|
Hard Feelings on Netflix. Not to be confused with the other 2023 movie No Hard Feelings, it basically answers the question 'What if Sex Education but German?'. Turns out the answer is Not Great. Left it playing to the end but without my full focus.
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 12:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 26, 2024 20:42 |
|
|
Pablo Bluth posted:Hard Feelings on Netflix. Yeah I feel a lot of Netflix movies are like that, "What if Y but X?" and then be very mid - nothing unwatchable, but more of something to put on in the background.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 16:30
|
|
|
Vera Drake Wow, that one got to me, and there were tears. Exceptional film. I gotta keep watching Mike Leighs. Impeccable performances and Leigh and his editor know the ineffable secret of how to hold a simple shot or linger over small moments in a way that is totally absorbing. It feels low key, but there are a million dull/passable low key domestic dramas, and this is so much more than that.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 19:48
|
|
|
The Bad Sleep Well Shamefully, this was my first non-samurai Kurosawa and I was (perhaps foolishly) surprised at just how similar it was, stylistically, to his katana fare. The staginess of his style becomes more obvious when guys are wearing suits. And it's not a bad thing, it all makes the whole thing feel like an epic tragedy for the ages. It's an incredible movie, really. Naturally, it's incredibly critical of public and corporate corruption which just makes me wonder what the writers would think of Japan (poo poo, anywhere, really) today.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2024 23:20
|
|
|
Split Second 1992 sci-fi with Rutger Hauer The movie shouldn't work, the mystery is really meh and the killer looks absolutely terrible. At no point did I feel compelled to follow along with the plot or feel like anything matters. The setting being global-warming ruined London is a cool idea, with almost all the sets being knee-high in water is also cool but aside from window dressing nothing really gets done with it. It feels like it wants to be a horror-thriller, but then everyone plays their characters so seriously while saying the most ludicrous poo poo that it loops around into a edgy funny buddy-cop comedy instead. It feels like a parody at times. Rutger Hauer being the edgiest of cops out for revenge while delivering lines like "Lucifer is in some deep poo poo now." while binging cigars and chocolates is just great.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2024 03:43
|
|
|
Total Recall (1990) 90s as hell with some absolutely ludicrous stuff like Mars growing a full atmosphere in about 45 seconds. Total Recall (2012) (Director's Cut) Oh god the lens flare. This is very explicitly a remake of the movie rather than a re-adaptation of the short story, regardless of what some of the cast have claimed. This seemed to borrow some of the action sequences from I, Robot and Minority Report and the droid army from the Star Wars prequels. Especially silly is The Fall, a shaft straight through the earth from the UK (the United Federation of Britain) to Australia (the Colony) that lets you make the commute in about 20 minutes and has been maintained through the current post-post apocalypse that has left those two places as the only habitable land remaining on Earth. The Colony looked very Blade Runner while the UFB was a much tidier dystopia. Bryan Cranston was excellent as the Chancellor; this was near the end of Breaking Bad so he was somewhat better appreciated by Hollywood at that point. Colin Farrell spent a lot of time walking around slack-jawed.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2024 06:02
|
|
|
i finally finished kurosawa's ikiru tonight. it took me three nights to get through it, and the pacing is the weakest element for me and held me back from enjoying it as much as i was hoping to. it's still a great film with a sweet, if too on the nose, message. but yeah it drags a bit, and i wound up liking the third act more than the first two.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2024 11:46
|
|
|
Archer666 posted:Split Second 1992 sci-fi with Rutger Hauer 'Dick Durkins' is fuckin hilarious all the way through too, a genuinely great character. The bit where he laughs about Hauer's character being called Harley and Hauer's response seems like genuine corpsing.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2024 21:45
|
|
|
I watched Heat with the commentary thanks to this. https://youtu.be/oX8pbq1OOI0?si=alNAebB8NB-5MRv1 It was a long time since I first saw it. I really just love to hear filmmakers talk about their movies. Mann gives you little insights about the folx the movie is based on, what research he did to make the players and their actions feel authentic and lots about "Me and Pachino had a big fight about XYZ but ultimately he made the right choice and the movie is better for it" I love a good commentary, there are plenty of films I won't watch ever again but would with a good commentary
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 00:25
|
|
|
The Beekeeper (David Ayer, 2024) A very silly and fun action B movie starring Jason Statham as a retired Tier 0 operative who carries out a campaign of bloody revenge after his elderly friend gets scammed by a phishing group. For some reason, this group is located within multiple offices in the US, in Wolf of Wall Street-style boiler rooms, but lit up like a Twitch streamer's closet. The offices are not very well protected by armed guards, four of whom The Stath knocks out and burns to death. There's plenty of other fun and violent takedowns (including a band saw and an elevator shaft, and they don't really bother to hide the obvious UK filming locations and accents very well - Statham's had me wondering exactly where his character was supposed to be from, until another just comes out and asks him "you have a trace of a British accent, did you grow up there?". There's also an absolutely insane fight with another Tier 0 op, who looks like she's just walked off the set of the Same Junipero episode of Black Mirror, but while driving a truck with a mini gun in the back, and another weighty one with a South African mercenary with a prosthetic leg. Anyway it was a lot of fun and worth seeing after a couple of beers. edit: oh yeah, and there's lots of bee puns - references to kicking the hornets nest, needing to protect the queen bee, etc Carpet fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Jan 12, 2024 |
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 00:43
|
|
|
ShoogaSlim posted:i finally finished kurosawa's ikiru tonight. it took me three nights to get through it, and the pacing is the weakest element for me and held me back from enjoying it as much as i was hoping to. Do not bother with the British adaption that came out last year. I've never felt more bored in a theatre. The Holdovers I realized that the thing that really was holding me back from liking the Asylum scene with Sessa and his dad was I was sub consciously comparing it to the same type of scene between Tony and Junior in the Soprano's and the actor playing the father just cannot sell the wires not firing correctly the way Junior can. I was baffled to hear someone criticize the film for not focusing enough on Vietnam, I just think there are some people who don't understand subtext because that is half the underlying tension of the film. People like Seesa's character bitching about being held back in grades and not getting a free pass in class while people like Giamatti are sent to die in foreign lands without their consent being asked. There are times when it's very much worth asking if the criticism you are making is actually true or just emotional backporting to justify your dislike, as that critique obviously is. It's pretty funny whenever Giamatti breaks out the Marcus Aurelius, but let's be honest. If Payne wasn't writing for an audience and was making the real man Giamatti would be talking mad poo poo about Marcus Aurelius and telling people to start reading Epictetus.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 01:39
|
|
|
Gaius Marius posted:Do not bother with the British adaption that came out last year. I've never felt more bored in a theatre. i saw a few remakes on letterboxd when i typed it in to log. i would never dare haha
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 01:46
|
|
|
Opera No.1 Hal Hartley Okay now I think I'm getting it. Man has managed to condense a pretty standard comedic opera of Goddesses loving with mortals into about ten minutes. The two Goddesses try to get two (un)lucky mortals to fall in love as part of their plan but accidentally have them fall in love with the Goddesses instead. Very standard plot, very funny when set in a modern setting, in a warehouse, with gods wearing sacred roller skates and Dr.Venture as the male lead.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 03:04
|
|
|
Gaius Marius posted:Opera No.1 Hal Hartley Watched this, was fun and worth the 8 minutes. Parker Posey does her trademark "ugh" face which automatically adds an extra star
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 12:25
|
|
|
Parker Posey automatically adds a star to anything she's in.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 14:08
|
|
|
Poor Things - didn’t know what to expect, other than being told it was very good, and an askew take on Frankenstein (kind of sort of), but it absolutely blew me away. Incredibly well acted, a story that went everywhere, but nowhere guessable, and just gorgeous from top to bottom.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 16:32
|
|
|
Pope Corky the IX posted:Parker Posey automatically adds a star to anything she's in. That's right
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 16:56
|
|
|
ShoogaSlim posted:i finally finished kurosawa's ikiru tonight. it took me three nights to get through it, and the pacing is the weakest element for me and held me back from enjoying it as much as i was hoping to. what'd you think of the laugh track
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 17:41
|
|
|
Gaius Marius posted:Opera No.1 Hal Hartley I remembered this aired on Comedy Central's short-lived "Musical Shorts" program hosted by Debi Mazar. It's quite fun but back then I wasn't familiar with Parker Posey or her co-star. I still remember quite a few of the lyrics too.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2024 22:51
|
|
|
Society of the Snow - Nobody brought any warm clothes? Not even a hat? What the hell?
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2024 00:31
|
|
|
Joint Security Area (2000) whips rear end, Park Chan Wook is goated
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2024 06:42
|
|
|
Anatomy of a Fall arrest that kid for what he did to the dog. Good stuff but years of watching law and order has me wondering how they allow all this talking and long speeches in the French court system. The case itself just seemed weak from evidence on both sides, but what did work was trying to feel the torn mindset of Daniel as he chooses between potential tragedies of his parents.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2024 22:11
|
|
|
Destroy All Neighbors - One day there'll be a great prog-rock horror comedy. Today is not that day.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2024 23:23
|
|
|
Close Encounters of the Third Kind - I hadn't seen this since I was like 12 or something, and all I remembered of it was a bunch of vague images, lots of confused overlapping dialogue, bright flashing lights, that five-note tune, and a whole bunch of sculptures of Devil's Tower. Turns out I actually had it pretty much inviolate I kid, but what I get from it now is that there's this really interesting and deliberate stylistic choice to have every scene take place with four or five characters all talking over each other indistinctly, often in multiple languages. It all starts in the air traffic control scene where it suddenly switches from the one guy talking to the plane, to like three different conversations all happening simultaneously, and none too clearly into mikes. It never gets much clearer from there. With modern seasoned eyes I can at least parse everything going on and the meaning of each scene now, but it takes effort. And it becomes clear that this approach is all part of a style that I'm not sure I know the name for—not verité or documentarian, but something like them? Where it follows crowds of people rather than individual POVs. Even the scenes that center on Roy have a feel of distance, happenstance, "we were just here and things started happening". It's very end-of-Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark in its execution, particularly (and unsurprisingly) the protracted final scene with the ship landing. What I found interesting was thinking that this was being made at exactly the same time as Lucas was making Star Wars; but while Lucas was doing all his effects stuff with models and pyrotechnics, Spielberg was doing everything with lighting, sound, blasts of air, mechanical gadgets. The scene where the aliens surround the lady's house and shine lights in through the windows and blow carpets off the heating registers and make the oven glow through the burners and the washing machine go crazy, that's all dead on representative of what I'm talking about. Might have been one of the most lavishly executed example of that kind of effects film that happened until the advent of CGI. Ultimately I don't think I really understand the "story" any better than I did when I was 12—which is to say it's more an "event" than a story I guess, something you're supposed to feel at some more visceral level than the conscious. And in that sense I guess it comes through even if you're not culturally equipped to get everything. e: also I noticed this lmao https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/97259/what-is-the-reason-behind-this-musical-reference-to-pinocchio-in-the-close-encou Data Graham fucked around with this message at 04:56 on Jan 14, 2024 |
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2024 04:46
|
|
|
Jewel Robbery: Hilarious pre-code romantic comedy. William Powell is insanely charming! There’s a vignette here where two cops get high and just take turns blowing smoke in each others’ faces that killed me. Looking for recommendations of other “edgy” pre-code films—this and Baby Face are the ones that have crossed my radar, I’m sure there’s lots out there.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2024 04:47
|
|
|
The Busby Berkeley musicals are often pleasingly bawdy. 42nd Street has a plot strand about casting couch shenanigans and Footlight Parade's climax is a musical number about a hotel where couples go to gently caress, followed by another where a lot of ladies in not very much clothing get very wet, followed by another about a chinese prostitue (is there yellowface? it's a American musical from the 30s so unfortunately of course there is). The code came in a year after these released.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2024 09:44
|
|
|
Saltburn. Absolutely no idea what to make of it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2024 12:50
|
|
|
Come and See (1985) did not know this movie is crazy good on a pure technical level and also heavily influenced by the new wave. Also I am very sad now
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2024 15:43
|
|
|
Godland (Hlynur Pálmason, 2022): Loved the very contemplative first hour or so, lots of beautifully desolate views with bits of Icelandic lore. It gets less interesting when it becomes less Icelandic and more Danish, as it then turns into a more straightforward tale on the tragedy of colonialism. It could be a bit shorter but the visuals and the mood alone make it worth a watch.
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2024 16:07
|
|
|
Pablo Bluth posted:Saltburn. Absolutely no idea what to make of it. Yeah, I have no idea what they're trying to tell but I enjoyed the ride.
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2024 18:36
|
|
|
Monstaland posted:Yeah, I have no idea what they're trying to tell but I enjoyed the ride. edit: Role Play. Quite possibly the blandest possible execution of the assassin/family life plot that anyone will ever commit to film. Pablo Bluth fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Jan 15, 2024 |
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2024 18:48
|
|
|
The Devils: this was wild and both making GBS threads on the church and kings at the same time. That Incredible sets and costumes and some great performances, I need to watch more Ken Russel. On-Gaku: Our Sound several cool animation styles, rocking music with an epic recorder solo.
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2024 19:41
|
|
|
The Iron Claw - It understood wrestling, and by that I mean it understood it at the deepest level, where to love something so utterly destructive and devastating is intoxicating, a furious blend of fantasy and reality, impossible to ignore, a love that will burn you to shreds. The scene where Kevin can only process his emotions by running the ropes and bumping over and over cut deep because it's a position I've been in. Zac Efron was incredible. That said, holy poo poo, HOW did the Ric Flair actor not even TRY to do his voice? Arguably the most famous wrestler to a mainstream audience in the movie and you're not gonna have a guy try to imitate his extremely recognizable voice?! You're gonna deliver a pitch-perfect Harley Race but not Flair?!?! It didn't kill the scene for me but wow was it close. Great movie. If you watch this with The Wrestler, The Calamari Wrestler, and an El Santo movie you'll have one hell of an education on the artform.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2024 03:06
|
|
|
Finally got around to watching Selma and whew what a film. Everything works, from the casting on down and the very real story still grabs you by the neck. Am I becoming old and enjoying historical dramas? Maybe. Or maybe this is just one of the best ones in a while, save for Frost/Nixon
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2024 07:01
|
|
|
Resident Evil Degeneration It's nice to see Claire and Leon back together even though their reunion isn't exactly on great circumstances. It's striking how little Claire has changed after Raccoon and Rockfort compared to how hosed up Leon has been from the same incident plus his black ops training. Although this film still hasn't had him go all the way off the deep end yet, presumably he still thinks Ada is dead and is pining after her rather than losing his mind wondering whether he'll ever see her again when he knows she's out there. The Zombie attack on the airport was the high point, the G Creature and NotHelena's character just weren't that interesting either to see in combat or in story. The actual WilPharma facility was interesting though, I'm glad companies in the universe have learned from Umbrella's complete lack of security and instead went absolutely insane including measures to lock all doors, incinerate everything inside and then drop them down a thousand foot mine shaft. Sideways You rarely see a film that captures, simultaneously, just how supportive and important friends can be in your life while also showing just how much trouble they can get you in without meaning too. Both characters are on the struggle bus for opposite reasons and it's a miracle that they manage to get each other through it. Giamatti explaining his novel as a sort of post modern Robbe-Grillet thing is loving hilarious. I recently had the displeasure of being asked to explain what I was reading to a coworker, and let me tell you explaining Terra Nostra by Carlos Fuentes is just about as coherent.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2024 17:52
|
|
|
Erin M. Fiasco posted:That said, holy poo poo, HOW did the Ric Flair actor not even TRY to do his voice? Arguably the most famous wrestler to a mainstream audience in the movie and you're not gonna have a guy try to imitate his extremely recognizable voice?! You're gonna deliver a pitch-perfect Harley Race but not Flair?!?! It didn't kill the scene for me but wow was it close. I want to see Iron Claw's Ric Flair vs. the Hulk Hogan from the Weird Al Story.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2024 20:10
|
|
|
Jackie Brown - Great soundtrack, subtly great set design, I just couldn't get into the story. Maybe I just couldn't see the characters behind the big-name actors. It's too bad it wasn't made in the 70's.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2024 04:14
|
|
|
maboroshi (2024): Melancholy kids in a supernatural metaphor for being stuck in a dead-end town with no hope for the future. "I wanna leave, go to a big city, wander bookstores and see movies. I would study, explore the world, and see things that are worth seeing." [I hear you, kid.] "I wanna be an illustrator." [Oh nooo]
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2024 06:03
|
|
|
Harakiri (1962) Holy poo poo, what a movie. I’ve seen dozens of samurai movies over the last decade but somehow this one has instantly shot to the top of my favorites list. Tatsuya Nakadai is a loving force to be reckoned with.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2024 08:06
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 26, 2024 20:42 |
|
|
i went to a screening of sometimes i think about dying tonight with a q&a with the writers and the male lead. it was really dreamy and normal and sad and relatable in its reflection on mundanity. i was really impressed by daisy ridley doing basically the polar opposite of her star wars character. it ruled.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2024 09:59
|
|