New Year, New Movies! 1/1 1. Vesper (2022) [VOD] ⭐⭐⭐ An interesting sci-fi dystopian movie involving a 13-year-old girl who has a father who follows her around in a biotech drone. The rich people live in places called Citadels that hover off the ground. It's a great looking film despite it's small budget. 1/2 2. White Noise (2022) [Netflix] ⭐⭐⭐ I loved the first couple acts of this movie but the third act is a mess that doesn't really translate well to the screen based on what came before it. Baumbach, Gerwig, and Driver are all favorites of mine though. 1/2 3. Annette (2021) [Prime] ⭐⭐⭐ This is going to be a love it or hate it type movie for people. Adam Driver carries this movie on his back. I'm not sure if it's watchable otherwise.
1/3 4. The Menu (2022) [HBO] ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ Ralph Fiennes and Nicholas Hoult give amazing performances in this. The trailers are misleading. This is not a cannibal story, but The Bear + Horror. My second favorite horror/thriller film of 2021 after Pearl.
When you say horror is it more shock horror? I'm not a fan of horror movies, but I've heard a lot of good things about this one so I was just curious what I was getting into.
There are a couple of deaths that are a little jarring, but it's not particularly gory or suspenseful. I would recommend it to my parents if that helps.
My Spy - A- It's a campy comedy, like The Pacifier for a new generation. It's a great fit for Dave Bautista, but the supporting cast is also on point. There isn't a weak link among them, even with Chloe Coleman as Bautista's nine year old charge. A good movie to throw on for some mindless fun. Killers - D A poor re-make of Mr. & Mrs. Smith with none of the charisma. I didn't buy Ashton Kutcher as a suave assassin, playing the straight man. Katherine Heigl plays the same character she has played over and over again. Tom Selleck is good as the assassin father, but the reveal is meh at best. The fact that the assassins are played by Rob Riggle, Alex Borstein & Kevin Susan (Stuart from Big Bang Theory) stretches credulity that these people are trained killers as well. Knives Out - A- I went into this knowing the hype and hoping it could live up to said hype. It did. Once again, there wasn't a weak link in the casting and the story was sharp. It was a pleasure to see one of the greats in Christopher Plummer one more time. I totally bought Ana De Armas as this frazzled nurse who was in way over her head and Chris Evans plays a great villain once again. Glass Onion - B+ It was a step down from the original, but the quality was still there. I fully admit to being a Dave Bautista acting fan (I think wresting is a load of bull plop). I don't know what I would have changed.
1/6 5. Bones and All (2022) [VOD] ⭐⭐⭐⭐ From the director of Call Me By Your Name, featuring another romance, but this time with cannibals. I really enjoyed this film. It has a real 80's Stephen King vibe to it which I enjoyed.
Watched Everywhere Everything All At Once the other day and watched Swiss Army Man today having no idea the Daniels(+1) also worked on this. If you have an open mind, Swiss Army Man is an absolutely amazing movie, if you don't, it's just a movie about a farting corpse going by comments I see. Personally, I found it a lot more powerful than their later work but it may be because I can identify with it a lot more.
It's a take down on the idea of art only being understood through pretentious narcissism by using cooking food as the metaphor.
so far this month for 2023 ive watched Lethal Weapon 1-4 Tango and Cash Halloween Ends Dr Otto then this weekend ill be watching that new Christian Bale Edgar Allen Poe movie on Netflix
My Spy - A- Killers - D Knives Out - A- Glass Onion - B+ The Good Nurse - A- Jessica Chastain really can settle into any role and make it believably her own. Eddie Redmayne is creepy and the movie banks on the viewer knowing the true story background because he sticks out like a sore thumb. If it was a whodunnit, he would give it away right off. I don't know how much of the hospital bureaucracy is real, but you can't escape those scenes without feeling like you need a shower.
more movies ive seen so far this month of 2023 Frozen 1 Creepshow 2 Critters 4 then later tonight and tomorrow ill be watching these Frozen 2 Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark documentary
My Spy - A- Killers - D Knives Out - A- Glass Onion - B+ The Good Nurse - A- Shotgun Wedding - B It had its moments, but as a whole, the humour was kind of grating. Jennifer Lopez plays against type and Josh Duhamel is also oddly characterized as a man who is on Etsy and hot gluing lights to pineapples as centre pieces. Jennifer Coolidge plays the same character she always plays. It's just kind of bland.
6. The Humans ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 7. Tár ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ 8. Megan ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 9. Sick ⭐⭐⭐ 10. There's Something Wrong with the Children ⭐⭐ 11. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ⭐⭐⭐½
My Spy - A- Killers - D Knives Out - A- Glass Onion - B+ The Good Nurse - A- Shotgun Wedding - B The Woman In The Window - C- The grade is only this high because Amy Adams plays the crazy lead extremely well. The script is an odd mess trying sew together different plot lines to explain her condition. None of the characters are likeable. The direction also tries to make a lot of artsy choices that don't add anything to the overall story. Thunder Force - C+ Is this the kind of comedy we are going to consistently get from Melissa McCarthy for her entire career? She has dramatic muscle, but refuses to use it. Like Will Ferrell, it's growing tedious. The best comedy lines go to Melissa Leo, whose deadpan delivery of them far exceeds any of McCarthy's comedy. Octavia Spencer finds a good balance of drama and comedy, being the most believable character in a fantasy movie. Jason Bateman is in the same boat as McCarthy. Same character, same poor delivery. The movie was fun, but when McCarthy's "comedy" came in, it was bogged down. It lacked any real grounding in reality outside of the scenes between Spencer & her daughter. It would have benefitted from cutting McCarthy's goofiness and developing more of her relationship with Spencer. The Estate - B It had some good laughs and these characters are delightfully unlikeable. They are all horrible, but that's the point.
Alright, my list, so far, this year. The Whale M3GAN A Man Called Otto Plane Avatar: The Way of Water 2D Missing The Father The Son Living Knock at the Cabin 80 for Brady I'll be going to see Titanic 3D with my niece tomorrow, and have tickets reserved to see Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania IMAX this week & Creed III IMAX at an early access screening on March 1st.
I just watched Violent Night. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised they didn't think of this themselves, but the only thing that would've made that movie a better, more fun, ridiculously absurdist farcical romp would have been if Beverly D'Angelo had been married to Chevy Chase, & even though they never get referred to as the Griswold's, both they & their son & daughter all have the same 1st names as the Griswolds. I mean you're already parodying Die Hard movies, & Home Alone, & god knows what other Christmas movies. How can you pass up the opportunity to lampoon Christmas Vacation too?
My Spy - A- Killers - D Knives Out - A- Glass Onion - B+ The Good Nurse - A- Shotgun Wedding - B The Woman In The Window - C- Thunder Force - C+ The Estate - B Cocaine Bear - A- I went into the theatre thinking it was going to be like Snakes On A Plane and it was better. It was a gore movie straight out of a 70's drive-in. You expect characters to make bad choices and see gunshots through heads and bears eating intestines. There isn't a weak link in the casting at all. Ray Liotta is amazing in his final screen role. It isn't Shakespeare by any means, but go enjoy it for the fun. Your Place Or Mine - B It's a Netflix rom-com, so I didn't go into it expect much. But once I saw Tig Notaro's name in the credits, I let out a sigh of relief. She is just as perfect as she is as Jett. Witherspoon and Kutcher are veterans at the rom-com and they are decent, but it's just not my genre.
I saw The Whale last night. It was decent and the Oscar for Frasier was well earned. Kinda didn't like how everyone was so ugly to each other though.