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Flow is on a short hiatus, if you want to be included in the Pick 3 shenanigans, @ me or just quote this or whatever. Already got everyone listed who showed interest.
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Movies You've Seen Recently | June 2018
- Thread starter Divius
- Start date
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I've logged 21 entries for films during May 2018.
TOP 5 NEW VIEWINGS OF MAY
5. Thoroughbreds
4. When the Wind Blows
3. You Were Never Really Here
2. The Long Goodbye
1. Kiki's Delivery Service
MOST VALUABLE REWATCH OF MAY
Tremors
WORST NEW VIEWING OF MAY
Tomb Raider (though it wasn't that bad)
TOP 5 NEW VIEWINGS OF MAY
5. Thoroughbreds
4. When the Wind Blows
3. You Were Never Really Here
2. The Long Goodbye
1. Kiki's Delivery Service
MOST VALUABLE REWATCH OF MAY
Tremors
WORST NEW VIEWING OF MAY
Tomb Raider (though it wasn't that bad)
Some Mary Queen of Scots impressions from an AwardsWatch user who attended a recent test screening:
I was bummed when Universal AU took a leaf out of Transmission's book and pushed the film back a few months (September -> January), but it occurred to me yesterday that as it's a British-American co-production, there's a good chance it'll premiere at the British Film "Festival" in October. Fingers crossed.
-Saoirse was MAGNIFICENT! Truly amazing. I have only seen her in Lady Bird beforehand, and this tops that performance IMO (although I wasn't as in love with her there as some were. Don't get me wrong I thought she was good there, but this one is on another level). This has to get her another Oscar nomination. She plays her as strong, naive, vulnerable, angry. Lots of crying scenes. She really goes through it all.
-I wasn't initially sold on Margot Robbie: the prosthetic nose and her scarred face covered in boils was a bit distracting, they really uglied her up. But by the end she won me over, especially in her one big scene with Saoirse. She literally takes her wig off lol.
-David Tennant was slightly underused but he played his part well, most of his scenes are him ranting about how Mary is a whore who abandoned her child, etc. to a crowd . I almost didn't recognize him with the beard.
- Costume and makeup: fantastic, of course
- Beautifully shot. The opening shot is a memorable close-up of Saoirse. Same with the end shot.
- The direction seemed slightly generic to me. Not bad, just lacking in a distinctive style, but it was competent enough. I didn't like the first battle scene however, hope they try to fix that afterwards.
- Max Richter did the score, which makes sense, although it sounds almost identical to his work on The Leftovers at times.
- Quite a bit of sex. Saoirse's gay husband eats her out... which I was not expecting. They also have really rough sex which leads to her getting pregnant.
- Some really disturbing moments, such as the brutal murder of Rizzio, who is stabbed at least 20 times. Saoire's 2nd husband rapes her as well. This will definitely get a R rating, they don't hold back.
- The movie doesn't cover her imprisonment at all, just the years leading up to it. Then it jumps ahead in time 18 years to show her execution. They do something clever with Elizabeth narrating and saying "she viewed Mary as being just as young as when they first met" or something along those lines, so that they don't use old age makeup on Saoirse. I think it was a good choice.
- Overall I didn't love it, it felt a bit long and lagged at times, but this feels like it has a good chance to be an Oscar contender. I know I will be rooting for Saoirse
-I wasn't initially sold on Margot Robbie: the prosthetic nose and her scarred face covered in boils was a bit distracting, they really uglied her up. But by the end she won me over, especially in her one big scene with Saoirse. She literally takes her wig off lol.
-David Tennant was slightly underused but he played his part well, most of his scenes are him ranting about how Mary is a whore who abandoned her child, etc. to a crowd . I almost didn't recognize him with the beard.
- Costume and makeup: fantastic, of course
- Beautifully shot. The opening shot is a memorable close-up of Saoirse. Same with the end shot.
- The direction seemed slightly generic to me. Not bad, just lacking in a distinctive style, but it was competent enough. I didn't like the first battle scene however, hope they try to fix that afterwards.
- Max Richter did the score, which makes sense, although it sounds almost identical to his work on The Leftovers at times.
- Quite a bit of sex. Saoirse's gay husband eats her out... which I was not expecting. They also have really rough sex which leads to her getting pregnant.
- Some really disturbing moments, such as the brutal murder of Rizzio, who is stabbed at least 20 times. Saoire's 2nd husband rapes her as well. This will definitely get a R rating, they don't hold back.
- The movie doesn't cover her imprisonment at all, just the years leading up to it. Then it jumps ahead in time 18 years to show her execution. They do something clever with Elizabeth narrating and saying "she viewed Mary as being just as young as when they first met" or something along those lines, so that they don't use old age makeup on Saoirse. I think it was a good choice.
- Overall I didn't love it, it felt a bit long and lagged at times, but this feels like it has a good chance to be an Oscar contender. I know I will be rooting for Saoirse
I was bummed when Universal AU took a leaf out of Transmission's book and pushed the film back a few months (September -> January), but it occurred to me yesterday that as it's a British-American co-production, there's a good chance it'll premiere at the British Film "Festival" in October. Fingers crossed.
Started watching Stand Alone Complex and boy does this strike a completely different tone than the film. Despite the nudity in the film, I feel like Mokoto is treated a lot more like a sex object here with her ridiculous outfit and close ups. Also I feel like the opening text in episode 1 attempted to be poetic in its explanation of a individuality giving way to a connected whole consciousness but it reads like gibberish. Still, it's interesting to see how the show with its longer run time defines and explores its future world.
Films I saw this past week:
The Post: Watched this on a flight to Seattle recently and it was so engrossing that it made time fly (har har). By the end, I didn't realize that we were already descending to the city. :P Underappreciated release of last year.
Broken Flowers: Bill Murray's deadpan comedic style mixed with Jim Jarmusch's similar style with directing couldn't have been a better combo. Very satisfying to see Bill tackle dramas with an unpredictable story to boot.
Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: While I've yet to see the original Swedish film, I would still consider this one respectable Hollywood remake of the foreign picture, which is rare to see in the current state of the industry. Of course, I mustn't solidify my judgement since I haven't watched it but I do have good feelings.
The Fugitive: A bit too long but the double package of Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones is still a treat.
Point Break: Such a cheesy dude movie yet kinda amusing
The Post: Watched this on a flight to Seattle recently and it was so engrossing that it made time fly (har har). By the end, I didn't realize that we were already descending to the city. :P Underappreciated release of last year.
Broken Flowers: Bill Murray's deadpan comedic style mixed with Jim Jarmusch's similar style with directing couldn't have been a better combo. Very satisfying to see Bill tackle dramas with an unpredictable story to boot.
Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: While I've yet to see the original Swedish film, I would still consider this one respectable Hollywood remake of the foreign picture, which is rare to see in the current state of the industry. Of course, I mustn't solidify my judgement since I haven't watched it but I do have good feelings.
The Fugitive: A bit too long but the double package of Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones is still a treat.
Point Break: Such a cheesy dude movie yet kinda amusing
My dudes, A Quiet Place was fucking terrible.
How many times do I need to see John Krasinski's big-eyed scared-shitless "shhhhh" face? Apparently a dozen times because that's the extent of his drama chops!
The acting was laughable, the plot made zero sense, the characters were idiots. The aliens looked like PS3 Silent Hill enemies. The directing was amateur. The sound mixing was mediocre (for a movie where sound is the key plot device).
I legitimately don't understand how it has a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.
How many times do I need to see John Krasinski's big-eyed scared-shitless "shhhhh" face? Apparently a dozen times because that's the extent of his drama chops!
The acting was laughable, the plot made zero sense, the characters were idiots. The aliens looked like PS3 Silent Hill enemies. The directing was amateur. The sound mixing was mediocre (for a movie where sound is the key plot device).
I legitimately don't understand how it has a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Solo: Well, I had to watch a bad movie to bring me back down to earth eventually so I can further appreciate the finer stuff.
I was actually kind of optimistic for this one given Kasdan's involvement, but sadly this feels as much of checklist of unnecessary and charmless plot points behind every last thing we already knew about Han Solo when he was first introduced. It's like the pat opening of The Last Crusade except stretched out to a full movie and without Spielberg's unbelievably capable touch, or any thematic justification for its fan wish fulfillment. Howard does a fine, anonymous job with this, but who wants anonymity with their Star Wars movies? Say what you will about the Last Jedi but it had a definite artistic guiding principle behind it. This? It's nothin more than a hollow genre exercise with a Star Wars paint job. This movie doesn't even bother to justify its own existence, and that's honestly worse than being a bad movie.
I was actually kind of optimistic for this one given Kasdan's involvement, but sadly this feels as much of checklist of unnecessary and charmless plot points behind every last thing we already knew about Han Solo when he was first introduced. It's like the pat opening of The Last Crusade except stretched out to a full movie and without Spielberg's unbelievably capable touch, or any thematic justification for its fan wish fulfillment. Howard does a fine, anonymous job with this, but who wants anonymity with their Star Wars movies? Say what you will about the Last Jedi but it had a definite artistic guiding principle behind it. This? It's nothin more than a hollow genre exercise with a Star Wars paint job. This movie doesn't even bother to justify its own existence, and that's honestly worse than being a bad movie.
The Man Who Invented Christmas: A decent telling of Charles Dickens's inspiration for A Christmas Carol while also dealing with issues in his own life. I do find his early inspirations to be too on-the-nose. Within a couple of minutes, he meets a rich man who says the poor should go to the workhouses, and "if they'd rather die, then they'd better do it, and decrease the surplus population", and quickly afterwards sees Ignorance and Want, stumbles upon a funeral of a rich man that no one cares about, where the only attendant simply says "Humbug".
The rest of the story is Charles interacting with his characters, mostly Scrooge. Christopher Plummer is a good choice for Scrooge. Good enough for his own adaptation of the story, even though we have a hundred million of those. He also struggles to find an ending, questioning what to do with Scrooge's character with the revelations of his past and present.
The thing is that I read about the inspiration for the story, and I think it should have focused more on the living and work conditions of the poor in England, but this is a more family friendly version. I was inspired to watch this as I've watched a good number of adaptations of the story, but this one I can say you can skip.
The rest of the story is Charles interacting with his characters, mostly Scrooge. Christopher Plummer is a good choice for Scrooge. Good enough for his own adaptation of the story, even though we have a hundred million of those. He also struggles to find an ending, questioning what to do with Scrooge's character with the revelations of his past and present.
The thing is that I read about the inspiration for the story, and I think it should have focused more on the living and work conditions of the poor in England, but this is a more family friendly version. I was inspired to watch this as I've watched a good number of adaptations of the story, but this one I can say you can skip.
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Alone in the Dark (1982): Time to finally get in the mood for some programming! This film was one of the first ones I saw during the 2011 marathon and for being the film that was the first original horror film from the House that Freddy Built, it is unsurprisingly not setting out to do much other than scare a few teenagers. The relative lack of on-screen violence would only be refreshing if it didn't feel like that there wasn't the money for more elaborate violence, though the film does boast an intermittent sense of menace throughout that leverages some of the tantalizing pieces that stood to be better utilized otherwise. There are a lot of great ideas in here, from the strong organizing principle, to the surreal glimpses into the psyche of a few of the characters, to the interesting parallels to the madness of everyday life contrasting to the institutionalized, to the siege-style extended finale that calls fleetingly to the likes of Straw Dogs, but with a few years to go before turning in a bonafide cult classic in The Hidden, writer/director Jack Sholder has troubles putting it all together in a wholly satisfying manner, and one wonders if he simply hoped that the stacked cast of B-movie greats like Jack Palance, Donald Pleasance and Martin Landau would be able to do the heavy lifting. Still, it does enough intriguing things to make a fine enough watch, and one wonders why some of the better ideas from this film haven't been lifted, if not being on solid ground for an outright remake that balances everything better than it was here. And hey, a movie with a band called The Sick Fucks has already got one good thing going for it already!
Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th: Friday the 13th gets its big documentary and it's a good deal better than most of the films it's about! If it can't reach the heights of Never Sleep Again, it certainly isn't because of a lack of material, as being over 6.5 hours long and covering twelve films and, in a wonderful little nod to how big the franchise was, the TV series, there's a lot of ground to cover. The primary issue is hard coded into the DNA of the series itself, as watching so many anecdotes back to back that could easily be swapped between films with no one being the wiser makes this a bit tiring, especially when there's installments where they're clearly struggling to come up with interesting things to talk about, even on a technical level. That being said, with one really glaring omission aside (they really couldn't get Steve Miner to say anything at all?), the sheer amount of talking heads they managed to put together for this is rather incredible, and I really did like that directors like Joseph Zito, Tom McLaughlin and Adam Marcus were so forward with discussing the films they worked on while teaching you a little something about the process of directing a film, and some of the anecdotes are to die for, including a goofy yet sweet outpouring of sympathy for the character of Jason from Monica Keena that winds up with an unexpected yet killer punchline. All in all, one would probably do well to break this up during the course of a day or a weekend to avoid running into fatigue, but for anyone with a love of the genre, it's always a treat to get so many folks sharing stories about how films like this are made in the first place, and for anyone that's a F13 fan, well, I doubt you need to be sold anymore than you already are. Special bonus: stay past the credits for an absolutely killer callback to Never Sleep Again that had me in stitches.
Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th: Friday the 13th gets its big documentary and it's a good deal better than most of the films it's about! If it can't reach the heights of Never Sleep Again, it certainly isn't because of a lack of material, as being over 6.5 hours long and covering twelve films and, in a wonderful little nod to how big the franchise was, the TV series, there's a lot of ground to cover. The primary issue is hard coded into the DNA of the series itself, as watching so many anecdotes back to back that could easily be swapped between films with no one being the wiser makes this a bit tiring, especially when there's installments where they're clearly struggling to come up with interesting things to talk about, even on a technical level. That being said, with one really glaring omission aside (they really couldn't get Steve Miner to say anything at all?), the sheer amount of talking heads they managed to put together for this is rather incredible, and I really did like that directors like Joseph Zito, Tom McLaughlin and Adam Marcus were so forward with discussing the films they worked on while teaching you a little something about the process of directing a film, and some of the anecdotes are to die for, including a goofy yet sweet outpouring of sympathy for the character of Jason from Monica Keena that winds up with an unexpected yet killer punchline. All in all, one would probably do well to break this up during the course of a day or a weekend to avoid running into fatigue, but for anyone with a love of the genre, it's always a treat to get so many folks sharing stories about how films like this are made in the first place, and for anyone that's a F13 fan, well, I doubt you need to be sold anymore than you already are. Special bonus: stay past the credits for an absolutely killer callback to Never Sleep Again that had me in stitches.
Did you copy this from a review?
Anyway, just watched a quite place. For a first attempt pretty good, had some good scenes but there are too many things that don't make sense and not just when you think about them afterwards. Also didn't like that they showed the monster so much.
Saw 1945 last night. Anyone who is a fan stories where things appear normal on the surface but dark shit lies underneath with really enjoy this. The variety of responses to Jews coming back to the village was well done. Also props to whoever did casting. Some of those people looked like they really could have lived in Hungary during WWII.
Haven't watched a movie in a few weeks.
I see the new Jamanji is recommended a lot. Think I might just watch that tonight.
I see the new Jamanji is recommended a lot. Think I might just watch that tonight.
Just back from a 70mm screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Probably one of the best theater experiences I've ever had. A few hundred people sat in complete silence for 2 and half hours. A great collection of old people, long hairs, neckbeards, dads and sons, and first timer girlfriends. No black people though. It's a pretty good movie you guys should go see it.
First Reformed left me shaking. I'm really surprised it did that
Audience hated it I think, but man that was amazing.
Audience hated it I think, but man that was amazing.
Rocky - Just a perfect movie. It was first a love story with boxing in the foreground. Has some of the most emotional conversations in the series. It's #1 by a long shot. 10/10.
Rocky II - Kind of a disappointment to me coming off the first one. The goofy scenes in the first half don't really do it for me, and the characters feel hollow compared to the first. 4/10
Rocky III - Rocky starts evolving into an over-the-top spectacle. Probably the best intro in the series, and Clubber Lang makes a great obstacle and villain. It's my second favorite of the ones I've seen. 7/10
Rocky IV - It's a 90 minute long montage, but it's still cheesy in the best way possible. The robot, Drago, the training montages leading up to climbing the mountain. Just hilariously awesome. 7/10
Rocky V - No one is likable in this, and it takes a turn for the worst. The best thing about the fifth film is that it makes me enjoy all the previous iterations more in comparison. 2/10
I'll be watching Rocky Balboa and Creed this week to wrap up sitting through this series for the first time.
Rocky II - Kind of a disappointment to me coming off the first one. The goofy scenes in the first half don't really do it for me, and the characters feel hollow compared to the first. 4/10
Rocky III - Rocky starts evolving into an over-the-top spectacle. Probably the best intro in the series, and Clubber Lang makes a great obstacle and villain. It's my second favorite of the ones I've seen. 7/10
Rocky IV - It's a 90 minute long montage, but it's still cheesy in the best way possible. The robot, Drago, the training montages leading up to climbing the mountain. Just hilariously awesome. 7/10
Rocky V - No one is likable in this, and it takes a turn for the worst. The best thing about the fifth film is that it makes me enjoy all the previous iterations more in comparison. 2/10
I'll be watching Rocky Balboa and Creed this week to wrap up sitting through this series for the first time.
Guess I need to recap last month, which May was slow for me, but there were some memorable movies. So here are my top five:
Went in with low expectations but this one actually delivered a decent story for a Saw entry anyway. The traps are just completely over the top stupid at this point and the story has taken so many turns it definitely feels milked.
Suicide Squad
I'm honestly amazed that this movie was trashed as hard as it was, but just like Bats v Soups, I loved it. Hot take, this was far better than Infinity War. I wasn't so much bored during Infinity War, I just felt it was too long and drawn out. In order to accommodate so many heroes, they all had to get their five minutes and a lot of it felt like needless fan service. Great if your a fan, but it sucks if you only check in every 5 movies and just want a fun action movie. Which Suicide Squad really succeeded well in the fun action part.
I feel like the pacing was just right and the humor was right up my alley. The cast was perfect, but I will say the Jared Leto Joker was more your standard comic book version and that is fine, but I just remember seeing news stories about how amazing his Joker was and all that. Harley and Deadshot were far better and Harley was definitely one of, if not the best character.
The cgi was decent. I have zero complaints here. The main villains were well done and I thought all the fights and shootouts were executed extremely well.
This isn't some revolutionary comic film, but its not the absolute dumpster fire everyone seems to call it. I can't fathom how Infinity War gets the high praise it gets when something fun like this gets absolutely trashed, but I'm glad I have my own opinion. Looking forward to Justice League a lot now.
- Night of the Hunter
- All That Jazz
- Kingsman: The Golden Circle
- Purge Election Year
- Dead End
Went in with low expectations but this one actually delivered a decent story for a Saw entry anyway. The traps are just completely over the top stupid at this point and the story has taken so many turns it definitely feels milked.
Suicide Squad
I'm honestly amazed that this movie was trashed as hard as it was, but just like Bats v Soups, I loved it. Hot take, this was far better than Infinity War. I wasn't so much bored during Infinity War, I just felt it was too long and drawn out. In order to accommodate so many heroes, they all had to get their five minutes and a lot of it felt like needless fan service. Great if your a fan, but it sucks if you only check in every 5 movies and just want a fun action movie. Which Suicide Squad really succeeded well in the fun action part.
I feel like the pacing was just right and the humor was right up my alley. The cast was perfect, but I will say the Jared Leto Joker was more your standard comic book version and that is fine, but I just remember seeing news stories about how amazing his Joker was and all that. Harley and Deadshot were far better and Harley was definitely one of, if not the best character.
The cgi was decent. I have zero complaints here. The main villains were well done and I thought all the fights and shootouts were executed extremely well.
This isn't some revolutionary comic film, but its not the absolute dumpster fire everyone seems to call it. I can't fathom how Infinity War gets the high praise it gets when something fun like this gets absolutely trashed, but I'm glad I have my own opinion. Looking forward to Justice League a lot now.
Tomb Raider
Passable, some decent but brief action pieces, and contender for Worst Wig of 2018. Alicia Vikander does a nice job, but the movie takes too long to get going and then moves too fast on the good stuff.
Antichrist
The feel-good movie of 2009. Dark, depressing, crazy, emotional, damaging, this movie has it all. Charlotte Gainsbourg acts her heart out, and Willem Dafoe continues being one of the best in the biz. It's a rewatch, but it's been a long time so it was like watching it for the first time. Some of the imagery stuck over those years, though, this movie has some striking moments.
The Comedy
Tim Heidecker wanders the city and tries to get a rise out of the people he encounters, trying to feel something, anything at all. It comments on a whole generation, while also being a neat character study on his character. It also has some funny bits deep in there.
Future World
James Franco in Mad Max, but done rather poorly. This wasn't very fun to watch. It looked nice, though, it certainly had that going for it. There isn't much else to say about it, it definitely deserved the VOD treatment.
Social Animals
It has Noel Wells and Josh Radnor at extreme likeability levels, and they are good in it! But the movie around them is a major mess and not fun to watch. If it had been just them hanging out and none of the other stuff, it would've been a far, far superior movie.
Passable, some decent but brief action pieces, and contender for Worst Wig of 2018. Alicia Vikander does a nice job, but the movie takes too long to get going and then moves too fast on the good stuff.
Antichrist
The feel-good movie of 2009. Dark, depressing, crazy, emotional, damaging, this movie has it all. Charlotte Gainsbourg acts her heart out, and Willem Dafoe continues being one of the best in the biz. It's a rewatch, but it's been a long time so it was like watching it for the first time. Some of the imagery stuck over those years, though, this movie has some striking moments.
The Comedy
Tim Heidecker wanders the city and tries to get a rise out of the people he encounters, trying to feel something, anything at all. It comments on a whole generation, while also being a neat character study on his character. It also has some funny bits deep in there.
Future World
James Franco in Mad Max, but done rather poorly. This wasn't very fun to watch. It looked nice, though, it certainly had that going for it. There isn't much else to say about it, it definitely deserved the VOD treatment.
Social Animals
It has Noel Wells and Josh Radnor at extreme likeability levels, and they are good in it! But the movie around them is a major mess and not fun to watch. If it had been just them hanging out and none of the other stuff, it would've been a far, far superior movie.
Night School: Another rewatch from a previous marathon, and I want to say it was the second one I did back in 2010, before I actually wrote this stuff down. Unlike most of the slashers of its day, this one does put a premium on getting its thrills from suspense, rather than the body count. To this point, it borrows, quite liberally, from the methods employed in the works of Val Lewton, with the right kind of editing rhythm and visual language to make those scenes work. The lack of gore, body count and nudity is surprising for the era on their own, but there's a strong consideration given to the female perspective here, as well as one of the few detectives in the genre that's on the right track early on and does his due diligence to confirm their suspicions. Lest you think the film is entirely too intelligent for its time, it does do enough clumsy things in the script that does let down its thoughtfulness, from a really weird subplot involving lesbian intrigue that goes nowhere to one awful bit of humor that ends the film, and while the big twist in of itself is a nice change of pace, the obvious physical issues involved with are so glaring that they literally stare at you in the face while the mask is pulled. But between the effective somber score from Brad Fiedel, a nice rendering of Boston courtesy of longtime horror vet DP Mark Irwin and a surprising amount of intelligence and care put into the organizing principle with a highly effective conclusion sans final gag, it has plenty to recommend even with the more obvious flaws in place.
May for me:
Outrage
Beyond Outrage
Manhunt
Batman Ninja
Deadpool
Cure
Pulse
The Happiness of the Katakuris
The Quiet Family
Outrage Coda
The Castle of Cagliostro
Audition
I Wish
Still Walking
Deadpool 2
Bolds are first times. Alot of rewatches for me. Went pretty heavy into the subtitles last month.
June, so far.
The Mimic
Interesting concept for a horror film, but I felt it fell a little short in its execution. A film about something mimicking human sounds could've been really scary if they went further.
Kagemusha
Second time watching this, I think I enjoyed it more this time. Nakadai is so good. I love the nightmare sequence and the use of colours.
Ran
Still one of my favourites. The soundtrack, colours, camera everything is so good. The attack on the third castle is still one of my all time favourite scenes in film.
Our Little Sister
This is probably one of the most wholesome films I have ever seen.. everyone is just so happy (for the most part), nice and charming. Another great Kore-eda film.
Outrage
Beyond Outrage
Manhunt
Batman Ninja
Deadpool
Cure
Pulse
The Happiness of the Katakuris
The Quiet Family
Outrage Coda
The Castle of Cagliostro
Audition
I Wish
Still Walking
Deadpool 2
Bolds are first times. Alot of rewatches for me. Went pretty heavy into the subtitles last month.
June, so far.
The Mimic
Interesting concept for a horror film, but I felt it fell a little short in its execution. A film about something mimicking human sounds could've been really scary if they went further.
Kagemusha
Second time watching this, I think I enjoyed it more this time. Nakadai is so good. I love the nightmare sequence and the use of colours.
Ran
Still one of my favourites. The soundtrack, colours, camera everything is so good. The attack on the third castle is still one of my all time favourite scenes in film.
Our Little Sister
This is probably one of the most wholesome films I have ever seen.. everyone is just so happy (for the most part), nice and charming. Another great Kore-eda film.
I can never decide between Creed and Balboa which is my second fav Rocky movie. Both are so freaking good.
Logan Marshall-Green came into his own in Upgrade. Kind of doing him a disservice calling him Discount Tom Hardy and whatnot. I couldn't see Hardy pulling off the physical comedy or timing and expressions that made a lot of Upgrade work as well as it did.
Upgrade was great though. The gory action and slick world were done extremely well, and the story balanced the fun b-movie tone and the unsettling horror of its premise quite well. As a story about an AI, it was an effective tale, told well within its genre wheelhouse. I could see this being a sleeper hit with the word of mouth and reviews
Upgrade was great though. The gory action and slick world were done extremely well, and the story balanced the fun b-movie tone and the unsettling horror of its premise quite well. As a story about an AI, it was an effective tale, told well within its genre wheelhouse. I could see this being a sleeper hit with the word of mouth and reviews
Well i'm interested :)
Any rules regarding the picks? First time i'm doing this.
OP
OP
Not really, except picking 3 movies your buddy has not seen yet. When paired, PM them to engage in jolly movie-exchanging. Maybe ask and keep in mind the services (netflix/filmstruck/amazon/etc) they have access to when picking movies. That is basically it.
Your reaction to the whole trilogy?
I've only seen the first, but Coda is screening here this month so I was thinking of finally going through the whole thing.
Was a little ambivalent to the first entry, though. Felt like a step backwards for Kitano.
I enjoy the films, I thought the first was the best so, it may not be for you. Coda did seem a little rushed to tie up the trilogy though.
The Outrage films are fun for the triple crosses and ridiculous executions. I don't take them too seriously.
Upgrade
★★★★½
Upgrade is everything I wanted from the movie after seeing that first red band trailer. Awesome gory action, a lean confidently-paced narrative, a fine balance of thriller and humor giving the film that b-movie charm, a cyberpunk future that's more grounded and believable than most. All anchored by the physical comedy, expressions, and timing of Logan Marshall-Green and a surprisingly effective and unsettling tale of AI.
That last part pleased me the most. For all its slapsticky violent humor and slickly choreographed fight scenes, there's this uneasy undercurrent of body horror beneath Upgrade's schlocky style, presented excellently through Green's mismatch of horrified face and his body as ruthlessly efficient AI-driven killing machine.
★★★★½
Upgrade is everything I wanted from the movie after seeing that first red band trailer. Awesome gory action, a lean confidently-paced narrative, a fine balance of thriller and humor giving the film that b-movie charm, a cyberpunk future that's more grounded and believable than most. All anchored by the physical comedy, expressions, and timing of Logan Marshall-Green and a surprisingly effective and unsettling tale of AI.
That last part pleased me the most. For all its slapsticky violent humor and slickly choreographed fight scenes, there's this uneasy undercurrent of body horror beneath Upgrade's schlocky style, presented excellently through Green's mismatch of horrified face and his body as ruthlessly efficient AI-driven killing machine.
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OP
OP
That scene in The Last Days of Disco where they suddenly start analyzing Lady and the Tramp might be the happiest I've been all week.
Re-watched The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
For me, even though I've seen a gazillion time travel films at this point, I still consider this the baseline for good sci-fi stories (especially in anime) that put a greater emphasis on more down-to-earth settings and character development. It's also incredibly charming and endearing considering how straightforward and how little the film has to work with both on a narrative and visual level. Also, for those who haven't seen it yet, I'd actually recommend the English dub if the trailer sample wasn't evident enough.
For me, even though I've seen a gazillion time travel films at this point, I still consider this the baseline for good sci-fi stories (especially in anime) that put a greater emphasis on more down-to-earth settings and character development. It's also incredibly charming and endearing considering how straightforward and how little the film has to work with both on a narrative and visual level. Also, for those who haven't seen it yet, I'd actually recommend the English dub if the trailer sample wasn't evident enough.
About three or four times haha
I really like Hosoda's stuff, but for some reason his bigger projects haven't resonated with me as well as Leapt. Never seen Wolf Children though, so I guess there's that.
It's sweet as a wavering honeycomb..!! Check it out if just for that wonderfully wistful soundtrack.... and it arguably feels like his smallest film next to The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
Hmm the trailer did nothing for me but this is making me curious. Might give it a second look after all.
Creep films are good but aren't massively enriched by the found footage format which at this point feels as convenient as an ectomorphic marathon runner who just had a flyer smack him in his face while taking out the trash and OK Mr. Josef (titular creep), a flat, yet well-acted and sincerely developed character, OKEY-DOKEY, one could say. Okey-dokey -- genre film spun on a spindle and given plenty of entertainment value that you could leaven when you decide enough was enough, Blumhouse, I want a 280 on the take and a 6 foot on the character piece and I want it framed as innocuous simulations of reality bound south, you know how to do it, ROLL! But then hur'd Get Out months before, a not so innocuous not-simulation of irreality with plenty of imitation dressed in overt implications. It has more mobility as full-winged theater and I think Creep would have as well. But the conceit's axecuted earnestly. Duplass: home-run creep-o!!
Creep/Creep 2
______________________
"For justice delivered without dispassion, is always in danger of not being justice."
Excellence shines in everything hand-and-hand and mouth-to-mouth'd par for this typically inspired gourmet. Leigh, Jackson, Russell, the writers and designers and chair placement finger-framers jackpotted, crackpotting, face crotch globglobbing. For the lone double X'er, woman-kind suffocation sure enough don't settle it. Poetically nevertheless, in Chandler fashion, but the ice is thin to tread in the anti-nostalgic age -- even when here's snow. Even when here's a non-morality play bent on glamorous slurs and strained allegiances and other pulpy trope regulars. Even when craft's back bringing its capital C. You've seen a Tarantino film before. Tell 'im, you think the world's not quite a quirky compass. Don't; the film will feel like a world again. Maybe doesn't need to. A simultaneously straight yet ironic back-up tracking by Ennio for the canals thrusts the film into a hardy, throwback-ing spirit. It's a spirit that pervades throughout, moment to intermission. In the end, no, there's no zero-sums. There's plenty o' things though. And every thing paired with another thing makes each thing deserve their place in Tarantino world, so paint it black, it'll still come in color. High five!! *bro fist*
The Hateful Eight
Creep/Creep 2
______________________
"For justice delivered without dispassion, is always in danger of not being justice."
Excellence shines in everything hand-and-hand and mouth-to-mouth'd par for this typically inspired gourmet. Leigh, Jackson, Russell, the writers and designers and chair placement finger-framers jackpotted, crackpotting, face crotch globglobbing. For the lone double X'er, woman-kind suffocation sure enough don't settle it. Poetically nevertheless, in Chandler fashion, but the ice is thin to tread in the anti-nostalgic age -- even when here's snow. Even when here's a non-morality play bent on glamorous slurs and strained allegiances and other pulpy trope regulars. Even when craft's back bringing its capital C. You've seen a Tarantino film before. Tell 'im, you think the world's not quite a quirky compass. Don't; the film will feel like a world again. Maybe doesn't need to. A simultaneously straight yet ironic back-up tracking by Ennio for the canals thrusts the film into a hardy, throwback-ing spirit. It's a spirit that pervades throughout, moment to intermission. In the end, no, there's no zero-sums. There's plenty o' things though. And every thing paired with another thing makes each thing deserve their place in Tarantino world, so paint it black, it'll still come in color. High five!! *bro fist*
The Hateful Eight