65 - This Adam Driver flick feels the same as Adrien Brody's Predator flick and Tom Hiddleston's King Kong. Only it lacks having as many other known actors. However, the role would have better served continuing Pedro Pascal's meme streak.
Regardless of the actors involved, it's popcorn movie. Enjoy and forget.

The Gray Man - another cliche-filled big-name hollywood action flick. gets progressively more boring toward the end but admittedly its one of the better mediocre movies i've seen. nothing special, nothing bad.

Only God Forgives (2013)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1602613/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_only

I love watching (good) movies where I know nothing besides the title beforehand. So I started watching this when it happened to be shown on a free streaming service. I decided to continue watch it when I saw Ryan Gosling is in it so I figured it can't be too bad or a cheap movie.

Wow, quite an unexpected experience. It sure felt like watching some David Lynch movie like Blue Velvet, similar cinematography, visuals etc. Even the odd (the thai cop) character singing on a stage once in a while, a scene similar to pretty much any David Lynch movie or TV series, starting from Eraserhead.

I really didn't comprehend the plot fully, but maybe I wasn't supposed to (that, and I was doing some stuff on my laptop at the same time, so my concentration was not 100% at least in the beginning).

Lots of symbolism, a stern thai cop who acts both as a judge and the executioner to set things "right" and just as he sees them. All in all a movie that I will remember for a long time. A quirky but interesting movie.

"Switch" - 80s comedy, a man reborn as a woman.
Perfect for a sunday morning, coffee and a croissant.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5052474/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_7_act

This was shown on the same streaming channel as "Only God Forgives" at the same night.
Another movie where I didn't really know what to expect, besides that I had read the synopsis and I remembered I may have seen the prequel to this movie (Sicario, 2015).

For some reason the first movie didn't grab me. I think I've tried to watch it twice but somehow lost interest and started doing something else. Maybe it had too slow a start or something, or Emily Blunt as the lead wasn't that convincing to me.

This sequel though grabbed me and I watched it captivated. Quite strong action and scenes, starting from the supermarket bombing scene where a frightened mother with her small daughter tries to talk one of the bombers out of the attack...

Extra credits to the soundtrack. Damn it was captivating and strong at times. Not some symphony orchestra playing the Star Wars theme on the background, but thumbing sounds which really fit the feeling of the movie.

This made me want to watch the first Sicario movie again, with better attention this time. And after that see this sequel again.

It Follows (2014)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3235888/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_it

This was a pretty good horror movie. No splatter nor gore and no much of special effects, just a good old fashioned sinister plot and feeling of helplessness. Pretty good stuff, true 80s horror feeling including the soundtrack.

Let's go through a couple of big (though not succesfull) movies of the last couple of months:

Shazam! Fury of the Gods - I'm really not sure why this bombed so hard. I liked the first one a lot, and think this one is quite good too. Yeah, in a perfect world instead Dwayne Johnson's ego forcing a solo Black Adam movie he'd be the villain in this one and it would probably work out better, especially if Cavill's Superman showed up too, but for what this movie is, it's perfectly all right. Some good action, likeable characters and genuine, intentional laughs. Maybe it's just me, but there's one scene where Helen Mirren had me in absolute stitches. If you watch the movie, you'll probably guess which.

D&D: Honor Among Thieves - This one really deserved a a bigger box office, and a sequel that will now probably never happen. It's not exactly the D&D film I wanted (which would be a more serious high fantasy thing, maybe just a Dragonlance adaptation), but at what it aims to be it succeeds quite nicely. Good cast, nice visuals (and good effects are not so common in those big budget action films these days), some creative ideas and yes, it does a lot of time feel like a game of D&D.

Transformers Rise of the something or other - why are they even still making these? The only honestly good Transformers movie was Bumblebee, and if anyone hoped this, being also a prequel, would continue the trend - abandon all hope. It's long, boring, stupid, badly acted, visually dull and just overall a waste of time. It may not be as aggresively, infuriatingly bad as some of the Bay ones, but it is even more boring.

The Flash - Oh my, what a film. It's bad. It's really bad. But it is a glorious, immensly entertaining kind of bad. There are moments of absolute, baffling insanity, like saving a whole bunch of badly animated CGI babies falling from a window in slow motion, including putting one of them into a microwave. The special effects are overall just terrible, but again, that only makes this load of crazy nonsense more entertaining. There's lots a cameos, and at least two that made me very happy because of how they were the absolute last cameos I would ever expect. Unfortunately Ezra Miller can get real annoying (I liked him ok in Snyder's Justice League, but here he's just overacting like there's no tomorrow). Overall it's the best kind of bombastic bad.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - it's ok. Just that, no more, no less. It's not a betrayal, it's not a great comeback, it's just a decent adventure film. It's the worst of the Indy films (though keep in mind, this is from a guy who likes Crystal Skull, and thinks Temple of Doom was the weakest so far), but it's still way better than some Indy-wannabes like the Uncharted film, or even the second National Treasure. There's a lengthy sequence at the start with de-aged Ford set at the end of WWII, and while the de-aging effect is a bit wonky, it's overall a really great little adventure in it's own right. The movie is never quite as good again, but there are fun action bits, Ford is still great, I like the villain, and really the only albatross around the film's neck is Indy's goddaughter Helena, but she does improvea in the final act. I'm not sure if I'll ever rewatch the whole thing (those first 20 minutes I definitely will), but I'm glad enough to have seen it once on the big screen.

Gosh, surprised this thread still going

Ahem... anyway, just watched "Hell or High Water"


Jeff Bridges is a joy to watch isn't he? Ben Foster and Chris Pine are great but Bridges just steals the scene.

Well yeah, people are sill watching movies.

Or at least I am :D

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One - I. LOVED. IT. Possibly the best movie in the series since the first one. Really tense, phenomenal action sequences and cinematography, great chemistry between Cruise and both Hayley Atwell (god, if only we could have had her in Indiana Jones 5 instead of Waller-Bridge) and Rebecca Ferguson. It goes through so many motions the series always does, and yet feels (at least to me) absolutely fresh and spectacular. It fits the series to a T and yet has a different mood, from the first second there is just somethign about the music, the camera, everything that tells the audience in no uncertain terms that shit just got real. This is it. This is the big one. It's common for action films to be about the fate of all humanity, but not common to really sell the feeling of racing with the end of the world and having maybe 5 seconds head start. I was afraid the long runtime would hurt the film, but it went by in the blink of an eye.

My only real complaint is the fact the antagonist we never heard about before of course has some personal tie to Ethan's also never hinted at pre-IMF past. A little lat to be bring that up, and I hate this kind of bullshit "by sheer coincidence I've known the current supervillain 30 years ago!". And it doesn't contribute anything, could have jsut as well cut it out. But it doesn't hurt much either, it's just superfluous. Overall the movie is an absolute blast. If you like the series at all, you'll love this.

Pretty sure "men choreographically dancing" is a common trait of every live-action musical since the beginning of cinema.

On flights to Thailand and back (12 hours each flight), I recall watching at least these movies:

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17076046/

I didn't quite know what to expect, was it going to be a real biography or what... but no, it seemed to be totally made up. It was way funnier than I thought it would be, I got quite many chuckles during the movie (to other passengers' irritation, when I keep laughing out loud on the flight), and I especially liked the Madonna references. I always suspected that of her! The ending credits line "To this day, Madonna is still at large" floored me. :D

Nice to see also that Daniel Radcliffe can do pretty good comedy too. It is not just Harry Potter then.

Overall the movie reminded me of "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" (2007) which I also enjoyed a lot.

Conjurer (2008)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0896533/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_conjurer

I recall seeing this on some list of "horror movies you should see"... but overall it was a pretty meh, and the IMDB score is pretty poor as well. A pretty standard Christian exorcism story where the love for one's family trumps over the evil etc.

And based on a true story? Ummm, okay, maybe inspired by or something...

Also I didn't much care for the Christian undertones about teaching the viewer how Christian religion can save you from evil etc. I recall similar undertones in some (even) older horror movies like The Omen movies and such, and I always get the uneasy feeling with them that they are some kind of Christian propaganda movies, a bit like the current wave of woke propaganda movies. Speaking of which:

The Whale (2022)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13833688/

It was... ok. I was expecting much more though, maybe I had too high expectations due to all the praise and stuff, wasn't that guy supposed to get an Oscar or two for his performance as an obese person etc.?

It wasn't quite such a powerful tearjerker to me as it was apparently supposed to be, in fact I found the tearjerker moments quite... cliched and expected, I guess?

And yeah, I felt this movie was a bit of woke and LQWERTY+ propaganda too. If Conjurer tried to teach me how Christianity is the answer to everything, this movie taught the opposite that Christianity is the root of all evil and the non-hetero non-white non-males are the Good People, even if they may have some traumas due to Christianity and patriarchy and Donald Trump. Oh yeah, the movie had those references to republicans and Trump as well, making it feel like a political leftist movie.

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10366206/

It was good... but I am not sure I'd call it "the best action movie ever!" like I've seen some reviews to suggest.

Frankly, now seeing all the four JW movies, I am becoming quite bored of its long fight scenes, as beautifully choreographed as they are. It is like watching some pr0n movie where the action just goes on and on and on... get on with the story already! Sometimes too much is quite enough, thank you.

Maybe it is a good thing that (I presume) this is the last John Wick movie... unless they come up with new chapters presenting a sassy 16 year old non-cis non-binary female of color who kicks every man's ass and is very good with computers and all other STEM fields, putting men to shame.

I'm sure I saw some other movies too due to the long flights, but I don't recall right now... of the aforementioned movies, I enjoyed Weird the most.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I started watching e.g. the 2022 "The Batman" movie, but I think I just got bored of it quite soon and didn't watch it to the end, or even half of it. Meh. Frankly, I don't get it why they still keep making superhero movies, does someone really still enjoy watching them? They should let them die already, just like the ninja movies died by the early 90s.

Oh right, one more movie I also watched during the returning flight:

Cry Macho (2021)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1924245/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

I generally enjoy Clint Eastwood's (directed) movies like:
Richard Jewell
The Mule
The 15:17 to Paris
Sully
American Sniper
and especially Gran Torino (I can't believe this movie is already like 15 years old, daaamn...)

But Cry Macho just wasn't very interesting to me. No interesting story, good drama, interesting characters... I don't even know what the real point of the movie was. I guess Clint was teaching the half-Mexican teenager kid a bit of life and what it is to be a man, without being overly "macho" (toxic masculinity?)?

I feel Gran Torino did much better job with the same theme, and was also far more interesting in other aspects like the protagonist (Eastwood) also growing as a human-being, getting rid of his racist prejudices etc., with memorable high points like Clint realizing he feels more at home with the immigrant community than with his real relatives, or his world being shaken by the brutal battery of the bright young woman next door that he has grown to like and respect, and of course the whole dynamics between Clint and the hmong boy.

Also, I have to admit it is a bit odd how Clint, who was in Cry Macho like 91 years old, has a love interest who is like 40 years younger than him in real life (I think Natalia Traven was 51 years old when that movie was made). But I guess that is one of the running memes in many Hollywood movies how the aging male protagonist, be it Tom Cruise or Daniel Craig or Mel Gibson or Harrison Ford or whoever, is attracting 20-30 years old attractive women, or play a dad who has small kids (technically that is possible I guess, but the movies make it look like it is their first marriage and family and it is normal for men to have their first kids and family when they are like 60-70 years old etc...), but I digress...

In "Cry Macho" Clint also reveals his big tragedy of losing his wife and son in a car accident a few years earlier... while he doesn't tell exactly how old his wife and son were, the fact they were driving together suggests maybe his son was still young enough not to live on his own, having his own life with his own family somewhere etc... so if his son was like 18 years old, it must have meant he didn't have his son until he was past 70 years old. It would have made more sense if his movie son would have been like 60 years old during the car accident, lol...

And what was that shit about the protagonist not being able to be a rodeo rider... due to an accident? I wouldn't have believed a 90 year old would have been a rodeo rider even without accidents.

Overall a quite mediocre and forgettable movie, especially for an Eastwood-directed movie.

That movie was just horrible. Dull, nonsensical, mostly poorly acted and despite all the idiocy pretending to be some masterpiece. Worst live action Batman film by far. If I had to choose I would rewatch Batman & Robin any day rather than this trash. At least that has some campy entertainment value in how goofy it is, not to mention it's almost an hour shorter.

But overall, while the genre feels tired to death now, there's still good superhero stories to be told. Like I said above, I even rather enjoyed Shazam 2. I agree it would probably be best to ease up on the genre, let it go dormant for a few years, but there's still material for great movie in the comics. It just needs better writers and directors, and releasing one superhero film a year, not eight, like we're still getting this year.

Maybe I am a wrong person to comment on them as I have never really enjoyed most superhero movies, didn't read much of superhero cartoons as a kid or collect superhero figurines (Aquaman dolls or whatever), same goes to Star Wars in general as well... I just find them generally pointless, especially when they keep trying to tell the same story over and over again, like how Batman became Batman or Spiderman became Spiderman.

When you say there are still good superhero stories to be told, are there in general any superhero characters or stories that haven't yet been told over and over again in movies? I must admit I am not that familiar with the whole DC or Marvel or whatever universes, what characters are possibly still untapped in movies.

I haven't seen Shazam 2 yet but I didn't enjoy the first Shazam for some reason. I was expecting it to be super-funny or something but I was left cold, as far as I can remember. I was thinking of watching Black Adam at some point, but already now I am expecting to be bored. Let me guess, he has some trauma like losing his family etc., and that is why I should feel sorry for him and root for him? Also it is not a good sign that nowadays I find Dwayne Johnson overall as a pretty uninteresting and two-dimensional actor, I don't think he can act as a likable character that I would like. Or even an interesting antagonist.

There's a ton, though if you dislike the genre in general I'm not sure if they would appeal to you. But there are decades and decades of story upon story. Characters we've never seen in live action like Booster Gold, The Question, Martian Manhunter, Plastic Man and many, many others. Stories like New Frontier, which, if done faithfully in a tv series by HBO for example could be the best thing they made since Angels in America. An epic of the New Gods/Fourth World could be the most unique fantasy/sci-fi mash up on the big screen since the original Star Wars. The story of a communist Superman i Red Son could be fascinating. An R-rated adaptation of Batman vs Predator would be the most awesome thing since the original Predator (but that's not gonna happen now that Disney owns Predator). An adaptation of Alex Ross' Uncle Sam could be the most provocative, striking comic book movie ever made, if someone had the balls to do it.

Of course, that's not a very realistic wishlist. A steady flow of cookie-cutter Marvel and Marvel-like films is much more likely, despite the current box-office results.

But, again, our perspectives are very different - I'm a huge superhero fan, even if I'm also mostly tired of the genre as it is now.