Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted March 1 Paid Members Share Posted March 1 Memory - I really liked this. It starts with Jessica Chastain's character being followed home from a party by Peter Sarsgaard - plot-wise, I don't really want to say much more than that as it takes a few turns and never goes in the direction I expected. Also does a good job of not sensationalising it's later plot developments. Both central performances are terrific. Mean Girls - I don't really see the point in this. Take the original movie with the exact same jokes, story beats and dialogue and add a few songs? It's absolutely fine, but that's because the original is so good. I would've preferred a looser remake but it is what it is. Some of the songs are pretty good, too. All Of Us Strangers - Seen it referred to as hauntingly beautiful, and that pretty much hits the nail on the head. Andrew Scott is so good. Spoiler The scene with his dad apologising for not coming into his room to comfort him as a child broke me. Occupied City - I'm in two minds about this, to be honest. I think that the filmmakers intention was to make something that almost beats you down with a long list of Nazi atrocities until you feel desensitized to it. The mundane matter-of-fact narration, length and the central gimmick of detailing what the Nazis did and juxtaposing it with day-to-day life now all adds up to make the film itself feel like an oppressive force. The biggest drawback is it's length, obviously - it could've got the same message across in half the time. And there's weird parallel shots of covid vaccine protests and the like which just muddies it's waters, for me. It's obviously a very well put-together piece of work but I'll never watch it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Alan Grant Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Smokey And The Bandit (first watch) - hoo boy, young Sally Field. Dang. She better be in the sequels. 3/5 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - I like Namor, I do not like Shuri. They should have recast Boseman. 3/5 Inglourious Basterds - the more times I watch this, the more I love it. There’s something incredibly satisfying watching Christoph Waltz drink milk and eat strudel. 5/5 Poor Things (first watch) - this was unsettling, funny (Emma Stone stabbing a cadaver in the face and Willem Dafoe burping gaseous orbs) and unique. I loved it. 5/5 Godzilla Vs Kong - yeah, it’s dumb as fuck and nothing makes sense. But dammit, I want to see Kong smash Godzilla with his magic blue axe. 4/5 Desperado - I remember thinking this was the coolest film ever when I was a teenager. It hasn’t aged particularly well. Still, it must be a contender for the film with the sexiest main characters. 3/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted March 3 Paid Members Share Posted March 3 Desperado is fucking great for about 15 minutes then boring as sin for the rest of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 If Desparado has aged badly I dread to think what the sequel would view like now. Still, both are a step up from the terrible kids films with some of the worse special effects I’ve ever seen he’s gone on to specialize in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Statto Posted March 3 Paid Members Share Posted March 3 6 hours ago, Dr. Alan Grant said: Smokey And The Bandit (first watch) - hoo boy, young Sally Field. Dang. She better be in the sequels. 3/5 As it's your first time I hope you got the proper version rather than the heavily edited/dubbed for a PG rating version that seems ubiquitous these days. Last time I watched it was on Sky Movies and it was the first time I'd seen the proper movie for years. Both the VHS & DVD copies I own are the PG version cos it seemed impossible to get the original anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Alan Grant Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 11 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said: If Desparado has aged badly I dread to think what the sequel would view like now. Still, both are a step up from the terrible kids films with some of the worse special effects I’ve ever seen he’s gone on to specialize in. I remember it being convoluted and having far too much Johnny Depp in it. Sin City is the last decent Rodriguez film I can think of. 9 minutes ago, Statto said: As it's your first time I hope you got the proper version rather than the heavily edited/dubbed for a PG rating version that seems ubiquitous these days. Last time I watched it was on Sky Movies and it was the first time I'd seen the proper movie for years. Both the VHS & DVD copies I own are the PG version cos it seemed impossible to get the original anywhere. I recorded it on Sky, possibly ITV4 so who knows. If there is a different version with more Sally Field, I may be interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merzbow Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 (edited) Affliction (1997): Back to the topic of depressing, dark and bleak cinema, this might now be my fav Schrader film after Mishima. Nick Nolte was perfectly cast in it, playing the long winding dive of his mental state without making a mockery of it and James Coburn is a magnificantly horrible piece of shit. Lisa Frankenstein: It's not great and feels really disjointed with a fair few odd production choices making it seem a little sterile or even dull at times but I can't say there's zero charm there, I can see this getting a bit of a cult following especially among goth girls.. Still better than any recent Tim Burton shit, which it kinda wants to be. Edited March 3 by Merzbow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted March 3 Paid Members Share Posted March 3 1 hour ago, Mr_Danger said: If Desparado has aged badly I dread to think what the sequel would view like now. I watched it a couple of years ago and it was shite. Rodriguez's only good films are The Faculty and El Mariachi. 29 minutes ago, Merzbow said: Affliction (1997): Back to the topic of depressing, dark and bleak cinema, this might now be my fav Schrader film after Mishima. Nick Nolte was perfectly cast in it, playing the long winding dive of his mental state without making a mockery of it and James Coburn is a magnificantly horrible piece of shit. Watched this a few months ago for the first time and it's superb. Schrader's slowly become one oif my favourites over the last few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merzbow Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 1 hour ago, Devon Malcolm said: The Faculty I think that may have genuinely been my fav film ever for a few weeks when I was a teenager, until I saw Go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 32 minutes ago, Merzbow said: I think that may have genuinely been my fav film ever for a few weeks when I was a teenager, until I saw Go. Absolutely. I rewatched it last year and it still holds up, just a massive load of fun. And Go is still great too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Year Of The Dragon (1985, Michael Cimino) This popped up on Amazon and I was intrigued as Cimino seems like one of those forgotten Hollywood directors, particularly since Heaven's Gate got retconned as a Great American Movie. Plus, it's starring Mickey Rourke and I love his work. You can see exactly what this film was meant to be - a kind of Chinese version of The Godfather, and Cimino creates and shoots a fantastic Chinatown, full of detail and characters. It's a cracking cast too - not only Rourke but Raymond J Barry (Rayland's Dad in Justified), Eddie Jones, Tony Lip (Carmine from Sopranos), Leonard Termo - lots of great character actors. And the female lead, Ariane, is one of the most attractive people I've ever seen. There's lots of great action too - some wonderful chases and shootouts, and the film is very atmospheric with little music apart from that coming from the world. But it's mainly a really BAD film, sadly. The script is awful and hugely racist throughout - not just in a "these characters are racists" but with lots of awful racial stereotyping including Ariane, who exists in the film only as an Asian chick for Rourke to force himself on. The potentially really interesting story of the existence of Triads in New York is completely overshadowed by the main character played by Rourke who is a terrible, terrible person - cruel, racist, violent, out of control and utterly destructive to all around him. About half of the film seems to revolve around his deteriorating relationship with his wife, which is honestly very boring and sits awkwardly with everything else. He's probably meant to be an anti-hero but gets the Hollywood hero "walk off whilst snogging heroine" ending so who knows? Everybody dies, nothing gets solved, it's a really awkward ending to a really awkward film. You can see why Cimino slipped into relative obscurity. Heaven's Gate was a huge flop and this was just a mess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator Frankie Crisp Posted March 4 Author Awards Moderator Share Posted March 4 (edited) The local Picturehouse had a screening of The Thing on Friday and bloody hell, it was just so good to watch after so many years. Kurt Russell is obviously the star of the show and whilst most cast members deliver a great showing, Wilford Brimley had me smiling from ear-to-ear. I’d somehow forgotten how good he was in this getting more and more unhinged. One of the aspects I love about the film is the lack of build-up/suspense in some scenes - they just go straight into the ‘fucking hell, that’s grim’ - but then there’s perfect suspense in other scenes when you’re waiting for something to make you jump, but it doesn’t happen. You just don’t know what’s coming next and the story is so much better for it. It’s a 5-star film and I’m annoyed with myself for waiting so long to watch it again. I’ve also watched 13 shark films in the last few weeks with an average of 2.1/5. Without Jaws and Jaws 2, that average would be 1.77/5 so I’ll understandably not waste my time reviewing them. Just don’t watch Maneater. It’s worse than Joel Ward. Edited March 4 by Frankie Crisp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted March 4 Paid Members Share Posted March 4 1 hour ago, Frankie Crisp said: I’ve also watch 13 shark films in the last few weeks with an average of 2.1/5. Sorry about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Black Friday I imagine shopping on Black Friday would be preferable to this. Some nice practical effects and Michael Jai White though, but overall this was very bad. My partner loves Bruce Campbell and Devon Sawa and even she struggled with this and she sits through every Nic Cage film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator Frankie Crisp Posted March 4 Author Awards Moderator Share Posted March 4 7 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said: Sorry about that. As if you’ve not caused enough mental battery, you’ve just quoted my spelling mistake. Going to have to watch Deep Blue Sea to get over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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