Saturday, September 17, 2016

Weekend Open Thread

Everybody puts Mikey in a corner.

Happy weekend! Movies, amIright? See anything good lately?

36 comments:

  1. Rewatched all the original Planet of the Apes movies. Still amazes me just what a crazy series that is and the directions it goes in. I'm not sure that there's any other film series that matches what a batshit insane narrative arc the Planet of the Apes movies have.

    I thought Blair Witch was terrible. I don't know if it's going to be the subject of the podcast this week, plus I vented slightly on Twitter already since Riske commented on it as well, so I'll refrain from going off on it further at the moment. I would like to say though that I do think Barrett and Wingard are talented filmmakers attempting what may be the impossible task of trying to do a sequel to a movie which succeeded in ways that just can't be replicated.

    Also watched Eight Days a Week on Hulu. It's not going to be revelatory to anyone who is already a Beatles fan, but there's much worse ways to spend an hour and a half than watching the Beatles be charming.

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    1. I agree with you somewhat in Blair Witch. I got a chance to see it on Wednesday. I didn't think it was terrible, just not very good. Judging by the audience I was with, the film seems to work, but perhaps only for the casual movie-goer. I don't think this is a spoiler, but I did like the additional cameras--it allowed for more cinematic editing, which was a nice touch. Additionally, I liked the "environment" of the finale, but, ultimately, I was underwhelmed, which is a shame, because I, too, like Barrett and Winguard.

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    2. Haven't seen the new Blair Witch but I've noticed a common theme among the reviews - "Does mainly the same things as the first with better effects". But at the same time they're giving it a thumbs up to go see it.
      And it's reminding me of other movies - the 2013 version of "Carrie" for instance - where you could say the same thing about it, but the film was trashed.
      Is it just that the original isn't as "beloved" as some people would have you believe so that rebooting it's such a crime?

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    3. I actually enjoyed Blair Witch quite a bit. Perhaps it's because I haven't seen the original since I was a kid and remember virtually nothing. But I think they did a good job incorporating modern camera equipment to offer so many different perspectives. I think that made for a much more enjoyable "found footage" aesthetic.

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    4. The big difference for me with The Blair Witch Project and Blair Witch is that the former had a real sense of dread and characters you cared about which the new one (for me) did not.

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    5. I agree about the characters, they all kinda sucked but I thought they did a good job establishing a sense of total isolation. And that tunnel scene I thought was really effective.

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  2. Been a busy week, haven't watched anything for a while but tomorrow I'm heading off to the Helsinki International Film Festival for four days and 14 movies. Will report back next weekend.

    In other news, I'm so ready for Scary Movie Month. In recent weeks, I've bought a bunch of new horror movies (like Dead of Night, Wyrmwood, Burial Ground and The Innkeepers, plus boxsets of The Exorcist and Leprechaun) and adding everything horror to my Netflix queue. Come on, October, I'm waiting!

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  3. Rewatched two classics last night, both of them not talked about enough, The Exorcist 3 and Amityville 2

    Amityville 2 would kill on a good Bluray release by Scream factory

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    1. Scream Factory already released Amityville 2 as part of the Amityville Trilogy box set. It's not a Collector's Edition and there's no bonus footage or alternate cuts, but there's commentary with Alexandra Holzer and new interviews with Andrew Prine, Diane Franklin, and Rutanya Alda, plus a vintage interview with Damiano Damiani. Also, the movie looks great. It's easily my favorite in the series because it's so thoroughly batshit crazy (though to be fair I'm not much of a fan of the others at all).

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    2. A collectors edition would be nice, its much more fun than it deserves to be, cheers for the information on the release

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  4. Finally caught up on your last two podcasts. They were so much fun, and so insightful as usual. Peeping Mark Ahn got me every time, and the whole Rear Window discussion got me in such a Hitchcock mood that I watched 'The Man Who Knew Too Much,' the later Jimmy Stewart one. It's actually the last Jimmy Stewart - Hitchcock film I needed to see. That idea of invisible genius is such a great one to have in your head while you're watching his films. There's just such a level of control, even when there is so much happening on screen like in all the market scenes in that movie. It was a really solid thriller, exactly what I wanted.

    As for summer movies and all, well I don't get to the movies quite as much as you guys so I avoided a lot of the truly terrible stuff (although I did see suicide squad and warcraft and x-men apocalypse so you know). I would like to defend 'Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates' just a tiny bit, not because I think anyone's wrong or anything, but some of the sweetness in the movie actually genuinely hit home for me. There was one discussion in particular that Zac Efron had with Anna Kendrick and they're discussing like, achieving their potential or something along those lines and it just got me. As for the humour in the comedy, eh, it was fine. And that is my argument for why Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is actually 'fine.' ahaha

    Also, saw 'Don't Breathe' and the 'Blair Witch' as a sort of double feature and I had the best day. I hope you guys all like Blair Witch, although I saw Ross didn't like it up above and I honestly don't know how everyone here is going to react but I thought it was so effective and scary, and a sequel that respected the original movie enough to not just duplicate it but actually build the scares off what we as an audience already know. There is one scare in particular near the end which I reckon will cause walk outs, because it speaks to a very specific fear. I really loved it. Don't Breathe was a whole lot of fun too, it felt like a lot of really well constructed set pieces put in sequence. In a way it felt repetitive because it doesn't expand the threat or scope or rules of them in a large way, but it was also just a really fun piece of film making. After hearing such great things from Patrick and Heather on their podcast a couple of weeks ago I was so excited to catch it and it didn't disappoint.

    (Also can I just note that I haven't been commenting on JB's posts but his two columns every week just bring me a ridiculous amount of joy. Always makes me laugh, and sort of want to see the bad movies and definitely want to see any of the great movies I haven't already).

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    1. That's really nice of you to say, Tristan. Thank you. The Pope will now grant you one papal indulgence...

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  5. Blair witch suxxxxxx...unfortunately. Impossible task for any filmmaker. I feel like if they just made a mumblecore/gore film like they used to, it would've been better suited and still fit in w Blair witch lore.

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  6. Just caught a solid little triple header at the Sydney Underground Film Festival;

    The Mind's Eye- Didn't love it, but plays really well with a good crowd. Kills are solid, especially due to some pretty great practical effects and make-up on what I'm sure was a small budget. For better or worse it really nailed the 80's/90's tv movie aesthetic. The script and performances were a little lackluster, but the darkly comedic moments and the gore make it a good watch with a couple beers and a good crowd.

    Antbirth- Would have made a fantastic 45-50 min short. Performances are fun, a nice mix of surreal visuals and a darkly comedic take on 90's gross out humor and/or body horror. A little too much filler but ends on a high note.

    We Are The Flesh- Watching this with a largely unsuspecting crowd was one of the great pleasures of my adult life. A beautifully shot descent into radical hedonism. A lot of boners.

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  7. Finished Season Two of the Netflix original series Bloodline, starring my main man Kyle Chandler. Another terrific season, and I'm looking forward to the third, which was just announced to be the last. Which, despite the fact that those involved would doubtless have liked to continue on, is fine with me. This way, they'll be able to wrap things up and go out on a high note, before the plot pile-ups become Scandal-level absurd. (Says a guy who's never watched Scandal.)

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    1. I liked the first season very much, especially the uniformly great cast, although I thought the story would be fine for 10 or 11 instead of 13 episodes. To me it was a little too drawn out, but I look forward to start season 2 in a few weeks, after I finished the second seasons of Daredevil and Better call Saul.

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  8. I'm at a quandary in my life in which I've lost the ability to enjoy movies. Maybe my month-long commitment to Junesploitation (for better or worse) did me in, or there's too much going on in life for me to switch off. In need of a PC Danny Butterman figure to show me how..

    Meanwhile I caved and resubscribed to Netflix for another month to finish watching the second season of Daredevil. I lost interest after five episodes but after a lengthy absence I enjoyed episode six so much it rejuvenated my interest in seeing it to its completion.

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    1. Maybe you need a break or just to see something really good (in order to turn it around)?

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    2. I'm with Adam. Take a break. Do something else. You'll get it back.

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    3. I've been feeling a bit burnt out from movies too. My solution so far has been to severely cut back, stick to old fav's I've seen a million times, and get more fresh air. Autumn time is the best time, all the colours, the death, rain, and wild mushrooms.

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  9. Heads up: Mankillers which Patrick reviewed this past week is $10.99 on Amazon.com right now though it says ships 1-2 months. Generally I find that's not true but regardless, great deal!

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    1. I ordered the out of stock Basketcase trilogy on bluray in a stunning steelbook form from Amazon 3 months ago, I'm still waiting

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  10. Hey guys, I'm gonna be in LA for a couple of days later this month. Any suggestions for good movie related things to do there? So far I want to try see something at the New Beverly, and go to the Dark Delicacies bookstore.

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    1. El Capitan theater was really cool

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    2. Beside Dark Delicacies (which you must visit) don't miss Creature Features and Halloweentown just down the street. Heaven.

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    3. I would suggest you try to visit The Egyptian theater. Not sure which weekend you'll be there (or if it will even be a weekend), but depending on the day, you might be able to catch Taxi Driver or Bava's Demons in 35mm.

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  11. "31" - I really don't like Zombie's movies. This is close to his worst. Super boring, didn't care about anything going on and most of it was laughable in execution.

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  12. My question for the "The Blair Witch sucks" guys - what do you think would have impressed you? I don't ask this confrontationally - I'm curious because I too was disappointed but I don't really know how I was expecting to be blown away by a found-footage sequel other than it being a Wingard-Barrett joint. As I watched it I kept waiting for that moment for it to become something special but then it kept failing to blow me away and be anything more than pretty standard found-footage fare...but what could have blown me away?

    On the flip side, I was in a fairly crowded theatre that seemed to be into it and I actually found it pretty scary (as well as having a few laughs - "that...looks a little irritated" was hilarious) - some of the jump scares were cheap but they did make me jump. I watched the original again last night and, though I actually like it more than I remembered, it's not like it's THAT great and I think there's an argument for the sequel being at lease an improvement.

    I can't help but wonder if, given the talent of the writer and director involved, if there isn't some sort of meta-level/subtext thing going on. I mean, this thing throws EVERY found-footage trope at the screen - is it a commentary on the genre and the fact there's nothing more to be done with it? Like I tweeted to Riske, if the original movie gave birth to the found-footage craze, is this one trying to kill it off? I'm probably stretching but these filmmakers deserve at least an attempt at a deeper look...

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    1. I'm not a huge fan of the original, but one of the things I do like about it is that it's almost all psychological. There's not one scene where anything supernatural actually happens on screen, and most of thrones movie is just three characters completely breaking down as their situation becomes more and more hopeless. So I guess what would have impressed me with Blair Witch is if it had continued on with that subtlety and ambiguity.

      Instead it's got characters I can't get invested in, a premise I don't buy into, and a complete lack of subtlety. Maybe it is some sort of commentary on found footage movies, but even if they're trying to say something here they don't seem to be doing it in any sort of interesting way. Sometimes people just make bad movies and especially when it comes to sequels or reboots.

      I'm not a particularly hard person to impress. Really all it would have taken to at least make it ok would have been better characters. I don't really like shutting on movies, but watching this was just a frustrating experience for me.

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    2. Yeah and I forgot that about the TBWP - once you know the expanded mythology it's hard not to rewatch the original as being supernatural, but you're right and watching it this last time I was really impressed by how much of the horror is "holy shit we are fucking lost in these woods", which is some good, grounded real-life horror.

      And I was frustrated too - not quite as much as you - for I think very "mindset/theater-vibe" reasons I was able to have some fun with it - but the whole time I was waiting for some of those moments from You're Next or The Guest where it's like, this is fucking great! but yeah, none of that. I just wonder if that kind of moment was even possible given the parameters they had to work within.

      I think you're right about characters - not that the ones in the original were GREAT - but good characters can really elevate a genre film especially and You're Next and The Guest had some great ones; The Blair Witch does not.

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  13. It was frustrating to me in that when deciding how they were going to approach this movie, they seemingly decided to remove what I liked about the original and kept the stuff that I feel is less important (following up on the story of the original by having this be the brother of one of the original characters, and the found footage aspect). Some of that sounds like it was probably the studio execs call since they passed on a prequel from the original creators.

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  14. Watching 'Don't Breathe' this week really has me in a horror mood...crazy that Scary Movie Month is almost here again!

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    1. I'm looking forward to SMM too. Unfortunately, I think I blew my yearly movie budget in June.

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  15. Watched Tell Me How I Die (2016) - Good premise executed poorly. Still, I'm not going 0/5 this weekend as I liked some of this, mostly the boobage and snowy setting. Could have been great, but it slugs along while you're wanting them to do something great with the premise but it never happens. definitely don't recommend it but it's the best film I've seen all weekend. Yeah...that bad.

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  16. I cleaned up my harddrive and watched some things I had downloaded or copied months ago.

    So, what a coincidence, I watched “The Blackmail Boys”, a very amateurish little gay thriller with Joe Swanberg surprisingly having hardcore gay sex filmed by none other than Blair Witch director Adam Wingard as director of photography. Otherwise not a very interesting film.

    Finally, I also watched “Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy” which was great fun. Tons of information I never knew, great to see and hear the people around that series talking about the mostly crazy shoots. Seems that even after four or five films, they didn´t learn to start shooting not before a script was ready.

    And I finished the first season of “Stranger things” this weekend. It was fine. David Harbour and Millie Bobby Brown were very good, Winona Ryder was a little bit too crazy, Matthew Modine was totally wasted and lots of things were very on the nose. I liked the eighties vibe and the score but all in all it was a little disappointing for me.

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    1. 'Never Sleep Again' could be 10 hours and I'd still watch the shit out of it.

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