Movies you've just watched

[BIL]

Watched Fulci's the Beyond the other day and got reminded how badass the theme track is (Fabio Frizzi), bumps the rating up on it's own. That flute sound at 1:40 fits so perfectly.

Amazing movie! While, like a lot of Fulci's horror, it excels more as a collection of ultra-stylish scenes than a contiguous narrative, this also gives it an inimitably nightmarish elusiveness. Just gonna change this lightbuSpiders eating my face

Particular mention to

Spoiler

that stunning ending; a formidably moving, sympathetic vision of hell, made yet more elegiac by Frizzi's aformentoned score.

[BryanM]

Did you see Halloween? No, I mean the third Halloween. No, not Halloween III, the Halloween that's a direct sequel to Halloween. No, I don't mean Halloween II. No, I don't mean the OTHER Halloween II, that's the tenth Halloween. This is the Halloween about the girl from the first Halloween finally Halloweening again decades later. No, not THAT Halloween about her overcoming PTSD to defeat her old nemesis, that one's Halloween 20...

Eh, slashers really do intrinsically have a problem in building up characters, don't they. That's a problem with death in fiction in general: you want the audience to form an emotional connection with these imaginary people, but killing them all completely undermines that. (Alien 3 not even bothering to do it on screen! How wasteful, if your goal is to make money.) Most of these flicks really exist solely for teenagers to have someplace to smooch.

This reminded of that time they made a Halloween movie starring Some White Dude, and it was completely unwatchable. So they edited in Some Rapper Dude (I think... Busta Rhymes????) and it became borderline watchable. If you're not going to invest in characters, you have to resort to zany gimmicks. Like setting your movie in sPaCE.

It's kind of dumb characters like Ash are an exception, though. Trying to build someone like Tommy Jarvis up as some mythical figure just kind of doesn't work the same: the goofy doofus only brings along one bullet with his shotgun whenever you call the guy to save your ass.

The other day I noticed that Steve Urkel was a magical boyfriend, the male variant of the magical girlfriend character archetype. A slasher franchise starring an Urkel knockoff would be cool. Look at me, coming up with ideas and stuff. Give me a movie poster and $100,000, and I'll make you a franchise with 2,000 fans who never leave the house.

[Air Master Burst]

This reminded of that time they made a Halloween movie starring Some White Dude, and it was completely unwatchable. So they edited in Some Rapper Dude (I think... Busta Rhymes????) and it became borderline watchable. If you're not going to invest in characters, you have to resort to zany gimmicks. Like setting your movie in sPaCE.

You're thinking of Halloween Resurrection with Busta, but I think the only Halloween movie starring Some White Dude as the lead was Paul Rudd in Halloween 6. They brought back Jamie Lee Curtis for H20 after that, though, and they've been at least watchable ever since.

Also, Jason X is a goddamned masterpiece, and every horror franchise should go to space.

ETA:

The other day I noticed that Steve Urkel was a magical boyfriend, the male variant of the magical girlfriend character archetype. A slasher franchise starring an Urkel knockoff would be cool. Look at me, coming up with ideas and stuff. Give me a movie poster and $100,000, and I'll make you a franchise with 2,000 fans who never leave the house.

Here you go!

[drauch]

Having character development in a slasher is beneficial, but that's rarely the concern to most viewers, probably myself included. Creative violent dispatch is paramount. The cast of replaceable teens is testament to said concern. Sex and violence rules the day!

I like the idea of things going to space, but out of Jason, Critters, golden retriever puppies, Leprechaun is my boy. I think largely due to the direction of maestro Brian Trenchard-Smith.

[BryanM]

You're thinking of Halloween Resurrection with Busta, but I think the only Halloween movie starring Some White Dude as the lead was Paul Rudd in Halloween 6.

Arghghujr, I swear I remembered there being an error for one shot in there where the wrong guy pushes Mikey in the climax. And that they punched up Busta's role as the hero after test screenings. Could be a Mandala effect, could be I woke up in a different universe.

It's kind of funny Jamie found this series stale and ready to end twenty years ago. She's probably naively thinking the sweet release of death can make it finally end... but she doesn't know they're going to inject her with Dick Cheney Immortality Syrup. Or she just accepts her CGI puppet counterpart will carry on, until civilization collapses.

Oh god imagine if quantum immortality/qualia transference was real. And from her subjective perspective, when she "dies", she wakes up as a computer simulant of Jamie Lee Curtis and has to star in fifty cajillion Halloween movies per second. Now there's a horror movie.

Here you go!

It does make me happy remembering bits of this still persist in my memory vortex. "Let's watch some ABC!" Ah...

Having character development in a slasher is beneficial, but that's rarely the concern to most viewers, probably myself included. Creative violent dispatch is paramount. The cast of replaceable teens is testament to said concern. Sex and violence rules the day!

I know, but still you need something to give yourself a competitive advantage if you want people to care for 30 years. If your monster is just another monster, it's a big eh. I respect Alien Resurrection a lot since besides schlock, what else could they do? Besides create that alternative Alien 3 movie.

It's really cruel to lean on one person like Curtis or Englund to carry six hundred movies on their backs : /



... this reminded me that Troma used to have a crapton of its movies on Youtube for free. I never watched Poultrygeist when I had the chance. The real monster, in the end, was me.

[drauch]

I know, but still you need something to give yourself a competitive advantage if you want people to care for 30 years.

I'm sure they weren't too worried about a future legacy when it's all about them dolla$$$$

Horror fans are rabid animals, though! Some will apologize for even the most egregious sequels, just to have another entry with their beloved ghastly fiends and monsters. Like Halloween, for instance! Crazy that out of all the slasher heavy hitters Michael is the one to keep on persisting with garbage movie after garbage movie after four in this kiddo's book. I guess Chucky is still kicking it, too, but I feel like people actually like those. Poor Jason had an ignoble death with Manhattan onwards, turning him into a wussy child, controlled humans, and then a big winking joke. Freddy's good name was dragged through the mud, although New Nightmare is seen as a better send-off. I think five and six are unfairly shat upon. The extended workprint of Freddy's Dead is quite enjoyable imo! And yet Michael lives on, that Shatner mask looking worse and worse after each iteration, still the same protagonist running away, now a fookin' grandma.

Wait. I'm ranting again!

[Air Master Burst]

And that they punched up Busta's role as the hero after test screenings. Could be a Mandala effect, could be I woke up in a different universe.

You're thinking of LL Cool J in H20, they made a big deal about him in the marketing but he wasn't even close to the lead.

ETA:

Horror fans are rabid animals, though! Some will apologize for even the most egregious sequels, just to have another entry with their beloved ghastly fiends and monsters. Like Halloween, for instance! Crazy that out of all the slasher heavy hitters Michael is the one to keep on persisting with garbage movie after garbage movie after four in this kiddo's book. I guess Chucky is still kicking it, too, but I feel like people actually like those. Poor Jason had an ignoble death with Manhattan onwards, turning him into a wussy child, controlled humans, and then a big winking joke. Freddy's good name was dragged through the mud, although New Nightmare is seen as a better send-off.

1. The Rob Zombie Halloweens are actually pretty good, and I will admit to loving both H20 and Resurrection.

2. Chucky is great because the franchise fully embraced comedy starting with Bride of Chucky, which is what saved it after the terrible 3rd Child's Play where he tries to kill 90s Jimmy Olsen at military academy.

3. Jason had some rough outings but Jason X is a goddamn masterpiece. Also,

4. Freddy vs. Jason was also a ton of fun.

[drauch]

4. Freddy vs. Jason was also a ton of fun.

I do at least agree with this! Rewatched it last year for the first time since it came out. I particularly like it for playing it pretty straight. The comedic portions are all with Freddy and work well. Contradicting the title a bit, but I wish there was less 'Freddy vs Jason', and more scenes like the cornfield rave massacre. Pretty fun for what is is. Director Ronny Yu has a really bizarre career. Did a handful of awesome movies in Hong Kong, like Legacy of Rage and The Bride with White Hair, then comes over to the states like Tsui Hark and Woo, but instead of action movies gets Bride of Chucky and Freddy vs Jason .

[BryanM]

Last year, that animation cycle copying an iconic shot of a Jason movie was pretty popular. It bummed me to learn that was all there was of it...

You're thinking of LL Cool J in H20, they made a big deal about him in the marketing but he wasn't even close to the lead.

Ah, that sounds right.

... you've really got to give it to Dream Warriors and Jason X. At least those movies stand out >_<

Nightmare

RLM Jay's story about his conversation with Haley, where the guy admitted he'd never seen a Nightmare movie, and then after watching it... said he hated it. That anecdote always hurts my heart.

How's that franchise doing, oracle?

A remake of the 1984 film was released in 2010, while a reboot is in development.

... of course.

It could be alright if it was in the right hands. But if they're going to start all over from scratch, it's obviously not in the right hands. It's like with the Legend of Zelda games, you can start wherever and change almost everything you want, but the original core legend is the core canon. Just make a damn sequel, the "dumb" kids already know who this guy is.

Hey, how's Child's Play doing I haven't really-

In this film Chucky is not a doll possessed by a serial killer, but a AI powered Buddi doll.

Wha da faaa-

[Mortificator]

Dream Warriors the song is still on my night listening playlist, lol

The comedic portions are all with Freddy and work well. Contradicting the title a bit, but I wish there was less 'Freddy vs Jason', and more scenes like the cornfield rave massacre.

"That goalie was pissed about something!"

I remember complaints back then that the movie made Jason heroic since the human characters intervene in both fights when Freddy's winning to try and swing things around, but even ignoring lead girl's revenge motivation, that's stone-cold pragmatism. If two killers out for you end up fighting among themselves, the ideal result is that they off each other. The NEXT best outcome is that whoever's more a danger to you bites it – that's Freddy, who can attack while you sleep and isn't known for letting things go (let's hunt down these teens for their parents' grievous sin of setting me on fire for molesting and murdering children). Meanwhile Jason might just forget about you if you get away from Crystal Lake, and if you leave the country he can't exactly book a flight to Beijing.

[BIL]

The NEXT best outcome is that whoever's more a danger to you bites it – that's Freddy, who can attack while you sleep and isn't known for letting things go (let's hunt down these teens for their parents' grievous sin of setting me on fire for molesting and murdering children). Meanwhile Jason might just forget about you if you get away from Crystal Lake, and if you leave the country he can't exactly book a flight to Beijing.

The imbalance of power is kinda comical, now you mention it... Michael vs Jason and Freddie vs Pinhead would've been more apropos.

Though it must be said, Jason has been known to improvise.

[GaijinPunch]

Coherence
A rewatch when I couldn't get to sleep. It's free on Prime and was hoping trying to figure it all out would make me tired. It didn't, and I finished it. Excellent example of more with less. At 88 minutes there's no reason to not give this one a whirl. Very entertaining, although I think more nerdier folks would say Primer is better. (I disagree, as I don't need a complete and total cluster fuck to praise cerebral sci-fi). Yes, the characters do figure out a lot of stuff kinda quickly, but, we're on a schedule here people. Pretty intense, and watching it again, you can't say definitively where things started going all frilly, a la The Thing. The lead actress is smokin', too.

Spotlight
Cranking out some HBO Max stuff. Nothing really to add to what's been said before all over the internet. It got best picture on content alone. There's nothing cinematic about it. It could easily have been on TV, even a 4:3 TV, and done just as well. But, of course, great performances and who doesn't like The Catholic church being exposed for all of its shady shit? Entertaining, but not something I'd rewatch.

Red Beard
Had no clue what this was about. 3 hours, which helped my recent trans-Atlantic flight pass by. Interesting concept, with Toshiro Mifune playing the wise doctor, and kicking very minimal ass compared to 90% of his other films. Some not so subtle commentary on medical knowledge being owned by humankind, not just hospitals, and everyone deserving healthcare. Kurosawa would cringe at the US healthcare system. A couple of hard to watch scenes but child's play if you'e seen The Knick.

The Hidden Fortress
The infamous Star Wars inspiration. Pretty impressive. One of the more cinematically shot features from Kurosawa, in mother-fuckin' "Touhou Scope!!!!!". In all seriousness, the wide framing is quite amazing. My one argument about Kurosawa is he seemed to be just fine with the old square format, and focused on characters rather than settings. Nothing wrong w/ that I suppose, but anamorphic lenses were around in Japan at least by the late 50's. Anyway, this was a nice break from that.

Everything Everywhere All At Once
Meant to see this in the theater but couldn't squeeze it in. Been praised here before, and it deserves it. Silly, fun, and amazing. Always been a fan of Michelle Yeoh but haven't seen her in anything in a while. Always good to see James Wong get a big part. What a treasure he has been. Of course Yeoh gets MVP, but Ke Huy Quan pulling in Most Improved was a delight. Apparently he was a stunt coordinator? Mad props for leaving in as much Mandarin as they did. I realize there's a limit with western audiences but I it felt quite organic the way it was woven into the story. Tokyo Vice did an okay job of this but there's quite a few places where they go English for the audience's benefit and it falls flat.

[BryanM]

The imbalance of power is kinda comical, now you mention it... Michael vs Jason and Freddie vs Pinhead would've been more apropos.

The lack of dimensional alignment between the physical and ephemeral makes the two-way no-sell outcome easier to swallow. Comparing apples to apples... one apple's usually obviously bigger than the other. These matchups remind me of those Terminator vs Robocop comics --- they were so silly! >_< Meat in a shell that can barely walk vs a fullblown killbot!

I just recalled some of my Nightmare lore: Freddy is just some dead guy. His mind magic comes from his patrons, the Dream Demons. There's a ton of things they could do with that, but they ain't gonna...

[vol.2]

The Hidden Fortress
The infamous Star Wars inspiration. Pretty impressive. One of the more cinematically shot features from Kurosawa, in mother-fuckin' "Touhou Scope!!!!!". In all seriousness, the wide framing is quite amazing. My one argument about Kurosawa is he seemed to be just fine with the old square format, and focused on characters rather than settings. Nothing wrong w/ that I suppose, but anamorphic lenses were around in Japan at least by the late 50's. Anyway, this was a nice break from that.

There was an awful lot of squarish format films in the 70s/80s as well over there; I think maybe they were thinking more towards TV release?

Yeah though, Hidden Fortress is amazing. That was one of those b&w films I saw early on and thought "ooooh that's artistic" and shit. Specifically the scene where Rokurota first encounters Yuki still sticks in my head as a thing of beauty.

Everything Everywhere All At Once
Meant to see this in the theater but couldn't squeeze it in. Been praised here before, and it deserves it. Silly, fun, and amazing. Always been a fan of Michelle Yeoh but haven't seen her in anything in a while. Always good to see James Wong get a big part. What a treasure he has been. Of course Yeoh gets MVP, but Ke Huy Quan pulling in Most Improved was a delight. Apparently he was a stunt coordinator? Mad props for leaving in as much Mandarin as they did. I realize there's a limit with western audiences but I it felt quite organic the way it was woven into the story. Tokyo Vice did an okay job of this but there's quite a few places where they go English for the audience's benefit and it falls flat.

Hell yeah. I actually thought that James Wong stole the show, but I get where you're coming from.


Tonight I watched:

Mr. Vampire (1985) 7/10

Holy crap was this a fun movie. One of the best supernatural horror Kung Fu flick I've seen period. Vampires that hop like bunnies and are also apparently Kung Fu masters, yeah got that here. Also some excellent ghost chick girlfriend action on the side for you freaks as it were. Love it.

and

Sweet Home (1989) 7/10

I knew it was the movie of the video game, and I knew people cited it as a major influence on Resident Evil, but I hadn't really any idea what to expect. I was absolutely entertained and it was awesome. It's not really much to do with RE, but the mansion is there, and there are a lot of ambience related elements that find their way into RE, especially about the mansion. There is one scene in particular in which a character has to find an exterior building to turn the power on in the main house that gave me deja vu, but the window dressing is about all it has in common.

[Some-Mist]

I was disappointed at a handful of the predictable twists of Barbarian, but overall an entertaining new horror flick that still kept me tense. Detroit was a pretty perfect place for the plot (lmao) and Bill Skarsgard has continued to be on my radar since seeing him in a showing of Villains a few years back.

[GaijinPunch]

I feel like a load of us in this thread already watch The Critical Drinker. If not, it's a pretty entertaining way of watching someone eviscerate shitty moves with pinpoint accuracy.

[vol.2]

So tonight I just watched the movie Get Out with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performing the score live (including vocalists).

On viewing the movie a second time:

It was interesting to watch the movie knowing what would happen. Up to a point really. Once you know what's happening in the movie (like about halfway though), it isn't really any different as the movie isn't keeping secrets with it's constant little nods (the basement is closed up due to black mold). But it was enough to have some fun watching the girlfriend gaslight Chris throughout the first half of the movie; all the subtle gf/bf stuff becomes absolutely hilarious when you know what's coming.

But yeah, the live music is so fun. This is the first time I've ever seen a movie like that, and I will definitely be going to more of them.

[NYN]

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

2nd time, though much ticktock has passed, so that I misremembered a violent death with another character.
A boys-will-be-thieves tale, with muscle cars for horses, and the minimum of loose women and fast sex just to make sure this is about straight a-boys and no homo opera. Aloof and quirky situations abound, when things slow down to work out a heist. Mainly carried by the Man with the radest Pseudonym and some young dude who will grow up to be The Dude, but looks hot in blonde drag here. Just sayin'. At the end I felt like cryin'. Didn't.

[xxx1993]

I feel like a load of us in this thread already watch The Critical Drinker. If not, it's a pretty entertaining way of watching someone eviscerate shitty moves with pinpoint accuracy.

Don’t even get me started on that prick.

[GaijinPunch]

I feel like a load of us in this thread already watch The Critical Drinker. If not, it's a pretty entertaining way of watching someone eviscerate shitty moves with pinpoint accuracy.

Don’t even get me started on that prick.

Enlighten us. What is he wrong about? I mean, all claims are backed up. Admittedly you may not agree but most of what he points are the rather egregious offenses found all too often these days.

[Air Master Burst]

The Descent is still an absolute banger with some truly stellar practical effects. A group of cavers get trapped and are forced to battle to the death with vicious underground mole people using climbing axes and flares. Bit of a slow build, but once it gets going it's basically a constant barrage of throat-ripping and eye-gouging. Has one of the best-filmed car crashes I've ever seen, too, shit still made me flinch a bit on a little screen across a lit room.

[NYN]

Enlighten us. What is he wrong about?

Preferably with at the very least 50 words or more. Full sentences. No lists. You can do it!
We want your opinion, so no "this video dude says it best"-link, if you please.

(just trying to give you some banister here, sonny)

[GaijinPunch]

Enlighten us. What is he wrong about?

Preferably with at the very least 50 words or more. Full sentences. No lists. You can do it!
We want your opinion, so no "this video dude says it best"-link, if you please.

(just trying to give you some banister here, sonny)

Huh?

[NYN]

I was not adressing you, Mr Punch.
I only used your inventation to xxx93 to entice the young'un to go for a little extra in expressing himself.
It's a game BIL and I share.

[xxx1993]

I feel like a load of us in this thread already watch The Critical Drinker. If not, it's a pretty entertaining way of watching someone eviscerate shitty moves with pinpoint accuracy.

Don’t even get me started on that prick.

Enlighten us. What is he wrong about? I mean, all claims are backed up. Admittedly you may not agree but most of what he points are the rather egregious offenses found all too often these days.

Look, as a longtime movie lover, the guy has become one of my personal Hate Sinks. Not only is he too negative and harsh on movies most of the time, regardless of quality, not helping much that he’s essentially a cash-in on other critics like RedLetterMedia’s Mr. Plinkett or the Nostalgia Critic, he’s also a bit stupid (Remember that incident when he said movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Oldboy, and all other Asian movies were Japanese?), he spends most of his time using Marvel and DC as his punching bags for whatever reason, he’s a bigot, especially considering he supports people like TheQuartering, Nerdrotic, Geeks + Gamers, MauLer, and YellowFlash, not to mention in addition to hearing him hate on female characters most of the time, I even heard him attack autistic people if his reviews of Jurassic World and The Predator are anything to go by. Also, I hate his voice.

[BIL]

I like the Scotch bastad for basically every reason young X93 lists above - especially bashing superhero movies! - with one exception:

[he's a cash in on] the Nostalgia Critic

I don't see the resemblance >_> The funniest and most insightful thing that screeching bore ever did was locking himself in his bathroom and turning that gun on himself.

Oh, wait. That was JewWario. Close enough.

The internet's become well and truly pussified when a fat beardo like TheQuartering gets held up as obersturmfuhrer of the fourth reich.

[GaijinPunch]

I was not adressing you, Mr Punch.
I only used your inventation to xxx93 to entice the young'un to go for a little extra in expressing himself.
It's a game BIL and I share.

Werd,

[GaijinPunch]

Look, as a longtime movie lover, the guy has become one of my personal Hate Sinks. Not only is he too negative and harsh on movies most of the time, regardless of quality, not helping much that he’s essentially a cash-in on other critics like RedLetterMedia’s Mr. Plinkett or the Nostalgia Critic, he’s also a bit stupid (Remember that incident when he said movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Oldboy, and all other Asian movies were Japanese?), he spends most of his time using Marvel and DC as his punching bags for whatever reason, he’s a bigot, especially considering he supports people like TheQuartering, Nerdrotic, Geeks + Gamers, MauLer, and YellowFlash, not to mention in addition to hearing him hate on female characters most of the time, I even heard him attack autistic people if his reviews of Jurassic World and The Predator are anything to go by. Also, I hate his voice.

From what I've seen he does not indiscriminately shit on any demographic other than... well... shit, which is the way it should be. True equality - a horrible performance by a marginalized demographic should be scrutinized and called out if it's garbage. For the money Hollywood gets, nobody should get a free pass. Not sure why, but I watched the Alien Covenant video where he rightfully calls out the horribly generic characters, all of them, all the non-descript white dudes and the stand in Ripley, all the while praising the original Ripley for being a great character. Similarly, strangely enough, with Ariel from The Little Mermaid.

[xxx1993]

Look, as a longtime movie lover, the guy has become one of my personal Hate Sinks. Not only is he too negative and harsh on movies most of the time, regardless of quality, not helping much that he’s essentially a cash-in on other critics like RedLetterMedia’s Mr. Plinkett or the Nostalgia Critic, he’s also a bit stupid (Remember that incident when he said movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Oldboy, and all other Asian movies were Japanese?), he spends most of his time using Marvel and DC as his punching bags for whatever reason, he’s a bigot, especially considering he supports people like TheQuartering, Nerdrotic, Geeks + Gamers, MauLer, and YellowFlash, not to mention in addition to hearing him hate on female characters most of the time, I even heard him attack autistic people if his reviews of Jurassic World and The Predator are anything to go by. Also, I hate his voice.

From what I've seen he does not indiscriminately shit on any demographic other than... well... shit, which is the way it should be. True equality - a horrible performance by a marginalized demographic should be scrutinized and called out if it's garbage. For the money Hollywood gets, nobody should get a free pass. Not sure why, but I watched the Alien Covenant video where he rightfully calls out the horribly generic characters, all of them, all the non-descript white dudes and the stand in Ripley, all the while praising the original Ripley for being a great character. Similarly, strangely enough, with Ariel from The Little Mermaid.

Just because he idolizes the likes of Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor doesn’t mean he isn’t sexist. He also had the audacity to deny his bigotry during his review of Arcane, even going as far as to insult his accusers, myself included.

[GaijinPunch]

Just because he idolizes the likes of Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor doesn’t mean he isn’t sexist. He also had the audacity to deny his bigotry during his review of Arcane, even going as far as to insult his accusers, myself included.

I stick to my claim. Feel free to drop in an example and show me what I'm missing.