Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| October 2016

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AngmarsKing701 said:
Given Netflix in the US has a terrible movie selection, I'd be willing to put down some fundage for a streaming service with a great movie selection. But will this be it?

My typical movie habit is that we hit the cinema maybe 10-15x per year, we maybe rent a movie once a month, and there continue to be a string of movies that we say "we'll wait for Redbox on that one" when we see the trailer. And then of course we don't jot it down and so all these movies go by us without us ever watching them. Kinda sad.

So I'd be way more interested in a streaming service that highlighted movies from like the last 15-20 years (basically since I had kids), because that's where I've missed the most. Before we had kids, my wife and I went to the movies every week.
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For what you're looking for? Not at all.
 
A Monster Calls.

Wow, people weren't overreacting about this film. Bear in mind I cry easily during movies lol. I cried at the end of Furious 7, Toy Story, Grave of the Fireflies etc...

This movie takes emotional manipulation to another level. I've never had to hold back tears harder from any other movie.
 
From da horror thread:

I couldn't sleep last night and I this looked short but interesting. It's some giallo type flick that runs about 65 minutes, killer kills then gets blackmailed by another killer. Seems cool enough. The one thing about giallo flicks I've seen is that you don't see the killer. Maybe a glove or masked face but no killer. That usually goes until the big reveal but in between killer scenes you have normal people scenes setting up who a character is or who the investigator is blah blah. This has none of that. So you get 65 minutes of killer pov which is fucking painful to watch after a while. I now get why your standard movies have normal bits mixed with insanity bits just to contrast everything.

This does have a cool story though. Knock about 40 minutes out to get right down to it or maybe add another 40 and put some normal stuff in. This whole killer pov business just felt gimmicky. Another thing that got irritating was the film style. It was apparently filmed with modern equipment then had some digital fuzz added to look old. Which was cool at first but then it just looked too clean after a while like a bad photoshop. Maybe I got so damn bored watching killer A play with his/her dolls and killer B futz around with medical shit that I got bored and started picking the filmmaking apart. Who knows but this was cool once and I could recommend it if your into giallo type stuff and think this sounds interesting but its definitely not worth going back to.

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I can't recommend this one enough.

I am shocked at how fucking awesome this movie was! It looked interesting enough but being older and kind of hard to come by I figured it would be pretty shitty but I am happily wrong. I would use the word wonderful to describe this. It's a mystery, a ghost story, a romance, and has a sprinkle of comedy that made me laugh out loud at times. The cast really sell this. You do get some ghost sightings and for the time the effects are pretty cool and don't feel off. Like today's cgi just feels dated or it can. This shit is from a long ass time ago and they feel right at home like you are seeing a ghost. It's like an hour forty five but sure breezes by. Highly recommend this.

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The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997): The followup to Jurassic Park (with the title and subtitle reversed, for whatever reason) runs into a wall of high expectations that it could never have met. Nevertheless, it's a cut above many blockbuster adventure films, simply because Spielberg is one of the best directors of all time, and he knows how to direct a strong action sequence. At some points, most notably the dual Tyrannosaurus attack on the trailer, it creates tension equal to the original film. However, it's also a deeply inconsistent movie, and at times it becomes incredibly silly. It also greatly escalates the stupidity of the human characters (something that has tended to be overstated about the first film), and some of the resulting scenes, like the protracted death of Peter Stormare's character, are tedious as a result. And then there's the final act, where the film seems to arrive a conclusion, only for the film to suddenly ditch the bulk of its characters for a new sequence set around a T-Rex getting loose in San Diego. This almost feels like something Spielberg added at the last minute, and is perhaps the freshest part of the film, but it nevertheless cannot but feel tacked on.
 
The Killing Fields is a beautiful film, at least in cinematography. The wide shots have a sense of awe to them frequently and it just really works. Likewise, the first half of the film works too, with tense buildup and great thrilling sequences. Unfortunately, the second half of the film is utterly terrible. The Cambodian scenes are stupidly voiced-over rather than subtitled, and all of Pran's suffering is told through montage. Mopey Sam Waterston scenes are also a waste of time; they distract from Dith Pran's compelling story. The entire film is hurt by an obvious, over-the-top score that's just as awful as the cinematography is wonderful. The only person who makes through the whole film as a great aspect is Ngor, whose performance makes the entire film worth watching despite its glaring flaws. If The Killing Fields released today, it'd be an average Oscar bait, with good elements but yet a fear to truly involve us in the suffering the tale requires to be portrayed. An absolutely average film.

When the Bough Breaks is the type of awful cheesy movie that works... kinda. The first half is dull which is the biggest sin a film of this kind can be, with the exception of Theo Rossi's hammy performance. However, the second half goes all out in its killer soap opera style mystique in the sense where you really can't tell what's gonna happen next. It just becomes very funny, although at points feels offensive, especially in the exploitation of a first-time actress. The gender politics of this film are pretty rough too, and make it very cringe-worthy at points. Although one shouldn't judge a film by its rating, one might be surprised this is PG-13; it pushes the envelope enjoyably in ways I haven't seen in quite sometime. The score is awful, and the final minute might be the worst I've seen this year, in a rather humorous way. The cinematic style and direction screams TV movie, and not a high-quality HBO one too. When the Bough Breaks is forgettable schlock, but you'll ironically enjoy it while you're watching it at least.
 
The Clan (El Clan) is one damn good argentinean thriller. Main guy is terrific, and its all based on a true story. Very intense
 
Poltergeist is considered a slight horror classic. Most interest in the flick comes from either the "Curse" upon those involved with the production or the rumor that Spielberg actually directed a horror film. It certainly feels like a Spielberg film at points, but yet, a lot of the finesse Spielberg brings is lacking in Hooper's direction and it just feels disappointing in that regard. Jerry Goldsmith's score is good and Craig T. Nelson is excellent in it. Yet, it just feels like it's been done better in other films, especially ones that don't feature such a horrendous third act. Poltergeist set the stage for a lot of modern horror films, but unfortunately, doesn't really hold up today.
 
Another one for the pile...

The Wailing - Well, this just surpassed Embrace of the Serpent as my movie of the year.
I get the comparisons with The Witch, because aside from both being horrors, there are a couple of similarities here and there, but this was so much more impressive to me (and i loved The Witch).
First of all, an horror/thriller that goes on for 2 hours and a half, is an impressive feat, although i came in skeptical of that, because Yellow Sea could've used a good trimming, and The Chaser... well that wasn't too long, but got a little too cute with its "Oh gee, we just passed each other without realizing it!" gimmick; but holy shit if i wasn't glued to the screen from the first second to the last, something rare indeed.
Of the three Na Hong-Jin movies i've seen (mentioned above) it's by far the best, and better crafted one.
The way it combines dark humor with horror is also fantastic (although typically Korean, i think it's done better here than in other attempts) giving humanity to the characters, but not really taking away from the pervasive sense of dread.
It's a great movie, and a great horror, and, compared to something like The Witch, it feels more layered and more worthy of subsequent re-watches (the more varied tonal palette has probably to do with that, too).

Had trouble sleeping afterwards, not much because of the horror, but because i kept thinking about it.
Great job.
 
I watched this Italian film Suburra the other week, it came out last year but seems to have recently become available in the UK as I picked it up in Sainsbury's. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it is honestly one of my favourite films of all time. Well worth a watch. The story, characters, camerawork and soundtrack is beautifully put together. Will probably give it another watch soon.

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Keep forgetting to review this.

X-Men: Apocalypse
Caught this on a flight last weekend. Maybe my expectations were sufficiently lowered from the shit reviews or my not-as-good-as-I-remember-it rewatch of DOFP a few months ago. But whatever the reason, I...liked this? I thought it was fun. I remember someone saying this was the most X-Meny of the X-Men movies, and it definitely gives off the vibe.

So sure, there are a lot of problems: the
Wolverine/Stryker/Alkali Lake
subplot is completely pointless, and cutting it wouldn't have affected the movie at all; the Apocalypse end-the-world plot and Magneto's subplot feel awkwardly sandwiched together (despite everyone tired of Magneto being the bad guy, I feel like he had a good set-up for returning to a villain in this movie); the lack of motivations among the other three Horsemen for joining Apocalypse and ending the world was really distracting; the Quicksilver sequence is fun but feels tonally jarring with the rest of that scene (lol @
Havok's
unceremonious, virtually offscreen death); and the CGI throughout the whole movie is ropy af.

But, I don't know, I liked the new kids, I thought Oscar Isaac's Apoc was fine, McAvoy and Fassbender are always welcome, and JLaw didn't seem nearly as out to lunch here as she was in DOFP (maybe has more to do with she her being not nearly as central a character in this movie as she was in the last one). Regardless of the flaws, it was fun enough for me.

7/10
 
The Shallows - Could've been decent, if held back some, in the bullshit department.
The reason why these "stuck in a bad situation for 2 hours" movies are so fun, usually, is that it's fun to see characters come up with clever way to get out of trouble, and then see the world react to that.
In this case, It stretched credibility to the point where that illusion couldn't possibly be sustained anymore, and all it was left, was a dull second half, of her sitting on a rock, waiting for the pointlessly bombastic finale.


Lights Out - By the numbers horror schlock, but the gimmick was fun throughout.
Still, utterly forgettable.
 
The Trip: 6/10. Some pretty good stuff but man some of those impressions were terrible and cringey. But they're supposed to be right? Like his Pacino. I don't even know anymore. The Michael Caine stuff was the best. Loved the ending.
Wait Until Dark: 7/10. Pretty effective 50 year old thriller. Stars a fine ass mature Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman. You know what I'd do in that situation is I'd run right up and grab her in the pussy! I mean how's she going to know who did it? Ha ha!
 
Why is Toni Erdmann's runtime discussed ("a 3 hour comedy") when American Honey is the same (2hr43min)? Hope it doesn't feel as long.
 
Messofanego said:
Why is Toni Erdmann's runtime discussed ("a 3 hour comedy") when American Honey is the same (2hr43min)? Hope it doesn't feel as long.
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If anything, American Honey felt longer. At least Erdmann had compelling characters and capable acting going for it.
 
I've been on horror streak recently. Saw:
Oculus - loved it, because the whole set up felt very fresh. Love when horror movies do that. Same reason why I adored It follows.

Conjouring 2 - this was a lot more classic, but very well done and plenty of scares. Plus impresive period atmosphere.

The Witch - beautifully shot and atmospheric. Not really scary, but I still had fun.

Insidious 2 - weaker than the first, Weaker than both Conjourings. But still entertaining and I adore the real of the dead universe. Plus it had that very satysfing moment of "Aha!" realization shortly before it was shown
(that the husband was the one trying to contact the wife through the piano)
, which is something good detective stories excell at.
 
I can't wait to see The Wailing, so I can compare The Witch, Under The Shadow, and it to each other. I found Under The Shadow scarier than The Witch, and might be my favourite horror from this year, but we'll see.
 
Messofanego said:
I can't wait to see The Wailing, so I can compare The Witch, Under The Shadow, and it to each other. I found Under The Shadow scarier than The Witch, and might be my favourite horror from this year, but we'll see.
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"scary" is sort of a broad term.
A jump scare is scary, but mostly annoying, and you end up loathing them by the end, if the film is too gratuitous with that shit, especially if they don't land, they really feel like that kid trying to jump a turnstile at the metro, but falling on his face.
Dread too, can be more or less scary, and independently long lasting.

For example i don't think neither Witch nor Wailing were particularly scary, however where The Witch had a more immediate effect on me, as far as dread goes, it faded away quickly after the movie had ended.
By comparison Wailing (probably due to some of the humor) was less heavy AS i was watching, but that sense of unease stayed with me much longer, all through the night.
 
Our little boy is now old enough to appreciate (for short stints) movies, so we're breaking from TV shows and catching up on loads of family movies.

I can't believe it took this long for me to watch Big Hero 6. What an awesome, awesome movie. Great soundtrack, too.
 
UrbanRats said:
"scary" is sort of a broad term.
A jump scare is scary, but mostly annoying, and you end up loathing them by the end, if the film is too gratuitous with that shit, especially if they don't land, they really feel like that kid trying to jump a turnstile at the metro, but falling on his face.
Dread too, can be more or less scary, and independently long lasting.

For example i don't think neither Witch nor Wailing were particularly scary, however where The Witch had a more immediate effect on me, as far as dread goes, it faded away quickly after the movie had ended.
By comparison Wailing (probably due to some of the humor) was less heavy AS i was watching, but that sense of unease stayed with me much longer, all through the night.
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Speaking of Under The Shadow specifically, it's like an hour of Polanski-ish domestic paranoia and dread, then the last 30min it's just not letting you rest. There's like five or six really good jump scares, and I thought was religiously against them. Plus, it's got deeper stuff going on under the surface. The Witch is definitely all about the dread much like It Follows, but I like that there are films that can combine the dread and scares.

Since The Wailing comes out on my sister's birthday, might take her to it XD
 
Aguirre: The Wrath of God: 6/10. Rewatch and re-evaluation since I didn't care for it much the first time. Turns out I was right all along. I can see why people are attracted to the raw film making quality, but in the end it's just... dull. Really interesting watching this in Oct 2016 though in that it's a nearly perfect parallel to Trump's run for the presidency. A madman usurps established authority in order to set out on a doomed quest for nothing more than fame and glory. Everyone is with him and they remain loyal even as they're slowly picked off by one disaster after another. And in the end he ends up alone having sex with his daughter.
 
The Bad Batch (2016)

It starts off strong and has some great visuals. I generally enjoy films set in post-apocalyptic wastelands. Unfortunately, it completely meanders at the halfway point and never recovers.

After the screening, there was a Q&A where the director implied that a fair amount of stuff was cut which would probably explain why the second half felt like a disjointed collection of stitched together scenes that don't really add up to anything.

I went into it pretty much blind so it took me a while to recognize Jim Carrey.
 
For anyone who has seen The Birth of a Nation, is it really that tough to sit through at times? I'm likely seeing it Tuesday.
 
More horror stuff

I'd never watched Jacob's Ladder except for maybe some bits and pieces on tv some Saturday afternoon. Over the years I've heard the premise, read the ending I think, and had it not hyped like crazy but hyped enough that when I watched this it didn't really do a whole lot for me. I liked it well enough but this wasn't great.

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Dead and Buried. Now this was the shit right here! I loved this movie. It has a really cool take on zombies and was similar to a previous movie I watched that I won't mention because it kind of ruins the end. Very cool ending too.

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The Phantom Carriage. Holy shit was this a long ass movie. Nearly two hours of slow and a lot of needless. It was very cool and really had an in depth story that was really well fleshed out but fuck me I fell asleep right at the end and had to watch the last few minutes over... This thing is split into parts and watching it in those five pieces might be good rather than one long slog.

The story goes that the last person to die of a year drives Deaths carriage for a year. So we follow this really bad drunken asshole that is one of the biggest assholes you can find. What this really turned out to be was A Christmas Carol written about New Years Eve with an even bigger asshole than Scrooge as the subject.

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Heeeer'es Johnnnnn.....er David?
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UberTag said:
If you were fine sitting through 12 Years a Slave, you'll be fine through this.
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All right, that doesn't sound too, too bad, then. Thanks! There were uncomfortable moments but it didn't keep me from watching. The Double Toasted review and a written review made it sound horrendous at points.
 
13th (2016): Ava DuVernay's video essay on the era of mass incarceration might be fairly described as preaching to the choir, both because it is unlikely people who are not already broadly sympathetic to its point of view will be watching it (unless it becomes a schoolroom staple, which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world) and because it assumes a fair degree of knowledge about certain aspects of the black liberation movement (casual references to, for instance, Assata Shakur, assume both knowledge of the case on the reader's part and sympathy for Shakur). The outlines of the story being told here will not surprise anyone who has spent much time in left intellectual circles, but DuVernay's presentation of the case is exemplary. She has a wide range of well-chosen interview subjects, clips from which are deployed in an expert, symphonic fashion (few get more than a couple of sentences in at any one time, instead being used to build a choir).

Florence Foster Jenkins (2016): Huh, that was a lot better than I thought it would be. This is actually a really sad story, when you think about it, though the telling is fairly light. Hugh Grant give a career best performance, and Streep is, well, Streep. Simon Helberg's early performance is even broader than his work on The Big Bang Theory, though later in the film he does better.
 
watched The Wailing(Goksung) yesterday and not sure what to think about it. I think it went on for too long and the twists in the movie seemed undeserved. its really nice looking and has good scenes of tension and comedy but all in all this was a bit to streched out.
 
damn, Psychomania is out in br. woo hoo that's one of my fave trash movies e'er, gonna grab it and have a laugh tonight

and Paths of Glory, the only Kubrick I don't have on br. And Matinee, which has goddamned awesome cover art

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and two Woody Allen boxes covering 12 movies from 71 to 85. Damn my wallet. Only gripe is that there's not Take the Money and Run, who do I have to eviscerate to get that movie on bluray
 
L.A.Story - Mick Jackson

You can almost feel the 90's just by looking at it for 90 minutes. So much kitsch. I have no idea what Steve Martin wanted to achieve when he made this. A bit romantic. A bit satiric. A bit goofy. There's no tone in it. A mess. The camera is frantic, it makes this crazy speed jumps, it follows closely characters with this weird janky movements. The editing in the beginning is mental. Have no idea what I just watched.
 
paperboywriter said:
watched The Wailing(Goksung) yesterday and not sure what to think about it. I think it went on for too long and the twists in the movie seemed undeserved. its really nice looking and has good scenes of tension and comedy but all in all this was a bit to streched out.
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I think the twists were totally deserved because the whole theme of the story was that
the main character's faith was being tested and he had to discern between "the good truth and the evil lie". Blurring the forces of good and evil as represented by the twists was a good way to embody that for both the protagonist, and the viewers.
 
Fancy Clown said:
I think the twists were totally deserved because the whole theme of the story was that
the main character's faith was being tested and he had to discern between "the good truth and the evil lie". Blurring the forces of good and evil as represented by the twists was a good way to embody that for both the protagonist, and the viewers.
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but in the end he just made a almost random decision
(the wrong one)
. He, and so the audience, based that decision on a gut feeling on who's the bad guy and who is the good guy. I dont know, maybe I missed something.
I didnt really see it as a question of faith because both options were believing in either one of those spiritual guides.
 
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