Last Movie You Watched Part II, Electric Bugaloo

[Jim Kelly]

I really should have watched SHAZAM! on Christmas day. Next year, for sure.

There were a lot of deleted scenes from SHAZAM! Some of which could have made it even more of a Christmas movie. Instead of a Director's Cut, I want a Christmas Cut--maybe in time for next December, eh.

[DanMad1977]

Knives Out: I am not into crime, but this one was quite good.

Shazam: Nothing special, but worthwhile.

It comes at night: At first I thought it was a lazy horror thriller, but after thinking about it for a while I came to the conclusion that it didn't spoon fed me, and was rather quite good.

Wounds: Another horror flick. But I have to think about that one before I decide.

Calibre: Wow, that was a thriller. Reminded me of Eden Lake, a bit.

[Jim Kelly]

Finally watched Bong Joon Ho's PARASITE, which is a good enough movie. But I'm kind of mad that so many people put it on their best list and it's been praised so much. It's the kind of movie that, if I had discovered it on my own, I'd have an affection for it, because it would be one of those undiscovered gems that I and a few other people know about but has otherwise gone under the radar. Its success made me expect more than it could possibly deliver.

Kari Lane said something on "Box Office Breakdown" that I thought was insightful. She wondered if the people praising PARASITE have actually seen that many foreign language movies. If you see a lot of foreign movies, you know that there's brilliant movies like this and have been for decades, so you aren't as surprised by PARASITE.

It's almost patronising to single out PARASITE. Americans are so resistant to watching movies with subtitles, when a movie finally does get past their filter, they think it's a holy unicorn. I wonder if JOKER had been a foreign language film, would the critics that panned it be praising it and urging people to see this odd little movie from Markovia? To the audience at the Venice Film Festival, that was a foreign language film and maybe that's why it got a positive reception there.

Another movie I saw on streaming is THE TWO POPES (2019) directed by Fernando Meirelles and that movie uses two Welsh actors to play a Bavarian and an Argentinian. I imagine that having two English speaking actors brought a bigger audience to the movie. But surely the best actor to play a Bavarian is a Bavarian, the best actor to play an Argentinian is an Argentinian. One might say that only Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce have the acting chops to play Benedict and Francis--but is that really true? It's a bit silly when they put on foreign accents and pretend to be less skilled in English than in German or Spanish.

[Jim Kelly]

While I liked THE TWO POPES on the whole, I have a quarrel with one small scene in the movie. Francis is presented with a meal of 2 Knödeln, Benedict's favourite dish from Bavaria. It's filmed in such a way that the Knödel looks bland and boring. But this is a visual lie. Knödel is the most wonderful creation of human civilization, to taste it is to see the face of God. If someone presented me with a Knödel, I would fall to my knees in gratitude for such generosity. The director clearly has never tasted them--if he did, he would never present them in such an unflattering manner.

[Midvillian1322]

Knives Out: I am not into crime, but this one was quite good.

Shazam: Nothing special, but worthwhile.

It comes at night: At first I thought it was a lazy horror thriller, but after thinking about it for a while I came to the conclusion that it didn't spoon fed me, and was rather quite good.

Wounds: Another horror flick. But I have to think about that one before I decide.

Calibre: Wow, that was a thriller. Reminded me of Eden Lake, a bit.

Wounds I hated. I hate when a movie kinda makes no sense because the plot is more about the metaphor then what your actually watching.

Knives out and JoJo rabbit were my favorite movies of the year.

[DanMad1977]

Wounds I hated. I hate when a movie kinda makes no sense because the plot is more about the metaphor then what your actually watching.

Knives out and JoJo rabbit were my favorite movies of the year.

I didnt quite get Wounds, so I have to look that up.

Yesterday I saw Mortal Engines: Looks terrific and the idea of the mobile city are great, but the characters are boring and the whole movie drags along.

[batnbreakfast]

While I liked THE TWO POPES on the whole, I have a quarrel with one small scene in the movie. Francis is presented with a meal of 2 Knödeln, Benedict's favourite dish from Bavaria. It's filmed in such a way that the Knödel looks bland and boring. But this is a visual lie. Knödel is the most wonderful creation of human civilization, to taste it is to see the face of God. If someone presented me with a Knödel, I would fall to my knees in gratitude for such generosity. The director clearly has never tasted them--if he did, he would never present them in such an unflattering manner.

As a not so proud Bavarian myself this made my day. I feel embarrassed to correct you, sir: its one Knödel and also two Knödel. For Americans I translate Knoedel as Potatoe Dumpling(s). Personally I prefer Knoedel made of stale bread/rolls. Which ones do you like more?

[Jim Kelly]

I much prefer the Knödel made from left over bread.

I know they call these dumplings in English, but that doesn't work for me. My mother made dumplings with white flour and baking soda dropped in the stew--so that's what dumplings are to me. Knödel are something else (and don't actually need to be dumped in a stew, although they can be). I've never been able to make them for myself, so I'd have to fly to Austria to get a proper Knödel.

[Scott Taylor]

Watched Ant Man again last night. Still holds up, does a great job with a simple heist movie plot and Paul Rudd was born to play Scott Lang. He is to Ant Man what RDJ is to Iron Man.

[MacrossPlus]

Just watched the Live Action Crying Freeman movie last night, very underrated

[Midvillian1322]

I didnt quite get Wounds, so I have to look that up.

Yesterday I saw Mortal Engines: Looks terrific and the idea of the mobile city are great, but the characters are boring and the whole movie drags along.

Yea the movie kinda makes no sense and doesn't answer anything because the story was more about the Metaphor. If you google it you will find a better break down then I could give here. Hated the movie though.

[Mia]

Rise of Skywalker for the 8th time. I think I'm going for a bakers dozen. It's so beautiful, inspiring and makes me think.

Little Women. It was okay. I never saw the story as something special. But I did like the relationships between the sisters. It was nice to see women getting along and there for each other. Than the usual hostility. I did find it interesting that the cast of the sisters consisted of one Irish woman, two English and one Aussie. Hollywood is really raiding the UK and Australia for talent. I think it's because they just come across as having more substance and gravitas.

Saw Rise of Skywalker over the holidays. Definitely a good movie, I felt you could basically completely ignore TLJ with it and just pretend that Luke died in his sleep or choked on a porg or something. So the final trilogy just became a duology for me, which is awesome.

Favorite movies of 2019 - Endgame and Joker, not necessarily in that order. Runner up is RoS.

Here's hoping for a great movie year in 2020!

Don't know how you can 'ignore' TLJ when much of it is a leads into ROS including/especially the relationship between Ren and Rey. If you don't like the portrayal of Luke (although it still boggles my mind how someone can expect a 50 something person to behave and think exactly the same as they did in their teens and 20s'.) is one thing. But ignoring the story when it's beats lead into the other is another thing altogether.

[Kirby101]

The new Hellboy. Nothing great, but fun. Not at all the mess I heard it was. They brought in many elements from the books. I thought Harbour did a good job, but I think the look they gave him didn't completely work, could have been cuter.

[Jim Kelly]

I finally got around to watching DEADPOOL 2 the other day. It wasn't a bad movie, but the story wasn't one that especially appealed to me--of all the directions they could have gone with the character, this one was quite dour for a "funny" character. (Is it from the comic books?) But after seeing the trailer for NEW MUTANTS, I think Fox missed a great opportunity to dovetail the continuities between all their X franchise movies. If the school in both movies was the same one--a place where mutants are abused by teachers--they could use some of the same actors. And that would have helped both movies with their marketing--and maybe NEW MUTANTS would have come out when it was supposed to originally (which would have had both movies coming out within weeks of each other).

[Arfguy]

Watched Ford vs. Ferrari a couple of nights. Damn, Christian Bale is a great actor. Great movie, too. I didn't want to give this movie a chance, as I have found every single previous James Mangold to be boring. I watched it and I really, really liked it.