Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

The Bubble - Ok, so this Judd Apatow movie has a 21% RT, but I don't think that really tells it. First of all, unlike every dramady Apatow's written and directed, this movie is not a drama at all. It's just a Jim Carry/Mel Brook-ish (but not as clever) dumb silly comedy from start to finish. So it feels nothing like any of Apatow's output and I'd have never guessed it was made by him.

That said, it throws so many jokes at the wall per minute, for the first hour, enough stuck that I was laughing pretty loudly and more than most comedies in the last few years and it was pretty funny. Dumb, but funny. The back hour though is pretty weak and the laughs only occasionally land and when there's large segments of time where nothing is landing it just feels like how is this movie over two hours long?? and is a drag.

There's still enough funny bits in the back half that I enjoyed it overall even if it's not a good movie, but this is a movie where a better edit of it that took the back hour and trimmed it down to the best 20 mins would've fixed the movie entirely and made it a good 3 out of 4 star comedy. As is I'd say it's like 2.5 out of 4 stars but the first half is pretty consistently funny and second half has its moments.

All the actors were great too. David Duchovony was pretty funny, Leslie Mann was great, Key was channeling another solid role, Pedro Pascal was great. But the real standout that honestly surprised me was Karen Gillan. I've liked her in most stuff she's been in, but I'd have never imagined she had this level of range and total slapstick comedy talent from anything prior. She's really, really good and hilarious. This movie makes it seem like she's going to have a long successful career in film if she swerves more into the total wacky comedy genre. Definitely makes it seem like the MCU wasted her as just a snarky Nebula when she could've been more a major comic lead.

Overall I'd say it's worth a watch if you go in just expecting a dumb comedy.

I watched this when it came out and went in just expecting a comedy, but found it extremely self-satisfied, even expecting a certain baseline level given the premise is celebs playing celebs making a movie about making a movie which has an inherent 'sniff your own farts' quality.
Like you say, the length contributed to that - really hard to imagine there was an editor sat there thinking "wow, I literally can't cut any of this this is all too good to waste".

I also agree it doesn't feel like a Judd Apatow movie - it feels like a Paul Feig movie.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Saw The Menu.

Contrite, pretentious, drivel.

Would someone who hates scary things and gore be interested in it?

Yes, because most of those are garbage too.

e: oh i read that wrong.

the no, don't watch garbage.

[james]

Saw The Menu.

Contrite, pretentious, drivel.

Would someone who hates scary things and gore be interested in it?

Yes, because most of those are garbage too.

e: oh i read that wrong.

the no, don't watch garbage.

wut

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Exactly

[Madrun Badrun]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

When they show off the batcave robin suits  

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[Madrun Badrun]

Watching Tenet -- this is dumb and long.  It's like Inception where the magic system was designed for its visuals instead of any kind of logic, except most of the backward stuff just looks goofy, and the plot is completely vapid once you look past the rule of cool. 

[Tasty]

It's Nolan's weakest, yeah.

[Polident Hive]

I like Tenet but my dumb conspiracy theory centers on Nolan making it to shut people up so he could do Oppenheimer. On the surface it’s checking boxes that people, fans and studios alike, have been asking him for. After Oppenheimer he’ll do another one of those, and five years from now it’ll have been long enough since The Aviator to make his Howard Hughes movie.

[Madrun Badrun]

Warcraft was better than it had any right to be.  Shame there wasn't a sequel. 

[chronovore]

TITANE
What the actual fuck did I watch? This is the most unsettling film I've seen since the original Nekromantik. I am happy that I saw it, but I am still unsure what the meaning of it is. Was this about family? Is this about women's role in society? Is it about the meaning of what it is to be a man? I am utterly fucking at a loss.

Warcraft was better than it had any right to be.  Shame there wasn't a sequel.

No.

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

I'm also a TENET fan, but I think ultimately its inspiration was Nolan was scrubbing back and forth a fight scene in the editing room and decided backwards fisticuffs looks kinda fucking cool, so built a film around it

[Nintex]

Tenet is great but pretty much Nolan's James Bond movie.
It's better on second viewing though because you know what to look for. There are quite a few hidden easter eggs that are easily missed.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[Joe Molotov]

Saw The Menu.

Contrite, pretentious, drivel.

Would someone who hates scary things and gore be interested in it?

It's not scary, but there is quite a bit of violence. Honestly I really liked it.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

yea, you would.

[Joe Molotov]

That hamburger looked delicious.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

missed oppoturnity for a

spoiler (click to show/hide)

himburger

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[chronovore]

No, The Menu is about being true to one's craft, and how social networks, elite access, and privilege have destroyed the purity of the act of creation. That hamburger is about a return to being satisfied with one's best self.

[Bebpo]

1992 adaptation of Orlando was ok. Great performance by Tilda Swinton, great costumes across the eras, good music, some nice cinematography, kind of minimal script and character/plot development. Kinda makes me interested in trying to read the 1928 novel by Virginia Woolf.

[Madrun Badrun]

M3GAN    worth watching

Good modernization of Chucky and I expect to see a Chucky vs M3GAN in 10 years.   

[Joe Molotov]

Even though a lot of the story beats were predictable, I did like how it flipped "kid knows Chucky is evil, but the adults won't believe him" into "the adult knows Megan is evil, but the kid won't believe her".

[james]

I didnt come here for fucking spoilers Joe

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Rewatching brokeback mountain

that gyllenhall sure is pretty

[Polident Hive]

Had You People on while doing some work and soon paid attention to it. Actually pretty funny for the first half or so. If you’ve watched 22 Jump Street, they took the scenes with Jonah Hill and Ice Cube, swapped the latter with Eddie Murphy, and made a full movie around it. Bit more than another guess who’s coming to dinner remake. Gets schmaltzy and less racist towards the end. It’s never hitting 2000s Rush Hour type racist humor, but it’s closer than I would’ve thought. Another critique: not enough David Duchovny!

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

Yeah, David Duchovny and Julia Louis Dreyfus had some great comedic pairing, but so did JLD and Eddie Murphy, and JLD with Lauren London. I think I might have just under rated JLD in general previously, even though she's great in most everything I've seen her in.

The biggest problem with the film is what a mess Jonah Hill is. He looks older and rougher than literally the entire rest of the cast. Its why the "White Barry White" joke drops so hard, because holy fucking shit. No wonder people wouldn't want their daughter marrying that. And his characters supposedly 35?
I'm not entirely sure all the jokes about being a huge cokehead are exactly jokes.

[Pissy F Benny]

I watched most of the Uncharted film the other day (flicked it on 10 mins in to see what its like and ended up watching it all) and enjoyed it. It's a perfectly solid 3/5 brainless watch.

Marky Mark kinda sux tho and plays Sully as a Marky Mark style snarky prick, rather than a loveable old rogue. It's a prequel to the games too so gets around the Nathan Drake looking too young thing that way.

[Madrun Badrun]

Ya its a decently serviceable Indy clone.  I'd watch a second one. 

[Polident Hive]

https://variety.com/2023/film/global/tarsem-singh-india-dear-jassi-1235506555/

Tarsem is back, in bollywood form.

The Fall made me a lifelong supporter. Even watched that generic Ryan Reynolds movie. It’s tough to be a fan.

[Joe Molotov]

I watched Knock at the Cabin this afternoon. It was pretty good, I enjoyed it. As far as the Punished Shyamalan career arc goes, it's better than Old (which I hated) but not as good as The Visit (which I loved).

[james]

I watched Knock at the Cabin this afternoon. It was pretty good, I enjoyed it. As far as the Punished Shyamalan career arc goes, it's better than Old (which I hated) but not as good as The Visit (which I loved).

What if I liked old but didn't like the visit

[Joe Molotov]

I watched Knock at the Cabin this afternoon. It was pretty good, I enjoyed it. As far as the Punished Shyamalan career arc goes, it's better than Old (which I hated) but not as good as The Visit (which I loved).

What if I liked old but didn't like the visit

Well, on one hand it's kinda like Old in that it's not really a horror movie nor is it trying to be, it's just about people stuck in a horrible situation that they're trying to escape from. I would classify it as a psychological thriller. On the other hand, nobody is old in this movie, but people do come to visit. YMMV.

[Potato]

Watched Where the Crawdads Sing yesterday.

Have never read the book and went in practically completely blind.

Really enjoyed it.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Absolutely didn't expect such an uplifting movie. The trailers made it seem much much darker and very bleak.

[close]

[Polident Hive]

Black Panther 2… yeah. Angela Bassett was great in it.

[Snoopycat_]

3 burials of Melquiades Estrada is finally on Amazon Prime. One of Tommy Lee Jones's best films. I think he directed it. Anyway, it's about a Border patrol guy who kills an illegal Mexican. Tommy isn't happy his mate's been murdered, so he kidnaps the Border guy, forces him to dig up the body and carry it back to the guy's home in Mexico. Magic film.

[chronovore]

Watched Black Panther. Will post in the capeshit thread.

[Nintex]

https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1623428307478888448

 

[Pissy F Benny]

who'd have thought that the vast majority of your big recent content being utter tripe would lead to a loss of subs?

[Cauliflower Of Love]

https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1623428307478888448

 

BP2 strikes again

[Madrun Badrun]

Shotgun Wedding is an entertaining 5/10 movie. 

[Bebpo]

Recovering from painful surgery, on pain meds and can't do anything besides lay on my side and watch stuff on my tablet. So far watched.

Vengeance - I don't know who B.J. Novack is because I never watched The Office, but this move he wrote, directed and starred in was a solid little film about family. Started off a little shakey, but ended up enjoying it. Thought it would be more like The Kid Detective, but it's not so much a mystery film than a drama about family. Good movie.

Sick - This covid slasher film on Peacock has like 80% RT and just continues to show that RT fucking sucks with horror films and these days its so easy for a horror film to have positive reviews. Really mediocre slasher that has nothing going for it besides the goofy end. It tries to be a non-Jason kind of grounded slasher but yet the whole thing is constantly illogical and stupid. Bleh. Probably would've been better off watching Halloween Ends with my time if I wanted a stupid bad slasher.

Violent Night - You know, I kind of didn't enjoy this one. The premise of Santa Die Hard is fun and I like Harbour, but I think the writing and directing were pretty mediocre and for a lot of it, it's just a bore. There are good moments and I enjoyed those, but honestly was putting me to sleep though that was probably the drugs too. Enjoyed Krampus more than this and Rare Exports was better than both for weird Santa movies.

[Polident Hive]

Yeah. Violent Night was so-so. Joke got stretched thin. That 87 entertainment production group has this house style. Nobody, Kate, Bullet Train, and now this. As I’m recognizing their stick man fighting logo, I know what I’m in for.

[Nintex]

Meanwhile Affleck keeps making CINEMA

https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1623703779043381248

[james]

Jason Bateman as Michael Jordan is an inspired casting choice

[chronovore]

Yeah. Violent Night was so-so. Joke got stretched thin. That 87 entertainment production group has this house style. Nobody, Kate, Bullet Train, and now this. As I’m recognizing their stick man fighting logo, I know what I’m in for.

Oh, man, I'm with you on Bullet Train and doubly-so on Kate, but I loved Nobody.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

For real, can we retire the "woman assassin is betrayed by the handler who trained her" trope?

[close]

[Nintex]

https://twitter.com/TheFastSaga/status/1624070774771556352


https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1623874100614643713

[Polident Hive]

It’s The Last of Us 2

[Bebpo]

Weird: The Al Yankovich Story - I liked that it's a joke and a spoof on the biopic genre, but at the same time it felt very straight to video/streaming in terms of the execution of that concept. Just didn't think it was well directed/edited. Felt like an inferior UHF, but I still liked it enough to give it a mild thumbs up.

Jurassic Park Dominion - Yep, still terrible. I remember when dinosaurs were actually threatening in the old JP movies, whereas here they're videogame grunts that anyone can outmaneuver hand to hand. Reminds me of those polls where Americans think they can take down an elephant bare-fisted. The whole locusts sub-story was dumb and all the acting felt phoned in. Finally, why was this SO LONG.

[D3RANG3D]

[team filler]

I enjoyed the new shucky/terminator movie more than m3gan.

the evil senient AI angle is already played out. the entire movie was sold on the the little dance scene before she chases down and stabs the chinamen. it wasn't all bad, but sentient robots are never going to be as creepy as black magic/voodoo/possessed dolls were back in the 80s and 90s.

they try too hard to push the angle of the robot having a mind of it's own, but what's creepy about machines is that they can be mindless and kill you. like those gore videos of people getting caught up in machinery at work. whats hits your gut is that the machine will rip you to pieces with nothing behind it. no emotion, no anger, no survival instincts. it's just unforgiving of you making a small mistake and anyone watching is powerless to help, because you're not overpowering a motorized piece of equipment as it's twisting your co-workers body up like a meatgrinder.

[Bebpo]

Candyman (the new one) - Not bad. Was pretty well directed and stylish and good acting from everyone, especially Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in the lead. The script is alright but kinda falls off in the last 20 mins. Solid enough horror movie and makes me look forward to Nia De Costa directing The Marvels this year.

[Potato]

Finally got around to watching Ready Player One.

Wow, that was a mess. Gotta be one of Spielberg's worst movies ever. Would have worked much better as a TV series.


Don't really know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't something as bland as that.

[HaughtyFrank]

I liked the whole The Shining sequence, mostly from a technical perspective, though I guess it also would have Kubrick spinning in his grave

[HaughtyFrank]

Death On the Nile

Fairly bland but still somewhat interesting to watch, mostly because I still haven't quite figured out these Branagh Agatha Christie movies. On the one hand I get the feeling Branagh wants to evoke that classic Hollywood feeling with the star loaded cast and grand, leaning into hammy, performances, but at the same time they're almost awfully modern with the use of CGI. I think this movie would gain a whole lot more if the characters had actually been in Egypt, if it actually felt like they were all on a boat.

Also I wonder a little about how well Agatha Christie stories still hold up as some elements were pretty weird. Like how there was a whole crew of about 15 people on the ship who were never considered as possible witnesses or accomplices. The captain of the ship apparently had nothing to say either about how people on his ship kept dying. Though maybe that's something the book handles better than the movie adaption

[team filler]

this is gonna rule. wish I could see it in imax tbh 

[Joe Molotov]

Fathom Events release tomorrow night of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. Do I dare? 

[Polident Hive]

https://twitter.com/marisatomay/status/1625403462635626497

 

[Tuckers Law]

If Tom and Steven were to team up again on a movie

 

[Joe Molotov]

If Tom and Steven were to team up again on a movie

 

Eyes Wide Shut 2

[HaughtyFrank]

https://twitter.com/marisatomay/status/1625403462635626497

 

Tom about to demand that Oscar

[Joe Molotov]

Ant-Man 3 barely leading The Eternals on RT for worst reviewed MCU movie, big oof.

[Raist]