What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

[vurt]

I saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the first time like 3-4 years ago, i had never bothered with it before because i just didn't think i would like it. I was surprised that i actually ended up liking it. The acting was often terrible and its sometimes very silly (goes with the genre), but the overall atmosphere was really good i think. Not my favorite but i've seen far, far worse horror movies, ones with bigger budgets, better actors and movies far more recent.

 

[NewDArt]

:lol: Wow, I thought we had similar taste in movies since I have often agreed with things you have said in the past, but the original TCM is all-time favorite. The ultimate American gothic horror movie!

I would probably have liked it as a younger person.

I found it extremely poor in pretty much every way, from the acting, the characters, the script, the dialogue, the plot, the camera work, the music, the screaming (OMG how incredibly bad and implausible it was when that idiot girl ran away screaming her lungs out whilst trying to stay hidden - seriously? it's like she screamed for 30 minutes in a row which would be clear-cut suicide IRL) - and on and on.

I understand that it must have been very disturbing in the 70s - because of the shock value. But I'm completely immune to shock value unless someone with a brain was behind it. It needs to get under my skin, not just be ridiculous or extreme for kicks.

I feel much the same way about movies like "The Hills Have Eyes" and movies like that - except they're a bit better in terms of craftsmanship and acting. But, essentially, they're just really cheap.

But just going all out trying to be as disturbing as possible without something cerebral or intellectual behind it - is just weak and unimpressive on every level to me.

To me, it played like a movie that was made by some pothead teenager trying his best to be as cheap and over-the-top as he could - based on time of release. Maybe he saw Deliverance and wanted to create the teenager version of it?

I guess that works for some people, but I was VERY underwhelmed.

Maybe if I hadn't built up the movie so much in my mind - it wouldn't have been so bad.

 

[txa1265]

I found it extremely poor in pretty much every way, from the acting, the characters, the script, the dialogue, the plot, the camera work, the music, the screaming (OMG how incredibly bad and implausible it was when that idiot girl ran away screaming her lungs out whilst trying to stay hidden - seriously? it's like she screamed for 30 minutes in a row which would be clear-cut suicide IRL) - and on and on.

I thought those were the defining characteristics?

Seriously, I didn't even like it in the 70s when I saw it ... for me it didn't live up to the suspense and development of the 60s British thrillers (Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, etc), nor did it remotely come close to the effectiveness of Halloween ... or Invasion of the Body Snatchers ... and so on.

 

[NewDArt]

I thought those were the defining characteristics?

Seriously, I didn't even like it in the 70s when I saw it … for me it didn't live up to the suspense and development of the 60s British thrillers (Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, etc), nor did it remotely come close to the effectiveness of Halloween … or Invasion of the Body Snatchers … and so on.

Definitely. If we're talking slasher films, then Halloween is a million times better and has a ton of great stuff in it, even with its amateur acting and what not.

It still has one of my favorite scenes of all time, which is the one where Myers is coming out of the closet (IIRC). One of the most effective entrances I've seen in horror movies, because of how extremely slow and gradual it is. Your mind is questioning if there's something there or not for a surprising amount of time and there's no shock involved.

Also, it didn't rely on cheap "disturbing" buckets of violence.

I actually saw Halloween for the first time only 6-7 years ago - and I loved it. Same goes for Wicker Man that I mentioned above.

That said, nothing beats Alien for 70s horror movies.

 

[lackblogger]

The Lord Of Cronk (1996)

What could have been quite an interesting pseudo horror come family drama turned out to be nothing more that an exercise in tedium as the actors lurched from one dire conversation to the next, the faint whiff of impending doom occasionally trying to spice things up, such as when the tomato ketchup in the fridge moved 2 inches of its own volition or when a painting dropped to a position of crooked instead of straight hanging.

Not one of Joan Carradine's finest performances, she plays a chef coming to terms with the reality of a ghostly presence having 'high jinx' with her carefully planned celebratory dinner. Occasionally her bikini falls off in unexpected ways, providing some of the movie's few highlights. Michael Blurn plays the ex who turns up uninvited at the last minute to put a spanner in the works, but mostly the spanner is in the pacing and acting.

James Hendrickson has directed some stinkers in his time and this one is as gassy as most of the others. How long he can keep riding on the success of Beverly Hills or Bust is anyone's guess, but the titles keep coming. Admittedly, we've never seen a dance number in anything he's done before and although this adds a touch of originality, it is really quite evident that this is his first attempt.

Lame spooky condiments/10

 

[NewDArt]

Anthropoid 9/10

Movie about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich during WW2.

Perfect name for a film based on the perfect name of an operation.

Near-perfect "resistance" war movie. Great cast, great script, great drama, great action - and some incredibly tense and exciting scenes.

No needless romanticism - and no over-the-top glorification. Absolutely no excessive violence - only what needed to be shown, and that's more than enough. No cheap built-up-hate scenes for the antagonist or the persecution of Jews. They're not needed.

Very authentic and very powerful. The key scenes are taken directly from historical accounts - and the action is potent. One of the most effective "last stand" scenes in memory.

Highly recommended.

 

[okayj]

Silence by Martin Scorsese. Quite a decent movie, though might discourage some by it's timing, but I'd say it's totally worth it. Was a bit borig in te middle, but then the last hour was breathtaking. Chouse because of the Japanese senery. If you are ready for long talks then highly recommend

 

[NewDArt]

Silence by Martin Scorsese. Quite a decent movie, though might discourage some by it's timing, but I'd say it's totally worth it. Was a bit borig in te middle, but then the last hour was breathtaking. Chouse because of the Japanese senery. If you are ready for long talks then highly recommend

I found it utterly, utterly boring.

 

[RPGFool]

Silence by Martin Scorsese. Quite a decent movie, though might discourage some by it's timing, but I'd say it's totally worth it. Was a bit borig in te middle, but then the last hour was breathtaking. Chouse because of the Japanese senery. If you are ready for long talks then highly recommend

I too enjoyed the movie Enjoyed the Western and Asian actors and found thought provoking the movie's depictions of clashing cultures, of clashing religions; and the clashing of politics and religion (particularly in the context of Jesuits and the Japanese Shogunate). Silence got consistently high scores on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, and Metacritic btw.

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[joxer]

Silence by Martin Scorsese.

Refused to watch it after I learned it's a remake, later read some critics that claim the japanese version is far superior. No surprise.

Didn't plan to, but got persuaded into watching Logan.

Predictable and forgetable. Movie scores seem to follow mainstream videogames paid reviews system, there is absolutely nothing stunning nor stellar in this movie. Feels like every scene is a beggar who does stuff only as a strategy to make the mainstream audience to like the movie. Even "killing" the car feels forced into that strategy, compared to similar My Greek Wedding scene where an older woman…, let's not spoil it, it fades and feels artificial.
One more thing is suspicious, perhaps Hollywood is trying the new coreography style milking? We've already seen Yoda in SW1 fighing, we've already seen a small girl in Kickass fighing, did we really have to see another, um, dwarf fighting? No it's not funny to me, not at all.

Time is not completely wasted thanks to TNG captain. Unless it's beernight with friends choosing some expensive action stuff instead of B movies, stay away from this overrated mediocrity:
4/10

 

[RPGFool]

Refused to watch it after I learned it's a remake, later read some critics that claim the japanese version is far superior. No surprise.

Didn't know about the 1971 Japanese film, Silence. Interesting to me because of Scorsese's 2006 Academy award winning film, Departed, that turned out to be a remake of Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs. I had seen Infernal Affairs before release of Departed and when I watched the latter I kept thinking I had already seen some of the scenes, and somehow knew what was going to happen. Finally I realized the film was a redo of Infernal Affairs.

Still Scorsese's Silence was enjoyable to me, as was Scorsese's Departed, once I realized I hadn't been stricken with déjà vu all over again.

Will look for the 1971 Silence film. Hope I get a chance to watch it.

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[joxer]

Infernal Affairs trilogy is a masterpiece. IIRC I've stated that on this forum already at one time, but okay maybe it was elsewhere.

Departed is yet another Hollywood's silly remake, left it's audience in blissful ignorance as it doesn't cover the whole trilogy. It's not the only example where Hollywood doesn't care about the source and where the point is only take the money and run cashgrab.

 

[okayj]

I too enjoyed the movie Enjoyed the Western and Asian actors and found thought provoking the movie's depictions of clashing cultures, of clashing religions; and the clashing of politics and religion (particularly in the context of Jesuits and the Japanese Shogunate). Silence got consistently high scores on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, and Metacritic btw.

right. like the idea of two completely different worlds struggling to understand one another

Refused to watch it after I learned it's a remake, later read some critics that claim the japanese version is far superior. No surprise.

hope I'll watch the original too. interesting what will be the Asian perspective on the same issues

 

[Ripper]

Silence isn't exactly a remake. It's adapted from a book, so the two films are just different takes on the original source. I haven't seen the films, but the novel was good.

 

[JDR13]

The Great Wall - 6.5/10

A story about a couple of mercenaries played by Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal who are captured by Chinese military defending the Great Wall from a horde of monsters. A popcorn action flick with some great visuals. Nothing special, but it was entertaining enough for a rainy night.


Life (2017) - 6/10

Not terrible, but I was disappointed. For some reason I thought it was going to be a lot more clever than it was. The plot is very average, and I found the acting to be sub-par for the most part. Ryan Renolds is so one-dimensional that it seems like he's always playing the same character, and Jake Gyllenhaal was weaker than I was expecting. I definitely wouldn't watch it again.


Deepwater Horizon - 7.5/10

A biopic about the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010 which killed 11 people and became the largest marine oil spill in history. I didn't think I was going to like it, but it turned out to be pretty compelling. It gives you some idea of what it was like to have been one of the workers on that rig and what they went through. Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russel, and John Malkovich were all solid.

 

[JDR13]

Blade Runner: The Final Cut - 6/10

I know a lot of people will strongly disagree with me on this, but I just don't think Blade Runner has aged well. I was really looking forward to watching this because I had never seen this version, and it had been about a decade since the last time I watched BR. I wasn't impressed.

The visuals were absolutely fantastic for their time, and it still looks pretty good even now. However, I don't think it holds up as well in other aspects. Maybe it's because I was never a huge fan to begin with, or maybe I just don't get it, but I fail to see why it's held in such high regard.

 

[txa1265]

Blade Runner: The Final Cut - 6/10

I know a lot of people will strongly disagree with me on this, but I just don't think Blade Runner has aged well. I was really looking forward to watching this because I had never seen this version, and it had been about a decade since the last time I watched BR. I wasn't impressed.

The visuals were absolutely fantastic for their time, and it still looks pretty good even now. However, I don't think it holds up as well in other aspects. Maybe it's because I was never a huge fan to begin with, or maybe I just don't get it, but I fail to see why it's held in such high regard.

Funny - I had the opposite reaction sitting with my (film school) kids recently ... the details, the shots, the imagination, the worldscape are all amazing. The incredible Valgelis music has few equals in all of film. And IMO Ridley Scott has never been better. The thing about watching it with people who have spent 1 and 2 years in film school is you learn about all of the cool stuff going on you never noticed.

But hey - everyone is different

 

[NewDArt]

Blade Runner has always been a great example of "The Emperor's New Clothes" to me.

It looks great, sounds great, is deliberately slow and has absolutely nothing to offer in terms of intellectual depth or original thought. Even in 1982 - this was derivative, it just looked fantastic.

Also, that's all people say about it. It looks great. Oh, they do talk of some elusive "depth" - it's just that no one can explain what that means in this context.

No wonder Ford was bored and didn't like the experience. He's famous for being no-nonsense, and Scott was famous for neglecting most things in favor of his obsession with the visuals. Great with casting, though, and the cast often carry his films along with the visuals.

Alien is no exception - and I think the script being so well-written and focused really helped Scott play to his strengths.

Blade Runner, not so much. Then again, I've never been a big fan of dull movies with nothing much happening.

If you ask me, the critics were absolutely right back upon release.

Take a look at his next film, Legend - and it's the same thing. Overly long and quite dull. Strange for no particular reason - and absolutely falls flat in terms of pacing and plot. But it's wonderful to look at, for sure!

 

[txa1265]

NewDArt ... I agree with everything you say, but still love Blade Runner.

 

[NewDArt]

NewDArt … I agree with everything you say, but still love Blade Runner.

I envy that feeling