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Oppenheimer (2023) Impressively intense for a biopic and incredibly well-constructed, moving backwards and forward through time rapidly without ever becoming confusing or losing its focus. Cool that one of the most anticipated movies of the summer is about how American anti-communism is a tool to promote warmongering. Cillian Murphy, always good, is fantastic in it, and the wildly overqualified supporting cast delivers. There's no 70mm IMAX closer than a plane flight, so I saw it in busted-rear end Laser IMAX to at least get the correct aspect ratio. I understand I missed out on a lot of visual fidelity for the numerous scenes of people talking in small rooms, but I wasn't exactly regretting the lesser projection. Barbie (2023) Very funny and a real visual treat whenever it was in Barbieland. Margot Robbie is very good, though Ryan Gosling kinda steals the show, particularly considering he's the one who gets the big musical number. Felt like this one actually made better use of the big screen than Oppenheimer. I'm not sure the turn towards seriousness at the end totally works—seemed like the need to ultimately promote Mattel toys hampered their ability to dig into the capitalist exploitation that's briefly brought up earlier as the real enemy—so the big final monologues are fairly basic and more a celebration of existing progress than a call for change, but the movie had earned plenty of goodwill by then.
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Jul 25, 2023 20:01
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Pope Corky the IX posted:Who are the dead people? George Reeve, Christopher Reeves, Adam West. Just a real weird idea that didn't even need to be in the movie. Put the living people who played Batman and Superman in movies and TV in it! Brandon Routh, Tyler Hoechlin, Christian Bale (good luck lol), Robert Pattinson - there you've got 4 right there
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Jul 26, 2023 15:32
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Lovely
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Jul 26, 2023 15:36
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Eh. At least we see Burton/Nic Cage Superman in action. Looks like a lovely Xbox 360 render but still
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Jul 26, 2023 15:49
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Nightmare Cinema posted:Eh. At least we see Burton/Nic Cage Superman in action. WITH the giant mechanical spider as per Kevin Smiths story
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Jul 26, 2023 19:46
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I don't know if it's mechanical, but I do regret that they didn't have him driving around in a car instead of flying.
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Jul 27, 2023 01:40
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I feel like what interest I might have in seeing Nic Cage as Superman would come from his skill at making unusual and extreme choices as an actor while still maintaining character, not the basic image of him in the suit.
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Jul 27, 2023 01:42
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Lex Luthor, lowering a mask laced with glowing green crystals onto Superman's head... "OH, NO, NOT THE KRYPTONITE! NOT THE KRYPTONITE! AAAAAHHHHH! OH, IT'S IN MY EYES! MY EYES! AAAAHHHHH! AAAAAGGHHH!"
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Jul 27, 2023 01:46
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Barbie : as meta a film as there ever was, scathing indictment of Barbie legacy, patriarchy and womanhood. It's also very silly and full of references to Kubrick, Tati, Lynch and Bubsy friggin Berkeley. Every detail from the outfits to the hand painted backgrounds to the self-aware songs just sings on the screen. It's big its loud and it's very confused about what it wants to be, just like the characters that Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling play. Gosling delivers the goods! What a film. Gerwig, you crazy for this one
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Jul 27, 2023 04:32
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If you don't go see Barbie, just know that I am judging you. And not kindly. It deserves to win Oscars. For Set Design and Costume, admittedly, but some nominations at least are owed to Gerwig and Robbie.
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Jul 28, 2023 04:15
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Tetsuo: Iron Man (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1989) Finally got around to watching this after buying the two film Blu-ray set ages ago and what a trip. Loved the 16mm cinematography, and think the special and stop motion effects worked really well considering the budget they were working with. Great soundtrack as well.
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Jul 29, 2023 00:59
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Hotel Artemis was kind of lovely. Just felt super incomplete. Didn't help that it was slow and boring. Also.....seems like a dumb move to cast a guy known almost exclusively for the network drama 'This is Us' as the main actor.
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Jul 29, 2023 01:09
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The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, And Her Lover -  I was really into the absolutely reprehensible and horrible sleazeball dialogue but the moment the last third of the movie hit all the way until the end I was in. It's a slow burn that is grim, tragic, and gruesome, and oh-so-worth-it. Holy poo poo. Also wow wow WOW the music is good.
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Jul 29, 2023 01:49
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Beautiful film
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Jul 29, 2023 01:56
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Gaius Marius posted:Beautiful film It really is. When I realized the costume colors were changing from scene-to-scene I was blown away. It's so engaging and explicit in everything it did, a film both classy and disgusting, and the conclusion was stunning.
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Jul 29, 2023 02:06
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Kingsman: The Secret Service - boy 2014 was a hell of a time in retrospect. Google Glass was a thing, Elon Musk was a smart person, table-surface touchscreens were the Future, and Oscar Pistorius hadn't been revealed as a murderer yet so having a henchman with blade legs was still cool and topical. Samuel L Jackson must have wanted to play a Bond villain his whole life, but whose idea was that lisp? It really does not work
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Jul 29, 2023 03:19
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Lady Vengeance I need to watch old boy again, but this might be my favorite of the trilogy. It’s part count of monte trilogy for a large portion and almost revenge porn at the end as they take turns on the killer. But the whole thing is softened by her desire to be a mother and her realization that she too is a sinner and not a good person with her revenge. But maybe she can start again.
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Jul 29, 2023 03:27
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A.I. Artificial Intelligence can't believe I hadn't seen this before. Full of that Spielberg discomfort and uncertainty about whether it's a movie for adults or children. Not all of the notes landed for me but I loved some of the sequences (the flesh fair, the final part) and appreciated its boldness. Can't believe this was a blockbuster.
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Jul 29, 2023 06:36
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Also Spielberg finally worked out how he can have his cake and eat it wrt graphic violence.
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Jul 29, 2023 06:41
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Erin M. Fiasco posted:The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, And Her Lover - I remember seeing this when I was young (thanks, Channel 4!) and it gave me nightmares. It’s incredibly gruesome in some later parts, and in a horribly vivid, nasty way. Very good, would recommend.
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Jul 29, 2023 09:06
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distortion park posted:A.I. Artificial Intelligence can't believe I hadn't seen this before. Full of that Spielberg discomfort and uncertainty about whether it's a movie for adults or children. Not all of the notes landed for me but I loved some of the sequences (the flesh fair, the final part) and appreciated its boldness. Can't believe this was a blockbuster. Started watching AI (rewatch for me), and all the early stuff with Martin made me think a good movie airing now would be After Yang. But by contrast the world of After Yang is not dying from a climate crisis and seems to not have flesh fairs.
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Jul 29, 2023 11:59
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Data Graham posted:Samuel L Jackson must have wanted to play a Bond villain his whole life, but whose idea was that lisp? It really does not work As I understand it the lisp is an actual speech impediment that Jackson has been working around his entire career.
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Jul 29, 2023 16:27
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David D. Davidson posted:As I understand it the lisp is an actual speech impediment that Jackson has been working around his entire career. Jackson has a stutter (he credits "mother fucker" for helping him with it), Russell Simmons, the guy who the character is based on, has a lisp (though one nowhere near that pronounced).
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Jul 29, 2023 17:24
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RestingB1tchFace posted:Hotel Artemis was kind of lovely. Just felt super incomplete. Didn't help that it was slow and boring. Also.....seems like a dumb move to cast a guy known almost exclusively for the network drama 'This is Us' as the main actor. Jeff Goldblum was great in it, at least- “Well send me down the River, baby!”
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Jul 29, 2023 23:13
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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: loving awesome, but also highly depressing if you think about it. I love the music, but man does it really cover for a lot of economic precarity and patriarchy. That said, how loving cool is the scene where Jane Russell is singing about how awesome she finds swol dudes, and it's just a musical review but gender swapped. I can't say I have a ton of knowledge about musicals, but that's gotta be an early example. Also also, Jane Russell is actually pretty depressing when you read about her non-acting life. An actual quote from her "These days, I am a teetotal, mean-spirited, right-wing, narrow-minded, conservative Christian bigot, but not a racist."
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Jul 30, 2023 08:52
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Oppenheimer was a great movie
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Jul 30, 2023 20:50
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Barbie was super entertaining, and my main thing that I kept thinking about was how much fun it is to see a movie like this in a sold-out theatre, where you can share a laugh with 200 other people and feel like you're all part of a continuum in enjoying the mindset of the filmmakers, even if it's something as eclectic and iconoclastic as this. First time I'd gone out since pre-pandemic, fwiw E: the reviews that say it’s not for kids definitely have a point though; quite apart from any content concerns, it’s just going to be completely incomprehensible to anyone under like 14. There were some families full of little squalling kids there and I can’t imagine what must have been going through their heads Data Graham fucked around with this message at 21:43 on Jul 30, 2023 |
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Jul 30, 2023 21:23
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Old - Lol this reminded me of those old 80s comics about "Ghost Stories". Very pulpy, lovely dialogue and acting. Corny. Can't hate it entirely, because it really has that pulp horror vibe of yesteryear. White Noise - Waste of time, tries to go for that "Brechtian" vibe with that dialogue, artificial and stunted but hey "that is want I want it to be". Having read one of DeLilo's books, the dialogue feels like copypasta lifted straight from the pages. At least I finished this, the other DeLilo adaptation by Cronenberg - forgot its name - I stopped halfway through. Matrix IV - The first half of the movie is probably the best critique of the Hollywood system out there, the second half I didn't care about. Extra-wooden performance by Reeves? Everyone's just collecting paychecks.
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Jul 30, 2023 22:47
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distortion park posted:A.I. Artificial Intelligence can't believe I hadn't seen this before. Full of that Spielberg discomfort and uncertainty about whether it's a movie for adults or children. Not all of the notes landed for me but I loved some of the sequences (the flesh fair, the final part) and appreciated its boldness. Can't believe this was a blockbuster. Watched this the other day too and was shocked by how much I loved it. I’m still thinking about it and it made me cry multiple times.
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Jul 30, 2023 23:46
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TMNT: Mutant Mayhem Loved this, lots of fun, and having the four actual teenagers playing the turtles record their lines in the same booth together really worked, they felt like actual brothers. The animation style was great - as with the animated Spiderverse films it looks so much better than just trying to make photorealistic CGI. Also the score kicked rear end, like the first NIN music in a few years.
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Aug 2, 2023 00:34
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Blow Out - There was a point where the methodical nature of the film was on the verge of losing me, but gently caress if this doesn't have one of the darkest endings ever hahahahaHAHAHA *screams* Barbie - No idea what I was expecting but pleasantly surprised. I am Kenough. Oppenheimer - 
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Aug 2, 2023 06:35
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Almost Famous - Went into it blind and got nothing I expected and something far better than I could have ever imagined. Watched the Bootleg Cut and I can't believe they gave me a three hour movie where at no point I thought to myself "wow, it's three hours". Just enthralling. Loved it.
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Aug 2, 2023 13:53
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Blow Out fuckin owns.
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Aug 2, 2023 14:30
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Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) Some young adults stumble across the key to an interstellar portal, drawing them into an adventure involving shape-shifting robots desperate to return home and an all-consuming evil seeking to devour the Earth. None of the vulgar satire or technical skill that made the Michael Bay entries fun popcorn movies. Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback try to sell this poo poo—admittedly neat to have a hispanic lead of a superhero movie and Dominique Fishback was so good in Judas and the Black Messiah and Swarm that it's cool she's getting more opportunities—but it doesn't save the movie. Infinite Storm (2022) An experienced mountaineer climbing Mount Washington in New Hampshire comes across a young man completely unprepared for the inclement weather speeding towards them and risks her own life to try to get him down the mountain safely. This ended up being more of a character study than I had figured going on, giving you less of a feel for the mountain than I'd hoped for. Naomi Watts is very good in the lead despite the film's best efforts to undercut her by stringing out her backstory in a series of flashbacks that you always feel one step ahead of. An alright enough drama about people coping with grief.
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Aug 3, 2023 22:06
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The Wicker Man (1973) - Between this thing being written and directed in a way that feels too "Academically British" for the material to the point of rendering this thing a hammy boring slog (the goddamn music too jfc), my plebian modern brain couldn't connect with it. Midsommar renders this movie obsolete.
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Aug 4, 2023 17:43
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Nightmare Cinema posted:The Wicker Man (1973) - Between this thing being written and directed in a way that feels too "Academically British" for the material to the point of rendering this thing a hammy boring slog (the goddamn music too jfc), my plebian modern brain couldn't connect with it. Midsommar renders this movie obsolete. Wrong.
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Aug 4, 2023 21:46
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Micheal Clayton pretty good thriller. I see this was by the dude who did Bourne; you can feel that, but I think this movie does the regaining your soul aspect of the story much better. Clooney was perfectly suitable, and yet I'll hold that he is not and has never been excellent, Swinton is fantastic as someone way way over their head but desperate to pull this poo poo off. The scene where she calls the hitman and the camera pulls out to reveal her using a plastic bag to mess about Arthur's bag was hilarious. The Fantasy Novel nonsense lost me a bit, but the only truly bad thing I can say about the film is it has the same god awful 00 color grading that most of its contemporaries had. I do not want to stare at Grey for two hours directors. Wisen up
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Aug 5, 2023 03:24
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Recent watches Oppenheimer - Honestly I think this might be Nolan's best, or near to it. Men would literally start a reaction that will destroy the world than listen to their hot communist gf, smh. 8/10 The Last Picture Show - I fell in love with this film pretty much within the first few scenes and that feeling only grew as the movie went on. By the time it got to the scene with Sam the Lion at the lake it had become a new favorite. How does a movie that isn't exceptionally long fit in so many complex characters that feel so real? So much of American art since the mid 20th century has been about similar themes, the dissolving of communal bonds, loss of hope in the future, the American Dream being obliterated under the reality of atomized subjectivity. Outside of Twin Peaks I don't know of any that approach this theme with anywhere near as much emotional intelligence and confidence in storytelling. It's one of the great masterpieces of the New Hollywood Era. 10/10 Puss in Boots - Very cute. It's nice that studios are taking inspiration from Spider-Verse although I'm not sure how much I want limited frames to become a common trope. The Jimminy Cricket gag was a highlight, as was the Death character. The montage of Puss deaths reminds me of that similar scene in the Venture Bros. The best Shrek movie, not that that's saying much. 7/10 And of course, some martial arts films: Killer Constable - The director of Boxer's Omen made this late period Shaw Bros flick that operates like a wuxia film noir, if that makes any sense. If the studio was known for it's heroic bloodshed films this is closer to hero-less bloodshed. The decaying and corrupt Qing Empire sends the titular constable after a bunch of rebels who stole gold from the treasury. The constable, known for never taking anyone in alive, descends into the starving and immiserated countryside, where he and his officers relate to the peasantry much the same as an occupying army would, and face constant harassment that sees them picked off one by one. Despite the factory-like production of Shaw films, director Kuei Chih-Hung was able to use his experience in making supernatural horror films to inject a sense of atmosphere into this film that most of the contemporary productions lacked, and the action scenes are similarly a step above many of the other Shaw films of this era, which often developed into highly choreographed dances where no one ever lands a hit until the designated end of the fight. Here fights are bloody, costly and follow a clear escalation. 7/10 Tai Chi Zero - This is a modern (well, 2012) kung fu/wuxia film that I liked a bit more than a lot of than some of the other modern, digital looking Chinese films in the general. It's reminiscent of a Stephen Chow film, although not quite as funny or inventive (who is?). The classic fool protagonist is born with a big growth on his head that acts as a berserker button. He helps a village of kung fu masters fend off a giant steampunk machine that wants to bulldoze them to make way for a railroad. It's a straightforward narrative with fun characters and good action. 6/10 Tai Chi Master No relation to the above, this is a 90s Yuen Woo Ping film starring Jet Li (!) and Michelle Yeoh (!!). Two brothers raised in the Shaolin Temple are evicted and must live in the real world for the first time, barely getting bye. One of them sells out and becomes an enforcer for the evil governor while the other joins (Jet Li) joins the rebels, develops Tai Chi, and kicks rear end for the people. The 90s were a renaissance for these kinds of films and this is one of the best of the era I've seen, employing all the techniques unique to this period that I love. Dust always flies off of fist and feet to accentuate the hits. Wires are used to enhance the natural choreography without being as fanciful as something like Crouching Tiger. The camerawork is dynamic and doesn't obscure the action. Within the first 20 minutes you have one of the best dojo fights I've ever seen and soon after a great inn fight that sees Yeoh transform a wooden table into a pair of stilts and keep fighting. 8/10 Knockabout - Early Sammo Hung movie that also has Yuen Biao in it. Two con artist brothers come under the tutelage of an old master who turns out to actually be the villain! The first hours is kind of tame but by the end you have one of the best monkey style fight scenes I can think of. 8/10 Kickboxer: Vengeance - lol watch the final fight for this movie. the protagonist dies like 3 times during the fight. just stay down, idiot. 3/10 Enter The Ninja - I saw the 2nd film in the trilogy first (not that they share a plot or anything) and that one was a much more entertaining film than this dud. 4/10
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Aug 5, 2023 05:27
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Barbie (2023) pretty weird movie, felt like Gerwig was channeling Eric Wareheim a bit near the end with the hyper realistic aesthetic combined with “funny” unrealistic subjects. Gosling killed it even though he was obviously taking notes from Paul Rudd’s himbo character in Wet Hot American Summer. Could have been really good if it wasn’t just a big toy/GM commercial
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Aug 5, 2023 05:56
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Oppenheimer It's a Nolan film, and I love me some Nolan. What I really liked is the interplay between science and politics, which is going to speak with me since those are two things I wanted to get involved in when growing up. The entire movie reminds me of a line from Star Trek II (no, not that one) from David Marcus: "I've tried to tell you before, scientists have always been pawns of the military!" It's a movie about a man who imagined what happened to stars in space, the interplay with energy and gravity, and when stars finally collapse in on themselves, and how world politics veered him into building a weapon of mass destruction before the Nazis could. It does a great job of highlighting the conflict of whether to continue making this weapon or even using it now that the initial reason for the Manhattan Project is over. And once the military has their superweapon, they excise and pillory any who question their desire to create even worse weapons. It's a beautifully shot film, totally makes sense to use 70mm to capture the beauty of New Mexico and contrast the force of nature against the force of science. I majored in chemistry and that was my passion, so it was really cool seeing some of the less portrayed scientists like Bohr, Fermi, and Heisenberg on screen. The acting is incredible, especially RDJ as Strauss. I'll also give a shoutout to Branagh as Niels Bohr. I didn't recognize him without his Poirot 'stache. I didn't realize it was him, but he's excellent during the short time he is onscreen. I know some see it as a celebration of Oppenheimer's genius, but I see the film more as a caution on how very smart people can be convinced to work together to create terrible things out of fear and manipulation, and those with the hubris to believe they can outwit those in power can be in for a shock.
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Aug 5, 2023 06:10
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