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The thing about Haneke is his whole deal is making films about immense suffering, frequently violent himself, but his feeling is that the audience should be deeply shaken by it and recognize the weight of violence. That on its own is fine. Funny Games comes at this as a critique on horror movies that make light of violence by cheapening it, titillating the viewer instead of repulsing them. This is also not necessarily an unfair critique, but it's one entirely incapable of seeing empathy in horror movies and it is so emotionally detached itself that it feels even more sadistic than the genre he's criticizing. It's smug. I haven't seen all his films, but the ones I have paint a pretty clear picture of a totally joyless artist who revels in misery, and Funny Games in particular mocks you for finding misery fascinating. Amour has a poignant statement to make about how love means eventually having to watch your loved one die -- it's painfully true there, but also almost entirely devoid of any warmth whatsoever. You gotta question, what the gently caress does this man know about love? Happy End, it's quasi-sequel, is even more insulting -- relegating the surviving protagonist of Amour to the sidelines, himself now entirely debilitated in old age, while the film rails against social media or whatever. I'm not against exploring these themes. I just think he does it with such utter contempt for the audience that I can't help but go, hey gently caress you too buddy.
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Feb 23, 2024 23:35
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In a way, Funny Games feels like the snooty version of Cabin in the Woods. Both of them out of touch with what horror films actually are and what horror fans enjoy about them, but Funny Games is trying to shame the viewer while CitW is pulling a ‘hello fellow kids.’
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Feb 24, 2024 23:43
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I never felt like Cabin in the Woods was out of touch. If anything, they gave horror fans all the horror. From a firehose. They didn't have any bad intentions: They wanted to give the viewer an awesome movie. Completely the opposite of what I got from Funny Games.
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Feb 25, 2024 05:01
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Cabin in the Woods was a vicious takedown of how the writers vaguely remember horror movies being when they last watched one, which was apparently 20 years before writing Cabin in the Woods
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Feb 25, 2024 07:46
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I forgot it was Saturday, again. I should set a reminder. You still have about 34 hours to watch and vote? I think. Tired. You can vote in this round until 12 noon EST Feb 26th (or when I get to it) Next Week! 4. Ladies Night vs. 13. Lloyd Kaufman 5. The Enemies of Horror vs. 12. Dansk Buds
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Feb 25, 2024 08:12
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I was surprised how much I liked The Visit. I think it's really getting at some nice fears in a visceral way. It is of course carefully constructed, as Shyamalan's movies tend to be, but I think it is one where the artistry really works. There's a lot of tension in wondering just what exactly is going on. As for Witching & Bitching, I can see how it's sort of fun but the humor wasn't for me. I did really like the directing, there's a lot of flair to it. With Funny Games I'll admit I only watched the original, but I don't imagine the remake will be enough to put it past The Visit. Haneke's a tiresome party guest who just keeps wanting to hammering home his point well after you get what he's trying to say. On the other side, Carrie was a decent adaptation even if it's not nearly as good as the first one. I liked the more sympathetic characters, but that also made it harder to buy what happens at the prom. This Carrie doesn't quite seem to 'snap', she lashes out at times (comparatively, the scene where she leaves her mother at home is great) but I felt she didn't have it in her to do something so big except that the plot demanded it. The Breach is not terrible but not really well-made despite an okay effort. The story seems neat but the script and acting is weak, and the direction is merely so-so. So yes, I'm going to end up voting for my own team, but I do find Nina Forever to be both fun and have at least a little genuine emotional heft to it.
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Feb 26, 2024 04:03
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I didn’t really feel any of the films this week so not sure how or if I’m voting. The Visit is fine but I don’t vibe with Night’s humor. I did pick up on it more clearly here than I do with some of his other films that fans praise for camp that I’m not sure I agree with. But I could definitely tell he was going for a dark or silly humor but it’s not for me. But it’s a fine enough horror film with a solid twist. Witching and Bitching was one I thought was gonna fall into the same category of comedy I don’t enjoy. But it’s a lot less mean or edgy or something than I expected. I don’t know what to make of it’s view of women but it felt mostly tongue in cheek? My real problem is that while I enjoyed a lot in this the pacing felt kind of slow and off. There’s a lot of highs or memorable things but it felt like the movie itself kind of plods along. A tighter 90 minute film probably would have been a banger. This was fine. I don’t feel like watching Funny Games. I doubt I’d like it anyway or it would affect my vote. I dunno which way I’d go between Visit vs Witching. Maybe the highs of W&B win out? That’s where I’m leaning. The Breach had some good stuff but it felt very poorly written and questionably acted. And I think there was a mistake made in how much it held back showing stuff early and then showed a ton late. The effects are pretty solid but I think they would have been more affective in small doses through the film than that big finale. It was ok but I think the flaws win out. Nina Forever I don’t know. It’s an interesting decent film but I liked it less than the first time. I guess I just felt like it didn’t so much go anywhere. It was like a macabre little story which probably would have worked for me in a shorter form more but as a feature felt a little lacking in the end. I haven’t rewatched Carrie. I remember it being fine. I don’t know where to vote here. I could see myself voting Carrie since neither of the other films wowed me but I don’t feel fair doing that without a rewatch. And I don’t think I feel like rewatching. In Nina vs Breach I’d probably give it to Nina. But I dunno.
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Feb 26, 2024 04:35
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The Visit vs. Funny Games vs. Witching & Bitching: 7/10 vs. 7/10 vs. 7/10 Weird situation with an annoying character or two vs. Annoying second-hand societal commentary vs. A fun set-up that felt like it could have been a lot more Giving it to The Visit The Breach vs. Carrie vs. Nina Forever: 8/10 vs. 6/10 vs. 7/10 Alright, so involving quantum determinism is basically a cheat code for making me like a horror movie. Even so, The Breach got lucky with its match this week. The Carrie adaptation left me cold, and Nina Forever brought some interesting ideas into play, but I kept waiting for it to take the next step with developing them, and instead, it started going backwards. Disappointing. I can picture some college sophomores absolutely loving that movie, though.
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Feb 26, 2024 17:18
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I had a blast with The Visit. I enjoyed the balance of creepy poo poo and humor and leading into terror. It seemed so light hearted but got real as the movie pushed forward. Loved it. Witching & Bitching was so dang zany with a color explosion and great lighting. The humor was hit and miss, but I still had a lot of fun. Funny Games.. I'm still thinking back about all the scenes and that he purposely made the characters fail, or take too much time, or doing the completely wrong things, or the extended scenes of the side of a house with nothing else going on just to piss off the viewer. He did a fantastic job of it, but I mentioned it before, it still sucks being the viewer. Mission accomplished. Going with The Visit. Carrie I also really enjoyed because the characters won me over, and the rest of the flick just looked good. It wasn't groundbreaking, but it was super fun and enjoyable. I hadn't seen the original since I was knee-high, so I didn't have much to compare it to. Nina Forever I appreciated the dark humor. I'm usually turned off by awkward characters, especially ones trying to find romance, but I think this provided enough Clive Barker to the mix that it kind of blurred that aspect enough to make it enjoyable for me. The Breach was close to being fun, but I think they just needed a better writer and actors, honestly. It wasn't terrible. It had some cool poo poo, and the creatures towards the end were fun. Going with Carrie. Philthy fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Feb 26, 2024 |
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Feb 26, 2024 17:51
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  Threeway close ones! M Night’s Visit just barely squeaks out a victory over Iglesia’s Witching and Bitching. For Shyamalan that means his first victory in four tries as he avoids joining the 0-4 club and advances into the Field of 64. Iglesia picks up his first loss but may get to come back again next year for hopefully better matchup luck. And Haneke falls to 0-3 as it seems like not many cared for the remake of his infamous cult classic. On the other side Nina Forever and Kangra’s Undying Love manage to pull half the votes which is enough to beat the split vote between Carrie and the Breach - but that’s the nature of threeways. End of the line for Darth’s Drowning in Atmosphere and twernt’s long Remake name. But we’ll have more to come from Undying Love and Night over the next few weeks. Lets get into this week’s movies and see what we got. 4. (Goat’s Ladies Night) Mimi Cave’s Fresh vs. 13. Lloyd Kaufman’s Return to Nuke Em High Volume 1  I’ll try and stay objective here as I think we all know what I think of Kaufman. Its an interesting matchup where it pits the team I try and build around female voices against the Troma voice which in some ways reflects kind of the opposite? Again, I’m trying not to be too judgmental here. I know a lot of people love Troma. This is Kaufman’s third go at Bracketology but he’s 0-2 including a loss for the sequel to this film, Return to… Return to Nuke ’Em High AKA Vol. 2. And the other loss was Toxic Avenger so its a rough run for the man with a cult following and a whole studio of films to his name. Can he break through this week? For Mimi Cave its her first go as most of the directors on this team are one shot players (inset rant about opportunities given to women in film) but Ladies Night has had a ton of success, making the Sweet Sixteen its first year, the Elite Eight its second, and the Final Four last season. So can it continue its run of success and maybe even take that final step into the championships? Or will the Ladies be unceromoniously dismissed in the first round by old uncle Lloyd? Sequel Alert: Return to Nuke Em High Vol 1 is the 4th of 5 Nuke Em High films. Having watched them all a couple of years ago I’m pretty sure you can just watch this one without having seen the previous three. There’s probably references or something but its like a “reboot” and nothing is really serious enough to demand canon knowledge or anything. They’re all on Tubi so if you wanna watch them go wild. Don’t ask me if you should bother. I’m the wrong guy to ask. Fresh is available for streaming on Hulu. Return to Nuke Em High Volume 1[ is available for streaming on Plex, Troma, and Tubi. 5. (Goat’s The Enemies of Horror) Aaron Moorhead & Justin Benson’s Synchronic vs. 12. (Dansk Buds) Johannes Nyholm’s Koko-Di Koko-Da  Moorehead and Benson are the inspiration and core of the Enemies of Horror team but this is only their second draw in Bracketology, previously having picked up a win last year with Spring. Synchronic is probably their most mainstream, big budget film and perhaps for that reason seems to be one of their lesser received films. But its one that I remember making my cry and that definitely still hits with a lot of fans of their vibe. With them not a major part of the MCU their days of indy horror/scifi might be behind them and maybe this was their road in with Captain America. Will it be a road to victory? They’ll have to get past a newcomer director and new team from Sweden. And in keeping with that European vibe it sounds like a real kick in the balls of a watch. Reviews even coincidently enough evoking comparisons to last weeks Funny Games (well last week’s remake of Funny Games). Didn’t work out last week but can it come through this time? There’s actually a pretty interesting RNG double feature connection between these two films but I don’t wanna spoil anything. But its cool that RNG did it again. We’ll just have to see how it all shakes out. Synchronic is available for streaming on Kanopy, Netflix, and Peacock. Koko-Di Koko-Dai is available for streaming on AMC+, Freevee, Kanopy, Tubi, and Vudu. That’s our week. Two of my teams so could be two easy wins for others. Two kind of interesting thematic double features/matchups too. And not a single film that I’d consider “mainstream” even if we’re not talking about unknown movies. Point is I bet there’s a couple of first watches for everyone this week. And hey, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan teaming up to try and get me into the second round like the Avengers they are is apropos, no? It makes me laugh anyway. As always the goal is to just have fun and watch what you want. We try and make sure every film is reasonably available, some are a little harder to find than others and not everyone has the right streaming services so if you need help finding any of the films ask and help might be right around the corner. It will. I have the movies. Just ask. You can vote in this round until 12 noon EST Mar 4th (or when I get to it) Next Week! 3. Takashi Miike vs. 14. Cloverfield +1 6. Roger Corman vs. 11. Teamsidious Spreadsheet Letterboxd List
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Feb 26, 2024 18:07
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Definitely voting Fresh, I'm not really a Troma person and I can't remember if I've seen this particular Nukem High movie but I can't imagine it will change my mind. I saw Fresh when it came out and really enjoyed it. The other one could go either way because Benson & Moorehead are hit or miss for me. Maybe this will be a hit.
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Feb 27, 2024 14:52
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Yeah, I thought Fresh was fantastic and while I haven't seen Return to Nuke Em High Volume 1 I have seen Class of Nuke Em High and Return to Nuke Em High Volume 2 and I have to assume it's going to be in line with those which would definitely not be enough to convince me against voting for Fresh. Haven't seen Koko-Di Koko-Da yet, Synchronic is fine but not my favorite B+M movie.
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Feb 28, 2024 14:04
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99% sure I’m voting for my two teams. Hate Troma and hated the movie when I watched it years ago and have very little interest in rewatching. And Koko-Di just sounds like something I’d hate. I’ll keep it on my watchlist and see if the mood hits me sometime this week. But I dunno.
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Feb 28, 2024 14:13
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It is not fair at all to compare Koko-Di to Funny Games. It's a more hopeful film, is rarely graphic and is never rubbing your nose in the violence. It's only real comparable is a bit of meta narrative. It was pretty cool. Better than I was expecting for sure. Some cool visuals with the puppet show, and a really neat take on how grief torments people.
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Feb 28, 2024 18:04
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Fresh vs. Return to Nuke Em High Volume 1: 8/10 vs. 5/10 Synchronic vs. Koko-Di Koko-Da: 7/10 vs. 7/10 Both of my votes flipped from what I initially expected. Nu Nuke 'Em had some interesting choices in what to change from the original, but it was also considerably worse than the original, overall. Fresh felt like it could have said a lot more with its premise, but that might have resulted in a heavier movie. Sucked to see the best friend's character end up so shallow, though. Voting for Fresh. Synchronic never fully pulled me in. Another promising premise that could have done a lot more. Lost all my sympathy for the main character at a certain point (I'm sure most of you can guess when), and the ending was a let-down. Still, I was more stimulated by it than by Koko-Di Koko-Da, which just got tedious for me after a while. There's a reason most time loop movies tend to elide the inherent repetition after it's been established. Some well-crafted visuals weren't enough to overcome that for me. Voting for Synchronic.
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Feb 28, 2024 23:45
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I threw Koko Di onto the team to round out the numbers, I didn't expect much of anything. At its worst it reminded me of community theater, but at its best it reminded me of the really strong middle act of Yellowbrickroad. Not in story but in tone. Haven't watched Synchronic yet, and I really like B+M, but I could definitely see myself voting for Koko.
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Mar 1, 2024 03:56
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Darthemed posted:Synchronic never fully pulled me in. Another promising premise that could have done a lot more. Lost all my sympathy for the main character at a certain point (I'm sure most of you can guess when), and the ending was a let-down. Still, I was more stimulated by it than by Koko-Di Koko-Da, which just got tedious for me after a while. There's a reason most time loop movies tend to elide the inherent repetition after it's been established. Some well-crafted visuals weren't enough to overcome that for me. Voting for Synchronic. Yeah, I agree with this. I think both have their problems but overall I preferred Synchronic.
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Mar 1, 2024 16:10
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I absolutely enjoyed Fresh. I was so loving revolted at what was going on, but goddamn that ending. Nukem High I was glad to put my brain into teenager mode and I enjoyed it as well. But going up against something like Fresh? Sorry. This absolutely made me want to dip into the Tromaverse more. I think these would make for some great Friday night flicks after a long week where I want to turn off and laugh at the dumbest poo poo ever. Synchronic was really good, and it just looked cool as heck too. I liked the wild rear end story it was trying to tell, and somehow pulled it off. It's not spectacular, but it was very very cool. Koko-di Koko-da ... Man, I thought you all put another red shirt horror into the mix again and I was glad it wasn't. But wow, what a depressing flick. Hopeful, yes, but the path they've traveled is so dark. I really enjoyed the mixture of the animated rabbit family complementing the story and the music was so goooooood. This is a hard decision between the two. I want to vote for both of them. Philthy fucked around with this message at 05:30 on Mar 2, 2024 |
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Mar 2, 2024 05:02
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Its still Saturday somewhere. I didn't forget this week, I've just been sick and I was too drat lousy feeling to ever open the laptop today. Thought about it a bunch. Have to do writeups. Just couldn't do it until I woke up feeling sorta refreshed in the middle of the night. Fun. Anyway, enough whining. You know the drill. There's about 36 hours left to watch the films and vote in the contests. Then new movies. Unless I don't get writeups done or can't get out of bed again in which case you'll get more time. But who knows? You can vote in this round until 12 noon EST Mar 4th (or when I get to it) Next Week! 3. Takashi Miike vs. 14. Cloverfield +1 6. Roger Corman vs. 11. Teamsidious
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Mar 3, 2024 06:20
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I'm a bit bummed to vote against Lloyd Kaufman, as I have a bit of a soft spot for him - when I was in film school, Troma was the only company that was gonna offer me an on-set internship, but I just couldn't make the logistics work; one of the great regrets of my college career is that I didn't get to work on Poultrygeist, lol. But, if I'm being honest, Troma just doesn't make films that appeal to me terribly much one way or the other, so I'm less voting for Fresh than against the inconsistency of Team Troma.
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Mar 3, 2024 17:03
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Fresh was certainly good enough to win a vote over Return to Nuke Em High. I don't feel like the latter was doing anything I found interesting, and I stopped being enthusiastic about Troma films at least 15 years ago. If anything, I lost respect for Kaufman for doing so little that was novel. On the other side, I guess I'll go for Synchronic as it was the better film, but it's very light on the horror elements. It's a solid sci-fi movie, although I think it wasted some time explaining a set-up that it knows it's not going to need anyway, since it is more about the emotional payoff than the pseudoscience. Thankfully it upped the pacing by the last act. Koko-Di, Koko-Da had an okay start, but didn't go anywhere. At its best, it had the bizarre quality of a folktale that has grown quirky in the long ages of being passed down. But the problem with it is that this isn't an organic process, it's a crafted screenplay, and merely evoking the tone of a weird old tale is insufficient. There needs to be something at the heart of it, and that was sorely lacking. The visuals and atmosphere weren't enough.
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Mar 4, 2024 07:03
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I didn't rewatch Synchronic. I've just been sick and haven't watched anything. But I do think the reason its kind of poorly regarded amongst M&B's filmography is that doesn't focus on the personal relationship that most of their films do quite as much and gives more time to the sci fi plot. I once described M&B films and the theme of this team as "There's a horror/scifi movie happening over there!" They're mostly all personal character and relationship stories set in a world where something hosed up is having and the characters are dealing with. But Synchronic probably gives too much focus on the situation and then doesn't really pay that off to a satisfying degree because ultimately M&B go back to what they like, the character stuff. And while i didn't rewatch this I know the character stuff made me cry the first time I saw it. So I think its good. But I also get why it has a cold response with fans, especially fans inclined to be more interested in those sci fi elements.
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Mar 4, 2024 13:20
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Synchronic is giving me a really hard time with putting it in any place. Is it being smart or being really, really dumb? How much am I supposed to laugh at what’s happening while also taking it completely seriously? There’s only so many times a black protagonist can do enough drugs to go back in time to end up in the absolutely worst possible situation before it’s not only clear what the message is but it also becomes really funny. All of this of course being made even more puzzling because it’s stellarly acted and shot. I loved it but I am so confused. Koko-di-koko-da is much easier in its core – serious, bad things happening to people on screen are funny. Plus, it’s got puppets. This would be easy to vote for but Synchronic is also really good but in an entirely different way. Fresh has a much easier time against Return to Nukem High – I don’t really care for the kind of horror RtNH is offering. Fresh starts out like a generic contemporary straight to streaming horror movie about dating, but ends up going deviant enough to be very fun. Always happy to see a rape-revenge movie without actual rape.
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Mar 4, 2024 14:43
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There's lots of stupid stuff in Benson and Moorehead films but (a) it's never stupid enough to take me out of the film and (B) they seem like goofs so I always just assumed I was laughing along with them.
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Mar 4, 2024 15:00
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  Its the rare double win for my teams setting up a matchup between them in a couple of weeks. Whoops. Ah well. Mimi Cave’s Fresh pretty decisively takes down Kaufman and Troma, which to be honest I’m a little surprised by but very relieved. Nyholm’s Koko Di, Koko Da did better and definitely resonated with some Moorehead and Benson’s Synchronic picked up an easy win moving them to 2-0 in Bracketology despite a bit of a lackluster response. That’s the end for Dansk Buds and Kaufman, who falls to 0-3 in Bracketology. And it sends Ladies Night and Enemies of Horror into a second round clash in a few weeks. Lets look at this week’s movies. 3. Takashi Miike’s The Great Yokai War: Guardians vs. 14. (Samfucius’ Cloverfield +1) Babak Anvari’s Under the Shadow  Miike is back. 4th in Bracketology in Wins and 3rd in Movies he has a chance to overtake John Carpenter this year and reclaim his crown if he can go on a winning streak. And maybe even do what Carpenter was able to do last year and what Miike fell just short of in our first season and win it all. Who knows? This round he brings a kids film which is a bit different, but also a kauji film? Its Miike so I’m sure there’s a lot going on. Under the Shadow is a little more direct although has its own layers. Maybe appropriately in the history of kanji films its a classic war film allegory set within a haunted story. Maybe a little triggering or touchy in today’s climate with what’s going on in Gaza or maybe just very timely and relevant. So what wins out? Miike making a busy kid’s kaiju film or a very adult and somber ghost story? We’ll see. Sequel Alert: Guardians is a sequel to The Great Yokai War, a film Miike has actually previously drawn in Bracketology and won with. That film was a reboot of a 1960s Yokai Monsters trilogy and the whole thing has cinematic links to the Gamera and Daimajin franchises. Its a lot and kind of confusing as Japanese monster movie canons tend to be. They really like making sequels, spinoffs, remakes, and reboots. So I have no idea if you need to watch anything else to follow this one. Nor do I have a clear list of what you should watch. I don’t know. Sorry. I think I’m gonna use it as an excuse to finally watch Gamera but you do you. The Great Yokai War: Guardians is out there and available upon request. Under the Shadow is available for streaming on Netflix and Hoopla. 6. Roger Corman’s Tomb of Ligeia vs. 11. (Weapon X’s Teamsidious) Leigh Whannell’s Insidious: Chapter 3  Along with the return of Miike this week we get the return of Corman. But despite being a legend Corman is only 2-4 in Bracketology history. But if you’re gonna try and course correct that record you go with Poe, Price, and a cat. Its a format that’s hard to say no to. And speaking of familiar successful formats we have Insidious 3. Reviews are pretty polarizing on both films really. Insidious has its fair share of “really good stand alone” and “more of the same.” And the old stuff that Corman and Price make could probably be described as “more of the same” pretty easily but its all about if you feel the vibe or not. That’s probably what it will come down to here. Do you like what Corman and Co do or what the Wanniverse does? Do you like one more than the other? We’ll find out in a week. Sequel Alert: Insidious Chapter 3 is of course the third Insidious movie. Although Chapter 3 is actually mostly a standalone prequel to the core canon of the franchise with Patrick Wilson. No Wilson or Rose Byrne in this but we do get Lynn Shay and her sidekicks. So like as best as I can recall you can totally watch this one on its own and while you might miss some character or canon details you probably will be fine with the core story. I think. Its been a minute. Tomb of Ligeia is out there and available upon request. Insidious: Chapter 3 is available for streaming on Max. That’s our week. Corman and Miike bring some big name value and Insidious 3 and Under the Shadow are some more modern pieces. I’m sure there’s some theme or link I could dig up here or something but I’m sick and tired and just really want to stop typing. Sorry for mailing this one in this week. Hopefully next week will be better. As always the goal is to just have fun and watch what you want. We try and make sure every film is reasonably available, some are a little harder to find than others and not everyone has the right streaming services so if you need help finding any of the films ask and help might be right around the corner. It will. I have the movies. Just ask. You can vote in this round until 12 noon EST Mar 11th (or when I get to it) Next Week! 2. Wyrd Woods and Macabre Magick vs. 15. M. Night Shyamalan 7. Kôji Shiraishi vs. 10. NYC Grime Connection Spreadsheet Letterboxd List
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Mar 4, 2024 18:00
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Who would vote against this smooth operator?
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Mar 4, 2024 18:27
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Basebf555 posted:Who would vote against this smooth operator? I've never enjoyed the Insidious films, so I may vote for Temple of Ligeia based on that screenshot alone.
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Mar 4, 2024 19:44
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Always vote for cat
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Mar 6, 2024 02:07
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The Great Yokai War: Guardians vs. Under the Shadow: 6/10 vs. 9/10 Tomb of Ligeia vs. Insidious: Chapter 3: 6/10 vs. 6/10 TGYW:G was less interesting than the previous film, probably because by having two chosen kids instead of one, they had to cram in twice the failings/chances for them to learn. I have no particular attachment to Daimajin, but I'm a big fan of Gamera, so that was another edge the earlier film had. Just not many chances for it to benefit from comparison to the preceding film in the series, and just kind of mediocre overall, despite the nice costuming. Meanwhile, Under the Shadow was fantastic. Such a relief to have a horror film with characters who were written like actual adults, with foibles and multiple responses to stimuli. And maybe I was just in the right emotional state for the film to really land with me, but it did a great job of merging the personal, societal, and war pressures into an engulfing storm without overplaying its hand with any of them. Tomb of Ligeia is a Corman/Price Poe adaptation. Easy win over the blandness of Insidious: Chapter 3, even if the film-makers finally realized that Lin Shaye is their ace card.
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Mar 8, 2024 05:31
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We're having the darndest time getting ahold of Yokai War and Tomb, any help is appreciated.
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Mar 9, 2024 13:19
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I sent a DM, let me know if there's any issues.
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Mar 9, 2024 18:25
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Its once again Saturday and I'm once again sick and late, although less of both this time. Still I haven't watched any movies or started writeups this week but I still have just under 44 hours to do so? That's not terrible. And you have the same amount of time to get in votes or what not before next week's new movies. You can vote in this round until 12 noon EST Mar 11th (or when I get to it) Next Week! 2. Wyrd Woods and Macabre Magick vs. 15. M. Night Shyamalan 7. Kôji Shiraishi vs. 10. NYC Grime Connection
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Mar 9, 2024 22:19
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Most of these were pretty alright this past week, no stinkers. It was a tough call for me for Guardians and Under the Shadow. I enjoyed them both quite a bit. I think I went with Guardians because it was way fun and my inner child made me do it at knife point. Tomb of Ligeia and Insidious 3 was also kind tough because they both seemed just okay. Neither were over the top anything with the exception of Vincent Price, and that's probably the only reason I went with Ligeia.
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Mar 11, 2024 15:45
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I went with Under the Shadow, mainly just because I feel like Miike's had his time in the sun and I want to see more from the Samfucius team.
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Mar 11, 2024 15:51
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  Bit of a low turnout this week but two decisive victories with the numbers we had. Roger Corman picks up his 3rd Bracketology win improving to 3-4 and advances to the second round for the first time in 3 years with Tomb of Ligeia while Takashi Miike falls to 7-7 and is eliminated first round for the second year in a row. Under the Shadow carries Sam’s Cloverfield+1 into the next round while Weapon X’s Team Insidious sadly falls early. That’s all the brain capacity I have for this one. Sorry. Lets look at this week’s movies. 2. (twernt’s Wyrd Woods and Macabre Magick) Paul Urkijo Alijo’s Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil vs. 15. M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense  Shyamalan picked up his first Bracketology win a couple of weeks ago and he’s bringing the big guns looking for his second with the OG film Sixth Sense. The film that made Night a name and “genius” in the first place and was a cultural phenomenon. It even launched that kid into stardom where he made a Country Bear Jamboree movie or something. Talk about horror. Does Night’s “masterpiece” hold up 25 years later when odds are you’ve picked up the twist by simple cultural osmosis even if you’ve never seen it? On the flip side is a film I’ve been wanting to see for years now and tried to steal for one of my own teams, the spanish devil fantasy folk tale Errementari. Very well regarded from those who’ve seen it and coming in with the advantage of something modern and new can it knock off the heavyweight cult classic? Or will Night pull off the ranking upsets with his big guns and move deeper into the tournament? Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil is available for streaming on Netflix. The Sixth Sense is out there and available upon request. 7. Kôji Shiraishi’s Grotesque vs. 10. (Weapon X’s NYC Grime Connection) Joseph Zito’s The Prowler  Night picked up his first Bracketology win and now Koji hopes to pick up his own. He’s 0-4 in Bracketology despite being a SA favorite. He just hasn’t been able to find the right draw or matchup. This one might be it? Its not super clear. He pulls a film that sounds pretty severe and was described as “torture porn” and that could work against him, but he does so against an 80s slasher that sounds similar. Then again the Prowler seems to have a fair bit of following itself and with that authentic 80s “New York” vibe people love so much and Tom Savini handling the gore it might be the recipe to another loss for Shiraishi. Or maybe fighting in the same basic weight class is the break he finally needs to get off the skid and into this tournament? Or will the NYC Grime Connection give everyone what they’ve been missing? Grotesque is available for streaming on AsianCrush, Fandor, Screambox, and Tubi. The Prowler is available for streaming on Amazon Prime, Night Flight, Shudder, Tubi, and Vudu. That’s our week. Two very interesting match ups. One real heavyweight with old vs new and one really grimy seeing how low we can go. I think,. I’m still a little foggy. But it sounds like a fun time for most and maybe a full matchup skip for me, assuming I have the energy to watch anything this week. As always the goal is to just have fun and watch what you want. We try and make sure every film is reasonably available, some are a little harder to find than others and not everyone has the right streaming services so if you need help finding any of the films ask and help might be right around the corner. It will. I have the movies. Just ask. You can vote in this round until 12 noon EST Mar 18th (or when I get to it) Next Week! 1. Older Than America vs. 16. Undying Love 8. A Crate of Crichton Fright Freight vs. 9. Larry Fessenden Spreadsheet Letterboxd List
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Mar 11, 2024 17:58
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Errementari is really great. The only complaint I could possibly see being made is that it doesn't go quite crazy enough because the designs and just the whole aesthetic are cool as hell. I watched it for the October Challenge a few years ago.
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Mar 11, 2024 18:14
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I've been meaning to watch Errementari for a while now, this will give me the push I need I watched 6th Sense not that long ago and it holds up well imo. It's a good twist movie because rather than rendering it inert, knowing the twist just changes one of the things that the film is about. The worst thing about watching it in 2024 isn't knowing the twist, it's the same issue that something like Silence of the Lambs has: it's been memed and Tree House of Horrored almost to death. SotL is such a strong film that it survives all that. I feel like 6th Sense might be more of a coin toss for people. I still enjoyed it a lot; the performances are strong and the direction still has that confidence that had people losing their minds and calling him the next Spielberg or whatever
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Mar 11, 2024 18:40
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Yeah, Sixth Sense definitely has the burden of being one of those films that just so ingrained in our cultural osmosis that a bunch of people will be like "Oh, its like that Simpsons episode" or "Oh, its that meme." I'm looking forward to watching it with Mama Goat who is immune to that kind of stuff so will be able to watch it fresh with no clue what to expect. And hopefully I can appreciate it more through that.
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Mar 11, 2024 18:48
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Oh, she'll be watching it for the first time? That's great, there's a lot of vicarious enjoyment to be had sharing someone's first watch of a film like that. Hope you both have a good time!
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Mar 11, 2024 18:54
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I think the main two performances of Willis and Osment are strong enough that even people who've heard about The Sixth Sense and seen parodies of it for years will still be hooked by it. Actor performances can make a film at least somewhat immune to all of the parodies and the memes and whatnot. You don't really experience the power of the movie until you've seen the performances, it's not just a movie all about a twist. And it also has multiple twists, which people tend to forget: the little girl's mother revealed as having poisoned her.
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Mar 11, 2024 19:05
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