Film Reviews - what have you seen lately, what did you think?

CaseyGator

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Yeah, me too, but they weren’t co-equal roles in either movie I mentioned. The Accountant was really good if you’ve ever dealt with someone on the autistic/aspergers spectrum

I liked The Accountant and I know it wasn’t a lead role, but it felt like she just got dropped and then you don’t see her until the end. Thought she could have been used more.
 

Detroitgator

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I liked The Accountant and I know it wasn’t a lead role, but it felt like she just got dropped and then you don’t see her until the end. Thought she could have been used more.
Agreed, but then they’d make her “damsel in distress dragged around” and I’d rather they kept her strong like they did... otherwise you have Knight and Day.
 

Zambo

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Watched a movie on the Hallmark channel with my wife last night. I can't remember the name of it but it was the one where the two good looking single people in their late 30s bump into each other due to an odd set of circumstances, but they resist hitting on each other due to their complicated lives. Then, just when they are starting to come around to liking each other, there is a big misunderstanding and the whole relationship is cast in doubt. Then at the last second something remarkable happens and they figure it out and the movie ends with them starting a rewarding relationship. I wish I could remember the name because I've never seen another movie like it.
 

Captain Sasquatch

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SQ and I saw Three Billboards today. It'll deserve whatever Oscars it wins, incredible film. Basically a clinic in writing and acting.
 

T REX

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Watched a movie on the Hallmark channel with my wife last night. I can't remember the name of it but it was the one where the two good looking single people in their late 30s bump into each other due to an odd set of circumstances, but they resist hitting on each other due to their complicated lives. Then, just when they are starting to come around to liking each other, there is a big misunderstanding and the whole relationship is cast in doubt. Then at the last second something remarkable happens and they figure it out and the movie ends with them starting a rewarding relationship. I wish I could remember the name because I've never seen another movie like it.

That's almost as good as that one episode of CSI. The one where there's a murder, they collect a bunch of evidence at the crime scene and then solve it. Incredible. Best episode of the series.
 

TLB

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That's almost as good as that one episode of CSI. The one where there's a murder, they collect a bunch of evidence at the crime scene and then solve it. Incredible. Best episode of the series.

Wish I could like it more than once.
 

TheDouglas78

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My daughter (who sings) loves her as a performer, I love her all around even in more serious roles like Up In The Air and The Accountant

Excellent in "Up In the Air", haven't seen "the accountant". But was also good in a small part in "End of Watch".
 

TheDouglas78

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Watched two over the weekend:

BladeRunner 2049 (2017): Visually a beautiful movie. Absolutely gorgeous to watch. I liked the first one, but I'm not one of those people who are in love with the first one. The movie addresses the same questions as the first one, without having the brilliant villain of the original. I'm not the biggest Gosling fan, but he was decent in this. Harrison Ford is basically playing the same role I've seen the last few times, old cracky dude who used to do great adventures but is done with the lifestyle. The movie is long, could have shaved 30 minutes off of it. Overall it was very well made, and I would give an 7.5/10.

ThreatMatrix Matrix: there were a few boobs and butts in this movie.

SQ Gosling Matrix: all over the movie.

Happy Death Day (2017): GroundHog Day for Horror. This one held the wife's attention more than mine, have to blame work for that a bit. It was entertaining for what I got to watch. The twist at the end my wife predicted early, and then got pulled off the trail for it to come back to get her. I'm going to go off her rating (since she was more invested and I was fixing something for work on my laptop) 8/10 for horror.

ThreatMatrix Matrix: if there were boobs, I missed them.
 

TLB

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Guy night, wife took the kids out for the evening....

Never Back Down (2008)

Refresh of the Karate Kid concept. Teenager moves cross country, always gets in fights (dad issues, dad is dead now), blond hotshot local big boy (MMA this time, rather than karate), hot girlfriend that drops the big boy and sides with our hero, fight tournament is super secret fight club thing rather than sanctioned tournament, rib injuries replace the leg sweep, aaannndd, there you have it. Lot of HS girls in bikini's, and one obvious cleavage shot on the girlfriend, but no real boobage.

Lead is a next generation Tom Cruise, lead bad boy will have other roles later as he found his type cast. Story provides a few well placed laughs between the fights, and it tries to deliver a message that fighting isn't the answer. Still, overall, if you want guy night this isn't the crappiest film to choose. If you never heard of it, there's a reason for that as well. Recommended for killing time, that's about it. 5.5/10
 

Captain Sasquatch

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The Shape of Water - The other major contender for best picture. Gorgeous film, beautiful love story, great performances, perfect score, and some sea creature lovin'. Joe Bob will love the amount of boobs and ass in this. Gonna be really interesting to see if this or Three Billboards takes the big prize home.
 

Detroitgator

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12 Strong... Part II:

OK, the first time I saw this movie was a special pre-screening in FWB and I didn't like the movie because of pretty massive historical inaccuracies from the whole idea of ODA 595 being the first team in Afghanistan to all the direct contact the team had combat wise vs. dropping just a ****load of bombs very accurately and effectively in support of Dostum and his men. I also had a big problem with how Dostum was portrayed. I chalked a lot of that up to the fact that I was distracted by seeing some people I hadn't seen in 10 years, it's Hollywood, and stuff like that. So I said I would go watch it again, alone, and I did last night. It changed none of my original opinion, but I realized something last night while I was watching the movie and I'll share that here at the end after I comment on the movie.

What I didn't like:

As I said before, for various reasons, the movie is just wrong. I don't mean just little things like the fact that K2 was literally NOTHING when we first got there (when ODA 595 arrived, they had to actually sleep on the ground for the first few days, there weren't even b-huts like in the movie), but how they even set the story up. Again, "Hollywood" and "based upon a true story" I get, but given that so many people don't read anymore and given that these kinds of movies are the only "history lesson" they'll ever get on the subject, they take more than just liberties with the truth. First of all, the whole thing of interviewing the ODA commanders and choosing 595 to go in first is fiction. ODA 555 was actually selected to go in first, two days before 595 was supposed to go in, but due to inclement weather, that didn't happen. Then, both triple nickel and 595 were scheduled to go in on the same day, and they did. However, triple nickel was actually the first ODA on the ground in Afghanistan just before 595... that's not even in dispute anywhere by anyone and never has been. But I get it, Hollywood knows that "Horse Soldiers" (a title they couldn't use for legal reasons (i.e., money)) is a better story if 595 was "chosen over all others and went in first" even though that's absolute fiction on both counts (and leaves out that the CIA was in first, but that's clear in the movie, and this is about Army guys, so I get it). It's annoying and does a disservice to all the ODA's of 5th Group and especially triple nickel. This movie could have been epic by covering the CIA/Jawbreaker/NALT, the ODAs, and Dostum/Northern Alliance from the time Gary Shroen's CIA team went in to at least through what happened in Qala i Jangi if not all the way to the fall of Kabul, but I get it, that would have been too long. But at least get the story you went with correct... again, it dishonors the accomplishments of the other ODAs, especially the ones that had actual WIA/KIAs.

On the flight in, yes, they had to fly over 20,000 foot ridge lines... it's the Hindu Kush after all. That's why the Blackhawk's had to turn back because there's no way in hell a loaded Blackhawk clears a peak that high... I mean they STRUGGLED in Afghanistan to clear 13-14,000 ridges less than half loaded (Russian Mi-17's are much better for Af/Pak than Blackhawks). In real life, they had "one-off" oxygen bottles that obviously did work. Now, that alone means the mission for the team is ONE WAY... there's no going back over the mountains without oxygen. Why wasn't that "ballsy" enough for Hollywood? But OK.

The portrayal of Dostum as wise, but selfish, especially when it depicts him as picking up his marbles and leaving while 595 bravely fights on alone until he comes back. It dishonors who Dostum was and still is, and all of his fighters. Leaves out that he offered surrender to his opponents every time and when they wouldn't, we'd very accurately bomb the piss out of them, then Dostum would attack. Also, there has never been a time in Dostum's life that he didn't lead from the front in an attack. But I get it, Hollywood for the combat scenes. That goes to the issue in the movie where for each battle, it looks like we only dropped about 10 bombs, then charge away with American's forward. 99% of the time, it just didn't work that way. Again, we precisely bombed the piss out of them, sometimes for 12-18 hours, then attacked.

Everything else "pew pew" in the movie I can forgive, because, yes, Hollywood. It's OK. Not going to nitpick uniforms or shooty shooty scenes. Oh, one last Hollywood thing, but I get it for Hollywood. At the risk of being labeled racist, ODA 595 had exactly zero black members.

What I did like:

I really liked the movie up until first combat. I actually choked up at the husband/wife "time to go" scenes. I loved that the b-hut door at K2 had a water bottle on a string attached to it so that it closes itself. I loved that one of the team members was reading "The bear went over the mountain." I loved that the vodka they took in with them and gave to Dostum was Russian Standard. I loved that they showed the kids flying kites after they liberated a village from the Taliban (kite flying was banned, and kids in Afghanistan literally fly plastic bags like you get from Walmart). There were little things that I really liked.

What I realized watching it this time:

A generation that fights a war cannot objectively watch movies about their war. I understood this for the first time last night and now know why the WWII vets on my block hated The Longest Day et all while I loved them. Why the Korean vets hated Pork Chop Hill. Why the Vietnam vets hated every movie. When you have been personally involved in a particular war/conflict, there are only degrees of which you can "like" a movie (or even documentary) about your war. I now realize why I can't watch Zero Dark Thirty for more than about 12 minutes at a stretch without wanting to throw a brick at my TV.

Bottom Line:

It's good for what it is... Hollywood's romanticization of reality... but what movie isn't when "based on a true story"?
 
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Detroitgator

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Based on previews the other night, I’m looking forward to Red Sparrow, have high hopes that Sicario 2 will keep up the cynicism of the first one (but doubt it), and Pacific Rim looked cool for IMAX, but who knows.
 

TLB

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Based on previews the other night, I’m looking forward to Red Sparrow, have high hopes that Sicario 2 will keep up the cynicism of the first one (but doubt it), and Pacific Rim looked cool for IMAX, but who knows.

Wholly agree with all of the above.
 

TLB

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The Great Wall (2016)

Matt Damon as a mid-century (1400's?) lead mercenary searching for this 'black powder' in China but ends up in a fight against aliens along the Great Wall. Should I just stop there?

Well, I didn't. CGI and imagery is pretty good, what with faking all the Great Wall shots, the alien horde, and the 'chase scene' near the end involving crude hot air balloons. Damon is what you expect, way out of his element like he's trying to broaden his resume but it doesn't really work - anyone else could have done it better, or at least held his English..er, Irish...er 'European' accent longer and more consistently. Pedro Pascal does a decent wingman for Damon, and William Dafoe has an ok minor role. Other than Damon, most of the movie is carried by Tian Jing who has a pretty face (that's all you see what with the armor and all...so no boobs, ever). Plot is simple and predictable, dialogue is ok but nothing even really makes you laugh at a comment or anything, action is decent. I'd say the only real merit to watch this is the action and imagery, but that's not enough to really recommend it. 5/10
 

gingerlover

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Happy! (TV Show Syfy network) - Will start this off by saying it will not be for everyone. I however enjoyed the first season of this show except for one subplot. So Christopher Meloni plays Nick who is an ex-cop turned hitman. He is a drunk and druggie. So there are kidnappings going on and when he almost has a heart attack he starts to see an imaginary unicorn creature (voiced by Patton Oswalt) named Happy. Basically Happy is the imaginary friend of one of the kids and he finds Nick From there they team up to go and rescue the kids. A lot of what happens is him being a functioning drunk and pulling some of these things off as he unwinds the conspiracy theory. He's actually really good at the timed comedy in this with facial expressions and things like that. It was one of those shows where the first episode or two was just ok, but as the plot got going I was hooked on it. There is also a secondary story involving supernatural forces that is setting up season two and that was the part I didn't like. There are also times where things just get a little weird.

Overall this is a show that you will either like or turn off quickly. Its violent and has a lot of language in it, with good timing on the humor. I found it amusing and would watch the next season, although I'm not sure I like where it is heading. 7/10
 

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