[Movies] Talk about the last movie you saw 2: Electric Threadaloo

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Barbie (2023)

Ok, ok, so I'd heard it was good, but holy shit, that was really good. This is an exceptionally silly, funny, heartfelt movie, that honestly gets better the longer it stews from having seen it.

Anyone who can watch this movie and think it somehow "hates men" must be living in some kind of delusion. It's empowering to both men and women, and I've had "I'm Just Ken" stuck in my head for three full days now.

A+ movie. Also everyone in it is ridiculously attractive, like goddamn.
 
Tress

Tress

Ravenpoe said:
Anyone who can watch this movie and think it somehow "hates men" must be living in some kind of delusion. It's empowering to both men and women, and I've had "I'm Just Ken" stuck in my head for three full days now.
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Did it reinforce harmful gender stereotypes and/or patriarchal thinking? No? Then the Ben Shapiros of the world consider that “hating men.”
 
Tress

Tress

Godzilla Minus One

The greatest Godzilla movie. Ever. No doubt.

It was moving, it was surprisingly well acted, and while the writing had some issues it wasn’t ridiculously stupid like many other kaiju films (looking at you, Godzilla Vs. Kong). If you ever enjoyed any Godzilla film, you’ll love this one.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Tress said:
Godzilla Minus One

The greatest Godzilla movie. Ever. No doubt.

It was moving, it was surprisingly well acted, and while the writing had some issues it wasn’t ridiculously stupid like many other kaiju films (looking at you, Godzilla Vs. Kong). If you ever enjoyed any Godzilla film, you’ll love this one.
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I'd love to go see it, but it's not playing at any theater in my city. Stupid limited releases. :(
 
IronBrig4

IronBrig4

Tress said:
Did it reinforce harmful gender stereotypes and/or patriarchal thinking? No? Then the Ben Shapiros of the world consider that “hating men.”
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Seeing a grown man burn children’s dolls was entertaining. I don’t think Shapiro was aware of how ridiculous he looked.
 
General Specific

General Specific

Monty Python and the Holy Grail - no wait, hear me out! It was in the theater! They decided to release it for a very limited event as the “48 & 1/2 Anniversary.” We got tickets to the Quote-Along screening that had lines put up so you could quote along with certain scenes or memorable lines. Not that a lot of us actually needed it. It was a whole lot of fun. Somehow seeing it in the theater with other people just made it even better.

It’s still my absolute favorite comedy movie and still my number 1 choice for funniest movie of all time by a long shot.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

West Side Story (2021)

I've been a big fan of West Side Story ever since my high school put on the stage musical back in the 90s and a girl I had a massive crush on sang the number "Somewhere". Truly, that was the day I understood what the phrase "voice of an angel" meant. Her name was Christianne, and she was in the year above me (I was a freshman, she was a sophomore). I met her in our computer class, she sat next to me. Since I was the geeky type, and she was not, she ended up asking me questions whenever she had trouble with our in-class exercises or if she didn't understand certain concepts. She also worked after school three days a week at the local library, reshelving books, and as it happened I would go to the library after school every day (it was a good place to do schoolwork, and my mother would pick me up in the evening) so I encountered her fairly often. Sometimes I would follow her around while she was working, not in a creepy stalker way, but so that she had someone to chat to while she did the monotonous work of transferring books from the cart to the shelves. Sometimes I would help her as well, since the Dewey Decimal System wasn't exactly rocket science so I could easily handle it. I also remember one time she brought her father to school for Parents Day, and I commented on how her father looked like a very kind man, and she happily agreed that he was very kind and she was glad that I could see it in him. I didn't participate in the production of West Side Story in my freshman year, so when she showed up on stage I was hugely but pleasantly surprised, and this was also the first time I'd heard her sing, and boy did she blow me away. The next year, in my sophomore year, I decided to join that year's musical production of Showboat, partly because I really like musicals, but also partly because I wanted to see if Christianne would be a part of the production again, but unfortunately she didn't join up that year. I ended up playing clarinet in the pit orchestra, which was in itself a very worthwhile and rewarding experience. There were two clarinet players in the pit that year, the other one was a girl named Rebecca, who was much better than me, but I still like to think I played rather well and contributed to the success of the production. I did some rudimentary online stalking a few years back, Rebecca's become an accomplished professional clarinetist, so I'm happy for her. I think my admiration for her clarinet skills may have also led to a minor crush on her, but to be honest Christianne was still the one I admired most during my high school years. Unfortunately I moved away from the US after my sophomore year so I didn't get to participate in any more musicals at that school, or ever see or talk to Christianne or Rebecca again, but nonetheless, I still have fond memories of my time there.

But I digress. The movie was good.
 
Frank

Frank

Now that I'm near theaters again, I went and saw the first movie I've seen in a theater since Dr. Strange 2.

Saw Napoleon.

What a mess of a movie. Ridley Scott continues to make bombastic epic nonsense.
 
Dirona

Dirona

Barbie (2023)

Ya, I know, I'm late to the party. But it was worth the wait. I expected it to be good - I've seen enough gifs and quotes etc. - but I didn't expect that good. Would watch again. And I never re-watch movies.
Goofy and bright, yet sincere with cutting commentary. And it all really works.

It's like $7 to rent on Google, and absolutely worth it.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Dirona said:
Barbie (2023)

Ya, I know, I'm late to the party. But it was worth the wait. I expected it to be good - I've seen enough gifs and quotes etc. - but I didn't expect that good. Would watch again. And I never re-watch movies.
Goofy and bright, yet sincere with cutting commentary. And it all really works.

It's like $7 to rent on Google, and absolutely worth it.
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I still have I'm Just Ken living completely rent free in my head
 
General Specific

General Specific

Over the winter break, my spouse and I have been pretty much hanging out. We've played some new board games, watched some TV, but also watched a few movies we've been meaning to catch up on. The two new ones were Barbie and Blade Runner 2049.

So, Barbie - It was fun and goofy and unexpected social commentary and everything other people have already mentioned in better words than I usually make do together... sentence hard, me talk pretty one day.

I couldn't help but think that here is a movie based on a beloved toy that has been around for generations, that is set in an alternate world where all the toys are real except they can break through to the real world and one of the main characters is a CEO that is setup to be the bad guy but turns out to not be the bad guy in the end and he's played by Will Ferrell, where have I seen this before?

Blade Runner 2049 - I really liked this movie. It's the "Finding Luke" story but done properly, like how I wish the Star Wars Sequel trilogy was handled. It was slow and careful to match the tone of the original film. The plot was carefully considered and really well executed. I can see why it didn't do well at the box office, no big action set pieces, no epic showdown, much like the original. Which is all probably why I like it so much. I want to retro-actively make it my film of the year for 2017 (which previously was Gaurdians of the Galaxy vol 2, so not a high bar to vault, but still).
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

Wish

Overall I liked it, though I can see why some people were disappointed.

The storyline was pretty rudimentary, with the big bad being a straightforward greedy big bad and the protagonist being a straightforward good person. They did sort of dip their toes into suggesting that the antagonist had some justifiable feelings, but pretty soon he descended into moustache-twisting evil. So while the story's fine for its purpose, I do wish it had a bit more depth.

The music was fine, though it could have been better. The songs felt too musically and lyrically complex, if that makes sense. There was sometimes too much going on in the melodies, which could make it difficult to discern the primary musical themes, while the lyrics were sometimes too fast and the rhymes a bit forced. But still, the music still hit those emotional highs when needed, which was good.

Most importantly, though, at times this movie felt less like a movie and more like Disney's love letter to, well, Disney. There are tons of references to past movies, both overt and subtle, and eventually it's revealed that the whole film is an origin story for the song When You Wish Upon a Star. Seriously. If there's a Disney trope you can think of, it probably shows up in the movie, such as the talking animal sidekick, the deceased parent, the moment of self doubt before the protagonist's triumph, etc. Such a self-referential movie feels quite self-indulgent, and whether it's up to each audience member to decide for themselves if that's something they're ok with. Have Disney earned it for giving us so many beautiful stories over the last 100 years, becoming an indisputable part of our global cultural zeitgeist? Or is this another sign of Disney's shift toward navel-gazing, where they make whatever crap they want because they know people will eat it up? I personally am more on the former's side, but I can understand if some people feel the latter.

Anyway, overall I enjoyed it.

Also Asha is hot, Asha's friends are hot, and the queen is really hot.
 
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PatrThom

PatrThom

I am waaay behind in this thread. I've seen three whole movies since my last update (which was in May 2022).

An American in Paris (1951)
My wife has been trying to get me to watch this movie for a very long time. In October of 2022, she finally managed to get the whole fan damily together for a movie night event thingie and we were finally able to cross this one off the list. For anyone who doesn't know, it's an MGM spectacle film starring GENE KELLY and some other famous people where GENE KELLY has moved to Paris to be an artist(e). He lives in a building and has a couple friends and GENE KELLY goes out and works every day at becoming a proto-Beatnik by mooching and brooding and showcasing his paintings, hoping to "make it" and become successful. While this goes on, a large number of Gershwin tunes play (or are sung) as a backdrop. The sets are really quite something and there's even a spectacular-yet-disjointed voiceless fantasy sequence toward the end, which was somewhat the style at the time. Along the way, a woman falls in love with GENE KELLY, GENE KELLY falls in love with a woman (but not the same woman) who it so happens is betrothed to one of GENE KELLY's friends. Hilarity ensues--that is, the kind of hilarity that would mainly appeal to white males born in and around the Great Depression.
I have not seen very many GENE KELLY films, but each one I see gives me a little more insight into what kind of person GENE KELLY must have been. He was a huge Hollywood star, and he obviously knew that and used it to maintain his glorious capital-letter status (and "discover" pretty young women and bring them to the screen), and this film was obviously made to glorify his GENE KELLY image, but man, it just does not hold up. The entire movie plays as a solipsistic male fantasy where the main character has desires which other people graciously help him achieve at cost to themselves, but that's all okay because the protagonist gets what he's after in the end and he's the only one that matters. Ugh. I don't know if this is the way things were back then or if this is just a GENE KELLY thing, but ... yeah, the message this movie sends is not a good one. There are OTHER people in this movie, too. People with lives we get to glimpse and whose stories we might also want to know. Leslie Caron's character deserves to be more than just the two-dimensional cheese at the end of the maze. Nina Foch's matron deserved MUCH better than our protagonist. Georges Guétary's character had that same kind of talent and savoir-faire that made Desi Arnaz such a star.

And let's not forget Oscar Levant.

I know that, based on my above review, you might think I don't recommend seeing this movie. But you would be wrong. You absolutely should see this movie. But don't see it for GENE KELLY. Don't see it for Batman & Robin's ditzy aunt Harriet. Don't see it for its somewhat cringey premise that you can get the pretty girls you want if you are just insistent enough and never stop hitting on them. See it for goddamn Oscar Levant. Before watching this movie, I did not know who Oscar Levant was, but he is the star of every scene in which he appears. The fact that he did not get nominated for best supporting actor is a travesty, because he carries at least a full 25% (or more!) of this movie square on his back. This movie should not have been called "An American in Paris," it should have been called "Oscar Levant is: An Ambassador to Gershwin." Imagine if, in Harry Potter, Ron Weasley was the one who had all the Hermione talent, and you'll get an idea of how Levant is in this film. He is quoted IRL as saying, "There is a fine line between genius and insanity, and I have erased that line," and I can believe it.

--Patrick
 
Celt Z

Celt Z

PatrThom said:
I am waaay behind in this thread. I've seen three whole movies since my last update (which was in May 2022).

An American in Paris (1951)
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Funny you should bring this up, because I was just rewatching parts of this movie the other night, as part of a "Best New Years Eve parties on film" list. I'll add it's incredibly creepy that the woman both GENE KELLY and his friends fall for appears to be about 12 years old. (She's 20 in real life when the movie was released, but still.) I agree that this film didn't age as well as some others of it's time.

Also, every time you type GENE KELLY, all I hear is:
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Beetlejuice (1988)
I saw this when it came out in theaters, but our son had never seen it, so the same day we watched American in Paris, above, we followed it up with Beetlejuice. I had forgotten that our male protagonist was Alec Baldwin. THIS movie holds up. Oh yes, it does.
If by some miracle you have not seen this movie, dear reader, it is definitely worth checking out, assuming you are familiar with and enjoy Tim Burton-style movies. Adam (Baldwin) and Barbara (Davis) are a New England couple who take a wrong turn and end up on the Other Side. This comes as somewhat of a shock to them, and they are trapped in their house, doomed to haunt it forev--wait a moment, here come Charles (Jones) and Delia (O'Hara) to buy the (presumably vacant) house and Delia immediately sets about kitsching up the place, much to the chagrin of their haunting hosts. She is joined by Otho (Shadix) who is absolutely marvelous in his role as the foppingest dandy you have ever seen. Our ghostly couple is horrified and sets off to see what they can do to drive these usurpers out of their house. There are supernaturally bureaucratic channels for this, which the couple pursues, but they are also approached by another spirit willing to do the deed--the titular star (heh) of the movie, Betelgeuse (Keaton). I had forgotten how absolutely disgusting and slimy the character is, and Keaton absolutely nails it. This was actually a surprise, since the kind of roles he had before this were things like Johnny Dangerously*, Night Shift*, and Gung Ho*. Things really take a turn when the couple realizes that the morose daughter Lydia (Ryder) who moved in with the new couple can actually see them...

There are cameos and camp and creepiness and calypso and catastrophes and comedy, and the movie really is a romp through the weird tunnel of Tim Burton's imagination, and I really thought it would make more of an impression on our son than it did. Ah well, maybe he's just not ready for it yet. We'll try again once he's deeper into his teens, perhaps then he'll be "feelin' it" more.

...Daaaay-O!

--Patrick
*I've seen Night Shift and quite a bit of Johnny Dangerously. I have not seen Gung Ho and I'm not sure I want to.
 
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Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

PatrThom said:
Beetlejuice (1988)
I saw this when it came out in theaters, but our son had never seen it, so the same day we watched American in Paris, above, we followed it up with Beetlejuice. I had forgotten that our male protagonist was Alec Baldwin. THIS movie holds up. Oh yes, it does.
If by some miracle you have not seen this movie, dear reader, it is definitely worth checking out, assuming you are familiar with and enjoy Tim Burton-style movies. Adam (Baldwin) and Barbara (Davis) are a New England couple who take a wrong turn and end up on the Other Side. This comes as somewhat of a shock to them, and they are trapped in their house, doomed to haunt it forev--wait a moment, here come Charles (Jones) and Delia (O'Hara) to buy the (presumably vacant) house and Delia immediately sets about kitsching up the place, much to the chagrin of their haunting hosts. She is joined by Otho (Shadix) who is absolutely marvelous in his role as the foppingest dandy you have ever seen. Our ghostly couple is horrified and sets off to see what they can do to drive these usurpers out of their house. There are supernaturally bureaucratic channels for this, which the couple pursues, but they are also approached by another spirit willing to do the deed--the titular star (heh) of the movie, Betelgeuse (Keaton). I had forgotten how absolutely disgusting and slimy the character is, and Keaton absolutely nails it. This was actually a surprise, since the kind of roles he had before this were things like Johnny Dangerously*, Night Shift*, and Gung Ho*. Things really take a turn when the couple realizes that the morose daughter (Ryder) who moved in with the new couple can actually see them...

There are cameos and camp and creepiness and calypso and catastrophes and comedy, and the movie really is a romp through the weird tunnel of Tim Burton's imagination, and I really thought it would make more of an impression on our son than it did. Ah well, maybe he's just not ready for it yet. We'll try again once he's deeper into his teens, perhaps then he'll be "feelin' it" more.

...Daaaay-O!

--Patrick
*I've seen Night Shift and quite a bit of Johnny Dangerously. I have not seen Gung Ho and I'm not sure I want to.
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Fun fact that everyone already knows, Vigo Mortensen broke his toe Michael Keaton only has 17 minutes of screen time in Beetlejuice.
 
Shawn

Shawn

Wonka
I think my dad said it best: “I don’t usually like sequels or prequels, but that was a very sweet tribute to Gene Wilder”

My three generations of family all thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s wonderfully Roald Dahl worthy with its characters and situations. The musical numbers are enjoyable and keep to the classic style of the original Willy Wonka film and only repeat one song from that, which I have to stress that how they use “Pure Imagination” in this one is so perfect that it made me tear up.
 
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Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

I've subjected myself to watching Wish and MAN the original concept of the film was way better. Primarily because they took a song that was clearly meant as a love ballad between two teenagers and....transferred it to the Evil King and our 17 year old main character BUT DON'T WORRY-they changed it to being about protecting WISHES so just IGNORE how its clearly a god damn mother fucking romance ballad and I hate this movie.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
Shawn said:
Wonka
I think my dad said it best: “I don’t usually like sequels or prequels, but that was a very sweet tribute to Gene Wilder”

My three generations of family all thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s wonderfully Roald Dahl worthy with its characters and situations. The musical numbers are enjoyable and keep to the classic style of the original Willy Wonka film and only repeat one song from that, which I have to stress that how they use “Pure Imagination” in this one is so perfect that it made me tear up.
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I had no want or need to see this movie. Timothy Chalamet annoys the shit out of me and Hugh Grant as the Oompa Loompa looked stupid as shit. But my friend told me to try it and turn it off whenever I wanted to. Fuck. I loved it.

Let me say right here and now, I was wrong and this is a great movie.
 
Far

Far

All of that mirrored for me as well. I didn't care bout this weird prequel at all, love the original and didn't think anything needed to touch it. Mum was here last weekend and I wanted something with the family to do and we decided on this. Genuinely great movie.
 
D

Dubyamn

Saw Godzilla minus one over the weekend and it was just a fantastic movie. I enjoy Godzilla being an antagonist rather than some kind of weird ally who protects humanity. And I usually don’t really care for the humans in a Godzilla movie but this one really has some cool characters.
 
Shawn

Shawn

Orion and the Dark
A sweet and fun Dreamworks movie that has a cute and unique twist in its storytelling. I think parents will especially like this one as well. It’s not an incredible story or anything, but that’s kind of the point for this one.
 
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