Cinema and Movie Thread: coming 2 a theater near u

[Bartimaeus]

The Substance (2024).

The perception and treatment of aging women (including by themselves and towards each other!) in the United States is something I've long talked about as being a sad indictment upon our society, and playing off of it with addiction, self-harm, self-loathing, and other neurotic and self-destructive behaviors does make for a natural pairing...but I really just don't like anything about this as a movie, and that became very apparent to me as soon as maybe two minutes in. It's one of those things where you can sit and nitpick all the little minor things that bothered you, but no matter what you could say, it still just wouldn't really touch upon the base issue, which is that you sat through a 2 hour-plus movie where it was perfectly obvious right off the bat that some combination of the direction, editing, tone, visuals, cast et al. was conspiring to make certain that the film wasn't ever going to click with you, so there was no reality where you'd ever enjoy it even if all the themes and ideas should in theory appeal to you. If the same film were made by a different director whose style and film sensibilities I actually like, I think I could've loved this movie...but as it was, I mostly just sat there irritated the whole way through, occasionally wishing I were watching something else a little less obnoxious. Like, I'm sitting here watching probably some of the grossest body horror you'll ever see in a film, and I'm just sighing at all of it, wishing that I was into the film enough for it to have some kind of effect beyond annoying me.

Spoiler

Well, except for Monstro Elizasue right at the end, that was just funny and a good bit of fun, especially with the juxtaposition against phrases said earlier in the film like "pretty girls always smile". Only bit I can say that I particularly liked. And given that the film really gets down to exactly what it wants to say in the ending, I think that pretty much makes sense: I don't have any issue with what the film is saying, I just don't like the film.

Edited November 10 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

So, do you still like shrimp or has Dennis Quaid managed to turn you off?

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

So, do you still like shrimp or has Dennis Quaid managed to turn you off?

Hey, I can't let a movie I didn't like ruin things I do, otherwise there would very quickly be nothing left to enjoy in this universe.

[Sarex]

 

[Amentep]

 

 

 

 

[LadyCrimson]

Suzume - well lots of great reviews. I can understand the reviews, but for me it was simply nothing special. Animation is beautiful, and ofc I thought the "cat" chr was a little amusing/interesting in its small (but important) role, but story didn't do much for me and admiring the animation sequences was about it.

Maybe I couldn't quite get past the talking chair. Not that there's anything wrong with human-transformed talking chair, any more than a talking cowboy toy. But I never felt like I grew interested in the chr. behind it. Actually, same with most of the chrs.

Edited November 12 by LadyCrimson

[Hurlshort]

We bought a new TV, so I was looking for a fun action movie to break it in with. We tried Infinite with Mark Wahlberg. It looked great on our TV, but it was really bad. We got about 20 minutes in before giving up.

We ended up watching Chernobyl on HBO Max. Much better.  

[Gorth]

1 hour ago, Hurlshort said:

We bought a new TV, so I was looking for a fun action movie to break it in with. We tried Infinite with Mark Wahlberg. It looked great on our TV, but it was really bad. We got about 20 minutes in before giving up.

We ended up watching Chernobyl on HBO Max. Much better.  

I hear the latter got glowing reviews?

[Amentep]

 

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I saw The Substance several weeks ago and have a review in the pipeline, but I want to watch it again before I pull the trigger. The TL;DR is that it's probably my third favorite movie of 2024, behind The People's Joker and I Saw The TV Glow.

In the meantime I saw Rebel Ridge which was just ok. Kinda lame action **** and would have been better if the protagonist.....you know what, I'm not gonna say it because out of context it could get me in legal trouble.

There was also many ****ty horror movies because I've been spending time with my mom and she consumes that **** constantly. Nothing in particular sticks out.

I did rewatch Phantom of the Paradise (1974) because of the Berserk manga and yeah, it's ****ing great. An incredible blend of Faust and Phantom of the Opera with the decadent 70's rock in the background. Bill Finley is capable of doing more with one eye than some actors can with their whole body and by God De Palma's direction ****ing kills it. This will probably work its way into my top movies of all time.

[Amentep]

On 11/16/2024 at 10:32 PM, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

I did rewatch Phantom of the Paradise (1974) because of the Berserk manga ...

I have no clue how these two things are connected, but the imagination boggles.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, Amentep said:

I have no clue how these two things are connected, but the imagination boggles.

The design for Femto is heavily inspired the Phantom.

[LadyCrimson]

1st reaction: "No, no, no, NO, no."
2nd reaction: "Have an open mind, have an open mind, it might be good/fun."
3rd reaction: "No, no, no, NO, no."

 

The director is the same. Gerald's playing the dad. Director said there will be some differences vs. a straight 1-1 copy, things that weren't put in the animated originals, although for this teaser it's pretty much showing the 1-1 iconic bits side. And to me Toothless looks weird. I mean it looks like Toothless, but with some super bumpy texture map. Certainly doesn't look like a "live" dragon, even if the actors are humans. And ... it's not NEEDED. Sigh. Hollywood.

"Have an open mind, have an open mind, I might enjoy it...." 

[Amentep]

I can't say the trailer did much for me.

[Bartimaeus]

The Primevals (2023).

Filmed in 1994, but only released last year, was mentioned on RedLetterMedia, and my interest was piqued. Our characters and the story are...unfortunately dross, it's pretty much my least favorite kind of guy protagonist dude story, where our main character has an unhealthy obsession with something  - yeti, for this particular movie - and is angry at a world that doesn't share his singular interest or irrational beliefs around them because he's a big dumb dip**** that can't let it go, and he ends up getting rewarded for it because surprise, it turns out that yeti are real, and that the garbage thesis he wrote in university (which was so bad that it actually caused him to fail and get kicked out of his program) about how yetis are totally real despite no evidence combined with his continued obsession on them makes him uniquely qualified to go investigate just how real they are! I genuinely loathe this kind of basis for characters being involved with a story, so the movie and I got off on the wrong foot immediately, and it didn't really get any better from there. Let's just say that while the stop-motion visual effects for the yeti are neat, the rest of the movie is kind of a dumb pile of crap, though I might be biased.

[Amentep]

I'm really looking forward to seeing it!  

I'm not surprised about unlikeable protagonists, a number of Charles Band films have that issue. lol.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, Amentep said:

I'm really looking forward to seeing it!  

I'm not surprised about unlikeable protagonists, a number of Charles Band films have that issue. lol.

I have to imagine you'll like it a lot better than I did. There's a lot that can be forgiven and I genuinely wanted to be more generous towards it, but...um, I just couldn't, .

[Lexx]

Just watched The Fall Guy. Was a lot better than I expected it to be. Not something I'd see myself rewatching anytime soon, but it was good enough to fill an evening and not regret it.

Edited November 25 by Lexx

[ShadySands]

We've been watching Christmas movies. 

• Hot Frosty - Ted from Schitt's Creek is a snowman come to life
• Biltmore Christmas - Movie writer travels through time to find her happy ending
• Meet Me Next Christmas - Like Serendipity but better but that's not saying much
• The Merry Gentlemen - A Magic Mike Christmas
• A Merry Scottish Christmas - Half of a Party of Five (it's really 4 because the baby doesn't count) reunion Christmas

That these movies are bad goes without saying but they were enjoyable if you like cheesy Christmas movies and we do

[Sarex]

Gladiator 2: don't believe what you read on the internet... This film is not good, the best thing I can say about it is that it's mid, but that may be a tad generous. Respect to Denzel for looking good even there.

Terrifier 3, I went to keep a friend company. Oh boy was that an experience. At least you don't get bored.

[Gfted1]

 

[Hurlshort]

Huh, I thought Kraven already came out and bombed. 

[Bartimaeus]

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008).

British film about a young woman who's a naturally carefree and positive person trying to live her life in the moment without thinking too hard about any of it...and unfortunately, how that can offend or mislead others. Very little of traditional dramatic importance happens in this film, and I think if you watch the first ten minutes and don't like the style or the main character which the film focuses so fixedly upon, you shouldn't keep watching, because it's more or less two hours of that. I think I tend to like these kinds of slow and seemingly pointless character dramas that contrarily have little to no drama, a collection of scenes from the lives of people you like or at least find interesting which form a loose but rather poignant narrative about the kind of lives we lead or at least could lead.

Edited December 3 by Bartimaeus

[Amentep]

 

 

[Bartimaeus]

The Diary of Anne Frank (1959).

It was one of my favorite books when I read it as a child in...4th grade?, and it was interesting to re-visit it all these years later. It's a good production, though with a few relatively minor issues. I can't believe they bothered to have Millie Perkins (Anne) complain about how she's too ugly in comparison to her sister. I know that was in the book, but like, just don't include it here, you literally cast Millie Perkins as Anne Frank, it makes no sense at all. Not to mention that she's completely the wrong age (Anne went into hiding at age 13, Perkins...may be very petite and baby-faced, but she was 22 at the time of filming - able to pull off 18, sure...maybe even 16, but not 13). Oh well, it's fine, it's tough to fine good dramatic child actors, especially at that time. Anyways, the film is some good food for thought in these trying times.

Edited December 16 by Bartimaeus