Movies you've just watched

[Air Master Burst]

he guy that was in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE of the show

My partner noticed that instantly because they used to watch Roswell and he was very clearly not the Roswell guy.

[GaijinPunch]

Lost in Translation

Obviously a rewatch. I've been meaning to revisit this for a while now as last year was the 20th anniversary. And, just like many other things that are old, the kids are picking it apart for "aging poorly". Hot take: it's aged like a fine barrel of Japanese single malt.

This one has always spoken to me, and still does. It hits a bit different now, as I'm in a far different place in life. Even though I'm sadly much closer to Bob's age (only a couple of years off now!) but in a further away place than he is, in just about every other way. Such was not always the case, and for a long time I shared far too much with both protagonists. I can go on for days about the wonders and loneliness inducing aspects of Tokyo, and having spent most of my 20's and 30's there, it always brings up some sour feelings.

[vol.2]

Just saw Rushmore last night at the local theater for their weekly revival.


Got to talking with one of the theater employees after the show and he said, "I really liked it, which surprised me because I don't much go for Wes Anderson movies," and a light bulb kind of clicked in my head and I was like, "no, I don't either."

It's funny to me because I was such a huge fan of Bottle Rocket and Rushmore when they came out that I kind of gave Anderson a pass on everything he did after that. When Royal Tenenbaums came out, I appreciated the precious arrangement of the sets and ephemera, but the movie never really grabbed me as whole the same way Rushmore did. Tenenbaums feels more like a collection of vignettes than a cohesive film, and while it does maintain a certain stylistic gestalt, it doesn't hang together very well as a "movie."

The rest of them are just as flawed or weak for one reason or another, and won't get into that because this is a Rushmore review, the only exception being the Grand Budapest Hotel; I love that movie and I think it's Anderson's strongest film, considering all aspects.

And so I've seen all of them (with the exception of Moonlight K and Fantastic Fox), and it was very interesting to look back to the beginning for me last night and feel whole about my assessment over the years; I have always had a nagging suspicion in the back of my mind that I have either unfairly judged the subsequent films, or I was simply remembering Rushmore and BR through rose-tinted glasses.

It is not so. I haven't seen Rushmore since the late 1990s when I rented it on VHS and failed to return it to Purple Potamus Video on time and had to pay a $30 replacement fee. When I went in and watched it last night, it was every bit as hilarious as it was the first time I saw it, and I was able to appreciate it from a completely new POV at my present age.

I think for me, it's fair to say that Anderson never really returned to the same level of honesty and guile as he explored in Rushmore, and I still wonder if he ever will. Budapest was an amazing film for so many reasons, but it's a fundamentally different kind of film that seems to be self-aware and in-control in a way that Rushmore never does. All of the set-dressing in Rushmore acts to organize the scenes more than anything, something Budapest doesn't need, but even in arriving at that ultimate level of mastery and craft, the risk and awkwardness is no longer there.

More than Anderson, it's been long clear to me that Schwartzman peaked early. In a way I think it was a bad career move for him as his whole self is really on display in Rushmore. True it's a younger self, but it's a strong dose. The characterization of Max Fischer is so strong that it's not hard to imagine what he would be like, past present and future. I can't wonder if being a Coppola nephew removed too much of the struggle for him to make it the business, landing roles in his cousin's films right off the bat. When you can call uncle Francis or cousin Sophia and Nicholas, it kind of takes the sting out of audition jitters.

A side note on Schwartzman; I went to see ELO play a few weeks ago and his younger brother opened up for Jeff Lynne. The band's name was Rooney, and their biggest claim to fame was that Schwartzman (the younger brother) was the male love interest in The Princess Diaries, and his band Rooney actually performs the music in the film in their teenage years. It's all pretty awfully generic dross in any case. Them opening for ELO was either a favor for uncle Coppola, or because Lynne is going to have thanksgiving dinner with them or something. Elo was great though.

So back to Rushmore. It's an amazing film. The best performance of Bill Murray's career on whole and some of the best and funniest moments in a movie ever. Not that most people haven't seen it, but I hate spoilers so:

Spoiler

The scene where Max floods Herman's hotel room with bees got me again. It's such a great use of that Who song that never really would have had a light shone on it otherwise. The whole montage of petty war between them is amazing; it's the moment the film transitions into being a metaphysical cartoon. The only small criticism I have is that they don't do enough to explore Max and Margret Cho; the movie is fairly short and there is space for some kind of courtship scene or scenes that wouldn't take up too much space. It's a bit jarring when Cho declares herself this girlfriend suddenly at the end of the film. It feels like there is a gap between the bike accident scene and the final play that wasn't filled in.

So what do I ultimate rate it. I want to say 8 because I know the film does have it's flaws; it has flaws that more experienced or careful director wouldn't have left on the cutting room floor, but it seems as though that experience or carefulness was somehow traded in at the cost of emotion as Anderson's career went by. Then another side of me wants to give it a 10 because it is a 10 for me in my heart. I forgive it all the issues and growing pains it had that Anderson has yet to make good on.

So I have to say 9.5 because it's that enjoyable and funny. Lightning in a bottle.

[Air Master Burst]

I think it's worth noting that the only two not-terrible Wes Anderson films have Owen Wilson writing credits on them, whereas all his other boring twee garbage has been co-written with other people (except the Royal Tennenbaums, which managed to suck despite the Owen Wilson credit, so who even knows?).

Wes Anderson is basically Tim Burton without the Vampire: The Masquerade 90s scene goth filter.

[vol.2]

I think it's worth noting that the only two not-terrible Wes Anderson films have Owen Wilson writing credits on them, whereas all his other boring twee garbage has been co-written with other people (except the Royal Tennenbaums, which managed to suck despite the Owen Wilson credit, so who even knows?).

Wes Anderson is basically Tim Burton without the Vampire: The Masquerade 90s scene goth filter.

That's an interesting point, I never really took the writing credits into account. I always felt like Anderson's films were directed with such a heavy hand that the writing became... less important, but I guess it does really matter to structure of the film, and the emotional driving force of the characters quite a lot.

Also, I'd say that Wilson's part in Tenenbaums was by far the funniest part of the movie. I gut laughed when they went to his loft and he was on mescaline and there were those hilarious paintings on the wall. The rest of it is okay at best, but I did like the Nico scene when Paltrow gets off the bus and Bill Murray and Paltrow's scenes. It wasn't a total loss IMHO, but certainly was spotty and didn't hang together. And I kind of hate Ben Stiller. Well, I hate Ben Stiller post "The Ben Stiller Show," that was amazing. And I don't hate Mystery Men, but I generally find him to be unbearably annoying.

Looking at Budapest, I see it shares credits with Hugo Guinness, and that makes sense. I enjoyed that film, I thought it was funny, and it got dark and serious enough to feel like there were stakes. Yes, the sets were his signature twee garbage, but it was really good twee garbage, the height of that particular art in filmmaking.

[GaijinPunch]

I just watched: Big Trouble in Little China

Congratulations! What did you think?

[GaijinPunch]

Before Sunrise

Somehow, this always flew under my radar. I moved to Austin probably a week before this movie came out, but somehow didn't hear about it for ages, and never really gave it much mind until recently. I decided it was time for its day in court. For those that aren't aware, the film is about an American, catching a flight out of Vienna at 9AM, when he meets a French gal on the train the day before. They hit it off, but realize that realistically they just have one day together. True to Linklater form, it is all about the slice of life. Loads of dialogue between two people quite literally just walking around somewhat aimlessly. Quite charming, and now at almost 30 years old, it's a little sad knowing this tale could probably never happen in the western world. Everyone on the train would be on their phone, and any man making such an advance would likely be reported to the police. I will watch the two sequels next.

[Lord British]

Saw Targets (1968) the other day. A Matt Damon-ish gun-nut dude grabs a huge cache and goes on a shooting spree, starting at an expressway and then to a drive-in theater. I won't go into why Boris Karloff is in this movie, but he's awesome in it. This is Peter Bogdonovic's first movie and it's so weird he made this. Pretty good IMO.

[vol.2]

A Matt Damon-ish gun-nut dude grabs a huge cache and goes on a shooting spree, starting at an expressway and then to a drive-in theater.

Sounds unsettlingly prophetic.

[GaijinPunch]

I was about to say... this is 1968, or just the news from the last few weeks?

[Sumez]

(except the Royal Tennenbaums, which managed to suck despite the Owen Wilson credit, so who even knows?).

What are you on?
Like I stated as recent as the previous page, I can't figure out if Royal Tenenbaums or Rushmore is my favourite Wes movie, but both are fantastic.

And yeah, I wish he'd do a movie with Owen Wilson again. There are so many signs out there that he's a really underappreciated genius. Not surprising, given all the mediocre low-brow comedies he's famous for starring in.

[Sumez]

The Substance

Thoughts copied from another internet. But it's a movie people like to praise these days, so I thought I'd share my own take, which to be fair is probably tainted by the way too high expectations I had for it.


Honestly, I thought it was pretty lacking. I like the premise, I like the idea of what it was trying to do. I especially liked how hard it was trying to do the Brazil kind of representation of over-comical stereotype characters. I fucking love Brazil.
But I don't think it was particularly good at most of the things it tried to do. The story was so cliché that you could predict, in detail, ever single story beat from the moment the movie drops its "Gremlins rules" early in the first act. I don't really mind stories being predictable, but it was to the point where you were just waiting for it to move on to the next thing that you knew was coming.

By the end it was trying way too hard to be wild and shocking and grotesque, without really being so, and I had honestly expected it go way more crazy. Felt like it ended with a whimper, and just used a bunch of blood splatter trying to cover that up.
The theater where I watched it was handing out "I survived The Substance" stickers to people leaving the movie afterwards, and honestly, it was extremely run-of-the-mill. *The Fly* from 1986 was much more absurd in its gross body horror, with The Substance coming off more comical (even if that's not entirely unintentional)

Also, thematically I really liked where it was going - but it was so extremely on the nose that it made Don't Look Up feel like a Lynch movie by comparison.

[Air Master Burst]

What are you on?
Like I stated as recent as the previous page, I can't figure out if Royal Tenenbaums or Rushmore is my favourite Wes movie, but both are fantastic.

I dunno I mostly just think Wes Anderson fucking sucks. Rushmore and Bottle Rocket didn't suck, but they weren't that great either.

Like I said, to me he's basically just a non-scene Tim Burton, who I also think fucking sucks. Twee for the sake of it with no real substance.

[vol.2]

I think with Anderson, his films heavily rely on relatability. For better or worse, that's going to largely determine how far you want to reach into his catalog, if at all. For me, the first couple movies spoke to me on that level enough that I could appreciate the characters and their motivations. By RT, it had sort of moved past me; I can still appreciate moments (and there were some great ones), but I couldn't really relate to the characters and situations in the film and that pretty much continued for me with Life Aquatic and others.

Budapest I felt was a different kind of film altogether that didn't really expect you to understand or identify with the characters to appreciate the awkward moments and small dramas of personality like much of his other work does. Because it approached things from what feels like a more zoomed out view of it's situation, Budapest managed (for me) to feel like a whole film that told a compelling story and employed top notch actors working with a good script.

[GaijinPunch]

Before Sunset

Follow up to Before Sunrise, 9 years prior. Genuinely considered the strongest of the trilogy, and I would tend to agree. Once again, the movie is 98% dialogue between the two protagonists, as they catch up on what has happened in their lives in the 9 years since they had their one night together. What I love about this is that both characters are so relatable. I've said things that both of them said in this film. But I guess that's Linklater's style. I would recommend these as great date flicks, that aren't overly melancholic or schmaltzy, and even us bros can watch w/o rolling our eyes.

[Lord British]

Before Sunset

Follow up to Before Sunrise, 9 years prior. Genuinely considered the strongest of the trilogy, and I would tend to agree. Once again, the movie is 98% dialogue between the two protagonists, as they catch up on what has happened in their lives in the 9 years since they had their one night together. What I love about this is that both characters are so relatable. I've said things that both of them said in this film. But I guess that's Linklater's style. I would recommend these as great date flicks, that aren't overly melancholic or schmaltzy, and even us bros can watch w/o rolling our eyes.

I just watched Before Midnight a few days ago to finish the trilogy. Very solid trilogy throughout.

Have you seen any Rohmer movies? I could recommend A Summer's Tale or The Green Ray from what I've seen so far.

ReverseShot: You also have this generosity and fluidity of conversation you’d be hard-pressed to find outside of Eric Rohmer, and what ultimately makes the Before Sunrise and Sunset films unique to American cinema. Are you influenced by him at all?

Linklater: As much as I am Godard, Truffaut, and a hundred other filmmakers. With the exception of his film The Green Ray or Summer, which is pretty wonderful, and more of a direct influence. I totally admire Rohmer. My comment to that is, thank you, I think he’s a master. But I don’t think he makes anything so simple. He’s like a mathematician, he’s very precise, his plots are more intricate, there’s more twists and turns, more flowing through them.

The ones I've seen so far are (in chronological order) My Night At Maud's, Claire's Knee, The Green Ray, A Summer's Tale. I actually recommend those in the reverse order I listed. I need to see some more, he's grown on me.

[GaijinPunch]

Not familiar with those. I will give them a say in court. Your picks here have all been great. I should have left a disclaimer: I'm in an international relationship right now which is as exhausting as it is rewarding. Stars have aligned though, making it possible. So the material in the Before films hits home.

[Lord British]

Not familiar with those. I will give them a say in court. Your picks here have all been great. I should have left a disclaimer: I'm in an international relationship right now which is as exhausting as it is rewarding. Stars have aligned though, making it possible. So the material in the Before films hits home.

Good to hear that's working out.

And BECAUSE you shared that detail I'd pick The Green Ray over A Summer's Tale to start. Can't say why because spoilers.

[cj iwakura]

I find most of Rohmer's stuff super boring, but I adore The Bakery Girl of Monceau.

[Lord British]

I find most of Rohmer's stuff super boring, but I adore The Bakery Girl of Monceau.

Never heard of Rohmer until I saw this:

https://youtu.be/D1XbMzXJfSU?si=x0hZTOyOElfDh_9L

Cassevetes and Tarkovsky are the guys who I liked the first movie I saw of theirs, but each one after less and less and some completely bored me out of my mind. To each their own.

EDIT: Just watched Bakery Girl, good stuff.

[Vexorg]

Despicable Me 4: **

They ran this concept into the ground about five movies ago, but this series and the Minions spinoff series seem to have an uncanny ability to print money (every movie but the first in the series has grossed over $900 million, with 2 movies breaking the $1 billion mark) so they're probably going to keep cranking these out until the heat death of the universe. The plot of this one is about as generic as you can possibly get (pretty basic "Villain of the Week" stuff), that doesn't matter much because even with a short 95 minute runtime the movie spends so much time off in random B plots that there's barely any time for it anyway. Which is probably a good thing because they somehow managed to make a villain even more annoying than Vector from the first movie, and that takes some doing. The result is what has to be the most ADHD movie made for the cinema since Madagascar 3.

[GaijinPunch]

Not familiar with those. I will give them a say in court. Your picks here have all been great. I should have left a disclaimer: I'm in an international relationship right now which is as exhausting as it is rewarding. Stars have aligned though, making it possible. So the material in the Before films hits home.

Good to hear that's working out.

And BECAUSE you shared that detail I'd pick The Green Ray over A Summer's Tale to start. Can't say why because spoilers.

Noted! I will put those in the queue!

[Some-Mist]

More than Anderson, it's been long clear to me that Schwartzman peaked early. In a way I think it was a bad career move for him as his whole self is really on display in Rushmore. True it's a younger self, but it's a strong dose. The characterization of Max Fischer is so strong that it's not hard to imagine what he would be like, past present and future. I can't wonder if being a Coppola nephew removed too much of the struggle for him to make it the business, landing roles in his cousin's films right off the bat. When you can call uncle Francis or cousin Sophia and Nicholas, it kind of takes the sting out of audition jitters.

kind of an interesting take because I love jason schwartzman and I really enjoyed his performance alongside johnathan pryce in alex ross perry's listen up philip, but the character he played in rushmore really lends itself to his mumblecore roles in that, 7 chinese brothers, and most recently between the temples.

I enjoyed all of those, but it's hard not to think he was stunted early on and plays a similar character in all 3 and it never really dawned on me until now

[vol.2]

kind of an interesting take because I love jason schwartzman and I really enjoyed his performance alongside johnathan pryce in alex ross perry's listen up philip, but the character he played in rushmore really lends itself to his mumblecore roles in that, 7 chinese brothers, and most recently between the temples.

I enjoyed all of those, but it's hard not to think he was stunted early on and plays a similar character in all 3 and it never really dawned on me until now

I like Schwartzman just fine, so I don't want you to think I have a bias against him or anything like that.

I supposed the feeling was that of a career-long disappointment for me; he just never really struck gold the way he did in Rushmore. Even if you could say he was good in something (which I do), it was never again as moving or funny or genius. It made me think that it could have been a fluke, but then I thought better. He has it and he always had it, but perhaps his struggle was too hampered by his privilege. Idk.

[Air Master Burst]

Pandorum was pretty good! The goofy Nintendo Power Glove gun was real dumb, and the creature costumes weren't great, but otherwise it was a solid sci-fi horror outing! Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid surprised me with their acting here, as they both really committed. Norman Reedus shows up in exactly the sort of expendable NPC role you would expect. Sets are great, and there are a ton of fun physical props and effects.

Spoiler

I'm of two minds about the twist ending. It managed to surprise both me and my partner, which is vanishingly rare these days! However, the absolutely delightful reveal of the missing stars had me all primed for a proper bleak ending; and the way they actually went with it, while clever, kinda deflated me a bit with the optimism. I wouldn't be shocked if there was a deleted alternate "bad" ending kicking around somewhere.

Overall it's a great time, not sure how it got panned so hard by reviewers at the time (09). Highly recommended as the first movie in a double feature with Event Horizon.

[BryanM]

Skimmed a bit of Quantum Suicide. I guess it's just a 'this is what quantum immortality is' kinda thing. There is some romantic notion of building a particle accelerator in your garage using some parts you picked up at a dump.

It is kind of sad there are so many movies that are so desperate for anyone to watch them that they're licensed to watch for free on a youtube channel. This film just came out officially this year!

The channel in question, Sci-Fi Central, has lots of c-movie schlock that ya know their budgets could never live up to. Killer sharks in the arctic? No way. The view counts speak for themselves, even for $0 only tens of thousands of people are watching.

.... actually come to think of it some of these things actually kind of look kinda good.... .... One thing I like about these zero budget flicks is they look like actual reality and have better verisimilitude than the Hollywood slop. Screw it, this is what my life has become now...

I'm sure that very few of these things can be remotely as crappy as The Ghosts of Mars...

[Sumez]

Finally had some time to look into my backlog of movies, consisting of both streaming services and bluray discs I've had lying around for too long.
I think I've hit a streak of really good stuff, too. First of all is


The Northman - Held this off for a bit longer than I thought I would, after its generally polarising reception, which left me with a bunch of misconceptions about the movie.
Like most other people who actually have an interest in movies, I really loved both The Vvitch and The Lighthouse. The Northman reportedly was a bit of a departure from Eggers' otherwise somewhat minimalistic style, with grander locations, more action, and much more characters populating the story. Based on what I had heard, I had an impression that this film awkwardly landed somewhere inbetween an attempt at a more mainstream appeal, and his previous efforts.

This is not true at all. Granted, this might be a more approachable movie overall, but I don't really think it comes at any sort of compromise at all. The budget is much, much bigger, in fact much visibly bigger than I had thought, but it is every bit as artistic and beautiful as its companions. The story, though simple, had a lot more beats to it, with a ton of stuff happening at every step. If you hold a gun to my head I'd probably say that I still prefer The Lighthouse due to what a unique experience it is - but to be honest, there is really nothing else like The Northman either, and I think working with a big budget movie studio, enabled Eggers to elevate it to something outside of the typical A24 effort, while still demonstrating many of the same strengths.
It's quite a long movie, too. But the day after watching it, I wished I could sit down and just watch another 2 hours of it. That's how much I loved it.


Speaking of A24 directors working with an unusually high budget, I also watched Ari Aster's Beau Is Afraid some time back, and that too immediately climbed its way into my list of all-time favourites. Like The Northman, its reception was mixed and mitigated my expectations undeservedly. That movie is an oddyssey like nothing else, absolutely fantastic, and enjoyable from start to end.


Last, I wanted to subject myself to something lighter, and finally set time aside to watch the 1986 remake of the classic B-Movie Little Shop of Horrors.
The original is notable for being one of the most solid examples of high-effeciency ultra-low-budget movie making via Roger Corman, and also being Jack Nicholson's first real movie role (a role which he absolutely slays, too). But it is by no means a good movie at all.

The musical remake is interesting in how closely it follows the story beats of the original, but the tongue in cheek humor and musical numbers completely shifts the focus from the silly story, to the pure emphasis on simply entertaining the viewer, accentuated in part by the lovely yet oddly non-diagetic singing trio which support nearly every song in the movie.
The set looks fantastic, intentionally mimicking the qualities of a theater stage (which it was adapted from, of course), without straight-up trying to look like one. Every actor hams it up, with some of the highlights being Steve Martin as the sadistic dentist, and Bill Murray's surprising cameo, filling out the same shoes Jack Nicholson did 25 years prior.

The animatronic effects used to animate the man-eating, talking and most importantly singing plant, are completely mind-boggling, and hold up just as well today as they must have done in 1986. A massive triumph for practical effects. This movie just won me over to a much higher degree than I had dared to expect.

[vol.2]

The Northman

I loved The Northman. The Witch was my favorite of the three, but I liked Northman better than Lighthouse. I honestly found Lighthouse to be quite boring; t was like watching an episode of Jerry Springer play out in slow motion.

Last, I wanted to subject myself to something lighter, and finally set time aside to watch the 1986 remake of the classic B-Movie Little Shop of Horrors.

Classic.

[Air Master Burst]

I'm sure that very few of these things can be remotely as crappy as The Ghosts of Mars...

Aw dang, I ADORE Ghosts of Mars, it's one of my favorite John Carpenter movies! If you're looking for hard sci fi it's not gonna satisfy you, but it's a much better remake of Assault on Precinct 13 than the lame official one with Ja Rule. It also might have had the best cast he ever managed to assemble. Pure camp action classic from start to finish. You must hate Big Trouble in Little China, too.

ETA: according to imdb, well, just look:

In an early draft the script was written as a semi-musical. The idea was that Ice Cube would rap through the flashback/exposition sequences with the Ghosts of Mars featuring heavily as a dancing troupe. The idea was scrapped when Carpenter discovered Ice was a better actor than rapper.

No idea if this is in any way true (I have some doubts given the claim that Cube is a better actor than a rapper, and also they call him "Ice" for short instead of "Cube"), but if it is, what could have been is even more disappointing than finding out they passed on Carpenter's "Michael Myers in space" pitch for Halloween 6.

The musical remake is interesting in how closely it follows the story beats of the original, but the tongue in cheek humor and musical numbers completely shifts the focus from the silly story, to the pure emphasis on simply entertaining the viewer, accentuated in part by the lovely yet oddly non-diagetic singing trio which support nearly every song in the movie.

Definitely check out the VASTLY superior original ending, it's fucking tragic they replaced this.

[Some-Mist]

kind of an interesting take because I love jason schwartzman and I really enjoyed his performance alongside johnathan pryce in alex ross perry's listen up philip, but the character he played in rushmore really lends itself to his mumblecore roles in that, 7 chinese brothers, and most recently between the temples.

I enjoyed all of those, but it's hard not to think he was stunted early on and plays a similar character in all 3 and it never really dawned on me until now

I like Schwartzman just fine, so I don't want you to think I have a bias against him or anything like that.

I supposed the feeling was that of a career-long disappointment for me; he just never really struck gold the way he did in Rushmore. Even if you could say he was good in something (which I do), it was never again as moving or funny or genius. It made me think that it could have been a fluke, but then I thought better. He has it and he always had it, but perhaps his struggle was too hampered by his privilege. Idk.

you're absolutely right though, outside of him becoming a staple in various wes anderson films, he never really hit anything big since. the closest maybe being his supporting role in scott pilgrim or his semi short stint lead in bored to death which never took off? it's interesting giving his ties to say the least