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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 24, 2021 4:44:20 GMT
Abrakadabra (2018) - 7 / 10 if you love giallo way too much........less if you don't .....or maybe you like it so much you expect more than thisAbsolutely precise recreation of classic giallo in look, feel, sense of bewildering wtf-ery with a terrific score too. Plot wise this film tells the story of a magician implicated in several murders who himself may be an unreliable narrator. Not just elements of Deep Red and every Fulci zoom in shot - ever .......this also finds room to incorporate things like Angel Heart (the good parts of that) and Poe too. Several glorious bafflements - you can follow someone and still smoke, in a bathroom no less.....who knew? - that you'd expect in this stuff...... Funny (white gloves, not black)......in-jokey (dropping a reference to the soundtrack label in a news story) ......but more of a stunt without any narrative urgency (or logic in how it unfolds) - it's a series of episodes missing connective tissue. Still, it's a fun nostalgia blast to me ........and it's only 69 minutes - make sure to see it in its uncut form for a trippy sex scene too...... In some ways I want to give it a 7+ because THEY love this genre so much (made by brothers - Luciano Onetti & Nicolás Onetti) down to hairstyles and lipstick (blood red, natch) and I won't forget it either (it's the modern giallo about the magician right?....... voila).........also what a tremendous throwback poster!
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Jun 24, 2021 12:44:05 GMT
Eight Men Out. Super underrated with a stellar cast. Really solid flick.
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Jun 24, 2021 18:43:00 GMT
No Escape - Meh. Brosnan's a load of fun but the movie is just so bland otherwise.
The Vigil - Has some really great tense scenes (particularly his phone call with his therapist) but otherwise doesn't set itself apart from any other religion-based horror flick of the past 10 years.
Savageland - Firstly, this is about as much a horror movie as I am an astronaut... secondly, how many cutaways do you need for the same 4 people to say the same exact thing over and over? I thought this was going to be awesome based on the Amazon blurb but it turned out to be about as intriguing as Fox News... minus the hot blonde telling me its propaganda.
After Midnight - I loved this. The climax wasn't what I was hoping it would be, but everything leading up to that was right up my alley. Very happy about this one right after the shitshow that was Savageland.
Kill List - YET ANOTHER FUCKING CULT MOVIE! I'm so tired of this crap.
Host - RT's top rated horror film of 2020 (tied with the great His House) but His House, this isn't. It's not bad but it's basically Paranormal Activity on Zoom but without the great set-ups that PA had in spades.
Avenues - Had to throw a comedy in there to balance myself out... when it tries to be funny, it succeeds and is quite funny... the other stuff on the other hand falls VERY flat.
Deadectives - Do you like the same joke over and over? If so, this is for you!
The Boys from County Hell - What would happen if an Irish family woke up Dracula? I don't know, but someone needed to wake my ass up from this snoozefest.
The Cleansing Hour - Really beats you over the head with the whole "social media is the devil" schtick and the whole "best friends' friendship gets tested" but overall, it's decent.
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Post by stephen on Jun 24, 2021 19:46:21 GMT
Kill List - YET ANOTHER FUCKING CULT MOVIE! I'm so tired of this crap. Yeah, but it's, like, the good one.
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Jun 24, 2021 19:50:14 GMT
Kill List - YET ANOTHER FUCKING CULT MOVIE! I'm so tired of this crap. Yeah, but it's, like, the good one. This is my reaction whenever the cult in a horror movie inevitably shows up: I just give up on it.
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Post by stephen on Jun 24, 2021 20:10:38 GMT
Yeah, but it's, like, the good one. This is my reaction whenever the cult in a horror movie inevitably shows up: I just give up on it. Ooooh, watch the Eugene Tooms episodes from The X-Files tonight. That'll rinse the cult out of your mouth. Still, though, Kill List is fucking tight and one of my favorite horror films of the decade. But I will admit, it took me a second viewing to feel that way.
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Post by MsMovieStar on Jun 25, 2021 8:45:40 GMT
Oh honeys, I loved this! It Must be Heaven (2019) 9/10. Charming unusual movie by Palestinian director, Elia Suleiman, that consists of a series of surreal visual tableaus and gags set in Palestine, Paris and New York. Shades of Buster Keaton, Wes Anderson, and Luis Buñuel's Phantom of Liberty.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 25, 2021 9:47:50 GMT
The Forbidden Room (aka Anima Persa ; Lost Soul) - (1977) - 8 + / 10
A potential "Arrow Home Video" type film here - and screaming for a good physical release too I think..... Vittorio Gassman and Catherine Deneuve in what is on the surface a crumbling family mystery set in Venice - with horror elements and plotting mechanics. For a mystery nothing really twists until later in its runtime and by then it is so out there that each plot point builds on itself so eventually it just flat out stops the entire movie from any further narrative - it's like .....well alright then...........that's it.........roll the credits.........nothing else left to say. The writer Bernardino Zapponi - wrote Fellini's masterpiece Toby Dammit and Argento's masterpiece Deep Red - two of the greatest in the entire horror genre and it's a very fine, layered and precise script ............ Tonino Delli Colli contributes rich and lush cinematography too. Exceedingly well directed by Dino Risi - like nothing in his filmography that I've seen - and this isn't just a slow burn..........it's an obese snail on crutches level of slow .......but that's not a knock, it's just its aesthetic style which matches how the script is laid out. Side Note: I watched this on a knockoff VHS tape - a tape for fncksake like some kind of loser from the 20th century - a DVD apparently doesn't exist for this (afaik ?) with English subtitles ........this has less than 900 ratings on IMDB so it's somewhat obscure especially for these two stars, that writer and that director.....very odd piece of work ......very odd everything......
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Post by jakesully on Jun 25, 2021 12:19:01 GMT
Welcome Home Blah. Only reason I streamed this on Netflix is because it starred Aaron Paul. What a dumb movie this was and I have no clue why Aaron would sign on to star in this stupid shit. He's such a talented actor but I'm beginning to think he'll forever be remembered as Jesse Pinkman (the character he played in Breaking Bad). I wish he would work with better & bigger name directors in the near future.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Jun 25, 2021 12:29:05 GMT
Matewan. Followed up Eight Men out with another Sayles film. This is a pretty great look at a really interesting part of American history. Wonderful debut role for Chris Cooper and a really nice supporting cast all around. Lovely cinematography also.
Would love some other Sayles recs? Have on seen these 2 from him.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 25, 2021 12:33:19 GMT
Matewan. Followed up Eight Men out with another Sayles film. This is a pretty great look at a really interesting part of American history. Wonderful debut role for Chris Cooper and a really nice supporting cast all around. Lovely cinematography also. Would love some other Sayles recs? Have on seen these 2 from him. Essential viewing .........the more you see the more you see how good he is and .........well.......not so good (or subtle) Spike Lee is........very similar filmmakers but Sayles tops him in every way and that includes dissections of race and class.........
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Post by JangoB on Jun 25, 2021 12:35:34 GMT
Matewan. Followed up Eight Men out with another Sayles film. This is a pretty great look at a really interesting part of American history. Wonderful debut role for Chris Cooper and a really nice supporting cast all around. Lovely cinematography also. Would love some other Sayles recs? Have on seen these 2 from him. Please seek out "City of Hope" and "Passion Fish"! Of the Sayles movies that I've seen these are definitely my favorite ones. The former is a sprawling multi-character saga and the latter is an intimate character piece which'll make for a wonderful varied double-bill.
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Post by thomasjerome on Jun 25, 2021 12:38:20 GMT
Matewan. Followed up Eight Men out with another Sayles film. This is a pretty great look at a really interesting part of American history. Wonderful debut role for Chris Cooper and a really nice supporting cast all around. Lovely cinematography also. Would love some other Sayles recs? Have on seen these 2 from him. "The Brother from Another Planet", "The Secret of Roan Inish" and "Men with Guns" are all awesome stuff.
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Post by stephen on Jun 25, 2021 13:26:58 GMT
Had a Robert Eggers double-feature of The VVitch and The Lighthouse. The former is brilliant but I still wish he'd excised the baby scene, as I feel it undercuts the growing tension of the paranoia in the home and gives away the ghost too early. The latter is a perfect movie.
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avnermoriarti
Badass
Friends say I’ve changed. They’re right.
Posts: 2,388
Likes: 1,271
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Post by avnermoriarti on Jun 25, 2021 17:09:05 GMT
Oh honeys, I loved this! It Must be Heaven (2019) 9/10. Charming unusual movie by Palestinian director, Elia Suleiman, that consists of a series of surreal visual tableaus and gags set in Palestine, Paris and New York. Shades of Buster Keaton, Wes Anderson, and Luis Buñuel's Phantom of Liberty. This is an old man's movie, showing someone who is in shock watching people ridiculing themselves ( police are basically robots, the foreign barriers are higher than ever... ) but instead of becoming an old man yells at cloud meme, Suleiman is still looking for the mistery and beauty in this ludicrous world and he founds it ! ( the mysterious woman walking through the field while bringing water back to her town ) and somehow manages to erase politics. On paper, some of these gags would be unbearable to watch but the style, timing and sense of framing is interesting, definitely has something of the filmmakers you mentioned above, but the one that came to mind immediately was ( a more reserved ) Jacques Tati. Among my favourites films from its year.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 25, 2021 19:59:09 GMT
An Unquiet Grave (2020/2021) - 2 / 10 on ShudderWell, if Shudder wants me to cancel that free trial membership I'm on this is a great way to start.......... Monkey's Paw rip-off without wit, cleverness or any technical impressiveness. I think the script is a supposed working of a limp (no pun) feminist theme - ie the killer here is a liar, coward, unwilling to take responsibility, who manipulates females who later literally cuts one of their hearts out to correct what he put in motion - charming ........the problem is that isn't scary......and it leaves out all the fun stuff that could be scary - like megalomania, God complex, Dad complex, destructive self-loathing, sexual mania, what it means to live?, what it means to be dead?.......anything...... This is a piece of crap with a somewhat high RT atm - like She Dies Tomorrow and Relic - but they were better - and they sucked - and they were less cynical too......at least they didn't have the gall to throw in a left field gratuitous shot (@ 51 minutes) of Necro-Boob and then doesn't even have the (in)decency to go anywhere with it..... a dude who hasn't gotten laid in a year, having sex? - nope, that's too logical I guess......... just show your chest baby, I'll cut away, that's an interesting director's choice Barely a movie at all at just 72 minutes .........not even sure why I am giving it a 2 ........maybe because it's short and I appreciated that ...... worst of the half-year I reckon.....
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Jun 25, 2021 20:30:31 GMT
Straight Time. Solid stuff from Hoffman here. Really nice supporting performances from Walsh, Busey, Russell, and Stanton. It’s too bad Mann’s script was rewritten, although his fingerprints are still all over this.
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Jun 25, 2021 23:44:28 GMT
The Reckoning - After the shitshow that was the Hellboy reboot, this was a good way for Neil Marshall to come back to my good graces. The film is absolutely brutal, but it definitely paid off in the end. I really enjoyed this.
The Mortuary Collection - Tonally all over the place, but I ended up liking it more than I didn't.
Ghostland - Meh. The film has some good moments but dear god the dialogue was beyond awful.
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Post by Pavan on Jun 26, 2021 11:50:10 GMT
Promising Young Woman (2020)-
A revenge story alright but it is so uniquely carved and presented that it stands out narratively and thematically. Just when I thought everything was going all easy, that happened followed by that wink. Carey Mulligan turned in a memorable performance. Good debut from Emerald Fennell. Looking forward to what she has to offer next- 8/10
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Jun 26, 2021 15:15:01 GMT
L.A. Confidential. I can’t overstate how much I love this movie.
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Post by cheesecake on Jun 26, 2021 15:15:47 GMT
Rewatched Green Room after not having seen it since theaters. Holy crap, that is so intense and bleak.
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Post by stephen on Jun 26, 2021 15:16:17 GMT
L.A. Confidential. I can’t overstate how much I love this movie. You read the book?
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Jun 26, 2021 15:18:32 GMT
L.A. Confidential. I can’t overstate how much I love this movie. You read the book? No, but it’s on my list. Not sure if I should go the route of doing the full Ellroy quartet in order or just jump into L.A. Confidential?
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Post by cheesecake on Jun 26, 2021 15:22:38 GMT
Matewan. Followed up Eight Men out with another Sayles film. This is a pretty great look at a really interesting part of American history. Wonderful debut role for Chris Cooper and a really nice supporting cast all around. Lovely cinematography also. Would love some other Sayles recs? Have on seen these 2 from him. I loooooove Lianna, but Lone Star, City of Hope, Passion Fish, Honeydripper, Silver City and Limbo are also worth seeing. Don't remember much of of Sunshine State or Casa de los baby, unfortunately.
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Post by stephen on Jun 26, 2021 15:29:25 GMT
No, but it’s on my list. Not sure if I should go the route of doing the full Ellroy quartet in order or just jump into L.A. Confidential? Start with The Black Dahlia and plow through the quartet. The books are directly connected to one another, and indeed L.A. Confidential picks up minutes after the previous book ends. It's a wild and insane ride, those books.
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