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

Last night I watched Trap on Max, and boy... I thought Carry-On was bad! Trap is even more ludicrous, less enjoyable, and just plain stupid.

Josh Hartnett plays a killer who has taken his daughter to a pop concert. The entire thing turns out to be a sting in order to capture him. The idea that the FBI would endanger thousands of people to do something like this is laughable, but that is by no means as dumb as it gets. I am sitting here wondering if I give this film a 1 / 10 or a 0.

Wife decided that the kids were ready for Home Alone. The eldest had never before heard that much swearing in a movie and was into it for the duration. The rest were bored until the violence began.

I hadn't seen it in decades but appreciated it. I know the violence is what everyone remembers, but it is a really well-constructed film. Things happen for a reason, and there are consequences to actions. Harry and Marv aren't complete morons and actually present a threat. It could have spoken down to its child audience by not trying on any of those things that make a real movie but actually tried and succeeded at those fundamental elements.

And everything out of John Candy's mouth is gold.

9/10

I watched Civil War on Max. The war journalist one, not the Avengers.

Did people like this film? I found it mostly dull, having basically one good scene. Was this scene good because it had Jesse Plemons in it? Yes, that was pretty much the reason.

There is barely any plot; this film feels like a series of unrelated scenes all thrown together in a pot. 3/10

I actually liked it. I found the lack of exposition or background detail appealing. Seeing Americans fighting with each other on US soil, and the strength of the ending, hit me pretty hard. I found it an interesting reflection on our current political division, and the fragility of society.

I haven’t seen it. I may watch it, but the idea is too uncomfortable to me.

This was a good breakdown of it:

Like Charlie, I appreciated the lack of story build-up and need to know who was who in terms of sides or how the conflict started. In Howard Chaykin style, they just dropped you in the action and told you to catch up. But like Hotseat, I was kinda "meh" on the overall production. It seemed adrift on its own lack of conviction. It wasn't making a statement so much as it was giving you mom's old "You better not do this..." warning, even if she had no idea what "this" actually was. There's nothing glaringly wrong with it. It's a decent film (and, yes, Jesse Plemons was excellent in his uncredited role.) It just didn't really say anything to me.

Juror #2 (2024) is an okay courtroom drama. There is nothing wrong with it, but if you paid to see in a theater, you might feel like you didn't get your money's worth. It feels a bit like it was made for television, but it was directed by Clint Eastwood and includes a supporting role for J.K. Simmons and bit part for Kiefer Sutherland. Toni Collette has a prominent role as the prosecutor, but she is not really a big name to me because she doesn't tend to work the movie genres that I like. I don't know if this was the result of natural aging or deliberate makeup choices, but her features seemed slightly reptilian to me, though her character was not a villain.

I served jury duty twice, so I will say that the scenes in the jury room were only slightly dramatized and relatively realistic. The movie threatens to turn into a different sort of movie at one point, perhaps a more conventionally entertaining one, but Eastwood guides it back on track. The story is simply told, with restraint, and then it ends at an acceptable moment without overstaying its welcome.

Spouse and I are doing a Knives Out maybe Glass Onion if we haven't fallen asleep double header tomorrow night for New Years Eve.

My usual NYE film is Predator, and I hope to continue that this year.

Lady Bloodfight (2017) is a good martial arts movie with a clunky name, and you can see it on Amazon Prime. A more accurate name would be Lady Bloodsport, as it is essentially a gender-swapped version of Bloodsport (1988), the movie that made Jean Claude van Damme a star. Though filmed in Hong Kong with a mostly Asian cast, the dialogue is in fluent English. The protagonist is played by blonde stuntwoman Amy Johnston, whose biggest role was as stuntwoman for Black Widow in Captain America: Winter Soldier. She looks a bit like Taylor Swift without the makeup.

The acting is okay in Lady Bloodfight, and compares favorably with most kung fu movies. The fight choreography is very good. The story has a few more twists than expected, and the emotional beats land solidly. Some of the martial artists are attractive, and all of them look athletic. Despite the R rating, the locker room scenes do not include any nudity, though the first one playfully leads the viewer into expecting nudity. There is plenty of action, and some of it is brutal, which explains the R rating. I would easily recommend this to any fan of kung fu movies or especially Hong Kong action movies.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: War of the Rohirrim - An average (maybe above) fantasy anime movie with a Peter Jackson veneer. Follows the daughter of Helm Hammerhand in her quest to save the kingdom, with the final battle being a siege on Helms Deep. I enjoyed it but I'm into fantasy anime movies anyways.

Shellhead wrote: Lady Bloodfight (2017) is a good martial arts movie with a clunky name, and you can see it on Amazon Prime. A more accurate name would be Lady Bloodsport, as it is essentially a gender-swapped version of Bloodsport (1988), the movie that made Jean Claude van Damme a star. Though filmed in Hong Kong with a mostly Asian cast, the dialogue is in fluent English. The protagonist is played by blonde stuntwoman Amy Johnston, whose biggest role was as stuntwoman for Black Widow in Captain America: Winter Soldier. She looks a bit like Taylor Swift without the makeup.

As far as female led karate flicks go, I'm watching The Shadow Strays on netflix right now and it's pretty good, has some of the most graphic gore I've EVER seen in a fight film and thats saying something. They still can't really sell these little girls beating up legions of stuntmen twice their size but they are getting better and better at faking it.

FWIW there have been a few Jean Claude Van Damm flicks drop (on amazon, IIRC) that are half decent, as well as a Scott Adkins one (One more shot...I think) that was VERY good action wise. Not sure who is financing these things but after the overload that was the Extraction films and Grey Man it's nice to see some good 80's vibe action films again.