Netflix Pinocchio. 7/10. From a technical perspective, it was a masterpiece. The opening sequence was almost as gut wrenching as the opening of Up. And the way the initial encounter plays out like a horror film was spot on.
But, overall, it wasn’t especially entertaining. And it tended to clobber the audience on the head with its moral.
Not really for kids…too obvious for adults. But amazing artistry with its visuals and animation.

 

Glass Onion - Not as a good as the first film but good follow up. Wouldn't be opposed to another Blanc adventure. Batista was probably the best of the "suspects". 7/10.

 

Lark was suffering from mental health issues (Bipolar or Schizophrenia, IIRC.) on top of the fame, and the bad writing, and it was destined to be an utter disaster.

There's another sequel coming. IIRC, he wanted to make Knives Out as a trilogy and Netflix bought the rights to both. (Glass Onion, included.)

TopGun Maverick - 9.5/10:
Unrealistic ending aside, as well as some scenes being recreated from the original film, this was an absolutely fantastic film and one heck of a thrill ride. This is not only how you make a sequel, this is not only how you make a long-awaited sequel, this is how you make a good film. If it happens to be those other things, as well, even better.

Solid performances, incredible stunts, beautiful 4k visuals, and some of the best acting out of Cruise in a long time, plus a sucker punch in the feels... Yeah, absolutely stellar film, proof that sequels can be better than the originals.

Baz Luhrman's Elvis - 9/10:
An absolute Oscar contender, just on the acting alone. Austin Butler is spellbinding as Elvis and really carried the film and it didn't even seem like he broke a sweat in doing so. Tom Hanks was incredible as Col. Tom Parker. Annoyed you and made you hate him, but man...so good. Hard watch, Elvis was his generation's R. Kelly, but he was also abused, used, and manipulated at a young age and hurt people, hurt people. (Still no excuse. Elvis would never make it in today's world, and for good reason.) Still. I have some empathy for the child he was, the teenager who was manipulated, and the young adult who was forced into a dog and pony show. I lost any respect for the [email protected]$$ adult Elvis by the end of it, as one should. Such a shame that such a talent had such demons and people stoking those fires ever higher.

 

Elvis (2022):
9/10

Same exact opinion. I know things were more conservative back then but Elvis getting hounded on just for his hip shakes was really absurd to think about.

And with this, I have seen all 2022 movies I've been interested in seeing, except for The Whale. No idea when we are allowed to see it.

 

Glass Onion
Definitely better than the first one. Just an overall good mystery flick with good twists and well directed.
8/10

Murder Mystery
A goofy mystery movie with decent laughs and a subtle Adam Sandler. Enjoyed that they made the married couple not hate each other like a lot of "comedy" movies do. Inoffensive, funny and a decent little capper.
7/10

Jack Frost(79)
This was 45 long minutes so I am going to count this as a movie. I have never seen this but I though it had promise...well it was not horrible but it was not so great.
5/10

 

Ok from the past few days of watching movies:

Christmas Vacation - 9/10

Runaway (1984) 7/10

Nope - 8/10

Black Adam - 5/10

Munchies (1987) - 4/10
Guilty pleasure. Very very dumb.

Munchie (1992) - 2/10
Painful. Has 12 year old Jennifer Love Hewitt in a minor role.

 

Recently had the pleasure of watching the 60's Ōgon Bat with Sonny Chiba, while super campy it's still an incredibly charming early entry in the tokusatsu genre.

 

Werewolf By Night - 8/10

 

Black Adam 7/10

The acting is good enough for this kind of movie with 2 exceptions. Pierce Brosnan is too good for this. It made me smile every scene he was in but it also made me sad every scene he was in. He deserves better. And the kid was terrible. As the main narrator and the audience's avatar in the story they needed someone better.

The story was mediocre and crammed too much in. They would have done well to steal from Marvel's idea for Captain America and make 2 movies. One in the past and one set in the present. Instead they decided to steal from Terminator 2 and make a story about a super human killing machine who learns about humanity and catch phrases from a small boy.

 

Animal Farm (1954):
Despite the simplistic art and designs, the animation was very excellent and the vocal talent by one actor for the entire cast cannot be stressed enough.

8.5/10

 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail 10/10 always have a good laugh.

 

La Planète Sauvage/Fantastic Planet:
A 1973 Czech/French animated movie. It's giant blue aliens dominating a planet with humans before Cameron's Avatar but it's the other way around and it's weiiiiiiird and trippy with designs that not far from the characters of Pink Floyd's The Wall. Also lots of animated nudity from both sides but it's partly made by the French where it's normal to them.

7.5/10

 

Glass Onion: 7/10

I feel like it was already losing the game because "Knives Out" is one of the most entertaining movies I've seen in a long time. GO tried to do too much; characters, location and plot were all "bigger" and "more," which the exact opposite of why the first one worked so well.

 

Last Samurai - really good
10/10 for me

 

I was just getting interested in girls, when I first saw this movie, so the most memorable thing about it was “whoa, there’s boobs everywhere!” Not gonna lie- the naked women helped get through this thing. I didn’t actually like it much. The only thing I really remember about it now is the super computer that was kind and benevolent in the past, and became evil in the future. I kinda liked that thing.

I liked they when some guy from the future tells it, that it becomes evil in the future, the computer is all like, “oh that’s terrible. I’ll help any way I can, to prevent myself from becoming that way.”

But then after changing the past and returning to the future, they find the computer is still evil & not about to help them in the slightest & it says something along the lines of, “I had a change in perspective over the last 1000 years.”

 

Some movies I saw this month that I wanted to talk about before the new year is among us.

Ravenous - 9/10

One of the few Wendigo stories that's the most faithful to the concept that's more like a cautionary metaphor rather then what's usually depicted in modern media. It basically tells the story of a solider named John Boyd played by Guy Pierce being located to the base Fort Spencer due to cowardice along with other outcasted men. They then find out that they have other things to be afraid of in the form of a mysterious man played by Once Upon a time's Robert Carlyle who really does being a chilling performance.

Puss in Boots The Last Wish - 8/10.

The one movie that surprised me in many good ways. Not a lot of movies are able to have sequels that surpass the first but this one really managed to be one of them. It really delves into Puss's journey into coming to terms with his own mortality and the twists that are connected to it are ones you should see for yourself.

Misery - 8/10

My first Stephen King movie and what a good one to start on. It's funny on how this movie really predicted the type of fans we see nowadays back way before the birth of modern internet interactions and discussions. The type that take being a dedicated fan to an unhinged scary direction. It's easy to see how Annie Wilkins played by Kathy Bates is said to be among the scariest horror villains because of how she goes from being normal to Norman Bates level of nuts in an instant. I pray to any future writer/artist/director or really anyone involved with fandoms that they won't come across real life Annie Wilkins.

 

Glass Onion 7/10

Not as grand as Knives Out, but still fantastic.
Also,

Spoiler

Once again, I appreciate the gay representation. Blanc is revealed to be gay in such a chill and casual that I didnt even pick up on it in the first viewing. He's no stereotype and isnt defined exclusively by his sexuality. He's just a badass detective.

 

Glass Onion

I enjoyed it; Daniel Craig is great as the detective but I'm not sure if I enjoyed it as much as Knives Out originally. It's a preference of chocolate or vanilla ice cream; since the mystery in this one has evolved from dysfunctional family murder to technocrat hosting a party with strings attached. Some dialogue does feel like an overindulgence but it still has wit to it. Coincidental in parts? That too. But I say the mystery was enough.

7.5/10

Avatar: The Way of Water

James Cameron is a guy who is indulgent but his craft is generally and undoubtedly laser-focused as he did spend well over 10 years to put out the next technological machination. Pandora is already a visually well-crafted world but this time it's all about the water and that's where the money goes. I knew what I was going into with this movie being 3 hrs and 12 minutes long so it's kind of not a surprise this movie would overwhelm and there's an urge to get up but this movie does evoke 'cinematic' experience. I understand if the story goes through a familiar beat and if that disengages people understandably but visualisation and characterisation are integral parts also.

Sure, the stinky humans (Sky people) are up to no good again but Quaritch going from an ordinary obvious no-good villain to one with an identity dilema of inhabiting the body of the people he wants to push out raises him in the villain bar for me and by far was the story I found myself invested in. There's still Jake trying to keep a family with Neytiri together which is a natural progression from the first Avatar but the new characters were strong especially Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) who by far has the biggest emphasis.

Honestly, I think this movie really was good with some trimming that can be done as well as some emphasis on certain parts.

8.5/10

 

Agreed. I hope we see more of

Spoiler

Hugh Grant

, that cameo made me laugh so hard because it worked so well. Pitch perfect casting for that, as well.

 

He needs to play more skeevy bastards. He was magnificent in The Gentleman, like nothing I'd ever seen him do.