Movies You've Seen (or would like to see) Recently

[injurai]

I always climb with nitroglycerin.

[Pidesco]

Only if it is sunlight sensitive nitroglycerin.

[SonicMage117]

I have seen Touching The Void as well when it was on Netflix, I really like both movies!

 

Everest was really good last year:

[Bartimaeus]

Stalker (1979). It was more of a philosophical and art piece than entertainment. Beautiful, with lots of camera shots and extraordinarily long takes set in some really cool locations and environments that were positively filthy and decrepit unlike anything I've ever seen in a Western film...but slow and hard to digest at times, and rather boring at others - it also doesn't help that it's nearly 3 hours long. I can cross it off my bucket list, at least.

Edited November 11, 2017 by Bartimaeus

[algroth]

Stalker (1979). It was more of a philosophical and art piece than entertainment. Beautiful, with lots of camera shots and extraordinarily long takes set in some really cool locations and environments that were positively filthy and decrepit unlike anything I've ever seen in a Western film...but slow and hard to digest at times, and rather boring at others - it also doesn't help that it's nearly 3 hours long. I can cross it off my bucket list, at least.

 

It is a stunning film, which in my experience as well only improves the longer it sits with you. I've ordered the Blu-Ray recently so I should get the chance to revisit it soon. Seen any other Tarkovsky?

[Bartimaeus]

I have not - it was something I had wanted to watch for years as it's supposed to be one of the jewels of Soviet-era film-making, and I'm a big fan of the Roadside Picnic and STALKER series.

[Bartimaeus]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). Really good and a very wacky performance by Jack Nicholson.

 

John Carpenter's They Live (1988). I did not care for it: way too much "dead time" throughout the movie, where nothing is really happening and there's nothing interesting to look at or anything to contemplate. Hopefully, Carpenter's The Thing is better than this one.

 

Little Women (1994). Hm. It was a sort of Gone with the Wind-type life story, but not nearly as long or expansive, which was probably for the best. Winona Ryder was the star of the show, while Christian Bale felt...almost out of place in comparison. A decent watch, but not really my style.

[injurai]

They Live is a poor execution on a fantastic concept, and unfortunately any modern attempts to rectify it's shortcomings would only miss the mark by an even greater margin. It's strongest part is it's opening and first arc. After that the viewer is just along for the ride, with not much else being revealed through the bulk of the middle and most of the end.

 

It has a neat little revelation at the ending, but it is rather rushed and poorly built up to. I certainly appreciate the film for what it is, and it has it's place in pop culture.

 

The Thing, however, is a tour de force. One of the all time great films of it's era.

Edited November 13, 2017 by injurai

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, I actually wasn't going to watch The Thing because I figured it'd be more of the same, but I talked to a friend and they said it was better and still worth a shot, so I'll still be trying it.

Edited November 13, 2017 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

There Will Be Blood. Loved the long takes and everything else. Sympathize with Daniel's desire for solitude.

John Carpenter's They Live (1988). I did not care for it: way too much "dead time" throughout the movie, where nothing is really happening and there's nothing interesting to look at or anything to contemplate. Hopefully, Carpenter's The Thing is better than this one.

I like They Live but have to agree, they could have cut ten minutes or so and not lost anything important. The Thing is much better and his whole apocalypse trilogy is worth a look, In The Mouth of Madness is probably the best Lovecraftian film out there imo.

[SonicMage117]

[SonicMage117]

 

Samara Weaving is a goddess, what a,grand performance. Netflix really does produce some gems... sometimes lol This is one of them (if you dig sattire horror).

[Bartimaeus]

Leon: The Professional (1994). I'm not a fan of Natalie Portman - as far as A-listers go, good golly she is wooden - but she gave a pretty unusual and uncomfortable performance in this one (in a...good way?). A pretty cool action flick, though Gary Oldman was way too over the top and unnecessarily evil to be even remotely believable, and kind of made for an unfortunately extreme contrast to the other two main characters.

 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). The main story with Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet was decent, all the additional bullcrap with most everyone else was not and was really just kind of annoying most of the time. An okay watch.

[injurai]

Are you on a backlog kick? Those are always fun.

 

I enjoyed Leon for what it was, but it wasn't really a stand out film for me. If I was younger when I saw it I'd probably find Portman cute, but I saw it when I was older and it's just a bit creepy. Knowing about the production of the film, it's best elements were constructed by Reno and Portman's parents who curtailed some of Bessons more insipid desires that were leaking into the film's production. The way everything turns out, it's a sweet film, but you can tell it's on a razor's edge the entire time. Which is largely the point, but it had to be encouraged to run that line.

 

Eternal Sunshine is easily in my top 50 (yeah I know that's a lot, but I still consider this high praise.) It's been a while since I've seen it, so I can't remember being all that annoyed by the side characters. Though I do remember them. I think they help to hang some of the mixed up memories that the movie plays with. I think more than anything I just enjoyed the mystery of it all, and the slow reveal. It's a bit like Momento and Paprika were mixed together.

[Bartimaeus]

Portman's part was super creepy - that's why I thought it was unusual and uncomfortable. It presents a side of young teenagers/teenage girls that you won't often see in film for the exact reason that it does come across as being really creepy...but can actually happen, especially when they've been abused/traumatized. I also was glad that they didn't take it far enough that I had to stop watching. As for Eternal Sunshine...agree to disagree! I actually liked the supporting cast, but I think their inclusion ruined the mystery part of the movie for me too quickly - it was too easy to figure out what was going on. And they kind of just kept taking me out of the movie every time it switched to their general nonsense...

 

I'm not really on a backlog kick, per se - I'm not really much of a film/TV person in general, but lately I've actually been in the mood. It's more like I'm picking acclaimed films by decade that I've never seen and know (next to) nothing about just by the cover and like a one sentence premise summary. Stalker was pretty much the one exception out of the things I've watched recently - that had been something I'd wanted to see for a while.

 

On another note, I am currently starting The Thing right now, and I'm already annoyed by the bogus chess scene at the very beginning of the movie where the formations of the chess pieces make zero sense and doesn't even remotely resemble a late-game chess scenario, and there's no possible way for the guy to have been checkmated in the next move. Didn't anybody working on this film ever actually play chess and notice that nothing about it made sense? Random details that are so easy to get right that films somehow repeatedly get wrong annoy me so much...but I assume the rest of the movie will be better than this minor annoyance.

[Gromnir]

I still want someone other JJ doing episode 9

 

it would be so easy for jj to be a director whose movies we looked forward to.  unfortunate, somewhere along the way jj learned how audiences, most audiences, will ignore details as long as they is distracted by spectacle.  such a realization has him cutting corners in every film.  internal coherence is not a priority for jj.  events and situations do not need make any kinda... sense.  am s'posing we could catalog all such instances o' jj nonsense, but would be tedious.  is well documented enough to be a given at this point, no?

 

...

 

have jj do movie 1 o' a trilogy is annoying for Gromnir, but is potential two movies to clean up at least some o' the mess he inevitable creates.  have jj do movie 3 in a trilogy is a guarantee we will be disappointed.  easy prediction: walk out o' theatre after a jj episode 9 will leave us thoroughly exhausted as an approximate two hour beating with the wtf club is a soul crushing experience.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[injurai]

I've only ever had one viewing of Eternal Sunshine, and I think was was drinking, so unlike some other movie opinions I can't say I'm really confident in my recollection. I just know I liked it. Maybe I just liked the character acting between Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey. I owe it to myself to check it out again.

 

Yeah, The Thing isn't entirely devoid of camp or technical flaws. But It's a classic for a reason.

[Bartimaeus]

Okay, yeah, The Thing was like ten times the movie They Live was. That was good: had me on edge pretty much the whole way through.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Bartimaeus

[SonicMage117]

What a horrible prequel The Thing had though which ruined both movies for me (coming from a huge horror fan). I mean sure we can separate them but that wouldn't make sense since the classic picks up right where the new one leaves watchers.

 

Does the dog in The Thing die?

 

 

 

Https://youtu.be/jr9QtXwC9vc

 

^One I will see on opening day.

[SonicMage117]

 

^The link that was preciously posted because the preview box didn't show up for whatever reason.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Okay, yeah, The Thing was like ten times the movie They Live was. That was good: had me on edge pretty much the whole way through.

Absolutely. The rest of his apocalypse trilogy is worth checking out as well.

[LadyCrimson]

Portman's part was super creepy - that's why I thought it was unusual and uncomfortable. It presents a side of young teenagers/teenage girls that you won't often see in film for the exact reason that it does come across as being really creepy...but can actually happen, especially when they've been abused/traumatized. I also was glad that they didn't take it far enough that I had to stop watching.

Did you see the US theatrical version or the extended/international edition?

I loved this movie when I first saw it, mostly because of the action sequences and the OTT Oldman scenes (I found Oldman absolutely hilarious, especially that "EVVERRYONE" bit). The Portman chr. creepy factor didn't bother me at all because it was subtle enough to be interpreted in more than one way (imo) so while I could see why it could be seen as creepy, I could also largely ignore it in favor of just enjoying the other things.

 

Many years later I saw the extended version and one extended sequence upped my discomfort quite a bit because it was much more blatant. Some of the other new bits added a lot to the general film and to Leon's chr, but yeah.

[Bartimaeus]

The international cut, .

[algroth]

Besson's tendency to histrionics, silliness and tackiness all whilst lacking the feel of the surreal or strange (even though he's tried it a few times) really kill his films for me quite often. I wasn't a fan of León at all myself, whilst other films like The Messenger or The Fifth Element I found outright insufferable. Portman, though, I feel she can be fantastic given the right role. She's surprised me a few times with the amount of gravitas and physicality she could lend some of her performances even when looking like someone you could pin to a wall with your little finger (no sexual allegories intended). Most recently I thought she was stupendous in Jackie, which is probably the best film I saw from 2016.

Edited November 14, 2017 by algroth

[Bartimaeus]

Ah...he directed the Fifth Element too, did he? Suddenly, Leon's weirdities make a little more sense...

Edited November 14, 2017 by Bartimaeus