deadbeat at dawn (1988) 3.5/5 prompted by pleas from his girlfriend, a guy tries to leave the gang life behind.

if one of your friends had a good-quality camcorder in the 80s, & you decided to make a film, in your dreams it would turn out looking like this.

ugly, grungy, & so, so great.

if you're finding yourself a touch bored by the first 1/2 or so, stick with it.
that ending is one for the ages.





sweet movie (1974) 3.5/5 'The winner of the Miss World Virginity contest marries, escapes from her masochistic husband and ends up involved in a world of debauchery."

gave sweet movie a re-watch after finding out director dušan makavejev died recently.

it's certainly chock full of unforgettable images - you'll probably wish you could forget some of them, i imagine. the most inventive and (in a way) enjoyable scenes are front-loaded in the first 1/2. the back end of the film is dominated by a commune dinner scene that i personally have always found to be as revolting as anything in salo.


it starts out as weird, absurd fun, and turns into a bit of a chore, something of a grind to get through.

as far as decades go, the 70s were pretty out there.

[Edited 3/2/19 13:49pm]

Vox Lux

it lost both of us after over an hour, not sure what we were watching.

TheFman said:

thedoorkeeper said:

Fantastic Mr. Fox
I have a problem with Wes Anderson's animated movies. The same thing happens when I watch them. I watch about half the movie and throw my hands up and say "I can't take this anymore!"
& stop watching the movie. A week or so goes by and I watch the rest of the movie and think " Pretty good movie." Got a real love hate problem going here. Might be my attention deficit.
Anywho I would definitely recommend watching Fantastic Mr Fox and Isle of Dogs.

[Edited 3/2/19 15:59pm]

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. 2.5/5. Like, half the story seems missing.

.

[Edited 3/3/19 5:47am]

Split (2016)

James McAvoy puts on a show in a gratuitous horror film disguised as a psychological thriller. He saves it from being awful. Shymalan can't quit the "twist" fix.

[Edited 3/4/19 9:30am]

Everybody Knows (2019)

Asghar Farhadi makes a powerful, suspenseful family-based drama that packs an absolute wallop in the 3rd act. Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz are wonderful as always.

.75

We moved.

Yuck.

Moving sucks.

Especially when you've lived in the same house for 27 years.

But it's over! Yay!

So I got to watch a couple movies yesterday.

Uncle Drew

Since our beloved Houston Rockets are about to wreck shop on the whole NBA, I decided to watch a basketball movie. "Uncle Drew" was surprisingly good!

You know everything that is going to happen, and I mean everything. There are no surprises in this one to spoil but still, it's fun to watch. Kyrie Irving - who is not completely sure the Earth is round, or that we've actually been to the moon - is really good as Uncle Drew. So are the rest of the basketball players (Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, Nate Robinson, and Lisa Leslie).

Nick Kroll is funny as the villian who gets his at the end.

The best part was featuring Rucker Park as the site of the big tournament. When I was a young basketball player, Rucker Park was legendary. We heard about dudes who regulary hung with, and sometimes even schooled, the best the NBA had to offer. I'm sure that all happened, too. We have a similar facility in Houston called the Fonde Rec Center. All the Houston Rockets, and every other NBA player from Houston, played in games there every summer. They didn't always win, either. It was awesome.

You should check out "Uncle Drew" in between Rockets' games this spring. It will bring added joy to your watching of the beatdown the Rockets have been and will continue to be applying to the Golden State Warriors.

"Uncle Drew" gets 4 RodeoSchro 6'1" White Guy Dunks out of a possible 5 RodeoSchro 6'1" White Guy Dunks.

FURIOUS 7

I already reviewed it but dang, it is a fun ride. However, I watched it just to see the tribute to Paul Walker at the end. It was perfect. You should watch this entire movie just to see that. You'll be glad you did.

"Furious 7" gets 4.5 out of 5. If you have to ask "4.5 what?!?" then you REALLY need to watch this movie!

namepeace said:

EmmaMcG said:

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

EmmaMcG said:

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

Cool. The embargo on reviews has lifted and the consensus from most is that it’s ok. No negative reviews so far, just ok reviews. I have tickets to the Thursday showing.

I haven't seen any reviews yet but I'm expecting them to be fairly typical for a Marvel movie. Ranging from good to very good with a few negative reviews from those who like to be different. Personally, I have no idea what to expect. I'm hoping it's good. Then again, I hope every movie I see is good because who wants to sit through a bad movie? At the very least, it should be better than Shazam because that looks fucking awful.

At first, Shazam looked like it was going to be a complete disaster, but after seeing the trailers it looks like it's going to be a fun movie. Almost a parody of a superhero movie.

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

EmmaMcG said:

Midnight Cowboy (1969) - A naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, finding a new friend in the process.

The excellence of the acting performances is clear, but the look at seedy New York City at the end of the 60s made the movie extra-memorable for me. 4.5/5

i gave lala land a re-watch when i noticed it popped up on netflix this past week.

while i'll never deny how well made this film is, it's one that rather stubbornly refuses to remain stuck in my head.

i'm all in favour of the things this film does. there is a sad shortage of directors trying to make a modern umbrellas of cherbourg. but my second viewing confirms that, as much as i admire almost everything in it, this movie never quite makes me feel anything, & as well staged as most of the musical sequences are, the songs themselves continue to fall out of my head as quickly as they entered.

i'm still giving it a relatively high 4/5 rating, because i don't think anyone should be too harsh on a film as generous & enjoyable as this one, but it still can't help but disappoint me slightly.


attenberg (2010) 3.5/5 23 year old repressed suicide/alan vega fan has a sexual awakening while her father declines with a terminal illness.

features director yorgos lanthimos in an acting role, & shares his sensibilities where awkwardness & discomfort get ratcheted up to levels that make me have to look away and laugh uncomfortably (that's a compliment). it does meander just a bit too much for its own good at times, & felt like it could have used just a bit more venom in its bite & a touch less silliness. absolutely worth a watch for enjoyers of weirdness regardless.

[Edited 3/5/19 20:07pm]

EmmaMcG said:

Captain Marvel


Given that the movie is not out yet and I personally feel that people who give away spoilers for movies are among the worst scum of the earth, I'll avoid any spoilers for now.

Captain Marvel is a good movie. Going in, I had no idea what to expect because I don't know the character and, for some reason, haven't been following the marketing for it. Like, I never even bothered watching the trailer. Which is unlike me. Especially for a "big event" movie like a Marvel movie. But I think that's actually worked to my advantage here because without any preconceived notions of whether I was going to like it or not, I was able to go in fresh. And like I said, it is pretty good. In fact, there's nothing that I can point to and criticise. Brie Larson is on form despite the internet's criticism of her in the trailers, the action is well done, Samuel L Jackson is Samuel L Jackson, which is always a treat. Which brings me to my number one positive about the movie. Seeing as the movie takes place in the 90s, they've used the de-aging CG technique they love so much to make Samuel L Jackson look 25 years younger. Now, this is something they've used in these movies before with Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr and Kurt Russell all appearing far younger than their years. And I've always thought it looked pretty good. And it's only gotten better with each movie. And now, with Sam Jackson, it's fucking perfect. So perfect that we were halfway through the movie before I realised that the man in his mid 40s on the screen is actually being played by a 70 year old. It didn't even occur to me that his face was CG. And that is special effects done right.

HOWEVER, despite my finding it difficult to find fault with the movie, it's not going to appeal to anyone who doesn't already like the other MCU movies. If you don't like Civil War, Winter Soldier or Infinity War, you won't like this.

Post Credits.

There are two post credits scenes. The first one, which technically comes during the credits, is worth staying for. Especially if you plan to see a certain other MCU movie which releases next month. The second scene, which comes after the credits, is kind of pointless. So if you leave after the first post credits scene, you won't have missed anything important.

Overall, I'd give it a solid 3 and a half out of 5. Some great special effects, good action, decent humour and no obvious flaws but probably ranks about midway in the whole MCU leaderboard.

Wait - what?!? I've never heard of that! Is this only done in comic book movies?

I don't think anyone has de-aged Arnold, Stallone, Willis, the Rock or Statham, have they?

I don't think I'm OK with this.

I recently watched The Girl in the Spider's Web. I'm a big fan of the Lisbeth Salander books and movies. I'm not sure why as normally I wouldn't be drawn to movies/books like this, but for some reason this series has sucked me in. It might be because the world needs a hard ass woman like her who gives people exactly what they deserve. This movie was pretty good. I'd give it 3/5.

[Edited 3/6/19 9:59am]

RodeoSchro said:

EmmaMcG said:

Captain Marvel


Given that the movie is not out yet and I personally feel that people who give away spoilers for movies are among the worst scum of the earth, I'll avoid any spoilers for now.

Captain Marvel is a good movie. Going in, I had no idea what to expect because I don't know the character and, for some reason, haven't been following the marketing for it. Like, I never even bothered watching the trailer. Which is unlike me. Especially for a "big event" movie like a Marvel movie. But I think that's actually worked to my advantage here because without any preconceived notions of whether I was going to like it or not, I was able to go in fresh. And like I said, it is pretty good. In fact, there's nothing that I can point to and criticise. Brie Larson is on form despite the internet's criticism of her in the trailers, the action is well done, Samuel L Jackson is Samuel L Jackson, which is always a treat. Which brings me to my number one positive about the movie. Seeing as the movie takes place in the 90s, they've used the de-aging CG technique they love so much to make Samuel L Jackson look 25 years younger. Now, this is something they've used in these movies before with Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr and Kurt Russell all appearing far younger than their years. And I've always thought it looked pretty good. And it's only gotten better with each movie. And now, with Sam Jackson, it's fucking perfect. So perfect that we were halfway through the movie before I realised that the man in his mid 40s on the screen is actually being played by a 70 year old. It didn't even occur to me that his face was CG. And that is special effects done right.

HOWEVER, despite my finding it difficult to find fault with the movie, it's not going to appeal to anyone who doesn't already like the other MCU movies. If you don't like Civil War, Winter Soldier or Infinity War, you won't like this.

Post Credits.

There are two post credits scenes. The first one, which technically comes during the credits, is worth staying for. Especially if you plan to see a certain other MCU movie which releases next month. The second scene, which comes after the credits, is kind of pointless. So if you leave after the first post credits scene, you won't have missed anything important.

Overall, I'd give it a solid 3 and a half out of 5. Some great special effects, good action, decent humour and no obvious flaws but probably ranks about midway in the whole MCU leaderboard.

Wait - what?!? I've never heard of that! Is this only done in comic book movies?

I don't think anyone has de-aged Arnold, Stallone, Willis, the Rock or Statham, have they?

I don't think I'm OK with this.

Wasn't Arnold de-aged in Terminator: Genisys when he fights his younger self?

The Old Man & the Gun (2018) - Based on the true story of Forrest Tucker and his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public.

Robert Redford's final film before retiring. He still got it. 3.5/5

RodeoSchro said:

sexton said:

sexton said:

EmmaMcG said:

sexton said:

The Old Man & the Gun (2018) - Based on the true story of Forrest Tucker and his audacious escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to an unprecedented string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public.

Robert Redford's final film before retiring. He still got it. 3.5/5

I really liked that movie. Robert Redford being in it probably has a lot to do with that though.

i'm looking forward to seeing this. a lot of it was filmed in my neighborhood. i just need 1,082 people to finish watching it before my library hold comes through...

EmmaMcG said:

RodeoSchro said:

Wait - what?!? I've never heard of that! Is this only done in comic book movies?

I don't think anyone has de-aged Arnold, Stallone, Willis, the Rock or Statham, have they?

I don't think I'm OK with this.

It's done in other movies too but the Marvel movies do it a lot. Like for example, in Ant Man, Michael Douglas is in the movie but they have a flashback sequence where they show his character in the 80s and instead of casting a younger actor or a using dodgy makeup, they CG his face so that he looks exactly how he did 30 years ago.

Martin Scorsese's next movie, The Irishman, stars DeNiro, Pacino and Pesci and for half the movie, they'll be young men. They're using that same CG effect to make them look younger.

It's a very costly effect so as much as I'd love to see a young Van Damme again, he's not likely to be in a movie with a big enough budget.

They needed to CG his voice because it sounded like every one of the 620,547 cigarettes he's smoked went directly to his vocal cords.

RodeoSchro said: