What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

[Cartagia]

Self Reliance - It has trouble balancing its tone, but hits the notes on each side pretty clearly.  Serious bits hit, funny bits hit, but it is a little spotty on the hit rate. Johnson shows a lot of promise as a director.

[kamikazekeeg]

Fist of the North Star (1995) - This is the most 80's movie ever made, even though it wasn't made in the 80's lol It could've perfectly fit into that era, if not for the single scene that suddenly has some Machine Head nu-metal song playing lol

I had never heard about it till recently and I thought it was crazy that I never did.  I'm so bummed I never saw this as a kid as it's all the sorta stuff I enjoyed back then particularly that I was into martial films that had folks like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Chuck Norris, Van Damme, etc.  This is kind of a perfect B-movie, in that it has what I think is a reasonably decent budget, all the action and sets are pretty decent, the acting is decent, it's serious enough without being overly so as it knows what kind of movie it is.  I'm not super knowledgeable of Fist of the North Star in particular, I just generally know it's like anime Mad Max and this is mostly that.  It's funny to think that a pretty decent anime adaption happened back in 1995 lol  It's cheesy, it's fun, it's absolutely worth a watch.

I don't even really have any serious complaints for it.  I wish I had watched a better version of it, I could only get it on Youtube, where they pitch shifted the audio a little higher, so everyone's voice is kinda off a tad lol  Also this isn't the fault of the movie, but Kenshiro looks like Steve Oedekirk from Kung Pow: Enter the Fist and that didn't help me lol

[Cartagia]

Strays - It's got some funny moments - I'm always a sucker for altered reality drug sequences - but something about it just fell flat.

A Star is Born (2018) - Totally floored by how good this is.  The first 45 minutes or so are perfect.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold - A lot of the effects are horrible and it wants to be like 4 different movies, but Isabela Merced is 110% committed to the bit and makes it a fun enough watch.

Cape Fear (1991) - Striking, violent, horrifying, and oddly still one of Scorsese's mainstream feeling titles, even with all of the noir throwback sensibilities.

Coraline - I forgot just how messed up this gets.  It looks incredible and is just all around great.

Jerry & Marge Go Large - Totally sweet film about retirees who figure out how the game the lottery and use it to revitalize their town.  Inoffensive way to spend 90 minutes.

Past Lives - Just an achingly beautiful film.  Currently one of my favorites from last year, and I wish it got more attention.

The Equalizer 2 - The main plot is a bit undercooked, especially in the last act, but it's not that much worse than the first film, and it gets everything done in under two hours before the credits hit.

Theater Camp - I had fun with this, but it gets a bit unfocused in the second act. Finishes extremely strong, though.

[Cartagia]

Planet of the Apes (1968) - It's a little clunky in spots and the "mystery" doesn't quite jive for anyone who is versed in sci-fi, but it's still a spectacularly made and bombastically entertaining film.  Even better than I remembered.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes - Not nearly as good as it's predecessor. The absolute insane last act almost makes up for what has been, up until that point, a lethargic rehash of the first film.

Escape From the Planet of the Apes - Holy hell this rocks.  Such a different vibe than the first two films bit still a terrific sci-fi parable with killer acting that more than makes up for the obviously shoestring budget.

[weirdfeline]

Madame Web is a much better movie than I thought it would be. The dog piling acting like this is the worst thing ever is just.. incorrect. It doesn't come close to being as bad as Catwoman (even though it uses a song that appears in Catwoman) and it's also better than Morbius and Let There Be Carnage. The scene with the Britney Spears song Toxic made me like this movie. The action was better than I thought it would be based off the trailer. Looking forward to Kraven!

I almost forgot to mention this movie features one scene of product placement for Mountain Dew Code Red. Right after the movie before going home I picked up a bottle. Whoever decided to put one of the most 2003 beverages ever in this movie set in 2003 deserves a raise. I loved that it wasn't just normal Mountain Dew.

[kamikazekeeg]

Madame Web is a much better movie than I thought it would be. The dog piling acting like this is the worst thing ever is just.. incorrect. It doesn't come close to being as bad as Catwoman (even though it uses a song that appears in Catwoman) and it's also better than Morbius and Let There Be Carnage. The scene with the Britney Spears song Toxic made me like this movie. The action was better than I thought it would be based off the trailer. Looking forward to Kraven!

I almost forgot to mention this movie features one scene of product placement for Mountain Dew Code Red. Right after the movie before going home I picked up a bottle. Whoever decided to put one of the most 2003 beverages ever in this movie set in 2003 deserves a raise. I loved that it wasn't just normal Mountain Dew.

With every plot point I've heard of this movie, the clips I've seen, the hate this movie is getting is absolutely not unjustified lol When Morbius is looking to be the better made film, that's a problem lol  That doesn't mean you can't enjoy or there isn't worse, but movies like this are definitely showing a continuing problematic pattern for Sony and I have no reason to expect Kraven to be any different.

[Cartagia]

Lisa Frankenstein - This a lot of fun, pretty hilarious, and has a killer vibe, but I can't help but feeling like Diablo wrote herself into a corner and couldn't decide where to go with the multiple threads that have been going throughout the whole thing. One plot not coming back in any meaningful manner and just how nonplussed Lisa's father is about everything (proving that Mr. Wheeler is the same in any universe) being the two primary culprits. It does not help that the last 10 minutes to so are edited so choppily that I wasn't 100% sure if it were a dream, hallucination or what actually happened until the final shot.  All that said, I  still really clicked with this overall.

[weirdfeline]

Madame Web is a much better movie than I thought it would be. The dog piling acting like this is the worst thing ever is just.. incorrect. It doesn't come close to being as bad as Catwoman (even though it uses a song that appears in Catwoman) and it's also better than Morbius and Let There Be Carnage. The scene with the Britney Spears song Toxic made me like this movie. The action was better than I thought it would be based off the trailer. Looking forward to Kraven!

I almost forgot to mention this movie features one scene of product placement for Mountain Dew Code Red. Right after the movie before going home I picked up a bottle. Whoever decided to put one of the most 2003 beverages ever in this movie set in 2003 deserves a raise. I loved that it wasn't just normal Mountain Dew.

With every plot point I've heard of this movie, the clips I've seen, the hate this movie is getting is absolutely not unjustified lol When Morbius is looking to be the better made film, that's a problem lol  That doesn't mean you can't enjoy or there isn't worse, but movies like this are definitely showing a continuing problematic pattern for Sony and I have no reason to expect Kraven to be any different.

What plot points make it justified? Sony movies are in their own lane from MCU and that's a good thing. I laugh at people using "it's like a movie from the early 2000's" as an insult, that's a good thing.

[Cartagia]

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes - Absolutely astounded at how good this is, but I would point out that if I were perhaps concerned about a future where apes rule the world, that I would not be purposely be breeding intelligent apes. But that's just me personally.

[kamikazekeeg]

What plot points make it justified? Sony movies are in their own lane from MCU and that's a good thing. I laugh at people using "it's like a movie from the early 2000's" as an insult, that's a good thing.

Eh, I'll just say that a movie about Spider-Women, who don't actually become Spider-Women within the movie, because this is functionally a very expensive pilot to a Spider-Woman cinematic universe that will never happen, would've driven me nuts had I actually seen this movie in theater lol Of everything I've seen and heard, that's the most egregious thing to me lol It reminds me of the Birds of Prey movie, where you have these DC hero's/anti-heroes, but are like...underwhelming prequel versions of the actual characters within a movie that probably should've just been a straight up Harley Quinn film.

Like why do a Madame Web movie, a character no one knows or cares about, and not just do a Spider-Woman movie?  Can Sony not do that either? Is Madame Web the only workaround they can do for this?  It's the movie Hulk problem, where Marvel isn't allowed to make solo Hulk movies anymore, so he can only show up in another characters movie.  Like we can't have a Planet Hulk movie, but we can have Thor: Ragnarok instead.

I'm 100% on board with Marvel movies that have zero connection to the MCU, those would be sick, but I don't want a Venom movie that isn't in a Spider-Man world, even if those ones are mostly okay.  I don't want a Morbius movie, or a Kraven movie, and especially not a Madame Web movie.  That's the callout to the 2000's era of super hero flicks, it's just reminding people of Daredevil, Elektra, Fantastic Four, and yes, Catwoman lol

[Cartagia]

Battle for the Planet of the Apes - Can't believe it took me so long to watch all these original sequels. They all bring something new and interesting to the table, and Roddy McDowell is incredible across the board (it's probably no coincidence that he's not in the worst one). This last entry isn't quite as good as Conquest but still finishes the franchise strong.

The Heroic Trio - I truly have no words after that absolutely demented finale.

Rollerball (2002) - It's really bad and completely stupid, but at least it's not boring?

The Edge of Seventeen - Stands up against the great teen hangout flicks like Fast Times and Dazed and Confused plus it has a killer performance from Hailee Steinfeld at the center of it.

Grumpy Old Men - Ann-Margret is the Silent Generation equivalent of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl in this.

[kamikazekeeg]

Elvis - Randomly decided to watch this, I don't have any strong feelings for him as an artist, and most of what I know about him is just general pop culture stuff, so I can't say what the film does right or wrong as a biopic, though it seemed well received.  It does feel strange having the movie kinda handle the narrative from the point of view of Parker, a problematic figure in Elvis life, but it could be said that any embellishment the stories might've made, could be seen as spin by Parker perhaps.  Not that they surgar coat who he was, they very clearly put the light on him as opportunist determined to milk Elvis for all he could.

That stuff aside, it was a good watch, very stylish with editing and such, to the point that its so over the top feeling, at least earlier in the film, that it felt close to parody for me.  I don't know, it's like you watch a few of the parody biopics like Weird Al or Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and they hit on the cliche's of biopics, so you notice them more, but this one does a lot to stand out, it's trying to be really out there while having some very heartfelt moments.  Butler was great as Elvis too, I thought he nailed it.  Hanks I think did fine, though it's hard to just not see Hanks in a fat suit lol Though looking it up, it's weird they gave Parker such a noticeable accent.  I looked up an interview from the 80's and he didn't even have one really and there's audio from from the 50's with a little bit of the accent, but not as much as I felt Hanks gave it.  Abit much.

Overall an interesting and entertaining watch.

[Cartagia]

Dune - Part One - Clicked with me in a way it didn't previously. It is cold and dispassionate, but in a way that helps to emphasize the stellar world building and pure technical prowess on display.

Cocoon - The entire Guttenberg subplot feels like a studio note. We can't have a movie that's just about aliens and horny old people! Get Guttenberg's people on the phone!

That said, pretty much everything with the retirement home is a home run until the last act, which is way too overdramatic for the film that preceded it.

[kamikazekeeg]

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood - Another random choice, this time with a Tarantino flick.  This movie reminds me a lot of Inglorious Bastards, in that there are two stories going on, one is better than the other, and had they picked the one story and stuck with it, it would've been way better.  The story of an aging actor struggling to stay relevant alongside his friend and stuntman double is solid.  The Sharon Tate/Manson Family story is even less important than the Nazi hunter story in Inglorious Bastards.  Had they just stayed with a story involving Brad and Leonardo's characters, I probably would've liked this more.

That being said, I love all the end of the 60's era going on, Tarantino loves to over-indulge and he revels in showing off the era and that's great.  I loved the bits of DiCaprio appearing in actual movies and his original ones, the the filming of the one western as the villain, all that is good.  The radio stuff, the long shots of just showing off old Hollywood, Tarantino is all for it and it shows, it's the only points in the movie where he lingers too long that I'm fine with.  Cut the Manson Family stuff, cut out a half hour of the film or so, and there's a much better movie here, but I still generally liked it.

[Cartagia]

The Package - Totally fine political thriller. Doesn't do anything especially well, but doesn't embarass itself either.  Didn't realize how much Andrew Davis liked working with Tommy Lee Jones until now.