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

A Cure for Wellness (2016) -- I heard Verbinski made a movie, but Verbinski barely got a brain. A damn shame, the guy can hardly spell his name...

So, basically Gore Verbinski had a melt down. But instead of having it in the homely seclusion of NG.com's War Room, he has it on the big screen and you have to pay for it. Partly with your time, because it runs two and a half hours. Mostly with your money, because the price you paid to your media service provider for this one, will immediately strike you as an unmeasurable loss.

As a classical melt down, I rate it 3/10, which means just poorly entertaining, as a movie I can't rate it at all. Yes, it's bad. It's so bad, it's beyond bad. What's beyond bad? Well, it's like with that 4-year-old child in Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities. It came into the room during dinner, dragging a little toy cart. And on the cart was a fresh turd. Its own, most probably. And the the parents? They just shook their heads and smiled. I leave shaking heads and smiling to critics and just flush it away.

100proof said:

I think everyone has a movie like that that's bad but you love it anyway because you watched it way too many times at a critical time in your life. I think mine is Hellraiser 4.

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Ha, part 3 was the last Hellraiser film I saw, when the Cenobite is pitching the CD's at victims.... lost me. And I would've been 13 or so, even then I knew it was shit compared to the epic first two films. I think they're still making films in the series.

jro said:

Rewatched Kill List - overrated. The general experience of watching it is alright, especially the first time, since the sense of disorientation is so strong and the characters get more development than you'd expect. But the ending is so bad and so little actually makes any sense when you stop and think about it, really hurts the film.

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This shook me when I first saw it. I thought it was very creepy, atmospheric and isolated. I loved it at the time, but I also remember doubling up with Eden Lake and that film is executed with such edgy precision, it may be why I remember liking it so much. The ending sort of let me down, but I didn't hate it. I guess it was a little lazy, nothing was explained.


Recently watched Jigsaw. More of the same torture set-pieces playing off "survivors" against one another. I love the series so this was fun.

Brawl in Cell Block 99. Wow! Brutal stuff! Vince Vaughn was great. I was expecting depressed prison realism but received something a lot more comical - and that's not a bad thing. It'd be a great double feature with Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, or Ringo Lam's In Hell with Van Damme.

Yakuza Apocalypse
4/10
Takeshi Miike makes a lot of movies. Most of them are kind of weird, trashy, but ultimately fun. This is far from his best work. But it’s entertaining regardless, in a way like Versus. Kageyama (shadow mountain) is a low level soldier in a yakuza gang where the boss is secretly a vampire. A syndicate appears and demands the boss return to their syndicate but refuses. Shit ensues.

Surreal fights with a frog demon wearing a frog costume, a stinky kappa, over the top fights, etc. it’s silly fun.

Evil Wasabi said:

Yakuza Apocalypse
4/10
Takeshi Miike makes a lot of movies. Most of them are kind of weird, trashy, but ultimately fun. This is far from his best work. But it’s entertaining regardless, in a way like Versus. Kageyama (shadow mountain) is a low level soldier in a yakuza gang where the boss is secretly a vampire. A syndicate appears and demands the boss return to their syndicate but refuses. Shit ensues.

Surreal fights with a frog demon wearing a frog costume, a stinky kappa, over the top fights, etc. it’s silly fun.

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the only Takeshi Miike movie i saw was the yakuza the game movie adaptation. besides the shit side character stories, it followed the game pretty well. and the actors of choice were spot on and did a great job.

Deathwish

A great idea and a decent movie. But it had the potential to be great. Should have shown the anti-hero slowly going insane. Should have also played up the angle of the chief wanting the vigilante to keep killing but the "good cop" wanting justice.

Jurassic World Fallen whatever....
1/10

This is one of the laziest movies I've seen in a long time. They didnt even try.

Bogard said:

the only Takeshi Miike movie i saw was the yakuza the game movie adaptation. besides the shit side character stories, it followed the game pretty well. and the actors of choice were spot on and did a great job.

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Honestly you’re missing out

Check out
Audition - horror movie about a guy who falls in love with a homicidal maniac who auditions for his movie.

Ichi the Killer - not so much about Ichi, but about yakuza lieutenant Kakihara, who tries to figure out what happened to his boss, while taking his crime family deeper into a trap.

Evil Wasabi said:

Honestly you’re missing out

Check out
Audition - horror movie about a guy who falls in love with a homicidal maniac who auditions for his movie.

Ichi the Killer - not so much about Ichi, but about yakuza lieutenant Kakihara, who tries to figure out what happened to his boss, while taking his crime family deeper into a trap.

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Ichi is one of my favorite movies of all time. I'll also add Happiness of the Katakuris, Zebraman, Guzo, Visitor Q, Deadly Outlaw Rekka, Bird People of China, Dead or Alive and 13 Assassins.

Miike's adaptation of Blade of the Immortal is awesome. Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai is good, little slower and more contemplative, but still good.

F4U57 said:

Ha, part 3 was the last Hellraiser film I saw, when the Cenobite is pitching the CD's at victims.... lost me. And I would've been 13 or so, even then I knew it was shit compared to the epic first two films. I think they're still making films in the series.

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Yeah, the third one was an abomination after the first two. I think that's part of the reason why I liked 4. It came out right around the time I started going to R-rated movies with friends and it was significantly better than 3. In hindsight, it's still barely above direct-to-video quality but I was just clamoring for better horror movies around the time.

Anyway...

Saw Incredibles 2 at my wife's behest last week. Didn't hit me quite like the original movie did (I think some of it is just that superhero movies are like every other film that comes out now so it's just not as special anymore) but it was still very well made and had some great set pieces. The fact that it's not a letdown from the original is high praise.

Also saw Won't You Be My Neighbor over the weekend. Recently released documentary about Fred Rogers and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. It touches on all of the things you would want it to touch on (yes, he really was as nice as he seemed to be and no, he wasn't a Navy Seal) but it's really more about his lasting influence on the culture and whether his message has been completely lost in our loud, divided, shitty culture. I don't feel like it ever really answers that question effectively but it gives a great look at the man: his life, his philosophy and his accomplishments. Warning though... bring tissues. It's not particularly cloying except for maybe the final scene but there are some powerfully emotional moments. I'm generally not one for crying at movies but they got me.

Pacific Rim: Uprising - good action, and it's good to see Boyega get to really be the lead in something for once (and to also use his actual accent!), but not on the level of the first one. Storyline is pretty dumb and it feels like Ender's Game meets Transformers a lot of the time. Still a decent amount of dumb fun, though, and Charlie Day's scenery chewing is entertaining.

When I think Takashi Miike, I think Visitor Q.

100proof said:

Also saw Won't You Be My Neighbor over the weekend. Recently released documentary about Fred Rogers and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. It touches on all of the things you would want it to touch on (yes, he really was as nice as he seemed to be and no, he wasn't a Navy Seal) but it's really more about his lasting influence on the culture and whether his message has been completely lost in our loud, divided, shitty culture. I don't feel like it ever really answers that question effectively but it gives a great look at the man: his life, his philosophy and his accomplishments. Warning though... bring tissues. It's not particularly cloying except for maybe the final scene but there are some powerfully emotional moments. I'm generally not one for crying at movies but they got me.

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I just got back from watching this. Is good shit. If you ever watched his show you should go watch this movie.

Anyone plan on seeing Uncle Drew this weekend?

Incredibles 2 -boy, waited 14 years for this piece of shit. It was a story that really didn't need to be told. It's hard to believe out of all the possible plots they went with this one, picking up right after the first movie. It's stupid predictable (a character's name is Evelyn Deavour...say it out loud, and roll your eyes), the characters are stale, Mr. Incredible seems way too emotional/angry the first part of the movie, it's just really mediocre. It's a real shame they didn't do a time skip, at least a few years.

Easily one of Pixar's worst, right down there with Cars. 14 goddamn years waiting for a sequel and this is what they came up with.

I’ve had movies going in the hotel room all day;

The Big Sick - meh
Baby Driver - better on second viewing
Rough Night - stupid. Scar Jo is still a babe
Transformers: The Last Knight - popcorn
Dunkirk - really good!
A Bad Mom’s Christmas - sillier than the first
Chips - funny at times

LoneSage said:

Incredibles 2 -boy, waited 14 years for this piece of shit. It was a story that really didn't need to be told. It's hard to believe out of all the possible plots they went with this one, picking up right after the first movie. It's stupid predictable (a character's name is Evelyn Deavour...say it out loud, and roll your eyes), the characters are stale, Mr. Incredible seems way too emotional/angry the first part of the movie, it's just really mediocre. It's a real shame they didn't do a time skip, at least a few years.

Easily one of Pixar's worst, right down there with Cars. 14 goddamn years waiting for a sequel and this is what they came up with.

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Pretty much what I expected. Disney has really milked Pixar dry. It's been 8 years since Toy Story 3(in production prior to merger), and everything since then has been mediocre at best.

This is another sequel that does everything that nobody wanted.

In Cold Blood (1967)

Based on the famous Truman Capote book, which in turn was based off a real life incident, that of the Clutter family killings of 1959.
A riveting account of the grisly murders of a farm family for money that never existed.
Recommended to anyone who loves true crime dramas, or classic cinema.

Based off of this I reckon I'll check out Capote (2005) next. I've yet to see that one.

Uncle Drew

Pretty much the perfect date movie. It's got a little bit of everything but doesn't do any of it so well that it demands a larger or more thought provoking conversation. It's funny and fun and charming and silly all at the same time.

Elephant Walk (1954) -- Liz should've eloped with Andrews instead of nursing cholera patients, so we could at least see Paris. But money talks... The key scene is great, though, couldn't wait to see that stupid grave going down with Abraham Sofaer along with it.

NeoSneth said:

Jurassic World Fallen whatever....
1/10

This is one of the laziest movies I've seen in a long time. They didnt even try.

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I thought of watching it before I read reviews, confirmed I will not spend money on said shit. Thanks.

Beirut - maybe a little overrated. Solid all the way around, but nothing that really stood out. Jon Hamm's almost always fun to watch, at least. Rosamund Pike's character was boring.

Blood Diner (1987)

Awesome horror comedy. This scene pretty much sums up the tone of the movie:

winchester

it sucked. nothing but jump scares. you think in 2018 most film makers would know that jump scares suck and no one likes them, but here is a big budget movie with well known actors that relies purely on jump scares.

it's a shame as well because the set up was pretty good and had potential in that a big haunted mansion with hunted rooms could of made a good ghost story. it had almost a the woman in black feel to it, but whole pacing of the story was rushed, almost leaving a comical impression. one second the main guy is like "i don't believe in ghosts" and the next he gets bombarded by paranormal activity where he almost dies from it. now that it shit pacing.

Bogard said:

winchester

it sucked. nothing but jump scares. you think in 2018 most film makers would know that jump scares suck and no one likes them, but here is a big budget movie with well known actors that relies purely on jump scares.

it's a shame as well because the set up was pretty good and had potential in that a big haunted mansion with hunted rooms could of made a good ghost story. it had almost a the woman in black feel to it, but whole pacing of the story was rushed, almost leaving a comical impression. one second the main guy is like "i don't believe in ghosts" and the next he gets bombarded by paranormal activity where he almost dies from it. now that it shit pacing.

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Agreed... I watched it for Helen Mirren... and was sorely dissappointed....

I just watched Secondhand Lions... it was actually poignant and funny...

Haley Joel Osment was the WORSE part of the film tbh...

Very few child actors make good adult actors.... when they make one massive hit...

xROTx