[Continued]
#10- Secret Lives of Orangutans
[Watched on Netflix]
My obligatory nature documentary of the month! This one is narrated by Sir David Attenborough so that alongside the fact orangutans are super interesting species, I had to check it out. Unfortunately, for someone like me who is pretty knowledgeable about animals already, this documentary didn't really provide anything new or super interesting for me. The shots are gorgeous and seeing these animals in their natural habitat where they're very illusive is really interesting, but at the same time it didn't feel all that special as a doc. For people who aren't me though, I would recommend watching this to learn a bit about our most elusive and misunderstood cousins.
#09- Greedy People
[Watched on VOD]
Greedy People wants to be a Coen Brothers film so bad it almost hurts. The performances are actually pretty solid, especially from Joseph Gordon-Levitt who I was very happy to see here. The movie is effective in being a fun enough mystery that goes off the rails in full Coen Bros. fashion, yet that stylism that they're going for is a bit distracting and I wasn't the biggest fan of the premise overall. That said, I really liked the ending and I'd probably watch the movie again.
#08- Jackpot!
[Watched on Prime Video]
Card-carrying member of the "I hate Awkwafina" club here, but I didn't really mind her here shockingly enough. She plays against type and I think it works out enough to get through the movie. John Cena is a delight (as per usual) and Simu Liu is also a lot of fun, kind of unfortunate this is the closest thing to a Shang-Chi sequel as we can look forward to though.
The movie isn't anything particularly special, it's pretty generic and the premise isn't even that original. Still, I had fun with it, I thought the performances were solid enough, and it even got a few laughs out of me, so there's that.
#07- Inside the Mind of a Dog
[Watched on Netflix]
It's a dog documentary. If you like dogs, you'll like it.
#06- Watchmen: Chapter 1
[Watched on VOD]
I've been waiting a long while for a faithful adaptation of Watchmen and after the Snyder slop and the failed HBO series, I was beginning to think we'd never get it, yet here we are. Chapter 1 is a lot of setup so I don't know that I can put it any higher than this, but Watchmen is an all-time story that I'm happy to see get a solid adaptation. Hopefully the second chapter holds up as well.
#05- Incoming
[Watched on Netflix]
I really like coming of age movies and I like teen high school party movies like Superbad, so while I wasn't excited for this movie, I knew it would probably at least be kind of alright. I didn't expect it to be as fun and sweet as it is. It's by no means a knock-your-socks-off type movie, it's pretty standard fare for this type of thing, but I had a decently good time with it, even if there is an incredibly cringy sing-along at the end that I'll never escape. It's nothing special, but it was a decently good time.
#04- The Instigators
[Watched on Apple TV+]
This is the most Boston movie I've seen since The Departed and it doesn't even feature Mark Wahlberg. Matt Damon and Casey Affleck are really solid here and the movie has a ton of fun to it. It's a breezy action-packed comedy with some punchy little moments in it and a really realistic depiction of Boston where even with 20 cops lights on chasing a car, nobody moves over for them. That's commitment.
#03- Cuckoo
[Watched in theaters]
I went into Cuckoo having had the concept kind of spoiled for me because I already knew about cuckoo birds and figured it out really quickly where the movie was going because of that. Still, Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens absolutely stole the show here and this movie had some genuinely scary moments and jumpscares that I definitely recommend people check it out.
#02- Alien: Romulus
[Watched in theaters]
Alien is in my top 10 favorite films of all time with Aliens in the top 25, so I was pretty ready for a new film in the franchise and while I totally get the qualms people are having with it, I really loved this movie. I found it the perfect level of creepy, atmospheric, and fascinating with some characters I found really enjoyable. The acid blood sequence is an all-timer and Andy is one of the best characters in sci-fi in recent memory. Plus, that at the end of the movie really worked for me. I'd definitely recommend this movie even if it isn't as scary or gory as I maybe wanted after seeing Fede Alvarez do Evil Dead (2013).
#01- Didi
[Watched in theaters]
I don't even have anything to say here, just go see Didi. It's wonderful.
Anyway, we're into September and opening weekend this weekend is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice which is exciting. Honestly September is pretty stacked with ones I wanna see including Transformers One, The Wild Robot, My Old A*s, Wolfs, Megalopolis, and more. Let's hope for a great month!
#10- Secret Lives of Orangutans
[Watched on Netflix]
My obligatory nature documentary of the month! This one is narrated by Sir David Attenborough so that alongside the fact orangutans are super interesting species, I had to check it out. Unfortunately, for someone like me who is pretty knowledgeable about animals already, this documentary didn't really provide anything new or super interesting for me. The shots are gorgeous and seeing these animals in their natural habitat where they're very illusive is really interesting, but at the same time it didn't feel all that special as a doc. For people who aren't me though, I would recommend watching this to learn a bit about our most elusive and misunderstood cousins.
#09- Greedy People
[Watched on VOD]
Greedy People wants to be a Coen Brothers film so bad it almost hurts. The performances are actually pretty solid, especially from Joseph Gordon-Levitt who I was very happy to see here. The movie is effective in being a fun enough mystery that goes off the rails in full Coen Bros. fashion, yet that stylism that they're going for is a bit distracting and I wasn't the biggest fan of the premise overall. That said, I really liked the ending and I'd probably watch the movie again.
#08- Jackpot!
[Watched on Prime Video]
Card-carrying member of the "I hate Awkwafina" club here, but I didn't really mind her here shockingly enough. She plays against type and I think it works out enough to get through the movie. John Cena is a delight (as per usual) and Simu Liu is also a lot of fun, kind of unfortunate this is the closest thing to a Shang-Chi sequel as we can look forward to though.
The movie isn't anything particularly special, it's pretty generic and the premise isn't even that original. Still, I had fun with it, I thought the performances were solid enough, and it even got a few laughs out of me, so there's that.
#07- Inside the Mind of a Dog
[Watched on Netflix]
It's a dog documentary. If you like dogs, you'll like it.
#06- Watchmen: Chapter 1
[Watched on VOD]
I've been waiting a long while for a faithful adaptation of Watchmen and after the Snyder slop and the failed HBO series, I was beginning to think we'd never get it, yet here we are. Chapter 1 is a lot of setup so I don't know that I can put it any higher than this, but Watchmen is an all-time story that I'm happy to see get a solid adaptation. Hopefully the second chapter holds up as well.
#05- Incoming
[Watched on Netflix]
I really like coming of age movies and I like teen high school party movies like Superbad, so while I wasn't excited for this movie, I knew it would probably at least be kind of alright. I didn't expect it to be as fun and sweet as it is. It's by no means a knock-your-socks-off type movie, it's pretty standard fare for this type of thing, but I had a decently good time with it, even if there is an incredibly cringy sing-along at the end that I'll never escape. It's nothing special, but it was a decently good time.
#04- The Instigators
[Watched on Apple TV+]
This is the most Boston movie I've seen since The Departed and it doesn't even feature Mark Wahlberg. Matt Damon and Casey Affleck are really solid here and the movie has a ton of fun to it. It's a breezy action-packed comedy with some punchy little moments in it and a really realistic depiction of Boston where even with 20 cops lights on chasing a car, nobody moves over for them. That's commitment.
#03- Cuckoo
[Watched in theaters]
I went into Cuckoo having had the concept kind of spoiled for me because I already knew about cuckoo birds and figured it out really quickly where the movie was going because of that. Still, Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens absolutely stole the show here and this movie had some genuinely scary moments and jumpscares that I definitely recommend people check it out.
#02- Alien: Romulus
[Watched in theaters]
Alien is in my top 10 favorite films of all time with Aliens in the top 25, so I was pretty ready for a new film in the franchise and while I totally get the qualms people are having with it, I really loved this movie. I found it the perfect level of creepy, atmospheric, and fascinating with some characters I found really enjoyable. The acid blood sequence is an all-timer and Andy is one of the best characters in sci-fi in recent memory. Plus, that at the end of the movie really worked for me. I'd definitely recommend this movie even if it isn't as scary or gory as I maybe wanted after seeing Fede Alvarez do Evil Dead (2013).
#01- Didi
[Watched in theaters]
I don't even have anything to say here, just go see Didi. It's wonderful.
Anyway, we're into September and opening weekend this weekend is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice which is exciting. Honestly September is pretty stacked with ones I wanna see including Transformers One, The Wild Robot, My Old A*s, Wolfs, Megalopolis, and more. Let's hope for a great month!
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