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

[100proof]

What is thing 'koala'ing' you all speak of?

Is this some millenial shizz? Please explain it to me and then get off my lawn.

I don't follow this shit too closely but it seems to be the emoji reaction (see the "Like" icon at the bottom of each comment) of choice around here to call someone a clown. I can only assume it's because of JoeX the sentient AI from Aussieland that people enjoy shitting on.

 

[Taiso]

I don't follow this shit too closely but it seems to be the emoji reaction (see the "Like" icon at the bottom of each comment) of choice around here to call someone a clown. I can only assume it's because of JoeX the sentient AI from Aussieland that people enjoy shitting on.

Okay that's pretty funny.

 

[Ralfakick]

Black Sunday- Mario Bava's directorial debut and it's a pretty damn good one. Gothic as fuck with incredible use of shadows, gorgeous black and white visuals, gliding camera work and incredible sets. Just pure atmosphere. Barbara Steele in the lead looking absolutely stunning and haunting (those eyes).

In 1500's Moldavia a female vampire is tried and sentenced to death by some pretty gruesome means. As she is dying she curses her persecutors and vows revenge. 200 years later her ghost returns looking to reincarnate herself and punish the descendants of the people who killed her. Nothing amazingly original but it works well enough and feels very european folksy. Not only is it very classically euro-gothic it also has a touch of 30's Hollywood. The visuals and atmosphere were hugely influential and it's easy to see why. This one is definitely recommended.

When I saw Black Sunday I was hoping for the Frankenheimer one. That’s a Black Sunday worth watching as well.

 

[Lagduf]

People have gotten their panties in an uproar over the movie not really validating one side or the other of the political spectrum, but the final shot says it all. I'd recommend trying to see this in the theater while you can.

I take it these people who are upset have never seen an actual war film? I’m not sure I can name a good war film which isn’t vehemently anti-war.

 

[fake]

I take it these people who are upset have never seen an actual war film? I’m not sure I can name a good war film which isn’t vehemently anti-war.

I think once the trailers showed that the "Western Forces" were made up of TX and CA, people started making assumptions over which side is supposed to be MAGA, but I don't think either side really was supposed to reflect today's issues. It's impossible to release a movie like this at a time like without that happening, I guess. In the movie, not a spoiler, they reveal that there's also a Florida Alliance (basically "the South") and a New People's Army (the Northwest).

 

[StaticX]

Just saw “Late Night with the Devil” really enjoyed it.

 

[terry.330]

Prom Night- Pretty much the bare minimum for a slasher, even for as early as it is it's still pretty dull. Honestly if this didn't have Jamie Lee Curtis in it it wouldn't even be in the conversation.

Prom Night 2: Hello Mary Lou- This is a pretty big step up from the first. It steals wholesale from A Nightmare On Elm Street and a couple others but at least it has some creativity and style. There's also more gore and general weirdness, plus it's peak 80's. Oh yeah and Michael Ironside is in it. Worth checking out if you're into the genre.

The Holdovers- I was expecting this to be pretty good and it mostly delivered. I appreciate the naturalistic style, it fits the era and subject matter very well. The performances were all great and the movie has a lot of heart. A bit predictable and overly long by maybe 15 minutes but it doesn't really detract from it overall.

 

[jro]

Just saw “Late Night with the Devil” really enjoyed it.

Yes, strongly agreed. Read the hype for a month or two and was looking forward to it, popped up on Shudder and did not disappoint. Dasmalchian is as good as advertised, dude has really earned his place in the industry from Batman extra to Polka Dot Man to lead in this. Excellent performance.

Really good overall. Good script, good performances, good execution, the type of low-profile excellent horror movie that used to exist in abundance but has dwindled a bit I think.

 

[Average Joe]

The Coffee Table

Don't think I've seen a movie that made me this uncomfortable since Possession.

This is labeled as Comedy/Horror and if that is the case, then the Comedy aspect is as dark as it gets. I'd say this film borders on sadistic in its intended desire to make you as uncomfortable as possible from almost at the start. Lots of frantic/frenetic camera shots coupled with jarringly disorienting warbling musical pieces creates another level of anxiety that feels overwhelming at times.

I can see a lot of people disliking it, but there is something about a movie or show that can create an atmosphere like this that I absolutely love and this one that in spades.

 

[Burning Fight!!]

This is not a review since I didn’t bother watching much but by god everyone was right about The Protector. What a piece of hack directing shit and a waste of Jackie’s talent, it feels like the director was instinctively building the movie around cliches and nothing holds up to a second of thinking. What was the point of the truck scene? Why did a guy shot with a 9mm pistol get lifted three feet from the ground and violently ejected from a store window not nearly close to him? How did Jackie know which direction to run after the bad guy after giving him enough lead time to disappear? Why did the chief of police arrive at the scene exactly when Jackie got into the boat at the pier to chase the bad guy? How can Jackie order a NYPD copter to throw him a rope for a stunt during a boat chase? With a radio REPEATER (car long gone from range)? Why after this and a failed detail some government big wig agrees to let Jackie and his partner go to fucking Hong Kong with only a SUGGESTION that Jackie has contacts there to investigate this serious drug trafficking case they could never pin on __character__? WHY.

I thought my brain would be numb to retarded scripts and directing after so much low budget kung fu movies but I guess not. Jeebus Christ Glickenhaus.

 

[terry.330]

This is not a review since I didn’t bother watching much but by god everyone was right about The Protector.

Yeah, it's not great. There's an alternate cut that JC put together for the asian market which is a fair bit better but is still pretty bad. I guess the whole shoot was a disaster as Glickenhaus and Chan did not get along. Though Glikenhaus' track record is pretty spotty so I assume most of the blame is his not Golden Harvest.

 

[SouthtownKid]

None of Jackie's American movies are good, including Rush Hour, which should have been. The Big Brawl is pretty boring, too, although the theme song is kind of catchy.

 

[terry.330]

Drive (1997)- This is a direct to video action-comedy from the guy that made the live action Guyver movies. Marc Dacascos plays a cop from Hong Kong that has been implanted with some sort of super solider heart that gives him super human strength and reflexes. He teams up with Kadeem Hardison (Dwayne Wayne from A Different World lol) and Brittany Murphy. With the three of them on the run from a bolo-tie wearing villain (played by the awesome John Pyper-Ferguson) and his henchman (Bob from Batman). It's a weird movie if you couldn't tell by the cast.

It's essentially a buddy action-comedy but the action is Hong Kong style and the comedy is decidedly quirky. It has a very weird tone to it, the only other movie I can compare it to is The Big Hit. The action and fight choreography is excellent, the comedy is pretty hit or miss and the performances are all over the place. It is a bizarrely enjoyable movie though.

Apparently the version I watched is the director's cut with an additional 20 minutes of footage restored. I haven't seen the movie since the VHS days so I honestly can't tell as I really only remembered chunks of it. I guess it was initially supposed to get theatrical release but the studio got cold feet and even for the home video market they edited and re-scored it.

Anyways it's pretty fun and definitely overlooked. The comedy doesn't always work but the action is top notch and it just has a quirky fun feel to it that is pretty engaging.

 

[wesleibank]

Break free from traditional dating norms and embrace the best in casual connections.
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[Hattori Hanzo]

Ladies

AI should know better by now.

 

[jro]

AI should know better by now.

It should know that it needs to register as Melchia to get any actual attention.

Anyway. Been meaning to and finally did re-watch (third time?)
The Night Comes for Us - still adore it. The story isn't anything interesting (oddly maybe, I've been also meaning to re-watch SPL and SPL 2, which both have very good stories IIRC), but good lord, the action is fantastic. And the lead-up to most of the fight scenes makes them so good, i.e. the lesbians or the car crash at the end. Iko Uwais is, IMO, the best action star in the business right now, and he's at his best as a bad guy.

 

[terry.330]

Murder By Death- An old school screwball comedy starring Peter Sellers, Peter Falk, Maggie Smith, David Niven and Truman Capote. It's a parody of classic dinner party murder mysteries except all the guests are send ups of famous literary detectives. So you've got Sam Diamond, Dick and Dora Charleston, Ms. Marbles etc. It's a bit problematic by todays standards as Peter Sellers plays Sidney Wang complete with buck teeth, squinty eyes and tons of casually racist jokes. Aside from that it's also quite dated as far as the style of humor and too goofy for it's own good, it's written by Neil Simon so it's a very specific type of humor. It's still worth watching for the cast alone but it's definitely a product of a bygone era. Don't go into it expecting Clue.

 

[Lagduf]

I love that movie.

 

[terry.330]

I love that movie.

I can see why.

I wonder how long it will be before movies like this are completely forgotten. I can't see younger people liking the style of humor, caring about these old ensemble casts or even knowing the source material. Not to mention the un-PC nature of so many older comedies in general. I think the biggest reaction you'd get out of them is "Is that the lady from Harry Potter?"

 

[Lagduf]

I have a vague memory that I watched this in the 8th grade at school. I think it was our science teacher, who was one of my friend’s mom, who put it on - and it totally seems like something she would do.

 

[terry.330]

Hellboy (2019)- Yikes, what a mess. I knew it wasn't going to be great but damn, it's borderline unwatchable. The script is absolutely atrocious, just exposition dump after exposition dump with quippy MCU style humor in between. The editing is choppy and the CG is some of the worst I've ever seen in a major studio movie. Straight up embarrassingly bad. It all comes together to make something that is actively irritating to watch and in no way engaging.

Neil Marshall has had a tough time since he started working in Hollywood and while I do think some of that is his own shortcomings I really get the feeling he's a guy that the studios can bend to their will. The exposition dumps, pacing, editing and terrible CG all stink of studio interference.

On paper this should work. David Harbour as Hellboy is a good choice and he does a pretty decent job. Mila Jovovich as a sexy evil witch, no brainer and Ian McShane as the professor/father is also a good choice. There are moments where you can see glimpses of what Marshall probably had intended but anything resembling a good Hellboy movie has been almost completely erased. In some ways it's actually closer to the comics than the Del Toro version but it's so dumbed down and unengaging that it just makes you wonder what even was the point of making this.

 

[SouthtownKid]

In some ways it's actually closer to the comics than the Del Toro version

In a lot of ways, really. I mean, even the exposition dumps kind of come from Mignola's comic writing style. And the plot itself is loosely based on an actual comic story as opposed to del Toro's invented Golden Army or whatever. I agree with you about the quippy humor thing between, but at least it replaced del Toro's forced Hellboy romance angle.

This one actually grew on me a little with a second viewing. Definitely not as well made as del Toro's, but I guess I liked that it had a different set of flaws than a third del Toro movie would have.

Anyway, a whole new reboot is coming with third actor to play the character. But looking at the new director's filmography, I'm not really filled with a lot of hope for improvement.

 

[terry.330]

In a lot of ways, really. I mean, even the exposition dumps kind of come from Mignola's comic writing style.

I don't know man I just flipped through a couple volumes to refresh my memory and while there are exposition dumps it's not as jarring and pace killing in comic format. In the movie there's literally an exposition dump every single time there's not an action scene, there's like 6 or 7 in the first half alone. I think the biggest problem with the movie is it's pacing and editing. The movie is either full throttle mediocre CG action or at a painfully dull standstill to vomit lore.

I went into this hoping it might be a somewhat misunderstood movie and I think in some ways it is but it's still a just such a complete mess that nothing really works. Which is a shame because I think there was a lot of potential.

 

[LoneSage]

Terry330 review request for Stephen King's The Sleepwalkers

 

[terry.330]

Terry330 review request for Stephen King's The Sleepwalkers

I've actually been meaning to re-watch that and The Night Flier, haven't seen either of those in decades. I remember Sleepwalkers being pretty bad though Madchen Amik is in it so I'm willing to give it another watch.