Last movie you watched......

Do you mean Dumb Money?

 

The latest Mission Impossible movie. Always been a big fan of the franchise, but aside from cool new additions to the cast (and bringing back Henry Czerny), I feel they're running out of steam with this one. Uninvolving MacGuffin plot point coupled with a creeping sameness to the chases/stunts make this forgettable.

 

We went to see “American Fiction” Saturday. A brief and overly simplistic summary is that it’s about an academic Black author who is frustrated by his “ serious” novels’ lack of success writes an outlandish urban crime life novel and is overwhelmed and horrified when it is an instant hit that spirals out of any of his control.

We thought the film was amazing and we were left with issues about race, marketing, dealing with family trauma, the definition and significance of authenticity, etc., that stirred discussions. The movie’s contributing story lines could have been their own movies and made the film all that much more compelling and complex. We’re going to get Percival Everett’s “Erasure,” the book the movie adapts.

 

"Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" recently made it to Hulu and I watched it last night. Pretty typical stuff. I didn't hang around Hollywood much back then but a lot was familiar. I kept waiting for Charles Manson etc., but this seemed like a better way to handle it. Best part was Leo and his flamethrower. Any movie with Margot Robbie is worth watching.

 

Anatomy of a Fall; French version of a wrongful death trial. Compelling and nice to see how a foreign director/producer presents a film (much different than a US studio). Nitpicking, but as a US lawyer, very irked at how the French trials work. Its more a circus IMHO than presenting the evidence the American way.

 

Argylle was OK at best. Certainly not as good as I expected.
Good cast and threads of a good story, but some ridiculousness toward the end.
Not a terrible watch, but nothing special.

 

I happened to have to waste some time and ended up reading three newspapers yesterday. All were negative and one (I think NYT) gave it zero stars.

 

That's too bad. I really like Sam Rockwell.

 

Oh man, Sunday with rain an no football so went to Amazon Prime and saw "X" by Ti West; as someone said a mashup of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Debbie Does Dallas. Set in 1979, well done. Creepy, not explicit sex (definitely R stuff), but also rich in storytelling. Captured the '79 vibe nicely.

 

"Dances With Wolves" was on one of the cable channels yesterday and, while looking at the credits, was amused to see one of the soldiers was played by a bit-part character actor named Frank P. Costanza.
Near as I can tell, it's just a weird coincidence I'm sure he heard a lot of jokes about in the 90s.

 

Pin Gods on YouTube - a 1995 or so documentary about three young guys trying to make it as pro bowlers. I remember reading about it when it came out and it was always buried it the back of my mind.

Well done, fun watch, 9.2 rating on IMDB.