Last Movie You Watched Part II, Electric Bugaloo

[batnbreakfast]

Watched MOONLIGHT (2016). It was okay for a depressing movie with a negative message. I have no problem with such movies, I liked JOKER, which had a stronger impact on me, but I knew that JOKER was going to be that kind of movie, all the press for it set me up with that expectation. I had been led to believe from all that was said about MOONLIGHT--it won Best Picture, afterall--that it was going to be a movie that left me feeling uplifted, inspired, with a positive message. Nothing could be further from the truth. You can find some slight bit of iight, at the last second of the movie, if you're looking for it. But if I was a teen, confused about my identity, up against abuse and violence in my life, I wouldn't have that insight--what I'd get out of this movie is "you're screwed"--might as well kill yourself or dull your pain with drugs or join a gang and, above all, hide your real self, even from yourself--because there is no hope.

The thing is, back in the 1980s, I went to several "Out on Screen" festivals and seminars--studying the history of how movies depicted gay life. One of the big tropes is that gay people are doomed--they often end up killing themselves if they come out. The big message in classic movies was that being gay gets you killed or at least destroys your life--so better not be gay! One doesn't expect every new movie with gay character to send a positive message, but kids need some ray of light in their lives. Sending negative messages is not going to give kids what they need to get to the other side. They need some kind of direction. MOONLIGHT just echos the tired old warnings about being black and being gay--I think this gives comfort to the intolerant who send out the very same message, that "those people" are doomed.

Also saw 1917. Yeah okay, give it the awards. It's great, but what I like about it is that it isn't really a completely realistic movie--there's realism in it, but its tale of survival challenged my credulity. It's more like a war story that Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert would tell. But I like those stories. It also has the Greek tragedy rules of Unity of Time, Unity of Place and Unity of Action. As good as the direction and the cinematography are, I think its best feature is the storytelling. Also, I can't see how stuntmen could have stood in for the two main actors in most of their action heavy scenes--for actors to put themselves in so much danger, that deserves a special reward. When I was in the military, we got danger pay for those kinds of actions.

Broke back mountain
Rust and bone

Those two make Joker look like a Disney movie

[CliffHanger2]

Harriet- Yes I had a problem with the fictional black slave catcher and the slavemaster saving her. BUT it did not ruin the movie for me and there was no romantic context as some youtubers said. Still a powerful movie and worth seeing just know your history going in.

[DanMad1977]

Hellboy the reboot

The directing was very bad, the movie jumped around like it was trying to escape from something. It was a bit too long and there was almost no suspense. The good thing was: innovative kills and gore. Really funny violence stuff (I thought it was funny, don't know if it was supposed to). Great ideas for monsters and a good Hellboy.

[Wildling]

Enjoyed STX's Countdown more than I was expecting. Worked for me as a fun update of Final Destination, even reminding me a little of climactic scenes from the Keanu Reeves Devil's Advocate and Constantine movies.

[Jim Kelly]

Watched BATMAN THE MOVIE (1966). Man that's a bad movie. I love the Adam West Batman but that movie was boring. When I was a little kid, my parents were going to take me and my sister to see it in the theatre, but my sister cried that she wanted to see MARY POPPINS, which was playing at the opposite theatre. So I never did get to see it at the time. Maybe if I had, I would have warm childhood memories of the movie and I could appreciate it on that level.

The deal with Lee Meriwether as Catwoman makes no sense. Bruce doesn't see that Miss Kitka is Catwoman without the mask--yet he recognizes the Penguin when he's disguised as Commodore Schmidlapp. And on the TV show, Batman had already seen Catwoman without the mask, when she was played by Julie Newmar. But in my head canon, Lee Meriwether, Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt were all different women who took on the Catwoman identity. So maybe Bruce is so blinded by his love for Miss Kitka that he can't see straight.

The one bit that I did like was the use of the song "Plaisir d'Amour" for Bruce's affair with Kitka. Adam West portrays Bruce's lovelorn state quite well.

[hulahulk]

Overlord - visually impressive

Rambo Last Blood - so predictable

SWROS - 2nd viewing, liked it better this time. Still not perfect, but I can deal with it

[DanMad1977]

Watched BATMAN THE MOVIE (1966). Man that's a bad movie. I love the Adam West Batman but that movie was boring. When I was a little kid, my parents were going to take me and my sister to see it in the theatre, but my sister cried that she wanted to see MARY POPPINS, which was playing at the opposite theatre. So I never did get to see it at the time. Maybe if I had, I would have warm childhood memories of the movie and I could appreciate it on that level.

The deal with Lee Meriwether as Catwoman makes no sense. Bruce doesn't see that Miss Kitka is Catwoman without the mask--yet he recognizes the Penguin when he's disguised as Commodore Schmidlapp. And on the TV show, Batman had already seen Catwoman without the mask, when she was played by Julie Newmar. But in my head canon, Lee Meriwether, Julie Newmar and Eartha
Kitt were all different women who took on the Catwoman identity. So maybe Bruce is so blinded by his love for Miss Kitka that he can't see straight.
The one bit that I did like was the use of the song "Plaisir d'Amour" for Bruce's affair with Kitka. Adam West portrays Bruce's lovelorn state quite well.

I have seen it as a kid on TV, it was my first super hero movie, so I have that bit of nostalgia in me for it. I love that movie for what it is. I tried watching the whole series a year or so back, but I couldn't get past a few episodes, because it became stale and not so funny anymore...

[hurtlinghurdle]

I watched Doolittle, it was interesting to see RDJ in a different type of role. I eventually got over the fact that I was looking at iron man.

[Kirby101]

Charlie's Angels. Not bad, fun and likable cast (even Stewart). Not sure why the hate, worse movies succeeded.

[Jim Kelly]

After seeing 1917, I wanted to watch again LA GRANDE ILLUSION, the 1937 film directed by Jean Renoir. It stars Jean Gabin, with a great supporting cast, including Erich von Stroheim. I admire how Renoir trusts in the intelligence of the audience to figure things out, without overexplaining everything. Von Stroheim brings something to his character that wins our sympathies for him, whereas he would be the "bad guy" in a lesser movie.

[AnakinFlair]

I recently got the Criterion collection of the Toho Godzilla movies and started watching them. Both the original and Godzilla Raids Again were actually really good, thoughtful, and at times moving movies, even if I did laugh at some (okay, MOST) of the effects. But even that was charming in a way.

I watched the Japanese version of Godzilla vs King Kong, and my god was that hilarious. I understand that the Americanized version cut out most of the satire, which is a shame. If you can hunt this down, go see it.

I skipped ahead to Godzilla vs Mecha Godzilla, because I always wanted to watch a movie with Mecha Godzilla in it. It really reminded me of a cross between the more campy James Bond movies from the late 60s and early 70's with a healthy dose of Might Morphin Power Rangers. And again, I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than I was expecting to.

[Jim Kelly]

BIRDS OF PREY AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN. I had planned to wait until cheapskate Tuesday to see this, but I didn't trust the internet that I could go unspoiled until then, so I paid full whack on a Friday.

[hulahulk]

Birds of Prey - meh. Definitely in one of the lower tier superhero flicks

[DanMad1977]

Birds of Prey - meh. Definitely in one of the lower tier superhero flicks

Yep, exactly what I thought.

Dune: I have never watched this in my whole life, and I am a sucker for Sci-Fi/Fantasy. I appreciate the effort in building stuff, like in the early Star Wars movies, and not doing it in cgi (probably not possible in 1984). I really like it when you have the feeling the things around you are real and not a computer image. But the movie was awfully boring, the acting was strange (intended to be?) and I was fairly disappointed.

[hulahulk]

I haven't seen the original Dune. I feel I'll be out of the loop if I were to see the re-do before the original.