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

Already watched two of three mentioned (didn't know Old got released, but I will watch that one too soon) so…
A few words.

Ripper said:

Anyone seen this one? I thought it looked promising for a late night movie.

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JDR13 said:

The reviews are mixed, but I think the premise seems fairly interesting. I don't have anything in the queue at the moment, so maybe I'll check it out tonight or tomorrow.

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First half of the movie is top notch buildup in a thriller with twists sense, and it's nice to see Purcell on a plane instead of a prison.
But then out of thin air a character does something that shifts the whole movie into a mediocre
A wasted opportunity.
Still, a watchable one, just be prepared it'll lower the quality in the second part.

Shagnak said:

Edit: I'd be interested to know how much blood n guts are in it. My son (14) would like to see it with me, but not if the gore is OTT.

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There is plenty of blood and gore in this one.
But I don't know anything about your son nor which horror movies he already watched. IMO you are the one who should watch it first then decide if it's fit for him.
Or do what my parents did when I was a teenager. They always told me "this and that movie contains such stuff that might prevent you from falling asleep, do what you want".
Of course sometimes I didn't listen to their warnings. That's what kids do.
They were right however so eventually I started asking them myself should I or not watch something. As it was hard not to fall asleep in the school after a night with some scary horror.

danutz_plusplus said:

Speaking about potential movies, I hear this is getting great reviews from some of the movie reviewers I follow. Not sure when I'm gonna watch it, but I'm really curious about it.

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imdb says thriller and that's not true. No thriller in it.
This movie is drama, but is not one of those dull and boring idiocies about mundanity.
No, this is a proper drama with some quality story and characters.
Note that even without Cage it'd be a good movie, with him it's just better.
Also note, this drama depicts the life of ordinary people in USA. So if you live in USA maybe you won't be fond of it's dream (illusion?) shattering content.

While not a masterpiece, I call this one a mustwatch even if you are drama hater.

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Lemme add a third recommendation, on Netflix.
Kingdom, currently 2 seasons show, got it's standalone spinoff movie.
You don't have to watch the series, everything you need to know is in the movie.
Ashin of the North

Do not expect the show's copy and do not expect yet another clone of every other zombie movie.
No, this time "the plague" does not spread unintentionally nor unstoppable like Covid.

You will experience a revenge thriller in a zombie setting instead of idealess reiteration of other movies.
Just as with Pig, there will be audience expecting jumpscare idiocies and other horror cliches - when they realize this ain't another stupid movie adapted to their low IQ, they'll pan it.
Don't listen to ignorant fools: this one is a mustwatch masterpiece.

You were a little spoilerish with the first one.

Sorry, I tried to be as vague as possible.
Edited. Good now?

JDR13 said:

What's with Nicolas Cage doing all the weird indie stuff lately? It's like he's suddenly trying to make up for all those years of cliche hollywood flicks.

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Unless I'm mistaken, I believe he's been in serious problems with the IRS for years now, and so he's been on a rampage for years in showing up in any movie on the face of the earth that gets him some money, in order to avoid prison. Of course I could be wrong, but I believe that's the internet folkore on his fate.

I watched Wonder Woman 84 yesterday. I felt the first one was doable, this one is just rubbish. What where the writers thinking when they made this one. There is so much wrong with this movie. Especially the ending was terrible and so unbelievable it even has me wondering today why anyone would buy into that.

@danutz_plusplus; @Ripper; I flipped a coin between Pig and Blood Red Sky last night, and it landed on the pig.

"Meh" is about all I can say. It wasn't what I was expecting. I found a few scenes thought-provoking, but I wouldn't call it a must-see. I'm interested in hearing what you guys think about it though if/when you see it.

danutz_plusplus said:

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe he's been in serious problems with the IRS for years now, and so he's been on a rampage for years in showing up in any movie on the face of the earth that gets him some money, in order to avoid prison. Of course I could be wrong, but I believe that's the internet folkore on his fate.

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It seems to be more than just folklore. He apparently has some bad habits when it comes to spending.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/19/how-nicholas-cage-once-blew-his-entire-150-million-fortune.html

If you got to the ending, Myrthos, you're of sterner stuff than I. Forty, maybe forty-five minutes was enough for me, after that I bounced out. I love the character, yet that film was simply awful. Thank goodness we've many years of fine comics to always fall back on!!

Myrthos said:

I watched Wonder Woman 84 yesterday. I felt the first one was doable, this one is just rubbish. What where the writers thinking when they made this one. There is so much wrong with this movie. Especially the ending was terrible and so unbelievable it even has me wondering today why anyone would buy into that.

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I was ok with it. You don't believe that people can see that their desires are harmful and give them up?
Gal Gadot was a producer this time and wanted to show WW as a positive role-model, which means more than just fighting.

No, I don't believe that millions (or even billions) of people have a change of mind, because some stranger they don't know, is telling them to do so on television.
I don't mind it has less fighting, however the story wasn't good enough to compensate for that. So it dragged on in my opinion. It simply should have been written better.

Then there was the Barbara character, where I felt a strong Cat Woman vibe (from one of the Batman movies). That wasn't a very original take. Although she was more interesting than any of the other characters.

Yeah, I thought it was dire. All I could say for it is that the first little bit seemed OK, with a bit of light-hearted crime fighting in the shopping mall, and Pedro Pascal as the broke grifter pretending to be a captain of commerce. But once the wishing stone stuff comes in, it turns Razzie-level nonsense.

joxer said:

There is plenty of blood and gore in this one.
But I don't know anything about your son nor which horror movies he already watched.

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He's seen World War Z and Army of the Dead, but that probably doesn't mean much as the first has little gore and the second is fairly light in tone a lot of the time.

joxer said:

IMO you are the one who should watch it first then decide if it's fit for him.

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Yep, I'll do that.

Blood Red Sky

I thought it was garbage. It doesn't start out too bad, but, like joxer said, it goes downhill in the second half. I wouldn't just say the second half is lower quality though. It's laughably bad in parts. Crap acting, poorly thought-out scenes, and really bad English dubbing all add up to a mediocre B-movie experience. It's not even one of those "It's so bad it's good" movies. It's just bad.

Shagnak said:

He's seen World War Z and Army of the Dead, but that probably doesn't mean much as the first has little gore and the second is fairly light in tone a lot of the time.

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I've avoided World War Z like a plague.
Sadly didn't skip Army of the Dead, that one I'd prevent kids from watchiing bcs it's stupid, not because of some horror.

If your son wants to see some quality horror that doesn't integrate (much) violence, then I cannot praise enough your domestic title What We Do in the Shadows.
Avoid the milking scheme spinoff series! Just give him the movie.

Also not sure if I mentioned before, kinda horror, does not really belong to the genre with it's style (no graphic violence).
If you can find italian I'm not Scared, your son will love it. And so will you.

Finally, an animated adventure with horror elements is chinese White Snake, on par with Pixar quality and not dumb and boring as Disney in this century. It's sequel is currently shown in chinese cinemas only and is #1 on their box office.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/m...ce-green-snake-30-million-opening-1234988176/
No, it's not for small kids in case your son is not aware many animated movies are not kids only.
Teenagers will love it.

JDR13 said:

I flipped a coin between Pig and Blood Red Sky last night, and it landed on the pig.

"Meh" is about all I can say. It wasn't what I was expecting. I found a few scenes thought-provoking, but I wouldn't call it a must-see. I'm interested in hearing what you guys think about it though if/when you see it.

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*SPOILERISH*
I found it to be a fairly sobering film. The way his name is so well known that it can open any door is impressive. Though they'd love to, very few people will ever experience such clout. It left me feeling sort of unimportant. But what many can experience is a broken heart. I suppose the good guy and the bad guy both had extreme ways of dealing with that depression. One throws everything away and the other holds on too tight.

It was a decent film but not one I'd want to watch twice. It was almost frustrating how much I wanted him to take a shower! Very cute pig, though.

edit: I guess the moral of the story is you don't want to be like either of them. Once you've done all you can you just have to move on and find another pig.

JDR13 said:

Crap acting, poorly thought-out scenes, and really bad English dubbing all add up to a mediocre B-movie experience.

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I thought it was in German with subtitles... or is it only partly.

joxer said:

Sadly didn't skip Army of the Dead, that one I'd prevent kids from watchiing bcs it's stupid, not because of some horror.

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Ach, it wasn't that bad. It was dumb and fun, pretty much what I expected.

joxer said:

If your son wants to see some quality horror that doesn't integrate (much) violence, then I cannot praise enough your domestic title What We Do in the Shadows.

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Good idea, I love that movie. Feels like I've been waiting forever for the sequel that they've talked about (about werewolves).

joxer said:

Avoid the milking scheme spinoff series!

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No, I love that as well! It has Matt Berry and cameos from the NZ crew. Unless you're meaning Wellington Paranormal, which I like but admit it probably doesn't translate as well for overseas audiences.

joxer said:

Also not sure if I mentioned before, kinda horror, does not really belong to the genre with it's style (no graphic violence).
If you can find italian I'm not Scared, your son will love it. And so will you.

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Sounds good. I'll, ummm, procure it.

Shagnak said:

I thought it was in German with subtitles... or is it only partly.

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It was fully English-dubbed when I watched it. That can probably be changed in the options though. Maybe that was just the default setting for my region?

Dead Space Downfall

I've seen this a couple of times, usually to get me in the mood for the games. I actually quite like it - though I consider it a guilty pleasure.

It has that "sci-fi horror" ambience that I so love - for no clear reason. Just like the actual games.

If nothing else, they're hitting the exact kind of notes I'm looking for in terms of atmosphere and the proper sense of doom and dread

DArtagnan said:

Dead Space Downfall

I've seen this a couple of times, usually to get me in the mood for the games. I actually quite like it - though I consider it a guilty pleasure.

It has that "sci-fi horror" ambience that I so love - for no clear reason. Just like the actual games.

If nothing else, they're hitting the exact kind of notes I'm looking for in terms of atmosphere and the proper sense of doom and dread

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I enjoyed Downfall, and I usually find animated films hard to watch. They had the right idea with having it take place immediately before the start of Dead Space.

There's another animated film called Dead Space: Aftermath that takes place right before the events of DS 2.