What's this I keep hearing about a new Star Trek movie coming out or something?
44 thoughts on “Third Monday Movie Day”
The latest Star Wars went places that I didn't expect it to go, at least not this quickly. It also had aspects to the plot that I had to question a bit as well. I still enjoyed it a lot.
Just finished season two of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. The characters are fun, but it runs just a bit out of control at times. Looking forward to where the next season will take it.
Runner daughter mentioned that she and her boyfriend grabbed Valerian at Redbox over the weekend, and they couldn't even finish it.
...aaaand Dirk Gently was not picked up for a third season 🙁
I loved Star War and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. I'm very excited for Rian Johnson's trilogy of films.
J & I went to Lady Bird last weekend and it's probably my favorite film* I've seen this year. It actually dovetails quite nicely with Frances Ha, so I do recommend watching both.
I re-watched Inglorious Basterds and The Place Beyond the Pines while I was working from home last week. Both films weren't quite as good as I remember overall, but I still enjoyed both. The first act of The Place... is phenomenal but it kind of loses steam after that in my mind. IB just seemed a little on the nose these days.
* I still badly want to watch a handful of films before I make a favorites list: Coco, Baby Driver, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Personal Shopper, The Florida Project, The Villainess, Good Time, and The Disaster Artist. Good grief. I'm hoping to watch three of them over the holidays with J.
It felt like a 2.5 hour movie edited down to 1.5 hours. They touch on the priest/play director's mental health issues but we never really know anything about him beyond the crying scene. The brother also seemed really underdeveloped.
* Linds and I watched The Big Year at the behest of my parents, who insisted that it's good "even though Steve Martin is in it". Not enough jokes to be a comedy, not enough drama to be a drama. It's charming enough, even if you just sort of go "huh, okay" after it's over.
* The Night Before - I got laffs out of it. Cheaptoy will want to steer clear, of course.
* My friend and I caught the Murder on the Orient Express remake. It was a good looking, well-acted movie that nonetheless didn't have a ton of "oomph".
* The Walking Dead is deeply silly. But we knew that already.
Now I need to find time for the wife and I to sneak off to watch the new Star Wars movie before I manage to spoil whatever it is that apparently can be spoiled.
Being a birder, I feel obligated to watch the Big Year if/when it shows up on NetFlix.
My parents are still on the disc's only plan, and I'm pretty sure they've gotten it at least four times. They really, REALLY like that movie.
Heh, I had to look up the night before to see why I got a shout out on it, and yep I will definitely be avoiding.
Baby Driver - Eh. Some of it was cool, but some of it... the character motivations for everyone but the protagonist just really didn't make a lot of sense.
I don't think I've watched much else. Some Christmas movies and kids stuff.
I loved Baby Driver, but I rarely have problems with movies that miss on motivations. I just tend to not notice them and go with the flow. The cool music/visual matchups were plenty enough for me to enjoy it a great deal.
I would also say that I'm not sure I would enjoy it as much now as I did when I saw it, now knowing what a creep Kevin Spacey is. I generally prefer to separate the art from the artist, but I think it's too soon for me to be able to do so in his case.
I saw it after knowing how much of a creep he is. It might have affected the hostility I had towards his character.
The music/visual matchups were certainly awesome (though I expected more, from everything I read... the problem of expectations, I suppose). But character motivations will be fatal for me at times, and this is one where they were.
I really enjoyed Baby Driver. I also thought that the use of the music/soundtrack was great, and enjoyed the action sequences a lot.
The Spacey news hadn't come out yet, but I still didn't think much of his role. His later actions didn't comply with his early character development.
I might make time for this one today. Wright is one of my very favorite directors, and the way he utilizes music was always one of his best traits even before this film.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is currently on Netflix. I have not watched the first one. Do I need to?
I'll probably have to get a library DVD for that, which means a long wait. Unless RedBox still has it.
Can I watch Kung Fu Panda 3 without watching KFP2? (I have watched the first though.)
Story wise, GotG 2 works as a stand alone. You'll be missing a couple things though. Mostly you won't know the characters as well, so some of the moments may not have as much gravity. The other issue is that the first one is also a fantastic flick.
I would say watch GotG1. KFP3 can be watched without KFP2.
I concur on GOTG1.
I also wanted to know about KFP3 w/o 2.
KFP2 is a good flick (with a fun Gary Oldman villain) , and while it explores more of his background, it's not really necessary to the plot of KFP3.
I saw star warsthis morning and it was killer, I loved it. I'd definitely like to see it again. The salt flat battle is one of the more visually stunning things I've seen.
Tonight I decided to finally see 48 Hrs. and I'm really, really not digging it. It gets crass not to serve the humor but seemingly just as filler, and it does a lot of meandering. I suppose I expected more, but I see now that reviews were tepid, so I'm not sure where I got the idea it was some great film I'd missed.
I'm firmly into the part of Better Call Saul where it's picking up steam (I think; for all I know it keeps on trucking faster). I'm a few episodes into season two.
I caught up with the Marvel Universe movies, except for Thor: Ragnarok, which I'd like to see in the theater but I can't imagine when this will work out. There's nothing I dislike, even if the predictability of big-budget Hollywood tends to grate on me some. Of the last handful, the one that bored me the most was Captain America: Civil War, which had a lot of action and moving parts, and still somehow didn't seem to have much going on.
The last sentence could apply to The Walking Dead as well, which I finally gave up on (I hope). God, it sucks.
I had planned this post for tomorrow, when I'm off work, complete with an episode-by-episode rundown of Black Mirror, which continues to blow my mind other than the abysmal Series 3: Episode 3 ("Shut Up and Dance"). With a twist so comically telegraphed and a total lack of meaning to be had, it feels like it doesn't even qualify to be part of the series. But hey, it's expertly acted, so that's something.
I also finally continued with the second series of Broadchurch, but the tone is so overwhelmingly bleak, I have to take it in small doses (even half-episodes rather than full ones sometimes).
This season of Walking Dead is the worst season of a show I've watched since seasons 7 or 8 of Dexter
We're having trouble getting through it ... depending on what my wife wants to do, I'd be happy being done with this series.
Yeah, I'm at a point where I'd like to just forget about it and then wait to see if people say it gets better.
Right. But then, if they do say it gets better, do we play catch-up for 'completeness' or just pick it up somewhere?
Episodes you miss: Brooding. Big speech. I'm going in there! No, you're not going alone! Yes I am! Okay! Random fighting where people miraculously don't die. Big speech. Brooding.
I haven't watched since early on in season 3, but for brevity's sake couldn't you have replaced this:
I'm going in there! No, you're not going alone! Yes I am! Okay!
with this:
Rick does something stupid.
Funny enough, the last half of season 3 and season 4 are approaching excellent TV. Partly that's because there's a lot less Rick.
And, now it's not Rick doing something stupid every 5 minutes.
Yeah, I was telling the Milkmaid I was basically still watching because of the exact stretch you're talking about. That was FOUR SEASONS AGO.
Not that five was a disaster, and six was middling, but it's hard to believe it's even the same show at this point.
Season five I was disappointed with but it looks great in comparison now.
"Tainted meat!"
And not just Rick either. My most consistent complaint: every episode, people who have survived this long are doing things that, by virtue of their continued existence, they would have learned to avoid doing.
With the newborn all my wife and I have been watching is reruns of ER. It has its issues but even at its worst it's so much better than Grey's Anatomy. The episode where Dr. Green dies just had me a wreck.
Mrs. Runner has been enjoying Outlander. The other day she pointed out that Ronald D. Moore was also the showrunner on Battlestar Galactica, to which I replied that Bear McCreary was the composer on both shows, too. Turns out there are more similarities
Mrs. Beau has also enjoyed Outlander. I tried but for the most part it's just too slow for me.
Also managed to catch Deepwater Horizon, Dr. Strange, Wind River, Spotlight ... all are well worth your time. Split felt a bit formulaic and overacted (James McAvoy anyway, Anya Taylor-Joy did a pretty outstanding job), but it still kept my attention. In terms of adults watching children's fare, Boss Baby was pretty meh, but the kiddos enjoyed it.
I just saw The Last Jedi and it may be my fave Star Wars. I love where this film went and was surprised throughout.
Also the art direction was spectacular. There were some very nicely composed scenes.
I watched Signs last night for the second time. I still flinched in the pivotal scene when the alien walks across the alley outside the birthday party. I remember the first time I saw the movie I jumped during the scene. Not a big fan of Gibson, or M Night Shamalandadingdong, but that movie was very suspenseful. I have only seen Joaquin Phoenix in a few movies, but my limited experience makes me think he is a bit underrated as an actor. I really liked him in this movie, Walk the Line, and Gladiator.
I haven't seen Signs since I saw it in theaters, but I should probably remedy that. I was a big fan, and that jump you mention: I did that too. For me though, the real plot is just genius. I mean, a man finding his faith during an event that would cause so many to lose it? That's cool.
Although M. Night is tending to confuse faith and belief here. The movie does get a lot of mileage from a (on the surface) dumb idea, and the soundtrack is pretty well done, too.
Admittedly, I don't remember it well enough to get into the theology, and I'd wager there are some issues with it. Still...
Yup, pretty suspenseful. It deserves its bricks for aliens who had an aversion to water coming to a planet that is 70 percent water, but if you put that aside, it's pretty decent.
First time I watched it, I had to stop and go somewhere right at end of the last night scene before the next morning. When I came back, breaking it up like that totally killed all the suspense that had been built up. And then with the ending, well, yeah, it was a swing and a miss.
The latest Star Wars went places that I didn't expect it to go, at least not this quickly. It also had aspects to the plot that I had to question a bit as well. I still enjoyed it a lot.
Just finished season two of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. The characters are fun, but it runs just a bit out of control at times. Looking forward to where the next season will take it.
Runner daughter mentioned that she and her boyfriend grabbed Valerian at Redbox over the weekend, and they couldn't even finish it.
...aaaand Dirk Gently was not picked up for a third season 🙁
I loved Star War and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. I'm very excited for Rian Johnson's trilogy of films.
J & I went to Lady Bird last weekend and it's probably my favorite film* I've seen this year. It actually dovetails quite nicely with Frances Ha, so I do recommend watching both.
I re-watched Inglorious Basterds and The Place Beyond the Pines while I was working from home last week. Both films weren't quite as good as I remember overall, but I still enjoyed both. The first act of The Place... is phenomenal but it kind of loses steam after that in my mind. IB just seemed a little on the nose these days.
* I still badly want to watch a handful of films before I make a favorites list: Coco, Baby Driver, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Personal Shopper, The Florida Project, The Villainess, Good Time, and The Disaster Artist. Good grief. I'm hoping to watch three of them over the holidays with J.
Totes agree.
I went to Lady Bird. I thought it was great. I wish it had been advertised as a drama instead of marketed as Juno.
Minor quibble:
* Linds and I watched The Big Year at the behest of my parents, who insisted that it's good "even though Steve Martin is in it". Not enough jokes to be a comedy, not enough drama to be a drama. It's charming enough, even if you just sort of go "huh, okay" after it's over.
* The Night Before - I got laffs out of it. Cheaptoy will want to steer clear, of course.
* My friend and I caught the Murder on the Orient Express remake. It was a good looking, well-acted movie that nonetheless didn't have a ton of "oomph".
* The Walking Dead is deeply silly. But we knew that already.
Now I need to find time for the wife and I to sneak off to watch the new Star Wars movie before I manage to spoil whatever it is that apparently can be spoiled.
Being a birder, I feel obligated to watch the Big Year if/when it shows up on NetFlix.
My parents are still on the disc's only plan, and I'm pretty sure they've gotten it at least four times. They really, REALLY like that movie.
Heh, I had to look up the night before to see why I got a shout out on it, and yep I will definitely be avoiding.
Baby Driver - Eh. Some of it was cool, but some of it... the character motivations for everyone but the protagonist just really didn't make a lot of sense.
I don't think I've watched much else. Some Christmas movies and kids stuff.
I loved Baby Driver, but I rarely have problems with movies that miss on motivations. I just tend to not notice them and go with the flow. The cool music/visual matchups were plenty enough for me to enjoy it a great deal.
I would also say that I'm not sure I would enjoy it as much now as I did when I saw it, now knowing what a creep Kevin Spacey is. I generally prefer to separate the art from the artist, but I think it's too soon for me to be able to do so in his case.
I saw it after knowing how much of a creep he is. It might have affected the hostility I had towards his character.
The music/visual matchups were certainly awesome (though I expected more, from everything I read... the problem of expectations, I suppose). But character motivations will be fatal for me at times, and this is one where they were.
I really enjoyed Baby Driver. I also thought that the use of the music/soundtrack was great, and enjoyed the action sequences a lot.
The Spacey news hadn't come out yet, but I still didn't think much of his role. His later actions didn't comply with his early character development.
I might make time for this one today. Wright is one of my very favorite directors, and the way he utilizes music was always one of his best traits even before this film.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is currently on Netflix. I have not watched the first one. Do I need to?
I'll probably have to get a library DVD for that, which means a long wait. Unless RedBox still has it.
Can I watch Kung Fu Panda 3 without watching KFP2? (I have watched the first though.)
Story wise, GotG 2 works as a stand alone. You'll be missing a couple things though. Mostly you won't know the characters as well, so some of the moments may not have as much gravity. The other issue is that the first one is also a fantastic flick.
I would say watch GotG1. KFP3 can be watched without KFP2.
I concur on GOTG1.
I also wanted to know about KFP3 w/o 2.
KFP2 is a good flick (with a fun Gary Oldman villain) , and while it explores more of his background, it's not really necessary to the plot of KFP3.
I saw star warsthis morning and it was killer, I loved it. I'd definitely like to see it again. The salt flat battle is one of the more visually stunning things I've seen.
Tonight I decided to finally see 48 Hrs. and I'm really, really not digging it. It gets crass not to serve the humor but seemingly just as filler, and it does a lot of meandering. I suppose I expected more, but I see now that reviews were tepid, so I'm not sure where I got the idea it was some great film I'd missed.
I'm firmly into the part of Better Call Saul where it's picking up steam (I think; for all I know it keeps on trucking faster). I'm a few episodes into season two.
I caught up with the Marvel Universe movies, except for Thor: Ragnarok, which I'd like to see in the theater but I can't imagine when this will work out. There's nothing I dislike, even if the predictability of big-budget Hollywood tends to grate on me some. Of the last handful, the one that bored me the most was Captain America: Civil War, which had a lot of action and moving parts, and still somehow didn't seem to have much going on.
The last sentence could apply to The Walking Dead as well, which I finally gave up on (I hope). God, it sucks.
I had planned this post for tomorrow, when I'm off work, complete with an episode-by-episode rundown of Black Mirror, which continues to blow my mind other than the abysmal Series 3: Episode 3 ("Shut Up and Dance"). With a twist so comically telegraphed and a total lack of meaning to be had, it feels like it doesn't even qualify to be part of the series. But hey, it's expertly acted, so that's something.
I also finally continued with the second series of Broadchurch, but the tone is so overwhelmingly bleak, I have to take it in small doses (even half-episodes rather than full ones sometimes).
This season of Walking Dead is the worst season of a show I've watched since seasons 7 or 8 of Dexter
We're having trouble getting through it ... depending on what my wife wants to do, I'd be happy being done with this series.
Yeah, I'm at a point where I'd like to just forget about it and then wait to see if people say it gets better.
Right. But then, if they do say it gets better, do we play catch-up for 'completeness' or just pick it up somewhere?
Episodes you miss: Brooding. Big speech. I'm going in there! No, you're not going alone! Yes I am! Okay! Random fighting where people miraculously don't die. Big speech. Brooding.
I haven't watched since early on in season 3, but for brevity's sake couldn't you have replaced this:
I'm going in there! No, you're not going alone! Yes I am! Okay!
with this:
Rick does something stupid.
Funny enough, the last half of season 3 and season 4 are approaching excellent TV. Partly that's because there's a lot less Rick.
And, now it's not Rick doing something stupid every 5 minutes.
Yeah, I was telling the Milkmaid I was basically still watching because of the exact stretch you're talking about. That was FOUR SEASONS AGO.
Not that five was a disaster, and six was middling, but it's hard to believe it's even the same show at this point.
Season five I was disappointed with but it looks great in comparison now.
"Tainted meat!"
And not just Rick either. My most consistent complaint: every episode, people who have survived this long are doing things that, by virtue of their continued existence, they would have learned to avoid doing.
With the newborn all my wife and I have been watching is reruns of ER. It has its issues but even at its worst it's so much better than Grey's Anatomy. The episode where Dr. Green dies just had me a wreck.
Mrs. Runner has been enjoying Outlander. The other day she pointed out that Ronald D. Moore was also the showrunner on Battlestar Galactica, to which I replied that Bear McCreary was the composer on both shows, too. Turns out there are more similarities
Mrs. Beau has also enjoyed Outlander. I tried but for the most part it's just too slow for me.
Also managed to catch Deepwater Horizon, Dr. Strange, Wind River, Spotlight ... all are well worth your time. Split felt a bit formulaic and overacted (James McAvoy anyway, Anya Taylor-Joy did a pretty outstanding job), but it still kept my attention. In terms of adults watching children's fare, Boss Baby was pretty meh, but the kiddos enjoyed it.
I just saw The Last Jedi and it may be my fave Star Wars. I love where this film went and was surprised throughout.
Also the art direction was spectacular. There were some very nicely composed scenes.
I watched Signs last night for the second time. I still flinched in the pivotal scene when the alien walks across the alley outside the birthday party. I remember the first time I saw the movie I jumped during the scene. Not a big fan of Gibson, or M Night Shamalandadingdong, but that movie was very suspenseful. I have only seen Joaquin Phoenix in a few movies, but my limited experience makes me think he is a bit underrated as an actor. I really liked him in this movie, Walk the Line, and Gladiator.
I haven't seen Signs since I saw it in theaters, but I should probably remedy that. I was a big fan, and that jump you mention: I did that too. For me though, the real plot is just genius. I mean, a man finding his faith during an event that would cause so many to lose it? That's cool.
Although M. Night is tending to confuse faith and belief here. The movie does get a lot of mileage from a (on the surface) dumb idea, and the soundtrack is pretty well done, too.
Admittedly, I don't remember it well enough to get into the theology, and I'd wager there are some issues with it. Still...
Yup, pretty suspenseful. It deserves its bricks for aliens who had an aversion to water coming to a planet that is 70 percent water, but if you put that aside, it's pretty decent.
First time I watched it, I had to stop and go somewhere right at end of the last night scene before the next morning. When I came back, breaking it up like that totally killed all the suspense that had been built up. And then with the ending, well, yeah, it was a swing and a miss.