Last Movie You Watched

[Tacenda]

2 hours ago, bluebell said:

Saw Oppenheimer this weekend and was disappointed, especially since the reviews (from both critics and movie goers) were all raving about how amazing it was.  

My first mistake was thinking that it was rated R because of the subject matter (which the previews made it seem was pretty much the manhattan project).  I should have checked because the rating had nothing to do with the subject matter and everything to do with multiple sex scenes and lots of boobs.  I'm still really annoyed about it because it added nothing (absolutely nothing) to the movie.  

I got my degree in history so the history part I found incredibly interesting, and there was a lot of political stuff that I also found to be interesting as it wasn't anything that I knew anything about.  I think a movie less centered on Oppenheimer and more on the manhattan project would have been more entertaining (he was a weird guy and not really likeable) but it wasn't a bad movie (from that angle) and it seems like they told the historical and political story well.

The length is stupid though.  It easily could have been shorter.  Also, one reviewer talked about how amazing the musical score was and I was excited about that because we never get good movie music anymore but in the end I thought the soundtrack was mostly just very loud and jarring.  I didn't find it moving at all, though I understand that they used it as a way to show the viewer what was going on inside Oppenheimer's brain (which was often kind of odd) more than anything else.

Thanks for the heads up! Last week I wanted to see a movie, it's been a short while. Three of my choices in order were Mission Impossible, Oppenheimer and Barbie. Well the really funny thing is my husband hates long movies so guess what he chose? Barbie, lol. I guess my 1st choice will be next and will ponder if I want to endure my second choice, I didn't mind Barbie. And sad they they think sex sells or why else put it in at that extent. 

[bluebell]

1 hour ago, Tacenda said:

Thanks for the heads up! Last week I wanted to see a movie, it's been a short while. Three of my choices in order were Mission Impossible, Oppenheimer and Barbie. Well the really funny thing is my husband hates long movies so guess what he chose? Barbie, lol. I guess my 1st choice will be next and will ponder if I want to endure my second choice, I didn't mind Barbie. And sad they they think sex sells or why else put it in at that extent. 

That is funny!

I'll probably see the Barbie movie eventually but I don't think I could ever get my husband to go.  I've heard so many people who loved it and then some that just thought it was weird and dumb.  What did you think of it?

[Tacenda]

1 hour ago, bluebell said:

That is funny!

I'll probably see the Barbie movie eventually but I don't think I could ever get my husband to go.  I've heard so many people who loved it and then some that just thought it was weird and dumb.  What did you think of it?

I think I needed to be in the mood for it or maybe just my age. It was clever and well done, but was thinking that politically the far right would be all over it critically speaking. Some articles I've read say it downs men, but really if they watch it all it isn't doing that in context and has an overall good message. My son took his girlfriend and he said there were women clapping and cheering out loud in the theater but not at the one I went to. It is a little on the liberal side just showing acceptance to all.  

[Calm]

4 hours ago, bluebell said:

That is funny!

I'll probably see the Barbie movie eventually but I don't think I could ever get my husband to go.  I've heard so many people who loved it and then some that just thought it was weird and dumb.  What did you think of it?

I can imagine quite a few things less enjoyable then having that pink crammed down my visual cortex for two hours, but somehow that isn’t enough justification to see the movie even when free on Netflix or whatever for me.

[Calm]

2 hours ago, Tacenda said:

My son took his girlfriend and he said there were women clapping and cheering out loud in the theater but not at the one I went to. It is a little on the liberal side just showing acceptance to all.

This idea that Barbie is some sort of liberal icon that I keep seeing is something I have never understood as it completely ignores her basic structure and purpose imo.

[bluebell]

9 minutes ago, Calm said:

This idea that Barbie is some sort of liberal icon that I keep seeing is something I have never understood as it completely ignores her basic structure and purpose imo.

I think it's because Barbie was always able to be whatever she wanted (astronaut, teacher, lawyer, etc.) and she didn't need a man to do it.  I'm pretty neutral on Barbie personally (and her measurements have a lot to answer for), but here's a good article on how so many see her as a feminist icon.

https://thesciencesurvey.com/editorial/2021/05/02/the-forgotten-feminist-icon-an-argument-for-barbie/

[Tacenda]

3 hours ago, bluebell said:

I think it's because Barbie was always able to be whatever she wanted (astronaut, teacher, lawyer, etc.) and she didn't need a man to do it.  I'm pretty neutral on Barbie personally (and her measurements have a lot to answer for), but here's a good article on how so many see her as a feminist icon.

https://thesciencesurvey.com/editorial/2021/05/02/the-forgotten-feminist-icon-an-argument-for-barbie/

You'll like the way they try to change those measurements in the movie then! I don't want to give too much away, but there's a scene where they show how Barbie changed the way we girls played. Because at first we only had baby dolls. But then Barbie comes along and we are the Barbie! 

BTW, my nearly 4 year old granddaughter that I tend on Thursdays, is obsessed with playing Barbies and that's what we do because she'll march in the house and say let's play barbies, and her favorite is Elsa from Frozen and I'm always Ana. We found nearly new ones at Savers, lol.

And ever since, we've added several more used barbies and it's amazing how she'll interact and how I interact with her being Ana. I did order a bunch of barbie clothes too from Amazon for a good deal. And she always gives Ana the ugly clothes to wear compared to the ball gowns for Elsa. And I try to fight for my rights, and she'll finally let me wear something better, haha. So you learn a lot through play. Wish I'd done more of that with my own daughters. Being a grandma is totally different than a mom. 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Tacenda

[Calm]

5 hours ago, bluebell said:

I think it's because Barbie was always able to be whatever she wanted (astronaut, teacher, lawyer, etc.) and she didn't need a man to do it.  I'm pretty neutral on Barbie personally (and her measurements have a lot to answer for), but here's a good article on how so many see her as a feminist icon.

https://thesciencesurvey.com/editorial/2021/05/02/the-forgotten-feminist-icon-an-argument-for-barbie/

I don’t buy it because it is still about having the right clothes etc, the right appearance to be accepted as “whatever you want to be” and whether it is a man or just society in general giving you their approval, it’s still about buying the right things to get the life you want. 

[Calm]

Quote

“Blondness raises another paradox regarding femininity – it suggests something inherent to female sexuality (being a ‘blonde’ is an identity), and at the same time it is the mark of artificiality, the sign of glamour, a concept that in itself implies a high degree of construction […] In other words, blondeness is always a cultural construction, but one that is somehow meant to hint at the essence of femininity, in a way that other hair colours do not.” These stereotypes are toxic to women and force them to choose between femininity and being taken seriously. But Barbie, along with films like Legally Blonde and 2019’s Bombshell, seek to break this trope. 

How does Barbie seek to break the blond trope?  Maybe the dumb blonde trope, but the great hair equals femininity and blonde is better trope is underlined by Barbie, isn’t it?

Edited July 31, 2023 by Calm

[Amulek]

I took my teenage daughter to go see the Barbie movie this weekend and we both had a good time...even though there wasn't a single mention of the phrase Schlond Poofa in the entire film. I was very disappointed by that. I guess Barbie: Life in the Dream House isn't considered cannon; or, more likely, Greta Gerwig just never watched it herself (she only has boys).

That aside, it was a mostly fun / funny movie with a bunch of callbacks to the various Barbies and Barbie clothing / accessories over the years, including both hits and misses. Come awards season I believe it will be a very strong contender for best costume design. 

Now, maybe it's just the patriarchy in me speaking, but I honestly felt like Ken ended up with the more interesting story arc in the film - though not one that gets a really satisfying resolution. That's understandable though because Ryan Gosling almost stole the show as it is, and you can't have Ken upstaging Barbie in a Barbie movie.

Still, if you are willing to lean into your suspension of disbelief - it is a Barbie movie after all - I think most people familiar with the property will have a good enough time. It isn't a great film, but it's good for what it is...and that's okay with me.

 

[bsjkki]

My next movie will be the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with my autistic daughter. It is getting good reviews at least. 
 

Oppenheimer…not interested. Too long. Heard about the boobs. 
Barbie…will wait for tv.

Mission Impossible…tired of convoluted plots

Sound of Freedom…too depressing.

Will possibly go see Blue Beetle. Anxiously awaiting Dune.

On TV

Enjoyed Hijack though unrealistic.

Enjoyed Lincoln lawyer number 2. But, I’ve read the books and although there are changes, knowing what’s going to happen does lessen the fun.

[bluebell]

11 hours ago, bsjkki said:

My next movie will be the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with my autistic daughter. It is getting good reviews at least. 
 

Oppenheimer…not interested. Too long. Heard about the boobs. 
Barbie…will wait for tv.

Mission Impossible…tired of convoluted plots

Sound of Freedom…too depressing.

Will possibly go see Blue Beetle. Anxiously awaiting Dune.

On TV

Enjoyed Hijack though unrealistic.

Enjoyed Lincoln lawyer number 2. But, I’ve read the books and although there are changes, knowing what’s going to happen does lessen the fun.

I feel the same about Sounds of Freedom.  I just don't want to watch it.  I listened to Ballard speak once and that was hard enough.

[Tacenda]

On 8/4/2023 at 10:23 PM, bsjkki said:

My next movie will be the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with my autistic daughter. It is getting good reviews at least. 
 

Oppenheimer…not interested. Too long. Heard about the boobs. 
Barbie…will wait for tv.

Mission Impossible…tired of convoluted plots

Sound of Freedom…too depressing.

Will possibly go see Blue Beetle. Anxiously awaiting Dune.

On TV

Enjoyed Hijack though unrealistic.

Enjoyed Lincoln lawyer number 2. But, I’ve read the books and although there are changes, knowing what’s going to happen does lessen the fun.

Today, I switched back and forth on Oppenheimer and Mission Impossible on movies to go see with my husband. I guess I'm hesitant to go see these three hour movies with him too and the stuff in Oppenheimer has me thinking I wouldn't like it. And all I'm really excited to see is the stunt work by Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. But it does have good reviews. So instead we went to a local playhouse and watched a Romeo and Juliet play with the youth and boy was I amazed at how well they did and glad we skipped the movie to see it.  

[bluebell]

On 8/5/2023 at 11:26 PM, Tacenda said:

Today, I switched back and forth on Oppenheimer and Mission Impossible on movies to go see with my husband. I guess I'm hesitant to go see these three hour movies with him too and the stuff in Oppenheimer has me thinking I wouldn't like it. And all I'm really excited to see is the stunt work by Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. But it does have good reviews. So instead we went to a local playhouse and watched a Romeo and Juliet play with the youth and boy was I amazed at how well they did and glad we skipped the movie to see it.  

Probably a good choice!  There have been so many mission impossible movies that I can't even remember the plot anymore, or who anyone is.

[bluebell]

Hubby and I watched Finch on Apple TV.  It came out in 2021 and stars Tom Hanks.  It's a dystopian about a man who builds a robot to look after his dog after he dies. It's got some funny parts but it's mostly slow and depressing.  After watching it I understood why I had never heard of it before.

[Tacenda]

Finally saw Mission Impossible, and I wasn't disappointed at all. I liked that there was no language, no sex scenes, no gory violence. I saw the stunts that Tom Cruise performed and was impressed. He's like a machine. I thought the story was kind of cheesy in spots, but still liked it. It didn't feel like three hours. Right at the get go I worried it was going to be a long movie for my husband. But he endured it well, for being the type that will say in a fiction movie, "that can't happen in real life", lol. 

[bluebell]

Not a movie but I tried watching Hulu's new series This Fool because it looked hilarious but I couldn't make it through the second episode.  It's actually really good and pretty funny, but I couldn't stomach the level of F words it had.  It didn't just use the F word but it used it aggressively and multiple times in practically ever scene.  I know that doesn't bother everyone but it becomes too jarring for me personally to really enjoy a show.

I was so sad because I loved the premise.

[Amulek]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Liked it more than I thought I was going to. I'm generally not a big Seth Rogan fan, so seeing his name at the top of the writing team had me bracing for a painful experience. I felt the other writers were able to reign him in enough to keep things from going off the rails though.

I thought they did a good job of hitting their tween-age target market while throwing in enough 80's - 90's nostalgia for parents / older audience members as well. They even managed to get in a brief sample of Vanilla Ice's song from the 1991 film - that made me laugh.

Overall, I thought it was a good film. I don't know if I would have gone to see it in theaters if my son wasn't interested, but I can honestly say had a good time, which is about as much as you can expect from a movie about teenage mutant ninja turtles.  

 

[Sablespartan23]

Last movie I watched was no country for old men on vidangel. 

[Pyreaux]

On 9/8/2023 at 4:17 PM, Sablespartan23 said:

Last movie I watched was no country for old men on vidangel. 

On vidangel? Its Rated R. No real nudity. There is gore, 50% of the film is gore in progress and dealing with a lot of the gory aftermath. If you remove it I can't imagine what's interesting to look at anymore. Like watching Gladiator on TV, all the gore is tied to the action scene. Watching an action film with no action is terrible...

I liked the film. I was angry with the "ending" but I got over it. I just had to realign whose story this is.

Edited September 14, 2023 by Pyreaux

[Pyreaux]

Meg 2: The Trench

It was entertaining. Everything that could go wrong, does go wrong to at least one person. Many deaths, but never to bloody. Scary but not gory. Jaws of this generation. Many Jaws scene "homages", like sliding down a slope into a shark mouth. I did enjoy myself... Having said that

Spoilers of things that I didn't like:

The opening I hated: as a pro-Nuclear energy person, I hate anti-Nuclear energy propaganda mixed in my Eco-propaganda cereal. Why are the intro-"bad guys" dumping nuclear waste into the ocean? Modern reactors don't produce radioactive waste anymore. Why does the entire crew carry a machete in hand, apparently at all times, in the middle of the ocean? Handy for when Jason's character pops out of nowhere. Maybe their ship gets infiltrated a lot?

The introduction of other prehistoric animals: including amphibious reptiles... In the trench... I thought reptiles needed to breathe. I don't know if they belong. I was expecting an explanation, like there is a "hollow earth" entry way in the trench, that's where they get air. No explanation.

The island of crazy rich Asians at the beach who just ignore the shark attacks, no shark sirens.

The crazy plot armor near the end after all the good expendables already got killed. Impossible maneuvers, a couple fail as a gag and to not lose tension because the insane plans always work. The helicopter fuel scene particularly.

[Pyreaux]

One Piece (Live Action)

It's not earth, but a fantastical world that is mostly sea, World Government's Marines and the outlaw Pirate forces everywhere. There are humans with powers, and also human and inhuman characters without powers, yet have inhuman strength, speed, jumps, etc anime physics. The wire work and stunts are pretty clean. A mix of earth pirate fiction but unearthly or magic creatures and in-world only technology. So, flintlock pistols and wooden sail ships, but neon bar lights and international communication.

Story telling is good, but the character's relationships are a bit fast passed. Some characters are over top, and simple minded. Best western Live Action adaptation of a manga ever. People like it.

Content: You see bloody messes without the gore, gore without blood and man butt comedy in the first episode. So, deaths are common. ((Having read the manga, there maybe a season where eventually a character who can change other people's gender will show up, if you are concerned with such)) I can't say that One Piece is intended for young children, despite looking like it was a children's cartoon.

Edited October 10, 2023 by Pyreaux

[bluebell]

Not a movie but a documentary on Netflix--Ordinary Men.

I read the book it's based on in college when I was doing an intensive semester class on the Holocaust.  Both the book and the documentary are really good, but as with pretty much everything that deals with the holocaust, also hard.  The documentary has some film of the executions and children and mothers waiting to be executed and that was almost too much for me to absorb.

The book is about the unknown holocaust that happened in Poland, where the Nazis recruited 30,000 regular citizens into a police force that was sent through the countryside, rounding up Jewish people and shooting them.  In this way, the police force managed to kill over 2 million jews (3 million were killed in concentration camps, for comparison.  The other one million died due to the circumstances they were placed in).  It focuses on how the nazis got 30,000 men (most highly educated, employed, family men who were not nazis nor ideologically aligned with their views on anti semitism) to essentially shoot men, women, and children one by one.

It's a documentary that is terrible and fascinating at the same time.  But mostly it's a study in how ordinary people can easily be made to do horrendous things, and how quickly they can get used to doing them. And presented as a warning.

[Rain]

21 hours ago, bluebell said:

Not a movie but a documentary on Netflix--Ordinary Men.

I read the book it's based on in college when I was doing an intensive semester class on the Holocaust.  Both the book and the documentary are really good, but as with pretty much everything that deals with the holocaust, also hard.  The documentary has some film of the executions and children and mothers waiting to be executed and that was almost too much for me to absorb.

The book is about the unknown holocaust that happened in Poland, where the Nazis recruited 30,000 regular citizens into a police force that was sent through the countryside, rounding up Jewish people and shooting them.  In this way, the police force managed to kill over 2 million jews (3 million were killed in concentration camps, for comparison.  The other one million died due to the circumstances they were placed in).  It focuses on how the nazis got 30,000 men (most highly educated, employed, family men who were not nazis nor ideologically aligned with their views on anti semitism) to essentially shoot men, women, and children one by one.

It's a documentary that is terrible and fascinating at the same time.  But mostly it's a study in how ordinary people can easily be made to do horrendous things, and how quickly they can get used to doing them. And presented as a warning.

I always hear, "What would you do if ____?" and I can rarely answer that question.  I know what I would want to do usually, but you never know what those circumstances will be and where you are with them.  This sounds like a good thing to watch to get that warning so you can put yourself in a better place. 

[bluebell]

1 hour ago, Rain said:

I always hear, "What would you do if ____?" and I can rarely answer that question.  I know what I would want to do usually, but you never know what those circumstances will be and where you are with them.  This sounds like a good thing to watch to get that warning so you can put yourself in a better place. 

I think this study is really interesting because many times, in regards to the Holocaust, you hear people having said that they had no choice, that they had to persecute and even kill Jews or it would have been them being killed.  But in this instance, that wasn't at all the case.  In fact, some police chiefs allowed their officers to bow out without any explanation.  In all the instances where an officer chose not to participate, nothing bad ever happened to them, other than that they were mildly ridiculed and somewhat ostracized.  

Even though most of the men (by a large majority) had nothing against the Jewish people and didn't enjoy the killings, they did it because they didn't want to be a social outcast and also because it was seen as taking one for the team so to speak.  Because the "job" was so terrible, many of the men viewed not doing it as not pulling their weight and making someone else suffer in their stead.

Seriously messed up morals but the way that humans "other" those of different groups, and our need for community and social validation, you can see why the men came to the conclusions they did (even though of course there is no justification for their actions whatsoever).