Movies You've Seen Recently | January 2020

[Divius]

> MOVIE OF THE YEAR VOTING THREAD <

Welcome
Hello and welcome to the monthly Movies You've Seen Recently thread. The place to hang out with fellow movie lovers!

Thread rules
1. Be nice, be civil, use common sense
2. Respect the opinions of other members, no matter how wrong they are
3. Use spoiler tags accordingly
4. Have fun, we're all here because we love movies

DO NOT just post the title of the movie you watched. It isn't conducive to the kind of discussion & communication we want to engender here, because it tells us nothing of you, the movie, the impact of the latter on the former. Post scores, descriptions, essays, poems, gifs, hashtags, whatever provides you the best outlet for personal expression, you unique little digital snowflake. - icarus-daedelus

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Want to introduce yourself?
New to the Movies You've Seen Recently community? Let us know a bit about yourself:
1. What's your favorite Movie?
2. Who's your favorite director?
3. Who are your favorite actors/actresses?
4. Favorite Genre(s)?
5. What's your favorite performance in film?

- Post your top 5 new viewings from the previous month!

Useful external links:
Letterboxd
ICheckMovies
IMDb
Rotten Tomatoes
Metacritic

Also check out the official Film Era discord!

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Flow
BaronOfBarons
Ampersands
daydreamDE
omgkitty
kevin1025
Ridley327
JOKERACN7
Lordxar
ViewtifulJC
Halo 2
Fancyclown
Icolin
Hoju
Carl
Sterling
Mariachi507
Infernostew
Divius
Messofanego
jett
Borgnine
Angmars
Atraveller
Minishdriveby
PuckBeaverton
NoMoreTrolls
Ventilaator
Steamlord
Nexus
KraftyKrankins
S.T.A.R.S Beret
Spectromixer
Rhomega
Catsel
Foolia
Peco
Window
Overcast
ItRhymesWithDoom
ThatWasAJoke
Boogs31
Pachimari
shane632
VileZero
Slader166
More_Badass
MidnightCowboy
demosthenes
Roberto Duran
ASleepingMonkey
ZombAid
Disco
Double
andrew
Cloudwolf
okayfrog
Mi goreng
Rembrandt
Cripplegate
JetSetSoul
Halo 2
retroman
hipsterpants
sotojuan
Zutrax
Allstar
Darkwing-Buck
Ultimadrago
hydruxo
BringBackSonics

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If you want to be added to the list above, shoot me a PM and you'll be added.

Unsure of what to watch? Just ask for recommendations in here. We don't bite!

 

[Divius]

Happy new year everyone!

I've logged 20 entries for films during December 2019

TOP 5 NEW VIEWINGS OF DECEMBER
5. The Nightingale
4. Pain & Glory
3. The Irishman
2. Marriage Story
1. The Lighthouse

MOST VALUABLE REWATCHES OF DECEMBER
None

WORST NEW VIEWINGS OF DECEMBER
None, really. 6 Underground and Zombieland: Double Tap were stupid but kind of fun.

 

[Teenage Fansub]

Saw 29 movies in December. There was a 24hr movie marathon there which helped.

Top new December viewings (no order):
Mid90's
The Dirties
Blue Collar
Day of the Jackal
Happy New Year, Colin Burstead

Stinkers:
Hellboy 2019
Guns Akimbo

 

[Zousi]

26 movies in December. Top 5 new viewings:

1. Small Change (1976)
2. Dragged Across Concrete (2018)
3. Hard to Be a God (2013)
4. The Quiet Man (1952)
5. Eighth Grade (2018)

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Here's to another fine year of watching movies

 

[Flow]

Cheers

 

[Bigwombat]

3. Hotel Artemis--last night
2. Star Wars Rise of Skywalker
1. Parasite-didn't know anything going in. Very good and unexpected!
5. John Wick 3-more of the same
4. Prince of Darkness-love Carpenter

Happy new year! Hope everyone gets over their hang over. Gotta go to work soon.

 

[Paper Wario]

Can't recall how many movies I watched in December but here are my top-5 new viewings:

1. Little Women (2019)
2. Uncut Gems
3. The Lighthouse
4. Knives Out
5. Ready or Not

Have a few movies on the docket for today. Ready to get to a few from 2019 that I missed.

 

[shaneo632]

Surprisingly not hungover so gonna go check out the new Guy Ritchie film later.

 

[thenexus6]

2018 I clocked in at 237 films. 2019 upon counting was 275 so some nice progress there.

Looking through my list from the year, my favourite first time watches were as follows. Didn't see that many 2019 releases.

The Fortress
The Long Goodbye
Brigsby Bear
One Cut of the Dead
Burning
Into the Spider-verse
The Fugitive
The Shawshank Redemption
A Bridge too Far
Ode to my Father
The Breakfast Club
Misery
After Life
The Farewell
The Towering Inferno
Arlington Road
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
Parasite

Started off the year / decade with one of my favourites by rewatching Zatoichi from Takeshi Kitano. Rad film and great soundtrack.

 

[Messofanego]

Saw Parasite last night with my wife at Picturehouse Central as an early screening cause it's out in Feb in UK. We both loved it. The dark comedy and tragedy of this class warfare thriller were excellent, along with the cinematography and acting. Song Kang-ho is great in anything, no wonder the two powerhouse Korean directors, Bong Joon-ho and Chan-wook Park, put him in most of their films.

 

[luca]

Only did 4 movies in December.

Top New Viewings
1. The Master
2. Frozen II
3. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Top Rewatches
1. The Lighthouse

Not sure what I'll watch this month.

 

[Deleted member 6769]

19 for me in December. Rewatching all the main Star Wars movies helped bump that number up. Pretty good month overall!

Best New Watches:
1. Little Women
2. Millennium Actress
3. Marriage Story
4. Mean Streets
5. The Farewell
Honorable Mentions: The Edge of Seventeen

Best Rewatches:
1. Carol
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
4. Rushmore
5. The Empire Strikes Back

Worst Watches:
1. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (rewatch)
2. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (rewatch)
3. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
4. Cold War
5. Return of the Jedi (rewatch)

Looking forward to more great stuff in 2020 and discovering more classics.

 

[Blader]

Pretty good month, other than the mixed mood I had coming out of Star Wars.

Top 5 New Watches of December
1. Marriage Story
2. The Report
3. Little Women
4. The Lighthouse
5. Monty Python's The Meaning of Life

Best Rewatches
It's a Wonderful Life
Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy

 

[More_Badass]

Best New Watches of December

1. Uncut Gems
2. Fresh
3. Dial Code Santa Claus
4. Killer Constable
5. The Tale of Zatoichi
6. Eastern Condors
7. Blast of Silence
8. Knockabout
9. Diabolique

Best Rewatches
- Chocolate
- Good Time
- The Long Kiss Goodnight
- Midsommar

Worst Watches
- Ichi The Killer
- 6 Underground

 

[andrew]

1) Little Women (2019)
2) Big Night
3) Knives Out
4) Goldfinger
5) Son of Saul
6) The Report
7) Overlord

Best rewatch: True Grit (2010)

 

[hydruxo]

Pretty good month overall. I saw Uncut Gems yesterday and it instantly became my favorite film of 2019. Stressful as hell but I loved every second of it. Would've loved to catch Parasite last month but it never came to any theaters close enough to me. I'll unfortunately have to wait for the blu-ray I think.

Top 5 New Watches of December
1) Uncut Gems
2) Knives Out
3) Train To Busan
4) Marriage Story
5) Inside Out

Worst Watch of December:
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

 

[Ridley327]

Lordy lordy, box sets for Fellini, Wong Kar Wai, Varda and Bruce Lee.

 

[Deleted member 49179]

Lordy lordy, box sets for Fellini, Wong Kar Wai, Varda and Bruce Lee.

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A Wong Kar-wai box set?

 

[Ridley327]

The WKW box set has been their worst kept secret for at least two years, but a 2020 release with the rest of those is thrilling news.

 

[hydruxo]

Lordy lordy, box sets for Fellini, Wong Kar Wai, Varda and Bruce Lee.

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Me running to pick up the WKW box set the day it drops:

 

[andrew]

I'm not getting the Varda one at all.

Bruce Lee boxset is great news, didn't know that one was coming.

 

[Ridley327]

I'm not getting the Varda one at all.

Bruce Lee boxset is great news, didn't know that one was coming.

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It's a box On Yes (the French pronunciation of Agnes sounds like that).

 

[Borgnine]

Bruce Lee was never even in a good movie.

 

[Paper Wario]

1) Little Women (2019)
2) Big Night
3) Knives Out
4) Goldfinger
5) Son of Saul
6) The Report
7) Overlord

Best rewatch: True Grit (2010)

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With every rewatch I appreciate True Grit more and more. It's up there as one of my favorite Corn Brothers films

 

[Sean C.]

212 films logged for 2019, 23 of those in December.

Top 5 new films
1. Little Women (2019)
2. Parasite (2019)
3. Three on a Match (1932)
4. Black Legion (1937)
5. Water Lilies (2007)

Top 5 rewatches
1. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
2. The Handmaiden (2016)
3. Inside Out (2015)
4. Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)
5. Booksmart (2019)

Booksmart (2019): Technically, this was my last film of 2019, because what better way to spend an evening quietly at home than watching a movie about people who normally also do that go out partying? While this isn't the best comedy of the 2010s, I think it is the best comedy done in the style of a mainstream studio comedy. So many great jokes, and Olivia Wilde somewhat unexpectedly turns out to have great visual style; the pool sequence really took the film to the next level for me.

 

[coma]

Ended up watching 192 movies in 2019. The highlights that I saw for the first time were probably: The End of Evangelion, The Elephant Man, Stalker, The Conversation, and The French Connection.

Hopefully can break 200 this year.

 

[Ridley327]

Bruce Lee was never even in a good movie.

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Good movies aren't necessarily important films, which Bruce was certainly a part of. There's a ton of historical value to his films, even if I myself would say that they were outclassed by other martial arts films of that era.

 

[lazybones18]

Tentative Top 10 of 2019 (still need to see 1917 and Weathering With You this month)

1a) Avengers: Endgame
1b) Marriage Story
2) Parasite
3) Uncut Gems
4) Booksmart
5) Promare
6) Knives Out
7) The Farewell
8) The Irishman
9) Last Black Man in San Francisco
10) The Report

 

[Psychonaut]

I had 62 first-time viewings last month.

Top Five:

1. The Handmaiden
2. Mistress America
3. The Farewell
4. The Favourite
5. Children of Men

Bottom Five:

1. Mandy
2. Mad Max
3. Good Time
4. The Good Dinosaur
5. The Sting

 

[andrew]

It's a box On Yes (the French pronunciation of Agnes sounds like that).

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Duh of course. I figured it was something french I wasn't getting.

With every rewatch I appreciate True Grit more and more. It's up there as one of my favorite Corn Brothers films

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I still wouldn't put it as a favorite but in the years since I'd last seen it I had slotted it down with Buster Scruggs or Intolerable Cruelty. IT's much better than that.

Good movies aren't necessarily important films, which Bruce was certainly a part of. There's a ton of historical value to his films, even if I myself would say that they were outclassed by other martial arts films of that era.

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plus there're elements criterion can include/restore to make these definitive issues. like maybe they got the rights for all the Pink Floyd songs on the Big Boss soundtrack.

 

[Liquidsnake]

I saw 1917 last night, and I cannot stop thinking about it. Fkn Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins. Simply astonishing. Go out and support this movie. One of the absolute best of the last 12 months.

this is a prime example of what we go to the movies for.

 

[Ridley327]

plus there're elements criterion can include/restore to make these definitive issues. like maybe they got the rights for all the Pink Floyd songs on the Big Boss soundtrack.

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Most importantly, given their relationship with virtually every label, there's an opportunity for essentially the first time ever to offer up a complete collection of his major works in one package. In years past, it'd be unthinkable for WB to give up Enter the Dragon to another label, but I'm feeling pretty darn confident that Criterion found a way.

 

[Deleted member 6769]

Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. - Just Another Girl makes up for its low budget with sheer style, charm, and heart. Ariyan A. Johnson is great in the lead role and really brings the whole thing together. She is charismatic as a boisterous, ambitious, strong high schooler. Her character is headstrong to a fault, which was interesting to watch as her character dealt with increasingly difficult decisions. Too often lead characters in high school movies are written to be a just little too precious and mature beyond their years; luckily, the film's aspirations to tell a grounded, underrepresented story make Johnson's character very believable. Both her and director Leslie Harris made this film a lot more interesting than what I was expecting. I'm glad the Criterion Channel is streaming unsung indie movies like this and boosting their profile. Good stuff.

 

[jett]

My 2019 top ten:

1.- The Irishman
2.- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
3.- Ford V Ferrari
4.- Marriage Story
5.- Monos
6.- The Lighthouse
7.- Uncut Gems
8.- Knives Out
9.- The Two Popes
10.- Parasite

Hoping for good things in 2020

 

[Messofanego]

I saw 1917 last night, and I cannot stop thinking about it. Fkn Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins. Simply astonishing. Go out and support this movie. One of the absolute best of the last 12 months.

this is a prime example of what we go to the movies for.

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Can't wait to see this just to see Roger Deakins shoot fire again.

 

[Rhomega]

Top 5 of December:

1. Knives Out
2. Klaus
3. Meet Me in St. Louis
4. Marriage Story
5. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Year in Review

 

[Net_Wrecker]

Gonna make an effort to actually post and watch more in 2020, seeing how valuable my takes are to the overall discourse of Cinema. I did a disservice to This Industry with my shameful 2019.

Exhibit A: If you don't think Bruce Lee belongs in the collection, you're on high grade Heisenberg meth.

Day 1 for the WKW boxset.

2019 Top 10 coming soon.

Happy New Year, movie thread. Good vibes for everyone.

 

[overcast]

Happy New year, can't wait for movies to once again be.. good.

Lordy lordy, box sets for Fellini, Wong Kar Wai, Varda and Bruce Lee.

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Bruh.

 

[radosiewka]

I think that I've watched enough movies in 2019 (98) and would like to have a similar number in 2020. Maybe this time with more foreign films outside of the US and UK.

The movies that definitely are going to be in my top list of 2019 are (order doesn't matter):

• The Parasite (it's the movie of the year for me)
• Kafarnaum (depressing and an emotional ride through the life of a child, who would rather not be born at all)
• Green Book (some of the movies on this list were released later in Poland than in the US)
• The Favourite (Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz in one movie - for me its enough)
• Marriage Story (the quality and realism of dialogues here took me by surprise, great gem on thr Netflix)
• Knives Out (a masterfully written and acted movie)
• Supernova (debut of Polish director and screenwriter Bartosz Kruhlik, nicely written story about a young politician driving through a small village in Polands countryside and then something happens - can't wait to see more of Kruhliks' movies)
• Ford v Ferrari (it's one of those solid Oscar nominees movies - everything is really good and the history itself is the best part of it all)
• Boże ciało (corpus Christi in English; Polish drama directed by Jan Komasa and official Polish entry for the Best International Feature Film for Oscar's. Daniel is serving his sentence in a youth detention center for second degree murder, but his criminal background prevents him from becoming a priest once he is released. After leaving the youth detention center, he is mistakenly taken as a priest and after that, consequently pretending to be a priest in a small community. Stellar acting and an important statement about religion, false assumptions and hatred towards other people)

There are definitely more great movies that I would recommend and would write it down in another thread about best movies of 2019.

What else did I watch in December? The last movie in 2019 for me was new Star Wars movie and oh boy, I fell so disappointed. It's just a missed opportunity for creators to deliver something great on so many levels. Scenario has so many plotholes, Leia's story makes no sense and the final battle provides less emotions than generic fight of Geralt of Rivia in the Witcher show that I've watched recently. Fortunatelly I've heard very positive opinions about the Mandalorian TV show, so it may be a good way to forget about the movie.

 

[andrew]

Five Easy Pieces

Scattered and leaden at first—I was worried this attempt at a picaresque would persist, and the joys would be intermittent like the traffic scene ending as he's driven away on a flatbed playing piano. Turns out it's Jack Nicholson's Bob/Bobby/Robert who wants it to be a picaresque. He doesn't get his way, Robert never gets his way. Mainly because it isn't clear what his way would be. He's a man too self-loathing to truly confront his own ennui, or to suss out why it is he is so angry all the time.

Nicholson's performance is fine-tuned, diving into meanness and bungeeing up to return to rascality. You hate him when he's needling and hurting Rayette, then love him in the classic chicken salad outburst, and thanks to Nicholson are able to see this as coming from a living breathing person even before his origins are shaded in.

The film comes together once the road trip reaches its destination, the island home a prism focusing Robert's malaise and desire, refracting it in the shifting relationships and alternate lifestyles and dead ends of those passing through the home. His now mute elderly father is a hovering bridge he can never un-burn. Older brother Carl is the ineffectual he never wants to be, somehow dating a beautiful woman in piano student Catherine. And why the hell is Catherine okay living this quiet life up here, dating this dork? Robert understands it when it comes to his sister Pertita/Tita, thinking she doesn't have the constitution to be anywhere else or want for anything more than the closest available man (in-home nurse Spicer) as she's far too timid. He doesn't seem to notice she's the strongest of his family, the most sure of who she is and what she wants and how to live happily, and Lois Smith makes Tita easily the most endearing character here. She reminded me quite a bit of Elizabeth Marvel as Jean in The Meyerowitz Stories, the sister to two brothers who has spent her life overlooked by those around her even though it's clear to anyone watching her in a movie that she's the smartest funniest and kindest of the bunch.

Robert doesn't reach any breakthrough, coming closest with a reconciliatory but impotent monologue to his father who cannot understand a word. No big finale needed here, though. I was content to take in these performances and the pretty shots from Laszlo Kovacs (a lot of the nighttime photography in particular is beautiful). Meanwhile all Robert comes to is a deeper realization that something is wrong, and a reaffirmed commitment to pushing everyone around him away rather than face his soulsickness.

3.5/5

 

[LazyLain]

Didn't watch a whole lot of movies in 2019, and in fact I don't think I watched any in December. But oh boy, do I have plans for 2020.

Spoiler

Yesterday I watched Fruitvale Station and rewatched Gantz. Fruitvale Station was quite powerful, fairly well shot and acted. 5/5. Gantz has never been particularly amazing, and revisiting the live-action adaptation has only reaffirmed that opinion... but the live action adaptation wasn't as bad as I remembered it being, and isn't nearly as long-winded as I remember the manga & anime being, which is a welcome improvement. 2/5.

One double feature down, 365 remaining...

Edit: Since it just dawned on me that there's an unfortunate parallel between the two movies (main character getting killed at a train station), I'd like to state for the record that there was no rhyme or reason when it came to pairing Fruitvale Station with Gantz. In fact my initial plan was to start the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I decided to prioritize Gantz at the last minute because my Netflix subscription ends in a few days and I want to make it to Gantz: O before that happens.

 

[swoon]

Most importantly, given their relationship with virtually every label, there's an opportunity for essentially the first time ever to offer up a complete collection of his major works in one package. In years past, it'd be unthinkable for WB to give up Enter the Dragon to another label, but I'm feeling pretty darn confident that Criterion found a way.

Click to shrink...

Most importantly, given their relationship with virtually every label, there's an opportunity for essentially the first time ever to offer up a complete collection of his major works in one package. In years past, it'd be unthinkable for WB to give up Enter the Dragon to another label, but I'm feeling pretty darn confident that Criterion found a way.

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There's not a good reason for it to be on one label vs fostering other companies with more context on the genre to put out the releases. criterion is wasting time with box sets as if they didn't pay attention to rhino in the 90s.

it's esp true with these box sets outside of maybe agnes, there's not really hope of the film's going unreleased and unseen.

 

[Ridley327]

There's not a good reason for it to be on one label vs fostering other companies with more context on the genre to put out the releases. criterion is wasting time with box sets as if they didn't pay attention to rhino in the 90s.

it's esp true with these box sets outside of maybe agnes, there's not really hope of the film's going unreleased and unseen.

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I don't think that reality bears out the feeling that they're wasting time with box sets, seeing as the Bergman box sold out immediately and had to effectively re-release to keep up with demand, along with what was surely a very successful release of the Godzilla set a couple of months ago. They obviously shouldn't go crazy and just make box sets for any damn thing, but there's little to suggest that there wouldn't be some healthy demand for these sets as well.

 

[shaneo632]

Guy Ritchie has made the best movie of 2020...for the next few days lmao

 

[Rhomega]

John Wick: Chapter 2: The excellent gunplay from the first returns, so if you like that, you'll like this too. This is starting a series-long storyline, starting with John Wick getting his car back, and ending with a cliffhanger. The beginning does sound like a repeat of the "I wanted out, but they pulled me back in" story, but it's different reasoning and they don't kill another dog. There's some beautiful shooting locations too, notably the Oculus PATH station and the hall of mirrors. The John Wick series fits the archetype of the dumb action movie, but it's great action. Will have to check out the third.

 

[radosiewka]

The John Wick series fits the archetype of the dumb action movie, but it's great action.

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Definitely check the third installment in the series and I agree with you that this is such a great movie because it does not pretend that it is something else than pure entertainment and action. Keanu Reeves seems like he is having such fun on the set. And Rome is so nicely filmed there as well.

Let me know how do you like John Wick 3!

 

[Rei Toei]

You know, after seeing Long Shot that title suddenly got a double entendre thing going on.

Despite it employing the kinda worn-out arc of build-up/all-goes-well/crisis/sad montage/solution (there's probably a name for it that better explains it then I do) it had a lot of heart and Theron/Rogen where killing it. Kinda (pleasantly) surprised they got some things right displaying them on drugs :).

 

[Messofanego]

John Wick: Chapter 2: The excellent gunplay from the first returns, so if you like that, you'll like this too. This is starting a series-long storyline, starting with John Wick getting his car back, and ending with a cliffhanger. The beginning does sound like a repeat of the "I wanted out, but they pulled me back in" story, but it's different reasoning and they don't kill another dog. There's some beautiful shooting locations too, notably the Oculus PATH station and the hall of mirrors. The John Wick series fits the archetype of the dumb action movie, but it's great action. Will have to check out the third.

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When I was in NY a few months ago, I was inspired to check out a couple of cool locations based on media. One was the Long Lines building that inspired Control and then the World Trade Centre station. It's awesome in all its whale rib whiteness.

 

[BrokenFiction]

Just finished GINREI NO HATE (SNOW TRAIL). I mean Toshiro Mifune's first role, Takashi F'in Shimura, and Kurosawa on screenplay? What a great film.

You can watch it online here:

https://rarefilmm.com/2019/03/ginrei-no-hate-1947/