Last Good Movie You Saw

[CorgiShinobi]

The Jungle Book

 

I had to think a little if I was going to put this in the OK thread, but ultimately I was never bored and was pleased throughout the whole affair. It's more low key to the animated film, which plays as a strength when the moments are serious. Yet, when the movie is having its lighthearted moments, it's not as energetic. I liked that the wolves were not just a one-off segment and the elephants had a majestic quality to them here.

 

Truly my only beef with the film is that they quote Law of the Jungle too much. Loses its power as an eternal code and becomes a team chant.

 

 

The ending is different, and part of me is okay with that as this film heavily focused on the *jungle family.* Might have still been cute if Mowgli fell for a girl at the edge of the village. We had maybe a total of 8 humans in the film?

 

Edited September 4, 2016 by Atomsk88

[Mr. GOH!]

A Most Violent Year is fantastic!

 

 

Hell or High Water. It's a modern Western set in Texas about two brothers who go on a bank robbing spree and the Texas Rangers who chase them. But it's also the exploration of several Western themes, from people dealing with a changing world, the various ways in which people steal from one another, and how people build narratives about who they are. Chris Pine and Ben Foster are absolutely fantastic as the robbers, while Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham (you'll recognize his face if not his name) are wonderful as the Rangers. 

[TheMightyEthan]

Hateful Eight

 

It was good, though not as good as some of Tarantino's other movies. I'm not sure if this is a spoiler or not so I'm tagging it just in case:

 

 

It was basically just Old West Reservoir Dogs, so it lost some points for originality.

 

[deanb]

Rewatched Inception recently. Still good. Also Star Trek: First Contact which is still a fave of the ST films for me.

 

First watching of 22 Jump Street too. A very self aware film (and one of the few I've watched all the credits for). Though very simple plot n telegraphing. You don't bring in Peter Stormare for the start and have him escape for that to be the only scene he's in.

 

Onwards to more films!

[deanb]

Kung Fu Panda 3

 

I think I actually watched this before Jump Street, something was itching my mind that there was way more films than that I'd seen. Anyway Kung Fu Panda films continue to be pretty dang good in humour, heart, action and a gorgeous art style. Strongly recommend checking this out if you haven't yet (and checking out all of King Fu Panda if you'd stupidly passed it up).

 

Shutter Island

So I went in to this knowing the "twist" but honestly little else. As is the nature of films in a post-internet age. But I'm sure I've mentioned I largely don't care, and in some cases prefer. In this case it actually made the film much more enjoyable I'd say since you notice much more incidental details the first viewing rather than watching it straight then having to rewatch it to notice things. The casting was all a pleasant surprise, only knowing it had Leo in. Sir Ben Kingsley always welcome in a film. I quite liked the timeline of it too, allowing it to bring in elements of horrors of leaving from WWII with a bit of cold war paranoia.

[deanb]

Swiss Army Man

 

"What the fuck" is the last word of the film and kinda sums up a lot of the film. I guess if you've seen the trailer you've a good idea it's not your standard film. Can't really say much on it without spoiling. I guess Castaway meets Monty Python-ish.

[Mr. GOH!]

Swiss Army Man is about friendship, particularly between modern men. I co-sign that it's zany, entertaining, unusual, and great.

Edited October 11, 2016 by The Ghost of Mr. GOH!

[Mister Jack]

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders

 

This is the newest DC Animated movie and boy is it a breath of fresh air.  With all the grimdark plaguing Batman recently I didn't realize just how much I needed a return to the silver age silliness of the Adam West age. This movie was a great adaptation of that series too.  It's goofy and funny without straying too far into self-parody.  It took itself as seriously as the original show did, and it also included a few pretty great references and jabs at other, darker Batman adaptations.  I enjoyed this one pretty much from beginning to end, and I hope we get to see another one like this in the future.

[TCP]

The VVitch. Oh man so spooky!

[Hot Heart]

The Two Faces of January

 

A thriller set in the '60s starring Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Oscar Isaac. The former two are a married couple hiding out in Greece (well, Europe, in general) because of ripping off a bunch of people in the US while the latter is a young con-artist drawn to them because Viggo's character reminds him of his father (from whom he was estranged) and he's attracted to Dunst's.

 

After Viggo's character accidentally kills a private detective who'd tracked them down and Isaac's character becomes unwittingly implicated, they go on the run together.

 

It's a good little thriller with some strong actors and nice scenery and a couple of little twists. It never really hits its stride at any point though so I couldn't say it's up there with my favourites.

[deanb]

Doctor Strange

 

It's an MCU film so yeah it's solid. Kinda middling in the spectrum I'd say. Partly feel it's mainly to set up an infinity stone. But it's really good visually, plotting is solid you barely notice the dive into the third act. And while it has the "end of the world" type ending you get with comic films it's err done in a smart way. But yeah visually the SFX teams will have been having a shit ton of fun (or major headaches )

 

The cape is great.

[TheMightyEthan]

Does anyone know of any good sci-fi horror movies in the vein of Alien/Event Horizon, but that aren't those two movies? Because I'd like to watch something like that but I've seen those two and I don't know any others along those lines.

[MetalCaveman]

Pandorum, from what I remember (been a while ) it does fit the bill.

[TheMightyEthan]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one, but we've seen it too.  It was good though, and my wife especially loved it, so had we not already seen it it would have been a great suggestion.  

[Mr. GOH!]

Sunshine and Europa Report come to mind.

[TheMightyEthan]

Lol, I'm apparently terrible at thinking of movies because I've seen both of those too. Both good suggestions though! Especially Sunshine, fantastic movie.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

Moon was really good, though I don't think really it gets to horror is certainly in that sort of area.

 

Cube was good as well (though I saw it many years ago so the memories are hazy). I think you could call that sci fi horror.

Edited October 29, 2016 by TheDyingGerbil

[Hot Heart]

Doctor Strange

 

Yeah, I liked it. Some good actors and cool effects and nice, little jokes. Neat twist on the usual Marvel blockbuster ending (that hasn't actually been so usual as of late).

 

The only thing that irked me was the "sling ring", as in the concept itself (and the name). Maybe it's from the original comics, so they "had" to use it but it seems weird that they're like "you have to open your mind to all the possibilities, etc" and then it's like "you need this ring to do some things though".

[deanb]

They're a film creation. They're a bit of a weird chekovs gun since the one time they're sorta relevant in having them over not having them...it doesn't really matter.

[Mr. GOH!]

According to a quick Google search, it's not from the original comics. Gonna see the movie this weekend.

 

Edit: Ninja'd by an Englishman.

Edited November 2, 2016 by Mr. GOH!

[Mr. GOH!]

Doctor Strange. Unfamiliar with the comics, but the movie was fun and good for a popcorn spectacle. The depiction of magic was wonderfully trippy. Strange's journey is an exact mirror of Tony Stark's from Iron Man 1, though.

[Hot Heart]

End of Watch

 

I'd bought this on DVD years ago after hearing good things but never got round to watching it... until it was on Prime.

 

Jake Gyllenhaal and Micheal Pena play a pair of cops in South LA and it follows them in a sort of found footage style mixed with normal film photography. The two have great chemistry and while they start out seeming like jerks you grow to love them, warts and all. There's a lot of laughs, some great exchanges and real tension in there.

 

Hard to believe the same guy went on to do Suicide Squad...

[deanb]

So I had a wee thought on this. Now it's no spoiler to know he crashes his car n fucks up his hands. Thing is it's portrayed, in slow-mo with all the bone crunching n everything (it's relatively graphic car crash, I'd imagine anyone whose been in one might not feel so great watching it). But because of the slow-mo you get a good look at his hands, and he's driving using a 10-2, or heck maybe even a 11-1, hand hold. I'm not sure if I should be annoyed at that given he's also essentially texting and driving at the same time, while going quite fast on rainy roads. But still, he'd be mostly fine if he at least held his steering wheel in the proper position while driving.

 

I guess there is a reason the credits end with a driving PSA.

[TheMightyEthan]

Isn't 10-2 the "proper" way to hold the steering wheel?

[deanb]

Quarter to 3/9-3. Hands on either side of the steering wheel. Holding the top of the steering wheel is discouraged because it's likely to cause more damage when an airbag goes off.