Which movie did you watch today and how would you rate it?

[TSwizzle]

Weapons, 6/10; Stars Josh Brolin, Julia Garner and directed by Zach Cregger. It's a horror/supernatural film about the mysterious disappearance of 17 elementary schoolchildren from the same class. All the kids (except one) from the class leave their house at 2:17am and there is no trace of them. It's quite a well put together plot and the way the story unfolds is quite clever. A decent watch.

 

[thebeave]

Weapons, 6/10; Stars Josh Brolin, Julia Garner and directed by Zach Cregger. It's a horror/supernatural film about the mysterious disappearance of 17 elementary schoolchildren from the same class. All the kids (except one) from the class leave their house at 2:17am and there is no trace of them. It's quite a well put together plot and the way the story unfolds is quite clever. A decent watch.

Sounds somewhat reminiscent of Picnic at Hanging Rock. Been a long time since I saw it, but I remember it as being pretty good.

 

[TSwizzle]

Not Without My Daughter, 7/10; Released in 1991 and starring Sally field and Alfred Molina . The story is apparently true or at least based on a book written by Betty Mahmoody, a US citizen that tells her story about her marriage to Iranian doctor Sayyed Mahmoody. The story starts off in Michigan around 1984. Sayyed insists that the family, Betty and their four year old daughter Mahtob take a trip to Tehran to visit his relatives. Betty is reluctant but agrees to the trip after Sayyed assures her they will return to America after two weeks. Once they arrive in Tehran, Sayyed starts to change. On the day before the family are due to return to the USA, Sayyed informs Betty they are staying in Iran for good. Betty and her daughter are trapped in Iran with the physical and mentally abusive Sayyed. It's an ok movie and starts off well but becomes a bit disjointed as things progress. Sally Field and Alfred Molina are very good.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Backrooms

86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Said to be the best horror movie of the year.

If you get a little rattled by being in a corn maze, this movie will freak the fuck right out of you.

A furniture store owner finds a strange door in the basement of his store. It leads to an endless dimension of rooms and hallways and terror.

Just watched this on a plane. Super creepy for sure but not really sure there was a message that got through. Seemed like there was a psychological concept they were going for but didn’t really deliver.

 

[unapologetic]

A Hard Days Night (1964)
Watching it now reminded me of the first time I saw it, first run.
I was a kid. My old man had recently bought a small two story building and was renovating the storefront to rent out. I was hanging out and bored, and probably being in the way.
Dad gave me a dollar... "go see a movie". (I think tickets were 75c, popcorn 25c)
The one and only theater (one screen) was only a block away.
Nowadays theaters have multiple screens and play a film till ticket sales slow down.
Back then they made fewer copies. You could fallow the newspaper ads and see a film move from town to town from week to week. We would get a film months after it's release, One Week Only*. So I just happened to see A Hard Days Night that day.
I was impressed. I got back and asked for another dollar to see it again.
dad said "Why didn't you just stay seated?".
!! "I can do that?!???"
It was a revelation.


* If you saw the last showing on the last day, as you left the theater film cans would already be stacked by the door, to be picked-up overnight and taken to the next town for their noon showing.

 

[ZiprHead]

* If you saw the last showing on the last day, as you left the theater film cans would already be stacked by the door, to be picked-up overnight and taken to the next town for their noon showing.

I've delivered those things. They are quite heavy.

 

[TSwizzle]

A History Of Violence, 7/10; Released in 2005 and start Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris. A critically acclaimed movie that I found to be a bit flat. The movie opens with a brutal murder at a motel by two psychopaths. They later stop by a diner run by Tom Stall (Mortensen) and try to rob the place. Quiet mannered Tom manages to kill both of the bad guy and becomes a bit of a national here as the story is covered by TV networks. S short time later, a menacing character appears in the diner and starts calling Tom Joey, Joey Cusack. From here you can guess that Tom is probably an ex mobster that has quit crime or is in the witness protection program. It's a decent movie but some of it is just flat and there are a couple of sex scenes that were just not required. The character of Tom's wife is unlikable, his son is another weak character.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

You're breaking my heart.

Until this, I would have said that neither actor had been in a bad movie. (From a standpoint of not having watched all of them. )

 

[TSwizzle]

You're breaking my heart.

Until this, I would have said that neither actor had been in a bad movie. (From a standpoint of not having watched all of them. )

Huh? I didn't say it was a bad movie. Mortenson and Harris were good, they always are. In my opinion the movie didn't live up to the critical acclaim I read about it. They seldom do, lol.

Have you seen A History Of Violence? What was your opinion?

 

[Wiploc]

Have you seen A History Of Violence? What was your opinion?

Okay, but not great. Pedestrian. This is better than Old Henry, but they're about the same movie. Thief (1981, James Caan) was less good. High noon was somehow much better. Outland (1981, Sean Connery), was a remake of High Noon but not nearly as good. I didn't like Nobody or The Beekeeper at all. The Accountant? I'll rate that higher than History of Violence but lower than High Noon. John Wick was surprisingly good.

They all seem to be more or less the same movie, but that counts against some of them more than others. It counts more against the ones that seem to be saying, "Hey, let's use this old plot and not dress it up or add anything to it." History of Violence is one that, from the getgo, makes you think, "Ah, this one again."

I don't want to oversell my point. There's a good argument that there is only one plot, that all movies are remakes. But some of them seem to rub that in, and some others rise to greatness. History of Violence is competent, and we like the actors, but it doesn't achieve greatness. I like it way better than Payback (1999, Mel Gibson).