What Was the Last Movie You Watched?

Last night I watched The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, despite Robin Williams starring it was 84 minutes I won't get back. đŸ«€
 

@Pepper I saw Anora in the theater when it opened. Loved it and especially Mikey Madison. I was surprised but happy that it and she won Academy awards.

Also, you are the first person I've ever heard say anything at all negative about Robin W. I wasn't mad for him, sometimes he was much too manic, but there were movies of his I thoroughly enjoyed--like The Birdcage.
 

Pepper said:
Anora. On Hulu. Over 2hrs, 20min. which went by quickly. I was never bored. Not sure if I liked movie or not. @ChiroDoc did you see it? What is your opinion? As you people know I am having trouble with speaking and writing so I'm sorry I can't give a more in depth view.
I'm not sorry I saw it so that must be a plus.
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Here's my take on it, Pepper:

Anora (2024)

My wife left the room after 15 minutes. With use of a few fast forwards I lasted nearly 30 minutes before bailing. If you’re a fan of pornography you might be entertained by this film.

The story is basic bare bones, figuratively and literally. They’ve taken a routine drama about a well worn premise, and in their attempt to make it meaningful, have filled it with stereophonic, near psychedelic sex and razzmatazz That might make for good cinema, but it results in a questionable movie. It should have drawn an NC-17 rating.

The wild ‘n crazy son of a Russian oligarch comes to New York City to attend school, but mostly parties wildly instead. He connects with a prostitute at a strip club, and they proceed to have a fling which results in an impulsive marriage. His parents want it annulled, so they come to NYC to facilitate that, eventually having the marriage dissolved, and return the son to Russia. Supposedly there is an artsy ending. That’s about it.

In fairness, reportedly the story changes tone in the middle, so in that way the story may then gain appeal. The acting from the principals, especially by Mark Eydelshteyn and also Mikey Madison, is first rate. Perhaps some day, the disgust from the film’s first 30 minutes having worn off, a viewing from mid-film on might change my opinion. But as a friend of mine used to say, “Sometimes it’s not worth getting into the bulls**t to see what the bull ate.”

That this is Hollywood’s notion of the best picture of the year is emblematic of the industry’s steady slide into Sodom and Gomorrah, into Hieronymus Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights”. Still, there have been a few signs that the SoCal fantasy swamp might be starting to arise from the muck, but it’ll have to be seen to be believed.
 
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Fly Me to the Moon (2024)

The chief draw of this rom/com set in 1969 is the good looks and star power of its lead actors, Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum. And while they have a measure of chemistry, Tatum does not have the acting talent to carry any scenes which require dramatic heft. Still, it’s a rom/com throwback to the way they used to make ‘em --boy meets girl, there’s a slow attraction, then a stumble, then they unite at the end-- so we’re not expecting Shakespeare.

The time period centers on the build up to the 1969 Apollo 11 rocket launch-- putting the first astronauts on the moon. That’s not new material, but the twist here is that a Hollywood publicist and director are hired to produce a fake landing in a studio in case the real life landing fails. A shadowy figure, nicely played by Woody Harrelson, is tasked by the President to make sure the ruse is realistic. Several detours occur, but in the end it all works out, as we knew it would.

It’s light-hearted and watchable entertainment, which provides us a nice alternative to the usual fare.

Doc’s rating: 5/10
 
Marcy Sheiner said:
@Pepper I saw Anora in the theater when it opened. Loved it and especially Mikey Madison. I was surprised but happy that it and she won Academy awards.

Also, you are the first person I've ever heard say anything at all negative about Robin W. I wasn't mad for him, sometimes he was much too manic, but there were movies of his I thoroughly enjoyed--like The Birdcage.
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Thank you for the reminder about, The Birdcage. I loved that movie and, now you've mentioned it, would like to find it and watch again. :)
 
Marcy Sheiner said:
@ChiroDoc About a year ago there was an Elaine May festival at Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. It was a rare opportunity to re-see her film A New Leaf, with her and Walter Matthau. It was as hilarious and heart warming as I remembered it being.
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It's been years since I've seen that, so I'm due for a re-watch. Elaine May is a comic genius. I think though she ran into some troubles with her subsequent films. She was a riot in standup-- both with Mike Nichols and later with some of her routines and speeches. For example here is May's hilarious salute to Mike Nichols at his 2010 AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony:

May's daughter, Jeannie Berlin, is a great actress in her own right-- excelling, perhaps ironically, in straight dramatic roles.
 
ChiroDoc said:
It's been years since I've seen that, so I'm due for a re-watch. Elaine May is a comic genius. I think though she ran into some troubles with her subsequent films. She was a riot in standup-- both with Mike Nichols and later with some of her routines and speeches. For example here is May's hilarious salute to Mike Nichols at his 2010 AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony:

May's daughter, Jeannie Berlin, is a great actress in her own right-- excelling, perhaps ironically, in straight dramatic roles.
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Thanks for posting that video--LMAO. I completely concur that she is a comedic genius. Did you see her in that Woody Allen movie where she played a cousin?or old friend? of his. She was so funny, and one reviewer said something like she "put the movie in her pocket and walked away with it." Also, she directed Ishtar, which I thought was one of the funniest films I'd ever seen--but then when they all started saying it was THE very worst film ever made, I wondered about myself, so many years later I watched it again...and STILL thought it was hilarious.

I don't think I knew Jeannie Berlin was her daughter. Is that the actress who was in The Firm?
 
Marcy Sheiner said:
@ChiroDoc About a year ago there was an Elaine May festival at Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. It was a rare opportunity to re-see her film A New Leaf, with her and Walter Matthau. It was as hilarious and heart warming as I remembered it being.
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I recently saw that movie - I think on Hoopla or Kanopy. Enjoyed it immensely as I quite like both May and Matthau.

If you've never seen, "Hopscotch" with Matthau, you've missed a great movie.
 
Marcy Sheiner said:
Thanks for posting that video--LMAO. I completely concur that she is a comedic genius. Did you see her in that Woody Allen movie where she played a cousin?or old friend? of his. She was so funny, and one reviewer said something like she "put the movie in her pocket and walked away with it." Also, she directed Ishtar, which I thought was one of the funniest films I'd ever seen--but then when they all started saying it was THE very worst film ever made, I wondered about myself, so many years later I watched it again...and STILL thought it was hilarious.

I don't think I knew Jeannie Berlin was her daughter. Is that the actress who was in The Firm?
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Yes, Elaine May starred in the Woody Allen movie Small Town Crooks (2000). She was very good. Coincidentally her daughter, Jeannie Berlin was in another Allen movie, Cafe Society (2016) which was also good. Another coincidence: Jeannie is only 16 years younger than Elaine.

I don't believe Jeannie was in The Firm, but she's been in some good stuff including the series The Night Of (2016). More recently she was in the series Succession and The Hunters. She generally plays serious roles, where she is very believable.
 
Hopscotch is now on my list. My lists! I never seem to get to them, bc I'm always caught up in tv shows.

@ChiroDoc, I looked up Jeannie Berlin and you're right, she wasn't in The Firm. That was a different Jeannie.And I somehow can't picture her in Cafe Society either.

So Elaine had a baby at 16? That's interesting I was 18 with my first, and think of it as way too young.
 
Marcy Sheiner said:
@ChiroDoc, I looked up Jeannie Berlin and you're right, she wasn't in The Firm. That was a different Jeannie.And I somehow can't picture her in Cafe Society either.

So Elaine had a baby at 16? That's interesting I was 18 with my first, and think of it as way too young.
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Yes, she had Jeannie in 1949 after she married Marvin May. Interestingly Jeannie became a dead ringer for her mother.
 

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