The Official Movie Thread
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CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
With all the hype about another Scream movie this year (found myself enjoying the trailer) I decided to marathon them all over the weekend. Rewatched the first one today. I guess this is just a movie I'll never get the love for?
I understand that Craven was satirising slashers and horror tropes, but it seems like he inadvertently created a bunch of way more annoying trends with this one. Sterile thrillers with casts full of semi-talented actors known for shitty teen melodrama seemed to explode after Scream.
Anyways yeah I hate the whole cast, I hate the faux-clever horror meta (hur dur "Wes Carpenter"), I hate the exagerrated acting and I don't care what point Wes was trying to make with any of it. Was it on purpose to cast a bunch of almost-30-year-olds to play high school kids? No cool kills either.
I've never seen the sequels so hopefully I enjoy them more.
CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
With 30 minutes left of Scream 3 I switched it off. Tapped out like Thug Rose. How the fuck is this franchise so popular? It's absolute trash. Makes me sad that Wes spend so much of his later career pumping them out. Fuck. Not even any cool kills to speak of.
TechnicalBarbarity
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rms
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CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
I thought so too.
Yeah the opening scene is the best. Same with Jada Pinkett Smith at the start of Scream 2.
Both movies open with their biggest cast member being killed in the movie's best scene.
challenge_everything
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TechnicalBarbarity
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CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
Einherjar86
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TechnicalBarbarity
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CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
Notes on movies I watched recently:
Flux Gourmet (Peter Strickland, 2022) His latest, his weakest too. So much flatulence commentary. Interesting, kinda gross, pretty pretentious etc.
New Jersey Drive (Nick Gomez, 1995) Before he did Drowning Mona he made a great trilogy of 90's hood films, this one being the strongest imho. About a bunch of high school kids who jack cars and joyride so often that the cops start cracking down. Super early Donald Faison role.
Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011) Cool movie wwhen it's focusing on the action/thriller elements, but gets bogged down in the drama a bit too much for me. Enjoyable though. Cate Blanchett is a massive cunt in it.
Assassination Nation (Sam Levinson, 2018) At this point I'm just gonna say I fucking love Sam Levinson's style. He's never disappointed me. This movie is zoomer af and I think that's why it gets a lot of hate. I'll admit, at first I wasn't sure if I'd end up liking it but by the end I was mindblown. There's a one-shot scene they filmed using a crane and it's incredible. Many familiar faces from Euphoria are here too, and the social commentary on the Internet and anonymity is really well done. Some reviewers refer to it as "MAGAsploitation" which was amusing. I bought this for like 4 bucks. Money well spent.
Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt, 2006) This was a nice change of pace. Very simplistic and raw. Not a lot of dialogue. The most interesting part to me was that this might be the only road movie I've ever seen that doesn't follow the optimistic start > tumultuous middle > happy ending formula of road movies. The characters always grow tired of each other at some point, but not here. They just genuinely enjoyed each other's company and it was really sweet to see. Might be my favourite by Reichardt so far.
Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine, 2011) His second feature, and I liked it more than Dead Man's Shoes. Peter Mullan's Joseph (the main character) might be the most wild case of making such a terrible human sympathetic that I've ever seen. Paddy had guts with this one, but ultimately it pays off so well. His use of Eddie Marsan was fucking insane. Such an evil little worm here. So many layers of moral greyness at play. Quite sophisticated for an actor/director's second film.
Flux Gourmet (Peter Strickland, 2022) His latest, his weakest too. So much flatulence commentary. Interesting, kinda gross, pretty pretentious etc.
New Jersey Drive (Nick Gomez, 1995) Before he did Drowning Mona he made a great trilogy of 90's hood films, this one being the strongest imho. About a bunch of high school kids who jack cars and joyride so often that the cops start cracking down. Super early Donald Faison role.
Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011) Cool movie wwhen it's focusing on the action/thriller elements, but gets bogged down in the drama a bit too much for me. Enjoyable though. Cate Blanchett is a massive cunt in it.
Assassination Nation (Sam Levinson, 2018) At this point I'm just gonna say I fucking love Sam Levinson's style. He's never disappointed me. This movie is zoomer af and I think that's why it gets a lot of hate. I'll admit, at first I wasn't sure if I'd end up liking it but by the end I was mindblown. There's a one-shot scene they filmed using a crane and it's incredible. Many familiar faces from Euphoria are here too, and the social commentary on the Internet and anonymity is really well done. Some reviewers refer to it as "MAGAsploitation" which was amusing. I bought this for like 4 bucks. Money well spent.
Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt, 2006) This was a nice change of pace. Very simplistic and raw. Not a lot of dialogue. The most interesting part to me was that this might be the only road movie I've ever seen that doesn't follow the optimistic start > tumultuous middle > happy ending formula of road movies. The characters always grow tired of each other at some point, but not here. They just genuinely enjoyed each other's company and it was really sweet to see. Might be my favourite by Reichardt so far.
Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine, 2011) His second feature, and I liked it more than Dead Man's Shoes. Peter Mullan's Joseph (the main character) might be the most wild case of making such a terrible human sympathetic that I've ever seen. Paddy had guts with this one, but ultimately it pays off so well. His use of Eddie Marsan was fucking insane. Such an evil little worm here. So many layers of moral greyness at play. Quite sophisticated for an actor/director's second film.
no country for old wainds
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hanna is pretty cool. one of my dad's favourite movies lol. i heard cyrano is surprisingly good, i'll probably watch that.
i didn't like old joy when i saw it like 15 years ago and had the attention span of a gnat, i'm more into reichardt now so i should revisit.
is strickland jumping the shark? the last one i saw was in fabric and that was already dubious lol
i didn't like old joy when i saw it like 15 years ago and had the attention span of a gnat, i'm more into reichardt now so i should revisit.
is strickland jumping the shark? the last one i saw was in fabric and that was already dubious lol
CiG
Approximately Infinite Universe
It's hard to tell with Strickland. It says something that my favourite of his films is still his debut, which is also the least like the rest of his filmography. I just think this new one was a bit hard to relate to or care about. Definitely his weirdest.
AbelTim
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- Jun 11, 2021
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So, I had a cinema marathon yesterday with Avatar: The Way of Water, Plane & The Fabelmans.
Avatar: The Way of Water - Nobody can take away how visually beautiful and stunning this film is and it is in this regard that it is much more superior to the first one. My main gripes with the film though are with some of the character elements and casting decisions. The worst in my view is the casting of Sigourney Weaver as the teenage daughter of Jake Sully and Neytiri. She sounds so unnatural in the role and every time she spoke or displayed an emotion I had to stop myself from laughing. Terrible decision on James Cameron's part. With the character of Colonel Quaritch, I felt that they massively toned down his previous aggressiveness and military style personality from the first film. In my opinion they either should have scrubbed the character completely or kept him as a human. I also suspect that this film would be better experienced in 3D. The visuals kind of indicate that with the way everything moves on the screen. I am not a super fan of CGI but obviously with a film and Director like Cameron it is inevitable for it to be solely like this. It is literally like you are watching a high-class video game. On a finishing note, how this got a Best Picture Oscar nomination is baffling. Maybe for Visual Effects but nothing else.
Plane - As Action Thrillers go, Plane is a pretty solid one that keeps the tension on a tight leash and contains good action sequences. Directed by Jean-Francois Richet, who has also made the Assault on Precinct 13 remake, Mesrine and Blood Father. One thing that tends to sink a film for me personally is the use of shitty CGI blood/gore. Thankfully, Plane's was effective and well done. I do think they had a dual-combo of practical squibs with CGI and there is one particular sequence where a mercenary has a high-powered sniper rifle with large ammunition and proceeds to take out the villains one by one in gruesome fashion. There was one moment where I think the 15 rating might have intervened in what we see. A hostage from the plan gets the chop with a machete. It cuts away in a bit of a jarring way, so I suspect this was snipped for a more cinema friendly rating. Gerard Butler is in usual "save the day" form. Mike Colter was a bit disappointing though. He was a bit limp-wristed in this and certainly none of his "Luke Cage" brutishness dripped into this performance. Overall though, a good start for action films in 2023.
The Fabelmans - The film that Steven Spielberg has waited so long to make, The Fabelmans is a very personal movie for him. I enjoyed it and there are some great moments in it. The two main highlights for me were Judd Hirsch as Uncle Boris and David Lynch as film Director John Ford. Lynch was perfectly cast. I did find the film a bit too melodramatic for my liking, but the way Spielberg captures Sammy's/himself discovery of cinema and it's power to inspire and ignite people's imagination was done very well. Again, another one that in my opinion does not deserve a Best Picture Oscar nomination.
Avatar: The Way of Water - Nobody can take away how visually beautiful and stunning this film is and it is in this regard that it is much more superior to the first one. My main gripes with the film though are with some of the character elements and casting decisions. The worst in my view is the casting of Sigourney Weaver as the teenage daughter of Jake Sully and Neytiri. She sounds so unnatural in the role and every time she spoke or displayed an emotion I had to stop myself from laughing. Terrible decision on James Cameron's part. With the character of Colonel Quaritch, I felt that they massively toned down his previous aggressiveness and military style personality from the first film. In my opinion they either should have scrubbed the character completely or kept him as a human. I also suspect that this film would be better experienced in 3D. The visuals kind of indicate that with the way everything moves on the screen. I am not a super fan of CGI but obviously with a film and Director like Cameron it is inevitable for it to be solely like this. It is literally like you are watching a high-class video game. On a finishing note, how this got a Best Picture Oscar nomination is baffling. Maybe for Visual Effects but nothing else.
Plane - As Action Thrillers go, Plane is a pretty solid one that keeps the tension on a tight leash and contains good action sequences. Directed by Jean-Francois Richet, who has also made the Assault on Precinct 13 remake, Mesrine and Blood Father. One thing that tends to sink a film for me personally is the use of shitty CGI blood/gore. Thankfully, Plane's was effective and well done. I do think they had a dual-combo of practical squibs with CGI and there is one particular sequence where a mercenary has a high-powered sniper rifle with large ammunition and proceeds to take out the villains one by one in gruesome fashion. There was one moment where I think the 15 rating might have intervened in what we see. A hostage from the plan gets the chop with a machete. It cuts away in a bit of a jarring way, so I suspect this was snipped for a more cinema friendly rating. Gerard Butler is in usual "save the day" form. Mike Colter was a bit disappointing though. He was a bit limp-wristed in this and certainly none of his "Luke Cage" brutishness dripped into this performance. Overall though, a good start for action films in 2023.
The Fabelmans - The film that Steven Spielberg has waited so long to make, The Fabelmans is a very personal movie for him. I enjoyed it and there are some great moments in it. The two main highlights for me were Judd Hirsch as Uncle Boris and David Lynch as film Director John Ford. Lynch was perfectly cast. I did find the film a bit too melodramatic for my liking, but the way Spielberg captures Sammy's/himself discovery of cinema and it's power to inspire and ignite people's imagination was done very well. Again, another one that in my opinion does not deserve a Best Picture Oscar nomination.
