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No one knows what you do in the voting booth. Its Wednesday so time for my weekly reminder. You got about 38 hours left before the voting week ends. You can vote or change your vote until 3 AM EST May 7th (or when I wake up). We got a classic, a modern crowd pleaser, a lazy outing from a legend, and an amateur beginning from a could have been. A little it for everyone. So you still have a little time left if you want to get them in and don't forget to vote. I'm weirdly probably gonna watch the US Varan because I'm told its uniquely bad. Also its barely an hour.
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May 5, 2021 18:01
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STAC Goat posted:I'm weirdly probably gonna watch the US Varan because I'm told its uniquely bad. Also its barely an hour. The US localization of Varan will make you appreciate how respectful the Raymond Burr localization of Gojira really ended up being, for all its faults. It kind of throws into stark relief all of the pitfalls of that kind of US-centric localization - namely the paternalism and racism - that Godzilla, King of the Monsters! largely managed to avoid... and which Varan the Unbelievable just plunges headfirst into. Hey, in that way its kind of fitting!
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May 5, 2021 18:28
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Vampires vs The Bronx It's cute I guess? Some good gags, perfectly inoffensive, goes down smoothly, the usual Netflix fare. I didn't rewatch the Thing but obviously voting for that.
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May 6, 2021 02:10
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Class3KillStorm posted:The US localization of Varan will make you appreciate how respectful the Raymond Burr localization of Gojira really ended up being, for all its faults. It kind of throws into stark relief all of the pitfalls of that kind of US-centric localization - namely the paternalism and racism - that Godzilla, King of the Monsters! largely managed to avoid... and which Varan the Unbelievable just plunges headfirst into. Yes, yes... this is true. God, the US Varan was terrible and offensive, and offensive in the kind of way that isn't so in your face and overt but rather that really worse way that a bunch of people will fight with you and say there's nothing wrong and you can't make ground because they won't acknowledge the subtle and not subtle aggressions. Ugh. Wish I hadn't watched it. No one make the mistake I did. I guess I do have new found respect for Honda's Varan and the Burr Godzilla KOTM. But that's a low rear end bar for this film. The weird thing is I'd almost say its a better constructed film than Honda's. like there's a plot and characters. But oh my god that plot and character are the worst.
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May 6, 2021 05:29
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I guess I had a very different reaction to Varan than most people. I took it as a very straightforward kaiju story where there isn't any big reason or explanation; it's just a big old monster and people have managed to piss him off. It's the sort of thing that plays with the formula by not actually doing anything with it, if that makes sense. It's a big, annoyed, ancient animal and it's going to implacably come at you when you upset it. It's not angry about violence, or about smog, or about industrialization. It's just angry that you picked a fight with it. Not that it lacks a metaphor — I think this is also a more direct criticism of the myths the Japanese military believed in during the imperialist phase that ended in 1945. The monster could as easily be China as much as the US - once fully roused and capable, there was nothing to be done. I can't say for certain, but I did half wonder if the comment one character makes about their 36mm cannons being sufficient was actually a jab at the IJA (they'd mobilized for a war in the 1930s, and did not have the manufacturing capacity to build any tanks or similar vehicles that were prepared to take on even the medium American armor, but they didn't like to admit it). Either way, I think it does show off the futility of that doomed fight. I will allow that maybe there could have been a bit more to break up all the combat. The ending doesn't really fit well in that narrative, either, but you probably couldn't make a movie in 1958 where the monster marches right up into Tokyo and establishes itself as a surrogate emperor for the next decade. This movie isn't quite up there with the likes of Honda's best work, but those are all-time classics. The lack of any memorable characters is notable, especially since the 'journalist' side story kind of falls flat. It still manages to be quite capably directed, as we might expect, and I think it's really making the most of what was probably a somewhat limited budget, even if that means a bit less of the carnage we'd expect from a big monster movie. It still looks really good much of the time, and I found the early scenes in the mist to be some of the most suspenseful and creepy that Honda has ever made. I actually liked The Roost well enough, and think its direction is quite good, especially in the visual creation of the scenes. On the whole it's too amateurish and misses a bit more than it hits.
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May 6, 2021 06:13
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STAC Goat posted:Yes, yes... this is true. God, the US Varan was terrible and offensive, and offensive in the kind of way that isn't so in your face and overt but rather that really worse way that a bunch of people will fight with you and say there's nothing wrong and you can't make ground because they won't acknowledge the subtle and not subtle aggressions. Ugh. Wish I hadn't watched it. No one make the mistake I did. I guess I do have new found respect for Honda's Varan and the Burr Godzilla KOTM. But that's a low rear end bar for this film. I waaaaaaaaaaaaarned you
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May 6, 2021 06:48
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I'm going Roost and The Thing this week. The Roost edges out Varan thanks in part to the TV show host gimmick
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May 6, 2021 21:00
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I'm also going The Roost over Varan. I appreciate some things about Varan. The monster suit, on its first appearance, looked good. It's every subsequent time it's shown that you realize Honda is trying to hide it. I think the cinematography really hurts this one too. There are a lot of shots that are a low contrast between the bright whites and shadows that are barely there. I did kind of like the change in story, from Godzilla movies, where the monster is attacking what are basically scientific settlers, who don't seem to have the best intentions towards Varan or respect of the indigenous people that worship it. The montage at the end did not work for me at all. The Roost is amateur hour, but there's enough here for me to vote for it, even though I liked it less than Varan. It's trying something new, and it's testing the structural "rules" of horror, and tries to work new ideas out of the scares. I'm much more impressed by amateurs going for it rather than the creator of Godzilla turning in a flawed boring movie eight years later. I also thought The Roost nailed the Tom Noonan intro (like MZ mentioned). (I was interested in seeing a documentary about Honda, cuz I just do not understand his career. If anyone has any resources that aren't Wikipedia, I'd really appreciate it.) I'm probably voting The Thing over Vampires vs the Bronx, but I plan to watch that tonight to give it a fair chance.
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May 7, 2021 01:25
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First, this is not a defense of Varan. If anything I wouldn't have included Varan at all, regardless what version. But it counts, so it gets included. Your time scale is a bit off Fran- Varan was 1958, not 8 years later. That might seem even more insane- only 4 years after Gojira, 2 years after Rodan, what in the world happened? This even predates Mothra and many of his great films from the 60s, and is concurrent with some of his other 50s greats! And its not just the direction- the effects are worse, the picture quality is kind of really bad, and the picture is in black and white despite Rodan being, again, two years prior. If something smells, you'd be right. That stench is a convoluted mess of bullshit and fuckery. So let's paint the picture. 1956, Godzilla King of the Monsters is an international sensation. Godzilla becomes a house hold name. Fantastic, great cool yeah okay let's go. You know what else is becoming a household phenomenon? TV! So an American TV network goes, yo! This monster movie stuff is great! Let's go talk with Toho and get one made specifically for TV that we'll co-finance and air everywhere! So they go over to Toho and Toho goes, yeah I guess sure. Yo, Honda, take a month and go film this. Tsuburaya, get your B Team together, grease up the actors let's go. Here's some poo poo equipment that we're not using anymore because who gives a poo poo, this isn't going to be seen on a big picture. Oh what's that Tsuburaya, you absolutely hate the conditions you're having to work under because everything is going to look cheap and fake as hell and you don't have time to make it look right, nor the budget? Well you see, it's going to be on TV, so no one cares get it done. Sorry Honda, you get black and white cameras with no sound equipment that might be worse than what you shot Gojira with. It's going to be on TV and they're all black and white so who cares. Oh what's that, the TV studio went bust and that entire deal is now busted? Well. poo poo. Movie's already too far in production to stop. Can't do anything about it being black and white, but we'll pan and scan the footage and just make it wide screen I'm sure that won't make the lovely footage look worse. Oh did I mention the month time frame to make the movie? I made that joke in discord, then I checked because I realized that sounded right to me for some reason. I was wrong, it wasn't a month Unless you count February. 28 days is all this movie was given. When they realized they were stuck with this turd going to theaters, they tried to shoot a few more scenes to give it, you know, a story, but you've seen the results. Tsuburaya's annoyance with the whole venture is well known, but even Ishiro Honda, one of the most loyal directors around, was extremely unhappy with everything and with Toho for doing this. The entire movie was a giant stumble backwards since Toho had already moved into proper wide screen AND color film, and the result is as evident as anything. And then in the 1960s some Americans grabbed the film and made it racist as all hell. Just really brought out the shining racism and White Savior Knows Best bullshit. Couldn't have happened to a better movie
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May 7, 2021 02:15
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Thanks for the excellent background info Burk, that's rough luck for Honda. I'll be voting The Thing plus The Roost, and The Roost really isn't a vote out of passion for me, in fact I hate the film, but it gave me some Tom Noonan, so what am I going to do?
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May 7, 2021 07:29
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Hey, we got our highest voter total this week, topping our high from way back in January in Week 2! Lets see the results.  No real surprises here. Both matchups were really a case of the luck of the draw. Vampires vs the Bronx had the support to win a lot of matchups but against the Thing it stood no chance. It avoided the shutout but my Block Party team gets booted from the tournament just before the Second Round after a Play In victory. Its 2 votes and the 1 abstaining vote could have played spoiler and prevented The Thing from racking up the numbers but the high voter total compensated and the result is The Thing is the new top movie in votes and Carpenter moves into 2nd among directors, behind only Gasper Noe who has had 2 films. On the other side Ti West’s Roost was an amateurish flop to most but Honda drew a bad and production compromised cash in that allowed West to advance handily on some gimmicks, charm, and curve grading. That sends the legendary Honda home early this year. Its not a huge upset based on seeding, but it feels like a big fall. Still, people could have seeded him higher and maybe things would have happened differently. After all, I drew numbers by matchup order so he wouldn’t even have gotten the same movie if he played another week. But them’s the breaks. Every vote counts and Honda is down. That sends my West/Wingard team into the second round with the pleasure of facing Carpenter as the legend threatens to eliminate half my teams on his own. And I’m ok with that. Ok, time to finally finish up the first round. 1. Dario Argento’s Phantom of the Opera vs. 16. (TrixRabbi's Andrzej Żuławski & Other Poles) Andrzej Żuławski’s On the Silver Globe  Yes, our second Phantom of the Opera of the first round. Pile that on the list of weird coincidences. Argento fell in the second round last year after knocking out Crawl with Suspiria but he fell to Peter Jackson’s Braindead despite drawing Deep Red! He had the absolute best luck of draws on his end but still fell in the brutal meat grinder of the tournament. And things don’t get easier as this time he draws real low in his pool. Still one Phantom already advanced so maybe he’ll get lucky with the voters’ tastes this time. People love train wrecks. TrixRabbi’s Polish team advanced into the tourney after knocking off The Bride and A Page of Madness in the Play Ins. I don’t know anything about On the Silver Globe but it sounds weird and is from the same guy who did forum favorite Possession so things look shaky for Dario. Two 1 seeds have fallen already. Will Argento join them or will he advance and join Carpenter into the second round? Meanwhile two Play In teams have advanced and two have fallen so can Zulawski tip the scales in their favor? Phantom of the Opera On the Silver Globe 8. (STAC Goat’s Team Ladies Night) Issa López’s Tigers Are Not Afraid vs. 9. (STAC Goat’s The Silent Founders) Tod Browning’s Mark of the Vampire  Its kind of amazing it took THIS long for two of my teams to matchup, but at the risk of sounding narcissistic it almost feels fitting for it to be the last matchup of the round. Tod Browning fell first round last year as Dracula was taken out by Jordan Peele’s Us in a real statement vote. His partner Hitchcock faired better going 3 rounds and Team Universal has already advanced so can Browning make up for things and start representing the classic oldies more with a win here? Bela Lugosi in a vampire movie looks good on paper but didn’t work for him last year. Issa Lopez is a newcomer as is her entire team of ladies, but they’re the 3rd of 3 women’s teams I put together and the other two have already fallen. Truthfully I don’t really know anything about her or this film but no one can seem to talk about it without mentioning GdT so I’m excited. Normally I joke here about all my teams is lose but I mean someone has to come out of this one. So will it be Lopez’s modern dark fairy tale or Browning’s golden age vampire tale? I’m kind of mailing in this entry. Who’s gonna get mad, me? Mark of the Vampire Tigers Are Not Afraid is streaming on Shudder, AMC+, DirecTV, and Pantaya in the US. This is it. The end of a 4 month first round that saw 64 films come and go. Plus an additional 15 films across 3 Play In weeks. The last 4 this week and the last pair who advance into the second round get decided. Next round gets all kinds of interesting and exciting but everything comes in time. Vote or change your vote until 3 AM EST May 14th (or when I wake up) Bracket & Noms Spreadsheet Letterboxd List Next Week! Round 2! - 4. Lucio Fulci vs. 5. Debbie Does Dagon’s Queer as in gently caress You - 9. Tarnop’s The Brutal Brits vs. 16. Francschendo’s Team Vulgær
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May 7, 2021 08:08
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I don't think Argento is gonna win this one lol I found Tigers extremely bland and unimaginative, so it's Mark's round to lose.
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May 7, 2021 12:47
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Ohhh I'm definitely looking forward to Mark of the Vampire. Been meaning to check that out for a few years and it's also a great selection for the May Challenge. Phantom of the Opera is one of the few Argentos I haven't seen so I'm gonna give it a fair shot. If it's as bad as Dracula though, forget it, Argento's gone.
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May 7, 2021 13:59
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Been meaning to watch Tigers for a while now so it's good to have a bit of extra motivation. Silver Globe sounds wild. Interest in the other two is basically zero
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May 7, 2021 14:03
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Spoilers for the masterpiece https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1o4Hrwmfdo Also lol at the idea of people mixing up Argento's Phantom and Argento's Opera married but discreet fucked around with this message at 14:11 on May 7, 2021 |
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May 7, 2021 14:04
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oh man Zulawski comes roarin' in with the big guns
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May 7, 2021 14:33
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Looks like Ishiro Honda got knocked out of the tournament on his birthday. That's a fine how-do-you-do. I voted for The Roost
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May 7, 2021 15:44
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married but discreet posted:Spoilers for the masterpiece Lmao this gunna be tough to beat
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May 7, 2021 17:09
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Uh yea, am I supposed to NOT like that?
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May 7, 2021 17:37
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It's gonna be an odd double feature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBFRiSlcBAg
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May 7, 2021 17:44
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Basebf555 posted:Uh yea, am I supposed to NOT like that? Having never seen Argento's Phantom but having read a bunch of reviews and remembering that Schumacher's Phantom won... yeah, I kinda don't think this is the slam dunk it seems to be. It sounds like Argento's might be crazy and theatrical enough to win people over. But then again his opponent also sounds crazy and like the voting block's thing. So he might get screwed by that draw. Against a more pedestrian film I could see Argento having more of a shot at this. But if Silver Globe hits the way its reviews say then all bets are off.
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May 7, 2021 18:46
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STAC Goat posted:Having never seen Argento's Phantom but having read a bunch of reviews and remembering that Schumacher's Phantom won... yeah, I kinda don't think this is the slam dunk it seems to be. It sounds like Argento's might be crazy and theatrical enough to win people over. Yea this is one stream that I'll be making a point of being there for sure. Deb to the rescue on this one, I doubt I'd be able to get my hands on either one of them otherwise.
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May 7, 2021 18:48
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 Week 19 Bracketology Streams!  Only on the CineD Discord All times are in EST and may not reflect reality. Saturday, May 8th  1900 On The Silver Globe* vs. 2145 Dario Argento's The Phantom of the Opera *This is over two-and-a-half hours long, so plan accordingly. I'll take a vote on either an intermission or an extra-long middle break during the stream. Either way, this is cumulatively going to be an over four-and-a-half hour long stream. Monday, May 10th  1900 Mark of the Vampire vs. 2010 Tigers Are Not Afraid Content Warnings On The Silver Globe (1988) Unrated - Severe violence, gore, and frightening and intense scenes. I couldn't find a lot of ratings info on this one, but it's from the same director as Possession, so, it could be intense. The Phantom of the Opera (1998) Rated R for violence/gore, sexuality, and depictions of Julian Sands. Mark of the Vampire (1935) "Passed" in ye olde ratings. The vampire and bats may frighten some viewers. Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017) Unrated - Moderate violence, gore, and frightening and intense scenes, including violence against children.
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May 7, 2021 20:32
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Quoting myself from the May Challenge thread:The Berzerker posted:
Voting Tigers are not Afraid.
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May 7, 2021 21:23
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2.5/5
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Yeah, I guess I'll quote my already posted reviews. Sorry that means wordiness instead of brevity I usually try for here.STAC Goat posted:
Ok, so what does that mean head to head? On the Silver Globe is probably objectively the better film but its distinctly not my idea of a good time and its length, artistic choices, and forced upon limitations all work together to make it an all together unpleasant and regretful viewing experience for me. Phantom on the other hand is pretty bad and ridiculous, but i laughed so hard I nearly passed out and gave myself a headache I still have. So what can I do? I might be the only one but I'm voting Argento and I'm doing it pretty guilt free.
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May 9, 2021 06:24
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That review definitely makes me think more highly of Phantom. I absolutely never thought of it as a comedy but it makes perfect sense. Nothing worse than a bad comedy of course, but at least I'm a little less embarrassed for Argento.
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May 9, 2021 20:02
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Tigers are not Afraid I suppose I’ll be one of the few haters of an overwhelmingly well received movie this time. Admittedly, I watched this a while ago and forgot about most of it, so I’m basing my reviews off some texts I sent to a friend when I first watched it. Turns out it wasn’t just forgettable to me, I must have been in a very grumpy and ungenerous mood because I really didn’t like it. Here’s some texts: -Generic Tel Toro hosed up kids story - Narco-Satanists? Hell yeah - Magical Realism for no reason other than cash in on Del Toro’s popularity, detracts from movie. No rhyme or reason to any of this. - Trying very hard, sad single note piano/violin soundtrack - Not a single thing in this that’s not predictable and cliché. - Like someone saw Pan’s Labyrinth and decided to do it too, but sappy and generic - Somehow seeing the mutilated mom in the corpse pile gives the child closure enough for the film to end. Right. Dunno. Didn’t work for me. Mark of the Vampire There is a kitty in an armor and that is enough for me to make it a winning movie. But there is also an opossum, several real (sadly) and fake (aw yea) bats, spiders, nice effects, and a quiiiite unexpected and a bit silly ending. And honestly, it’s almost a bit scary. There is a shot of Dracula walking towards the camera that, if they’d held on it longer, would have been unsettling. There’s the whole aspect of the vampires invading the house, which generally doesn’t really elicit much because it’s done in every Dracula movie, but somehow here it feels a bit more eerie. I don’t know why, especially since the movie overall has a comedic tone. But it works as a package, and overall definitely a step up from Dracula for Browning. It’s fascinating how quickly people of that era came up with a language for movies, and then seeing it evolve over time. edit: obviously voting Mark. married but discreet fucked around with this message at 03:46 on May 11, 2021 |
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May 11, 2021 03:39
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8. (STAC Goat’s Team Ladies Night) Issa López’s Tigers Are Not Afraid vs. 9. (STAC Goat’s The Silent Founders) Tod Browning’s Mark of the VampireSTAC Goat posted:
So both my teams up this time and I feel like both delivered, at least for me. I'm sad to see either go since Issa Lopéz represents the last of my 3 women's teams standing, and Tod Browning represents the last of my 2 B&W "founders" teams left standing. Both underrepresented parts of horror in this tournament I feel, but one has to go. Truthfully if I had to pick a director/team it would probably be Browning and Hitchcock. Much of this Ladies team was put together sight unseen. But nothing could deliver on a first watch as much as Tigers Are Not Afraid did for me. I really enjoyed and appreciated Mark of a Vampire on a lot of levels, but its going against what is probably my single favorite watch (at least first watch) of these last four and half months in this tournament. So the Ladies have my vote easily.
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May 11, 2021 04:34
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I'm copying and pasting my hot takes from Letterboxd for both of these matchups. 1. Dario Argento’s Phantom of the Opera vs. 16. (TrixRabbi's Andrzej Żuławski & Other Poles) On the Silver Globe Phantom of the Opera - Julian Sands is at his Julian Sandsiest in this very uneven but occasionally very entertaining horror comedy semi-musical reminiscent of the 1910 novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra. On the Silver Globe - On the Silver Globe is an incredibly dense sci-fi fable about accidentally re-founding human civilization on a distant planet and not learning from any of history's mistakes. To me, On the Silver Globe was the objectively better movie, but it really wasn't any fun. On the other hand, Phantom of the Opera was probably only fun because I watched it with a group. I'll probably be voting for On the Silver Globe because I've voted against the other #1 seeds when they drew a real clunker. 8. (STAC Goat’s Team Ladies Night) Issa López’s Tigers Are Not Afraid vs. 9. (STAC Goat’s The Silent Founders) Tod Browning’s Mark of the Vampire Tigers Are Not Afraid - Tigers Are Not Afraid reminded me of both Pan’s Labyrinth and City of God in the best ways possible. Five young orphans are forced to deal with circumstances that would be terrible for adults. The performances were fantastic (especially the children) and the supernatural touches were just enough to accentuate the tense and tragic story. Mark of the Vampire - Tod Browning does Scream 60 years before Scream. I should have liked this a lot more than I did but it really fell flat. In this matchup, Tigers Are Not Afraid is an easy choice.
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May 11, 2021 18:24
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Just as a warning, do not confuse the Tod Browning movie with the text of Dracula sent through a Markov text generator, or else you get this:quote:How this phrase thrilled through the evening we strolled into the room the same seas in 1777; or John Paxton, drowned off Cape Farewell a year later; or old John Rawlings, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of much thankfulness together, and she was a wilderness of beautiful white flowers, and death be all that we sought the hilt of his care. I saw that she feels influences more acutely than other people do. Just now he spoke out:-- “Unclean, unclean! I must touch him or kiss him no more. I stole back to my room and found Madam Mina still sleep as late as you will. I am content if I am like the rain on the road we were not sure already given in simple good faith, was outcast from God. “Jonathan dear, and a fine fellow is overwhelmed her that he would be certain whether any more!” and he groaned in anguish that not even feel it. Fortunately, the weather is getting too diffuse; but now he rose and fell with regular respiration. I actually liked Mark of the Vampire and realized it's where Scooby-Doo comes from. It also has some genuinely good chills, especially with the women. Hoping to get to Tigers before the voting deadline.
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May 11, 2021 19:22
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Its Wednesday. I have a headache. Running out of time before this week and the first round is over. Vote or change your vote until 3 AM EST May 14th (or when I wake up). Sorry I'm not more clever. Or "clever." Head hurts. Enjoy movies, vote, or don't. Be well.
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May 12, 2021 20:11
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Under the Silver Globe vs. Phantom of the Opera is an interesting one because I think both of them really did benefit from the group watch experience. For different reasons, I don't think I'd have gotten through either film on my own, Under the Silver Globe was just so long and opaque, and Phantom of the Opera was so goofy and not really up to the visual standard we're all used to with Argento. In terms of artistic merit, Under the Silver Globe wins easily. But I don't feel an obligation to vote just based on artistic merit, or any specific criteria really. So I'm voting for Argento because A)Phantom wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be and B)it was actually legitimately funny, as if Argento was going out of his way to make a comedy version of the story. So of the two films Phantom of the Opera is the one I'd be most likely to rewatch or show to a friend, and in general 3 hour experimental films aren't usually my thing, even though there was plenty I could appreciate in Under the Silver Globe. Anyway I'm pretty sure Argento is toast so my vote probably won't matter much there. Last night I was able to finally sit down and watch Mark of the Vampire and I enjoyed that a lot. It doesn't lean too hard into the comedy, the film still has plenty of that classic Universal Monsters atmosphere(even though this is MGM), and Lugosi is just as good as ever. The plot is solid and even though I knew the twist it was still a lot of fun to watch it all play out. So that's an easy vote for me, I watched Tigers Are Not Afraid in October and it's fine but didn't strike me as remarkable in any way and I was kinda bored through most of it. It's certainly well made but it's not the sort of thing that I'd ever choose over Bela loving Lugosi.
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May 13, 2021 14:10
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Argento got me lolin atm
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May 13, 2021 21:04
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An easy pick for On The Silver Globe to me. Argento's movie is silly in some great ways, but overall just so poorly made, especially in comparison to it's competition which is a masterpiece. Though it toes the line of being a horror movie, I found enough of it haunting to vote for it. It has some exceptional art design and the camera work is just out of this world. Truly remarkable, probably one of the best movies in this tournament up to this point. E: gunna try to get both Tigers and Mark, but time's short so I dont know if I'll make it.
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May 13, 2021 21:57
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I'll be voting for Silver Globe, and Tigers Are Not Afraid. Both easily beat their competition in terms of storytelling, visuals, performances, tone, and just overall enjoyability for me. As much as people have said that perhaps Phantom could be watched and enjoyed in repeated viewing, I'd personally rather watch a film that puts effort in and genuinely moves me.MacheteZombie posted:E: gunna try to get both Tigers and Mark, but time's short so I dont know if I'll make it. Both are very short, in fairness. Mark is only an hour long.
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May 13, 2021 22:47
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Debbie Does Dagon posted:I'll be voting for Silver Globe, and Tigers Are Not Afraid. Both easily beat their competition in terms of storytelling, visuals, performances, tone, and just overall enjoyability for me. As much as people have said that perhaps Phantom could be watched and enjoyed in repeated viewing, I'd personally rather watch a film that puts effort in and genuinely moves me. I'm about to finish Mark, but tonight is my online game night with friends so not sure when I'll fit in Tigers.
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May 13, 2021 22:51
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Dario Argento’s Phantom of the Opera I was wondering on the Discord what had happened to Dario Argento in the 90s, and the most convincing answer that was brought up is that he just got old. This has been sort of bumming me out ever since I thought about it. Like, in an existential dread sort of way. If it can happen to a person like Argento, it can happen to me. Not in the sense of getting old physically, but losing whatever made me good at whatever. Maybe it’s happening already? I’m only 34 so that I haven’t even reached his Profondo Rosso age, so that should be a solace. But it sort of isn’t. Of course I’m not a filmmaker, and I’ll never be as good at what I do as Argento ever was at filmmaking. But AM getting older, so I could lose whatever I have at any time? Dunno. That’s sort of what went through my head as I watched Julian Sands gently caress bunch of rats or whatever the gently caress was happening during that scene. Movie sucks. On the Silver Globe I almost didn’t watch this, and then I decided to try and split it over two days, but then I easily watched it in a single sitting. What a masterpiece! I’m far too art illiterate to write something profound about the movie, and by God it deserves something profound, not some idiot like me saying it’s dope. It’s dope though! Somehow the missing parts, narrated by the director as he films life in post-soviet Poland actually add another layer to the movie. The lack of a conclusion in the story, but instead the ending with the director’s reflection in the storefront, it sort of gave me a conclusion on its own. It didn’t feel like anything was missing. Probably the best Bracketology movie so far? Not horror tho so voting ratfuck just kidding
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May 14, 2021 01:12
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Its over! The week and the first round! Lets see what happened!  No real surprises there. The big story is of course that our 3rd #1 seed goes down as Dario Argento is out in the first round. Given his draw and the general reaction to it there’s no explanation needed here but that undercuts what a strong reaction Żuławski’s On the Silver Globe with some calling it the best film of the tournament. Argento drew a few votes and we had a lower turnout this week so the film doesn’t make a mark in the Top 5 stats but the Poles’ second win in the tournament nets them 22 votes total and draws even with Predation for second place among teams. Lopez’s Tigers Are Not Afraid gets a comfortable victory herself and sends Browning and Hitchcock off to the farm with most of the other old men. That sets up our last second round matchup of TrixRabbi’s Andrzej Żuławski & Other Pole (although at this stage I think its JUST Zulawski) vs my Ladies’ Night team. And with that our first round comes to an end after 4 and a half months. Which means we’re halfway home! So lets get the second round started! 4. Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead vs. 5. (Debbie Does Dagon’s Queer as in gently caress You) Bertrand Mandico’s Les garçons sauvages aka The Wild Boys  Its a legendary director vs a highly ranked team to kick off our second round. Fulci drew his classic Zombie in the first round and took down Michael Haneke and married but discreet’s Austrian Oscar Winners Who Also Do Horror while Deb’s QaiFY team took down Larry Cohen with the crowd pleasing Singapore Sling. That was way back in January so its understandable if you’ve forgotten, but now they both go again looking to keep taking down the Director/Team dynamic. For Fulci he draws another one of his zombi mind twisting classics, the first of his Gates of Hell Trilogy, but it goes against a film that sounds just as visually distinctive and out there as Fulci. A film so diverse in elements that I was able to make a joke out of people comparing it to half a dozen films that have very little in common. I have a general idea what to expect from Fulci and I have absolutely no idea what to expect from Wild Boys. No, that’s not true. Its Deb’s team. I have expectations. But I don’t know what to expect from this matchup as two very loaded entries go head to head in a tough one to call. Sequel Alert: While City of the Living Dead is the first of the Gates of Hell Trilogy with The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery it is my understanding that this is an entirely thematic trilogy, although Catriona MacColl stars in all three as different characters. So even I’m not crazy enough to feel the need to watch all of them. But I’ll let you judge for yourself. City of the Living Dead is available on Amazon Prime, AMC Plus, Kanopy, Night Flight Plus, Shudder, Tubi TV, and VUDU Free in the US. The Wild Boys is available on Kanopy in the US. 9. (Tarnop’s The Brutal Brits) Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers vs. 16. (Francschendo’s Team Vulgær) Lars von Trier’s The House That Jack Built  Oh boy. This seems like a dark one. Team Vulgaer has been one of the most dominant teams of the tournament, picking up huge big wins by Gasper Noe already over Charles Band, Duccio Tessari, and most impressively Takashi Miike. Although you know, racist bugs. But its been enough to get them into the second round and propel Noe and the team to the top of the stats. Noe won’t get a chance to add to his personal totals but Lars von Trier gets his first call to try and keep the team’s momentum going with a film that has some very polarizing reviews and differences of opinion as to if this is a introspective self confession, a pretentious bit of self aggrandizing, or a cry for help. Also it might or might not have some pretty severe animal brutality. On the other side Ben Wheatley gets his first go after his fellow Brutal Brit took down another big name in William Friedkin in the first round. Wheatley’s film got some pretty polarizing reviews himself with some seeming to feel his quirky black comedy works and some finding it pandering and try hard. There’s one review which described it as “Natural Born Killers minus the social criticism, the style and much funnier” which didn’t make the poster because for the life of me no matter how many times i read it I couldn’t figure if it was positive or negative. What I can tell is that these are two pretty rough films and after swearing Noe off last round I’m debating extending that to von Trier and maybe this whole matchup. I dunno. Tough call. But it sounds like the kind of stuff the crowd loves so should be interesting. Fun little extra in this matchup is that while Fran’s Team Vulgaer briefly held the lead in team stats Tarnop’s Predation overtook them late in the first round. So now another of Tarnop’s teams gets a chance to take them out and really clear the way for Predation to dominate this thing. And von Trier has the chance to join Predation in having 2 directors show up in the top stats. This stuff is fun to me. Sightseers The House That Jack Built is available on AMC Plus, DIRECTV, and Hulu in the US. That stuff is fun but this week doesn’t look very fun for me. But it does sound like its right down the path of most and could be a very interesting week with a lot of films that gets strong reactions. Second round underway means diving deeper into the film pools and also moving a lot faster. Also fun and more complicated stat stuff to entertain me while I maybe don’t watch the movies for my own sanity.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od6hY_50Dh0 Vote or change your vote until 3 AM EST May 21st (or when I wake up) Bracket & Noms Spreadsheet Letterboxd List Next Week! - 3. Team David vs. 11. Team Universal - 2. Shinya Tsukamoto vs. 7. Creature Features
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May 14, 2021 08:02
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I didn't vote in time 
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May 14, 2021 08:16
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Excited as heck for all of this. 3 films I know are great, and a film my dear friend DDD absolutely loves.
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May 14, 2021 08:39
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