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What did you watch this week surfer boy? (07/07-13/07)

posted 5 years ago by StoneKeeper (21046)
24 replies | jump to latest

Hi guys! The move went well and were happy in our first house! Next step is the baby due for next week!

Here's my last 2 weeks:

This week:

Cop and a half (1993 DVD): I don’t think it’s just the nostalgia speaking but this movie is entertaining and charming. The young actor is really cute and the rest of the cast is good too. People rating this movie so low are just mean (my wife included); it has a bunch of fun scenes, cool stunts, chemistry between the two leads and a feel-good ending. What more can you ask? My rating: 6.5/10

The negotiator (1998 DVD): Except the fact that this movie is a bit long and I always have trouble adapting to Samuel’s auburn hair; this was a solid movie with an interesting concept and story. Great cast too. My rating: 7.5/10

Chien de garde (2018 DVD): Sophie Dupuis’s first movie is a hard-hitting hit, mostly thanks to a solid cast. The ending felt abrupt, as if she lacked the time and money to really wrap it up conveniently. My rating: 7/10

Taking Woodstock (2009 DVD): I enjoyed it a lot the first time around but confirmed it’s an excellent movie on rewatch. With an amazing soundtrack, of course! 8/10

The Mothman prophecies (2002 DVD): This was like a long X-files episode and I do love me a good X-files episode. Plus I found that Gere made for a good Duchovny. The cinematography, direction and editing were all on Point and made this a Pleasant thriller. The fact that it’s based on true events is even crazier. I actually got real goosebumps a few times! 7.5/10

Instant family (2018 DVD): My wife really loved it! I enjoyed it mildly. Mora of a family drama than a pure comedy but we need more good and positive famdrams (I invented a new word) like this one. 6.5/10

Last Week:

Mission Impossible (1996 DVD) : IT was a real pleasure for me to rewatch it after all these years. I had actually forgotten that Emilio Estevez was in it. I don’t understand why he’s not even credited in the cast, he was good. Otherwise, this is one of the first action movies I discovered and till this day, still one of the great ones. (I was 11 when it came out and probably saw it a few years later.) The plot, the cast and the action makes this a classic for me but that helicopter/TGV scene lost small points. My rating: 8/10

Duel (1971 TV): As I was on a road trip with my father, he spoke to me about this movie and how I should watch it. Strangely, 2 days after it was on TV, so I did. It was a thrilling ride but after half a dozen times the truck appeared “shockingly” in the rear-view mirror, it became redundant and less and less credible. E.g.: The guy finally sees a police car but doesn’t stop. When he’s driving 100 mph, the truck driver is right there in his grill but then when the car breaks down and rolls 20 mph, the truck struggles to catch up. Good first official movie Stevie but lacked realism for me to really feel the thrill. One last complaint; we could hear the main character’s thoughts but only heard 3-4 of them. So either there was not much going on in his head or either they did not take full advantage of that aspect. What I learned from this movie: If you need to change your radiator hose, don’t procrastinate! My rating: 6/10

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997 TV): “Martin Blank is a professional assassin. He is sent on a mission to a small Detroit suburb, Grosse Pointe, and, by coincidence, his ten-year high school reunion party is taking place there at the same time.” I know I saw that movie before but remembered nothing about it so it was like a first watch. I can now say that this is one of my favorite rom-com, because yes, that’s what it is to me; a kick-ass-gun-popping-rom-com. My rating: 8.5/10

Ghost Stories (2017 Netflix): “Skeptical professor Phillip Goodman embarks on a trip to the terrifying after being given a file with details of three unexplained cases of apparitions.” What I liked: The cast, the cinematography, the soundtrack and the creepy moments. What I didn’t like: The story. My rating: 5/10

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

My ratings of what you watched this week:

Cop and a half Saw it years ago, but don't remember it well enough to rate it.
The negotiator 7/10
Taking Woodstock 6/10
I haven't seen The Mothman prophecies or Instant family.

My ratings of what I watched this week:
Performance (1970) 4/10
Death on the Nile (1978) 8/10
Creep (2014) 6/10
A Night at the Opera (1935) 8/10
I Am Mother (2019) 8/10
The Devil’s Eye (1960) 9/10
The Life of Jesus (1997) 5/10
John Dies at the End (2012) 8/10
St. Vincent (2014) 9/10
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) 8/10
Chinese Roulette (1976) 8/10
The Changeling (1980) 8/10
Caddyshack (1980) 7/10
Brick (2005) 7/10
Constantine (2005) 8/10
Shadows in Paradise (1986) 7/10
Il Bidone (1955) 9/10
The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968) 6/10
Rebirth (2016) 8/10
College Humor (1933) 7/10
The Mirror Crack’d (1980) 6/10
Loners (2019) 9/10
Welcome Mr. Marshall! (1953) 7/10
The Italian Job (2003) 5/10
We’re Not Dressing (1934) 7/10
The Man in the White Suit (1951) 6/10
Back to the Future (rewatch, 1985) 9/10
Bambi (rewatch, 1942) 9/10
Harold and Maude (rewatch, 1971) 9/10
A Nightmare on Elm Street (rewatch, 1984) 9/10
Fargo (rewatch, 1996) 10/10

[–] StoneKeeper (21046) 5 years ago

You had a nice week!

Creep: 7.5/10
St. Vincent: 8/10
Into Darkness: 5/10
Caddyshack: 6.5/10
Brick: 6.5/10
Constantine: can't remember
Rebirth: 7/10
The Italian Job: 7/10
Back to the futur: 8.5/10
Elm Street: been too long
Fargo: 8.5/10

[–] TexasJack (12515) 5 years ago

From your list, I've seen Mothman Prophecies (8/10) and Mission Impossible (7/10).

I hope the move went well. Congrats on the new place.

[–] StoneKeeper (21046) 5 years ago

It's cool that you also enjoyed Mohtman movie.

Yes, it went very well, thank you. Nothing like being in your own home for the first time.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Bride of Frankenstein (1935) - Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Dr. Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate. This movie is very short and thin. The bride has a very small part at the end. 6.5/10

Son of Frankenstein (1939) - One of the sons of Frankenstein finds his father's monster in a coma and revives him, only to find out he is controlled by Ygor who is bent on revenge. Bela Lugosi steals the movie as Ygor. A much better story line. The police inspector is also very good.7.5/10

Primal Fear (1996) - An altar boy is accused of murdering a priest, and the truth is buried several layers deep. An entertaining court drama even though the plot is contrived in my opinion. If Aaron/Roy was so smart why not quietly kill the archbishop while in slept and escape? 7/10

Cop Land (1997) - The Sheriff of a suburban New Jersey community, populated by New York City police officers, slowly discovers the town is a front for mob connections and corruption. An underrated movie with a great cast. I think this is Stallone's best non-Rocky role. De Niro is great as his Keitel. The movie could have been a bit longer. 7.5/10

Downfall (2004) - Traudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII. Finally saw it after hearing about this movie for years. Bruno Ganz is great as Hitler. A compelling story of Hitler's (and other's) last days. 8.5/10

The Salesman (2016) - While both participating in a production of "Death of a Salesman," a teacher's wife is assaulted in her new home, which leaves him determined to find the perpetrator over his wife's traumatized objections. This Iranian movie won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2016. The movie is not exactly an revenge film as advertised. I had some problems with the plot and the movie is plodding in parts. There is also a big unanswered question which I suspect is intentional given that the country is Iran. 7/10

[–] StoneKeeper (21046) 5 years ago

Primal Fear: 9/10
Cop Land: need to rewatch

"There is also a big unanswered question which I suspect is intentional given that the country is Iran. 7/10" - Why? because Iran out of money to finish the movie?

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

it involves sexual assault.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (71434) 5 years ago

Glad all is well Amigo!
Can't wait to hear about StoneKeeper Jr👍
Very exciting times!

S3 of Stranger Things
I love this show
Makes me feel like a kid again (10/10)

The Scarecrows (18) a good slasher with some excellent camera work and a climax that doesn't shy away from being nasty (7/10)

The Appearance (18) starring Hodor in a Name of the Rose scenario
It was decent but Hodor is not a great actor:/
(6/10)

Exposure (18) an extremely low budget and so-so acting made this a bit of a slog but a romantic/tragic/horror on the cheap can be satisfying
(6/10)

Best wishes this coming week my friend...the world is about to change😬

[–] StoneKeeper (21046) 5 years ago

Thanks for the kind words man.

I rated Stranger Things S1 7.5/10 and the second one 7/10. Let'S just hope it won't be even lower this new season for me but I'll give it a try in the futur for sure. Im too busy with The Walking Dead for the moment.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (71434) 5 years ago

I rate the series way higher but I remember being a dumb kid with a cool bike, a walkie talkie and an extreme addiction to Dungeons and Dragons LOL😬

[–] Stratego (29209) 5 years ago

Movies:

-Pulp Fiction (1994)
Saw this on on the big screen for the first time this week. Great movie. Tarantino's second best.

-Jackie Brown (1997)
Saw this one on the big screen as well. Definitely underrated. Tarantino's last good film. Interesting how this and Reservoir Dogs drew a different crowd than Pulp Fiction.

TV Shows:

-Batman - marathon

-Relic Hunter - marathon

-The Bold and the Beautiful - marathon of very old episodes

-Twilight Zone (1959) - marathon

-Baywatch - marathon

[–] StoneKeeper (21046) 5 years ago

Nice week you had there Stratty!

Pulp Fiction: 9/10
Jackie Brown: 7.5-8/10

[–] slimone (7996) 5 years ago

I just finished watching Day of the Locust.

[–] StoneKeeper (21046) 5 years ago

the 1975 movie?

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

i saw duel years ago, back in the early 90s i believe & only have to vaguest memory of it, but my impression of it lines up with yours. i watched ghost stories when it popped up on shudder last year, & was a bit indifferent to it as well.

i haven't seen it, & ordinarily would have no interest in something like 'instant family' but i think rose byrne is golden even in films i hate, so i'll probably give that a try at some point.

my week:

the witch (2015) 5/5 my 3rd watch, i believe...steven pinker would approve of this film, i bet.
if there was ever a film that would make one appreciate the benefits of modernity & free market economies, it's this one surely.
are any of you willing to sell your soul for the taste of butter or a nice dress?

her smell (2019) 4

i very much enjoyed the first 2/3s of this in much the same way that i've enjoyed alex ross perry's other films, mainly as a chronicle of unpleasantness & general jerkiness on the main character's part. i almost loved it, but the (unusually happy for a perry film) ending left me a little bit underwhelmed, mainly because the generic indie rock played didn't seem to warrant the kind of victory claimed. lou barlow or ira kaplan would have stuck that last number on a throw-away b-sides compilation, not used it as the song to mark their triumphant return.

still an interesting, fun, sometimes annoying & chaotic watch.

a man escaped (1956) 3.5 while i will not try to pull some idiosyncratic bs and deny this film's greatness, i will be a broken record & say that once again bresson's chilly, remote style leaves me well outside of his films for the most part, & i almost always feel like i've had a tale dryly narrated rather than had a story lived through film.

a field in england (2013) 4 this is what i want movies to be like.

mean girls (2004) 4 add this to the list of films that were not made for me that i really like a lot.
and at least i now know where 'stop trying to make ____ happen' comes from.

i would like this more if lacey chabert had played the troubled outcast, & if she'd got a billion tattoos & dyed her hair purple for the part that would also make me extra happy.

is the 'walker brothers' pancake house' a tribute to the creators of the sun ain't gonna shine anymore?

birds of passage (2019) 3.5 no disputing that this a very well made movie.
but every time i find myself with a movie about drug trading & traffickers going to war, all my 'i'm bored' neurons start to fire.
i thought that the columbian authenticity & the film-making pedigree in play here would make this more interesting to me, but i just can't find it in me to care about things like this.

girl lost (2016) 2.5 during the opening 20 minutes, this does a pretty decent job of posing as a well meaning darker than usual after-school special about life in the underclass & the dangers of prostitution. but we get to see the lead's boobs around the 25 minute mark, & from their our film's true colors shine through. it's a reasonably well made bit of exploitation trash.

midsommar (2019) 4.5 loved it so much i went to see it twice this week.
i don't need to divulge this here, & no one will care anyway, but i did a fair bit of acid in my younger days, & there are moments in this film that come closer to capturing very specific acid trip elements than anything i've ever seen in a film.

i think i loved this, & i'm almost certainly going to see it again this week, but i also can't help but feel that it's a bit of an empty exercise, even disappointing in some ways in that it loses the emotional thread that it set up very effectively in the early going.

you could tell me this is a ridiculous film, or the best of the year. all takes feel valid at this point. i definitely think it's too long, yet the first thing i thought as credits rolled was that i wanted to see it again. 12 hours later, it's still rattling around in my head, & i love it when movies have that effect on me.

mission impossible: fallout (2018) 5 bumping my rating up to a 5 on re-watch, because, while this is a silly film about running around to stop a bomb from going off, action movies just don't get any more exciting & fun than this.

tapeheads (1988) 2 highly goofy mtv parody/comedy. i had a vague memory of finding this pretty enjoyable when i watched it in the early 90s vhs era.
i found it mostly dull & fairly bland tonight. a few laughs, but nothing too sharp or clever. most of the humor felt really obvious, skewering music video tropes & all that. shooting fish in a barrel, i'd say.

bloody birthday (1981) 3 kids born under a full moon are bloodthirsty monsters. nothing really noteworthy - no unhinged acting performances, no memorable gore - but it's kinda fun watching murderous kids be murderous kids.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

the standoff at sparrow creek (2019) 3 members of a militia try to figure out which one of them went on a murderous rampage. pretty good no budget 'who's the killer' mystery. i picked up the scent of fromage every now & then - a line felt a little wooden, a performance felt a little hammy here & there - but still a good story told pretty effectively.

inhuman kiss (2019) 2.5 thai horror that is a bit of a mixed bag. some of the imagery is well done & achieves a novel & creepy look, but most of it looks like the low-budget cgi it is. the main leads are good, but there's some rather hammy over-acting undermining a lot of the film.

and it's a good bit too long & ultimately a bit of a slog to get through. worth a look by all means (it's streaming on netflix, so it's available for all to see) but temper your expectations.

as night falls (2010) 1.5 a slasher/horror as generic as its title. male lead was one of the most instantly annoying characters i've ever seen in a film.
lead actress is very cute.
not much fun to be had here.
kills are bland, gore is uninspired, no momentum, no laughs, no nudity.

easy rider (1969) 4 i'm all for the pinker-style benefits of the modern cosmopolitan world - free markets, free trade, modernism, all that stuff.
but i also can't help but believe i'd probably be happier & more satisfied if i could live my life on the road as a dirty, smelly hippie.

a canterbury tale (1944) 3 i liked the setup, but i found myself falling out of the grip of this, & ultimately found it just a bit too slight & a bit too long.

wrestle (2019) 4 documentary on 4 kids trying to qualify for the state wrestling championship. this year's minding the gap, maybe? not as good, but still pushes all the buttons - sadness & hope & worry. a bit messy in the early going, but a very powerful ending.

zodiac (2007) 4.5 i have to take a 1/2 star off because it's far far far too long, plus every time i watch it i always seem to get a little lost around the 2hr mark (i get easily confused sometimes).

but that basement scene is one of the few movie scenes that have truly frightened me. i watch many films, more than most, and most of them just flow through me with no impact. occasionally i think that maybe i'm just middle aged & boring & dead inside & can't feel anything anymore.

zodiac truly scares me in that basement, & that makes me feel better.

slasher-dot-com (2017) 2.5 i am completely infatuated with caitlin, the skanky daughter. this is that actress's only film sadly. i would absolutely watch more from her.

the film is bad, but it's standard no-budget slasher bad, not especially bad. it has a fun little twist that i didn't see coming, & hums along reasonably well. i had a good time watching it.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (71434) 5 years ago

Hey damo...just wanted to back you up on the basement scene in Zodiac...I read a lot about this mysterious killer and knew nothing was going to happen in that spooky basement scene but damn did Fincher dial up the tension to '11!'

This brilliant scene is heads and shoulders above any dopey slasher film I ever loved...it genuinely earns it's scares!

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

i'd only seen zodiac once before, & i'd managed to somehow completely forget that scene. it completely blindsided me - absolutely brilliant, i agree.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (71434) 5 years ago

A masterpiece scene...nobody who knows the case expected anything to happen...that scene still had me on the edge of my seat!
Great job by Fincher👍

[–] StoneKeeper (21046) 5 years ago

I want to see The witch.

Mean Girls: Left me a bit cold, what with all the hype. 6/10

Midsommar: I don't go out to the theater much since the last decade but Im highly considering this one. I might even go alone for the first time if I don't find anyone to go with me. (my wife would not like this genre) "an't help but feel that it's a bit of an empty exercise": I don't like the sound of that...

Zodiac: The first part of your review describes well what think. Too long and convoluted for me to fully appreciated and I don't feel like giving it a rewatch even though I own it. 6.5-7/10

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

i did ultimately think midsommar lost its emotional edge, at least for me - but i still think it's really a terrific movie. & surprisingly funny in parts, too.

hope you had a good, painless move btw!

[–] GlenEllyn (21066) 5 years ago

Congratulations on the new place and the impending arrival of SK Jr!

I had time for only one: Capernaum (2018) It was good, but having read the description, (While serving a five-year sentence for a violent crime, a 12-year-old boy sues his parents for neglect.) it wasn't quite what I expected, which is probably a good thing. I'd say it was more about his struggle to survive on the streets with a baby. The suit thing was just a sidelight, even though he had a point, I guess. Still, 7.5/10.

[–] StoneKeeper (21046) 5 years ago

It looks pretty good.

Thanks!