We watched the map of tiny perfect things on Amazon prime. A really wholesome groundhog day meets romance, with a romance significantly better than groundhog day btw.
Sounds nice!
That’s a good one. Definitely agree on the romance side.
Groundhog Day is one of my favorites. I like the romance in it but implications of off screen events do a lot of heavy lifting. Phil spends years getting to know Rita, has many intimate conversations with her (e.g. boathouse), invests time into her interests (French poetry), and does this without reciprocation (resets, slaps). While it starts off expecting a payoff, it turns into genuine understanding, admiration, and affection.
That being said, it is very one-sided. Rita has no reason to fall for him in the single day she experienced even though the audience knows how amazing his change has been. She doesn’t really have an arc and is already a fully developed person, so it feels like she’s just there to help with Phil’s arc.
I’ve added Map to my list and I’m looking forward to a different type of romance in it, so thank you for the recommendation!
I started watching Star Trek: The Animated Series. As a long time Trekkie who had never checked it out I expected it to be campy and ridiculous, and yes, the is some of that, but there’s also some surprisingly good writing in there.
Infinity pool 2023, very good movie. Super creepy and disturbing and goes way beyond what I thought it was going to. Definitely my favorite me a Goth performance, she finally is using her real British accent, which after watching x and Pearl, seems fake. Movie is great, very creative and original the further along it gets.
East of Eden 1955, James Dean’s second movie. Really good, lots of great themes and speeches and great actors.
How to build a time machine 2018 - an interesting BBC doc about time travel and the scientists working today on it, including some dude who built like a Time Crystal? Which is a real thing, or at least a theoretical thing with a prototype that I never heard about that I don’t understand because I wasn’t paying close enough attention. I feel kind of bad about that.
Barbarella 1968 - real dumb, but the ideas in it are interesting as long as Jane Fonda and everybody was in on the sexploitation joke, which I think they were. Edgar wright is in talks to make a new one with Sydney Sweeney.
Madame web 2024 - oh NO! This movie is literally unbelievably bad. The acting is terrible, the story is ridiculous, 8,000 hours long… I don’t think I have anything good to say about this movie. It was cinematically shocking like watching a train wreck live.
Right to try 2021 - Short documentary about a guy trying an experimental AIDS treatment that was not approved by anybody by this scam doctor who got in trouble later. But apparently the treatment worked for a while. Anecdotally? I can’t remember now.
Sin eater the crimes of Anthony pellicano - interesting doc about a Hollywood fixer who was a total creepy asshole but believes he was like a stand-up guy who just solved problems.
Is Madame Web worse than Morbius?
Undoubtedly.
One of the main characters has dubbed over his entire lines in post, so for the entire 2 hours of the movie, anytime he talks it sounds insane and fake.
Most actors deliver their lines with the energy of a faint sigh.
The “special effects” are live action Batman level. Like a generation behind the first X-Men movie back in 2001 or whatever that was?
The plot is absurd. There’s no reason for any of what is happening to be happening, and the choices that the characters make over and over are not just horror movie don’t go in that door, they’re straight up nonsensical while not driving forward the plot at all.
Other than rubbernecking at the train crash this is, which is what I did, there is no redeeming quality to this film. I literally can’t think of a single moment…except when I was sort of convinced that Sydney Sweeney was a young teenager instead of like 30, so that costuming was pretty impressive.
Oh she’s only 26 though, okay.
Still, the insignificant trial of making a 26-year old look like someone’s teenage daughter was the most impressive part of this movie, and it is more of a brief curio than an interest.
The dialogue and general screenwriting is unbelievable, as in not believable. I can’t believe it exists.
Sony should not have released this movie.
I’m genuinely baffled as to why they did, unless they needed a couple million back on their investment and are willing to take such a huge critical and commercial loss for that couple million bucks that they can spend on future projects?
Baffled.
Star wars acolyte.
Weirdly, I found the first two episodes to be bad (because of the bad acting of the twins).
However, I loved the third episode (which funnily others hated). I really loved the witch mothers (especially the leader). I also loved the creativity put in the initiation ceremony or whatever it was called (especially how Indian classical music was used in a setting I least expected it to be used in).
I’m with the others. First two episodes were amazing, I haven’t even finished the third episode yet.
I watched Past Lives. It’s a lovely movie with some superb cinematography.
I smiled a lot during it.
Harry Potter 1 & 2.
Going to watch 3 at the cinema.
Enjoy!
I’ve seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion
An excellent choice
I finished reading the first Dune book, but since I was mentally picturing it like Villeneuve’s movie, it feels like I watched it.
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 9, and Letterkenny. If you ever wanted to understand Canada, Letterkenny is the funniest way to do so.
Started watching White Collar just for something light and fun.
The Promised Land on Hulu. It’s a tour de force, amazing cinematography, and one of Mads Mikkelsen’s finest performances. The emotional gravitas he is able to communicate with a couple of tiny twists of facial muscles is an acting masterclass. Some very shocking moments as well. I was enthralled from the very first scene.
My partner is recovering from surgery so lots of couch time has meant some odd choices as of late. Physical 100 is a reality show/contest about mostly Korean strongmen and women doing physical difficult tasks like pushing a wooden boat up a ramp. I don’t envy the editors that have to make two dudes each holding a 100kg stone Atlas style for two hours entertaining, but we ended up watching 8 episodes of it and will be finishing it up soon.
Also enjoyed The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. It was charming and short, and I really liked some of the special effects feeling like they’re from a play. I’m looking forward to the other ones in the series.
Star Wars Acolyte. Have been trying to get back into Star Wars and it seemed exciting. It’s slightly fulfilling but only a little above average.
We watched The Marvels. It’s one of the ones I didn’t care about enough to see before but got it from the library now.
It’s kind of bad, but watchable. Sort of pointless and everything is a little bit off somehow. Technical quality is great, of course.
What I didn’t expect is that they’ve sort of nodded at the early 80s Secret Wars era Captain Marvel and even made a bit of comment about the white outfit. Which reminded me that that’s actually one of the first marvel comics I ever read back then and that she was in it. Which was an interesting bit of personal reminiscence.