Topic: Rate the last movie you've seen

[M.K.Ultra]

Evil Dead Rise - 9.5/10

This was a good one. Once things got started... it was TENSE. I could see people that get scared, being scared by this one. It was creepy, very unsettling, extremely gory, nerve wracking, and it touched on the family aspect of this that wasn't in any of the previous versions, all while being entertaining throughout.

I'm not giving anything away on this one, but if you got a scaredy girlfriend/wife, this is the one pull them into.

.....and to think this was originally made for direct to HBO Max.
I'm glad new management looked at it and said "no, this is too good for direct to streaming, send it to the theaters!!".
that was a good call.

Are you a fan of the original trilogy? If so, does this relate to those at all or provide fan service for fans of the original?

[BlackNMild2k1]

Evil Dead Rise - 9.5/10

This was a good one. Once things got started... it was TENSE. I could see people that get scared, being scared by this one. It was creepy, very unsettling, extremely gory, nerve wracking, and it touched on the family aspect of this that wasn't in any of the previous versions, all while being entertaining throughout.

I'm not giving anything away on this one, but if you got a scaredy girlfriend/wife, this is the one pull them into.

.....and to think this was originally made for direct to HBO Max.
I'm glad new management looked at it and said "no, this is too good for direct to streaming, send it to the theaters!!".
that was a good call.

Are you a fan of the original trilogy? If so, does this relate to those at all or provide fan service for fans of the original?

The Original trilogy was a long while ago.... so I can't say if there was any easter eggs to relate to ED 2 or 3. Evil Deal (2013) was a remake of the original though, and this new one is a sequel to that. They all contain the "Book of the Dead" however, and that is the main connection.
I do no believe Evil Dead Rise made any attempt to relate itself to Evil Dead 2 or 3 though, outside the eventual use of a chainsaw.

[ThePerm]

Evil Dead 2013 is only sort of a re-make. It's implied that it is similar events, it's just a later time. And that the events of the originals happened. Ash's car is parked at the cabin, but then again that car is usually in Sam Raimi productions.  at the end cedits of Evil Dead 2013 Bruce Campbell as Ash randomly pops on the screen and says "Groovy"

[Stratos]

Critics have lost their souls is my theory. Mario Movie is brilliant fun and a good time for like 90% of people. I was going to go see it with a friend and he was dissuaded due to the initial negative reviews. Thankfully he changed his mind and enjoyed it just as much if not more so than me.

I'd give it a 9/10. One point dinged for lack of Waluigi and Wario 

[nickmitch]

Fast 9

I know Fast X is out, but I hadn't seen 9 yet, and it was on HBO Max, which is dead now. Anyway, the movie mostly sticks to the formula but makes a few changes. The fun street race or heist that normally opens these films is replaced by a stock car race flashback, and it still works. John Cena is Dom's long-lost brother, which is weird for a guy whose main thing is "family". You'd think Dom would've reached out by now. Cena is great in the movie. There's a lot of retconning going on. Also, they finally go to space.

I think the best parts about the movie aren't touched on quite enough. Tyrese (Roman) realizes that he and the rest of the gang might be immortal, but the rest of the group writes this off as them being lucky, despite him having a really good point.  I mentioned the irony of Dom having an estranged brother. There are scenes where Dom is all "mmm...family" and Cena is just watching and seething. There was clearly a found family vs blood family dynamic that was sold, but not fully explored. I honestly think the film would've been better exploring Tyrese's existential crisis and Cena's family-envy more instead of the space stuff, which was largely superfluous and felt like it was tacked on because they felt the need to do it.

Not the strongest in the series, but a good romp. Definitely a "one of these for fans of this" movie 7.5/10


Ant-Man and the Wasp in QUANTUMANIA

Sucks about Johnathan Majors. But this was a pretty good movie. I think this got a bad rep because Ant-Man is a B-list hero who's clearly punching above his weight class. Phase 4 also doesn't have a proper "Avengers" team-up movie, so this coming toward the end probably felt like a letdown.

The movie does well enough on its own though. You get to hear some of Ant-Man's book, which is basically how the world found out about what happened with Thanos. But instead of more "post-blip" world-building, they throw you straight into the Quantum Realm. One grievance I have is that Janet Van Dyne keeps this secret about what's going on in the Quantum Realm with no reason not to go into detail. The group is basically just walking around while she refuses to explain the very real danger they're in. That irked me quite a bit.

The comedy is pretty good and not heavy-handed. Ant-Man wins the day in kind of an Ant-Man way. Bill Murray is in it. It's a solid "like this for what it is and not what it ain't and you'll have a good time" movie. 8/10

[ThePerm]

Guardians of the Galaxy 3  8.8/10  Great movie. I love the series. This was the best movie in the MCU since Infinity War. Or maybe No Way home. That was good too.

[Adrock]

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

It's good. The plot is by the numbers though I figured that's intentional as this is targeting young children specifically. The movie visually looks good with a very distinct Mushroom Kingdom in particular.

Chris Pratt was fine. Jack Black was excellent though his normal voice slips through sometimes when Bowser sings.

My only criticisms:

1. The plot moves too quickly. It rarely gives the audience time to think/appreciate what just happened before moving to the next set piece.

2. I didn't love all the pop culture songs though they did start with "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" by the Beastie Boys so this is a Decision Button criticism for me.

3. The Mini Mushroom seemed to only make someone small. It would have been nice if Mario used it like he does in the games (i.e. floaty jump, walk on water) though the ending kind of doesn't work if the Mini Mushroom wasn't just an outright negative.

4. No Daisy.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

I watched this months ago so none of this is fresh. It was excellent.

One of my criticisms isn't one. The movie is like half an hour too long, but it needed that extra 30 minutes to handle T'Challa/Boseman's death effectively, appropriately, and respectfully. Had Boseman not passed away, it's very easy to see where Ryan Coogler would have a more streamlined narrative. For movies with longer run times when streaming, I will sometimes split it up into two or more sessions.

Anyway, T'Challa's death was handled very well, serving as the emotional through-line of the entire movie. Absolutely amazing character work for Shuri throughout. Letitia Wright was acting her ass off there in that final scene of Shuri on the beach, burning the funeral robe (though some of that was probably not acting), communicating so much grief without a single word of dialogue.

I'll have to rewatch as I didn't fully understand aspects of the Talokans (?).

I both loved and hated a particular cameo.

Namor was awesome.

Didn't particularly like Riri Williams/Iron Heart.

As always, this movie could have used more M'Baku.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

I almost broke my No More Movie Theaters rule to see this almost entirely for Jonathan Majors which yikes. Like nickmitch, sucks about that whole dealie. As always my thoughts are "If there's any kind of fuckery, you gotta go. However, I am willing to adjust my position when more information is presented."

As for the movie, ehh. It's fine. Eternals is the worst post-Endgame MCU film. I'd place Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania right above that due to:

1. Overuse of CGI.

2. Too many characters, not enough time for all of them. For example, Jentorra was more important narratively than Hank yet received far less screentime. Bill Murray's role so greatly reduced that he could have been excised from the movie entirely with a few more tweaks.

3. Majors was good as Kang (playing him very differently than He Who Remains) yet like most MCU villains, Kang felt grossly under-utilized and under-developed so I'm hoping that isn't the end for this version of the character.

4. Janet was frustratingly evasive... about everything (as nickmitch mentioned). In the Lemon of Troy episode of The Simpsons, Nelson tells everyone something happened and that there's no time to explain but on the way he stops to drink from a water fountain and reiterates that there's no time to explain. That was Janet for most of this movie.

5. If there's a Thanos-level threat stranded in the Quantum Realm (where the Avengers just traveled through to save the trillions of sentient lifeforms), maybe that's something Janet should have mentioned to someone on the outside. Feels like all of this could have been averted entirely.

6. Recasting Cassie felt like a colossal waste of Kathryn Newton who is too old to be playing this character anyway. Cassie says Yellowjacket attacked her when she was six and Ant-Man takes place in 2015 so if Quantumania takes place in 2025 then Cassie is 16. Newton is 26.

7. Ant-Man and the Wasp (and Stature for that matter) all keep taking their helmets off when they talk. Did they do that in the first two?

8. Kang didn't just shoot Cassie who stood there like an idiot after Ant-Man and the Wasp both shrank to attack him. He straight up stops shooting lasers out of his hands to monologue after everyone is licking their wounds. Then, he creates a shield on the ground where most of the ants are instead of flat-out fucking flying away which we know he can do because he floated down on that blue energy disc thing. Just all-around bad direction. Reed is normally better than this.

9. No good reason to bring back Darren Cross. This is related to #2. He didn't even do anything, and he's treated as a big joke the whole time. There was one scene where Kang abuses MODOK which shows Kang being a dick. There were any number of ways to accomplish the same thing.

There's probably more; I'm just tired of writing this.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse..... 11/10

**POTENTIAL MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD**

This move was crazy good, and I would've sat through a 4 hour version if they had released the whole thing at once. TBH, I wasn't even aware it was a 2 parter.... and about 2 hours in, I leaned over to my daughter and said "There is so much story left to tell... I wouldn't be mad if they hit pause right here, and said 'To Be Continued'..."
about 5 minutes later, that's exactly what happened. They certainly leave you wanting more.

The script gets flipped in this a few times, and the action is intense. The art-style lends alot to what they are able to create here visually, and it's awesome all the way through. This could not be achieved in live action in anyway whatsoever.

There are tons of easter eggs, and a *SPOILER*surprise cameo that's MCU related

I'm not even gonna get into details, but know that Spider-Gwen has plenty of screen-time, there's more easter-eggs in the amount of spider-beings and related villains that you will not be able to name them all in a single viewing, the action is amazing, the visuals are insane, and if you have time to rewatch the first movie (which I need to do, but isn't required).... the story is very much directly connected.

p.s. there are no post credits, and part 2 comes out March of next year (Beyond the Spider-verse)

long story short.
This is better than Into the Spider-Verse.
This is the best Spider-Man movie made to date
This is the best Marvel movie made to date
and you should go see this movie now.

[broodwars]

I've been watching a lot of movies lately (including nearly the entirety of MCU Phase 3 + Spider-Man, which I may discuss at another time), but since Across the Spider-Verse has come up I might as well chime in on it since I just got out of a showing:

Into the Spider-Verse is one of my all-time favorite movies. Across the Spider-verse is a mess. An absolutely gorgeously and creatively-animated mess to be sure, but a mess nonetheless.

As I feared would happen, this feels like a 2 hour movie that was stretched out to two 2 hour movies to justify having enough content for a 3rd movie. Miles feels like a side character in his own movie, the vast majority of screentime seemingly devoted to Gwen or the endless parade of barely-distinguishable Spider-Man multiverse cameos.

I'll save my general complaints about the writing until the 3rd movie is out so we can see if they can stick the landing, but suffice it to say if the 1st movie was a very personal, tight story...Across the Spider-verse wants to be a meta commentary on the Spider-Man fanbase in a way I don't think is even genuine (the "crisis" at hand is, frankly, something I think was definitively settled with the reception to Into the Spider-verse). To me, the vast majority of the film's 2nd half felt cold and corporate, though it was nice to see Spectacular Spider-Man get even as little screentime as he does after Disney killed his series.

What's here is "OK", but "OK" isn't good enough when you're following-up a movie like Into the Spider-verse. It's disappointing, and if you don't know the "To Be Continued" is coming, it will piss you off like it did half my theater.

[ThePerm]

The Flash Fun/10 I liked this one. It's very creamy.

[BlackNMild2k1]

The Blackening

This was a fun little horror/comedy.
It's about an all black main cast taking a quick Juneteenth weekend trip to a cabin in the woods.
therefore I guess it now falls under black comedy... (haha get it.... ::crickets:

anyway, a little social commentary, and black tropes in horror movies all of course get visited in this one. I mean, the tag line is "We can't all die first".

Long story short, this was entertaining, funny, and had a few "tense" horror moments.
a certain aspect of it I thought was pretty obvious early on, but that didn't stop the enjoyment of this.
It's based on a skit from a comedy show, but they did a good job of fleshing it out to a full fledged movie that didn't overstay it's welcome by stretching the skit too thin.

If you like horror/comedy, it's worth the watch. A lively crowd in the theater is also a bonus, as people reacting to a horror/comedy in real time always adds to the enjoyment.

[nickmitch]

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

9. No good reason to bring back Darren Cross. This is related to #2. He didn't even do anything, and he's treated as a big joke the whole time. There was one scene where Kang abuses MODOK which shows Kang being a dick. There were any number of ways to accomplish the same thing.

I actually liked what they did with MODOK. He's a comic-booky-ass comic book character.  A giant floating head with dangly limbs is just too silly. Having him as a serious threat would've felt forced, so making him something of a joke that's still some kind of threat felt right. Having the callback also gave him some additional motivation and gave something for the characters to play off of.

It does suck that a normally recurring villain once again dies in their debut movie.

[Adrock]

I actually liked what they did with MODOK. He's a comic-booky-ass comic book character.  A giant floating head with dangly limbs is just too silly. Having him as a serious threat would've felt forced, so making him something of a joke that's still some kind of threat felt right. Having the callback also gave him some additional motivation and gave something for the characters to play off of.

Don't get me wrong. MODOK didn't need to be serious. Rather, he needed to be necessary. Like I said above, there are too many characters. Bringing back Cross only to dunk on him the entire time didn't justify the screentime. There's a whole rebellion with characters I did not care about because the movie says so little about them. Still, if anything, a lot of these characters including MODOK should have been excised in order to give Kang more to do especially if they're using this movie to partially set up Avengers: Kang Dynasty.

Also, I saw a supercut (which I can't find) of the MCU mocking a lot of the sillier comic book names and whatnot. Hadn't realized how frequently that happened. Instead of leaning into the weirdness of comics, they do a wink and a nod to the audience, and I disagree with that choice.

[nickmitch]

I actually liked what they did with MODOK. He's a comic-booky-ass comic book character.  A giant floating head with dangly limbs is just too silly. Having him as a serious threat would've felt forced, so making him something of a joke that's still some kind of threat felt right. Having the callback also gave him some additional motivation and gave something for the characters to play off of.

Don't get me wrong. MODOK didn't need to be serious. Rather, he needed to be necessary. Like I said above, there are too many characters. Bringing back Cross only to dunk on him the entire time didn't justify the screentime. There's a whole rebellion with characters I did not care about because the movie says so little about them. Still, if anything, a lot of these characters including MODOK should have been excised in order to give Kang more to do especially if they're using this movie to partially set up Avengers: Kang Dynasty.

Also, I saw a supercut (which I can't find) of the MCU mocking a lot of the sillier comic book names and whatnot. Hadn't realized how frequently that happened. Instead of leaning into the weirdness of comics, they do a wink and a nod to the audience, and I disagree with that choice.

That's fair. They definitely could've done more with Kang. And the rebellion felt so unimportant story-wise despite being somewhat needed to give the heroes and offset to Kang's army. Definitely could've scaled down a lot.

[nickmitch]

I recently saw The Flash on some streaming platform. It wasn't TV or HBO, but I can't remember what it was, and there's no way to tell. Spoilers ahead.

Anyway, this movie was bad. Ezra Miller (even if we put their issues aside) plays a pretty insufferable version of Barry Allen. We then get stuck with an even more insufferable version of his character, who I'll call Alt-Barry. Alt-Barry got to live with both his parents, so he was never motivated to learn science and is a reasonably immature 18-year-old.

I don't want to talk too much about the opening action scene. It's so much CGI, and it's just hats on hats. The whole movie is just a hat on a hat on a hat when it comes to most things. But they establish early on that Barry is constantly hungry and needs to maintain a calorie load, but it just doesn't seem to come up in the ending where there are two of them, and they're just ripping and running at max speed the whole time.

The film seemed to want to showcase Barry's maturity and experience being a hero by having Barry lose his powers and Alt-Barry gain them, setting up a forced mentorship scenario. This allows the film to highlight how annoying Alt-Barry can be. But one thing that stood out to me was the scene where Barry tries to phase through a wall by just walking right into it and then poking it, only to realize he doesn't have his powers. It didn't seem like he understood how that worked AT ALL, but he's later able to explain exactly how it works.

The scene of Barry getting his powers back was also just a slog. The first lightning strike almost killed him, but then Supergirl carries him into the sky, which somehow works. I don't understand what the difference was supposed to be.

The ending gave me mixed feelings. Ultimately, Barry ends up doing the obvious thing he should've done from the beginning. It was weird that his dad seemed to put on a whole-ass disguise to buy some tomatoes, but I could roll with that. His getting that one convo with his mom was also a bit ham-fisted. Seeing George Clooney made me laugh, but I saw a video where the ending was meant to be ambiguous and allow for this Flash to segue into the new DCEU. But I guess this character is just stuck in this alternate timeline forever (and Aquaman is also there).

I'll just rattle off a few other things I didn't like. Barry has to slow down and concentrate to activate his powers. They show a real-time pause when some onlookers catch him "charging up," which I thought was weird. There's no reason for Barry to be late to anything. That's a tired Superhero trope that just doesn't fit a fast enough character to run backward through time. Especially if he can save a collapsing hospital, have a conversation with strangers, have another conversation with Batman and Wonder Woman, and make it back in time for his sandwich to be done. During the final fight, Alt-Bary asks if he can go back in time, but regular Barry says he shouldn't be fast enough yet. That was a good explanation, but Alt-Barry just said, "lol, watch me." The contrast of the blue and orange lightning colors made filming sense, but there was no story reason for the two to have different lightning colors. It's bizarre that Barry didn't go straight to Bruce's house when he needed help and instead Googled every other Justice League member first.

There was a good movie in there somewhere. I think Barry learns a good lesson about changing the past by watching Alt-Barry slowly corrupt himself. That's a good use of the multiverse trope; the pointless emphasis on Superman overshadows it. Steven Universe did this whole story in about 11 minutes. There is also a good showcase of classic Flash stuff, like the tiny suit in the ring and him making a tornado, which I found fun.

That's way too many words for something I didn't like. 4/10

[Adrock]

The Flash

Nice write up, nickmitch. “Hats on hats” is like the most apt way to describe this movie. And “then get stuck with an even more insufferable version of his character” is almost verbatim when I described this movie to a friend.

Nightmare fuel uncanny valley CGI especially the babies and Superman. I don’t even get the latter. Did they not have any reference materials of Henry Cavill? He even filmed a cameo that was cut. It’s as if the artist who was assigned Superman just rendered Cavill from memory.

Supergirl was kind of bland. And if they planned on bringing her back, way to let her job to Zod repeatedly. I get that it isn’t her movie. Just made her look weak especially since she had help and Superman didn’t in Man of Steel.

Getting tired of multiverse stories.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

It’s fine. I recently rewatched all of them and only Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is actively bad. I’d be here all day if I compiled a list of gripes about that movie. Even Temple of Doom is pretty good; it’s just really mean-spirited.

Anyway, Dial of Destiny is too long. Maybe I’m just old, but I often have trouble watching movies longer than two hours in one sitting. I found myself constantly saying, “That could have been cut.” For example, most of the opening scene. Sure, CGI Young Harrison Ford was coolio and all, but that entire set piece felt like an eternity.

I’m too lazy to write a whole big thing. Some quick thoughts:

1. Indiana Jones wanting to remain in the past would have hit harder had the movie spent more than 12 seconds on his son’s death and how it destroyed his marriage.

2. Didn’t need to bring back Sallah.

3. The movie never addressed how Jones was wanted for murder then just isn’t when he returns to America.

4. People were dunking on Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She was fine, not amazing or anything.

5. I liked the ending, but it would have been better had this movie released in the 2000s and Indiana Jones 4 release in the 1990s.

[nickmitch]

The Flash

Nice write up, nickmitch. “Hats on hats” is like the most apt way to describe this movie. And “then get stuck with an even more insufferable version of his character” is almost verbatim when I described this movie to a friend.

Nightmare fuel uncanny valley CGI especially the babies and Superman. I don’t even get the latter. Did they not have any reference materials of Henry Cavill? He even filmed a cameo that was cut. It’s as if the artist who was assigned Superman just rendered Cavill from memory.

Supergirl was kind of bland. And if they planned on bringing her back, way to let her job to Zod repeatedly. I get that it isn’t her movie. Just made her look weak especially since she had help and Superman didn’t in Man of Steel.

Getting tired of multiverse stories.

Thank you! I was actually only able to summarize that down after explaining everything wrong with that scene to my wife in more words than I used here to describe the entire movie. Everything wrong with that scene is exactly what's wrong with the movie.

Supergirl really should've been given more time and characterization. I get that they were going for the Flashpoint version of Superman with her being trapped away from the sun, but they could've given her something. At least a death where she looks like Zod's equal.

[Stratos]

7. Ant-Man and the Wasp (and Stature for that matter) all keep taking their helmets off when they talk. Did they do that in the first two?

I notice this in Star Wars too. Maybe its an actor thing, maybe a director thing. Everyone with a helmet takes it off for any conversations longer then three words. I wonder if there is a belief that viewers need to see faces to better understand and enjoy a scene. Or studios are dicks and try to pay actors lower rates like they tried to pull on Pedro Pascal in Mandalorian, so actors guilds could be requiring a certain amount of face-time for actors with helmets.

[ThePerm]

Furiosa - 10/10

I love the series, it's amazing how each movie manages to be cool in its own way while being different than the last.

Scream (1981) - 2/10 One of the worst movies I have ever seen. So, badly made.  I was curious what this eclipsed titled movie was going to be like, it had a cool cover, and that is the only reason it gets a 2. The movie is abysmal.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Trap 2.5/10 4/10

The new M. Night Shyalaman movie... the one where a serial killer takes his daughter to a Pop Star concert, only to find out the Feds have set a trap for him there.

How bad is this movie? It's so bad, I'm just gonna tell yo what the TWIST is.

But before that, let me tell you why it's bad, as the premise and the trailer wasn't actually bad.
You have to turn your brain off for this one. The leaps of logic and probability of **** happening was beyong my ability, as I expected more from M. Night.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*
In context of the movie (not the trailer) it makes no sense for random concession stand worker 1 to spill the beans about a secret Fed Sting about a serial killer in the venue to a random dad, when they KNOW they looking for a man at the concert. He shouldn't have said **** to anyone, and that would have been expressly impressioned upon ALL venue employees who would have already been thoroughly vetted and threated with legal action should they break trust, and probably signed some NDA/agreement, assuming they were really breifed on it at all.

Then on top of that, to take the random man into the Employees only section to help him get more merch for the stand, makes absolutely ZERO sense, and that was just an opportunity to steal his badge. Which was then used to enter the police staging area in another employee only section, where they didn't usher him away, but allowed him to just hang out and listen to what's going on. But this allowed him to steal a police radio.... that somehow had a earpiece later on so he could hear everything about the plan in real time from the Feds.

This doesn't go into every improbability, as it's literally just ONE AFTER THE OTHER for the rest of the movie. Like how he was told the Feds are checking EVERY MAN, except for backstage... but it's impossible to get backstage. So he gets his daughter invited to go backstage, where the Feds just don't check this random man out, even thought that their ENTIRE DIRECTIVE FOR BEING THERE.

as for the TWIST (capitalize, so it's easy to skip to) the TWIST is that this movie is played straight, there is no real twist as far a plot goes. It was all revealed in the trailer.
the real TWIST is that M. Nights daughter is the Pop Star and this WHOLE MOVIE was a vehicle to showcase how "talented" she is as a singer, and how good she is at playing a pop star turned actor who can't actually act and should stick to singing. Seriously, the singing wasn't bad, but it wasn't Pop Star worthy. No hate on the actual singing, but the acting was.... honestly not the worst thing about this movie, but just the icing on top of a bad movie cake.
Even Jerry O'Connel had to ham it up... I just assume it was intentionally bad acted so that the Singer didn't sound so out of place.

But for as bad as the move was at the Event Venue, the movie really fell off the rails once it moved off site. How bad was it... not worth typing out another whole wall of text at this moment.
It was full of WTF and more even more absurd improbabilities leading right up to the final moment. (i can break it down if you want me too... chock full of stupid)

Nothing in this movie made sense. NOTHING.

but if you gonna watch, be a lil liquored up, and not shy to CLOWN OUT LOUD, because then it just might be fun to watch with friends.