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

Raiders is the only one that bothered to ask anything remotely approaching a question with its story: What do we really believe? The rest are just adventure comics from the 1930s with Hollywood glitz attached. Admittedly, Last Crusade does one of the best dialogue exchanges of the entire trilogy (I don't count Crystal Skull as an actual film) when the two doctors are in the sewers of Venice:

"What's this one?"
"Ark of the Covenant."
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure."

Not Sure wrote: Really only the first one matters at all to me anymore.

c.f. pretty much every ‘beloved’ 70s/80s franchise.

There was a point in time where sequels were common only for low budget drive-in trash; increasing investment has not resulted in an increase in quality but it sure as heck results in a huge amount of revenue so here we go round and round again. Film Stories recently ran a piece noting 126 big-budget sequels currently in production. We’re at a point, and have been for some years, where continuing an existing franchise, no matter how bad the decline in quality, is more profitable than starting something new. This is why we will all be choking down and bitching about Indiana Jones 5, Ghostbusters 5 and Aliens 8 later this year.

Barbarian was entertaining although I feel it would have been improved with a touch more ambiguity, partly in the editing (Justin Long’s character in particular would have benefited from a little less setup so that we could enjoy the circumstances of his particular situation being teased out), but mostly in the slightly silly final act. I enjoyed the messaging in the movie but it’s hardly subtextual, although reviews suggest it’s still going over a lot of people’s heads so maybe the film sits in an awkward place where it doesn’t fully commit to being either a Peele-esque social commentary mirrored in a psychological horror tale or a popcorn-munching monster jump-scare. Plenty of great scenes all the same, despite the film entire being rather middling.

The Menu surprised me with how engrossing it was. The pitch sounded like it was very quickly going to fall apart into dumb horror but the cast and some early reviews had me intrigued that there would be much more to it. It’s another horror movie with a subtextual commentary on modern society, in this case a mix of class division, artistic pomposity, and cultish attitudes within and around fine dining and celebrity chefs. I feel that they could have dialled up the surreality, and had the licence to do so as it’s all played so straight despite the play being divorced far from reality. It’s the kind of concept that would have resulted in something amazing in the hands of someone like Lynch, but even so it is very watchable and triggers a number of talking points without bashing you over the head with it’s message a la Barbarian.

Glass Onion was fine, it felt to me like it twisted once or twice too often and the ending was clearly a case of not knowing how to close off the movie so just dialling everything up to maximum and calling it quits.

Mrs Harris goes to Paris - thought I’d confuse y’all by mentioning something left-field to the usual geek-fare. What feels like a paint-by-numbers romcom with just-so plotlines and Mary Sue characters actually ends up subverting the genre in quite entertaining ways. Our titular character changes her course and finds a way out of post-war drudgery and exploitation by taking a naive and impromptu trip to Paris to blow her life savings on a Dior haute couture dress. Every scene starts out as a generic set piece for this kind of movie and then bumps off the road into something else. I had the feeling that much of the proceedings is a reflection of and commentary on the protagonists rose-tinted view if he world. Anyway, this is a good uplifting pick for date night that isn’t yet another tired old retread in the genre.

mezike wrote: This is why we will all be choking down and bitching about Indiana Jones 5, Ghostbusters 5 and Aliens 8 later this year.

Way back in 1982, Heavy Metal showed a banner for Jaws 7 in the background. It's during the Harry Canyon story, which establishes the date as 2031, so we still have time.

"You're gonna need a bigger franchise."

We've still got a little farther to fall:

Jackwraith wrote: Raiders is the only one that bothered to ask anything remotely approaching a question with its story: What do we really believe? The rest are just adventure comics from the 1930s with Hollywood glitz attached. Admittedly, Last Crusade does one of the best dialogue exchanges of the entire trilogy (I don't count Crystal Skull as an actual film) when the two doctors are in the sewers of Venice:

"What's this one?"
"Ark of the Covenant."
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure."

Last Crusade was pure fun, and and I agree that it was not as good as the original. The scene with Sean Connery and the umbrella is iconic.

I reluctantly finished Temple of Doom before re-watching Last Crusade. In addition to the usual complaint that it was too dark, I was specifically troubled by the sight of two kids fighting, possibly to the death. The meal scene was unnecessarily gross, and seemed to indicate that this installment was leaning into a horror element that nobody requested. Apparently Spielberg has apologized for Temple of Doom, but he certainly put a lot of time in effort into making it what it was.

Not Sure wrote: We just rewatched the Jones films with my sons (they're late teen-early adult now).

I was surprised how annoyed I was with the Last Crusade. A lot of that movie basically hangs on pure slapstick more than "adventure". The writing in it is very lazy in a profoundly late 80s way.

Really only the first one matters at all to me anymore.

I've never been grabbed by Crusade the way that others seem to be. The last time I watched it (ages ago) I noted how often what's going on isn't particularly exciting, but they're doing the Indy theme music to make it seem much more exciting than it is.

I love the first one, but don't have much use for the rest.

Saw Redline, an animated, sci-fi, racing flick. This movie is all style and I really enjoyed the visual treat, the soundtrack, the experience of watching it. Not so great on story, but this is not a movie you watch for its characters or plot.

The Gray Man

Forty years ago it would have starred Van Damme or Schwarzenegger. Filmmakers have learned a lot since then. The set pieces are more elaborate, the fight choreography is great, people actually thought about the lighting.

Unfortunately they gave all the best lines to the villain Evans who then went and stole all the film’s charisma. Nothing wrong with an engaging villain, but it is a problem when the rest of the cast decides to match the energy of the hero Gosling. Seriously, Evans showed more energy dictating a phone call than Billy Bob did getting his fingernail ripped out.

And if you’re going to make your hero that much better than everyone else that he is never seriously challenged by twelve armed hitmen despite being handcuffed to a bench, could he at least enjoy himself? Even Schwarzenegger smiled while murdering everyone in Commando.

n815e wrote: Saw Redline…this is not a movie you watch for its characters or plot.

We’ll occasionally put this on in the background while playing Gaslands.

Sick day at the JoJo household after four of us threw up within 24 hours. Perfectly timed to watch Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on drop.

At its core it was really good. Pretty amazed how respectful and tasteful a Disney movie could be in handling Boseman’s death, and so much of the plot and characters flowed naturally from it.

The peripheral stuff was not as good, not enough to seriously hurt the movie but just enough to bloat it and distract from that solid center. Like America Chavez before her, Riri Williams was a non-entity. I just kept forgetting she was there. Everyone referring to her as “the scientist” (not “the engineer”?) didn’t help. I’m half convinced she wasn’t a sure thing for the movie, and the script needed to be fluid to deal with whatever shook out. Phase Four has had its problems but getting me to care about or remember the new crew outside of Hailee Steinfeld or Florence Pugh has been the worst.

This is going to be petty, but if you’re going to give Namor a beard and normal hairline, not have him live in Atlantis and not make him an arrogant dick at all times, why call him Namor at all? He can just say it’s one of the names he was known by, and everyone can get on with calling him K’uk’ulkan. Christopher Meloni is too old, but that’s the hair Namor needs. Or maybe it’s a brave new world where MJ doesn’t need to have red hair either, and I need to get over it.

I saw Saturday Night Fever in the theater in early 1978. I was very into Top 40 pop music at the time, and was curious about this movie soundtrack that was suddenly dominating the radio dial. Most of my friends were into what is now called classic rock, so only one was willing to see the movie with me. It made quite an impression on me, and was darker than I expected. Several years later, I discovered in college that I liked to dance at the dorm parties.

45 years later, I watched Saturday Night Fever for the second time. The movie is darker than I remembered, violent, gritty, cynical, and depraved. New York City was a glittering cesspool at that time, and the movie leans into that. The dancing scenes hold up well, but they are maybe a third of the movie. The music remains iconic.

Yeah, people really forget how dark and messed up that movie is.