Saturday, January 22, 2022

Weekend Open Thread

17 comments:

  1. Ah so here's an important thing I did, I watched a bunch of Kodi Smit-Mcphee films. To make this more interesting, here's my ranking:1. SLOW WEST. "There's been an appalling misunderstanding". Crazy adorable, bursting heart movie, but also good on all levels. Now I love John Maclean. After watching it many times I keep going back for: Rose. She's stunning, reminds me of Pocahontas somehow and after initially not liking it, I now love the way she does the end scenes, really subtle.  And I rewatch the sunblock scene over and over. (KIDS! They don't know what's good for them!)

    2. DOLEMITE IS MY NAME. This movie is also super adorable. I didn't know anything about Rudy Ray Moore and I've never watched a blacksploitation movie (and never wanted to before), but this makes me want to. 

    3. THE POWER OF THE DOG. The power of the subtle actor. 

    4. ALL THE WILDERNESS. Kodi Smit-Mcphee can definitely carry a movie and he's REALLY strong at playing "little brother" to more alpha male characters.  But he's also a really cute non-queer boy, all shoulders and girlfriends (which was an insane surprise after first seeing him in Power of the Dog). 

    5. BIRDER'S GUIDE TO EVERYTHING. Featuring Ben Kingsley. It's cute.
     
    6. LET ME IN. I liked this, to my surprise. 

    7. ROMEO AND JULIET. 

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    1. The blaxploitation rabbit hole can get deep, Meredith. Rudy Ray Moore's films stand out in the genre because he brought a lot of his persona into them. Out of the three Moore flms I have watch, The Human Tornado is the one I like the most. It is just as ridiculous as Dolemite but with better production values. COFFY, from 1972, is my favorite blaxploitation film and in my personal top ten.

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    2. Thanks, Casual! I'll remember that.

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  2. Good weekend to everyone.

    I watched a couple films from well-known directors that may not be their best work, but that happens from time to time.

    THREE GODFATHERS (1948, dir. John Ford) – Despite being a classic film buff, I have only watched a handful of Ford’s films. The plot about the redemption of an outlaw (portrayed by John Wayne) gets overwhelmingly saccharine, yet there is no denying the beauty of the visuals. The way the actors are framed within the landscapes is very compelling. The film was also shot using Technicolor, which only heightens the colors. The influence of Ford’s style on Sergio Leone is very apparent in certain scenes.

    THE CREATURES (1966, dir. Agnès Varda) on Mubi – A very arty French art film that was not an enjoyable watch. Generally, Varda’s films are more direct in their stories and emotions than this. There are some general ideas, such as the characters’ lives being manipulated, that do not add up to much besides a confusing cinematic exercise. Catherine Deneuve was the highlight of the film. Whatever qualities are required to create a movie star, she definitely possessed them.

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    1. I think the only John Ford movie I've seen was They Were Expendable (1945), but I've been meaning to see more. I own The Searchers (1956) and Stagecoach (1939), but haven't gotten around to watching yet. I believe they are considered some his best.

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  3. I watched Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill yesterday and loved it. The first word that comes to mind about the few De Palma movies I've seen is audacity. You just gotta admire his style: the flashy camerawork, the split screens, the plots bordering on ridiculous, the blatant Hitchcock "homages". He's not going for subtle, and that's the beauty of it.

    Besides Dressed to Kill, in the last week and a bit I've watched a couple of Luis Buñuel movies (Belle de Jour and The Exterminating Angel), Harold Lloyd in Safety Last!, Agnès Varda's Cléo from 5 to 7, Walerian Borowczyk's Goto, Island of Love, and The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!. Consequently I've decided that I love movies!

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    1. We all could have told you that, Mikko. The fun of movies is that there are so many styles, genres, and time periods to choose from. That is a good variety you saw.

      What did you think of GOTO? I remember it being a stark and sad film. Borowczyk's films got more energetic and colorful later.

      Brian De Palma is one of the few major 1970s directors I have not explored. A watch of Blow Out last year was a strange experience because I was not expecting the over-the-top aspects. I have a few of his films, including Dressed to Kill, sitting around here waiting to be seen.

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    2. Goto was a fascinating mix between absurdist satire and, as you said, sad and bleak. I'm not at all familiar with Borowczyk's films, but thought I should give him a try. Goto got me intrigued, will check out more.

      I'm not that familiar with De Palma myself, but Blow Out, Dressed to Kill, Body Double and Phantom of the Paradise are all films of his I really enjoyed. I blind-bought Raising Cain and just saw that Snake Eyes is on Disney+ (here in Finland), so those are next on my De Palma watchlist.

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    3. I agree, I love movies too!

      Watching Sisters (1972) and The Fury (1978) was the highlight of SMM for me, and I'm going to delve into his better regarded movies. Unfortunately, a couple weeks ago I went to watch Body Double (1984) but the disk (I bought used) didn't work. I'll perhaps just rent it from streaming.

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  4. Yo Team F This! Happy weekend! And to all you commenters...THANK YOU for sharing your movie picks and reviews, i read all of them each week and get countless great suggestions from this team!!

    Peacemaker (ep4 HBO/Max)

    I highly suggested this show last weekend and im gonna do it again here. By ep 2 i liked it alot. By ep 3 i loved it. By this episode i realize its getting better with each new ep. Gunns writing is outstanding. There's a scene in this episode..you'll know it when you get there...that is one of the best scenes in a tv show ive seen in forever. I cackled so loudly at the beginning of it that i had to rewind and rewatch multiple times. #Goonies!

    One Shot (2021 redbox)

    As a massive action/martial arts movie fan, Scott Adkins is someone who ive always dug alot, however in the last year he's grown to be a personal fav. I love that he doesnt do just one style action movie. One Shot is a perfect example as while it has some great hand-to-hand fighting, its far more a military siege flick. I LOVED IT. Review aggregator sites are kinda panning it as a 'living pov shooter video game'. And while at its core it is that, it is so well constructed and fast paced and entertaining that i consider it one of the best action movies ive seen in a while. Edge of your seat stuff that flies by. Check it out!

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    1. Sneakers (1992 dvd)

      This flick got a fair amount of praise on the twitter recently with the passing of the great Sidney Poitier. Had been meaning to revisit as i havent seen for 20 years. Then team F This Rosie tweeted she was gonna watch so i figured it was a sign. Holy cow what a fun movie!! great cast, great writing, great 80s/90s hacker/heist charm! I was pleasantly surprised to see the disc had a making of with alot of great interviews with the screenwriters who also did the epic War Games. So much fun!

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  5. UNDERWATER (2020) Very nifty Alien homage. It starts with a bang and keeps up a relentless pace with some genuinely spooky scenes. I could've done without TJ Miller being the face-palmingly unfunny comic relief, but great flick otherwise.

    MORTAL KOMBAT (1995) This was even cheesier than I remembered, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't entertained.

    NINJAK VS. THE VALIANT UNIVERSE (2018) I found this while dorking around on YouTube. Valiant Comics decided to follow Marvel's lead by being their own movie studio, making these webisodes and later reediting them as a feature to coincide with the Vin Diesel BLOODSHOT movie. Anyway, some villains coerce Ninjak into stealing a high-tech doohickey from MI6, and other Valiant heroes must hunt him down. These include Bloodshot, X-O Manowar, Eternal Warrior, and Archer & Armstrong. This is low-budget cheese at its absolute low-budget cheesiest, but that just means there's a certain charm to it. Add it to your #Junesploitation list.

    And last night I put on THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1976) thinking of the late great Meat Loaf. Whatever happened to Saturday night?

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    1. Underwater was pretty great. I have Patrick to thank for even hearing about that movie. It seems like it flew under everyone's radar, among the people I know anyways.

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  6. Watched a couple good psychological/horror thrillers from Sundance this weekend.

    WATCHER is solid. Maika Monroe continues to be amazing and girl gets to work. I'm a mark for anything even remotely inspired by Possession, even if it's just a tid tad bit. But the way this story unfolds is very deliberate, and I loved the ending. Will have one of my favorite last shots of the year. *Directed by Chloe Okuno who did 'Storm Drain' from VHS '94

    And RESURRECTION (which I hope they change the title because there's an obvious better one when you watch the movie). But anyway, acting belongs to Rebecca Hall. She is extraordinary and this might me her best gig to date, even more than Christine or The Night House.

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    1. I'm looking forward to Resurrection. The Night House was high on my list to watch (during SMM?) but never got around to it. I always think of her as the woman that was done dirty in The Prestige. She was great in The Gift (which is a pretty fantastic movie). Last, but not least, she's in that movie which everyone in the world despised (most before even watching it, or without watching it at all), Holmes and Watson! Which was an okay comedy, but definitely a step down from Ferrell and Reilly's previous collaborations.

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  7. Waterworld! I've been meaning to watch that with the kids, and even mentioned it to them last week. Like Patrick, it's one of those movies I go back to at least every couple of years, and I think I'm due.

    Had a very busy weekend, and didn't have time to recount what I've seen, so I'll save it until next weekend. But I do enjoy hearing what everyone's been watching. If only my watching could keep up with all the quality suggestions/recommendations we get on the weekend open thread!

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  8. THE BATMAN (2022) - I'd watch a nine-hour cut of Batman looking at fingerprints and solving riddles. 10/10.

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