The new Mortal Kombat was fun. The biggest problems were that there was no actual tournament and the fanfic self insert character with the golden turtleneck is lame as hell. The entire point of all of the lore of this series is to explain why they have this big tournament thing, it's kinda disappointing not to see it. It was also pretty funny the way sometimes Sub Zero was this death dealing ice pick slinger and then sometimes it looked like he was throwing light dustings of snow at people to no real effect.
On the plus side, the whole movie was fighting and they got in most of the lines you would have been waiting for. And Goro! I'm in on the next one for sure.
I think what I need to do is do a rewatch now with my expectations in check. I went in with low-mid expectations but I really think the first 15 minutes just immediately elevated it to an unrealistic point. Note to self... never set my expectations based off a 15 minutes scene between Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada.
10/10. Andra Day deserved every bit of the Golden Globe that she won for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in the years between 1947 and her death in 1959, when the feds were targeting her for refusing to stop singing 'Strange Fruit'. It dives into her drug use and all of the awfulness that came with her addiction. Just a really, really good movie and that's an understatement.
Finally watched Mortal Kombat. About the time we met Liu Kang and Kung Lao I said "This movie is so bad" out loud to myself. Then Lao had his big Fatality moment and I remembered why this movie exists. It'd make a good Rifftrax.
I decided to reactivate my AMC A list subscription and saw Wrath of Man last night. It was a decent movie but it's a very overused plot for action movies. It does have the benefit of not knowing the why for the first half of the movie but still doesn't make it different enough to stand out.
I'm happy to be getting back to the theater. Before the pandemic started I made my AMC A list pay for itself many times over each month. Also saves me money knowing what movies I should vs shouldn't purchase because I'm one of those physical media kind of guys.
Those Who Wish Me Dead This
was good, tough film, up there with the best of Taylor Sheridan's work*
(though in this case based on a book by Michael Koryta). Don't let the
trailer fool you into thinking it's about firefighting. After the garbage of Without Remorse it was delight to watch this thriller unfold.
Watched The Millers vs. The Machines on Netflix with the family - fun movie! Cool visuals and a good voice cast, and actually pretty touching.
the was such a pleasant surprise. my daughter LOVED it! we had so many lol moments. the dinosaur loving son cracked us up. 100% on the voice cast, it was great! even had Doug the Pug haha.
gotta admit tho.. as a dad with a daughter that's growing up so fast i got a little teary eye'd a few times.
Went and saw Nobody recently and it was a fun action movie. They added in some pretty good comedy along with it. Not spoilery but at the end, between Christopher Lloyd and the music they had playing over it had me actually laughing out loud in the theater.
Also saw Spiral on the merits of Chris Rock and Samuel L Jackson. Don't waste your time, the 1st saw movie was actually pretty decent, I watched the 2nd but vowed to never watch another one. Should have stuck with my thought process then.
Watched Sound of Metal. It's a good story and well acted but don't watch if you are remotely tired. It is a very slow movie. But the main reason I give it a 6/10 is the ending. No spoilers - but the screen went dark and we looked at each other and said "that's it?" A lot of energy to get the viewer invested and then left hanging.
Boss Level (on Hulu): fun adaption of Groundhog Day idea to an action movie. Don't watch the trailers as they give too much away. Also contains some emotional family scenes in case a pure action movie doesn't appeal.
Those Who Wish Me Dead This
was good, tough film, up there with the best of Taylor Sheridan's work*
(though in this case based on a book by Michael Koryta). Don't let the
trailer fool you into thinking it's about firefighting. After the garbage of Without Remorse it was delight to watch this thriller unfold.
This was a nice weekend afternoon movie, I felt like I should've been seeing the TNT logo at the bottom of the screen the whole time.
After over a year and half wait I FINALLY got to see SAINT MAUD and man did it not disappoint. I was astonished to learn that this was Rose Glass’ feature debut. It’s just so visually arresting and Morfydd Clark holds every frame of this movie so well and unpredictably that I could not pull my eyes away from her.
It’s THE EXORCIST if Reagan had been possessed by God instead of Pazuzu, and every bit as existentially terrifying and viscerally uncomfortable to look at. It’s also a story of what isolation and lack of human connection can do the psyche, which seems to have come along at a perfect time for anyone that really digs the A24 style of psychological horror. Favorite movie of the year so far.
Oh man, this is so good to hear. I've been waiting for Saint Maud since pre-pandemic. Then once it was released, it was just on Epix, which I couldn't figure out how to manage for the life of me. But then it dropped on Hulu and Amazon Prime. I just haven't got around to it yet. I'd seen some complain that it is too slow of a burn. But those tend to be my favorites. I am so down.
the plots a little wonky. (GPS works when a comet in hurtling millions of debris)
but it was actually good. I was pretty much edge of my seat for most of it. They don’t focus on epic moments. It’s way more personal. The end of world stuff just moves everything along.
And I always love me some Scott Glenn and Macararni Bacarrani or however you spell her name.
Oh man, this is so good to hear. I've been waiting for Saint Maud since pre-pandemic. Then once it was released, it was just on Epix, which I couldn't figure out how to manage for the life of me. But then it dropped on Hulu and Amazon Prime. I just haven't got around to it yet. I'd seen some complain that it is too slow of a burn. But those tend to be my favorites. I am so down.
I’ve never liked slashers or torture porn type shit, but if you give me something like this or The Witch, Hereditary, Midsommar, etc. where I maintain a near-consistent level of unease or goosebumps throughout and throw in one good jump scare and a banger of an ending then it’s guaranteed to wind up in my list of favorites at the end of the year.
Army of the Dead There's some good zombie action, occasionally, in the midst of the comedy/heist/non-zombie monster action. Not a bad brainless film a la the Fast and Furious movies but not IMO a great zombie film.
Army of the Dead There's some good zombie action, occasionally, in the midst of the comedy/heist/non-zombie monster action. Not a bad brainless film a la the Fast and Furious movies but not IMO a great zombie film.
there’s some cool scenes. But its not a zombie movie at all. There’s hardly any zombies in it. Those are undead monsters.
I would say if you liked Land of the Dead then you might like this. If you didn’t like LoD then you probably wouldn’t like this
there’s some cool scenes. But its not a zombie movie at all. There’s hardly any zombies in it. Those are undead monsters.
I'd say the woman who is sent on the wrong path does have a reasonably traditional zombie fight, which from start to jumping through the window is my favorite fight of the movie. Then the director ruined the next scene a bit by not having it clear why her companions couldn't shoot the zombies around her so she could get away.
In general I agree with you, and IMO that's the problem with a lot of zombie movies/fiction these days; creators aren't willing to put in the work to make a traditional ZA interesting so they have "fast zombies"/"intelligent zombies"/etc, whatever name they want to give these non-Romero monsters.
Also who asked for a 150 minute zombie movie? No one. I defend Zack synder but I can’t after this one. There’s no reason for his super long shots and these annoying 2-3 minute scenes of just monsters. I don’t care if they have emotions and can think. I’m sorry but I’m not gonna empathise with monsters who eat people...what’s his point?
edit: I’m fine with fast zombies or strong zombies or maybe having the zombie have like 1 additional trait. But if your zombies are smart, fast, can communicate, has emotions, can think. It’s not a zombie! That’s like a completely other monster type.
I've been watching a lot of 70s-90s movies, HBO Max especially has a solid catalog.
Most recently watched Thief, which was Michael Mann's theatrical debut, starting James Caan, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Great movie, could almost describe as Heat mixed with with 70s crime films. Really dug the electronic score by Tangerine Dream as well. Only real negative party that stuck out was some pretty rough racism that was unfortunately common in that era.
He’s getting worse not better. If I ranked his movies it’s almost like chronologically accurate.
1. dawn of the dead 2. 300 3. Watchman 4. superman 5. Batman v superman 6. justice league 7. AOD
I feel like if 300 came out today it would be way more ridiculous than AotD but other than that that's about how I would rank them too. I kinda always had it in my mind that the dropoff on my enjoyment of Snyder was not being 18 anymore but they do seem to be legitimately worse movies as he goes.
Comments
10/10. Andra Day deserved every bit of the Golden Globe that she won for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in the years between 1947 and her death in 1959, when the feds were targeting her for refusing to stop singing 'Strange Fruit'. It dives into her drug use and all of the awfulness that came with her addiction. Just a really, really good movie and that's an understatement.
I'm happy to be getting back to the theater. Before the pandemic started I made my AMC A list pay for itself many times over each month. Also saves me money knowing what movies I should vs shouldn't purchase because I'm one of those physical media kind of guys.
Also saw Spiral on the merits of Chris Rock and Samuel L Jackson. Don't waste your time, the 1st saw movie was actually pretty decent, I watched the 2nd but vowed to never watch another one. Should have stuck with my thought process then.
This was a nice weekend afternoon movie, I felt like I should've been seeing the TNT logo at the bottom of the screen the whole time.
the plots a little wonky. (GPS works when a comet in hurtling millions of debris)
but it was actually good. I was pretty much edge of my seat for most of it. They don’t focus on epic moments. It’s way more personal. The end of world stuff just moves everything along.
I'd say the woman who is sent on the wrong path does have a reasonably traditional zombie fight, which from start to jumping through the window is my favorite fight of the movie. Then the director ruined the next scene a bit by not having it clear why her companions couldn't shoot the zombies around her so she could get away.
edit: I’m fine with fast zombies or strong zombies or maybe having the zombie have like 1 additional trait. But if your zombies are smart, fast, can communicate, has emotions, can think. It’s not a zombie! That’s like a completely other monster type.
1. dawn of the dead
2. 300
3. Watchman
4. superman
5. Batman v superman
6. justice league
7. AOD
I feel like if 300 came out today it would be way more ridiculous than AotD but other than that that's about how I would rank them too. I kinda always had it in my mind that the dropoff on my enjoyment of Snyder was not being 18 anymore but they do seem to be legitimately worse movies as he goes.