Figured I'd share some of the recent movies I've watched and a couple thoughts on each one. These aren't all new releases it's kind of a random mix of whatever looked good at the time haha
- Project Hail Mary - 4/5 stars. Amaze amaze amaze! Really enjoyed it, there's a lot of good stuff missing that was in the book but it's easy to understand why with the runtime already at 2 and a half hours. I'm pretty sure the book was written with Ryan Gosling in mind for Grace
- Buffaloed - 2.5/5 stars. meh, had some funny parts at least
- The Professor - 3/5 stars. Good acting, interesting premise, gives you a few things to think about but the execution and character development could have been better imo
- The Death of Robin Hood - 3.5/5 stars. Great acting, slower movie but I enjoyed it quite a bit overall
- Disclosure Day - 2.5/5 stars. meh, just meh
- The Drama - 3.5/5 stars. A lot of good parts, a lot of not good parts. Overall worth watching I think
- Backrooms - 2.5/5 stars. meh, think I'm too old to really get it. Felt like the movie ended with a missing second half
- Obsession - 4/5 stars. Knew nothing about the movie going in, I can see why it made so much money
Since covid times, I'm always a bit surprised they're still making movies. Thought they died, to be replaced by streaming tv shows that are basically long movies. From this list, I at least heard of Disclosure Day. Had no idea they turned PHM into a movie. The rest wouldn't be able to pick out of a lineup.
From what little I did watch relatively recently:
- Bullet Train - a marvel of screenwriting. It's both hilarious and full of satisfying setups and payoffs. The final act is a bit too goofy, but it's still a great movie overall.
- Super Mario Bros Movie - will never understand the recent hate for Chris Pratt. The movie is suprisingly good, and he's a good Mario. If anything, it's Charlie Day as Luigi where you can immediately hear it's him and expect him to start upselling you on Kitten Mittens.
Project Hail Mary and Obsession were both very good. I've heard lots of "meh" for Disclosure Day so decided to skip it for now.
I thought Backrooms was well done even if it wasn't quite my cup of tea.
Some other recent ones I watched:
- Hokum - a bit simpler/smaller scale than I expected but very well done and creepy
- Ready or Not 2 - fun like the first movie, nice to see Sarah Michelle Gellar acting again
- They Will Kill You - similar to Ready or Not 2, a little over the top but in an enjoyable way
- Passenger - started out strong but wound up being disappointing, still worth it for the first half imo
- Send Help - a wild ride from start to end. I recommend it, but it's definitely a Sam Raimi movie (Evil Dead) so don't go into it expecting a nice wholesome Cast Away type survival story
I keep getting this series recommended but I'm not sure it's my kinda deal. What's its deal?
They're survival horror/comedy movies where the main character(s) have a bunch of crazy people trying to hunt them down and all sorts of gory shenanigans ensue.Unc_of_Reincarnation wrote: ↑1 month agoI keep getting this series recommended but I'm not sure it's my kinda deal. What's its deal?
I think those have Hugo Weaving's niece, and I'm curious to see her in action, so I'll probably end up watching them sometime.
Okay, this is going to be a big one. I recently went on a bit of a binge watching comedy movies. Rewatching some old favorites and getting around to a few from my long list. This may not be the best place to dump it all, but where else am I going to put it? Reddit? Please.
The Hangover
What started this all. I read the script for the movie and then watched it to compare. It's astonishing how much changed between the spec script and the end result. Frankly, I liked the script way more. It's tight, clever, and every piece of it connects neatly together. By comparison, the movie, while still fun, is more of a collection of comedy sketches and grossout bits loosely connected by the script's plot. The only things I preferred in the movie are the Mike Tyson scenes, because duh. And the casino hustling bit. In the script it's a simple montage, while the movie has that iconic Zach Galifianakis card counting scene.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Heard a lot of good things about this one. Haven't seen before. I ended up enjoying it a lot. Jason Segel wrote and starred in it at the peak of How I Met Your Mother, so of course it had to be made. At times it feels like he created this whole movie as an excuse to hang dong on camera. A bit weird. Him not being a professional screenwriter with editors to yell at him for being overindulgent, the movie drags on in some places, but overall it's great fun. Plus, it's nice to see Kristen Bell step beyond her usual quirky cute type.
National Lampoon's Vacation
I never liked National Lampoon movies as a kid. Found them deathly boring. But since everyone else liked them, I've seen them plenty. Rewatching the original Vacation now, I hated it less. It's still far from my favorite comedy, but it did make me laugh here and there. Chevy Chase losing it in the car was actively hilarious and relatable. And it has Billy Joel's ex, the uptown girl, Christie Brinkley. And that's always nice.
Road Trip
I used to like this one a lot in my college years. Simple premise, hilarious hijinks, solid actors, including prime Sean William Scott and Amy Smart. Watching it now, well, I don't exactly get offended by media, but the overall message of this movie still rubbed me the wrong way. It can be boiled down to - "cheating is alright, actually. And since most men are creeps, it's fine to settle for a cheater if he's otherwise above the mean." I realize this is a comedy, but seriously now. This is ridiculous.
We're the Millers
Another movie I've heard about and seen clips from (and everyone knows the 'you guys are getting paid?' meme), but never watched in full. I found it delightful. Funny, well made, and stacked with a cast full of stars. Hell, even the actress playing the daughter who I've never seen before turned out to be Julia Roberts' niece. What's also interesting about this movie is that it has Jason Sudiekis as the lead. I'm so used to him playing some variation of Ted Lasso that I've grown to assume that's all he can do. And here he plays a lowlife drug dealer who pretends to be the Ted Lasso type. He switches between the two modes on the fly in the movie, and it's an absolute joy to watch. He really is a great actor, as it turns out. Also, looking into it, the movie took about 10 years to produce, with script rewrites and cast changes, so the final result has a few bits that feel like remnants of earlier drafts, but that doesn't detract from it much.
Coyote Ugly
This is another old favorite. Rewatching it now, I can't help but notice that it's objectively a bad movie. Conflict that props up out of nowhere, and then simmers down without much work. Some plot turns feel almost arbitrary. And the finale is rushed. Despite that, I still enjoyed the movie a lot. It's got a lot of heart underneath the mess and its wet t-shirt. What I completely forgot was that John Goodman played the dad in this. He's great in anything he is. Another fun nugget is how LeAnn Rimes was 18 when she dubbed the singing here and appeared as the big star Piper Perabo's protagonist sold her music to. For some reason I always assumed LeAnn was a contemporary to Cyndi Lauper. Just a little temporal anomaly.
Interstate 60
Funny thing about this one. Back to the Future was my favorite movie as a kid, and probably still is. During college times, I watched Interstate 60 and got way into it. I'd rewatch it almost weekly. It was a post-party hangover ritual. But throughout all this, I never put together it was written and directed by Bob Gale, one of the two masterminds responsible for BTTF. I guess cameos from both Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd should've clued me in, but they never did. Now my enjoyment of the movie makes so much more sense. And while after rewatching it last night, I don't have the urge to play it back right away like I used to, it's still a lot of fun.
I actually watched the first one now. Based on the trailers and early setup, I expected it to be like a more thrillery Die Hard in a mansion. But instead it's more of a dark comedy with a gore fiesta. Closer to Saw than it is to Die Hard. The end result is not bad, but I would've liked that other approach better.Luxrah wrote: ↑1 month agoThey're survival horror/comedy movies where the main character(s) have a bunch of crazy people trying to hunt them down and all sorts of gory shenanigans ensue.Unc_of_Reincarnation wrote: ↑1 month agoI keep getting this series recommended but I'm not sure it's my kinda deal. What's its deal?
To add several more titles to this.
Harold and Kumar 1/2
To my great surprise rewatching these movies now, they're less stoner comedies (though there's plenty of that too), and way more racial issues comedies. They're also way goofier than I remembered, almost cartoonish, including coyote time when falling out of windows. Still pretty funny. Neil Patrick Harris' cameos are always top tier. And it's endlessly amusing to me that Kal Penn ended up going from this to working at the White House.
Rat Race
I used to love this one when I was younger. The cast is stacked with comedy royalty, a lot of crazy adventures, breezy fast pace, ridiculous premise. And while all that is still there, there's one big issue with this movie. Due to its setup where we're following 6 different teams, plus the race organizers, we get plenty of funny sketches, but we don't get to spend enough time with any of the contestants to grow to care and root for them. Guess when you're young a funny scene is enough to enjoy a movie, but this time around, I didn't enjoy it that much.
Eurotrip
I will never understand how this movie ended up flopping. I first watched it around its release and found it hilarious. Rewatched it now, and still loved it just as much, if not more. It's easily the funniest movie from this whole list I've recently revisited. Which isn't surprising considering it was written/directed by three of the writers on Seinfeld. Everything about this movie rules, and it might be a contender for the catchiest original soundtrack song of all time. I believe the script for it went through a bidding war and was sold for around $4 million. But then inexpiccably it got next to no promotion, released at an inopportune time, and didn't even earn back its modest budget with box office. We'll probably never know how that came to be, but it's a damn shame.
