Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)

basic

back to basics
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Glass Onion: Knives Out was dumb. i just watched this because people raved about the first one. if you turn off your brain completely, i guess it can be entertaining. however, if you think about things even for a split second you realize how stupid it is. it tries to create a complex story through convolution (a la inception) but it fails at it.
 

Tarma

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No Time For Pie (4k)

Missed this at the cinema, but picked it up in the Black Friday sales and just got around to watching it... It's beautifully shot, but the film itself left me feeling a bit "meh". It's definitely not as good as Skyfall or Spectre, probably the second weakest Bond film in the Daniel Craig arc after Quantum of Solace, but still way better than 80% of what Pierce Brosnan was forced to give us.

The ending left mixed feelings... in some ways a fitting ending to draw a line under Craig's tenure, but in other respects - I'm very much "You don't do that to James Bond".

One thing that didn't bother me was the run time... the filmakers definitely kept the pace going - I knew it was long, but it didn't feel like a near-three hour film. Usually, once I'm over 2 and a bit hours I'm starting to get fidgety for the movie to wrap itself up, but I didn't with NTTD, so credit to them there.

It will be now interesting to see if they keep going forward with arcs for each actor who portrays Bond, or whether they go back to the formula of telling stories that are generally in isolation with little in the way of interconnecting strands between them (outside of recurring characters).
 

fake

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Desperately Seeking Susan

Madonna is a natural IMO. Her popularity in the music world exploded during filming - she didn’t get the role as a result of her stardom. The story is a little wacky - head injury induced amnesia is not my favorite plot device - but it’s enjoyable regardless if you’re looking for a rom com. The theme song, Into the Groove is one of my favorites.
 

terry.330

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X-Files: Fight the Future- Pretty much a huge big budget episode made at the height of the shows popularity (and quality). It's kind of impressive that they made a movie completely for the fans with little regard for general audiences. I mean you can still follow it without the show but still there's very little in the way of an ease into the characters and the X-Files world. As far as a part of the series it's pretty awesome and quite epic in it's scale. Though as a stand alone movie it's not great. This is also around the time that Duchovny started let his success get to his head and it shows in this. Good supporting cast, solid pacing, entertaining set pieces and some great effects. It's a solid addition to the series.
 

terry.330

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The Menu- A black comedy about ultra high end dining. Ridiculous and fun but nothing too heady and nothing exceptionally memorable, also a tad predictable. Great cast and setting. Worth a watch.
 

100proof

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The Offering - A little horror movie getting a limited release this weekend before eventually getting unceremoniously dumped on some streaming site, I'm sure. A former Hassidic Jew returns home with his pregnant wife to see his father, a mortician, and gets mixed up with a demon that manipulates people and steals children's souls. It's an interesting kernel of an idea (Orthodox Jews are an undermined resource in religious horror and their isolationism and fear/distrust of outsiders could've made for some interesting flavor text) but it's mostly just a boring, occasionally laughable sequence of jump scares. Every scare is rote and predictable, the backstory is somehow both undercooked and overexplained and the main characters are cardboard slabs of human beings. The wife also says they needed a better Jew consultant on set cuz it seemed like the movie was written and set designed by someone who read about Jews in a book.

Jump scares are the cheapest and laziest form of audience manipulation but they can be done intelligently and effectively on rare occasions. This was not one of those occasions.
 

Heinz

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Outrage, Beyond Outrage, Outrage CODA (Takeshi Kitano):

Typical Yakuza films, first one had some interesting ways of killing gangsters but then the last two it just kinda got bland.
I don't know if these were based on something else or what but right from the start it just felt as if I'd missed the point of it all? Dunno I guess it's just Kitano playing tough guy gangster for the millionth time and I'm just supposed to run with it's skin deep plot or something.
 

terry.330

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The Amityville Horror- I think like Poltergeist while often cited as a classic not only has this not aged that well it was never all that to begin with. On top of that this doesn't have any of the slick production value or style. It's flat and dull looking with awkward editing. Some of that is the era but I think most of it is just that it's not all that well made. While I'd say it was still worth watching it just wasn't exceptional in any way. I'd put this in the same tier as Salems Lot.
 

100proof

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M3GAN - The evil American Girl with the creepy uncanny valley face movie. Super smart lady who is an AI designer for a toy company (think Furbys) suddenly has to take custody of her niece after her sister and brother-in-law die in a car crash. Super smart lady is awkward around kids so she introduces sad orphan girl to M3gan, her "new secret project" that has super advanced AI blah blah blah. The little girl really likes the creepy thing (it acts as sort of a surrogate mother/best friend) and smart lady's boss is super impressed with how great the doll is and sees dollar signs buuuuut M3gan inevitably goes full Skynet and starts murdering anyone who remotely tries to interfere with her friendship with the little girl. Smart lady has to save the day and be a good mom to sad orphan girl.

When it's being a silly evil doll movie, it's fun and the right kind of dumb. It generally doesn't take itself seriously and a couple of the actors really lean in to it (Ronny Chieng chews the scenery as her dipshit boss). However, it occasionally fumbles around a message about kids and their unhealthy attachment to devices and that shit's rock stupid in the bad way. In general, it could've stood being a little more ridiculous and campy like Malignant (the writing team's previous movie) but it's amusing as is if unremarkable. It made a shitload of money so expect a bunch of sequels.
 

terry.330

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It made a shitload of money so expect a bunch of sequels.
Oh yeah. Stuff like this manages to do well even in Fuck You It's January. Especially being PG-13, they knew exactly who the audience was and they showed up for this one. Some of the younger members of my family were talking at Christmas about how excited they were to see it. Shit the only other thing in theaters right now is Avatar 2.
 

100proof

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Yeah, apparently they cut out a bunch of the gore and what not to get a PG-13 that they're going to add back in a director's cut. Sucks as there are few things worse than PG-13 horror but know your audience, I guess.
 

terry.330

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Wishmaster- Definitely a movie made around the (mostly practical) special effects which is kind of surprising considering it came out in 97. Boy are there a lot of effects, the practical stuff is all very impressive but there are a few CG shots and while they don't ruin the movie are absolutely awful. Somewhat in the vein of Hellraiser but not as smart or deep, still highly enjoyable. Would be a great double feature with Warlock. An absolutely insane cast including Robert Englund, Tony Todd, Kane Hodder, Angus Scrimm, Reggie Bannister, Ted Rami, Buck Flower, Jenny O'hara and even Verne Troyer lol.

I think we talked about the series here a couple months ago and discussed how crappy the sequels were but I'll probably at least watch the second one.
 

Syn

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XTRO

a film I wanted to see growing up but didn't until last night.

A man is abducted by aliens and three years later returns to his family but for what reason? Made it onto the video nasty list back in the day. I think it's for when this lady gives birth to a full grown man.

If you like 80s horror it's worth a watch. I'll admit my view is tainted, I've wanted to see it for 41 years.
 

terry.330

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Queens of Evil- A French/Italian co-production from 1970. Simultaneously a psychedelic fairy tale and a ham-fisted social commentary on "The Man" and hippy ideals. A filthy hippy biker riding through the countryside at night gets involved in a car accident and ends up stranded in the woods. He is seemingly befriended by a trio of sexy yet quite odd women who seduce him and hold him captive, as if they have some sort of spell over him. He sleeps with them one by one which leads up to a "party" where he is the guest of honor. They of course are witches and he is a sacrifice in some sort of evil ritual.

Some seriously far out period fashion, hair, sets and soundtrack give this a style that defies explanation. The movie itself is typical euro jank from the era with awful dubbing and a shoestring budget but there's a lot to like. Honestly it's just so weird and sporadically stylish it defies description. The closest thing I can describe it accurately would be Daughters of Darkness meets Easy Rider.

 

Late

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Anyone seen Babylon? First time in a while that I'm interested in a 'big' Hollywood film (last time before that it was Alien: Covenant, and what a shit show that one was)
 

terry.330

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Anyone seen Babylon? First time in a while that I'm interested in a 'big' Hollywood film (last time before that it was Alien: Covenant, and what a shit show that one was)
Everything I've read said it's a pretentious mess of self indulgence masquerading as an homage to old Hollywood.
 

terry.330

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Class of 1999- In the far off year of... 1999 the inner cities have been overrun by vicious teenage gangbangers. The solution is to turn these areas into "free fire zones" where there is no law and war is waged on a daily basis. In the middle of one of these zones is Kennedy High School and going to school is the law. To handle the students the school has implemented a group of cyborg teachers with dubious AI. Turns out the teachers are actually experimental military weapons that begin gleefully slaughtering the students. It's up to the leaders of two rival gangs to put aside their differences to stop the murderous robots.

Top shelf direct to video trash from the peak of the VHS days. The Warriors meets Mad Max meets The Terminator. Starring Stacy Keach, Malcolm McDowell, Pam Grier and a bunch of other recognizable character actors from the era. The movie is pure 80s street punk over the top gloriousness. Tons of special effects, violence, gunfight, car chases, it's got it all and while it's definitely not a good movie it is fucking awesome.
 

terry.330

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Demolition Man- I've seen a couple reviews lately that credit this movie as being far smarter than it's given credit for, what with it predicting the ultra PC stuff etc. I can't give it that much credit but it's certainly more creative than the other big dumb actioners of the 90s. You can tell that the genre was on it's last legs though, watching it now a lot of the movie unintentionally boarders on parody. It's a pretty blurry line though, some of it is legit action spectacle but a lot of it is pretty cringe.

That's fine though the movie is entertaining as hell, quotable and pretty funny. The casting is great, Snipes is really hamming it up hard and Bullock is great as the eager naive rookie. Plus you gotta love the goofy ass depiction of the future and technology in movies like this. I also love the bizarre melding of 50s Leave it to Beaver values with new-agey peacenik fascism. Still holds up while simultaneously being a relic.
 

Tarma

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I've always wanted to see an uncut version of Demolition Man... it's one of those early 90s action films that went through post-production hell (allegedly). I don't think there's ever been a home video release with any decent supplementary material though :(
 

wyo

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I've always wanted to see an uncut version of Demolition Man... it's one of those early 90s action films that went through post-production hell (allegedly). I don't think there's ever been a home video release with any decent supplementary material though :(
Oh yeah? I never heard about that. Makes sense though. It seems like a weird mix of action film, goofiness and social commentary that couldn't quite decide what it's supposed to be.
 

terry.330

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I've always wanted to see an uncut version of Demolition Man... it's one of those early 90s action films that went through post-production hell (allegedly). I don't think there's ever been a home video release with any decent supplementary material though :(
Yeah the blu-ray is pathetic, producer commentary and a trailer. That's it.

You think there'd at least be something on the sets, costumes etc. Maybe an interview with Stalone or Snipes, something. It isn't even remastered properly, looks like shit.
 

100proof

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Demo Man was 100% saved by the casting director. With the wrong tone and the wrong actors in certain places (Snipes as villain, Bullock as the lore dump, Bob Gunton as the pissy police captain, etc), it could've easily been just another mid-90s Stallone stinker. It's knowingly goofy and has some of the best comedy bits of Stallone's career. The 3-5 unfunniest minutes of the movie are probably when Denis Leary is doing his cheap Bill Hicks impression.
 

100proof

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Huh. Apparently Julian Sands got lost hiking in the mountains of CA and hasn't been seen since Friday. Hoping they find him but not a good sign for the ol' Warlock.
 
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