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Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched  (Read 684548 times)

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2320 on: April 22, 2018, 12:58:21 AM »
I remember seeing Fortress when it came out, it was rather meh. I would not rate it has low as you have, but I do tend to have higher ratings. Lambert is not a very good actor, but the film has its moments (well that what my 26 year old memory is telling me). The prison was good as was the dystopian world it was set in. Also it has Kurtwood Smith as the bad guy, definite plus. There was a sequel in 2000, but I never saw that one. Might try and track it down.

philip918

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2321 on: April 23, 2018, 12:22:34 PM »
I remember loving Fortress as a kid, but not quite as much as Ice Pirates. I had terrible taste in movies.

Haven't been watching much, but had a good movie-watching day yesterday:

Sorcerer (1977)
Thoroughly enjoyed this. So gripping and immersive. A couple of the best suspense sequences I've ever seen. Friedkin seems like a clear influence on Michael Mann, another director who really mines process for story, character, and drama. There's also little things you just don't see in many movies these days. I loved a moment when a customs guard is bribed and he slides the bill toward him using the fly-swatter he's holding. Just one simple shot, but it says so much.

Phantom Thread (2017)
As a writer this really hit close to home. I can never escape the sense that I should always be working on something, or at least, always could be, and that certainly annoys my wife at times and makes me a lot of fun at parties. I loved the direction the film went and just about everything else about it. So funny, so intense, and just gorgeous. The cinematography and the score are incredible.

Smoke

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2322 on: April 24, 2018, 11:55:38 PM »
Finally caught up with Three Billboards, not quite sure what to make of it, or if it's worth spending time trying to make anything of it. If I think about it long enough I might decide I hated it, but in truth it was entertaining; fast paced with some memorable scenes and characters. That's not nothing, so what the hell.
« Last Edit: April 24, 2018, 11:59:16 PM by Smoke »

Smoke

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2323 on: April 25, 2018, 12:08:02 AM »


Phantom Thread (2017)
As a writer this really hit close to home. I can never escape the sense that I should always be working on something, or at least, always could be, and that certainly annoys my wife at times and makes me a lot of fun at parties. I loved the direction the film went and just about everything else about it. So funny, so intense, and just gorgeous. The cinematography and the score are incredible.

That's interesting. As an occasionally driven musician I think I identified with that aspect of his character but I don't think I was conscious of it, party because I'd been swept up by those other elements you mention.

Junior

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2324 on: April 25, 2018, 11:08:15 AM »
Blockers

I wish this was the kind of teen sex comedy that was around when I was on the younger side of its target audience. My teen sex comedies told me that sex was both necessary and terrifying, deviant and overabundant. This movie says sex is whatever, it's cool and not the most important thing in the world. That's how we can start to change the way we think about things (sex, women's bodily autonomy, parent-child relationships).

And the movie is funny as hell too. The three parents are great and their daughters perhaps greater at wringing the most out of every comedic situation. These kinds of movies tend to get a little serious at the climaxes and this does too, but it also keeps the funny around throughout. Nothing goes on longer than I wanted and the characters are well-developed (if a little too free to spill their guts at key moments). Definitely the funniest movie of the year so far.

B+


Truth or Dare

The dumb version of Final Destination sees a group of teens cursed to play a fatal version of the titular game. It's so silly for 3/4ths and then it tries to be very serious and it really doesn't work. Proof also that the Kubrick Stare isn't inherently creepy. It takes some skill to turn the head down, stare up look into something scary. There is no skill here, only rules and rules and rules. Rules aren't scary either.

D


Isle of Dogs

Not nearly as good as Fantastic Mr. Fox (or Moonrise Kingdom or Grand Budapest Hotel or The Royal Tenenbaums), but still a great deal of fun. Yes, I felt a little uncomfortable with the cultural appropriation on display here, but I do think that it leads to a kind of interesting side-effect (or maybe it was the intended effect all along, and being a little offensive was the side-effect). Because some of the Japanese dialogue goes untranslated, the movie becomes an object-lesson in visual storytelling. We (people who don't speak Japanese) are left to figure out what little Atari is saying to Chief and company by deciphering the hyper-Andersonian shot compositions and telling edits. It does also feel like a step up from Fantastic Mr. Fox in the animation technology department, making possible some subtle facial expressions from the dog characters. What all of this means is that, for the young people for whom Isle of Dogs will be their first experience with an auteur director, they will learn not only a little about idiosyncratic filmmaking but also a bit about the language of cinema. And that's pretty cool.

Also, this movie is super cute.

B+
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smirnoff

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2325 on: April 25, 2018, 06:22:37 PM »
Castle Freak (Stuart Gordon, 1995)        4/10

If you cross Argus Filch from Harry Potter with the X-Files toilet monster, you get Castle Freak.

And what a freak he is. His primary motivation is to attack unsuspecting people who enter his castle. In this case an American family who has come to Italy to claim their inheritance after the passing of a Duchess. The daughter being blind added some variety to the ensuing chaos, but for the most part this was a pretty dull movie, made tolerable by good monster make-up and splatter effects.

The character's unnatural responses to their encounters with the freak took the wind out the films sails sadly. They stand when they should run, they scream when they should be quiet, but most of all they just kind of sit there while the freak attacks them. Struggle! Especially when he's chewing your nipples off! *ow*

This the first horror film in Gordon's catalogue that left me wishing it had actually been scary. The other films have been dumb fun that evolve and become wilder as you go along. The Castle Freak is the same from beginning to end and left me wishing someone would just hurry up and bash his head in. I think what it was really missing was good scenes of running through the castle hallways and slamming doors trying to get away. Characters panic by sitting still and screaming.

A very disappointing "haunted house" kind of film.  :(

                         



Director's Filmography
From Beyond
Dolls
Re-Animator
Robot Jox
Castle Freak
Fortress
The Pit and the Pendulum
Daughter of Darkness

Bleacher Bums (1979)
Space Truckers (1996)
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998)
Dagon (2001)
King of the Ants (2003)
Edmond (2005)
Stuck (2007)

smirnoff

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2326 on: April 25, 2018, 07:16:20 PM »
Space Truckers (Stuart Gordon, 1996)        5/10

Pretty good creature work. If they could grow 'em square like this in real life I suppose they probably would. For the most part this another dumb film, but the budget feels pretty strong and allows for some decent world building. The Diner which wraps around the space station 2001-style is pretty good. The robot army and 90's computer graphics aren't all that bad either. And they aren't used sparingly.

I think maybe the most disappointing thing is that there weren't any stand out performances. This really needed a touch of Fifth Element-wackiness or something. Debi Mazar takes the award for scene stealer almost by default since nobody else really does anything very fun, and she spends most of the film in a bra and hot pants. When you've got actors like Charles Dance, Dennis Hopper, George Wendt and Stephen Dorff you'd hope someone would do something that stands out. I don't blame them though. Someone needs to punch up these scripts.

Strong make up and splatter effects continue to be a highlight of Gordon's films. That stuff is fun. There's a lot of limbs taken off by laser beams in this movie, and that never got old. There was some time spent fleshing out space trucker culture which I thought was fun. I probably enjoyed that more than the primary plot. With some solid characters I could see it having made a decent tv series.
                         



Director's Filmography
From Beyond
Dolls
Re-Animator
Space Truckers
Robot Jox
Castle Freak
Fortress
The Pit and the Pendulum
Daughter of Darkness

Bleacher Bums (1979)
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit (1998)
Dagon (2001)
King of the Ants (2003)
Edmond (2005)
Stuck (2007)

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2327 on: April 26, 2018, 07:16:50 AM »
Some thoughts on Ready Player One. I haven't gone through everyone else's reviews yet.

I'll start with the positive, because that's the kind of happy glass half full bundle of joy that I am. This movie is a delight for everyone who is a fan of pop culture. I loved the dozens of Easter eggs, some subtle and many not so subtle, that it has. Say whatever you want about the plot or the characters, but tell me watching Master Chief fight alongside Tracer and the Iron Giant on the big screen isn't a blast, or that stepping into The Shining isn't every fan's dream - well, perhaps not so much, but the idea of entering the world of one of your favourite movies!

I wonder how well the movie will age in light of that. I don't know how many references to pop culture there are in the book, but things like Overwatch are too recent to be in it. RPO is a thrill for 2018 but how will it play in 20 years? When are references to pop culture good and when do they date the movie. I'm pretty sure we'll never forget The Shining, but the fps du jour? Probably.

There is a problem with how the movie deals with pop culture though, and I think it's important because it's one of its themes. No one is ever seen actually enjoying any culture. My impression during the movie is that everyone spent the entirety of their free time in Oasis. Wade only seems to have watched The Shining because of the hunt. The movie is less about being a fan of things than it is about obsessing over the life of one dude. He was the true fan, everyone else just spends an unhealthy amount of time going over his life and watching the things he liked.

That brings me to the plot problems. How is any of this a good idea? Put aside the premise of giving your company away to someone based - partly - on their gaming skills, the guy basically creates a cult. He wants people to watch hundreds of hours of videos of him and learn everything about his life. How is that not creepy?

Then there is my usual plethora of complaints. The villain is a corporation, again, because capitalism is evil you guys. And it is also able to get away with blowing up people's homes, of course, since that's how it happens in real life. The sci-fi makes very little sense. If the avatars replicate the players movements, what happens when they fall in the game? What was Wade doing during the dance scene, lying on the floor? How are amateurs somehow loads better at the game than paid professionals? And the romantic arc, well, suffice it to say this is the most 14 year old movie I can remember seeing in a long time. There are glaring plotholes and logical problems, like all the main characters happening to live in the same city. Oasis is a poorly thought through concept that crumbles if you think about it for more than two seconds. My ability to suspend disbelief was sorely tested.

By the end the movie pretends it urges people to appreciate real life but there is absolutely none of that until that point. The fun goes quickly downhill after the first Easter egg is found. This is not good Spilerberg, this is five minutes of voiceover exposition Spielberg.

And are we really going to make Ty Sheridan happen? Ugh.
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2328 on: April 26, 2018, 07:22:55 AM »
Girls Trip

Very good and very funny. The jokes slow down a little as the tensions rise, but those tensions are character-based and, though a little on the obvious side, interesting to see play out. Tiffany Haddish is the obvious standout, but everybody is good here. More movies like this please.

A-

Justice League

Not as bad as its reputation would lead you to believe. The joke inserts are obvious but still pretty fun, and some of the fight things are cool. Steppenwolf is a nothing character and there's not a whole ton of character development happening here in the League either. But there is some very good punching, so that's something.

C

I liked Girl's Trip but I get the feeling I am the only one who disliked the characters a good deal.

Which of the fights in JL did you like? They're all a blur of grey and brown to me.
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DarkeningHumour

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #2329 on: April 26, 2018, 07:25:45 AM »
READY PLAYER ONE

I don’t want to say it’s a return to form for Spielberg but it’s definitely Spielberg doing what he does best.
Using the the language of film/pop culture to make us feel good. To make us remember.
I believe it works much better as a film than as a book because we are actually experiencing these elements (film, TV, music, etc) instead of just reading about them.
The music was a wonderful trigger.
I had a 2600, I played Intellivision, I remember the first time I played pong at a pizza parlor.
When I first played Space Invaders at the arcade in a mall.
 Hunting space ships with one asteroid left at the roller rink.
All of these were moments of deep and happy nostalgia for me.
Were a part of my experience watching this film.
I also enjoyed the improvements made to “cinematographize” Cline’s book (I think he assisted in the screen play process...?
But I am looking forward to repeated viewings and endless frame grabs to hunt for Easter eggs once this is released for home.
This one made me smile - the villains were Spielbergy enough just to fit in with the tone of his film.
I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.
I’ll see it again.

I felt the movie was very 2018 but as I read people's opinions it seems a lot of them caught a more 80s vibe from it. I wonder if this is a movie that can play for all ages because of the breadth of its references.
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