What Did You Watch Today? 2024 edition

[LittleDaniel]

When I was in Utah for work, I noticed Book of Mormon would be in town soon. I didn't know much about the musical, had heard a couple songs and they were pretty good, so I figured I'd go. And yeah, I avoided this show for a reason: I hate South Park. Fuck, so much of the writing between the songs was so lazy. So many jokes boiled down to "Ugandan person can't pronounce English words," "American can't pronounce Ugandan's name," "African person has AIDs," "the closeted man does a feminine thing", and on and on for two and half hours. That and all the pop culture references that are just so boring. And almost everyone was a caricature with no inner life. At least with the Mormons that's purposeful, there's a whole musical number about "turning off" the bad thoughts in your head. But then what's the excuse for the rest of the cast?

[GhostMachine]

Actually watched last night:

Roadhouse (2024), on Prime.

It is not really a remake of the Patrick Swayze classic at all. The main character is named Dalton, and it takes place at a roadhouse. That's about all it has in common. No "Be nice. Until its time to not be nice" speach. No "Its my way or the highway". How he gets the job is different, the roadhouse is in Florida instead of Missouri, and Dalton has a bit of a backstory (former UFC fighter). And he likes fighting a bit too much. The only reason to watch it is if you're a big Jake Gyllenhaal fan or want to see him fight Conor McGregor, who plays the main bad guy's top thug. 

Otherwise, skip it.

[King Ellis]

Just been to a screening of Seize Them! which is a very British movie. You've got Nick Frost amongst the main characters, Jessica Hynes is in there, Paul Kaye in a minor role and even down the guy who played Martin in Game On back in the 90's. It's about a Queen who gets overthrown but goes on the run with one of her servants and another commoner along the way so it's got this medieval type road trip vibe to it.

For a comedy, it didn't get too much in the way of laughs from me or the audience in general so that's probably not the best sign. It's perhaps not in my wheelhouse though as it went a lot for that sort of 'lingering on a joke until it's worn out and then keep going a bit more' thing which I'm not much into. Most of the laughs that were there came from Nick Frost's characters and he did a good job in general, he plays that sort of loveable oaf well so that was a good casting choice.

[Colly]

I saw the trailer for it and my immediate thought was "I'll watch that on telly at some point". Appreciate I should probably be good and support British comedy films in the cinema, but when pretty much the entire cast are in good things on tv now it feels a bit much to pay cinema prices (this is very much my "AEW TV is good so it makes me not bothered to pay the PPV cost" cheapness). Contrast that to Wonka which wrapped up some brilliant comic actors (seriously, 4 from Peep Show, 3 Ghosts and Bob Fossil) in a lovely Hollywood production and was amazing.

Just love the fact Paul King's IMDB "known for" is Wonka, 2 Paddington's, and The Mighty Boosh. That's Iannucci standard flag flying.

[GhostMachine]

Getting ready to go see GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE.

[White Castle of Fear]

Watched The Long Good Friday (1980) for the first time, as it's on Amazon Prime. Really enjoyed it, liked the incidental plot points that are explained later in the film, the cinematography including beautiful shots of London at the time, the soundtrack. Bob Hoskins' character is both highly comic and tragic, supported by Helen Mirren, Paul Freeman, and a 25 year old Pierce Brosnan.

[GhostMachine]

GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE - a few spoilers, but nothing super-major:

Spoiler

This one is more Kong-centric, so perhaps it should have been Kong X Godzilla. Godzilla and Kong do not have much screen time together until near the end of the movie. 

My one gripe - this *IS* a major spoiler:

Spoiler

You know how Godzilla would have ended Kong real fast if not for the axe in the previous movie? Well, Scar King has a whip that also lets it control another Titan, and I think Kong could have defeated Skar King on his own if not for the whip.

Hope there's NOT a third movie until after Godzilla has another one without Kong.

[Colly]

Finally watched Cape Fear, but spent most of it realising I've seen it via the Simpsons. Absurdly tense film though, needed Sideshow Bob as a palate cleanser afterwards.

[ThrillhouseMAX]

I saw Civil War today. I thought it was a great movie. Very tense film, and the second half of the movie becomes very intense towards the end. I would definitely recommend it.