What movie did you just watch, and how was it? (expect some spoilers but try not to post any!)

Forums › Off topic › What movie did you just watch, and how was it? (expect some spoilers but try not to post any!)

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Networkn
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#3221693 23-Apr-2024 09:29

Lizard1977:

I watched the new version, having only discovered the original a few weeks back. It may have been because I watched the original so recently, but the new version suffers in comparison. I like Gyllenhaal as an actor, but his interpretation of Dalton felt banal. Compared to Swayze's Zen-style bouncer, Gyllenhaal's take is nothing remarkable. And the backstory he's given robs his character of the mystery that Swayze had.

Connor McGregor is definitely not an actor on the same level as Gyllenhaal, but his over-the-top character was at least memorable, if a bit too much for the story.

Overall, this was a remake that didn't need to be made. It adds nothing to the original and fades in the shadow cast by its progenitor.

Absolutely. Nail on the head. I'd also watched the original very recently. Gyllenhaal is an OK actor, probably better than Swayze, but his character was so meh, he didn't convey he had control at any point and it all felt badly written.

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#3221697 23-Apr-2024 09:34

Logan - DVD - 7/10

Fairly standard X-Men fare. A couple of hours passed without too much yawning.

Back To The Future Trilogy - DVD - 6/10

The first movie is worthy of an 8 but it's all downhill from there. The second is too complicated and the third just boring.

The Little Things - DVD - 7.5/10

Watchable serial killer movie with Denzel Washington, Jared Leto and Rami Malik. With that combination it's not likely to be boring.

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#3221698 23-Apr-2024 09:36

Civil War - 6/10 (Event Cinemas)

This might be obvious to some people, but this movie is not about a Civil War (and for the truly ignorant, it's not part of the MCU). It's about a group of journalists/war photographers covering the final phases (probably) of a modern American civil war. I saw the trailer was intrigued by the concept - but I misunderstood what it was about, and expected to find out in the movie about this "civil war." Given the political turmoil in America (especially in the past 10 years), I was expecting to see something intriguing about the way that political division could be played out. But the "civil war" is never addressed in the film - it's about the characters and how they are reacting/coping with the horrors of war in their own country. As I said at the start, perhaps that was obvious to others, but it wasn't to me. Colour me ignorant...

That being said, it's a decent film. Kirsten Dunst does well to portray the toll that covering war as a photojournalist has taken on her, and her protectiveness for an aspiring young photojournalist comes through clearly. We accompany the small group as they journey to Washington DC to interview the president ahead of the expected fall of the government by the rebelling "Western Forces." Along the way we see the violence, and how the group is changed by their experiences. It's pretty grim.

There's a scene that sticks in my mind particularly, with Jesse Plemons (or "creepy Matt Damon" as I call him) doing what he does very well - portraying the menace of the single-minded sociopath. It's hard to watch, but I think he steals the show with that understated performance.

Overall, it was pretty decent. Not exceptional, but a good effort.

Lizard1977

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#3221748 23-Apr-2024 09:53

networkn:

Lizard1977:

I watched the new version, having only discovered the original a few weeks back. It may have been because I watched the original so recently, but the new version suffers in comparison. I like Gyllenhaal as an actor, but his interpretation of Dalton felt banal. Compared to Swayze's Zen-style bouncer, Gyllenhaal's take is nothing remarkable. And the backstory he's given robs his character of the mystery that Swayze had.

Connor McGregor is definitely not an actor on the same level as Gyllenhaal, but his over-the-top character was at least memorable, if a bit too much for the story.

Overall, this was a remake that didn't need to be made. It adds nothing to the original and fades in the shadow cast by its progenitor.

Absolutely. Nail on the head. I'd also watched the original very recently. Gyllenhaal is an OK actor, probably better than Swayze, but his character was so meh, he didn't convey he had control at any point and it all felt badly written.

In the original, Dalton walks into the roadhouse, unannounced, and just sits down and watches, observing. You can feel his confidence and his presence. His reputation feels earned. There's a similar scene in the new film, but they clumsily established Dalton's reputation earlier with the cage fight scene which felt dumb (breaking the "show, don't tell" rule), so he walks into The Roadhouse like just another customer and starts yapping away with the bar staff. There doesn't feel anything special about him. Just hired muscle.

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#3221970 23-Apr-2024 22:55

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) - IMDb

The dialogs, the scenes, the acting, the story.

2/10

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#3222144 24-Apr-2024 11:53

Late Night with the Devil - An interesting twist on the rather stale "found footage" horror genre. It has some genuinely unsettling parts, but overall not deserving of all the praise it's received. Not bad by any measure, but nothing amazing either. There was also backstory only vaguely alluded to so it felt like maybe too much ended up on the cutting room floor. 6/10

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#3223006 26-Apr-2024 10:11

Lizard1977:

Civil War - 6/10 (Event Cinemas)

This might be obvious to some people, but this movie is not about a Civil War (and for the truly ignorant, it's not part of the MCU). It's about a group of journalists/war photographers covering the final phases (probably) of a modern American civil war. I saw the trailer was intrigued by the concept - but I misunderstood what it was about, and expected to find out in the movie about this "civil war." Given the political turmoil in America (especially in the past 10 years), I was expecting to see something intriguing about the way that political division could be played out. But the "civil war" is never addressed in the film - it's about the characters and how they are reacting/coping with the horrors of war in their own country. As I said at the start, perhaps that was obvious to others, but it wasn't to me. Colour me ignorant...

That being said, it's a decent film. Kirsten Dunst does well to portray the toll that covering war as a photojournalist has taken on her, and her protectiveness for an aspiring young photojournalist comes through clearly. We accompany the small group as they journey to Washington DC to interview the president ahead of the expected fall of the government by the rebelling "Western Forces." Along the way we see the violence, and how the group is changed by their experiences. It's pretty grim.

There's a scene that sticks in my mind particularly, with Jesse Plemons (or "creepy Matt Damon" as I call him) doing what he does very well - portraying the menace of the single-minded sociopath. It's hard to watch, but I think he steals the show with that understated performance.

Overall, it was pretty decent. Not exceptional, but a good effort.

One of the funniest reviews i have seen of this movie gave it a 0/10 for the complete lack of Captain America or Iron Man. Obviously was tongue in cheek.

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#3223009 26-Apr-2024 10:21

Handsomedan:

Lizard1977:

Civil War - 6/10 (Event Cinemas)

This might be obvious to some people, but this movie is not about a Civil War (and for the truly ignorant, it's not part of the MCU). It's about a group of journalists/war photographers covering the final phases (probably) of a modern American civil war. I saw the trailer was intrigued by the concept - but I misunderstood what it was about, and expected to find out in the movie about this "civil war." Given the political turmoil in America (especially in the past 10 years), I was expecting to see something intriguing about the way that political division could be played out. But the "civil war" is never addressed in the film - it's about the characters and how they are reacting/coping with the horrors of war in their own country. As I said at the start, perhaps that was obvious to others, but it wasn't to me. Colour me ignorant...

That being said, it's a decent film. Kirsten Dunst does well to portray the toll that covering war as a photojournalist has taken on her, and her protectiveness for an aspiring young photojournalist comes through clearly. We accompany the small group as they journey to Washington DC to interview the president ahead of the expected fall of the government by the rebelling "Western Forces." Along the way we see the violence, and how the group is changed by their experiences. It's pretty grim.

There's a scene that sticks in my mind particularly, with Jesse Plemons (or "creepy Matt Damon" as I call him) doing what he does very well - portraying the menace of the single-minded sociopath. It's hard to watch, but I think he steals the show with that understated performance.

Overall, it was pretty decent. Not exceptional, but a good effort.

One of the funniest reviews i have seen of this movie gave it a 0/10 for the complete lack of Captain America or Iron Man. Obviously was tongue in cheek.

You could argue that this film goes one further by not having a civil war either (or at least, not being about the titular civil war anyway).

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#3223011 26-Apr-2024 10:36

Lizard1977:

Handsomedan:

Lizard1977:

Civil War - 6/10 (Event Cinemas)

This might be obvious to some people, but this movie is not about a Civil War (and for the truly ignorant, it's not part of the MCU). It's about a group of journalists/war photographers covering the final phases (probably) of a modern American civil war. I saw the trailer was intrigued by the concept - but I misunderstood what it was about, and expected to find out in the movie about this "civil war." Given the political turmoil in America (especially in the past 10 years), I was expecting to see something intriguing about the way that political division could be played out. But the "civil war" is never addressed in the film - it's about the characters and how they are reacting/coping with the horrors of war in their own country. As I said at the start, perhaps that was obvious to others, but it wasn't to me. Colour me ignorant...

That being said, it's a decent film. Kirsten Dunst does well to portray the toll that covering war as a photojournalist has taken on her, and her protectiveness for an aspiring young photojournalist comes through clearly. We accompany the small group as they journey to Washington DC to interview the president ahead of the expected fall of the government by the rebelling "Western Forces." Along the way we see the violence, and how the group is changed by their experiences. It's pretty grim.

There's a scene that sticks in my mind particularly, with Jesse Plemons (or "creepy Matt Damon" as I call him) doing what he does very well - portraying the menace of the single-minded sociopath. It's hard to watch, but I think he steals the show with that understated performance.

Overall, it was pretty decent. Not exceptional, but a good effort.

One of the funniest reviews i have seen of this movie gave it a 0/10 for the complete lack of Captain America or Iron Man. Obviously was tongue in cheek.

You could argue that this film goes one further by not having a civil war either (or at least, not being about the titular civil war anyway).

My son (who is a real film buff and currently at Film School) said the same thing.
He found some of this film quite confronting and his GF really did not like it at all.

I am yet to watch it, but it feels to me like a movie my wife will not enjoy.

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#3223033 26-Apr-2024 11:22

Sounds par for the course for Alex Garland, which is why I assume I will enjoy it a lot, as I enjoy his stuff a heck of a lot.

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#3226550 4-May-2024 23:11

Holmes and Watson on Stan. Not bad, quite funny at times. A few cool cameos.

7.5/10

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#3226879 6-May-2024 09:27

Guns Akimbo on Netflix

Shot in Auckland with Daniel Radcliffe in the lead role as a programmer who is also an online troll, who gets caught up ina real-life (life or death) internet "game".

It's violent, bloody and actually at times, quite funny.

It can sometimes be hard as an Aucklander, to disassociate yourself from the locations, as knowing that you can't simply stumble from Queen Street to Western Springs in a couple of minutes can be off-putting, as can the usual Kiwi suspects showing up in small roles.

It is quite good once you get past that and while it's a bit silly it is a good movie to switch your brain off and watch. Quite a departure from Harry Potter.

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#3226956 6-May-2024 13:29

Argylle - 4/10 (Apple TV)

This one definitely falls into the disappointing camp, must try harder", C-

What makes it so disappointing is the movie fails to live up to its expectations - which are significant. Let's begin with the director, Matthew Vaughan. He's churned out some fantastically fun movies such as Kingsman (and the slightly less, but still fun, sequels), Kick Ass, and X-Men: First Class. Then there's the cast - Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L Jackson, Henry Cavill, plus a pretty good list of supporting actors. Then there's the story - which promises fun - a writer's spy novels appear to be predicting the future of actual missions, and so an unspecified spy agency is trying to get their hands on her so they can find out what happens next. The trailer offered up some fun escapades (to a great soundtrack), and Vaughan's track record for delivering entertaining and graphic (but well choreographed) action scenes all added up to a movie which seemed destined to be a great couple of hours in front of the screen, even if it wasn't particularly intellectually demanding.

Spoiler - it's not.

I consider myself someone who doesn't need everything to be A+ to enjoy a movie. I can appreciate cheese, I can even appreciate a "bad" film", but this doesn't really fall into that category. It tries to be funny but often falls flat. This is largely due to the total absence of chemistry between the two leads, Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell. I love Sam Rockwell's performances, and Bryce Dallas Howard is a solid choice too. But in this combination it doesn't work.

Henry Cavill's haircut. No. Just no. Please, for the love of the almighty, no.

The gimmicks don't work either. The presence of Alfie the cat is played for laughs throughout, but it's really just not that funny. It feels forced and odd. It looked cute in the trailer, but it doesn't add anything to the film.

The twists - sigh... In the first Kingsman movie there was some excellent use of "the twist" in the opening gambit, which I absolutely loved. Here, there is a twist (which is well foreshadowed and spotted), but then - shock! - another twist! And then - shock! - another twist! Seriously? Come on, that's just lazy writing.

The whole thing feels lazy. Even my partner, who doesn't tend to pick up on the little things, was observing the laughably in-your-face product placement for Apple in the first few scenes. It was distracting, and completely unnecessary.

Such a disappointment. Do better, please.

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#3232238 18-May-2024 19:59

Mean Girls (2024) - 4/10

Mean Girls 2024 is a movie adaptation of a musical based on a movie based on a book. Terrible casting. The music is forgettable. The social media sequences are annoying.

What is notable with this adaptation is what is absent... Cady has no father figure, despite him featuring prominently in the original. Karen claims to have a 140 IQ instead of being the dumb blonde (and predicting weather with her breasts), no 'Jambo' joke, no fake call from Planed Parenthood etc.. There are probably a lot more of the little jokes missing that made the original what it was, but it's been a long time since I saw it.

Took me three nights to watch it as I never really got into it at all. A disappointment, although I never expected this one to be good.

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#3232582 20-May-2024 09:22

The Fall Guy - 8/10 (Silky Otter Cinemas)

Saw this on a whim last Saturday, and it was a blast. Just a good ol' fashioned fun action-comedy. Apparently it's loosely based on the 1981 TV show of the same name, which starred Lee Majors, but you don't need to know any of that to enjoy it and have a good time.

The casting is great - Ryan Gosling as the stuntman for Aaron Taylor-Johnson's leading man. Gosling's character has a past relationship with Emily Blunt's director, and is called by the producer to come back and help track down the star who has gone missing. It's been described as a love letter to the stunt industry which is often overlooked by the likes of the Oscars; this gives them licence to showcase some of the movie magic behind stunts, and have a lot of fun with it. It's directed by David Leitch - former stuntman and director of such great films as Deadpool - and he comes through again.

There are a few easter eggs for the observant (aural as well as visual), and while there are no post-credit scenes as such it's worth it to stay for the credits as they have "bloopers"/behind the scenes footage of the stunts used in the movie.

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