|
I'm in for a minimum of 13 with each of them something I've not reviewed for previous May or October challenges. So far I'm finding sticking with the 13ish for May and going hog wild crazy for October's working pretty good for me.
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2023 14:05
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 22, 2024 05:36 |
|
|
gey muckle mowser posted:Challenges are up! Added them to the second post of the thread. As much as I usually get all the challenges done, not sure on this one. Part is the countries unless it includes multiple films (2 from S. Korea, 2 from the North America..etc.), and a good chunk is it's been scary busy at work. Last Saturday, we had such a crowd coming for movies we stayed open past our usual close time with the phone ringing off the hook from people asking us to hold off closing because they were on their way. I didn't get home until after midnight and could barely stay awake enough to finish a late dinner.
|
|
#
¿
May 2, 2023 17:20
|
|
|
Been sitting on this for the past couple days, keep forgetting to post it. 1) Cocaine Bear - 2023 - Theater & Peacock Of course, I have a work related story for this one. I'd taken my break pretty late in my closing shift and was chatting with some co-workers when we noticed this little kid probably around 5 or 6 years old comes walking down the hallway opposite from where the movie he was at with his mom was. No big thing since there's bathrooms on that side. Kid ends up coming over to us and watching concessions get restocked. Gives us some critique on our candy offerings (yeah, our gummies selection's not that great). We start talking with him in case we have a possible lost kid situation. Kid says his mom fell asleep during Ant-Man and he was bored with that movie so he got up and left. He went to the bathroom and decided to see what was showing on that side and ended up walking into Cocaine Bear. He said it was okay, thought the bear falling asleep on a guy was funny. We're glancing at each other nervous since we don't know how mom's going to react to this and we already had a manager heading towards the Ant-Man show she's in. She woke up and was heading out to look for her kid and was directed to concessions where we were topping off his popcorn as a kinda sorta bribe for silence. They ended up leaving because it was late and we ended up chuckling over how a little kid snuck into an R rated film and was well behaved compared to how many underage teenagers sneak in and are completely rowdy and disruptive. As far as the movie goes, I pretty much went in expecting a big dumb fun movie with a bear hopped up on cocaine and that's exactly what I got. Plot's pretty much surrounding a dumped drug delivery that's scattered in the woods and a bear got into it along with all the drama/chaos involved with recovering the drugs and dealing with the bear. I know the true story this was based on and if they didn't take liberties, it would barely be a film. I really enjoyed this one. The gore was decent. If the humor didn't quite land, the situation was absurd enough to get a smile. My fiance who used to be an EMT/Paramedic did chuckle thankfully that he never had an unsecured premises moment like the ones the paramedics did in the movie. He also said he'd be driving a hell of a lot faster with a bear in pursuit. Everyone around my age was laughing soon as the opening notes of White Lines started at the credits. It's definitely more of a comedy/thriller than horror/comedy, and even then leans a skosh more over the fence towards comedy. So, if you're looking for something along the lines of Grizzly with humor, definitely check this one out. gey muckle mowser posted:
Bear snorts much cocaine. gey muckle mowser posted:
Taking this for 2020.
|
|
#
¿
May 3, 2023 22:19
|
|
CHALLENGE TIME
|
 2) Evil Dead Rise - 2023 - Theater I liked this more than I thought I would. I'd seen the trailer and was 'okay'. It didn't put me off, but it didn't have me in 'neeeed to see' mode. Still, I did plan to see it if time allowed. I'd heard mixed from those who'd seen it, mostly going over 'oh MY GOD the cheese grater scene!!!'. As the stars aligned, I headed in to see it with my popcorn, diet soda, and eager looks from concessions ready to hear my opinions on it when I got out. For the first showing on a weekday, the auditorium was pretty packed. First thought was how refreshing a short run time is for a horror film since this one hits the ground running from the start. No moment is wasted, and it all goes to giving you enough to know about the characters, and actions all lead to something. Plot follows the uncovery of a Book of the Dead and the resulting shenannigans from reading/playing a reading aloud from the book. While, yeah, that's pretty much the plot for every Evil Dead film, this one still keeps the trend of bringing up some new elements into things. The Book of the Dead here is different from the Raimi one and the one in the 2013 film, leading to a popular theory that all three were the books from the test Ash botched in Army of Darkness. I think there might be something to that, but I'm still not fully sold on it. Each book did invoke a particular powerful deadite, such as the Raimi brought The Faceless One who made Ash's hair start to grey, the 2013 one brought the Taker of Souls/Abomination and Rise's brings the Marauder. I'm kinda looking forward to if they do a movie with all three books. The call backs in this one were nicely handled. Just enough to put a smile on the face for those who caught them, but not overdone to where it's a hair away from having sparklers and a brass band drawing attention to them like some other films do. The acting was solid in this one. The kids were the right amount of obnoxious that it wasn't a gut punch when things happened, but you weren't really surprised when things did happen. If I have a negative to say about this film, it's the cheese grater scene. For as much as people went on about it, I sat there thinking 'that's it?'. I've barked my hand worse on a cheese grater doing bulk mozzarella. I did worry for the cat, but nothing happened to it and I got the sense the cat booked it out of there asap with all the deadite commotion. The blood elevator scene was nicely done, and hopefully it'll replace some of the usual gif posts of The Shining's elevator. All in all, this is a definite recommend from me. If you've already seen one Evil Dead film, you're good to go on this one. gey muckle mowser posted:
Book of the Dead + Kids = The Inevitable gey muckle mowser posted:
|
|
#
¿
May 6, 2023 00:55
|
|
|
 3) M3gan - 2022 - Theater & Peacock Yeah, I was interested the moment I saw the trailer for this one. It just came across so whole ham crazy, I had to see if the movie delivered on the trailer promise. Narrator: Yes, it definitely did. Story follows an AI doll that becomes self aware and what the ramifications are from that along with how we form dependence on our tech. It's rare for me to be able to say this at this point, but this film definitely managed to unnerve me, though likely not as it would for others. I know this is probably going to make me seem like some sort of luddite, but I'm uncomfortable around certain aspects of modern technology. For example, my fiance got one of those Google/Alexa things for free. We didn't use it much, but one time he asked me something and the Alexa which was supposed to be off spoke up. It unnerved me enough to unplug it and put it in a drawer. At this time, it's still unplugged and in a box from our moving to our current place. M3gan's inter-connectivity just gets under my skin. I'm not even comfortable using the 'Sign in with Google' type options when I sign up for a service. I guess this all stems from my awareness of how easily something can go wrong with this sort of thing. I remember years back when I was taking classes, something happened with Google Drive and people weren't able to access files. One of my classes had a paper due and most of my class was freaking out, trying to get an extension from the professor and here I was with my paper ready to go because I kept backups on a USB drive. I understand the convenience, but to me it just seems like it opens the door for when something goes wrong, for it to go really wrong. In the case of this film, yeah, things go really wrong. M3gan's logic makes sense for her, but it's without the nuance of humanity. She's following her programming directive of protect Cady. Then there's Cady's attachment to M3gan, which also disconcerting. Granted Cady's dealing with the trauma of the car accident that killed her parents along with having to live with her aunt who's not really a child raising type, this is a catalyst for where the film goes. Going from my experience with my kids, children are very perceptive. They might not grasp the nuances, but they do pick up on the gist. Cady knows on some degree that her aunt sees her/the situation as a nuisance. Gemma is shown early on to be one of those who's set in their place in life and having a child in that life does not fit the equation. This doesn't make Gemma a bad person, just not too good with adapting to change. With creating M3gan, Gemma's given Cady the parent she's not ready to be, someone who will always be with her forever. This brings up an issue that's gone on for decades, technology as child care. When I was a kid, the concern was the TV as a babysitter. The news regularly reported on kids being plopped in front of the TV for hours, hyping up fears that they wouldn't discern reality from TV fiction or health concerns over sitting in front of a screen for hours at a time/or not going outside to play as much as previous generations. Had similar about video games with kids would get desensitized to violence and would be in poor health since they weren't going outside so much. Now, we have the Internet and apps for children with parents giving their kids tablets to focus on for hours at a time. We've all seen kids have tantrums if their tablet dies or an app stops working along with seeing on the news how some kid died doing a TikTok challenge that the rest of us look at and wonder 'why would you even do this in the first place'. Again we have the concerns over parents relying too heavily on electronic distractions rather than interacting with their children. The movie ramps up that concern. M3gan's algorithms and inter-connectivity make it easy for the still grieving Cady to bond with her rather than with her distant and still adjusting aunt. Now, I do completely understand the aspect of having something to occupy the kids so you can get house stuff done or just have a moment to refocus, and I have known parents who pretty much put a game tablet in their kids hands as fast as they could and rely on it so much I wanted to ask them 'why did you have a kid in the first place?' as well as parents who pretty much gave up their identity to become 'kid's name's parents' and are so involved with every aspect of their kid's life that you can't help but wonder how the kid's going to deal with life when the parents aren't around. Obviously, these extremes got issues. There is a middle point here of 'in moderation'. Let the kid have some fun with the tech, but make sure you interact with the kid beyond making sure they've got food and clothes. Go do things together, go outside and play, get some sun, enjoy the air. We're a social species after all, and part of our humanity is our connections with each other. With all that said, this movie's a must see. The actors bring their A-game and then some. Before seeing the film, I watched a behind the scenes clip with the actress playing M3gan and her energy and excitement about the role just had me more amped to see the movie. Considering how good the box office was for the film, there will be a sequel and I can't wait to see it. gey muckle mowser posted:
The challenges of parenting in the modern era with the increasing dependence on technology/social media.
|
|
#
¿
May 10, 2023 18:55
|
|
|
 4) Mad God - 2021 - Shudder This one's definitely a something. Plot..um..well, I know there is a plot in there, I've sat through this three times determined to follow the plot, but each time I just get so drawn into the animation I forget to follow the plot. This is Phil Tippet's 30 years in the making passion project and WHOOOO it shows it. I think I could sit through this daily for decades and still feel like I've scratched the surface on how densely layered this film is. I'm not even sure if there's another film like this, it's just that much in it's own class. Definitely a have to see at least once. gey muckle mowser posted:
Phil Tippet's stop motion, nuff said.
|
|
#
¿
May 12, 2023 15:18
|
|
|
Basebf555 posted:Yea I rewatched Mad God fairly recently and it feels like I'm making progress on understanding it but only gradually. I love that about it, I feel like I could revisit it ten more times and notice new stuff each time. First time I saw the trailer, it made me feel the same way I did when I first saw the video for Sober. I was just so pulled in I barely paid attention to the song. Each watch of Mad God, I go in focussed on I'm going to follow the plot. Assassin goes into the underworld and...oooh what's that over there, I wonder how they did that construct....and yeah, more derailed than a dog noticing a squirrel.
|
|
#
¿
May 12, 2023 16:43
|
|
|
 5) The Menu - 2022 - HBOMax First time I saw the trailer, my thought was 'oh, Top Chef, the unrated edition'. I hadn't made up my mind to go see the movie until it started to pop in my mind when my fiance and I had some cooking show on the Food Network on for background noise. Pretty much thanks to quarantine, we sat through a substantial amount of cooking shows since we were both stuck at home and as my fiance was able to do the work from home thing, cooking shows were safe enough to watch in case one bled over when he was on a call. In general, cooking shows are a mixed bag. Some are fun, some are interesting, and some are so pretentious you wonder if the chefs risk drowning during the rain because they have their noses that high up in the air. I remember one cooking competition where they had the chefs get their ingredients from Walmart and they all acted like they were told to go sift through month old garbage bare handed. I'm pretty much the antithesis of a fine dining foodie for the most part. I have no problem with occasionally splurging on pricey steaks for a special occasion or splurging on a higher quality chocolate when I make brownies, and I have gone to some reasonably fancy restaurants (had a coat room and valet parking). But when you get to the stuff like molecular gastronomy, food serving that's worthy of a We Want Plates post, and portions so small that my cats would look at it wondering where's the rest of the food, well, that's now in my snark on you zone. The Menu's story follows a group of fine dining types invited to master chef Slowik's private island for the ultimate dining experience. It ends up going off the rails in a spectacular fashion. God, where do I begin with this. If you've watched enough food shows, you'll recognize all the types here. The Food Critic, the Famous Actor you have to think on when was the last time you saw them in anything, the chef worshiping foodie...etc. The food courses are exactly as pretentious as can be with the 'breadless bread plate' and everything with an elaborate backstory. It brought me back to a time where I was looking up a cobbler recipe online and having to scroll past a small novel of the writer's reminiscing about her family who would make this on crisp autumn days when the trees in the neighborhood were a bonanza of golds and reds and it felt like a warm hug before I finally got to the actual recipe. As much as I'd love to elaborate on how everything unfolds, it's really something that deserves to be seen without warning. It's definitely made me look at making s'mores in a different light. Major kudos to the crew behind the movie in hiring the camera people who film the food shows to showcase Slowik's dishes. I absolutely adored Anya Taylor-Joy's character of Margo since she was saying so much of what I'd often think when watching some cooking shows. Ralph Fiennes was amazing and completely sold me on Slowik and how he became what he was. I highly recommend this one with the advisory of have a cheeseburger for your movie food when watching or be ready to pick one up afterwards. You will be craving one by the time the credits roll. I lost count how many times I'd be giving directions to the nearby burger restaurants to people who just got out of the showings for this movie. gey muckle mowser posted:
Many thanks to Jedit for giving me the idea on looking at a wider perspective of religion because when you take out the big hitters, options drop dramatically, though options are getting better gradually. Foodie/Fine Dining culture when taken to the extremes is a non-mystical religion. There's Chef Worship/cult of personality, and ample culinary sins (used something premade over made from scratch, didn't use organic/artisanal ingredients..etc), and Redemption through culinary change/growth.
|
|
#
¿
May 12, 2023 20:02
|
|
|
 6) Nefarious - 2023 - Theater To start, I think I was one of three people in the showing I was in who wasn't a member of the Franciscans. Storyline for this is a psychiatrist evaluating a serial killer who claims to have a body hopping demon inside him. To be honest, I thought this was done better when it was 1998's Fallen. Compared to the trailer, the film was a bit on the bland side. So it kinda felt like a bit of a bait and switch to me. What little I watched of The Pope's Exorcist was more interesting. If I'd paid to see this or used one of my account credits, I would've been a bit salty. But since I did get to see it for free, I think I could've spent my time better watching something else. Only way I'd recommend this one is to those who are completionists when it comes to watching the possession sub-genre and even then if it's I can't think of anything else they haven't seen yet. gey muckle mowser posted:
|
|
#
¿
May 14, 2023 15:04
|
|
|
 7) It Follows - 2014 - Netflix For as much as everyone else seems to have seen this but me, time to rectify that. Plot follows a group having to deal with a lethal paranormal STD. Overall, this was okay enough. If anything it did get my brain going into overdrive was thinking about the backstory of the 'It' given what rules we're told. How long has It existed? How did It come into existence? Is it a paranormal creature or magic created? Does it only transmit through any sex or is there a difference between casual and longtime monogamous? Overall, I do recommend this one and kinda hope for an eventual sequel. gey muckle mowser posted:
|
|
#
¿
May 14, 2023 21:22
|
|
|
 8) An Angel for Satan - 1966 - TubiTV It's always a joy to come across an older film I've never seen before especially when it has cast I've thought I've seen everything they've done before. Story in this one follows a sculptor hired to restore a statue that's been dredged up from the lake only to have strange things start to occur. Barbara Steele's amazing in this one and I think this would make an excellent companion piece to Black Sunday. It's definitely a must see if you love the Italian Gothic Horror subgenre. gey muckle mowser posted:
M_Sinistrari fucked around with this message at 13:38 on May 15, 2023 |
|
#
¿
May 15, 2023 06:30
|
|
|
 9) Nudist Colony of the Dead - 1991- Prime Considering how many 'of the Dead' films I've sat through and reviewed, this one was definitely a bit of a challenge in finding anything I've not reviewed yet. Story follows the residents of Sunny Buttocks Nudist Colony's revenge after they commit a suicide pact when the local religious busybodies get them evicted from their property. As the title gives it away, this is a horror comedy that leans heavily for the laughs. It's pretty much what I was expecting going in. Plenty of low budget cheesiness with a pleasantly surprising twist. Be prepared for plenty of saggy zombie boobs. It'd be a fine entry in a bad movie marathon with friends. gey muckle mowser posted:
|
|
#
¿
May 15, 2023 15:47
|
|
|
 10) Rampant - 2018 - TubiTV Okay, Joseon dynasty Korea with the most amazing hats, check. Nobility scheming in the Imperial court, check. Turbo Zombies, check. Crown Prince returning home to zombie mayhem, check. Just from these points, I could be describing the incredible Kingdom series, but I'm not. Rampant does share a lot of the same plot beats as the series that they do get compared frequently, but they are separate entities. Considering I'm craving a next season of Kingdom, Rampant did scratch that itch. The zombies are scary, the pace was good. It kept me engaged and not wanting to pause to get something to drink. The actors were great. Interesting to note is the financiers/distributors for this film also brought us the excellent Train to Busan, so it's safe to say if they crank out another zombie film, I'm ready with movie snacks to give it a watch. Highly, HIGHLY recommend this one. gey muckle mowser posted:
|
|
#
¿
May 17, 2023 09:28
|
|
|
 11) Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend - 1985 - Prime When I was little, the general consensus in the crypid books regarding dinosaurs living in modern times was that aside from Nessie, they were probably in the deep regions of Africa or Asia. I used to think it'd be cool if somewhere there were still dinosaurs around, but then when I learned dinosaurs eventually evolved into birds and my experience with the rooster on my family's farm who truly embraced his velociraptor ancestry with chasing all of us kids until we fled into the house as well as actively attacking everyone's cars, yeah....dinosaurs still around is not so cool an idea. This film goes into Mokele-mbembe, a massive sauropod who lives in the Congo River Basin. Story is the basic scientists find the cryptid is real and other interested parties want to exploit the cryptid or kill it. Since this was a Disney project through thier Touchstone brand, there is a happy ending with the Mokele-mbembe going off into the jungle. I first saw this as a teen, and I remembered it as being okay enough. There's not much out there for Mokele-mbembe compared to the other cryptids like Bigfoot or chupacabra. Revisiting it again, it's still okay enough. It's not awful but it's not particularly stand out. gey muckle mowser posted:
|
|
#
¿
May 18, 2023 15:06
|
|
|
 12) Saloum - 2022 - Shudder As I've learned with more films from Africa becoming more available, they are very much a mixed bag. I remember during one of the past streams where I missed the showing, but reading the side chat, the film that was from Nigeria ended up with a whole lot of apologizing over having gone in a blind watch and the content was iffy at best. Still, I figured to give Saloum a go. Overall, it was pretty decent. It's a mix of crime thriller and horror done in a ratio that works pretty well. The first half or so is a quite engaging crime thriller. The actors chemistry completely sells it that they're a group of mercenaries who've been together for years. Once they get to the town is when the horror angle ramps up and it's very top notch, but then I'm a total fan of the ancient lands soaked in old magic/mysticism that are just waiting for the right circumstances to reawaken thing. Definitely a recommend from me. gey muckle mowser posted:
|
|
#
¿
May 21, 2023 21:32
|
|
|
 13) The Medium - 2020 - Shudder In this one a documentary crew goes to film a shaman, Nim who also acts as a medium for a local Goddess. During the filming, the shaman's niece, Mink begins manifesting the signs that she will be the next shaman/medium, but that's when things start going off the rails. Well, this was interesting in parts, though it was a bit overlong. It could've easily been trimmed down and still kept to the plot. It also gets convoluted as Mink's symptoms continue, and more family secrets come out to where at that point I was convinced everyone except for the baby and the dog were awful to varying degrees. I do have strong issues with the dog death that happens as you can clearly see the dog's in distress when Mink's actress picks it up and puts it in the cooking pot. Other parts that had me raising an eyebrow were bits like they allowed the at this point possessed Mink to wander around the house when there's vulnerable family present. Most other films have the vulnerable sent away for their safety at some point. I have a hard time believing there were no options present whether it was go to a neighbor's place, a hotel, or to a temple. I won't be sitting through this one again. gey muckle mowser posted:
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2023 05:21
|
|
|
 14) Parasite - 2019 - HBOMax I first watched this some years back when it first hit streaming. Going from my archived review on Letterboxd, I thought it was well made but just didn't click with me at that time so I'd likely give it a second watch later on. It doesn't happen often, but just one of those things that happens on occasion. As it's been a few years and I've watched more stuff, I figured to revisit this one as it fit the challenge of something I've already seen that's well received by the thread, but I wasn't quite on the bandwagon. My view of the film being well made is unchanged. It's definitely earned the awards it's won. As far as the not clicking part, upon reflection I think that was mostly from at that time I really haven't watched much modern society setting Korean films compared to how much I've watched historical settings or clearly horror/zombie entries. Certain nuances were too strange to me. In the years since my watch, I've broadened my horizons more so on the rewatch, a lot more was understandable and not strange anymore. However, with all that said, this film's just not quite my thing. Thrillers in general are fairly hit or miss with me. I won't go out of my way to see it again, but I will definitely recommend it to those who I know would love it. gey muckle mowser posted:
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2023 10:04
|
|
|
I'm calling it here since I'm not sure how much what watching/reviewing I'll be able to get done since work's getting mad busy. For convenience, here's my challenge recap. 1. Horror High - Cocaine Bear (2023) 2. Tales from the Cryptids - Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985) 3. Holy Terror - The Menu -( 2022) 4. Fresh Hell - Nefarious (2023) 5. Shooting Zombies - It Follows (2014) 6. Drawn and Quartered - Mad God (2021) 7. Woke in Fright - M3gan (2022) 8. Second Chance - Parasite (2019) 9. Challenge of the Dead - Nudist Colony of the Dead (1991) 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things - Evil Dead Rise (2023) 11. It's-a Me! - An Angel for Satan (1966) 12. History lesson Cocaine Bear - 2020s It Follows - 2010s An Angel for Satan 1960s Nudist Colony of the Dead 1990s Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend 1980s 13. Geography Lesson North America - Evil Dead Rise - California Europe - An Angel for Satan - Italy Middle East/Africa - Saloum - Senegal Asia (China, Japan, Korea, India, etc) - Rampant - Korea Southeast Asia - The Medium - Thailand
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2023 16:13
|
|
|
gey muckle mowser posted:
Just reposting my counts to make it easier to find. 1. Horror High - Cocaine Bear (2023) 2. Tales from the Cryptids - Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985) 3. Holy Terror - The Menu -( 2022) 4. Fresh Hell - Nefarious (2023) 5. Shooting Zombies - It Follows (2014) 6. Drawn and Quartered - Mad God (2021) 7. Woke in Fright - M3gan (2022) 8. Second Chance - Parasite (2019) 9. Challenge of the Dead - Nudist Colony of the Dead (1991) 10. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things - Evil Dead Rise (2023) 11. It's-a Me! - An Angel for Satan (1966) 12. History lesson Cocaine Bear - 2020s It Follows - 2010s An Angel for Satan 1960s Nudist Colony of the Dead 1990s Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend 1980s 13. Geography Lesson North America - Evil Dead Rise - California Europe - An Angel for Satan - Italy Middle East/Africa - Saloum - Senegal Asia (China, Japan, Korea, India, etc) - Rampant - Korea Southeast Asia - The Medium - Thailand
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2023 19:17
|
|
Reminder that tomorrow is the last day of the challenge, and that all movies must be logged by noon EDT on Thursday.
|
Takes No Damage posted:Still not sure what was up with the whole 'planting' thing, unless that was just the easiest way to secretly store them until they were ready to As far as the planting thing went, part was easy to secretly store, but the other part was for ensuring tender meat. Kinda like how veal gets raised.
|
|
#
¿
May 31, 2023 18:50
|
|
Pretty light on the goop for a movie about an abattoir, but the gurgling noises were actually disgusting.
|
STAC Goat posted:
The CGI looks bad because it is bad. The original plan was to go practical effects like the Carpenter original. If you google around, you can find some of the footage and it looks great. From what I've heard, one of the studio people decided practical effects was old and dated and insisted on putting in CGI to the degree that they had to CGI over the practical effects. I keep hoping that someday there will be a removed CGI cut released, but I have the sinking feeling that'll never happen.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 1, 2023 11:22
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 22, 2024 05:36 |
|
|
Congrats Crescent Wrench!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 4, 2023 08:05
|
|