The Lost City of Z
Raw
The Peanuts Movie
13th
Alien: Covenant
I'm going to be spending a lot of time in the theatre this month: Pirates of the Caribbean, Wonder Woman, The Mummy, It Comes At Night, The Beguiled, and Baby Driver (which could be multiple viewings). Transformers... please don't say nice things about it and tempt me to maybe go.
But most of my month will be spent on E3 and finally trying to put a dent in my Netflix's My List thing.
The First Day, which was a period piece set during the reign of Peter the Great, and was written by Andrey Konchalovskiy (who also wrote Andrei Rublev). Tarkovsky submitted a different script to Goskino so they wouldn't know he was making a film that criticizes the Soviet stance of state atheism, but Goskino caught wind and tried to shut it down. I think the official story is that Goskino interrupted production and Tarkovsky destroyed all the footage, but there are rumors that Tarkovsky had actually finished production and hid the footage instead. Either way, the film is lost.
This movie is the reason Tarkovsky left Russia and made Nostalghia in Italy. The beef between Tarkovsky and the Soviet Union over this movie is also the reason Tarkovsky apparently lost a shot at the Palme d'Or (Soviet delegates went to Cannes to lobby against Nostalghia; whatever influence they may or may not have had, Tarkovsky did share the Best Director prize with Robert Bresson).
It's not, that was some random incorrect imdb fact that every clickbait mill decided to have a conniption over for half a day before sheepishly issuing a retraction
It'll still be like a 2.5 hr piece of debasing fucking garbage so I'm not saying to go see it or anything
I got my ticket for Pirates of the carribean today, watched about 35 minutes of it, then walked out, which I don't often do with any film. But I was really bored. Like really really bored. So the first 35 minutes were boring, there's my review.
It's not, that was some random incorrect imdb fact that every clickbait mill decided to have a conniption over for half a day before sheepishly issuing a retraction
It'll still be like a 2.5 hr piece of debasing fucking garbage so I'm not saying to go see it or anything
I got my ticket for Pirates of the carribean today, watched about 35 minutes of it, then walked out, which I don't often do with any film. But I was really bored. Like really really bored. So the first 35 minutes were boring, there's my review.
I signed up for a five-day Shudder trial to basically watch Always Shine finally, and then when I was going to cancel they gave me an extra free month. All right, you win, Shudder. That's actually pretty darn cool.
Also, Always Shine is real good. Mackenzie Davis kills it.
I signed up for a five-day Shudder trial to basically watch Always Shine finally, and then when I was going to cancel they gave me an extra free month. All right, you win, Shudder. That's actually pretty darn cool.
Also, Always Shine is real good. Mackenzie Davis kills it.
If you like horror, they're rather indispensable, especially with how much foreign horror is available on the service. I just wish they had an actual console app.
I have the entire afternoon to myself. Have some Criterion blus to finally watch, what 3 hour movie should I watch: The New World, Seven Samurai, or Kings of the Road. I've not seen any of them.
Kind of leaning to Kings of the Road, so that I can finish the Road Trilogy. Which so far is INCREDIBLE.
If you like horror, they're rather indispensable, especially with how much foreign horror is available on the service. I just wish they had an actual console app.
Yep, I'm liking the service so far! I'm going to keep my subscription after diving in a little deeper since horror has always been my movie blind spot and I need to catch up.
The app thing is odd. On their FAQ it mentions something called Vev that multiple video services can go through, but on PS4 it just continuously says that the API failed. So PC browser it is!
Yep, I'm liking the service so far! I'm going to keep my subscription after diving in a little deeper since horror has always been my movie blind spot and I need to catch up.
The app thing is odd. On their FAQ it mentions something called Vev that multiple video services can go through, but on PS4 it just continuously says that the API failed. So PC browser it is!
Yeah, VRV is like one big wrapper for several streaming services, but the problem is that as of right now, you'd have to pay for a separate subscription to Shudder in order to use, as it doesn't have any account linking available for it. I would be so there if it did that, and it's not impossible since it does allow you to link your Crunchyroll account.
I've watched 6 female-fronted movies this year so far, and they've all been good to great.
Raw, The Levelling, The Handmaiden, Wonder Woman, Colossal, and now...
Yes, she's a dog, but she's also your mom. Bitch
Writer+director affairs are quite common in indie films, but writer+actor+director (WAD) deals are less so and can be seen as more tricky or possibly self-indulgent. It can range from Tommy Wiseau to Ben Affleck, Steven Soderbergh (Schizopolis), Shane Carruth, Woody Allen, and John Cassavetes. Well, it's about time we added Marianna Palka to the WADs.
Despite Raw having been released recently, I'm still confident in saying Bitch is the most intense feminist horror drama of 2017. Marianna Palka's follow-up to her debut Good Dick goes in a more ambitious and bold direction. What helps with the intensity is the claustrophobic framing by Armando Salas and absolutely cacophonous audio design to go along with the very Jon Brion-feeling (Punch Drunk Love) score by Morgan Z Whirledge. It is dominating in a very thematically appropriate manner.
Marianna Palka's character plays a housewife who at the very start is at the end of her rope - or should we say - belt. Swamped by the kids and neglected by the husband who's been having an affair that only he thinks is a secret, she attempts suicide by tying a belt to a ceiling light fixture. However, it breaks, so she decides to become a dog. Naturally. If you're going to be treated like one, why not become one. There are elements of dark and absurdist comedy here, but most of it is played straight as a family drama with horror undertones (like the recent Krisha). Jason Ritter's character starts out as the stereotypical male. He's the main breadwinner of the family, works 18 hours, doesn't spend much time at the house, treats his wife like a servant, and has an extramarital affair. After she starts acting like a dog and having to be locked up in the basement, he has to step up to be the main parent. This is where the broad comedy comes in as he's adjusting to taking his kids to school, having a schedule that he can't adjust to, and never being able to get to his conference meeting on time. He often says he's nothing without his job. What could have stayed as an annihilation of the American dream becomes something much more hopeful and nuanced. Her sister (Jaime King) is the voice of reason in the whole film, beating logic into him about what he should do now. It's this redemptive arc that gives a more balanced and complex examination on marriage. That doesn't stop it from being an intense film throughout, but it evolves in certainly unexpected ways to make for a more satisfying experience. Fantastic acting all around, even the kids. One of the best films of the year.
Elijah Wood, the producer, wanted a more feminist "screw you" ending where when she gains back her senses, she decides to leave him (Marianna Palka: "I think he's a better feminist than me!") but he understood that this wasn't that kind of film.
I hope Marianna Palka continues this trend of great movie titles.
I kind of dicked around and lost track of time, so I wasn't able to squeeze in one of those aforementioned epics, but I did end up watching Certified Copy.
Jesus Christ, what a movie. I feel like a broken record every time I post about Kiarostami, because it's just nonstop praise, but I legitimately think all 4 movies I've seen of his (this, Taste of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us, and Close-Up) are 10/10 masterpieces. Watching this movie you can't help but know you are in the hands of a master, someone who has truly perfected his craft. I'm not saying Abbas Kiarostami is the best director of all time, but he's an all time great. I put him up there with anyone.
Anyway, Juliette Binoche is stunning in this movie, just as masterful an actor as Kiarostami is a director. William Shimell is no slouch either, I was shocked to find this was his first acting job. The film juggles three languages, English, French, and Italian, often in the same scene. It's crazy, just jumping from language to language with no regard for continuity or anything. This sits in the pantheon of movies about men and women walking and talking, the likes of Hiroshima mon Amour, Before Sunset, In the Mood for Love. If you love those movies, I don't see how you couldn't like this. Plus, there's a twist, or not really a twist, but an element of the movie that is just bonkers. So mysterious, blending fiction and reality like only Kiarostami can.
Mad Monkey Kung Fu (1979)
Top tier Shaw Brothers from the director of 8 Diagram Pole Fighter and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. The fighting on display is among the best I've ever seen.
Swordsman and Enchantress (1978)
Pretty good... the fighting isn't all that impressive by Shaw Brothers standards, but the story is so weird it becomes engrossing.
I've never seen Last Samurai, but I don't think time has made Seven Samurai better for me. The more time that passes, the less mindshare it takes up and the less passion I feel for it. Yeah when watching it, it's pretty good stuff, but it doesn't really leave much of an impression on me.
Also A Bug's Life is better in every way
I don't think I'm in the market for samurai movies in the first place, though. So I'm not surprised.
And honestly, as much as I like Wonder Woman (and I really do), and hell, think she should be the main focus of the DCEU going forward, objectively, even though I was much more tired AF watching Captain Underpants, I would have to say it was slightly better from objective standpoint than Wonder Woman. I really want a sequel. So many possibilities.
I rewatched the amazing Norweigen picture Troll Hunter. Someone could make the best open world video game out of that movie. It goes into so much detail about the different types of trolls, their behaviors and physiology, the different ways to lure them and kill them. The scene where he puts on the Dark Souls armor to draw blood out of the thing would be an incredible boss fight.
It's fitting that the Looney Tunes legend Chuck Jones has a cameo in Gremlins, because this movie is essentially a live action cartoon, bringing exaggerated personalities and ever mounting madness together in a kinetic flurry of Coyote and Road Runner antics. Hyper speed dolly shots and abundant canted angles make sure the creative set-pieces are brought to life in a suitably expressive and energetic manner. The real stars are of course the titular beasties, which are honestly so fun to watch I could sit through a full movie of them raising hell and pantomiming human actions like they do in the madcap bar sequence, where it's just shot after shot of them smoking an obscene amount of cigarettes, guzzling beer, dressing up in drag, break dancing, and spinning from ceiling fans. This movie has a wonderful macabre punch that children's movies have been thoroughly sanitized of, sadly. It trusts its audience enough to allow for some real darkness, and therefore real emotional stakes, in the movie, but it's never mean-spirited, or overly gruesome, and always remains effortlessly endearing. This will surely slot into my annual Christmas and/or Halloween movie rotations.
I've never seen Last Samurai, but I don't think time has made Seven Samurai better for me. The more time that passes, the less mindshare it takes up and the less passion I feel for it. Yeah when watching it, it's pretty good stuff, but it doesn't really leave much of an impression on me.
Also A Bug's Life is better in every way
I don't think I'm in the market for samurai movies in the first place, though. So I'm not surprised.
I rewatched the amazing Norweigen picture Troll Hunter. Someone could make the best open world video game out of that movie. It goes into so much detail about the different types of trolls, their behaviors and physiology, the different ways to lure them and kill them. The scene where he puts on the Dark Souls armor to draw blood out of the thing would be an incredible boss fight.
I saw Troll Hunter and did not get the hype in the slightest.
It wasn't scary or funny or adventurous... it was just... there. I hear the movie is stacked with Norwegian comedians and apparently the film is a riot for them, but if they attempted jokes they completely passed me by because the film felt extraordinarily dry. Pretty boring as a whole tbh
With Byrd at the South Pole Got a chance to visit the Henry Ford Museum last year and they had either the tri engine plane that was used or a replica, can't remember, but they have it set up with a mock up of Byrd's gear. So when I saw this pop up on Filmstruck I had to watch it. First off, this looked damn cold...brrr. Very cool to see something like this though. I'll never set foot on the south pole much less see what it was like nearly 100 years ago but things like this really show the adventures that the old timers had. Now we've got science facilities and its almost normal. I mean these guys intentionally marooned themselves in a place that gets nearly 80 degrees below zero. Not my thing at all but like seeing someone crest Everest its pretty cool to watch.
Most importantly. This thing had me feeling like I was watching the Norwegians find the alien ship in the Thing. I really wish the prequel was made like this because it really shows a purpose besides alien fodder. My imagination boggles at what could have been...
I saw Life. Surprising in a few ways. That it was actually a well made and good movie for one, since the trailers didnt do it any favors. And 2 because well, yeah you know what im talking about if you saw it. Felt like i saw an alternate version or something lol.
I saw Life. Surprising in a few ways. That it was actually a well made and good movie for one, since the trailers didnt do it any favors. And 2 because well, yeah you know what im talking about if you saw it. Felt like i saw an alternate version or something lol.
Gremlins 2: The New Batch: Wow this movie is insane. In case Joe Dante didn't make his intentions to make these movies into real life cartoons with the last film, he opens up this movie with a Bugs and Daffy short that transitions into the title screen. Things only get weirder from there. This doesn't quite have the charm of the first film, as this ditches the Christmas nostalgia and small town in favor of the big city and a cartoonish corporation. It's well aware of itself though, as the movie will frequently make self-reflexive and fourth wall breaking jokes about itself and its relation to the first film. This a super entertaining sequel, but its also exhausting. Dante keeps the movie cranked to 11 the entire time with ever mounting insanity. I prefer the first film's more modest antics and charm, but I'm really glad this movie exists because I don't see something this deranged slipping through the studio system again any time soon.
I just decided to watch a random horror film on Netflix, Beyond the Gates. After 20 minutes, a fifth of the length of this film, nothing had happened of any note, other than some video tape boxing and light coffee table dusting. I skipped ahead for every five minutes and saw nothing interesting. I have extreme patience and yet this was one of the boring beginnings to a film I have ever seen. I can't waste any more time on this garbage.
