Topic: Rate the last movie you've seen

[ThePerm]

Memory 5/10 what a mess.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Saw NOPE last night...

Just want to pre-face that I LOVED Get Out, and thought that a scifi thriller movie for White people, but a true HORROR movie for Black people.

Didn't love Us, thought it was ok, but not on the same level as Get Out.

This movie upon initial theater watch was a big NOPE from me. Beginning of the movie just kinda dragged, and then when it got interesting, it turned out to not be what I was expecting. some thing didn't make sense, and we all left the theater thinking... did I like this movie - NOPE. would I watch it again - NOPE. recommend to anyone - NOPE. potential second watch on streaming..... maybe.

Now i have to admit that I had a long day prior to watching this movie, and there was part where I dozed off for about 2-3 minutes, but I didn't miss anything significant.

Now I read up on things that happened in the movie this morning, and while it adds some insight to stuff that I didn't really piece together in the moment, it doesn't change how I feel about the movie.
I didn't really enjoy it all that much. There were a few moments were it was entertaining and thrilling, but this was a miss for me.

p.s. I would barely call it a horror movie, as the trailers before the movie were scarier.
More of a "thriller" as it had some tense/exciting moments.

oh, and Kaluuya seemed too muted and lacking of personality throughout the entire movie. Wish he was a little more personable, as that would add something to movie.

**WARNING** Movie Spoilers - don't read till after watching **WARNING**
-the scariest part of this movie turned out to be a psych out, and was just kids in alien mask creeping around in the dark playing a prank.

-also the part with the chimp, which was the 2nd scariest/most terrifying part of the movie is actually based on a real thing that happened:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_(chimpanzee)

-the Chimp incident and the scene with the horse training on set were all foreshadowing interactions with the alien ship, that turned out to not be a ship at all, but an actual flying alien jellyfish.
Yuen survives the Chimp incident because the table cloth blocked eye contact, much like when Kaluuya tells the set guy to not make eye contact and get in the horses face, which caused the horse to react with a kick. possibly the same reason why the last horst didn't get sucked up, because it's blinders prevented it from making eye contact

[ThePerm]

Smile - I wanted to see this, but then I watched it. It wasn't bad. But it was really cliché.

I have seen this movie before, even though I never saw this movie before.

6.7/10

I'd only recommend this movie if you're like 18 and never saw any R rated ghost curse movies. It could be good if you weren't spoiled by being 38.

Barbarian

8.5/10

This movie does smart things even if the characters are so stupid. It's one of those movies directed by a previous Comedy movie person that works.

[ThePerm]

Peanut Butter Falcon 8.8/10

That was really good.

[ThePerm]

Magnolia 8/10

I'm going to be thinking about this one for a long time.

[M.K.Ultra]

I saw The Menu last night. An excellent dark comedy the plays with the class system, service industry, and elitist foodie culture. Highly recommended.

[BlackNMild2k1]

M3GAN

I really enjoyed this movie. I'm sure the trailer described it enough, but this was pretty enjoyable from beginning to end. A sort of "Scifi Horror/Thriller" that flirts on the edge of "is that possible" in the not so distant future.
I could see this having a future of sequels.... at least 1.... MEG4N

***LIGHT SPOILERS MAY BE AHEAD**
Basic story is about an animatronic doll with the ability to learn, takes instructions too personal.
This doll with it's almost lifelike "uncanny valley" appearance, is just so creepy.... Like if Anabelle had an Alexa inside it that learned to hold a conversation. How the creator didn't see the issue until it was pointed out, wasn't that surprising, as being a parent changes perspective on things.
The issue was very apparent to me right away, but there wasn't really any stupid people tropes taking you out of this one.
....or maybe I was just enjoying it too much to notice.


***Potential HEAVY Spoiler***
If I had to summarize this movie after having seen the entire thing.... I would say it's as if Ultron had possessed a child sized Chucky doll, and then decided that it deserved more than to be thought of as a machine.

Seeing how it ended though, I really expect there to be at least 1 sequel. And tbh, I'm looking forward to it.


Verdict: Highly Recommended

Edit: And the sequel was announced!! M3GAN 2.0 - Jan 2025
https://variety.com/2023/film/news/megan-2-sequel-release-date-1235493838/

[ThePerm]

The Lure - 8/10 - about as good as a Naked Polish Mermaid Stripper Musical can get. I'd recommend it if you feel like watching something... different.

[nickmitch]

Werewolf by Night - 8.5/10

This was a fun little romp and a neat way to expand the MCU into the magic realm. The pacing was just right, and felt like what a full feature could be without any side plots going on. Some of the shots looked like they were trying really hard to be artsy, but I'll be damned if it didn't work. I'd definitely be interested in seeing these characters more.

Lightyear - 7.5/10

This is one where I have to like it for what it is and not what I wanted it to be or what it wasn't. The opening says that this was the movie Andy saw before the events of Toy Story, and I don't believe them. The twist with Zurg only works as someone who is already familiar with the character from Toy Story, the ride at Disney, and the cartoon series. That said, it is a fun interpretation of the characters and a pretty interesting movie on its own merits. My only other gripe is that Buzz kept talking about going "home", and the ship was on its way somewhere, but there never seems to be any attempt to make contact with those people. Maybe I missed something about the ship containing the last of humanity, but that stood out to me throughout the movie, considering it's the primary motivating factor.

[nickmitch]

Space Jam

It's only a bad movie if you think about it; otherwise, this is a movie for kids.  Modern kids' movies are very nonsensical, and this one is no exception.  The slapstick Looney Tunes antics are there, which is nice.  LeBron is no better an actor than MJ was, but this movie feels like it asks more of LeBron to act?  It feels like a LeBron James movie starring the Looney Tunes and not a Looney Tunes movie starring LeBron.  That definitely hurts the film.

Overall, I thought it was good enough.  The part I liked the least was where LeBron's son is basically doing magic to make his video game work.  It's fine if cartoons are doing cartoon things, but the movie doesn't feel grounded on LeBron's end, so the contrast between worlds isn't really there.  The film would've been better off just rehashing the plot from the first film, in my opinion.  So much of what the film was going for just wasn't working for me, but I still found it funny.

6/10

I want to come back and give this movie a 3/10. I know I said it's only bad if you think about it, but I've thought a lot more about it since this post, and it just gets worse and worse. It didn't help that someone tried to tell me that the first Space Jam wasn't "some cinematic masterpiece", so I went back to watch it. Space Jam 1 holds up in ways the sequel absolutely does not.

[ThePerm]

Vampyres(1974) 8/10 I thought this was going to be one of those bad Jean Rollin Lesbian vampire movies, but this was a pretty good José Ramón Larraz Lesbian vampire movie.

House of Darkness 5/10 - They just took the first act of Vampyres and stretched it over a whole movie. Same conversational points.

Lair of the White Wurm -8/10  another similar movie, but this one directed by Ken Russell has some panache. This version had my favorite version of the countess archetype.

[ThePerm]

Babylon 8.5/10 - I like it for the same reasons I like Ed Wood and Boogey Nights

The Banshees of Inisherin  - 8.9/ 10 - I can relate.  Another movie I'll think about for a long time.

[broodwars]

Out of morbid curiosity, I recently watched the 4th and 5th Pirates of the Caribbean movies for the 1st time.

On Stranger Tides is just wretched. The Pirates movies are routinely criticized for being too long, but On Stranger Tides is just a slog. This is a movie about killer mermaids and finding the Fountain of Youth, and yet it takes nearly the entire movie to get to either of those. You could literally cut out the 1st 40 minutes of the film and lose nothing. In fact, it'd be much better. There were also pretty much no worthwhile set pieces, and the film carries on the way-too-serious tone of At World's End to its detriment.

I'll give it some credit, though: Blackbeard is great for as little screen time as he has in the movie, even if he is a shameless Davy Jones knockoff in some ways.

Dead Men Tell No Tales is a much better film. The villain is menacing enough in a way reminiscent of the Pirates from the first film, and there's a bit of personal stakes to what's going on again. The movie also gets to the point a lot faster this time, and there's a welcome return of the Looney Tunes zaniness that made the earliest films more entertaining. Overall, this is damning with faint praise but IMO this is probably the 2nd-best film in the series (way behind the 1st movie).

[ThePerm]

Satan's School for Girls/ aka Salem's School For Girls(1973) - 5.0/10. An old movie about a cult running a school. It seems like a proto-type for Suspiria. It was a short made for TV movie. Only 74 minutes.

[nickmitch]

I finally saw Marriage Story, the 2019 Netflix Oscar-bait film about a divorce. The acting is fantastic here. Adam Driver and ScarJo put on some amazing performances. They're both also given a song and dance number to really sell that the two are acting in this movie. However, those scenes are clearly there just for that reason.

Aside from that, I completely hated the movie. The feelings it left me with were almost all entirely negative. No character felt like they went through a meaningful arc. The story itself was utterly unsatisfying. And I'm not sure what I'm supposed to walk away with at the end. That divorce is bad? Not a new concept! That lawyers are evil? That's also an old trope! I wouldn't watch this again and can't recommend it.

4.5/10

[ThePerm]

Still haven't watched that one, but Adam Driver is one of the best actors of his generation. I feel like I should do a side by side scene comparison to Joker and The Force Awakens where they kill their father figures.

[ThePerm]

Tetris 7.8/10 - The first act of the movie could be better, but acts 2 and three are great.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Nothing on the Super Mario Bros movie yet....?

Well, I'm about to go in an hour, and my daughter is about to see it for the 2nd time.
She said it was fun and would definitely watch it a second time if I wanted to go watch with her.

Reviews seem good enough and the movie I smashed an animated movie opening weekend (overtaking Frozen) and the 5 day opening weekend record.

(shamelessly stolen)
$204m domestic / $377m international

🥇 Biggest opening of 2023
🥇 Biggest worldwide opening for an animated movie
🥇 Biggest Illumination movie
🥈 Second best domestic opening for an animated movie

How good is a $377M opening weekend you ask?
Well, here are the complete B.O. Intake for a few other movies you might've seen:

Free Guy: $331m
Black Adam: $393m
Spider-verse: $384m
Sonic the Hedgehog: $319m
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: $405m


I hope Nintendo and Illumination are already working on that Sequel/Spin-off. This could be the start of the Nintendoverse, leading up to a Super Smash Bros/End Game situation.

Mario & Luigi coming into 2023 like:


also shamelessly stolen... but it's a classic

and now they be like:

[ThePerm]

The Super Mario Bros Movie: Overall 7.8/10, Fan Service 8.5/10, Story 6/10, Visuals 9/10

It was good. It was filled with Mario fan service, it just had problems with the writing. I'm aware of the Mario universe, so, I wouldn't get lost. But I also spend a lot of time writing screenplays. So, I imagine if you don't, or aren't a kid this would be a problem for you. Which lead me to my other review.


The Wiz  7.9/10 - Same deal. I watched this at the end of March. I was doing some Wizard of Oz art recently. Which, made me realize I've been meaning to watch it for a long long time. I watched it, but it had some problems with it's storytelling. If you hadn't read the book, or hadn't seen the previous movie you would be lost. Luckily, I had done both, so not a problem for me. Luckily there was some pizazz and production value. Connections between characters, and inciting incidents in the story could have been better. And we know they could have been better because we've seen a better version of it.

The biggest problem with these movie is the connective tissue between scenes. Some movies have too much exposition, these are ones that don't have enough. It felt like the biggest issue was how Mario met Peach. Like was this scene written by Nintendo? Because it was just a level tutorial. Very strange. It also just felt like there was no connection between them.  The opening was great, much better writing and interaction between characters. And then it kind of devolves.

Also, how Mario met Donkey Kong. It would be good retconning to have Mario's Father be the character from the game Donkey Kong.

It'd be interesting to see a version of the 1993 Super Mario Bros The Movie, where we've replaced all the characters with proper Mario CGI, and cut out all the dinosaur references.

[UncleBob]

>leading up to a Super Smash Bros/End Game situation.

People keep saying this... but meh.

I'll go see virtually every movie Nintendo pumps out, but I just can't get excited about a Smash Bros. movie.

Now, gimme a Captain N movie...

[BlackNMild2k1]

Personally, I enjoyed the movie from start to finish. I'd give it a Solid 8.5/10.

Fanservice was a 10/10
Visuals were a 8.5/10
Music/Soundtrack 8.5/10
Story.... it's a Mario movie, the story led them to a magical pipe, that led to a magical land, where you think Mario is gonna have to save a Princess.... not sure what everyone was expecting.
They managed to make the necessary connections and motivations, and then make them work. They even setup the excuse for future cameo's/game movies.

I don't actually think they will go the Smash Bros route, as that twist was already taken by the Lego movie, and I was joking when I said that, as I hadn't even seen the movie yet.
But I am curious as to how and/or with whom they follow up this movie with.


I can't see Zelda working in that same style... or genre.
nor Metroid... that can be a cameo/universe crossing scene on a grander adventure

Maybe Icarus or something, but I don't feel that is known enough to be a competent follow up.
I actually assume there will be a Super Mario Bros 2 before anything else (maybe even SMB3), but I assume they will try to expand at some point, and no better time to strike, than while the iron is hot.

Where do you think they'll expand first?

[nickmitch]

I saw the Mario Bros Movie yesterday and think I give it an 8/10.

The pacing is swift. The movie wastes little time, even if the story isn't particularly complicated. I found Bowser's primary motivation and related insecurities to be a hilarious interpretation of the character. I also really liked how the power-ups were interpreted in the film, though it made it seem like Mario needed the mushroom to jump well but Peach didn't, which might imply she's always big, but I'm likely overthinking it. Peach does mention she had an edge having grown up in that world, which is enough of an explainer.

I think I was caught up in the references/excitement of a Nintendo movie coming out in 2023 to really enjoy the actual humor the film was going for. That's not a knock on the movie, that's just me being a dork.

It felt like the biggest issue was how Mario met Peach. Like was this scene written by Nintendo? Because it was just a level tutorial. Very strange. It also just felt like there was no connection between them.

I thought it was a fun touch that Mario still had to go through a tutorial level. It made the narrative feel more videogame-y.

The biggest knock that I have against the movie is that they seemingly blew the load on references. We got a freaking fire flower Donkey Kong in this movie, which I don't think has been in a game? Kart action on Rainbow Road with green and blue shells also got checked off the list. I'm definitely excited to see where they take things even if the bonus scene showed a Yoshi egg hatching in the real Brooklyn despite us seeing Yoshis in the film, but I guess that would actually force a Mario/Yoshi interaction.

The other gripe I have is pretty small. Bowser really wanted that power star, and there seemed to be one in that world. But it ended up being more like the 2D game power-up than the N64-style mcguffin.

[ThePerm]

I always thought it made sense that the power stars got updated in Mario 64. Power Stars are the Nukes of Mushroom Kingdom.

When I was making Mario Maker Levels I'd use them like keys, as in there is no way you can get through this section without one.

[nickmitch]

I always thought it made sense that the power stars got updated in Mario 64. Power Stars are the Nukes of Mushroom Kingdom.

When I was making Mario Maker Levels I'd use them like keys, as in there is no way you can get through this section without one.

That's a pretty cool design element. But the stars in Mario 64 aren't making the villains temporarily invincible. And characters all over seem to have them from King Bob-omb to Mama Pinguin. They clearly have some power, but maybe not quite nuke level? I guess they power the castle and/or protect its inhabitants in some kind of way. I don't remember too great.

[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.