Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[Quaker]

Kundun - Watched this as prep for Silence as it was one of a few Scorsese blindspots I had left. I expected it to deal a bit more with the philosophy/spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism given Scorsese's other works. Instead I found it more akin to a traditional biopic like The Last Emperor. Still worthwhile, though. It has some fantastic surreal visual flourishes and a pretty good score, although I did think "this dude must really like Koyaanisqatsi."

I did an once the credits rolled and saw that Roger Deakins was the DP and Philip Glass did the score.

Sucks that it's basically forgotten and not in circulation at all, not available for rent or purchase digitally anywhere and not even an HD trailer on YouTube. Your only legit options are basically to track down a nearly 20 year old DVD or pay up and import a region locked German Blu-ray with a substandard transfer.

Silence - I found it a rewarding, powerful experience but even after anticipating the movie for a long time, being a giant Scorsese fanboy and having read the book I still found that first hour or so to be a bit of a slog. Thankfully it picks up a bit on the back half. I appreciated that they stuck to the...almost magical realism at the very end in that one climactic scene. I don't know if it was just because I was thrown off by the deviation from the novel but that last minute or so rubbed my the wrong way on first watch, almost felt like he went too far and was doing the same thing he did with the rat on the windowsill from The Departed again. I need to watch it again and think on that.

Split - I feel like such a mark but those last 90 seconds transformed my opinion of it from being slightly disappointed and thinking 'Oh, that was a fine, watchable, silly thriller' to 'HOOOOOLY SHIT' and being mind blown from the implications. So glad I somehow managed to not recognize the spoilers and going in clean.

Lego Batman - I usually don't go for kids movies but it's so awesome that all these circumstances lined up and set up this opportunity for WB to put out this hilarious, self-referrential dissection of the Batman mythos that feels more true to the character than most of the live action takes. And I say that as somewhat of a Snyder apologist who kind of likes a lot of the grim-dark take that he and Nolan put on the character. Only real gripe is that I liked the animation in the original LEGO movie a bit more and that some of the characters like Two Face basically don't get to do anything.

John Wick 2 - Hmmm, I really tried but I had a hard time connecting to a lot of the movie. The dialogue isn't written particular well to begin with but the delivery from almost everyone except Ian McShane. Oof. Tacky flourishes like the stylized subtitles or the tatoos on the switchboard operators or the backstory that feels like it's lifted out of the Hitman games. I did appreciate the action once it gets going after the first like 45 minutes, though. The pencil, his face offs with Common, the armbar stuff all gave me the biggest grins. I don't regret seeing it and hope Chapter 3 is even better but I guess I'm just more of a Collateral kind of guy.

[Phoenix Dark]

straight outta compton movie is complete garbage. I couldn't even finish it lol

I heard there's a scene where Pac is recording Hail Mary while Dre is in the studio. What the fuck 

[team filler]

The movie makes dre out to be some tough guy lol. He only ever beat up girls in real life. Then they show eazy and ren as the instigators of the beef with cube, but everyone knows that was all dre. And what the fuck at the dude playing suge, everytime he's on screen I lol hahahaha

Also, the scene where they're all sitting around crying after dre finds out his brother died, that was the corniest shit ever.

I'm going off the directors cut, maybe theatrical cut was more tolerable 

[Joe Molotov]

Does the movie explain when Dre said toke but don't choke, if you do, you have no idea what me and my homey Snoop Dogg came to do. What were they gonna do if you choked?

[Bebpo]

Split - I feel like such a mark but those last 90 seconds transformed my opinion of it from being slightly disappointed and thinking 'Oh, that was a fine, watchable, silly thriller' to 'HOOOOOLY SHIT' and being mind blown from the implications. So glad I somehow managed to not recognize the spoilers and going in clean.

So since I don't like M'night, and the only film I liked of his was Unbreakable, and I didn't really care for The Visit which everyone says was his return to form, I read the spoiler for this one since I wasn't going to see it and

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I don't get how the movie being a sequel to unbreakable would be a twist or a big deal?  Unbreakable was just a movie about an invincible guy (Willis) and a madman (Jackson) trying ways to kill him.  Like beyond that there were no other subplots/characters/lore.  Unless this movie features Willis or Jackson I don't get why being a sequel would even matter?  What is there to connect?  If I like Unbreakable but don't like M'Night should I see this one just because it's a sequel?

[close]

[chronovore]

Arrival - Total crock of shit. The Interstellar of 2016.

 

[Bebpo]

Arrival was alright.  It's good but kinda uninteresting for the middle chunk as it just felt like 2016's Contact.  Coming from Villenueve's other films, this has to be the least interesting movie he's done and it's especially noticeable coming straight after Sicario which was his best and most exciting imo.  Otoh, I liked the twist and the last 1/3rd was great, interesting and satisfying in the end.  So overall I liked it, but yeah didn't love it. 

Arrival - probably the best science fiction film of the last decade.

Hmmm...I liked The Martian better if that counts as sci-fi.  Otherwise Arrival was better than Interstellar overall, but Instellar had some amazing scenes.  Same with Gravity.  Uhhhhh I don't know what other sci-fi movies there have been in the last decade   Jupiter Ascending?

[Bebpo]

Man, I wish people would stop bringing up mediocre movies like Contact when talking about Arrival, Interstellar and other much better films.

Not exactly directed at you, bebpsy. Just have been seeing it brought up in conjunction with more recent Sci-Fi films often and my take away is usually "really? That movie?"

Whether Contact was good or bad, it's a movie a decade ago that had the same premise "first encounter with aliens, making first contact", so it does invite comparison to a degree.  It's not like there's a whole lot of non-action movies about first contact. 

[Mupepe]

I'm a little confused.  I feel like I read "2016's Contact" as if that was some sort of negative comparison.  wtf ya'll?

[BobFromPikeCreek]

John Wick 2 was a ton of fun. That choreography. 

Liked it more than chapter 1, which I thought sagged quite a bit in the middle parts.

[Momo]

[Great Rumbler]

Contact is a good movie and I won't hear otherwise.

[ToxicAdam]

If there's no lasers or robots in the trailer, I ain't watching that shit.

[VomKriege]

http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1346364

Since we're on movie snobbery...

"Japanese David Lynch"

I've heard about him but never watched any of his movies. Have you seen any, Vom? Might get into his filmography

Yeah, I've seen a few. Basically most of what was published in the US (Criterion) and France (HK Video) which represents the most famous part of his long career. Suzuki did a ton of film under studio contract and apparently hit his own peak in the sixties with extreme (esp. visually), sometimes absurd, yakuza films before being more or less blacklisted from the Nikkatsu.

His most famous film is Branded to Kill with Tom Cruise/guinea pig lookalike Joe Shishido, which was famously quoted twice by Ghost Dog but honestly this one bored me quite a bit past the halfway point. I much prefer his other, less zany, crime films. Youth of the Beast and Detective Bureau 2-3 are very fun. Take aim at the Police Van is good as well. The highlight is probably Tokyo Drifter though with its gorgeous color cinematography and slick visual ideas. They're all fast paced, entertaining and funny (borderline parodic in a couple cases, it's much more pop and light-hearted, even when it is free spirited or iconoclast to Japanese culture, than something like gritty Fukusaku or the more raunchy and vulgar pinku-eigas of Norifumi Suzuki). Any of those to start off with should be fine (People are really fond of Branded...).
Kanto Wanderer has a great reputation too but I didn't see that one.

His non-crime films from the same period are also solid. I loved Tattooed life (well, I dunno if it's "non crime" as it features yakuzas, but it's more melodramatic). Story of a Prostitute is a touching drama taking place in occupied China and it has a couple of amazing visual effects. I don't really remember Gate of Flesh beyond how colorful it is but I found it good at the time.

Fighting elegy left me It's about teenage infatuation with violence and gangs. It's OK.
I also saw his second to last film, Pistol Opera. It's not great. Granted I didn't have the subtitles but there was no visual flair and terrible production value.

The comparison with Lynch is . I think somethink like John Boorman's Point Blank of some Italian films of the time (Like La decima vittima but less extreme) are a much more apt comparison.

[toku]

[Great Rumbler]

I've seen Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards, Youth of the Beast, Branded to Kill, Yumeji, and Pistol Opera. They're all pretty good.

If I was going to pick a Japanese David Lynch, though, I'd go with Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

[Mr. Gundam]

Wife and I saw Hidden Figures last night. Pretty straight forward by the numbers, but still, it was way better than the trailers led me to believe.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

I'm not actually so much into poetry. Perhaps, like anime, the bad-to-good ratio is intimidatingly high. Bit I really very much enjoyed Jim Jarmusch's new film Paterson, which takes the mundane and low-stakes events of a bus driver/amatuer poet's average week and makes a compelling and illustrative film about a guy who only projects blandness. Its also a too-rare and excellent depiction of a happy domestic life and normal working conditions. I found it charming, deeply felt, and occasionally kinda funny. Its a very strong film.

[Bebpo]

How's Jarmusch's stuff been lately?  I liked him 20 years ago as a teen with Dead Man, Ghost Dog, Coffee & Cigarettes and Broken Flowers, but I don't think I'd have the patience for his slow artsy style these days.  Gimme Danger and Only Lovers Left Alive looked interesting though.

[toku]

How's Jarmusch's stuff been lately?  I liked him 20 years ago as a teen with Dead Man, Ghost Dog, Coffee & Cigarettes and Broken Flowers, but I don't think I'd have the patience for his slow artsy style these days.  Gimme Danger and Only Lovers Left Alive looked interesting though.

I've been meaning to watch Limits of Control for years and ive heard all kinds of things about it so i went into Only Lovers with low expectations and really really loved it. Haven't seen Gimme Danger yet.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

well, obviously, I really dug Paterson. Only Lovers Left Alive made my best of 2014 list, so yeah, I guess he's still someone you can follow.

something I liked very much about both of those films is that they have a great sense of a lived-in romanticism. Of people who know each other well, who validate and support each other. So many pairings in films are about people finding each other, and usually they're cutsey pablum. JJ's last two films are interesting in how they depict not an endpoint or a beginning of a relationship, but a successful one that's in progress, and how it effects the rest of those people's(or vampires) lives. They're also very good films at showing how art can effect a person's life, not just in the creation of it, but the consumption of it, how one's viewpoint can be shaped as such as a reflection of what they intellectually consume.

Haven't seen any of his films between those since Ghost Dog, but man, Ghost Dog is pretty great. I should fix that.

[Bebpo]

Last movie I saw of his was Broken Flowers and I enjoyed it enough.  Wasn't amazing, but watchable Murray. 

Went after work and saw John Wick 2.  Hadn't seen any trailers and was hoping it'd go more into the mythos/lore of the comic book-ish universe of assassins that was the most interesting part of the first one.  Well it did somewhat, and that was good.  Had good action again.  Story was less compelling this time around and the stakes got kinda ridiculous in the 2nd half to the point where it's so unbelievable that he's surviving it kinda makes it a bit silly.  Didn't really like the ending.  Left it open for JW3 but the setup for JW3 is even more ridiculous and Wick making it even 3 hours through JW3's setup just seems so unbelievable it'd be a joke.

Still, I liked it.  JW1 & 2 are kinda nice throwbacks to a pure action genre that doesn't really exist anymore. 

[Momo]

[chronovore]

a) too big
b) what movie?

[Atramental]

Alien Covenant

[Yeti]

I can't seem to get hyped for another Alien after being so disappointed with Prometheus

[chronovore]

a) THANKS!
b) I dunno, looks pitch-perfect to me:

[Momo]

I'm quietly excited as fuck for this. Even if the plot/chars suck Ridley's movies are usually breathtaking visually

[Momo]

http://imgur.com/a0r1Nak

fma movie? wut

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Joe Molotov sold me a ticket to A Cure For Wellness, and nothing at all he said was wrong. Its self-indulgant, gorgeous, tasteless, vivid, a total slog and extremely vital. Watching the first hour I wondered how this marvel of a film scored such crappy teviews, by the end I well understood. Still, I doubt very much I'll see a better bad movie this year. Also, I'm really curious in seeing what Dane DeHann looks like in thirty years, something tells me he's gonna get craggy in an interesting way. I highly recommend seeing this in a good theater, should you fail in that task (you've got five days left, max) jist smoke a crapload of peyote while reading gothic literature and roaming an abandoned castle, that'll do about as well.

(John Wick Chapter 2's Writing Room)

Screenwriter 1 - Can we possibly fit any more jujistu and headshots in this movie?
Screenwriter 2 - I think so, but then we'd have to cut the totally rad Bruce Lee homage.
1 - NO DEAL!!!

As others have said, this is a pretty darn good film. Its like a great 90's Hong Kong action film. The kind where there-s so much super-high quality action that it honestly becomes sort of exhausting. Aww gee, guess I'll jist have to rewatch this a bunch of times. Man, what a burden that'll be.


edit: was reading this review for A Cure For Wellness, and man, that's dead on the money.

...especially as the film begins crosscutting between its most ghoulish and most opulent attractions, culminating in a climax that suggests what a Hammer horror movie might look like on an eight-digit budget.

[VomKriege]

Speaking of which I watched the first John Wick yesterday. Wife was surprised and expected a much more "realistic" movie, vigilante style, but we all agreed the whole movie was better for having an outlandish, pulp, universe of hitman parallel universe. I'm not really gaga about the film but there's not much to fault it on : the emotional hook at the beginning is effective, it's fast paced, to the point, the action is good to great in its choreography and there's plenty of it, there's a couple of fun takes on the usual tropes (Wick entering the church). The story was really too formulaic and some actors are kinda wasted with how little they do. I didn't like the Tony Scott style subtitles for russian dialogue.

[Momo]

Get out was so fucking good.

I've heard a bunch of good things about this, sucks that they arent even releasing it here

[Huff]

Are any of the aliens worth watching besides the first (only one I've seen)

[Momo]

Are any of the aliens worth watching besides the first (only one I've seen)

Aliens is for sure worth watching if you're into action flicks, it's nothing like Alien though, dont expect a tense, oppressive, isolated horror. Absolutely recommended, but just be aware you signed up for an action flick.

Alien 3 is kinda weird, with the setting it could have been a good alien sequel but I get the impression the editor didnt know if they wanted to make action ala aliens or replicate the tension of alien, in the end it does neither really well, I'm a total alien fan so it's worth it for me, can be worth watching just to see how far David Fincher has come since as well.

Alien Resurrection is garbage, overall it's not garbage enough to be so bad it's good but not even close to being good enough to watch normally, kinda worth watching to see the lowest point in the alien franchise and to see the stupidity within, there's a few moments of so bad it's hilarious to savor though.

Prometheus - disclaimer: i liked it - further disclaimer - i liked it because it beautiful and have a huge TV and watched it in the cinema and on blu ray. If you like cinematography and beautifully shot movies in general, watch it. That being said the movie is below average, the character motivations is shaky at best, the progression of the alien entity isnt exactly solid and there's a ton of other flaws that would be spoilery to answer.

[chronovore]

Speaking of which I watched the first John Wick yesterday. Wife was surprised and expected a much more "realistic" movie, vigilante style, but we all agreed the whole movie was better for having an outlandish, pulp, universe of hitman parallel universe. I'm not really gaga about the film but there's not much to fault it on : the emotional hook at the beginning is effective, it's fast paced, to the point, the action is good to great in its choreography and there's plenty of it, there's a couple of fun takes on the usual tropes (Wick entering the church). The story was really too formulaic and some actors are kinda wasted with how little they do. I didn't like the Tony Scott style subtitles for russian dialogue.

I am iffy on the stylized subtitles as well. It is kinda neat that they're doing something visually different, almost like having visually stylized sound effects in a comic-book... but I think it will be laughable in a few years, rather than emulated.

[toku]

you're both wrong and on the incorrect side of history

bless up tho

[chronovore]

you're both wrong and on the incorrect side of history

bless up tho

I hope you're right. I like seeing new stuff tried. It just didn't work for me.

[chronovore]

Alien 3 is kinda weird, with the setting it could have been a good alien sequel but I get the impression the editor didnt know if they wanted to make action ala aliens or replicate the tension of alien, in the end it does neither really well, I'm a total alien fan so it's worth it for me, can be worth watching just to see how far David Fincher has come since as well.

Blaming Fincher for Alien 3's unevenness is like going to eat at a restaurant where a new chef has been called in to make whatever he can from a menu chosen for him, from ingredients which were prepared by angry line chefs while they were being yelled at by the owner.

[Bebpo]

The John Wick subtitles would be awful in a legit movie.

But in a silly fantasy world shoot-em-up they're totally perfect and I love 'em.

[Momo]

I dont blame him specifically, just saying you can see there were strong opposing forces in editing along with many other issues not relating to him. The whole thing was a clusterfuck.

[seagrams hotsauce]

Warren Beatey just Steve Harvey'd the fuckin Best Picture oh my fucking god

[eleuin]

DID THAT JUST HAPPEN

[ToxicAdam]

I saw a Russian guy hand Beatty the wrong envelope. They are hacking everything.

[Syph]

 

[Dennis]

[Dennis]

[Mr. Gundam]

So I'm always confused when I see people get upset over Oscar winners.

BUT. How the hell did Emma Stone beat Isabelle Huppert?

WTF.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Probably because Elle is super-fucked up.

I mean, she's amazing in it, she totally deserved it, but I can understand how a more 'palatable' choice got more traction. Pfft, next thing you'll say is that the very artful, restrained, and challenging film about an impoverished gay youth beat out a hugely successful crowd pleasing musical.

[Quaker]

So I'm always confused when I see people get upset over Oscar winners.

BUT. How the hell did Emma Stone beat Isabelle Huppert?

WTF.

Because awards shows are popularity contests? Especially true between these two actresses and those two movies and those two roles. I just think it's cool that a fucked up Verhoeven movie was even in the conversation in 2017.

[Mr. Gundam]

I'm over it.  I just didn't think Stone was very good in La La Land. [shrug]

[seagrams hotsauce]

(Image removed from quote.)

[Joe Molotov]

Warren Beatey just Steve Harvey'd the fuckin Best Picture oh my fucking god

FAKE NEWS

[toku]

Are any of the aliens worth watching besides the first (only one I've seen)

Aliens is for sure worth watching if you're into action flicks, it's nothing like Alien though, dont expect a tense, oppressive, isolated horror. Absolutely recommended, but just be aware you signed up for an action flick.

Alien 3 is kinda weird, with the setting it could have been a good alien sequel but I get the impression the editor didnt know if they wanted to make action ala aliens or replicate the tension of alien, in the end it does neither really well, I'm a total alien fan so it's worth it for me, can be worth watching just to see how far David Fincher has come since as well.

Alien Resurrection is garbage, overall it's not garbage enough to be so bad it's good but not even close to being good enough to watch normally, kinda worth watching to see the lowest point in the alien franchise and to see the stupidity within, there's a few moments of so bad it's hilarious to savor though.

Prometheus - disclaimer: i liked it - further disclaimer - i liked it because it beautiful and have a huge TV and watched it in the cinema and on blu ray. If you like cinematography and beautifully shot movies in general, watch it. That being said the movie is below average, the character motivations is shaky at best, the progression of the alien entity isnt exactly solid and there's a ton of other flaws that would be spoilery to answer.

Also not gonna sit here and defend or even say alien resurrection is good but it's a gorgeous looking movie. Visually striking and all that.

[Mr. Gundam]

I watched Shin Godzilla this morning on a flight from Seattle to SLC. I liked it. Clearly an Anno film.

[fistfulofmetal]

Alien 3 is weird. It's better if you manage to watch the assembly cut edition. It's a pretty major shift and changes a number of things.

I like Alien 3 in theory but it doesn't really come together that well. I would only bother watching if you watch the first two and are still interested in the series.

[toku]

Are any of the aliens worth watching besides the first (only one I've seen)

Aliens is for sure worth watching if you're into action flicks, it's nothing like Alien though, dont expect a tense, oppressive, isolated horror. Absolutely recommended, but just be aware you signed up for an action flick.

Alien 3 is kinda weird, with the setting it could have been a good alien sequel but I get the impression the editor didnt know if they wanted to make action ala aliens or replicate the tension of alien, in the end it does neither really well, I'm a total alien fan so it's worth it for me, can be worth watching just to see how far David Fincher has come since as well.

Alien Resurrection is garbage, overall it's not garbage enough to be so bad it's good but not even close to being good enough to watch normally, kinda worth watching to see the lowest point in the alien franchise and to see the stupidity within, there's a few moments of so bad it's hilarious to savor though.

Prometheus - disclaimer: i liked it - further disclaimer - i liked it because it beautiful and have a huge TV and watched it in the cinema and on blu ray. If you like cinematography and beautifully shot movies in general, watch it. That being said the movie is below average, the character motivations is shaky at best, the progression of the alien entity isnt exactly solid and there's a ton of other flaws that would be spoilery to answer.

Also not gonna sit here and defend or even say alien resurrection is good but it's a gorgeous looking movie. Visually striking and all that.

It's ugly and garish.

[bork]

When the Oscar fuck-up happened:


The Rock and Meryl Streep have the best reactions. 

[Joe Molotov]

Forcing Ripley to dissect Newt's body in the first 5 minutes of the movie was just needlessly mean spirited. Fincher can eat a dick.

[Joe Molotov]

The Bore Cult Corner

Starcrash (1978)


This movie was obviously rushed out to cash in on Star Wars, one of the characters straight up uses a lightsaber. Everything else about this movie feels really old-fashioned though, the sets feel more like Dr. Who, the costumes are Flash Gordon silver underwear era, and a pair of stop-motion robots are an homage to Jason and the Argonauts. It's not a great movie, but it does feel fairly competent for being a blatant cash-grab and a cheap Italian one on top of that.

Stella Star and Akton are space pirates that get space arrested and sentenced to hard space labor in the radium mines. The Emperor grants them one chance at freedom however, and that is to accept a suicide mission to rescue the survivors of an attack on an imperial ship that was scouting the Evil Count's evil superweapon. One of the missing crew members is The Emperor's son, David Hasselhoff.

The movie just kinda meanders mostly, as they travel from one planet to the next looking for crashed escape pods until they finally meet David Hasselhoff on a planet that would conveniently turn out to be the location of the Count's superweapon. The almost get killed but then the Emperor shows up and uses his emperor power to stop time so they can get away. Then it's time to launch a counter-attack against the Evil Duke's secret base, and you can pretty much guess how that goes down.

It's a silly movie and a little on the boring side, but in the pantheon of derpy Italian Star Wars ripoffs, it's probably in the Top 25%.

King Solomon's Mines (1985)


Can you guess what this movie might be ripping off?

I'd seen this movie before as a kid, but you really have to see it as an adult to appreciate how wheels-off it is. They knew Steven Speilberg wasn't walking through that door, so instead of attempting to make a good movie they just tried not to make a boring movie. This movie bounds from one set piece to to the next with only the barest skeleton of a plot. Sharon Stone's dad got kidnapped by baddies, there's an ancient treasure, okay go!

After a brief prologue, the movie leaps right into the action with Sharon Stone and Richard Chamberlain hacking their way through a dense jungle, before finally arriving at a large, bustling city because that's how Africa works probably. Is there maybe some casual racism in this movie? Oh, my sweet summer child. At one point, our heroes get kidnapped by three separate tribes of savages in the span of 10 minutes (although one of the tribes were nice savages that made Sharon Stone their queen or something). There's also a scene of homosexuality played for laffs, for fans of that kind of humor, and Evil Germans that just eat sausage and listen to Wagner for most of the movie. You really have to appreciate the subtlety of this film.

[chronovore]

"(...) because that's how Africa works probably."

There's an irony LOL in there for Richard Chamberlain playing a gay scene for laughs.  From Wikipedia:

Chamberlain was romantically involved with television actor Wesley Eure in the early 1970s.[citation needed] In 1977, he met actor-writer-producer Martin Rabbett, with whom he began a long-term relationship. This led to a civil union in the state of Hawaii, where the couple resided from 1986 to 2010 and during which time Chamberlain legally adopted Rabbett to protect his future estate. Rabbett and Chamberlain starred together in, among others, Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, in which they played brothers Allan and Robeson Quatermain. In the spring of 2010 Chamberlain returned to Los Angeles to pursue career opportunities, leaving Rabbett in Hawaii, at least temporarily.[13] Chamberlain was outed at the age of 55 by the French women's magazine Nous Deux in December 1989, but it was not until 2003 that he confirmed his homosexuality in his autobiography Shattered Love.

The Bore Trifecta: gay subtext for laughs, gay pretext for reals, and a Mups-pleasing dash of cinematic incest.