Movies We've Seen Recently

[Nikaer Drekin]

I keep hearing really good things about Gerald's Game, but whenever I hear the title I can't help but think of Geri's Game, the Pixar short about the old man playing chess with himself:

I imagine Gerald's Game is a little different.

[ikaribattousai]

The Post is a perfectly fine piece of Oscar bait that has good performances, draws parallels between current government/media relations during the Nixon administration and the Trump administration today, and is a movie you will probably forget you saw within twenty-four hours of walking out of the theater. I have to keep reminding myself I saw it.

[Boots Raingear]

I Don't Feel At Home In This World Any More is a real good movie. It's a thriller about a nursing assistant whose house gets broken into and her ensuing quest for vengeance, and it's got a sense of humor that reminded me a bit of Burn After Reading.  Definitely recommend it, it's a lot of fun.

I liked that movie a lot. I did spend most of the movie saying to myself "man, this guy looks EXACTLY like David Yow" only to discover during the credits it actually was him.

[chai tea latte]

Just saw Julian Radlmaier's "Self-Criticism of a Bourgeois Dog", and I really enjoyed it. It's a critique of political film that nonetheless has a coherent and sincere political message. I'm reminded of Neo Yokio in the way that it sets up its main character as venal and unlikeable, but I think this did it better than NY did. It's commie arthouse cinema, sure, but remarkably straightforward and optimistic.

[Cleretic]

That new Jumanji movie is a pretty good silly action-comedy. Kevin Hart is doing his usual thing, Jack Black plays a fun teenage girl, the The Rock and Karen Gillan are surprisingly solid comedic actors. Gillan clearly learned from Matt Smith, which I find kind of adorable. Also, Rhys Darby plays the best NPC.

Although on thinking about it, the fact the new Jumanji is a comedy is super weird, because it deliberately leans so heavily on the original to build itself up, but despite having Robin Williams in it that original movie has like, no jokes.

[EYE OF ZA]

Also, the original is a board game that spills out into the real world, while the new Jumanji is a video game that sucks people into it.

Like yeah Robin Williams got sucked into it in the first movie but that was because he didn't finish the game, or something

[Wrought]

Me and my friend watched one of the bad Air Bud spinoffs, Pup Star. It's about a world where dogs are sentient and can talk, but are still treated like property. The plot centers around a singing on TV competition called Pup Star that's meant to be a mirror of American Idol in our world, but honestly I was more focused on the world than the plot. Kids movies do this sort of thing all the time. They set up this whole world that's supposed to mirror ours but differs in a significant way, but they don't account for everything because why would you, the audience is kids.

The Pixar movie Cars is a good example of this, where they'll use an offhand reference to the Sistine Chapel for a joke and then keep going, but my mind is still stuck at "Sistine Chapel". The movie keeps going, but in my brain I'm like "oh, okay, so if there's a car Sistine Chapel then there's a car Jesus? And car Christians? Was Car Jesus still crucified or was he put in one of those crusher things? What do car bibles look like if cars don't have hands to turn pages or write with?" and I start losing my mind.

That happened a lot in this movie too, since, as I said, the dogs display sentience and the capacity for human speech, but they're still treated like property to the point where dogcatchers and pounds are still things. What the hell? Isn't that like if we had professional kidnappers in the real world that just saw people on the street and went "ah! You don't have a collar! I'm gonna put you in a cage now"? The dogcatcher even threatens to put one of the dogs down at one point, and almost goes through with it! Don't even get me started on the dog bounty hunter with a little eyepatch and cape.

This sort of stuff makes these types of movies really interesting to me, since it's something you're obviously not supposed to think about to any degree, and so they didn't think about it either. If anyone knows any more of these sort of "Worlds like ours, but with something different so that it doesn't make any sense anymore" movies, I'd love to hear a few recommendations. These sorts of movies are always really fun to watch in my opinion.

[lazzer grardaion?]

In spite of the fact that it's mostly bad, I have a soft spot for the original Cloverfield. Because it is mostly very good, I have no qualms recommending 10 Cloverfield Lane. I found out four hours ago that they were releasing The Cloverfield Paradox straight to Netflix immediately after the end of the Super Bowl, which is an interesting marketing decision, definitely, but whatever. I was temporarily excited!

Fuck me, the movie sucks. None of the characters are interesting or memorable, the 'villain' has motivations that make total sense and are entirely reasonable, but she gets killed in a pretty horrifying way. The plot is basically that they make the Large Hardon Collider in space in order to make infinite energy, but something goes wrong and the crew of the space station gets transported to a parallel universe, but then we find out at the end that they accidentally opened up some portals back home that let through the original Cloverfield monster in the first place. The protagonist gets home at the end only to find that the Cloverfield monster is fucking up the city she's trying to evacuate to. Nothing else significant or memorable happens.

Ughhghhhgghhgh. I don't usually yell "fuck you, movie!" at the end of movies, but at this one I did.

Chris O'Dowd is in it, and I like him, I guess.

[Victor Laszlo]

the dogs display sentience and the capacity for human speech, but they're still treated like property to the point where dogcatchers and pounds are still things. What the hell? Isn't that like if we had professional kidnappers in the real world that just saw people on the street and went "ah! You don't have a collar! I'm gonna put you in a cage now"? The dogcatcher even threatens to put one of the dogs down at one point, and almost goes through with it! Don't even get me started on the dog bounty hunter with a little eyepatch and cape.

If you listen to the director's commentary Pup Stars is an allegory of the civil rights movement.

[Nikaer Drekin]

Early Man is fine! It's not nearly as good as the best Aardman movies, but it's a fun, charming kids' movie with some cleverly animated physical comedy. Also, turns out it's actually a sports movie? Which is weird. Anyway, it's a solid 7 out of 10. Go in with no expectations and you'll have a good time.

LancashireMcGee is dead-on about The Cloverfield Paradox. It's got a solid cast and plays around with some interesting sci-fi concepts, but is unfortunately just stupid dreck otherwise. Just watch 10 Cloverfield Lane again.

[Kaleidoscope]

I got to see Black Panther with my friends and it was fantastic. Honestly, I think it’s the best Marvel film. Like it’s one of those films that is almost perfect. There are a few flaws but they’re so small and everything else is so perfect. The cast, the costumes, the story, the backgrounds, the make-up, the movie is almost flawless. I’m hoping that Coogler will direct the next Black Panther film. He has too. And at this point, T’challa is one of the only reasons I’m interested in Infinity War.

[Sherman Tank]

I'm probably the last person to see Mad Max Fury Road, but it's really good.

[chai tea latte]

I saw black panther today also! Good movie, not just 'good for a superhero movie'. Killmonger was right and should have remained king though.

[Nikaer Drekin]

I too liked Black Panther! But it honestly was a little dragged down for me by being a part of the MCU. Killmonger didn't quite feel fleshed out enough as a character to be a truly compelling and layered antagonist, and part of the reason is that the movie seemed to feel obligated to work in Klaue and Agent Ross. (which is also a detriment because, though Serkis is clearly having a great time, Martin Freeman is 100% on autopilot through this movie) However, the the cast is largely great, especially the lead women, and there's plenty of neat action and amazing design work. Coogler's a great director, and he definitely helped make this more than it could have been in the wrong hands. Some of the story elements just didn't gel for me, though, and it definitely tended to be predictable and Marvel-y. I never bought for a second that the other tribe wasn't going to jump in and save the day at the final battle. Also, you say that train system cancels out vibranium? I wonder if that will be important later on! All of that said, I still had a good time, and a lot of artists I really like are getting a nice paycheck from it, so it's really a win-win.

[Kaleidoscope]

I finally saw Spider-Man Homecoming and I have to say I think it's my favorite of the Spider-Man movies. I think it helped that they cast actors who looked like teenagers and made Peter likable instead of an insufferable whiner. Honestly, I can't think of a single bad thing to say about the film and I'll possibly check out the next Spider-Man movie featuring Holland when it comes around.