Films Recently Watched

[auxien]

Watched the new It. Was very strange, they didn't seem to know what the direction or tone or audience was going to be so they went at ALL possible. Stupid ~201X era horror movie scares and set pieces, dumb humor and moments and entire sections literally designed for young teenagers (can't imagine anyone over 17 not cringing at some of that), gore and themes designed for older teens/20somethings, about 2 dozen big scary action sequences of varying lengths (maybe wrapped into the 201X-era horror tropes), playing regularly to fans of the original film/miniseries, trying to hype up everything and trying to make the whole cast into superheroes almost, lots of let's show off our effects shots, just....too fucking much. This is maybe because of the source material, be it the book or the script, but I have a feeling it has a fuckton more to do with this being a written-by-committee sort of thing (speculation). Actors all did the best they could, I guess? I dunno though. Pennywise was sufficiently creepy and scary...at first. Then after seeing him piddle about on the screen for what felt like an hour I sorta just realized he was a comic book villain in this. I mean, I know most movie-goers are aware of the plot of the film going in, the book/movie having been as big as they are, so I was hoping they would twist some stuff up, throw in a few curveballs, lead with a little mystery or something...everything was fucking telegraphed and laid out in literal writing at times. Like I said, it seems like they did some of this to cater to 11 year olds, but this was definitely an R-rated content sort of film? Not even like, R-rated but only because of a moment or two and a couple cuss words, but definitely R-rated violence, themes, etc.

 

I just don't think they knew who this was for, failed pretty badly imo. Have zero interest in watching the follow up that's on the way, though I'm sure I'll see it eventually on the small screen. 3 and a half blood-cleaning montages out of 10

[Echolalia]

Resolution then The Endless. Male Bros films made for YouTube generation. Oneindianreservetoomany/10. Though liked the looping parts,imagine perpetual orgasm? 

[hello spiral]

!hype

 

[sunshine recorder]

!hype

 

DISNEY! GIVE HIM FREE REIGN WITH THE STAR WARS UNIVERSE NOW!!!

[olo]

Watched the new It. Was very strange, they didn't seem to know what the direction or tone or audience was going to be so they went at ALL possible. Stupid ~201X era horror movie scares and set pieces, dumb humor and moments and entire sections literally designed for young teenagers (can't imagine anyone over 17 not cringing at some of that), gore and themes designed for older teens/20somethings, about 2 dozen big scary action sequences of varying lengths (maybe wrapped into the 201X-era horror tropes), playing regularly to fans of the original film/miniseries, trying to hype up everything and trying to make the whole cast into superheroes almost, lots of let's show off our effects shots, just....too fucking much. This is maybe because of the source material, be it the book or the script, but I have a feeling it has a fuckton more to do with this being a written-by-committee sort of thing (speculation). Actors all did the best they could, I guess? I dunno though. Pennywise was sufficiently creepy and scary...at first. Then after seeing him piddle about on the screen for what felt like an hour I sorta just realized he was a comic book villain in this. I mean, I know most movie-goers are aware of the plot of the film going in, the book/movie having been as big as they are, so I was hoping they would twist some stuff up, throw in a few curveballs, lead with a little mystery or something...everything was fucking telegraphed and laid out in literal writing at times. Like I said, it seems like they did some of this to cater to 11 year olds, but this was definitely an R-rated content sort of film? Not even like, R-rated but only because of a moment or two and a couple cuss words, but definitely R-rated violence, themes, etc.

 

I just don't think they knew who this was for, failed pretty badly imo. Have zero interest in watching the follow up that's on the way, though I'm sure I'll see it eventually on the small screen. 3 and a half blood-cleaning montages out of 10

 

Haha. I can see where you're coming from with many of your points, but I quite liked it in spite of that. I thought the kids were well cast and did a good job. Sorry, I liked the New Kids jokes. I'm a sucker for "kids taking on a seemingly unbeatable villain" type flick.  Was it scary, naw. But, what is nowadays? ...though,I thought the phony Modigliani painting was a nice touch. There's always been something unsettling to me about his art.

[auxien]

^I was fine with the New Kids jokes! Kids taking on unbeatable villain? Awesome. Painting was unsettling the first time I saw it...the tenth time though? Pretty weak by then. Not saying you're wrong for liking it or anything of course, just...I agree that it had some good points, decent actors, etc....I just think it failed overall at doing anything well, and just did a bunch of stuff sorta okay. I'm just not down with those current horror styles is a big part of it, too. Oh well, it's a silly Stephen King film anyway. I need to just go watch Dreamcatcher and remind myself of how much more ridiculous it could've been.

 

Ya know, I had to look up Stephen King films on Google 'cause I couldn't remember the name of Dreamcatcher...there's so many bad films from his stories. Very few 'good' ones. Kinda perplexing how these things keep getting made...for decades now, just regular constant dribbling shit films, with occasional 'okay' one thrown in. Pretty weird.

[olo]

 

Ya know, I had to look up Stephen King films on Google 'cause I couldn't remember the name of Dreamcatcher...there's so many bad films from his stories. Very few 'good' ones. Kinda perplexing how these things keep getting made...for decades now, just regular constant dribbling shit films, with occasional 'okay' one thrown in. Pretty weird.

 

Quite correct. I never got Stephen king. Read a ton of his books as a teen and never really cared for any of them really.

The latest "It" was a good popcorn horror flick for me. Better than a lot of the recent pretentious horror people bang on about.

[auxien]

^i tend towards the pretentious when it comes to stuff like that, or at least tongue in cheek but with some twist (Cabin In The Woods-ish) which is exactly what King books probably should be for films...they're rarely treated like that I guess. It works as popcorn sorta horror flick though, guess that's why it made fucktons of cash at the box office.

 

I only have read 'Salem's Lot and maybe a short story many years ago, wasn't into it. It works, he can write well of course, I just don't connect and had zero interest in trying other books of his. I'm sure there's good ones, I just don't care enough.

[usagi]

Dreamcatcher is absolutely hilarious.

[hello spiral]

The problem with so many SK adaptations is they adapt the most terrible and shallow/surface parts of the books. Dreamcatcher is so fucking awful lol. The book is ackchually pretty good, with the exception of the whole duddits part.

 

I often think SK hobbles his books now in order to not upset his wife.

Dreamcatcher was the first book he wrote after the accident that nearly killed him and he was going to call it Cancer.

His wife refused to let him, saying it was bad luck.

The whole Dreamcatcher schtick near the end seems almost tailor made to assuage her.

He often writes that she is the reader he has in mind when he's writing fiction.

[zaphod]

My biggest issue with king is he is a humanist who also writes primarily horror. That seems to run counter to what horror should be, which at its heart is a hopeless feeling of total despair. Lovecraft understood that but king seems influenced more by matheson and mid 20th century writers and serials. If he takes things from the horror genre it’s for somewhat shallow but often memorable set pieces and concepts. He’s a crowd pleaser and that doesn’t work for me in this genre. He also desperately needs to edit his books.

[tec]

I'm not sure, Full Dark, No Stars is pretty hardcore.

 

That was referring to spirals post^

Edited July 24, 2018 by tec

[hello spiral]

^ yeah that was a return to form for him. Love Fair Extension in that one.

Under the Dome too was pretty uncompromising in the last quarter, scorched earth (typical ugh/wat King ending though)

[usagi]

Bomb City. not good. for a movie meant to be steeped in punk subculture it depicted events in a horribly maudlin and heavy-handed way. also the use of present-era hiphop in a scene depicting 90s jock parties should've been flagged by someone during post.

[Silent Member]

Glad to see the VFX crew behind annihilation getting some new challenges.

[Squee]

Mission Impossible 2 is so fucking terrible! MI1 for lyfe!!

[Squee]

Good god it’s horrible!

[Silent Member]

lol, it's really bad. John Woo pls

[tec]

Been enjoying Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema despite realising that for the last five years I've not really watched anything except for cheesy horror films.

[zaphod]

mission impossible fallout new vegas

 

a 250 million dollar episode of decker

[dr lopez]

that should do the trick

[Candiru]

Gone Baby Gone

 

Pretty good neo noir movie set in Boston about the search for a missing girl with a fackin’ druggie for a mom. At the end of the movie, the main character seems to think he made a difficult choice, but “the right thing” which is total bullshit. He made the corrupt cops look like absolute heroes, tbh.

[sunshine recorder]

children of men....finally got round to seeing this,can,t believe i left it so long,totally blown away,this is how you do gritty post-apocalyptic,just love the way they created the future uk setting,but what floored me was the refugee camp attack one camera shot stuff,and so many things going on in the background,some of it horrific,and by not dwelling on it,its so much more powerful,my eyes were glued to the screen,scared of missing something! 10/10

 

(also...all  brexiteers should see this,proper project f.e.a.r.)

[Squee]

children of men....finally got round to seeing this,can,t believe i left it so long,totally blown away,this is how you do gritty post-apocalyptic,just love the way they created the future uk setting,but what floored me was the refugee camp attack one camera shot stuff,and so many things going on in the background,some of it horrific,and by not dwelling on it,its so much more powerful,my eyes were glued to the screen,scared of missing something! 10/10

 

(also...all brexiteers should see this,proper project f.e.a.r.)

Damn... that movie one of the few mandatory movies everyone should watch.

Watch it again now to make up for not having watched it any sooner.

 

I rewatched The Chaser (2008) for the first time in 8 years. Still holds up. Love it.

[sunshine recorder]

i can,t wait to watch it again,blu -ray will be purchased no  doubt,hopefully my sins will be cleansed?