Movies you've just watched

[cj iwakura]

Cocaine Bear was fun, but was merely 'okay' as opposed to being amazing like it could have been if it had really gone the full nine.

It tried too hard to balance the absurd plot with """serious""" characters, and it drags the whole thing down. Go full stupid. Have an army show up to try and stop the bear and it tanks all their firepower before running at them and going full Thanos Infinity War on the squad.

The film definitely had its moments though, and I agree with a review that called the ambulance scene the highlight. It also had some pretty decent jump scares and tension for being a horror comedy.

[xxx1993]

Just watched Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre!

[neorichieb1971]

In time.

Its a guilty pleasure from time to time. Not many people like it, but I like the unique elements in it.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

To Live and Die in LA [1985]

Figured I would mark off another Friedkin entry on my to watch list. What's special about this one? It's not available to stream in the US - anywhere. Under the More Like This section on IMDB, it shows me Sorcerer, Thief, Manhunter, Cruising, The French Connection, and Blow Out among others. That seems like a good aggregation. Very 80's crime story, with an officer (William Petersen) not afraid to bend or even break the rules to get his man - in this case, Willem Defoe. Some good action (including head shots), as well as a chase that didn't become infamous a la The French Connection but still noteworthy. Wang Chung was handled both the scoring and the title song, and unsurprisingly a couple of their other tracks made it into the background of a few scenes.

Last year on Showtime, there was a documentary on Friedkin which was very interesting to watch. As it stands, To Live and Die in LA was made on a modest budget with some scenes only shot in one take. Director Friedkin didn't believe in doing retakes and would shoot takes only once. The scene where the counterfeit money was being printed (it's well known that Friedkin used a few former group of people who used to work in the U.S. Mint with their methods of printing those $100 bills as 100% accurate/spot-on at the time the film was released, especially with the engraved $100 dollar printing plates shown in one memorable scene). Of course, all that money printed was destroyed after that scene was shot while the feds helicopters were heard buzzing outside/overhead. Friedkin admits shooting that particular scene as scary as they were printing real $100 bills. Talk about cutting it too close to edge right there.

The vehicle crossing the bridge in Sorcerer was done in many takes.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[xxx1993]

Watched Luther: The Fallen Sun on Netflix, despite never having watched the show.

[Lander]

Jacob's Ladder

I'm so glad I knew nothing about this outside of various name-drops in Silent Hill-adjacent podcast content.

Brilliant film. Stands out next to other scary stuff; I came out satisfied not because my jaw was still slack from the sheer horror of it, but because the whole thing - horror included - was executed to great effect.

I wasn't expecting Lynchian, but that's how it felt - like what would happen if you took his mastery of the nightmarish and wove a coherent-yet-mysterious plot through it. Like a happy medium between Fire Walk With Me and The Missing Pieces, if you catch my drift.
And the cab ride deserves to be called out for its exemplary use of fog and shadowplay - bloody gorgeous, if nothing else.

Pre-deleted-scenes impression:

Spoiler

And by that, I mean the last cab ride at the end of the world which is sure how that scene felt, between the imagery and dreamlike discombobulation shared by viewer and protagonist.
I was getting ready for it to slam back down into rusty wire fence hell after reaching Home, figuring that - at best - we'd be looking at a peaceful passing-on ending, and was pleasantly surprised to find that was the case.

As for the part that came after, I suspected that we might be seeing the biggest baddest life-flashing-before-your-eyes ever augmented by military-grade LSD at some point after Jake learned the truth from science fella
Seeing the pieces fall into place was extremely gratifying, though it feels like you could bikeshed all day about potential hidden meaning or nonsensicality given that corpse Jake wouldn't necessarily have had the knowledge of a secret chemical warfare programme while being patched up in the nearest M.A.S.H. and undergoing said flashback.

Regardless, it was a great experience, and significantly reframes my view of Silent Hill's aesthetics and horror themes. That box frame man-monster in the TAKE HIM DOWN TO X-RAY sequence might as well be the Abstract Daddy's daddy!

Pizza Ruination Factor: 2.5 / 5 - Some squick, but not enough to put me off my calzone. Almost comfortable next to The Thing and Color Out of Space.

Post-deleted scenes impression:

Spoiler

Whoaly moly, it IS a crime that they never made a director's cut!
And the LOVE YOU projected onto the ceiling of Home makes somewhat more sense now, though worked as an interesting mysterious tidbit regardless.
I think the cut we got works in its own right, but nixing the jibbliest gribblies out of Silent Hill's' ancestor film is quite a shame.

Pizza Ruination Factor: Upgraded to 3.5 / 5 on principle, but the pizza was long gone by this point.

[BIL]

Sometimes I think you're an actual Randar, with the power to furnish this thread with first-rate reviews of legendary horror cinema (and devise mind-blowing Bloodborne control workarounds). Excellent point re: Lynch; JL really is the rare example that reaches Davey Boy's depths of nightmare, without losing its moorings in the process. Nightmares often do have some grounding in one's waking world, after all.

God, the Silent Hill movies get dunked on mercilessly by the stuff that inspired KCET's game... not meaning to sound surprised, just appalled mostly! See also the vast majority of Mortal Kombat flicks versus the authentic chop-sockies that Boon n' Tobias were driven by.



Jyeaaa boyeee! (Master of the Flying Guillotine, rad joint )

Out of curiosity, have you seen Lyne's Fatal Attraction? Gave it a long overdue first watch myself, a couple years back. ala The Exorcist, while its overt horrors are long-since blunted by popular ubiquity, they were never its true force; the human toll of the movie remains harrowing.

Really bringing it up as, while JL is the famous KCET inspirer, I was pleasantly surprised to find lots of familiar vibes here, too. Great film regardless.



Some bad dad shit is goin' down, Mr. Wabbit!

[NYN]

While I can enjoy Jacob's Ladder, I find the military-themed thread too heavy in conclusion and forced to some "reason" for all of it. Would feel better without. Too political for existenialism. It's like Groundhog Day Phil Conners would actually discover the forces behind his ordeal of betterment. DOG (SH2 ending). Or Hog. Similar with Donnie Darko Director's Cut, which I don't mind much, for I find it's not too heavy-handed.

[Stevens]

The Killer

Reminded me a lot of The Man From Nowhere (also Korean). Has some great action sequences, including some done long shot style that reminded me of the scene in The Protector. When Tony fights his way up the spiral, just not quite that intricate. Still well done though.

Would watch it again at a friendly run time of 98 minutes. There was really nothing off putting about it at all.

[GaijinPunch]

Last year on Showtime, there was a documentary on Friedkin which was very interesting to watch. As it stands, To Live and Die in LA was made on a modest budget with some scenes only shot in one take. Director Friedkin didn't believe in doing retakes and would shoot takes only once. The scene where the counterfeit money was being printed (it's well known that Friedkin used a few former group of people who used to work in the U.S. Mint with their methods of printing those $100 bills as 100% accurate/spot-on at the time the film was released, especially with the engraved $100 dollar printing plates shown in one memorable scene). Of course, all that money printed was destroyed after that scene was shot while the feds helicopters were heard buzzing outside/overhead. Friedkin admits shooting that particular scene as scary as they were printing real $100 bills. Talk about cutting it too close to edge right there.

The vehicle crossing the bridge in Sorcerer was done in many takes.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Sweet! I'll have to check that out. Did they just gloss over Cruising? Curious how many takes the forearm dipped in Crisco scene required.

[GaijinPunch]

Cobra

Wow. The only way to describe this would be if Sly pitched an idea to Hollywood where he was a virtually bullet proof cop with an attitude (and a match in his mouth all the time), and said the only way he was going to do the flick is if Data East would develop and produce the entire thing from start to finish. This definitely falls into the so bad it's good realm, and I would think so even at the time. Features montages accompanied by some seriously epic and forgettable 80's shit tunes which are only topped by Sly's completely and totally thoughtless actions which include throwing a beer can to distract a gunman, but he only throws it like 3 feet away and then does nothing; reloading weapons while standing up in the back of a truck like a sitting duck, and of course, countless speeches when he could have just shot the bad guy and be done with it.

[vol.2]

So Cobra friggin rules btw. I loved that movie as a kid. I don't even like Stone all that much, but he had a few real bonafides back in the day.


Oscar thoughts. I loved EEAAO, but I really didn't see it pulling in that many wins. The directors certainly didn't either, judging by their acceptance speeches. I've never seen so many unprepared people in that situation before. Also, Kimmel really fucking sucked the whole show. It's a shame that Chris Rock had that mishap last year bc I don't feel like we deserved for things to swing in the Kimmel direction; it was brȕtal.

[NYN]

I suffered trough Cobra once, man. Never again. That's coming from someone who thinks the second half of Over the Top is pure, ignorant bliss.
Oh, and Cliffhanger's cool, too!

[drauch]

Cobra

the only way he was going to do the flick is if Data East would develop and produce the entire thing from start to finish.

Lmao.

Been a long time since I've watched it, but it was sadly one of those cases where it got butchered to death. A lot of brutal violence (got an X-rating, initially) was trimmed, and over half an hour was cut on top of that. It's one of those dream workprints that folks have been after for years, but of course it's probably long gone. ^_~

[BIL]

Late Realisations Thread crosspost: Had no idea the titular horror's debut in It Follows, and the MILFy mom of the craven bastard who infected the protagonist, were played by the same actress.

On one hand, I kinda wish I still didn't know. I liked the scene's surface inexplicability and deeper, universally apparent primality; alluring nubile flesh, suffused with ruthless inescapable death. In this Jigoku no Scooby Doo: Shin Bakemono Monogatari, pussy eat YOU! Only somewhat more literally than in life itself. A clear narrative anchor lessens the sheer wordless intensity.

On the other hand, it's a nice bit of latent synergy with the in-scene dialogue, and in its own maternalistic way, furthers the same concept of a dualistic erotic/thanatotic entity.

Rewatched over the weekend, along with The Guest and February, as an impromptu Films That Should've Been Halloween IV: Part II movie night. An ongoing anthology project of vaguely slasher-adjacent one-shots, infinitely better than those shitty-ass later Michael Myers Daiboukens.

Last time I was in charge it was Triangle, You're Next, and The House Of The Devil, the last of which I think is a bit flat compared to the effervescent fun of the preceding five, but everybody loved it and tbh so do I. Cute "babysitter in Hell" flick with killer tunes and one helluva Saviniesque headsplosion. Bonus points for its director getting PWNED BIGLY in Next, along with many others!

Hellooo wifey! Take that, furries.

Spoiler

Gotta rep Censor as a new pick, and very tentatively Malignant... which I don't consider genuinely excellent through-and-through, tbh, but it's the kind of flatbread with a topping so fierily piquant as to be transformative. Good for a laugh, certainly.

[Lander]

Sometimes I think you're an actual Randar, with the power to furnish this thread with first-rate reviews of legendary horror cinema (and devise mind-blowing Bloodborne control workarounds). Excellent point re: Lynch; JL really is the rare example that reaches Davey Boy's depths of nightmare, without losing its moorings in the process. Nightmares often do have some grounding in one's waking world, after all.

Occupation: Powerup

An odd duck, Lynch - I couldn't stand his work for years thanks to some particularly beret-toting college peers deep-ending me with a showing of Lost Highway, but it's a point of artistic fascination now I've had space to open pandora's box slowly and carefully out of cult earshot. It's cool to see a big-shot director succeed by focusing myopically on the weird and uncomfortable, even if watching some of the more fringe stuff ends up as a mainly intellectual exercise.

Bonus points for the moonshot quiff, and grumpy old bastard reaction to fool youngins besmirching the medium by watching it on their fucking telephone

God, the Silent Hill movies get dunked on mercilessly by the stuff that inspired KCET's game... not meaning to sound surprised, just appalled mostly! See also the vast majority of Mortal Kombat flicks versus the authentic chop-sockies that Boon n' Tobias were driven by.

I never saw the Silent Hill flicks on account of my pousyboi roots, same with the The Milla Jovovitch Movie (feat. Capcom) series. Likely a mercy, though I hear some of the animated Resi adaptations are worth a crack. Seems to me that hollywood's enduring legacy there - shocking nobody - is in the flash and gore, namely the laser corridor and Pyramid Head's Patented Yoink.

And man, chop-socky, there's another subgenre I need to plumb. I love a good bit of martial arts, but so far my pulpy 'sploitation experience has been limited to barbarian movies. (a.k.a. the charmingly roughshod Deathstalker, and its train of coattail-ridin' lead-jugglin', tavern-scene-reusin', ten-pence-budgetin' sequels.)

Out of curiosity, have you seen Lyne's Fatal Attraction? Gave it a long overdue first watch myself, a couple years back. ala The Exorcist, while its overt horrors are long-since blunted by popular ubiquity, they were never its true force; the human toll of the movie remains harrowing.

Really bringing it up as, while JL is the famous KCET inspirer, I was pleasantly surprised to find lots of familiar vibes here, too. Great film regardless.

Ha, nope - pop culture sponging aside, my prior experience of Fatal Attraction is a second-hand account of the boiling pot scene from an extremely horror-averse relative much earlier in life
Obviously not a fair appraisal, though what I've gleaned of it beyond that looks effective - corrupted obsessive love being the potent thematic ingredient that it is.

While I can enjoy Jacob's Ladder, I find the military-themed thread too heavy in conclusion and forced to some "reason" for all of it. Would feel better without. Too political for existenialism. It's like Groundhog Day Phil Conners would actually discover the forces behind his ordeal of betterment. DOG (SH2 ending). Or Hog. Similar with Donnie Darko Director's Cut, which I don't mind much, for I find it's not too heavy-handed.

It's probably the post-SH factor talking (i.e. just being delighted to experience an original quality work in similar framing), but I didn't find the military theme too intrusive during my watch. The top and tail are quite intense, but in retrospect I suppose it's quite structurally integral given the driving factors through the main body of the film.

And ooh, Donnie Darko - now there's one I need to rewatch. Saw that years ago with a stoner sibling, no doubt long before I accrued enough wisdom to effectively fathom it

[GaijinPunch]

So Cobra friggin rules btw. I loved that movie as a kid. I don't even like Stone all that much, but he had a few real bonafides back in the day.

There are loads of people that love it apparently.

Oscar thoughts. I loved EEAAO, but I really didn't see it pulling in that many wins.

Nor did I, but I'm glad it did. It was fucking wacky with tons of great action - I'm glad it got the recognition it deserved. I've been posting a hot take on social media and whatnot. Basically I feel EEAAO is making up for Big Trouble in Little China going under the mainstream radar. Gave us suburban white kids a look into Chinese american lives, and in a decade of jokes that aged super poorly held all the non-white actors in a real great light: I mean Wang Chi is the real hero.

A lot of brutal violence (got an X-rating, initially) was trimmed, and over half an hour was cut on top of that. It's one of those dream workprints that folks have been after for years, but of course it's probably long gone. ^_~

Yeah I've heard about that. Who knows.... I never had that many connections, although I did manage to score an Alien 3 work print before the theatrical version made it to home video. No music and had most of the scenes from the "director's cut" in it.

[NYN]

L0ST RIVER

First time. The sequel to L0ST HIGHWAY. No. Yes. Kidding. It's the prequel. Gone in blind and cold, just like birth, which I feel is rewarding with that kind of film. Best not to chuck tropes around. It's about wind, fire, water, and copper. It features bull men and gore women, one terrific dance scene and karaoke performance, and a sinister shell of what could be. All in magic colour and sound in splendid 90 minutes, and no need to overstay. A delight.

And ooh, Donnie Darko - now there's one I need to rewatch.

I am partial to the D.C., but of course there are the ones who just go with the theatrical instead for a more open-ended interpretation. I find it's too much on the cutting room floor, to "product" a complex tale. Has some tropes (TIME TRAVEL!! and the one at the end), yet somehow I find a way around it. Going to re-watch Southland Tales, the second Kelly, which only confused me initially. Giving it the second round now, maybe I can bring more to it. Let's see.

[xxx1993]

Just saw 65, a pretty fun dinosaur movie.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Director Quentin Tarantino is getting ready to do his final film. If he does the much talked about third Kill Bill sequel, it'd wrap up the Kill Bill mythos once & for all. There are five remaining characters including Beatrice, her daughter, Black Mamba's daughter, Sophie and the blind Daryl Hanna character -- whip up a script with those well established characters and add some some over-the-top fight scenes + endowed with the usual Tarantino speech/vibe throughout = that'd be quite the epic "grand finale" to end his directing career. It'd be be ace to see Uma Thurman reprise her portrayal of Beatrice for ol' times sake.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[GaijinPunch]

Last rumor I read is that it's set in the 70's and the working title is The Critic - many presume it will be about Pauline Kael. Of course, who really knows at this point.

[vol.2]

Didn't Uma and co go all cancel on Quinten? I thought they wouldn't ever work together again, or maybe I'm mixing things up?

Anyway, saw 65 tonight. It was crap, but whatever there was some fun moments. I think the biggest issue was that there just wasn't enough there. It had the bones of a decent movie, but somewhere along the way they forgot to write one. They spent lot of time on establishing a relationship with Adam Driver and his daughter, but it's all extremely topical and boring. The action stuff is the only reason to see it, and that's not even that impressive it's just okay

This was basically a Netflix movie that you wouldn't regret watching at home one night when you wanted something to have on while scarfing down dinner after work. It's not an impressive night out feature film

[emphatic]

Didn't Uma and co go all cancel on Quinten? I thought they wouldn't ever work together again, or maybe I'm mixing things up?

There was a hit piece out on him during Metoo where the "journalist" tried to frame it like Thurman was out for Tarantino's blood and the written piece tried to glue him into the Weinstein narrative because Tarantino had "pressured her" (he is an overly enthusiastic guy after all) to drive the car in the B&W sequence in the beginning of Vol 2 because the lighting was off and the stunt driver had left the set already, which she ended up crashing into a tree and she also got injured in the process.

AFAIK, they've put this behind them and are friendly again.

[vol.2]

AFAIK, they've put this behind them and are friendly again.

Well that's good then. Another Kill Bill would be amazing. Although Bill is all dead and everything now, so I hope he at least calls it something different. Also I hope it doesn't suck. OUATIH was great, but I Django and Hateful 8 were not. Inglorious Bastards was good enough, but failed to hit the heights of his previous work.

[Air Master Burst]

Tarantino never did much for me, but I will always love Natural Born Killers. He works best in limited doses and/or under strict editorial supervision, because when he gets to do his own thing unfettered you end up with shit like that horrifying rant scene in Four Rooms.

Alex Cox did a much better version of "wise-cracking hitmen in suits killing shit" with Straight To Hell that I always try to recommend to Tarantino fans. It's got Joe Strummer, pre-Hole Courtney Love, and a whole bunch of dope 80s punk cameos.

[vol.2]

Straight to Hell is great, but tbh I'm more of a Walker fan. Amazing Strummer original ST, and Ed Harris absolutely kills it!

Yeah, I agree QT is a weird egg. Some of his movies I actively dislike (Reservoir Dogs, Hateful 8, Django), but he has a few that will always stick with me. Pulp Fiction just hit perfectly when it came out in the theaters. I can see how it wouldn't feel nearly as visceral at this point because it's basically been absorbed into pop culture, but it was special in 1994. I don't think I saw another new film that had as much impact on me until Boogie Nights came out

I don't like any of his other films as much as I like that one, but I think Once Upon a Time is excellent, and the Kill Bill movies are super fun to watch and absolutely perfect background fodder for a Sat afternoon BBQ

Natural Born Killers is amazing, but Stone has his paws all over that one, much more even than True Romance, which makes sense as the script was heavily retooled. Still, it does have those super-meta pop culture nods that you see in QTs other work, but they are transformed in Stone's hands into something almost like Verhoeven, but a lot darker. Rodney Dangerfield really steals the show

[BIL]

I really liked Hateful 8, even the super-indulgent long cut. I love wickedly treacherous thrillers with the intimacy of stage performance. Reservoir Dogs for roughly the same reason, and David Mamet's Glengarry Glenn Ross.

That said, H8 also featured a scene that underlines my distaste for Tarantino himself, the smashing of that antique guitar as some auto-analingual "statement." I'd prefer it had been his jaw. Guy has always come across as an inverse Joss Whedon, a smarmy dork with an autofellating hardon for diarrhoeal quipping. Tarantino dialogue via the medium of Vinnie Vincent, just blathering shite.

That said, I'll watch any Tarantino film before so much as glancing at a Whedon one. Loved Django and Basterds as well, which seemed to rein in his "lmao imma cool gangster, kids!" shtick in favour of brutal SPLOITATIONFORCE.

[Air Master Burst]

That said, I'll watch any Tarantino film before so much as glancing at a Whedon one. Loved Django and Basterds as well, which seemed to rein in his "lmao imma cool gangster, kids!" shtick in favour of brutal SPLOITATIONFORCE.

Joss Whedon mostly sucks but I'd rate Alien Resurrection, Titan A.E., and Cabin in the Woods over any of Tarantino's stuff except Natural Born Killers.

(Whedon also apparently helped write The Quick and the Dead, which also smokes anything Tarantino's done, but he didn't get credited and Raimi obviously did a lot of the heavy lifting there so I don't know if it counts)

I think Tarantino finally gave up on his dream of becoming an honorary black person (as in, he REALLY wants to be able to drop n-bombs without consequence) once he realized Sam Jackson doesn't speak for everyone.

[BIL]

Had no idea about The Quick And The Dead! Makes sense in hindsight with Sharon Stone's character. Although as you say, it must've clearly had some stern management - it's been forever, but I don't remember any of his trademark analgesic smarm. Pretty unflinchingly bleak movie, IIRC. A woman gunfighter is a hell of a lot more plausible than his usual 110lb waif backfisting 225lb SEALs through plate glass, and Gene Hackman is an even meaner SOB than he was in Unforgiven (where he was really more of a well-meaning but hopelessly brutish idealist, imo).

Also, god damn does poor Keith David get it bad in that one Now that's a Raimiesque way to go

EDIT: Well, maybe not. Ugly but instant. He could've been left mortally wounded and spent days dying in delirious septic agony, perhaps after enduring the nightmare of antique surgery. I suppose hoss did him a solid, albeit in spectacularly violent fashion!

[lilmanjs]

The Last Emperor
My goodness did I forget how good this movie is and my goodness does the Arrow 4K look stunning as heck! Also always a win when Ryuichi Sakamoto gets to play a character who goes on a rant and basically calls the emperor a cuck. Beautiful music, beautiful shots and unlike the Criterion release, is in the original aspect ratio!