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Venom 2 is the good one.
Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)
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Venom 2 is the good one.
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When you're putting out 5 or 6 of them a year, you don't really have much choice.
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They Shall Not Grow Old. Caught this right before they took it off Prime. Fucking fantastic. They could have made it 8 hours longer and I'd still have been riveted. I'm curious where the interviews were lifted from, because obviously all WW1 veterans would've been long gone by the time Jackson started this project.
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It really is amazing.
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I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore- Solid offbeat dark comedy. I was expecting something more along the lines of Hesher but this is a bit more mellow. It's still pretty weird and surprisingly violent but it's not as harsh or in your face as Hesher. It's a shame Melanie Lynskie is pretty much only known for Two and a Half Men, I've seen her in some other things and she's really great, her performance here is as well. Recommended.
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Probably gonna watch this tonight. Sebastian Stan has been surprisingly good in Pam and Tommy.
The Wave- Psychedelic time travel comedy. Has strong John Dies at the End and a little bit of Bill and Ted vibes. I'm not really sure it makes any sense when you think about it but I also don't think it really matters. Certainly a nice twist on the usual "WTF happened last night?" party movie. Certainly leagues better than trash like Hot Tub Time Machine, The Hangover etc. Some pretty effective "bad trip/freakout" scenes, some genuinely hilarious bits and it's also paced well enough to keep it entertaining all the way through. Justin Long did an alright job, I don't want to punch him in the face every time he talks like I used to when he was younger. Recommended.
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Citizen Ruth
A very 90s dramedy that’s half Mike Judge, half John Waters. Laura Dern is a pregnant addict who can have her sentence reduced if she has an abortion. She’s essentially abducted and brainwashed by the evangelical right, but the commentary is scathing towards the libs as well, in a sort of South Park way. Recommend only if you’re looking for something very clearly out of the 90s.
A very 90s dramedy that’s half Mike Judge, half John Waters. Laura Dern is a pregnant addict who can have her sentence reduced if she has an abortion. She’s essentially abducted and brainwashed by the evangelical right, but the commentary is scathing towards the libs as well, in a sort of South Park way. Recommend only if you’re looking for something very clearly out of the 90s.
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Took the kids to watch The Batman. I found it to be inconsistent, which was exacerbated and made more evident by it's unnecesary lengh.
Panders to the younger folk some, and this in part can be seen in the dumbed down narrative. Twists and turns cannot make unspectacular villainry become something more. The promise of uncompromising violence is muffled out, hinted at but ultimately not there. Which to me is a shame.
So even though this film is a bit dumb in some respects (imo), I found some aspects of it captivating.
The film is underpinned primarily by 2 of my favourite songs of all: Ave Maria by Schubert and Something in the Way by Nirvana.
And teenage angst is a theme here. Silent trauma framed in the batsuit, but also contrasting examples of other survivors. And it worked on me definetly. There's a deep emotionality present in much of the film which feels authentic. But it could have been so much more. It sits somewhere between The Crow and Creed, with a sprinkle of something more baroque. I thought Creed was contrived by the way so this isn't a cómpliment per se, the telling of young people's lives is done with somewhat similar strokes (probably just me though) which is why I mention it.
The few scenes which are breathtaking make up for much of the rest down time. Visually it is beautifully. Leans into film noire territory successfully, but again not enough. Just in short spurts. Shame.
I liked it a lot more than the Nolan films, Pattinson is perfect in the suit never had Batman cause me emotion this way.
Danno does the typecast thing he is known for. Just a bit more silly. Still one of my favourite actors. Quite a lot of talent present. A lot of pantomimmery also which is sort of a plus.
Even though it fell quite a bit shorter than it should have, I still really liked it. For it's few haunting scenes and emotional nuances.
Panders to the younger folk some, and this in part can be seen in the dumbed down narrative. Twists and turns cannot make unspectacular villainry become something more. The promise of uncompromising violence is muffled out, hinted at but ultimately not there. Which to me is a shame.
So even though this film is a bit dumb in some respects (imo), I found some aspects of it captivating.
The film is underpinned primarily by 2 of my favourite songs of all: Ave Maria by Schubert and Something in the Way by Nirvana.
And teenage angst is a theme here. Silent trauma framed in the batsuit, but also contrasting examples of other survivors. And it worked on me definetly. There's a deep emotionality present in much of the film which feels authentic. But it could have been so much more. It sits somewhere between The Crow and Creed, with a sprinkle of something more baroque. I thought Creed was contrived by the way so this isn't a cómpliment per se, the telling of young people's lives is done with somewhat similar strokes (probably just me though) which is why I mention it.
The few scenes which are breathtaking make up for much of the rest down time. Visually it is beautifully. Leans into film noire territory successfully, but again not enough. Just in short spurts. Shame.
I liked it a lot more than the Nolan films, Pattinson is perfect in the suit never had Batman cause me emotion this way.
Danno does the typecast thing he is known for. Just a bit more silly. Still one of my favourite actors. Quite a lot of talent present. A lot of pantomimmery also which is sort of a plus.
Even though it fell quite a bit shorter than it should have, I still really liked it. For it's few haunting scenes and emotional nuances.
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@DevilRedeemed solid review, i enjoyed it a lot as well. Nothing further to add really. Great action scenes, beautifully shot (shades of Fincher), engrossing story. Not perfect but damn good, even non-Batman fans should appreciate.
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Watched Halloween 1 and 2. Dunno what to think... But I love Donald Pleasence in his role of Dr. Loomis even if he's comically underused in the first movie.
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As movies are starting to trend up to 3 hours, shouldn't we bring back the Intermission? I'm surprised theatres don't do this as I think it would drive more concession sales. I swear the military theatre would do this when i was a kid...
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A few recent movies have had them. Hateful Eight jumps to mind. But I think the real intermission for most people today is called the pause button.
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Free Guy was, "Hey, remember all these other movies? : The Movie!"
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@famicommander have you seen The Batman yet? I hope you will find the action scenes satisfactory.
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I think you will be happy on all counts.
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Fresh- Solid but not quite original enough to stand on it's own. There's definitely Get Out, The Freshman, Hard Candy, Audition, Silence of the Lambs and Promising Young Woman's fingerprints all over this. Good performances, awesome main location, well paced, even some interesting soundtrack choices. Sebastian Stan better switch up his roles though, between this and Pam and Tommy he's gonna get typecast.
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Went to The Batman this evening. Great technical direction and some pretty good performances but it desperately needed another editing run. It was just trying to tell too many stories in one sitting... I don't particularly care that it's long (plenty of great movies are) but this fucking thing had four natural end points and by the time Batman was fighting Riddler's incel militia, I was just irritated that it wasn't over yet. The movie probably could've done without the entire Selina Kyle storyline and been better for it (and could've clocked in at a more reasonable runtime). Robert Pattinson made a pretty good Year One style Batman but the emo haircut and the constant moping around outside of the costume didn't do him any favors as Bruce Wayne. A lot of good smaller performances though and essentially making the Riddler John Doe from Seven was a huge step above Jim Carrey mugging his way through the Val Kilmer one.
Batman's kind of a boring character at this point but I do like that every cinematic interpretation has been very much influenced by the director's personal style. The Burton movies are quirky and weird without being camp, the Schumacher movies were garish and campy and gayer than two dudes blowing three dudes, the Nolan movies are technically stunning and grounded but kind of dour, the Snyder movie with Batman in it is dumb and loud and chockful of slow motion action shots. And now there's this... it's like the polar opposite of the Marvel movies which have almost no authorial stamp and always look like they were made in a factory.
Batman's kind of a boring character at this point but I do like that every cinematic interpretation has been very much influenced by the director's personal style. The Burton movies are quirky and weird without being camp, the Schumacher movies were garish and campy and gayer than two dudes blowing three dudes, the Nolan movies are technically stunning and grounded but kind of dour, the Snyder movie with Batman in it is dumb and loud and chockful of slow motion action shots. And now there's this... it's like the polar opposite of the Marvel movies which have almost no authorial stamp and always look like they were made in a factory.
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Unstuck in Time: Kurt Vonnegut- Very in depth doc that was made over the course of 40 years and covers Vonnegut's entire life and career. Very well made by Robert Weibe who is best known for Curb Your Enthusiasm but is also biopic film maker. The only problem I really have with it is that it's not very impartial since the director became good friend with Vonnegut over the extremely long course of making it. It's still very insightful and as result of their friendship very intimate regardless. Recommended.
Chris Claremont's X-Men: Terrible. They interview the right people but it's so poorly made that it's hard to even watch.
Chris Claremont's X-Men: Terrible. They interview the right people but it's so poorly made that it's hard to even watch.
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- Oct 11, 2004
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War On Everyone - I kinda loved this. Pena and Skaarsgard take a brutally nasty script and make it pretty damn fun. Take, like, I dunno, Training Day and subtract all the subtext and replace that with just straight pulp and surprisingly good cast and you might get this. I'm quite certain, and I don't know what this says about me, that this will easily be one of my favorite movies I see this year. Recommendation = WTF I guess?
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Dracula (1979)- Amazing cast featuring Lawrence Oliver, Frank Langella and Donald Pleasance. Great sets, locations and costumes. Score by John Williams hot off of Star Wars. An actual seductive version of Dracula that's a bit more human than a lot of adaptations. It suffers from some dodgy effects and a bizarre choice to desaturate almost the entire film into a weird sepia tone but aside from that it's pretty solid. Somewhat of an underrated gem.
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Looker- Sci-fi thriller written and directed by Michael Crichton starring Albert Finney, James Coburn and Susan Dey. "Perfect" looking women are being mysteriously killed shortly after getting plastic surgery and being hired to have their bodies scanned for use in CG commercials. A real spectacle of dated computer technology, fashion and advertising. A bit ahead of it's time and a bit misguided, probably would have been way more effective as a short story or book. Still an interesting curiosity back from when studios were willing to gamble with just about any sic-fi stuff no matter how ridiculous after the success of Star Wars. Some neat set pieces and effects sequences, soundtrack is a mix of synth and Pat Benatar like pop. Really just a strange movie all around.