What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

It's weird watching Nielsen's old movies where he's serious, but he has that police lieutenant /some other authority figure character. Remember him in The forbidden planet? He was somewhat of a late bloomer, his career took off when he started appearing in comedies (as he himself admitted).

Forbidden Planet is one of those truly awesome flicks, one you'll never forget. I watched that film so damn much in the seventies and eighties.

So I watched Forbidden Planet (1956) the other day and one part of me thinks I did see it when I was very young while another part of me thinks I've never seen it before.

I was surprised it was in colour, I was expecting black and white, and I was surprised the special effects held up so well. Aside from the bobbly flying saucer at the beginning it has a higher quality of SFX than the original Star Trek and quite a lot of modern lower budget affairs.

And as for plot, it's pretty much the template from which Roddenberry created Star Trek I would guess:

Official mission to a planet to investigate a long-ago settled science colony.
Three main crew members go to mysterious lair, inc one doctor & the captain.
The mysterious lair is controlled by a mysterious genius.
Captain gets shagging rights over any beautiful women found.
The solving of the problem involves morality and lessons learned.
A monster gets zapped and fought with.
A comedy light relief crew member who likes whisky.

To name but a few.

A bit like how North By Northwest is considered the prototype Bond film before Bond, this is definitely the prototype Star Trek film before Star Trek. Maybe a bit boring at times, especially during the overly quaint romantic scenes and exposition heavy scenes, but overall a fascinating watch, 7.5/10.
 
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Resident Evil Welcome To Raccoon City & Ghostbusters Afterlife

Been to the cinema in the last two weeks to see a few films.

Resident Evil: WTRC feels very different from the initial RE which I watch every now and again. The setting feels like we are in the 1950s or 1960s and the word that comes to mind is "grimy". There is a lot happening and I think that I need to watch it again. There were some good action sequences [It could perhaps been a short TV series or mini series]. Is it a good film? - Maybe but I need to watch it again.

Ghostbusters Afterlife. I have not watched any of the other Ghostbusters films so I had no expectations. I saw a family film with the teens stepping up and leading the way. In parts it was funny, sad, happy and a little frightening. For me a good film. I noticed that Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB's critics gave it a low-ish score while the public came in with very high scores. Looking briefly at what was said it appears that the critics wanted a more innovative film moving relentlessly forward. The public wanted to be entertained. If you are a critic steer clear but if want a bit of fun well you could do worse.
 
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Ghostbusters Afterlife. I have not watched any of the other Ghostbusters films so I had no expectations. I saw a family film with the teens stepping up and leading the way. In parts it was funny, sad, happy and a little frightening. For me a good film. I noticed that Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB's critics gave it a low-ish score while the public came in with very high scores. Looking briefly at what was said it appears that the critics wanted a more innovative film moving relentlessly forward. The public wanted to be entertained. If you are a critic steer clear but if want a bit of fun well you could do worse.

The original Ghostbusters is unique in many ways, capturing ‘horror comedy’ in a way that is incredibly rare - and certainly none of the other films in the series managed. The sequel and 2016 remake both missed the mark, and from what I have heard that is true hear - too loud, too on-the-nose, to fan-service-y, and so on. That is why it makes sense that the critics marks would be lower - but it was still ‘fresh’ and that reflects that most people will probably have a good time.

It is always important to scale expectations - I mean, I enjoy ‘art cinema’, but at the same time my wife and I sat and thoroughly enjoyed the Hallmark movie “The Christmas House” with Treat Williams and a host of unlikely and unrealistic ‘heartstring pullers’ scattered throughout. We’ll watch Afterlife at some point, no rush though after the last two franchise entries.
 
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Antlers

I had been looking forward to seeing this because the trailer made it seem promising and it was produced by Guillermo del Toro.

All I can say is, don't get your hopes up. It's a decent popcorn flick if you don't have high expectations, but as far as horror films go, it's decidedly average.
 
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So, I read the book years ago when it first released, I want to say it was maybe four years ago or so, Nomandland: Surviving America in the Twenty-first Century. It was one of those books that I simply had trouble putting down, even when making supper or doing chores I was wondering what would happen next. It wasn't even a long read, if I remember right, under three hundred pages, yet every word, each sentence was almost riveting to me.

And this film almost totally nailed it. Well cast, and the gorgeous scenery shots only add to the magic of the written text, this is a film well worth viewing. This is one of those rare exceptions where the film is right at the same level as the book, and the visuals even lend gravitas in a way that perhaps the written text cannot, although our minds are always up to the task. Well worth viewing, or reading, or both, you cannot go wrong with checking out this story.
 
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I’ve seen about 45 mins of The Last Duel (since I was too tired), the other movie Ridley Scott directed recently, and which apparently tanked at the box office. And I have to say it’s pretty solid overall. It looks fantastic. The story is interesting enough. Not sure why it tanked. I’m sure it wasn’t the millenials and their phones, as Ridley said. :D Some movies just don’t make it out, I guess. I also went in with low expectations, after hearing the negative press.
 
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Not sure why it tanked. I'm sure it wasn't the millenials and their phones, as Ridley said. :D Some movies just don't make it out, I guess. I also went in with low expectations, after hearing the negative press.

I saw Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and immediately dismissed it. Let me know what you think after you finish watching. Maybe I'll give it a shot.

If you're a fan of Ridley Scott, check out his series Raised by Wolves. Imo, it's far more interesting than any of his recent films.
 
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I saw Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and immediately dismissed it. Let me know what you think after you finish watching. Maybe I'll give it a shot.

I will return with a full post after finishing it. As far as those two, they're pretty decent in it. Affleck in particular is kind of distracting, with him being blonde. But also nothing remarckable about their portrayals. I have a strong feeling the movie could've been even better without them, since they're hard not to see as the actors.

But everything else, the production, the costumes, locations, visuals are pretty fantastic. They did not seem to skimp out on spending money.

I haven't seen Raised by Wolves. I'll try and give it a shot.
 
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I thought The Last Duel was pretty decent. Maybe a little repetitive. :p But one of the better films I've seen recently.

Also saw Antlers and agree with JDR with nothing more to add.

I got roped in to watching Spencer and was bored out of my mind. Avoid that one, if you can. :D
 
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Re-watched one of my favorites and one of the best zombie movies ever, in my opinion, Dawn of the dead (2004) - the Zack Snyder remake. I was looking for movies on Amazon, and after renting a couple of recent and very forgettable, mediocre modern horror movies recently (I swear, its like near impossible to find a good horror movie made in the last decade or so, they have been stinking up the joint with "horrible" horror and I have seen most of the recent horror movies that people say are good and no, they aren't good -- they all pretty much suck)

So I decided to just buy Dawn of the Dead (director's cut, unrated version) and watch it again, since it has been awhile since I saw it.

Just as great as I remember it, Ving Rhames especially is amazing in the movie. Great action, great zombies, and good ending. (yea, its pretty much a typical Hollywood happy ending, but sometimes I like those, not everything has to be super dark)

I saw the new Guillermo Toro movie mentioned, and I am interested to see that too.
 
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Watched The Suicide Squad and was very disappointed. I was expecting something similar to Guardians of the Galaxy in tone, but with DC characters. What I got was a stupid piece of trash. My only issues with the first one was Wil Smith's casting, and the look of Killer Croc, with this one it's easier to lists what's good about it: Polka-dot Man.
P.S. One incredible thing: John Cena's body O_O He really looks like a comic book character brought to life. I thought maybe he was wearing a prosthetic suit, but watching interviews it seems that's all him.
 
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Finally got around to watching Free Guy. Clever idea with lots of easter eggs for gamers to spot!! Nothing special, but fun to watch.
 
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So, the other night I watched the new Spiderman flick, the No Way Home one. Other than one crucial decision that both the main Spiderman and Strange for some reason decided to carry out, I enjoyed the film. I loved all the call backs to costumes from the comic books, as well as characters actually (for the most part, see my one issue above for the glaring exception) doing what time and experience would like have them behaving. Whoever has been doing the recent Avenger films and Marvel shows could take some serious notes from this particular movie, because this is how you tell a good story, with actual themes, nuances, and stellar acting.
 
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I watched Being the Ricardos the other night, and for the most part it was pretty enjoyable. The movie does a decent job of literally putting you back in 1953, on how certain industries functioned at the time at a corporate level for the most part, not at the street level. Personally I think someone else might have been better for the role of Lucille, who I've no idea, I think Kidman did ok yet it could have been much better. The other three principles playing Desi, Bill, and Vivian do an excellent job, and putting Lavin into the mix as a seen narrator of sorts was a good idea. Certainly worth watching if you've an interest at how the telly/film industries functioned almost seventy years ago.
 
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After having seen the awful Trailer #2 of Matrix Resurrections and hearing the bad reviews I'm having issues even getting the motivation to see it. Man, that trailer was awful. The dude re-enacting Huge Weaving was peak awfulness. And I hear they actually play scenes from the first movie. It wasn't just the trailer cut together with Matrix 1 scenes.
 
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After having seen the awful Trailer #2 of Matrix Resurrections and hearing the bad reviews I'm having issues even getting the motivation to see it. Man, that trailer was awful. The dude re-enacting Huge Weaving was peak awfulness. And I hear they actually play scenes from the first movie. It wasn't just the trailer cut together with Matrix 1 scenes.

A buddy of mine saw it today and said it was embarrassingly bad. I actually just finished downloading it, but I don't know if I have the will to watch it.

You know it's dire when I'm trying to decide between that or the new Resident Evil film.
 
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A buddy of mine saw it today and said it was embarrassingly bad. I actually just finished downloading it, but I don't know if I have the will to watch it.

You know it's dire when I'm trying to decide between that or the new Resident Evil film.

There's been a quote flying through the internet, which I hope is false. Apparently Keanu, after filming the first Matrix movie, gave the Wachowskis words of great praise, saying something along the lines that he feels they really made a masterpiece. And the rumour is he said something similar after finishing Resurrections? God I hope that's false. :lol:
 
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Last night I came across a film I'd always meant to watch yet never got around to it, called Rushmore. I'm a huge Bill Murray fan, so this was right up my alley, I'd call it mostly a rather dark comedy yet some of it was rather poignant as well. I'd be curious to see what others here might think of the film, I found myself enjoying it much more than I thought I might, given just how dark some of the material was.
 
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