2501

I saw All Quiet on the Western Front (2022).

This movie is pretty good.

I saw the English dubbed version, where the German language is replaced with English.

Strangely the French language is still in French, so you need to enable the English subtitles if you don't know French.

The acting is very good.

The music is fitting for an anti-war film.

The problem that I have is that there are stretches that seem like random WW1 scene followed by random WW1 scene followed by random WW1 scene.

There isn't a whole lot of cohesion for parts of the movie.

The film does look extremely realistic, and the movie's violence looks very real.

I mean, WW1 was way before my time, and I never served in the military, but I've seen my share of war movies and this is one of the most realistic looking.

Overall the movie is reasonably entertaining, but if it had a more cohesive plot, I would like it more.

2502

I saw Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022).

This movie is just okay.

The acting is incredible.

The music is excellent.

Despite being a Stephen King story, and being advertised as horror, it is not a horror movie.

It's a drama.

The plot is not satisfying.

The whole movie seems kinda pointless.

But at least the acting is top notch--among the best for a Stephen King movie.

2503

I saw Let the Right One In (2008).

This movie is in Swedish.

The English version is Let Me In (2010).

I saw that one years ago.

The 2008 movie is pretty good.

The acting is good.

The music is excellent.

The movie is kinda slow, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

If the plot had more meat to it, I would have liked the movie even more.

I don't remember how much I liked the English version, so I don't know if the Swedish version is better or not.

If I remember correctly, both movies have the exact same plot.

They're just in different languages.

2504

2008 is light years ahead. 2010 is just cheap counterfeit.

2505

I just watched Little Women (2019). Had never seen Saoirse Ronan’s acting, she’s good. The entire cast overall was very fun.

2506

Hellraiser 2022 - what a messed up movie lol

2507

Watched a prime video “The Aeronauts ”
Supposedly based on real events.
Really captivating action.
Some bogusity. Like not having winter alpine clothing when heading higher than the Matterhorn.
Still worth it.
All the Best,
Jeff

2508

Watched “Thirteen Lives”
Ron Howard can sure enough direct a thriller - even if you already know the ending.
If you are even mildly claustrophobic -
Just run away…
All the Best,
Jeff

2509

Hmm I might check that out. Looks interesting

2510

And just happened to find an interview with the real divers.

2511

Violent Night (2022)

I thought this movie might just be John Wick: Santa Claus Edition. I was pleasantly surprised that it very much felt like its own thing. It also genuinely feels like a Christmas movie. Of course the movie does share some similarities with Die Hard but it never felt like plagiarism and I only thought about it once due to an intentional visual reference.

There was a surprising amount of gore in this movie—more than anything I’ve seen in recent memory except maybe the over-the-top Psycho Goreman. I think this movie is a “harder R” than any of the Wick movies.

So was it good? I think it was a fun ride in the theater. It generated lots of laughter even from a sparse weekday audience. However, I’m not sure how it will hold up to repeat viewings. I think the moments of gore will be significantly less shocking or funny if you know they are coming. (Yes, I said funny. It’s that kind of movie)

For a first viewing with friends I’d give it a 7.5/10. For future viewings, I could imagine it dropping to a 5.5/10 but the only way I’ll know for sure is to see it again next year.

2512

Bullet train…great movie

2513

I just watched this as well. It was very entertaining, I liked it a lot. To me it sort of had a Guy Ritchie feel to it.

2514

Star Wars Episode 1 was the last film I watched. It is a shame Darth Maul didn’t become the villian for Ep 2 &3.

2515

Rudolph baby! Followed by the original Grinch cartoon

2516

I saw Clerks III (2022).

This movie is sorta okay.

It's terribly uneven.

Some parts are quite entertaining, and are really funny.

But there are long stretches that are terribly boring.

Not all of the movie is new material.

A lot of it is from previous Kevin Smith movies.

The acting is mostly not very good.

I did like the music, however.

2517

Kevin Smith cried when watching it.

2518

Cyrano. This is the 2021 adaptation with Peter Dinklage. This is a “musical” version. I quoted it because it’s really a semi-musical. There are singing bits but well more than half of the acting is without singing. Acting quality is good. However, this adaptation is quite different than other ones I’ve seen. You don’t know it until you’re well into the 2nd half that this is going to be dark. It ends on a very sad note. I very rarely get teary eyed with heart wrenching movies, but this one did it. Of course, you have to take a vested interest in it. Someone casually watching and interleaving texting or social media interactions while watching isn’t going to be vested.

“”Good Night Oppy”:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Night_Oppy.” This is a documentary, but filmed and directed by very talented people. Spielberg and Lucas resources participated. It’s all about the first two Mars rover missions that launched in the early 2000’s. It’s very well done. If you haven’t read up much on these missions (Spirit and Opportunity), this is a good resource to become acclimated. I already knew a bit about the missions but learned a lot more. I couldn’t say that I hit any boring spots. I was interested all the way through. It’s really remarkable what NASA achieved. Imagine… 90 days was the original expectation of mission duration on the surface of Mars. BOTH rovers far exceeded that, well beyond expectations. They did face interesting challenges too, overcoming most.

2519

Another vote for “Good Night Oppy”
Very well done. Mrs. Jeff and I got misty eyed at the end.
I know NASA put the 90 day expected life as an ultra conservative EOL. So they could show they exceeded expectations. - See We didn’t waste the budget…
But what they actually achieved - Remarkable!

Cyrano turned out darker than expected. Only movie version that ended up like that. Usually played as part comedy. Don’t know if the original story so sad.
All the Best,
Jeff

2520

I agree, they were very conservative. But really, with the Mars weather elements as unpredictable as they are, it was a smart thing to do. As we’re shown, Spirit bit the dust first due to… dust. I hadn’t known it would be that much of a problem, but it makes sense. Frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t build in some sort of self-cleaning system. Heck, they couldn’t even make the solar panels tilt enough for dust & debris to slide off. I imagine much of it is so fine and silty, electrostatic charges would make it easy to adhere. Opportunity just died of old age and then that last storm put the nail in the coffin. And perhaps the batteries had decayed enough that the solar recharging couldn’t get them juiced up enough. I hope the next rover mission has tackled this dust accumulation problem to help ensure plenty of power. I imagine the weight constraints make it impossible to provide a backup set of battery cells to wait in standby if the primary bank starts to show decay or fault.

I’ve seen the play (Kevin Kline, Jennifer Garner) and a different movie version, as well as Steve Martin’s comedic interpretation (Roxanne). I’d never seen the story depicted this darkly. It was quite a surprise. Still, a great piece of work. You just have to set expectations!