Movies You’ve Only Just Watched

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The Matrix Resurrections

Not very good I’m afraid. A lot of the action seemed really tightly framed, making it hard to tell what was going on. What was clear didn’t feel that impressive.
While there are a few cool looking shots in the film, the film as a whole doesn’t look impressive to me… in fact, a lot of it looked kind of cheap.

I liked a lot of the concepts and ideas, for instance the introduction of synthient allies, and the ability of programs to take a sort of physical form, but I didn’t think it was all that well executed.

Jessica Henwick’s “Bugs” was a great addition to the series though. Really liked her character. I also liked most of the real world stuff…

Eh. I didn’t hate the movie, but it’s very meh.

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Saw Disney’s Encanto with my nephew and niece yesterday, and now I need the meme artists of the world to make me a mashup and transform the Family Madrigal song into a Family Delgado song.

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I’m saying it

Elf is the best Christmas movie. No contest.
(Subjectively, of course)

The family and I watch it every year, and it’s so funny and heartwarming. Every time.

In summary: It’s about a human called Buddy who was raised in the North Pole, and takes a trip to New York as a naive adult to reconnect with his real father, who is also on the Naughty List.

Will Ferrell’s Buddy has superb naivety, innocence, and wonder at the realities of New York and how the season of Christmas is taken for granted. It’s so fun to see. He really goes for it, and it’s really believable.

The sets in the intro with all the other elves using forced perspective is really cool. Great design there.

And the comedy is top-notch involving Buddy. From the montages near the start at being scared of taxis, congratulating a coffee shop for “the best coffee in the world”, or trying to befriend a ferocious raccoon. Or, the scene with the mall Santa, disgusted at the “impostor”. Or eating a sugar-infested plate of spaghetti with M&Ms, marshmallows, maple syrup and Pop Tarts. He does it with such joy and childish amusement that you can’t help but enjoy it.

And fine, some of you don’t think Die Hard is a Christmas movie? Okay, well this one definitely does. Covering morals of being open, caring, and appreciative of other people, unity, discovering the wonder of the world around us, and not being afraid to believe in things that inspire hope, even if they don’t seem real.

Edit: there is this one scene where Buddy foolishly calls Peter Dinklage’s short stature Elf-like, which is a bit dated, though it’s played as awkward so it’s probably intended. I’ll have to watch the commentary track one day to hear what the creatives have to say about it.

Apart from that one bit it’s really good, and a really great watch every year.

(In other news, I watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation last night for the first time and it was… really average. It had it’s moments, but the comedy was either dull or very dated, and not fun to watch.)

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It’s dated. 1989. Even the vegas vacation film feels a bit dated now and it was made way after the other 3. The Aunt and Uncle are easily the best part of the Christmas one.

“They want you to say Grace”
-Grace? She died 30 years ago
“The blessing”
-I pledge allegiance to the flag…. :joy:

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This is the first time I learned this is part of a series of films. I thought it was just a standalone “classic Christmas movie” like everyone says.

I guess that kinda explains why I felt not much attachment to any of the characters or saw much of an arc in their development in the film.

I agree that things started to get better after the dinner scene happened. Personally my favourite characters were the weird neighbours, even if they felt really under-developed.

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And why is the carpet all wet Todd?
I don’t know Margaux!!!

:joy: I forgot about them till you mentioned them.

I highly recommend watching all 5 vacation films. There are more than 5 but a couple were direct or video B films that you can skip and they didn’t have Chevy Chase in them.
The ones to see in order of being made are…
Vacation
European Vacation
Christmas Vacation
Vegas Vacation
Vacation (2015)

There is this strange aspect of the films where the kids change age between films even flipping between which one is older and younger than the other and it doesn’t make any sense. I think they are older in European vacation than they are in Christmas and then back to older in Vegas. It’s just something you let go bc there is no way to explain it. In vegas vacation they make a 4th wall type joke about it. The 2015 has Ed Helms playing Rusty taking his family on a vacation to Wally World just like his Dad did all those years ago. It’s got a small scene with Chevy and Beverly in it as Grandma and Grandpa. It’s hilarious. Vegas is my fav followed by Vacation then Christmas then the 2015 and Euro is me least fav, although teenage me loved it.

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Tick Tick… BOOM is a superb musical movie that really digs into the existential dread of success and failure in the performing arts and HOLY CRAP can Andrew Garfield sing… also act but we already knew that.

So yeah some of this resonated with me in some anxious ways. Whoo, I’m only 23 tho we got time, we got time.

(Sidenote: I’m confused why the actual musical is only counted and recognised to have “premiered” as the reworked 2001 production after Larson’s death, even if it’s known that he originally performed it as a one-man show in 1990-91 Off-off-Broadway. I guess it was still just a workshop performance?)

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The first Matrix is one of my all time favourite movies. Probably top 5, definitely top 10.

The sequels I can take or leave, I like them but it wouldn’t bother me if they’d never been made. They expand the universe, but the first film works perfectly fine as a standalone.
Haven’t seen the latest, although I will once it hits streaming.

But yeah, the first, is just an absolute masterpiece imo.

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I’ve always preferred Revolutions because Smith becomes the ultimate evil/Antichrist-type figure. One of my favorite villains.

Plus one of his lines towards the end is one that would make (comic book) Thanos proud:

“The purpose of life is to end.”

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Saw Spider-Man: No Way Home about a week ago and Cruella last night.

No Way Home might be my favorite Spider-Man movie! There’s just the right amount of fan service that also works to drive the plot. Keeping with MCU tradition, I like the way the movie subverts the trailer. Also, how some things are resolved while just enough is left hanging for potential followups is top notch! All the villains get to shine and they really drive a fair amount of the film but Doc Ock and Green Goblin just kind of get to flex on everyone and show why they’re so iconic. Shout out to Tobey Macguire for his wise elder statesman type role and the Andrew Garfield redemption arc; Spidey should try to keep his girlfriends firmly on the ground from now on, though… :joy:

Cruella is pretty fun, with the characterization of the main trio and the twisted games(?) between Cruella and the Baroness being particular highlights. Emma Stone is fantastic as always, especially as her character gives in more and more to her psychosis, (honestly, I don’t know how anyone could not like her) and you really want to root for her. That is, until you see the effects of her descent into madness. The only knocks I have are that the beginning felt kind of slow and a couple mind boggling decision making from some characters every now and again, most egregiously from Cruella’s mother. All in all, though, pretty good time.

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I mean Marvel has kept the OG Gwen Stacey firmly in the ground since the 60s.

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I watched Hilda and the Mountain King tonight, the sequel-movie to Season 2 of the Netflix series.

Not really sure what to say other than it was very fun, cinematic, tense, and could serve as a great ending to the series. Although I do hope they make one more season, since the some of world is left in a pretty interesting position now.

I have to give props to John Hopkins as Erik Ahlberg in this. Usually in the show I find him annoying and a nuisance of an antagonist, but in this film, he gets pretty menacing. Whether that’s just due to a much larger voice script or his character arc in it, or just his voice, idk.

Joanna’s side story in this was really compelling, props for the VA Daisy Haggard on this. she put so much emotion in her quest to find a “kidnapped” Hilda, it was heartbreaking.

Other than that… if you haven’t seen Hilda yet, and you’re a fan of animated series, I highly recommend it. It’s one of Netflix’s best children’s programming, with some more complex morals than usual, plus a unique Scandinavian+Icelandic influences. Gorgeous art style too
Also deals wirh some pretty dark-ish plots. One episode is about two ghostly viking tribes who love “murdering” each other every night.

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me and the kids watch that all the time. it’s a great show (really dig the incidental music) and the film was ace too.

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Well, it’s the character’s antics that get on my nerves, not Hopkins himself! :joy: He plays a great brash, ego-filled character that always shows up or does the wrong thing, at the worst time.

mini have mercy

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I’ll look at it myself and get an idea of ​​it, and then I’ll come back with a judgment.

image

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Your boy Hopkins doesn’t appear until Season 2, just so you know.

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These last 2 days me and my family watched all 9 mainline star wars movies. Great fun catching up on all the movies, it was also my first time watching Rise of Skywalker and Attack of the clones. Here’s what i think of all the movies.

Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

This movie was a lot more boring than i remembered and jar jar is far more of a nuisance than he was when i first watched this movie when i was 10. Liam Neeson and Ewan Mcgregor are by far the highlights of this movie and their final battle with maul was great. the plot for the rest was pretty weak and anakin destroying the shield thingy in the final battle was pretty contrived and bad. But as an origin of an origin it does a decent job setting up the conflict and world, all in all pretty okayish movie that has some really bad parts.

Star Wars Episode 2: Attack Of The Clones

This is where the fun begins, though the story is pretty poor, relying a lot on contrivances and dumb luck but it is a blast watching it unfold. There’s a lot more good to be found here, from fun character dynamics, to an awkward blossoming romance and tons of action that despite the dated cgi still holds up. this movie still has a lot of problems in terms of pacing, Hayden Christensen and other actors having some bad moments in their acting and the battle of geonisis which takes way too damn long and is just a sensory overload at points. but all in all a fun sequel

Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith

My favorite of the prequel trilogy. apart from Padme dying from sadness i think this is really well executed story of how the jedi order got destroyed and how Anakin Skywalker became darth vader, though it couldn’t have worked without the set-up of the previous two films. The action is great,the dialogue is cheesy but really well acted, order 66 is a fantastic scene, the final battle between anakin and obi-wan is fantastic and Ian Mcdiarmid is absolutely chewing scenery as darth sidious. Great movie

Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope

The original episode 1, what an excellent movie that still holds up. Great acting, great effects (if you ignore the god awful cgi that was implemented after) and a really fun adventure story about defeating evil against all odds. I was surprised that so much of the first movie is taken up by tatooine and saving the princess from the death star but it doesn’t detract from a great movie and a great (re)establishment of this world and the main trio. Though some parts are contradictions here from the prequels (like obi-wan saying that owen didn’t agree that anakin was going to fight in the clone wars) that’s not the fault of the movie, but rather of the prequels.

Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back

What a great sequel; building upon the world of the first movie, having great character development for the entire main cast and having some awesome setpieces. Like the cold open of hoth and Luke getting taken by the wampa, the battle of hoth,training on dagobah with Yoda and the battle between vader and Luke on bespin

Star Wars Episode 6: Return Of The Jedi

What a weird but effective way to close out the original trilogy. From invading Jabba’s palace to save Han and the rest of the gang who got captured to hijinx on endor to defeating the emperor and finding the good in your father. For some reason this one didn’t quite connect with me like the other two original trilogy movies. It still has its amazing moments like luke being a badass during the entire jabba section, that weirdly intimate moment with the rancord owner, the gangs interaction with ewoks and the final fight in the emperors throne room but it didn’t have the pizzaz the other two OT movies had, still a good and satisfying ending for a great sci-fi trilogy

Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens

I actually saw force awakens and the last jedi in theaters when they came out so i might have some bias because star wars is way more epic on the big screen. Anyhoo the force awakens and this sequel trilogy might be the biggest case of missed potential due to no planning at all. The new trio of rey, finn and poe could’ve been so much more but they get wasted so badly. The film itself is fun enough a bit of a rethread of a new hope but that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme. Han Solo and his death are really well executed.the sequel’s only good character, Ben Solo, has a great setup here and is an interesting villain. I’m also probably one of the very few people who likes general Hux and he was fun secondary villain.

Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi

I’m also probably one of the very few people that really liked last jedi. My biggest issue lays with how they wrote Luke as this person that gave up after Ben Solo turned evil, which is a pretty major flaw but i think the building relationship between Rey and Ben is great, the general themes are pretty good too. letting the past die and all that. the cinematography was excellent, loads of beautiful shots. Even stuff i disliked the first time around like supreme leader Snoke and Finns fetch quest with his newly invented love interested i enjoyed alot more on this rewatch. Luke also gets his moments despite his setup being fundamentally flawed and his final dialogue and fight with Ben is excellent. little tangent they should have let Finn die at the final battle on crait as he barely does anything of note in rise of skywalker and they already repeated his arc once here, so that would’ve been a good send off.
all in all despite having a fundamental flaw with one character and some minor nitpicks here and there, i quite enjoyed this sequel.

Star Wars Episode 9: Rise Of Skywalker

What an awful movie, backtracking on some of the controversial decisions the last jedi made, resetting all the characters (even literally with c3po for an extended portion of time). and deciding Palpatine was not really dead and Rey is his descendant was awful. Ben though having an excellent moment with schizophrenia Han goes back on his excellent development of the last movie and dies in a wet fart due to the return of FUCKING FORCE HEALING. the worst concept of the prequels that i always though was a ruse to lure Anakin to join the dark side is apparently very real and its very stupid. the cinematography is also noticeably worse and a lot of the dialogue feels stilted, forced and like the actors were having 0 fun. The plot also feels super insignificant even though they destroy the first and final order and kill Palpatine once and for all. Also fuck them for giving Hux some development by making him a spy that is only a spy because he doesn’t like Solo’s leadership and then immediately killing him off.

Ranking of all the movies ( do mind that the quality gap between spot 5 and 6 is massive )

  1. Empire Strikes Back
  2. A New Hope
  3. Last Jedi
  4. Revenge Of The Sith
  5. Return of The Jedi
  6. Attack Of The Clones
  7. Force Awakens
  8. The Phantom Menace
  9. Rise Of Skywalker
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There are literally dozens of us. Dozens!!!

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thats great to hear, most of what i see of online discourse about these movies is that the last two movies of the sequel trilogy are bad, while only rise of skywalker is trash

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I mean Awakens is alright even if it cribs a lot from A New Hope. Last Jedi is meritorious and has a lot going for it but not anything I would rewatch frequently. Rise is just dogshit, it is the result of what would happen if you let a Star Wars subreddit write a movie.

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