Rate the last movie you saw

[David.]

Really enjoyed Hereditary. I watched it the first time not paying close attention and found myself in and out of the experience until the last 45 minutes but I’m glad I gave it another viewing.

9/10.

Toni Colette deserves an Oscar nod for this one man. Wow.

Exactly right

Terrible til the final act

 

[Derek]

Just a reminder that The Other Guys is an incredibly underrated comedy, and one of Will Ferrell’s best works

 

[The Wizard of Moz]

Why the fuck is everyone and their mums watching bird box? How was this the movie that everyone latched on to?

I agree with Jack. It was a 5.5-6/10. There was absolutely no attempt to answer ANY of the questions in the movie and it was a little spoon feedy at other times. It held my attention, but it was not a good movie and it's hard to even call it a good concept when there was barely any concept at all to it.

Spoiler

Also laughable how quickly it escalated. From a regular doctors visit to the entire world ending in 0.8 seconds

 

[NorthCoastBias]

Just a reminder that The Other Guys is an incredibly underrated comedy, and one of Will Ferrell’s best works

Gator don’t play that shit.

 

[David.]

Vince Vaughn has literally zero acting range.

Can't. Think of who should have done cell block 99, but it could have been great

 

[gourimoko]

Why the fuck is everyone and their mums watching bird box? How was this the movie that everyone latched on to?

I agree with Jack. It was a 5.5-6/10. There was absolutely no attempt to answer ANY of the questions in the movie and it was a little spoon feedy at other times. It held my attention, but it was not a good movie and it's hard to even call it a good concept when there was barely any concept at all to it.

Spoiler

Also laughable how quickly it escalated. From a regular doctors visit to the entire world ending in 0.8 seconds

Bird Box is basically The Happening meets A Quiet Place, but done better than both.

I'd be a bit more generous and give it a 7.5/10, I thought it was decently done. But there were some pretty bad moments in the film where the director just moves the plot along without rhyme or reason.

Spoiler

1) The cadet and crackhead hooking up instantly was only done so that:
2) The cadet and crackhead would run off together with the car (that they can't see out of), perhaps going back to the grocery store (but why?):
3) The cadet and crackhead leave, so that there is now a new sense of urgency to replace the feeling that they could survive for years.
4) The idiotic pregnant woman opening the door without caring about the consequences was done so that:
5) The deranged man could spend 20 seconds tricking everyone to let their guard down so that:
6) Everyone could somehow, immediately, go back to normal and give birth at the exact same moment so that:
7) The deranged man could then arrange for everyone to die so that:
8) We could end up with only Tom and whatever her name is and the 2 kids so that:
9) They could fall in love and she could become this uber-badass / bad mother / who only cared about survival...

And this goes on and on and on..

So this kind of rudimentary plot progression feels like someone had an idea for a TV show that was condensed into a 2 hour movie... It is poorly done, but Bullock's (and Malkovich's) actually decent acting holds the entire film together (the rest of the actors were kinda shit).

And the end of the film, IMHO, just goes off the rails with the monsters seemingly having new powers of trickery that they didn't have before...

Even with all that being said, the movie is compelling enough to earn one's time, and I do think it was at least enjoyable even if some of the moments were just eyerollingly bad.

 

[kosis]

Bird Box is basically The Happening meets A Quiet Place, but done better than both.

I'd be a bit more generous and give it a 7.5/10, I thought it was decently done. But there were some pretty bad moments in the film where the director just moves the plot along without rhyme or reason.

Spoiler

1) The cadet and crackhead hooking up instantly was only done so that:
2) The cadet and crackhead would run off together with the car (that they can't see out of), perhaps going back to the grocery store (but why?):
3) The cadet and crackhead leave, so that there is now a new sense of urgency to replace the feeling that they could survive for years.
4) The idiotic pregnant woman opening the door without caring about the consequences was done so that:
5) The deranged man could spend 20 seconds tricking everyone to let their guard down so that:
6) Everyone could somehow, immediately, go back to normal and give birth at the exact same moment so that:
7) The deranged man could then arrange for everyone to die so that:
8) We could end up with only Tom and whatever her name is and the 2 kids so that:
9) They could fall in love and she could become this uber-badass / bad mother / who only cared about survival...

And this goes on and on and on..

So this kind of rudimentary plot progression feels like someone had an idea for a TV show that was condensed into a 2 hour movie... It is poorly done, but Bullock's (and Malkovich's) actually decent acting holds the entire film together (the rest of the actors were kinda shit).

And the end of the film, IMHO, just goes off the rails with the monsters seemingly having new powers of trickery that they didn't have before...

Even with all that being said, the movie is compelling enough to earn one's time, and I do think it was at least enjoyable even if some of the moments were just eyerollingly bad.

You thought it was better than A Quiet Place? May I ask what you thought was better? I can't think of one way that Bird Box was superior other than maybe some of the actors, though Emily Blunt was very good in AQP.

Can someone explain why the actual box of birds was important at all? Yeah, they could sense the demons, but if you can't even open your eyes when they're calm, there's not much of a point there.

 

[gourimoko]

You thought it was better than A Quiet Place? May I ask what you thought was better? I can't think of one way that Bird Box was superior other than maybe some of the actors, though Emily Blunt was very good in AQP.

I thought A Quiet Place was actually a bad movie, on quite a few fronts. If I had to rate it, I would probably come back with something along the lines of a 4.5/10. It lacked even the one saving grace that most films have in the horror/thriller genre, which is raw enjoyability. The movie was a slog, and a bore to get through, and that's coming from someone who loves slow-paced films.

Just to mention a few key differences (fuck-ton of spoilers ahead):

1) AQP lacked a script; they didn't speak for much of the film, and when they did, it was in very brief hushed tones, or very terse disjointed statements. In Bird Box, dialogue was, like most other decently watchable films, a somewhat positive aspect to the movie. The lack of dialogue in AQP isn't a positive attribute, at least, not with it's poor execution.

2) Bird Box was 34 minutes longer than AQP, yet felt half as long. This is largely because the director kept the audience in a state of suspense for the duration of the film (roughly 2 hours); whereas, the 90 minutes that elapsed in AQP was filled with dull family drama. The action sequences felt like brief interludes to more squabbling or idiocy on the part of one of the leads.

3) The antagonists in Bird Box, as metaphysical as they might be, made a hell of a lot more sense than AQP. If your enemy is a demon, or some ethereal entity that you cannot physically counter; then there is some sense in the overriding terror that comes from an unstoppable foe. It's basically a fucking ghost or some supernatural terror.

But if the antagonist is basically an armored mole from underground, that can be defeated in the end with a double-barrel shotgun, but not a nuclear bomb, not a tank shell, not an armor-piercing uranium-tipped 20mm bullet .. but a double-barrel shotgun... I'm sorry, but that's fucking stupid. That, signifies to me, that the director just gave up at the end of the film. The dad died, time to end the movie with the obvious MacGuffin / Deus ex machina.

4) AQP's protagonists were idiotic in their actions making it difficult to empathize. Why bring the children with them on their trip? If all it takes is a mattress to soundproof a basement, why not do that and just stockpile food -- why leave with small kids? Why give birth to a child, why plan out the unthinkable when you already have 2 small kids?

These people risked everything for a meaningless gesture, including the lives of their children - ultimately costing the life of the father. Sure they "saved the world" by discovering the beings weakness, but, this was really a contrivance. Assume for a moment the monster didn't come into the basement after killing the father and they never discover the secret. All of this would have been for nothing. The only saving grace for all of their actions is the contrived scenario that unfolds at the last 10 seconds of the movie.

5) AQP's secondary antagonist happens to be one of the protagonists. Again, a problem of empathizing with the cast; the daughter in this film gets her father killed. Her actions, repeatedly, are unwarranted in the situation they're in -- they make no sense. Growing up, I would *never* think to speak to my mother in such a disrespectful way, to storm off, or to disobey as this child does - and yet, they are in a post-apocalyptic scenario where this kid does whatever the fuck she wants.

By contrast, stark contrast, Bird Box actually has a 1-to-1 dynamic here where Sandra Bullock literally tells her children "if you disobey me, I will hurt you." And they believe her. Why do they believe her? That much is painfully obvious... because the threat is not an empty one, and they know it.

If Sandra Bullock were in the AQP world, Tom would still be alive and they'd have conquered the monsters... That's how bad the family is in AQP.

6) AQP's ending was awful. I think I've touched on this enough. The ending in Bird Box was it's weakest point, but it was more satisfying in the end than AQP.

7) AQP didn't really touch on anything of substance. It was, at it's core, a horror movie about creepy things in the dark. Bird Box was actually about something a bit more interesting; and it tries to tangle with topics both clumsily but also in a way that apparently is jarring to a lot of people (considering the numerous trigger warnings the film has prompted). I think sprinting from topics like the disconnection of humans due to social media, to the Rapture and "demons," to being uncontrollably compelled to commit suicide by simply "seeing" what's out there is all pretty interesting conceptually, even if executed half-assedly. I will say this was a better go at it than The Happening.

8) As was stated before but not enumerated fully, AQP was boring. There isn't much more to be said here; it simply was a boring film. Bird Box was at a minimum enjoyable to watch.

9) The plot progression of AQP seemed far too simplistic. Nothing actually happens in the movie. The opening scene is set years prior with the death of the child setting the stage for the family drama between the husband/wife/daughter; but the events of the movie are truly inconsequential to the ending of the film. Ultimately the daughter forgives herself, the husband .. dies, and the mother (??); but at the end of the day, they save the world, so all is well. Simply put, nothing that happens in the movie is actually meaningful.

Whereas, in Bird Box, even though the plot is also fairly simplistic, much more of what is happening is actually relevant to the outcome of the film. As I stated in my previous post criticizing the plot - those events actually move the film forward, whereas, much of what happened in AQP was meaningless.

10) The setting of AQP wasn't very interesting. Everything within the context of the movie happens at the farm, and nothing really of any substance extends beyond that point. In Bird Box, the film takes place in multiple locations, and somewhat realistically extends from the first house, to multiple houses (on the run), to the river, to the forest. We don't really get that same progression in AQP even though the movie had a larger budget.

11) The characters in AQP simply were one-dimensional, stoic, and lack development. The caring dad who is hurt by the death of his son; the caring mom, who is hurt by the death of her son; the caring sister, who is rebellious in her teens, and is hurt by the death of her brother. They all blame themselves and each other for the loss and have to fix their relationship to truly survive. That's the entire movie.

While one could argue Bird Box is similar, in that Bullock's character has to find her motherly and feminine self at some point in the movie in order to save her child; the complexity of the situation makes the entire scenario more forgiving. For one, it's not actually her child; in fact, it's strongly implied that she plotted to kill this child, to save her own. In fact, she didn't even want any of these kids, and her son is the product of a bullshit relationship where the guy didn't even care about her. She finds love in a man for a few years, but he ends up dying to save these kids that she doesn't want and didn't name.

Simply put, Bird Box's protagonist is a far more complex and even understandable than the caricatures of wholesome parents that we get in AQP. Even the child who nearly gets them killed is understandable because she is terrified of Sandra Bullock to the point that becomes aware that Bullock intends on her death. That's actually pretty interesting considering the kid is only 5.

Now, Bird Box's secondary characters ARE one-dimensional, and they completely lack development; this is true, but that's true for every character in AQP without exception.

Can someone explain why the actual box of birds was important at all? Yeah, they could sense the demons, but if you can't even open your eyes when they're calm, there's not much of a point there.

The birds are the canary in a coal mine. They carried the birds to alert them not of the presence of the demons, but of the crazy people who were going around killing people by opening their eyes (another dynamic that AQP lacked).

 

[Jack Brickman]

I think A Quiet Place would have been much better if not for the ending. Having the girl figure out how to beat the aliens when they apparently wiped out every military on Earth was just fucking dumb, as was seeing one of them killed with an ordinary shotgun. The ending felt like it was ripped from Army of Darkness, with Emily Blunt cocking the shotgun before a cut to black. That movie desperately needed a somber ending.

The Last of Us is one of the best narrative games ever made not because you save the world and cure the plague at the end, but because your character does the exact opposite, acts with emotion, and decides to fuck over the rest of what's left of humanity for the sake of his own happiness. A Quiet Place needed that ending.

A Quiet Place felt like the studio stepped in and changed the ending (note: I don't think they actually did, just that it's so inconsistent with the tone of the rest of the movie that it feels that way), and it really hurt my overall opinion of the movie.

 

[TyGuy]

I actually enjoyed Bird box. It's the only netflix film that ive seen that I can say that about. It had excellent acting and characters, which goes a long way for me.

Now, if absence of motivation for the bad guy/guys, what they are and how they got there bother you then I could see you hating this film.

I was entertained the entire time, so that's good enough for me.

 

[TyGuy]

Extinction from Netflix was a giant turd. The film had a really cool plot twist, and thankfully the film was short. That's about all it had going for it. Netflix original films have been shit outside of bird box.

 

[MD13]

Has anyone (@gourimoko ?) seen the Dune cast list? Damn my expectations couldn't be higher, specially with Villeneuve directing. I thought his Blade Runner was just about perfect, and I can't wait to see what he does with the A-list Dune cast.

 

[The Oi]

My wife was watching Cruel Intentions last night. I remember this being on at many parties when I was in HS and seeing bits and pieces of it.

I did not remember how asinine it was.

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair were smoking hot in this. Reese Witherspoon never did it for me. That car does it for me.

4/10

 

[kosis]

I thought A Quiet Place was actually a bad movie, on quite a few fronts. If I had to rate it, I would probably come back with something along the lines of a 4.5/10. It lacked even the one saving grace that most films have in the horror/thriller genre, which is raw enjoyability. The movie was a slog, and a bore to get through, and that's coming from someone who loves slow-paced films.

OK, let's do this. I actually didn't think AQP was that great of a film either, but I will say that the silent nature of it, and a lot of the build up made it a somewhat refreshing entry in today's horror. Granted, Don't Breathe was similar, and a better film, but there were some things it did right. BB on he other hand was fun for a laugh and a decent reason to eat a bowl of popcorn at home. I can't think of anything in this worth deconstructing or re-visiting.

Just to mention a few key differences (fuck-ton of spoilers ahead):

1) AQP lacked a script; they didn't speak for much of the film, and when they did, it was in very brief hushed tones, or very terse disjointed statements. In Bird Box, dialogue was, like most other decently watchable films, a somewhat positive aspect to the movie. The lack of dialogue in AQP isn't a positive attribute, at least, not with it's poor execution.

Gotta disagree here. I felt there was more said in the silence of the first 15 minutes of AQP than in the entirety of BB. AQP was flawed, but to a certain degree a unique experience. The premise is completely implausible in both, but some of the actions in AQP made more sense.

2) Bird Box was 34 minutes longer than AQP, yet felt half as long. This is largely because the director kept the audience in a state of suspense for the duration of the film (roughly 2 hours); whereas, the 90 minutes that elapsed in AQP was filled with dull family drama. The action sequences felt like brief interludes to more squabbling or idiocy on the part of one of the leads.

I had completely opposite feelings. There was a lot of squabbling in AQP, but I didn't think that was a fault. I got tired of the house in BB and was relieved to have them finally leave on their ridiculous trip... only to wish they stayed home after that ridiculous ending.

3) The antagonists in Bird Box, as metaphysical as they might be, made a hell of a lot more sense than AQP. If your enemy is a demon, or some ethereal entity that you cannot physically counter; then there is some sense in the overriding terror that comes from an unstoppable foe. It's basically a fucking ghost or some supernatural terror.

But if the antagonist is basically an armored mole from underground, that can be defeated in the end with a double-barrel shotgun, but not a nuclear bomb, not a tank shell, not an armor-piercing uranium-tipped 20mm bullet .. but a double-barrel shotgun... I'm sorry, but that's fucking stupid. That, signifies to me, that the director just gave up at the end of the film. The dad died, time to end the movie with the obvious MacGuffin / Deus ex machina.

I'm not going to argue on this point.

The enemy in AQP ended up being an unstoppable force for no reason. It ends up being the argument for why it wasn't a good film when all is said and done. The shotgun ending was really bad.

Still, the enemy in BB wasn't much better. A nonsensical entity that exists and is unstoppable for no reason with no backstory. Kind of cheap. And it can't walk through doors. Clearly no window was drafty enough. No Scotch tape or newspaper clipping thin enough to be penetrated. Just ridiculous.

4) AQP's protagonists were idiotic in their actions making it difficult to empathize. Why bring the children with them on their trip? If all it takes is a mattress to soundproof a basement, why not do that and just stockpile food -- why leave with small kids? Why give birth to a child, why plan out the unthinkable when you already have 2 small kids?

These people risked everything for a meaningless gesture, including the lives of their children - ultimately costing the life of the father. Sure they "saved the world" by discovering the beings weakness, but, this was really a contrivance. Assume for a moment the monster didn't come into the basement after killing the father and they never discover the secret. All of this would have been for nothing. The only saving grace for all of their actions is the contrived scenario that unfolds at the last 10 seconds of the movie.

Yup, I agree. It was dumb, albeit entertaining for a big chunk of the movie.

5) AQP's secondary antagonist happens to be one of the protagonists. Again, a problem of empathizing with the cast; the daughter in this film gets her father killed. Her actions, repeatedly, are unwarranted in the situation they're in -- they make no sense. Growing up, I would *never* think to speak to my mother in such a disrespectful way, to storm off, or to disobey as this child does - and yet, they are in a post-apocalyptic scenario where this kid does whatever the fuck she wants.

By contrast, stark contrast, Bird Box actually has a 1-to-1 dynamic here where Sandra Bullock literally tells her children "if you disobey me, I will hurt you." And they believe her. Why do they believe her? That much is painfully obvious... because the threat is not an empty one, and they know it.

If Sandra Bullock were in the AQP world, Tom would still be alive and they'd have conquered the monsters... That's how bad the family is in AQP.

I mean, I suppose I understand your point here. But all kids are different, and the daughter in AQP was fed up and disappointed and who knows what else was going on in her mind. Clearly the parenting styles were different... Bullock was just a much more hard-nosed parent/person. Don't think that really speaks to writing or the film... more so the reaction a child would have to the personality of the character. Surely there were parents similar to Blunt and Krasinski in the BB universe.

6) AQP's ending was awful. I think I've touched on this enough. The ending in Bird Box was it's weakest point, but it was more satisfying in the end than AQP.

Both were truly awful. The absolutely stupid plot point of needing one child to peek during the white water excursion made BB's even worse.

7) AQP didn't really touch on anything of substance. It was, at it's core, a horror movie about creepy things in the dark. Bird Box was actually about something a bit more interesting; and it tries to tangle with topics both clumsily but also in a way that apparently is jarring to a lot of people (considering the numerous trigger warnings the film has prompted). I think sprinting from topics like the disconnection of humans due to social media, to the Rapture and "demons," to being uncontrollably compelled to commit suicide by simply "seeing" what's out there is all pretty interesting conceptually, even if executed half-assedly. I will say this was a better go at it than The Happening.

Maybe it's just me, but I absolutely never felt there was any depth to that story, or that they were tapping into anything meaningful. Perhaps it was just my read and I'm not giving it the credit it deserves by at least trying. It certainly failed, but if the attempt was there I guess that should count for something.

8) As was stated before but not enumerated fully, AQP was boring. There isn't much more to be said here; it simply was a boring film. Bird Box was at a minimum enjoyable to watch.

I don't think AQP was boring at all. As a matter of fact, the nature of the film being held in so much silence made me (and the audience I was with) pay extra attention and kept the tension high for most of it. BB played like a TV movie to me. Good for live-tweeting and memes. Maybe seeing it in the theater enhanced AQP?

9) The plot progression of AQP seemed far too simplistic. Nothing actually happens in the movie. The opening scene is set years prior with the death of the child setting the stage for the family drama between the husband/wife/daughter; but the events of the movie are truly inconsequential to the ending of the film. Ultimately the daughter forgives herself, the husband .. dies, and the mother (??); but at the end of the day, they save the world, so all is well. Simply put, nothing that happens in the movie is actually meaningful.

Whereas, in Bird Box, even though the plot is also fairly simplistic, much more of what is happening is actually relevant to the outcome of the film. As I stated in my previous post criticizing the plot - those events actually move the film forward, whereas, much of what happened in AQP was meaningless.

Not sure I agree. AQP was much more contained, but things clearly happen. We go from desolation to saving the world as you phrase it. That's a lot. Again, I agree that the plot can feel pretty contrived, but the story was told decently well... though the actual story itself wasn't exceptional.

10) The setting of AQP wasn't very interesting. Everything within the context of the movie happens at the farm, and nothing really of any substance extends beyond that point. In Bird Box, the film takes place in multiple locations, and somewhat realistically extends from the first house, to multiple houses (on the run), to the river, to the forest. We don't really get that same progression in AQP even though the movie had a larger budget.

Again, AQP was mostly contained, and it made sense to take place at the farm, for this particular film. And I thought the farm was actually much more interesting (the mystery, the tower, the corn fields, hidden areas) than anything in BB. It was just a neighborhood (that they could navigate in a car with only GPS???). The river should have been more interesting, but the idiotic plot twist that was ill conceived and pointless ruined it.

11) The characters in AQP simply were one-dimensional, stoic, and lack development. The caring dad who is hurt by the death of his son; the caring mom, who is hurt by the death of her son; the caring sister, who is rebellious in her teens, and is hurt by the death of her brother. They all blame themselves and each other for the loss and have to fix their relationship to truly survive. That's the entire movie.

While one could argue Bird Box is similar, in that Bullock's character has to find her motherly and feminine self at some point in the movie in order to save her child; the complexity of the situation makes the entire scenario more forgiving. For one, it's not actually her child; in fact, it's strongly implied that she plotted to kill this child, to save her own. In fact, she didn't even want any of these kids, and her son is the product of a bullshit relationship where the guy didn't even care about her. She finds love in a man for a few years, but he ends up dying to save these kids that she doesn't want and didn't name.

Simply put, Bird Box's protagonist is a far more complex and even understandable than the caricatures of wholesome parents that we get in AQP. Even the child who nearly gets them killed is understandable because she is terrified of Sandra Bullock to the point that becomes aware that Bullock intends on her death. That's actually pretty interesting considering the kid is only 5.

Now, Bird Box's secondary characters ARE one-dimensional, and they completely lack development; this is true, but that's true for every character in AQP without exception.

I don't know. I think Bullock's character is mildly interesting, but still fraught with issues. Naming the kids Boy and Girl is cringe worthy. She clearly cared for the girl's mother and wanted to take on the daughter, yet didn't even want to name her. The argument about sharing the real world's possibilities with the kids versus not setting them up for disappointment was somewhat engaging, but not enough to make up for other deficiencies in logic.

The birds are the canary in a coal mine. They carried the birds to alert them not of the presence of the demons, but of the crazy people who were going around killing people by opening their eyes (another dynamic that AQP lacked).

Right, I figured that was the reference, but it wasn't consistent. Didn't they alert her of demons too?

And what was the dynamic? Did I miss why some people were able to embrace the demons and start killing people vs. why some were driven to suicide? Was it based strictly on the fact that the killers chose to look? Wasn't really clear.

And seriously, no one ever thought Bullock would kill one of the kids to save the other. And even if one was sacrificed and looked, how in the hell would that even help in navigating the rapids?? "Annnnnd Now! Paddle left!" And they somehow blindly survived the crashes and the birds survived, because of course they did.

The blind community apparently has infinite resources. Come on down and share our food. We'll radio in anyone that listens and bring you to our utopia. Clearly there was a higher point there that went over my head. The demons avoid that place.

I was irritated by both, but BB's style was nothing new and had even worse plot twists. Oh well.

 

[BMAN]

So my girlfriend has never seen a shit ton of movies. Best way to start? Work my way down the IMDb top 250 list? Been trying my best. Showed her Godfather and some other classics. I even had to show her the Nolan Batman trilogy. There’s just so many though.

What do you guys use to watch movies if it’s not on Netflix, Prime, etc.?

Godfather part 2 is next.