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I Just Watched... (Movies/TV/DVD)

HarleyQuinn

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Hubie Halloween: It... wasn't good but it got a few chuckles out of me and actually had a couple of decent scare scenes so I gave it like a 4/10. It's a typical, competent? Adam Sandler flick with callbacks/tropes seen in all his movies + his weird accent/voice schtick.
 

Brocklock

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The House That Jack Built:

Pretentious, misogynistic, racist, and I feel foul after watching it. That doesn't happen much. Kids get killed and worse, there's animal cruelty, and it's Lars Von Trier. At one point, during a long (long) slideshow of paintings and stock footage, it gets presented that artists make art so they don't act on their real feelings, followed by a fucked up montage of Von Trier's other movies. Matt Dillon was very good. The last half hour would be hilarious in any other movie for how pretentious it gets. I knew what I was getting myself into with Von Trier, sure, but it never ceases to amaze me how evil he can get.

Edit: he uses Bowie in the most fucked up manner, again. Also this isn't a really a spoiler (but kind of is) the ending credit music is literally "Hit The Road Jack."

I made a fart noise to myself when they showed the clips of his older movies when they were talking about Artists.
 

Valeyard

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Linking himself, as an artist of course, to the Nazis in graphic detail was one of the more terrible things I've seen in a movie.
 

Valeyard

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Moved on to Bully. It's all I remembered and so much more.
 

RedJed

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The House That Jack Built:

Pretentious, misogynistic, racist, and I feel foul after watching it. That doesn't happen much. Kids get killed and worse, there's animal cruelty, and it's Lars Von Trier. At one point, during a long (long) slideshow of paintings and stock footage, it gets presented that artists make art so they don't act on their real feelings, followed by a fucked up montage of Von Trier's other movies. Matt Dillon was very good. The last half hour would be hilarious in any other movie for how pretentious it gets. I knew what I was getting myself into with Von Trier, sure, but it never ceases to amaze me how evil he can get.

Edit: he uses Bowie in the most fucked up manner, again. Also this isn't a really a spoiler (but kind of is) the ending credit music is literally "Hit The Road Jack."

I felt similarily about this upon seeing the unrated cut a few years ago in the theater....

 

RedJed

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The Kid Detective: I went into this one super blind, only knowing the few sentences of a plot. Ended up really liking the sensibility of this one, quirky and fun story that turned kind of noir-ish surprisingly. Adam Brody did a real good job in the main role as this down and out dude who is reeling from his former glory and notoriety as the neighborhood kid detective back in his younger days. As he struggles to regain what he had back in the day, he is put on a murder case that goes into many unique directions and helps him regain that old glory. This is a hidden gem for sure.

The Wolf of Snow Hollow: This was another surprisingly fantastic film recently released in limited release in theaters. I'm kinda shocked there are quality indie films in theaters right now after a few months of generally trash being released. Jim Cummings wrote, directed, and starred in this great little fast paced comedy horror about a murder mystery in a small town. Cummings plays a neurotic cynical hot mess of a sheriff, trying to crack the case but being stifled at every corner by townie idiots and ridiculous situations. Well worth checking out.

Honest Thief: Liam Neeson cookie cutter film, ya know the type, people start fucking with him and his family, and he is out for revenge. The story was alright, but so very much the standard with the formula Neeson has fell into the last decade. On a side note, this film had no right to be in IMAX. Its' action scenes were weak as fuck, there was no reason for that format to take it on really. Plot-holes-a-plenty too so you've been warned.
 

HarleyQuinn

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The Trial of the Chicago 7: Really strong, good, greatly edited movie. Worth watching and checking out with a fantastic cast and the Sorkin script hewed far closer to stuff like Moneyball and A Few Good Men, which helped. 8/10

Goosebumps 2: I quite enjoyed the first one for what it was. This was just fine background fare and not as engaging as I was hoping it would be. Black's 'cameo' as R.L. Stine towards the end was fun considering his role in the first movie. Perfunctory would be an accurate description with some of the effects being creative at least. 5/10
 

RedJed

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Synchronic: Kind of a trippy and strangely flowing kinda sorta thriller but more sci-fi (and horror tones) with Anthony Mackie and the dude from 50 shades (name fuckin escapes me) in the lead roles. The film starts kinda slow and meandering, but it picks up strong in the second act and doesn't let go. The film centers around the effect of a new designer drug that is killing people in very unusual ways. As the story progresses, you find out what exactly the drug is....a vehicle for time traveling. While the rules arent explicitly defined how the logistics of this works (the drug puts you back in time for 7 minutes under specific conditions), it certainly makes for a wild trip of sorts. Immersive as fuck and with quality performances, can't really say much bad about this one. Lots of interesting themes and concepts being rolled around in this wild narrative.
 

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I hadn’t been overly interested in Widows since it was released a couple years ago. Cast looked good but the previews just didn’t connect with me.

Really enjoyed it when I watched it tonight. I’ve liked Daniel Kaluuya in other roles before but he was such a fantastic antagonist in this film.
 
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I hadn’t been overly interested in Widows since it was released a couple years ago. Cast looked good but the previews just didn’t connect with me.

Really enjoyed it when I watched it tonight. I’ve liked Daniel Kaluuya in other roles before but he was such a fantastic antagonist in this film.

he was downright scary. Need him to play more villains
 

Gary

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You know what movie actually holds up really well? "Darkman". I love how much fun Liam Neeson is in his role, and that even though it's not based on any comics, actually it feels like a comic book turned into a movie. Just so much fun. Also-"TAKE THE FUCKING ELEPHANT!!!"
 

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I actually don't mind the sequels. Arnold Vosloo is one of the more underrated 90's character actors. He nearly steals Hard Target and that movie has Lance Henriksen playing a somehow eviler Mr. McMahon and Wilford Brimley as a Cajun weapons expert living off the grid.
 

SFH

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"The Queen's Gambit" on Netflix is a 7 episode limited series that is just so beautiful and breath taking. It has a bit of a clunky first 20 minutes in episode 1, exposition fairy is about as subtle as a fart in church but otherwise this is 7 episodes of just pure artwork. This is the kind of stuff I'm glad I lived long enough to see. It's a period piece, based on a novel, about a young orphan who learns chess and follows her into her early adulthood.
Not enough superlatives for it.
 

cobainwasmurdered

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My brother had been egging me on to try this and finally got around to it. Glad I did because it's fucking hilarious. A married Irish couple in the 80s who are every irish cliche and it's completely insane.
 

Laz

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Girlfriend convinced me to give AHS: 1984 a try.

I have hated every second of this piece of shit since they left LA.

Why the fuck is this show popular. Bottom of the fucking barrel parody garbage with abysmal pacing and paper-thin writing. Actual 80s slashers have better writing than this.
 

Baby Shoes

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Girlfriend convinced me to give AHS: 1984 a try.

I have hated every second of this piece of shit since they left LA.

Why the fuck is this show popular. Bottom of the fucking barrel parody garbage with abysmal pacing and paper-thin writing. Actual 80s slashers have better writing than this.
I remember so many people hyping AHS to me. I watched the season that came out that year - Freak Show. Learned my lesson on that...
 

Laz

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Decided to move on to episode 2, maybe the first was just a rush through the tropes to establish a setting.

Nope.

Adding one of the most brutal real life serial killers as a side character (Richard Ramirez) and adding supernatural elements are just remarkably awful decisions. The constant score is a bad production choice on top of it all. A total waste of Emma Roberts and...whatever Carrie Fisher's daughter's name is.
 

HarleyQuinn

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If Anything Happens I Love You on Netflix. Heart-wrenching short but well done :(
 

Laz

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Addendum to my AHS: 1984 hate from earlier:

The twists in the last 2-3 episodes were the best ideas on the entire show. That should have been the focus from the start, with the bulk of the final episode being used, instead, as a framing device for the story to unfold. It felt like that was actually the plan and then somebody decided to edit it in some vaguely chronological manner that just didn't work until they got to the real story...which, by that point, didn't really matter because of how poorly it all ran up to that point.
 

RedJed

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Some final films I saw in the theaters over the weekend (before MN theaters closed up)

Vanguard: This was a weird mix between wild elaborate (albeit hard to believe) action sequences mixed with really underwhelming and lacking digital effects on display. At it's core though, this was a fun Jackie Chan vehicle that had some of his usual wildness (including a behind the scenes after the film of a scene where he got literally trapped under a running jet-ski). This was a film best suited for theaters so can't say I suggest seeing it at home (if its even available on demand) but it's worth a look. It also looked and felt bigtime like a 3D film (3d cameras may have even been used here) but so much for that idea in U.S. theaters right now.

Jiu Jitzu: A comic-styled tone deaf action film with Nic Cage playing a reasonably sane character for once, but an odd role for sure. Story is forgettable and disconnected as fuck (transition scenes are not even a thing here) and the action scenes seem a bit amateurish too. Wasn't really a fan of this one, Frank Grillo and Tony Jaa were criminally underused in this film to say the least.
 

Brocklock

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I remember so many people hyping AHS to me. I watched the season that came out that year - Freak Show. Learned my lesson on that...
I only made it through the first five episodes for the first season. Thought it was trying way too hard to be cool and edgy. Every time I've watched after, the show seemed on the verge of breaking into a musical or dance number and that's not my thing.
 
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muzzington

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Making my way through the Clone Wars animated series since I'm on a star wars kick at the moment. Really enjoyable for the most part and I've heard it gets darker and more serious the further the series goes, can anyone confirm that?
 

cobainwasmurdered

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i've only seen bits and pieces and a couple seasons of SW Rebels which is in the same continuity but from what i've seen and been told by people who have watched it, yeah it does. It's always been on my list to finish.
 

Laz

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Sounds par for the course with Nolan.

Rewatching the Expanse in anticipation of S5 dropping on the 12/16. I remember my first watch having trouble getting into it for a couple episodes, but this time I'm immediately noticing all the foreshadowing and set-ups to call backs.
 

cobainwasmurdered

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i'm on the last episode (of 8) after binging it this morning, and gotta say "Alice in Borderland" is a really fun show. It's a live-action adaptation of a Japanese manga with a very basic description being that three friends are transported to a version of Tokyo where they have to take part in insane over the top survival games while trying to figure out what the fuck is going.
 

HarleyQuinn

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i'm on the last episode (of 8) after binging it this morning, and gotta say "Alice in Borderland" is a really fun show. It's a live-action adaptation of a Japanese manga with a very basic description being that three friends are transported to a version of Tokyo where they have to take part in insane over the top survival games while trying to figure out what the fuck is going.
Just finished that up myself yesterday. It's a really good show if you took something like Battle Royale, set it in a city, then blended it with and Escape Room's "games"/puzzle solving. I do hope this gets at least another season.
 

Baby Shoes

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I thought about just putting on a mindless holiday movie tonight so I put that Emma Roberts Holidate on Netflix. Was surprised when it popped up TV-MA. It was basically like an R-Rated Hallmark movie.

Respect.
 
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