Last movie you've watched

Spiderman - No Way Home - Thoroughly enjoyed this version. I was apprehensive going in with the whole multiverse stuff hanging over our heads, but I found that they handled it in a very non-confusing way. All of the guest stars really hit the spot too. Maybe the best live action Spiderman movie to date.

The Matrix Getting ready for the latest release, I went back to re-watch the first three. The original was definitely very good. I hadn’t seen the entire movie from start to finish in forever, so I had gotten lost in the timeline and what was real, etc. The re-watch cleared that up.

The Matrix - Reloaded This was not a very good addition to universe, just a tool to allow Keanu to show off his fighting skills, over and over again. I don’t remember anything about the third movie and haven’t seen it yet on this re-watch.

Ride the Eagle Jake Johnson conditionally inherits his recently deceased mother’s (Susan Sarandon) cabin and she has left him a series of tasks he must complete in order to inherit. We get J.K. Simmons as the creepy next door neighbor (actually lives across the lake). And he reconnects with an old flame played by the woman who played Janet in The Good Place. This is a real indie movie and that vibe is there throughout the movie. Not great, but it was a good watch.

Hear After An aspiring actor dies suddenly and heads to the after life. His first stop is sort of a weigh (way?) station where Christina Ricci’s character informs him he died without a soul mate, so he needs to find one or his spirit will simply cease to exist. He spends the remainder of the movie looking and maybe finding one.

Comedy Monster Jim Gaffigan’s latest stand-up on Netflix. He is a little bit edgier than usual, but a fun watch none the less.

We recently got Paramount+, and there is another Reno 911! movie, called Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon.

On a mission to track down the one and only Q, the one behind all QAnon conspiracies, RENO 911! THE HUNT FOR QANON follows the deputies from the Reno Sheriff’s Department as they get stuck at a QAnon convention at sea, ultimately escaping only to discover that they’ve landed at Jeffrey Epstein’s old island.

It’s pretty hilarious so far.

hopefully I haven’t reviewed before, pretty much keeping to the current awards season

Annette odd opera-like musical, little spoken word, except leading into a song. Didn’t really work for me

Being the Ricardos pretty good, not great, not sure what’s missing. Bardem was too old and didn’t have the right look. The rest was really good. I love this era of TV

Bo Burnham: Inside very funny musical/comedy one man show

Don’t Look Up One joke political satire that just didn’t flow well for me and a bit repetitive. My only laugh was the post credit scene

È stata la mano di Dio Italian Oscar submission - there are like 100 of them, so may not even be nominated. Semi-auto Biographic coming of age story, that took about an hour to even sense a plot

In the Heights really move musical, Good story, but none of the songs stuck with me

Life in Colour David Attenborough nature documentary

Malcolm & Marie Pretentious director and actress wife fight after an awards ceremony. I don’t need to watch two people argue for 1 1/2 hours

Noche de fuego Mexican Oscar submission - t Depressing look at war and poverty from the perspective of adolescent girls.. Well made

Passing really slow and didn’t delve into the issue as much as I hoped, it is a fascinating topic

Red Notice entertaining enough, tried to be too cute and too little chemistry and not all that hard to guess twists

Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas if you like these, a fun Christmas film.

The Last Forest semi-documentary on aborigines in the rain forest

The Little Things Denzel Washington again plays a cop looking for a serial killer, not too memorable

The Lost Daughter I need to think about this more. So much tension, but so little actually happening. Mostly a psychological study Not sure if I liked it

The Matrix Resurrections not a fan of the series and little memories of sequels past. I need to know where powers lie and have continuity and logical flow. This didn’t work for me

The Power of the Dog A slower, more developed western. Might not be for everyone, but worked for me

The Unforgivable Sandra Bullock was great in a different role for her. I mostly liked it a lot, but felt the subplot in the final 20 minutes was too much and unnecessary

Thunder Force don’t - starts ok and gets progressively worse

tick, tick…BOOM! very good musical. Enjoyed

Zack Snyder’s Justice League for the current DC universe, it was excellent. But still lacking. Love the individual characters, but no chemistry between them, not mentoring, so sarcastic interplay, no bonds. Marvel & X-Men did this all so much better

“JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass”
Oliver Stone documentary, not sure how much to believe.

What I found interesting, if true, is that the Secret Service foiled a plot in Chicago that placed a patsy (meaning, someone not involved in the shooting) in a building at the assassination site while others did the actual killing. The implication is that this is the same thing that happened in Dallas.

One guy writing in “Rolling Stone” says otherwise:

I’ve spent half my life reporting, writing, and reading about the CIA and American intelligence. I remember the Kennedy assassination; I’ve studied the evidence. And I can’t tell you that there wasn’t a conspiracy. Maybe it was the Russians. Could have been the Cubans. Might have been the Mafia. Maybe there’s a mind-blowing bombshell in the still-classified archives of the government. But I seriously doubt it.

OK.
Still need some explanation why there was (allegedly) an entry wound in the neck and an exit wound in the back of the head, when the “only shots” were from behind.

I do believe that ultimately, Number 5 was responsible for this.

Minari (2020)
Eh.
So there will be a “Minari 2: Electric Boogaloo” or something, 'cause, no ending?

Some really good performances, though.

Should have left the daughter with grandma. I lose sympathy when stupid decisions are made.

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother (1975)

The team of Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, and Madeline Kahn, along with Dom DeLuise and Leo McKern. Unfortunately it didn’t also include Mel Brooks. They try goofy humor, but it doesn’t work. The pacing is totally wrong, too much is dumb, too much is dragged out.

Don’t Look Up Not very good. And long too. Agree that the post credit scene was fun and sort of expected.

Licorice Pizza I had real high hopes for this one. Been looking forward to it for a while. I was slightly disappointed. It felt a lot like a Cameron Crowe movie than Paul Thomas Anderson. Not that that’s bad, but not what I was hoping for. Its sort of a coming of age story with a 15 year old boy and a 35 year old girl. They are friends through most of the movie and they each have other partners/dates. It is set in 1970/71 I think and the music clearly reflects that, hence the Cameron Crowe feel. One of the oddest parts is that there is a lot of running by the two leads. Usually for a good reason, but odd none the less. There are also odd cameos by Sean Penn (feels like the cameo in Walter Mitty) and Bradley Cooper.

Matrix Revolutions All ready for the latest Matrix movie now. All caught up. This one felt more complete than the prior one. Fewer Neo fight scenes, but a huge battle scene in Zion. I haven’t read anything about the latest movie so I am interested to see where it picks up.

Four to Dinner This was strange little Italian Rom-Com. A newly married couple invites another couple over for dinner. They have a discussion about soul mates and the married couple tells a story about their friends. They invited two guys and two girls to dinner and figured that they might hit it off, soul mates maybe. The problem is the wife figure that they would pair off one way and the husband thought the other. The movie then focuses on these four people. The married couple tells two versions of how the next year or so unfolded. In one scenario, Dario and Chiara are together and Matteo and Giulia are together. In the the alternate scenario, they are shown with the other partner. It gets a little confusing as the screen time spent in each scenario begins to shrink. The ending is less than satisfying, but it makes sense.

The F****k-it List A senior in high school has had his entire life planned out by his parents to optimize his chances to get into the right college. He is ultimately accepted into 7 Ivy League schools, but wait-listed at Harvard. He is convinced by his friends to come to the senior prank night and it goes horribly wrong. In the aftermath, he creates a fuck-it list and thought he sent it only to about 6 people, things he wished he had done when he was spending all of his time trying to align his future. The list goes viral and hell breaks loose.

Watched MASH the 1970 film

talk about a racist, sexist, homophobic homage to the glory of the white man. Why is this film so acclaimed?

that is the very point of the movie (books, TV series)

do you not understand satire?

i guess not. Lifting the tent to reveal a woman taking a shower in front of everyone’s ridicule is a satire against sexual harassment?

actually, more of a shot against authoritarianism

Is the movie acclaimed? The series is, but I barely even know there was a movie.

yeah i get that part, but the rest did not age well. Calling the nurse “hot lips” (i finally found out why) is a class A sexual harassment these days

multiple Oscar noms

seriously? 1st it is about the absurdity of the situations. 2nd, even if actions are wrong you can’t measure actions of 70 years ago by today’s standards. 3rd, military rules on sexual misconduct are archaic, even today by office standards.

because it was made 50 years ago does not make it not sexist or not racist. It just shows we’ve come a long way. So you think it did age well?

it was set 70 years ago, if I watch a movie about Nazi Germany, I will not complain how antisemitic it is

i would complain if it was a comedy