Floyd D Barber
AV Clubber
The Train I used to Drive (not me driving, though)
Posts: 7,611
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Post by Floyd D Barber on Sept 15, 2024 16:33:47 GMT -5
Friday the 13th (1980) Every so often I'll humor Ms. Goblin in seeing the slasher movies--which I almost never like--that her arty family wouldn't allow her to watch as a kid (same with Child's Play). Not bad for one of these. To paraphrase a favorite line from the critic Bill Wyman, slashers were always a dumb idea but it was their dumb idea, so credit where it's due. John Carpenter might have a thought or two about that.
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Post by pantsgoblin on Sept 15, 2024 16:46:36 GMT -5
Friday the 13th (1980) Every so often I'll humor Ms. Goblin in seeing the slasher movies--which I almost never like--that her arty family wouldn't allow her to watch as a kid (same with Child's Play). Not bad for one of these. To paraphrase a favorite line from the critic Bill Wyman, slashers were always a dumb idea but it was their dumb idea, so credit where it's due. John Carpenter might have a thought or two about that. You're not wrong and I realize many consider Halloween the original slasher but, for me, that film's its own beast. If you haven't seen it in a while, it's remarkable how little gore there is and how much the kills are implied. I think Friday the 13th is really where they set the template.
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repulsionist
TI Forumite
actively disinterested
Posts: 3,635
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Post by repulsionist on Sept 15, 2024 16:53:19 GMT -5
1986 Weekend at Repulsionist's!
Jewel of the Nile (1986)
Wow! Kathleen Turner at near peak sexy (Body Heat being peak). Michael Douglas at peak, middle-aged man sexiness. Oh the water skiing! The remaining hour and 40 after those scenes beat the rhythm of the previous feature. Hapless DeVito was fun. Excellent location shoots.
Stand by Me (1986)
Watched Meathead's third feature. Meathead did alright, but he's never good enough for my Gloria. My 12 yo thought it slow, shirked the cuff of emotional intensity when each character clearly states how difficult their life is, but he got on board with the kinship all felt in that "last" summer trip. Great central-to-western Oregon on display there. Phoenix really had some acting chops at 14-15 yo. Kudos!
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Post by Lt. Broccoli on Sept 16, 2024 17:43:36 GMT -5
We actually went out to the actual movie theatre and watched the new Beetlejuice.
I'm no film critic and I don't have the vocabulary to talk about it, but my theory is that while the original movie is a comedy for the audience, the characters don't know that. As far as they know they're in a horror movie. Beetlejuice 2 is also supposed to be a comedy for the audience, but the characters do know that, and they also act as if they're in a comedy.
Maybe the original Beetlejuice isn't very good? It falls in the category of "things that I watched hundreds of times between the ages of 8 and 11" so maybe I only think it's good because of childhood nostalgia, I don't know.
In any case the new Beetlejuice sucks. It's not fun, or funny, or scary. It feels like 3 different movies jumbled together. I was shocked that it's only 100 minutes long, I felt like I was sitting there for 3 hours.
Jenna Ortega was good, at least.
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Post by chalkdevil 😈 on Sept 17, 2024 16:56:44 GMT -5
Abigail (2024) This had a reputation of being a fun B movie with a twist that was totally ruined by it's marketing materials. I'm going to go on record here by saying that it is a mediocre B movie that is in no way compelling enough to make it all the way to it's twist and keep people interested. The screenplay so by-the-numbers as far as character introductions and back story reveals that it can't be saved by actors trying to put in fun performances. Plus the lead is humorless with a tragic backstory that I couldn't possibly care less. So anyway, a rag tag group of criminals are hired to kidnap the young daughter of an unknown rich guy. They take her to a safe house while their fixer works to get the ransom. Backstories are implied in a clunky getting to know you scene. Then, you know, eventually a horror movie happens. A horror movie with nothing original going on. Anyway, kinda disappointed - not sure what the mild fuss was about. I think maybe people are just still excited about Dan Stevens after he was good in The Guest 10 years ago and are always willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He's fine here. Really, this movie needed to be more. More of something. More gore? More camp? More interesting characters?
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Post by liebkartoffel on Sept 18, 2024 17:00:31 GMT -5
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World ("dad movies" Ford v Ferrari and The Magnificent Seven, noms.): Man, I'd forgotten how good this movie is. Admirably faithful to the books, too, with only a few Hollywood-friendly tweaks, like replacing the Americans with the French as the primary antagonists. Crowe!Aubrey is a little too Captain Kirk-y for my tastes. Jack Aubrey doesn't ruminate on the nature of command--he just is a good leader, and would be (politely) baffled by someone else doing it differently. He's also more of a (good-natured) buffoon who loves puns and says stupid shit like "they have chosen their cake, and must lie in it." But, again, Hollywood, so I get it. No notes for Bettany!Maturin--pretty pitch perfect. I still maintain that the Aubrey-Maturin books have the potential to be the next great HBO must-watch series, if the cowards would just have the courage (and the enormous budget) to adapt them.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Superman '78, noms.): I had a few "just repeat to yourself it's just a genre-defying media spectacle" moments, like how they were often able to summon(?) create(?) material objects at will, but I get the hype. Of course, the secret is it's really an intimate family drama disguised as a genre-defying media spectacle. Still absolutely wild that this movie won all the Oscars, though, what with the...gestures vaguely at that fight scene.
Tokyo Drifter ("Japanese cinematic landmarks" Seven Samurai and Your Name, noms.): Extremely stylish Japanese yakuza flick...and not much else to say beyond that. It's nigh-incomprehensible in spots and the editing is, uh, creative, but it's just fun to look at and fun to watch, like all the best parts of a Connery-era Bond movie smashed together.Â
The Goonies ("seminal 80s kids/teen movies we still haven't seen yet" The Outsiders and Stand by Me, noms.): It's cute! I don't think I got as much out of it as a 37-year-old adult as I would have if I had seen as a kid. It's a very loud movie, to the extent that the various children were often shouting over what seemed like important plot points, and the plot takes way too long to get going, but the energy is pretty infectious. Why is the Corey Feldman character such a random asshole to the Mexican housekeeper lady? Why didn't the Josh Brolin Character die when he was flung off a cliff in a children's bike? Why do the children keep referring to treasure as "the rich stuff"? Who knows.
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