|
saladscooper posted:the parallax view - i feel like 5 to 10 minutes were cut out of the middle of this and i don't know why. pretty cool movie though, love that scene about Happiness (if you've seen it you know the one) I felt the same way when I watched it. It’s still one of the better 70s conspiracy thrillers, but it feels lacking somehow.
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2024 07:16
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 00:29 |
|
|
The Elephant Man - Me when David Lynch tackles the same themes and has the same ending as like three of his other movies: [RAUCOUS APPLAUSE, CHEERING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS] yeah this was a good one
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2024 03:48
|
|
|
Black Cat and Black Cat 2, a pair of Hong Kong action movies that put Jade Leung on the map. The first is a competent enough remake of La Femme Nikita, and Leung is fun to watch as she bounces off her two male co-stars. The second turns her character into an emotionless Terminator and the fight scenes had a lot of wire augmentation. Her male co-star seemed to be the main character of this one. Opening sequence is fun and an obvious 007 homage. On the whole I recommend the first but skip the second.
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2024 05:25
|
|
|
Inside Man was real fun. I enjoyed how openly it was homaging Dog Day Afternoon, even namechecking it once or twice. The video game sequence on the kid's PSP was 
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2024 12:47
|
|
|
went to see love lies bleeding last night i didn't love saint maud by the same director, but this was really well done. it's not perfect, but it accomplishes establishing a tone and setting that pulls you in and keeps you engaged. the story is tense and bonkers, and wild unexpected poo poo ensues. the art direction is on point, everyone looks great. ed harris (lol i said ed helms first) is a real gritty mf in this. 4/5 ShoogaSlim fucked around with this message at 15:57 on Mar 9, 2024 |
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2024 15:55
|
|
|
The Hunt For Red October whips. It's really good, I hadn't seen it in years, but just rewatched, and I think it is great. What a 3-movie run for John McTiernan starting with The Predator.
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2024 18:56
|
|
|
20 days in Mariupol: Raw and hard to watch. This doesn't hold back from tragedy.
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2024 20:18
|
|
|
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End Of Evangelion As a standalone film this was utterly incoherent, Shinji sucked rear end, why was he in any position of responsibility, and some of the stuff in the second half is pretty sus. Awesome animation and use of the medium at times though.
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2024 22:44
|
|
|
I swear, the "crawling to the car" scene in Wolf of Wall Street is just some all-timer poo poo
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2024 06:28
|
|
|
Jeffrey (1995) is one of my favorite movies that was so formative for me in the 90s that I watch it again every few years and am reminded afresh of how every five minute segment has some moment of phrasing or some contraposition of elements that I've consciously or subconsciously based everything I've ever tried to create on ever since then One of its most key elements is how it slams the stick hard from side to side, one scene to the next, from "outrageous fourth-wall-breaking looney tunes comedy" to "soul-crushing, heart-rending heavy-drama pain" with no warning and no cues for what's coming next. I love it to pieces but I showed it to someone who said that style of filmmaking is fundamentally bad and broken and you can't do that. He said if they wanted to tell Philadelphia they should do a dark drama and if they wanted to do Rent they should do goofball musical comedy but you can't blend the two, es ist verboten lol
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2024 06:48
|
|
|
distortion park posted:Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End Of Evangelion As a standalone film this was utterly incoherent, Shinji sucked rear end, why was he in any position of responsibility, and some of the stuff in the second half is pretty sus. Awesome animation and use of the medium at times though. i watched berserk last year and really liked it. i've heard that neon genesis evangelion is another all time great anime series, but i started watching it on netflix and it feels like a weird melodramatic horny slog lol. i was told there would be deep existential philosophical themes but i just got some whiney little kid catching glimpses of some lady's boobs right out of the shower or whatever. i could be persuaded to keep going but i don't have hope.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2024 07:49
|
|
|
ShoogaSlim posted:i watched berserk last year and really liked it. i've heard that neon genesis evangelion is another all time great anime series, but i started watching it on netflix and it feels like a weird melodramatic horny slog lol. The thing with Eva is that all the philosophical and deeper poo poo starts happening around the halfway point of the series. Before that there are tiny glimpses of it, but nothing more.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2024 07:57
|
|
|
ShoogaSlim posted:i watched berserk last year and really liked it. i've heard that neon genesis evangelion is another all time great anime series, but i started watching it on netflix and it feels like a weird melodramatic horny slog lol. I'm probably not the best person to listen to as I didn't realise it was actually two alternative TV episodes until a 5 minute credit sequence started halfway through the "film". This review sums up how I felt pretty well, but there are like 900000 ones saying it's the greatest media experience of their life or w/e as well. I've added Berserk to my watchlist since it sounds different and I've always been curious due to the dark souls games.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2024 08:25
|
|
|
The Marvels - not the car crash I was expecting. I managed to watch all of it, which it more than I did for the Eternals.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2024 18:56
|
|
|
2024 I’m really trying to watch more movies, so here’s the 4 I watched last week: The Last Seduction (1994) I have really mixed feelings because there’s a ton of things I really like about the movie but the experience of watching it was pretty unpleasant. Very similar to Gone Girl except Linda Fiorentino’s character never even pretends to be good (which rules). She starts out a cold blooded scumbag and treats everyone she meets with distilled contempt while the male characters she’s involved with try to project human pathos onto her. It’s that Maya Angelou quote, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time,” extruded into a 1990s erotic thriller. ETA: Need to add that the theme music is so drat good. Body of Evidence (1993) Another erotic thriller (I’ve been on a streak with these). loving garbage lmao. Best part of the movie is it’s shot on location in Portland, OR, worst part is a rape scene towards the end for no loving reason? Willem Dafoe is trying his best but is terribly miscast. The plot is literally Madonna goes on trial for edging a man to death. Trash. Night Game (1989) Looks/feels like it was made a decade earlier. Makes me feel nostalgic for the weird cheap old movies that would play on Sunday mornings when I was a kid. Not really much to say about the movie itself.  Poor Things (2023) Saw this yesterday morning. Enjoyed the theme/pattern of characters using cruelty for control. Mistaking possession for love while showing nothing but contempt for Bella’s actual individuality. I completely hated what Bella did with the General at the end. Felt like it kinda undermined the story for a goofy joke? Mixed feelings on Lanthimos but generally liked this one. Crocobile fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Mar 10, 2024 |
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2024 19:17
|
|
|
ShoogaSlim posted:i watched berserk last year and really liked it. i've heard that neon genesis evangelion is another all time great anime series, but i started watching it on netflix and it feels like a weird melodramatic horny slog lol. Eva was a lot of 15 year olds first encounter with the mildly transgressive and philosophical. It is not truly great either as a series or as a delving into thought, it is however an incredible marketing machine; Gainax before the series was well known as an Otaku run studio and they cultivated their product to suit the tastes of every layabout and depressed weirdo with money perfectly. That's not to say it awful, but it's not great or Great or really even all that good. RahXephon is what you want if you're the thinking man's Mecha Fan. If you're looking for more interesting anime to watch I'd rec Kon's oeuvre, the OG Ghost in the Shell movie, the Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex Anime( both seasons, with a heavy caveat on the film conclusion), Legend of the Galactic Heroes(Way more chill than you might have been led to believe, just watch and ep a day for half a year), Mawaru Penguindrum(the Marukami novel on the Aum Shinrykio sarin gas attack is a valued companion to this anime if that tells you anything, also the only Marukami I'd ever recommend, I loving hate the dudes work), and of course Utena which is the pinnacle of anime.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2024 07:20
|
|
|
Gaius Marius posted:anime stuff i appreciate the recommendations. i saw ghost in the shell when i was younger but it was so long ago i effectively forgot everything about it, so that's a good reason to revisit it. as for your "pinnacle of anime" judgement, i looked up the wiki page for utena and one of the sections states: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Girl_Utena#Coming-of-age posted:Adolescence and its attendant struggles of personal growth and development are a common theme in Ikuhara's works, with a frequent focus on teenaged characters who seek personal change yet are bound to their pasts in ways they are not consciously aware of. and this is basically the opposite of anything i care about in media ever. i don't like movies like stand by me, the sandlot, the breakfast club, or anything similar bc i just don't care about the struggles of adolescents trying to make sense of themselves. it feels like 96% of all anime deals with high school kids realizing being a human being is weird. why? i don't understand the obsession
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2024 08:10
|
|
|
ShoogaSlim posted:it feels like 96% of all anime deals with high school kids realizing being a human being is weird. why? i don't understand the obsession Because at the end of the day, the target demographic for most anime are (high school) kids and this stuff has a higher chance of appealing to them.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2024 08:32
|
|
|
Portrait of a Lady on Fire: Amazing? Just really awesome. I had a great movie weekend, but this took the cake as to just overwhelmingly awesome. The time just flies by and the movie loving sings.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2024 08:36
|
|
|
ShoogaSlim posted:i appreciate the recommendations. i saw ghost in the shell when i was younger but it was so long ago i effectively forgot everything about it, so that's a good reason to revisit it. Utena is not like that in terms of how it gets across it's themes and ideas. Ikuhara uses the term ritualistic a lot to describe the work, and symbolic is one I'd use. It relies heavily on imagery and music to convey the themes of the work which are much, much heavier than a juvenile work. That's not to say it isn't still a work in conversation with adolescence, but rather one that is in conversation with the totality of it and all the great and horrible changes one has to face and conquer to move on with life. It is not an anime that pulls punches, even if it might seem to at first. It also has some of the best direction in any animated TV series I've ever seen. Even with budget and time constraints the show never looks dull and is frequently hilarious in addition to be riveting. The only show I put on the same tier as it is The Tatami Galaxy.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2024 08:39
|
|
|
ShoogaSlim posted:and this is basically the opposite of anything i care about in media ever. i don't like movies like stand by me, the sandlot, the breakfast club, or anything similar bc i just don't care about the struggles of adolescents trying to make sense of themselves. it feels like 96% of all anime deals with high school kids realizing being a human being is weird. why? i don't understand the obsession I assume a lot of the long-form HS anime series are directed towards adolescents. I love Utena (when it’s good it’s amazing) but idk if I’d recommend it to someone who doesn’t really watch anime because part of what’s fun about it is how it subverts 90s anime tropes. But yes, one of the big themes is the transition from childhood to adulthood, how relationship dynamics change and the impact of toxic/abusive relationships. Seconding the recommendation of Satoshi Kon’s filmography.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2024 08:41
|
|
|
ShoogaSlim posted:and this is basically the opposite of anything i care about in media ever. i don't like movies like stand by me, the sandlot, the breakfast club, or anything similar bc i just don't care about the struggles of adolescents trying to make sense of themselves. it feels like 96% of all anime deals with high school kids realizing being a human being is weird. why? i don't understand the obsession I don't quite share your thoughts on adolescents finding themselves, though I do get it. For me, I really tend to hate films that are centered around dreams, or dream logic. It's poo poo that's not real, that your brain makes up, and that doesn't have any bearing on the world! I don't need someone to put their dream on cinema, dreams are overrated!
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2024 08:54
|
|
|
Crocobile posted:I assume a lot of the long-form HS anime series are directed towards adolescents. I love Utena (when it’s good it’s amazing) but idk if I’d recommend it to someone who doesn’t really watch anime because part of what’s fun about it is how it subverts 90s anime tropes. But yes, one of the big themes is the transition from childhood to adulthood, how relationship dynamics change and the impact of toxic/abusive relationships. paprika was just in theaters recently and i went to see it with a few work friends. i hadn't seen it in years. it was more trippy and weird than i remember, but not bad. i intend on watching the rest of kon's work soon. Carillon posted:I don't quite share your thoughts on adolescents finding themselves, though I do get it. For me, I really tend to hate films that are centered around dreams, or dream logic. It's poo poo that's not real, that your brain makes up, and that doesn't have any bearing on the world! I don't need someone to put their dream on cinema, dreams are overrated! interesting - you have any examples? https://y.yarn.co/56648084-302b-462d-9cbd-4f8db19c9f84.mp4 https://y.yarn.co/d0b40b7c-ffc3-493f-a4f4-c8bce7f6ae0f.mp4 https://y.yarn.co/76dec717-011b-44c1-8240-cc73fa10d6db.mp4 https://y.yarn.co/d3677043-a3fd-4a02-b718-351050e933e5.mp4 sorry for the string of yarn 1.5 second videos, i couldn't find a gif or youtube video. but your comment reminded me of this exchange that i love from sideways
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 01:04
|
|
|
Dune II Villeneuve Once again the production, sound, and general aesthetic of the work are immaculate. Although I found house Corrino's attire a bit strange. The film itself is great, but I think it's lesser than the previous. It has a shaggyness to it's storytelling, things feel like they're going too quickly and moving too slowly at the same time. I wish they hadn't compressed the timeline so much, it makes Paul's shift from betrayed scion to struggling outcast to jihadi leader feel quite unrealistic. They focused too much on the Chani romance but cut the death of their child which makes Paul's subsequent actions feel more rash and semi incoherent. The final fight was also a dissapointment, I was waiting this whole time to finally see this all out slug fest with the Fremen, Sardukar, and Harkonnen troops and instead got a cool but very brief skirmish.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 05:31
|
|
|
^ good post. even tho i never read the book i agree with the pacing issues and jarring character development
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 07:35
|
|
|
The Devil Bat (1940) Bela Lugosi has a secret room behind a trick bookcase. Once he’s inside, he uses a hidden switch to open ANOTHER, even-more-secret room. And he’s trained a giant bat to kill people who wear his homemade aftershave. A surprising number of people are eager to wear homemade aftershave.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 20:43
|
|
|
Shane (1953) - it's a good story and beautifully shot and all, but why is everyone just so bored and motionless the whole time? Just delivering lines like they're reading them off a cereal box after having heard they'd been laid off at the blobfish cannery. During the big fistfight the gentlemanly old dude stands on the stairs mumbling "stop. stop. stop.  " Is this part of a joke I'm not getting?Home Movies had a gag where every line of dialogue directed at a guy named Joe ended with "Joe" and I feel like this was what they were lampooning. "Blah blah blah Joe! Blah blah Joe!" "Blah blah Shane! Blah blah blah Shane!"
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 21:41
|
|
|
ShoogaSlim posted:paprika was just in theaters recently and i went to see it with a few work friends. i hadn't seen it in years. it was more trippy and weird than i remember, but not bad. i intend on watching the rest of kon's work soon. A lot of David Lynch's work runs into this for me, Mulholland Drive being a big example. It's why also why I didn't like Inception when I rewatched it again recently. The spectacle is great but I don't care about the dream stuff as much. The ending of First Reformed also has parts of this for me, though less dream-life and more magical I guess?
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2024 22:00
|
|
|
Tank Girl: Man, this movie almost had it. Lori Petty is incredible and super charismatic, and all her dialogue is funny as hell. There's lots of great sets and production design. There are artistic choices that almost, but don't quite, come together. The soundtrack is full of all the right artists and all the wrong songs. I don't know if it's the director, the script, or both, but the sense of rhythm and progression is completely wrong. It's a shame because there were times where I was completely keyed in and times where I was too busy dissecting it and wishing it was different to enjoy it. The comic transitions looked great but were a detriment in how they took away from any real world action that was there. Tank Girl isn't unfilmable. Like, I feel like in the right hands, this could have been a blistering good time. I want to see someone (the easy answer is Edgar Wright) take another crack at it. Keep Jet Girl, she was fun. Or, hell, give it a Spiderverse-esque animated film and get Lori back. There's really something there and I can see myself holding this film close to my heart, but what a weirdly-specific type of missed opportunity for a film.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 01:02
|
|
|
Midnight Meat Train (2008) The most gratuitous and incompetent CGI and post-processing in any film ever. The most unintentionally hilarious foreplay scene I have ever witnessed. Vinnie Jones looking painfully British and out of place in New York. Bradley Cooper being utterly inept with a camera. Bradley Cooper having some sort of psychotic break while trying to photograph his semi naked girlfriend. A subway station underneath a meat packing plant. A subway train where no-one noticed one of the carriages has meathooks in it. An upside down corpse that's got rigor mortis so the boobs hang upwards. A plot so stupid I daren't try to recall it. It's loving dreadful, but it is fun.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 01:09
|
|
|
toiletbrush posted:Midnight Meat Train (2008) The most gratuitous and incompetent CGI and post-processing in any film ever. The most unintentionally hilarious foreplay scene I have ever witnessed. Vinnie Jones looking painfully British and out of place in New York. Bradley Cooper being utterly inept with a camera. Bradley Cooper having some sort of psychotic break while trying to photograph his semi naked girlfriend. A subway station underneath a meat packing plant. A subway train where no-one noticed one of the carriages has meathooks in it. An upside down corpse that's got rigor mortis so the boobs hang upwards. A plot so stupid I daren't try to recall it. I was watching this while my gf was working on stuff and I turned it off right as Bradley boards the train. It feel bad, because I usually have a rule with movies that you can't give up on watching until you see the thing in the title.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 02:05
|
|
|
American Fiction Just an amazingly well crafted movie. The entire movie is fairly telegraphed and I still was glued to my seat (despite having to pee really badly). Everything clicked for me. A perfectly proportioned meal with good comedy, riveting family dynamics, and a goofy plot that still manages to convey the existential drama of black people just trying to be in modern society. Highly recommend.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 04:59
|
|
|
Skinamarink (2022): When a movie has me thinking more about what I actually like about horror films rather than what I'm watching, it's probably time for me to turn the film off. I finished it because I was on my treadmill and then only had 30 minutes left of the movie once I finished. I'm not a film or art academic, so I can really only convey my thoughts as someone who enjoys watching movies. My takeaway is that this film was too enamored with its style. It relies on long static takes in dim light or darkness from awkward angles that mostly prevent viewers from seeing what is happening. It also doesn't really explain what is going on, making you rely on snippets of dialog from kids whispering into a microphone. That provides you enough to read between the lines and get a gist understanding of what is happening, but not enough to make it matter or make me care. It reminds me of one of my favorite MST3K riffs, "The movie that takes the bold step of not including the audience." Someone could take the counterargument and say that the film invites the audience to construct its own story around the set of scenes. That's a completely valid take on the film. However, that's not why I like to watch movies. I'm interested in having someone show me their story. That's especially true with horror. I love horror movies because they fill the void left by movies abandoning soft science fiction (taking everyday things and making them scary and maybe commenting on society along the way). It's why I really like movies like Coherence, They Cloned Tyrone, and (most recently) No One Will Save You. I'm happy to engage in stylistic films, like Unfriended or Hush. I just need a story in order to feel like the movie is respecting my time. Skinamarink didn't. And I am now 100 minutes older and even bitterer than before.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 06:19
|
|
|
Carillon posted:A lot of David Lynch's work runs into this for me, Mulholland Drive being a big example. It's why also why I didn't like Inception when I rewatched it again recently. The spectacle is great but I don't care about the dream stuff as much. The ending of First Reformed also has parts of this for me, though less dream-life and more magical I guess? good call, i never really got into david lynch and don't think his style is for me. inception was a cool imax theater experience but the movie being 85% world building exposition kills subsequent views. first reformed was cool but i can understand the perspective of not digging it based on there being dreamlike elements to it. i don't really remember much but i enjoyed it. i agree tho that "is this a dream or not" can be an aggravating experience. recently i watched the movie robot dreams which has a few scenes that are, as the name implies, dream sequences. they're cute but they're used as a plot device too often and it's a detriment to the story overall.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 08:12
|
|
|
Indecent Proposal (1993) Jfc what a piece of hot garbage. Especially coming in hot after watching Poor Things which emphasizes the difference between love and ownership. Like… Woody Harrelson is SO immediately untrustworthy and accusatory and jealous of a MILLION DOLLAR sexual transaction. ITYOOL 2024 you bet your loving rear end I’d gently caress 57 year old Robert Redford for a million bucks. I’d gently caress 87 y/o Redford, or someone way grosser for a million because I’m a broke af millennial and will never own a home otherwise. Also after watching Striptease, Disclosure, and this I feel I can say definitively that Demi Moore sucks. I think she was strongest in Striptease because it was so cartoony, but she was also terrible in that. Bad bad bad.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 09:04
|
|
|
Bogus Adventure posted:
Too late for you now, but Skinamarink was basically a feature length extension of a short film from the director called Heck. I thought Heck was great as an experimental piece but was glad it was only 20 minutes or whatever.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 15:13
|
|
|
shoeberto posted:Too late for you now, but Skinamarink was basically a feature length extension of a short film from the director called Heck. I thought Heck was great as an experimental piece but was glad it was only 20 minutes or whatever. Oh that makes sense. That was my feelings for Skinamarink. It's a neat idea for a 30 min experiment, but there's nothing that sustains 100 mins like the final film.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 15:32
|
|
|
My overriding memory of Skinamarink was when the credits started to roll and this one guy was SO ANGRY about it all, like the film had conned him out of money or something.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 15:46
|
|
|
Bogus Adventure posted:Skinamarink (2022): I'm going to suggest that the ideal way to watch Skinamarink is not while you are on a treadmill.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 16:17
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 00:29 |
|
|
The Master This was very good, strongly recommend watching it, I didn't "get" it or the themes at all but the amount of craft on display is incredible. Starman Very janky at times but is such a lovely film, something to watch with some warm blankets on a rainy day. Karen Allen is perfect in her role here.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2024 16:39
|
|