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

Rliyen wrote: Watched Day Shift on Netflix, John Wick without Wick and gun fu with vampires. They even had a audio reference to John Wick. Liked it a lot.

Speaking of Wick, I inadvertently got my 80 something mother to actually watch John Wick. I went to her house this weekend, to help her with her Firestick that she was having issues with, and I showed her how to better operate the remote control. When I brought up the channel offerings, one of them had all three John Wick movies. I saw it and commented on how great it was, explaining the initial opening of the movie, but also telling her they had some good bits how they reveal the actual background of Wick. I showed her the initial home invasion at Wick's house, including the cop scene.

She was audibly grimacing at some of the finishing, but when it got to the doorbell ringing, she said, "Uh, oh. Cops."

She wasn't disappointed, but when the "Noise Complaint? ....Noise Complaint." line was delivered, she howled in laughter.

I was 3/4 of the way home, and I got a text from her. "I'm going to watch John Wick now, love you."

I died.

MINOR UPDATE: I went with my wife over to my mother's house this past Saturday to spend some time with her, and I remembered that she went to watch John Wick movie, I asked her:

Me: "So, mom, what did you think of John Wick?"

Mom: "Who?"

My wife: "The Keanu Reeves movie."

Mom: "Oh, my God. It was (proceeds to ramble about not one BUT ALL 3 MOVIES)".

Me (eyes wide at this notification): You watched all three?

Mom: "Yes, back to back. It was graphic in places, but very interesting."

Me: "You know, there's a fourth movie coming out. It was supposed to be released earlier this year, but got pushed back to next."

Mom: "Well, when it comes on, text me and I'll watch it!"

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: I'D LIKE TO MAKE A DINNER RESERVATION FOR THREE (get mother to watch all three JW movies).

Later, I told my wife that I never expected to see all three, just the one. She chided me, "See what you did?"

That's incredibly sweet.

Watched Bodies Bodies Bodies over the weekend. Surprisingly good! It does a good job of both playing with expectations and skewering GenZ and our modern world. Kinda the perfect horror movie for the 2020s.

Jurassic World: Dominion was the most creatively bankrupt I can remember seeing. No one except maybe the black lady seemed like they wanted to be there. Raptors chasing a motorbike through Maltese streets was neither as thrilling as you would hope or as camp as it sounds. Remember Malcolm distracting a T. rex? Remember Malcolm reading a map? Remember the Barbasol can? Remember “Nobody move”? It was as joyless as Ben Stein reading and repeating the Black Knight sketch for nigh on three hours. It was fun once. A long time ago. Asylum movies have more care and thought put into them.

To rub salt in the wound, Peacock rolled straight into the original Jurassic Park. Even before the brontosaurus appears and John Williams’ theme kicks in, there’s joy in the filmmaking. Scenes are interesting without shoving in photorealistic CG dinosaurs. Wayne Knight wipes the shaving cream on the pie. Sattler and Grant talk about kids. Every acting choice by Jeff Goldblum.

I watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s for the first time last night. So much happening under the surface in this film. So much tragic sorrow with a tacked on happy ending, like Ducky in Pretty in Pink.

DarthJoJo wrote: Jurassic World: Dominion was the most creatively bankrupt I can remember seeing. No one except maybe the black lady seemed like they wanted to be there.

No kidding. I'd be down for a film about that lady pilot and the lady black marketer though.

They get handcuffed together, hi-jinks insure. There is a tiny adorable baby dinosaur on the loose that has the key to unlocking a bioweapon about to go off, secret reptilians from the earths core can now walk about unmasked and blend in, and Sam Niels botox wears off enough for him to krinkle his forehead!

1 bill BO easy!

I watched Barbarian on HBO. This movie is fucked up and the best thing I can say about it is that there were multiple moments in which I thought I knew where the plot was going, and it went another direction. Being surprised by a film is always appreciated.

The premise is that two people end up renting the same AirBnB by accident, and they discover that the house has some "interesting" features. A series of misfortunes develop that will definitely have you saying "OH WTF"

I'm not going to say it was good or bad. It was different and I'm glad I'm not watching it anymore.

I thought it was bad, then good, then really good, then maybe great; then stupid, then terrible. There some awesome stuff in it. But then some really, really stupid writing. Like, mind-numbingly stupid. Years ago I read a review for Scars of Dracula (a not-great Hammer)...the reviewer said that the plot only works if you assume the protagonists are complete idiots. Same with this movie.

I thought it was good, then great, then dumb. Worth a watch for sure and some great moments, but the final payout to the story was rather dreadful. It was at its best when it avoided tropes, then it sort of started falling into them left and right.

I watched The Invitation last night. There are a couple of films with this title, this is the 2015 one where a group of friends come back together for a dinner party. I knew nothing else about it other than it was recommended. I really enjoyed it. Solid execution and a gripping tension.

The Invitation is TOP SHELF.

This year's Palme d'Or went to Triangle of Sadness, a (very) Swedish satire about, well you should decide what it's about, but I'll throw capitalism and/or feminism in the ring.
Best Captain's dinner you will ever see on film.
Woman in the seat next to me said to her partner she tuned out bc it was getting to unrealistic for her right when I was about to fall out of my seat from laughing at the realness, make up your own mind, whatever.
Good one this.

Re-watched The VVitch. I saw it in the theater back when it first came out, and the experience was intense and spellbinding, except for two idiots in the audience that sort of ruined the experience. One idiot was the guy sitting right behind me. He kept nervously kicking the back of my chair during scary scenes, until I turned around, looked him in the eye, and threatened him with violence if he didn't stop. He stopped. Late in the movie, during a long, tense, quiet scene leading up to that startling moment when Black Philip speaks, some other idiot's cell phone rang. He wasn't sitting anywhere near me, but his ringer was turned up loud. Otherwise, I enjoyed the movie, but lost faith in the movie theater experience. Too many idiots who never learned manners because they watched so many movies in the privacy of their own home.

Sadly, The VVitch did not hold up as well for a second viewing, partly because I remembered it so well that there were no surprises. It's still a quality movie, but less scary and more sad on the second viewing. The witch systematically tears the family apart, often by turning members against each other. It's a nightmare inversion of the American Dream. The final scene remains strange and unsettling.

The Outfit is a whodunit starring Shakespeare fave Mark Rylance as a gangster-era tailor in Chicago. It takes place completely within the 3 rooms of a tailor's shop, and is something of a thinky take on gangster movies crossed with Clue. Currently on Amazon Prime and maybe Peacock.

Shellhead wrote: Re-watched The VVitch. I saw it in the theater back when it first came out, and the experience was intense and spellbinding, except for two idiots in the audience that sort of ruined the experience. One idiot was the guy sitting right behind me. He kept nervously kicking the back of my chair during scary scenes, until I turned around, looked him in the eye, and threatened him with violence if he didn't stop. He stopped. Late in the movie, during a long, tense, quiet scene leading up to that startling moment when Black Philip speaks, some other idiot's cell phone rang. He wasn't sitting anywhere near me, but his ringer was turned up loud. Otherwise, I enjoyed the movie, but lost faith in the movie theater experience. Too many idiots who never learned manners because they watched so many movies in the privacy of their own home.

Sadly, The VVitch did not hold up as well for a second viewing, partly because I remembered it so well that there were no surprises. It's still a quality movie, but less scary and more sad on the second viewing. The witch systematically tears the family apart, often by turning members against each other. It's a nightmare inversion of the American Dream. The final scene remains strange and unsettling.

It's definitely a different experience the second time around. You're right in that it's more depressing than scary the second time around. "These people are in a really bad way." However, I did get to talk my wife into watching it, knowing she was going to hate it. You have to get the small joys in life where you can. For some reason, her and A24 horror movies don't click; Hereditary, The VVitch, and Midsommar have all been flops for her.

Housebound, a NZ horror film. I know Spooky Season is “over”, but this is a great flick. A woman is court-ordered to house arrest in her parents’ home. Strange happenings in the present (and memories of them from when she was a child), a creepy past for the house, a suspicious neighbor, a ghost-hunting parole officer… Lots of tension, scares (and laughs) make a fantastic viewing experience.