Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[VomKriege]

Star Crash is fairly fun and relative to its Italian peers you can do a lot worse, like The Humanoid with Richard Kiel & Barbara Bach. As you pointed out, it was made in wake of Star Wars but it's mostly a medley of classic 50's scifi with giant robots, goofy make up and cavemen planets. You'd expect Hasselhoff to be the lead male but he's a bit piece in this (with a "cool" laser mask) to Akton who is played by Marjoe Gortner. Gortner grew up in a sect and was a wandering preacher kid at age 4 before taking distance with religion and the dude is both fairly cheesy and intense as a space Jesus. The real show stealer in this is really Caroline Munro though : she's beautiful, she's cute and she give some fizz to a really dumb role that is mostly about showing skin. Joe Spinell is chewing the scenery something fierce as the bad guy "Zarth Arn" as well, for all the 5 minutes of screentime he has.
Plummer is

The french dub has some hilarious lines too (Munro exclaims at his droid "Even robots are phallocrats !") but I don't know if it's specific to it or a translation of a real joke.

[chronovore]

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.

The studio can eat a dick. Having the first scenes of a sequel eradicate the accomplishments of its superior predecessor is mean spirited, but who knows if that was Fincher or something he inherited.

[VomKriege]

Also reading about Star Crash informs me that the droid (Elias) which has much of the better banter with Munro was voiced in the original version by her husband, Judd Hamilton.

[Let's Cyber]

I really want Kong: Skull Island to be good. Pls tell me it is going to be good.

[Joe Molotov]

I really want Kong: Skull Island to be good. Pls tell me it is going to be good.

[Joe Molotov]

Joe Spinell was in The Godfather I & II, Taxi Driver, Rocky 1 & 2, and then wrote and starred in Maniac.  He was yukking it up in this movie, you can tell he was having a good time.

[chronovore]

Looks like I'll finally be subscribing to Netflix.

[Great Rumbler]

So, it's basically Shadowrun but in a modern setting? I'm fine with that.

[chronovore]

So, it's basically Shadowrun but in a modern setting? I'm fine with that.

It's nice, because I was just lamenting that this was never made into anything past its pilot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17th_Precinct

[chronovore]

Wrath, is that your dad? He kinda looks like you.

[chronovore]

Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection are both good for about 30 minutes before turning into complete shit. Alien 3 might be good for a bit longer than that, actually.

Fistfulofmetal's right about the assembly cut being superior. It makes a fair bit of it more coherent.

[VomKriege]

So, it's basically Shadowrun but in a modern setting? I'm fine with that.

I'd have said Alien Nation but with fantasy, but I guess it works too.
Nommi Rapace is in it, I'll probably give it a go just for her. I like Noomi.

[chronovore]

[Mupepe]

Yep.  It'll be beautiful. 

[Great Rumbler]

Still can't get hyped for it, especially since the Prometheus trailer was pretty dope, too. But I'm sure I'll end up going to see it anyway.

[Madrun Badrun]

Its like I know 75% of how the movie will play out already.

[Joe Molotov]

Its like I know 75% of how the movie will play out already.

Like probably some aliens are gonna lay their eggs in some people, and the people will be like "wah wah, don't lay your eggs in my face", and the aliens will be like "oh I'm doing it".

[Momo]

Seems more Aliens than Alien, but that's to be expected in this day and age, I'm in.

[Huff]

We need more Danny McBride cum jokes in all movies

[chronovore]

The preview short film thing made me lose all faith. Danny McBride making cum jokes. Great.

 The original movie featured all kinds of blue-collar humor between Harry Dean Stanton and Yaphet Kotto.

Its like I know 75% of how the movie will play out already.

Like probably some aliens are gonna lay their eggs in some people, and the people will be like "wah wah, don't lay your eggs in my face", and the aliens will be like "oh I'm doing it".

Dude. Spoilers.

Seriously though, it'll be an average group of people investigating something they're not equipped to deal with, bringing the infection into their midst, and then being hunted down. Same as the first one, second one, and third one.

[Momo]

Well, the second one wasnt average people! 

[toku]

[Syph]

The preview short film thing made me lose all faith. Danny McBride making cum jokes. Great.

 The original movie featured all kinds of blue-collar humor between Harry Dean Stanton and Yaphet Kotto.

Its like I know 75% of how the movie will play out already.

Like probably some aliens are gonna lay their eggs in some people, and the people will be like "wah wah, don't lay your eggs in my face", and the aliens will be like "oh I'm doing it".

Dude. Spoilers.

Seriously though, it'll be an average group of people investigating something they're not equipped to deal with, bringing the infection into their midst, and then being hunted down. Same as the first one, second one, and third one.

I sure don't remember any lines that would fit in in Eastbound and Down or This Is The End in any scene with HDS or Yaphet. I'm supposed to trust an Alien movie with Danny McBride literally making "I'll cum all over this place" jokes and his buddy James Franco is going to deliver anything close to Alien or even Prometheus? Shit just made me sad to see. I didn't even realize McBride/Franco were in it until I saw the teaser. While I enjoy them in comedies together, that is not a pairing I want in an Alien movie.

Danny McBride was made to be the guy that dies in a hail of glory/suicide mission/guns blazing though
Definitely fits that trope

[toku]

i really don't think danny mcbride or james franco are gonna be the things that hurt this movie 

[Huff]

Danny McBride is the goddamn best and I'll fucking rip your heart out Stro.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Logan is pretty solid. Maybe a bit long, maybe just a tad portentous. But its such a relief, and so very refreshing to see a dark and gritty superhero film that doesn't actually have to dance around its PG-13 rating to make good on the promises of its tone (Dredd excluded, natch). Its a satisfying film, but also a surprisingly dramatically rich one. It strips away all the unnecessary stuffing of most high-budget comic movies (big special effect scenes, worldbuilding, expansive casts, previous film callbacks and cameos) and makes do with its relatively simple story and neo-Western motif. Its good stuff.

[Shuri]

I'm watching "To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar" for the first time on netflix, and it's so damn enjoyable. Imagine the courage it took to do this movie for the actors. It was shot in 1994, the mainstream wasnt as open as it is today. 3 super macho actors: Patrick "Dalton" Swayze, Wesney 'Nino Brown' Snipes and John  Leguizamo as three drag queens who end up stuck in a small redneck village for a weekend.

What a god damn good movie!

[Mupepe]

My mom loved that movie when I was a kid.

[chronovore]

 I'm re-watching 28 Days Later. I have always been grateful to this movie for introducing Cillian Murphy and Christopher Eccleston to me,  but I had forgotten that Brandon Gleason and Naomie Harris are in it.  I'm watching the Japanese Blu-ray rental version, and the transfer is absolutely crap. Everything looks uprezzed and oddly grainy, some of the compositing lighting look pretty bad, too.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

That sounds about right. Those early digital cameras were just not meant for the HD era. I'll bet the Robert Rodriguez films from that time look pretty shite as well. Micheal Mann made that shit work.

But speaking of good photography, Kedi takes an innovative approach to your standard scenic travelogue by placing the perspective of beautiful and culturally rich Istanbul at shin-level, or specifically a cat's eye view of the city, its people, its professions, and its street cats. But mostly the cats really. It takes an episodic, vividly shot tour through Istanbul, taking to a wide variety of cat lovers as they tell their story and very often project wildly onto their psudo-pets, and there's tons and tons of footage of cats doing cat-kinda stuff while the ordinary bustle of life envelops them. The subtext of the film becomes text by the end, bit some slight obviousness aside this a resolutely charming and humane film that's about creatures that can very often be anything but. I liked very much how the filmmakers were able to look at a very specific sub-culture and paint a wider picture around it, all the while keeping those darn cute furballs front and center.

[Quaker]

 

I'm re-watching 28 Days Later. I have always been grateful to this movie for introducing Cillian Murphy and Christopher Eccleston to me,  but I had forgotten that Brandon Gleason and Naomie Harris are in it.  I'm watching the Japanese Blu-ray rental version, and the transfer is absolutely crap. Everything looks uprezzed and oddly grainy, some of the compositing lighting look pretty bad, too.

They shot it on standard def consumer cameras because they needed the portability for the opening bit where London's deserted, IIRC. The only exception was the last scene in the field with the jet I think. It's always been a big annoyance of mine. David Lynch did the same thing with Inland Empire but I don't care for it so no big loss...

[chronovore]

That sounds about right. Those early digital cameras were just not meant for the HD era. I'll bet the Robert Rodriguez films from that time look pretty shite as well. Micheal Mann made that shit work.(snip)

I'm re-watching 28 Days Later. I have always been grateful to this movie for introducing Cillian Murphy and Christopher Eccleston to me,  but I had forgotten that Brandon Gleason and Naomie Harris are in it.  I'm watching the Japanese Blu-ray rental version, and the transfer is absolutely crap. Everything looks uprezzed and oddly grainy, some of the compositing lighting look pretty bad, too.

They shot it on standard def consumer cameras because they needed the portability for the opening bit where London's deserted, IIRC. The only exception was the last scene in the field with the helicopter I think. It's always been a big annoyance of mine. David Lynch did the same thing with Inland Empire but I don't care for it so no big loss...

I'm probably not going to bother with blu-ray again if I have a chance to purchase. The colors and resolution make DVD practically a native format.

[Freyj]

x-man apocalypse

jesus christ what the fuck was that

[chronovore]

x-man apocalypse

jesus christ what the fuck was that

Yeah, right? It was a garbage dump. Looked good, visually, but has ham-handed and shallow. So much wasted money and talent.

[Momo]

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/ridley-scott-says-he-anticipates-making-six-more-alien-films-ill-be-ready-to-go-again-next-year-161138717.html


 

[VomKriege]

IP Tyranny.

[Rufus]

Provided he lives long enough.

[Joe Molotov]

Looking at the Yearly Worldwide BO results is super fun.



Ironically, despite the Chinese BO pushing most of these movies, Fifty Shades Darker didn't even open there. It was really big in Europe and Brazil.

Your Name did good numbers in China, but most of it's money comes from pretty much running the table at the Japanese BO for ~4 months.

[toku]

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Hidden Figures. A huge serving of meh.

Land of Mine got nominated for an Oscar. That surprised me upon learning it, as its a perfectly serviceable film, but not really 'Best Foreign Language Film' material, not deservedly so but on the surface I suppose I see its appeal. Its lacking in depth (like the mines that are only inches under the sand), but its technically well made and acted even suspenseful. And its got a great central asset in its exploring of somehow untrod territory of WWII on film. In the immediate aftermath of the war, German POW's, a great many of them teenagers (that was all the Reich had left at that point), were detained in Denmark and made to de-mine and defuse the absurd amount of explosives left behind on the nation's West coast. To say it was dangerous 'work' would be an understatement. Another strength of the film is how it makes its points organically, it follows the rule of 'show don't tell', as sudden and body-rending explosions are a pretty good dramatic conceit to fall upon.

[Quaker]

Hidden FiguresLand of Mine got nominated for an Oscar. That surprised me upon learning it, as its a perfectly serviceable film, but not really 'Best Foreign Language Film' material, not deservedly so but on the surface I suppose I see its appeal. Its lacking in depth (like the mines that are only inches under the sand), but its technically well made and acted even suspenseful. And its got a great central asset in its exploring of somehow untrod territory of WWII on film. In the immediate aftermath of the war, German POW's, a great many of them teenagers (that was all the Reich had left at that point), were detained in Denmark and made to de-mine and defuse the absurd amount of explosives left behind on the nation's West coast. To say it was dangerous 'work' would be an understatement. Another strength of the film is how it makes its points organically, it follows the rule of 'show don't tell', as sudden and body-rending explosions are a pretty good dramatic conceit to fall upon.

Whaaaa? That sounds awesome compared to the stodgy European Holocaust/WWII prestige dramas that usually shows up in that Oscar category. I say that as someone who really appreciated Son of Saul but it's cool to see essentially foreign genre movies get a profile boost from being in the conversation that might otherwise get overlooked. I still remember checking out No Man's Land when I was a kid because of that and I still think about it even though I only saw it once like 15 years ago and it's not a particularly profound movie either.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Moonlight was very, very good and I'm very, very glad it won best picture.

[Quaker]

Anyone(Hyperzone?) seen Three? I've never seen a Johnnie To movie but I saw that it was finally available to rent.

[Great Rumbler]

Haven't seen Three, but Johnnie To is pretty reliable as a director.

[chronovore]

Ex Machina
 
If there was any doubt about Domnhal Gleeson or Isaac Oscar being able to act in The Force Awakens, this movie obliterates it. Holy shit, between this and Arrival, 2016 at least had good SF movies. Alicia Vikander must be watched. I thought she was great in Jason Bourne, but she's a chameleon in this movie. The movie's an intense ride, start to finish, and the ending is hands-down perfect.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

its available on digital, and I haven't seen it yet!? What's wrong with me.

Haven't seen Three, but Johnnie To is pretty reliable as a director.

I disagree, I would say he's waaaaaay better than just reliable. He's one of my very favorite contemporary filmmakers. Hell, he's so good that even his production company (Milkyway Image) has a very solid track record even for films he hasn't directed (most of them are kinda To-ish in style tho).

When he actually gets to make a crime movie (sometimes he makes romantic comedies to keep the office lights on) his record is friggin stellar. And I'm absolutely wild about his smokey, shadow-drenched and bleak humored atmosphere that each of his films conjures up. He's got style to burn

if you dig Three, or just want to see some friggin excellent films, try out...

The Mission - my own personal gateway drug to To. One of the very few action films I've ever seen that could be called realistic. But its got more going for it that just awesome, high-tension gunfights. The low-key character study of a bunch of dudes being brought together and the loyalties building amongst them pays out some surprising emotional rewards.
P.T.U. - like the bloodiest episode of Seinfeld ever. This ultra-dark crime comedy takes place over one night as a very desperate and crappy cop tries to reclaim his lost gun, and of course many other cops and criminals fall into his spiral of chaos and entwine appropriately. Notable for probably being the only film Lam Suet will ever be the lead in (he's in all of these).
Election 1 and 2 - Gangsters who are some mixture of evil, badass, stupid, smart, greedy, venal, striving, and/or suicidally loyal collide and collude with each other in a power struggle amongst the members of a Hong Kong Triad. Succeeds mightily at de-glamourizing gangster culture, and at being entertaining as hell.
Drug War - Johnnie To makes a PRC-approved film for the first (and so far only) time ever, and somehow manages to not artistically compromise himself at all. Nice. Like watching a condensed and very riveting season of a crime drama, as a recently turned rat leads the authorities through his entire organization in a desperate move to save his neck.

and shit, man, those are just some of his best flicks. I could be writing all night about my ferocious love of To and his affiliated works (see also, the works of Pou-Soi Cheang). But he's a director I can pretty much recommend to anybody who's serious about film, or anybody who likes an entertaining picture, or just anybody, really.

[Beezy]

Ex Machina
 
If there was any doubt about Domnhal Gleeson or Isaac Oscar being able to act in The Force Awakens, this movie obliterates it. Holy shit, between this and Arrival, 2016 at least had good SF movies. Alicia Vikander must be watched. I thought she was great in Jason Bourne, but she's a chameleon in this movie. The movie's an intense ride, start to finish, and the ending is hands-down perfect.

Ex Machina was 2015 actually.

[VomKriege]

I'm pretty meh on To, I tired at one point of his "atmospheric" "red cloud blood" style. Then again I'm a Ringo Lam fan and in fairness it's more me and my perception than an actual change in his production quality.

The Mission is a classic. PTU is good. I loved Breaking News. Was a bit bored by the Longest Nite, found that a tad style over substance but overall a good film.
Lifeline is a good firemen flick (impressive fire scenes).

Among titles produced by his company, Beyond Hypothermia was a good HK flick, to the point, high octane and full of weird ideas. Plus Lau Ching Wan, certainly one of the most valuable asset to To and then HK cinema.

I found Election super average tho and I stopped there pretty much (didn't like what I identified as his segment in Triangle either).

Edit: Also like Heroic Trio and Executioners but it's an acquired taste.

[Momo]

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Excellent taste as always sir. Lau Ching Wan is indeed a treasure, you gotta put Lam's and Wan's collabaration Full Alert on your list. Its my favorite Lam film by a mile, and as I've seen most of his work I wouldn't say that lightly.

Lam and To do have a fair bit of crossover in terms of style, casting (they both favor Louis Koo, Simon Yam, Big Tony), genres and themes. Johnnie To has yet to make a decent to good Van Damme flick (Lam's done three), but if he did it'd be the noir-est and bleakest film of his career.

Also, speaking of hard violence puncturing a dreamlike haze, I saw a repetory showing of Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break, and I've got a new appreciation for it. It really does compare well, and seemingly only to a previous film of her's, Near Dark. They should both be completely risible bottom to top, and accurately describing the film in retrospect it can seem as such, but it casts such a tracelike tone, its so wonderfully photographed and creates such a unique and fragile atmosphere that the violence, when it does arrive seems extra shocking. Even the noted non-thespians of Patrick Swayze and a shockingly youthful Keanu Reeves work well in the films favor, as they project personas more than characters, no acting required. Yeah, its a ridicolous movie, but man, does it ever wwork well.

[benjipwns]

nobody posted the new star wars trailer?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

"WE'RE FAMILY"?!? G#8

[close]

[benjipwns]

going to be such a hard sell despite the theme song

[benjipwns]

wow is every movie tying into F#8 this year? now we get a prequel too?

It is based on Antony Johnston's 2012 graphic novel The Coldest City

i...what...that certainly didn't remind me of anything i remember about the book

[Joe Molotov]

me watching the Guardians of the Galaxy 2 trailer



me watching the Wonder Woman trailer

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wonder Woman theme is still lit, but then cut immediately to a dumb gag.  Geoff Johns pls

[close]

[Great Rumbler]

wow is every movie tying into F#8 this year? now we get a prequel too?

From the co-director of the first John Wick movie.

[VomKriege]

Seen The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse, the last Fritz Lang film. It's a minor film, without a doubt, though still a lot of fun. It was done in 1960 but it feels a little dated, borrowing its pace to forties-fifties films maybe ? Overall it's mostly a remake of the incredible Testament of Dr. Mabuse (and one character even remarks so within the plot) and a medley of Lang's filmography (Phony yet worrying occultism, double agents and double faces...). It's a little touched up and actualized for modern times (a deeply rotten, Nazi build luxury hotel is the main location. The "protagonist" and "male love interest" is an amoral, cold US businessman who laments a severe accident with casualties at a nuclear site as a "lost transaction"). It's actually moving a little too fast in the first half, with no breathing room at al but it's a fun little last round in Mabuse's ring, like the deliciously outmoded Der Tiger von Eschnapur diptych was an interesting revisit of older conventions.

[toku]

[Momo]

lol wtf

[benjipwns]

my favorite thing about that skit other than the fact that they restarted the song every single time is that i cared endlessly more about the characters more than the original scene

[benjipwns]

though this is still the greatest out of nowhere entirely strange and unrelated to anything ending to a tv episode i've seen in my life: