General Entertainment ~Rate The Last Movie/TV Show You Watched Thread~

[johnny]

Causeway 3.5/5 

 

jennifer lawrence and brian tyree henry are REALLY good 

 

 

the swimmers 4/5 

[SimpleG]

 

A fantastic documentary on Black film makers thats airing on Netflix

10/10

[Bloodporne]

 

I've been listening to a Horror-related podcast and this King adaptation kept coming up. Somehow I must've skipped this as a kid which actually surprised me. I guess the premise isn't terribly exciting though. 

 

Anyway, this was way better than I expected and the situation they find themselves in ends up being pretty terrifying. The dynamic with her son being in the hot car adds a lot of tension and they're both great actors. The dog really does look suitably intimidating and gross. Bonus points for the surprisingly beautiful cinematography, many super atmospheric shots here. 

 

7.5/10 

 

[johnny]

Emancipation 3/5 

[thewhyteboar]

The Long Good Friday. 

I don't think I've ever heard a soundtrack that so perfectly placed a film within its context as this one. Just a killer Bob Hoskins performance, and one of the greatest endings I've ever seen.

[TheLeon]

Emily the Criminal - this popped up on Netflix recently after being in theaters for roughly 3 days earlier this year. Good movie, great performance by Aubrey Plaza. It’s really fun watching her break out of sitcom mode. 
 

Bones and All - just your standard dreamy road-trip romantic cannibal drama. We get like 15-20 of those a year, so this isn’t anything special. 

[EternallDarkness]

Nothing But Trouble...haven't seen this crazy flick in decades...my memories of it are better than the reality of it, but I still laughed a number of times.

[Keyser_Soze]

 

Werewolves Within: 5/10

 

Werewolves Within is one of those comedy horror mashups but seemingly very light on both of them. It stars Milana Vayntrub (so you know @Firewithin is down). I really wanted to enjoy it but nothing was landing for me. It was produced by Ubisoft Motion Pictures (did you know they exist?) based on a game of the same name (this was a game?). It takes place in the town of Beaverfield where a new ranger begins a new job. After checking in at the hotel a mailperson offers to give the Ranger a tour of the town so she could deliver a package along the way. So we get to see all the quirky characters this town has. Then a series of events occur that make the townspeople gather in the hotel accusing each other of being a werewolf and so it's more of a murder mystery than a horror movie.

Much of the humor throughout is cringe humor (nerd humor? I dunno? Not funny humor?) and unfortunately that is most of the movie. Nothing was scary, funny, or even too entertaining.

[Phaseknox]

I just finished watching Wednesday, and I really enjoyed it. Jenna Ortega was perfect, and the show in general was entertaining and fun throughout with a great dark sense of humor. I look forward to the inevitable second season.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

The Northman - 6/10

 

I usually love Viking stuff, but this was just weird. The action scenes were fine, but it didn't do much for me overall.

[Bloodporne]

7 hours ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

The Northman - 6/10

 

I usually love Viking stuff, but this was just weird. The action scenes were fine, but it didn't do much for me overall.

Thought this movie was incredibly underwhelming and forgettable from any angle really. It wasn't good at being Conan-ish, it wasn't good at being surreal and mystical feeling, Skarsgard felt weirdly detached and...bored a lot of the time. Movie just didn't work for me and just felt thin and empty. 

[Bloodporne]

 

Men - 6/10

 

I feel like at this point I should just stop writing my thoughts on A24 films on this forum because it's always the same post. I thought Men had a really good setup and very intriguing mystery in the shape of their relationship and marriage. There was some really beautiful atmosphere going on in the first half of the film and I especially enjoyed the soundtrack. Also, some quite gothic scenes here and there, a nice cocktail overall.

 

Then the by now trademark A24-ing occurs and of course shit has to get CUHHH-RAZZYYY. It's not that I don't understand the metaphors for the most part, it's more that I find the execution and the way it ties into the infinitely more interesting issue of their relationship and last day to be just so fucking "arthouse rote". Much imagery, much religion, much psychological stuff! But it felt empty and detached from the actual, interesting conflict to me. It felt like the sequence in the 3rd act were shoehorned in because goddamnit, we'll make em fit. It all felt very haphazardly related. Yes, I get it, bad men birth bad men, men are bad, cycles of abuse, there's some absurdly on-the-nose Adam & Eve shit but why are we truly concerned with this in the greater scheme of things when we know the absolutely devastating personal tragedy at hand? The film spends so much time fixated on Geoffrey (sp?), it just didn't congeal for me at all and felt more like an empty exercise in pretentious imagery with a flimsy excuse that it ties into the actual crux of plot. 

 

A lot of potential and so much wasted, the story of A24 films for me at this point. Just because it's ambiguous or surreal doesn't mean it's good and creates a coherent atmosphere. 

 

And really, one of those points of the 6 is for the first act's nature photography and the church scene, which I loved. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

12 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

Thought this movie was incredibly underwhelming and forgettable from any angle really. It wasn't good at being Conan-ish, it wasn't good at being surreal and mystical feeling, Skarsgard felt weirdly detached and...bored a lot of the time. Movie just didn't work for me and just felt thin and empty. 

I usually really like Skarsgard, but you’re right. He did seem bored throughout. 
 

Movie has a good RT score, so it kinda bums me that I didn’t care much for this one. 

[johnny]

🚨 LUCA GUADAGNINO HAS DONE IT AGAIN 🚨 

 

BONES AND ALL 4.5/5

[Bloodporne]

11 hours ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

I usually really like Skarsgard, but you’re right. He did seem bored throughout. 
 

Movie has a good RT score, so it kinda bums me that I didn’t care much for this one. 

I went with two other people and yeah, they thought it was great and were baffled by my reaction to it. I thought it was a rote exercise in style that felt oddly boring and thin despite the endless "intensity" of half-naked men screaming and fighting. Really disappointing film overall and a baffling performance by Skarsgard imo. 

 

PS: And yeah, I was really looking forward to it myself because it's Robert Eggers. He's one of those directors that I feel like has a legit masterpiece in him but hasn't gotten there just yet. Northman feels like a misstep but many great directors take those and I'd love to see him come back swinging. 

[silentbob]

MATRIX RESURRECTION 4/5

 

I kept hearing so many mixed reviews for the movie and so I thought “I better get super high” So I took 3 bowls of Giant Tiger, fired up my disc and got it going with my Atmos setup. So I really enjoyed the film and the philosophical questions it brings up along the way. Maybe because of me being super high, I enjoyed it so much it never even seem to drag for me. The video looks amazing in 4K and the HDR really worked for me. The sound was good but never reached the original trilogy in amazing action moments (or my recent The Suicide Squad viewing) If you are a fan of the series, I would recommend easily a viewing. For those on the fence, light one up and enjoy 

[Greatoneshere]

4 hours ago, silentbob said:

MATRIX RESURRECTION 4/5

 

I kept hearing so many mixed reviews for the movie and so I thought “I better get super high” So I took 3 bowls of Giant Tiger, fired up my disc and got it going with my Atmos setup. So I really enjoyed the film and the philosophical questions it brings up along the way. Maybe because of me being super high, I enjoyed it so much it never even seem to drag for me. The video looks amazing in 4K and the HDR really worked for me. The sound was good but never reached the original trilogy in amazing action moments (or my recent The Suicide Squad viewing) If you are a fan of the series, I would recommend easily a viewing. For those on the fence, light one up and enjoy 

 

That's because it's a good movie (clearly mostly hated) because it wasn't the movie people wanted. It was far more Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas or Sense8 than it was the original Matrix trilogy. They didn't even bring Yuen Woo-Ping and his team back for the action scenes, so not sure what people expected.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I literally fell asleep trying to get through The Matrix movies years ago. 

[Keyser_Soze]

 

Insider (인사이더): 9/10

 

What happens when you mix Prison Break and World Series of Poker with a sprinkle of The Departed? You get Insider. Another Korean show that deals with legal issues and corruption so it appeals directly to @Greatoneshere

 

It's about a young prosecutor, Kim Yo-han, that has graduated top of his class. He's brought in to a small group of other prosecutors to undertake an undercover operation, to investigate the CID (Corruption Investigation Department). Yes, there is a group of prosecutors that are investigating the prosecutors that are supposed to be investigating corruption. The head of the CID, Yoon Byung-wook, is played by Heo Sung-tae (you might recognize him as that slimy guy from Squid Game - Seems like he has a knack for playing this type of role). In order to expose the head of the CID Yo Han needs to go to jail where someone has incriminating evidence on Byung-wook. The problem is the CID caught wind of this and now Yo Han is kind of on his own to survive and rise through the ranks of the prison system to somehow uncover the truth. The poker angle comes in as the prison is kind of like  gambling den and also a front for money laundering. The corruption runs deep in this show and you're always on edge because there really is no one you can trust but written well enough to keep you engaged throughout.

[Bloodporne]

On 12/19/2022 at 10:05 AM, Bloodporne said:

 

Men - 6/10

 

I feel like at this point I should just stop writing my thoughts on A24 films on this forum because it's always the same post. I thought Men had a really good setup and very intriguing mystery in the shape of their relationship and marriage. There was some really beautiful atmosphere going on in the first half of the film and I especially enjoyed the soundtrack. Also, some quite gothic scenes here and there, a nice cocktail overall.

 

Then the by now trademark A24-ing occurs and of course shit has to get CUHHH-RAZZYYY. It's not that I don't understand the metaphors for the most part, it's more that I find the execution and the way it ties into the infinitely more interesting issue of their relationship and last day to be just so fucking "arthouse rote". Much imagery, much religion, much psychological stuff! But it felt empty and detached from the actual, interesting conflict to me. It felt like the sequence in the 3rd act were shoehorned in because goddamnit, we'll make em fit. It all felt very haphazardly related. Yes, I get it, bad men birth bad men, men are bad, cycles of abuse, there's some absurdly on-the-nose Adam & Eve shit but why are we truly concerned with this in the greater scheme of things when we know the absolutely devastating personal tragedy at hand? The film spends so much time fixated on Geoffrey (sp?), it just didn't congeal for me at all and felt more like an empty exercise in pretentious imagery with a flimsy excuse that it ties into the actual crux of plot. 

 

A lot of potential and so much wasted, the story of A24 films for me at this point. Just because it's ambiguous or surreal doesn't mean it's good and creates a coherent atmosphere. 

 

And really, one of those points of the 6 is for the first act's nature photography and the church scene, which I loved. 

Also to add one thing I keep circling back to with some of these Arthouse Horror flicks. Many seem to be essentially semi-inept rehashes of Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby. To me, a movie like Men is to Repulsion what a movie like X is to Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I get everything, especially at this stage, is heavily influenced by something but there's something extra annoying to me about blatant "template movies" that also fail at it. And not, I don't think Men for example is a 100% rip of the aforementioned either but just something that kept nagging me. 

[SimpleG]

3 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

Also to add one thing I keep circling back to with some of these Arthouse Horror flicks. Many seem to be essentially semi-inept rehashes of Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby. To me, a movie like Men is to Repulsion what a movie like X is to Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I get everything, especially at this stage, is heavily influenced by something but there's something extra annoying to me about blatant "template movies" that also fail at it. And not, I don't think Men for example is a 100% rip of the aforementioned either but just something that kept nagging me. 

I think there is a difference. X proudly wears its love and devotion to TCM and Hooper on its sleeves.  Films like Men and Hereditary want to be Polanski worship but wouldnt dare utter his name. It drives me nuts.

[johnny]

who cares. scorsese and bong joon ho loved hereditary. maybe… people don’t care. do you think scorsese was sitting there like wow good movie but meh, kinda just biting off of polanski‘s work. get real. 

 

X oozed coolness and was fun to watch

 

i barely even remember men 

[Bloodporne]

5 hours ago, johnny said:

who cares. scorsese and bong joon ho loved hereditary. maybe… people don’t care. do you think scorsese was sitting there like wow good movie but meh, kinda just biting off of polanski‘s work. get real. 

 

X oozed coolness and was fun to watch

 

i barely even remember men 

I mean it's my opinion, I don't give a shit if others care or not, I was talking about my take on Men specifically as part of that bigger picture. 

[johnny]

3 hours ago, Bloodporne said:

I mean it's my opinion, I don't give a shit if others care or not, I was talking about my take on Men specifically as part of that bigger picture. 

fair enough. i was in a pissy mood last night lmao my apologies 

[Bloodporne]

2 hours ago, johnny said:

fair enough. i was in a pissy mood last night lmao my apologies 

I was gonna say man... I almost wrote some nasty shit there!

[TwinIon]

Emily the Criminal - 4/5

 

A film that knows exactly what it is and doesn't overstep it's reach. It's a simple and timely premise that Aubrey Plaza does a great job of selling. It's not terribly original and it's not some blow out piece of film making, but it's a taught 90 minutes of effective storytelling that's easy to recommend.

[Dre801]

Black Adam.  I thought it was decent.  Kinda corny.  Could have done without the annoying kid.

[johnny]

She Said 3.5/5

Glass Onion 4/5 

Strange World 3/5

[Keyser_Soze]

 

Love Exposure: 8/10

 

Love Exposure is a film written and directed by Sion Sono, probably most famous at this point for Why Don't You Play In Hell? (Though there are other notable movies he's done). Clocking in at nearly four hours (Avatar who?) the tl;dr is it's a very unconventional love story with a very elaborate setup. It follows a boy, Yu Honda, from a very young age. Brought up a devout catholic he loses his mother at a young age and vows to fall in love with a "Maria (Mary)" of his own. His dad become a priest but goes though some things and in turn Yu ends up committing sins for his father's approval. That is until he meets a girl that makes him want to give up his life of sin. Unfortunately for him a cult is going around that threatens to make is life even worse.

 

The up front time cost to this film might seem intimidating at first but honestly it doesn't seem that way while watching it. It's strange and engaging and ultimately you'll want to see what comes next. I think the most remarkable part is it's acted quite well. A lot of Japanese movies and acting can come off cheesy or overacted but this one managed to pull off just the right balance. I feel like Sono is a kind of under the radar director but this and his other films are certainly worthy of your attention.

[Bloodporne]

4 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Love Exposure: 8/10

 

Love Exposure is a film written and directed by Sion Sono, probably most famous at this point for Why Don't You Play In Hell? (Though there are other notable movies he's done). Clocking in at nearly four hours (Avatar who?) the tl;dr is it's a very unconventional love story with a very elaborate setup. It follows a boy, Yu Honda, from a very young age. Brought up a devout catholic he loses his mother at a young age and vows to fall in love with a "Maria (Mary)" of his own. His dad become a priest but goes though some things and in turn Yu ends up committing sins for his father's approval. That is until he meets a girl that makes him want to give up his life of sin. Unfortunately for him a cult is going around that threatens to make is life even worse.

 

The up front time cost to this film might seem intimidating at first but honestly it doesn't seem that way while watching it. It's strange and engaging and ultimately you'll want to see what comes next. I think the most remarkable part is it's acted quite well. A lot of Japanese movies and acting can come off cheesy or overacted but this one managed to pull off just the right balance. I feel like Sono is a kind of under the radar director but this and his other films are certainly worthy of your attention.

That's some really well done cover art, visually striking.

 

Movie sounds interesting and I tend to watch movies that are that long in two nights anyway, no biggie. Might check this out, thanks.

[Greatoneshere]

Sion Sono is the guy who just directed Nicolas Cage in Prisoners of the Ghostland. Dude has a wonderful visual eye.

[Bloodporne]

Shivers (1975) - 8/10

 

In my ongoing Cronenberg revisits and/or first time viewings, I finally worked my way back to Shivers. I had seen clips of it here and there but somehow never the complete film. It reminded me of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and other no/low budget Horror flicks of that era that completely transcend their budget with pure drive and raw, visceral energy. Much like a badass demo tape, it's the utter rawness and weirdness and mixture of amateurish incompetence and ambition that makes this movie so cool. There's something magical about the "technically totally wrong" ultra-bright white lighting, the sterile and alien looking sets, the weirdly natural yet stilted action. Then there are shots like the one below that are surprisingly eerie in the film's context and also show Cronenberg's great eye despite his absurdly low $170,000 budget. The ending sequence in the pool really stuck with me in general. It's absolutely a silly B-movie in some ways yet also feels way ahead of its time in others. I liked this much more than The Fly for example and the ending even stuck the landing. Another thing of note is that I love the actors Cronenberg casts in his earlier films, there are just so many memorable faces and unique looking people.

 

 

 

What Did Jack Do? (2020) - 8.5/10

 

I ended up watching this three times over the past two days and my girlfriend and I laughed our fucking asses off. Based on some of the reactions we saw online, I think people, somehow, really miss the amount of absurd humor and goofball antics in Lynch's work in general. It's surprising to me personally but I also get that the mixture can throw people off. Anyway, it's a Film Noir spoof where David Lynch is a hardboiled detective interrogating a Lynch Monkey named Jack who may have murdered his woman's lover in a jealous rage. His woman is...a chicken named Toototaban. The name is uttered approximately fifty times in 16 minutes and somehow gets funnier every time. There's a musical number, a hilariously dramatic ending involving Toototaban the chicken clucking through a full-on Eraserhead set and Jack having a complete meltdown.

 

Maybe I have issues but to me, this is comedy gold and I'm baffled that some write this off as "pretentious bullshit". Like at what point do you see that ending with Lynch yelling CUFF 'EM BOYS! about a chicken and monkey in an Eraserhead set and not laugh?

 

[Bloodporne]

Blow Out (1981) - 6.5/10

 

I feel bad rating this relatively low but a 7 feels a tad too generous. I had tried to watch this one before but fell asleep and just never tried again in the VHS days. Rewatching it now, I kinda get why. 

 

It's visually absolutely great. Gorgeous, moody locations left and right and shot by Vilmos Zsigmond. The performances are mainly good as well minus the disruptive Manny actor, he goes so hard that he feels like a goofy caricature and it took me out of it every time he showed up.

 

That being said, I think the visuals and mood carry the whole film because the plot isn't terribly exciting nor interesting and the pacing especially throughout the middle is rough. Maybe it's just not my cup of tea but it reminded me of a Giallo minus the climaxes of gory killings. It's a really cool idea and I liked the setup and opening sequence but I mostly felt rather bored which is surprising for a De Palma flick. It's really well-made and all but it just didn't grab me and felt tedious overall. The score didn't grab me either.

 

PS: I'm on a major lazy-ass staycation so these will be rolling in regularly I believe 😬

[johnny]

The Invitation (2022) - 2/5 

The Fabelmans - 5/5 fuck man. spielberg is delivering i think some of his best (not most iconic) work with this and west side story. 

[Dre801]

Started the latest Season of Jack Ryan.