Movies Rate and Discuss the Last Movie You Saw v.16

[eddymotto]

Babylon (2022)

An over-the-top black comedy-drama focused on the Hollywood film business in the 1920's and 30's.

The film begins at an extravagant, debauched party held at the mansion of a studio executive at the height of the Roaring 20's. The burgeoning silent film business has created both immense wealth and the very concept of the movie star. We quickly meet a bunch of characters including Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie as an aspiring actress with a penchant for promiscuity, cocaine, and gambling), Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt as an aging matinee idol with a drinking problem and a string of ex-wives) and Manny Torres (Diego Calva as a Mexican servant with a natural talent as a fixer).

The characters achieve considerable success before the film business moves into the 30's and transitions to talkies, while also becoming more corporate and considerably less libertine.

I loved the first 2 hours of this film. It is absolutely gorgeous, the acting is first rate, and some of the scenes are absolutely hilarious.

The problem is that this is a 3 hour and 15 minute movie and the last hour of the movie is mostly bad. I hated the ending. I disliked a lot of the 3rd act. Somebody somewhere failed to put the brakes on this train when it started going off the tracks.

No idea how to rate it. The first half was a 9/10 for me. Overall - maybe a 5.

That being said, I am going to watch the first half again at some point. I was an hour into this movie thinking "how did this thing bomb?" and then by the end I was thinking "yeah, that's why".

 

[eddymotto]

Yeah basically and i think it explores these theme's fairly well. I dont have a major problem with thematic focused films in general but in this case I think it lacks something in the gaps.

Compared to something like under the skin which is also very thematic and metaphorical but also felt whole within it's purely narrative aspects.

Under the Skin is an amazing movie. I loved it. Scarlett Johansson was incredible.

 

[revoltub]

Under the Skin is an amazing movie. I loved it. Scarlett Johansson was incredible.

Yeah I'm a pretty big fan of that movie. Very slick and hypnotic.

 

[ralphc1]

I watched Orphan: First Kill on Amazon last night. I give it 8 of 10. It had some obvious plot holes but an interesting twist. A girl that has been missing for four years turns up in another country and is returned to her family.

 

[revoltub]

I watched Orphan: First Kill on Amazon last night. I give it 8 of 10. It had some obvious plot holes but an interesting twist. A girl that has been missing for four years turns up in another country and is returned to her family.

Lol yeah I liked it too. Pretty similar to the first movie but a fun film overall.

 

[the ambush]

Hachi: A Dog's Tale

The movie was based in a city in Rhode Island. Hachi was found at a train station in a dog carrier and picked up by a local Doctor. Hachi soon becomes the Doctor and family's loyal pet. Hachi and the Doctor hold a special bond and companionship. I liked in the movie when it would show Hachi's point of view on camera in a grey color.

 

[BisexualMMA]

Hachi

The movie was based in a city in Rhode Island. Hachi was found at a train station in a dog carrier. Picked up by a local Doctor Hachi soon becomes the family's loyal pet and companion. I liked in the movie when it would show Hachi's point of view on camera in a grey color.

What are you doing man? That's not a mid 80s to early 90s straight to VHS action movie.

 

[PurpleStorm]

The Getaway, 1973. Steve McQueen & Ali McGraw. Upon prison release McQueen owes a benefactor a robbery. It goes wrong and the two are high tailing to Mexico with a gang, police, and a mean guy chasing them. Directed by Sam Peckinpaugh, script by Walter Hill from a book by Jim Thompson. 4/5. On amazon prime for 3 bucks.

 

[AFanNotAFighter]

Burnt Offerings(1976)
Oliver Reed, Karen Black, Bette Davis
Directed by Dan Curtis
6.5-7/10

A married couple, played by Reed and Black, along with their son and an Aunt(Davis), rent a large country home for the summer. They are told that they also must care for an elderly woman who lives in a locked room but never comes out. All they must do is leave food for her and that is all. Soon after they move in, odd things begin to occur and Reed and Black begin to exhibit strange behaviors with no immediate explanation. Eventually, their behaviors become so erratic that they decide to leave the house...only...they can't. The house won't let them.

Karen Black plays a good creepy role like she had often done in her career, almost to the point where I think she became typecast to an extent. Burgess Meredith makes an appearance early on but only for a few minutes.

Recommended.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: July 11, 2023

Dragonlord’s Review of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE

Bottom Line: Proving that artificial intelligence is not immune to plot-induced stupidity, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One delivers plenty of high-octane action sequences but falls a bit short on logic.

After saving the cinemas last year with Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise is back to save the summer blockbuster season with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One. Alongside his go-to director Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise proves once again he might be one of the last few mega stars left in Hollywood.

Dead Reckoning starts off with a tense, well-executed prologue involving a Russian submarine ship and showcases how scary the artificial intelligence antagonist can be. From there, everyone is chasing after two halves of a key that has the potential to either shut down or control the A.I. Since Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is intent on destroying the A.I., now called the Entity, rather than giving the power to anyone else, he is once again on the run and hunted down by his own country.

Providing his own stunts, Cruise is again in top form as the ever-likable Ethan Hunt. You can now add sleight of hands mastery among Ethan’s impressive arsenal. Much has been talked about his daredevil stunts, one thing I would like to bring up is Cruise’s underrated penchant for physical comedy which has been present in all the M:I films. Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are back as Luther and Benjie and though they don’t do anything extraordinary, it’s still a comfort to have them. Esai Morales is the main villain Gabriel and was just okay for me. Esai was more intimidating and scarier in The Ozarks. Shea Whigham plays Jasper Briggs, an operative in charge of hunting down Ethan. He was pretty good and provided a nice foil to Ethan throughout the movie. It was also fun seeing Kittridge (Henry Czerny) again whom we last saw in the very first Mission: Impossible film in 1996.

The four major female characters in here are just wonderful. Hayley Atwell, who was fantastic in season one of the underrated series Agent Carter, plays master thief Grace who is a breath of fresh air in here and a good addition to the M:I franchise. The actress’ charisma shines brightly and her chemistry with Cruise is palpable. Pom Klementieff, known mostly as Mantis in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, was great as the assassin Paris. Though she didn’t have a lot of lines, her manic energy and charismatic presence were very noticeable. She reminded me of Harley Quinn but less talkative. Rebecca Ferguson is back as fan-favorite Ilsa Faust and it’s a pleasure to watch her every time. Vanessa Kirby is also back as the black market broker Alanna Mitsopolis and she just radiates in all her scenes.

The action scenes were magnificent, crisp and easy to follow. McQuarrie especially excels when it comes to car chases which heavily uses practical effects. The action takes viewers to some gorgeous locations like the Abu Dhabi international airport, the streets of Rome, the club scene in Venice and onboard the Orient Express in the Austrian alps. The climax of the train scene is just bonkers and is undoubtedly the highlight of the film. There’s a sense of deja vu though as the car chase in Rome reminded me of Fast X’s Rome car chase sequence and the neon club scene in Venice reminded me of John Wick’s signature neon discotheque scenes.

With a runtime of 163 minutes and splitting the story into two movies, Part One has a more deliberate pace (which I liked) than the previous M:I films and the action scenes tend to go a bit too long. The much-hyped motorcycle stunt that Cruise did was a bit underwhelming in context to the movie. It was very short and the reasoning for the jump felt too contrived. The IMF team has done numerous elaborate, super-tough missions in the past but they're now having trouble to get on board a normal train?? There’s a bit of tediousness in the fact that all the missions in the movie involve the key. Mission one: key. Mission two: key. Mission three: key. Mission four: key.

The artificial intelligence angle is a new one for the M:I films and a timely topic in correlation with what's happening in real life but it's not that groundbreaking as this plotline has been used by other movies and TV shows, specifically in Jonathan Nolan's Westworld and Person of Interest.

The problem with having an omniscient A.I. as your antagonist is creates a lot of plot induced stupidity scenarios. As per what the movie revealed, the Entity is capable of hacking into any system and taking over anything that can be digitally controlled with absolute ease. The A.I. sees Hunt as a threat and wants to stop or eliminate him but doesn’t fully utilize its resources to do so. The Entity knows where Hunt and his team are hiding each time. Hunt is a fugitive of justice but the Entity doesn’t notify local law enforcements or constantly hire mercenaries to kill him. The Entity could take control of a drone and bomb Ethan. The Entity could just also bomb the key, destroying it and ensuring that it won't be used against it anymore.

Despite finding the story a bit lacking, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One is still a highly-entertaining summer blockbuster film in large part of the spectacular action scenes, awe-inspiring stunts, gorgeous visuals and an amazing cast. But without seeing the trailers for it, it did not make me look forward to Part Two though.

RATING: 7/10

Spoiler: SPOILER THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS ON THE FILM

I am sad that they killed off Ilsa Faust. She was one of the best things about the franchise.

I found it weird that they are trying to immediately set up Ethan and Grace as a couple in the wake of Ilsa’s death. I would have preferred if Ilsa did not show up for this movie so she can still live and they could just continue their plans for a Hunt/Grace romance. And if they wanted to kill off someone close to Hunt, I would have been okay if it was Benjie or Luther.

Speaking of Benjie, what's up with the retconning his history. In this film, they made it seem like had a criminal past and he joined the IMF to change all that. If I recall, Benjie was just a lowly technician in M:I 3 and he got promoted to field agent in the sequels.

 

[BisexualMMA]

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3

Everything to do with Rocket Raccoon was 8.5 out of 10. The rest of the movie was maybe 5.3 out of 10.

This movie was almost two and a half hours and could have and should have been one hour and forty five. Cut everything to do with that place where Nathan Fillion was in those goofy suits and you could also have axed everything to do with the golden dude and his Mom. That would have probably been 45 mostly irrelevant and entirely disposable minutes removed. Movie would have then been very good if it had also corrected the fact that this time the soundtrack was intrusive and jarring. I think only two or maybe three of the songs worked and were introduced in a way that was organic with the editing.

Overall... 6.5 / 10.

Could have been a lot worse but James Gunn got out of control with the silliness, undermining the serious stuff with too much goofiness, and a less deft hand than before with the music.

 

[revoltub]

Mission impossible: dead reckoning part 1
-
I really liked this movie, it delivered in most everything it promises in what I've come to expect from the franchise.

I thought the movie was paced perfectly. It goes by in a flash and there is never a wasted moment. I also really enjoyed the new characters they introduced. As well as the fact that they brought back Henry Czerny who was awesome in it.

As is expected the action was great and I thought it (mostly) flowed with the story very well.

As for the story itself I thought it was very good and intriguing. I wasnt sure how I'd feel about the A.I thing going in but I thought the film utilized it as a villain extremely well.

I have a few criticisms. One is that I felt Pegg was a little under utilized in the film toward the second half. I also didn't like some of the shakey cam used in the film. There are also two aspects minor aspects of the film that sort of bothered me

I also didnt think the film felt quite as "complete" as I wanted it too. Maybe it's more the note that it ends on lacks something for me. But the set up for the next was great.

I'd give it around a 7.85/10 extremely good.

 

[BisexualMMA]

DEAD RECKONING PART ONE

Pretty good (even a straight up good) action movie but not a world class film aside from the stunts that have become the drawing point for the franchise and a few other notable strengths.

The women steal the show in this movie and in a good way. Hayley Atwell and Vanessa Kirby are the high points of the movie, even more than Tom Cruise himself...and not because the movie disrespectfully writes him down in his own story but rather because the actresses do a great job with the characters that are properly written.

Hayley Atwell especially carries a lot of the water for the movie. She's better than she needs to be for a character like this in a movie like this. In fact...she provides a striking counterexample to something like Phoebe Waller Bridge in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The characters are actually quite similar on paper and in function. But while Phoebe Waller Bridge is somebody I wanted to please stop talking and get off the screen most of the time, the Hayley Atwell character was a success in delivery in all of the ways that the Waller Bridge character failed.

The one strength of Phoebe Waller Bridge was that she provided...almost all of the energy for that Indiana Jones film. She was the battery that kept things lively...though she was irritating and unpleasant for a good portion of that experience. Hayley Atwell has no overbearing burden to fuel the entire Mission Impossible movie energy wise...the movie has energy and momentum of its own...but other than that she provides a much more likable and watchable version of what the Indiana Jones film thought the Phoebe Waller Bridge character was.

Movie has some dumb stuff. A bunch of time is spent on contrived tension over a series of riddles that reminded me of Simon Gruber in Die Hard 3. There was a car chase that went on quite a bit longer than it needed.

And I think Ethan Hunt, despite seven movies and counting, is one of the less interesting characters Tom Cruise has ever played. I'm also not particularly interested by the Ving Rhames or Simon Pegg characters. These are all just functional and serviceable characters that are "plug and play" for one mission after another. But serviceable is good enough to get the job done for movies like this.

Some clunky moments, some clunky dialogue, but some good action. Atwell is the MVP in this one. And it was good to see Henry Czerny back.

7.1 / 10

 

[Fluffernutter]

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Not sure why I haven't seen this movie before.

I liked that music became the mode of communication between the humans and aliens. Although, I think math would be more likely the link between the two.

The experts understanding that the aliens were sending coordinates of latitude and longitude doesn't make sense. Yes, they would know the equator exists. But, the prime meridian is so arbitrary that someone from another world would have no idea where to begin our west/east demarcation. This was distracting.

Every kid in the movie annoyed me.

Terri Garr's character did the right thing and left Roy when he went manic.

Translating from French to Spanish to English was a nice touch and cool foreshadowing in regards to Alien language connection.

I'm not sure if Spielberg respects Indian culture or was mocking it. I guess drawing that conclusion is in the eye of the beholder.

Anywho....6/10

 

[BobVulture]

Realized a couple weeks ago that I may actually love Terminator 2, so spent the week watching all of its follow-ups.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines- Had no real expectations for this and went in just expecting some dumb fun. And man was I still disappointed. Nick Stahl is bad as John Connor, to the point that I thought the twist was going to be he's no longer the savior of mankind. The new female terminator is easily the worst antagonist of the franchise. None of the humor worked for me and actively dragged the movie down. The action was decent and I actually enjoyed the ending, but outside of that this was just a much much worse version of T2.
4/10

Terminator Salvation- Again never heard anything good about this one, so went in just hoping to get through this. But, unlike Terminator 3, I ended up borderline loving this movie. Thought the dystopian depiction of the future was great. Loved the realism of John Connor being seen as a savior to some of the human resistance while being viewed as thorn in the side of the remaining formal military leadership. Thought Anton Yelchin was great as young Kyle Reese. Seeing all the different versions of terminator/machines Skynet uses was awesome. Really liked some of the more subtle connections to T1 and T2. Really my only big issues with this movie come with the ending action sequence and some of the more overt callbacks to past films really didn't work for me.
7.5/10

Terminator Genisys- The only movie of the four follow-ups that I'd already seen. And my reaction on rewatch was about the same. Action was good enough, story was crazy enough and there was enough fan service that it was fun. But felt enough like a generic blockbuster that nothing really impressed me. Just kind of a turn your mind off popcorn movie to me.
5.5/10

Terminator Dark Fate- Easily the highest my expectations were going in, as this is basically the only one of these film I'd heard good things about. Really enjoyed the first act, the opening action sequence/fight between the new terminator and protector is great. On that same note, really enjoyed both the new terminator and human protector. But after that first act my enthusiasm dropped like a stone. The action sequences felt enough like a marvel or Fast and Furious movie that, outside of the opening, I just didn't care. I really have no interest in watching terminators fight in zero g or parachute a car out of a plane. I'm pretty split on how they used the legacy characters. The opening actually didn't bother me, and I like a lot of the stuff with Linda Hamilton. But she's a 65 year old woman and seeing her get thrown around and keep going was a little far for my suspension of disbelief. Arnold I was also split on, how storyline was interesting but there were massive logic issues there. Overall this is just more of the same old shit, rehashing T2 but worse.
6/10

My mind is honestly kinda boggled seeing how much people dislike Salvation and enjoy Dark Fate. To me Salvation is easily the third best film in the franchise and could definitely see myself bumping it up to an 8/10. Whereas the more I think about Dark Fate the more I feel like it'll drop down to Genisys's level or even bit below.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Rey GOATwalker Bless

 

[BisexualMMA]

Realized a couple weeks ago that I may actually love Terminator 2, so spent the week watching all of its follow-ups.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines- Had no real expectations for this and went in just expecting some dumb fun. And man was I still disappointed. Nick Stahl is bad as John Connor, to the point that I thought the twist was going to be he's no longer the savior of mankind. The new female terminator is easily the worst antagonist of the franchise. None of the humor worked for me and actively dragged the movie down. The action was decent and I actually enjoyed the ending, but outside of that this was just a much much worse version of T2.
4/10

Terminator Salvation- Again never heard anything good about this one, so went in just hoping to get through this. But, unlike Terminator 3, I ended up borderline loving this movie. Thought the dystopian depiction of the future was great. Loved the realism of John Connor being seen as a savior to some of the human resistance while being viewed as thorn in the side of the remaining formal military leadership. Thought Anton Yelchin was great as young Kyle Reese. Seeing all the different versions of terminator/machines Skynet uses was awesome. Really liked some of the more subtle connections to T1 and T2. Really my only big issues with this movie come with the ending action sequence and some of the more overt callbacks to past films really didn't work for me.
7.5/10

Terminator Genisys- The only movie of the four follow-ups that I'd already seen. And my reaction on rewatch was about the same. Action was good enough, story was crazy enough and there was enough fan service that it was fun. But felt enough like a generic blockbuster that nothing really impressed me. Just kind of a turn your mind off popcorn movie to me.
5.5/10

Terminator Dark Fate- Easily the highest my expectations were going in, as this is basically the only one of these film I'd heard good things about. Really enjoyed the first act, the opening action sequence/fight between the new terminator and protector is great. On that same note, really enjoyed both the new terminator and human protector. But after that first act my enthusiasm dropped like a stone. The action sequences felt enough like a marvel or Fast and Furious movie that, outside of the opening, I just didn't care. I really have no interest in watching terminators fight in zero g or parachute a car out of a plane. I'm pretty split on how they used the legacy characters. The opening actually didn't bother me, and I like a lot of the stuff with Linda Hamilton. But she's a 65 year old woman and seeing her get thrown around and keep going was a little far for my suspension of disbelief. Arnold I was also split on, how storyline was interesting but there were massive logic issues there. Overall this is just more of the same old shit, rehashing T2 but worse.
6/10

My mind is honestly kinda boggled seeing how much people dislike Salvation and enjoy Dark Fate. To me Salvation is easily the third best film in the franchise and could definitely see myself bumping it up to an 8/10. Whereas the more I think about Dark Fate the more I feel like it'll drop down to Genisys's level or even bit below.

Yeah Terminator 3 sucked balls. But it wasn't Nick Stahl's fault as an actor. The script literally wrote him as a damsel in distress from the beginning of the movie to the end. He opens the movie by wiping out on his dirtbike because he gets freaked out by a deer and then getting trapped in a dog cage. He closes the movie by being duped against his will into surviving. He saves and helps nobody along the way. He is repeatedly rescued by Arnold or Claire Danes. There was nothing Nick could do to make this John Connor a hero.

Still more believable as the savior of humanity than Dani friggin' Ramos though.

 

[revoltub]

Apollo 13
-
It was good. Probably the most 90s cast ever with it only missing someone like Barry Pepper. Hanks is great as the lead (as usual). Paxton and Bacon are both very good. Gary Sinese was probably my favorite character in the movie.

I thought I would like it a bit more than I did. I feel like it can drag and the momentum gets thrown off at times. Especially toward the end I started getting anxious for it to just end. I think the film could've been a little shorter.

Overall I'd say it's an enjoyable sugary type of blockbuster film. With a great 90s cast, great direction from Howard, and a very acceptable 90's type of score. Needed to be cut a bit though imo.

7/10

 

[BobVulture]

Yeah Terminator 3 sucked balls. But it wasn't Nick Stahl's fault as an actor. The script literally wrote him as a damsel in distress from the beginning of the movie to the end. He opens the movie by wiping out on his dirtbike because he gets freaked out by a deer and then getting trapped in a dog cage. He closes the movie by being duped against his will into surviving. He saves and helps nobody along the way. He is repeatedly rescued by Arnold or Claire Danes. There was nothing Nick could do to make this John Connor a hero.

Still more believable as the savior of humanity than Dani friggin' Ramos though.

True. He's actually written so weakly that for a decent chunk of the movie I thought the twist was going to be that because he grew up constantly being told "Youre destined to be the savior of mankind" he's now no longer destined to be the leader of the resistance and Clair Danes is. But no they just made him totally incompetent for no reason.

 

[BisexualMMA]

True. He's actually written so weakly that for a decent chunk of the movie I thought the twist was going to be that because he grew up constantly being told "Youre destined to be the savior of mankind" he's now no longer destined to be the leader of the resistance and Clair Danes is. But no they just made him totally incompetent for no reason.

That would have actually been a potentially interesting concept instead of what we got for Terminator: Dark Fate. Have a schlub ass bum John Connor the way Edward Furlong is now...the guy kept sharp and in shape until maybe a little after when Judgment Day was supposed to be but let himself go and has no purpose. Shit hits the fan now that he's 45 or whatever and he has to saddle up for a redemption story.

Arnold would have to drag his sorry ass into the gym after they filmed the "old Raging Bull" portions though.

Better than Dani Ramos and John Connor getting flat blasted in the opening credits anyway.