Movies you've just watched

[Vexorg]

The Mothman Prophicies: **1/2

2002 suspense film based on true events/urban legend about a Mothman creature that foretells impending disaster infesting the town of Point Pleasant West Virginia, and tied into a real life disaster that happened in the town during the 1960s (although set in contemporary times for when the movie was made. ) Consists mostly of Richard Gere slowly going crazy (and yet somehow maintaining perfectly groomed hair the entire time) and two hours of generalized impending doom, with lots of pretentious camera work and a script that the writers obviously weren't being paid by the word for. Pretty average overall (52% on Rotten Tomatoes, which seems about right.

[Zen]

Agree with the criticism but I quite enjoyed the feeling of inescapable eeriness that the film gave off, despite its failings.

[GaijinPunch]

I recall it being quite creepy without any gore factor, which I find commendable.

[Zen]

The Witch

One of the most overrated films I've ever seen in my life.

Well God Damn!
How did I miss this positively nude review?

You are in error, sir.
This film was a beauty, my man. It reeks of the Malleus Maleficarum.
The fine line between repressed sexuality and the darkest of supernatural imaginings, is evoked onscreen with magnificent grasp of the subject by Robert Eggers.
And that ending . . . . sublime

It grieves me to point out once more, Skykid, that your discernment of late is . . . wanting

[PC Engine Fan X!]

All this talk about Neil Blamcamp got me to finally get around to watching his short movies.

A lot of gruesome sci fi stuff. One major problem in a couple of them is that they try to cram too much information and backstory into too small of a container. Still, you can do much worse.

Zygote

My favorite of the bunch, because it isn't suffocated with exposition. One clean 20 minute long narrative. A simple Alien-esque romp in a derelict office on some moon or something.

Rakka

The thingy he shot starring Lady Weaver. A more modern style V for Visitor style alien invasion flick.

It has a lot of good stuff, but really could use a lot more running time to let it all breathe.

Firebase

Dr.Manhattan in the Vietnam War. Don't really like this one.

Cooking With Bill

Excellent 90's style infomercials where they try to sell you crap you don't need. One fan theory is that Bill is trapped in hell and has to spend eternity hosting this accursed show for the amusement of Satan. Secretly is the best thing to have happened in 2017.

Bad President (Trailer)

Supposedly this hasn't been released yet because this was made before the 2015 election season, and wasn't meant to be some mirror projection of the future.

I'd have to say that Neil Blomkamp's Zygote short is first-rate in terms of overall pacing and story. It leads the audience to sort through the "backstory as to how it all began" as a series of experiments conducted on an "off-world" planet. The actual experimental facility is quite huge and spacious giving it that trademarked Blomkamp stylized visual aesthetics (it has it in spades quite easily). Would certainly make for a slick full-length film if it ever gets "greenlit". The alien creature is quite interesting in what it's entirely comprised of. Even famed Weta Workshops lent their creative talent and special EFX wizardry to make Zygote a reality (they usually reserve that type of stuff for the bigger budget films though). If you look at the futuristic rifle prop used, it's kinda akin of that of the ol' Nerf Stampede dart gun (sort of) but with further embellishments indeed (not to mention that it's been further aged and weathered for that "used & gritty" look). Gotta give proper kudos to actress Dakota Fanning for her portrayal in it -- top notch sci-fi/horror hybrid short film nevertheless (but it seems all the attention is focused on her younger sister, actress Elle Fanning, these days -- Neon Demon comes to mind).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Skykid]

The Witch

One of the most overrated films I've ever seen in my life.

Well God Damn!
How did I miss this positively nude review?

You are in error, sir.
This film was a beauty, my man. It reeks of the Malleus Maleficarum.
The fine line between repressed sexuality and the darkest of supernatural imaginings, is evoked onscreen with magnificent grasp of the subject by Robert Eggers.
And that ending . . . . sublime

It grieves me to point out once more, Skykid, that your discernment of late is . . . wanting

Not in this case fella. The Witch is a well made, incredibly flawed movie. The production design was fine, the angle was fine, and the serious take on witchcraft was splendid. Ana Taylor-Joy gave another decent performance, and the mother wasn't bad.

The problem is, beyond often unintelligible dialogue, the film's pacing and structure is poorly handled. It fails to engage beyond a materialistic level of intrigue. The plot points don't go beyond extremely basic horror tropes, and the element of repressed sexuality is not examined in enough depth to have a proper impact or outcome. Every time it seems like it's about to kick into gear, it drops back again. And that's not to say the speed of the film is an issue. 2001 is molasses slow and gripping throughout - the problem is that the story and development of the protagonists don't ever move anywhere with any kind of purpose. It's meandering but vague. For lack of a better word, it's boring.

Coupled with that, the performance of the father was rather weak and I felt like Taylor-Joy jarred with the rest of the cast somehow. The ending? It was predictable rather than satisfying. There was no momentum ever so I wouldn't be able to say it was either twist-worthy, climatic or eye-opening. Like the rest of the movie, it just 'was', in a very basic way.

I feel like it was a film with huge potential, but was badly handled and the script needed several reworks. It's absolutely not worth the accolades it received critically.

[Zen]

"incredibly flawed", "One of the most overrated films"
Very harsh. Perhaps too harsh.

Taylor-Joy certainly was distinct but I felt this added to what she is inferred as being, within the context of the story.
I don't remember the fathers performance as being particularly off but the very basic patriarchal role fitted in well, as another element in the girls imagination-less, brutal tedium.

the element of repressed sexuality is not examined in enough depth to have a proper impact or outcome.

If it was examined any more, it would have had him fucking her onscreen and the impact/outcome of it was, of course, the ending.

As for the ending; it is perhaps not as obvious as it seems. Maybe it was just my interpretation but the viewer was given no closure; were you shown the truth, or her psychotic break into sinister fantasy?

Spoiler

"Wouldst thou like the taste of butter and pretty dress? Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?" Was this Daddy, or Old Nick doing the tempting?

This, I thought, perfectly finished the film and put the viewer into that Schrodinger's Cat-like zone, that state of mind so essential to "crossing the threshold". In a word, "Witch".

I don't know that it is entirely fair to judge this film solely in a classical mode of film analysis, given that it magnificently triumphs in other areas.
That is to say, where would we be, artistically, if we stuck rigidly to structure?
In the balance, I think it deserves most of its praise.

[lilmanjs]

Project A (Hong Kong Rescue release)
One of the classics of HK cinema I guess. I still enjoy the sequel more as it has a better storyline. Either way, this looks fantastic if you watch the Japanese print that is one of the 3 versions included, and is the one that got the most remastering work done as noted by the special feature on disc 2. The Training montage to make them into police officers is still one of the funniest bits in a Chan movie to date, and the slow motion stuff isn't overused.

[Vexorg]

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets: *1/2

The best word I can think of to describe this movie is that it's bloated. There's just so much unnecessary filler that it pretty much smothers the few interesting parts. Out of a run time over 2:15, it spends at least an hour completely off in the weeds doing nothing to move the plot forward. Even the title is bloated.

It also feels like a movie that can't decide which movie it's trying to rip off- I mean, borrow from so it spends most of its runtime ripping off bits and pieces of one movie after another, and not doing a particularly good job of hiding this fact.

[Xyga]

^ Valerian shouldn't have been ported to film in any case, an even bigger issue than Besson's inability to make decent movies anymore, is that it doesn't fit the format and most audiences it targeted.

Nobody outside a restricted and rather aged European audience actually knows the comic, which the movies refers to constantly but very clumsily and badly (it's specifically quite retro franco-belgian 'school' type, which few Americans in particular know in depht and fancy), the plot's a kind of rewrite of a volume with bits of references to others in the series, the tone and role of charaters is also altered, so if the educated audience didn't like it there was no way it was going to be any relatable and enjoyable for anyone else in the damn world.

Regarding the ripoffs you can say that in terms of script and filming methods, but hardly for the largest part of the contents that are original, Valerian is among the precursor works of ye olde pulp sci-fi in comic form, at least on the Euro side, it premiered in the 60's while in America there was fucking Flash Gordon, Valerian was a bit ahead taking inspiration from frankly higher quality sci-fi literature. A later a franchise like Star Wars for instance has shamelessly riped off ideas from Valerian.

Anyway this wasn't film material, certainly not for a worldwide audience, and definitely not to be handled by an idiot like Besson.
Effective formula for a failure.

[Skykid]

I don't remember the fathers performance as being particularly off but the very basic patriarchal role fitted in well

He's an average actor. Looked right but didn't quite have the chops or internal power to do the role justice.

If it was examined any more, it would have had him fucking her onscreen and the impact/outcome of it was, of course, the ending.

Although the implication is there, I'm not sure it's handled with as much poignancy as you interpreted. It's subtle and interesting, occasionally misleading, and again, a perfectly fine subtext that sadly does nothing to embolden the film as a piece of work to be reckoned with. I don't agree with you that the line you placed in spoilers is anything to do with the father.

It's not the theme, the subtext or the plot that I have issues with anyway; it's the structuring of the film, the motion, the pacing and the placing of events. The narrative lacks detail and the plotting hasn't enough nuance to be genuinely engaging except in sporadic moments that are wedged between scenes that don't do enough exploration of the opportune subject matter (or subtext) to occupy its audience.

I don't know that it is entirely fair to judge this film solely in a classical mode of film analysis, given that it magnificently triumphs in other areas.
That is to say, where would we be, artistically, if we stuck rigidly to structure?

That's neither here nor there. It is entirely fair to judge every film within its remit, without exemption, whether it's Stallone frying Vietnamese people or Tippi Hedren fighting off the shadows of her mind. Whichever class it falls into, it has to achieve a basic level of engagement and entertainment, regardless of how cerebral that entertainment is. The Witch isn't without a brain, and has a level of artistry - but it's subdued in the wrong places for the wrong reasons, and that's why it didn't work for me. It's missing beats.

[Zen]

Downsizing (2017) - Alexander Payne

Fair warning;
This film has some heavy-handed social justice signalling.
My review has some critique of this fact. It is, what it is.


I like Payne's About Schmidt (2002) and Nebraska (2013).
Downsizing had a few promising signs earlier on, teasing existential comedy but went nowhere meaningful.

Where Payne decided to concentrate on the more cynical motivations for his characters choices, the film had some momentum. It then turns into a loosely sewn patchwork quilt of quirky tedium.
For example; I felt that Payne was toying with the bones of a interesting commentary on the mindset of a skewed environmentalist ideology but it all kind of went to mush.

Diversity.
I'm starting to strongly suspect that Blomkamp, Damon and now Payne are being intentionally ridiculous on this topic and are actually making fun out of "Liberals".
The editing of token diversity in the Norwegian, elite scientist camp was cringey and forced.
If Payne was concerned with virtue signalling, he should perhaps have endeavoured to be more aware of his decent into very questionable caricature with regards lead actress, Hong Chau.

As for "THE WALL" and "voting rights" . . . I'm not gonna even start on that!

So much "current year" kumbaya and yet, Mr. Payne elevates Matt Damon, to the status of "white saviour" of his fable.
Payne, if you can wrap your head around this one, even has Damon physically carry the Vietnamese martyr, Ngoc Lan Tran, piggy-back style for quite a few too many scenes.
Some form of unintentional metaphorical projection on the part of "ally", comrade Payne? I'm having a hard time believing he can be this clueless.

Past the mid point, the whole affair took on the air of Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) and failed just as miserably.

At its core, this was a story about a man who moved from unconsciously serving life on its terms, to serving life purposefully, on his own terms. Still serving. Still a slave.
By the end, I felt positively communised.

[neorichieb1971]

The VVitch was boring as Skykid said. If there was any message in that movie I lost it, my engagement does not reach notch 10 on the potentiometer when nothing but narration happens throughout the whole movie. It started well and went nowhere.


Valierian on the other hand I thought was engaging and entertaining. It had a "Stargate" vibe to it, the aliens were all interesting and some of the "gaming" attributes carried across well. I personally wish more movies had no well known cast, spent more time away from the main characters and built a story on an education of the world it is based. I was expecting a more "Star Wars" approach here mind, but the Avatar/Stargate/Matrix/VR tech thing worked as well for me. Although it did spend time in the weeds, I rather enjoyed being in the weeds.

[copy-paster]

War of the Worlds (2005)

Watched this with my mom and lil bro, It's my 4th time rewatch. Aside from some problems (pacing issues on second basement scene, Tripods came from the ground, and the ending), I'd say it's a terrific movie with good depiction of family situation and paranoia of alien invasion.

Interestingly the very best scene of the movie weren't involved by the Tripods (first basement, river, carjacking, burning train). 9yo Fanning's acting was terrific at best since the boy from The Sixth Sense.

[soprano1]

The Talk Of The Town (1942)
Funny and critical movie with Cary Grant, who played it cool all the way. Not an amazing movie, but definitely worth watching.

[BrianC]

The Talk Of The Town (1942)
Funny and critical movie with Cary Grant, who played it cool all the way. Not an amazing movie, but definitely worth watching.

I haven't seen that one, but I saw another movie with Cary Grant and Jean Arthur, Only Angels Have Wings, which I enjoyed quite a bit. Despite the name, it's not an inspirational comedy movie (for something like that with Cary Grant, I recommend The Bishop's Wife). This one is about an air freight company in a South American trading port. It also has a memorable appearance of Rita Hayworth. It was also a bit darker than I expected, which was not a bad thing.

[GaijinPunch]

Heathers [1988]

Seeing that this is getting the Fargo treatment (anthology TV series based on/redone/whatever) the original I decided it was time to expose the girlfriend to this one. She pretty much hated it. I still think it's an unpolished gem. Nobody gives a particularly outstanding performance, although some of the writing is excellent. (Pretty sure this is the first time we hear a girl reference her dick in a major motion picture). Full points for originality, and in the end, it is pretty fucking hilarious. The 80's fashion... amazing.

Anywho, reserving judgement on the updated version. I'm not in high school anymore, but if it shits on teens for being on their phones too much then I'm all for it. It does look like it's more of a reteiling of the first story though.

[Vexorg]

Treasures of the Wreck of the Unbelievable:

Not a movie per se, but it's a feature length "documentary" that accompanied a poorly received Damien Hurst exhibition in Venice. It recently popped up on Netflix and has been generating buzz on the Internet, both good and bad. Comments in spoiler text because it's hard to discuss otherwise:

Spoiler

Basically, it treats the art pieces shown in the exhibition as treasures of ancient origin,, retrieved from the site of a shipwreck dating back to the Roman Empire, and shows a full scale expedition to discover and retrieve them. It's clear that someone threw a ton of money at this just to create a plausible fiction around the artworks and then destroys it, basically rendering itself moot.

I went into this already knowing it was fictitious from the start, but I've seen a lot of people angered by the "gotcha" reveal of the fakery at the end. That said, I suspect few people could get to the end of it and not suspect something was up (The part where people were easily carrying allegedly solid gold statues that would have weighed hundreds of pounds each if real probably would have been the part I would suspect something is up)

In the end, it's a slickly produced bit of ego stroking nonsense that relies heavily on trying to convince people it's real while doing little to convince anyone of that fact.

[Mischief Maker]

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Besides Deadpool, this is the only one of the Fox X-Men movies I've seen and it's better than the Avengers.

The plot makes perfect sense, the villains' motivations are clear, I don't have to watch 17 prequel films to be able to follow along, and when you get the fight scenes where characters are combining their powers it's something that flows from the story (they need every edge they can get against the killer robots) as opposed to Avengers' blatant fanservice, (Omigawd! Captain America is using his shield to bounce an Iron Man beam into a generic alien to show they're working together, even though Iron Man could have easily aimed five degrees to the right and eliminated the need for Cap's shield entirely.)

Too bad they've been gobbled up by Disney.

[Vexorg]

Days of Future Past was one of the better X-Men movies, but I've never been all that impressed with any of them. When they're good they're decent, when they're bad they're horrendous (Apocalypse). Then again I've never cared much for the whole grimdark thing, and while these aren't as bad as the DC Murderverse movies they still spend a lot of time wallowing in it.

Even Deadpool I found more depressing than entertaining. For something that is supposed to be a comedy movie it sure spent a lot of time wallowing in misery...

[emphatic]

Heathers [1988]

I LOVE MY DEAD, GAY SON!

[soprano1]

I haven't seen that one, but I saw another movie with Cary Grant and Jean Arthur, Only Angels Have Wings, which I enjoyed quite a bit.

Just finished watching it too. Jean and Rita were pretty hot. The movie was quite enjoyable.

[BrianC]

I like some of the X-Men movies (including Days of Future Past), but the team in them isn't quite the same as better X-Men comics. I liked those moments in the comics where Colossus and Wolverine did that fastball special and when Nightcrawler and Wolverine had a chat about how Wolverine felt about killing.

[soprano1]

Charade (1963)
Wonderful Technicolour mystery/romance movie with a cast to die for (Audrey and Cary are perfect here). It was directed by Stanley Donen, but it oozes Hitchcock all over.
It's also, weirdly, a public domain movie, since Universal apparently published it with an invalid copyright notice.

Spoiler

[BrianC]

Charade (1963)
Wonderful Technicolour mystery/romance movie with a cast to die for (Audrey and Cary are perfect here). It was directed by Stanley Donen, but it oozes Hitchcock all over.
It's also, weirdly, a public domain movie, since Universal apparently published it with an invalid copyright notice.

Spoiler

I enjoyed it too. I'm glad there have been a couple re-mastered Blu-ray releases. I went for the cheaper one over the Criterion, but it was still a good print and includes the digital with it.

Arsenic and Old Lace is another good one with Cary Grant. The odd thing is that it was directed by Frank Capra, who doesn't usually do macabre comedies. Too bad it's not available in HD. One character in that movie, Johnathan Brewster, while well acted, made me wonder if Boris Karloff played him in the original production. Sure enough, he did!

[drauch]

All fine films. Cary's mah fav dude around. His most underrated in my book is Holiday and People Will Talk. I wish he would have done more with Jean; she always has such a good presence. I especially like her in The Devil and Miss Jones, which helps from my lengthy stint in retail. Not to be confused with the porno The Devil in Miss Jones, although I guess that would have been pretty interesting, too.

[EmperorIng]

I decided to "treat" myself to Carnosaur and Carnosaur 2, back to back. Extinction is a thing of the past!

It's funny that for two Roger Corman dino monster movies, the dinosaurs are easily the worst things about them. Well I mean, they're adorable as rubber muppets and toys cheaply shot at forced perspective to make them look bigger, but man, what a waste.

What's wasted in Carnosaur 1: a bleak atmosphere and setting that only grows more and more oppressive as the movie wears on. I mean, the movie takes itself seriously enough ('enough' being relative) to have a dirge-like main theme. Constant text updates letting you know the "infection per million of cells" steadily climb up give you a real sense of hopelessness as the small town doesn't realize just how much they're screwed. Especially as they innocuously touch each other, hug each other, eat together, sleep together... all until it's too late. Pretty harsh stuff! Diane Ladd's mad scientist hates humanity and has engineered a means of wiping them out. I like that if you pay attention, you can actually infer a lot about the life of the main character, the security guard "Doc" from his dialog and home. A scribbled out diploma with the words "AND DO NO HARM" on it, how he refers to an "incident," and how he somehow knows enough to talk shop about viruses and anti-viral injections with crazy Ladd. A lazy viewer would say "duh how he know all dis" but me, I'm like "aaahh, I get the gist!" His romantic foil doesn't do much, but by the time she's served her "purpose" in the plot things have arguably spun out of control and past the point of no return. Great gore! though done by cheap rubber dino toys. And of course a dinosaur c-section Alien chestburster rip-off! The ending is a real downer and apocalyptic in scope; I didn't think a b-movie by Corman had the balls to end with such little hope for humanity.

Carnosaur 2 is a ripoff of Aliens, and has far less dinosaurs than in Carnosaur. Or at least less screen-time, which really cuts into the enjoyment. Which is a shame, because it copies one of the most important things from Aliens which is: try to develop a cast with distinct personalities that you end up liking. This is in big contrast to say, Prometheus of Alien Covenant, who have nobody casts you don't care about. The 6 mercenaries - sorry, I mean "repair crew" (that just dress and act like mercenaries) - sent in to fix a desert base that has been unknowingly destroyed by mutant dinosaurs have more heart and charm than Ridley Scott's late masturbation efforts. Truth be told, it doesn't do anything as well as Aliens, especially the character development, but I like that they made the effort and can appreciate the attempt. Also: watch this movie to have the shock of having no clue who will live or die. It "subverted my expectations" of what happens in a direct-to-video monster/slasher flick. Watch Carnosaur 2 to find out who actually survives... Carnosaur 2! Contrast again with Alien Covenant, where I knew who was going to die and live by the first 2 minutes of the movie. OK, I am overselling this point a little bit. You do know for the most part. But that little tiny bit of surprise really caught me... by surprise!

They're not 'good' movies, but both have elements of great movies: the first having a strong plot and world-building, and the second having a lot of dependable character actors (John Savage, Cliff De Young and a wonderfully hammy Rick Dean). Maybe it's time to finish out the Carnosaur "trilogy"?

[soprano1]

Bryan and drauch, you guys spoil me too much.

[Skykid]

Heathers [1988]

Seeing that this is getting the Fargo treatment (anthology TV series based on/redone/whatever) the original I decided it was time to expose the girlfriend to this one. She pretty much hated it. I still think it's an unpolished gem. Nobody gives a particularly outstanding performance, although some of the writing is excellent. (Pretty sure this is the first time we hear a girl reference her dick in a major motion picture). Full points for originality, and in the end, it is pretty fucking hilarious. The 80's fashion... amazing.

Anywho, reserving judgement on the updated version. I'm not in high school anymore, but if it shits on teens for being on their phones too much then I'm all for it. It does look like it's more of a reteiling of the first story though.

Watched this again a little while ago and thought it was altogether awful. Your GF is right. Aged terribly.

[Zen]

Charade (1963)
Wonderful Technicolour mystery/romance movie with a cast to die for (Audrey and Cary are perfect here). It was directed by Stanley Donen, but it oozes Hitchcock all over.
It's also, weirdly, a public domain movie, since Universal apparently published it with an invalid copyright notice.

Spoiler

I enjoyed it too.

All fine films.

https://youtu.be/0o8SRUDAdyA?t=78