Films Recently Watched

[ooqpoo]

On 10/9/2022 at 2:22 AM, T3551ER said:

Teh Hellraiser (2002)

As a pretty massive fan of the original (and, though some things about it are a bit dated, Hellraiser II I still find to be wildly interesting/entertaining) I was simultaneously stoked and a little trepidatious to check this out. I really enjoyed the Night House (when I found out the director of that was going to do this, it seemed like a perfect match, if he could get it "right"). 

No need to fear - though wandering at times and perhaps not ever quite reaching the ingenuity of the originals, this is an excellent Hellraiser movie, and a very good horror movie to boot. As a fan of Clive Barker's fiction (though lapsed in reading of it), the thing really feels like a Barker sort of thing. Humanity is messy and muddy. The supernatural elements feel genuinely both otherworldly but also like they could really have stepped out of hell. And, not just in the appearance (which nicely updates the S&M fetishism with something more painful yet still on target). 

Speaking of lapses - I'm a lapsed Catholic (and by lapsed I mean I wholly have unsubscribed to monotheism altogether) but at the time of the first Hellraiser "Hell" was all too real in my mind. The things the original conjured forth - not just the demons, but the sins of the human flesh, felt palapable and real and terrifying. I'm pleased to say that, even though I no longer ascribe any sort of actual belief in the idea of hell, this new one is cut from the same cloth, hewn close enough that I felt flashbacks of that same fear. If hell was a place, this, indeed, are the sorts of things that would emerge from it. 

There is a philosophy here that is fairly fascinating, touching on the idea of sensation as being a certain type of end - and the movie conjures some interesting ideas on whether this needs to be pain or pleasure or, if, from a certain perspective, it doesn't matter. There is an very interesting bit about "music" that I won't spoil but I found to be absolutely intriguing. 

In the end, this isn't much more than a horror movie - that's fine. That's what it's supposed to be - and I can forgive a pit of pacing issues and lack of character development for the return to form that I think most fans of the Hellraiser series have hoped for over the intervening decades since the originals dropped. I got a Hulu trial just to watch this, but would have easily forked over the priced of a rental to watch it. 

Horror movie rating 8.5/10

Hellraiser movie rating (taking into account the dilution of the last 17 or whatever entries and what this means for the franchise) 9.3/10

 

Next up? Going full on avante guard horror with Criterion Collection Lost Highway 4k UHD remaster let's goooooo! (just arrived in the mail today) 

This is the new 2022 Hellraiser? 

[Nebraska]

despite this amazing cover, this was a not that great, but still lucio fulci doing running man with too much backstory out of ten

[J3FF3R00]

Watched the Elvis movie on a plane. As an Elvis fan, I was expecting to hate it but I ended up enjoying the second half. The first half was pretty tedious though. Props to Austin Butler.
Tom Hanks should never be hired for any role with an accent. 

[T3551ER]

9 hours ago, ooqpoo said:

This is the new 2022 Hellraiser? 

Haha yeah, sry typo in the header. I'll fix that burger. 

[Nebraska]

this film is currently masquerading as some kind of "new age" auteur sci fi film, but it's actually pretty terrible. i think it's that A24 aesthetic and marketing look but the story and whatever they're trying to build around it is laughably not-working

[Nebraska]

terrible in every way. 

[Squee]

2 hours ago, Nebraska said:

terrible in every way. 

Did you watch it on videocassette?

[Nebraska]

@Squee negative. was too lazy to find a small picture that matched the format i watched it in 

[BoaufStroganoff]

I guess this is the kind of movie with which you have to "sign a contract" at the beginning. Either you accept the rules of that universe, or you reject it. For me it was the latter. Even though on paper the pitch looked interesting, I felt tortured while watching this. This movie says nothing... I demand my 2.5 hour back ! Also, I now hate flangers.

 

[sine nomine]

The Big Lebowski.

I finished watching this ... I had started it and not payed attention many times before.

I'm sure there's lots more I can put together and surely many others have already, it may not be entirely inspired by Jesus, or "a day in the life of Jesus" but it was quite apparent to me that I just watched a story of yes; a deadbeat, a lazy man, an artist a dude! But also a redeemer... a Christ.

A dude that hammered his own nails in, and just as Christ, the darkness was inevitable.

It's wonderful how it was depicted with the taste of blissful ignorance, with the dude getting it all wrong to try and keep he's fellow two other crucified from entering he's apartment.

[hello spiral]

11 hours ago, BoaufStroganoff said:

I guess this is the kind of movie with which you have to "sign a contract" at the beginning. Either you accept the rules of that universe, or you reject it. For me it was the latter. Even though on paper the pitch looked interesting, I felt tortured while watching this. This movie says nothing... I demand my 2.5 hour back ! Also, I now hate flangers.

 

Oh sweet, had no idea there was new Strickland 

[Silent Member]

On 10/12/2022 at 4:52 PM, Nebraska said:

this film is currently masquerading as some kind of "new age" auteur sci fi film, but it's actually pretty terrible. i think it's that A24 aesthetic and marketing look but the story and whatever they're trying to build around it is laughably not-working

Oh damn, looks fun. Had high hopes for the Wild Boys (same director), but ended up bored to tears even though it ticked a lot of my pleasureboxes. I guess he's all style and very little else.

[cruising for burgers]

3 hours ago, Silent Member said:

Oh damn, looks fun. Had high hopes for the Wild Boys (same director), but ended up bored to tears even though it ticked a lot of my pleasureboxes. I guess he's all style and very little else.

same director? straight to watchlist...

[Nebraska]

this franchise is having an identity crisis and used this film to have it. it's 10min shy of 2hrs and one of the two characters in the image above didn't appear for (maybe?) an hour and half. hint: it wasn't the blonde. 

[iococoi]

 

[Nebraska]

^^^ one of my favorite directors. very curious your thoughts besides 

[Nebraska]

from the time i wrote the above comment to the time i'm writing this is how long it took me to get over this / zero

Edited October 16, 2022 by Nebraska

[prdctvsm]

 / 

[Squee]

1 hour ago, prdctvsm said:

 / 

That looks pretty good.

[cruising for burgers]

btw Quentin Dupieux aka Mr Oizo has another movie out... something about some cigarette smokers power rangers...

[iococoi]

 

[cruising for burgers]

2 hours ago, iococoi said:

 

 

thanks for the heads up 

Spoiler

Edited October 17, 2022 by cruising for burgers

[cruising for burgers]

3 hours ago, iococoi said:

 

 

btw there's a loop of the beginning of acrid avid jam shred @ 1:05 that's gets layered with some hi-hats @ 1:21 and later with a bunch of other random beat samples...

fight me!

it might be a little pitched up or down though...

Edited October 17, 2022 by cruising for burgers

[Squee]

Halloween Ends

One of the best comedies I’ve watched the last 12 months. 

[BoaufStroganoff]

22 hours ago, cruising for burgers said:

btw Quentin Dupieux aka Mr Oizo has another movie out... something about some cigarette smokers power rangers...

This one... (activate automatic eng subs)

There is something about the photography in his movies that i find very digital, too defined and realistic. I wonder if his cinema would work even better with a more cinematic analog-esque style of picture. I actually regraded Réalité in davinci for a second viewing and it was definitely a better experience with more colors and less definition.

Edited October 17, 2022 by BoaufStroganoff