Last movie you saw?

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Saw Don't Look Up on Netflix, a black comedy (well, comedy to a certain point) about the public reaction when a comet due to a collision with Earth in six months is discovered.

I was expecting it to be so-so but overall it was fun to watch, and it was a mercilessly realistic portrayal of how nowadays we would react to a mass extinction danger (spoiler: basically the same way we reacted, and are still reacting, to Covid).

Even though I knew what the movie was about I still couldn't help feel genuinly sad about it because honestly alot of people would probably laugh it off as satire and move on even though they agree it's pretty much how it is today. It's such a meta thing, we see a movie about ourself and our society and then pick up our phones and tweet and laugh how real it feels....and life goes on.

Kinda like i'm doing right now. 

[Sacul]

we live in a society

[Cool Chris]

we live in a society

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhe3RlzgTiQ

Caught the tail end of WarGames on TV. Man I loved that film as a kid. It totally(!) has an 80s vibe, but I think the storytelling and drama still holds up. Everyone is so good in it. It's my quintessential Matthew Broderick role. Others may say Ferris Bueller, but he is perfect as Lightman. And the tension is on point in the final act when they are all at NORAD.

[Stadler]

"Free Guy" with Ryan Reynolds.  Thought it was hilarious at times, and they nailed a good number of the gamer/hipster tropes in a really cool (and sometimes subtle) way.   It had it's moments of preachy heavy-handedness (the underlying notion of "we're all individuals and need to break out of our confining lives!" was naive at best) and the angsty computer nerd who gets the girl was utterly unbelievable to me, but overall I'd watch it again.  Taika Waititi was excellent.   "This gives me ass AND ball cancer.  Inoperable!"

[hefdaddy42]

I was fortunate enough to catch the theatrical release of Joel Cohen's new version of The Tragedy of Macbeth starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand yesterday at the local Alamo Drafthouse.

Filmed in black and white, the film is gorgeous, with many interesting choices throughout.  I wouldn't say it is a definitive version (too many Americans lol), but it is certainly a distinctive version.  For much of the film, Denzel's performance is unusually reserved for this role, but the fact that he is older than most actors portraying Macbeth makes that more relatable.  Overall, just a brilliant film.  Glad I got to see it on the big screen before it jumps to Apple +.

[pg1067]

Caught the tail end of WarGames on TV. Man I loved that film as a kid. It totally(!) has an 80s vibe, but I think the storytelling and drama still holds up. Everyone is so good in it. It's my quintessential Matthew Broderick role. Others may say Ferris Bueller, but he is perfect as Lightman. And the tension is on point in the final act when they are all at NORAD.

That movie is so underrated.  I saw it in the theater when it came out, which was at the height of the cold war and about six months after Leonid Brezhnev died.  There was always a lot of discussion at school about the possibility of nuclear war.  I recall one teacher telling us that, if something happened, we'd all likely be killed immediately because we lived near a nuclear weapons storage facility (true).  This was supposed to be comforting because it meant we wouldn't have to suffer with radiation poisoning/sickness!  It was in this era that WarGames was released.  At the time, it was slick and cool, and I completely agree that the storytelling and drama hold up (all without a single explosion over overblown car chase).

[Cool Chris]

Good point on that last part. I think the most action-oriented set piece is when the jeep crashes through the gate and tips over on the way to NORAD. Or maybe when Lightman jumps on to the ferry as it is leaving the dock.

[hefdaddy42]

WarGames is fantastic. 

[El Barto]

I was fortunate enough to catch the theatrical release of Joel Cohen's new version of The Tragedy of Macbeth starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand yesterday at the local Alamo Drafthouse.

Filmed in black and white, the film is gorgeous, with many interesting choices throughout.  I wouldn't say it is a definitive version (too many Americans lol), but it is certainly a distinctive version.  For much of the film, Denzel's performance is unusually reserved for this role, but the fact that he is older than most actors portraying Macbeth makes that more relatable.  Overall, just a brilliant film.  Glad I got to see it on the big screen before it jumps to Apple +.

Not much of a Macbeth guy, myself, but that looks pretty remarkable. Totally old school. Very minimalist, but highly stylized. Don't know as I'd want to sit through it, but it sure looks impressive.

[hefdaddy42]

I was fortunate enough to catch the theatrical release of Joel Cohen's new version of The Tragedy of Macbeth starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand yesterday at the local Alamo Drafthouse.

Filmed in black and white, the film is gorgeous, with many interesting choices throughout.  I wouldn't say it is a definitive version (too many Americans lol), but it is certainly a distinctive version.  For much of the film, Denzel's performance is unusually reserved for this role, but the fact that he is older than most actors portraying Macbeth makes that more relatable.  Overall, just a brilliant film.  Glad I got to see it on the big screen before it jumps to Apple +.

Not much of a Macbeth guy, myself, but that looks pretty remarkable. Totally old school. Very minimalist, but highly stylized. Don't know as I'd want to sit through it, but it sure looks impressive.

I certainly prefer Hamlet, Lear, and Othello to Macbeth.  But yes, this was incredible.

[Stadler]

May I be so bold as to suggest Othello? 

[Orbert]

No Time To Die

Long movie.  Lots of stuff happened, some of which made actual sense, but no more than most James Bond movies.  Lots of people said lines that were really good on paper but felt weak on screen.  Then it was over, and after all that, I wondered WTF was the point?

I used to love James Bond movies, and Daniel Craig gave us a new take on the character, and the writers did some new things.  But after five or six movies (I'm not sure) and this being the clear end of this particular run, I don't know how successful it was.  It felt like every one of his movies tried to do more than they could.  They stuffed everything into them, and it didn't all fit.

[hefdaddy42]

May I be so bold as to suggest Othello?

I certainly prefer Hamlet, Lear, and Othello to Macbeth.  But yes, this was incredible.

[Stadler]

May I be so bold as to suggest Othello?

I certainly prefer Hamlet, Lear, and Othello to Macbeth.  But yes, this was incredible.

Haha, no, I know; it was a Marillion reference (a line from "Garden Party").

[hefdaddy42]

May I be so bold as to suggest Othello?

I certainly prefer Hamlet, Lear, and Othello to Macbeth.  But yes, this was incredible.

Haha, no, I know; it was a Marillion reference (a line from "Garden Party").

Ah.  I don't listen to them; hence the confusion.

[gmillerdrake]

'War for the Planet of the Apes' happened to be on FX last night. Found myself watching the whole thing. I really enjoyed that little trilogy.....it was really well done. I'd always held out hope they'd throw one more in there as a reboot of the original.....when the manned space mission returned to earth to find things had changed a bit. I think it'd work well but can see where the trilogy is good enough.

[hefdaddy42]

'War for the Planet of the Apes' happened to be on FX last night. Found myself watching the whole thing. I really enjoyed that little trilogy.....it was really well done. I'd always held out hope they'd throw one more in there as a reboot of the original.....when the manned space mission returned to earth to find things had changed a bit. I think it'd work well but can see where the trilogy is good enough.

I love that trilogy as well.

I don't know about the "one more".  I kind of feel like they went 3 for 3 so far; with any more, the law of averages would eventually catch up to them and there would be a clunker, especially if they are doing it "just to do it".

[gmillerdrake]

'War for the Planet of the Apes' happened to be on FX last night. Found myself watching the whole thing. I really enjoyed that little trilogy.....it was really well done. I'd always held out hope they'd throw one more in there as a reboot of the original.....when the manned space mission returned to earth to find things had changed a bit. I think it'd work well but can see where the trilogy is good enough.

I love that trilogy as well.

I don't know about the "one more".  I kind of feel like they went 3 for 3 so far; with any more, the law of averages would eventually catch up to them and there would be a clunker, especially if they are doing it "just to do it".

I agree Hef….it’d be tempting fate for sure. Those were such fun and well done movies and they were perfect as a trilogy. It’s wanting more of a good thing where I had hoped they’d go full circle. But the trilogy stands on its own as a great…well done story.

[hefdaddy42]

'War for the Planet of the Apes' happened to be on FX last night. Found myself watching the whole thing. I really enjoyed that little trilogy.....it was really well done. I'd always held out hope they'd throw one more in there as a reboot of the original.....when the manned space mission returned to earth to find things had changed a bit. I think it'd work well but can see where the trilogy is good enough.

I love that trilogy as well.

I don't know about the "one more".  I kind of feel like they went 3 for 3 so far; with any more, the law of averages would eventually catch up to them and there would be a clunker, especially if they are doing it "just to do it".

I agree Hef….it’d be tempting fate for sure. Those were such fun and well done movies and they were perfect as a trilogy. It’s wanting more of a good thing where I had hoped they’d go full circle. But the trilogy stands on its own as a great…well done story.

Having said that, if the director and writers decide they have more stories to tell, and the decision to move forward isn't being prodded by execs at the studio trying to milk the series for more money, I'm sure it would be good, and for sure a must-watch for me.

[faizoff]

I recently re-watched the new Apes trilogy, it really is a fantastic set of movies.

'Rise' was a great start to the franchise, it does have some basic vanilla boardroom drama with the typical struggle between the lab and boardroom. Other than that the stuff with John Lithgow and Cesar is excellent.

My favorite is still the 2nd one 'Dawn' it has a great mix of an evolving, growing and flourishing ape population contrasted with the dying human population battling survival. I had wrongly assumed that Gary Oldman's character had a military background, when in fact he was just an ordinary guy put in the circumstance of leading people. It's really well made and the story is great.

The 3rd movie 'War' is I guess a misnomer as it suggests and an all-out war between apes and humans, it deals more with how one human faction is fighting with everyone really but mostly targetting the apes. It obviously has very strong allegories to Cesar being Moses and leading his people to better lands. On my re-watch, I liked it way more than before. Apart from a few minor gripes, it was a solid ending to the trilogy.


Matt Reeves knocked it out of the park with the last two movies and I'm very excited to see what he does with the new Batman. His remake of the horror movie Let Me In really surprised me on how good it was at keeping the spirit of the original Swedish movie. I don't know if they plan to do more Ape movies but if they go in the direction of this trilogy I'm all for it.

[Orbert]

I don't think I ever finished "War".  I thought "Rise" was kinda cool, a different take on the concept, and "Dawn" was okay but a little convoluted.  By time I started "War" I realized that I just wasn't interested.

I'm a big fan of the 1968 original, and have also read the book by Pierre Boulle.  The original movie keeps the concept, just turns it around a bit.  I fully recognize that the sequels in that original series tapered off in quality as they went on, but there is merit in each of them, and there's actually some logic to how it all played out.

I guess that affected my enjoyment of the new trilogy, because I kept thinking that it was a different and kinda cool way to go, but at some point it has nothing to do with the book anymore, or the original movies, and it's just some story based on a similar concept, and once I realized that, I found that I just didn't care about it.

[faizoff]

I do at some point want to watch all the original Ape movies. I think HBO has them so I'll check them out.

[Orbert]

The first one is great.  Even better if you're unspoiled on the ending, although that's nearly impossible these days.  The second one ("Beneath") explores the planet a bit more, provides some backstory, and even takes things in a new direction, but all consistent with the original and thus a "real" sequel.  The third one ("Escape") is more fun, something like the STIV of the series, but it still builds on the concept and has a dark ending, leading directly to the fourth one ("Conquest").  This one had a great concept but sufferred from the studio cutting the budget with each successive sequel, which is stupid when you're actually making money on the movies and presumably want to make more.  The fifth and final one in the original series ("Battle") could have been great, the climax of the saga, but the budget issues again hampered it.  I watch it and I guess I mental extend what's on screen to what it could've/should've been if they'd had more budget to work with.

[JediKnight1969]

Baba Yaga (1973)
Nina forever (2015)

About to start:

Last night in Soho (2021)

[pg1067]

I watched Don't Look Up over the weekend.

It was ok.  It was basically Deep Impact but with people being "edgy" and national authorities who were monumentally stupid.  It was otherwise ok but because overly preachy (albeit in a somewhat unexpected manner).

[hefdaddy42]

Vacation Friends (2021)

Semi-raunch comedy with John Cena.  Mildly entertaining with some big laughs.  Nothing deep, and not a great film, but definitely a fun watch.

Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown (2008)

A documentary on the life and work of H.P. Lovecraft.  Lots of talking head interviews with experts and fellow visionaries.  Very nicely done.

[Chino]

I wrapped up Breaking Bad last night and decided to watch El Camino. I haven't watched that since the day it came out. It's really good, and I think they did an awesome job on it.   

[jingle.boy]

Vacation Friends (2021)

Semi-raunch comedy with John Cena.  Mildly entertaining with some big laughs.  Nothing deep, and not a great film, but definitely a fun watch.

Hopefully you've seen Blockers??  God I lol'd hard in that movie.

[hefdaddy42]

Vacation Friends (2021)

Semi-raunch comedy with John Cena.  Mildly entertaining with some big laughs.  Nothing deep, and not a great film, but definitely a fun watch.

Hopefully you've seen Blockers??  God I lol'd hard in that movie.

Yes, I've seen that. 

I'm starting to think that Cena can do no wrong.

[Stadler]

Vacation Friends (2021)

Semi-raunch comedy with John Cena.  Mildly entertaining with some big laughs.  Nothing deep, and not a great film, but definitely a fun watch.

Hopefully you've seen Blockers??  God I lol'd hard in that movie.

Yes, I've seen that. 

I'm starting to think that Cena can do no wrong.

Well, let's see.  He's The Rock, before The Rock went all "Dwayne Johnson".   Johnson has a little of that latter-day Arnold "I'm a movie mogul and entrepreneur!" smarminess to him now that for me is off-putting. Cena doesn't seem to have any of that.  Yet.

[King Postwhore]

Vacation Friends (2021)

Semi-raunch comedy with John Cena.  Mildly entertaining with some big laughs.  Nothing deep, and not a great film, but definitely a fun watch.

Hopefully you've seen Blockers??  God I lol'd hard in that movie.

Yes, I've seen that. 

I'm starting to think that Cena can do no wrong.

He is amazing in the Peacemaker Series on HBO/MAX.

[Stadler]

He was HILARIOUS in Sisters, with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.   I liked Blockers too, though I'm not a huge Ike Berenholtz fan so that tempered it a  bit.

[faizoff]

Vacation Friends (2021)

Semi-raunch comedy with John Cena.  Mildly entertaining with some big laughs.  Nothing deep, and not a great film, but definitely a fun watch.

Hopefully you've seen Blockers??  God I lol'd hard in that movie.

Yes, I've seen that. 

I'm starting to think that Cena can do no wrong.

He is amazing in the Peacemaker Series on HBO/MAX.

He was HILARIOUS in Sisters, with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.   I liked Blockers too, though I'm not a huge Ike Berenholtz fan so that tempered it a  bit.

He was equally great in Trainwreck. His obsession with bodybuilding in that role played very well. The new Peacemaker series is slowly becoming my favorite superhero shows.

[faizoff]

Just watch his dance moves in the title intro to the Peacemaker show, cracks me up every time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVN83R-JwRQ&ab_channel=DC

[Dream Team]

WarGames is fantastic.

My wife and I saw it in the theater. Great memories.