Recently watched movies!

[Dr Kain]

I want to see Wind River since I loved Hell or High Water.

I keep forgetting Mother exists though. God that movie was forgettable.

[Dr Kain]

Gremlins - GOd damn the Noir Gremlin during the bar scene was freaking hilarious! Stripe was down right badass too! Yeah, this was my first time watching this movie and I highly enjoyed it. It was fun and interesting. I don't see why WB feels the need to remake it when this movie works just fine. Although, I'm surprised with what they got away with for being PG, but then, it was the 80s and things weren't as restrictive back then when it came to kids movies as they didn't treat children like they were stupid idiots as they do today. Another interesting thing was seeing Jonathan Banks with hair. WOW! The story was good, the characters were interesting, although, shouldn't the Gremlins have multiplied by just being in the snow? Or does it have to be gallons of water? I'm confused because one little dab on Gizmo was enough to spawn 5 Gremllins, but snow does nothing? Well whatever, it was still a great movie despite its flaws. I give it a 9/10.

[klen7]

[klen7]

Bright - it's on Netflix. Go watch it. I hope they make a sequel. Fantastic world building, great set pieces. In my top flicks for the year

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

Bright is getting shredded in reviews so badly, I feel like I gotta see it out of morbid curiosity.



Coco - The emotional vampires at Pixar are back to feast on your sweet, sweet tears in another blindingly obvious bit of emotional exploitation, this particular one lacking a single surprise throughout its run-time. Thankfully, that run time is short, and the pacing breezy. It's acceptable, but another one of their films that I don't really see kids getting or enjoying, just adults who want to be made to cry. There's nothing wrong with that, but I feel like I just see the trick for what it is, and it's becoming more and more obvious to me. I had a little more fun with this than say, Inside Out, or Finding Dory, but not as much as I have in the past with their truly great films. 3/5.

[Dr Kain]

I think Coco is just as good as Wall-E, Up, and Inside Out. Also, kids love Coco and have no issue understanding it.

Wind River - I loved Hell or High Water a lot when I saw it earlier this year, so I went in with high expectations and am happy to say it managed to exceed them. Between the two, I would probably say Water is the better movie, but god damn was this a fantastic thriller that was excellently paced, has some great snappy dialog, sets a tone that it keeps throughout its entirety, and the acting is superb. Not only that, but it was interesting to see a movie that takes place on a reservation as it didn't sugar coat the feelings Native Americans have with "white men." Very well told and gripping. Also, who knew that an Olsen could actually act? Even more stunning! I'm going to give this one a 10/10 and it is most likely going to be on my top 10 list. Oh yeah, it is funny that this movie has Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Punisher in it.

[Dr Kain]

Home Alone - A great classic, even if it isn't perfect. 9/10.

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

[Joseph Goodman]

Paranoic - Dramatically inert Hammer psychological thriller with little in its favor beyond Oliver Reed playing (whoever could've guessed it) a drunk, and some lovely b&w 'scope photography.

[Dr Kain]

Lego Batman - I loved it when I saw it in theaters this year, but after watching it again, I just like it. It's still funny, and I love how it makes fun of the Batman tropes, but I don't think it will be making the best list. I'm lowering my score from a 9 to an 8/10.

A Christmas Carol 1951 - This was the first year we were so busy that we only had time to watch one version of the movie, so I went with this one. It's not perfect in its narrative, but as I say every year, it is one of the best adaptations. A 9/10.

[jellydonut25]

Wife and I watch Home Alone every Christmas Eve. I love that movie.



Also watched The Killing of a Sacred Deer recently. Hated it.

[eabaker]

[Dr Kain]

Scrooged - An interesting and entertaining take on A Christmas Carol. 8/10.

[eabaker]

Caught I, Tonya over the weekend. For me, it lost a little steam after "the incident," but the first 3/4 or so of the movie were fun, funny, and kind of heartbreaking, with some really neat stylistic touches and consistently great performances.

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

The Disaster Artist - Fat sack of “meh.” It’s a story that needs some gravitas considering everything you’ve ever heard about how much of a douche Wiseau is, but Franco’s palpable love for The Room itself colors the whole thing and doesn’t allow a good, dirty examination like this should be. Briefly amusing but ultimately uninteresting.

Lady Bird - Ugh. I wish I’d read more or watched a preview or something but I went off the rave reviews and a couple half-glanced at descriptions, and wound up bored to tears.

Blade of the Immortal - Really fun and awesome. Miike rules.

Paddington 2 - These movies are both awesome. Not in that they do anything super hard hitting or anything, but they’re just so charming and delightful. There’s an innocence and sense of fun that’s sorely lacking in other family entertainment. Paddington rules. I hope we keep getting Paddington movies forever.

[O.Supreme]

Well, I never thought I'd see the day, but my son is now showing an interest in Star Wars...(I know what an odd time to become a fan right??). Well after seeing TLJ in theaters, I've been going through the films chronologically with him. He only seldom paid attention when I watched SW previously, so its really like his first time viewing them. We got through the prequels and Rogue One. Oddly enough, while I still pretty much loathed episode I, episode II wasn't as bad...? I guess... Hayden Christiansen is still awful, but the chapters are set up so you can skip all of Padme/Anakins scenes on Naboo (which cuts about 10 mins out of the film) , of course I made my son suffer trough it all, he has to, just once. Now on to the good stuff. When we watch STAR WARS tonight, it will be the original theatrical version, as I'm pretty sure he isn't even aware of the special editions.

Also I do have to quote Yoda once from Episode II -"Truly wonderful the mind of a child is..." seeing these films, even the prequels, from my kids POV has made them a bit more enjoyable, or less detestable.... When both my kids first saw Natalie Portman (Padme Amidala) onscreen in episode I without the makeup, they immediately thought she was Rey...???...maybe Kylo was lying about her parents in TLJ...I guess we'll see.

[lhb412]

Ultraman X: The Movie

After the events of the Ultraman X TV show everyone in Xio knows Daichi is the human host of Ultraman X and things are pretty peaceful until an ancient pyramid is disturbed releasing the monster Zaigorg, which promptly defeats Ultraman X, fries Daichi's transformation device, and summons Antlar (a kaiju from the original Ultraman series) and Golza (an Ultraman Tiga baddie) to be his hench-monsters. Naturally, it all goes down in a big battle in the end with X teaming up with (who else) Ultraman Tiga and the original Ultraman for a big tag team battle.

Listen, plot doesn't really matter: when you take out the end credits and the opening summary of the Ultraman X TV series this 70-odd minute movie is really about an hour of Ultra vs. monster fights, our human heroes firing lasers, and showing off the new merch for kids to buy. Did you know that the transformation devices are now the main toy for the Ultraman series? Naturally, X gets a big new transformation device thingy near the end, and even Tiga and Ultraman's transformation devices are included in the plot, no doubt for them to be reissued.

My favorite part is probably a little flashback bit near the beginning where we see Ultraman fighting a horde of Baltan on an alien planet. Director Taguchi does so much cool stuff with traditional Tokusatsu effects on a no doubt quite small budget it would be so awesome to see him let loose with a budget comparable to even the Toho and Daiei movies of the last few decades.

[Dr Kain]

It woudl be nice if they would hurry up and release the X and Ginga movies on BD so I can watch them again (and subbed this time) now that I've seen the series they belong to.

Anyway,

War for the Planet of the Apes - Just as good, if not better than when I saw it in theaters. Unless Darkest Hour blows me away, this is hands down going to be 2017's best movie and ends one of the greatest trilogies of all time. 10/10.

[Dr Kain]

Logan (Noir) - I was kind of worried that rewatching this movie would diminish my enjoyment of it, but I am happy to say it did not. It's very enjoyable and keeps the main cast small as to not get convoluted. You've really got to feel sorry for the farmer family. Also, watching the Noir version was pretty good. While it doesn't change too much, the scenes at night time have a lot of atmosphere to them compared to the regular version. I'm not sure I will watch it in black and white again, but it was a cool gimmick. The movie itself is superb, although I do feel they could have shaved off a few minutes and X24 was a boring villain. I give it a 9/10.

[eabaker]

Last night we watched American Ultra. A funny script, done very little justice by a director and cast demonstrating almost no sense of comic timing.

[klen7]

^ yes! i really wonder with this movie would have looked like with a different cast

[lhb412]