Movies you've just watched

[Air Master Burst]

he second half is incredible. It addressed all nits I had with Season 1, went the extra mile with a certain tree rape victim, and turned a loving wink at Evil Dead: Regeneration into a double-feature worthy of an Emmy.
Applause.

If you enjoyed this, just wait until you get to the dinner party episode in season 2 of Chucky.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Have you seen Sleepaway Camp?

Yes, but I don't remember the ending credits being particularly noteworthy.

Well it's that image that got burned into my brain

@2:35 https://youtu.be/_iIk1qUTJa0?si=BrdueTinc2hWwqod

I still gotta check those Pearl movies out

Sleepaway Camp 2 and 3 were filmed back to back and released theatrical within a year apart. Sadly, no fourth Sleepaway Camp sequel was made/filmed. One of the SAC sequels pokes fun at the Freddy Krueger and Jason hockey mask characters during one scene as to parody the horror film genre itself and not take itself too serious when pacing along, story-wise.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Lander]

Prisoners
Hugh Jackman stars as the father of a kidnapped child, with Jake Gyllenhaal as the investigating detective.

Good movie. Heavy. Not one for popcorn and grins, but bloody gripping. Well acted - Jake in a more aggressive and assertive role than usual, and Hugh taking the distraught father and running for the hills with it.
Frankly, I was expecting a hard cut to jazz some 2/3 of the way through, but came out feeling that I had a pretty good grasp of events. Still much to ruminate, however, like a good lasagna with thematic filling.

Spoiler

Specifically, when Loki joins the dots between the maze diagram and the necklace on the corpse in the priest's basement. Full on expected it to slam-end with the implication that a wider paedophile ring was at large, and let the audience draw conclusions from there.

Though in this case I'm glad it didn't; playing out the plotline to full conclusion while still leaving the viewer with a pile of things to think about made it feel like a "proper filmie's film" film, for lack of a better term. Artful in a very traditional sense, where a fully-enumerated tale is the expectation, and pulling that off comprehensively is the trick of it.

And man, what a tapestry of crosstalky, messy, human trouble. Clever how it plays with sympathy and relative monstrousness; making you think the priest could be a raving zealot when he first mentions the "War against God" - always tough to call with those earnestly devout types.

And Keller, good lord. I was wondering if he'd get a full "what have I done?" arc with respect to Alex (the most tragic of all - but still, keep away from children, small animals, and heavy machinery for everyone's safety.) Interesting choice to have him wander into the jaws of a much bigger monster instead, and finally jump from the frying pan to the fire at the very end. More effective, I think - he's somewhat sympathetic to start off with (though my tolerance for the bullheaded and myopically paternal is limited to begin with) but does a sound job of toppling what remains come the halfway point. You're a villain, you're a villain, everyone's a villain!

As an aside, after a certain confrontation between Det. Loki and a particularly creepy perp, I really want to see Gyllenhaal in a mob movie. Reckon he could pull off a fantastic Pesci-style swing between jovial laughs and alright listen WHERE'S MY FUCKIN' MONEY?

If you enjoyed this, just wait until you get to the dinner party episode in season 2 of Chucky.

Chucky has

Spoiler

Don't Hug Me I'm Evil (and Dead), end-to-end asylum horror, but also Having Absolutely None Of It with regards the madhouse schtick

?

I've never given the evil scamp much mind, come to think of it. Or era contemporaries like Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the Thirteenth. Might have to look at changing that.

[Air Master Burst]

I've never given the evil scamp much mind, come to think of it. Or era contemporaries like Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the Thirteenth. Might have to look at changing that.

I have no idea what any of the stuff in the spoiler tag means, but Chucky is probably the best overall franchise of the bunch. Apart from the truly abysmal Child's Play 3 there isn't a dud in the lot. The first 2 are slasher classics up there with the best of the 80s, and once Jennifer Tilly shows up it's just pure magic.

Jason is great (I covered him above), Freddy is also there. I was never a huge Freddy fan, but my understanding is that 6 (Freddy's Dead) is the only truly awful installment in the original franchise.

[NYN]

Friday the 13th Part 2

First. The opening scene may be the most contrived thing I witnessed in terms of tying two flicks together, a strong flavor of afterbirth. Bagged man-boy takes two months to navigate from the woods to some urban area: H0W?? After a more than shaky start, the rest plays it double save. Except the punishment for transgression is replaced with some clear presentation of skin. A skinny blonde goes dipping in the cold lake at night, which could also be viewed as a beer commercial. A gal gets ready for some deep action by changing her panty, leaving the cabin without trousers. Kills are quick, and not every body has to be carved. Almost developing a sense of style when it gets to 3rd act. Survivor Ginny ( ) profits big time being a major for children psychology in her trial of death, and also demonstrates early some primal instinct: "SOMEONE IS IN THE FUCKING R00M!!" A dream again ushers in the ending, once more leaving things mushy though confirming a now formula. To be further exploited...



Friday the 13th Part 3D

First. Saturday the 14th. Cheap: the full climax of Part 2 is the whole opening scene. Cheesy: produced for "3D", it's full of silly set-ups where any object is pushed towards camera, going beyond any subtlety. Doubtful: the group of soon-to-be-victims can't be called friends, since they behave as strangers. Slump: just as the the 2 before, all are killed and 2 walk into it, saying Come on you guys, where are you?. Stretch: before the group killing starts, a biker "gang" of 3 is invented, and killed just as filler. Squeal: the last survivor can't scream. Hair-raising: nearly everyone has to enter the barn for ludicrous excuses, where there is lots of hay yet no animals. Bummer: 2 dreams and no vision. Goalpost: formulation reached, the greed would succeed as long as suckers would pay to see any more. Moral: never call a pond a lake. I think we are done.

[GaijinPunch]

Prisoners
Hugh Jackman stars as the father of a kidnapped child, with Jake Gyllenhaal as the investigating detective.

Curious if you realized this is Denis Villenueve, pre SciFi run. Paul Dano, unmentioned in your review, I thought outdid all of them. If you liked this I highly recommend checking out perhaps his best work: Incendies.

[Lander]

Curious if you realized this is Denis Villenueve, pre SciFi run. Paul Dano, unmentioned in your review, I thought outdid all of them. If you liked this I highly recommend checking out perhaps his best work: Incendies.

Yeah, Villeneuve (in particular, having watched Enemy a few days prior) is what had me expecting a more sudden ending though I don't consider myself too familiar with his directorial style yet.

Dano did a great job; I found Alex more of a subtle character study than Keller and Loki. Effectively unsettling, but with plenty of margin between suspicion and innocent malignment to give the rest of the film the question-raising room it needed to be so effective.

I'm certainly up for more, so Incendies is going on the list. (Which is actually a real list now too, and not just in my head - much better for spontaneous evening watches!)

[GaijinPunch]

I'm certainly up for more, so Incendies is going on the list. (Which is actually a real list now too, and not just in my head - much better for spontaneous evening watches!)

Incendies is a bit more of a journey. It's also in French and Arabic, so, get ready for the subtitles.

Finally, Polytechnique is the only other one of his I can think of, and it's not an easy watch. Basically a story about an incel, which strikes a lot harder these days.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Taken (2008) - no matter how shallow a flick, it lasts for just about as long as is good for my willing suspension of disbelief. Sometimes I cannot believe just for how long some film production people think their popcorn film is good to go. Seriously, movie people - did you watch all of, say, First Blood lately? Do you REALLY think you've got material for a longer action flick this time? Was First Blood too short for your liking, or what? I'm pretty sure the most succesful at box office movies are of "want to see it again" kind. Do these tend to last for over two hours each?
So, Taken at least does not forget what it is any good for.
To everybody displeased with Mad Max sequels, I'd like to recommend The Rover (2014) AGAIN. All resources well spent on this one, some artistry being among them.
I wonder if it's even possible to produce a film pleasant to watch if you don't even enjoy watching films anymore.

[NYN]

Paul Dano, unmentioned in your review, I thought outdid all of them.

As of now, I'll probably not be inclined to ever want to see The Riddler, for I literally ever time I hear of the name. It's the very character I abhor. That said, I re-watched There Will Be BL00D earlier this year, and all I can say is he gets double bill there. The Daffy Duck to Day Lewis' Bugs Bunny performance, in this humble opinion.

[Sumez]

Prisoners
Hugh Jackman stars as the father of a kidnapped child, with Jake Gyllenhaal as the investigating detective.

Good movie. Heavy. Not one for popcorn and grins, but bloody gripping. Well acted - Jake in a more aggressive and assertive role than usual, and Hugh taking the distraught father and running for the hills with it.
Frankly, I was expecting a hard cut to jazz some 2/3 of the way through, but came out feeling that I had a pretty good grasp of events. Still much to ruminate, however, like a good lasagna with thematic filling.

Probably one of my favourite Villeneuve films alongside Enemy. It's just so simple and effecient. The plot twist towards the end is kinda stupid, but I don't think the movie suffers from it. Paul Dano is obviously great, but I was blown away by Hugh Jackman. The man has talent and rarely gets to show it to this extent.

(agreed with Gaijin though, Incendies is also fantastic. I think the only Villeneuve film that didn't really click with me was his Blade Runner)

[Some-Mist]

I remember seeing Prisoners in theater with my mom and sister on Thanksgiving iirc, and my sister absolutely hated it lmao

over the weekend I went and saw the descent in 35mm which was in pristine condition, even if it was the USA ending and not the international cut.

[Air Master Burst]

over the weekend I went and saw the descent in 35mm which was in pristine condition, even if it was the USA ending and not the international cut.

Amazing how the title also perfectly predicts the trajectory of Neil Marshall's career.

I tried watching The Lair a while back thinking "oh cool, he got to redo Dog Soldiers with a real budget!" but holy fuck was it aggressively terrible. I'm pretty sure everything after Doomsday is varying degrees of unwatchable.

What the fuck happened, Neil?

[Some-Mist]

over the weekend I went and saw the descent in 35mm which was in pristine condition, even if it was the USA ending and not the international cut.

Amazing how the title also perfectly predicts the trajectory of Neil Marshall's career.

I tried watching The Lair a while back thinking "oh cool, he got to redo Dog Soldiers with a real budget!" but holy fuck was it aggressively terrible. I'm pretty sure everything after Doomsday is varying degrees of unwatchable.

What the fuck happened, Neil?

I actually haven't seen anything else by neil marshall, but it's good to know I can probably skip past 'em. the descent was one of my favs during high school and it still holds up decently well imo

is dog soldiers worth visiting?

[Air Master Burst]

Dog Soldiers, The Descent, and Doomsday are all great fun. You can probably safely ignore the rest, although I admit I haven't seen Duchess (it does currently hold an impressively bad 14% on RT but I'm not sure it's had a full release yet) or the Halloween anthology movie he did a segment of.

[BIL]

Dog Soldiers is great. I watched it a bit too green and unattuned to its dry black comedy, bounced off me... came back five years later, after much 2000AD, and got what it was going for. B-horror night fixture ever since! Reminds me of a British-made Day Of The Dead (1985) in hindsight, both raucously quotable and legit nasty. Faaack m8! <3 Sean Pertwee.

"I'm in the khazi! I'm in the khaziii!"

[NYN]

My Bloody Valentine

First. Original. Slasher movie, that shows a blue collar approach to the then budding sub-genre. No teeners allowed, always being twenty-somfers. Miners posses enough high energy levels to jump into party mode right after shift end. Party animals and goofs and prankster and romantic lovers and rare showing of hearts. Rather pleasant pace. I watched the then edited-for-R-rating-release, which has special fx kills strongly reduced. It's seldom that I feel that it's for the benefit of it, though a now re-instated version is available. It's just the old tale of what is shown and what only is on the corner of the frame. The full-face-on reaction of a lover to the sprinkling face-fountain of his betrothed is my best example for this. Obviously a sfx can grow silly over some 4 decades, while only being on the horizon of the imagination can cut even closer. Matter of preference one supposes. The thought that they filmed large portions in actual drafty shafts gives me pause to shudder.

[GaijinPunch]

The Life Aquatic

Somewhat shockingly, I've not spent a lot of time with Wes Anderson's catalogue. What I've seen I've enjoyed, and as someone that really digs photography, obviously I appreciate the attention to detail in framing, etc. This feels less like the painting his latter stuff has turned into. Still, the charm is in the awkward dialogue between the characters, and of course the hijinx that ensues. Crazy ensemble cast.

[Sumez]

The Life Aquatic

Somewhat shockingly, I've not spent a lot of time with Wes Anderson's catalogue. What I've seen I've enjoyed, and as someone that really digs photography, obviously I appreciate the attention to detail in framing, etc. This feels less like the painting his latter stuff has turned into. Still, the charm is in the awkward dialogue between the characters, and of course the hijinx that ensues. Crazy ensemble cast.

I too got into his movies kind of late (starting at Moonrise Kingdom). His name wasn't billed as big at the time, so when Royal Tenenbaums and Life Aquatic originally came out I just passed them off as typical run of the mill American family comedies - and I hadn't even heard of his earlier movies. So when I eventually got into his stuff he had already nailed that distinct style that everyone loves to parody.

Anyway what I'm getting at is that ultimately I think after having watching nearly all of them, my two favourite movies of his are Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore. Two movies both co-written by Owen Wilson, and also predating his more famous visual style which I think don't really started until around Life Aquatic. There are moments of it in Tenenbaums, but it's more like individual distinct gags than the constant symetric pastel walls of Grand Budapest Hotel.
You can still easily tell they were made by Wes Anderson, but they don't feel like a Tim Burtonized cliché parody of Wes Anderson like pretty much all his recent movies have become, and I think they are probably the two of his movies with the most genuine heart put into the actual story.
Well, Bottle Rocket qualifies as well, and I shouldn't underestimate the cult fan favourite it's become, but to me it pretty much feels like a blueprint for Rushmore. Plot-wise a very different story, but thematically they are almost the same.

It's interesting seeing old behind the scenes footage or contemporary interviews from Bottle Rocket and Rushmore especially, considering how big all the people involved have become since. They really were passionate indie movie projects. There's a funny-in-hindsight clip of Owen Wilson talking about how he tried to pocket some money by trading his business class plane ticket into coach. And hearing a young Wes Anderson gleefully talk about how they managed to score Bill Murray is completely adorable.

[Lord British]

Finally saw this after hearing about it for so many years, it freaked me out

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Yes, "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" is a cult-classic with the camera following characters (in real time) in the cutaway scenes of the internal rooms of Zissou's ship (with extremely tight quarters space-wise).

The French Dispatch movie has a scene with the camera trailing some characters frozen in action pose (from a side viewpoint) during an intense and frantic prison gun-battle action scene really enhances the chaos of it all (borrowing a bit from the 1999 released The Matrix flick with it's famously innovative and groundbreaking "bullet-time" cinematography indeed).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[NYN]

Crash

First. The Cronenberg one. You know how in other entertainment, vehicles are those juvenile status bars, or how car chases seem to lead somewhere relevant, or car races posses some actual merit, or how old-timer transport through time-stream into a fantasy of the past, or sport cars are the right surroundings for a cool blonde, etc? Yeah, this is none of the above. I can't say without any certainty if the scenes depicted are "just" a silly fantasy or the real deal happening. Which is the best of feels. To call the sex shown here sexy would be a misnomer, with all the voyeuristic fun of a medical examination. What else I cannot be clear on, is if it is meant to be "sad" when a loose group of people gets off on watching crash test videos together as if it were porn. Not getting to the point of any moral dilemma where clichè dictates that the freaks turn instigators, just to present a case for what is right and wrong. No exit ramp for this, only the inevitable drive. A film about very basic human needs that can be as disturbing as this one, is something one can't see every once in a while. Don't cover your eyes here, watch it happen.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The interquel of Alien Romulus is finally available via streaming today in both HD & 4K formats, 10/14/2024, clocking at one hour and 58 minutes in overall alloted running time -- the catch is, it costs $29.99 usd to view it via streaming though (totally worth it imho). It'll be released on Blu-Ray, 4K UHD and digital d/l on 12/3/2024 -- the LE Steelbook variant Alien Romulus bundled set will be available on the same aforementioned release date as well with plenty of extras to check out/gloss over (including deleted scenes).

The background scenery shown in AR is spot-on with a retro-throwback nod towards Alien's iconic visual BG scenery circa 1979. The perpetual drinking bird toy/prop shown on-board the Nostromo space mining freighter in Alien, is present in AR as a cool & memorable visual nod/call-back, indeed.

Weta Workshop, based out New Zealand, was in charge of developing the pulse rifle weaponry shown in AR (with a maximum load of 450 rounds). "The Company" aka Weyland-Yutani mega-conglomerate (joint collaborative venture between two American & Japanese corporations merged into one entity) is still up to "no good" in AR -- the famous slogan of WY's "Building Better Worlds" (in reference to WY's capability of terraforming planets suitable for human life) makes a cameo appearance (it was originally featured in the 1986 Aliens sequel).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Vexorg]

Twister (1996): **1/2

I went into this movie expecting a story about people contorted into compromising positions by the whims of a capricious cardboard spinner, but instead got a fairly average mid-Nineties rom-com, chock full of SGI era CG effects. Bill Harding (played by Bill Paxton,) In an effort to get his ex-wife Jo (Helen Hunt) to sign his divorce papers so he can marry his designated third-wheel fiancee Melissa (Jami Gertz, who if you believe random articles on the Internet got sick of acting shortly after this and decided to become a multi-billionaire instead) but instead the three get roped into an unplanned road trip in his shiny new blatant product placement truck, where along with the standard ragtag group of quirky side characters they crash Jo's aunt's house and take all her food, wreck several vehicles, watch The Shining at a drive-in theater but can't be bothered to stay for the whole show, and generally try to outsmart the designated bad guys (you know they're evil because they got corporate funding!) along the way. Of course the script also demands that they gradually fall back in love, have the usual third act breakup, and the producers somehow have to find a way to get the new fiancee out of the picture so they can finally make up and decide to stay together after all.

Also, there's a number of tornadoes along the way. I think that's supposed to be a relevant detail, but I'm not entirely sure why. Also, Hollywood ran out of ideas again so they apparently rehashed this recently.

[Lord British]

I like lists! This probably needs a little tinkering here and there, but this is pretty accurate and up to date with my opinions. You can click on the hyperlinks to see the movies ranked for each director. Feel free to disagree.

My Top 30 Directors:

Spoiler

1. Stanley Kubrick (13) Ranked
2. Federico Fellini (13) Ranked
3. David Lynch (14) Ranked
4. Robert Altman (12) Ranked
5. The Archers/Michael Powell (10) Ranked
6. Luis Buñuel (16) Ranked
7. Ingmar Bergman (14) Ranked
8. Akira Kurosawa (13) Ranked
9. Mike Leigh (13) Ranked
10. Martin Scorsese (22) Ranked
11. Rainer Werner Fassbinder (12) Ranked
12. Michelangelo Antonioni (8) Ranked
13. Paul Thomas Andersen (9) Ranked
14. Joel Coen (17) Ranked
15. Masaki Kobayashi (6) Ranked
16. David Lean (6) Ranked
17. Alfred Hitchcock (16) Ranked
18. Yasujirō Ozu (8) Ranked
19. Brian DePalma (12) Ranked
20. Rob Reiner (9) Ranked
21. Luchino Visconti (6) Ranked
22. Michael Haneke (8) Ranked
23. Werner Herzog (12) Ranked
24. Jean-Pierre Melville (5) Ranked
25. Michael Mann (8) Ranked
26. Mikhail Kalatozov (3) Ranked
27. Hal Hartley (11) Ranked
28. Sergio Leone (6) Ranked
29. Errol Morris (8) Ranked
30. Max Ophüls (6) Ranked

[PC Engine Fan X!]

It'd be quite something to release Michael Mann's "The Keep" Director's Cut version (as it was heavily edited down by the movie studio) for theatrical release back on 9/29/1983 -- it, initially, earned a paltry $10 million at the American film box office but had a $12 million film production budget. The IFC on Direct TV would show it in entirety (theatrical version) commercial-free (but started airing commercial breaks during movie showings on 1/1/2011 to make ends meet/survive).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Lord British]

It'd be quite something to release Michael Mann's "The Keep" Director's Cut version (as it was heavily edited down by the movie studio) for theatrical release back on 9/29/1983 -- it, initially, earned a paltry $10 million at the American film box office but had a $12 million film production budget. The IFC on Direct TV would show it in entirety (theatrical version) commercial-free (but started airing commercial breaks during movie showings on 1/1/2011 to make ends meet/survive).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I'd be interested in a re-release for sure I've only seen it once. Used to have a burned DVD of it but that's long gone . Need to see it again.

[Stevens]

England 5 Germany 1

Love Dog Soldiers and The Decent. Saw Doomsday when it came out, but didn't know it was Marshall.

[Air Master Burst]

Been on a mindfuck kick since Triangle rocked my shit, results have been mixed.

The House of the Devil

Major props for being one of the very few modern 80s-set movies that actually feels like the fucking 80s. The last 10 minutes or so were kinda cool. The slog getting there was boring and stupid, and it was mostly a waste of amazing set design.


Coherence

Pretty solid concept I won't spoil, but it's definitely a worthy watch. I'm a bit disappointed they didn't take it farther, and they clearly didn't quite know how to properly end it, but it's a fun ride while it lasts.


The Endless

Another solid mindfuck concept I really wish they'd cranked up to 11. First half at least is a real drag, but the weirdness is okay once they get there.


Vivarium

Pretty good acting, especially from the near-mandatory creepy kid. Yet another solid concept that only hinted at the potential greatness near the end in a really wild sequence that's hard to explain but probably worth the wait.


Final Prayer/The Borderlands

One of the few "long slow buildup to a fucked-up reveal ending" movies that REALLY pays off. Can't WAIT to pull this shit on one of my tabletop rpg groups! Worth a second watch to appreciate the truly exquisite foreshadowing.


Don't Blink

I was not expecting a budget movie starring Brian Austin Green and Mena Suvari to slap, but this movie slaps fucking HARD. Excellent premise, wonderful execution. Most of the "kills" are really well thought out and presented, too. Definitely check this out.


The Void

Ok NOW WE'RE FUCKING TALKING! Fantastic Lovecraft-inspired insanity with mysterious cultists, gross eldritch mutations, and some really inspired practical effect work. Watch this as a double feature with From Beyond for maximum enjoyment!


ETA coming up next:

Time Trap
Predestination
Headcount
Blood Punch

[GaijinPunch]

Coherence

Pretty solid concept I won't spoil, but it's definitely a worthy watch. I'm a bit disappointed they didn't take it farther, and they clearly didn't quite know how to properly end it, but it's a fun ride while it lasts.

I love Coherence - I've posted about it here a few times. when you realize they made the movie for no shit, $50k, you realize what an amazing job they did. FWIW, the director is doing "a follow up" but it's hush hush if it has anything to do w/ the original.

Spoiler

If you really want to take it to the next level, try to figure out when things go frilly. I read one comment in the interwebs pointing out that the one gal that Amir brought didn't recognize the guy that was in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE of the show she liked. So arguably before the night even began.

Surely you've seen Enter the Void by now, no? If not, it should go on the mind fuck list.