The Official Last Movie You Saw Thread (Part 2)

[Joneslab]

The Staircase.

This is the next in what's becoming a long line of true crime television series. This one, produced by Netflix, is interesting in that most of this is actually an old movie. It was released a few years back; I actually rented it from our Blockbuster store in 2010 or so. It details the death of Kathleen Peterson in 2001 and whether or not her fall was an accident or if she was beaten on the staircase by her husband, novelist and professor Michael Peterson.

The series can be tedious. It's similar to Making a Murderer in that the filmmaker was privy to a lot of information, but much of that information is pretty technical. There are long sections in this where you just see the family reminiscing and talking about their next legal strategy. But when the twists and turns do come, they're pretty spectacular.

The last three or four episodes of the series focus on new information put together after the original documentary was released. Much of this new stuff focuses on Michael Peterson's continuing appeals and how those turn out, and also on his family, who mainly sticks beside him through the ordeal. The most interesting part of this is Peterson's family and how they have both been tortured by tragedy and yet have remained by their father's side, even as more and more evidence comes out against him.

Recommended for true crime buffs, but an edge-of-your-seat thrillride this isn't.

[Joneslab]

Set it Up.

My wife's pick. It's a rom-com from Netflix that was just released. Taye Diggs and Lucy Liu co-star as hard-ass bosses who sort of Devil Wears Prada their young assistants into doing their bidding. Many shenanigans ensue and the movie moves in a predictable way, but there are a few scenes that give you some feels along the way, and the two leads are very likeable.

Recommended if you like rom-coms...BUT I will say this: this movie has a weird tone. It definitely knows its audience: female, progressive, mostly urban, etc. The tone thing comes in with how the movie chooses to deal with Lucy Liu's character, and I was a little taken aback by how the film ended. I didn't feel any resentment and I'm not going to go out and protest or anything, but the movie seems to cut Liu's character a lot of slack while it gleefully ruins Diggs'. I found that to be a very interesting political choice, and it probably speaks to my age and how different younger people feel about women's roles in the workplace nowadays.

Anyway, just thought I'd point that out because it struck me pretty hard in the last five minutes of the film.

[TrueblueCATfan]

Jurrasic World Fallen Kingdom......pretty good but not as good as the first one

[40bill]

Lol....granddaughter visiting. Incredibles 2.
havent had as much just plain fun at a movie in a long long time. Would definitely see again. Some messages in there for those that want to think about things, but plenty of smiles, chuckles and laugh out loud shots for folks like me.
Entertainment with amazing animation.

[KevinHall]

We went to see Won't you be my Neighbor. This is a documentary about Fred "Mister" Rogers. If you like documentaries you will certainly like this one. This was extremely well done. It was not done in a cheesy or hokie way. This examines his entire life and his influence on children from the late 60's until the early 2000's. He took head on tough issues to talk about to children. In his first week on the air in 1968 he took on the Viet Nam War by using his puppets. Also took on other issues like divorce,death and accepting others for what they are. I think Rogers was a genius in how handled all of these things with children. He did with kindness and compassion. Something very lacking in today's society. He died at 73. Some one like him deserved to live to about 90. If he had lived that long he may still be with us. Someone we could certainly use in these volatile times. I highly recommend if you like documentary's. It has not had a very wide release but I think it is beginning to be in more and more theatres.

[KCKUKFan]

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom -- entertaining popcorn film, but pretty braindead (like the three other sequels). Check it out if you're a fan of the franchise, but it's not exactly must-see stuff.

[Joneslab]

Game Night.

I loved almost every shot of this. A mash-up of comedy, action, and thriller, this works as a reboot of the 1980s hit Clue and also as a wickedly funny, hellaciously well-made whodunit that genuinely keeps you guessing. The cast is great--I really loved the always-solid Jesse Plemons--and the humming script makes this thing fly by. It's a smooth hour and forty minutes long, but it could've gone thirty minutes more and I wouldn't have complained. Usually it's the opposite in Hollywood, with these bloated movies rolling in at two hours or more. This movie is so good it leaves you wanting a sequel.

One of the best things I've seen this year. If you're looking for something that'll make you laugh and keep you on the edge of your seat, you can't beat this little gem. Highest recommendation.

[KCKUKFan]

Jesse Plemons was hysterical in "Game Night." It was a good movie in general, but the screen lit up every time he made an appearance.

[Joneslab]

Unsane.

Take everything you're afraid of and throw it into a blender. Enclosed spaces, weird hospitals, being accused of something you didn't do, crazy people, doctors, insurance companies, bureaucracies, having someone tell you you're crazy when you're not, stalkers. Just throw it all in there and you'll come out with this movie. Unsane is the story of a woman who may or may not be the victim of a stalker and who may or may not get committed to the world's crappiest mental hospital where the stalker is posing as an orderly. The film is interesting in its own way, but it doesn't really have that "what's real/what's fake" dichotomy down, nor is it as scary as it should be. There are about four really great scenes in this including a tremendous little scenelet shot in the trunk of a car, and Joshua Leonard as the bad guy is tremendous, but it's a little bit too...I don't know. Too something. It just doesn't work as well as it should, in part because the movie cuts a lot of corners in terms of plausibility.

Decent Hitchockian suspense, but watch it for free.

[KCKUKFan]

Unsane.

Take everything you're afraid of and throw it into a blender. Enclosed spaces, weird hospitals, being accused of something you didn't do, crazy people, doctors, insurance companies, bureaucracies, having someone tell you you're crazy when you're not, stalkers. Just throw it all in there and you'll come out with this movie. Unsane is the story of a woman who may or may not be the victim of a stalker and who may or may not get committed to the world's crappiest mental hospital where the stalker is posing as an orderly. The film is interesting in its own way, but it doesn't really have that "what's real/what's fake" dichotomy down, nor is it as scary as it should be. There are about four really great scenes in this including a tremendous little scenelet shot in the trunk of a car, and Joshua Leonard as the bad guy is tremendous, but it's a little bit too...I don't know. Too something. It just doesn't work as well as it should, in part because the movie cuts a lot of corners in terms of plausibility.

Decent Hitchockian suspense, but watch it for free.

I liked "Unsane," but I forgot about it nearly immediately after I watched it. The iPhone gimmick wasn't nearly as annoying as I expected.

These days, I get the feeling that Steven Soderbergh is more interested in the breaking of new technology behind films rather than actually making good films. He's been the master of making expertly-made, but ultimately forgettable middle-of-the-road fare (Logan Lucky, Girlfriend Experience, Che, Side Effects, Contagion, Haywire, The Informant!).

I heard his TV show "The Knick" was awesome, but I haven't seen it yet. His early 2000s run was fantastic -- Erin Brockovich, Ocean's Eleven, Traffic, Sex Lies & Videotape, Out Of Sight.

[Catatonic]

it's a little bit too...I don't know. Too something. It just doesn't work as well as it should, in part because the movie cuts a lot of corners in terms of plausibility.

I feel like this could apply to just about any Soderbergh movie. For me, Oceans Eleven and The Informant are the only times he's really elevated his material to greatness. His career is a lot of average material executed adequately.

[KCKUKFan]

I feel like this could apply to just about any Soderbergh movie. For me, Oceans Eleven and The Informant are the only times he's really elevated his material to greatness. His career is a lot of average material executed adequately.

"Traffic" is his best movie, and the one time he's made a truly masterful film.

[Catatonic]

"Traffic" is his best movie, and the one time he's made a truly masterful film.

I hope not. I think Traffic was the first of the early 2000's "everyone-is-connected, maaan" message movie subgenre. Not nearly as dumb as Crash, but still did that annoying thing of trying to pass off 'grittiness' as realism, when it's all laughably convoluted and stupid.

[Blue Heaven]

The Making of The Thing

Fantastic documentary on one of my favorite movies of all time. This movie is 36 years old and still holds up extremely well. I was 12 when it came out and I immediately fell in love with it. A masterpiece of sci-fi horror, it was universally crapped on by just about every critic but went on to cult status as the years went by. This documentary features interviews with the cast and crew, goes into depth about the set pieces and special effects, and reveals the hardship of the actors starving for work after the release because the movie was so hated. You can find this on youtube. If you are a fan of this film you will enjoy it. Highly recommended.

[TrueblueCATfan]

Skyscraper......we love Dwayne THE ROCK Johnson.....pretty decent movie