Recently Watched Movies

[showa58taro]

Side bar: Watched Jumanji too this afternoon.

Really enjoyed it. I’m living the Hart-Rock combo. Fantastic. Jack Black was impressive. Silly fun but very nice to watch.

[showa58taro]

Den of Thieves

Really enjoyed this classic Heist film. Complex but not ridiculous, witty but not comical, gritty but not gory. All told quite impressive.

[showa58taro]

Loveless - A +

Holy fuck. Depressing, harrowing, unusual and fucking bleak. Crazy to think this is Russian cinema as it plays out like a Swedish film.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Black Panther ........... A-

Very good, though some of the CGI did not look improved from the trailers (especially the fighting. Man-in-suit fighting looks so much better than CGI maquette moving around like water), and the music isn't memorable, something Marvel was improving on and did so well with Dr. Strange, Spiderman Homecoming and Thor Ragnorok, but dropped the ball here. I don't blame the composer though, he did admit big superhero spectacle wasn't something he was used to doing, he's used to smaller indie scoring like Creed and Fruitvale Station. It's not a bad score, just doesn't stand out thematically. Good sound pallet though.

I also thought it was funny how the Korean Casino scene reminded me so much of Skyfall. I joked that all it needed was the Komodo Dragon pit in the middle.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Dracula Bites The Big Apple .......... B-

Short film by Richard Wenk, director of Vamp. I'm guessing it was a student film or something, but this was suprisingly fun, with the very disco-era New York backdrop, but the gold occurs with Dracula starts a disco-y musical number (titled Dancing in the Moonlight). Also amusing when he tries to get into Studio 54. Very cheaply made, and Renfield isn't all that funny, but overally I was entertained.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Game Night ............. A

Funniest new movie I've seen in a long while. I'm also not much of a Rachel McAdams person, but I really liked her here. I always like Jason Batemen, but even the support crew here were gold. But Meth Damon was the scene stealer as Gary the creepy neighbor cop.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Dirty Harry ........ A
Magnum Force .... B
The Enforcer ...... B-
Sudden Impact .... A-
The Dead Pool .... B-

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Lady Bird ....... B
Darkest Hour ... B

[showa58taro]

Lady Bird ....... B
Darkest Hour ... B

Oh no, really? I rather enjoyed them both.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Lady Bird ....... B
Darkest Hour ... B

Oh no, really? I rather enjoyed them both.

And I feel like I was being generous.

Lady Bird is pretentious as fuck, with an annoying twit of a main character, and definitely did not deserve a directing nomination. Laurie Metcalf is great though.

Darkest Hour would be a mediocre snoozer of a movie if it wasn't for Gary Oldman's performance. I find it comparable to The King's Speech where the rest of the movie isn't worth much of a damn, but incredible lead performance.

[showa58taro]

Lady Bird ....... B
Darkest Hour ... B

Oh no, really? I rather enjoyed them both.

And I feel like I was being generous.

Lady Bird is pretentious as fuck, with an annoying twit of a main character, and definitely did not deserve a directing nomination. Laurie Metcalf is great though.

Darkest Hour would be a mediocre snoozer of a movie if it wasn't for Gary Oldman's performance. I find it comparable to The King's Speech where the rest of the movie isn't worth much of a damn, but incredible lead performance.

I usually fall pretty close to you on movie enjoyment spectra, which was why i was surprised. I think you do have a point with Kadybird and the Director nod though. I don’t remember any stand-out moment in terms of directing. But I did quite enjoy Saoirse in it.

As for Darkest Hour as long as you were a fan of Oldman I feel happy. I live the entire WW2 era and tend to score them more generously. It was a very character-driven piece. No major shots of the battlefield or the war itself proper kind of make it a weird film. In some ways it’d be an interesting companion piece to Dunkirk if they added some crossover elements to it.

[Jason]

B is a pretty good grade.

[showa58taro]

B is a pretty good grade.

True. I forget the range used for D’s reviews.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Yep, I grade it like school. C's are average.

[Ava]

Geostorm.

Last time I let them pick the Redbox. Holy hell. Last time.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Annihilation ........ B-

Drags in pace, a lot, and the nearly non-existent music score makes things worse. Oh, there's an awkward accoustic guitar jingle that appears occasionally, but doesn't feel attached to anything. Expected more out of Jennifer Jason Leigh's resolution, and there are some cool scenes, including a mutated bear and the climax was interesting, though predictable (and laughable it was trying to act like we didn't know what was going on with Oscar Issac). Portman was good, but not Black Swan or Closer good. Or Leon good.

[Monster]

Thor Ragnarok
Holy shit I loved this movie. It actually had me laughing hysterically in a couple of places. Blast from start to finish.

[Jigsaw]

Watched Phantasm (1979) last night.

Official review as follows:

In many ways, Phantasm comes across as a mess. There's not much really explained, and the ending is pretty jarring and confusing. But what it might lack in comprehension, it makes up for in almost everything else. The upsides of Phantasm? Firstly, most of the actors do a great job. Angus Scrimm, as The Tall Man, just dominates every scene he's in. A truly fantastic performance, despite not many previous roles. Still, there's more than just Scrimm. The three protagonists, Michael, Jody, and Reggie (played by Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, and Reggie Bannister, respectfully) have a pretty compelling friendship, and specifically, Baldwin and Thornbury are decently believable as brothers. Even when annoyed with Michael's antics, you can tell that Jody still loves him. And they both share the fear their parents were turned into dwarf zombies, so there's that. Which brings us to the creativity of this movie: a seemingly alien being turns corpses into zombie dwarfs and has flying metallic spheres is not something commonly seen, to say the least. So that's fun. Need I mention the theme? It's damn brilliant, and up there with the best themes of the genre (Halloween, The House by the Cemetery, and ANOES, for example). And the atmosphere? That dreamy, hazy, disjointed feeling? Nothing does it better than Phantasm. This might not sound like a great movie, but I've met very few horror fans who don't adore it on varying levels. Not everything makes sense, but when the final product comes out this well, that hardly matters. A movie that stays fresh with each re-watch. 9/10.

No idea if this matters, but wanted to point out it was originally posted on Fight-Evil. Sorry, you guys didn't get the exclusive this time around. :p

[Jigsaw]

Wolves at the Door (2016)

The only reason that I sought this movie out was due to Elizabeth Henstridge, who plays one of the main characters in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, a show I rather enjoy. And as it turns out, aside from Henstridge, this movie doesn't have much going for it. Dramatizing the events of the murder of Sharon Tate and company (purely hinted at until the end), Wolves at the Door is almost utterly run-of-the-mill. If you've seen Ils (2006) or The Strangers (2008), or hell, even The Purge (2013), you've seen a more enthralling and tense movie than this one. Adam Campbell (Wojciech) has some decent scenes, and if you like the ascetic of someone dragging a sledgehammer across the ground, well, Wolves at the Door has that also. But aside from Elizabeth Henstridge, who does a decent job despite the shallow script, the best I can say is that occasionally good 60's songs play, such as “She's Not There” by The Zombies and “Lil' Red Riding Hood” by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.” There's nothing else though – this movie is otherwise empty. And while I wasn't fond of it that first time I saw it, I'm even less fond of it now. Not much here to recommend, folks. 4/10.

[Originally seen for the 2017 October Challenge]

[zombie]

Wolves at the Door (2016)

The only reason that I sought this movie out was due to Elizabeth Henstridge, who plays one of the main characters in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, a show I rather enjoy. And as it turns out, aside from Henstridge, this movie doesn't have much going for it. Dramatizing the events of the murder of Sharon Tate and company (purely hinted at until the end), Wolves at the Door is almost utterly run-of-the-mill. If you've seen Ils (2006) or The Strangers (2008), or hell, even The Purge (2013), you've seen a more enthralling and tense movie than this one. Adam Campbell (Wojciech) has some decent scenes, and if you like the ascetic of someone dragging a sledgehammer across the ground, well, Wolves at the Door has that also. But aside from Elizabeth Henstridge, who does a decent job despite the shallow script, the best I can say is that occasionally good 60's songs play, such as “She's Not There” by The Zombies and “Lil' Red Riding Hood” by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.” There's nothing else though – this movie is otherwise empty. And while I wasn't fond of it that first time I saw it, I'm even less fond of it now. Not much here to recommend, folks. 4/10.

[Originally seen for the 2017 October Challenge]

fitz-simmons (and clark gregg) is the best reason to watch agents of shield!