Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Discuss past, present, and future releases. This is the place for news, reviews, and your 'best' lists.

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Buscemi2
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by Buscemi2 »

Fatale 2/10

Remember that movie Obsessed with Idris Elba? The writer of that film basically reworked it here...but instead of there being just an affair, there's also a murder plot and the third person is now a psychotic detective. I saw this dumb thriller expecting a lot of crazy Hilary Swank and a so bad, it's good execution. I should have known better with Deon Taylor at the helm. The end result is taken too seriously and there's not enough over-the-top elements to make it worthwhile. It ends up being a very forgettable and dated film that does not like its protagonist (a very bland Michael Ealy) at all.

I might have rated it even lower but then I realized it wasn't the worst film I've seen in a theatre this year.

And unrelated to reviews, I see that Wonder Woman's had a rather mixed response but I found one of the dumbest reasons for not liking a movie: not enough 80's music. Does everything need to pander to a certain crowd that remembers a couple years?
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Wonder Woman 1984 3/10

The trailer showed all the good parts. After that, we get an overlong and overly chaotic action film that after a strong opening (one of only two sequences that take advantage of the IMAX screen) devolves into a cliche romantic comedy before becoming 80's/Cold War porn. The end result is played too seriously and got me wondering how things went so wrong between the first and second films. It's like the filmmakers wanted to say something profound but got stuck in the Justice League trappings producer Zack Snyder put these characters into that either the brain trust is forever stuck in them or Warner Bros., too busy giving Christopher Nolan blank checks, doesn't understand the problems they've put DC into. Or maybe I've just grown out of superhero movies.

I might have given it a 2 out of 10 but then I remembered I found it more watchable than Tenet.

Edit: I forgot to mention the awfulness of Pedro Pascal's performance. He makes Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor look like Heath Ledger's Joker.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Judging WW84 against the other new DCU movies it's average. If it were Marvel it'd be bottom tier. The CGI is ok until the very end. Anyone yelling about how this is ultra feminist must be extremely ignorant on the history of the character. I mean, she was created by a psychologist that was in a lifelong triad with Margaret Sanger's (founder-ish of Planned Parenthood) niece. It was very tame on that front.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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Love and Monsters 7/10

A likeable cross between Tremors and A Boy and His Dog with Dylan O'Brien playing a cook in a post-apocalyptic bunker who goes on his own against all odds to find his girlfriend whom he hasn't seen in seven years. Along the way, he meets a dog, a team that teaches him how to survive, and some good monsters in addition to bad ones. Despite the themes, it's refreshingly played not seriously. Mixing sci-fi with romantic comedy, it's much like the high concept films of the past (hell, the title pretty much describes the premise) and has enough lighthearted elements to balance out of the doom and gloom of the story. Had it been released in non-COVID times, it might have been a surprise hit.

It's a bit uneven but a cut above other recent studio sci-fi films.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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You Should Have Left 2/10

The most generic kind of haunted house movie made worse by a ridiculous ending that would have Shyamalan's eyes roll. This pretty much par the course for Blumhouse but this, along with Mortdecai, pretty much shows you how far David Koepp's career has fallen. Just watch Stir of Echoes instead.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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My Christmas and NY viewing

Muscle: 6/10
Decent but overlong darkly amusing thriller about an office drone who decides to get a trainer to make him more manly, which works until the toxic trailer weasels his way into the main character's life. Made me glad I never went to a gym.

Monsoon: 5/10
A gentle and slight but watchable drama about a British man returning to Vietnam, where he was born, to bury his parents' ashes. While there he falls for an American man whose father fought for the US side. It's very much a film about Vietnam as a homeland, and is told well.

Lynn and Lucy: 6/10

Yet another British social realist drama? Yet this works for a few reasons. More than just a slice of life, it tells the story of two childhood friends whose bond as adults is tested after a horrible tragedy. I won't spoil the surprises, but it turns out to be a film about cancel culture, and how we judge people and what the consequences of that are. Plus, its well filmed with the director filling the frame with the actresses' faces.

Soul: 7/10
I almost always prefer Pixar's original films, and this is their best since Inside Out. I love its themes about appreciating people and life beyond your own ambitions - I wish every film-maker, actor, and self-proclaimed artist would take note of this. It's also sweet and funny and imaginative. Perfect Christmas Day viewing. Pity it didn't hit cinemas though, as the Great Beyond scenes would have been great on the big screen.

The Midnight Sky: 5/10
Dreary and dull aren't words I'd associate with sci-fi, but George Clooney has managed it, with this frustratingly split story, one dealing with a man on earth travelling through a snowstorm to reach a comms station, and the other about a team of scientists returning from an inhabitable planet to inform Earth. The latter faisl to develop the characters and feels superfluous, until a ridiculous twist ensures our eyes will be rolling.

Black Bear: 6/10
Mostly watchable for Aubrey Plaza, who attempts a role beyond her usual weird/kooky persona. Here, a filmmaker goes to a retreat run by a hipster couple, and gets mixed up in their relationship issues. Then we see a story about a film crew trying to tell that story, with the characters also being particularly fucked up. It being a film about film-making robs the film of its power, yet there are some good observations in there.

The Happiest Season: 3/10
Goes to show that a lesbian-themed Christmas movie can be just as mawkish and saccharine as a straight one. Also Aubrey Plaza and Allison Brie are wasted.

Love and Monsters: 7/10
Surprisingly entertaining monster romance adventure film. Definitely feels like some of the fun films of the 80s and 90s, as it tells a tale about a monster-ravaged earth in which humans hide in bunkers. Our hero is a young adult who decides to find his girlfriend, which means travelling through dangerous territory. It's likeable, and generally well performed and directed. If Monsters was Richard Linklater doing a b-movie, then this is the closest we'll see to John Hughes making one.

DNA: 5/10
Maiwenn's latest is a tad self-indulgent, telling the tale of a family dealing with the death of their grandfather, and how everyone clashes during their grief. It touches themes of identity and colonialisation, but never feels particularly engaging or distinct.

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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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One Night in Miami... 8/10

This one was rather interesting, focusing on a 1964 meeting with Muhammad Ali, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown, and Malcolm X, right before Ali would become Ali. Sure, it has that "based on a play" feel but the good performances and sure-handed direction by Regina King make it feel so much more. But maybe I'm just a sucker for these "one night that changes everything"-type movies, especially if they have an historical element to the story. I might have liked a bit more historical subtext but it is one of the better Amazon Studios titles.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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numbersix wrote:
January 7th, 2021, 11:31 am
Maiwenn's latest is a tad self-indulgent
Of course, it's Maiwenn after all !
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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numbersix wrote:
January 7th, 2021, 11:31 am
My Christmas and NY viewing

Black Bear: 6/10
Mostly watchable for Aubrey Plaza, who attempts a role beyond her usual weird/kooky persona. Here, a filmmaker goes to a retreat run by a hipster couple, and gets mixed up in their relationship issues. Then we see a story about a film crew trying to tell that story, with the characters also being particularly fucked up. It being a film about film-making robs the film of its power, yet there are some good observations in there.
Saw this too and was impressed by Plaza's performance. She really got a meaty part instead of the different versions of her Parks and Rec character she usually gets.

The fact that she's married to a filmmaker in real life adds a nice meta level to the whole thing too.

I moreso liked the three-hander first half, the second half is interesting but it becomes too scattered at times. Especially in comparison to that tight, tension-filled 1st half.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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I figured I've give Black Bear a pass after I saw it was directed by the writer of Always Shine. Talk about a thriller with almost no thrills.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by transformers2 »

Black Bear was a unique little movie that I continue to like more the more I think about it. Levine did a great job of producing organic-feeling uncomfortable situations that exposed the cracks in the character's relationships and the three leads-particularly Plaza-were terrific.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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The Last Shift 7/10

Downbeat comedy-drama about a high school dropout and a parolee who cross paths at a fast food restaurant in a dying Michigan town as they work the graveyard shift together with the intention that the latter will replace the former. However, things are not what they seem as differences end up hurting them in the long run. You've seen the story before but the performances of the leads allow it to stand out and it's interesting that the script allows the viewer to tie things up for themselves. No one really gets a clean getaway here and it's not really the kind of modern film you see a studio making.

All in all, above average.
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by BanksIsDaFuture »

Buscemi2 wrote:
January 12th, 2021, 9:06 pm
I figured I've give Black Bear a pass after I saw it was directed by the writer of Always Shine. Talk about a thriller with almost no thrills.
I'd say it's definitely worth a watch. Then again Hamilton was my favorite movie of 2020 so take that for what you will
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

Post by BanksIsDaFuture »

I missed the WW84 talk, but man what a piece of shit that was. Think I'm officially done with DCEU movies, they haven't done anything worth watching since Man of Steel. (The Ultimate Edition of BvS is decent, but of course they chopped it up into a dumb mess for its release in theaters).

My unasked-for ranking of the DCEU:

Man of Steel
Batman V Superman: Ultimate Edition
Shazam!
The first 2/3 of Wonder Woman
Only Margot Robbie's performance in Birds of Prey
Stepping on my own balls repeatedly
.
..
...
The introduction parts of Suicide Squad
The parts of Aquaman where he goes underwater and meets Godzilla I think(I fell asleep on most of this)
WW84
Justice League
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Re: Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

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The hate over the introduction stuff in Suicide Squad is so overblown. And the people who express their hate over it are the kind of people who when they say "I hate exposition", they are really saying "I hate dialogue". And if you point out there are much worse movies (for example, Nine Lives opened the very same weekend), those people will gang up on you (especially if they are on Reddit and use the R. Kelly defense on Kevin Spacey).

I'm sorry not every movie is Dunkirk where it's nothing but shit blowing up.

On the other hand, I hate how the hardcore DCEU/Snydercut people bullied their way into getting a new cut of Justice League, to the point where a top executive resigned because of the harassment, and then claimed they were anti-bullying when it was announced some of the proceeds over the edit would be donated to anti-bullying groups. Warner Bros. should have just refused to do anything and put the money towards something more fruitful (but not give it to Christopher Nolan).

Meanwhile, am I really the only person who didn't like Shazam? I remember people claiming this was the best DC movie but all I got was a hopelessly confused mess that was unsure of whether it was comedy or horror.
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