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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 9, 2020 17:14:17 GMT -5
My youngest son and I went to see a matinee of Onward, the new Pixar movie, Sunday. We both thought it was great and I got a big hug out of him as it was ending. Objectively it's not up there with the best of Pixar's films, but it's solidly in the upper middle of the pack for me. And if you have certain interests (D&D) or if you have sons, or if you had an older brother who was influential (in a good way) in your life, it can bring out all the feels.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 9, 2020 18:37:46 GMT -5
My youngest son and I went to see a matinee of Onward, the new Pixar movie, Sunday. We both thought it was great and I got a big hug out of him as it was ending. Objectively it's not up there with the best of Pixar's films, but it's solidly in the upper middle of the pack for me. And if you have certain interests (D&D) or if you have sons, or if you had an older brother who was influential (in a good way) in your life, it can bring out all the feels. The trailers hadn't really grabbed me but that sounds like you had a pretty great experience so I might need to check it out. |
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Post by brutalis on Mar 12, 2020 13:31:34 GMT -5
Coming up June 12th is a new Tom Hanks movie: Greyhound. Based on a 1955 novel: The Good Shepherd by C. S. Forester. Starring Stephen Graham, Rob Morgan, and Elisabeth Shue. Story of a US Navy Commander on his first war-time assignment in command of a multi-national escort group defending a merchant ship convoy under attack by submarines in early 1942 during the Battle of the Atlantic occurring months after the U.S. officially entered World War II. Hanks also wrote the screenplay. Trailer looks good!
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 14, 2020 17:42:37 GMT -5
My youngest son and I went to see a matinee of Onward, the new Pixar movie, Sunday. We both thought it was great and I got a big hug out of him as it was ending. Objectively it's not up there with the best of Pixar's films, but it's solidly in the upper middle of the pack for me. And if you have certain interests (D&D) or if you have sons, or if you had an older brother who was influential (in a good way) in your life, it can bring out all the feels. I'm glad I saw your review, I originally wrote this off as it looked too similar visually to the Shrek or Trolls films put out by Dreamworks so I thought it would have that same juvenile tone to it but it was actually pretty solid. The plot was a tad predictable, but there were some really solid character moments and I loved the stone dragon at the end. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2020 13:13:08 GMT -5
Watched the new Netflix original Spenser Confidential last night, a loose adaptation of Ace Atkins' Spenser novel Wonderland (Atkins took over the Spenser series after Robert Parker's death).  As a crime movie, it is excellent. Great performances by Mark Wahlburg, Alan Arkin and others, tight pacing, good narrative flow that keeps you hooked all the way through. As a Spenser adaptation it leaves a little to be desired. The changes they make to the characters and set up really don't work well for the character IMHO. Spenser is now an ex-con, a former cop who did a five year stretch for assaulting a superior officer/law enforcement officer though he does retain the former boxer and code of honor bits, Hawk has gone from an older former Foreign Legion special ops veteran to a young ex-con/aspiring MMA fighter, and Spencer's love interest is a new character, gone is Susan Silverman, therapist/case worker, replaced by Cissy Davis, dog groomer (who is also one of the more one note/annoying characters in the film). I haven't read Wonderland (I've only read some of the early Parker novels none of the later stuff), so I don't know how well it adheres to the plot of the book itself. The movie didn't feel like any of the Parker books I have read, other than feeling like a dark pulp crime/detective story in general. That said, it was still a really good film worth checking out if you like the genre. As a movie, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars, as a Parker adaptation though, it would only get 1.5 stars. -M |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 27, 2020 20:18:07 GMT -5
Not quite new, but hey... Although I haven’t played a videogame since Tetris, my kids sort of kept me appraised of how the gaming world evolved (with dad’s frowning disapproval, mostly, because grumpy old men gotta grump). Still, I thought Ready Player One was a whole lot of fun. I miss that kind of upbeat story where good and loyal friends manage to win the day! I must have missed 99% of the Easter eggs in the movie, though. The only time I could have been useful to the heroes is when the magic formula from Excalibur was needed, as I’ve known it by heart since I first saw that movie!!!  (Come to think of it, Excalibur is one of the few films I saw with my own dad at the theatre. Videogames back then were played on the Commodore TRS-80, and were mostly text based). |
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 28, 2020 12:13:47 GMT -5
@mrp , I think you nailed it here. A great chunk of brain-candy. If you're an old-school Spenser fan (notice the second "s' in honor of the English poet... Parker got his MA and PhD in English Lit at BU), it isn't really a Spenser movie, but as a crime-action movie, it hit on all cylinders.
Alan Arkin was fun as the old fight manager/ promoter, too.
I won't lie, the Boston locations were a plus, too. (Even though they somehow can go from one location to another in ways that don't exist in the real world, but, hey, it's a movie!) We'd been wondering why Wahlberg had been filming on the street behind my sons' triple-decker in Brighton last year. Snow sprayed on the ground, cop cars, etc. I think the scene showed up for about five seconds... when Spenser was comforting a woman at her front door. hadn't realized then tat it was going to be a Spenser movie.
However, same son was walking with his girlfriend last year just down the street and they saw a guy keying a fancy yellow sports car and wondered what was up. They knew it was for a movie, but couldn't believe they'd do that to what was obviously a super-expensive car. We all found out when we saw the movie, of course.
I hope they make the one that seems to be in the pipeline.
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Post by BigPapaJoe on Apr 26, 2020 6:49:35 GMT -5
I watched Extraction the other night on Netflix. It's Chris Hemsworth new film. It's directed by Sam Hargrave, who has experience as a stuntman as well. The Russo brothers also helped write the script and produce the film.
Basic plot: Tyler Rake (Hemsworth), a black-market mercenary, is recruited by fellow mercenary Nik Khan to rescue Ovi Mahajan Jr., the son of India's biggest drug lord Ovi Mahajan Sr., from Dhaka, Bangladesh because he is held for ransom by Bangladesh's biggest drug lord, Amir Asif.
I really thought this was going to be another Netflix disappointment with a big star attached to it. Even the title sounded like something you'd find on straight-to-DVD with a past-his-prime 90's action star getting paid huge money to be in an otherwise lackluster production. However, I was pleasantly surprised. This film was a solid action flick. It certainly doesn't reinvent the wheel story-wise. The plot is pretty generic, and it's something that a lot of people will have already been familiar with. But the film doesn't try to be more than it is. It knows it's strengths, and maximizes them. More style than substance for sure, but that's all working very well here. The action sequences are high grade, and it's not a shock given who is involved. I was also impressed by the acting from the entire cast. Especially the young Indian boy. If you have a couple of hours to burn, check it out. I kept waiting for the ball to drop, but the film was solid until the very end.
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Post by berkley on Apr 26, 2020 21:58:00 GMT -5
The only newish thing I watched this month was Hitler is Kaput!, a 2010 Russian comedy about a WWII Soviet spy undercover in Berlin as a member of the SS. It's so ludicrous and over the top that even that minimal description makes it sound more serious than it is. There's no attempt at realism of any kind - lots of sped-up camerawork, song and dance numbers, ridiculous stunts, costumes, etc. Very fast-paced and farcical, more like a series of sketches with only a very flimsy plot to hold them together, it works quite well if you don't go into it expecting too much. The hero's love interest is played by the impossibly gorgeous ex-figure skater turned pop singer Anna Semenovich, whose every appearance makes you (oh, all right - me) wish she had more screen time.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 6, 2020 12:30:48 GMT -5
The Bad Batch is a good feel bad movie. Like Mad Max without the action but all the despair and nihilism.
(This is probably the best work I’ve ever seen Jim Carrey do, too.)
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2020 19:30:15 GMT -5
Couple of upcoming comic book adaptations from Netflix have trailers:
and
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Post by brutalis on Oct 6, 2020 11:49:58 GMT -5
Just saw preview for new Blumhouse horror comedy due to release on Friday November 13th. FREAKY starring Vince Vaughn.
Think Freaky Friday but here Vince is a psycho killer who when trying to kill a nothing/nobody high school girl ends up transferring souls with her. Wimpy and nerdy girl ends up in his rough and tough killer's body while he ends in hers. Only thing is the killer turns her nothing life upside down with a "killer" transformation, turning wimpy girl into sexy star student as "she" kills other students. Trailer has quite a few laugh moments and looks like it will play with empowering the nerdy girl as she gains strength, courage and determination to stop the now female killer while she is trapped in the male killer's body. Looks fun, combining terror and laughs...
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 10, 2020 11:05:09 GMT -5
Not quite new, but hey... Although I haven’t played a videogame since Tetris, my kids sort of kept me appraised of how the gaming world evolved (with dad’s frowning disapproval, mostly, because grumpy old men gotta grump). Still, I thought Ready Player One was a whole lot of fun. I miss that kind of upbeat story where good and loyal friends manage to win the day! I must have missed 99% of the Easter eggs in the movie, though. The only time I could have been useful to the heroes is when the magic formula from Excalibur was needed, as I’ve known it by heart since I first saw that movie!!! (Come to think of it, Excalibur is one of the few films I saw with my own dad at the theatre. Videogames back then were played on the Commodore TRS-80, and were mostly text based) You may enjoy the book more than the movie... the retained the concept, but changed many of the references... I suspect they simply didn't want to pay for rights for many of them. The book is much more a love letter to the 80s. You can't get me on board when you cut Rush and Monty Python, sorry. Apprently, after the author wrote a love letter to gamers with 'Armada' (which is not nearly as fun, but maybe it's because I'm and 80s kid, Armada was more written to MMO gamers) than didn't resonate as much.. there's going to be a 'Ready Player Two', which I can't imagine will work, but maybe. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jan 13, 2021 17:37:17 GMT -5
Went and saw the Tom Hanks western News of the World last Sunday. Overall a good, if somewhat slow western. It's not a movie that will leave a lasting mark, particularly not within Hanks' oeuvre. But it is quietly entertaining and his young co-star, Helena Zengel, gives a powerful performance in a role that could easily have become parody. Really it was just nice to be able to go to a damn movie.  |
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Post by brutalis on Jun 12, 2021 20:11:00 GMT -5
Went out with a lady friend to see Cruella. It is FANTABULOUS! Very well crafted story concepts, funny when it needs to be and serious when necessary. Stylish designs in sets and costuming with a truly killer 60's rock soundtrack. Emma Stone pulls it all off as she provides dimensions to the character to create something more than a stereotype of villainy. Really enjoyed and a visual feast meant to be enjoyed on the big screen.
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