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Post by Miles Morales on Aug 2, 2022 20:14:19 GMT
Cinema Paradiso - 10/10
Fuck my sudden cold, prevented me from bawling at the end when I was fully prepared for it.
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Post by MsMovieStar on Aug 2, 2022 21:16:40 GMT
Oh honeys, I didn't care much for Mrs Harris (although Lesley Manville is a fine actress) but Isabelle Huppert is totally sublime in this. I kind of kept hoping that the movie would veer off into Huppertland, a much darker and interesting place, than this otherwise fluffy, clichéd, and overly 'feel good' movie. Far too sweet pour moi and far too little Huppert. I liked this movie more with Frances McDormand as Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. 5/10. It's had great reviews on IMDb. Lesley Manville was excellent in Phantom Thread (2017) and has a really interesting cameo in Viaggio Sola (A Five Star Life 2014). Something about the way Huppert's blood red lipstick smeared across her mouth and her hair and also her small stature reminded me of Tallulah Bankhead.
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Post by Martin Stett on Aug 3, 2022 20:04:08 GMT
2018 Scavenger Hunt #10
Us and Them"Happiness isn't a story. Misfortune is."That quote says it all, really. This was apparently a big hit in mainland China, and it is easy to see why. A sad romance of two people who meet, fall in love, break up, and meet again years later. It hits all of the expected beats and it's all very predictable, but I guess that's okay. The best parts of the film are all based in the modern day, with the two of them seeing each other again and talking about their shared past, remarking on both the wonderful times they had and the many things they should have done differently. Those moments pack a lot of weight. The actual romance story feels cliched and rote in comparison. It still works. Somewhat. I like being sad sometimes, and this is a decent choice if you just want that feeling. I wish that it were more, but... eh.
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Post by stabcaesar on Aug 5, 2022 4:39:33 GMT
Sweet Smell of Success - Probably the slickest and most stylish film ever made? It's so astonishingly modern that if you disregard the transatlantic accent it could easily be a 2021 film. The cinematography is beyond genius and Tony Curtis/Burt Lancaster were perfection. My only problem with it is Susan. I find Susan Harrison extremely wooden, which is such a waste as Susan Hunsecker had the potential of a GOAT supporting performance of it had been played by a less wooden actress.
The Swimmer - I am not 100% on board with it as the pay-off isn't strong enough imo, though I can't deny Lancaster's brilliance and incredible body. I want to cover him in chocolate and lick every inch of his body. :drool:
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Post by stephen on Aug 6, 2022 2:32:32 GMT
Thor: Love and Thunder. Yeah, this one was a tonal misfire and bizarrely edited. Once again, having the fulcrum of your film be the chemistry between two of the most wooden A-list actors working is automatically starting the race with slashed tendons. Christian Bale is definitely giving some fascinating choices in his performance here, but Gorr the God-Butcher doesn't really seem like much of a threat when he basically just flees ten seconds after the battle starts ever time. He deserved a much better film and a much darker storyline.
The only time the film ever really and truly works is when Russell Crowe is doing his thing. Man's a comic genius. Ridley, you coulda cast him as Paolo Gucci and it would've been tremendous.
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Aug 6, 2022 5:43:51 GMT
Prey - Firstly, whoever compared this to Fury Road is an idiot and should have all reviews taken from RT. On a more personal note, at least all they took from our idea were the beaver traps... so there's that. And this was me after witnessing that ending:
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Post by stabcaesar on Aug 6, 2022 19:29:20 GMT
A Special Day (1977) - This film ... left me speechless. Fuck. Mastrioanni and Loren inhabited two of the most devastating characters of all time. It's beyond brutal. My only problem with it is that I wish they never had sex , otherwise this film is absolute perfection. It's so fucking well-written, well-lit, and well-acted.
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Post by Martin Stett on Aug 6, 2022 23:07:07 GMT
Christian Petzold Deep Dive #5
Ghosts (2005)(I have been forced to skip Something to Remind Me and Wolfsburg, as I can find neither.) Huh???? There are a lot of disparate things I like about Ghosts, but as a whole it is maddeningly disconnected. There are good things here: Nina (Julia Hummer in a beguilingly complex performance - this is brilliant work) as the ingenue, ever searching for a home that she will never find. The performative sexuality of Toni (Sabine Timoteo), offering both herself and Nina as exhibitions for men, is an interesting concept that could have done with being fleshed out more. The performative nature of relationships as a whole - built around the telling of stories that may or may not be true, or may be half-fabricated, quarter-twisted - is such an intriguing idea as well. The empty, almost post-apocalyptic streets and parks of the city framing our lost souls. But DAMN is this movie aimless. There is an A plot (Nina and Toni being gay and doing crime) and a B plot (Marianne Basler as a woman with psychological problems), and sticking both into an 80 minute movie means that both get shafted. (Also, the B plot is infinitely less interesting and only connects with any real purpose at the end.) The A plot needed tightening to actually have any sort of meaning, as it ends on a note of... pointlessness. There are haunting bits and pieces here. It's a shame that they feel like scattered pieces of a much better movie. Edit: Somebody on Letterboxd calls it Petzold's Jacques Rivette movie. Outside of the all-too-short runtime, I'd say that's pretty accurate.
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Post by mhynson27 on Aug 7, 2022 2:26:22 GMT
Rescued by Ruby
That was...A movie...I guess
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Aug 8, 2022 0:36:09 GMT
What Josiah Saw The Eli chapter alone is worth the price of admission... sadly, the last chapter makes what was a slow-burner into a cliche ridden horror film.
12 Feet Deep Talk about a shit ending... OOF.
The Purge Anarchy Now if there were a horror movie to be compared to Fury Road, it would be this... NOT Prey. I liked it... wasn't particularly scary, but just a solid action thriller. You Are Not My Mother I liked it. Sappy ending was a bit lame, but I liked what came before.
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Post by stabcaesar on Aug 8, 2022 3:10:34 GMT
Two Women - The movie wasn't that great but Sophia Loren certainly was. What a goddess. I'm officially on a Italy kick and I need to watch every single Loren and Mastrioanni film.
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Post by stabcaesar on Aug 10, 2022 15:01:04 GMT
Detective Story - This somehow reminds me of The Best Years of Our Lives (also by Wyler) in that he attempted to show different sides of a social issue, in this case criminality, through several different (pairs of) people, though here the characters aren't nearly as engaging as the ones in The Best Years of Our Lives so it's less successful. Still, I enjoyed it for the most part, I just wish the ending didn't feel so rushed and abrupt. Douglas, Grant, and Parker were all very good.
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Post by Miles Morales on Aug 11, 2022 20:19:57 GMT
Elvis - 8.5/10
Baz Luhrmann the madman somehow managed to fit in an entire three-act movie in just the opening 40 minutes. Crazy.
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Javi
Badass
Posts: 1,538
Likes: 1,628
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Post by Javi on Aug 12, 2022 23:21:07 GMT
Les Cousins (1959) - Finally found a Claude Chabrol I love! Just in time for the 50s poll, too. It seems, at first, to be about a shy, solemn country boy trying to come to terms with the Parisian city life of the 1950s. The climate is festive, semi-orgiastic, and you get to see what drew people to the night scene and the non-stop party-before-the-apocalypse atmosphere in the first place. It's a society in decline, but also buoyant and exuberant after decades of war and turmoil. The young people in the film throw themselves at life not because they're decadent monsters but because they feel in their bones that the party will not last. And the worldly city cousin (high on Mozart and Wagner parties) turns out to be considerably less decadent than he seems at first sight. He has, in fact, no real malice, but his way of life disturbs his provincial cousin, who, repelled and attracted by the city, retreats to Balzac, books and exams. The hero is like a monk who has discovered the city for the first time and whose fiercest instinct is to defend himself from the novelties and the tricks of the world. And Chabrol, slyly but sensitively, and with superb panache, registers the whole struggle. (Let's just say the timid country cousin is no sheep!) Haven't even mentioned the scandalously beautiful cinematography by Henri Decaë, or the acting by the 3 leads. And the movie is full of subtle little (and major) riddles. Is the quixotic hero merely protecting himself or is he driven by a deadly jealousy of the cousin? And what are we to make of the tyrannical modern world presented in the movie, which, sparkling and effusive, swallows everything before it?
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Post by Martin Stett on Aug 13, 2022 0:34:49 GMT
2017 Scavenger Hunt #1
Bad Genius (Director: Nattawut Poonpiriya) Smooth, groovy, delirious fun. The premise is simple: a brilliant high school student named Lynn (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying, the star of 2019's magnificent Happy Old Year) who attends a private school on academic scholarship, starts an exam cheating business for the less talented students. In practice, the film comes off as a high-energy heist movie that gives a contact high just from being in the same room. With camera movements and editing that calls to mind the best works of Martin Scorsese and Edgar Wright, and a punchy, jazzy script with flair, this movie dazzles. If that was all this movie offered, it would be enough. But it is also an examination of class divides in the same vein as Bong Joon Ho's Parasite, looking at the parasitic nature of the poor needing the rich (and the inverse) to stay afloat. The system is broken, and it turns out broken people that have to perpetuate the system or lose everything. There is no room for compassion when your whole future is on the line, and the way Bad Genius analyzes the behavior of its main cast and their desperation just makes the movie that much greater. The emotional anchor to all of it is Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying, once again putting so much into a role that could have easily been a one-note character in another's hands. Her pride, anger, the way she sneers at things she deems below her... and the pain, fear, and guilt when her actions have consequences that hurt people she cares about. It is all there in a tour-de-force. I don't know if she intends to continue acting into adulthood (although she has an unreleased movie on the horizon, so probably?), but she has won my heart with two of the best lead performances of the past few years. Without her, this movie would have had style, but I'm not sure it could have earned the final thirty minutes. With her, the movie does it with ease. My 2017 hunt is certainly off with a bang. This is top 5 of the year material. Let's hope the rest of the year can keep this up.
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Post by Miles Morales on Aug 13, 2022 18:12:05 GMT
Nobody - 8.5/10
When is the John Wick crossover coming through?
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Aug 15, 2022 2:48:14 GMT
Killer Weekend - Oh boy, where do I begin with this pile of shit? It's comedy for people who don't like comedy, it's horror for people who don't like horror -- it is literally the Black Eyed Peas of movies. It's a stag weekend in the woods where they accidentally kill someone and then things devolve from there. You know that age old question, does a bear shit in the woods? Yes, they do... and it comes out as this movie.
Black Phone - Listen, Joe Hill, you might not have taken your dad's surname but your work here has him written all over it. I did really like it, though... King-isms aside.
Freaks of Nature - Zombieland meets True Blood meets The Watch meets Paper Towns? I enjoyed it for what it was... brainless fun. The jokes hit for the most part and it does have some nice batshit action. Plus, unlike Paper Towns, this movie was devoid of Margot Roth Spiegelman.
Witch Hunt - Talk about a subtle metaphor about immigration in America. This thing beats you over the head with it every 6 seconds more than an NFL player beats their S.O. It's a shame because it was a really cool concept about a world where witches exist and are forced into hiding because of hysteria and paranoia. Could have been a good movie but as it is, it's meh that's downgraded to bleh because I got it the first 20 times you made allusions that this isn't merely about witches.
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Post by Martin Stett on Aug 15, 2022 22:55:43 GMT
Christian Petzold Deep Dive #6
Yella (2007)I have almost nothing to say about this one. It is a ghost story with a good control of tone, keeping the film unsettling and strange throughout. Does it amount to anything more than an excellent control of tone? I don't think so. For the life of me, I don't really know precisely what Petzold is trying to say here. But as a genre exercise, it ain't bad.
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Aug 15, 2022 23:29:29 GMT
Satanic Panic - Not as funny as I thought it would be but it did kind of work as a quirky horror film. The ending was pretty rad and my lord Hayley Griffith is a smokeshow.
Insidious Chapter 3 - Pretty much on par with Chapter 2, but not as good as the first. One scene in particular was really great (Lin Shaye following the footsteps in the basement) and it managed to get me pretty good with the jump scare. I'm really into this series.
They/Them - Full disclosure I put this on because I was looking up pictures of Hayley Griffith to post on the celebrity crush page and saw that she was in this as well, and I thought "oh hey that's on Peacock!" So of course I had to put this on... well let's just say my initial instincts were correct when I scrolled past this every time it was featured on the Peacock app thinking "yeah, no". The film opens with a slasher killing some random woman in the middle of the woods. Pretty standard stuff. It's horror, there are woods, and someone gets slashed. It's a formula as old as time. But here's the thing: that's all completely forgotten about for nearly the entire movie (I don't think it's mentioned until the very end). So they lure you in with the premise it's a horror movie but really it's just 90% a movie about a gay conversion camp, which whatever if I wanted to see a coming of age film I'd watch a damn coming of age movie! Kevin Bacon was really great in this, though. That man deserves way better material coming across his desk.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Aug 16, 2022 1:38:54 GMT
Year of the Dragon. This was all over the place. But I liked a lot of what Cimino accomplishes, it just all doesn’t quite work. And while I like 80’s Rourke generally, I feel a different lead actor could have made the role work a lot better.
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Post by Martin Stett on Aug 16, 2022 22:59:56 GMT
2017 Scavenger Hunt #2
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts (Director: Mouly Surya) Rape revenge as slow cinema. Although revenge isn't really accurate: She kills the guys in the first act, and then just futzes around until the movie ends. But the men are bad and the cinema is slow, so it's art.
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Post by stabcaesar on Aug 18, 2022 5:01:28 GMT
Senso - I think it started off strong but lost its spark as it went on. Valli gave her all but Granger simply wasn't up to her level, so the chemistry was lacking which undercut the emotional weight of the melodrama. Still worth watching for Visconti's lush production value and Alida Valli, though.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - From Cody's appearance to Dobbs' demise it's a masterpiece, the rest of it is kind of just ok. Huston and especially Bogart were really great though. It's easily the best Bogart performance I've seen so far.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Aug 18, 2022 13:16:59 GMT
On the Count of Three. Very dark but also comedic and thought provoking at time. Great debut for Carmichael and especially great performance by Abbott, who I generally always like in his roles.
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Aug 18, 2022 22:21:05 GMT
Insidious The Last Key - My least favorite of the four movies but it wasn't terrible... just weak.
The Twin - Creepy, atmospheric, and a good performance from Palmer but it ends with a horror cardinal sin of a plot twist. UGH! WHY? I dunno, call this one a wash?
Patrick: Evil Awakens - This was one of the biggest piece of shit movies I've seen in quite some time. It is HORRIBLE. There isn't even a redeeming quality to this that I like to at least point out when I do these things... it makes no sense whatsoever and Patrick is apparently omnipotent, omnipresent... he's basically an evil god... but for some reason he chooses to be bedridden in a coma? I don't know. I lost more brain cells watching this than my lifetime of drinking. That's saying something. Top 100 worst films of all time, for sure.
The Call - Actually works really well until each of the characters experience their own version of hell... which just becomes repetitive because all 4 are fairly similar and it gets redundant after the second guy goes through. It reminded me a lot of It Chapter II where u have all the characters having 10 minute "I saw Pennywise" scenes all in a row. Both films should have edited the shared experiences so that things stay fresher. Oh well. Worth the watch at least.
Butterfly Kisses - I liked it. It was meta without overdoing it, which is pretty hard to do. I was into this the whole way. Kudos movie I put on randomly.
Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist - So boring. I made sure to watch the Schrader version of this too, and it is a snoozefest. It's not scary, it's not interesting, it's honestly not even well made. I feel like reading the wikipedia plot summary would have been a better watch.
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Post by MsMovieStar on Aug 19, 2022 8:48:49 GMT
Oh honeys, Old Acquaintance (1943) 6/10 is an early telenovela passing itself off as a movie. I've never liked Bette Davis much with her histrionic acting style and grating voice, but she's good in this as she's in the restrained role while Miriam Hopkins, her co-star, gets to shriek and ham it up, which sets Davis up in an easy, favourable light. (In reality, the opposite may have held true). The male co-stars are little more than support role eye candy and this really is a 'woman's picture.' Feminists should get behind this. Two friends, Millie & Kit both become writers, with varying degrees of success, career, loves, etc. at different times of their lives. Kit (Davis) is the selfless one, while Millie (Hopkins) is the frivolous one. Bette Midler & Barbara Hershey played similar roles in Beaches, Anne Bancroft & Shirley MacLaine in The Turning Point. I couldn't help feeling that I'd seen this movie in hundreds of variations many, many times before. Incidentally, reading around it afterwards I read that Davis' hatred for Miriam Hopkins was even greater than her hatred for Joan Crawford... Haters gonna hate!
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