Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)

[prof]

This is Spinal Tap is getting a sequel. And apparently the entire main original cast is on board.

‘This Is Spinal Tap 2’ Starts Filming, Confirms Cameos: Questlove, Trisha Yearwood Joining Paul McCartney and Elton John in Sequel

Questlove, Trisha Yearwood, Paul McCartney, Elton John and Garth Brooks will appear in the sequel to the 1984 cult classic, which is now shooting.

variety.com

 

[famicommander]

Comedy sequels go well maybe 5% of the time

 

[terry.330]

Yeah, I imagine it's going to be terrible. Although there is definitely a lot of fodder for parody, so many geriatric rock dinosaurs still toddling around.

I just hope it doesn't turn into a cameo fest, that's a huge problem with these modern sequels. The original is so good because it's exists in a vacuum.

 

[Tung Fu ru]

I just hope it doesn't turn into a cameo fest, that's a huge problem with these modern sequels.

It most definitely will be a cameo fest. Elton John, Paul McCartney, Questlove, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are supposedly already cast in the movie. But, I'm sure there will be more cameos than that.

 

[Hattori Hanzo]

Hope they can get Courteney Cox & Neve Campbell as well.

 

[fake]

Dune: My original impressions still stand. The production design is cool, but the movie just feels souless. The soundtrack is a joke, especially when Anguished Arab Lady starts going off. The treatment of the Voice is equally cringey and cliche. The producers should get their money back from Rebecca Furguson.

Dune 2: Much better but still not great. It felt like a three hour montage with giant skips in time between each scene. Certain scenes were great, but overall, my impression is that they adapted it as well as they could in the runtime they had. This really should have been a super high budget series, not a few movies. Also, the projector at my theater was running at about 20% power so I could barely see any details. I'll watch it again when it's out on video.

 

[SouthtownKid]

The producers should get their money back from Rebecca Furguson.

I know exactly what you're talking about, but I think she was just poorly directed. The character probably wasn't on the page, so when Furguson did her interpretation based solely on the dialogue, Villenueve as someone supposedly familiar with the source material should have steered her back toward the right direction.

Maybe if Villenueve and the screenwriters hadn't excised the entire "who is the traitor" mystery subplot, Furguson would have been better able to figure out who Lady Jessica was. Or barring that, maybe have her read the novel first.

 

[terry.330]

Vault of Horror- Essentially the follow up to Tales From The Crypt, so another early 70's horror anthology. Once again it's 5 stories about horrible people getting what they deserve with ironic twist endings. Pretty solid overall, again very British but this one is a bit less dry and more mean spirited. Great cast, Tom Baker, Terry Thomas and Denholm Elliot are standouts.

 

[LoneSage]

Transformers 86 - Wow, this is really something watching in 4K. What else can I say that has not been said before？Just a very cool and new way to experience a classic.

 

[Trevor spencer]

The Bee Keeper , silly but good fun.

 

[famicommander]

The new Alien movie apparently retcons the ending of the original film and features an AI recreation of the deceased Ian Holm.

 

[terry.330]

Wanted: Dead or Alive- I think I might have talked about this at some point but whatever. Gritty 80's actioner starring Rutger Hauer and Gene Simmons. Hauer is a former special ops guy turned freewheeling harmonica playing bounty hunter and Simmons is a middle eastern terrorist that Hauer failed to eliminate on a mission years earlier. Simmons resurfaces in LA to set off a chemical attack and the CIA uses Hauer as bait to catch him.

This is pretty enjoyable but not great, very 80's and very cliched but that goes with the territory. Hauer is pretty good as the detached loner, Simmons plays it perfectly straight which is surprising considering his other roles around that time are pretty out there. Tons of character actors, some good action, very un-PC and gritty in that mid budget 80's way. It's solid high B grade macho action.

 

[LoneSage]

@terry.330 330 The Stuff review request thanks

 

[Average Joe]

DBZ: Dead Zone

Doesn't waste any time and has only the thinnest of plots so most of the movie is just pure action. It's got solid animation and some nice coloring going on, so it's easy on the eyes. The action is all quick and intense and makes it a really solid first entry in the DBZ movie series due sheer mindless fun and accessibility.

Gohan tripping balls is legit kind of insane for several reasons; one of which is it serving zero plot function and just there for what I can only gather is "we just wanted to make Gohan trip balls".

 

[SouthtownKid]

The new Alien movie apparently retcons the ending of the original film

easy pass.

 

[Average Joe]

DBZ: The World's Strongest

Very similar beats to Dead Zone: bad guy shows up out of nowhere; said bad guy has a collection of oddball henchmen; Goku must smash bad guy; Z Fighters do cool things but not enough cool things to impact the events unfolding, and while Gohan doesn't trip balls, he still has a very weird (but fun) dream sequence.

I feel the same way about this as I do with Dead Zone. It looks pretty good and the fights are actually well done and quite cool. It's quick and mindless dumb fun that gets right to the fun and gets it over with quick enough without stalling for time and potentially getting stale.

 

[terry.330]

Dream Scenario- This one kind of came and went and after watching I can understand why. It's not bad but it's one of those clever little indie movies that you will probably forget you even saw in a day or two.

Nic Cage is a dorky and somewhat pathetic college professor with aspirations of being a writer. All of a sudden he unexplainably starts appearing in people's dreams randomly all over the world. At first he's a celebrity but when the dreams turn into traumatic nightmares everyone turns against him which in turn ruins his life. The last chunk of the movie is kind off the wall and I don't want to spoil anything but it's pretty much stolen from Futurama. Cage is good and the supporting cast is solid with Michael Cera, Tim Meadows and even Greg from Succession. Smart and funny but forgettable, still worth a watch.

 

[SouthtownKid]

So I couldn't get out of it any longer and we watched Black Swan. Psychological horror (yay) set in the world of ballet (boo). I was kind of expecting this not to live up to the hype, but was unprepared for just how much it doesn't live up to the hype. Any hype. Firstly, it has to be said that the level of audience hand-holding is off the fucking charts, especially in the last 20-30 minutes. There's playing fair with the audience, then there's (over-)telegraphing, then there's complete hand holding like you're explaining something to a toddler, and then there's this. Aronofsky thinks you are all idiots.

Black Swan might have been a much better movie in the hands of a director whose idea of subtlety was not a hollering hobo on engulfed in flames while throwing a brick through your porch screen door. Or maybe this movie might have worked a little better if American Psycho hadn't already been released some decades ago and done all of this better. Although I do have to say that all the actors' performances are very good.

Anyhow, I thought I hated ballet, but this movie made me realize that all these years, I actually was only indifferent to ballet. NOW I hate ballet.

 

[100proof]

Most of Aronofsky's movies have all of the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face.

Saw Roger Corman's Bucket of Blood (1959) this evening. Dick Miller is a loser named Walter Paisley who busses tables at a beatnik bar. He wants to be an artist and get the beatnik girl he's had his eye on to notice him but he has no discernable talent. He finds his muse when he accidentally kills his landlady's cat and covers it in sculptor's clay. The beatniks all find the piece fascinating (if a little ghoulish) and Walter finds himself murdering people (first by accident and eventually on purpose) to create sculptures of people in their death throes in order to impress his new friends and make money. As one might expect, it spirals and eventually Walter is caught and hangs himself.

Fun, workman-like little movie (barely over an hour long) that takes the piss out of the beatniks but could easily be applied to all self-important artistes, art collectors and pretty much everyone in that scene. As with most Corman movies, it was made on an absolute shoestring (it has like 3 sets and the violence largely happens off-screen) but the sculptures are actually pretty good/creeoy looking and the dark comedy moments largely hit. Some of the characters are a little broad but it makes sense within context and Dick Miller plays a good pathetic (if somewhat likeable) loser who just wants to be accepted. He's not much different from Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors but that's not particularly surprising given the movies share a writer, a director, several sets and much of the same cast. Gotta love Corman... would squeeze every last drop of toothpaste out of the tube.

 

[terry.330]

There's a scene in Evil Toons where Dick Miller is watching himself in Bucket of Blood.

 

[prof]

There's a scene in Evil Toons where Dick Miller is watching himself in Bucket of Blood.

 

[terry.330]

It's hilarious too because he'd rather watch himself then fuck his very horny wife played by Michelle Bauer.

 

[100proof]

Between that and the scene with the topless models in Demon Knight, ol' Dick did alright in his later years.

 

[Average Joe]

Stopmotion

Some great vibes/atmosphere in this one; feels like a very hazy fever-dream. If you like creepy, hairy, meaty, and gooey stop motion horror animation then you'd likely get something out of this. Lots of really unique and interesting visual pieces to this that take center stage, while the cliched story is just kind of there to let the visuals do their thing.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Most of Aronofsky's movies have all of the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face.

The wife keeps pushing for The Whale, but I think I can continue to stave that one off.