What have you been watching lately?

I started watching Perry Mason at my brother’s house in Maine last week so to watch it at home I subscribed to Max, which means I can catch up on an old favorite, Curb Your Enthusiasm, too. Still very funny!

4 Likes

The Big Short, seen it for the fourth time now already. Still a great movie, standout performance by Ryan Gosling imho. Also, the editing makes the movie so much more than just a story about the financial crisis, it really becomes a fast paced drama/comedy. Highly recommended!

2 Likes

Blown Away with Jeff Bridges & Tommy Lee Jones. For probably the third time. Great movie. But I really hate it when someone kills an innocent dog in a movie. I really do.

3 Likes

besides The Bear, i’ve been watching season 3 of Warrior. this series doesn’t get the accolades it deserves.

1 Like

There’s a website for that. I hate it, too, and it tends to happen a lot in horror movies to prove just how awful the antagonist is.

1 Like

This Is The End – certainly funny in spots but IMHO not in the league of the best Frat Pack comedies.

More painful than seeing someone order great pastrami on white bread with mayo!

Do The Right Thing (1989 - Spike Lee)

I’ve seen most of Lee’s stuff, but somehow, I never saw this one, certainly his most famous and arguably his best. At turns hilarious, tender, savage, and bleak, it’s simultaneously a timecapsule of late 80’s culture and still (sadly) as timely and relevant as ever. Featuring absolutely electric performances from the whole cast, but notably marking the feature debuts of Martin Lawrence and Rosie Perez.

If you never saw it, or it’s been years since you have, this is one that everybody ought to see, and see again.

4 Likes

Saw it after it came out, probably early 90s. I was a teenager back then… :slight_smile: Floored me then, and several times after. Last time I saw Do The Right Thing was last year, and it still had a huge impact on me, exactly because the main issue hasn’t really changed.

From an artistic standpoint, my thought last year was: what do you do when your very first movie is the best you have ever made?

Not that Spike Lee isn’t a great director: if he hadn’t made Do The Right Thing, and we would have to rate him on his subsequent efforts, he would still be considered a great director. It’s just that his first movie was soo good… The first 3 minutes intro already is one of the best ever put on celluloid…

2 Likes

“Deadloch” on Prime. Set in Tasmania, with several members of the cast of Wentworth (the latter is to Orange is the New Black as Dubliner is to Kraft Singles). It’s a cheeky crime dramedy with lots of absurdity, profanity, and mayhem. 8 parts go by quickly.

3 Likes

“School Daze” was first. Is that the first movie you are referring to? I have enjoyed everything of his that I have seen, but that one hit a little to close to home! I went to a college like the one I like to think they parodied in that one. I had graduated about 6 years prior to that one coming out.

I think Crooklyn was my favorite, but I haven’t seen a lot of his latest work.

ETA; Wikipedia says “She’s Gotta Have It” and “We Cut Heads” were before that.

I have enjoyed the episodes I’ve watched.

Pardon me while I be that guy

AKSHULLY… Lee has two features prior to Do The Right Thing, 1986’s She’s Gotta Have It, all about sexual politics, and 1988’s School Daze, based largely on Lee’s time at Morehouse College in the 1970’s.

I caught both of those on cable back when HBO still stood for ‘Home Box Office’. I don’t know how or why I never managed to see Do The Right Thing.

I think your question might be more fairly applied to Welles (Nothing really topped Citizen Kane), or even someone like Neil Blomkamp (District 9 is an order of magnitude better than anything he’s tried since).

1 Like

Bamboozled is his best. But yes. Do the Right Thing has been rightly praised.

Orson Welles is more complicated a figure since he was in some ways artistically prolific and always interesting if not always successful (or complete-- his is a story of unfinished innovation).

I don’t know how you missed Do the Right Thing I remember when it came out and because I worked in a cinema, I watched it multiple times and was also enchanted by the opening dance scene (for the credits) with Rosie Perez.

You guys are absolutely right of course - my selective memory has been playing up!

To make up for it, here is the intro…

1 Like

(post deleted by author)

Past Lives. Saw it with my Daughter in a theatre yesterday. Outstanding film about the messiness of real life versus missed opportunities with regards to finding true love. For me, it was a real tearjerker in the best way.

1 Like

I’m so jealous. A24 films seem to take forever to be released in the UK.

I don’t understand why film release dates can vary so widely from country-to-country. If someone here works in the industry and can provide an explanation, I would love that. I see the UK release date is late August/Early Sept. I hope it’s worth the wait for you.