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[Net_Wrecker]

I'm going to order it as well next month, it's going to be a blind buy. I'm looking forward to having my mind snapped in half.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. If you're a fan of Cronenberg, Bergman, Lynch, etc. style psychological dives bordering on (or pretty much outright) horror (as well as like 3 other genres), you should like Possession. I can't stop thinking about it.

 

[MidnightCowboy]

I have a strong urge to purchase Thief while it's still on sale, but I'm on the fence. Idk if I should spend the money and I haven't really watched any of Mann's movies, except for The Insider like 8 years ago.

It looks pretty fucking cool.

 

[Discotheque]

I have a strong urge to purchase Thief while it's still on sale, but I'm on the fence. Idk if I should spend the money and I haven't really watched any of Mann's movies, except for The Insider like 8 years ago.

It looks pretty fucking cool.

Watch heat and rewatch insider asap. Plenty of his other films are pretty damn good too.

Including thief. It's a solid purchase easy.

 

[Death Metalist]

I have a strong urge to purchase Thief while it's still on sale, but I'm on the fence. Idk if I should spend the money and I haven't really watched any of Mann's movies, except for The Insider like 8 years ago.

It looks pretty fucking cool.

It's pretty great especially considering it's his first film. Also, that fucking soundtrack.

 

[Divius]

I have a strong urge to purchase Thief while it's still on sale, but I'm on the fence. Idk if I should spend the money and I haven't really watched any of Mann's movies, except for The Insider like 8 years ago.

It looks pretty fucking cool.

Everyone in this thread will urge you to buy it.

Spoiler

Buy it.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

It's not a new film, but this past weekend, after hearing many recommendations, I saw Into the Wild for the first (and last) time and holy shit it made me so angry. The last film I can recall which made me genuinely angry while watching it was Episode II.

The cinematography is pleasing, the directing and acting are fine, but why in the hell did this story need to be told?

Selfish, spoiled brat from a rich family, who may or may not be a delusional sociopath, treats anyone who cares about him like shit and through shear stubbornness and stupidity gets himself stranded at the end of the world and starves to death.

Seriously, what was the point of this movie? And why did so many people like it? Could someone please explain this to me?

Edit: I actually had to go out and watch another film afterwards just to calm down. Incidentally, Zootopia is delightful.

 

[True Savior]

I thought Currygan had stopped watching movies.

 

[User 479360]

I couldn't sleep, and saw that The Giver was on TMN. Little else was, and the movie mildly interested me, so I decided to give it a shot. Overall, it was better than expected. Nothing special, but not bad by any means -- interesting, though predictable.

Odeya Rush is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen.

 

[Bamboo]

Seriously, what was the point of this movie? And why did so many people like it? Could someone please explain this to me?

Thank you. I have different issues with hit, but also hated it passionately. I think the story of someone breaking out of his life can be interesting (to give you an answer on why it should be of anyone's interest). But telling the story in the mode of a interchangable and simple sob story feels very wrong. That pretentious ending was the worst. It was actually not that bad until you have that slomo of the father breaking down with string music to underline his incredible sadness. Boohoo, sad. But props to Kristen Stewart, she's amazing in her role.

Incidentally, there a two films about people breaking away from society that I recently saw that do it way better. Sans toit ni loi / Vagabond by Agnès Varda and Wendy and Lucy by Kelly Reichardt. They are more careful, less convenient and more radical in their approach. They are not telling their story half-assed somewhere between non-conformism and mainstream, but go all the way. And they're more open. Into the Wild has no real ambiguity, some concerns here and there, but it's ultimately just a sweetish dream of an outbreak - like a vacation of a film. The others are less pleasing but therefore even more powerful and beautiful.

 

[Fancy Clown]

I have a strong urge to purchase Thief while it's still on sale, but I'm on the fence. Idk if I should spend the money and I haven't really watched any of Mann's movies, except for The Insider like 8 years ago.

It looks pretty fucking cool.

Definitely buy it. It's as fucking cool as you think it is, and the blu looks incredible

 

[smudge]

Finally got round to watching Only Lovers Left Alive after owning it for some months. Certainly not for everyone being a Jim Jarmusch film, but it has Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton as vampires, bonus John Hurt too. Also has Anton Yelchin, its a great cast for a film which probably not that well known. I thought it was great but then I am biased when it comes to Jim Jarmusch films.

 

[Currygan]

I thought Currygan had stopped watching movies.

slowed down a lot, yeah. it's been a very stressful last few months and it doesn't seem to end

 

[AmaterasuOni]

I saw Jason Bourne yesterday. Decent action flick, but the worst Bourne movie. Plot was stupid and the twist was a cliffhanger.

A bit on the dumber side.

 

[User 479360]

I doubt it will be a masterpiece or anywhere close, but the premise of Nerve has me intrigued. I may go see it this weekend if the reviews are good, but I also still need to go see Lights Out. The night I was going to go, a friend needed my help with something and it took longer than expected.

No big deal, though.

I'd hoped to maybe do a double feature on Friday, but there are two local theatres and each one seems to only be playing one of the movies. The theatres are 20 minutes apart, and one is more costly. Both are owned by Cineplex.

Nerve gives a lot away in its trailer, though...

 

[NealMcCauley]

Apocalypto - 7.5/10

Watched this for the first time since I saw it in the theaters (almost ten years ago!). I've been on a bit of a Gibson kick after rewatching the Lethal Weapon movies on Netflix. Great action, beautiful to look at, and some genuine thrills. Amazingly I had completely missed out on the

Spoiler

pyramid sacrifices being more of a show to entertain/control the people than actually being in praise of the sun god

when I first saw it.

The only thing that's really aged is the early digital cinematography. Most of the time it looks spectacular but there are a few shots every now and then that look like something out of a Michael Mann film in how "video-y" they are. They just stick out like a sore thumb.

Apparently the movie's been out of print since Gibson's 2010 meltdown so it's difficult if not impossible to find. I found a used dvd for $6 at a local store, but the blu starts at $200 online last I checked.

 

[Blader]

The Great Dictator
Okay, but not terribly endearing or anything the way his silents are. When he's playing the boisterous, over-the-top Hitler parody, Chaplin's performance works; when he's playing the Jewish barber, he sounds really off, but maybe that's just a growing pain of never having done a talkie before. The famous ending speech feels kind of out of place, even if the sentiment at the time (and hell, still today) is an important one.
3/5

Star Trek Beyond
A solid, fun sci-fi action blockbuster. It feels like a TV episode blown up to feature length, and while I can see why that appeals to a lot of old-school Trek fans, the story feels a bit too inconsequential to me by the end of it. Still, it's a great cast having a lot of fun on screen (though Zoe Saldana feels very underutilized) and some nice throwbacks to the old canon without having trying to force the fanservice as hard as JJ's films did. Justin Lin does a good job of taking the reins and emphasizing character interplay, though there's still plenty of action (and the

Spoiler

Beastie Boys music cue/plot device

, while totally ridiculous, is still kind of hype). I liked it, but I may be the lone person who thinks Into Darkness is the best of this series so far.
3.5/5

 

[jett]

Hardcore Henry

The movie equivalent of a AAA gaming title: A vapid, shallow, fleeting experience with a garbage story. I was honestly bored throughout most of it. This first-person gimmick ain't for me, and I for one am glad the movie didn't catch on. This shit is the last thing we need.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

Star Trek Beyond: Some would say this is like a feature-length version of a TV episode, and I might agree...if this were like a season bookend 2-parter. I'll start off by saying the visuals are great, such as the Enterprise in warp, the nebula, and Yorktown Station (which looks like a place I'd like to live). Captain Kirk has matured since his last outing, and acts like the Captain he should be. There's also the classic relationship between Spock and McCoy. Speaking of Spock, yes, Leonard Nimoy's death (and thus Ambassador Spock's death) is a character point for him. The weak point is the villain, who comes off as Hostile Species #612, and when his true motives are revealed, he just feels generic. Still, this is a good movie. Not one of the greatest, but it's good. There's also an off-handed reference to Spectre of the Gun.

Ghostbusters (2016): Don't let the trailers fool you. I was surprised how much I liked this movie. Bear in mind, this movie is a reboot, not a remake, so there is a different plot line here. Abbey and Holtzman are jerks at first, but they do get better as the movie goes on. There are cameos, but there are other call-backs like Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. The CGI does help the ghosts look better. The Ghostbusters do have a camera and upload their videos to YouTube...which makes me surprised when, while people call them out as fake, no one thinks of them as amateur filmmakers with impressive CG artists. The real show stealer is Chris Hemsworth, who is actually more interesting than Janine, even if he's dumber than a bag of rocks. I also enjoyed the end credits sequence (the only other movies I can say that to are Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Top Gun), which is good because there's a post-credits scene. I also like Walk The Moon's version of the theme song, Fall Out Boy's not so much.

 

[Ydelnae]

Just finished 'The Skin I Live In'. A shame that I saw the twist coming halfway through the film, but it was so fucked up and absurd that it was totally worth it.

 

[old manatee]

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: This movie was pretty bad, but it was a more serious role for Tina Fey and she nailed it.

I hope this does to her career what Little Miss Sunshine did to Steve Carrell's career. She should be in more than just comedies.

 

[Currygan]

Legend of Tarzan
I wanted to go see Star Trek, yet I was dragged to this. Nobody ever gives a shit about what i say. Where were we? Ok..It defines playing it safe, with Yates' typical sedative style. SO boring. The only good thing, probably, is Jackson playing the clumsy sidekick for a change. A shame, since the premise of Tarzan living comfortably his viscount life as John Clayton in London and then going back to Africa was interesting and original. meh

 

[User 479360]

Home Fries: It was on TV, so I decided to check it out. Vince Gilligan wrote it in school. I expected more from him, though, as it was a dumb movie and wasn't very good.

I just coloured while watching it.

 

[Window]

Sleepless in Seattle: I am....conflicted. So much to dislike (continues to be an inspiration to bad romantic TV films) but there's still something here...

 

[JTripper]

Star Trek Beyond: I enjoyed it quite a bit. It might be my favorite of the three simply because of its focus on the main cast. The villain and plot didn't seem very significant or high stakes, but the adventure itself was situationally fun. It also seems like the first in this series to really embrace itself as a purely modern version of the original show, and I appreciate that. Also that moment with

Spoiler

Spock looking through Leonard Nimoy's belongings got me. I thought they handled Nimoy's tribute in the film very tastefully.

 

[omgkitty]

Oldboy - Finally had a chance to rewatch this for the first time since probably 2005 or 2006. This was probably the first foreign language film I had seen, or at least remember seeing, and watching it for the first time is a hell of an experience. I had never seen anything like it at the time, and it hits like a fucking freight train. Unfortunately, at least in a certain sense, the film loses something on repeat viewings. Knowing the major story beats and especially the big reveal at the end, causes the film to lose some of its weight. I do think watching it for the first time now, it wouldn't lose any of what made it so great back in 2003, especially if it hasn't been spoiled for you.

 

[demosthenes]

Star Trek Beyond: Some would say this is like a feature-length version of a TV episode, and I might agree...if this were like a season bookend 2-parter. I'll start off by saying the visuals are great, such as the Enterprise in warp, the nebula, and Yorktown Station (which looks like a place I'd like to live). Captain Kirk has matured since his last outing, and acts like the Captain he should be. There's also the classic relationship between Spock and McCoy. Speaking of Spock, yes, Leonard Nimoy's death (and thus Ambassador Spock's death) is a character point for him. The weak point is the villain, who comes off as Hostile Species #612, and when his true motives are revealed, he just feels generic. Still, this is a good movie. Not one of the greatest, but it's good. There's also an off-handed reference to Spectre of the Gun.

Ghostbusters (2016): Don't let the trailers fool you. I was surprised how much I liked this movie. Bear in mind, this movie is a reboot, not a remake, so there is a different plot line here. Abbey and Holtzman are jerks at first, but they do get better as the movie goes on. There are cameos, but there are other call-backs like Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. The CGI does help the ghosts look better. The Ghostbusters do have a camera and upload their videos to YouTube...which makes me surprised when, while people call them out as fake, no one thinks of them as amateur filmmakers with impressive CG artists. The real show stealer is Chris Hemsworth, who is actually more interesting than Janine, even if he's dumber than a bag of rocks. I also enjoyed the end credits sequence (the only other movies I can say that to are Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Top Gun), which is good because there's a post-credits scene. I also like Walk The Moon's version of the theme song, Fall Out Boy's not so much.

I came here to write about these movies and I see I logged into a different account and already did it.

I think I liked Trek a little more than you and Ghostbusters a little less than you though but overall, my thoughts mirror your own.

 

[Discotheque]

Legend of Tarzan
I wanted to go see Star Trek, yet I was dragged to this. Nobody ever gives a shit about what i say. Where were we? Ok..It defines playing it safe, with Yates' typical sedative style. SO boring. The only good thing, probably, is Jackson playing the clumsy sidekick for a change. A shame, since the premise of Tarzan living comfortably his viscount life as John Clayton in London and then going back to Africa was interesting and original. meh

Thats a shame but expected. I also found the idea interesting but with David Yates directing it was bound to be a boring waste of time.

 

[User 479360]

Sliding Doors: It was alright.

 

[Messofanego]

Mustang was excellent as a rebellious female coming-of-age tale set in a conservative society where feminism is an evil word. The sisters are all fantastic, especially the youngest. Wasn't sure if they were muslim, cause all the suitors were muslim but it's a good examination of the grave consequences in shackling freedoms.

Jason Bourne was a retread, but still enjoyable.

Rams, whoever described this as a comedy, needs to be slapped. Didn't do much for me cause there's not much more other than sibling rivalry and ram beauty competitions, but had a couple of funny moments such as the ram competition and one where a tractor is used by the main character to drop his drunk brother off at a hospital. There's also a surprisingly tender moment between two naked men. The economic destabilisation of the area due to a sickness amongst sheep had potential but is never given much depth compared to the sibling rivalry which wasn't that interesting.

 

[old manatee]

Hardcore Henry: This was a pretty great action movie. It reminded me of District B13.

It was a shame that they completely ripped off the way that Shaun of the Dead used Queen's Don't Stop Me Now. It's an original movie until the climax, when it just recreates a scene from another movie. I'm really surprised that they thought that was ok.

 

[Gnome Scat]

Idiocracy: ★★★☆☆

Solid comedy movie that gave me a few laughs here and there, however most of the humor seemed very surface level, which made it look less like a satirical future and more of purely an absurd one. Maybe I had the wrong expectations going in, I expected more. I did love President Camaco, Terry Crews played him very well. The rest of the characters (besides the pimping project leader), not so much.

 

[old manatee]

Idiocracy: ★★★☆☆

Solid comedy movie that gave me a few laughs here and there, however most of the humor seemed very surface level, which made it look less like a satirical future and more of purely an absurd one. Maybe I had the wrong expectations going in, I expected more. I did love President Camaco, Terry Crews played him very well. The rest of the characters (besides the pimping project leader), not so much.

I remember hearing that the studio cut a bunch out of Idiocracy. I wouldn't be surprised because it really didn't feel like a complete story.

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

I absolutely love Notting Hill. Even while acknowledging it is in large part, absolute rubbish. I spent 17 years of my life, born and raised in the UK, admittedly in the North West. And this vision of England Richard Curtis puts in his films, it doesn't exist. Well, it doesn't exist for poor plebs like me who have to work for a living, maybe for rich people it does.

That's how all his films around this wheelbarrow feel, like I'm watching a bunch of rich people pretend to be poor or working class or whatever and failing. The idea someone could someone indulge themselves with a travel bookshop rather than a real job, just. Don't.


But you can't deny its charming and enchanting and all the rest of it. It is charming, this lovely England with those odd British accents I've never heard either, and the well ordered world thats so British its like from a story book. And thats what sells me on Notting hill, and most of what Curtis does.

The plot is... a little contrived, you can see everything coming from a mile away, its full of 'quirky' characters and randomness and whatever, it works. It allows for lots of lovely moments between Grant and Roberts, and between Mcinnerney and McKee, and just... lots of those Richard Curtis moments.

It also looks very... British. In the way you'd see a picture of 'Britain' in a brochure in a travel agents. And the music is as 90s as it comes. But somehow, every melds together into this cohesive whole, this film, Notting Hill, which wins me over every time I watch it.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

The Kung Fu Panda Trilogy: Normally, I would review these movies individually, but my feelings for these are largely the same. The setting is great, the action is awesome, there are good character moments, but I feel like Po has been handed these winning techniques on a platter rather than having earned them through years of hard training. Heck, the reason why Tai Lung doesn't flatten him in 5 seconds is because Po is fat and uses cooking and food in his techniques.

 

[Messofanego]

I absolutely love Notting Hill. Even while acknowledging it is in large part, absolute rubbish. I spent 17 years of my life, born and raised in the UK, admittedly in the North West. And this vision of England Richard Curtis puts in his films, it doesn't exist. Well, it doesn't exist for poor plebs like me who have to work for a living, maybe for rich people it does.

That's how all his films around this wheelbarrow feel, like I'm watching a bunch of rich people pretend to be poor or working class or whatever and failing. The idea someone could someone indulge themselves with a travel bookshop rather than a real job, just. Don't.

This reminds me, I need to see more realistic British films. I need to get started on Ken Loach's work.

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

This reminds me, I need to see more realistic British films. I need to get started on Ken Loach's work.

Have you seen The Spirit Of 45? Amazing it is.

 

[BaronLundi]

This reminds me, I need to see more realistic British films. I need to get started on Ken Loach's work.

Or Mike Leigh, for good (better) movies.

 

[swoon]

lindsay anderson mighty be the best? then leigh? british film is pretty boring.

speaking boring, edgar wright's list looks it like something a google ai made.

 

[Currygan]

yeah, British film industry is a bit of a mess these last decades, save some exceptions like Leigh, Knight, Wright and a few others (not Tom Hooper.. yikes)

 

[Window]

yeah, British film industry is a bit of a mess these last decades, save some exceptions like Leigh, Knight, Wright and a few others (not Tom Hooper.. yikes)

I somehow get the feeling swoon wasn't just referring to the last decade. Cahiers seems to hold a similar opinion I think.

 

[Fancy Clown]

I know right? He had slots for 1000 movies and not even one of them was about a camera pointed at a slowly drying wall of paint.

 

[lordxar]

They're Watching. Some awful shit fest Netflix picked up a week or so back. I will say The last 15 minutes or so was pretty cool even if it's the laziest cgi effects possible.

 

[Messofanego]

Or Mike Leigh, for good (better) movies.

Yeah, his stuff too. Only seen Naked, which is a classic.

 

[Currygan]

I somehow get the feeling swoon wasn't just referring to the last decade. Cahiers seems to hold a similar opinion I think.

last few decades. Of course it's always been a blimp on the radar compared to Hollywood, especially since many expatriates worked in the US like Hitch, Lean and so on, but to me people like Powell, Schlesinger and Roeg were on fire until at least the late sixties-mid seventies

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

lindsay anderson mighty be the best? then leigh? british film is pretty boring.

speaking boring, edgar wright's list looks it like something a google ai made.

When you balloon a list to 1000, it's pretty much going to look like that, unless you think there is some kind of virtue in including movies people have not heard of just for its own sake.

 

[Sliver]

Mike Leigh is as realistic as you get in my opinion. The man is a genius.

 

[Blader]

Forgot a couple from my last post in here.

Rope
Rewatch. An evil younger clone of Jimmy Stewart (who is also in this movie) teams up with the most nervous man in the world to commit the perfect murder, which unravels virtually immediately. I'd seen this before in a school and thought it was an interesting experiment but ultimately a kind of hammy stage play story. I don't feel that much different about it now, but I do like real Jimmy Stewart's performance more than I had the first time. It feels like he figures things out a little too quickly and easily, but his almost Sherlock Holmes demeanor of picking out a thread and pulling on it, subtly and then increasingly overtly, with a disguised smile on his face is compelling and even kind of funny. I actually think this may be the best Jimmy Stewart performance in a Hitchcock film. The rest of the movie is just ok, but Stewart's part in it is the highlight.
3/5

Mission Impossible
Rewatch. I first saw this many years ago, long before I knew who Brian DePalma was. On rewatching it, this movie is DePalma as hell. From the cinematography to the score to the dialed-to-11 Tom Cruise performance, the movie walks the same tightrope of cheesiness as every DePalma film, and nearly falls over like most of them do, but it ends up working out. The movie is also 90s as hell too, which now adds to its weird charm. I don't think this is my favorite of the series anymore, but it has both aged well and not aged very well at all in a strange but still satisfying way. And the vault heist sequence is still extremely well done.
4/5

 

[swoon]

When you balloon a list to 1000, it's pretty much going to look like that, unless you think there is some kind of virtue in including movies people have not heard of just for its own sake.

I mean i don't think he was forced to make it a 1000? scorsese's top 100, give a pretty clear picture of what formed his artistic perspective

 

[ViewtifulJC]

imagine people taking you to task for making a list of your own personal favorite movies

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

I mean i don't think he was forced to make it a 1000? scorsese's top 100, give a pretty clear picture of what formed his artistic perspective

I can't argue that a focused list tells you more about a director (though, frankly, that's mostly a curiosity, and doesn't really affect what their art actually is), but I imagine Wright intended his list to be something of a "Here's a bunch of shit to watch, nerds" type of list (cuz his audience is prob mostly genre fans, not 'deep dive into the arts' folks), rather than a truly personalized look at his inner psyche or artistic perspective.