|
Post by BlackoutCreature on Dec 20, 2023 20:55:48 GMT -5
126. Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham (2023) 127. El Vampiro y El Sexo (1969) 128. Blue's Big City Adventure (2022)Figured I'd get some more mileage out of my Paramount+ subscription. Now I didn't grow up with Blue Clue's, it was a bit after my time. But after enjoying the Dora the Explorer live-action movie way more then I had any rights to a few years back, I saw this and figured I'd give it a shot. Sadly it lacks a lot of the subversive humor that made the Dora movie so fun, and is very much intended for the same pre-school audience as the show is, but that's not to say it's a complete wash for adults. It's an enjoyable enough sit with some decent songs, and Steve Burns has surprisingly good comedic chops. Now for a follow-up, I'm thinking a gritty, hard-boiled noir detective story featuring Detective Steve and his cab driver sidekick, Alex Winter...
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 20, 2023 23:17:44 GMT -5
#518 - The Night Before (Tubi)
*2nd Viewing
Michael Shannon was deadass a drug dealing angel. [***½]
#519 - Wonka (Theater)
*1st Viewing
This was whimsical and sweet, so Paul King was a great choice to helm this. There are fun musical numbers in here and a fair bit to like, though I do feel like Chalamet is maybe too nice for the role. I loved Wilder because I got the sense that he was way unhinged and while I needed just a hint or so of that. [***]
|
|
|
Post by BlackoutCreature on Dec 21, 2023 18:08:00 GMT -5
127. El Vampiro y El Sexo (1969) 128. Blue's Big City Adventure (2022) 129. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023)I was originally going to go see this on Saturday, but I'm on vacation all week and had to move some of my schedule for it around, so I figured I might as well try to catch a showing today. And the theater was empty. Like, this theater could hold about two hundred people and there were maybe ten of us in there. Maybe that's just because I went to a Thursday 3PM showing, but I've never seen a superhero movie that empty. This was a very goofy movie. Like, bordering on Teen Titans Go! goofy at times. It's trying for a tone similar to Ragnarok, but instead is giving us Love & Thunder cranked up to eleven. It's not horrible, but it's not that good either, and considering it's basically an afterthought ending for the DCEU, it was really hard to stay all that interested in what was happening.
|
|
|
Post by bibboid on Dec 21, 2023 23:21:22 GMT -5
51. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes An interesting twist on the early days of the Hunger Games. The first two thirds are really good but then the whole thing just gets bogged down in the third act. The ending felt more like a setup for a sequel than an actual conclusion. Is it worth a trip to the cinema?. The end of the original films kind soured me on the series as it felt like they had ran out of steam I am probably not the right person to answer this question. I have grown to hate movie theaters and only go when my wife insists. Personally I would prefer to watch movies in my own home. That being said… Was it a visual extravaganza that requires a movie screen to show all the details? Not really. There were a few big scenes but not too many. Was there a soundtrack or sound effects that required the big movie theater speakers? Again, there were a few big scenes but nothing that wouldn’t have sounded fine on my stereo at home. So, was the movie worth seeing? Definitely yes. Was it worth the $100 it cost to see it in the theater with the wife and kids? I don’t think so.
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 21, 2023 23:38:35 GMT -5
#520 - Everything But The Chip (NBA TV)
*1st Viewing
A very interesting documentary on the 2001 Philadelphia 76ers. [***½]
#521 - Tokyo Godfathers (Tubi)
*1st Viewing
I found something that's gonna become a Christmas staple for me. A touching, wonderfully animated, and heartwarming movie. [****]
|
|
agent817
Fry's dog Seymour
Doesn't Know Whose Ring It Is
Posts: 21,263
|
Post by agent817 on Dec 22, 2023 0:56:40 GMT -5
168. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom - Saw this in theaters. First and foremost, I didn't go in with the highest of expectations. I hardly saw any advertisements for it. This movie was delayed multiple times. I wasn't sure what to think about this going in. I liked its predecessor, but I hadn't seen it in a while. I could have watched it in preparation, but hey, I own the movie, so I could watch it whenever.
With that out of the way, all I can say is that I had fun with it. There were problems, though. I could see some dodgy CGI used in the visual effects. Some of the story elements I saw were lifted from the Thor films. I mean the dynamic between Arthur (Aquaman) and Orm (Ocean Master) really feels like Thor and Loki here. I haven't read any of the comics, so I can't say if their dynamic is similar, but here I saw some similarities. However, I thought Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson had good chemistry and there were some scenes that made me chuckle. Also, the action scenes were pretty fun, in my opinion. So I was not bored with this film.
I do, however, agree that the tone is all over the place. In some ways, the goofiness was on the level of "Thor: Love & Thunder" because that went a little overboard with the comedy, but then you have the serious scenes that build up the climactic battle. Of course, I did laugh at some scenes. Also, there were some issues with the script and dialogue. And yes, I know some people will likely boycott the film because of Amber Heard (just like how some people did that with "The Flash" earlier in the year because of Ezra Miller), but she isn't in the film much.
Eh, I still enjoyed it for the action and some comedic scenes. Now I just wonder how DC will reboot their cinematic universe.
|
|
Futureraven: Beelzebruv
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
The Ultimate Arbiter of Right And Wrong
Spent half my life here, God help me
Posts: 15,078
|
Post by Futureraven: Beelzebruv on Dec 22, 2023 4:22:49 GMT -5
57(or 61 according to my Letterboxd)
LA Confidential
Cool twisty, turny mystery. Great performances and once it gets going it's grand.
I do think this would work better as a series though, give more characters more time, get more intricate in the details, different pacing...
|
|
|
Post by Rise on Dec 22, 2023 7:08:40 GMT -5
Is it worth a trip to the cinema?. The end of the original films kind soured me on the series as it felt like they had ran out of steam I am probably not the right person to answer this question. I have grown to hate movie theaters and only go when my wife insists. Personally I would prefer to watch movies in my own home. That being said… Was it a visual extravaganza that requires a movie screen to show all the details? Not really. There were a few big scenes but not too many. Was there a soundtrack or sound effects that required the big movie theater speakers? Again, there were a few big scenes but nothing that wouldn’t have sounded fine on my stereo at home. So, was the movie worth seeing? Definitely yes. Was it worth the $100 it cost to see it in the theater with the wife and kids? I don’t think so. That's a fair assessment I think and no film is worth it when you take the family imo. I have a cinecard that I pay around $15 a month for and I can go to as many films as I like (in in the UK)
|
|
Nr1Humanoid
Hank Scorpio
Is the #3 humanoid at best.
Posts: 5,511
|
Post by Nr1Humanoid on Dec 22, 2023 9:34:25 GMT -5
I have been racking up some films for the first time lately.
Hondo. Frankenstein. Bride of Frankenstein. Highway to Hell. The Scars of Dracula. Out of Africa. The Rescuers. The Aristocats. Hardware.
At nearly 50 who know why they have taken me so long.
Also watched Apartment Zero. Had never heard of it but a blurb in Fangoria made it sound intriguing.
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 22, 2023 22:40:27 GMT -5
#522 - Saltburn (Prime)
*1st Viewing
A wild ride that kept taking turns I wasn't expecting and I was hooked for all of it, even if parts of it don't totally add up. [****½]
|
|
|
Post by BlackoutCreature on Dec 22, 2023 23:29:46 GMT -5
128. Blue's Big City Adventure (2022) 129. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) 130. Noelle (2019)Another Christmas movie recommended by Disney+ that I was curious about. For those not familiar, after Dad Santa dies, his daughter, Noelle (Anna Kendrick), with the help of a cynical single Dad private detective, attempts to track down her wayward brother, Nick (Bill Hader), in Phoenix, Arizona hoping he'll return with her to the North Pole to take over the family business and save Christmas, something he's not particularly excited about doing. This is ok. It's not a modern classic or anything, the plot "twists" are pretty much obvious from jump and the ending drags on too long, but it has its charms and Kendrick is likable enough in her role.
|
|
ayumidah
Wade Wilson
Don't bother pretending I seem fine, I like that I'm a mess
Posts: 27,316
|
Post by ayumidah on Dec 23, 2023 0:29:05 GMT -5
45. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom 46. The Iron Claw
|
|
|
Post by Rise on Dec 23, 2023 8:14:47 GMT -5
A few decent films in there tbh. I'll always enjoy Bill Murray hamming it up in Scrooged and I finally watched Green Lantern for the first time and ooft, it's as bad as they say.
If you are a fan of foreign cinema, I can thoroughly recommend The Three Musketeers: Milady, it's subtitled but it is a great film (it's part two of the film series, part one came out in March)
264: Nightmare Before Christmas, The 265: Christmas Chronicles Part Two, The 266: Scrooged 267: Three Musketeers, The: Milady 268: Leo 269: Santa Clause, The 270: Rush Hour 3 271: Green Lantern
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 23, 2023 20:01:11 GMT -5
#523 - Anna and the Apocalypse (Blu-Ray)
*4th Viewing
I think I might like this movie more than anyone else in the world. [*****]
|
|
|
Post by BlackoutCreature on Dec 23, 2023 23:18:32 GMT -5
129. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) 130. Noelle (2019) 131. Catwoman: Hunted (2022)Another DC animated movie from Max. Here Catwoman teams up with Batwoman and Interpol to take down an international crime cartel and the various mobsters and mercenaries being sent to kill her. It has some issues but over-all its a fun and breezy little movie with some great faux-anime animation. I particularly really liked the highly stylized opening credits which looked like an old Stevie and Zoya cartoon (man, who remembers that show?).
|
|
|
Post by Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster on Dec 24, 2023 5:35:46 GMT -5
124. Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss (1970) 125. Silent Night (2023 - theatrical screening) 126. UHF (1989 - Amazon Prime)
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 24, 2023 23:17:45 GMT -5
#524 - Just Friends (YouTube TV)
*11th Viewing
I think I might watch this every Christmas Eve going forward. [****]
|
|
|
Post by bibboid on Dec 26, 2023 20:53:20 GMT -5
52. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
I love the Dr. Seuss portion of the movie. I love the visuals on the whole thing. But I really hate the trope of “the villain isn’t really evil so let’s tell the story of how they were abused as a child and became so angry” and that is the first two thirds of the movie.
53. Wonka
It was a lot of fun and had great visuals. They managed to capture the spirit of both the Gene Wilder movie and the book with none of the creepy weirdness of the Burton film. And I would not mind if they made a sequel where Wonka travels to Loompaland and rescues the Oompa Loompas from the Vermicious Knids.
|
|
agent817
Fry's dog Seymour
Doesn't Know Whose Ring It Is
Posts: 21,263
|
Post by agent817 on Dec 26, 2023 22:22:40 GMT -5
169. Beastly (2011) - Watched this on Blu-ray. Because I saw that Amanda the Jedi posted a video on this sometime ago, it encouraged me to watch it, mostly so that I could see what she is talking about. I also recall seeing this advertised when it came out in 2011, like it was shown at the same theater I went to see another film at the time. I was curious about it, so I requested it from the library and now I watched it.
I had read that this was a different take on "Beauty and the Beast." I also read that this was an adaptation of novel of the same name, which also has spanned four other books (one of which is a spin-off of the book on which this film was based). With that said, I just decided to take this as a different take on the classic tale. With this film being as short as it is, it's a little straightforward in its storytelling. I don't really think Alex Pettyfer did a bad job in his performance. Nor did I think Vanessa Hudgens did badly in her performance. I did think their chemistry was fine in some of the romantic scenes these two were in. Though I wonder how different the book is when you have two attractive leads, and I had read that Hudgens's character is supposed to be mousy whereas here, she is played by the pretty Vanessa Hudgens. The same could be said about Pettyfer as the "beast" character, because he looked more like a frontman for a metal band and had more of a punk/goth look about him (though the scars and lacerations were meant to make him look "ugly") as opposed to the pretty boy he was at the start of the film.
There is a side of me that believes that this film was done to capitalize on the success of "Twilight," which I still have yet to see or read. There were a lot of film adaptations of young-adult novels during the 2010s, if you think about it.
Back to the film. I would say that there were some things that worked, but I wonder how much was told in the novel. I saw that there was an alternate ending, which was the ending of the book, and I believed that worked better than what was shown in the final cut. I didn't mind the ending that was used, however.
In the end, I would call this film average. It's probably not everyone's cup of tea with its romantic elements, but I didn't think it was terrible. I just think the film could have been done better had the main guy not look more like a punk/goth type. I also remember reading on IMDB's boards way back when that they thought he looked more badass than ugly.
|
|
|
Post by The Kevstaaa on Dec 26, 2023 23:50:58 GMT -5
#525 - Goon (Peacock)
*2nd Viewing
Though not as good the second time around, still one of my favorite hockey movies. [***½]
|
|