The Official Movie Thread

[Einherjar86]

I don't disagree with anything you said re Smile. My take is that it's entirely derivative, just extremely effective in its execution. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I still struggle with what you say about It Follows though... while you praise it for the adolescent camaraderie, for me that gave it a sense of coziness that I found out of place or inconsistent with its other ambitions. Each to their own I guess. However the dilapidated urbanism, current generations being weighed down (followed) by the previous, that's all horror trope too (Candyman to name but one).

That's fair. To just say a bit more about my own personal feelings here, as time goes on I tend to find the premise of characters turning on each other and doubting each other to be increasingly easy in horror movies; it's a way to elevate the terror/dread/hopelessness/etc., which is what a lot of horror narratives want, obviously. There's something about a narrative in which characters simply believe one another that I find a) counterintuitively subversive (for a horror film), and b) endearing in an unexpected way.

Really good point about urban decay in horror, you're totally right; I just found the specifically post-2008 subtext in It Follows to be more contextually poignant, rather than reflecting a more general impression of urban decay in America (it's been so long since I've seen Candyman, and I haven't seen the remake yet).

My memory is that it fell apart in the final act.

I recall reading the director saying that an idea for a sequel would have been for the protagonist and friends to track the entity back to where it began by searching for the people who passed it on. My thought was that that would have been a really fucking cool way to conclude the film, although it probably would have made it super long.

 

[challenge_everything]

(it's been so long since I've seen Candyman, and I haven't seen the remake yet).

Please don't. I hate the word 'woke' but in this case it's truly fitting.

 

[CiG]

It's so fucking tone deaf.

 

[challenge_everything]

It's so fucking tone deaf.

Yeah on many levels. Love how the main character is an artist who co-opts the imagery of the Candyman without understanding the underlying story, just as the director co-opts the original movie without understanding it. It's so obvious I wonder if it was intended to be self-deprecating but given the obliviousness of everything else in the movie I doubt that.

 

[CiG]

 

[Slammed]

And I thought Hollywood no longer made movies for me!!

 

[CiG]

@Slammed I was meaning to ask you, how did you feel about Wolf Creek season 2 fleshing out a lot more of Mick's worldview?

(Wrong thread I know.)

Spoiler

I thought it was very interesting how it established his personal philosophy for how he justifies his crimes. He talks about how, as a descendant of a penal colony, it's his job to take care of foreign pests like rabbits, foxes, wild pigs, tourists etc.

That part was always pretty much implied in the movies (he hates Brits, Kiwis, Americans etc) but in that season we see for maybe the first time ever his larrikin mask slip when he's forced to kill the 3 aboriginal blokes. For one, he doesn't outright kill them, he fires a warning shot and tells them to leave (I was so surprised) and then when they return to try and help the tourists he's forced to kill them and he takes no pleasure in it. Then when one of them survives and goes to get Tommy Lewis (!!!!) and they try to ambush Mick, he kills them, walks over to Tommy and says "it's over, dingo man" in an aboriginal language and then says angrily "fucking tourists" because this all resulted in 3 dead aboriginals.

Holy shit it was so much new insight into his profile that I wasn't expecting.

 

[rms]

Hearing good things about Inarritus Bardo, anyone catch it yet (Netflix)?

 

[CiG]

Very surreal, not sure how I feel about it.

 

[CiG]

Is that Friday the 13th reboot from 2009 any good?

 

[RadicalThrasher]

Is that Friday the 13th reboot from 2009 any good?

Decent....doesn't come close to the original(s)...but decent.

 

[CiG]

‘Blackout’ First Look – Larry Fessenden Is Back With New Werewolf Horror Movie.

Fessenden explains, “My approach was to blend a naturalistic docu-style with the mythological tropes of the werewolf story, an ongoing interest to blend realism with stylization, and to fuse themes of contemporary society with classic monster movie clichés.”

Makeup and special effects were handled by long-time Glass Eye Pix collaborators Brian Spears and Peter Gerner, who previously created the Frankenstein monster for Fessenden’s 2019 film Depraved. Comments Fessenden, “Yes, I’m competing with Marvel and Blumhouse to create my own Monsterverse, but at a very different price-point.”

My erection is larger than Larry's forehead right now.

Decent....doesn't come close to the original(s)...but decent.

Should I even bother watching it? I saw it's on Netflix lol, any decent kills or effects at least?

 

[Bloopy]

Currently watching Redneck Zombies... great stuff

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Finding out if I can still get through a Seagal film without beer. Turns out I can.

Features a mid-20s Dean Norris in a bit part. God, what a hunk.

 

[CiG]

He played a lot of sleazy villains back in the day.

 

[Einherjar86]

Watched Coming Home in the Dark yesterday. Holy fuck, was not ready for that. Really good New Zealand “home invasion” (in a loose sense) thriller, well acted and brutally unsparing in its narrative choices.

 

[challenge_everything]

This was hugely disappointing. Not that I regard the Palme D'Or as necessarily the stamp of excellence, but this movie feels more like Oscar bait than Cannes material. Calling it satire is too generous, because these rich people are such ridiculous stereotypes that it's more slapstick cringe than anything trenchant. It's an entirely safe movie sticking the boot into the safest of targets, complete with a climactic vomit scene that is straight out ripped off numerous other movies. The movie eventually takes a third act turn - reminiscent of Parasite but without the creativity. Whatever this movie has to say, it certainly didn't require 147 mins to say it.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

So many insane moments in this one. Powers Boothe's villain is one for the ages.

 

[no country for old wainds]

This was hugely disappointing. Not that I regard the Palme D'Or as necessarily the stamp of excellence, but this movie feels more like Oscar bait than Cannes material. Calling it satire is too generous, because these rich people are such ridiculous stereotypes that it's more slapstick cringe than anything trenchant. It's an entirely safe movie sticking the boot into the safest of targets, complete with a climactic vomit scene that is straight out ripped off numerous other movies. The movie eventually takes a third act turn - reminiscent of Parasite but without the creativity. Whatever this movie has to say, it certainly didn't require 147 mins to say it.

have you seen any other ostlunds? ‘cause this sounds more or less like my take on the square; painfully unfunny, unfocused and overreaching satire that has a few interesting ideas but feels like a first draft and takes a lot of cheap shots. he really thinks he’s the second coming of bunuel or something lol. force majeure was alright but just a worse version of the loneliest planet to me (or you can just go to the source with contempt). play i don’t remember too much but i remember thinking it was provocative but shapeless as well.

 

[AbelTim]

I watched the new Scott Cooper film The Pale Blue Eye last night. Cooper is becoming one of my favourite director's. I still need to see his directorial debut Crazy Heart.

His latest venture is a very well made, moody gothic thriller. Superbly shot and thankfully not darkly lit. Christian Bale is suitably on good form but it is Harry Melling who steals the show as Edgar Allan Poe. Thankfully Melling (like Daniel Radcliffe) has shaken off the Harry Potter shackles and has being getting his teeth into some really juicy, complex roles. We even get a cameo from Robert Duvall has an occult expert.

The plot does falter a bit near the end but not too much.

My Scott Cooper ranking -

1. Hostiles
2. Out of the Furnace
3. Black Mass
4. The Pale Blue Eye
5. Antlers