Movie Night (Official Movie Discussion Thread)

Strange Darling




Stranger Danger

Praise : The beginning of this movie is so ambiguous I couldn't help but be drawn into it and it's involving presentation. It's one of those movies in which I immediately was looking for what was the cause and effect of what was happening onscreen. Writer/director JT Mollner's script is at times darkly humorous as it's tied to what some people may be into in real life but this worked for me for a couple of reasons one because it threw me off for a bit and I wanted to see how far things would go. As The Lady” Willa Fitzgerald, and the lead male, “The Demon” Kyle Gallner are both equally great because they fall in line with how ambiguous everything is. As Genevieve : Barbara Hershey, and Frederick: Ed Begley Jr. they both have fun with their roles. They are so good and written with such great quirkiness I would like to see a movie just based on their characters. Scenes displaying great pain are so well directed and acted they actually made me wince.
I loved how visuals were played with that they either got laughs from me or a WTF !! Back to the beginning I thought the movie was really spelling things out to me....but I was wrong and it added to how effective the movie was for me.

Problems: Even with its great use of ambiguity there were a couple of things that became obvious. When the movie reaches its last 30 minutes it goes down very familiar thriller movie paths but it at least gave me a couple of more insane moments.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
Rebel Ridge




Small Town Troubles

PRAISE: I went into this movie thinking First Blood. You have a character Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre) with one goal in mind but he's literally hit by a police officer and a lot more trouble follows. But writer/director Jeremy Saulnier wants more from his characters and the viewers of this movie. So of course he gives you the First Blood vibe but he also throws in some Michael Clayton ( one of my favorite films) . This movie is about survival and people. Sometimes that survival is tied to corruption or literally trying to survive a barrage of bullets and Sauliner knows how to give the audience both and does it to a T with every twisty word spoken and every bone that cracks. Pierre is great in this providing all of the intensity and frustration,plus a good dose of raw emotion in very well acted scenes. This has to be matched with an adversary and it's Don Johnson as Chief Sandy Burnne who's as no nonsense as he is corrupt and Johnson is great as Burnne. AnnaSophia Robb is quite good in the movie to as a court clerk named Summer who does her best to help Richmond. I really liked how they fleshed her character out. The supporting cast does well to portraying people that either are turning a deaf ear to the corruption or realizing they do have their limits.

PROBLEMS: As the movie nears it's climax the pacing slowed down a bit and I did wonder why a couple of scenes had to be so drawn out since everything in those scenes had already been explained.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 7½
 
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It was decent for what it was
 
Kinds of Kindness




Watching this movie was like watching 3 raunchier, beyond quirkt and head scratching episodes of The Twilight Zone and at times that worked for me . I praise all of the actors including : Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Mamoudou Athie, Joe Alwyn for truly giving their all in the 3 oddball stories. I did enjoy a lot of the crazy visuals and the beyond dark humor placed in each story. I liked that i was thrown off by something that i thought a character was talking about or referring to. Some parts are about love and dedication and being able to tell what's happening to your loved one, other parts are about the limits of love and dedication and giving into dedication even though it could lead to something sinister. Director: Yorgos Lanthimos takes some "real" life situations and puts crazy spins on them which helped me to not get completely lost in some of the story threads.Where the movie falters for me is how robotic it is at times without any real emotion coming from the characters or performances. This movie is definitely not for everyone but if you are looking for something different this is the one.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
Infamous114 said:
Films I refuse to make threads for are those types and the MAGA/obviously right leaning movies like Regan, Am I A Racist lol
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I'm trying to go into it with an open mind but the Tyler Perry/TD Jakes type of films never really do it for me cause it's so exaggerated for a genre that's supposed to be based in some reality.

Same copy/paste story line but my main reason I'm here is for the fellowship
 
Speak No Evil






Praise : These days or maybe it's always been the case people are suspicious of a stranger even stopping them to ask for directions out of fear of what it might lead to. Not so with the The Daltons – father Ben (Scoot McNairy), mother Louise (Mackenzie Davis), and daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) who are originally from the United States but are now living in London. London. Now Paddy (James McAvoy), Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their mute son, Ant (Dan Hough), friendly enough British travelers so why not go to their home for a visit. I like the way the story sets up the slow reveals,through mannerisms or the sudden roughness of a character which mainly comes from another great McAvoy. He portrays Paddy as charming so much so he gets characters to do what he wants even though they are dead set against it. Sometimes it's that oh I'm just trying to be helpful manipulation and my family identifies with so much about your family and the lure is hard to deny. There are some great scenes as situations play out and are well acted as to what Paddy is really up to. There are obvious signs that something odd is going on but the film has already sold me and the Daltons on the ok they're just different bracket. Then when things become to creepy it may be to late.

PROBLEMS: I felt some portions of the movie became predictable especially when there is a visual reveal and there was still about 40 minutes of the movie to go.I couldnt get on board with a couple of things that played out,so much so i almost yelled out just let it go !! Then it falls in to the basic thriller lane and it's likely why some people prefer the 2022 Danish version of the same name which I have not seen but very curious to check out the differences.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½



The Killer's Game




This is a live action cartoon about an assassin living his best life,falls in love, thinks hes dying sets himself up to be taken out but guess what he isnt really dying none of this is a spoiler because it was all in the trailer. But definitely a cartoon.From the cartoonishly written characters and the blood soaked way some of them are taken out. But fortunately four actors make a good portion of the film watchable: Dave Bautista,Ben Kingsley,Sofia Boutella and Terry Crews.
I had fun watching some of the action sequences even though I could tell when a stuntman was standing in for Bautista for one of those sequences. I did laugh at some of the one liners and I actually bought into the romance in the movie. But this is a quick action romp nothing more nothing less. The kind of movie you watch on a plane or a night when your plans get canceled. Order a pizza and sit back and take in the silliness.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 6
 
Transformers One






Praise: The origin story of the Transformers is retold again in this animated movie. I will start with the voice work which I found enthusiastic and on point for the most part . There's Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry),Sentinel Prime(Jon Hamm) B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key), and Elita (Scarlett Johansson). The names are not recognizable but I did like that there was clear evidence of what these Bots would become as Transformers. When the movie reaches its more serious paths I found it to be very entertaining and involving. I enjoyed the call backs that made me smile. The action sequences were really well done some even had a Tron feel to them. So high praise to the crew behind the animation and CGI. I actually enjoyed watching the villains in the film and how they coldly wielded their power. Old legendary rivalries between certain characters were really done well.I did like the fact that the legacy of the characters so many of us have come to love was respected.

PROBLEMS: Unfortunately parts of the movie reminded me of the dumbed and watered down versions of Transformers cartoons that were produced for toddlers and eight year olds. Sure I know they want to make the kids in the audience laugh at some slapstick but I found it to be unnecessary and obnoxious.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8
 
The Substance





PRAISE: A relative, an associate, a celebrity and people on the show Botched I've seen them all go to through experiences of cosmetic, body altering surgeries. Some have really taking it to the extreme. This movie takes it to an extreme and then some. Theres superstar Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) who let's what someone says about her looks eat away at her confidence. So she decides to go with the Substance that seemingly offers youth again. But of course it comes at a price and I'm talking about more than money. High praise to Moore and Margaret Qualley as Sue for completely and I mean COMPLETELY turning over their acting skills and bodies to the movie. As a studio executive Harvey, Dennis Quaid turns in a swarmy and chauvinistic performance. The close up shots show the internal unattractiveness of a character. I enjoyed Writer and Director: Coralie Fargeat's
playing with the guidelines and rules of the Substance but also that she presents a story with clear and strong messages about when compliments aren't enough, self obsession can push people out of your life that actually may care about you and like you the way you are. What are the true benefits of having cosmetic procedures? Are there really any at all? I definitely kept asking that of Elisabeths character once the movie reached a certain point. Even getting involved with something sketchy out of complete desperation because all logic and reason has vanished.I couldn't help but think of the work of David Cronenberg and the book The Picture of Dorian Gray as the movie progressed. This movie takes body horror to all kinds of insane levels, I found the movie involving and one of the most horrifying experiences I've ever had in a movie theater. This movie isn't for everyone and I'm not sure people will be able to stay in their seats for the entire movie.

PROBLEMS: As soon as there was a major turn in the first 30 minutes of the movie it was predictable what thread in the movie was going to unravel. The movie reaches stomach churning,over the top levels in its climax that I just shook my head at.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
AP3.0 said:
I'm trying to go into it with an open mind but the Tyler Perry/TD Jakes type of films never really do it for me cause it's so exaggerated for a genre that's supposed to be based in some reality.

Same copy/paste story line but my main reason I'm here is for the fellowship
Click to expand...
The fellowship and mentoring aspect made it a solid watch. Homeboy that forgave his sons killer and brought him in was a strong message cause it couldn't have been me
 
The 4:30 Movie




PRAISE: In this movie Kevin Smith helps us recall what binge watching was in the late 1980's. I used to call it surfing. Pay for one movie and go watch about 3 or 4 other movies for free. I remember actually being thrown out of a theatre after paying for Total Recall once but watching it four more times,until an usher finally caught on. Smith taps into those kind of memories filled with nostalgia and that's when the movie worked for me. The cast and characters are charming enough there's : film lover Brian David (Austin Zajur),ladies man Burny (Nicholas Cirillo), nerdy Belly (Reed Northrup)and the lovely Melody (Siena Agudong) who Brian adores .There's a lot of fun dialogue about Iconic characters, movies,and celebrities. Smith definitely infuses a lot of his love for movies into the film. He also gets the teenage vibe right particularly about hanging out with your friends all day but really looking forward to a date with a girl you care about later on. There's a host of guest stars that make cameos that were fun to see for the most part. Smith tried his best to avoid getting an R rating for the movie but I can definitely see why it couldn't get a PG-13 stamp.

PROBLEMS: Some bits in the movie go on far to long,and they are repetitive. So much so they become painfully unfunny. One character has a couple of funny lines but then just becomes extremely annoying.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7
 
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