I went to see The Odyssey last night with my wife and son. I enjoyed it as it was very well-done but I would not put it in my all-time top 20 favourite movies.
I understand now why MAGA folks are calling it woke. Pete Hegseth would not be impressed by Odysseus’ complicated feelings about his victory over the Trojans. Hegseth would hate any general that showed remorse after a battle victory.
There are, of course, many other aspects of the movie that MAGA would consider “woke”.
The Shallows 2016 - this was on in the background at a home poker game. Blake Lively is surfing and gets attacked by a shark. The whole movie is her stranded just offshore while the shark is stalking her. Some tense moments, but meh. Ended up about $250 for the night though, so I give it 5 stars.
The Final Girls 2015 - comedy/horror spoof of slasher films. It was fun and silly and had some familiar faces like Adam Devine and the girl who played Maybe in Arrested Development.
Guns Akimbo 2019 - Daniel Radcliffe in an over-the-top action comedy. It was a good ride, but seemed to be trying too hard at times. I like that he does crazy stuff like this after being Harry Potter for so long. He’s really a pretty good comedic actor.
Lost Highway 1997 - Saw this when it came out and loved it. Finally got around to a rewatch and it really holds up imo. I think it’s my favorite Lynch film. Super weird and intense. Totally in my wheelhouse.
Roadhouse(1989) on Amazon Prime. Terrible in a good way? There’s a new version out with Jake Gyllenhaal that I’ll probably skip.
The Amateur on Amazon Prime. Wildly unbelievable CIA thriller with Rami Malek who I really like even though I don’t find his acting amazing. Fun movie and worth the watch.
I too saw Spider Man Brand New Day. I liked this one a lot. I got quite a few laughs and thought the story was pretty good. Though I’ve quite enjoyed most of the Tom Holland Spider-Man stuff
The Dink (apple) - enjoyable fluff
Arizona - dark comedy (DARK) starrting danny mcbride, someone upset with the housing crash and his house value tanking, ends out…killing people.
Previews of this one makes me think of one of the sequels of the Toby Maguire series. It this accurate?
I’ve liked Tom Holland as Spidey in the movies I’ve seen him in (haven’t really seen the Spiderman-focused one, though). I liked Toby’s movies (although not how the plotline of the 3rd one played out, but I still liked Toby’s acting in that one). How does Tom fare when he’s the main character?
I enjoyed the Toby movies, especially the first one. William Defoe as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin was simply fantastic, still possibly one of my all time super hero villain portrayal.
I’ve also enjoyed the Tom Holland Spider-Man as well, I think both did a good job with the character. But there is really no crossover here between the Toby/Tom Spidermen in this one at all. Though there is some reference to the 2021 movie where all 3 Spidermen were involved in the multiverse crossover.
As for Tom carrying the movie as the lead as opposed to side character like Avengers or Civil War, I think he does a fine job with it.
Odyssey
Imo, the movie was so much better than the book but still wouldn’t recommend to @NerdAlert. The filming was beautiful, the music perfect, the acting great, and the characters/story vastly less stupid, but it was still fundamentally a great dude on a long tragic bloody sexy journey trying to get home so he could kill the dudes that want to marry his lady.
There was a lot of jabber about fate, free will, gods, war crimes, loyalty, and Xenia, but it didn’t really do much for me to sell the story. Mostly I liked the music. Boom boom boom.
Becoming Katharine Graham (Prime) Story on the Publisher of the Washington Post. Including a lot of her friendship and business relationship with Warren Buffet. A lot of interesting parallels to our current government.
The Drama (HBO) Tess of the D’Ubervilles plot, revealing secrets before a marriage, though with more public reaction. I felt the reactions were too over the top and just didn’t feel real. The least known movie Zendaya and Robert Patterson will be in this year
Remarkably Bright Creatures (Netflix) Wife and I really enjoyed this. Doc Ock narrates a story of an octopus to Spideman’s Aunt
Queen of Chess (Netflix) Nice Biopic on the highest ranked female chess player
Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! (HBO) Such a treat for me, as I know his stuff back to Sid Caesar
Michael (Airplane and Starz) Good biopic, not great. Nothing all that new (I didn’t know MTV didn’t play Black musicians in the early days). I feel there might be another on the later years.
It Was Just an Accident (Airplane) The title is really misleading as the movie starts, but it is an interesting moral view into retribution.
Caught Stealing (Netflix) Interesting and quirky (innocent guy gets involved with the mobsters film)
Apex (Netflix) Not all that knew and many obvious dumb decisions - but well enough acted and Charlize Theron
Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs. That’s… (HBO) Good documentary, nothing Earth shattering
Project Hail Mary (Prime) I liked it and was true to the book, though it lacked depth
Pillion (HBO) Man gets involved in a submissive relationship with a biker. It is actually not bad and has some heart
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
Coen brothers prohibition-era mob movie. This holds up really well imo. Plot is complex and the dialogue is really tight, as you would expect from them.
Watched MiB with my youngest last weekend. It made me realize that I’d never seen it before, only MiB2. I also didn’t even recognize Tony Shaloub in it. Vincent D’Onofrio was great in it, as he is in all things.