Last movie you watched......

Movies have seriously fallen off the radar for me. Too much good prestige TV. Too many sports. Too much time spent hacking my way through Limgrave farming runes in Elden Ring. Yada yada. I may have watched three new movies in the last two years, total.

Decided that I'll do a Tuesday movie night at home since it's a pretty dead night of the week for the most part. I almost always stay in that night as it is. Kicked it off with Swiss Army Man, which is a movie I've wanted to see for awhile but it was never on any of the services I have. Happened to be on Showtime on Demand.

Delightfully weird, disturbing and charming all at the same time. Almost felt like more of a two-man play than a film. Weird concept that was mostly pulled off well. Not sure it's very rewatchable, but it was enjoyable enough.

 

I have the AMC membership and especially in NYC it's a great deal since the monthly charge that lets you see three movies a week is only a few bucks more than average single ticket price. So I'm still hitting theaters as much as possible.

Last week I saw Everything Everywhere All at Once, which has gotten nearly unanimously positive reviews, gushing reviews. I felt like Hanks in Big. "I don't get it." I liked the performances, the story and I'm very glad I got to see it in a theater setting because it is one of those movies that should be seen on the big screen. But overall I didn't quite get the effusive praise. Maybe I'm just multiversed out. For anyone wanting to see it don't let my lukewarmness discourage you, though. It is awesome having a highly original film like it in the theaters and based on how other people have enjoyed it, there's a good chance you would too.

 

I enjoyed Ambulance. Typical Michael Bay film with crashes, chases and shootouts. It was fast movie and mostly believable.

 

Had never seen the 2002 WWII film "The Pianist."

I kinda wish I still hadn't, although it was an amazing movie, directed by Roman Polanski.

Its clarity, hard-hitting scenes, and the unspeakably dreadful, pointless reality of it made it truly difficult to watch. I made myself do it, but wanted to get up and walk away from it, right from the scene in which an old man in a wheelchair was told by Nazi officers to stand up, and, when he couldn't do it, the order was given to "Throw him out," and he was summarily dumped out of his chair from a fourth-floor window of a building in the Warsaw Ghetto of WWII.

Even watching the scene, I felt myself almost unable to take it in, turning away with helpless sickening, and then I heard myself yelling, actually yelling out in anger, to no one in particular, really, even though I wasn't watching alone, "How could anybody do that? I think I'd kill myself before I did that -- I hope. Or else, let them kill me."

And then it got worse.

Thoughts of Ukraine, and the atrocities going on there, were not, and once again, are not, far from my mind. They can't be helped, I don't think. But even so, I know I/we really have no idea, because we're not living it, and unless you are, war and such hatred is practically incomprehensible.

Adrien Brody, who played the main character in the film, earned an Oscar as Best Actor for his work in the movie, which was based on a true story, and Polanski won the Oscar for Best Director.

 

The Protege. Decent second-tier action flick with Maggie Q, Samuel L. Jackson and the always awesome Michael Keaton. From the director of Casino Royale.

 

"Free Guy", the Ryan Reynolds/Jodie Comer action comedy set in a videogame world. I'm a long time gamer, so this one was in my wheelhouse. Sure, it's fluff - but it has surprising depth, taking on love for friends, romantic love, being a decent human being, even the potential for a self aware AI. No, it's not Oscar fare, and yes, you get the standard issue wisecracking Ryan Reynolds, but it surprised me by having a heart and a moral center completely unexpected in such a film. Throw in Taika Watiti chewing the scenery during his brief screen time as the greed crazed CEO for good measure.

It was a fun couple of hours.

 

Batman

Loved Dano as the Riddler. He was great. Loved a couple of scenes, specifically MSG and the bombs.

But, as with all DC heroes it seems, Batman was a character that I didn’t give two shits about. Catwoman? Could care less.

Comics are fun. Suicide Squad understood this. Nothing else in DC is fun.

A little above mid.

 

Absolutely agree on Dano. Best part of the movie. Rest of it was kind of turgid.

 

His reaction to the bombs was iconic.

Honestly, I didn’t think an actor could go that over the top so perfectly.

 

The Suicide Squad worked because they had James Gunn running the show. Why do you think Marvel caved and hired him back after initially firing him over some truly awful jokes he made over social media many years ago? He made Guardians of the Galaxy work, and that was with the sort of limits Marvel puts on its creative people. With The Suicide Squad, he was allowed to go nuts and the result was some beautiful chaos. Yes, the cast is great, but the story is nothing special. It is really just some fantastic, dark humor that works really well.

I think this is why they brought in Whedon to finish Justice League, but adding a few quips just wasn't enough to fix that mess. The lack of fun was just part of the problem. Part of it was that they were trying to jam four hours of movie into two. It didn't help that Whedon chose to minimize the role of Ray Fisher's Cyborg, who was meant to be at the heart of the story. The Snyder Cut is way too long. It is really like binging a limited series rather than watching a movie, but it is so much better than Whedon's version.

 

Loved Batman in "The Batman," and loved Catwoman, too. Pattinson and Kravitz did excellent jobs portraying damaged people. The real world isn't superpowers, smiles and jokes. They wonderfully portrayed damaged people who have suffered in life. Far more believable people like them would become vigilantes than, say, a teenager who gets bit by a spider.

If a person can't relate to them... I'm assuming they've had a blessed existence.

As somebody who doesn't really care about the comics themselves, I'm glad DC takes a serious approach. I don't need escapist fun all the time. Sure, it hasn't always worked out well for DC, but Phoenix's Joker and this Batman prove there's still a receptive audience for this kind of content.

 

The Lost City, mindless fun. It's exactly what it says it's going to be, plus Channing Tatum's naked ass which is never a bad thing.