Watch, Watched, Watching: November Rain

[Slurktan]

Watched 2 movies today:

Don't Worry Darling:

Not a good movie in any sense with Harry Styles being particularly awful at anything resembling acting.  Chris Pine actually was fantastic though and there were a couple interesting ideas they threw in at the end with Olivia Wilde's character and then by extension her husband.  But that was just meaningless throwaway lines sadly.

Spirited:

I hate musicals but actually very much enjoyed this one.  Maybe tis the season so I could get by all the saccharine and such but loved the deconstruction of 

Spoiler

A Christmas Carol

 

[Mindwalker]

All my favorite shows are on hiatus, so I've binged all of Abbott Elementary. I like it.

Will try One Mississippi next.

I can't wait until Severance, Hacks, Our Flag Means Death come back. And Andor ofc, but I just read that won't be until 2024...

ETA: OK, One Mississippi is out. I'm sure it's good, but potentially too depressing right now.

Edited December 5, 2022 by Mindwalker

[DMC]

So when I was driving back from Thanksgiving my brother and I listened to a Rewatchables podcast on Glengarry Glen Ross.  Made me realize I haven't seen it since I was a teenager, and the way they were hyping it as something that holds up made me watch it again the other night.  Man was that a mistake.  Should have just kept it in my memory where it was - along with Big Kahuna as one of those awesome plays-filmed-as-movies that held a special place in my heart.  Kahuna still does and always will because it's got DeVito giving you his heart but...

I mean, first, it should be emphasized that the cast is still quite possibly the most amazing grouping of white male film actors ever this side of Godfather.  Even the bit parts are Jude Ciccolella perfectly being a dick cop who later went on to play Mike Novick in 24; and Bruce Altman, who was That Guy Tony tormented in The Sopranos ep "Whitecaps."  Fuck, even literally "Coat Check Girl" is Awkwafina's grandmother on her Comedy Central show.

But, I dunno, everything that was so "cool" about Mamet's script back in the day is really passe nowadays.  Now, I usually try to control for that, but I recall on the podcast one of them asserting Mamet was a better writer at dialogue than Tarantino.  No.  Tarantino's dialogue holds up as authentic, it's timeless.  Not to say Mamet's isn't authentic too in its own way but this is..much more schticky with the profanity, wherein dubbing it "Death of a Fuckin Salesmen" is much more of a criticism than I ever thought it was.

Also, and this is probably more a me thing, but watching Jack Lemmon be pathetic for an entire movie just makes me sad these days.  I don't think it bothered me as much when I was younger, even though I'm pretty sure I did rewatch this (shortly) after he died, but it does now.

[BigFatCoward]

Started s4 of what we do in the shadows, I find boy/Colin Robinson truly terrifying. 

[Which Tyler]

2 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Started s4 of what we do in the shadows, I find boy/Colin Robinson truly terrifying. 

Creepier than crêpe paper

Edited December 5, 2022 by Which Tyler

[Isis]

8 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Started s4 of what we do in the shadows, I find boy/Colin Robinson truly terrifying. 

Absolutely. I found the first couple of episodes fine, but not amazing (as in not 'hilarious'). Then somehow the ones after that were really funny to me.

We are five eps into Andor now. Enjoying it but why does everyone have really obvious stripey blusher though?  I find it super distracting. Is it intentional? 

[briantw]

On 12/1/2022 at 4:06 PM, Cas Stark said:

The Green Knight.  I wanted to like it but it was SO DULL and could not appreciate the cinematography on an airplane.

The Green Knight is best enjoyed in the dark on the biggest screen you've got while high as fuck.

See also: The Northman.

[Nictarion]

I rewatched Green Room last night. Between this, and Blue Ruin, Jeremy Saulnier made two absolute gems. 

Also, I miss Anton Yelchin. 

[Iskaral Pust]

We tried Peripheral.  Ep1 was stunning, ep2 amped up the plot and conflict, but then ep3 and ep4 devolved into talky stagnation and killed all momentum and our interest.  I understand they want to develop suspense about motives and relative morality, and I appreciate a good SciFi morality tale over the usual banal action plots, but they just turned it into a generic boring BBC SciFi drama.

Does it miraculously recover it’s early energy?

[Kalnestk Oblast]

To an extent but the ending was not super awesome.

[3CityApache]

Yeah, there are a few great moments (the killer on the bridge), but the finale was disappointing, as they haven't explained or resolved much, just laid ground for second season.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Netflix- Bullet train

A lot action laced with humorous exchanges.

Struck me as a poor mans LS&SB/Snatch, similar style but not nearly as well executed.

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by DireWolfSpirit

[Tywin et al.]

10 hours ago, Nictarion said:

I rewatched Green Room last night. Between this, and Blue Ruin, Jeremy Saulnier made two absolute gems. 

Also, I miss Anton Yelchin. 

I've mentioned this before, I was playfully shoving/wrestling with one of my step-brothers at night in Hollywood on a sidewalk and we almost knocked him into the street. He could not have been more polite about it. Hard to imagine many celebrities being that chill and gracious when dealing with two drunks.  Makes sense his coworkers had nothing but kind things to say about him.

It was a nice surprise to see him not that long ago as the child lead in Hearts in Atlantis. It wasn't his fault they did a poor adaptation. He was good in it as Bobby.

[hauberk]

Have deviated from my plan to immediately jump into S2 of Slow Horses as binging may be required. Instead, watching SAS: Rogue Heroes.  A fun little romp that seems like it’s trying to get at least some of the history right. I’m watching it in parallel with the SAS: Rogue Warriors documentary which is hosted by the author of the source book for Heroes. Have concluded that they appear to have nailed the casting for at least one of the Detachment. 

[Tywin et al.]

On 12/5/2022 at 12:20 AM, DMC said:

So when I was driving back from Thanksgiving my brother and I listened to a Rewatchables podcast on Glengarry Glen Ross.  Made me realize I haven't seen it since I was a teenager, and the way they were hyping it as something that holds up made me watch it again the other night.  Man was that a mistake.  Should have just kept it in my memory where it was

I never watched this back in the day, so I checked out sometime in the last year or two. Everything technical about it was exceptional, but I did not like or enjoy the film at all outside of a few scenes that must be very popular on YouTube. 

Edited December 6, 2022 by Tywin et al.

[Ran]

Oh, Glengarry Glen Ross is endlessly quotable. Everyone's firing on all cylinders on the screen, and it's quite the group of actors. It tells a small, seedy, grimy story about small, seedy, grimy people, and it works very well on that level, IMO. The direction could maybe have been better, I don't know, but the performances and screenplay have always seemed unimpeachable to me.

It's definitely the best Mamet screenplay, though I've a fondness for House of Games and of course The Untouchables.

 

[Veltigar]

The latest new episode of Rick and Morty was exactly what I needed, even though I did not know I wanted it. 

[DMC]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Everything technical about it was exceptional, but I did not like or enjoy the film at all outside of a few scenes that must be very popular on YouTube. 

2 hours ago, Ran said:

Oh, Glengarry Glen Ross is endlessly quotable. Everyone's firing on all cylinders on the screen, and it's quite the group of actors. It tells a small, seedy, grimy story about small, seedy, grimy people, and it works very well on that level, IMO. The direction could maybe have been better, I don't know, but the performances and screenplay have always seemed unimpeachable to me.

Yeah, to be clear it's still excellent for what it is - including the script of course - it's just not as great as I remembered it. 

The direction is...there?  The podcasters were saying how it wasn't just filming a play and even while listening I was like...from what I recall that's exactly what it seemed like to me.  Which, it is, and that's fine.  There's not much to it, and it's very apparent you're just watching a play on screen even if you don't know who Mamet is.  The only interesting thing there is the exteriors clearly set it in New York when the play is set in Chicago.

[Corvinus85]

I watched Bullet Train. Fun movie for about 3/4 of it, but it didn't need that crap big CGI moment in the climax and the ending was over the top silly.

[polishgenius]

Watched Enola Holmes 2. Much like the first, a fun film. First one was probably a bit neater in its pacing but this one had maybe the higher highs of like tension and drama and that kind of thing? But really, they're just both enjoyable movies.