Movies you've just watched

[BryanM]

Hurm, when you put it like that, maybe. It isn't story or ideas or art or music or some niche hobby people want to see from these things, it's money. Piles and piles of money.

Back when they had to ration the special effects, they had to fill the gaps with something.

[Mischief Maker]

Back when they had to ration the special effects, they had to fill the gaps with something.

Tits.

[wwse]

Netflix bought the rights to show Brother and Brother 2. I recommend watching cult Russian cinema. On youtube there is with subtitles

[vol.2]

Hurm, when you put it like that, maybe. It isn't story or ideas or art or music or some niche hobby people want to see from these things, it's money. Piles and piles of money.

I think that's what's become of it. It's distilled escapism, mainlined spectacle. Money, power, flash, excitement: all the things that people believe will spice up their dreary lives. I wouldn't say they knowingly come for money, but there is certainly an element of economics in it for people. "I spend my time and my ticket and my trip to theater in exchange for something." It's impossible to escape commodity, though Spectacle can be seen to operate on it's own and outside of economics.

Back when they had to ration the special effects, they had to fill the gaps with something.

It's impossible to have that discussion without context. Back when there was less money to go around or to be had, producers were more willing to take risks on creative directors. In the 70's, when money had seriously dried up in Hollywood and the public had simply stopped going out to the movies, the big glut of low budget stuff really began to appear. Naturally, the floodgates let in some real winners like Kubrick and Bob Rafelson (Five Easy Pieces), but there was also plenty of absolute garbage.

When it comes to the new breed of 2 billion dollar Disney films though, I don't think there is an adequate comparison. Those movies are designed to thrill in a very specific way, and that formula has been set. I think, if anything, there are more clearly defined lines in cinema now than there ever were, and it's much more difficult for a film to do well in trying to tick off too many boxes at the same time.

Then again, on a microcosmic level, you can see the effects of resources on films of all sizes. If you look at Wes Anderson's films, there was a clear gap in overall cohesiveness between the time he was resources deprived and the time he could hire expensive actors and use expensive rock songs.
IMHO, Rushmore was the last time W.A. had to use his wits to their fullest extent to really make a film. The Royal Tenenbaums was the first film he made where he could have anything he wanted, and the narrative structure of the film suffers tremendously because of it. It still has plenty of the quirky charm he's known for, but it plays like a collection of vignettes, loosely strung together with a fairly weak premise. Each individual vignette is structured around an anchor song and the performance of a well-known actor. He was, quite literally, a "kid lost in a candy store."

Resources management on a large artistic project is complicated, and it's difficult to address as a systemic issue. That's all bigger than hollywood and bigger than the greater discussion of art and story and creativity. It's more one of the general economic system and how that effects art and all that other stuff.

[EmperorIng]

I've been back to the theaters twice this weekend (at Chicago's vaunted Music Box), and managed to catch the original Suspiria (iirc it was a 4k remaster) and the restoration of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil. I tried to get tickets to see Kurosawa's Ran but it was sold out! All the other ones I was able to get tickets pretty close to -if not on- the same day. That's 175 atm, but slated to go up to 250 soon.

The group watching Suspiria had a good time, though I am on the fence as to whether or not Phenomena, which I saw last October, was a better movie. That sounds almost heretical given the latter's almost ridiculous excess (psychic bugs, a deadly chimpanzee, fucking Motorhead music...). Now, I loved the bizarre sets and use of color but I think I liked the slightly stronger narrative focus of Phenomena. Then again, it feels like picking a favorite child in a way. How could you?

The audio mixing in the theater might have made it harder than otherwise to make out some of the dialog but the dialog turned out to be pretty ancillary. We had some fun laughing at the inane words these characters said but the amount of tense dread-soaked buildup the horror scenes had were quite effective. My sister is in to all that new-age tarot shit so she was getting upset at this movie's reductionist view of witches.

It kind of makes me want to see the remake, since it seems to be way more focused on story vs the mood, contra the original. The fact that RLM's Jay gave it a recommendation leaves me optimistic.

Touch of Evil, now the second time I've seen this version, is still a great watch. Funnily enough, my thoughts watching it was that the first half of the movie was weaker than I remembered it (sans the excellent opening scene with the ticking bomb), and that the latter half of the movie was better than I remembered. So I think all in all that's a wash on the positive side? Some of the indulgences (like the stuttering night man) are kind of whatever but the movie still had a lot of meanness which is what I want in a crime flick.

There's some showings this/next weekend I'll try to catch, namely the Joe Dante movie Matinee (with John Goodman as a William Castle-esque director), and the Taiwanese flick Goodbye Dragon Inn. Hope those are worth the price of admission.

[BIL]

Ran on the big screen is AMAZIN Gorgeous thundering tragedy worthy of the title (UPROAR, CHAOS). Had the great fortune to do my English Lit A-Levels with a really cool tutor, who treated our class to a few classic adaptations at mid-term. As an earnest young weeaboo, it felt kinda rad seeing everyone's reactions to Lear JP License Master Ver. Best of luck if you give the tickets another shot!

[Vexorg]

A Very Brady Sequel: **

Pretty much more of the same from the first Brady Bunch movie, aside from a couple of bombshells for fans of the original show (assuming any of this is canon, which I seriously doubt anyone even cares about):

Spoiler

It turns out Carol's first husband was the Professor from Gilligan's Island, and the movie's antagonist (who impersonated her first husband in an attempt to steal a valuable statue from their house) was the one who sabotaged the Minnow causing the shipwreck.

Of course, Mike can beat that: Apparently his first wife was Jeannie (Barbara Eden making a cameo, and looking surprisingly good for her age).

All that aside, it's not a particularly good movie, but does deliver a fair bit of fanservice for old sitcom fans.

[drauch]

I don't think you're off at all. IMO, I think Suspiria is a tad overrated, at least in line with Argento's other works. I think it always engulfs his other output. I like the film a lot, but I don't think I necessarily love it. I much more prefer the flow of the aforementioned Phenomena. Regarding the remake, I thought it was ass, frankly. It's super bloated and has a pretentious air to it that drove me nuts. The original didn't warrant a remake, so I thought it was nice to see them switch it up a bit, but I often stand by an unspoken rule that both horror and comedy should not exceed 90 minutes, at least by much, and this thing exceeds on for nigh 2 and a half hours. The ending to it is pretty nasty and creepy, but I found the interpretive dance extremely irritating, and nothing really in between very interesting or provoking in horror or entertaining effects. Trim an hour off and I could see myself liking this better. I know that's an excessive claim, but dear god, if you're making a 2.5 hour long movie you've gotta have something more to show or say.

I like the RLM dudes and the Plinkett stuff is great, but I don't trust their taste at all, lol. I think they're smart guys and sometimes their analysis is interesting, but I find their attitude towards older films, especially of lower budgets or what others would consider 'trashy' to be a bit aggravating in their deprecation.

(edit for grammar cause i'm dumb)

[xxx1993]

The Marksman (2021). I find it funny how people said Rambo: Last Blood was similar to Taken, because this movie was very similar to Rambo: Last Blood, just slightly watered down due to its PG-13 rating. Despite that, I still liked the movie, and I thought it would have been a good movie to start off 2021 had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic.

[xxx1993]

Chaos Walking was... fine. Nothing groundbreaking, though.

[xxx1993]

Nobody (2021) was enjoyable. I really wish I saw this in the theater. But nope, COVID ruins everything like always. But it was a great John Wick clone with a very Rambo: Last Blood, Home Alone, or Mr. and Mrs. Smith like climax.

[cj iwakura]

Audition is a very sad film, in a lot of ways. Also very difficult to watch, but I'm glad I did.

I get why Miike doesn't really think of it as a horror film.

[chempop]

Collateral - Tom Cruise, Jamie Fox, directed by Michael Mann.

Watchable. There wasn't much to it, just a triller/action with just about no depth to the characters outside a maybe two scenes where it seems a bit forced. Was nice seeing Cruise as a antagonist (for once?), I can't recall anythign else where he's a villain.

[EmperorIng]

I don't think you're off at all. IMO, I think Suspiria is a tad overrated, at least in line with Argento's other works. I think it always engulfs his other output. I like the film a lot, but I don't think I necessarily love it. I much more prefer the flow of the aforementioned Phenomena. Regarding the remake, I thought it was ass, frankly. It's super bloated and has a pretentious air to it that drove me nuts. The original didn't warrant a remake, so I thought it was nice to see them switch it up a bit, but I often stand by an unspoken rule that both horror and comedy should not exceed 90 minutes, at least by much, and this thing exceeds on for nigh 2 and a half hours. The ending to it is pretty nasty and creepy, but I found the interpretive dance extremely irritating, and nothing really in between very interesting or provoking in horror or entertaining effects. Trim an hour off and I could see myself liking this better. I know that's an excessive claim, but dear god, if you're making a 2.5 hour long movie you've gotta have something more to show or say.

I can get that. Like I said, the fact that there WAS story and characters, however slight, in Phenomena, makes it flow more smoothly. And Donald Pleasance man, he just kills it in whatever he's in. The music I think might be better, too. Hard to say!

I think the out and out horror and gore of Phenomena definitely jolts the audience, whereas Suspiria has more of slow creepy tracking shots that might make the audience ask "is something going to happen this time?" That set design though is certainly a master stroke.

As for RLM guys, I also see where you're coming from! Sometimes I get upset that they trash on movies I really like or think have a lot of heart... I can only imagine how many people were pissed off at their video where they trashed Event Horizon. Granted I never saw it, but I know the movie has some passionate fans.

Overall though I find my tastes broadly align with theirs except they watch a lot more capeshit than I have the stomach for.

[drauch]

they watch a lot more capeshit than I have the stomach for.

LOL, I've definitely noticed that.

Event Horizon is quite a bit of fun! Definitely before you had to stop and think, "Wait, is it that Paul Anderson!?" The film definitely got butchered quite a bit, and you can tell the production was out of sorts, as it seriously used every common stock effect out there. Maybe to just the average person that isn't much, but especially to someone that has played even a handful of games will notice doors and flame effects galore. But man, the space horror is so great, and Sam Neil kills it like usual. Found footage is really old hat now and often isn't great, but the beginning stuff in EH is so delightfully terrifying and nasty. There's a handful of deleted scenes out there that really would have helped the movie. It's definitely pretty messy, but I don't see how one couldn't appreciate what good there is there. Anderson purportedly went on a long search trying to find all the footage, but all that was left of the original 2 hours was a VHS workprint that was "unwatchable". Obviously people would still die to have that. Dunno if there's any fan edits of this out there that throw in some of the deleted scenes, but it'd be a tough one since most don't have audio. Hoping someday that garbled cut will at least surface!

[xxx1993]

Wrath of Man. Much darker than your typical Guy Ritchie flick, but still a pretty good movie. Yet another movie I wish I watched it the theater. At least now I’m finally caught up with movies! Which means now, it’s open season on movie theaters for real this time!

[NYN]

Regarding the remake, I thought it was ass, frankly.

How's Tilda Swinton in it?
She's the only reason I made it back from The Beach with my memory intact. Same is true for The Dead Don't Die ( when Jarmusch doesn't seem to care why should I? ), her role is fun.
I don't see her very often, but always find it pleasant. You may tease me about it.

[EmperorIng]

That reminds me drauch, speaking of workprint discoveries, that super fans just found a workprint of Super Mario Bros movie with 20 minutes of lost footage, and have assembled a workprint for viewing. Which is honestly pretty fucking cool, I have always had a soft spot for this movie, and more time spent with Hoskins and Hopper and crew is a-ok by me. I will try and watch it in a night or so.

You can watch it here:
https://archive.org/details/super-mario ... tended-vhs

Apparently the producers cut a lot to make the movie more 'family friendly...' and apparently there is now a payoff for the Dennis Hopper Ordering Pizza running gag.

[drauch]

That reminds me drauch, speaking of workprint discoveries, that super fans just found a workprint of Super Mario Bros movie with 20 minutes of lost footage, and have assembled a workprint for viewing. Which is honestly pretty fucking cool, I have always had a soft spot for this movie, and more time spent with Hoskins and Hopper and crew is a-ok by me. I will try and watch it in a night or so.

You can watch it here:
https://archive.org/details/super-mario ... tended-vhs

Apparently the producers cut a lot to make the movie more 'family friendly...' and apparently there is now a payoff for the Dennis Hopper Ordering Pizza running gag.

Whoa! Yeah, I will be getting this when I get home. Thanks!

People have done some pretty cool stuff out there. I've been trying to grab all the Friday the 13th stuff lately since quite a bit of the excised material has surfaced, including the new part 2 footage with the recent Shout! Factory box. But obviously the legality of this stuff makes it harder to come by. Would really like a better print of Nightmare on Elm Street 5/6 with the uncut footage included in there.

[drauch]

Regarding the remake, I thought it was ass, frankly.

How's Tilda Swinton in it?
She's the only reason I made it back from The Beach with my memory intact. Same is true for The Dead Don't Die ( when Jarmusch doesn't seem to care why should I? ), her role is fun.
I don't see her very often, but always find it pleasant. You may tease me about it.

Which role? She's good in it! Her 'hidden' role if you go in blind will definitely catch you by surprise.

[Eyvah_Ehyeh]

Rewatched Snatch yesterday. Been on a Guy Richie spree, going backwards, by mistake, and will finish out with Lock Stock tonight. Love those movies. The song from Gentlemen is fire.

[BIL]

Faaackin' BRICK TOP Where's me shootah?

[GaijinPunch]

Tenet

Better than I expected. Definitely a theater experience, although maybe not to follow continuity (although I didn't stop and rewind). I think I welcome the James Bond aspect, but obviously there is some crap in there that was just bad...

Spoiler

...like the protagonist's entire motive?

Still decent fun. Not something I'd rewatch time after time.

[Some-Mist]

a couple weeks ago my buddy got a new LG C9 OLED and asked if I saw Tenet and I said no. so he wanted to show me an action scene on the TV

Spoiler

the scene where you find out they're fighting themselves after the fact

and a couple minutes in I had to ask "is this the coolest scene in the movie???" and he said "yeah" so I immediately told him to shut it off lol. I watched it that night and I agree it was better than I expected as well. It wasn't so hard for me to grasp since having watched flicks like primer so many times, but some of my friends had issues figuring it out.

I'm going to see jacques tati's playtime in 35mm tonight at the music box so I'm pretty pumped to go to the theater again for the first time since early 2020. I've seen it numerous times along with the other monsieur hulot titles but not on the big screen

[Searchlike]

I'm going to see jacques tati's playtime in 35mm tonight at the music box so I'm pretty pumped to go to the theater again for the first time since early 2020. I've seen it numerous times along with the other monsieur hulot titles but not on the big screen

Awesome, 35mm is still too small for Tativille but I envy you. I discovered a neat little film a couple weeks ago which is similar to Playtime in how both are probably watched best with a bunch of peeps, each one looking at a separate part of the screen in order to follow different characters. It's on youtube and below arcade lenght, if anyone's interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDem_3xr_3M

[Some-Mist]

I'm going to see jacques tati's playtime in 35mm tonight at the music box so I'm pretty pumped to go to the theater again for the first time since early 2020. I've seen it numerous times along with the other monsieur hulot titles but not on the big screen

Awesome, 35mm is still too small for Tativille but I envy you.

I figured as much. It was on DCP for a few days and only 35mm today so I went for the film run

I discovered a neat little film a couple weeks ago which is similar to Playtime in how both are probably watched best with a bunch of peeps, each one looking at a separate part of the screen in order to follow different characters. It's on youtube and below arcade lenght, if anyone's interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDem_3xr_3M

haven't seen this and yeah it's real fun

[Searchlike]

I figured as much. It was on DCP for a few days and only 35mm today so I went for the film run

A wise decision, enjoy yourself!

It's funny, I thought about mentioning Playtime when the recent discussion around videogame-like movies came up since, outside of stuff like choose-your-own-adventure type of games and flicks, viewer agency is not something film watchers usually have to worry about, yet it is the core element of what makes Tati's masterpiece so fun and rewatchable.

[BryanM]

I was thinking about how incongruent the possession scenes in Ghostbusters: Answer the Call were with Ghostbusters' world design (and it's not like it's exactly the most rigid and defined thing out there to begin with).. And realized Ghostbusters is a low fantasy setting, like the good early chapters of Berserk, Kingdom: Death, Conan, etc. Supernatural magic is the domain of alien extra-dimensional monsters and legends, not regular humans. In order to acquire supernatural powers, you have to cease being human.

A cab driver using magic would be risible, but some freak from thousands of years ago only whispered about in ancient books? That's a little bit more believable - it's the kind of thing that forms the basis of many religions, after all.

So, possessions in the first movie: Getting possessed by the Terror Dogs were traumatic for the victims involved, the scene with Dana is often considered the scariest scene in the movie. Zuul and Vince are alien beings with alien morality - for example, Vince is a super friendly and affable guy who's super pumped about opening the gate and killing everybody.

Possessions in the second movie aren't quite as dramatic - Janosz becomes a little bit more obsessive, and also a creepy ghost nanny. Ray gets a spooky demon face for two seconds. Whatever, we didn't even get to see Louis play Super Mario Brothers.

Possessions in Answer the Call: some incel suicided with a glowy machine and just flies into random people. It just happens, no story or memorable scene. ... ... damnit, this movie is incongruent with itself isn't it? The guy's supposed to be some loser throwing a tantrum, but is somehow competent enough to be a threat? "The Enemy is simultaneously feeble and also godlike in his power."

[BIL]

That's a very considered, articulate way to say you hate women BryanM I'm sorry Bryan, I was briefly possessed by the evil ghost of the film's marketing dept

[NYN]

Which role? She's good in it! Her 'hidden' role if you go in blind will definitely catch you by surprise.

Gotcha. Whoa, the dilemma. As you noted about the run time, it's a thing that puts me off. First thing I check for a movie I'm inclined to is just how long will it take. 90min is fine if it's not a studio edit. I'm not feeling old, it's only the new super epics like Nolan and Snyder I can't stand. Gimme a Leone or Kubrick over them and I take it anytime. Thank the Coen's for having that one under control. Well, I don't mind stating that I'm as of now a Argento virgin, so I will fix that next up. Recommendations received! It's going to be Suspiria, Phenomena, and Inferno.