Movie Night (Official Movie Discussion Thread)

Saw this last week. It was a pretty good flick IMO
i-came-by-netflix-review.jpg
 
Barbarian






NO SPOILERS NO SPOILERS

Airbnb's are not for me !!

PRAISE: My biggest problem with staying at Airbnbs is the fact that I don't know who else aside from the owner has access to the Home/APT. Now in this horror film the renters have a whole other problem in this story about various characters renting a place that definitely has something sinister about it.
One of the things that made me enjoy this movie is where the characters find themselves and their sixth sense is telling them not to do certain things but worry, anger, and need come in to play and overpowers all logic and reason.
There are some creepy moments and jump scares .
Director Zach Creggers previous work as a TV actor shines through and is fleshed out in the character Justin Long portrays(really believable in this role) Bill Skarsgard and Georgina Campbell do a great job in their roles also.
Creggers did a great job of putting me in the shoes of the characters especially in a standout scene in the second act of the movie. I liked how the film slowly but surely revealed why the film has its title.

PROBLEMS: There's some basicness to some of the plot and it's definitely repetitive at times. Some steps made by the characters are questionable. There are a couple of plot holes. Some scenes felt like they were borrowed from horror films that were released earlier this year.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8
 
The Woman King




Winning Women

PRAISE: I wasn't going to see this film for multiple reasons, especially after listening to a couple of podcasts and doing my own research and thinking that the facts about the Agojie and Dahomey were completely removed from the film. Well that thinking was partially wrong and I'm glad I went to see the film for myself. The facts are not merely touched on but mentioned often plus I'm glad the film displays that most likely not all fell in line with the actions and thinking of the majority when it came to trading captives from rival tribes to slave traders.

As for the movie itself it's pretty good. The story ofViola Davis as a general who trains the next generation of warriors to fight their enemies is a strong one. It's mainly the performances that give it a very strong foundation. Davis and the rest of the cast including: ; Thuso Mbedu ,Lashana Lynch ,Sheila Atim,John Boyega,and Jayme Lawson turn in strong and believable performances. The action sequences are thrilling and intense,even the training sequences were great. The film does offer some celebrations of African culture which I loved.There is a twist in the film that shouldn't work but it worked for me.

PROBLEMS: The film definitely backs away from some facts and turns some around I'm guessing to make it more palatable for some.This is Hollywood and they have likely done this a million times by now.
I didn't completely get on board with parts of the subplot.The story goes down a couple of predictable paths.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8

********
I encourage all to do their own research about what happened between the Dahomey and the Kingdom of Oyo
 
PEARL








SEXY PSYCHO


This movie is a great character study and Mia Goth takes the ball and runs with it. It's a crazy combination of
The Wizard of Oz and if Dorothy and Olive Oyl were completely insane. Oh and that annoying loud mouth Red
Riding Hood chic from the Bugs Bunny cartoons.
The horror is funny and disturbing at the same time. There is some dryness that is present around the edges of this prequel to X

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
A Jazzman's Blues






Semi Soulful Symphony

PRAISE: Director and writer Tyler Perry
returns to Netflix with a story about forbidden love and family drama unravels 40 years of secrets and lies in the deep south.
Perry is able to capture a lot of the rhythm and climate of the deep south of the late 1940's with not only the music, racism, but also the downward paths some musicians took during that time.
There are several strong performances from the cast that includes : Joshua Boone as Bayou · Amirah Vann as Hattie Mae · Solea Pfeiffer as Leanne · Austin Scott as Willie Earl and Ryan Eggold as Ira. The star crossed lovers theme worked for the most part. Really great choreography from Debbie Allen is prominently featured in the film.Be warned there is language and visuals that can be very triggering for some.

PROBLEMS:Perry frustratingly avoids where he could have made this film more effective. The film is very predictable. I figured out the twist 45 minutes in. There are also a couple of plot holes and even with the films 2 hour and 8 minute run time the climax of the film felt rushed and abrupt.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 6
 
Blonde






Marilyn's Misery

Praise : The legendary actress Marilyn Monroes life plays out in sometimes stunning and beautiful scenes in the movie Blonde. Based on a book with the same title which is mainly fiction the film gets some things right. Ana De Armas performance is very good. She completely immerses herself in the role and gets Marilyn's mannerisms down to a capital T. I think Director Andrew Dominik captures what traumatized and troubled Monroe during her life. How she tried to escape it and it's done in stunning ways with creative visuals and he puts sharp aspect ratio to good use. I think he captured her almost quiet time in her life in her marriage to Arthur Miller perfectly. Praise to Adrien Brody for his portrayal of Miller.

PROBLEMS: I think the film stretches things to make the film difficult to watch ,exploit Monroe further, and to say at almost every turn in life she was used,objectified and forced to do things.
Almost completely forgotten or purposely ignored is Marilyn's determination to be taken more seriously and the steps she took to do so.Some scenes are laughable. Some are just degrading and hard to watch. This film is supposed to be about the "meaning" of Marilyn Monroe but this definitely doesn't do her justice and I didn't see the meaning they claim to have captured There have been TV movies made about her that did a far better job.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 5½
 
Last Seen Alive






Now that's devotion

PRAISE : This quick action romp about a guy's estranged wife who goes missing after stopping at a gas station borrows a tiny bit from the movies The Vanishing and Breakdown
Gerard Butler and Jaimie Alexander are definitely the reasons i gave this flick a chance and the action and what Butler goes through kept me entertained. Even when the film meanders a biti wanted to see what came next and what exactly happened to the wife. A host of bad guys keep popping up and it was great to watch Butler take them on.


PROBLEMS : The attempt to throw the viewer off at the beginning of the film was kind of weak. Some portions of the film were kind of repetitive.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
Don't Worry Darling





WORRY !!

PRAISE : Carey Van Dyke; Shane Van Dyke and Katie Silbermans story about a couple named Alice and Jack living a seemingly perfect life in a place called Victory but something sinister may lie beneath it all actually works at its start. I enjoy watching films and TV shows about cults and brainwashing so that part of the film appealed to me.Familiar themes are used but Director Olivia Wilde and the aforementioned writers put a different spin on them that actually lead to a few ominous and suspenseful moments. I always enjoy watching Florence Pugh on the big and small screen. Chris Pine does well as the "Ring Leader" of Victory.


PROBLEMS: The first scenes and 7 minutes of the film start to put predictable nails in the film. The movie mainly felt like the writers took ideas from a few older movies and tried to hide it with WEAK visuals and entrancing the audience with a vibe that never really works because I still felt like well I've been there and done that. Even if they had changed some visuals this would have worked better and I'm shocked No one working on this movie didnt see any of this?!?
If the film had more detail and not jumped right into plot holes more of this film could have worked. So I mainly sat there watching something extremely meandering and repetitive just to see where they made changes to old stories. The Writers decided to take the lazy route.This is the ultimate YOU fill in the blanks movie

Scale of 1 to 10 a 3
 
EMILY THE CRIMINAL




This movie about Emily (Aubrey Plaza) who is saddled with student debt and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record. Desperate for income, she takes a shady gig was highly entertaining. It actually reminded me of my late teens when job searching lead me to small office rooms in which people tried to convince me to sell vacuum cleaners. I love Plaza and she does a great job here. There's some predictable moments and i did have to suspend disbelief a couple of times but the suspenseful moments worked for me and it was an enjoyable watch.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8




FALL





What this movie lacks in SFX and green screen work is made up for with harrowing and suspenseful moments that are done to a finely tuned up T. The movie is about Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) and Hunter (Virginia Gardner) rock climbers who take on climbing a remote, abandoned radio tower. The ladies are cute and the action is involving and dizzying. This film is definitely not for those who have a phobia of heights. There was a predictable turn but definitely a turn i didnt see coming. A fun romp !!

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
neo2090 said:
EMILY THE CRIMINAL




This movie about Emily (Aubrey Plaza) who is saddled with student debt and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record. Desperate for income, she takes a shady gig was highly entertaining. It actually reminded me of my late teens when job searching lead me to small office rooms in which people tried to convince me to sell vacuum cleaners. I love Plaza and she does a great job here. There's some predictable moments and i did have to suspend disbelief a couple of times but the suspenseful moments worked for me and it was an enjoyable watch.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8




FALL





What this movie lacks in SFX and green screen work is made up for with harrowing and suspenseful moments that are done to a finely tuned up T. The movie is about Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) and Hunter (Virginia Gardner) rock climbers who take on climbing a remote, abandoned radio tower. The ladies are cute and the action is involving and dizzying. This film is definitely not for those who have a phobia of heights. There was a predictable turn but definitely a turn i didnt see coming. A fun romp !!

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
Click to expand...
Aubrey Plaza is having a moment…..
 
Halloween Ends






Please let it End

PRAISE: Four years after her last encounter with masked killer Michael Myers, Laurie Strode is living with her granddaughter and trying to finish her memoir. But of course the nightmare of her life begins again
The story opens pretty well and I got a few laughs and a surprise out of it. Jamie Curtis does a good job and is always capable and then some in these flicks . There are a couple of good payoffs and kills.One really stood out and it was the most dwelling one in the movie with the exception of the last 15 minutes which were pretty good.


PROBLEMS: With an R rating this really felt watered down and I'm not just talking about the kills but with the Michael Myers character too.
Kills happen offscreen and the aftermath was shown. I felt cheated because there were moments I was looking forward to but they were all summed up in about 2 minutes. I didn't feel the connections between a few characters and felt one was made to try to have some filler turmoil. Just forced moments that lead nowhere. All of this build up of Myers over the years and they tacked on something so odd that was so unintentionally funny and a major head scratcher.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 5
 
Black Adam





Man in Black

PRAISE: The popular character created in 1945 is finally on the big screen portrayed by Dwayne The Rock Johnson. This was super hyped up at DC Fandome and I definitely bought into the hype. Johnson does a great job as BA. He definitely has the presence and charisma to pull it off. His co stars Pierce Brosnan as Dr.Fate and Aldis Hodge as Hawkman are given the most to do aside from Sarah Shahi and the kid who portrays her son Bodhi Sabongui.
The writers did their homework on the character and I appreciate that.
Most of the blends of violence and humor worked for me. There's a Terminator 2 Judgment Day vibe to some of the movie which I didn't mind.
Most of the SFX and action sequences are pretty good. The whole anti hero thing was played up well.
The ending of the movie opens up a lot of opportunities for future DC films.

PROBLEMS: Some setups in the story were questionable. I felt a couple of characters were added just to try to connect the other DC films from the past few years. The villain was lackluster with predictable turns around his edges.
While a couple of characters looked cool,I felt they were just there to look cute : Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone,and provide comic relief : Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher.
The placement of popular songs during some action sequences felt jarring.
There's some emotional weight in the movie but not enough backstory lead to me not feeling much for what happened.
Some parts were extremely repetitive.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 6½
 
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
 
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