General and Gaming > Off Topic
What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?
Cartagia:
Needful Things - Terrific cast with a fun premise. If this had a better director it could have really been something.
Hot Frosty - The only reason this works in any real capacity is the 100% committed performance from Dustin Milligan as the hot snowman. Couple that with genuinely talented comedians as the heels and you've got an actually watchable cheesy Christmas romance.
The Lone Ranger - Not nearly as bad as its reputation. Terrific action, great score, amazing production design, and a deep bench cast are all hobbled by the absolutely idiotic casting of Johnny Depp as Tonto. Framing device is totally unnecessary and makes the already long runtime to too long.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - One of the best (if not the best) of the slew of YA and fantasy adaptations that came in the wake of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, while also being one of the most artistic, despite being a huge Disney production. Effects mostly hold up, but it definitely has some pretty shaky green screen in a few spots. Kids are mostly fine, but its also not surprising they didn't do much after. Pleasantly surprising rewatch.
Vertigo - Well it turns out that everything I knew about this movie is only from the last 25 minutes or so, and far less important to the overall story than I had thought. Terrific story of the type of obsession that can drive you crazy. Felt a bit rushed in the last act, and ends incredibly abruptly, which is what keeps it from being my new favorite Hitchcock.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Price Caspian - Better than I remembered. Ben Barnes is acting circles around the Pevensie kids. They traded the somber winter vibes for bright summer ones, and while effects look great, the feelings are just not the same, and the movie is worse off for it.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Losing Adamson as a director was a huge blow. Caspian and especially Wardrobe feel like genuine epics. This feels like a generic YA adventure. And I understand the budget is lower, but it shouldn't look this much worse than a movie from 5 years earlier.
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair - Finally saw it after all this time, and... I think I like the theatrical versions more. It is the most I've ever enjoyed the back half, but, and this surprises me, I think the 88 fight works better in B&W and the new anime sequence throws the immaculately paced Vol. 1 off-balance.
Still, a practically perfect film and a mostly great film still average out to damned good.
Cartagia:
Wake Up Dead Man - Far and away the most thematically rich of these, with the most compelling non-Daniel Craig protagonist, but also makes the least use of it's deep bench of characters. Has probably my favorite scene from them, as well (the phone call), but the mystery never drew me in as thoroughly.
Comanche Station - Excellent finish to this Ranown box set from Criterion. Beautiful CinemaScope cinematography. Terrific morality tale with an ironic twist.
Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance - Very different from the first for better and for worse. Feels more like a side quest than an actual sequel.
Titanic - Just a towering motion picture achievement.
The Transporter - Probably the closest the West ever came to having our own Hong Kong action franchise, in no small part to Corey Yuen, I'm sure. When I was 20 o thought the oil fight was stupid as hell and made the movie worse. Now, I'm convinced it is indicative of why the movie works at all.
Transporter 2 - Campier than the first, feeling more European than Hong Kong inspired. The action is generally worse, but not bad (except the CGI), and the plot is definitely more interesting. I liked it a hair more than the original.
Transporter 3 - Was obvious within 5 minutes it was the worse than the first two. Decent action complete cut up by horrible editing. Knepper is the best villain in the franchise at least. Olivier Megaton may be the worst director to have financial hits in multiple franchises.
Cartagia:
It's a Wonderful Life - What really makes this work is how totally justified George's crash out is. Uncle Billy has just basically screwed over George's entire life, so everything that we've been watching him make all those sacrifices over the previous 70 minutes completely pointless. In fact, I think the weakest stuff in the movie is all the fantastical Christmas magic stuff. It's been a phenomenal slice of life and coming of age drama, and I just think it sticks out, tonally.
And of course, Jimmy Stewart is phenomenal.
In Old Arizona - It's not that bad, but it is boring and definitely has the growing pains of an early talkie. Product of its time, and all that.
A Few Good Men - Coming at the tail end of Rob Reiner's nearly unparalleled 80s-90s directorial run, A Few Good Men, is probably the oddest man out of his entire filmography, but it is still an absolute masterclass of it's genre. A huge cast of current and future stars, with everyone delivering great performances. Wish we still got high profile courtroom dramas like this.
Totally Killer - Had a ton of fun with this! Fun time travel stuff, decent slasher action. A couple of issues - some rough CG effects, gets a bit too hand-wavy with the time travel logic, some tonal issues, and it is shot like a sitcom. Mostly a blast, though.
The Lion King - Gonna be completely honest here, Timon and Pumba don't really do it for me. I don't hate them or anything, they are just what keep it from the full 5.
marvelvscapcom2:
--- Quote from: Cartagia on December 19, 2025, 08:49:10 pm ---It's a Wonderful Life - What really makes this work is how totally justified George's crash out is. Uncle Billy has just basically screwed over George's entire life, so everything that we've been watching him make all those sacrifices over the previous 70 minutes completely pointless. In fact, I think the weakest stuff in the movie is all the fantastical Christmas magic stuff. It's been a phenomenal slice of life and coming of age drama, and I just think it sticks out, tonally.
And of course, Jimmy Stewart is phenomenal.
In Old Arizona - It's not that bad, but it is boring and definitely has the growing pains of an early talkie. Product of its time, and all that.
A Few Good Men - Coming at the tail end of Rob Reiner's nearly unparalleled 80s-90s directorial run, A Few Good Men, is probably the oddest man out of his entire filmography, but it is still an absolute masterclass of it's genre. A huge cast of current and future stars, with everyone delivering great performances. Wish we still got high profile courtroom dramas like this.
Totally Killer - Had a ton of fun with this! Fun time travel stuff, decent slasher action. A couple of issues - some rough CG effects, gets a bit too hand-wavy with the time travel logic, some tonal issues, and it is shot like a sitcom. Mostly a blast, though.
The Lion King - Gonna be completely honest here, Timon and Pumba don't really do it for me. I don't hate them or anything, they are just what keep it from the full 5.
--- End quote ---
I really enjoy the lion king live action. Perhaps even more although thats blasphemy to most. Curious to see if that Timon and Pumba gain improved sentiments from you.
Cartagia:
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York - Bigger, busier, and all around way more messy than the first film, but still a lot of fun. I think you could refocus the movie with hotel staff as the main antagonists and end up with a better overall story, but then you'd lose the utterly demented Looney Tunes-esque finale.
Holiday Inn - Well this is fun little concept, with songs for the YIKES OH NO BLACKFACE JESUS different holidays and such.
Die Hard - Basically a perfect action screenplay. Immaculate structure, great and memorable lines, terrific foreshadowing. Just an absolute all-timer.
Die Hard 2 - Yeah, it's structured like the first movie, and it also takes place on Christmas, but a lot of the moving parts are different enough for me. Lots of recognizable faces with the bad guys, although they don't get as much personality as the original crew. Plays like a Cannon film with a huge budget.
Die Hard with a Vengeance - It's not the original, but it's close. Arguably the best action movie of the 90s. Top 5 for sure.
Red One - Total waste of potential. There's a lot of stuff here I like conceptually, but the execution is a total drag, and it looks like garbage considering it cost around $250 million. Kiernan Shipka and JK Simmons doing their best. Krampus sequence was fun.
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