What are you watching?

Been sick with what I am sure if the man-flu since Friday.  So I've been laying on the couch watching a lot of television along with the following movies.

Fast X (2023) finally the most recent F&F movie!! I'm so glad to finally have this over with.  This one wasn't horrible, but certainly not the best of the series.  Jason Momoa as the head bad guy was too much of a joke to take seriously.

Hobbs & Shaw (2019)  Ridiculously over the top action film with a dumb story that only works because the on-screen chemistry between the two lead actors is really good (The Rock & Jason Statham).  It was kind of fun though.

The Rings Of Power (Lord of the Rings prequel series on Amazon).  I'm rewatching season 1 because I can't remember it.  Not sure if I'm going to bother with season 2 or not because this just seems a very poorly written story/script.  One of the main characters is so unlikeable that I almost find myself rooting for the bad guys.

House season 2: This is a really interesting show with great characters.  However, pretty much every episode is the exact same plot-line.  If it weren't for the strong characters this show never would have lasted past the second season.

TI’m Purgatory. Western from 99 about dead outlaws, among others, trying to earn their way into heaven by being peaceful even when live outlaws somehow come into town. I know, laughable in light of the Truth we collectively believe in, but a fun movie none the less. The town they are in, Refuge, has a no swearing policy except in the saloon, but the only person in the saloon besides the visiting outlaws is the barkeeper, who seems to be serving his penance there. They all spend the nights in the church, and when someone dies they are truly dead and are carried out of town my an old Native American that throws them off a cliff into hell. If someone serves their time, and no-one seems to know how much time they have to serve, they are given a rose by the stage driver when he brings new “souls” into town. I’m not sure how they actually get to heaven then; they haven’t gotten that far and don’t remember from the first time I watched this movie 20+ years ago. Lots of recognizable faces on n this one.

I saw a few movies over the last couple of days.

3:10 To Yuma (2007)  Turns out this is a remake of a 1950's film.  I had never seen either version of the film... but now I've seen this one!  Entertaining "shoot-em-up" modern Western with a morality tale (at least I think it was a morality tale).  Not too bad, good characters and well put together.

Warcraft (2016) Base on a video game, and a few times it felt like I was watching someone play a video game.  Surprised I made it through the entire film.  It wasn't horrible, but not that great either.  No standout performances, no real character development.  Just kind of meh, IMO.

Perfect Couple on Netflix

For a Fistful of Dollars (1964)  I was reading a little about this one and it was one of the first "Spaghetti Westerns" and really helped popularize the genre.  Also a very early film for the mostly T.V. actor Clint Eastwood.  I had only seen this movie once before.  Apparently Eastwood was paid $15,000 to act in this film and all the audio was over-dubbed in the studio after filming.  Eastwood's voice was actually overdubbed by a different voice actor.

For a Few Dollars More (1965)  The second film in the "Dollar Trilogy" series, this time adding veteran actor Lee Van Cleef.  I am not sure I have ever seen this film before.  This time Eastwood dubbed his own vocals into the movie.  It seems like the acting in this sequel is quite a bit better than the first movie, but it still suffers a bit from the drawn-out overly long scenes (like the first film).  Rumor has it that is because the music was recorded before the movie and the director/editor would extend the scenes to fit the music .

The Hunt For Gollum (2009)  Fan made film that only cost £6000 to make.  Not quite sure how they did it, as it looks better than that!  It's only half an hour long, so went by pretty quick, but the whole thing was shot very well, considering it was just a fan film.  It's on YouTube, so if anyone is in to Lord of The Rings, then it's worth a watch.

I haven't seen any Clint Eastwood films for years.  He certainly had a presence in his films, and is truly one of the greats.

Am I Racist? (2024) Documentary style film from Matt Walsh of conservative podcast/youtube fame.  The wife and I went and saw it our local theater.  The bulk of the film is Walsh disguised as a "left-leaning" DEI researcher interviewing people and self-proclaimed experts many of whom champion the DEI type of programs that paint pretty much all white Americans as racist.  It was quite interesting and more than a little humorous at times.

The Forge

My Spy: The Eternal City

A Quiet Place
AQuiet Place II
A Quiet Place: Day One

Black Mass (2015)  Johnny Depp is unrecognizable as a Boston crime boss (base on real people).  Lots of profanity and kind of violent, but well acted and well done if you enjoy those kinds of movies.

Civil War (2024) Wow.  I really thought this movie was going to be about another Civil War in the modern U.S.  But it's really about a group of photo-journalist in what could be any modern combat conflict.  Good acting, weakly written story.  Great small performance by Jessie Plemons in an interesting "come to reality" kind of scene.  He plays the greatest creepy guy.  What you might not know is that his wife (IRL) is Kirsten Dunst, who plays the lead in this film.

Nefarious


Church People

Knox Goes Away (2023)  Interesting movie starring Michael Keaton as an aging hit man who develops a rapid form of Alzheimers/Dementia and has to deal with a big family problem.  Really interesting movie with a good storyline.

alldatndensum wrote:

Nefarious


Church People

Was that funny enough to watch?  I haven't heard much about it at all.

Interstellar (2014) - Nothing much on at the cinema at the moment, and my friends and I wanted to go and see something.  So, we went to see Interstellar again in iMax.  Great film, even if it does bend your mind for a bit of it.

Me and my Mom went to see "Reagan". It was pretty good. Little boring, but well done nonetheless.

Fundy wrote:

Interstellar (2014) - Nothing much on at the cinema at the moment, and my friends and I wanted to go and see something.  So, we went to see Interstellar again in iMax.  Great film, even if it does bend your mind for a bit of it.

I actually liked that one the first time I watch it, but my son made me re-watch it a few months ago and it seemed overly long.

Guilty/Forgiven wrote:

Me and my Mom went to see "Reagan". It was pretty good. Little boring, but well done nonetheless.

I wanted to see that one too, but hadn't heard hardly anything about it.  I can't imagine any docu-drama about any president would be over-exciting (unless hey took a lot of liberties with the story and made him an action hero or something).

Staybrite wrote:

alldatndensum wrote:

Nefarious


Church People

Was that funny enough to watch?  I haven't heard much about it at all.

The parts that are supposed to be funny were cute, but it does make you think.  Overall, it was a decent watch.

On Netflix Midtsommernatt

Rain Man
Saving Sarah Cain

Was in the mood for a spooky movie yesterday so I watched “It Follows”. Not really a lot of gore just a spookfest. Has some sex scenes but that’s what the movie is about… and it wasn’t overly sexual, but the killer is passed on by being intimate with others. Kind of like an STD. So if you can get past that it was decent enough. I knew nothing about going in, I just looked up scary movies on Prime.

Hang 'Em High (1968)  Another classic Clint Eastwood western.  Not too bad at all, but I think I've had my fill of classic westerns for a while.

MikeInFla wrote:

Was in the mood for a spooky movie yesterday so I watched “It Follows”. Not really a lot of gore just a spookfest. Has some sex scenes but that’s what the movie is about… and it wasn’t overly sexual, but the killer is passed on by being intimate with others. Kind of like an STD. So if you can get past that it was decent enough. I knew nothing about going in, I just looked up scary movies on Prime.

I thought that one was pretty well done.  I appreciated that it took its time to build up suspense rather than just full of jump-scares.  Another one that came out around the same time in that vein is The Babadook.  Have you seen it?

Jesus (1999 2 episode mini-series) - surprised I hadn't seen or heard of this yet. Some odd things but not bad overall. I thought Joseph dying just before Jesus starts his ministry to be somewhat unique. Apparently this is one story out of a bigger series entitled "The Bible Collection"

kerrick wrote:

MikeInFla wrote:

Was in the mood for a spooky movie yesterday so I watched “It Follows”. Not really a lot of gore just a spookfest. Has some sex scenes but that’s what the movie is about… and it wasn’t overly sexual, but the killer is passed on by being intimate with others. Kind of like an STD. So if you can get past that it was decent enough. I knew nothing about going in, I just looked up scary movies on Prime.

I thought that one was pretty well done.  I appreciated that it took its time to build up suspense rather than just full of jump-scares.  Another one that came out around the same time in that vein is The Babadook.  Have you seen it?

No, haven’t seen it but will check it out. What I liked about It Follows is that it could be from any time period. There were no cells phones (except the one girl who had a shell shaped small tablet of some kind) and most of the cars and TV’s looked older. No flat screen TVs, landline phones, etc and the music reminded me of 80’s horror films. I read that the creator wanted to make something like John Carpenter.

Yeah a lot of care and thought definitely went into It Follows.  Apparently there's a sequel in the works too!

I think you might like The Babadook.  It's a totally different movie in content and theme than It Follows, but fans of one typically like the other.  I recommend not watching any trailers or reading about it before you watch it, as IIRC the trailer gives some stuff away.  But in short it's about a mysterious book appearing to a grieving mother and young son... and then of course things start getting creepy.