Saturday, July 16, 2016

Weekend Open Thread

RIP your childhood.

As we mourn the death of everything we ever loved and were this weekend at the hands of gross girls who are gross, let me once again thank you all for a job well done during our podcast-a-thon fundraiser last week. Every dollar we raised was another "f you" to breast cancer, which means to said "f you" to breast cancer more than 7,000 times by donating to the future that you know. Rahn would be proud.

Sound off about whatever you want to talk about below!

89 comments:

  1. Ok, so Ghostbusters...

    First I just want to say that it's perfectly valid to compare this to the original Ghostbusters despite some people thinking that's unfair. If you're going to use an existing brand (for lack of a better word) you don't just get to have the benefits of name recognition, you have to deal with all the baggage that comes with it. If you're going to cover a Beatles song, you'd better expect people to compare you to the Beatles. If you make a song called Hard Day's Night and tell people it's a re-imagining of the Beatles song with using some of the same themes, you'd really better expect a comparison, even if you have the surviving Beatles playing the tambourine and the triangle for a few seconds.

    That said, I would like express my spoiler-free thoughts on the movie based entirely on it's own merits. As a Paul Feig comedy, it just simply isn't very good, and I say this as someone who has generally liked his movies. The script is just not very good. From the opening sequence with Zach Woods (Jared from Silicon Valley) it feels like they tried way too hard to write witty dialogue. Too many attempts at jokes are crammed into the script and about 90% of them fall flat. A lot of jokes also get repeated to the point of tedium. We can't just have a character slimed once, it has to happen again. Why have one joke about how inhumanly dumb Chris Hemsworth's character is when we can have twenty?

    I like the cast for the most part and I feel like they really do try their best but they aren't given much to work with. None of them are actual characters. Kate McKinnon I think does an admirable job at least. Her character is just a bundle of quirky eccentricities, but if she didn't have that she would just be a plot device that makes their equipment. Kristen Wiig's character is the only one that gets even one attempt at character development but by that point even that just ends up feeling completely out of place in this movie. Leslie Jones has probably the most likable character to me, but McCarthy feels almost bland here which is something I can't usually say about her.

    I hate the cartoonish look of the ghosts. There's nothing creepy about them and I'm not sure if Feig just wasn't interested at all in trying to do anything scary or if he's just bad at it. I don't want to spoil anything in the opening sequence but it really didn't work for me. Ghosts are scary because they're fucking ghosts. They don't have to do the kinda stuff he has them doing. The plot is kinda ok up until about the halfway point. Once it starts getting into the villain and his plan it falls apart a bit.

    But hey, at least I could write a few paragraphs about Ghostbusters. I don't think I could really write one about the Infiltrator.

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    1. I generally agree with you about the movie. The flurencent ghosts didn't really work for me. The pacing and structure were off. But I did find this movie funny. Yes, all the jokes don't land, but this is a comedy with jokes and gags constantly, I feel this is getting rare. But in saying that it was only me and my BF that were cackling like crazy people. I liked the cast I thought they did well with what they had, espcially McKinnon and Hemmsworth. But mostly I was at the movies and I was happy.

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    2. "They want us to put the cat back in the bag!"
      "But the cat's already out of the bag!"
      "And they want us to put it back in the bag!"
      "But it's already out of the bag?"
      ...repeat for two minutes.

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    3. Yeah that bit felt like it went on for about five minutes.

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    4. I'm very lucky in that I don't have a strong attachment to the original, so I could enjoy this without any baggage. (Not saying Ghostbusters fans necessarily can't, but I feel like I had it a little easier in that I could just see this as a fun comedy with ghosts, and not the follow up to a part of my childhood.)

      I agree that it's not Paul Feig's funniest movie. I can't imagine ever laughing as hard again as I did watching Spy.
      The villain was a boring afterthought, and the editing and structure were kind of a mess at times, but overall I enjoyed the hell out of Ghostbusters. I was cackling in the theater all the time, I loved the characters, the cameos were fun (I love Sigourney Weaver so much), and I thought it looked beautiful, but I'm a sucker for anything with some pretty coloured lighting so I'm an easy crowd to please.

      I'd say "give me all the sequels!" but I'll take a Spy 2 first, please.

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    5. Ive always loved Ghostbusters 1, probably more familiar with Ghostbusters 2 since it was on TV way more often however; And the only Paul Feig stuff I have seen is Freaks and Geeks.

      Gotta say I really enjoyed this new Ghostbusters! Nothing shown in the trailer worked for me (hated the trailers), but once shown in the full scope of the film it all clicked for me. It felt like a Ghostbusters movie, it never felt 'off' in my opinion. Each of the 4 leads have their spots and worked real well. I was probably the most put-off by McKinnons character, her brand of wackiness wasn't landing with me with exceptions here and there.

      I wasnt too keen on the special effects in the trailer, but I really did end up liking the vibrant colored ghosts. And frankly I never found too much about the ghosts 'scary' in the other movies to begin with other than Vigo in #2, but that probably had a lot to with being 6 years old at the time. (however some certain balloons in this new one creeped me out)

      To bounce off that -- I saw a real early showing with a lot of kids in the theater and they all loved it. Lots and lots of laughs; hopefully they wont be so angry and precious in 30 years.

      I highly recommend this! Perhaps the material got a boost for me since I havnt seen any Melissa Mcarthy/Feig films, but it felt like Ghostbusters too me and thats all I wanted.

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    6. "They want us to put the cat back in the bag!"
      "But the cat's already out of the bag!"
      "And they want us to put it back in the bag!"
      "But it's already out of the bag?"
      ...repeat for two minutes.

      ALL comedies are like that now.

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    7. Thank you very much, the "I'll jizz wherever I want scene" from This Is the End (though really, The Simpsons' 'rake gag' should take most of the blame.)

      I think an unfortunate habit of modern movie comedies is to begin without a script and leave it up to the cast to figure out how to make it funny on the set (see the end credits of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates for further evidence.) It's a lot of pressure to put on performers when so much money is at stake.

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  2. I am really hoping for a Ghostbusters podcast this week. Has the potential to be better than the Independence Day one.

    Also did anyone pick up the new Carnival of Souls Criterion Blu Ray this week? It is a revelation... Looked like it was filmed yesterday... It was like seeing it for the first time... other cliches...

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    1. Ghostbusters will be the podcast this week, and the new Carnival of Souls Blu-ray is BANANAS in how great it looks. Missing the 'director's cut' from the DVD, but that doesn't bother me much. Get it during the Barnes & Noble 50% off sale, Adam!

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    2. Yeah. I ordered it this morning.#MyFaveHorrorMovie

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    3. YES! Carnival of Souls Blu!

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    4. I too bought and love the CoS Blu-Ray. It was also a nice bonus to have it included in Barnes & Noble's Criterion sale.

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  3. I just got Green room, Room, Demon knights, and Cloverfield on Blu-ray. I am also planning on building a new shelf for my blu-rays.

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    1. That's awesome! #PhysicalMedia4Life

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    2. #PhysicalMedia4Life absolutely!

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    3. Waiting on my Blu Ray collection for Argento and Fulci collections. Now I need to go out and buy and international blu ray player.

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    4. And this is why I love Lindsay.

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    6. One of the major pieces missing from my life is really good disc shelving. Good luck with yours!

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    7. I'm in the shelf situation too, my present system is full and Blurays and DVDs are pilling up in the front room with no home, because I have separate stacks nothing is organized, I spent an hour finding a film this week I wanted to watch then realized I had misslayed my jigsaw puzzle from Pieces, another hour, "I need a bigger boat"

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    8. This is where I'm at, too. I don't want to cull my collection (I will never), I just need better storage. My collection is multiplying like rabbits playing seven minutes in heaven, but I can't seem to find an affordable (that's key) solution for the volume of films I own that I feel like will last. Everything is either super-sturdy but would cost me hundreds and hundreds of dollars, or it looks like it's made out of cardboard.

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    9. I use milk crates. You jack them from behind your local supermarket and they stack and hold a ton on physical media. Just saying, that's on the cheap :-)

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    11. yeah price is a problem, there all too expensive for large storage, I am thinking of floating shelves and just making it all myself along a long wall, Ikea seem well priced for just long shelves in the UK

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    12. At the moment most of our DVD's Bus and CDs are sitting in boxes and tubs. Selling old shelves and trying to get new shelves. It's not great. Especially when the cat went exploring jumped on something unstable and it was avalanche of Cds and DVDs. The cat looked like Mufasa trying to get away from the Wildebeests. Nothing seemed to damaged.

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    13. The same problem here. I recently culled my collection and took a bunch of stuff to a second-hand store, but it didn't take long for the shelves to fill up again. Just ordered the Cannon Ninja trilogy, Truck Turner and Hausu, and I have no idea where to put them when they arrive.

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  4. Chaybee has a teaser up on YouTube. Here's the link: https://youtu.be/ZgizZWgccZs
    Everyone should check it out!

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    1. Do you want to remember?

      -> Yes
      -> No

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    2. Thanks for sharing also Brent and Riske!

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    3. F Heads - if you love film and old 80's PBS TV check out the teaser I'm even impressed with my own stuff! :) Hope you guys don't mind me posting this.

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    4. Me too! You are truely talented.

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    5. Thanks so much to you both! You guys are way too kind.

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  5. Anybody started watching Stranger Things? How is it?

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  6. I'm through episode 5 of Stranger Things. Good mystery so far, sustaining elements of surprise pretty well. The cast is great, even the kids. It certainly has the Amblin/Joe Dante feel to it but at times it gets more adult.

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    1. Just watched another episode...we're merging into Lost territory a little bit now.

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    2. I am getting a kind of a Steven King vibe from it. But that could be the 80s small town thing, it did take me a while to realise it wasn't set in main. But liking it.

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    3. SHIT! That's what I forgot was on the agenda - starting this tonight!

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    4. Yes. First episode is legit. S U R V I V E did the music and it's great! If you grew up in the 80's you can't help but at least appreciate it. I'm invested, which is saying a lot for me with TV shows.

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    5. I am the same with TV shows at the moment, I am finding it difficult to be invested. I am not sure if it is because I am in such a movie thing right now. But Stranger Things has a killer cast and set up. I am not sure I have the patience to watch it all in big chunks.

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    6. You'll breeze through Stranger Things if you are in. But yeah, I cannot invest in ant TV that's more than like 10 episodes. Especially network. I know - I'm missing out not watching "Game of Thrones" right? Nah...I'm not. I never watched "Breaking Bad" either. But I did see "She", "Bad Girls Go To Hell", "A Night to Dismember", "Black Roses", "Hard To Die", "Stewardess School", "Buddha's Palm" etc...so for me, that's much more rewarded time invested.

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  7. On Netflix, I checked Say It Isn't So starring Chris Klein and Heather Graham. An unfunny romantic-comedy that tries to make incest as the main theme and falls flat overall, plus it was one of the worst things that Chris Klein had ever done, as we would later see Rollerball and his classic turn as Nash in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li that hampered the promise he did following American Pie and Election.

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    1. I watched Election for the first time this week - loved it from beginning to end, and Chris Klein's performance was the funniest I've experienced in quite a while. Shame that he couldn't follow up on such potential.

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    1. That clip never gets old whenever it comes up on one of your YouTube videos.

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  9. I think it's becoming a universal given that if a reviewer on any site says "worst film ever" the chances are it's actually great and I love the movie.

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    1. Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388275/

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  10. On a massive Shane Black kick at the moment, which is making life very fun. It is interesting to watch a writer pick up different threads and run with it, and have been able to watch things like Last Action Hero and Last Boy Scout in a completely different light.

    Oh and gearing up for the Melbourne International Film Festival in a couple of weeks. Finally going to be able to watch High Rise and Neon Demon. And just booked to see The Lure a Polish movie about Killer Mermaids who open their own night club and Fata Morgana from 1965(?) It sounds almost vaguely like a Spanish giallo movie. But we will see.

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  11. The Purge 3 is woeful. I'm sorry. I love to see Mykelti Williamson getting more roles but that's about it. Silly premise to a silly franchise. There's really nothing to it. It's just extending and has exhausted an already thin statement that ultimately results in zero fun and remains a simple tagline of a movie.

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    1. Btw - Horror film sin #4 has been established - "scary masks" aren't scary so stop it, please.

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  12. I'm 144 out of 147 checked off for "The Complete 80's Slasher List" - my goal for the rest of the year is to finish this (which I won't make). I thought I'd seen more. Oh well. Gotta finish 4 more De Palma films first.

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    1. I'd be super interested if you could make that list available to peruse as I would love to follow up as well.

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    2. https://www.icheckmovies.com/lists/the+complete+80s+slasher+list/sir+plebeian/

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    3. I'm hoping Xtro will be on that list soon. :)

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    4. Will be, my friend, will be.

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    5. Let me clarify just for my own stupidity - I've seen 144 out of the list and have 147 more to go.

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    6. Damn, big difference, lol, I thought you were nearly there :)

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  13. I re watched Army of Darkness on Netflix (I couldn't be assed to get my Blu-Ray) and it had the post apocalypse ending. I would still love to see a post apocalyptic Ash.

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  14. Just finished Stranger Things....it's Stand By Me + Firestarter + It. A lot of reviews are calling it Spielberg but it was all King to me with a Carpenter score.

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  15. Big one off of my watchlist - Ghostkeeper 1981 - maybe the definitive SNOW Horror movie of all time. Loved it for that reason. Felt cold throughout and the atmosphere was killing it!

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  16. Anyone into the Albert brooks Netflix releases? I saw mother and defending your life in the mid 90s and watched again for the first time. Both still really hold up well. Lost in America not quite as well I thought but I always thought it wasn't quite as good as the other two. Really great film maker.

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  17. Continuing with finishing my De Palma filmography (4 more to go) - "Get to Know Your Rabbit" (1972) - shit - I wasn't that crazy about it but it's so F-ing good (maybe his "Citizen Kane" in a literal, film sense, cause, why not? He ripped off everyone else) and he's still flashing his style all over the place. Now that I've seen enough of his early work I realize he started off with a BOOM (Murder A La Mod) "look at me" and never let up. I wouldn't even say he evolved, I would say he just keeps doing what he was gifted with and keeps trying to embellish on that. I love him and there's a reason he's my second fav director.

    *Orson Welles has a great part in this, btw.

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    1. I like where your head is at Sir. Between De Palma and 80's slasher completionism, you've given us all something to aspire to.

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  18. Watched House (aka Hausu from 1977) on Hulu the other day since it was mentioned on the podcast-a-thon as being somewhat crazy. Maybe it says something about me that the movie made sense to me. Mainly it's crazy because even the most mundane scenes seem to have special effects or weird camera tricks. Loved it though.

    Also got around to my Lynch marathon of Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, and Mulholland Drive. Hopefully going to rewatch Wild at Heart and Inland Empire on one of my next days off. Everything Twin Peaks related will probably get a rewatch next year prior to the new show.

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    1. Nice one! Hausu is in my top ten for sure. I saw a bootleg only a year or so before Criterion announced their release, and it was an instant favorite for me. I guess you're really in touch with your inner eight year-old Ross, since the movie was written by one and you were able to follow it effortlessly. Does that mean you're a big Axe Cop fan too? :) Anyone who loves Hausu should try to hunt down the equally insane Metta Meta Gakido Koza.

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    2. Just went on a Lynch kick myself after picking up the ERASERHEAD and MULHOLLAND DRIVE Criterion Blus. I'm waiting to see if they ever release BLUE VELVET before I upgrade that one.

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    3. It seems more than possible seeing the relationship they've struck up with MGM. If Velvet blu happens, that means we're also likely to get Wild at Heart!

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    4. I'm all in favor of a Criterion Blue Velvet, but the existing Blu is so good that you really don't even need to wait. The hour's worth of deleted scenes alone makes it worth it.

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  19. After checking out Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013) on Netflix [oh look, another Bad Future story; I sure hope we get more of these in the future /sarc], I got around to watching Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010) and enjoyed it thoroughly. In stark contrast to Flashpoint it better utilizes the occasional bout of grim violence to service the plot, and John DiMaggio is every bit as worthy of Hamill in his stint as the Joker. I'm very much looking forward to viewing JL: The New Frontier (Thanks, Heath!)

    Also finally got around to viewing A Scanner Darkly (2006). Knowing how reluctant Hollywood is on taking creative risks with filmmaking, I sincerely hope Richard Linklater gets a chance to adapt another Philip K. Dick novel to the screen, especially given his critical goodwill from Boyhood (2014), not to mention the success of The Man In the High Castle TV series on Amazon Prime. Fingers crossed.

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    1. I agree that Under the Red Hood is pretty good stuff. I miss the old DC Animated Universe before the reboot to keep things current with New 52. It wasn't all good, but a bunch of it was. DC's biggest asset is its history and legacy.

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  20. I finally got around to watching The Invitation last night.....really good right? I mostly appreciate the bold decisions they made in casting, and how they were smart enough to make a point about it. It reminds me of Alien, the characters are diverse and all treated as equals. I wasn't as in love with the last 10 minutes as I was the first 80 (and it did use a little bit of lazy writing to create some false tension that I wasn't crazy about). But I'll echo the sentiments of everyone else on the site who has seen it; watch it. Its masterful and original.

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    1. Completely agree with this. It was extremely engrossing but the last 10 minutes let the rest of the movie down a bit. I genuinely did not know where it was going after the first hour (in a good way). That said, the final shot is really good.

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  21. This past two weeks has been a constant stream of movies with the addition of 15 Criterion titles and the James Bond collection. So far I've watched:

    Harold and Maude (loved it), A Hard Day's Night (Really loved it), Fantastic Mr. Fox (Really loved it), The Game (Liked it), Videodrome (liked it), The Night of the Hunter (loved it), Dr. Strangelove (loved it), Moonrise Kingdom (loved it), Eraserhead (wtf).

    With James Bond, I've seen most of them already, but I'm going back through them to experience them all on Blu. So far im through Thunderball, and really enjoying the beginnings of the series. I've always loved the epic charm of the first four Bond's. Not looking forward to the middle stuff, but I'll make the most of it.

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  22. So I just finished Glen or Glenda. I've wanted to see it ever since seeing Burton's Ed Wood, and boy is it a weird movie. The bulk of it is Wood's Glen wearing women's clothes and wondering whether to tell his girlfriend or not, but then there's the framing story of a psychiatrist educating an idiot cop about transvestism, Bela Lugosi as some kind of a mad scientist/overseer character and a tacked-on surreal dream sequence that makes absolutely no sense and goes on way too long. Also, it's 68 minutes long, and at least 15 of that is the narrator's voice over archive footage. It's not a good movie, but it certainly is fascinating. Amazing really that it got made in the 50's.

    Btw, it's on YouTube if anyone's interested.

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    1. I wonder if it will stick with you Mikko and the more you think about it the more you'll like it. I think it is Ed Wood's magnum opus and his only legit GOOD movie. He really has something to say and says it unlike anyone before or since. You nailed it, it's amazing it got made, much less in the 50's.

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    2. If you saw it on YouTube...it was cut badly. I've never found a complete copy there.

      This DVD set has a complete copy of Glen or Glenda....it also has the only copy of Jail Bait I know of that has a burlesque dance instead of the racist ventriloquist show in the middle.

      https://www.amazon.com/Ed-Wood-Collection-Salute-Incompetence/dp/B000LSBXIY/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1468819615&sr=1-1&keywords=Ed+Wood+A+Salute+to+Incompetence

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  24. Bought a bunch of Criterion movies this weekend. Carnival of Souls, The Killing, 12 Angry Men, Five Easy Pieces, Mulholland Drive, Dazed and Confused and Vivre Se Vie!

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    1. I went all out during last summer's 50% off Criterion sale and the box was stolen off my doorstep. I've always wondered how the burglar liked Vivre Se Vie.

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    2. Omg. That's awful. Good taste, btw. Anna Karina for the win.

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    3. Thank you, I find her pretty mesmerizing.

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