NOW CLOSED ; List some movies you've watched recently. Theatre, rental, TV... and give a */10

[Aikouka]

Starlight is a good example, I felt that her transition from being this midwestern spiritual girl to this cynical hero who snapped and then gave that off the cuff speech at Ezekiel's event was just too hurried without enough development to show her getting to that point

Spoiler

I thought the Starlight stuff worked rather well in season one. I saw it as the beginning showing the more glamorous side of Vought and The Seven, and through her eyes, you were shown more and more that The Seven were no better than anyone else -- just far more powerful -- and Vought was just an opportunistic corporation. I think you could argue that her becoming less religious might have been a bit rushed, but if you classify her change as "became more cynical about everything that she ever knew", it makes a bit more sense. It also works even more when you go past the festival and get to the point where she learns that her mom was paid for her to be injected with Compound V and that's why her dad actually left.

Season 2 started slower but there are other characters being developed like the Deep storyline, he may not be really evolving much but his situation is. Maeve seems to be going through some stuff/having a lot of regrets, Butcher is having some moments, etc...

Spoiler

Maeve originally came to mind when I was thinking about season two, but the problem is that she really started that turn during the latter half of season one. I guess it might be better to state that characters seem to start a character transition during season one, but it doesn't truly culminate until season two. As for The Deep, I figured he was all part of an elaborate advertisement for Fresca.

 

[sportage]

TCM recently aired THE WICKER MAN 1973. I haven't re-watched that film for years. Interesting facts and tidbits about the making of over on IMDB.com. Christopher Lee supposedly did the film for free.

 

[sdifox]

Flash Gordon (1980) -10000/10

I have forgotten how bad this movie was and rewatched it.

 

[snoopy7548]

TCM recently aired THE WICKER MAN 1973. I haven't re-watched that film for years. Interesting facts and tidbits about the making of over on IMDB.com. Christopher Lee supposedly did the film for free.

That's a great movie. I usually watch it once a year.

I've been watching nothing but horror movies for the past month+. I've gone through a lot of crap, but over the past week I've been watching some of the greats. Here's an abridged list:

The Wicker Man (1973) - 7/10. Weird but in a good way. Good pacing and all that. My favorite part is when Britt Ekland is dancing naked.

Friday the 13th - 7/10. Classic slasher. Nice amount of boobies.

Friday the 13th Part II - 6/10. Good amount of boobies.

Friday the 13th Part III - 4/10. Not enough boobies.

Friday the 13th - Final Chapter - 5/10. Some boobies but not much.

Friday the 13th - A New Beginning - 6/10. Good amount of boobies.

Friday the 13th Part VI - 2/10 - Zero boobies.

Pet Sematary (Original) - 7/10. Good creep factor, and the seriousness makes up for the lack of boobies.

Pet Sematary II - 5/10. Not nearly as good as the first and gets pretty boring due to lack of boobies.

The Other Lamb - 4/10. Not scary enough, though it was an interesting premise. They could have done more with it. No boobies.

Baskin - 6/10. Pretty f'd up and some good gore. No boobies.

Brainscan - 6.5/10. Not scary but a pretty fun movie to watch. Some boobies.

Pumpkinhead - 6.5/10. Good monster movie with an original story but no boobies.

The House of the Devil - 7/10. I really liked it. Had that 70s-horror vibe, but wasn't scary. No boobies.

I See You - 7.5/10. The twist(s) really throws you for a loop and it's pretty creepy up until then. No boobies.


That was most of the "eh, pretty good" movies. Now onto the good ones:

The Exorcist - 8.5/10. I'm not scared by it, but I want to say it's almost perfect, at least in its pacing and storytelling. Some of the effects are a bit cheesy by today's standards, though the movie as a whole really holds up.

Hereditary - 8.5/10. Completely original and nearly every moment of it fills you with dread. It has some incredibly memorable parts.

John Carpenter's The Thing - 10/10. One of my top five movies of all time. Loved it as a kid and the practical effects are among the best in any (horror) movie. I don't find it that scary (I don't consider it to be true horror), but it's a perfect movie to watch on a snow day.

Psycho - 8/10. Similar to The Exorcist, the storytelling and acting are top-notch, but it does feel dated and there's no shock factor (at least, not anymore).

Jacob's Ladder - 8/10. Sort of screws with you, and has some good, dark moments. I love that gritty city-feel that it has, as if it was something made in the 70s. They captured the atmosphere perfectly.

The Shining - 9.5/10. IMO the greatest horror movie of all time. The music, setting, and atmosphere Kubrick created all come together to be something that is simply dreadful. Nicholson's acting is superb; my favorite part is of course when he unleashes himself (or, rather, the ghosts do) and goes batshit insane. The camerawork when he's chopping down the door takes it to a whole different level, and Shelley Duvall was perfect in her role as Wendy. Another awesome movie to watch on a snow day, but at night.


Tonight I'll have my yearly watch of the original Halloween, and then probably Trick 'r Treat.

 

[Artorias]

That's a great movie. I usually watch it once a year.

I've been watching nothing but horror movies for the past month+. I've gone through a lot of crap, but over the past week I've been watching some of the greats. Here's an abridged list:

The Wicker Man (1973) - 7/10. Weird but in a good way. Good pacing and all that. My favorite part is when Britt Ekland is dancing naked.

Friday the 13th - 7/10. Classic slasher. Nice amount of boobies.

Friday the 13th Part II - 6/10. Good amount of boobies.

Friday the 13th Part III - 4/10. Not enough boobies.

Friday the 13th - Final Chapter - 5/10. Some boobies but not much.

Friday the 13th - A New Beginning - 6/10. Good amount of boobies.

Friday the 13th Part VI - 2/10 - Zero boobies.

Pet Sematary (Original) - 7/10. Good creep factor, and the seriousness makes up for the lack of boobies.

Pet Sematary II - 5/10. Not nearly as good as the first and gets pretty boring due to lack of boobies.

The Other Lamb - 4/10. Not scary enough, though it was an interesting premise. They could have done more with it. No boobies.

Baskin - 6/10. Pretty f'd up and some good gore. No boobies.

Brainscan - 6.5/10. Not scary but a pretty fun movie to watch. Some boobies.

Pumpkinhead - 6.5/10. Good monster movie with an original story but no boobies.

The House of the Devil - 7/10. I really liked it. Had that 70s-horror vibe, but wasn't scary. No boobies.

I See You - 7.5/10. The twist(s) really throws you for a loop and it's pretty creepy up until then. No boobies.


That was most of the "eh, pretty good" movies. Now onto the good ones:

The Exorcist - 8.5/10. I'm not scared by it, but I want to say it's almost perfect, at least in its pacing and storytelling. Some of the effects are a bit cheesy by today's standards, though the movie as a whole really holds up.

Hereditary - 8.5/10. Completely original and nearly every moment of it fills you with dread. It has some incredibly memorable parts.

John Carpenter's The Thing - 10/10. One of my top five movies of all time. Loved it as a kid and the practical effects are among the best in any (horror) movie. I don't find it that scary (I don't consider it to be true horror), but it's a perfect movie to watch on a snow day.

Psycho - 8/10. Similar to The Exorcist, the storytelling and acting are top-notch, but it does feel dated and there's no shock factor (at least, not anymore).

Jacob's Ladder - 8/10. Sort of screws with you, and has some good, dark moments. I love that gritty city-feel that it has, as if it was something made in the 70s. They captured the atmosphere perfectly.

The Shining - 9.5/10. IMO the greatest horror movie of all time. The music, setting, and atmosphere Kubrick created all come together to be something that is simply dreadful. Nicholson's acting is superb; my favorite part is of course when he unleashes himself (or, rather, the ghosts do) and goes batshit insane. The camerawork when he's chopping down the door takes it to a whole different level, and Shelley Duvall was perfect in her role as Wendy. Another awesome movie to watch on a snow day, but at night.


Tonight I'll have my yearly watch of the original Halloween, and then probably Trick 'r Treat.

I will Videodrome (1983) to your list if you have not watched it already.

 

[snoopy7548]

I will Videodrome (1983) to your list if you have not watched it already.

Yep, I love Cronenberg. I've seen it maybe four or five times. Solid 7.5/10.

 

[DigDog]

i painfully watched Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116126/

the masterpiece of the Wayans brothers.
Lots of inside jokes and visual gags, reminiscent of the Airplane films; for example, while they are having a scene in a store (the 40-9 store, where 40= malt liquor, and 9= guns), a billboard outside the store has a "Back II The Hood" billboard spoofing Back II The Future, and a poster inside the store has a RoboPimp poster spoofing RoboCop. Both gags are just casually thrown in and the camera does not sell them to you, you'll only get them on repeat watchings.
The film cost $4M and made $20M in theaters and god knows how much in rentals.
I can't tell you much about the plot because i need a translator to figure out what they are saying, and half the time i don't know if i'm watching a throwaway gag or if it's something that's supposed to be plot-relevant.
I guess this film makes much more sense if you are part of the target culture. There's been a number of casual recommendations on social media that i watch this and i decide to try it, because, i actually love spoof films .. UHF, Airplane/Naked Gun, Top Secret, etc .. the sillier the better. But i just didn't get most of the references, and the language barrier is proving difficult. I'm just too aristocratic to get this film. As such, no vote. NC/10

 

[zinfamous]

do you guys reckon this film is real?

watched half of that and stopped.

because I want to see that movie NAO.

 

[clamum]

I'm about halfway through "For All Mankind" and "Raised by Wolves" and like both quite a bit.

 

[sportage]

When I was a kid I paid 50 cents to watch THEM! 1954 at the Holiday Theater in Des Moines. Nuclear ants with a taste for human flesh. Those were the days. 75 cents, 50 for entrance and 25 cents for pop and candy. Or, we could save our 25 cents and buy ice cream and a real cherry coke at the soda fountain down the street. But we loved that theater. Kids matinee in the afternoon, adults in the evenings. And the owner looked just like Mr Wilson on Dennis The Menace. Threatening the kids in the theater to keep the seats clean and no gum under the seat because our parents would be there in the evening. You want to keep the seats clean for your patents.

 

[CZroe]

When I was a kid I paid 50 cents to watch THEM! 1954 at the Holiday Theater in Des Moines. Nuclear ants with a taste for human flesh. Those were the days. 75 cents, 50 for entrance and 25 cents for pop and candy. Or, we could save our 25 cents and buy ice cream and a real cherry coke at the soda fountain down the street. But we loved that theater. Kids matinee in the afternoon, adults in the evenings. And the owner looked just like Mr Wilson on Dennis The Menace. Threatening the kids in the theater to keep the seats clean and no gum under the seat because our parents would be there in the evening. You want to keep the seats clean for your patents.

*AHEM*

 

[DigDog]

i'm really bummed, because i tried to watch Anon - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5397194/

a 2018 Netflix movie directed by none other than the director from Lord Of War. And it sucks.

Anon is a cyber-something story with the Children Of Men guy about some Minority Report plot, and it's ALL set in gray, featureless buildings because gray, featureless buildings and empty rooms and granite hallways make soooo future. Stop me if i'm not making sense.
There is a Girl(tm) and Guy obviously doesn't shoot her because of her Girl-ness.
The end.

I mean .. what the fuck. Lord Of War is such a good movie, directed by someone who obviously knows how to make a movie. How did it go from that, to this?

Ok so.
The plot is about how policeman unsuccessful hero Clive Owen has this technobabble magical trick of being able to see recordings from people's eyes. He solves the crimes.
Then Mysterious Girl appears, she doesnt do the eye-record-thing thing. OH MYSTERY!
Policeman unsuccessful hero Owens is framed for murder. He needs to speak to Girl to WIN.
He speaks with girl.

I know this "long" plot explanation sounds a lot like the previous "brief" plot explanation but the entire movie relies ,rather than on a plot, on the single, continuous visual trick of setting every scene in a bare room or gray building or corridor, completel featureless, without ANY color, because we're supposed to be amazed at how futuristic this looks. No, really.
There is also an abundance of the Sherlock overlay. To reiterate that GRAY AND FEATURELESS IS TEH FUTURE everyone only wears gray suits. Most objects are either white or black.

Compare this film to the far more successful Equilibrium, that also uses very similar stylistic elements to make-future, but properly used as punctuation, rather than blasting iot as white noise. In one instance it makes for an interesting addition, in the other it's shit.

My vote: spare yourself/10

 

[Zeze]

my opinion of The Boys is .. meh. I know it's supposed to be dark and shocking but i find it neither dark nor shocking. i *much* preferred Ozymandias' treason in Watchmen because it was subtle. And i'm not fazed by the "everyone's a bad person" plot.
So, i really watch it for the tits.
And i just cannot stand superhero films where superpowers are really super. Have you noticed that in every superhero film, everyone's superpower is to be bulletproof, and also so strong, that the only way a superhero can be beaten is by being punched by another superhero. It totally plays into the juvenile aggression that you'd have as a teenager and it makes you "badass", but nobody scripts a superhero that can throw lightning, BUT cannot survive being shot. Or, any superhero that can fly, can also fall from the sky and not get hurt, or smash through a building. Like, what are your bones made of, bro? It really sucks when in a film about superheroes fighting, the worst thing is the superheroes' fight scenes.

That main character is such a comically hilarious tough guy. It's so lame it prevents me from enjoying the show.

 

[DigDog]

i'm being totally honest now, when i watch this:

i get about 95% of the enjoyment that i get from an episode of The Boys.
Erin Moriarty in costume doing hip thrusts is solid entertainment, i won't deny it.

..Karl Urban is pretty cool and i like his scenes but Homelander and The Evil Corporation are too cookiecutter for me to enjoy.

 

[SMOGZINN]

That's a great movie. I usually watch it once a year.

I've been watching nothing but horror movies for the past month+. I've gone through a lot of crap, but over the past week I've been watching some of the greats. Here's an abridged list:

The Wicker Man (1973) - 7/10. Weird but in a good way. Good pacing and all that. My favorite part is when Britt Ekland is dancing naked.

Friday the 13th - 7/10. Classic slasher. Nice amount of boobies.

Friday the 13th Part II - 6/10. Good amount of boobies.

Friday the 13th Part III - 4/10. Not enough boobies.

Friday the 13th - Final Chapter - 5/10. Some boobies but not much.

Friday the 13th - A New Beginning - 6/10. Good amount of boobies.

Friday the 13th Part VI - 2/10 - Zero boobies.

Pet Sematary (Original) - 7/10. Good creep factor, and the seriousness makes up for the lack of boobies.

Pet Sematary II - 5/10. Not nearly as good as the first and gets pretty boring due to lack of boobies.

The Other Lamb - 4/10. Not scary enough, though it was an interesting premise. They could have done more with it. No boobies.

Baskin - 6/10. Pretty f'd up and some good gore. No boobies.

Brainscan - 6.5/10. Not scary but a pretty fun movie to watch. Some boobies.

Pumpkinhead - 6.5/10. Good monster movie with an original story but no boobies.

The House of the Devil - 7/10. I really liked it. Had that 70s-horror vibe, but wasn't scary. No boobies.

I See You - 7.5/10. The twist(s) really throws you for a loop and it's pretty creepy up until then. No boobies.


That was most of the "eh, pretty good" movies. Now onto the good ones:

The Exorcist - 8.5/10. I'm not scared by it, but I want to say it's almost perfect, at least in its pacing and storytelling. Some of the effects are a bit cheesy by today's standards, though the movie as a whole really holds up.

Hereditary - 8.5/10. Completely original and nearly every moment of it fills you with dread. It has some incredibly memorable parts.

John Carpenter's The Thing - 10/10. One of my top five movies of all time. Loved it as a kid and the practical effects are among the best in any (horror) movie. I don't find it that scary (I don't consider it to be true horror), but it's a perfect movie to watch on a snow day.

Psycho - 8/10. Similar to The Exorcist, the storytelling and acting are top-notch, but it does feel dated and there's no shock factor (at least, not anymore).

Jacob's Ladder - 8/10. Sort of screws with you, and has some good, dark moments. I love that gritty city-feel that it has, as if it was something made in the 70s. They captured the atmosphere perfectly.

The Shining - 9.5/10. IMO the greatest horror movie of all time. The music, setting, and atmosphere Kubrick created all come together to be something that is simply dreadful. Nicholson's acting is superb; my favorite part is of course when he unleashes himself (or, rather, the ghosts do) and goes batshit insane. The camerawork when he's chopping down the door takes it to a whole different level, and Shelley Duvall was perfect in her role as Wendy. Another awesome movie to watch on a snow day, but at night.


Tonight I'll have my yearly watch of the original Halloween, and then probably Trick 'r Treat.

Just because it struck me as funny, I noticed that none of your 'good ones' have any boobies in them at all. Maybe the 'boobie factor' is not so important to a good horror movie after all? (although, I completely agree it is critical for a bad one, so I'm mostly just busting your balls here.)

 

[sdifox]

Just because it struck me as funny, I noticed that none of your 'good ones' have any boobies in them at all. Maybe the 'boobie factor' is not so important to a good horror movie after all? (although, I completely agree it is critical for a bad one, so I'm mostly just busting your balls here.)

you must be pretty clueless about the ways of the internet if you depends on horror movies for boobies.

 

[SMOGZINN]

you must be pretty clueless about the ways of the internet if you depends on horror movies for boobies.

Horror movie bobbies are special.

 

[DigDog]

Horror movie bobbies are special.

this is correct.

 

[sdifox]

Horror movie bobbies are special.

You boobiest!

 

[snoopy7548]

Just because it struck me as funny, I noticed that none of your 'good ones' have any boobies in them at all. Maybe the 'boobie factor' is not so important to a good horror movie after all? (although, I completely agree it is critical for a bad one, so I'm mostly just busting your balls here.)

You're right there - good horror movies don't need boobies to be good. I think that's what makes them so good, that there isn't a focus on sex. It's just pure horror.

 

[ultimatebob]

Today, I've been watching The Queen's Gambit on Netflix. It's actually pretty good. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a chess movie, a coming of age story, or a 60's movie. It's got all of those elements blended into it, and it makes a pretty good combination. I'll give it a solid 8.5 out of 10... best thing I've seen in Netflix in a while.

The 4K "Premium" service plan still costs too much, though.

 

[zinfamous]

You're right there - good horror movies don't need boobies to be good. I think that's what makes them so good, that there isn't a focus on sex. It's just pure horror.

"horror movies" with expected boobies are basically slasher flicks.

The boobies are otherwise unnecessary for the horror label, but they are generally required in slasher flicks.

 

[zinfamous]

Today, I've been watching The Queen's Gambit on Netflix. It's actually pretty good. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a chess movie, a coming of age story, or a 60's movie. It's got all of those elements blended into it, and it makes a pretty good combination. I'll give it a solid 8.5 out of 10... best thing I've seen in Netflix in a while.

The 4K "Premium" service plan still costs too much, though.

Yeah this is a great show. Loved it.

It's got a weird...Marvelous Mrs Mazel vibe to it, but with the seriousness, mental abuse and terror of children, drug addiction, suicide, and not really all that funny....but it shares the same sort of tone, oddly enough. (basically "girl power" period piece with a young girl going out there on her own and fighting against type, with similar supporting characters, similar plot beats, and great casting)

 

[RearAdmiral]

Yeah this is a great show. Loved it.

It's got a weird...Marvelous Mrs Mazel vibe to it, but with the seriousness, mental abuse and terror of children, drug addiction, suicide, and not really all that funny....but it shares the same sort of tone, oddly enough. (basically "girl power" period piece with a young girl going out there on her own and fighting against type, with similar supporting characters, similar plot beats, and great casting)

Glad some people are enjoying this. I've been wanting to take a look!

 

[DigDog]

i won't lie, i've been glued to the screen waiting for Joe to become president.

But i found a little time to watch a rather weird film, Waiting For The Barbarians - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6149154/

The plot is that of a Magistrate, called "The Magistrate", who runs an early-20th-century outpost in .. Afghanistan, probably, but "the frontier". The film opens with "The Colonel" arriving at the outpost. And here the film already begins to break apart.
There was an obvious intent in making this a Kafka-inspired film. The themes and characters are right out of Kafka's playbook. The Magistrate is a meek man, who spends his days cataloguing ancient artifacts and settling petty disputes, as the outpost is populated by peaceful and unassuming peasants. The Colonel is the personification of evil, and right on arrival he sets forth to bring violence there where violence is not needed, because he is, literally, the personification of unnecessary violence.
And the Colonel is played by Johnny Depp. And man, does he stick out like a sore thumb.

If this was a Kafka story, it wouldn't have been a good story. Instead it's a film by Ciro Guerra (who made the excellent Embrace Of The Serpent) based on a story by John Coetzee, who is primarily a scholar. And i can see how Guerra would think that Depp's name could draw interest to the film.

But, not only Depp doesn't work with the role (realistically, the guy's only good at doing that one thing he does, and this ain't it), and is absolutely horribly miscast, in an otherwise very solid cast, but the story is just your typical Kafka story, without the genius.
There's this guy who is the Magistrate. he's with the law n' all but fate will test how much he is willing to corrupt himself to ensure his own survaval; and the answer is "not at all". And - being a pious man, he suffers when Evil appears, is completely trampled by it, and eventually, when Evil is bored and leaves, the Magistrate, perplexed, goes back to his routine.

I have said it before, i do not like weak characters, those who get crushed by the narrative. The crude, overstated symbolism doesn't do much for me either. YMMV, but i got bored quickly, and annoyed not much after.

My vote: 6.5/10 - runs out of interesting things very, very quickly.