Movie opinions thread (what have you seen, what did you think?)
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The Heroic Trio- Peak mid 90's Hong Kong insanity from Johnnie To starring Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui and Anthony Wong. The plot is unapologetically batshit crazy. In a bizarre dystopian alternate reality newborn babies are being stolen by a magical sewer dwelling eunuch to try and find the next emperor of China. The three women start off as enemies but eventually unite to fight the wizard. There are wild shifts in tone, melodrama, whimsical comedy, high flying wire work action, child murder, supernatural mysticism and motorcycle stunts collide in a fever dream like some sort of Hong Kong version of Batman Returns meets Zu Warriors.
The laws of physics do not apply and logic of any kind simply does not exist here. Incredibly stylish with some legitimately awesome sets, lighting and atmosphere it's visually impressive. It's also super messy with bad editing and action that's so hectic, convoluted and goofy it can be confusing.
The ending is a real treat when it goes from standard HK action stuff and dips hard into Stuart Gordon level horror schlock that wouldn't be out of place in Return of the Living Dead 3 or Bride of Re-animator. Maggie Cheung head butting a skeleton puppet that Michelle Yeoh is wearing like a literal suit is absolutely amazing.
If you like ridiculous 90's HK stuff, horror schlock and badass chicks this is highly recommended. Just don't expect anything to make much sense.
The laws of physics do not apply and logic of any kind simply does not exist here. Incredibly stylish with some legitimately awesome sets, lighting and atmosphere it's visually impressive. It's also super messy with bad editing and action that's so hectic, convoluted and goofy it can be confusing.
The ending is a real treat when it goes from standard HK action stuff and dips hard into Stuart Gordon level horror schlock that wouldn't be out of place in Return of the Living Dead 3 or Bride of Re-animator. Maggie Cheung head butting a skeleton puppet that Michelle Yeoh is wearing like a literal suit is absolutely amazing.
If you like ridiculous 90's HK stuff, horror schlock and badass chicks this is highly recommended. Just don't expect anything to make much sense.
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The dinner/sea sickness scene is pretty incredible but yeah saying it's heavy handed would be putting it lightly.
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THX 1138 (1971), the director's cut (2004). George Lucas' first flick. Up till now, I had never viewed any iteration of this film. Have been meaning to over the years, but just has never been a priority till now. I am unsure of the specific differences of the OG theatrical cut vs. this one, but I do know a bit of the Coppola / American Zoetrope / counter-culture backstory of the late 60s and WB's subsequent theatrical edit & initial release in '71. It's all been said before I'm sure, but just some initial observations below.
Of course the oppressive futuristic dystopian society thing isn't exactly a novel idea (especially since it's release), but the relatively linear & simplistic story line aside, where this film truly shines is in it's cinematography & visuals in general. Some distinct stylistic similarities between it and the likes of American Graffiti, SW ep.IV etc. etc that followed it in Lucas' timeline. Robert Duvall & Maggie McOmie was a good pairing. Nothing seemed over-acted, a challenging tendency for a script such as this I would think. In the end, I initially watched to just tick a box and was prepared to be a bit underwhelmed, but left pleasantly surprised when it was all said and done.
Of course the oppressive futuristic dystopian society thing isn't exactly a novel idea (especially since it's release), but the relatively linear & simplistic story line aside, where this film truly shines is in it's cinematography & visuals in general. Some distinct stylistic similarities between it and the likes of American Graffiti, SW ep.IV etc. etc that followed it in Lucas' timeline. Robert Duvall & Maggie McOmie was a good pairing. Nothing seemed over-acted, a challenging tendency for a script such as this I would think. In the end, I initially watched to just tick a box and was prepared to be a bit underwhelmed, but left pleasantly surprised when it was all said and done.
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Despicable Me 4 - I usually love anything with the Minions in, but this one left me feeling a bit meh. I don't know why they needed Sofia Vegara to voice one of the characters, she barely says anything. Gru's three daughters don't have much to do, the villain is not as good as previous adversaries Gru has encountered, and there's definitely not enough Minion's. Kids in the audience seemed to like it though, so I guess that's the main thing the film makers need to go right... still, I always found that this series had a good nod to the adult audience, but that element is a bit lacking in this one. Go see if you've got kids under 10, otherwise skip or watch on streaming when its free with Amazon Prime or Netflix.
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Buckaroo Banzai in the 8th Dimension - I saw this once in high school and I had thought that my brain had blocked out all memory of it aside from that it was weird, featured Peter Weller fighting aliens and the image of Jeff Goldblum in a cowboy outfit. Now that I've seen it again, I realize that my brain didn't fail me so much as the movie's just a coke-fueled fever dream.
Everything is presented as though you're supposed to already be familiar with the main character and his world which is always fun but the exposition is clunky and no amount of explaining it is going to make it make sense. Buckaroo Banzai is a biracial (hence the stupid name) super-genius who everyone knows and loves and is introduced performing brain surgery, taking a ride in a supersonic land rocket and then playing in a rock band all in the matter of a day. Like if I didn't watch it happen, I would just assume it was the crazed ramblings of an over-caffeinated elementary school kid. He discovers the ability to travel through matter and space via the 8th dimension which kickstarts a chase? Battle? Let's say a kerfuffle among an alien race in which the bad aliens (headed by an absolutely batshit performance from John Lithgow and backed up by Christopher Lloyd) are trying to use his technology (the "oscillating overthruster") to escape Earth and the good aliens who need Buckaroo's help to prevent them from escaping or else they'll blow up the planet? It's almost a parody of cool guy action hero movies but it plays everything so straight that it's impossible to tell whether you should be laughing or scratching your head. The 80s was pre-irony so it's hard to tell.
Either way, it's absolutely peak bonkers 80s shit and has an incredible cast of character actors in almost every role. Once you get past how fun and weird it is though, the whole thing falls apart. Everything with Ellen Barkin is unnecessary and tacked on. The motivation of the aliens is either poorly explained and/or makes no sense. Jeff Goldblum seems like he's going to be the audience surrogate but then they either forget or the movie gets bored and he disappears for most of the back half and honestly, as much as I like Peter Weller as an actor, he seems kind of ill-suited for this role. If nothing else, the movie makes for a great round of "spot the character actor" and fun in how aggressively weird it is even if it's ultimately not a great movie.
I imagine another 30 years from now, I'll watch this again having remembered only that it was weird, featured Peter Weller fighting aliens and the image of Jeff Goldblum in a cowboy outfit and be surprised/confused all over again.
Everything is presented as though you're supposed to already be familiar with the main character and his world which is always fun but the exposition is clunky and no amount of explaining it is going to make it make sense. Buckaroo Banzai is a biracial (hence the stupid name) super-genius who everyone knows and loves and is introduced performing brain surgery, taking a ride in a supersonic land rocket and then playing in a rock band all in the matter of a day. Like if I didn't watch it happen, I would just assume it was the crazed ramblings of an over-caffeinated elementary school kid. He discovers the ability to travel through matter and space via the 8th dimension which kickstarts a chase? Battle? Let's say a kerfuffle among an alien race in which the bad aliens (headed by an absolutely batshit performance from John Lithgow and backed up by Christopher Lloyd) are trying to use his technology (the "oscillating overthruster") to escape Earth and the good aliens who need Buckaroo's help to prevent them from escaping or else they'll blow up the planet? It's almost a parody of cool guy action hero movies but it plays everything so straight that it's impossible to tell whether you should be laughing or scratching your head. The 80s was pre-irony so it's hard to tell.
Either way, it's absolutely peak bonkers 80s shit and has an incredible cast of character actors in almost every role. Once you get past how fun and weird it is though, the whole thing falls apart. Everything with Ellen Barkin is unnecessary and tacked on. The motivation of the aliens is either poorly explained and/or makes no sense. Jeff Goldblum seems like he's going to be the audience surrogate but then they either forget or the movie gets bored and he disappears for most of the back half and honestly, as much as I like Peter Weller as an actor, he seems kind of ill-suited for this role. If nothing else, the movie makes for a great round of "spot the character actor" and fun in how aggressively weird it is even if it's ultimately not a great movie.
I imagine another 30 years from now, I'll watch this again having remembered only that it was weird, featured Peter Weller fighting aliens and the image of Jeff Goldblum in a cowboy outfit and be surprised/confused all over again.
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terry.330 is going to get a semi just seeing that someone else is talking about that movie
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I love that movie, loved the novelization by the character's creator, which leaned even more heavily into it's pulp-inspired roots. Buckaroo is essentially Doc Savage, a savant who's an expert in everything, can do anything, backed up by a team of friends each with their particular specialty, all of whom then go around the world having adventures and tangling with everything from aliens to the occult to organized crime, whatever. Pure pulp.
The novel was written to resemble a random volume of a vast series of pulps that you just happened to find in a used bookstore or something, and that other installments both before and after this particular story already existed and were out there somewhere for you to find. The book is filled with references to adventures and characters in previous (non-existing) novels, many of which featured the character who Penny in the movie is a doppelganger of, and supposedly died. I was in junior high when this movie and novel came out, and I ate that shit up.
Way too late to do anything about it now, but I would have killed for a movie sequel back then. I know the original creator wrote a second novel maybe 3 or 4 years back; I'll get around to reading it at some point.
Anyway, yeah the movie holds a weird place in history, definitely a cult film, and sometimes you can recognize its influence in the following generation of filmmakers. Like Wes Anderson outright swiping that end credits sequence for his The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
"So what, beeg deal."
Fucking 10/10
The novel was written to resemble a random volume of a vast series of pulps that you just happened to find in a used bookstore or something, and that other installments both before and after this particular story already existed and were out there somewhere for you to find. The book is filled with references to adventures and characters in previous (non-existing) novels, many of which featured the character who Penny in the movie is a doppelganger of, and supposedly died. I was in junior high when this movie and novel came out, and I ate that shit up.
Way too late to do anything about it now, but I would have killed for a movie sequel back then. I know the original creator wrote a second novel maybe 3 or 4 years back; I'll get around to reading it at some point.
Anyway, yeah the movie holds a weird place in history, definitely a cult film, and sometimes you can recognize its influence in the following generation of filmmakers. Like Wes Anderson outright swiping that end credits sequence for his The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
"So what, beeg deal."
Fucking 10/10
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STK replied while I was in the middle of typing this and seems to have covered a lot of what I was going to say.
There is an alternate opening (featuring Jamie Lee Curtis) that sets up a tiny bit more backstory but then simultaneously also makes things even more confusing. Also a bunch of comics but they're all terrible.
It's easily my favorite movie of all time. Almost any criticism is somewhat valid as the movie is a total mess but I think that works in it's favor. It kind of forces you to just jump in and go with the flow, which ups the fun factor if you're into it.
I think much more of the movie is intentional than a lot of people think. Under all the goofiness and frantic pacing it's deceptively smart.
The only other movies even close to it in terms of tone and style are Streets Of Fire, BTILC and maybe The Last Dragon, just pure products of the time. Classic adventures of good vs. evil with lots of music and incredible style.
There is an alternate opening (featuring Jamie Lee Curtis) that sets up a tiny bit more backstory but then simultaneously also makes things even more confusing. Also a bunch of comics but they're all terrible.
It's easily my favorite movie of all time. Almost any criticism is somewhat valid as the movie is a total mess but I think that works in it's favor. It kind of forces you to just jump in and go with the flow, which ups the fun factor if you're into it.
I think much more of the movie is intentional than a lot of people think. Under all the goofiness and frantic pacing it's deceptively smart.
The only other movies even close to it in terms of tone and style are Streets Of Fire, BTILC and maybe The Last Dragon, just pure products of the time. Classic adventures of good vs. evil with lots of music and incredible style.
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Yeah, agreed.
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Even on a visual level with the sets, props and costumes there's a level of self awareness that a lot of movies think they have but don't. If you look closely at everything there are a ton of abstract jokes all over the place.
Like the movie is saying "yeah that's just electrical tape, bubble wrap and glue but it doesn't matter and if you think it does this isn't the movie for you." Except that BB does this in such a specific way that adds to the movie. It transcends being self aware and the jokes become the joke but also take themselves 100% seriously. It's almost conceptual at points, a very tough balancing act that comes off as completely effortless.
Like the movie is saying "yeah that's just electrical tape, bubble wrap and glue but it doesn't matter and if you think it does this isn't the movie for you." Except that BB does this in such a specific way that adds to the movie. It transcends being self aware and the jokes become the joke but also take themselves 100% seriously. It's almost conceptual at points, a very tough balancing act that comes off as completely effortless.
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Glad you guys enjoy it so much. I certainly appreciate it for its uniqueness and that no studio would ever invest that kind of money in to something so off-the-wall nuts these days (well at least since Luc Besson stopped being someone the studios trusted). Not every movie needs to have a coherent narrative or babystep you through a standard three-act structure but it didn't really work for me here beyond the "did I see what I think I just saw?" strangeness of it. That said, I love the cast and I'm glad it exists if for no other reason than that I'm sure it was incredibly influential for some weird nerd kid that went on to make their own cool shit.
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I'm not sure I see what's so incoherent about it. The story seems pretty straightforward. Maybe I'm forgetting something. It's been a while.
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This, along with, "Paging Mr. Herman, Mr. Herman you have a telephone call at the front desk" are two lines I'll say out loud by myself in a perfect impression from time to time.
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Black Tight Killers- This is a swinging 60's Nikkatsu production directed by Yasuharu Hasaebe, a protege of Seijin Suzuki. A crime thriller about a photojournalist whose girlfriend is kidnapped by a gang of go-go dancing ninja babes that are trying to find out where her father hid a stash of gold during WWII. The ninja girls end up befriending him and together they have to outwit and outfight a group corrupt cops. It's all incredibly 60's with tons of visual flair, go-go dancing and some excellent surf/jazz sounds. If you enjoy stuff like Danger Diabolik and Modesty Blaise this probably right up your alley.
There are some dull moments and it's the director's first movie which shows and isn't helped any by its apparent lack of budget. Regardless is still an amazing time capsule and has style to spare.
There are some dull moments and it's the director's first movie which shows and isn't helped any by its apparent lack of budget. Regardless is still an amazing time capsule and has style to spare.
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Carnival of Souls - It's a well-made low-budget time capsule but its backstory and influence are more interesting than the movie itself in 2024 for me. The original cult movie (a blip on the radar on release but it found its way on to syndicated television during the 70s and 80s because of a copyright fuck-up/loophole where people largely discovered it), the movie is about a young woman who escapes a car accident only to find herself chased by a zombie-like character and increasingly doubting her own sanity as people sometimes can't see or hear her. She spends most of the movie alternating between being hit on by a leering neighbor, working her job as an organist in a church and being drawn to an abandoned carnival.
The whole thing feels like a really well-shot episode of the original Twilight Zone and while the acting is largely good for the time and it makes its point quiickly and efficiently, you know exactly what it's doing from the fifth minute of the movie. Not really the movie's fault... it's the I Love Lucy Effect. Lucy created the blueprint for all of the tropes that sitcoms rely on to this day but because you've now seen those jokes a million times, Lucy itself isn't nearly as effective or funny to watch because of it. So yeah, Carnival of Souls is an important and interesting movie that influenced Romero and a lot of other filmmakers and movies that came after it but I enjoyed it more intellectually than I did the minute-to-minute experience of watching it as entertainment.
The whole thing feels like a really well-shot episode of the original Twilight Zone and while the acting is largely good for the time and it makes its point quiickly and efficiently, you know exactly what it's doing from the fifth minute of the movie. Not really the movie's fault... it's the I Love Lucy Effect. Lucy created the blueprint for all of the tropes that sitcoms rely on to this day but because you've now seen those jokes a million times, Lucy itself isn't nearly as effective or funny to watch because of it. So yeah, Carnival of Souls is an important and interesting movie that influenced Romero and a lot of other filmmakers and movies that came after it but I enjoyed it more intellectually than I did the minute-to-minute experience of watching it as entertainment.
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I just want to join the chorus to say I also recently watched Buckaroo Bonsai (it's on Amazon Prime if anyone is looking to stream it), almost entirely because of mentions in this thread.
Not sure I can say much else about it. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, I'd be willing to watch it again, and I can't really think of any other movie that gave me such a 'late to the party' feeling.
Not sure I can say much else about it. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, I'd be willing to watch it again, and I can't really think of any other movie that gave me such a 'late to the party' feeling.
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It's not on Prime here, and it really pisses me off. It's not on any streaming here.
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The Banzai Institute is canon in the Battlech universe. They even use the symbol.
That film is very dear in the hearts of a lot of people in various nerd industries.
The Staff Roll is one of the three best of all time, IMO.
That film is very dear in the hearts of a lot of people in various nerd industries.
The Staff Roll is one of the three best of all time, IMO.
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Yeah, I've noticed that with Joe vs The Volcano and UHF as well.
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lucky bastids
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Tremors 3: Back To Perfection- This is the one where the Graboids fly by lighting their farts on fire. The Ass Blasters one. Burt returns as well as a couple other side characters from part 1 and it's nice that it's back in Perfection. I liked the Graboids being a protected species and the government interference angle. It's pretty cheap and the CG is really bad, you can tell they really had to watch their bottom line. The new guy Jack was bugging the hell out of me the whole time and I finally figured out it's because he's doing a Brad Pitt impression. It's still a fun movie, a bit of a step down from part 2 but not by much. It also ties into the TV series for all 5 people that actually watched that.
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