Not so much, although there are rip-offs from other movies, specifically Transporter 2 with the oil fight in the garage.
Aniara on HBO. Swedish Indie Sci-Fi film from 2018. Basically, how would a giant cruise ship of people act if they were lost in space with little chance of rescue. It was alright. Had some really cool ideas and some big misses
three thousand years of longing
Tilda Swinton finds Idris Elba in a bottle and he offers her the standard three wishes. We are regaled with the Djinnâs story, and that leads to some interesting decisions. It was entertaining enough. Liked the ending.
It has the vibes
of Lord of the Flies
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Couple weekends ago we watched Shrek & Shrek 2. Donât think I ever saw the 2nd one before. Goofy but sometimes I need something mindless. Eddie Murphy is great.
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Madame Web at the theater. Sort of a new Spiderman universe movie. It was OK, but it took a long time to get going. My comment on the way out was that there would never need to be an origin story as that was what we got here. Also, not a fan of the camera work, very shaky and all over the place. The audience was at least 90% women and a lot of clapping at the end. Since this was Sony and not Marvel, there were no post credit scenes.
20 Days in Mariupol (Youtube) Literal filming from a war zone. Its a hard watch. They talk about fake media, but can anyone be sure it is real? In no way saying it is not, just that those issues get raised.
Bobi Wine: The Peopleâs President (Hulu / Disney) Also disturbing documentary about running for President of Uganda. In some ways this bothered me more than Mariupol. More focused on the individual.
Both particularly significant in light of Navalnyâs death. There is a documentary on him as well put out last year (Max)
The Color Purple (Max) I saw the original (non-musical) and read the book almost 40 years ago, so little memory for detail. This was good, well acted, well made, I enjoyed itâŚBUT. The music while enjoyable, entertaining, energetic, it was also totally unmemorable. The story, felt like an outline of the original story to fit in the music, which was more of a side dish, than actually part of the story
Oppenheimer (Peacock) Not sure what to expect, as it was so hyped, yet many comments also were critical of the movie making and the length.
I loved it. The non-linear story telling worked for me better than it usually does. The science was understandable, without being dumbed down. The characters were complex and well researched. There was so much in the story I did not know. The acting was wonderful. I feel Emily Bluntâs supporting actress nom was mostly based on one great scene. I liked Damon over Downey for a nom. The number of significant actors in small roles was astounding.
Have only seen half the best picture nominees, but this is deserving. Only best director I have seen.
Actor, leaning to Giamatti, but would easily accept Murphy - havenât seen American Fiction
Past Lives (Sho) This is a very nice film, a bit slow - but I would compare it favorably to Linklaters âBeforeâ movies
The Marvels (Disney) I enjoyed this. Not sure of the hate - misogynism? Fanboy misplace anger? I have some complaints, needed the back story on the young one sooner, hated the Bollywood number. But I liked the characters and the humor wasnât over the top. Loved the cat scene.
American Symphony (Netflix) Good documentary looking at John Baptiste dealing with producing his music, while his wife deals with cancer. Nominated for music, not as a Doc
Flaminâ Hot (Hulu) Story of the maintenance guy who creates Flaminâ Hot Cheetos. Much better than I expected, a feel good story
The Creator (Hulu) Up for a couple of technical Oscars. It was good, good cast, but not sure it was all that original. and why donât the humans have packs that can be easily removed?
The Holdovers (Peacock) I really enjoyed this. Great writing, great acting. Great chemistry. A few twists, that I actually didnât see coming, but then again to the point I wasnât looking for twists I Like Foster for supporting, then again I loved the actress from Otto, who wasnât nominated
Five Nights at Freddyâs (Peacock) Entertaining enough, actually better than I expected. Had no concept of the game
Ninety-five Senses (Youtube) Animated Short. It was ok, not particularly great animation, talkie.
Knight of Fortune (Youtube) Live action short on grief that I felt was very well done and interesting
The After (Netflix) Live action short. I donât feel it really said all it needed to say, oddly subtle and In Your Face at the same time, but not the right balance and I found the opening scene a bit absurd.
The Last Repair Shop (Hulu) Doc short on HS music and Instrument Repair. It was interesting but seemed to go off on some tangents
Nai Nai & WĂ i PĂł (Hulu) Documentary short about the directors grandmothers who now live together. Really rather sweet and somewhat insightful.
Island in Between (Youtube) Doc short on Taiwanese perspective of China
The Barber of Little Rock (Youtube) Doc Short. Well done look at the wealth gap in the US and one manâs attempt to help people. {Bank of Dave is an interesting companion film (Netflix) even though a different country and not a racial perspective; but still a view of how hard it is for people without to be able to dig out}
How Do You Measure a Year? (Max) Last year Oscar Nom Doc short has a man taping his daughter on her birthday every year from 3 until 18. It was nice, not a totally new concept and not terribly insightful
El conde (Netflix) Weird shit, even from a vampire perspective
Asteroid City (Prime) Very Wes Anderson, that either works for you or it doesnât. I liked it, far from his best. I Liked it better than French Dispatch
Sisu (Startz) If you like gratuitous violence inflicted on Nazis. this is for you. I loved it
Saint Omer (Hulu) Journalist sits in to witness a trial. The trial just seemed off to me but maybe it was the international difference. There was a message here that I missed
Sound of Freedom (Prime) Good movie on breaking a child trafficking ring. Based on a true story. Not âTakenâ type of heavy action, but well done. There seems to be some political controversy over this, though not really sure of the issue
What did you want it to encourage or stir up?
There is a whole series on Disney+ about Ms. Marvel. It was pretty fun. Worth a look if you want her backstory.
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We very much enjoyed Ms. Marvel.
And the backstory on Rambo/Spectrum is they had her walk through Scarlet Witch energy field in Wandavision to get her powers. A bit cheesy but hey there are worse super hero origin stories.
That is one of the issues I have with the MCU. If you miss a series or movie, you can miss a bunch of stuff in later movies, like The Marvels for example. You needed to Watch WandaVision and Ms. Marvel to be fully up to speed. Yeah, you can skip stuff, but if leaves you feeling the holes.
Yup.
Decision not to watch any of them was a simple one for me. Same with all the Star Wars knock off/origin series.
Honestly, they are not going to affect my emotions, as I have stripped a lot of my raw, childish (âfire!â âexplosions!â âfights!â) ones away.
Mostly agree, except for Andor. Itâs the best thing to happen to the Star wars franchise since empire imo
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Hereditary on HBO. This is about as scary of a movie as I can handle these days (used to love horror in college but became a wuss at some point). Decent movie.
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Perfect Days at the theater. Japanese with subtitles, although it is not dialog rich. It follows maybe a week or two in the life of a guy who cleans public toilets in a very small section of Japan. It follows his daily routine, until it is interrupted by a number of people and events. I think each leads him to realize that his perfect days are better when others are connecting with him, but I could be way off. The film doesnât really attempt to lay things out that cleanly. There is some ever-present âtreeâ philosophy maybe. The music was very interesting choices from Harry Nilsson to Patti Smith and Lou Reed, among others. This is a very slow ride but I enjoyed the heck out of it.
saw The Killer.
it was slow. and in the end almost didnât ever pick up. at most ok, would not care to watch again.
The ABCs of Book Banning (YouTube) The question of Why, being raised mostly by 9 - 10 year olds who are obviously intelligent and well read. No time given to the bigots for their rationale
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Run Silent, Run Deep - Gable & Lancaster 
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love submarine movies
Lancaster, not Mitchum