Last Movie You Watched

I recommend Jim Henson: Idea Man if you have Disney+. Not a hard-hitting expose (possibly an interesting look at how some genius combined with being a workaholic may not help interpersonal relationships) but as a fan of Henson I enjoyed it. Could have been longer honestly.

Posted by: @tfitz

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Alien: Romulus

It mentally messed with me. It pulled a lot from Alien and some from Aliens which was awesome. A long awaited question is finally answered which is really cool as well. BUT THEN.... someone had the bright idea to pull a little something out of Alien 4. WHY??? While this is obviously purposefully vague as the movie just came out, but it will make perfect sense if you watch it.

I think I groaned audibly when the Alien 4 bit showed up. It was an entertaining flick, but a lot of it didn't land for me...and some moments had me going "WTF?". 

I continued my "which sequels did I not bother to watch yet" series (first Covenant, then Afterlife) with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. I felt there were some good moments, the de-aging of Ford for the opening was fine I thought, and I thought there was some good subtle stuff (like Helena explaining how she pushed the card to be picked in the card trick - like what Archimedes did to get someone to come through the portal but thinking they were in control; that the dagger was made from an alloy not known at the time - maybe made with metal left over from the crashed airplane) and also some odd stuff (the whole continental drift issue - I am assuming that Indy was bluffing as I didn't think that made sense). I kind of wished Indy would have been able to spend more time in the past to be honest. I actually thought they might have been leading to Indy being the body found in the tomb in Sicily with part of the device...that instead of being lonely and retired, he got to experience what would have been an amazing end to his life in the past he always wanted to study.

Oddly it was the action sequences that let me down - the chase in NYC, the chase in Tangiers - not that great to me. I almost think it would have been better if they acknowledged Indy was too old to be an action hero and kept the move a bit more quiet, a bit more Indy using his brain. So a mixed bag for me, might watch it once more, but don't see myself revisiting it often.

Posted by: @fac

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I kind of wished Indy would have been able to spend more time in the past to be honest. I actually thought they might have been leading to Indy being the body found in the tomb in Sicily with part of the device...that instead of being lonely and retired, he got to experience what would have been an amazing end to his life in the past he always wanted to study.

I got excited when I thought that was where they were going and was very disappointed when Helena wouldn't respect his wishes and punched him (is that what happened? Saw it once and really didn't like this choice). I thought that was a really cool way for an action hero archaeologist to go out - very movie-ish, but what a great thing for Indiana. Was very sad they took it away from him.

I also like your thought about using his brain more than action sequences. Especially filming during COVID when a giant parade scene is going to be a CGI mess no matter what.

And I'm still curious why Antonio Banderas took this role - surely something got cut.

I got what they were going for - Indy needed to reunite with Marion - so was fine with either in the past or return to the present. They of course loaded the choice by Indy being shot, so him staying in the past would have essentially been a suicidal/just let me die decision so given the scenario, he had to come back. I kind of wish they had taken that aspect out and had it be a real choice for Indy - not so much that Indy needed to back so he could be with Marion for his benefit, but that he felt Marion needed him to recover from Mutt's death. 

I spent some time after I wrote the post to read some fan discussions and I think the best comment was that this was another artifact that was ultimately a test at the end of the film (opening the Ark, choosing the Grail) - this time would Indy chose to stay in the past, which one could argue was the selfish/last gasp choice. 

Harrison now has the distinction of having two lines in his career that sound impressive but make little sense in terms of science once you think about it - "Made the Kessel Run in 12 Parsecs", "He didn't account for Continental Drift" - and I am not sure if in both case we aren't supposed to think he is making things up...

Inside Out 2 is on Disney+ so watched that. I thought it was decent - nothing really that memorable but a decent story, although not one that I thought was all that fleshed out so it kind of meandered once the initial five emotions got banished. Unlike the first film, I was actually more interested in the real-world Riley story than the emotions this time. As with most Pixar films, I do appreciate the general positive themes and outcomes they try to convey.

I did kind of wish that when Riley is having her anxiety attack/crisis of identity at the end, that it was her friends checking on her that brought her out of it, more than the internal conflict/her own emotions resolving itself. That her friends hadn't let a couple days of off behavior ruin things was a good message, but taking it a step further that she needed them to help pull herself together and that they still cared about her would have been an equally good message - that you often need the support of others when struggling. Their support being the external reminder that she what she believed about herself - that she was a good person, a good friend and she didn't need to be so anxious to be something other than her true self to be happy - I would have liked that.

That's a really good point, and my kid that is Riley's age right now is the one who always tries to take on everything on his own rather than letting his support system be there for him..so it's certainly something I'm very aware of as well. The movie still got me choked up plenty though, heh.

Rewatched The Ruins with Iceman and Contact Girl again, still dig it. 

Abigail --  This was a fun romp even though the humor didn't always land with me.  I new nothing about the film and totally expected her to be something other than what she turned out to be.  Well made.  Cast was great.  Nice seeing the end cameo.  I hadn't seen him in years.

ParaNorman - (9 out of 10)

Excellent movie, its "low brow" but i like that. the only complaint is that Norman should have been alittle more Gothic-y looking and have more powers. Its like the Sixth Sense but in Claymation form LOL

Fun fact: it WASN'T made by Tim burton

All Hallows' Eve - (5 out of 10)

Watched this on Halloween...The first half of the movie is Trash then all of a sudden its the Art the clown show, it gets way better. This was the movie that sparked the Terrifier franchise. In the Terrifier, They pretty much used the same scene in this movie but extended it, they even used the same "gasoline station/building"

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) (10 out of 10)

Harryhausen is a genius, that is all. Ahead of his time. This was the guy who inspired Tim Burton, just saying.

Scooby-Doo: the movie (10 out of 10) Live action

Excellent movie, just to nit pick, Scooby's head seems alittle undersized, could be bigger lol. Also, they did a great job with the casting except for mr beans, he looks out of place. never liked mr beans for some reason, i think his show was annoying back in the days. Shaggy (Mat lillard) was on point, its like if shaggy came to life. That Jester Ghost was awesome.

Watched Smile 2 this weekend. It was really good until suddenly it wasn't. 

The lady movie before that was Trap, which was surprisingly good. Until it suddenly wasn't. 

I guess the lesson there is, if you're watching a thriller about a pop star, leave early. 

Transformers One was pretty good.  While I'm tired of Transformers origin stories every other Thursday; this one is well told, well-acted, and pretty to look at.  I've always had a preference for Cybertronian altmodes and most everything here looks cool to me, so I'm happy with more Cybertronian-centric tales as the very-end post-credits teaser hints at.

One wonders how details in this tale relate to details in Beast Machines, at least some of us ones do.