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

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

West Side Story

 

Another great film from Spielberg! I really liked how he reinvented certain sequences

Spoiler

especially the Officer Krupke song which is simply mesmerizing. Even though it was hard to top the original one, to me he succeeded.

He clearly took a lot of fun shooting this movie and that's something you can feel and which make me enjoy the movie even more.

 

It's visually stuning, so many great shots. The sets are beautiful, so are the costumes and both are sublimated by the great Kaminski photography which is both vibrant of color but sometimes close to a "black and white movie in color" so to speak.

 

The actors are all pretty good, Ansel is IMO the weakest member of the cast while still being pretty good. Special mention to Rachel Zegler who's incredible as an actress and a singer, same for Ariana DeBose.

 

About the music, as I'm not that familiar with the original movie songs, I would tend to say that all the new Maria's performances are better, America is a tight, I think I've prefered the new Jets performances (apart from Officer Krupke, another tight) and finally I think the orginal Tony's performances are better than the new one.

 

I'll finished by saying that this movie is a true gift to end up the year. What a great time it was.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

And to be fair regarding Elgort, the 1961 movie version is a beloved classic (although not by me) and nobody ever talks about Richard Beymer as some great performance.  I bet a lot of people that are fans of the movie wouldn't even be able to name him, while they'd readily be able to name Natalie Wood or Rita Moreno.

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

[Disco Stu 15,495]

11 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

He was great there!

[crocodile 7,999]

Spider-Man: No Way Home. Was it a fan nostalgia fest? Yes. Was it enjoyable? Yes . It's a self-indulgent bloat, sure, but not without heart.

 

Karol

[Tallguy 3,381]

1 hour ago, crocodile said:

Spider-Man: No Way Home. Was it a fan nostalgia fest? Yes. Was it enjoyable? Yes . It's a self-indulgent bloat, sure, but not without heart.

 

Karol

 

Sounds like just what I'm looking for. 

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Old guys like me love nostalgia. But my nostalgia is from the great 70's and 80's.  There are some damn fine films from that era.

And for you ageists remember this if you are not getting older 

 

YOU ARE DEAD.

 

 

[Jay 37,337]

I'm in the movie theater for only the second time since 2019, seeing Spider-Man. 

 

The trailer for The Batman is more impressive on the big screen than on a computer monitor... 

 

Holy cow so many trailers, my 6:20 showing is finally starting now at 6:45...

[A24 4,331]

The Unforgivable (2021)

 

 

I can't believe I watched the whole movie because it's really, really bad. I haven't looked, but if this gets a positive score on RT, I will never trust them again. 

[A24 4,331]

Voyagers (2021)

 

 

It's Lord Of The Flies in space. Despite being directed by Neil 'Limitless' Burger, Voyagers is not a good movie (it relies too much on our willingness to believe), but it's entertaining enough to make it to the end. 5/10

[Tallguy 3,381]

Is Colin Farrell the Michael "I'll be in anything" Caine of his generation?

[badbu 123]

the film was...idk...the ending is really weird...

but i was really suprised that the score is from lorne. a few cues are really good! 

 

 

[A24 4,331]

57 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

Is Colin Farrell the Michael "I'll be in anything" Caine of his generation?

 

At first I was like Colin Farell leading a space mission? That's going to be awkward ... but he's actualy pretty good in this one.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Spider-Man: No Way Home

 

A really fun movie. The main point I noticed is that the director Jon Watts is now far better than he was on Homecoming, it was nice to see him getting better at each entries.

[Edmilson 7,426]

The Unforgivable

 

My expectations for this one were so low given the horrible reviews that I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that, well, it's not THAT bad. The performances are good, cinematography is decent, even Zimmer's score is okay in context.

 

That is, until the awful third act, which contains an unbelieavable plot twist that robs the movie of much of its complexity and turns this grounded drama into a ridiculous thriller. 

[GerateWohl 4,350]

On 20/12/2021 at 10:11 AM, AC1 said:

Voyagers (2021)

 

 

It's Lord Of The Flies in space. Despite being directed by Neil 'Limitless' Burger, Voyagers is not a good movie (it relies too much on our willingness to believe), but it's entertaining enough to make it to the end. 5/10

In the trailer it looked very much like a remake of 2018's High Life with Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche. Is that the case?

[A24 4,331]

50 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

In the trailer it looked very much like a remake of 2018's High Life with Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche. Is that the case?

 

I don't remember what High Life was about, but no, I don't think so. Again, this one is a remake of Lord Of The Flies. 

[A24 4,331]

Don't Look Up (2021)

 

 

Gave up after 36 minutes. 

[JNHFan2000 2,957]

9 minutes ago, AC1 said:

Don't Look Up (2021)

 

 

Gave up after 36 minutes. 

Funny. This is something I really liked.

Personally I thought it was great!

[A24 4,331]

I'm not a fan of SNL either. Could explain it!

[MaxMovieMan 271]

On 25/12/21 at 4:18 AM, AC1 said:

Don't Look Up (2021)

 

 

Gave up after 36 minutes. 

I personally really loved the movie and greatly appreciated the score by Nicholas Britell. The big band jazz is sweet.

 

The movie is also a scary reminder to what’s going on in our world right now…

[KK 3,307]

 

Licorice Pizza

 

This is Paul Thomas Anderson's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a carefree love letter to 70s LA, but with characters that you actually care about. We follow Alana and Gary, two lost souls with endearing vices and faults of their own, as they move through various stories, vignettes and landmarks that define the valley in that decade. Anderson's world, as always, is so fully realized, that you just get to sit back and enjoy the ride.

 

Stylistically, the long tracking shots and dollies of 90s PTA are back...but the energy is still different. This is an older PTA that's not interested in impressing you (he no longer has to prove anything), but rather building the worlds that he has fun in and we get to feast on whatever comes out of it. It's the best kind of "hangout" movie, one with heart.

[KK 3,307]

 

Don't Look Up

 

Ooph. This one is bad. It has all the wit, insight and subtlety of an Instagram meme...It feels like an angry white man screaming into space (quite literally) something we all already know, without anything particularly meaningful to say about it. And worst of all...it's just not funny. Satire is a powerful tool to communicate greater meaning, and boy did this film completely miss that mark.

 

And to think, the millions that were flushed down the drain for all the pointless celebrity cameos (kind of ironic, given what the film is trying to say about the dangers of excess...), and no one really delivered aside from the usually reliable Meryl Streep and Jonah Hill trying to save the film from the sidelines.

 

It's also worth pointing out that the film's use of an imminent comet hurtling towards the Earth is just a flat out poor metaphor for the climate crisis, and all it's logic gaps in the plotting seem to sort of miss the point to go after low-hanging fruit and cheap celebrity shots.

 

So the film is neither a functional comedy, nor an intelligent political mouth-piece...it's kind of a bad SNL skit?

 

Go watch the new Spider-Man film instead. It's much more fun.

[Bespin 8,480]

 

I watched "Don't look Up" from Netflix... ok, mainly because it have an all-star cast.

 

As I'm a very sarcastic person, this movie really made me a sour laugh, but I found it very interesting, because I exactly share the same dark vision of our future.

 

And well, it's very USA-centered, but well, we are used to that...

[Gustavo Joseph 29]

"Don't look up."

 

 

It's funny and smart, but the denial and incompetence of real life far surpasses that of the movie, at least in my loved country of Brazil S2

[Jay 37,337]

 

The Harder They Fall

 

A basic western revenge flick, with the hook being that it features an all-black cast and hip hop music.

 

Idris Elba is the leader of a gang who gets busted out of jail by his gang (Regina King, Lakeith Stanfield); Marshall Delroy Lindo teams up with Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beetz, RJ Cyler, and some others to take him down.  Shoot-outs, bank robberies, song and dance numbers, and explosions ensue.

 

Not a very great movie, but it was at least different and interesting for most of its (long - 139 minutes!) runtime.

 

It's on Netflix

[A24 4,331]

 

I couldn't stand its present-day hip hop mentality approach (it takes place in 1870) so it was the umpteenth Netflix production that I didn't finish this year.

[badbu 123]

Army of Thieves (Netflix)

i really liked it :-) and the score is also really good!

 

 

[Sweeping Strings 2,352]

The King's Man - this avoids the 'sequel bloat' than marred the second film, and whilst not QUITE as much fun as the first one it does at least go some way towards making amends for the comparative lack of same in No Time To Die. 

[Jay 37,337]

8 hours ago, AC1 said:

 

I couldn't stand its present-day hip hop mentality approach (it takes place in 1870) so it was the umpteenth Netflix production that I didn't finish this year.

 

It's definitely not for everyone

[Bespin 8,480]

I watched Halloween Kills.

 

Well, it's a coherent direct sequel to the 2018 movie.

 

And this Trilogy-to-be is intended to be a direct sequel to the first original movie of 1978.

 

It does the job! For me as long as Jamie Lee Curtis is here, it's cool!

 

Finally the characters are the same, the music is the same, the story is the same, but the image is better. LOL

 

And in "Halloween Kills" the characters of the movie finally realize that.... maybe... Michael Myers can't be killed... well conventionaly... so it finally opens the way to a different conclusion in the next (and final?) chapter.

 

That's perhaps the most interesting point after almost 50 years of Halloween : what will stop Michael Myers?

 

There's a hint in the movie...

[Jay 37,337]

[Bespin 8,480]

I always only considered the original "Laurie Strode" Trilogy... so Halloween I, II and H20. It makes a coherent trilogy (your pic shows it).

 

Now, there is this reboot trilogy started in 2018.  For me it works too!

 

PS: I love the new bot who move the posts in the right thread automatically. I didn't realize it was a 2021 movie, honestly!

[A24 4,331]

The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

 

 

A disappointing rehash and easily the worst of them all. I was glad it was over. 3/10

[rough cut 1,714]

On 02/01/2022 at 11:32 PM, Jay said:

 

Cool chart.

I’m not really well versed in the Halloween universe, but I interpret this as four different sequel series not connected to each other but all stemming from the original movie?

 

And I guess that Halloween Kills (2021) would be connected to Halloween (2018)?

[Jay 37,337]

51 minutes ago, rough cut said:

Cool chart.

 

Yea

 

51 minutes ago, rough cut said:

I’m not really well versed in the Halloween universe, but I interpret this as four different sequel series not connected to each other but all stemming from the original movie?

 

Yea

 

51 minutes ago, rough cut said:

And I guess that Halloween Kills (2021) would be connected to Halloween (2018)?

 

Yea

[rough cut 1,714]

You’re startin’ to sound like an old Usher song. 😉

All I need now is one that also tells me which series to watch and which to stay away from.

 

Also, someone should do something similar with the Friday The 13th/Terror On Elm Street franchise(s).

[Jay 37,337]

32 minutes ago, rough cut said:

You’re startin’ to sound like an old Usher song. 😉

All I need now is one that also tells me which series to watch and which to stay away from.

 

Just watch the original, and ignore everything else!

 

32 minutes ago, rough cut said:

Also, someone should do something similar with the Friday The 13th/Terror On Elm Street franchise(s).

 

All the Friday The 13th films are in order, and then there was a reboot in 2009 and that's it.

 

I dunno what Terror on Elm Street is, but Nightmare on Elm Street is the same.  All the films are in order, and then there was a reboot in 2010 and that's it.

[rough cut 1,714]

Oh, they’re the same of course! I got mixed up and also got confused about the name.

[Jay 37,337]

They're not really great movies, any of them.  Though the 80s F13 movies have their own low budge 80s slasher charm to them

[rough cut 1,714]

I am familiar with the “classics” (the first ones) having seen them years ago.
 

Actually, just the other night when I couldn’t sleep, I (re-)watched this one having come across it by chance while browsing.

 

It’s wonderfully bad!

 

 

[A24 4,331]

Mother/Android (2021)

 

 

This apocalyptic story with androids turning against their masters starts off fairly okay but the ending turns this movie into a bad joke. It's literally the worst ending/climax ever in the history of movies . I think I must have said "OMG, what?!" a thousand times. You are warned! 2/10

 

 

[Sweeping Strings 2,352]

Spider-Man : No Way Home - this employs 'multiverse' shenanigans in order to have the Maguire and Garfield Peter Parkers/Spideys team up with Tom Holland's to battle the adversaries from the Maguire and Garfield movies (pleasingly all played again by the actors who did so in same).

This is a little overlong and I know there are those who regard the Marvel stuff as the seventh circle of Hell, but I had fun. A touch of escapism is very welcome in the January/continuing pandemic bleakness.

[Jay 37,337]

Spoiler alert! 

[Positivatee 327]

Encanto 

 

Family friendly, safe, and inspirational to young people, especially girls who want a lot of strong female characters in their movies. Catchy songs. Very vibrant and colorful animation. 

 

"It's bigger on the inside!" 

[Jay 37,337]

 

Free Guy

 

The idea for this movie is pretty good: Ryan Reynolds an an NPC in a Grand Theft Auto Online type game who becomes self-aware.  The execution of this idea is mostly pretty good, and mostly results in a pretty solid popcorn flick, but not a new classic or anything I felt like they should even make a sequel to.

 

Jodie Comer's American accent when in the real world really threw me for a loop after only knowing her via Killing Eve; I liked that she got to use her natural accent most of the time in the game world.  Taika Waititi was pretty funny as the owner of the company that makes the game, but didn't really ramp it up into silly territory enough for my liking.  The romance sideplot with Comer and Steve from Stranger Things was very by the numbers.  

What mostly saves the movie from being mediocre is a bunch of fun cameos near the end of the film that were funny and pretty well done.  Overall, worth a free watch when it shows up on HBO next month, but I don't really regret spending my free Amazon digital dollars to see it before then.

[Jay 37,337]

 

Breaking News In Yuba County

 

Pretty funny ensemble flick with a huge cast - Allison Janney, Mila Kunis, Awkwafina, Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes, Juliette Lewis, Samira Wiley, Jimmi Simpson, Clifton Collins Jr., Matthew Modine, Ellen Barkin, the list goes on and on.  The plot involves a Kentucky housewife with a cheating husband, money laundering, organized crime, murder and cover-up, blackmail, fame seeking, and the detectives investigating it all.  The plot was actually interesting and it was funny enough.  Not a new classic, but worth the watch.

 

It's on Hulu and Paramount+

[GerateWohl 4,350]

The day before yesterday watched "Gretel & Hansel" from Oz Perkins. I think, it is actually from 2020. Starts off pretty good. Has a nice dark tone and even a twist towards the end. Particularly disturbing, which is good.

But the big litter it was not.

[Bespin 8,480]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021).

 

My God, what an insipid movie, with no story at all, it's basically the same plot as the first old movie.

 

One of the useless movies I saw in my life!

[Bespin 8,480]

On 06/12/2021 at 8:32 AM, 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.

 

I don't know what to say about this movie.

 

It is a film that does not go at all in the direction in which we expect.

 

That's not a Brokeback Mountain at all.

 

I'm not used to that kind of very subtile movie, I'm still in shock I must admit.

 

Psychological drama, that's it.