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

[SirJames]

I just watched Infinity Pool, too. I kinda liked it, but I like weird stuff.

Also, recently watched Men (2022) which is full of weird stuff.

Crimes of the Future was from dad, though. Infinity Pool was done by David Cronenbergs son, Brandon.

I think Brandon has a lot of talent. Definitely one of those directors where I'll instantly watch whatever their new film is.

Same as with Men which was by Alex Garland who did Ex machina and Annihilation. Only recently realised the movie existed.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I just watched Infinity Pool, too. I kinda liked it, but I like weird stuff.

Also, recently watched Men (2022) which is full of weird stuff.

Crimes of the Future was from dad, though. Infinity Pool was done by David Cronenbergs son, Brandon.

I think Brandon has a lot of talent. Definitely one of those directors where I'll instantly watch whatever their new film is.

Same as with Men which was by Alex Garland who did Ex machina and Annihilation. Only recently realised the movie existed.

I liked Men more than both Infinity Pool or Crimes of the Future. And Infinity Pool was more digestible than Crimes of the Future. I really liked the masks in Infinity Pool, though.
Crimes of the Future was really out there. Not sure I got anything (can't remember much of the plot either), aside from some cool and weird imagery. I mostly watched it for Viggo Mortensen, who I'm a big fan of.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I also watched the other 2 movies in the "Before" trilogy, Before Sunset and Before Midnight.
Very enjoyable and surprisingly unpretentious for the subject matter they tackle. I also really enjoyed the fact that the actors are actually the same age as the characters.
Seems pretty ambitious that they made the movies with 9 years in-between each one. It really contributed a lot to the suspension of disbelief.
I hear hear some of the dialogue was also improvised throughout each movies, which is pretty impressive.
With some very rare exceptions, the dialogue is very natural and doesn't feel scripted. The two main actors also have amazing chemistry throughout all 3 movies.
It was certainly an interesting experience, that I recommend others watch.

 

[Carnifex]

I've watched the "Before" series and enjoyed them quite a bit. Glad to see others having a similar experience!

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I also just watched John Wick, something I had difficulties watching the first time I tried it. But I made myself sit through it all.
Honestly, it's about what I expected. An average action movie with some, what looks like, decently choreographed action set pieces.
I got bored a few times throughout, and kept checking how much longer is there.

I honestly don't get the raving positive opinions about these movies. Is it that it's Keanu, who's very much liked as an actor and outside of movies?
I wonder if it had been some other random action movie star if they would get the same amount of attention.
I probably also don’t have a firearms fetish.

 

[lackblogger]

Is it that it's Keanu, who's very much liked as an actor and outside of movies?
I wonder if it had been some other random action movie star if they would get the same amount of attention.

Oh, absolutely, it's nearly 100% the Keanu factor. If you're not into him as an actor then, yes, there's much less there.

But that's how it's always been. Imagine the Dollars trilogy without Eastwood, or Terminator without Shwartz, etc.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Just out of curiosity I watched the first 1/4 of John Wick 2, and I think it's more enjoyable. It's way more campy and ridiculous.

 

[JDR13]

The Wick movies were a little too over-the-top for me. I thought Nobody, which is similar but a little more grounded, was more enjoyable.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

The Wick movies were a little too over-the-top for me. I thought Nobody, which is similar but a little more grounded, was more enjoyable.

I'm close to wrapping up John Wick 2, and there's really no action scene (either guns or hand-to-hand) In either of the Wick movies, as intense as the bus fight scene in Nobody.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I finished John Wick 2, and it was as ridiculous as expected. But, as I said, I think I enjoyed it more than the first. It's just so unserious, like the sort of fantasy a kid would have around assassins, that it becomes enjoyable if you take it for what it is.

But on Keanu in particular, I don't know what the hell is with his acting. In a lot of movies he's at least decent, but it seems whenever he tries to act like a badass it just comes off so stilted and awkward. He's awful at oneliners. With these sorts of characters it's like he's re-learning english, almost like he wants to deliver the lines awkwardly, with inflections weirdly put.

As action movies I still maintain they're pretty boring. The action choreography looks nice, most of the time, with some moments not so much. But I felt absolutely no tension in anything so far. As I said, the bus fight in Nobody was better than anything the Wick movies have shown so far.

I think I'll watch the third one because I'm at least curious as to the ridiculousness and where they go from here.

EDIT: nevermind, I started the third one, but there's just too much fighting. I don't have the patience to watch another series of endless fights, and it's likely third one will have even more of that.

 

[Carnifex]

Last night, after a recommendation from one of my younger brothers, I watched the Gentlemen, one of Ritchie's films. I'm a fan of his work and can safely add this movie to my list of those that I enjoy, it was pretty good. I'd no idea that I would know so many of the cast, which certainly helped in liking both the story and many of the characters.

 

[Tony]

Last night, after a recommendation from one of my younger brothers, I watched the Gentlemen, one of Ritchie's films. I'm a fan of his work and can safely add this movie to my list of those that I enjoy, it was pretty good. I'd no idea that I would know so many of the cast, which certainly helped in liking both the story and many of the characters.

I just can't get into him. Snatch, Lock Stock, Rocknrolla, Revolver. Not great. I did like Sherlock Holmes. For some reason I thought he wrote and directed Lockout, which is one of my favorite movies of the last 10 or so years, but I think I just saw "Guy" as a name and assumed Guy Ritchie was involved.

Lockout is my type of movie. Same with the new remake of Total Recall - I really loved it and have no idea why it got panned so badly.

Maybe I have really plebian tastes in movies, but more action SciFi movies in the vein of "Escape from New York/LA" could only make the world a better place.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I have the reverse experience with Guy Ritchie films. I loved the originals that put him on the map (Snatch and Lock Stock especially), but found some of his recent ones average to even pretty bad (Wrath of Man, King Arthur especially. I have no idea what he was thinking on these two especially). I did like Man from U.N.C.L.E and the Sherlock Holmes ones. But very luke-warm compared to Snatch and the other amazing original ones.

 

[JDR13]

Same with the new remake of Total Recall - I really loved it and have no idea why it got panned so badly.

I think it's tough to satisfy fans with remakes. Arnold Schwarzenegger is an iconic figure from that period, and I'm not sure Colin Farrell was the best choice to play Quaid in the remake.

 

[Carnifex]

I did try his version of King Arthur and found it to be quite bad, I bailed after fifteen minutes or so. Just not for me.

 

[Carnifex]

Wow, did I stumble on a dud of a film last night! So I'm a face of John Carpenter, his Halloween, vampire, etc horror flicks so when I saw Halloween Ends pop up in the queue, I thought I'd give it a shot.

Oh my, bad call, bad film, yikes. Con: it was awful. Pro: I knocked out half a book report while the dismal thing was playing!

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Saw The Whale. I liked it overall, but I didn't really like the ending. Felt too schmaltzy and gratuitous.
I did also get a feeling, throughout the whole thing, of a little bit too much of trying for shock-value.
But I can also imagine you can hardly touch a subject like this without it feeling at least a little bit like that.
But all in all, with further time away from it, I liked it quite a bit. It's definitely heart-wrenching.

 

[JFarrell71]

Wow, did I stumble on a dud of a film last night! So I'm a face of John Carpenter, his Halloween, vampire, etc horror flicks so when I saw Halloween Ends pop up in the queue, I thought I'd give it a shot.

Oh my, bad call, bad film, yikes. Con: it was awful. Pro: I knocked out half a book report while the dismal thing was playing!

Carpenter has nothing to do with the Halloween films anymore and hasn't for a long while, as you may know.

I started to watch Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. I've known about and liked the shorts for a while.

 

[Tony]

Carpenter has nothing to do with the Halloween films anymore and hasn't for a long while, as you may know.

I started to watch Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. I've known about and liked the shorts for a while.

The crazy thing is Danny McBride does (from East Bound & Down, and Vice Principals, et al). The first of the new trilogy was pretty good, then it got silly in my opinion.

 

[JDR13]

Against my better judgment, I watched Knock at the Cabin last night.

Mark it down as Shyamalan's latest uninspired turd. I wish I could have that hour and 40 minutes of my life back.

If you want a comparison, it reminded me of The Happening. There's no point to it, and I kept waiting for some kind of twist or "wtf?" moment that never came.

I did like Dave Bautista's character though. He played the part well, and I think he's a better actor than people realize.