Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)
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I can't believe you're still using that dumb wheel thing. That shit is for rookies.
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That's a bit of a leap.
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The Last Starfighter- Hokey 80s childhood nostalgia factor is strong with this one. Honestly though it's not really very good, it's a bit too hokey and the dialogue is atrocious but I'm alright with that. It's still a fun and ambitious movie. It's not boring and it's not too clunky like a lot of sci-fi family friendly stuff that came in the wake of Star Wars. The effects are obviously super dated and about on par with Starblade or Silpheed lol but they were definitely groundbreaking at the time. Catherine Mary Stewart is a good gf/girl next door type and Lance Guest is adequate as the reluctant hero. It's not going to win over any kids these days but still there's a charm to it that still works for those that grew up with it.
And yes the shot of clone Alex in bed is still as disturbing as it was back in the day. That shit haunted my dreams for years as a kid, gotta love what was acceptable in kids movies in the before times.
And yes the shot of clone Alex in bed is still as disturbing as it was back in the day. That shit haunted my dreams for years as a kid, gotta love what was acceptable in kids movies in the before times.
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The Last Starfighter, one of my favorite movies as a kid!
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Wakanda Forever: It was ok. I didn't think it was a bad movie, but besides missing the Black Panther himself, I think killing off Michael B Jordan in the first movie was a bad move. They could have fallen back on his character to take the mantle. He has a lot of charisma even for the few minutes he's in Wakanda Forever.
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That part and the parts where the alien assassins transform.
I love that movie through and through. I'd heard that the film used Cray supercomputers to render the CGI back then. No idea if its true. But thats a pretty rad claim if it is.
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It did. I got a cheap copy of the Arrow Video release, which is as nice as anything by Criterion and it's got a whole booklet with tons of production info. There's a couple pictures in there of the supercomputer setup. It's pretty wild.
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Watched all 3 90s Gamera movies on Prime today. I had never watched anything Gamera before and always assumed it was just another Godzilla knockoff, which it is but it's pretty damn entertaining. Those 3 were definitely a lot more fun than most GZ movies I've seen. Obviously the kaiju enemies aren't as iconic but the movies seemed a bit more self aware and less serious than the standard GZ stuff. You still had the stock characters, military and bureaucracy stuff but they were easier to sit through than middle aged scientist or annoying child that GZ loves so much. I got the feeling that since Gamera isn't as cool looking or well regarded as Godzilla they needed to step up the crazy shit he can do and and make the kaiju battles epic.
Although his origin of being from Atlantis is fucking stupid.
Although his origin of being from Atlantis is fucking stupid.
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Under the Silver Lake - What the fuck did I even just watch? Whatever it was, it was interesting. the EXPERIENCE reminded me of watching Donnie Darko for the first time. I don't think I'll start studying clues and such and become a stan for this movie, but I think it's worth a watch.
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UTSL is awesome, it's fucking bonkers. More people need to be aware of it, it had almost no press when it came out and the only way to watch it for a long time was to buy the DVD which was only sold in Walmart or Target or some shit.
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Bubba Ho-Tep- Bruce Campbell plays a geriatric Elvis living in a hospice in rural Texas. He teams up with a lobotomized JKF played by Ossie Davis to stop a cowboy hat wearing mummy who sucks the souls of the residents of the old folks home to regain his evil powers.
Despite the insane plot the movie is actually a bit slow and the action is limited to two old guys using a bedpan, walker and electric wheel chair. That's all part of it's charm though. The movie has a lot of heart and is quite well written, there'a fair amount of humor but it's balanced by the relationship between Elvis and JKF and excellent performances by the supporting cast. This might be Bruce Campbell's best role aside from Ash and he actually gets to do a bit of real acting here.
I've always really enjoyed this but I remember friends being disappointed by it because they were expecting something more along the lines of the Evil Dead movies. This is directed by Don Cascarelli who did the Phantasm series and he definitely had a very specific vision for this and I think it works quite well once you adjust your expectations.
Despite the insane plot the movie is actually a bit slow and the action is limited to two old guys using a bedpan, walker and electric wheel chair. That's all part of it's charm though. The movie has a lot of heart and is quite well written, there'a fair amount of humor but it's balanced by the relationship between Elvis and JKF and excellent performances by the supporting cast. This might be Bruce Campbell's best role aside from Ash and he actually gets to do a bit of real acting here.
I've always really enjoyed this but I remember friends being disappointed by it because they were expecting something more along the lines of the Evil Dead movies. This is directed by Don Cascarelli who did the Phantasm series and he definitely had a very specific vision for this and I think it works quite well once you adjust your expectations.
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One of my favorite movies of the past 20 years. Absolutely crazy to me the way A20 has distanced themselves and kind of swept this movie under the rug. Unsurprisingly, Under the Silver Lake aficionados have all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories as to why this is the case. In a world in which David Lynch has essentially retired from filmmaking, movies like this are incredibly welcome.
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Brain Damage- A footlong sentient parasitic worm named Elmer escapes his captors and attaches himself to a young man. Elmer proceeds to inject highly psychedelic and highly addictive liquid into the young man's brain causing him to trip his balls off. While he's tripping Elmer takes control of his body and goes out looking for food, which just happens to be human brains that he sucks directly out of unsuspecting people's heads. Once the guy realizes what Elmer is up to while he's tripping he tries to quit the drug and get rid of Elmer but the addiction is too strong. The former owners of Elmer eventually track him down and attempt to take him back ending in disaster for everyone involved.
This is by the guy that made Basket Case and it's fucking awesome. One of the last great NYC exploitation flicks filled with tasteless humor, gore and general grimy 80s insanity that could only come from Frank Hennenlotter.
This is by the guy that made Basket Case and it's fucking awesome. One of the last great NYC exploitation flicks filled with tasteless humor, gore and general grimy 80s insanity that could only come from Frank Hennenlotter.
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Nope- Like Peele's other movies it's pretty good but vastly overrated. I had read and had several people personally tell me that it was "really deep" and hard to follow, it wasn't. Just because there isn't giant exposition dump with flashing red lights explaining everything doesn't make it deep. Figuring out what's going on as the characters do is pretty basic stuff but I guess these days even that's a rarity for big movies. Liked the setting, creature design and most of the cast. Hated the nighttime shots that were color adjusted to you couldn't see anything, which seems to be the new standard. Overall it was uneven but enjoyable and I've got to give Peele credit for getting these made and the success they seem to have. Especially these days in a sea of generic junk, sequels and reboots.
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La Morte Vivante
Workers illegally dumping toxic waste wake up a sexy vampire and her sister has to figure out how to cover up her murders. Definitely not great, but the two main characters' acting is fantastic, especially when things get gory. Includes blood rituals, at least 6 boobs, and multiple early '80s bushes.
Workers illegally dumping toxic waste wake up a sexy vampire and her sister has to figure out how to cover up her murders. Definitely not great, but the two main characters' acting is fantastic, especially when things get gory. Includes blood rituals, at least 6 boobs, and multiple early '80s bushes.
It's always nice to see Akira and Eva homages make it into a big budget mainstream movie. But yeah, I felt like I was missing something given the critical response. There's obviously overtones of entertainment industry exploitation, but I'm wondering what the deeper meaning was, if any.
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The only things I liked about Nope were the alien thing but not exactly its design, I thought it was kinda weird/lame that it was basically a living parachute. But what I liked about it is that we dont know anything more about it by the end of the movie.
If that happened in real life, we'd be like 'where the fuck did that thing come from and why?' and we'd never know. I liked that tiny bit of 'realism' in the movie. I also liked the analogy of the monster being like the chimp, where it SEEMS to play along and be trained, but then it just goes nuts and murders people.
Thats about it. I thought the movie was pretty lame, and reminded me of stuff like Signs. "OH SHIT ITS THE ALIE- oh its just some dude in a mask."
Personally, Im not a huge fan of Peele's horror work. To be fair, I'm not a horror fan. I thought Get Out was highly overrated. Wife and sister loved it, but I thought it was dumb. To me, Peele does way better with comedy than horror/serious stuff.
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I thought the Akira bike slide was laughably stupid. Actually I thought the entire sister character was awful, she was incredibly annoying and overly convenient.
The creature design reminded me a bit of stuff from Panzer Dragoon, FF concept art and a bit of Moebius. Like a living airship/kite. I really liked when it opened up and became all geometric. Very Rez.
The creature design reminded me a bit of stuff from Panzer Dragoon, FF concept art and a bit of Moebius. Like a living airship/kite. I really liked when it opened up and became all geometric. Very Rez.
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Agree to disagree.
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I find myself thinking this a lot nowadays. Maybe watch something and think whatever I saw was so-so but respect the work that went into creating it.