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Caché is rather iffy as horror (it's more thriller/political drama), but on the other hand it's heavily influenced by Lost Highway and is probably worth a shot. Team Sister Act Kim Jee-woon A Tale of Two Sisters I Saw the Devil John Fawcett Ginger Snaps The Dark Andres Muschietti Mama (2013) It (2017) It : Chapter Two I was trying to throw in a second film for each director; if shorts don't count maybe Kim Jee-woon just has the one, unless "I Saw the Devil" counts. e: Replaced the short with I Saw the Devil Kangra fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Dec 7, 2020 |
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Dec 7, 2020 00:18
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 09:34 |
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Okay, I'll take out the short since it's unneeded, going with I Saw the Devil as the second movie for Kim Jee-woon.
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Dec 7, 2020 04:51
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I'd go for option 2, since we voted for teams based on their composition at that time. Especially for new releases. I can see reasons for dis/qualifying already chosen films after the tournament starts, but I'd say err on the side of keeping teams as they were, and doing that in this case as well.
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Feb 2, 2021 19:35
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Basebf555 posted:
The story was written well before Cracked.com was even founded. It was a web serial around 2002? or so. That serial nature partly explains why the plot is what it is - Wong was definitely feeling free to just take the story in crazy turns from one bit to the next. It always seemed an open question as to whether he knew where it was headed -- the fact that the title isn't true made it seem like it was probably a meta-commentary about characters getting away from the author, although it's entirely possible it was never planned. That isn't much to do with the screenplay or the movie, though, which is doing an okay job of adaptation but not a great one. I do agree that it's impressive that it managed to get made at all. I never particularly loved the serial, but I found it entertaining, and I can say the same for the movie, even though I think it's even less good. Really for the film there were only parts that I liked, but those parts were fun to watch. I honestly think Coscarelli probably made the story worse than it could have been, but also made the horror production values a lot higher than they could have been, so that's how I end up on the vote for this one. Both the stories in this match-up are about self-absorbed men and display some awful approaches to masculinity. Eraserhead is visually impressive at times but dull to sit through as I never felt any connection to its world, and didn't need a whole movie to convey the anxiety that Henry's feeling. Certainly you can use this to see Lynch's development, and maybe understand how he gets from this to his later films, but I'm judging on its own merits, and I find them to be meager. (Speaking of getting dates right, I had mentioned in the Discord that I though JDATE pre-dated JDate the dating service, but apparently that goes back all the way to 1997.)
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Feb 26, 2021 05:58
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I do think the rape is an important part of the story (especially juxtaposed with the other sexual activity going on those scenes), but I still think there's a fair amount of gratuitous nudity in other points that don't contribute much. I didn't hate Demoniaques but I found Hiruko to be fun, even if it's not terribly original. The upcoming match-ups look to be tough. A probably underseeded Brian Yuzna, and the 7-10 match-up is two teams I don't want to see leave so early.
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Mar 26, 2021 07:54
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STAC Goat posted:It sounds like Perfect Blue is the sort of movie someone like me should be giving a chance to break those assumptions about the genre and try and break through. So I'm curious. My main concern is that animation aside, the sort of films and content the reviews seem to suggest the film is like aren't my thing anyway. So its entirely possible it ends up a perfectly fine film I just didn't like anyway. Satoshi Kon is probably the best example for showing off how animation is distinctive and can be used to create something that isn't remotely an approximation of a filmed movie. His films are also unquestionably made for adults, so you don't have to worry about the typical teenager-level focus that's associated with anime in particular. In terms of it being a foreign film, there is going to be a cultural disconnect that is unavoidable. I think with Kon it's more his own personal weirdness, so it's not just tied to Japanese culture (or if it is as in something like Millenium Actress, he tends to make it a bit more accessible).
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Mar 27, 2021 14:24
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I find Showgirls only moderately entertaining, but more importantly there's very little that I consider effective horror in it. It's really just the one scene, and it comes too late, and not only that seems more like it's meant to hammer home the message about another character, without really being about the character it's happening to. I will allow that for all that it's pretty well shot. I think Verhoeven always puts in a lot of effort, but I don't know that it always works well. But even if I liked it more than I did, Michael Powell is just worlds ahead and Peeping Tom, while not 100% perfect, is awfully good, ahead of its time, and an easy pick for me. I won't get to both of the others, so no vote there.
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Apr 30, 2021 04:42
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I guess I had a very different reaction to Varan than most people. I took it as a very straightforward kaiju story where there isn't any big reason or explanation; it's just a big old monster and people have managed to piss him off. It's the sort of thing that plays with the formula by not actually doing anything with it, if that makes sense. It's a big, annoyed, ancient animal and it's going to implacably come at you when you upset it. It's not angry about violence, or about smog, or about industrialization. It's just angry that you picked a fight with it. Not that it lacks a metaphor — I think this is also a more direct criticism of the myths the Japanese military believed in during the imperialist phase that ended in 1945. The monster could as easily be China as much as the US - once fully roused and capable, there was nothing to be done. I can't say for certain, but I did half wonder if the comment one character makes about their 36mm cannons being sufficient was actually a jab at the IJA (they'd mobilized for a war in the 1930s, and did not have the manufacturing capacity to build any tanks or similar vehicles that were prepared to take on even the medium American armor, but they didn't like to admit it). Either way, I think it does show off the futility of that doomed fight. I will allow that maybe there could have been a bit more to break up all the combat. The ending doesn't really fit well in that narrative, either, but you probably couldn't make a movie in 1958 where the monster marches right up into Tokyo and establishes itself as a surrogate emperor for the next decade. This movie isn't quite up there with the likes of Honda's best work, but those are all-time classics. The lack of any memorable characters is notable, especially since the 'journalist' side story kind of falls flat. It still manages to be quite capably directed, as we might expect, and I think it's really making the most of what was probably a somewhat limited budget, even if that means a bit less of the carnage we'd expect from a big monster movie. It still looks really good much of the time, and I found the early scenes in the mist to be some of the most suspenseful and creepy that Honda has ever made. I actually liked The Roost well enough, and think its direction is quite good, especially in the visual creation of the scenes. On the whole it's too amateurish and misses a bit more than it hits.
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May 6, 2021 06:13
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Just as a warning, do not confuse the Tod Browning movie with the text of Dracula sent through a Markov text generator, or else you get this:quote:How this phrase thrilled through the evening we strolled into the room the same seas in 1777; or John Paxton, drowned off Cape Farewell a year later; or old John Rawlings, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of much thankfulness together, and she was a wilderness of beautiful white flowers, and death be all that we sought the hilt of his care. I saw that she feels influences more acutely than other people do. Just now he spoke out:-- “Unclean, unclean! I must touch him or kiss him no more. I stole back to my room and found Madam Mina still sleep as late as you will. I am content if I am like the rain on the road we were not sure already given in simple good faith, was outcast from God. “Jonathan dear, and a fine fellow is overwhelmed her that he would be certain whether any more!” and he groaned in anguish that not even feel it. Fortunately, the weather is getting too diffuse; but now he rose and fell with regular respiration. I actually liked Mark of the Vampire and realized it's where Scooby-Doo comes from. It also has some genuinely good chills, especially with the women. Hoping to get to Tigers before the voting deadline.
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May 11, 2021 19:22
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Yes! I am unbeatable. All or almost all of everyone's teams will lose at some point, but by my having only one team that went out the first round, nobody else can possibly match my perfect loss percentage of 0 (aside from the entire country of Russia maybe). I do like seeing the stats, thanks for doing them. And it seems perfectly sensible to add a film as needed to even things out.
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May 15, 2021 00:49
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I'm definitely leaning in the direction of the more interesting vs. technically better-made movies this week. Nightmare Detective has a good psychological-horror hook and tackles some more serious themes, occasionally interesting visuals, and characters I can at least feel something about, even if it's sloppy and feels like a drawing that isn't fully colored in right. Whereas Hellboy is decent all around, but rather bland, and the most interesting characters feel increasingly sidelined as the film goes on. Likewise, Scanners is choppy and doesn't fit together well — the potentially intricate conspiracy plot keeps getting interrupted by action sequences and the interactions you most want to see just don't end up happening, while Creature from the Black Lagoon hits all its beats with no real issues, has excellently-shot action, and a good villain, but the characters are practically ciphers. I'm voting Scanners and Nightmare Detective because what's there in both of those just appeals to me more. (And unfortunately I prefer the teams I'm voting against a lot more than the ones I'm choosing, but that's how it turns out).
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May 25, 2021 21:24
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The way Castle deflates the tension in that movie — it's like watching someone who starts doing some jokey parody of a 'dance routine' with some silly kicks and spins but then halfway through you start to realize that no, they're actually moving their body fantastically, they really are dancing, and then they do some stupid move on purpose to let you know they aren't being 'serious' about it. I would have been into it if it the movie had just stuck with it.
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May 30, 2021 15:47
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So I have to confess, one of the reasons I actually got into watching bracketology was entirely because I kind of wanted to see a film I've never seen before -- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I don't really like slashers and I know its considered to be the film that inspired many of them. I thought I'd be disappointed. I sort of hoped watching it around those who probably really appreciate it might make it easier for me. And I figured that with Tobe Hooper in the tournament and it being so famous, it'd probably come up. But then it never did (since I didn't quite get how the bracket would shake out), until now. I should not have worried, because The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a brilliant film. It is has the look and feel of something that just came together perfectly. Every element works, and the weakest bits (e.g. some of the acting) are held up by making it better in other ways. As for the slasher part, it doesn't have any of the genre baggage to hold on to, which is probably why I loved it. Leatherface is the purest villain, in that it is mortality itself - no fixed gender, no humanity, no need for motivation. Death comes unexpectedly and with no warning for these young people. We don't have to see them wander around scared stupid, either. I'm sure much more has been said about by those more studied in the genre, but for a first-time viewer, even after all these years, it still has it, no question. Chained was okay, but for too much of the run time I found it ridiculous and it was only working on the strength of its performances. By the end it sort of works in more of a plot but as someone else said, you don't care about the characters by then. They weren't really established and it just sort of feels mediocre. I found Belladonna of Sadnesss plodding and pretentious, although I did get a little more into it as it went on. I can see how it clearly has a lot of female empowerment messaging in it, but it also has a penis-demon-man talking about how much crushing and corrupting her soul turns him on. I will say that I really loved how creative the animation was, although I did have to skip a few parts (not the rape, the flickering). I can understand how the film could be more appealing to someone else, just not me. Amphibious 3D really only has the potential to be interesting, and fails to deliver. I did like that it was able to sideline the American male hero for about as long as it could, and would have preferred if it had just continued having him stuck making inane comments about the movie's events. It really needed to make stronger choices, and with Yuzna both directing and producing, I have to mark it down as a failure. I expected to like Belladonna more and Amphibious less, but I'm still voting the former.
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Jun 11, 2021 05:24
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Haven't seen Near Dark but I assume it's a prequel to Zero Dark Thirty, right?
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Jun 11, 2021 17:46
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The Secret of NIMH was a movie I always avoided; as a child the bits that I saw didn't feel right and I was worried that this adaptation of a book I really loved wasn't going to get it right. About all that appealed to me was the design of Frisby and the kids. So I finally watched it, and it was pretty much as expected. I think it's an awful adaptation for getting the tone altogether wrong. I think the biggest problem is that they took a book that was 'serious' and decided to instead make that 'dark'. This should have been a kid-friendly Watership Down, and it's instead a weird wizard film that honestly feels a bit flat. I could probably go on about the adaptation, but I don't want to sound tiresome about the 'movie being worse'. (On the plus side, it made me pick up the audiobook just to see if my memory of the book was all wrong, but no, it's as I remember it, and still a good book.) Taken on its own merits, it isn't the worst thing. The dark and scary parts are pretty well done, and the animation is decent enough. Even as an adaptation, they did an okay job with the plot. Of course I factor in my own feelings on it and I simply dislike it for what it isn't, which may be unfair, but I still dislike it. Shocker isn't that great, but oddly enough, it's the one that I actually feel some nostalgia for. It was one of the few horror films that I saw right around the time of release, and I enjoyed it well enough. So for this match-up, it'll get my vote.
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Jun 22, 2021 19:03
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married but discreet posted:If those were super intelligent rats as the result of a medical experiment, why were the mice and shrews and whatnot just as intelligent? Does it imply rats were just really dumb and brought to the level of the rest through science? Oh and the owl was badass, loved it. That's another big problem with the adaptation. They ended up having to make the rats literal wizards to compensate for the fact that they made all the other animals so capable. Also the first mouse she visits (the pharmacist) was one of those that was experimented on, along with her husband, so he should also be a wizard or maybe rats are the only ones with magic talent. About the only notable anthropomorphic flaw from the books is that all the animals live far too long (those experimented on live much longer on top of it), such that the shrew speaks of bad winters from years back like an elderly human would, and even the children recall Moving Day from the previous year.
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Jun 25, 2021 04:19
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I had much the same reaction but went with Diabel instead. Although I think I started out kind of hating A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, and consider it almost impressive it took me from there to being okay with it. Diabel was interesting and watchable the whole way through.
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Jul 2, 2021 06:15
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I remembered to actually vote this week, so I expect the vote won't be close at all.
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Aug 6, 2021 06:20
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Stuck vs. Good Manners is an interesting match-up. One is about a nurse with such a disturbing disregard for human life that she doesn't care about someone dying except in how it might affect her life, and the other one is directed by Stuart Gordon.
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Aug 9, 2021 05:39
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While Stuck definitely has a bleak view of human nature, I think it's at least trying to understand its characters, even if doesn't want them to be sympathetic. Brandi's actually good enough at her job to deserve the promotion, and I think that's also why we see more of Tom's descent. It does a bit too cleanly and the final product is maybe easily digestible, but I don't think it's that bad. Most of the gore is pretty decent, though I'm generally not that into gore so maybe this lighter amount was okay for me. I didn't think it was that impressive overall, though. It was Good Manners's to lose after I watched Stuck. At first I was a bit put off by Clara's character since she was just kind of impassive, blandly caring, and probably 'poor' as a character trait, but Ana was really carrying it. I was expecting something interesting.Then they kill her off, and we're left with unlikable characters in a fantasy story that doesn't quite go anywhere. The final insult was just how awful Clara turned out to be. When a film kills off a child character and expects us to blow it off as easily as she did I can't forgive it. That half was a fable with no moral, no interesting story, and unappealing characters.. Stuck would probably lose to the majority of the films here, but at least I could stomach it.
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Aug 13, 2021 06:51
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The one thing I thought was decent about Crocodile was the casting. I could believe them as all of their types for that era (even if the acting wasn't always top notch). There's an awful lot else that's bad there though, and it's hard to tell how much is meant to be schlocky on purpose or if there was just a lack of effort. Watching Angst, I didn't feel engaged much at all. I did start to wonder if I should be more affected by it, or less affected? If I was less affected, then I'm seemingly ignoring these horrific events, but then the film is clearly trying to convey the lack of affect that a sociopath has, so maybe I'd be working against the film. For this reason and others I have to hand it to the film as a technical exercise, a clear precursor to modern extreme cinema. I can appreciate it for its influence, even if I'm not a fan of the movement. It did hold some slight interest for me as a West German film (it's neat to think that for historical context we can just use that to define pretty much the whole era). The newspapers indicating shifting politics and international allegiances, the isolation and sense of wrongness without necessarily feeling guilt, all contribute to that, but even then it doesn't delve that deeply into those themes. It's just kind of there. It's not a film I'd come back to, but neither is Crocodile.
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Aug 20, 2021 08:30
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Let the Right One In is one of my favorite films though I haven't rewatched it in a while. I think that it's also something that deliberately distances itself from its source material (with respect to the plot point I'm guessing at — the loss of Eli's penis). I have only had the plot of the book described (and have no desire to read it), but it seems like it potentially severely colors how one interprets the movie. I'm not saying the film turns it into something it isn't, just that I feel it does handle it in a different way, and the film probably should be treated with how you respond to it on its own. I've been out in the woods this week but didn't want to miss at least the vote for LTROI. I am watching Santa Sangre now and it's not anywhere near getting my vote. It looks like it was fun to make at the very least.
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Sep 2, 2021 03:52
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I wouldn't say that Let the Right One In is glossing the issue, even if it did keep it a bit more muted. It's not sweet, but I think it is in some way romantic, or at least showing that love can exist even in these darker shadows of humanity. Oskar is clearly being groomed at least as a murderer, so I don't think we're supposed to be fully comfortable with what's going on. Eli seems to fall for him somewhat reluctantly, and this might be me reading more into it, but with what Eli and Håkan had could be the model for the future that Eli is comfortable with for now. Obviously acceptance is a major theme of the film, and it just happens to be that Eli cannot be accepted as a lover by anyone else at that moment. I don't necessarily think it's saying that pedophilia should be accepted because of that, anymore than it's saying murdering people and draining their blood should be tolerated. LTROI has still got my vote, but I will say Santa Sangre got better. I liked how it continually became weirder and creepier. It just didn't affect me nearly as much.
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Sep 2, 2021 09:24
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 09:34 |
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STAC Goat posted:See, I dunno. I don't think Eli "falls for" Oskar at all. I think she's a predator manipulating him. And if she DOES fall for him isn't that pedophilia? She's not a child even if she physically looks like one. She's very much the usual cold, callous vampire killer but she shows moments of vulnerability with Oskar. But they're all contrived, no? She enters his apartment and bleeds out knowing that will happen and knowing it will make herself vulnerable to Oskar. Its manipulation. And I don't necessarily think the film was saying "this relationship is good" but its definitely not overtly saying "this relationship is bad." And maybe that's ok, but its weird considering the stuff it left out from the book and the way so many have interpreted the film. And I don't know what to do with that. I should have clarified "fall for him" since I do agree that Eli's being more predatory than is shown in the movie, and I made the mistake of making it sound like it's currently erotic love. What I mean is that Eli actually cares for Oskar at that point, and maybe considers allowing for at least some amount of relationship to develop, but I agree that even that gets weird. If Eli has seen this happen before, then they'd be in the position of having to find someone who would like them enough while young and still care for them while older. Or... book-version Håkan, and it's best to just drop that line of thinking. It's along the lines of BTTF-style time travel crushes, or the horror that is Big. And I think it's fine to be bothered by it, and I understand why someone would criticize the movie since even with the steps taken to distance it there's an inevitable association from the book there. The film doesn't skip it but maybe tacitly acknowledges that something like it happens. I focus more on the part that I find good about it, about finding acceptance from someone when you seem to be so isolated and strange, and being happy to have something to help with the darkness and loneliness.
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Sep 3, 2021 04:14
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