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It peaked with the shot of the ceiling tiles sliding down the roof. After that I found myself very bored except the Atomic Breath scene which I found overwrought and emotionally manipulative; they shouldn't have used that music for it.
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Dec 14, 2023 18:16
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Iron Claw: Sean Durkin decided to tackle one of the most tragic stories in wrestling history, then took a step back and realized, "Let's pull back on real life a little bit because holy poo poo." The movie removed the existence of an entire Von Erich brother just because there was so much trauma redundancy. It's kind of crazy. Anyway, it's an overall great movie with a plot of "what if Joe Jackson, but wrestling." I loved a lot of the direction and there are some great performances from the main cast, especially Holt McCallany as Fritz Von Erich and Stanley Simons as the awkward Mike Von Erich. Really, the biggest weakness is the stuff with Kerry Von Erich, played by Jeremy Allen White. He has presence and all, but Kerry is introduced a bit late in the film after all this build-up and the climax revolves around him, but there never seems to be all that much to him. He just comes off as a one-dimensional biopic character played by a good actor. There's also a weird feeling to how time moves here. I don't know if it's intentional, but the events of a decade feel almost breakneck to the point that when Fritz remarks that Kevin is near 40, there's a feeling of, "What? Since when?!" That really shows when the tragedies start striking. After a death flag scene so blatant that it feels like something out of Walk Hard, the bad poo poo starts to pile up to the point that it's a borderline montage. The ending is a little rough and very rushed, including a segment so corny that I imagine it's going to turn a lot of people off. On the other hand, one of the final scenes is so well-done that it nearly offsets it, despite the guy sitting next to me openly wondering, "What was the point of that?" Worth checking out and the guy playing Ric Flair needs his own spinoff movie.
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Dec 14, 2023 20:19
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I enjoyed Iron Claw as well. It's an odd duck in that being a wrestling fan and knowing the history both helped and hurt my viewing of the film in certain ways. Like Gavok said, it has to skip over quite a few things and Kerry gets the shortest shrift, knowing the history filled the gaps in there. On the other hand, it's always very, very weird to see actors re-creating wrestling promos, given that the wrestlers giving them were very charismatic in the first place. It's just plain jarring to see at times and is hard to not see it as Ric Flair cosplay or something. It's Kevin Von Erich's story really and has some genuinely touching moments for him, I liked it a lot.
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Dec 14, 2023 23:58
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i've seen countless trailers for iron claw going to the theater over the past two months and not a single time did i feel even remotely intrigued. i get that it's supposed to be some tragic true story drama but as someone with zero knowledge you think they'd try to sell it with more than just "sweaty beef boys have a mean dad/coach who is too hard on them" like what's the draw? do people die? i went to see foxcatcher not knowing anything about the real story and it was still enough to interest me in seeing it bc they marketed steve carrell's character as a weirdo you wanna watch to see what poo poo he pulls.
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Dec 15, 2023 01:08
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ShoogaSlim posted:i've seen countless trailers for iron claw going to the theater over the past two months and not a single time did i feel even remotely intrigued. They definitely wanted to keep things under wraps and not spoil certain plot points, hoping that people don't read up on the events beforehand. But the trailer does basically tell you the main gist: a shithead dad manipulates his sons towards success to the point of abuse and pushes them so hard that things are going to go very, very wrong.
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Dec 15, 2023 04:10
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Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Saw this at my local rep theater with a big crowd which thankfully was not the type to shout out famous lines (although there was one guy clapping awkwardly at Classic Moments). Remarkable how well this still works despite the entire script being embedded in The Culture for decades. The thing is, no one who can recite the entire film from memory is even 1% as funny as any of the Pythons, so even the most famous lines "Hit Different" when you actually see the movie. A funny bit that I had absolutely no recollection of, probably because I was too young to get it last time I saw the movie: quote:The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used are fictitious and any similarity to the names, characters, or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional.
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Dec 15, 2023 15:56
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Oppenheimer - Prime said "customers also watched:" and listed Sound of Freedom. I'm trying to imagine what that venn diagram looks like, and how far they got into Oppenheimer before turning it off in disgust that there weren't any cool bombs yet
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Dec 16, 2023 04:01
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Data Graham posted:Oppenheimer - Prime said "customers also watched:" and listed Sound of Freedom. I'm trying to imagine what that venn diagram looks like, and how far they got into Oppenheimer before turning it off in disgust that there weren't any cool bombs yet
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Dec 16, 2023 04:45
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I liked Oppenheimer. But my biggest shock was how easily I could hear the dialogue compared to most of Nolans other films.
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Dec 16, 2023 08:20
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Yeah I had the same reaction actually, at least once I got my roommate to unplug his TWO GIANT SUBWOOFERS jesus christ. Still I only got like 80% of it.
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Dec 16, 2023 14:10
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just saw zone of interest holy poo poo
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Dec 16, 2023 23:33
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The Holdovers: is this one of the best movies of the year? It's really good. Paul Giamatti is awesome, Da'Vine Joy Randolph is so good. Dominic Sessa walks a tough line because done poorly it would be easy to really dislike the kid or not care, but he fills it well. Just great work.
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Dec 17, 2023 04:12
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Carillon posted:The Holdovers: is this one of the best movies of the year? it was my number one until just seeing zone of interest. two completely opposite movies in terms of style and tone but both incredibly strong. holdovers is so much fun and the chemistry between all the characters is top notch and infectious.
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Dec 17, 2023 05:31
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Alright, so Wonka is a 30/70 movie: 30% of it works and 70% of it doesn't. No matter what element of the movie you're looking at (the story, the casting, the music, the humor), 30% of it will work. That said, I would *much* rather families take their kids to see this than Migration or whatever the gently caress that terrible trailer was called; there's some effort here and some parts of it do work. I think kids will have a great time with Wonka and forget about it a week later. It's ultimately just empty calories, that's all.
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Dec 17, 2023 07:41
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They shoulda brought back the graham cracker bar
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Dec 17, 2023 07:43
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Finally got to see The Boy and the Heron (aka How Do You Live? (2023)) and it’s nice, I’d like to see it again to better absorb it. Off the cuff I think it’s a lower tier Miyazaki, and basically has a very similar plot to Spirited Away (2001). I mostly wish it took more time to get me settled into the fantasy setting, I always enjoy that part of Miyazaki films and it felt lacking here. Beautiful film of course. Can’t wait for Miyazaki’s next film 
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Dec 17, 2023 08:14
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My wife was absolutely enamored by the Barbie movie after she saw it this summer and insisted we watch it together last night now that it's on streaming. While visually beautiful, it was one of the most underbaked movies I've ever seen. It seemed like there were a dozen different ideas that could have been great if either whittled down or better integrated. It seemed to have been shot from a first draft or less. I could understand what the movie expected me to think and feel, but it was all unearned.
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Dec 17, 2023 11:27
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ShoogaSlim posted:i've seen countless trailers for iron claw going to the theater over the past two months and not a single time did i feel even remotely intrigued. There were five Von Erich kids who became wrestlers: David, Mike, Kerry, Chris, and Kevin. Only one of them is alive today. The other four died, three by suicide and one by enteritis (officially, although it’s believed it may have been a drug overdose), between the years of 1984 and 1993. Their deaths also mark the slow downfall of World Class Championship Wrestling, owned and operated by their father, Jack (who wrestled as Fritz Von Erich from the late 50s up to intermittent matches in 1982), a promotion that spearheaded and created the production values that Vince McMahon would straight up steal and use to help elevate the WWF into being the predominant national wrestling promotion in the 80s to today. And as each kid died, the more ruthless and capitalist the father got and the harder he pushed his remaining sons, in turn driving them deeper and deeper into their own demons. When the surviving one, Kevin, was the last one left, his father basically told him he was worthless and he wished he had died instead of any of his brothers. Which were the last words Fritz ever said to his only remaining son. In a business with an endless number of dark stories - a biopic of Jake Roberts would be likely classified as psychological horror in the vein of Jacob’s Ladder - the Von Erich story is, quite possibly, the saddest, darkest one of all. You could probably slug line the story as “a father’s attempt to live vicariously through his sons, to have them hit the heights of the business that were denied to him, dooms an entire family and rots out the father’s soul.”
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Dec 17, 2023 19:49
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Being There - fascinating experience. I'm not sure whether this should be compared to Forrest Gump (as the listings do outright) or Rain Man. Gump seems a more obvious parallel but in context it seems like Rain Man is actually the more relevant one to look at, because it's deciding to confront and deconstruct what was a well-worn "simpleton" trope and actually dig into autism as part of the plot instead of dancing around it the whole time and making it a framework on which to hang a bunch of dressed-up drawing-room-farce jokes. Still, I have to give Being There a lot of credit for taking itself this seriously and being this careful with its attention to detail, with lingering atmospheric shots of things like the motorized trunklid on a 1979 Cadillac limo, which I hadn't associated with many things until like Mercedes SUVs of the mid-2000s. It's sumptuous in that way, such that I didn't even realize it was supposed to read as a comedy until I was like halfway into it. A far cry from the slapdash screwball comedies Sellers had normally been in—not to take away from the artistic thoroughness of Mel Brooks style movies but this was weighty in its own unique way. I was taken aback by the walking-on-water ending scene, which hit me as way out of place (and indeed was not in the screenplay). I'm not sure how I feel about it, as on one hand it recontextualizes the whole thing as a parable and immediately makes you think a lot of thoughts about how everybody playing roles in high society and politics is just holding up mirrors to each other (as one of the dead Rand's quotes during that scene underscores—"As a child they told me God made man in his image, that's when I decided to manufacture mirrors"), and project their own desires and aspirations onto an utterly blank slate of a person. But on the other hand it sort of feels like a cheap device on the tier of "and then he woke up"
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Dec 18, 2023 00:08
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The Cameo posted:You could probably slug line the story as “a father’s attempt to live vicariously through his sons, to have them hit the heights of the business that were denied to him, dooms an entire family and rots out the father’s soul.” appreciate this detailed post. none of what you spoiled makes me feel like the movie would be ruined for me bc i know that information. if anything it makes me want to see it even more. the marketing is just absurd bc it's so ambiguous. i wonder if it's less about spoiling the tragic outcomes and more wanting to dupe on-the-fence audiences who might want to just see a cool wrestling movie with buff dudes. kinda how like drive was originally marketed as an action movie with ryan gosling but it wound up being the opposite of that.
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Dec 18, 2023 04:12
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Wonka : a really fun musical, despite the tepid advertisements. Hugh Grant steals the show, Chalomet manages to be ok. Somehow it just works. The songs are good, it's a lush visual treat
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Dec 18, 2023 04:46
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iron claw...its well made and does a good job of telling the story of the tragedy of the von erich family. i wish that they didn't try to speed through certain elements but i also get that they have a run time they're trying to stick to. the actors for kerry and kevin were excellent. im prolly gonna rewatch it when it hits streaming.
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Dec 18, 2023 07:30
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The Dunwich Horror (1970)- A surprisingly good adaptation of the novella of the same name, while it takes some major liberties with the story, it still retains the essence of the story. A bit of a slow burn, and the horror itself looks a little goofy when it is visible, but it's worth a watch if you're looking for something to throw on that does a decent job of being Lovecraftian.
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Dec 18, 2023 13:04
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Monster (2023) was devastating, I drove home and have still not recovered favorite of the year potentially
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Dec 18, 2023 22:39
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saladscooper posted:favorite of the year potentially shameless plug/promotion for a thread that was born of an idea in the genchat thread. if anyone locked into their bookmarks who hasn't seen, there's now a "movie of the year" thread similar in nature to the video games and tviv threads that happen year over year. https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4049769
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Dec 18, 2023 22:45
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saladscooper posted:Monster (2023) was devastating, I drove home and have still not recovered More devastating than usual for Koreeda? Though of his movies I’ve seen I guess I would put Shoplifters as having devastating events.
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Dec 18, 2023 22:51
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checkplease posted:More devastating than usual for Koreeda? Though of his movies I’ve seen I guess I would put Shoplifters as having devastating events. i guess i should say this was my first koreeda. it will not be my last! holy poo poo
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Dec 18, 2023 22:54
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Midnight Run this was pretty fun and reminded me of Trains, Planes, and Automobiles just with more guns and Blues Brothers level of police. There’s even a wacky car chase with tons of cop cars getting wrecked also. But I do think it should have been closer to 90 mins vs the 120 it is as it felt like some gags were starting to repeat themselves. Overall a good hang with Di Nero.
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Dec 19, 2023 03:28
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The Creator sure was pretty and also painfully dumb.
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Dec 20, 2023 00:58
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The Hudsucker Proxy: everyone but Paul Newman and Tim Robbins please shut the gently caress up forever.
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Dec 20, 2023 03:40
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anatomi posted:The Creator sure was pretty and also painfully dumb. Just watched The Creator and yea, a very dumb story, but holy hell does that look and aesthetic carry it through. As an aside, the US vehicles and space platform in particular made me really want to see a big, dumb live action Command & Conquer movie.
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Dec 20, 2023 06:25
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Josie and the Pussycats loads of fun and as subtle as the lyrics of "Backdoor Lover"
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Dec 20, 2023 18:11
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Josie and the Pussycats this is a sort of Zoolander meets They Live from a time when MTV was part of the culture. It’s a lot of fun with a spectacular opening scene and some other great gags. Alan Cumming and Parker Posey are having a wild time along with most of the cast. The third act doesn’t quite come together fully, but it ends with a rocking song and a kiss, so what’s to complain about. Really all the songs are solid quality.
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Dec 21, 2023 04:30
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Godzilla Minus One It was fine I guess. Maybe I’m just tired. Probably better constructed and more clear headed than most big spectacle movies. But as the second half went on, I did kind of just want it to hurry up and finish. I’m not big on “huge monster” movies in general, tbf. Whether it’s blokes in rubber suits or computer-generated mega-blokes, there always seems to be a kind of enervating disconnect between the human-scale stuff (screaming, running, desperately enacting last-ditch long-shot scientific solutions) and the creature-scale stuff (smashing skyscrapers, roaring, smashing more skyscrapers). Dramatically, I dunno. I’d rather an “Alien”-sized alien than a mountain-sized monster. This film did take the time to establish a reasonably charming and engaging cast of human characters, with some emotional arcs and suchlike, so well done on that front. But as someone who isn’t a Godzilla diehard, I wanted more of a sense of personality from Godzilla himself. I don’t mean he should be making wisecracks or Shakespearean monologues (although…), but, I mean, there are things you can do with him, right? Godzilla can be an elemental force of nature, or a big animal just trying to do its thing. They try to give Godzilla symbolic resonance in the film but I’m not sure he’s a very adequate symbol of anything. He’s just sort of comical-looking. I liked the boat chase, and it’s a small thing that the ruins of Ginza at the start were just two or three sets. There’s something very evocative and theatrical about using sets for external scenes I often prefer to big CG landscapes. I also liked the ship captain - Mr Noda. He had nice vibes and good hair.
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Dec 21, 2023 10:35
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i thought surely josie and the pussycats was probably terrible and i was remembering it through the sheen of nostalgia and an insanely tight lead single but ive been watching riverdale and i really want to revisit it
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Dec 21, 2023 11:13
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I watched Josie when it hit the Criterion Channel earlier this month and to quote myself:Erin M. Fiasco posted:Thanks to this month's collections on the Channel I watched Josie & The Pussycats and holy poo poo that was a phenomenal movie. Bubblegum-flavored They Live. Funny as gently caress, great music, absolutely bonkers wild, and the set design and product placement were high art. There's no way 2001 was ready for this movie and yet it's somehow the most Y2K film ever made. I'm so glad they added it. It and Speed Racer (2008) are shaking hands. As the weeks have went on I find myself thinking about it more and more, and that's the sign of a great movie for me. It may potentially end up in my year's top ten, and it's been a stacked year. I agree on the third act not fully coming together but gently caress, when the actual ending scene is as sugary and silly as it gets (and has one of the funniest gags in the whole movie) what's there to complain about? Exactly my speed.
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Dec 21, 2023 13:22
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Josie and the Pussycats is a surprisingly top tier film. Really good, tight writing, great cast who are all having an immense amount of fun, and some truly good and catchy songs. Plus it’s anti-consumerism/anti-capitalist as hell! If you can, watching with the commentary is also a fun time as the film was seemingly made on pennies scraped together from under the sofa.
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Dec 21, 2023 13:44
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To this day I still think of Parker Posey saying "White Ath Wally? But you were tho pale!"
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Dec 21, 2023 14:02
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Oh yeah I could definitely see budget limitations by the end as the final “battle” is almost a tv skit. But it doesn’t really matter, it’s still fun. I think the only weak point for me at times was Tara Reid. Her jokes can be a bit hit or miss and she’s just not as strong as the rest of them. Also I don’t know anything about Riverdale or the comic, so probably some stuff I’m missing.
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Dec 21, 2023 14:40
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The_Doctor posted:If you can, watching with the commentary is also a fun time as the film was seemingly made on pennies scraped together from under the sofa. Will have to check the commentary out, thanks. It looks really weird, every scene is like mid tier tv drama level quality sets and effects, but they just have so many of them and they are all so big
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Dec 21, 2023 14:47
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