What movie did you watch today?

[drizzle]

The Endless - Good indie supernatural/horror thriller. I expected something more mindblowing based on the reviews but I'm not mad at it at all. Def worth while, just go in with reasonable expectations.

Incredibles 2 - Pretty unnecessary but still very enjoyable. The Jack-Jack parts were by far the funniest, and Bird is still an absolute genius of cartoon action scenes. I usually don't think about voice acting too much but Holly Hunter really stood out in this, her character felt very vividly realized.

Death Of Superman - a solid DC animated feature but splitting this story into multiple films that will come out over several years just feels like crass padding. Should've made it a mini-series or something

Blood Of The Wolves - Starts as a cracking modern homage to Fukusaku's Battles Without Honor And Humanity and Cops Vs Thugs, then leans into the 'cynical old cop gets paired with a naive rookie' trope and goes into some pleasantly unexpected territory. Maybe the best contemporary yakuza movie I've seen since Miike's late 90s/early 00s output, better than Kitano's Outrage. If you're into this stuff it's a must see. I saw it at a festival, hopefully it will find some distribution in the west.

[fatboybrandon]

Nice action/thriller from '93 with John Lithgow as the main villain!

[blastmaster]

The Endless is about 100 times better if you have seen The Resolution.

[CarlosDelgothoes]

Nice action/thriller from '93 with John Lithgow as the main villain!

Just saw Blow Out today. Lithgow can be creepy AF

[unclebengi]

The Endless is about 100 times better if you have seen The Resolution.

I watched both back to back last night and I'm so glad I listened to your advice. I can't imagine watching The Endless without watching The Resolution first. It's not a traditional sequel, but it's in the same world and follows the events of The Resolution. Will be really interested to see what these guys can do with a bigger budget. I might actually like The Resolution better though because some of the content in The Endless is stretched a little thin within the world they create (the loops are interesting in concept, but never really make sense under closer examination). It doesn't really detract from the movie because the concepts themselves are so interesting and the acting and cinematography are great.

The scene with the French guy in his trailer in The Resolution is probably my favorite from either movie.

[drizzle]

BuyBust - an instant modern action classic, no joke. I walked out mindblown and weak-kneed. Nearly identical concept to The Raid but I'd argue the execution here is superior in every way except maybe the mechanics of fight choreography (BuyBust is a little more chaotic and brawl oriented.) It gives the heroes and villains more personality, creates a more interesting environment to be stuck in, the action scenes are more varied and each stands out as a separate set-piece. The acting and the direction are also superior, the whole thing is very well made and atmospheric in a way that I think could possibly carry the movie even if it wasn't a stunning orgy of violence. It's also laced with a bit of social commentary about police corruption and innocent bystanders of the Filipino Drug War, which is apparently such a huge and insidious concern that all 3 of the Filipino movies I saw in this festival were about it in some way or another. Just excellent in every way. Apparently the director's other movies are also very good but not as action-oriented (he made On The Job, which I heard a lot about), gonna make it a priority to see them.

The Split - A lesser known Parker adaptation, with Jim Brown as Parker and a really great cast of supporting actors (Oates, Hackman, Borgnine, Sutherland). Brown is actually a strong choice for Parker, considering the character is literally written as a granite slab without any emotion or charisma, but the adaptation overall is a little too light to feel like proper Parker. Still a pretty good 60s crime flick though, definitely worth a look if you're into them.

Transformers: The Last Knight - obviously it's absolutely terrible but I have to admire the amount of drugs Bay was on when he conceived a Transformer movie with a mythology that involves Merlin and Harriet Tubman being part of the same secret society. This is like 100000000x Scott Storches at once. To be fair there are also a few moments of absolutely spectacular Transfomer CGI.

[ric]

Yeah saw last knight in theatres. My first and only transformer movie so far. Actually has some cool shit in it which surprised the fuck out of me.

[Comedy Quaddafi]

Paradox / Kill Zone 3 (2017) - I haven't seen the rest of the trilogy but feel tempted to after seeing this one. Badass HK cop goes to Thailand to find his abducted daughter. Basically an Asian Taken. The setpieces are all hardhitting with an awesome rooftop chase being the highlight. Great use of the exotic location too. Directed by the Ip Man guy with a lead who has an incredible death stare, also starring Tony Jaa and the villain from Only God Forgives.

November (2017) - This Estonian fantasy film is visually incredible and has a wealth of really original ideas. I personally didn't like that it turned in to a somewhat ordinary lovestory but it's a really special experience.

Burn Out (2018) - An aspiring pro motorcycle racer has to make deliveries for French gypsy gangsters to save his babies mother. It's a high adrenaline ride full of great scenes. Simple yet very effective concept.

Gutland (2017) - German criminal decides to lay low working as a farm hand in Luxembourg. What follows is a surreal neo noir. Thought this was a quality mystery.

Dunkirk (2017) - Way better than I thought it would be. Love that this was a survival movie more so than a grand narrative war epic full of downtime. Wish I had known that in which case I would have seen it in the cinema last summer.

The Lives of Others (2006) - I remember this film being a big deal at the time. But I honestly found it a bit dull. A movie about the stasi is a beautiful idea but the execution of it wasn't really for me. The end did have some chillpoints though.

[gusty wingers]

Reminding myself to watch the resolution and rewatch endless... Appreciate it bros

[ric]

Dallas Buyers Club 2013
Actually really liked this movie. Great date movie because it's not SO emotionally draining but deals with some good topics and asks some pretty good questions. Really dug the music in this actually as movie music you know? Gave me a sense of time place character and mood. McConaughey Leto garner ohare all rocked it. Good story too.

Extinction 2017?
Netflix movie. Sucks. Shitty production values too. Like really shitty. The acting was OK in the beginning and then ugh. The pacing ugh. The story ugh. The concept ugh. The dialogue meh but nah.

[Spartan]

The Mansion (2017)
French horror comedy. Derivative slasher which offers nothing really new, nor does it really want to. Most of the gags fall flat and other than the insanely hot Vanessa Guide as the archetypal slut, the characters are largely unlikable. Was impressed with how well the film looked, but there's no way I'll ever bother watching this again.

[drizzle]

Mission Impossible: Fallout - there are some really amazing action sequences and stunts in this, on the level with Fury Road and John Wick 2 as far as american stuff goes, but the movie itself dragged and felt leaden as hell in the first 2 acts. It just mechanically plods through the motions of double crosses and twists because that's what's supposed to happen, and nobody is having any fun with anything that doesn't involve shooting or roof jumps. Henry Cavill is especially terrible in this, like Chris Klein levels of wooden. But it picks up a lot in the end, where it becomes very pointedly referential to the earlier entrees in the franchise and starts to feel like a self-aware series finale of a long-running TV show.

Assassin's Creed - I wanted to watch something bad and man this did not disappoint, mightily exceeded expectations even. Kinda bizarre that this thing had the level of acting talent involved that it did

[ric]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 1998
Depp Benicio and a nice host of minor characters. Directed by Gilliam.

Never seen this before. Not really my thing but I understand why it has the cult status. Haven't read the book but it's probably one of those difficult to compare things. I heard Depp said that playing Hunter S Thompson was his favorite role ever and every time a Thompson movie is supposedly in the works he's around eyeing the role. And I can understand why I think. Interesting writer

@drizzle
Yeah I can't quite say 'I don't know how assassins creed is so bad' because it's really obvious why (just about every decision is the worst possible decision given the alternatives). But this movie is the premium example of horrific janky architecture despite everything it has going for it (acting production values rich background material both historically and game/story wise)

[Spartan]

Ready Player One (2018)
The pop culture references seem to be the main backbone of this derivative and cliched movie. I found the cast particularly weak and forgettable. Spielberg, however, is both skilled and experienced enough in the game to keep this movie rolling along and maintain interest throughout its running time. It'll be interesting to see how this film will hold up in a year or two; I have a feeling it'll wind up with the same indifference as Avatar.

You Were Never Really Here (2018)
Been a while since I've seen Joaquin Phoenix in a film to match his talent. I really enjoyed this. The pacing might be a problem to some, but I felt it was necessary to really capture what Phoenix's life and head space was all about. It's a fairly heavy film, but very rewarding if you give it the attention it deserves.

The Shape of Water (2018)
Found the first hour of this film utterly entrancing, but it gradually wore me down afterwards. Del Toro has an incredible visual eye, but I found the writing for this film made it feel muddled and awkward; some scenes felt unintentionally hilarious, which kind of killed much of the fantasy romance aspect of this creature feature throwback. Also, I feel Tim Burton did this way better back in the day with Edward Scissorhands.

Death Wish (2018)
Eli Roth can't direct emotionally dramatic scenes to save his life, but I found Bruce Willis' just as much as a problem; dude was completely zoned out in this. Did not expect DJ Sway to get so much screen time with the whole round table discussion popping up all the time. The original is so much fucking better, especially since the whole transition from pacifist to killer was largely absent and less believable here. No rush to see this ever again, but since I'm a sucker for vigilante themed movies, this kept me entertained.

[admiral]

Under The Skin - This was...fine? ScarJo seducing and killing Scottish trash was pretty fun to watch, but I was hoping for some more sci-fi/horror elements to liven things up a bit. Felt like I'm missing something, as I know this was a critical darling, and a made a bunch of top-10 lists.

The Similars - Never heard of it until Netflix randomly recommended it. There are pieces of an interesting idea here, but it is essentially a half hour Twilight Zone episode stretched out into a 90 minute movie. The repetition becomes tedious by the end. I couldn't stop laughing at the big "reveal".

Death Wish - Liked this a lot. It was exactly what I wanted out of a 2018 Bruce Willis/Eli Roth collabo. Most unrealistic part of the movie is Willis as a fucking surgeon.

Jailbreak - A violent, Cambodian martial-arts jail movie is kind of a hard premise to mess up, but I think they managed to do it here. I found myself really bored while watching this. This is probably too nitpicky, but you could tell that every punch/kick never connected to its intended target, and it really took you out of the intensity of the action.

[drizzle]

Deadpool 2 - Liked this more than expected. The forced juvenile sense of humor that drives this whole thing is still more annoying than funny, but Cable and Domino were great and I liked that it didn't follow the typical hero vs villain formula. Didn't read much about the movie before going in so the 3rd act big name character reveal was a nice surprise, and they used him well. Also liked the way this took advantage of meta-jokes of the comic to both make fun of the MCU/Xmen universe and actually correct continuity beefs with older Marvel movies to smooth out the way for the inevitable crossovers.

Man From UNCLE (2015) - This held up really well, shame it bricked and never got a sequel. I think might like it more than the last 2 Mission Impossible entrees, the banter and double crosses are better here. This movie inadvertently puts a fine point on how M.I. shifted from creating fun adventure movies with colorful characters to grimly proving the 56yo star can still run and jump like a younger man.

Blackkklansman - I enjoyed watching it and the ending hits really hard but I'm not sure it fully comes together as either a procedural cop comedy or a message movie. I think Spike was purposefully trying to introduce contradictory ideas to reflect the complicated reality of fighting racism that goes beyond just yelling a protest slogan, which I like, but he doesn't really explore the contradiction, he just throws it out there. Unrelated to all that, Driver kinda stole the movie for me (although the lead is very good too)

[admiral]

Blackkklansman - I enjoyed watching it and the ending hits really hard but I'm not sure it fully comes together as either a procedural cop comedy or a message movie. I think Spike was purposefully trying to introduce contradictory ideas to reflect the complicated reality of fighting racism that goes beyond just yelling a protest slogan, which I like, but he doesn't really explore the contradiction, he just throws it out there. Unrelated to all that, Driver kinda stole the movie for me (although the lead is very good too)

I had high hopes for the procedural part of this after showing what he could do with Inside Man, but he didn't write that, so we're left with this. I liked it in parts, but it was way too long, and definitely felt like it was all over the place. I'm glad it exists...

It's minor, but it really bugged me that even after Driver started going to the meetings in person, Denzel Jr. was still the one to have those "No, you hang up first!" calls with David Duke. The guy is sitting right next to you, let him do the talking. I also never quite understood him calling the KKK in the first place - like he was just hoping to hit on a violent plot they were going to hatch.

[Comedy Quaddafi]

Incident in a Ghost Land (2018) - I'm very pleased that madman Pascal Laugier known from Martyrs finally came through with another quality horror. It's basically a homeinvasion film with a brilliant narrative gimmick I haven't seen anywhere else. The ogre, one of the two antagonist, is one of the best horror villains in a while when he goes full Tasmanian devil. Would be my top horror pick this year thus far if it wasn't for Hereditary. Apparently the blonde girl in the film had her face cut up completely in an accident during filming which really sucks for her and I suppose it could be devastating for Laugier's career as well.

Death Wish (2018) - Only for fans of the vigilante genre but watchable enough.

A Quiet Place (2018) - Better than I thought it would be and I'm a bit mad that I didn't buy a ticket for the cinema during it's run.

Strangled (2016) - Hungarian serialkiller film set during the communist dictatorship, and in many ways comparable to the formidable Russian procedural Citizen X.

[drizzle]

It's minor, but it really bugged me that even after Driver started going to the meetings in person, Denzel Jr. was still the one to have those "No, you hang up first!" calls with David Duke. The guy is sitting right next to you, let him do the talking. I also never quite understood him calling the KKK in the first place - like he was just hoping to hit on a violent plot they were going to hatch.

Yea there's a bunch of stuff like this, the movie is surprisingly stingy with exposition or giving a broader rationale for a lot of what happens. The narrative feels choppy because of it.

[Comedy Quaddafi]

Die Hölle / Cold Hell / Inferno (2017) - Asskicking Turk-descended capdriver is stalked by a serialkiller in Vienna after she witnesses one of his crimes. The lead lady is amazing and I hope to see her in more films. This film has heavy giallo overtones and is a lot of fun.

Captive (2012) - Islamists kidnap Isabelle Huppert and others in the Southern Phillipines and hold them captive in the jungle. Based on true events. Brilliante Mendoza is a solid director but this isn't up there with Kinatay.

Unit 7 (2012) - About a crew of cops doing their best to clean up Seville before the 92 Expo. It's like a 90 minute episode of a solid cop show. Antonio de la Torre is my favorite actor at the moment and eurobabe Imna Cuesta has a part in the film too.

Hardbodies (1984) - 80's sexcomedy about a slacker teaching three businessmen how to pick up girls at the beach. Lots of skin and silly gags. Think this is perhaps a bit overlooked compared to its peers.

[admiral]

Crimson Tide (1995) - Denzel and Hackman are so good in this. Gandolfini was a great bit-character sleazebag in the 90's. The ending is fucking lulz, considering Hackman almost started shooting his crew to get him the launch keys, but whatever. I didn't know Tarantino did uncredited rewrites, but it makes sense, as it has a lot of pop culture/old movie references throughout.

Ricochet (1991) - This movie is so fucking wild, it really defies description. Once again, Denzel holds the whole thing together, and Ice-T flipped nicely from Scotty in New Jack City to basically playing Nino Brown in this. There feels like a whole backstory with Lithgow was missing, as he is incredibly incompetent the first time we meet him. I need more Aryan Brotherhood gladiator prison battles in my life.

Mile 22 (2018) - Bi-polar Marky Mark and the guy from The Raid star in a Raid-lite movie. This was perfect for what it was - a very nasty, 90 minute shoot 'em up, with the perfect amount of John Malkovich thrown in. The editing was pretty rapid, but it wasn't unintelligible like some reviews had made it out to be. Wahlberg essentially plays his role form The Departed in special ops form , and it all magically works very well. Maggie from the Walking Dead is a bad-ass in this, and she definitely holds her own in the action sequences. I highly recommend this.

On a side-note: there was a preview for a Jennifer Garner action vehicle where she takes on the Mexican Cartels. It basically looks like a right-wing PSA for MS-13 and immigration. I cannot fucking wait!

[Spartan]

Annihilation (2018)
Decided to revisit this after all the fanfare had died down. Wasn't a fan of it the first time around, and still I feel the same way about it after this recent viewing. Shame really, as I'm a bit of a fanboy of Garland's work and I really wanted to like this.

The Stranger (1946)
Cat and mouse thriller with Orson Welles as a Nazi war criminal on the run. Enjoyed this enough, even though it somewhat dragged on a fair bit by focusing on the clueless wife played by Loretta Horseface Young. Great ending, though.

The Bare-footed Kid (1993)
Surprised by how downbeat this nineties martial arts flick was. Usually find these movies heavy-handed with the morality and jingoistic, but this was all doom and gloom. It's blessed with an incredible fight scene for its big finale.

[djjeffresh]

Annihilation (2018)
Decided to revisit this after all the fanfare had died down. Wasn't a fan of it the first time around, and still I feel the same way about it after this recent viewing. Shame really, as I'm a bit of a fanboy of Garland's work and I really wanted to like this.

The Stranger (1946)
Cat and mouse thriller with Orson Welles as a Nazi war criminal on the run. Enjoyed this enough, even though it somewhat dragged on a fair bit by focusing on the clueless wife played by Loretta Horseface Young. Great ending, though.

The Bare-footed Kid (1993)
Surprised by how downbeat this nineties martial arts flick was. Usually find these movies heavy-handed with the morality and jingoistic, but this was all doom and gloom. It's blessed with an incredible fight scene for its big finale.

cool reviews, man. but for some reason, i can't quite put my finger on it, i am interested to hear your thoughts about ghostbusters (2016).

[Spartan]

cool reviews, man. but for some reason, i can't quite put my finger on it, i am interested to hear your thoughts about ghostbusters (2016).

Paul Feig makes films that are the artistic equivalent of a vaginal yeast infection. His Ghostbusters remake is no exception.

[Spartan]

A Quiet Place (2018)
Other than the cop out final scene and the child actors occasionally doing the common stage school thing of overacting, I thought this was a thoroughly enthralling post-apocalyptic horror. There's a breaking point where tension build-up can get farcical in many movies of this ilk, but Kransinki expertly utilises it well here. Excellent film, overall.

Two Champions of Shaolin (1980)
Old school Shaolin vs Wu-Tang fun. Loved how this escalated from a run of the mill simple premise into a vicious as hell revenge flick. All these Chang Cheh flicks I've been recently watching have been really great so far.

Beast (2018)
Impressive under the radar psychological thriller. Felt like a cocktail of a Ken Loach kitchen sink drama belended with Brian De Palma's oddball craziness. Jessie Buckley's performance is really great in this, particularly liked her scenes with her oppressive on-screen family. This is well worth checking out if you're after a really good drama. Kind of movie Ben Wheatley would have made before he disappeared up his own arse.

[the dead poet]

My chick made me watch Oceans Eight last night. It caused a huge argument between us and she ended up sleeping on the couch. Probably the worst movie i've ever seen. I kept making smart ass comments and she lost her shit lol. Thought I'd share.

[drizzle]

Spartan are you watching these kungfu movies on Netflix? Barefoot Kid is a fairly obscure Johnny To movie, I was surprised when it just randomly showed up out of nowhere in my Action section along with a bunch of Shaw movies.

[Spartan]

Yes, not much else on there worth my time.

[drizzle]

Upgrade - I didn't like the trailer and I don't like fake-Tom Hardy, kinda expected this to be gimmicky like Hardcore Henry, but it's actually really good scifi/action pulp that occasionally even gestures towards smarter things cribbed from Bladerunner/cyberpunk and Alex Garland. The goofy superman fights highlighted in the trailer are used sparingly and effectively, the tone is well balanced between fun violence and more serious beats, the lead does surprisingly well in a physically demanding role, and there's a really good henchman villain. It's tropey as hell, you'll recognize all the pieces this movie is made from, but they're put together in a way that makes for a solid and fairly coherent story that even manages a one or two unexpected turns. Might settle in as one of the better modern B movies.

[tehgiftofgab]

Holy shit I’ve been crediting tom hardy for like all this guy movies lmao