Happy Labor Day weekend to those of you in the U.S.! To those of you outside the country, happy September! This means we're less than a month away from #ScaryMovieMonth. Hopefully you all are counting down the days.
In the meantime, the floor is yours!
God Damn! That screen shot is the best. No better drunk dancing than JCVD drunk dancing. Guess I need to watch Kickboxer this weekend (I know you could take him Alexio). I'll be watching it with Vengeance.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best days ever, double feature, I watched my 2 favorite movies back to back. It was so good. Das Boot followed by Master and Commander. I really want to be a sailor....or a pirate!
ReplyDeleteI do really love Master in Commander. Yes ago, I went on a complete binge where I read everyone single Aubrey-Maturin book then ended it by watching the movie. All I did was talk in sailor speech. Hazar!
DeleteI haven't been reading much lately, but I'd like to read those books. Everything I've heard is that they're great.
DeleteI do adore the books, to quote JB they are a rousing boys adventure.
DeleteI should read them... I've been crawling at a snail's pace thorough the Narnia series....if JB said they are a rousing boys adventure, then I'm in! I'm a boy who REALLY want to be a pirate..... I mean sailor
DeleteFinally got around to watching the VHS tape I got of Street Music (1981). I didn't really know much about it other than it being EG Daily's first movie, and that it was filmed in SF (I live in the Bay Area). It's a very roughly-made movie; like boom mic visible in the mirror rough. Still it's somewhat relevant even today as it's about residents of a run-down hotel getting forced out after it's bought by a corporation. The elderly residents of the hotel are also a highlight, and Daily is charming as always.
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe not always as I also saw her in her most recent movie appearance in 31. Not a huge fan of that one as it seems to be lacking an idea. I don't even mean an original idea, I don't think Rob Zombie had any ideas behind making this movie besides just wanting to make a new movie. It's tedious, and the villains all remind me of Todd McFarlane character designs. I'd call it style over substance, but even the style seems to lack any real inspiration. Richard Brake does his best to salvage the movie, but the dialogue he's given lacks any subtlety to the point where it becomes cartoonish in a "this guy is so evil, don't you really just hate him" sorta way.
Dear Mr. Riske,
ReplyDeleteI would like to extend my deepest thanks for pointing me toward Don't Think Twice with your review. It pressed every button I have in all the best ways, and it was equal parts touching, funny, sad, fascinating and wonderful. It's incredibly great and most definitely one of my favorite movies of the year!
Glad you liked it. I saw it a second time and wondered if I was overpraising it.
DeleteI don't think so. I can say not everyone is going to love it, as evidenced by my mom who I saw it with and I don't think was expecting it to be tinged with such sadness, but I love that sort of thing when it's honest and real, which I felt this was, despite only ever having viewed this world as an outside spectator. It's a terrific dramady and way better, deeper and more interesting than most everything else this summer.
DeleteAlso, I now have a crush on Gillian Jacobs.
DeleteGet in line, bub.
DeleteALSO, I just tweeted to Mike Birbiglia that I loved his movie and he liked my tweet! :)
DeleteSaw it last night and absolutely loved it. Between this and Love, it's been a great year for Gillian Jacobs wearing overalls.
DeleteFinally saw Captain America: Civil Disagreement. A whole lot of nothing going on in that flick. No threat whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteI think that movie is less about threat and more about character relationships.
DeleteAbsolutely, and it failed at that as well. Don't call your film Civil War when it's based on some silly narcissism and characters we know aren't gonna perish. This movie felt like a paycheck to me. Even the after credits sequence, which I normally hate anyway, was like "Spiderman will return" I was like, "oh really?! No shit, you think?!" Kind of insulting actually.
DeleteEh, I'm being a jerk to this film, sorry. It just bored me. That's all. I really don't watch these comic movies like other movies because I understand the marketing and what they have to do.
DeleteJeez Chaybee always being a jerk :), just kidding. Civil War is engineered around that fight, and this is a movie I mostly liked, but it does rely on your affection for the other movies and characters, and if it isn't there it would be a shurg fest. As you have ready said.
DeleteHehe :-) Yeah, Lindsay, that fight really bothered too. We all knew nothing would come out of it and they spent so much time building their teams just to show that Spiderman and Black Panther are getting movies. Plus, to be nitpicky, Ironman is smarter than his reaction to Cap Amer 2 killing his parents. They try to make you believe that emotions take him over but I wasn't buying it at all.
DeleteI'm with you Chaybee, have already forgotten Civil War and almost every other comic book movie from the current cycle. I rarely have felt ripped off after buying a ticket but Suicide Squad was the final straw. These comic book movies just aren't for me. I'm happy people like them, but I'm out!
DeleteJust watched Inequality for all, a documentary recommended by Erika, a really interesting eye opening and very sad film about the world we live in and the greed of the 1%
ReplyDeleteWatched Midnight Run last night - definitely comfort food for me but having not watched it in probably 15 years I was glad to see it still holds up - not the laugh a minute I remembered but solid - the new blu-ray looks pretty great.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the new blu-ray - the new "Shout! Select" blu-ray with a conspicuous "3" on the spine indicating that its third in this new line of Shout! titles. Am I the only one that's a bit of a sucker for this kind of thing? I mean, Criterion does it but there's no chance in hell I'd even dream of completing that set, but damned if I'm not looking at Buckeroo Bonzai and Elvis (Numbers 1 and 2 of the series) and wondering if I should try to buy all of these so I don't have a big stupid "3" sitting alone on my shelf. I guess the true test is whether I'm going to buy another Road House blu-ray because that's "4". Those bastards really grabbed me by the "Collector's OCD" balls. Anyone else a sucker for that sort of thing?
That's the deep end of Ocd, I got it too, I can't get rid of my videos even though I own most of them on Dvd and Bluray, its easy to get drawn in, Scream factory, Arrow video and 88 films got my number
DeleteI'm with you Sol and Dennis. These spine numbers are gonna be a problem. Did you watch any of the new interviews on Midnight Run? The DeNiro one was pretty weak (but hey, it's DeNiro!) and the Grodin one was just bizarre.
DeleteIf your question is whether or not you should buy Buckeroo Bonzai, my answer is always going to be yes.
DeleteThe DeNiro one literally put me to sleep - I may check out the rest tonight - Grodin's an interesting guy - I was just reading about how he used to get into weird pretend fights with Johnny Carson and David Letterman that audiences would think they were real - sounds like there's a chance that bizarre interview was on purpose!
DeleteThanks Ross - it's good, huh? Don't remember ever seeing it.
It's the kind of movie that could have only gotten made in the 80's. It's also got a great cast and is just a really fun movie.
DeleteFinally got around to Bone Tomahawk a couple of days ago. What an amazing movie! Loved the characters and their slow trek to their destination, which made what happens when they get there all the more effective.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, the schedule for the Helsinki International Film Festival was announced, and I immediately compiled my own schedule of 14 movies over four days, including Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Sing Street (neither got a wide release here), plus a few horrors. Will report back in a few weeks when the festival is over.
Good weekend of rewatches so far. Snowpiercer, which I previously put in the "good" column is now on the see must side. Really well made, with lots on its mind. Ex Machina - a lot of people have already said it better than me - so good. Both easily filter in my top 10 of the decade. Though I haven't made an actual list.
ReplyDeleteFinally got around to re-watching 2001. I'm not completely in love with the movie (I have a weird relationship with Kubric), but this time I was able just to give myself to the movie for the first time, as in I was able to let it wash over me, something I have never been able to do before. So progress!
ReplyDeleteI got the "Sychronicity" score on vinyl courtesy of Mondo. So F-ing good! "Stranger Things" is great, and has brought this 80's resurgence to the mainstream; but this stuff has been going on for years in the indie scene. "Stranger Things" might be the last wave to kill it actually, which I'm fine with.
ReplyDeleteA lot of aggressive walking and typing going on in "Jason Bourne". Reminds me of the typing-porn in "Live Free or Die Hard". Ugh.
ReplyDeleteOr Non-Stop... there was a lot of texting in that one.
DeleteOh and I just ordered a Vincent Price blu ray set that includes Witchfinder General, Abominable Dr Phibes and Last Man on Earth, and a Steven King set with Dead Zone, Christine and Sleepwalkers. So getting ready for SMM! Oh and I just pre-ordered Jerusalem by Alan Moore a novel of over 1000 of Moore weird mythology. I know that's not related to anything but it's like Moore has thrown down the gauntlet and I'm excited.
ReplyDeleteDr. Phibes is a favorite of mine. Curious about Jerusalem.
DeleteI am looking forward to checking out Phibes, it would be good watching a Price movie that isn't Theatre of Blood the Wax Musuem (though I love those two movies) it wouldn't be SMM without some Price.
DeleteI am also curious to see what novel from Moore would look like, messy and insane I am guessing, or hoping :).
War Dogs wasn't good but I liked it. If David O' Russell has recently been called Diet Coke Scorsese, then this was crystal lite powder but without the bottle of water to pour it in.
ReplyDeleteTotally watched Dead Man on Campus last night. Totally loved that insane movie.
ReplyDeleteWatched "Antibirth". Lynonne is great in it but it's kind of disturbing as she is pretty much playing herself as a drug addict. Didn't really like it.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine she'll ever top her performance in this movie. Antibirth is like the Gregg Araki movie Nowhere, if 75% of the characters were played by Natasha.
DeleteWhen she was sane, her performance in "Slums of..." was great. Now, she's the Margot Kidder; Randy Quaid of Hollywood, unfortunately.
DeleteThe Saint with Val Kilmer and Elisabeth Shue. Watch Kilmer go through very cheap disguises all while stopping a Russian billionaire from creating a new revolution and falling in love with Shue as a scientist with a heart condition!
ReplyDeleteI really liked The Saint when I saw it a billion years ago. Don't know how it holds up.
DeleteFinally got around to seeing DON'T BREATHE a couple nights ago. Went in knowing very little, came out thoroughly impressed. What a great cinema experience. I saw it on a Friday night and the cinema was half full of teenage dirtbags (intentional shameful Weatus reference) who wouldn't shut up during the previews. Within 15 minutes of the movie starting the entire place was transfixed and the only sounds came from the reactions Alvarez's movie astutely plays for. A solid, deceptively simple premise delivered really really well. Can't wait to watch it again.
ReplyDeleteJust watched "Blood Father" - not bad. I actually dug it!
ReplyDeleteMorgan is interesting, considering who made it and where the movie goes.
ReplyDeleteNo disrespect intended, Ben, but if there's one thing Morgan is not, it's "interesting."
DeleteOkay, the reason why Ridley Scott's son would want to make the movie he did is interesting
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ReplyDeleteSaw 'Hell or High Water' this weekend, found it a disappointment. It wants very badly to be a Coen Bros. movie, right down to the film's score which is more than a little reminiscent of Fargo. It's not all bad, though; there are scenes that work well, some of the performances are better than others, and some of the characters are better written than others; I generally liked the action pieces; the humor was hit and miss. My grade: C
ReplyDeleteBen Foster's accent was super distracting
DeleteJust got home from watching the Documentary Tickled. That movie escalted quickly. It's one of those great docos that starts off as one thing and then turns into another. It gets kinda nutty.
ReplyDeleteWow, I want to watch that for the title alone. Reviews are great too.
DeleteI watched three movies on the big screen. Sadly two of them were not worth the money I spent on them.
ReplyDeleteSuicide squad, which was mildly entertaining but in the end a disappointing mess, representing the gutlessness of the studio to make an R-rated picture out of material that screams for an R-rating and then some. The third DC-dud in a row. And whatever the next movie containing a bullshit portal in the sky may be, I will skip it. Please, Hollywood, don´t ever again put one of those shitty portals in any of your future movies. They are boring, dumb and idiotic. And if you are planning a sequel to this mess, please grow some balls to do it right.
Ben Hur, which was the most pointless remake I saw in a long time. Nothing epic there, just a by the numbers work, checking every necessary plot point from it´s checklist without providing any epic flair. This was a half-competent TV-movie but surely no cinematic epic. Every single episode of Game of thrones is more epic on every level than this one. Special mention deserves the very thin score by Marco Beltrami which descends in tonal nothingness instead of offering some grandeur. This is a movie that deserves being a big expensive flop.
The shallows, which was a real delight. Surely no classic for the ages but a well played and well filmed suspenseful thriller that does it´s job pretty good. After a slow start I was thrilled throughout most of the running time. What more can I ask for?
"Shitty Portals" - DC Universe band name.
DeleteI went to the theater and watched the wonderful Hell or Highwater in a small theater. It would have perfect movie going experience if you subtracting the man behind us making narrating with obvious comments.
ReplyDeleteFor Example:
They are burying a car on screen
"Oh my lord they are burying the car"
A person dies and blood is pouring out of their head
"I think they got him"
This was at full volume. Combined with overzealous laughter drowning out scenes that didn't signal for it. Such as the main character carrying a large stack of pokerchips. Yes that was it, gut busting stuff I agree.
Not as bad as my moneymonster screening earlier this year but pretty close
I also saw the conjuring 2. I wasn't as crazy about it as Heather was on the podcast. There was a bit to much goofy CGI in my opinion and an over-complicated plot (The classic main villian changes near the end of the movie)
I did love the recommended Carnage Park from the podcast. The beginning was great (A nice nod to Tarantino is included) I was a little disappointed that the stylish shots that were present at the start of the film where not present throughout the rest of the movie, but still overall very good.
I saw "I am not a serial killer" I wasn't crazy about. I thought there was too much going on. I didn't like a certain twist that persisted throughout the entire film. It was well made, just not my cup of tea.
I also watched The Minds Eye. Unfortunately this is one of those Indie Films which quality was restricted by its budget. It had some good concepts, but a lot of the seems came off campy. Which I don't think they were going for. Also I needed more Lauren Ashley Carter because she is the best.