Movies you've just watched

[boagman]

"The Mule"

Decent, but overall somewhat disappointing considering Eastwood's cache and past performances in his starring/directorial roles. It's still a decent watch, but it's nowhere *near* the caliber of "Gran Torino", and even farther from "Unforgiven". Too many really good actors don't have a darned thing to do in the movie (Fishburne, Cooper, Pena...), and it's kind of a waste of their talents that way (all of those roles could have been played by literally anyone that isn't named "Pauly Shore"). Doesn't make the movie *bad*, but there's no watching it and feeling the same senses of weight you had watching the previous two.

Full disclosure: I *abhor* Dianne Wiest in every thing she's ever done, and this movie has done nothing to change my mind. Having said that, all of the previous paragraph is still completely on-the-nose, and my opinion of the one actress doesn't change any of that.

[Mischief Maker]

Kung Fu Hustle is in my top three. Saw it blind in the village back in 2004, didn't know a thing about it and half the subtitles were cut off the screen.

Went back the same day and saw it again proper. Fantastic movie in every regard.

I also saw it knowing nothing and smiled throughout the entire film. that particular scene, using a guzheng as a weapon and playing "The Blade of Gu Qin", is a favorite.

Fun fact: the woman who plays the landlady was a karate schoolgirl in a James Bond film:

https://youtu.be/PoENMzywGGM?t=301

[blackoak]

Finally saw Hereditary... overall, I liked it, and could totally see the Bergman and Polanski references (Cries and Whispers especially). Excellent acting and direction. The disappointment was...

Spoiler

...that this ultimately ended up feeling like The Exorcist to me: a movie with a tremendous build-up that is underserved by the framework it imposes on the mounting horror. That framework is christianity in The Exorcist, while here it's "the occult". I would have preferred the darkness and dread be more ambiguous, and therefore more terrifying. Just as it's more frightening with special fx to let the imagination fill in the blanks, to *not* explicitly show every pustule--well I think the same is true on a conceptual level. Lovecraft > all for me, there. I mean, the dumb and byzantine "rules" of occultism are just resoundingly human, all-too-human... I can't take them seriously. It's a failing I accept in most horror movies, but this one really had potential on an aesthetic level, so it stung a little.

p.s. my wife was terrified

[GaijinPunch]

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Yikes. Really good but wouldn't want to watch it again.

[eckart]

Heredetary was great, but after i watched mandy i didnt think much about that movie. All personal taste i guess.

Yesterday i got a phonecall with a friend and he told me about seeing the nun, and after that he didnt close the room door, because he was so frightend. hehe.

[Vexorg]

The Lego Ninjago Movie: **1/2

Not much to say on this one. Not particularly good, not particularly bad, just very average. A couple of good parts, but even though it's fairly short for a movie (around 1:40) it still felt like it could have been done just as effectively in 1 hour.

[Zen]

Spoiler

I mean, the dumb and byzantine "rules" of occultism are just resoundingly human, all-too-human... I can't take them seriously.

You are referring to the power, wealth and influence tropes, I take it?
Let me take this opportunity to pimp, yet again , A Dark Song (2016) - Liam Gavin.
May offer something more.

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Certainly an experience. I liked it. Tilda's film.

Lynne Ramsay's last film, You Were Never Really Here (2017), is also, perhaps, worth a watch.

Come to think of it, it also has an almost frame for frame lake scene, with A Dark Song (2016) - Liam Gavin, mentioned above . . .

[lilmanjs]

The Lego Ninjago Movie: **1/2

Not much to say on this one. Not particularly good, not particularly bad, just very average. A couple of good parts, but even though it's fairly short for a movie (around 1:40) it still felt like it could have been done just as effectively in 1 hour.

Did you sit through the credits for the Louis Cole song? They purposely stuck it really far into the credits. A funny song you're supposed to dance to!

[blackoak]

You are referring to the power, wealth and influence tropes, I take it?
Let me take this opportunity to pimp, yet again , A Dark Song (2016) - Liam Gavin.
May offer something more.

On your recommendation, I checked this out today. Not bad, not bad. While Hereditary had some obvious aesthetic gimmicks (the miniature stuff), I have to say I prefer its slightly more Lynchian camera-dread to the utilitarian direction of A Dark Song. I'm actually somewhat surprised you preferred A Dark Song, knowing a little of your tastes, and would genuinely like to hear more about why that is. I suppose the plain camera-eye helps with establishing a sense of verisimilitude, but I think I prefer something a bit more inspired/emotional there ("a bit" is key--too far and we're in the realm of pretension/intrusion). I did enjoy the attention to the particulars of the ritual, and how seriously the leads took everything. I also liked the occultist guy's emphasis on knowledge as the cardinal pursuit...

But. But! Yeah, at the end of the day, for me it's another movie that trades on the viewer's pre-existing belief in the supernatural as presented. I know that sounds vague... I'm talking about a kind of ontological hubris, where it is a priori assumed there really are these demons/angels/rules etc that take the form of traditional human horrors/terrors. I guess, on some very fundamental level, I don't understand belief per se.

I can enjoy a movie like this in the same way I enjoy a Harry Potter movie, as crass as that sounds, because I have fun fantasizing about a world of different rules... but in the end, that's not horror to me. Horror, for me, is more rooted in the contemplation of time/existence/infinity itself, as cheezy as that sounds, and not in any particular bodily harm/hell. It's the shadow-side of mystery (which has a "light side" too, aka naive curiosity).

My ex-sister-in-law, btw, was super into the occult. And I've had many friends in my life who were followers of Crowley/Thelema/Steiner, so many of the concepts of esotericism are not unfamiliar to me. We meet at the wonder, but we part ways when it comes to actually believing in this stuff outside of fascinating symbolism.

[GaijinPunch]

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Certainly an experience. I liked it. Tilda's film.

Lynne Ramsay's last film, You Were Never Really Here (2017), is also, perhaps, worth a watch.

Come to think of it, it also has an almost frame for frame lake scene, with A Dark Song (2016) - Liam Gavin, mentioned above . . .

Will add those to the list. Odd thing is, not long ago I was actually contemplating what the families of the perpetrators must go through after massacres. I'm sure the internal torment is never ending, maybe worse than a child's death, but the external from community on top.

[Zen]

On your recommendation, I checked this out today. Not bad, not bad. While Hereditary had some obvious aesthetic gimmicks (the miniature stuff), I have to say I prefer its slightly more Lynchian camera-dread to the utilitarian direction of A Dark Song. I'm actually somewhat surprised you preferred A Dark Song, knowing a little of your tastes, and would genuinely like to hear more about why that is.

Preferring A Dark Song, over Hereditary, is simple enough to explain. It is one of the most moving pieces of work, I have seen on film.
My review here; viewtopic.php?f=3&t=32519&p=1271593&hil ... +#p1271593

Hereditary, was indeed, more "slick", cinematically but it was an empty shell.
Here, in one frame (from another film), is Hereditary in toto;

Spoiler

The director, is a hack, with nothing to say.

I am more interested in content than shall we say, technique. Be that Cinema, Music,"Art", what have you.

I suppose the plain camera-eye helps with establishing a sense of verisimilitude, but I think I prefer something a bit more inspired/emotional there ("a bit" is key--too far and we're in the realm of pretension/intrusion).

Certainly, your preferences are valid but the shackled, "Kitchen sink realism", was quite intentional and was necessary to engender in the viewer, a condition, part of which you describe here.
One was supposed to get a sense of overdone mudanity, bordering on a sense of the ridiculous.
This later is a very important device within he film, as it is the foil to the matter at hand.

But. But! Yeah, at the end of the day, for me it's another movie that trades on the viewer's pre-existing belief in the supernatural as presented. I know that sounds vague... I'm talking about a kind of ontological hubris, where it is a priori assumed there really are these demons/angels/rules etc that take the form of traditional human horrors/terrors.

No.
The viewer is given every encouragement to doubt and is in fact strongly warned in every moment, not to believe.

Spoiler

The director has the Magician, masturbate on the client, for God sake!

The director wants you to disbelieve.

I can enjoy a movie like this in the same way I enjoy a Harry Potter movie, as crass as that sounds, because I have fun fantasizing about a world of different rules...

I am going to proceed on the assumption, that you are not au fait with the A.M operation - it's purpose and significance, as depicted, in A Dark Song?

As you mention Crowley; Perhaps the following may be of use;

Crowley began the above operation and quit it, before completion.
In western Occultism, failure in this operation, is considered suicide.
Some genuinely believe, that he never left Boleskine and that the rest of his "career" was, well . . . not Crowley.
Now, apply the above, to the film.

If you would like some very big spoilers, read on;

Spoiler

sub plots;

Who killed her child?

Who is the operator? How did she procure the operator? Did she really find him (highly unlikely), or vice versa?

What did the operator want from the operation - "to forget" what? "To become invisible", from whom?

What did she want? Revenge? Did she get it? Who was it, that she actually killed?

Main story:

Did she break/quit the operation before completion?

If not and the operation was successful, what we get to witness, is the first moments of successful completion of the Abramelin, that is to say that state of grace that allows for discourse with . . .

This grace is represented by the woman's asking nothing for herself. She evokes forgiveness.

The being, is then seen to acknowledge her successful first step.

Horror, for me, is more rooted in the contemplation of time/existence/infinity itself, as cheezy as that sounds, and not in any particular bodily harm/hell. It's the shadow-side of mystery (which has a "light side" too, aka naive curiosity).

Not cheesy at all.
The punishment of Sisyphus, is Horror. The brief remembering, that your are going to forget again, of Alzheimer's, is Horror.
Existential crises, unfolding in slow motion, are indeed, at the heart of horror.

You are correct.
A Dark Song, is not, nor was it meant to be, a horror film.

[GaijinPunch]

I want to make at thread for Men in Black International just to get Skykid's reaction. I never saw any of the original films (actually about half of the first one in pieces maybe?) so I have little nostalgia, but boy. Nothing says "current day Hollywood" more than this... from inception to execution.

[Vexorg]

I want to make at thread for Men in Black International just to get Skykid's reaction. I never saw any of the original films (actually about half of the first one in pieces maybe?) so I have little nostalgia, but boy. Nothing says "current day Hollywood" more than this... from inception to execution.

The trailer is trying too hard to look like a remake of the first MIB, but it looks like it could make for a good mindless popcorn movie. Most of the YouTube commenters seem to be complaining that it doesn't have Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in it. Have any of them seen any recent Will Smith movies?

[boagman]

I want to make at thread for Men in Black International just to get Skykid's reaction. I never saw any of the original films (actually about half of the first one in pieces maybe?) so I have little nostalgia, but boy. Nothing says "current day Hollywood" more than this... from inception to execution.

The trailer is trying too hard to look like a remake of the first MIB, but it looks like it could make for a good mindless popcorn movie. Most of the YouTube commenters seem to be complaining that it doesn't have Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in it. Have any of them seen any recent Will Smith movies?

Really? Well, when I watch the trailer, all I see is MIB TFATF Version. To me, it looks awful based on that *alone*, much less not having some actors that I'd look forward to watching.

[BryanM]

Have any of them seen any recent Will Smith movies?

Hey at least they brought us Orc Cop. Can a good movie bring us Orc Cop? Of course not.

And we got to remember The Fifth Element exists for the first time in decades. That's a movie! That had a couple of good scenes.

[neorichieb1971]

Aquaman -

I really don't know how to sum up a score that does so many thing well, so many things cheesey and so many things 80's and so many things that could take place in a God of War game.

Whats good -

The special effects are amazing, the battles and the ideas are fantastic and your in for one hell of a ride. Its like Tron on acid at times. Some scenes carry emotion really well. Nicole Kidman looks really good in this, like she hasn't aged much.


Whats cheesey nad 80's -

It reeks of Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica from the 80's in places. These guys talk under water, wear costumes that are borderline ridiculous. There is a character wearing an ant suit with big red eyes that shoots laser bolts all over the place. Its half cringe, half omg did they actually do that?


Alot of scenes reminded me of God of War. Especially areas where there are relics and debris of forgotten worlds explored. Molten lava, underwater swimming sections and holding tridents.


I'd give this is a 7/10. Its obvious some people did their jobs better than others making this movie, and some bits should have been left on the cutting room floor. But whats here is mostly passable and an enjoyable ride.

[Zen]

I want to make at thread for Men in Black International just to get Skykid's reaction. I never saw any of the original films (actually about half of the first one in pieces maybe?) so I have little nostalgia, but boy. Nothing says "current day Hollywood" more than this... from inception to execution.

For God's sake, don't encourage that misogynist!

We must embrace the princess of woke (can I still say princess? ), the stunning and brave, Tessa Thompson, as she does the androgyne-shuffle, for those woke-Dollars!

Think also of Chris Hemsworth, taking this role as a break between Steroid cycles!
Doesn't he deserve the break?! (Don't do drugs, kids! You don't want to look like Thor now, do you?!)

As for Mr. Neeson . . . I refuse not speak ill of the dead!

[GaijinPunch]

I LOL'd

Wish I could link directly to Youtube comments, but can't, so will quote here.

Emma Thompson
Chris Hemsworth
Liam Neeson

god damn dream team

This is why we can't have nice things.

There are some actual good comments though:

Ghostbusters (2016) 2

Catching illegal aliens in France,,,, perfect timing

Men in Black lives matter

[teamcruise]

Just recently watched Aquaman.

[Vexorg]

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past: ***

Basically A Christmas Carol turned into a RomCom, minus the Christmas part. Matthew McConaughey plays a comically exaggerated sleazeball pickup artist type who is visited by the requisite ghosts while in the process of ruining his brother's wedding. Loaded with snark throughout, but also entirely predictable. All things considered if you like this type of movie I'd probably watch Scrooged instead. Even though this was released in 2009 it seems like the type of film that couldn't be released now; Connor would have been #MeToo'd into oblivion long before the film ever took place.

[soprano1]

Silver Streak (1976)
I was expecting a comedy with Richard Pryor, got something else with Gene Wilder. Still a nice movie.

[Steamflogger Boss]

The Princess Bride

Still great, not much to say about the movie itself at this point. I finally got around to watching the Criterion BD and it is fantastic. Feels like you are in the movie basically. This might be the only movie where I've seen it on 4 different releases/formats. Quite remarkable the progression from VHS to DVD to BD to Criterion BD.

[NYN]

Every time someone writes about The Princess Bride my mind auto-corrects the title to The Princess Blade.
And when I'm done reading the post I'm "Huh? No mention of sword fights? Yen for choreo? C'mon." before it's cleared up. Darn similar titles.

[BryanM]

It's really a shame the MBA's and marketing guys in charge of everything now would never do an adoption as faithful as The Princess Bride. So little was changed or cut.

Never got around to reading the epilogue in the later expanded editions... should get around to that sometime.

[xxx1993]

Aquaman, easily the best DC movie yet.

[GaijinPunch]

Aquaman, easily the best DC movie yet.

Is that including Tim Burton's Batmans? Nolan's Batmans?

[Steamflogger Boss]

The Mummy (2017)

HOLY MOLY. What a pile of puke. I even had very low expectations going in. Fails entirely as a monster movie (expected) but also just fails as mindless action entertainment. Tom Cruise really mailed it in and with this script I can't even be mad at him for it. Russell Crowe was predictably bad. This movie did manage something spectacular though, it made the 1999 Mummy movie look good.

[neorichieb1971]

Aquaman, easily the best DC movie yet.

Is that including Tim Burton's Batmans? Nolan's Batmans?

How can you compare those movies to Aquaman?

Aquaman is LOTR under water.

[Ixmucane2]

Mary Poppins Returns

A new reference point for how bad sequels can get: compared to the original it has an inferior cast, absurd and incoherent songs, and a plot with scenes, situations and characters that are in part just terrible (e.g. the main problem of the Banks family is losing their home to a mortgage, and it develops in the stupidest possible ways), in part a deliberate fanservice effort at reproducing the original (e.g. the return of the kite), and in part strangely incoherent and insincere and sinister (e.g. the final scene with Angela Lansbury and balloons).

[xxx1993]

I mean the best movie in the DC Extended Universe.