Yeah pretty funny and clever. Assume you've seen it; if not best to watch with as little background info as possible.
The first third is obviously a slog but essential to the structure of the movie. I really enjoyed unpicking the frenetic camerawork choreography of the final third and the notion that some of the most inexplicably bad movie scenes we've seen can be explained by all this unseen stuff happening off-camera. Some great gags - the self-defence "Pom!" maneouver and all the guys with zombie eyes stacked on top of each other as the human pyramid at the end.
Yeah pretty funny and clever. Assume you've seen it; if not best to watch with as little background info as possible.
The first third is obviously a slog but essential to the structure of the movie. I really enjoyed unpicking the frenetic camerawork choreography of the final third and the notion that some of the most inexplicably bad movie scenes we've seen can be explained by all this unseen stuff happening off-camera. Some great gags - the self-defence "Pom!" maneouver and all the guys with zombie eyes stacked on top of each other as the human pyramid at the end.
yeah it's good fun, and you're right, i do think of it sometimes when i'm watching something shit or weird and wonder what kind of chaos is going on behind the scenes. i posted this when i saw it: an infectious lowbrow meta-comedy which lampoons various staples of white elephant moviemaking--the megalomaniacal, bullying perfectionist director, the method actor, the bravura single take, the crane shot, and so on—instead paying tribute to on-the-fly improvisation, opportunism and collective effort.
Watched In the Earth. It was what I expected, pleasantly so. Narratively pretty thin, but holy fuck was it a gorgeous movie. Very good acting too, which made it easier to engage given the choppy storytelling. Mostly a pretty dark and solemn film, but had some nice moments of levity.
Like when the asshole Zack asked to be taken to a hospital before getting fucking lobotomized. That made me laugh.
In other news, rewatched Splinter. What a great high tension bio-horror flick.
One the best movies I've seen in a while. Singular and disturbing; might be the most fucked up coming of age movie ever. Like peak Gaspar Noe combined with Cronenberg's Crash. Unbelievable performance by the young lead Garance Marillier.
Checked this out, enjoyed it a lot. Plot kept me guessing, which I appreciated. Really well-acted too, which I expect from Laurent. She's great.
Also, for there being minimal bloodshed, I'm impressed at how squeamish this one made me.
Also saw Stanley's Color Out of Space.
Was underwhelmed at the outset, but increasingly absorbed as the narrative developed. Heavy debt to Garland's Annihilation (with some The Thing for good measure) but a bit less cohesive. A visual delight though, and some nice tension in the second half.
Fucking disturbing when the mother and son get fused together. That was messed up.
Finally, discovered this gem on Netflix: The Block Island Sound.
Honestly, this was my favorite out of the bunch. A nice bit of understated eco-horror with a twist, set in an appropriately quaint New England locale. There are minimal effects, all of which are practical. The filmmakers rely on their actors and on simplicity, and it works.
On a related note, Neville Archambault is a terrifying bastard.
I wish the movie spent less time on the family dynamics and more on the conceptual and aesthetic weirdness. Not really a spoiler, but in case some want to watch before coming to their own conclusion:
I get that Stanley was going for a Poltergeist effect with the creature's lightning ability, but I think it clashed with the Annihilation-inspired aesthetic, and made the whole visual style feel a bit unbalanced. Generally speaking, I'd say that the visual effects, although mostly enjoyable, felt like a hodgepodge of dated '70s/'80s techniques and a more atmosphere/environment-driven diegesis. Those two things didn't always sit well together.