Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar -

This ridiculous comedy stars (no pun intended) Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo as middle-aged divorcees and best friends who, after finding themselves at the end of their ropes in their dull Nebraska town, vacation in the titular Florida locale. As luck would have it, the villainous Sharon Gordon Fisherman has sicced her loyal lapdog Edgar (Jamie Dornan) on a task to kill everyone there. My sticking point with absurdist comedy movies is that so many of them are akin to gum that quickly loses its flavor in that their absurdism soon becomes normal. Luckily, this one paces it in such a way that I thought "you've got to be kidding me" from the first scene to the last one.

One aspect of this movie that really makes it work is its heightened aesthetics. With the pals' hometown not being far off from the sickly-sweet suburb in Edward Scissorhands and Vista Del Mar resembling a cruise commercial with the color contrast set to 100%, it has a look that's shamelessly unrealistic, which is a good thing. It also helps that Wiig and Mumolo have such good comedic chemistry, which is on par with SNL's Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon. A scene on an airplane where they endlessly debate the qualities of the name "Trish," much to the annoyance of the other passengers, is one I would have been happy to have lasted for another 15 minutes. While Mumolo is no slouch, Wiig is the definite MVP here. She does double duty by also playing Fisherman, who is one of the funniest villains I've seen in a movie in a while, not to mention funniest looking in that she resembles an extreme version of Cate Blanchett's baddie in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Dornan is just deserving of recognition, though, especially since his performance vitalizes the dour and cold image he's cultivated for himself. His solo song and dance scene, which resembles a '90s Old Navy commercial on acid, is one of the movie's funniest moments. The other standout performance is Vanessa Bayer's in a small role as the fascistic leader of a friend group.

Despite avoiding traps other absurdist comedies walk into, I think this is a very good movie, but not quite a great one. As much as the action movie plot amused me, it still comes across like one I've seen several times before. Also, not to take away from Damon Wayans Jr.'s performance as a secret agent, but I felt that his character is underutilized. It still stands as one of the better comedies of 2021 as well as a reminder of the values of friendship and of stepping outside of your comfort zone every now and then. You'll also finally learn what culottes are.

This looks so very good (I recognize some of the cast from other things), but I can’t find it anywhere here to watch the darn thing.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

Wow. Did that suck.
I have no score out of anything for this film because I disliked it that much. I nearly walked out twice and nearly didn't return from the bathroom once but just kept walking to my car, except that I have a friend who would have never let me hear the end of it, so I endured this Last Jedi-type installment in the Bond franchise. A true test of my endurance and a real shame for the franchise and particularly for Craig's Bond.
I hardly know where to begin but I'll try to get some thoughts out so this isn't just a rant with nothing behind it.
For one thing, the hallmark of the Bond franchise during Craig's run has been a stylishness, not just in terms of great suits and dresses and good-looking people and exotic locales, but from the director's chair and the cinematographer's lens. It is completely lacking here outside of the only Bond-quality scene of the film, the party in Cuba. The rest of it fails to catch the eye in any way other than maybe some of the set-design was good but wasn't taken advantage of. Or perhaps it was the opposite and the design was poor and the cinematographer did all they could. I'm inclined to believe it's either the former or neither. The movie just didn't look nearly as good or catch the eye and give one pause to appreciate the craft as I've come to expect from the contemporary franchise. I have not seen one of Fukunaga's other projects but this sure seemed uninspired to me.
Secondly, I have to say that I have not had much faith in Rami Malek and was concerned about the film focusing on him as the main villain. I thought Malek did a fine job of ACHTING! in the by-the-numbers and false Queen movie (though I felt he in no way resembled the Freddy Mercury I had grown up with) but I wondered if he had any business filling shoes that had been occupied by the likes of Javier Bardem, Christoph Waltz, Mads Mikkelsen, and hell, even Matthieu Amalric at least. Obviously, I wouldn't even have mentioned it if I didn't feel that he was not in their league. Now it's a bit hard to say, to be totally fair to Malek, because the Villain is just so poor anyway, just a random psychopath with gobbledy-gook motivation (if any?) that changes constantly and has nothing interesting to say at all, who has, I guess (?), inherited a massive, ultra-hi-tech underground lair from an obviously like nation-wealthy family, and stayed under the radar of all the world's intelligence agencies plus SPECTRE for over 20 years. Sure, whatever. But still, Malek is just so bland here, really just seems like he's not up to making even that ridiculous character a little interesting, bringing any life to it. He acts almost exactly how he played Mercury in the quiet moments. One wonders if he has another card in his deck.
The editing was poor, also, by the way, cutting off of what could have been exciting shots or dramatic moments far too quickly in a rush to get to the next expository sentence, which they all are.
Which gets me to the ultimate crime. The script. What an absolute piece of ****.
The script is one continuous piece of exposition from the beginning to the end, with hardly a single line that doesn't exist to explain the current situation, from "here's what's gone on off-screen that everyone needs to know for us to get to the next set-piece" to literally like, "here's what we're doing right now, on the screen, right in front of you!, in case you're in the back of the theater and having trouble seeing". The entire freaking movie.
Now I know Bond movies have a lot of expository dialogue, but this wasn't just overwhelming for a Bond movie, this is possibly the most exposition-heavy film I have ever seen.
And then every once in a while there would be a (modestly) witty quip. At the end of an exposition dump and right before a set-piece. Many of which backfired and came across as very stupid (the "argument" over the 007 number and its forced and sappy resolution were so clunky and ugly and forced I wanted to puke).
I mean, this script is a disaster. Never mind the actual content of the script, the story, which sucks, the structure of the script is just terrible. Everybody explains everything all the time and every character only exists to explain things. Even the new 007 only exists to go do things off-screen that Bond would not have time to do in the context of this story and then come back and tell everybody (the audience) what was done and how this leads us to the next set-piece.
Really, this movie is bad. Just bad. It is a lesson in bad script-writing and uninspired filmmaking. Just a complete drag from start to finish and a bummer finale for the character and the franchise.


And hell, just to pile on, because this movie deserves it, if you're gonna spend this much money on a movie, can you at least make sure the CGI looks good?! Sheesh!

⬆️ Knew I would hate it. Especially after this review.

Me, Myself and Irene (2000)

so ridiculous but funny with Renée Zellweger in her cutest time and vintage Jim Carrey movie, in fact the last of them.. has a bright and colourful look I feel they did so well in comedy’s of that era.

(Man throws cigarette butt on floor)

“Well, **** my ozone”
*
- Hank (Jim Carrey)

I wish I could help. You may have to wait for he blu ray or dvd. Or you could tweet her and ask her! @Cathy_Brady

Set after the events of Captain America: Civil War, Black Widow follows fugitive Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) as she is forced to reconnect with her past "family", including her sister Yelena (Florence Pugh). Meanwhile, they are both being pursued by their former Russian handler (Ray Winstone) and his mysterious agent, the Taskmaster.

Much like its lead character, who's trying to reconcile her present with her past, this is a film that's trying to reconcile and harmonize with what preceded it. Released two years after Endgame, delayed by the pandemic, hindered by its overall reception and maybe even the whole Johansson/Disney+ lawsuit, the film struggles to prove its relevance within the whole MCU.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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You saw it?

I might just do this. Problem with these things that are not immediately available is that, by the time they surface here, one has forgotten all about them.

Nope. I meant the review confirmed what I suspected. That it wasn’t a movie I’d enjoy.

Yikes. I hope I'm not wrong.

Touchez-pas au Grisbi aka Hands Off the Loot (muthaf@cka) (1954) ++ Now, it could be my expectations were very high with my recent Jacques Becker film Casque D'or. Along with my love for Jean Gabin and, in a minor role, in fact, his first role, Lino Ventura. But what should have been a complete adoration ended up being more of respect. For the life of me, I can't understand why I wasn't head over heels for this film. Following many of the similar French crime films, I've been running through this year.

That is not to say this is a d@mn good film. It is. The pacing, the dialogue, characters, plot devices, even composition were all very solid. And again, it features MyMan! Gabin, so I SHOULD be enamored. Or, perhaps, that was the problem. My insistence that this would be a stellar experience may have caused my less than enthusiastic response to a film that truly does deserve it.

Again, I did not dislike, grow bored, or fail to engage with the story or the characters. It hit all the usual buttons with genuine aplomb of a retiring gangster whose partner gets kidnapped by other gangsters is done with Becker's adherence to realism and practicality.

I just need to revisit and enjoy this as much as I KNOW I should be.

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What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes

~Mr Minio

You’re not. I hate Bond movies. Just gave away Quantum of Solace.

Well, if it gives you any more context, I actually really like Quantum Of Solace and I thought this movie was awful.

The movie is quite nice but I still prefer the Pierce Brosnan Bond.

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, 1982

Admiral James Kirk (William Shatner) is accompanying old friend Spock (Leonard Nimoy) on a mission with several Starfleet trainees when things get very serious. Old adversary Khan (Ricardo Montalban!) shows up having hijacked a spaceship and is aiming to take control over a new scientific discovery known as Genesis. Complicating matters, two of the scientists developing Genesis include an old flame of Kirk's as well as his embittered son.

From what I've read, this is considered one of the best (if not the best) of the feature films made with the original Star Trek cast. And . . . yeah. I can see it. Generally speaking, the writing and the development of its themes are pretty strong.

What I found most impressive about the film was its willingness to take a serious, and even critical, look at the repercussions of the rule-bending behaviors of its protagonist. Kirk's selective and casual following of the rules can sometimes be portrayed as a part of his roguish charm, but here there are consequences. Early in the film, Kirk decides to go against regulations in terms of how he approaches another ship, and that decision costs the life of a young trainee (and the injury of a dozen others).

I thought that the film walked the line just right in how it dealt with Kirk in the film. He's still allowed to be daring and savvy, and at the right time irreverent. At the same time, the film isn't afraid to have a little fun with what is essentially a mid-life crisis. When the film staged several banter-ish sequences between Kirk and trainee Saavik (Kirstie Alley), I was already cringing. She's 20 years his junior, and he's her superior officer. But instead of him bedding her (or even a lot more flirting), we get his spitfire son talking crap about him.

On the flip side of the story, Khan makes a great foil for Kirk. Both men lead a loyal crew, and both crews are put at risk by the decisions of their leader. Montalban is strong in his role as a man who is driven by vengeance--someone who is brilliant, but also just a bit too out of control.

The dynamics between the central cast are all very solid. The various showdowns are all engaging. Most of the original cast are only minimally important to the plot, but their interactions feel time-worn and genuine, so that they don't necessarily need a lot of dialogue to make their presence felt.

If the strength of the film is in how it explores the themes of leadership, loss, and grief, then I would say its weakness was the overall plot. There's something that just didn't totally gel for me in the triangle between Kirk, Khan, and the Genesis project.

A solid sci-fi film, and fun to watch as a casual fan of the original series.

Medusa (2021)





Lol


The Reunion (2021)

Yup, right along this one as well...



I like Bond movies when they're good, but Qos definitely wasn't one of the good ones; I mean, even if I don't compare it to the entries that surrounded it, Quandumb still would've been a massive, incoherent disappointment anyway, and one of the biggest victims of the 2007 writer's strike that was going on at that time. You should've just waited it out, guys!

Yeah; I mean, Khan is one of the better Trek movies on the whole, and far better than The Motion Picture, but I still remember being disappointed with how vague the allusions to the events of "Space Seed" were, since they were the beginning of the catalyst for why Khan hated Kirk so much (have you seen that episode before, btw? It's obviously not necessary to do so to be able to follow the plot of Khan, but it's still nice to have the additional context anyway). Anyway, if I had to pick a favorite Trek movie, I'd go with Undiscovered Country, since I feel Meyer gave it a grander, more "cinematic"-feeling style, and it also feels like the perfect balancing point between Roddenberry's fundamentally optimistic vision for the future, and the more popcorn-y thrills needed to reel in non-Trekkies to the theater, if you ask me.