Movies You've Seen Recently | July 2018

Ed Wood: ★★★★★
A brilliant film, very glad I decided to watch this over The Disaster Artist. Martin Landau put on the best performance I've seen on screen since I watched J.K. Simmons in Whiplash for the first time. Nearly watched it again tonight.

What We Do In The Shadows: ★★★★☆
A very funny film, I thought they incorporated the tropes of vampires very well into their mockumentary. It was a bit predictable at times, but overall told a fun story with entertaining characters.

Rei Toei said:

I just read that Taika Wahiti's next movie will have him playing Hitler, also starring Sam Rockwell and Scarlet Johansson. This news gives me joy.

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Yes and he also brought along the art/costume/production directions from Thor Ragnorok and the cinematographer from PTAs the Master, so that's exciting

I was shocked to learn about Taika Watti playing Hitler. That seems like a role tailor made for ScarJo

ViewtifulJC said:

I was shocked to learn about Taika Watti playing Hitler. That seems like a role tailor made for ScarJo

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I wouldn't even be surprised if this whole time ScarJo was actually Robert Downey Jr. still in character from Tropic Thunder going ultra method.

I've talked about this with some friends, but do you guys think if a white guy like Ben Stiller walked into a room and pitched a role like that in 2018, it would be greenlit? I mean RDJ's role is universally loved, but I feel like the hypothetical twitter firestorm would torpedo the movie.

It could still happen but they would have to keep it so hush hush and not let anything leak out, and then explicitly (to almost condescending levels) show in the trailer that it's a satire and against the idea of blackface to survive coming out

Because yeah I think social media would not let it happen, came out at just the right time. Shit was hilarious too. 2008 prolly my favorite year for comedy in recent memory between Pineapple Express, Step Brothers and Tropic Thunder

I think that role would hit even harder in 2018 and there's even more fertile material. Incredible performances and good excecution lets you get away with a lot. See stand up comedy.

Would it get past the Twitter storm though? idk

Sitting in the cinema waiting for Skyscraper to start, lol

shaneo632 said:

Sitting in the cinema waiting for Skyscraper to start, lol

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Sitting in the cinema waiting for The First Purge to start.

Not much great out rn lol

Messofanego said:

Sitting in the cinema waiting for The First Purge to start.

Not much great out rn lol

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lmao good luck

shaneo632 said:

lmao good luck

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When you're done, compare Skyscraper to San Andreas.

Messofanego said:

When you're done, compare Skyscraper to San Andreas.

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San Andreas was better. Didn't hate Skyscraper, it was just mediocre. Rampage was also better.

EDIT: One thing I will say about Skyscraper is I dug how they had an amputee protagonist and didn't make a big deal out of it. It was pretty cool that it's not really mentioned verbally and there aren't any lame jokes about it; it's just part of who the guy is.

Now let's get these white head motherfuckers...

The First Purge is a really satisfying follow-up to Purge: Anarchy as truth to power for the impoverished minorities as the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) reign over America. It's the most political of the Purge films, making no bones that it's reflecting Trump's America. Charlottesville, terrorism on black churches, "pussy-grabbing motherfuckers", Russian meddling, racist cops, and neonazis/alt-right/KKK/white supremacists as the third party (along with Repubs and Democrats) becoming the NFFA. Much like the Trump administration, it's made clear here that NFFA doesn't want to care for the poor, so they use this Purge experiment with monetary incentives in hopes the poor minorities exterminate each other.

Leading the charge against all this are an all PoC cast of heroes, starting with Y'Lan Noel playing Dmitri (who you might know from Insecure) as the crime boss of Staten Island, Lex Scott Davis as the political activist Nya (former relations with Dmitri) against the Purge and female hero, along with her nervous brother Isaiah played by Joivan Wade who can only see money through drug pushing or the Purge as a way out of the projects. Y'Lan puts those muscles to good use as the film returns to the John Carpenter vibes (Escape From New York, Assault On Precinct 13) as first experienced in Purge: Anarchy. The action and tension here is even better, with Y'Lan revitalizing the action hero antics of Frank Grillo. A mostly one-shot sequence on the stairways reminded me of Atomic Blonde. The heroes here are more relatable. The lived-in atmosphere and dialogue is a great boon to the sense of community, equivalent to like Ryan Googled films. It's no surprise then that the director Gerard McMurray was a producer on Fruitvale Station and Burning Sands.

The film can be seen as a cathartic exercise ( a Purge, if you will) for the disadvantaged to drop the respectability politics and pretenses of civility to maintain the status quo in order to fight against the oppressive regime. We gon' be alright.

I started watching two movies last night, but couldn't focus and ended up stopping and deleting both.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol - I realized I'd already seen it and have lots of other stuff to watch. I just couldn't focus on it. Too much on my mind/too much caffeine.

In the Heart of the Sea - My uncle had said he liked it, but I found the start really boring and wasn't enjoying it. Reviews were shit, which surprised me given his recommendation.

Yeah In the Heart of the Sea was dogshit lmao

Akira

Absolute classic, one of the best ever made and easily one of the most, if not the most, influential anime ever made.

5/5

Wij

Hey, do you like film with completely unredeemable psychopaths as main characters à la A Clockwork Orange? Do you think movies nowadays could do with a little more underage sex and prostitution? Are you bored with coming of age movies? Are you not afraid to watch scenes showcasing extreme sexual, emotional and emotional abuse and some animal cruelty added on top? Boy, do I have the movie for you! Wij (We in English) is the impressive directing debut of Dutch filmmaker Rene Eller and offers a nihilistic, dark look into the lives of eight 16/17-year olds who one summer in Belgium decide that the best way to make money quick is by going into amateur porn and prostitution/extortion. What follows is a film that is not afraid to dig deep both thematically and visually (one specific scene has the characters perform explicit sex acts on screen, with what I assume are body doubles and another has the boys repeatedly sexually harrassing one of the girls as part of a game).

This is not a film that is at all interested in making any of these characters sympathetic, with the exeption of maybe the second highlighted character (she at least shows some moral sensibility), every single one of the eight is a horrible person and acts like it. It's a fascinating character study of horrible people and one that's sure to be controversial. Special mention goes to Aimé Claes who plays the defacto leader of the group and absolute psychopath Thomas. He was scaringly convincing and I expect a huge career for him if he's already this good as an acting student. Anyway, yeah, I very much recommend this, but with a severe content warning. They even warned me about the content of the film when I went to buy tickets, something they didn't even do when I went to see Utøya, 22 juli.

4/5

Watchlisted that Wij thing as soon as I saw the cover on your review, looks hot.

Seeing 5 films in a row, hope I don't fall asleep.

Considering booking tickets to see the new Ben Russell film and Caniba also

Mi goreng said:

Seeing 5 films in a row, hope I don't fall asleep.

Considering booking tickets to see the new Ben Russell film and Caniba also

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3 films each day, wtf?! I've only ever done that once and I was drained.

One year at Fantastic Fest, I did 35 films in a week. It was a challenge.

I know some friends who do more than that every year.

I don't think i've ever watched more than 2 films in a day. had to schedule it around some things and whatnot. pray for me that i make it out alive

I tried LOTR in one day but only made it to Shelob's Lair. Now I'm excited if I can manage to finish 1 movie over the course of just 2 days.

Dook's Revenge said:

One year at Fantastic Fest, I did 35 films in a week. It was a challenge.

I know some friends who do more than that every year.

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You deserve an award.

Mi goreng said:

I don't think i've ever watched more than 2 films in a day. had to schedule it around some things and whatnot. pray for me that i make it out alive

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Inshallah you make it through to see Burning and Los Silencios!

Spider-Man: Saw it for the first time in what must be over a decade. There is such warmth and sincerity in this film, which I really appreciate. Thematically this is a very simple film but one which best captures the dreams and motivations which drive superhero stories. Its moral tales are simple but it does them well. I think Nolan's Batman and MCU films aim higher thematically (certainly has been the case with phase 3 of the MCU) but in tackling more complex dilemmas their analogies can start to feel strained. They also lack the emotional weight of Raimi's films. Raimi also does a fantastic job in shooting the action, using very dynamic camera movements to capture Spider-Man's acrobatics and swings in between NY's streets. Some of the shot stylings I imagine must have been new for the time as the perspectives they manage to capture could only be achieved through CGI but they never feel dizzying or obnoxious. I wonder how much of an influence this film had on the visual language of CG heavy era of films to come (or maybe I'm just forgetting about other CG heavy films from its time and before). It does at times fall into simplistic trappings of blockbuster films (MJ's constantly the damsel in distress who's only function is to be yearned after by Peter) or maybe it's just the source material but despite those shortcomings this still remains one of my favourite superhero and blockbuster films.

Watched To Kill a Mockingbird after just having read the book (it's not required high school reading here). I was surprised to find it on Netflix. Pretty good adaptation, Peck was spot on as Atticus. Of course they had to cut stuff but I still feel like it was missing some essential elements from the book, like the kids going to the church with Calpurnia. That introduces the connection they have with the reverend, which is just shown as a given in the movie. I was also sure it'd have the kids reading to the old lady because it leads to the great "licked before you know it" quote from Atticus about courage... which isn't even in the movie. I also missed the "before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience" lines, those were my favorite in the book.

Damsel - 3/5 - Really solid movie. Didn't overstay it's welcome, and Robert Pattinson put up a really fantastic acting job. Thought he (and the rest of the crew) were pretty great. Some good laugh out loud moments. Had a few pacing problems, but it was beautifully shot. Worth watching.

Sorry to Bother You - 2.5/5 - Thought this one was just OK, especially after all the hype. A few laugh out loud moments, but I thought it dragged a ton in the middle of the movie. Also didn't nearly go as off the rails as I was hoping it would, from what I read online. Ah well.

Seeing 8th Grade tonight, which I'm pretty excited for.

I watched Rogue One on Netflix. It's a good Star War. It made my top 3.

Window said:

Spider-Man: Saw it for the first time in what must be over a decade. There is such warmth and sincerity in this film, which I really appreciate. Thematically this is a very simple film but one which best captures the dreams and motivations which drive superhero stories. It's moral tales are simple but it does them well. I think Nolan's Batman and MCU films aim higher thematically (certainly has been the case with phase 3 of the MCU) but in tackling more complex dilemmas their analogies can start to feel strained. They also lack the emotional weight of Raimi's films. Raimi also does a fantastic job in shooting the action, using very dynamic camera movements to capture Spider-Man's acrobatics and swings in between NY's streets. Some of the shot stylings I imagine must have been new for the time as the perspectives they manage to capture could only be achieved through CGI but they never feel dizzying or obnoxious. I wonder how much of an influence this film had on the visual language of CG heavy era of films to come (or maybe I'm just forgetting about other CG heavy films from its time and before). It does at times fall into simplistic trappings of blockbuster films (MJ's constantly the damsel in distress who's only function is to be yearned after by Peter) or maybe it's just the source material but despite those shortcomings this still remains one of my favourite superhero and blockbuster films.

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Absolutely agree with everything you said. The sincerity is why I love Raimi's trilogy so much, even 3. Rosemary Harris's Aunt May is the emotional bedrock of those movies and something the MCU hasn't nailed. Her speech in 2 about superheroes is like the quintessential scene in the genre.

Se7en
I adore most of Finchers works, Se7en was my introduction to him in my high school years. And I remember how much I liked it, it was tense and gripping , dark and moody. Revisiting it now, while it still has those things, the actual character writing and just dialogue in general is not great? Also its a lot more pulpy than I remember and Morgan Freemans character is kinda one note? Feels like I have seen Morgan Freeman playing this character in every movie. Brad Pitt was a bit easier to get invested. The thing is, the film itself is pretty tropey . But with all that said it was still a fun experience, Fincher always delivers on mood and grit and visuals.
4/5
Mission Impossible
In preparation for the lastest MI , started revisiting whole series. Gotta say it's not as fun as I remember, but still very competently directed . It just has that classy spy feel to it. The main theme is iconic at this point. And HDR 4K remaster gives visuals nice boost , its a clean lookin film for the most part. Characters themselves arent that interesting and its weird seeing Tom Cruise acting intense as he is younger. The issue I had was the pacing, or just the dead air parts? Sometimes nothing was happening, no music , no dialogue. Like some shots stayed a bit too long. And that vault room scenes is still god damn intense.
4/5

Clueless (1995): We need to establish a Fashion Crimes Tribunal for the 1990s. Justice must be served!

This is another one of those cultural touchstones that I'd never seen before (I was eight years old on its release, and never came across in on TV, etc. in later years), though I'm familiar with various snippets of it, as I'm sure everybody is. Seeing the whole thing, what really jumped out at me is how comparatively plot-light this is compared to most other famous teen movies. It's a pretty gently told, low-stakes story, all things considered. Silverstone is terrific, and it's easy to see why this made her a star for a while. Paul Rudd's character is slightly different from the slacker archetype he'd come to inhabit in much of his subsequent career, but his charm is certainly evident here. There's some very good lines here, as well.

Detroit (2017): The shortened first act of this movie is mostly exposition about Detroit's historical context, followed by a lengthy second act on the Algiers Motel incident that is electric, and then a third act about the failure of the justice system. The third act, I can understand why it's there, but there isn't enough space here to really do it justice. I think this would have been a stronger overall package if it had focused solely on the motel.


The Shape of Water (2017): My first rewatch of this film, having acquired the Blu-ray. Del Toro's absolute command of the material is felt in every scene; the atmosphere of the film is always exactly right. Hawkins would have been my choice among the nominees for Best Actress, as she completely carries this movie, and in particular she basically has to carry the entire romance by herself, which I think is still the one aspect of this movie that holds it back from five-star status (I have it at four-and-a-half). It's an interesting choice from Del Toro to not overly humanize the behaviour of the Asset, but that does come at the expense of really feeling the connection between him and Elisa beyond Elisa's own powerful feelings.

On this viewing, I did wonder whether, despite Michael Shannon being perfectly fine, the role wouldn't have been better played by somebody with a more conventional 1950s film star look. In the extras, the the character is referred to as the guy who would be the hero in a monster movie, but Shannon wouldn't have been the hero in a 1950s monster movie. Somebody like Jon Hamm (but not Jon Hamm, because that would be too on-the-nose) would more perfectly embody that concept, I think.

Is Pick 3, get 3 happening this month? It's already like halfway through July, lol.

Edit: Nevermind, I just realized I think I'm the only one who signed up for it this month :(

Window said:

Spider-Man: Saw it for the first time in what must be over a decade. There is such warmth and sincerity in this film, which I really appreciate. Thematically this is a very simple film but one which best captures the dreams and motivations which drive superhero stories. Its moral tales are simple but it does them well. I think Nolan's Batman and MCU films aim higher thematically (certainly has been the case with phase 3 of the MCU) but in tackling more complex dilemmas their analogies can start to feel strained. They also lack the emotional weight of Raimi's films. Raimi also does a fantastic job in shooting the action, using very dynamic camera movements to capture Spider-Man's acrobatics and swings in between NY's streets. Some of the shot stylings I imagine must have been new for the time as the perspectives they manage to capture could only be achieved through CGI but they never feel dizzying or obnoxious. I wonder how much of an influence this film had on the visual language of CG heavy era of films to come (or maybe I'm just forgetting about other CG heavy films from its time and before). It does at times fall into simplistic trappings of blockbuster films (MJ's constantly the damsel in distress who's only function is to be yearned after by Peter) or maybe it's just the source material but despite those shortcomings this still remains one of my favourite superhero and blockbuster films.

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Love SM1, favorite thing about it is how Willem Dafoe hams it up to awesome levels.

And MJ is easily the best in SM1 compared to the other two sequels.

Despite it's pedigree, I maintain that while Spider-Man 2 has great scenes, MJ is absolutely unlikeable and insufferable in that film. So much to the point where she single-handedly drags it down.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Slapstick at its finest, this is the closest live action approximation of Looney Tunes that I've ever seen. I was laughing from the jump. The sheer scale is astounding, with every member of its massive cast chipping in. Some bits last so long that they overstay their welcome, but then they just keep going and going and going, and in the end I couldn't help but admire the absurdity. Sylvester flying across the table slayed me.

Sidenote: This movie might have the biggest collection of overly-tanned skin committed to film. Pretty much the entire cast looks like they're made of rubber.

MidnightCowboy said:

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Slapstick at its finest, this is the closest live action approximation of Looney Tunes that I've ever seen. I was laughing from the jump. The sheer scale is astounding, with every member of its massive cast chipping in. Some bits last so long that they overstay their welcome, but then they just keep going and going and going, and in the end I couldn't help but admire the absurdity. Sylvester flying across the table slayed me.

Sidenote: This movie might have the biggest collection of overly-tanned skin committed to film. Pretty much the entire cast looks like they're made of rubber.

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The scene where the gas station gets destroyed just keeps going, but it holds the humor the entire time.

Hey y'all, this is the only film-era thread I could find so I hope it's okay if I post this here. I watch a lot of horror movies, most of them don't end up being what I enjoy generally, not to say I hate them but there is a very specific type of horror movie I enjoy and want to find, and I hope that if I can describe it a bit I can get some recommendations! So, here goes, and I'll try to add examples of the types of things I enjoy:

1. Tension. I want to be tense, but I don't want to be tense because I'm wondering when the next time I'm going to be startled is. I want to feel uncomfortable psychologically, not just because my butt is tired of watching a bad movie.



Lake Mungo is a good example of this, the whole film is very unsettling. It's one of my favorites. It gets under your skin.



Bug is another example of just things not being unsettling, not spilling everything the movie has to offer all at once, a slow burn. Without loading too many images in the post I would say "Funny Games" qualifies for this as well, it's almost *hard* to watch, it evokes an emotional response of discomfort not through extreme gore but psychologically



From the timestamp on this is *so* well done. That shot of her friend walking down the hallway, the fridge covering it, then closing and you expect something to be there because of the way the shot is framed. but there's nothing. I want more of that, it raises tension to have your expectation subverted.

Maybe the most important thing:

One thing that I very much enjoy but is rare is when the camera does not acknowledge that there is something hiding in the frame. I can't think of any examples, but this is generally what happens: A character walks through a room, in the background the "monster" is there if you look closely. Generally this is met with some strings or some sort of cue, I don't want that, I want to be rewarded for paying attention and not feel like I need to be directed at what to be scared at.

That's all I can think of right now, I've seen a fair bit of movies but hopefully there's some I haven't seen that gets recommended, I also don't care what era the films are from or what language or even if they are short films,I'll take it all.

RedMercury said:

Hey y'all, this is the only film-era thread I could find so I hope it's okay if I post this here. I watch a lot of horror movies, most of them don't end up being what I enjoy generally, not to say I hate them but there is a very specific type of horror movie I enjoy and want to find, and I hope that if I can describe it a bit I can get some recommendations! So, here goes, and I'll try to add examples of the types of things I enjoy:

1. Tension. I want to be tense, but I don't want to be tense because I'm wondering when the next time I'm going to be startled is. I want to feel uncomfortable psychologically, not just because my butt is tired of watching a bad movie.

Lake Mungo is a good example of this, the whole film is very unsettling. It's one of my favorites. It gets under your skin.

Bug is another example of just things not being unsettling, not spilling everything the movie has to offer all at once, a slow burn. Without loading too many images in the post I would say "Funny Games" qualifies for this as well, it's almost *hard* to watch, it evokes an emotional response of discomfort not through extreme gore but psychologically



From the timestamp on this is *so* well done. That shot of her friend walking down the hallway, the fridge covering it, then closing and you expect something to be there because of the way the shot is framed. but there's nothing. I want more of that, it raises tension to have your expectation subverted.

Maybe the most important thing:

One thing that I very much enjoy but is rare is when the camera does not acknowledge that there is something hiding in the frame. I can't think of any examples, but this is generally what happens: A character walks through a room, in the background the "monster" is there if you look closely. Generally this is met with some strings or some sort of cue, I don't want that, I want to be rewarded for paying attention and not feel like I need to be directed at what to be scared at.

That's all I can think of right now, I've seen a fair bit of movies but hopefully there's some I haven't seen that gets recommended, I also don't care what era the films are from or what language or even if they are short films,I'll take it all.

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Off the top of my head some quality (intense) films that are horror or with horror elements: Under the Skin, Kinatay, Possession, Eraserhead, Despite the Night, A New Life, Evolution, Heli, Stalker, mother!, Fire Walk With Me, Mulholland Drive, Antichrist, Threads

Mi goreng said:

Off the top of my head some quality (intense) films that are horror or with horror elements: Under the Skin, Kinatay, Possession, Eraserhead, Despite the Night, A New Life, Evolution, Heli, Stalker, mother!, Fire Walk With Me, Mulholland Drive, Antichrist, Threads

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I will check out Kinatay and Despite the Night, Heli, and Under the Skin, I've seen the rest. Is there a different title for "A New Life", I can only find a romcom with that title. Some of those, I don't know if they will inspire the dread a true horror movie would be going for but I'll give anything a shot, thank you.

:O
https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/1427-ingmar-bergman-s-cinema

Messofanego said:

Now let's get these white head motherfuckers...

The First Purge is a really satisfying follow-up to Purge: Anarchy as truth to power for the impoverished minorities as the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) reign over America. It's the most political of the Purge films, making no bones that it's reflecting Trump's America. Charlottesville, terrorism on black churches, "pussy-grabbing motherfuckers", Russian meddling, racist cops, and neonazis/alt-right/KKK/white supremacists as the third party (along with Repubs and Democrats) becoming the NFFA. Much like the Trump administration, it's made clear here that NFFA doesn't want to care for the poor, so they use this Purge experiment with monetary incentives in hopes the poor minorities exterminate each other.

Leading the charge against all this are an all PoC cast of heroes, starting with Y'Lan Noel playing Dmitri (who you might know from Insecure) as the crime boss of Staten Island, Lex Scott Davis as the political activist Nya (former relations with Dmitri) against the Purge and female hero, along with her nervous brother Isaiah played by Joivan Wade who can only see money through drug pushing or the Purge as a way out of the projects. Y'Lan puts those muscles to good use as the film returns to the John Carpenter vibes (Escape From New York, Assault On Precinct 13) as first experienced in Purge: Anarchy. The action and tension here is even better, with Y'Lan revitalizing the action hero antics of Frank Grillo. A mostly one-shot sequence on the stairways reminded me of Atomic Blonde. The heroes here are more relatable. The lived-in atmosphere and dialogue is a great boon to the sense of community, equivalent to like Ryan Googled films. It's no surprise then that the director Gerard McMurray was a producer on Fruitvale Station and Burning Sands.

The film can be seen as a cathartic exercise ( a Purge, if you will) for the disadvantaged to drop the respectability politics and pretenses of civility to maintain the status quo in order to fight against the oppressive regime. We gon' be alright.

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Glad to see you liked it. I was surprised by how much I liked First Purge. I think it might be the best in the series; the finale made the violence feel disturbing and messed up in a way that no other Purge film was able to, and Dimtri doing his Die Hard thing worked well here. Focusing on a single community gave the movie a relatable sense of place and community-under-siege vibe.

RedMercury said:

I will check out Kinatay and Despite the Night, Heli, and Under the Skin, I've seen the rest. Is there a different title for "A New Life", I can only find a romcom with that title. Some of those, I don't know if they will inspire the dread a true horror movie would be going for but I'll give anything a shot, thank you.

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Kinatay is a movie that rewards patience and may stay with you for a long time. A New Life also goes under the french title La vie nouvelle. I find a lot of horror movies quite dull so I've suggested some more 'out there' titles. I hope you vibe with them.

RedMercury said:

Hey y'all, this is the only film-era thread I could find so I hope it's okay if I post this here. I watch a lot of horror movies, most of them don't end up being what I enjoy generally, not to say I hate them but there is a very specific type of horror movie I enjoy and want to find, and I hope that if I can describe it a bit I can get some recommendations! So, here goes, and I'll try to add examples of the types of things I enjoy:

1. Tension. I want to be tense, but I don't want to be tense because I'm wondering when the next time I'm going to be startled is. I want to feel uncomfortable psychologically, not just because my butt is tired of watching a bad movie.

Lake Mungo is a good example of this, the whole film is very unsettling. It's one of my favorites. It gets under your skin.

Bug is another example of just things not being unsettling, not spilling everything the movie has to offer all at once, a slow burn. Without loading too many images in the post I would say "Funny Games" qualifies for this as well, it's almost *hard* to watch, it evokes an emotional response of discomfort not through extreme gore but psychologically



From the timestamp on this is *so* well done. That shot of her friend walking down the hallway, the fridge covering it, then closing and you expect something to be there because of the way the shot is framed. but there's nothing. I want more of that, it raises tension to have your expectation subverted.

Maybe the most important thing:

One thing that I very much enjoy but is rare is when the camera does not acknowledge that there is something hiding in the frame. I can't think of any examples, but this is generally what happens: A character walks through a room, in the background the "monster" is there if you look closely. Generally this is met with some strings or some sort of cue, I don't want that, I want to be rewarded for paying attention and not feel like I need to be directed at what to be scared at.

That's all I can think of right now, I've seen a fair bit of movies but hopefully there's some I haven't seen that gets recommended, I also don't care what era the films are from or what language or even if they are short films,I'll take it all.

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Some movies I'd recommend: Inside (2007), The Witch, The Eyes of My Mother, Evolution (2015), Kill List, The Transfiguration, Annihilation

Ronin (Rewatch)
★★★★½
Such an efficient and relentless thriller, as focused on forward momentum and spartan exposition as its characters are on their mission. The action has a dirty ruthlessness to it that a lot of action movies just don't have, civilians getting caught in crossfires and skilled professionals acting with cold precision out of their own self-interest.
And the car chases are still fantastic

Deep Impact
★★★
This was better than I expected. I don't think I ever saw it before but I have seen Armageddon and this felt much more engaging. I liked the focus on the human drama (even it is cliche and schmaltzy), the slower pace, the depressing atmosphere of looming doom, the tone where the story isn't how we're going to save the day but what can we do to survive disaster. I liked that the action of the film came mostly from the space mission, while building up to the climatic impact, rather than just throwing disaster scene after disaster scene at the audience.

Contagion (Rewatch)
★★★½
A ruthlessly methodical and detached portrayal of a global pandemic, that forgoes the spectacle and chaos of other disaster movies for a focus on realism that drives home the horror of its viral threat as a terrifyingly oppressive, unstoppable force of nature. The camerawork and constant reminder of locations and population counts imbues the film with a sense of looming dread, while the scientific battle against the virus and find a vaccine among the myriad obstacles in their path remains tense throughout.

Flu
★★½
If Contagion was the bleak disturbing global view of a pandemic, Flu is its disaster movie blockbuster cousin, centered around a rescue worker, doctor, and a young kid as they try to survive a pandemic-ravaged city under quarantine. Aside from some effective imagery that captures the scope of the government response, Flu couldn't be more traditional if it tried, complete with the usual disaster movie formula, stock genre characters, and Korean movie melodrama.

The Perfect Storm
★★★½
The Perfect Storm was both more traditional drama and less emotionally compelling than I was expecting. I remember seeing articles about the best disaster movie saying how the movie is so suspenseful and I just never felt that while watching. The movie was effective and well made for sure, the characters were likable enough, and the effects and sequences during the climatic storm are still impressive today. But it also felt like there was so much more potential, for more fleshed-out characters and relationships, for more tension during the storm. It just felt very...Hollywood and cliche, if that makes any sense, and this kind of story shouldn't.

More_Badass said:

Some movies I'd recommend: Inside (2007), The Witch, The Eyes of My Mother, Evolution (2015), Kill List, The Transfiguration, Annihilation

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Kill List is def up there for me, out of those I haven't seen The Eyes of my Mother and the transfiguration, I will check them out, thank you!

Mi goreng said:

Kinatay is a movie that rewards patience and may stay with you for a long time. A New Life also goes under the french title La vie nouvelle. I find a lot of horror movies quite dull so I've suggested some more 'out there' titles. I hope you vibe with them.

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haha nice I'm excited

Saw Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. It started really strong and just got dumber and dumber culminating in peak stupidity. Still once I just disengaged suspension of disbelief I had a lot of fun watching it. Just sort of imagined the ending as a live action cartoon.

More_Badass said:

Glad to see you liked it. I was surprised by how much I liked First Purge. I think it might be the best in the series; the finale made the violence feel disturbing and messed up in a way that no other Purge film was able to, and Dimtri doing his Die Hard thing worked well here. Focusing on a single community gave the movie a relatable sense of place and community-under-siege vibe.

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Yup, definitely best in the series for me.

Yellow Submarine
It was my first time watching this and I did the movie a great disservice. After the opening credits, my body was tired and ready to take a rest. I don't blame the movie. I really need to see this again. Quite surprised the blu-ray is six years old. Was hoping this got a Criterion release

Vanilla Sky - rewatch -

It's a pretty good movie, but I didn't like it as much as I used to.

Incredibles 2 finally (!) came out in the UK yesterday. Really great movie, though the villain was nowhere near as good as Syndrome and the big reveal was extremely predictable. Charming as hell and beautifully animated - 8/10.

Back and forth to Germany this week for work, so I caught a few films on the flight.

Pacific Rim: Uprising - this is where I have to separate films into "real movies" vs. "popcorn movies." Because as a "real movie" PR:U is not very good. As a "popcorn movie" it's a lot of fun. Especially the climactic battle. It's so OTT it's ridiculous. Now, watching it on a tiny 6" screen on a Delta flight is probably not the best way to watch it. I am hoping to get a 2-pack of the original and this in a 4K disc at some point.

Phantom Thread - I'm probably in the minority but when all is said and done, I didn't care for it. Mostly due to the revelation at/near the end. It's both wonderfully shot and wonderfully acted, yet I found myself not impressed with it.

The Commuter - wow this was bad.

The Death of Stalin - the one I had the most fun with. The black humor here coupled with the historic drama of the aftermath of Stalin's demise was extremely well done. Buscemi is excellent, and Isaacs was great. The whole cast took to their roles quite well. I could not help but watch this and think "Trump/Pence/McConnell/Ryan/Kelly/etc."

Battles Without Honor and Humanity
I think someone recommended this to me at one point in the last few years. At least the name was familiar when I saw it pop up on Shudder. Certainly violent and graphically so, but there were too many people to keep track of, the subtitles blew by in a machine gun blur of text and the names of "this future boss" or whatever went by so quickly it was very hard to keep track of things. What I could make out was that this was pretty much the Japanese version of the Godfather. I also felt that this was the exact polar opposite of Kurosawa's post war Japan. Where Kurosawa spoke of hope in rebuilding, this was nothing but pure plight and abuse. May or may not check out the sequels. This one didn't really lend itself to my taste.

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Spectre
I see this often heralded as the most boring or worst Bond entry and I completely disagree. This was a decent chapter. Definitely not great by any stretch, but seeing the Spectre organization played up against modern times was pretty cool. In the previous movies Spectre was in, they were always this comically large organization of thugs bent on big bases and big lasers. In this more modern take on the Bond franchise, they are a lot more grounded in reality and simply look to dominate information instead.

I loved the intro to this with the octopus wrapping around Bond. That was very cool.

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The Company of Wolves
I know this was recommended to me on one of the Halloween marathons and I saw that Prime had it and checked it out. If I had to describe this I would call it the Pan's Labyrinth that wasn't made by del Toro. This thing is this weird mashup of dream and surreal sequences that tells the story of little red riding hood by way of coming of age and the evils of men. I can only think of a small handful of movies that offer the visual weirdness that this does; as mentioned, Pan's Labyrinth, but also Kwaidan yet it has the 80's cheese factor applied too.

I'm not entirely sure I actually liked this, but I definitely appreciated it quite a bit. There is also one of the best werewolf transformation scenes out there. Definitely worth a watch if you like kids stories told in scenes of horrific violence.

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Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th on Friday the 13th! Back to the start. I had bought the set on DVD probably a decade ago and went through them all, but then traded the set off. So I had to correct that and pick up the bluray set. Will be going back through them all again and figured on the 13th was the best way to kick things off.

The first Halloween is definitely the film to beat of the big franchises. I'd probably put Texas Chainsaw as number two, but the first Friday is definitely my third. I've never been a big Freddy fan, his movies are a bit too comical. I do like them, but Friday has always won out. I do look forward to rewatching Freddy vs Jason. I guess the Nightmare series has a better backstory and atmosphere where the Friday series is more about the kills and fun on screen.

Anyway, enough about that. We start off immediately drenched with the sounds and noises associated with Jason. I thought things kind of eased in, but no, were right in the bloody thick of it. Given who the killer is, I noticed certain things this time around that were nice touches.
Out of the entire series, this definitely feels like more of an actual movie and not so much of a slasher. Of course, this is the first and the rest were riding popularity with the kills catering more towards what the fans wanted, but this just wasn't as silly as the rest either. I think the creators really tried to make this good for what it was.

I'd also mention that the Friday video game that is out now really captures this vibe a lot. In my Tomb Raider review I blasted that movie for being far too much like the game. In this particular case, the game capturing the vibe of the movie was incredibly well done and actually adds something to the overall Friday experience.

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