The Movie Preview, Review, & Recommendation Thread pt. II

I just realised Disney+ pulled Wall Street 2. At least in Canada. It's a Fox title. It's your own stuff. Really?
 
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One for the fans, but still an excellent documentary that does justice to one of the greatest writers of the century.
 
The Marvels bombed at the box office. Is anyone still religiously watching these comic book movies?
 
I watched Kandahar on Amazon yesterday. It starts with CIA operatives installing a virus that caused an explosion in Iranian nuclear facilities. If I recall correctly the real virus was installed remotely and accelerated the centrifuge until it wrecked the facility but anyway. Gerard Butler returns from Iran to Dubai to take on one more job in Afghanistan not before indulging in alcohol, drugs, and prostitutes alongside sheikhs and mullahs.

Some time during his Afghanistan mission he is exposed by a British journalist and scrambles with his interpreter across the country to Kandahar to extract with the British. Along the way he is the most wanted man in the country and encounters Pakistani ISI, Iranians, Taliban, etc. in Humvees, pickups, helicopter, and motorcycles.

According to Wikipedia the movie is filmed in Saudi Arabia with funding from the Saudi government.
 
I watched Long Story Short this past weekend simply because it had Rafe Spall. I was confused why Netflix tagged it as an Australian movie but a little digging showed it was produced there and all of the supporting cast are Australian. Spall kisses Zahra Newman in a meet cute on New Year's Eve that sparks a long term relationship where Spall is about to propose to Newman. He meets one of those mystical characters who talks about regrets and gets trapped in a Groundhog Day like movie where he wakes up every day on his anniversary with Newman except a year has advanced for him.

Through the years (or moments for Spall) his marriage falls apart, his daughter grows up, his ex before Newman floats in and out of his life, his best friend gets cancer and dies and ultimately he's able to learn his lesson and break the curse.

It's not a particularly deep movie and I just watched an Italian one on Netflix (Still Time or Era Ora) which works on the same premise except the same day is the protagonist man's birthday.
 
Watching Confess, Fletch. Another Jon Hamm showing. Apparently no one wanted to pick up this movie because they weren't sure if it had a box office audience and streaming services didn't know if it fit with their demographics. Anyway, I'm 1/3 of the way through. Lorena Izzo's Italian sounds funny.
 
I finished Confess, Fletch. Listening to Marcia Gay Harden speak Italian was.... interesting. Jon Hamm doesn't crack the case. He more or less goofs up everyone else's plots including the police and somehow escapes with his life and inadvertently exposes the real murderer. I'd say the best part of the movie was seeing him and John Slattery sit at the bar (the "other" office). Those two had chemistry. The rest was light hearted and fluffy.
 
Anyone watch Killers of the Flower Moon? It's Apple so not something I subscribe to but I still enjoy Scorsese.
 
Fwiffo said:
Anyone watch Killers of the Flower Moon? It's Apple so not something I subscribe to but I still enjoy Scorsese.
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I don’t think it’s out on Apple yet

Fwiffo said:
I finished Confess, Fletch. Listening to Marcia Gay Harden speak Italian was.... interesting. Jon Hamm doesn't crack the case. He more or less goofs up everyone else's plots including the police and somehow escapes with his life and inadvertently exposes the real murderer. I'd say the best part of the movie was seeing him and John Slattery sit at the bar (the "other" office). Those two had chemistry. The rest was light hearted and fluffy.
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So how would you rate it overall? Worth a watch?
 
Grand Potentate said:
I don’t think it’s out on Apple yet


So how would you rate it overall? Worth a watch?
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If you're a Jon Hamm fan - sure. If you're not it'll be like how I remember Jennifer Lopez in The Mother - not memorable. He plays an investigative reporter where he doesn't quite solve the murder and kidnap case. He plays a casanova who doesn't quite get all the girls. It's 98 minutes - you won't lose much of your life.
 
Fwiffo said:
If you're a Jon Hamm fan - sure. If you're not it'll be like how I remember Jennifer Lopez in The Mother - not memorable. He plays an investigative reporter where he doesn't quite solve the murder and kidnap case. He plays a casanova who doesn't quite get all the girls. It's 98 minutes - you won't lose much of your life.
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Think that’s a pass for me. Thanks for the review.
 
Oh I watched Indiana Jones Dial of Destiny. I didn't even know they were using "de-ageing" on Harrison Ford. It was very evident in The Irishman. He looked old. He sounded old. And he behaved and moved around like an old man. It's amazing he's still standing straight at 80 (81?). It's clear he lost all ability to retain or build significant amounts of muscle and no special effects short of just replacing the actor on screen is going to hide that.

It was nostalgic (and I'm sure financially advantageous) for Sallah and Marion to return but what was the point? I keep thinking if Shia LaBeouf didn't completely bugger up his acting career there wouldn't be a need to drag Ford out for another one. He could have 'retired' in this movie like Sean Connery.
 
I watched (on and off) the May December movie. Apparently it's based on Mary Kay Letourneau and the teen she married. Never mind the neighbours feeling uncomfortable, but I felt pretty uncomfortable watching the age difference until I realised it was supposed to be a play on that couple. Somehow I don't think the same when 80 something Al Pacino shags a 30 something year old. Oh wait, no I do.

All I could gather from the movie is Julianne Moore has been physically stuck around the I'm mature age since The Kids Are Alright and Natalie Portman looks like she's ageing in her early 40s. If she doesn't make any facial expressions you can't tell but that would only be good for modeling and not acting.

I started The Miracle Club. Maggie Smith is still acting at 89.
 
I'm trying to watch The Family Man as I always do every Christmas and it's not on any streaming service in Canada. Brilliant.
 
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This was a bit of a disappointment. I didn’t expect anything too deep from Zack Snyder, but I at least expected some fun. This is just a collection of cliches from other movies riffing on very old plot lines done a million times already. 5/10
 
Maestro is a good use of my new TV. 4:3 and black and white. I didn't check if it was mono audio.
 
So... Leonard Bernstein was bi or crypto gay. All I got so far.
 
Your Christmas or Mine 2. The first one was set in Britain but this one has the man and woman separated on a joint family trip to Switzerland. The posh male side get stuck in a hut and the working class female side get the five star Alpine experience and abuse the privileges. Does Alex Jennings sound like a condescending prick in every movie? He comes off like Edward VIII again.

Also Jane Krakowski was really only there to show off her Broadway talents. She even gets to sing during the credits which might be why she signed up.

There is a scene where German speakers at a beer hall challenge these tourist Brits to a beer drinking contest by calling them cowards. Good thing it wasn’t with my old work mates.
 
Stillwater.

Matt Damon is a redneck oil rig worker who goes to rescue his estranged daughter who was jailed in Marseilles on killing a local girl. Damon starts chasing down clues the local police either don't want to or can't figure out including walking through rough neighbourhoods. He befriends a single woman with a daughter who helps him with translation, meeting suspects of interest, and acts as handyman, boyfriend and father to the daughter - somewhat making up for lost time he never spent with his own daughter.

Pretty predictable ending. Damon looks like he worked out and did something to fix his hair loss. Marseilles looks nice and warm - even the grotty areas.

I found out Stillwater is a town in Oklahoma.
 
Dropbear said:
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This was a bit of a disappointment. I didn’t expect anything too deep from Zack Snyder, but I at least expected some fun. This is just a collection of cliches from other movies riffing on very old plot lines done a million times already. 5/10
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Bit of a disappointment? This was the worst movie I’ve seen in years. Who wrote this piece of shit? The lead actress has absolutely no acting ability. Where the fuck did they find this chick?
 
Bank of Dave. I only watched this for Hugh Bonneville (aka Lord Grantham) but he has a cameo role in this. It's about a man who grows tired of banking regulations and loan terms from established institutions so he creates his own. His upstart entrepreneurial "bank" is seen as a threat and he is dragged into court multiple times. One time he is accused of being a loan shark. Testimonials from his customers save him. A London lawyer played by Joel Fry who arrives in Burnley to defend Dave also helps and starts taking a liking to his niece. It's one of those feel good stories. Rory Kinnear goes from the stand to the pub and singing karaoke to celebrate his judicial victory at his favourite place and then back to the stand so it's formulaic but the actors seem genuine.

I also watched Sound of Freedom. I didn't know anything about the movie until the end when I searched online to find out which one was actually Mira Sorvino (she looks old). Jim Cavaziel is a QAnon guy. I didn't know that. This was filmed in 2018 and shelved until this year and the bloke hasn't seen any acting roles since. I didn't feel it influenced the movie. It's another typical story about child prostitution and people smuggling.
 
I finally watched Top Gun Maverick.

Ed Harris looks old. I still remember him from The Rock or Enemy at the Gates. How Tom Cruise can be that fit at 60 is beyond me. Scientology must be doing wonders for him. I didn't know Val Kilmer had throat cancer. Kind of sad to see him come back for the cameo and "talk" through text messages.

Jennifer Connelly looked better in the promo and red carpet photographs but I guess you can't make an almost senior citizen go out with a 20 year old. The young Top Gun were a big blur for me. It seemed like they wanted to find someone who looks like Goose and looks (and behaves) like Iceman. It was a pretty predictable story in terms of personality clashes, working together as a team, etc.

I wonder what the movie would be like if it just ended when Cruise gets shot down by the Russians. It would have been more realistic. The F-14 heist is almost comical. I doubt Russians would have captured aircraft that just happens to be fueled, properly maintained (and armed with ammunition!) ready to be flown.
 
Is Oppenheimer any good?

I read one good review for Napoleon and then heard/read every other critic slag it.
 
Working my way through Killers of the Flower Moon. I think it was made to win awards, not please audiences. It is both brilliant and boring. Rating when I finish it, but they really needed an ‘average American punter’ edit which is half as long.
 
From Scorsese? The director's cut will be even longer. I don't think I've ever seen Scorsese finish a tightly edited movie since The Departed.

I'm not a major fan of westerns nor aboriginal stuff so I have a feeling it will be a very long something that goes on the television and I do something else. That said when he was interviewed about the film he said Apple just gave him a bunch of money and told him to go do his thing. He said something like if they were checking his work they were hiding from him.
 
Did anyone watch The Holdovers? Or American Fiction? I saw them on the Oscars best picture nomination.
 
I watched Hypnotic on the weekend with Ben Affleck. It's like a junior version of The Matrix. It was nice to see William Fichtner again though. He looks pretty good for a guy in his 60s.

I don't know if Ben Affleck is ageing or he deliberately lowered his voice into a growl for this role. Anyway, he didn't sound like that in Air.
 
I started X and doubt I’ll finish it. It has a good A Grade cast in a decidedly B grade slasher flick with all the usual cliches.
 
Grand Potentate said:
definitely worth a watch. pretty standard Alexander Payne fare if you like his movies.
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My parents liked it - given they were in uni during the 1970s in rural midwest US.

It was tightly focused on Paul Giamatti and Dominic Sessa so I appreciated it didn't go into weird side plots or secondary character developments that would dilute from the story. Compared to 2024, it's shocking the amount of people who were obese or pre-diabetic who then chain smoke and drink and decide driving is a good idea.

I watched Liam Neeson's Retribution as well. A few years ago I remember after the final Taken he said he wouldn't act in action movies anymore because of the physical demands and his advanced age. Then of course I see him in action movies again. Retribution is pretty easy for him because most of the 90 minute movie he is strapped in the driver's seat of a car. There's no need to actually do any stunts.
 
Fantastic Four is coming back: Jack Kirby — will be played by Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm (aka the Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm (aka the Thing).

Isn't that a pretty big age gap between Pascal and Kirby?

Also I didn't know what credentials Ebon Moss-Bachrach had other than The Bear to pull off a superhero character. I guess he can yell at people in anger?
 
My 13yo is going through a major historical swords and sandals phase. This weekend we watched The 300, A Knight’s Tail and Gladiator. All aged very well.

Next weekend I’m going to try him on Ladyhawke and Excalibur, which may not have aged so well. Maybe 301 or whatever the sequel was called. The one with Eva Green’s bewbs. Or maybe that Crusades film that came out 20ish years ago.
 
I watched American Fiction. It's actually better than I thought it would be. I had assumed Jeffrey Wright's brother was a useless drug addict brother. But it framed the story better that they came from a well to do family. Flipping between family woes and the book industry worked (for me). He needed the money after all so he kept going down that rabbit hole to sell out his artistic/moral/identity values.

I read in some reviews the choose your own adventure ending threw people off. Wright actually says what he really did in the movie and proposed a few alternate endings to tie up the film. You can't get lost. It actually might have been more audacious to just end it with the cut to black and Coraline and the cops entering the room though.
 
I watched Upgraded on the weekend. Camila Mendes is an unpaid intern at an art auction house run by a diva like Marisa Tomei. When Tomei is in London and missing a staffer to help her she rings up Mendes to come from New York. Mendes gets upgraded at the airport and bumps into (with a bloody mary) Archie Renaux. They have a meet cute moment and she plays up she's actually the director of the house to impress him and later his parents. When she discovers her boss is actually selling Renaux's father's paintings she starts juggling her double life.

It's like a movie version of Emily in Paris - but set in London with an Anne Hathaway type character from The Devil Wears Prada.
 
I watched Freelance on Netflix. Typical ex military guy (John Cena) tired of his desk job gets sent by Kevin Bacon to some fictitious Hispanic country to protect an up and coming journalist (Alison Brie). If you like watching Alison Brie run around in a tied up t-shirt and turning it on to seduce John Cena - worth watching. Otherwise the action scenes are borderline comical by today's standards.
 
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