Saturday, March 4, 2017

Weekend Open Thread

SNIKT, everyone.

It's a pretty great weekend, movie fans. John Wick 2 and Get Out are still in theaters. Headshot is out in limited release. Logan hits theaters this weekend. I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore is on Netflix. The Girl With All the Gifts and Don't Kill It are on VOD. Hell, even The Assignment deserves your attention because it's the new Walter Hill and because there aren't enough movies made about hitmen getting involuntary gender reassignment and then getting revenge. So it's like Johnny Handsome, only instead of going from a monster to Mickey Rourke we're going from Michelle Rodriguez with terrible makeup to regular Michelle Rodriguez.

See movies this weekend. Talk about movies here.

72 comments:

  1. I'm sad that Get Out doesn't seem to be getting a theatrical release in Finland at all. But John Wick 2 and Logan are indeed great, so there's that.

    I watched Firefly again (for like the fourth time) and capped it off with Serenity (for the second time). I remembered being a little disappointed with the movie the first time, now I can't figure out why. It's awesome!

    And I saw Cleopatra Jones for the first time on Monday, on a big screen in 35mm. I gotta go to these archival screenings more often. They're showing Twelve Monkeys next Monday...

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  2. Spreading some love, i've been listening to Chaybee and Brahms Ratimis all week, totally retro, hardware synths and no computers, its been a trippy week, I feel like I live in a Turbo kids world with a amazing score

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    1. Outstanding! So have I! Favorite tracks: Midnight Wolf and Here Comes the End. Those distorted horns at the beginning of MW make my brain feel like one of those oceans of cheese Cheesasaurus Rex was always surfing on.

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    2. Thanks so much to both of you!!

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    3. I googled Cheesasaurus to make sure I spelled it right, and yeah, Cheesasaurus Rex rule 34 is a thing. A real, disturbing thing.

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  3. Watched a bunch this week...

    The Riddick Trilogy: I love Riddick! I love the Riddick podcast!
    The 13th Warrior (1999): It's got problems, but still very entertaining. I'm a sucker for medieval adventure movies.
    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Out of the Shadows: Yuck. Kids liked it. It was worse than I could have imagined. So much worse.
    T2: Judgement Day: Palate cleanser the morning after TMNT. Kids awoke at halfway mark and watched 2nd half. We're all "action movie buddies" now.
    Pieces 1982 (with FTM commentary): I want to attempt a jigsaw wearing big rubber gloves. A nude jigsaw.
    I Saw The Devil (2010): Realized I had seen this before. Great movie. Everytime I watch a Korean movie, I'm left with the feeling I should watch more Korean movies.
    Point Break: Haven't seen this since the 90's. Followed by obligatory 30 minutes of Youtube surfing videos.

    All in all, a good week! About to watch Rocky 2!

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    1. Went to see Get Out too.
      First time in a year going to see a movie opening weekend (Monday night actually).

      A big FU to the guy who yelled "oh, F***" every time that anything, anything at all happened on screen. Goddamn teenagers and their loud whispering. No one had their phones out, but the very instant the title screen came up, a million cell phone suddenly popped up. It was a cell phone jump scare.

      I'm firmly in Riske's camp of 1)movies at home 2)pants off

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    2. That's a hell of a week of movies!

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    3. Mr Calvert, i had that same experience when i went to see The Raid 2 a few years ago, when it came out. 2 dudes, a few seats from me and on opposite sides of me were reacting to stuff like your guy. at some point they acknowledge each other and then started reacting to each other. that was pretty annoying

      oh and i still have PTSD when i watch Deadpool because of the same experience

      so yeah, i limit my outing to theaters now

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    4. @Patrick It's my kids March Break, so I took the week off, and having been having fun with them, watching movies, and wasting time.

      @Kunider I generally don't go to the movies, but mostly for budgetary reasons. When I do go, I usually go several weeks after it's open, on a weekday matinee. I like to be alone. Mostly, I tend to treat movie going as a special treat for the kids, and for those movies, I don't care about kids making noise. They're noisy, but not yelling out stuff for the "benefit" of the rest of the crowd.

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  4. I think it's great that you have been putting VOD titles in the opening of the Weekend Open Thread!

    Watched "Don't Kill It" last night. Dolph was a fun to watch and there were some really great parts. Not a great movie but fun enough.

    Watching "Headshot" tonight.

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    1. I watched "Don't Kill It" last night also & I was laughing so hard at some of the over the top kills. Agree, it's a bad movie but a lot of kills were very much Ash vs. the Evild Dead level of fun.

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    2. That's pretty much how I feel about Don't Kill It. Headshot is fun for the action but not very special on a story level.

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    3. Yeah, Headshot was nothing special. Some good choreography (as expected) ultra violent, but pretty "meh". They are forever in the shadows of The Raid, unfortunately.

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    4. Those Raid movies really raised the bar for modern action expectations. I second your "meh" on Headshot. That said I'm fully on board for a prequel. Little Kid Fight Club In A Well (working title)

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  5. The Nice Guys is on tv, and I think Shane may be making a few direct references to Last Action Hero: like the scene near the end where Ryan does the fake crying routine and Keith David nearly pulls Angourie Rice off the hotel roof, which echoes the opening of LAH where The Ripper drags Jack's son off the roof, and the ending where Danny pulls the fake crying routine to pull a gun on Charles Dance; I could be reaching, though.

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    1. No, I thought the exact same thing! It was so similar to last action hero!

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  6. browsing the store that sell used dvd and blu-rays, found Predators for 3$. so here i am watching Predators after listenig to your podcast. i'd seen it before of course, but i was due for a refresher

    and Logan is freakin' awesome. i hope we see that little girl again

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  7. Trying to decide between seeing Jackie for the first time or watching Arrival again at the discount theater.

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    1. A movie about a grieving First Lady is about the last thing I'm intrigued to see, but I've seen enough love here to make it worthwhile. Plus shaved V-for-Vendetta Portman was a fox, so I'll watch anything with her in it (I think she's quite talented...and a fox).

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  8. Just came home from seeing the first Harry Potter movie on a 40 foot screen with a live orchestra. The orchestra were great, John Williams' score is amazing and the movie's fun enough. Had a really good time, as did my niece.

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  9. Went to one of my local Regals last weekend to see Get Out, and saw a sign for "Reclining leather seats coming soon!" That just about does it, just about every theater within 30 miles of me reclining leather seats, which means less seats in every theater, which means the end of "just catching a movie." At least opening weekend. Now, every time I wanna see something, I'll have to order my tickets online, get my reserved seat, and deal with whatever that reserved seat means.

    I always liked having the choice of the leather AMC seats if I was going on a date, or if it was a really long movie. Or if I was seeing something by myself and didn't want to be bothered, going with the stadium seating at Regal. Nope, not anymore. Fuck. That. I don't need a recliner Regal, I can put my feet on the chair in front of me, cause there's 500 seats in these theaters. God, am I the only one who hates this?

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  10. "I shouldn't be CRYING during a Wolverine movie. What the hell is this?!?"

    Also, I'm up through Schindler's List in my watch/rewatch of Best Picture winners. First time seeing it since 1993 and it's still a stone-cold classic.

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  11. If you like ridiculously over the top violence that isn't held back by silly trifles such as plot and character development Headshot is the movie for you. Seriously it's fahkin bonkers, see in a theatre if possible.

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  12. Still putting in a lot of hours at work taking care of film festival stuff. I did squeeze in some time to watch Logan though which I thought was great. Also, while I haven't put a huge amount of time into video games in recent years I did pick up the new Zelda game and managed to get a few hours in.

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  13. We Are the Flesh is pathetic garbage, at best the Begotten of the 2010s, at worst the Fando & Lis. I never took him very seriously before, but since Harry Knowles picked it as his Best New Horror Film of 2016, I can confidently just pretend that he and his opinions don't even exist.

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    1. i saw that too a few months ago. i hated it. my friend loved it.

      i still trust my friend, but i'm cautious

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  14. I saw Die Hard. No good things to say about that one, sorry.

    I also saw LOGAN last night. I guess it came out only this weekend so I shouldn't spoil it for others, but I can say...DEAR GOD, HE IS HOT. That scene after a fight when he collects his crying babycat. Seriously, I admire these movie makers who just know exactly which strings to pull to exploit my instincts. It feels so precise. That said, sometimes I resent it, too. Like why, movies, do you always make me empathize with tragic, dysfunctional men who look in need of some kind of spiritual rescuing? Like James Dean. Like Ryan Gosling's character from Drive (damn that elevator scene). These are really hot guys, real "hearts of gold" guys, who have really tragic lives and really need help, who you would really never bring home to meet your parents or be able to have a non-tragic future with. So, why? I don't know why. But sometimes I feel like I'm being dumbed down on PURPOSE with these movies, or they're somehow purposely lowering my opinions and expectations of men. MAYBE THAT'S JUST ME THO.

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    1. Sex sells! Consumerism and capitalism at the expense of other values. Tada! Answered my own question.

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    2. Wait, You saw Die Hard (1988) for the first time?!

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    3. Yis! It might've been one of the first action movies I've seen since I was a kid (back when my dad controlled our tv)! I was hoping for a post or a podcast on why Its so adored just so I could be on the same page with everyone else. I'm afraid I actively disliked it. Anyway, I am open to being wrong here. :)

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    4. Btw I totally saw it for you, Chaybee! And Patrick, and my poor old Dad who's given in to only watching all his daughters favorite movies with mostly all-female casts.

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    5. I could fill a week of podcasts as to why it's the greatest ever :) First thing to keep in mind is that it set the formula for the modern action film. Every action movie that followed copied Die Hard to some degree, all of them unsuccessful in capturing the greatness. It has one the best written and acted villains of all time and every character is memorable. The action set pieces were insane at the time. McClane isn't a super hero, he's an everyday guy stuck in a situation in which he is forced to do what he can. The way McTiernan shot Die Hard felt really different for the time. In his commentary he goes into detail about this and was influenced by certain angles and shooting style of French cinema. To bring that to an action film was genius.

      But hey, it's all subjective so if you didn't respond to respond to it, you didn't respond it. I thought Moonlight was one of the most boring films I've ever seen and I think Interstellar is possibly THE most boring, pretentious crap ever, so there you go!

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    6. Thanks, Meredith! No love lost!

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    7. Thanks! I like knowing those interesting things about Die Hard, it helps me understand where other people are coming from! Was Hans Gruber supposed to be comical? Or is it just my memory of Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon surfacing?

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    8. Wait, what??? Actively disliked it!?!

      We still love you though Meredith!...for now..(that's 1 strike)

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    9. I'm not in the club! Oh no! :)

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    10. It's okay Meredith, my wife doesn't like Die Hard either. I even knew that before I proposed to her! It's a pebble in the shoe of our marriage but I've learned to live with it.

      For some reason it's one of those movies I love that I can kinda see why it doesn't buzz everyone. One time after bugging a friend to finally watch Back to the Future for about a year, it played in a theatre for a fundraiser. I'd never seen it on the big screen so she agreed to go - it was a packed theatre full of adoring, respectful fans - couldn't have asked for a better screening. When it was over I said, "So? Great movie or the greatest movie?" She said, "Meh." THAT I didn't get.

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    11. Ya, to this day I don't know of a good movie like B2TF- it was so one of a kind.

      Basically John Mcclane reminds me of one of those ultra conservative middle aged white guys in NY who say things like "si'down toots" and "don't be a tart". It's too backwards. I like those guys but can only handle conversation with them in small doses before I start going crosseyed. And I liked the elevator and air shaft scenes better when Tom Cruise did them. (!!!!)

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  15. Watching Less than Zero. It is stunning how good Robert Downey junior is in this, especially given that everyone else is either trying really hard and are still not that good, or are just sleepwalking. I had heard he had issues in set concurrent with those of the character but his performance is still really outstanding. It is drastically different from the book but I am surprised at how good the move is as I had heard from most that it was utter bullocks.

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  16. JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK to this franchise cause this movie is a bummer. What the hell happened?

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    1. No doubt. That film KILLED what could have been the start of an awesome franchise.

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    2. Maybe we'll end up in a STAR TREK BEYOND situation. That'd be okay.

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  17. Last night I showed a friend Possession but with no info on what was coming, he scratched his head a lot, he did not like it even though he likes Sam Neil, its a strange film to love, I'll stick to hauling Xtro, a much easier film to enjoy

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  18. Last night I showed a friend Possession but with no info on what was coming, he scratched his head a lot, he did not like it even though he likes Sam Neil, its a strange film to love, I'll stick to hauling Xtro, a much easier film to enjoy

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  19. Bad news Xtro Fans!

    Tonight I was talking to Mark Forstater the Producer of Xtro and the man behind the upcoming Bluray release in Germany, I was trying to help Scream Factory with getting a possible release of Xtro in the US seeing as a lot of work has been done for the 5 disc bluray release, new prints were made and HD transfers done for multiple versions of the film, it seems a shame to only release it in one region, Mark said Warner own the US rights and they won't sell! He was gutted himself as the film deserves a wider release but Warner are notoriously bad for keeping hold of their library as we know, so unfortunately it looks like there will be no US release of Xtro at this present time which is a genuine shame, it would be a perfect addition to the guys at Scream factorys catalogue, can't say I didn't try
    Very sad ;)

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    1. Glad I have a region free player! :) Good on you to try for us US folks, Dennis!

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    2. It would of been the best thing ever if I could of connected Mark with Scream Factory and set the ball rolling, Scream Factory were up for it, but Mark could not get the rights from Warners, its a genuine shame, it is up there with Pieces, Bloodrage and releases like that, #Gutted :(

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    3. So is there gonna be a bare-bones release next to the 5-disc one? I wanna own the movie but a 5-disc set (with a statue?) might be a bit much.

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    4. if you guys are lucky, it will be region free.

      i got a bunch of region free blu-rays. just check on blu-ray.com to check. it's very reliable

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    5. Hi Mikko

      Yes there is another order with just the bluray without the t shirt, Xtro model, film cell and so on,
      It is still the full version but the price is good, only 28 Euros for the proper 5 discs , see below

      http://www.platinumcultedition.com/produkt/xtro-35th-anniversary-edition-limitiert-auf-1000-inkl-soundtrack-etc/

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    6. I'm not sure about the region, I can let you know once its out if need be?

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    7. i'm sure a lot of people will be interested in that information.

      and most of the time, to foreign edition can be found on the amazon market

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    8. Thanks Dennis. Will check it out.

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    9. I will post the region when I get it, hopefully it should be coming by early April is

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    10. I want to order the movie on Blu-ray (not the super special edition with the statue or whatever, but the next one down) but I can't make sense of the site or the preorder process. It looked like they just wanted to take money right out of my bank account, which I was not comfortable with.

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    11. It's also on Amazon.de for a few euros more (but knowing Amazon, the price might come down a bit before release).

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    12. I had trouble with the site too, I had to use google translate tool and a few headaches before I worked it out, Amazon.de does sound like a safer option, I'm not even 100% sure I got it right, I did get an email saying order went through but it was tough, ill only know for sure when it arrives, I would recommend the Amazon for safety and ease that Mikko mentioned

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    13. https://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/B01N7ZEHV4/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85Z%C3%95%C3%91&qid=1488994919&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=xtro+blu+ray


      Still a good price for 5 discs and easier to use,

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    14. Ok, preordered in from Amazon. 41,36 EUR with delivery to Finland. Not a terrible price, but I wouldn't mind if it dropped a bit.

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  20. So I was looking forward to watching the highly reviewed Hacksaw Ridge (I'm a big fan of war movies), but Patricks comments on the recent podcast left me cold, thinking it might be something along the line of We Were Soldiers.

    THEN! I made the stupid mistake of consulting IMDB user reviews. Fuck...Every single one is 10/10 (or if not, it's 1/10, fuck you imdb). The point I want to make is, it seemed every single review that wasn't 10/10 felt the need to preface their review "I totally support the soldiers and war effort, but..."....

    I mean, it's as if not loving the movie meant you hate the military or something. Really? It's just a movie.....ah I'm preaching to the crowd here, but really? You Americans (in a general sense) are very silly sometimes.

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    1. Paul, do we really need our silliness to pointed out now??? In 2017?? Really?!?!? ;-)

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    2. My bad.

      I promise, never, never, never, ever, ever to look at imdb user reviews again. There is either a 10/10 or a 1/10 chance I keep that promise.

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  21. I watched a ton of very different movies.
    Starting with "Mr Holmes", a fine movie with a damn great Ian McKellen in the title role.
    Next was "Concussion" with a fine Will Smith and an equally fine Alec Baldwin in a way too tame depiction of the real story and way too much fortune cookie dialogue especially about god, which made my atheist mind cringe.
    "It´s kind of a funny story" was really kind of funny. Interesting that I like most of those coming of age movies surrounding some kind of illness like "The fault in our stars" or "Me and Earl and the dying girl". Do I have to be worried about that?
    Next was „Youth“ from Paolo Sorrentino, whose excellent „The young pope“ I watched a few weeks ago. This one was a strangely funny and surreal drama with an excellent cast, especially the great Michael Caine.
    Then it was time for „Anthropoid“, a very uneven WW2 drama starring Jamie Dornan and Cillian Murphy. It had a very boring first half and a pretty decent second half with a great final shootout.
    Next one was „L.I.E. - Long Island Expressway“ from 2001, a strange but captivating drama starring the very young and already great Paul Dano and the always reliable Brian Cox.
    That was followed by Mike Flanagan´s „Ouija – Origin of evil“, which I only watched because of Flanagan at the helm. And it was pretty decent and entertaining, especially regarding the fact that it´s based on a board game and the sequel to a dumb and silly predecessor.
    That was followed by Oliver Stone´s „Snowden“. A fine and entertaining film, but also surprisingly very tame for a Stone movie.
    Next was the strange little „I am not a serial killer“, starring a good Max Records and a surprising Christopher Lloyd. Interesting and entertaining but ultimately not really satisfying.
    Then came „Cell“ this ill-fated Stephen King adaption, which was all around bad, lame, uninvolving and amateurish. And this must be one of the ugliest looking movies I saw in a long time, which is totally surprising regarding that DP Michael Simmonds shot „Nerve“ right after this, one of the most interesting looking movies of last year.
    Finally I watched „The theory of everything“, a movie I dodged for the last 3 years. It was fine and had a great central performance by Eddie Redmayne but otherwise was totally predictable. I still think Michael Keaton deserved that Oscar.

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