Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[HaughtyFrank]

Thought might as well watch some horror for October

Countdown
I guess this is essentially modern horror fast food. Fun premise with an app that tells people when they die but went a relatively boring demon route with it. Honestly wouldn't have minded if it had just been a Final Destination clone instead. Can't recommend.

Incantation (Netflix)
Taiwanese folk horror in found footage format. A whole lot more interesting than Countdown with some genuinely creepy scenes and atmosphere. Unfortunately it did get a bit confusing through it's non-linear structure where I sometimes wasn't entirely sure what had happened, at times it even feels like scenes were just missing. Was also a little disappointed with the gore, maybe I'm too desensitized (because there's definitely gore, Taiwan fortunately out of reach of the Chinese censors) but I would have liked a real proper punch for the finale.

[Bebpo]

I'd never seen Poltergeist until now, though I'd been through the official haunted house of it and seen some of the spooks.

This was great. As opposed to modern haunted house movies where you get a slow drip of things until the end, stuff keeps popping and it's a lot of fun. It's got some zzz lulls especially in monologues and it's too long pacing-wise at two full hours. If you made a 90 min cut of this it would be perfect. But as is it's still great even if a bit boring in a few spots. And the epilepsy flashing lights and lots of screaming children.

But man, that finale is wild.

*edit* Also reading up on the behind the scenes craziness.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The skeletons in the pool and popping out everywhere in the finale being real certainly makes that interesting lol

[close]

[Cauliflower Of Love]

One of the greatest short films of all time.

[Bebpo]

Finished rewatching Army of Darkness in the new 4k transfer. I've re-watched Evil Dead 2 a few times over the last decade or so since it pops up at horror watch parties and checked it out when it came out in 4k, but hadn't seen Army of Darkness in probably 20 years.

This movie, like Evil Dead 2, holds up extremely well. It's still hilarious and a ton of fun and the pacing is super tight with the run length. Just really timeless.

Also, like I posted in the 4k thread just now, the transfer is super good. If you love the movie and still pick up physical media, this is very much worth it.

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

Does it have the Rip Van Winkle ending, or the Shop Smart, Shop S-Mart ending?

[Bebpo]

Does it have the Rip Van Winkle ending, or the Shop Smart, Shop S-Mart ending?

The new release has every version (Theatrical w/Smart, Director's Cut w/Winkle, International Cut [DC with Smart ending], and 4:3 TV censored cut), but only the Theatrical Cut is in 4k UHD. The old Raimi/Campbell audio commentary is only on the DC cut. The other cuts are all standard 2k BDs though the TV censored cut looks like VHS quality lol.

I was annoyed the DC didn't get a 4K disc, but I watched a bit of it and it looks like that cut (maybe because it never released in theaters?) never got the same level of finishing/polish to make it look nice and might be tough to restore to a nice looking 4k if the source quality isn't there. I say this because when I popped in the 2K BD of the International Cut (which is mostly DC footage outside the ending), it looks great and noticeably better than the 2K DC cut disc.

[HaughtyFrank]

https://twitter.com/JFrankensteiner/status/1580004903376019456

[Joe Molotov]

 

[Polident Hive]

https://twitter.com/missdianemorgan/status/1578421274690277376

 

Scrubbed through some of it. No audio commentary from Curtis this time. No music either. About seven hours of footage relying almost entirely on editing to tell its story.

[Mupepe]

Halloween Ends is absolute fucking garbage. Like holy shit. The worst thing I’ve seen all year for sure. The worst Halloween movie for sure. Worse than Resurrection. I was just excited to see this and oh my god. Just awful. I hated every fucking minute.

[Tasty]

[Bebpo]

The Black Phone - Ehhhhhhhhhh. It was fine but because it was so tame it was honestly a bit zzz for the bulk of it. The concept was solid, but would've worked better as a 1 hour TV ep of some anthology show or something. Felt too Stranger Things tonally. Without a real edge or original plotting or anything scary/tense/creepy, it was just sorta like what's the point at 100 mins. Like there was absolutely nothing interesting at all about Ethan Hawke's character and the main kid was pretty dull. The phone was the only interesting part and they didn't really do anything great with it. Just felt very YA bland.

*edit* Ah, this is a Joe Hill short story adaptation. I'm not a big fan of Joe Hill (I sorta enjoyed Horns [movie version] and Locke & Key [comic version] but didn't love them), but yeah the concept works fine as a short story, namely,

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Kid is kidnapped by a serial killer and the ghosts of past victims help him defeat the killer and escape.

[close]

But it's not really interesting enough for a 100 min film.

Halloween Ends is absolute fucking garbage. Like holy shit. The worst thing I’ve seen all year for sure. The worst Halloween movie for sure. Worse than Resurrection. I was just excited to see this and oh my god. Just awful. I hated every fucking minute.

Yeah, after the second one I wasn't expecting much 

Maybe it was never a good idea to make it a trilogy instead of just like one good movie and then move on.

[Nintex]

https://twitter.com/missdianemorgan/status/1578421274690277376

 

Scrubbed through some of it. No audio commentary from Curtis this time. No music either. About seven hours of footage relying almost entirely on editing to tell its story.

Watched 2 episodes, incredibly immersive. Fantastic footage. TraumaZone 

[Sideshow Raheem]

Halloween Ends is absolute fucking garbage. Like holy shit. The worst thing I’ve seen all year for sure. The worst Halloween movie for sure. Worse than Resurrection. I was just excited to see this and oh my god. Just awful. I hated every fucking minute.

Seconded.

This film wasn't scary, tense, or even interesting. There's something like a twist to it, but I don't want to give it that much credit because it's horribly done and almost comical.

[Tasty]

Anything top "trick or treat, motherfucker?"

[Bebpo]

Going to watch National Lampoon's Animal House now. I probably saw this as a kid, I know I saw all the Chevy Chase ones, so I'm curious if I'll remember any of this and also curious is an old college party movie is still funny in modern times.

[Bebpo]

Alright, yeah I vaguely remembered that from long, long ago. It's still a pretty good movie, though more amusing than hilarious these days, but had some good laughs. Karen Allen was dreamy, no wonder she got that Indiana Jones role a few years later.

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

Watched X even though I'm not much of a slasher fan, and I'm not even sure the director is, as the actual slasher parts are pretty perfunctory and come very late in the film.

Some really great shots though, like the opening 4:3 shot inside a door watching a policecar pull up, but zooming in to 'uncrop' the shot by moving outside the doorway and revealing the other police cars already there, or the shot of the naked swimming in the lake with the alligator in pursuit.

The most haunting part to me though was the diegetic cover version of Landslide by Kid Cudi (and this is a weird ass film to see him starring in) and the Pitch Perfect chick. In a lot of ways this being a fairly straight forward slasher flick is the most disappointing aspect.

e:

[Bebpo]

Yeah, my issue with X is just that it's a straight forward slasher which isn't very interesting today. It's well made, but that's about it. Can't say I'm particularly interested in the prequels, but will watch them when they're cheap enough.

[Nintex]

TraumaZone really makes you understand why the Russians are all so fucked up.

It seems that the west over the years just convinced themselves that Yeltsin wasn't a (war) criminal in league with the Russian mob.
One episode left I think, that's probably when Putin comes to town.

[Uncle]

I just watched Escape From New York again

the main theme is maybe the best music created for anything ever



I could listen to it for the rest of my life



I feel it in my soul

 

[Potato]

How can that be true when the Conan the Barbarian OST exists?

[Madrun Badrun]

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/black_adam

[benjipwns]

kung fus

https://twitter.com/TimesSqKungFu/status/1582123450331602946

[james]

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/black_adam

Keep the shit in the shit thread

[Polident Hive]

Getting Rocky 3 and Rocky 5 mixed together…

[Bebpo]

I thought Return of the Living Dead was kind of terrible lol

The special effects were awesome. But idk the zombies being so completely unkillable giving zero chance for anyone to fight back just kinda made it silly and boring. Had some funny bits but other than the impressive practical effects wasn't feeling it. The ending was good though.

Feels like a movie that works best at a midnight showing with a fanbase and alcohol or drugs.

[Bebpo]

Part of my issue with the movie is the movie is hyped up as 80's punks vs zombies and the movie opens with these 80's punk kids and I'm like heck yeah, let's see them use their punk skills to fight off the zombies.

...but at like no point in the entire movie does any of the punk kids fight off a zombie using their punk skills. This is because at no point in the movie does anyone fight off a zombie because these zombies are invincible and there is no way to fight back against them.

Plus like 50%+ of the run time is the boring warehouse owner and cremator guy and less than half the runtime is actually the punk kids. The punk kids really do like nothing the entire movie after the first two get killed. Hell two of them go hide and have like one scene afterwards and then you don't see them until the ending.

Just feels like a bad zombie or bad horror movie to me. Don't get the favorable reviews.

[HaughtyFrank]

Nice guy Del Toro

https://twitter.com/RealGDT/status/1583077320385916928

[HaughtyFrank]

I thought Return of the Living Dead was kind of terrible lol

The special effects were awesome. But idk the zombies being so completely unkillable giving zero chance for anyone to fight back just kinda made it silly and boring. Had some funny bits but other than the impressive practical effects wasn't feeling it. The ending was good though.

Feels like a movie that works best at a midnight showing with a fanbase and alcohol or drugs.

I kind of enjoyed the uncomfortableness of them trying to kill some of those zombies and they just don't die while screaming in pain. Like trying to put some poor dying person out of their misery and you just keep making it worse and worse. It's true though that it kind of negates the classic zombie fighting as everyone is pretty much just screwed.

[Nintex]

 

[Bebpo]

Watched Mad Max. Never seen the original trilogy, just Fury Road and the Avalanche game.

Was pretty stylish with a lot of good direction both in the car action stuff and people stuff. Some nice shots and cinematography. Recognized the cinematographer David Eggby from when I re-watched Pitch Black a month ago. Just visually a great movie.

Story was light but ok, acting was pretty fun. Thought the villain was great. Enjoyed it. Will check out 2 and 3 at some point.

[HardcoreRetro]

You need to watch Mad Max 2. It's basically where the franchise got the style it's known for.

[Sideshow Raheem]

Oddly, Red Letter Media enjoyed Halloween Ends.

Don't begrudge those guys their opinion, but Ends is a turd in a bowl you can't ever flush.

[Uncle]

Oddly, Red Letter Media enjoyed Halloween Ends.

Don't begrudge those guys their opinion, but Ends is a turd in a bowl you can't ever flush.

RLM have lost their edge recently, mike has started handwaving a lot of stuff he would've eviscerated 5 years ago

I feel like they're so tired of identifying the same problems over and over that they've started to let go and have swung back to the non-critical "eh it's a popcorn movie" deal

or mike actually has dementia and has lost his ability to notice the details he used to

[Polident Hive]

You need to watch Mad Max 2. It's basically where the franchise got the style it's known for.

Somehow watched Mad Max 1 last, and yeah, it’s striking how different it is. Least favorite of the bunch.

Also fun to see the scene that inspired the whole Saw franchise and by extension James Wan’s career. All roads lead to Malignant. What a film.

[HaughtyFrank]

https://twitter.com/ErikDavis/status/1583843444039946242

it will be the 2nd best opening ever for a solo DC movie that doesn’t star the core 4 (Batman, Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman), behind only #Joker.

I love nothing more than a good box office spin

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

I think its a little bit disingenuous (and needlessly dismissive of James Wans talents) to pretend Aquaman was ever a big draw like Superman / Batman / Wonder Woman are (and of those, WW has the name recognition, but doesn't usually get the sales).

Like... the fact Entourages running joke was that the guy was going to be in an Aquaman movie wasn't because people are super thirsty for Big Screen Aquaman, its that Aquaman is in the zeitgeist as the lamest superfriend.

[chronovore]

I watched Netflix' The Gray Man, and enjoyed it. Why was it so roundly panned?

[Madrun Badrun]

Ya, it was pretty good, if you set your expectations to Fast and Furious and not Bourne trilogy.

[Tasty]

I watched Netflix' The Gray Man, and enjoyed it. Why was it so roundly panned?

The Russos have a possibly-undeserved high pedigree which (along with the $$$$$$$ Netflix spent on them+the film) set expectations before it was released.

[Bebpo]

idk, my friend said it was the worst movie of 2022.

Seems pretty love or hate.

[Madrun Badrun]

I rewatched Malignant with friends.  This is really top-tier B-horror. 

[Tasty]

I fucking love Malignant.

[benjipwns]

it will be the 2nd best opening ever for a solo DC movie that doesn’t star the core 4 (Batman, Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman), behind only #Joker.

I love nothing more than a good box office spin

Look at that murderers row it took down: Shazam, Green Lantern, Constantine, Catwoman, Jonah Hex, Supergirl, Steel and Swamp Thing.

I like two of these (I've always loved Constantine), but only one of these was a real attempt at a big budget superhero movie and Green Lantern still looked like shit back then. The entire reason we got the Snyderverse/DCEU is because it failed so hard and Man of Steel was all they had in the pipeline.

[Polident Hive]

Never watched Jonah Hex, but every ad back in the day was about Megan Fox in a corset.

[Madrun Badrun]

 

Looks good

[HaughtyFrank]

Visually reminds me almost of Guardians of the Galaxy but instead of space it's tiny quantum world.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Looks like infinity wars/ the other one with thanos, where they have a huge meelee with generic aliens/germs.

[Joe Molotov]

Never watched Jonah Hex, but every ad back in the day was about Megan Fox in a corset.

Black Adam is obviously better because it has The Rock in a corset.

[Bebpo]

Looks fun, but yeah I've been waiting since Loki to see Major's Kang kicking ass in our modern world.

Him ruling some alien micro-galaxy is not what I wanted but oh well. Guess gotta keep waiting until 2025 to get Kang in NYC in Avenger's Kang Dynasty.

Also Michael Pena saved Ant-Man 1&2 and looks like he might not be in this much

[HaughtyFrank]

[Bebpo]

Man, Barbarian is super good for the first 2/3rds, but then it gets all silly and not scary/tense and ridiculous and kinda kills it. Still sorta ok/good, but movie really falls apart in the last 1/3rd. What a shame.

[chronovore]

I sometimes wonder what it’s like to live inside the head of Neil Breen.

It’s clear he sees himself as an auteur, and an incredibly special moviemaking voice. I’m trying to figure out how he can have professional filmmaker coexist in his head with the “basic business practices“ of a film with no website, title, or trailer.

It’s also noteworthy that the title of the YouTube references October 20, but he recorded on September 1. Clearly, the production is not without its stumbles.

[benjipwns]

I sometimes wonder what it’s like to live inside the head of Neil Breen.

It’s clear he sees himself as an auterus, and an incredibly special moviemaking voice. I’m trying to figure out how he can have professional filmmaker coexist in his head with the “basic business practices“ of a film with no website, title, or trailer.

It’s also noteworthy that the title of the YouTube references October 20, but he recorded on September 1. Clearly, the production is not without its stumbles.

Real artists don't bother themselves with such trivial concerns, they simply produce their timeless art and the masses flock to it when it's finally offered to them.

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

watched The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent, and it was glorious. 

I went in mostly blind other than knowing its about Nick Cage playing Nick Cage, but that's about as accurate as Being John Malkovich is a film about John Malkovich playing John Malkovich.

Really funny, especially if you like movies and you like the kind of spread of movies that means you've seen a lot of stuff Nick Cage has been in; I really don't know of anyone else this film could have been about with the kind of prolific and varied work he's done in his career. One of the funniest running gags is that when people pick their favorite Nick Cage films its not the big blockbusters like your Con Airs or The Rocks, and its not the 'cinephile' choices like Adaptation or Leaving Las Vegas, or your quirky director picks like Wild At Heart or Raising Arizona - its real random shit like Guarding Tess or The Kroods 2

Also, holy shit this scene

[Nintex]

looks fun

[Bebpo]

Despite being a big horror buff, I've never really checked out Italian Giallo Horror. Lately I've been collecting Dario Argento flicks to watch someday. Decided to start with Suspiria tonight. I'd seen the remake and liked it.

The score for the original Suspiria is amazing. Beyond the fantastic theme, love the crazy loud stuff. Architecture, set design, colors very cool too. Story is super simple and violence is kind of tame for modern though the opening kill with the heart stab and hanging was still great. Some of the acting performances were good too.

Enjoyed it even if didn't love it.

It's interesting how different of a film the remake was. The remake basically totally changed the story and added a bunch of layers to it culminating in an extremely satisfying finale of gore and music. It's a much more interesting story. The Thom Yorke soundtrack while totally different style than this Goblin soundtrack is great. I think the remake is a much better film, but the original is more stylish for sure and the original theme song is better.

Gonna start watching some of the other Argento flicks I picked up.

[Joe Molotov]

Deep Red is my favorite Argento movie, check it out. I also really like Inferno, it gets deeper into the lore behind Suspiria.

I watched his new movie, Dark Glasses, on Shudder. It was okay but not great. At least it wasn't as embarrassing as Dracula 3D, that was just sad.

[Bebpo]

Deep Red is my favorite Argento movie, check it out. I also really like Inferno, it gets deeper into the lore behind Suspiria.

I watched his new movie, Dark Glasses, on Shudder. It was okay but not great. At least it wasn't as embarrassing as Dracula 3D, that was just sad.

Yeah, in various sales I picked up the 4ks of his early stuff: Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Cat of Nine Tails, and Deep Red and for post-Suspiria Argento I recently grabbed Phenomena and Tenebrae.

Figure I'll watch them in chronological order.