagh Poirot movies too.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★★ review of The Santa Clause 2 (2002)

“It’s...Charlie.” “Sheen? I thought he straightened up!” This sequel was announced in July 2000. Interestingly enough, a teaser trailer released alongside 102 Dalmatians and The Emperor's New Groove came with the subtitle The Escape Clause attached and a release date of November 2001. The...

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[Ezekiel]

Nice, Rob Reiner understood the crappiness of lens flares that many other, mostly younger, directors proudly show off. It struck me in Hard Boiled as well. So much debris, so many sparks, light sources, yet none of it hits the camera in that way.

“My least favorite shot, the one that gets me every time I see it,” he began in the video, shared by IGN via Instagram. “There’s a shot where Robin Wright is on a horse, and she’s galloping over this bridge. And we’re shooting, and there’s backlight, there’s u back there. And there’s a flare in the camera, and it really bothers me.”

Rob continued, “To this day, it bothers me because you become aware that it’s being filmed. I mean, we’re trying to put people in the days of yore and, you know, the fairytale land. And not think that it’s being photographed.”

To conclude his thoughts on the scene, he added, “And I’m like that with mostly everything. I don’t want to call attention to the camerawork, to the acting, to the writing, to the music. I want it to all be like one blended thing so that the audience is not taken out of it.”

Took me a while to find the shot he was talking about, since I haven't watched it that much, but I found another lens flare in the process.

 

[Gordon_4]

Nice, Rob Reiner understood the crappiness of lens flares that many other, mostly younger, directors proudly show off. It struck me in Hard Boiled as well. So much debris, so many sparks, light sources, yet none of it hits the camera in that way.

“My least favorite shot, the one that gets me every time I see it,” he began in the video, shared by IGN via Instagram. “There’s a shot where Robin Wright is on a horse, and she’s galloping over this bridge. And we’re shooting, and there’s backlight, there’s u back there. And there’s a flare in the camera, and it really bothers me.”

Rob continued, “To this day, it bothers me because you become aware that it’s being filmed. I mean, we’re trying to put people in the days of yore and, you know, the fairytale land. And not think that it’s being photographed.”

To conclude his thoughts on the scene, he added, “And I’m like that with mostly everything. I don’t want to call attention to the camerawork, to the acting, to the writing, to the music. I want it to all be like one blended thing so that the audience is not taken out of it.”

Took me a while to find the shot he was talking about, since I haven't watched it that much, but I found another lens flare in the process.

That practically qualifies as subtle compared to some of the supernovas we were treated to in JJ Abrams Star Trek films. And since Princess Bride is old school and was likely filmed on location, whatever that refraction effect is, is probably just something you had to live with when you filmed in natural light with the big glass lenses on film cameras.

 

[Xprimentyl]

That practically qualifies as subtle...

It's an Ezekiel complaint; of course it's subtle. Note he didn't post to address the loss of someone he respected, rather to point out Reiner shared an extremely niggling bother with him, and that somehow validates his characteristic, pretentious pettiness.

 

[Ezekiel]

I found out that he said this yesterday as people were remembering him. You're kind of weird, Xprimentyl. Very antisocial.

 

[BrawlMan]

You're kind of weird, Xprimentyl. Very antisocial.

No, that would be you. Projecting again I see.

I've only seen Princess Bride the one time. I'll have to make room for that later, but I make no promises.