The All-Things Cinema thread

[Raithe]

For the random film trivia...

[Pidesco]

16 hours ago, Maedhros said:

Check out In the Loop (same director) if you liked The Death of Stalin.

Armando Iannucci. He also created I'm Alan Partridge, The Thick of It, Veep, and Avenue 5. All very much worth having a look.

[Bartimaeus]

12 Angry Men (1957). The entire movie takes place in one room, twelve jurors discussing the guilt of an accused murderer where all of the evidence is stacked up against the accused.

What a great movie, especially because of but certainly not just for the time - it would be great even if it were made today, though stylistic differences as a result of being made today would probably make a much weaker film out of it. I can see why it's rated up there with the best of all time: it did everything perfectly right without going too strongly one way or the other and it concluded just as it should've if you have any belief in the core concepts of "innocent until proven guilty" and "beyond reasonable doubt". Characters, dialogue, themes, plot, filming, premise...this one absolutely goes into my small "favorites of all-time" pile.

Edited October 12, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Raithe]

Well.. test footage. I wonder if they're trying to find backing for a full thing...

 

[Guard Dog]

I watched Malignant on HBO Max on Sunday. It sucked. No, I mean it really, really, really, really, sucked. Two hours of my life I'll never bet back.

[Amentep]

I've heard Malignant is a bit like Italian horror films (particularly Lucio Fulci's). If true, it'd not be for everyone.

Anyhow...

 

[ShadySands]

I thought Malignant was hilarious

 

[Keyrock]

1 hour ago, Guard Dog said:

I watched Malignant on HBO Max on Sunday. It sucked. No, I mean it really, really, really, really, sucked. Two hours of my life I'll never bet back.

 

1 minute ago, Amentep said:

I've heard Malignant is a bit like Italian horror films (particularly Lucio Fulci). If true, it'd not be for everyone.

I think one's enjoyment of the movie will heavily depend on whether the (intentional?) comedy worked for them or not, I personally loved it. You do have to get through 2 acts of mediocre "horror" movie until you get to act 3 where it takes a HARD left and turns into The Matrix. For me, I loved how hilariously bat**** insane the 3rd act was. It was such an amazingly jarring tonal shift and went so far off the rails that it was worth sitting through those 2 fairly boring acts to get there. If the 3rd act didn't work for you then I could definitely see how you would have hated the movie.

As for the Giallo influence, it's definitely there, but it's mostly superficial.

[Guard Dog]

I was yawning through the first to acts of, like you said, generic horror movie tropes. I was hoping the payoff would well you know pay off. But I guess I just couldn’t suspend disbelief that far. 

[Hurlshort]

3 hours ago, Raithe said:

Well.. test footage. I wonder if they're trying to find backing for a full thing...

 

I didn't want to like it. I went in saying there is no way they can pull off Robin Williams. He is too unique.

But by the end of the clip I was just happy to have a few minutes dedicated to remembering Robin Williams and his magic. 

[Raithe]

8 hours ago, Hurlsnot said:

I didn't want to like it. I went in saying there is no way they can pull off Robin Williams. He is too unique.

But by the end of the clip I was just happy to have a few minutes dedicated to remembering Robin Williams and his magic. 

I was pretty much the same.

I had heard his family is pretty set against any biopic of him at the moment, which added to the weirdness factor when I stumbled upon that.

[Raithe]

 

[Amentep]

 

[Bartimaeus]

Big Trouble in Little China (1986). This was the dumbest 80s action movie in the history of dumb 80s action movies, maybe ever. Everything everyone said and did in this movie seemed like it was written to be as dumb as humanly possible. It was somewhat amusing in a "what the hell is wrong with you" kind of way, I guess, but didn't do much for me beyond that.

Edited October 14, 2021 by Bartimaeus
"Big" and "Little" were reversed.

[Raithe]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Big Trouble in Little China (1986). This was the dumbest 80s action movie in the history of dumb 80s action movies, maybe ever. Everything everyone said and did in this movie seemed like it was written to be as dumb as humanly possible. It was somewhat amusing in a "what the hell is wrong with you" kind of way, I guess, but didn't do much for me beyond that.

It's not really an 80's "action" movie...

That was part of the intended comedy, or rather, that the viewpoint is from Jack Burton's perspective where he thinks he's the big brash American hero. When in fact he's actually just the comedy sidekick completely in over his head...

[Bartimaeus]

12 minutes ago, Raithe said:

It's not really an 80's "action" movie...

That was part of the intended comedy, or rather, that the viewpoint is from Jack Burton's perspective where he thinks he's the big brash American hero. When in fact he's actually just the comedy sidekick completely in over his head...

Yeah, I did mostly get that, but it's still a very cheesy 80s action(-comedy) movie. The utterly clueless protagonist (who asks "what the hell is going on" approximately 40 or 50 times throughout the film, ) may not be the suave action hero he thinks he is, but it doesn't really fundamentally change how the movie plays out for me, especially when the movie has some peculiar character direction and dialogue (the "romantic interest" lady, Grace, was an absolute albatross in almost every scene she appeared in - if there was one character being cut out of the film that would've helped make it at least a bit more enjoyable for me, it was her, as I could not wrap my head around why she acted the way or said the things she did outside of "we need to complete this picture of a borderline parody American action movie, and that means having a girl"). But I'm not an action guy, and I'm especially not a cheese guy, so really, I'm just the wrong audience for something like this.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

7 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Big Trouble in Little China (1986). This was the dumbest 80s action movie in the history of dumb 80s action movies, maybe ever. Everything everyone said and did in this movie seemed like it was written to be as dumb as humanly possible. It was somewhat amusing in a "what the hell is wrong with you" kind of way, I guess, but didn't do much for me beyond that.

 

 

[Hurlshort]

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Big Trouble in Little China (1986). This was the dumbest 80s action movie in the history of dumb 80s action movies, maybe ever. Everything everyone said and did in this movie seemed like it was written to be as dumb as humanly possible. It was somewhat amusing in a "what the hell is wrong with you" kind of way, I guess, but didn't do much for me beyond that.

Reported.

[Keyrock]

7 hours ago, Raithe said:

It's not really an 80's "action" movie...

That was part of the intended comedy, or rather, that the viewpoint is from Jack Burton's perspective where he thinks he's the big brash American hero. When in fact he's actually just the comedy sidekick completely in over his head...

I love that dynamic where the main protagonist talks a big game and fails to back it up again and again because he's nowhere near the hero he thinks he is. I found Jack Burton incredibly compelling because he thinks he's an action hero but he's absolutely not, he just happens to have capable friends and dumb luck on his side. This is similar to why I loved the Space Quest games, with Roger Wilco being completely ill-equipped to be a hero.

It also helps that I absolutely love camp and I love wuxia. I adore 70s Hong Kong cinema where... Well, I love 70s Hong Kong cinema in general, but I particularly love the more goofy kung fu flicks with comedy characters aplenty. While Big Trouble in Little China isn't really a kung fu movie it does have some of the elements of the wackier 70s kung fu flicks I love so much. It's the unholy love child of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Drunken Master I didn't know I needed until I saw it.

Also, Kim Cattrall 

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by Keyrock

[Raithe]

This also calls for the obligatory re-sharing of:

 

[Bartimaeus]

12 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

Also, Kim Cattrall

Is that the lady I just mentioned that I wanted out of the movie more than literally anyone/anything else? ...Hmm, .

I didn't have any problem with Kurt Russell's character - indeed, it was rather amusing to see him play a kind of dumb and incapable version of the type of character that he usually plays. ...I get the feeling I should've asked all of you guys "should I watch Big Trouble in Little China yes/no", to which all of you would've immediately said "absolutely, 100%"...at which point, I would've then included the following addendum to my question: "...given that I hate kung-fu, swordplay, cheesiness, usually action and comedy movies in general, and so on and so forth", to which all of you would've said "if you crap all over this movie, we will throw you down a well" or some such.

19 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

Reported.

Yeah, I'm not sure we've ever agreed on a film, and we probably never will, . Heck, if I had known you loved it, I would've probably taken it as a warning...

[Keyrock]

5 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Is that the lady I just mentioned that I wanted out of the movie more than literally anyone/anything else? ...Hmm, .

I should say that I've had a SUPER boner for Kim Cattrall from the age at which I could first get a boner so my judgement is a bit clouded.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

11 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Is that the lady I just mentioned that I wanted out of the movie more than literally anyone/anything else? ...Hmm, .

I didn't have any problem with Kurt Russell's character - indeed, it was rather amusing to see him play a kind of dumb and incapable version of the type of character that he usually plays. ...I get the feeling I should've asked all of you guys "should I watch Big Trouble in Little China yes/no", to which all of you would've immediately said "absolutely, 100%"...at which point, I would've then included the following addendum to my question: "...given that I hate kung-fu, swordplay, cheesiness, usually action and comedy movies in general, and so on and so forth", to which all of you would've said "if you crap all over this movie, we will throw you down a well" or some such.

Yeah, I'm not sure we've ever agreed on a film, and we probably never will, . Heck, if I had known you loved it, I would've probably taken it as a warning...

Ok that's it, you're going down the well.

3 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

I should say that I've had a SUPER boner for Kim Cattrall from the age at which I could first get a boner so my judgement is a bit clouded.

I think you're supposed to see a doctor if you have an erection lasting more than four hours.

[Keyrock]

15 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

I think you're supposed to see a doctor if you have an erection lasting more than four hours.

Either that or turn it into a career.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

5 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

Either that or turn it into a career.

The hours are worse than trucking though.