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Monuments - been a while since I’ve seen a movie this unfocused and flat. All over the place tonally but you end up dreading the comedy bits. It was cool seeing both Marguerite Moreau and David Sullivan in lead roles though
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Jun 12, 2021 05:39
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I've been watching some older sci-fi and fantasy B-movies. Hawk the Slayer (1980) - A fairly straightforward fantasy movie about two brothers. One of them (Jack Palance) is evil, and the good brother needs to use a magic sword to confront him. It's fun to watch Jack Palance ham things up, but the good brother is stoic to the point of basically having no character at all. The magic sword is never really used in any clever ways, either, which is disappointing. 5/10 Space Truckers (1996) - I'm honestly surprised that I never heard of this movie. It stars Dennis Hopper as a space trucker who gets caught up in a larger plot along with two other characters. Charles Dance shows up in a truly bizarre role as a space pirate leader. There's a fair amount of anti-corporate satire, and the effects work is somehow both corny and impressive. There are elements of this movie that I like, but it has a semi-repugnant aesthetic that's difficult to look past. Maybe it's the fact that Dennis Hopper is present, but the aesthetic of the movie reminds me of a grosser version of Super Mario Bros. The movie might be worth seeing for how weird it can be, but I didn't like the movie overall. 4/10 Omega Doom (1996) - Rutger Hauer stars as Omega Doom, an android who finds himself in a town with feuding android gangs in this post-apocalyptic Western-ish movie. Rutger Hauer has a good screen presence, and I was amused that a character called "Omega Doom" seems to be a good guy. I also liked the "robotic" movements of some of the other actors, but this movie is just so slow. It only has about 10 actors and, for a movie with an 84 minute run time, scenes just drag on and on. I made it thirty minutes before turning it off.
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Jun 14, 2021 05:30
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My Left Foot 8/10 This movie is pretty much what you expect it to be, so watch it if you think you'll like it. I wouldn't say it's a GREAT movie because the pathos feels a bit lacking somehow given the subject matter, but it's still a good story about an interesting person, and of course Daniel Day-Lewis is great as always. Time Bandits 8/10 I think I liked this better than any other Terry Gilliam movies I've seen (including Brazil!). It's the funniest one, perhaps because of Michael Palin co-writing the script. I'm not a big Monty Python guy. Is he one of the funnier ones? As usual with Gilliam, it's a sloppy-rear end mess that needed some additional editing and some further rewriting of the script, but it's enough fun to overlook that. Both are on HBOMax right now, if you wanna watch 'em.
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Jun 14, 2021 06:55
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DorianGravy posted:Omega Doom (1996) - Rutger Hauer stars as Omega Doom, an android who finds himself in a town with feuding android gangs in this post-apocalyptic Western-ish movie. Rutger Hauer has a good screen presence, and I was amused that a character called "Omega Doom" seems to be a good guy. I also liked the "robotic" movements of some of the other actors, but this movie is just so slow. It only has about 10 actors and, for a movie with an 84 minute run time, scenes just drag on and on. I made it thirty minutes before turning it off. This sounds suspiciously like at least one Doctor Who episode lol
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Jun 14, 2021 14:36
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In the Heights - 3.5/5 Crosspost from another thread, which leans more toward nitpicks about the adaptation. General Dog posted:Did anybody else watch In the Heights yet? As someone who's never seen the live show but has enjoyed the soundtrack for a long time, I largely enjoyed it. The casting was pretty good, the staging on a lot of the big musical numbers was good to great.
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Jun 25, 2021 18:09
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Wrath of Man 2.5/5 Better than Triple 9, maybe? Maybe? Very low praise. It's pretty bad. I stopped watching Guy Ritchie after RocknRolla but drat has he fallen to near b-movie level it seems. This didn't feel like a reunion between Statham and Richie so much as just like, another generic Jason Statham vehicle that some journeyman director had made. It's weird to remember Guy Ritchie movies used to have like...humor? Energy? Style? I guess he was uhhh, going for something different here. Maybe he thought it was "dark"? Tales from the Hood 4/5 It's criminal I waited this long to see Tales from the Hood, loving creative and delightful and Clarence Williams III definitely has to be there in the top 10 scenery chewing roles of cinematic history...but goddamn did that dated 1990s "BLACK ON BLACK CRIME" bit at the end nearly ruin the whole film with me. Afterschool special level poo poo in its topics, such a completely hosed product of the 1990s. Jacob's Ladder written by Bill Cosby, goddamn. Just lame and loving pathetic self-hating bullshit complete with some Ludovico technique rear end poo poo equivocating characters that feel like Boyz n the Hood rejects with the loving KKK ("THEY BOTH KILL YOUNG BLACK MEN....WOAH....THINK ABOUT IT.....") "Who is responsible? Your mother? Your father? Your teachers? The world? Who?" Gosh who knows who could be responsible for flooding black communities with drugs and violence?? Guess it's just a matter of personal responsibility!!! Nearly ruined the movie for me but the ending was just so much fun. Punkin Spunkin fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Jun 26, 2021 |
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Jun 26, 2021 22:05
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Tenet (rewatch of the rewatch) - hellyeah.5/lmao
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Jun 26, 2021 23:12
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Fast 9David D. Davidson posted:Alright just got back from F9.
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Jun 27, 2021 02:55
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how many times do they say family?
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Jun 27, 2021 03:08
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Yes Also Fuckin' Magnets how do they work?
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Jun 27, 2021 05:10
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Blue Hawaii is the best Elvis movie, one of the best Hawaiian movies, and one of the screen musicals with the most music. I don’t think they go more than two scenes without somebody singing. Elvis himself plays a returning soldier who doesn’t want to work for his WASP parents (including his southern mother Angela Lansbury.) It’s of it’s time, but if you want a 60s movie with beautiful scenery, good jokes, and a slight plot, you can’t do better. 10/10 with the consideration of “screen musicals without a ton of choreography.” Watching this, you can understand how an entire country fell in love with Elvis. Golden Bee fucked around with this message at 07:52 on Jun 30, 2021 |
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Jun 30, 2021 07:48
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Promising Young Woman: (CW: sexual assault) Fabulous visual storytelling, great palette, tense pacing, 4/10, the screenplay is a dumpster fire. See what I did there? I set up a premise and then reversed it suddenly. This is a maneuver that this movie uses to great effect the first 5 times, and then in an annoying and tired matter another 10 times. The intro sets up the protagonist as prey to a bunch of creeps, and quickly reverses by having her follow one of the creeps home only to reveal that she is not drunk, and is in fact about to teach him an ambiguously threatening lesson in not date raping people. We are now introduced to her life, which is the life of an ascetic, containing nothing but hunting creeps motivated by the fallout of the rape of her best friend. The problems of this movie lie in whether the screenplay thinks this is a good, fun, wholesome use of her time or a pathway to madness. The implicit stance on this issue changes constantly in the course of the movie, wanders between everything from "women are too physically weak to take revenge" to "you should definitely take revenge on evildoers to ennoble true love" to "actually sometimes rape greases the wheels of justice", and leaving aside spoilers, the actual ending is going to feel like it is savagely misreading the room in terms of current national discourse on a different but related issue. The whole thing is a tragedy because, seriously, the visuals are fantastic and the entertainment value is high. Everything about this movie is good-to-great other than the fact that if you actually care about the topic at hand, you are going to be confused and probably angry by then end. Edit: I guess I am late to the party on this one, so let me just get to the meat of the problems. The framing of any story is going to make it a parable, whether it has pretenses to "just showing you the world as it is maaaaaan" or not. So what is this parable teaching us? Where did Cassie's character go wrong or right? (The movie doesn't dwell very hard on how Cassie was created compared to what she's going to do now that she's been created, so let's say the social commentary on how to avoid Cassies in the first place is tangential) She's an ascetic revenge elemental at the beginning. Great! She's got a core set of beliefs informed by her experiences and the strength to act on those beliefs. Murder all creeps. A+, great cinema, let's go home before it goes to poo poo. Then the movie introduces pediatric surgeon guy and they begin to have a little romance, except ascetics aren't allowed to have romances. So Cassie considers giving up her revenge quest, but to assuage her guilt she goes to visit the mom, who tells her basically "lol stop reminiscing about your dead best friend on the anniversary of her death, remembering the dead is sooooo unhealthy, i'm gonna do a goat yoga colonic". Right. Ok. Cassie has set up people to get raped for less, but she takes the "advice" and decides to give up the life of stabbing for the life of romance. Ok now we're in boomer shitlib Moby Dick knockoff territory. If the movie ended here, we would have found out revenge is unhealthy and you should date pediatric surgeons. Then it turns out the pediatric surgeon also saw the rape and also did nothing. Premise reversed again. Clearly the lesson is, don't give up your quest for revenge until all the rapists are dead, otherwise you might accidentally date one. Fine. A+++, great cinema, let's stab more rapists. Cassie goes to stab more rapists and is killed. So, now we are expected to believe that she's done this something like 100 times before (based on her little notebook), and this is the first time a frat bro has broken loose on her? Right... Ok, sure, why not? Where are we now, parable wise? Revenge will destroy you? poo poo. We're back even closer to Moby Dick. But ok, presumably if we cut the movie off now, we would know, revenge will destroy you because you are womanly and frail and can't figure out how to murder a big burly man, but it's still the right thing to do, so you should die for your beliefs. That's bleak and praxis means succeeding at your murders, but ok, I guess. B-, praxis means more murder. EXCEPT THIS ISN'T THE END OF THE MOVIE. The police ride in to save the day because apparently they now care about evidence, as opposed to 6 years ago, when they didn't. Sweet, glad we solved institutional leeway for sexual violence in the last 6 years. So what does this parable tell us? Report your rapes to cops? gently caress you Promising Young Woman. Not a regular poster here, but that one really rankled me. Believe your beliefs and then get away with it. Movies that say you can't are loving liars. DearSirXNORMadam fucked around with this message at 12:32 on Jul 2, 2021 |
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Jul 2, 2021 11:51
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I don't love the movie because of the very last twist you mention, but you misunderstood large swathes of it. She didn't physically assault anyone until the last guy. She was just freaking people out, not "stabbing" them, as you put it. Nor did she set anyone up to get raped - she only tricked that woman into thinking she had been raped. The only person she was planning on physically harming before the last guy was the lawyer, but she changed her mind because he showed remorse. With that stuff in mind, in my eyes the movie's only real flaw is that last bit, and so I generally enjoyed it apart from the botched ending.
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Jul 2, 2021 18:07
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TychoCelchuuu posted:I don't love the movie because of the very last twist you mention, but you misunderstood large swathes of it. She didn't physically assault anyone until the last guy. She was just freaking people out, not "stabbing" them, as you put it. Nor did she set anyone up to get raped - she only tricked that woman into thinking she had been raped. The only person she was planning on physically harming before the last guy was the lawyer, but she changed her mind because he showed remorse. With that stuff in mind, in my eyes the movie's only real flaw is that last bit, and so I generally enjoyed it apart from the botched ending. I think that interpretation is doing a disservice to the ambiguity the movie has built around this point. We know with certainty that she scared the second guy we see her hunt and she alludes to him being better than most of the guys she's dealt with. But the movie goes out of its way to cut away from what happens to any particular other person. Is it plausible that she was only scaring people? Sure. But why then does she avoid talking to the tape woman for so long? Pause for effect or a moment of clarity of "I think I might have gone a bit far on this one". Almost every "lesson" is this ambiguous. Once is editing for brevity, twice is coincidence, but thrice is enemy action. But regardless, even if she is only scaring people, what does that change about the parable? There are no innocent men in this movie, so we have to react to that premise. Cassie tried teaching various guys lessons and it didn't work, as none were saved, she tried taking revenge and it didn't work (for her), she tried ignoring the issue and that didn't work. So what does this movie believe? Is the implicit message "high altitude lesbian mountain communes rule"?
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Jul 2, 2021 21:32
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The new Soderbergh rips
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Jul 3, 2021 02:20
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I can't wait to see the new Soderbergh Last night, I watched Snake Eyes(1998). It felt like such a wonderful sendup of Hitchcock like a lot of de Palma's other movies. The steadicam opening was clever & so was the way the true narrative pieces together. I love watching Nicolas Cage chew scenery & the casino setting was fun. The postscript epilogue added a level to the plot that I feel like a lot of similar movies wouldn't have had the guts to do
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Jul 3, 2021 06:54
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American Splendor (2003) - 9.5 Compassionate, funny, interesting, sad, and completely avoids the by-the-numbers doldrums that so many biopics succumb to. I want to read some Harvey Pekar comics now.
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Jul 6, 2021 04:33
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Superman vs the Elite (2012) - 9 Watched this mainly because of the videos on youtube showing off how strong Superman is in the final showdown. Probably one of DC's best animated films, it was fantastic and really relevant in the wake of stuff like The Boys and Brightburn. Animation was really good and noticeably smooth, characters were all neat(the Elite were a really neat team) and the general themes for the movie felt pretty well explored. It makes a point to dissect the deconstructions that've been made of the genre and defend the tropes that make superheroes work.
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Jul 6, 2021 06:55
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Stripes (1981) - never seen it before, watched it because of the Rewatchables podcast episode. I might have chuckled once. This is one of the least funny 80s comedies I've ever seen.
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Jul 9, 2021 02:02
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Fate Accomplice posted:Stripes (1981) - never seen it before, watched it because of the Rewatchables podcast episode. I might have chuckled once. This is one of the least funny 80s comedies I've ever seen. I adore Ramis and Murray and also hated this movie.
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Jul 9, 2021 17:13
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TommyGun85 posted:I adore Ramis and Murray and also hated this movie. It was never great but completely falls apart after boot camp.
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Jul 9, 2021 18:51
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Midsommer (2019) One of the worst movies I have ever seen. Pure trash. It was called the best horror of 2019 and it truly is horrific realizing you will not get these 3 hours of your life back. 1 / 10 (1 pt for colourful cinematography) Good on Paper (2020) A comedy based on a true story of events that happened to Schlezinger regarding an imposter boyfriend who lied to her about who he was. It was pretty good and well acted. Its not laugh out loud funny, but its an easy watch. I would have enjoyed it more if I hadnt already heard the story a million times from Schlezinger over the years. 7 / 10
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Jul 10, 2021 01:00
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What did you hate about Midsommar?
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Jul 10, 2021 02:06
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It’s amazing how polarizing that film is and how people say it’s totally not what they were expecting. Even based on the poster it was exactly what I was hoping for.
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Jul 10, 2021 04:55
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The Mummy (1999) this still remains one of my favorite adventure/treasure hunting type movies and still holds up to this day 5/5
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Jul 11, 2021 00:57
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EL BROMANCE posted:It’s amazing how polarizing that film is and how people say it’s totally not what they were expecting. Even based on the poster it was exactly what I was hoping for. I wasn't gaga over it but I had a really good time, Pugh is phenomenal, and that smile is so so so worth it. I like the theatrical cut a lot more than the director's cut, which just drags imo, the restored footage adds very little while simultaneously muddling what's there.
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Jul 11, 2021 06:42
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BeanpolePeckerwood posted:I like the theatrical cut a lot more than the director's cut, which just drags imo, the restored footage adds very little while simultaneously muddling what's there. Agreed but I also don't like the movie much overall after rewatching it before seeing the directors cut (quarantine movie days got weird ok)
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Jul 11, 2021 06:53
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The Blob (1988). It's odd watching this movie as an adult because the last time I saw it I was just a dumb teenager who wanted to gawk at gratuitous hyperviolence. The gratuitous hyperviolence is still just as enjoyable, but it's underpinned by a movie that's remarkably deft at writing a love letter to trash horror. I watched this on the same afternoon as watching the original '50's version (an exercise that I'd thoroughly recommend with the caveat that the original is quite plodding, as the gulf in terms of cinematographic sophistication between the two eras is sufficiently pronounced as to be interesting by itself) and it stands out as a film that pays sufficient homage to the first one without being a strict remake. Reorienting itself as a more cynical conspiracy movie rather than a straight up alien creature feature did a lot to give it a contemporary feel, and while its practical effects don't quite join The Thing at the peak of what could be done at the time, they range from pretty universally solid to genuinely squirm-inducing in how viscerally they portray the horrors that are unfolding. The Blob also contains some of the best positioning of callbacks I've seen in a single film. There's precious little evidence of wasted scenes because every scene has a purpose and if you see a scene that seems to be padding it will generally contain something that will become pivotal to a later scene, even if it's something as innocuous as someone borrowing a socket wrench. Solutions to problems don't just drop out of the aether and you never really get the sense that a character acts in a certain way or escapes a situation just because the plot demands it: in most situations where you'd expect that to happen they just die instead. It's not high art, but it's clearly crafted with care, attention to detail and verisimilitude that frankly puts a lot of big budget films to shame. It's a creature feature done well that's entirely at ease with the somewhat camp and goofy nature of its oeuvre, and leans into it with enough genre awareness to wink at the audience without reducing how enjoyable it is. 8/10. A remarkably solid film that was underappreciated at its time. Breetai fucked around with this message at 14:54 on Jul 13, 2021 |
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Jul 13, 2021 14:50
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Black Widow - 3/5 Pretty fun movie with great performances from Harbour and Pugh. Almost all ruined by some really questionable choices and scenes that felt gross. giving the villain a loving Harvey Weinstein scene where he robs BW of her free will and agency with PHEROMONES while bragging about how she can’t hurt him and rubbing her face and stuff while she stands there frozen in his office was *really* uncomfortable Not to mention the fact that people were already mad about the BW backstory with the forced hysterectomy stuff mentioned in the captain America movie or whenever. Doubling down and leaning into making the female avenger’s story all about that kinda stuff and having a scene joking about that specific thing came off as the movie makers rubbing it in the face of those people Florence Pugh is a treasure though.
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Jul 13, 2021 19:32
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The Fountain(2006) I really liked it, even if it made not a lick of sense. There's probably some mystic thing that really exists that this is supposed to represent, but I don't know what it is, so I can't make anything out of the weird ending. 7/10 I did enjoy the cinematography and effects, Hugh Jackman was a joy to watch, and it overall was a very enjoyable movie. It's an experience more than anything, and I liked it for what it was, even if it was confusing.
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Jul 21, 2021 06:34
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BleedingPhoenix posted:The Fountain(2006) the soundtrack carries the movie a lot to be fair. I feel about the same as you.
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Jul 21, 2021 08:00
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Pig — really wanted to like this one, but it’s just unbearably somber and puts that across mostly through every character whispering hesitantly. Hard to have any sort of genuine reaction when there’s nothing recognizably human on screen. Cage is good though Old — don’t know if it was just a real quick shoot or what but the dialogue and acting is incredibly wooden. Night used to be able to get pretty good performances out of people and I’m not sure where that’s gone. Still well-shot and pretty fun, with at least one killer set-piece that will stick with me a long time.
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Jul 25, 2021 15:07
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Rapper Mid Size Sedan deserved better Everyone should at least watch the trailer and then read the Wiki plot synopsis for Old because it is hilariously bonkers even by his standards.
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Jul 25, 2021 17:17
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Woodstock ‘99: Peace, Love and Rage — a The Ringer production and it definitely feels like it. Pretty decent lineup of interviews but very surface level, a lot of mid-level music writers (and Moby) going on at length about What It Says About Us. The novelty of the non-stop nudity wears off after about a half hour
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Jul 26, 2021 22:39
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Pitch Black (2000) Besides Groot, Riddick is the only character I've seen Vin Diesel play, and I really enjoyed watching him. Everyone else did pretty good, too, and it was neat seeing all their interactions between each other and Riddick. Effects were great as well, they've aged fairly well in the face of time. Above everything else, I really enjoyed the world that Pitch Black shows off; despite being set on just one planet, it feels like a small part of a much greater world, and it makes sense why they decided to expand it in sequels. However, as a standalone sci-fi horror film, it was really good and overall fun time. 8/10 The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) The sequel is a lot more ambitious, but it feels like the creators were genuinely passionate about what they were making here. The sets are all quite interesting and nice to look at, and the costumes worn by the various characters and factions feel inspired. However, it does lose to its predecessor in terms of effects, with some ambitious scenes(such as Riddick running from a crashing ship) aging pretty badly. There are also several elements of Riddick's character and origin that are retconned, which I felt neutral about but could be considered poor decisions. This movie was definitely not a planned sequel, but it takes its roots and carries it forward in a new and bold way that did make it a very entertaining watch. 7.5/10
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Aug 4, 2021 05:42
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Jungle Cruise is stupid fun in the vein of Pirates of the Caribbean (though more 2/3 than 1). More enjoyable than it should be. 3/5
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Aug 4, 2021 05:47
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Some of the set design and visuals for Jungle Cruise and all of the scenery-chewing bad guys (Jesse Plemons, Paul Giamatti) were very fun to watch!
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Aug 4, 2021 09:56
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It was really weird how good most of it looked and how bad the cat looked. It could have also been at least 20 minutes shorter.
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Aug 4, 2021 09:59
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Bottom Liner posted:It was really weird how good most of it looked and how bad the cat looked. It could have also been at least 20 minutes shorter. Agreed I enjoyed it but some tighter pacing would have helped I don't remember the cat standing out to me as particularly bad CGI
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Aug 4, 2021 12:19
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Jungle Cruise loving sucked but I almost laughed out loud at the "female chief" joke at the very end. 56 out of 100.
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Aug 4, 2021 15:02
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