Saturday, November 26, 2022

Weekend Open Thread

25 comments:

  1. My turn to go first? Okay.

    Saw BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER (2022) a second time. If/when Feige moves on to other things, I wouldn't mind Coogler getting Marvel's top spot.

    THREE AMIGOS (1986) "A plethora of pinatas!"

    HARD RAIN (1998) I'll never understand why people dislike this movie so much. It's a super-cool action flick.

    PEPSI WHERE'S MY JET (2022) A hugely fun and quirky documentary. (Technically a miniseries and not a feature, but that line's been blurred for a long time now.) I'm often wary of documentaries because I question how much we're not seeing, but this one feels like the filmmakers really got their facts straight.

    LOST BULLET (2020) Everybody's raving about this movie and its sequel as the next big thing, but I was bored by it. Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for gritty French action.

    DRUNKEN MASTER (1978) Jackie Chan goodness! Interesting that Jackie's character in this is an a-hole who needs to be taught a lesson, rather than the lovable goof he normally plays. A bit of Kill Bill's DNA is in this, it seems, in that the many training montages are Pai Mei-ish.

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    1. My sons went to see Black Panther 2, but went with friends, and forbade me from going to the same screening as them! Even though I drove them there and picked them up. I guess I'm just a driver now, and not a movie watching buddy!

      I considered just buying a ticket anyways (I could have snuck in during the trailers, and they wouldn't have been in the wiser) but I personally hate really full theatres (this was Saturday opening weekend), so went to the gym instead. I'll maybe watch it on Disney+ at some point.

      I watched Drunken Master this Junesploitation for the first time, and it was quite surprising how he was a prick throughout the first half of the movie. I quite enjoyed it, but I believe that DM2 is supposed to be the superior film.

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  2. Slow week for everybody apparently. Me too actually.

    Though i am looking forward to watching 5-25-77 on blu-ray tonight with my friend

    And the sequel to 36th Chamber Of Shaolin, from the Shawscope Arrow boxset vol.2

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. 5-25-77 is fine, if a bit too long. There's a really good coming of age movie in there, once you get past the overabundance of cgi shots and other superfluous plot points. I don't know what the movie looked like in 2013 when it was first shown, but i'd be curious to see it

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    3. Return To The 36th Chamber was better than expected. More skapstick humor than the first, but still on brand for chinese movies, it was very fun with a great action finale.

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    4. The plots of the movies have somewhat blended together with time (and because I watched them on consecutive days), but I remember the 2nd one being just as enjoyable as the 1st. A little more silliness, as you said. I've never seen the 3rd.

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  3. Hey FTM fam! Hope everyone's doing fine this weekend.

    So who here uses Letterboxd? Everyone who does, please post a link to your profile or your username so I can follow you. Here's mine.

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    1. Mine is https://letterboxd.com/paulcalvert7272/

      I kind of stopped using it last year though. I have been making lists on IMDb to keep a yearly list of what I watch. So I went I started using letterboxd, I kept up with the IMDb list just because all the other years were there. But it eventually felt redundant, so I stopped using letterboxd. Also, I didn't really follow anyone, so the platform wasn't much more than a "recording list app" for me.

      I followed you! Maybe I'll start using it again someday.

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    2. Once in a while I will check out Letterboxd. It can be a useful source for discovering films and learning about unfamiliar cinematic realms. I consulted it to decide on a regional horror pick for Junesploitation. I have been tempted to try it out for myself.

      I see that you are going through the Death Wish franchise, Mikko. Are you a Charles Bronson fan? Death Wish III is a personal favorite; it gets so over-the-top. Surprisingly, Death Wish II is the one I have seen the most. I tend to watch it every year. There is something satisfying grim and sleazy to the film. I am waiting for a special occasion to watch the first fourth movies. Maybe Junesploitation next year.

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    3. "... special occasion to watch the first and fourth movies." Not one of my best typing weeks.

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    4. Hi Casual! I'm a Bronson neophyte and am only now seeing the Death Wishes for the first time. The first one was grim and sleazy in a way that wasn't fun, but 2 and especially 3 take the grimness and sleaze to such a higher level that it becomes stupidly entertaining. Still 4 and 5 to go...

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    5. It is strange to think of Bronson being over 70 years old when the last Death Wish film was made. The last decade of his career, dominated by the Cannon films, is fun but limited in the roles he played. The late 1960s and 1970s were his peak. The Mechanic, Hard Times, and Once Upon A Time In The West standout as his great performances, but I have not watched all the films he made yet. He starred in several entertaining westerns, including the comedy From Noon Till Three. It is always nice to see him pop up in a supporting role, too.

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    6. He was really good in The Great Escape too. But I supposed overshadowed by the large and talented cast. I honestly can't think of a Charles Bronson movie I didn't thoroughly enjoy.

      I've only seen Death Wish 1 and should plan to watch the sequels. I didn't know there was a 5th one.

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  4. I've had a busy week, for movie watching and for everything else. There's a couple Sci-fi movies I want to mention, and perhaps get to the many other ones next week:

    Madelines (2022) was recommended by Mr. McEntire (thanks!) recently and I'll check out any time travel movie. It's really low budget and with a cast of 3 people, but it really drew me in right away and was engaging. There's some nice twists and turns, and I'm not sure if the time travel logic holds up (it never does if you think about it too much), but it made enough sense to have fun for an hour and a half.

    Vesper (2022) is a Lithuanian movie, but they decided to make it in English language for more widespread appeal. It's a post-apocalyptic movie about a young girl, who's just trying to survive with her dad. There's a TON of cool special effects and you're thrown into this strange world without much explanation (A lot of the criticism is people wanting a 6 season, 15 episode explanation of the backstory, but do we really need that? The movie works perfectly fine with what we have here). It's a nice little story, and well acted by the mostly young cast. Recommended.

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  5. Despite not being in much of a mood for it, I enjoyed Thanksgiving. Even with reducing the amount of food being made, it was still a lot of work. Noirvember continues, but I am branching out to some other types of cinema now. All of the online sales this weekend are tempting me to add to my collection. I will likely get a few things.

    WHEN LADIES MEET (1933) – A melodrama concerning affairs and having affairs. Based on a play, the story is about a relationship between a young Myrna Loy and her married publisher, Frank Morgan, who famously portrayed the The Wizard in a certain 1939 film. This being a pre-code film, there are plenty of allusions to adultery and some frank discussions about the morality of extramarital relationships.

    EL VAMPIRO NEGRO (1953) – THE BLACK VAMPIRE is a stylish Argentinian adaption of Fritz Lang’s 1931 film M. Instead of walking the streets of Berlin, this child killer wanders around Buenos Aires. The script skillfully mingles the killing spree, the sometimes brutal police investigation, and the life of a singer in a disreputable nightclub. The lighting is classic film noir, and the conclusion draws from a notable film. Worth seeking out.

    MOONTIDE (1942) – French star Jean Gabin went to Hollywood during the early years of World War II. This drama about a dock worker who falls in love a with a girl he saved from drowning herself is only one of two films he made during that time. Moontide is not the most engaging drama (I had to watch it in two sittings), and the production values are cheap.

    RAW DEAL (1948, dir. Anthony Mann) – An escaped convict goes on the run with his girlfriend and another woman they use to escape the manhunt. As usual, things to do not go as planned. The lighting, script, and acting (including a menacing Raymond Burr) come together beautifully in this a film noir gem. Anthony Mann began to make his mark as one of the great directors with these kind of films. One the stars, Marsha Hunt, passed away this year at 104.

    THE SEARCH FOR WENG WENG (2013, dir. Andrew Leavold) on Tubi – A documentary about a 2 foot, 9 inch Filipino leading man who achieved fame very briefly during the early 1980s. This is very much in the vein of other exploitation filmmaking docs (American Grindhouse, Machete Maidens Unleashed) that came out around this period. Leavold’s obsession to interview as many people as possible who knew Weng Weng drives the narrative along. A fun watch of a not entirely pleasant story.

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  6. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

    We revisited some family favorites this weekend - WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE- RABBIT. I fall off my couch all the time laughing at this movie. The jokes are packed from beginning to end. I want to find the people who wrote this and just hang out forever with them.

    DIRTY DANCING (1987). I've been championing this movie for years and it's still GOLD. It's too bad it's known for its cringey dance moves and the nonsensical line "Nobody puts baby in the corner"(?), which seem to distract people from its real strengths: characters, dialogue and messages. This must be Patrick Swayze's best performance, I swear. Johnny is so brave. It's such a simple movie but so freaking honest. Can you do a show on it? I'm gonna look for a podcast on it. And I still think this seems like an Adam Riske movie.

    TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 (2020) I've been watching parts of this on repeat all week, in the background. It's like a boyband movie! Jeremy Strong, Mark Rylance, Sacha Baron Cohen, the cover song of "Just One Look" they're playing in the concert scene...and I just skip the rest.

    I like what Aaron Sorkin tries to do - the dialogue that's supposed to make you feel smart and his emotional character reveals - I love that he tries to do those things even though I don't think any of it works (for me). His characters just aren't sympathetic enough for various reasons. In this movie it's because the real people were not as badass as he makes them out to be, and that's kind of a glaring discrepancy while we're in the middle of a different cultural revolution.

    In MOLLY'S GAME (2017), Molly is not that likable to me and I have no emotional interest in poker, esp when all the players have just been described as lousy people. Still, I really do like the basic structure of his movies.

    Re: Twitter. Someone I used to follow on Twitter joined Mastadon, which looks interesting. I had a personal Twitter issue where my professional life was threatening to converge with my online movie watching, celebrity thirst posting life, and it was weird. So on top of everything going on with it that I disagree with, it's convenient for me not to use it.

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    1. Also, a lot of people this weekend wanted to watch TOP GUN MAVERICK. I was like Nooo, I can't watch it again! I'm so afraid I won't like it as much the second time! I'm gonna have to wait some years to revisit it. I just..want to like that movie. Haha.

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    2. I also revisited Buffalo 66 for the first time in years. I feel like on the whole it's a little too bleak for me these days, but that ending is still absolutely BEAUTIFUL. One of my favorite endings.

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    3. Curse of the Were-Rabbit is delightful, Meredith. Great characters, funny dialogue, and visual references any classic horror fan would recognize. The amount of work that goes into a stop-motion film is hard to imagine.

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    4. Yesss!! So ingenious :) I'm sure they had way too much fun making it.

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    5. I had Curse of the Were-Rabbit on my Netflix watchlist, but it unfortunately left Netflix before I got to it. With Blank Check podcast covering the movie of Henry Selick, and the new Pinocchio movie, I'm going to be enjoyed a lot of stop-motion in the near future.

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  7. I've seen Tár, and I can relate to the review-part written by Anthony King. A great performance by Cate Blanchett.

    I also saw I Care A Lot - and I was amazed. Not only were they great performances in it (and some quirky ones), but it mixed different tones that shouldn't work, but do, with interesting characters. Somehow, it maybe is a "better" Wolf of Wall Street in terms of not letting us forget that the people we are watching aren't "nice", while showing them as nicer to each other than TWOWS does - weird.

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