The GMD Movie Club Thread

[CiG]

What's so bad about the Oldboy remake?

This is why I wanted to force people to watch it because I just don't get the hate.

 

[rms]

What's so bad about the Oldboy remake?

I don't think the original was worthy of a remake (or americanized), and it's unclear why anyone wanted to be involved -- outside of Olsen and her quest to become famous. There's honestly nothing appealing about it, but I don't think they sold the transitional period well and luckily I forgot the ending so got something for my time. If I ever feel like it, i'll have to watch Oldboy again, but it wasn't a great flick and I think is incorrectly grouped with the good stuff from Korea.

Black Book - 3.5/5 (first viewing)

I believe this is my first Dutch-Verhoeven so was glad to see what that was all about. My one recommendation is to pay better attention throughout than I did, as I became rather bored with the plot until maybe the 90 minute point, and that's when it really separated itself. The direction of the story and how it concludes is awesomely molded together, in retrospect. But during, I got kind of bored with it -- likely intended due to my American-ness exposure to WW2 cinema. The lead is attractive if you're in it just for the tits, but thoroughly enjoyed that the conclusion is something more akin to what I read on WW2 in college and humanity in general. Will have to give this another go sometime, but just fantastic. Insanely better than No One Lives

No One Lives - 1/5

Once I saw this film was funded by the WWE, I should have known better. Just not worth the words, should go away and never be spoken of again. Complete miss

 

[CiG]

Oh right I forgot you didn't even like the original Oldboy. Well, fair.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Cheers to whoever submitted this low-budget film by people I've never heard of because I'm sure I never would've seen this otherwise and it's fucking amazing. I didn't watch the trailer so I went into this fairly blind not even knowing what genre it was gonna be and I was mesmerized. Even when nothing much is happening it does so much with cinematography and lighting and a sparse soundtrack to create a sense of desolation and unease. Terrific use of VHS aesthetics too. The plot is slow and sometimes incredulous but the major developments are timed just right to jolt you. Absolutely wonderful pick and extremely on-point for the theme.

And for such an otherwise somber movie, it sure had some riotously funny moments;

Spoiler

The only thing funnier in my mind than "The cucumber was the turning point, Steve" is Steve rearranging the letters in the banner to spell "Very Bad Party". Or maybe Bill Con did that while Steve was in lockup as part of his contract with Alexandra? Either way, hilarious

Rating: A fridge full of beers/10

 

[CiG]

No One Lives was hilarious. The most incomprehensible plot ever with quite a large cast yet none of them are relatable whatsoever.

I get the appeal of bad guys vs even worse guy but it goes no deeper than that. I agree with Vegard that the editing was terrible, and the shaky cam was annoying whenever it was used.

That said, I enjoyed the practical effects, some of the gore was pretty cool. Didn't really feel like a 2010's movie to me. Had a big late 90's/early 00's vibe, for whatever that's worth.

For me the worst part was the pseudo-philosophical 2deep4u sub-plot going on between Driver and Emma. Just seemed so needlessly cringe to me.

This could've been a decent popcorn gore flick if it had just stuck to a more conventional story. Maybe forgivable if this was someone's trashy debut, but this is like his 10th movie lol.



Get your shit together Ryuhei. 4.5/10.

 

[no country for old wainds]

download link for alexandra's project here courtesy of the submitter. make sure you download it, the stream on dropbox cuts off after 15 minutes.

 

[challenge_everything]

Obviously the identity of the submitter is highly confidential

 

[no country for old wainds]

no need to out rms like that.

 

[challenge_everything]

no need to out rms like that.

Wait, I was sure he submitted No One Lives?

 

[CiG]

It was rms all along.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Saved this for last because it's 2½ hours long and it looked kinda trite. And I did think the first two thirds were quite boring. Aside from the sexual stuff it felt like a pretty conventional WW2 period drama. But I should've known to trust in Verhoeven, because the last third was amazing, morally gray, exhilarating & went by so fast I was surprised when it was over. Definitely recommend sticking with this one and trying to stay invested even if it seems a little stock at first. This makes two movies now that I'm in complete alignment with rms on and it feels deeply wrong and I'm more than a little scared.

Rating: Waldemar Kobus' sex appeal/10

---

First to watch and rate all four movies, I win! I'll see the rest of you slow fucks in August November after no country nags you 8 times to watch the damn films. Great selection everyone, loved 3/4 of these movies. Tentative best-to-worst ranking:

1. Alexandra's Project
2. Point Blank
3. Black Book
4. No One Lives

 

[challenge_everything]

after no country nags you 8 times to watch the damn films.

Mate you've been here long enough to know it will be us nagging him.

 

[no country for old wainds]

i had exactly the same thought ngl

 

[CiG]

Mate you've been here long enough to know it will be us nagging him.

Sometimes bending reality to serve a joke just doesn't work.

 

[Einherjar86]

started with No One Lives cuz i could get it on prime. terrible acting, mostly terrible dialogue, passable plot, effects were fine. overall, i would have preferred to watch something else. turning to Alexandra's Project next--based on comments above, hopefully it's a palate cleanser.

 

[no country for old wainds]

i forget if i said this already, but in defence of the person who submitted that one, they originally submitted martyrs (two people did actually but then both ended up going for their alternative picks instead). i think most people here have seen martyrs already but maybe i'm wrong and it would've been a better choice.

 

[rms]

My apologies to the other martyrs submitt-or, we both ended up with something different !

 

[Einherjar86]

Sorry to trash someone's suggestion, No One Lives was just not for me.

Alexandra's Project was a strong work, very tense and pared down, which I appreciated. Worst birthday ever.

 

[CiG]

I haven't seen Martyrs.

 

[Bloopy]

i forget if i said this already, but in defence of the person who submitted that one, they originally submitted martyrs (two people did actually but then both ended up going for their alternative picks instead). i think most people here have seen martyrs already but maybe i'm wrong and it would've been a better choice.