Movies/TV worth watching (or at least discussing)

i've been watching The Rings of Power, and while it has flaws i enjoy the imagining of the Tolkeinian world prior to the forging of the One RIng.
However, in Season 2, as Sauron has tricked Celebrimbor into letting him in and forging magic rings together, there is a flaw that really irritates me. How the F is Annatar, as he calls himself there, now being called "my lord" and making decisions about who to let into the city and how to dispose of bodies, whether anyone can see them or not, and whether or not the lord of Eregion can be bothered? Seems like a pretty huge leap has been made without really describing how he climbed so many rungs of the Elven social hierarchy.
 
Agatha All Along has been solid so far on Disney+. The first episode had me about confused for a little bit there because I forgot so much about what has happened in the marvel universe in relation to WandaVision and a little bit of the Multiverse of Madness.
 
I wasn't much of a fan of the original Joker, but the sequel is even worse. A depressing slog that seems unsure what it has to say about its main character.
Here is my 100-word review: https://flixchat.blogspot.com/2024/10/jason-evans-100-word-reviews-joker.html

joker-folie-deux-22.jpg
 
JasonEvans said:
I wasn't much of a fan of the original Joker, but the sequel is even worse. A depressing slog that seems unsure what it has to say about its main character.
Here is my 100-word review: https://flixchat.blogspot.com/2024/10/jason-evans-100-word-reviews-joker.html
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I liked the first one, and I was eager for the sequel. I was even more eager when I saw LG was signed on. And then my eagerness dropped like a rock when I read that it was to be a musical. It called up memories of when The Color Purple came out. I was one that voted for it, and you rightfully shot it down with a comment about how that made it doomed.

It's not musicals that I'm opposed to, I enjoy a really good one. I'll watch Oliver! any time it's on. In a more modern vein, I absolutely love Chicago. I'll relish in the joy and feel the fear during Cabaret. But don't give me a good scripted dramatic story without a single musical inclination other than a dance down a staircase and then make me hum my way through chapter two.
 
JasonEvans said:
As a critic who has been forced to sit through Minions, flailing Pixar mediocrity, Mario, and Garfield recently... I was sooooo happy to have something of this quality on the screen in front of me.

I am also hearing good things about a movie called Flow from Latvia that is about a bunch of animals living on a boat after a global flood.
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What a beautiful looking film!
 
CameronBornAndBred said:
I liked the first one, and I was eager for the sequel. I was even more eager when I saw LG was signed on. And then my eagerness dropped like a rock when I read that it was to be a musical. It called up memories of when The Color Purple came out. I was one that voted for it, and you rightfully shot it down with a comment about how that made it doomed.

It's not musicals that I'm opposed to, I enjoy a really good one. I'll watch Oliver! any time it's on. In a more modern vein, I absolutely love Chicago. I'll relish in the joy and feel the fear during Cabaret. But don't give me a good scripted dramatic story without a single musical inclination other than a dance down a staircase and then make me hum my way through chapter two.
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I too like a good musical. If you use the music to advance the story and provide spectacle then it can work magically (The Greatest Showman, Chicago, La La Land, Mamma Mia, West Side Story, Rocketman)...

But the musical numbers in Joker 2 are really uninspired and do almost nothing to move the story along. They tell us little about the characters and what they are feeling. They add a splash of color to what is otherwise a very drab palate in this film but even that splash doesn't seem all that visually interesting.

The original Joker was a bigger hit with audiences than with critics (68% critic score on RT with a robust 89% audience score). Talking to my fellow critic friends when we saw this on Tuesday, I knew the critic number would be bad (it is currently at 37% on RT, ouch!). But, now that the film has opened it is clear that the audience is disappointed in this film as well. The audience score on RT is a dismal 37% (matching the critics). I am betting the Cinemascore comes in at a C or maybe worse. The movie's ending is especially tough for audiences to enjoy and leaves a bad taste in your mouth, which will depress the Cinemascore even more.

Meanwhile, still waiting to hear from all of you who took my advice and saw Wild Robot last weekend. What a masterpiece that film is!
 
Anyone watching season 2 of Rings of Power? I’m a few episodes in now and frankly, I’m not impressed. We’ll see if it picks up at all.
 
Last season of the Umbrella Academy was … well, it’s over now. Not particularly good as compared to prior seasons. I thought the ending was fine (apparently many hated it).
 
So if I only see one new scary movie this Halloween season @JasonEvans , what should it be? I haven't seen any of these yet. You don't have to answer as I know this is not your favorite genre and I wouldn't expect you to sit through all these. So for anyone - which one between -
Never Let Go, The Substance, Speak No Evil (2024), Terrifier 3, Smile 2, Something Else?

I think I'm leaning Speak No Evil (can't go wrong with James McAvoy) but The Substance and Demi Moore who is awesome is extremely tempting.
 
Just saw Saturday Night. Easily the best movie I’ve seen this year. Absolutely fantastic and cannot recommend it enough. I was only 7 when SNL debuted, but I remember how my older siblings loved it, and it changed television forever. This movie is a good homage to it and really well done.
 
richardjackson199 said:
So if I only see one new scary movie this Halloween season @JasonEvans , what should it be? I haven't seen any of these yet. You don't have to answer as I know this is not your favorite genre and I wouldn't expect you to sit through all these. So for anyone - which one between -
Never Let Go, The Substance, Speak No Evil (2024), Terrifier 3, Smile 2, Something Else?

I think I'm leaning Speak No Evil (can't go wrong with James McAvoy) but The Substance and Demi Moore who is awesome is extremely tempting.
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Whew... I mean those movies are very, very different. Terrifier 3 is a low-budget gore-fest. Speak No Evil is kinda a psychological horror film. The Substance is... well... it is something very different from either of those as it finds some gross but effective ways to speak to society's obsession with youth and beauty.

In terms of quality, The Substance and Speak No Evil are on a different level than the others, IMO. I would see one of those depending on your personal taste.
 
JasonEvans said:
Whew... I mean those movies are very, very different. Terrifier 3 is a low-budget gore-fest. Speak No Evil is kinda a psychological horror film. The Substance is... well... it is something very different from either of those as it finds some gross but effective ways to speak to society's obsession with youth and beauty.

In terms of quality, The Substance and Speak No Evil are on a different level than the others, IMO. I would see one of those depending on your personal taste.
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Thanks that helped. Speak No Evil should be a fun enough Halloween diversion with a fall beer. I'm not looking for effective but gross which rules out the Substance and Terrifier 3.

And your Joker 2 review also helped. Not going there. My brother agreed, and told me it was very well-acted but one of the more depressing movies he's seen. No thanks. That is too bad as Lady Gaga & Phoenix do have potential. The first one for me was worth 1 watch. But a depressing "musical"? Not a good use of leisure time.
 
acdevil said:
Ok, finished Season 2 of the Rings of Power. It definitely picked up and was worth watching by the end.
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I finally finished as well. Trying to dance around spoilers:

Positive:

Agree that it picked up; the season's climactic battle over the last 3 episodes (but particularly penultimate episode 7) hit some of the themes and characters well (particularly Elrond and Celebrimbor) and was such a large battle that would have been unthinkable on television pre-Game of Thrones.

The last scene for Dwarf king Durin was pretty metal.

The inter and intra familial dramas of the Numenorian characters was affecting, I thought. I felt for the "good guys" and snarled at the "bad guys". I feel like some more fleshing out of Ar-Pharazon is needed, though, beside just "power hungry".

On the more lukewarm side:

I kept wanting more from the storyline of the wizard and the harfoots. I liked what we got, but it felt like they only wanted to tell a little bit of that story this season, and stretched about one third of season's worth of material over the entire season.

I found the final scene of the season an odd tonal beat to end on; it felt like they were going for an Empire Strikes Back-esque moment of hope after a fairly dark outcome, but it didn't seem to have enough build up or fleshing out to justify.
 
Lately I've been watching reactions as people watch some of my favorite movies for the first time. Among other things it lets me see others viewing the movies for the first time and get a fresh perspective. It also let's me rewatch in a short amount of time.

One of the reactions I watched was a viewing of Lilo and Stitch. I hadn't realized until watching the reaction that Lilo was "neurodivergent." Hmm, that term requires more research. In any event, here's a link to the reaction video. What do you think of the movie and of the reaction?

Linky, linky.
 
camion said:
Lately I've been watching reactions as people watch some of my favorite movies for the first time. Among other things it lets me see others viewing the movies for the first time and get a fresh perspective. It also let's me rewatch in a short amount of time.

One of the reactions I watched was a viewing of Lilo and Stitch. I hadn't realized until watching the reaction that Lilo was "neurodivergent." Hmm, that term requires more research. In any event, here's a link to the reaction video. What do you think of the movie and of the reaction?

Linky, linky.
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That's interesting. I literally was talking with a coworker less than ten minutes ago about our shared loved of Royal Tennenbaums.

The movie came out in 2001, and we were talking about the quirky/overachiever kiddo (Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Gwenyth Paltrow) and how watching the movie today you're like "oh, these kids are the definition of neurodivergent."

Perspective changes on movies over time.
 
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