Films Recently Watched

  On 10/8/2023 at 4:45 PM, usagi said:

I watched Luz, a weird short experimental/arthouse German horror flick about possession. I liked it.

finally!!!

^ the music was indeed choice. as was almost everything else about it aesthetically.

also recently saw The Banshees of Inisherin and thought it was great.

  On 10/8/2023 at 5:44 PM, Rubin Farr said:

In the middle of an Exorcist binge too, which version of the prequel is worth watching, either? neither?

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Neither honestly, the Paul Schrader one is the better film, but there's some low rent CGI and FX work put in to finish the film for no money that is just hot garbage. Renny Harlin's version is closer to the mummy than the exorcist, just tons of ineffective jump scares and dumb demon action. 

The TV series is ok though, strangely.

Edit: ok the Renny Harlin stuff is hyperbole, because it sounds fun. It's not, they're both fatally boring films.

First 8 of my 31 movies this month: 

night moves (1975)

has this on BD for years. gets a lot of praise as a relatively obscure 70's american crime film. not surprised it doesn't easily make the rounds on TV - would be hard to edit and not remove it's key appeals. gene hackman as an ex-footballer, now private detective, paid to track down 16 year old melanie griffith, who is just learning what clothes are for and realising the power of not wearing them all the time. bizarres slight leaps in logic or clarity, read as oddball, probably from a poor script and direction. feels quite odd. certainly surprised hackman signed up for this around same time as best of his output. james woods is here - also very young and still very much giving the same performance as everything else ive seen him in. there's a subplot that becomes the main plot, about antiquities smuggling, odd relationships between coastal and city lifestyles. quite a neo noir light story, weird nihilistic sudden ending. noting this as a film surprisingly comfortable with underage sexual content from the period - thinking taxi driver, hardcore and others i can't recall - that suggests an open secret of these age-gap relationships, potential or actual, amongst wider society.

  On 10/8/2023 at 5:44 PM, Rubin Farr said:

In the middle of an Exorcist binge too, which version of the prequel is worth watching, either? neither?

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That's rubbish too.

The only other film other than the original that gets remotely close is Exorcist III (1990). It was directed by William Blatty (who write the original novel). It's a really good movie. And has the greatest jump/scare in cinematic history.

  On 10/12/2023 at 6:02 PM, fumi said:

That's rubbish too.

The only other film other than the original that gets remotely close is Exorcist III (1990). It was directed by William Blatty (who write the original novel). It's a really good movie. And has the greatest jump/scare in cinematic history.

Yeah I love Exorcist III, the iTunes copy has Legion, which I’ve never seen so going with that one next, then a clean copy of Near Dark I found. Double feature.   

excited for this

Shoutout to the Ninth Configuration as well if you're on an Exorcist/Blatty run. I kind of love it.

this film became the (alt) right's wet dream and you can see why.

super pedo hunter jim caviezel is asked by a co-worker: how many pedos have you arrested? to which he answers "to date? about 289"
great. and how many kids have you rescused?

this is the gotcha moment that starts this whole thing. caviezel character is motivated by a maniacal challenge. the film is also seen through this same maniacal lens: everything is distorted to the point of cliche plot devices: scene with kids being trafficked or locked up somewhere in cargo containers whilst caviezel (and some other guy) set up meetings with dodgy traffiking co-conspirators- each providing a key ingredient to the true culprits at the top of the food chain.

spoiler alert / ten 

  On 10/12/2023 at 9:37 PM, Silent Member said:

Shoutout to the Ninth Configuration as well if you're on an Exorcist/Blatty run. I kind of love it.

Yeah, that's an awesome film. Great cast too.

  Quote

A man is on trial accused of murder of two young black men, and twelve women are called to serve on the jury. After deliberation, one juror is convinced the man is not guilty, while the majority claims he is guilty. A conversation takes place consisting of arguments, alliances, and near violence. What will the verdict be?

this looks amazing. like 12 angry men, but with DRAMA!!!

Macbeth (2015) with Fassbender and Cotillard was pretty good. really dramatic visually. more films should go over the top pretentious and heavy-handed like that. or maybe you've gotta have that big budget to go with it idk? good sound and music, but the music maybe could've been in there a touch more. Shakespeare dialogue just gets a bit awkward tho...they cut out plenty of the original text of course but even what's left is sometimes hard to follow. our language is just so removed in every way...anyway, the movie was good for what it was. dark & just a touch weird. maybe just watch it on mute/10

Seems that new Exorcist movie is going straight to VOD for Halloween.

And the rest of the new trilogy is now in doubt.

good.

rewatched mulholland drive, really like the level of detail and the nonlinearity

lol

  On 10/14/2023 at 5:58 PM, Freak of the week said:

rewatched mulholland drive, really like the level of detail and the nonlinearity

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That scene fucks me up every single time.

Do you guys have any alternative movie blogs or websites you follow ?

this looks really nice: 

  On 10/16/2023 at 4:49 PM, o00o said:

this looks really nice: 

 

 

 

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In the cue 

the exorcist. 

directors cut, cinema rerelease.

i’ve seen a handful of classics restored and on a big screen like this. reading the intent,  successes and failures is far easier. completely different impression of so many aspects of the films. makes a mockery of watching films any other way.

the shock here is probably relative to what had been around through the mainstream in the decades prior. it’s reputation now is in how huge the crowds and cultural impact were at the time. in reality, the exorcism is quite naively done, but still works well even if you’ve picked up on how it was executed or see the make-up as now very obvious. the sound mix appears to be amongst the stuff fiddled with over time, which is in places helpful for a bigger feel than what is on screen mostly gives, and others too obviously modern. the momentary cgi stuff is the worst of it.

the film is quite modest in budget, even compared to other contemporary studio stuff from the time using real locations and few effects or studio sets, with far better filmmaking from friedkin in the years after. lots of interesting pointers to ideas placing science against religion and vice versa. there aren’t probably as many good central ideas or nuance to his stories elsewhere, but far better construction and acting across the overall cast. a few great ones here, mostly from individuals, rarely from characters interacting with each other - a real mixed bag. on the whole, still great, but not a film to accept the reputation as a classic above going in with fresh eyes of your own and trying to find what you see in the details.

Interested to see Jeffrey Wright do intelligent comedy