What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

Watched the Tomorrow War a couple of days ago while excercising. It didn't do much for me, and I actually didn't bother finish it (after finishing my exercise). The concept was interesting, but to me the movie was mostly a series of random action sequences, and the story seemed a bit too convoluted and "constructed". Perhaps I wasn't paying enough attention (after all I was on my exercise bike). But I think the main thing is that I don't appreciate action movies like I used to (unless there is a lot of horror elements in it, and in-space Sci-fi). I think I would have liked it 10-20 years ago.

Reviews here in Norway vary, but most reviews are positive. One reviewer said the film really should be watched on a large cinema screen in stead of streaming it, which I think makes sense.

an incarnation of pibbur who observes that he now doesn't like things he enjoyed at a younger age (and obviously now enjoys things he detested back then).

Due to a recommendation, I watched the Vast of Night last evening, and quite enjoyed it. I absolutely adore films like this, and from this particular time, namely anything portraying real life circumstances from the 1920's though the 1980's. It's a clever film, requiring the viewer to follow the threads (although not as convoluted as, say, thinking Anthony Soprano actually lived after Meadow came bursting into the restaurant). I think the only real question is whether or not the aliens were good or malevolent, and I think due to both Billy and Mabel's testimonies, I believe they are the latter.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
What can I say I and my family liked it.

Spoiler – Ending Reveal

I don't know if I'd call it generic as the aliens aren't the actual invaders but something else. Similar to the latest alien movies they are a bio weapon from another species that crashed on Earth and hibernated for 2,000 years.

Which is caused by humans melting the polar ice in Russia.

Movies basically about a father doing anything to save his future daughter and family. The US, NATO and other nations are useless and tied up with politics & world riots.

It just felt different then watching the usual hurrah go USA underdog who somehow win in alien flicks, which is prevalent in the genre. Others will probably disagree.

It's one of the highest watched/earned income streamed movie right now.

It gave me a new favorite nickname for someone I know: Conspiracy Santa

Worth the view just for that!

The Little Things

A crime drama starring Denzel Washington, Jared Leto, and Rami Malek. Washington and Malek play a couple of detectives trying to solve the case of a serial killer, while Leto is a suspect.

Overall I thought it was ok. I won't go into details because it's a movie that's hard to talk about without spoilers. I think Leto is excellent in the role he plays though, and it's almost worth watching just for his performance alone.

Originally Posted by lackblogger
I can honestly inform you that, though it may surprise you, no-one cares in the slightest what you like and what you don't like. That's not what people are reading the posts for.

So I finally watched Hitchcock's North by Northwest -
Joxer style review: Terrible, do not watch if your life depended on it.
Now a bit more detail:
I am a Hitchcock fan and I have seen and enjoyed his output from the early silent days through Frenzy. He made so many films though there are still some I have yet to get to, the biggest of these was NxNW. It really is bad! I put most of the blame on Cary Grant who I have never liked. He is a terrible actor who seems to rely on good looks and questionable charm, but since I'm straight, does nothing for me. Better choices would have been Jimmy Stewart, if Hitch wanted to maintain his "everyman in over his head" theme and ditch the ridiculous romance, or Sean Connery if he wanted to go for the action/romance and a more capable hero. Aside from the poor lead everyone else is good, particularly Martin Landau. The other aspect that damages the film is the horrible farcical 'comedy'. There is a scene near the beginning with Grant driving while drunk that is so, SO, bad I wanted to quit there, but to my regret I watched this turd to the end.

Originally Posted by Philistine
So I finally watched Hitchcock's North by Northwest -
Joxer style review: Terrible, do not watch if your life depended on it.
Now a bit more detail:
I am a Hitchcock fan and I have seen and enjoyed his output from the early silent days through Frenzy. He made so many films though there are still some I have yet to get to, the biggest of these was NxNW. It really is bad! I put most of the blame on Cary Grant who I have never liked. He is a terrible actor who seems to rely on good looks and questionable charm, but since I'm straight, does nothing for me. Better choices would have been Jimmy Stewart, if Hitch wanted to maintain his "everyman in over his head" theme and ditch the ridiculous romance, or Sean Connery if he wanted to go for the action/romance and a more capable hero. Aside from the poor lead everyone else is good, particularly Martin Landau. The other aspect that damages the film is the horrible farcical 'comedy'. There is a scene near the beginning with Grant driving while drunk that is so, SO, bad I wanted to quit there, but to my regret I watched this turd to the end.

I had nowhere near as negative a reaction to it, like you did, but for me the main takeaway was thar it is way overrated. I found it decent but it got way too much praise. Hitchcock has quite a lot of way better movies.

I did a marathon of almost all if his films some time ago, and I think my favorite was Rope.

Originally Posted by danutz_plusplus
I did a marathon of almost all if his films some time ago, and I think my favorite was Rope.

Based on the play by one of my favourite writers, Patrick Hamilton, who also wrote Gas Light - where the term "gaslighting" comes from.

All right check I have to be a film snob just to post in this thread.

So lets roll I just watched a movie called Cosmic Sin and yes I should have listened to Joxer last year. So yeah Joxer you get a cookie, or a thumbs up since you were correct.

I'll briefly sum up my opinion as I hate whole page essay posts like another poster.

Cosmic sin is a B movie that unfortunately is ruined by slow pacing, poor writing and bad acting. I'm sure a teenager with a phone camera could make a better ScFi movie.

Seems a star like Bruce Willis could not salvage this garbage dump of a movie. The end.

* A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not an arthouse film.

Originally Posted by Philistine
So I finally watched Hitchcock's North by Northwest -
Joxer style review: Terrible, do not watch if your life depended on it.
Now a bit more detail:
I am a Hitchcock fan and I have seen and enjoyed his output from the early silent days through Frenzy. He made so many films though there are still some I have yet to get to, the biggest of these was NxNW. It really is bad! I put most of the blame on Cary Grant who I have never liked. He is a terrible actor who seems to rely on good looks and questionable charm, but since I'm straight, does nothing for me. Better choices would have been Jimmy Stewart, if Hitch wanted to maintain his "everyman in over his head" theme and ditch the ridiculous romance, or Sean Connery if he wanted to go for the action/romance and a more capable hero. Aside from the poor lead everyone else is good, particularly Martin Landau. The other aspect that damages the film is the horrible farcical 'comedy'. There is a scene near the beginning with Grant driving while drunk that is so, SO, bad I wanted to quit there, but to my regret I watched this turd to the end.

I haven't seen this one yet, but amazingly enough I did buy it recently in a box-set of his films. Hmm, creepy!

But I did see Topaz (1969) recently & it was probably the worst Hitchcock movie I've ever seen.

It was one of his later ones & reading up on it it was one of those films that was a mess even during production. It's more like three random short films stuffed together where the only connecting element is the lead actor's character. The Topaz of the title doesn't even factor into the plot until the last half hour of this multiple hour failed espionage cold war attempt at epic.

It even has multiple endings you can watch as extras because no-one even knew what they wanted the story to be about so no-one could decide what would be an deal ending.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
The Tomorrow War - My Score: B+

I've writtem some details on it on the previous page so I guess if I'd use USA grade system it'd be heavy D.
Miranda saved it from F.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Not just the US but world wide.

Not sure about every village in the world but in South Korea the most watched movie in the past few days is Hard Hit.

This is actually their remake of the criminally underrated spanish edge of (ther car) seat thriller Retribution.
The original is so good I have to recommend watching it instead of this unnecessary korean remake.
Oh, you'll wait for hollywood's silly remake? Yes it's also in works, sadly:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6906292
Seems koreans are coppying illiterate hollywood.

In any case they're not watching The Tomorrow War much.

Originally Posted by JDR13
The Little Things

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Vast of Night

Two acquaintances of mine who love thrillers said both are boring. I've decided to skip'em. No time for presumed mediocrity, sorry.

Originally Posted by Philistine
So I finally watched Hitchcock's North by Northwest -
Joxer style review: Terrible, do not watch if your life depended on it.

LOL no, actually I love that movie so much.
It doesn't matter if you have a crush or not on any actor, if anyone never cared about Grant that's me.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
I just watched a movie called Cosmic Sin and yes I should have listened to Joxer last year. So yeah Joxer you get a cookie, or a thumbs up since you were correct.

Thanks!

I concur that someone watching the film for silly effects and simpering actors would likely be bored to tears. Mediocre, however, it is not. You might want to take cues from folk with actual taste.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
…You might want to take cues from folk with actual taste.

FYI:

an incarnation of pibbur whose taste above all demands as much special effects as possible, preferrably even more.

PS: An example: Are the Jurassic Parks good movies? Well, a tyrannosaurus in San Diego is a tyrannosaurus in San Diego. 'nuff said. DS

Originally Posted by Arhu
try Dark Water (specifically not the remake). It worked even better for me than The Ring.

I watched Dark Water last night and thought it was pretty good. The first half was a little slow for my taste, but I really liked the ending. I'm going to watch the American version next just to see how they compare, but I'm keeping my expectations low.

Originally Posted by lackblogger
I haven't seen this one yet, but amazingly enough I did buy it recently in a box-set of his films.

Start it up for me and tell me I'm wrong! If you aren't impressed by Cary's drunk getaway scene, try to resist due diligence, quit there and watch something better instead.

Originally Posted by joxer
LOL no, actually I love that movie so much.
It doesn't matter if you have a crush or not on any actor, if anyone never cared about Grant that's me.

Care to explain why you love it so much?? Is it a so bad its good thing?

Originally Posted by Philistine
Start it up for me and tell me I'm wrong! If you aren't impressed by Cary's drunk getaway scene, try to resist due diligence, quit there and watch something better instead.

If only my movie watching timetable was so flexible. Alas, I have quite a few lined up and I only watch one or two every weekend. I don't know when I'll get around to North By Northwest, but when I do I'll be sure to ping you.

The official documentary of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Amazing, both for style but also focus. The men’s pole vault competition ran over 7 hours!

Uhm, North by Northwest is an absurdly good movie. Even now it's still well worth watching, as are most of Hitchcock's films and tv shows. That guy did a lot of things right, at least behind the camera.

Hereditary

I was late to the party with this one, but after seeing it, I don't feel like I was missing much.

It did have some legitimately disturbing scenes, but I'm not a big fan of films that are overly vague. I don't need every single thing explained, but I think he could have let the viewer in on a little more without losing anything.

I enjoyed Hereditary, and I think it's a very good movie. But I can see your point of view and can to some degree agree.

I didn't find it particularly scary (which is kind of the point with horror movies). But there was the feeling of dread, perhaps mostly due to interpersonal aspects. I found the acting performance of the main female protagonist incredible.

All in all enjoyable, but as said, I can understand why it's not everybody's cup of tea.

BTW: have you seen "Us" and "The autopsy of Jane Doe", and if so, what do you think of them?

an incarnation of pibbur whose favourite horror movie is … rats! …. don't remember. Except that it (probably) was not a slasher movie.

Originally Posted by lackblogger
I can honestly inform you that, though it may surprise you, no-one cares in the slightest what you like and what you don't like.

Well, I do care, but maybe we don't understand the word the same way. After all I'm not a native English speaker, so I may very well misunderstand the term. (I of course also like to see why).

An incarnation of pibbur who admits his understanding of the finer aspects of the English language leaves much/something to be desired. OTOH, FYI, he's quite good at Norwegian.