Watch, Watched, Watching: The Prequel

[williamjm]

I watched American Made, which I thought was an entertaining film even if there wasn't a huge amount of depth to it. I thought Tom Cruise put in a good performance in the lead role, I think he tends to be more interesting when playing more of an antihero than the characters he typically plays. The plot does get a bit unfocused at times, it does have some tense scenes when Cruise's character is dealing with the Medellin Cartel but it loses momentum a bit at times in other parts of the story.

[dbunting]

23 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

I saw it this afternoon and it was solid. Definitely not as good as the first one but worth a watch if you liked the original.

 

18 hours ago, Nictarion said:

I liked it. It was never going to be as good as a movie with Villeneuve, Deakins, and Johannsson, but like you said, it’s a solid and worthy sequel. Benicio and Brolin were both great. 

I saw it today as well and liked the movie right up until

Spoiler

The last 15 min or so. First I thought damn they actually killed him, now what? Then I remembered the trailer scene with the grenade in the car and realized they spoiled their own movie with it. Then I thought he paid them to do this to trick the US.. nope it was just a bullet that missed important stuff. Then the way they had him meet up with the kid just didn't sit right with me. I also still don't understand why they brought her to the US either, just didn't make sense, and they pointed it out to themselves in the movie and still did it.

Not a bad movie at all, just a nit pick or two.

[Ramsay B.]

1 hour ago, dbunting said:

 

I saw it today as well and liked the movie right up until

  Reveal hidden contents

The last 15 min or so. First I thought damn they actually killed him, now what? Then I remembered the trailer scene with the grenade in the car and realized they spoiled their own movie with it. Then I thought he paid them to do this to trick the US.. nope it was just a bullet that missed important stuff. Then the way they had him meet up with the kid just didn't sit right with me. I also still don't understand why they brought her to the US either, just didn't make sense, and they pointed it out to themselves in the movie and still did it.

Not a bad movie at all, just a nit pick or two.

Spoiler

I didn’t quite understand the ending scene. I thought the kid jumped out of the truck because he didn’t want to be in that life... but apparently he did as we see him a year later as a little gangster. 

 

[WarGalley]

I just got back from Sicario 2 as well. I liked it about as much as the first one.. could have been great but very good instead. Something about these movies lack something that puts them over the top. The action scenes are definitely solid.

Spoiler

I didn't get why the Mexican police turned on Brolin's team. If they worked for Reyes, why would they shoot up the convoy returning his daughter? And frankly, if it's that dangerous to be driving her across the border.. they should have just flown her privately or commercially into Mexico City and handed her over to her father.

The movie doesn't quite have a moment like the reveal behind Alejandro's family and his final confrontation with the cartel boss. I really wanted to see an Alejandro - Reyes confrontation. Or more about his involvement with the Medellin cartel. I almost wanted him to dissolve the daughter in acid. That would have been ballsy.

 

 

[DMC]

Watched the new It on the ol HBO.  Was shot very well and the kids did the best they could with what was given.  That's about all the nice things I can say - I don't understand the popularity and especially the critical approval.  Guess I really am getting too old for this shit.

Btw, that entire post was made without using an "it" pun.  Which meant not saying it, which is pathetically harder than I thought.  I need to reevaluate my life.

[dbunting]

2 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

  Hide contents

I didn’t quite understand the ending scene. I thought the kid jumped out of the truck because he didn’t want to be in that life... but apparently he did as we see him a year later as a little gangster. 

 

Right, it just seems like the ending got messed up.

[dbunting]

2 hours ago, WarGalley said:

I just got back from Sicario 2 as well. I liked it about as much as the first one.. could have been great but very good instead. Something about these movies lack something that puts them over the top. The action scenes are definitely solid.

  Hide contents

I didn't get why the Mexican police turned on Brolin's team. If they worked for Reyes, why would they shoot up the convoy returning his daughter? And frankly, if it's that dangerous to be driving her across the border.. they should have just flown her privately or commercially into Mexico City and handed her over to her father.

The movie doesn't quite have a moment like the reveal behind Alejandro's family and his final confrontation with the cartel boss. I really wanted to see an Alejandro - Reyes confrontation. Or more about his involvement with the Medellin cartel. I almost wanted him to dissolve the daughter in acid. That would have been ballsy.

 

 

Spoiler

They were the rival cartel, not Reyes.

 

[Deadlines? What Deadlines?]

I finally got around to seeing Pacific Rim Uprising. It wasn't super great but I liked it. It seemed a bit unfocused at times but it had plenty of properly bonkers robot action. 

[Nictarion]

3 hours ago, DMC said:

Watched the new It on the ol HBO.  Was shot very well and the kids did the best they could with what was given.  That's about all the nice things I can say - I don't understand the popularity and especially the critical approval.  Guess I really am getting too old for this shit.

Btw, that entire post was made without using an "it" pun.  Which meant not saying it, which is pathetically harder than I thought.  I need to reevaluate my life.

I watched this tonight as well. Pretty unimpressed. Shame we didn’t get to see Cary Fukunaga’s version. 

[dbunting]

Still watching Dark on Netflix. Two episodes to go. Definitely a little different feel after my first impression. I like it, not sure yet if I love it.

[Cas Stark]

8 hours ago, DMC said:

Watched the new It on the ol HBO.  Was shot very well and the kids did the best they could with what was given.  That's about all the nice things I can say - I don't understand the popularity and especially the critical approval.  Guess I really am getting too old for this shit.

Btw, that entire post was made without using an "it" pun.  Which meant not saying it, which is pathetically harder than I thought.  I need to reevaluate my life.

Yeah, I watched it also, I didn't get It.  It was pretty and the clown was good.  I can't imagine why this was a massive hit.

[WarGalley]

20 hours ago, dbunting said:

  Reveal hidden contents

They were the rival cartel, not Reyes.

 

That makes more sense though I still think transporting her should not have been that difficult. :shrug:

Been on a watching spree. Finished Luke Cage S2 which was a great improvement over the last few shows in the Netflix Marvel universe. The music is outstanding.

Which motivated me to finish Jessica Jones S2. Oof.. I had to slog through this one. I just did not care about any of the characters.. and Jessica, Trish and heroin guy were all characters written like 14 year olds in 30 year old bodies. Just a messy season of teenage snark, poutiness, rebellion and drugs. I did not care for the villain or the mother-daughter relationship stuff at all.

But I was totally redeemed when I watched In Bruges last night. Loved it! Great black comedy crime drama. Absolutely great ending. This movie's been on my To-Watch list for some time and I wish I had gotten to it sooner. I'll be moving Seven Psychopaths  up on my list now since it's from the same director.

[Iskaral Pust]

While I was traveling last week I returned to Justified S1 and even made a start on S2.  This rec finally paid off.  As promised by some posters here, the quality really picked up once Boyd was released from prison.  It shifted from a crime-of-the-week procedural to a wider arc with persistent characters.

[Mexal]

16 hours ago, Iskaral Putsch said:

While I was traveling last week I returned to Justified S1 and even made a start on S2.  This rec finally paid off.  As promised by some posters here, the quality really picked up once Boyd was released from prison.  It shifted from a crime-of-the-week procedural to a wider arc with persistent characters.

Awesome. You're in for a treat then with the 2nd season.

Anyone else watching Condor on Audience Network? It has William Hurt, Brenden Fraser and a few others. Actually pretty entertaining spy show. 

[A True Kaniggit]

Finally got around to seeing Incredibles 2. Fun movie. JackJack was awesome as expected. 

[Zorral]

After the exertions of Saturday in the heat, and the heat ongoing without any prediction for an end, I watched first, A Very British Scandal.  I don't know what I think about it.  It seemed far too light-hearted and cheeky for an exploration of how a man loses his political career via the necessity of being a closeted queer and because he tried to have murdered another queer whose life has been warped by the laws about homosexuality -- and gets off from attempted murder charge because Eton etc.  I just don't know.

I then comforted myself with the wonderful BBC 1997 6-part miniseries of Ivanhoe.  Among the many delights of this series is Ciarán Hinds as  Brian de Bois-Guilbert and Christopher Lee as Lucas de Beaumanoir.  The scenery is splendid, and w/o CGI there are some impressive fight scenes.  The political slant chosen also can interpret the Lion-Heart in a rather darker light than maybe Scott would have chosen -- more in line with Steven Runciman's third volume of his classic history of the Crusades?

Maybe the best of all the delights is the actress who plays Rebecca possesses the perfect sofa-divan lips and hair of the Pre-Raphaelite-Rossetti pseudo mid-Victorian fantasy of medieval sirens.

\

[Ramsay B.]

I watched A Quiet Place and thought it was decent. It had its moments and some cool ideas, and Emily Blunt was great. It actually seemed shorter than its 90 minute run time too. I’d be down for a sequel.

I’ve been in a show lull lately. I can’t seem to get into any new ones. I have to finish Dark and The Terror but just can’t bring myself to do it. 

[Nictarion]

Watched Isle of Dogs and The Death of Stalin. Loved both of them. Especially the latter. Not surprised though, Wes Anderson and Armando Iannucci are both pretty much can’t miss for me. Didn’t even know Steve Buscemi was in TDoS so that was a nice surprise. He was great as always. 

[Red Tiger]

2 hours ago, Nictarion said:

Watched Isle of Dogs and The Death of Stalin. Loved both of them. Especially the latter. Not surprised though, Wes Anderson and Armando Iannucci are both pretty much can’t miss for me. Didn’t even know Steve Buscemi was in TDoS so that was a nice surprise. He was great as always. 

I really liked Jason Isaacs as Zhukov. He was such a lovable bastard.

[Astromech]

11 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

I watched A Quiet Place and thought it was decent. It had its moments and some cool ideas, and Emily Blunt was great. It actually seemed shorter than its 90 minute run time too. I’d be down for a sequel.

I’ve been in a show lull lately. I can’t seem to get into any new ones. I have to finish Dark and The Terror but just can’t bring myself to do it. 

I never finished the final two episodes of The Terror. I was never really engaged in the characters or story, but just continued watching the weekly episodes until my interest was completely lost.

The Tunnel: Vengeance premiered on PBS this past Sunday, but I'll have to slip in a viewing when I find time.

Yellowstone is only 2 episodes in, but I'm enjoying it so far.

Season 2 of Snowfall premieres July 19th. I found tow of the three central arcs interesting, but the CIA one lost me. Hopefully it's better this season.