Cinema and Movie Thread: coming at you at 24fps

[Amentep]

Bad thing is, IIRC, they actually did practical effects for Thing 2011 but the studio required them to replace the practical effects with digital, and also cut the character development out of the film and use reshoots to clarify the narrative since the character development was gone.

[LadyCrimson]

I see cat, I click. I was disappointed that this wasn't a trailer for a video game.
I don't know if it's going to be a short film or feature length or anything else. But that trailer is great. Edit: I wonder if this is a zero dialogue film.

 

Edited September 17 by LadyCrimson

[Amentep]

 

 

[Malcador]

Saw Massacre at Central High. Truly awful.

[melkathi]

Watched the new Beetlejuice.

Never watched the old one completely. Still could follow the movie just fine even without knowing references. Thumbs up for hanging out with a friend. Movie still wasn't my thing.

Then again, only watched it to support "our girl" Ortega. Which surprised my friends who understood the concept that I do not watch things for political reasons (i.e. boycott) but never expected me to   watch something they like for the same reasons

[Gfted1]

 

[Agiel]

I guess it was a sign from up high that I decided to re-watch <<Kite>> last month: 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 12:16 AM by Agiel

[bugarup]

Watched Dungeons & Dragons. Very entertaining movie, though I found myself rooting for Hugh Grant and Red Wizard, they were just cooler than the main group. Also paladin was great, can't remember last time I wanted to push someone face down the bog this much. 

[LadyCrimson]

We watched Trap via Prime rental.

Josh Hartnett was great, I liked his performance re: constant expression changes.
There is no M. Night twist ending, although one aspect is something one might not predict. But it's not a twist.
The movie overall lacks any real sense of suspense/thrill re: the "trap" situation. And the second half of the film becomes more of standard crime-thriller sort. I was vaguely reminded - pacing/story-beat wise - of the old film Red Eye, except Red Eye had Cillian Murphy and was a lot better.

[Amentep]

 

 

[bugarup]

Deadpool and Wolverine. Crass sex jokes in that sterile, boring superhero world were lots of fun, still I prefer times when Deadpool did not want to join the club of dorks in silly costumes. 

[Bartimaeus]

Brewster McCloud (1970).

It's the third Robert Altman movie I've seen (3 Women and Popeye), and it's three for three so far. The man makes the most inexplicable but nevertheless entertaining films: he is a psychotic director, and I have no idea how he kept getting funding for his weirdo films (also why he was selected for making Popeye in the first place given his history of work...). I also just read that he's the one that discovered Shelley Duvall as an actress and insisted upon her appearing and starring in his films, which explains why she's been a major part in all three of the Altman films I've seen.

Edited 22 hours ago by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Street Fighter (1994)

It's a bad movie. Kind of in the middle of just being bad to being a "good" bad movie, solely on the back of Raul Julia's performance. Take that out and it's ****ing awful, irredeemable garbage.

I also recently watched a horror movie but I already forgot it.

[Amentep]

4 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I have no idea how he kept getting funding for his weirdo films

My memory is that he was a TV director who had a moneymaker lowbudget film (The Delinquents) that after a couple of middling results with other films got hired to direct M*A*S*H* which was a huge critical and commercial success. This led to a string of critically acclaimed but poor box office films (like Brewster McCloud, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, the Long Goodbye) mild hits (Nashville) and a major flop (Quintet).

Because of the critical acclaim, he had a lot of admirers in Hollywood (like Ladd Company head, Alan Ladd jr) so continued to be sought after, but often with an attempt to attach him to a more commercial project. 

Comic based properties were hot in the late 70s. Robert Evans lost a bidding war over Annie which was already a popular Broadway musical, so decided to make his own comic strip movie musicsl and settled on Popeye. He hired Jules Fieffer, a well known cartoonist and fan of E. C. Segar's THIMBLE THEATER, where Popeye debuted. Evans planned for Dustin Hoffman to play Popeye, Lily Tomlin as Olive Oyl, and for it to be directed by John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy, Marathon Man).

After all those people dropped out or passed (excepting Feiffer), Altman's people put him forward as the project was commercial but also playing to his strengths in ensemble storytelling. It was a huge hit but the troubles in production - clashes between Altman and Evans, between Altman and Williams (who threatened to walk), Altman and Harry Nilsson (who did walk), a number of script changes (including removal of the original end that would have had Bluto working for the Sea Hag, leading to a confrontation between her and Popeye), a storm that destroyed sets and a mechanical octopus that didn't work - would ensure that a sequel was never considered.

Altman then settled into a pattern of critically acclaimed films with poor or middling box office punctuated by the occasional hit (Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, Gosford Park, The Player, Prêt-à-Porter).