Puck Beaverton
Banned
Step Brothers is a masterpiece. John C Reily is the GOAT.
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Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| August 2017
- Thread starter Divius
- Start date
blackdevil
Member
thank you all for the suggestions
gonna look these movies up.Saw Passangers today and i dont know why it got so much shi*. It was a beautiful movie. I never felt like i was bored or anything. It was visually stunning. The sets were great, the cast was great. His reason to do what he did was understandable but selfish ofcourse. No wonder there are rumors about Pratt and Law. They are perfect together. Great movie. Would watch it again.
also a recommendation is "Buried" with Ryan Reynolds. Saw it a couple years ago. Its a spanish thriller directed by spanish Filmmaker Rodrigo Cortés. Reynolds buried for 90 minutes. Whats not to love^^ Before that i only saw comedy stuff ( and amityville) with him but this movie made me respect him so much as an actor. There are not many actors who can hold a movie together ALONE . Didnt expect that Reynolds was one of these gifted people. Also it was a great script and director.
Fancy Clown
Member
Samaritan Zatoichi: My man Kenji Misumi, the the most consistent director in the series' large stable, returns to follow up his fairly disappointing entry Zatoichi Challenged -- which played like a less inspired rehash of his earlier pairing of Ichi with a young child in the excellent Fight, Zatoichi, Fight-- with a much more solid entry this time around.
Usually Misumi can be counted on to deliver an Ichi entry that stands apart from the rest by offering a twist, whether its putting him in charge of a defenseless child on the road (Challenged, and Fight), or confining him to one location in a game of cat and mouse (Zatoichi and the Chess Expert), but this time around he fully commits to the formula.
But thankfully being beholden to formula doesn't hold Samaritan Zatoichi back, as it is probably the best use of the Ichi tropes to date; it hits every single one of the elements you've come to expect in the series, but Misumi delivers them with such stylistic panache, and integrates them in the narrative in an actually meaningful way rather than treating them as necessary and expected indulgences.
Misumi also demonstrates yet again perhaps his finest gift: his ability to perfectly balance both the humorous and sorrowful aspects inherent in Ichi's story, and in doing so is able to mine the familiar comedic tropes for dramatic potential. For example he employs the familiar "Ichi schooling some suckers in a carnival game" trope for a lot of laughs before turning it on its head when it causes the lady he's paired with to have surreal, neon soaked flashbacks to Ichi killing in cold blood.
While the being so thoroughly indebted to the formula does hold this one back from the highest echelon of Ichi flicks, it is probably the finest example of what a Zatoichi movie is all about since it hits every single check mark, but in such a thoroughly enjoyable way.
The Ring: Gore Verbinski is basically the sole reason this movie isn't trash. His patience for tension building, and especially his keen aesthetic eye, keep this overlong, overslick studio horror effort at least looking and feeling the worthwhile artistic endeavor.
However, The Ring suffers from exactly the same root problems that I remember affecting the original: despite its pretty killer premise and taught 7 day ticking clock, the investigative aspect that the bulk of the story is built around just isn't very interesting. Prepare for lots of library montages of pouring over newspaper clippings that lead to dull spoken out loud revelations.
The characters aren't so hot either, sadly not even godess Naomi Watts could make me care about her character who is basically defined in this movie as the worlds most neglectful mother.
That style though...
Usually Misumi can be counted on to deliver an Ichi entry that stands apart from the rest by offering a twist, whether its putting him in charge of a defenseless child on the road (Challenged, and Fight), or confining him to one location in a game of cat and mouse (Zatoichi and the Chess Expert), but this time around he fully commits to the formula.
But thankfully being beholden to formula doesn't hold Samaritan Zatoichi back, as it is probably the best use of the Ichi tropes to date; it hits every single one of the elements you've come to expect in the series, but Misumi delivers them with such stylistic panache, and integrates them in the narrative in an actually meaningful way rather than treating them as necessary and expected indulgences.
Misumi also demonstrates yet again perhaps his finest gift: his ability to perfectly balance both the humorous and sorrowful aspects inherent in Ichi's story, and in doing so is able to mine the familiar comedic tropes for dramatic potential. For example he employs the familiar "Ichi schooling some suckers in a carnival game" trope for a lot of laughs before turning it on its head when it causes the lady he's paired with to have surreal, neon soaked flashbacks to Ichi killing in cold blood.
While the being so thoroughly indebted to the formula does hold this one back from the highest echelon of Ichi flicks, it is probably the finest example of what a Zatoichi movie is all about since it hits every single check mark, but in such a thoroughly enjoyable way.
The Ring: Gore Verbinski is basically the sole reason this movie isn't trash. His patience for tension building, and especially his keen aesthetic eye, keep this overlong, overslick studio horror effort at least looking and feeling the worthwhile artistic endeavor.
However, The Ring suffers from exactly the same root problems that I remember affecting the original: despite its pretty killer premise and taught 7 day ticking clock, the investigative aspect that the bulk of the story is built around just isn't very interesting. Prepare for lots of library montages of pouring over newspaper clippings that lead to dull spoken out loud revelations.
The characters aren't so hot either, sadly not even godess Naomi Watts could make me care about her character who is basically defined in this movie as the worlds most neglectful mother.
That style though...
Cripplegate
Member
Maybe not startling, but I'll take this opportunity to once again recommend Michael Mann's 70's TV movie, The Jericho Mile, which is certainly quality.
Net_Wrecker
Member
Yeah, The Jericho Mile is solid. You can still see echos of that through his most recent work.
AngmarsKing701
Member
The Martian - rewatch. Really enjoy this movie. Wonderfully shot, great cinematography of Mars, enjoyable cast putting in solid performances. Probably gonna add it to my 4k list at some point.
Messofanego
Banned
Double up with The Emoji Movie, which is rocking a real chill 8% Tomatometer. I'm guessing there aren't any actually good movies out that you haven't seen already?
He's doing a quad viewing along with A Ghost Story, An Inconvenient Truth 2 and Annabelle: Creation.
btw can movieGAF agree that GotG2 is garbage? Or are we still liking all things marvel?
Net_Wrecker
Member
First of all when have we ever liked all things marvel? Lol
Second, I thought GOTG2 was a clear step down but a lot of people seem to disagree with that so idk. "Garbage" is a bit strong, but yeah, I already forgot it exists.
Messofanego
Banned
Ah, that's a bit better. I had almost forgotten GotG 2. The only things I remember about it are the planet tripping, too much tree dude pandering, and lots of forced sentimentality. Still hyped for Thor Ragnarok cause of Taika, and Black Panther.
I'm of the same mind with James Gunn as I am with Sam Mendes. I didn't appreciate their franchise endeavours.
Discotheque
Banned
It was ok. That patented 6/10 whatever marvel movie but with better jokes than usual (and some misfires as well). Plus kurt russell
A step down from the first tho easy
b&jy77VjiKn$#F
Member
Met the director of Kong the other day. Dude's a cool dude.
Messofanego
Banned
The King Of Kong? King Kong (2005)? Kong: Skull Island?
b&jy77VjiKn$#F
Member
Oh, I should have specified. I met Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who made Kong: Skull Island this year.
HollowCentral
Member
MovieGAF may not like it, but I did. I thought it was slightly better than the first one, in fact. Because they had already introduced these weird crazy characters, they were able to go even further this time, which I appreciated. I was also able to identify with the story a lot personally, and I thought they were able to give an emotional ending without it feeling cheesy. Plus, the villain didn't suck donkey dong this time. And it has probably my favorite scene in any Marvel movie yet (
Yondu, Rocket & Groot's escape from the Ravagers
Still not as good as Spider-Man: Homecoming, though.
Saw The Beguiled the other day and it was pretty good. Couldn't help feeling it could have ended a little better, maybe taken another direction once in the third act. Duno. 8/10
Wind River is playing atm at a close by theatre, anyone seen this? Trailer looks a bit ho-hum but have read it's great. Taylor Sheridan writer of Sicario, Hell or High Water etc. etc.
Seeing The Killing of a Sacred Deer on Monday. That'll be my second dose of Colin Farrell and Kidman in a movie together, in the span of a week. lol
Hype!
Wind River is playing atm at a close by theatre, anyone seen this? Trailer looks a bit ho-hum but have read it's great. Taylor Sheridan writer of Sicario, Hell or High Water etc. etc.
Seeing The Killing of a Sacred Deer on Monday. That'll be my second dose of Colin Farrell and Kidman in a movie together, in the span of a week. lol
Hype!
Are you sure you're in the right thread?
Fancy Clown
Member
Word, I'll add it to the list!
AngmarsKing701
Member
GotG 2 wasn't garbage but it was a clear step down from the first. Some of that is expectation though. The first came out of nowhere. The second was expected to be great and didn't live up to the hype.
Fancy Clown
Member
GoG2 was the same 6/10 level as the first one to me. It was more bloated and somehow even worse with characters describing exactly how they're feeling at every moment, but Kurt Russell carried a lot of scenes.
The Nut Job 2 - 4.1/10 - It's not very good at all BUT it is a mild improvement over the original for a number of reasons; there's no shitty Gangnam Style nonsense anywhere, it's got Peter Stormare and Jackie Chan in it, and that AWFUL fart joke from the trailer was actually cut from the final film. Could've done without the scene where a dog eats another dog's vomit though.
More boring than anything, really. But it's certainly nowhere near as terrible as The Emoji Movie.
More boring than anything, really. But it's certainly nowhere near as terrible as The Emoji Movie.
Well, i can agree that GoTG2 was very much forgettable and Spiderman Homecoming was trash.
Inferno313
Banned
Yeah, I agree. I liked Gotg Vol. 2 a little more than the first one. I appreciated that it was a more character driven narrative. The first film feels like Star-Lord's introduction to the rest of the Guardians, while this film felt more like it was about all of the Guardians. Which works in my favor, as Star-Lord is probably my least favorite character in those movies.
Like practically any tentpole sequel since the 80s, it feels like it draws a lot from ESB. However, I think what I really appreciated was that where most films see that as "go darker" this film realizes that ESB's success doesn't come from it's darker tone but it's greater exploration of character.
Surprisingly, liking Marvel/Disney movies and also having wider tastes in movies are not mutually exclusive!
##
A Pistol for Ringo
As far as standard spaghetti westerns go, this one was pretty solid. When it comes to the Tessari/Gemma Ringo films, most of the attention goes toward its sequel, The Return of Ringo, and I can see why -- it's darker, the story has a little more weight to it, the shootouts are better constructed. But I think I actually preferred this one. Both Gemma and the film itself carry a kind of easygoing charm, and characters that feel totally ridiculous for much of the runtime -- like the villain Sancho, or the old man's courtship of the female bandit -- end up being sort of affecting in their own way. Easy to see how this movie made Gemma into a star. This was one of the first spaghetti westerns made, and the first successful one to hit after A Fistful of Dollars (and before Leone's followup), so it's interesting to see how this movie differs from what would become the standard genre formula -- there's a much cleaner, more American-like aesthetic to the film, and Gemma's character is not the grizzled, no-nonsense, man-of-few-words gunslinger that Clint Eastwood was. This also might be why Tessari and Gemma moved in a grittier direction with The Return of Ringo, by which point the Leone formula had likely been baked in as as the de facto look and feel of the spaghetti western.
7/10
King Kong (1933)
The creature effects are pretty impressive, even for today let alone fucking 1933. I was surprised at how much of the movie takes place on the island and how relatively little happens in NYC, given how famous the ending is. The human element was actually pretty okay, given how it's almost always the weak link in giant monster movies. The rampant casual misogyny was hilarious. "But Jack, you hate women!"
7/10
Navajo Joe
Great score! The two tracks that Tarantino lifted from here for Kill Bill have got to be among the best produced by Morricone (who is hilariously credited here as 'Leo Nichols'). The rest of the film was so-so. There's some good action and the villain is effectively menacing, but I never really bought Joe as a strong lead. And it's not just because the idea of tanned Burt Reynolds + wig = Native American is ridiculous. His character was just never all that interesting (the fact that he's Native American barely matters at all), and Reynolds isn't giving off enough of a personality or a swagger here to make up for his underwritten character, the way that so many others -- Eastwood, Van Cleef, Nero, etc. -- often successfully did in spaghetti westerns.
6/10
Rhomega Beta
Member
I Am Not Your Negro: I'm not sure what to make of this movie. Mostly because the narration is one big speech by James Baldwin, and those have a hard time keeping my focus. It's about racism in America, but it's not necessarily a straight history of it. It does show me examples of movies I haven't seen before. We can't turn away from the ugly side of our history.
HollowCentral
Member
Pawn Sacrifice (2014)
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg
Director: Edward Zwick
Who would've thought that watching people play chess could be this engaging? Biopics are tricky to pull off. You have to take the historical aspect into account, as well as create an entertaining film to boot. This is an example of all the pieces falling into place. And it's all pulled together by an excellent screenplay and powerful performances by Tobey Maguire and Liev Schreiber, who play off of each other incredibly well and kept me engaged the entire time. Peter Sarsgaard and Michael Stuhlbarg also do a great job, with Sarsgaard being the standout. Unfortunately, some of the technical aspects weren't as polished as they could've been. There were far too many sequences of simply traveling, and some of the editing was a little wonky, with characters teleporting around for no apparent reason. But really, this is just a well crafted and well put together film that feels thrilling and engaging from beginning to end.
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg
Director: Edward Zwick
Who would've thought that watching people play chess could be this engaging? Biopics are tricky to pull off. You have to take the historical aspect into account, as well as create an entertaining film to boot. This is an example of all the pieces falling into place. And it's all pulled together by an excellent screenplay and powerful performances by Tobey Maguire and Liev Schreiber, who play off of each other incredibly well and kept me engaged the entire time. Peter Sarsgaard and Michael Stuhlbarg also do a great job, with Sarsgaard being the standout. Unfortunately, some of the technical aspects weren't as polished as they could've been. There were far too many sequences of simply traveling, and some of the editing was a little wonky, with characters teleporting around for no apparent reason. But really, this is just a well crafted and well put together film that feels thrilling and engaging from beginning to end.
Would you recommend it? I've been holding off on watching it for a while now.
A Ghost Story (2017) - 7.7/10 - What a wild ride this movie was. The first half definitely had me getting a bit exasperated with some of the obnoxiously long takes,
, but the overall atmosphere was incredible and it really picked up in the second half when
.
Not really sure what to make of the ending
, but it was powerful and sad and really left me feeling like I just saw something like nothing else out there.
I'm pretty mixed on Lowery generally but this is easily my favourite of his movies. Glad I didn't watch or read much about it as the second half totally blindsided me. Really ambitious stuff and one of the few movies I actually want to watch a second time.
But the pie scene was amazing
Lowery had the balls to ditch Rooney Mara for half an hour.
Not really sure what to make of the ending
I thought the pilgrim scene was supposed to be a flash-forward to a post-apocalyptic society where everyone has become basic again, especially with the girl humming just like that guy said...but then it reverted back to the house so I dunno what to believe
I'm pretty mixed on Lowery generally but this is easily my favourite of his movies. Glad I didn't watch or read much about it as the second half totally blindsided me. Really ambitious stuff and one of the few movies I actually want to watch a second time.
Rhomega Beta
Member
Sure, if you're in the mood for watching a movie about racism from the perspective of a black man.
Inferno313
Banned
I'm overdue for a rewatch of this. Saw it for the first time maybe 4-5 years ago, after having already seen most of the remakes. Totally agree with everything you wrote. It's really damn watchable, and it has some surprisingly strong story-telling for the type of film that it is. Though yeah, the misogyny is rough.
Entourage
A movie about excess by being excess itself, but not being clever enough to comment on that snake/tail conundrum. It is certainly a bigger budget version of the show. All these years removed, I had liked its first couple of seasons and came to dislike it in its later years. The movie is incredibly close to those later years. Unnecessary cameos, characters given so much slack for their incompetency or flat out creepiness... but when you really stand back and think about the events of the movie, it's mind-boggling. Someone having a crush on someone else is basically the threat of the movie. It's fine, I guess, a harmless movie in the long run. But it doesn't exactly try hard to comment on the film world, so it's also disappointing.
A movie about excess by being excess itself, but not being clever enough to comment on that snake/tail conundrum. It is certainly a bigger budget version of the show. All these years removed, I had liked its first couple of seasons and came to dislike it in its later years. The movie is incredibly close to those later years. Unnecessary cameos, characters given so much slack for their incompetency or flat out creepiness... but when you really stand back and think about the events of the movie, it's mind-boggling. Someone having a crush on someone else is basically the threat of the movie. It's fine, I guess, a harmless movie in the long run. But it doesn't exactly try hard to comment on the film world, so it's also disappointing.
HollowCentral
Member
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Starring: Peter Lorre, Leslie Banks, Edna Best
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
For a movie from the 30s, this movie holds up surprisingly well. It's not perfect, but it's definitely watchable. Hitchcock was clearly miles ahead of everyone else at this time. The writing is superb, with plenty of good twists and turns. The acting especially shocked me with how good it was, even though most of them are clearly still stage acting, so their actions are much more animated and less subtle. Of course it's dated, so there are some parts that don't quite hold up.
And the sound effects specifically were incredibly inconsistent. I did enjoy it, but I'm really interested to see Hitchcock's remake from the 50s, where some aspects were most certainly improved on.
Starring: Peter Lorre, Leslie Banks, Edna Best
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
For a movie from the 30s, this movie holds up surprisingly well. It's not perfect, but it's definitely watchable. Hitchcock was clearly miles ahead of everyone else at this time. The writing is superb, with plenty of good twists and turns. The acting especially shocked me with how good it was, even though most of them are clearly still stage acting, so their actions are much more animated and less subtle. Of course it's dated, so there are some parts that don't quite hold up.
Specifically, the scene where the two men were singing in the church was really unintentionally funny to me, even though the rest of that scene ended up being remarkable for the time it was made.
I actually prefer the original to the remake. I couldn't tell you why exactly.
To be honest, I prefer most of Hitchcock's black and white films to his colour.
Alien Covenant - Nope. Lost me 40 minutes in. At least the crew of Prometheus didn't jump off their ship without helmets and gear and waited a bit before utter stupidity. For me to buy a movie like this, I have to buy that people are stupid and I just can't because when they're stupid I actively want them to die.
All it has to do is what the original did - have it be an accident that gets them exposed. That's it. I just got hung up on this and stopped caring. It becomes a creature feature soon enough anyways so not as though I felt like it was trying something new or interesting. The Alien series needs to just die.
The Void - A movie where I think the reach exceeded its grasp, but I do like the space it was trying to work in - that throwback era of creepy weird tense body-horror that Cronenberg or Carpenter used to be big on. That and it does a good job mixing in the ideas and tone of HP Lovecraft, but that's all it manages to really do outside of a few well-done gore or creepy scenes. Characters don't really go anywhere, acting is all over the map, it's super rushed and sloppy in the first 20 minutes or so and (and I'm sure budget of effects had much to do with it) some of the directing and shots are outright awful and confusing.
I think, with a better director with a good handle of the script, it could have been a cult classic but never gets near that and instead comes across as John Carpenter light - Ok taste and never filling.
All it has to do is what the original did - have it be an accident that gets them exposed. That's it. I just got hung up on this and stopped caring. It becomes a creature feature soon enough anyways so not as though I felt like it was trying something new or interesting. The Alien series needs to just die.
The Void - A movie where I think the reach exceeded its grasp, but I do like the space it was trying to work in - that throwback era of creepy weird tense body-horror that Cronenberg or Carpenter used to be big on. That and it does a good job mixing in the ideas and tone of HP Lovecraft, but that's all it manages to really do outside of a few well-done gore or creepy scenes. Characters don't really go anywhere, acting is all over the map, it's super rushed and sloppy in the first 20 minutes or so and (and I'm sure budget of effects had much to do with it) some of the directing and shots are outright awful and confusing.
I think, with a better director with a good handle of the script, it could have been a cult classic but never gets near that and instead comes across as John Carpenter light - Ok taste and never filling.
HollowCentral
Member
Or, you know, get people who know what the fuck to do with it
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad: It was probably rather hard to buy into the likes of John Philip Law, Tom Baker and Caroline Munro (among others) as having a drop of Arabic blood in them even back in 1973, which should tell you just how well that aspect has aged in 2017. That being said, the cultural appropriation is the least of its worries, as there's a nagging feeling that there was a 75-80 minute film here that goes on for 20 minutes more than it needed to, as evidenced by scenes that drag on long after their utility to the thin plot has expired. In that sense, this can feel a bit self-indulgent for Harryhausen, as his always technically marvelous creations hog up too much of the screen here. A strange thing to complain that a Harryhausen creation should be pared back, but it really would have done wonders for the pacing here. They are still rather impressive to see in motion, particularly the mind-boggling complexity of the Shiva statue with all those moving limbs, and the production values are rather nice for the budget, with solid costuming and neat sets to show for it, all set to another rousing Miklos Rozsa score. And at the risk as coming off too skeevy, there cannot be enough thanks to the people involved with Caroline Munro's clothing, or lack thereof, as she often finds herself drawing all the attention away from scenes as fantastic as a cyclops-centaur battling to the death with a griffon! Overall, it's got the usual charm one expects from a Schneer/Harryhausen production, but this one gets to be too bogged down to be remotely essential.
Fancy Clown
Member
I don't think there really is anything you can do with the series and not have it feel either goofy or like a total rehash tbh. The alien has been thoroughly demystified and diffused through pop culture so it's not scary anymore, and the world that was created was one that thrived on the fact that we didn't know much about it, it doesn't really have the infrastructure for interesting world-building stories. Once Ripley's story finished there was nothing left to tell.
Covenant was fun gothic B-movie schlock tho and I'll keep watching them of course.
Yep.
Edit: I think there's better b-movie schlock being made TBH. The Alien series should maybe go full-on cheesy b-movie if that's what they want, but it's always trying to be overly-philosophical if not biblical.
HollowCentral
Member
I love how every superhero movie has a gag reel on the special features. It's great seeing actors, who are in a big-budget film, just goofing off once in awhile.
Yeah, I guess you're right.
mariachi507
Member
I believe the story goes that after Spielberg turned in his edit for television, the people in charge saw it and threw him the money to make it feature length. I'm with you in that there's no TV movie that tops it.
pauljeremiah
Gold Member
I was thinking of starting a personal film challenge in a few weeks. One new movie everyday for one year, so 365 films over 365 days, and write a review of each movie as I watch them, even if the review is a paragraph or two.
I have a load of films in my blu-ray pile of shame and I was thinking something like this could motivate me to watch them, this will also includes films via iTunes, Netflix and visits to the cinema. It just has to be a film I've never seen before, rewatching doesn't count. TV series don't count either.
Thoughts?
I have a load of films in my blu-ray pile of shame and I was thinking something like this could motivate me to watch them, this will also includes films via iTunes, Netflix and visits to the cinema. It just has to be a film I've never seen before, rewatching doesn't count. TV series don't count either.
Thoughts?
Baroquemantic
Member
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
That was awesome. Baby Groot is the most adorable thing ever.
9/10
That was awesome. Baby Groot is the most adorable thing ever.
9/10
As someone that keeps doing it, do it.
Fancy Clown
Member
Did something similar years ago when I had a website and did reviews. Would watch two or three during the week then make up the rest on the weekend (or go ahead of schedule if I think the next week might be too busy).
Once you get into a schedule it's easy.
Definitely go for it! Once you settle into a habit, or double up on movies on days off or weekends, that pile of shame will shrink fairly quickly!