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What Is The Last Film You Watched? (2022 films)


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Dual (2022) - Movie Review

 

Dual

 

This sounded like a cool movie on paper.  It takes place in a world where instant cloning (the clone is instantly your same age) is possible, but is only done for people dying of a terminal illness in order for the clone to "take over" your life so your friends and family don't go through your loss. 

 

The main character (Karen Gillan) learns she is dying, gets the clone made, begins to teach it about herself only to learn she is in remission, and not dying afterall.  Since the clone wants to live too, the law is that her and the clone will have to have to literally duel to the death so only one remains.

 

Sounds pretty interesting, but the way the story is executed leaves a lot to be desired.  In order to portray how unhappy Gillan is in her life, the director has her play every scene with no emotion, which just becomes unsettling after a while.  The movie gets a little fun when she hires Aaron Paul to train her for her duel, but even a joke about special payment for the final month of training not being what you think it will be, but just being hip hop dance lessons, kind of falls flat when they are still emotionless doing elaborate dance moves.

 

The ending has a kind of fun twist but it doesn't matter when most of the what leads up to it is kind of sub par.  A bummer, as it looked good from the trailer

 

It's on AMC+

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Watch Operation Mincemeat | Netflix Official Site

 

Operation Mincemeat

 

This was an interesting film that told an interesting historical story I knew nothing about: A plot by the Brits to deceive the Nazis in WW2 with fake intel placed on a corpse.  Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, and Jason Isaacs were all good, but the film was a little dry and not very zippy at all.  The story was interesting, but there isn't many merits to any of the actual filmmaking present.  Still a decent watch.

 

It's on Netflix

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Watched Everything Everywhere All At Once again last night on UHD Blu-ray. Enjoyed it even more the second time. It's one of these movies where the first watch can be really exhausting. Glad to report it works the second time. Excited to dig into the extras. :)

 

Karol

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Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers movie review - Movie Review Mom

 

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

 

I loved Loney Island's shorts (from SNL and youtube), and their first movie (Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping).  I didn't even know this was a Lonely Island movie until shortly before it came out; Once you begin it, it's immediately apparent.  I love their comedic style, so this film really worked for me, though it won't be for everyone.

 

It's one of those movies that will have rewarding rewatches, because they pack every frame with background gags and quick jokes.   I loved how many characters from a huge range of IPs are brought in for cameos or sometimes larger roles; It reminded me of Roger Rabbit in that way.  The voice cast is great, with Samberg, Mulaney, JK freaking Simmons, Eric Bana, and Will Arnet being the highlights.

 

It's a very silly, very dumb movie, and if you're in the mood for it, it really hits the spot!  A brisk 97 minutes as well.

 

It's on Disney+

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The Man from Toronto cast guide: Guide to the Netflix movie's cast and  characters

 

The Man From Toronto

 

Ugh, this is a waste of time.  I love this genre - the combination of action and comedy, usually with "men from two different worlds forced to work together" type dynamic, but this is not a good entry in the canon by any stretch of the imagination.  They are clearly trying to springboard of of the chemistry Hart has with The Rock in Central Intelligence and the Jumanji films,  but this is just a pale imitation; Harrelson is fine in the role, but the chemistry between the leads just isn't there.

 

Kaley Cuoco barely shows up (has to be around 2 minutes of screen time) and Ellen Barkin is wasted too.  Not that funny, not that exciting, just a dud.


It's on Netflix

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7 minutes ago, Jay said:

The Man from Toronto cast guide: Guide to the Netflix movie's cast and  characters

 

The Man From Toronto

 

Ugh, this is a waste of time.  I love this genre - the combination of action and comedy, usually with "men from two different worlds forced to work together" type dynamic, but this is not a good entry in the canon by any stretch of the imagination.  They are clearly trying to springboard of of the chemistry Hart has with The Rock in Central Intelligence and the Jumanji films,  but this is just a pale imitation; Harrelson is fine in the role, but the chemistry between the leads just isn't there.

 

Kaley Cuoco barely shows up (has to be around 2 minutes of screen time) and Ellen Barkin is wasted too.  Not that funny, not that exciting, just a dud.


It's on Netflix

I saw this when it was released and yeah, it was really dull. Typical boring streaming movie. The only thing I enjoyed was the score which was fun.

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The Lost City Review: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum's charming chemistry  finds obstacle in incongruous script | PINKVILLA

 

The Lost City

 

Oh boy, this is a really fun action comedy with Channing Tatum, Sandra Bullock, Brad Pitt, and a really fun villain turn from Daniel Radcliffe (probably better here than in Now You See Me 2).  It's turn your brain off, summer popcorn fun, and it really worked for me: The pacing was good with very consistent laughs, the setting was really nice, the action and chase scenes were good.  Brad Pitt really stole the show in his short screen time :lol:  I'd watch a sequel

 

It's on Amazon Prime

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See How They Run - droll, knowing comedy thriller set in Fifties London in which a planned film version of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap is hindered by the murder of the director. With Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, David Oyelowo and Reece Shearsmith.

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OK, but, beyond being droll, what else can you say about it? Was the acting good/bad? The writing? Directing? Cinematography? Not. Funny enough? Not serious enough? 

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the-fablemans-social-featured.jpg

 

The Fablemans

 

Occasionally thoughtful and moving even, but mostly just too lightweight for me. There's nothing here that hasn't been explored in abundance in E.T.Close Encounters or even Catch Me If You Can, all of which cut much deeper with its daddy and mommy issues. The dated tropes, true or not, also feel really tired (they move homes, parents get divorced, there's a big bad bully...etc etc). 

 

The film shines most when it leans into its sense of humour and Spielberg's sense of mis-en-scene gets to shine. But a lot of this just feels strangely impersonal. Like a flat literal retelling of the events in Spielberg's childhood that clearly fuelled his greatest achievements...and yet told with so little flavour or point of view, almost as if all the traumas have been watered down to make the most pleasant and consumable semi-biopic...which just makes it all kind of passionless and boring. This feels like no grand cathartic cinematic reckoning and you would do better to look to his classics to get a better glimpse into the man himself.

 

I enjoyed Kaminski's work in The Post and West Side Story, but found it grating here (his fans may disagree). There isn't much score from Williams, save for a nice (if inconsequential) theme for the mother.

 

 

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59 minutes ago, KK said:

There isn't much score from Williams, save for a nice (if inconsequential) theme for the mother.

:unsure: I was expecting a masterpiece from JW, but reading that a lot of scenes in the film are scored with classical music is pretty disappointing. If this is indeed the final SS+JW collaboration, he should've let Williams' music shine instead of going all Tarantino with the needle drops.

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Thirteen Lives - My partner wanted to watch this when all I wanted to do was watch the last couple of episodes of the Orville (I mean, why wouldn't I?!), but I'm glad he persuaded me as it's an excellent film. Based on the youth football team in Thailand who improbably (but actually) got trapped in a series of caves after the monsoon rains come early directed by Ron Howard. The leads of Viggo Mortensen (honestly didn't recognise him) and Colin Farrell give superbly understated, realistic performances as the British divers who... well I won't spoil it too much! Aside from the terrifyingly authentic cave diving scenes, it has a pleasing lack of bombast and none of those melodramatic "we have to save them" type scenes; everyone acts more or less like real people, working through the problem and discussing how to rescue the boys and their coach in a constructive, non-confrontational manner. If that makes it sound boring, it isn't, it's terrific. Well worth a watch (on Amazon Prime, sorry). Oh and Benjamin Wallfisch's score is fairly minimal and subdued, with a slight hint of low key James Horner at times, which is absolutely fine (too much score would have ruined the tone frankly) but the end credits is lovely.

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I did a horror/thriller night with my sister yesterday evening. We chose the films we wanted to see ourselves, not something the theatre provided. It was a lot of fun.

 

We started with Orphan: First Kill

I don't remember the first Orphan film very much, but I remember really liking the twist at the end. The actress playing Esther was great in the first film and that's no different here. The de-aging on her, to still make her look like a ten year old, even though she's 25 is very well done.

I actually was going to see this for Julia Styles, love her very much and I believe underappreciated. She didn't disappoint here.

There is a twist half-way through that I didn't see coming. It's all a bit over the top, but the film knows this and just runs with it. It's fun and a bit campy and I would recommend it for this.

 

Our 2nd feature was Bodies Bodies Bodies

I mostly wanted to see this because it's the international debut of a Dutch actor/director Halina Reijn.

It's black comedy horror about a group of (rich) friends that have a party at a holiday home of one of their parents. When a storm starts they go inside to play a game called Bodies Bodies Bodies, but soon all goes to hell and the group is left to find the killer of one of their friends.

The whole cast is terrific and all are very well cast. Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha'la Herrold, Rachel Sennot & Lee Pace were standouts for me.

 

The film has a lot of clever twists and turns and some commentary on todays society. Especially friendship archetypes, the digital age and fears of people in their 20's. It's a very clever script.

 

The direction is also outstanding. The single location is used well and never gets boring. The film is dark (because of a power cut) but the way flashlights, phone lights and glow in the dark is used is cool.

I was guessing the whole film through who the killer could be and I had no idea. It through me of every time. When the reveal did finally came I figured it out maybe just a few seconds before. Loved it.

Highly recommended. One of my favorites of the year.

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Prey movie review & film summary (2022) | Roger Ebert

 

Prey

 

I liked it!  This is a well made thriller / Predator film with lots of good action scenes, and interesting characters you care about.  There's also some really great cinematography along the way, and the film is paced very well - doesn't outstay its welcome one bit.

 

The only detraction is some really cheap looking CGI throughout, especially with animals.  Super fake!

 

It's on Hulu

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See How They Run

 

Fun (spoof) on the murder mystery.

Plot is easy to follow but not so easy that you know who the killer is quickly.

 

Sam Rockwell & Soairse Ronan are both great and make for a fun duo.

The rest of the cast does a good job as well.

 

Some of the camerwork and edits are also fun. Multiple images next to each other make sure the film keeps interesting.

 

Pemberton's music is great. Big fan. Amd this is him at his most fun.

 

It's a bit slower in the middle and of course is something we have seen before. But the tongue in cheek approach to the film is very charming.

Recommended to see at least once (eather in cinema or at home)

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Confess, Fletch

 

A fun crime comedy with John Hamm in the lead role. While searching for a stolen art collection, he becomes the suspect in a murder case.

 

John Hamm is very charismatic and very funny. He fits the role like a glove.

Annie Mumolo is hilarious in her scenes. The one inside her apartment is chaotic comedy done very well, I laughed out loud.

Lorenza Izzo, Lucy Punch, Ayden Mayeri, John Slattery and Roy Wood Jr. are all fun to watch.

Marcia Gay Harden is, after Hamm himself, the standout. She is incredibly funny with an over the top Italian accent. Her recurringly naming Fletch, Flesh was so funny. Haven't seen her in a comedic role, so this was a nice surprise.

 

I was a bit surprised by the ending, even though I thought it could have been handled slightly better. The climax was very abruptly there. I did like the few minutes of wrap-up after the climax which explained stuff more clearly.

 

There were some running jokes thoughout the film which I loved like the tired inspector and Fletch's uber rating. Plus 2 very small moments which adressed the pandemic when it came to shaking hands and empty offices.

Another small thing which I liked was in the credits at the beginning when a name changed colors when the red light turned green. It's a very very small moment, but I always like when someone thinks about doing something like that.

 

Arnold's score is fun when it's there, but there are more needle drops in the film then actual score. And I believe the 5 minutes on the album present what the score is fine. There is about 20 minutes of score in the film, but I don't really think I would need more on album. I do wish Arnold got a project for which he could write more score again. His music does have a certain artistic flow about it, even with so little.

 

Solid films. Fun for a afternoon or evening watch at home.

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Emily The Criminal

 

A crime drama about Emily, who is deeply in debt. She struggles to pay off her student loans, largely because a felony conviction prevents her from getting a well-paying job.

 

From this premise the film quickly dives deep in what it is for someone to live with a debt but unable to find a new job. Emily's case is made more diffucult by the fact that she has a felony conviction (which is more explained in the film, which makes it even more sad that she's unable to get work because of this).

 

Aubrey Plaza gives an terrific performance, one of her best. She makes sure the character is very relatable, with lots of different layers and makes her seem normal. The script also helps with this. The story isn't told in a glamorous Hollywood way. It all feels very real.

Slight spoilers

Especially the second job interview she has. In contrast to the first interview, here the felony conviction doesn't seem to be the problem, and this is when both the audience and Emily get a feeling this is going the right way. But when she is offered an internship, which can branch out into a paid position in 6 to 8 months, she's pushed over the edge.

I think a lot of people have had the same experience. Where they're going to a job interview thinking it would be a well paid job and then it turns out it's an unpaid internship.

 

I thought the way Emily handled the situation was very interesting. Her calling the woman (Alice) out for not believing she could live with herself while offering people unpaid jobs was a strong point. The reaction of Alice by saying Emily was spoiled, makes no sense. Alice is the one with the big job and big money, while Emily struggles to make ends meet.

Slight spoilers over

I thought this was one of the strongest scenes with social commentary this year, because it's so relatable.

 

Other scenes I really liked were the car dealer and home assault. Both very tense.

The ending was also strong in the way it was a callback of things earlier in the film.

Recommended

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Just now, Jay said:

Nice, can't wait for that one to be streaming free somewhere

Yeah, I really wanted to see it, so I didn't really care about paying 5 (euros) for it on a service in my country

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Sometimes when we buy products from Amazon, I can choose slower shipping and get a free digital dollar.  Every once in a while when we really want to see a movie that isn't streaming free anywhere, but it available to rent on Amazon for like $4, I use my digital dollars on that and it works out real nice.  I could see us doing that for this movie

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On 18/9/2022 at 11:23 AM, JNHFan2000 said:

Marcia Gay Harden is, after Hamm himself, the standout. She is incredibly funny with an over the top Italian accent. Her recurringly naming Fletch, Flesh was so funny. Haven't seen her in a comedic role, so this was a nice surprise.

You should watch Spy Hard!

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Death on the Nile - the Kenneth Branagh one. I don't think I found it as terrible as most people did and was happy enough with the measured pace and changes to the story/backstory. Patrick Doyle's score didn't seem quite as dull as it did when I listened to it on album (and I only gave it one listen, shame on me). Yeah, the quality of the acting and accents was all over the place at times, although I like Branagh's take on Poirot. I dunno though, I feel kinda similar to how I feel about Bond films (hear me out), in that the older ones are rather more escapist, a bit fanciful, with plenty of glamour. Turning Agatha Christie stories into something more akin to a psychological thriller doesn't quite work for me.

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2 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Death on the Nile - the Kenneth Branagh one. I don't think I found it as terrible as most people did and was happy enough with the measured pace and changes to the story/backstory. Patrick Doyle's score didn't seem quite as dull as it did when I listened to it on album (and I only gave it one listen, shame on me). Yeah, the quality of the acting and accents was all over the place at times, although I like Branagh's take on Poirot. I dunno though, I feel kinda similar to how I feel about Bond films (hear me out), in that the older ones are rather more escapist, a bit fanciful, with plenty of glamour. Turning Agatha Christie stories into something more akin to a psychological thriller doesn't quite work for me.

I liked the scene with the two Jaffa cakes.

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5 hours ago, AC1 said:

 

I don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about, Joe.

 

 

They are A24 Horror films. Both intrigue me. 

Pearl is a character in X and the star of her own film pearl.

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6 hours ago, AC1 said:

Watched the trailers, don't know what to think of them. Lots of Rock 'n Roll music standing in the way of atmosphere.

I will Redbox the film X this weekend. 

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Spin Me Round (2022) - IMDb

 

Spin Me Round

 

This is the latest film from Jeff Baena, director of Life After Beth and The Little Hours, two films I saw and liked to varying degrees, as well as Joshy and Horse Girl, two films I haven't seen but have heard good things about.

 

In this one, Alison Brie is the manager of a Olive Garden Tuscan Grove in south California who wins a trip to Tuscany in the opening scenes, where most of the rest of the film takes place.  There, she and several other location managers (including Molly Shannon and Zach Woods) are supposed to be receiving an immersive and educational experience about the food and culture of the region..... but nothing is quite what it seems, and mysteries keep piling up going in new directions.  There's sex parties, possible murders, conspiracy theories, pill abuse... and lots more.

 

I found it a bit disappointing because I thought all the mysteries where leading into some sort of cohesive reveal, but I should have known after The Little Hours that Baena is more interested in increasingly absurd scenarios than solid plotting.  The finale back in California was kind of amusing but also left me wondering what could have been with this cast and premise, with just a little more creativity put into the story.  

 

A notable aspect of the film is it receives an orchestral score by Pino Donaggio, though admittedly, the music didn't make an impression on me from one viewing of the film; I'll have to see if there's an album.

 

It's on AMC+

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' Review – The Hollywood Reporter

 

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

 

Finally saw this thanks to Disney+.  I REALLY liked it!  Man, one of the best calls Feige has made this phase is hiring Sam Raimi for this; The Raimi-ness that seeps through every scene of the entire movie is what really elevates it to higher than any director I can think of tackling it would have done.


The story - who cares about the story, it was fine.  Actually, I have one complaint about it: I didn't like not only turning Wanda into a true outright villain, but also didn't like that they her character arc in this movie is the exact same character arc she already went through in WandaVision, which is really bizarre!  How did nobody making this realize this?

 

But any disappointments about the story were complexly overridden by how awesome so many scenes are in this movie thanks to Raimi's creativeness and inventiveness.  The music battle, the ocean in the cup, Wanda's horror movie pop-ins, zombie Strange, paint universe, etc etc, so much creativity!  I even thought they found a good way to bring Rachel McAdams back.

 

I really liked this one and would happily watch it again.


It's on Disney+

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Uncharted' movie trailer plays Nathan Drake's greatest hits | Engadget

 

Uncharted

 

I caught this on my plane ride home from California last month, not expecting much at all since the trailers didn't wow me... but it turned out to not be bad, at all!  It was actually really easy to just enjoy it for what it was, which was a pretty light action/adventure with good action scenes and a good cast.  I like these kinds of movies where character hop around the world following clues, trying to out-pace bad guys after the same macguffin, etc.  While this isn't the best one of these kinds of films, it was perfectly crumulent, I really liked it!

 

Tom Holland frankly isn't all that different from Peter Parker here, but Mark Wahlberg was actually pretty good as Sully, and I liked Antonio Banderas too and wish he was in it more.  I also liked the way they set up the sequel at the end (in the middle of the credits, I think it was).

 

It's on Netflix now, showed up like the week after I got back, lol

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Netflix gives 'The Gray Man' its own universe with a confirmed sequel and  spin-off | TechCrunch

 

The Gray Man

 

Hey, I actually kinda liked this - what did others here think?

The first hour is a big of a drag, yes; Not much happens, there's a lot of talking and setup, and maybe a mediocre action scene or two.  But then the second hour is practically all action, just one big action sequence leading into another, and I thought it was pretty thrilling and engaging.

 

Ryan Gosling was a bit too close to his dour Drive character for my liking, but Chris Evans was terrific as the OTT villain, Ana De Armas was a delight as her character weaved in and out, Billy Bob Thornton was pretty good (had to close my eyes for that fingernail scene though, yikes!), and Regé-Jean Page was an ok-ish fairly one-note villain.

 

I'm sure they're going to turn this into a series, and I'll be back to check it out

 

It's on Netflix

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Review: The Biggest Drawback of 'Thor: Love and Thunder'? It's Just for  Fans | WIRED

 

Thor: Love And Thunder

 

This is a fun romp, there's really not much else to say about it.  Somehow the plot is simultaneously big and important and game-changing, and also barely relevant whatsoever.

 

The best part was Russel Crowe as Zeus, he was really (surprisingly!) funny, and his Greek accent was great.  Christian Bale was also a really good bad guy, I liked that he was completely serious the entire time in an overall fairly light movie.


It was great seeing Kat Dennings and Natalie Portman again, but such a bummer that Dennings is in the movie for like a minute.  Portman was pretty damn awesome as a superhero, I'm not sure why the killed her off?  The whole cancer angle seemed like a pointless part of the storyline here.

 

I also felt like Tessa Thompson was a bit wasted, it seems like they haven't really figured out what to do with her character since introducing her, for some strange reason.  I guess this movie was a bit overstuff;  It felt like this actually could have sustained a longer running time, and there's all this info out about deleted characters and storylines, so I wonder why they cut it down to 2 hours?

 

Are they going to make a Hercules movie with Roy fookin Kent now?

 

It's on Disney+

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