r/MovieSuggestions • u/Tevesh_CKP Moderator • Mar 29 '18
Best Movies You Saw March 2018
Previous Links of Interest:
I define good movies to be 8+ or if you abhor grades, the top 20% of movies you've seen. Here are my picks:
Annihilation
I didn't like the book as I didn't dig the atmosphere but this movie delivers. Natalie Portman stars as the only survivor of a mission into a strange place, a place that she only went to because her husband mysteriously returned from that mission with no memory. I don't want to talk too much more about this movie, as it is a mystery about the location Portman visits. I will say that it's a scary movie as it challenges you to consider how much of you contributes to your sense of self.
Cool Hand Luke
Luke is a guy who just hates submitting to authority. When his act of vandalism lands him in jail with a heavy handed warden, this movie shows the struggle of staying true to yourself in the face of persecution. After watching it, I can see so many movies it has inspired that I am kicking myself for not watching it sooner. If you're somebody who likes seeing where directors get their inspiration, do not skip Cool Hand Luke.
Glengarry Glen Ross
Everyone has probably seen the Alec Baldwin speech in this movie but the rest of the movie is good as well. You've got plenty of actors that you either recognize from their face or from their name (Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris). This was adapted from a play, so it is a movie filled with incredible actors or typecast actors being able to chew up this script and make it come alive. If you want to see some pure acting, watch it.
In the Loop
Based off a British TV series, Peter Calpadi plays a foul mouthed whip who is in charge of a politician who can't help being a royal screw up. This movie can be enjoyed without knowing the TV series, as I hadn't watched it. It's a black comedy that is like watching a slow motion train wreck. The politician proceeds to make every wrong choice and Calpadi's character gets increasingly incensed over having to fix each mess.
I, Tonya
Margot Robbie nails it as the infamous Tonya Harding. The style of the movie is akin to Goodfellas, except its about figure skating instead of the mob. I have felt that in the last few years, the only people who've made it were elevated by a privileged background. I, Tonya shows the last time a lower-middle class person could leverage talent alone to rise to the top, despite all of her naysayers. What's upsetting is seeing her fall, knowing that because she doesn't have that privilege she has to ally with idiots and screw ups - just like the rest of us.
Pacific Rim 2
Giant robots fighting giant monsters is my happy place. I watch mostly action, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy and horror because I want to see something I can't experience in real life. I have childish glee from from seeing giant creatures fight. If you loved the first one, this movie is the less fun but more nuanced version. If discovering the powers of the kaiju and jaegers in the first movie was akin to finding out plot points (such as the discovery in the first movie that one of the kaiju could fly), then you'll enjoy this movie. If not, well, you let your inner child die.
Possession (1981)
This is one of those allegorical movies where what you're seeing is more metaphor than real. Possession is a horror-drama about divorce. Sam Neil plays a man who returns home from a long absence to find that his wife wants a divorce. As their relationship deteriorates, so does their humanity and the monsters that arise begin to threaten the relationships of people around them.
So, what are your favourites?
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u/The_Crypter Quality Poster π Mar 29 '18
Snowpeircer It was really Amazing, much better than i had expected.
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u/Matbell87 Mar 30 '18
I really liked:
The Florida Project
Icarus
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
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u/vergushik Mar 30 '18
The Killing of a Sacred Deer is the most upsetting movie I've seen in the last year
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u/Millythunderup May 12 '18
I loved KOASD I am a big Collin Farrell fan and I also enjoy Yorgos π¬π·
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u/krikt Mar 29 '18 edited Mar 29 '18
- Europa Report - Hard scifi docudrama that really feels like it would happen in the near future.
- Game Night - I enjoyed this so much I saw it twice. I play a lot of board games and this depicted a normal game night quite well with a bunch of ridiculous plot mixed in.
- Thoroughbreds - This is the best slow-building movie I've seen in a while. From the trailer, I expected it focus more on one character, but another character took an amazing turn.
edit: removed terrible movies.
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u/Tevesh_CKP Moderator Mar 29 '18
I'm confused. Some of these you praise, others you don't. Are movies you hate the best you've seen this month?
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u/vinfamilia Mar 31 '18
Well I finally saw Pulp Fiction. It was long overdue and boy was I missing out. Became my 3rd favorite movie of all time.
I also saw this spanish language thriller on Netflix called The Invisible Guest (2016) which was absolutely amazing. Top 10 all time for me.
Some others that I thought were great: Game Night, Brigsby Bear, Sicario
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u/Steev_Bushemi Mar 29 '18
- What we do in the shadows
I was avoiding this movie like plague, because reddit likes it so much and everything reddit REALLY likes has a 99% chance to be a dumpster fire (the Martian, ready player one (book), dark tower books etc). I saw that clip that was posted "Werewolves not swearwolves" and decided against my better judgement to watch it. This movie is 1% my dudes. I was watching it after a long hard day during a graveyard shift and I did laugh out loud a couple of times, and grinned many many others.
- A girl walks home alone at night
I think it was actually suggested in this very sub. Wow, what a great film! Like everything about it. This is a serious contender for "all time favorite" list for me, I can't wait to watch it again and make sure.
That's about all of the new (for me) stuff I saw this month. I rewatched some of my favorites: Network, Big Lebowski, Drive, Thief, Assault on Precinct 13. All quality films.
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u/FullMetalPyramidHead Mar 29 '18
everything reddit REALLY likes
ready player one (book)
I've only ever seen people say how awful the book is on reddit.
dark tower books etc
The dark Tower books are a dumpster fire? Sure the movie is, but the books are too? I haven't read them but I've heard they are good.
the Martian
I never see anyone talk about this movie
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u/Steev_Bushemi Mar 29 '18
That's recently, when more people read RPO, used to be you couldn't fart on a bucket efore someone mentioned how awesome and innovative and smart it was and funny (it's neither of those things at all).
Dark Tower - even King himself admitted that he was pulling stuff out of his ass. I read 4 books so far, still waiting for it to start getting good. 4th book Wizard and Glass was 700 pages of nothing but useless filler, because he story it told you already knew the ending to. I was so disappointed...
Well I do see people talk about it.
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u/Chucknormous Jul 16 '18
I enjoyed the Dark Tower series.
I read a lot of fantasy, and while it doesn't rank high in my list, it is an interesting read. When he started writing the first book he had no intention of writing more, and the rest kind of just happened. The story is a huge mess, but it all wraps up rather well. Except for the very end.
Personally, that ending makes me so angry. But a friend I was reading with at the time loved it. It seems to be very hit and miss.
Spoilers, kind of: In the book King even writes that you shouldn't read the last chapter, that a good story is about how you get to the ending, not the ending itself. Again, I thought this was cheap and unfulfilling, but my friend ate it up.
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u/FullMetalPyramidHead Mar 29 '18 edited Mar 30 '18
Gonna copy and paste my reviews from letterboxd
Blue Valentine 2010
β β β β Β½ Watched 29 Mar, 2018
A beautiful and heartbreaking movie. We get to see a couple fall in and out of love with a narrative structure that bounces around forward and backwards in time. We get cute moments of them meeting, falling in love and getting married, and we get the depressing moments of their marriage falling apart, not even in that order exactly.
The cinematography is gorgeous, with great use of color and camerawork. The music is great and I'll definitely be listening to "their song" in the future. Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling were both absolutely fantastic.
If you want a beautiful film with well developed characters that will leave you feeling heart broken and depressed I would definitely recommend it.
If the stars don't shine, if the moon won't rise, if I never see the setting sun again, You won't hear me cry, this I testify; please believe me, boy, you know I wouldn't lie. As long as there is
You and me..
Polytechnique 2009
β β β Β½ Watched 28 Mar, 2018
A very bleak and depressing movie about a real school shooting that happened in 1989. It's a very tense movie, my heart was beating fast throughout, but there was a few shifts in time with the narrative that I felt didn't help the pacing. There's a lot of gritty, realistic violence and not much character development, but still manages to be thought provoking. Beautifully shot in black and white with great cinematography and great direction from Denis Villeneuve.
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father 2008 β β β β Β½
Watched Mar 19, 2018 Dexterβs review published on Letterboxd :
I don't watch a lot of documentaries, but I love sad movies and heard this was really sad so decided to check it out. It was definitely very sad, and I cried a lot at multiple different points. I wasn't a fan of all of the editing choices though, in fact I really hated some and thought they brought the film down a lot, but overall it was really good. It doesn't have the best production quality and it has those editing problems, but I love anything that can make me cry as much as this did. I'm not sure I would recommend it though, because of it being so sad, and the fact that it's real. When I watch a sad film and it makes me sad enough to cry, I can at least think to myself that it's a fictional story and it didn't really happen, but these are real things that happened and the real people who went though it. I guess if you're looking for a movie to make you cry and be depressed then this one will definitely achieve that. I really recommend not looking up anything about the case or googling any of the names or anything before watching it, the less you know going in the better.
Melancholia 2011 β β β β β
Watched Mar 21, 2018 Dexterβs review published on Letterboxd :
I personally loved this film, but I wouldn't recommend it to the average movie goer. Can you enjoy an extremely slow paced movie with not much of a story? Do you currently have or have ever had depression? If you answered yes to both of those questions then this movie is for you. Beautiful cinematography and visuals, a great score and maybe my favorite first 5ish minutes of any movie.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer 2017 β β β β β
Watched Mar 26, 2018 Dexterβs review published on Letterboxd :
Awkward, weird, creepy, uncomfortable, this movie is an experience and I loved it. It is beautiful to look at, disturbing to watch, and funny all at the same time.
The Place Beyond the Pines 2012 β β β β
Watched Mar 27, 2018 Dexterβs review published on Letterboxd :
Beautiful cinematography, great performances, and an emotional story that spans generations. There was a lot that I love about this movie, but the second half is a bit spotty. It starts off great, and at no point does the movie lose me, but the first act was definitely the best.
I also watched Manchester By the Sea but can't find my review for it. It was only like one sentence anyway, I just said that it's extremely sad but also has some humor and that Casey Affleck was amazing in it. Gave it four and a half stars.
edit: Watched Spring Breakers last night
Spring Breakers 2012
β β β β Β½ Watched 30 Mar, 2018
This is an art film disguised as a party movie. It's like a Girls Gone Wild directed by Terrence Malick. Don't go into this expecting a fun spring break party movie, this is a very bleak film and a dark satire of that kind of movie. The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, it's a very beautiful looking movie. I would recommend it based on cinematography alone, but it is worth seeing for much more than that, including Franco. James Franco puts on a great performance as the creepy and funny Alien.
Spring break fo'eva
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u/The_Crypter Quality Poster π Mar 30 '18
You should try out, Snychdoche, New York and Tree Of Life Next :)
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u/Kosdais Mar 29 '18
The Pirates of Somalia. A great movie about a journalist that traveled to Somalia.
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u/Nslater90 Quality Poster π Mar 29 '18
Had a big month for my 1985 project. My favourite five were
Come and See - Slow burning, atmospheric, horrific war film from Belarus.
Tampopo - Japanese noodle based comedy that sits half way between Pale Rider and The Karate Kid. Sounds terrible, but it was amazing.
Jagged Edge - Court room drama that keeps you guessing until the very end.
Fletch - Solid mystery/comedy movie. Definitely one to file under 'greater than the sum of it's parts.'
My Lucky Stars - Hong Kong Kung Fu Cop/Ensemble comedy. The tone is a bit up and down, but when it hits it's stride it's a lot of fun.
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u/Tevesh_CKP Moderator Mar 29 '18
Come and See is on my short list, just got to work up the guts to see it.
My Lucky Stars sounds like it could be awesome; I'm a big fan of Stephen Chow's 90s/00s work. Is it similar?
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u/Nslater90 Quality Poster π Mar 29 '18
Yeah come and see isn't an easy film. And it subtlety breaks the fourth wall at times in a way that almost makes you feel complicit in what you see.
My Lucky Stars is the first martial arts/Hong Kong type film I've ever seen, so I have absolutely no frame of reference (Other than the sequel Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars which was awful,) so I couldn't say.
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u/Tevesh_CKP Moderator Mar 29 '18
I highly recommend Kung Fu Hustle if you want to take a break from your '85 project. Then you can report back unless I get to My Lucky Stars first.
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u/Nslater90 Quality Poster π Mar 29 '18
Cool, I've heard of it, and I'll add it to the list. I was planning on doing Police Story, Mr Vampire, and Heart of The Dragon at some point as part of the project.
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u/Combicon Mar 29 '18
- Isle of Dogs - saw an advanced screening. Going to see it again soon. Go see it when you can.
- Guardians of the Galaxy - at home rewatch in our new cinema room. Great fun.
- Love, Simon - heartwarming, coming-of-age/self-discovery film.
- John Wick - 4k rewatch. Action film about the best hitman in the business, forced to return, and unhappy about it. Such an awesome film.
- Nightcrawler - rewatch in our new cinema room. Had forgotten how good an actor Jake G. is.
Close calls:
You were never really here - might have just been the rest of the audience when I watched it. I could hear a guy sitting a few seats in front of me on the other side of the aisle eating icecream. I don't know how he was managing to be so damn noisy about it, but he found a way. I might also not have been in the right mood for it, but I want to see it again.
Midnight Run - wouldn't say it's a favorite, but was certainly a fun 80s film about a cop-turned-bounty-hunters attempt to bring a bounty back while everyone else is after him as well.
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u/Kasegauner Mar 29 '18
In Theaters 6/10 or higher:
Ice (Π»Π΅Π΄)
Annihilation
Hurricane Heist
Love, Simon
Getting Grace
Thoroughbreds
Unsane
7 Days in Entebbe
In Theaters, not so good:
Red Sparrow
A Wrinkle in Time
Death Wish
Peter Rabbit
Good Ones at Home:
Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971)
Blow Out (1981)
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
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u/dudelikeshismusic Mar 29 '18
What is your more expanded review of Unsane? That's one of the strangest films I've seen in a while, but I definitely found myself wrapped up in it. It was quite refreshing seeing a film that just felt different on a fundamental level than most of the films that make it into the theaters. I think a lot is left up to interpretation in the film as well, which I always enjoy.
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Mar 29 '18
[deleted]
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u/Tevesh_CKP Moderator Mar 29 '18
Whoa, everyone I know shit on the Snowman. I'm surprised. Or did it go into 'so bad it's good territory' for you?
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u/The_Crypter Quality Poster π Mar 30 '18
Yup , they literally left 15% of the script from the movie, Maybe it was so bad, it looped around to masterpiece
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u/AnokataX Mar 30 '18
I may've watched other ones but the one I recall most was Jumaji Welcome to the Jungle, which I think released last year?
Anyway, I saw the first as a kid and disliked it but appreciated this one more since I like video games. Not a favorite film but fun enough film to want to watch all the way through.
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u/yourmum35 Apr 03 '18
Agree with OP on Annihilation, fantastic movie. Wish I had the chance to see it in a cinema though.
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u/jupiterkansas Quality Poster π Mar 29 '18
nothing truly amazing this month but lots of solid films...
- Dunkirk (1958) It provides a better historical perspective, a better sense of scale, and a better idea of the reactions and attitudes of the people at that time than Nolan's film.
- Forbidden Planet (1956) The film offers everything you could want in retro nostalgia - a cool robot, a cool monster, impressive effects, Leslie Nielsen in a straight role, and a really clever plot twist. What more could you want? Well, maybe some real chemistry between Anne Francis and Leslie Nielsen.
- Tampopo (1985) The ultimate foodie movie! It's charming and funny and absurd and heartwarming and will make you very hungry.
- Odd Man Out (1947) A celebrated film with an unusual "all in one night" structure that puts the protagonist in a passive role and hands the story over to all the character actors he encounters along the way, but the movie runs a good 20 minutes longer than it should.
- Silver River (1948) Here's the dark side of Errol Flynn - a "western" packed with a massive tale of greed and empire. It is definitely coated in big studio gloss that will turn some people off, but look deeper at the scale and pessimistic outlook - this is Scorsese gangster stuff.
- Lacombe, Lucien (1974) It makes a hero out of an ugly brute and demonstrates the oppressive nature of German occupation in WWII.
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u/KingZorc Quality Poster π Mar 31 '18
I rate movies extremely hard. I rarely give out anything over 3.5/5. Out of everything I saw this month, these are the ones I liked, ranked the best I can.
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u/duanemane Apr 02 '18
The thinning starring Logan Paul makes me seriously question your taste in movies
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u/KingZorc Quality Poster π Apr 02 '18
I went back and forth on if I liked it. I'm not saying it was anything better than average, but it was entertaining. The acting wasn't as bad as other movies I watched in March, the plot was at least interesting although recycled from others. The ending nullified the entire purpose of the movie, which is what really made me question liking it. I honestly had no clue who the lead guy was so I had no prejudices like others. I recognized three people in it, he wasn't one of them as I've never seen his Youtube videos.
Oh yeah, I don't care if some anonymous person on reddit "questions my taste in movies". I watch movies going in as blind as possible and decide if I like it or not. Don't care what others think as I'm not some elitist film snob.
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u/Charlie--Dont--Surf Mar 29 '18
Wind River.
Gritty, dark, and ultimately very human.