Last movie you watched 2025

[Hobbit]

This evening, I watched Star Trek: Section 31 which was an interesting addition to the franchise.

You're much kinder than me, PD. I made it through 45 minutes before I decided I had no interest in the plot or the characters at all - awful.

 

[pogopossum]

The Bicycle Thief (Italian - 1948) It tells the story of a desperate post war father whose means of earning a living is stolen so in desperation he tries to steal a bicycle himself, The classic neorealist film portraying harsh reality and struggles in the post war period. Gritty and sad.
The Intouchables (French - 2011) AKA Untouchable. A rich paraplegic Frenchman hires a street guy to take care of him bringing a spectrum of experience to each of then. The second biggest French hit at its time. Based on a true story. Vibrant.
T

 

[Raf]

We watched the Extended version of "The Fellowship of the Ring" yesterday. Amazon had the Extended Trilogy on sale late last year for $19.95. Just getting around to watching them.

"The Two Towers" on tap today...and maybe "The Return of the King". Time permitting.

 

[Raf]

We watched the Extended version of "The Fellowship of the Ring" yesterday. Amazon had the Extended Trilogy on sale late last year for $19.95. Just getting around to watching them.

"The Two Towers" on tap today...and maybe "The Return of the King". Time permitting.

RotK will need to wait...TTT was nearly 4.5 hours (264 minutes), lol.

 

[blailock]

I watched Wolf Man 2025 this weekend. I remember being really excited after the first trailer, but then I looked at Rotten Tomato ratings which weren't good. It was OK, but not great. I was a little disappointed even with my lowered expectations.

 

[Randy M.]

I, Madman (1989) dir. Tibor Takacs; starring Jenny Wright, Clayton Rohner, Randall William Cook

Dr. Kessler (Cook) leaves his residential hotel, looking like he might be heading to an audition for the title role in Nosferatu. When another resident complains about noise from Kessler's room, the manager investigates and finds that Kessler is a scientist who has created a new life-form ...

But it's a scene from the book Much of Madness, More of Sin by Malcolm Brand, and it's being read by Virginia (Wright), whose active imagination has her spooked enough to call her boyfriend, Richard, a detective (Rohner). Virginia works in a used bookstore, where she came across Brand's book. Brand only published two and Virginia is pleased to find the other, I, Madman, but less pleased as her imagination and real life seem to blur into one another: 1) two murders occur, the first victim a woman in her acting class and the second killed in a nearby building as she watches; 2) both murders are coupled with mutilations described in I, Madman; 3) she notices the books were published as non-fiction; and 4) someone very like Dr. Kessler begins appearing to her. Naturally, Richard is working the murders.

I saw this on VHS in '89 or '90 and watched it this time on MGM+ (formerly Epix), and I've wondered since if it was a good as I recalled. It is, an entertaining, slickly made supernatural thriller emulating pulp magazine stories. There is some violence, mostly suggested, and some gore, all of it comparable to the sensation pulps. There are some humorous moments (Virginia visits the office of the sleaze publisher of Brand's books, notices book covers framed on the wall: "East of Edith"; "Moby's Dick"), and the scenes that are Virginia's real life fade neatly into scenes from the book (and vice versa) with her as the female protagonist, and an end chase through the bookstore that might be every bookhound's nightmare. All of this is held together by the performances of Cook and Rohner, but even more so Wright, who makes an appealing final girl. Between this and her performance in Near Dark I'm surprised she didn't become better known.

 

[AtramentousFlux]

A re-watch of:

The original is OK and stands up still, imo.

This one is just not really very good.

An improvement on No. 2, I think. Not terrible at all.

Just OK. Some attempts at humour that didn't work for me. But not terrible either.

Not sure yet if I'll bother with:

 

[Westy]

A re-watch of:

The original is OK and stands up still, imo.

This one is just not really very good.

An improvement on No. 2, I think. Not terrible at all.

Just OK. Some attempts at humour that didn't work for me. But not terrible either.

Not sure yet if I'll bother with:

Yeah first one's the best one easily for me.

 

[Raf]

Yeah first one's the best one easily for me.

AVP was surprisingly watchable as well.

 

[Ubergeek]

Afraid I'm wordier than you guys.

Ringing the old year out appropriately on Dec. 31 with a trip to the theater:

Nosferatu (2024) dir. Robert Eggers; starring Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgard

It’s been decades since I watched the silent version, but my impression is this followed it closely; a friend who’d seen it more recently confirmed that impression. Beautifully shot, the feel of the town, the castle, the ship, the countryside all seem genuine and textured; the costumes appear appropriate to the time and place. The acting is good throughout, especially Depp as Ellen, Hoult as Helen’s husband, Thomas, and Emma Corrin as Anna, Ellen’s friend. The rats are pretty good, too.

If you’re uncomfortable with gore and violence this may not be for you. Also rats. Many, many rats.


Avoiding facing 2025 too directly:

Deadpool and Wolverine (2024) dir. Shawn Levy; starring Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman (Disney+)

An old-fashioned feel-good movie about a broken man yanked out of his timeline and given a shot at redemption. Served with extra helpings of violence and copious fake blood and bits – lotsa bits.

If you saw the first two Deadpools, more of the same but with a nice turn by Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova (didn’t realize until now I had watched a Corrin two-fer). Really, I can’t complain about any series that offers Leslie Uggams a chance to cuss constantly and a steady paycheck.


Murder Mystery (2019) dir. Kyle Newacheck; starring Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Luke Evans, Gemma Arterton (Prime)

Often inane, but also often funny. Can’t recall if Sandler and Anniston had worked together previously, but they seem like a natural fit here, Anniston’s border-line ditzy sensibleness against his boisterousness mesh well. Plot is, pushed into a corner, cop Sandler takes wife Anniston on a European vacation. On flight, Anniston meets rich man Evans and the couple ends up invited to join Evans on his uncle’s (Terrance Stamp, playing to type as an overbearing gazillionaire) yacht. There’s a will, a murder or two, many hijinks and the cop and his wife have to figure out whodunit. Everyone seems to be having fun and the location shooting is gorgeous.


The Fall Guy (2024) dir. David Leitch; starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham (Prime)

Based on the ‘80s U.S. TV show with Lee Majors, this has stunt man Colt Seavers (Gosling) recovering more mentally than physically from a stunt gone badly wrong. Conned into joining the production of his former lover Jody’s (Blunt) first movie as director, he is dragged into finding the missing star Tom Ryder (Taylor-Johnson; another unintended two-fer, since he’s also in Nosferatu).

Blunt and Gosling work off each other really well, Waddingham steals almost every scene she’s in, Taylor-Johnson seems to be having a blast, the stunt work is terrific, every bit as good as in Deadpool, but for all this the movie doesn’t quite come together. Can’t really pinpoint why. But if you want mindless entertainment, it works well enough.


And finally, circling around seriousness:

Peeping Tom (1960) dir. Michael Powell; starring Karlheinz Bohm, Anna Massey, Moira Shearer

A re-watch (Turner Cable Movies), this was probably 20 years ahead of its time; excoriated in the British press, it ended Powell’s career as a director despite earlier successes, and in spite of the success the same year of Psycho. Plot: A young photographer, Mark (Bohm), essentially tortured by his scientist father as a child, is fearful of sex and obsessed with capturing the fear of death on film. Naturally, there’s only one way of doing this.

PT seems to come down on the “nurture” side of “nature vs. nurture.”

I’ve never seen it mentioned as an inspiration for giallos but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. Has some of the same feel for me as Hitchcock’s later movie, Frenzy. Tangential trivia: Jack Watson and Nigel Davenport portray police investigating the murders, and I’ve recently seen both in episodes of The Avengers the first year Diana Rigg’s Mrs. Peel was featured. (Silent Dust and The Danger Makers, respectively.)

I don’t know when British movies began to allow nudity, but this seems to get around any censors by having Mark work in a shop where postcards of topless women are displayed, and Mark supplements his income as an assistant in movie production by creating some of those cards and other photos. According to IMDB’s bio, Pamela Green (Millie in the movie) worked for George Harrison Marks in that business and Powell took inspiration from her work as model and as designer of sets and costumes for the shoots.

(I think I watched more movies in the two weeks around Christmas and New Year's than I did in the three months before that.)

@RandyM , I'm glad you're " wordier " as all your words are worth reading.

 

[Ubergeek]

IMMACULATE ( PRIME UK )

Felt like I'd seen this stuff so many times before . Boring .

On to films I enjoyed much more :

LONGLEGS ( can't remember the streaming app )

Beautifully shot , loved the colours . Psychological thriller / slasher .

BLINK TWICE ( PRIME UK )

Wow , quite an intense thrill ride . Avoided the trailers and probably better for it .
Maybe fits into slasher classics sub genre , all I'm saying .

 

[Randy M.]

@RandyM , I'm glad you're " wordier " as all your words are worth reading.

Thank you. (I hope that's not too brief.)

 

[AtramentousFlux]

Forgot to include:

Watched this one last night again. I think it's up there with the original.

 

[Prairie_Dog]

A re-watch of:

The original is OK and stands up still, imo.

This one is just not really very good.

An improvement on No. 2, I think. Not terrible at all.

Just OK. Some attempts at humour that didn't work for me. But not terrible either.

Not sure yet if I'll bother with:

Don’t forget Prey, which I thought was the best Predator movie since the original…

 

[Westy]

I watched The Substance - a really well done, original and memorable horror movie addressing body image themes. I thought the only downside was the ending. Not for the squeamish!

 

[Hobbit]

I watched The Substance - a really well done, original and memorable horror movie addressing body image themes. I thought the only downside was the ending. Not for the squeamish!

On my list to watch!

Here I watched Flow. Wallace and Gromit deserved that BAFTA, but this is a wonderful movie that I'm not ashamed to say made me quite emotional. No dialogue, five-and-a-half years to make, for a miniscule budget of £3.5m. For anyone who has love/d animals, who knows the bond. And produced for a fraction of some of these blockbusters. Taking on Studio Ghibli.

 

[Hobbit]

And tonight it was Renfield (2023); Nicholas Hoult is great, and Nicolas Cage just seems to get better and better. Can be genuinely creepy when necessary. Not too deep, and very violent, but definitely watchable.

 

[Randy M.]

My MGM+ weekend with the Naomi(e)s ...

Smile 2 (2024) dir. Parker Finn; starring Naomi Scott, Rosemarie Dewitt

Sequel with the usual horror movie sequel problem of how to keep the premise fresh: The premise is that there is a demon/alien/something that transfers from person to person, that this something drains you while playing with your mind, bringing your fears to the forefront so you don't know what's real and what is your imagination. I'm not sure they entirely succeed but, on the other hand, the performances by Scott and Dewitt go a long way to keeping the movie watchable. Scott is a pop star singer/dancer driven by a stage-mother, warped by an accident that killed her fiance and left her with an injury to her back, and struggling with addiction. Where the attempt at pop music in so many movies is weak, in this movie the music struck me as quite good, with a darkness that fits the situation.

As an aside, there are moments in the film when an angle or a facial expression makes Scott look like the incarnation of Sarah Michelle Gellar, and she gives the role a Gellar-like intensity.


The Wasp (2024) dir. Guillem Morales; starring Naomie Harris, Natalie Dormer

If you don't know it going in, by about mid-way you'll figure out this is based on a play as much of the action takes place in the living room of an upper middle-class household while Heather (Harris) and Carla (Dormer) plot the murder of Heather's cheating, abusive husband. Heather and Carla knew each other in school, had even been friends for awhile, but were from economically different homes. Carla is now pregnant and working a check out in a grocery store; her and her husband have constant money troubles so she supplements by turning the occasional trick. Heather remembers Carla's toughness and even ruthlessness from school and offers her 50K pounds. And, of course, there's more to it than all that.

From what I've seen of them -- not a lot, admittedly -- Harris and Dormer are two of the more interesting actresses of their generation, and they are riveting in this. Maybe not the best thriller you'll ever see, but once they are in the house plotting, their performances make the time fly by. Harris portrays fragility expertly, and Dormer shows a toughness and determination that reminds me at times of of noir favorite, Gloria Grahame (not the first time for that).

 

[Ubergeek]

And tonight it was Renfield (2023); Nicholas Hoult is great, and Nicolas Cage just seems to get better and better. Can be genuinely creepy when necessary. Not too deep, and very violent, but definitely watchable.

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Hobbit , really enjoyed that in the cinema .. Only wish Cage had " chewed the scenery " more vigorously and camped it up a bit more ! Will defo watch again .

 

[Hobbit]

Hobbit , really enjoyed that in the cinema .. Only wish Cage had " chewed the scenery " more vigorously and camped it up a bit more ! Will defo watch again .

Oh, he definitely did! But there was more to it, I was surprised to see.

A slightly different film for me this evening! A musical described as "a non-musical musical" (I'm not usually a fan of musicals!), which I quite liked. Saw it in the 1980's and was pretty unimpressed, but in this 4K version I'm quite impressed. It's been reedited and looks great, wonderful cast (how underrated is Teri Garr?) and although not perfect - the story is definitely uneven - I liked it a lot. there's some odd lurches in tone and mood, but it is definitely better than I remembered it. Think my original feelings were because I saw it after Apocalypse Now, and "it's a musical!" Perhaps I was just too young to appreciate it before. Can see its influence on things like La La Land.