Films Recently Watched

[spratters]

Green Room - Was told it was really good, didn't live up to the hype. However, evil Patrick Stewart is just the greatest thing.

[usagi]

^ he was def the best thing about it. it was pretty disappointing otherwise. nice tension but just meh in all other respects.

[MaartenVC]

 

for some reason i watched solo. i was in a pretty bad mood before it started. then i saw the trailers. one of them is literally a movie about a black kid who finds a big gun. in those interminable five seconds between each trailer there was a little ad for some grinch movie where he walks across the screen and basically tells the audience to fuck off and buy soda, or snarkily says "oh great, more trailers" and makes a jack off motion with his hand. thanks grinch, thanks for letting me know i don't have to be here either. i felt violated. i wanted to leave. then the movie started. somehow one of the most expensive movies ever made (250 million fucking dollars) looks like it was soaked in toilet water and left out in the sun. multiple times i couldn't even tell who or what i was supposed to be looking at. half the movie is out of focus or bathed in shadows. i was so baffled by this that i did some mid-movie iphone research and found out the director of photography made an "artistic decision" akin to gordon willis' work with lowlight in the godfather to reflect the darkness of the world in these trumpian times we all exist in now. you know, in a star wars movie! 

"acting": you have alden ehrenreich doing an impression of five easy pieces era jack nicholson, looking like he's in his late thirties, playing a twenty something harrison ford, standing maybe five foot nine inches tall, acting opposite emilia "franchise killer" clarke, who is a pair of eyebrows attached to a middling 6 of a body. you have a trans sjw robot who is so badly written that it comes off as a parody of trans sjws, who near the end of the film sets all the robots free and then dies while characters literally roll their eyes at it. way to make me more open minded disney, you created a character even the movie hates. you have donald glover once again proving atlanta was an accident, playing lando as some kind of cape collecting intergalactic dandy. oh, but he's pansexual. don't forget star wars was always about the sex. there's so much fucking in star wars. remember the twincest scene between luke and leia after she strangles jabba where han gets in on it and uses salacious crumb's head as a pocket pussy? neither do i. what about ron howard's direction? has anyone ever asked that about a movie? not that anyone cares but darth maul is in this. i thought he was dead but nope, he's back, the fucking legend. 

there isn't much else to say about the film's content. solo feels like forgetting to do an important essay in high school and then frantically completing it in homeroom, fingers crossed, then realizing you turned in a story about cucking your dad. there is no reason for it to exist, there is no reason to ever watch it. it proves that star wars is only as interesting as the canon characters and the actors who inhabited them, and so it proves that star wars is effectively dead. its existence begs the question of why? why keep beating this pinata full of money even after it's given you billions of dollars? with marvel films disney has found a perfect formula for serialized, neverending content that yields infinite returns. they use the aesthetics of whatever social movements are popular at the moment to imbue their films with cultural relevance, to make them events, which of course brings people out to see them, but all of these films are empty. they have tricked people into believing that something like black panther is an artistic statement and not a calculated piece of marketing, released during black history month, with a very loud advertising voice that reminds everyone that watching it is literal social activism. and then three months later release a new movie that makes everyone forget black panther existed. they inject identity politics into the movies and the media frenzies around the movies to generate discussions, to make them impervious to criticism. solo is a failure because of white males. the last jedi isn't bad, it's the alt right. when you allow corporate culture to dictate every creative decision in an industry, the industry dies. the marvel model of a cinematic universe is now being applied to every property that has ever existed. it has effectively turned big budget films into television shows. they have trained audiences to define movies this way, so big budget spectacle that exists outside the realm of a recognizable ip simply doesn't get made. 

looking back, there's one film to blame for all of this. star wars: a new hope.

 

 

A+++

Great Review

[usagi]

I have a bad feeling about Soldado.

[zaphod]

doesn’t it sort of undermine that character to basically make a man on fire movie out of him?

[MaartenVC]

Movies recently watched:

 

Movies I love & Guilty Pleasures / Must watch:

 

• Deliverance (1972) Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's turned into one huge lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a river-rafting trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.
• Falling Down (1993) An unemployed defense worker frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society, begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.

 

All-round Good Movies imho / Check these out:

 

• V for Vendetta (2005) (James McTeigue, The Wachowski Brothers) In a future British tyranny, a shadowy freedom fighter, known only by the alias of "V", plots to overthrow it with the help of a young woman.
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) (Martin McDonagh) A mother personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter's murder when they fail to catch the culprit. 
• Fanny and Alexander (1982) (Ingmar Bergman) Two young Swedish children experience the many comedies and tragedies of their family, the Ekdahls.
• The French Connection (1971) (William Friedkin) A pair of NYC cops in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a drug smuggling job with a French connection.
• Love and Death (1975) (Woody Allen) In czarist Russia, a neurotic soldier and his distant cousin formulate a plot to assassinate Napoleon.
• Cast Away (2000) (Robert Zemeckis) A FedEx executive must transform himself physically and emotionally to survive a crash landing on a deserted island.
• Barton Fink (1991) (The Coen Brothers) A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.
• The Thin Red Line (1998) (Terrence Malick) Adaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War. 
• The Hurt Locker (2008) (Kathryn Bigelow) During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work. 
• The Disaster Artist (2017) (James Franco) When Greg Sestero, an aspiring film actor, meets the weird and mysterious Tommy Wiseau in an acting class, they form a unique friendship and travel to Hollywood to make their dreams come true.
• Blow (2001) (Ted Demme) The story of how George Jung, along with the Medellín Cartel headed by Pablo Escobar, established the American cocaine market in the 1970s in the United States.
• Hard Eight (1996) (Paul Thomas Anderson) Professional gambler Sydney teaches John the tricks of the trade. John does well until he falls for cocktail waitress Clementine.

 

Movies I can't recommend / Not my thing at all / Don't watch:

 

• Blues Brothers (1980) (John Landis) Jake Blues, just out from prison, puts together his old band to save the Catholic home where he and brother Elwood were raised.
• The Goonies (1985) (Richard Donner, Steven Spielberg) In order to save their home from foreclosure, a group of misfits set out to find a pirate's ancient valuable treasure.
• Blazing Saddles (1974) (Mel Brooks) In order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.
• Phantom Thread (2017) (Paul Thomas Anderson) Set in 1950's London, Reynolds Woodcock is a renowned dressmaker whose fastidious life is disrupted by a young, strong-willed woman, Alma, who becomes his muse and lover.
• Empire of the Sun (1987) (Steven Spielberg) A young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation during World War II.
• The Blind Side (2009) (John Lee Hancock) The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family. 
• Primal Fear (1996) (Gregory Hoblit) An altar boy is accused of murdering a priest, and the truth is buried several layers deep.
• Black Hawk Down (2001) (Ridley Scott) 160 elite U.S. soldiers drop into Somalia to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord and find themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily-armed Somalis.
• The Wicker Man (1973) (Robin Hardy) A police sergeant is sent to a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl whom the townsfolk claim never existed. Stranger still are the rites that take place there.
• American Psycho (2000) (Mary Harron) A wealthy New York investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.
• Raising Arizona (1987) (The Coen Brothers) When a childless couple of an ex-con and an ex-cop decide to help themselves to one of another family's quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated.
• The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) (Milos Forman) A partially idealized and fictionalized film of the controversial pornography publisher and how he became a defender of free speech for all people. 
• Dawn of the Dead (2004) (Zack Snyder) A nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman, and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.
• The Tree of Life (2011) (Terrence Malick) The story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1956. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence and struggles with his parents' conflicting teachings.
• Under The Skin (2013) (Jonathan Glazer) A mysterious young woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. However, events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery.
• The Neon Demon (2016) (Nicolas Winding Refn) The sixteen year-old aspiring model Jesse arrives in Los Angeles expecting to be a successful model. 

[perunamuusi]

V for Vendetta is a pile of shit

Wicker Man is a masterpiece

 

your list is invalid

[Silent Member]

Yeah, that's a weird list.

[dr lopez]

Also we know the plots of most of these, why don’t you say a few words on why you liked them rather than just your own synopsis

[Lada Laika]

Yeah, that's a weird list.

With a few exceptions, it could be inverted and be basically correct

[dr lopez]

 

Yeah, that's a weird list.

With a few exceptions, it could be inverted and be basically correct

 

 

yeah but deliverance and falling down are legit great

[Lada Laika]

 

 

Yeah, that's a weird list.

With a few exceptions, it could be inverted and be basically correct

yeah but deliverance and falling down are legit great

Hence the exceptions

[zaphod]

 

 

Yeah, that's a weird list.

With a few exceptions, it could be inverted and be basically correct

 

 

yeah but deliverance and falling down are legit great

 

 

is falling down great? it seems like proto-altright death of the white man shit to me. funny as hell but i'd only pretend to enjoy it ironically. deliverance also has not aged well. 

[zaphod]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6dy7xQ8NeE

 

welcome to hell

[Ivan Ooze]

^

 

[iococoi]

^

 

 

[Silent Member]

Anomalisa was a good film.

 

Watched the Marwen trailer now, holy shit that looks terrible. I saw the documentary a couple of years ago (Marwencol) which was ok, but forgettable, but this shit? What are they thinking?

 

Here's the trailer for the documtary, which is all you really need to see. Compare that to this new monstrosity.

Edited June 21, 2018 by Gocab

[Squee]

Hereditary

 

It was good. Not that scary though.

[cwmbrancity]

 

^

 

 

 

 

 

[sunshine recorder]

 

really enjoyed this, sci-fi,cult,time warping,head fuck of a movie,the two main leads direct,and use the low budget really well, 7.5/10

[tec]

Couldn't get into their last one but looking forward to giving that one a try.

[usagi]

it has just been revealed to me that DJ Khaled was in Shottas    

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REYkWiOvFLk

 

I've watched this shit like 3 times and never realised.

Edited June 22, 2018 by usagi

[doublename]

Lol

[olo]

 

really enjoyed this, sci-fi,cult,time warping,head fuck of a movie,the two main leads direct,and use the low budget really well, 7.5/10

 

It's been on my radar. They did an AMA on reddit recently. Seem like good dudes. They do basically everything in regards to making their films. Gotta give it to em'.

Edited June 22, 2018 by olo

[WeAreOceans]

^ he was def the best thing about it. it was pretty disappointing otherwise. nice tension but just meh in all other respects.

idk I felt like he really phoned it in