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

Civil War, 5/10; Stars Kirsten Dunst (and her husband Jesse Plemons also makes an appearance) as a reporter making her way to the Whitehouse during some sort of USA civil war/coup/secession shenanigans. Her and her team have to cross the USA covering the "civil war" and capture the violence going on as two factions go at it, federal army and rebel militants. Despite the scenes that have some action, the movie is ponderous and quite boring. There is some tension brought to the fore when a couple of the team fall into the hands of militants but other than that, the movie was ho-hum.
 
Politesse said:
I assumed the scenario was that, as per a long-held Democratic fantasy, Texas turned blue, thus making it impossible to electorally challenge the Party. It is easy to imagine a conservative uprising were that to occur.
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I thought something along the same lines, and I suppose they could've done a different alliance e.g. the west coast and the northeast, but the movie still works really well. There's a hint that it's left against right during one scene, at least that's what I gleaned from it, but it does an excellent job of not being preachy, which is a pet peeve of mine. I don't want to be pandered to, even by my own side.
 
Longlegs

There was a big buildup for this one, so that horror film community was excited about it.

It was okay and establishes a good atmosphere, but rather than being naturally creepy, it was trying way too hard, which made a lot of it feel forced and therefore inauthentic. It was like the filmmakers watched Silence of the Lambs and then tried to combine it with Frailty (an excellent film). It has its good points, but I did too much eye rolling and groaning to recommend it.

If you like horror, it's better than most horror movies, but considering that most horror movies suck, that's not saying much.

5/10
 
Colonel Sanders said:
Longlegs

There was a big buildup for this one, so that horror film community was excited about it.

It was okay and establishes a good atmosphere, but rather than being naturally creepy, it was trying way too hard, which made a lot of it feel forced and therefore inauthentic. It was like the filmmakers watched Silence of the Lambs and then tried to combine it with Frailty (an excellent film). It has its good points, but I did too much eye rolling and groaning to recommend it.

If you like horror, it's better than most horror movies, but considering that most horror movies suck, that's not saying much.

5/10
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I watched the trailer on YT. Most of the comments were quite positive about the movie.
 
ZiprHead said:
Colonel Sanders said:
Longlegs

There was a big buildup for this one, so that horror film community was excited about it.

It was okay and establishes a good atmosphere, but rather than being naturally creepy, it was trying way too hard, which made a lot of it feel forced and therefore inauthentic. It was like the filmmakers watched Silence of the Lambs and then tried to combine it with Frailty (an excellent film). It has its good points, but I did too much eye rolling and groaning to recommend it.

If you like horror, it's better than most horror movies, but considering that most horror movies suck, that's not saying much.

5/10
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I watched the trailer on YT. Most of the comments were quite positive about the movie.
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My educated guess on this is that the horror crowd will praise any horror movie that is above absolutely terrible.

Horror is my go-to. I've loved it since I was a kid. When I'm looking for something to watch, I look for horror. That's how I know that most horror films are just bad movies, regardless of genre. Thus, when a movie like Longlegs comes along that's a solid cut above most other horror flicks, it's like getting a reasonably decent hotdog after having nothing to eat but meal worms for the last 6 months.
 
7 Psychopaths.
2012
Never saw it before. I like that kind of story telling.
Walken's I don't want to bit was classic.
7.5/10
 
I just watched The Unforgivable, an unforgettable movie starring Sandra Bullock. I suppose it made a big splash 3 years ago, but I'd not heard of it until I noticed it on Netflix yesterday. I won't try to summarize this "drama or thriller" but note that the story comes with an unexpected(?) (but fundamentally unimportant?) twist.

I thought it was excellent; and I would consider it for my personal Favorites Movies of All-Time List EXCEPT that it is definitely NOT the sort of movie one would want to watch more than once. But it does deserve much more than its 7.1 IMDB rating, though Rotten Tomatoes gives it only 39%:
Wikipedia said:
[Rotten Tomatoes critics' consensus states] "The Unforgivable proves Sandra Bullock is more than capable of playing against type, but her performance is wasted on a contrived and unrelentingly grim story." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 41 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
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To each his own, I guess. There are LOTS of recent movies in the horror, dystopian and corruption thriller genres I find MUCH more depressing (and "contrived and unrelentingly grim") than this excellent sentimental story.
 
Night Swim

The only reason I gave this flick a shot was for potential nostalgia reasons. The premise was straight out of a low to mid budget 1970s horror film like Burnt Offerings.

Long story short, there's an evil pool. Well, it's a pool inhabited by ghosts. Scary things ensue.

I was actually pleasantly surprised though. It wasn't terrible, but instead it was pretty okay, which is much more than what can be said of the average horror film. There's nothing new in it and it has no real literary value, but I wasn't mad that I spent 90 minutes of my life watching it.

Horror Film Scale: 6/10
Any Other Genre Scale: 4/10
 
I watched The Dig (2021), a British drama with Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan. (There are at least two unrelated movies with the same title.) It is based on a historical novel of the same name. The discovery of an Anglo-Saxon treasure on the land of the widow Edith Pretty and its excavation by Basil Brown are true events; the novel and movie embellish the story with various romances. (Mrs. Pretty donated the treasure for free to the British Museum, said in the film to be the richest donation ever made to that Museum.)

The film's 7.1 IMDB rating is about right. I think many will find the film too slow-moving or even boring, but I liked it: I'm a sucker for well-acted sentimental stories.


I also watched Rebel Ridge (2024), a "crime action thriller." It gets 6.9 IMDB points, which may seem about right for those who like this genre. But I do not, and do not recommend this film. The plot revolves around a small town seizing cash without any evidence that the cash was illegal "drug money"; the police chief goes to great lengths to keep this corruption secret. This seemed unrealistic: IIUC such cash seizures are common-place in America and done openly. A more serious complaint is that the "hero" never appears to have a plan, and prevails only due to good luck.

Googling "Rebel Ridge" shows the first several words of a Reddit post -- "Rebel Ridge (2024) is one of the worst well-reviewed films I’ve seen in a while" but when I click I see that the rest of that comment "has been removed by the moderators of r/TrueFilm."
 
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Eden Lake, 7/10; Streaming on Amazon Prime and stars Michael Fassbender and Kelly Reilly (Beth on Yellowstone, who knew she was English?!). Released in 2008 this is a decent slasher/horror type movie. Steve and Jenny go for a romantic getaway to a remote lake in England. Their first night is spent in what was a quaint B&B which now seems to have attracted the local riff raff and takes the sheen off the place. The next day they set out to what should be an idyllic spot for camping by the lake. The peace is broken by a group of obnoxious youths who play loud music and let their Rottweiler dog run amok and shit on the beach. Steve has a friendly word with them but the leader of the gang does not take too kindly to this. The film builds up nicely as the youths become more menacing with each encounter with Steve and Jenny. Definitely echoes of Deliverance in this movie.
 
Stone of Destiny (2008)
Fun heist, based on the 1950 theft of the Stone of Scone by Scottish nationalist college students.
The 300 pound stone is part of the throne used in British coronations for 700 years. Was used in Scottish coronations before that. The Scotts wanted it back.
6/10
 
Land Of Bad, 7/10; Streaming on Netflix and stars Russell Crowe. Crowe plays the part of a drone operator that is supporting a team of Delta soldiers who are in the Philippines on a recue mission to recover a captured spy. A fairly run of the mill action movie as the delta team carry out their mission with Crowe providing support from the unmanned Reaper drone. The movie runs a little bit too long but it was a decent watch.
 
I just watched The Green Mile (1999). Wikipedia calls it a "fantasy crime drama" but I think "melodrama" might be more apt. (I don't mean "melodrama" as pejorative: The movie was excellent, and was under-acted where appropriate rather than over-acted.) It gets a very high 8.6 IDMB score, but I'd rank it only 7.7 or so since fantasy is not a favorite genre. Also its 3-hour length is appropriate for epics. Here the plot TRIES to be an epic but doesn't quite succeed.

The movie is a famous classic I guess. I think I read the title so often I assumed I'd already watched it (conflating it with some other death-row film) -- That's why I didn't actually watch it until yesterday.
 
unapologetic said:
Stone of Destiny (2008)
Fun heist, based on the 1950 theft of the Stone of Scone by Scottish nationalist college students.
The 300 pound stone is part of the throne used in British coronations for 700 years. Was used in Scottish coronations before that. The Scotts wanted it back.
6/10
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I'll have to watch that! I've read much about the Stone of Scone which supposedly came from the Eastern Mediterranean (where it served as Jacob's Pillow in Genesis!) via Spain and Ireland. IIRC the material of the present Stone has been identified as Scottish sandstone, suggesting that the thieves did not return the same stone they stole! [/jk]
 
Swammerdami said:
I just watched The Green Mile (1999). Wikipedia calls it a "fantasy crime drama" but I think "melodrama" might be more apt. (I don't mean "melodrama" as pejorative: The movie was excellent, and was under-acted where appropriate rather than over-acted.) It gets a very high 8.6 IDMB score, but I'd rank it only 7.7 or so since fantasy is not a favorite genre. Also its 3-hour length is appropriate for epics. Here the plot TRIES to be an epic but doesn't quite succeed.

The movie is a famous classic I guess. I think I read the title so often I assumed I'd already watched it (conflating it with some other death-row film) -- That's why I didn't actually watch it until yesterday.
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I can't think of anything in the movie I would change. Each piece is integral to the story.
 
Salem's Lot (2024)

I don't especially like vampire movies, but I gave this one a shot.

It is among the most good-half, bad-half movies ever.

The first half is really intriguing. It's atmosphere is super creepy and well done. The child actors, and everyone else for that matter, were excellent. One minute you think you see where it's going, the next it's like "Holy shit! I didn't see that coming!" It was so good. But then...

It was like there were two different writing teams, two different directors, and talentless doppelganger actors in the second half. It went from damn good to utter shit in the span of one scene to the next. I really couldn't watch it because it was so awful, so I turned it off.

First half was 9/10. The second half was 2/10; and the only reason the second half gets a 2/10 is because some elements of the first half were still present e.g. the cinematography.

Thus, it gets an overall 5.5 out of 10.
 
Top Gun: Maverick, 7/10; Released in 2022 this is a sequel to the incredibly successful 1986 Top Gun starring Tom Cruise. On the whole it's an okay movie I suppose. Lots of nostalgia and nods to the 1986 movie but it is ponderous and slow paced to get to where the movie becomes entertaining. The action scenes are pretty good but having to sit through the bulk of the movie before getting there was a bit of a chore.
 
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