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Movies You've Seen Recently |OT| June 2013

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Net_Wrecker said:
Deep Red (1975) (Dario Argento)
&
Suspiria (1977) (Dario Argento)

Really, really, really enjoyed both of these. The camera work in Deep Red, the colors in Suspiria, the great soundtracks in both, the mysteries, thrills, and kills; all great fun. Fans of Argento and giallo in general, point me to where I should go next.
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Argento, yay! I say start with: The Bird With the Crystal Plumage - Argento's debut and the origin of the Giallo (I think?) After that: Tenebre / Opera for more 'classic' giallo's.
Phenomena is super fun to watch because it's so weird.

If you loved Suspiria, you might be interested in its 'sequel' Inferno. While it's a complete mess storywise, the movie looks gorgeous with the same style as Suspiria.

edit: I should note that I find Deep Red and Suspiria his best two movies, so it's all 'downhill' from there.
 
Net_Wrecker said:
Deep Red (1975) (Dario Argento)

&

Suspiria (1977) (Dario Argento)

Really, really, really enjoyed both of these. The camera work in Deep Red, the colors in Suspiria, the great soundtracks in both, the mysteries, thrills, and kills; all great fun. Fans of Argento and giallo in general, point me to where I should go next.
Click to expand...

You should check out the following from Argento's filmography:

Opera
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
Tenebrae
 
harSon said:
You could always watch the sequel, FutureWorld. Outside of that... Colossus: The Forbin Project, Solaris, Solyent Green, The Omega Man, Dark Star, THX 1138, The Man Who Fell to Earth, A Boy and his Dog, Time After Time, The Andromeda Strain, Slaughterhouse Five, Rollerball, Zardoz, Death Race 2000 and The Stepford Wives.
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Cool, even more recommendations! :D
 
Once - Really enjoyed this one, the music was amazing.

Troll Hunter - It's cheesy, repetitive and predictable but I can't say I didn't have a blast with it, I love movies about giant monsters. Except for 1998 Godzilla.
 
mxgt said:
Once - Really enjoyed this one, the music was amazing.

Troll Hunter - It's cheesy, repetitive and predictable but I can't say I didn't have a blast with it, I love movies about giant monsters. Except for 1998 Godzilla.
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I was surprised with the quality of the CGI since I had the impression it was a super low budget movie. Really fun, but it does not hold up well on rewatches.

And yeah, Once is really charming. I don't know many people that've seen it, but the ones that have love it.
 
The Purge
This was a confused vessel for a relevant, social allegory that's messily slapped together with ineffective and predictable scares. It struggles with figuring out what it wants to be constantly. And it's an all around waste of what is an interesting premise for a home invasion film. At least I could enjoy Ethan Hawke for the most part.
 
Kill List - Liked it, though I can imagine this movie being a hate it or love it type deal, especially after the
Wicker Man U-turn in the last part. Thought it worked, but I can imagine some being turned off by it. Also, the hunchback has to be a deliberate nod to A Serbian film right?

Dolorous Edd was in this movie! And I may have a crush on the chick playing Fiona
 
&Divius said:
Argento, yay! I say start with: The Bird With the Crystal Plumage - Argento's debut and the origin of the Giallo (I think?) After that: Tenebre / Opera for more 'classic' giallo's.
Phenomena is super fun to watch because it's so weird.

If you loved Suspiria, you might be interested in its 'sequel' Inferno. While it's a complete mess storywise, the movie looks gorgeous with the same style as Suspiria.

edit: I should note that I find Deep Red and Suspiria his best two movies, so it's all 'downhill' from there.
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madkiller said:
You should check out the following from Argento's filmography:

Opera
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
Tenebrae
Click to expand...

Aww yiss. Will get on these asap. It's taken me too long to jump into the (sub)genre.
 
Deputy Dangle said:
The Purge
This was a confused vessel for a relevant, social allegory that's messily slapped together with ineffective and predictable scares. It struggles with figuring out what it wants to be constantly. And it's an all around waste of what is an interesting premise for a home invasion film. At least I could enjoy Ethan Hawke for the most part.
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This seems to be the consensus. It's such a shame that they took an idea as genuinely terrifying as ALL CRIME IS LEGAL FOR 12 HOURS and turned it into ALL MURDER IS LEGAL FOR 12 HOURS.
 
Welp, I tried to watch Crumb and found that the last 30 minutes got cut off on my TCM recording. Fuck, it was amazing, and I hope to finish it sometime soon.

On the plus side, now's the time I get to redeem my Hulu+ code and get a summer subscription.
 
&Divius said:
Cool! I had so much fun exploring Argento's movies. That said; does anyone have any other (non Argento) giallo suggestions?
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I'd recommend Who Saw Her Die? (particularly for the super creepy Morricone score), The Perfume of the Lady in Black, The Bloodstained Shadow, A Blade in the Dark, and Stage Fright, of those I've seen.
 
&Divius said:
Cool! I had so much fun exploring Argento's movies. That said; does anyone have any other (non Argento) giallo suggestions?
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Please note I haven't actually seen any of those but here's a list of movies I want to eventually watch that I've made for myself over the past months. Title is in Italian when the English title is unknown/unavailable to me (I'm sure you don't really care about the French ones :)

In no particular order:

- Don't torture a duckling (Fulci) - Recommended by swoon ?
- The strange vice of Mrs Wardh (Martino)
- All the colours of the dark (Martino)
- Bay of Blood (Bava)
- Cosa avete fatto a Solange? (Dallamano)
- La polizia chiede aiuto (Dallamnano)
- Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Martino) - Recommended by swoon - Also BEST TITLE EVER
- Blood and black lace (Bava)
- The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Francisco Barilli)
- Torso (Martino)
- My dear killer (Tonino Valerii)
- A lizard in a woman's skin (Fulci) - Recommended by swoon ?
- The case of the scorpion's tale (Martino)
 
Ridley327 said:
I'd recommend Who Saw Her Die? (particularly for the super creepy Morricone score), The Perfume of the Lady in Black, The Bloodstained Shadow, A Blade in the Dark, and Stage Fright, of those I've seen.
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BaronLundi said:
here's a list of movies <snip>
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Thanks guys! Out of all those I have only seen Stage Fright, will do some research on which to watch and I'll save them for when I'm in a giallo mood.
 
Open Range
Solid western. Story is pretty simple and really cheesy at times, especially when dealing with the romance subplot (particularly how they ended it). But Costner and Duvall make a nice pair together and the ending shootout is pretty good.
 
This Is 40: I am finished with unrated/extended DVD cuts of films. Never again. Beyond that though, I think I am just bored with Judd Apatow. It had some funny bits, and did hit on a lot of relationship truisms that felt quite relevant to some of my own experience, so there is that. It just felt so sloppy and unfocused, with so many humor bits that didn't know when to end, or when not to cross a certain line, and that is nothing new for Apatow's films. There is so much that is relevant to adults here, it has a good base, but it seems to be aimed at a younger age group so much of the time, meh.
 
rewatched Ocean's Twelve. I don't get why it's so hated while the first one is so revered. Sure, some jokes are recycled but it's basically a worthy sequel, and better yet, not a clone. Highly enjoyable, the Malloy brothers crack me up
 
DukeTogo1300 said:
This Is 40: I am finished with unrated/extended DVD cuts of films. Never again. Beyond that though, I think I am just bored with Judd Apatow. It had some funny bits, and did hit on a lot of relationship truisms that felt quite relevant to some of my own experience, so there is that. It just felt so sloppy and unfocused, with so many humor bits that didn't know when to end, or when not to cross a certain line, and that is nothing new for Apatow's films. There is so much that is relevant to adults here, it has a good base, but it seems to be aimed at a younger age group so much of the time, meh.
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The entire film kind of fell apart for me when Rudd's character started crying about his financial struggles in his new BMW.
 
icarus-daedelus said:
Colossus: The Forbin Project
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I only watched this rather recently for the first time myself, couldn't believe how good it was, and how relatively unknown...

Net_Wrecker said:
Fans of Argento and giallo in general, point me to where I should go next.
Click to expand...

A good starting point for Argento is his animal trilogy (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Cat o' Nine Tails and Four Flies on Grey Velvet). Interesting to see Argento develop his trademark style through these movies.

Personal favorites of myself:

Tenebre; great style, and one of the better plotted of his movies
Phenomena; a cute Jennifer Connelly, a crazy story... and very bad music.
The Stendhal Syndrome; dat Asia Argento

Ech5KHb.jpg


Stay away from everything Argento did post-2000.

Sergio Martino and Andrea Bianchi also have some very cool stuff out there, just to mention two other directors (with often more pure giallo output).

Back to business then, I had a week off and watched some movies.

Classic sci-fi:

20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
I like Ray Harryhausen's special effects, but I never really get into the movies they are featured in. A great example of people being total assholes, like you often see in 50s sci-fi.

Them! (1954)
I liked this one a lot more, classic monster invasion stuff even if the special effects weren't all that great. I love the "atomic age" style of old sci-fi.

Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Again, people being assholes and destroying everything in their path. Great special effects for the time, I was impressed by the underwater scenes.

This Island Earth (1955)
Probably my favorite of this bunch, loved the mystery presented in the first half, and there was some decent adventuring in the second one.

Top-250 stuff:

Persona (1966)
I was completely blown away, I had expected a strange movie, but this exceeded my expectations. Lovely actresses, insane movie. Very recommended. I had only seen The Seventh Seal from Bergman before (which I also loved).

City Lights (1931)
This was the best Chaplin I saw yet (watching them in order, this is the third one for me), great soundtrack and some truly memorable scenes (boxing match, restaurant...)

Recent stuff:

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)
I think people are being too hard on this one, I found it kinda relaxing and funny. Jim Carrey was hilarious.

Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)
Didn't really feel this one, the giants were incredibly underdeveloped, didn't really like the art design either. Story was by the numbers too. Was expecting somewhat more from Singer.

The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)
Really liked this one, the action scenes in the first chapter were incredible, good story told in a fresh way; I can safely recommend this.

Dark Skies (2013)
A bunch of random stuff happens because aliens. Did not care for it.

Film club assignment:

Woman is the Future of Man (2004)
I liked the natural and indeed very European style of the film, I could relate to the plot, but it fell a bit flat for me in the end, I was hoping for some kind of catharsis I guess. A very minimal film in every aspect.
 
^^Reminds me I have to see Them!

Saw The Prize. It's quite enjoyable despite having a clumsy start and being a bit too lighthearted and silly at times. Newman was a charm and drove the film. 6/10
 
The Cabin in the Woods was a nice idea executed poorly in narrative terms. I really cannot stand Whedon's character writing. When every one of your characters is there to serve the cheap blasé banter between them that Whedon gets a kick out of, it's hard to empathize with any of them.

The girlfriend made me watch Despicable Me so we can see the sequel soon. It was cute, but very underwritten and/or unimaginative. A lot of its humor simply didn't hit for me as it seems geared toward fans of cutesy humor (funny noises lololol) as opposed to thought-out comedic payoffs. Entertaining enough I suppose.

I'm debating whether or not to grab last-minute tickets to FRANCES HA at SFF for next weekend. Anybody seen it?
 
I saw the next movie for Film Club, Night and Day, and while I will post my thoughts on it later I just have one question for those who've seen it: WHAT THE FUCK was up with
that dog at the window of the bathhouse
?! For some reason that really freaked me out and it didn't make any sense to me.
 
kurisu1974 said:
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)
I think people are being too hard on this one, I found it kinda relaxing and funny. Jim Carrey was hilarious.
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Yep, I agree. It might be because I had just watched Identity Thief and it had set the bar for a comedy incredibly low, but I actually enjoyed Wonderstone.
 
La coda dello scorpione (The case of the scorpion's tale), is a pretty bad Giallo.
The intrigue has barely kept my interest, along with the expected stretches of reality and illogic moments, but there wasn't really any interesting scene, moment or idea throughout.
Also some imagery trying to be evocative, thrown in randomly (the dolls and mannequins) didn't match in any way with the themes.
Visually there were some pleasing shots in the first half, but nothing particularly engaging.

It has one of the best music themes, but unfortunately it's used once at the start and that's it.
Amer uses it much better and it's a more interesting looking film altogether.

Also, i watched it yesterday, and this post was not in any way related to the discussion going on in the previous pages, weird coincidence.
 
Scullibundo said:
The Cabin in the Woods was a nice idea executed poorly in narrative terms. I really cannot stand Whedon's character writing. When every one of your characters is there to serve the cheap blasé banter between them that Whedon gets a kick out of, it's hard to empathize with any of them.
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I thought it was pretty bad - really campy and cheesy, like a Sci-Fi network episode. I can't figure out how it got a 92% rating on RT. Horror films must really suck these days.
 
The Purge is really bad. I don't know if there is a term for the trope where someone is shot by an off-camera character...saving the day at the last possible second....but this movie felt like it had 7 or 8 instances of it and it's less than 90 minutes long.
 
I watched A Good Day To Die Hard yesterday. I really liked the other installments and was surprised when this one was panned by critics. But they are totally right. This is a movie without brain AND without heart. A movie should have at least one of the two imo. The characters are as flat as it possibly gets, the dialogue and directing terrible. The story could be decent (for an action flick) but the way it's presented ruins it. I often had the feeling that the writer had a totally different movie in his head than the director.
 
Cyan said:
And then there's stuff you could film, but isn't really his best:
Death and the Compass
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Alex Cox actually made that movie already.

Death_and_the_Compass_FilmPoster.jpeg


I never watched it because superficially it reminds me of Revenger's Tragedy, which was absolutely horrible - I love Repo Man and Walker though.
 
Randomly got asked to watch "Now You See Me" by my in-laws while we were on vacation.

...basically it's a popcorn heist movie.

I enjoyed it, and spent most of the day stating things, then pausing, then stating counter-things and chanting the movie's "reveal" theme over and over again.

Not a bad time at all.
 
Watched Woman in the Future of Man and In Another Country this past weekend (apparently you can't rent movies video Amazon Prime on X360? Otherwise, I would have watched them all in order).

I enjoyed them but need a little more time to give them some thought. Some interesting things going on in them, with varying degrees of success.

Also started Bullhead last night, but was just too tired to finish, unfortunately. Really enjoyed what I saw so far, will finish it today. The lead is outstanding.
 
Evil Dead 2013

The crew could build up some decent scenes, but not a whole movie it seemed. Pacing was off and the movie was pure downhill from about the middle point onwards. Characters were the usual throwaway stuff. Soundtrack was terribad.
 
Anton Sugar said:
Also started Bullhead last night, but was just too tired to finish, unfortunately. Really enjoyed what I saw so far, will finish it today. The lead is outstanding.
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One of the best things to come out of Belgium since very long. Also watch Rust and Bone if you haven't.
 
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone - Blegh **
Lost Highway - Blugh **½
Fei lung maang jeung AKA Dragons Forever - The last movie starring Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, and Biao Yuen together and as expected, it's fun. The story serves as a frame for some cool fightscenes. It's your basic Jackie Chan movie, impossible to dislike ***½
 
I re-watched The Thin Red Line, and it cemented in my mind the belief that it is, in fact, the pinnacle of modern war movies.
 
&Divius said:
Fei lung maang jeung AKA Dragons Forever - The last movie starring Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, and Biao Yuen together and as expected, it's fun. The story serves as a frame for some cool fightscenes. It's your basic Jackie Chan movie, impossible to dislike ***½
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The trial scene is hilarious (when she's forced to confess her love for him).
 
Doctor Zhivago: 5/10. Well this was disappointing. Usually anything over 180 minutes gets auto nined or tenned because there’s so much time for character development, but this just ended wasting a lot of my time. Absolutely gorgeous photography, but it’s mostly Sharif looking at things with his watery puppy dog eyes. I honestly didn’t get a sense of who he was or anything about him, or anyone else. And then near the end it devolves into a Maury episode with all kinds of baby momma drama and shit. It did remind me that I always enjoy movies about Russian history, so I ordered a thousand page book on the revolution, that should keep me busy for a while.
Sorcerer: 7/10. I would compare and contrast it to The Wages Of Fear, but I really don’t remember enough about it to do so. Apparently I liked it precisely the same though. I do remember thinking it took too long to get to the truck driving part, which I also thought in this, but the backstories were more interesting this time around. LOL that the Palestinian bomber guy is the one to rig up the homemade bomb later in the movie. That might be offensive, I’m not sure, either way I don’t care. Still completely thrilling once it gets going. You can eschew the “remake” label all you want Friedkin, but you can also suck my dick. You can also submit a 50,000 word thesis on how the title makes sense, or you can suck my dick again, because it doesn’t.
Mannen På Taket: 6/10. I promised to watch this Buspick™ before 2017, and I delivered. A not especially compelling hour long police procedural that culminates in a pretty cool last half hour that’s spoiled by the title, all set to a funk flute soundtrack. There were definitely some questionable siege tactics going on there though, it’s like they’d never played a Counterstrike game in their life. It takes a lot of cues from French Connection and Dirty Harry, but it’s still better than both.
Vera Cruz: 6/10. BURST LANCASTER YOU HORSE THIEVING PIECE OF SHIT. This movie stars Ernest Borgnine as the revolutionary leader that eventually overthrows the Imperial Spanish government in Mexico. He does this by enlisting the help of Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, and puts them both at ease by letting them punch him in the face. Then he dances around with some men and someone steps on his toe. Then there’s a lot gunshots and horses, it was kind of hard to see behind the glare of Burt Lancaster’s teeth. Starts off really strong but eventually mellows out in to standard mantiee western kind of stuff, still lots of fun. Actually I laughed quite a few times.
 
Just found out a theater near me is playing The Good, the Bad and the Ugly at the end of the month. And another is playing 2001 next month. Hot damn!
 
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