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Movie Night (Official Movie Discussion Thread)

Run Sweetheart Run




......as fast as you can

This is one of those movies that is hard to review because I don't want to spoil anything but I can say I thoroughly enjoyed this movie about an Initially apprehensive Cherie (Ella Balinska) ) who is relieved and excited when she meets charismatic Ethan (Pilou Asbæk)an important client her boss insists she meet .
Balinska is great as the thrown for a loop and then some Cherie and Asbaek is equally great as the ultra relentless Ethan. Part of what made this a fun watch was that I was completely thrown off by the films description (Thanks Amazon). Plus it plays with familiar themes and films from comedy and thriller genres and shakes them up into a pretty good mix. The script is very involving with a lot of dark humor blended in.It's funny how I was going to complain about several things in the movie but once something was introduced it washed all of the aforementioned away.

PROBLEMS: The "me too" portions of the film are a bit overdone heavy-handed and then some. I found myself saying ok I get it !!
There's something I wish the movie would have played up a bit more but maybe they didn't want to show their hand to quickly.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 7½
 
Causeway




Private Pain

PRAISE: Jennifer Lawrence is able to tap into some of the raw emotion she displayed in one of her first films Winters Bone in this movie about Lynsey, a U.S. soldier, experiences a traumatic brain injury during her tour in Afghanistan which forces her to return home. She struggles to return to her daily life with her mother as she waits for her eventual redeployment. The movie slowly but surely pulls back the layers of Lynseys pain and indifference to being home. When the character of James a mechanic she befriends(Brian Tyree Henry )is introduced the movie shifts in a good way as the two have a playful but serious bond as he slowly reveals the trauma he is experiencing. There are several smaller great and believable performances sprinkled in but Lawrence and Henry are the standouts especially in a scene in which everything comes to a head.

PROBLEMS: At times the film can feel to laid back and languid. So much so one might be distracted when viewing this at home but fortunately the film is only 94 minutes as if the writers and director are saying we know this isn't the most exciting film so we will end it here.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8
 
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever






Farewell Chadwick & T'Challa

NO SPOILERS NO SPOILERS

PRAISE: How do you go on after the loss of a great actor? How do you go on after the loss of your great title character?
Marvel definitely goes for the heart with this film.
Not only does the film honor Chadwick Boseman but says goodbye to T'Challa the best way they could . It's handled well and it definitely hit some emotional chords. I felt it through the cast that includes:Letitia Wright as Shuri, Angela Basset as Queen Mother Ramonda, Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Winston Duke as M'Baku and Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia all displaying raw emotion. That emotion was synonymous with the music which was great oh and that score by TEM and Ludwig Goransson was terrific.
Tenoch Huerta portrays Namor and he does a pretty good job displaying the persuasiveness and mistrust of the surface world that the comic book Namor posseses.As much as the first Black Panther film was a celebration of African American culture there is the conclusion of Mesoamerican culture which was beautifully displayed. Blending in legendary myths of the sea.Dominique Thorne as RiriWilliams/Iron hear
Is definitely a breath of fresh air as she is introduced into the MCU into the MCU fold.
There are some great action sequences and use of CGI.Good nods to the comics and imagery in the comics.The humor definitely worked for me.Director Ryan Coogler and writer Joe Robert Cole and the cast
did not have an easy task making this film I praise them all for their work and efforts. I feel secure and confident in saying seeds have been planted for the future of Black Panther.
Can someone please give Angela Basset an Oscar already !!

PROBLEMS: I couldn't get on board with a couple of things.I asked do we really have to go down this path while they were playing out in the movie. There are a couple of predictable moments. I know all of
these MCU threads have to be tied together but the inclusion of one thread just felt kind of forced to me.
The CGI was a bit off in a couple of scenes.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8
 
The Menu






YES CHEF !!

PRAISE : If you have ever been to one of those boujee restaurants and have been told : get ready for an experience that your taste buds and palate will thank you for ,or even watched several episodes of one of Gordon Ramsay's cooking competition shows this movie about a young couple who visiting an exclusive destination restaurant on a remote island where the acclaimed chef has prepared a lavish tasting menu.
Ralph Fiennes as Chef Slowik is terrific in this and hes definitely channeling Ramsay with his critical, sarcastic and obsession with his culinary skills .Anya Taylor-Joy as Margot gives all of the right reactions to the situations she finds herself in .Nicholas Hoult as Tyler a man obsessed with Slowik feeling he can do no wrong.Hong Chau is great as his maitre d Elsa ; Janet McTeer is great as a food critic snob Lillian. Plus John Leguizamo is funny as a down on his luck actor.
How and why things play out for the chef's guest was very funny.
The movie takes the obsession of serving and preparing the perfect dish and twists them to a T.
Such obsessions can lead to all types of insanity in which the movie has a great way of displaying and that sometimes exclusivity isn't the greatest thing.

PROBLEMS: There are some predictable turns in the movie. Though I liked the visuals of the ending I wish it had been as sharp as the rest of the movie.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8
 
My Name is Vendetta





Bloody Revenge

PRAISE: In this blood soaked tale of revenge old enemies kill the family, of a former mafia enforcer and his feisty daughter .Fleeing to Milan, they hide out while plotting their revenge.
One of the best things about this movie is how the father/Santo is written. He's a loving father and husband but you can tell something is stirring in his soul plus his character isn't Superman just brushing off pain. Another great thing is his daughter Sofia, sure she makes a couple of mistakes but he's trained her to know what to do in the most stressful situations. Adding to the great grittiness of the movie are the men that are after Santos The Lo Biancos family.The Don (Remo Girone) and his son Michele (Alessio Praticò)
There are some great and intense fight and action sequences, and the film is beautifully shot.Some portions of the film reminded me of The Professional and Road to Perdition.

PROBLEMS: There are a few predictable moments.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8½



TROLL






Once Upon a Time......

PRAISE: There is a fairytale like feel to this movie about an ancient troll awakening in a Norwegian mountain,and a ragtag group of heroes coming together to try and stop it from wreaking deadly havoc.
This film has its moments with some pretty good CGI and action sequences. I think the foundation of the film was one of the best things about it. I enjoyed the movie Troll Hunter and in some ways this movie felt like a prelude to it.

PROBLEMS: I was expecting a lot more from this movie since the same people were behind the movie The Wave.The basic moments, clichés, and stiff voice dubbing takes away from the highlights of the film. I felt the length of the film when there was nothing really happening. I laughed when the film tried to have a rousing Gung ho moment which wasn't really necessary.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 6
 
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio





Dark Pinocchio

PRAISE: This is definitely a more somber and serious Pinocchio story. With a fascist setting and the inclusion of a couple of scenes that shocked me. The well known story is their with Toros fingerprints all over this .There is great voice work by Ewan McGregor as Cricket ; David Bradley as Geppetto ; Gregory Mann as Pinocchio ,Burn Gorman ·as Priest, Tilda Swinton ,Christoph Waltz, Cate Blanchett and Ron Perlman .
The animation is nearly flawless with imagery at times reminding me of some old Sci Fi and horror movies. I'm not really into musicals but thankfully the songs are brief .High praise to Toro and his crew for all of their hard work.

PROBLEMS : The film is a bit drawn out at times

Scale of 1 to 10 a 9
 
Emancipation






Faith & Courage


Praise : There are several films and TV shows about slavery and racism i will never watch and i have stopped watching because i
could see that they were going to be or were over the top with it's displays of abuse,excessive repetitive scenes of abuse.
But i still say films and TV shows about slavery and oppression should still be made because so many are saying slavery didnt exist,
no one rebelled against it,it wasnt that bad and slaves could leave the plantation and go live a good life without being pursued.Unfortunately the people that need to watch films like this never will.

In the film Peter, a slave, flees a plantation in Louisiana after he was whipped within an inch of his life. He has to outwit cold-blooded hunters
and the unforgiving swamps of Louisiana on a torturous journey north.
Right off the top Will Smith as Peter and Ben Foster as sadistic slave catcher Fassel give the best performances in the film.
Director Antoine Fuqua is able to capture the faith needed to endure the brutal abuse of slavery,the endurance of Peter and his courage.
How faith for some was lost when there was even the true hope was freedom no longer seemed like a dream. There are some scenes that really hit all of the right emotional chords. He also does some
great things visually with his choice of black and white,with muted colors. Also providing a stand out battle sequence.


PROBLEMS: I felt some characters were sidelined which could have made the film more effective.Some scenes of abuse are over the top and
unnecessary. At times the film feels uneven and some scenes that were supposed to be moving came off as hollow

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER





James Cameron has done it again!!

PRAISE : As the movie began to play it didn't take long for me to be immersed in this world Cameron has created and more importantly quickly attached to the characters within it.
The story this time around: Jake Sully and Ney'tiri have formed a family and are doing everything to stay together. However, they must leave their home and explore the regions of Pandora.
Having a family including eldest son Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), younger son Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), and youngest daughter Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss). Also hanging around is Spider (Jack Champion), a human they call their cousin comes with dealing with their disobedience and their giving into peer pressure. Jake and Ney'tiri are stern but loving parents and this all plays out in strong and beautiful ways.

With every moment that is quiet and beautiful there are moments that are action packed and thrilling. Cameron includes messages about the environment and animal cruelty but I didn't feel like I was being hit over the head with it.
Cameron definitely gets to show off his different technical advances but it's coupled with an involving story with some scenes laced with raw emotion. There are some great editions to the cast including Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) and his pregnant wife, Ronal (Kate Winslet) Jamie Flatters, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, Britain Dalton, and Bailey Bass.The motion capture is still on point. Theres a reach out and touch it feel to the 3D. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana have not lost a step in their believable on screen romance.

Cameron hasn't lost his touch in providing relentless action with one scene of peril and danger linking up to three more for ultra suspense.The script has some basic moments and I can nit pick about a few things but this is a true blue cinematic experience
There are questions that I want answers to and things that must be tied up and I'm looking forward to what happens in the next Avatar films.

PROBLEMS: NONE

Scale of 1 to 10 a 10
 
WIFELIKE





They finally made a Real Doll movie!!

PRAISE: Well sort of but all due respect to the Lars and The Real Girl but the whole doll as a companion thing story needed an upgrade and this story about artificial human Meredith gets assigned as a companion to grieving widower William, it's designed to behave like his late wife. However, in the fight to end AI exploitation, an underground organization attempts to sabotage Meredith's programming.
This story has some cool moments and looks great. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is always on point and Elena Kampouris does well as the A.I getting all the robotic moves and expressions down ,plus she has one of the greatest figures I've ever seen!!!! A couple of sinister twists were enjoyable. I actually enjoyed some of what the film said about society.

PROBLEMS: Due to some bad writing the first 15 minutes reveals a major twist in the plot. The acting is very bad and wooden from the other actors in the movie as if they received the script a few hours before filming. Some of the stunt work is absolutely terrible.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 6½
 
.. .










It's been a while I managed to finish a whole movie... This year has been a busy one physically for me


However I managed to watch these recently...


Last of the Mohicans dir. by Michael Mann


Mean Streets dir. by Martin Scorsese


Blue Steel dir. by Kathryn Bigelow





Aside 'Streets I hadn't seen the other two before...
 
The Banshees of Inisherin






PRAISE: About 8 minutes into the movie I thought I had it all figured out but once my answer was explained away I found myself drawn in to this story about lifelong friends (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) who find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship.
Sometimes darkly funny and moving the story is as simple and to the point as it's set up. Making statements about life and moving on,with underlying sobering themes about depression and abuse and I think that's what really shocked me,not when the film goes to another level with some light gore.
I thought Kerry Condon as Siobhán and Barry Keoghan as Dominic also did a great job.

PROBLEMS: I thought the film meandered a bit here and there and some things were over the top.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8


Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery





Merry Murder

PRAISE: This was far more fun and interesting than the first Knives Out film that I thought was Mediocre.
It's the great cast with Janelle Monáe truly standing out and putting in some great work. The rest of the cast is pretty good to and this time around the story is about Tech billionaire Miles Bron inviting his friends for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc is put on the case.
Director Rian Johnson does some great things with visuals and sight gags. Some great one liners throughout the script.There are definitely some good nods to the current climate of the world when it comes to wealth and its power and how it can intoxicate people so much that they will even commit or ignore murder.

PROBLEMS: There was a plot hole that couldnt be ignored. I did start to feel the films length especially towards the end. I know what the film was trying to do but I kept asking do we really have to do all of this. There's some over acting here and there in the movie.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 7½
 
M3GAN





Mild Menace

PRAISE: I have to applaud Blumhouse Studios for breathing new life into the Angry Android/Doll genre.
In M3GAN Gemma becomes the unexpected caretaker of her 8-year-old niece, she decides to give the girl an M3GAN prototype a marvel of artificial intelligence, a lifelike doll a decision that leads to unimaginable consequences.
Part of the fun of this movie is how charming and fun M3GAN is at the outset . The film is also very creative and effective bringing back memories of automated toys of the past. I actually understood the plight of Gemma( Allison Williams)as she suddenly becomes the guardian of her niece Cady (Violet Mcgraw) she is a person that has been flying solo her whole life......but she does make terrible decisions. As M3GAN becomes more self aware the movie really gets going and I didn't know what she was going to say or do as she has sworn to protect Cady. Watching the movie I definitely couldn't help but think about movies like Deadly Friend and Chucky and TV shows like Small Wonder and The Bionic Woman. Cady was almost surprisingly more of a menace than M3GAN !! Hats off to all of the actresses who brought M3GAN to life.

PROBLEMS: When a certain "character" is introduced it opened a predictable door. M3GAN's programming is explained a few times but I still felt there was a huge leap to her becoming homicidal.If they had written in just one thing it would have been more believable. It was beyond obvious where the film was edited to keep its PG-13 rating with quick cut aways from gore and edited murders.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
Marc123 said:
1 hr n few mins in...im done. Fuk dis shit

Now watchin this peacock nh movie bout covid lol

Click to expand...

peacock-let-me-fly.gif
 
PLANE





TERRAIN TURBULENCE

PRAISE: As the movie laid down its foundation a checklist came to mind of what may or may not happen in this movie about Pilot Brodie Torrance saving passengers from a lightning strike by making a risky landing on a war-torn island -- only to find that surviving the landing was just the beginning.
I was glad some of the things on my checklist didn't happen because then the movie would have been far more predictable. Even though there were a couple of nods to something very predictable occurring. Gerard Butler is as capable as ever and his team up with Mike Colter is good. The fight sequences are fun that are coupled with some beyond great kills and gunplay.

PROBLEMS: There are a couple of characters and things that happen that lack all logic and reason. Even with all of its great things there's not enough in the movie to completely hold my attention and make it a true white knuckle ride.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7
 
TUBI HOOD MOVIE QUICK REVIEWS

FIRST and most Importantly the most consistently attractive women in these movies are : Cierra Smith,Shelby Leigh,Jayda Jones and last but not in any way least Mena Monroe









Ultimate Betrayal : not even sure if I can call this a movie because it was only an hour but it was highly entertaining with some great twists and funny dialog.





He Played Me : Starts slow but picks up and it was very entertaining Alphonso Settles was very funny in this as a guy juggling 2 wives and a girlfriend. The main character in the movie has absolutely no logic and reason to her but hopefully she will get some sense in He Played Me 2





Parental Discretion Advised: I was happy to see they actually put some money into this one. The moves some characters made were questionable to say the least but this was still an enjoyable watch.They try to tack on a message at the end but I felt it was kind of one sided when I think about what occurred in the movie .
 
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