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

[terry.330]

Black Friday- Oof, this one was rough. I knew not to set my expectations too high but was not expecting it to as bad as it actually is. It's got a solid enough premise for a horror B-movie. I mean it's pretty much Night Of The Creeps set on Black Friday at a Toys 'r Us and it stars Bruce Campbell, there's a lot of potential there. Unfortunately it's so poorly written, directed and edited that it completely kills any of the fun. The movie is incompetent on the most basic levels of filmmaking. Lots of scenes and character decisions just don't make any sense, the tone is all over the place and everything just looks and feels super janky. Bruce Campbell is also pretty much completely wasted. About the only positive I can say is that there were some fun practical effects.

 

[terry.330]

Rebel Ridge- I think this got mentioned a page or two back and was compared to Reacher. I didn't realize this was by the guy who did Blue Ruin, thought it was just another generic Netflix dad action/revenge movie. I can see the comparison to Reacher as it bares a lot of the same tropes. Badass ex-military guy that lives a humble life minding his own business ends up in a shithole town is wronged by the local authorities and quickly gets caught up in some larger plot.

But this is quite a bit smarter than that and it's also much more tense. If this had been written and directed by someone less talented it would have the main character doing all kinds of superhuman bullshit and racking up a body count like a video game. Instead this goes the opposite direction and really takes a lot of time and effort to have the main character be cautious and hurt as few people as possible. There's still a good amount of action but it's done in a slightly more realistic way than these types of movies usually go for. I also thought the acting was pretty solid all around.

 

[Tarma]

No Way Out - Early starring role for Kevin Costner as a US Navy Commander who falls for the mistress of his boss - the US Secretary of Defense, played by Gene Hackman. This took a while to get going for me, but once the main plot device kicked into action it turned out to be a very watchable thriller. Hackman doesn't have a huge amount to do, and is largely in a supporting role, with Costner and Will Patton taking up the majority of the screen time. Patton is great as the bad guy, a character who becomes increasingly unhinged as the stakes get higher. There's a plot twist at the end which is a bit daft, especially as it has no major baring on how the main story turns out; otherwise a solid thriller.

 

[terry.330]

Blue Ruin- Well after watching Rebel Ridge I wanted to revisit this and it definitely holds up. I saw it when it first hit streaming like a decade ago and really liked it but it's one of those movies that I feel like shouldn't be re-watched too often, or I should say doesn't need to be re-watched very often. It's that well made and effective. I certainly found new things to appreciate this time around though. It's an exceptional film and highly recommended if you haven't seen it, it's on Prime.

 

[fake]

The Spell [Rated 555 out of 666 bats]
I love pre-'90s made for TV horror movies, and this one is really good, at least in a made for TV sort of way. A tubby girl gets teased a lot in school so she learns witchcraft to get back at 'em. Her family is mean to her too. Hmm, what should she do?

Someone's Watching Me! [Rated 500 out of 666 pumpkins]
Also made for TV, but this one's by Carpenter. More of a thriller than horror, and there aren't many twists. But it is well made. I don't think it's a stretch to say Carpenter is hit or miss, and IMO this is a hit.

Alison's Birthday [Rated 599 out of 666 eyeballs]
This one has pretty bad reviews, but I liked it. A girl is playing with a ouija board with her friends when a demonic voice tells her to avoid going home on her 19th birthday. Regardless, she goes home and brings her boyfriend, but the family is very upset that she brought company. They try to keep the boyfriend away while doing their occult things to Alison.

 

[lithy]

The Wild Robot

A bit let down by this one given the nearly universal reviews from critics and audiences alike. Really nice art style for the robot and environment, the animal designs were feh, but more importantly the plot swung wildly between a slow first half with basically no stakes and zomg robots are gonna kill everything and overall it was just too simple leaving characters mostly unchanged even the supposedly rogue robot altering it's programming (wut). And just for good measure there's some mild climate moralizing.

Leans heavily on the emotional heart of the movie which is family/motherhood and the possibility of non-biological family, wife cried basically the whole time. The kids 10 & 7 enjoyed it, but How to Train Your Dragon is still the DreamWorks king in my opinion. The Wild Robot was good and I'm glad I watched it, but I doubt I'll remember it as any sort of must-see movie.

3.5 chins out of 5

 

[100proof]

Someone's Watching Me! [Rated 500 out of 666 pumpkins]
Also made for TV, but this one's by Carpenter. More of a thriller than horror, and there aren't many twists. But it is well made. I don't think it's a stretch to say Carpenter is hit or miss, and IMO this is a hit.

Pre-1990 John Carpenter's pretty much 100% hit. Save for Dark Star but that's basically a college art project.

 

[fake]

Pre-1990 John Carpenter's pretty much 100% hit. Save for Dark Star but that's basically a college art project.

I actually love Dark Star. The only movie I ever downloaded from bit torrent.

 

[terry.330]

Gretel & Hansel- I wanted to watch this before checking out Longlegs, I really like Blackcoat's Daughter and Oz Perkins style. This is definitely style over substance but when it works it really works. The first 2/3 of the movie were very hypnotic and there are some gorgeous visuals with incredible atmosphere. The ambient synth score by Rob was also well done.

Unfortunately the last 3rd of the movie kind of fizzles out and there are a couple of times throughout the movie where the lack of budget becomes apparent from shot to shot. The acting is pretty solid but Alice Krieg as The Witch absolutely steals every scene she's in. I've heard this called the poor mans The VVitch but I think it's enough of it's own thing.

The main problem with the movie is that it just feels kind of empty story wise. I think if they had mixed in a couple of elements from other fairy tales to help fill it out that would have helped. As it is I'd say it's an overambitious mixed bag but still worth watching. The visuals and atmosphere really are very strong and manage to carry the movie pretty far.

 

[Stinky-Dinkins]

Longlegs. Loved it.

 

[HornheaDD]

Transformers One.

I don't. It.. But... I mean... what? What the fuck just happened here? How was this movie this good? Is it 1986 level? No. Look, forget about TFTM86 for the moment. Don't even include it in the equation here, there's no point.

The bar was set low by the Bayverse films. I mean fucking LOW. Now, that said- TFOne was actually pretty damn good not even considering that bar being so far underground.

I know somewhere in here I said that TF fans our age are not the intended demographic, and I have to say - I'm thinking I was wrong to say that. I will say the first trailer, maybe two trailers or so DO NOT reflect the tone of this movie. It does reflect the tone of the first maybe 15 or so minutes, what with Keegan Michael Key's B127 saying "BADASSATRONNNN" about 37 times too many. But truth be told, those first trailers focused on the "get little kid butts in seats" at the same time as "but make their parents say no thanks we'll get it on Tubi in 2 years" instead of focusing on TF boners that people our age have.

Going with that trailer(s) was a mistake. It really was. This movie has heart, it has loss, it has seriousness and it just does it well. Lots of references to 86 and G1, just about every bot you see is an established character - even background one-off bots are existing bots like Thrust, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Jazz, Prowl, and Ironhide/Ratchet. They didn't fuck around here, and they did their homework.

I dont know what opinion people here have of the Super Mario Brothers movie that came out a couple years ago but for the example, lets call that movie "good." Even if you didn't think it was - lets call it good just for now.

That movie was LEAGUES better than the 90s abortion Super Mario Bros movie we got.

That difference right there? That ocean of difference? That is the same ocean of difference between Bayverse films, and TF One. It's great. While Im not 100% sold on Hemsworth as Pax/Prime, he does well enough. Hes not Cullen, but literally no one can be, or ever will be. The dude they got for D-16/Megatron fucking nailed it. He didn't have Welker's rasp, but who does. I dont know the guy but he looks familiar, and his transformation (no pun intended) into Megatron is - while sorta quick - telegraphed pretty decently for those with a keen eye. Its not like Anakin to Vader in 2 minutes like Star Wars did it. And its not just "I wanna be the villain" mentality. He's got reason for his fall, and its done well.

I downloaded a rip of it, but I honestly think I might go get a ticket to watch it at the theater again. This movie needs a sequel. The set up for a sequel is right there, and evidently reviews are doing really great on it, but viewership is down and I'm thinking its because of that shitass trailer they used to market it instead of showing what the movie actually is. People need to give this movie some money so they can make a proper sequel.

Go watch it. If you like Transformers G1, go watch it. As a huge "GeeWunner" that isn't into Cyberverse/Prime/Animated trash, this movie does the property justice and is worthy of a watch from the likes of Kernow.

 

[Tron]

Transformers One.

I don't. It.. But... I mean... what? What the fuck just happened here? How was this movie this good? Is it 1986 level? No. Look, forget about TFTM86 for the moment. Don't even include it in the equation here, there's no point.

The bar was set low by the Bayverse films. I mean fucking LOW. Now, that said- TFOne was actually pretty damn good not even considering that bar being so far underground.

I know somewhere in here I said that TF fans our age are not the intended demographic, and I have to say - I'm thinking I was wrong to say that. I will say the first trailer, maybe two trailers or so DO NOT reflect the tone of this movie. It does reflect the tone of the first maybe 15 or so minutes, what with Keegan Michael Key's B127 saying "BADASSATRONNNN" about 37 times too many. But truth be told, those first trailers focused on the "get little kid butts in seats" at the same time as "but make their parents say no thanks we'll get it on Tubi in 2 years" instead of focusing on TF boners that people our age have.

Going with that trailer(s) was a mistake. It really was. This movie has heart, it has loss, it has seriousness and it just does it well. Lots of references to 86 and G1, just about every bot you see is an established character - even background one-off bots are existing bots like Thrust, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Jazz, Prowl, and Ironhide/Ratchet. They didn't fuck around here, and they did their homework.

I dont know what opinion people here have of the Super Mario Brothers movie that came out a couple years ago but for the example, lets call that movie "good." Even if you didn't think it was - lets call it good just for now.

That movie was LEAGUES better than the 90s abortion Super Mario Bros movie we got.

That difference right there? That ocean of difference? That is the same ocean of difference between Bayverse films, and TF One. It's great. While Im not 100% sold on Hemsworth as Pax/Prime, he does well enough. Hes not Cullen, but literally no one can be, or ever will be. The dude they got for D-16/Megatron fucking nailed it. He didn't have Welker's rasp, but who does. I dont know the guy but he looks familiar, and his transformation (no pun intended) into Megatron is - while sorta quick - telegraphed pretty decently for those with a keen eye. Its not like Anakin to Vader in 2 minutes like Star Wars did it. And its not just "I wanna be the villain" mentality. He's got reason for his fall, and its done well.

I downloaded a rip of it, but I honestly think I might go get a ticket to watch it at the theater again. This movie needs a sequel. The set up for a sequel is right there, and evidently reviews are doing really great on it, but viewership is down and I'm thinking its because of that shitass trailer they used to market it instead of showing what the movie actually is. People need to give this movie some money so they can make a proper sequel.

Go watch it. If you like Transformers G1, go watch it. As a huge "GeeWunner" that isn't into Cyberverse/Prime/Animated trash, this movie does the property justice and is worthy of a watch from the likes of Kernow.

I often hear how bad TF One has bad marketing was which is why it's doing so badly at the box office.By the way,i'm looking to see it myself asap because how much fans have praised the movie.

 

[HornheaDD]

I often hear how bad TF One has bad marketing was which is why it's doing so badly at the box office.By the way,i'm looking to see it myself asap because how much fans have praised the movie.

Its all true man. Marketing for this movie was done by fucking moron soccer moms apparently.

 

[Hattori Hanzo]

Did your mom let you watch it alone?

 

[Average Joe]

Terrifier 3

Big fan of these and of Art the Clown; as far as I'm concerned he's already a horror icon up there with the greats. Having said that, part 2 was a bit stuffed with it being incredibly self-indulgent and going somewhat heavy into story/character plot points that it really didn't need to go into thus leading into an insane 2.5 hour running time. Thankfully, this one cuts down on a lot of that and ups the violence by a considerable amount. There are an absurd amount of incredibly violent kills here and Art is at his peak of being twisted and hilarious. If you're not a fan of these then this won't change your mind, but for fans I think this will likely end up being the favorite so far.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man

I enjoyed this way more than I was expecting. I've only read a couple Hellboy comics so my experience with the character and the universe is limited, but this one felt truer to what I've read compared to the others. It's a relatively smaller scale ghost story set in the Appalachian mountains and it did a pretty good job of working with the budget it had.
I thought the guy playing Hellboy was fine, although he lacked the charisma that Pearlman had/has, but I think that is to be expected. There is some fun scenery-chewing from a priest character, a witch lady, and the Crooked Man that made for some fun times, but other than that the performances were kind of stock. So yeah... I had fun with this, but I went into it with fairly low expectations so maybe do the same if you watch it.

 

[Tarma]

Blown Away - Mid-90's action thriller from the guy who directed Predator 2, starring Jeff Bridges & Tommy Lee Jones. I'd not seen this for a very long time, and I have to say, it holds up pretty well. Yes, some of the accents used are proper dodgy, especially TLJ's, but if you can ignore that, the acting is good, the practical effects are great and it's fairly well paced. Plus, Jeff Bridges in something of an action role, which was unusual at the time.

 

[HornheaDD]

Did your mom let you watch it alone?

No she held my hand for the scary parts.

 

[Hattori Hanzo]

American Samurai

My favorite Bloodsport clone without Bolo but with the American Fighter cast/director.
It's David Bradley's best and Mark Dacascos' first main role. It was pretty brutal back then. You normally needed to watch horror for that kind of gore.

The British VHS was the best version for many years. They only cut a butterfly knife scene of maybe 2 seconds. I watch it at least once a year and always checked how much are the bootlegs floating around.

This year I actually found an official German release. The DVD is a massive upgrade to my old VHS. Replacement cover without huge FSK logo. Very happy with this release since it's the unrated version. Cannon <3

 

[terry.330]

Mark Dacascos is under rated.

 

[fake]

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

I didn’t know the tv show was preceded by a made for tv movie. It’s bad. But I do love MJH. Clarissa was my first crush.

 

[Taiso]

I HIGHLY recommend the excellent documentar Aliens Expanded.

It is a superb examination of the film and I believe everyone from the cast that's still alive was interviewed for the film. A lot of the production guys and effects guys and a few highly knowledgeable people that study the series with an intensity and devotion that I consider impressive. They even got Cameron to talk about it. Very insightful film. Nearly five hours of exhaustive information and analysis.

 

[terry.330]

The Convent- One of the most late 90's/early 00's things I've ever seen. It's like Tales From The Crypt meets American Pie, but it definitely knows exactly what kind of movie it is and isn't afraid to just say fuck it. It's also pretty obvious they spent the entire budget on the opening scene and casting Adrianne Barbeau.

It is incredibly cheap looking, to the point that about half of the movie's effects are just black-light and neon paint. It honestly looks like an amateur White Zombie music video 90% of the time. There's a shot in it where Barbeaux's stunt double rides a motorcycle through a door and the wig on top of the helmet clearly comes off. Zero fucks given. If you want to see Adrianne Barbeau shoot a bunch of possessed nuns in the face with a shotgun then this is the movie for you. Oh yeah and Coolio is in it, you know because it's a shitty horror movie made in 2000 so of course he is.

I'd put this in the same category as Bride Of Chucky and Bordello Of Blood. Peak self aware 90's shlock.

That opening scene really is a banger though.

 

[Tarma]

I HIGHLY recommend the excellent documentar Aliens Expanded.

It is a superb examination of the film and I believe everyone from the cast that's still alive was interviewed for the film. A lot of the production guys and effects guys and a few highly knowledgeable people that study the series with an intensity and devotion that I consider impressive. They even got Cameron to talk about it. Very insightful film. Nearly five hours of exhaustive information and analysis.

I nearly joined the kickstarter for this... I love Aliens, but this is probably a one and done for me, I'm not invested enough to watch something like this over and over, plus there's a really great book on the making of Aliens. Still, I need to see this, and Robodoc... Hopefully they'll hit streaming at some point.

 

[Tarma]

The Wolf of Wall Street - comedy/drama/bio-pic of Jordan Belfort, a wannabe stockbroker who ended up setting up a hugely successful, and wildly illegal, boiler room operation in the late 80s, early 90s. Directed by Martin Scorsese, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Belfort, this is something of a departure style wise from what you'd usually expect from Scorsese. Belfort is something of a loveable rogue, or is generally portrayed as such until the crazy of amount of narcotics he consumes helps him to implode and destroy his life.
The acting is great, and the story, as told, is very entertaining, although how much of it is exaggerated remains to be seen as I'm sure the recollections of a former conman who was out of his mind on drugs for most of every day are probably not the most reliable.
At three hours long, it doesn't quite feel its length, and whenever it threatens to sag we are treated to another scene of mass debauchery usually involving lots of cocaine and naked women. Nevertheless, by the time it finished I was glad it was over, especially as Jonah Hill's character becomes vastly irritating by the end.

 

[Taiso]

I nearly joined the kickstarter for this... I love Aliens, but this is probably a one and done for me, I'm not invested enough to watch something like this over and over, plus there's a really great book on the making of Aliens. Still, I need to see this, and Robodoc... Hopefully they'll hit streaming at some point.

I bought it not only for myself but to share it with others that want to see it. I'm still not through the entire doc but it is the most fascinating document of a cinematic production I've ever seen. It's pretty great. Cameron, in particular, is very insightful and lucid when discussing the craft of filmmaking.

I love the story he told where he was frustrated with tea time in England while shooting the movie. One day he was so fed up he bought the entire tea cart, scones and everything. The crew thought he was going to cover for them as a peace offering becaue he was butting heads with them over their languid pace.

Instead, he kicked the cart as hard as he could and it rolled away and crashed. Then he looked at the crew and said 'now get the fuck back to work!'

He admitted it wasn't the best way to handle the situation but he is a very demanding director to work for and I, personally, love that about him. The cast admits he is a perfectionist but they say they wouldn't want it any other way. It makes the movie better when you have a director with a clear vision of what he wants and doesn't compromise on it.