what was the last movie you saw?

[Adje]

Downton Abbey (2019)

Apparently a follow up to a tv series. My wife decided she wanted to see this in the theater. First hour was kind of a drag. 2nd hour was much better. Bit more humor which, apparently, was typical for the series.

Never watched it on tv but the film was okay.

7/10

[Adje]

Star Wars IX - Rise of Skywalker

Maybe not the best story of all SW movies, but again JJ Abrahams gets it. He understands how the feel of a Star Wars movie should be.

It seems JJ had his hands full trying to fix what RJ screwed up. I am amazed he was able to save as much as he did to give the die hard SW fans a good closure to the saga.

7,5 / 10

[AndrewG]

Star Wars IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

I was really surprised, initially very worried as the leaks sounded ridiculous.
The first half hour is break neck speed but it worked for me.
The entire story is probably as best as it could be at this point. It isn't as good as Lucas' Star Wars in that regards but his own bad handling of the prequels make those movies far less watchable and enjoyable - stoic acting, far too much cgi, no sense of realism. I would thus place this entire trilogy between the originals and prequels, if ranking good to bad.

The atmosphere in some scenes is stellar. Just for that bringing the emperor back (not really a spoiler since he is on the poster) was worth it.
Really liked the handling of the droids (after Rian Johnson's ridiculous BB-8 AT-ST walker controlling). Maybe not enough R2D2 here.

No frustrating Holdo type characters here that craps on heroic efforts of the main characters. Phew.

The actors were good, adding Richard E Grant in was good too. Nice seeing Billy Dee Williams back. Leia's scenes worked really well, wow.

There was a moment I wanted to jump out of my seat in joy. The music at that point was very special to me. The entire score was excellent, the cinematography and effects are insane for a two and bit year project.

JJ Abrams should probably have done the entire trilogy is my conclusion here. Doubt Colin Treverrow would have done any better.
In the end JJ has handled Star Wars far better than Star Trek.

The balance of drama, menace, and above all fun was exceptional I thought.

My favourite of the Disney Star Wars movies and I can't wait to see it again. In Imax with volume turned up to 11 it was just beautiful.

8/10. My heart wants to give it a 9.

[anotherday]

Star Wars IX

Damn. What a ride.
42 years of love in 2.5 hours.
Thank you, Star Wars!

[Adje]

Oh and slight, minimal spoiler.

Last word that was spoken in the final movie of the Skywalker saga: Skywalker!

Haha, I think that's cool

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by Adje

Oh and slight, minimal spoiler.

Last word that was spoken in the final movie of the Skywalker saga: Skywalker!

Haha, I think that's cool

I think there is a bit depth if people cared to look but it works well as a stand alone entertaining movie too. Pretty much what Star Wars should be. I think I originally watched the OT movies in the order of 5-6-4.

I like "The dead speak!" intro and you can uncover a lot with the voices and there are some good callbacks audio and visually to Force Awakens too.
It's all pretty neat I think.

[AndrewG]

Frozen 2 (2019)

Astonishingly bad.
I quite like the first one and it has some great songs and it's essentially a great fun rendition of the Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson. That one also took massive inspiration from Wicked and the Frozen movies even used the same singer that was in that musical.

The sequel to Frozen was like listening to two hours of twelve tone composition music. Horrible. If you've ever heard that or imagine the most irritating jazz you'll know what I mean. The lyrics made no sense and weren't rhyming mostly. Incredible they managed to come up with so many bad songs for one movie and a completely incomprehensible story. An incredible accomplishment I would say. There was literally one song by Kristoff that was "ok".

Where the first one is a solid 8, this one really is 10-8= a 2 out of 10. Easily the worst animated film I've ever seen in my life. Wanted to leave after an hour as it was simply torture by then but was with family. More pointless than Toy Story 4 but also far, far worse.

I wanted Olaf to die, how can I have such feelings in an animated film that should be full of heart? The characters were horrible and selfish. It felt like watching Kristoff locked up in hell for almost 2 hours. He was the only nice guy that cared about anything other than himself.

Insanely terrible, don't watch it as it will ruin your (probably good) memories of Frozen 1.

[AndrewG]

Apollo 11 (2019)

Really intriguing footage and well put together. Great straight forward documentary without any drama added.

8/10

[AndrewG]

After watching Rise of Skywalker a few more times at the cinema I have to say I think it's my favourite Star Wars movie. It may not objectively be the best (still think New Hope or Empire deserve that award) but man it is just so good (if you can enjoy). So many little moments are very special to me. Great stuff. Movies come and go but for me the Back to the future trilogy and the Star Wars movies always reign supreme.

[Adje]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

After watching Rise of Skywalker a few more times at the cinema I have to say I think it's my favourite Star Wars movie. It may not objectively be the best (still think New Hope or Empire deserve that award) but man it is just so good (if you can enjoy). So many little moments are very special to me. Great stuff. Movies come and go but for me the Back to the future trilogy and the Star Wars movies always reign supreme.

There is definately a lot wrong with The Rise of Skywalker, but it's predecessor made it almost impossible to focus on a decent ending. And still JJ Abrahms managed to do that.
Rian Johnson's ego was bigger than his love for the SW franchise, wich resulted in a movie without explanations and a lot of forgettable characters that, all of a sudden, seemed of importance to the story. He neglected the built up to Rey's history, he got rid of Snoke as if it was a nobody too, he focussed more on an (unlikely) romance between Kylo and Rey. And it almost felt as if he had no interest in Luke. And that Luke was only in the movie because Rian was contractual obligated to tell Luke's story. So he decided to see if he could destroy that part of the Skywalker Legacy.

At least Rise of Skywalker fixed about 70% of what Last Jedi tried to destroy. But it had it's consequenses. And it hurt the story of the third installment of the new Trilogy. What JJ did though, and had done before with TFA -again although flawed- was giving the old generation of the Original Trilogy that Star Wars nostalgic feeling back. If you line up the three movies it's obvious that Last Jedi is the one that doesn't fit in and doesn't share the same emotion and feeling of the other movies. In fact, TFA and TROS have a close connection to the Original Trilogy, where TLJ feels more like the Prequel movies.

Perhaps the younger generation of fans sees it the oposite, but for me JJ saved as much of Star Wars as possible. And I, as an Original Trilogy fan, can only imagine how great this trilogy would have been if Rian Johnson had not been a part of it.

[Sebastian.]

1917 - What an incredible bit of cinema. By far my new favourite film. It brings a whole new level of WW1 to the big screen.

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by Adje

There is definately a lot wrong with The Rise of Skywalker, but it's predecessor made it almost impossible to focus on a decent ending. And still JJ Abrahms managed to do that.
Rian Johnson's ego was bigger than his love for the SW franchise, wich resulted in a movie without explanations and a lot of forgettable characters that, all of a sudden, seemed of importance to the story. He neglected the built up to Rey's history, he got rid of Snoke as if it was a nobody too, he focussed more on an (unlikely) romance between Kylo and Rey. And it almost felt as if he had no interest in Luke. And that Luke was only in the movie because Rian was contractual obligated to tell Luke's story. So he decided to see if he could destroy that part of the Skywalker Legacy.

At least Rise of Skywalker fixed about 70% of what Last Jedi tried to destroy. But it had it's consequenses. And it hurt the story of the third installment of the new Trilogy. What JJ did though, and had done before with TFA -again although flawed- was giving the old generation of the Original Trilogy that Star Wars nostalgic feeling back. If you line up the three movies it's obvious that Last Jedi is the one that doesn't fit in and doesn't share the same emotion and feeling of the other movies. In fact, TFA and TROS have a close connection to the Original Trilogy, where TLJ feels more like the Prequel movies.

Perhaps the younger generation of fans sees it the oposite, but for me JJ saved as much of Star Wars as possible. And I, as an Original Trilogy fan, can only imagine how great this trilogy would have been if Rian Johnson had not been a part of it.

There is huge outrage even on Rise on Youtube. I think Last Jedi opened Pandora's Box with that. I'm not sure if it is because of the ages of the loudest YouTubers but they all seem to be between 25-35. Younger than me and perhaps they grew up with the prequels first. Not sure. I was lucky I think to have seen Star Wars in the 90s as a teenager before the Special Editions and before the prequels. People younger than the 25-35 year olds don't seem to care too much about Star Wars. I've seen plenty of 40 and over year olds enjoy Rise so what you said makes a lot of sense. A JJ episode 8 part would probably have made this all even better but I appreciate he listened to the fans after 8 and did his best. For me it is easily JJ's best stuff and I disagree with the notion he can't do original stuff. BB-8 is easily the most interesting droid after C3PO and R2. And Rey's opening without any lines (show / don't tell) in TFA was perfect. JJ is easily a better Star Wars director than George Lucas himself I think. At least more in touch with how to do things at this time rather than relying on technology which destroys realism too much.

I really liked Kevin Smith's take on the Rise of Skywalker.
Some notable moments he points out and I agree with, mixed with my favourite parts. Positive stuff only:
*Spoilers*

• "I have been every voice, you have ever heard, inside of your heard" I wanted more of the Palpatine - Kylo Ren. This all seemed very atmospheric. For me if we had only seen that as a teaser-trailer I would have been sold and not so worried about this film. I didn't think the Rey jumping over the Tie Fighter was a good way to sell this film at all.
• Loud sounds during the Palpatine - Kylo Ren stuff. "What could you possibly give me?" Pure silence.... "Everything". Loved that.
• C3PO "If I don't come back R2 I want you to know you were a good friend, my best one in fact" Perfect.
• General Pride. Richard E. Grant is superb. Loved every moment with him. And I liked how he said to the Emperor "As I served you in the old wars, I serve you now." It explained how things moved on even after Ben's redemption.
• The chewie death scene. Finn screaming in disbelief. John Boyega was pretty damn good in this. If only episode 8 had played out better maybe he would be yielding a saber. He was excellent.
• Rey not understanding the lightning coming out of her hand. It sort of explains why she is so powerful and foreboding the revelation of her grandfather.
• The Death Star remains scenes with the waves. Very atmospheric. People complain we saw the Death Star evaporate. I'm not sure how something of that size could evaporate! I liked how we saw these remains, standing on what was left from the old war (like seeing the crashed star destroyer on Jakku) and apparently that was even going to be in George Lucas' own trilogy treatments as there were artwork visuals with diving to the wreck from 2013 or so.
• Leia's last breath calling her son and that sparked Ben to stop and not destroy Rey
• People complain Rey is a Mary Sue but Kylo was easily taking Rey out here as this was really the first time they battled face to face with Kylo Ren being at full strength. I loved that Rey constantly had to retreat and looked exhausted but Kylo Ren was still coming at her.
• Leia only with R2D2 at the end of her life, that's how Star Wars started. At first I was somewhat sad R2D2 wasn't on the adventure more but considering we got this moment it actually is right I think.
• The Han - Ben/Kylo Ren moment. Perfectly done. I didn't expect Harrison Ford to come back, even for a minute. It was the biggest surprise for me. So good. Replayed the Force Awakens scene but ended differently. Good character development for me after everything we've seen. "Dad..." -"I know". Perfect.
• General Pride "Use ion canons". The start of the final battle we see a turret turn and fire. The weight appearance of the machinery, the sound etc seem so perfect in that moment. It seems very realistic to me.
• The Sith Arena. Very atmospheric. Scary figures waiting on the ceremony marking the return/conquest of the dark side. Very eerie I thought. Loved it.
• Poe saying sorry to his friends and that he thought they stood a chance.
• The radio chatter during that moment. It makes it seem very realistic and has that real A New Hope war battle vibe to it.
• Lando showing up with the cavalry. It tears me up each time. It's just astonishing. And the music is really, really great here.
• The Emperor restored to life "Look what you have created". And starting his lightning strike at the rebel army. Boom! Such loud intensity from the sound. The sound mixing was perfect throughout but there were moments that were just stellar including this one.
• Rey drained from life energy looking beyond the lightning strikes into the stars and getting all the Jedi power through the voices etc. Really good scene and we hear Rey's theme here. Luke has the final line "Rey, The Force Will be With You, Always." The only possible way that could and should have gone.
• "I am all the Sith" - "And I am all the Jedi." Love it.
• Seeing Luke's homestead at the end (nice to see the Jawas too). Leia's home on Alderaan was destroyed so it seems best to end it there indeed with the twin suns (George Lucas' creation) and Rey and BB-8, pretty much the best of JJ's creations.
• Rey's yellow lightsaber when engages, you can see a blue and green flicker on the hilt; the colours of Luke and Leia's sabers.
• The more I think about Rey taking the name, the more I think it is right.
• People complain that through Rey, Palpatine in effect won. I think that's nonsense. I've heard this movie speaks to a lot of people who have had problems with their own family. (Luke: "Some things are stronger than blood"). I can't think of what is a bigger slap to the emperor's face than his own heir rejecting his name and everything what he stood for. I think it was the right move how this played out.

I wanted this movie to be over 3 hours to be honest. But in the end I think it is best to long for more rather than getting too much. For me Endgame was far too much of the same and had nothing to offer me after Infinity War, as was getting a Toy Story 4. Completely unnecessary. Sometimes you should just get what you need and no more. I got what I needed with episode 9 for sure.

Just thought I'd share this.

[PanicLord]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

There is huge outrage even on Rise on Youtube. I think Last Jedi opened Pandora's Box with that. I'm not sure if it is because of the ages of the loudest YouTubers but they all seem to be between 25-35. Younger than me and perhaps they grew up with the prequels first. Not sure. I was lucky I think to have seen Star Wars in the 90s as a teenager before the Special Editions and before the prequels. People younger than the 25-35 year olds don't seem to care too much about Star Wars. I've seen plenty of 40 and over year olds enjoy Rise so what you said makes a lot of sense. A JJ episode 8 part would probably have made this all even better but I appreciate he listened to the fans after 8 and did his best. For me it is easily JJ's best stuff and I disagree with the notion he can't do original stuff. BB-8 is easily the most interesting droid after C3PO and R2. And Rey's opening without any lines (show / don't tell) in TFA was perfect. JJ is easily a better Star Wars director than George Lucas himself I think. At least more in touch with how to do things at this time rather than relying on technology which destroys realism too much.

I really liked Kevin Smith's take on the Rise of Skywalker.
Some notable moments he points out and I agree with, mixed with my favourite parts. Positive stuff only:
*Spoilers*

• "I have been every voice, you have ever heard, inside of your heard" I wanted more of the Palpatine - Kylo Ren. This all seemed very atmospheric. For me if we had only seen that as a teaser-trailer I would have been sold and not so worried about this film. I didn't think the Rey jumping over the Tie Fighter was a good way to sell this film at all.
• Loud sounds during the Palpatine - Kylo Ren stuff. "What could you possibly give me?" Pure silence.... "Everything". Loved that.
• C3PO "If I don't come back R2 I want you to know you were a good friend, my best one in fact" Perfect.
• General Pride. Richard E. Grant is superb. Loved every moment with him. And I liked how he said to the Emperor "As I served you in the old wars, I serve you now." It explained how things moved on even after Ben's redemption.
• The chewie death scene. Finn screaming in disbelief. John Boyega was pretty damn good in this. If only episode 8 had played out better maybe he would be yielding a saber. He was excellent.
• Rey not understanding the lightning coming out of her hand. It sort of explains why she is so powerful and foreboding the revelation of her grandfather.
• The Death Star remains scenes with the waves. Very atmospheric. People complain we saw the Death Star evaporate. I'm not sure how something of that size could evaporate! I liked how we saw these remains, standing on what was left from the old war (like seeing the crashed star destroyer on Jakku) and apparently that was even going to be in George Lucas' own trilogy treatments as there were artwork visuals with diving to the wreck from 2013 or so.
• Leia's last breath calling her son and that sparked Ben to stop and not destroy Rey
• People complain Rey is a Mary Sue but Kylo was easily taking Rey out here as this was really the first time they battled face to face with Kylo Ren being at full strength. I loved that Rey constantly had to retreat and looked exhausted but Kylo Ren was still coming at her.
• Leia only with R2D2 at the end of her life, that's how Star Wars started. At first I was somewhat sad R2D2 wasn't on the adventure more but considering we got this moment it actually is right I think.
• The Han - Ben/Kylo Ren moment. Perfectly done. I didn't expect Harrison Ford to come back, even for a minute. It was the biggest surprise for me. So good. Replayed the Force Awakens scene but ended differently. Good character development for me after everything we've seen. "Dad..." -"I know". Perfect.
• General Pride "Use ion canons". The start of the final battle we see a turret turn and fire. The weight appearance of the machinery, the sound etc seem so perfect in that moment. It seems very realistic to me.
• The Sith Arena. Very atmospheric. Scary figures waiting on the ceremony marking the return/conquest of the dark side. Very eerie I thought. Loved it.
• Poe saying sorry to his friends and that he thought they stood a chance.
• The radio chatter during that moment. It makes it seem very realistic and has that real A New Hope war battle vibe to it.
• Lando showing up with the cavalry. It tears me up each time. It's just astonishing. And the music is really, really great here.
• The Emperor restored to life "Look what you have created". And starting his lightning strike at the rebel army. Boom! Such loud intensity from the sound. The sound mixing was perfect throughout but there were moments that were just stellar including this one.
• Rey drained from life energy looking beyond the lightning strikes into the stars and getting all the Jedi power through the voices etc. Really good scene and we hear Rey's theme here. Luke has the final line "Rey, The Force Will be With You, Always." The only possible way that could and should have gone.
• "I am all the Sith" - "And I am all the Jedi." Love it.
• Seeing Luke's homestead at the end (nice to see the Jawas too). Leia's home on Alderaan was destroyed so it seems best to end it there indeed with the twin suns (George Lucas' creation) and Rey and BB-8, pretty much the best of JJ's creations.
• Rey's yellow lightsaber when engages, you can see a blue and green flicker on the hilt; the colours of Luke and Leia's sabers.
• The more I think about Rey taking the name, the more I think it is right.
• People complain that through Rey, Palpatine in effect won. I think that's nonsense. I've heard this movie speaks to a lot of people who have had problems with their own family. (Luke: "Some things are stronger than blood"). I can't think of what is a bigger slap to the emperor's face than his own heir rejecting his name and everything what he stood for. I think it was the right move how this played out.

I wanted this movie to be over 3 hours to be honest. But in the end I think it is best to long for more rather than getting too much. For me Endgame was far too much of the same and had nothing to offer me after Infinity War, as was getting a Toy Story 4. Completely unnecessary. Sometimes you should just get what you need and no more. I got what I needed with episode 9 for sure.

Just thought I'd share this.

Know what I think? People over think it. I saw a fun, dramatic, action packed, witty, spectacular film, with great characters and effects. Job done.

[duke knooby]

it's interesting seeing our movie enthusiasts get into the detail of what they enjoy... no different to us nitpicking over meats albums back in the day, or wario's song poll discussions

enjoy it for what it is, talk about it with like minded friends, what's wrong with that?

last movie I saw, no idea lol

[PanicLord]

Originally Posted by duke knooby

it's interesting seeing our movie enthusiasts get into the detail of what they enjoy... no different to us nitpicking over meats albums back in the day, or wario's song poll discussions

enjoy it for what it is, talk about it with like minded friends, what's wrong with that?

last movie I saw, no idea lol

Lol agreed

[Lee B]

1917! What an extraordinarily good film. Incredible cinematography

[Sebastian.]

Originally Posted by Lee B

1917! What an extraordinarily good film. Incredible cinematography

My thoughts exactly. It captured the feeling of the unknown that surrounded WW1 so well.

[RSG]

Vice Versa

[AndrewG]

Rear Window (1954) 8/10 (Blu Ray)

Annabelle Creation (2017) 3/10 (Netflix)

The Poseidon Adventure (1972) 9/10 (Blu Ray)

I Am Mother (2019) 4/10 (Netflix) - Easily best of the Netflix bunch but not a patch on something like Moon.

The Last Thing He Wanted (2020) 1/10 (Netflix) Shockingly bad with Anne Hathaway and Ben Affleck!

Awake (2019) 2/10 (Netflix)

Wounds (2019) 2/10 (Netflix)

I was reminded why I cancelled Netflix in the first place over the past week. Utter and utter tripe after tripe on there. Interestingly Hitchcock, Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine still managed to counter balance all that crap over the last week and I enjoyed rewatching Rear Window and The Poseidon Adventure so much! The last 10 minutes of Poseidon are stellar. They must have been completely out of their god damn minds to think they could remake that one. (Another piss poor Hollywood cash grab attempt that was).

Netflix is great for series (at times). "Anne with an E" was superb (highly recommended) and glad I got to see that but on the movies front it is just completely bottom of the barrel far too often. Not even worth your time.

[Adje]

Knives Out (2019)

Don't get the hype. Not as smart as people want you to believe it is.

6/10

[PanicLord]

Originally Posted by Adje

Knives Out (2019)

Don't get the hype. Not as smart as people want you to believe it is.

6/10

Agreed. I thought it was entertaining enough and I will definitely rewatch it but it didn't have enough sneaky twists and turns to be completely satisfying, in an Agatha Christie type way.

[Adje]

The Gentlemen (2019)

Guy Ritchie returns to the crime genre with a great piece.
Easily the best movie I've seen in 2020.

8,5/10

[RSG]

Spiderman Into The Spider Verse

[AndrewG]

Superman 1978 - 188 minutes TV version Extended Blu Ray.
Never seen the full TV version before.
It actually makes things a bit clearer with regards to what Lex Luthor and his cronies are doing with the nukes. Some of the extended scenes are not necessary but to me it never got boring at all. Some of the stuff in Lux Luthor's lair I had seen before in deleted scenes and that is a bit weird with "the babies." Other than that it is the ultimate version of what is probably my favourite movie. Richard Donner doesn't consider this version his own after the 2 1/2 hour director's cut but I think it's awesome. Epic, the way it should be.
Super! 10/10

Superman II - Richard Donner Cut (2006)
The better version of this film for sure. Bunch of nutjobs for hiring a different director at the time. It meant all sorts of weird changes including the sorely missed Marlon Brando. This version is far more dramatic in places. I do like the recap intro of Richard Lester's version. But Donner should never have been let go.
8/10

Some Netflix originals mostly (not MY subscription but I've been pleasantly entertained unlike 6 months ago).

Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga. (2020)
Superb, exactly what you want from this sort of movie. Some great songs. Very funny. Probably the only Will Ferrel movie I REALLY enjoyed.
8/10

The Night Clerk (2020)
Pretty good. Bit slow but suits this type of thing. Good to see John Leguizamo again. 7/10

Deliver Us From Evil (2014)
Meh. 5/10

[AndrewG]

Tenet (2020)

Awful like all of Nolan's non Dark Knight movies (which I think are spectacular and probably the only reason why I keep giving him a chance).
Muffled dialogue. Zombie female characters acting with that sort of annoying attitude as if they have seen everything that has possibly happened all before so they don't care and constantly have an advantage over the male characters but at the same time being completely physically useless. Female main character is only concerned about one thing whilst the world is ending and her motive is the constant tell but don't show approach which doesn't work in movies. No sensible motive for the bad guy, who sort of appears out of nowhere 1 hour into the movie. By then it's almost too late to even care what you are watching. Far too loud music at times, like Dark Knight without the essence of threat or stakes being raised which you never understand as to why in this movie. Nonsense "plot". Nonsense MacGuffins which make totally no sense. People screamed from roof tops when this was done a little bit in Star Wars. Here they are used to explain some major reasons for things happening (Well you go into this machine / revolving chamber so... just forget everything we told you earlier too btw, hmmm why?)

On the plus side some good looking effects and good Imax cinematography. Maybe Nolan should have been a cinematographer for a better story teller director or something. His Dunkirk I thought was bizarre and emotionless, his Interstellar is the most boring non fun and pretentious Sci Fi movie I've seen in the cinema. Again here we are presented with no fun or humour for 2 1/2 hours. Movies can be serious but even Schindler's List had a few jokes in it to keep you captivated and entertained and more importantly see that there is light even in the darkest of times.

Don't bother unless you are a Nolan superfan.
Mindless nonsense wrapped in a shroud of ambiguity to pretend it's clever somehow.
4 / 10