|
Nightmare Cinema posted:You still have Dial and Skull below that. Admittedly I haven't seen it since the theater, though I'm looking forward to it hitting Disney+ this weekend, but as I recall, my only real complaint with Dial of Destiny is that the tuk-tuk chase goes on for-loving-ever, Voller feels a bit under-written and has an unsatisfying death and I'm just kind of tired of seeing Boyd Holbrook show up as "generic white guy" yet again, he's occupying the same space that Aaron Taylor-Johnson did a decade ago. But overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit. For that matter, I caught Crystal Skull on some random channel on YouTube TV a few weeks ago and I thought it was perfectly fine, outside of Mac being a goddamn quintuple-agent or whatever, which got really old really quickly and felt like a terrible waste of Ray Winstone (and John Hurt's character should have been Abner Ravenwood). But otherwise, nothing stood out as particularly awful or objectionable to me. I wouldn't say it's a stone-cold classic, near-perfect movie like Raiders, but there are far worse ways for me to spend two hours on a lazy Friday night. Temple of Doom is just very deeply unpleasant to me, though.
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2023 14:11
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 26, 2024 11:50 |
|
|
Timby posted:Admittedly I haven't seen it since the theater, though I'm looking forward to it hitting Disney+ this weekend, but as I recall, my only real complaint with Dial of Destiny is that the tuk-tuk chase goes on for-loving-ever, Voller feels a bit under-written and has an unsatisfying death and I'm just kind of tired of seeing Boyd Holbrook show up as "generic white guy" yet again, he's occupying the same space that Aaron Taylor-Johnson did a decade ago. But overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit. A quintessential "different strokes" moment.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2023 14:58
|
|
|
War The film rips off a dozen different spy and action franchises but does it with such confidence and swagger that it's impossible to feel bad for it. The relationship between Khabir and Khalid really makes the film, you can feel how much Khabir comes to trust Khalid and how much Khalid comes to look up to Khabir as a role model after his father betrayed the country, some of the finest acting I've seen in a franchise that doesn't really need much subtly. That said some of the directorial choices didn't work nearly as well as they did in the Tiger films or Pathaan. For one the whole narrative is chopped to hell which would be fine, but the whole subplot with Naaina ends up breaking the flow of the film despite also being good, it just doesn't work with the way the main narrative is concerned with just Khabir and Khalid's relationship. The whole last act until the final fight is also poor, as is Ilyasi as a villain. The whole time he is on RAW's most wanted list but not once did I understand who he was or why. Is he a terrorist being paid by Pakistan or China? A foreign agent? Someone from inside the country? what does he have against India? Also how hosed is that woman's marriage. Imagine you're at the altar with your beautiful bride and these two jacked motherfucker roll up and pull her aside like it's nothing. No matter what she says that man is going to be so in his loving head the rest of his life wondering how he can compete.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2023 00:52
|
|
|
Moonfall: Armageddon minus all the charm + even more ludicrous
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2023 06:28
|
|
|
Millennium Actress: Watched this on the Kanopy app on my phone over two consecutive lunch breaks at work. Probably not the ideal setting, but wow, what a movie. This is a very "boss baby vibes" thing to say, but it made me think of Into the Spider-verse, in the sense that it gave me the feeling of, like "oh, so this is what animation can do." Really beautifully made, need to see this on a screen bigger than 5.85" asap.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2023 15:18
|
|
|
I need to rewatch millennium actress now that I’ve see a few Ozu and Setsuko Hara movies. But yeah always loved that one.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2023 16:17
|
|
|
fat city (john huston, 1972) - new hollywood to the bone in all its grimy, seedy glory (that watery ketchup made me wince in revulsion) yet helmed by one of the stalwarts of the studio era. amateur boxing has never looked like such a hideous sideshow dredged from the bowels of the earth. jeff daniels, baby-faced & bright-eyed with a touch of dimness. stacy keach, like a flat-faced nicholson, 30 going on 45. susan tyrell is the bonafide scene stealer. in seeking out additional details about this film, i came upon across this wild-rear end interview/article about tyrell's career, trigger warning spoilers for huston being gross:LA Weekly article from 2000 posted:“Now he’s on top of me, and it was like the sagging flesh of a balloon, like an old balloon, and he held my tits and he was saying, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God. You’re beau-tiful!’ And I looked down at my tits, and I thought, ‘I am. I am beautiful.’ With the waves crashing against the cliffs below. I don’t even remember him being inside me. I don’t even think he got it up and got inside me, you know? He was just this thing on top of me. I can’t describe to you how horrible it was . . . but I’d rather gently caress John Huston any day than some lame director.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2023 18:58
|
|
|
Bottoms finally came out in theatres in my country so I saw it with my partner for our ~anniversary~ Very good movie. The first half is so fast-moving and rapid-fire with the jokes and the funnies, that it doesn't even feel too bad that the final act is mostly pretty rote and by-the-numbers.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2023 13:19
|
|
|
Coaaab posted:susan tyrell is the bonafide scene stealer. in seeking out additional details about this film, i came upon across this wild-rear end interview/article about tyrell's career, trigger warning spoilers for huston being gross: An absolutely incredible read, thank you. What a life, and what an amazing, profanely poetic storyteller. My favorite detail: she once dated trailblazing transsexual Candy Darling, the subject of this classic song: https://youtu.be/XPgGjUSEWss?si=OKFCKQWHI8kWs3ho
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2023 14:06
|
|
|
The Sting a network of grifters across the country with their own language of cons all before the internet is a cool setting. You could definitely see that this was filmed on a studio lot. Everything had this kind of fake feeling about it. But maybe that’s fitting for a con. And you always have to respect a long con.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2023 04:46
|
|
|
smug n stuff posted:Millennium Actress: Watched this on the Kanopy app on my phone over two consecutive lunch breaks at work. Probably not the ideal setting, but wow, what a movie. This is a very "boss baby vibes" thing to say, but it made me think of Into the Spider-verse, in the sense that it gave me the feeling of, like "oh, so this is what animation can do." Really beautifully made, need to see this on a screen bigger than 5.85" asap. It's not only the best Kon film, it's the best animated film ever made. One day I hope people will realize that. May, December Excellent film. Haynes does not shy away from showing how utterly hosed the situation is for everyone involved. A simple film would make Julianne Moore a complete monster and a gross movie would make Melton a giga Chad, which he does look like man's putting in the work. But in the end Natalie Portman comes off as the worst because for better or mostly worse all these people are stuck with this life and they will never escape it no matter what level of complicity or extenuating circumstances exist.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2023 04:56
|
|
|
Watched Cop Land after seeing it recommended on this site as an underrated film. Great cast, was cool to see Stallone acting in something different than the usual action film, had a cool noir feel and some cool scenes. Random thoughts though: -It felt like the cast was way too big and the film ended up confusing. Maybe some parts were lost in editing, I think you would have a better film for example if you merged Ray Liotta and Noah Emmerich's characters, Stallone really didn't need two friend characters with the film being so busy already. -Unless I missed it, whats the point of the scene where Stallone crashes at the start? Felt like his alcoholism was going to tie in to the story or he would be set up for something but it went nowhere. Especially weird that there are at least three car crashes in the film and I don't think they are linked thematically at all. -Was it just me or was this film super racist? Both scenes with black criminals they are portrayed as absolute psychopaths, plus the fact that the character we are supposed to feel sorry for shot and killed two unarmed black guys. Not sure if theres just subtext going over my head there but since its a film about corrupt cops It would make even more sense to portray the criminals as being set up and screwed over by the cops.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2023 12:52
|
|
|
Watched Dial of Destiny. Feels overall about as bad as Crystal Skull, but interesting how different it is from Crystal Skull Crystal Skull had some terrible groaner moments but also had some brilliant moments, especially that first chase through the city on motorcycle. By contrast I think Dial of Destiny never had lows as low nor any highs as high, it was just mediocre beginning to end. The absence of Spielberg was a good way to realize how good Spielberg’s directing was. Despite everyone complaining about nuking the fridge, that scene was shot and edited so well. Cinematography and editing was so mediocre in Dial… shots would linger on irrelevant things, or would be composed in lazy ways or the CGI could make everything look phony. It was a disappointment to find out Mangold directed this. He did great on Logan, what happened here?
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2023 20:04
|
|
|
Saltburn. I continue to be politely bewildered by the level of vitriol that Emerald Fennell’s filmmaking attracts from some quarters. I feel like the worst thing you can reasonably about this movie is “nice try”, but then I go on Letterboxd and people are giving it one star and calling Fennell the worst filmmaker of her generation, or condemning it as a cautionary tale to the virtuous wealthy about the greedy unscrupulous poor. Weird stuff! I don’t think the worst filmmaker of any generation was ever this consistently watchable. Sure, it’s a bit of a mess, falls to pieces at the end (but nearly pulls itself back together again through the power of outrageousness and vibes) and I’m not sure the main character makes any sense. But it’s fun and it looks great. It’s Brideshead Revisited mashed up with The Talented Mister Ripley, and there are worse things to be. Keoghan and the rest of the cast are great, Jacob Elordi is very dreamy (lotta teenagers in my audience audibly cooing every time he appeared on screen, and I can see why), and there are a few moments where the film is revelling in its—like I said—outrageousness, which I found sort of endearing, and which got great reactions in my screening. 3/5? 3.5/5..?
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2023 22:19
|
|
|
Just watched Behind the Curve documentary about flat earthers on Tubi. A lot of YouTubes you may have seen in recent years about flat earthers conducting experiments and proving themselves wrong mightve come from this Subject matter might be old but it’s a pretty good example of how unbiased editing can be. Flat earthers are allowed to say whatever they want, and although there are scientific experts there’s no host to question the flat earthers. BUT the choices of what they juxtapose together is great, especially the punchline at the end.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2023 23:42
|
|
|
Lobster Henry posted:Saltburn. i had advance tickets to see this through amc a list and wound up canceling. then i heard more good things, got another ticket, and wound up canceling. your post feels like how i expect to feel about it except i would have less tolerance for it overall and i can't keep my motivation up to go see it. you may have convinced me to never bother watching it, which i doubt was your intention
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2023 23:53
|
|
|
I too found Saltburn to be about a 3.5/5. I knew nothing about it going in except that I love Barry Keoghan, hadn't seen Promising Young Woman, and I basically had... an acceptable time. There were moments that I found very straightforwardly entertaining and well-crafted, but a lot of it was surprisingly bland
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2023 23:56
|
|
|
3.5/5 feels too generous for a bland movie. for me it would be a 3 at best if not 2.5. otherwise what kind of movies get those lower marks? at least on letterboxd, it feels like the 1.5-2.5 range is a dead zone. like a movie is either a 1 if it's bad or a 3 if it's decent.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2023 01:25
|
|
|
I think my "bland" usage may be kind of a knee-jerk reaction to the movie's emphasis on certain shocking moments. It's less that it's genuinely bland and more that it seems to pretend to be extremely out-there while... not actually being that way.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2023 01:30
|
|
|
that makes sense. i have heard a lot of anecdotes about how "shocking" it is when i'm sure it can't possibly live up to the hype it's getting
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2023 01:49
|
|
|
The Astronaut Farmer: This movie was ... insane. Is this some kind of joke? I feel like it's written to fool millions of credulous idiots into thinking it's based on a true story or some poo poo, what with the Jay Leno bits and all. Is this supposed to be someone's portrait of what a perfect "loyal wife who doesn't henpeck you to death and instead gives you her whole inheritance to further your maniacal dream" should be like? I spent five whole minutes after the rocket went sideways and blew the windows out of the house and plowed through the news vans waiting for him to jolt awake with a gasp. But nooooooo, it's real e: I kept expecting the movie to make clear why it thought it could get away with an Atlas rocket launching out of a loving wooden barn and not damaging the papers and oil cans and piles of junk inside, just rattling them around a bit, let alone incinerating the structure and everything for a mile around; but it never did, we're supposed to just roll with that poo poo and cheer the plucky roughhewn Texan who stands up to the big mean ol' FAA with their "rules" and "regulations" Data Graham fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Dec 3, 2023 |
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2023 02:36
|
|
|
Paheli (2005) - Oh hey, it's that famous reservoir in India with the stairs that criss-cross! That's it. I have no idea what the hell was going on in this movie. I guess the costumes were really bright and colorful.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2023 02:49
|
|
|
Ghosts in the Darkness Good start with an interesting premise and some beautiful on location filming (not sure if it's really Africa but what I mean is it's certainly not CG). The middle is too slow and muddled, and Remington is not a strong addition to the movie. Also, the action scenes are bad which becomes a more and more critical problem, so by the time it was over I felt pretty lukewarm. Still, I'll take a second rate 90's drama/adventure over the new Eddie Murphy Christmas movie, which was the initial pick for the night, that thing looks like a less well executed The Santa Clause.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2023 03:00
|
|
|
The Lady Vanishes I would have expected this to be more of a psycho thriller instead of a comedy thriller with a set piece shootout and some political commentary that probably hits a lot harder in thirties Britain. Pretty drat funny though, the two gay cricketeers were always a laugh as was the opening playing around with the conventions of silent film before all hell broke loose. Margret Lockwood is quite the charming character too, turns out all you need to realize you need to escape your arranged marriage is a good clonk on the head and a train caper to set you straight with a clarinetist, every woman's dream. Fun little movie, but not a great work in the way his American pictures are.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2023 05:08
|
|
|
american fiction hilarious. some of it felt a little teeny tiny bit contrived, but i think that might have been the point. i was originally a bit let down by how it ended, but then i think it redeemed itself. i'll be thinking about it for a bit, but def super enjoyable and well done. while i didn't love dream scenario as much as i hoped i would, it's interesting to note that movie, this movie, and the holdovers all feature hard-pressed academics.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2023 07:15
|
|
|
Godzilla minus one I can't say enough good things about this movie. I'm not very familiar with Godzilla aside from general pop culture osmosis but to me this film does everything a Godzilla film should do, does it well, and finds time for effective story beats and a post war setting that is all more effective than a pop corn munching monster movie might need to be. The way the movie threads the needle between a rendering of Godzilla, the monster, with modern fidelity while still seeming every bit the classic version - kind of pudgy, with hardly any physical articulation and a permanent scowl of offended annoyance, is just brilliant. The sound design is phenomenal, the script is brisk and efficient, and the movie sets up and then pays off a number of characters arcs in a competent if unspectacular fashion. It's a tidy little film underneath the action set pieces, which are themselves fantastic, and the sum of the parts is delightful. Considering both of these movies are billed primarily on visual spectacle, Godzilla shames Napoleon by also being good enough at all the other things you need in a movie.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2023 05:50
|
|
|
The Revenant - pretty bad. Was surprised twice afterwards, first when I saw it had won a bunch of Oscar's and then again when I saw one was for Best Directing. Someone on letterboxd joked that you could get the runtime down to a more appropriate length if you removed all the landscape shots. Imo you'd be better off removing most of the ones with actors in, just keep the bear fight, Di Caprio being abandoned, and the final sequence along with the scenery.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2023 08:16
|
|
|
Saw Love Actually, never saw it before. Never realized it was a Christmas movie either. (Apparently I haven't watched a Christmas movie since Santa Claus The Movie. I haven't even seen Elf) Looking for this screenshot it seems this scene has already been parodied about nine billion times, so I don't know if the joke that immediately occurred to me has been done before but I assume it has:  "Peter? Do we know someone named Carol Singers?"
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2023 11:45
|
|
|
Gaius Marius posted:It's not only the best Kon film, it's the best animated film ever made. One day I hope people will realize that. Watched Millenium Actress again and am coming around to this being the case. Also at least in the top three Movies about Movies that I've seen? I mean, probably Singin' in the Rain surpasses it, but not much else!
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2023 04:48
|
|
|
The Perfumier (2022) - What the hell was that? This might be among the worst writing I've seen in a movie. No exaggeration, this was something that a 5th grader would be embarrassed to have their name attached to. It's not offensively bad, or absurdly bad, it's just sophmorically bad. I would even call it pretentious. I felt compelled to check whether this was based on a manga, that's how bad it was (it does not appear to be based on anything). It is almost funny-bad enough to waste 96 minutes of your life on it, but not quite.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2023 00:55
|
|
|
Maestro: tedious, obvious, trite. The music was good, and the shots were occasionally very pretty. Ah well.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2023 04:49
|
|
|
smug n stuff posted:Maestro: tedious, obvious, trite. The music was good, and the shots were occasionally very pretty. Ah well. Can you imagine how devastated Cooper was when he saw TAR the first time though? Last of the Mohicans It's fascinating to see such a Romantic film from Mann, both from the weight put on the two romances in the film, Uncas and Alice and Hawkeye and Cora, and the amount of sentimentality presented in the score and locations. Mann's other great films have a lot of emotion under the surface, but they're usually buried deep under the surface, only surfacing in glimpses and metaphors; the picture Caan keeps in Thief or De Niro's pondering of the waves. Mohicans is swelling with emotion from the get go, Hawkeye makes no secret of his love for Cora, he is an expert in the same way Mann's protagonist's usually are, but he isn't trapped in a society or psychological lock the way his other protagonists are; if Neil or Frank break they will be destroyed by the state, if Graham cracks he will start killing people, if Tubbs or Crockett break they will be eliminated by the Cartels. Hawkeye is free, emotionally and from other human entanglements. Almost makes you sad for his other characters, they'd have thrived in the periods of history where borders and authority were more suggestions than absolute. Aside from the novelty, the first thing you've got to say is that the sound in this movie is incredible. This is the kind of score people wish they had when they ask for a historical epic score. It's also does a great job at portraying the relations between england, France, and the various tribes accurately. The French commanders values the Huron as a force, invites them to his war councils and joins them in theirs, abhors the pointless bloodshed and allows the english to leave the fort unmolested and with their honor, what little an english can be said to have, intact. England meanwhile presses the colonists into service allowing their homes to be destroyed and their families killed and when they wish to return as they were promised they are threatened with violence and hanging, the anglos are dismissive of the native people and thus can't see that Magua is not a Mohawk but a Huron, enslave and kill them, leading to Magua's quest for revenge, and their unwavering and uncompromising attitudes already are laying the foundation for the Revolution. Magua himself is great, the man is absolutely psychotic but for a very good reason, he's the only real human villain of the story so a lot of the film rests on his shoulders and Studi manages to bring it. Shoutout to Uncas and Alice too, Hawkeye and Cora get the screentime for the relationship, but those two get just as convincing a love story, but told entirely in glances and facial emotion, good work. I'm going to be controversial, but I didn't love DDL in this. He is doing some weird accent work, and is whisper yelling half of his dialogue, him with Cora, Uncas, or Chingachgook is alright, anyone else and I'm wondering what movie he thinks he's in. Glad that Chingachgook got the final scene too, in the end this is his movie and he is the one who deserved to eliminate Magua after he killed Uncas. Good film, not my favorite Mann but I'd slap on the scenes of battle around the fort or the ambush on the english anytime. I can also see why Mann went all in on digital, there are some scenes that look like they'd drive someone insane trying to light them properly and some of the scenes look like they'd be a bitch to edit. Gaius Marius fucked around with this message at 05:45 on Dec 6, 2023 |
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2023 05:39
|
|
|
I remember the scene where they're approaching the battle from a long way away, with all the sounds and lights in the distance, and being amazed that I hadn't seen anything like it before. It just looked and sounded so cool.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2023 12:59
|
|
|
may december good. maybe great. technically impressive with some really well done long shots and an overall sense of dread and realistic psychological horror. just something about it didn't really grip me enough to hold my interest for longer than ~10 minutes at a time. took me two evenings and an afternoon to finish bc i never felt compelled to keep watching without losing interest or taking a break after any one scene was over. def recommended for the performances
|
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2023 11:12
|
|
|
The Boy and The Heron
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2023 04:32
|
|
|
Donnie Darko - It's so strange to be living in a post-"I have seen Donnie Darko" world after two decades of hearing about it in my periphery. I remember when this movie was all my older brother and his friends talked about. I can see why it would be a cult hit, especially with how big it was in high schools, but I'm surprised at how prevalent it was when it's so offbeat. I really wasn't expecting something quite so Lynchian - Fire Walk With Me kept flashing into my mind during the climax - and the sense of dread and tension throughout the entire movie was really something special. Two moments near the end really made me sit bolt upright, first Under The Milky Way hitting because I love that song and that entire scene is amazing, second the moment I realized what The Twist was going to be. Holy poo poo I haven't been able to get the images and feelings of seeing the plane crash and realizing what that meant, followed by Donnie laughing as he climbs into bed out of my head. It really was nothing like I expected, so much stranger and sadder, but that's a plus in my book. It doesn't compare to a true Lynch film but it's still something I think I'll remember for a while. Side note, the first Steins;Gate box set I bought had a quote from Anime Vice's review on the back of the box I make fun of constantly - "It's like someone taped The Big Bang Theory over a copy of Donnie Darko." - and now that I've actually seen Donnie Darko I gotta say that quote actually makes even less sense.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2023 11:42
|
|
|
I’ve meant to watch Steins Gate for years. Time travel anime sounds right up my street.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2023 14:33
|
|
|
I never really connected the dots between my teenaged obsession with Donnie Darko and my adult obsession with David Lynch, but it's absolutely true. It's basically Mulholland Drive for depressed 16 year olds.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2023 14:37
|
|
|
Now watch Southland Tales, Richard Kelly's second movie. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2023 15:11
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 26, 2024 11:50 |
|
|
shoeberto posted:I never really connected the dots between my teenaged obsession with Donnie Darko and my adult obsession with David Lynch, but it's absolutely true. It's basically Mulholland Drive for depressed 16 year olds. Yeah, I put Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and Donnie Darko in the same enjoyable surreal category.
|
|
#
?
Dec 8, 2023 15:31
|
|
