Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

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Agema

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Fear Street Parts 1 (1994) & 2 (1978) - Netflix (2021).

These are Netflix movies released one week apart with the final to arrive on Friday 16th. Maybe I should have waited until then and I'd watched all three, but oh well. They are adapted (I think very loosely) from some YA horror books by the author R.L. Stine, although interestingly, the movies are "upgraded" and rated adults only. There are still YA elements to them, but they broadly succeed as being adult fare.

The years are well chosen. 1994, of course, is the self-aware slasher horror reboot era. 1978 is the original slasher horror era. And so it is that Part 1 is very much in the mould of Scream, and Part 2 in the mould of Friday 13th. However, both movies manage to add their own modern take on them, and the end result is pretty positive. The basic idea is that there are two towns, Sunnyside and Shadyville. Sunnyville is rich and happy; Shadyville is a pverty-stricken dump, believed afflicted by a curse by a 17th century witch Sarah Fier: and indeed every generation or so, someone goes on a murderous rampage there. The movie starts with the obligatory random murdered teen, like any horror. From that point, our heroine Deena is fretting over her collapsed relationship with Sam, and is gradually drawn into another mass murder. She is ably assisted by her brother Josh, meets back up with her girlfriend Sam, and various other teens - all of whom may or may not survive but I wouldn't want to spoil that for you.

I am likewise going to skip carefully into Part 2 hopefully without giving too much away, where our (surviving) heroes from Part 1 find out the history of the last mass slaughter, all very homagey to Friday 13th, as mentioned, as a crazed killer cuts loose at a Summer holiday camp in the woods. Again, a healthy supply of teens to kill. And in fact also children - although the film decides to protect our sensibilities by having them murdered off-camera, and we'll only see the remains. I'm not toally sure how I feel about that: I understand why it was done, but it was perhaps a lack of boldness.

I don't think Part 2 is quite as good as Part 1, but they are both good movies. Unlike the generally interchangeable and unexceptional victims of most horror movies who are really little more than walking sacks of flesh to be messily disposed of, I think you are invited to care about and like many of them, and it makes it a little bit more wrenchingly sad when some of them die. And that also perhaps makes for a better horror movie.

So good work, looking forward to part 3 (1666). That that will be I suspect in the style of a sort of old style witch horror.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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The Descent

I quite liked this movie. It's a good mix of disaster and horror and has a pretty gripping sense of escalation and relentlessness that reminded me of stuff like Aliens and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The acting was generally subpar and thought most of the characters were interchangeable (and would often get them confused but for the 2 important ones), but once the gravity and viciousness of the situation took over center stage the characters somehow clicked and the movie won me over.
 

Xprimentyl

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ITMT: Holy moly. Netflix has "Ice Road"
That came out of no where! Ton of fun. I kinda wish there was no "Die Hard" element to it. What the good guys are trying to do is tension enough. Even so, did not see this fun movie coming. Hope y'all get to see it.
We watched it last night, and I agree with your sentiments. I wouldn't call it "fun," though, as it made me incredibly anxious.
 
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Xprimentyl

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We watched it last night, and I agree with your sentiments. I wouldn't call it "fun," though, as it made me incredibly anxious.
Oh, and turns out Matt McCoy, the guy I only every knew as the spokesperson for Hartford Insurance in the daytime commercials is in this film. Ironically, he's the evil mastermind behind a deadly insurance scam in this film, so when my gf and I saw him today in one of his Hartford commercials, we said in unison "DON'T TRUST HIM!" I can't unsee it.
 

Ezekiel

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The NeverEnding Story (Germany, 1984)

4/5

Hadn't watched it in forever. I had forgotten its atmosphere and somber beauty. Great music and visuals too. The creatures mostly convinced me. Had Brian Johnson, special effects supervisor of Alien.

This was the German edit, which was a little weird. The title on the book was Die Unendliche Geschichte, and the note the boy left for the book store owner said, "Nicht boese sein. Ich brings bald zurueck." But it was dubbed English. I'm assuming the international version has all that and the credits in English. Would have been nice if the Germans had branched this disc to include both, but I know it's not for this market anyway. German was how I watched this movie the first few times, but I don't speak my native language as well anymore. I checked the German dub at a few places. Didn't seem very good. Obviously not as well lip synced, but even the mixing isn't as good. I'll try it out fully at some point, though, for memory's sake. I noticed that in one scene the music was different. Same score, but used slightly differently.

I still find the part where he takes the dragon into the real world to get revenge on his bullies stupid.

The horse died way sooner than I thought it would. Can't overstate how long it's been since I last watched it.
 
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Bob_McMillan

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Watched The Mitchells vs The Machines.

Was a fun enough family movie, made by the minds behind Spider-verse and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. It looks exactly like a mix of the two, I bet Sony is so glad they didn't bury Spider-verse like they wanted to. It was a little meme-y, but I genuinely laughed at lots of the jokes and the comedic timing is great. Definitely worth a watch with some friends or family.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
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I watched Fear Street part 1: 1994, though I didn't finish it, only made it an hour in. To call this movie trash would be a disservice to trash. It feels like watching a feature length episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark with an M-rating. It has the same bland TV show directing of an early 90's show, which ironically fits I guess. The biggest slight against it though is how ludicrously horny it is for inserting 90's songs every 5 freaking minutes, and then only playing it for 10 seconds before it awkwardly gets cut off. Like I get it, it's the 90's, there'll be some 90's music, but even the most 90's movie at the time (which is like what, Wayne's World... Scream?) didn't have this many 90's songs.
 
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thebobmaster

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Watched Black Widow last night.

There are quite a few positives. Florence Pugh and Scarlett Johansson both turned in great performances, which was very important given that they were the leads. I really bought into the idea that Yelena was what Natasha would have become if she hadn't gotten out of the Black Widow program when she did. In addition, David Harbour was great as Crimson Dynamo Alexei/Red Guardian, providing some solid comic relief that showed up at just the right times. The overall feel of the movie was different from many MCU films, coming off as more of a spy thriller than a superhero movie.

Unfortunately, I feel like any movie is only as strong as its villains, and that was the biggest weakness of this film. Taskmaster was one of the most hyped up elements of the marketing, but when it came down to it, there was basically nothing there. Taskmaster's fights were great, but at the same time, Taskmaster just came off as an elite mook, with no real personality to speak of. Even the reveal of Taskmaster's true identity came off flat, and actively seemed to undermine the already-thin character further. As for the real villain...as I said, the movie is more spy thriller than superhero film, and in our main villain, it seems they were inspired by the Roger Moore Bond films. And not really the good ones. You see, while the villain is unlikeable, to an infuriating degree, his threat level is just not there. He is powerful because he has an army, not because he himself is really a threat, and that is a bit of an issue when it comes to your main villain.

It's not a bad movie, by any means. I firmly believe none of the MCU movies have been bad films. However, if I were to rank this one compared to the other MCU movies, it would almost certainly be in the bottom half, and probably in the bottom quarter, although not at the bottom. 5/10, maybe 6/10 for David Harbour's performance.
 
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Bob_McMillan

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Taskmaster's fights were great
I've seen this sentiment expressed a lot and it really confuses me. I thought generally all of the action scenes in the movie were weak, but Taskmaster's were especially disappointing. He used the Avenger's abilities like four times, and barring the shield, just once each. The fight against Red Guardian was laughably short and full of shakey cam, which is ridiculous when you had two characters perfect for using skilled stuntmen instead of the actors.

Did you watch it in cinemas? Because I feel that might be why I didn't care for the action, I just watched at home.
 
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thebobmaster

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I've seen this sentiment expressed a lot and it really confuses me. I thought generally all of the action scenes in the movie were weak, but Taskmaster's were especially disappointing. He used the Avenger's abilities like four times, and barring the shield, just once each. The fight against Red Guardian was laughably short and full of shakey cam, which is ridiculous when you had two characters perfect for using skilled stuntmen instead of the actors.

Did you watch it in cinemas? Because I feel that might be why I didn't care for the action, I just watched at home.
I watched it at home as well. I should clarify that I thought the camera work was shaky at times, my compliments of the fighting are in terms of choreography.
 

BrawlMan

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A lot of the problems with Quantum of Solace (not all, but a lot), is tied to a single thing: it was made in 2008, during the Writer's Guild strike. No joke, there were times where they'd be filming one scene and the director was writing the script for another scene off-camera. To say production was messy is an understatement.

I'm not defending Quantum of Solace, which is easily one of my bottom 5 Bond movies, just giving some context as to why the script structure seems so loose and unfocused.
Not only that, but that movie tried so hard to be like Jason Bourne that it was unbearable. I remember seeing that back in 2009 and I had an empty feeling. My brother liked it, but even he's forgot the movies existed at this point. I know by that point that I was sick and tired of Jason Bourne clones or everybody trying to copy with the whole shaking cam, quick cut, let's give you nausea with the camera. They don't make good action scenes, they look ugly they go for realism that doesn't even make sense, and it's a bull crap excuse for people who don't know how to film action at all. I am so glad that genre of filmmaking died by the early to mid 2010s. Mainly 2014 is when they started to stop doing this. The straight to DVD Action Movie market caught on early enough to realize how bull crap it was. Thank God for Michael Jai White, Isaac Florentine, and Scott Adkins! They all know how to do action to near perfection and are at better crafts than the majority of fakes at Hollywood.
 

Piscian

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I'm about 20 minutes into "gunpowder milkshake" and I'm struggling to stay engaged. I can see why it ended up on Netflix. It's messy and poorly directed. You ever see one of those badass slow motion cut scenes, but instead of it playing off the previous scene or ending in a payoff so it just limps into the next making you wonder why it was in Slowmo at all? 30 minutes in and we've had about 5 of those. This is clearly trying to mimick The Big Hit, grosse point blank and John wick, but it's just a mediocre copycat. I'd say skip it, but it's on Netflix and everyone always give these things a pass regardless of warnings.
 

AnxietyProne

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Coonskin

First things first, I like this film, a LOT, but like just about every Ralph Bakshi work, I like it more for the spirit behind it than the actual finished product. More so than any of his other films, in fact. It really just does not give a shit in telling an urban drama, jabbing at racial issues, as well as subtly flipping the bird to blaxploitation films and blatantly flipping the bird to romanticized views of the La Cosa Nostra.
 

Xprimentyl

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The Informer: Really Good / Great

Ex felon-turned-family man (Joel Kinnaman) finds himself informing for the FBI against a Polish drug kingpin, however, some unfortunate circumstances leave him effectively working for said kingpin by purposely breaking his parole to enter prison and work on the inside.

I don't want to say much more because the events as they unfold are a big part of appreciating this film. The pacing is a bit slow, but when the shit goes down, it goes DOWN. I only vaguely recognized Kinnaman; after reviewing his IMDB, I realize I've seen him in quite a bit, and he does an exceptional job here.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Bloodsucking Bastards

It wants to be Office Space meets Shaun of the Dead, with vampires instead of zombies, but is nowhere nearly suited to pull it off. It doesn't nail the everyday tedium of workplace politics and soul-crushing exploitation, and it never even looks or feels like a plausible horror movie capable of being funny, scary or gory.

Everything just has a cheap, dour look and the result feels very amateurish. Like we shot this with friends over the weekend. The camera and overall acting are going for the snappy precision and deadpan of Edgar Wright but the talent just isn't there. Even the framing is off on simply shot/reverse shot conversations.
 
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Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
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Bill and Ted Face the Music

Alright, but I keep forgetting I watched it. Not that the previous movies were monoliths of quality filmmaking (though I still stand by Bogus Journey being brilliantly unique), but they still had a lot more of an identity than Face the Music does. It was nice to see Reeves and Winter together again though, and that their wholesome, doofy chemistry was still alive and well. Though Reeves did seem to have a harder time reaching back to his pre-Speed acting style.

I was also surprised by how not annoyed I was by Bill and Ted's daughters as they emulated their fathers' mannerisms. This could've backfired horribly, but they pull it off very naturally. I really wasn't expecting the next messed up step in the whole Missy 'I mean 'mom'' saga, nor how strangely not-fucked up they managed to frame it. Eventhough it's really kinda fucked up.

The message was a bit hooky, but still very fitting. Though having it straight-up get spelled out just before the credits roll was fucking stupid. We get it. We get it movie; you don't have treat us like idiots who can't put two and two together.

Also, nobody on this team knew what the fuck to do with that robot character, huh? Not the designer, but the prosthetics team, not the writers, and not the actor playing him. This character was just everyone on set throwing their hands into the air.
 

happyninja42

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Bill and Ted Face the Music
snip
Yeah I can't really bring myself to watch FTM, given how much I love the first 2 movies. I think Bogus is a solid film, though I don't like it as much as Excellent. The fact that it has a Faith No More song (one of my favorite bands ever), and a cameo by Primus, helps elevate Bogus for me a lot. But there are no scenes in Bogus, that when I watch them, still get me choked up like this scene still does, to this day.

It's cheesy as hell, but the imagery, plus the music, and the premise of the scene. I mean, seriously, think about it. You suddenly find yourself standing in a literal utopia, and it's because of YOU, that the world gets to that point. And from the other side, the people, actually being able to meet the founders of their utopia. Not some weird magical, fictional person, but the real dudes, who just tried to make some rocking toons, and had an inherent life philosophy that was about as positive as you can get. And they got to meet. I dunno, it just really hit me. I remember it hitting me in the theater as a kid, and it still hits me hard today. That just 100% honest optimism for the future. The surety that all this shit we're dealing with today, is just a speedbump, on the road to a day, when, in time, we'll be dancing in the streets all night.

When I see clips from FTM, I just see a lame cash grab attempt to resurrect an old 80s franchise.

Plus, I was INSANELY pissed that they didn't have the girls named Bill and Ted. That was the ONE canonical thing I wanted to have carry over from Bogus. I am 100% fine with them being daughters too. Because I can totally see Bill and Ted, declaring to each other, as the lifelong friends they are, that they would name their firstborn after each other. And totally forget about the whole gender thing. They would just stare down at the cribs as the 2 girls are born at the same time (because of course they would be), have that blank look of confusion for a moment, then shrug, and just go "Well, I guess she's Little Bill, and she's Little Ted" and then the wives just kind of look at each other, and give them names that sort of feminize those names. Like...I dunno, Billiana, and Tedwina or something. Because it's Bill and Ted, they are just dumb that way :D

Sadly no, they didn't. And so I refuse...REFUSE I tell you! to see the film. *flips a table at the insult of not having the girls be named Bill/Ted*
 
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Piscian

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Yeah I can't really bring myself to watch FTM, given how much I love the first 2 movies. I think Bogus is a solid film, though I don't like it as much as Excellent. The fact that it has a Faith No More song (one of my favorite bands ever), and a cameo by Primus, helps elevate Bogus for me a lot. But there are no scenes in Bogus, that when I watch them, still get me choked up like this scene still does, to this day.

It's cheesy as hell, but the imagery, plus the music, and the premise of the scene. I mean, seriously, think about it. You suddenly find yourself standing in a literal utopia, and it's because of YOU, that the world gets to that point. And from the other side, the people, actually being able to meet the founders of their utopia. Not some weird magical, fictional person, but the real dudes, who just tried to make some rocking toons, and had an inherent life philosophy that was about as positive as you can get. And they got to meet. I dunno, it just really hit me. I remember it hitting me in the theater as a kid, and it still hits me hard today. That just 100% honest optimism for the future. The surety that all this shit we're dealing with today, is just a speedbump, on the road to a day, when, in time, we'll be dancing in the streets all night.

When I see clips from FTM, I just see a lame cash grab attempt to resurrect an old 80s franchise.

Plus, I was INSANELY pissed that they didn't have the girls named Bill and Ted. That was the ONE canonical thing I wanted to have carry over from Bogus. I am 100% fine with them being daughters too. Because I can totally see Bill and Ted, declaring to each other, as the lifelong friends they are, that they would name their firstborn after each other. And totally forget about the whole gender thing. They would just stare down at the cribs as the 2 girls are born at the same time (because of course they would be), have that blank look of confusion for a moment, then shrug, and just go "Well, I guess she's Little Bill, and she's Little Ted" and then the wives just kind of look at each other, and give them names that sort of feminize those names. Like...I dunno, Billiana, and Tedwina or something. Because it's Bill and Ted, they are just dumb that way :D

Sadly no, they didn't. And so I refuse...REFUSE I tell you! to see the film. *flips a table at the insult of not having the girls be named Bill/Ted*
I thought it was fine. The daughters are named billie and thea. I could be wrong, but I would swear they call each other bill & ted through most of the film. It's definitely not a Cash grab. Keanu has been trying to get it funded for 10 years or so. That said it wasn't amazing or anything, just fine. Theres some pretty hilarious moments around Dads Bill & Ted being sleezy, lazy and old. Some of the film is great some of it falls a little flat, but I do not regret the $10 or whatever it cost me.

Also, nobody on this team knew what the fuck to do with that robot character, huh? Not the designer, but the prosthetics team, not the writers, and not the actor playing him. This character was just everyone on set throwing their hands into the air.
That was the biggest negative of the film for me, I think they wanted to introduce a third wheel like Death, but this was not the movie to do it in. The robot just wasted air and got on my nerves.



I just watched "A Quiet Place Part II"

Meh, critics were raving about it, but I found it kind of derivative. Its pretty much all the same beats from the last one with essentially the same ending. There isn't even anything to discuss or debate. It's more "A quiet place". Nothing new, no new twist. More running from noise monsters. While I liked the first one, its always kinda bugged me that there's no depth to the monsters. So much so that it's never made clear what they even eat. They don't eat humans. That's one thing that's always bugged me. They don't act like an evolved predator would which they clearly are. They just hear noise and tear shit up "BRRADHFHJF". They don't change or grow or age. In that context, the stakes don't change in the sequel. It could be argued that the sequel finishes the story, but it honestly didn't feel like it. It felt like another A-Z inbetween film. "Our heroes are here, we got to get them to there in this film".

I can't really recommend or not recommend it. I can only say I was more bored than not.
 
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Piscian

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The Descent

I quite liked this movie. It's a good mix of disaster and horror and has a pretty gripping sense of escalation and relentlessness that reminded me of stuff like Aliens and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The acting was generally subpar and thought most of the characters were interchangeable (and would often get them confused but for the 2 important ones), but once the gravity and viciousness of the situation took over center stage the characters somehow clicked and the movie won me over.
I highly recommend skipping the sequel. Its not the original team and it was just a cheap studio cash in. I tried to watch them back to back recently and could not make it through 30 minutes of the sequel without getting annoyed and shutting it off.
 
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Casual Shinji

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[can't quote you for some reason]

@happyninja42 I wouldn't say Face the Music is a cash grab. I mean sure, it's made to make money obviously, but it didn't give me that cynical feeling that, for example, the Disney live-action remakes do. Alex Winter has tried to get a sequel made for years, but it didn't feel like it was for the sake of fame and money, but because he just really likes these characters. It doesn't feel like an attempt to revitalize the franchise, or them trying to pass on the torch to younger characters, which they had the perfect oppertunity to do. Face the Music feels like a reunion tour, one last hoorah.

This movie still feels like Bill and Ted, not just some corporate product wearing its skin. I think the inherent problem with this movie is that it's a sequel to a franchise that was never really that good, but it holds a special place in our hearts. And a sequel now is likely never going to compete with how we felt about those movies back then, eventhough quality wise it's pretty much on the same level. There is actually a very touching scene that involves Bill and Ted meeting a version of themselves in the future that feels set up as just another joke, and in a way it is, but it's also quite sincere in that quintessential Bill and Ted way. Kinda like the proposal scene in Bogus Journey, where you're laughing at the situation, but you know that for Bill and Ted it's this very serious moment, and it makes you love these guys even more.

Also, the daughters are called Bill and Ted. There's some variations throughout the movie, like Billie and Thea, and I think at one point they're refered to by their full names, which I think are Theodora and Willemina. But Bill and Ted having named their own daughters after one another is certainly in this movie.