What was the last movie you saw?

[JunkMonkey]

Is it worth starting a separate thread on time travel movies?

We already have at least one:

Time Travel in Movies and Television Series

And what do you think of the how the concepts are handled ? Which do you thinker the best ecpalmes of Time Travel ?

www.sffchronicles.com

Last night the kids and I watched Time Bandits. Me for the godsknowhowmanyieth time, Daughter Number Two for the third time, and Number One Son for the first. Neither of us are now talking to him because he thought it was merely "All right!"
"All right?! All Right!" we both indignated in our best Frankenfurter voices, "I think we can do better than THAT!"

 

[Vince W]

Since today was Blade Runner Day (19 November) I watched Blade Runner (1982) and then I rounded it out with Black Rain (1989), which was also directed by Ridley Scott and I consider to be the Blade Runner prequel.

 

[KGeo777]

KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS -1977 When the plane flies into the building, there are two gas pumps and everyone stands around like it's no big deal that there is a fire right next to it.

 

[Droflet]

Black Adam. Predictable actioner that is high on special effects and low on story.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Nope

I'm about half way through watching this movie, and it's a bit of a chore. I was really hoping for good things here, but it just doesn't seem to 'get going'. I very much enjoyed other similar type movies by Monkeypaw such as 'Us' and 'Get Out', but so far this one isn't gripping me. The fact that I haven't watched the movie in one sitting. Hopefully it will improve when I wtach the rest tonight.

 

[REBerg]

Free Guy
Funny, clever, corny and heartwarming
NPCs unite!

 

[REBerg]

Bird Box
Maximum suspense generated by minimal special effects
Most of the $19,8 million budget must have been spent on the cast.

 

[CupofJoe]

Jurassic World Dominion [2022 Colin Trevorrow]
The film brings together the main characters of the two trilogies for an ensemble climax. Which I thought was a nice touch. There are even a few [almost] Easter Eggs if you know the early films well. A line here, a death there.
I watched the extended version [but it seems to be only a few minutes longer than the theatrical version]. Plenty of dinosaurs to see and in ways we haven’t seen them before. Occasionally this did feel like “Oh, look what we can do now”.
That said, it looks amazing [as you would expect]. And it hangs together well enough.
All in all I liked it, once I’d given up on trying to make the intertwining plots make sense.
Maybe the best way to explain my feelings for the whole film is that I really liked the 5 minute intro and the last few minutes more than I liked the Dino/Human carnage in the rest of the film.
It left me on a bit of a high [just like Wonder Woman 1984 did - the best part of that film is the mid credits cameo]
But unless they can think of something very different to do with the Jurassic franchise, pull down the cameras and leave the dinosaurs alone.
What you mean they’re not real?

 

[CupofJoe]

Since today was Blade Runner Day (19 November) I watched Blade Runner (1982) and then I rounded it out with Black Rain (1989), which was also directed by Ridley Scott and I consider to be the Blade Runner prequel.

I agree completely. They feel and look like they are of the same 'verse. And a great way to send a few hours!

 

[Jeffbert]

TENSION (1949) NOIR ALLEY. A wealthy man Barney Deager (Lloyd Gough) steals a working man's Warren Quimby (Richard Basehart) wife. Quimby, who had decided that his wife would want a house in the suburbs, was working the late shift at an all night pharmacy, hoping she would appreciate his efforts. She (Audrey Totter), however, was more interested in night life, and was dating other men, while he was filling prescriptions.

So, the milquetoast Quimby goes to confront the guy, and drag his wife home, but ends up beaten-up, and called "four-eyed punk." He decides to create a new identity, and use it to murder his rival while wearing contact lenses. Thing do not go as he expected!

Entertaining film!

 

[Jeffbert]

POSSESSED (1947) Despite title, not a horror film. Louise Howell (Joan Crawford) suffers from unrequited love for David Sutton (Van Heflin), which drags her into insanity; she has delusions, hears voices, etc. She was employed by Dean Graham (Raymond Massey) as a nurse, caring for his invalid wife.

The film opens with a bewildered Howell, wandering through city streets, asking people where David is. She is admitted to the hospital, as a psych patient, and the doctors gradually extract the story in flash-backs.

 

[REBerg]

Jurassic World Dominion [2022 Colin Trevorrow]
The film brings together the main characters of the two trilogies for an ensemble climax. Which I thought was a nice touch. There are even a few [almost] Easter Eggs if you know the early films well. A line here, a death there.
I watched the extended version [but it seems to be only a few minutes longer than the theatrical version]. Plenty of dinosaurs to see and in ways we haven’t seen them before. Occasionally this did feel like “Oh, look what we can do now”.
That said, it looks amazing [as you would expect]. And it hangs together well enough.
All in all I liked it, once I’d given up on trying to make the intertwining plots make sense.
Maybe the best way to explain my feelings for the whole film is that I really liked the 5 minute intro and the last few minutes more than I liked the Dino/Human carnage in the rest of the film.
It left me on a bit of a high [just like Wonder Woman 1984 did - the best part of that film is the mid credits cameo]
But unless they can think of something very different to do with the Jurassic franchise, pull down the cameras and leave the dinosaurs alone.
What you mean they’re not real?

​

I thought this was the most enjoyable JP installment since the original.
I didn't realize that it was streaming. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[KGeo777]

I saw the intro for the latest Jurassic Park film--the sequence set in prehistoric times. It was so poorly choreographed for an fx sequence. Literally just going through the motions. No excitement--very perfunctory and swift. The texturing of dinosaurs is very good but they undermine it by the lack of performance energy.

Anyway
GARGOYLES 1972 According to IMDB its broadcast premiere was 50 years ago tonight. The costumes really hold up well for this. Stan Winston was involved in it.

TEN LITTLE INDIANS 1974 -- Of the versions I have seen, I like this one the best for the location they use.

 

[KGeo777]

THE BIG GUNDOWN 1966 - Mentioned in many appraisals of the eurowestern as one of the best of the genre. It's the one that made me think that Sergio Leone was getting too much credit and focus--there were some very good films which never got as much attention. Leone had a more cartoonish approach to the story compared to other directors like Sollima. This film is very focused on characterization and dialogue. It does have a Morricone soundtrack which is a major plus, but the central draw are the strong parts for Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian--this was a starmaker role for him--in fact, it was one of the few spaghetti westerns which spawned a direct sequel about his Mexican bandit character Cuchillo. He had been known for portraying well-mannered bourgeois romantic figures before this and then in the 1970s he was doing eurocrime films. Anyone who has seen ALMOST HUMAN knows what I am talking about.
As with many of these films--the ones that gained prominence in discussion--there is a deconstruction theme about the West and America and it it has the usual commentary about revolution and the peasant vs the land baron---but you get the sense that there is a cynicism to it--as if it's all irrelevant and what really matters is the actions of the individual regardless of their position in society. There's no preaching. This film is loaded with intriguing characters which give it gothic status in some estimations--a murderer lurking in a wealthy family and there's a matriarch of a ranch who controls a group of men--and an Austrian aristocrat with a piercing stare who makes a great antagonist for Van Cleef. I would say this is like a Leone film in terms of the usual spaghetti trappings (the score, the visuals, the duels) but more intellectually satisfying.

 

[REBerg]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife
I haven't read any reviews of this film, but I would imagine the phrase "fan service" is being used.
As much as this sequel may have borrowed from the original, the use of young cast members, particularly Finn Wolfhard, gave this round a Stranger Things vibe that blended well.
I will gladly wait for more service like this.

 

[SurrealSisyphus]

Nope

I'm about half way through watching this movie, and it's a bit of a chore. I was really hoping for good things here, but it just doesn't seem to 'get going'. I very much enjoyed other similar type movies by Monkeypaw such as 'Us' and 'Get Out', but so far this one isn't gripping me. The fact that I haven't watched the movie in one sitting. Hopefully it will improve when I wtach the rest tonight.

It seems unfitting to classify Jordan Peele's movies 'Horror' or 'Thrillers'. If anything I've felt that he's got a sort of Metamorphosis surrealism tone to his movies that is definitely unsettling with Us being the closest to traditional horror. From what I've seen of the previews of Nope it looks like it continues his theme of discomfort and tension more than outright Horror. Either way, I look forward to seeing more of what is in store. Feels like Monkeypaw is still finding their voice.

 

[paranoid marvin]

It seems unfitting to classify Jordan Peele's movies 'Horror' or 'Thrillers'. If anything I've felt that he's got a sort of Metamorphosis surrealism tone to his movies that is definitely unsettling with Us being the closest to traditional horror. From what I've seen of the previews of Nope it looks like it continues his theme of discomfort and tension more than outright Horror. Either way, I look forward to seeing more of what is in store. Feels like Monkeypaw is still finding their voice.

Tbh I'd class all three as science fiction rather than thriller or horror. I finished 'Nope', and - for me at least - it didn't improve. Having read up on Wiki about some of the themes in the movie, I can now see what message the director was trying to get across, but it feels it was done at the cohesiveness of the movie.

As I mentioned earlier, I did really enjoy Us and Get Out, and I'll be watching further movies they produce. They feel a bit different, a bit 'M Night Shymalan', and challenge the expectations of the viewer.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I agree completely. They feel and look like they are of the same 'verse. And a great way to send a few hours!

Having read this, I just had to go and watch Black Rain again. Not seen it in absolutely years, but you're both absolutely right. The vision of Japan shown in this movie is most assuredly in the same universe as Blade Runner, certainly as far as the cityscapes are concerned.

 

[KGeo777]

Angels From Hell 1968 - Biker movies are so forgettable. Roger Corman jumped on the bandwagon after his Poe movies--the Wild Angels is pretty much like one of his Poe films except set in a biker gang. I have seen a few of them--the most famous examples other than Easy Rider which I have not seen --the low budget ones that came before it all follow the same kind of plot. There's either an outsider nerdish guy who joins the gang or a former bad boy leader who seeks to regain his lost prestige but can't adjust to modern times. There is always really groan-worthy humor and crude violence that never seems to have a purpose other than to be without a purpose.
This is the second biker movie I have watched where Jack Starrett appears---I never knew he had so much experience playing cops that hassle Vietnam vets before First Blood! In fact, this film is unusual in that it isn't so anti-establishment--but maybe that is because the protagonist (Tom Stern) was a vet and they had to put in some message that his service was counter-productive--thus it is an early Vietnam vet angst movie. The movie starts with him coming to the aid of a black biker gang member which has no relevance to the rest of the film.
They use a lot of ketchup blood in that scene.
Apparently what was really unique about the biker film was the ability to shoot them on the road with little camera shake--this was before steadicam technology.
It's not enough to make one want to watch these films.

 

[hitmouse]

Angels From Hell 1968 - Biker movies are so forgettable. Roger Corman jumped on the bandwagon after his Poe movies--the Wild Angels is pretty much like one of his Poe films except set in a biker gang. I have seen a few of them--the most famous examples other than Easy Rider which I have not seen --the low budget ones that came before it all follow the same kind of plot. There's either an outsider nerdish guy who joins the gang or a former bad boy leader who seeks to regain his lost prestige but can't adjust to modern times. There is always really groan-worthy humor and crude violence that never seems to have a purpose other than to be without a purpose.
This is the second biker movie I have watched where Jack Starrett appears---I never knew he had so much experience playing cops that hassle Vietnam vets before First Blood! In fact, this film is unusual in that it isn't so anti-establishment--but maybe that is because the protagonist (Tom Stern) was a vet and they had to put in some message that his service was counter-productive--thus it is an early Vietnam vet angst movie. The movie starts with him coming to the aid of a black biker gang member which has no relevance to the rest of the film.
They use a lot of ketchup blood in that scene.
Apparently what was really unique about the biker film was the ability to shoot them on the road with little camera shake--this was before steadicam technology.
It's not enough to make one want to watch these films.

I wouldn’t include Easy Rider in the biker gang genre that you are describing. It is a road trip movie on a couple of motorbikes. An odd but interesting film.