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Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?
« on: June 04, 2025, 08:11:33 pm »
28 Days Later - Haven't seen this since like 2003. First act remains an absolute masterclass, and the third act works way better for me now, but it is still a pretty jarring shift in tone. Mixed results from the SD picture quality.
A Real Pain - Funny, touching, tremendously acted, and barely 90 minutes. A real triumph.
Predator: Killer of Killers - It looks stunning and it's the absolute best use of the overall premise since the original. Uses the medium to show some real balls out action sequences that would never work in live action but feel right at home in animation. It starts to stretch credulity a bit too much by the third act, and the connective tissue aspect that marries the eras together robs a bit of the tension. I'd watch 2 or 3 more of these, but the basic concept would start running itself dry by then.
Pale Rider - Feels like a more traditional Western than Clint's other works in genre, but it's no less a well-crafted film than the majority of those, either. Just a little sillier and a little lighter, it's still a very entertaining time at the pictures.
28 Weeks Later - While I liked Days a little bit more on this revisit, I liked Weeks a little less. Bigger, shinier, and more bombastic, it just doesn't hit on the same emotional level, despite having a couple of sequences that put the first to shame in the horror department.
Popeye - Like a series of SNL sketches where the first one bombed, but the cast loved it, and kept bringing it back. There are a few laughs scattered throughout, and the cast is 100% committed (obligatory Shelly Duvall shout-out), and the production design is impeccable. All that being said it's aimless, paced pretty poorly, and the songs all basically dirges that are not helped at all by the piss poor sound mixing. Handily the worst Altman I've seen, but worth watching at least once as a curiosity.
Austin Powers in Goldmember - Absolutely the worst of these, but was still better than I remembered. Has a fair number of new ideas, but it also recycles a fair few bits, which was also a major flaw in the second film.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind - The Neary family drama stuff is tremendously acted, but it just doesn't engage me the way the logistical side of things does. Watching people figure stuff out is one of my favorite things to see portrayed on screen, and this movie does it phenomenally well.
It also looks like a million bucks. Maybe the most well-shot of any of Spielberg's work.
A Real Pain - Funny, touching, tremendously acted, and barely 90 minutes. A real triumph.
Predator: Killer of Killers - It looks stunning and it's the absolute best use of the overall premise since the original. Uses the medium to show some real balls out action sequences that would never work in live action but feel right at home in animation. It starts to stretch credulity a bit too much by the third act, and the connective tissue aspect that marries the eras together robs a bit of the tension. I'd watch 2 or 3 more of these, but the basic concept would start running itself dry by then.
Pale Rider - Feels like a more traditional Western than Clint's other works in genre, but it's no less a well-crafted film than the majority of those, either. Just a little sillier and a little lighter, it's still a very entertaining time at the pictures.
28 Weeks Later - While I liked Days a little bit more on this revisit, I liked Weeks a little less. Bigger, shinier, and more bombastic, it just doesn't hit on the same emotional level, despite having a couple of sequences that put the first to shame in the horror department.
Popeye - Like a series of SNL sketches where the first one bombed, but the cast loved it, and kept bringing it back. There are a few laughs scattered throughout, and the cast is 100% committed (obligatory Shelly Duvall shout-out), and the production design is impeccable. All that being said it's aimless, paced pretty poorly, and the songs all basically dirges that are not helped at all by the piss poor sound mixing. Handily the worst Altman I've seen, but worth watching at least once as a curiosity.
Austin Powers in Goldmember - Absolutely the worst of these, but was still better than I remembered. Has a fair number of new ideas, but it also recycles a fair few bits, which was also a major flaw in the second film.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind - The Neary family drama stuff is tremendously acted, but it just doesn't engage me the way the logistical side of things does. Watching people figure stuff out is one of my favorite things to see portrayed on screen, and this movie does it phenomenally well.
It also looks like a million bucks. Maybe the most well-shot of any of Spielberg's work.