What are you watching?

[personguyman]

*rubs hands*

A Ghost Story (2017) / A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) / Amadeus (1984) / Baraka (1992) / Samsara (2011) / Being John Malkovich (1999) / 24 Frames (2017) / Inception (2010) / Dekalog (1989) / Game Night (2018) / The Tree of Life (2011) / Knight of Cups (2015) / Shoah (2005) / The Truman Show (1998) / The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) / After Hours (1985) / Silence (2016) / Raging Bull (1980) / Revolutionary Road (2008) / Saving Private Ryan (1998) / Babe: Pig in the City (1998) / Knowing (2009) / Zodiac (2007) / Seven Samurai (1954) / Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982) / mother! (2017) / Russian Ark (2002) / Good Time (2017) / Primer (2004) / Upstream Color (2013) / Black Hawk Down (2001) / Disobedience (2017) / You Were Never Really Here (2017) / Midnight Special (2016) / Nocturnal Animals (2016) / Speed Racer (2008) / Personal Shopper (2016) / Locke (2013) / The Deer Hunter (1978) / Crash (2004) / Magnolia (1999) / Cloud Atlas (2012) / Synecdoche, New York (2008) / Anomalisa (2015) / Altered States (1980) / Breathless (1960) / Before Sunrise (1995) / Before Sunset (2004) / Before Midnight (2013) / Wild Strawberries (1957) / Eraserhead (1977) / Kinyarwanda (2011) / The Seventh Seal (1957) / The Thin Red Line (1998) / The Rider (2017) / Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018) / Gerry (2002) / Elephant (2003) / Last Days (2005) / The Pledge (2001) / Harakiri (1962) / The Killing (1956) / Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) / Paths of Glory (1957) / Barry Lyndon (1975) / Hoop Dreams (1994) / Human Flow (2017) / Take Shelter (2011) / Bug (2006) / Pleasantville (1998) / Blade Runner (1982) / Blade Runner 2049 (2017) / Prometheus (2012) / Alien (1979) / Dunkirk (2017) / Interstellar (2014) / The Lego Movie (2014) / The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) / Birdman (2014) / Whiplash (2014) / Groundhog Day (1993) / Munich (2005) / Tokyo Story (1953) / Ikiru (1952) / Grave of the Fireflies (1988) / Spirited Away (2002) / Mulholland Dr. (2001) / Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) / Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) / Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) / Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) / Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) ...

[personguyman]

If anyone wants more, I am game.

[Beber]

Just got back from a screening of what was my most anticipated movie of the year, and for 2 years, even: Glass.

NO SPOILERS:

Overall, I liked it a lot. I was really invested in the story, on the edge of my seat... until the choice Shyamalan made near the end that I'm not very fond of (and I was one of those that were okay with the space bookshelf in Interstellar). The actual very end elevates it a bit, but still, I wish he made another choice. I won't elaborate for those who haven't seen it yet. Another thing I wasn't really fond of is the new score: that ticking clock didn't do it for me.

[spoRv]

Just got back from a screening of what was my most anticipated movie of the year, and for 2 years, even: Glass.

Just watched the trailers yesterday, and I liked it - actually liked all Shyamalan's movies, some more, some less, yet all interesting in a way or another...

With that cast, it *must* be a good film, isn't true?

[Beber]

I liked it - actually liked all Shyamalan's movies, some more, some less, yet all interesting in a way or another...

The Sixth Sense was great. Unbreakable is a 5-star perfect movie to me. Signs is very good. From The Village, I checked out. Didn't like it. The next 4 were known to be so bad that I only saw After Earth for Will Smith, and yep, very bad, didn't like it at all. Never saw Lady in the Water, never saw The Happening ("What? No!"), never saw The Last Airbender. I only saw the Honest Trailers for these. I plan on watching The Visit someday. It's supposed to be a nice little film that started to show Shyamalan got his mojo back. And I liked Split a lot on its own and even more in the very end: a very ballsy move on his part and on the studio's to play along and amaze the audience with something that I don't think ever happened in movie history before.

[spoRv]

"The Sixth Sense", masterpiece. "Unbreakable"? Liked, but less than the former. "Signs"? Very good as well.
I liked "The Village" quite a lot, as "Lady in the Water". "After Earth"? Far from perfect, but not bad, after all. IMHO of course!
"The Last Airbender"? Not bad again, yet I felt it like "incomplete" in a way, like, waiting for a sequel, maybe?
The others should have to watch...

[spoRv]

The Ridiculous 6 (2015)

Stumbled upon its trailer by chance, I was curious to see the movie itself... and happy to have made a good choice! A very nice comedy that in the first part is like 90% serious, and slowly become more comedy. Sandler & co. made a good job - he's quite a good actor in this film, and there are really important stars! Filmed in the right manner, with beautiful locations and right music, if you cut out comedy moments (some are really funny!), you can almost feel the good old western story, and the end credits are great! Perfect mix for any comedy and western lovers, but would make some laughters to many others as well. - 6.5/10

The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018)
Watched it with my daughter - a young adult, that makes me a young old man - it is a nice "a-la-Harry-Potter" comedy about magic. Jack Black always a good player, and Cate Blanchett... maybe the most beautiful 50 years old woman in Hollywood (I like her sooo much!). If you hate HP, avoid it, and also if you don't like movies that could be made for teenagers. If you have not prejudices, though, could be a funny film, after all. - 6/10

Ready Player One (2018)

Wow! Easter eggs and "cameos" everywhere (you must take much attention to grab'em all, because it's quite fast), 80s videogames, sci-fi, internet 4.0, Second Life-esque experience...  Another good movie from Steven Spielberg (why, did he made bad ones?) that you can't miss! - 8/10

Wreck-it Ralph (2012)

New Year's Eve; me, invited by a friend - that felt aslep on the couch, between me and his wife - was finishing to watch "Edward Scissorhands"... after that, her took the remote and switched channel on this animation film... "Why not?", we said each other. And it was good! A perfect film for every animation and videogame lovers, funny, well drawn, nice story. I bet Steven Spielberg took some inspiration here for his Ready Player One! Go for it! - 7/10

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)

Don't know why they wait so much to release a sequel - probably because it was quite difficult to produce... story is more or less the same of the previous film, so do not ask for a revolutionary one; yet, still funny and entertaining, go for it again, but I advise to watch the former before this, to not lose some reference. - 6.5/10

[PDB]

Been a while, In fact almost a year. I've seen a ton of stuff and forgot to write it down but here are some things I watched more recently. This is off the top of my head and in no order:


Bumblebee: I liked the first Transformers but the quality rolled off pretty quickly. Still not sure I saw the last 2 with Mark Wahlberg. Regardless, I heard good things about this movie and although it is a rehash of the first movie, I really enjoyed it. It had more charm and heart than all the other transformer movies combined and it didn't hurt that they set it back in the 80s and skewed close to the Transformers' original designs. Hell the movie is worth it just for the opening scene. Hailee Steinfeld does a amazing job acting against nothing. 3/5

Aquaman: I like Jason Momoa and the director James Wan but this was an overblown waste of time. Just too much in every sense of the word. I hope Defoe and Kidman got paid well. 2/5

First Man: Everytime I expect to hate a movie with Ryan Gosling, I come out liking it instead. This is no exception. The family life drama is well portrayed and acted with a fine cast including: Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Corey Stoll and Kyle Chandler, who was born to play a 60s era NASA astronaut. What I really liked was that the rocket (and X-15) scenes were portray more from inside the capsules than the normal glorious shots of the craft moving through air/space. That decision really helped hit home how scary it would be to go into space in a metal can. Not sure about the ending...but that would be a spoiler. 3/5

Solo: Expected the worse and got just a boring movie. No heart, no speed, no tension, no pop, no nothing. All I wanted was a fun time and there was none to be seen. Ishould expect that of Ron Howard's direction. I still hope we can see the Lord and Miller version someday. 2/5

MI Fallout: This continues the winning streak of Mission Impossible movies. The action was great, characters were fun and like the previous movies, the story sort of makes sense . Got nothing bad to say about this except I did like Rouge Nation better but man this had the superior ending. The IMAX shots almost reviled Ghost Protocol's for me. 3.5/5

Venom: Well Tom Hardy was trying his best not sure anyone else was 1.5/5

Halloween (2018): I think I would include this in the pantheon of great late sequels. Doesn't reach the heights of Fury Road or 2049 but better than, say, Tron 2.  Nice to see Jamie Lee Curtis care, unlike in H20. Direction was tight, cinematography did it's job fantastically. Loved Carpenter's revamped score. I have a soft spot for the original Halloween 2 and 4 but I think this might be a better sequel than both. Still pales to the original but there is no shame in that. 3.5/5

Blade Runner 2049: Watched the open matte version. Still love it 5/5

Bad Times at The El Royale: Intriguing movie, well acted, tight script, beautiful cinematography, great editing but nothing I feel the need to revisit 3/5

Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom: I appreciate the horror elements towards the end but like its predecessor, it's a nothing movie. 2/5

A Bittersweet Life: Still maybe my favorite movie from the Korean new wave. Lee Byung-hun is charismatic as all hell. Between this Two Sisters, GBW and Devil, I think Kim Jee-woon is the best Korean director rolling today. Even better than his contemporaries: Bong Joon-ho or Park Chan-wook (although Na Hong-jin might take his place). Regardless a great watch, even for those who hate subs. 4/5

Edge Of Tomorrow: Lost my BD copy so had to find another and decided to watched it. Still fun as can be. Love seeing Cruise, at least start, as a weaselly coward. Blunt give on of her best performance (and is easy on the eyes). The movie makes great use of its Groundhog day concept but than loses steam once that plot device finishes. Still on a whole, a damn fine movie. 3.5/5

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: Revisited this since it was mentioned in a podcast. Still works for me but feels more like setup for the superior (at least to me) Nice Guys. Still you can't beat Shane Black's Dialogue. 3/5

Ravenous: Love this mess of a movie and man what a cast. Feels like a spaghetti western but the gunslingers are cannibals. BD needs a lot of work....maybe someday I'll get to that. 3.5/5

Terminator 2: Watched a copy of the squeeze LD with its strange, inaccurate color palette. Might have to try a regrade someday. Still amazing. 5/5

Waterworld Ulysses Cut: Watched Arrow's "new" cut. Movie is still a lot of fun, if derivative. But I often like derivative. 3/5

Pedicab Driver: Maybe the best thing Samo Hung has done? I don't know. I really like the other two movies in his self-produced martial arts trilogy: Eastern Condors and Millionairess Expresw. This has more heart to it.... and a great Lau Kar-leung cameo. 4/5

Split Second (1992): Actually saw this is the theaters and heaven't gone back to it in years. Hits every story point it can to get you to watch it and I mean everything. Horror, violence, monsters, giant guns that make no sense, nudity, gore, the devil?, global warming, Rutger Hauer. Its all there. Its trash but fun trash. I should give it a 2/5 but its too much fun. 3/5

More To Come

[krenko]

I just watched "Ils" - a french film from a few years ago. One of those "home invasion thriller" movies which there's so many of these days. This one is brilliant though and I can't recommend it enough.

If you're one of those people who avoid subtitled films then you can watch this because it's told so well that you barely need to understand what the characters are saying. It's tense, well-shot and acted, great use of sound, and has a great/nasty/woah/noooo ending!

It's about an hour and twenty minutes so it doesn't outstay it's welcome either. Top marks from me!

[spoRv]

Anon (2018)

A techno thriller directed by Andrew "Gattaca" Niccol; slow, as it's his style, but very interesting; let you think - a lot - and it's not happening often with sci-fi movies.
I loved the way he used variable aspect ratio - widescreen for non-POVs, and open matte for POVs with augmented reality!
Very well directed and acted, Clive Owen is good as always, as "the girl"; simple locations, few colors, render perfectly the not-so-bright future where everyone is not anonymous, much MUCH more than today. Music is right.

To be watched by any sci-fi lovers, but also who is concerned about privacy - or, better, the lack of.

8/10