What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?

Drive (no, not that one; the other one; the one from ‘97)

Mark Dacascos should have been a bigger name. I think he’s done alright for himself and had a longer career than most, but he at least should have been the equal of Van Damme and definitely bigger than Norris. His fights and movement are art, and that’s great because they’re the number one reason to see Drive. The director keeps them moving by changing the weapons and locations and forcing Dacascos to fight while handcuffed to a friend.

The rest? It’s passable. The lead henchman arrives in a WWF Undertaker outfit with added bolo tie and purple pince nez. The black sidekick presages Chris Tucker in Rush Hour in his fast mouth and otherwise ineffectual presence. Brittany Murphy gets a bizarre role as a very oversexed high schooler(?) who can’t stop hitting on our leads. It feels like an intensely personal movie in the way that Tarantino’s films do, the director is only trying to amuse himself and we’re lucky when our interests align and much less lucky when they don’t.

I actually quite liked Old for what it (mainly) is--body horror and a meditation on family, illness, and aging--and not for what it's not, which is an effectively plotted thriller. I'd rather see interesting semi-failures like this than a "workman"-like successes, such as Black Widow.

After watching Centurion recently, my friend insisted that we watch Steve Jobs, starring Michael Fassbender. It ended up being a $4 rental via Amazon, which my friend volunteered to pay. I have never been an Apple cultist, and I don't like their business model, so I wasn't really interested. But it ended up being a decent movie.

Fassbender is excellent, as usual. His portrayal of Jobs reveals a complicated and interesting jerk: demanding, controlling, obsessive, brilliant, and a bad father. The movie focuses primarily on 3 different product rollouts (Macintosh, NeXT, and iMac), interspersed with flashbacks featuring key conversations with people like Arthur C. Clarke, Apple CEO John Sculley, and Apple co-designer Steve Wozniak. These are all high stakes conversations with smart participants, and the dialogue is sharp and lively. This isn't the kind of movie that I would normally seek out, but it exceeded my expectations and I'm glad that I saw it.

Loved The Green Knight.

Reminded me, from a cinema perspective, of a surrealist western.

The cinematography was fantastic.

My wife watched " The Trial of the Chicago 7 " on a cheap Kindle tablet while we were camping on the Oregon coast last week, and insisted I watch it with her on a real television when we got back. I thought it was better than the low 70s it was getting on Metacritic or elsewhere, but I can see how it comes off as boomer nostalgia for sixties activism. I didn't realize that was Sacha Baron Cohen playing Abbie Hoffman until I went to IMDB later.

Jungle Cruise - So unremarkable that I'm writing this while it's still going. Pretty much everything in it has been done better in some other movie. I was hoping with the setting and Rock that it'd be more fun like Jumanji but it has none of those movies charm.

Drive was definitely a hidden martial arts gem, really hard to get back in the day, I had it on VHS IIRC (still might in the box that has my VHS Star Wars SEs now that I think about it). Dacascos hampered his career a bit because he liked to stay on Hawaii. He had a good run as the Iron Chef America's "benefactor". That french "Brotherhood of the Wolf" flick is another good one with him in it.

Speaking of wolves Werewolf Within is an amusing film adaptation of a video game (? by ubisoft apparently). Never heard of the game, but the film is ok, walks the line between dry wit and horror a bit like a drunken frat boy at 3 am on a saturday.

Wrath of Man is Guy Ritchie returning to form. Sharp dialogue, great action, and a good plot. Jason Statham drops the jokes and plays it straight, nice to see him brush some of that F&F dust off his shoulders.

Nobody is Bob Odenkirk (whew, he seems to have survived his recent heart attack) doing the John Wick/Taken/'every other older actor at some point in their career' revenge flick. A bit of his sly wit trickles through, but mostly it is just good gun play and brutal fights. Some REALLY good stuff in here, the chorography, at least up till the bombastic finale, is well grounded. They sprinkle in women as random thugs as well, which is always a bit shocking when they get mauled and shredded like everyone else but hey, progress amiright? Hollywood really needs to move on from Russian mobsters as the bad guys though, its getting overplayed IMHO.

charlest wrote: Loved The Green Knight.

Reminded me, from a cinema perspective, of a surrealist western.

The cinematography was fantastic.

I quite liked it, too. Intriguing and atmospheric.

I'm really looking forward to seeing The Green Knight. Maybe I'll take a chance at a theater this weekend.

In the meantime, I've really been enjoying my trial of Apple+. I didn't want another streaming service, but I'm milking it for all I can before I drop it in a month or two.

Boys State is a documentary that came out last year about an annual event where high school boys (and girls, in a separate program not shown) go to the state capital and run a mock campaign for a week. Apparently, it happens all over the US, but this one is set in Austin, Texas. It's fascinating. You see every aspect of humanity, from sincerity to chicanery to showmanship. It's weird in that it simultaneously makes you hopeful and depressed for the future at the same time.

Wolfwalkers is the latest Tomm Moore animated movie, also from last year. It's about two girls in Middle Ages Ireland, one is a kind of werewolf and the other is the daughter of the local wolf hunter. The story is very engaging with some real depth and good characters, but the artwork is just amazing. Highly recommended.

I haven't seen the first Suicide Squad movie. I heard it was bad, even though the Harley Quinn parts of the trailer seemed fun. But I was a fan of the comic for a few years in the late '80s, when it was written by John Ostrander. And there was a great Task Force X (aka Suicide Squad) episode of the JLU cartoon many years ago. So when I signed into HBO Max last night and saw that the sequel to The Suicide Squad movie available, I had to watch it.

The Suicide Squad is a cool concept. The U.S. government puts together a black ops team made up of a few hardcore operatives or D-list heroes, along with incarcerated super-villains, and sends them on extremely dangerous missions. To ensure that there are no desertions, they surgically implant small explosive devices in the necks of the squad members.

I can't remember ever enjoying a DC movie more than this Suicide Squad movie. It's a wild blend of creativity, violent action, and dark comedy. Idris Elba, Margot Robbie, and John Cena are the stars, but there are some other notable folks in the mix, including Nathon Fillion and Pete Davidson. Even old John Ostrander gets a bit part in a Stan Lee sort of cameo. The magic ingredient is clearly director James Gunn, best known for his Guardians of the Galaxy movies.

Alien - I was going to watch this tonight and discovered I can't. I've had nightmares that I wake up from and don't go back to sleep that night. Maybe in another few years. I mean this as a recommendation as no other movie has done this. My whole life I haven't seen anything scary as a xenomorph. It's a shame because it really is an excellent film.

Just watched the new Suicide Squad movie, and it is fucking rad. Very funny, hyper violent but in a goofy way, just a good time. Well worth your time.

Agreed. Just finished it myself. Very fun.

I’ll join in the Suicide Squad chorus here. Fuckin’ DOPE. Great movie, on par with Marvel’s best. DC finally got the balance right. The whole cast is just superb, what a surprise John Cena was in this. Lots on offer here- aweasel man, several killing sprees, a Pixies song, Starro, lots of actually funny jokes, lots of gross out stuff, and Doctor Who...along with some surprisingly tender and heartfelt moments. I’ll have another, please.

Did anyone see Suicide Squad in IMAX? I was wondering if it would be worth the trip to Indianapolis to see it there.