What movie did you watch today?

[Tommy Bunz]

The Scribbler
Young Ones (2014) - I started out not liking this movie, but by the end of it I was a big fan which is a rare turnaround for me. Michael Shannon is the patriarch of a family stuck in a dust bowl type area in the future a la Interstellar. Water is hard to come by and life is a struggle. A nice little dystopian piece that has a really great performance from Kodi Smit-Mcphee. There's a lot of social commentary here, and the sci-fi elements are also nicely done. It's a solid film through and through. 8 outta 10

Sold. Also, you should post in this thread more.

[jamrage]

The Scribbler
Young Ones (2014) - I started out not liking this movie, but by the end of it I was a big fan which is a rare turnaround for me. Michael Shannon is the patriarch of a family stuck in a dust bowl type area in the future a la Interstellar. Water is hard to come by and life is a struggle. A nice little dystopian piece that has a really great performance from Kodi Smit-Mcphee. There's a lot of social commentary here, and the sci-fi elements are also nicely done. It's a solid film through and through. 8 outta 10

Sold. Also, you should post in this thread more.

Thanks, friend. Let me know what you think about it.

Like most of you I'm watching movies all the time, and writing three or four sentences about each one seems daunting. There's no real reason to think that. I'll see what I can do.

[Rabbi Jihadovich]

Hit! - Billie Dee Williams was so bad that he was great in this. This movie was a lot of fun to watch and done surprisingly well. The fellow agents that were chasing him were my only gripe -they seemed silly and cartoonish. There's a cute red head in this movie with nice titties that show up for about 2 seconds. Also want to mention that Richard Pryor comes off like a try-hard here, but still very likable.

[Dan]

Been a while since I posted in this thread.

Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) - High school comedy that could never be remade about a guidance counselor that sleeps with students, surrounded by an ongoing student murder investigation. Funny movie with lots of exposed '70s titties.

Hello Ladies: The Movie (2014) - Someone described this movie perfectly already in this thread. First half felt like a new episode and then the second half goes into rapid sum everything up movie mode. I'll miss this show.

Duel (1971) - Finally saw this for the first time. Some very tense scenes. Liked this a lot.

Going My Way (1944) - Best Picture winner of 1944. Watched it just to knock another Academy Award winner off my list.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) - Finished the series today and wanted to get right into the movie, not knowing this is actually a prequel. It was okay, but seemed unnecessary. The show pretty much explained everything about Laura Palmer and her death, so this only added the visual element to it. Missed seeing Audrey in this. New Donna was alright, became better when she was nude Donna.
Definitely looking forward to the show's return in 2016.

[Dan]

Highlander (1986) - I've owned this on Blu-ray for a long time and never watched it. Didn't know what to think of it at first. I thought it was some Terminator ripoff and then it started with flashbacks to medieval times. It finally settled for me and I ended up enjoying it. I don't have the sequels. Are they worth checking out?

[Blockhead]

Saw Whiplash tonight. It was really fucking good. Didn't expect to like it or care about the a movie about a jazz drummer but it's really well done and captivating. JK simmons finna win an oscar.

[LilLeftBrain]

let's be lazy
diciembre like

[LilLeftBrain]

foxcatcher -- cool sense of dread but the movie missed the mark,
_____________

[Spartan]

The Babadook was way better than Oculus, Lefty!

'71 | 2014
Glad i caught this just before the year ended as it instantly became a personal top ten movie of 2014 for me. Superb thriller that never let up with the paranoia and tension throughout. Definitely see this movie getting better recognition via word of mouth as time passes on.

Fear City | 1984
Ferrara's hot mess, but an awesome hot mess: you've got a martial arts psycho murking broads with katanas and nunchucks; Melanie Griffith, in her prime, shaking her ass as a junkie stripper; Rae Dawn Chong going lesbian and dancing topless to vintage electro funk; Tom Berenger as an unconvincing Italian-American, haunted by a tragedy from his former boxing career; and, Billy Dee Williams stealing every scene he's in with some remarkably racist slurs. So many great lines in this film like, "There's nothing I hate more than guineas in Cadillacs." and "Even a rapist couldn't get a hard-on". The ending is incredible. File this under Films That Wouldn't Get Made Today.

The Killer is Still Among Us | 1987
Slow-paced true crime thriller mixed with neo giallo unpleasantries. Based on a real life serial killer case that to this day still remains unsolved. Found the whole film really fascinating and was amazed a student writing their thesis on this subject got as far as they did. Also learnt that practitioners of doggin' in Italy are on some next level voyeurism too. The protagonist might be the worst dressed person in Italy since the Griswalds went shopping for threads there. The ending was pretty weak; the whole seance thing felt silly, but I still enjoyed this film a lot. Reminded me of Fincher's Zodiac in some ways.

Obsession | 1976
Props to Brian De Palma for remaking Hitchcock's Vertigo and turning it into a spiritual precursor to Old Boy in the same year he released the undisputed classic Carrie. Superb and stylish film, with some killer performances all round, in particular Geneviève Bujold. Seeing John Lithgow with hair was kind of shocking. Dude looked a lot like the actor Horst Frank. Can't immediately think of any other director that does slow-motion scenes as effective as De Palma.

Skyfall | 2012
Great opening to a movie and then it went into cruise control and turned into a snoozefest. I like Daniel Craig being Bond, but none of the film makers he's worked with so far seem to get what the world of James Bond is all about. These reboot/prequel 007 movies feel more like your typical copycat Jason Bourne movie than your quintessential Bond movie; Skyfall being only a marginal improvement over its predecessor Quantum of Bollocks. I think folks were caught up in the whole fiftieth anniversary hysteria, because this was some overrated shite to me.

The House of the Yellow Carpet | 1983
Twist heavy and exceptionally entertaining psychological thriller which is mostly set in one location for the film's entire running time. Very much felt like a play because of this restriction. Bergman regular Erland Josephson is excellent in this. The film should be called The Flat of the Yellow Carpet, since it's set in an apartment, tbh.

[Career Over Like Mike(NJJ)]

I watched the On The Buses trilogy over xmas.

Found it hard to believe that Jack could pull more pussy than Blakey, tbqh.

[Spartan]

Did you know Reg Varney was the first person to ever use the world's first cash machine? Near my manor too.

[Career Over Like Mike(NJJ)]

I did not know that, but I'm going to file it away for the next time I get to set the questions at our local's pub quiz.

[LilLeftBrain]

tho i guess i would agree re: the badook, really wasn't all that wild about either

[Comedy Quaddafi]

The Canal (2014) - This Irish horror which was wellreceived at festivals is very ambitious and has great J-horror atmosphere. I think the most interesting aspects were a bit underdeveloped. Still this is a top 5 horror of the year for me.

Snowtown (2011) - About Australian serialkillers and based on a true story. I thought it was unfortunate that you have to know about the crimes and characters to really connect everything. This won't satisfy some people who are in to True Crime because it's more about the environment that allowed all of this to happen. The film is quite disturbing and a bit dull at the same time, which was a weird mix.

[Tommy Bunz]

let's be lazy
diciembre like

yo what program/site is this?

[Spartan]

Letterboxd - I'm on it too

I think Mubi might be a better alternative, though.

[drizzle]

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit - On one hand this is a competently made and fast paced spy thriller, with a charmingly straight-forward, almost antiquated approach but maybe a little too heavy on the post-9/11 vibes. Plays like a Boy Scout version of the Bond reboot - we meet Ryan as a young idealistic college student who feels the urge to serve in the wake of 9/11, becomes a hero in the Marines, gets recruited into the CIA by a gruff but lovable handler who always has his back, then eventually takes down a maniacally evil Russian oligarch hell-bent on destroying the US. Everything is very clearly delineated, the good guys are good and capable and good-looking and their cause is unquestionably righteous. The bad guys are mustache-twirling and dastardly brilliant right up that one crucial mistake. Everything is clean and lit brightly, there are no ideological gray areas, no moral uncertainty anywhere. It's like some shit imagined in the 50s and updated with modern technology and current events. And because things move quickly with lots of action and Branagh is a solid director and the actors are likable, it all works reasonably well despite dodgy plotting. Not as good as the Baldwin and Ford entries, but def better than the Affleck one.

On the other hand, this is dead-ass unabashed right wing AMERICA FUCK YEAH propaganda without a trace of irony. You got Chris Pine looking like a WASP ubermench bred in a lab by ex-pat Nazi scientists just for standing next to American flags waving in slow motion. Dude looks like he rides a bald eagle to work every morning, and the eagle shits freedom fries on liberal faggots the entire time its in the air. Granted, iirc that's actually fairly accurate to Clancy's writing, but it never felt this acute in previous adaptations. Here he is literally referred to as a Boy Scout, moments before he is (again literally!) bathed in a beatific glow as the President shakes his hand (the President is off screen btw, presented in a way a religious movie might portray the voice of god). You got Branagh's cartoonish villain trying to destroy the American economy at the implied behest of the Russian government, nominally because of some fleetingly mentioned oil pipe line but really because that's just the kind of evil shit Russians do. You got both oblique and direct references to another 9/11 being just around the corner, with the brave CIA being the only line of defense against it. Etc etc etc... It's really really egregious shit, and not even in that heart-warming 80s Rambo 2/Red Dawn kind of way. But since the movie pretty much flopped, who cares.

[Tommy Bunz]

^ Chris Pine all but publicly apologized for that movie, saying that they didn't get it right and that he hopes someone else does better justice to the series.

Letterboxd - I'm on it too

Oh yeah, I even signed up for this
I could use the diary section though, I've just been keeping track in a word document for the last five years.

[drizzle]

^ Chris Pine all but publicly apologized for that movie, saying that they didn't get it right and that he hopes someone else does better justice to the series.

As a mild fan of the character and the series, I think it is possible to reboot this shit right and do it well, and doing it in a style apart from the currently dominating Bourne template is a solid idea. It just can't be this simplistic and has to have at least some small measure of self-awareness, or at least try to be more subtle about the jingoism. I think the same cast and director could've actually made something better, I'm wondering how much their hands were tied by a dumb script and the studio trying to prune this to be as straightforward and Disneyfied as possible.

[drizzle]

Mind Hunters - this shit was crack, Harlin at his best is a stone cold B-movie auteur. Grafting an 80s action movie style on top of a fairly typical late 90s/early 00s serial killer thriller and throwing in some deaths worthy of Final Destination to make shit pop more = money.

[djjeffresh]

a million ways to die in the west was actually pretty funny. lots of laughs imo. definitely imperfect. worth a viewing.

[Dan]

The Late Shift (1996) - HBO movie about David Letterman and Jay Leno both pushing to become Johnny Carson's successor of The Tonight Show.
I remember when this was all going down, but without all of the inside details. Like, I had no idea about Jay's assistant, Helen, played by Kathy Bates. I really liked this and thought the guys playing Dave and Jay did great jobs.

[Tommy Bunz]

let's be lazy
diciembre like

yo what program/site is this?

Lefty whats your letterboxd name?
I found Dan and Spartan. Anyone else on this? My name is Gordo.

[Dan]

I haven't checked my Letterboxd page in years. I didn't even recognize that screenshot.

[LilLeftBrain]

it'sa me on there, 'elvers'. like letterboxd a lot, been using it for a few years now, prior to that i'll see tommy's word file and raise that a notepad

whiplash was intense and good but still hate that miles teller kid even if i don't really remember why and that was a pretty impressive performance

[Spartan]

Added you guys. Great to see you both watch a shit ton of films like I do. I feel less guilty about wasting my free time now.

Giallo A Venezia | 1979
Already written about how utterly misogynistic and mean-spirited this film is, but I immediately regret watching the slightly longer cut. Watching some dude getting his cock out and having a wank in a porno theatre isn't my idea of entertainment.

Reflections in Black | 1975
Fairly weak and sleazy thriller directed and starring a dead ringer for Nintendo's Mario. Gail vets, Dagmar Lassander and John Richardson are in this and look completely lost.

Death Laid an Egg | 1968
This movie has been described by a podcast I listen to as a "Godard style giallo". It's not as awful as it sounds. Directed by Giulio Questi, the same guy who did the entertainingly weird, Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! this just happens to be even more bonkers and set in the glamorous world of chicken battery farming. Jean-Louis Trintignant is in it, and when he's not slashing the necks of hookers in his free time, he's clubbing to death headless, mutant chickens. I actually liked the crazy editing and arthouse vibe, but beneath the pretentious veneer, this was at its core a basic thriller.

Hot Fuzz | 2007
Still think this is the best Pegg/Frost/Wright film they've done so far.

[Rabbi Jihadovich]

Mind Hunters - this shit was crack, Harlin at his best is a stone cold B-movie auteur. Grafting an 80s action movie style on top of a fairly typical late 90s/early 00s serial killer thriller and throwing in some deaths worthy of Final Destination to make shit pop more = money.

Watched this last night off the strength of your review even though Netflix predicted like 2.5 stars for it. Very glad that i did, this movie was indeed crack.

[Comedy Quaddafi]

Housebound (2014) - This is another horrorcomedy from NZ. That's their niche for some reason. This has some good jokes and cool moments. A young criminal has to move back with her mom from housearrest. They suspect the house is haunted.

The Baby's Room (2006) - Alex de la Iglesia made this TV-horror about a haunted babyalarm. It was decent enough but not one of his best moments.

Magic (1978) - Lord Richard Attenborough directs Sir Anthony Hopkins in this cautionary tale of ventriloquism. Excellent film.

[drizzle]

Mind Hunters - this shit was crack, Harlin at his best is a stone cold B-movie auteur. Grafting an 80s action movie style on top of a fairly typical late 90s/early 00s serial killer thriller and throwing in some deaths worthy of Final Destination to make shit pop more = money.

Watched this last night off the strength of your review even though Netflix predicted like 2.5 stars for it. Very glad that i did, this movie was indeed crack.

Word glad you liked it. Last time Harlin had LL Cool J in a movie they made Deep Blue Sea, that sealed the deal for me. Straight up clapped at the Slater/nitrogen tank scene

[Rabbi Jihadovich]

My only gripe is that i wish we saw Val Kilmer die.