Movie News, Reviews, and Discussion Super-Thread

[Madrun Badrun]

[Great Rumbler]

A24 DON'T MISS

[Potato]

Hey look, it's the Matrix sequel that will actually be good!

But seriously, that looks fucking amazing and I'm a sucker for Michelle Yeoh

[zomgee]

Watched Dark Waters on Netflix, had been meaning to for a while but it's not the type of movie to watch with friends.

Quite a shocking story to say the least and we're still using Teflon today.

hello i live in parkersburg west virginia please let me die

[Madrun Badrun]

Spiderman was amazing.  Really felt epic on the scale of Avengers 1, which I wasn't expecting. 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Also, the emotional stuff was well done. 

[close]

[ToxicAdam]

The new Spider man is the best Marvel movie to date. It’s not perfect, but the juggling act they pulled off was pretty incredible.

It just had a little bit of pacing issues towards the end for about 20 minutes, but otherwise it was an epic example of brilliant screenwriting. Which is weird to say about a Marvel movie.

[Madrun Badrun]

[Don Rumata]

Tired of Viking shit, but it's Eggers, so there's the benefit of the doubt.
Doesn't look as interesting nor unique as VVitch or Lighthouse, tho.

[Mupepe]

Saw Nightmare Alley yesterday. It’s the best thing I’ve seen all year. It’s beautiful, superbly restrained and focused and incredibly paced for a 2 and a half hour movie. It’s a shame that it’s a flop.

[Great Rumbler]

Definitely will be there for the Green Knight-esque weirdness.

[Snoopycat_]

Green Knight is quality. That's a proper film, made by an actual adult.

[chronovore]

Watched Rosario Dawson, James McAvoy, and Vincent Cassel in Danny Boyle’s TRANCE. Aside from some issues with the soundtrack being overbearing, this was a surprising treat. It’s a heist film from the “what went wrong?” category. Surprising amount of violence in it, and some clever visual cues delineate when the perspective is under a trance.

[Quaker]

Not to mention that a crucial plot point is the status of Rosario Dawson’s pubic hair.  I think I remember there being a very satisfying shotgun bit as well.

[chronovore]

Yeah, it is surprising that Rosario did the fullest of full frontals, and that it was a valid plot point.

The transformation of McAvoy’s character over the course of the film is quite interesting.

[Great Rumbler]

Green Knight is quality. That's a proper film, made by an actual adult.

Love Green Knight. Love The Lighthouse. Simple as.

[Bebpo]

Been going through all the extras on Criterion's Citizen Kane last week or two. Probably been 20 years since I watched every extra on a dvd/bd. The production history, Welles and the time period is really fascinating from a historical perspective.

Watched Fincher's Mank tonight. Was interesting seeing how scenes were taken straight out of anecdotes from the interviews/documentaries on the Citizen Kane disc.

Was a good, but not great movie. Interesting period, some good performances, the attempt at making the film look and sound older was interesting though the HDR making the whites blinding and drowning out the visuals looked kinda bad? The story was ok, it's an interesting take on the history but ehhh, don't think it really went far enough to hit the concept home. Feels a bit short and surface-level character study. Still good, but lower on the Fincher film list I think.

Also watching all these 1930s/1940s things lately I think I'm starting to see the appeal of that era vintage fashion.

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/THR/status/1473897927756201986
https://twitter.com/paulfeig/status/1473715393965572099

[D3RANG3D]

 

[Tuckers Law]

Lol they're still so mad, still playing the "hate women" card, and still never respond when reminded Afterlife's lead protagonist is a girl.

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/erasmusNYT/status/1474094035119882241

[Joe Molotov]

[Bebpo]

Don't Look Up was really good.
Don't get the RT score at all. Nice surprise and one of the best straight-to-streaming films yet imo.

Also Jennifer Lawrence looks really hot in this and Timothee Chalamet's hilarious.

And enjoyed the

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Chris Evans who I only recognize because his voice is so recognizeable at this point

[close]

cameo.

[Bebpo]

Being the Ricardos

Had zero interest in the subject matter, but I really like Aaron Sorkin scripts & films. It was good, but not great imo. The script was solid but less interesting snappy/sharp dialogues than a lot of his writing and this is the first film he's directed that I have issues with the direction. I really enjoyed Molly's Game and I thought Trial of Chicago 7 was really excellent. But in this film I found it hard to follow the timeline cuts, like they are doing the communist issue, the pregnancy issue, fidelity issues at the same time but then there is a scene where they have a kid at home and she goes and practices the scene at 2am. Looking up the wikpedia the pregnancy issue was in 51, the communist issue in 53 so it's weird and confusing how he mashed it up together. Idk, it's rare for me to get confused following a movie, but Sorkin did it with this movie so I think the direction had issues.

Still worth a watch. Even as someone who had no interest in this stuff it was an entertaining 3/4 star movie. Kidman really kills it. Like I could see her getting Oscar noms for that. Bardem is good too and JK Simmons is always good.

[benjipwns]

 


first good trailer for this imho

[Bebpo]

Watched Criterion's 4k release of 1948's The Red Shoes.

Pretty good. Holds up well and works as much as the same story would work in modern days. The colors and art design for the surreal plays are great and this 4k HDR transfer is ridiculously good. Very sharp, detailed and full of color.

The ending was a bit abrupt I thought, didn't like it as much as Citizen Kane, but will go through some of the extras to get a better feel for the historical relevance of the film. The main audio commentary is a mix of commentators including Scorsese and I checked out bits and it was interesting.





So the next major 4k release from Criterion is The Piano with Holly Hunter, Anna Paquin and Harvey Keitel. Was that any good? When it was announced I thought it was the Polanski holocaust movie with Adrian Brody but apparently that's The Pianist, so I guess I've never heard of or seen The Piano.

[Quaker]

The lady that plays Rogue in the X-Men movies is really good in it.  It's usually streaming somewhere though. I watched it on Netflix the other night and Criterion Channel has had it before. Not sure how often I would be in the mood to rewatch such a slow and bleak movie or how much I value seeing Harvey Keitel's hog in 4k.

(I liked Power of the Dog much better and that should be in Netflix 4k. It's like if Brokeback Mountain/There Will Be Blood had a slightly more subdued son.)

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

Watched Criterion's 4k release of 1948's The Red Shoes.

I waiver between The Red Shoes and A Matter Of Life And Death as my favorite Powell & Pressburger film, (I think I usually land on A Matter Of Life And Death though) but it is a weird and haunting film that sticks with you, and really is quite beautiful in its use of technicolour

[Bebpo]

(I liked Power of the Dog much better and that should be in Netflix 4k. It's like if Brokeback Mountain/There Will Be Blood had a slightly more subdued son.)

Yeah, I need to watch this.

The Red Shoes reminded me a bit of There Will Be Blood type meglomaniac character studies. Especially the ending speech.

[Bebpo]

I'm kind of tempted to spend NYs catching up on the Sony Spider-Verse movies I still haven't seen (because they sound bad). If I watch Amazing Spider-Man 2 -> Venom 1 -> Venom 2 in one day will it destroy me? Tempted to find out.

[Madrun Badrun]

Venom movies are ok, just really outdated as they feel like early 2000's superhero movies.  Think they might be more enjoyable if you set your expectations to fantastic 4 or ghost rider.  AS2 is a poor movie but is worth watching before seeing the new spiderman. 

[Bebpo]

Ok, watched Amazing Spider-Man 2

Shit, that was bad. I don't know if I can make it through more of these Sony superhero flicks. The script was terrible. Everyone makes stupid decisions and none of the climax scenes worked. Also the CG for Spider-Man really stuck out like a videogame.

Emma Stone was alright and Paul Giamati was hilarious. I thought Garfield was fine in the first movie and I don't mind him as an actor in other stuff but I thought he didn't work here at all.

Glad they ended this run after this one. Was worse than Spider-Man 3.

[Potato]

Watched Criterion's 4k release of 1948's The Red Shoes.

Pretty good. Holds up well and works as much as the same story would work in modern days. The colors and art design for the surreal plays are great and this 4k HDR transfer is ridiculously good. Very sharp, detailed and full of color.

The ending was a bit abrupt I thought, didn't like it as much as Citizen Kane, but will go through some of the extras to get a better feel for the historical relevance of the film. The main audio commentary is a mix of commentators including Scorsese and I checked out bits and it was interesting.

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

So the next major 4k release from Criterion is The Piano with Holly Hunter, Anna Paquin and Harvey Keitel. Was that any good? When it was announced I thought it was the Polanski holocaust movie with Adrian Brody but apparently that's The Pianist, so I guess I've never heard of or seen The Piano.

The Piano is an amazing film.

[Quaker]

Licorice Pizza

Probably my favorite American studio film since Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. There's a scene with Bradley Cooper that's like 80% as good as the Boogie Nights firecracker scene.

The Last Duel

Embarrassing that most of the discourse was lazy snark about Matt Damon's mullet or "ok boomer" dunks because Ridley Scott was rightfully bitter that it didn't find an audience. This old drunk fuck made a medieval Rashomon about toxic masculinity with a fantastic cast and great action scenes that's about as good as Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven and no one showed up.

Hopefully it gets more eyeballs when it goes on HBO in two weeks.

[Bebpo]

I watched like 60% of Vertigo last night but had a headache and passed out. Gonna start up on the rest.

Not really seeing where the "greatest film of all time" is coming from on this one. I'm 60% in and I don't even know what the movie is about and its hard to be engaged. It's a mystery about a woman who maybe possessed but my skeptic ass is like yeah, right given this is noir and Hitchcock doesn't do supernatural (well I guess The Birds could be considered that), she's probably just pulling a con, and idk it's not very interesting? Also this main dude is like terrible at tailing people. That part feels so dated and kinda laughable.

Outside a few shots, not really impressed with the cinematography. The colors are nice and the main guy just reminds me of Mr. Rogers in his demeanor and green sweater. Which makes it hard to take seriously today for me.

Like Citizen Kane was great every minute of it. Same with The Red Shoes. Great cinematography in both, powerful performances, engaging character studies. But not feeling Vertigo much at all. Hopefully the Hitchcock twists at the end will make it worth it.

[Bebpo]

Wait, wtf

spoiler (click to show/hide)

She just killed herself.

[close]

And there's an hour left of the movie? What. I still have no idea what this movie is about.

[Bebpo]

Ok, this movie is reaaaaally hard to watch in modern times. Now the dude is this creepy controlling stalker and it's really ughhhh to watch this stuff.

[Bebpo]

Done. Yeah, I really didn't like Vertigo. Will read up on some of the historical relevance of the film.

[Bebpo]

Reading up, it seems like there's two camps when it comes to Vertigo. Some people rave about it and love it and some people really don't like it. I like this quote summing it up.

That being said, this movie has many problems that drag it down. In particular, “Vertigo” has an insanely convoluted story and an unlikable douchebag of a main character.

https://worldofentertainment.info/2014/10/08/the-trouble-with-vertigo/

Yeah, the plot is ridiculous and a main character that is incredibly unlikeable and in modern day times just straight out obsessive & creepy. On top of it, the movie is pretty boring in the first half and hard to watch in the second half because the main guy sucks so much.

Oh and the ending is dumb.

[Coax]

Ok, this movie is reaaaaally hard to watch in modern times. Now the dude is this creepy controlling stalker and it's really ughhhh to watch this stuff.

I mean, it's kind of the point of that part of the plot

spoiler (click to show/hide)

With him being asked to stalk someone's wife, unknowingly being mislead by those involved and out of bewilderment/misplaced feelings following his mental breakdown and the wool pulled over him finds the same woman, becoming completely obsessed with her appearance over the human behind it. Eventually his reaction to the deceit kills the object of his obsession.

Meanwhile she fluctuated between playing along for the con, pitying him during his obsessive stage and mistakenly having feelings for him at times despite recognizing it's a bit of an impossible situation.

To me I'm fond of the tone/vibe of the film. It's less about the plausibility of every aspect and more a kind of drifting along with the strange nature of it all.

[close]

[Don Rumata]

My man, how the fuck can you watch a movie while posting on the bore?! 
I wasn't a fan of Vertigo either, but that triggers me.

Although i don't get this obsession for needing a "likable" protagonist.
You just need an interesting one, otherwise you'd cut out 60% of cinema outright.
How can you watch Aguirre or Fitzcarraldo? How do you watch most Haneke movies? not mention something like Man Bites Dog and more extreme examples.

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

I'm just gonna repeat Dial M For Murder or Rope for gateway Hitchcock.
Shit is tight.

[Don Rumata]

I haven't watched many of Hitchc*ck, of those i've seen, i loved Rope and Rear Window, but my favorite was Shadow of a Doubt.

Believe it or not i have never watched Psycho nor North by Northwest.

[porkbun]

I like The 39 Steps a lot for lesser-known Hitchcock movies.  I got it as part of some Films of the 30s $10 VHS boxset I got for a film class and it quickly became one of my favorites.

For Orson Welles - Touch of Evil is great, very dark and nasty in parts.

If you guys are like me and don't have cable, there's an OTA channel called Movies! (yes with the exclamation point) that shows a lot of cool stuff from the 40s-70s.

For modern stuff, I watched Many Saints of Newark and No Time to Die over the holidays.  Both were ok films that could have benefitted a lot by better writing and editing.

[Rahxephon91]

Watched Don't Look Up. I guess the criticism is that the stuff is on the nose, but hey at this point why is that a problem? When the real world is as crazy and idiotic as it is now, I don't think anything can be too on the nose.

Anyway movie was mostly pretty amusing. Sad that I can see it happening.

[Bebpo]

My man, how the fuck can you watch a movie while posting on the bore?! 
I wasn't a fan of Vertigo either, but that triggers me.

Eh, if a movie is boring the hell out of me I'll be on my phone multi-tasking. If the movie is not boring the hell out of me, I won't /shrug

Although i don't get this obsession for needing a "likable" protagonist.
You just need an interesting one, otherwise you'd cut out 60% of cinema outright.
How can you watch Aguirre or Fitzcarraldo? How do you watch most Haneke movies? not mention something like Man Bites Dog and more extreme examples.

Ehh, I agree with you 100% here. However there is a difference between an unlikeable protagonist and someone that annoys the fuck out of you. Just not enjoyable. If you are annoyed by the lead to the point you can't give a shit about anything happening to them that is a problem.

[Bebpo]

Ok, this movie is reaaaaally hard to watch in modern times. Now the dude is this creepy controlling stalker and it's really ughhhh to watch this stuff.

I mean, it's kind of the point of that part of the plot

spoiler (click to show/hide)

With him being asked to stalk someone's wife, unknowingly being mislead by those involved and out of bewilderment/misplaced feelings following his mental breakdown and the wool pulled over him finds the same woman, becoming completely obsessed with her appearance over the human behind it. Eventually his reaction to the deceit kills the object of his obsession.

Meanwhile she fluctuated between playing along for the con, pitying him during his obsessive stage and mistakenly having feelings for him at times despite recognizing it's a bit of an impossible situation.

To me I'm fond of the tone/vibe of the film. It's less about the plausibility of every aspect and more a kind of drifting along with the strange nature of it all.

[close]

I think part of the problem is that the movie being a time of its era it's hard to decide whether the movie is intentionally stalkerish & creepy or if that was just totally OK and acceptable at the time period and it's playing it straight. It does seem like it was supposed to, even at the time, make the audience uncomfortable with how the main guy acts, but watching it I couldn't tell that because I'm not familiar enough with how misogyny was perceived in the 50s.

[bork]

Spider-Man: No Way Home- After mostly-OK TV shows, the bland, mediocre Black Widow, and fun, but kinda formulaic Shang-Chi, this was really enjoyable and it was really cool seeing a live-action take on the whole Spider-Verse thing.  It also served as a way for them to 'reset' Spider-Man and it will be interesting to see how things go- the way it ends, they could easily split off from Marvel and go back to being self-contained, or keep going with a fresh start and a Spider-Man who could be more like the comic version.  Also liked how it set up for a storyline

Spoiler

with the symbiote costume if they go that route.

[close]

  I still haven't seen Eternals yet and don't care much, but will see it anyway whenever it hits Disney+ I guess.  I like all the multiverse stuff Marvel has started doing so Loki, this movie, and the upcoming Dr. Strange sequel are all exciting, but everything else from Marvel is kinda 'ehhhh' to me right now.

Ghostbusters Afterlife: I also really enjoyed this one and thought it was a great way of re-visiting an older movie series while still being new and having a different take on things.  It's not anywhere near as funny (and is less of a comedy in comparison) as the first two Ghostbusters movies, but I liked that it wasn't trying to be and they did a good job of keeping it interesting with the kids as main characters.  If anything, the original Ghosbusters, except for Egon, really didn't even need to be in this movie, but it was still a mark-out moment seeing them and all the original actors making cameos.  The nerd in me also couldn't help but wonder if the final fight sequence,

Spoiler:

where the main girl is basically having an energy stream fight with Gozer, was ripped from Dragonball Z- I jokingly said "Egon's ghost is going to pop up and help her win" and then THIS HAPPENED with him standing behind her, just like Goku does when Gohan destroys Cell.   

[close]

  I also think they could have spent a bit more time establishing that

Spoiler:

Ivo Shandor built the town they're in and had him do more than just wake up and get killed off immediately, lol.

[close]

[Snoopycat_]

Watched that Guy Ritchie thing The Gentlemen on Netflix. It was watchable. Like the Witcher is watchable. Mostly though all it did was remind me that Lock Stock was a very long time ago

[Tuckers Law]

Ghostbusters Afterlife: I also really enjoyed this one and thought it was a great way of re-visiting an older movie series while still being new and having a different take on things.  It's not anywhere near as funny (and is less of a comedy in comparison) as the first two Ghostbusters movies, but I liked that it wasn't trying to be and they did a good job of keeping it interesting with the kids as main characters.

This was what I really liked about Afterlife.  Trying to be another Ghostbusters movie aka 1 & 2 while also being as funny is just a losing proposition, so they took a different approach in tone and I really appreciate when filmmakers are smart enough and cognizant enough to recognize that. 

In a way, it reminded me of Trainspotting 2, where nobody is trying to recapture the energy of the first movie and instead approaching it differently while still being true to the spirit of the story.

[Raist]

Watched Don't Look Up. I guess the criticism is that the stuff is on the nose, but hey at this point why is that a problem? When the real world is as crazy and idiotic as it is now, I don't think anything can be too on the nose.

Anyway movie was mostly pretty amusing. Sad that I can see it happening.

Yeah it was all right. Not sure why it got a lot of shit reviews

[Bebpo]

With my limited watching on 2021 Oscar type stuff, Don't Look Up was easily one of the top3 best films for me.

Dr. Strangelove is one of my favorite movies of all time. Don't Look Up is essentially a spiritual reimaging of Strangelove applied to the modern era and it really pulls it off. Reviews are stupid for this. There is no world where the Matrix Resurrections is a better movie than Don't Look Up.

[porkbun]

Ok, this movie is reaaaaally hard to watch in modern times. Now the dude is this creepy controlling stalker and it's really ughhhh to watch this stuff.

I mean, it's kind of the point of that part of the plot

spoiler (click to show/hide)

With him being asked to stalk someone's wife, unknowingly being mislead by those involved and out of bewilderment/misplaced feelings following his mental breakdown and the wool pulled over him finds the same woman, becoming completely obsessed with her appearance over the human behind it. Eventually his reaction to the deceit kills the object of his obsession.

Meanwhile she fluctuated between playing along for the con, pitying him during his obsessive stage and mistakenly having feelings for him at times despite recognizing it's a bit of an impossible situation.

To me I'm fond of the tone/vibe of the film. It's less about the plausibility of every aspect and more a kind of drifting along with the strange nature of it all.

[close]

I think part of the problem is that the movie being a time of its era it's hard to decide whether the movie is intentionally stalkerish & creepy or if that was just totally OK and acceptable at the time period and it's playing it straight. It does seem like it was supposed to, even at the time, make the audience uncomfortable with how the main guy acts, but watching it I couldn't tell that because I'm not familiar enough with how misogyny was perceived in the 50s.

Though a lot of the behavior was more excused back then, it was definitely meant to give off a creepy vibe.  Hitchcock himself was a creeper/perv with his blonde female actresses, so that seeped into his movies.

Watched that Guy Ritchie thing The Gentlemen on Netflix. It was watchable. Like the Witcher is watchable. Mostly though all it did was remind me that Lock Stock was a very long time ago

I watched it in rehab (heh) and had a good time with it, but when I rewatched it semi-recently on Hulu, I was pretty bored.  I mean, it hits all of the notes for a Ritchie gangster film, but it just felt like it was going through the motions and no one involved was really all that into it.

[Snoopycat_]

As far as I can tell he made 2 decent films and after Snatch everything turned to shit. It seems like he's spent his entire career trying to be cockney Tarantino.

[Tuckers Law]

I liked both RockNRolla and The Gentleman 

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/SonnyBunch/status/1478091582746341377

 

[Tasty]

FYI this is the same writer-clawback legal mechanism currently at the heart of the Friday the 13th court case, and I have a lot of thoughts/news on that I'm gonna post shortly too.

Basically it seems to me Victor Miller, the original writer of the first movie, will prevail in appeals court against Sean Cunningham (director and producer of the first and several other movies in the franchise.) Which means whoever currently has the rights (I think maybe Warner Bros.?) will have to pay Miller a fair cut in order to move forward on production of a new movie -- which I have no doubt they will, and then life will go on as normal (hopefully.) (There's a scenario they skirt around Miller's rights by using elements originating in the second and later movies, like the whole Ruby Slippers/Silver Slippers thing in Wizard of Oz adaptations, but they'd have to retcon or revise at least a little to get Jason working without Crystal Lake, his mother, or even possibly his own name.)

Following up on this from last year, Victor Miller has cleared every legal hurdle and is now the proper US rightsholder of the original Friday the 13th screenplay.

https://twitter.com/Zernerlaw/status/1476345331352674308

This thread implies that it's possible negotiations are happening behind the scenes, but nobody knows anything for sure.

Proper Friday the 13th films cannot legally start production without Millers' permission. Miller can create a new Friday the 13th film on his own, but only using elements from his original script and he has no claim to any international rights.

As an aspiring screenwriter, this and similar legal battles over the "35-year clawback" mechanism of the US Copyright Act have been absolutely fascinating to play out. It's sort of unfortunate that newer contracts and collective bargaining agreements preclude recent writers from ever using the same mechanism (I don't think we'll see the Wachowskis try to claw back The Matrix's script in 15 years, because they likely can't), but from a company/IP perspective things will be a lot less disruptive without the clawback option for writers.

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

I liked both RockNRolla and The Gentleman 

They're alright, but yeah, they did seem like tribute band cover versions of Lock Stock / Snatch.

Having said that, I kinda enjoyed the two Sherlock Holmes films, and also surprisingly enjoyed the Man From U.N.C.L.E. but that might have been down to seriously low expectations going in.

I mean, he's okay, but he's no Danny Boyle.

[Tuckers Law]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the Sherlock movies and Man from UNCLE, I actually really enjoyed those as well.

Snatch is his best movie though, very hard for that one to be beat or even matched.

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/EsotericCD/status/1480048143815294983

[Potato]

Saw the spider thing.

Outside the fan service, you have a strangely paced film with pretty average or rehashed fight scenes and little ongoing impact or relevance to the ongoing storyline.

Fan service was pretty good though.