What Movie Are You Watching?

Watched two movies so far this weekend.

Straight outta nowhere was a fun little bit. Not much substance but it was entertaining enough, more than I expected really. Scooby Doo Iā€™m kind of meh on in general, but seeing all the Courage stuff was real nostalgic and knowing it was Murielā€™s voice actressā€™ last role before her death probably made it more heartrenching than it had any right to be.

I have a bit more to say about Blue Velvet, especially it being fresh in my mind now and Iā€™m not quite sure what all to make of it yet.

First and foremost I guess I can see where a ton of Twin Peaks came from, especially both Fire Walk With Me as well as season 3. Not necessarily a bad thing or even a good thing, just wasnā€™t expecting much more than it to just have the same star actor.

The sound feels like it was particularly important which also goes in line with everything else Twin Peaks. One song sounded extremely similar to Nightingale, which I suppose is what it probably evolved into. Frank repeatedly uttering ā€œand now itā€™s darkā€ with lights going out being sort of a thing, gives new context to that same line in Into the Night.

A lot of things can be inferred which kind of leaves me feeling a little jipped by the endingā€¦I really donā€™t know. I suppose things can sometimes just have a happy ending, but Iā€™ve got to really wonder about a lot of the nuances and what goes unsaid and think about whether they were meant to be there or not. A large part of it reminded me of Taxi Driver more so than Joker did, in that it was seemingly about a psychopath in one way or another just being at the right place at the right time to be praised as a hero. But maybe my take is just flat out wrong? Who knowsā€¦

Iā€™ve still yet to see either Muhholand Drive or Lost Highway among many other Lynch films, but I think Iā€™ll let this one sit a while before doing so.

Edit: as an aside, I knew I recognized Frank from somewhere, and that got me to wondering just how Jack Black will be as Bowser in the new Mario movie. Not saying itā€™s impossible, Jim Carrey somehow pulled off Eggman after all, just seems really strange.
 


I do think the best of the Daniel Craig era is between Casino Royale and Skyfall.

Still, I very much enjoyed No Time to Die and found it an outstanding, very solid Bond film (I'm glad I went into this one blind to spoilers).
 
I'm seeing NttD in 2 weeks with my dad, as it's Thanksgiving in Canada this weekend and we're hosting (a TON of cooking to be done), so I'm glad the reception has been positive thus far.

Casino Royale is the best Bond film, period. It is largely flawless and everything just works perfectly, while still keeping Bond, Bond. Skyfall is great, but overrated and I'm really displeased that people (again) go for the sentimental plot, rather than the well-made (or in this case, better-made) plot.

No more recurring Bond Girls though; me personally, have never liked it and Lea Seydoux isn't terrible by any means, but she is NOT up to the level of at least a dozen Bond Girls before her.

On a slightly-related note, I'm 29 pages from finishing For Your Eyes Only; it's amazing how they took elements from each of the short stories (the book is the first Bond novel that is short stories, rather than 1 long one) and turned it into the film: I credit the filmmakers quite a bit in that regard, but it is still arguably the worst film in the series (after DAD, I deem it the worst). The book is awesome, btw.

ANYWAYS! Back on topic, this weekend was my first back in theatre/cinema since Sonic, last year in February (thank you, Pandemic) and with my sister, we took in...

The Many Saints of Newark (2021):

Following the show the Sopranos, we are treated to a voice-over from a familiar character (super-spoilers, so not saying it lol), showing the origin of Tony Soprano (played at this point by a kid and later, by James Gandolfini's {the actor who played Tony in the show} son, Michael), as an 11/12 year old boy and his hero, Dickie Moltisanti (played brilliantly by Alessandro Nivola), the (anti) protagonist of the film. Dickie welcomes his elderly, mob captain father (played by Ray Liotta) back into the US, after cruising from Italy with his new wife, a very good-looking lady named Giuseppina (Michela De Rossi). The film then goes to show Dickie's rise to the higher ranks of the DiMeo crime family, over a course of 5 years or so, with the Newark Riots providing a backdrop and his untimely demise (not a spoiler, if you've watched the show).

Honestly, I can understand where some people aren't thrilled with the film, but it is a VERY GOOD film; gripping and such a wonderfully-crafted homage to the series, it is smartly-written and well-acted (a bit of hamminess here and there). Nivola is fantastic, Gandolfini does a great job portraying a young Tony and he really gets the nuances/facial expressions his father did in the show, perfectly. If you have watched the series as much as I have though, especially with all the supplementary material I've consumed, then you might be one of the few to, "get," the film, as many fringe fans or people that just watched it once and enjoyed it, just don't understand what's going on and many callbacks go over their heads (I say this from reading/watching people's reviews, btw). For example, I knew the, "Twist," ending (if you're a die-hard like myself, it isn't a twist) about 30 minutes into the film and the ending is done perfectly, to setup the series. Leslie Odom is the black lead of the film and he's excellent as well, keeping the tradition of having the blacks working closely with the Italians, that the show established.

As for the women (who were a huge part of the plot of the series as well), Vera Farmiga is PHENOMENAL and beyond-believable as Tony's mother, perfectly recreating a younger-version of the mother on the show (played by Nancy Marchand). Michela De Rossi gets a ton of screentime and is central to the plot, despite being an unknown here in NA; she is quite stunning (though she wore a wig for the whole film and has a large mole on her chin, so some may not find her as attractive) and does an excellent job; won't be surprised if she starts getting casted in NA films, going forward.

All in all, if you are a true fan of the series and have a clear-cut, innate understanding of the show's plot and characters, you will adore this film. If you don't you may find it confusing in parts, but you can't deny it's written excellently and the acting is fantastic.

9/10
 
The Many Saints of Newark is one of the very, very few new films that Iā€™ve actually looked forward to. The Sopranos is one of the favorite shows of all time (second only to The Shield, and even then, just barely), and Iā€™ve been following this film for like, years. I was actually surprised by the amount of callbacks and fan-service, and while I thought a few were pushing it a little, I had a huge smile on my face the entire time. I marked out at the end, surprised as fuck about the music choice, despite being obvious. It just brought everything together beautifully.
 
Your Boy Leroy said:
The Many Saints of Newark is one of the very, very few new films that Iā€™ve actually looked forward to. The Sopranos is one of the favorite shows of all time (second only to The Shield, and even then, just barely), and Iā€™ve been following this film for like, years. I was actually surprised by the amount of callbacks and fan-service, and while I thought a few were pushing it a little, I had a huge smile on my face the entire time. I marked out at the end, surprised as fuck about the music choice, despite being obvious. It just brought everything together beautifully.
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There's a guy on YT named Pure Kino who reviewed every episode of the series, leading up to the film and also is a huge fan (though I find his interpretations to be off, half the time), but he's really weird and I never would've guessed his ethnicity, by just his voice :LOL:

Anyways, in his non-spoiler review of the film, he described the ending as (paraphrasing), "I don't get the ending and it doesn't make sense in the grand scheme of things."

Um... what?

It is established that the pinky swear is Tony and Dickie's way of keeping promises to each other, so the pinky swear at the end is CLEARLY and BLATANTLY Tony's way of saying that he will pick up from where Dickie left off and make his legacy better than it was.

I mean, the show alludes to it numerous times, with both Chris and Tony talking about Dickie in their own ways, but you really need to have a handle on Chase's writing and use of symbolism; I have a feeling that Kino will need to watch something 3 times before he gets the symbolism, because, as you said, everything was brought together beautifully and it sets up the series very well (I know you were referring to the song in general, but what happens on screen applies to! :LOL:)

But yeah, just a great film; I have a very strong feeling it won't do well with viewers, simply because many don't know the show and because those who do, will expect things to be done a certain way and will be displeased when it isn't (like 'mue III. Same thing).

Glad you liked it though, Leroy :D
 
I have a huge list to go through again, but just wanted to mention No Time To Die. I'm still unsure what to think, but I think it's a brave film, didn't feel like 165 minutes at all and felt that Daniel Craig did a fantastic job. Casino Royale and Skyfall are the best, but NTTD without giving anything away is a fitting end for Craig's tenure.

I'm often not proud of being British (well I am, but not in recent years...), but I am proud that James Bond is part of British culture. A new Bond film is always an exciting event for me!
 
If not for Goldeneye (the game), I would NEVER have gotten interested in Bond, when I was a pre-adolescent and everything just snowballed from there; it is now a big event in my family (because I got my dad back into it) and my dad and I have seen every film in theatre, since CR. My sister has really gotten into it too, but not at my level :LOL:

Hell, I got my dad to be much more into a lot of things, as I gained interest (football, baseball); the only thing he has remained constant in his fervor, is fishing and Formula 1 lol
 
For a lot of UK folk, Bond is an institution! GoldenEye was my first Bond, but I also grew up watching bits and pieces of the Connery and Moore films on TV. Connery and Craig are the best Bond's, but I have a massive soft spot for Brosnan on account of him being *my* Bond growing up.

The quality wavers (which is understandable over 25 films and almost 60 years), but i'll always love them :)
 

Child's Play (2019) -- I am genuinely surprised as to how much I like this remake. It does enough different to warrant it's own existence. So much so that I kind of wish they had the balls to just have it stand on its own two feet without the Chucky branding. I think Mark Hamil as the voice of Chucky is absolutely brilliant in this. He plays it so innocently you really do start to feel sympathy for the monster. I like the kid they cast as Andy and I liked the mother (Aubrey Plaza)...yeah I'm genuinely surprised how much I liked this. I don't think it deserves the hate it gets. It's a pretty fun little horror movie that does well enough to stand on its own two feet. Also, The Buddi song has been stuck in my head ALL day.

"You are my buddy, until the end. More than a buddy, my best friend"


Inside (2007) -- I was in the mood for something tightly paced and gory as all hell. This fit that bill. Haven't seen it since it first came out. But I liked it just as much on second watch...A tightly paced Home Invasion thriller about an insane woman who invades the home of a pregnant woman. The insane woman has one goal...to get the baby out. And thus, chaos reigns (and I don't mean the Lars Von Trier type of Chaos Reigns :D)


A League of Their Own -- It was on TV the other night and it's one of those movies where if I catch it on TV, I tend to watch it from beginning to end. Tom Hanks is great in this. The iconic line of "THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!" still gets me :LOL: The whole cast is very good in this and it's just an easy watch from beginning to end.


Behind the Mask: Rise of Leslie Vernon -- This has been on my list for SO long and I only just now finally got to it. This is a really fun (in a darkly comedic way) mockumentary/slasher film about an aspiring serial killer who molds himself in the fashion of slasher films. It's really funny in a very dark way. It was right up my alley in terns of black humor. But what surprised me even more is it's actually a really good slasher film in its own right. It finds a really good balance between satire and legitimate horror. Good stuff!


Gummo (1997) -- I've been writing something of an essay on this so I went back and re-watched it. It still hits me with raw power after all these years. It's something of a nihilistic gem for me and I notice more and more with every viewing. I love it...still to this day.


My Cherry Pie (2021) -- This is a low budget Australian Horror film written and co-directed by a friend of mine (Addison Heath). It's playing right now online as part of the Night of International Horror film festival. This is a fun low budget throwback to 80s slasher films. Considering the budget, its got some decent gore effects, is nicely shot and well played all around. I had a good time with this one.

And I don't just say that because it's a friends film (for note, I've actually never met the guy...he's a Facebook friend that is friends with other Facebook friends I've met IRL...but from when I've talked to him online, he seems like a cool dude who I would get on with IRL.) Yeah...this was a fun little slice of Ozploitation and a good little Halloween watch.

And yes, that's my review and my shitty voice :D


Super (2010) -- This film still hits harder for me than Kick Ass ever could. It's such an overlooked gem of a film and perhaps, one of the greatest comic book films of the last 10 years (even though it isn't actually based on a comic book.) Screw off with that Marvel crap...this one is the real deal. Yeah, I really love this film. Unlike Kick-Ass, it follows through the entire way with its premise of what would happen if one insane guy played Super Hero? And doesn't pull any punches come the end. The ending is a bittersweet masterwork in its own right. Absolutely love it. One of the best things James Gunn has ever done. :LOL: :LOL:
 
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/\ lol o yeah, Super (2010) was awesome. i think i saw it around 2012.

i remember watching a behind the scenes and rainn wilson said that pretty much all the actors worked on the film for the bare minimum wage they were allowed to take ( some sort of union thing) - otherwise the film wouldn't have gotten made.. cool that they made something for fun rather than trying to make tones of profit. it was also kinda ahead of time.. now we got lots of "realistic" super heroes movies which kinda point fun at them self while highlighting how comicbook violence would in actual fact kill people. ( deadpool, suicide squad etc)

on a side note, ellen page was quite pretty back then. all her features were really soft.. makes me wonder if she was on testosterone for many years before coming out and trans. her face changed a lot , she looked completely different in The umbrella academy and i don't think it was to do with age. great actor non the less.
 
ALoTO is stil; the best or second-best, true, "baseball film," that has ever been made; someone who loves the sport vehemently such as myself, will appreciate every second of the film, even the non-baseball parts (though I'm not as big a fan of them as the in-game action and the like).

As much as I like Lori Petty's character (Kit) in the film,
she did not deserve that victory and if that was real life, it NEVER would've played out like it did lol
.

On another note, I am going to see NTtD with my father, this evening and can't wait! As much as I will miss Craig's Bond, I will be happy to see Lea Seydoux gone from the series; recurring Bond Girls NEVER work and she wasn't even in the top 2/3s of all Bond Girls..
 
Just saw Dune and thought it was the fucking tits!

Everything from the cinematography, score, acting, and sound design was perfect. It really is a film meant to be watched on the big screen. Sucks I now have to wait for Part 2! šŸ˜©
 
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just saw Free Guy.

i thought it was ok. i would rate it a 7/10 film. i liked the concept ( a computer game NPC becoming self aware)
but there wasn't much of a story. the film had strong The Truman Show vibes.

it's a fun film but imo wait till its on netflix or amazon prime.
 
No Time to Die (2021):

We start off with a man, walking in a big white parka, in (we learn eventually) Norway, trudging through a dead forest and descending on a cottage that is on the shore of a frozen lake. A young girl (who is the SPITTING IMAGE of Lea Seydoux) brings her already drunk/drugged mother some boxed wine and she sees the man, wearing a Noh mask, outside the cottage. She tries to get into the secure room, but can't get in. She then tries to lock everything up, but can't and so she takes a gun. The man shoots the mother and then comes for the girl, who then shoots him multiple times and he falls down a floor (they have a, "flat," of sorts). The girl tries to drag him away and she gets, maybe 20 feet out the front door, then he wakes up. She runs over the frozen lake and it cracks under her weight... but not under his (really?). She's about to drown, so he shoots around her, breaking the ice and then pulls her up. As that happens, scene cuts and it's in present-day, where Bond asks if everything is ok to Madeleine. They then drive through (what appears to be) Basilicata (Matera, to be exact) and get to their hotel, where they are to tell their, "secrets," but it never ends up happening, because Bond can't get over Vesper Lynd and wants to see her grave (which just happens to be there, thousands of miles south of where she actually died. Again, really?). While at the grave, a massive bomb goes off and Bond is all sorts of screwed up. He rushes back to the hotel, only to be cut off by two guys in a nice 90s Maserati (I believe it was one of the shittier models, but I like it lol) and a man with a glass eye, on a dirtbike. He's able to get back, he's pissed at Madeleine, as she most-likely sold him out (I can spoil that she did in a way, but it wasn't her intention and she wasn't directly-involved) and they drive off, with Madeleine wanting desperately to tell Bond something and eventually reaching a train station. Bond puts her on a train and walks away, never wanting to see her again, opening credits.

Not saying anymore, as it is a walking spoilerfest as soon as the credits stop lol, but I wrote the above, as 75% of the above is seen in the trailers; this is easily, one of the best (if not THE BEST) films, whose trailers did NOT spoil the film. I'm pretty sure that's the longest pre-credits sequence in the Bond series and for action, it was very well-done, but did drag on a bit too long. The plot is a good one, I must admit, as the threat in this film is very modern, has the potential to be very real and isn't full of holes and the like. There is a sub-plot that is involved with the main plot, however and due to it and Madeleine still being in the story, I don't like in the ******* slightest, especially as a Bond purist:
Bond has a daughter in the film and confesses his love for Madeleine...

Now, I'm all for evolution in my favourite texts (that have multiple, progressing entries) and the inclusion of social issues and the like, but Jesus Christ, how the hell can you **** up Bond by doing something like that? This film does EXACTLY what Yakuza 2 did, in completely shoehorning something in that not only doesn't make sense, but is a complete contradiction to the character that has been established and their ideas/motives/lifestyle/etc. and it was only added to add sympathy to the character and all that entails. If you read the books (have just under 80 pages left in Thunderball), plus go off of the previous films, Bond only had 1 love, they got married, she died right away and he vowed never to love again (Vesper in Casino Royale takes place BEFORE his marriage, in the canon). Again, an evolution is great, but someone who wasn't involved with the conceptualisation of the characters/themes/plot up until recently, taking control of things and twisting them to how they see fit? Not great at all and it completely ruins what is, "Bond," for me. I don't care that he womanises (I actually roll my eyes at it, even when I read it in the books lol), I don't care about his substance abuse or issues like that, etc., but they are a part of the character and when you deliberately change things to suit yourself, well, why would you spend decades establishing a character in the first place?

Sorry for the rant, but it left a really bad taste in my mouth. EDIT* AND THIS ISN'T EVEN MENTIONING THE ENDING! I actually had no real issue with the ending (because of what is said in the credits), but yeah, Fukunaga should never have been attached to the project, IMO; short-term, again this was a good film. Long-term? Who knows where the series is headed...

As for the acting, everyone is in top form, from Craig, to Wright, to Fiennes and even the newbies, everyone does a splendid job. Seydoux is ok, but she is easily the weakest of any actor with prominent screentime (well, maybe Billy Magnussen does a terrible job too lol, he's laughably bad at times), while Malek is superb and, IMO, horribly underused; he doesn't even show up/mentioned in the main plot, until well over an hour into the film. On the whole, the acting is great.

It is a very good film, but the bastardisation of the character and Seydoux's prominence, will ensure that I will never choose to watch this film again, as I was not a big fan of it at all.

8.5/10

EDIT*** oh yeah, I forgot, Billie Eilish is absolutely garbage. What a completely passive, depressing, let-down of an opening song. Since Skyfall's superb theme, the last 2 have been among the 5 worst Bond themes, period.
 
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Literally, anything I've seen about Dune, has it being praised to death and people loving it.

It's sitting at 8.3 on IMDB right now and while it will probably go down (I have never seen a film with over 100,000 ratings go up, always down), for it to sit at 8.3 at any period after 100,000 ratings, shows that audiences love it to death.

I'm not interested in the subject matter, otherwise I'd go see it in a heartbeat.
 
I'm going to see Dune next week and I can't wait. I watched the Lynch film again which was much better 2nd time around. Poor bugger was on a hiding to nothing - it's impossible to do in under 2 1/2 hours, so I do appreciate the new one is (hopefully) expanded. I am a fan of Villenville (sp?) and thought his last couple of films were brilliant, so have high hopes.

As for the new Bond? I really liked it. Without spoilers, the ending was quite moving. I forgive it if I think of the Craig films as its own thing. I did get into a huge argument on whether it changes the series and I do believe that the Marvel-isation of modern cinema is slowly becoming a plague as prior to this I never thought of a series of films being this massive universe. Not really a fan of Billie Eilish, but I did like the theme tune! I managed to get the official programme at the royal premiere too!

As for films i've seen? I'll do an updated list tomorrow!
 
bcdcdude said:
I'm going to see Dune next week and I can't wait. I watched the Lynch film again which was much better 2nd time around. Poor bugger was on a hiding to nothing - it's impossible to do in under 2 1/2 hours, so I do appreciate the new one is (hopefully) expanded. I am a fan of Villenville (sp?) and thought his last couple of films were brilliant, so have high hopes.
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I've seen it twice so far, you're going to love it.
 
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