What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

[kamikazekeeg]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem - I really don't go to movies much anymore, but if anything is going to do it, it's gonna be Ninja Turtles or Godzilla, and today it was Ninja Turtles.  Pretty fun movie, the art style is wild, I love that Spiderverse's success lead to studios going for their own crazy art styles.  Here it's kinda like they took claymation and gave it all like a sketchbook filter.  The turtles themselves are great, most of the cast is pretty entertaining. 

My only real issue is all the pop culture references, it's SO much and that drags the dialogue down for sure.  I don't mind it here and there, they make a "Shrek" joke, which could be just a Shrek joke, but also might be poking fun at what people were calling the previous live action run of TMNT.  Part of me can almost let it slide in that turtles only involvement with the real world is basically pop culture, but to me that doesn't make for good dialogue for a show, it's just starts to feel like references for the sake of references.

It doesn't hurt the movie a ton, but I hope for a sequel, that they tone that WAY back.  Otherwise, fun flick, they do a lot to sell that these are teens well, that's actually not something I feel like they do super often through the entire series, the best versions probably being this or the 2012 tv show from what I remember of that.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - Keeping the enjoyable movie train going with some D&D! Worked out that I got to Vox Machina season 2 this week, so lots of fantasy this week.  This movie didn't do anything crazy, it's just a nice, comedic, fantasy film, kinda gives off Guardians of the Galaxy vibes, which to be fair, all group oriented movies with a comedic edge doesn't mean that its GotG, but how they handle the comedy, the snark at times, that's the vibe I got.  Might be a tad unfair, but overall I had fun with it.

Also fatty dragon might be my favorite monster in the whole movie, something about it gave me Monster Hunter vibes lol

Pacific Rim - Was reading abit of a reddit thread on the movie, asking why this didn't take off as a series and it got me in the mood to re-watch it.  I still love this film.  Some peoples faults were mostly with like the dialogue and characters, but I just feel like it's people being weirdly harsh about a movie that does what it needs to well enough and it absolutely excels in the action department.  It's so good, they do such a great job selling the size and weight of these massive things, especially with the camera work, so much of it is done to feel relatively practical, as if it was handle in the real world.  Lots of low shots, or crane shots, or it's handle from if it was on a building, and if there are shots just up in the air, it's not crazy quick movements that feel like you are just circling a CG animation.  That was what I remember most about Uprising, like the big showoff of all the Jaegers in the city together and it has this fast flying camera that feels more like a video game stage intro than trying to sell the setting.  Always will recommend this movie, it's up there as one of my favorite giant monster movies, top 5 easily.

[Cartagia]

Futurama: Bender's Big Score - I remember this being the best of the movies, and it's got some great moments, but I still don't care for the third act (the Lars reveal is sooo obvious and those Xmas songs are pretty meh). Nonetheless, always happy to watch these future goobers.

Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs - Better than I remembered. Has a more classic (and average) Futurama feel than Bender's Big Score, but also like BBS, it kinda drops the ball in the last act.

[ferraroso]

As I'm writing this, I just got back home from watching Kimitachi wa dou ikiru ka (君たちはどう生きるか, meaning "How do you live?", but terribly named The Boy and the Heron in English) the newest movie from Studio Ghibli and (allegedly) the final movie of Miyzaki Hayao. I don't watch many anime, but in general, Ghibli know their game, so I had to go see it!
For those who don't know, this feature film was released without a trailer, without a synopsis, without any information on its cast, absolutely nothing except for a poster and a release date. A marketing maneuver that, probably, only Miyazaki-sensei would be able to pull out.
I'm a huge fan of the original novel Kimitachi wa dou ikiru ka, so I had no idea what to expect going to the theater and I gotta say I wasn't disapointed. It is an absolute masterpiece and a work of art that is sure to keep people thinking for years to come.
Usually, I don't care at all about spoilers, but if you like Studio Ghibli, try experiencing it as it was meant to, without watching any trailers or anything.



PS: They also showed a trailer for Godzilla -1.0 (minus one)! I had no idea that movie was being made, and it looks freaking awesome! Can't wait!!!
https://youtu.be/d79dUsPZKL0

[Cartagia]

Futurama: Bender's Game - Once again, better than I remembered, but this time the end nearly torpedoes the whole thing.  The LotR pastiche is maybe the most creatively bankrupt thing Futurama ever did.

Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder - The most resoundingly meh of these.  All the movies tried to put too much lore and plot in their runtime, and this one suffers the most for it.

Gemini Man - Killer action sequences coupled with a script that screams the fact that it originated in 1997 at every turn (for better or worse). Ang Lee elevates the hell out of this so that instead of being generic action mush it is actually desperately close to being great.

Talk to Me - This is pretty great.  Terrific performances, cool concept, great make-up. It gets a bit muddled when it decides to suddenly sprint to the end, but a big recommend from me.

[kamikazekeeg]

The Venture Bros: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart - Wild name, but one that makes sense for this show lol I'm a huge Venture Bros fan, I think it's legit one of the top animated shows out there for how long it's been running, a show that I feel not only got better, but stayed consistently good.  It's really funny, well animated, and I love so many of the characters.  It's sad that its ending with this movie, but at least it got something to end it with.  It feels more like a three parter episode from a season we didn't get rather than something you see more often with a "movie", but I liked it.  They even ended it with lots of stuff they could do for another season down the road if they were able to revive it, maybe on a new network, but at least we got one more thing from the show.

Much the same coming up for Metalocalypse, really looking forward to that movie and albums.

[Cartagia]

DOA: Dead or Alive - Decent action and it embraces the fact it is a video game adaptation, but that doesn't make up for the awful VFX, epileptic 2000s editing, and all of the leads thinking they are in different movies.

[kamikazekeeg]

Batman: The Doom The Came To Gotham - Didn't know they had done a Lovecraftian story for Batman, but it's always cool to see Batman in different eras, this one set in the 1920's.  I always appreciate a one off story like this and I like that it's very different from the usual Batman stuff with how characters are utilized and it's definitely quite dark, which is fitting for the type of story it is. 

Love the Batman outfit in this also.  Simply adding a collar to the cape does a lot lol I did find out afterwards that it's the same design as the Gotham by Gaslight Batman, which makes me wish that they had done a more original look for this story since it's set in the 1900's, but oh well, it's a good look. 

The movie itself is overall fine, most of these animated DC movies are generally fairly decent.  I don't think they often hit "great" levels, but they are always enjoyable and when the live action stuff has been pretty rough for awhile now, it's good to have solid DC flicks to watch with the animated movies.

[Cartagia]

Smokey and the Bandit - I'm pretty sure that Stephen Sondheim bit was a real conversation between takes with Sally Field and Burt Reynolds.

White Lightning - Surprised by how good this is.  Sweaty, tactile, grim at points, funny when it needs to be.  Just an all around good time.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Not sure why I put this one off so long. Terrific cast. I've dug pretty much everything this crew has put out. Not as funny as some of the others, but definitely has its moments.

Road House - One of those movies where the execution lifts it way beyond the concept.  Good action, nice soundtrack, explosions, Patrick Swayze.

They Cloned Tyrone - Solid debut from Juel Taylor. Killer aesthetic, great soundtrack. Just an all around stylish flick. It gets a little shaky if you start interrogating the logistics, and the pacing gets a hair sluggish around the halfway mark, but it's fun sci-fi throwback with good ideas and something to say. Plus, Jamie Foxx is always worth a watch.

To Live and Die in L.A. - The seamless kind of filmmaking that feels like a living breathing work of art.  Where the presence of the director is omnipresent but never feels overbearing.  Style out the wazoo and cool bursting at the seams.

[kamikazekeeg]

The Martian - Back on my space stuff watch and got lucky with a copy of this movie on blu-ray at Goodwill today.  Saves me a few bucks from having to rent it or grab a subscription to another streaming service, and it's just a very solid movie to have.  This is probably my second time watch it, but I enjoy regular, non-fantastical, space stuff, this one much less than say Interstellar, just pure astronaut survival stuff.  Damon is great in it since he has to play the biggest part.  Overall a really good watch still.

[marvelvscapcom2]

Barbie Movie - Clever, colorful and fun. Keeps a general emotional stance and anyone who shames it for geo politcal narratives isn't familiar with the dolls legacy to begin with. Margot and Ryan can do no wrong and combine to form a juggernaut. 97/100

Oppenhiemer - I have never experienced a moment in theatrew like when the atom bomb goes off. It rattled cieling toles with dolby altmos and made me cry from sheer baffling carnage of its simulated power. A historical story told from 2 angles. - 95/100


Turtles Mutant Mayhem - Solid Movie. Colorful. Creative visually. Epic voice work by Ice Cube. The turtles may be a tad juvenile for my taste but they are teenagers afterall. And I know they need kids to attend. Great directing by Seth. - 82/100

[redblaze57]

Studio 666- it's good but feels hard to recommend. The Foo Fighters go to a house to record their 10th Studio Album and between writer's block and exploring the house Dave Grohl gets possessed by a demon and Starts killing everyone. There were at least 4-5 non-Foo Fighters musician cameos. But if you don'tknow who they are you'll probably miss who they are... outside of Lionel Ritchie. And honestly I was thinking there would be more. You can tell it's a passion project. If you enjoy the Foo Fighters along with heavy metal and b Horror comedies you'll have some fun watching. If not I'd say pass on this.

[kamikazekeeg]

The Flash - I had a lot of this movie spoiled beforehand, because it was kinda hard to avoid and honestly...I didn't really care that much if I did get spoiled because I was kinda expecting this movie to be bad.  It went through production hell and delays and the main actor turned out to be a douche, all sorts of wild things.  In the end, the movie is a mess.  There are things I like, things that work, and a whole lot that doesn't. 

Visually so much of it is awful, some stuff is totally fine and good, but the hospital scene in the beginning borders on parody, the time travel scenes have visuals that look like high quality PS3 era graphics, and the finale battle is just so ugly being set on a flat, barren, desert setting, which only makes the overdone CG look even worse.  There are some things I like, I think Barry eventually becomes more likeable later in the film (His younger counterpart does not), I like the Batman bike scene in the beginning, I can't deny liking Keaton as Batman again, and I think Supergirl is genuinely great and I liked everything with her.  That's mostly it though. 

They really shouldn't have done Flashpoint for his first solo movie.  It's the same problem they had with Batman v Superman.  Flash is slightly closer to the story it was trying to adapt, but it still misses the mark.  They tried to do so much, but it absolutely did not work.

[Cartagia]

Sausage Party - Conceptually there are some really good ideas here, but it goes for obvious joke 90% of the time. A couple of sequences made me laugh pretty hard, but mostly I was just rolling my eyes. Third act is wild and almost saves the movie.

The King of Staten Island - One of those movies where it feels like it was tailor-made for everyone involved.

The Big Lebowski - First big screen viewing. I've come a long way since that first VHS watch in like '99 or whatever.  Definitely a top 5 Coen flick.

Loose Cannons - The hardboiled cop stuff is surprisingly solid, and Gene Hackman is his normal stalwart self - making everything he does watchable, even this complete tonal mess. Whiffs hard when it goes broad, though, with Aykroyd not being up to the challenge of making... whatever it is he is doing match the energy of the literally anything around him.

Death on the Nile - Just a totally inert film.  Nearly no charism or intrigue in it.  There are a couple of servicable performances and good set design, but just a snoozefest.

All That Jazz - It's wild seeing an artist create such a scathing and unflinching portrait of their own life. The mix of self-awareness, talent, and hubris required is mind-boggling.

The New Mutants - The actual attempts at horror and atmosphere are totally fine, but the teen angst bullshit is badly written, poorly acted, and lifeless.  The whole cast deserved better.

[kamikazekeeg]

Prospect (2019) - Since I'm playing Starfield, I saw this movie get brought up, kinda has that same scifi aesthetics as it, something I missed when it came out, but it had Pedro Pascal in it and it's overall okay.  I had a weird viewing experience due to an issue with my ad block creating a problem that I thought was a story decision that soured things abit, but it's mostly a very simple and smaller scale scifi flick about a father/daughter pair who go to this planet to find these...organic things they harvest that turn into like jewels or something, but a situation happens and it's the girl with Pedro Pascal as they are trying to get off the planet.  Basic survival sorta story. 

I thought the daughter was a little weird emotionally, I couldn't get a strong fix on her and Pedro is great, he's basically playing as Joel from Last of Us, but in a more friendly and talkative tone, but similar vibe and really it's weird that he goes from this survival story with a teenage girl, to The Last Of Us with the same setup lol I'm actually wondering if this had any influence on getting the role beyond just his popularity at the time or if it was just a coincidence.  Not like this movie was successful or popular or anything, but just an interesting thing to note.

I can't strongly recommend it, it's rather slow, the story is a tad odd in execution, and it was hard to get a read on the girl, but it's alright.  Don't watch this on Amazon Prime with adblock on lol

[kamikazekeeg]

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: Part 1 - I'm gonna say it...I think there can be a thing such as too much "art" lol I love the story in this, it's a ton of fun, I loved seeing all the crazy Spider-Man appearances, but there's a lot of stuff that feels like it's going overboard visually alot of the time.  The first one got plenty stylish, but this one is beyond that.  It also continues some visual stuff I never loved with the original, where you get like the halftone dots on stuff as like texturing and the "Chromatic Aberration" edges and blur to a lot of stuff, it's the only way I know how to explain it as you see it in video games and I always turn it off lol  That stuff makes even normal scenes seem a little busy.

I do really like the movie, part 2 is gonna be great, to me, the movie is almost overkill in places.  Impressive, but it's just a sock to the face with art lol