Movie Thread

[FishProf]

Deadpool and Wolverine.  Gratuitously violent, lewd, sarcastic, irreverent, full of surprise cameos, and not spoiled by the trailers.  Damn near perfect for what it was and it was a tremendous payoff for the fans.  It absolutely passed my "did I have fun watching this" test with flying colors.

MrsFishProf, who found The Matrix too violent, won't watch Kill Bill, and hated The Crow loved this.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Wicked Little Letters (2023, Netflix)

Very funny, very profane comedy based on a true story that you can read about here: https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/wicked-little-letters-true-story

I had a great time with this one. The performances are excellent, it is funny throughout, and 100 minutes of run time is just right. There are some plot elements to nitpick and you'll probably see the twist coming from a mile away, but nevertheless it is a lot of fun.

Grade: A-

[ab_grp]

Well, somehow I am way behind again.  I wrote up a bit about each movie and will probably do three posts with the first two in mostly chronological order since I can't remember when we watched each of them.  The third post will be the Korean films section since there are four.

On the Waterfront (1954)- a classic, of course.  Brando plays a young tough guy who has kind of fallen in with and ends up working for a union boss who certainly isn't treating the workers well.  But Brando learns more about the worker side of things and ends up evolving.

True Romance (1993)- I think this was an early Tarantino film and has some interesting trivia attached.  I know it's sort of a cult favorite.  This was my first time viewing, and I wasn't as enthused.  It was good but just has kind of a bad feel to it.  So many good actors! I just wasn't really rooting for anyone, and usually his bad guys are still more interesting than these folks were.  Definitely some iconic scenes!

Sunshine (2007) – still not sure I understand all of what was going on here.  The sci fi aspects are done pretty well, but there is an extra special part to the storyline that is both intriguing and ridiculous.  The basic story is about the sun being on the verge of going out and a team of scientists and such having to travel out there to throw a bomb into it and make it spark back up.  Of course, nothing is THAT easy.  They make some discoveries that change the course of their journey and, of course, their lives.  There are really some interesting aspects to the story, but it's hard to get past the more unrealistic parts.  Yes, I realize that implies that part of the story is more realistic.  If you watch it, you will probably know what I mean.  The key part that I think the movie does fairly well involves the crew relationships and egos.

Looper (2012)- This was another Blunt movie, though with a very different feel.  It takes place in 2044, and apparently in 2074 this group of thugs exterminates adversaries by time traveling them back to 2044 to be executed by people called loopers.  Sometimes the gang wants to get rid of the looper themselves and end the contract, so they send the 2074 version back to 2044 to be killed.  When that happens, 2044 person gets to live 30 more years, and they get a bunch of gold bars to provide a nice, cushy lifestyle.  But, of course, after 30 years they are no more.  Sometimes loopers do not kill their later selves, and then that causes issues, and they get in trouble.  It's a little hard to explain, and I am not sure that I followed all of the goings-on and implications, but it was a very engaging and interesting movie.  Very good dramatic action.

Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Death on the Nile (2022), A Haunting in Venice(2023)- I will group these neo-Christie movies together, though they all have different feels.  I know a lot of folks cannot stand Branagh as Poirot, and my friend said that these movies would be ruined for me if I saw the David Suchet version of the detective, so we made sure to watch all of these and get them out of the way before doing so.  The first two have really beautiful scenery.  The pace can be a little annoying at times.  In some ways, the execution reminds me of the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes movies.  But they were all interesting murder mysteries with star-studded casts.  The last movie was actually a bit creepy and scary.  I think I enjoyed that the least and Death on the Nile the most.

[ab_grp]

Part 2:

Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)- fun, not as good as the first one but had some funny parts.  The same group who survived the first one together are like a little family now, and they're not all on the same page about how to live going forward.   Lots of action and some hilarity ensue.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)- I really don't remember much about this one but didn't think it was the best of the series.  Still, very entertaining.  I think there is more entertainment in the opening credits of some of these movies than in the entirety of other action movies.  There was one scene in the movie that was so unexpectedly funny that I think we hurt ourselves.  As usual, there was a ton of action and pulse-pounding stunts.  Sometimes it can be a bit much, as the scenes go on and on.  But these are definitely thrilling movies.

The Fall Guy (2024)-  We absolutely loved this movie.  I guess it is not a huge surprise that it has the same director as Bullet Train, which I thought had a lot of similar energetic entertainment feel.  I think Gosling and Blunt were both great in it.  I appreciated all the focus on the stunt work and the people who make it happen.  It was a wild ride and a ton of fun.

Civil War (2024)- Very dark movie.  As is pretty widely known, they do a good job of not making it clear which side is which.  The President is holed up in the White House trying to hold on to power, and there is a somewhat wild mix of states that have seceded to form a group.  Trying to take that power away.  It's not clear if particular political parties are affiliated with one or the other.  It's not clear whether the President is the one who's acting problematically and against the Constitution for his own reasons or if the rogue states are illegally trying to seize power.   These dystopian (but not completely unrealistic) views of the US are pretty disturbing to watch.  I like how they use photography to tell the story and raise some questions about the roles of journalists and photojournalists in these situations.  I don't think it was a great movie, but it was certainly engaging.

Jackpot! (2024)- We have been trying to watch more of these free on Prime movies because we have been pleasantly surprised in the past.  I am not sure this one would be one I would watch again.  It was okay.  The idea is that with economic troubles going on there is a lottery started in CA (maybe LA only) where the winner can win a giant pot of money.  As long as they can stay alive until sundown they can reap the reward.  However, their picture is shared with everyone in the city, and there are drones that will follow them and report their locations throughout the day.  The other players must try to kill the person in order to win the money.  Fun, right?! It's got John Cena, which has usually been a bonus.  It's got Awkwafina, and she can be funny at times.  But it's just too much.  Aside from some fun cameos and trying to work in a side storyline about Cena's character, it's mostly people just running around after other people, trying to kill them.  I guess one thing is that they're not allowed to shoot the person, so everyone has all sorts of weapons.  I have to say that the ending kind of touched me, but otherwise it was just eh.   Not really the hilarity we were looking for to balance out our weekend after Civil War.

[ab_grp]

Part 3:

I Saw the Devil (2010)- Sun_Worshiper mentioned this one a couple months back.  I finally got the chance and got up the courage to watch it.  😉 Whew! One of the main stars of this one (the primary antagonist?) was also the star of Oldboy (2003), so anyone interested might want to check that one out (reviewed again below post-second watching).  As advertised, this one was very violent and disturbing.  It certainly does not make me want to visit that region, given all the folks in this movie who are not good citizens.  I kind of like the fact that they don't even really bother to give too much back story or overly explain.  And there certainly isn't anything predictable about the story, although it makes sense.  I feel like with a lot of US movies it's fairly obvious who will do what to or with whom.  In these movies, who knows.    It was another movie that made me grateful to take a quick break toward what I thought must be the end (and yet was not by almost 40 minutes) because I'm not sure I was breathing.  Definitely some good revenge going on.  Oldboy is brutal as well but involves more psychological torture.  This one is just kind of a lot of bad people doing a lot of bad things.  And probably good people becoming bad.
 
Vengeance Trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance: 2002, 2003, 2005)- We had a three-day weekend so decided to watch these Korean films (a loose trilogy from the same director) in order.  These are three completely different movies about revenge, though the actors (but not the characters) overlap a lot among the three. 

The first involves a deaf man who is trying to help his sister get a kidney transplant.  He has run out of options and decides to try the black market, which goes as well as can be expected.  He and his girlfriend then come up with another plan, to kidnap his ex-boss's kid and hold her for ransom to get the money.  This also goes as well as can be expected, and there is a lot of revenge to be taken in the course of the movie.  This movie has one of the strangest and most distracting characters that I have ever experienced.  There are also just some very strange events that occur that seem to be taken as normal, but yikes.  From a revenge standpoint, this one is pretty straightforward aside from the details.  I think there are some clever aspects to the story. 

I already reviewed the second movie but will just say that it is my favorite of the three.  It's one that is best to go into without a lot of prior information but held up really well the second time.  The climax and ending are just so good and so awful to watch.  Quick recap: man is abducted and held prisoner for many years and is then told upon release that he must try to find his abductor in five days.  Obviously, it's a lot more than that.  I read that Tarantino was the main judge for the Cannes film festival when this film was entered and tried to get it the top Palme d'Or prize (which it lost to Fahrenheit 911), but they did give it the Grand Jury prize.

The third movie is really different.  It's got a very mythical and artistic feel.  In a lot of ways, it reminded me of some Tarantino work (I am not sure who might have influenced whom in that relationship), and my husband brought up Murakami for the same reason.  This one is about a woman who has wrongly spent something like 13 years in prison and puts together a plan to exact revenge on the man who caused it.  It was a little tough to follow at first because I wasn't sure what was going on, and there were a few different co-prisoners introduced that I found hard to keep track of until I understood how things fit together.  I saw a review comment that this would actually be a reasonable movie to start with of the three because it is in some ways the least dark and violent.  I think that is probably true, though they are just so different that it would be hard to predict what one of the others would be like from any of the three.

All three movies had aspects that made me think about them a lot afterward.  There was definitely some violence, and things could get a bit gory at times, but those are really not the parts that stuck with me after.  While I don't feel that I necessarily learned any life lessons from the movies, I did think they were each clever in their own ways, and each of the revenge tales seemed pretty reasonably well thought out (aside from the strange aspects here and there that could be cultural) and satisfying. 

If you are a Korean film fan and have not seen any by Park Chan-wook, check some of them out.  We will be watching more of his, for sure.

[hmaria1609]

If you have access to Kanopy through your local public library, there's plenty of Asian movies available to enjoy!

[ab_grp]

If you have access to Kanopy through your local public library, there's plenty of Asian movies available to enjoy!

Oh my gosh! I had forgotten about Kanopy from when I signed up for Libby.  I am a little shocked at what a selection they have available and am going to try to sign into Kanopy through Roku.  We want to watch Joint Security Area.  Hopefully it will work.  Thank you so much for suggesting this!

The American Society of Magical Negroes (2024)

This movie offers a literal take on the "magical negro" trope in film and other media, in which a black supporting character selflessly helps the white protagonist to achieve his or her (usually his) goals. This is a funny concept, but the film does not know what to do with it and so it turns into a generic romantic comedy with some heavy handed racial commentary. On the more positive side, the cast do their best with the material and it is pretty watchable, despite its flaws.

Grade: C

We watched this last night and thought similarly.  In addition, I am not sure the main actor (or maybe the character) was the best choice.  I knew that the movie had received some poor reviews, but I was honestly shocked afterward to see it rated as 3.5 on IMDB! I rated it between 5 and 6, my husband between 6 and 7, so we went with 6.  However, I could see being unhappier with this movie were I from a different background.  We thought it had an interesting premise and some good scenes here and there, but it just didn't work.  Trying to be too many things, maybe.

[hmaria1609]

You're welcome, ab_grp! Happy watching!

[spork]

Well, somehow I am way behind again. 

[...]

You might like Dumb Money, if you haven't seen it. Big-name cast. Sardonically funny in some spots. David vs. Wall Street Goliaths tale (the GameStop short squeeze).

[ab_grp]

Well, somehow I am way behind again. 

[...]

You might like Dumb Money, if you haven't seen it. Big-name cast. Sardonically funny in some spots. David vs. Wall Street Goliaths tale (the GameStop short squeeze).

Thanks, Spork! I hadn't even heard of it, but it looks pretty good.  I put it on our watch list.

We watched 21 Jump Street (2012) last night.  It had a reasonable IMDB rating (7.2) and some good reviews, so why not? It was free.  We enjoyed it.  Like The Fall Guy, I watched this show a lot as a kid.  Like the show, it involves sending young-looking cops back to high school to work undercover, mostly trying to bust drug dealers and suppliers.  We appreciated the cameos and were pleasantly surprised at the camaraderie between Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill.  I wasn't very impressed with Tatum in previous comedic roles, but I think they were a good team in this.  I liked that the movie made fun of a bunch of tropes and also mixed things up a bit.  There was one part of the movie that really had us laughing, and overall it was fun to watch.  I wouldn't put it in the category of The Fall Guy (for us, of course), but we will be watching 22 Jump Street (2014) next weekend. 

[ab_grp]

Friday was 22 Jump Street (2014).  I didn't have extremely high hopes given that a lot of sequels (especially comedies) fall flat, but it had a reasonable IMDB rating.  The first one was better, but this one had plenty going for it.  They continue to make fun of all the rebooting going on and end up sending the guys back to school again (now college) to find out who supplied the drug that killed a student.  Tatum and Hill are a pretty good team.  Yes, there was plenty of dumb humor.  Still, enjoyable.

Last night was Joint Security Area (2000) on Kanopy, thanks to hmaria1609!! This was the first big hit from Park Chan-wook, and it's quite different from the Vengeance Trilogy that I reviewed upthread.  In this one, there is a shooting incident in the North Korea-South Korea DMZ, and a neutral group is sent in to investigate who started what.  I thought it would be more of a mystery, and it is, but it was a really moving story told through a lot of flashbacks.  Very glad we watched it, but I don't want to say too much about how things play out.  We spent about a half hour on Friday night adding movies to our Kanopy watchlist.  Can't wait!

[hmaria1609]

Last night was Joint Security Area (2000) on Kanopy, thanks to hmaria1609!! This was the first big hit from Park Chan-wook, and it's quite different from the Vengeance Trilogy that I reviewed upthread.  In this one, there is a shooting incident in the North Korea-South Korea DMZ, and a neutral group is sent in to investigate who started what.  I thought it would be more of a mystery, and it is, but it was a really moving story told through a lot of flashbacks.  Very glad we watched it, but I don't want to say too much about how things play out.  We spent about a half hour on Friday night adding movies to our Kanopy watchlist.  Can't wait!

Glad you're having fun exploring Kanopy! The "My Watch List" feature is handy so you play the next movie you want after you sign in.

[Sun_Worshiper]

If you have access to Kanopy through your local public library, there's plenty of Asian movies available to enjoy!

Oh my gosh! I had forgotten about Kanopy from when I signed up for Libby.  I am a little shocked at what a selection they have available and am going to try to sign into Kanopy through Roku.  We want to watch Joint Security Area.  Hopefully it will work.  Thank you so much for suggesting this!

The American Society of Magical Negroes (2024)

This movie offers a literal take on the "magical negro" trope in film and other media, in which a black supporting character selflessly helps the white protagonist to achieve his or her (usually his) goals. This is a funny concept, but the film does not know what to do with it and so it turns into a generic romantic comedy with some heavy handed racial commentary. On the more positive side, the cast do their best with the material and it is pretty watchable, despite its flaws.

Grade: C

We watched this last night and thought similarly.  In addition, I am not sure the main actor (or maybe the character) was the best choice.  I knew that the movie had received some poor reviews, but I was honestly shocked afterward to see it rated as 3.5 on IMDB! I rated it between 5 and 6, my husband between 6 and 7, so we went with 6.  However, I could see being unhappier with this movie were I from a different background.  We thought it had an interesting premise and some good scenes here and there, but it just didn't work.  Trying to be too many things, maybe.

Yup this movie is a missed opportunity, but the concept is a good one. More like a 6 than a 3.5 imo.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Part 3:

I Saw the Devil (2010)- Sun_Worshiper mentioned this one a couple months back.  I finally got the chance and got up the courage to watch it.  😉 Whew! One of the main stars of this one (the primary antagonist?) was also the star of Oldboy (2003), so anyone interested might want to check that one out (reviewed again below post-second watching).  As advertised, this one was very violent and disturbing.  It certainly does not make me want to visit that region, given all the folks in this movie who are not good citizens.  I kind of like the fact that they don't even really bother to give too much back story or overly explain.  And there certainly isn't anything predictable about the story, although it makes sense.  I feel like with a lot of US movies it's fairly obvious who will do what to or with whom.  In these movies, who knows.    It was another movie that made me grateful to take a quick break toward what I thought must be the end (and yet was not by almost 40 minutes) because I'm not sure I was breathing.  Definitely some good revenge going on.  Oldboy is brutal as well but involves more psychological torture.  This one is just kind of a lot of bad people doing a lot of bad things.  And probably good people becoming bad.
 
Vengeance Trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance: 2002, 2003, 2005)- We had a three-day weekend so decided to watch these Korean films (a loose trilogy from the same director) in order.  These are three completely different movies about revenge, though the actors (but not the characters) overlap a lot among the three. 

The first involves a deaf man who is trying to help his sister get a kidney transplant.  He has run out of options and decides to try the black market, which goes as well as can be expected.  He and his girlfriend then come up with another plan, to kidnap his ex-boss's kid and hold her for ransom to get the money.  This also goes as well as can be expected, and there is a lot of revenge to be taken in the course of the movie.  This movie has one of the strangest and most distracting characters that I have ever experienced.  There are also just some very strange events that occur that seem to be taken as normal, but yikes.  From a revenge standpoint, this one is pretty straightforward aside from the details.  I think there are some clever aspects to the story. 

I already reviewed the second movie but will just say that it is my favorite of the three.  It's one that is best to go into without a lot of prior information but held up really well the second time.  The climax and ending are just so good and so awful to watch.  Quick recap: man is abducted and held prisoner for many years and is then told upon release that he must try to find his abductor in five days.  Obviously, it's a lot more than that.  I read that Tarantino was the main judge for the Cannes film festival when this film was entered and tried to get it the top Palme d'Or prize (which it lost to Fahrenheit 911), but they did give it the Grand Jury prize.

The third movie is really different.  It's got a very mythical and artistic feel.  In a lot of ways, it reminded me of some Tarantino work (I am not sure who might have influenced whom in that relationship), and my husband brought up Murakami for the same reason.  This one is about a woman who has wrongly spent something like 13 years in prison and puts together a plan to exact revenge on the man who caused it.  It was a little tough to follow at first because I wasn't sure what was going on, and there were a few different co-prisoners introduced that I found hard to keep track of until I understood how things fit together.  I saw a review comment that this would actually be a reasonable movie to start with of the three because it is in some ways the least dark and violent.  I think that is probably true, though they are just so different that it would be hard to predict what one of the others would be like from any of the three.

All three movies had aspects that made me think about them a lot afterward.  There was definitely some violence, and things could get a bit gory at times, but those are really not the parts that stuck with me after.  While I don't feel that I necessarily learned any life lessons from the movies, I did think they were each clever in their own ways, and each of the revenge tales seemed pretty reasonably well thought out (aside from the strange aspects here and there that could be cultural) and satisfying. 

If you are a Korean film fan and have not seen any by Park Chan-wook, check some of them out.  We will be watching more of his, for sure.

Kudos to you for going down this road! I'm home alone this week, so maybe I'll watch a disturbing movie along these lines (I'll report back if I manage to do so).

[Sun_Worshiper]

Audition (1999, streaming on Kanopy)

Following ab_grp's lead, I decided to watch a Japanese horror film last night, settling on Takashi Miike's famously disturbing Audition. The film follows a widower that holds auditions to find a new wife (the women think they are auditioning for an acting role). He meets an enchanting young woman and things seem too good to be true... And sure enough, things are not quite as they seem.

This movie is very well regarded in certain circles (it is apparently one of Quentin Tarantino's favorites), and I can see why. It is a well directed and acted genre bender with some interesting things to say about misogyny and feminism.

Overall, I came away quite impressed and a little shaken. This film is certainly not for everyone, but if you can stomach it then there are significant rewards to be had. I suspect that this will stay with me in the days and weeks to come and I wouldn't be surprised if my esteem for it grows with a little distance.

Grade: A-