Last movie you watched......

Watched the remake of "The Magnificent Seven" tonight and enjoyed it well enough, but it's clearly not up to the level of the original, or even Seven Samurai.

Parts I liked: Denzel was excellent as Chisom, the cinematography was gorgeous and the action was filmed expertly. Sarsgaard was a good villain as Bogue and I liked how they increasingly made him look worse as the movie progressed. Fuqua did a nice job directing, particularly in the scene between Chisolm and Bogue

Spoiler: Spoiler

, in which he left Denzel's eyes in shadow as he prepared to kill Bogue, only to take his hat off and then Emma makes the fatal blow. Just a really nice touch as Chisolm was prepared to enter the shadows to avenge his family, but comes back to the light.

Parts I didn't like: Pratt was wasted as Faraday. If they're casting him, he should have provided more comic relief, or been cooler. As it was, there were any number of actors who could have played the role. Horner's score was OK, but not memorable at all. Given the footsteps in which he was following, I expected better - particularly because I think he's a damn fine composer.

It wasn't great, and it could have been (the remake of "True Grit" was better, for instance), but it was a worthwhile two hours.

 

Yes. Completely agree. I don't understand what all the hype is about. The direction and writing were lacking. The acting is the only thing that saves this movie. Has Denzel directed any other movies? It really looks like a first-timer's work.

 

Time capsule flick. Though made in the late 80s, it's really made for the thirtysomething Baby Boomer at the time. Some of it just doesn't translate to today; including the reputation of boarding/all-boys schools, and the value of classical education. Lots of boarding/private school movies in that era. (Including the unforgettable Toy Soldiers!)

I always liked School Ties more, personally. That's a good little movie. And The Chocolate War, which is close to great.

 

Movies I've seen over the last few whatever:

Nocturnal Animals - Tom Ford flick featuring Amy Adams looking three different ways, and her character, if you really think about it, being portrayed by three other actors, including one that must weigh 500 pounds. The opening scene is...overdone, but the heart of the story is a nasty little backwater revenge tale. And it's a pretty good one. Violent, lurid, and it has Amy Adams.

Huntsman, Winter's War: Fell asleep. first 20 minutes stunk.

White Girl: Privileged NYC white college student gets caught up in some drug scheme while she's out of school for the summer. She starts to use crack and coke, parties constantly, lives it up. Supposed to be provocative but it comes off, at some point, like a female director trying to show how racy she can be.

Other People: Saw it on Netflix. Molly Shannon's dying of cancer and her gay son (Jesse Plemons) comes home to be with her and the dad, who won't acknowledge his son's sexual orientation. Good little drama. Tries hard to delve into relationships. Not that funny.

 

Watched "Jason Bourne" this weekend and it was awful, easily the worst of the franchise. The chase scenes were tired and boring (another motorcycle up the steps? ), the plot was dull and it seemed odd that the main villain died before his No. 2. It really lacked any sense of drama or emotion and it didn't advance the story of Jason Bourne at all.

We learn that his father was killed and he's very sad about this, yet, we never see a single moment of tenderness or bond between Bourne and his dad. I get that it's his dad, so of course he's sad, but they did nothing to establish anything about their relationship, so it was kind of like, who cares?

 

Oddly enough, the last two movies I watched featured the same child actor: Midnight Special and St. Vincent.

 

I fell asleep about 15-20 minutes in.

 

Demolition. A solid meh. Got a little cliched at certain points but I liked the portrayal of a husband who wasn't head-over-heels in love.

 

I also saw Demolition recently and it was a less-than-solid meh for me. I wasn't surprised at the portrayal of the husband who wasn't head-over-heels in love and couldn't generate enough to care about him or his world. It was the best available option on the flight.

Between that and "Nightcrawler," though, it make me wonder about Jake Gyllenhaal's mindset.

 

School Ties as enjoyable; ever try "Heaven Help Us"? Kevin Dillon at his finest, snarkiest.

 

Nightcrawler is fantastic; I just wish HBO/Netflix/Amazon would turn it into a series.

 

That's a seriously great idea.