Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

2022 Movies Discussion Thread (v.2.0)


RIPPA

Recommended Posts

I don't know if this is better here or in the horror thread, but Men is the most beautifully shot piece of shit movie since The Village. Two totally conflicted points in the story that run the entire film and never resolve the fact that they are literally incompatible, the casting gimmick amounts to nothing, the midlevel body horror comes way too late and doesn't go nearly far enough to matter... It's a movie that thinks it's about something important, but does such a terrible job of expressing this that it's a movie about absolutely nothing, while being incredibly proud of this nothing.

 

Been a long time since I was so disappointed in a movie. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saw Top Gun Maverick today. Enjoyed it a lot. Don't think too hard about the plot, just enjoy the action and Cruise's charisma. The plane sequences are awesome. It's a little longer than needed but not too long. Overall, I'd say it is about as good as the first. Not great but very entertaining. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey, staying up till all hours of the night finally kind of paid off, so I can get this done before frickin' midnight for once.  It's Day 321 (and counting) of...whatever, (Almost) No Assault Rifles to Be Seen Edition.

Hot Garbage

Fever Pitch - I'd put off watching this for quite a while because of the expectation that it was one of the worst films ever made, but...it's not that.  It's just garden-variety total crap, not 'belongs in a special Hell'-terrible.  I mean, yeah, anything that relies upon Jimmy Fallon, the verifiable worst actor to be as famous as he is, to carry emotional beats is going to suck, and this sure sucks!  But I think a lot of the vitriol pointed its way may be due to the adaptation and not merely because it's trite and boring and uninteresting.  There are maybe 3 real laughs here, and they're all wrapped up in Drew Barrymore's friend group, which should have been more than enough of a warning sign to show you haven't written a good script, but, whatever.  This is already more words than the movie actually deserves anyway.

Evolution - This is a weird French film about...something.  The dangers of unethical science?  Trans narratives?  Starfish?  Girls who shave their eyebrows and pencil them in blonde?  I don't know.  Sometimes, a lack of spoken narrative direction can work in a film - think The Fits.  This?  This is not one of those times.  It seems like this is kinda-sorta about not snuffing out individuality and creativity, but that falls incredibly flat since we're given no reason to care about any one boy in this scenario over any other, except for the sheer amount of time spent with him and all the medical body horror moments that are cringy but carry no real weight to them.  People who think Men is undercooked really don't know what "undercooked" means.  This would be next to the word in the dictionary.

With Honors - Another entry in the "movies I knew about growing up due to copious advertising but never saw" category.  Oh God, is this fucking bad.  I really hope Joe Pesci followed the Michael Caine/Jaws 4 path and bought himself a nice house with whatever they paid him for this giant turd.  I wonder if he has a worse role in his filmography.  There's maybe one scene in the whole film that actually works and is believable, and everything else feels like the writer and director jerking themselves off for having read more than 4 books in college.  The only other thing in the film that seems real is the notion that Harvard is full of insufferable pieces of shit, so much so that you'd think Mark Zuckerberg watched this growing up and thought it was a documentary instead of a work of fiction.

Acceptable

Violets Are Blue... - I think Kevin Kline is simultaneously the most reliable and also the least useful actor in the world.  Practically every role he does is some different volume setting of his Sophie's Choice role, and the only reason that even sort of works is because that role worked.  Here, he's at about a 1 or a 1.5 of that, and...hey, wouldn't you know, he's less unbearable than usual due to dialing it the fuck back.  The rest of this movie is...eh, it's kind of boring and totally predictable, but there are some things that work.  Bonnie Bedelia is loads better than either of the mains, which is kind of a bad sign, except that she is typically really good - never the sort to carry a movie herself but someone you manage to take notice of almost every time anyway.  And it certainly gets right this particular strain/flavor of Reagan's quaint little fucked-up idea of America: the economic tensions beginning to crowd their way into more and more of the middle class; the hollow shells of tourist traps that seem fun for a vacation but are Hell to live in; the need to grow like a cancer even at the expense of the beauty and majesty of the world that's already there.  I spent my share of time in towns like this growing up, and I can appreciate the authenticity.  But otherwise, practically every character and relationship feels underdeveloped, and this strikes me as the kind of thing that would have worked better as a novel.

Drinking Buddies - This is...well, it's OK?  The acting is good.  The relationships are, for the most part, believable.  But by and large, it feels like Olivia Wilde and Anna Kendrick kind of put this movie on their backs for maybe 3 or 4 scenes out of the whole, and if those moments didn't work, none of the rest of it would really fall into place, either.  The central premise of the movie is effective at pushing things along, but the ending is bizarre and borders on pointless.  With all the things that happen throughout, it seems like it needed a better resolution, rather than a moment that feels like delaying some inevitable slip that will screw up the lives of everyone we just spent the last 90 minutes with.  Then again, actual people are true professionals at screwing up their lives in exactly this kind of way, so maybe that makes this more real than a lot of other movies.

Stanley & Iris - Hey, something surprisingly good for once.  Then again, this was the last film Martin Ritt directed, and he directed Hud, which is one of my all-time favorites, so it's not that surprising.  And DeNiro really had himself a year in 1990.  Goodfellas and Awakenings got all the headlines, but I tend to like his more subtle roles like this one.  There are times where this is a bit cookie-cutter, down to Martha Plimpton's umpteenth out-of-wedlock pregnancy during the late 80s/early 90s, and the last half tends to rush through a lot of time without giving you enough setup to understand or believe everything that's happening.  But DeNiro and Fonda work really well together, and it's another movie that captures a time and place pretty well, in much the same way Violets Are Blue... did, and the script has a bit more crackle to it than everything else I've talked about so far.  It's not great, but it's pleasantly decent. 

Awesome

The Piano Teacher - I debated if this should go up a notch, but the 2000s were just such a fucking great decade for movies that I know this wouldn't stand a hope in Hell of cracking my top 10, maybe not even my top 20, so here we are.  I think it's weird than Haneke said he was trying to make some of the more explicit scenes seem erotic, because I don't know if that's what comes across in the movie at all, and I think its uneroticism is why it works so well.  It's not an issue of Erika's kinks being "disgusting" or "perverse", because for the most part they're not (the weirdest thing she does is sharing a bed with her mother).  The X factor here that Huppert brings in spades is the fumbling, inexperienced, clumsy, clueless way Erika tries to exert herself in so many situations; things that should seem exciting or racy are rendered pathetic and clingy and sad by her desperate need for control at the expense of so much else in her life.  I haven't really liked Huppert in much of anything else I've seen her in, I think in part because she has a lot of presence that dominates the character she plays (think I Heart Huckabees for a recent example of something I'd seen), but this was the first time I'd seen her play someone so blatantly brittle, and it's fantastic.  Of course, so is everyone else in this movie, and there are a handful of shots in this that are pretty close to sublime.  But I don't know why anyone compared The Audition to this as much as I've seen online.  Just because they both involve female music teachers doesn't mean they have anything else in common; it's like saying Sleepless in Seattle was influenced by Die Hard because they both have tall buildings.  They're both excellent movies in their own right, though this one is a bit more than just excellent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I re-read Casino after finding it where I work recently and it's only slightly grimier. The main differences is they play Allen Glick as a bit of a stooge when he really was a developed hustler who was brilliant AND a Vietnam vet, that Tony Spilotro was of course worse than they could possibly represent (Chicago was so corrupt then that he was an actual bail bondsman!), and De Niro played Ace as a little more subdued and icier than he probably really is/was -- there are moments in the book of him threatening people directly and it is some straight mob shit. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I re-read Casino after finding it where I work recently and it's only slightly grimier. The main differences is they play Allen Glick as a bit of a stooge when he really was a developed hustler who was brilliant AND a Vietnam vet, that Tony Spilotro was of course worse than they could possibly represent (Chicago was so corrupt then that he was an actual bail bondsman!), and De Niro played Ace as a little more subdued and icier than he probably really is/was -- there are moments in the book of him threatening people directly and it is some straight mob shit. 

It's been like 15 years since I read it, but the biggest difference I remember is that Lefty was a bit less of a good guy than Ace, and his wife (drawing a blank on the real person's name) wasn't quite the entirely awful person Ginger is in the movie. Also, the head in the vice thing is 100% real, except in real life it happened in Chicago and is believed to be the first person Spilotro killed. Which is a scary level of cold bloodedness, to jump straight to that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Watched Everything, Everywhere, All at Once over the weekend. Had to do it in two sittings, because I was battling a really bad fever on Friday, and pal let me tell you, Michelle Yeoh wasn't the only one slipping in and out of reality that day.

So I started over on Sunday when I felt better, and this is one of those movies where I was thinking "no way this will be as good as everyone says", and it just ended up being better. I didn't expect something so heartfelt and relatable, from almost every main character.

I love how much this felt like a Hong Kong production without actually being one. I loved how brazen they were to put Michelle Yeoh front and center, broken English and all, and the flip flopping from their native tongue to English was so effective. Really drove home the disconnect between the Wang parents, and their daughter and dad.

I loved Jamie Lee Curtis fighting HARD for that Vincent Hanna award lol

Most of all I loved that, no matter which character you related to the most, you got a sense of emptyness and wanting that pretty much all of us have felt at some point.

Edited by RandomAct
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/26/2022 at 1:56 PM, Curt McGirt said:

The second Punisher is on right now and it still rules. 

The Thomas Jane Punisher joint fucking rules.

This scene just oozes tension.  Who expected this kind of drama and direction in a Punisher movie?

Edited by J.T.
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, Contentious C said:

With Honors - Another entry in the "movies I knew about growing up due to copious advertising but never saw" category.  Oh God, is this fucking bad.  I really hope Joe Pesci followed the Michael Caine/Jaws 4 path and bought himself a nice house with whatever they paid him for this giant turd.  I wonder if he has a worse role in his filmography.  There's maybe one scene in the whole film that actually works and is believable, and everything else feels like the writer and director jerking themselves off for having read more than 4 books in college.  The only other thing in the film that seems real is the notion that Harvard is full of insufferable pieces of shit, so much so that you'd think Mark Zuckerberg watched this growing up and thought it was a documentary instead of a work of fiction.

Never seen With Honors but when I worked at Blockbuster the preview was on the monitor tape for it seems like six months straight. Alek Keshishian directed it, he also directed Madonna's Truth or Dare, dude seems like the most pretentious human walking the earth.

I think this flick is battling Gone Fishin' and Jimmy Hollywood for Pesci's worst.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

Also, the head in the vice thing is 100% real, except in real life it happened in Chicago and is believed to be the first person Spilotro killed. Which is a scary level of cold bloodedness, to jump straight to that.

I picked up the book again to find out and sure enough that was indeed his first hit, according to Frank Cullotta, who would have known. It certainly endeared him to the bosses. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Mister TV said:

Never seen With Honors but when I worked at Blockbuster the preview was on the monitor tape for it seems like six months straight. Alek Keshishian directed it, he also directed Madonna's Truth or Dare, dude seems like the most pretentious human walking the earth.

I think this flick is battling Gone Fishin' and Jimmy Hollywood for Pesci's worst.

I worked in a movie theater when Gone Fishin' came out and it gave me one of my favorite customer interactions: a guy walks out in the middle of the movie and stops to refill his soda on the way out.  We chat more a minute about how bad the movie is and I ask if he wants a refund since he only stayed for 40 or so minutes.  His response was "No thanks, not having the watch the rest of that is reward enough for me."

  • Like 1
  • Haha 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

RandomAct up there perfectly summed up my thoughts on Everything Everywhere All At Once.

The hype after Yeoh was on Desus & Mero had me begging to see this asap, and it absolutely lived up to and blew away every expectation that I had going into it.

I've been trying to get my family to see this now, this just feels like, I don't know, soul food or something, grandma's cooking when you've had a shitty week or month. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/31/2022 at 10:07 AM, J.T. said:

The Thomas Jane Punisher joint fucking rules.

This scene just oozes tension.  Who expected this kind of drama and direction in a Punisher movie?

Oh, and the fucking One Shot also rules.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I watched GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE on a plane yesterday.  

The line I'd heard was this was Ghostbusters without the jokes. . . and god damned if that wasn't spot on fucking accurate.  My goodness.  I'm not that big a Paul Rudd fan but he was out there trying his damnedest to get anything going...  nothing was sticking.   The kids are unlikeable, the mom is acting like a sad wooden board, and like no one else is doing anything of note.  

The plot is like, hey this girl likes science, so of course, she's totally cool with paranormal stuff?  And then she like learns everything about a nuclear fusion reactor on her back in one night?   And the other kid is super knowledgeable about everything paranormal, but didn't know there was a fucking GHOSTBUSTER in his little town.  And Finn Wolfheart of whatever his name is, just plays an older version of his Stranger Things role.  

The last 15 minutes of the movie and the (spoilers) are basically the biggest redemption of this.  

Spoiler

For what it's worth, I was genuinely pleasantly surprised by the return of the rest of the original cast.  Though Ernie Hudson is far and away the best kept up of them.   

Akroyd, Murray, and Hudson are all just SO much better than everyone else, it's almost awkward.  They made me laugh where I hadn't once before.  I don't know, it's almost, tonally wrong?  

And of course, the return of Ramis. It's the whole point to this movie.  I know this was a love letter to the director's dad and that's why this whole project existed, but it was rough getting to that final hug.  And unfortunately by that point, I just wasn't feeling this at all.  

Disappointment.  But at least I got to watch for free.  

Oh, and the mid-credit scene was easily the best part of the whole movie. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/31/2022 at 3:07 PM, J.T. said:

The Thomas Jane Punisher joint fucking rules.

This scene just oozes tension.  Who expected this kind of drama and direction in a Punisher movie?

Even WWE used it for The Undertaker vs. Triple H at WrestleMania XXXVII:

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/31/2022 at 3:07 PM, J.T. said:

The Thomas Jane Punisher joint fucking rules.

This scene just oozes tension.  Who expected this kind of drama and direction in a Punisher movie?

Also...

Spoiler

One of the best knife kills ever to go with.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Almost resurrected the Grindhouse thread for this but... eh, it's been two years. Anyway I know some of you on here brought this up before and I decided to find it. Incredulous biker movie with constant explosions, Lance Henriksen and William Forsythe chewing the scenery, Brian Bosworth with some super '80s wrestler hair, lotsa nekkid women, etc. Apparently it was given an NC-17 but that cut is lost now. It was directed by Craig R. Baxley who prior to this did freakin' Action Jackson and the immortal I Come In Peace; prior to that he was a stuntman and 2nd unit guy in lots of TV and film stuff and after he was a Stephen King miniseries go-to. If I'd known about this as a kid I woulda watched it 1000 times. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You have to admire both Lance and Bill knowing they're in a piece of shit and going all in.  

I also love the face that despite failing is spectacular fashion The Bos still got the action hero outro.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/31/2022 at 9:07 AM, J.T. said:

The Thomas Jane Punisher joint fucking rules.

This scene just oozes tension.  Who expected this kind of drama and direction in a Punisher movie?

I think the Thomas Jane one is pretty dull but I do think it did one thing really brilliantly: we get the montage of Punisher setting all the booby traps and hiding weapons in his apartment, and then when he does get attacked at home (by Kevin fucking Nash) all the traps and weapons either get countered or no-sold.  A great little subversion of expectations.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

I think the Thomas Jane one is pretty dull but I do think it did one thing really brilliantly: we get the montage of Punisher setting all the booby traps and hiding weapons in his apartment, and then when he does get attacked at home (by Kevin fucking Nash) all the traps and weapons either get countered or no-sold.  A great little subversion of expectations.

Apparently Nash got legit stabbed during that fight and pretty much brushed it off.

  • Like 3
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...