103 thoughts on “Monday Movie Day: From Around The Globes”

  1. Movies where a train plows through a vehicle, not only not trying to stop, but continuing on like it never happened:

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      1. Did it though? How long after a collision would you begin applying the brakes. Right, at the very latest (if you were entirely clueless, which they are not) when the collision happened, and yet the train continues at speed until it's out of shot. Every. Single. Time. Even if they sounded the horn.

  2. Linds and I tried starting The Bear a few months ago and clanked on it pretty hard. Just could not get into it.

    We heard a lot of good things and tried again last week.

    Okay, yeah, I get it. This show is incredible.

    3. Only read after watching both seasons SelectShow

          2. Yeah, after having finished season 2, I'd say Forks is a top 10 ever TV episode for me. Absolute excellence the whole way through.

  3. Don’t watch Rebel Moon. Trying so hard…too hard…for Star Wars cred. 14-yr-old’s review: “That was stupid.”

      1. I don’t recall that part. But there were a lot of really superficial characters, and really important people who show up out of nowhere and you’re supposed to know and love without the movie putting in the work for it.

  4. Anyone watching Fargo Season 5? Two episodes left and I think it's been pretty good. Looking forward to see how they wrap up.

    For All Mankind has season ending episode this coming Friday. I've been a watcher since the beginning. This season has been ok, I appreciate that they got rid of the some of distracting/dumb sideplots from earlier seasons. I haven't heard if there is a season 5 year yet. I'll probably watch but this series needs to wrap up. It's a great series to start up on if interested, especially the first two seasons.

    True Detective Season 4 starts Sunday. I never watched season 2 due to reviews and lost interest for season 3. So I started season 3 for my indoor bike training so that I will have a bunch season 4 episodes in the hopper. That should get me into February.

    The Holdovers was the only movie I watched over the holidays. Highly recommended.

    Also even thought it's some 3 years old, I just finished Queens Gambit. I loved it, well worth catching up on.

    1. Loved The Queen’s Gambit. I think it might’ve been one of the first shows I streamed during lockdown. It was definitely one of the best. Anya Taylor-Joy was so, so good in that. Fantastic wardrobe design, as well.

      I’m watching Fargo. It’s been entertaining but the story pales next to seasons 1 and 2. Way too many head-scratching decisions made as the season progressed that seemed entirely out of character. Also, I’m not into The Sin-Eater like a lot of people seem to be.

      I rewatched the first season of True Detective recently to psych myself up for the new Jodie Foster led edition. Harrelson and McConaughey are as great as I’d remembered.
      My favorite show of the past few years has been Slow Horses. The first season was great and it’s only gotten better. Wonderful cast led by Gary Oldman doing some of the best work of his career as the leader of a bunch of disgraced MI5 agents. Highly recommend.

  5. Finally started Only Murders Season 3. We figured we'd better hurry up and watch it so that we can swap out our Hulu for Netflix. We've gotten into a good rhythym of only paying for 1 at a time.

    Anyway, Only Murders is sooooo good. I watched other things, but this show is worth its own comment. Season 2 was slightly less engaging than Season 1, but Season 3 has come out of the gate absolutely gangbusters. Steve Martin & Martin Short are simply experts. Absolutely professional, and putting together an amazing, tight production.

    1. Yeah...it's not the greatest show ever and I could pick it apart, but dang it it's just such a lovely, fun, and comfortable show. I miss having new episodes.

      1. "lovely, fun and comfortable" are exactly the way I would describe it. Neither Linds nor I are much (or, at all) into true crime as a genre, so some of the obvious-to-others jokes go over our heads, but it's such a constant delight that it works, anyway.

      2. Perfect description. I feel like so many of the things that come out these days have some serious editing or pacing issues or something that's just holding the show back, beyond the characters and plot. This feels like they know exactly what they're doing and the show lacks any of those technical flaws. So it's reaching precisely whatever height these characters and plots are capable of reaching. Others might be able to reach higher, but this is hitting 100% of it's potential.

    3. I haven't seen S03 yet, and while I've enjoyed it at a similar level as others, I still find Gomez such a jarring choice. She's fine enough, but has just felt a bit off the entire series to me. I think a different actor could have been as dry but not as out of place.

    4. My wife and I finally got around to starting Only Murders last night. I'm enjoying it so far, glad to finally get around to it.

  6. Electric Dreams, the Black Mirror of Philip K. Dick short stories. That was a waste of time, mostly. They all just seemed too on the nose for me, and I'm not sure if that's the writers or the original work, or if Dick has just been copied so many times that it all feels too obvious.

    Fleabag. Boy does that show go from nothing to everything really quickly.

    Frasier. Not great, but comfortable, and I got a legit laugh out loud at least once per episode, and there were a few good sentimental moments as well. Would definitely come back for a second season

    Guardians 3: Meh. Way too much Rocky torture prOn

    Mayhem: Script could have been a lot tighter, but still stupid fun. I like watching Steven Yeun

    Leave the World Behind: A couple of really chilling moments, but the script is a bit stupid. Medicine!

    Nope: Nope

    3. I got really turned off by Leave the World Behind. Several of the characters had to be incredibly tight mouthed about things for the intensity to level up. Seriously, guys, try mentioning a few important observations to each other, huh?

    4. Guardians 3 the third act(?) killing spree on the station was terrible. The movie had funny moments, but mostly felt like everyone was just mailing it in.

  7. We went to see poor things yesterday. If you liked the lobster this one will not disappoint. If you didn’t like the lobster …. well there is a lot of nudity.

      2. This one doesn’t have the same gut punch the lobster had, but it there is a lot of nudity. Furious jumping and nakedness. I loved it.

        1. Furious jumping and nakedness. I loved it.
          Easily one of the most entertaining movie reviews I’ve ever read.

    2. I hated The Lobster (because it was so mean spirited), but The Favourite is probably in my top 10 from the last decade. I'm excited to check out Poor Things but also nervous.

  8. I watched bottoms on a flight recently. Quality coming of age raunch-com stuff that doesn’t really break new ground. The fight scenes were good. Marshawn Lynch was a delight.

  9. I just finished the three Tennant-comes-back Dr. Who specials and the Christmas special with the new guy (Ncuti Gatwa).

    1. The Tennant return was inexplicable. I like him and his rendition of the Doctor, but we didn't need this.

    2. Jodie Whittaker got screwed. There was no credible payoff to the regressive regeneration of Tennant, and the three-parter just felt disrespectful to her.

    3. The transition to Gatwa was downright dumb. And I don't mean that in a good-ol-DrWho-camp way. I have mixed feelings on Neil Patrick Harris's Toymaker too.

    4. Gatwa is positively effervescent in the role. The Christmas episode was middling (ok, mediocre), but he has great potential. He's got a bit of Matt Smith's youthful, whirlwind charm about him but definitely feels fresh.

    My favorite Doctor by far is Capaldi. But I am hopeful that Gatwa will be fun.

    1. Sadly, I cannot watch Doctor Who anymore, now that it's on Disney Plus. I will say that what was most disrespectful to Jodie Whittaker was the stories she was given. She was a good enough Doctor, but the stories were at best mediocre, and some of them were downright awful.

    2. I really like Ncuti Gatwa on Sex Education He's got a very magnetic personality

      I'm not a Who person, but I can see how he'd be fun given what I do know about it.

  11. On a plane recently I watched about 15 minutes of Guardians of the Galaxy 3, then decided that this just isn't for me anymore. I did then switch over to the latest Indiana Jones movie. Not great, but good entertainment. Should be a nice ending to Harrison Ford as Indy, although I am sure it will be rebooted sometime with another lead.

  12. Here's a broader question about movies these days, especially the big tent pole, "cinematic universe" movies that have dominate the box office lately. It seems that we've reached the end of the line with Marvel, DC, and Star Wars. Too many so-so movies, dilution with series on streaming services, end of storylines, etc. It seems like all three are trying to figure out what's next. DC is doing a whole new reboot, but they've mishandled their iconic properties for ages so who knows if they those characters are damaged beyond. Star Wars has just gone into complete fan service for the nerds, while losing any interest from less invested fans (and even hits like the Mandalorian seemed to have lost steam. while the excellent Endor really just has one more season in it). And Marvel seemed to hit the end of the line with their characters.

    So what's next? I realize that just one exciting, "must see" movie can change everything but right now it looks pretty grim. Maybe it's time for smaller, intimate movies. (yeah, right)

    1. Yeah, I made it through the first few Marvel series, but that was pretty much it for me. I've seen a few of the newer movies, but yes, they seem to be treading water. Not sure where they're going to go from here. Probably doesn't help their future tent pole baddie is actually a baddie. Never bothered with DC, so dunno about them.

      1. Some of the small-screen Marvel stuff has been really good, IMO. I think Disney can continue to make stuff in that format for a long time. (See, e.g., the new Echo short series).

        But those are relatively expensive to make due to the special effects (Trek and Star Wars have the same problem, I think). They probably need some more big-acreen tent-pole winners to make the numbers work longer term.

    3. Isn't this kind of how it's been with comics for years? I'm not an American comics person but my understanding is there tends to be a lot of crossover between the series.

      It's been a few/several/many months since a books post so I'll use that as a metaphor: do you feel you must read every fiction book by an author? Or all of the books in some universe? As a teenager, I read many of the Expanded Universe books but I bet I read fewer than half. I think the monoculture is dying and the "cinematic universe" movies/TV are its last breaths.

      1. I am a completionist, which often means getting mad about the grifty shite that gets thrown in after an author has run out of material or died, leaving a franchise to heirs (I'm looking at you, Brian Herbert!).

        E.g., the Star Wars Extended Universe had a lot of entertaining storylines in it, but turned awful after several years. Sadly, Disney/Lucas repudiated all of the good stuff.

        *The Thrawn stuff from the books was outstanding.

        *The treatment of Luke after the original trilogy, much, much, much better than how Disney effed his story. And I very much wanted to see a Mara Jade storyline.

        *The Organa-Solo kids, at least initially, were interesting.

        *Wedge Antilles and Rogue Squadron!

        2. I'm okay with Disney marking it all as non-canon because there were conflicting stories within it plus it would be too constraining (see the many, many books in it). I hoped they would mine the best stories from it but we've really only gotten Thrawn and only by way of Ahsoka. I blame Filoni for some of that because Thrawn appeared in various animated shows before so he's kind of "reserved" for future use.

          1. I'm in favor of a complete redo on the prequel trilogy (and probably the new trilogy as well).

      2. When it comes to authors, I definitely am a completionist (with very minor exceptions), which I think helps contrast the problem with the large media universes: it's very hard to have and maintain a unified vision. I'm more likely to be interested in something from the "Wes Anderson Expanded Universe" than, say, Echo. I absolutely love ST: Strange New Worlds but have no time for ST: Prodigy. But is it necessary to watch it all? No...although Marvel is making it harder and harder to follow things if you haven't stayed up to date with the latest series/movie/holiday special.

      3. Exploitation of existing IP is Hollywood's core value, unfortunately. (And is a reliable moneymaker for the publishing industry as well).

        I don't think that principle is going away. There are still numerous properties waiting to be exploited. E.g.,

        *Zelazny's Amber (I think something is in production?)
        *McCaffrey's Pern
        *Kurtz's Deryni
        *Zimmer Bradley's Avalon and Darkover
        *Niven's Known Space universe
        *Pournelle's CoDominium universe
        *McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan universe and World of the Five Gods

        and many others

        2. To be honest, I don't know if those titles are real or you're just making them up to be funny. I'm guessing they are legitimate so I think the real issue is how universal are they? I'm not a huge sci-fi fan but I at least pay attention. Those titles mean nothing to me and I'm guessing a huge marketing/great word of mouth would be the only way to make me even consider watching, either in a theater or streaming. I have a feeling I'm in the majority with that opinion.

            1. That's fair, free, although I don't think most people know very many scifi titles either.

              Most superhero stuff qualifies as fantasy. I think GoT and quite a bit of Gaiman have done very well with mass audiences. Hard scifi has a rather thinner pedigree for mass success, absent very popular lead actors, I think.

                1. I didn't even realize these were fantasy titles, how am I going to know the author's hometown? Plus I'm St. Paul guy now.

        3. And fortunately for Hollywood, and especially Disney, copyrights are expiring again so free content!

    4. For me, Multiverse of Madness ended my completionism streak with Marvel. Because I saw it, not because I didn't... They were trying so hard for synergy with the TV show that they abandoned everything good that had built up in the previous movie(s). I was genuinely excited to see what they could do with Baron Mordo. Instead they just started the movie with random action involving a main character who had no introduction, then made the assumption that you had watched a spinoff show about their most boring characters (I hadn't, and continue to have no desire to watch it), then basically just made a whole bunch of "What If" references, and called it good when the villain, without being acted upon by the protagonist, up and changed her mind. Ugh.

      Now I'll watch here and here. I found Season 1 of Loki to be very compelling. We'll see if I ever watch Season 2. I enjoyed Thor: Love & Thunder well enough, and would probably keep going back for more Thor movies. Spider-man will always have love in my heart. If they packed up all the rest and just kept doing Spider-man and Thor, I'd probably go back to being a completionist.

  14. Watched Gone in the Night. Tried too hard to be suspenseful...when it leaned into B-Movie vibes it was hilarious. Really really stupid. And I love Winona Ryder and Dermot Mulroney.

  15. The Super Mario Brothers Movie. I was rather disappointed. A small handful of fun references, but even those felt too few and far between.

  17. I didn't get the sense that anyone is also watching Fargo season 5. The penultimate episode aired last night and it looks like the finale is going to be a doozy. I would highly recommend and don't be put off by disappointing previous seasons.

    1. I am watching. Just watched episode 8 last night.

      I only have one problem with the show.

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              1. I was underwhelmed with the finale and the series itself.

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                    2. The nitpick comment was more generally applied, not directed at you. It irked me that some people would complain about The Bear because the kitchen scenes weren’t realistic. So what! It’s not a documentary. It’s telling a story much broader than how a sandwich shop kitchen is run.

                    3. We just watched the final episode last night, and I really enjoyed Season 5.

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  18. I completed my rewatch of Breaking Bad and now I've started my rewatch of Better Call Saul.

    Just in case:

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  23. Oscar nominations announced:

    Best picture

    • "American Fiction"
    • "Anatomy of a Fall"
    • "Barbie"
    • "The Holdovers"
    • "Killers of the Flower Moon"
    • "Maestro"
    • "Oppenheimer"
    • "Past Lives"
    • "Poor Things"
    • "The Zone of Interest"

    Best actor

    • Bradley Cooper, "Maestro"
    • Colman Domingo, "Rustin"
    • Paul Giamatti, "The Holdovers"
    • Cillian Murphy, "Oppenheimer"
    • Jeffrey Wright, "American Fiction"

    Best actress

    • Annette Bening, "Nyad"
    • Lily Gladstone, "Killers of the Flower Moon"
    • Sandra Hüller, "Anatomy of a Fall"
    • Carey Mulligan, "Maestro"
    • Emma Stone, "Poor Things"

    Best supporting actor

    • Sterling K. Brown, "American Fiction"
    • Robert De Niro, "Killers of the Flower Moon"
    • Robert Downey Jr., "Oppenheimer"
    • Ryan Gosling, "Barbie"
    • Mark Ruffalo, "Poor Things"

    Best supporting actress

    • Emily Blunt, "Oppenheimer"
    • Danielle Brooks, "The Color Purple"
    • America Ferrera, "Barbie"
    • Jodie Foster, "Nyad"
    • Da'Vine Joy Randolph, "The Holdovers"

    Best director

    • Jonathan Glazer, "The Zone of Interest"
    • Yorgos Lanthimos, "Poor Things"
    • Christopher Nolan, "Oppenheimer"
    • Martin Scorsese, "Killers of the Flower Moon"
    • Justine Triet, "Anatomy of a Fall"

    International feature film

    • "Io Capitano," Italy
    • "Perfect Days," Japan
    • "Society of the Snow," Spain
    • "The Teachers' Lounge," Germany
    • "The Zone of Interest," United Kingdom

    Animated feature film

    • "The Boy and the Heron"
    • "Elemental"
    • "Nimona"
    • "Robot Dreams"
    • "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"

    Adapted screenplay

    • "American Fiction"
    • "Barbie"
    • "Oppenheimer"
    • "Poor Things"
    • "The Zone of Interest"

    Original screenplay

    • "Anatomy of a Fall"
    • "The Holdovers"
    • "Maestro"
    • "May December"
    • "Past Lives"

    Visual effects

    • "The Creator"
    • "Godzilla Minus One"
    • "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3"
    • "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One"
    • "Napoleon"

    Original score

    • "American Fiction"
    • "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny"
    • "Killers of the Flower Moon"
    • "Oppenheimer"
    • "Poor Things"

    Original song

    • "It Never Went Away" from "American Symphony"
    • "I'm Just Ken" from "Barbie"
    • "What Was I Made For?" from "Barbie"
    • "The Fire Inside" from "Flamin' Hot"
    • "Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)" from "Killers of the Flower Moon"

    Documentary feature film

    • "20 Days in Mariupol"
    • "Bobi Wine: The People's President"
    • "The Eternal Memory"
    • "Four Daughters"
    • "To Kill a Tiger"

    Cinematography

    • "El Conde"
    • "Killers of the Flower Moon"
    • "Maestro"
    • "Oppenheimer"
    • "Poor Things"

    Costume design

    • "Barbie"
    • "Killers of the Flower Moon"
    • "Napoleon"
    • "Oppenheimer"
    • "Poor Things"

    Animated short film

    • "Letter to a Pig"
    • "Ninety-Five Senses"
    • "Our Uniform"
    • "Pachyderme"
    • "War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko"

    Live action short film

    • "The After"
    • "Invincible"
    • "Knight of Fortune"
    • "Red, White and Blue"
    • "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar"

    Documentary short film

    • "The ABCs of Book Banning"
    • "The Barber of Little Rock"
    • "Island in Between"
    • "The Last Repair Shop"
    • "Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó"

    Film editing

    • "Anatomy of a Fall"
    • "The Holdovers"
    • "Killers of the Flower Moon"
    • "Oppenheimer"
    • "Poor Things"

    Sound

    • "The Creator"
    • "Maestro"
    • "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One"
    • "Oppenheimer"
    • "The Zone of Interest"

    Production design

    • "Barbie"
    • "Killers of the Flower Moon"
    • "Napoleon"
    • "Oppenheimer"
    • "Poor Things"

    Makeup and hairstyling

    • "Golda"
    • "Maestro"
    • "Oppenheimer"
    • "Poor Things"
    • "Society of the Snow"

    1. It kind of cracks me up when a film is in limited release for the last four days of the year and is considered for best picture of 2023.

  26. I've come down with Influenza, and since sick time is about the only time I'll actually watch movies by myself, I've watched a few...

    * A Haunting in Venice
    They sure do keep making these movies, and I sure do keep watching them when I'm sick. This one was... Fine. Even not knowing the source story, the "who" of the who dun it seemed pretty obvious from beginning. It's fun to watch any level of Poirot work, though. Some tense atmosphere to make up for the lack of mystery.

    * Self Reliance
    Jake Johnson plays a guy who accepts an offer to let hunters try to kill him for thirty days for a million dollar prize. The loophole is that the hunters will leave him alone if he's in the direct presence of another person. Also, it's comedy. Done decent laffs, but it never even comes close to committing to its concept, which hamstrings it quite a bit. The ending is also a mess -- I'm not sure they had any idea how to end it.

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    * Wrath of Khan
    I hadn't seen this one in forever. I'd always had this one as maybe the best of the originals, but there were TNG movies I preferred.

    I was wrong. This movie is awesome. Easily my favorite Trek movie. The dueling overacting of Shatner and Montalban rings perfect in this context, the score is incredible, and the battles are epic. It's a great sci-fi movie with no love of Trek required. Definitely the best thing I watched this week.

    1. I haven't seen Wrath of Khan in decades. I remember loving it back in the day. Thanks, I will re-watch soon.

    2. Last year at speech there was a kid who said "wouldn't it be great if there was a novelization of Wrath of Khan, so I could enter the Prose category with a speech entitled 'Prose & Khan'?"

      Anyway, his dad found him one and it was, in fact, amazing.

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