Last Movie You Watched...

Late Night.

It's competent entertainment -- with Emma Thompson & Mindy Kalish, I would expect no less, & John Lithgow has a couple of nice scenes too. But it's pretty bland and utterly predictable. A good background film while you're doing something else.

John Wick: Parabellum. Only got as far as the stables scene. Not because of the ultra-violence -- it's a John Wick movie, after all -- but because the fight choreography was so good, it drew attention to itself. Which I guess is the point, but I was so exhausted I couldn't watch the rest.

Knives Out

Fun but could have been so much better. It wanted to be an Agatha Christie-type mystery, but the big reveal was so convoluted that no viewer could have figured it out. Plus the detective had knowledge the viewer didn't (and couldn't) so that was disappointing.

Mostly good performances, and good for an evening of entertainment, but it could have been more.

On a plane again, this time watching Official Secrets. It's about the GCHQ whistleblower Katharine Gunn who leaked an email from the NSA to a journo at the Observer. The email requested dirt on representatives on the UN Security Council, so the NSA could blackmail them into agreeing to the Bush the Younger Gulf War.

It's very on the nose, but has an appealing cast -- Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Tamsin Grieg and Rhys Ifans.

Since it's based on a true story, there are no surprises in the outcome and the film lacks tension.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

I normally don't like movies from games, but this was pretty good.

'It' chapter two. I swear. some of those camera tricks they used to mess with proportion honestly spooked the shit outta me.

Lake Placid: Legacy. Not good, even for a B movie.

Die Hard 2.... Not as good as the first.

IT The Second Chapter. Good, but not as rad as the book.

LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring

I had some time to kill today and watched it. Over the top.

The Lives of Others

That was one great movie!

The Irishman.

I was surprised how when I thought about it properly for a moment that I hadn't seen a movie in a long time before that. Entertainment-wise I feel like we've been living in a bit of a dark age since about 2012. Feels like everyone is playing it safe or just sledgehammering with propaganda.

Anyway, I will always watch masters like Scorsese when they make something. I'm gonna be real depressed when legends like him and Eastwood's time is up, as there isn't really anybody out there ready to step in and fill the void. Liked the movie well enough, but feel like they should have made it about twenty years ago. I kept reading how the de-aging technology made them look so much younger, but in my opinion it really didn't. Looked kind of weird, and took me out of the story a bit.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

I don't know how I feel about the addition of the movie characters to the theme park ride.

Hustlers. Omg it's terrible.

Star Wars IV

Just days away, Episode IX (42 years for nine movies).

I watched Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol with my family. My mom hates that movie, and never watches it, but this year she had a deal with my dad: If he eats mac-and-cheese (a food he hates) then she will watch it. She still hated it after years of not watching, but I was tapping my toes to all the musical numbers.

The man with the iron heart.

Don't bother....

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

Not sure what I do not like most, the prequel or sequel trilogies.

We started watching The Two Popes but I lost interest after half-an-hour so we turned it off and started a movie about the Nicaraguan revolution called Under Fire, starring Nick Nolte and Gene Hackman. It's far more interesting.

Lind Ronstadt documentary. Had no idea she was verses in so many areas of talent. Hard to believe she lost her signing voice in her older years.

The Kindergarten Teacher.

Indie film (Sundance, etc) from a year or so ago starring Maggie Gyllenhaal. Teacher goes cuckoo (and then some) over a kid who is a poetic prodigy.

I quite liked it. Family did not.

Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back

Gearing up for the inevitable, Star Wars IX in the theater sometime this month (despite the reviews I've seen).

Both the Tim Burton Batman movie. Pretty fun & weird, Michael Keaton is a good Bats.

Scrooged

I really love this movie.