Movie Reviews 2022

[take8easy]

Alright, let us start a new thread of movie reviews.

The Midnight Meat Train:
It was on cable believe it or not and usually horror is one of my least favorite genre, I started to watch out of curiosity. I guess when I saw the cast includes Bradley Cooper and Brooke Shields, I assumed it would be a bit different. Well, different it is. As in gore, blood, guts, body parts being chopped, blood being squirted, guts being pulled out, tongues been pulled out and eaten.
It has to be the goriest movie I have ever seen and I never thought it was going to go to the direction it went. There is a big plot twist towards the end. Later on I realized that the director is Japanese, well, that explains a bit. Some Japanese movie makers and story tellers do seem to have this twisted approach to thing. Twisted as in twisting someone's tongue out of the mouth and eating it, or better still, just yank a throbbing heart out of someone's chest .... !
I think you got the idea. This movie came out about ten years ago.

Recommend: Only if you are into this graphic blood and gut gore.
Repeat: Never. I had enough horror for a year!

 

[masterpoonhunter]

Watched the remake of Dune last night on my IPTV. Had the Harmon Kardon sound system cranked for the effects and the Bravia delivered the requisite large screen cinematics.
OK, that one is checked off the list. Great effects.
What else can I say?

 

[Lo-ki]

If you have really really really nothing else to do…..

 

[papillion]

With the hyperbowl around the corner, I wstched:

"Home Team", a loose bio-pic about Sean Payton during his 1 year suspension from the New Orleans saints. Kevin James plays lead and is understatedly funny, Rob Schneider provides comic relief, Adam Sandler directs which means his wife & daughter play roles. Payton spends his time coaching his sons football team, not a bad movie, 7/10

"the blindside" finally got to see this movie based on the life of Michael Oher, screenplay from the book.
I liked this film, Sandra bullock was good, the story is heart-warming, Big Mike overcomes impossible odds with the help of the Tuohy family to become a Super Bowl winning left tackle, maybe a bit of a Disney story but worth a look.
8/10

 

[Lo-ki]

A pure 2 hrs and 15 mins of boringness

 

[agentman]

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness

- has the Sam Raimi visual style ie Evil Dead Trilogy, Darkman.
- a few character moments seem contrived/unconvincing.
- a bit of cgi was unpolished.
- Score = 6.5/10 YMMV. Moderaetly entertaining.

 

[JimDandy]

Watched the remake of Dune last night on my IPTV. Had the Harmon Kardon sound system cranked for the effects and the Bravia delivered the requisite large screen cinematics.
OK, that one is checked off the list. Great effects.
What else can I say?

Only a remake of first half of Dune. Hopefully part 2 comes out soon

JD

 

[jamasianman]

Old Henry 2021. Its on Netflix. Underrated indie western film in the vein of Unforgiven. Starring Tim blake Nelson as a farmer with a past and he comes across a bag of cash and wounded stranger. Definitely recommended.

 

[take8easy]

The Hunt: It came about two years ago and I caught it on Netflix. Started to watch it out of boredom. It is a suspense thriller, comedy, etc etc. First part of the movie was pretty good but once the truth started to unravel I got bored. If you like gory violence, there is plenty of it. Sometimes it seemed like a B grade attempt at making a satire. The leading girl Betty Gilpin just seemed ... weird for lack of a better word. Hillary Swank with all his talent has been wasted here, I think. 5/10 for me.

Still Alice : I kept avoiding this movie for over 6, 7 years simply because of its story. The central character played (very well) by Julianne Moore has dementia. Someone very close to me has this dreadful disease and I was afraid I won't able to watch a character deteriorating. But finally I found the courage and watched it. Now, I watched The Father (based on a play Le Père ) a few months back. (I reviewed it here as well). The central character played remarkably by Anthony Hopkins has dementia too. I could not help but compare both movies.

Although both movies deal with dementia, they are both made differently. While Still Alice tells the story chronologically, The Father has approached it very differently. I enjoy (for lack of a better term) the latter more because it makes you look at things from the patient's point of view. Both are very very good movies and if you have someone in your life who is a victim of this awful disease, you must watch them both. My review of The Father is being re-posted here.


Jan 6, 2022

The Father
There are good movies and then there are great movies. This movie came a few months ago and I knew that I should watch it but something was making me avoid it. It was the theme that I was afraid of. I knew that story of an old person going thru dementia like symptoms is going to remind me of some close relatives and that’s exactly what happened when I did watch it finally.

It has to be one of the THE BEST movies I have ever seen. The performance of Anthony Hopkins is incredibly credible. Fantastic direction and production values. If you have not seen it yet, I am not going to ruin it for you. It took me a few minutes to comprehend what’s really going on.

It will really hit you hard if someone in your family is in that situation. It makes you see things from there perspective.

I remember someone recommending Still Alice starring Julianne Moore. Apparently it has a similar central character.

The Father is Remarkable!
Strongly Recommended!
9.99 out of 10 for me.

 

[jamasianman]

Just watched a stellar Korean movie in theatres. Its called The Roundup. A terrific action thriller that's a sequel to The Outlaws 2017. Plot is about cops in Korea extraditing a criminal from Vietnam but get led to a more vicious killer who has been targeting Korean tourists. Strong direction like Jack Reacher, plenty of hard hitting action sequences from the big guy from Train to Busan (don lee). You don't have to watch the first one to get the second film. Playing at international village and silvercity coquitlam.

 

[Mrmotorscooter]

Unforgivable with Sandra Bullock was on and it seemed hohum ok let's watch it, a locally shot Netflix that showed a lot of the DTES. It was actually pretty good with a strange unexpected outcome.

 

[masterpoonhunter]

Caught Death on the Nile awhile ago. So much promise from the Orient Express but this one ... I give it a 5/10 for nice scenery.
Also the romcom Lost City. Should have smoked a doobie before going in as it was just too much fluff but Brad the Pitt's cameos were fun.
Glad hockey has been on the past while.

 

[Lastimo]

Alright, let us start a new thread of movie reviews.

The Midnight Meat Train:
It was on cable believe it or not and usually horror is one of my least favorite genre, I started to watch out of curiosity. I guess when I saw the cast includes Bradley Cooper and Brooke Shields, I assumed it would be a bit different. Well, different it is. As in gore, blood, guts, body parts being chopped, blood being squirted, guts being pulled out, tongues been pulled out and eaten.
It has to be the goriest movie I have ever seen and I never thought it was going to go to the direction it went. There is a big plot twist towards the end. Later on I realized that the director is Japanese, well, that explains a bit. Some Japanese movie makers and story tellers do seem to have this twisted approach to thing. Twisted as in twisting someone's tongue out of the mouth and eating it, or better still, just yank a throbbing heart out of someone's chest .... !
I think you got the idea. This movie came out about ten years ago.

Recommend: Only if you are into this graphic blood and gut gore.
Repeat: Never. I had enough horror for a year!

the director did a godzilla flick that was really weird I dug it.
it's a perfect example of a foreign filmmaker taking a horror project and imbuing it with what they believe are western sensibilities and the result is a gaudy mess...in the best way possible. it almost feels like a satire of an american horror flick.

 

[vanperb]

Caught Death on the Nile awhile ago. So much promise from the Orient Express but this one ... I give it a 5/10 for nice scenery.

The irony is that the scenery was 90% CG. Almost all of it was done on a soundstage.

https://uproxx.com/viral/death-on-the-nile-cgi-backgrounds-twitter-reactions/

 

[take8easy]

The Guilty: A mystery thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal. It is very well done I think. The main character works in 911 and it is about a call that he receives from a woman who seems to be in distress. The fun part is that you do not meet many other characters, you just hear their voices over the phone. I think Jake Gyllenhaal is a great actor and he plays the main character beautifully. I watched it on Netflix. If you are into suspense thrillers, I strongly recommend it.

Speaking of Jake Gyllenhaal, I watched Prisoners again. Again a suspense thriller with a very good cast. Hugh Jackman as the father of the abducted girl is great as well. Some parts of the story seem a bit stretched but still it was great watching it for the second time.

Owning Mahowny: I caught it on the cable and I loved it. It is a movie based on a real story of a gambling addict and it is so very well played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. I think he died too soon. He plays this role so subtly that you almost feel sorry for him. Great acting, great story and very well told. There is a Canadian connection because the main character Brian Mahowny lived in Toronto area and worked for CIBC. He embezzled 10 million dollars to feed his addiction. He lost a million dollars in one night!
Strongly recommended.

 

[John Aston]

If you feel the need for speed, see Top Gun - Maverick on the biggest screen you can find. Great follow-up to the original Top Gun. And I gotta say (as a complete heterosexual) Tom Cruise is a really handsome guy, for a 60 year old. And Jennifer Connelly is a gorgeous MILF, bordering on GILF.

 

[take8easy]

If you are into international movies, I would recommend Jalsa (meaning a gathering of people, a celebration, or a procession) on Amazon. It is an Indian (Hindi) movie and English subtitles are available.
Also, the tags say it is a suspense movie, there isn't much suspense but the drama and tension are very good. Having said that, it is not an action thriller by any means. Also, acting by two actresses is remarkable.
It is about guilt, morality and owning up to one's mistake(s).

Recommended. Yes. Repeat: Yes, I watched it a few weeks back and I might watch it again soon.

 

[agentman]

Crimes Of The Future (2022)

Directed by David Croneneberg
Starring Viggo Mortensen, Lea Seydoux and Kristen Stewart.

I have enjoyed some of the directors past films(Videodrome, Scanners and the Fly),
but this one left me indifferent; it seemed overly restrained and unengaging.
The plot of the movie gives a reason for this but still. Those who are not fans of the director might want to skip it.
I'll try to watch it again some other time to see if it was just me.

 

[Booblover123]

Good Luck To You Leo Grande on Amazon Prime.Interesting role reversal on sex work starring Emma Thompson.Quite enjoyed the message.

 

[masterpoonhunter]

Good Luck To You Leo Grande on Amazon Prime.Interesting role reversal on sex work starring Emma Thompson.Quite enjoyed the message.

As a purveyor of a wide dynamic range, age-wise, in my pooning, this very simple but highly effective movie is very much in the now.
From personal experience, I have found many women in their 50's-60's wanting to break away from the hangups, restrictions, beliefs etc that have shackled them sexually through their lives.
Great flick, and a powerful message.