What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

[kamikazekeeg]

U-571 - Back to some random war movie watching.  I remember watching this back in the day, generally enjoying, I still think it's solid, very tense, there isn't a lot of downtime once it hits a certain point.  I've been looking up movies on Wiki after I finish them to see their reception for the time and it's apparently completely fictional, but setting that aside, if just wanting a tense bit of submarine action, it's quite good.  Gets me watching to watch another, like I might go and watch The Hunt For Red October next.

[Cartagia]

Clifford - A movie I absolutely did not get when I was a kid. I think I kinda liked it back then, but I definitely like it more today.

It's wonderfully dark and demented but those bookends do it no favors, trying to make what should be a mean acerbic little film into something it isnt.

Hard Time - It's not as effortlessly cool as The Warriors, but it definitely a contender for my favorite Walter Hill film.  Coburn and Bronson are just magnetic.

[kamikazekeeg]

Fast X - This movie is dumb and not in a good way lol I kinda went into it expecting a dumb movie, the last like...2 kinda went off the deep end into just outrageously ridiculous territory.  I was cool with the movies getting over the top when they hit Fast V I think it was.  It turned the movies into something fun for abit.  Then it started to get into like ridiculous, cartoon-esque, territory, where they are going to space in a car, and then in this one, there's a neutron bomb rolling towards the Vatican, and Dom takes out two helicopters with his car and uses the bodies of those helicopters like maces to take out guys.  It sounds fun, but there's this veneer of seriousness to it all that I think undercuts the movie more than it needs to.

What works? Some of the car stuff is solid when it's not turning into CG nonsense.  Jason Mamoa though, steals the whole thing.  He understands what this, it's schlock, he's a Batman villain, a supervillain, like Batman Forever/Batman & Robin era practically.  He's having fun and he has all these horribly implausible plans that all work exactly how he plans it, even though it makes no sense lol

Also screw this movie being a "Part 1" lol I didn't know before hand that this was a two parter, like they think this is some Infinity War/Endgame level stuff lol

I wouldn't recommend it, but if you liked the last two enough, this is probably fine, I honestly probably think it's one of the weaker of the newer ones they've done since starting on this track of films.

[Cartagia]

Shanghai Noon - Eh, it's fine.  It's a bit too long and there's not quite enough wild Jackie Chan stunts.  Xander Berkley is just eating that scenery, though.

Bottoms - Pretty easily the funniest movie of the year.  The football game plot was so insane it felt like a deleted thread from Wet Hot American Summer, and that's a good thing.  It does have some tonal balance issues, and is far stronger when it is being irreverent and madcap, but the attempts at earnestness don't fully work.

Air - Comparisons to Moneyball are pretty much right on target, although this script isn't as airtight.  Lots of Mad Men DNA in here, too.  Helluva picture.

[kamikazekeeg]

The Hunt For Red October - Continuing the little submarine flicks with some 90's cold war drama. I remember that Sean Connery was in this, forgot that it also had Tim Curry, Alec Baldwin, and Sam Neil in it, which is a solid crew and I like how they start in Russian with them and movie into a clear transition to English for the rest of the time to make up for the fact that most of the main actors aren't Russian lol I forgot that there was this whole run of Tom Clancy movies, where it's more of a drama than an action flick, starring Jack Ryan played by different actors over the years.  Overall, it's a solid flick, good tension, it's a decent watch.  This was the sort of stuff I'd end up watching with my dad on TV back in the day.

World War Z - Decided to give this a new watch as I haven't seen it since it came out.  I was pretty pissed at the time with it, with them taking the name of a favorite book of mine and making something entirely unrelated to the book.  I remember thinking it was an okay zombie flick, but now I'm going into it with less of that annoyance I initially had (It's still there abit, I hate that we don't have like an HBO series for World War Z at this point).

I think the start of this is pretty decent, everything leading up to the boat is good suspense, it's a strong opening. I see how they are trying to do the "World War Z" aspect, Pitt is a journalist, trying to find the source, traveling the world, it doesn't make for a good adaptation, but having it be a traveling zombie story does make for its own decent idea.  The one thing I was expecting to not enjoy still is the crazy zombie stuff they do, which is having the zombies act like...ants or something, climbing over each other, like a rushing wave, it is kinda terrifying, but it also looks very goofy.

I think the story is fine, though there's almost a comedy of errors at points I feel, kinda goofy plot elements, like the scientist tripping and killing himself, or that Brad Pitt and the Israeli solder are the only ones to survive a plane crash that happens to land not far from where they need to go, it's plot points for the sake of plot, rather than what feels like convincing story.  Not the worst for sure, but feels like they could've done better.

Overall, I'd say I like the movie a tad more than I originally did, decent zombie flick, I just wish we had a proper World War Z adaptation.