Gendo. 2024.

[Gendo]

I have watched some stuff; just been lazy about posting.

R30. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) - Of course I would watch these right after the James Bond marathon. This really holds up, with a lot of hilarious moments. There were all sorts of little direct nods to specific James Bond movies and moments that I didn't know about whenever I last saw it. Dr. Evil is such a great character and an excellent performance from MIke Meyers.

R31. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) - Better in some ways than the first, but not in every way. Heather Graham wasn't nearly as good as Elizabeth Hurley (acting in both acting and writing). Mini-Me was an excellent addition, and a couple bits are funnier than the funniest bits from the first. I'm not generally a fan of just gross-out humor, so that kind of ruins the character of Fat Bastard for me.

R32. Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) - Definitely not as good as the others, but still some really well done jokes. The opening scene was absolutely amazing. From the overall style being clearly shifted to the Brosnan era Bond films in the action and cinematography, to the reveal of Tom Cruise as Austin Powers. Goldmember was a pretty terrible character overall. But Dr. Evil still shines as clearly the best of the 4 characters Meyers plays.

[Raxivace]

It's been such a long time since I watched the Austin Powers. I remember seeing Goldmember in theaters with my father...gosh, has it really been over 20 years now?

[Gendo]

75. Terrifier (2016) - Pretty good. Maybe helped by the fact that I was super tired when watching it, but I found it actually scary, which is rare for horror movies these days. Although a pretty straight-forward slasher film (normally my least favorite horror genre), it was just really well done. The effects were outstanding, and Art the Clown's performance and costuming was just really creepy. I liked that it was pretty unclear if he was supernatural or not right up until the end.

76. Terrifier 2 (2022) - A very odd departure from the first one. Still impressive effects and overall scary atmosphere. But the story just went in such a bizarre direction. How does a sequel to a very by-the-books slasher film being all about family drama, mysterious pasts, magical swords, long dream sequences, and various random fantasy elements? As a whole, the story just made it not nearly as good as the first one for me. I'm fine with some exploration of lore behind Art, but this just introduced so many things and also didn't really clarify most of them. The question of whether Art is supernatural is already gone either way, but presenting him as completely unkillable takes some of the suspense away. The performances and music were good though.

77. Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) - I liked this a lot. Quite funny in all the ways I was expecting, and I really liked the MCU just owning up to its recent lack of quality. Hugh Jackman gives a great performance, and there's a lot of fun action. The main story/villain wasn't anything special, but I really loved all the various references and cameos. By far my favorite one was Chris Evans as Johnny Storm. The moment when they revealed his character was excellent.

[Gendo]

R33. The Founder (2016) - Why not, I hadn't watched it this year yet. No notes.

R34. The Rocketeer (1991) - A childhood favorite, and it pretty much holds up. Just a fun silly action adventure. Alan Arkin was great, as was Timothy Dalton's villain. Bill Campbell was not very good though. James Horner's score is amazing of course.

[Gendo]

I really need to get back to checking things off my list of stuff to watch though... we did also go through all of Star Trek: Picard over the past few weeks. What a weird show. It should have been easy to simply make a sequel to TNG that could also go more into the future of the federation after the events of DS9. And yet.. no idea what they were thinking or trying. First off, it was nothing like a TV show with 3 seasons. It was like 3 unrelated long movies. The choice to fully separate each season from the last is confusing.

Season 1 had some good stuff, but also really didn't feel like Star Trek. The pacing was bad, with it taking too long to actually get to where it was going (the first 3 episodes are all just setting up the main events; that should have been 1 episode). Then the final 2 episodes basically shift the entire premise of the rest of the season and introduce a new threat.

Season 2 had all of the problems of season 1 but multiplied a bunch. It was just purely bad the whole time.

Season 3 was very suddenly and surprisingly pretty good. Out of nowhere it felt like a Star Trek show again. Fun action and adventure. Good acting and chemistry between the actors. It still has the same weird issue as the previous 2 seasons where the last 2 episodes very suddenly drops the entire plot thread of the rest of the season and introduces a brand new adversary just for those episodes.

[Gendo]

Finally, new stuff.

78. Rock, Rock, Rock! (1956) - Pretty good. A bunch of good early rock-and-roll hits, even including a performance by Chuck Berry. The music was very weirdly paced throughout the movie though. Like there was one scene where the characters were watching TV, and it was just 4-5 musical numbers in a row on the TV program they were watching; completely removing you from the story. But the actual movie itself was pretty cute too.

79. King Kelly of the U.S.A. (1934) - A weird one for sure, but not bad. A kind of confusing story that I guess mostly existed to give Guy Robertson a reason to sing a few numbers. The second half with the King of Belgardia was fairly amusing.

[Gendo]

80. Mansfield Park (1983) - Meh. As with most Jane Austen movies, it didn't particularly grab me. But what stood out for me here was the lack of actual plot points. While all her stuff has a focus on character, there are generally still actual events driving the plot. Here, it's like they couldn't find anything for the characters to actually do. There's one episode in the 6-part miniseries dedicated entirely to the characters deciding out of nowhere they they're going to put on a play. The runtime is then consumed with them fighting over which paly to do, and then whether or not the play they picked is appropriate. And then the dad comes home and they just drop the whole thing without ever putting on the play. I do appreciate the smaller cast here; often in other Austen movies I can't at all keep up with the new characters being introduced in seemingly every-other scene.

R35. Duplex (2003) - Not quite as good as I remembered, but I still like it. Danny DeVito is just so good at mean-spiritedness. I really like Ben Stiller's performance here too. The pacing feels bad, with things ramping up just way too quickly the moment they move into the house. It would be nice to have just a little time in between annoyances before it gets comically unbearable for them. Similarly, the slide into actual attempted murder feels quite sudden.

81. Check and Double Check (1930) - I had heard the names Amos 'N Andy before, but had no idea who they were. Now I know... a radio program about a couple of black guys being voiced by a couple of white guys. And then when they were brought to the big screen in 1930, they just kept the same actors, putting them in blackface. Makes for an awkward viewing to be sure... there have been a few other instances of blackface in these old films, but this is the first one where the main characters are black people played by white people. Aside from that, the movie is basically a poor man's Marx Brothers' film. Some wacky antics, fun acting, and overall somewhat funny. But not a good movie. Not nearly enough connection between the titular characters and the other characters that were actually driving the plot.

[Raxivace]

Yeah minstrel shit in old film is unfortunate.

[Gendo]

We've so far avoided "Minstrel Man" from the same set, but it will probably be coming up soon.

[Gendo]

82. The Soloist (2009) - It was good, but it also felt somewhat hollow/empty. Maybe just because it could have been better, given the premise and talent behind it. Jamie Foxx really nailed it, but it wasn't Downey's best work. The overall relationship between the two was really done well. The music was great, but the actual way music played into the themes and film as a whole was lacking. Ultimately it didn't have much meaning outside of a reason for the reporter to take interest in him in the first place. It was still great whenever Foxx was talking about and showing how much the music meant to him, though.

83. Black Tights (1960) - Plenty of great music and impressive dancing. Not really a movie in the usual sense.. just 4 separate French Ballets, slightly linked through a narrator. Also, directed by Terence Young of James Bond fame. Though not something where the director would have a whole lot to do with the overall product... 95% of the film was the older ballet footage.

84. Pig (2021) - Excellent. I'd heard lots of good stuff, and I see why. Overall just a very solid film; with a great atmosphere, great cinematography, great performances, and great themes. It does a mostly good job of giving exposition subtly without dumping it on you, though there were a couple different parts where I feel like it could have benefited from more direct clarity. I enjoyed the world building, though it didn't all fit well into the overall character arc and themes. It kind of felt like they were establishing a John Wick style world in some ways, but with chefs instead of assassins. But the actual characters and plot was extremely grounded.

[Lord_Lyndon]

84. Pig (2021) - Excellent. I'd heard lots of good stuff, and I see why. Overall just a very solid film; with a great atmosphere, great cinematography, great performances, and great themes. It does a mostly good job of giving exposition subtly without dumping it on you, though there were a couple different parts where I feel like it could have benefited from more direct clarity. I enjoyed the world building, though it didn't all fit well into the overall character arc and themes. It kind of felt like they were establishing a John Wick style world in some ways, but with chefs instead of assassins. But the actual characters and plot was extremely grounded.

I really enjoyed this one. I've always been madly in love with Nicolas Cage, and this film is considered as one of his best films of the last 15 years.

[Gendo]

Yeah I found your post on it here after I wrote mine up and agreed with all of it.

[Gendo]

85. Passengers (2016) - A good movie buried within a bad movie, or maybe a bad movie buried within a good movie, not sure which. It was kind of like 3 separate movie ideas, and although they were blended together pretty well, only one of them was handled decently; the other two were handled quite poorly. Everything before he woke her up was pretty good. Good worldbuilding with seeing how the ship works, etc. And I also liked most of the last act about working to save the ship. So I could see a good movie there; just him and the bartender stuck alone. Maybe he imagines a life with Aurora just to keep himself sane, but he never actually wakes her up.

But then there was the whole moral dilemma thing about the temptation to wake her up and giving into it. That whole process was way too rushed; maybe it could have worked if we saw him slowly slip into madness over the years before finally succumbing to temptation. Other than him coming right out and discussing the moral issues at stake, the film has no real interest in exploring that morality or the themes there. And then there's the "romance" film, written with scare quotes because just ugh. Aside from the tired "liar revealed" cliché, there's the fact that him waking her up was so obviously beyond a place of redemption, so that any romance between them just comes off as very icky. Her reaction to finding out the truth was pretty good; but that's mostly undone by the ending. And while a romance almost feels inevitable if you're for all intents and purposes the last 2 people on earth, it still seems like the movie would have been better had they completely left that all out and kept it strictly platonic.

[Lord_Lyndon]

85. Passengers (2016) - A good movie buried within a bad movie, or maybe a bad movie buried within a good movie, not sure which. It was kind of like 3 separate movie ideas, and although they were blended together pretty well, only one of them was handled decently; the other two were handled quite poorly. Everything before he woke her up was pretty good. Good worldbuilding with seeing how the ship works, etc. And I also liked most of the last act about working to save the ship. So I could see a good movie there; just him and the bartender stuck alone. Maybe he imagines a life with Aurora just to keep himself sane, but he never actually wakes her up.

But then there was the whole moral dilemma thing about the temptation to wake her up and giving into it. That whole process was way too rushed; maybe it could have worked if we saw him slowly slip into madness over the years before finally succumbing to temptation. Other than him coming right out and discussing the moral issues at stake, the film has no real interest in exploring that morality or the themes there. And then there's the "romance" film, written with scare quotes because just ugh. Aside from the tired "liar revealed" cliché, there's the fact that him waking her up was so obviously beyond a place of redemption, so that any romance between them just comes off as very icky. Her reaction to finding out the truth was pretty good; but that's mostly undone by the ending. And while a romance almost feels inevitable if you're for all intents and purposes the last 2 people on earth, it still seems like the movie would have been better had they completely left that all out and kept it strictly platonic.

What a wonderful write-up, Gendo! I really enjoyed reading it! I agree that this movie felt like '3 separate movie ideas', but it mostly worked for me. I pretty much enjoyed it from beginning to end. I was also really charmed by two leading performances by Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. I would also like to recommend another Chris Pratt movie called The Tomorrow War (2021). I would really love to hear your opinion on this one, because it is another one of those divisive movies like Passengers (2016).

[Gendo]

R36. Fight Club (1999) - Pretty much an overall perfect movie. It just so perfectly captures the turn of the century, yet doesn't feel dated either.

86. Mixed Baggage (2022) - Typical Hallmark Channel stuff. Fairly cute, but filled with just far too many tired tropes and lack of originality.

R37. Sister Act (1992) - Excellent. Great music, and a wonderful performance from Maggie Smith. I've seen it a bunch but not in a very long time; it completely holds up.

[Gendo]

87. Mr. Mom (1983) - Pretty good. John Hughes is just so good at evoking emotion in general. The story seems like it would be very cliché, but it goes in a few different interesting directions. Even though I hate the whole "lol men can't be parents" thing, I have to give it a little pass for being 40 ago. And Michael Keaton is always a win.

88. The Borrowers (1973) - Very weird movie. The way they show the tiny people was pretty cool; quite a convincing effect. The characters were generally amusing. Not a whole lot to say about the plot though; it didn't much hold my interest.

[Gendo]

89. The Man with My Face (1951) - Pretty good. I haven't seen a lot of film noir, but I enjoyed the suspense/tension of this. It wasn't a masterpiece or anything, but I enjoyed the overall story; it felt like a combination of North by Northwest, True Lies, and Unknown.

[Gendo]

90. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! (1978) - Quite funny. I'd heard of this before but really didn't know anything about it. Some standard parody-type stuff, clearly taking some queues from Monty Python and Mel Brooks. But it made me laugh plenty. It wasn't well-made by any means, but that was part of the charm. I read that it cost $100,000 to make... and $60,000 of that ended up getting blown on having to pay for a rented helicopter that they crashed while filming.

91. Gung Ho (1986) - Really good. I think at this point I can put Michael Keaton among my favorite actors overall. It was the perfect balance of comedy and drama, and just an overall good story with a very charming cast.

92. Wild Mountain Thyme (2020) - Very pretty scenery and great music. Beyond that it was pretty cute, but not much of an interesting story. And 2 of the leads being famous non-Irish people with fake accents was distracting.

[Gendo]

I watched a film over a week ago but have been lazy.

93. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) - RIP Maggie Smith. This was pretty good. A great ensemble cast; Dev Patel managed to stand out among a bunch of greats. It was overall heartwarming and fun. Will get to the sequel soon.

[Raxivace]

I remember liking that okay years ago, but nothing specific about it. I have the sequel but never got around to watching it.

[Gendo]

94. They Live (1988) - Great! Just a lot of fun; didn't take itself at all seriously while avoiding being silly to the point of stupid. I really like how after a half hour of just getting to know the world, the main character gets his hands on a gun and very suddenly it's an action movie. The fight in the ally with Keith David was quite entertaining, despite taking a lot of time away from the actual plot. Also, I never would have recognized Keith David; never seen him nearly that young. The social commentary was good, but I especially liked how Carpenter had no interest at all in making it subtle or clever; it was just outright in your face screaming at you what the point was. Easy to see why this is known as a classic.

[Gendo]

Wow it's been a full month. I've watched so few movies since finishing the Bond marathon. Largely because I watched through all of Due South over the past month or so. If you don't know, it's a Canadian buddy cop comedy / police procedural from the 90s. About a Mountie who comes to Chicago on the trail of his father's killer, and for reasons not worth exploring at this time stayed attached as liaison to the Canadian consulate. As a whole it was pretty good. Just goofy and funny fun. The main character and actor was great as a whole. The chemistry between the original two leads was great. Unfortunately halfway through they replaced his partner with a new partner who was never quite as good. Anyway, worth a watch. So, movies!

R38. Beetlejuice (1988) - Great stuff. Not my favorite Burton film by far, but certainly well within the camp of "his good stuff". It's just so very unique and creative. The music is excellent of course. Michael Keaton does an amazing amount with just a tiny bit of actual screen time. And Catherine O'Hara also somewhat steals the show. The actual leads were mostly forgettable, and their relationship was Lydia was weirdly forced.

95. A Simple Favor (2018) - What an odd film... as a whole not that great, but mostly entertaining enough. I don't know if it was the writing or the acting, but Anna Kendrick was pretty terrible. Her character just didn't make any sense to me; I never really got a feel for what they were going for with her. On the other hand, Blake Lively was great in it. Her character didn't feel "real" at all, but at least she had a character. The tone of the film was what didn't work the most. It's listed a a "thriller/comedy", and there was indeed an attempt and making both a thriller and a comedy. The problem is, they just didn't work together at all. Normally I like cross-genre films, but the blending of genres has to be done well. This felt like the comedy was very unnatural and forced, and just took away the parts that were actually suspenseful. The initial mystery was good and I found myself quite engaged with it. But It just went on to get more and more ridiculous. Basically just Gone Girl meets Wild Things. Except Wild Things was non-stop fun.

[Gendo]

96. All Hallows' Eve (2013) - The first Terrifier movie (is it called a prequel, or is that reserved for when it comes out after but takes place before?). I really liked this! The same low-budget but creative horror stuff as the first Terrifier. The film structure was fun, with it being 3 separate short films tied together with a main story. It was actually scary... not super scary, but lot of horror films just don't feel scary at all. Art is just always fun, but I really enjoyed the other monsters here. The alien design was quite good.

[Gendo]

R38. Catch Me If You Can (2002) - Always been a pretty big fan of this. Great music, and it might be my favorite Christopher Walken performance.

97. The Invisible Man (2020) - Pretty solid thriller. I thought it was neat that they went with technology over biology in terms of the suit giving invisibility. Good suspense, and an interesting villain. I do wish the ending had gone a bit darker. It just all wrapped up way too neatly for my tastes; I was kind of expecting an unsettling "she's not sure if he's really still out there or not" type thing.

98. Barbarian (2022) - Good horror film. Bill Skarsgård was pretty great, and I enjoyed the sudden shifts in perspectives. The monster was creative and scary. I especially enjoyed the reveal of the decrepit town. Justin Long plays a pretty good person you love to hate. I'm not sure how I felt about the way he almost started to have a redemption arc only to very quickly turn away from that. The allegory/themes were done pretty well also.

99. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015) - Feel-good fun; I think I liked it a little more than the first one. Probably because it had a bit more focus on Dev Patel. Still great acting from all the cast.

100. Tusk (2014) - Very weird. Michael Parks was great and the best part of the film. I appreciate that they went all-out for the actual walrus effects, it looked pretty great. But the basic plot was just a pretty lame retelling of Misery combined with The Human Centipede. And the supporting characters were lame. I also didn't get the ending at all; it simply makes no sense... why wouldn't they try to get him help? I suppose it's possible that they did but there was absolutely nothing that could be done, but in a world where the first surgery is possible, it's hard to buy that nothing could be done.

[Gendo]

101. Moonfall (2022) - Everyone said this was terrible. I wonder though if those people just don't like most Roland Emmerich movies (which could be understandable)... because to me this was about as good as most of them. Nothing great or amazing, but plenty of over-the-top fun. This felt a little more epic in scale than others. It was a little weird how little detail there was on the actual scope of the effects of the problem. At least up until the "real threat" is discussed, they never really said if they were looking at the end of all life on earth, or just a pretty big disaster. The mission to save the earth also felt almost shoehorned in, as opposed to being the main plot focus like you would expect. But, it was still a great big spectacle with some very interesting visuals. It could have been shorter... you could cut out all the courtroom and jail stuff without missing anything, as well as the random carjacking gang.