Agree, a surprisingly good movie. Also known as Live Die Repeat. Based on a Japanese sci-fi novel called All You Need Is Kill.
A memorable vehicle for Bill Paxton. Blunt and Cruise, too. Brendan Gleeson, Noah Taylor. Actually, I don’t recall any flat performance at all; all the actors knocked it out of the park. I think that’s remarkable because aside from Cruise’s Gage there was almost no character development; virtually all character development was left up to the actors and the director’s choices. The parachute team Cruise ended up in did not suffer for it, not a bit.
I liked Doug Liman’s Go, too. Very funny. Talented guy.
Wait, the same guy did ‘Go’? That’s one of those movies that by all rights shouldn’t have been as good as it was. Raver/teen party films were a dime a dozen in the late 90s and early 2000s and most sucked, but this one mined gold out of its premise through the punchy dialogue, invested actors and its ‘Pulp Fiction’ esque anthologizing of three different stories. Plus, it has a killer soundtrack, even if you were never into that whole techno/rave scene. I can’t listen to it without getting a bit nostalgic tbh. And I was surprised revisiting it a while back at all the now-famous actors who had bit parts in it, like Timothy Olyphant as the drug dealer.
I’ve tried to watch it two or three times, because she’s sexy and I hear good things, but can never get very far into it. Maybe my attention span is blown
Last night I watched Belyy Tigr (white tiger) ; well only half because I fell asleep (not because of the movie though) but it was and looks very interesting and I will have to watch the rest
Watched Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) after waking up at 4am (the outside temp climbed slowly through the very early morning hours is why I woke up - my cicada rhythms were all fouled up).
A Finnish movie about a British research team that discovers Joulupukki, a figure from Sami folklore and a forerunner of today’s Santa Claus, under a mountain that’s next to a small settlement of Finns who earn their living hunting reindeer. Turns out that Joulupukki takes a more direct approach when dealing with kids who’ve been naughty.
I think it’s my new favorite Christmas movie, right up there with A Christmas Story. The protagonist is a kid but the humor is so extremely deadpan that I don’t think kids would get it. Took a second for me to process the best parts, which made me laugh even harder (e.g., the trap set by the protagonist in the chimney). A very odd, screwball blend of quasi-horror and comedy that turns out to be pretty charming.
It’s old (2010) but it was the first time I had seen it. My loss.
For a second I thought you were talking about the adaptation of Adiga’s eponymous novel. Just saw that that movie (the adaptation) will be out on Netflix next January. Listened to the audiobook, the novel was awesome, a hilarious comedy blended with a gripping social commentary, but looks like the movie will be much more serious.
Kevin Hart is so overrated. I don’t get his appeal. I guess he’s like the token “safe” black comedian for suburban Karens who think Chappelle is too edgy.
Seems to me like his success in comedy is tied to his success in movies. He can be OK with a script and a competent director in control, but yeah, his stand-up is atrocious. I managed to sit through a half hour of one of his specials and didn’t laugh once.
