Last movie you watched

[Ex-User (11125)]

I watched The Elephant Man (1980). That was really good.

my heart is still broken bc of this film </3

 

[Starfishtea]

I watched Blair witch last saturday (probably? what is time, right?) at an outside screening in the forest around midnight. I was so blown away by the concept of watching a horror movie filmed in a forest while actually sitting in a dark forest and then having to walk home in the dark that I completely overhyped it. I really love a good scare, and it's even better when it's a collective scare with 100+ participants. The movie was pretty atrocious, but the fact that it's seriously freezing at night in october made it a lot harder to focus properly on the movie I wasn't able to get lost in it like I sometimes do with other movies. I was painfully aware of my physical surroundings the entire time and I was shivering so badly that I spilled hot chocolate all over myself too, and then I was not only cold, but also wet and scalded. The movie itself had so little credibility to it that I was actually less scared afterwards.

 

[Perfectly Normal Beast]

theroux's scientology movie: sporadic hilarity, humanity remains a mystery

obviously recommended for anyone considering voting for cognisant

 

[Perfectly Normal Beast]

^grrrrr

adam curtis' hypernormalisation: mesmerizing and brilliant as usual

 

[EggCustard]

I watched Step Brothers.

 

[Pressure's Spring]

I go to the cinema from time to time, mostly, feeling disappointed after watching a film.

Grown to expect this. I go for social reasons mostly, or, otherwise, find independent theaters...

Anyway, the last movie I watched was:

Deepwater Horizon directed by Mark Wahlberg.

Spoiler

Visually entertaining. Successfully gave off the impression of being on a sinking rig with fine shots & bi-polar transitions. Sudden explosions & death, unstoppable, endless collateral damage, eerie silence, desperation, screams & cries, helplessness, emotional, intense, almost overwhelming sound effects (the girl sitting next to me was weeping)... That was the strong point, or focus, of the film, the rest was undeveloped (i.e. the characters, the introduction, which was just mindless rambling that carried on for too long)...

He depicts stereotypes quickly to get a vague idea of the whole situation: the greedy corporate man (who hastily values profit over the safety of the crew), male banter, a martyr, and a careful, responsible leader (showing the solidarity between the crew members), a romantic relationship between a male (member of the crew) and his wife (adding a dimension to the life of a crew member), as well as, and strangely enough, a romantic relationship between a female (a member of the crew) and her boyfriend, who both ride motorbikes and mustangs. I don't know if that is some sort of feminist-affirming plot that just had to be added or something, but who cares, she was a good representation of the masculine type of female (it wasn't exaggerated).

Not something I would personally watch. Still, if you're into emotional provocation, it ain't bad.

 

[Jennywocky]

I wish they had been able to run Rogue One to an R rating, although obviously in that franchise that was not going to happen. Not necessarily for sex (because there wasn't any) nor graphic violence (although there was a lot of death and mayhem), but simply because it might have been even grittier in terms of making the characters even more morally ambiguous.

They did pull through on this movie. It has its flaws, but it might be more satisfying than TFA tbh. It's more narratively honest, and it's honest about how in war and espionage and rebellion there's some real shit that goes down even by the so-called "good guys," and yet there's some real nobility/sacrifice amid the grime.

Jones is really great -- she brings the human element to the movie. Mikkelsen of course is good in his role, Mendelsohn chews up the scenery but that was his goal and he's kind of great in that over-the-top way. K-2 is a great mix between the analytical/pessimistic C3PO and SWKOTOR's MK-47.

there are a few surprise characters, which I suppose can be commonplace nowadays if you have the budget and tech to do it.

 

[Bad Itch]

Triple 9 (2015)

Good cast, good times.

Atlanta, dirty cops, Russian mobsters.

 

[Pyropyro]

Forgot about this thread.

Anyways, I watched Moana again today with my niece, my nephews and my little cousins. Gorgeous animations and The Rock was on point in his acting for Maui. The film got me interested in Polynesian mythology again (well who else have a goddess who has a flying vagina).

 

[Jennywocky]

The Neon Demon ended up being little more than a glossed-up piece of shit. Just when I thought it might have something provocative to say, it went off the deep end and became unpalatable.

Elle Fanning was well-cast. Keanu Reeves sucks. It's truly a spectacle of style over substance but I suppose that was the point, wasn't it? But honestly, I didn't need an entire two-hour movie to win me over, it doesn't offer anything that you didn't already know. But if you enjoy the spectacle, then more power to you; the visuals can be mesmerizing and trance-like.

 

[Pyropyro]

Rogue One is relatively gritty in Star Wars standards but lore-wise it actually made me appreciate the movies even more.

 

[nanook]

max steel, movie about a gay INTP transformers fan who projects his massive libido into an imaginary transformers friend, who in return sabotages all of his dates with his esfj girlfriend. the actor who plays the teenage kid is a fully grown man which adds sexual awkwardness in scenes with his mother Maria Bello comedic effect. impossible to watch a silly movie like that without thinking about something else at the same time, such as this review.

 

[Pyropyro]

Watching Robin Hood: Men in Thights nuff said

 

[nanook]

"beyond", the show. rather annoying. the protagonist is childish and everyone lies to him because apparently he cant handle the truth and the worst is that the audience is being treated the same, every other character in the show knows what is going on but we have to discover it bit by bit, along with the protagonist. and what i have discovered by episode 6 hasn't even been as fascinating as the secret of "stranger things", which is also rather meh.

"the expanse" another show, has the feel of total recall, antiquated ideas about a colony on a different plant full of crooked individuals. watched only one episode.

"sense8" also a show. the most interesting of these shows, on account of story and scenery diversity, but ultimately also meh and not memorable at all. saw 5 episodes a few days ago and can't remember much about them.


most movies i saw recently didn't excite me much. i gave a good rating (8) to 11.22.63, anthropoid, the accountant, bridge of spies, hell or high water. of those, only anthropoid was memorable. but in a painful way.

 

[venicerocco]

MOONLIGHT.

It's absolutely stunning and engaging. Beautiful anamorphic cinematography, a film that depicts a portrait of a character's struggle with life, via tone, mood and a You may not identify with the protagonist directly, but you will certainly relate. Highly recommend. Do NOT watch the trailer! Avoid spoilers at all cost because the film develops into something you've never seen before in a film like this; it plays your expectations like a chess grandmaster and wins each time.

 

[JimJambones]

Not a movie, but this for the second time

I tried to make the image even bigger because it wasn't large enough, so I apologize profusely for that!

 

[Jennywocky]

MOONLIGHT.

It's absolutely stunning and engaging. Beautiful anamorphic cinematography, a film that depicts a portrait of a character's struggle with life, via tone, mood and a You may not identify with the protagonist directly, but you will certainly relate. Highly recommend. Do NOT watch the trailer! Avoid spoilers at all cost because the film develops into something you've never seen before in a film like this; it plays your expectations like a chess grandmaster and wins each time.

Looking forward to this once I get access to it (along with Manchester by the Sea).

I ended up watching three movies yesterday:

- The Secret Life of Pets. Meh. Jokes were rarely funny (delivery/wording problems), the plot was unfocused, and needed more focus on character. Which is a shame, I like Despicable Me stuff.

- The Autopsy of Jane Doe. Directing was great, he knows how to put together scenes to build tension/dread, and Cox/Hirsch were great. But after a great buildup, it just kind of fizzles out into tired trope. I'll watching any of the director's other movies, though, based on the talent I saw here, though. It just needed a better resolution.

- Finding Dory. Wasn't expecting much of this, but it serves as a direct counterpoint to Secret Life of Pets -- have an actual STORY with compelling characters that you care about, and then add the jokes over top of that to support story. It was much better than I had expected, after the first twenty minutes or so.

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

i saw raise the red lantern last night. woooh such a depressing film, 2 hours of watching the title character slowly being broken by despair. shots of the siheyuan felt very claustrophobic and i fking love gong li

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

la la land
it sucked
should probably stop cinema-dates altogether bc i cant remember the last time a good film came out


also saw a 70s finnish film that had lots of harsh realism(including long sequences of animal abuse)

 

[Jennywocky]

la la land
it sucked
should probably stop cinema-dates altogether bc i cant remember the last time a good film came out

What did you think sucked about it?
What did you think of his last film, Whiplash?

Actually it looks like a number of decent movies came out near end of year. Still there was a glut of so-so in mid-year and fall.

EDIT: Three last films I watched were:

Passengers: Surprisingly had a lot of honest emotings centered around what Jim does early in the movie... but then they lost their balls by switching the focus of the plot + opted for an emotionally dishonest ending. Wish they hadn't; Lawrence nails her scenes except for the one she was misdirected on, and she and Pratt have chemistry.

The Girl on the Train: Blunt is decent as an actual female alcoholic, but movie is basically Lifetime for Women rated R. It did inspire me to rewatch Presumed Innocent (a better movie), which is a similar story format but with a male unreliable narrator.

Elle: Great acting, interesting character study + her complex response to masked rape and what her final option is. Believe it or not, Verhoeven directs and does well -- it's his first movie done in french, I think (it's subtitled for us lame-o americans).

 

[nanook]

looking into a show called taboo. great scenery, intense acting, love and creativity about details ... looks promising.

last two movies i enjoyed were

-nocturnal animals - can't quite remember what it was about. it's all about atmosphere.
-the light between oceans - a michael fassbender movie

 

[Ex-User (11125)]

Actually it looks like a number of decent movies came out near end of year. Still there was a glut of so-so in mid-year and fall.

youre right, that was a stupid thing to say. for clarity tho, i was referring to films that get screened; only popular/successful films get screened in normal theaters here, because theaters have to go through the trouble of getting movies subtitled before releasing them. films that are less popular or boxoffice-failures get screened in art theaters, but even this is rare bc they mostly just screen old-hollywood/silent films. so cinemas mostly just do big feature films and those tend to be disappointing

ive seen moonlight and 13th since then and i love both. also heard good things about certain women

about whiplash...ahh tbh i found this film repugnant and i dont agree with its philosophy. some tumblrite said the film's philosophy is very Rand-ish and i can certainly see this, there are parallels between the two works' main characters(edit: i just realised that i forgot to mention i had rand's the fountainhead in mind here. The one with the pompous architect) and their pursuit and understanding of art and greatness and self actualisation. i like the intensity of the last scene but the whole movie is so repugnant, and has the tired sadistic-mentor trope that i thought only exists in manga nowadays. i hate how the drummer looses himself in all the abuse, it got to the point where he transcended anger/humiliation/spite, like he wasnt even motivated by these feelings anymore, he genuinely began to believe the abuse was shaping him and fleshing out his "genius". idk...what do you think?

la la land is less vile but i can still see the same underlying philosophy here, in fact sebastian is probably much more similar to roark than whiplash-guy was. the music is trite and forgettable, story is cliched, characters are two dimensional etc.... the main thing is, for a movie that is allegedly a tribute to jazz, i umm dont see the jazz

MOONLIGHT IS FUCKING AMAZING IM STILL MINDBLOWN...probably one of the best films i have seen in my life. next im going to see certain women

 

[Happy]

Split:

Decent film with a fantastic performance by James McAvoy.

That would have been my comment. That is, until the entire movie and it's significance was transformed by one line of dialogue. Now I say it's a must see.

 

[Jennywocky]

I'll respond to the rest later when I have time.

MOONLIGHT IS FUCKING AMAZING IM STILL MINDBLOWN...probably one of the best films i have seen in my life. next im going to see certain women

Moonlight is a five-star movie, but I didn't have a large emotional reaction to it unfortunately. It's just very well done.

I saw Certain Women. The middle section with Michelle Williams is my least favorite, although it's not bad; it just kind of doesn't go many places, and deals more with more proactive woman dealing with men. Laura Dern has the right amount of exasperated weariness dealing with her client and it's the funniest segment. I was kind of surprised with the fact that the best performance in the movie was not from an established actress; that last segment is pretty interesting.

The movie's biggest weakness is simply that the three stories aren't really connected (aside from a few tenuous threads of plot), so they have trouble reinforcing each other. Still, they deal with every-day female experiences without getting preachy about it, and I could identity with some of the experiences. It's a nice movie. That last segment just kind of lingers with me, which is lovely -- there are periods without dialogue, and if I try to describe it, it doesn't do the experience of it justice.




EDIT:

I typically try to take a film on its own terms. So why I might have a personal response to a particular philosophy espoused by a film, that doesn't necessarily make it a bad film; it might "just be what it is," just like people are often just who they are.

there's no real question that the relationship between drummer and teacher was emotionally (and nearly physically) abusive. Certainly lots of physical self-abuse. This is more of a question of how badly two people can feed off each other in pursuit of their own goals and end up both getting what they want in the end and maybe even achieving something that transcends their own personal shit. They are both very flawed people, and obsessive people, and demanding people. There was nothing Fletcher demanded, though, that Andrew didn't demand of himself, and vice versa. They were both hellbent on this particular road and had given up everything else for it, even Andrew ditching his girlfriend for his drumming; I totally saw the logic in everything he said to Nicole, and yet I just wanted to slap the fucker across the face for being so damn cold about it and for maybe not seeing life as bigger than his own obsession. Yet again, if he wanted to be that good... it would demand everything from him, potentially.

In this sense, Andrew's father (Paul Reiser) is the nurturing figure who is both a consolation AND a hindrance to Andrew's progression. He's the balance to Fletcher. At what point does affirmation become a hindrance to progress? This is a typical struggle for every person as we move from childhood to adulthood and try to learn how to suffer pain in order to achieve goals of value.

The ending was great mainly in its audacity and how it flips expectations in the audience. We think "the game" is over; but it isn't. Do they both rise to the challenge? As I noted a moment ago, the beautiful part is that someone all of this stupid shit they did to each other gets lost because they start creating actual music and maybe achieve what they hoped to achieve at long last -- you can see it change from hatred and competition of each other to something more pure and real until they are working together in synergy. Their pettiness shifts to an unbridled joy, all their ugliness is forgotten, they've transcended it.

If I had any gripe about Whiplash, it's more about premise. Did Charlie Parker really almost get his head knocked off by a cymbal? (I read the anecdote was hyperbolized.) And is abusing your students actually the best way to make them better musicians? Is having them fearful of making mistakes actually going to perfect them, or is it going to discourage them? The premise thus is debatable and potentially deceitful.

there was actually a decent amount of Jazz in "La La Land," but it's more when there's jazz performances going on in the clubs (such as the ending), not the bulk of the movie's music which is more the winsome or happy stuff harkening back to old song and dance movies or the stuff that John Legend was doing. It was also undermined by the fact that Gosling and Stone are not great singers (Gosling's pretty bad, Stone is okay when the instrumentation isn't covering up the nice parts of her voice); they are far better actors; still, I read Gosling did all his own piano work just as Teller did his own drumming in Whiplash, and he did much better on the keys than his singing.

Some of the story and movie didn't feel as strong, and there was a weird imbalance in the relationship that is so typical in gendered culture -- Sebastian never really came to see her at all, while Mia saw many of Seb's performances, he seemed to compartmentalize his life far more (he's with Mia or he's with his music, while for Mia, she's with Seb AND his music and wanting him to be part of her art).

Still, there are some good moments, and you start to realize the movie has some similarities to Whiplash -- it's about the cost of dreams. You might have these glossy brightly colored dreams, but the reality of getting there is about a lot of slog and discouragement and then what you are willing to sacrifice along the way. This is why the ending left me in tears (something Moonlight didn't do, although I think Moonlight is a more consistent movie)... you get a glimpse of the Might-Have-Been's of life, the hopes and flashy colorful fantasies we all indulge ourselves with... and then are left comparing them to the reality of achieving our dreams. What does success even look like? It doesn't compare with our fantasy success. It's kind of a wake-up call.

 

[Valencia]

I just watched a classic: Donnie Darko. One of my all time favorites!

 

[Valencia]

Moonlight is a five-star movie, but I didn't have a large emotional reaction to it unfortunately. It's just very well done.

I guess they just won the Oscar for best picture. I personally think this movie is a bit overrated. Too bad Manchester by the Sea didn't make it.

 

[Jennywocky]

I guess they just won the Oscar for best picture. I personally think this movie is a bit overrated.

Yeah, maybe. But so was La La Land.

the ending of La La Land moved me more, but I think Moonlight was more consistent.

Too bad Manchester by the Sea didn't make it.

That's a really great movie I don't think I have the stamina to ever watch again.

What is annoying is that the same white lower-middle class populists who bitched about Moonlight's focus on black gay males probably will never watch Manchester by the Sea, although it's done with such realism it feels like a documentary (as far as truth quotient) and I felt pretty accurately explored that demographic. I am glad it pulled in Best Original Screenplay.

I was happy to see movies of various perspectives in the list of 2016 releases, at least. There were actually a variety of perspectives this past year. And it was even a fairly decent year for Horror movies.

I just watched a classic: Donnie Darko. One of my all time favorites!

Great movie.

I actually like the original more than the Director's Cut overall., it's too bad we can't splice the best of each.

 

[Jennywocky]

Lessee, I was burned out after blitzing for the Oscars. This past week I have watched:

- The Monster: decent enough horror pic with mother/daughter focus. It's really about their relationship versus just the monster (or rather the monster is a comment on it), but Zoe Kazan as the mom holds the movie together, and it's got great ambiance.

- The Girl with All the Gifts: Heh. Okay, yeah, kind of feels like "28 Days Later" and is another zombie twist but more with the spirit of Matheson's book "I am Legend." Neat way to approach the ending. Glenn Close looks pretty damned haggard and craggy in this movie. The girl playing lead is great. Probably the best movie of the three I saw this week.

- Winter's War: It was supposed to be total crap but I actually find it a guilty pleasure -- mostly because the actors seem aware that it's one big joke and bring the same kind of feigned seriousness that Eddie Redmayne brought to Jupiter Ascending. And still in the middle of things, Chastain and Blunt sometimes convey something a bit purer than the movie deserves. It's entirely unoriginal and seems "smaller than life" at spots, like the first, but I enjoy the performances and the costuming. I also laughed a hell of a lot at all the dumb / over the top things that characters did.

I'm watching Hacksaw Ridge tonight.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Logan (2017):

I didn't like Logan that much, although it was good. It was tense. But unbelievable at some parts and just plain too long. There weren't a lot of characters and honestly, the story seemed random like an alternate universe not having picked up where any of the previous X-Men flicks left off. It was sad. I think they hinted at it in Apocalypse too but they might be gearing up for a Mr. Sinister appearance again with this flick. So that is something to look forward to. The girl was kind of cool but small, not sure how they survived all that. The whole movie had me wondering how they were to survive it all. They don't know there will be an explosion until there is one maybe. I wouldn't really watch it again, because it was too random for me.

 

[Jennywocky]

Logan (2017):

I didn't like Logan that much, although it was good. It was tense. But unbelievable at some parts and just plain too long. There weren't a lot of characters and honestly, the story seemed random like an alternate universe not having picked up where any of the previous X-Men flicks left off. It was sad. I think they hinted at it in Apocalypse too but they might be gearing up for a Mr. Sinister appearance again with this flick. So that is something to look forward to. The girl was kind of cool but small, not sure how they survived all that. The whole movie had me wondering how they were to survive it all. They don't know there will be an explosion until there is one maybe. I wouldn't really watch it again, because it was too random for me.

Yeah, I read they are gearing up for Mr. Sinister.

----------------

I saw Logan last weekend, and it's one of my favorite Marvel movies. It did not feel random at all to me, although it's set a good 13-15 years in the future, so it might or might not "come to pass" -- it's kind of a one-off that way and doesn't really much affect the continuity. It also made great use of the R rating; this isn't sanitized Wolverine, it's gritty and makes sense in how it plays out, and tries to resolve a particular emotional journey for the character. I hate most of the X-Men movies, even Singer's stuff (which usually just feels "meh" to me), but this movie worked even as just a regular movie for me.

All About Eve: Figured I might as well start working on my older movie repertoire. Hadn't seen a Bette Davis movie before either; I love it, she's not the conventional beauty, but she's electrifying and commands attention regardless. Baxter is great too, although in a completely different way -- the way it's handled, it's hard to tell if Margo (Davis) is imagining Eve's undermining behavior or whether it's actually happening. It becomes more clear later in the movie. Even the ending comes full circle, as the cycle perpetuates once more.

Marilyn Monroe has a short appearance. She isn't a good actor, but she is presented in white and looks like an angel, and is entrancing just the same.

Get Out: Enjoyable movie, probably 3.5/5 or 4/5. It's solid. Kind of quirky observations of race relations but it didn't feel overdone for me because the tone is always kind of quirky. the parents are handled well. There's only real one big twist that wasn't given away (as well as the specifics of what is being done). There are some aspects that are imaginative (like how hypnosis is visually depicted).

 

[JimJambones]

I saw Logan and absolutely loved it. Wolverine was perhaps my favorite comic book character as a kid and while I was disappointed in his role as Wolverine in the first three X-men movies, he has redeemed himself with "Logan". I thought he finally nailed the character.

 

[Pizzabeak]

He's been doing the same thing since all the X-Men movies. He seemed the same here. He had a popular performance in II but still came off too super hero like I guess. They were all always weird even in terms of casting in the first place so maybe he needed a lot of time to warm up to the role. Seemed fine here, but more stressed maybe. Hopefully he continues the role in Avengers.

 

[Jennywocky]

Hmmm, in the last week or so...

The Omen (1976): Never bothered with before, but it's actually a decent horror flick from that time period. Never knew Jerry Goldsmith won his only Oscar writing that score, but I can understand it -- it's a highly effective score and plus mixes in the Latin-chanting choir invoking prayers to Satan that has become a staple of so many parodies over the years. The shocking scenes are actually kind of shocking. The acting is okay, but it only needs to be solid since the movie is centered around ambiance, the shock set pieces, the score, and the concept.

The Fly (1986?): I probably wrote about this before. I rewatched it because my oldest kid was watching it with a friend last night too, and then we texted about it after. I fucking love this movie. He thought it was great too -- shocking and totally in your face by the end. It starts slowly, then starts increasing speed (with the transformation), and then everything goes off the rails at the abortion sequence and never slows down. (yeah, with that, I probably drove away half the potential audience. Sorry.) This is in my list of top ten horror flicks, I think. One of the Cronenberg classics (and he cameos in the film, as the gynecologist). Also Goldblum as his best, with the kind of quirky dark humor he's known for, and he does a really nice job in terms of speech and body movement underneath all that latex. It's unnerving and heartbreaking all at once... the way a tragic horror movie should be.

Aladdin: I needed something light-hearted. Williams gets all the attention, but honestly there's a lot of other good stuff here. People hate Gilbert Gottfried, but this is Gottfried at his funniest (as Iago, the single-track-minded scheming parrot), and he plays nicely off Freeman as Jafar, the villain who takes himself far too seriously and thus ends up being hilarious himself. There's some treacly bits, but I like thematically how they tried to focus everything on the concept of freedom -- Aladdin wants freed from his poverty-stricken past, Jasmine wants freedom from the rules binding her as princess, and the Genie most obviously wants freed from servitude and to be his own master. That last bit also wasn't something that usually got hit on in these kinds of fables -- the genie is usually just a plot device, not a persona in his own right.

Con Air: I hadn't watched this for years and felt like watching it again. Oh, it's fluff, crazy fluff, but it's kind of fun and has some of the best character actors in both TV and cinema out chewing up the scenery. It's silly fun on the level of Face/Off, although I heard John Cusack refuses to do any interviews on this movie because he hates it so much. I really like how they cast Steve Buscemi as the most terrifying serial killer of the bunch.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Sausage Party (2016): That funny little animated film for adults that came out last year or so with Seth Rogan, James Franco, Jonah Hill, and those guys about the long overdue joke what would happen if food were sentient and experienced life in a realistic way i.e. getting eaten after being purchased at the grocery store. They praise humans as Gods and are eager to be chosen to go to "the Great Beyond" where they will meet eternity. It's the religion responsible for their overall zeal. In fact it's their death they meet which one can argue can still be eternity or immortal form. But really, the movie is a clear metaphor for DMT and that's not just a comparison to the "bath salts" scene, in which after injecting a human is able to perceive the sentience of the food, described as the fourth dimension. But really, we've all seen the trailers and know the story already. Once one member finds out the truth he's labeled heretic for trying to warn others, until he convincingly does so with the book, and art. The irony is once humans are injected with the bath salts in the war scene they become frightened and panic, turning hostile. I like the final scene with the fat guy chasing them. So okay let's face it, the overdue joke is what cartoon hotdogs would really act and joke like making the food setting even more useful than before. This is because females are buns and more other stereotypes are used, such as the alcohol or douche characters. I didn't like the main villain so goal accomplished. But facing it, the religion is revered because once they reach the great beyond, sex is promised. That's all there is to look forward to in life. He gets to fuck her. The real joke starts where Honey Mustard is returned, seeing a glimpse of the beyond, becomes estranged and crazy, as part of the joke but also he is traumatized, as would be expected. The bun makes a joke that honey mustard can never decide whether it's honey or mustard that's why she doesn't like it, and it should kill itself. The joke was alright. But that's the joke. The people find out their life isn't what they think. The food, I mean. And their life is wasted religiously because they are under the wrong impression. But couldn't it be wasted more accurately? It isn't to say religion is bad but once they find out the great beyond is bullshit they can switch to a more accurate viewpoint and sort of live it religiously so it's right. But that's beside the point. The movie is about DMT. It's a moderately expensive indulgence which is why it's enjoyed by many stars alike, especially in ayahuasca form, because they can properly afford it. It's taxing, and something that can be supported. But the result of the visions seen by DMT clearly inspired the story. Do enough reading of the literature and you'll see. It's the joke. Hard to remember like a dream but once you realize it, it's that. It provides powerful hallucinations unlike those on any other substance. So the part is bath salts in the film are painted as hallucinogenic whereas in real life it's popular for causing people to go crazy into a zombie like mode and confronted by the law. It's more dissociative like. But overall a fun film. It's no secret anymore that dimethyltryptamine is popular amongst celebrities especially those of Jewish origin. So I would say that it's not too unreasonable to suppose that to be the case, even considering the Stephen Hawking side plot with the gum and bath salts. I liked some of the side plots like the traveling with the lavash and bagel. With no hope for a sequel it's best to enjoy this flick as it is, doesn't seem worth any repeat watches but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Some of the jokes were off though.

 

[Jennywocky]

What's DMT? You mean the drug?

My thoughts on Sausage Party was that it was much funnier than I had expected, and had a bit more depth than I expected. Not something I would rewatch a ton, but it was fun picking out which comedian was playing which part (Ed Norton was totally not who I anticipated playing that part for example), and as far as the sex humor went, it definitely didn't fail to deliver in those sections. I was like, "Holy shit, they actually went there. And there. And there...And... wow." But then again... Seth Rogan.

I think Alan Menken -- the Disney renaissance music guy himself -- wrote/worked on that opening song with them. That's worth something.


EDIT: This is silly.

The film received an R rating for strong crude sexual content, pervasive language and drug use. When Rogen initially submitted the film to the MPAA, however, they assigned it with an NC-17 rating due to the visibility of pubic hair on Lavash's scrotum. In order to be assigned an R rating, the pubic hair was removed.[21][22][23][24]

So the difference between an R and an NC-17 rating is the visibility of public hair -- considering everything else that happened in the movie?

 

[Pizzabeak]

Yes the drug. I guess they wanted to be raunchy and used bath salts in the movie instead, plus it was popular at the time for the zombie YouTube outbreaks. The song was fairly well done. It really set the tone for the rest of the movie. It was what everything was based off.

Drug, or neurotransmitter, your choice I suppose.

 

[Deleted member 1424]

Just finished 'Your Name.'

I have no words... just go see it.

 

[Rixus]

EDIT: This is silly.

So the difference between an R and an NC-17 rating is the visibility of public hair -- considering everything else that happened in the movie?

Yeah, ratings are a little weird when you think about it. Here, we have U (Universal), PG (Parental Guidance), 12A (basically PG12), 15 and 18. Bare in mind a few other age restriction laws we have here, by 17 years old you can drive a car, have children, own your own home, get a job and be tried as an adult in a court of law. But you can't see a picture of a naked human being or here some four letter words being spoken.

It's a bit bizarre how we're OK with teenagers seeing someone be horribly murdered (as long as their entrails aren't showing), and someone naked having sex as long as you can't see their pubes.

 

[TheManBeyond]

a cure for wellness, watched it 2 weeks ago but i didn't finish it, it kind bored me in 30 minutes
but maybe i'll give it another try tonight to pause a bit the creative nerve, the location was not that bad. what i saw: 3.5/10

 

[sushi]

john wick 2. a pissed introvert going on vengence against the mafia and violent thugs.

i recommend it, but only as a cautionary tale of not what to do in real life.

 

[Pizzabeak]

I didn't like Power Rangers, it would have been better if they didn't show the whole movie during the trailer. There were only two or three parts that weren't in it. I didn't like how they had their masks off when they piloted the craft to give the actors more screen and face time, an old trick that I would have hoped gone out of fashion even among these new and young actors. They tried to just put a lot of nostalgia and old school stuff in it but it didn't work. There wasn't that much action. It didn't know who the audience was. The armor looked kind of dumb with all the body parts highlighted.

They used Billy too much. He was the comic relief. Last thing I needed was him yelling all the time in excitement but I guess that was the joke. It was cool. People liked it. In essence, it started off good but that didn't last. It's the reason why the movie wasn't that good. I'd say, 6.5 is deserving. There wasn't any real ingenuity; the part where Zack steals the zord was lackluster.

I didn't like how they all met as friends. There were just a bunch of coincidences and then they were together and found the coins. They shouldn't have used the theme song in the movie. It was cheesy and ultimately revealed the true purpose of the film. Anything goes. Was hoping for something more complicated but what did I expect. The script must have read strange. There was no moral. There was no reason to say "It's morphin' time."

I'd have a hard time watching this again. Slap in a guarantee for a sequel and you got a deal. The entire origin story was just an excuse to set that up, where the real fun will presumably come from. They shouldn't fall into the same trap again. Just bring in the Star Wars kind of guys to do the film and it should be good but that won't happen. Instead it's the bad summer blockbuster thing, where Transformers has better character development. If they work on that or have an actual threat it'd be great.

It didn't know who it wanted the audience to be. It should have been older kids. It wasn't that dark but by saying they need to kill made it seem like it was for teens. But it wasn't a complicated film leading me to believe it was for toddlers. Of course there were some adults present for the nostalgia but it wasn't good enough to carry the whole movie, maybe they were never really fans at all in the first place.

It was hampered by a weak villain. She was ruthless and her name was Rita Repulsa. She could have succeeded perhaps but didn't capitalize on her opportunity. She let them live, couldn't kill in cold blood. It makes you wonder why you are seeing the film in the first place. Profound confusion. Truth is, the movie is for kids. If you can don't see it and wait for the sequel instead.

 

[Rixus]

Last night I watched Ghosts In The Machine. I saw it on the shelf when I went shopping the other day, and the cover and premise made it look interesting. It was free on Amazon Prime, so I gave it a go. I have to say - I have seen some bad movies. But this one was as if the makers had seen all these bad movies and decided that there's was going to be worse. Like they purposefully tried to make the worst film that had ever been made. And they succeeded. It was absolutely dreadful.

A premise that could have been interesting turned out to be the daftest idea they could think up. It was supposed to involve a VCR that worked without power for a group of squatting students - but it turned out that when they put two old bad movies into the VCR one after the other, the VHS tapes made a baby VHS which was a comical mash up of the previous 2 films. In the last 5 minutes, they must have remembered it was supposed to be a horror film and hurriedly shoved in a poorly executed terribly acted climax.

The acting. I couldn't even take it comically it was so bad. Did they just pick random people off the street with no acting experience ever and ask them to act as badly ass they could? The script wasn't much better.

It only gets one star because of the Laser Dicks joke that made me giggle.

Rating - 1*. Absolutely unbearably dreadful.

 

[Perfectly Normal Beast]

i accidentally watched a trailer for the new king kong movie, it gave me ptsd

 

[Jennywocky]

Last night I watched Ghosts In The Machine. I saw it on the shelf when I went shopping the other day, and the cover and premise made it look interesting. It was free on Amazon Prime, so I gave it a go. I have to say - I have seen some bad movies. But this one was as if the makers had seen all these bad movies and decided that there's was going to be worse. Like they purposefully tried to make the worst film that had ever been made. And they succeeded. It was absolutely dreadful.

A premise that could have been interesting turned out to be the daftest idea they could think up. It was supposed to involve a VCR that worked without power for a group of squatting students - but it turned out that when they put two old bad movies into the VCR one after the other, the VHS tapes made a baby VHS which was a comical mash up of the previous 2 films. In the last 5 minutes, they must have remembered it was supposed to be a horror film and hurriedly shoved in a poorly executed terribly acted climax.

The acting. I couldn't even take it comically it was so bad. Did they just pick random people off the street with no acting experience ever and ask them to act as badly ass they could? The script wasn't much better.

It only gets one star because of the Laser Dicks joke that made me giggle.

Rating - 1*. Absolutely unbearably dreadful.

What movie are you talking about? Or did you mean "Ghost in the Machine"? And is this the Karen Allen movie from 1993 or some other version?

 

[Jennywocky]

I watched "Fantastic Beasts..." the other night. Glad I watched it versus just buying it. It was pretty boring. The fantastic beasts were about as interesting as creatures from Avatar (or less so), most of the characters were bland (except for the two main supporting characters, Queenie and Kowalski), and the plot was just very aimless and in the end it seems they focused the most on a tangential plot versus actually following the story of interest.

Pretty disappointing. I wish the movie had been as emotionally engaging as the last 15 minutes, which was all denouement.

----

rewatched Guardians of the Galaxy to prepare for the sequel in a few weeks. It's not like 5-star classic cinema, but for what amounts to an amicable action picture with some laughs, it's actually got some character underpinnings and emotional arcs. Pretty solid effort, if you're not too put off by Drax.


... and hey, Netflix just got "The Eyes of my Mother" on, which is on my watchlist! I've watched 30 minutes so far. It's in black and white and is already kind of crazy. I don't recognize the actors but they're all competent. I love it. I wonder where the plot is going...

 

[Rixus]

What movie are you talking about? Or did you mean "Ghost in the Machine"? And is this the Karen Allen movie from 1993 or some other version?

I'm talking about this film. I say through Night of the Creeps 2, Demons and American Poltergeist 1 & 2, and neither of those compare to how bad this film is.

Got any good suggestions for a spine tingling horror for tonight to make up for it?

[bIMG]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170408/dbe996a283d3a4e79f5b7bc207bcdf0a.jpg[/bIMG]
[BIMG]//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170408/aeeb5de3516d3739f976e87c1f21bf96.jpg[/bIMG]

 

[Jennywocky]

I'm talking about this film. I say through Night of the Creeps 2, Demons and American Poltergeist 1 & 2, and neither of those compare to how bad this film is.

I have Amazon Prime too, so I'll make sure to avoid this one.

Did you watch any of the VHS series? (There are three that were released.)

Typically some suck, and some are decent. I always liked the very first one, first episode, with the strange girl they picked up in the bar. She's great, and damn... that's a new spin on an old legend.

Same thing with ABCs of Death 1&2; there are some crappy ones mixed in there but an occasional really good short.

Got any good suggestions for a spine tingling horror for tonight to make up for it?

Depends what kinds of things you find scary.

Darkly funny over the top: Drag Me to Hell or The Lucky Ones
WTF Is Going On???: Kill List or Angelheart
Creepy Jump-scares + Human Pathos + Feral Kids: Mama
Zombies on Speed + Breakdown of Society: 28 Days Later
S/he's Really Nuts Isn't She?: The Babadook or Jacob's Ladder
Atmosphere + Slow Build + Twist: The Others or The Sixth Sense or Goodnight Mommy
Jesus Christ Did I Just See That: Martyrs (original) or High Tension
Where Am I anyways?: Oculus
More Crazy Cultists: The Wicker Man (original)
Pure Sadism + Just Shoot Me in the Head Now: Wolf Creek
Body Horror + Pathos: The Fly (1986)


I have more where that came from.

 

[Jennywocky]

I finished "The Eyes of My Mother" but in some ways it felt very clinical and I never got a sense of why Fransisca did what she did... beautifully rendered, beautiful ambiance (of very dark behavior), but kind of dissatisfying in that I just couldn't really "get" her. I was just watching this film unfold but from a distance (figuratively AND literally, there are some inexplicably "long" shots in this film that reduce the characters to specks).

I also did watch "Evolution" (2015), although I can't find the person here I had talked to about it who really had enjoyed it. It's very much art-house, the way it looks and feels... and it's experiential rather than something easily dissected and pinpointed, in the kind of "out of society" town on the edge of the beach, all boy children, all female adults, the hospital, the nurses and weird experiments, the water episodes, the way red is used in the film. Again, I appreciated the constancy of vision and the craftsmanship, yet I walk away at the end without really having anything I can even discuss or think about, to find a meaning or reason for.

Spoiler

I guess... the boys had been kidnapped by the nurses or sold to them? ANd they were implanted with ... creatures? Who would hibernate in there? And then get removed? Or maybe the boys just evolved to reproduce this way? Before reaching maturation? And the nurses had suckers on their backs and could breathe underwater... because they were evolving... into something? But why? or what part of humanity? And apparently this was just a little group because regular culture was okay? And.. why no men? or girls? And... and... and...? Lots of questions here.

(At least in "Under the Skin" I could grasp what was going on, what the lead was trying to accomplish, and dissect some of the experiences and draw some conclusions from them.)

I also watched Napolean Dynamite for the first time. Don't get me wrong, I love goofy movies and have many of them. (Hell, I even liked parts of Movie 43, which seems to be universally panned.) I could even laugh at Dumb and Dumber, but that's more "Goofy and Goofier" rather than just being, well, DUMB. ND is actually dumb... so dumb that this is what generates some of the laugh -- like I'm watching so dumb and pointless and flat that it's incredibly horrible, and I end up laughing. I guess that does take some intent and skill on the actors and writers parts, but I'm not sure I could ever sit through this movie again, even though I can talk about parts of it to people who liked it. I will admit the skill involved in the climactic dance number plays very nicely compared to the awful "blahness" of the rest of the film, it's so skillful that it kind of left me stunned, which is the response of the audience watching it as well.

I mean, so dumb... except now it's making me laugh again at the dumbness, like when I imagine an exasperated ND spooning food angrily over the fence and snapping, "Eat your dinner, Tina!" Tina is a llama. Because llamas make everything funnier. Or the stupid karate school in town with the lousy in-your-face instructor with no real skills, that plays into something later. Or ND's brother Kip's (?) internet girlfriend who ends up being a hawt black woman who is all over this scrawny white guy and dresses him in black gangster gear as part of their hawt moments together, and the stupid time machine they ordered off the internet that only (duh) electrifies the moron dumb enough to try it, and...

It's such a bizarre comedy that way.

 

[Reluctantly]

Huh, so I saw Ghost in the Shell. I thought it was good, if you get rid of the narrow-minded conclusions she makes at the end of the movie. I guess people complained that it wasn't philosophical or something, but it did have a story about someone coming to terms with having a machine body and what that means for her identity, so I don't know what people wanted. It was basically about Major coming to terms with her past and present and what it means for her identity kind of story. It could be a great set-up for future films to go deeper into what people wanted I guess.

So I don't really get the hate or people saying it was all shell and no ghost. I almost didn't see it because of that. But I didn't really get into the anime shows. I did see the old 1995 movie and didn't think it was all that much different. The difference seemed nominal; she merged consciousness in that one. This one was about her finding some identity in her new form. Then again, I think I relate a lot with the existential loneliness/emptiness and feelings of being inhuman that she had, so maybe that's why I liked it.

Eh, critics are usually right, but I think they ruined what could have been an interesting movie franchise with their expectations and not judging the movie for what it was.

john wick 2. a pissed introvert going on vengence against the mafia and violent thugs.

i recommend it, but only as a cautionary tale of not what to do in real life.

lol, somebody I used to work with said John Wick reminded them of me. I did immediately relate to his cold, yet passionate anger in the first movie, so maybe that was it. I'll have to see this.

 

[Jennywocky]

The first John Wick was pretty great, and a medium that Keanu works well in -- he's terrible at line delivery, so just hone his physical skills and let him speak through his body.

If he did go a little nuts in the first one, that was understandable, considering how he got the beagle puppy in the first place, the fact his car was the only other thing he had left... and the guy's a professional assassin, for pete's sake. He's a highly honed hammer that only knows how to smack nails, so don't piss him off. It would be different if he was just an accountant with a red stapler who went nuts like that.

The action framing and pacing/editing was pretty great.

I'll be watching the second one when I can get a decent copy for home viewing.

----

Not sure I will do Ghost in the Shell in the theater, but I will definitely watch at some point + watch the anime version as well for comparison...