Saturday, February 19, 2022

Weekend Open Thread

24 comments:

  1. Aloha F This Movie! JM, looks like I’m gonna beat you to it here ;)

    KICK-ASS (2010)
What I thought in 2010: It’s great but maybe too violent for me! Also, this post-superhero/DIY superhero era we’re living in now is great!

    What I think now: It’s totally awesome and adorable! Also, I can’t believe superhero movies came back...with such a fricking vengeance!

    NOCTURNAL ANIMALS (2016)
    Aaron Taylor Johnson brought something interesting and watchable, the rest was too dull for me or maybe I just wasn’t in the mood. I noticed Amy Adams is now synonymous with “unhappy woman” in my brain. Even Kirsten Dunst is the same. Damn movie industry, give my childhood movie idols some happier parts! And Kirsten Dunst is NOT old enough to be Kodi Smit-Mcphee’s MOM! And neither am I, thank you very much.

    NOWHERE BOY (2009)
    So I can’t say enough good stuff about Aaron Taylor Johnson in this movie and Kick-Ass. I feel like he’s not known for it and for a long time he’s just had small parts in films, but he’s a MAIN character actor IMO. He has a huge physicality -super jumpy, energetic, gorgeous, and he can act, and he can carry a film with a lot of charm and charisma. And he’s gorgeous.

    BABE (1995)
    This movie is on par for me with my favorite Muppet movies. When I was younger I thought it was fun, creative, but maybe a little too weird. Now I think it’s absolutely brilliant and no one talks about it enough or gives it proper credit. My heart breaks for Ferdinand, the anorexic duck!

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    1. Glad to be beaten at my own game by a pro! :-P

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    2. Babe is delightful. I rewatched it with my kidd and it was a big hit.

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  2. Started the week with my cranky father, who didn't want to watch movies with me, mellowing out. We watched three great films on three consecutive days: Penny Marshall's AWAKENINGS (1990, Netflix), Alex Cox's WALKER (1987, Criterion DVD) and the one dad enjoyed the most because of our lengthy religious/philosophical conversation afterwards, Evan Spiliotopoulos's THE UNHOLY (2021, Blu-ray, in my list of Top 10 films from last year). Man, "Awakenings" has aged remarkably well and it's still the same weepy and sad medical drama I remembered it being when I first saw it 32 years ago. It floored and made my father cry, which he never does at even the saddest movies he's seen. We all miss Robin Williams. :'(

    Flew back from Arizona to New York City Wednesday, and Thursday I managed to sneak three AMC A-List movies amidst a busy day (doctor appointments, etc.). Biggest surprise was BADHAAI DO (2022, theater), which had no idea was a progressive-for-Bollywood comedic portrayal of homosexual relationships hiding in plain sight via an arranged-for-social-convenience marriage between a phys ed teacher (Bhumi Pednekar) and a police officer (Rajkummar Rao). I attended the last screening before the movie left AMC in NYC, so the theater was packed with a mostly gay crowd that really elevated the communal experience to a whole new level. It was wild to see Bollywood-caliber songs and dancing choreography about men/women loving same-sex partners that felt old hat for a western audience, but for India still comes across as taboo-shattering. When the main characters have the inevitable-for-the-genre moment when they come out of the closet in front of their families, the entire theater was audibly crying. It's a typical Hindu cinematic portrayal of love (no kissing or physical intimacy), but at least there were many laugh-out loud, sitcom-caliber humorous moments involving the couple's busybody families/neighbors that make the whole thing very family-friendly and borderline cute. I really liked it. :-D

    Also caught Sean Ellis' THE CURSED (2022, theater), which follows the visual/stylistic playlist of "The VVitch" to a tee in its tale of 19th century gypsy curses, werewolf-like monsters and the entitled rich white man (Alistair Petrie's Seamus) who unleashes a curse on his land. It has terrific scenes (a massacre with a distant long shot that never cuts or moves, the autopsy, etc.) and some pretty bad ones (CG fire is still not yet ready to replace the genuine article), but writer/director/cinematographer Sean Ellis nails the tone and atmosphere of dread needed to convey the desperate situation the characters (played by mostly unknown actors) find themselves in. This is what last year's "Antlers" promised to be but fell way short of achieving. Worth seeing if you love werewolf flicks.

    Also caught Michel Franco's SUNDOWN (2021, theater) on its last theatrical screening before disappearing from New York theaters. Had I seen it last year it would have made my Top 30 and maybe even my Top 20. Tim Roth plays an interesting blank page of a character that gets more disorienting, unlikable and intriguing the more we find out about his background and (potential?) motives for what he does. The movie's 83 min. running time flies by, and at the end your mind is trying to solve a puzzle that makes the movie worth rewatching with someone else to see the narrative through their eyes. It's a highwire tonal act, and "Sundown" walks the visual/storytelling tightrope like a pro. Definitely seek this one out when it's readily streaming somewhere.

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  3. We’re having a lot of action here in Ottawa, with anti-vax nuts taking over the city the past few weeks. They are finally doing something about it, and there are police checkpoints restricting movement throughout the centre of the city. I live 10 minutes walk from where the conspircy theorists are camped. Luckily, I have movies to escape it all! Some things I’ve watched:

    The Vikings (1958, dir. Richard Fleischer) Starring a raucous Kirk Douglas and a pantless Tony Curtis. But Ernest Borgnine is the heart of the movie, and is just wild and laughing and everything you think a Viking would be. It’s a very fun rambunctious movie with a great battle as it’s conclusion. I also learned that Douglas was a rapist. Having seen several of his movies recently, he was becoming one of my favourites. Up until the point I learned he was a piece of shit. :(

    Sodom and Gomorrah (1962, dir. Robert Aldrich) was recommended by A Casual, and is a nice sword and sandal (and a shepherds staff if you’re Hebrew) movie. Not as long as other biblical epics. I really enjoyed it, but the glaringly obvious weak point was the protagonist Lot, who was very unconvincingly portrayed. I did enjoy how he repeatedly did a “sucker punch” move with his shepherds staff, but otherwise meh. There’s some good action and a dam that breaks to drown a whole army. The Sodomites were not as racy as I had hoped, but we did see several people burnt alive for entertainment value for the queen. The plot revolved around salt mines. I’m not sure is that’s from the bible or clumsily invented for the film.

    The Piano (1993, dir. Jane Campion) isn’t a movie I thought I would like, but by god, was it ever fantastic. It’s hard to describe. A women with her piano and 2 men competing for her love. Oh, and she’s mute. There’s lots of fancily dressed woman trudging around in the mud. The score, by Michael Nyman, is wonderful. Keitel hangs dong.

    Holy Smoke! (1999, dir. Campion) which is a very weird but wonderful movie. I thought it was hilarious. The opening scenes of the movie made me want to travel to India again, but join a cult this time. I thought Keitel hanged dong again, but IMDB says no. I love how the Parental Guide of the IMDB constantly refers to her “knickers”.

    Fail-Safe (1964, dir. Sidney Lumet) was recommended by Mr. Vargas. This movie was fantastic! Tight and thrilling cold war movie. I didn’t expect it to end like that at all. I liked it much more than Dr. Strangelove. Apparently, Kubrick bought the distribution rights (or something) to Fail-Safe to ensure that Dr. Strangelove was released first. This is probably my favourite new movie I’ve seen this year. Thanks for the recommendation Mr. Vargas!

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    1. Also, I'm 5 episodes away from finishing Star Trek Voyager. Which makes me sad. It's so comforting. It's Comfort Food: The TV Show. I'm going to miss spending time with these characters. Starting a couple years ago I watched TNG then DS9 and now Voyager. What next? Not sure if I should watch Enterprise or the original series.

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    2. You're welcome, sunny boy. 😛😃

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    3. I watched Failsafe for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It's hard for me to be surprised by an ending nowadays, i watch so many movies every year, but they got me with a 50 years old movie.

      It's important to note that the comparison to Dr Strangelove is important because they're telling almost exactly the same story (Failsafe being more serious) and both movies came out the same year. I recommend you guys go on wikipedia to read on that, it's interesting

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    4. Glad you liked Sodom and Gomorrah, Paul. Although Stewart Granger might not have been the best choice for the role of Lot, the movie around him is an entertaining spectacle. I always marvel at the scenes with hundreds of extras. Those shots of long lines of people walking in the desert are still impressive.

      FAILSAFE was on Turner Classic Movies this week, but I did not have enough space on the DVR for it. So many movies, so little time these days.

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  4. Happy Weekend F This Gang!

    Been a slow movie week for me but i wanna give a shout out to F This folks like Anthony King and Lauren Kelliher for their amazing F This Movie Fest tweet content. For anyone on twitter..be sure to check out Anthony's fest montage or Laruren's Cameo from THE Tom Savini. Both of those made my week. SQUEE!!!

    Peace .n. Movie Love

    Mash

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  5. VIRTUOSITY (1995). A lot cheesier and hokier than I remembered. I like the idea of a cop vs. killer plot with a sci-fi twist, but it's undone with all the outrageous/nonsensical set pieces, unnecessary expository scenes, and distractingly weird costumes.

    SILVERADO (1985) I totally love this movie. A good old fashioned cowboy shoot-em-up seen through an '80s blockbuster lens.

    RAISING ARIZONA (1987) "Okay, then."

    SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR (2014) I'm kind of mixed on this one. There are fun performances and moments of great cathartic violence, but I think the first movie accomplished everything they wanted to accomplish.

    DEAD AGAIN (1991) An interesting watch. It leans into melodrama with the actors' big emotional outbursts and a bombastic score. But there's a cool novelty in taking hardboiled private eye tropes and combining them with exploring past lives. I'm glad I saw it.

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  6. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

    I wasn't expecting much when I read it was being dumped to Netflix after poor test screenings and I didn't get much. It's a terrible movie with a few good gore moments. Leatherface being immortal, the annoyingly dumb characters, tossing Sally into the movie cause Halloween 2018, the movie is dumb, really dumb. The best part....it's only like 70 mins minus the credits.

    The town the movie is filmed in looks like the same town in Wrong Turn 5. Bulgaria, the hot spot to film your horror film.

    https://i0.wp.com/bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Wrong_Turn5_Set1_52212.jpg

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    1. Man, where did that come from. I was not aware it was coming out. But i'm not really surprised it's not good

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    2. Netflix money is the last resort of filmmakers desperate to recoup their production costs when they've made a lousy movie with a sliver of name/pop-culture recognition. :-(

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  7. THE LAST DUEL (2021) - Spoilers ahead
    Where is the Oscar love for this movie? It seems so Oscar-y. Not even for Jodie Comer, really? I thought it was super well done. Unusual period details, especially in Marguerite’s account (and not only “the little death” stuff, which all the men were very amused by in the story). I admit it felt a bit homework-y to me (because there’s nothing good at all about that premise), but it was super well done and great performances. The ending was really satisfying. It wasn’t happy or hopeful, but it was a strong ending - really insightful, really ironic. The way they cheered her. I watched that part twice.

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  8. Hi gang! Hope everyone's enjoying a yabba-dabba-tastic weekend!

    It's 6 am here and I woke up after about four hours of sleep to watch Finland play in the Olympic hockey final, so hope you'll excuse me if I'm even more incoherent than usual...

    So I caught F This Movie Fest fever the second it was announced, and thought I'd watch That Thing You Do! in advance, which was an utter delight. I was enjoying it all the way through, but the moment the film got from good to great was when Bill Cobbs turned up in a small part as a jazz legend. I don't like going in cold when tweeting through a movie, so I'm planning on also watching The Phantom ahead of the fest. Pretty sure I've never seen that one before either.

    I know The Piano is Jane Campion's masterpiece, but Holy Smoke might be my favorite of hers (haven't seen Bright Star yet). It's just a weird little movie that's a rollicking good time with two powerhouse actors going at each other, and that's enhanced by all the little weird details around them: the characterization of all the eccentric side characters, the quirky production design, the bonkers decisions in editing. And the subject matter made me want to rewatch 2014's Faults.

    Thoroughbreds had been sitting on my Netflix queue for a while, but only when it was gonna leave the service was when I got the impetus to actually press play. It's a slight movie elevated by a great, unnerving sound design that drew me in and kept me on the edge of my seat.

    And I finally got around to watching Garth Marenghi's Darkplace all the way through. Saw the first episode years ago and bought the DVD, but it's been sitting on my shelf since. Darkplace is a British six-episode comedy show that parodies cheap 80's horror, complete with bad writing, stilted acting and wonky editing. And it's hilarious!

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    1. A gold for Finland! It has been a long time coming. I was also impressed by the run the Slovaks had. Slafkovsky will be playing in the NHL.

      I watched a lot of the Olympic coverage. The curling tournament almost monopolized my attention this week. Though it would have been nice to see the United States get a medal again, watching Eve Muirhead win gold for Britain was more than worthwhile.

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    2. Hazaa! Congrats Mikko on the Finland Hockey gold!!!

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    3. Thanks for the congratulations Mashke, but I had very little to do with the win.

      And Casual, yeah, I enjoyed seeing Slovakia do well too, especially because they beat Sweden in the bronze match. And Slafkovsky is indeed good, he's been learning in the Finnish league...

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  9. After J.M. Vargas recommended DEATH ON THE NILE last week, I went to see it after rewatching MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS. The latter one holds up for me. It is fun to watch, gets a bit moody at the end, but somehow pleasures me. DOTN was a good watch, too, despite its CGI overuse. Nothing looks real in this movie, but somehow they made it work. Overall, I liked MOTOE more, because DOTN really takes a long time until the actual murder happens and is a drag until then.

    I also rewatched HEREDITARY, which is still one of the best horror movies ever in my opinion. The way Ari Aster dismantle the family bonds is frightening on its own - and I love that it is a pretty basic conjuration story as a driver for action.

    I also managed to rewatch the entirely of THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, which has some of the best moments of any horror series I can think of. The first half of Mike Flanagan's best piece until today has a lot of memorable moments. In the second half of THOHH the moments get sparer, but it still overall works. I only wish they would have stripped down the metaphor overloaded dialogues (or monologues) - like a lot. The last two episode has to tuck everything together, where I am in general less interested in what happened (because of the amount of talking). Still a very solid recommendation.

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    1. Sorry you didn't like "Nile" as much as "Orient Express," Derek. :-( For what it's worth, both movies show off Kenneth Branagh in his element, both in front and behind the camera. Also, both "Death on the Nile" and the new werewolf horror flick "The Cursed" open almost exactly identical. Guess World War I trench warfare is the 'chic' thing in movies nowadays.

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    2. No need to be sad. Not as much is not saying that I didn't have had a good time.

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  10. DUMMY (2008) on Amazon
    Movie about two boys dealing with their single-mom’s death, each handling it differently. Aaron Taylor Johnson plays the older, 18 year old brother who gets into self-destructive behavior while he’s supposed to care for his younger brother, who dresses a dummy and uses it to pretend their mom is still alive. It’s really emotional and I’ve always loved these movies about siblings. They pack a punch.

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