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Post by pantsgoblin on Jan 8, 2021 14:30:11 GMT -5
The Gift (2000)
Rewatched this one for the first time since 2000. Sam Raimi's secret weapon has always been that he's an exceptionally good director of actors. As campy as this film is, it features some career-high performances from Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi, and especially Keanu Reeves.
Also, my father is a retired prison psychologist and he has claimed that Ribisi gives the most accurate portrayal of a schizophrenic he's ever seen in a movie.
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Post by pantsgoblin on Jan 8, 2021 14:39:30 GMT -5
Aliens (1986)The rare sequel that's not actually a let-down. Actually that's less true these days but back in the dark, dark days of the 80's it was practically unheard of. And yet Aliens pulls it off by switching out the tension-drenched horror of the first for a military thriller (and also tension-drenched horror). All that military action helps disguise the fact that it takes us a long time before we get to our first encounter with anything even faintly xenomorphic but that delay again heightens rather than undercuts the tension. We see everything from Ripley's perspective - her awake from hypersleep, the accusations around the Nostromo being destroyed et al before finally being persuaded back into action. That helps keep the unknown just that - unknown - and is why the theatrical cut is better than the Director's Cut * Throughout it all, Weaver - better here, somehow, than last time - lands every emotional beat perfectly so the story is carried along nicely, and all that military stomping about the place helps to keep the pace up until the acid starts flying. If this isn't as good as Alien - and it's not, because nothing is - it's so absurdly close that it beggars belief. An outstandingly great movie, proper thematic development, a brilliant action piece and a peerless lead. Amazing. * Wisdom is probably halfway in-between, to be fair. The material about Ripley's daughter should be in there, as should the sentry guns, but all the material based on the colony prior to the arrival of the Sulaco actively makes the film worse because it removes the singular perspective of the movie and undercuts the unknown element. It's difficult to build suspense from the unknown if you've spent fifteen fruitless minutes dicking about with some colonists who have no purpose beyond being facehugger bait. My favorite bit of trivia about Aliens comes from the book A Civil Action about the true story of a lawyer fighting a chemical company Goliath that poisoned people. The lawyer's one night off in around 3 years of the legal fight was to go see Aliens with his girlfriend, which must have been a slightly surreal experience. |
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Post by Floyd Diabolical Barber on Jan 8, 2021 18:07:27 GMT -5
The Gift (2000) Rewatched this one for the first time since 2000. Sam Raimi's secret weapon has always been that he's an exceptionally good director of actors. As campy as this film is, it features some career-high performances from Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi, and especially Keanu Reeves. Also, my father is a retired prison psychologist and he has claimed that Ribisi gives the most accurate portrayal of a schizophrenic he's ever seen in a movie. Whenever I think about "The Gift", I remember the Harold and Kumar reference to Katie Holmes' nude scene. "Remember the holocaust? Imagine the exact opposite." |
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Rainbow Rosa
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Post by Rainbow Rosa on Jan 9, 2021 23:08:55 GMT -5
Modern popular culture? What's that? This is Spinal Tap (1984) Obviously very funny, although just like the band itself it loses steam as it goes along - most of the great gags are in the first half of the film. I think Jeanine's arrival is the beginning of the end, because she feels like she's dragging the movie away from a funny pastiche of '70s/'80s rock and into a more Beatlesque John vs Paul Yoko/Linda-bashing mold. But there's a lot of phenomenal material here - I think the best moment is the gag where the cocoon won't open, but now that I have listened to the Sabbath album Born Again for the catatonic Diaz vs. Starostin series and now know that the "Stonehenge" gag is based on a real thing I could not stop laughing at that scene. It's kind of fun to poke apart, "oh, this is a Cream pastiche, this is AC/DC, this is Skynyrd, this is the Commodores," etc. It also helps that the music here was clearly made from a place of love for that audio brain rot, sort of in a Blue Oyster Cult way. Very fun, particularly if you like trashy rock music (I do). is similar if you're a folkie or grew up the child of a folkie, as I did. The pastiches are both accurate and highly specific--60/70s folk singers loved singing about mining disasters for some unknowable reason--in addition to being genuinely good songs. Except for the New Christy Minstrels Main Street Singers shit, which is deliberately awful and, again, punishingly accurate. Haha, ok, I tracked down A Mighty Wind on account of this post and it's a wonderful little film. The parody is much, much more affectionate here, which was inevitable given they're both 20 years older than they were in Spinal Tap and 40 years removed from the folkie heyday; also, the Mitch & Mickey stuff is a very genuinely sweet throughline. It actually makes stuff like Jane Lynch's weird rainbow cult and the PR flunkies and Ed Begley's Scandinavian rock star PBS exec and - as much as I hate to say it - Fred Willard's gauche manager character all feel like weirdly mean intrusions on a nice and homely little film. The music is great, though. It's not hard to write good folk music, admittedly, but they could have phoned it in and they didn't. Which I love. |
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oppy all along
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Post by oppy all along on Jan 10, 2021 2:30:13 GMT -5
Avengers: Infinity War (2018): It's motherfucking Infinity War. It's awesome. Although with everyone dunking on Star-Lord and Thor we don't get enough dunking on Eitri. Hey buddy, maybe have the handle ready next time.
It's the big movie for WandaVision, the magic rock in Vision's head elevating their romance from weird side-story to weird emotional hook of the climactic sequence of the movie. Wanda's journey to find a place in the world for her and Vision's journey to find humanity end in a smattering of dust next to a robot corpse, but Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany give everything to make you sad about that. Wanda's lower lip in particular is working overtime at the end. It must be had to emote that hard when you're acting opposite Paul Bettany in a Christmas tree bodysuit and Josh Brolin in a mocap suit.
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Post by Prole Hole on Jan 10, 2021 8:39:47 GMT -5
Alien Resurrection (1997)
A perfectly cromulent mid-tier 90's sci-fi movie at about the same level as Lost In Space or Event Horizon, Alien Resurrection is more fun and watchable than the dour, joyless Alien3 but never really becomes anything special. As Aliens was wise to switch to another genre after Alien so it's the right move for Resurrection to be in a different genre from its predecessor, but "whacky knockabout comedy" and "genetic horror" are not obvious crossover genres and thus it proves to be. The knockabout crew and their ramshackle spaceship is typical, straightforward Joss Wheadon and works fine, and the horrors of crossing an Alien with a human work well too, especially the "freak show" medical bay that Ripley 8 torches. But the two don't sit at all well together, which makes the movie very schizophrenic and it struggles to land the difference in tone and make them work. What helps enormously is just how clear it is that Sigourney Weaver is having a blast playing this almost feral version of the character. She's loving every second of it, and that helps a lot. It's another great cast for the most part too - Ron Pearlman and Winona Ryder stand out because of course they do, but everyone's doing good stuff and you can't really go wrong casting Brad Dourif in a creepy guy role. In the end, it's a movie that's definitely less than the sum of its parts, but its... fine.
But this was the right place to end the series, and thank goodness no other Alien movies ever got made. Ever.
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Post by chalkdevil 😈 on Jan 12, 2021 12:00:04 GMT -5
Wonder Woman 1984
I did not really like this one. I mostly alternated between kind of bored and annoyed at the inconsistencies in the world. There are little bits that are nice. Chris Pine is charming. I kind of liked the Richard Donner's Superman-style opening action sequence. Er...second opening action sequence. But it never really hits that tone again and most of the rest was not great. Godot is wooden. Pascal is trying but so much about his plotline makes little sense and the Trump comparisons are super on the nose. I assume the filmmakers were pretty pleased with themselves about having a Latinx actor playing a thinly veiled Trump character. Wiig is trying too, but her character does not need to be there. Or Pascal's character didn't need to be there. One of the story lines could have been cut out. I could certainly see the issues people had about it's racist stereotypes about Arabs. Just so many plot choices that were made that didn't need to be made.
Among it's top sins includes using Adigio in D Minor for an interminable flying sequence. At this point that song is so overused in trailers it felt like place holder music they put in but forgot to swap out. I'm also missed the rad Wonder Woman guitar riff that was used in the first movie and those Superman flicks. It was barely used and only subtly. And, for a movie that is set in 1984, there is a significant lack of solid 80s needle drops. I needed something besides the 4 pop songs that were apparently in the movie.
And speaking of the 80s, there was no reason to have this set in 1984. They did nothing really with the setting. I guess there was a fanny pack joke and a 19" TV joke and then...nothing else really. Nuclear weapons were I guess part of the plot but you could do that now. They certainly could have kept the same racist plot lines. Those still play to a wide audience. Generally, setting this as a prequal to the Snyder-verse movies forced them to do some handwaving that didn't need to happen. Just set this in the currently time-line and you don't need to pretend that no one remembers or notices Wonder Woman saving the world.
In closing, this is a movie that didn't work for me, but I didn't like Aquaman, either and people love that nonsense.
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Post by Prole Hole on Jan 12, 2021 13:49:34 GMT -5
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Post by chalkdevil 😈 on Jan 12, 2021 14:22:30 GMT -5
Wonder Woman 1984I did not really like this one. I mostly alternated between kind of bored and annoyed at the inconsistencies in the world. There are little bits that are nice. Chris Pine is charming. I kind of liked the Richard Donner's Superman-style opening action sequence. Er...second opening action sequence. But it never really hits that tone again and most of the rest was not great. Godot is wooden. Pascal is trying but so much about his plotline makes little sense and the Trump comparisons are super on the nose. I assume the filmmakers were pretty pleased with themselves about having a Latinx actor playing a thinly veiled Trump character. Wiig is trying too, but her character does not need to be there. Or Pascal's character didn't need to be there. One of the story lines could have been cut out. I could certainly see the issues people had about it's racist stereotypes about Arabs. Just so many plot choices that were made that didn't need to be made. Among it's top sins includes using Adigio in D Minor for an interminable flying sequence. At this point that song is so overused in trailers it felt like place holder music they put in but forgot to swap out. I'm also missed the rad Wonder Woman guitar riff that was used in the first movie and those Superman flicks. It was barely used and only subtly. And, for a movie that is set in 1984, there is a significant lack of solid 80s needle drops. I needed something besides the 4 pop songs that were apparently in the movie. And speaking of the 80s, there was no reason to have this set in 1984. They did nothing really with the setting. I guess there was a fanny pack joke and a 19" TV joke and then...nothing else really. Nuclear weapons were I guess part of the plot but you could do that now. They certainly could have kept the same racist plot lines. Those still play to a wide audience. Generally, setting this as a prequal to the Snyder-verse movies forced them to do some handwaving that didn't need to happen. Just set this in the currently time-line and you don't need to pretend that no one remembers or notices Wonder Woman saving the world. In closing, this is a movie that didn't work for me, but I didn't like Aquaman, either and people love that nonsense. Oh god, I just remembered the bit where an Amazonian has to battle all the armies of man and it's just a bunch of dudes dressed up in the costumes from Zack Snyder's 300. DO YOU GET IT? |
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Post by William T. Goat, Esq. on Jan 12, 2021 23:32:29 GMT -5
So, I recently watched My Dinner With Andre. I have some jumbled thoughts.
-When the movie came out in 1981, was the idea that "modern civilization has made everyone too comfortable, we're all sleeping through life and doing what's expected of us because we've forgotten how to feel" a new thing? I actually do like to see the kinds of concepts often belittled as "Philosophy-101" restated bluntly in pop culture, lest we forget them. But after The Matrix, it's not the mind-blower this movie's reputation led me to expect.
-I would have better appreciated Wallace Shawn's defense of science and criticism of superstition if he didn't sound so panicky.
-The movie veers dangerously close to being an infomercial for that spiritual retreat in Scotland that Andre went to.* It's only saved from that by being narrated/filmed from Wally's perspective.
*-Or maybe it just seems that way to me because of something Andre said that triggered my own personal bugaboos about religion and cults. (If I decide to elaborate on that, I will reply to this post. I kind of think I shouldn't, but as Wally himself laments at the end of the movie, it's a shame that people are so afraid to talk about how they feel.)
-Someone speaks the movie's title out loud, then the credits roll. Is this the earliest example of that?
-Troma Films?!
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Post by Floyd Diabolical Barber on Jan 13, 2021 1:54:32 GMT -5
So, I recently watched My Dinner With Andre. I have some jumbled thoughts. -When the movie came out in 1981, was the idea that "modern civilization has made everyone too comfortable, we're all sleeping through life and doing what's expected of us because we've forgotten how to feel" a new thing? I actually do like to see the kinds of concepts often belittled as "Philosophy-101" restated bluntly in pop culture, lest we forget them. But after The Matrix, it's not the mind-blower this movie's reputation led me to expect. -I would have better appreciated Wallace Shawn's defense of science and criticism of superstition if he didn't sound so panicky. -The movie veers dangerously close to being an infomercial for that spiritual retreat in Scotland that Andre went to.* It's only saved from that by being narrated/filmed from Wally's perspective. *-Or maybe it just seems that way to me because of something Andre said that triggered my own personal bugaboos about religion and cults. (If I decide to elaborate on that, I will reply to this post. I kind of think I shouldn't, but as Wally himself laments at the end of the movie, it's a shame that people are so afraid to talk about how they feel.) -Someone speaks the movie's title out loud, then the credits roll. Is this the earliest example of that? -Troma Films?! I remember seeing this shortly after it came out. I enjoyed it, and I remember there being a lot of talk about how it "was just two guys talking". The most oddball and yet strongest intuition that I have about this movie is that Andy Kaufman really, really wanted to make his movie "My Dinner with Andre the Giant", but that fate stepped in and somehow it was twisted into "My Breakfast with Blassie".
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repulsionist
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Post by repulsionist on Jan 13, 2021 15:02:50 GMT -5
Wake in Fright (1970)
[Simpsons' Comic Book Guy voice] Worst Christmas movie ever!
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Post by Floyd Diabolical Barber on Jan 13, 2021 18:18:12 GMT -5
Black Christmas -1974 Oddly enough, I had never seen this. I had long heard it described as a classic, and doubted it. I was wrong. It is often considered the first "slasher" movie. It does originate many slasher tropes, while not being weighed down with decades of genre calcification. I was surprised by how intelligent it is. Hardly anybody does anything directly stupid. Even the comic relief bumbling officer has moments of professionalism and awareness. It is absolutely a 70's movie, but there are only a few scenes and a few character actions that are really cringe-y. After watching, it made perfect sense that it was directed by Bob Clark, who was responsible for "Deathdream", "Porky's", and "A Christmas Story". There are elements of each here. It's scary, wonderfully vulgar, and highlights the warmth of the Christmas season.
The cast includes Margo Kidder, amazing as always, Andrea Martin during her pre-SCTV horror movie phase, a 38 year old Keir Dullea, playing a shaggy haired music conservatory student, a full six years after playing an astronaut in "2001", and 70's B movie staple, John Saxton. They each give appropriate performances. There are a few big plot holes. The cops believe the first complaints, and mount a search for a girl missing less than 24 hours, but they don't even search the house the girl disappeared from.
I have to admit that one of the most entertaining plot points to me is when a phone lineman physically "traces a phone call" by following a cable in a switching office from relay to relay and terminal to terminal. I've been inside a few of those old mechanical switching rooms, and I wouldn't be surprised if that is really how it had to be dome on that equipment.
What sets this movie apart from, and makes it better than, most all the slasher films since, is just as much what it doesn't do as what it does: Despite the long, rambling but specific rants the killer goes off on in his obscene phone calls, we never learn the killer's identity or motivation. He may have some connection to the sorority house where the girls live, or he might be totally random. We never find out. We never even see his face. The cops think the killer is dead, but he is hiding in the house, alone with the sedated final girl. The who and the why doesn't matter to the person in danger. It's the "If you're gonna shoot, shoot. Don't talk about it!" moment of the movie, and it's brilliant |
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repulsionist
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Post by repulsionist on Jan 14, 2021 2:32:18 GMT -5
Wake in Fright (1970)
Alright, ja deeks. No. One. Reacts. To. My. Quips! Aww, I am having a pity party, despite living away far from the Madding Crowd of NA and UK. To be clear, things on your manor appear unwell. I cry for your losses. They are mine too.
Set during Summer Holiday in the Southern Hemisphere, this travail-cum-devolution concerns an English ponce breaking away to the urban climes of Sydney as respite from their indenture as an education slave in bumfuck, unnamed Australian state. For you Northern Hemisphere normies, that's Crimmus time.
At first, the educated Tarquin mounts a train bound for the depot with an airport - the Yabba. He chooses water over beer. Arriving at the Yabba, his cool disaffection in the stale summer heat of 35C is tolerated by the locals. After a late afternoon through evening of drinking many milliliters of West End Bitter with the town sheriff, bloke has a steak. Prior to the beef, he apprises a simple game of pitch and toss. With the Kipling kindling burning his heart more than overdone steak and eggs, fella tries his luck and wins a wager close to closing out his indenture bond. Although he has enough for a lovely holiday and extra to boot, greed sullies his soul. Of course, this means he's well cooked.
Cut to a flat broke ass showing his ass in a spartan room. Chap has to start living by his wits, but not the wits one sharpens at school. He meets a Chatty Charlie in the pub. Takes the drunk up on his hospitality. Gets pissed. Fails to bag a bird. Ends up shagging some spiders. Gets totally pissed. Pissed again. Shoots some Roos. Stabs a Roo Continues to get pissed. Maybe violated by a mate after property destruction.
After desperately asking for a shower and a shave, Tarquin tries to live by his wits some more. Can't make it out of the Yabba despite trying harder than a Sisyphus. With a gun as his only friend, he decides to let his pal win a game of roulette.
Hospitality in hospital.
Fool returns to his indenture no wiser; merely degraded, declassed, and debrassed. Viewer decides if Tarquin welcomes their return.
Film prefaces high period of Australian cinema on the global stage. Directed by a Canadian who went on to do First Blood and Weekend at Bernie's.
Dubiously recommended.
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Jan 14, 2021 10:16:51 GMT -5
Over the past weekend, we watched all three That's Entertainment! retrospectives (1974, 1976, 1994) of MGM musicals and comedies. A lot of what they featured was incredibly corny, in keeping with the style of the times, but I enjoyed getting to see some of the clips of movies I'd only ever read about or seen still photos from. It did grind my gears to see MGM praised for its role in turning Judy Garland into a star, but then again, it's not like I was expecting the studio to admit its responsibility for what it did to her. Anyway, I liked the dancing bits the most, particularly with Fred Astaire. I'm still trying to figure out the whole Esther Williams thing, though. Like, was America okay? Why did we feel the need to watch some lady swim around on a movie screen so much?
I also watched Yojimbo (1961) this weekend and thought it was delightful. Given how much this movie felt like a Western to me, I can see how Sergio Leone was inspired to do A Fistful of Dollars. What a great film - quite funny at times, which I wasn't expecting. I continue to be astounded by how Kurosawa managed to do so much with light and shadow while filming in black-and-white. Toshiro Mifune continues to be unbelievably good-looking in addition to having quite the acting range. I was riveted the whole time.
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Post by pantsgoblin on Jan 14, 2021 11:02:08 GMT -5
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patbat
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Post by patbat on Jan 14, 2021 13:07:57 GMT -5
Lady Snowblood: The source material Tarantino ripped off for Kill Bill Vol. 1--some of the shots from the O-ren Ishii sequence in the film are direct lifts of shots here. Highly recommended if you like chanbara or revenge flicks.
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repulsionist
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Post by repulsionist on Jan 17, 2021 4:32:48 GMT -5
Joe (1970)
The festering human ugliness of yesteryear is the ugliness of today. A cynical thrashing of all involved. No character in this film has a good outcome. The content and the attitudes are painful to watch in midst of current US turmoil, but it's on Amazon as content available to choose as entertainment. An artifact of the past that has grave predictions of the future in its present.
I did a bit of reading around this film; NYT, online film mags, Ebert. Screenwriter Wexler received a nomination for Best Screenplay. Two years later he's jailed for making threats upon President Nixon during a cross-country flight. Wexler also wrote Saturday Night Fever. Director Avildsen's career highlights after this feature include Rocky and the genesis point for one of the past few months' watercooler-watchalong, hangout Netflix series: The Karate Kid.
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Crash Test Dumbass
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Post by Crash Test Dumbass on Jan 17, 2021 10:36:59 GMT -5
Bill And Ted Face The Music
Dopey fun for fans of the first two; I don't know how much people who had never seen the original movies would get out of it, but it wasn't really for them. Billie and Thea are disturbingly brilliant. I hope Alex and Keanu had fun making the movie -- there were some pretty dark undertones for Ted. Also yay no homophobic cringe this time.
I worried about The Song, since it was in C major and a lot of people got transposing instruments, but it seems to have all worked out.
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Post by Prole Hole on Jan 19, 2021 4:27:11 GMT -5
Spider-Man (2002)
Next to a decade-plus of MCU, DCEU et al, it feels positively quaint these days, but there's something undoubtedly charming about it. Toby Maguire isn't the most convincing nerd (those glasses aren't fooling anyone pal) but he's terrific fun to watch in the role, though the achingly sincere need to explain the origins of Spidey felt unnecessary back in 2002 and agonisingly drawn out now (by comparison, the MCU Spider-man basically just is, and Spider-Verse actively sends up the origin story). The casting is excellent - you can't go wrong with J.K. Simmons of course, and a weirdly-young James Franco fits nicely in, but best of all of course is Willem DaFoe as the Green Goblin. He's just having so much fun with the role and in among all that slightly turgid origin story material gives a real boost to the movie. Kirsten Dunst feels a bit indistinct as MJ but it's not like she's really given much to do and she's certainly not bad. What's aged worst is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the CGI and the Green Goblin in particular looks like he's been done on an 8-bit console, but Raimi is a perfect director for this kind of movie and keeps the set pieces moving and the finale feels earned. It's a little over-long at two hours with just a touch too much stand-about-talking for an action movie but it remains a thoroughly enjoyable film, and a refreshing reminder that there are ways to do this kind of movie without just hewing to the Marvel template, however successful that's been. Yeah, nice.
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Post by MyNameIsNoneOfYourGoddamnBusin on Jan 19, 2021 8:45:40 GMT -5
Spider-Man (2002)Next to a decade-plus of MCU, DCEU et al, it feels positively quaint these days, but there's something undoubtedly charming about it. Toby Maguire isn't the most convincing nerd (those glasses aren't fooling anyone pal) but he's terrific fun to watch in the role, though the achingly sincere need to explain the origins of Spidey felt unnecessary back in 2002 and agonisingly drawn out now (by comparison, the MCU Spider-man basically just is, and Spider-Verse actively sends up the origin story). The casting is excellent - you can't go wrong with J.K. Simmons of course, and a weirdly-young James Franco fits nicely in, but best of all of course is Willem DaFoe as the Green Goblin. He's just having so much fun with the role and in among all that slightly turgid origin story material gives a real boost to the movie. Kirsten Dunst feels a bit indistinct as MJ but it's not like she's really given much to do and she's certainly not bad. What's aged worst is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the CGI and the Green Goblin in particular looks like he's been done on an 8-bit console, but Raimi is a perfect director for this kind of movie and keeps the set pieces moving and the finale feels earned. It's a little over-long at two hours with just a touch too much stand-about-talking for an action movie but it remains a thoroughly enjoyable film, and a refreshing reminder that there are ways to do this kind of movie without just hewing to the Marvel template, however successful that's been. Yeah, nice. There's also nothing that instantly dates a film like a Macy Gray cameo (which was actually at least a year too late by the film's release). |
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Post by Prole Hole on Jan 19, 2021 11:40:25 GMT -5
Spider-Man (2002)Next to a decade-plus of MCU, DCEU et al, it feels positively quaint these days, but there's something undoubtedly charming about it. Toby Maguire isn't the most convincing nerd (those glasses aren't fooling anyone pal) but he's terrific fun to watch in the role, though the achingly sincere need to explain the origins of Spidey felt unnecessary back in 2002 and agonisingly drawn out now (by comparison, the MCU Spider-man basically just is, and Spider-Verse actively sends up the origin story). The casting is excellent - you can't go wrong with J.K. Simmons of course, and a weirdly-young James Franco fits nicely in, but best of all of course is Willem DaFoe as the Green Goblin. He's just having so much fun with the role and in among all that slightly turgid origin story material gives a real boost to the movie. Kirsten Dunst feels a bit indistinct as MJ but it's not like she's really given much to do and she's certainly not bad. What's aged worst is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the CGI and the Green Goblin in particular looks like he's been done on an 8-bit console, but Raimi is a perfect director for this kind of movie and keeps the set pieces moving and the finale feels earned. It's a little over-long at two hours with just a touch too much stand-about-talking for an action movie but it remains a thoroughly enjoyable film, and a refreshing reminder that there are ways to do this kind of movie without just hewing to the Marvel template, however successful that's been. Yeah, nice. There's also nothing that instantly dates a film like a Macy Gray cameo (which was actually at least a year too late by the film's release). The product placement in that movie is wild and Gray is by far and away the most visible aspect of it. Also, I like her voice but she had exactly one good song and the obscurity that embraced her was wholly earned. |
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Rainbow Rosa
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Post by Rainbow Rosa on Jan 19, 2021 16:19:36 GMT -5
There's also nothing that instantly dates a film like a Macy Gray cameo (which was actually at least a year too late by the film's release). The product placement in that movie is wild and Gray is by far and away the most visible aspect of it. Also, I like her voice but she had exactly one good song and the obscurity that embraced her was wholly earned. Even "Sex-o-Matic Venus Freak" !?!? |
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Jan 19, 2021 16:56:22 GMT -5
Cape Fear (1962) - My only exposure to either this original or the Scorsese remake is, like most older Millennials, The Simpsons' fifth-season episode "Cape Feare." As such, I burst out laughing at the opening score, which The Simpsons evidently lifted wholesale. I'd always thought it was just Sideshow Bob's theme music! Anyway, the actual Bob in this movie (Mitchum) is terrifying, and I fully believe he could murder anyone with his bare hands if he felt like it. Gregory Peck is one of my favorite Old Hollywood actors, too, and the way he and Robert Mitchum played off one another beautifully. I think I may seek out the remake at some point. I did immediately seek out "Cape Feare" after viewing this movie and discovered that I still do, in fact, know most of the dialogue.
Animal House (1978) - A rewatch because so far this year has not started out great, and my parents and I just wanted to laugh. Still skeevy as fuck in terms of the sexual politics (Dear men: most women do not have semi-nude pillow fights in college dorms, trust me, I know, and I am sorry too), because 1970s National Lampoon, but goddamn it, what a funny fucking movie. I forgot entire chunks of it, but the "Shout" sequence is still a favorite. I then watched "Homer Goes to College," because Animal House just didn't go far enough in having anyone scream "NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD" at anyone else.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) - One of the few Hitchcock movies I hadn't seen before. Jimmy Stewart is always a treat to watch! I'd never seen Doris Day in anything but little nostalgia clips of her singing, and her speaking voice was much lower-pitched than I expected. She was more natural than I expected as well. I don't know why, but I always had it in my head that she was a very artificial theatrical-style actor. I think the movie was a bit too long by about 20 minutes, but I enjoyed the building tension throughout, and I do love a good spy story.
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Post by President Hound on Jan 20, 2021 0:48:33 GMT -5
Booksmart- it really is like Superbad. Mostly because its too cringey for me to enjoy. Unlike Superbad, I was able to get past the 30 minute mark though, so I'll give Booksmart that.
One Night in Miami- Its really really really good. Like I knew Regina King had directing experience prior to this, but holy shit is it good. It being an adaptation of a play though is very obvious, especially in the writing style.
Anna and the Apocalypse- its one of those middling movies that's just so utterly average in every aspect. Nothing particularly good about it, but nothing particularly bad. It just exists
Tales from Earthsea- I knew this one was going to be bad, but I wasn't expecting it to be a boring bad. Its basically just a generic 00s fantasy with all the Ghilbi magic stripped away.
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repulsionist
TI Forumite
actively disinterested
Posts: 3,674
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Post by repulsionist on Jan 21, 2021 14:12:28 GMT -5
92 in the Shade (1975)
I really wanted to like this movie as a whole. Burgess Meredith as a cantankerous, old, and perverted rich man; William Hickey as a feeble, dissolute scion; Peter Fonda as an earnest, iconoclastic, ex-addict rich kid; Harry Dean Stanton as an affable, cuckolded fiend; Sylvia Miles as a middle-aged, wiseacre sexpot'; Margot Kidder as a strong-willed-but-unstable, day-drinking gal pal with a consistent aversion for bras; Elizabeth Ashley as a stay-at-home, bored sex-kitten; Warren Oates doing his best 'well-regarded expert at something but blinded by his off-kilter morality'; John Quade as an ornery, middle-aged stoic amidst the low-key chaos; and a spry Joe Spinell trying on a southern accent and a banana hammock (FYI, they're called 'budgie smugglers' here in Australasia). Throw that mix into an 'only in Florida' scenario, and it still doesn't stick to the ribs.
Sure, there were endearing shots of gulf-side of the Florida Keys, where sand flats and mangroves reveal fishing treasures. Man, there's a scene where Fonda's character goes treading into mangrove forest to retrieve a hung line and he cradles a permit (a type of pompano) that's just pure American Caribbean beauty. On location shots of Key West that would do Hemingway proud. However, Thomas McGuane should have stuck to writing this instead of both directing and writing. I guess he had to start his directing career somewhere. May as well have been the Conch Republic. Not that many here are interested in outdoor and sports' writing, but McGuane has a CV of long-standing praise in these arenas.
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Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on Jan 21, 2021 14:16:12 GMT -5
Tales from Earthsea- I knew this one was going to be bad, but I wasn't expecting it to be a boring bad. Its basically just a generic 00s fantasy with all the Ghilbi magic stripped away.
Awww, I keep circling this on HBO Max because I've been reading the books with Owl Jr.. Disappointing to hear it's kind of boring  . |
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Post by DangOlJimmyITellYouWhat on Jan 21, 2021 19:49:03 GMT -5
Bill and Ted Face the Music; LOVED IT, y'all. It was actually pretty much exactly what it should have been, not a lot of retread/calling back to the original which is always a risk when coming back to a franchise so many years later. And their kids were just SO goddamn adorable ugh I want to cuddle them until they get annoyed and shove me away. Billie in particular totally had that vacant-eyed doofus thing going on that Keanu did in so many 90s movies. Also I'm pretty sure Alex Winter is an actual vampire.
Final Girls: I loved this one too! Not entirely what I expected, but I thought it was really well-done and unexpectedly touching, too. Also hey it's Bjorn!! I'm always mildly surprised when I see him outside of Vikings, especially when he just looks like a dude and not, y'know, a bear.
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Post by Nudeviking on Jan 24, 2021 19:07:11 GMT -5
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - I watched this with my daughter who is roughly the same age I was when I first saw a Star War. Chewbacca’s her dude and she marked out when he wrecked shop after Han Solo fell in a sci-fi base space hole and “made everything explode.” No one save for Chewbacca has names according to her they're just "That Girl" (Rey), "That Boy" (Finn), "That Other Boy" (Poe), "Chewbacca's Friend" (Han Solo), "That Angry Boy" (Kyle Ren), and "That Robot That Looks Like a Ball" (BB-8).
Battle Royale (2000) - Way more dick damage than the similar Hunger Games and therefore a superior film. RIP an entire class of 9th graders from somewhere in Japan.
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Post by pantsgoblin on Jan 24, 2021 19:17:28 GMT -5
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - I watched this with my daughter who is roughly the same age I was when I first saw a Star War. Chewbacca’s her dude and she marked out when he wrecked shop after Han Solo fell in a sci-fi base space hole and “made everything explode.” No one save for Chewbacca has names according to her they're just "That Girl" (Rey), "That Boy" (Finn), "That Other Boy" (Poe), "Chewbacca's Friend" (Han Solo), "That Angry Boy" (Kyle Ren), and "That Robot That Looks Like a Ball" (BB-8). Battle Royale (2000) - Way more dick damage than the similar Hunger Games and therefore a superior film. RIP an entire class of 9th graders from somewhere in Japan. Pretty sure your daughter's right and "Chewbacca's Friend" is the canonical name for that character. |
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