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

Finished up Shoresy. I normally don’t get through shows that quickly, but I found myself always wanting to watch another episode. Felt like a lower budget, and cruder Ted Lasso at times.

This might be my new I Think You Should Leave. Meaning when I’m just sitting on the couch, playing on my phone, and not really doing anything I’ll start the series over, and just have episodes going.
 
HarleyQuinn said:
Season 2 of Leverage: Redemption has hit Freevee on Amazon Prime and it's still very enjoyable stuff if you're a fan of the original Leverage show or its cast.
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Season 3 just dropped on Prime with its first 3 episodes available. Really love the cast and characters.
 
On season 3 of White Lotus. I usually love me some Parker Posey but her phoney accent really takes me out of her scenes.
 
I loved it, because it reminded me of the weird accent she used in Waiting For Guffman


I could understand being annoyed by that, but she's done goofy accent work before.

I finished Lotus Season 3 and I thought Jason Issacs was MVP and should definitely get a nomination.
 
Heretic (2024) comes oh so close to transcending itself after building layer of tension upon layer of tension but falls just short of pure greatness by deciding to hold itself back. This isn't a case where a horror film's own conservative approach on its material ruins the concept, though, as the end result is still extremely good.

Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) are members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints on mission, when they come across the house of a Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), who welcomes them inside for a theological chat. All seems fine initially until Reed begins to push them on their beliefs, revealing himself to be much more than just a theological scholar, and indeed something much more sinister.

Grant is incredible in this role, as he utilizes all of the same tools that made him an international superstar of romantic comedies in the 90s but gives them a menacing twist, not unlike his turn in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves but with considerably more malice and less of an appetite for scenery. Truthfully, I'd even say he deserved a nomination for his turn here, as it's a major career highlight. Not to be outclassed, Thatcher brings her A-game, with East being the weakest link of the three, but by no means a hindrance to the work.

Really, writers/directors Scott Beck and Bryan Wood, best known for the aged-like-cheap-beer A Quiet Place and overbudgeted b-movie 5.4, deserve a massive amount of acclaim. This has to be their best work to date, the crowning achievement of their approach to genre, as the plot weaves in and out of philosophical discussions about the world's religions and faith as a concept, dabbling into conspiracy theory at just the right moments, all to highlight the sinsister game that Mr. Reed is playing with the two young women.

With so much praise, where does it falter? Like with A Quiet Place, in the final act. The tension reaches a fever pitch only to find a resolution too reliant on dialogue to captivatingly close the chapter. It does send us home with visuals that tie into earlier discussions about what happens after we die, which is a major bonus, but it does come across as a bit anti-climactic given how incredible the ride has been up until one of the characters is shockingly taken out of the equation.

7.5/10, a must-see that has the chance of getting better with age.
 
I liked Chloe East slightly more than Sophie Thatcher. I thought Thatcher was fantastic in Companion, and very good in Heretic, but East was a revelation and easy to root for.

Both did great work, but East's character had more character growth and depth. It's Hugh Grant's movie regardless.

I usually can't stand Hugh, but he's amazing here. His transition into playing villains has been awesome.
 
Brocklock said:
I liked Chloe East slightly more than Sophie Thatcher. I thought Thatcher was fantastic in Companion, and very good in Heretic, but East was a revelation and easy to root for.

Both did great work, but East's character had more character growth and depth. It's Hugh Grant's movie regardless.

I usually can't stand Hugh, but he's amazing here. His transition into playing villains has been awesome.
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I felt that East got a bit too wooden in the final act, but it's a case of 6 in one.

Regardless, I've never been more impressed by younger talent than I have in the last decade. It's like there was an entire generation of actors that collectively rebelled against the "pretty faces only" status quo of Hollywood and came out swinging.
 
Finished White Lotus. MVP of the season was Walton Goggins, IMO. He played the asshole lover with hidden motives and determination to perfection.

I love Sam Rockwell but he felt kind of pointless in this. Probably just wanted to be around his wife while filming.
 
Top 6 Power Rankings for me:

1. Jason Issacs - Just found his arc very interesting. His accent wasn't perfect, but he sold me. And, I thought his intensity added a lot to the series.

2. Walton Goggins for the reasons you said.

3. Carrie Coon for her monologue in the final episode

4. Parker Posey for being the funniest part of the season

5. Aimee Lou Wood was kind of a revelation. I liked her a lot.

6. Patrick Schwarzenegger really grew on me by the end of the show.

And, i don't really like wacky Sam Rockwell. Wasn't a fan of him in Seven Psychopaths either. He was fine here, but it's bullshit if he gets an Emmy nom over Jason Issacs or Aimee Lou Wood because he's the bigger name. I think Goggins, Coon, and Posey are locks based on the prediction sites.
 
Now that White Lotus is done, I started watching Hacks and just finished season one. Yeah, I totally get the Jean Smart love now. Also love seeing Kaitlin Olson pop up in things other than Sunny.
 
Watched a couple streaming movies.

Another Simple Favor on Amazon Prime. 4/10 - Just not good with some convoluted stuff going on at the end that wasn't interesting and it just lacked the overall charm, mystery, and sharper writing of the first movie. Even Anna Kendrick felt... like it was a paycheck movie as she would occasionally try her shtick but it was just falling flat here. Blake Lively was fine but has very Charlotte Flair vibes on-screen where she's acting but it just feels done before and not that interesting.

Exterritorial on Netflix. 5/10 - It's a fine movie starring Jeanne Goursaud, a former special forces woman, whose kid gets kidnapped at the US Consulate in Germany and she must find him while also getting caught up in an scheme bigger than her. It's a story that's been done a lot and this treads a lot of the same beats while largely being paint by numbers. Jeanne's a solid lead though and helps carry the movie and the fight scenes are pretty solid too. It does drag a little long but it's a fine rainy day background movie where you don't have to think too hard about the plot.
 
I liked Anna's scene where she was high on truth serum in Another Simple Favor, but that was about it. It really dragged and felt more of the same. Blake is fine, but I agree that at this point I don't really want to watch her act. She reminds me of Gwyneth Paltrow. They both aren't bad actresses, but they lack that spark that makes me want to watch them. Blake never had something like Seven Or The Royal Tenenbaums on her resume like Gwyneth though. I agree with the 4/10 rating.


Death Of A Unicorn felt like two different movies. I wish they would've picked a direction with Paul Rudd's character. Either make him a full on scumbag, or have him be a likable dad. This tried to do both, and it might've been one of the only movies where I wasn't entertained by Paul Rudd. Jenna Ortega also had this problem in Beetlejuice 2. She's a good actress, but not funny, and stuck out like a sore thumb at points. That said, I found it weirdly entertaining.

The other movie with Will Poulter, Tea Leoni, and Richard E Grant being awful people and going after unicorns was pretty fun. All three really dug into their scumbag characters and Poulter was MVP of the movie. It was nice seeing Tea Leoni again and she should get more roles. Haven't really seen her in anything since that Madame President show. They really misused my man No Ho Hank Anthony Carrigan to a criminal level. He still had some facial expressions and reactions that made me laugh, but he should've been in it more. Still, I wasn't really bored by it and it was so silly of a premise that I found it endearing at points. It's just the Rudd/Ortega stuff took it way too seriously, and the tone was a mess. This should've been more comedic and embraced the silly side fully. It's an absurd premise.

5.5/10
 
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I'm about halfway through S1 of Poker Face, and while I think the format is a little jarring (showing the murder and revealing who did it at the start)? It's still pretty enjoyable. Natasha Lyonne is her usual fantastic self, and LDP finally understands why she's been a screen crush of mine since I was 13.

Becky (2020) is just a few cans short of a six-pack, but it's still very enjoyable. I appreciate the lines blurred by how quickly they have Becky (Lulu Simmons) embrace violence as a solution, and it rides a solid balance of splatstick and visceral. This almost feels like a Jeremy Saulnier film in that way, but if Saulnier leaned further into the Troma-esque feeling of Murder Party instead of going serious with Blue Ruin. Kevin James does a solid enough job as the main villain, but the real surprise of the cast is Robert Maillet, the former KURRGAN of late 90s WWF pseudo-fame. He really does a solid as hell job here. 6/10 (I'm looking forward to watching the 2023 sequel, Wrath of Becky, which looks like it leans heavier into the bonkers parts of this.)
 
S2 of The Devil's Plan dropped the first 4 eps. Really fun show where people compete in strategy games and backstab each other or work together with a lot of twists and turns. It's what got me down the rabbit hole of other Korean game shows. For @HarleyQuinn this season has the actor who played Ben on Umbrella Academy in it.
 
Watched Bet on Netflix based off the manga/anime Kakegurui. It was fine for the most part though some of it was stupid (the revenge element felt very shoe-horned in and producer influenced and there was obvious dialogue/direction done b/c Americans dumb type thought processes from upper management). There was a lot of vitriol from fans of the anime/2019 Japanese live action that hated the changes (e.g. Riri being masked, Kira/Riri being half-sisters, the race swapping of characters, etc.) but I'm okay with the majority of them just due to it being an American adaptation.

The side characters did stand out though and were memorable and the plot itself was done okay. I don't know if it'll end up getting a Season 2 (it's sitting at #10 on TV Shows on Netflix right now) but it did get me to start up the Anime at least so there is that.
 
Watched the Paul Reubens doc and must admit even as someone that grew up on the PWH character it got to me more than I expected. Lots of nostalgia with the film and the TV show. Kind of a tragic tale. Most of the original cast from the Groundlings sketch is gone now.
 
Abigail (2024) is alright. Dan Stevens and Giancarlo Esposito feel wasted, Kevin Durand delivers in that perfect b-movie character actor way he always does, Kathryn Newton is fun, and little Alisha Weir is clearly having a blast. But man, oh man, do I just not see why Hollywood keeps trying to push Melissa Barrera on people. She's less awful here than in the abysmal Scream sequels but is still the worst part of the entire cast...which hurts it all, because she's basically the main character. Some third act plot twists hamper the whole thing, which is an otherwise fun romp. 6/10

MaXXXine (2024) is probably the best Ti West movie ever made, but it still falls a little short for me. I appreciate West's twist on horror tropes by focusing on character development over scares, and it works for the majority of the movie, but, just like with the previous two entries of the trilogy, it makes it feel all a little too cheap. Why make a horror movie if you aren't aiming for horror? There's a lot of giallo DNA here, right down to the black leather gloves worn by the killer. Ti does what he always does, though, and that's speed through the finale so quickly, after a lot of great build, that I'm left deflated. To fit with the pornography theme of the series, it's one big ruined orgasm. I respect the stylistic choice he clearly embraces in all of his work, at least, but I'm not going to revisit it any time soon. 6.5/10

The Residence is a super fun limited series that's openly utilizing the tone set forth by Rian Johnson's Knives Out, a witty and playful take on classic murder mysteries. The cast is excellent (maybe a new GOAT Jason Lee role) and everyone delivers exactly what they need to. 7.5/10
 
I found Melissa Barerra gorgeous in Abigail so it might of made me biased, but I thought she did a decent enough job. Held the screen much better than the Scream movies, and I thought she had a little more meat to work with for her character. I think she's grown from how bad she was in Scream 5. Not a huge amount of growth, but she's competent to me.

Dan Stevens elevated the movie for me. He was enjoying his screen time imo. He's perfect for these type of hammy movies. And, I enjoyed the team up of Kathryn Newton and Kevin Durand and found them entertaining together. I mostly had a good time. I wish Giancarlo Esposito would get a different character to play. He was awesome as the hyperactive Buggin Out in Do The Right Thing. He can do more than Gus Fring. And, the child actor was fantastic.

I'd go 7.5/10. The .5 might be generous, but I've seen it twice and had a blast which I usually don't during modern horror comedies. There's a sincerity behind this that I don't get with the usual Christopher Landon snarky quirky cute Scream esque horror comedies like Freaky or the Happy Death Day movies or Heart Eyes which he produced.
 
I was kind of split between you both at around a 7/10 for Abigail but Alisha Weir was clearly having a ball and Dan Stevens/Kevin Durand both hit their characters perfectly. Kathryn Newton was also fun, if a little underused IMO, and Melissa was fine as the lead. I think the humor and tone was hit pretty well, with a lackluster 3rd act that kind of drags, but I think I still prefer the 1st Happy Death Day to it at least on the whole.

With that said, I'm always down for a vampire movie and Abigail is one of the few recent ones that managed to still be serious when needed but added some humorous elements (largely through Weir's personality/characterization).
 
Abigale would have been so much more fun if the trailers wouldn’t have said it was a vampire story. I totally get that’s what sells it, but the movie waits to long to reveal it. Feel like it should have either not been in the trailer, or given in the movie much sooner.

Dan Stevens is one of those actors that can manage to look, and seem completely different in every roll he plays. He’s a favorite.
 
Brocklock said:
I found Melissa Barerra gorgeous in Abigail so it might of made me biased,
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I'm not arguing about her looks. Even LDP (who has her firmly in the "not interested" camp of actors/actresses whose involvement in a project instantly turns her away from it) thinks she's great to look at here. I just think she's very wooden in her performances. She's a bit of a drive thru Sofia Boutella to me, but Sofia is a few steps above because she always swings for the fences in every role, whether or not she hits.
Youth N Asia said:
Dan Stevens is one of those actors that can manage to look, and seem completely different in every roll he plays. He’s a favorite.
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That's why I think he's wasted here. The focus, at least when it comes to the crew itself, is on Barrera, and she's the least interesting one in the whole cast.
 
There is something fundamentally awful about seeing wire stunts in a John Wick movie, and for that reason alone Chapter Four fails. The allure of the first movie was that it was a stylish return of grit to action cinema. Each sequel has found itself embracing more of the problems that plagued the genre in a post-Matrix world than what separated the property from its contemporaries.
 
Holy shit, Talk to Me (2022) is way better than it needs to be. Tone, pacing, the cast, etc. It all delivers in ways that you wouldn't expect a modern horror movie to. And that ending? I actively want a follow-up. The best random surprise of a major horror release since Sinister for me. 7.5/10
 
Finished Hacks (great show btw) and started the Pitt. This show is INTENSE. Medical dramas were never really my forte but this one has me hooked. As someone who never watched a second of ER, this is the first time I'm seeing Noah Wyle.
 
It's not that No Good Deed (2024) is a bad series, it's actually very well written and performed (overall), it's that we didn't need 4.5 hours to tell this story. Make this a tight 105 minute movie and it's a really fun dramedy crime flick.

Where it finds its self-made struggle is in, of course, the pacing. The first half of the series is largely spent building characters and setting the tone, with the second half focusing on the plot actually unfolding. If one were to really trim the fat? The first four episodes are where the bulk of it lies. It's also where two side plots take up the majority of their screen time, but those side plots aren't terribly consequential to the main arc (with one key scene being the exception), so snipping them out wouldn't pose much of a problem.

Lydia (Lisa Kudrow) and Paul (Ray Romano) are selling their house, which is also the house where Paul grew up. Three years earlier, their son Jacob (Wyatt Aubrey) was killed during a botched burglary after a string of them occurred in the neighborhood, and things aren't quite what they seem about it, as revealed by Paul's older brother Mikey (Denis Leary) when he's released from prison and comes to blackmail them over the information he has. Down the street, former soap opera star JD Campbell (Luke Wilson) is experiencing considerable financial issues due to his third wife Margo's (Linda Cardellini) insane spending habits, fueled further by her various affairs behind his back, and both show interest in purchasing the Morgans' house. Other interested parties include Leslie (Abbi Jacobson) and Sarah (Poppy Liu), an assistant DA and a maternity doctor trying to conceive their first child, and expecting parents Carla (Teyonah Parris) and Dennis (O-T Fagbenle), an architect and author whose relationship is strained by the arrival of the latter's mother, Denise (Anna Marie Horsford).

This pulls it together in the end, but it's clear that the back half of the series is revolving around the trauma experienced by Lydia and Paul coinciding with the issues between JD and Margo far more than it concerns Leslie, Sarah, Carla, or Dennis. Their use largely feels like an anchor for upcoming seasons, which may prove a mistake given how overtly their involvement drags down the rest of the show. 6/10, but focus on the Morgans and the Campbells and it's a 7.5.
 
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