Movie Night (Official Movie Discussion Thread)

Nosferatu




PRAISE: With Nosferatu Director and writer Eggers solidifies himself as another effective talent that can take an over one hundred year genre and breathe new life into it. In this story an already haunted and off balance Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) has a strong connection to the mysterious Count Orlock (Bill Skarsgard) that will lead to all types of bloody madness. The cast including Nicholas Hoult Aaron Taylor-Johnson,Emma Corin, Ralph Ineson, and Willem Dafoe turn in great performances. They are called upon to not only have dramatic performances but also physical ones that are mesmerizing. From body movements to facial expressions of outright fear. Skarsgard along with the Direction of Eggers makes Nosferatu scary and then some. From the hissing and wheezing,his hands and voice and finally his physical form. Eggers wants to wrap the viewer into what's happening in a scene and over and over again he succeeds. Whether it's a scene of outright madness,a bloody kill,or a scene filled with shadows and darkness that he adds a quick flash of lightning to he really pulled me in. There are tons of disturbing images right to the end that some may find off putting ,especially those that are faint of heart. The film even got some nervous laughs out of me. The film brought back great memories of stories of vampires and Dracula i read as a teen. I think that helped me and likely others enjoy the film even more as the legend of vampires are brought out in the film in certain sinister situations and story paths. The music by Robin Carolan is also effective especially those final musical notes as the film closes.


PROBLEMS: Some moments felt a bit overdone.

Nosferatu joins my list of one of the best of 2024

Scale of 1 to 10 a 10+
 
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2024 Movies that I have watched this year (lil update)

The Marvels- 6/10
White Men can’t Jump (2023) - 6/10
Year One - 6/10
Astro Boy - 7/10
High School High - 6/10
Grandmas Boy - 7/10
Black Knight - 7/10
Paint - 7/10
Vacation Friends 2 - 6/10
Batman: The Doom that came to Gotham - 7/10
Justice League: Warworld - 6/10
Godzilla x King Kong - 7/10
Poor Things - 6/10
Bad Boys Ride or Die - 8/10
Are We There Yet - 7/10
Are We Done Yet - 7/10
Justice League crisis on Infinite Earth 1 & 2 - 6/10
Major League - 7/10
Robots - 6/10
Iron Claw - 7/10
Good Burger 2 - 7/10
Dune part two - 7/10
Love lies Bleeding - 6/10
Zola - 7/10
The Crow - 7/10
Bob Marley - 7/10
Deadpool & Wolverine 10/10
Kingdom of the Planet of The Apes - 6/10
Boy kills world - 8/10
Hollywood shuffle - 7/10
South Park: Joining the Panderverse - 7/10
south park end of obesity - 7/10
The quiet Place: Day one - 6/10
The strange thing about the Johnsons - 6/10
If - 8/10
Faceoff - 9/10
Marcel the shell with shoes on - 8/10
Civil War - 8/10
The Boy and the Heron - 8/10
Bodies bodies bodies - 5/10
The Onion Movie - 7/10
The Last Black Man in San Francisco - 7/10
The king of comedy - 9/10
Mad Max 1 - 5 - 8/10
Midsommar - 8/10 (really bizarre)
Fighting Temptations - 8/10
Dream girls - 8/10
Cadillac Records - 7/10
Obsessed - 6/10
La Bamba - 8/10
Maxxxine - 6/10
Queen of the Damned - 5/10
VHS 1 & 2 - 5/10
Hellraiser 6/10
Trap - 6/10
Justice League infinite earth 3 - 7/10
Monkey Man - 6/10
Terrifier 3 - 7/10
Jackpot - 7/10
Ricky Stanicky - 5/10
Winnie The Pooh Blood & Honey 2 - 6/10
In A Violent Nature - 6/10
Transformers One - 8/10
Alien Romulus - 8/10
Silent Night - 7/10
The strangers part 1 2024 6/10
American Fiction - 8/10
Fall Guys - 9/10
Road House - 8/10
Bill and Ted movies (find part 3) 6/10
The Beekeeper - 7/10
Oppenheimer - 8/10
Joker 2 - 5/10
The Substance - 9/10
Beetle juice - 7/10
Thanksgiving - 5/10
Welcome Home Franklin - 7/10
Ghostbuster Frozen Empire - 8/10
Godzilla Minus One - 8/10 (just finished)
 
The Order





PRAISE: Based on the 1989 non-fiction book The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt this story of white supremacists who rob banks and also use other means to fun their cause are pursued intensely by the FBI.
The movie is riveting and then some and propelled by the intense and fully immersive performances from Jude Law as FBI Agent Terry Husk, and Nicholas Hoult as Bob Matthews leader of a branch of whites supremacists. Husk has his own set of personal problems but never loses his focus. Matthews is a my way or the highway type when it comes to his cause,women or butting heads with other white supremacist leaders. As officer Jamie Bowen Tye Sheridan, is equally excellent as he teams up with Husk to take down the supremacists. Also Jurnee Smollett as fellow FBI agent Joanne Carney does quite well with moments of edgy disgust and intensity. The film is intense and then some with all the right amounts of grit. So many scenes are wonderfully filmed and put together by Director Justin Kurzel. Some are quiet and some are full of gunfire filled with so much tension and suspense. Some moments are so shocking i had to ask myself did i just see that? The movie stirred my soul for so many different reasons and it manages to do so right to the closing captions played on screen at the end.

PROBLEMS: I couldn't get on board with a couple of things that happen during the films climax. There are a couple of predictable paths the screenplay goes down.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8½
 
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim






It took me about 30 minutes to get into this story that takes place 183 years before The Lord Of the Rings. When i finally felt an attachment to the characters i started to enjoy the anime film more. The story was familiar with warring factions,family and relentless villains. There are nice touches of LOTR lore throughout the movie. There was definitely enough action to keep me interested but there were some imperfections here and there. Nice voice work from the cast including Brian Cox as Helm Hammerhand: The hot-tempered king of Rohan who attempts to protect his people. · Gaia Wise as Héra: The tomboy-ish daughter, Lorraine Ashbourne as Olwyn · Shaun Dooley as Freca · and
Luke Pasqualino as Wulf: The ruthless leader of the Dunlendings

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
Was hoping Better Man would be at my theater but I guess I'll have to wait or catch it on a streaming site or something. Don't think I've heard of Robbie Williams but the trailer looked pretty good and replacing him with an chimpanzee was interesting idea
 
Werewolves






This flick ended up on so many worst of 2024 lists i had to see for myself if it was as bas as people are saying it is. Yes its bad but the flick does provide a few good things. The supermoon is turning most of the world’s population into mutant werewolves if they look at it directly for even a second. So the movie focuses on a small band of scientists ,a family going through some trauma and a couple of neighbors. I actually thought the way the movie worked around its small budget was smart by writing in a couple of lines and people actually listening to the warnings sent out by Dr. Aranda (Lou Diamond Phillips) . Always fun to watch Frank Grillo in action flicks like this,as he does his best to protect his family and make the werewolves a memory. There are some good and bloody kills.

PROBLEMS: At first the SFX were ok but got cheaper as the flick goes on.The editing and cut away scenes are terrible. The movie can't decide if the werewolves are just mindless, blood thirsty creatures, or if they can hold on to humanity for a few minutes and work out some strategies when it's convenient for them to do so. There are ultra cheesy one liners and laughable scenes in which I asked how did the Werewolf do that? So many story paths are ultra predictable especially the closing one.A few people make it far to easy for the werewolves to make a meal of them.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 3
 
A Real Pain




PRAISE: As soon as the characters David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) meet up at the airport i could tell there was turmoil brewing between the two.The story of two cousins traveling to a place where unspeakable pain was inflicted on humankind does a slow reveal of the aforementioned turmoil, which contains envy and and sorrow,which are part of the movies title. Eisenberg and Culkin display all the right amounts of raw emotion as they go on their journey with James (Will Sharpe) that also includes four other travelers played by Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egiywan, Liza Sadovy, and Daniel Oreskes. Each speak of their own pain and regret and at times there's an uneasiness that leaps off the screen especially when the characters are charmed into awkward moments. Blended in are moments of humor,and losing touch with who you once were either out of being more responsible or being bogged down by depression. Some can brush off pain or just deal with it inwardly and some must display whether through tears or angry outbursts and I think writer and Director Jesse Eisenberg does an excellent job of bringing the aforementioned laced with some tough subject matter to the screen. In the end Eisenberg left me with wondering if the characters will make peace with their pain.

PROBLEMS: NONE

Scale of 1 to 10 a 10
 
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera




Praise : Putting together a sequel to a film that was very good and well liked and that's at least on the same level can be very tricky.
This sequel has the benefit of its two main characters and actors
Nick O’Brien (Gerard Butler) and the brains of the criminal operation, Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.). The two have their own charisma but put them together and its fun,intense and with all the right amounts of swagger to watch unfold.This time around O'Brien wants in Wilson's next beyond big heist. The additions to the cast and heist crew are Jovanna (Evin Ahmad) Salvatore Esposito as Slavko and Orli Shuka all do well here. There's a lot from them to build up enough tension,the question of who can be trusted is included i couldn't resist becoming attached to their characters. Writer and Director : Christian Gudegast gives the audience just enough detail about the major heist. Sure you see some planning and diagrams but there's nothing like the suspense and tension of watching it play out on screen.I actually let out a wow that was cool during a specific part of the heist. Gudegast also throws in a couple of side complications that makes things more interesting and involving. There are several fun action sequences and one was really great to see on the big screen.

PROBLEMS: Some things were to easily resolved.I had a problem with certain parts of the ending. Anyone that saw the first trailer will know how one ultra predictable story thread will play out. The thought of well maybe it's going to go this way never entered my mind,because even though one scene was telling way into the film as soon as a couple of characters said a few words to each other at the beginning of the film i knew what was going down. That kind of watered down some of the movie for me but this is still a worthy sequel.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7
 
The Last Showgirl






PRAISE: I've been to Las Vegas many times,and I've definitely crossed paths with people like the characters in this film. The cocktail waitress with the nice smile handing me drinks as I sat at a slot machine, or shimmering Showgirl dancing around on a stage. I've also seen how Vegas is changing seemingly every day as a Casino is torn down and a decades long Vegas show suddenly shuts down. I liked how i went through the aforementioned with the characters particularly Showgirl Shelly (Pamela Anderson) and casino waitress Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis)both actresses give very strong performances. Shelly chafes at what being a showgirl has become. She basically feels what she's been doing for many years is classy like Playboy magazine not leaning into the raunchy like some current performance spaces are demanding. I really enjoyed the slow reveal of her characters personality, from time of being ultra irresponsible, her disconnect from people, particularly and especially with her daughter Hannah (Billy Lourd) Anderson and Lourd are great in a gut punch of emotions scene together. It's also how Shelly chose to do certain things in her life that lead to some eye opening moments. The rest of the cast including Brenda Song ,Jodie Kiernan Shipka, and Dave Bautista have some good soulful moments.

PROBLEMS: Definitely some predictable moments. I knew a scene of the reality of Shelly's career reaching its end game was coming even though it had some nice raw emotion to it. As a whole I thought the movie would be a bit more solid with more to take in but at times it felt like I was just getting glimpses of characters. The movie reminded me of 2008's The Wrestler but it was far more compelling than this film.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
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