Discuss and Rate the Last Film You Watched

[Gordon_4]

Wonder Woman:

I've watched this movie a lot. When it came out - nearly ten years ago, fuck me sideways - I saw it like four times at the cinema. And I've watched it many more times at home. So is the movie perfect? Hell no. Gal Gadot has a presence about her, a slight swaggering confidence that works as Diana but doesn't seem to serve her well elsewhere. Luckily everyone else is really damn good, and I gotta say that this movie is what turned me around on Chris Pine: I first saw him in the Star Trek reboot movies as Kirk and I hated him with the power of a thousand suns because of it. But his performance as Steve Trevor? Chef's kiss, no fucking notes. The film's third act is kind of weak compared to the opening and middle but I think I'm in a minority that doesn't hate David Thewlis as Ares.

So watching it again with older and more jaded eyes, I still more or less come away with the same issues as I did originally. The World War I setting is great, but Ludendorf's behaviour is totally from a first draft set in WWII and he was a Waffen SS officer and some Gadot's early lines really, really needed an extra take or ten cos some of her deliveries are Star Wars prequel film worthy.

But man, I still get all nerd teary when the No-Man's Land scene happens. I fuckin' love it.

 

[BrawlMan]

Wonder Woman:

I've watched this movie a lot. When it came out - nearly ten years ago, fuck me sideways - I saw it like four times at the cinema. And I've watched it many more times at home. So is the movie perfect? Hell no. Gal Gadot has a presence about her, a slight swaggering confidence that works as Diana but doesn't seem to serve her well elsewhere. Luckily everyone else is really damn good, and I gotta say that this movie is what turned me around on Chris Pine: I first saw him in the Star Trek reboot movies as Kirk and I hated him with the power of a thousand suns because of it. But his performance as Steve Trevor? Chef's kiss, no fucking notes. The film's third act is kind of weak compared to the opening and middle but I think I'm in a minority that doesn't hate David Thewlis as Ares.

So watching it again with older and more jaded eyes, I still more or less come away with the same issues as I did originally. The World War I setting is great, but Ludendorf's behaviour is totally from a first draft set in WWII and he was a Waffen SS officer and some Gadot's early lines really, really needed an extra take or ten cos some of her deliveries are Star Wars prequel film worthy.

But man, I still get all nerd teary when the No-Man's Land scene happens. I fuckin' love it.

This movie has aged well since the day it came out. Some Gadot's are wonky in the beginning, but I don't find them Star Wars prequel levels of worthy. I still give this movie an S-Rank.

Currently in the middle of In The Line of Duty III.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★★★½ review of Dragonslayer (1981)

“ Oh, I know this creature of yours... Vermithrax Pejorative. Look at these scales, these ridges. When a dragon gets this old, it knows nothing but pain, constant pain. It grows decrepit... crippled... pitiful. Spiteful!” This film was one of two early 80's collaborations between Paramount...

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[Johnny Novgorod]

The Accountant 2

A buddy comedy action thriller starring Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal as two brothers bad enough to rescue the president's daughter a schoolbus full of children. I remember very little about the original, just that Affleck plays autism like it's a superpower. Here he apparently also has the backing of the autistic equivalent of Charles Xavier's School for Mutants, with half a dozen kid hackers helping him out from a mansion by rattling at keyboards and doing Watch_Dogs stuff.

I found a bit corny and sometimes confusing (how did we get here, again?) but also a lot of fun and very sweet at times. Affleck and Bernthal have fantastic big bro/lil bro chemistry between them.

 

[Gordon_4]

The Accountant 2

A buddy comedy action thriller starring Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal as two brothers bad enough to rescue the president's daughter a schoolbus full of children. I remember very little about the original, just that Affleck plays autism like it's a superpower. Here he apparently also has the backing of the autistic equivalent of Charles Xavier's School for Mutants, with half a dozen kid hackers helping him out from a mansion by rattling at keyboards and doing Watch_Dogs stuff.

I found a bit corny and sometimes confusing (how did we get here, again?) but also a lot of fun and very sweet at times. Affleck and Bernthal have fantastic big bro/lil bro chemistry between them.

I think this sucker was one of the best no frill action movies in recent years, but I agree the big draw is Affleck and Bernthal’s great chemistry. The scene at the line dancing bar was both very sweet, and hilarious once one of the douchebags starts hassling Affleck and the girl he’s dancing with.

 

[BrawlMan]

In The Line of Duty III and In The Line of Duty IV. These movies were the breakout hits for Cynthia Khan and Donnie Yen respectively. III was Khan's first action movie, and IV was Yen's first action movie. They're both in the fourth film. ITLoD III is basically 48 hours, but both characters are cops and has the Sega Saturn mascot guy as the other main lead. He doesn't get do much after a while and gets killed off anti-climatically, even though he has big motivation to be there. In The Line of Duty III is a good action movie, but feels too similar to Royal Warriors (In The Line of Duty II) in some ways that makes it less unique. Still not bad for a first outing for Cynthia Khan, and at least has much better comedy than Yes Madam!

IV is a much better movie and has so much action! It's crazy! Donnie Yen is the freaking man, and works great with Cynthia Khan. There are movies after this, but they get progressively worse and most didn't even make it stateside or are out of print. Khan and Yen worked on much better projects together after those, and readily available.

​

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★★½ review of The Birds (1963)

“Birds have been on this planet, Miss Daniels, since Archaeopteryx; a hundred and forty million years ago. Doesn't it seem odd that they'd wait all that time to start a war against humanity?” This film is an adaptation of the novella by the same name by Daphne du Maurier. And by that, I mean...

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[thebobmaster]

A ★½ review of Captain America: Brave New World (2025)

"It was either lose the moustache or lose the election." While it is overstated how many problems this film had in production, it was by no means an untroubled production. A lot of the information for the post-production woes comes from Jeff Sneider, who is...notoriously not the most reliable...

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[thebobmaster]

A ★★★★★ review of Rear Window (1954)

“That’s no ordinary look. That’s the kind of look a man gives when he’s afraid someone might be watching him.” This film was an adaptation of a short story by John Michael Hayes, titled It Had To Be Murder. However, the movie rather quickly overtook the original story in popularity, to the point...

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[Gordon_4]

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - 9/10

Man, I had forgotten how damn hard this movie's score slapped. It maybe a little longer than I'd like, and I am desperate for a third one because I really, really wanted to see M'baku as the Black Panther. I need that fucking magnificent man hauling as much ass and sass with the Avengers as possible. And way more Okoye.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

The Accountant 2

It’s about as good as one could expect an unexpected sequel to be. Ben lost Jen again and got a Jon which worked well here. He even learned how to line dance which, well, good for him. He pulled that off in real time halfway down Copperhead Road and got some rebound digits.

There are a few stupid parts though. Why not just hack the girl’s phone and find whatever you want? Plus, the angle of the selfie pic was wrong. Also the FBI agent must’ve been half terminator or something.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★★ review of Dead Silence (2007)

“Spirits have long memories. She’ll come for us, in the end.” This film was written by Leigh Whannell and directed by James Wan, just like Saw. Unlike Saw, however, it didn't really catch on with critics or the audience, although it has since become a bit of a cult hit among horror fans. Leigh...

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[Johnny Novgorod]

Alto Knights

You know how every season The Sopranos would have a brand new mobster pull out of prison or come back from exile with some bullshit claim to power and make life hard for Tony? Alto Knights is entirely that, with Robert De Niro playing both the reigning mobster and his wannabe challenger.

This is also pretty much a reskin of Casino, written by Nick Pileggi, but with De Niro playing both the De Niro part (the movie begins with his attempted assassination) and the Pesci part (the old friend and loose cannon that has to be suffered because that's them rules). Whatever the movie gets from having De Niro act opposite himself in two and a half scenes, I don't think it's worth losing his rapport with Pesci, although it is amusing to see him do what I think is meant to be an impression.

So what this is, is a passable imitation of a Scorsese movie (Barry Levinson directs) that feels derivarive and ever so slightly off. Thelma Schoonmaker is sorely missed. There's a flow and a rhythm to even lesser Scorsese that this movie doesn't even begin to mimic - scenes end limply on slow fades to black, there's some jittery intercutting, and action is repeated from several angles like it's 20 years ago. Everything just screams a lack of confidence on the thing being shown.

The digital zooms also took me out of it.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★★★★½ review of Tropic Thunder (2008)

“Of the 10 men sent, 4 returned. Of those 4, 3 wrote books about what happened Of those 3, 2 were published. Of those 2, just 1 got a movie deal. This is the story of the men who attempted to make that movie.” The idea for this movie is actually one that Ben Stiller had kicking around for a...

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[thebobmaster]

A ★★★½ review of Fear Street: 1978 (2021)

“In Shadyside, the past is never really past.” This film was originally planned to be directed by Alex Ross Perry. However, in January of 2019, he stepped down, leaving Leigh Janieck to direct the entire trilogy. This film picks up immediately after the events of the first film, with Deena...

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[Johnny Novgorod]

Saturday Night

A dramatization of the chaotic 90 minutes (the movie clocks 110 but whatever) leading to the first SNL show. Fun enough but a little too self-important for its own good. Chevy, Aykroyd are 10/10. The SNL ladies (Gilda, Jane, Laraine) felt underutilized. Yet Garrett Morris gets the "I feel underutilized" storyline, which paradoxically gives him something to actually do, even if it's just mope around and sing about killing whitey.

Gilda Radner does get a sappy monologue about sadness and nostalgia. I get it, she passed away young. But in 1975 she was alive and being funny on TV. Why can't the movie memorialize her as a comedian? There're a lot of these cheap "hindsight is 20/20" moments. There're tons of digs at Chevy's eventual rise and fall, too. It's like everybody's future has to be spelled out over and over in the 90 (110!) minutes leading to the rest of their lives.

Oh, and Lorne's wife was openly cucking him with Dan Aykroyd. You won't find this in any of their Wikipedia pages but it was apparently common knowledge and shows up on a bunch of oral history type books on SNL. How embarrassing!

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Star Wars- The Phantom Menace
Star Wars- Attack of the Clones

Andor has revived an interest/nostalgia in Star Wars so I want to watch the Clone Wars animated series, but first I figured I'd hate re-watch the first two prequel films that lead into the actual clone wars. I say hate-watch because, as a relatively old, I have the original and correct opinion that the prequel films are poop.
I was hoping going in I'd find more to like and have a good time watching them but unfortunately they really are just bad. Literally everything Anakin Skywalker says makes me want to permanently puncture my ear drums.

Which is a shame because the core story of a promising young special person being corrupted is a great premise, but there's just no flow- just awkwardly placed rants and fights and bitching sessions. There's just no humanity in these films at all.

And I forgot how bogged down the middle sections of the films get by uninteresting or at least poorly executed Annakin plots- pod race in the first one, slaughtering raiders that killed his mom in the second. The pod race setup was just so BORING, while the raiders one could have been compelling if it wasn't handled so awkwardly.

IIRC, Lucas did not direct Empire and Jedi which is why they're the best ones- better paced, better rhythm, more reality with the human characters. I don't wanna say he can't direct narratively at all because he also did American Graffitti which is charming. I imagine it's really hard to do while also trying to setup a whole fictional universe.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Prey: Killer of Killers

Animated film set in the Predator world.
I have become just really bitter and jaded about IP fatigue. You know: remakes, sequels, reboots, etc. And with Predator, I only liked the original. It's such a great premise that never felt like it need "world building" to me.

But when Prey came out and everybody liked it I checked it out and, yeah, they were right. And now this one, and they're right again. So, against all odds, Predator is cool now?

This movie is basically like an anthology: the Predators go hunting for the best human warriors through time, so the first 20 minutes is with a cool Viking woman who fights with two shields (so cool if seemingly so impractical), then a samurai, then a WW2 era fighter pilot. Then they pull them together for a big fight.

It is pure action- do not eat a meal or scroll on your phone while having this on, it's very kinetic and very nice spectacle. Kicks ass, check it out.

 

[thebobmaster]

A ★½ review of A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

“Did you know that after the heart stops beating, the brain can function for well over seven minutes? We got six more minutes to play.” This film began development in 2008, when Platinum Dunes decided to give the film the same treatment it had given Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 2003, and was...

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[thebobmaster]

IIRC, Lucas did not direct Empire and Jedi which is why they're the best ones- better paced, better rhythm, more reality with the human characters. I don't wanna say he can't direct narratively at all because he also did American Graffitti which is charming. I imagine it's really hard to do while also trying to setup a whole fictional universe.

Possible hot take: while the problems are definitely worse in the prequels, you can see quite a few of the same elements that people call out the prequels for in A New Hope. Poor plot pacing, poor dialogue, some really odd choices in terms of line delivery...it's just that the original film also had a cheesy hokeyness to it to make that work a bit better, and you had actors like Sir Alec Guinness and Harrison Ford who were respectively just that good to make it work and elevate everyone around him...and just willing to say "Yeah, I'm not saying that" and going off script.