Drifting Home (2022)

20240229:
While this movie had the ingredients of a great movie, something about how it was presented lacked spark and magic. In particular, there's a lot of important drama, but it's strewn together with a lot of incoherent pieces.

Netflix determined the movie for me as a 84% match. I decided to give the movie a thumbs down.

Rating: 2.6/5

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Instant Comments:
1a: These tropes seem somewhat familiar... Very annoying boy and girl who wishes he wasn't so annoying (or maybe the roles were reversed) (in any case this is the scene where he takes back the camera and as Natsume points out totally disregards her feelings)
1a: The subtitle reads "A Drifting Home"
1a: I guess worse than the annoying boy main character is this annoying girl side character
1a: Oh... the sound of Kosuke (English voice) is similar to that of Haruo in Hi Score Girl
1a: Drama with Kosuke's grandpa, old building that coincides with her memory, Juri falling off, and Nasuke bleeding from gripping the rod... this is all much darker than I thought it would be (I figured it was a more light-hearted coming-of-age movie)
1a: This girl [Reina] is going crazy again
1a: Kosuke is coming around
1a: Paused at the 1hr8min mark after Nasuke's opening up about her crying and hanging out to Kosuke
1b: Resumed
1b: I feel like this movie lacks the correct tension and pacing... or maybe there's something about the English voicing (Kosuke tells Nasuke he won't leave without her and tells Noppo he's coming with them). There's all these emotional moments but they lack any tearjerk effect on me because there's no buildup
1b: So... what... that girl is the embodiment of the amusement park and Noppo is the embodiment of the old apartment building?

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Watched first half 20240229, second half 20240301 (Netflix, Instant)
Drifting Home (2022) Hiroyasu Ishida, Yô Watanabe. 119 min
*Ame o tsugeru hyôryû danchi (original title)

Relevant Links:
Drifting Home (IMDb.com)
Drifting Home (RottenTomatoes.com)
Drifting Home (Wikipedia.org)

The Irishman (2019)

20240229:
Netflix determined the movie for me as a 85% match. I decided to give the movie neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down.

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20240824 Comment:
Rating: 4.0/5

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Instant Comments:
1a: This meeting between DeNiro and the lawyer (Ray Romano) is used in the preview but cut with actions to the contrary, which gives a different feel than this scene
1b: resumed at the 16 minute mark 1b: speaking in Italian; nice touch
1b: hehe. digging their own graves
1b: Wow. Deniro has noticeably very blue eyes (the man is asking him to do a job for 10 grand, but gave him two grand); I wonder if it's contacts
1b: Hehe. This guy has balls to soak the watermelon in alcohol as a workaround to Jimmy not wanting people around him to drink... But I feel like it's too obvious and Jimmy might nail him for it. It seems likely that's why Frank isn't eating any watermelon.
1b: Pause at the 1hr20min mark
1c: interesting breakdown with the gun selection followed by the location and analysis of the situation (such as wife and kids, purse, bodyguard, etc.)
1c: wow. perfect timing on circling the block
1c: Oh wow. That's Anna Paquin.
1c: Wow. Jimmy has balls. Frank is repeatedly trying to message threats from the mobs and Jimmy doesn't budge. Oh and earlier when trying to get Pro's help, instead of sucking up, he still prods at Pro
1c: "I know you are. But nobody threatens Hoffa." (that's true that he is being threatened, but I can't help but feel they didn't attack the understanding of the whether Hoffa was controlling the pension... maybe holding the union is equivalent to the money... but Jimmy says it's not about the money... so perhaps that's confusing)
1c: Hehe. "If they can whack a president, they can whack a president of the union." The statement implies the Mafia had a hand in the assassination of JFK.
1c: Hehe. All this cryptic talk but Hoffa understands most of it... "It is what it is."
1c: Shit. "Frank, we did all we could for the man." [pause] "Don't call him."
1c: Wow. This is quite a build up. He comes to the house. Looks around. This awkward conversation with the wet back seat and Frank insisting on sitting in the back.
1c: It finally happens. I thought it was weird that his son was the one to drive him there.
1c: I also thought it was interesting that in this case the gun gets left there. I suppose whoever disposes of the body would dispose of the gun.
1c: I'm happy that Anna Paquin is in this movie, but she doesn't really remind me in any way of the younger Peggy who had a creepy look to her
1c: I guess all these people being pulled in for something was what Hoffa mentioned would happen if he died... though I'm not sure what kind of counter-threat that is in the grand scheme of things...
1a=2024027, 1b=20240228, 1c=20240229

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Watched 20240229 (Netflix, Instant)
The Irishman (2019) Martin Scorsese. 209 min

Relevant Links:
The Irishman (IMDb.com)
The Irishman (RottenTomatoes.com)
The Irishman (Wikipedia.org)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

20240223:
Netflix determined the movie for me as a 97% match. I decided to give the movie a thumbs up.

Rating: 5.0/5

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Instant Comments:
2a: Harding seems sane. Though he is bringing up something about existence. Which to some extent is sane, but...
2a: "But I tried, didn't I? Goddamn it. At least I did that."
2a: Interesting. I was also thinking that she seemed to be pressuring Billy and then this other character (Cheswick) mentions exactly that; certainly the concept of therapy has evolved since the time of the book
2a: That's such bullshit. Almost like making up rules as it goes along... I think it's one thing to have rules and another to just be mean (I'm often implementing rules for my kid and it's important to have purpose to enforcing rules)
2a: Hehe. The look on her face.
2a: How come... off of this evaluation... he isn't released and sent back to prison?
2a: Smile. Everyone is a doctor except for Harding. Funny jab.
2a: He has a relatively good heart to take them all fishing (even though he also was looking to get some action).
2a: Wow. They caught two big fishes.
2b: resume at 1hr16min mark
2b: thank you.
2b: lol. if chief and cheswick made it through the shocj therapy then surely hed be ok
2b: did they perform a lobotomy? that should be illegal. [yes, the wikipedia article says it was a lobotomy
2b: mercy killing
2b: I definitrly remember this part (Chief pulls the unit out and escapes)
2a=20240223,2b=20240227

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Watched at least once before.
Watched first half 20240223, second half 20240227 (Netflix, Instant) (Last day to watch 20240229)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) Milos Forman. 133 min

Relevant Links:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (IMDb.com)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (RottenTomatoes.com)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film) (Wikipedia.org)

The Nice Guys (2016)

20240222:
This film tells an interesting story. I think the plot had some questions, but overall it was fun to watch.

Netflix determined the movie for me as a 94% match. I decided to give the movie neither a thumbs down nor thumbs up.

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Instant Comments:
Just saw the preview where the kid's giving him information and they mentioned Misty Mountains. Then in this opening scene the kid is looking at Misty Mountains. And then a car comes crashing through with vanity license plate Misty M and a topless woman (probably Misty Mountains)
Smile. "Since the funeral"
Smile. He cuts himself while attempting to break in; it's funny cause it's unexpected, but I would totally have fainted
Huh. "Am I a bad father?" "Yes."
Jeez. He panicked and shot a person across the way
By sheer luck a random driver hit blueface
Hehe. What's your favorite?
Huh. I feel like she'd be the one behind having people killed if she's anti-porn.
Huh. The mother even mentions this directly.
Smile. Guy with a slit throat as they reached the top, another guy gets shot, and a guy gets thrown out the window
Hehe. "That's just a commercial element"
They don't find it suspicious that she wanted them to drop off the money? Or maybe they do but have their own motives
Why would Jessica be so stuipid as to run across this man's reach? And all she had to do was call the cops
Wow. What a crazy happenstance for this girl to run into this guy. Though why did she have to leave in the first place?
Hahaha. "And for a deeply discounted rate."
Smile. I honestly didn't remember that that was part of his dream (the ankle gun)
Hehe. Slipped. I guess chance is a repeated theme in this film
He's definitely faking the drunkeness
Hehe. More chance. The bad guy falls splat on the ground and he falls into the water
"The Nice Guys Agency"

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Watched 20240222 (Netflix, Instant)
The Nice Guys (2016) Shane Black. 116 min

Relevant Links:
The Nice Guys (IMDb.com)
The Nice Guys (RottenTomatoes.com)
The Nice Guys (Wikipedia.org)

Shazam! (2019)

20240222:
I don't know. I understand that Shazam is just a kid, but I feel like he shouldn't look like a kid. Something about the look of this version of Shazam seems off. On a related note, the villain seemed overpowered and yet lost. While there were some elements as to why he lost, it didn't feel convincing. I think this is poor story telling.

Netflix determined the movie for me as a 95% match. I decided to give the movie neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down.

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Instant Comments:
Hehe. Not worthy.
Yikes. Hit and run
Huh. Would you really want to find someone who abandoned you?
Holy moly. Why would tapping that magic destroy her?
He's was right ot call out Billy, but he was also flawed to use Billy
Watchdog and Uplink
Smile. "Billy!"
Hmm. I feel like breaking the staff isn't a great idea
Oh... do they only have components of his power? (flight, super speed, strength, and lightning... but what does Mary have?) [The DCEU fandom wiki says "like Billy, and unlike the others, her powers do not appear to be specialized towards any one ability."]
Hahaha. The evil guy speech
He's clearly faking them out.
Smile. Superman.
Credits:
Hehe. Everyone is in line for Superman and Aquaman
Hehe. Darla and Flash
Hehe. Shazam and Superman arm wrestle. Though I doubt Superman would lose.
Batman
Hehe. Taking Wonder Woman to Prom
Midcredits. Some kind of worm.
End credits scene about testing talking to fish and references Aquaman

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Watched 20240222 (Netflix, Instant)
Shazam! (2019) David F. Sandberg. 132 min

Relevant Links:
Shazam! (IMDb.com)
Shazam! (RottenTomatoes.com)
Shazam! (Wikipedia.org)

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017)

20240221:
Netflix determined the movie for me as a 56% match. I decided to give the movie neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down.

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Instant Comments:
Hehe. Plastered and sober
Cute song.
Haha. "Call me... Pagina Man."
Can't believe she sent that to her dad.
How do you just put on the wrong jacket? [Oh, it looks similar in color]
Haha. They're all writing the notes down.

That's charming that they know his songs. (earlier his father sang Myron/Byron) and here his siblings
Hehe. Eliza is taking notes.
Interesting but unsurprising twist: "Matthew" was not made with Matthew ("You should have called it 'Danny'")
Too lazy to think the ending through myself, I scoured the internet. Eventually I found the following:

"The truth," Baumbach said, "is that Harold is not a failure. He had a wonderful teaching career, and he made a profound impression on his students. Is 'Gilded Halfwing' a great work? I don’t think it matters. Is it depressing that the piece is kept in a warehouse crate, or is it cool that the Whitney wants to keep it? Is Danny a failure because he never became the musician that he potentially could have been, or is he a success because he’s a wonderful father?" (https://www.indiewire.com/awards/industry/noah-baumbach-interview-meyerowitz-stories-netflix-1201886235/)

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Watched 20240221 (Netflix, Instant)
The Meyerowitz Stories (2017) Noah Baumbach. 112 min

Relevant Links:
The Meyerowitz Stories (IMDb.com)
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (RottenTomatoes.com)
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (Wikipedia.org)

Old Dads (2023)

20240220:
After finishing the movie, I found I had trouble describing it. It somehow doesn't feel like a typical comedy. Perhaps there's so much of Bill Burr's mind spread throughout the film that the movie ends up feeling more like a series of political statements more than it does a comedy. Worded differently, I think it works better when Burr makes these kind of statements in a special than the format here. With that being said, the movie had its moments.

Netflix determined the movie for me as a 63% match. I decided to give the movie neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down.

Rating: 3.0/5

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Instant Comments:
Haha. "Just rub some dirt on it."
Hahaha. "What you're feeling now is what you're feeling okay."
Hahaha. He tripped the kid. "It's a team sport." Haha. "You okay, buddy?"
"The data, the data, the data" Yes! I love data, but I've also identified the trend of too much data
Hahaha. "Oh yeah. [...] I'm sure it is. [...] 400 years of slavery and continued systemic oppression"
Smile. Braveheart-level jizz.
My goodness. I'd likely react how he did.
Hahahahahaha. The guy complains about white males, Bill Burr's character disagrees, and the guy cites his 3% Sri Lankan lineage. That's a good joke
Jeez. "What are you doing?"
Hmm... I guess it's weird cause I understand his character's views and the difficulty of fitting in
Hehe. This old guy is worse than Jack.
Heh. "Go dodge a draft, asshole!"
Huh. I didn't expect such a tearjerker from this movie

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Watched 20240220 (Netflix, Instant)
Old Dads (2023) Bill Burr. 104 min

Relevant Links:
Old Dads (IMDb.com)
Old Dads (RottenTomatoes.com)
Old Dads (Wikipedia.org)

Lady Bird (2017)

20240219:
Netflix determined the movie for me as a 93% match. I decided to give the movie neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down.

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Instant Comments:
Smile. She just rolled out of the car.
Hahaha. Priest begins crying
Smile. "Six inches for the holy spirit."
Quite a trade of statements. (ending with "My mother was an abusive alcoholic.")
What's a clove? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kretek]

Whoa. That's a strange twist.
Hahaha. The coach telling 8, 9, 10 to come in hot.
"Don't you think they are the same thing? Love and attention."
Oh wow. They did a great job of the build-up with the mom trying to run back. (tear-jerker)

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Watched 20240219 (Netflix, Instant)
Lady Bird (2017) Greta Gerwig. 94 min

Relevant Links:
Lady Bird (IMDb.com)
Lady Bird (RottenTomatoes.com)
Lady Bird (Wikipedia.org)

Dark Shadows (2012)

20240219:
Netflix determined the movie for me as a 95% match. I decided to give the movie neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down.

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Instant Comments:
"An old friend." Is she a resurrection of Angelique?
Huh. The camera shows her against a painting and she seems similar. Is Winters supposed to be a resurrection of Josette?
Oh, she looks familiar [Chloë Grace Moretz plays Carolyn Stoddard]
Interesting. She didn't scream at the sight of the ghost
Haha. "Mephistopheles." (revealed to be McDonald's sign)
Smile. "A disgraceful misuse."
Ha! What a great line. "15 and no husband. You must put those birthing hips to good use at once lest your womb shrivel up and die."
Hehe. He quotes lines from "The Joker" by Steve Miller Band.
"The dark shadows of one's soul."
Ah. It explains why she believes in ghost and why she wasn't surprised by seeing the ghost of Josette
She seems to have started growing fangs.
Hmm. Maybe it's covered by insurance?
Hehe. "Get... out... of my room!"
"I'm a werewolf okay. Let's not make a big deal of it."
Hehe. Nice little twist. "Not me. My mom."
Hehe. The doctor. I caught the foreshadowing.

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Watched 20240219 (Netflix, Instant) (Last day to watch 20240229)
Dark Shadows (2012) Tim Burton. 113 min

Relevant Links:
Dark Shadows (IMDb.com)
Dark Shadows (RottenTomatoes.com)
Dark Shadows (film) (Wikipedia.org)

Aquaman (2018)

20240219:
The movie started slowly, and had a poor secondary antagonist, but the ending was decent.

Netflix determined the movie for me as a 94% match. I decided to give the movie neither a thumbs up nor a thumbs down.

Rating: 3.0/5

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Instant Comments:
1a: slow start to movie (11 min on his parents romance plus a short minute on him as a kid talking to fish and being a freak). then enter some pirate which leads to a fight with Aquaman where his dad keeps digging his grave. to be fair Aquaman could have done "the right thing" but gave a line about asking the sea for mercy... shrug
  1b: I think it's fair to conduct communication underwater in this way, but I'm curious how actual underwater communication should sound... if you open your mouth, should something like air be expelled? How do whales and dolphins produced sounds?
1b: Curious why a submarine would start bombing such a place.
1b: Oh, maybe he staged it.
1b: Huh. Is she on heels? Why would an underwater person need heels? (the camera zooms out and this person trying to talk to Aquaman is standing by herself)
1b: Hmm. She has diplomatic clearance, but doesn't Aquaman need some sort of passport?
1b: Oh okay. Answers my comment from earlier (border defense)
1b: Close call. His brother seemed to be having the upperhand when driving him down to the magma. Though come to think of it... is it even possible for the magma to exist in this state under water?
1b: I understand they're trying to pursue Mera and Aquaman but they're also blindly putting civilians at risk by just firing while still in the city
1b: Smile. "It worked for Pinocchio"
1b: This bad guy from the beginning... what an a annoyance. I feel zero threat from him
1b: Hehe puts his head in the toilet.
1b: Quite an end for the bad guy from the beginning. It adds some action to the movie but there's a lack of gravity
1b: Oh. It must have been cause I was watching on a small phone. I didn't notice that Queen Atlanna is being portrayed by Nicole Kidman
1b: This creature has fought others before but there are still columns to knock down?
1b: Hehe. In the past, she would just speak even though she doesn't expect anyone to understand her? ("Stop." [...] "You understand me?")
1b: Nice. Aquaman colors.
1b: Holy moly. SHattered.
1b: What? This guy is alive? He's not worhty of being an enemy of Aquaman
1a=20240218,1b=20240219

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Watched 20240219 (Netflix, Instant) (Last day to watch 20240229)
Aquaman (2018) James Wan. 143 min

Relevant Links:
Aquaman (IMDb.com)
Aquaman (RottenTomatoes.com)
Aquaman (film) (Wikipedia.org)

This Is Where I Leave You (2014)

20240201:
I felt like some of the minor plot points were flawed but the feel of the overarching story felt good.

Netflix determined the movie for me as a 85% match. I decided to give the movie a thumbs up.

Rating: 4.0/5

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Instant Comments:
It took a while to process that joke. "This is the first time." [...] "On our sides."
Hahaha. "My room was next to yours. My room was next to yours."
Hehe. "Get out while you still can."
Huh. He said the "fucking mouth" but the word "fucking" was omitted from the subtitles
Hehe. "I have to go have sex."
He makes a point about the schedule. Seems like something someone would recommend not to be so stressed out about it.
Hahaha. "Yeah." as he looks at the two
Hehe. "Tell me something I don't know."
Not sure if it's the movie or just my personal thoughts. I would side with Judd in her having strange expectations in this: she slept with his boss and wants a reaction from him upon delivering news of her pregnancy
Hehe. "Touche pussycat"
Hmm. He remembers some of the moments she mentioned.
Hehe. They triggered the fire alarm... and then Phillip tries to light the blunt
Hehe. Even the Mom: "I'm sorry, Boner"
What does that mean? "I'm an asshole, Judd. I'm not stupid." Well... perhaps it just means he knows that Judd is lying to him. I guess the next layer is... why does she express concern that he is leaving? Out of guilt for having feelings about Horry?
Smile
Hehe. "What'd he to you anyways?" "He slept with my wife." You do that to "one of my only real friends"? (I guess Judd figures that's just a lie)
Hmm. I had a feeling he was wrong about the gender
Chuckle. "These are actually pretty comfortable."
Haha. "Did you guys not know about that?"
Aww. That's a tearjerker. ("I remember.")
"I'm so glad you tightened this."
Cute. The follow-up talk after she catches up to him in skates.
Hehe. "Does Cyndi Lauper have to be our song?"
Hah! "Are we doing this ironically or..."
Yes! I was hoping he would take the car (because foreshadowing)

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Watched 20240201 (Netflix, Instant) (Last day to watch 20240301)
This Is Where I Leave You (2014) Shawn Levy. 103 min

Relevant Links:
This Is Where I Leave You (IMDb.com)
This Is Where I Leave You (RottenTomatoes.com)
This Is Where I Leave You (Wikipedia.org)