Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| April 2017
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Cripplegate
Member
Well, I did it. The entire franchise in a single week (short of the new one, I mean, which I'll catch later).
Ja Rule must have been kicking himself at some point in here. He never should have turned his back on FAMILY.
Furious 7 (6/10) - I'm really torn on this one. If the last installment was sort of disappointing, Furious 7 is super disappointing. Now, I don't envy the job anybody had here, trying to build/finish a film around Paul Walker's death. What I can say is that they did a good job giving him a farewell at the end. But, wow, they dropped the ball in a lot of places, too. It didn't help that The Rock was sidelined for most of it, and without his charisma to carry a lot of this bullshit, it wasn't totally working for me. Kurt Russell himself is fun, but his character and his involvement in the plot is a total non-starter for me. This film has the same problem as Fast & Furious 6 in that it's convoluted and overwritten, and the massive CGI spectacle is often more of a detriment than a pleasure (a lot of it also looked noticeably weaker here than the previous film, especially in shorter scenes like the Toretto house getting blown apart). The third act is basically garbage.
I'll break it down quickly. My biggest beef: It totally whiffs on the stinger from Fast & Furious 6. I loved that Han had a funeral scene, and that we got to see Dom go to Tokyo, and that Sean even made an appearance(!). The Tokyo Drift fan in me was swooning. But, wtf, Deckard Shaw barely does anything after the fact. The threat of those opening scenes quickly dissipates into a bunch of techno-thriller gobbledygook with international terrorists, and the movie goes into overdrive wasting as much talent as possible, Tony Jaa doing fuck all in poorly shot and cut fight scenes, Statham popping up randomly twice to not even fucking shoot anybody the first time and missing every shot the second time, and then Djimon Hounsou literally just sits around in a helicopter for twenty minutes and waits for somebody to kill him. The follow through from Tokyo Drift back into chronological storytelling was ultimately a letdown. No offense, James Wan, but I want Justin Lin back. It's looking like Lin was the true franchise MVP here.
What worked: A couple of the action scenes are still pretty good, in and of themselves. The cars getting dropped out of a carrier was fucking hilarious, and despite the lousy hand to hand stuff, the car action here, especially the finale with Dom going straight over a cliff, is pretty good. Also, driving the car between the towers is probably the peak franchise moment of insanity, and I couldn't help but love it. The Rock, despite his limited screen time, is always incredible. That nod and smirk at the end says it all. I love Hobbs. Ramsey looks like a good addition to the FAMILY. The series continues its hot run of diversity and defying stereotypes, and even begins self-reflecting and self-correcting as it becomes increasingly more self-aware. And, of course, that farewell ending. My eyes genuinely got a little misty there. Over the course of seven films, I've become quite fond of Walker, especially his line readings for "Holy shit," repeated in pretty much every action scene. They're always on point. A week ago, I'm not even sure if I could remember seeing Paul Walker in a movie before. And now? Well, holy shit, I'm going to miss this guy.
Where does the franchise go from here? Furious 7 is still fun enough, and I love the FAMILY, but it's really not going to be the same now, and the increasing lunacy of CGI spectacle and James Bond plots seems to be blowing up the scale without making any actual gains. Fast Five remains the franchise peak, the perfect balance of every element, and has the best designed spectacle, the best directed action scenes. Still, I've made it this far, and I'd never turn my back on FAMILY.
Let's drift? (Kinda feeling ambivalent about one of these things having a $250 million budget now, but we'll see...)
Ja Rule must have been kicking himself at some point in here. He never should have turned his back on FAMILY.
Furious 7 (6/10) - I'm really torn on this one. If the last installment was sort of disappointing, Furious 7 is super disappointing. Now, I don't envy the job anybody had here, trying to build/finish a film around Paul Walker's death. What I can say is that they did a good job giving him a farewell at the end. But, wow, they dropped the ball in a lot of places, too. It didn't help that The Rock was sidelined for most of it, and without his charisma to carry a lot of this bullshit, it wasn't totally working for me. Kurt Russell himself is fun, but his character and his involvement in the plot is a total non-starter for me. This film has the same problem as Fast & Furious 6 in that it's convoluted and overwritten, and the massive CGI spectacle is often more of a detriment than a pleasure (a lot of it also looked noticeably weaker here than the previous film, especially in shorter scenes like the Toretto house getting blown apart). The third act is basically garbage.
I'll break it down quickly. My biggest beef: It totally whiffs on the stinger from Fast & Furious 6. I loved that Han had a funeral scene, and that we got to see Dom go to Tokyo, and that Sean even made an appearance(!). The Tokyo Drift fan in me was swooning. But, wtf, Deckard Shaw barely does anything after the fact. The threat of those opening scenes quickly dissipates into a bunch of techno-thriller gobbledygook with international terrorists, and the movie goes into overdrive wasting as much talent as possible, Tony Jaa doing fuck all in poorly shot and cut fight scenes, Statham popping up randomly twice to not even fucking shoot anybody the first time and missing every shot the second time, and then Djimon Hounsou literally just sits around in a helicopter for twenty minutes and waits for somebody to kill him. The follow through from Tokyo Drift back into chronological storytelling was ultimately a letdown. No offense, James Wan, but I want Justin Lin back. It's looking like Lin was the true franchise MVP here.
What worked: A couple of the action scenes are still pretty good, in and of themselves. The cars getting dropped out of a carrier was fucking hilarious, and despite the lousy hand to hand stuff, the car action here, especially the finale with Dom going straight over a cliff, is pretty good. Also, driving the car between the towers is probably the peak franchise moment of insanity, and I couldn't help but love it. The Rock, despite his limited screen time, is always incredible. That nod and smirk at the end says it all. I love Hobbs. Ramsey looks like a good addition to the FAMILY. The series continues its hot run of diversity and defying stereotypes, and even begins self-reflecting and self-correcting as it becomes increasingly more self-aware. And, of course, that farewell ending. My eyes genuinely got a little misty there. Over the course of seven films, I've become quite fond of Walker, especially his line readings for "Holy shit," repeated in pretty much every action scene. They're always on point. A week ago, I'm not even sure if I could remember seeing Paul Walker in a movie before. And now? Well, holy shit, I'm going to miss this guy.
Where does the franchise go from here? Furious 7 is still fun enough, and I love the FAMILY, but it's really not going to be the same now, and the increasing lunacy of CGI spectacle and James Bond plots seems to be blowing up the scale without making any actual gains. Fast Five remains the franchise peak, the perfect balance of every element, and has the best designed spectacle, the best directed action scenes. Still, I've made it this far, and I'd never turn my back on FAMILY.
Let's drift? (Kinda feeling ambivalent about one of these things having a $250 million budget now, but we'll see...)
TissueBox
Member
Yep, probably my favorite performance from him.
Messofanego
Banned
Thanks, everyone! Guess I'll head to Through A Glass Darkly and Cries and Whispers next. Amazon Video is grand, has all of his films.
I trolled anime fans, flew too close to the sun. Thanks for the welcome back!
Hell yes!
So true, lol.
The Silence also has some of that business going on, while not as intensely grotesque.
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Unbreakable (M. Night Shyamalan, 2000) - I liked this, very interesting take on the superhero genre, and it is nice to see Willis give a damn, it's been a while.
Sam Jackson's character was a bit too over the top, which to an extent it's kind of the point, i get it, but i think they could've toned him down a tad, and still get the same effect.
Also, sort of undecided on whether i like the
abrupt finale or not, on the one hand, it fits with Willis' arc, but on the other hand, it felt sort of rushed, more than open ended.
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
I kept meaning to watch The Perks Of Being A Wall Flower for ages, sort of 2 years ish before they showed it on Film 4 and I got round to it. And while it isn't very good, it got me proper good and steaming angry which is very satisfying. Would have been better to get an enjoyable film, but still.
So Charlie (Logan Lerman) is a introverted (not really) teenager who gets really sad cos no one will be his friend at school till he meets Sam (Emma Watson) and her step brother whose name I can't remember, and he gets in with a crowd of incredible over privileged 'alt' kids who pride themselves on being quirky and different despite actually just the same as the 'popular' kids they claim to dislike. Then there's a whole bunch of boring, pretentious life lessons and quotes from various characters, and Paul Rudd gets nothing to do as a quirky english teacher.
So, its pretentious, overdramatic, makes no sense, and thinks its so much more profound than it is. Logan Lerman wears a vintage suit to school, why? Logan Lerman has the ability to single handedly prevent a hate crime against two jocks how? Someone decides he needs an antique type writing to write poetry on, is this real? Is this a parody? Not a single one of these characters feels a little bit real, as they wallow in their own contrived rich kid problems, all of which somehow get wrapped up in a neat self satisfied little bow.
We are infinite? We accept the love we think we deserve? No one says this, except in terrible films like this, no one.
It's absolute hollow nonsense, really. Performances are all terrible, it tries to craft a weird nostalgia vibe both with the cinematography and the music and completely fails. The film is basically soulless. It's the film equivalent of a cheap easter egg, empty and rubbish tasting.
So Charlie (Logan Lerman) is a introverted (not really) teenager who gets really sad cos no one will be his friend at school till he meets Sam (Emma Watson) and her step brother whose name I can't remember, and he gets in with a crowd of incredible over privileged 'alt' kids who pride themselves on being quirky and different despite actually just the same as the 'popular' kids they claim to dislike. Then there's a whole bunch of boring, pretentious life lessons and quotes from various characters, and Paul Rudd gets nothing to do as a quirky english teacher.
So, its pretentious, overdramatic, makes no sense, and thinks its so much more profound than it is. Logan Lerman wears a vintage suit to school, why? Logan Lerman has the ability to single handedly prevent a hate crime against two jocks how? Someone decides he needs an antique type writing to write poetry on, is this real? Is this a parody? Not a single one of these characters feels a little bit real, as they wallow in their own contrived rich kid problems, all of which somehow get wrapped up in a neat self satisfied little bow.
We are infinite? We accept the love we think we deserve? No one says this, except in terrible films like this, no one.
It's absolute hollow nonsense, really. Performances are all terrible, it tries to craft a weird nostalgia vibe both with the cinematography and the music and completely fails. The film is basically soulless. It's the film equivalent of a cheap easter egg, empty and rubbish tasting.
Messofanego
Banned
Thanks for reminding me how insufferable this was.
It was a hard watch because of the dialogue but honestly, when I kept going I felt like I understood the old British more and more.
The visuals also told much of the story yeah.
Fancy Clown
Member
Fog choked, labyrinthine, nocturnal streets, sweaty crooks, Maryiln Monroe as the dame of all dames, a rapid fire heist that's made all the more tense through its efficiency, and a looming feeling of dread as everything starts to fall apart. The Asphalt Jungle is an apex of film noir. Sterling Hayden must have been born and bred specifically for the genre, absolutely perfect playing carved-out-of-rock tough guys like this, his unflappable grimace always filtered through menacing low angles. There's a no-nonsense attitude about this movie, and just the right blend of gritty naturalism and stylized lighting and dialogue that just works for me. It may lack the tighter pacing of other seminal noirs that built off of this one, like The Killing, but god damn do I love the slow spiral down the drain that this movie is.
(I think I liked this better than The Killing, sorry omgkitty)
Also finally saw Anomalisa. Loved the style, the uncomfortable quietness of it, and how fucking bleak it is. As I mentioned in my letterboxd review though I watched it at the rents' house and of course my mom walks in right when there's some puppet cunnilingus going on and she booked it right out of there, thinking I was watching some sort of weird porn lol.
(I think I liked this better than The Killing, sorry omgkitty)
Also finally saw Anomalisa. Loved the style, the uncomfortable quietness of it, and how fucking bleak it is. As I mentioned in my letterboxd review though I watched it at the rents' house and of course my mom walks in right when there's some puppet cunnilingus going on and she booked it right out of there, thinking I was watching some sort of weird porn lol.
Messofanego
Banned
Show your mom Team America, and tell her to compare.
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
I desperately want to go to that one (I think its that one) and see Mark Kermode live.
Fancy Clown
Member
We watched that as a family way back when lol. I'm sure she has deeply repressed the memory.
It's the one underneath Waterloo bridge, they do lots of talks there but I've only ever been to see movies.
I watched this last night, too. Co-sign everything you said. Even Mae Whitman couldn't save me.
And then I watched:
Sandy Wexler
Why do I keep doing this to myself? A 130 minute Adam Sandler movie that isn't Funny People should have no business existing. But it exists, and it is incredibly painful. Even fairly inebriated, I didn't laugh once.
Watching The Last Jedi teaser again cheered me up some.
I also technically watched most of Reptilicus, though I won't count that since it was Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Messofanego
Banned
Loads. Especially during LFF season (October). I met one other GAFer just to see a movie with one time. It's good to chat with others about a movie afterwards, I should do it more cause I only have one friend who I can go see movies with and he's never into indie/foreign/non-blockbusters lol. What did you have in mind?
yeah i go a fair bit, mainly for particular seasons if i'm interested in the director like the current fassbinder one or the previous tarkovsky season but also if they have an older film showing that i've only ever seen at home and and want to see on the big screen.
the best thing i saw recently there was gance's napoleon over christmas.
i normally go alone too
AngmarsKing701
Member
Thanks for pointing this out. I had it on my watchlist but hadn't kept up on what had been added to Prime. Does anyone know if Amazon does an "adding to Prime this month/removing from Prime this month" kinda thing like Netflix?
They do, but I don't know if Amazon does it themselves. I usually use a site like AV Club to give me the heads up on something like that, though I'm sure others report on the streaming lineup changes just as well.
yeah i go a fair bit, mainly for particular seasons if i'm interested in the director like the current fassbinder one or the previous tarkovsky season but also if they have an older film showing that i've only ever seen at home and and want to see on the big screen.
the best thing i saw recently there was gance's napoleon over christmas.
i normally go alone too
I've been in London since last August and I usually go because film selection is great and there is an under 25 deal where you can see a movie for 3 pounds. I'm into Fassbinder as well and I am turning 26 in early May, so I will be at BFI a lot these next couple of weeks to maximise that deal lol. I haven't seen the Merchant of Four Seasons so I am keen to check that out when it is playing on the 28th April.
That Napoleon film looked interesting but it had some epic runtime so I didn't end up seeing it.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Although the movie has been out on digital since the end of January (I think), it's just been added to Prime this week.
Messofanego
Banned
yeah i go a fair bit, mainly for particular seasons if i'm interested in the director like the current fassbinder one or the previous tarkovsky season but also if they have an older film showing that i've only ever seen at home and and want to see on the big screen.
the best thing i saw recently there was gance's napoleon over christmas.
i normally go alone too
Also cool that the Fassbinder season is all on BFI Player, so I can watch them from the comfort of my own home
http://player.bfi.org.uk/bfi-player-plus/rainer-werner-fassbinder/
Count Dookkake
Member
Fate of the Furious
Lol. Silly and entertaining. Not quite as insane the previous entry, nor as genuinely emotional. Loved the bit when the Rock
. Stahtam is a treasure. Also, it's kinda weird how Michelle Rodriguez now appears in two series that have her switch loyalties and have a climactic battle in the arctic with a submarine breaking through the ice.
How do you like my cosplay?
Lol. Silly and entertaining. Not quite as insane the previous entry, nor as genuinely emotional. Loved the bit when the Rock
snapped his chains and threw that dude against the wall
How do you like my cosplay?
Puck Beaverton
Banned
Statham is an under-appreciated comic actor.
Net_Wrecker
Member
There's an argument to be made that Statham is at his best in comedic roles.
Is there? I thought this was pretty much the law of the land by now. I always found it weird that he became such a go-to badass for action films, given that he already displayed good comedic chops in the Guy Ritchie films he starred in, which were well before he became "Jason Statham as Jason Statham in Jason Statham."
Messofanego
Banned
Infernostew
Member
Well, he's great in the only film I've ever seen him in: Southland Tales.
HotHamWater
Member
Indeed.
Still can't believe he was unaccredited for his work as the engineers in Prometheus.
"Aim for the bushes!" I would give anything for an Other Guys prequel bringing back Rock and SamLJ. They were almost from a different movie.
Letterboxd does have separate listings for MST3K episodes, so it does count in their book!
Colossal: Perhaps the most conventional film that Nacho Vigalondo has written or directed up until now, which says a lot about how out there his other films have been if a film with the premise of a New York gal finding out that she has a telepathic link to a giant monster counts as a more mainstream decision. Of course, it doesn't hurt his chances that he's working with much bigger mainstream actors this time around and that he's not playing around with quite as audacious with the visuals as, say, Open Windows, but it's still a pretty nutty concept. Going into this film, I have to say that my biggest reason for wanting to watch it was also something of a chief concern: how does one get to a feature length film out of a concept that seems better suited to a short. As a twist that hits the film just before the halfway point, it turns out there is quite a bit more to the film that it initially appears, and this is where a potentially underfed concept starts to get a hell of a lot of food for thought. It's easy to give credit solely to both Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis for the strong and surprising places that they go to for their respective roles, but Vigalondo boasts a confidence in having the characters be the most interesting thing about the story he's telling that hasn't been present in his previous works before. There's also a better grasp on the overall tone: while this is being sold as a comedy, it's more accurate to say that it's a frequently funny drama that's not afraid to take some dark detours as it explores its themes. The film does still feel a little long, though that seems more like an issue with the scenes going on for a bit longer than they should than an issue with their being too many extraneous elements at play, as the right beats are in the right places, but in the end, it's a well-made film that goes to some rad places while still possessing Vigalondo's fearless knack for going all out with his intriguing ideas.
Count Dookkake
Member
Vigalondo could have made that Ghostbusters remake work.
True story: the first time I met him, at a screening of Friday the 13th, he pulled a marshmallow out of my throat and ate it. A real hero.
True story: the first time I met him, at a screening of Friday the 13th, he pulled a marshmallow out of my throat and ate it. A real hero.
Discotheque
Banned
Absolutely. Snatch is still his best movie AND performance imo. It was great seeing him be a bit of a loser
Also he was fun as hell in spy. I wish other directors were smart enough to see the comedic chops this guy has.
After starting on January 24th of last year, I have finally finished my Kurosawa Watch. There were some nice surprises, and some frustrating disappointments.
Everything after Red Beard for me, was a slog to get through. In a lot of ways, it was almost like watching a different director. None of the films lived up to his previous great work, and that includes the likes of things like Ran, which I found to be overly long and a little tedious. You also have what is arguably his worst film with Rhapsody in August, which besides a few flashes of the Kurosawa we all know and love, feels like a PSA made for children on the horrors of the atomic bomb.
There were some surprises with Dodeska-den and Madadayo, both of which I had little expectations for, but found charming. Overall, the late years of Kurosawa feels like a man very much at odds with reliving his past and regrets, and his fears facing our society, especially in some of the later scenes of Dreams, which felt like a mixed bag.
In the end though, I'm glad I did this. I got a chance to rewatch things like Seven Samurai, which I had initially dismissed, but fell in love with the second time. I got to see The Idiot, which feels like a film that very much could be an unfinished masterpiece. Yes, High and Low is still one of the best films ever made, and easily Kurosawa's best. Sadly, I didn't love as many of his films as I would have hoped, but he was still undoubtably one of the greatest directors of all time.
Is this list arbitrary? Probably. I've changed it several times in the last 10 minutes, and it could change again. The first four can't be changed, and most of it after that don't matter as much. You can find a prettier version of it here on Letterboxd.
1. High and Low
2. Seven Samurai
3. Throne of Blood
4. Ikiru
5. Red Beard
6. Rashomon
7. The Hidden Fortress
8. Yojimbo
9. Sanjuro
10. The Idiot
12. Ran
12. Dodeska-den
13. Dersu Uzala
14. The Bad Sleep Well
15. One Wonderful Sunday
16. Scandal
17. Drunken Angel
18. Madadayo
19. The Lower Depths
20. Stray Dog
21. Dreams
22. Kagemusha
23. I Live in Fear
24. The Quiet Duel
25. No Regrets for Our Youth
26. The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
27. Sanshiro Sugata
28. Sanshiro Sugata Part Two
29. The Most Beautiful
30. Rhapsody in August
2 Fast 2 Furious: Slowly making my way through this franchise for the first time. Saw the first one a couple months ago and thought it was dumb fun. This one isn't as good but I did enjoy parts of it; mostly Tyreese's corny-ass dialogue (i.e. "It's a hoasis in here, bruh.").
The sandwich eating was cool too.
The sandwich eating was cool too.
Escape Goat
Member
I saw Miss Sloan and thought it was a waste of time. The movie never even shifts into gear. Instead it idles for its entire run time. And then ends with a deux ex machina.
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Friday the 13th (1980) is pretty much a clone of Halloween, but I thought it was decent. The villain, once fully revealed, is the best in the trifecta (Michael Meyers is more present in Halloween, and is more menacing than the not-really-in-the-film-because-first-person-and-shadows villain of Friday, but once revealed, I liked Friday's villain more).
Overall, I'd rank them thusly:
Halloween > Friday the 13th > Nightmare on Elm Street
I also watched Halloween II (1981), which was okay but also really dumb. I don't have any interest in continuing with the franchise at this point. I may still watch a couple more NoES films (3 and New Nightmare) and maybe one more Friday the 13th though. Not sure yet.
Overall, I'd rank them thusly:
Halloween > Friday the 13th > Nightmare on Elm Street
I also watched Halloween II (1981), which was okay but also really dumb. I don't have any interest in continuing with the franchise at this point. I may still watch a couple more NoES films (3 and New Nightmare) and maybe one more Friday the 13th though. Not sure yet.
TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared
Member
Yet another reason I don't watch horror films, mainly cos I never have any reaction beyond boredom to most of them, the sole film coming to mind off the top of my head that actually got me anxious/scared was probably It Follows. Other than that, horror films all just come as riddiculous and stupid to me. Maybe I just don't have the right mind for them.
And such was the case with Hush, a horror film with poor acting, looked cheaper than asda's smart price baked beans, a rubbish paper thin plot that was easier to guess than whether a DC superhero film is gonna be terrible or not, and it was just dreadfully boring.
So a guy and his girlfriend are travelling along the motorway in the north of england for some reason, when she gets kidnapped by human traffickers he happened to see in the back of a lorry for some reason, and he sets off in pursuit.
Simple plot, but its badly told, dreadfully dull, has more than a few plot holes (oh so one second a gang of rowdy footballers let his tyres down, but when he comes back they've all been magically replaced or fixed?) and really did nothing for me. Not one bit of intrigue or even a jump scared, just horrid. Avoid this one.
Feel like I watched a lot of bad films lately. Might have to pick something I'm guaranteed to enjoy next.
And such was the case with Hush, a horror film with poor acting, looked cheaper than asda's smart price baked beans, a rubbish paper thin plot that was easier to guess than whether a DC superhero film is gonna be terrible or not, and it was just dreadfully boring.
So a guy and his girlfriend are travelling along the motorway in the north of england for some reason, when she gets kidnapped by human traffickers he happened to see in the back of a lorry for some reason, and he sets off in pursuit.
Simple plot, but its badly told, dreadfully dull, has more than a few plot holes (oh so one second a gang of rowdy footballers let his tyres down, but when he comes back they've all been magically replaced or fixed?) and really did nothing for me. Not one bit of intrigue or even a jump scared, just horrid. Avoid this one.
Feel like I watched a lot of bad films lately. Might have to pick something I'm guaranteed to enjoy next.
Two different Hush movies apparently. One is some shit from 2008 and the other is a good home invasion flick...I had to look it up because kidnapped on a highway didn't sound right.
True Savior
Member
GITS - Rupert Sanders
What a shitfest. This was disney-bad. Terrible GITS movie, both as an adaptation of anything related to the property as well as a visual representation of that world (production design might be neat but it has nothing to do with GITS). It's also a shit film on it's own.
That sort of audience winks, aping imagery out of different iterations of GITS with no sense whatsoever is probably the lowest creative decision one can take, sacrificing storytelling for a bizarre sense of recognition.
Kuze lmao. Pure heresy what they did to him.
What a shitfest. This was disney-bad. Terrible GITS movie, both as an adaptation of anything related to the property as well as a visual representation of that world (production design might be neat but it has nothing to do with GITS). It's also a shit film on it's own.
That sort of audience winks, aping imagery out of different iterations of GITS with no sense whatsoever is probably the lowest creative decision one can take, sacrificing storytelling for a bizarre sense of recognition.
Kuze lmao. Pure heresy what they did to him.
Net_Wrecker
Member
The Fate of The Furious
Nah.
Nah.
Messofanego
Banned
It Follows is brilliant, a modern classic. Have you seen Under The Shadow?
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