The last movie you've seen thread 2016

[Mr. Smith]

Shouldn't this be updated to 2017?

Anyway, rewatched the Jim Carrey version of A Series of Unfortunate Events, it's better than I remember it.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Shouldn't this be updated to 2017?

Anyway, rewatched the Jim Carrey version of A Series of Unfortunate Events, it's better than I remember it.

While you may or may not be an exception, I suspect most people who grew up with those books as a beloved part of their childhood (myself among them) absolutely hated that movie and really liked the Netflix series (I liked the Netflix Series of Unfortunate Events so much that I decided to give them another chance and re-subscribe although I was already thinking about it given how good Beasts of No Nation was).  OTOH, I suspect most who did not grow up with the books (or simply didn't love them as kids) and/or saw the movie first probably found the Jim Carrey movie – while hardly a masterpiece – a forgettable, but inoffensive and perhaps even mildly entertaining children's film.  This is actually one of the biggest problems with the Jim Carrey film: the books have an incredibly specific and idiosyncratic tone that I haven't really seen anywhere else except the TV series which usually gets it right presumably due to the heavy involvement of Daniel Handler (although even then, the series is a bit lighter than the books at times).  The tone could best be described as what you might get if a Jewish, highly intellectual cross between Wes Anderson, Stephen Gammell, and Tim Burton (around the time he made Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands) memorized a dictionary and then decided to do a children's series with gradually increasing moral ambiguity, a Lost-style ill-defined yet omnipresent conspiracy, and a bunch of genuine Downer Endings while constantly breaking the fourth wall until it'd been reduced to a million microscopic pieces...and managed to make it work really well (at least until the last book, which was a mess).

Another problem with the movie was that Jim Carrey was a mind-blowingly awful choice to play Count Olaf.  Count Olaf was a legitimately dangerous and menacing villain in the books (especially the first nine before the Mystery Box arc really came to the forefront).  Yes, he was often the object of ridicule and an inherently ridiculous person (and a hilariously ignorant one), but he it never took away from the clear sense that this was a really bad guy with a certain low cunning who was above all a sadistic murderer, arsonist, and general monster who spent his days terrorizing three young children.  While Neil Patrick Harris was perfectly cast and gives easily the best TV/film performance of his career, even the series tends to soften the darkest aspects of the character.  They do the same with his henchmen (aside from the Hook-Handed Man who always seemed to have a mild Affably Evil/Punch-Clock Villain streak in the books).  The best example is the Bald Man with a Long Nose who is a generic dim-witted brute in the show, but never seems particularly menacing whereas in the books he's a pretty malevolent guy who it is hinted on several occasions might be a pedophile.  However, this all works because (likely due to Handler's involvement) the series doesn't omit the bad things Olaf and his henchmen do, so much as it smoothes out some of the rougher edges at times ("at times" being a key term).   

On the other hand, Jim Carrey in the film is basically just playing Jim Carrey doing generic Jim Carrey schtick.  His Count Olaf never feels even remotely dangerous nor are any of the bad things he does treated seriously by the film.  He seems far more likely to trip by accidentally tying his shoelaces together than to murder someone whereas in the books Count Olaf's malevolence is played straight when he does things like threaten to cut off a baby's toe with a long, serrated knife or murder a woman by pushing her into a lion pit and watching them eat her alive.  NPH actually manages to seem genuinely menacing, especially in the first two episodes of the Netflix series (which not coincidentally are easily the best and the most faithful to the book they're based on).  He's over the top about being evil in a way the book version wasn't, but it still works perfectly.  Furthermore, butchering the first three books into that mess of a screenplay doomed the film right out of the gate.  This series really can't work as a film b/c you'd need the child actors to stay young and the books *really* don't lend themselves to being crammed into two hours.  What Netflix essentially did was make four two hour movies (one for each of the first four books) rather than create a true season and it works much better.

Of course, the worst part of the film is that they Disneyfied and tacked on a horribly contrived happily ever after ending when the book series' whole claim to fame is being the antithesis of a Disneyfied children's series and never having anything other than a genuine Downer Ending.  Tbh, the only way in which the film is better than the TV series (aside from the makeup, although that one's more of a tie) is that Meryl Streep gave a far better performance as Aunt Josephine than Alfre Woodard did.

Of course, if someone didn't grow up with the books or saw the movie first, I can see how none of this would bother them too much.  In any case, I really liked the Netflix series b/c it's been nice to see an almost perfect adaptation of something that was really a special part of my childhood

Wow that...umm...ended up being a lot longer than I intended

[Middle-aged Europe]

Hell or High Water

[Middle-aged Europe]

Paterson

[Middle-aged Europe]

Kundschafter des Friedens.

German spy comedy film about four former East German spies around the age of 70 who are "reactivated" by Germany's contemporary intelligence service to carry out a mission in a fictional former Soviet republic because they're the only ones left who possess specific knowledge to finish the job there. Jürgen Prochnow plays a West German ex-rival from the Cold war-era who complements the team half-way through the movie.

That actually turned out much better than I expected. Paid a lot hommage to 60s and 70s spy films and TV shows with the main characters being sort of a communist counterpart to the classic Mission: Impossible team (there's a team leader, the tech guy etc.). The main "heist" at the center of the movie was also parodying the Ocean's Eleven films.

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

Kubo and the two strings
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

[Middle-aged Europe]

Passengers

[Frodo]

Star Wars Rogue One, and I was going to see The Arrival this past weekend (I usually wait until the crowds have gone), but I was felled by the common cold.  

[Enduro]

Kung Fu Panda 3, easily my favorite animated film franchise.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Hacksaw Ridge

[bagelman]

Passengers

So, that sucked, right?

Last movie I saw was the latest Star Trek.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Passengers

So, that sucked, right?

It was fine.

Most of the criticism stems from the behavior of the male protagonist in the movie and what message it sends, I think. The woman I've went with into that movie liked it... so, I guess it's okay.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Split

James McAvoy should have received a Oscar nomination as Best Actor for this. Otherwise, it was a solid, but conventional horror film.

[Tender Branson]

I saw roughly 70% of Passengers the other night (will probably finish it the next few days).

I already liked the movie when Chris Pratt walked through the spaceship and entered a room, introduced by the computer voice as "Welcome to our Vienna suite."

Also, I think it is perfectly normal what Pratt's character did with the woman after more than a year on the ship ...

[muon2]

I just watched Kubrick's The Shining last night for the first time since shortly after its release in 1980. I find that it's still a masterpiece of suspense as is Jack Nickolson's portrayal of descent into madness.

[Meclazine for Israel]

The Shining is a classic.

Just watched "The Invitation" with my girlfriend.

Very well made, and very interesting film.

I wont say anything about it other than very thought provoking film.

[Mr. Smith]

I just watched Kubrick's The Shining last night for the first time since shortly after its release in 1980. I find that it's still a masterpiece of suspense as is Jack Nickolson's portrayal of descent into madness.

What descent? He was already mad to begin with.

That's why Stephen King hated it, because it FAILED at portraying a real descent, there's just so little development of any sort at all...except for maybe Danny.

Also, Wendy was annoying.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Hidden Figures

[DemPGH]

Sully - Eastwood directing, Tom Hanks the lead (channeling "Houston, we have a problem" magic). You can't go wrong. GREAT realistic disaster drama.

Dolphin Tale 2 - Entertaining, fast moving family drama with a sweet ending. Enjoyed it a lot more than I thought, might have been better than the first. Made me watch Free Willy again for the first time in like 20 years. Haha, Michael Madsen and all those early '90s actors. Good times watching that again.

[Confused Democrat]

Jackie

[Enduro]

Resevior Dogs

Tarantino is a cinematic genius.

[Enduro]

Resevior Dogs

Tarantino is a cinematic genius.

Also saw The Raid again today.

[DemPGH]

I just watched Kubrick's The Shining last night for the first time since shortly after its release in 1980. I find that it's still a masterpiece of suspense as is Jack Nickolson's portrayal of descent into madness.

What descent? He was already mad to begin with.

That's why Stephen King hated it, because it FAILED at portraying a real descent, there's just so little development of any sort at all...except for maybe Danny.

Also, Wendy was annoying.

See, I totally disagree. Nicholson and Duvall portrayed both characters as on the edge at the beginning, and then the descent started. With Jack, it was his alcoholism, which the isolation of the winter brought to a head, and then the "ghosts" in the hotel/mansion/whatever caused him to just lose it. It could have been all in his head. Kubrick's movie is a masterpiece.

Sully - Eastwood directing, Tom Hanks the lead (channeling "Houston, we have a problem" magic). You can't go wrong. GREAT realistic disaster drama.

Meant to convey that it was really infuriating to watch the whoever-they-were-pencil-pushers give him flack over making a split-second decision that saved every life on that airplane. The movie is really about him having to defend himself for landing the plane successfully in the Hudson, saving all lives aboard and with injuries at a minimum, against the second guessing from the outside. Still, expertly directed and written. Plays like a movie used to. Which is good.

[Middle-aged Europe]

1984, the version from 1956 with Edmond O'Brien, as part of the Berlin International Film Festival.

[Enduro]

I saw From Dusk Till Dawn; It started out pretty good, but turned into a b movie half way through.