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saltburn went into this fully expecting it to be a hate watch, but i actually thought it was ok. decent actually. but then there are some twists/reveals that happen too early and ruin any sense of intrigue so the rest of the movie is pretty dull. overall fine. kind of fun but a swing and a miss. rosamund pike is stellar tho.
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Jan 28, 2024 10:46
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EMPIRE QUEEN (now streaming on Prime Video) god it's so earnestly bad. an aging rocker has made a full length movie out of his 2008 music video and it just came out. Every new scene is mindboggling either in its plot points, its pacing or its tedium. I swear there was an exposition flashback that went into a nested exposition flashback/narration. I think some shots from the music videos get re-used in the film. Everyone needs to watch it, I want so desperately for it to be a cult classic. It's impossible to dislike it when the director/producer/lead actor/costumer believed in it so hard. Those are all the same person by the way. It's 2.5 hours long by the way https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDyDz8WeiM4
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Jan 28, 2024 13:27
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Koyaanisqatsi: this was on my list for a while and I’m glad I finally watched it. This zero dialogue all score and video is really neat and doesn’t feel like some cheap art house project. I just wish I could watch this in a theater and fully immerse myself in all the images and big score. The Phillip Glass score is fantastic of course and you can see why people use it all the time. And the cinematography is its equal easily with the beautiful nature shots, time lapse of cities and people, and finally that sad exploding rocket. My favorite part might be “the Grid” section with all the hustle of the human life as it’s just so intense and electrifying. Guess I should check out the rest of the trilogy now.
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Jan 28, 2024 16:09
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True Lies - first time seeing this since the 90s, and now with middle-aged eyes and knowing what it takes to keep in shape, it's way clearer than ever that the centerpiece of the spectacle of the movie is the striptease dance, just how eye-poppingly well Curtis was able to pull it off—not just the moves themselves, not just the body prep, but selling the idea of being this trammeled housewife who is hiding her power level as it were, clearly having an active fantasy life where she's able to do this kind of stuff (to the point where she's clearly practiced it) but also still so reluctant to actually get into it when the time comes. (And this is to pointedly overlook the grossness of Harry's scheme in the hotel room, like just what the gently caress did he think he was trying to accomplish there  ) She really should have won something for that scene alone.But that also points to the biggest issue I had watching it, the thing that took me the most out of it, which is Arnold's accent and his own physical presence. We were all prepared to give him a pass in the 90s because he's Arnold, come on. But the further we get from that era the more it asks of the audience to swallow that this hulking muscleman with the Teutonic accent is supposed to pass for 15 years as a mild-mannered middle-american sales rep guy who would never hurt a fly. The movie does go out of its way to show Helen working out on her bike, so clearly it is thinking about the logistics of someone trying to keep in shape to the point where the striptease is even a little bit plausible. But Harry? I'm sorry, if we're thinking even a little bit about what it takes to keep a slammin' bod going at that age we are not buying that this motherfucker is not at least spending six nights a week in the gym for ~unknown reasons~ and the movie might at least deign to acknowledge that. There's a lot of weird kayfabe and sleight-of-hand going on in that dynamic throughout the movie and while part of it can be chalked up to leftover 80s bombasticism and the fact that the whole movie is a commentary on that to begin with, asking the question "what happens when the Commando guy tries to get a desk job and his marriage falls apart because he isn't in touch with his emotions" etc, at the same time it's so facially absurd even in the context of a facially absurd premise that it feels like there's more strain and effort involved in watching this now than there used to be, and it'll only get more so with time. While I love the gag of the binocular lens cracking, I think the lead terrorist doing the YES fist pump is maybe my favorite e: that one subtitle that goes "(perfect Arabic)" lmao, I can barely parse spoken Arabic but even I could tell he was speaking it with an absolutely impenetrable Arnold accent, don't give me that poo poo Data Graham fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Jan 28, 2024 |
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Jan 28, 2024 18:51
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That was a lot of thoughts on body mass. Maybe it’s about confidence. Arnold doesn’t appear as a hulk to his family as he doesn’t carry himself like that. He acts boring and meek so that’s how he is seen. Same with Jamie Lee Curtis. It’s only when they are sure of themselves, in killing terrorist or embracing sexuality, that their partners see their true appearance. I forgot, what was Arnold’s fake job. Should have been for a newspaper or something clearly.
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Jan 28, 2024 21:07
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checkplease posted:Koyaanisqatsi: this was on my list for a while and I’m glad I finally watched it. This zero dialogue all score and video is really neat and doesn’t feel like some cheap art house project. I just wish I could watch this in a theater and fully immerse myself in all the images and big score. The Phillip Glass score is fantastic of course and you can see why people use it all the time. And the cinematography is its equal easily with the beautiful nature shots, time lapse of cities and people, and finally that sad exploding rocket. If you want to watch something very similar and a bit more recent, you could check out Awaken by Tom Lowe. It's along the same lines, although most of the imagery isn't that interconnected, but the visuals are incredible. I have no idea how they did some shots, and the fly overs of Dubai are outstanding. It has Liv Tyler narrating some real naval gazing dialogue as well. But it's very much worth a watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfU91rsmx3E
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Jan 28, 2024 23:38
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Nomadland - Really enjoyable in its simplicity, in its reluctance to get drawn into saying anything too very trenchant about either Fern or the nomad lifestyle by making either one grapple with any particularly wrenching events, let alone come through those events fundamentally changed. I kept expecting the movie to follow a trajectory like To Leslie where the character's stubbornness and pride would lead to a downfall or something; but that never happened, and instead we got to quietly sit with McDormand's tense inward confidence and watch her draw strength from it and make and maintain friendships and connections somewhat in spite of herself. Plus we get to luxuriate in some wonderful immersive landscape photography of Nevada and Arizona and South Dakota, not to mention Point Arena which is right where I grew up. I might recommend this to my parents
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Jan 28, 2024 23:47
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toggle posted:If you want to watch something very similar and a bit more recent, you could check out Awaken by Tom Lowe. It's along the same lines, although most of the imagery isn't that interconnected, but the visuals are incredible. I have no idea how they did some shots, and the fly overs of Dubai are outstanding. It has Liv Tyler narrating some real naval gazing dialogue as well. But it's very much worth a watch. I’ll have to check this out, thanks. Also read that Baraka is another similar one (same cinematographer) to see.
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Jan 29, 2024 00:34
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checkplease posted:I’ll have to check this out, thanks. Also read that Baraka is another similar one (same cinematographer) to see. Yeah, Ron Fricke. He did another more recent one called Samsara too. Haven't seen that one in a while, but I remember it had some crazy night sky timelapses through ancient ruins and other things. There's also a food production sequence which was unpleasant.
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Jan 29, 2024 01:24
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Just saw Poor Things. I'm assuming I'm not the first one who thought of it as Barbie meets Frankenstein? You probably could have cut about 20 minutes out of it, but overall I enjoyed it. There were maybe 10 people in the theater and it seemed like each person had a different moment that made them giggle uncontrollably.
Kneecaps fucked around with this message at 01:40 on Jan 29, 2024 |
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Jan 29, 2024 01:37
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Fool’s Paradise: I love Its Always Sunny and generally find Charlie Day quite funny in films (best scientist in Pacific Rim), but all the bad reviews delayed me from watching this for a while. Overall though, I found his directorial debut quite enjoyable. It is flawed. It’s probably a bit too long for the concept, and Ken Jeongs character is a mixed bag. The ending relies on this character and it doesn’t quite work as it feels it’s missing a big bonding scene like in Midnight Run or Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. But still i I found the ridiculous fast pace of Days rise and fall and rise again in the film pretty funny. Day himself does a pretty good Charlie Chaplin for the first 30 mins before he becomes more about face reactions with all the wild events (Beckinsale’s marriage, Common with the power of Zeus, mosquito man, etc). It’s also cool that there’s lots of sunny people. You got Artemis, Hornsby, Jimi Simpson, and Glen Howerton here too. Hope he does another film, and while the silent thing was near, Day is best when he’s yelling and screeching with all the expressions too.
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Jan 29, 2024 16:16
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checkplease posted:Guess I should check out the rest of the trilogy now. Exponentially diminishing returns tbh - the second one doesn't have Ron Fricke, and the third one is honestly just unwatchable (though occasionally unintentionally funny in a Neil Breen way)
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Jan 29, 2024 19:09
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Ah that’s too bad to hear. I’ll try some of these other suggestions and Ron’s other works.
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Jan 29, 2024 20:37
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Ken Burn's Lewis & Clark: Lewis & Clark: Hi we're on our way across America! Native Americans: Hi, you must be new. You're kinda weird. L&C: We own this land now. We're checking it out. NA: Uh, we don't remember selling it to you. L&C: Of course not, silly, we bought it from France. Our crew is going to have sex with your daughters now. NA: Uhhhhhh... L&C: Would you like to give us food and horses to support our heroic journey? NA: Do you wanna trade for them so we get something in return? L&C: You vile, unfriendly, thieving, loathsome savages! NA: Maybe you should be moving along now. L&C: WE WILL BURN YOUR VILLAGE TO THE GROUND! Why won't you be our friend?? Crew: Hey boss, we had to eat the last of the candles yesterday to survive. Could we eat one of the dogs today? L&C: I can't believe how uppity our servants are! I bet that dried broth residue you turned your nose up at a month ago sounds pretty good right now. 100 lashes for you! Ken Burns: Lewis and Clark were "troubled" and "frustrated" men whose rapturous dream of manifest destiny almost collapsed due to people who lacked vision. They were True American Heroes.   I'm being slightly hyperbolic, but not that much. In fairness, the show does allow some Native Americans to talk about their tribes' experiences with the expedition, and it does at least mention some of Lewis and Clarke's flaws and the fact that they were harbingers of the coming wars and broken treaties, but the amount of white-washing spin and Americana worship in this is stomach-churning. I would recommend reading Lewis & Clarke's journals, which are very interesting reading.
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Jan 29, 2024 21:03
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Doing a free week of Paramount+ so I can finally watch Dead Reckoning. But instead I decided to watch Good Burger 2. I turned it on out of curiosity but ended up watching the whole thing. It's actually surprisingly good and I found myself laughing throughout it. Kenan definitely called in some favors from friends because it's full of little cameos and SNL alum. There are some solid jokes throughout and it actually felt like a real movie (as opposed to Hocus Pocus 2 which was filmed like a Super Bowl commercial). Kind of a shame it came and went to zero notice. My expectations were incredibly low so that could be why I ended up liking it. Honestly the weakest part is Kel Mitchell himself. You can tell the dude is out of practice and it's easy to see why he didn't get the success that Kenan did. It doesn't help that Ed is a character that has no business being a middle-aged man. But even he still made me laugh on multiple occasions. All in all, one of the better legacy sequels I've seen. I recommend it if you were a fan of the original and/or All That. It's only 90 minutes.
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Jan 29, 2024 23:07
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All of Us Strangers Very sad and gay. Probably the quietest film I’ve seen in a long time, the ambient soundtrack filling the melancholy silences. Essentially it’s a ghost story, but there’s no horror other than the loneliness of life. It quietly reveals its minimal story through conversations, but every so often there’s a line that comes like a knife to the stomach, or brings a tear to the eye. The absolutely tiny cast gives this the feel of a play, and for a film set in and around London, you only see familiar buildings off in a far away skyline which adds to that. There’s really only a couple of bits of actual location shooting, but it gives the film a very isolated feeling. Having been to the bits of London Docklands that it’s supposedly set in, that’s not surprising. They often have the feeling of being right at the edge of a video game map where detail isn’t so high, and this square box building doesn’t need to stand up to scrutiny. It feels vague, but also intentionally so, and that’s ok. The_Doctor fucked around with this message at 07:34 on Jan 30, 2024 |
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Jan 30, 2024 07:32
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Insomnia. Early Christopher Nolan film and with Pacino and Robin Williams. I loved it, great performances from the leads. I feel like I’ve been Mandela effected by Robin Williams. I always thought everyone said he was a comedy actor who actually tried serious roles a couple of times that were good, but actually he’s done a gently caress load of them? I just watching Awakening with him and De Nero and that was good too, plus Dead Poets, Good Will, One Hour Photo, Worlds Greatest Dad etc. he’s had quite a few bangers. The film gave me thrillerised Twin Peaks vibes, from the setting, dead girl found with secrets, detectives coming into a small town, bad boy boyfriend, the creepy secret older man. Annabel Pee fucked around with this message at 10:35 on Jan 30, 2024 |
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Jan 30, 2024 10:30
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MokBa posted:Doing a free week of Paramount+ watch the curse
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Jan 30, 2024 17:29
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Gotta get the additional showtime add on also. One day I’ll see the curse when it’s hopefully behind less layers.
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Jan 30, 2024 19:14
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Fighter (2024) Well I'm ready to go die for India now. India's answer to Top Gun manages to be more jingoistic than some outright propaganda films I've seen. Luckily I have no stake in the culture or area so it comes off mostly as funny, besides the air combat is fun even if there isn't as much as you'd like, the character beats are surprisingly strong despite being dragged out, and the fist fight/ raid on POW camp finale owns incredibly hard. The second dance number was also a hell of a show. No idea how they make this a series.
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Jan 31, 2024 06:42
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Annabel Pee posted:Insomnia. Early Christopher Nolan film and with Pacino and Robin Williams. I loved it, great performances from the leads. I feel like I’ve been Mandela effected by Robin Williams. I always thought everyone said he was a comedy actor who actually tried serious roles a couple of times that were good, but actually he’s done a gently caress load of them? I just watching Awakening with him and De Nero and that was good too, plus Dead Poets, Good Will, One Hour Photo, Worlds Greatest Dad etc. he’s had quite a few bangers. Continuing to watch through my unseen Pacino and De Niro films and we watched Midnight Run. Loved this one, Planes trains and automobile vibes, I like the way it is all played more or less straight, I feel like a modern version would be more goofy and sanitised, its got a bit of real Americana vibe to it. I don't think I'm familiar with Grodin, I thought him and De Nero's dynamic was great. And lol I look up the imdb and originally Robin Williams was wanted for the role.
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Jan 31, 2024 09:24
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Annabel Pee posted:Continuing to watch through my unseen Pacino and De Niro films and we watched Midnight Run. Loved this one, Planes trains and automobile vibes, I like the way it is all played more or less straight, I feel like a modern version would be more goofy and sanitised, its got a bit of real Americana vibe to it. I don't think I'm familiar with Grodin, I thought him and De Nero's dynamic was great. And lol I look up the imdb and originally Robin Williams was wanted for the role. I also recently rewatched this for the first time. Pretty solid, though I did roll my eyes very hard at his fistaphobia line.
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Jan 31, 2024 22:23
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Midnight Run is my 3rd favorite movie of all time. It's a bit too long but I've never seen another movie that mixes genres like it has. The scenes have a bit of rambly improvisational feeling to them too which I think is interesting to see mixed into a thriller. Those were some good looking chickens. Saw the Beekeeper last night, definitely had a nice time with it. The action has barely any tension, we never get to see anything interesting or unexpected. We never see Jason Statham make a plan that goes wrong and then have to improvise, or end up in a suspenseful dangerous situation. We don't even see him take a single punch until the last fight scene! Statham is always in complete control of the situation, to the point that the character just seems cocky and like he's styling on everyone. The real enjoyment in this movie came from seeing how different actors handle the constant Bee metaphors in the dialogue. Jeremy Irons says it all with a tone thats like "here me out on this, it might seems silly but I swear it will make sense" (it doesn't). Statham is pretty seamless. The main actress says the bee metaphors with disbeleif. Some of the bee stuff is so funny though. I can't stop thinking about it. So when you become a "Beekeeper", do you also have to learn actual bee keeping and just start keeping bees? Kinda sad he never used Bees as a weapon though, 7/10
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Jan 31, 2024 22:52
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Feb 1, 2024 00:37
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Arabesques on the Pirosmani Theme Short Parajanov film about the painter. Interspersing his life, his paintings, and comedic interludes about the camera. The best way I can describe it is contrasting how real a painting can be despite being created while photography can be false despite depicting an objective reality. The Iron Claw I cannot imagine how hard this poo poo would hit if I had any brothers and/or gave a poo poo about wrestling. Great performances all around although Mikey has Tarantino energy. Efron pulls off emotions I did not think the man was capable of expressing and White continues on his way to the top. Crazy that the actual story is even more insane than the film was.
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Feb 2, 2024 01:16
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Big Mean Jerk posted:The Player (1992) Tim Robbins: "Hey, there's Sidney Poitier!" [Cut to Sidney Poitier eating dinner so the audience can be certain that yes, it is indeed Sidney Poitier] Real "Hey, it's Enrico Pallazzo!" vibes.
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Feb 2, 2024 11:49
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History of the Atlanta Falcons: like all Jon Bois, this continues to be a fun mix of weird stories, stats, charts, and metaphors for usually bad sports teams. This one connected to me especially as the falcons are my football team so I grew up around some of this history. Really though it just cemented the fact that this just not going to be the best team so gotta enjoy the other aspects. But at least we are not Detroit. Of course the final episode on the 28-3 Super Bowl was a bit painful as I did watch that game live at a patriots filled party, but John and company gave a lot of context and replays of how it all went wrong, and how it was destined to go wrong as that’s the falcons. The political aspects were a bit stretched, but I like how he tried to tie all together at the end.
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Feb 3, 2024 03:12
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Ready or Not: wow this movie was loving great. Even knowing the premise going in I was still pleasantly surprised. Lots of cool little moments and interactions, good balance of scariness and humor, spot on casting and strong performances that really helped sell all the major beats. Hopefully they're smart enough to leave it alone and not mine the concept for sequels that couldn't possibly live up to this entry. Mat Cauthon fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Feb 3, 2024 |
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Feb 3, 2024 05:37
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Thanksgiving - Eli Roth once again shows he doesn't have any business being behind a camera in any way, shape or form. What a tremendous piece of poo poo movie.
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Feb 3, 2024 06:01
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Mat Cauthon posted:Ready or Not: wow this movie was loving great. Even knowing the premise going in I was still pleasantly surprised. Lots of cool little moments and interactions, good balance of scariness and humor, spot on casting and strong performances that really helped sell all the major beats. To my dying day I will maintain that a better ending would have been that there's nothing supernatural going on at all, it's just a bunch of rich jerks needlessly murdering people for no good reason because they're fuckwits who believe they're special. Just an anticlimax when the time passes, followed by slow creeping realisation that they are monsters who committed atrocities for no reason at all.
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Feb 3, 2024 07:17
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Watching Grosse Pointe Blank for the first time in many years and remembering all the reasons why it's always been S-tier for me, and finding some new ones too, like the sly visual references it keeps making (the hit at the very beginning looking like it's cribbed straight from the photos of the Reagan assassination, and the first shot of Driver in her DJ booth as a close-up of her lips like in The Warriors, same trick John Wick 4 did)
Data Graham fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Feb 3, 2024 |
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Feb 3, 2024 17:06
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The House of Yes: Parker Posey should retroactively get the Oscar. Love how unhinged and dense the dialogue is and how uncomfortable the atmosphere is. Shockingly great. If this movie was released in modern day I feel like the inciting incident would have been 9/11.Breetai posted:To my dying day I will maintain that a better ending would have been that there's nothing supernatural going on at all, it's just a bunch of rich jerks needlessly murdering people for no good reason because they're fuckwits who believe they're special. Just an anticlimax when the time passes, followed by slow creeping realisation that they are monsters who committed atrocities for no reason at all. I don't think the movie would have been improved by removing the best scene.
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Feb 3, 2024 18:58
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Erin M. Fiasco posted:The House of Yes: Parker Posey should retroactively get the Oscar. Love how unhinged and dense the dialogue is and how uncomfortable the atmosphere is. Shockingly great. If this movie was released in modern day I feel like the inciting incident would have been 9/11. I love this movie but hate Tori Spelling in it. She's just terrible.
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Feb 3, 2024 19:36
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She's why it got made though
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Feb 3, 2024 19:54
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Watched a Danish sneak premiere of The Boy and the Heron. Magical.
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Feb 3, 2024 20:49
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I had Miller's Crossing on my list for the longest time and finally watched it. I think I procrastinated because it sounded impenetrable and too thinky, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. It wafts you up and sweeps you along. And I swear I'm not just using the same "just like the hat in the woods" metaphor that some reviewers apparently made, unless it was subconscious. It wasn't difficult to suss out the intricacies of Tom's machinations, and some of the story beats even felt like I could see them coming. Great engaging performances from Turturro and Polito in particular, it's got that signature Coen dialogue-repetition thing, and I wish Stormare had been available to be "The Swede" instead of "The Dane" as was originally intended. Only thing I think would have made for a better sensible-chuckle viewing experience. I think my favorite bit is just that the city it takes place in is never mentioned, nor are any historical references or setting details made clear, and the corruption of the Prohibition-era cops as they float in and out of the fully stocked and completely wide-open speakeasy is worn so openly on their sleeves, that the whole thing reads like a parallel universe or a Star Trek episode that takes place on Prohibition planet.
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Feb 4, 2024 21:22
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Miller’s Crossing also has one of the best dialog-free sequences set to a song in the history of cinema, as Albert Finney’s character gleefully dispatches some would-be assassins to the tune of “Danny Boy”.
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Feb 4, 2024 23:54
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Hell yeah. I was noticing that because I've low-key been on a quest for years to find the earliest roots of the "action/violence set to calm/soothing/completely incongruous music" flourish like the space battle scene against smooth jazz in Cowboy Bebop, or Refa getting murked against the gospel "No Hiding Place" in B5, and this seems to have come long before both of them. Not that I'm trying to do a "Miller's Crossing is really sci-fi" thing but hey
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Feb 5, 2024 00:07
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Pollyanna (2003) - Wealthy people sure do suck all the joy out of life. We should
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Feb 5, 2024 04:15
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Smithereens (1982) - Not really my type of movie, felt like it stretched itself very thin at times. But it was an interesting look at 80s NY, narcisstic people and just how loving sexy Richard Hell was in those days.
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Feb 5, 2024 07:21
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