Running out of thread titles - Gendo's 2021 movie list

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Jan 04, 2021 6:06 pm

Rewatch 1. Me, Myself & Irene - I used to like this movie. What a mistake that was. I think it's because at the time it came out, I was a huge Jim Carrey fan and just automatically liked anything he was in. It's pretty bad, though. The character of Whitey is maybe the one good thing. Perhaps the only bad movie with Chris Cooper in it?

R2. Shrek - Still good. The jokes aren't weren't as funny this time around, but still a unique and creative movie. Great music, clever dialogue, and pretty to look at even if some of the animation is a bit choppy by today's standards.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Jan 04, 2021 7:45 pm

Goal for 2021... have fewer than 200 movies in my collection that I haven't seen by the end of the year. Should be do-able since I watched 148 first-time movies in 2020... but also depends on how many movies I buy this year lol.

Post by **Gendo** » Wed Jan 06, 2021 11:20 pm

Well 1 week into the new year and so far my list of unseen movies has increased by 3. Bad start.

Cassius Clay · Post by **Cassius Clay** » Fri Jan 08, 2021 9:23 am

Gendo wrote:Rewatch 1. Me, Myself & Irene - I used to like this movie. What a mistake that was. I think it's because at the time it came out, I was a huge Jim Carrey fan and just automatically liked anything he was in. It's pretty bad, though. The character of Whitey is maybe the one good thing. Perhaps the only bad movie with Chris Cooper in it?

R2. Shrek - Still good. The jokes aren't weren't as funny this time around, but still a unique and creative movie. Great music, clever dialogue, and pretty to look at even if some of the animation is a bit choppy by today's standards.

I've got a soft spot for Me, Myself & Irene for some reason. I haven't seen it in a long ass time, but I'm aware it's wildly outdated and couldn't be made today.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:59 pm

Ok, finally.

1. Resolution - I really liked it. The atmosphere and characters were a lot of fun. I do feel like it needed a more fleshed-out ending. One of those movies where a smart explanation or twist could have really made it into a great movie; but I don't feel like it had that. It's largely left for the viewer to decide what's happening, at least until The Endless comes along with more explanation.

2. The Endless - I think I preferred Resolution; but still good. The characters and setup weren't as relatable here. Still a good creepy atmosphere. The whole time-looping thing is a pretty great concept; I just feel like it could have been more concretely explored. Like Resolution, it largely deals with it on a more thematic level than a clear explanation of what is happening.

Will be bringing further discussion over to The Endless's thread.

Post by **Gendo** » Fri Jan 15, 2021 5:02 pm

3. Quest for Camelot - Not bad. Gary Oldman plays a fun villain like usual. The songs were fun though not particularly memorable, except for The Prayer, of course... I had no idea that came from a movie before. Also the animation, while pretty, was amazingly out-of-date. When the movie started I thought it looked pretty good for a late 1980s animated film. Then I found out that it was made in 1998! 4 years after The Lion King. Horrible in comparison.

Lord_Lyndon · Post by **Lord_Lyndon** » Sun Jan 17, 2021 4:27 am

Gendo wrote:Rewatch 1. Me, Myself & Irene - I used to like this movie. What a mistake that was. I think it's because at the time it came out, I was a huge Jim Carrey fan and just automatically liked anything he was in. It's pretty bad, though. The character of Whitey is maybe the one good thing. Perhaps the only bad movie with Chris Cooper in it?

I saw Me, Myself & Irene a long time ago (more than once) and, just like Cassius Clay, I have really fond memories of the film. I was always a huge Jim Carrey fan, and I remember his character in the film having some kind of split personality, which led to some really funny situations.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Jan 19, 2021 3:39 am

4. The Farmer's Wife - I liked it! Who would have thought Hitchcock would do a romantic comedy. Also never seen a silent romantic comedy before. There were a lot of funny moments, even if it was a bit slow in some parts. Gordon Harker was also really good.

5. The Manxman - Another silent romance film by Hitchcock. Not a comedy, though. A basic love triangle story. It felt really slow; just dragged in some parts. The story itself was pretty good; but overall a mostly boring film.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Jan 26, 2021 1:17 am

6. The Miracle Worker - Excellent. Strong performances from everyone; and the story was quite powerful. I really like the way that it's as much about raising children in general as it is about dealing with a child who is blind and deaf. I do wish it would have shown more about the advancement of Keller's language skills beyond the initial breakthrough; but that would be a different movie I suppose. I just find it so amazing that it could really get from the point we see in the film to her actually being able to fully communicate.

R4. Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Still the best Monty Python movie; one of the best comedies of all-time. I found myself still laughing hard at a lot of parts; despite having seen it several times. The music is also excellent.

Post by **Gendo** » Fri Jan 29, 2021 10:26 pm

7. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World - It was ok. Less interesting than the first 2; didn't really offer than much in terms of story. The visuals were nice, though.

Also, first time actually watching a 4K movie in our theater... despite having had a 4K projector and receiver for over 2 years; and a small handful of 4K movies; only finally just now got a 4K player. I'm actually not sure if I could tell much difference between it and blu-ray; which is probably mostly a testament to my projector's upscaling abilities.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Feb 01, 2021 3:50 pm

R5. Iron Man - Is this a perfect superhero movie? Well no, but it comes pretty close. The villain is weak; as everyone has talked about. But it's an origin / character development story; not a hero vs villain story. Downey might be the best fit I've ever seen for an actor choice for a super hero. The reason for this particular watch is that we have a nearby family member who hasn't seen any MCU stuff and wants to. Same reason we watched Guardians 1 and 2 recently. So I'll be re-watching a lot more MCU coming up. Not the whole thing though; I'll skip over some of the ones I don't care for as much.

8. East of Shanghai - A.K.A. Rich and Strange. Apparently the title was changed for the U.S. release. What a weird movie. The plot itself is pretty insane... the shipwreck scene seems to come out of nowhere and practically change the genre of the movie. Though I do see how it serve the same overall story. There's also a a bunch of silent film techniques mixed-in; which just feels awkward.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:01 pm

Iron Man is the best MCU movie and is also the best superhero movie to come out in 2008.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:31 pm

Derived Absurdity wrote:Iron Man is the best MCU movie and is also the best superhero movie to come out in 2008.

I see what you did there. I have no idea how to compare this to The Dark Knight. If you use "Superhero" as a genre loosely enough; then you could say that they are both the same genre. But they are so very different from one another. I love them both. Iron Man is a lot more fun.

Raxivace · Post by **Raxivace** » Wed Feb 03, 2021 12:12 am

I don't see how you could argue they aren't the same genre tbh. Like the tones are pretty different, but I think that's about it.

Derived Absurdity · Post by **Derived Absurdity** » Wed Feb 03, 2021 5:33 am

Iron Man was fairly serious if I remember correctly, at least compared to later installments. It wasn't grimdark, but it was serious. Even there there wasn't a whole lot of difference.

Post by **Gendo** » Wed Feb 03, 2021 5:45 am

Raxivace wrote:I don't see how you could argue they aren't the same genre tbh. Like the tones are pretty different, but I think that's about it.

Yeah I was using tone as a part of genre I suppose.

Post by **Gendo** » Wed Feb 03, 2021 3:23 pm

R3. The Belko Experiment - 3rd rewatch of the year? Yes! Apparently I completely forgot to write this up when I watched it several weeks ago. I've edited my other couple posts to fix the numbering. Anyway, this movie is great. It's kind of like Cube, but not quite as good. Also anything with John C. McGinley automatically jumps up a few rankings.

Eva Yojimbo · Post by **Eva Yojimbo** » Sun Feb 07, 2021 6:08 am

Gendo wrote:R2. Shrek - Still good. The jokes aren't weren't as funny this time around, but still a unique and creative movie. Great music, clever dialogue, and pretty to look at even if some of the animation is a bit choppy by today's standards.

Loved this when I saw it in theaters as a teen. Only seen it once since but it held up then.

Gendo wrote:4. The Farmer's Wife - I liked it! Who would have thought Hitchcock would do a romantic comedy. Also never seen a silent romantic comedy before. There were a lot of funny moments, even if it was a bit slow in some parts. Gordon Harker was also really good.

5. The Manxman - Another silent romance film by Hitchcock. Not a comedy, though. A basic love triangle story. It felt really slow; just dragged in some parts. The story itself was pretty good; but overall a mostly boring film.

More silent Hitch's I've basically forgotten about.

Gendo wrote:6. The Miracle Worker -

R4. Monty Python and the Holy Grail -

The Miracle Worker was a great surprise for me; one of the few films my mom recommended that I ended up really liking. I agree with everything. I may have a review of it somewhere... Holy Grail is close with Life of Brian for my favorite Python.

Gendo wrote:R5. Iron Man -

Certainly one of the best superhero films, but I'd have difficulty ranking them because I think most of them are good and bad for very similar reasons. I always feel like I'm splitting hairs.

Post by **Gendo** » Wed Feb 10, 2021 3:00 pm

R6. The Circle - Still good. I think I liked it a little more this time; maybe because I knew more what to expect. I think it has a lot of missed potential terms of how it presented its message; a little subtlety could have gone a long way here. They really should have been much less in-your-face with how obviously terrifying their future was; instead just dropping minor hints. Still though, it works so well because their future is so realistic given today's world. They present what seems to be a natural ending for the path we are currently on. Not surprisingly, Karen Gillan stands out as giving the strongest performance.

Post by **Gendo** » Fri Feb 12, 2021 5:17 pm

R7. American Psycho - This film is hilarious in all the right ways. Clever satire; in some parts it has the same lack of subtlety that The Circle has, while other places have great subtlety. It just really works as a whole. Bale is great at playing a non-human pretending to be human; but I don't really like his performance when he's just being his true self. I also really like the way that basically every character is as inhuman as Bateman himself; just in different ways.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:22 pm

R8. Iron Man 2 - This movie seems to be generally not well-liked, but I think it's great. it's definitely missing a lot of the polish of the first one in terms of just overall filmmaking, but it has a lot of really good stuff. The villain is far more interesting than the first one, even if ultimately it does come down to another Iron Man clone vs Iron Man battle. The suitcase suit-up is probably the coolest Iron Man suiting up in the entire MCU, maybe because of how much it advanced from the first movie. The cool ways of suiting up that we see in later movies don't quite impress as much because by that point we've accepted that Tony can build anything. And then of course there's Sam Rockwell.

R9. Antz - I've always loved this movie. I guess it tends to be overlooked because A Bug's Life came out the same year, but they really are completely different types of movies. They're both animated and both have insects as all the main characters, but that's where the similarities end. Antz is a lot more mature in my opinion, though I should give A Bug's Life a rewatch at some point; not remembering it all that well. The animation in Antz might not be the prettiest thing to look at, but I really like the styles of the characters and how they look like the actors playing them. The various metaphors and commentary in the movie is great. Also, the music is amazing.

Post by **Gendo** » Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:10 pm

9. Monsters University - It was fine. Lacked a lot of the originality and charm of the first one. I also think that as a general rule, prequels just don't work for me; they just often don't end up working as a good medium for storytelling. Just because I like characters that are introduced in a movie doesn't mean I care to see younger versions of those characters or find out how they met. There are some exceptions, like Smallville.

10. Home - Surprisingly good. A lot of really interesting design and visuals for things. The broken English dialect bugged me at the beginning, but I got used to it and liked it by the end. It's a bit more childish and immature than most kid's movies that I'm used to, at least until the end. One of the only things I didn't like was the multiple Rihanna songs; I just don't generally like most of her stuff.

R10. The World's End - Still a great movie. I do wish I could forget it completely so I can watch it again for the first time; just to experience the surprise shift part of the way into the movie. Simon Pegg really kills it here; a great performance.

Post by **Gendo** » Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:30 pm

Let's try a real post!

R11. Thor - The beginning and the end are pretty good. Not great throughout the middle. Hemsworth shows that he definitely has talent. I don't remember what I said about this movie 2 years ago; but it's mostly forgettable... I've seen it 3-4 times, and every time I can't remember what happens in the movie.

R12. Yesterday - I still love it. Maybe even moreso the second time. Aside from being an actually interesting and different story; it's just executed really well. The love story is great, and doesn't feel clichéd even though we've seen "best friends where one has always been in love with the other" a bunch of times. The music is really excellent.

R13. Serving Sara - Stupid, but cute. Maybe I just really like Matthew Perry. It has a few different good moments, but as a whole it's not exactly a good movie. Some of the comedy works; but a lot of it really doesn't.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:19 am

11. Soul - The newest Pixar feature. I have mixed feelings on it because I wasn't all that interested at first; but then it got better and better as it went along. The animation and visuals were different from what I'm used to from Pixar. More creative; not as overall beautiful and amazing to look at. It presents a lot of very interesting ideas. Definitely something I want to watch again. Also, a great soundtrack by Trent Reznor... I didn't even realize he did movie scores; but apparently he's done several good ones.

R14. The Avengers - Best MCU to this point; slightly overtops Iron Man. Similar to Iron Man, the villain is very shallow and one-note (if you only count him as he appears in this movie... Loki throughout the series is a great character). But he's a lot more charming and fun to watch. Mark Ruffalo does an excellent job at portraying someone who is at his breaking point at all times. There are a lot of great lines; and Samuel L. Jackson also finally gets to shine. And then there's the excellent Silvestri score. Basically just all around a great superhero team-up movie.

Faustus5 · Post by **Faustus5** » Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:51 pm

Gendo wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:19 am Also, a great soundtrack by Trent Reznor... I didn't even realize he did movie scores; but apparently he's done several good ones.

Dude, where have you been? He and his creative partner have an Oscar under their belt and as a team they are one of the best soundtrack composers working today!

Raxivace · Post by **Raxivace** » Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:25 pm

Yeah even in something I don't particularly enjoy like HBO's Watchmen, Reznor delivers pretty good music.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Mar 01, 2021 4:59 am

R15. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle - One of the few movies in this genre that I like. It mostly holds up; though I liked it better in college. It has a few great lines, and Kal Penn is good overall. And Christopher Meloni is a favorite as always.

12. Upgrade - Really good. Don't remember where I even heard about this, movie, because I don't know how well-known it is. But it lived up to what I was hoping for. A stupidly obvious twist that I didn't at all see coming; which leaves me not knowing if I just wasn't paying attention, or if it's actually brilliant.

R16. The Terminal - Very charming movie. I've seen it multiple times but not in a long time. It was sillier than I remembered in some parts; but still just overall a joy to watch. And always good to see a movie with a different story than is usually done. Hanks is great, of course.

13. The 39 Steps (1935) - Not bad. As with many of the old Hitchcock films, I found it a bit hard to follow and felt like it required extra brain power just to pay attention to. It also feels like the same story I saw in both Young and Innocent and The Man Who Knew Too Much.

14. Secret Agent - Also not bad, but it's a pretty standard spy film, and I happen to not really enjoy any spy films. Even Peter Lorre didn't really make it interesting for me. I did enjoy the chemistry between the various characters.

Post by **Gendo** » Thu Mar 04, 2021 3:16 pm

15. Tenet - Finally! Did it live up to the hype? Hard to say; because there sure was a lot of hype. It's very much a Nolan film; if you don't like Nolan you probably wouldn't like it. If you do like Nolan you'll probably love it. I love Nolan, and I really liked this film. It was constantly engaging throughout; even when things were a bit hard to follow, I never found myself bored or just waiting for the end. The visuals were simply great to look at. Kenneth Branagh stole the spotlight with his over-the-top but also somewhat complex villain. It is definitely a movie that is intended to be watched more than once. A few things are guessable the first time around; but other things really only make sense after you've seen the whole thing. Was it Nolan's masterpiece? Probably not, but it could be. At least a second watch is needed to answer that. Was it Nolan's worst film? Obviously not; Dark Knight Rises still exists.

Post by **Gendo** » Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:12 pm

16. Champagne - The last silent Hitchcock on my list. I tried to get into it, but it was just mostly boring. It had a few visually pleasing parts; and the thing with the dancing scene zooming out into a still photograph was really cool... I actually have no idea how that was done. Also, it's interesting that for all of the other silent films; I didn't recognize any of the music, but for this one, I knew 3 of the pieces. It lead me down a path of trying to find out if the music for silent films is actually chosen as part of making the film; or just something that anyone distributing it chooses to add in later. It sounds like closer to the latter; which is a shame.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Mar 09, 2021 10:09 pm

R17. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Very good film; but really can't compare it to others in the MCU thus far. It really doesn't feel like a superhero movie at all. More of a Bond-type film, really.

Post by **Gendo** » Sat Mar 13, 2021 5:07 am

17. Blackmail - The final Hitchcock of my collection. I have now seen a total of 23 Hitchcock films, plus 2 episodes of Presents. This was ok. Really slow in some parts, with certain things feeling really drawn-out between actual events happening. The attempted rape scene was jarring; just not something I expect from an older film. There were a few different times when the visuals worked really well, and it had some good suspense. Also, it was basically part silent-film... apparently it was actually first filmed as a silent film; and then another version was made by re-filming some scenes with sound, as well as taking some of the silent footage and dubbing over it with voices. Both versions apparently exist; I have the talkie version.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Mar 15, 2021 3:18 pm

R18. Avengers: Age of Ultron - This movie has flaws, but I like it a lot more than most people seem to; I think it holds up as a decent sequel. The flaws... near the beginning; there's some really bad CG used in the action scene. I felt like the Twins' changing sides was somewhat forced and sudden; there wasn't any real arc developed there. And I also found it a bit hard to believe that Tony would jump into trying to create Vision so soon after what happened when he tried to create Ultron... the recklessness of creating Ultron seemed like the perfect level of recklessness for Tony. Simply trying basically the same thing again afterwards just seems like insanity (and of course it just so happens to end up being a good thing this time). But that aside, there's some really good writing in the dialog, and James Spader is just pure entertainment.

18. Suddenly (1954) - Really good. Started out a bit slow, but once the main plot really started, it was good suspense consistently from there. Sinatra was a lot of fun; I haven't really seen many things with him at all. Apparently there was a remake in 2013, directed by Uwe Boll of all people. I kind of want to see that one just to see how they managed to screw it up, lol.

Faustus5 · Post by **Faustus5** » Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:55 pm

Gendo wrote: ↑Mon Mar 15, 2021 3:18 pm R18. Avengers: Age of Ultron - This movie has flaws, but I like it a lot more than most people seem to; I think it holds up as a decent sequel. The flaws... near the beginning; there's some really bad CG used in the action scene. I felt like the Twins' changing sides was somewhat forced and sudden; there wasn't any real arc developed there. And I also found it a bit hard to believe that Tony would jump into trying to create Vision so soon after what happened when he tried to create Ultron... the recklessness of creating Ultron seemed like the perfect level of recklessness for Tony. Simply trying basically the same thing again afterwards just seems like insanity (and of course it just so happens to end up being a good thing this time). But that aside, there's some really good writing in the dialog, and James Spader is just pure entertainment.

Re-watched this recently since so much of it is important to Wandavision, and I found that I liked it a lot more second time around with the new context of seeing where things would ultimately lead.

Lord_Lyndon · Post by **Lord_Lyndon** » Fri Mar 19, 2021 1:21 am

6. The Miracle Worker - Excellent. Strong performances from everyone; and the story was quite powerful. I really like the way that it's as much about raising children in general as it is about dealing with a child who is blind and deaf. I do wish it would have shown more about the advancement of Keller's language skills beyond the initial breakthrough; but that would be a different movie I suppose. I just find it so amazing that it could really get from the point we see in the film to her actually being able to fully communicate.

I saw this a long time ago and it was very good. I remember Anne Bancroft being great in it.

R5. Iron Man - Is this a perfect superhero movie? Well no, but it comes pretty close. The villain is weak; as everyone has talked about. But it's an origin / character development story; not a hero vs villain story. Downey might be the best fit I've ever seen for an actor choice for a super hero. The reason for this particular watch is that we have a nearby family member who hasn't seen any MCU stuff and wants to. Same reason we watched Guardians 1 and 2 recently. So I'll be re-watching a lot more MCU coming up. Not the whole thing though; I'll skip over some of the ones I don't care for as much.

Like I said: this is my favourite MCU film.

R7. American Psycho - This film is hilarious in all the right ways. Clever satire; in some parts it has the same lack of subtlety that The Circle has, while other places have great subtlety. It just really works as a whole. Bale is great at playing a non-human pretending to be human; but I don't really like his performance when he's just being his true self. I also really like the way that basically every character is as inhuman as Bateman himself; just in different ways.

I saw this a long time ago. I only remember one scene when Bale hacks down Jared Leto. It was a funny scene.

R8. Iron Man 2 - This movie seems to be generally not well-liked, but I think it's great. it's definitely missing a lot of the polish of the first one in terms of just overall filmmaking, but it has a lot of really good stuff. The villain is far more interesting than the first one, even if ultimately it does come down to another Iron Man clone vs Iron Man battle. The suitcase suit-up is probably the coolest Iron Man suiting up in the entire MCU, maybe because of how much it advanced from the first movie. The cool ways of suiting up that we see in later movies don't quite impress as much because by that point we've accepted that Tony can build anything. And then of course there's Sam Rockwell.

I thought this one was only good. I enjoyed it, though.

R11. Thor - The beginning and the end are pretty good. Not great throughout the middle. Hemsworth shows that he definitely has talent. I don't remember what I said about this movie 2 years ago; but it's mostly forgettable... I've seen it 3-4 times, and every time I can't remember what happens in the movie.

My favourite scenes from this one are ones involving humans not believing Thor is some kind of god when he falls down to Earth and thinking he is some kind of mentally ill person. I thought those were hilarious. Not a fan of the rest of the film.

R14. The Avengers - Best MCU to this point; slightly overtops Iron Man. Similar to Iron Man, the villain is very shallow and one-note (if you only count him as he appears in this movie... Loki throughout the series is a great character). But he's a lot more charming and fun to watch. Mark Ruffalo does an excellent job at portraying someone who is at his breaking point at all times. There are a lot of great lines; and Samuel L. Jackson also finally gets to shine. And then there's the excellent Silvestri score. Basically just all around a great superhero team-up movie.

I loved this one, but I still prefer Iron Man.

R16. The Terminal - Very charming movie. I've seen it multiple times but not in a long time. It was sillier than I remembered in some parts; but still just overall a joy to watch. And always good to see a movie with a different story than is usually done. Hanks is great, of course.

One of many Spielberg's films I've seen. I remember it being good, but it's not one of my favourite films of his.

15. Tenet - Finally! Did it live up to the hype? Hard to say; because there sure was a lot of hype. It's very much a Nolan film; if you don't like Nolan you probably wouldn't like it. If you do like Nolan you'll probably love it. I love Nolan, and I really liked this film. It was constantly engaging throughout; even when things were a bit hard to follow, I never found myself bored or just waiting for the end. The visuals were simply great to look at. Kenneth Branagh stole the spotlight with his over-the-top but also somewhat complex villain. It is definitely a movie that is intended to be watched more than once. A few things are guessable the first time around; but other things really only make sense after you've seen the whole thing. Was it Nolan's masterpiece? Probably not, but it could be. At least a second watch is needed to answer that. Was it Nolan's worst film? Obviously not; Dark Knight Rises still exists.

Yeah, Tenet was fantastic. I agree with everything you said. It was one of my best viewing experiences last year.

R17. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Very good film; but really can't compare it to others in the MCU thus far. It really doesn't feel like a superhero movie at all. More of a Bond-type film, really.

This was entertaining. I loved the spectacular finale.

R18. Avengers: Age of Ultron - This movie has flaws, but I like it a lot more than most people seem to; I think it holds up as a decent sequel. The flaws... near the beginning; there's some really bad CG used in the action scene. I felt like the Twins' changing sides was somewhat forced and sudden; there wasn't any real arc developed there. And I also found it a bit hard to believe that Tony would jump into trying to create Vision so soon after what happened when he tried to create Ultron... the recklessness of creating Ultron seemed like the perfect level of recklessness for Tony. Simply trying basically the same thing again afterwards just seems like insanity (and of course it just so happens to end up being a good thing this time). But that aside, there's some really good writing in the dialog, and James Spader is just pure entertainment.

Those flaws you mentioned didn't bother me at all. I really enjoyed this one.

Post by **Gendo** » Sat Mar 20, 2021 5:01 am

R19. Captain America: Civil War - This is very good. Probably better than last time I saw it. Maybe not quite as tight in overall quality as Winter Solider; but the emotion of the film really lands. And the airport fight scene just really holds up.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 2:46 pm

R20. Doctor Strange - This one just isn't all that good. There are some fun visuals that are really interesting to look at; especially in 3D. But the story just isn't interesting. Doctor Strange's character is kind of bad. I get that it's supposed to be a jerk-turns-hero story, but we already got a great version of that in Iron Man. I think one of the reasons that it was so much better in Iron Man is that we only saw a very little bit of Tony being unlikeable in the film. It was enough to clearly establish what type of person this was, but we weren't subjected to watching him be a jerk. Doctor Strange spends most of the film being unlikeable. And I'm not sure he's even likeable by the end. As I mentioned before, by the time he shows up in Infinity War, he's really likeable there. Also, the music is practically the same as Star Trek 2009. Same composer. I noticed it last time, but just looked it up and apparently a lot of people noticed it.

19. Till The Clouds Roll By - Good movie. Biopic about Jerome Kern, whom I hadn't heard of before. There was some good music in it; though a lot of it wasn't the style of music I generally like. But the performances were really solid, and the story of the friendship between the 2 main guys was just a great story.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Mar 30, 2021 2:29 pm

R21. Spider-Man: Homecoming - There's some really good writing in here, in terms of dialogue and overall story. The villain is the best up to this point in the MCU, and the scene between Peter and Tony after the ferry is still one of the best scenes out there. And Ned completely steal the show.

Post by **Gendo** » Thu Apr 01, 2021 3:06 pm

20. 41 - By pure coincidence, the 41st movie I watched this year (20+21) was 41. Great movie. $5,000 budget, and it doesn't show. Like a cross between Primer and The Butterfly Effect; 2 of my favorite movies. The story itself was pretty obvious and a bit clichéd, but it atmosphere and dialogue made it work. It had some excellent visuals and was constantly engaging. Hope to see more of Glenn Triggs.

The full movie is available on YouTube for free (licensed and legal and all that):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uorMgO7p3aE

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Apr 05, 2021 7:17 pm

21. This Is the Army - Not bad... as weird mix between a movie about people putting on a WWII army show, and just the actual army show itself. Most of the screen time was used showing the show; with the people behind the show being mostly a framing device. There were some very amusing bits in terms of both comedy and music. Also the only movie I've seen with Ronald Reagan, though he wasn't in it much.

R22. Aladdin (1992) - I think if this movie had been made today, people would still be talking about how impressive the animation is for its time. This is a prime example of a movie that holds up; very little feels outdated other than a few random pop culture jokes. Great stuff.

22. Hit the Deck - I just couldn't get into this one. Maybe it was just me having trouble focusing; but I barely followed along. There was some good music and dance numbers, but the story didn't do anything for me.

23. On the Town - Good stuff. Several great music and dance numbers. Kelly and Sinatra were both charming.

Post by **Gendo** » Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:13 pm

R23. Fever Pitch (2005) - Simply put, this is the best romantic comedy out there. I admit to some bias since I am a former Bostonian and a Red Sox fan, but I really think the film itself stands above other rom-coms for a number of reasons. Primarily, it's because it avoids all the silly relationship tropes that most rom-coms are based on. Never is there a stupid misunderstanding where one character thinks something about the other character that turns out to be something they just got wrong. No contrived and ridiculous situations where in real life the problem would have been resolved in 5 minutes because the guy and girl would have just talked to each other about it. The fights that the couple have are always about real things that make sense in real life.

Both characters have flaws, but are still likeable and you really want to see them happy. Also, Fallon and Barrymore have an amazing chemistry. Their entire relationship feels completely organic; really I think that Before Sunrise is the only other movie that is as natural with showing the idea of falling in love; though of course that film focuses a lot more on the actual progression of love.

Finally, there's the real-life story surrounding the movie, which really adds something special. For those who don't know, it was being filmed in 2004, with the ending written as yet another Red Sox loss to continue the 86 year streak. Once the Sox were up 3 games to none in the World Series, the Farrelly Brothers went and re-wrote the ending to reflect the miracle season that they had. Fallon and Barrymore actually attended game 4 in St. Louis to finish filming; they were there when the Red Sox won.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:41 pm

R24. Thor: Ragnarok - Not much new to say here; still great. The main villain is weak, but that's ok because it has Jeff Goldblum as an excellent secondary villain. The whole atmosphere just works really well.

R25. Black Panther - When it's good, it's really good. Top notch acting, amazing villain, overall story. But the flaws do stick out... terrible CGI in a few places, some pacing issues with things that could have easily been cut, and sure it's nitpicking but I still really hate that "what are those" joke. I have no idea what the writers were thinking... did they think that a little-known internet meme was still going to be popular in a couple years?

R26. In the Line of Fire - Good stuff; seen it a bunch. John Malkovich is always a lot of fun; especially when he's the villain. Some good suspense and dialogue.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:50 am

R27. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - And old favorite; still holds up. I just found out that it's a remake; and also that another remake was done very recently. Steven Martin and Michael Caine work great off each other.

R28. Avengers: Infinity War - Still an amazing film. The inevitability of Thanos is just shown so well throughout every futile attempt to stop him. The emotions feel real, even when you suspect or know that death never really means death in comic book movies. Top notch acting from Hemsworth and Brolin.

R29. The Saint - This isn't all that great, but still enjoyable enough to throw on when I'm looking for something that I've already seen.

24. Incredibles 2 - Finally a new movie (for me). This was good. Couldn't say if I liked it better than the first one or not. I think the "lol stay at home dad" portion was cliché and pretty bad; but it didn't ruin the whole movie for me. There were some really great action sequences and great animation. Also, Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks in a movie together? Yes please.

Post by **Gendo** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:58 pm

R30. The Ladykillers (2004) - Definitely one of the Coen Brothers' most underrated films. Sure it's not a masterpiece or anything, but it's a lot of fun. The music is amazing. And Tom Hanks really disappears into the role. I want to see the original.

Raxivace · Post by **Raxivace** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 6:19 pm

Ladykillers seemed really mean-spirited in an unfunny way to me. One of the weakest Coens IMHO.

Post by **Gendo** » Wed Apr 21, 2021 3:33 pm

To me that's just dark comedy. But yes, not as cleverly done as it is with something like a DeVito film, or even other Coen films.

Post by **Gendo** » Fri Apr 23, 2021 3:44 am

R31. The Truman Show - Wow this is good. I've seen this a lot, and it's just as good each time. The music is easily one of the best movie scores out there. Carrey walks the perfect line between the goodball he was known as in the 90s and also a great dramatic performance. The camerawork and settings are beautiful and haunting.

Post by **Gendo** » Mon Apr 26, 2021 7:44 pm

R32. Ant-Man and the Wasp - This movie is silly and really not all that well-made, but it's a lot of fun. The it's actually a lot stupider than the first one in a lot of ways, but it works well. Obviosuly Michael Peña is the best part.

R33. Captain Marvel - A solidly mediocre film. Also completely unnecessary to the whole MCU; I think it would have worked a bit better to just not had this movie at all, adn made the necessary slight changes to Endgame. Ben Mendelsohn stands out as great; and the villains turned good guys thing works really well.

R34. Avengers: Endgame - This is about the 5th time I've written this up, and it only came out exactly 2 years ago. It's just that good. Every time holds up; and the last act never gets old at all. The "portals" scene is simply one of the best movie scenes out there; it doesn't get better than those few minutes. As mentioned above; I think getting rid of Captain Marvel completely is something I'd change, but it's about the only thing I'd change.

Post by **Gendo** » Wed May 05, 2021 4:11 am

R35. Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders - The best Batman movie. Ok, maybe not, but a really great Batman movie. It's like half a Batman movie and half parody of a Batman movie. I guess in the same way Lego Batman is. It's hilarious, with so many great lines throughout. Also, a lot of alluring alliteration.

R36. Searching for Bobby Fischer - The real star of this film is James Horner's excellent score. Although it does borrow somewhat from his Field of Dreams score, and is also borrowed from somewhat in Deep Impact; it's still excellent. I miss James Horner. Anyway, the movie's pretty good. Some of the chess stuff is really dumb if you actually know much about chess. Like, prodigy or not, you can't learn all the rules of the game, or even enough to play a real game, from watching a couple random people play for a couple minutes. And then you have supposed prodigies who can play without even looking at the board not notice a fork until after it happens and be surprised by it. It's also weird how the dad is a pretty awful dad in general; and it's not clear to what extent the movie wants you to think that he's being a bad father. Same with the teacher. Laurence Fishburne really shines in it, though; he's excellent.

25. Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon - One of many old Sherlock Holmes films staring Basil Rathbone. It was ok. The character of Sherlock wasn't explored very much at all compared to just dealing with the case itself.

R37. Creed II - Still excellent. The last fight is probably the best among all 8 Rocky films. Excellent acting all around. I didn't even realize before that that was Tessa Thompson! The story itself is great; with several really powerful scenes.

R38. Spider-Man: Far From Home - The first half isn't that good. Lots of really goofy moments that just seem too goofy. But the second half is great... pretty much from the time that Mysterio reveals himself. The twist isn't a twist if you know much about the comics, and Gyllenhaal plays both roles well. The first big Spider-Man in the illusion scene is excellent.

Post by **Gendo** » Wed May 12, 2021 9:47 pm

R39. Click - I hate this movie because there's so much good stuff in it; but it's mostly ruined by the stupid. All the themes about learning to love what you have, prioritizing family over work, the preciousness of time, etc; are wonderful. And I know Sandler is capable of pulling of a performance that could have highlighted that. But instead we got a stupid Happy Madison comedy with a lot of dumb toilet humor; along with not being particularly well-made. But aside from all that, the themes and basic story is still good enough that I generally like the movie.

R40. Scent of a Woman - One of the best; definitely holds up. Great story, great acting, and great score.

Post by **Gendo** » Wed May 19, 2021 3:55 pm

R41. School Ties - Pretty good... I think I just really like the "boys coming of age at a preparatory boarding school in New England" genre. Dead Poets Society, Scent of a Woman, School Ties... what other movies are there in this genre? Anyway, this one's not as good as the other 2, but still good.

It did really make me wonder if the antisemitism portrayed was accurate for that time period. While it wouldn't surprise me at all that there would be some antisemitic attitudes among some people and kids; the movie portrays is as just a given that every teenager in the country is automatically going to be strongly antisemitic... even movies about race relation in the 1950s tend to portray it more as "yeah white people were really racist against blacks as a whole, but you just have to find the 'right' white people to hang out with that will accept you anyway". Not saying that those movies were accurately portraying race relations accurately either... but it always seemed like a different presentation of racism; a lot of white people with the attitude of "I don't mind being around black people or anything, I just don't want them to be dating my daughter"; as opposed to the type portrayed in School Ties which was more straight-forward "I hate Jewish people and would never intentionally hang out with one."

I mean, this was the 1950s; we were just coming off a huge World War that we proudly fought against someone who had that sort of attitude against Jews. Was there not some sense of national pride in considering antisemitism as an "evil Nazi Germany" thing? I have no idea what the real history is; it just would surprise me if antisemitism were so rampant that it was automatically assumed that every teenager in New England would hate a kid if they found out he were Jewish.