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

terry.330

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[REC]- Spanish handheld footage zombie horror. This does a good job of avoiding the usual problems that most handle/found footage movies have. The initial premise of the TV crew following around the local fire brigade is solid. The acting is fairy natural and the cast feels like a real cast not just a bunch of film school people trying to make a real movie. The camera work is used in a way that actually benefits what's happening. The possession angle is a little odd but it is a Spanish movie and they are super catholic so it doesn't feel shoehorned in. Overall I really enjoyed this and as usual the US remake of this sucked and was totally unnecessary.

[REC]2- This also gets a lot right. The choice to follow the SWAT team that goes in immediately after the events of the first movie is great. The group of annoying teens, not so much but the way they have the two groups meets is well done, showing events from different perspectives etc. They push it quite a bit with the camera work in this one but it doesn't really matter because there's so much crazy shit happening. They also up the ante on the possession/demon virus stuff and while it doesn't always work at least it's original. A well done sequel.
 
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NeoSneth

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Smile
Does a good job of building unavoidable dread similar to It Follows or Ring ; although , it doesn't surpass its predacessors. The leading lady really carries the bulk of the film. The ramp is great but it loses some momentum towards the end. Still a good mind-f thriller.

Terrifier 2
This is just silly and ridiculously fiendish in a great way. The wife hated it, but this is old school creepy for the sake of being creepy.
 

jro

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Bodies Bodies Bodies - ehhh. Okay, I guess. I liked the ending. The inherent terribleness of all of the characters other than Bakalova's got a little tiring but I suppose that plays into liking the ending more.
 

100proof

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Violent Night - It's exactly what it appears to be: a little bit Die Hard, a little bit John Wick, a little bit Miracle on 34th Street (and a pinch of Home Alone). David Harbour plays a frustrated, drunken Santa (the real one) who's all but given up on the holiday who ends up in a rich family's home while it's getting robbed by a group of thugs (see Die Hard). After being dragged in to the fray by a "nice" little girl (the only redeemable person in an otherwise shit family), Santa wrecks shop on the "naughty" thugs in ways that would do Jason Voorhees proud (see John Wick).

They do a little bit of Santa's back story (10th century Viking warrior who loves hammers and barely knows how or why the Santa magic works) but keep him just mysterious enough so that it doesn't bog down the movie. It does ruin the secret of Christmas at one point so don't watch with your kids but I can't imagine you'd be watching this ridiculously violent movie with your kids anyway.

In any case, it's a little Christmas shmaltzy in places (see Miracle on 34th St) but it's comically balanced with some horror movie-level violence and David Harbour doing his goddamn job as Kris Kringle.

Special shout-out that the matriarch of the shitty rich family is the one and only Beverly D'Angelo of Vacation movie fame.
 

terry.330

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[REC]3- Well that was a drastic shift from the previous two. This one is more akin to Shaun of the Dead but not as funny or smart. They almost totally and kind of confusingly ditch the handheld gimmick. The setting is great, a giant wedding party is a pretty ideal place for a zombie outbreak. The cast is mostly good, especially the bride. Overall nothing amazing but definitely fun with some nice gore and it's a nice change from the previous entries. I'm really liking the short length of these (this one has been the longest at 80 minutes), it's so refreshing these days where every new movie is 2.5 hours. Not an ounce of fat on any of these so far.
 

LoneSage

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Terry did you watch the REC American remake. It had that annoying sister from Dexter in it. I remember liking it. No idea how it stacks up to REC.
 

fake

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I love REC 1 & 2. 3 is very not good, but I love the music royalties character.

The Man Who Fell to Earth
Nicholas Roeg's horror movie Don't Look Now is one of my favorites, and The French Connection is a classic. So I'd been really looking forward to this one – a sci-fi movie about pseudo-reptilian David Bowie who travels to Earth, "invents" a ton of technology so he can earn money and fund a way to send water back to his arid home planet (and his dying family). The concept sounds great, but it's a meandering and weird fucking movie. I'm surprised it has the reputation it does. If it were an hour shorter, without all the fluff, it could be a lot better. I'd still recommend it if you want some '70s full frontal and Bowie peen.
 

terry.330

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Terry did you watch the REC American remake. It had that annoying sister from Dexter in it. I remember liking it. No idea how it stacks up to REC.
Yeah I saw it around the time it came out. I didn't like it then and after watching the original I like it even less, it's an almost shot for shot remake without any of the soul. And I absolutely cannot stand that woman form Dexter.

@fake totally agree on TMWFTE. It's a chore to get through, better off reading the book.
 

fake

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Matilda
Air-Bud before Air-Bud. A kangaroo (depicted by a man in a $30,000 kangaroo costume) becomes one of the world's greatest boxers. A talent agent sees his big break in Matilda's skills, and the kangaroo, his handler, and the talent agent find themselves navigating the seedy crossroads of pugilism, organized crime, and love. This movie has stuff you will not be able to unsee. It's not good. At all. But it's certainly worth watching.
 

terry.330

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Daughters of Darkness- Sleazy but artsy euro horror from 1971. A newly wed couple on the way to their honeymoon are derailed and forced to stay at a remote off season hotel. The only other guest are the immortal Countess Bathory and her nymphette companion. The Countess not so subtley manipulates the newly weds and ultimately seduces the bride. It's pretty slow but there's a lot to look at along the way. The women are stunning as are cinematography, locations and costumes. Everything looks and feels almost dreamlike. Delphine Seyrig as the Countess seems to relish every second of her role and her companion played by Andrea Rau is an almost surreal beauty. Lots of nudity and general sexy weirdness, despite it's artsy aesthetic it's still pretty trashy. Feels a lot like a French version of some of Hammers more risqué stuff. Recommended for Andrea Rau alone.
 

fake

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The Hunger
I accidentally another David Bowie movie. It's based on a story by Whitley Streiber, the guy who wrote Communion, a groundbreaking book about his UFO abduction and hypnotic regression experiences. A female vampire has lived for a very long time, and has kept one of her willing victims as a sort of husband for a few hundred years – they both look like they're in their 30s or 40s. Bowie suddenly starts aging rapidly and seeks out the help of a scientist researching how to slow or even reverse aging. Stuff gets weird and sexual and there are lots of monkeys.

This one has a lot of gritty '80s vibe, parts of the story are pretty good, and the special effects makeup is fantastic. But a lot of it drags and it feels like they ditch major parts of the story without tying them up. It would've been a really good Tales from the Dark Side episode, but it's not a good movie. I'd only recommend it if you're fine with style and no substance or really love vampire movies.
 

NeoSneth

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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
I had no idea what I was watching, but I couldn't stop once I started. I really thought I was watching some Rennaisance flick, but it took a very dark and twisted turn after that. I found the premise really amusing for some reason. It feels more like a film from the 90's than 2006.
 

SouthtownKid

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Daughters of Darkness- Sleazy but artsy euro horror from 1971. A newly wed couple on the way to their honeymoon are derailed and forced to stay at a remote off season hotel. The only other guest are the immortal Countess Bathory and her nymphette companion. The Countess not so subtley manipulates the newly weds and ultimately seduces the bride. It's pretty slow but there's a lot to look at along the way. The women are stunning as are cinematography, locations and costumes. Everything looks and feels almost dreamlike. Delphine Seyrig as the Countess seems to relish every second of her role and her companion played by Andrea Rau is an almost surreal beauty. Lots of nudity and general sexy weirdness, despite it's artsy aesthetic it's still pretty trashy. Feels a lot like a French version of some of Hammers more risqué stuff. Recommended for Andrea Rau alone.
I'd love to watch a trashy 1970s French Hammer-esque movie. That sounds like exactly my bag. I wish it was streaming somewhere, although it would have Japanese subtitles here rather than English. But even then, I'd be all over it. Fuck, I wish I could watch this.
 

Lagduf

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I watched the new Black Panther movie and I'm only here to say that there were, thankfully, no CGI Chadwick Boseman scenes and that overall I thought the movie handled his death fairly respectfully.

I never would have guessed the villain they used in the film in 1000 years but the spin on the origin was interesting and a thoughtful compare/contrast to the MCU's Wakanda origins.

Wyo will love this film because Western Powers are also explicitly bad guys (k, well - some of the leadership.)

Either way this movie does absolutely nothing to move forward any kind of evolving story arc. I saw the trailer for Ant-Man and it appears that it will move the overarching storyline forward. So far, IIRC only the Loki series has hinted at the future arc. Hopefully the future films will be a bit more focused.
 

HornheaDD

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I watched the new Black Panther movie and I'm only here to say that there were, thankfully, no CGI Chadwick Boseman scenes and that overall I thought the movie handled his death fairly respectfully.

I never would have guessed the villain they used in the film in 1000 years but the spin on the origin was interesting and a thoughtful compare/contrast to the MCU's Wakanda origins.

Wyo will love this film because Western Powers are also explicitly bad guys (k, well - some of the leadership.)

Either way this movie does absolutely nothing to move forward any kind of evolving story arc. I saw the trailer for Ant-Man and it appears that it will move the overarching storyline forward. So far, IIRC only the Loki series has hinted at the future arc. Hopefully the future films will be a bit more focused.

Saw it tonite as well, and yeah it doesn't do much to further the story directly but it does sort of hint at some other stuff, like Elaine Bennes is evidently the head of the CIA, and they mentioned "the president" a couple times. Since Harrison Ford was cast to replace William Hurt as Thunderbolt Ross, they could be hinting that Ross is the prez.

I thought the opening sequence with the silent Marvel logo that's all Chadwick Boseman and the funeral scene were tastefully done.

What do you mean you never would have guessed the villain? Namor was all over the promotional materials.
 

Lagduf

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Saw it tonite as well, and yeah it doesn't do much to further the story directly but it does sort of hint at some other stuff, like Elaine Bennes is evidently the head of the CIA, and they mentioned "the president" a couple times. Since Harrison Ford was cast to replace William Hurt as Thunderbolt Ross, they could be hinting that Ross is the prez.

I thought the opening sequence with the silent Marvel logo that's all Chadwick Boseman and the funeral scene were tastefully done.

What do you mean you never would have guessed the villain? Namor was all over the promotional materials.

I went in 100% blind. Saw no trailers - just worked out that way (I wasn’t actively dodging it) which honestly is my preferred way to see a movie.

My friend saw it and said he enjoyed it. We have similar tastes for mindless action and comic book druck, which is the only reason I saw it. Otherwise I would have skipped it.
 

terry.330

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I'd love to watch a trashy 1970s French Hammer-esque movie. That sounds like exactly my bag. I wish it was streaming somewhere, although it would have Japanese subtitles here rather than English. But even then, I'd be all over it. Fuck, I wish I could watch this.
It's worth searching out, I think you'd definitely dig it.
 

terry.330

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I Am Thor- Documentary about the bodybuilder/male stripper/actor/singer John Mikl Thor, lead singer of the metal band Thor. These days he's probably best known for his performance in the movie Rock and Roll Nightmare due to it's appearance on Best of the Worst but he's been making music and performing for almost 50 years. This covers his early career and some of his personal life but mainly focuses on his return to the music business in 1998 after a decade long hiatus and the struggles that came with it. It paints a pretty good picture of the guy and his borderline delusions of becoming as big as Kiss or Alice Cooper. Despite all of his flaws he really comes across a nice guy and certainly a man with a lot of determination. If only he had ever had a proper manager his life might have turned out close to what he imagined. Worth a watch, it's hard not to like the guy despite his flaws and silly theatrics.

 

terry.330

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Razorback- 1984 Australian giant monster movie from the director of Highlander. A giant, unstoppable, crazed boar terrorizes a small outback town. After an American reporter doing a piece on Kangaroo poaching goes missing her dingus husband comes to the town to investigate. This of course leads to him being chased by the giant pig and ends in an epic showdown between man and beast set inside a dog food factory.

This movie has as much in common with Mad Max as it does Jaws. Very nasty, dirty, dusty and very Australian. Definitely had a huge influence on Tremors. Extremely stylish with some creative camera work, lighting, editing and some absolutely incredible shots of the outback. The directors visual flair is in full effect, maybe a little too much at times. This easily could have been just another boring Jaws rip off but it's stylish and unique enough to overcome it's many faults.
 

mainman

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Two upcoming flicks with dark humor recently caught my interest, Megan and Cocaine Bear. Coke Bear is a exaggeration of course but based on a actual event. Megan appears to be the 2019 reboot of chucky done better.


 

terry.330

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Cocaine Bear looks about as funny as Snakes on a Plane. The kind of thing that should only be a trailer,
 

terry.330

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Ticks (aka Infested)- A group of troubled teens on a wilderness trip find themselves under attack by giant super aggressive mutant ticks and psychotic marijuana farmers. Goofy, gross, dumb and early 90s as fuck. Starring Seth Green, Alphonse Ribeiro (hilariously miscast) and a ton of recognizable 90s character actors. Some great effects and the constant escalation of weird, stupid and gross things keep this thoroughly entertaining. A bit of a hidden gem.

Edit: Watched this morning and I already forgot about it lol.

Troll on Netflix, just terrible. An almost shot for shot clone of Roland Emerichs Godzilla just set in Norway. It has all the same stock characters, story beats, big dumb action scenes, even the constant location/text crawls. It is literally a Roland Emerich movie in every way. Like Emerichs movies you can't tell if they knew they were making a big dumb popcorn movie for idiots or if they actually thought it was a real movie. This wasn't even suitable as background noise, the stupidity was unbearable.
 
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100proof

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Just throwing in another recommendation for Daughters of Darkness. The Hammer comparison is apt: it's a good combination of classy (arty cinematography, interesting use of color and some solid performances) and trashy (it's a lesbian vampire movie that isn't afraid to be a lesbian vampire movie).
 
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