Gendo watches more movies in 2022

User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

Maybe this will be the year I finally make a real dent in my to-watch list, which sits at 296 as of the end of 2021.

1. Serpico - Pretty good. Young Pacino always feels like a different actor to me than old Pacino. Some interesting drama and overall well-written. I didn't even know it was based on a true story until the end.

2. Toy Story 4 - Surprisingly good. I figured at this point it would just feel like a cash grab, but it managed to still have the same level of quality as the first 3. Still as much heart, and very impressive animation. Its biggest flaw, however, is that it just didn't need to be made at all. It didn't feel like it had anything really new to say; most of its purpose was already covered very well in part 3. Although this wasn't quite as good as part 3, it felt like this could have been done instead of part 3, and it would have made a bit more sense than having both exist.

3. Reet, Petite, and Gone - A pretty entertaining musical from the 40s. A lot of catchy music and dance numbers; and likeable characters to go along.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

Dang, this is the exact same thread title I used in 2018.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

4. Mom and Dad - I never heard of this before I bought it, and I may have bought it only because on the back there was a review that said "Nicolas Cage in full on nutzoid mode". That turned out to be an exaggeration though; it was really more just standard Cage. I really liked the beginning; it was building some good tension and showed a good mix of the kids' and adults points of view. But once the actual mayhem started, it was just a very standard slasher/survival film, and the parent stuff didn't even matter too much. I did love it when Lance Henriksen showed up, though. As a whole it was just ok and nothing special.

5. Dark Crimes - This was pretty bad. Like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo except without the girl. Carrey does fine with what he's given, but he isn't given much. As a whole it was just far too slow and drawn out, with very little actually happening.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

6. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - In the past year I've watched different parts of this multiple times, when my 3-year-old son was watching it, but I finally watched the whole thing. It's really cute. Beautiful picture-book-like animation, and some very enjoyable voice talent. Not a whole lot of actual story there, but some good moments and a few funny jokes.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

7. Fiesta - Another old musical. Good costumes and set design, with some charming acting. But couldn't get into the story or the music much.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

8. Ever After: A Cinderella Story - Not bad. Anjelica Huston was a particularly good wicked stepmother. It was an overall nice-looking film, and entertaining enough. But nothing special in terms of story, and the leads didn't have particularly good chemistry.

9. The Woman In Green - Another Sherlock Holmes film. Similar to the last one; I wasn't all that into it. It is always nice to see Moriarty in just about any context; the scenes between him and Holmes are always great. But the whole hypnotism angle just felt a bit silly.

R1. Now You See Me - Still pretty good. It's definitely over-the-top, but usually in a funny way. The identity theft bit was particularly dumb. But the characters all have good charisma and make for an entertaining time.

10. Doctor Sleep - This was good, but not scary. It almost seemed like it was trying to be 2 separate films. Parts of it, mostly the very beginning and the last act, were a horror movie sequel to The Shining, with some good scary moments and paying proper homage to the original classic. But the majority of the runtime was like a completely different movie; a supernatural thriller about good people with mind powers trying to stop bad people from mind powers. It didn't need to have anything to do with The Shining; that story would have worked fine and was interesting enough on its own.

It was also really long, though it didn't feel too slow or anything. And I was watching the director's cut, which added a fair bit of runtime. Ewan McGregor was fine, but didn't stand out as particularly amazing for the role. But despite various little issues, it was very well made and enjoyable. I just wish it had leaned more into the horror film that we got at the beginning and the end.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

R2. Sidekicks - A childhood favorite. It’s basically The Karate Kid except not nearly as good. Still fun, though probably mostly only because of nostalgia. Joe Piscopo was great though.

11. Frankenweenie (2012) - This was great! Super creepy; actually surprised it got by with a PG rating. That bat-cat was scarier than anything in Doctor Sleep. It was like Nightmare Before Christmas meets Edward Scissorhands, but then dialed up to 11. And I know, Nightmare Before Christmas wasn't directed by Burton; I hate that Sellick never gets due credit there. Very nice animation to look at; it didn't even register with me until part-way through that it was black & white, because it was just so visually pleasing. Can't really compare this to the original; it was really its own thing.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

R3. Field of Dreams - Not much I can say that I didn't already say last time. This might actually be my favorite film of all time.

12. Lilo & Stitch - Pretty good. The relationship between the two sisters was heartwarming and well-done. Stitch himself was fine, but nothing all that special. Reminded me of "Home", which I think I liked better.
Derived Absurdity
Ultimate Poster
Posts: 2799
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2015 5:07 am

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Derived Absurdity »

I'm surprised to hear "Frankenweenie" is creepy.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

Derived Absurdity wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 8:21 pm I'm surprised to hear "Frankenweenie" is creepy.
I was too! The original wasn’t, although it was dark. But I mean just look at this thing; one of many creepy designs used:

Image
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

13. Doll Face - 1945 musical. Pretty good for the most part. Some funny lines and moments. Not much music. And the main guy was a real jerk and was sad to see him made out to be the good guy by the end. I mean it was 1945, so yeah times were different, but the character literally said “women are like rugs; they need to be taken out and beaten regularly.” I mean it was funny in a sort of over-the-top horrific kind of way, but this guy ends up getting the girl, while another perfectly decent guy just disappears from the film. Also, it had Carmen Miranda, who was fantastic.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

14. Cinderella (1950) - Pretty good. Beautiful animation, and fun characters. Some nice music, too. A bit weird how little of the runtime is the actual story; a lot of it is just filler with the mice doing various things and stuff like that.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

Getting lazy about write-ups again.

15. The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot - At the least it was very interesting. Sam Elliot does great, and I'm not sure I can think of another actor who could have made it work. It wasn't all that great as a whole, but it had some great ideas. It kind of reminded me of Wakefield in that way; a movie that could have been better. But points for uniqueness. I enjoyed how serious the movie took itself, like it's just a completely normal thing that someone would kill Hitler during WWII and then years later be asked to kill Big Foot.

R4. I heart Huckabees - Another weird/unique film, but this is one I've always loved. Can't quite say why; it's just so much fun. Great music, and the characters all have a great chemistry together. I really like every performance given.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

16. Love & Mercy - Excellent! I didn't know anything about Brian Wilson going into this, no idea at all about everything he went through. Paul Dano was fantastic, as usual. I need to go listen to Pet Sounds now; I'm a Beach Boys fan but don't know a lot of their whole catalog.

17. Fences - Wow, powerful; also just overall great. Denzel gives his best performance since Training Day, and Viola Davis was right there with him. Just looked up who won Best Actor that year. Yeah I liked Manchester by the Sea a lot, and Casey Affleck was great, but I think it should have gone to Denzel there. The opening scene is just 15 or so minutes of non-stop captivating brilliance. Also the first movie I've seen with Denzel directing. Not much to say there; it's a play and the movie doesn't try to do all that much to distance itself from feeling like a play. But that's just fine. The dialog, themes, and especially the performances just make it wonderful.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

18. The Grapes of Wrath - Pretty good, but feels very much like a product of its time. That is to say, I can see why it's generally known as both a good and film and an important film, but it still felt a bit long and dull to me. Granted, its subject matter is still applicable today. I really liked John Carradine as Casy; all his scenes were the best.

R5. Triangle - Man I love this movie. One of the best psychological thriller/horror movies out there; and that's my favorite genre. Its twists are great, even upon multiple viewings. The overall atmosphere is set so well, and there is real emotion behind it.
Faustus5
Super Poster
Posts: 246
Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2015 3:08 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Faustus5 »

Gendo wrote: Fri Feb 18, 2022 8:35 pm R5. Triangle - Man I love this movie. One of the best psychological thriller/horror movies out there; and that's my favorite genre. Its twists are great, even upon multiple viewings. The overall atmosphere is set so well, and there is real emotion behind it.
I think you were the one to originally recommend this to me and I'm very grateful.

Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead are two writer/director/actor collaborators who have in the last decade made this sort of genre their personal schtick, which I think we've discussed already. (Resolution and The Endless taking part in the same shared film universe, for instance, and Synchronic being their most recent release though they just premiered something new at a festival.) They are quite good at it.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

19. Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie - Pretty good. Never really seen any VeggieTales stuff before, though I was familiar with some songs and such. Pretty fun voice acting and decent animation. Good stuff to watch with my 3-year-old; and a good Biblical message as well.

20. Silence - A slightly more serious movie about a person's faith being tested. I'm glad I waited a couple days to write this up, because this has gotten better to me since I first watched it. It really sticks with me and just lingers in my mind, in a good way. Garfield was great, and very impressive that he did this and Hacksaw Ridge in the same year. I mentioned before that this was a book I had to read in college for Asian Studies, though I really didn't remember much about it other than the high-level plot and themes. A beautiful and haunting movie. I was really enjoyed the sound mixing and editing, which really helped the minimalist score. There were parts in the middle where I felt like it was getting too long and a little boring, but I think I feel that was about all Scorsese.

21. Father of the Bride (1950) - As with multiple other remakes staring Steve Martin; the original is quite different from the remake in overall tone. This was still a comedy, but it's played much more seriously and straight than Steven Martin could pull off. There were a few very funny moments, but as a whole it was equally a heart-felt drama. Overall I liked it, and could even see this being the type of movie I could easily watch multiple times, though largely as background noise.

22. The Bourne Identity - Yeah, somehow I've never actually seen this, at least not all the way through. I know I started it at least once a long time ago and didn't have time to finish it. It's pretty good. A lot of good suspense, and well-filmed action. The scenes with Chris Cooper and the other villains were great; they managed to add an increased sense of mystery around the entire scenario, which is interesting because you might think that showing less of the bad guys and their plans would be more mysterious, but it really works here. It was good enough that now I have to decide whether to invest my time (and money) in seeing the other 4 films in the series.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

23. Tremors 2: Aftershocks - This was ridiculously silly and mostly bad, but in an entertaining way. It takes out all the character and actual story from the first one and instead just focuses on seeing how silly they can get. I mean, in the first one you had 3-4 graboids as a threat that take all movie to kill. Now, they kill 24 of them within the opening act. And rather than spending any time getting to know the characters or their motivations, we just have a couple random guys, one from the original movie, get offered a bunch of money to go kill graboids right at the very start. Anyway, it was ok. I didn't really like the evolution of the creatures; it kind of gets away from the whole idea of "tremors" and needing to stay off the ground to avoid giant underground sand worms.

24. Tremors 3: Back to Perfection - In a strange reversal from the last movie, this one takes its time with getting to know various characters and all sorts of stuff like that before getting into any actual action. The characters themselves are mostly ok; Michael Gross does a great job both of these. I wish they'd gotten Fred Ward or Christopher Gartin back though. This wasn't as good as the last one as a whole, but it was still ok. Having the creatures fly, along with the name they give to them because of it, was pretty great.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

25. Emma (1996) - Not to be confused with the 1996 Emma I wrote about a few years ago; this is the Hollywood one with Gwyneth Paltrow. It wasn't as good as the other one; it seemed kind of goofy in tone. As with the other one (and Austin stuff in general), I found it difficult to follow all the characters and plot. Re-reading my review of the last one, I don't even know what "twist" I was talking about; I don't think this one presented anything as a twist.

26. The Good Liar - Pretty interesting, but has issues. Something I wouldn't have bothered seeing if not for it starting Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren. They did a good job of course; especially McKellen. The plot itself was mostly fun, but had a few elements that seemed pointless; like twists that served no purpose other than to give you a twist. The tone was also very mixed, with it being sometimes suddenly very dark. I like dark movies in general, but it felt out of place here, because most of the movie felt different. I could go into specifics, but it's all spoiler stuff.

27. Hi Diddle Diddle - Really funny in some parts. One joke in particular felt straight out of a Mel Brooks films. Parts were very weird where I couldn't figure out what exactly was going on both in terms of the plot and the filmmaking. But enjoyable as a whole. It's weird that it calls itself a musical (or at least the box set of musicals that I got it from considered it to be one), because it really isn't. There's like one scene of someone singing. And then a couple other scenes where characters sing really badly for comedic effect.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

28. Tremors 4: The Legend Begins - This one was pretty bad, and I don't mean in the fun stupid way that they are all bad. The 1889 setting just didn't work well at all; maybe because all of these movies have such an early 90s / late 80s feel to them (even though part 3 was actually 2001; it still felt like it was made 10 years prior). Michael Gross was still good, but his character wasn't nearly as fun as his normal character. There were a couple lines that made me laugh, and I did think the renaming of the town at the end was clever.

So there's 3 more Tremors films, but I don't own them. Maybe I'll get them some day just to complete the collection at this point.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

R6. Cloverfield - I'm not a fan of found footage in general, but this is pretty good. Minimising the monster's actual screen time works well overall, and it's generally good suspenseful action. The characters are pretty good, except T.J. Miller; he was was just annoying.

29. The Good Dinosaur - Pretty amazing animation; simply beautiful to look at and maybe Pixar's most photorealistic film. The story itself was just ok; very basic and nothing really new. Sam Elliott was great, but actually Peter Sohn, the director, had the best character; I wish he had been in it more.

R7. 10 Cloverfield Lane - Really good psychological thriller. John Goodman puts on the perfect performance here; you never quite know when he's safe or not. The ending with the aliens feels tacked on; I mean, it literally was tacked on during production to turn it into a Cloverfield story. But I do think it works well that the outside isn't actually safe; so that just escaping isn't good enough for the hero.

30. The Cloverfield Paradox - I thought this was ok. Most people seem to dislike it, but really it's fine. I do wish it had leaned a little more into the space horror genre; when it was deciding to be horror, it was pretty good. I actually enjoyed the Cloverfield tie-in here; the scenes on earth were pretty good and I liked the hinting at where the monsters came from. Not saying it was an over great film or anything; definitely the weakest of the three.

R8. The Fifth Element - Great classic sci-fi movie. The Opera scene is particularly well-done. Lots of interesting characters and fun visuals.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

R9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - One of my favorites. Still really holds up overall. One complaint I have is that the relationship itself didn't seem that great. I know the whole point is that even bad relationships have good stuff and might be worth fighting for, but they could have shown a good but flawed relationship instead of an actually bad one. The character of Clementine is just actually not a good person to be in a relationship with. They somewhat try to pass off drunk-driving as "oh what a free spirit she is". But all that aside, it's still just a really great movie. Love the soundtrack.

31. Lonesome Dove - This was very good. It took a while to get there; after the first episode I wasn't sure how much I would like it. But by the second half I was really enjoying it. Duvall and Jones were both really great. It paints a very brutal picture of the old west; hard to say how exaggerated it is. I mean I'm sure it was harsh and dangerous, but this makes you feel like you were just probably going to die and be ok with it if you lived back then.

For those of you who remember Brandon/Cash from these forums, he's the one who recommended this to me; at one time his signature was a quote from it. So it's many years too late, but thank you for the recommendation, Brandon.

32. The Impossible - Pretty good. The true story of a family caught in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed over 200,000 people. A 14-year-old Tom Holland gives an amazing performance here, in his first movie. As a whole it had good intensity, and showed the brutal tragedy of what happened. I'm starting to think I'm not a big fan of Ewan McGregor. He's generally fine, and I really like him sometimes when it's the right movie (Big Fish, Birds of Prey), but most often when I see a movie with him in it, I don't walk away thinking about what an amazing performance he gave. I supposed I need to see Trainspotting.

33. The Fabulous Dorseys - Some good jazz / big band music. Not much else to say really, forgettable 1940s musical.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

34. The Batman - This was pretty great. A very different feel from any other Batman movie. Felt more like a comic book movie than Nolan's trilogy, but still more grounded and realistic compared to Burton. As pretty much everyone who reviews this has said, it's a detective movie much more so than a superhero movie. The only comic book movie I could compare it to maybe is Sin City, which I surprisingly haven't heard people compare it to. Pattinson does great, as expected. You see far more Batman and far less Bruce Wayne compared to any other Batman movie, but the costume leaves room for Pattinson to still emote well.

Paul Dano was great, as he always is. Though the script didn't allow him to do as much as he could have. It would have been nice to see more of him, especially out of the mask. My only other complaint is that it was just too dark, as many films these days seem to be. And I don't mean in tone, I mean in terms of actual lighting. The runtime didn't bother me; though I also wouldn't have complained if they had found some threads to cut out to fit it into 120-135 minutes.

And then there's the ending. Minor spoilers if you haven't seen it, but I couldn't believe how much it seems like the ending was commentary on the dangers of Q-Anon / The January 6th Riot. Turns out, according to Matt Reeves, that was all written and in the script long before any of it happened in real life. So just a big coincidence. They had considered whether they needed to change it so as to not appear that they were intended to copy real life, but decided not to.

Oh, and the score was excellent. Amazing what Michael Giacchino managed to do with basically 2 notes.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

R10. Zoolander - Haven't seen this in about 20 years. Still great. Most of the jokes work, and overall it's just fun. Owen Wilson is pretty good here; maybe the only thing I've seen him in where I thought that. So many cameos also. I didn't know or remember that Trump was in it.
Faustus5
Super Poster
Posts: 246
Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2015 3:08 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Faustus5 »

Gendo wrote: Thu Mar 17, 2022 6:39 pm . The only comic book movie I could compare it to maybe is Sin City, which I surprisingly haven't heard people compare it to.
I hadn't thought of that, but this comparison is spot on!
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

Gendo wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 8:03 pm I supposed I need to see Trainspotting.
And I just bought Trainspotting so we’ll see. I have such a weird thing with Danny Boyle. I like a lot of his movies; but don’t like his general style.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

Image

R11. A Few Good Men - What can I say, it's excellent. One of the all-time best all-around movies.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

35. The Bourne Supremacy - About as good as the first one. I like the way the antagonist, Landy, isn't actually a bad guy, but still an antagonist. Pretty good action, and some good twists and turns in the story itself.

36. The Bourne Ultimatum - Not quite as good. There were several good scenes of suspense and action, especially Bourne protecting the journalist near the beginning. But all the scenes just seemed disconnected with one following another without any real purpose. Like they just needed to find any excuse for the action scenes.

37. Flywheel - The first film by Alex Kendrick and Sherwood Pictures, who's films got a bit better as they went along but never got great. So I wasn't expecting much. The overall quality still managed to surprise me with how bad it was. Apparently it only had a $20,000 budget, so I guess I can't blame him too much for that. But actual quality and filmmaking talent aside, the story was a bit better than I expected. Aside from the predictable moments that pretty much had to exist because they're the film's entire reason for existing, there were a few surprises along the way. Ultimately it's a Christian film that doesn't pretend to be anything else, like the rest of his stuff.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

38. Calendar Girl - Pretty typical old musical. At least this one felt like an old musical more than the last couple. Maybe it's just the quality of the footage itself, but I have trouble following these movies sometimes.

R12. Die Hard: With a Vengeance - My personal favorite Die Hard, even if the original is a better-made film. Samuel Jackson is a lot of fun to watch here.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

R13. Titanic - I feel like it's become common to hate on this movie in more recent times, but I think it was great when it came out and still great now. Sure the love story may be a bit forced, but that doesn't matter all that much. Aside from the amazing sets and overall scale of what was created, the story itself really works. The historical event behind the film adds a lot of weight to it as well. But really the star is James Horner, who knocks it out of the park once again.

39. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - Not bad. I don't remember all that much about the first one; I think I liked it fine but nothing special. This one might be a bit more memorable. It had a lot of imaginative and creative things going on. Hank Azaria is always great, though I was a bit tired of him by the end. I think the Jonah Hill scene was my favorite, though.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

40. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb - Not as good. Not that I was expected much from a third movie in a series like this. It wasn't terrible, just overall not that interesting. I would have loved to see Jonah Hill come back in place of the Rebel Wilson character. The best part was easily Hugh Jackman.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

41. The Bourne Legacy - Pretty good. Not nearly as action-filled as the previous films; more of an actual spy thriller., It did re-hash a lot of ground already covered, especially by The Bourne Supremacy, so it didn't feel like it had anything new to offer, really. But I appreciate seeing the perspective that Bourne isn't the only agent out there that we should care about.

R14. The Jerk - Excellent comedy. Steve Martin just perfectly sells it with every line's delivery. There isn't a whole lot of story there, and in many ways it feels like just a disconnected set of gags. But that's ok, because it's just so funny.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

42. The Artist - Fantastic! Near the beginning, I was thinking "sure they're doing a good job without having sound, but it doesn't feel like there's any real reason for doing so; they could have just used sound". But by the end, it really felt like being a silent film was important to the overall film and storytelling. It was just really enjoyable throughout.

R15. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - I used to like this movie more, thought it was just ok this time. Still has multiple jokes/lines which are absolutely hilarious and well-written. But it's lacking in an overall interesting plot.

R16. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - One of my absolute favorites; having only seen it about 3 times. Pretty much everything about the film is a win. I think I like it more than The World's End; though it's close.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

R17. The Prince of Egypt - Wow this is better than I remembered. Not that I remembered anything bad about it. But the music, animation, art direction, story... all fantastic. The plague montage was especially well done. And I was overall impressed at how they don't shy away from the intense adult nature of the story; it's very much not a kids movie.

R18. Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) - Overall entertaining and good. The ensemble cast works together really well; making it not feel like a Nic Cage movie.
User avatar
Raxivace
Ultimate Poster
Posts: 2829
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2017 6:35 am

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Raxivace »

Prince of Egypt is pretty easily in the top 10 or so Judaeo-Christian movies. Just one of the best.
"[Cinema] is a labyrinth with a treacherous resemblance to reality." - Andrew Sarris
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

43. The Ten Commandments (1956) - Pretty good. I think I prefer The Prince of Egypt for that same story, though. I enjoyed the first half more; the characters and dialogue were very interesting. Given how long the movie is, I was quite surprised when the second half glossed over most of the plagues. It doesn't even show them briefly like The Prince of Egypt did. Seems like there was too much running time given to after the 10th plague. The acting was pretty great as a whole, and the general scale of the whole movie was quite impressive. A lot of the effects do not hold up at all, with it just looking really bad.

R19. The Godfather - Good, but slow. The slowness didn't bother me too much; because it just kept getting better as it went on. I had some issues following things, there's a lot of things that are only subtly implied, and a lot of different characters that it's really hard to keep track of. For example, when they killed Paulie I didn't understand either who it was they were killing or why they were killing him. I looked up a bunch of stuff later on movies.stackexchange and it made more sense after. So something that probably benefits from more watchings. I'd seen it once before but quite a while ago so I didn't remember all that much. But as a whole a very well done and entertaining movie.

R20. Adventures in Babysitting - A childhood favorite, and it holds up. Elisabeth Shue really looks like she's having a lot of fun. Overall just very entertaining and fun.

R21. An American Tail - Not my favorite Bluth, but good. The overall story is good, but the specific plot points got boring at various parts. The animation isn't the best, but Bluth has set a very high bar in that regard. I did generally think it did a good job of both being nice to look at but also showing the city as a dirty/ugly place. And of course, as always, shoutout to the wonderful job done by James Horner.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

R22. A Walk to Remember - Why do I love this movie so much? Maybe a lot of it's nostalgia, but it still holds up very well for me.

44. Searching - A surprise hit! I wasn't expecting too much here, though I was interested in seeing it John Cho and the previews looked interesting. It was amazingly well done; especially for a pseudo-found-footage stye. The opening montage of the family's life was such a great sequence that managed to tell you everything you know without dialogue. It was apparently inspired by Up. The mystery and suspense was outstanding; making me constantly wondering where it was going next. And the final twist was good and unexpected, though also cleverly set up previously. My only complaint is that there wasn't really any scenes/moments of just John Cho emotionally processing things; everything was presented in the context of what he was actively doing about it. I feel like a brief scene of him just being by himself and not doing anything on the computer would have added a bit.

This was also Aneesh Chaganty's first feature-length film. I saw a preview for Run a couple months ago and thought it looked good; now I'm really looking forward to seeing it.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

45. The Last Unicorn - Interesting. An animation style quite different from most other things. Pretty to look at overall. Apparently the team that animated it also was behind Rankin/Bass's The Hobbit... and they went on to form a little-known animation house called... Studio Ghibli. The story was pretty dull overall, but it had a nice charm to it even so. The music by America was felt out of place and weird, but almost like that's just what the movie was going for.

46. Limitless - Good in some ways; dumb in some ways. The opening bits with the narration and "you might be wondering how I got here" style beginning was pretty bad. But when it got past all that, it was fun and interesting. Cooper was pretty good throughout. The drinking the blood thing was really dumb and out of place for the movie, but the ending was really good. Overall just mixed feelings. I wouldn't have guessed that it was directed by the same guy who did one of my favorite films, The Illusionist. I recently bought The Lucky Ones based only on it being another movie by him.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

47. This Is the End - Awful, horrible, dumb. Not quite sure what I was expecting, but I think I had heard some good stuff about it. I thought maybe it would be clever satire about Hollywood culture or something. But it was just a bunch of very unfunny and excessively crass dialogue that tried to pass as humor. And I'm not opposed to all crass humor; Baseketball is great, as well as plenty of other stuff by Stone and Parker, as well as some Kevin Smith and Adam Sandler stuff. If I have to say something good about it, some of the monster effects were interesting and well-done.

48. The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie - Not as good as Jonah, but still generally good quality children's entertainment. Had a number of pretty good jokes, and the characters were interesting. The overall plot was mostly boring, though, and the music didn't stand out as much as it did in Jonah. Except the Rock Lobster parody at the end; I loved that.

49. Paprika - Finally. This was hyped up a lot for me, which probably discolored my experience somewhat. Visually stunning, with extremely creative and well-done ideas put into the animation. The story was quite difficult to follow, as I'm guessing was intentional. While the inspiration for Inception seems pretty clear, the actual plot is different enough that I don't feel at all that Inception is either a ripoff or a retelling of it. The lack of understanding everything actually makes me want to just go back and watch it again soon, because by the end of the movie you can see that the actual plot is pretty straight-forward and when you know what happening it might not be hard to understand. But based just on the first viewing, I'd have to say that I prefered both Tokyo Godfather and Perfect Blue. Still really good, though.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

50. Austenland - Pretty bland chick flick. It wasn't particularly bad, just uninteresting. Though it would have been better without Jennifer Coolidge; she's just the worst part about every movie she's in.

So in the first 4 months of the year I managed to watched 50 first-time movies. Good pace so far; with 61 left to go until I'm at my goal of 200 movies left in my collection that I haven't seen.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

51. The Intruder - Mixed feelings here. As a whole, I liked it even though it wasn't actually very good. But Dennis Quaid just really, really sold it. His performance was the perfect combination of offputtingly creepy and over-the-top entertaining. Despite the numerous thriller clichés, he managed to make the film feel genuinely suspenseful and even a bit scary at times. Which, ironically, was one of the major issues with the plot. Quaid did such a great job at being very creepy that it was stupidly unbelievable that certain characters would feel comfortable around him. Overall a poorly-made but fun film.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

R23. The Machinist - Tied with Field of dreams for my all-time favorite film. It never gets old, though I do wish it were possible to make myself forget the ending and then watch it again. The atmosphere is so great throughout; really presenting a world in which something is clearly off. Even the few pleasant moments of normal conversation feel superficial, as if there's nothing really there (spoiler alert: there isn't). The twist is so well done, giving the viewer enough credit to piece things together ourselves without being force-fed. The music is also haunting and subtle.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

52. Dave Made a Maze - Ever wondered what it would be like if Charlie Kaufman had made Cube? Wonder no more! This movie was great. Aside from getting lots of extra points for being something new, it was just a lot of fun and overall well made. My only complaint is that the metaphors were a bit thin compared to something like Swiss Army Man where the deeper meaning is both obvious and good. But the creativity that went into all the details was amazing. One thing I loved about Scott Pilgrim is also done here: When completely insane things start happening, characters respond with this perfect mix of confusion/shock but also nonchalant acceptance. Taking a moment to acknowledge that the things happening are impossible and completely go against everything they thought they knew about existence and reality, but then just moving on and exploring this new version of reality instead.

53. Better Off Dead... - Not bad. Had a few really funny bits, and I enjoyed the extreme over-the-top nature of almost every scene. But the story was a bit too thin for me to really like it.

R24. The Founder - There's a law that not a lot of people are familiar with that says I have to watch this movie about once a year. And I'm not going to try and fight the law. Actually, searching through my posts here, I don't think I watched it in 2021. But since seeing it for the first time in 2018, I've watched it at least 5 times now. It's just good.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

R25. Training Day - Yup, again. Still great; Denzel still shines. I don't think I could pick between this and Fences for my favorite performance by him.
User avatar
Raxivace
Ultimate Poster
Posts: 2829
Joined: Wed Feb 08, 2017 6:35 am

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Raxivace »

He's good in Fences but directorially I think he struggles to make what is obviously a play feel like much of a movie.
"[Cinema] is a labyrinth with a treacherous resemblance to reality." - Andrew Sarris
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

I agree that it felt more like a play than a movie, but that didn’t stop me from really loving it. I forgot that he directed it too.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

54. Lady and the Tramp - Really nice animation, seems like the best from Disney in that era. Not a whole lot else to say about it, though; pretty basic story that was done better in The Aristocats.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

55. Jupiter Ascending - From what I'd heard, I was expecting it to be pretty bad. It was basically right within my expectations. Very little positive I can say about it. I liked the overall lore/history of the world that they presented. And Eddie Redmayne was so absolutely terrible that he crossed into so bad it's good territory.

56. Marriage Story - Excellent. Heart-wrenching. Generally hard to watch; especially as a married man who is more against divorce in particular than most people I know. All the cast was great; Scarlett Johansson was particularly excellent despite the fact that I really hated her character. The long scenes without cuts were impressive. I can't help but compare it to both Revolutionary Road and The Story of Us; though it was sufficiently different in focus, they're still all movies about marriages falling apart.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

R26. Reservoir Dogs - The marathon has begun. Re-watching 9 movies just to get to watching 1 for the first time. Anyway, this is good. Not sure it quite lives up to the masterpieces that he would go on to create. Really it's just all about the dialogue; it's so much fun to just listen to the characters talk.

R27. Pulp Fiction - 2 Tarantino in the same day. This one has so many iconic moments, but it does also have a few other parts that sort of drag on and aren't as interesting. Like parts of the Vincent and Mia chapter, as well as parts of Butch's chapter, especially the cab ride and some of the dialog with his girlfriend. That aside, it's still a very good film, and quite ambitious in scale compared to his first one. Once again, it's the dialogue that stands out the most. Also, Samuel L. Jackson gives an amazing performance. And Ving Rhames leaves quite an impression for only having a couple scenes.
User avatar
Gendo
Site Admin
Posts: 2882
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:38 pm

Re: Gendo watches more movies in 2022

Post by Gendo »

R28. Jackie Brown - Best of the first 3. The plot itself is more interesting, and you get really invested in what will happen next. De Niro's performance is especially entertaining and memorable here, but the whole cast is great. It could have been a bit shorter; although the Chris Tucker scene was great for both suspense and character building, it delayed getting the real story going.
Post Reply