Saturday, January 18, 2020

Weekend Open Thread

Ride together. Die together.

24 comments:

  1. Been a light week for me in terms of movies, but I did see two movies I hadn't seen probably since I was a teenager, Goodfellas and Darkman. Turns out, they're both still great!

    And yesterday I got Midsommar, Us, Replicas, Mulholland Drive, and They Live in the mail, so I probably won't be bored in the coming week.

    How's everybody else doing?

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    1. Saw the new Terminator. Liked it way more than I expected. Did have some issues with the ending set piece being just a bit too familiar feeling to the end of T2 but overall enjoyed the film. Finally watched Spielberg's The Sugarland Express. Crazy little country road movie with some really great performances from Goldie Hawn and William Atherton. A film were Goldie breaks Bill out of jail so they can get their kid back. Thats all I'll say except Ben Johnson steals the film as the police captain trying to resolve the situation.
      Other than that I have just been spending time watching TCM on demand as January has had some insanely good movie picks. Gone With the Wind, Animal Crackers, The Great Escape, Casablanca and the Cincinnati Kid have been some of my highlights.

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  2. Had I seen Primal last year it would have been on my top 10. It's basically Under Siege + wild animals + Nic Cage (going for it). It's the kind of silly B-Movie we lament "never gets made anymore". Bonus points for Kevin Durand's memorable villain performance. Highly Recommended.

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    1. I just watched this yesterday and enjoyed it quite a bit. It was the first step on my journey of watching every Nic Cage DTV movie this year.

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    2. Oh man... you are truly doing the lord's work...

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  3. Which actor signature move or catch phrase do you prefer the most?

    Tom Cruise running
    Tom Hanks pee problems
    Brad Pitt eating
    Sam Jackson "Mother Fucker"
    John Cusack likes rain
    Arnold Schwarzenegger "I'll be back"
    Harrison Ford Pointing

    Please remind me of any I didn't list.

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    1. Wow. I can't believe I forgot Owen Wilson.

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    2. Every time I hear someone say "Wow" now, I instinctively repeat it in my head in Wilson's voice.

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  4. Friends, F-Heads, Internet Denizens, lend me your ears... It is now 2020, a new decade, and an opportunity for renewal. It's time to let old and wizened things go. Accordingly, I would like to humbly suggest two new rules regarding the term "spoiler alert."

    Rule #1: "Spoiler alert," or any variation thereof, is never again to be used as a joke. Saying "What did you have for breakfast? Spoiler alert: I had waffles!" hasn't been funny since James Gandolfini was still with us. Likewise for the post-spoiler non-alert: "I really liked that one film about how Germans dealt with the national trauma of losing World War 1. Oops, spoilers for 1919!" This sort of verbal gag was once kinda funny... and then, exactly a year later, Antonin Scalia died.

    Rule #2: As I said, it's 2020 - everyone and their aged grandparents now know what the term "spoiler alert" means. We know it so well that the knowledge has probably seeped back in time, and now our toddler selves know it, too. So, please, for the love of everything, if you say "Spoilers for Hamlet," don't even think about explaining that we should pause your article/podcast/vlog/YouTube review in order to helpfully explain that we should go and see a production of Hamlet before returning to the material in question, or continue on if we don't mind hearing about what happens in Hamlet. This would be unnecessary, and even greatly aggravating, because we all know what spoiler alerts are, and what they imply for both the work in question and our reasonable courses of action after hearing said disclaimer. We appreciate being given the opportunity to hit the Pause button when we get a spoiler alert, but chances are you're not going to dive immediately into an actual spoilery discussion of the work's last scene anyway.

    I bring this up in this Open Thread because the worst offenders of these new rules are of course everyone on the Screen Junkies YouTube channel, who somehow think we need an education on the matter every time they even obliquely reference a new episode of The Mandalorian. But, truly, my words of wisdom apply to us all. Hugs, and Peace to everyone! :)

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  5. Got to thank Patrick for this one - watched Motherless Brooklyn (2019) last night. It's an excellently made modern noir. Dir. Edward Norton who puts in a great performance and clearly directs the movie with affection. Highly recommend when you want to let a nice old-schoolish movie wash over you.

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    1. Adam Riske deserves the credit for that. He was the one who championed it on the podcast!

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    2. I need to watch this movie! Thanks for co-signing Adam's recommendation! :)

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  6. Greetings to everybody. It is good to see the return of the open thread.

    The new year has meant the start of my work for tax season. Finding the mental space for movies has, consequently, not been easy. I have mainly watched short things on Youtube.

    The most noteworthy watch of this week was a documentary about a hockey player I had heard of but knew nothing about: Bob Probert. TOUGH GUY: THE BOB PROBERT STORY is a straightforward narrative about his life and his NHL career. I found it interesting as a look back at what the NHL was like back in 1980s and '90s. Probert was an enforcer, whose job it was to literally beat up the opposition on the ice. The referees back then allowed some lengthy boxing matches to happen. Though I have seen better sports documentaries, it it is worth a watch if you like hockey.

    That reminds me of a documentary I watched at the end of last year on on ESPN for its E:60 series. It is the story of the Humboldt Broncos, a junior hockey team in Saskatchewan that was involved in a major accident traveling to a game a couple of years ago. Sixteen people (10 players aged 16 to 21) on the bus were killed, and many of the survivors suffered life-altering injuries. The emotion of the program has stuck with me.

    Last week I watched a couple of movies. REVENGE OF THE CREATURE was on Svengoolie's program. I found it very entertaining and a little more intelligent than most of the 1950s creatures features I have watched. The King Kong influence is very strong in it. The other watch was a Czech New Wave production entitled CAPRICIOUS SUMMER. It is a lighthearted story about the comedy of human existence from the director of the classic Closely Watched Trains.

    Out of curiosity, I decided to create a database of some sections of my collection of DVDs and blu-rays. I stopped at around 250 individual movies, but there are many I could continue to add. The sad part is that I have only viewed a small fraction of these titles. It got me thinking about utilizing my collection for Junesploitation more than I have in past years. Relying primarily on movies in physical formats and the recordings on my DVR for the month would be an interesting challenge.

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  7. This week I stopped by a store going home from work and found a surprisingly diverse selection of inexpensive DVDS and Blu-rays. I picked up Double Indemnity, a Nicholas Cage double feature (Face/Off and Snake Eyes), and an Elia Kazan-directed noir all on Blu-ray. There were also some Donnie Yen films that caught my eye, but you have to show restraint sometimes.

    The previous week I stopped by the only remaining movie and music retailer in my area (FYE) and found an Arrow release of a Sho Kosugi film, Rage of Honor, for less than $10 dollars. It may not turn out to be a good film, but an Arrow release for that amount is not easy to find.

    Have any of you had any good movie shopping experiences lately?

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  8. Did anyone else watch Bad Boys for Life this weekend? I ended up liking it way more than I expected to based on the preview! I don't think that's just my nostalgia talking--it's a fun action movie with unexpected turns and great performances, especially from Martin Lawrence and Joey Pants.

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  9. Felt like watching an awesome movie, so i put on Everly. Hyper violent, darkly funny, and Salma Hayek is incredibly sexy. What else do you need.

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    1. I recommend you read Patrick's review on this site if you still need convincing

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  10. After listening to the podcast this week, I decided to check out CLOSE CALLS and was really impressed! It’s such a confident movie that looks great and has a honking score. Thanks for the rec Patrick

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  11. I think Patrick may have mentioned Mega Time Squad (2018) a few weeks back. Currently streaming on Amazon Prime. At a very brisk 80ish minutes it is really fun. I laughed out loud a few times. Fans of New Zealand humor should check it out.

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  12. Yay! The weekend open thread is back!

    I watched The Fugitive last night with the kids. I really have to twist their arms to watch older movies, to the point (like last night) I gave them an option of watching the movie, or going to bed. They always like them afterwards.

    My oldest is 14, so the threat of "going to bed" isn't going to work for much longer.

    The Fugitive is great! Good solid action movie, but without too much violence. I love the gritty Chicago cops that are in this. The scene at the beginning when they're questioning Han Solo, I just love how they're rapid firing questions at him while giving the impression of not believing a word he's saying and then looks they are giving him.

    My son and both laughed out loud when he jumped off of dam....head first! I was expecting a cautious feet first jump, but he just launched himself into a front flip! Although the score isn't something you'd listen to in the car, it really added to the intensity. I miss the 90's. I think I'm going to try to watch as many 90's movies as possible this year.

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  13. Just finished "Close Calls". I can see why it made Patrick's Horror Top ten list. Really entertaining and really well made. Film was like some kind of De Palma does Giallo via Hitchcock. I liked it a lot.

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