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

[famicommander]

Lynch's initial cut was nearly three hours long, so as far as any of us know, they very well might have had direct influence on those choices since they imposed a strict two hour run time.

There are at least four cuts of the movie out there of varying lengths and almost every scene in every cut is bad. I don't believe for a second that, based on what he actually shot, there was any way to recut or re-edit to make something good. Extend some scenes, shorten some others, swap some out, add some deleted scenes, remove some entirely, doesn't matter. There's no way to add up all the bits he shot into a good movie.

And the script for the sequel is unfathomably bad. If you told me Roland Emmerich wrote it I'd have believed it.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Dino and his idiot daughter didn't force Lynch to make the stupidest choice in the history of filmmaking, having all of his characters make diarrhea faces at the camera for minutes at time while their whispered internal monologues got dubbed in. There's no way to salvage the movie after that decision.

You're a legit moron. Between the choice of Lynch giving characters internal narration as they have in the novel, or Villenueve's choice simply not to convey any of that information at all in any way, Lynch made the better choice. The reason Villenueve's movie works for you is that you are already very familiar with the text, so your memory of the novel can fill in all that missing information. Of which there is A LOT. But for someone experiencing Dune for the first time through Villenueve's movie, it's shitty, inept storytelling.

 

[famicommander]

You're a legit moron. Between the choice of Lynch giving characters internal narration as they have in the novel, or Villenueve's choice simply not to convey any of that information at all in any way, Lynch made the better choice. The reason Villenueve's movie works for you is that you are already very familiar with the text, so your memory of the novel can fill in all that missing information. Of which there is A LOT. But for someone experiencing Dune for the first time through Villenueve's movie, it's shitty, inept storytelling.

No, it was not the better choice. The literal task of directing a movie is to show, not tell. Lynch was so inept he didn't even try to show and just had to directly tell the audience. It's a movie, not a fucking audiobook. It's giving up before the starting line. And even then, he completely mishandled the material and turned Paul into White Jesus instead of a warning against messianic leaders. You want to take Villeneuve to task for losing some subtleties in translating internal thoughts into actions on screen, but you're totally fine with Lynch not just missing the entire point of the franchise, but directly contradicting it?

 

[Average Joe]

Napolean Dynamite

I watch this movie every few years or so and always kind of forget just how much I like it. Just the perfect collection of oddball goons maybe ever put on screen and it is always a treat watching them interact with each other and the world. I think the nebulous void of time that it takes place in is my favorite aspect of it--is it the 80s? early 90s? modern time but just in some strange rural farming town that is severely behind the times? Hilarious no matter the answer. Napolean's "Canned Heat" dance is an absolutely classic scene that is totally an all-time great in all of cinema.

 

[SouthtownKid]

The literal task of directing a movie is to show, not tell. Lynch was so inept he didn't even try to show

Neither did Villenueve! And the job of directing a movie is to show and tell. It's a visual and audio medium. You make it sound like narration isn't an established cinematic tool. I guess you know more about making movies than Orson Welles did.

 

[famicommander]

Neither did Villenueve! And the job of directing a movie is to show and tell. It's a visual and audio medium. You make it sound like narration isn't an established cinematic tool. I guess you know more about making movies than Orson Welles did.

There's a huge difference between using a narrator as a plot device and simply having characters stand around doing nothing for extended time periods while everything they think is told directly to the audience, and I think you know that.

 

[LoneSage]

JFC it's a Saturday night in 2021 again and I'm 3L in having the Dune credits on repeat for 30 minutes, then Paul riding the sandworm for the first time with that gnarly guitar riff on repeat for 30 minutes, my name is a killing sound motherfuckers！AHHHHHHH he literally screamed the soul out of Sting's body like outta an anime, JFC bring it on

 

[dspoonrt]

I watched this movie called Bottoms recently. It's a 2023 comedy about lesbian high school students who start a fight club because they think it will help them score with cheerleaders. It also has a bunch of violence in it, people getting bloody and even killed, which you wouldn't expect from a movie like this. But that's kind of the point, the movie very self consciously tries to flout norms associated with high school movies. Not sure that current high school students are the target audience as they wouldn't get all the jokes and references... All in all, it was good, I recommend it. Btw the movie was written by women, which I thought was interesting given the level of violence. I also watched it with two women, who greatly enjoyed it.

Bottoms was middle of the road yet fairly enjoyable. Better than recent comedy drivel like No Hard Feelings, Strays, Clerks III, Bad Trip, and Don't Look Up but ultimately kind of soulless and unnecessary. I laughed a lot, but the satire was so over-the-top, it often became grating. I doubt I'll find the urge to watch it again.

Last night, I watched Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) for the first time. It was solid, mostly for the rapport between Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges. It has a very 70s feel to it with flawed, lost characters and un-Hollywood storytelling decisions. I didn't love or totally buy the ending, but I appreciated the journey and the charm.

 

[terry.330]

Napolean Dynamite

I watch this movie every few years or so and always kind of forget just how much I like it. Just the perfect collection of oddball goons maybe ever put on screen and it is always a treat watching them interact with each other and the world. I think the nebulous void of time that it takes place in is my favorite aspect of it--is it the 80s? early 90s? modern time but just in some strange rural farming town that is severely behind the times? Hilarious no matter the answer. Napolean's "Canned Heat" dance is an absolutely classic scene that is totally an all-time great in all of cinema.

Uncle Rico is one of the best characters in any comedy. John Gries is a super underutilized actor.

There are so many little things in the movie that I love. Like the scene where someone is making nachos and it's just tortilla chips and shredded cheddar, which is already perfect but then when it cuts to a different angle there's like 6" of cheese all of a sudden.

 

[fake]

Lunch Dune is a bad baaaaad movie. Baaaaad.

 

[Teddy KGB]

Last night, I watched Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) for the first time. It was solid, mostly for the rapport between Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges. It has a very 70s feel to it with flawed, lost characters and un-Hollywood storytelling decisions. I didn't love or totally buy the ending, but I appreciated the journey and the charm.

I enjoyed this one too. Lot of memorable scenes such as Lightfoot distracting the WU guard, but the ending left an odd taste in my mouth as well. Being Cimino's directorial debut, I did get a sense that he was still figuring things out and some of the film's cinematic elements - such as some of the more longer drawn-out brooding takes - were indicative of what was to come to some degree in his next film, The Deer Hunter.

But overall, I think the lasting power of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is Bridges' comedic presence on screen. The role suited him well.

 

[SouthtownKid]

There's a huge difference between using a narrator as a plot device and simply having characters stand around doing nothing for extended time periods while everything they think is told directly to the audience, and I think you know that.

weeeeeeeeeeeak

Orson Welles:1 fami:0

 

[Average Joe]

Uncle Rico is one of the best characters in any comedy. John Gries is a super underutilized actor.

There are so many little things in the movie that I love. Like the scene where someone is making nachos and it's just tortilla chips and shredded cheddar, which is already perfect but then when it cuts to a different angle there's like 6" of cheese all of a sudden.

I really love Summer Wheatley's boyfriend Don. In any other movie he'd likely be the antagonistic bully-type, but in this he's just a guy that loves his girlfriend and is befuddled by the world that phyiscally manifests itself with extreme facial movements.

 

[terry.330]

TMNT: Mutant Mayhem- Not up to the level of the first Spiderverse movie but not bad. It's an incredible looking movie, the mix of animation styles works and I think it suits the material extremely well. The action and camera work was very well choreographed for an animated movie. It's honestly worth watching for the visuals alone. The soundtrack was also great.

I know it's a kids movie and they were going for a semi realistic hyper tween/teen ADHD thing but it was a bit too much for my liking at times. Same with the voice acting, some of it was great but some of it just didn't work for me. I also think a lot of little changes were unnecessary, why not just use Baxter Stockman? There's a bunch more but I won't get into them. I also thought the pacing of the first half was excellent but fell apart in the last third. They also didn't need to go so hard on the schmaltz, again they managed to balance it very well for majority of the movie but then hit it hard in the end.

Fairly minor gripes aside I thought it was pretty enjoyable overall and I'm glad it exists, it doesn't feel like a cheap cash in or a lazy nostalgia dump.


Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome- Man, I always forget just how weird this is. Tina Turner, Master Blaster, the tribe of children, the Thunderdome itself it's really out there stuff. I appreciate how fully realized everything is though, they put a ton of work into the production design. From Barter Town to the kids primitive community there are a tons of details. That said it has some serious issues. The stuff with the kids just takes up way too much time and doesn't really make all that much sense. I also can't help but want a bit more car action, what's there at the end is great but it's just not enough coming from Road Warrior. Still it's an extremely unique movie and I have come to appreciate it more and more over time.

 

[terry.330]

Eastern Condors- This is Sammo Hung's attempt at making a western style war movie with HK style action. It's equal parts Deer Hunter, Rambo and The Dirty Dozen. It's an odd movie and the choice to incorporate comedy was probably not a great idea especially given how serious and violent most of the movie is. The sudden changes in tone are very jarring, but thankfully the humor is kept to a minimum. The action is also kind of weird since it's a war movie there isn't a ton of martial arts outside of the final act. There is however a lot of acrobatics, leaping, flipping and jumping, so much jumping. Sammo and Yuen Biao really get to show off their background in acrobatics and Sammo is probably in the best shape of his career. It's all pretty awesome just don't expect it to be up to western war movie standards.

 

[Average Joe]

The Holdovers

The emotional and comedic version The Shining.

It bottles up every uncomfortable emotion about family, loneliness, and relationships during the holidays and then pours you a glass from that bottle with proper swirling for aeration. There's a lot of levity tossed in to make it not feel so heavy-handed and it works very well.

Paul Giamati really shines at being a pompous smartass with emotional issues and the main kid actor did just as good of a job but with his own younger/rebelious spin on being an emotional mess. The rest of the cast is great too and I can't think of a single casting that wasn't spot-on.

Excellent 70s aesthetics as well and outside of a really glaring museum visit that is clearly modern (so says my wife who is an Art History major and thus knows museums), this film really nails the look and feel of that decade.

 

[terry.330]

Strange Days- I think this was brought up here not too long ago but I'll throw in my $0.02. It's a mess, it's way too long, it shifts plot focus without any real payoff, the relationship stuff takes up too much time and some of the acting is pretty dubious. Juliette Lewis is awful and Tom Sizemore's wig is even worse.

That said there's some good stuff in there. The whole idea and blackmarket for "memories" is cool and a nice step up from VR. (which was the style at the time) It's got tons of retro tech, if you like Mini-Disc and high end CRTs this is borderline porn. It is about as 90's as you can get, from the fashion to the music to the aforementioned tech. It's got a great cast, it was really nice to see Angela Bassett do something different like this.

It's too uneven and bloated for me to consider it some sort of cyber punk noir classic, I think there's good reason it's not better known. But it's still an interesting movie worth checking out if you're into cyber punk stuff and retro-future kitsch.


Event Horizon- This has been discussed multiple times so I'm not going to get into it. Even though it's definitely not a good movie I still enjoy it for it's Hellraiser in space vibe and ironically it's still somehow better than actual Hellraiser in space.(Part IV lol)

 

[Ralfakick]

Blackberry
I enjoy these 80s/90s nerd tech movies /shows (Halt and Catch Fire like), and I enjoyed this one too. This was similar to HCF as it was nerds who needed the asshole CEO character to straighten them out and handle the business aspect and do some not so legal maneuvers (Greg Howerton from Always Sunny who is unrecognizable). Couldn’t stand the Doug character (one of the cofounders of Blackberry) in the beginning but in the end he had the most conviction of all of them.

She Came to Me
Peter Dinklage, Marisa Tomei, and Anne Hathaway were all good in this. It’s about an opera composer (Dinklage) who is married to Anne Hathaway, he has an affair with a tugboat captain (Marissa Tomei), and uses the experience to write an opera about an ax murdering tug boat captain. There is also a story of a young couple intertwined which links back to the main story. I thought this had some laughs, honestly the young couple story could have been taken out and put the focus on the main story and the quirks of the main character. It could have been a Woody Allen type comedy and it does slightly veer into this direction but personally I think if that was the main structure it could have been even better, but it was good for what it was, Anne Hathaway was good for some unexpected laughs.

Also finished the first season of Monseiur Spade and hopefully we’ll get some more of that.

 

[Average Joe]

I watched about half of Rebel Moon and I'm not strong enough to see it to the end.

I'd rather watch Last Jedi or Rise of Skywalker again than finish this.

 

[SouthtownKid]

I watched about half of Rebel Moon and I'm not strong enough to see it to the end.

I'd rather watch Last Jedi or Rise of Skywalker again than finish this.

lol I'm waiting for the director's cut which is supposed to make everything better (or worse). Such a cynical marketing strategy to release a cut down version first when it makes no difference to netflix how long a movie is. Trying to artificially replicate the Justice League Snyder Cut effect and buzz is just hilarious. What makes it so cynical is that he and netflix know his fans are dumb enough to buy into it. Even Michael Bay doesn't sink that low.

 

[LoneSage]

Argyle - Ron Howard's kid is a frumpy author

This sentence blew me away and I thought you were gay. Bryce Dallas Howard, with that ass, frumpy? Nah dawg.

Then a few nights ago I saw a commercial for Argyle and thought to myself holy shit she IS frumpy. I thought we were about the same age and looked up she's 42 and I thought holy shit she'd old. Then I realized she's only a few years older than me and that just messed up my whole damn night.

At least I'll always have Spider-Man 3 Bryce Dallas Howard.

 

[100proof]

The ravages of time escape no one.

That said, they do frump her up in that movie. She wears old librarian/crazy cat lady dresses for like two-thirds of the movie.

 

[terry.330]

Huh, I never even realized she played Gwen in SM3.

She did look pretty damn good in that but I haven't found her attractive in anything else I've seen her in. I think it's more her personality that is the big turn off. She's not unattractive but she always comes across as very unlikable, even in interviews.


Se7en- I think this one is a bit overrated, it's good but I don't think it's the absolute masterpiece that a lot of people claim it is. Brad Pitt really hurts the movie, he slips into a kind of young arrogant hotshot mixed with a particular type of goofiness that reminds me too much of some of his other quirky roles. I know his character is supposed to arrogant and naive but I don't think he quite pulls it off, especially next to Morgan Freeman. Still the movie sets a high bar, it's just directed so well, the world is so grimy and Freeman's performance and character are so strong.

I was going to say it's especially impressive as it's only Fincher's second film but holy shit, looking on IMDB I had no idea he directed so many music videos or worked for ILM. That explains a lot.

 

[100proof]

Some of it is just Fincher's style but some of it is definitely just of its time like Fight Club. I can see what you're saying with Brad Pitt... his character is just a little too broad compared to the rest of that movie's lowkey vibe but I do think a lot of that is trying to contrast the character with Somerset and to set up his place in the ending of the film. Whether that works for you is, of course, entirely subjective.

It's still brilliant and I prefer it over Zodiac (also a great movie but that one's a little too cold and clinical for my taste) but Seven is a relic of a previous era.

 

[wyo]

Some of it is just Fincher's style but some of it is definitely just of its time like Fight Club. I can see what you're saying with Brad Pitt... his character is just a little too broad compared to the rest of that movie's lowkey vibe but I do think a lot of that is trying to contrast the character with Somerset and to set up his place in the ending of the film. Whether that works for you is, of course, entirely subjective.

It's still brilliant and I prefer it over Zodiac (also a great movie but that one's a little too cold and clinical for my taste) but Seven is a relic of a previous era.

In more ways than one! The detectives have to circumvent privacy laws regarding library records. Seems almost quaint today.