Cinema and Movie Thread: coming at you at 24fps

[LadyCrimson]

"Viggo, Western? Maybe."
(28 seconds into trailer) "Wait, is this a sappy romance drama of the sort I don't enjoy?"
(30 seconds into trailer) **(fully) Written and Directed by Viggo**

....now I must check it out.  (and it appears to be a sappy love+revenge movie). I still need to watch Falling, too, which was his directing debut (also, co-writer). But it isn't as much in my potential wheelhouse as a Western, plus I watch so minimal TV/flim now, so haven't gotten around to it, even w/Lance Henricksen as a co-star interest pull. Maybe when this comes out for rent I'll do a double-bill.

 

[Bartimaeus]

The Boy Friend (1971) by Ken Russell.

Ken Russell said he made this film...um, "[...] to prove to people I'm not totally deranged; I love the innocence and charm of musicals", but I came away from this becoming certain that he must be. I think it's one of the most fun films I've ever viewed, but I feel I lost my sanity watching it through. I don't know what I was expecting after having seen Altered States and Crimes of Passion, but I certainly wasn't prepared for whatever that was.

[Sarex]

Me Before You. It's good in that sappy sort of way. If you liked About Time you will like this I think.

[Amentep]

Watched LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL

I liked it, but feel like there were a few things that ultimately didn't come together and ultimately I don't think it came together as well as it could have. 

[Keyrock]

Mutant (1982) - More commonly known as Forbidden World, this is a Roger Corman Alien ripoff. A mercenary type and his robot sidekick get sent to a research facility on a remote planet. Before they arrive they get into a space battle that's stitched together from likely entirely reused footage, I'm certain I recognized some Battle Beyond the Stars in there. It wouldn't be a Roger Corman movie without recycled footage. Anyway, at the facility genetic scientists are doing genetic scientist stuff and wouldn't you know it things go horribly wrong. It's basically Alien from the moment our merc arrives at the facility. Instead of a xenomorph it's a metamorph, a being that's constantly mutating. It's actually awesomely gross looking when it's in its, shall we say, larval state, once its fully formed it looks like they ordered the xenomorph from Wish.

It's a movie co-written by Jim Wynorski and you know if Jim Wynorski is involved you're getting nudity and ol' Jim does not disappoint, there is a more than ample amount of boobs and butts. There is some really awesome and truly disgusting gore in this movie and some fun deaths. It's a Roger Corman movie, you know what you're getting, a cheap but sufficient movie. I'd say this movie is even a little above sufficient, it's an entertaining sleazy horror movie. Also, what I watched was not the theatrical Forbidden World version. After a test screening when the movie was still called Mutant that had the audience laughing several times, Roger Corman cut roughly 5 minutes of mostly comedic bits out of the movie because he didn't want the movie to be funny at all. Director Allan Holzman hung on to a copy of the original cut and many years later the folks at Shout! Factory released The Holzman Cut . My blu-ray copy has both the theatrical Forbidden World and the director's cut, if you will, Mutant. 

It's a good Alien ripoff and it you want to see some awesomely gross gore then this movie has got your hook up. Having seen both versions of this movie I do believe Holzman's original Mutant is better. The comedy bits weirdly work with the horror. The movie gets really dark at times but the comedy bits never undercut the tension. I like the Mutant version better, but either one is worth watching if you're into a sleazy and gory but entertaining Alien ripoff.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Sleepwalkers (1992)

It's a 90s horror flick. Not really much else to say, it doesn't do anything particularly noteworthy.

The Devils (1971)

I think this is the film Ken Russell followed up with The Boyfried (1971) that took @Bartimaeus last shred of sanity. So I went into this mostly blind and was expecting something completely unhinged and got something that was all too hinged. It's an incredible film, perhaps one of the best I've seen, but it hits much closer to what The Crucible (1996) wanted to be than the hyper-sex crazed Excorcist I went in expecting. There are some truly striking scenes and transitions filled with top notch acting and dialogue that hits wonderfully.

I'm just at kind of a place where my brain is so broken that "wildest film evar" doesn't really move my weird-o-meter....but I guess that's just me being a big ol weirdo.

Altered States (1980)

I got to say that it very much reminded me of another Ken Russel film, Lair of the White Worm (1988) in terms of composition of the hallucination sequences. Observation aside, movie is god damn incredible. I love when time jumps are handled relatively organically instead of just plastering "5 years later" over the film, Altered States does this several times which helps reinforce the psychedelic atmosphere by playing with the viewers' sense of time. Definitely enjoyed the shift from depicting hallucinations from the perspective of the hallucinator to that of the one viewing them, particularily when the main character started to.....deconstitute???? It's a very weird ride

[Bartimaeus]

I think the thing that really strikes me with The Boy Friend is that there's really no reason for a silly 1920s matinee show quasi-musical to seem deranged whatsoever, especially when the stated goal of the filmmaker was just to make it sweet and innocent, and yet I could feel a nuclear meltdown starting in my brain about a third of the way through as I tried to make sense of the choices that the director was making, and it didn't really ever stop. There was a distinct sensation of fire and smoldering in the top left part of my brain even after the film had finished. I'd definitely appreciate someone else's take on it to determine whether or not maybe I'm just cracked for reasons unrelated to the film - perhaps it was just all the characters staring with the full whites of their eyes straight into the camera for what felt like half the film that did me in.

I should probably watch The Devils sometime, it is rather infamous. Probably a little outside my wheelhouse, but that's exactly how I got into this mess in the first place.

Edited April 1 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'd definitely appreciate someone else's take on it to determine whether or not maybe I'm just cracked for reasons unrelated to the film

I'll do it. The one I can get is the director's cut I think, it's about half an hour longer than the US release.

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I should probably watch The Devils sometime, it is rather infamous. Probably a little outside my wheelhouse, but that's exactly how I got into this mess in the first place.

I'd tentatively reccomend it to you, compared to a lot of films today it's not quite as outrageous as when it dropped. Like I said it wasn't what I went in expecting and frankly turned out to be a much better film because of it.

I'd also be curious to see your take on Lair of the White Worm and how it relates to Altered States. They're very different (hallucinogenic fantasy vs horror) but the hallucinations scenes felt like they could be transplanted.

[Bartimaeus]

On 4/3/2024 at 9:41 AM, Howrdwallt said:

Reminds me of the magic of cinema, you know? Speaking of which, caught a movie out now last weekend with friends.

Uh, why was this obvious spam not deleted?

Fun fact: if you Google the username "Howrdwallt" (with quote marks around it for an exact search), you can find a bunch of similarly generic comments around the internet, on threads both new and years old...but their posts all date to yesterday: #1, #2, #3, and so on. It's probably some kind of AI experiment, and I've seen somebody who was posting similar comments get banned on a different forum once moderators realized what was up...uh, admittedly, once I informed them: the point stands, . We're entering a brave new world of spam, and our moderator team needs to be prepared for it, .

Edited April 4 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

42 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Uh, why was this obvious spam not deleted?

Fun fact: if you Google the username "Howrdwallt" (with quote marks around it for an exact search), you can find a bunch of similarly generic comments around the internet, on threads both new and years old...but their posts all date to yesterday: #1, #2, #3, and so on. It's probably some kind of AI experiment, and I've seen somebody who was posting similar comments get banned on a different forum once moderators realized what was up...uh, admittedly, once I informed them: the point stands, . We're entering a brave new world of spam, and our moderator team needs to be prepared for it, .

I remember hearing fantasies if how AI/automation would free us from tedious work and allow creativity/leisure, I see countless panels featuring some soulless tech dip****s giddy at the idea of AI making all the art so we can do tedium even harder, but the truth is that all AI is spam or scam.

[Hurlshort]

57 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Uh, why was this obvious spam not deleted?

Fun fact: if you Google the username "Howrdwallt" (with quote marks around it for an exact search), you can find a bunch of similarly generic comments around the internet, on threads both new and years old...but their posts all date to yesterday: #1, #2, #3, and so on. It's probably some kind of AI experiment, and I've seen somebody who was posting similar comments get banned on a different forum once moderators realized what was up...uh, admittedly, once I informed them: the point stands, . We're entering a brave new world of spam, and our moderator team needs to be prepared for it, .

Now that you've quoted them, you will be targeted for assimilation.  

[Amentep]

What post?  I don't see no post?

[LadyCrimson]

Re: AI - I feel like half the short docs. on YT now are AI-voice generated. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes it's a little creepy, sometimes I can't tell/could be wrong. But point is, it's feeling weirder and weirder wondering if there's an actual human being behind the narrator. I suppose it shouldn't matter simply in terms of whether I like watching a short doc, but just saying. Feels weird.

[Hurlshort]

I took the family to see Dune part 2 in the theaters. It was pretty good. We just re-watched part 1 last weekend, so it was fresh in our minds. I preferred part 1, since it is a relatively simple story. Part 2 definitely gets a bit bogged down in the complexities, particularly at the end. But hey, I was raised on the Lynch version and never read the books, so what do I know?  

Basically I missed Sting hamming it up at the end. 

[Malcador]

https://www.theverge.com/24121523/dune-3-denis-villeneuve-legendary-messiah

 

[Bartimaeus]

I suppose it at least means he doesn't have the opportunity to ruin anything else in the meantime, a la James Cameron and the Avatar series.

Edited April 8 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Amadeus (1984) Director's Cut

Like the recent Elvis movie, this is a biopic where the main character isn't the subject. Unlike Elvis, instead of a greedy manager in the spotlight we have a seething Salieri who is disgusted that a vulgar creature like Mozart is more talented than him while also being in awe of him. It's also got ye olde costumes that look hilarious now like the powdered wigs. Yuge reccomend.

[Keyrock]

5 hours ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

Amadeus (1984) Director's Cut

Like the recent Elvis movie, this is a biopic where the main character isn't the subject. Unlike Elvis, instead of a greedy manager in the spotlight we have a seething Salieri who is disgusted that a vulgar creature like Mozart is more talented than him while also being in awe of him. It's also got ye olde costumes that look hilarious now like the powdered wigs. Yuge reccomend.

You forgot the most important reason of all, Austria's greatest contribution to the world, Falco.

[InsaneCommander]

 

[Bartimaeus]

I didn't watch but came across a movie called "The Man Without a Body". The title made me curious as to how many movies there are that start with "The Man".

Spoiler

The Man Who Finally Died

The Man Without a Body

The Man Who Loves to Hurt Himself

The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then Bigfoot

The Man Who Wasn't There

The Man from Majorca

The Man They Could Not Hang

The Man Who Quit Smoking

The Man Who Loved Haugesund

The Man Who Could Not Laugh

The Man With the Glass Eye

The Man They Called Pirate

The Man Who Played With Fire

The Man Who Is Talked About

The Man on the Wall

The Man on the Ramp

The Man Who Thought Life

The Man Without a Future

The Man With the Missing Finger

The Man of Tomorrow

The Man Who Wanted to Be Guilty

The Man from Swan Farm

The Man Who Would Live Forever

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

The Man from Earth

The Man from Nowhere

The Man Who Fell to Earth

The Man With the Golden Gun

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

The Man Who Knew Infinity

The Man Who Would Be King

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

The Man Who Knew Too Little

The Man With the Iron Fists

The Man from Toronto

The Man in the Machine

The Man Who Planted Trees

The Man and His Dream

The Man Without a Past

The Man in the Iron Mask

The Man Who Saved the Game

The Man Who Knew Too Much

The Man With Two Brains

The Man from Snowy River

The Man in the White Suit

The Man Who Invented Christmas

The Man Behind a Legend

The Man Who Laughs

The Man Who Sleeps

The Man on the Train

The Man Who Brought Down the White House

The Man Nobody Knew

The Man from Laramie

The Man in the Moon

The Man With the Iron Heart

The Man With the Golden Arm

The Man Who Painted Totoro's Forest

The Man from Earth

The Man from Acapulco

The Man from the Future

The Man With the X-Ray Eyes

The Man Who Never Was

The Man from Hong Kong

The Man Who Skied Down Everest

The Man Between

The Man With One Red Shoe

The Man Who Stole the Sun

The Man from Planet X

The Man Without a Face

The Man Who Came to Dinner

The Man Who Sold His Skin

The Man from London

The Man Who Cried

The Man Who Haunted Himself

The Man Standing Next

The Man Who Could Cheat Death

The Man Who Copied

The Man in the Silver Saddle

The Man With the Answers

The Man You Loved to Hate

The Man Called Flintstone

The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short

The Man Who Cheated Himself

The Man Who Left His Will on Film

The Man Who Stole Banksy

The Man I Killed

The Man of the Year

The Man in Grey

The Man Who Lies

The Man With a Thousand Faces

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

The Man Who Saved the World

The Man Who Souled the World

The Man Without a Map

The Man Who Waited

The Man from Colorado

The Man Who Sued God

The Man Who Sells the River

The Man With Two Heads

The Man With No Shadow

The Man Who Cheated Life

The Man Who Surprised Everyone
The Man

...the list keeps going for sometime, I got to like a hundred and thought that was enough

I've decided that I won't ever be watching any movies that start with "The Man". To my delight, I looked through my list of watched movies and I haven't already accidentally seen one.

[Hurlshort]

The Manchurian Candidate should count.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I've decided that I won't ever be watching any movies that start with "The Man".

You're missing out on The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976). Easily one of the best movies I've seen.

[Sarex]

4 hours ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

You're missing out on The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976). Easily one of the best movies I've seen.

Ditto with The Man from Earth (2007). The movie has no right being as good as it is, considering that the whole movie is people sitting in a room.

[ShadySands]

19 hours ago, Sarex said:

Ditto with The Man from Earth (2007). The movie has no right being as good as it is, considering that the whole movie is people sitting in a room.

Yeah, it's a really good movie full of Trek actors.

Three in a row that I liked. ...from Earth, ...from Nowhere, ...Who Fell to Earth.

Edited April 13 by ShadySands

[Keyrock]

Is there a movie simply called The Man? Let's just distill all those The Man <Something Something> movies into one neat and tidy package.

Edited April 14 by Keyrock