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Worth my time?
However, if goofy, lean and ultra splattery slasher sounds like a good time, give it a shot. At worst, you lost a little over an episode of a tv show in time.
Rate The Last Movie You Saw
However, if goofy, lean and ultra splattery slasher sounds like a good time, give it a shot. At worst, you lost a little over an episode of a tv show in time.
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Clue - 1985
I never saw this movie and it was free on YouTube, thought I'd give it a shot. Felt like a 90s movie. This has to be the first movie that was made when people said "how do they make a movie out of that?". Feels normal now. Hell they made an emoji movie for God sakes. As far as the movie it was ok. A bit cheese ball, it was shot awkwardly to me. Alot of the comedy sort of missed the mark. Tim Curry was defintely the stand out. It got better towards the end, you could really feel the spirit of the game at the end. It was a fine watch for one time but didn't much care for it.
I never saw this movie and it was free on YouTube, thought I'd give it a shot. Felt like a 90s movie. This has to be the first movie that was made when people said "how do they make a movie out of that?". Feels normal now. Hell they made an emoji movie for God sakes. As far as the movie it was ok. A bit cheese ball, it was shot awkwardly to me. Alot of the comedy sort of missed the mark. Tim Curry was defintely the stand out. It got better towards the end, you could really feel the spirit of the game at the end. It was a fine watch for one time but didn't much care for it.
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I came here to do two things, drink some beer and kick some ass, looks like we are almost outta beer - Dazed and Confused
101 Favorite Movies (2019)
I came here to do two things, drink some beer and kick some ass, looks like we are almost outta beer - Dazed and Confused
101 Favorite Movies (2019)
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which is funny since when it first came out I had no idea it was a novel until I showed it to my roommate when we first got together and she showed me the book which I started to read and sadly never finished. But should.
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Worth my time?
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Cursed (2021)
This is so close to being a five star film and a masterpiece. They're so many things that work really well in this film. The basic plot is a small town/family has been cursed after a Gypsy massacre. Something is in the woods and it's killing everything that's around it.
The werewolf mythology is turned on it's head here and it's done very with one small issue that certain people are going to hate. But for me this was fantastic, this is a full on period piece huge cast everything feels real (to a point). The characters are well written and feel accurate, you don't really have a lead in this story which makes it stand out to me.
It does have the problem that it's a lot better when you don't see the monster. The practical effects are really good the CGI is not and you also wish that the last act would drag on a bit more. Another 30 minutes or so would have helped, they could flushed out some more characters and helped build the tension. But still great horror movie.
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Justice League (Zack Snyder cut)
7/10.
I think I gave the theatrical cut 6/10, so it went from "not good" to "okay".
The most noticeable improvement: Flash and Cyborg had significant contributions to the story.
It's still miles away from Avengers, imo; especially if it takes them 4 hours to do it.
7/10.
I think I gave the theatrical cut 6/10, so it went from "not good" to "okay".
The most noticeable improvement: Flash and Cyborg had significant contributions to the story.
It's still miles away from Avengers, imo; especially if it takes them 4 hours to do it.
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Last edited by Raven73; 02-20-22 at 10:54 AM.
Reason: punctuation
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My gut reaction (though, hey, always fine with another excuse for a rewatch) is that we are meant to empathize strongly with her. The film maximizes our feelings toward wanting us to succeed (by showing us how her work is dismissed by her condescending colleagues, by showing us that her husband is probably messing around with his students, etc), but doesn't give equal weight to a sense of exploitation.
Her being beaten up isn't so much a punishment for her exploitation, in my view, as it is a bridge between the expected menace (a drug dealing thug who is the exact image of a dangerous Black man that populates popular culture) and the unanticipated, supernatural one.
Further, there is a tricky relationship with how she interacts with the people who live in Cabrini Green, something that is reinforced by the film itself. So most people, on learning that a group of individuals believed in a supernatural entity, would regard those people as superstitious or ignorant, right? And while it's true that the twist is that he DOES exist, we learn from Candyman himself that it's the belief of the people of Cabrini Green that keeps him alive. So whereas it was brutal racism that created Candyman, it's the belief of the Black citizens that keeps him "alive" and powerful.
But critically, she was
Her being beaten up isn't so much a punishment for her exploitation, in my view, as it is a bridge between the expected menace (a drug dealing thug who is the exact image of a dangerous Black man that populates popular culture) and the unanticipated, supernatural one.
Further, there is a tricky relationship with how she interacts with the people who live in Cabrini Green, something that is reinforced by the film itself. So most people, on learning that a group of individuals believed in a supernatural entity, would regard those people as superstitious or ignorant, right? And while it's true that the twist is that he DOES exist, we learn from Candyman himself that it's the belief of the people of Cabrini Green that keeps him alive. So whereas it was brutal racism that created Candyman, it's the belief of the Black citizens that keeps him "alive" and powerful.
But critically, she was
WARNING: spoilers below
framed for what has turned the citizens against her. They aren't forgiving her for something she actually did, they are forgiving her for something they were tricked into believing she did.
I agree that she makes a moving sacrifice at the end. It's a really powerful, emotional ending. But at the end of the day she is the outsider who came in and beat their monster for them. It's an incredibly common trope, of course, but it's one that I think does lean into the white savior trope. The line of people coming to her funeral looks almost like they have completed a holy pilgrimage or something. Combine that with the final image we are shown of her, which to me looks like a vengeful angel.
As for your other post, I actually did not think that the implication was that the girlfriend would be killed. I thought that her role was to be a witness to the killing of the husband, to perpetuate the legend. And, frankly, given how often the blame of infidelity is laid at the foot of the "other woman", I liked that she gutted the dude and only the dude, because that's who betrayed her.
I agree that she makes a moving sacrifice at the end. It's a really powerful, emotional ending. But at the end of the day she is the outsider who came in and beat their monster for them. It's an incredibly common trope, of course, but it's one that I think does lean into the white savior trope. The line of people coming to her funeral looks almost like they have completed a holy pilgrimage or something. Combine that with the final image we are shown of her, which to me looks like a vengeful angel.
As for your other post, I actually did not think that the implication was that the girlfriend would be killed. I thought that her role was to be a witness to the killing of the husband, to perpetuate the legend. And, frankly, given how often the blame of infidelity is laid at the foot of the "other woman", I liked that she gutted the dude and only the dude, because that's who betrayed her.
WARNING: "spoilers" spoilers below
No, I didn't see it as forgiving her for what she did with regard to the Candyman murders (and do we really ever know that it wasn't her?), they forgive her for the exploitation of their community because she ultimately gave her life for it. She's not being redeemed for the murders but for the act of cultural appropriation and exploitation and really for her ignorance. The whole White Outsider who came in and beat their monster for them, I just didn't see that in the film at all. Especially given that she becomes the monster AND there is a Candyman 2.
So to clarify, what I meant was that she character ramps up from conversational tone to flailing hysterics in like a minute every time she talks to her mother. It's just kind of bizarre and feels overplayed. The parents both frequently talk about wanting her to visit more, but honestly it seems like being around her would be totally exhausting. We only see a few hours of her with her parents, but of what we see she's snippy, sarcastic, angry, sobbing, or literally running away from an argument.
I also don't totally believe that the assertive, no-nonsense Ethel wouldn't have, at some point in the last 15 years, sat Chelsea and Norman down in the living room and made them hash out their issues.
I'm fine with her motivation, but I think that simmering resentment would have felt a lot more realistic than all the screaming and crying.
I also don't totally believe that the assertive, no-nonsense Ethel wouldn't have, at some point in the last 15 years, sat Chelsea and Norman down in the living room and made them hash out their issues.
I'm fine with her motivation, but I think that simmering resentment would have felt a lot more realistic than all the screaming and crying.
Though I have a close friend who goes into like a two or three day spiral every time she talks to her father, so maybe Jane did some homework and found a performance that was like a person she encountered.
How do you feel about modern slashers like Halloween Kills, Terrifier, Hellfest or legacy sequels in general? If the answer is "usually hate them," then probably not.
However, if goofy, lean and ultra splattery slasher sounds like a good time, give it a shot. At worst, you lost a little over an episode of a tv show in time.
However, if goofy, lean and ultra splattery slasher sounds like a good time, give it a shot. At worst, you lost a little over an episode of a tv show in time.
SF = Zzz
[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it
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Well, I didn't see Halloween Kills due to all the panning and people actually even making fun of it, I thought Terrifier was Terrible, and I haven't heard of Hellfest. But I'll watch a good slasher from any era.
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Well, I didn't see Halloween Kills due to all the panning and people actually even making fun of it, I thought Terrifier was Terrible, and I haven't heard of Hellfest. But I'll watch a good slasher from any era.
I found it more tolerable than Halloween Kills, if only because the runtime. It actually moves instead of stopping every five minutes so characters can give the same damn speech over and over again.
I also liked it more than Terrifier. I don't know if it's any better made, but I didn't find it as relentlessly unpleasant.
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I found it more tolerable than Halloween Kills, if only because the runtime. It actually moves instead of stopping every five minutes so characters can give the same damn speech over and over again.
I also liked it more than Terrifier. I don't know if it's any better made, but I didn't find it as relentlessly unpleasant.
I also liked it more than Terrifier. I don't know if it's any better made, but I didn't find it as relentlessly unpleasant.
I prefer Halloween Kills for following through on its ambitious subtext but respect TCM for forgetting it halfway through and just chainsawing through the riff raff.
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Mortal Kombat - This was okay. I'd read it caught a lot of flak but I'm not sure what, outside of nostalgia, would have caused that since the original isn't exactly sacrosanct IMO. It was a low budget affair with janky FX and subpar acting. This also features some prosaic emoting but the FX, while maybe not top of the line, is adequate enough.
The writers did include a canonical backstory between Scorpion and Sub Zero involving battling clans and whatnot. And they also trot out a new catchword to explain each fighters powers or abilities. I see it as sort of on the same magnitude as Sam Raimi giving Peter Parker the ability to produce his own webbing. It might seem like a small trespass but I can also understand why some MK devotees would be honked off.
The other major bone of contention is there not being the formal ritual of an actual MK tournament. Instead it's Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) and his fighters holed up in his fortress while they train and seek to unlock their "Arcana". In the meantime sorcerer and Outworld's Emperor Shang Tsung (Chin Han), knowing that one more victory over Earth Realm will lead to it's ultimate subjugation, is chomping at the bit to have the final confrontation over and done with. So in the end, with help from a turncoat, Outworld breaks through Raiden's barrier and a tournament of sorts does take place.
A lot of characters bite the big one so the producers did put all their eggs in this one basket. They gambled it would be enough of a hit to not only warrant a sequel but maybe a franchise. They also omitted a major character but hint of his future appearance during the closing moments.
The martial arts choreography is handled well with at least two of Jackie Chan's former fight team taking part. And Joe Taslim from The Raid: Redemption plays Sub-Zero with Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion. Aficionados of the game and franchise might be dissatisfied but it's acceptable enough. In the end though, there's not enough to recommend going out of your way to watch it.
65/100
Though I have a close friend who goes into like a two or three day spiral every time she talks to her father, so maybe Jane did some homework and found a performance that was like a person she encountered.
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(2022)
SF = Z
[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it
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Avatar, 2009
Jake (Sam Worthington) is a paralyzed marine who ends up as part of a corporate/military project to convince a group of indigenous aliens to leave their home that just happens to sit on a huge motherload of precious rock. Using a fake body, an avatar, Jake infiltrates the tribe, but soon falls in love with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). Unfortunately, time is ticking as the men in charge of the large bulldozers are growing impatient.
Oh, man.
That was a long, what, seven hours?
As you might have guessed, I don't have very much to say about this one that's positive, but let's start with what I liked. Some of the botanical design---especially the phosphorescent plants---were cool looking. Sigourney Weaver, as a scientist who loves the indigenous people and spearheads the avatar program, elevates every scene she's in. As does Michelle Rodriguez as an independent-thinking helicopter pilot and Giovanni Ribisi as the corporate representative on hand.
Everything else though? Incredibly underwhelming.
Maybe I'd feel different about the CGI if I'd seen the film in a theater in 3D. But I thought that the look of the animated characters was distractingly uncanny and overly-smooth. (Sidenote: I came to this film with two things I simply could not put out of my mind, and one of them was the infamous interview where Cameron asserted that ""Right from the beginning I said, 'She's got to have ****" regarding the design of the aliens).
Then there's the design of the Na'vi, in a cultural sense, and it's almost hard to look at. It's like someone took a random assortment of symbols, dress, and ornamentation from various African, Native American, and other "native" cultures and then threw them in a blender. Just very cringe.
Then there's the writing, and woof. The highly sought after mineral is called "unobtainium". Like, guys. Please. It's like the Mitch Hedberg "Naming Kitchen Appliances" joke.
The big cliff the main character has to climb is called "Ooh-rah." The ex-marine is climbing a challenging thing called "Ooh-rah"? I was running out of face-palms by about the 45 minute mark.
And while I'm sure that a quick Google search would show that I'm not the first person to make this observation, a third of the way through I was like "Oh, my god this is just Ferngully!". And once you realize that, man, you realize how much better this movie would be if Jake had a Walkman and Robin Williams was around as an animated bat going "Oop! Gravity works!"
There's a lot of spectacle here, but aside from making me predictably feel sad by showing animals being killed or beautiful trees being destroyed, it all felt incredibly hollow and contrived. I'm also very much over the whole "civilized" person arrives in a native tribe and becomes the chosen one trope.
Anyway, I leave you with the other thing I could not put out of my mind, and that's this skit that has better acting and a more intriguing storyline than all of Avatar.
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Avatar, 2009
Jake (Sam Worthington) is a paralyzed marine who ends up as part of a corporate/military project to convince a group of indigenous aliens to leave their home that just happens to sit on a huge motherload of precious rock. Using a fake body, an avatar, Jake infiltrates the tribe, but soon falls in love with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). Unfortunately, time is ticking as the men in charge of the large bulldozers are growing impatient.
Oh, man.
That was a long, what, seven hours?
As you might have guessed, I don't have very much to say about this one that's positive, but let's start with what I liked. Some of the botanical design---especially the phosphorescent plants---were cool looking. Sigourney Weaver, as a scientist who loves the indigenous people and spearheads the avatar program, elevates every scene she's in. As does Michelle Rodriguez as an independent-thinking helicopter pilot and Giovanni Ribisi as the corporate representative on hand.
Everything else though? Incredibly underwhelming.
Maybe I'd feel different about the CGI if I'd seen the film in a theater in 3D. But I thought that the look of the animated characters was distractingly uncanny and overly-smooth. (Sidenote: I came to this film with two things I simply could not put out of my mind, and one of them was the infamous interview where Cameron asserted that ""Right from the beginning I said, 'She's got to have ****" regarding the design of the aliens).
Then there's the design of the Na'vi, in a cultural sense, and it's almost hard to look at. It's like someone took a random assortment of symbols, dress, and ornamentation from various African, Native American, and other "native" cultures and then threw them in a blender. Just very cringe.
Then there's the writing, and woof. The highly sought after mineral is called "unobtainium". Like, guys. Please. It's like the Mitch Hedberg "Naming Kitchen Appliances" joke.
The big cliff the main character has to climb is called "Ooh-rah." The ex-marine is climbing a challenging thing called "Ooh-rah"? I was running out of face-palms by about the 45 minute mark.
And while I'm sure that a quick Google search would show that I'm not the first person to make this observation, a third of the way through I was like "Oh, my god this is just Ferngully!". And once you realize that, man, you realize how much better this movie would be if Jake had a Walkman and Robin Williams was around as an animated bat going "Oop! Gravity works!"
There's a lot of spectacle here, but aside from making me predictably feel sad by showing animals being killed or beautiful trees being destroyed, it all felt incredibly hollow and contrived. I'm also very much over the whole "civilized" person arrives in a native tribe and becomes the chosen one trope.
Anyway, I leave you with the other thing I could not put out of my mind, and that's this skit that has better acting and a more intriguing storyline than all of Avatar.
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