What Is The Last Film You Watched? (2021 films)

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

On 25/10/2021 at 2:56 PM, Tallguy said:

There's this little art film that came out this weekend with lots of sand.

CLEOPATRA?

[Jay 37,249]

 

Till Death

 

Hilariously cheesy Megan Fox flick on Netflix where she wakes up handcuffed to her dead husband one morning, and people arrive at the house trying to kill her too.  It's one of those quasi-bottle movies where after some initial setup scenes, the rest of the movie all takes place at one location, and all during one day.  In the beginning of the movie Megan Fox was so caked in makeup and acted so blandly I was wondering how this thing was going to recover, but maybe the point was to contrast with the increasingly bloody and dirty adrenaline-charged survivor she becomes.

 

It's decent enough as a Friday night flick to watch with beer and enjoy and then never think of again and that's about it.  It's on Netflix

[A24 4,322]

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings 

 

 

The first hour was okay but during the second hour it all collapsed under the weight of excessiveness. But even then, the whole thing is so fluffy, you won't remember this movie the next day. 4/10

[Positivatee 327]

Morris disapproves. 

[Edmilson 7,367]

8 hours ago, AC1 said:

The first hour was okay but during the second hour it all collapsed under the weight of excessiveness. But even then, the whole thing is so fluffy, you won't remember this movie the next day. 4/10

Yeah, the first hour is definetly better, with some decent fight scenes. But the movie gets super boring once they reach that magical hidden village and have to battle (once again) CGI monsters.

 

They should've used the opportunity to make a movie with more grounded action scenes, instead, the climax is your typical Marvel CGI army borefest. In other words: too much CGI, not enough kung fu (specially in the third act).

[A24 4,322]

2 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Yeah, the first hour is definetly better, with some decent fight scenes. But the movie gets super boring once they reach that magical hidden village and have to battle (once again) CGI monsters.

 

They should've used the opportunity to make a movie with more grounded action scenes, instead, the climax is your typical Marvel CGI army borefest. In other words: too much CGI, not enough kung fu (specially in the third act).

 

Right on the money, Edmilson! The strange thing is, the moment they arrived in the magical village, it immediately got boring somehow. It was almost a different movie with jokes that no longer worked, so-so acting, and a few very bad lines.

[Positivatee 327]

The magic village became How to Train Your Dragon. 

[A24 4,322]

The media seems to think Lady Gaga could win the Oscar, even though the movie (House Of Gucci) itself ain't that good. 

 

[Edmilson 7,367]

Yeah, and apparently Lady Gaga fanatics have been waging war on Twitter with Kristen Stewart fans because they both seem to be contenders for the Oscar, even though we're months behind the ceremony. 

 

I can't even fathom the disappointment the stans will feel when Gaga is not nominated for the Oscar because her movie had mixed reviews.

[A24 4,322]

I might fall for its camp.

[Jay 37,249]

 

Dune

 

I loved it!  I have never read any of the books, or seen any of the prior adaptations, so had no idea what to expect at all.  I ended up really enjoying the world building and characters, and was genuinely surprised by the plot developments!

 

Jason Mamoa completely steals the show, he was great in every scene he had.  I'd watch a spinoff movie about the 4 weeks of off-screen adventures he had!

 

All the cast did good work.  Many I wished had more scenes.  Several times throughout I thought that this story would have been better told as a HBO style ongoing series, as some aspects are rushed.  But the production values are fantastic, I loved the look of everything, and even the music that I didn't enjoy much on album worked great in the film.

 

Looking forward to part 2!

I watched it on HBO Max.

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

7 minutes ago, Jay said:

Jason Mamoa completely steals the show, he was great in every scene he had.

 

I thought he was the one weak link in a generally fine cast (with Rebecca Ferguson being the strongest).

[Positivatee 327]

11 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

 

Jason Mamoa completely steals the show, he was great in every scene he had.  I'd watch a spinoff movie about the 4 weeks of off-screen adventures he had!

 

Believe me, you and everyone else who read the books (except that last poster) want the same... Piece of the same thing. 

 

 

[Jay 37,249]

 

Chaos Walking

 

I finally caught up with this Doug Liman movie that was shot way back in 2017, but only finally came out this year after both reshoots and covid delays.

 

I wonder what state it was in before reshoots, because this final form is a total dud.  The setup is interesting enough - on a planet where all men's thoughts are both seen and heard by anyone around them (but woman's are not), Tom Holland is going about his life in a small village run by Mads Mikkelsen.  One day, a female (Daisy Ridley) crashes down near the village from a spaceship that was an advance scout for a larger ship containing many colonists; Mikkelsen wants her captured while Holland tries to help her stay free.  Everything that happens after this is pretty predictable and not very interesting, and there wasn't really any interestingly shot sequences or anything.  It's all just blah.

 

It's on Hulu

[Edmilson 7,367]

One would think the first crossover on the big screen between Rey and Spider-Man would've been more exciting.

[Jay 37,249]

They had no chemistry at all

[Jay 37,249]

 

Finch

 

Decent little film with Tom Hanks trying to survive with a dog and a robot companion in post-apocalyptic midwest USA.  Tom Hanks is his usual good self, so while he won't blow you away with a new level of awesomeness, he doesn't phone anything in.  The plot is nothing remarkable, but everything is realized very well, from the flawless effects for the robot to the impressive exterior shots of the ravaged cities and oncoming weather disasters.  

 

It's not a game-changer but it's well done, engaging from start to finish and we'll paced. 

 

It's on Apple TV+

[LSH 968]

4 hours ago, Jay said:

 

Finch

 

Decent little film with Tom Hanks trying to survive with a dog and a robot companion in post-apocalyptic midwest USA.  Tom Hanks is his usual good self, so while he won't blow you away with a new level of awesomeness, he doesn't phone anything in.  The plot is nothing remarkable, but everything is realized very well, from the flawless effects for the robot to the occasional exterior shots of the ravaged cities and oncoming weather disasters.  

 

It's not a game-changer but it's well done.

 

It's free on Apple TV+

I rather enjoyed this too.

 

Had no idea Gustavo Santaolalla was the composer. Aside from some of his trademark guitar noodling here and there it isn’t entirely obvious it’s him. Impressive.

[Jay 37,249]

I liked the score in the film too, it reminded me of his The Last Of scores

[Tallguy 3,359]

16 hours ago, Jay said:

It's free on Apple TV+

 

After you spend the money.

[Jay 37,249]

 

Queenpins

 

Pretty funny and charming movie about an unhappy midwest suburban housewife (Kristen Bell) who begins a laughably large scale (multi-million dollar) coupon scam with her friend and neighbor (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), who end up getting pursued by postal inspector Vince Vaughn, who unwittingly teams up with a loss prevention officer Paul Walter Hauser who uncovered the scheme.

 

It wouldn't work at all if it wasn't funny, and while not the most hilarious comedy, it features a few truly hilarious scenes with makes it worth the watch.  The film wisely shifts the protagonists from Bella nd Baptiste to Vaughn and Hauser halfway through, and is much funnier for it.

 

It's on Paramount+

[Tallguy 3,359]

Red Notice

Finally watched this. It was solidly entertaining. A romp. I haven't actually seen that many Ryan Reynolds movies but he really managed to ride a line between the time honored tradition of snarky and lovable while on the other side there were a lot of times where I would have been OK with his character being horribly killed. And it works!

[A24 4,322]

Passing (2021)

 

 

Not bad but slightly too novel-ish. Warning, it takes a while before it gets a little bit more interesting. I almost gave up during the first half of the movie. You'll get B&W, 4:3 aspect ratio and good performances ... but will it be enough for the Oscars? 6/10

[Hurmm 91]

No Time do Die. 

 

Overlong and overplotted, Daniel Craig deserves a better final movie than this. Much of the plot is simple and nonsensical which in itself isn't a bad thing, but the way the writing constantly tries to inject faux surprises and intensity is laughable. Rami Malek is a pitifully anemic villain here, and his drawls just accentuate the long runtime of the movie.

 

The first hour or so is decent with some good action, and Ana De Armas is good (was expecting her to show up again but alas), but overall it feels like a retread of the previous Craig movies particularly on the distrust of people close to him, leading on to a kinda foregone conclusion that falls flat.

 

They should have stopped after Skyfall. 

[A24 4,322]

5 hours ago, Hurmm said:

and Ana De Armas is good

 

Even the scene that she had? It felt a bit like a change of style and therefore, IMO, a bit distracting. And she's too skinny to wear an open front dress! 

[Hurmm 91]

1 hour ago, AC1 said:

 

Even the scene that she had? It felt a bit like a change of style and therefore, IMO, a bit distracting. And she's too skinny to wear an open front dress! 

 

She was one of the more memorable things from the movie, so that says something...

 

Also memorable: at least 4-5 Range Rovers flipping over, bested by a Toyota Land Cruiser no less. That was good airtime for Toyota...

[Jay 37,249]

 

Jungle Cruise

 

Caught up with this on Disney+.  I don't know if it was the film or if it was me, but I fell asleep a bit towards the end during the action climax, which hasn't happened during any movie in so long I can't even recall when the last time was.  I guess the film is overall for a mixed bag of good stuff and bad stuff.

 

I liked the cast well enough; was unfamiliar with Jack Whitehall, but Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt were more or less their basically reliable selves (they had no chemistry whatsoever, though).  Veronica Falcón who we recently enjoyed in Why Women Kill was good here as well, but the breakout performance was easily Jesse Plemons, who was absolutely hilarious throughout.  I guess the comedy was fairly decent, and the plot actually had a twist I didn't see coming which was a surprise.

But beyond that, it's a bit lifeless and fake, with tons of obvious CGI and greenscreen work.  Did they even go to a jungle or just film everything in a backlot?  The conquistadors were forgettable and the whole thing just kind of felt like Pirates of the Caribbean with a Jungle Cruise paintjob.  

 

Not particularly recommendable, but James Newton Howard did score the hell out of it, which was cool.

[A24 4,322]

The Last Duel (2021)

 

 

 

The Last Duel is a story driven movie. It's pretty good though. You want to know what the deal is. The visual style is familar territory, no surprises here. It should be clear by now that Ridley Scott isn't looking to break new ground. Highlight of the movie isn't Jodie Comer but Matt Damon (and that was a surprise!). Adam Driver is Adam Driver. Weakest element is Ben Affleck who struggles to deliver a decent English accent. Matt Damon somehow gets away with his American accent. 7/10

 

[Chen G. 3,940]

1 minute ago, AC1 said:

The visual style is familar territory, no surprises here. It should be clear by now that Ridley Scott isn't looking to break new ground.

 

I don't need him to break new grounds, but the colour is WAAAY too muted an desaturated.

[A24 4,322]

14 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

 

I don't need him to break new grounds, but the colour is WAAAY too muted an desaturated.

 

I didn't notice that. Why do you guys always complain when colors aren't vivid or saturated? It never bothers me. 

 

I would rather want to see a director to evolve in style than always do the same thing. I'm always seeing the same shots and feeling the same tone. 

[Chen G. 3,940]

Didn't notice it?! The still you put up is practically monochrome!

 

I mean, I get the point that the muted colour sells the seriousness of the subject matter, and Lor knows I'm all for that. But at the same time, it ultimately looks less naturalistic.

[Edmilson 7,367]

I was not a fan of Jungle Cruise. The obvious green screens made me wish this movie had been made 20 years ago, when they could have filmed it at the actual jungle instead of a Los Angeles studio. It's one of the reasons I also dislike Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

 

The score was okay, but a bit too silly and maybe even auto-pilot-y. The best use of music in the film were the two montages with the orchestral version of the Metallica song.

 

The comedy and bickering between The Rock and Emily Blunt wasn't that funny, and it gets tiresome really quick. I think I only laughed when she calls him "Skippy".

[Jay 37,249]

I liked his really lame jokes, which luckily were mostly siloed into two short scenes and not a constant runner.

 

There kept being enough good parts to make not boring to watch or an utter failure, but overall it's somehow less than the sum of its part and leaves you with nothing memorable, other than the original score

[A24 4,322]

10 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

... it ultimately looks less naturalistic.

 

Not really, color changes with the available light. With a dim and dreary sky, everything looks muted and contrastless. That's why some landscape photographers don't like to shoot on those days: No color!

[Jay 37,249]

 

Red Notice

 

I had been looking forward to this one, since most movies we watch with Dwayne Johnson are funny and entertaining, and most movies I see with Ryan Reynolds, he's at least always funny and entertaining.  Plus, heist movies tend to generally be more entertaining than not.

 

Somehow, all this comes together to create one lame and boring movie here, though.  This is one of those films that's build around a "twist" that is obvious way before you get there, while simultaneously having early scenes that make absolutely zero sense whatsoever in light of the twist.  The plot is the weakest element here, the whole thing makes no sense or even attempts to (like 80 year old cars and their gas instantly working), but there really isn't any other element that makes up for it.  Johnson and Reynolds are merely passable, nothing remotely special, and Gadot continues to unimpress as she typically does for me.  The attempts at romantic chemistry between her at Johnson are even worse than the attempted chemistry between him and Blunt in Jungle Cruise.

 

There's really just nothing to recommend here, it's all sub par.  It's on Netflix.

[Romão 2,274]

22 hours ago, AC1 said:

The Last Duel (2021)

 

 

The Last Duel is a story driven movie. It's pretty good though. You want to know what the deal is. The visual style is familar territory, no surprises here. It should be clear by now that Ridley Scott isn't looking to break new ground. Highlight of the movie isn't Jodie Comer but Matt Damon (and that was a surprise!). Adam Driver is Adam Driver. Weakest element is Ben Affleck who struggles to deliver a decent English accent. Matt Damon somehow gets away with his American accent. 7/10

 

 

O mostly agree, but I must say I thought this was Affleck's most enjoyable performance in years

[Tallguy 3,359]

49 minutes ago, Jay said:

This is one of those films that's build around a "twist"

 

I'm not sure if you're giving the movie too much or not enough credit to say it was "built around" the twist. Plot: "Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson annoy each other for ~2 hrs while action pieces happen. Occasionally Gal Godot will appear and annoy them more." AFAIAC it punched all of those tickets and looked good doing it.

 

I can think of several Spy Thriller Comedy wannabes over the years that I wish were this good. Totally disposable but still worth the time.

[Jay 37,249]

?  I don't really follow you

 

The entire plot is based around the fact that Gadot and Johnson are in cahoots the entire time, which retroactively makes no sense during early scenes like when she steals the egg out of the back of the van and he goes to investigate and looks around and stuff, or when she sets up intercept the call to say Johnson doesn't actually work for the FBI or whatever, which is exactly the same thing the real FBI would say if they got called, etc etc.  It's a half-baked script they filmed cause Netflix wanted a big film out in a certain quarter, not because the script was actually good

[A24 4,322]

1 hour ago, Romão said:

 

O mostly agree, but I must say I thought this was Affleck's most enjoyable performance in years

 

I've only seen him as Batman these in the last 5 years or so. He was mostly good in The Last Duel but there where a few times that the accent was almost caricatural. At first I wasn't sure about Matt Damon's accent either but with him I stopped noticing it. Ridley Scott likes to use Americans to portray French historic figures.

 

 

Young Ridley giving instructions to Keith Caradine and Harvey Keitel in The Duellists.

[Edmilson 7,367]

The Power of the Dog

 

Jane Campion's (from The Piano) newest movie for Netflix and probably a big contender in the upcoming awards season.

 

The plot is a little obvious once you read the synopsis, but the director deserves praise for making everything in the subtext. This is a story about repressed desires and feelings, so it's all very oblique, which may cause some people to think the movie is boring.

 

Anyway, it's masterfully shot and directed. Campion will probably take home the award for Best Director next February.

[mrbellamy 6,270]

23 hours ago, AC1 said:

At first I wasn't sure about Matt Damon's accent either but with him I stopped noticing it.

 

I agree, Damon's accent, haircut, entire presence tbh was really taking me out of it for the first 30 minutes or so and I thought he just seemed ridiculous in this setting but slowly his performance won me over.

 

I loved the movie a lot more than I thought I would, one of the best of the year for me. I do think Richard Brody in The New Yorker made a fair point that perhaps it would have been a more powerful statement not to show the rape even once, let alone twice, and for Scott to challenge the audience to take her at her word. I also thought isolating "The Truth" in her chapter's intertitle was pretty heavy-handed, but then again, this interview clip makes me wonder if he was justified lol. "How stupid can they be" indeed.

 

 

[A24 4,322]

2 hours ago, Edmilson said:

The Power of the Dog

 

Jane Campion's (from The Piano) newest movie for Netflix and probably a big contender in the upcoming awards season.

 

The plot is a little obvious once you read the synopsis, but the director deserves praise for making everything in the subtext. This is a story about repressed desires and feelings, so it's all very oblique, which may cause some people to think the movie is boring.

 

Anyway, it's masterfully shot and directed. Campion will probably take home the award for Best Director next February.

 

Saw it yesterday. Best movie of the year for me. The whole setting, Jesse Plemons' underplayed performance, Jonny Greenwood's score ... What a blend! 8/10

 

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

Ghostbusters 2

It's been a while since I saw this one. It's simply really fun and well done. Murren's visual effects are as always terrific.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

On 24/11/2021 at 7:35 AM, AC1 said:

The media seems to think Lady Gaga could win the Oscar, even though the movie (House Of Gucci) itself ain't that good. 

 

The best Ridley Scott movie since... Thelma and Louise! An intricate deconstruction of the family ideology and thus an implicit middle finger to all current Disney movies. It's so cold and well played at the same time. Overall, one could argue that this is the best illustration of why heritage doesn't make any sense at all.

[A24 4,322]

I'm looking forward to this one. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

the family ideology?

[publicist 4,643]

22 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

The best Ridley Scott movie since... Thelma and Louise! An intricate deconstruction of the family ideology and thus an implicit middle finger to all current Disney movies. It's so cold and well played at the same time. 

 

 

My dear boy (or is it girl?), there's nothing 'cold' or 'intricate' about this burlesque show. It's high comedy that has only one problem: every one of its participants has a different idea of where the comedy is to be mined and Ridley Scott, never one of cinema's big funnyman, never clues you in, except for a few scenes (i. e.the hiring of the grubby killers).

 

I enjoyed it for the ia-talian accents, slipping wildly during scenes and often reaching Muppet show-qualities. Leto and Pacino steal the show in their scenes together.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

39 minutes ago, publicist said:

My dear boy (or is it girl?), there's nothing 'cold' or 'intricate' about this burlesque show. It's high comedy that has only one problem: every one of its participants has a different idea of where the comedy is to be mined and Ridley Scott, never one of cinema's big funnyman, never clues you in, except for a few scenes (i. e.the hiring of the grubby killers).

I see, where you're coming from, but nevertheless I'd insist on cold and intricate with regards to the deconstruction aspect.

 

40 minutes ago, publicist said:

I enjoyed it for the ia-talian accents, slipping wildly during scenes and often reaching Muppet show-qualities. Leto and Pacino steal the show in their scenes together.

Jared Leto was kind of out of place if you compare him to the rest of the show. I loved every scene with Al Pacino in it. As soon as he was on screen the audience started giggling, his performance was funny as fuck. However, Lady Gaga really surprised and impressed me with her ability to carry large parts of the movie - a great actress!

[publicist 4,643]

7 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

However, Lady Gaga really surprised and impressed me with her ability to carry large parts of the movie - a great actress!

I would not call it great, but she had presence. Why Scott let her die in scenes like in the last half, where she begs Driver to take that photo album with tears in her eyes, we may never know. It’s just one of those scenes that completely don’t work without a wink, because its sincerity belongs to the first quarter of the movie, if at all! She‘s the fucking Alexis Carrington of the story, for god’s sake.

 

Also her accent slips into a weird mishmash of Italian and polish.

[A24 4,322]

Finch (2021)

 

 

Most family movies tend to be kids movies and Finch is no exception. It's a predictable Pixar-ish post-apocalyptic road movie but then without humor, enchanting characters, or any real excitement. 4/10