Saturday, November 7, 2015

Weekend Open Thread

The writing's on the wall.

Scary Movie Month is over and we're back to normal! No more killing, no more gore, no more monsters. But that's just in our movies!

So let's talk about whatever you want to talk about. There are only a few months left in 2015, so our Top 10 lists are starting to come together -- or, as we call them around here, 9 Movies and Paul Blart Mall Cop 2.

53 comments:

  1. Is there an official final tally of the total of 7-word reviews posted during SMM? Not just adding up each day's totals, but just the reviews removing the 'dead' links and extrenous comments. Just curious how tall the mountain are we up against next year will be.

    BTW, am I alone in thinking a great alternative to watching Trump on "SNL" tonight is to watch the movie "Bob Roberts"? ;-)

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    1. Oh man. Haven't seen Bob Roberts in 20 years. I think that's a great idea.

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  2. Watched "The Hallow" last night, an Irish horror flick directed by a guy who studied special effects who has since been given The Crow reboot. The movie was pretty good and the creature practical effects were top notch! A couple CGI moments take away from it being great but overall I enjoyed it.

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  3. So, I'm hopping on a bus in an hour and going to Night Visions, a small yearly horror festival in Helsinki. Going to see two new movies (Deathgasm and Cherry Tree) and two oldies I've never seen before (Hardware and Necronomicon). I'm pretty excited, especially to see Necronomicon as the last movie of the bunch at 5 am. I wish it was still October so I could write 7 word reviews of them.

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    1. What's stopping you? It's an open thread, 7-word reviews are welcomed if you feel like it. :-)

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    2. Deathgasm (2015)

      Always knew there was power in metal.

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    3. Hardware (1990) + Q&A with Richard Stanley

      We all walk the wibberly wobberly walk.

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    4. The Contract (2015 short)

      Utter, utter garbage. Do not watch it.

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    5. How's Stanley doing? Any comments on his newfound notoriety now that the "Dr. Moreau" documentary has brought him back into the spotlight? Is he working on anything? Great 7-word reviews BTW, keep 'em coming. :-)

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    6. Cherry Tree (2015)

      Worth seeing for the final image alone.

      ---

      Stanley said he's about to direct The Color Out of Space, based on the Lovecraft book! Excited about that.

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    7. Necronomicon (1993)

      Prosthetic chin makes Combs look like Campbell.

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  4. I would recommend a movie called "Cruel and Unusual". It's on Amazon streaming for a couple of dollars. It's a very interesting psychological sci-fi drama. I won't give too much away. I'll just say its a mix between Groundhog Day, a Charlie Kaufman script, and Shutter Island. If that seems intriguing, I would say see it. Not all of it works, but more of it does than doesn't

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    1. Also saw "Kristy" on Netflix instant. If you're a fan of slashers or home invasion movies, I guess you can see it. It's just super generic. Like every other home invasion movie, the killers are all twenty somethings and wear masks and hoodies and walk around ominously. But unlike the others, the masks that the killers wear is literally just aluminum foil pressed against there face. It seems like the actors were at craft services when the director called them to set, and they forgot to bring their creepy masks, so they grabbed some left over aluminum foil from catering and hastily applied it to their face.

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    2. Been holding off on "Cruel..." gonna peep it now though. Saw "Kristy" a while back and, yes, I agree it's generic, although I loved the setting and loved the real time, isolated feel of it. Thought the suspense was handled pretty well.

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  5. Had some friends over the other night and turned on Under Siege in the background as it was on AMC. To my horror everyone laughed at it, and some didn't believe it was real. While I'll admit it has some silly moments, this is a movie I enjoy un-ironically. Made me thankful for FThisMovie and its stance on #HeavyAction.

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    1. Is it too late for you to get new friends?

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    2. Yeah I was kinda thinking the same thing...

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    3. Seriously, what's wrong with those people? I literally just bought Under Siege (on VHS) last week along with two other Seagal movies for 30 cents each. That same haul also included Bloodsport and a Bon Jovi concert from 1995. I felt like I'd won the lottery.

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  6. I'm working on an ultimate Bond ranking after seeing Spectre and having my own marathon. I've read so many lists online and they all seem to be wildly different from one another. That's what I love and find so fascinating about this amazing franchise, every Bond fans list is so personal to them and a movie I don't like very much could be one of someone's favorites and vice versa. I will post my ranking after my marathon but what are your guys favorites and least favorites? I'd love to read them.

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    1. My top 5, though not necessarily in order, would be From Russia With Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Living Daylights, Goldfinger and Skyfall. My least favorite is still Die Another Day.

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    2. I'm a huge Bond fan and Spectre really got me back into the franchise. Its tough to out in order, but my top 5 are Casino Royale, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, and GoldenEye. My least favorite is Quantum of Solace. That's the only Bond film that gives me absolutely no enjoyment or entertainment whatsoever. Its also a mess.

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    3. I'd replace Skyfall with Casino Royale on Patrick's list. That's my top 5. I also concur on least favorite.

      Btw, I watched Quantum of Solace a couple of days ago for the first time since the day it opened. It's a really good movie, but only if you watch it right after Royale.

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    4. My favorites are Skyfall and From Russia With Love. My least favorite is Diamonds Are Forever.

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    5. Personal favorite Bonds:

      5.- On Her Majesty's Secret Service
      4.- For Your Eyes Only
      3.- From Russia With Love
      2.- Goldfinger
      1.- The Living Daylights.

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    6. I rewatched Quantum of Solace for the first time since 2008 a few weeks ago, and I've gotta say, I think it's just terrible.It's firmly planted at the bottom of my Bond list. I really can't think of a single thing I like about it, outside of how beautiful Olga and Gemma are.

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    7. Quantum of Solace is easily my least favorite. Die Another Day is pretty terrible, but it's got that fun sword fight that keeps on escalating and that's better than pretty much anything in the jumbled, joyless QoS. Other than that my top 5 is identical to Patrick's, probably with The Living Daylights on top.

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    8. I don't think Quantum of Solace is good either but I find it more watchable than some of the worst Roger Moores that are not only boring but insulting to Bond. I might even take Quantum over Die Another Day but I'm not sure yet. I'm finding the bottom 5 of my rankings much more difficult to come up with than the top 5.

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    9. Quantum has one of the best quotes from any Bond movie:

      "When someone says "We've got people everywhere", you expect it to be hyperbole! Lots of people say that. Florists use that expression. It doesn't mean that they've got somebody working for them inside the bloody room!"

      I love Judi Dench.

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  7. I rewatched all the Indiana Jones movies recently. Raiders is still A++ and all three of the sequels are a C-. Meh. I'm glad I did this over a week instead of one sitting, the latter two sequels slavishly follow the Raiders plot structure to an almost obnoxious level.

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    1. Raiders is almost a perfect movie. But Temple of Doom id my favorite and is one of the greatest films ever. Kali Ma Shakti de.

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    2. I think it's you and me vs. The World when it comes to Temple of Doom, Chaybee!

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    3. We'll go to battle together then, Sol. Me, you and fuckin' Mola Ram will prepare to meet Kali... in Hell!

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    4. Temple of Doom is probably my favorite of the sequels because it's actually trying to be unique but it's still a little lame.

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    5. I like temple of doom but every time Kate Capshaw is on screen she torpedoes that movie. If it had Karen Allen again it would make that movie infinitely better.

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    6. I dunno man, they brought Marion back later and it didn't work out so well.

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    7. Well they brought her back in a shitty movie so that didn't help lol I'd take anyone over Willie Scott though. She's the worst love interest ever.

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    8. You can add me to the Temple of Doom lovefest, guys.

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  8. My spoiler-free IMDB review for Joe Bego's "The Mind's Eye" has been approved and is already up. It's so weird that it's the only review published as of right now. I predict this will be a Patrick Bromley favorite of 2016 when it's finally released. Guess I have watch "Almost Human" now. :-)

    Caught a midnight screening of a 2K restoration of Toshiya Fujita's LADY SNOWBLOOD (1973) last night at IFC Center. What an amazing film, a seamless combination of revenge, exploitation and melodrama as Yuki (Meiko Kaji) seeks revenge on the trio of criminals that murdered her father and brother and raped her mother Sayo (Miyoko Akaza). The "Kill Bill" movies liberally borrow just about everything from "Lady Snowblood," from the tough mentor training Yuki at a young age (Kō Nishimura) and the 'fake snow falling in a closed set' showdown to the animated (still images only) retelling in flashback of the events leading up to Yuki's present. Unlike Tarantino's homage-heavy narrative, though, "Lady Snowblood" is all storytelling business as we learn the tortured backstory of all the principals (bad guys as well as anti-hero) and then proceed to watch the geysers of blood whenever swords hit bone. Divided into four chapters, some of the drama in the film comes not from the action but from how Yuki and the people she runs into react to her vendetta. For a revenge exploitation flick "Lady Snowblood" feels classy and dignified, even when someone gets cut in half or a gang rape is shown without sound (which only heightens how messed up it is).

    Even though it was a DCP projection the 2K restoration and anamorphic framing made this one of the most gorgeous (except for Toshio Kurosawa's hairdo, WTF?) early 70's films I've ever seen. Is it Junesploitation yet? This one so belongs there. :-)

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    1. ....and you never saw Almost Human?! You REALLY didn't deserve to see this you yella belly pie slinger.

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  9. I watched my first non horror movie in months this weekend. New Bluray steelbook release of Cocoon. Love it

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    1. Wait...isn't there a scene in Cocoon that features Wilford Brimley in swim trunks? Non-horror my ass.

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    3. Haha. And Aliens that glow in the dark. Pretty scary ;)

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  10. I saw Home Alone again in a pretty crowded theater today that was full of kids, maybe watching it for the first time. Not a lot of laughing which was kind of a bummer. It may have been the most polite screening of Home Alone that has ever taken place.

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    1. Bummer - I saw it in a packed theatre when it came out (I was 10 so it was right in my sweetspot) and I remember the place going apeshit - too bad it's lost its magic with kids today. I usually end up watching it every year around Christmas - it's got some problems, but I would have thought it held up pretty well.

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  11. I might be late to the party here, but I just got around to seeing SICARIO this weekend, and I feel like there is not nearly enough people talking about this film. It's been a long time since I saw a movie that haunted me so deeply stepping out of it. The cinematography by Roger Deakins alone is worth the ticket price.

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  12. Adam Riske would have been proud of me this weekend for attending a showing of 2001 A Space Odyssey in 70mm. As an incredible added bonus, following the movie was a fascinating Q&A with Keir Dullea. (Who looks a lot better than the old version of himself from the movie.)

    The movie looked and sounded fantastic, and it played tremendously to the audience of the sold-out show. The audience cheered at the appropriate points and remained silent throughout the rest of the film. I was surprised when I saw milling around during the intermission to hear the amount of people who had never seen the movie before. The standing ovation at the end of the movie was so long that it almost carried into the standing ovation for the Keir Dullea interview. Overall I couldn't have asked for a better movie-going experience. They used an archive print which was flawless except for some forgivable scratches during the beginning play-in and the closing credits. Overall the best movie experience of my life to date.

    Also props to AFI for letting people bring outside food and drink into an almost 3 hour movie.

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    1. Hey - DMV native, nice! Hoping that AFI get's the 70MM Hateful Eight. I believe it's the only choice around that can still support the format.

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    2. That would be awesome if they got it. I don't think the list of theaters that are showing it in 70mm has been released yet, but one can always dream.

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  13. I saw Bridge of Spies. Tom Hanks warm-and-fuzzies up the Cold War. On the one hand I thought maybe they were making light of serious stuff- which you might do just by casting him, but on the other hand he is also simplifying complicated ideas because he's so relatable (he's always been a teacher in my mind). Now, is that just a sentimental way to deal with big questions? OR is that actually the best way. I wondered.

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