Films Recently Watched

Haven’t seen that. And I personally found campy Hitler fairly amusing, so I guess it’s a bit of a ymmv thing.

Currently beginning to lean towards “it should have been lighter.”.

found this excruciatingly boring. really confused what anyone finds so fascinating about this guy and the guy making 'hereditary' and 'midsommar' but at least this guy's films sound interesting on paper. willem dafoe is clearly having too much fun with this role whereas the other guy seemed a mixture of being aloof and confused- but then again, i didn't care.

this was so much better but WTF? the director basically chronicles his ex-wives private life; from a lesbian relationship, interracial bf to the eventual birth of her daughter from that relationship i.e. he films her giving birth in his apartment solo on a makeshift bed of newspapers.

i didn't really get the feeling the film had any message behind it (perhaps the obsession with the main subject?) yet i somewhat felt like i got something deeper beyond the superficial voyeurism out of it

JoJo Rabbit
 

Glad to see Waititi is still on top form, hopefully he'll continue to do the writing/directing/producer shtick and not sell out too much to Hollywood. Excellent performances and enjoyable throughout! He's one of few directors who can blur the lines between kid/adult films so well. 

Was sick yesterday so I watched the Suspiria remake for some reason. It definitely has a couple of cool moments but good lord, that movie severely needed another pass in the editing bay (and probably in the script stage too - it's overwritten like crazy). Shame, because the few cool scenes were legitimately good. 

  On 1/11/2020 at 4:45 AM, Nebraska said:

found this excruciatingly boring. really confused what anyone finds so fascinating about this guy and the guy making 'hereditary' and 'midsommar' but at least this guy's films sound interesting on paper. willem dafoe is clearly having too much fun with this role whereas the other guy seemed a mixture of being aloof and confused- but then again, i didn't care.

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Yep, an overhyped hipster wankathon that was painful to watch deflate into utter pointlessness (except being a textbook example of style over substance).

I enjoyed The Lighthouse immensly.

  On 1/11/2020 at 4:45 AM, Nebraska said:

found this excruciatingly boring. really confused what anyone finds so fascinating about this guy and the guy making 'hereditary' and 'midsommar' but at least this guy's films sound interesting on paper. willem dafoe is clearly having too much fun with this role whereas the other guy seemed a mixture of being aloof and confused- but then again, i didn't care.

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definitely not enough 70s LA TnA smut

Midsommer - 8.5/10

Moneyball - 6.5/10

Wedding Crashers (second time) - 8/10

The Dawn Wall - 8.8/10

Kingsman 7/10

Yesterday I had an open afternoon, so I watched El Camino, You'll Love Me When I'm Dead, and The Other Side of the Wind.

I really wish Welles was able to finish it before he died so we could get a version that wasn't compromised. Seemed far ahead of its time and very surreal. I thought it was interesting that the film in the film was almost more real than the behind-the-scenes style footage of "actual events." The dialogue was strange in the facet that it was a mishmash of movie-style quotes plus how people actually talk. Who knows how it would have turned out had he finished it.

El Camino was good. Definitely a fitting epilogue to the series.

Anyone seen this?

  On 1/14/2020 at 5:04 PM, Rubin Farr said:

Anyone seen this?

 

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i have it sitting on my hd for some time now but never got around to seeing it... i feel like i'm gonna quite like it though... that one and also this one:

Looks like some Lord of the Flies type shit

indeed...

why would they? the original is so much fun...

dayum this was bad. kinda feel bad for miller & co for the box office failure as i don't see how this once warrants it's embarrassing fate while other remakes go on to make enough to wash their face. 

in all honesty, i found the mackenzie dame and linda hamilton incredibly unlikeable - basically annoying. so them two acting as dual bodyguards for dani was incredibly taxing to watch. arnie basically shows up to do what the other two girls should be doing before the whole thing collapses onto itself. the end.

what a mess

RE: The Lighthouse...did we watch the same movie? I was glued to the screen and cackled right along into the descent with them. I found it gorgeous, disgusting and wildly imaginative. I've always been a sucker for repackaged classics e.g. O Brother, Where Art Thou, Scotland, PA., etc. At a minimum, I thought WATMM's heart would be stolen by all of the close quartered farting. I know I was immediately sold on Dafoe gas. 

Terminator Dark Fate

Man, someone needs to put this franchise to rest. Or I guess, this movie just did. I'm surprised at how bad the effects looked? Like, really surprised. I got The Matrix Reloaded vibes from it.
Anyway, it's easy to shit on a movie, so I'll focus on the good stuff: Arnold. For some reason I really liked him in this movie even though he didn't really do anything. But I laughed out loud when he said his wife found him "extremely funny". I guess I was in such a state of shock over the movie that THAT was what it took to breathe some life back into me.

  On 1/16/2020 at 7:03 AM, xxx said:

RE: The Lighthouse...did we watch the same movie? I was glued to the screen and cackled right along into the descent with them. I found it gorgeous, disgusting and wildly imaginative. I've always been a sucker for repackaged classics e.g. O Brother, Where Art Thou, Scotland, PA., etc. At a minimum, I thought WATMM's heart would be stolen by all of the close quartered farting. I know I was immediately sold on Dafoe gas. 

yeah it was good, some people just don't understand a movie about dudes rocking

It’s alright, has some sweet flourishes. The Willem D/Neptune scene, eyes beaming, fuck yeah. It captures the elements really well, but Robert P? Watched more interesting chairs. The sound design was the highlight. Alan Splet style winds, booming breakers, the horn thingy, like the storm itself was alive. The ending was unnecessary though.

wow, this was incredibly entertaining. it switches from exploitation to stylistically artsy in the same scene making for some head-damagingly weird visuals. basically nami matsushima gets chucked into prison for the attempted murder of an ex-boyfriend; who just happened to be an undercover cop- who used to capture a yakuza clan. once inside prison though- she begins to coz havoc with the warring female gang groups before everything leads to an all out war betwix prison personnel and guards. and guess what's the root of all this debacle

Richard “no outsiders” Harris/10. Anyone else & this would’ve remained mawkish. 

  On 1/16/2020 at 5:06 PM, Nebraska said:

wow, this was incredibly entertaining. it switches from exploitation to stylistically artsy in the same scene making for some head-damagingly weird visuals. basically nami matsushima gets chucked into prison for the attempted murder of an ex-boyfriend; who just happened to be an undercover cop- who used to capture a yakuza clan. once inside prison though- she begins to coz havoc with the warring female gang groups before everything leads to an all out war betwix prison personnel and guards. and guess what's the root of all this debacle

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what is that?

  On 1/16/2020 at 5:27 PM, Tim_J said:

what is that?

female prisoner 701: scorpion

much obliged dude

Son of Saul

Real sleeper hit here, totally blindsided by it. I was a bit hesitant due to he filming style (and it being yet another WW2-era drama), but the exalting reviews led me to give it an honest chance. I can understand the divided opinions and am a bit undecided on the exploitative significance of what is essentially a holocaust theme park ride, but damn! The insanely visceral and fucked up cinematography grips hard and doesn't let go. Once you step in rhythm with the feverish and cramped camera work, it makes so much sense as it enables the subjective experience in which the mechanical routine of slave laboring at Atrocities'R'us (something that is effectively portrayed but never forced) becomes a constant yet slightly subdued backdrop because of the desensitization of the people forced to work in its midst. One of the interviewees in Shoah described having no emotion at all during his experience. When the dehumanization is complete, every misstep risks the penalty of death and the human will starts to present itself in this environment, you as a viewer can't prevent holding your breath in every turned corner, every head turn that could be percieved as insubordination. The oppressive rhythm marches on unceasingly and the film maintains a tempo which effectively prevents the viewer from reflecting on what's going on and completes the nausea. The plot feels a bit forced at times and doesn't always makes sense, but I'll allow that a circumstance like this really isn't supposed to make sense. Very much on par with Come and See, if you stuck it in a blender. I have to see it again soon.