RE: https://beepboop.one/@Alexis/115996498846346328
#MovieThread VII: The Kino Awakens, Chapter Three — March Edition
From 2020 to 2025 I watched 2370 movies.
In 2026 so far I've watched another 70, for a total of 2440 movies.
This month:
* John McTiernan.
* Ninja Turtles, probably.
Previous thread:
Starting John McTiernan, it's the movie "Nomadland" is not a sequel to, it's —
#71, or #2441, 1986's "Nomads."
It's the movie today best remembered for the "Seinfeld" episode of the same title where Elaine is the only person in town who hates it, leaving now for a screening of —
#72, or #2442, 1996's "The English Patient."
It’s handsomely made, though, and if somebody told me they loved this, that’s another perspective on it I’d get.
If you dragged me to this a third time, though, yeah, I would absolutely be yelling “Just die already!” at the screen.
With this one I'm 8/10 for seeing this year's Best Picture nominees in the cinema, leaving now to go see —
#73, or #2443, 2026's "Sentimental Value."
Beautiful, very moving. Not got that much to say about it. Liked it, it's very good.
I've seen some interpretations of the ending that vary pretty wildly, but I'm choosing the happy interpretation — that despite everything, he gets to do it his way. (What happens to that house is a /murder/, though.)
(Wildest moment is when he holds a full roll of kitchen paper under the tap to then go clean with. A whole roll?? You made the whole roll single use???)
With and after dinner, watched —
#74, or #2443, 2026 Netflix doc “Queen of Chess.”
Interesting story about a woman I knew nothing about. But it’s a shame it has to tell her story by focusing on her rivalry with a man. Do enjoy watching her crush these dudes, though, obviously.
As I understand it, this Brazilian Best Picture nominee is not about a secret agent, leaving now to go see —
#75, or #2445, 2026's "O Agente Secreto," or, "The Secret Agent."
Takes quite a while to put down exactly what's happening and why, until he literally tells you he's been telling the story in the wrong order, which is wonderfully disorienting. Captures a time and a place and a feeling very well, I thought.
The ending is horrible, upsetting. What do you become when you're gone? History? Not even that?
A Good Movie.
On multiple occasions watching TNG I went "ah, the final time I'll see this TOS cast member," fully forgetting that there were some in this one.
I did mean "for the first time," and I /have/ seen this, but do I remember it? No, not really, outside of the ending.
"You left spacedock without a tractor beam?"
"It won't be installed until Tuesday."
who leaves home without their tractor beam, I mean, come on
hey, it's Guinan
and there's Tim Russ.
90s Star Trek actively intruding on the last ride of Those Old Scientists
"Soran. Dr Tolian Soran."
McDowell looks good for 78 years older— Oh, wait, right, El-Aurians, Guinan's people.
The only one of this year's slate of Best Picture nominees I have to watch at home instead of in the cinema, it's —
#77, or #2447, 2025's "Train Dreams."
"I was thinking we oughta get married."
[she chuckles]
"What?"
"We already are married. Now we just need a ceremony to prove it."
this is: already very soothing, charming, nice
In "The Secret Agent," a movie that also has a homophobic hairy leg in it, the two-faced cat is both part of the surreality of the world it presents as well as a reflection of everyone in it having multiple aspects of their personality they selectively let out.
In "Train Dreams" the brief shot of the calf with two faces I think is more like, well, life in places like this (late 1800s US railway country) be like that sometimes, that type of thing.
The cat, you understand, is two cats, just like how the Wagner Moura character is both Marcelo and Armando — the cat and the man both still have to walk around in the world in the one body they each have.
Anyway, "Train Dreams" so far is mostly Joel Edgerton having a nice time.
ah jeez
I would simply return to my log cabin to find my wife and child alive instead of to find it on fire with them nowhere to be found.
"What is that fellow doing?"
"He's in outer space."
"Huh. So is that..."
"That's us."
can you fucking imagine ;__;
"Beautiful, ain't it. Just beautiful."
just beautiful
The conversation about this one has collapsed into "boy, they really whiffed it on this one," but that means there's a chance I can be contrarian just by having a good time, so, you know, still gotta see it, leaving now to go see —
#78, or #2448, 2026's "The Bride!"
A blast, a hoot, an electric riot — 2026’s "The Bride!"… rules? Yeah, movie kicks ass.
It’s a little messy, sure, and having her get possessed by the ghost of Mary Shelley — this happens right at the start, not a spoiler — is maybe a little much. But it all suits its furious, chaotic aesthetic wonderfully, and Buckley and Bale are terrific the whole time.
A Good Time At The Movies.
Meant to go see this true story Tourette's drama before it became unexpectedly topical but never got around to it until what's probably the last screening, leaving now to go see —
#79, or #2449, 2026's "I Swear."
Though it's wonderfully sympathetic depiction of life with Tourette's, and frequently charming and funny, the ending of "I Swear" doesn't sit right with me.
The whole picture is so much about self-acceptance, about how you shouldn't have to change with medication who you are to function in society, and then the end is... a device that functionally (narratively speaking) fixes his Tourette's? It felt like an ad for a real device.
Worth having seen but a little hard to recommend in that context.
@Alexis I really do want to see that because I've always found Tourette's fascinating.
And I believe I have seen something related to the ending.
The stuff around the BAFTAs was a disgrace.
@retrosponge I'd wholly recommend the first 95% of the movie if you're interested in the subject matter.
Yeah, that was... It's unfortunate, but the BBC really should've caught it and edited it out, and not allowed it to become the only thing anyone was talking about afterwards.
Yesterday was Pie Day. On a related note, it's —
#80, or #2450, 1999's "American Pie."
Alex Daily! 
Tired Sponge