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Post by nowimnothing on Oct 19, 2020 8:49:08 GMT -5
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
Well it is right there in the title. The movie is pretty much just about the trial. Several flashbacks and flashforwards fill it out and give it depth. The actors are all great and it feels very relevant today. Especially for us U.S. Politics Thread people as it gets into the fights between Abbie Hoffman and Tom Hayden on revolution versus reform. I also really appreciated a moment where Bobby Seale calls out Hayden to underscore the differences in why they are activists.
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Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on Oct 19, 2020 14:59:54 GMT -5
Frankenweenie (2012)
Why wasn't this that successful? It's cute and has fun classic horror monster references! There's a timely subplot about a town of idiots running an over-qualified science teacher out of town and being obsessed with celebrating their European heritage at the expense of all other concerns!
Death Becomes Her (1992)
Um, there's some stuff here that hasn't aged well, but I laughed. Effects don't really hold up, but it's not important. Bruce Willis, weirdo character actor is almost always more fun than Bruce Willis, action guy.
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Post by ganews on Oct 19, 2020 19:08:21 GMT -5
Bruce Willis, weirdo character actor is almost always more fun than Bruce Willis, action guy. I propose that this is true of every action guy who is capable of anything else, which excludes Schwarzenegger and who else?
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Floyd D Barber
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The Train I used to Drive (not me driving, though)
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Post by Floyd D Barber on Oct 19, 2020 20:48:18 GMT -5
Bruce Willis, weirdo character actor is almost always more fun than Bruce Willis, action guy. I propose that this is true of every action guy who is capable of anything else, which excludes Schwarzenegger and who else? I'm going to have to defend Schwarzenegger's acting range just a little bit.
I just re-watched Maggie the other night, with Arnold as a parent attempting to deal with his daughter's inevitable metamorphosis into a zombie after being bitten by an infected, and her illness' effect on his family. There are virtually no action scenes, the horror is emotional and slow to build, and Arnold totally sells it. The actress playing the daughter is outstanding. There isn't a misfire in the entire cast. It's a very well written movie, and definitely show's the former governor's skill at playing a thoughtful, serious, emotionally devastated character just trying to hold things together for his family. It's a real departure from his typical performances, and I think it's well worth a look.
Edit:This movie deserves the highest praise I can give any movie, show, or book. People don't go around doing stupid stuff simply to advance the plot. The characters think.
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Post by The Sensational She-Hulk on Oct 20, 2020 9:00:55 GMT -5
I watched Ant-Man (2015) and Robin Williams: Live on Broadway (2002) this weekend. Well, I sorta watched Ant-Man. Mostly I tried to learn how to play chess on my phone. (I am...not good at it.) It was funny and had its moments, but honestly, the reason I started trying to learn how to play chess on my phone was because it started dragging after a bit. I feel like it could've cut half an hour and held my attention a lot better, but it just kind of went through the standard funny Marvel movie paces. Paul Rudd is extremely charming and I did like the little girl who played Cassie. I might try Ant-Man and the Wasp soon, which I understand is a better version of this movie.
The Robin Williams stand-up special was just a comfort watch for me, because I probably saw it half a dozen times in high school/college. It does not hold up 100%, particularly the jokes about Muslim terrorists, which I had totally forgotten about and which surprised (and mortified) me for a minute before I remembered HBO filmed this in NYC not long after 9/11. I still laughed like crazy at the Olympics bit, though. And I had to text my best friend from high school, "Praise to him, Jim-Bob, he who finds the stuff and gets me a job, Jim-Booooob!" because we attended Catholic schools for 12 years and this comedy bit is how we processed that particular trauma.
I DVRed The Thing (1981) on Showtime this weekend, and I plan to watch it on Saturday afternoon after I've gotten some errands out of the way. I'm really looking forward to seeing it for the first time!
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Post by haysoos on Oct 20, 2020 9:15:10 GMT -5
I propose that this is true of every action guy who is capable of anything else, which excludes Schwarzenegger and who else? I'm going to have to defend Schwarzenegger's acting range just a little bit.
I just re-watched Maggie the other night, with Arnold as a parent attempting to deal with his daughter's inevitable metamorphosis into a zombie after being bitten by an infected, and her illness' effect on his family. There are virtually no action scenes, the horror is emotional and slow to build, and Arnold totally sells it. The actress playing the daughter is outstanding. There isn't a misfire in the entire cast. It's a very well written movie, and definitely show's the former governor's skill at playing a thoughtful, serious, emotionally devastated character just trying to hold things together for his family. It's a real departure from his typical performances, and I think it's well worth a look.
Edit:This movie deserves the highest praise I can give any movie, show, or book. People don't go around doing stupid stuff simply to advance the plot. The characters think.
I think Twins and Kindergarten Cop also show that Schwarzenegger is more than just muscles and explosions. Kindergarten Cop in particular is far more entertaining than it has any right to be, and spawned an entire sub-genre of terrible 'muscle-bound hero with little kids' movies that just serve to highlight how rare Schwarzenegger's talent really is. Truly the only other action guy I can think of who is really at his most fun as an action guy is Jackie Chan. Not that I've really seen him in much outside of that role.
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Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on Oct 20, 2020 12:50:16 GMT -5
I'm going to have to defend Schwarzenegger's acting range just a little bit.
I just re-watched Maggie the other night, with Arnold as a parent attempting to deal with his daughter's inevitable metamorphosis into a zombie after being bitten by an infected, and her illness' effect on his family. There are virtually no action scenes, the horror is emotional and slow to build, and Arnold totally sells it. The actress playing the daughter is outstanding. There isn't a misfire in the entire cast. It's a very well written movie, and definitely show's the former governor's skill at playing a thoughtful, serious, emotionally devastated character just trying to hold things together for his family. It's a real departure from his typical performances, and I think it's well worth a look.
Edit:This movie deserves the highest praise I can give any movie, show, or book. People don't go around doing stupid stuff simply to advance the plot. The characters think.
I think Twins and Kindergarten Cop also show that Schwarzenegger is more than just muscles and explosions. Kindergarten Cop in particular is far more entertaining than it has any right to be, and spawned an entire sub-genre of terrible 'muscle-bound hero with little kids' movies that just serve to highlight how rare Schwarzenegger's talent really is. Truly the only other action guy I can think of who is really at his most fun as an action guy is Jackie Chan. Not that I've really seen him in much outside of that role. I think there's a spectrum for this between "legitimately more interesting actor that just ended up being known as Action Guy" and "definitely wouldn't work if there wasn't some talent there, but a lot of these performances work because they play against the action persona". Arnold's comedy roles I feel fall into the latter. I think Chris Hemsworth is the modern superhero guy, equivalent of this in stuff like Ghostbusters. On the other end, I wouldn't say the success of Daniel Craig and Chris Evans' performances in Knives Out hinge on them having been James Bond and Captain America.
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Post by haysoos on Oct 20, 2020 14:11:01 GMT -5
I think Twins and Kindergarten Cop also show that Schwarzenegger is more than just muscles and explosions. Kindergarten Cop in particular is far more entertaining than it has any right to be, and spawned an entire sub-genre of terrible 'muscle-bound hero with little kids' movies that just serve to highlight how rare Schwarzenegger's talent really is. Truly the only other action guy I can think of who is really at his most fun as an action guy is Jackie Chan. Not that I've really seen him in much outside of that role. I think there's a spectrum for this between "legitimately more interesting actor that just ended up being known as Action Guy" and "definitely wouldn't work if there wasn't some talent there, but a lot of these performances work because they play against the action persona". Arnold's comedy roles I feel fall into the latter. I think Chris Hemsworth is the modern superhero guy, equivalent of this in stuff like Ghostbusters. On the other end, I wouldn't say the success of Daniel Craig and Chris Evans' performances in Knives Out hinge on them having been James Bond and Captain America. Chris Hemsworth I think could be a genuine "actor" actor in the right role. He was great in Bad Times at the El Royale, Cabin in the Woods and Vacation as well, but most of his other films have been terrible, so it's harder to tell. Daniel Craig's work as James Bond is probably some of his least interesting work, other than the awful Cowboys & Aliens. He's been great as Bond, but his other stuff is much better. And Chris Evans is pretty much great in everything. Dwayne Johnson seems stuck in the "Action Guy" and "Play against action persona" roles, but I think he could probably pull off something outside that. OK, a little bit outside that. Vin Diesel, however, only seems to be able to pull off the "Play against action persona" roles in voice roles (and fairly limited voice roles at that). He keeps trying though, bless his little heart.
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Post by songstarliner on Oct 21, 2020 2:23:42 GMT -5
I'll throw in a mention for Stallone in Cop Land. Does anyone remember that movie? Everyone was in it - Keitel, De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Ray Liotta, Janeane Garofalo for chrissakes, and many others. Stallone does such a good job of playing the sad-sack straight guy, trying to do the right thing when his whole world is made up of people doing the wrong thing.
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Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on Oct 21, 2020 8:12:45 GMT -5
Ready or Not
Pretty fun little movie, I thought. The OC is probably my greatest teenage guilty pleasure, so it's always fun to see Adam Brody pop up again. I do kind of agree that, the visceral satisfaction of it aside, the ending of the whole thing would have landed better if it HAD turned out the whole supernatural angle was bullshit
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LazBro
Prolific Poster
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Post by LazBro on Oct 21, 2020 8:37:40 GMT -5
I'll throw in a mention for Stallone in Cop Land. Does anyone remember that movie? Everyone was in it - Keitel, De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Ray Liotta, Janeane Garofalo for chrissakes, and many others. Stallone does such a good job of playing the sad-sack straight guy, trying to do the right thing when his whole world is made up of people doing the wrong thing. Back in ... let's see, 1997 I guess ... there was a channel in our cable package called The Popcorn Channel, and all they did was play movie trailers, with the occasional featurette thrown in. It was kinda like the pre-show they do at big movie theaters these days, except all the time. The movie never came.
I mention this, and know that it must have been around 1997, because I watched the Popcorn Channel way more than anyone should, and I must have seen the trailer for Cop Land 50+ times. So I do remember it, but indeed the only memory I have of it is this silly cable channel. I never saw the movie.
I know this thread is more about performances, but I feel like you always have the throw Sly a few extra points, because he's also a writer/director. And he's absolutely great as his signature character, Rocky Balboa, and that dude fights but he's hardly an "action guy". I think Stallone is one of those, like Jason Statham, who could have had a much more interesting career if they hadn't become leading action men, not that I don't like them both.
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Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on Oct 21, 2020 9:26:33 GMT -5
I'll throw in a mention for Stallone in Cop Land. Does anyone remember that movie? Everyone was in it - Keitel, De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Ray Liotta, Janeane Garofalo for chrissakes, and many others. Stallone does such a good job of playing the sad-sack straight guy, trying to do the right thing when his whole world is made up of people doing the wrong thing. Back in ... let's see, 1997 I guess ... there was a channel in our cable package called The Popcorn Channel, and all they did was play movie trailers, with the occasional featurette thrown in. It was kinda like the pre-show they do at big movie theaters these days, except all the time. The movie never came.
I mention this, and know that it must have been around 1997, because I watched the Popcorn Channel way more than anyone should, and I must have seen the trailer for Cop Land 50+ times. So I do remember it, but indeed the only memory I have of it is this silly cable channel. I never saw the movie.
I know this thread is more about performances, but I feel like you always have the throw Sly a few extra points, because he's also a writer/director. And he's absolutely great as his signature character, Rocky Balboa, and that dude fights but he's hardly an "action guy". I think Stallone is one of those, like Jason Statham, who could have had a much more interesting career if they hadn't become leading action men, not that I don't like them both.
Yea, Stallone is definitely on the Willis end of the spectrum, not the Arnold end. And I don't mean dismiss Arnold as having no talent, because as others have said Kindergarten Cop probably doesn't work with like...Dolph Lundgren. But The Rock is a good modern comparison, yea he's funny but all the roles are going to play off that physique.
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Post by chalkdevil 😈 on Oct 21, 2020 9:28:43 GMT -5
I'll throw in a mention for Stallone in Cop Land. Does anyone remember that movie? Everyone was in it - Keitel, De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Ray Liotta, Janeane Garofalo for chrissakes, and many others. Stallone does such a good job of playing the sad-sack straight guy, trying to do the right thing when his whole world is made up of people doing the wrong thing. I never saw it, but remember it as a notorious flop where Stallone gained some weight for the roll. This would have been in the era when I would just read my mom's Entertainment Weekly cover to cover every month. I had a lot of information about movies from the mid to late 90s I've never seen.
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Post by ganews on Oct 21, 2020 9:54:12 GMT -5
Back in ... let's see, 1997 I guess ... there was a channel in our cable package called The Popcorn Channel, and all they did was play movie trailers, with the occasional featurette thrown in. It was kinda like the pre-show they do at big movie theaters these days, except all the time. The movie never came.
I mention this, and know that it must have been around 1997, because I watched the Popcorn Channel way more than anyone should, and I must have seen the trailer for Cop Land 50+ times. So I do remember it, but indeed the only memory I have of it is this silly cable channel. I never saw the movie.
I know this thread is more about performances, but I feel like you always have the throw Sly a few extra points, because he's also a writer/director. And he's absolutely great as his signature character, Rocky Balboa, and that dude fights but he's hardly an "action guy". I think Stallone is one of those, like Jason Statham, who could have had a much more interesting career if they hadn't become leading action men, not that I don't like them both.
Yea, Stallone is definitely on the Willis end of the spectrum, not the Arnold end. And I don't mean dismiss Arnold as having no talent, because as others have said Kindergarten Cop probably doesn't work with like...Dolph Lundgren. But The Rock is a good modern comparison, yea he's funny but all the roles are going to play off that physique. I was almost going to say The Rock, but I haven't seen Moana and I heard he did good things there. Jason Mamoa is also surely a pure example.
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Post by haysoos on Oct 21, 2020 10:00:37 GMT -5
Stallone I would definitely put in the Statham/Willis camp. I never gave a fuck about boxing. My general apathy for sports turns to pretty much complete antipathy for boxing, and so I have no interest at all in boxing movies. So it was many, many years before I ever saw a Rocky movie.
The first Stallone movie I ever saw was Victory (a WWII soccer movie), and then films like Paradise Alley, Lords of Flatbush, Nighthawks, and then First Blood. All of which are a lot different than the muscle-bound inarticulate caricature of Stallone that later movies seem to portray.
I wouldn't say he's a great actor, but I think he's a lot better than people give him credit for. I remember when Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis were opening the Planet Hollywood franchise, and there was a press conference where Arnie and Bruce were joking and laughing with the reporters, and then Sly would say something, and all the reporters would just stop, stunned and be like "Holy fuck, Stallone just said something funny! I didn't think he could do that!" As if he were a talking dog or something.
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Post by chalkdevil 😈 on Oct 21, 2020 10:07:31 GMT -5
Yea, Stallone is definitely on the Willis end of the spectrum, not the Arnold end. And I don't mean dismiss Arnold as having no talent, because as others have said Kindergarten Cop probably doesn't work with like...Dolph Lundgren. But The Rock is a good modern comparison, yea he's funny but all the roles are going to play off that physique. I was almost going to say The Rock, but I haven't seen Moana and I heard he did good things there. Jason Mamoa is also surely a pure example. I'm going to throw out that Mamoa isn't really good in anything except Game of Thrones and he just has to glower and speak in a fake language. I mean, he seems like an affable enough dude, but I don't think I'd hold out for him as some sort of great character actor. Not sure if I've ever seen him in a comedy but you could probably tailor something to his range. I don't think your going to ever get a serious performance out of him. Maybe Channing Tatum is a good example. He got stuck in pretty boy and action roles for a while, but is always more interesting when doing comedy or a movie with more meat to it like Lucky Logan.
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Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on Oct 21, 2020 10:56:16 GMT -5
I was almost going to say The Rock, but I haven't seen Moana and I heard he did good things there. Jason Mamoa is also surely a pure example. I'm going to throw out that Mamoa isn't really good in anything except Game of Thrones and he just has to glower and speak in a fake language. I mean, he seems like an affable enough dude, but I don't think I'd hold out for him as some sort of great character actor. Not sure if I've ever seen him in a comedy but you could probably tailor something to his range. I don't think your going to ever get a serious performance out of him. Maybe Channing Tatum is a good example. He got stuck in pretty boy and action roles for a while, but is always more interesting when doing comedy or a movie with more meat to it like Lucky Logan. Tatum also had that Hail, Caesar turn that indicated that maybe he just came along 70-80 years too late to have the Gene Kelly career that was his true destiny.
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Post by MrsLangdonAlger on Oct 21, 2020 10:59:42 GMT -5
The Sacrament
I love Ti West but fuck this movie.
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ABz B👹anaz
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Posts: 1,933
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Post by ABz B👹anaz on Oct 21, 2020 11:02:30 GMT -5
The Sacrament
I love Ti West but fuck this movie.
Yeah, I didn't realize going into that one that it was basically just a straight remake of the Jonestown Massacre. Really depressing and not very good.
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Post by Mrs David Tennant on Oct 21, 2020 12:59:13 GMT -5
I (half) watched that babysitter monster movie on Netflix. It wasn't too bad. (High praise, right?)
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Post by MyNameIsNoneOfYourGoddamnBusin on Oct 21, 2020 14:20:28 GMT -5
I know this thread is more about performances, but I feel like you always have the throw Sly a few extra points, because he's also a writer/director. And he's absolutely great as his signature character, Rocky Balboa, and that dude fights but he's hardly an "action guy". I think Stallone is one of those, like Jason Statham, who could have had a much more interesting career if they hadn't become leading action men, not that I don't like them both.
Of course it should be noted that he writes Sylvester Stallone movies, which aside from a very small number of exceptions, aren't really hailed as having been well-written.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Oct 22, 2020 18:16:46 GMT -5
I watched Ant-Man (2015) and Robin Williams: Live on Broadway (2002) this weekend. Well, I sorta watched Ant-Man. Mostly I tried to learn how to play chess on my phone. (I am...not good at it.) It was funny and had its moments, but honestly, the reason I started trying to learn how to play chess on my phone was because it started dragging after a bit. I feel like it could've cut half an hour and held my attention a lot better, but it just kind of went through the standard funny Marvel movie paces. Paul Rudd is extremely charming and I did like the little girl who played Cassie. I might try Ant-Man and the Wasp soon, which I understand is a better version of this movie.
Would you agree that in addition to being less interesting than phone chess, it's extremely unrealistic that he's called "Ant Man", when, very unlike ants, Paul Rudd can also become much taller than a regular human?
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Post by Nudeviking on Oct 22, 2020 18:46:21 GMT -5
The Sacrament
I love Ti West but fuck this movie.
Yeah, I didn't realize going into that one that it was basically just a straight remake of the Jonestown Massacre. Really depressing and not very good. I kept waiting for there to be some weird supernatural twist but nope, just "What if Vice went to Jonestown instead of a Congressman?"
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Post by songstarliner on Oct 22, 2020 22:56:01 GMT -5
The Sacrament
I love Ti West but fuck this movie.
Just awful. The last act was disgusting and lasted forever.
Also I was horrified to find out that there's someone in this world named Kentucker.
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Post by MrsLangdonAlger on Oct 23, 2020 10:13:02 GMT -5
The Sacrament
I love Ti West but fuck this movie.
Just awful. The last act was disgusting and lasted forever.
Also I was horrified to find out that there's someone in this world named Kentucker.
Yup, and I kept thinking "this happened to real people. Like, within our lifetimes"
As great as that dude has been in everything I've seen him in, I refuse to like someone named Kentucker.
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Post by Celebith on Oct 24, 2020 9:39:20 GMT -5
I'll throw in a mention for Stallone in Cop Land. Does anyone remember that movie? Everyone was in it - Keitel, De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Ray Liotta, Janeane Garofalo for chrissakes, and many others. Stallone does such a good job of playing the sad-sack straight guy, trying to do the right thing when his whole world is made up of people doing the wrong thing. Cop Land was pretty good. Not great, but definitely underrated.
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Post by Celebith on Oct 24, 2020 9:57:20 GMT -5
Quantum of Solace (2008): Okay, it's better than the first one. James Bond is making a nominal effort to subdue rather than eliminate potential leads here. He even does some really slick spy work at one point. And the narrative is a less mechanical than 'kill lead, steal his phone, kill lead, steal his phone, kill lead, steal his phone, play poker, have the main bad guy killed in front of you before you can steal his phone, discover mole, have the mole killed in front of you, steal her phone'. Plus, 100 minute runtime. It's not that long movies are bad, but it's a virtue to close before the audience gets tired of you. I was fascinated by the movie's attempts to reconcile the Bond frachise's structural misogyny with 'wait shit we're releasing this movie in the 21st century'. That's not to say it was effective, of course. Making literally every man in your movie a creepy monster who abuses and exploits women may make James Bond the character look better in comparison (and is also realistic), but it also means every woman in your movie is defined by being abused and exploited. Judi Dench as the only female non-Bond Girl character remains a step in the right direction. It sure would be terrible if something were to happen to her and she was replaced by, say, a white man and a secretary. The movie does get points for identifying that the true enemy is multinational capitalism. I watched this a couple of times over the last month, as I was drifting off to sleep. It's better than its reviews, and I like that Bond doesn't hook up with Camile / Kurylenko's character. It would have been better if he hadn't hooked up with Fields, just for her to get fridged, but it's better than most. I was always annoyed with For Your Eyes Only for having them hook up at the end, seemingly because "it's the end of the movie, so I guess we'd better fuck!"
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Post by The Sensational She-Hulk on Oct 26, 2020 10:58:53 GMT -5
Saw John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) this weekend. I knew even less about it going in than I did Alien. Man, what a movie. The effects! The tension and suspense! Kurt Russell's beard! I feel no real need to watch the 2011 sequel/prequel/remake. This was great just as it was.
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ABz B👹anaz
Grandfathered In
This country is (now less of) a shitshow.
Posts: 1,933
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Post by ABz B👹anaz on Oct 26, 2020 11:02:31 GMT -5
Saw John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) this weekend. I knew even less about it going in than I did Alien. Man, what a movie. The effects! The tension and suspense! Kurt Russell's beard! I feel no real need to watch the 2011 sequel/prequel/remake. This was great just as it was. The prequel/sequel was just...there. The CGI was definitely inferior to the practical SFX of the original, and story-wise it was just "meh".
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repulsionist
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Post by repulsionist on Oct 26, 2020 15:15:30 GMT -5
The Queen (1968)
Top-notch drama-doco. Flawless Sabrina gives off major Joan Rivers' vibes in their elocution. As a cultural document of time past, this has some excellent insights from those experiencing their lives as themselves. Also very interesting as a reflection of the measures taken to appear as their truest, most glamourous selves. The blow up at the end feels right, but didn't have contrived editing to build to the event: which - a true documentary, not reality programming. Great singing. Worth a watch while it's available on Netflix.
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