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

I recently read World War Z as well, and yeah so much better than the movie. It was weird, the movie and the book had virtually nothing in common. The zombies in the book were traditional slow zombies, infection didn't occur instantly, I don't think any any event in the movie actually occurs in the book and the solution was not the same. The only thing in the book that made me think of the movie was Jerusalem, but even there it was just the setting. Nothing that happened in Jerusalem happened in the book. I think I heard the writer was really upset.

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once was really good, but I felt like it could have been maybe a half hour shorter. There were some really funny parts, but also some of the jokes which were really funny the first few times felt like that they got driven into the ground by the end. Still recommended.

Originally Posted by fadedc
I recently read World War Z as well, and yeah so much better than the movie. It was weird, the movie and the book had virtually nothing in common. The zombies in the book were traditional slow zombies, infection didn't occur instantly, I don't think any any event in the movie actually occurs in the book and the solution was not the same. The only thing in the book that made me think of the movie was Jerusalem, but even there it was just the setting. Nothing that happened in Jerusalem happened in the book. I think I heard the writer was really upset.

It's easy to understand why they deviated so much from the book though. It's written more like a documentary than a typical story. I think it would have made a boring movie. Not that the movie we ended up with was very good either.

Originally Posted by JDR13
It's easy to understand why they deviated so much from the book though. It's written more like a documentary than a typical story. I think it would have made a boring movie. Not that the movie we ended up with was very good either.

I agree, it makes you wonder why they even got the movie rights for it, given how impossible it was to do anything with. Probably some genius just thought it had a cool name and that zombies were the big thing.

The writer has a new book, Devolution, which I loved, and which would make a great movie. Though I've heard he may be a little reluctant to deal with Hollywood again after they butchered his previous book.

Originally Posted by JDR13
What was the Pepsi scene? I don't recall.

I agree about the second half. It's a shame because the setup was really good. The FX were great, and I really liked some of the set pieces. Like when that horde climbing over the wall in Jerusalem.

Brad Pitt's character, after having injected himself with whatever virus to become invisible to the zombies, wants to draw them away from the exit of the virus lab where he was locked in. So he walks to a pepsi machine, drinks a can right in front of the camera, then releases the rest of the cans to make noise to cause the distraction. I think I had never seen such an in-your-face product placement as in this one. The only thing worse would have been if the can he was actually holding had the Pepsi letters displayed. But you can see they're pepsi among the other cans, iirc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNdYlLUjoe8

Indeed, the first half was promising. But then it died off really quickly in the second half.

Ok, I vaguely remember that scene now. Yeah, that's pretty dumb. More so for how absurd it looks than the product placement.

Originally Posted by fadedc
I agree, it makes you wonder why they even got the movie rights for it, given how impossible it was to do anything with. Probably some genius just thought it had a cool name and that zombies were the big thing.

It's no more complicated that the fact that it sold a bazillion copies and was a topic of discussion. And zombies were the next big thing.

Watched Everything Everywhere All at Once once again. So much fun and so thoughtful.

I watched Moneyball, a movie I avoided for some reason. I think the fact that Bobby Kotick has a small role in it might have done that.

And surprisingly, it was pretty good. I liked it, even though I have no interest in baseball. But the story was pretty good.

Originally Posted by bjon045
I also watched X. I have disliked most of Ti West's previous attempts but he finally delivered a good movie. Cabin Fever 2 was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. X was pretty much the polar opposite. Great characters, great buildup and good original concept. It was also well shot. Probably a 7.5/10 and a must watch for genre fans.

I just finished watching X, and I was underwhelmed. It's bog standard as far as horror flicks go. I kept thinking there had to be more to it and that there was going to be an unexpected twist at some point as far as who was doing the killing. Nope.

The only thing that took me by surprise was how Mia Goth played both the young brunette and the old woman. I didn't realize that was her in both roles until I looked at the cast afterwards.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I just finished watching X, and I was underwhelmed. It's bog standard as far as horror flicks go. I kept thinking there had to be more to it and that there was going to be an unexpected twist at some point as far as who was doing the killing. Nope.

The only thing that took me by surprise was how Mia Goth played both the young brunette and the old woman. I didn't realize that was her in both roles until I looked at the cast afterwards.

I didn't realise they were the same person either! I might have been a little too generous in my score but I did find of better than most of the other horror films I have seen in the past 2 years so that may of influenced me to give it a higher score than it would of otherwise got. It's certainly no exorcist though Maybe 6.5 would be a fairer score.

2021 was full of below average horror films and plagued with remakes/sequels like Wrong Turn, Don't Beathe 2, Halloween Kills, Spiral, Candyman and those god-awful netflix horrors like Escape Room, Fear Street etc. I thought Malignant was average bordering on good. I never got to see that French movie Titane which seems to have good ratings.

It was actually shot in my hometown and had a couple of Kiwi actors (Martin Henderson and the uncredited lady at the gas station) so that may of also factored into my score.

Originally Posted by bjon045
It was actually shot in my hometown and had a couple of Kiwi actors (Martin Henderson and the uncredited lady at the gas station) so that may of also factored into my score.

Interesting. I would have never guessed that was shot in New Zealand. I wonder why he would travel that far with a mostly American cast to shoot there. Is it that much cheaper?

Originally Posted by JDR13
Interesting. I would have never guessed that was shot in New Zealand. I wonder why he would travel that far with a mostly American cast to shoot there. Is it that much cheaper?

NZ Government tax credits make it cheaper. Power of the Dog was another one set in America but filmed in NZ - for the same reason except it had a NZ Director. Avatar 2 was filmed here for the tax credits but I think Weta Workshop/Digital is doing all the CGI so that might be the main reason. James Cameron also got NZ citizenship 10 or so years ago. I think there are a few countries who have even higher tax credits though like Ireland. That is why the Lord of the Rings TV series switched from NZ to Ireland - the almighty dollar!

I remember seeing a youtube documentary (I think it was Lindsay Ellis's 3 part documentary on the Hobbit) about what the LOTR movies did for NZ, and how pressure was made to get people working in the film industry less protected by unions. Pressure that was made by Hollywood, and the NZ political establishment caved to those pressures. Which effectively turned NZ into a sort of "sweatshop" for western studios. Might be an exageration, compared to literal sweatshops, but that's the basic idea, iirc.

Little spoiler-free review of Top Gun: Maverick from an aviation enthusiast:



(to skip the ads, jump to 2'00)

TLDR: overall amazing, love letter to aviation, feels a bit rushed to remain within the 2h timeframe, OST sucks.

I was sad to hear about Ray Liotta passing away today. I always liked him. Henry Hill is beating up punks in Heaven now.

Goodfellas


RIP Ray.

Yeah, he was an excellent actor, he'll always remain Shoeless Joe to me. He's one of those fortunate actors that managed to land or create several iconic roles. RIP indeed and gone far too early.

Originally Posted by bjon045
It was actually shot in my hometown and had a couple of Kiwi actors (Martin Henderson and the uncredited lady at the gas station) so that may of also factored into my score.

And the fat cop who finds the camera at the end is local actor called Geoff Dolan (I mostly remember him from certain commercials on TV). My wife went to drama school almost 30 years ago, and he was one of the actors who instructed her (as well as Bruno Lawrence - RIP - and Michael Hurst [that guy that played Hercules' sidekick in the TV show]).

My verdict: I thought X was very good. One of the better horror movies I've seen in the last couple of years.
The direction, cinematography, and acting were right on the money. Ti West didn't over egg the pudding, like , say, Rob Zombie tends to. The kills were effective. It even subverted expectations/tropes at certain times.

Watched the new Firestarter 2022 reboot this week. I can't say it was bad but it wasn't good either. I followed that by streaming Morbius and felt the same as Firestarter.

Maybe the New TopGun will be better.

Originally Posted by JDR13
The only thing that took me by surprise was how Mia Goth played both the young brunette and the old woman. I didn't realize that was her in both roles until I looked at the cast afterwards.

I just checked IMDB, and Ti West's next movie is Pearl, about how the old woman became what she was.

Was secretly filmed in conjunction with X (2022). 'Pearl' serves as that film's prequel, showing the character's early life in 1918 decades before the events of 'X'.

Originally Posted by Shagnak
I just checked IMDB, and Ti West's next movie is Pearl, about how the old woman became what she was.

Interesting. I wasn't as high on X as you guys were, but I'll still definitely check that out.

*Edit* While Googling Pearl, I saw mentioned that X had a post-credits scene. I missed that!