Movies you've just watched

[drauch]

Oh yeah. I'd say following Wild Bunch, Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and Cross of Iron are my tops. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and Straw Dogs are also damned good. The only film of his I don't like is Convoy. It's goofy, which is fine, but it feels like it goes on forever, endlessly blasting the saga of Rubber Duck do do doo doo. If I'm gonna be watching Americana semi-truck films i'd rather be watching Duel, White Line Fever, or hanging with Burt and the Bandit. YEEEEEHAWWWWWWWW!

[soprano1]

Oh yeah. I'd say following Wild Bunch, Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and Cross of Iron are my tops. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and Straw Dogs are also damned good. The only film of his I don't like is Convoy. It's goofy, which is fine, but it feels like it goes on forever, endlessly blasting the saga of Rubber Duck do do doo doo. If I'm gonna be watching Americana semi-truck films i'd rather be watching Duel, White Line Fever, or hanging with Burt and the Bandit. YEEEEEHAWWWWWWWW!

Thank you for the recommendations, and welcome back. While we never talked before, I can tell you I saw many posts asking you to come back in the past months.

[drauch]

Thanks dood . Hope ya enjoy more Peckinpah. He was one of the greats.

[soprano1]

Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
Christ, pretty brutal shit. The grain effect from the era made it even better looking. The last half hour was an endless spiral of madness.

Cross Of Iron (1977)
The brutal side of the Eastern Front well shown here. My favourite scene was the general visiting the maimed soldiers, taking the meat and wine for the other officers, and telling those soldiers that vegetables are good for them.

[BryanM]

Mother of god, 14 years it took for The Incredibles 2. I seriously thought it was cancelled.

[Skykid]

Logan Lucky


I genuinely think Soderberg is a massively overrated director - and by that I mean in direct relation to anyone thinking he has talent. He's made a couple of passable and mildly entertaining movies, but generally he's pretty hacky and his continuity editing is sort of poor and confused.

Logan Lucky is not worth the 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. It's watchable, thin, contrived, amounts to very little, and is mostly dull owing to poor pacing and tons of dead air. There are a couple of funny moments in it but far less than the trailer would have you believe. Watchable just, but when it's done you may feel as though you could have killed time better with something else.

[GaijinPunch]

Green Room

Yowza... from the preview I didn't think the story didn't pull me in like I thought Blue Ruin would, but I quite enjoyed it. I guess I didn't think it would be quite as brutal as it was.

[GaijinPunch]

I genuinely think Soderberg is a massively overrated director - and by that I mean in direct relation to anyone thinking he has talent. He's made a couple of passable and mildly entertaining movies, but generally he's pretty hacky and his continuity editing is sort of poor and confused.

I think I've only seen a few things he's directed... only one I found intriguing was Contagion, mainly for the scope of the cast, and the body count. Nothing stellar but I found it enjoyable. Not sure I'd call him hacky... he just seems to appeal to a pretty targeted audience, which would be "the general public".

[GaijinPunch]

The Trip to Spain

Quite funny. If you enjoy semi pointless banter it's right up your alley. I could see people who take photos of their food as being frustrated.

[soprano1]

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)
What the hell, Bob Dylan?! That aside, pretty standard western goodness from Peckinpah.

[xxx1993]

Finally got around to seeing The Dark Tower and Captain Underpants at a relative’s house. I thought The Dark Tower was pretty good, actually! Who cares about Gerald’s Game and It? The Dark Tower has been and always will be Stephen King’s best work.

[NTSC-J]

Finally got around to seeing The Dark Tower and Captain Underpants

This is why I read all your posts.

[Skykid]

I genuinely think Soderberg is a massively overrated director - and by that I mean in direct relation to anyone thinking he has talent. He's made a couple of passable and mildly entertaining movies, but generally he's pretty hacky and his continuity editing is sort of poor and confused.

I think I've only seen a few things he's directed... only one I found intriguing was Contagion

I thought Contagion was the same aimless flat nothingness that typifies a lot of his work. To that end I'd say he has a hallmark, just not a very interesting one.

[GaijinPunch]

You loved Magic Mike. Admit it.

[WelshMegalodon]

Mother of god, 14 years it took for The Incredibles 2. I seriously thought it was cancelled.

Oh, it's happening? Great to know. The first one is the best Fantastic Four film we've ever had (not to mention the best we can ever expect to have).

In other news, the Snyderverse is dead. Or will be.

[soprano1]

Papillon (1973)
I have to say that even though Henri Charrière made up most of the story portrayed here, it's still a mighty fine one. The setting of a French penal colony in the mid-40's looks grim as hell, as is the effects on the prisoners. McQueen and Hoffman did a good job, I think.

[drauch]

Hell yeah. Papillon rules. I always think of that dark cell and that circle of light as McQueen chops up a centipede with a spoon. Bon appetite!

[BryanM]

Oh, it's happening? Great to know. The first one is the best Fantastic Four film we've ever had (not to mention the best we can ever expect to have).

In other news, the Snyderverse is dead. Or will be.

It really is. It's like the ur example of using something as a base of inspiration and building on or spinning off from that, instead of the gross necrophilia being practiced on things like Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Diablo 2, Alien, etc. It's kind of amazing someone with a soul who is an actual fan of the source materials is ever allowed to make stuff like that, in an industry run by shallow cocaine sex perverts.

The amount of envy these studios have over Marvel's success is funny. Marvel makes mindless feel-good kid movies that can be enjoyed by the entire family/any rando. You can't make a guaranteed money fountain out of grimdark. Not with a total budget of $800 mill a flick.

(Are there even any DC characters the masses likes outside of Batman? ...Hellboy? Dream? Swamp Thing? Seems like a niche. And what the hell is Sony trying to do. I'll just stick to watching Arf vids instead.)

[Skykid]

DC always had that unusual problem; they own the two most famous comic book characters of all time, but the rest of them are lesser in personality and fame than Marvel's rounded all-stars. Not surprisingly it's translated to the film world similarly, but I'd expect them to at least do better with their flagships.

Snyderverse is dead, yes, and with it perhaps DC/Warner's entire angle. Justice League, I imagine, was the one they were pinning their hopes on - but it's bellyflopping at the box office like Ben Affleck being pushed off a diving board.

[Mischief Maker]

I've always heard it told that Marvel has the interesting heroes and DC has the interesting villains.

A Justice League cinematic universe could totally work. Who would have ever thought they'd build a billion dollar franchise centered around Iron Man, fer crying out loud? The Avengers were never Marvel's "A" team.

No, Snyder did Superman completely wrong, as some kind of Ayn Rand Maker who feels burdened by saving the day for all those icky Takers, and who never, ever smiles:

Spoiler

*sigh*

You can't really write your way around that rot, it spreads to all the other characters, from a murderous Batman to a Wonder Woman whose origin story is set in the depressing meatgrinder of WWI.

If there's one thing America NEEDS right now, it's a live action adaptation of All Star Superman:

Spoiler

Build a cinematic universe off THAT!

[Zen]

I genuinely think Soderberg is a massively overrated director -

God, yes. The man has no vision at all.
As GaijinPunch said though, he has a product and he produces.
In fact, as a producer he seems more interesting, based on his choices.

Who would have ever thought they'd build a billion dollar franchise centered around Iron Man, fer crying out loud? The Avengers were never Marvel's "A" team.

It could be argued that they didn't. That in fact, it was Robert Downey Jr who built it.

No, Snyder did Superman completely wrong, as some kind of Ayn Rand Maker who feels burdened by saving the day for all those icky Takers, and who never, ever smiles:

While I agree that getting too heavy with Supes on film is probably a bad Idea, and while I strongly dislike Snyder and some of the choices he made with Superman,
I'm going to say no to your socialist Superman.

Rambling zen story;

Spoiler

Many decades ago, in my mid-teens, there was a sweet hardcore music bar that I used to frequent.
Live bands , epic film nights etc. (first time seeing a lot of Kubrick) anyway, some unknown artist would come after closing and paint trippy murals on much of the walls.
These changed every couple of months.
One that I stared at for quite a while on first seeing it, was an almost life-size painting of Jesus as the Christ in a striking pose - the Superman, taking-off in flight that we all know.
A transparent Superman "s" on his chest and Starry space behind him , the legend read;
"He left.
He could take no more.
He went home."

Kal-El was sent by his father to save "all those icky takers". That's a pretty shitty deal. I can see why he would feel burdened, cant you?

You can't really write your way around that rot, it spreads to all the other characters, from a murderous Batman to a Wonder Woman whose origin story is set in the depressing meatgrinder of WWI.

Agreed that one can be stuck with the tone one starts with but come on now, The Batman dresses up an' shit, as an excuse to murder. Its his thing. Let the man do his thing, I say.
The whole thing will be much more believable.

SPOILER: SHOW


Build a cinematic universe off THAT!

That's not Superman. That's a fucking tampon.

[Ixmucane2]

Justice League

Since the story is set right after the death of Superman, Lex Luthor would have been a far better villain, but evidently an insignificant monster of the week was considered more suitable with a story that clearly cares only about the formation of the JL (where Snyder does a decent job).

Steppenwolf wants to destroy the world because last time he failed and he's quite competitive. A definite step backwards from General Zod who wants to destroy the world to make it a better home for himself, or from Ares in Wonder Woman who wants to destroy mankind to prove we are bad.
Steppenwolf also has a throwaway backstory and horribly neglected associated magical objects: his boxes should be a big deal, on par with the Infinity Gems in Avengers etc. stories, but instead they are a half-forgotten historical curiosity that appears for the first time.

Boring battles, made more boring by the almost trivial strategy of the JL (beating the crap out of poor Steppenwolf).

[soprano1]

Dances with Wolves (1990)
4 hours long (extended edition), but I never got bored. Unfortunately, ended on a sad note.

[Zen]

Charade (1963) - Stanley Donen

First time watching this.
Wondered why I had not seen it long ago and why this isnt shown much.
Simple answer; its bad. Very bad.

Triple A, ensemble cast, Paris in the early sixties, Hepburn modelling hats throughout . . . what went wrong?
Well besides a far too silly script, Cary Grant is fucking woeful in this.
The worst aspects of his "comedy" schtick are on display here.
That fucking shower routine nearly had me turning off the film in exasperated cringe.

This is the type of film that I would normally enjoy, give a lot of slack to and just take it for what it is. Charade, though, gets no leeway because it is a waste of talent, money and time.

Fuck you, Cary Grant!

[BryanM]

A Justice League cinematic universe could totally work. Who would have ever thought they'd build a billion dollar franchise centered around Iron Man, fer crying out loud? The Avengers were never Marvel's "A" team.

I watched both seasons of the animation, and while there were some highpoints, I don't think it can ever be as large as the Marvel films are. (Nor does it have to be. They can make a film for < $150 million and actually turn a profit, for christ's sake.) The Avengers has always had strong sales, oftentimes beating out the X-Men of the day once the 90's kicked in.

You know what comic has completely fallen off a cliff since its hey-day in the 60's? Superman. More interesting stuff has been done using that setup in things like Invincible and Irredeemable (and I guess that one plot in Powers). He's just not an interesting character these days, just a primordial archetype. (I'd argue he's not a good character in any time period, weirdos back then just liked to revel in USian hegemony I guess.)

When's the last time Mickey Mouse ever starred in a Disney film? Sometimes, characters just die.

[BrianC]

When's the last time Mickey Mouse ever starred in a Disney film? Sometimes, characters just die.

There was that recent series of Mickey Mouse shorts on the Disney Channel, which I heard mostly good things about. Unless you coun't Fun and Fancy Free (where one segment was a Mickey Mouse cartoon) and Fantasia (one segment), Mickey Mouse hasn't been in a full length feature Film. Mickey's Christmas Carol, Runaway Brain, and Prince and the Pauper were short films that preceded other movies. There's also that small part in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. MM is still on children's shows, toys, and other things as well. He's far from dead.

[soprano1]

The Graduate (1967)
The first half hour looked like a funny comedy, but the last 20 minutes were crazy as hell.
Great soundtrack, but I'm a fan of Simon and Garfunkel, so I'm biased.

Unforgiven (1992)
Never heard about this western, liked it. Everyone's too old, dumb, or have some faults, making them more human and believable.

[Squire Grooktook]

The Batman dresses up an' shit, as an excuse to murder. Its his thing.

Batman has a code against killing. It's one of the most fundamental aspects of the character.

That's not Superman. That's a fucking tampon.

That innocent idealism, the almost bittersweet fantasy of being able to save someone, is what the character is all about. If you don't like it, then you simply don't like Supes. In that case you're better off sticking with one of the edgy deconstructive knock-offs.

I think it's quite sweet, myself.

[BrianC]

You know what comic has completely fallen off a cliff since its hey-day in the 60's? Superman. More interesting stuff has been done using that setup in things like Invincible and Irredeemable (and I guess that one plot in Powers). He's just not an interesting character these days, just a primordial archetype. (I'd argue he's not a good character in any time period, weirdos back then just liked to revel in USian hegemony I guess.)

I disagree that Superman has fallen off a cliff since the 60s. All Star Superman was everything that was good about Superman rolled up into one mini-series/graphic novel and the 90s series and Justice League/Unlimited were done well. Superman's main comic had solid runs past the 60s as well.

[Zen]

The Batman dresses up an' shit, as an excuse to murder. Its his thing.

Batman has a code against killing. It's one of the most fundamental aspects of the character.

That's not Superman. That's a fucking tampon.

That innocent idealism, the almost bittersweet fantasy of being able to save someone, is what the character is all about. If you don't like it, then you simply don't like Supes. In that case you're better off sticking with one of the edgy deconstructive knock-offs.

I think it's quite sweet, myself.

Bruce Wayne has near unlimited means, to fight injustice.
But fighting injustice is not Bruce Wayne's primary motivation now, is it?
Mr Wayne has to dress up in a bizarre outfit and become the Batman because Mr Wayne is unable to accept what truly drives him. Vengeance.
Not justice. Murderous vengeance.
His "code" is Bruce Wayne running around, flapping his arms and making cartoon noises like the complete madman he is.

When Bale spat venom words, through bared teeth, partial visible face shaking with white rage . . . . that, is The Batman.



And Jesus, (I mean Supes) oh, I get him alright. He is an archetype of the messiah category but don't go getting all sensitive. He is a busy and tired man.

I think it's quite sweet, myself.

Sweet, my arse!
Does he look like he has time for people who choose to become self harming, emo fuckwits?

actual picture of Jesus/Supes

ain't nobody got time for that shit!