Movie Night (Official Movie Discussion Thread)

20241211_131716.jpg
 
Conclave





PRAISE: I remember watching a news program when the last Pope was about to be chosen and there were several Cardinals so happy and almost ecstatic about being part of the process this movie reminded me of that......and made me wonder how many of them were faking their joy. The cast of this film were all outstanding including Ralph Fiennes as Lawrence,Stanley Tucci as Bellini
John Lithgow as Tremblay Isabella Rossellini as Sister Agnes Lucian Msamati as Adeyemi and Carlos Diehz as Benitez. It was so interesting to see the layers pulled back on these characters from personal desires,ambitions,mistrusts and their racist feelings. It also brings out the assumptions people have as others as if they were the geniuses of someone else's mind set. Scandal, corruption and personal failings are woven in with such great turns as information and revelations are continually dropped. So many interesting story threads are introduced even including a couple of suspenseful moments and even a slight mystery. Praise to Director Director Edward Berger and Writer
Peter Straughan for bringing such a great work together even delivering a moment that I really didn't see coming and made me loudly kind of chuckle because of my shock. Conclave is involving, greatly acted and beautifully shot and one of the best movies of 2024.

PROBLEMS: I would really be nitpicking if i stated a couple of things i had minor problems with.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 10+
 
CARRY-ON




PRAISE: This was definitely Die Hard 2 lite as an airport security agent is put into frantic mode by a mysterious man trying to get a lethal device on a plane.
Jason Bateman sounds and looks like he's having the most fun as he manipulates various strings to control a very believable Taron Egerton as a TSA Agent named Ethan Kopek. Writer T.J Fixman infuses all of the aggravation and obnoxious vibes of traveling for the holidays and definitely adds some humor around the edges. Back to Egerton i actually felt bad for his character Kopek as he is forced to do things he doesn't want to that effects him personally, especially with his girlfriend Nora Parisi portrayed by the lovely Sofia Carson. The action sequences are good but there is one standout sequence that is so much fun i wish all of them had been styled in the same way. I was suspicious of so many characters in this movie and I liked that I was thrown off a bit. Also there was a stand out death scene i really liked.

PROBLEMS: I think this was the first time the way a character was dressed lead to an ultra predictable turn. Throw in a couple of on the nose predictable outcomes and to convenient moments. I wish the movie had maintained the ultra dark vibe it started with.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
Anora






PRAISE : Mikey Madison’s joins the list of actresses including Natasha Lyonne and Jennifer Lawrence who have given great standout performances in independent films.
The film worked for me not only because it took me on a crazy odyssey filled with believable characters, it's love letter to parts of Brooklyn but the main reason it's the sincerity of the title character Anora.
She's a stripper who does the stripper hustle to a T. She meets the running from responsibility ,extravagant spending Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn) and there's seemingly a romantic connection but among other things Vanya is not as free as he seems. The movie definitely rests on the more than capable shoulders of Madison over and over again. Her performance wasn't a revelation to me because I watched her for years on FX's
Better Things but she's definitely outstanding in her portrayal of Anora. I believed in what she wanted, needed and believed in right to the end. Pretty Woman comparisons can be made but Anora is its own thing especially when it comes to transactional trysts possibly becoming more and the raw hard truths about people and life. I spoke of the other performances and Eydelshteyn made me think of people ive crossed paths with that had the same im here to party personality. As Vanya’s Armenian handler Toros ,Karren Karagulian, is great as he airs his frustrations with Vanya and the world. As the henchmen, Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Yura Borisov) they do well as they lean into physical comedy and a caring vibe is definitely put out by the latter.Writer and Director Sean Baker has shaped an interesting,heartfelt drama with humor around it's edges.
One of the best movies of 2024

PROBLEMS: A couple of minor things.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 10+
 
Kraven The Hunter




PRAISE: I cant lie and say I didn't have some fun watching SONY turn one of Spider-Mans legendary adversaries into a Tarzan/Vigilante/Anti Hero.
As Sergei Kravinoff a.k.a. Kraven Aaron Taylor-Johnson displays some charisma at times and actually brings some good moments to the film when he's taking out bad guys and having fun with his powers. As the cold and uncaring crime lord Nikolai Kravinoff father to Kraven and Dimitri, Russell Crowe is fun to watch not only because of the roughness of the character but i just know Crowe is smiling because he knows he's collecting an easy paycheck. As Kravens half-brother, Dmitri ,Fred Hechinge also has some good moments. The ultra violence prominent in the multiple trailers for the movie is fortunately intact.

PROBLEMS: As Calypso Ezili, Ariana DeBose looks great in her black outfits but some of her line deliveries sounded like she was reading right off a cue card.I was shocked that J.C. Chandor the same director of the excellent movie A Most Violent Year also directed this. It's kind of funny that SONY threw so many Marvel villains into this movie as if they knew this movie was going to bomb so hey here's some villains we would have used later on.
The villains rank from slightly campy to absolutely obnoxious.To many moments are laughable head scratchers. The CGI only looks good in about 3 scenes, the rest of the time it looks awful as one of the prominent flaws are the techs trying to give animals expressions. The nods to anything associated with Spider-Man are extremely weak.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 4
 
The Six Triple Eight



I will give Tyler Perry praise for bringing an unknown chapter about black women in the military during World War II to the forefront.The standout performances and characters are Lena Derriecott King portrayed by Ebony Obsidian and Major Charity Adams portrayed by Kerry Washington. The racism the women faced and the task of trying to sort and deliver undelivered mail from families,wives and fiances are displayed in an involving way. Perry blends in some moving moments as the movie plays out.
The other characters from the Battalion are sidelined for the most part,their backgrounds are just touched on and they make exclamations about this or that. Knowing what Perry leans into in his movies there was a story thread that was predictable right at the first frames of the movie.There is a plainness that surrounds the film reminding me of documentaries that throw in some reenactments and then right back to real footage of the era the documentary is about. Still a nice tribute to 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion


Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
I still say Joker 2 is a good film. I'm not sure why it got so much bad press because when I actually watched it, the musical scenes were not an issue to the point of making it a bad film. Combined with the first film and you have a pretty great commentary on American culture's obsession with fanatacism for things they don't understand to the point of creating extreme distortions of reality. This combined with capitalism being more important than mental health and you have recipe for creating people like Arthur Fleck and the necessary audience to influence their sickness into acts of outrage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top