Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[EchoRin]

Did you laugh at like 2 or 3 of the scenes. I remember seeing it in theaters with like maybe half a dozen other people in the audience and nobody else laughed at

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Willem DeFoe freak out and then later the Robert Pattinson freak out. The way he says "jizzum" and complaining about Willem's farts is funny as hell. And Willem going into rage mode over his lobster cooking 

[close]

. It's just fucking funny in all the right ways.

[Nintex]

Parasite had in the backlog for a while but after the Golden Globes win had to check it out. This film is incredible. The story is quite simple, a poor family wants to take advantage of a rich family but it has so many different layers, twists and turns that at some point you have no idea what's going to happen next. This movie deserves all the praise it got. I'm still processing all the emotions

[Joe Molotov]

WAH'D YA SPILL YER BEANS!

[Great Rumbler]

...

...Have it your way then.

[ToxicAdam]

Irl yes, in movies no, it's more like I'm always willing to give a movie a second chance if people tell me something is actually quite good.

Whenever I get the urge to watch Magnolia again, I just watch Aimee Mann's video of "Save Me" and "Wise Up" and that holds me over.

[Transhuman]

Watched Lighthouse. I don't know. I hate gross-out humour.

[Nintex]

Continuing the awards season with

The Two Popes: A very interesting film. The first half is rather poor, a bit of a jumbled mess between footage of real events and the movie itself that just doesn't work that well. However there's a pivotal moment when the 'two popes' finally have some time to meet. The movie picks up when it switches to just the two main characters. Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce deliver amazing performances and you get a good sense of their internal conflicts and animosity towards one another. The flashbacks of the life of Bergolio are so well done it could be its own entirely different movie. Again props to Netflix for offering a platform for these type of films. Stick through the first 30 minutes or so and you won't regret it.

[Raist]

I'll wait for the sequel, Three Popes.

Starring Benedict XIII, Gregory XII and John XXIII.

Look it up, sweethearts.

[Joe Molotov]

Watching Double Dragon. 1994 Alyssa Milano is hot.

There’s a scene where the bad lady captures her and says “Now who’s the boss?”

[BlueTsunami]

I'll wait for the sequel, Three Popes.

Starring Benedict XIII, Gregory XII and John XXIII.

Look it up, sweethearts.

Three Popes and a Kid

(It's a darker film than you think)

[VomKriege]

I'll wait for the sequel, Three Popes.

Starring Benedict XIII, Gregory XII and John XXIII.

Look it up, sweethearts.

Breaking from the company to find a treasure trove of the local dictator. Loosely reminiscent of Keely's Popes.

[Nintex]

I'll wait for "You Were Never Really Here II" where Joe finds out what's happening at the local church community 

[MMaRsu]

The Jay and Silent Bob reboot is finally out for download

snootchie bootchies

[TVC15]

People watching Jay and Silent Bob in 2020 remind me of those old people that would go see Cosby live even after he was revealed as a serial rapist.

[team filler]

just watched  they're so old, all of them 

it was like eating day old fastfood 

[OnlyRegret]

well?

[Transhuman]

Point Break is the only film on that list i've seen

[MMaRsu]

People watching Jay and Silent Bob in 2020 remind me of those old people that would go see Cosby live even after he was revealed as a serial rapist.

But nothing wrong with them perse right?

I laughed when he did the jesus tuckback in the beginning, had to sleep after that.

Probably not gonna be a great film, but I'm pretty sure it's better than Dumb & Dumberer 2

[Transhuman]

People watching Jay and Silent Bob in 2020 remind me of those old people that would go see Cosby live even after he was revealed as a serial rapist.

Wait that was an option??

[Joe Molotov]

Just rewatched American Psycho in honor of Kevin Spacey's reign of terror. This movie still fucks.

Should have watched a movie Kevin Spacey was in instead, like K-Pax.

[nachobro]

Jay and Silent Bob wasn't bad. It wasn't great either, just a callback to his old stuff. Which is fine by me though it all seemed a bit rushed so that he could fit all of his friends into it. Every scene and joke was there and gone in a second so he could move on to the next cameo.

No wonder Kev liked Rise of Skywalker so much

[BlueTsunami]

Tryna watch A Hidden Life so I can get my wide angle whimsy on

[Nintex]

Went to see 1917, more thoughts tomorrow.... but for now holy shit. Go see the film 

[Akala]

See that Doctor Sleep is getting a fully-done 'directors cut' included that so-say adheres more to the book, which is making it kind of interesting to me. Not that I have ever read either book. 

I very rarely buy movies anymore aside from binging on black friday when they are the price of rentals, but I found out they are releasing an uncut version of TAMMY AND THE T-REX (from the director of Mac and Me) in a few weeks. I haven't been this excited about a film since the Criterion Robocop release back in the day.

[Raist]

I know. It's almost as long as the movie.

But it's fucking glorious

[jakefromstatefarm]

watched Midsommar. one of those movies that gets like, 3/10 jakes but i still appreciate it as a thought-provoking failure. three of those thoughts:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

i really like girlfriend revenge stuff, and i think this one does it really cathartically. just about the only thing the movie did well. if not the only thing it even tried to do.

one review i read after the fact had a line like: “mistakes self-seriousness for artistry”. this is true and is a major common denominator among flicks in the past decade or so that shoot for something more thoughtful than the normal schlock hollywood produces but end up being way outclassed by the best schlock like tarantino because the people writing them are actually pretty dumb and boring.

supposed to be a millenial’s update of wicker man but doesnt do anything different with the isolated pagan community trope. there are two anxieties at work here, the anxieties of modern, caged, repressed, usually urban, life in the first act, then that gets shaken off in favor of a return to nature which eventually reveals anxieties of being trapped by an uninhibited other. i think that readings mostly right, and i think the takeaway is supposed to be an implicit reaffirmation of contemporary ‘civilization’ and its concomitant problems; because the alternatives are like, self-immolation and violence. this is mostly christianity’s own self-construction of its pagan other; its a super old argument that the christian religion is ‘truer’ than what preceded it because of the revolting quality of pagan peoples’ virtue (and usually their gods too). the setting couldve been changed to a native american community without losing any of the subtext, which would obv never happen because the imperialism/chauvinism wouldve been too loud.

[close]

[Nintex]

So 1917...

The long shots are really long and impressive. The structure of the film is simple. Two dudes have to make it to the front lines to call off an attack.
In ways the film reminded me of 'Apocalypse Now'. In the sense that the characters move through a war zone and pass by events that are detached from their main goal but give a good sense of the scope of what's going on.
The Sam/Frodo bits of LOTR also come to mind as there's a lot of interaction between these characters. Another very impressive part is the environmental story telling. By littering bodies and other props, you get a really good sense
of what the battlefield must've been like. It also helps that the actors do a great job of interacting with their environment. Climbing across barbed wire, crawling over dead bodies, using things for cover etc. .

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoilers from here on out because boy... the movie unlike what you might expect from a war movie is not focused on action. The challenges along the way vary greatly. Some things happen incredibly fast.
The two blokes are going their merry way and suddenly something happens that changes the story in a signficant way. I don't get emotional from films often but damn, this movie hits home hard in certain scenes.
Like Dunkirk the Germans are a haunting menace and not seen clearly. I think overall the main characters encounter about a dozen armed enemies outside of the signature WW1 artillery. The encounters that do happen are nearly
all fights to the death. The movie does a great job in making you understand that every bullet, knife or shell could be lethal. When one of the two dies you really get a 'what now' moment. Especially because they just killed Frodo/Batman instead of Sam/Robin.
The character with all the motivations, desires and backstory gets killed and his sidekick has to continue the mission and he already had doubts about the whole thing.

If I had to look at the negatives I would go with the first part of the ending for starters. Someone warns the hero earlier in the film that the guy leading the attack won't just call it off. "Get some witnesses, some men just want to fight".
However, this is never developed and Cumberbatch gets very little screen time, hesitates, reads the order and cancels the attack. Makes sense from a military perspective but sorta feels weak after all the build up to that moment and the ominous warning.
About 75% through the film it slows down a bit to prepare for the finale. Certain elements of this are well done, others a bit comical and out of place. The drunk German soldier feels a bit overdone, same as the single orphaned baby protected by a girl
in the middle of a sacked and burning city. It adds some powerful humanity to the film but somehow it didn't feel right that she would hide exactly in the spot our main character would use to hide from German patrols. Other elements of this film feel less 'obvious'.
The hero also gets shot at too much in the scene before it. He is chased by Germans at night but we have to believe that the Germans miss about 50 shots fired at him while he runs straight through various alleys and hallways.
Especially one that misses at point blank range. No wonder they lost the war, with shit aim like that

[close]

I happened to watch this in a Dolby Cinema theatre and the experience was incredible. Not all seats were filled but everyone, including the couples were dead silent throughout this entire film.
It grabs you early on and doesn't let go. It's very immersive and impressive. Story wise the main arc is good enough but sometimes not as interesting or unique as the overall presentation.

[TVC15]

See that Doctor Sleep is getting a fully-done 'directors cut' included that so-say adheres more to the book, which is making it kind of interesting to me. Not that I have ever read either book. 

I very rarely buy movies anymore aside from binging on black friday when they are the price of rentals, but I found out they are releasing an uncut version of TAMMY AND THE T-REX (from the director of Mac and Me) in a few weeks. I haven't been this excited about a film since the Criterion Robocop release back in the day.

(Image removed from quote.)

My copy of this came in just before Xmas. It’s pretty great

[Joe Molotov]

Was in a mood last night and watched Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam on Amazon Prime. AOTKT is mildly amusing, but Dr. Otto is really fun. I always enjoyed the Ernest movies as a youngin, and it was cool to see Jim Varney just going nuts in a pre-Ernest role.

[Akala]

Saw    last night and it was funny and ok but man is it overhyped. Maybe my expectations were a bit high due to all the praise it's gotten, but it's completely derivative of big 70's-early 80's stuff...Rocky, Taxi Driver, King of Comedy, etc. and doesn't really have anything to say.

[Madrun Badrun]

This actually looks good.  Hopefully, it's not just a good trailer like SS had. 

[Madrun Badrun]

See that Doctor Sleep is getting a fully-done 'directors cut' included that so-say adheres more to the book, which is making it kind of interesting to me. Not that I have ever read either book. 

I very rarely buy movies anymore aside from binging on black friday when they are the price of rentals, but I found out they are releasing an uncut version of TAMMY AND THE T-REX (from the director of Mac and Me) in a few weeks. I haven't been this excited about a film since the Criterion Robocop release back in the day.

(Image removed from quote.)

This is already out last year no? 

[TVC15]

About to see 1917. Not sure what to expect. Trying to decide on whether I’m feeling adventurous enough to try to consume an entire large popcorn.

[TVC15]

That was p good. Very much a thrill ride. Lots of tension, some nice action-y bits, some spookies, lots of pretties. The one shot gimmick is used well and doesn’t call attention to itself. Some classic war movie emotional bits executed well. Not much for new stuff or ideas but there’s nothing really to complain about. Pretty much all-around solid. Sam Mendes isn’t a very interesting director and WWI isn’t a very interesting war so it’s a good match, I guess.

[Joe Molotov]

Did you eat the popcorn?

[TVC15]

No. I had to pop a 5-hour energy. Didn’t want to dump too much butter on that. Still polished off a highly oiled medium before the first Hun got what they deserved.

[Transhuman]

The scenes where they are walking and talking about rats and berries were stupid. Walk faster and shut up.

I liked Mark Strong and Andrew Scott's performances the best, which is sad because they were in the film the least.

[Potato]

That was p good. Very much a thrill ride. Lots of tension, some nice action-y bits, some spookies, lots of pretties. The one shot gimmick is used well and doesn’t call attention to itself. Some classic war movie emotional bits executed well. Not much for new stuff or ideas but there’s nothing really to complain about. Pretty much all-around solid. Sam Mendes isn’t a very interesting director and WWI isn’t a very interesting war so it’s a good match, I guess.

The fuck...?

[TVC15]

Yeah, pretty sure it didn’t even make the cut for high school final exam questions. I know it put up big numbers and all, but so did the Transformers series.

[Nintex]

WW2 Trilogy, now this is the real deal. Incredible characters both on the good and bad side. From Churchill and Hitler to Mussolini and Roosevelt. Even the lower ranks played by the likes of Patton and Goering were very well cast.
With sea, air thrown into the mix it became very exciting. Not sure how I feel about the Japanese subplot. It would've been even better focused on just Europe/Africa/Russia etc. .
You can tell that the writers didn't know what to do with that plot anymore and introduced the nuclear bomb as a plot device. The ending should've been the scene in Berlin with Hitler killing himself and the Allies victorious as shown in the second film.
Still the original trilogy ranks supreme. The Union Strikes Back > A New Reich > Return of the Patriots IMO

WW1 Trilogy, was ok but clearly low budget and the technology just wasn't there yet to do it properly. The way they used trenches was really creative but overall I think that could've been much shorter.
Not much in terms of a well known cast either. A very weak and weird ending but after all this one was made for children.

The Gulf / Kosovo Wars comics/games etc., Not sure if these are canon anymore. The writers say they aren't but they're sometimes acting like they are. Very strange overall.
I consider them part of the narrative.

WW3 Trilogy, Finally the long awaited reboot. Started decently with The Gulf War. Just the same old but a bit too much focus on oil. Everyone hates the second film for a good reason because everyone was still stuck in the same position
after that crazy New York plane attack scene. Guerrilla warfare was a bit stale. I think we can also agree that casting Hillary Clinton really split the fanbase. So yeah, the final film of this trilogy could not fix the faults of the first two.
It clearly wasn't planned from the start. Trump is great for comic relief but I'm not sure if I'd cast him as President. Putin was completely wasted on subplots after all the build-up and China somehow just disappeared after the Hong Kong scene.
When they finally introduced the big bad guy and then finished him off like he was nothing it was a joke. Turned out someone else was actually pulling the strings but that felt like a weak cop-out.

Also the cross media releases were a mistake. If you hadn't watched the Syrian Wars animated TV show, you probably wouldn't understand who all the factions were and why they were fighting.

Not sure where Disney can take this series next. Maybe do it in Space?

[TVC15]

Well, I also have to say I noticed a distinct lack of latinx representation in WWI and I really think they dropped the ball there

[headwalk]

WW2 is the hollywood remake of WW1 that replaced the slow grind of human suffering with utterly unrealistic daring do heroics and pantomime levels of villainy that you can't even take seriously (systematically murdering 6 million people just because of their race is some rediculous JJ abrams one upmanship). the eastern front DLC restored some of the spirt of the original though with its greyer themes and less yankee doodle bullshit.

[Kara]

World War I gave us such hits as "we got owned on a beach, now we're two 100% real countries" and "this war is so comically stupid that the troops are mutinying en masse".

[EchoRin]

Millennium Actress - First time seeing a Satoshi Kon film. I know I know. Went in blind. Love how the story is told as a memory, but our characters are kinda living it as if it was happening right on the spot. You know what I mean if you've seen it. Going through all the time periods is great. Both in context of the person's life and of the Japanese film trends. It's a great concept. Seeing stills and gifs from Satoshi Kon films, he really loves that female face side view shot, eh? Everytime I see it I go "that's so him to have that shot". Oh and another that was interesting was the soundtrack. There were times when I was a little thrown off by some of the stylitic choices, but it caught my attention a few times during the film where I took note of it beyond just being background music. I wanted to watch Perfect Blue, but it currently isn't streaming anywhere it seems. Paprika might have been, but the person I saw the movie with had seen it before so we didn't search for it anyway. I also like that this is one of those movies that leans into the more non-weeb kind of material that is stereotypically associated with anime. No stupid big tiddie material and over exaggerated expressions that are overly loud. It just comes off more human even though it takes advantage of the "unreal" things animation can provide you with.

Kingpin- So 90s haha. I wasn't so sure at first if I was gonna enjoy it, but it got pretty funny once our two main protagonists finally hit the road to Reno. Bill Murray's character is the perfect piece of this shit in this haha. And his hair during the championship match is so *muaw*  . Oh and big ups for playing the Tony Hawk Pro Skater classic song "Superman" at least twice in the movie. Overall it was a pretty funny comedy that I would watch again if it came on TV while flipping throw the channels (I don't have regular TV/cable, but if).

[VomKriege]

If you liked Millenium Actress, you'll most probably like everything else by Kon.

[VomKriege]

World War I gave us such hits as "we got owned on a beach, now we're two 100% real countries" and "this war is so comically stupid that the troops are mutinying en masse".

The French mutinies weren't really about the war in itself rather than the conduct of it though. AFAIK, reducing costly hopeless offensives, better comfort in the trenches and a more transparent and fair system for rotating the home leaves pretty much sorted things out.

I know, I know, being pedantic about an humourous observation.

[Kara]

You're not being a pedant, nothing you said contradicts anything I said. Annoying, maybe, but I'm used to it at the Bore dot com.

[Potato]

You do know that the current state of events in Iran and the Middle East can be directly traced back to decisions made during and after WWI right? That WWII was in many ways just a resumption of hostilities? That it was the first time war was waged with modern weapons and tactics? That it was the catalyst for deconstructing the "old world" and remaking a completely new one?

The reason it didn't make the cut for exam questions for high school exams in America is because the Americans were too fucking pussy to actually turn up for the first 4 years of a 4 1/2 year war.

[Nintex]

You do know that the current state of events in Iran and the Middle East can be directly traced back to decisions made during and after WWI right? That WWII was in many ways just a resumption of hostilities? That it was the first time war was waged with modern weapons and tactics? That it was the catalyst for deconstructing the "old world" and remaking a completely new one?

The reason it didn't make the cut for exam questions for high school exams in America is because the Americans were too fucking pussy to actually turn up for the first 4 years of a 4 1/2 year war.

When the US entered the war was practically over and all sides were exhausted from the fighting. All the US did was prolong it.

[TVC15]

You do know that the current state of events in Iran and the Middle East can be directly traced back to decisions made during and after WWI right? That WWII was in many ways just a resumption of hostilities? That it was the first time war was waged with modern weapons and tactics? That it was the catalyst for deconstructing the "old world" and remaking a completely new one?

The reason it didn't make the cut for exam questions for high school exams in America is because the Americans were too fucking pussy to actually turn up for the first 4 years of a 4 1/2 year war.

Yes yes, and it was all as thrilling as the Trade Federation’s blockade of Naboo.

[Transhuman]

You do know that the current state of events in Iran and the Middle East can be directly traced back to decisions made during and after WWI right? That WWII was in many ways just a resumption of hostilities? That it was the first time war was waged with modern weapons and tactics? That it was the catalyst for deconstructing the "old world" and remaking a completely new one?

The reason it didn't make the cut for exam questions for high school exams in America is because the Americans were too fucking pussy to actually turn up for the first 4 years of a 4 1/2 year war.

Yes yes, and it was all as thrilling as the Trade Federation’s blockade of Naboo.

[Kara]

How dare Americans not show up to the Congress of Vienna's denouement. What a bunch of cowards. Very sad!

[Potato]

who are you talking to

TVC16. His post was at the end of the last page.

[EchoRin]

That didn't stop Blackadder Goes Forth from being one of the greatest seasons ever.

Pretty excited to see 1917 this coming week. 

Fake edit: Speaking of WW1. I recommend All Quiet on the Western Front from 1979.

[Bebpo]

1917 was good. Without any of the hype and just walking into another Sam Mendes movie, it'd probably have been pretty damn impressive. But after all the hype it's just pretty good. The cinematography is top notch as expected from Deakins and the main 2 kids along with the cameos put in great performances. The concept's been done before in other non-war films, but it works here and is interesting. Entertaining thrill ride. Thought it had a nice score too.

My controversial bore statement is that in general I find single shot takes to be pretty masturbatory and more a technical achievement like "look at our great programming!" in a game would be. I think it's technically impressive in a "damn, how did they pull off that shot" way but I don't think single shot takes actually add anything to films that couldn't be done the same in multiple takes with good direction & editing. So I feel like movies with lots of single shot takes are basically just trying to impress the audience of industry people (oscars) like a bunch of coders would impressive fellow developers. I think the only single shot take I really liked in this one was in the forest where the shot starts at his back and wraps around to his front. Though again a good director could've done the same with a back shot and then a front shot so idk.

Sam Mendes isn’t a very interesting director and WWI isn’t a very interesting war so it’s a good match, I guess.

 

[The Sceneman]

1917 was mega medium. Agree with a lot of your points re the technical stuff Bebpo but it was a bit too wanky. Dunkirk a was waaaaaaay better recent war film in terms of narrative tightness. And the aerial combat scenes in Dunkirk outdid anything in 1917. I did see the trailer for Emmerich's "Midway" which looked good.

Uncut Gems though, holy shit. It entered the pantheon of best films I've ever seen. Its so rare to see such an ambitious film just totally nail it's core conceit and energy so well. By the end I was close to chewing on my sofa

[Bebpo]

Yeah, Dunkirk was a better movie for sure.

Also the opening scene of Dunkirk in Imax Ratio of walking down the french street with the pamphlets falling is a better shot than anything in 1917 imo. I don't remember any other shots specifically in Dunkirk, but probably one of the best looking opening shots I've ever seen in a film.

[Raist]

- why is Barbossa still alive? Not "what are the technical reasons", but, why did the writers think that was a good idea?

Because he was popular, obviously.

[TVC15]

Joker gonna take home the most statues. Boy what a shitty year 2019 was for big movies.

[EightBitNate]

Joker getting nominated for everything and The Farewell getting nothing is bullshit